ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 986 Sekerian’s Revenge Plan

These Phoenician towns were all horrified.

Not long after, the towns near Saros welcomed the envoys of Dionia and made a strong request: let them surrender to Dionia immediately, otherwise, if the army attacks, the Saros people will be their fate!
The actual rulers of these towns, the Carthaginian judges, either died in the battle or were trapped in St. Ibinia because the roads were blocked. The city hall officials, who had lost their leaders, were at a loss, and the people were in panic all day long. .

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Although Morbar won a naval battle, his mood was not happy, but became more and more heavy, not because the casualties of the Carthaginian merchant sailors who served as bait were too high, but because he discovered the strength of the Dionia navy Strong, so after he returned to the port of Carthage, when the people were cheering for the hard-won victory in the naval battle, he wrote a letter to the Senate.

In the letter, he briefly described the entire process of this naval battle, and then emphasized: He believes that the Dionysian navy now not only surpasses Carthage in overall strength, but also the tactics it implements are ahead of Carthage. , the training, fighting spirit, and abilities of the Dionysian crew are also stronger than those of the Carthage Navy. It is impossible for the Carthage Navy to regain dominance in the western waters of Sicily in a short period of time. If the war continues, it may even lose Control of the African coast exposed Carthage directly to threats from the sea.For the safety of Carthage, we should temporarily negotiate peace with Dionia, gain time, rebuild the Canadian Taichi Navy, formulate new naval tactics for the Dionia Navy, and strengthen training in order to regain maritime dominance in the future...

When the contents of this letter were read out in the Senate, it immediately caused an uproar in the venue.

This is the first time someone has told the truth so straightforwardly. Based on Morbar's reputation and position in the navy, what he said is more credible, but Carthage has always boasted of being a "maritime power in the Western Mediterranean" The fig leaf was torn off, which made many senators very dissatisfied with this, especially when he also mentioned "negotiating peace with Dionia", which touched some people's objections.

The Magonids, headed by Preeta Kuba, criticized this.They criticized Morbar for being too old and losing the courage of his youth. At a time when both countries had spent huge amounts of resources, assembled such huge armies, and were about to engage in an unprecedented war to determine the fate of the country, he said If he uttered these words that shook the morale of the people, if he hadn't known that he had made a lot of contributions to Carthage in the past few decades, he would have thought that he was a traitor to Carthage and wanted to sell out Carthage's interests, so in In such an important war, Morbar, who was already timid, was no longer worthy of serving as the commander of the Carthaginian navy.

The Hanno faction headed by Hanno strongly supported Morbar.They highly praised Morbar, whether it was because of his many achievements for Carthage in the past, or because he knew that saying these words would damage his prestige in the past, but he still said it bravely, which shows that He is a true patriot.Among the citizens of Carthage, there is no more experienced and knowledgeable naval admiral than Morbar. Even he thinks so, which shows that the Carthaginian navy is indeed at a disadvantage. In this case, it should take advantage of the newly obtained After a naval battle is won and there is no obvious decline, negotiating peace with Dionia is the most correct and most unselfish approach.

The centrists showed some differences on this issue.The younger senators, led by El Acra, believed that Carthage had spent a huge amount of money on this war. When the war was about to begin and the outcome was decided, it would suddenly have to negotiate for peace. Such a move would not only make the Carthage The people of the city-state will be confused, and there will also be protests from the nobles, and the Senate will not be able to explain to the citizens.And since Mago became the commander-in-chief of the Carthaginian army, he has not suffered a defeat in the battle with the Dionysian army (they obviously did not count Selinus’ night attack). Maybe the Carthaginian navy is better than The Dionian navy is worse, but the army commanded by Mago is still stronger than the Dionian army. Otherwise, why don't the Dionian army dare to take the initiative to attack us now?As long as the army in Sicily can win the battle, the entire battle situation will be very different. When the time comes, it will be war or peace, and we will have more initiative.

The old senators headed by Esiyaruba made vague suggestions: they could first send envoys to the Dionysian camp in the name of peace talks, and first understand the Dionysians' attitude towards peace talks and what they proposed. The conditions will be brought back to the Senate for discussion.

