Chapter 682
Pretacuba emphasized his tone and snapped, "You have used all kinds of means to attack the merchants of Carthage and restrict them from trading within Diónia. You have also violated the agreement and used tricks to secretly trade with Sardinia! What angers us even more is that you have even coveted our silver mines and repeatedly sent people to the Iberian Peninsula to secretly buy the silver that we were preparing to sell to Tyre!
The people of Carthage are angry at the despicable actions of the people of Diónia against Carthage and strongly demand that our Senate retaliate. But based on the long-standing friendship between the two countries, the Senate sent me to protest to you and ask that you ensure that the following points can continue to be maintained! "
Pretacuba's words caused the entire Senate to boil over. The senators, who had been accustomed to the respectful attitude of visiting foreign envoys for more than a decade, were shocked by the arrogant attitude of the people of Carthage and were even angrier.
The angry rebukes and curses of the senators of Diónia immediately filled the entire venue.
Pretacuba was not afraid at all. He turned around and faced the man at the back of the center of the venue. Although it was his first time coming to Turií, he knew who the real decision-maker of the kingdom was.
After receiving the information from Aristiras in the morning, the Devers were already mentally prepared, but they did not expect the envoy of Carthage to come so quickly.
At this moment, he looked calm and said slowly, "Tell me, what is Carthage's request?"
As soon as he said this, the venue became much quieter.
Pretacuba was surprised by the degree to which the Devers controlled the Senate. At the same time, the Devers's face was neither angry nor happy, which gave him a sense of inscrutability. He calmed himself down and said loudly again, "Carthage's request is:
First, compensate the several Carthage merchants who were punished in Diónia and allow the Carthage merchants to sell grain in Diónia without any price restrictions.
Secondly, stop at once any trade with Sardinia from your towns on the western coast, and never sell anything to it.
Thirdly, Diónia shall completely open its domestic market to Carthage and allow Carthage merchants to trade freely in Diónia without any interference.
Fourthly, no vessel of Diónia shall pass through the waters south of the line of Malta, Sorus, Sardinia, and the Balearic Islands.
Fifth, do not interfere with any actions of Carthage's ally, Rome, and stop opposing it … "
After Pretacuba said this, the hall became silent.
The Devers loosened his grip on the armrest of the wooden chair and looked at the senators whose eyes were burning with anger. He took a deep breath and shouted, "Senators of Diónia! The elites of the kingdom! Can we accept Carthage's rude request?! "
"No!!!" Angry shouts erupted in the hall, almost tearing the roof off.
The guards outside the hall were also startled by the commotion. They looked at each other, trying to guess what was going on inside.
At this moment, a soldier suddenly pointed at the square in front of him and said excitedly, "Quick! Look! Look! Rain … It's rain! "
Due to the eight months of drought, the ground of the Victory Square had become dry and cracked. Now, black spots appeared, and the number of black spots increased rapidly.
The Turís who were queuing up in front of the fountain to draw water put down the clay pots in their hands and stretched their hands to the sky. Their expressions of disbelief turned into ecstasy, "It's raining!!! It's finally raining!!! Thank you, Hades, for bringing us rain!!! … "
Just when they were in ecstasy, the sound of rolling thunder resounded in the sky. The originally disgusting sunny sky suddenly darkened, and a strong wind suddenly blew.
The originally sparse raindrops quickly became denser, and in a moment, it became a heavy downpour …
When the guard captain rushed into the hall, the Devers suddenly stood up from their wooden chairs, looking down at the Carthage envoy in front of them, and said word by word, "This is the answer of the Senate of Diónia!"
Pretacuba had already expected such a response from Diónia. He raised his head and said in a deep voice, "In this case, Carthage can only cancel the friendly agreement with Diónia. And I want to remind you that Rome is an ally of Carthage. If you go to war with Rome, Carthage will definitely support Rome according to the agreement!"
The Devers frowned and was about to respond.
The guard captain's excited voice rang in the hall, "Your Majesty! My lords! It's raining! It's raining in Turís! "
These senators, who had always been steady and wise in front of the people, could not hide the excitement in their hearts when they heard this. They completely ignored the important meeting that was being held and immediately ran out of the hall.
Although it was still afternoon, the sky in Turís had already darkened. Even though there were eaves blocking the main entrance of the hall, the strong wind still sent large amounts of rain in, completely drenching the entire steps and platform.
