Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Dido didn't expect that the Dionysian official came up with such an idea, and all of a sudden, he was shy, irritable, worried, annoyed... Countless emotions formed a mess in his heart.

Carthage and Greece are somewhat similar in terms of marriage, and marriage matters are basically decided by the elders. But for Dido, the situation is special. Her mother died early, her father is now in a coma, and her father loves her and has long agreed to let her choose her own husband, otherwise she would not have been married at the age of 24. , so now it is entirely up to her to decide whether to marry or not. It's just that she never imagined that her marriage would be linked to the life and death of her father, the rise and fall of her family, and the future of thousands of people in southern Iberia.

She is as smart as she can't see that this is a trap designed by King Dionia and his subordinates, but at this moment, she is full of emotions, neither wanting to expose it, nor dare to make a rash decision.

But when she visited the unconscious Margo again, she finally made a decision and agreed to marry the Dionian prince Clotokatax.

The annexation of the southern Iberian colony of the former Carthage to the kingdom of Dionia was soon finalized.

Two days later, when Henipolis met Okridon, who had returned to Lilibe, he told him the news of the people of the southern colonies of Iberia voluntarily joined the kingdom of Dionia, and announced: Since Iberia The colony is no longer within the scope of the negotiation, and the kingdom requires a new negotiation condition, Hadrummentum and its territories belong to Dionia.

The betrayal of the Margonid family surprised Okredon, but at this time, Carthage was too busy to take care of himself, and he had no ability to crusade Iberia, which was hundreds of miles away. Neapolis protested: Carthage refused to negotiate with Dionysus unless Dionysus handed over the treasonous Margonides.

The two sides parted unhappily.

With Hadrumentum's example and Ruspina's example, Tapsos surrendered only on the second day after being besieged.

Alexis let the army rest for a while, that is, led the army westward. Two days later, they set up camp ten miles away from Addis City.

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 and the surrounding geographical environment in detail.

Samuels in the city of Addis was very nervous when he heard the news that the Dionysian army was approaching, and ordered the army not to attack and strengthen the defense.

The two sides faced off until early February. During this period, the Phoenician allies west of Carthage sent reinforcements one after another, increasing the number of Carthaginian troops guarding Addis to more than 20,000.

But at the same time, Samuels also got bad news: a large Numibian army appeared to the south of Addis.

Although the Carthaginian Senate also sent a lot of messengers to the tribes in Eastern Numibia, they used the previously established relationships and promised various benefits in an attempt to persuade them to remain neutral. However, the tribes of Eastern Numibia have established an alliance with Dionia, not to mention that at this time anyone with a discerning eye can see that Carthage is already sunset, how can they let go of this beating the underdog and making Eastern Numibia A great opportunity for man to completely escape the control of Carthage.

So the tribes of Eastern Numibia finally gathered more than 15,000 warriors, and they were going to rush to Hadrummentum to join the Dionian army, but Alexis sent a messenger to order them directly from the south March towards the city of Carthage.

At the same time, Alexis moved his camp further west, less than 5 miles from the city of Addis.

Summers is caught in a difficult choice. Originally, when he heard that the East Numibian army was approaching, in order to avoid being attacked from both sides, he had already started planning: first leave a part of the army to garrison Addis, and quietly lead the main force to the south quickly, and defeat the large number of people first. However, the Eastern Numibians, who were not very strong, rushed back and confronted the Dionysian army again.

However, the Dionysian army suddenly moved the camp to the lower part of the city of Addis, which meant that the movement of the Carthaginian army in the city was difficult to hide from the eyes of the Dionysians. Once the main force of the army went to attack the East Numibians, It is likely to be attacked by the Dionians.

While Samuels was hesitating, another piece of bad news came: another Dionysian army (actually a mixed force of part of the Dionysian Tenth Legion and Sicilian Fleet infantry, numbered close to 10,000) People) landed on the western coast of Carthage and surrounded the city of Diarrhytos (diarrhytos, the Phoenician city-state, west of the city of Carthage, about 100 miles away from it, adjacent to Utica), Diarrhytos Si hurriedly sent messengers to Carthage for help, and asked to bring back the civic soldiers who had previously reinforced Carthage.

