ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 752 Carthage’s reaction to defeat

Under such a situation, the Athenians did not believe that they and Thebes alone could fight against the powerful Sparta. After urgent consultations between the generals' executive committee and the council, Athens chose in front of the aggressive Spartan censors. To compromise.

They immediately recalled the two Athenian generals who were fighting in Thebes, and convened a citizens' assembly to try them. The crime was that "the two men shouldered important public duties in Athens, but they entered without permission from the Athenian government." Thebes, by fighting the Spartans, put Athens in danger... This was an act of malfeasance and treason."

Although the vast majority of Athenian citizens supported the actions of these two generals in their hearts, they really did not want to go to war with the powerful Sparta at this time, so they voted in favor against their will and imposed the most severe punishment on the two—— execution to appease the Spartans' anger.

The Spartan censor returned with satisfaction, and the Council of Elders was relieved after learning what Athens had done. Now they only need to concentrate on dealing with the only enemy-Thebes.

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After the news of "the disastrous defeat of the Carthaginian army and the defeat of the Iberian navy" reached Carthage, it shocked the people.What made Carthage's top leaders sad was that the Holy Legion suffered heavy losses. While various families were lamenting the deaths and injuries of their elite children, they were also extremely angry at the incompetence of the army commander Monte Adeno. They all clamored to remove Monte Adeno. They were escorted back to Carthage, tried by a court of hundreds, and subjected to the cruel "crucifixion" (that is, nailing the criminal's hands and feet to a wooden cross with iron nails). , let him be exposed to the sun, bleed out and die).

In the midst of public outrage, Hanno did not defend Monte Adeno and allowed the Senate to pass the resolution.

After the Senate of Carthage passed this issue, it began to discuss how to deal with the Dionysian army that was marching westward on Sicily while taking advantage of the victory.

Okriton, one of the newly appointed Sufits, bravely proposed softly: "Everyone, it seems now... Dionia's army and navy are powerful. Carthage did not make sufficient preparations before and rashly It is wrong to go to war with Dionia. Now, can we first consider...temporarily making peace with Dionia to rescue the captured Carthaginian citizens and at the same time prevent the empty western Sicily from being invaded by Dionysia? All demihumans occupy..."

As soon as Okriton said this, there was an uproar in the Senate. Pretakuba immediately stood up and retorted loudly: "The war has only been going on for a month, and we, Carthage, are about to surrender?! I simply dare not I believe this ridiculous proposal comes from the mouth of our elected noble Sofitel! We Carthage are not a small state, we are the ally of all Phoenician city-states in the Western Mediterranean! We control Sardinia, Kota Vast territories such as Sica, Numbia, and southern Iberia monopolize the precious metal trade in the entire Western Mediterranean. They are the most powerful and richest country in the Western Mediterranean!
But you actually want us to surrender to Dionia, which was founded less than 20 years ago. What will the people in the areas we control, our affiliated city-states, and our alliances think?They will think that Carthage is no longer strong!They will leave us and even sound the horn of war to us, just like the Numibians!Therefore, now that the war with Dionia has begun, we must fight until we finally win! "

Preeta Kuba's thought-provoking words touched many elders.

At this time, Taipanlaco stood up, and said solemnly: "I think Lord Okreton and every elder present here want Carthage to defeat Dionia, but the current situation is—— Dionia's army is powerful, they dispatched fewer troops than us, but they can cause our army to suffer a disastrous defeat! Their navy also has an advantage!... We must admit that Dionia is indeed stronger than us in terms of military power now , we are not ready yet, we should not have rashly started a war with Dionysia at this time, but because some people incited the people for their own interests, Carthage has fallen into the difficult situation it is today! I think first of all We must investigate these people who caused the war and put them on trial to ensure that the Senate will enact bills in the future and not fall into chaos!..."

As soon as Taipanlaco finished speaking, Preta Kuba immediately retorted: "My lords, is it really that our Carthaginian soldiers are not brave enough, our army is not strong enough, and our navy is not good enough?! No!" It's because our generals are not good! We both fought on Sicily. Why was it that the Iberian army led by Hasdrubal was able to conquer Cerrodium, while Monte Adeno had a heavy army but was defeated miserably in Minotaur? Under the city! I heard that after Monte Adeno arrived at Lilibi, he enjoyed fine wine every day and searched for beautiful women everywhere. He never went to the military camp to get to know his troops and soldiers. When he attacked the city of Minoa, he never How could such an incompetent commander inspire the fighting spirit of the soldiers by personally going into battle to supervise the battle, and even hiding in the tent to drink and have fun? How could he possibly formulate a correct battle plan to defeat the Dionians!..."

"Therefore, it is absolutely correct to sentence Monte Adno to the cross! Monte Adno deserves to die!" Some elders shouted angrily.

