Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 989: A Shocked Carthage

Carthage and Tyre had certainly clashed during this takeover, but the transition ultimately went smoothly, avoiding all-out war. The political climate in the east at the time had been dire; Tyre could barely fend for itself, let alone launch a war against Carthage. The two powers eventually struck a century-long accord—not out of shared kinship, but out of mutual need. Carthage needed the eastern Phoenician Region, led by Tyre, to supply colonists and trade markets, while Tyre desperately needed the precious metals of the western Mediterranean. It was a perfect mutual benefit.

Over the past century, Carthage and Tyre had enjoyed a close, fruitful relationship, but strictly in trade. Politically, their high-ranking officials had never exchanged visits, and this marked their very first military collaboration.

When Pserica led his fleet to the western Mediterranean, why hadn't he stationed them directly at the Port of Carthage? Avoiding early detection by the Daunian Navy was part of it, but there was another reason. Carthage's immense wealth and power in the western Mediterranean vastly overshadowed Tyre's current subservient state. Driven by his pride as a Tyrian noble, Pserica chose to anchor at Hadrumetum—a town originally founded as a Tyrian colony—rather than face the dazzling prosperity of Carthage and the inevitable sense of loss it would bring.

Pserica had also hoped to rack up a string of victories, proving to the Carthaginians that Tyre and the eastern Phoenician Region remained Carthage's most reliable allies. Yet his very first meticulously planned ambush—despite holding a clear advantage—had been completely turned around by the Theonians, ending with many of his own sailors captured.

Fleeing back to Hadrumetum in disgrace with his surviving Warships, Pserica immediately dispatched messengers to the Carthaginian Senate, hoping they would ransom the captured Phoenician sailors.

A few days later, the Senate delivered its response: Daionia had agreed to an exchange, but only on a strict one-to-one basis. Since the Eastern Phoenicians had suffered more captives, a portion of their men would inevitably be left behind.

Furious as he was, Pserica had no leverage. Daionia remained unyielding and completely refused to accept ransom, meaning some Eastern Phoenician captives could not be rescued. This failure left Pserica terrified of leading his battered Warships back to the Eastern Mediterranean, dreading the angry interrogations of the populace.

The terrifying strength of the Daunian Navy also compounded his fears. Using the excuse that his fleet was severely damaged and required a lengthy refit, he refused to sail out to fight for Carthage again. He holed up in Hadrumetum for months, quietly hoping that Carthage and Daionia would finally reach a decisive conclusion and sign a truce. Only then could he ransom his remaining countrymen and return home with a completed mission.

Yet everything Pserica learned during this time indicated that while Carthage was at a disadvantage, the war was far from over. Meanwhile, his sailors languished idly in the City of Hadrumetum day after day. As time passed, homesickness inevitably set in, and they repeatedly begged him to return to the Eastern Mediterranean. Every time, he had to talk himself hoarse to dissuade them. Lately, even his own resolve had begun to waver: shouldn't he just return to the Eastern Mediterranean first, wait for the war to end, and let Carthage ransom his countrymen?

"Are you joking? This is Africa, not Sicily!" Pserica snapped at his subordinate. But an instant later, deafening shrieks and wails tore through the air outside. All the color drained from his face. "Hurry!" he said frantically. "To the port! Man our Warships and get us out of here!"

...

Little did Pserica know that one of the Sicilian Fleet's primary objectives in striking the City of Hadrumetum was to annihilate the Eastern Phoenician Joint Fleet. Anchored far from Carthage in a weakly defended port, the fleet was a very easy target.

The Sicilian Fleet beached itself directly on the shores south of the City of Hadrumetum. Seven thousand Daonian Fleet Infantry rapidly disembarked from the Corvus Warships, hoisting their prepared scaling ladders as they sprinted straight for the nearby City of Hadrumetum.

It was nearing noon. The comfortable locals of Hadrumetum had just finished breakfast. Some were strolling out of the city, heading to their countryside estates to oversee the Numidian slaves preparing the winter sowing, only to run headlong into a tide of ferocious Theonian soldiers. Pampered by long-lasting peace, the terrified locals instantly panicked, scrambling frantically back toward the city.

The sparse sentries atop the walls were facing a crisis like this for the first time in their lives. After a moment of panic, they finally remembered to close the gates, but by then it was impossible—the frenzied stampede of fleeing civilians had completely choked the gateway.

The Daonian Fleet Infantry easily surged into the city without even needing to use their scaling ladders. While they wreaked havoc inside the city, their main force pushed straight toward the port.

Pserica had just reached the port and boarded his Warship when the Daonian Fleet Infantry arrived. The soldiers viciously charged at the many Eastern Phoenician sailors who were still frantically trying to board their own vessels.

