Chapter 993
The Devers said sternly, "Diónia and the eastern Phoenician region have never had any enmity, but they sent a fleet to attack Diónia's fleet from thousands of miles away. They deserve to be destroyed! If they send another army, I welcome it. We have recently acquired a lot of mines and are short of slaves. "
El Accra's heart skipped a beat, but he had to continue on this topic because the East Phoenician Coalition Fleet had been completely annihilated in the Carthaginian sphere of influence. If the Carthaginians did not remedy the situation, they would be too ashamed to see their Phoenician compatriots in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea who had provided great assistance to the Carthaginians.
"If we want to redeem these Phoenician sailors from the Eastern Mediterranean who have been captured by you, what do we have to pay?" El Acra's tone softened.
The Devers looked at him and said with slight sarcasm, "When your army occupied Agrigento, Echium, and Gela, you originally had the opportunity to redeem them by exchanging prisoners, but the army led by Margo killed all the people in the city!"
El Acra was silent for a moment, then said softly, "What if Carthage wants a truce with Diónia?"
The Devers was a little surprised when he suddenly heard this. He blinked and said mockingly, "Did I hear it wrong? Carthage, the overlord of the Western Mediterranean, actually wants to stop this costly war for these prisoners?! "
El Akra used the excuse of being a captive to say these words with great difficulty. He ignored Dyvers' ridicule and continued, "You are right, my king. This is indeed a war that will consume a lot of resources for both sides! I mean, if we both make a truce, will these prisoners be released? "
This time, the Devers did not joke anymore, but said with a serious expression, "Since we have reached a truce, of course we will release the prisoners. However, it was you who tore up the covenant! It was you who provoked this war! Now, it is you who want to end the war! If you want to start a war, we can't control it, but if you want to end it, it won't be so easy! "
"Then … what conditions do you need for a truce?" El Akra asked with a stern expression.
Devers did not answer directly. He said calmly, "The armistice negotiation is a very important matter for both of us. Of course, it needs to be negotiated and decided by both of us. Just like in business, it needs a long process of bargaining …"
"But as the noblest person in the Kingdom of Dionia, you must have your own requests for a truce, right?" Arcra pressed on, unwilling to give up.
"To be honest, I've been running around since the war broke out. I've never thought about stopping the war. After you mentioned this just now, I have a question now, "Devers said and paused intentionally.
"What doubts?" El Akra asked subconsciously.
"If … if the Senate of Carthage wants to negotiate a truce with us, will your military commander, Margo, agree?"
El Akra hesitated for a moment, then immediately replied, "Of course, Sir Margo will agree. Carthage is different from Diónia. We don't have a king, but we have a Senate. The important affairs of the city-state are decided by the Senate."
Devers immediately smiled, raised his glass, and said, "War is indeed a headache. It's a good thing for the people of both sides to be able to have peace! Welcome to your arrival today. Come, let's have a toast! "
El Akra thought he understood the meaning of Devers's words, so he quickly raised his glass and drank with them. After that, he tactfully stopped asking any more questions.
… …
After sending El Akra away, Heniboris asked eagerly, "Your Majesty, are you really going to negotiate with Carthage?"
Devers smiled slightly, "I want to negotiate with Carthage, but I'm afraid it will be difficult for them to agree to my conditions."
"What conditions?" Heniboris asked directly without any hesitation.
This time, Devers did not avoid answering, "At least Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia must belong to the kingdom, and they must hand over part or all of their southern Iberia territories …"
Heniboris listened and unconsciously widened his eyes. After a while, he reluctantly said, "I'm afraid it will be difficult for Carthage to agree to your conditions …"
Devers glanced at him and said leisurely, "I didn't say these conditions to the emissary because I was afraid of arousing the vigilance of Carthage. In fact, I don't want to make a truce with Carthage at this time because it's not easy to create a favorable situation where we can close the door and beat the dog. How can we waste this excellent opportunity to open the door again and let the dog escape again … Unless we wait until the dog is completely killed. Perhaps that's the time for me to put forward these conditions. "
Heniboris suddenly understood, but he was also a little worried and reminded, "Your Majesty, what if the Phoenician region of the eastern Mediterranean sends reinforcements, or even Persia really sends reinforcements …"
Devers said indifferently, "Persia sends reinforcements from thousands of miles away to fight with us, and there's also their enemy, Egypt, and the native Greek city-states that may become their enemy at any time. This is a very big risk! When the Athens army attacked Syracuse, they suffered a crushing defeat. I'm afraid that Artaxerxes does not have such courage. And according to the information we received, the Persia is still preparing to attack Egypt again. In addition, the Dukea people have rioted in the hinterland of Persia … Now Persia neither has the ability nor is it possible to send troops thousands of miles away to help a foreign city-state that has no close relationship with them.
