“The arrogant Tarantines!” Davos remembered the sense of superiority held by both the officials and common citizens of Taranto, whom he met when he led his army to aid Taranto. He also thought about how this later weakened Taranto had taken the lead in resisting Rome's invasion and even invited Pyrrhus to lead his army into Italy, thus triggering the Pyrrhic War in his previous life's history. And a hundred years after Taranto's submission to Rome, they revolted again by joining Hannibal and becoming the logistic base of the Carthaginians in South Italia. It was also Taranto's credit that Hannibal could fight Rome in Italy for 13 years. Thus it can be seen that the Tarantines had rebellious blood flowing in their vein…
‘Or we should simply stand by and let the Messapi-Peuceti allied army wipe Taranto out and take it back later, giving us justification…’ Davos became uncertain.
Seeing the new king of Theonia frown as he paced back and forth in the tent while bowing his head and lost in his thoughts, Henipolis did not dare to make a sound as he was afraid to interrupt Davos and just stood aside and waited quietly.
After a while, he heard Davos say, “Heni, it would indeed be difficult to integrate Taranto into Theonia fully. However, what about partially integrating them?”
“Partial? Your majesty, do you want the Tarantines to cede part of their territory to Theonia?” Henipolis wasn't surprised by Davos' decision as that was also a method to annex a major nation.
“Not like that.” Davos shook his head and said, “I want to turn Taranto into a ‘free city’ in the Theonia Union.”
“Free city?!” Henipolis was puzzled.
“Taranto would become a part of Theonia, but they do not need to pay taxes to the national treasury, and the Senate won't interfere with its management. However, they do not have the right to independent diplomacy or form an army… Still, once Theonia encounters difficulties and needs their help, they must also contribute!” As he was also straightening out his ideas, Davos spoke slowly and clearly when explaining.
Henipolis' eyes lit up as he applauded Davos' novel political idea. Still, he reminded, “Your majesty, although the Free City is only a few small steps from becoming a dependent city-state, I am afraid the Taratines won't agree.”
“The Messapians and the Peucetians will force them to agree. Of course, I would prefer the Tarantines would be daring enough to refuse so that we can build a new city on the ruins of Taranto!” There was a hint of coldness in Davos' mocking words.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lilybaeum was a newly built city by the Carthaginian commander, Himilco, near the ruins of Motya, an important Carthaginian city at the southwest end of Sicily that was destroyed five years ago.
After a few years of development, this new city has gradually prospered. And since Mago became the governor of Sicily and made Lilybaeum the centre of Sicily, it has grown by leaps and bounds: Coins, weapons and armour, grain, warhorses, slaves…every day, countless merchant ships with all kinds of military supplies came to the port of Lilybaeum and then distributed to the various military camps.
And with the port's development, it had created a demand for labour, which resulted in many Phoenicians, Numidians and Mauritanians to flocked to the city and the need to continue expanding the residential area outward. Thus in less than a year, Lilybaeum became the largest city controlled by Carthage in Sicily.
In the morning, Mago received Adrusbal, a messenger from Carthage's Senate, at his residence.
Mago was quite friendly towards this elder. Although Adrusbal does not belong to either the Magonid or the Hanno faction, he is an important figure among the neutral elder in the Senate. He even dared to propose bills that were detrimental to the interest of the two factions but beneficial to the people. So even though his bill was often not passed, his popularity among the people was high that they later elected him as an important member of the Council of Hundred and Four. Hence Mago doesn't dare to underestimate him.
After the two exchanged friendly discussions, Adrusbal changed to the main topic, “Lord Mago, you had applied to the Senate for the right to mint coins in Lilybaeum a month ago. After a long debate, the Senate finally decided-” Seeing the slight nervous expression on Mago's face, Adrusbal shook his head and slowly said, “The Senate vetoed your proposal.”
Because the Senate sent Adrusbal as a messenger to Lilybaeum immediately after making a decision, Mago had not yet received the message from his men in Carthage. Hence to his surprise, he immediately questioned in a loud voice that ruined the friendly atmosphere just now, “Why?!”
