Chapter 25 Breaking the Agreement and Raining

Pretakuba increased his tone and shouted sharply: "Use various means to attack the merchants of Carthage, restrict their trade in Dionia, and violate the agreement and use tricks to quietly trade with Sardinia! More! What makes us angry is that you even coveted our silver mines, and sent people to the Iberian Peninsula to steal the silver bullion we were going to sell to Tyre many times!

The people of Carthage are outraged by the despicable actions you Dionians have done against Carthage, and urge our senate to take revenge. But based on the long-standing friendship between the two countries, the Senate sent me to protest against you, and asked you to ensure that you do the following, so that the friendship between the two countries can continue to be maintained! "

Pretakuba's remarks made the entire Senate hall boil. The elders, who had been used to the respectful attitude of visiting foreign messengers for more than ten years, were shocked by the arrogant attitude of the Carthaginians, and even more angered by him. .

The anger and scolding of the Dionysian elders immediately filled the entire venue.

Pretakuba was not afraid at all. He turned around and faced the man in the center and rear of the venue. Although he was coming to Turii for the first time, he knew who the real person in this kingdom was.

After getting the information from Aristillas in the morning, Davos was already mentally prepared, but he didn't expect the envoy of Carthage to come so quickly.

At this moment, he looked calm and said slowly: "Tell me, what does Carthage have?"

As soon as he said that, the venue was much quieter.

Pretakuba was surprised at the extent to which Davos controlled the Senate. At the same time, Davos' face was neither angry nor happy, which gave him an unfathomable feeling. He calmed down and said loudly again: " Carthage's request was,

First, compensate several Carthaginian merchants who had been punished in Dionia before, and allow Carthaginian merchants to sell grain in Dionia without any price restrictions.

Second, immediately stop any trade with Sardinia from your west coast towns and never sell anything to it.

Third, Dionia completely opened the domestic market to Carthage, allowing Carthaginian merchants to trade freely without any interference;

Fourth, no ships of Dionia may cross the waters south of the line Malta-Solus-Sardinia-Balearic Islands.

Fifth, do not interfere with any actions of Rome, the ally of Carthage, and cease hostility to it..."

After Pretakuba said this,

Instead, the venue became silent.

Davos let go of the hands that had just grasped the armrests of the wooden chair, looked at the elders with fire in their eyes, took a deep breath, and shouted loudly: "The elders of Dionia! The elites of the kingdom! For Carthus Can we accept the rude demands of the base people?!"

"No!!!" An angry shout broke out in the venue, almost toppling the entire roof.

The guards guarding outside the venue were also taken aback by the movement in the big council hall. They looked at each other, guessing what happened inside.

At this time, a soldier suddenly pointed to the square in front and said excitedly: "Quick! Look! Look! Rain... It's rain!"

Originally due to the 8-month drought, the ground on Victory Square that had become a bit dry and cracked, now there are dots of black spots, and these black spots are increasing rapidly.

The people of Turi who were lining up in front of the Turi Fountain, ready to draw water, put down their clay pots and stretched their hands to the sky, and then the disbelief on their faces turned into ecstasy: "It's raining!! It's finally raining!!! Thank you Hades for bringing us rain!!!..."

Just as they were ecstatic, there was thunder rolling in the sky, the once disgusting sunny sky suddenly darkened, and the wind suddenly picked up.

The sparse raindrops quickly became dense, and it turned into pouring rain in less than a moment...

When the captain of the guard rushed into the venue, Davos suddenly stood up from the wooden chair, looked down at the Carthaginian envoy in front, and said word by word: "This is the answer of our Dionysian Senate! "

Pretakuba had long expected Dionia to respond, raised his head high, and said solemnly: "In this case, Carthage can only cancel the friendly agreement with Dionia, and I want to remind you , Rome is the alliance of Carthage, if you go to war with Rome, Carthage will help Rome according to the covenant!"

Davos raised his eyebrows and was about to respond.

The excited voice of the captain of the guard sounded in the venue: "Your Majesty! Ladies and gentlemen! It's raining! It's raining in Turiyi!"

These elders, who have always shown prudence and wisdom in front of the people, couldn't hide their excitement when they heard this, and they ran out of the venue immediately, ignoring that an important meeting was being held.

