Speaking of this, Heniporis raised his leg, tapped the negotiating table with his right hand, and said mockingly: "What's the result? The Carthaginian army in Sicily suffered a crushing defeat, with more than half of the 100,000 army losing more than half, and the rest was not far from destruction. At this time, it would be a bit inappropriate to use this condition to negotiate."

Ocreton's heart sank.

Henipolis looked aloof and said coldly: "Sinus this time, the main force of the fierce attack on the city of Selinnus is the army from Iberia, His Majesty is worried that even if the two countries reach a peaceful agreement, southern Iberia ruled by the Margonid family will become the biggest threat to peace between the two countries. Therefore, we have added two more to the original negotiation conditions-"

Heniporis stretched out a finger and said loudly: "First, give all the entire Carthage colony in southern Iberia to the jurisdiction of Dionia."

He then stretched out his second finger: "Secondly, Carthage must return all the land that occupied Numibia, give the Numibians independence, and not invade the Numibians' territory and interfere with the internal affairs of their tribes."

After hearing this, Ocreton's face changed drastically. He did not expect that the Dionians' request was so greedy and fierce, which had far exceeded the idea of ​​the Senate. Promise to the Dionians' conditions would undoubtedly shake the foundation of the Carthaginians. He did not dare to negotiate on these two newly added conditions without authorization. This trip was in vain again!

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"Master Publius, Turiyi is coming!" Roman agricultural officer Tibruce pointed ahead and said to the former Roman nobleman who was already exhausted and a little breathless, the newly promoted Dionian veteran Publius Manlius.

In fact, he didn't need to remind him. Through Publius's own observation, he felt that Turiyi was not far ahead. Because the road was getting wider and flat, the number of pedestrians increased sharply. Among them, there were many farmers carrying farm tools and mud. The houses on both sides of the road became denser and taller...

"Sir Publius, it's still 4 or 5 miles away from the inner city of Turiyin. You should ride your horse first, save some energy, and then come down at the inner city gate." Tiblius said kindly when he saw Publius gasping.

"There are 4,5 miles left?" Publius was a little surprised: Look at the density of houses on both sides of the road and the bustling crowds, it is not suitable to be given more than in some Latin city-states. It is still so far from the real city of Turiine. How huge is this central city of the Kingdom of Dionys?!

Publius once thought that the city of Rome was the largest city-state on this land. Now he looked ahead with regret and felt his own insignificance, which further strengthened his previous insistence: "No need to ride a horse, I have no problem walking, I can slowly enjoy the scenery of Turiyi City."

Because after passing through the Turiyi military camp, I heard the Roman officials who came back with him talk about that in addition to special positions such as cavalry, horse riding is generally not allowed in the inner city of Turiyi. Although the outer city allows it, strangers will be questioned and reminded by the inspection team, mainly because they are worried about hitting and hurting pedestrians. In order to keep a low profile, Publius quickly dismounted and walked, and at that time he explained it in similar words.

Tibruce guessed a little bit of his thoughts, so he didn't persuade him again.

"Ti Bruce?!" A shout suddenly came from behind. Ti Bruce looked back and saw a young man dressed in a farmer strode over and said excitedly: "Looking at the back is like you! I heard that you took the initiative to sign up to go to Latinum, and our group of people were still worried about you. Look at your thin appearance now, you must be very tired in Rome. Will you come back for a vacation or official business?"

"Public service." Tibruce said briefly, then turned around and introduced: "This is the newest veteran of the kingdom - Lord Publius from Rome."

The young man looked at him curiously, hesitated a little, leaned into Tibruce's ear and whispered: "Will he understand our words?"

"Mr. Publius is very fluent in Greek!" Tiblius said loudly, and introduced to Publius: "This is my former colleague, Asikalus, the farming officer of the Demo in the north of the outer city of Turiyi."

Publius smiled and nodded in greeting: "I'm glad to meet you, Asikalus Farming Officer!"

Asikalus looked slightly embarrassed, quickly squeezed out a smile, stepped forward, saluted and said, "Sir Publius, welcome you to Turiyi!"

"Tibruce and I are not just colleagues, but also neighbors since we were young. We studied together at Turiyi School, passed the exam together, and we happened to be assigned to the Ministry of Agriculture... Tell me if this is Hades' blessing, our friendship is not ordinary!" Asikalus said, putting his arm on Tibruce's shoulder and patted excitedly.

