Chapter 44 The 10-Year Past of Syracuse (1)

? Hanno on the surface agreed to send troops to Sicily, but he believed that Dionia's current military strength was strong, and the strength of the city of Carthage alone could not be absolutely certain to win, so he needed to gather the military forces in the hands of the Iberian governor Marco. Strength, because they have a large army all the year round, often fight with the natives of Iberia, and have rich fighting experience.

Logically, Hanno's request is reasonable and reasonable, and many elders have expressed their approval, but the elders of the Margonid faction such as Pretakuba are firmly opposed. They believe that although Margo has an army in Iberia , but this time the army was used to defend against the invasion of the Iberian natives. If they were transferred, Carthage's newly occupied land in Iberia might fall into the hands of the natives again.

For this reason, Hanno scoffed, and he laughed loudly: "Does Margo still need to guard against the attack of the Iberian natives! I heard that the chiefs of the Iberian natives often visited him in Sisi City, and he scolded them It's like scolding slaves. And I also know that the officials of Malaga and Cadiz went to Sisi to see Marco more often than to Carthage! The Iberian colony is now very stable , but Marco's military expenses applied to the Senate are increasing year by year, and his army is getting bigger and bigger. I don't know who he uses this army to guard against?! Shouldn't he use this relying on Carthage? Is the army supported by Chi's gold and silver serving Carthage?! If he doesn't agree, then does he have other ideas?!"

Hanno's words can be said to be heart-wrenching. Pretakuba was difficult to refute for a while, and many elders who accepted Marco's bribe were not able to speak for him at this time. Hanno's proposal was also received. The support of the centrist elders.

In the end, Hanno even said cruel words: "If Marco does not send troops, Carthage will not send troops to Sicily!"

The meeting broke up.

Soon, rumors began to spread in the city of Carthage: "Hano was afraid of Dionia, did not dare to send an army to fight, and was determined to violate the agreement with Rome, his close ally!"

However, another rumor was more widespread: "Margo refused to send an army recruited with the tax money of the citizens of Carthage to fight against Dionia because he wanted to be king of Iberia!"

This rumor caused an uproar in the city of Carthage. Many people gathered in front of the Senate to protest, calling Marco a traitor, and urging the Senate to revoke his position as governor of Iberia and transfer him back to Carthia base, stand trial.

When the news spread to southern Iberia, Marco and others felt somewhat depressed when they found out.

They know it well: that's the downside of not being the center of power in Carthage, so it's hard to control the situation. Although the Margonides family has a fairly stable foundation in Iberia, once it is separated from Carthage, it will become a rootless tree.

Of course they did not want to be betrayed by the Carthaginian people,

Hanno's approach can be said to hit their soft underbelly.

After Marco discussed with Haka and the others, a decision was quickly made.

So, a few days later, Pretakuba proposed at the senate meeting: "My lords, as a citizen of Carthage, Iberian governor Marco is of course willing to send his troops to fight, but he hopes to be able to serve as the leader of the attack on Sicily. Commander!"

It is true that with Marco's identity and military qualifications, no one among the citizens of Carthage dared to compete with him for the position of commander-in-chief, but how could Hanno let him do so, Taipanlacco immediately stood up and expressed his objection: "Iberian The situation in the Asian Peninsula is complicated, and there are many fierce natives. Once Lord Margo leaves, the newly dispatched governor is not familiar with the situation there, which may lead to instability in the newly occupied Iberia region. Is it in vain! So it is better for Lord Margo to continue to stay in Iberia, as long as the army is dispatched."

Pretakuba immediately retorted: "My lord, you should all know that the members of the Iberian army are complex, and most of them are foreign mercenaries. If they are led by outsiders, I am afraid that they will not obey the command. If the effect of the battle is not achieved, it will cause chaos. If the Senate is really worried about the safety of the new territory of Iberia, I recommend Hasdruba, the son of Himilko, to be the commander of the army for this expedition. He led the army to defeat the attacking natives, has rich combat experience, and is an equally rare general in Carthage!"

Changed from Marco to Hasdruba, the effect is not the same! Great idea by Margo! Hanno sneered in his heart.

