These Phoenician towns were terrified.

Not long after, the towns near Saros received messengers from Dionia, who made a strong demand: let them surrender to Dionia immediately, otherwise the army would attack and the Salos would be their fate!

The Carthaginian judges, the de facto rulers of these towns, were either killed in battle or trapped in St. Ibnia because the roads were blocked, and the officials of the town hall who had lost their command were at a loss and the people were terrified.

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Although Morbar won a naval battle, his mood was not happy, but became heavier, not because the casualties of the Carthaginian merchant sailors who served as bait were too high, but because he found the strength of the Dionian navy, so after returning to the port of Carthage, when the people were cheering about the hard-won naval victory, he wrote a letter to the senate.

In the letter, he briefly described the whole process of this naval battle, and then emphasized that he believed that the Dionian navy not only surpassed Carthage in overall strength, but also surpassed Carthage in the tactics it practiced, and that the training, fighting spirit, and ability of the Dionian sailors were also stronger than the Carthaginian navy, and that it was impossible for the Carthaginian navy to regain control of the western seas of Sicily in a short time, and that if the war continued, it might even lose control of the African coast, so that Carthage would face a direct threat from the sea. For the sake of Carthage's security, it is necessary to make peace with Dionya for the time being, to gain time, to rebuild the Dionian navy, to develop new naval tactics for the Dionian navy, and to strengthen training so that it can regain control of the sea in the future......

When the contents of this letter were read out in the Senate, it caused an uproar in the venue.

It was the first time that someone told the truth so bluntly, and based on Morbar's own prestige and position in the navy, what he said was more credible, but the fig leaf of Carthage, which had always claimed to be the "maritime power of the Western Mediterranean", was torn off, which made many senators very dissatisfied with this, especially when he mentioned "peace with Dionia", which touched the scale of some people's rebellion.

The Magonides, led by Pretakuba, lashed out at this. They criticized Morbar for being too old and completely lacking the courage of his youth, and when both countries had spent huge resources, gathered such large armies, and were about to fight an unprecedented great war to decide the fate of the country, he said these words that shook the morale of the people, and if he did not know that he had made a lot of contributions to Carthage in the past few decades, he would have thought that he was a traitor to Carthage and wanted to betray Carthage's interests, so in such an important war, Morbar, who was already timid at heart, was no longer worthy to be the commander of the Carthaginian navy.

The Hannoites, led by Hanno, supported Morbar. They praised Morbar for all the exploits he had done for Carthage in the past, and for the courage of him to say it now, knowing that it would undermine his past prestige, for all that he was a true patriot. There was no more experienced and knowledgeable admiral than Morbarr among the citizens of Carthage, and even he thought so, which showed that the Carthaginian navy was indeed at a disadvantage, and that it was the most correct and unselfish thing to negotiate peace with Dionya before he had just won a naval battle and had not yet shown any obvious decline.

The centrists, on the other hand, are somewhat divided on this issue. The younger senators, led by El Accra, believed that Carthage had already spent a great deal of money on the war, and that the sudden need to negotiate peace at a time when a great war was about to be decided would not only confuse the people of the city-state, but also usher in protests from the nobles, and the senate would not be able to account to the citizens. And since Margo became the commander of the Carthaginian army, he has not suffered defeat in the battle with the Dionian army (they obviously did not count the night attack of Selinus), maybe the Carthaginian navy is worse than the Dionian navy, but the army under the command of Marco is still stronger than the Dionian army, otherwise why does the Dionian army not dare to take the initiative to attack us now? As long as the army in Sicily can win the battle, the whole situation will be very different, and when the time comes, we will have more initiative.

The old senators, led by Esyaruba, made a vague suggestion: they could first send an envoy to the Dionian camp in the name of peace, first learn about the attitude of the Dioonians towards the peace and the conditions they proposed, and then take it back to the Senate for discussion.

In fact, Esyaroba felt that with the diplomatic strength of the Dionians, in the current situation, the conditions they put forward would be more harsh, and the Carthaginian people would definitely not accept them, so that the Senate led by the Hannonites would try to compromise, so that the entire Senate could face the war together.

