Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 376 Can trade save Carthage?
For the Romans, this kind of thing was well understood.

If you consider it purely from the economic aspect, there will be no later Roman era at all.Because if you only consider the expectation of economic benefits, then you can't even fight the Punic War.

You know, back then, the Romans had no ambition to dominate the Mediterranean at all.

At that time, the overlord of the western Mediterranean was still Carthage.Instead, Rome has always pursued a conservative foreign policy, avoiding conflict with Carthage.

The reason is also very simple: the trade order and various sea routes at that time were all operated by Carthage.In this system, the Romans actually lived a very profitable life.

As a land power, Rome was one of the most important exporters in the Western Mediterranean at that time.Because in this trading system, it is in the position of "producer", so it benefits a lot.

Not only did Rome actively participate in Carthage’s business dealings, but it was also a creditor to Carthage—because Rome was a big exporter, Carthage, although rich, owed money to Rome.Before the conflict between the two parties broke out, Carthage still owed Rome 1500 talents in debt.

It was already a huge sum of money at the time.Later, in the first Punic War, Carthage's total indemnity was only 3200 talents, which was paid back in installments.

Because of Carthage's huge debts, it was still profiting from trade. Therefore, Rome needed the commercial order in the Western Mediterranean maintained by Carthage, and hoped to cooperate with Carthage to maintain trade in the Western Mediterranean.Not only does it not want to go to war with Carthage, but it also hopes that Carthage will continue to be stable.So that when there was turmoil in Carthage, the Romans were more anxious than them.

Carthage's army is composed of a large number of mercenaries, but in order to save money, these soldiers have always had an attitude of throwing them away when they are used up.Therefore, veterans often rebelled after the war.And Carthage can only pull in the army and suppress it.

This kind of thing happened frequently in the history of Carthage.Even Hamilcar, the No.1 general of Carthage at the time and Hannibal's father, was famous for resolutely suppressing his old subordinates.

Before the two sides completely fell out, when there was a mercenary riot in Carthage, Rome immediately issued a ban to prevent the Italians from providing support to these mercenaries.In addition, in order to prevent Carthage from being too weak to fight, Rome paid out of its own pocket to redeem all the Carthaginian slaves in Italy, and sent them back to the country to replenish Carthage's manpower.

Polybius records that the Romans responded generously to all of Carthage's demands.Although there may be some parts boasting about their motherland, on the whole, Rome has considered Carthage very intimately.

At this time, Rome was still content with running its own family.I also don't see any adventurous and expansionist spirit, just content to live under the existing order.

Of course, according to the views of later historians, the Romans' diplomatic measures were indeed sincere, but they were still relatively simple and naive, and they could not be called wise.

It was not until the "Sardinia Incident" broke out that Rome's attitude changed.Because the location of this island is very important, it is just at the door of Rome, controlling this place can control the entire course of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Pirates and the Carthaginian navy both used this as a base, threatening Roman shipping lines.It was really impossible to continue to ignore this, and Rome began to turn its attention to the ocean.And as the Roman army prepared to attack a series of surrounding islands, the conflict with Carthage began to become inevitable.

It wasn't until the victory of the first Punic War that the Romans fully understood that they didn't need to worry about the debts and trade income: if measured by money, how could this small amount be compared with the huge amount brought about by the destruction of Carthage? Interest on a par?

Therefore, the war with Carthage is so important, because at this time, the Romans completed the change of mentality and laid an important foundation for the glorious and huge empire of later generations.

For this reason, it is true that Carthage must be destroyed.Because it is not destroyed, it is estimated that there will be no future Rome.

It can be said that economics and trade are the most stable part of the diplomacy between Rome and Carthage.In other words, from an economic point of view, this scale of debt and trade volume means that it is impossible to fight this war.

But the result is known to everyone.

Take the war into account and things are completely different.

The original most efficient and most profitable way is often very insecure.Such is the case with the family.

Abandoning many responsibilities can indeed make one's life more comfortable in theory.But in the face of social changes, a person's life seems very long:
It has only been 50 years since the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded the capital and the Volunteers invaded Seoul;

It was exactly 1945 years since Japan began its armed expansion in the Sino-Japanese War, and was forced to surrender twice in 50;

And the Red Horde Khanate, one of the world's second poles, has a lifespan not as good as many humans...

For the Central Plains, the numbers are actually more clear: from the beginning of the continuous historical records of the republican politics to the demise of the Qing Dynasty, in the era of 2800 years of reliable history, a total of 3761 wars occurred, and only 800 years without war records.Peaceful periods lasting more than 15 years have only occurred three times in history.

It's a pity that the peace of a generation is enough to make people feel wrong.

Therefore, the biggest problem is that if you give up your organizational skills, you may not wait until the next generation, and you will encounter the situation of "rich, but the other party is unreasonable".

The destruction of order will not bring about the emptiness of order, but will become the soil of a new order.Just as trade could not save Carthage after all, these weakened orders could not stop the pretenders.

Of course, for the Romans, there was actually a more practical problem.

It is not difficult to find that the Central Plains people have a long list of "outlines and routines".However, perhaps because of the lack of civilization accumulation, the Romans' "outline" has always been very simple and simple-he only has a pair of "father and son"...

The political relationship of the Romans, and even the family relationship, were all imposed by various "fathers and sons".The adopted son system is a typical case, and various attachment relationships are also developed by analogy with father and son.

Even the relationship between husband and wife that Confucianism is particularly concerned about, on the Roman side, can be added to it.For example, in early Rome, the position of the wife was equivalent to the daughter of the master, and like a daughter, she was part of the "father-son" relationship in the family.

This legal position can be said to be very weird, but there is no way, the pure Romans have such a "guidelines and norms", and they can only be wronged and everyone can work hard...

In the past dynasties of the Central Plains, although the analogy between the monarch and his ministers and father and son was often made, and everyone was required to respect the monarch and father, the different orders were still separate from each other.

Even if the legitimacy of some dynasties is really insufficient, and they can only supplement it by insisting on filial piety, they will generally not reach the level of ghosts like the Romans...

(End of this chapter)