Beauty and intelligence are rarely combined.

- Petronius (Roman writer)

Oscar originally planned to meet with Little Hanno early tomorrow morning and have a detailed discussion, but after Little Hanno's performance in Sardinia in the past three days, Oscar has decided to meet Little Hanno from afar tonight, which naturally contains a lot of deep meaning.

Although the anti-Hannibal organization in Carthage used the Augustan family as cannon fodder against Hannibal from the beginning, this did not affect the Augustan family's own decision-making at all; Because in the core decision-making of the Augustan family, the anti-Hannibal organization in Carthage was nothing more than a tool of the Augustan family against Hannibal.

Perhaps, Oscar himself has a more far-reaching arrangement for little Hanno and his family; But the original intention of the Augustusian family's ties with the Carthaginian Senate and anti-Hannibal groups was to deal with Hannibal. In fact, dealing with Hannibal was also the most important thing for the Augustan family; If the great threat of Hannibal cannot be solved, how can the next strategy of the Augustan family begin?

Oscar prepares to begin their first meeting with Hanno Jr. at eight o'clock this evening; For this meeting, Oscar did not plan to talk to Hanno Jr. about specific measures against Hannibal. In Oscar's opinion, it would be better to wait for all the other members of the mission to arrive; I should take the opportunity to talk to Hanno Jr. about something more meaningful.

In order to make the atmosphere of the next meeting more harmonious, Oscar specially asked the servants of the Doge's Palace to clean the living room in the Doge's Palace, and even the furnishings in the living room were replaced with some objects with the characteristics of the Kingdom of Carthage. The Carthaginian kingdom here is not the current Carthaginian kingdom, but the real Carthaginian kingdom that has disappeared.

In a way, all the items that are characteristic of the Kingdom of Carthage in the parlor at this time can be regarded as valuable antiques; After all, the former Kingdom of Carthage has long since disappeared in the long river of history, and how can the objects belonging to that era be preserved intact?

If it weren't for the Augustusian family's previous attack on the Balearic Islands and the province of Betica, which seized a considerable number of antiques belonging to the Hannibal family, Oscar would not have been able to get this living room full of precious antiques; What's even more rare is that most of these antiques belong to the royal family of the Carthaginian kingdom, rather than folk goods.

Of course, Oscar's arrangement is much more than that; You know, during the last war against the province of Betica, Luquis also captured something that seemed to be important to the Carthaginians. This thing was not precious to people outside of the kingdom of Carthage; But for the Carthaginians, it really meant a lot.

After the royal family of the Carthaginian kingdom was destroyed, the Hanno family not only had the blood of the Carthaginian royal family, but also had unparalleled military strength, why didn't the old Hanno sweep away other forces in one fell swoop and let his family become the family that ruled the Carthaginian kingdom? There are many reasons for this, but there is one reason that cannot be ignored.

After the city of Carthage, the capital of the Carthage Kingdom at that time, was broken by the rebels, the royal family was slaughtered at the same time, and the King Ring of the Carthaginian Kingdom belonging to the royal family was lost; Because the situation was so chaotic at the time, the ring of great significance in the hearts of the Carthaginians was completely lost, and no one knew who took it.

Although the royal family of the Carthaginian kingdom did a lot of cruel and cruel things in the later years of its reign; However, there are also many legends that belong to the Carthaginian royal family. Especially in the very beginning of the founding of the Carthaginian Kingdom, the Carthaginian royal family still emerged a large number of legendary kings, and the King's Ring is the Carthaginian national treasure that they have handed down!

It may not be easy to understand, but after Oscar took a deep dive, he discovered the true meaning of the ring. The significance of this small ring to the Kingdom of Carthage is like the jade seal of Chinese history; The symbolism it represents far outweighs its own value.

In the past, the reason why the old Hanno could not justifiably win the crown of the king of the Kingdom of Carthage for his family was because of the lack of this crucial heirloom ring; No one could have imagined that this ring would be kept by the Hannibal family for so long and finally fall into the hands of Oscar.

Playing with the simple and exquisite ring in his hand, Oscar sat quietly in the main seat of the living room, thinking about how to pull little Hanno into the chariot of the Augustus family tonight! At this time, all the places fifty meters away from the parlor were full of guarded guards, and no one was allowed to approach, just waiting for little Hanno's arrival.

Hanno the Younger, who had eaten and drunk more than an hour earlier, had already finished eating and drinking, and he had expressed to the officials in charge of entertaining him that he wanted to see His Excellency Oscar, the leader of the House of Augustus, at once; It's a pity that under Oscar's strict orders, no one dared to take little Hanno to the governor's palace in advance, and little Hanno could only continue to wait helplessly.

