Chapter 1044
Samos looked at Hanno and said frankly, "Sir Hanno, we must consider giving up on Numibia for now. Carthage's consecutive defeats have given the tribes in Eastern Numibia hope to break away from our rule. The reason I can still manage to deal with their rebellion is that most of the young men of the tribes have been transferred to Sicily. I'm afraid they are now captives of the Diónia.
If I were the commander of the Diónia and wanted to attack Carthage, I would definitely win over these Numibians and make them the support of the Dionysian Army … "
"You're just trying to scare us. It took us, the Carthaginians, decades of time, money, and manpower to conquer Numibia. How can we just give it up like that!?" Drevica roared angrily.
"Sigh … Samos is right. We should face reality!" Hanno sighed heavily. His face was filled with pain as he slowly said in a heavy tone, "Drevica, once the Diónia attack Carthage, will the 8,000 militia still be able to stay in Numibia? It's better to call them back. As long as we can defend Carthage, there's still a chance to reclaim Numibia's land in the future!
Besides, we can also negotiate with the surrounding Phoenician allies. When the Dionysian Army attacks Afrika, they can temporarily hide in Carthage. This way, we can play the role of the leader of the alliance and ensure their safety. At the same time, we will have more defensive forces … "
"Sir Hanno, that's a good idea! But this will increase our food consumption! "Samos reminded.
"Will our Phoenician allies hide in Carthage empty-handed?! Can't we remind them to move all the food in their city to our city?! "Tepanlaco reminded.
Samos looked a little embarrassed. He had been too anxious and had forgotten about this.
Hanno continued, "We can also send messengers to Tyre and ask for help from our mother country. We can plead with them to let Persia intervene in this war."
Persia! The eyes of the others lit up.
Taipanlak immediately asked: "Will Persia agree to this invitation?"
"I heard that the King of Persia doesn't like Diónia. Otherwise, he wouldn't have allowed the East Phoenician fleet to come under the banner of Persia … Ensuring the safety of Carthage in the western Mediterranean will only bring benefits to Persia. I believe that the King of Persia will make the right choice," Hanno said confidently.
"With the pressure from Persia, I believe that Diónia will have to seriously consider the issue of a truce. Maybe we can even use this to fight for more benefits in the negotiations." Drevica finally smiled.
Okridon, on the other hand, seemed a little worried. He reminded, "I think King Dionia is a tough man. He ignored our protests and chose to go to war with Rome. And according to the intelligence, Diónia has also formed an alliance with Egypt. Doesn't Diónia know that Egypt is now a mortal enemy of Persia?! It can be seen that the people of Diónia are not like the Greeks. They are very afraid of Persia. We can borrow the strength of Persia, but we can't rely too much on it! "
"You are right, Okridon. Persia is still too far away from the western Mediterranean. The possibility of them sending reinforcements like Tyre is very small. The people of Diónia can be fearless, but at least it will put pressure on them." At this point, Hanno fell into deep thought. After a while, he finally made up his mind and said in a low voice, "Since you've concluded that the people of Diónia are willing to negotiate, we can continue to make concessions in the negotiations while strengthening the security of Carthage City. When the benefits of the negotiations exceed the possible losses of war, the people of Diónia will choose to sign a peace treaty with us …"
"Corsica, Sardinia, and western Sicily have fallen into the control of the people of Diónia, and it is impossible to take them back. They can be used as bargaining chips and given up when necessary; Gaddis, Huelva, and Malaga in the south of Iberia … They are an important driving force for the rise of our Carthage, and they are also the only source of precious metal trade after we lose Corsica and Sardinia, so we must not hand them over to the people of Diónia; but the other territories in the south of Iberia … we can give them up when necessary."
At this point, Hanno suddenly became angry. He said loudly, "Delevica, you are right, Mago is a sinner of Carthage! His brother Chimilco is also a sinner of Carthage! Chimilco provoked a war in Sicily more than ten years ago, but he suffered a crushing defeat, which seriously damaged the national strength of Carthage. When the war between Diónia and Syracuse broke out, we, Carthage, could only watch from the sidelines. In the end, we had to sign an agreement with Diónia to maintain peace! And this time, Mago's incompetence ruined our 100,000 troops, and put Carthage in such a dangerous situation … The Magonid Family must be severely punished by the Senate!
