Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Samors looked at Hanno and said frankly: "Master Hanno, we must consider the issue of temporarily abandoning Numbia. Carthage has suffered a series of defeats, which has been seen by the tribes of East Numbia. From the hope of our reign, the reason why I can still cope with their rebellion now is because the young and middle-aged people of all tribes have basically been transferred to Sicily, and now I am afraid they have all been captured by the Dionysians.

If I were the commander of the Dionysians and wanted to land in Afrika and attack Carthage, I would surely envelop these Numbians and make them the help of the Dionysian army..."

"You are alarmist, Numibia was conquered by the Carthaginians for decades, how much money and manpower they spent, how could it be said to give up!" Shouted angrily.

"Alas... Samors is right, we should understand the reality!" Hanno sighed heavily, his face showing a painful color, and said slowly with a heavy tone: "Drevika, once The Dionysians attacked Carthage. Can the 8,000 civic soldiers stay in Numibia?! We might as well take the initiative to bring them back. As long as we keep Carthage, we will recapture them in the future. Opportunities in Numbian land!

In addition, we can also discuss with the surrounding Phoenician allies. After the Dionysian army landed in Afrika, they can temporarily take refuge in the city of Carthage. In this way, we have played the role of the lord and ensured their safety. There are more defensive forces..."

"Master Hanno, this is a good idea! But it will increase our food consumption!" Samors reminded.

"Are our Phoenician allies hiding in Carthage with their hands?! Don't we remind them to move all the food in their city to our city?!" Tepanakko reminded.

Summers looked slightly embarrassed. He was too anxious and forgot this.

Hanno continued: "We can also send an ambassador to Tyre and ask our motherland for help, begging them to allow Persia to come forward and mediate this war."

Persia!The eyes of the others lightened.

Tepanlaco immediately asked: "Will Persia promise to invite this ball?"

"I heard that the Persian king had no good opinion of Dionysia, otherwise, the East Phoenician fleet would not be allowed to come under the banner of Persia... to ensure the safety of Carthage in the Western Mediterranean, only for Persia Benefits, no harm, I believe that the King of Persia will make the right choice." Hanno said confidently.

"There is pressure from the Persians, and I believe that the Dionysians have to carefully consider the armistice issue, maybe we can still regain more interests in the negotiations based on this." Drewika finally smiled.

Okreton seemed worried, he reminded: "I think King Dionia is a tough man. He ignored our protest before and still chose to fight against Rome. And according to intelligence, Dionysia still Forming an alliance with Egypt, don’t the Dionysians know that Egypt is now a dead enemy with Persia?! It can be seen that the Dionysians are not like the Greeks and are very afraid of Persia. We can use the power of Persia, but we can’t Rely too much on it!"

"Okritton, you are right. Persia is still too far away from the Western Mediterranean. They are unlikely to send reinforcements like Thiel. The Dionysians can indeed be fearless, but at least it is a pressure on them." Hano said that he was lost in thought. After a while, he made up his mind. Shen Sheng said: "Since you have concluded that the Dionysians really have the will to negotiate, we are strengthening the defense of Carthage. While being safe, you can also continue to make concessions in the negotiations. When the benefits gained from the negotiations are greater than the losses that the war may suffer, the Dionysians will choose to sign a peace agreement with us..."

With a bit of sadness in Hano’s eyes, he slowly swept across the faces of everyone: “Corsican, Sardinia, and western Sicily have fallen under the control of the Dionysians, and it is impossible to recapture it. As a bargaining chip, give up when necessary; Cadiz, Huelva, Malaga in southern Iberia...is an important thrust that promotes the rise of our Carthage, and it is only after we may lose Corsica and Sardinia The remaining source of precious metal trade should never be given to the Dionysians; but other territories in southern Iberia...we can give up if necessary."

Having said that, Hanno suddenly became angry, and he said aloud: "Drevika, you are right, Marco is the sinner of Carthage! His brother Himilco is also the sinner of Carthage! Ten A few years ago, Similko provoked a war in Sicily, and suffered a fiasco that severely damaged Carthage’s national strength. Only when Dionia and Syracuse were in war, we can only watch Carthage. I have to sign an agreement with Dionia to maintain peace! And this time, Marco’s incompetence has buried our 100,000 troops and put Carthage into such a dangerous situation...The Margonide family must be subjected to Severely punished!

