In order to better control the Numibian region, the Carthaginians stationed an army of 20,000 people in the interior for a long time to suppress the rebellion and riots of the Numibian tribes at any time to maintain the stability of their region. After the war with Dionia, the army now numbered less than 10,000 men.

"Since there are five or six thousand Dionian soldiers attacking the city of Hadru Mentum, and the army of Numibia alone may not be enough to repel the enemy, we should immediately make an urgent mobilization in the city and its nearby allies, believing that the people will participate as much as possible in order to defend their homeland, and form an army of sufficient numbers to join up with the army in Numibia and go forward to repel the enemy."

When Carthage was in crisis, Hanno did not object to Pretakuba's opinion this time, but added: "In addition, we must inform the neighboring allies to prepare for defense, so that this Ionian army will not continue to attack the other allies after conquering the city of Hadru Mentum." We are also going to send ships to explore the waters around Carthage to prevent the Ionians and their fleets from attacking Africa......"

This time, the useful recommendations made by the senators were quickly adopted and implemented immediately with unprecedented efficiency.

The people of Carthage soon learned of the news that the city of Hadru Mentum had been attacked by the Dionians, and they were very panicked.

After four hours, Carthage had finally gathered an army of nearly 10,000 men, and under the leadership of Typanrako, it hurried eastward, joining up with the army that had hurried from Numibia on the way.

As they marched eastward, it was already dark, but they didn't need to light the torches, because the flames were blazing in the direction of Hadru Mentum City, illuminating the heavenly realm to the east.

The Dioonians not only slaughtered the people of Hadru Mentum, but also burned the entire city?!! The Carthaginian soldiers looked at the distant fire, with anger and trepidation.

When Tepanrako arrived with his army, he found that the situation was not as bad as he had imagined: the city of Hadru Mentum was indeed in ruins, but most of the people were unharmed, and they saw that the fire was about to be extinguished, and they did not care about being burned, so they broke into the ruined city and scavenged through the ashes to find useful items......

After seeing the arrival of the Carthaginian army, many people rushed over again, tearfully telling Taipanrakus about their misery: ...... After the Dionian army entered the city, a small number of soldiers strangled the people of Hadru Mentum who were still trying to resist, and most of the soldiers rushed to the port. The terrified people of Hadru Mentum suddenly realized that the Dioonians had not blocked the gates and did not prevent them from escaping, so they fled outside the city, taking refuge in the neighboring city-states. After more than an hour, they suddenly saw a fire burning in the direction of their mother state, and some of the people dared to come and check it, only to find that the enemy had disappeared without a trace, while the whole city was on fire and could not be extinguished......

Tepanlako breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that the Dionian fleet and army had left, but then he had another headache: what to do with the thousands of Hadru Mentum people who had no homes and no food and clothing? Arrange for them to be calamized, this is the responsibility that Carthage, as the leader of the Phoenician city-state in the western Mediterranean, must bear!

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At this time, the Sicilian fleet had long been far from the port of Hadru Mentum and had entered the waters of western Sicily. We are almost at the sea near Minoa.

When Sekrian returned to the voyage, he made a special watch: in order to prevent the Carthaginian fleet from waiting on Selinus's route, he also ordered the fleet to make a small half circle to the east and go directly to Milóa.

But how did he know that Morbar led the Carthaginian fleet to the western seas of Sicily and the Carthaginian sea early in the morning, on the one hand, to probe the movements of the cruising Dionian fleet and look for the fighters in it; On the other hand, the training of the fleet was strengthened in a state of imminent battle, the integration of new warships was accelerated, and ways to counter the tactics of Dionya were explored.

So when the Clippers found the Carthaginian fleet and told Morbar that "the Dionian fleet had attacked Hadru Mentum", he was also surprised.

He did want to lead the fleet to the sea near Selinus and wait for the return Dionian fleet, but by the time he ordered the fleet to change course and move in the direction of Selinus, the Sicilian fleet had already bypassed the island of Kosus, and was closer to Selinus than the Carthaginian fleet.

Secrean led the Sicilian fleet, a quick assault, a quick return, captured the city of Hadru Mentum, wiped out the combined fleet of East Phoenicia, and burned the entire city...... It didn't take much time, and the fleet infantry didn't kill too much.

Of course, one of the main reasons for this was the request of King Davers, who did not want the citizens of the kingdom to become bloodthirsty monsters, nor did he want excessive killing of the defenseless people to lead to extreme hatred between Carthage and Phoenicians, and to arouse common hatred, and the burning of the city would not only cause panic in Africa, but also increase the financial burden of Carthage.

