Ocleton subconsciously looked at Henipolis, and Henipolis was also looking at him with blazing eyes, although Davers readily agreed to negotiate made him happy, but also made him realize that this armistice negotiation may not be so easy......

……………………………………………

The place of negotiation was arranged in an empty military tent not far from the camp's tent, with only four men in the tent, Henipolis, Ocleton, and a scribe with each of them, and such a simple configuration would determine the course of this war that would affect the future of the situation in the western Mediterranean.

After the two sides sat down, Henipolis propped up the table with both hands, leaned forward slightly, and said bluntly: "Lord Ocriton, since you Carthage want to negotiate an armistice, you must have already drawn up the conditions. ”

“…… Yes," Ocliton looked at the somewhat imposing Henipolis, hesitated slightly, and then said softly, "Before I leave, the Senate has reached a preliminary intention...... The two sides cease the war and restore the sphere of influence established at the time of the signing of the peace agreement, and Carthage is willing to make some compensation for the damage caused to Dionysia by this war, the exact amount to be determined by the two sides after consultation."

Henypolis didn't wait for him to finish, but stood up and walked out.

Occlidon was stunned: "Lord Hennipolis, what do you mean by this?" ”

Henipolis turned around and said with a mocking face: "Ocriton, you're not here to negotiate, you're here to tell jokes." You have to make it clear that this war was not started by us Dionia, but now it is you who want to end it! But you are negotiating with such an attitude, as if it is not us Dionya who now has the advantage in the whole battle, but you Carthage! In that case, there is no need to negotiate, go home and wait for the outcome of the war, and perhaps you will wait for our Dionian envoy to go to Carthage and ask for an armistice! ”

After all, Ocleton has been fighting with Pretakuba in the Carthaginian Senate for many years, and his face has been trained thick enough, and he said slowly with the same complexion: "Negotiation is like buying and selling goods, you give a price, I give a price, the two sides bargain, and finally reach a reasonable price and complete the transaction...... Now we Carthage have come up with the initial price of the armistice, and since you are not satisfied, then I would like to hear what the initial price of Dionya was? ”

Henipolis looked at him, smiled slightly, the previous dissatisfaction disappeared without a trace, he sat back in his place, straightened his chest, stretched out his right hand, and said loudly: "The terms of the armistice in Dionya were set by His Majesty Davers himself!" Article 1, the Carthaginian army in Sicily surrenders to us Dionia! ”

Ocleton stared at the outstretched finger of the other party, and his heart was awe-inspiring: the king of Dionya had been kind to him before, and he thought that this time the negotiation would be easier, but who knew that he was confused by Davers's kindness! It would be difficult for him to agree to this first article alone, because it was an army of 100,000! Most of the young citizens of Carthage and the citizens of the Phoenician city-state were concentrated in Carthage, and if Dionya surrendered to Dionia, if Dionya detained them for a long time and did not allow these citizens to return to Carthage, then Carthage would hardly have enough troops to ensure the safety of the city...... Neither the Carthaginian Senate nor the people would agree to this, and even if the Senate agreed, the self-proclaimed noble and unruly Marco would definitely refuse to implement it! ”

Ocliton complained bitterly in his heart, his face still calm, and asked, "Is there a second article?" ”

"Absolutely." Henipolis looked at him and held out his second finger: "Second, Corsica and Sardinia are handed over to Dionia"

Ocleton's heart was beating wildly: Corsica and Sardinia are one of the important sources of revenue for Carthage's treasury, and if they are taken away by Dionia, Carthage's national power will undoubtedly be significantly weakened!

It was difficult for Ocliton to remain calm, he snorted and said in an accentuated tone, "Anything else?!" ”

"Don't worry, of course." The corners of Henipolis's mouth curled slightly, and he stretched out his third finger: "Carthage withdraws from Sicily, and this island will be completely ruled by Dionia!" ”

Ocriton's eyelids jumped: if taking Corsica and Sardinia weakened Carthage's national power, then letting Dionya fully control Sicily directly threaten Carthage's security, especially now that Dionya has a strong navy......

"Is Dionya really ready to make an armistice with our Carthage and restore peace?!" Ocliton finally couldn't help but ask.

"Of course we are willing to cease the war, but at the beginning we begged you not to provoke a war, but you saw that Dionya was at war with Rome and with the Samonians, and thought that you had an advantage to take advantage of, so you tore up the agreement and blatantly provoked a war, and if your conspiracy succeeded, it was we Dionyas who were defeated in the war today and demanded an armistice, and put forward the same conditions as you just proposed, I don't think you would have agreed!