“The right to minting coin is exclusive to Carthage to ensure the city's leadership among the other Phoenician allies and benefit our trade. But I didn't think that you, the current patriarch of one of the Magonids who was part of the founding families of Carthage, would fail to understand this!” A hint of rebuke mixed in Adrusbal's calm tone.
“What I had proposed was to temporarily mint coins.” Mago argued, “Since the Senate has appointed me to be in charge of Sicily's military defence and the security of Carthage to the north, I thus took my responsibility seriously! But what happened is that every delivery of military funds from Carthage would either get delayed or insufficient. Sometimes, there are even nasty incidents where the ships carrying the coins got sunk by the storms… Do you know how much trouble these problems are causing for my defence plans?! The soldiers' resentment even rose! Just the other day, the mercenaries stationed at Segesta caused a commotion because we were late in paying them several times and had taken me a lot of effort just to appease them!”
But the more Mago spoke, the angrier he became, “I now suspect that the elders, led by Hanno, are making things difficult for me. If they were to continue making troubles without regarding Carthage's interests, our mercenaries here in Sicily would cause a mutiny! Then our defence in Sicily that I have worked so hard to build will be ruined, and the revolting mercenaries may become a danger to the city of Carthage! Lord Adrusbal, you had always acted fairly. So this time, I hope you will reconsider my proposal in the genuine interests of Carthage!”
Mago was too straightforward in his accusation and veiled threats to Hanno, making Adrusbal frown and think, ‘It was no wonder he can't compete with the shrewd Hanno.’ Unlike Himilco, the former head of the Magonids, Mago might have some talents in military affairs but was still immature in politics.
Although Adrusbal was part of the neutral faction in the Senate and would criticise both factions in the meeting from time to time, he naturally had political flexibility that allowed him to do well in the Senate. After making up his mind, he gently persuaded him, “Lord Mago, you don't need to be so anxious. Although the Senate hadn't approved your proposals, the elders have already taken note of the problems you mentioned. For this reason, the Senate had already sent a special person responsible for the casting and transportation of Sicily's military funds. Furthermore, they have also sent another person to supervise it. Thus I believe that all of these problems would no longer show up.
Naturally, all these problems you had said were not caused by someone deliberately targeting you. It's just that all the elders in the Senate are fully alert and worried about recruiting mercenaries, so they strictly reviewed the amount of military funds and salary. They had also cut down some unnecessary funds, resulting in the amount getting reduced and a delay in the delivery. I think you should understand that all of it is to safeguard Carthage's interests…”
Mago could only snort and was no longer entangled on this issue. Although he showed he was furious, he inwardly felt guilty as he had misappropriated a small part of the military funds for his family's development expenses in Iberia. So he thought Adrusbal was warning him that the Senate had already noticed this. Fortunately, he had achieved his goal as he didn't hope to get the right to temporarily mint coins and was only using the proposal to threaten Hanno not to withhold the military funds.
“Apart from that, the Senate also vetoed your proposal the other day about ‘While Syracuse and Theonia are at war, we should send troops to attack eastern Sicily and restore Carthage's former sphere of influence.’” Adrusbal continued.
Mago was aware of the nature of those in the Senate, so he wasn't surprised. Instead, he glanced at Adrusbal and asked coldly, “All had disagreed? They have no other comments?”
“Most elders agreed that Carthage shouldn't be involved in this war and remain neutral, lest the Greeks unite against us again.”
“What kind of reasoning is that? Are the people of the Senate full of idiots?!” Hearing that, Mago couldn't stop himself from shouting angrily again, “Such a rare opportunity has fallen to us! Theonia hadn't just beaten the Syracusans in a naval battle; they had also caused Syracuse to suffer a crushing defeat in the ensuing land battle. And yesterday, I received reports from eastern Sicily that the Theonians have landed in Sicily and captured Megalos! With Syracuse losing the war in Magna Graecia, it was already a big question whether their troops could return safely to Sicily!! Because of that, Syracuse's strength would greatly weaken, and they could no longer control the situation in eastern Sicily. Hence we should take advantage of the fact that the Greek city-states in Sicily are in chaos and quickly send our troops and re-establish our hegemony in Sicily!!!…”
