“Renewing the treaty for another ten years?! With the news that Theonia is already on the verge of occupying the Apulian region of Italia, I'm afraid they would soon own the entire Italian Peninsula if we give them another ten years!” Pretasdrubal then stood up and warned everyone loudly, “Elders, you should understand that there are only two powerful forces in the western Mediterranean – Carthage and Theonia; thus, letting Theonia become more powerful wouldn't be good for Carthage!”
“Does Apulia's land area is as large as Numidia?! Could they occupy the whole Italian Peninsula?” Eshmounadon sneered, “Without even mentioning our ally in central Italia, Rome, and the fierce Celts in the north, even if Theonia occupied the entire Italian Peninsula in the future, we would have long since completely captured Numidia and taken full control of Mauritania and Nubia. So could the small Italian Peninsula be as big as Numidia and Mauritania?!”
Just as the two sides began arguing, Hasdrubal stood up.
With his high prestige as the leader of the neutral faction, the noise in the hall immediately quietened as he said in a serious tone, “Everyone, don't forget why we built our city of Carthage. Several hundred years ago, our ancestors came to the western Mediterranean not to occupy more land nor to fight for hegemony in the Mediterranean but to trade and obtain gold, silver and other metal mineral resources in Iberia and Sardinia so that we could meet our mother state's needs. Although Carthage and other Phoenician city-states in the western Mediterranean do much more than trade minerals today, maritime trade remained engraved in the nature of every Carthaginian. It is also why the city of Carthage continues to grow and why our mother-state of Tyre and Sidon was able to continue existing under Persian rule.
On the other hand, war is the natural enemy of trade as it will consume our resources, take away our customers and make the market desolate…What benefits had Carthage gotten from the series of wars in Sicily over the past decades? There is none, only death and decline! If everyone here has forgotten our tragic past decades ago, then walk around the cemetery outside the city, and you will know how much the people hate war! Peace, Carthage needs peace, and only peace can make Carthage prosper! Thus I suggest we continue our alliance with Theonia so that Carthage could continue having the western Mediterranean as its trade market to allow Carthage to grow even faster!…”contemporary romance
Hasdrubal's emotional lecture echoed in the hearts of many elders.
Although Hanno applauded, he didn't take it seriously. Unlike Hasdrubal's idea of developing maritime trade while living in peace with Theonia, Hanno was quite wary of Theonia, whose expansion northward in the Italian Peninsula and forming allies in Sicily showed this Greek kingdom's ambition. In fact, Hanno was the one privately promoting for the Senate to support the Tanikian tribe and increasing support for Rome to slow down Theonia's expansion.
But since Carthage's rule in Numidia wasn't stable and the Senate had the idea of conquering Mauritania during this time, both of which was a proposal that he had asked his subordinates to put forward. He hoped that with that, he could gain more land and manpower at the same time so that the influence of the Carthaginian Senate could extend to the land controlled by the Magonids in the Iberian Peninsula, whether by sea or by land. Once he cleared the internal problems and strengthened the army, Hanno would be happy to compete with Theonia to wash away his nickname of a ‘coward’ that Mago had slandered him with and to push the prestige of Hanno's family in Carthage and even the western Mediterranean to a new level.
At this moment, he took the opportunity to immediately expressed his support for Hasdrubal's lecture.
With the support of the elders under Hanno and the neutral faction, Carthage would abandon the Tanikian tribe. At the same time, they would renew their alliance with Theonia.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
In the palace of Thurii a few days later, Davos and several officials of the Ministry of Military were discussing the recent battle situation in the war room next to the king's office.
These military officials were:
Hielos, the chief military officer. He was responsible for managing and coordinating the various departments under the Ministry of Military. Apart from that, he also held the right to evaluate and recommend soldiers and officers for promotion.
Hieronymus, the military training and education instructor under the Ministry of Military (a few years ago, Davos proposed to him to transfer as an administrative official of a city, but he refused.) This unsociable former mercenary leader had remained in this position diligently for more than a decade, making great contributions to raising the army of the kingdom of Theonia.
Kapus, the quartermaster of the Ministry of Military’s logistics, had assumed this position four years ago. The smooth progress of the two wars Theonia is currently waging is inseparable from his full support.
Philesius, the chief of staff of the Ministry of Military’s Army Staff.
