Time flies.

Three days later, in the early morning, the port of Liliba sailed southward.

The reason for the postponement by one day was that yesterday it was windy and rough and it was a southerly wind. Although there was some wind and waves this morning, it happened to be a north wind.

The Sicilian Fleet and the Third Fleet were in front of and on both sides of this huge fleet, with troop carriers in the center and baggage ships in tow, and the whole fleet was moving faster by the wind, and before noon it had reached the island of Cosia.

This small island, which once belonged to the Phoenicians, was now occupied by the Sicilian fleet, which became a forward base for them to blockade the ports of Carthage and patrol the African coast, but the fleet did not stop and continued to move forward.

As he approached the coast, Alexis's fears did not materialize, for there was not a single Carthaginian or Phoenician merchant ship to be seen on the vast expanse of the sea, which had always been busy along the Afrigian coast, passing through Cyrenaica, Egypt, and finally to Tyre, which had been a few months before when it had been full of ships, and which had suddenly become so depressed, was a testament to the defeat of Carthage in the war and the strength of the Dionian navy.

It wasn't until the fleet was approaching the shore that Alexis saw some fishing boats along the coast.

When the fishermen on the boat saw the overwhelming number of warships approaching, they were so frightened that they hurriedly docked their boats and fled desperately back to their city-state to report the news.

By this time, Alexis was no longer worried, according to his previous deployment, the fleet warships had stayed in the offshore waters, the troop transports spread rapidly along the long coastline, and under the impetus of the tide and oarsmen, the ships came to the flat beach, and the soldiers of the three legions stepped on the knee-high waters and stepped on the land of Africa.

"This is the land where Hercules defeated the giant Perfirion?!" In fact, the scene of the beach here is no different from that of Turiyi and Katanai, but the adjutant who went ashore, Eumattius, felt a little excited, and looked around curiously.

"Yes, now we will soon conquer the giant Carthage like Hercules!" Alexis said with emotion.

"Lord Alexis, if you think like that, you'll be disappointed." Alexis was stunned by Printors' words, but he blinked and continued: "Carthage is not a giant now. ”

"I hope so." Alexis smiled.

It seemed that they were in a relaxed mood, but in fact, Alexis kept sending heralds around him, urging the various troops to assemble quickly after landing, and at the same time quickly finding the scouts who had come ashore and asking them to immediately reconnoiter the surrounding situation.

Alexis breathed a sigh of relief when the news came back one after another: not only was there no enemy within a radius of ten miles, but the Phoenicians living here were desperately fleeing with their families.

At dusk, Alexis led his army to Hadru Mentum and began building camp on the ruins of the burned town.

It was not until late at night that Carthaginian received the news of the "landing of the Ionian army on Hadru Mentum", and the silent city suddenly became noisy, and the people were very panicked and puzzled: a few days ago, there was news from Sicily that although the army of Marco was defeated, the remnants of the army retreated to Segsta and Mazara and continued to hold out, why did a large army of Dioonians suddenly appear in Hadru Mentum?

In fact, after Hasdruba led the remnants of the army to retreat to Mazara, he did send a clipper ship out of the port at first, rushed to Carthage, and informed Sicily of the situation, but then due to the chaos in the city of Mazara, the people were busy saving their lives, and the Dionian fleet deliberately strengthened the blockade of the port until Dionya occupied Mazara, not to say that Carthage knew nothing about it, and was as ignorant as Erix in Sicily.

The situation was so severe that the Carthaginian Senate convened an emergency meeting that night to discuss countermeasures, in addition to deciding to immediately mobilize for war, strengthen the city's defenses, and issue orders to the surrounding allies to send reinforcements...... In addition to the emergency measures, they discussed whether or not to immediately send an emissary to negotiate peace with the Dionians.

This time, most of the senators were in favor, with only a minority of the Magonides, led by Pretacuba, firmly opposing the idea of allowing the "cession of the new colonies of southern Iberia" as a condition for negotiations.

In the morning, the Senate adjourned, and the senators went back to their mansions, finished their breakfast, and then continued their discussions. But by the time the senators walked out of the hall, there had already been a large number of Carthaginians gathered outside the hall.

Some time ago, because the Hannonites made a proposal to "negotiate peace with Dionia", they were criticized by the people, and some even scolded them for treason, and their life was not very easy, but this morning many people who had already received the content of the meeting did not insult Ocleton and Tepanlac again, but aimed at the Magonides, and asked Pretakuba to reach an agreement with Hanno as soon as possible for the sake of Carthage's security, and sent envoys to sign a peace agreement with Dionia.

