Dido did not expect that the official Dionian proposed such an idea, for a moment, shyness, irritability, worry, and anger... Countless emotions were tangled in his heart.

Carthage and Greece have some similarities in marriage, and marriage events are basically determined by elders. But for Dido, the situation is special. Her mother died early, her father is now in a coma, and her father favors her, so she has long agreed to let her choose her husband. Otherwise, she would not have not yet married at the age of 24, so whether to marry or not is determined by herself. But she never thought that her marriage would be linked to her father's life and death, the rise and fall of the family, and the future of thousands of people in southern Iberia.

How could she not see that this was a trap designed by King Dionia and his men, but she was in a state of great thought at the moment, and she neither wanted to expose it nor dared to make a rash decision.

But when she visited Mago who was unconscious again, she finally made a decision and agreed to marry Prince Crotokatax, Dionia.

The annexation of the new colonies in southern Iberia in the former Carthage into the Kingdom of Dionia was soon finalized.

Two days later, Henipolis met Okri, who had returned to Lilibi again, and told him directly that "people from the southern colonies of Iberia voluntarily joined the Kingdom of Dionys" and announced that since the Iberian colonies were no longer within the scope of negotiations, the kingdom demanded that a new negotiation condition be added, Hadrumentum and his territory belong to Dionys.

Ocreton was shocked by the rebellion of the Margonid family. However, Carthage was unable to take care of himself and could not afford to attack Iberia hundreds of miles away. He could only protest to Heniporis in a scathing manner: Unless Dionya handed over the treacherous Margonid family, Carthage refused to negotiate with Dionya again.

The two sides parted in disagreement.

With the lessons of Hadrumentum and Ruspina as an example, Tepsos opened the city and surrendered on the second day after being besieged.

Alexis asked the army to rest for a while and led his army westward. Two days later, he set up a camp ten miles away from the city of Atis.

Alexis did not launch an attack immediately, but asked the soldiers to build a camp, while sending reconnaissance cavalry and mountain reconnaissance teams to investigate the enemy situation and the surrounding geographical environment in detail.

Samors in Attico was very nervous when he learned about the approaching of the army of Dionia and ordered the army not to attack and strengthen its defense.

The two sides confronted until early February. During this period, the Phoenician Allies west of Carthage sent reinforcements one after another, increasing the Carthage troops guarding Atis to more than 20,000.

But at the same time, Samors also got bad news: a large number of Numibian troops appeared south of Atis.

Although the Carthage Senate had sent many envoys to the tribes in East Numibia, using the relationships they had established before, promising various benefits, and attempting to lobby them to remain neutral. However, the tribes in East Numibia had established alliances with Dionia, not to mention that at this time, anyone with discerning eyes could see that Carthage had already sunset, so how could they let go of this painfully beat the dog and completely get rid of Carthage's control.

Therefore, the tribes of East Numibia finally gathered more than 15,000 soldiers. They planned to rush to Hadrumtuum and meet with the army of Dionia, but Alexis sent a messenger to order them to march directly from the south towards the city of Carthage.

At the same time, Alexis moved his camp westward again, less than 5 miles from the city of Atis.

Samors was in a difficult choice. Originally, when he heard the Dongnumibian army approaching, in order to avoid being attacked from both sides, he had already begun planning: leave a part of the army to guard Atis first, and quietly lead the main force to quickly rush to the south, and defeat the Dongnumibians who were large but not strong, and then rush back to confront the Dionia army again.

However, the sudden move of the camp to the city of Atis means that the mobilization of the Carthaginian army in the city is difficult to hide from the eyes of the Dionians. Once the main force of the army attacks the East Numibians, it is likely to be attacked by the Dionians.

When Samors was hesitating, another bad news came: another army of Diornian (actually a mixed force composed of some of the 10th Army of Diornia and the Sicilian fleet infantry, with a population of nearly 10,000) landed on the coast of the west of Carthage, surrounding the city of Diarrhytos (the city-state of Phoenicia, about 100 miles west of Carthage, adjacent to Utica). Derrorns hurriedly sent envoys to Carthage for help and demanded that his previous militias were transferred back to reinforce Carthage.

Samors knew that the Phoenician city-state in the west had been recruited by a large number of civilians, and they were all empty, and they might not be able to defend against the siege of the Dionian army. If Carthage could not rescue in time, the entire western coast would have the possibility of falling like the east. However, now there are great enemies approaching the east and south sides of Carthage. As the only powerful army in Carthage, how could he dare to lead it away?

