For the Romans, this kind of thing was well understood.

If we think purely from the economic aspect, there would be no Roman era in later generations. Because if only the expectation of economic gains is considered, then even the Punic War cannot be fought.

You know, back then, the Romans had no ambition to dominate the Mediterranean.

At that time, the overlord of the Western Mediterranean was Carthage. Instead, Rome pursued a conservative foreign policy to avoid conflict with Carthage.

The reason is also very simple: the trade order at that time, and the various sea routes, were all run by Carthage. And the Romans were in this system, in fact, they lived a very profitable life.

As a land power, Rome was one of the most important exporters of the Western Mediterranean at the time. Because in this trading system, it is in the position of "producer", so it has benefited a lot.

Rome was not only an active participant in Carthaginian commerce, but it was also a creditor of Carthage, which was rich because Rome was a big exporter, but it actually owed money to Rome. Before the conflict between the two sides erupted, Carthage owed Rome a debt of 1,500 tarrants.

That's a lot of money at the time. Later, in the First Punic War, Carthage's total indemnity, which was 3,200 tarrants, was repaid in installments.

Because of Carthage's huge debts and the continued profit from trade, Rome was in great need of Carthage's commercial order in the Western Mediterranean, and preferred to cooperate with Carthage to maintain trade in the Western Mediterranean. Not only did it not want to go to war with Carthage, but it also wanted Carthage to continue to be stable. So much so that when there was turmoil on the Carthaginian side, the Romans were in a hurry than they were.

Carthage's army consisted of a large number of mercenaries, but in order to save money, there was always a waste-and-lose attitude towards these soldiers. As a result, the phenomenon of veteran rebellions often occurred after the war. And Carthage could only pull the army again and suppress it.

This kind of thing happened a lot in the history of Carthage. Even Hamilcar, the first general of Carthage at that time and Hannibal's father, was famous for decisively suppressing his old subordinates.

When there was a mercenary rebellion in Carthage before the two sides fell out completely, Rome immediately issued an injunction preventing the Italians from supporting the mercenaries. In addition, in order to prevent Carthage from being defeated by insufficient troops, Rome also deliberately paid out of its own pocket to redeem all Carthaginian slaves in Italy, release them back to China, and replenish Carthage's manpower.

Polybius records that the Romans responded generously to all of Carthage's requests. Although there may be a part of boasting about its own homeland, on the whole, Rome has considered Carthage very intimately.

At this time, Rome was still at ease with running its own house. I don't see any adventurous and expansive spirit, just content to live under the existing order.

Of course, according to later historians, the Romans' diplomatic moves were indeed sincere, but they were still relatively naïve and not wise.

It was not until the outbreak of the "Sardinian Affair" that Rome's attitude changed. Because the location of this island is very important, right on the doorstep of Rome, to control here, it is possible to control the shipping lanes of the entire Tyrrhenian Sea.

Both the pirates and the Carthaginian navy, both used it as a base to threaten Roman shipping routes. Unable to ignore this, Rome began to look to the ocean. As the Roman army prepared to attack a series of surrounding islands, conflicts with Carthage began to become inevitable.

It was not until the victory of the First Punic War that the Romans realized that they did not have to worry about the debts and trade revenues: how could this small amount, if measured in monetary terms, be comparable to the great benefit of destroying Carthage?

That's why the war with Carthage was so important, because it was at this time that the Romans completed the change of mentality and laid an important foundation for the glorious and huge empire of later generations.

That's why it's true to say that Carthage must be destroyed. Because if it is not destroyed, it is estimated that there will be no future Rome.

It can be said that economic trade was the most solid part of Rome's diplomacy with Carthage. In other words, from an economic point of view, the scale of debt and trade means that this war is impossible.

But the result is also known to everyone.

Take the war factor into account, and things will be completely different.

What is supposed to be the most efficient and profitable way is often very unsafe. This is the case with the family.

Giving up many responsibilities can indeed make your life more comfortable in theory. But in the face of social changes, people's lives seem to be very long:

From the Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of Beijing to the Volunteers' invasion of Seoul, it was only 50 years;

From the first year of the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan began to expand its armed forces, and in 1945, it was forced to surrender twice, which was exactly 50 years;

And the Red Horde, one of the two poles of the world, has a lifespan that is not as good as that of many human beings......

For the Central Plains, the figures are actually more clear: from the beginning of republican politics, continuous historical records, to the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the 2,800-year era of letter history, a total of 3,761 wars took place, and only more than 800 years without a record of wars. There have been only three peacetime periods that have lasted more than 15 years.

It's a pity that the peace of one generation is enough to give people an illusion.

Therefore, the biggest problem is that if you give up your organizational skills, you may not be able to wait for the next generation, and you will encounter a situation where you are "rich, but the other party is unreasonable".

The destruction of order will not bring about the emptiness of order, but will become the soil of a new order. Just as trade could not save Carthage after all, these weakened orders could not stop the pretenders.

Of course, for the Romans, there was a more real problem.

It is not difficult to find that there is a large list of "Gangchang" of the Central Plains people. However, perhaps because of the lack of civilization, the Romans' "Gangchang" has always been very simple and simple - he only has a "father and son" pair......

The political relations of the Romans, and even the family relationship, were all kinds of "father-son" rigidity. The adopted son system is a typical case, and various dependency relationships are also developed by analogy with father and son.

Even, the relationship between husband and wife, which Confucianism is particularly concerned about, can be made up of this on the side of the Romans. For example, in the early Roman period, the wife was positioned as the daughter of the male master, and like the daughter, she was part of the "father-son" relationship in the family.

This legal positioning can be said to be very strange, but there is no way, the pure Romans have such a "program", and they can only grieve everyone to put it in......

In the Central Plains dynasties, although the analogy between the monarch and the father and the son was often carried out, requiring everyone to worship the monarch's father, the different orders were still separate from each other.

Even if the legitimacy of some dynasties is really insufficient, they can only be supplemented by filial piety, and generally will not achieve the level of ghosts like the Romans......

(End of chapter)