Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Okleton stood up immediately, wanting to eliminate the influence of what the other party said just now on the elders: Pretakuba, do you know that the current Dionia is much stronger than the original Syracuse. They have at least ten legions and four fleets, and it is said that they have a population of 2 million. Their territory is also far from the land and city-state controlled by Syracuse at the beginning, so it can easily form 100,000 people. An army of men, and can we do it?! So we should not go to war with Dionia now, but to speed up our expansion in the African interior and strengthen our strength, so that we can win against Dionia in the future burden!

Pretakuba sneered: The future? When is the future?! Wait until Dionysus has completely occupied the whole of Italy?! I think now is the best time to go to war with Dionia! Because Dionia is going through Drought, they are short of food! Sirs should have not forgotten, we just rejected their request for food not long ago, let alone 100,000 people, I doubt whether Dionia can organize 50,000 soldiers is a problem !

And we have western Sicily, Numibia, southern Iberia, and we are allies with Rome, a powerful country in central Italy, and the kingdom of Mauritania in western Africa. Moreover, I heard that the Samonais who were defeated by Dionia last time and forced to form an alliance with Dionia are also very dissatisfied with Dionia, and they may be drawn over by us. Daren... You can see that Dionia seems to be powerful, but in fact it has made many enemies, and we have a great chance of winning!

Pretakuba's words aroused discussion among the elders.

Hanno, who had been silent all this time, frowned slightly when he heard the word southern Iberia.

At this time, he saw the leader of the neutral faction Ace Yaruba stood up with a serious face: Everyone, you all know that I don't like war, the war with Syracuse cost me a son, but I think One thing to remind you, over the past year, our trade from Carthage to Sardinia has dropped sharply! What is the reason?! I think you all know that we have sent judges to various Sardinian city-states After investigation, we obtained the truth that the people of these city-states secretly sailed to the Dionian cities of Enona and Poseidonia across the sea in Sardinia to buy clay pots, olive oil, and wine. , even livestock...etc.

Although our judges urged the Sardinian city-states to strengthen their governance, they did not stop, because the Dionians sold their goods at much lower prices than we did. Unlike the former Campania city-states, Dionia ignored our protests at all, and even restricted our merchants within Dionia, such as the recent Dionia business officials in Locri. Penalized a few of our merchants simply because they sold corn at a price higher than what Dionia had imposed. Tanit is above. The price of goods is determined according to the demand of the people. This is the trade principle followed by the merchants of various city-states in the Mediterranean. Dionia punishes our merchants for this. This is simply unacceptable!

Ladies and gentlemen, our ancestors of Carthage came here from Tyre, made a living by doing business, gradually prospered, and finally have today's strong, no prosperous trade,

There is no strong Carthage, and commerce is our root! I don't care how much land Dionia occupies, but now it is deliberately restricting our trade and trying to dig our roots, which must arouse our vigilance! We must also make a strong counterattack! Ask the Dionians to make concessions on trade!

Ace Yaruba's speech was deafening, and it even resonated with the elders:

Master Ace Yaruba is right! My family's caravan no longer sells wine to Sardinia, because only a few people buy it, and it's all the Dionysians who play tricks in it!

It's not enough to make Dionia make concessions on trade. As long as it continues to expand, there will only be fewer and fewer city-states and monopoly routes for our free trade. In the future, Carthage will be affected by trade. We must succumb to Dionia! We must destroy the kingdom of Dionia if we are to continue to prosper in trade!

Yes, we unite with Rome and wage war against Dionia! Regain our dominance over the Western Mediterranean!

...

Listening to these words in the venue, Hanno's face became more and more gloomy. He didn't know that Dionia's continuous expansion in the past few years was the biggest threat to Carthage's security, but he did not want to launch it at this time. There are two reasons for the war: one is that the occupation of Numibia is still unstable; the other is that although Margo was driven to the Iberian Peninsula, he occupied a large area of ​​land and built several towns there. , and appointed officials on his own. The orders of the Senate were always complied with and violated. Hanno tried to strengthen Carthage's management of those newly occupied territories many times, but some of the methods he took were unsuccessful in the end, which gave him a headache. . If a war against Dionia was launched at this time, it would just give the warlike family a chance to return to the Carthaginian Senate!

