Chapter 991
In the process of taking over, Carthage and Tyre had conflicts, but in the end, the handover was completed relatively smoothly, and no major war broke out. The political situation in the east was really bad at that time, and Tyre could not even protect himself. How could he have the ability to start a war with Carthage? The two sides finally reached a century-long agreement, not because they were of the same race, but because Carthage needed the eastern Phoenician region headed by Tyre to provide more colonial population and trade markets. Tyre, on the other hand, needed the precious metals of the western Mediterranean. It was a win-win situation.
For a hundred years, Carthage and Tyre had close contacts and had pleasant cooperation, but this was all in trade. There had never been political exchanges between the top officials of the city-states, and this was the first time they had cooperated in military matters.
Why didn't Puserica directly enter the port of Carthage when he led his fleet to the western Mediterranean? One reason was to avoid being discovered by the Diónia navy early. Another reason was that Carthage was now powerful and rich in the western Mediterranean, which Tyre, who was now living under someone else's roof, could not compare to. Hence, the pride of the Tyre aristocracy made him choose to stay in the colony once established by the Tyre people, which was now called Hadrumentum, rather than go to the prosperous Carthage to avoid feeling disappointed.
At the same time, Puserica also wanted to use victory after victory to show the people of Carthage that Tyre and the eastern Phoenician region were still the most powerful support for Carthage. Who knew that the first ambush that he had meticulously planned would be reversed by the Daenians even though he had an obvious advantage. Furthermore, many of his crew members had been captured.
Puserica led the remaining warships back to Hadrumentum and immediately sent someone to inform the Carthage Senate, hoping that they could ransom the captured Phoenician crew members.
However, a few days later, the Senate responded: Diónia agreed to exchange the captives, but only agreed to a one-to-one exchange. Since the number of East Phoenician crew members was higher, a small number of them might not be able to be exchanged.
Although Ptherica was angry, there was nothing she could do. Diónia's attitude was firm and persisted in not accepting the ransom. In the end, some of the East Phoenician captives could not be rescued. This made Ptherica afraid to lead the remaining warships back to the Eastern Mediterranean, for fear of being questioned by the people.
At the same time, the strength of the Diónia Navy made him feel afraid. He refused to go to sea for Carthage on the grounds that "the fleet was seriously damaged and needed a long time to recuperate". He stayed in Hadrumentum for a few months, hoping that Carthage and Diónia would finally decide the winner and reach a truce so that he could redeem his compatriots and return home.
However, according to what he learned during this time, Ptherica felt that although the Carthage Navy was at a disadvantage, it was impossible to stop the war in a short period of time. However, the crew members stayed in the city of Hadrumentum every day and inevitably missed home after a long time. They asked him many times to return to the Eastern Mediterranean, and every time he persuaded them, he had to use a lot of persuasion. Now, even he himself was wavering. Should he return to the Eastern Mediterranean first, wait for the war to end, and ask Carthage to help him redeem his compatriots?
For the past few days, he had been struggling with this problem. He could not eat or sleep well. He only fell asleep late last night and was still asleep this morning. Suddenly, he was woken up by someone. "General, Diónia has entered the city!"
"Are you kidding me? This is Africa, not Sicily!" Ptherica scolded his men loudly, but then he heard the deafening screams and cries outside. His face suddenly changed, and he hurriedly said, "Quick! Go to the port! Drive our warships away from here! "
… …
Ptherica did not know that one of the main purposes of the Sicilian fleet attacking the city of Hadrumentum was to destroy the East Phoenician Coalition Fleet. Because it was far away from Carthage, and the port of Hadrumentum where it was anchored was not very strong, it was very easy to succeed.
The Sicilian fleet docked directly on the beach south of Hadrumentum. 7,000 fleet infantrymen quickly jumped off the Raven Warship, carried the prepared ladder, and went straight to the city of Hadrumentum not far away.
It was almost noon. The people of Hadrumentum, who lived a comfortable life, had just finished their breakfast. Some people were strolling out of the city, preparing to go to the farms outside the city to supervise the Numibian slaves to prepare for the winter sowing. However, they ran into the Diolinian soldiers rushing toward them like wolves and tigers. The people of Hadrumentum, who had been living for a long time, were suddenly frightened and ran toward the city in panic.
The few sentries on the city wall encountered such a crisis for the first time in their lives. After a moment of panic, they remembered to close the city gate, but at this time, the city gate could not be closed because the people who had fled back had blocked the entire gate.