The land they conquered in Iberia was said to be for the benefit of the Carthaginians. In fact, they had become the territory of the Margonides. They did not obey the orders of the Senate, and they did not accept the officials sent by the Senate. In this way, it is better to use southern Iberia as a bargaining chip and give it to the Dionysians at an appropriate time, which can not only increase the chance of peace talks, but also maintain the stability and unity of Carthage."

Hanno attributed Carthage's fall to today's dangerous situation entirely to the Margonide family, in fact, concealing his own mistakes that had been too generous for more than 10 years and had no strict restrictions on him.For Tepanrak and Okritton, because they belonged to the Hanno faction, they did not receive any benefits from southern Iberia before, so they have no objection to Hanno's decision.

Summers has his own opinion on this, because through the previous battle report, he believes that there are a large number of good-quality soldiers in southern Iberia, and in fact should be retained as much as possible.But he did not say this. After all, he was not a pure soldier. He was a veteran of the Hanno faction. To say such a thing at this special time would only cause Hanno's suspicion.

At this time, Hano happened to be looking at him, so that he suddenly jumped in his heart: did Hano see my mind?

"Samers was right. Now that we don’t have enough troops to keep the land in Numbia, how about the condition of Dionysia? Just wait until our strength is restored, and then recapture it again. That's it, the land is there anyway, and it can't run away..."

Hanno's tone of speech seemed relaxed, but several people present could feel the pain in his heart. After all, it was he who held up the banner of "Inland" and gathered many of Carthage's elites around him for more than 10 years. Came to lead the citizens of Carthage and seize a large amount of land in East Numbia, only to consolidate his own leadership position in the Senate and popularity among the people, and now everything is vanishing...

Thinking of these, everyone in the room looked sad.

…………………………………………

On the second day, the Hanno veterans who reached a consensus passed a resolution one by one at the meeting: recall 8000 civic soldiers, re-war mobilize in the city, send messengers to discuss with the surrounding Phoenician allies, send messengers Tyr rushing to the Eastern Mediterranean...

However, when the two negotiation conditions of "surrendering southern Iberia and returning the Numisbian land" were proposed, it immediately caused an uproar.

Most of the veterans of the Margonides and the neutrals resolutely opposed and scolded the greed of the Dionysians and denounced the Hanno traitors.

The Senate was caught in a fierce quarrel and was unable to reach a unified opinion.

At this time, Sicily's battle situation has become increasingly clear.

On the third day after the Serinus battle, the Segestas quietly sent messengers to Serinus, and voluntarily requested surrender.

It turned out that the tens of thousands of soldiers who had fled into the city of Segesta, most of them were citizens of Carthage, and they regarded themselves as the new owners of Segesta, not only forcibly occupying the residence of the Segesta , Robbing them of their food, and calling them as slaves, the Segestas were miserable, so they conspired with the Dionysian army and quietly opened the city gate at night.

At that time, Diracius, the Syracuse lord, led the army to siege Segosta for more than half a year, and failed to conquer Segsta. Now the tenacious Segsta people obediently surrendered to Dionia. This undoubtedly boosted the morale of Dionysian soldiers.

Immediately after two days, Mazara also opened the gate to the Dionysian army.

It turned out that the collapsed soldiers who fled into Mazara were under the control of Hasdruba. The situation was much better than that of Segesta at the beginning, but this one was mainly composed of Phoenico Infantry, Iberian Infantry, Lusitani The Asian warriors and Celtic warriors are mostly Iberian natives. They were either conquered by Marco’s force or attracted by generous salaries before they participated in this war. What benefit did they get, but because of the fiasco of Carthage, which caused them to be in a difficult position, they naturally had other thoughts in mind.

However, Hasdrubal, who was determined to reorganize, did not realize these changes in indigenous psychology. Instead, he acted in accordance with the previous military law and severely punished several Lusitan soldiers who robbed the food of Mazara residents in the city. The original was Wanting to kill the monkey and purge the military records, but intensified the contradictions, led to the mutiny of the indigenous people in Iberia. Later, Hasdruba completely lost control of the army, and the foreign soldiers respected him as a brave warrior. Caught as a captive, did not kill him.