Chapter 367
"Young man, don't be so hot-tempered." Ancetanos sat still and comforted his student with gentle words. He pointed to a clay pot on the table beside him. "Come, have a taste of Carthage's horse milk honey syrup to quench your thirst. This syrup tastes good. It's sour and sweet, very unique. I've just asked my attendant to buy it from the Syracuse market. "
"I'm not drinking it!" Henepolis angrily sat on the wooden chair, causing it to creak in pain.
"Henny." Ancetanos knew his student's temper, so he wasn't offended. Instead, he said in a coaxing tone, "You're going to be the Consul of Laos in the future. You can't do things on impulse. If we go back without even meeting Dionysius, not only will we fail our mission, but we'll also be blamed. The people of Syracuse will also laugh at us for not knowing etiquette — "
"It's Dionysius who doesn't know etiquette and didn't meet us in time. Why are you blaming us instead!?" Henepolis yelled in dissatisfaction, interrupting Ancetanos.
"They can say that they're busy negotiating with Carthage, so they couldn't take the time to meet us …" After all, to the people of Syracuse, Carthage is much more important than Diónia, "Ancetanos said calmly.
Henepolis snorted coldly and looked at Ancetanos. "Teacher, in fact, Dionysius just wants to give us the cold shoulder and embarrass Diónia, right?!"
"If Dionysius is such a narrow-minded person, he wouldn't be able to become the overlord of Syracuse. I'm afraid it's just that he treats different things differently. " Ancetanos stroked his grizzled beard, his eyes gleaming with wisdom. "So, we don't have to be anxious at all. Let's wait … We can see how important the Diónia Alliance is to Dionysius."
Although Henepolis was young and impetuous, he was not a fool. On the contrary, his talent was the reason why Ancitanos was willing to let this student accompany him on the Syracuse mission. "Alright then, we'll compete with Dionysius in patience. Let's see who can't take it anymore! In the afternoon, I will go to the theater in town to see a play. In truth, though Syracuse was larger and more populous than Turín, it did not have the lively vitality of Turín. There's no ball game to watch here, and there's no good food to eat, so I can only go and watch a play. " Henepolis said teasingly. He picked up the clay pot on the table and took a big gulp. Then, he spat it all out on the ground. "This thing is sour and fishy. It tastes terrible, much worse than beer!"
"Young people don't know how to taste." Ancitanos quickly took the clay pot, fearing that Zhang Lisheng would spit out all the liquid inside. "You know, this liquid was learned from the Numibians by the Carthage people. They made some minor improvements to make the taste more suitable for sailors at sea. In Numibia, this thing is not only used to quench thirst, it's part of the food … "
"What does Numibia have to do with us? From your tone, it seems that you want to study the history of this race again, "Henepolis said disapprovingly. He thought he knew his teacher better.
"Not me, but the owner of the house where you usually stay is very interested in this. He has asked me many times about Numibia," Ancitanos said after taking a sip of the liquid.
"You mean Master Devers?!" Henepolis immediately became interested. "Why does he ask about Numibia?! You know, the Diónia Alliance and Numibia are separated by the ocean, Sicily, and Carthage. It's impossible for them to have any direct contact. "
Ancitanos pointed to his chest and said slowly, "There are always one or two people in this world who think from a height that others can't reach because their world is extremely vast."
"Master Devers is really a great person!" Henepolis said sincerely. Suddenly, he thought of something and said, "Teacher, now that the Carthage people have chosen to stop the war, I'm afraid it's not good for us to meet Dionysius, and it's not good for Diónia!"
Ancitanos looked at his student with admiration and asked, "Why?"
Henepolis knew that his teacher was testing him again, so after carefully sorting out his thoughts, he said, "In the Western Mediterranean, Syracuse has always been the most powerful Greek city-state, but it has always been confined to the island of Sicily. The biggest reason is the Carthage people. The powerful forces of the Carthage people on Sicily not only keep Syracuse vigilant, but also threaten its survival many times. It's very difficult for Syracuse to deal with Carthage. How can they have the energy to care about things outside of Sicily?
