Destiny Only Han

Chapter 900 Liu Ying: It's time for the hero to debut again!

Eastern Mediterranean.

Winter in North Africa is affected by the climate, which is humid, cold, and rainy.

In the morning, the sun was hiding behind the clouds as usual.

In the distant wilderness, accompanied by loud horns and rhythmic drumbeats, a dark crowd of people slowly rushed in.

Judging from the eagle flags held high by the soldiers, these people were the Romans who came across the sea.

The purpose of their battle this time is to completely defeat their old rival, the Carthaginians, seize their land, occupy Carthage's share in the entire Mediterranean trade network, and plunder every silver coin and every coin they can see. A Carthaginian man and woman!
To this end, the Romans dispatched four legions, with a total of [-] infantry and [-] cavalry, with a total strength of [-]!
Well, in addition to the soldiers in charge of combat in the Roman Legion, there are also a large number of "exemption workers", that is, craftsmen and technical personnel, such as land surveyors, bow builders, assistants to the highest clerk, coppersmiths, water conservancy technicians, Architect, wounded man, carpenter, armourer, blacksmith, sword maker, priest of divination, food bookkeeper, stonemason, death recorder, deposit bookkeeper, medical soldier, etc...

But today they wanted to fight the Carthaginians while it was not raining, so there were only soldiers in the ranks.

On the flanks of the Roman legions were their allies in Africa, the Numidians.

Numidia is a tribal alliance established by the nomadic Berbers. The eastern one is called the Masicili tribe and the western one is called the Massicili tribe. After the end of the Second Punic War, with the support of the Romans, Massili The tribe's patriarch 'Messinissa' became the only king of Numidia!

Therefore, when the Romans summoned the Numidians to join the battle, the king of Numidia, 'Misissa', immediately recruited all the adult men, and a total of [-] cavalry joined the feast to carve up the Carthaginians. .

Gradually, the sky is getting brighter and brighter.

Although the sun was still hiding in the thick clouds, the air in the wilderness was much warmer than before.

Lukewarm, just right to kill.

So did the Carthaginians, forced to fight back in self-defense.

After the two Punic Wars, Carthage can already be called a toothless tiger, but Carthage is not so much a classical country as a political body controlled by a business alliance.

Therefore, even if they had paid the Romans a large amount of war indemnity before, as long as Carthage's trade network is still there, they will soon become rich again.

It's a pity that the war came too suddenly.

Although Carthage has money, the construction of the army requires not only money, but also time, especially the navy. After their defeat last time, all the warships fell into the hands of the Romans.

Under the chain reaction, the Romans easily conquered all their ports...

Therefore, they can only hope for land warfare.

For example, they hired a large number of barbarians from the edge of the desert to join the war.

That is, the Geturians and Galamantes.

Although these dark-skinned barbarians are often captured by the Carthaginians as slaves, their primitive and barbaric life makes them look thin and small, but once they are popular on the battlefield, they are also a force that cannot be underestimated. the power of!

But barbarians are barbarians. They believed the words of the Carthaginians and chose the plan of charging 1.5 times the salary after the war, so they came out in full force, and the total number reached an astonishing 4 people.

This is basically the number of all mature males of these two tribes!
After all, after the mercenaries arrived at the barracks, their employers had to be responsible for eating and drinking. The productivity of primitive tribes was low, so they naturally wanted to eat Carthage, a big family...

Perhaps, this is also a win-win situation.

The left wing of the Carthaginian legion is also a black legion that can't be seen at a glance.

These people are West African blacks who rushed from Carthage's overseas colonies to join the war not long ago.

As early as 400 BC, Hanno the Voyager, with the support of the Senate of Carthage, led the fleet from the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula, which was still under their control at that time, and explored West Africa along the coastline all the way south. The coast, as far as the 'Mount Cameroon', brought back a large amount of jeweled ivory, and successfully established a series of colonies on the West African coast of Morocco in later generations.

Well, to be precise, a trade node.

After all, Carthage is a business alliance similar to Genoa and Venice.

