ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 675 Declaring war on Dionia? (two)

Okriton stood up immediately, trying to eliminate the impact of what the other party had just said on the elders: "Preta Kuba, do you know that Dionia is much more powerful now than Syracuse?" ! They have at least ten legions and four fleets. It is said that they have a population of 200 million. Their territory is far from the land and city-state controlled by Syracuse at the beginning, so it can easily form 10 Human army, and can we do it?! So it is not appropriate for us to go to war with Dionia now, but to speed up the expansion in the interior of Africa and strengthen our strength so that we can win against Dionia in the future. burden!"

Preta Kuba sneered: "In the future? When is the future?! When Dionia completely occupies the whole of Italy?! I think now is the best time to go to war with Dionia! Because Dionia is going through Drought, they are short of food! You adults should have not forgotten that we just rejected their request to purchase food not long ago, let alone 10 soldiers. I doubt whether Dionia can organize 5 soldiers. !
We own western Sicily, Numbia, and southern Iberia. We are also allies with Rome, a strong power in central Italy, and the Kingdom of Mauritania in western Africa.And I heard that the Samnites, who were defeated by Dionia last time and were forced to form an alliance with them, are now very dissatisfied with Dionia and may be drawn over by us. There is also the Spartan who is afraid of Dionia's power. Master... You see, Dionia looks powerful, but in fact it has many enemies. Our chances of winning are very high! "

Preeta Kuba's words aroused discussion among the elders.

Hanno, who had been silent all this time, frowned slightly when he heard the words "Southern Iberia".

At this time, he saw the leader of the neutral faction, Ace Yaruba, standing up with a serious face: "Everyone, you all know that I don't like war. The war with Syracuse caused me to lose a son, but I want to Let me remind you one thing. Over the past year or so, our Carthage’s trade with Sardinia has been declining sharply! What’s the reason?! I think you all know very well that the judges we sent to various city-states in Sardinia After investigation, the truth we obtained is that people from these city-states secretly sailed to the Dionian cities Enona and Poseidonia across the sea from Sardinia to buy clay pots, olive oil, and wine. , even livestock...etc.

Although our judges urged the Sardinian city-states to strengthen their management, they were repeatedly banned because the prices of goods sold by the Dionians were much lower than ours.Unlike the previous Campania League city-states, Dionia ignored our protests at all, and even imposed restrictions on our merchants in Dionia. For example, the business officials of Dionia recently visited Locle Punished several of our merchants simply because they sold grain at a price higher than the price imposed by Dionia.Tanit, above, determines the price of goods based on the demand of the people. This is the trade principle followed by merchants in various city-states in the Mediterranean. Dionia actually punishes our merchants for this. This is simply unacceptable!

Fellow senators, our ancestors of Carthage came here from Tire, made a living by doing business, gradually prospered, and finally became as powerful as they are today. Without prosperous trade, there would be no strong Carthage. Trade is our root!I don't care no matter how much land Dionia occupies, but now it is deliberately restricting our trade and trying to dig up our roots. This must arouse our vigilance!We must also make a strong counterattack!Ask the Dionians to make concessions on trade! "

Aisyaruba's speech was deafening and resonated with the elders:
"Lord Esiyaruba is right! My caravans no longer sell wine to Sardinia because there are only a few people buying it. This is all caused by the Dionians!"

"It is not enough for Dionia to make concessions in trade. As long as it continues to expand, there will be fewer and fewer city-states and monopoly routes available for our free trade. We must succumb to the failure of Dionia! If we want trade to continue to prosper, we must eliminate the Kingdom of Dionia!"

"Yes, let's unite with Rome and launch a war against Dionia! Winning back our dominance over the Western Mediterranean!"

……

Listening to these words in the venue, Hanno's face became more and more gloomy. He didn't know that Dionia's continuous expansion in recent years was the biggest threat to Carthage's security, but he didn't want to launch an attack at this time. There were two reasons for the war: first, the occupation of Numbia was not yet stable; second, although Mago was driven to the Iberian Peninsula, he occupied a large area of ​​land there and built several towns. , and appointed officials on his own, always obeying the orders of the Senate. Hanno repeatedly wanted to strengthen Carthage's management of the newly occupied territories, but some of the methods he adopted were ultimately unsuccessful, which gave him a headache. .If the war against Dionia is launched at this time, it will just give the warlike family the opportunity to return to the Carthage Senate!
After running the Senate for more than ten years, Hanno had complete control over it.Although what Preeta Kuba and Esiyaruba said greatly touched the elders at the meeting, as long as Hanno did not give the final nod, the elders who relied on him would not easily vote in favor of this proposal. A final resolution will not be reached because there are not enough people to support it.

