It was only after the ten-year alliance was signed again that Chrysoppus, in a private conversation with Davers, mentioned that the Council of Elders of Sparta was concerned and dissatisfied with Dionia's frequent wars in the Apriria.

Davers's response to this was: "The affairs of Apulia belong to the affairs of the western Mediterranean, and according to the Covenant, there is no need for Sparta to worry about it at all, even if in the later stages of the Corinthian War, Thebes and Corinthian envoys had come to Turiyi, hoping that Dionya would intervene in that war and thus prevent the alien Persians from using Sparta to control Greece, Dionyas strictly complied with the requirements of the Covenant and rejected their request." Although many of the Greek citizens of the kingdom were very unhappy that the allies of Sparta had bowed to the bullshit contract made by their former Greek rival Persia, and that Sparta flooded Mandinia, destroyed a Greek city-state by brutal means, and committed atrocities similar to those done by the Sicilian tyrant Dionysius, the Dionian people were very angry. However, the Dionian Senate repeatedly rejected the demands of many tribunes at the year-end Congress of the Tribunes to "condemn and punish Sparta".

I hope that the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China will also handle the relations between the two countries in strict accordance with the content of the agreement, especially on the issue of 'accepting the indigenous people who have fled from Apulia', please reconsider and deal with it carefully. Dionyas kept their promises, but treated them as enemies to city-states that broke their promises......"

Davers's words made Chrysopus both ashamed and frightened, and he immediately solemnly said: "Your Majesty King Davers, Sparta cherishes the friendship between the two countries, which is why it will take the initiative to send me to renew the contract. Sparta will continue to abide by the requirements of the covenant as before, and there will always be peace between the East and the West Mediterranean! ……”

Only a day after seeing off Christopus, Turiy welcomed the Carthaginian emissary Ocleton.

He didn't come to renew his contract, but to protest.

The Carthaginians protested against Dionia's violation of the covenant and the unauthorised war against the Sicilians, the free forces of Sicily, and demanded that Dionysia immediately stop this foolish act of "destroying the peaceful environment of Sicily".

The Dionian Senate refuted the demands of the Carthaginians, citing facts, evidence, and reasoning, and told the Carthaginian envoys: It was not Dionya who wanted to invade the Sikerians, but the Tanian tribe of the Sichaels conspired to disturb Dionya and wanted to disadvantage Dionia, for which Dionya had tried several Sicilian senators such as Laodisien, and at the same time arrested many Kingdom officials, and of course took revenge on the culprits of this incident, This is the punishment that the Taniyan tribe deserves for taking the initiative to provoke Dionia!

Dionia's tough refusal to protest against Carthage left Ocleton in vain.

………………………………………

A few days later, in the Senate of Carthage, the Carthaginian senators had a heated debate about the matter.

"Lord Hanno, now that the Dioonians refuse to stop the war against the Sikels, I wonder what you have to do about it?! Otherwise, if no action is taken, the weak Sikails will not be able to resist the Dionian army for a few days! Senator Pretakuba asked, getting up.

Hanno looked coldly at the senator who questioned him. Since Margo was removed from the post of governor of Sicily, he did not return to Carthage, but angrily went to Iberia with some mercenaries, and the leading figure of the Magonides family in the Senate and even Carthage became Pretakuba, who was a distant relative of Margo, but was much more cunning than Margo, and caused some trouble for Hanno to control the Senate in recent years.

There was no need for Hanno to reply, and the other elected Sufitel Pantillaco had already taken over and said, "This matter was provoked by the Tanian tribe of Sikel, and it is understandable that Dionya punished him. What we should do now is to keep an eye on this war and prevent Dionya from taking the opportunity to expand it to the detriment of our Carthaginian interests. ”

"Oh, you gave up the people of Sikel with just one word! I still remember that it was your suggestion to support the unification of the West Kells, Lord Hano! Another Magonidian patriarch, Santipur, immediately made sarcastic remarks.

Hanno looked at him with an unhappy expression.

