ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1044 Carthage Assassination Incident
Time flies by.

Three days later, in the early morning, thousands of sails competed at Lilibi Port, heading south in a mighty manner.

The reason why it was postponed for one day was because yesterday there were strong winds and waves, and the wind was blowing from the south.Although there was some wind and waves this morning, the wind happened to be from the north.

The Sicilian Fleet and the Third Fleet were located in front and on both sides of this huge fleet. There was a troop transport ship in the center, and a baggage ship was towed behind. Taking advantage of the wind, the entire fleet was moving faster, and it was not yet noon. Just arrived at Kosia Island.

This small island that once belonged to the Phoenicians was now occupied by the Sicilian fleet and became their forward base for blockading the port of Carthage and patrolling the African coast. However, the fleet did not stop and continued to move forward.

As they approached the coast, some of Alexis' worries did not materialize. There was not a single Carthage or Phoenician merchant ship seen on the vast sea. This one was along the African coast, passing through the past. The shipping lanes from Ranegar to Egypt and finally to Tire have always been relatively busy. Even though there were still a lot of ships coming and going here a few months ago, it has suddenly become so depressed. This just proves that Carthage is now in this war. The failure in the battle and the strength of the Dionian navy.

It wasn't until the fleet was almost approaching the coast that Alexis saw some fishing boats along the coast.

When the fishermen on the boat saw the overwhelming number of warships approaching, they were so frightened that they quickly docked the boat and desperately fled back to their own city-state to report the news.

By this time, Alexis was no longer worried. According to his previous deployment, the fleet warships had already stayed offshore. The troop transport ships quickly deployed along the long coastline. Driven by the tide and rowers, the ships moved closer On the flat beach, the soldiers of the three legions stepped onto the land of Africa, stepping on the seawater up to their knees.

"This is the land where Hercules defeated the giant Porphyrion?!" In fact, the scene of the beach here is the same as that of Turui and Katane, but the adjutant Eumatesius who went ashore Feeling a little excited, I looked around curiously.

"Yes, now we will soon conquer the giant Carthage like Hercules!" Alexis said with emotion.

"Lord Alexis, if you have such an idea, you will be disappointed." Alexis was stunned by Printors' words, but he looked at him and blinked, and continued: "The current Carthage Not quite a giant."

"I hope so." Alexis smiled.

It seemed that they were in a relaxed mood, but in fact Alexis kept sending messengers around him to urge the various troops to gather quickly after landing. At the same time, he also quickly found the reconnaissance cavalry that came ashore and asked them to immediately investigate the surrounding situation.

The news that came back one after another made Alexis relieved: not only was there no enemy within a radius of ten miles, but the Phoenicians living here were desperately trying to escape with their families.

At dusk, Alexis led his army to Hadrumentum and began building a camp on the ruins of the burned town.

It was not until late at night that Carthage received the news that "the Dionian army had landed on Hadrumentum". The silent city suddenly became noisy. The people were very panicked and confused: there was news from Sicily a few days ago. , although the army commanded by Mago was defeated, the remaining troops retreated to Segesta and Mazara and continued to hold on. Why did a large Dionian army suddenly appear in Hadrumentum?
In fact, after Hasdrubal led the remnant army to retreat to Mazara, he did initially send a clipper to venture out of the port and rush to Carthage to inform the situation in Sicily. However, due to the chaos in Mazara, the people were busy trying to save their lives. The Dionysian fleet deliberately strengthened the blockade of the port until Dionysia occupied Mazara. Not to mention that Carthage knew nothing about it, just as ignorant as Elyx in Sicily.

The situation was so serious that the Carthage Senate held an emergency meeting that night to discuss countermeasures. In addition to deciding to immediately carry out war mobilization, strengthen city defense, issue orders to surrounding allies, dispatch reinforcements... and other emergency measures, they decided on "whether Immediately send envoys to have peace talks with the Dionians" to discuss the matter.

This time, most of the senators expressed their approval. Only a small number of Magonid senators headed by Preta Kuba expressed firm opposition to allowing "the cession of new colonies in southern Iberia" as a condition for negotiation.

In the morning, the Senate temporarily adjourned the meeting. The senators went back to their mansions, had breakfast, and then returned to the meeting place to discuss.But when the senators walked out of the venue, many Carthaginians had gathered outside the venue.

Some time ago, because the Hannoists made a proposal to "negotiate peace with Dionia", they were criticized by the people, and some even called them treason. Their life was not easy, but this morning many people have already The people who got the contents of the meeting no longer abused Okriton and Typanlaco. Instead, they targeted the Magonids and asked Pretacuba to consider Carthage's safety and contact them as soon as possible. Hanno and the others reached an agreement, sent envoys, and signed a peace agreement with Dionia.