The unarmed Eastern Phoenicians were mercilessly slaughtered.

Witnessing this horrific sight, Pserica frantically ordered his flagship to flee the port. Little did he know that the Daunian Navy's Warships were waiting just outside the harbor mouth; his ship was rammed and sunk the moment it left the port. The other Warships and merchant vessels frantically tried to turn back around, resulting in violent collisions that reduced the entire port to a chaotic wreckage.

...

That same day, the Senators of Carthage were in the meeting hall, agonizing over the Theonians' capture of the Port of Sant'Ibinia and Tharros. They had debated for hours without producing any viable suggestions. Carthage had already concentrated almost all of its army and naval forces toward Sicily, leaving them with no spare military strength to support Sardinia.

Only now did they realize that Carthage's strength had never been much greater than Daionia's to begin with. And after fighting up to this point, Carthage was now at a clear disadvantage.

Pretasdrubal suggested, "We should conduct another war mobilization across Carthage and the Phoenician Allied States to draft an army of twenty or thirty thousand men. Lord Morbal can then lead a fleet to transport them to Caralis in Sardinia. There, they can wait for an opportunity to reclaim Tharros and the Port of Sant'Ibinia from the Theonians, restoring normal order to Sardinia Island..."

Okriton sneered at this. "Draft another twenty or thirty thousand?!" he mocked. "Do you think our Carthage is Persia, Lord Pretasdrubal, with an endless source of manpower?! Let me tell you, from the start of this war until now, nearly 50,000 soldiers have been drafted from Carthage—including naval personnel, who make up the majority. To date, there are nearly 20,000 dead or wounded. Do you really believe Carthage has any more manpower left? If the citizens are all sent off to fight, who will farm the land and provide food for the army? Who will engage in commerce and supply gold and silver to the treasury?..."

Pretasdrubal was momentarily left speechless.

"We could just draft a small number of citizens from the City of Carthage to serve as officers, while the bulk of the soldiers can be provided by the allied states," a Senator of the Magonid faction hastily added.

"The allied states are in no better shape than we are!" Okriton sneered. "They have also faced two separate drafts. How could they possibly have any reserve troops left!"

"We could draft more Numidian slaves, just like before," another Senator of the Magonid faction suggested.

"Between eastern and Western Numidia, seventy thousand men have already been drafted, and they have suffered the heaviest casualties," Hanno warned sternly. "Those Numidian Tribes aren't stupid enough to agree to another draft demand. If we blindly keep demanding more from them, we will only threaten the survival of the Numidian Tribes. We must be careful not to provoke their rebellion!"

Hanno's words moved the Senators. It was true; the Carthaginians had grown accustomed to the submissiveness of the Numidian slaves. But this submissiveness had been forged by decades of Carthage's political and military conquests. In reality, the entire population of Numidia dwarfed Carthage's by several times. With Carthage dedicating all its strength to the war in Sicily, their domestic forces were hollow; they indeed needed to maintain stability and avoid any unrest.

Tepanco stood up again and loudly declared, "Actually, the problem regarding Sardinia is very easy to solve. As long as Lord Mago leads the army in Sicily to defeat the main army of Daionia facing him and regains the advantage on the Island of Sicily, he can draw off a portion of his troops to resolve the issue in Sardinia.

"But now, Lord Mago, viewed as a hero by the people of Carthage, commands the army of a hundred thousand that we painstakingly drafted, yet he seems to have suddenly lost his courage. To this day, he hasn't fought a single battle against the main army of Daionia. Has the King of Daonia truly terrified him that much?"

Hearing this, the Senators of the Magonid faction were furious and were just about to stand up and argue back.

Just then, the doors to the meeting hall were suddenly pushed open. "My lords, disaster! Hadrumetum is under attack by the Theonians!"

The Senators were all utterly shocked, though many immediately expressed their disbelief. The territories within Carthage's sphere of influence in Africa had enjoyed peace and tranquility for a century; never before had they suffered an invasion.

However, when the city guards who had rushed into the hall brought in several messengers from Hadrumetum seeking aid (who were actually just the first civilians of Hadrumetum to flee to Carthage on horseback), the messengers tearfully recounted the general course of the disaster currently unfolding in the City of Hadrumetum. Dead silence suddenly fell over the meeting hall. A terrifying thought sprang into every man's mind: the flames of war had actually spread to the very land they lived on!

A moment later, Pretasdrubal decisively suggested, "We must immediately order the Carthaginian army stationed in Numidia to rush to Hadrumetum and wipe out these damned Theonian bandits! We must also dispatch fast ships to notify Morbal at once, ordering him to lead the fleet to the waters off Hadrumetum and send every last one of Daionia's Warships to the bottom of the sea to feed the fish!..."