The land they conquered in Iberia, said to be for the benefit of the people of Carthage, has actually become the territory of the Magonid Family. They do not listen to the orders of the Senate, and do not accept the officials sent by the Senate. Instead of this, it is better to use the southern part of Iberia as a bargaining chip, and give it to the people of Diónia at the right time. This can not only increase the chance of success in the peace talks, but also maintain the stability and unity of Carthage. "
Hanno completely blamed the Magonid Family for the reason that Carthage fell into such a dangerous situation today. In fact, he was covering up his mistake of being too lenient with Diónia for more than 10 years and not strictly restricting it. For Tepanlaco and Okridon, because they belonged to the Hanoverian faction, they had no objection to Hanno's decision because they had not gained any benefits from the southern part of Iberia before.
Samos had his own views on this because, through the previous war report, he believed that there were a large number of high-quality soldiers in the southern part of Iberia, and they should be retained as much as possible. But he did not say this out loud. After all, he was not a pure soldier. He was the elder of the Hanoverian faction. Saying such words at this particular time would only arouse Hanno's suspicion.
At this time, Hanno happened to look at him, causing his heart to jump. Did Hanno see through my thoughts?
"Samos is right. Now we don't have enough troops to keep the land in Numibia. Why don't we just agree to this condition of Diónia? When our strength is restored, we can take it back again. Anyway, the land is there, and it can't run away... "
Hanno's tone of voice seemed relaxed, but several people present could feel the pain in his heart. After all, it was he who raised the banner of "marching inland" and gathered many elites of Carthage around him. For more than 10 years, he led the citizens of Carthage and seized a large amount of land in Eastern Numibia to consolidate his leadership position in the Senate and his reputation among the people, but now everything was gone...
Thinking of this, everyone present looked gloomy.
… …
The next day, the Hanoverian elders, who had reached a consensus, passed one resolution after another at the meeting: recall 8,000 militia, carry out war mobilization again in the city, send envoys to discuss with the surrounding Phoenician allies, and send envoys to Tyre in the eastern Mediterranean...
However, when the two negotiating conditions of "ceding southern Iberia and returning the Numibian land" were put forward, it immediately caused an uproar.
Most of the elders of the Magonid faction and the neutral faction firmly opposed it. They cursed the greed of the people of Diónia and denounced the Hanoverians for betraying their country.
The Senate fell into a fierce quarrel and could not come up with a unified opinion.
At this time, the situation of the war in Sicily was becoming clearer.
On the third day after the battle of Serinus, the people of Segesta quietly sent envoys to Serinus and took the initiative to surrender.
It turned out that among the tens of thousands of defeated soldiers who fled into the city of Segesta, most of them were citizens of Carthage. They regarded themselves as the new masters of Segesta. Not only did they forcibly occupy the houses of the Segesta people, rob them of their food, but they also ordered them around as slaves. The people of Segesta were miserable, so they conspired with the Dionysian Army and quietly opened the city gates at night. They worked together from the inside and outside and quickly pacified the defeated soldiers.
Back then, Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, led the army to besiege Segesta for more than half a year, but he still failed to conquer Segesta. Now that the tenacious people of Segesta had obediently surrendered to Diónia, this undoubtedly boosted the morale of the soldiers of Diónia.
Then, two days later, Mazara also opened the city gates to the army of Diónia.
It turned out that the defeated soldiers who fled into Mazara were under Hasdrubal's control. At first, their situation was much better than that of Segesta. However, this group of defeated soldiers was mainly composed of Feino infantry, Iberian infantry, Lusitanian warriors, and Celtic warriors. Most of them were natives of Iberia. They were either subdued by Margo's military might or attracted by the generous remuneration, which was why they participated in this war. Now, not only did they not get any benefits, but they were also in a difficult situation because of Carthage's crushing defeat. Naturally, they had other thoughts in their hearts.
However, Hasdrubal, who wanted to regroup, did not realize the psychological changes of these natives. Instead, he acted according to the previous military law and severely punished a few Lusitanian warriors who robbed the people of Mazara's food. Originally, he wanted to make an example of them and clean up their military records, but this intensified the conflict, causing the natives of Iberia to mutiny. In the end, Hasdrubal completely lost control of the army. The foreign soldiers respected him as a brave warrior and only captured him as a captive, not killing him.
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