Although Publius didn't quite understand the Turiyi school and the exams in Asikalus's words, he still nodded politely.

Tibruce opened his hand hard and cursed: "Your hands are dirty, just wipe them on me!"

Asikalus immediately put on an angry expression: "Okay, Tibruce, I went to Latinum for a while and actually began to dislike us farm officials! What's wrong with the dirty ones! This is my testimony to guide the people of Tuliyi to complete the spring sowing!"

Although he knew his friend's distorted personality, his words still attracted Tibruce's attention and couldn't help asking: "How is the spring sowing going this year?"

"It goes without saying that of course it didn't go very smoothly!" Asikalus shrugged and sighed helplessly: "You should also feel in Latinum that this war lasts for so long and is so large. More than 40,000 young and middle-aged citizens have been removed from the Turiyi region one after another, and the returned soldiers are all wounded. Think about how much impact this has on Turiyi's agriculture. There is a very shortage of labor here now!

Not to mention the spring sowing, the previous autumn harvest had already hurt our Turi's agricultural officials. We applied to Chief Lycius, mobilized a large number of kingdom slaves, and by promising to shorten the period of becoming a kingdom citizen, attracting many free people (the wars in Sparta and Thebes and Athens became more and more intense, resulting in the Greek people moving to the Kingdom of Dionia under the guidance of those who are interested). Under our supervision, we finally managed to successfully complete the autumn harvest in Turi's region, but before we took a good breath, it was the turn of spring sowing again. Fortunately, this time-"

Asikalus looked at Publius, lowered his voice and said to Tiblius: "Turiy has another group of slaves from Latinum and Syracuse. They were all sent to Sardinia, and we Tuliy intercepted some of them. These slaves are good at managing farmland! In addition to the enemies from Greece captured in the Apriya region, the Tuliy region can ensure that there is no shortage of labor and can also provide assistance to the surrounding areas.

However, it is very laborious to supervise so much slave labor. Do you know why I have so much soil? That's because I often go down to the fields to demonstrate and teach them. If you come to the outskirts of Turiyi early today, you can see hundreds of preparatory soldiers and cavalry patrolling teams in various villages and fields to prevent these slaves from escaping or other accidents. The scene is quite spectacular!…”

Although Ascikalus's mention of Roman slaves made Publius feel a little embarrassed, he listened very seriously and learned a lot about Dionia.

After hearing this, Tibruce said with some concern: "It is not a solution to always use Kingdom slaves to solve the problem of lack of labor!"

"Of course this is only temporary." Asikalus immediately took over the conversation and said in a low voice in a mysterious manner: "Last night, a clutch from the south docked at the port, and a messenger rushed into the inner city Senate. I got inside information early this morning. After our navy completely defeated the Carthage fleet in the Carthage waters a few days ago, His Majesty Davers led the main army to completely defeat the 100,000 Carthage army in Selinus. The Carthaginians suffered repeated defeats. I am afraid that the war will end soon!"

When Publius heard this, he was shocked: Rome's ally, known as the richest and most powerful city-state in the Western Mediterranean, Carthage, was defeated so quickly?!

Tibruce asked what he wanted to ask: "Are all you said true?!"

"Of course it's true, the news is absolutely reliable!" Asikalus said confidently: "However, the Senate did not announce this good news to the outside world today. I guess... it may announce this good news at tomorrow's Kingdom Conference! By the way, Lord Publius, you are also here to attend the Kingdom Conference, right?"

"Ah...yes." Publius came to his senses.

"Hey, you guys!" A shout suddenly came from the front.

Publius looked at it in a daze and thought it was Roman soldiers who came to Turiyi. He saw a team of inspectors with red helmets and red armor walking straight towards them (the inspection team was originally black helmets and black armor, but it has only been used in red helmets and red armor in recent years, mainly to distinguish them from the kingdom's legion soldiers. At the same time, the red color is more eye-catching and it is convenient for official duties in cities with a large number of people).

The team officer in charge looked at their group of people and the horses held behind him with suspicious eyes, and then said with a serious expression: "Didn't you see a lot of pedestrians? You still blocked the middle of the road and blocked traffic. Go away quickly!"
Chapter completed!