Operating in the Senate for more than ten years, Hanno has taken full control of it. Although the words of Pretakuba and Ace Yaruba greatly touched the elders in the venue, as long as Hanno did not finally nod his head, the elders who depended on him would not easily vote in favor of this proposal. A final decision cannot be formed because the number of supporters is insufficient.

And Hannuo was under pressure and didn't make a statement for seven days in a row.

………………………………

Cadiz, a colony established by the Phoenician powerhouse Tyre in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula. It is said to have been discovered hundreds of years ago, when a high-ranking officer in Tyre was en route to the Balearic Islands in a storm that blew the ship off course, past the Pillar of Hercules, and stopped on a beach After these lucky survivors expressed their gratitude to the god Melakat, they found that their place was located at the end of a long and narrow promontory, facing water on three sides, making it difficult to conquer by land and easy to enter by sea. It is an excellent natural harbour, so the colony of Cadiz was established here.

With the discovery of a large number of silver ore veins, iron and other metals in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula, the trade between the Phoenicians and the Tartessus Kingdom in the southern part of the Iberian Peninsula strengthened, and they actually controlled the entire southern Iberian Peninsula. Mining and metal ore processing industries, Cadiz became prosperous, and it soon became the main transportation hub for the Phoenician business activities in Iberia, and possibly even the entire Phoenician settlement in the Western Mediterranean. The most prosperous one. A large amount of silver from the Iberian Peninsula, mined, melted and processed, was continuously sent to Tyre to meet the needs of its suzerain Assyria, thereby winning more freedom for the Tyre people.

However, in the following hundred years, wars and hegemony in the eastern Mediterranean occurred frequently, the mother state of Tyre declined, and Carthage subsequently rose to replace Tyre's position. Through hundreds of years, all the Phoenicians in the Western Mediterranean were colonized. All points are brought under their jurisdiction, and Cadiz is of course no exception.

The ingots of silver and other metals processed in the city of Cadiz were first transported to Carthage, where the Carthaginians controlled all trade with the mother state of the Eastern Mediterranean.

After the Margonid family set foot on the Iberian Peninsula, according to the regulations of the Carthaginian Senate, they were not allowed to interfere in the government affairs of Cadiz. But after more than ten years of operation, Cadiz has been secretly brought under the control of the Margonid family.

On this day, a dilapidated merchant ship sailed outside the port of Cadiz. To the surprise of the people in the port, it was a group of Greeks.

As a result, the Cadiz City Hall, which received the news, immediately sent a patrol to detain the people on board. Only then did they know that the merchant ship was from the Kingdom of Dionia. It was originally going to the Greek colonial city-state Sagunto in the northern Iberian Peninsula for trade. Yes, but unexpectedly encountered a storm and the cargo ship was blown off the coast of Cadiz.

The friendship agreement between Carthage and Dionia stipulated that the Dionysians were not allowed to trade directly with other colonial city-states or affiliated city-states of Carthage except with Carthage, otherwise they would be punished, However, the punishment must be handed over to the officials of both sides for joint trial. If you stray into the territory of Carthage for some reason, you can let it leave after clarifying the situation, and you must not stay in place.

Therefore, after the Cadiz people understood the situation, they urged the merchant ship to leave, but the problem was that the merchant ship was too damaged and had to be repaired before it could go to sea. The Dionians were kept under house arrest in the hotel and were not allowed to go out. Of course, they had to pay for ship repairs and food.

During this period, someone slipped into the room of Ionis, the owner of the merchant ship. He claimed to be a Phoenician from Huelva. Mining slaves control the mining rights of several silver mines. There are several tons of silver ore mined every month. They could have made more wealth because of this, but Carthage forced them not to sell them, but to sell them. The mined metal ore was processed and sold to Carthage for much less profit. Therefore, his master is very dissatisfied with this and hopes to find a secret sales channel to sell the mountain of silver at a higher price...

Aionis was a little moved after hearing this. Once a freed slave of the Kunogolata family, and later a citizen, he became a merchant with the help of Sostatus, and he was in frequent contact with the patron Sostatus, and he knew Theo The Ministry of Commerce of the Kingdom of Nia has a concern.