But sitting still and watching is not a good idea, because the news can only be blocked for a while. Over time, these Phoenician soldiers in the army will know that their mother state has or may be attacked by Diony, and they will definitely leave the army without hesitation and rush back to the mother state. By then, the army will lose 1/3 or more of its troops, and the war to defend Carthage will be even more difficult to continue.

Samors finally made up his mind. He rushed back to Carthage, explained to the Senate the dangers the army is facing now, and proposed to solve the current dilemma. The best way is to take advantage of the fact that the civilians of the Phoenician Allied are still there to risk a decisive battle with the army of Dionia in the east of the city of Atis. After defeating it, he led the victorious army to defeat the East Numibians who were rushing to the Senate. Most of the crisis faced by Carthage was relieved and finally returned to the Phoenician Allied.

After some debate, the elders finally agreed to his proposal, as Hannover said: "... Although this is a huge adventure, there is at least a glimmer of hope. It is better to do nothing and allow the Dionians to siege Carthage's heavy troops step by step until they are destroyed in the end..."

In order to increase the chance of winning, the Senate carried out an emergency mobilization.

When Samors returned to Addis City, he brought back three thousand soldiers, either old men or young men. Carthage gave his all to the decisive battle that was about to begin.

Although Atis is not far from Carthage, the unusual 3,000 soldiers are not a small number. They will soon be discovered by the Deonia Scouts and will be returned to Alexis.

Early in the morning of the second day, Alexis, who had just woken up, received another reward from the scout: the Carthage army was constantly walking out of the city of Attic and marched towards the camp.

The Carthaginian army, who had been staying in Atis, suddenly left the city!...Alexis was not surprised. He still washed up carefully at the previous pace, finished breakfast slowly, and put on his armor... After everything was ready, he called Printoles and rushed out of the camp with his guards and 300 Sinumibian cavalry.

After walking west for only more than three miles, I heard the noise coming from the front and saw thousands of Carthage soldiers arranged in a row on the flat grass...

Alexis held the reins in both hands, smiled on his face, turned his head to Printols and said, "It seems that as we expected, the Carthaginians can't wait to come to us for a final battle."

"This is obvious. After all, they can only choose this path, and there may be a little hope." Printols stared at the front with a solemn expression and said, "But because of this, the Carthaginians who are already in desperate situations will definitely give their best to win this battle. Even if we surpass them in strength, we must not underestimate them. And I believe that even if we win in the end, we will pay a considerable price... Commander, I suggest that it is best to avoid a decisive battle with the Carthaginians at this time. After the army of the commander of the Melisander and their army conquered the Phoenician city-state in the west, the strength of this Carthaginian army will inevitably be weakened and their morale will inevitably be declining. When we march again, victory will be easier."

Alexis fell into deep thought. After a while, he shook his head and said, "Printols, maybe your suggestion is right, but I cannot accept it. We refuse to fight and want to wait for the Phoenician soldiers of Carthage to escape before attacking. But by then, the Carthage army faces our joint attack with the East Numibians, and is likely to give up Atis and retreat directly to Carthage. Carthage is high and thick, with a large population, and has a favorable terrain. Even if we add all the fleet infantry of the Fourth Legion, as well as the Numibians, we may not be able to capture Carthage for several months."

Speaking of this, Alexis sighed: "Didn't the person in charge of the fleet who came to transport military rations the day before yesterday? Because the 10th Army and they also landed in Afilica, the demand for supplies increased greatly, and the military ration reserves stored in Lilibi and Selinus have been used up. His Majesty has sent people to inform Katanai and Turiyi to prepare a huge amount of military rations again... Also, this season, the sea between Sicily and Afilica is relatively strong, and the fleet has encountered winds and waves many times during the transportation process, and has lost more than 10 ships...

As the war continues, the losses we have suffered from Dionia are getting bigger and bigger. Now we have the opportunity to defeat Carthage's main army in one fell swoop and end the war as soon as possible. Why should we give up? Besides... We have been holding troops here for so long, and Amintas and the others have already had a lot of opinions. If we avoid this battle, we will wait for the results of the 10th Legion in the west. The proud soldiers of the first, second and third Legion will probably come out to protest, so we must fight this battle!"

After hearing this, Printols felt it made sense and immediately said, "Mr. Commander, I am your staff officer. It is my duty to give you different suggestions for your reference. Since you have made a choice, let's start preparing for this battle."
Chapter completed!