And now, it's time for the colonies to give back to their homeland!
However, the most noticeable thing in the left wing of Carthage is not the blacks who painted their faces with white ash and painted on their bodies, but the large group of screaming women with long legs but big arms and round waists and delicate features.

Daho Belle Warriors!

They also used white ash to paint themselves hideously and horribly, wielding axes and sickles and other murderous weapons that are both tools and weapons, with high fighting spirit.

And Carthage hired them to participate in the battle, not because of their combat effectiveness, but because they could provide morale bonuses to their own troops.

If you don't fight to the death, the old lady will be held by those guys next to your corpse and do whatever she wants!
Although Lao Hei has been ruthless in his ancestors, they will not disappear without a trace before his lover shows obvious signs of pregnancy.

Therefore, at this moment, the Carthaginian general Poroyan, who was leading the army on a war elephant, felt stable.

....................................

Night falls.

The sky gradually dimmed, and the wilderness, which was full of people before, seemed silent and empty. The crows and vultures made all the surviving people feel creepy.

Beside the main road leading to Carthage, a dozen soldiers worked together to erect a large cross.

On the cross, the Carthaginian general Poroyan was crucified like Jesus hundreds of years later.

It's a pity that unlike Jesus who was resurrected from the dead, Poroyean is probably really dead...

At this moment, his head was lowered, his ancestral dagger was stuck in his chest, and the uncoagulated blood dripped from the wound.

And farther away, there were fallen corpses everywhere, with missing arms and legs.

This situation and this scene can be completely described as corpses lying all over the field, bleeding and floating oars.

On both sides of the road, which twists and turns and leads to the distant port, three or five steps away is a wooden stake. On the wooden stake, there are Carthaginian heads with distorted faces and blood dripping from the neck.

The battle mastiffs carried by the Romans, together with the vultures and crows that fell from the sky, are enjoying this feast of flesh and blood!
And those Roman soldiers who had been fighting for half a day, exhausted but with high morale, were enjoying a feast of human bodies.

Dahoo Belle Warrior.

When the frontal infantry phalanx of Carthage was blown up by the Roman legion, and the Numidian light cavalry launched a tidal charge from the flanks, the battle was already without suspense.

The skill with the greatest combat power is the sonic attack of the beautiful Daho warriors. When facing the murderous Roman soldiers with short swords and large shields, they can only be knocked down by the large shield after resisting like flirting. Beside the lover's corpse, the enemy can do whatever he wants...

In the era of cold weapons, the words that war makes women go away are not discrimination, but protection. I don't know how many people's blood and tears are contained in it.

In the distance, more than a hundred gallops came.

All the busy legionnaires stood still and burst into deafening cheers.

There, Titus Claudius Cicero, leader of the war faction and one of the Roman consuls, answered their cries with a classic Roman gesture and motioned to the shorter Roman soldiers continue.

Romans, it has been a long time since they have won so heartily!

Although the great victory in front of him is not the same as the expectations of the main fighters including Cicero.

The Romans also pay attention to blood for blood and tooth for tooth, so what Cicero expects is that the Roman legion will defeat the Han army under his leadership, and personally cut off the head of the Egyptian governor appointed by the Han Dynasty, so that the Han people, as they did before Taste the bitter fruit of defeat!

Therefore, the conquest of Carthage was the first step in Rome's revenge against the Han!
Cicero rushed into the temporary barracks, summoned the 24 legion generals who followed him to fight this time, and began to issue new orders.

"Revoke the previous order to execute black prisoners!"

"Take a full night's rest and besiege Carthage tomorrow. Pay attention to besieging and not besieging!"

"Order the artisans and captured slaves to build another wall outside Carthage, and launch an attack immediately after the rainy season is over!"

....................................

Carthage city.

The news that the main army was defeated and nearly wiped out was known to everyone along with the soldiers who had fled back.

At this moment, they only had the only option of running for their lives.

But, where to escape?

All of Carthage's ports were captured by the Romans, and the few hundred merchant ships were unable to break through the blockade of the Roman fleet. What's more terrible, their former slaves, the Numidians, took advantage of the fire and captured almost all of Carthage. The base is approaching a city beyond the great desert!
You can't go by sea, and you can't go by land, unless you go into the desert to gamble for a chance...

