Hannover believed that many neutral senators opposed Mago being the commander of the Carthage army because of this reason, but this reason could not be made public, because Mago had complained to the Senate many times over the years, saying that Iberian natives were numerous and fierce, and the army suffered too much loss, so he had to expand it and asked Carthage to increase salaries to the soldiers to ensure their morale.

Hanno encouraged the Senate to agree to Margo's expansion of the army, but on the grounds that "there is constant war in Numibia and the national treasury is tight", he always delayed paying wages, but instead asked him to find a way for himself.

Hanno gloated at that time and believed that even if Mago was undefeated in the hands of the Iberian indigenous people, he would have caused mercenaries to be rioted due to insufficient money and food.

Unexpectedly, Ma Ge actually survived. Not only did he conquer the vast area of ​​southern Iberia, but his family also lived a very prosperous life. When Hanno thought of this, he regretted it.

Many veterans are not very clear about the inside story, but it is obvious that some veterans who do not belong to these two factions are thinking about Pretakuba's words.

Seeing this, Tepanraco reluctantly reminded: "Don't forget that the Dionians have captured many of our citizens, and the army in Sicily is in a difficult situation now... Continuing to fight will only make their situation even more difficult. This is completely an indifferent and irresponsible approach to Carthaginian citizens!"

"I think it is the most irresponsible way to Carthage to propose a ceasefire and allow Dionia to concentrate its efforts to eliminate its powerful enemies in the north, Rome and Samone, thereby expanding its territory, increasing its population, and increasing the power of this kingdom again! Our choice of compromise will not only make Carthage betrayal of allies, but also miss the great opportunity to unite allies and attack Dionia together, which will make it difficult to be right.

It becomes harder to deal with! Ocreton, do you think Dionia will forgive us for tearing up the agreement and provoking war because of our truce?! Think about Tarantum! Think about Syracuse! By then, Dionia, which has stabilized, will organize more than 100,000 troops to attack the western part of Sicily. After occupying it, they will send naval transport troops to land in Afriga and attack here on a large scale! Attack Carthage!"

Pretakuba pointed at the ground, looked around the crowd, and said in a deep voice: "Everyone, if you want Carthage to be a free city in the Kingdom of Dionia, then - send someone to negotiate peace!"

Pretakuba's words suddenly made the noisy venue fall silent.

After a moment, Ocreton said in a furious manner: "I protest! Pretakuba is... this is... a malicious slander! All I ask for is a temporary truce... in order... to save our captured citizens!..."

Ocreton's stuttering words made Hanno frown. He knew that he could no longer remain silent and could never let his side, who was already in trouble, fall into an embarrassing situation of being criticized by others, so he stood up.

Suddenly, everyone's eyes on the venue were focused on him.

"Whether Ocredon requested a temporary peace agreement with Dionia or Pretakuba insisted on continuing the war, everyone was for the interests of our Carthage, but their opinions were different." Hanno said in a deep voice: "Now Carthage is in a difficult situation, with a large army defeated and citizens captured, and the territory of Sicily is invading by the Dionians... We should work together to overcome difficulties, rather than quarrel here for personal grievances and quarrels, and ignore the interests of the city-state! I suggest that sending an envoy to Sicily and asking the Dionians to redeem our captured citizens is not only a matter of demanding that we pay a lot of food but also a waste of time.

At the same time, although I have had conflicts with Lord Mago in the past, what are the gains and losses of personal gains and losses in the face of Carthage's national interests? Since Lord Pretakuba strongly recommends Margo as the new commander of the army and fight against Dionia, most of the veterans here think he is the most suitable candidate, and I have no objection to this, so I suggest that the Senate appoint Margo as the new commander of the Carthage army, fight against the Dionians in Sicily, and win the victory for Carthage!…”

After Hanno said that, Ocreton was stunned, Pretakuba was suspicious, and the elders on both sides were surprised. Suddenly, the venue fell into a strange silence.

"Ba!Ba!Ba!Ba!..." Aesyaruba's applause broke the silence of the venue, and some elders also applauded. In the face of the enemy, the two major political forces in Carthage can bridge the contradictions and fight the enemy together. This is what any elders who are worried about Carthage's safety hope to see, so they offered the applause to Hanno without hesitation, completely forgetting that it was because Hanno refused Mago's participation in the war and personally appointed Monteadno as the commander of the army that led to a disastrous defeat.

