"Your Majesty, don't you know, in order to buy time, Shilos has been urging us to hurry for the past two days, and we haven't rested much, but I didn't expect him to catch up." Henipolis chimed in.

"Opportunities are for those who are prepared." Davers whispered thoughtfully, looking back at Henipolis: "Let's go, come with me to the big tent, and talk about what you said......"

……………………………………

Early the next morning, when Davos led a large army gathered from the former camp of Syracuse and the city of Aspraustum to march towards Siriting, the passenger ship on which Ansitanus was traveling had already rounded the southwest corner of Sicily, and the strong southerly wind blew up its sails, making the passenger ship sail quickly towards the African mainland in the south of Sicily.

Ansitanos had set out with Seclian's fleet a few days earlier, and after crossing the Strait of Messina, he had separated from the fleet.

The north coast of Sicily was not patrolled by Syracusa warships, and the passenger ships traveled smoothly. There were countless merchant ships coming and going along this route, so the helmsman of the passenger ship had to be highly nervous and carefully control the rudder to avoid collisions.

Towards noon, the outline of the land appeared ahead, and where thousands of ships converged was Carthage, a powerful city-state founded by the Phoenicians on the continent of Africa.

The city of Carthage sits on a peninsula framed by a series of sandstone hills.

On the northeastern and southeastern borders of the city, two narrow, wing-shaped strips of land stretched outward, the latter nearly bisecting the sea to create a huge lagoon (present-day Lake Tunisia), a series of precipitous sandstone cliffs that protected the northern part of the peninsula, and a vast coastal flat to the south protected by a series of fortified walls, moats, and ramparts.

In the northeast corner of the city, on the seaward side of the lagoon, there are two magnificent harbours. The outer side of the harbor is surrounded by a long, high wall, which also functions as a breakwater. The two harbours are interconnected and share a 21-metre-wide entrance to the sea, which can be sealed off with chains.

The first seaport was for merchant ships to dock, and the dock area was built of huge sandstone stones, which were strong and durable. At the back of the wharf is a row of tall and wide warehouses, where countless laborers push pulleys back and forth between the wharf and the warehouse, transporting all kinds of goods.

After the merchant ships entered the merchant port, they docked at the wharf, and the middle channel was not allowed to be occupied for a long time, because it was reserved for Carthaginian warships to enter and exit, and the military port was in the commercial port, separated by a very high double wall, and only one water gate was connected, and its width was only for two three-layer oared warships to enter side by side......

The passenger ship that Ansitanos was on had been observing from the bow of the ship as it docked, and even when he had landed, he still looked inside, but the tall and thick double wall blocked his view and made it impossible to see the inside of the military port.

However, the last time he visited, Ansitanos had already learned something about the military port from the locals: it is said to be a circular military port, which was a genius design made by the Carthaginian master builder according to the specific topography of the port, and he made the most flexible use of the available space, the military port is surrounded by a small island, and the huge piers are located between the harbor and the island, and the embankment is full of dry docks, which are said to easily accommodate more than 300 three-layer oars......

Ansitanos went ashore and, with his retinue, followed the bustling flow of people into the city.

In the noisy flow of people in the port area, there are various races of the Mediterranean, and even some races from outside the Mediterranean can be found here: the extremely tall, fair-skinned Germans, the Britons with indigo patterns, and the tribes with dark skin as black as the night near the steep peaks of the mountains that are said to come from the south of the African Desert and which the Carthaginian adventurers called "the two-wheeled chariots of the gods" (present-day Cameroon Mountain...... These are the "outside worlds" that Ansitanos, as a historian, could not imagine, but was full of yearning.

In the Mediterranean, only Carthaginians were capable of doing this! Ansitanos sighed, but also ignored the strange stares that passers-by cast from time to time.

The Greeks did business in Carthage, and some even settled here, but Carthage's wars with Syracuse resulted in heavy casualties among Carthaginian citizens. As a result, the attitude of the Carthaginians towards the Greeks changed, and it is said that the Greeks who settled in the city of Carthage were expelled, their property confiscated, and some were killed on the spot, and only recently did the situation improve.

The main town of Carthage was built on a hill, the Bilsa Hill, and at the top of the hill was the Acropolis of Carthage.

