ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 990 Destroy Hardrumentum
In order to better control the Numibian region, the Carthaginians stationed 2 troops in the interior for a long time to suppress resistance and rebellions among the various tribes in Numbia at any time to maintain the stability of the region.After the war with Dionia, the number of this army is now less than 1.

"Since there are five or six thousand Dionia soldiers who attacked the city of Hadrumentum, the Numibian army alone may not be enough to repel the enemy. We should immediately attack the allies in and around the city. Carry out emergency mobilization, and believe that the people will participate as much as possible in order to defend their homes, form an army with sufficient numbers, join the army in Numibia, and go to repel the enemy."

When Carthage faced a crisis, Hanno did not object to Preta Kuba's opinion this time, but added: "In addition, we must also notify the neighboring alliances to prepare for defense to prevent this Dai After conquering the city of Hadrumentum, the Onian army continued to attack other allies. We also need to send ships to explore the waters around Carthage to prevent the Dionians and fleets from coming to harass Africa... "

This time, the useful suggestions put forward by the elders were quickly adopted and implemented immediately, with unprecedented efficiency.

The people in Carthage soon learned the news that "the city of Hadrumentum was attacked by the Dionians" and were very panicked.

Four hours later, an army of nearly 1 men was finally gathered in the city of Carthage. Under the leadership of Tepanlaco, they rushed eastward and met up with the army rushing in from Numbia on the way.

As they marched eastward together, the sky had darkened, but they did not need to light the torches, because the flames shot into the sky in the direction of Hadrumantum City, illuminating the eastern sky.

The Dionians not only slaughtered the people of Hadrumentum, but also burned the entire city? ! !The Carthaginian soldiers looked at the fire in the distance with both anger and panic in their hearts.

When Tepanlaco arrived with his army, he found that the situation was not as bad as he imagined: the city of Hadrumantum was indeed in ruins, but most of the people were safe and sound. Seeing that the fire was about to extinguish, they thought Not to be burned, they rushed into the ruined city one after another, searching for items that could still be used among the ashes...

After seeing the arrival of the Carthaginian army, many people rushed over and told Tepanlaco their tragic experiences with tears in their eyes:... After the Dionysian army entered the city, a small number of soldiers strangled those who were still in the city. The people of Hadrumantum tried to resist, and most of the soldiers rushed to the port.The horrified people of Hadrumentum suddenly discovered that the Dionians did not block the city gates and did not prevent them from escaping, so they fled outside the city and took refuge in neighboring city-states.More than an hour later, they suddenly saw fire burning in the direction of their motherland. Some people boldly came over to check, only to find that the enemy had disappeared without a trace, but the entire city was ablaze with fire. Can't be extinguished...

Taipanlako was relieved after confirming that the Dionia fleet and army had left, but then he should have a headache again: because these thousands of Hadrumentum who had no home and no food and clothing What should the people do?Arranging for them to be in trouble, this is the responsibility that Carthage, the leader of the Phoenician city-state in the Western Mediterranean, must shoulder!

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At this time, the Sicilian fleet had already left the port of Hardrumentum and had entered the western waters of Sicily.We are almost reaching the sea near Minoa.

When Seclian returned to the sea, he was particularly careful: in order to prevent the Carthaginian fleet from waiting on Selinus's route, he also ordered the fleet to make a small half circle to the east and go directly to Miloia.

But how did he know that Morbar, as usual, led the Carthage fleet early in the morning to the area between the western waters of Sicily and the waters of Carthage. On the one hand, he was exploring the movements of the cruising Dionysian fleet and looking for fighters among them; On the other hand, strengthen the training of the fleet in the state of battle, speed up the integration of new warships, and explore ways to counter Dionia tactics.

So when the clipper found the Carthage fleet and told Morbar the news that the Dionysian fleet had attacked Hadrumentum, he was also surprised.

He really wanted to lead the fleet to the sea near Serinus, waiting for work to rob the returning Dionia fleet, but when he ordered the fleet to change course and head towards Serinus, the Sicilian fleet had already Bypassing the island of Kossus, they were closer to Selinus than the Carthaginian fleet.

Seclian led the Sicilian fleet to quickly attack and return quickly to capture the city of Hadrumentum, destroy the East Phoenician combined fleet, and burn the entire city... It did not take much time, and the fleet infantry did not have too many Killing.

Of course, one of the main reasons for this is the request of King Davos. He does not want the citizens of the kingdom to become bloodthirsty monsters, nor does he want to excessively kill unarmed people, causing the Carthaginians and Phoenicians to Extreme hatred arouses hatred among the same enemies, and burning the city can not only cause panic in Africa, but also increase Carthage's financial burden.