Samuels knew that the Phoenician city-states in the west were empty of troops after they had recruited a large number of citizens. I am afraid that they would not be able to defend against the siege of the Dionysian army. If Carthage could not be rescued in time, the entire western The coast of Carthage will be as likely to fall as the east, but now there are big enemies approaching on both the east and south sides of Carthage, as the only powerful army in Carthage, how dare he lead it away.

But it is not a good idea to sit back and watch, because the news can only be blocked for a while, and it will take a long time for these Phoenician allied soldiers in the army to know that their home country has been or may be attacked by Dionysian. They will leave the army without hesitation and rush back to their home country. By then, the army has lost 1/3 or more of its troops, and this war to defend Carthage will be even more difficult to fight.

Summers finally made up his mind. He rushed back to Carthage and stated to the senate the danger the army was facing now, and proposed that the best way to solve the current predicament was to take the risk of fighting east of the city of Addis while the civic soldiers of the Phoenician allies were still there. The Dionian army fought a decisive battle, and after defeating it, and then led the victorious army to defeat the coming East Numibians, most of the crisis faced by Carthage was relieved. Nicky Allies.

The elders, after some debate, finally agreed to his proposal, as Hanno said: ...though it is a great adventure, there is at least a silver lining, and it is better than doing nothing and leaving the Dionians alone. It is better to besiege Carthaginian troops step by step until they are finally destroyed...

In order to increase the odds, the Senate carried out an emergency mobilization.

When Samuels returned to the city of Addis, he brought back 3,000 soldiers. They were either old people or young people. Carthage did their best for the decisive battle that was about to begin.

Although Atis was not far from Carthage, the unusual 3,000 soldiers were not a small number. They would soon be detected by the Dionysian scout and reported to Alexis.

In the early morning of the second day, Alexis, who had just woken up, received another report from the scout: the Carthaginian army was constantly walking out of the city of Addis and marching in the direction of the camp.

The Carthaginian army that had been standing in Atdis suddenly left the city! ...Alexis was not surprised, and continued to follow the previous rhythm, washed carefully, ate breakfast in a slow manner, and put on his armor... After everything was ready, he called Printoles and brought him with him. With the escort, and 300 West Numibian cavalry, rushed out of the camp.

After only advancing westward for more than three miles, I heard a loud noise coming from the front, and saw thousands of Carthaginian soldiers lining up on the flat grass...

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

This is obvious. After all, they can only choose this path, and there may be a little hope. The Taiji people will definitely do 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 big price... Commander, I am It is suggested that it is best to avoid a decisive battle with the Carthaginians at this time, and wait a few days, after the commander of Melisandre and their armies have successively captured the Phoenician city-states in the west, the strength of this Carthaginian army We will inevitably be weakened, morale will inevitably be low, and then we will advance and victory will be easier.

Alexis was lost in thought, and after a while, he shook his head and said: Printors, perhaps your suggestion is right, but I can't take it. We refuse to fight, and we want to wait for the Phoenicians in Carthage. All the soldiers of the Allied countries escaped and then attacked, but at that time the Carthaginian army was facing a joint attack by us and the East Numibians, and it is very likely that they would abandon Atis and directly retreat to the city of Carthage. With thick walls, a large population in the city, and a favorable position, even if we add all the fleet infantry of the Fourth Army, and the Numibians, if we lay siege to Carthage for several months, we may not be able to capture it.

Speaking of this, Alexis sighed: Didn't the person in charge of the fleet that came to deliver the rations the day before yesterday said that since the Tenth Corps also landed in Africa, the demand for the supply of baggage increased greatly, and they were hoarded in Lilibe and Africa. Serinus's military ration reserves have been used up, and His Majesty has sent someone to inform Catanai and Turii to urgently prepare a huge amount of military rations... Also, this season, the sea between Sicily and Africa is very windy and waves, and ships The team has encountered storms and waves many times during the transportation process and lost more than 10 ships...

As the war continued, we in Dionysus suffered more and more losses. Now there is an opportunity to defeat the main army of Carthage in one fell swoop and end the war as soon as possible, why should we give up! Besides... We have been standing still here for so long, Amyntas and the others are already very opinionated. If they avoid this battle, they will instead wait for the results of the 10th Army in the west. The first, second, third Those arrogant soldiers of the legion are probably going to protest, so we must fight this battle!

After hearing this, Printols thought it was very reasonable, and immediately said: Lord Commander, I am your staff officer, it is my duty to give you different suggestions for your reference, since you have already made a choice. , then let's start preparing for this battle.