After little Hanno walked around the residence more than a dozen times, the time finally reached more than 7:50, and the official in charge of entertaining little Hanno also immediately began to take the anticipated little Hanno to the governor's mansion where Oscar was.

Since Sardinia was occupied by the Augustan family, the Doge's residence in Calaris has been Oscar's temporary residence; Even though the new mansion for Prisca was almost complete, Oscar had no intention of moving. After Prisca and Mary settle their suspicions, they naturally won't be in a hurry to let Oscar move.

This also directly led to the fact that Oscar's residence was slightly old, after all, this governor's palace was built for a long time in the Kingdom of Carthage, and it is most appropriate to describe it as in disrepair. In Little Hanno's opinion, such a mansion in the city of Carthage is just a mansion of an ordinary nobleman, and it doesn't look like the mansion of the head of the Augustan family!

The official who led the way ignored little Hanno's surprise, and after reporting Little Hanno's identity to the guards at the gate of the governor's palace, the officials left first, and the guards continued to walk towards the interior of the mansion with little Hanno. Although the interior of the mansion is not very well arranged, the guards patrolling back and forth are obviously powerful and powerful, and their combat effectiveness should not be underestimated just by looking at it.

The costume that little Hanno was wearing at this time was the traditional Carthaginian aristocratic costume prepared by Oscar's order, which was extremely rare in Sardinia, but the guards were still patrolling without squinting, and they didn't turn their heads to look at it with any curiosity, which undoubtedly made little Hanno, who didn't understand military affairs, also look up to the guards of the Augustan family.

After several turns, the guards finally brought little Hanno to a distance of fifty meters from the parlor; Immediately, the guard turned and left. Looking at the heavily guarded and expressionless guards around him, and then looking at the meeting room in front of him, which is very characteristic of Carthaginian architecture, little Hanno didn't think about it, and went straight to the meeting room.

Walking into the living room with his head held high, little Hanno saw Oscar waiting for his arrival with a smile on his face, and before little Hanno took the initiative to say hello, Oscar stood up from his main seat and smiled at little Hanno: "I have long heard that the Hanno family of the Carthage Kingdom is capable of many people, and His Excellency Little Hanno is really heroic and talented!" ”

Oscar's deliberate kindness made little Hanno a little overwhelmed; Flattered, he bowed to Oscar and said, "Your Excellency Oscar Leader is so polite! I have long admired the prestige of you and the Augustan family, and I am deeply honored to be able to envoy your family this time! ”

Little Hanno's performance made Oscar feel very satisfied, since the heir of the Hanno family is so good, then the next thing is much easier. Oscar walked up to little Hanno, grabbed little Hanno's arm, and then took him to his seat next to his throne and sat down, pointing to the room full of antiques from the Kingdom of Carthage, and said:

"Your Excellency Little Hanno, I have heard that your family is the only royal nobleman in the Carthaginian kingdom now, and its status is extremely noble; Therefore, I have specially ordered people to prepare these royal goods from the Kingdom of Carthage, I wonder if His Excellency Hanno the Younger will be satisfied with this? ”

After saying that, Oscar stared at little Hanno stubbornly, trying to see little Hanno's reaction clearly; When little Hanno heard Oscar's novel, not only did he not show the proud look he used to have, but instead had a melancholy and helpless expression, and replied to Oscar with sorrow: "Your Excellency the Oscar leader doesn't know anything, our Hanno family is not as noble as before. ”

"Oh, is it? As far as I know, your Excellency Hanno the Elder, is now the founder of the Kingdom of Carthage; His father, Lord Hanno, was also the consul of the Kingdom of Carthage. No matter how you look at it, your family is also the top and most noble family in the Kingdom of Carthage, why is your Excellency so depressed? Is there anything else your family has to hide? ”

In the face of little Hanno's truth, Oscar was hypocritical; He knowingly said such a thing to little Hanno, obviously testing whether little Hanno was willing to be open and honest with himself. Facts have proved that a person like Little Hanno is ambitious and talented, and it is always easy to believe in those who give him great glory.

Therefore, after Oscar's inquiry, little Hanno said bluntly: "Your Excellency Oscar, although our Hanno family has the blood of the royal family of the Carthage Kingdom in terms of blood, my ancestor Hanno Sr. is indeed the main person who founded the Carthage Kingdom; However, our family's situation is far from as good as you think! ”

Oscar, who has long been familiar with the situation of the Hanno family, naturally knows that little Hanno is not lying, which can be regarded as little Hanno's willingness to be honest with the Augustan family; Of course, Oscar will not end the questioning here, and the silent temptation has only just begun at this time. (To be continued.) )