The crews of the Sicilian fleet, tired but cheerful, sang happily, and the shadow of the defeat of the previous day had been swept away, and they happily steered the ships into the port of Minoa, a few of which were carrying the goods looted from the treasury of Hadru Mentum and some of the crews of the captured East Phoenician combined fleet.

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The burning of the city of Hadru Mentum had an unprecedented impact on the people of Carthage and the Phoenician allies of Africa, and on the second day, many Carthaginians gathered in front of the Senate to petition for the Navy to strengthen patrols on the Afrikaner coast and strengthen the defense of Carthage and its allies to prevent such a tragedy from happening again.

The neighboring city-states of Phoenicia also sent emissaries demanding Carthaginian protection.

With their own security at stake, the Senate certainly did not have the energy to discuss the reinforcement of Sardinia, and an issue that had been debated for the past few days finally came to an end, and the Centrients sent El Accra as an emissary to Minoa to meet the Dionian king Davers.

It was noon, and Davers was having lunch in the tent, and he had the servant prepare an extra table. When El Accra entered the tent, and before he could speak, Davers invited him to dine with him.

"Venerable King Davers, on behalf of the Carthaginian Senate, I have important matters to discuss with you, and I don't have time—"

Before El Accra's words could be finished, he was interrupted by Davers: "Carthaginian envoy, you have come from afar, you must be hungry too, eat something first." Otherwise, no matter how strong a person is, if he is hungry all the time, he will not be able to do anything! Davers said with a pun.

El Accra reluctantly sat down at the table, where a bowl of hot fish soup, a plate of salty beef jerky, a bowl of sticky oatmeal, two pieces of baked bread, and a glass of wine were placed.

El Accra's face became a little unsightly, although he didn't want to eat, but since it was to entertain Carthaginian envoys, the food was too simple.

At this time, Davers said slowly: "In addition to wine, the food on your table is the lunch of the Ionian soldiers at noon today, and you and I eat the same as them." ”

The food of the Dionian soldiers would be so abundant?! El Accra was shocked, and then he felt that the Ionian king was deliberately deceiving himself, after all, the Ionian army in Sicily was said to be as high as 100,000 men.

Davers looked at him, knowing he didn't believe it, but he didn't explain much.

El Accra did not have the heart to eat at this time, and he said loudly again: "The Carthaginian Senate has sent me here as an envoy because there are several things to discuss with you, the king!" ”

Davers took a sip of wine and nodded slightly, indicating that he had heard.

"The day before yesterday, your Dionian fleet attacked the city of Hadru Mentum, killing the people of the city and burning the entire town...... What a brutal way you are doing! Although Hadru Mentum was an ally of Carthage, they did not send troops to participate in this war, but they suffered such a terrible disaster, which has aroused the anger of all the Phoenician city-states of Africa against you Dionia! ——”

"Emissary, the fact that the city of Hadru Mentum did not send troops to the battle does not mean that they did not participate in this war, did they not build new ships for you? Didn't provide you with food? …… At least we can be sure that they provided a base for the fleet from the Phoenician region of the Eastern Mediterranean! And it was this fleet that sneaked up on our Sicilian fleet, which led to the death of the commander-in-chief of the fleet! Henipolis retorted unceremoniously: "Your Carthaginian army can mercilessly destroy Minoa, Agrigento, Gera and other city-states that are friendly with us in Dionia, can't we burn a single Hadru Mentum!" And one Hadru Mentum is simply not enough to comfort the people of friendly city-states who have lost their homes! ”

El Accra heard the threat in Henipolis's words, he forcibly suppressed the urge to refute, grabbed the wine glass on the table, and took a large sip of wine, but was choked and coughed, and after a long pause, he said in a deep voice: "You just mentioned the fleet from the eastern Phoenicia region stationed in the city of Hadru Mentum, in fact, we Carthage did not invite them to war, but they learned that we were at war with you and that we were in trouble, based on the common blood, With the consent of the king of Persia, he took the initiative to send a fleet to aid our ......

I know that you have captured many of the crews of this fleet, and the Carthaginian Senate hopes that you will release them and let them return safely to the Eastern Mediterranean, so as to prevent the city-states of Tyre and Sidon in the Phoenician region from making another request to the king of Persia at the strong request of the relatives of these captives, which will lead to the further expansion of the war. ”

It's a Carthaginian threat! Henipolis frowned slightly, and subconsciously looked at Davers.

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