As a result, the elders of the Hanoi faction expressed their opposition, and even Okleton shouted excitedly: "The army supported by Carthage's taxes does not obey the orders of Carthage, but only wants to obey the command of one man. Isn't this dangerous! How dare we hand over the command of the army to such a man, and put the city of Carthage in possible danger!  …”

Okleton's remarks can be said to be quite cruel, but he said that many of the elders were worried: the main members of the Margonid family have gone to Iberia, and they will not be able to return to Carthage for a year. Second, they had a huge army in their hands that was hardly composed of Carthaginian citizens, which had already worried the senate. Obviously not what the elders expected.

On this issue, Ace Yaruba, the leader of the neutral faction, aligned himself with Hanno.

In the end, with the support of the majority of the elders of the Senate, a resolution was passed: let the military commander of Numibia, Milefio, be the commander-in-chief of the expedition, and Marco did not need to go out, but Iberia must send no less than 20,000 Human armies fight.

This decision was not only the complete opposite of what Margo and others expected, but also greatly harmed their interests. Therefore, Margo, who received the news, delayed the implementation of the decision, but sent messengers to Carthage to lobby the elders with a lot of money.

In the back and forth between the two sides, the dispatch of troops to Sicily has been delayed.

………………………………

Just as the Carthaginian senate was arguing about the expedition, the council of Syracuse was also arguing fiercely.

More than ten years ago, Syracuse was the largest Greek city-state in Sicily, and even the most powerful city-state in the entire Greek world. Under the rule of the tyrant Dionysius, the Syracuses defeated the mighty Carthage. The Ji people, who conquered most of Sicily's land, became the overlord of Sicily. Dionysius even led an army of nearly 100,000 to the north, attacking Greater Greece across the sea, in an attempt to expand his territory.

However, in the half-year war with the newly emerging Dionysian Alliance at the time, the Syracuses, who were obviously superior in strength, were ultimately defeated in both naval and land battles, and even Dionia's army attacked. Went to Sicily, leading to a rebellion by the Syracuses that overthrew Dionysius and his family who were eventually betrayed by Sparta and murdered.

The people of Syracuse, liberated from Dionysius' dictatorship, decided not to repeat the same mistakes, and the populace entrusted the formation of a new Democratic government of Syracuse.

However, Haroris had other ideas. During the reign of Dionysius, he held important public offices in the city-state, and he also carefully studied the political system of Dionysius, so he opposed Dionysius because Dionysius was too cruel And the oppression of the people is too heavy, does not mean that he fully agrees with democracy. On the contrary, he believes that the democratic system is too free and loose, inefficient and easy to cause chaos, especially when Syracuse has experienced a fiasco and urgently needs to quickly restore its national strength, it should concentrate power and quickly make various Decisions in favor of city-state development.

Therefore, instead of forming a new government, he used his status as the highest wartime leader to frequently issue various resolutions, and these resolutions were often decided by him without consulting others. objection.

During this period, two things greatly reduced his popularity among the people.

The first thing is that The Argenes, a former important democratic figure in Syracuse, was arrested for his strong opposition to the rule of Dionysius. He was supposed to be sentenced to death, but he escaped because of the help of his friends. captivity and escaped from Sicily. After the overthrow of Dionysius, he actually returned to Syracuse with a few ships and some soldiers.

The people, on the basis of his previous heroic deeds against Dionysius, welcomed him warmly, and elected him a general in the assembly of citizens, hoping that he would enter the executive committee of wartime generals in Syracuse, Check and balance the growing power of Herolis.

But Hololis actually vetoed the election results of the citizens' assembly, and emphasized that "any resolution requires his approval." This incident made the people very angry.

However, in a previous resolution issued by Herolis, a large amount of fertile land that Dionysius once allocated to the mercenaries was allocated to the civilians of the port, and they were given full citizenship, so they got the people of the port area. and the full support of the freedmen.

In addition, in the executive committee of the wartime generals, Falecus, Staceikos... and others are all friends of Herolis and his supporters, so it seems that his power is unshakable.

The second thing is that although Dionia agreed to release the captured Syracuse soldiers and sailors, Davos put forward a condition, requiring Syracuse to make war reparations to make up for the Syracuse army's damage to the Syracuse army. The damage done by Great Greece was also the ransom for these captives.