The Acropolis is home to the famous temple of Esmun, which is famous throughout Africa, but it is not the supreme god of the Phoenician city-states in the Eastern Mediterranean, Melekart, but another high god of heaven, Baal. Harmon. In the minds of the Carthaginians, Barr. Hamon is the King of the Furnace, Lord of the Crescent, and Guardian of Carthage, and his huge bronze statue of him, dressed in a robe, wearing a conical headdress, with a long beard, holding a spear in one hand and palming upwards in the other, in a blessing gesture, stands in the center of the Acropolis, overlooking the city of Carthage. Barr. Hamon's wife, the lesser god Tanit, was not below her husband in the hearts of the Carthaginians, she was the female protector and guardian of the city, and was also enshrined in the temple of Asmund.

Centered around the temple of Esmond, the city of Carthage is arranged radially down the mountain.

Ansitanos walks towards the center of the city, it is almost like climbing a mountain. The narrow streets, steep slopes, and the crowded flow of people forced him to be careful not to fall.

Compared to the poor roads, the houses of Carthaginian citizens were almost all six-storey buildings, which stood in rows on both sides of the streets, most of them made of huge sandstone strips of stone, and the surface was whitewashed plaster, which not only guaranteed protection from the erosion of the natural environment, but also glittered like marble in the sunlight. The exterior walls of a few houses are built directly with marble, which is stunningly colored and patterned. The further you go into the city, the more obvious this becomes, and the richness of the Carthaginians can be seen.

Passing through the narrow streets, the front is suddenly open, and the Carthaginian city square is in front of you: this square is actually behind the military port, not far from the place where Ansitanos came ashore, but because it is necessary to bypass the military port, it is a little longer to walk, and the square is surrounded by the Carthaginian Senate and the temple of Melekart.

Instead of going to the Senate, Ansitanos walked straight through the square to another neighborhood, which, unlike the others, was not only wide in that the roads were wide, there were no high-rise buildings, and all of them were courtyards, each of which was not small.

Ansitanos came from memory to the door of a lavish mansion where Hanno, one of Carthage's two Sufies (i.e., the supreme consul) and now the true ruler of Carthage, lived.

The last time Ansitanos visited Carthage, he also came to visit Hanno first, but unfortunately Hanno was in the manor outside the city at that time and could not meet him, so this time Ansitanos hoped that he would have good luck.

In fact, Hanno remained in the city for some time, because the constant news of the victory of the Syracuse army in Greater Greece disturbed the elders of the Carthaginian Senate, who kept an eye on the progress of the war in Greater Greece. When the servant came in to make a report, Hanno was on the roof platform, naked on a comfortable sofa basking in the warm sun, while a young maid rubbed him in oil.

The messenger of Dionya asks for an audience! Hearing the servant's words, Hanno fell into deep thought. Now that Dionicia was the only force in Greater Greece still fighting against Syracuse, the news that the Dionian fleet had defeated the Syracuse navy off the Sea of Turiy confirmed their strength, forcing the Carthaginians to abandon their previous contempt and face up to the new alliance of Greek city-states that they did not know much about.

"Take him to the living room and wait for me." Hanno said.

When he put on his ornate robe and walked into the living room, he saw Ansitanos standing in Bar. In front of the statue of Hamon, he gazed intently at the god.

"Do the Greeks also have reverence for our Carthaginian gods?" Hanno said as he walked to his seat.

"Dear Lord Hanno!" Ansitanos hurriedly saluted him solemnly, then returned to his seat, and said without humility or arrogance: "I am very grateful to the god of your country, Baal. Harmon was curious because Sophocles had mentioned 'your Barr. The god Harmon bears a great resemblance to Kranos' (Sophocles was a famous Athenian playwright who has died). ”

Hanno snorted, his face covered with anger: "Stupid Greeks, when the Phoenicians created a trade boom in the Mediterranean hundreds of years ago, you Greeks were still cowering on poor and barren land. And when we Carthaginians sent our fleets across the Pillars of Hercules and sailed across the oceans, you Greeks had just established city-states in the western Mediterranean. If you have a little brain, you will be able to tell that it is your gods like ours......"

"What you say may be right, and it would be better if there was more evidence to prove it! Can you show me some information on this? Ansitanos did not refute, but pleaded earnestly.

Hanno was a little stunned, he had expected that the Dionian envoy would argue with him angrily, and the seriousness and truth-seeking attitude shown by the other party made him feel good and curious.