Although it was still afternoon, the sky in Turii had grown dark. Even though there were eaves outside the main entrance of the council hall, the strong wind still sent large tracts of rainwater in, completely splashing the entire steps and platform.

The thin Bolton on the elders was soon wetted by the rain mixed with the strong wind, and the chill penetrated to the bottom of their hearts, but the elders did not realize it. Enter the rain screen and enjoy the scouring of the heavy rain.

Just when the elders were ecstatic, a passionate voice sounded in their ears: "This is a divine omen! Hades' divine omen! When Syracuse invaded Dionia, Hades let Tutu The fountain was resurrected, and we defeated the mighty Syracuse! Today, in the face of the threat of Carthage, Hades once again sent us the rain we desperately needed. With his blessing, we have nothing to fear!" Sinnas raised his arms and shouted.

His words inspired the elders, and even Cornelus, Lysias and others who were worried about the war with Carthage also increased their confidence.

Pretakuba disagrees.

At this time, Davos's voice sounded in his ear: "Actually, I am glad that Carthage cancelled the friendly agreement with us, and I welcome you to launch a war against Dionia, so that we can have a chance. Avenge those Dionian sailors and merchants who were burned to death by your cruel flames!"

Pretakuba turned his head to look at Davos with a serious face, and said proudly with confidence: "Carthage is not something that Dionia can defeat now!"

A sneer appeared on Davos' face: "Just because of the Carthaginian civic soldiers who were tortured by the Numibian riots? Or the mercenaries owned by the almost independent Iberian kingdom occupied by your master Margo. Did the soldiers give you confidence?"

Pretakuba's face darkened: How could the Dionians know so much about the inside story of Carthage? !

After experiencing the excitement of the rain, the elders returned to the venue.

Then they will face the possible threat of war in Carthage, but none of the elders has resolutely rejected the proposal of the Carthaginian messenger before regretting it at this time.

The elders who can sit in this position are not fools. From the harsh conditions put forward by the envoys of Carthage, they have deeply felt the hostility of Carthage to Dionia. As one of the most powerful countries in the Western Mediterranean, Dionysus could not possibly accept these humiliating terms of peace talks and hamper his own development, much less stop the Volsci for fear of the Carthaginians' declaration of war. 's rescue. In the event that a major war may come, this approach will only drive away the many native Italian forces who may be Dionia's aid. Since the assistance to Wolsey cannot be cancelled and is imminent, if what the Carthaginian envoy just said was the original intention of the Carthaginian senate, not just intimidation, the war with Carthage would soon come.

Therefore, the elders began to discuss with King Davos how to prevent war.

The first thing to solve is the food problem. As long as the food supply is sufficient, the kingdom of Dionia can muster enough soldiers to deal with any enemy invasion, so the Minister of Agriculture Bulcos was asked: In the next few days, continue to observe the weather conditions, if southern Italy There are continuous rainfalls in all parts of the country, so the Ministry of Agriculture should take action and let the people of Dionysian replant some fast-maturing crops to reduce the pressure on food, and at the same time make careful preparations for next year's spring ploughing.

At the same time, the elders also requested that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs send envoys to Egypt to try their best to establish friendly relations with the Egyptian pharaohs, hoping to obtain food aid from this country, which has the reputation of "the largest granary in the Mediterranean".

In addition, they advised King Davos to suspend negotiations with Kautini and avoid taking too hard a position to force the Samonites to succumb to Carthage in a possible upcoming war.

They also suggested that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should try to send envoys to the various forces in the Western Mediterranean to try to make them stand on Dionysian's side in the war.

Those Greek city-states on the southern island of Sicily that are friendly with Dionia, such as Gera, Agrigento, Tindarius, etc., are the first targets that Dionysian envoys want to visit, and must ensure that Before the arrival of the Carthaginian army, make them stand firmly with Dionia, and provide a certain food supply for the Dionysian army to relieve the logistical pressure of the Dionysian army.

Although, over the past ten years, Syracuse has suffered great losses due to successive civil strife, but the skinny camel is bigger than a horse, and it is still the largest Greek city-state in Sicily (except the Sicilian city of Dionia). ), even though it has been at odds with Dionia and rarely communicated in recent years, the elders still hope that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will send envoys to win over Syracuse as much as possible, or at least keep it neutral.