The infantry of the Dionysian fleet did not even use the ladder and easily killed their way into the city. While they created chaos in the city, their main force went straight to the port.
Ptherica rushed to the port, and as soon as he boarded the warship, the infantry of the Dionysian fleet arrived and killed many of the East Phoenician crew who had not yet boarded the warship.
The unarmed East Phoenicians were brutally slaughtered.
Ptherica saw this and hurriedly ordered the warship to leave the port. Little did he know that the warship of the Dionysian fleet was just outside the port. As soon as it left the port, it was hit and sunk. The other warships and merchant ships hurriedly turned back, colliding with each other and creating a mess.
… …
On this day, Carthage's elders were anxiously discussing the matter of the Diónia occupying the port of Santa Iberia and Saros. Everyone discussed for a long time, but they did not come up with any effective suggestions. It was because Carthage had now concentrated almost all the land and navy in the direction of Sicily, and there was no extra military power to support Sardinia.
Only then did they realize that Carthage was not much stronger than Diónia, and up to this point in the battle, Carthage was at a clear disadvantage.
Pretacuba suggested, "Carry out another war mobilization with Carthage and the Phoenician allies, recruit 20,000 to 30,000 troops, and let Lord Morbar lead the fleet to Kalaris in Sardinia. Wait for an opportunity to recapture Saros and Santa Iberia, which have been occupied by the Diónia, and restore the normal order of Sardinia …"
Eckriton sneered at this and said mockingly, "Recruit another 20,000 to 30,000 people?! Does Lord Pretacuba think that we, Carthage, are Persia, that we can have an endless source of soldiers?! Let me tell you, since the beginning of this war, Carthage has recruited nearly 50,000 soldiers (this includes naval personnel, and they are the majority). So far, nearly 20,000 people have been killed or injured. Do you think that Carthage has more soldiers? If the people are sent to fight, then who will farm and provide food for the army? Who will do business and provide gold and silver for the treasury? … "
Pretacuba was speechless for a moment.
"We can recruit only a small number of citizens in the city of Carthage as team officers, and most of the soldiers will be provided by the allies." A Magonid elder quickly added.
"The situation of the allies is not much better than ours!" Eckriton sneered. "They have also been recruited twice. How can there be extra soldiers!"
"Like before, we can recruit more Numibians." Another Magonid elder made another suggestion.
"The East and West Numibia have been conscripted with seventy thousand people, and they have suffered the most casualties. The Numibian tribes won't be stupid enough to agree to our conscription request. Our constant recruitment will only threaten the survival of the Numibian tribes. We have to be careful not to provoke them!" Hanno warned sternly. "That's right.
Hanno's words moved the elders. Yes, the people of Carthage were used to the Numibians' deference, but this deference was created by the people of Carthage through decades of political and military conquest. In fact, the population of the whole of Numibia was several times larger than that of Carthage. Now that Carthage was fully focused on the war in Sicily, its domestic forces were empty. It was indeed necessary to ensure stability and avoid instability.
Taipanrako stood up again and said loudly, "In fact, the problem of Sardinia is very easy to solve. As long as Lord Magonid leads the army in Sicily to defeat the main force of Diónia and regain the advantage in Sicily, he can take part of the army to solve the problem of Sardinia.
But now, Lord Magonid, who is regarded as a hero by the people of Carthage and controls the 100,000 troops that we have painstakingly recruited, seems to have suddenly lost his courage. So far, there has not been a single battle with the main force of Diónia. Is it really because the king of Diónia has frightened him? "
The elders of the Magonid faction were very angry when they heard this and were about to stand up to refute.
At this time, the door of the meeting was suddenly pushed open. "My lords, bad news! Hadrumentum is being attacked by the people of Diónia! "
The senators were shocked, and many of them immediately expressed their doubts, for the area under the influence of Carthage of Afrika had been peaceful for a hundred years, and there had never been an incident of invasion.
However, when the city guards who broke into the meeting brought in a few messengers from Hadrumentum who came to ask for help (in fact, they were the people of Hadrumentum who first fled to Carthage on horseback), and after they wept and told the general story of the disaster that was happening in the city of Hadrumentum, the meeting suddenly became silent. Everyone had a terrible thought in their mind: the flames of war had spread to the land where they lived!!!
After a while, Pretacuba decisively suggested, "We should immediately let the Carthage army stationed in Numibia rush to Hadrumentum and destroy these damn Diónia bandits! We should also immediately send a clipper to inform Morbal to lead the fleet to the waters near Hadrumentum and send all the warships of Diónia to the sea to feed the fish! … "
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