ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1040 The Hannonites’ Choice
Clotokatax scratched his head with his hand and showed a rare childish expression: "I said that I performed well, but I have to pay attention to safety...because my father also wrote me a reply."

Asistes smiled heartily and said: "You came here in a hurry just now, and I didn't even have time to eat dinner. It just so happens that today is the first day of the new year, so you can have dinner with me." Then while we were eating, we discussed how to hold a fishing competition tomorrow, and I decided that you would be responsible for organizing it."

"Me?" Clotokatax was a little surprised.

"No confidence?" Asistes looked at him with a half-smile.

"No problem!" Crotokatax responded immediately.

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

The two newly added negotiating conditions of Dionia shocked Okriton. How could he dare to continue the negotiations? He excused himself and said that the matter needed to be discussed and decided by the Senate. He returned to Carthage by boat without stopping for a moment, but did not Instead of immediately reporting the matter to the Senate, Hanno was first reported.

That night, Tai Panlaco and several other important Hannuo faction senators rushed to the Hannuo mansion one after another.

When Okriton once again repeated his negotiations with the Dionians in Sicily, the expressions on everyone's faces became solemn.

"Lord Hanno, the Dionians have proposed such harsh negotiation conditions. This is a provocation to us. We must not agree! If the Dionians forcefully force us, we will stop negotiating!" The first person to speak was Delai. Vikar, who was the most active supporter of Hanno's "inland expansion policy", of course also received friendly gifts from Hanno, allowing his family to settle in Theveste, a town in eastern Numbia. , occupying a large area of ​​land near Carthage inland south of Carthage.

"If we don't negotiate, then the Dionians can continue to eliminate our remaining troops in Sicily, take the entire western Sicily as their own, and then regroup the army, land in Africa in a large scale, and attack our Carthage... No We want to negotiate, but the enemy is strong and we are weak, and the situation is grim, forcing us to negotiate!" Samors sighed with a dark expression. He is the most knowledgeable person in the Hanno faction since Monte Adler, and now Leading thousands of Carthaginian citizen soldiers, he was stationed in eastern Numbia to suppress the rebellion and stabilize order. This time he was specially called back, which shows that Hanno valued him.

"The Dionians want Corsica, Sardinia, and western Sicily! Now they want southern Iberia, and they also want us to return the land of Numbia! ... If we all agree, then Can we satisfy the Dionians?! No, our weakness will only encourage their greed. Not only will they add new negotiation conditions, they will even send a large army to Africa to threaten us Carthage! Now that the situation has It's so bad, why don't we become tougher, but it will make the Dionians have scruples!" Derevika retorted.

Hannuo listened to the debate between the two people without expressing his position. He turned around and asked, "Teppanlaco, what's your opinion?"

Tai Panlaco pondered and said: "The key question now is that we must first determine whether the Dionians really want to negotiate with us? If so, then we will work hard to negotiate with them in order to Finally, we got an armistice agreement that was pretty good to us; if not, then we must prepare for war with all our strength and prepare to defend against the Dionian army's invasion of Africa!"

After hearing this, Hanno looked at Okriton again: "You and the Dionians have been negotiating for some time. Based on your judgment, do the Dionians want to negotiate peace? Or do they not want to negotiate?"

This question was very important. Okriton did not answer immediately. He pondered for a while before he said: "During the time when I was negotiating with the Dionians, I only met him at the beginning. On the side of their king, his attitude towards me was quite friendly, but after that I asked to see him several times, but was rejected. I think this is not because his anger towards us Carthage is increasing, but precisely because He wanted to negotiate peace with Carthage, and was worried that under my begging, he would make a rash decision and interfere with the plans of the Dionian negotiators.

Secondly, I deliberately angered Dionia's negotiators several times, and threatened to stop the negotiations and let the Carthaginians prepare for war with all their strength and fight Dionia to the end! 'But when I appeared in the negotiation room again on the second day, Dionia's negotiator was still waiting there. Although he said sarcastic words, he still allowed the negotiations to continue.According to my observation, the official was a very arrogant person, but the fact that he could be so patient just showed that they had expectations for the negotiation.

However, it’s understandable that Dionians want more in a negotiation, just as we want less in a negotiation.So during the negotiations, we were all waiting to see the development of the battle, but unfortunately Mago failed. The Dionians had a greater advantage, and of course they wanted to get more.

