Therefore, Servius rushed to find Licinius, on the one hand, to make amends, and on the other hand, to get rid of the blame, but he didn't expect that Licinius didn't have any affection at all, and listed his faults in public, which made Servius very angry, but he couldn't find a reason to refute, his face was swollen red, and finally roared: "You lowly commoner!" Most of the civilians in the army have fled and surrendered to the Dionians, are you still here to be a spy! The dictator should have arrested you a long time ago! You civilians are simply not to be trusted! ……”

As soon as these words came out, the people around them were in an uproar.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Servius immediately hurried away.

"Damn it!" Licinius stared at Servius' departing back, his face gloomy and terrifying.

……………………………………………

The coast from Carthage to Utica, which is more than ten miles long, has now become a huge military camp, where thousands of citizens from Carthage, the Phoenician city-states, the natives from the Iberian Peninsula, the nomads from Numibia, and even the natives from Mauritania and Gaul have gathered here, and the races of different appearances wear various costumes and speak completely different words, as if this place has become the center of the entire Mediterranean world.

But for the senators of the Carthaginian Senate, this huge military camp next to the city of Carthage was a potentially terrible threat: many races gathered here, due to language barriers, poor communication, different customs and habits, different interests and needs, daily conflicts, Carthaginian and Phoenician people living outside the city also complained to the Senate from time to time, and were harassed by the natives. Fortunately, Marco led his generals to go around and settled a lot of disputes. In addition, such a large army consumes a lot of food and pay for every day it stays here......

Therefore, the senators were eager to send this terrible army to Sicily at once to plague the Dionians, so they sent men every day to urge Margo to lead the army to land in Sicily as soon as possible.

As for Margo, he didn't want to land in Sicily as soon as possible, after all, he was busy resolving these disputes every day, which also gave him a headache. In the long run, because of these unruly mercenaries, the image of the Magonides family among the Carthaginian people was ruined, and that was more than worth the loss. However, since the Carthaginian fleet was destroyed by the storm, new warships were still being built, and the Dionian warships often cruised the waters of western Sicily, attacking Carthage and allied merchant ships to Sicily, threatening the sea route between Carthage and Sicily.

The coast of Africa, which had always been sunny and hot, finally began to drizzle on this day, and a considerable sea breeze blew, and the temperature finally dropped, and the soldiers who had been enduring the scorching heat ran out of their tents one after another, enjoying the rare coolness, and even the natives from Iberia stripped naked, washed their bodies in the rain, and at the same time shouted excitedly, their fierce size, and fierce appearance, so that no one dared to cast a contemptuous look at them.

At this time, Ma Ge also walked out of the big tent of the Chinese army, looked at the big flag standing in front of the tent, and was stunned: under the blowing of the sea breeze, the flag has been fluttering to the northeast.

At this time, Anobas came to meet him.

During the battle with the Dionian fleet, the storm also destroyed the Carthaginian admiral's two-headed ship, and he was pushed to the shores of Mazara by the raging waves, where he was rescued. However, he was soon ordered to return to Carthage to be questioned by the Senate for his responsibility for the destruction of the Carthaginian fleet.

Fortunately, Hanno secretly instructed the elders such as Typanlako and Ocleton to excuse him, claiming that the Dionian fleet had more warships and was more powerful, and although Anobus caused heavy losses to his own ships, he also used the storm to destroy the opponent's fleet and ensure the safety of Carthage and the western seas of Sicily. ……

Therefore, instead of being punished, he continued to be the commander of the Carthaginian navy, but now he was in name only.

Of course, this decision of the Carthaginian Senate took place within a few days after the naval battle, and if it were now, the senators would never easily spare Anobas, after all, the Dionian warships continued to show off their power in the western waters of Sicily, which Carthage once controlled, which brought heavy damage to Carthage's maritime trade, making Anobas's previous statement that "the Dionian fleet was also destroyed" a lie.

Therefore, the Senate and Margo later reached a consensus: Anobus and the Carthaginian fleet led by him would be under the direct command of Margo, which was originally very different from the proposal advocated by Hanno that "the army should be under the command of Margo, and the navy should be under the command of Anobas", which also shows the anger of the Carthaginian people against Anobas.

