Crotokatax scratched his head with his hands, showing a childish expression: "I said I performed well, but I should be careful... because my father also wrote back to me."

Ascesters smiled heartily and said, "You hurriedly came here just now. I didn't even have time to eat dinner. It just so happened that today is the first day of the new year. You should have dinner with me. Then we eat and discuss how to hold a fishing competition tomorrow. I decided that you will be responsible for organizing this matter."

"Me?" Clotokatax was a little surprised.

"No confidence?" Ascesters looked at him with a smile.

"No problem!" Crotokataks responded immediately.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The two newly added negotiation conditions of Dionia shocked Ocreton. He dared not continue the negotiations. He ruthlessly said that the matter required the Senate to discuss and decide. He returned to Carthage without stopping for a moment, but did not report the matter to the Senate immediately, but reported it to Hannover first.

That night, several important Hannover veterans and other important Hannover sects rushed to Hannover mansion one after another.

When Ocreton repeated the situation of his negotiations with the Dionians in Sicily, the expression on everyone's face became solemn.

"Lord Hannover, the Dionians proposed such harsh negotiation conditions, which is a provocation to us, and we must not agree! If the Dionians force us, we will stop the negotiations!" The first to speak was Delevika, the most active supporter of Hannover's "inland expansion policy", and of course he also received a friendly return from Hannover, which allowed his family to occupy a large area of ​​land near theveste (a town in East Numibia, inland south of Carthage).

"If we do not negotiate, then the Dionians can continue to destroy our remnants of Sicily, take the entire western Sicily for themselves, and then regroup the army, land in large numbers on Africa, and attack us Carthage... It's not that we want to negotiate, but that the enemy is strong and we are weak, the situation is grim, and we force us to negotiate!" Samors sighed with a dark look. He was the most familiar man in the Hannover faction since Monte Adler. Now he is leading thousands of Carthage militias stationed in East Numibia to suppress rebellion and stabilize order. This time he specially called him back, which shows how Hannover attaches great importance to it.

"The Dionians want Corsica, Sardinia, and western Sicily! Now they want southern Iberia and we want us to return the land of Numibia!... If we all agree, can the Dionians be satisfied? No, our weakness will only encourage their greed. They will not only add new negotiation conditions, but will even send large troops to land in Afilica and threaten us Carthage! Since the situation is already so bad, why don't we become harder, but will make the Dionians have some concerns!" Delevika retorted.

Hanno listened to the two of them's debate and made no statement. He turned his head and asked, "Teppanraco, what about your opinion?"

Tepanraco pondered and said, "The key issue now is that we must first determine whether the Dionians really want to negotiate with us? If so, then we will try our best to negotiate with them in order to finally get a good armistice agreement for us; if not, then we must prepare for the war with all our might and prepare to defend against the Dionian army's invasion of Afilica!"

After hearing this, Hannor looked at Ocreton again: "You have been negotiating with the Dionians for a while. In your judgment, do the Dionians want to have a peace talk? Or don't want to have a peace talk?"

The question was very heavy, Ocreton did not answer immediately. He pondered for a while before speaking: "Dionians had only seen their king at the beginning. He was quite friendly to me. After that, I asked him to see him again several times, but I was rejected. I think this is not because his anger towards us Carthage is increasing, but because he wanted to negotiate with Carthage, and was worried that he would make a decision under my begging to interfere with the plan of the Negotiator of the Dionys.

Secondly, I deliberately angered the negotiator of Dionia several times, and threatened to "stop the negotiations, let the Carthaginians prepare for the war with Dionia to the end!" But when I appeared in the negotiation room again on the second day, Dionia's negotiating officials were still waiting there. Although they were sarcastic words, they still allowed the negotiations to continue. According to my observation, the official was a very arrogant person, but being able to endure this way, which just shows that they had expectations for the negotiations.

However, it is understandable that the Dionians want to get more in the negotiation, just as we hope to give less in the negotiation. So in the negotiation, we are all watching the development of the battle, but unfortunately Mago failed, the Dionians have a greater advantage, and of course they want to get more.