Although the crew of the Sicilian fleet were tired, they were all singing happily. The shadow of the failure a few days ago had been swept away. They happily controlled the warship and sailed into the port of Minoa. A few of them The warships also carried property looted from the treasury of the city of Hadrumentum, as well as part of the crew of the captured East-Phoenician fleet.

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The burning of the city of Hadrumentum had an unprecedented impact on the people of Carthage and the Phoenician allies in Africa. On the second day, many Carthage people gathered in front of the Senate to petition, strongly demanding that the navy step up its attack on the city. Patrolling the African coast and strengthening the defense of Carthage and its allies to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.

The neighboring city-state of Phoenicia also sent envoys, asking for Carthage's protection.

With its own safety being threatened, the Senate certainly had no energy to discuss reinforcements for Sardinia, and an issue that had been debated for the past few days finally came to an end. The neutral senator El Acra acted as The envoy went to Minoa and asked to see Davos, the king of Dionia.

It was noon, and Davos was having lunch in the big tent. He specially asked his slaves to prepare an extra dining table.When El'Akla walked into the big tent, before he could speak, Davos invited him to dine with him.

"Honorable King Davos, on behalf of the Carthage Senate, I have important matters to discuss with you and I don't have time -"

Before El Acra finished speaking, he was interrupted by Davos: "Messenger of Carthage, you must be hungry when you come from afar, so eat something first. Otherwise, if a strong person is always hungry, But nothing can be done!" Davers said with a pun.

El Acra reluctantly sat down at the dining table. On the table were a bowl of hot fish soup, a plate of salty hard beef jerky, a bowl of sticky oatmeal porridge, two pieces of baked bread, and Had a glass of wine and the food was very simple.

El'Acra's face became a little ugly. Although he didn't want to eat, since he was entertaining the Carthaginian envoy, the food was too simple.

At this time, Davos said slowly: "Except for the wine, the food on your table is the lunch of the Dionia soldiers at noon today. You and I eat the same as them."

Will the food of Dionian soldiers be so rich? !El Acra was shocked, and then he felt that King Dionia was deliberately deceiving himself. After all, it was said that the Dionia army in Sicily was as high as 10 people.

Davos looked at his expression and knew that he didn't believe it, but he didn't explain much.

El Acra was not in the mood to eat at this time, he said loudly again: "The Senate of Carthage sent me here as an envoy, and I have a few things to discuss with you, the king!"

Davos took a sip of wine and nodded slightly to show that he heard.

"The day before yesterday, your Dionian fleet attacked the city of Hadrumentum, massacred the people in the city, and burned the entire town... Your approach is too cruel! Hadrumentum Although Mu is an ally of Carthage, they did not send troops to participate in this war, but they suffered such a terrible disaster, which has aroused the anger of all the Phoenician city-states in Africa towards you Dionia!—— "

"Messenger, the fact that the city of Hadrumentum did not send troops to participate in the battle does not mean that they did not participate in this war. Didn't they build new warships for you? Didn't they provide you with food?...At least we can be sure. Yes, they provided a base for the fleet from the Phoenician region in the Eastern Mediterranean! And it was this fleet that attacked our Sicilian fleet, leading to the death of the fleet commander!" Henepolis retorted unceremoniously: "You The Carthaginian army can mercilessly destroy Minoa, Agrigento, Gela and other city-states that are friendly to us in Dionia. Can't we burn a Hadrumentum! And a Hadrumentum is not enough to comfort the people of friendly city-states who have lost their homes!”

El'Acra heard the threat in Henepolis's words. He suppressed the urge to refute, grabbed the wine glass on the table, and took a big gulp of wine. As a result, he choked and coughed repeatedly. He took it easy. After a while, he said in a deep voice: "You just mentioned the fleet from the eastern Phoenician region stationed in the city of Hadrumantum. In fact, we Carthage did not invite them to participate in the war, but they After knowing that we had a war with you and encountered difficulties, based on our common blood, we obtained the consent of the King of Persia and took the initiative to send a fleet to assist us...

I know that you have captured many crew members of this fleet. The Carthage Senate hopes that you can release them and allow them to return to the Eastern Mediterranean safely, so as to avoid the Phoenician city-states of Tire and Sidon from taking these captives. Under the strong request of his relatives, he made another request to the Persian king, which led to the further expansion of the war. "

This is the Carthaginian threat!Henipolis frowned slightly and looked at Davos subconsciously.

(End of this chapter)