As young and middle-aged citizens were sent to fight and did not return for a long time, there was a shortage of labor at home, and many families needed to buy more slaves to ensure that the fields were planted and harvested, and the family workshops could be completed smoothly...... This, therefore, led to a boom in the slave market.

There are only two places in Turii that have been largely unaffected by the war: one is the Turriyi School, where the teachers continue to attend classes as usual, and even if a student's father dies in battle, he will gradually come out of his grief with the guidance of the teacher and the playfulness of his peers; The other is the Dioonia Academy, where both highly educated teachers and students continue to focus on their own research and learning, but that doesn't mean they are deaf to the current situation.

At the back of the classroom of the Faculty of Letters, Ansitanos was sitting under a large tree, telling the history of Egypt, and more than 20 students surrounded him, sitting casually on the grass, listening carefully to his narration, while writing down the main points on the wooden board he carried with him, and constantly raising his hand to ask questions, the atmosphere was relaxed and lively.

Ansitanos looked up at the sky and said, "That's all for today's class, and we'll do it again in the morning in two days' time—"

As he spoke, he saw a student's hand raised in the air, and asked gently, "Ionicus, what other questions do you have?" ”

"Teacher, now that His Majesty King Davos is leading a large army to war against mighty Carthage in Sicily, can we win?"

Ansitanos frowned, "This isn't what you're meant to teach—"

"Teacher, can you tell us about it?"

"Teacher, don't you always say that 'learning history is to learn from the past and make wiser choices in times of crisis'? And now we are at war with Carthage, isn't it the most difficult time for the kingdom to be! So, can we win this important war? Can you use your method of analyzing history to give us an analysis of this war?! ”

"Ever since I heard that 'the Carthaginian army has invaded our territory in Sicily', I have been so worried that I can't even study in peace! Teacher, you are very knowledgeable and know more than us, no matter whether your analysis is good or bad, I can settle down and work harder to prepare for the future! ”

"Teacher, just tell us about it!"

……

The student's request made the good-natured Ansitanos sigh helplessly: "Okay, then I'll tell you about this war." ”

The students burst into cheers.

Ansitanos didn't speak immediately, he pondered for a while before he spoke: "I'm sorry, I can't disclose some details about this war because it involves Kingdom secrets, and I don't know much about military affairs, and I can't understand and analyze the strategies and tactics adopted by the two sides, so I can only talk about some of my views based on what I know about the current situation of both sides, as well as my analysis of the past history of the Mediterranean......

The students immediately sat upright, ready to listen.

Ansitanos cleared his throat and said slowly, "I have already mentioned that Egypt was conquered by the Assyrians from the valley of the two rivers, and that Egypt had been a powerful kingdom in the Eastern Mediterranean until then. Moving on to Assyria, Assyria, which dominated the eastern part of the Eastern Mediterranean, was later destroyed by the rising Persians, as mentioned in Herodotus' Histories. Herodotus described in more detail the unstoppable Persians, who tried to conquer the entire Mediterranean to the west, were defeated by the combined city-states of Sparta and Athens in Greece, which they looked down upon. After that, Athens and Sparta began to dominate the Eastern Mediterranean......

What am I saying this to illustrate? If you carefully read the history of these countries, you will find that they all have a process of going from weak to strong, and from strong to declining, and a country is like a person, going through children, teenagers, youth, prime of life, old age, ...... During the entire period, it is also possible to die halfway through.

When he was a teenager, because he was weak, he had to endure bullying, was forced to sign various unequal agreements, and tried hard to make friends with the strong men around him; When it reaches its youth, it has a strong physique and vigorous energy, and it wants to compete with strong opponents; In middle age, its strength and energy have declined, its personality has become stable, and it will work hard to maintain the various honors it has won; In old age, old age and infirmity, not only the wealth you have is easy to be robbed by others, but even your life is difficult to preserve...... Tell me what time a kingdom was the most terrible?

"Youth, of course!"

"No, I think it's middle age!" ……

Students vied with each other to speak.