When the applause rang out throughout the venue, Hanno breathed a sigh of relief: although he had to make concessions to the Margonid family, he temporarily avoided some of the accusations against him by some veterans and regained the initiative.

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After winning the battle of Minoa, Leottizides easily captured the camp of Carthage and seized a large amount of supplies, including mountainous grains, which greatly alleviated the tension of the Dionian Navy and Army in Sicily. The Dionian troops, who were pursuing the defeated soldiers, occupied Germet and enjoyed the hot spring bath. In order to prevent the lonely army from going deep into the attack, they all returned to Minoa under his command.

The next day, Leotizides began to rectify the troops, rescue the wounded, transport supplies... At the same time, closely monitor the enemy's movements.

As a result, the information sent back by the spies surprised him: the Carthagen soldiers were not all hiding in Selinus, most of them retreated to Lilibi, and only a small part remained in Selinus, including the remaining soldiers of the Carthagen Holy Legion.

Leotitzides immediately realized that this was another advantageous fighter. In order to scare away the enemy, he asked 4,000 heavy infantry of the Eighth Legion to take a fleet, and under the protection of naval warships, he landed on the beach west of Selinus to cut off the return of the defeated soldiers. At the same time, he led a unit of 20,000 people to advance west along the seaside road.

The people who stayed in Selinus were the Holy Corps led by Millefio and some Carthage militias, which was not Monteadno's original intention.

It turned out that after the defeat in the Battle of Minoa, most of the Carthage soldiers fled to Selinus. After they were exhausted, they spent the night in fear and anxiety. Monteadno, who was in a state of dismay, had to continue to lead the troops to flee west, but Millefio clearly expressed his opposition.

As Hannover's son-in-law, Millefio felt that this failure would have a great impact on the Hannover faction. If he ignored the strong retention of friendly countries, abandoned his allies, and allowed the Dionians to invade Carthage's sphere of influence, he would never have a good end after returning to Carthage. Besides, there are still many defeated soldiers who are lost in the mountains and need to stay in this city for a period of time, waiting for their return. After all, Millefio, a famous family member of Carthage, has his own pride and persistence.

As the failure of this battle reduced Monteadno's prestige, some of the defeated soldiers were willing to follow Milefio and stayed. After many persuasions failed, Monteadno left them in anger and hurriedly retreated to Lilibi with an army mainly composed of Numibians.

Millefio was actually very nervous, but when he learned that the Dionians retreated from Germet, he breathed a sigh of relief. In addition, the defeated soldiers who kept fleeing back, the strength of the city of Selinnus reached 3,000, which gave him some confidence.

And just then, Millefio got the news that a Thousands of Dionian army landed on the west side of Selinus.

While he was panicked, he could also report the emergency war: Tens of thousands of troops from Dionia were setting off from Minoa and moving quickly west along the seaside road.

Millefio immediately realized: Next, his Selinus became the first target of the Dionians.

What to do? Millefio, who had just experienced a crushing defeat, was in a difficult choice: lead the army to retreat immediately before the enemy arrived? But he had sworn to Monte Adno before, and now he had lost his battle before he could fight. I don’t know what kind of face Monte Adno would mock him; leave him to persevere? With the 3,000 troops in the city and the citizens of Serenus, he might be able to hold on for several months.

However, some of the team officials under Millefio expressed their opposition, believing that the soldiers had just experienced defeat and were depressed. Moreover, the defeated soldiers came from multiple troops, and it was difficult to command the battle, let alone tacit cooperation.

More importantly, a team official pointed out that to stick to Selinus, there must be sufficient food supply. The city of Selinus is not equipped with enough food reserves, and it is probably impossible to support the army's long-term defense operations.

It turned out that the Carthage army attacked eastward and took away the food stored in the city when passing through Selinus. As a result, Minoa fought and all the supplies stored in the Carthage camp were seized by the enemy.

Millefio, who was inexperienced and worried about the war, suddenly realized that he had made a big mistake, but it also gave him a reason to return to Leli so that he would not be criticized.

Just as Millefio gathered his troops and was about to withdraw, the senior officials of Selinus received the news and immediately rushed to dissuade him.

Millefio had to take some time to convince them, and finally, under the attack of the Selinusians' words and tears, he had to give up his efforts and send soldiers to disperse him and prepare to force him out of the city.
Chapter completed!