But you have failed, and you will be punished for your failure! Our army has taken Corsica! Occupy most of Sardinia! Occupy the vast majority of Sicily! …… These victories have been paid for with the blood and lives of our citizens of Dionia, and the people will not allow us to give them up, you better understand that! Henipolis warned sternly.

"Corsica, Sardinia, Western Sicily...... These are the lands that we Carthaginian and Phoenicians have worked so hard for hundreds of years, and just because you want to forcibly take them away from us does not mean that they belong to you! Dionia, who prides itself on being a civilized Greek kingdom and is known for its 'keeping of promises' in the western Mediterranean, should know the truth! Ocleton retorted solemnly.

Henepolis sneered: "When you Carthage tears up the agreement and provokes a war, we can only reason with you with long shields and bayonets!" ”

"You occupy it by force, and you may lose it under the threat of force in the future...... Why don't we Carthage redeem these lands you occupy with more compensation, I hope you can consider it! Ocriton's tone softened slightly.

"Carthage needs huge reparations for Dionya's losses in this war, and this is our fourth condition." Hennipolis held out his fourth finger in a cold tone.

"You! ......" Ocliton finally couldn't help but stand up and asked, "Dionya is so greedy, it seems that he has no intention of making peace with our Carthage at all!" ”

"His Majesty Davers does intend to negotiate peace, otherwise he would not have put forward these detailed conditions." Henipolis said seriously: "He also instructed me that except for the amount of compensation, which can be negotiated, no other conditions can be changed!" Of course, I don't think Lord Ocleton can decide such an important matter, but I hope that the Carthaginian Senate will be able to settle the matter as soon as possible, otherwise as time drags on, our conditions will be more than that. ”

Ocleton's heart was shaken. But it is true, as Henipolis said, that he could not decide on any of the terms of peace negotiations proposed by Dionia, so he could only bring them back and submit them to the Senate for negotiation.

While leaving Minoa and returning to Carthage, Ocleton, who was in a heavy mood, suddenly had a heart move and ordered the passenger ship to change course and dock at a beach near the city of Selinus.

When Ocliton arrived at the Carthaginian camp, he was just in time for Marco to lead an army to attack the city, so he climbed the inner wall of the camp under the leadership of his guards and witnessed the terrible siege with his own eyes.

The Carthaginian army attacked the city of Selinus from the east, west, and north at once, with nearly 20,000 men thrown into the northern wall of Ocliton alone, countless light infantry waiting on the tall earthen hill to suppress the defenders at the head of the city with arrows and javelins, and Balearic slingers standing on the inner wall throwing lead pellets at the city of Selinus.

The main assault was divided into three parts: one was the Numibian soldiers, who, led by the officers of the Iberian army, rushed to the front with sacks full of earth to fill the trenches under the city; The second wave of attacking troops was the Phoenician infantry, who carried ladders and pushed siege engines, siege towers and other large siege equipment, rushing to the city like a tide to carry out a strong attack; The third wave was Margo's trusted Phoenus infantry, who recuperated behind the inner walls and waited until the siege was at a fever pitch and both sides had exhausted a great deal of physical energy before sending them on for the final assault.

There was another huge army of tens of thousands on the battlefield, and their task was to seize the time to build the earthen walls on both sides of the earth hill extending from the inner wall of the camp while the Dionian soldiers were busy dealing with the siege, and finally achieve the purpose of connecting with the walls of Selinus.

In addition, of course, ballistas were indispensable for the siege, but for fear of being attacked by the bows of the city, the Carthaginian ballista troops retreated behind the inner walls, and their main targets were the wooden towers that had been built on the walls, but because of the inner walls, the hit rate was obviously not high, and they were also threatened by the Dionian ballistas. Also across the walls, Dionia's ballistae fired stone projectiles around the Carthaginian ballistas, which they apparently targeted Carthaginian ballistae in greater numbers than Carthage (at the request of Amintas, all of the ballistae of General Davers were drawn to Selinus).

The reason why Margo wanted to concentrate the ballista troops on the wooden towers was that they were too much of a threat to the light infantry on the dirt hill, and the original native hill was slightly higher than the walls of Selinus, so that the Carthaginian light infantry could attack the city from a high position, but after the Dioonians built these wooden towers three or four meters high in the walkway at the head of the city, the Dionian light infantry once again gained the advantage of long-range attacks.