Ansitanos waited for them to express his opinion before he added: "My opinion is that of youth, because it is the time when it is the most energetic, the most enterprising, and the most united, like a stream that gathers between the mountains, and even if there is a tall rock in front of it, it will rush down until it merges into a wide river...... Assyria and Persia basically fought at this time, eliminated the powerful powers that hindered them, expanded rapidly, and established the position of hegemon.

And in middle age, not only there are strong enemies outside, but also a lot of internal contradictions, the whole country has to spend more energy to solve these problems, and the country's property is also wasted in internal friction, so it will not only stop its external expansion, but even sometimes be forced to shrink inward, which country do you say belongs to this situation? ”

"Teacher, it's Persia, right?!" One student preemptively said: "More than 20 years ago, there was a civil strife in Persia over the throne, and His Majesty Davers also participated in that war. Later, when the Spartans invaded Asia Minor, the Persians were unable to repel them, although eventually the Spartans sued for peace, also because of the Corinthian War. A few years earlier, the Persian army had attacked Egypt, but it was repulsed...... Isn't that exactly what you said, teacher? ”

"That's right, Asidatis! I see the same thing as you. Ansitanos did not hesitate to praise loudly and asked the other students, "Then what period do you think the kingdom is in now?" ”

"It's my boyhood!" Some students said in unison, while others stopped talking.

"It has only been more than ten years since the establishment of our kingdom, and if we count from the establishment of the alliance, it has only been twenty years, and if we look at it from the perspective of time, the Kingdom of Dionia, which has only a short history of more than ten years, really looks like a teenager." Ansitanos first analyzed the reasons for the students' judgment, and then said, "But in other ways, this is not the case. Our kingdom directly owns far more land than any other Mediterranean city-state, including Carthage, and has far more citizens than these countries, and its annual income is far less than that of Carthage. We don't need to take the initiative to befriend the surrounding forces and races, as they either come to form alliances or are afraid to seek the support of other powerful forces.

The kingdom is still expanding, and our territory is still expanding, and we have just recently won a large amount of land over Rome and Samone. Our citizens fear death, but they are more eager to win honor in war, and their loved ones will do their best to support them, not hinder them. Our great king, our senate, will never succumb to external pressure, but respond to the provocations of the enemy with more active actions...... The whole kingdom is full of vigor and hope, like the sun rising in the sky in the morning...... I'm sure you feel that way, isn't this youth! ”

The students nodded excitedly in agreement.

"Teacher, what about Carthage?" Someone asked impatiently.

"The situation in Carthage is a bit complicated." Ansitanos muttered, "Carthage has been founded for 200 years, which is long enough, before it suffered many defeats in the contest with Syracuse, but it has since conquered Numibia and southern Iberia.

There was no unified state in the Numibian region, and the tribes were under Carthaginian influence and control for a long time, so it was very easy to conquer and its ability to resist was weak. Carthage had a small population, and its citizens occupied a large amount of Numibian land, and many Numibian slaves farmed for them, and they could easily enjoy a luxurious life with little effort......

His Majesty Davers once said, 'Too much comfort in life will lead to the corruption and depravity of the Carthaginians'. Your Majesty's judgment was correct, so when the Carthaginian army first went to war with us, we defeated them easily with a small victory......

But the Carthaginian conquest of southern Iberia was different. As far as I know, Carthage did not have much influence there, but there were a large number of fierce indigenous people living in that area, and it was not easy for the Carthaginians to finally conquer southern Iberia and use its land resources and population for their own use, and it also showed that the Carthaginians there had a strong enterprising spirit. So when the Carthaginian army attacked Sicily again, and it was dominated by the Iberian army, we were no longer an opponent with the Sicilian army alone......

If you look at the Carthage and southern Iberia together, I think that Carthage was neither in its youth nor in middle age, but in the period when youth was approaching middle age. However, you must know that the southern part of Iberia was in fact ruled by the Magonides of Carthage alone, and that they were at odds with the other nobles of the Carthaginian lands, and it is difficult to say whether the two sides could unite and fight without disagreement in such a long and arduous war.

So, taken together, Carthage is a young man, it seems to be strong and powerful, but its development is actually not sound, and there are many hidden diseases. And our energetic, healthy, and enterprising kingdom is at war with it, and I believe that even if there are a few defeats in between, the final victory will be ours! ”