"Margo-sama!" Anobas approached and saluted respectfully, the great criticism and accusations he had received during this time had made him cautious.

"What did the Tyrians say?" Margo asked directly.

"The Tyre...... refused to provide an escort for our landing convoy...... "Anobus said softly," they said...... They will not accept our command and will decide for themselves the timing of the attack and the sea ......"

"We in Carthage have worked hard for decades to transport gold and silver to them and make them comfortable under Persian rule, but this is the answer! Did they come to the Western Mediterranean with warships just to make a show! What use is such a mother state for us! ……”

Margo fired a fire, and Anobus stood quietly listening.

"Does Hanno know about this?" Margo asked suddenly.

"I have informed the Senate, and the Senate has asked Lord Hanno to send someone to negotiate with the Tyres......," Anobas replied carefully.

"It seems that Phoenicia's combined fleet can't be counted on for the time being!" Marco didn't show any frustration on his face, he had obviously received information in advance, and expected such an outcome, so he glanced at Anobus and said, "I called you here to tell you that I have decided to land in Sicily tomorrow with my army!" ”

"Tomorrow?!" Anobas was startled, and he stared at Margo with wide eyes.

Margo also looked at Anobus with an unusually resolute expression, then he raised his head and pointed to the big flag fluttering in front of him: "See, southwest wind!" I asked a number of experienced veteran sailors in Carthage and Utica, and they were all unanimously sure that tomorrow there will be the same wind and the same rain! The clippers I sent out to reconnoiter the enemy, and the merchant ships that returned to port, told me that there was no sign of the Ionian ships on the route today, and that there was a high probability that they would not appear tomorrow! ”

"But...... If the weather is still like this tomorrow, the sea will be stormy and rough, which will cause great difficulties for landing! What's more, the weather at sea is unpredictable, in case you meet ...... again" Anobas's words stopped abruptly, but the fear on his face already indicated what he wanted to say.

"Storm." Margo gently spat out the words that Anobas's words were about to say, and then said with a resolute expression: "Since you think so, the Dioonians must also have such fears, so they did not send warships today, then tomorrow they will definitely be cowering in the harbor, this is a good opportunity for us to land!" Without the help of the Tyrians, our army could also land in Sicily with relative ease without the threat of the Dionian fleet...... And then, to the surprise of the Dionians, launch a surprise attack! If there is indeed another storm, it means that Barr. Harmon no longer protects Carthage, and no amount of effort has been in vain...... But this is not possible, because we Carthage are subject to the Barr. With the blessing of Harmon and Tanit, they have survived here for hundreds of years and will continue to survive here! ”

"But—" Anobas was still trying to persuade, but Margo waved his hand impatiently to stop him, "I have called you, not to listen to your chatter, but to let you and I discuss a landing plan as soon as possible, and then inform the cities of Carthage and Utika to make all preparations as soon as possible." ”

"Well, Margo-sama, I'm against such an adventure, but since you insist, I can only follow your orders." Anobus knew Margo well, and knew that it was useless to persuade him, and when he spoke in such a tone, he actually had the intention of "if the landing failed, he could also use this to excuse him".

……………………………………

On the second day, it rained and the southwest wind blew on the coast of Carthage, which spread to western Sicily.

In such a climate, the laborers of the port of Liliba would be relatively leisurely, because few merchant ships would go to sea to trade in such weather, but due to the ravages of Dionian warships, it was only in such weather that the merchant ships of Carthage and Phoenicia would be safe. Yesterday, the port of Liliba was busy, and it would not be bad today, so early in the morning the port management drove the laborers to the wharf.

There were no Carthaginians among the laborers of Lilibi, after all, almost all Carthaginians were wealthy, and no one would engage in such hard and lowly work, more than half of them were Numibian slaves, but these Numibians who lived inland since childhood were only suitable for doing some hard and heavy work, for how to guide the ship to the dock, fix the ship, and better load and unload goods...... Some of the more demanding port work required other races with seafaring experience to do it, so there were some Greek slaves, Phoenician-Greek freedmen, and even Greek freedmen among the Lilian laborers, which was the result of the Phoenicians and Greeks living together on this small island for hundreds of years.