Chapter 1014
Eckriton subconsciously looked at Heniboris, and Heniboris was also looking at him with bright eyes. Although he was happy that the Devers readily agreed to negotiate, it also made him realize that this armistice negotiation might not be so easy …
… …
The venue for the negotiation was arranged in an empty military tent not far from the main tent in the camp. There were only four people in the tent, Heniboris, Eckriton, and a scribe each. Such a simple arrangement would determine the direction of this war that would affect the future situation of the Western Mediterranean.
After both parties sat down, Heniboris placed his hands on the table, leaned forward slightly, and said bluntly, "Sir Eckriton, since your Carthage wants to armistice and negotiate for peace, you must have already worked out the conditions."
"… Yes." Eckriton looked at the somewhat aggressive Heniboris, and after a slight hesitation, he said softly, "Before I left, the Senate reached a preliminary agreement … Both parties will stop the war and restore the sphere of influence that was delineated when the peace agreement was signed. Carthage is willing to compensate Diónia for the losses caused by this war, and the specific amount will be decided by both parties after discussion …"
Heniboris did not wait for him to finish. He stood up and walked out.
Eckriton was stunned. "Sir Heniboris, what do you mean by this?"
Heniboris turned around and said sarcastically, "You're not here to negotiate, Eckriton. You're here to tell a joke, right? You have to understand that this war wasn't started by Diónia, but you're the one who wants to end this war! But you came to negotiate with such an attitude, as if the one who has the upper hand in the war is not Diónia, but Carthage! If that's the case, then there's no need to negotiate anymore. Go home and continue to wait for the results of the war. Maybe Diónia's emissaries will go to Carthage and ask for a truce! "
After all, Eckriton had sparred with Pretacuba in the Carthage Senate all year round, so he was thick-skinned. Without changing his expression, he said slowly, "Negotiations are like buying and selling goods. You give me a price, and I give you a price. Both parties bargain and finally reach a reasonable price to complete the transaction … Now, Carthage has come up with the initial price for a truce. Since you're not satisfied, then I want to hear what Diónia's initial price is."
Heniboris looked at him and smiled. His previous dissatisfaction disappeared without a trace. He sat back, straightened his chest, stretched out his right hand, and said loudly, "The conditions for a truce for Diónia were personally set by His Majesty the Devers! The first condition is that the Carthage army in Sicily surrender to Diónia! "
Eckriton stared at the finger stretched out by Heniboris, and his heart trembled. Previously, the King of Diónia was kind to him, and he thought that this negotiation would be easier. Who knew that he would be fooled by the kindness of the Devers! Just the first condition alone was difficult for him to agree to, because it was an army of 100,000 soldiers! Most of the young and middle-aged citizens of Carthage and the citizens of Phoenicia are gathered there. Once they surrender to Diónia, if Diónia imprisons them for a long time and does not allow these citizen soldiers to return to Carthage, Carthage will not have enough troops to ensure the safety of the city … Neither the Senate of Carthage nor the people will agree to this condition. Even if the Senate agrees, that arrogant and proud Margo will definitely refuse to carry it out! "
Eckriton complained in his heart, but his face remained calm. He asked, "Is there a second condition?"
"Of course there is." Heniboris looked at him and stretched out a second finger. "Second, Corsica and Sardinia will be taken over by Diónia."
Eckriton's heart was beating wildly. Corsica and Sardinia were one of the important sources of income for the Carthage treasury. If they were taken away by Diónia, Carthage's national strength would undoubtedly be significantly weakened!
Eckriton could no longer remain calm. He snorted and said in a more serious tone, "Is there anything else?!"
"Don't worry, of course there is." The corners of Heniboris's mouth curled up slightly, and he stretched out a third finger. "If Carthage withdraws from Sicily, this island will be completely ruled by Diónia!"
Eckriton's eyelids twitched. If taking away Corsica and Sardinia weakened Carthage's national strength, then letting Diónia completely control Sicily would directly threaten the security of Carthage, especially now that Diónia's navy was powerful …
"Is Diónia really prepared to stop the war with Carthage and restore peace?!" Eckriton finally could not help but ask.