The Army Staff was a newly established department under Davos' order six years ago. Its role is to collect intelligence from neighbouring powers, make strategic plans for Theonia's expansion, estimate specific wars and provide practical advice to the king. In addition, it is also a school for training young officers in strategic thinking. The current adjutants in the ten legions have all been trained in the Army Staff.
Since the South-Italian War, Philesius received criticism from the Senate and the War Council. They believed that he had made some errors in his commands in the Battle of the Allaro River, which made the losses of the Fourth and Fith legions so heavy that even Drakos died tragically.
Hence Davos had to transfer him to this new department not only to protect him and make use of his expertise but also to avoid the shortcomings of his lack of drive and inability to be a good commander.
Apart from him was Tolmides, another member of the Army Staff serving as the second-in-command and assisting Philesius. However, he was more active as he often came and went to the various other military departments to understand the specific conditions of the military, such as training, supplies and the various legions, so that he could provide detailed data for the Army Staff to formulate combat plans.
At the same time, Tolmides, as the herald of King Davos when he goes to the battlefield, would often come to the palace to report to Davos. So even though he isn't a statesman, no one dares to look down on him in the Ministry of Military.
In the centre of the war room was a sand table that showed the miniature-sized mountains, rivers, plains and hills of Sicily and southern Italia. A few years ago, Davos gathered the most outstanding craftsmen of Theonia, where they spent more than half a year creating an accurate three-dimensional sand table following the detailed map provided by the Ministry of Military.
The Ministry of Military regarded this military sand table as the kingdom's treasure, so non-kingdom officials could not see it.
“Your majesty, we just received the battle report from Sicily this morning. After Prosous captured Henna, he took advantage of the time before the Sikeloi rebels arrived to quickly repair the town's defences. So when Archonis arrived, leading about 15,000 Sikeloi rebels to attack Henna, Prosous boldly left only three infantry brigades to defend the town as it seemed the enemy didn't have good siege equipment. At the same time, he led the main force to leave quietly, bypass Agirium and stormed the empty Hebita in the north…”
Philesius then pointed the long wooden stick to the model of the town representing Hebita and continued, “After quickly capturing another rebel town, the tens of thousands of warriors gathered by the Tanikian chieftain, Archonis, must have panicked as they stopped their siege after only after a day of attacking Enna, only to stay in their camp for two days. And within this time, the troops of our allies, Leontinoi and Taunis, and the reserves assembled by Catania, Sikuli, and Naxos gathered successively in Agyrium, which, together with the Eighth Legion, totalled more than 20,000 troops.
As the Sikeloi rebels began to retreat towards Enna, some tribes broke away from Archonis and ran to Agyrium to surrender… In his battle report, Prosous said that he took advantage of the Sikeloi rebels’ unstableness and immediately led his army to attack Enna. Perhaps the Eighth Legion has already begun their attack on the city of Enna as I speak.”
Davos stared at the city of Enna in the centre of Sicily, pondered for a moment, looked up and asked, “What do you think?”
“I was worried whether Prosous, the commander of this attack against the Sikeloi, would be able to take up this important task. But I didn't expect him to perform so excellently! Your majesty, you have a good vision!” Hielo first exclaimed.
Kapus also praised, “That's right, this Prosous is indeed formidable! Before the Senate's order to declare war reached Catania, he had already led his army to march and act quickly to capture Henna decisively, which completely took the enemy by surprise. He then used the city of Henna to attract the enemy while leading the main force to storm Hebita. His successive victories made the enemy panic and also deterred the other wavering Sikeloi tribes, causing Archonis' force to constantly dwindle while the allied troops joining the Eighth Legion increased. With Archonis no longer having the number and terrain advantage, this war no longer has surprise and would soon end.”
“Daring to be decisive, act quickly, led the enemy around, attack the enemy's weakness…Prosous completely utilised the principles of the Theonian Military Law in the use of troops, which is indeed a trait of an excellent army command! It seems we are already old!” Philesius let out a sigh as his heart couldn't help but remember the war ten years ago that made him not want to recall.
When Hieronymus heard this, his eyes suddenly brightened. Yet he didn't speak out.
“It is all the full support and careful preparation of the several officials of the Ministry of Military that Prosous' Eighth Legion could win today!” Tolmides said with a compliment.
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