Therefore, Servius came to Licinius, on the one hand to make amends, and on the other hand to throw the blame, but he did not expect Licinius to show no mercy, and to expose his fault in public. Listed them one by one, this made Servius extremely angry, but he could not find a reason to refute, his face was flushed, and finally he shouted: "You lowly civilian! Most of the civilians in the army fled and surrendered. Dionian, are you still here to be a spy! The dictator should have arrested you long ago! You civilians are not to be trusted at all! …”
As soon as this statement came out, the people around were in an uproar.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Servius left immediately.
"Damn it!" Licinius stared at the back of Servius leaving, 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, with thousands of citizens from Carthage and Phoenician city-states, and indigenous people from the Iberian Peninsula. , Nomads from Numibia, and even indigenous people from Mauritania and Gaul gathered here one after another. Different races wore various costumes and spoke completely different words. the center of the entire Mediterranean world.
But for the elders of the Carthaginian Senate, this huge military camp next to the city of Carthage is a potentially terrible threat: multiple races gather here, due to language barriers, poor communication, customs and habits Different, with different interests and needs, conflicts occurred every day, and the Carthaginian and Phoenician people living outside the city also went to the Senate to complain from time to time and were harassed by the natives. Fortunately, Marco led his generals to run around and settled a lot of disputes. In addition, every day such a huge army stays here, it will consume a lot of food and wages...
Therefore, the elders wished that they could not immediately send this terrifying army to Sicily to harm the Dionysians, so they sent people every day to urge Margo to lead the army to land in Sicily as soon as possible.
For Marco, why didn't he want to land in Sicily as soon as possible, after all, he was busy resolving these disputes every day, which also gave him a lot of headaches. In the long run, because these unruly mercenaries have ruined the image of the Margonides family among the Carthaginian people, it will be worth the loss. But since the Carthaginian fleet was destroyed by the storm, new warships are still being built, while Dionia's warships often cruise in the waters west of Sicily, attacking Carthage and allied merchant ships heading to Sicily, threatening The sea route between Carthage and Sicily, so without the protection of the fleet, how dare Marco let the soldiers take a cargo ship, cross the ocean, and land in Sicily.
The coast of Africa, which has always been sunny and hot, finally drizzled and blew a lot of sea breeze on this day. The temperature finally dropped, and the soldiers who had been enduring the sweltering heat ran out of the tent one after another, enjoying the rare opportunity. It was so cool that even the natives from Iberia took off their clothes one after another, washed their bodies with the rain, and shouted excitedly at the same time. Their sturdy size and vicious appearance made no one dare to cast an eye on them. contemptuous look.
At this time, Marco also walked out of the tent of the Chinese army, and looked at the big flag standing in front of the tent, and was stunned: under the blowing of the sea breeze, the flag had been fluttering towards the northeast.
At this time, Annobas came on the head.
During the battle with the Dionysian fleet, the storm also destroyed the two-headed dragon ship that the Carthaginian admiral was riding in. He was pushed to the shores of Mazara by the rough waves and was finally rescued. But he was soon ordered to return to Carthage, where he was questioned by the Senate, to be held accountable for the annihilation of the Carthaginian fleet.
Fortunately, Hanno secretly instigated the elders such as Taipanlako and Okriton to excuse him, claiming that the Dionysian fleet had more warships and was stronger. Although Annobas caused heavy losses to his warships, But he also used the storm to destroy the opponent's fleet and ensured the safety of Carthage and the western waters of Sicily. His merits outweighed his demerits! …
Therefore, instead of being punished, he continued to serve as the commander of the Carthaginian navy, but now he is only in name.
Of course, the decision of the Carthaginian Senate took place within a few days after the naval battle. If it was now, the elders would never spare Annobas easily. After all, the Dionysian warships continued to be in Carthage. The western waters of Sicily once controlled by Taiji showed off their might, which brought heavy damage to Carthage's maritime trade, making Annobas' previous statement that "the Dionysian fleet was also destroyed" became a lie.
So later the Senate and Marco reached a consensus: Annobas and the Carthaginian fleet he led would be under Marco's direct command, which was originally in line with Hanno's advocacy of "the army should be under Marco's command, and the navy should be under the command of Marco." The proposal of "Nobas command" is quite different, and this shows the anger of the Carthaginian people against Nobas.
