The Carthaginians were excellent merchants and had their merchant ships throughout the Mediterranean, and the ancient Greek historian Herodotus in the fifth century BC quoted the wise man of Persia in the first volume of his Histories as saying that the Phoenicians migrated to the Persian Gulf from a place called the 'Red Sea' and have since taken root in the Persian Gulf region.

The vast trade network must have the most smooth and accurate information in ancient times. Relying on the Phoenicians, Hamilka Baca learned that Seleucus II had purchased tens of thousands of Seris iron armor and Seris iron weapons from the East. With these weapons, he defeated his younger brother, Antiochus Ieras, and recaptured Anatolia.

All the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean were very surprised by this, and the most astonished was Ptolemy III of Egypt (perhaps soon the Fourth Syrian War would break out). None of the countries believed that Seleucus II was using weapons made of Cerisian iron, and that the small trade volume of Serice iron was not enough to arm him with tens of thousands of men, and that Seleucus must have had a new source of iron.

Hamilka was very concerned about this matter. When he heard that the people of the city of Timia Trion had said that the sword given by the Orient was very sharp, he suddenly had a suspicion that perhaps Seleucus II's weapons came from the easternmost part of the world.

He mentioned that the sword of the Orientals was extremely sharp, and King Sephax Margo looked at him and shook his head, "Hamilka, the war is over, and no one wants to go to war with Rome again." ”

"Of course I know that. But," Hamilka said, "we are too close to the Romans. ”

"I always thought that the vast Mediterranean had enough space for two great powers, Rome and us." "The last war was just an accident, and before the war the Romans had no intention of going to war with us. ”

"Just one accident that caused a twenty-three year war?" Hamilka did not want to debate this issue with the king, because it had been debated many times in ten years. "We are too close to Rome, they are afraid that our fleet will appear at the mouth of the Tiber......"

"But we don't have a navy that can threaten the Romans!" Sifax Margo reiterates the reasons he has said countless times. "As long as our navy cannot threaten the Romans, the two sides will be able to maintain peace."

"Peace?! Peace? Yes, peace. Hamilka smiled, his face like the sea before the storm. You go to Rome to visit twenty Romans and you will see the same set of silver!! One day, they will go to war against us again, robbing us of our minerals, robbing our land, robbing our slaves, robbing us of everything we have now! They ......"

'Boom......' Hamilka was roaring, angry that the vast majority of people, including Sifax Margo, could not see the Roman threat. At this time, there was a sudden thunderclap in the harbor under the city. He was taken aback and hurriedly looked around, when the thunder came again, and he finally saw where the thunder was coming from, it was the two Oriental sailboats.

'Boom ......, boom ......, boom ......'

Not only Hamilcar gazed at the two Oriental galleons, but the patriarchs on the city walls and the diplomats who welcomed the Orientals on the docks were startled by the thunder. They saw puffs of white smoke rising from the sailboat, each thunder accompanied by a flash of fire.

"With the royal order of the king of Chu, the king of Chu, the city fired a salute to pay tribute to the country of Carthage." On the Bifang, the Captain of the Hook explained to the terrified Hasdruba. Salute is actually a very humble word, in essence it has several uses, the first of course is to show one's own strength; The second is to check the gunpowder, the sea boat is wet, the gunpowder is easy to regain moisture, and the experienced gunner can judge the performance of the gunpowder by casting the salute; The third is to show surrender through the other party's return salute - the Royal Navy fires one shot, and the other party fires three guns in return.

With a harmless smile from no hook and seven gun salutes, Hasdruba almost collapsed on the deck. At this time, the seamen in huge armor had already gathered on the deck and landed one by one along the trestle according to the orders of the captain.

Hamilcar was also surprised by the salute, and although the salute did not cause any damage except for the smoke it released, the sound of thunder was still shocking. However, when he saw the sailing ship's squirrel guards in shining armor, he exclaimed Hamon and ran down as fast as he could.

"On the orders of the king of Chu, sail to the sea in the middle of the earth to meet the king of Carthage...... "There are two kings in Carthage, but fortunately, Wugou has long known about the Mediterranean world, and knows that the kings of some countries are also selected, so he is not surprised that there are two kings in the Carthaginian Senate.

The Carthaginian Senate was a towering stone building, and a hundred well-armored seamen followed him into the Senate in a neat procession.