After all, according to legend, there is a country of gold in the great desert, where piles of gold are buried, the clothes and hats of kings and nobles are decorated with dazzling gold, and the magnificent buildings are piled up with huge gold nuggets. Magnificent, extremely luxurious...

But for thousands of years, only seeing people go but not returning, even the children on the street know that it is just a deceptive legend.

However, if you don't run at this time, when the Roman army arrives, you can only die!
They have an inextricable hatred with the Romans!
Just as they planned to destroy the Romans and spread salt on the land around the city of Rome, the Romans also planned to spread salt on the land around the city of Carthage...

Gradually, when the Carthaginians were scurrying around like headless chickens, the sky was covered with dark clouds, and it began to rain lightly.

Under the bitter wind and rain, the quarrelsome elders came to their senses and found a glimmer of life for Carthage!
Stick to it and wait for help!
It is winter and rainy season on the Mediterranean coast. The weapons used by the Romans for siege can only be hidden in warehouses and cannot be used in field battles.

As the capital of Carthage, the city of Carthage has a total population of more than 10 people!

In this case, defending according to the city, they are not afraid of the Roman legion!
But the crux of the problem is that the rainy season will always pass, and the food stored in the city will be eaten up. At that time, even without the Romans attacking the city, they will be too hungry and surrender!
So, get reinforcements!

The reinforcements imagined by the Carthaginians were naturally separated from them by the Eastern Treaty of Numidia and Cyrene.

To be precise, they are Han Chinese.

If the Han can defeat the Romans once, they can defeat the Romans for the second time!

In the past, the reason why the Carthaginians were unwilling to seek protection from the Han people was that they had the same philosophy as the Han people's Egyptian Governor's Palace.

Mercantilism.

Or peers are enemies.

If we talk about it in detail, Carthage and Africa are considered outsiders, and their ancestors were the Phoenicians from West Asia.

When they started trading along the coastline, they gradually gained a foothold on the current western Mediterranean coast, built cities such as Marseilles and Carthage on the basis of the original trading posts, and controlled the western coast of North Africa, Spain. To the south, most of Sicily and large areas including Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearic Islands.

Therefore, even though they experienced two Punic Wars, were defeated by the Romans, and paid compensation, the trade network in the Western Mediterranean region was still firmly in their hands!

Because of this, they became incompatible with the East Treaty Organization led by the Egyptian Governor's Palace.

A win-win, that is, I win twice.

Insatiable greed is the truest portrayal of the Carthaginians dominated by merchants.

Under this concept that not making more money is losing money, whether it is the policy of fully using the currency issued by Han as the only currency in circulation within the East Treaty, or the need for Han to become a leader in trade, it is the former Carthage It is unacceptable!
Now, however, the Carthaginians had no choice.

Unless they are willing to die, they can only accept Han's previous proposal, hand over all the trade nodes they control, and give up the coinage rights in exchange for joining the Eastern Treaty Organization, which is the Eastern Mediterranean Treaty Organization, and gaining the protection of Han !
At this moment, in the most magnificent building in the city of Carthage, all the elders voted unanimously to pass the resolution to join the Eastern Treaty.

At a critical moment, these bastards who made Hannibal gasp when he thought about it, finally figured out which is more important, wealth or life...

The moment the resolution was passed, loud bells rang quickly throughout the city.

The courier who had been waiting at the gate of the city drove quickly all the way.

Hurry up, spread the news of the call for help before the Romans encircle them!

……

ps: The history of Carthage is considered one of the most unpopular histories in the classical period. After all, the time when they were active is too far away from today, and they were also sprinkled with salt by the Romans...

So if you want to know more, you can refer to the following books.

"History of Greece" [English] JB Bury (JBBury)
Carthage Must Be Destroyed by Richard Myers
The Ancient World [British] Richard Myers
"Carthage and the Maritime Commercial Empire" [Japan] Nobuko Awata and Ikuko Sato.

(End of this chapter)