The thin Bolton on the senators' bodies was soon drenched by the rain mixed with the strong wind, but the senators did not feel it at all. They cheered and jumped with joy like the people, and some like Amyntas and Matonis even rushed into the curtain of rain, enjoying the washing of the rain.
Just when the senators were in ecstasy, an excited voice rang in their ears, "This is a divine omen! The omen of Hades! When Syracuse invaded Diónia, Hades resurrected the fountain of Turís, and we defeated the powerful Syracuse! Today, in the face of the threat of Carthage, Pluto has once again sent us the rain that we desperately need. With his blessing, we have nothing to fear! "Plesinas raised his arms and shouted.
His words excited the senators. Even Cornelus, Lysias, and the others, who were worried about a war with Carthage, gained a lot of confidence.
Pretacuba did not think much of it.
At this moment, the voice of the Devers rang in his ears, "In fact, I am very happy that Carthage has canceled the friendly agreement with us, and I welcome you to launch a war against Diónia, so that we can have the opportunity to avenge those Diónia sailors and merchants who were cruelly burned to death by your flames!"
Pretacuba turned his head to look at the serious-looking Devers and said proudly with confidence, "Carthage is not someone that Diónia can defeat now!"
A sneer appeared on the Devers' face, "Just by relying on the Carthage citizen soldiers who have been tortured by the Numibian riots? Or is it the mercenaries of the almost independent Kingdom of Iberia that your master Margo has occupied that give you confidence? "
Pretacuba's face darkened: the people of Diónia actually know so much about the inside story of Carthage?!
After the excitement of the rain, the senators returned to the venue.
Then they would face the possible threat of war from Carthage, but none of the senators regretted at this time that they had rejected the proposal of the envoy of Carthage too firmly before.
The senators who could sit in this position were not fools. From the harsh conditions put forward by the envoy of Carthage, they had deeply felt the hostility of Carthage towards Diónia. As one of the most powerful countries in the Western Mediterranean, it was impossible for Diónia to accept these humiliating conditions of peace negotiations and restrict its own development, let alone stop rescuing the Wolsey people for fear of Carthage's declaration of war. With the possibility of a major war coming, this approach would only make the many Italian indigenous forces that could become the arms of Diónia leave Diónia. Since the matter of aiding Wolsey could not be canceled, and it was imminent, if what the envoy of Carthage said just now was the intention of the Senate of Carthage and not just a threat, a war with Carthage would soon come.
Therefore, the senators began to discuss with the King of the Devers on how to take precautions for war.
The first problem to be solved was the food problem. As long as the food supply was guaranteed, the Kingdom of Diónia could gather enough soldiers to deal with any enemy invasion. Therefore, the Minister of Agriculture, Burcos, was asked to continue to observe the weather in the next few days. If there was continuous rain in all parts of Southern Italy, then the Ministry of Agriculture should take action and let the people of Diónia plant some crops that were about to ripen to reduce the pressure on food, and at the same time, make careful preparations for the next spring plowing.
At the same time, the senators also requested that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should send an envoy to Egypt and do their best to establish friendly relations with the Egyptian Pharaoh, hoping to receive food aid from this country that had the reputation of "the largest granary of the Mediterranean".
In addition, they also suggested that the King of the Devers: postpone the negotiations with Kaultini, to avoid being too forceful and forcing the Samonai people to side with Carthage in the upcoming war.
They also suggested that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should try to send envoys to the various forces in the Western Mediterranean, to try to get them to side with Diónia in the war.
The Greek city-states that were friendly with Diónia on Sicily in the south, such as Gela, Agrigento, Tyndaris, and so on, were the first targets that the envoys of Diónia had to visit. It was necessary to ensure that before the arrival of Carthage's army, they would stand firmly with Diónia, and provide a certain amount of food supplies to the Dionysian Army to reduce the logistical pressure of the Dionysian Army.
Although Syracuse had been greatly weakened due to the continuous civil strife over the past decade, a starving camel was still bigger than a horse. It was still the largest Greek city-state on Sicily (excluding the Sicilian cities of Diónia). Even though it had been at odds with Diónia for the past few years and had little contact with them, the senators still hoped that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would send envoys to try to rope in Syracuse as much as possible, or at least make it remain neutral.
Comments