Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 44: Ten Years of Syracuse (Part 1)

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On the surface, Hanno agreed to send troops to Sicily, but he thought that Dionia was now strong in military power, and the power of the basic city of Cartha alone could not be won with absolute certainty. Therefore, he needed to gather the hands of the governor of Iberia, Margot. Because they have a large army all the year round, they often fight against the indigenous people of Iberia and have rich combat experience.

According to reason, Hanno’s request is reasonable and many elders have expressed their approval, but Preta Kuba and other Margonid elders are firmly opposed. They think: Although Margot has An army, but this time the army is used to defend against the invasion of the Iberian indigenous people. If they are transferred away, the newly occupied land of Carthage in Iberia may fall into the hands of the indigenous people again.

For this reason, Hanno sneered, he sneered loudly: "Does Margo still need to guard against the Iberian natives? I heard that the Iberian leaders often visit the city of Sexi. Going to visit him, he berates them like slaves. And I also know that officials from Malaga and Cadiz go to Sisi to visit Marco more often than they go to Carthage! Iberico The Asian colony is now very stable, but the military expenses that Margot applied to the Senate is increasing year by year, and his army is getting bigger and bigger. I don’t know who he uses this army to guard against?! Isn’t he not? Should I use this army supported by Carthage’s gold and silver to serve Carthage?! If he disagrees, does he have any other ideas?!"

What Hanno said can be said to be a sentence of condemnation. Pretakuba was unable to refute it for a while, and many elders who accepted Margot’s bribes were unable to speak for him at this time. Hanno’s proposal It also received the support of the neutral veterans.

Finally, Hanno even said cruelly: "Marco will not send troops, Carthage will not send troops to Sicily!"

The meeting broke up unhappy.

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

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

This rumor caused an uproar in the city of Carthage. Many people gathered in front of the Senate to protest, calling Margot a traitor, and strongly demanding that the Senate revoke his position as governor of Iberia and transfer him. Go back to Carthage and accept trial.

When the news spread to southern Iberia, Margo and the others felt a little depressed after learning about it.

They know very well: This is the ill of Carthage not being the center of power, so it is difficult to control the situation. Although the Magonis family has a fairly stable foundation in Iberia, once it leaves Carthage, it will become a rootless tree.

Of course, they don't want to be abandoned by the Carthage people. Hanno's approach can be said to have severely hit their weakness.

After discussing with Hakkar, Margot quickly made a decision.

Therefore, Preta Kuba put forward at the Senate meeting a few days later: "My lords, as citizens of Carthage, Iberian Governor Margo is of course willing to send an army under his command, but he hopes to be able to serve Attack the commander-in-chief of Sicily!"

It is true that with Margot’s identity and military qualifications, no one of the citizens of Carthage dared to compete with him for the position of commander-in-chief, but how Hanno would let him do so, Tepan Lako immediately stood up and expressed his opposition: "The situation in the Iberian Peninsula is complicated, and there are many fierce natives. Once the Lord Margot leaves, the newly sent governor will be unfamiliar with the situation there. I am afraid that it will cause instability in the newly-occupied Iberian region. Aren’t all his efforts in vain! So Margot is better to stay in Iberia, just send the army over."

Preta Kuba immediately retorted: "My lord, you should all know that the Iberian army is complicated and most of them are alien mercenaries. If they are commanded by outsiders, I am afraid they will not obey the command. Not only will it fail to achieve the effectiveness of combat, but it will cause confusion. If the Senate is really worried about the security of the new Iberian territory, I recommend Hasdruba, the son of Shimirko, as the commander of the army. He is in Ibi. Leah led his army many times to defeat the invading natives. He has rich combat experience and is an equally rare general in Carthage!"

Change from Margot to Hasdruba, the effect is not the same! Marge has a great idea! Hanno sneered in his heart.

Therefore, the elders of the Hannoites all expressed their opposition, and even Okelton shouted excitedly: "The army supported by Carthage’s taxes does not obey Carthage’s orders, but only wants to obey one person. Isn’t this dangerous? We dare to hand over the command of the army to such a person and put the city of Carthage in possible danger!..."

Oklton's remarks can be said to be quite ridiculous, but he said that many of the elders were worried about: the main members of the Magonis family have gone to Iberia, and they will not be able to return to Canada in a year. Several times in Taiji, he held a huge army that was almost not composed of Carthage citizens. It had already worried the Senate itself. Now he has given the command of the expedition army to Magonyd. Family, this is obviously not what the elders expected.

On this issue, the leader of the neutral faction, Isyaluba, is in agreement with Hanno.

Finally, with the support of the majority of the Senate’s elders, a resolution was passed: Numibia’s military commander, Millefio, should be the commander-in-chief of the expedition, and Margo did not have to go, but Iberia had to send a lot. Fight in an army of 20,000 people.

This resolution is not only the exact opposite of what Margo and others expected, but it also greatly harms their interests. Therefore, Margot who received the news delayed the resolution and sent a messenger to Carthage to lobby the elders. .

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

……………………………………

As the Carthaginian Senate was arguing about the expedition, the Syracuse Council was also arguing fiercely.

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 Syracuse defeated the powerful The Carthaginians conquered most of Sicily and became the overlord of Sicily. Dionysius even led an army of nearly 100,000 northward, attacking Great Greece across the sea, in an attempt to expand his territory.

However, in the half-year war with the newly-emerged Dionian Alliance at the time, the apparently superior Syracuse finally suffered a crushing defeat in both naval and land battles, and even Dionian’s The army also attacked Sicily, causing the Syracuse to launch a rebellion and overthrow the rule of Dionysius. Dionysius and his family were eventually betrayed by Sparta and murdered.

The Syracuses who were liberated from the dictatorship of Dionysius decided not to repeat the same mistakes. The people commissioned the formation of Herolis, who played a leading role in the overthrow of Dionysius’ rule. A new democratic government in Syracuse.

However, Herolis had other ideas. During the reign of Dionysius, he served as an important public office in the city. At the same time, he also carefully studied the political system of Dionysius. Therefore, 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 the democratic system. 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 disastrous defeat and urgently needs to quickly restore national strength. Decisions conducive to the development of the city-state.

Therefore, instead of forming a new government, he used his status as the supreme leader in wartime to frequently issue various resolutions, and these resolutions were often made by him alone without consulting with others. This It was criticized by the people.

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

The first thing is that An important figure of the democratic party in Siracusa was arrested because of his strong opposition to the rule of Dionysius. He was going to be sentenced to death, but he was helped by a friend. , Actually escaped from captivity, and escaped from Sicily. After Dionysius’ rule was overthrown, he returned to Syracuse with a few warships and some soldiers.

Based on his previous heroic deeds against Dionysius, the people warmly welcomed his arrival and elected him as a general in the citizens' assembly, hoping that he could enter the wartime general of Syracuse The executive committee checks and balances the growing power of Herolis.

But Herolis actually vetoed the election results of the citizens' assembly and emphasized that "any resolution needs his approval." This matter made the people very angry.

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

In addition, in the General Executive Committee during the war, Falekus, Stacykos... are all friends of Herolis and his supporters, so it seems that his rights are unshakable.

The second thing is that although Dionia agreed to release the captured Syracuse soldiers and sailors, Daves put forward conditions and asked Syracuse to make war compensations to compensate Syracuse. The damage caused by the army to Great Greece was also the ransom money for these captives.