But in fact, the people of Syracuse have always been interested in Greece. I remember that decades ago, the tyrant of Syracuse, Chieron, had sent troops into Greece. But in the past few years, the situation in Sicily has been very different. The two large-scale military operations of Carthage have failed miserably. I heard that they also suffered more than 20,000 casualties this time, which was why they had to propose a truce. I'm afraid they don't have much power to threaten Syracuse anymore. "
Ancitanos nodded in agreement with his student's opinion, but he did not think that Syracuse would carry out military operations against Greece. So he said, "The reason why the Carthage people lost was that they seemed to be fighting against Syracuse, but in fact, they were fighting against the power of the entire Greek city-states. How could the Peloponnesus Alliance led by Sparta, and the city-states of Campania, such as Neapolis, allow foreigners to completely occupy Sicily, thus cutting off the trade routes between the East and West Mediterranean Sea, and even threatening their rear (referring to Sparta)? I believe that after experiencing these two crushing defeats, the people of Carthage will become smarter and will not easily start a war in Sicily. With their powerful strength in Africana, they will still be the biggest threat to Syracuse. "
"You're right, Professor! However, at least for now, it seems that the power of Syracuse is much stronger than that of Carthage. This time, after their peace talks with Carthage, I'm afraid that the people of Carthage will definitely retreat to the west of Sicily. Everyone can see that Syracuse will unify Sicily, and it's something that will happen in the near future, "Henepolis said worriedly.
"Yes, this is the problem that our alliance will have to pay attention to," Ancitanos said in a low voice.
"We can't just pay attention to it. I don't think that Dionysius will be satisfied with dominating Sicily. Dionysius is a greedy person. The two wars with Carthage were triggered by his initiative to expand his territory. If Sicily stabilizes, I'm afraid that he will target Greece. "
Although Ancitanos did not agree with Henepolis's exaggeration of the war threat of Syracuse, as a scholar, he liked to debate with his students, which was good for inspiration. Hence, he frowned and asked, "Why must it be Greece?"
"Because Carthage is to the south of Sicily. No matter how arrogant Dionysius is, he won't dare to behave atrociously in Carthage's territory. To the east is Sparta's sphere of influence. To the west is the Iberian Peninsula. Not only is it a long voyage, I heard that there are many colonies established by the people of Carthage there. Unless Dionysius is out of his mind, it's impossible for him to go on an expedition and make the same mistake as Athens. Therefore, it could only be Magna Graecia in the north, which was only separated from Sicily by the narrow Strait of Messina. Dionysius could send 100,000 troops to Magna Graecia in half a day.
And I think that Dionysius has long coveted Greece. Otherwise, he wouldn't have married a Rockley woman and formed an alliance with Rockley. Now, when he was fighting with Carthage, he didn't forget to send spies to disturb Diónia. His ambition for Greece is very obvious! "
"Henri, you have to understand that it's one thing to have ambition, but it's another to be able to start a war. Dionysius may have coveted Greece, but Greece now has the Diónia Alliance. " As Ancitanos spoke, a strange thought suddenly came to his mind. If Turií was still the Turií of the past, the future of the city-states in Greece would be unimaginable when faced with the behemoth Syracuse. Thanks to Hades for sending Devers, he established the Diónia Alliance and almost integrated the power of Greece, so Dionysius had to treat it seriously!
"Syracuse has been fighting wars every year. I heard that the national treasury can't make ends meet, and the people are very dissatisfied. I believe you've felt it when you strolled around the city these days. In such a terrible situation, can Syracuse launch a large-scale war like the one against Carthage? I don't think it's possible. Besides, this time we came to Syracuse to let Dionysius know the determination of the Diónia Alliance and completely dispel his unrealistic ambition! "Ancitanos said confidently.
Henepolis was influenced by him and nodded cautiously.
At this time, an attendant walked into the guest room and said, "Lord Ancitanos, someone is looking for you outside. He said he was sent by Felistos."
Felistos, an important minister of Dionysius? Ancitanos and his student looked at each other …
… …
Ancitanos was invited to the banquet hosted by Felistos tonight.
At dusk, the carriage sent by Felistos arrived at the hotel. Ancitanos and Henepolis boarded the carriage.
Ancitanos's emissary group lived in the city center of Syracuse. The original colony of Syracuse was Ortygia Island. A few decades ago, Dillon became the tyrant of Syracuse. He led a large number of immigrants and began to expand inland. The expanded urban area was the current city center of Syracuse. Most of the temples, theaters, and markets were concentrated here. But this area, which was not small to begin with, was only a small part of the city that the Syracuse people expanded.
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