"Of course we are willing to stop the war, but we begged you not to start a war. However, when you saw that Diónia was at war with Rome and the Samonians, you thought you could take advantage of it, so you tore up the agreement and brazenly started a war. If your plot had succeeded, it would have been us, Diónia, who had been defeated in the war and asked for a truce. We would have proposed the same conditions as you just proposed. I don't think you would have agreed!
But you have failed, and you must be punished! Our army has already occupied Corsica! We have occupied most of Sardinia! We have occupied most of the land in Sicily! … These spoils of war were obtained with the blood and lives of Dionia's citizens. The citizens will never allow us to abandon them. You'd best understand this! "Heniboris warned sternly and righteously.
"Corsica, Sardinia, western Sicily … These are the lands that we, Carthage and the Phoenicians, have worked hard to manage for hundreds of years. You want to forcibly take them from us, but it doesn't mean that they belong to you! Diónia boasts of being a civilized Greek kingdom and is renowned for keeping its promises in the Western Mediterranean. You should understand this very well! "Eckriton retorted sternly.
Heniboris sneered, "When you, Carthage, tore up the agreement and started a war, we could only reason with you with long shields and spears!"
"You have occupied them by force, and you may lose them under the threat of force in the future … Why don't we, Carthage, use more compensation to redeem these lands that you have occupied? I hope you will consider it!" Eckriton's tone softened slightly.
"Carthage needs to compensate Diónia for their losses in this war. This is our fourth condition," Heniboris said coldly as he extended his fourth finger.
"You!" Eckriton finally stood up and shouted, "Diónia is so greedy. It seems that they have no intention of stopping the war and negotiating with us, Carthage!"
"His Majesty, Devers, does indeed intend to negotiate. Otherwise, he wouldn't have put forward these detailed conditions," Heniboris said seriously. "He also told me that other than the amount of compensation that can be negotiated, the other conditions cannot be changed! Of course, I don't think Sir Eckriton can decide on such an important matter, but I hope that the Senate of Carthage can confirm this matter as soon as possible. Otherwise, as time drags on, our conditions will not only be limited to these. "
Eckriton was shocked. However, as Heniboris said, he couldn't decide on any of the conditions proposed by Diónia. He could only bring them back and hand them over to the Senate for negotiation.
When Eckriton left Minoa and returned to Carthage, he passed by the waters of Serinus. With a heavy heart, Eckriton suddenly had an idea. He ordered the passenger ship to change course and stop at a beach near Serinus.
When Eckriton arrived at Carthage's camp, he was just in time to catch up with Margo's army attacking the city. Under the lead of the guards, he climbed up the inner wall of the camp and witnessed the tragic siege with his own eyes.
The Carthage army attacked Serinus from the east, west, and north at the same time. Nearly 20,000 people were invested in the northern wall that Eckriton was facing. Countless light infantry climbed the high earthen hills and used arrows and javelins to suppress the defenders at the top of the wall. There were also Balearic catapults on the inner wall to throw lead pellets at Serinus.
The troops responsible for the main attack were divided into three parts: one part was the Numibian soldiers. Under the leadership of the Iberian army officers, they carried sacks filled with soil and rushed to the front to fill the trenches under the city. The second wave of attacking troops were the Phoenician infantry. They carried ladders, siege carts, siege towers, and other large siege equipment. They rushed to the city like a tide and attacked. The third wave of troops were the Phoenician infantry that Margo trusted. They rested behind the inner wall and waited for the siege to reach its climax. When both sides consumed a lot of physical strength and energy, they would be sent to make the final impact.
There was another huge team of tens of thousands of people on the battlefield. Their mission was to seize the time to build earthen walls on both sides of the earthen hills that extended outward from the inner wall of the camp while the Diónia soldiers were busy dealing with the siege, and finally achieve the goal of connecting with the city wall of Serinus.
In addition, ballistae were also indispensable in the siege. However, for fear of being attacked by the bowmen on the city wall, Carthage's ballistae retreated behind the inner wall. Their main target was the wooden towers built on the wall, but because of the inner wall, their hit rate was obviously not high, and they were also threatened by Diónia's ballistae. They were also separated by the wall, but the stone bullets fired by Diónia's ballistae from the city always fell around Carthage's ballistae. They obviously targeted Carthage's ballistae, and they outnumbered Carthage (at the request of Amyntas, all the ballistae in the Devers General were transferred to Serinus).
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