Samors looked at Hanno and said frankly: "Mr. Hanno, we must consider the issue of giving up Numibia for the time being. Carthage's defeats have given up on the tribes of East Numibia hope to break away from our rule. The reason why I can barely deal with their rebellion is that the young and middle-aged people of each tribe have been transferred to Sicily, and now they are probably captives of the Dionians.

If I were the commander of the Dionys and wanted to land in Afriga and attack Carthage, I would definitely win over these Numibians and make them the help of the Dionys army..."

"You are exaggerating. Numibia was something we Carthaginians spent decades, and how much money and manpower they spent to conquer it. How could we give up just by saying that we gave up!" Delevika shouted in a pissy manner.

"Oh... Samors said it well, we should recognize the reality!" Hanno sighed heavily, his face showed a painful look, and said slowly in a heavy tone: "Drevika, once the Dionians attack Carthage, can the eight thousand civilians stay in Numibia?! It's better to take the initiative to transfer them back. As long as Carthage is guarded, there is still a chance to retake Numibia's land in the future!

In addition, we can discuss with the surrounding Phoenician alliances that when the Dionian army landed in Afriga, they can temporarily hide in Carthage. In this way, we not only play the role of the leader, ensure their safety, but also have more defensive forces..."

"Sir Hannover, this is a good idea! But this will increase our food consumption!" Samors reminded.

"Will our Phoenician allies hide in Carthage with empty hands?! Wouldn't we remind them to move all the food in their city into our city?!" Tepanrako reminded.

Samors looked a little embarrassed, he was too anxious and forgot about this.

Hannover continued: "We can also send envoys to Tel and ask our mother state for help, begging them if they can let Persia come forward and mediate the war."

Persia! Others' eyes lit up.

Tepanrako immediately asked, "Will Persia agree to this ball?"

"I heard that the Persian king had no good impression of Dionia, otherwise the Eastern Phoenician fleet would not have allowed to come under the banner of Persia before... to ensure the safety of Carthage in the Western Mediterranean. There are only benefits and no harm for Persia. I believe that the Persian king would make the right choice." Hannover said confidently.

"With the Persians put pressure on me, I believe that the Dionians have to carefully consider the issue of truce. Maybe we can win back more interests in the negotiations accordingly." Delevika finally smiled.

Ocreton seemed a little worried, reminding him: "I think King Dionia is a tough man. He ignored our protests before and chose to go to war with Rome. Moreover, according to intelligence, Dionia has formed an alliance with Egypt. Don't the Dionians know that Egypt is now a mortal enemy with Persia? It can be seen that the Dionians are not like the Greeks and are very afraid of Persia. We can rely on the power of Persia, but we cannot rely too much on it!"

"Ocreton, you said it right. Persia is still too far away from the Western Mediterranean. The possibility of them sending reinforcements like Tyre is very small. The Dionians can indeed be fearless, but at least it is a pressure on them." Hanno said this and fell into deep thought. After a while, he made up his mind and said in a deep voice: "Since you conclude that the Dionians do have the intention to negotiate, we can continue to make concessions in the negotiations while strengthening the defense security of Carthage. When the benefits obtained by the negotiations are greater than the losses that may be suffered by the war, the Dionians will choose to sign a peace agreement with us..."

Hanno's eyes slowly swept across everyone's faces with a bit of sadness: "Cosica, Sardinia, and western Sicily have fallen into the control of the Dionians and cannot be taken back. They can be used as bargaining chips and given up if necessary; Cadis, Huelva, and Malaga in southern Iberia... are important thrusts that promote our Carthage's rise, and it is also the only source of precious metal trade left after we may lose Corsica and Sardinia. We must not hand over to the Dionians; but other territories in southern Iberia... we can give up when necessary."

Having said this, Hanno suddenly became angry and said loudly: "Drevika, you are right. Mago is a sinner of Carthage! His brother Shimirko is also a sinner of Carthage! More than a decade ago, Shimirko provoked a war in Sicily, but suffered a crushing defeat, which seriously damaged Carthage's national strength. This time, when Dionya and Syracuse had a war, we Carthage could only watch and eventually had to sign an agreement with Dionya to maintain peace! And this time, Mago's incompetence ruined our 100,000 army, putting Carthage in such a dangerous situation... The Margonid family must be severely punished by the Senate!

