Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 1041: Conquering Sicily

Samors looked at Hanno and spoke frankly. "Lord Hanno, we must consider temporarily abandoning Numidia. Carthage's string of disastrous defeats has given the tribes of East Numidia hope of breaking free from our rule. The only reason I can still barely contain their rebellions is that their young men were almost entirely drafted to Sicily—and by now, they are likely prisoners of the Theonians."

"If I were the Theonian commander planning to land in Africa and attack Carthage, I would immediately win over these Numidians and turn them into an asset for the Daionian Army..."

"You're being an alarmist! We Carthaginians spent decades pouring untold wealth and manpower into conquering Numidia. How can we just throw it away?" Drevika roared in exasperation.

"Alas... Samors is right. It is time we face reality." Hanno let out a heavy sigh, his face twisting with pain as he spoke in a slow, grim tone. "Drevika, once the Theonians attack Carthage, can those eight thousand Citizen Soldiers really remain in Numidia? We are better off recalling them ourselves. As long as we hold the City of Carthage, we will have a chance to retake the Numidian lands in the future!

"Furthermore, we can negotiate with the surrounding Phoenician Allied States. When the Daionian Army lands in Africa, their people can temporarily take refuge inside the City of Carthage. This way, we fulfill our role as alliance leader by ensuring their safety while simultaneously bolstering our own defensive forces..."

"Lord Hanno, that is an excellent idea! However, it will drastically increase our food consumption," Samors cautioned.

"Do you think our Phoenician allies would flee into the City of Carthage empty-handed? Would we not remind them to bring all the grain from their cities into ours?" Tepanco pointed out.

Samors looked slightly embarrassed. In his anxiety, he had completely overlooked that detail.

"We can also dispatch envoys to Tyre to seek help from our mother city," Hanno continued, "and ask if Persia might step forward to mediate this war."

Tepanco immediately asked, "Would Persia agree to such a request?"

"I hear the King of Persia harbors no love for Daionia. Otherwise, he never would have allowed the Eastern Phoenicians' fleets to sail here under the Persian banner before. Guaranteeing the safety of Carthage in the western Mediterranean brings only benefits to Persia and does them no harm. I am confident the King of Persia will make the right choice," Hanno said with self-assurance.

"With the Persians applying pressure, I believe the Theonians will be forced to seriously consider a truce. We might even use this to secure better terms during the negotiations," Drevika said, finally revealing a faint smile.

Okriton, however, looked rather worried. He warned, "I feel the King of Daonia is a hardline figure. He completely ignored our previous protests and still chose to go to war with Rome. Furthermore, intelligence suggests that Daionia has formed an alliance with Egypt. Do the Theonians not know that Egypt and Persia are currently mortal enemies?! It is clear the Theonians are not like the Greeks, who hold a deep fear of Persia. We can certainly borrow Persian power, but we cannot rely on it entirely!"

"You make a fair point, Okriton. Persia is simply too far from the western Mediterranean. The likelihood of them sending reinforcements like Tyre is minuscule. The Theonians truly have nothing to fear, but it would at least place some pressure on them." Hanno paused, falling into deep thought. After a long while, he made his decision and said in a low, serious voice, "Since you are certain the Theonians genuinely wish to negotiate, we can continue to make concessions at the bargaining table while simultaneously strengthening the defenses of the City of Carthage. When the benefits gained from negotiations outweigh the potential losses of continued warfare, the Theonians will choose to sign a peace treaty with us..."

Hanno's gaze carried a touch of sorrow as he slowly swept his eyes across the faces in the room. "Corsica, Sardinia, and Western Sicily have already fallen under the control of the Theonians. They cannot be taken back. We can use them as bargaining chips and abandon them if necessary. Gadir, Huelva, and Malaga in Southern Iberia... these were vital driving forces behind the rise of Carthage. They are also our only remaining sources of precious metal trade if we lose Corsica and Sardinia. They absolutely cannot be handed over to Daionia. However, the other territories in Southern Iberia... we can surrender them if the situation demands it."

At this point, Hanno's grief abruptly flared into rage. "Drevika, you are absolutely right!" he shouted. "Mago is a sinner of Carthage! His brother Himilco was also a sinner of Carthage! More than a decade ago, Himilco provoked a war in Sicily and suffered a crushing defeat, severely crippling Carthage's national strength. That is exactly why, when the war broke out between Daionia and Syracuse, we in Carthage could only stand by and watch, ultimately forced to sign a treaty with Daionia just to maintain the peace! And now, Mago's sheer incompetence has sent our army of a hundred thousand men to their graves, plunging Carthage into this perilous crisis... The Magonid family must face severe punishment from the Senate!