Moreover, from my conversations with the Dionian negotiators, I found out that the Dionians defeated the army commanded by Mago this time without paying a big price... I have carefully observed the Dionian soldiers I saw. , all of them are arrogant, and they don't see the slightest look of fatigue and war..."

The expressions of several people in the room changed drastically.

After a while, Tai Panlaco looked reluctantly relieved and said: "...Maybe they are deliberately pretending to show it to you, and then use it to put pressure on you."

"Stupid Mago! He is a sinner of Carthage!" Derevica cursed angrily.

Hanno, who was usually incompatible with the Magonid family in the Senate, did not loudly rebuke Magonide at this time, but sighed with worry: "Drevica, what you said before is right, the Dionian's Greed can be changed. Perhaps the previous King of Dionia did have the will to negotiate peace, but as the gap in strength between the two sides grows wider, it is inevitable that they will have other ideas! Judging from the current situation, we must Acknowledging that the Dionians have an absolute advantage in both the navy and the army, we must first do everything we can to strengthen the armaments of Carthage City and dispel the idea of ​​the Dionians wanting to destroy us! Satsuma Erls, what suggestions do you have for this?"

Summers was hesitant and did not answer for a while.

"What time is it now? If you have anything to say, just say it!" Hanno was a little impatient.

"Master Hanno, then I will say it." Summers simply went all out, and said bluntly: "The Sicilian army suffered a disastrous defeat, and the entire sea area was completely blocked by the Dionia Navy. The remaining troops on the island are gone. There may be any hope of escape, and it will eventually surrender to the Dionians. Now that the Dionians have proposed such harsh negotiation conditions, it should be impossible for them to release the captives before an agreement is reached. After solving the Sicilian problem, the Ionians really landed in Africa and launched an attack on Carthage. How many soldiers can we organize to defend Carthage? How much food do we have to protect Carthage in Dai? How much longer can we survive under the siege of the Ionian army? How much foreign aid can we have to help us when Carthage is in danger?..."

Summers' questions caused the expressions of several people in the room to change.

As this year's Sofitel, Okreton coughed a few times, and said with some relief: "The young and middle-aged citizens of Carthage suffered a lot of casualties after landing in Sicily with Monte Ardenau for the first time. After that, Margo forced us to recruit more than 1 citizen soldiers, who are now trapped in Sicily. At the same time, there are nearly 1 citizens stationed in Numibia, under your command.

If the city wanted to forcefully recruit more people, they would probably be able to organize more than 4000 people at most, including old people and young people. (Although Carthage is the most prosperous city-state in the Western Mediterranean and seems to have a large population, in fact it really There are not many citizens, more of them are slaves, especially Numibians. The Phoenicians are only a small race in the entire Mediterranean, so for hundreds of years, although their civilization and technological capabilities have been stronger than the Greeks , but it has basically been at the disadvantage in the conflict over the migration wave in the Western Mediterranean, mainly for this reason.).

But I can guarantee that the food is sufficient. Due to the blockade of the Dionian fleet, most of the military food we collected from Numbia and the allies to supply the Sicilian army failed to be sent out, which is enough for our entire city for three months. For the above food, don’t forget that people also have food in their homes.There is absolutely no problem in holding on for half a year under the siege of the Dionians!

As for the foreign aid you mentioned...the entire Phoenician city-state in Africa is supported by our Carthage, and the Dionian army will be unable to move on this land. "

Okreton's relief obviously did not achieve the effect, Samos still looked dignified, and said in a deep voice: "Although the city of Carthage has lagoons and hills as barriers, 4000 people are not enough to resist the attack of the Dionians. The eight thousand soldiers stationed in Numbia should be transferred back to strengthen the city's defense.

In addition, I do not agree with what Lord Okriton just said that the Phoenician allies are our help. I just think that the Phoenician allies in Africa will be a burden to us. Most of their young and middle-aged citizens have been transferred to us. In Sicily, once the Dionian army really lands in Africa, the Phoenician allies who have no power to protect themselves may ask us for help. Should we send reinforcements then?

If it is sent, it will not only weaken our little defense force, but also put the reinforcements in danger of being attacked by the Dionysian army at any time; if not sent, will the Phoenician allies trust us?Maybe they will fall directly to the Dionians!besides--"

(End of this chapter)