“…… From the mountains of Qi in the easternmost part of the Zhongzhou continent to the Dakhlacles stone pillar of the westernmost Carthage country in the westernmost part of the Xizhou continent, the Central and Western continents meet here today. May the Taiyi God bless, the two countries will not add to each other, exchange praise, trade will be strong, and the eternal alliance will be good. ”

Facing the king of Carthage, after more than 50,000 miles, he finally arrived at the sea in the middle of the earth, and he was a little excited. He completed one of the longest voyages in ancient history, connecting the east of Middle-earth and the west of West. The Persian translator faithfully translated his words, and since then 'Chengshan' has become the geographical coordinate corresponding to the stone pillars of Dakhlacules, representing the easternmost part of the continent.

"Carthage welcomes the envoys of the easternmost Chu Kingdom." After receiving the credentials, the two kings looked at each other, and Sifax Margo spoke. "When Your Excellency returns to the Kingdom of Chu, Carthage will send its finest fleet to the Kingdom of Chu to meet the King of the Kingdom of Chu and pay Carthage the highest respect. Carthage was willing to trade with the kingdom of Chu and transport goods from the West to the East, just as your country transports goods from the East to the West......"

Siphax Margo's polite reply was actually a topic discussed by the Senate: to follow the fleet of the Chu Kingdom to the east and open up a shipping route to the easternmost part of the mainland. With the opening of this shipping route, the products of the Orient, India, the Persian Gulf, Arabia and Somalia have been transported into the Mediterranean Sea ever since.

Siphax Margo's words were not long and the city order was not quick to hear, and the two looked at each other like two kings, but did not speak. Of course, there is no need to open your mouth, Carthage's galleys did not have the ability to go to sea, and many oarsmen needed more grain and fresh water than pure sailboats, and they might not even be able to reach the Cape of Good Hope.

"On the orders of the king of Chu, I still need to go east to Greece and Egypt, and when I return, I will go to the Chu country with the king's envoys." No hook long way.

"To Greece and Egypt?" Siphax Margo was a little puzzled, and the officials beside him whispered in his ear before he nodded. But another king asked, "Are you going to Rome?" ”

When Wugou agreed to Siphax Margo's request to return to Chu with the Carthaginian fleet, the nobles in the Senate were overjoyed, and they thought that Wugou would refuse. When they were overjoyed, everyone fell silent when they heard the king ask 'Rome,' and Hamilcar held his breath.

When the soldiers of the Chu State entered the Senate, he deliberately observed that their armor and weapons were iron, completely iron! If they were really the same country that sold weapons to Seleucus II, they would rather be sunk in the Mediterranean than let them go to Rome and sell sets of iron weapons to the Romans.

Because of the defeat, Carthage had to pay Rome 2,200 silver talans a year, and now the Carthaginian treasury was extremely empty, and the Romans' treasury was full of Carthaginian silver coins. Even if the state of Chu sold weapons to both Carthage and Rome, Carthage could not afford to pay for this expensive expense. And if there is no armor......

The center of the known world is the Eastern Mediterranean, where the Greeks have the best armor, but even the Greeks have only bronze armor and no iron armor. Rome and Carthage, as a marginal country, had even more backward armor for soldiers, and only noble officers could have a set of bronze scale armor and a bronze helmet, and ordinary soldiers only had a set of leather or linen armor at most. Both sides of the weapon were iron weapons, but according to Timia Trion, the best iron weapon was not as good as the sword given by the Orientals.

Hamilcar could not imagine how the Roman army, armed with iron armor and oriental swords, would defeat him, and he hoped that the Orientals would not go to Rome, let alone sell excellent weapons to the Romans, but he was disappointed by the answer without a hook.

"The envoy said that he was going to visit the countries of the Mediterranean on the orders of the king, and that Rome was among them." The Persian translator paraphrased it as tactfully as possible, but the Carthaginians present still made an uproar. "Your country and Rome are not at war, and the Kingdom of Chu will also remain neutral, not intervene in the contradictions between them, and will not take sides ......"

"I wonder," Hamilcar suddenly asked, "is the armor on these soldiers the same armor that the Seleucid Empire had purchased from the East?" ”

There was a huge iron armor in the gift to the Carthaginian Senate, and he didn't expect anyone to ask about Seleucus, and he replied disappreciatively: "Yes." The armor of Seleucids is all produced by my Chu country. ”

"It turned out to be the armor of the Orientals." Because of the limitations of smelting and manufacturing technology, a person who can afford to wear a copper armor cannot afford to wear a pair of iron armor at all, and the answer without a hook is shocking.

"If the Romans want to buy your country's armor......" Hamilcar asked again, he hesitated, his pupils constricting slightly.

"We follow the principle of freedom of trade," Wu Gou Chang felt his solemnity. "If your kingdom is not at war with the Roman kingdom, we can sell our armor to the Roman kingdom, or we can sell it to your country."