"The lands they conquered in Iberia were supposedly for the benefit of all Carthaginians, but in reality, they have become the private domain of the Magonid family. They completely ignore the Senate's orders and refuse to accept the officials we send. Rather than letting this continue, we might as well use Southern Iberia as a bargaining chip and hand it over to the Theonians when the time is right. This will not only increase our chances of a successful peace negotiation but also preserve the stability and unity of Carthage."

By blaming the Magonid family entirely for Carthage's current perilous state, Hanno was actually covering up his own failure over the past decade: his excessive leniency toward Daionia and his failure to strictly curtail their expansion. As for Tepanco, Okriton, and the others, since they belonged to the Hanno faction and had never reaped any benefits from Southern Iberia to begin with, they raised no objections to Hanno's decision.

Samors, however, had his own opinion on the matter. Judging by the previous battle reports, he believed Southern Iberia possessed a massive pool of high-quality recruits that ought to be preserved as much as possible. But he kept these thoughts to himself. He was not a pure military man; he was a Senator of the Hanno faction. Speaking up at a critical moment like this would only arouse Hanno's suspicions.

Just then, Hanno happened to turn his gaze toward him, making Samors' heart skip a beat.

"Samors is right," Hanno said. "We simply do not have the troop strength to hold onto the lands in Numidia right now, so what does it matter if we simply agree to Daionia's condition? Once our strength recovers, we will just seize it back. The land is right there—it's not going anywhere..."

Hanno's tone sounded light, but the men present could all sense the bitter agony in his heart. After all, it was Hanno who had raised the banner of "Marching Inland," rallying many of Carthage's elites to his side. For over ten years, he had led the Carthaginian citizens in seizing vast swaths of land in East Numidia, which in turn cemented his leadership in the Senate and his prestige among the people. Now, all of that was turning to dust...

At that thought, every person in the room took on a gloomy expression.

...

The next day, having reached a consensus, the Senators of the Hanno faction passed the resolutions one by one during the assembly: recalling the eight thousand Citizen Soldiers, initiating another war mobilization within the city, sending envoys to negotiate with the neighboring Phoenician Allied States, and dispatching envoys to Tyre in the Eastern Mediterranean...

However, the moment the two negotiation terms of "ceding Southern Iberia" and "returning the land to the Numidians" were proposed, an immediate uproar erupted.

The Magonid faction and the vast majority of the Senators from the Neutral Faction fiercely opposed it. They cursed the greed of the Theonians and furiously condemned the Hanno faction as traitors to the state.

The Senate plunged into a fierce, bitter argument, entirely unable to reach a unified conclusion.

Meanwhile, the course of the war in Sicily had already become increasingly clear.

Three days after the great battle of Selinus, the Segestans secretly sent envoys rushing to Selinus, taking the initiative to surrender.

As it turned out, of the tens of thousands of routed soldiers who fled into the City of Segesta, the vast majority were Carthaginian citizens. They had brazenly treated themselves as the new masters of Segesta. Not only did they forcibly occupy the Segestans' homes and rob their food, but they even began ordering them around like slaves. Pushed past their breaking point, the suffering Segestans secretly conspired with the Daionian Army. In the dead of night, they quietly threw open the city gates, striking through inner and outer coordination to rapidly suppress the routed troops.

Back then, the tyrant of Syracuse, Dionysius, had led a massive army to besiege Segesta for over half a year without ever conquering it. Now, those same stubborn Segestans had obediently surrendered to Daionia. This undoubtedly sent the morale of the Daionian soldiers soaring.

A mere two days later, Mazara also opened its gates to the grand Daionian Army.

The routed forces that fled into Mazara were kept under control by Hasdrubal, so their initial situation had been far better than the chaos in Segesta. However, these routed soldiers primarily comprised Phoeno-Numidian Infantry, Iberian infantry, Lusitanian Warriors, and Celtic Warriors. The vast majority were indigenous Iberians. They had joined this war either because they were conquered by Mago's military might or because they were enticed by the promise of rich pay. Now, not only had they failed to gain any benefits, but Carthage's disastrous defeat had plunged them straight into a desperate predicament. Naturally, their minds began to wander toward other plans.

Yet Hasdrubal, wholly focused on rallying his forces, failed to notice this psychological shift among the natives. Instead, he strictly enforced the old Military Law, severely punishing several Lusitanian Warriors for robbing food from the residents of Mazara. He had originally intended to make an example of them and restore military discipline, but his actions only inflamed the tensions, triggering a full-blown mutiny among the indigenous Iberians. By the end, Hasdrubal had entirely lost control of the army. Out of respect for his reputation as a brave warrior, the foreign soldiers merely took him prisoner and did not kill him.