As for the eastern Phoenicians, as far as I know, their strength is much weaker than Carthage. The only thing worth mentioning is the navy, and they were all wiped out by us. There's nothing to worry about. "
After listening to these words, Heniboris was relieved.
"By the way, the Sicilian fleet captured a lot of Phoenician sailors from the eastern Mediterranean yesterday. Ask Martius to bring me a few captives who can speak Greek. I want to ask them about the situation in Persia."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Heniboris muttered to himself as he walked out, "In fact, the Eighth Legion also captured a lot of Numibians in the previous Minoan War, but Carthage's people never mentioned them when they came several times to discuss the ransom. It's as if they've completely forgotten about them."
A thought flashed in Devers's mind, and he immediately said, "Herny, where are those Numibian captives now?"
"Your Majesty, they're doing hard labor in Katanai."
Only then did Devers remember that Prososus had reported to him at that time, but he had just landed at that time and had a lot of things to do, so he did not pay much attention to it.
"Send someone back to Katanai and inform Cyprosus to send these Numibian captives to Minoan!"
Heniboris's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly asked, "Your Majesty, you're going to —"
The corners of Devers's mouth curled up slightly, "Since Carthage doesn't treat the Numibians as humans, let us take care of these poor Numibians."
… …
El Acre left Minoan, but he did not return directly to Carthage. Instead, he took a ship to Mazara, and then arrived at the Carthage camp outside the city of Serinus to see Carthage's military commander, Margo.
"You didn't come here just to see me, did you?" Margo asked directly as soon as they met. As soon as El Acre left as the envoy of Carthage, Pretacuba sent a clipper to Sicily to inform him.
"Does Lord Margo know that the city of Hadrumentum was raided and burned by the Diónia Navy?" El Acre asked rhetorically.
"Yes, I just heard about it," Margo said calmly. Margo said calmly, "Dionysia is a powerful nation. It's inevitable that something like this will happen when we fight them. The Senate probably won't blame Morbard, right? I just think that he's much stronger than Anobas. He solved the problem of food transportation for this army not long after he took office, and he even won a naval battle. This old man is really something!"
"But he proposed to the Senate to 'negotiate peace with Diónia'. Lord Margo, what do you think?" El Acre looked straight at him and asked this important question.
Margo raised his eyebrows and said in a deep voice, "Morbar has just joined this war and knows too little about the overall situation. He only knows that we are not as good as Diónia in terms of navy, but in terms of land, we are stronger than Diónia. I firmly believe that Carthage will eventually win this war! "
"Since we are stronger than Diónia in terms of land warfare, why doesn't Lord Margo launch an attack on Diónia? The news we heard in Carthage is that you are leading your army to retreat! Isn't this because you are afraid of Diónia's attack? "El Acre questioned bluntly.
"Afraid of Diónia?" Margo laughed in disdain, then said helplessly, "Hasdrubal defeated the Dionysian army in the battle of Gela, which had the same number of soldiers as him. We don't need to be afraid of the Dionysian army in a field battle! But the navy of Diónia controls the coast of Sicily, and we are facing a shortage of food supplies. In order to prevent the soldiers from starving, I had to retreat to the west, hoping to defeat the main force of Diónia through a battle. But the king of Diónia obviously knows that he is not as good as us in terms of land warfare, so he refused to fight and led his army to defend Mount Minoya. Of course, I will not lead my army to attack the enemy on the mountain. That will cause the soldiers to suffer heavy casualties … "
"Are you going to keep confronting the Diónia like this?!" El Acre couldn't help but ask.
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