But Hanno's idea was that Ocleton had mentioned peace before, but everyone thought he was joking. And this time, even if it failed in the end, it could leave a mark on the hearts of the elders. Wait until the next time the situation changes, and then talk about it, and then he will bring it up, then the probability of success is very high.

Since "peace with Dionia" was such an important issue, the senators were in heated debate for several days and could not make a decision at all.

However, they did not forget the matter, and sent someone to remind Morbal tactfully that the senators already knew about the letter he had written, and discussed it. As commander of the navy, he should devote more energy to how to lead the fleet to protect the shipping routes with western Sicily, and to annihilate more Dionian warships.

Displeased, Morbar drove the senate messengers out of the Carthaginian military port.

…………………………………………

As one of the founders of the Ionian Navy, Secrean has not tasted defeat for more than 10 years, and is quite prestigious among the people, and is supported by the crew in the navy, although later Davers deliberately suppressed him and built four fleets without a commander, but he could not suppress the self-confidence and pride in his heart, but this naval battle, he was led by the Carthaginians by the nose from beginning to end, and in the end the Carthaginians achieved their true goal, but he was still in the dark, and you can imagine how aggrieved and remorseful he was in his heart.

After returning from Miloa, he locked himself in his bedroom and spent most of the day alone.

When evening came, he went out of the room and told the guards to immediately inform the commanders of the detachments of the Sicilian fleet to come to a meeting.

Stefakas and the other three hurried over.

When Secrean saw them, he immediately told them what he had learned from King Davers.

The three of them looked at each other with indescribable surprise on their faces, especially Stefacas, who never imagined that when he was leading the detachment to persistently chase Carthaginian merchant ships in the waters of many islands, not far from him, the Carthaginians actually dared to use thousands of merchant ships to transport baggage to the Sicilian army, and he didn't even notice it!

Secrean looked at the three people who were hit hard, and said in a deep voice: "This time we suffered a defeat, but this is not to blame you, the responsibility is mainly on me, I am too dull to carry out the task given by His Majesty Davers, obviously the strength of the Sicilian fleet occupies a great advantage, but only cares about patrolling the Sicilian seas, which is equivalent to changing from the original attack to defense, and it will undoubtedly be very difficult to defend on the vast sea, and then encounter a cunning enemy, let us be very passive!"

Since the establishment of our Dionian navy, even at the weakest time, it has been won by bold attacks rather than conservative defenses, and it is in the nature of our Dionian navy to attack, so I have decided to change my previous practice and take the initiative to attack Carthage and its Phoenician allies, attack their territories in Africa, change our passive posture, and boost the morale of the entire fleet! ”

When the three of them heard this, their spirits perked up, but they were also a little worried: "My lord, Your Majesty has asked us to concentrate our efforts on blocking the waters of Sicily, if we attack, we will no longer be able to cruise, Your Majesty knows that we have not carried out his orders, that is——"

"Don't worry!" Sekrian said confidently, "I remember His Majesty once said, 'Attack is the best defense.'" As long as we carry out a few successful raids, the Carthaginians will fear the safety of their homeland, and will no longer dare to let their fleet stay away from the African coast at will, and it will also make it difficult for the generals of the Carthaginian fleet to judge whether the actions of our Sicilian fleet are offensive or cruising in the future, which is more conducive to our blockade of the Sicilian seas!

In addition, as far as I know, Carthage's possessions and allies in Africa have never been attacked, and if we succeed, it will be a great honor, and the Carthaginians will be greatly shaken, and perhaps the stalemate in Sicily will be changed for a better effect! ”

After being criticized by Davos, Sekrian thought about it for a long time behind closed doors, and thought more comprehensively, and he finished his thoughts with confidence, and emphasized: "I have sent a messenger to Minoa to inform Your Majesty of my new plan, and I trust that he will approve it." ”

The three squadron commanders were immediately persuaded by him, and Stefakas asked eagerly, "My lord, where are you going to attack?" ”

Sekrian pointed to the map he had prepared on the table.

The three of them stepped forward to look at it and couldn't help exclaiming: "Hadru Mentum?!" ”

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