"Lord Margo!" Annobas stepped forward and saluted respectfully. The huge criticism and accusations he had suffered during this period made him cautious.
"What did the Tyre people say?" Marco asked directly.
"The people of Tyre... refused to escort our landing fleet..." Annobas said softly, "They also said...they would not accept our command and would decide the timing and sea area of the attack..."
"We Carthage have worked hard to transport gold and silver for them for decades, so that they can live comfortably under Persian rule, but this is the answer! They brought warships to the Western Mediterranean just for the sake of Do you want to look like this! What use does such a mother country do to us!…”
Margo made a fuss, Annobas quietly stood by and listened.
"Does Hanno know about this?" Marco asked suddenly.
"I have informed the Senate, and the Senate has asked Lord Hanno to send someone to negotiate with the people of Tyre..." Annobas replied cautiously.
"It seems that the combined fleet of Phoenicia can't be counted on for the time being!" Margo didn't show frustration on his face. He obviously had information in advance and expected such a result, so he glanced at Anno. Bass glanced at him and said, "I called you here to tell you that I decided to lead an army to land in Sicily tomorrow!"
"Tomorrow?!" Annobas was really startled, and he stared at Marco with wide eyes.
Marco also looked at Annobas with an unusually determined expression. Then he raised his head and pointed to the flag flying in front of him: "Did you see it, Southwest Wind! I asked Carthage and Utica for many times. Experienced old sailors, they are all unanimously sure that tomorrow will be the same wind and the same rain! The clippers I sent out to scout the enemy and the merchant ships that returned to the port told me that Dionys was not found on the route today. If there are traces of the Asian warships, then there is a high possibility that they will not appear tomorrow!"
"But... if the weather is like this tomorrow, the wind and waves at sea will be very strong, and it will cause great difficulties in landing! Not to mention the unpredictable weather at sea, in case it happens again..." Annobas' words stopped, but he The fear on his face showed what he was trying to say.
"Storm." Marco gently spit out the word Annobas wanted to say, and then said with a determined expression: "Since you think so, the Dionysians must have such fears, so they No warships were dispatched today, so tomorrow they will definitely hide in the port. This is a good opportunity for us to land! Without the help of the Tyrians, our army can also be compared without the threat of the Dionysian fleet. Easily landed on Sicily... Then, beyond the expectations of the Dionians, launched a sudden attack! If there is a storm again, it means that Baal Harmon no longer protects Carthage, we do more Efforts are in vain... but this is impossible, because we in Carthage, under the blessing of Barr Harmon and Tanit, have lived here for hundreds of years, and will continue to survive here!"
"But—" Annobas still wanted to persuade, but Marco waved his hand impatiently to stop him: "I called you here, not to listen to your chatter, but to discuss and formulate a landing plan with me as soon as possible. Then notify Carthage and Utica as soon as possible to make all preparations."
"Okay, Mr. Marco, I am against such an adventure, but since you insist, I can only follow your orders." Annobas knew Marco and knew that it would be useless to persuade him. He said in such a tone Speaking, in fact, saved the plan of "if the login fails, you can also use this to excuse".
… … … … … …
On the second day, the coast where Carthage was located really started to drizzle and the southwesterly wind blew, and it also spread to western Sicily.
Generally in such a climate, the laborers in the port of Lilibe will be relatively leisurely, because few merchant ships will go to sea to trade in such weather, but due to the raging of the Dionian warships, only in such weather , the Carthaginian and Phoenician merchant ships will have security. Yesterday, the port of Lilibe was busy, and the situation will not be bad today, so the management of the port rushed the workers to the wharf early in the morning.
There are no Carthaginians among the laborers of Liliba. After all, almost all of the Carthaginians are wealthy, and no one is engaged in such laborious and lowly work. More than half of them are Numibian slaves, but these people have lived in the interior since childhood. The Numibians are only suitable for some hard work and heavy work. How to guide the ship to the dock, fix the ship, better load and unload the cargo... Some more demanding port work needs other races with sailing experience to complete, Therefore, there are some Greek slaves, mixed Phoenician and Greek freedmen, and even Greek freedmen among the laborers in Lilibe. This is the result of the Phoenicians and Greeks living together on this small island for hundreds of years. result.