Chapter 1048
The senators were all nervous, especially the senators from the Magonid Faction, who were trembling.
"Let's return to the meeting first and quickly send someone to inform General Samos. Let him bring the army here and disperse the crowd." At this time, Hanno was still able to maintain his composure and whispered his suggestion to the panicking senators.
The senators returned to the meeting hall. While waiting for the arrival of the army, they also started the meeting anxiously. This time, there was much less resistance. They passed the resolution of "resuming the peace talks as soon as possible based on most of Diónia's conditions" and sent messengers to reach an armistice agreement with Diónia as soon as possible.
When Hanno, under the protection of the army, walked out of the Senate meeting hall and announced the new resolution of the Senate to the people who were still gathered outside the door and still refused to leave, the people cheered.
However, Hanno also reminded them that even if the peace talks resumed, they could not let down their guard. If they could not defeat the Dionysian Army that invaded Africana, the possibility of the peace talks succeeding would be very small and Carthage would lose more benefits.
Therefore, he encouraged the people present to actively prepare for war and protect Carthage.
The people responded enthusiastically.
However, things did not end so smoothly. On this night, a few elders from the Magonid Faction were beaten up by the people on their way home. One of them even fell unconscious.
While the people of the city were urgently preparing for war, the Senate condemned this violent behavior and sent people to investigate, but there were no results.
At the same time, some senators from the Magonid Faction felt the danger and began to quietly escape from Carthage.
When the messenger from Carthage met Alexis, the Dionysian Army had already begun to besiege Ruspina.
After learning the intention of the messenger from Carthage, Alexis clearly stated that the order given to him by His Majesty the Devers King was to attack Carthage. Before receiving His Majesty's order to stop the war, he would not stop the attack.
When the dejected Carthage envoy left Luspina, he was surprised to find that many Numibians had also appeared there, and they were getting along well with the Diónia soldiers.
The transport ships that had been hit by the storm had gradually returned to Hadrumentum. Alexis allowed the Eastern Numibians to return to their homes and reunite with their families before regrouping to assist the Dionysian Army in attacking Carthage.
The reason why Alexis did not let these Eastern Numibians join the battle immediately was because they were basically infantry. Their combat strength was not strong, and they were eager to return home. She was worried that if they joined the army, not only would they consume a lot of military supplies, but they would also become a burden to the army during battle. However, he tried his best to retain the Western Numibian cavalry. Excluding those who drowned in the sea and those who insisted on leaving, about 2000 Numibian cavalry stayed to fight.
After Carthage's envoy left, Alexis began to order the army to attack Ruspina. The engineering battalions of several legions had sped up the production of some siege equipment, and Alexis had a basic understanding of the situation of the entire city.
In this area, Ruspina, like Hadrumentum, was one of the few large Phoenician city-states, but in Alexis's eyes, it was still a small city, and it did not have any elaborate defensive facilities. According to the situation he observed, he carefully adjusted the siege deployment. He firmly believed that he could take the city in a few days.
There were several reasons why Alexis was in such a rush to attack Raspina. First, even though he had ordered his soldiers to speed up the repair of Hadrumentum's port, the port was not something that could be built in a short period of time due to the lack of manpower and construction materials. Furthermore, they were in an unfamiliar environment with enemies on all sides. The encounter of the second fleet made him realize that at the end of winter, this area of the sea was very windy. He needed to provide a safe harbor for the fleet that constantly transported supplies to him as soon as possible. At the same time, it would greatly improve the efficiency of unloading. Therefore, taking down a coastal city-state as soon as possible was the best choice.
Secondly, the Dionysian Army had just arrived. If they wanted to establish a foothold, they had to establish a stable rear so that they could boldly attack Carthage with confidence. Therefore, a city-state like Ruspina, which was very close to Hadrumentum, had to be conquered first.
Other than that, Alexis had another idea in mind. On the morning of the second day after the army landed, he received a report from a cavalry scout: the Phoenician city of Addis to the west was heavily garrisoned. (The road from Hadrumentum to Carthage was smooth, but this road was specific. Between Carthage and Hadrumentum, there was a series of mountain ridges that extended east to form the Cabun Peninsula. Although the flat valley in the middle was not narrow, Addis was located to the west of it. When Carthage learned that the Dionysian Army had landed in Hadrumentum, he immediately sent reinforcements to Addis.) Alexis hoped that by attacking the Phoenician city near Hadrumentum, she could attract the reinforcements of Carthage's army, and thus eliminate Carthage's forces in the field.
