"I've thought about it!" Without hesitation, Dido said, "So I decided to go to Sicily and negotiate with the Dionians!" ”

"What?! You're going to Sicily?! "Haka was really surprised this time.

"You would have been a more suitable candidate, but you are not in good health, and you are inseparable from you at this time. So I had to go! Although I am a woman, I am the only daughter of Margo, the patriarch of the Magonid family, and I personally went to Sicily to negotiate, which shows the sincerity of our Magonid family. And the decisions I make in the negotiations should be agreed to by you, right? Dido looked at her cousin in an imposing manner.

Haka didn't respond directly, but asked, "What are you going to decide?" ”

"I want this realm to join the kingdom of Dionya as their sub-state or ...... What about Liberty City, I think that should save my father and Hasdruba! ”

Haka looked at Dido with a resolute expression, and suddenly envied her vitality and courage, which was what his sickly body lacked: "Well, I will take care of everything here, you can go to Sicily with confidence, but you have to prepare for the worst, the king of Dionya is not so easy to talk to!" ”

Although Haka had never met Davers, he had a deep understanding of the Ionian king, and even some of the administrative systems now in place in the Iberian realm were absorbed and adapted from the Dionian polity. Because of this, as a Carthaginian nobleman, he did not object to Dido's great rebellion to defect to the enemy country, but on the contrary, there was a trace of envy in his heart.

………………………………………

Ocleton once again came to Sicily as an emissary of Carthage, and began a new round of negotiations with Hennipolis, the court clerk of Dionia, at the palace of the lord of Lilipa.

After several rounds of negotiations, in the face of aggressive Henipolis, Ocleton compromised and offered to cede the new colony in southern Iberia and to return the land of the East Numibians to independence.

But Henipolis was not satisfied, pointing out that what Dionya needed was the whole of southern Iberia owned by Carthage, which included the coastal towns of Cadiz, Huelva, and Megarobalis, as well as the gold and silver mines under its control, which could not be changed.

Ocleton argued that Hennipolis would not let go, and Davers did not give Ocleton a chance to meet at all, and the negotiations reached an impasse.

When Ocleton sent the news back to Carthage that "the negotiations were not going well", the Carthaginian Senate received another piece of bad news: Ruspina had surrendered to the Dionian army.

It turned out that Alexis had hoped that the Carthaginian army would come to the rescue of Ruspina, so that he could defeat the Carthaginian army in the field, reduce the difficulty of the soldiers to attack the city in the future, and severely demolish the confidence of the Carthaginians.

However, when the Carthaginian senate learned that the Numibians had joined the Dionian army, they became even more concerned about the safety of Carthage, and despite the repeated pleas of the Ruspina envoys, the Carthaginian senate was trying to mobilize reinforcements from the Phoenician allies to the west to defend the city.

Alexis did not order a strong attack on Ruspina, but let a total of 30 ballistae owned by the three legions continue to bombard the city of Ruspina for several days, not only smashed many houses in the city, made the people in the city panic all day long, but also blasted out several large gaps in the not thick city wall, Ruspina had not many citizen soldiers, and never waited for the news of Carthaginian reinforcements, in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of Hadrumentum, the frightened Ruspina people chose to surrender.

Alexis led his army into the city of Ruspina, and after completely controlling the city, he immediately notified the Third Army stationed in Hadrumentum to remove the camp and rendezvous at Ruspina.

Unable to hold on, the Carthaginians were ready to continue their march east to capture Thasos, thus turning the coastal lands into the rear of the Dionian army.

The Carthaginian senators, led by Hanno, received a reply from Ocleton, and at the same time learned through the scouts that the Dionian army that had landed in Africa was attacking the city in the east, and they all realized that Carthage must concentrate all its efforts to repel the enemy in front of them, whether for the safety of Carthage or for the armistice to be successfully signed.

The Senate then appointed Samours as the Carthaginian military commander to repel the Dionian army.

Samores led 10,000 Carthaginian citizen soldiers to Attis, bringing the total number of troops in Attis to 15,000, and making it difficult to see young citizens in Carthage, and the Senate had to mobilize both old and underage men to defend the city.

Instead of leading an army to the aid of Typsus, which was being besieged by the Dionian army, Samos intensified his defense at Addis while waiting for reinforcements from the Phoenician allies on the western coast.