But Hannuo resisted the pressure and did not express his position for seven days in a row.

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Cadiz, a colony founded by the Phoenician strongman Bontyre in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula.It is said that it was discovered hundreds of years ago when a high-ranking Tire official encountered a storm while traveling to the Balearic Islands. The ship was blown off course, sailed past the Pillars of Hercules, and stopped on a beach. After these lucky survivors expressed their gratitude to the god Melkat, they found that the place they were at was at the end of a long and narrow promontory, surrounded by water on three sides, making it difficult to conquer by land but easy to enter from the sea. It was an excellent natural harbor, so the colony of Cadiz was established here.

With the discovery of large amounts of silver veins, iron and other metals in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula, the trade between the Phoenicians and the Kingdom of Tartessus in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula was strengthened, and they actually controlled the entire southern Iberian territory. Mining and metal ore processing industries, Cadiz became prosperous, and it soon became the main transportation hub for Phoenician commercial activities in Iberia, and possibly even the entire Phoenician settlement in the Western Mediterranean. one of the most prosperous.A large amount of silver mined, melted and processed from the Iberian Peninsula was continuously sent to Tire to meet the needs of its suzerain country Assyria, thus gaining more freedom for the Tire people.

However, in the following hundred years, wars broke out frequently in the eastern Mediterranean and hegemonies changed. The mother state of Tire declined, and Carthage subsequently rose and took Tire's place. Over the course of hundreds of years, it colonized all the Phoenicians in the western Mediterranean. Every point is under his jurisdiction, and Cadiz is certainly no exception.

The silver and other metal ingots processed in the city of Cadiz were first transported to Carthage, and the Carthaginians controlled all trade matters with the mother country in the Eastern Mediterranean.

After the Magonides set foot on the Iberian Peninsula, according to the regulations of the Carthage Senate, they were not allowed to interfere in the government affairs of Cadiz.But after more than ten years of operation, Cadiz has been secretly brought under the control of the Magonid family.

On this day, a shabby merchant ship sailed outside the port of Cadiz. To the surprise of the people at the port, it was a group of Greeks.

As a result, after receiving the news, the Cadiz City Hall immediately sent a patrol to detain the people on the ship. Only then did they learn that the merchant ship came from the Kingdom of Dionia. It was originally going to Sagunto, a Greek colonial city in the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula, for trade. , but unexpectedly encountered a storm and the cargo ship was blown near the coast of Cadiz.

The friendly agreement between Carthage and Dionia stipulates that, except for trade with Carthage, Dionia are not allowed to conduct direct transactions with other colonial city-states or affiliated city-states of Carthage, otherwise they will be punished. However, the punishment must be jointly tried by officials from both parties.If for some reason they stray into Carthage's territory, they can be allowed to leave after the situation is clarified, and they are not allowed to stay where they are.

Therefore, after the Cadiz people understood the situation clearly, they urged the merchant ship to leave. However, the problem was that the merchant ship was too badly damaged and had to be repaired before it could go to sea again. Therefore, the Cadiz people had to send the ship to the shipyard for repairs and send these ships to the shipyard. The Dionians are under house arrest in the hotel and are not allowed to go out. Of course, they have to pay for the ship repairs and food themselves.

During this period, someone quietly sneaked into the room of the owner of the merchant ship, Ionis. He claimed to be a Phoenician from Huelva. His owner was a big businessman in Huelva, with thousands of diggers. Mine slaves control the mining rights of several silver mines. They mine several tons of silver ore every month. They could have earned more wealth from this, but Carthage forced them not to sell it to outsiders, but to sell it to others. The extracted metal ore was processed and sold to Carthage, but the profit was much less.Therefore, his owner was very dissatisfied with this and hoped to find a secret sales channel to sell the mountains of silver at a higher price...

Ioannis was a little moved after hearing this.He was once a freed slave of the Cunogorata family and later obtained citizenship. With the support of Sostatus, he became a businessman. He often contacted his benefactor Sostatus and knew that Dio The Ministry of Commerce of the Kingdom of Nigeria has a concern.

　Thanks to Thirteen Cats for the tip!Your support is my biggest motivation for writing! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)