Pretakuba thought in his mind that this was a Hanno ploy and did not respond to it, and in fact he could not have agreed to Carthage's abandonment of the colony in southern Iberia, since it had become the foundation of the Magonides.

…………………………………………

While the Carthaginian people gathered in front of the Senate and were in a hurry, Alexis ordered his army to continue to consolidate the camp while sending a large number of soldiers to repair the port of Hadrumentum in order to carry the baggage of the cargo ships more quickly, while waiting for the arrival of the Numibian army.

But in the evening, Alexis, who had been waiting for a long time, received bad news: the flotilla laden with Numibian soldiers had set out from Lilib with a weak northerly wind, and halfway through the flotilla suddenly turned to a strong northwesterly wind, and the whole fleet was pushed by the wind and waves to the coast east of Hadrumentum, and some ships were said to have capsized on the way.

Alexis hastened to pray to Hades for his protection so that this did not happen to the Dionian army.

He then sent out scouts to search east along the coast for the fleet.

But then he received the news that there was no trace of the flotilla except for a very small number of ships scattered along the nearby coast.

Alexis speculated that most of the ships might have been blown near the Cyrenaica Sea by the wind and waves, which forced him to make a decision: he could not wait any longer, and he had to take the initiative.

On the third day, he left the Third Army in camp and personally led the First and Second Legions, totaling more than 16,000 men, to attack Ruspina, a Phoenician city-state to the east of Hadrumentum, less than thirty miles from him.

Ruspina and its neighbors sent messengers to Carthage for help.

This caused panic among the people of Carthage and soon led to a major event.

………………………………………

At dusk, the meeting of the Carthaginian Senate ended again in a quarrel.

After the senators stepped out of the gate, Pretacuba and the others were unsurprisingly surrounded by the people waiting outside the courtyard again, and to their requests, insults and even threats, Pretacuba, who had been through many times, did not respond at all, and after the guards pushed away the people who were blocking the way, he walked forward with his head held high.

At this moment, several young men suddenly rushed towards him, knocked away the guards who were caught off guard, and rushed to the front of Pretakuba, holding a dagger in his hand, and stabbed Pretakuba in the chest quickly and ferociously......

The whole process was a blink of an eye, and by the time everyone around him reacted, Pretakuba was already lying in a pool of blood......

The frightened people screamed and fled, while the servants who followed them hurriedly picked up the bloodied Preeta Kubar, shouting for the doctor to come and rescue him, and the guards rushed to arrest the assailants...... The scene was chaotic.

Concerned about their own safety, the senators retreated to the entrance of the venue, under the protection of the guards. Quite a few people turned their attention to Hanno, apparently suspecting that the assassination of Tapretakuba had something to do with his sworn enemy Hanno.

But Hanno also looked shocked at this time, and shouted: "Quick, catch them!" Catch those murderers! ”

Fortunately, the murderers did not run away, but stood where they were, waiting for the guards to come and arrest them, and one of them even shouted loudly: "I am Ildu, the son of Braka!" My eldest brother followed Monte Adno and died in Minoa! My second brother was also drafted to Sicily, and I don't know if it's life or death now! My father drove a cargo ship and ventured late at night to transport food for the Sicilian army, and he has not returned! Our whole family has paid enough blood for this war started by the Magonides! They are the cause of all the dangers that Carthage is in trouble today! There's nothing wrong with killing him, it's Barr. Hamon's oracle! Only in this way can Carthage be saved! ……”

Several other youths also shouted: "I am not guilty, this is for Carthage!" ……”

There were still many people present who did not leave, and when they heard the shouts of the youths, they all felt the same way, and shouted at the guards who arrested the youths: "Let them go!" They are the heroes of Carthage! They want to free Carthage from the danger of war, and they want to restore peace and tranquility to Africa! Pretakuba is the sinner! Marco is the sinner! This is Barr. Harmon's punishment, they deserve it! ……”

The people roared like thunder, protesting against the senators, venting all the sorrow and fear that had been stored in their hearts during this time, and their shouts attracted more and more people to come, and more and more people gathered in the square in front of the senate, and some began to fight with the guards to save the young men, and saw that another riot was about to take place.