Ocliton immediately retorted loudly: "You are really good at forgetting! The Tanians came to Carthage in the name of 'former allies who fought alongside Himirko', and it was you who first came to you, and you were the first to raise them in the Senate. Help the Tanians' suggestion, and Lord Hanno is just following your wishes, hoping that what the Tanians do can help Carthage better control Sicily, but I didn't expect them to dare to provoke Dionia, and I didn't expect that you, who had the support of Lord Hanno, are now falsely accusing Lord Hanno! (When the Carthaginian commander Himirko attacked Syracuse, he built the fortress of Tauromegnan and gave it to the Sikerians in order to win over the Sieckelians against the Siracusens, and formed an alliance with King Agilis of Sikhel, the father of the Tariqan chief Aconis.) However, when Mimilko was defeated and committed suicide, and Dionysius counterattacked Carthage's power in Sicily, Agilis fell to Syracuse and was eventually murdered by Dionysius. ）”

Pretakuba immediately changed the topic and put on a worried look: "Lord Hanno, in the past few years, Syracuse's strength has been greatly damaged, most of the Greek city-states in Sicily are friendly with Dionia, they not only often send envoys to attend various celebrations of Dionia, but some even send teams to participate in Dionia's rugby matches, and now Dionysia controls the Sikels, then the situation in Sicily will not return to the time of Dionysius, which is very unfavorable to Carthage!" ”

Hanno looked at him coldly, and suddenly said, "Lord Pretakuba, in view of the current situation in Sicily, what is your suggestion?" Continue to support a tribe of Sikai who are about to be destroyed with gold, silver, and supplies?! Or send troops to support the Sikers?! ”

"Since Dionya refuses to cease fighting, of course, we must send troops to make them realize that Carthage is not just protesting with words, we are serious!" Patriarch Santipur said in a stern tone.

The patriarchs were in an uproar.

"That means war!" Pantilako warned loudly.

"Since Dionyas is wantonly expanding its power in Sicily and refusing to heed our Carthaginian warnings, then give them war!" Santipur shook his fist hard.

Many veterans exclaimed, and the voice of controversy suddenly rose.

Hanno was suddenly vigilant, and he immediately realized that this was definitely the idea of the patriarch of the Magonides, who was thousands of miles away, and he wanted to provoke a war between Dioonia and Carthage, so as to provide a good opportunity for him to return to Carthage and take control of the political situation!

Thinking of this, Hanno suddenly stood up and shouted: "Does Carthage want to tear up the covenant and intervene in this war of Dionya to punish the Sikerians, and have a war with Dionya that may be protracted and costly?" Now the Senate has voted in favor of the proposals of Pretakuba and Santipur, and the senators who sent troops to fight in Sicily are invited to raise their hands! ”

Except for a very small number of patriarchs from the Magonid faction who raised their hands, the other patriarchs didn't even hesitate.

In the past ten years, the Carthaginians followed Hanno's proposal and turned their targets to the inland area south of the Carthaginian territory - Numibia, this vast land has many indigenous tribes, but there is no unified state and organization, the Carthaginians through direct military conscription, money buying, separation and many other measures, so that Carthage controls most of the Numibian land, Carthaginian citizens also share a large amount of inland land, and hire Numibians to farm, Carthaginian patriarchs are even more wealthy, It also doubled Hanno's prestige in the city of Carthage. The only fear of the Carthaginians was the occasional rebellion of the Numibians, for which several units of Carthaginian citizens rotated through several important strongholds stationed in the territory of Numibia.

Carthage was unwilling not only by the majority of the senators, but also by the citizens of Carthage, who were more concerned with the increase in the harvest of land in Numibia and the control of the numerous Numibian slaves and Numibian hired peasants than the Dioonians and Sichaels in eastern Sicily.

Hanno looked around at the majority of the silent senators, and then at the handful of pro-war senators, who he had foreseen such a powerful advantage: the Carthaginians would never want war with Dioonia without sudden accidents, and Margo's plot could not be realized. Of course, Margotha now occupied that Iberian land, and his disobedience to the orders of the Carthaginian Senate also gave him a headache.

At this time, Hanno reached into his bosom, took out a scroll of paper, held it high in his hand, and said in a loud voice: "This is a letter written to me by the king of Dionya himself!" In the letter, he promised, 'Tell us that Dionya, always keeping in mind the covenant with Carthage, will only punish the Taniğan tribes, and will never expand the territory of attacking other Sichaels.' In addition, he asked me to consider the question of the renewal of the covenant. As he spoke, he handed the letter to the patriarch next to him.

The elders present looked visibly relaxed.