… … …
Just as the Carthaginian emissary, Ocriton, once again set sail for Sicily to negotiate with Heniboris, a few Magonid senators had already fled to Sexi in southern Iberia. Out of anger and fear, they greatly exaggerated what had happened in Carthage. When the members of the Magonid family and the local officials who were stationed in the city learned of this, they were greatly shocked.
In the governor's mansion, Dido urgently called for Hakkar and asked him anxiously, "I heard that our army in Sicily was either destroyed or captured. Now, I don't know if my father and brother are dead or alive, and I don't know what the situation is like with so many of my clansmen! But at this time, that cursed Hanno acted ruthlessly against our forces in Carthage. He sent people to assassinate Uncle Pretacuba and drove the others out of Carthage … What should we do now?! "
While Dido was speaking, Hakkar was already lying down on a wooden chair with the help of a servant. Ever since Magonid led his army to land in Sicily, all the affairs in Iberia were mainly handled by Hakkar alone. In addition, he was also responsible for the logistics and transportation of the Iberian army and always paid attention to the movements of the natives inside and outside the territory. Working day and night for as long as half a year had caused his physical condition to deteriorate. His body rapidly became thin, and it was difficult for him to even walk.
"Not only what you said, I also received news …" Hakkar touched his forehead with his hand and said softly, "The important leader of the Hannover faction, Tepanlaco, has already proposed to the Senate that my uncle and my brother should be tried in absentia. He said that they will be severely punished because they caused such a major failure and put Carthage in danger. At the same time, this is to appease the people of Carthage —"
"Appease the people of Carthage?! Then who will appease us?! For the sake of Carthage, most of the adult men of the Magonid family have gone on an expedition to Sicily, and there has been no news from us until now! " Dido's eyes were filled with tears, but anger distorted her beautiful face, making it look somewhat sinister, "Also, we have stayed in this backward, barbaric, and dangerous place for so many years. How much effort did we put in, and how many of our family members died in order to obtain this land? Isn't it also for the benefit of Carthage?! Otherwise, after Carthage declared war on Diónia, how could Iberia send so many soldiers! But the Senate of Carthage ignored our attack, and without our consent, they want to hand over the land we worked so hard to obtain to the people of Diónia! Father and brother fought bravely for Carthage, and now it is unknown whether they are alive or dead. Not only did they not receive the respect and sympathy of Carthage, but they also want to be tried, causing their honor to be humiliated. The Senate of Carthage is forcing the Magonid family to the path of destruction! "
Dido gritted her teeth and said sternly, "Haka, since the Senate of Carthage wants to ruthlessly deal with us, then why should we still be manipulated by them? We might as well leave Carthage, and no longer listen to the orders of the Senate of Carthage!"
Haka listened quietly, not surprised by Dido's words. In fact, in the past two days, she had vented her anger on him many times, but the reason she was so resolute this time was because she heard that the Senate of Carthage was going to carry out a harsh trial on Margo and Hasdrubal. According to the military tradition of Carthage, generals who had lost in a major war would be severely judged by the Senate, and basically all of them would be crucified. The only one who escaped punishment was Margo's brother, Himilco. Even though he committed suicide in the end, the citizens still complained to the Senate that they were too lenient towards him. Now that Margo had suffered a military defeat that was even greater than Himilco's, and the Magonid family's influence in the Senate was almost non-existent, with Hanno and the others making things difficult for them, Margo and Hasdrubal might really be in danger of being executed. It was no wonder that Dido was so emotional.
"You're not serious, are you?" Haka asked softly.
"Of course I'm serious!" Dido walked over, looked down at Haka, and said sternly with a firm gaze, "The Carthage sees us as enemies, so we are no longer Carthage's people! Haka, gather all the officials in the territory, and then announce to them that the Iberian colony is independent, and that it has nothing to do with the Carthage! "
Haka rubbed his forehead and sighed softly, "Right now, the main officials in the territory are our Magonid clansmen. They may not have too much of an objection to the declaration of independence, but it will inevitably cause panic among the Carthage and Phoenician citizens in the territory.
And you should know that the biggest danger we are facing is the Iberian natives inside and outside the territory. Because we have blocked the news of our defeat, they are still relatively quiet for the time being, but as time passes, they will eventually find out. At that time, they will definitely use 'demanding compensation' as an excuse to attack our territory, and we do not have enough troops in the territory. Once we leave the Carthage, we will not receive any reinforcements. At that time, we will not be able to defend against the ferocious attacks of the natives. The land will be occupied by them, and the people will be tortured and killed by them!
More importantly, we have declared independence. The Carthage may not be able to do anything to us for the time being, but Diónia has already seen our territory as something in the bag. But in the end, they have failed. Will they be angry? Will they kill my uncle and my brother because of this? And then send troops to seize this land? … Have you thought about all of this? "
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