Pretacuba believed that this was a Hannoist trick and did not respond to it. In fact, he could not agree to Carthage giving up the colony in southern Iberia because it had become the foundation of the Magonid family. .

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While the people of Carthage gathered in front of the Senate and made a fuss, Alexis ordered the army to continue to consolidate the camp, and at the same time sent a large number of soldiers to repair the original port of Hadrumantum to facilitate the faster transfer of cargo ships. baggage while waiting for the arrival of the Numibian army.

But in the evening, Alexis, who had been waiting for a long time, received bad news: when the fleet full of Numibian soldiers set off from Lillibe, there was still a weak north wind. When the fleet was halfway through, the wind suddenly changed. Due to the strong northwest wind, the entire fleet was pushed to the east coast of Hadrumentum by wind and waves. It is said that some ships capsized on the way.

Alexis quickly prayed to Hades and thanked him for his blessing so that this kind of thing did not happen to the Dionian army.

He then sent out scouts to search eastward along the coast for signs of the fleet.

But the news he received later dismayed him: except for a handful of ships scattered on the nearby coast, there was no trace of the fleet.

Alexis speculated that most of the ships might have been blown near the waters of Cyrenaica by wind and waves, which forced him to make a decision: he could no longer wait slowly and had to take the initiative.

So on the third day, he asked the third legion to stay in the camp and personally led the first and second legions, a total of more than 3 people, to a Phoenician town east of Hadrumantum and less than thirty miles away. The base city-state Ruspina launched an attack.

Ruspina and its nearby neighbors sent messengers to take long detours to ask for help from Carthage.

This incident aroused panic among the people of Carthage, and soon led to a major incident.

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At dusk, the meeting of the Carthage Senate once again ended in quarrels.

After the senators walked out of the gate, Preetakouba and others were once again surrounded by people waiting outside the hospital as expected. Preetakouba, who had experienced many times their requests, insults and even threats, simply did not respond. Without responding, he walked forward with his head held high after the guards pushed away the people blocking his way.

At this moment, several young men suddenly rushed towards him, knocked away the guards who were caught off guard, and rushed in front of Preeta Kuba. Holding a bright dagger in their hands, they quickly and fiercely aimed at Preeta Kuba, who had not yet reacted. Takuba stabbed his chest several times...

The whole process happened in the blink of an eye. By the time everyone around him reacted, Preeta Kuba had already fallen into a pool of blood...

The frightened people screamed and ran away. The slaves who followed them hurriedly helped Preeta Kuba who was in a pool of blood and shouted for doctors to come and rescue him. The guards rushed over to arrest the perpetrator... The scene was very chaotic. .

Taking their own safety into consideration, the elders retreated to the entrance of the venue, under the protection of the guards.Many people turned their attention to Hannuo, obviously suspecting that the assassination of Tapretakuba was related to his sworn enemy Hannuo.

But Hanno also looked shocked at this time, and shouted loudly: "Quick, catch them! Catch the murderers!"

Fortunately, the murderers did not run away. Instead, they stood where they were, waiting for the guards to come and arrest them. One of them shouted confidently: "I am Ildu, the son of Braca! My elder brother followed Monte A Deno, died in Minoa! My second brother was also conscripted to Sicily, I don’t know whether he is alive or dead now! My father drove a cargo ship and took the risk of transporting food for the Sicilian army late at night, but he has never returned! Our family is for The war provoked by the Magonid family has already paid enough blood! Carthage is now in so much danger, they are all caused! There is nothing wrong with killing him, this is the oracle of Bar Harmon! Only in this way can Carthage be saved!..."

Several other young people also shouted loudly: "I am not guilty, this is for Carthage!..."

There were still many people present who did not leave. When they heard the shouts of the young people, they all felt the same way, and shouted at the guards who arrested the young people: "Let them go! They are the heroes of Carthage! They want to make Carthage Taiji got rid of the danger of war and wanted to restore peace to Africa! Preta Kuba is the sinner! Margo is the sinner! This is the punishment from Bar Harmon, and they deserve it!..."

The people roared like thunder and protested against the senators, venting all the sorrow and fear they had accumulated in their hearts during this period. Their shouts attracted more people, and more and more people gathered in the square in front of the Senate. Some people started fighting with the guards, trying to rescue the young people, but they saw that another riot was about to happen.

(End of this chapter)