In fact, Esiyaruba feels that with the Dionians' diplomatic strength, under the current situation, the conditions they propose will definitely be more harsh, and the Carthaginian people will definitely not accept it. Dispel the attempts of compromise by the senators led by the Hannoists in the Senate, so that the entire Senate can work together to face this war.

But Hanno's idea was: Okriton had mentioned peace talks before, but everyone thought he was joking.And this time, even if the peace proposal fails in the end, it can leave a mark in the hearts of the elders.Wait until the next time the situation changes and bring it up again, then the possibility of success will be very high.

Since "peace with Dionia" is a very important issue, the senators have been arguing fiercely for several days and cannot make a decision at all.

However, they did not forget about business and sent someone to gently remind Morbar that the senators already knew about the letter he wrote and discussed it.As the naval commander, he should devote more energy to how to lead the fleet to protect the shipping lanes with western Sicily and annihilate more Dionia warships.

Morbar was very unhappy and drove the envoys of the Senate out of the Carthage military port.

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As one of the founders of the Dionian Navy, Sekerian has not failed for more than 10 years. He is quite popular among the people and is even more supported by the crew in the navy. Although Davos later deliberately attacked him There was some suppression, and he built four fleets without a commander, but he could not suppress his inner confidence and pride. However, in this naval battle, he was led by the Carthaginians from beginning to end. In the end, the Carthaginians After achieving his true goal, he was still kept in the dark. You can imagine how frustrated and regretful he felt.

After returning from Miloya, he locked himself in the bedroom and stayed alone for most of the day.

At dusk, he walked out of the room and asked the guards to immediately notify the commanders of the squadrons of the Sicilian fleet to come for a meeting.

Stefankas and the other three people hurried over.

After seeing them, Cyklian immediately told them the news he knew from King Davos.

The three of them looked at each other with indescribable surprise, especially Stefankas. He never expected that just when he led the squadron to pursue the Carthage merchant ship in the multi-island waters, Not far to the north, the Carthaginians boldly used thousands of merchant ships to transport supplies to the Sicilian army, without even noticing it!
Sekerian looked at the stricken three people and said in a deep voice: "This time we suffered a failure, but I don't blame you. The main responsibility lies with me. I was too rigid in carrying out the tasks given by His Majesty Davos. Obviously The Sicilian fleet has a huge advantage in strength, but it only focuses on patrolling the Sicilian waters, which is equivalent to changing from offense to defense. It will undoubtedly be very difficult to defend on the vast sea, and when encountering a cunning enemy, Let us be very passive!
Since the establishment of our Dionian Navy, even when it was at its weakest, we have won victory by relying on bold attacks rather than conservative defense. Attacking is the nature of our Dionian Navy, so I decided to change the previous approach. , proactively launch an attack on Carthage and its Phoenician allies, attack their territories in Africa, change our passive posture, and boost the morale of the entire fleet! "

The three of them were refreshed after hearing this, but they were also a little worried: "Your Majesty, your Majesty asked us to concentrate all our efforts on sealing off the Sicilian waters. If we attack, we will no longer be able to cruise. Your Majesty knows that we have not carried out his order, so that's—— "

"Don't worry!" Cykerian said confidently: "I remember His Majesty once said, 'Offense is the best defense.' As long as we carry out a few successful raids, the Carthaginians will worry about the safety of their homeland. If they no longer dare to let their fleet stay away from the African coast at will, it will also make it difficult for the generals of the Carthage fleet to judge whether the actions of our Sicilian fleet are offensive or cruising, which will be more conducive to our blockade of the Sicilian waters!

In addition, as far as I know, Carthage's territories and allies in Africa have never been attacked. If we succeed, it will be a great honor, and the Carthaginians will be greatly shocked. Maybe it will change the current stalemate in Sicily and have a more favorable impact on us! "

After being criticized by Davos, Sekerian thought behind closed doors for most of the day and considered it more comprehensively. He finished his thoughts with confidence and emphasized: "I have sent a messenger to Minoa to send me Tell His Majesty the new plan, I believe he will definitely approve it."

The three squadron commanders were immediately convinced by him, and Stefankas asked eagerly: "My lord, where are you planning to attack?"

Sekerian pointed his hand towards the map that had been prepared on the desk.

The three people came forward to take a look and couldn't help but exclaimed: "Hadrumentum?!"

(End of this chapter)