The land they conquered in Iberia, said to be for the benefit of the Carthaginians, has actually become the territory of the Margonid family. They do not obey the orders of the Senate and do not accept the officials sent by the Senate. Instead of doing so, it is better to use southern Iberia as a bargaining chip to give it to the Dionians at the right time, which can not only increase the chances of peace talks, but also maintain the stability and unity of Carthaginians."

Hanno blamed the Margonid family for the reason why Carthage fell to this dangerous point today, and actually concealed his own excessive leniency over the past decade, without any mistakes in strict restrictions on it. For Tepanraco, Ocreton and others, since they belonged to the Hannoverites and had not received any benefits from southern Iberia before, he did not object to Hannover's decision.

Samors had his own opinion on this, because through the previous war reports, he believed that he had a large number of good-quality soldiers in southern Iberia, and in fact he should try his best to keep it. But he did not say this. After all, he was not a pure soldier. He was a veteran of the Hannover faction. Saying such words at this special time would only arouse Hannover's suspicion.

At this moment, Hanno turned his eyes to him, which made his heart suddenly jump: Could it be that Hanno saw what I was thinking?

"Samors is right. Now we don't have enough troops to protect the land in Numibia. So what if we just promised the conditions of Dionia? When our strength is restored, we will retake it again. Anyway, the land is there, and it cannot escape..."

Hanno spoke easily, but the few people present could feel the pain in his heart. After all, it was he who raised the banner of "marching inland" and gathered many Carthage elites around him. He led Carthage citizens for more than 10 years and seized a large amount of land in East Numibia, which consolidated his own leadership in the Senate and his reputation among the people, and now everything has gone to nothing...

Thinking of this, everyone present looked gloomy.

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On the second day, the Hannover veterans who reached a consensus passed resolutions one by one at the meeting: recalling 8,000 civilians, mobilizing war again in the city, sending envoys to discuss with the surrounding Phoenician allies, and sending envoys to Tel in the Eastern Mediterranean...

However, when the two negotiation conditions, "cede southern Iberia and the return of Numibian land", were proposed, it immediately caused an uproar.

Most of the elders of the Margonides and neutral factions firmly opposed it, and angrily scolded the Dionians for their greed and denounced the Hannovers for their treason.

The Senate was caught in a fierce quarrel and could not reach a unified opinion.

At this time, the battle situation in Sicily became clearer and clearer.

On the third day after the Battle of Selinus, the Segestas quietly sent envoys to Selinus and voluntarily requested surrender.

It turned out that the tens of thousands of defeated soldiers who fled into the city of Segosta, most of whom were Carthaginian citizens. They regarded themselves as the new masters of Segosta. They not only forcibly occupy the residences of the Segostas and robbed their food, but also used them as slaves. The Segostas were in great distress, so they conspired with the army of Dionia, quietly opened the city gate at night, cooperated inside and outside, and quickly pacified the defeated soldiers.

The tyrant of Syracuse, Dionysius, led a large army to besiege Secosta for more than half a year, but failed to conquer Segosta. Now the tenacious Segosta people obediently surrendered to Dionya, which undoubtedly boosted the morale of the Dionya soldiers.

Immediately two days later, Mazara also opened the city gates to the Dionian army.

It turned out that the defeated soldiers who fled into Mazara were controlled by Hasdruba. At the beginning, the situation was much better than Segesta. However, this defeated soldier was mainly composed of the Philip infantry, the Iberian infantry, the Lusitanian soldiers, and the Celtic soldiers. Most of them were Iberian indigenous people. They were either conquered by Mago's force or attracted by generous salaries to participate in this war. Not only did they not get any benefits, but because of Carthage's defeat, they naturally had other thoughts in their hearts.

However, Hasdruba, who was determined to regroup, did not realize the changes in these indigenous psychology. Instead, he acted in accordance with the previous military laws and severely punished several Lusitanian soldiers who robbed food from the Mazara residents in the city. He originally wanted to kill the chicken to warn the monkey and purify the military records, but it intensified the conflict, causing the Iberian indigenous people to mutiny. Later, Hasdruba completely lost control of the army. The alien soldiers respected him as a brave soldier, but only captured him as a prisoner, and did not kill him.

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