Immediately afterwards, many senators also responded with their voices to express their resentment towards him. Even Hanno was extremely dissatisfied with Monte Adeno in his heart, and deeply regretted that he had misjudged the wrong person, which caused the entire political situation to be unfavorable to him.

Amidst the noise, someone asked loudly: "Preta Kuba, since you said that Carthage was defeated by Dionia because of the incompetence of the commander, then who do you think can lead the Carthage army and defeat the enemy?" Dionians?!”

Hanno immediately turned around and looked back, and found that the speaker was a veteran of the Magonid faction. He couldn't help but secretly cursed: Shameless!
Just listen to Preta Kuba immediately loudly say: "Fellow elders, I think you have all heard of the Lusitania in the west of the Iberian Peninsula and the Celts in the northern mountains -"

Although most of the Carthaginian senators have never been to Iberia, over the past ten years, with Mago's conquest of southern Iberia, they have also learned a lot about the situation on the Iberian Peninsula. It is said that These two races are close relatives of the southern Iberians, but they are more brutal and fierce than them. They live by killing and take pride in dying in battle.

Pretakuba saw that the attention of many elders was attracted by him, and then said with a solemn expression: "These two Iberian natives have repeatedly invaded the southern Iberian territory under the jurisdiction of Governor Marco. He led the army to repel. You must know that there are not only mercenaries in the Carthaginian army in Iberia, but also many Carthaginian citizen soldiers and Phoenician allies. Such a mixed army can defeat such a fierce enemy , conquered such a large piece of land for Carthage, why did the Carthaginian army with a more elite holy army and more soldiers lose to the Dionian army with fewer numbers than ours?!"

Preeta Kuba looked around at everyone and said loudly: "That's because - only a lion-like commander can lead an army as brave as a lion; and a weak commander like a lamb, even if he is given the most elite soldiers, he They can’t show their bravery! My lords, it’s obvious that the only person who can lead the army like a lion in Carthage to win the war against Dionia is the Governor of Iberia, Mago!”

Although many people knew that Preeta Kouba would eventually say the name "Mago", when he said it, no one refuted it for a while. Even his opponents had to admit that in the military In terms of talent and military exploits, no one can compare with Mago.

For more than ten years, the Carthaginians have not always lived in peace and tranquility. They have actively conquered the inland area of ​​Numbia south of Carthage. After the conquest, they have suppressed the Numbia from time to time. The rebellion of the Numibians, but the various tribes of Numbia have been subject to the economic control, cultural penetration, alienation and bribery of the Carthaginians for hundreds of years, and they are simply unable to organize a unified alliance to fight against the Carthaginians. attack, so the intensity of the war has always been small, far from being comparable to the difficulties encountered by Mago when he led his army alone to conquer the unfamiliar southern Iberia, so he performed well on the battlefield in Numbia. As soon as Monte Adeno arrived in Sicily, he was beaten to a pulp by the Dionysians.

"It's a pity that most of the troops led by Mago are not Carthaginians and Phoenicians..." Okriton said quietly, and he was talking about the issue that many senators were worried about before.

At this time, Preeta Kuba sneered: "Don't Lord Mago want to have more Carthaginian citizen soldiers?! No! It's because we simply can't provide enough citizens to conquer the natives of Iberia! What's more! , what we are facing now is that the kingdom of Dionia can organize more than 10 citizen soldiers at one time. Can we Carthage do it?! We can’t do it! We even lost thousands of Holy Legion soldiers Everyone will be grieved, so what can we do to compete with Dionia? We can only rely on mercenaries and alien armies!

Everyone knows that Sparta has few citizens. For hundreds of years, it relied on allied soldiers to fight against foreign armies and became the overlord of Greece. They have never worried that their foreign armies would cause rebellion!And Persia, in which battle did she not lead more foreign troops than her own soldiers?But precisely because of this, Persia will establish a powerful and prosperous kingdom!What's more, more than ten years ago, when Lord Himilko led the army to attack Syracuse, there were also a large number of Numibians, Celts and other foreign races in the army!Why do we have to worry about these foreign armies today that help us fight and maintain Carthage's prestige in the Western Mediterranean? !Is it because our hearts have become fragile and unable to adapt to the strength of Carthage? ! ! "

Hanno scorned Pretacuba's last rhetorical question. Of course, he was not afraid because most of the Iberian armies were mercenaries and foreign troops, but because these armies were not paid by the Carthaginian senators. The institutions under the institute are provided by the Magonid family directly with the wealth they earned on the Iberian Peninsula. In this sense, the Iberian army belongs to the Magonid family. Private army, this is what Hanno is worried about!
　Thanks to Death Beast Sky Suzaku for the reward!Your support is my motivation to write! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)