Due to the fact that the Ionian warships were cruising along the coast of Africa, for the sake of safety, the reinforcements of the Phoenician allies did not dare to take ships, so they could only march by land and in the mountains, and the time to reach the city of Carthage would naturally be extended.

…………………………………………

Tall, graceful, pretty, and bright-eyed, Dido wore a purple pleated dress with flowers embroidered with gold thread, and a rare white fox fur jacket, and her black hair was tied together and held in a delicate hair ornament made of pure gold...... The temperament is graceful but not elegant, delicate and heroic, although the complexion is slightly darker, but more shiny, and flawless, and more exotic style.

When she walked into the living room of the city lord's mansion in Lili, not only the guards looked straight, but even Davers was a little distracted.

He subconsciously sat up straight, coughed dryly, and said, "You...... A messenger from the Iberian colony of Carthage? ”

"Venerable King of Dionia." Dido opened her lips lightly, and her voice was not as crisp as most girls, but more thick: "I am Dido, the only daughter of Margo, the military commander of Carthage, and I am not a messenger of Carthage, but a representative of the Magonides family. ”

Davers was not surprised, he already knew the identity of the Iberian envoy in advance, and he also knew through intelligence that Margo's daughter was not a simple woman, she not only participated in the political affairs of southern Iberia, but even could influence Margo's decisions, so out of curiosity, he met her. And this sentence emphasized by Didotte confirmed some of the thoughts in his heart, and he deliberately jokingly said: "Do you have no man in the house of Magonides?" ”

Dido heard Davers's sarcasm, and his apricot eyes widened suddenly, but then he lowered his eyes again, and said in a powerful tone: "The officials of Iberia have asked me to come here, not because I am a woman, but because I can negotiate with you on their behalf!" ”

"Oh?" Davers pretended to be surprised, and said, "I don't understand why the Carthaginian officials in Iberia would let you come?" Don't you know that the Carthaginian Senate is ready to cede the whole of southern Iberia to Ionia? ”

Dido had expected this question from the other party, so she took a breath and said in an accentuated tone: "Venerable King Dionia, although we are far away in Iberia, we also know that the negotiations between Dionya and Carthage are not going well, and the war is still going on. What's more, Carthage does not represent our southern Iberia, and even if they agree to cede southern Iberia to you Ionia in the future, this resolution will not be recognized by all the people of our southern Iberia! Because the southern region of Iberia has decided to break away from Turiyi and decide our own destiny for ourselves! ”

Dido said this last sentence loudly, and Davers listened, raised his eyebrows, and his eyes became cold: "So even if we reach a peace agreement with Carthage, you southern Iberia do not intend to abide by it?!" Don't you know that you're doing this only giving me a reason to send troops to southern Iberia, where we have now captured tens of thousands of captives, including your father and friends! I don't mind having all the men of southern Iberia turned into slaves and mining until death! ”

Although Davers's voice was not loud, the majesty of the king was invisible, and the thick bloody aura was even more overwhelming, which made Dido feel a little panicked, she hurriedly lowered her head, tried her best to calm herself, and gasped for a while before gritting her teeth and saying, "Since you ...... Since Carthage has betrayed us, why should we obey Carthage's orders! If Dionya really wants to send troops against us, we would rather all of them die in battle, and defend the dignity of the Magonides, and at the same time make you Dionyas pay a heavy price! ”

"Want us Dionians to pay a heavy price?" Davers sneered and said disdainfully, "How many troops do you still have in the Iberian territory?" Can it still deter the surrounding Lusitanians and Iberians? We Dionia don't even need to send troops to quickly see the natives of Iberia wipe out all of you! ”

"Maybe we'll perish, but what's in it for you Dionia?!" At this moment, Dido also let go, and reminded loudly: "It took us more than 10 years to conquer the Iberian natives, cut down trees, level the land, and reclaim it every year, so that we have the territory that can be settled today. If the already stable southern Iberia is allowed to be occupied again by those ignorant and vicious natives, I don't know how much gold and silver, how many citizens will be sacrificed, and how much time it will take for Dionya to re-annex southern Iberia to the Kingdom of Dionya after the great war with Carthage!

But now Dionya accepts my negotiating demands, and the southern part of Iberia that you want will immediately belong to Dionia! Then you can deal with Carthage with all your might, and make other demands on them to get more benefits! ”

The cold glint in Davers's eyes narrowed, and he said quietly: "You want southern Iberia to be directly incorporated into Dionia?" ”

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