Moreover, during my conversation with the Dionian negotiator, I discovered that the Dionians defeated the army of Commander Mago this time, and did not pay a lot of money... I carefully observed the Dionian soldiers I saw, all of them were arrogant and could not see the look of burnout in the war..."

The faces of the people in the house changed drastically.

After a while, Teppanrako reluctantly said, "... Maybe they pretended to show it to you, and then put pressure on you."

"Silly Ma Ge! He is a sinner of Carthage!" Delevika cursed angrily.

Hanno, who was usually incompatible with the Margonide family in the Senate, did not scold Mago loudly at this time, but sighed with concern: "Drevika, you said it well before. The greed of the Dionians can be changed. Perhaps the Dionian king did have the intention to negotiate, but as the strength gap between the two sides became larger, it is inevitable that they would not have other ideas! Judging from the current situation, we must admit that the Dionians have absolute advantages in both the navy and the army. We must first try every means to strengthen the military preparations of Carthage and dispel the Dionians' desire to eliminate us! Samors, what suggestions do you have for this?"

Samors was hesitant and did not answer for a moment.

"It's time now, just say whatever you have!" Hannor was a little impatient.

"Sir Hannover, then I'll say it." Samors simply took the initiative and said bluntly: "The Sicilian army suffered a crushing defeat, and the entire sea was completely blocked by the Dionys Navy. The remaining troops on the island could no longer have any hope of escape, and they would eventually surrender to the Dionys. Now the Dionys have put forward such harsh negotiation conditions. Before reaching an agreement, they should not be able to release the prisoners. So once the Dionys have solved the Sicilian problem, they really landed in Afilica and launched an attack on Carthage, how many soldiers can we organize to defend Carthage? How much food do we have to ensure that Carthage will last longer under the siege of the Dionys army? How many foreign aid can we provide help to us when Carthage is in danger?..."

Samors' question made several people in the room change their faces.

As Sophit this year, Ocreton coughed a few times and said reluctantly: "After the young and middle-aged Carthage landed in Sicily for the first time, he suffered considerable casualties. After that, Ma Ge forced us to recruit more than 10,000 civilians, and now they are trapped in Sicily. At the same time, nearly 8,000 citizens are stationed in Numibia, and you are in command.

If the city wants to force the recruitment, it may be possible to organize more than 4,000 people, including the elderly and young people (Although Carthage is the most prosperous city-state in the Western Mediterranean and looks like a large population, in fact, there are not many real citizens, and more slaves, especially the Numibians. The Phoenicians are just a small race in the entire Mediterranean, so although their level of civilization and technological capabilities are stronger than that of the Greeks for hundreds of years, they have basically been at a disadvantage in the conflict of immigration waves in the Western Mediterranean. This is the main reason.).

But I can guarantee that the food is sufficient. Due to the blockade of the Dionian fleet, most of the rations we collected from Numibia and the Allies, which were not sent out for the Sicilian army, were enough for the people of our city to eat for more than three months, and don’t forget that there is food at home. It is absolutely fine to persist for half a year under the siege of the Dionians!

As for the foreign aid you mentioned... the entire Phoenician city-state of Afilica is the help of our Carthage, and the Dionian army will be unable to move forward on this land."

Ocreton's comfort obviously did not achieve the effect. Samors's expression was still solemn and said in a deep voice: "Although Carthage has lagoons and hills as barriers, 4,000 people are not enough to resist the attack of the Dionians. The eight thousand soldiers stationed in Numibia should be transferred back to strengthen the city's defense.

In addition, the Phoenician Allies that Lord Ocredon just mentioned are our help. I do not agree with it. I think the Phoenician Allies in Afiliga will be our burden. Most of their young and middle-aged citizens have been transferred to Sicily by us. Once the Dionian army really lands in Afiliga, the Phoenician Allies that do not have the power to protect themselves may ask us for help. Should we send reinforcements at that time?

If dispatched, it will not only weaken our already small defense, but will also put reinforcements in danger of being attacked by the Dionys army at any time; if not dispatched, will the Phoenician Allies still trust us? Maybe they will directly turn to the Dionys! And—”

Literature Museum
Chapter completed!