Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Pretasdrubal accentuated his tone and shouted sternly, “However you, you used various means to attack the Carthaginian merchants, restricting them from trading within Theonia, and violated our agreement by using deception to trade with Sardinia privately! But what anger us even more is that you even covet our silver mines and have repeatedly sent men to the Iberian Peninsula to steal the silver ores we were going to sell to Tyre!

These despicable acts you Theonians committed outrage the people of Carthage, and they strongly demand that our Senate take revenge for them. But because of the friendship between our two nations, the Senate sent me here to protest and demand that you promise to do the following if you still want our nation’s friendship to continue!”

Pretasdrubal's words made the whole Senate Hall boil. And the statesmen, who had gotten used to the respectful attitude shown by foreign envoys for more than ten years, were shocked at the aggressiveness of the Carthaginians, making them even more irritated.

Soon, the angry shouting of the Theonian statesmen quickly shrouded the meeting hall.

Pretasdrubal, however, remained unafraid as he turned around and faced the man behind the centre of this place. Although this was his first time coming to Thurii, he still knew who had the real voice in the kingdom.

Although Davos was already mentally prepared after receiving the information from Aristias in the morning, he still didn't expect the Carthaginian envoy to come so soon.

At this moment, the calm Davos slowly said, “Tell me, what does Carthage want?”

As soon as he uttered his words, silence descended in the meeting hall.

Pretasdrubal became surprised at Davos' control of the Senate. At the same time, he could feel a sense of profoundness seeing Davos' expression, neither angry nor unhappy. Then after calming down, he loudly said again, “Carthage requests that-

First: Compensate the several Carthaginian merchants you had punished here in Theonia and allow them to sell their grains without any restrictions on the price.

Second: Immediately stop your western coastal towns from trading with Sardinia, and never sell any goods to them.

Third: Theonia must fully open its domestic market to Carthage, allowing the Carthaginian merchants to trade freely without interference.

Fourth: Any ship in Theonia shall not cross the sea area south of Malta, Sorus, Sardinia, and the Balearic Islands.

Fifth: Do not interfere in any action of Rome, the ally of Carthage, and cease hostility with them…

After Pretasdrubal finished saying those, the whole meeting hall turned silent instead.

Davos then loosened his grip on the armrest, looked at the statesman, whose eyes were burning brightly, took a deep breath and shouted, “statesmen of Theonia! You are the elites of the kingdom! Should we accept such insolent demands of the Carthaginians?!”

“NO!!!” Angry shouting erupted in the all, almost toppling the entire roof.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

The guards outside the hall began looking at each other as they were startled at the movement inside, wondering what had happened inside.

Suddenly, a soldier pointed to the square in front and said excitedly, “Quick! Look! Look! Rain…rain!”

After eight months of drought, the ground on the Nike square became somewhat dry and cracked. But now, it has become dotted with black spots, and these black spots are increasing rapidly.

The people of Thurii, who were queueing in front of Thurii's fountain to draw water, put down their jars and stretched their hands flat to the sky. Then, their faces changed from disbelief to ecstasy, “It's raining!! It's finally raining!! O Hades, thank you for bringing us rain!!!…”

Just as they began to be ecstatic, thunder burst into the sky, causing the sunny sky to suddenly darken and the wind to blow.

Soon, the sparse raindrops also became dense and became pouring rain in less than a moment…

. . . . . . . . . . . .

When the guard captain rushed into the meeting hall, he saw Davos standing up from his chair while looking down at the Carthaginian envoy in front and said word for word, “THIS IS THE ANSWER OF OUR SENATE!”

Pretasdrubal, who already expected this response from Theonia, raised his head high and said deeply, “In that case, Carthage will have to cancel our friendly treaty with Theonia. Still, I would like to remind you that Rome is Carthage's ally, so if you go to war with Rome, Carthage will certainly come to aid following our treaty!”

Davos' eyebrows raised, but just as he was about to retort, the excited voice of the guard captain suddenly sounded in the hall, “Your majesty! Your majesty! It's raining! It's raining in Thurii!”

Upon hearing that, the always-composed statesmen could no longer hide their excitement and immediately ran out of the meeting hall regardless of the important meeting being held.

Although it is still afternoon, the sky in Thurii has already turned dark. Outside the Senate Hall's main entrance, a strong wind sent a large amount of rain inside, thoroughly wetting the entire staircase and stage, even with the eaves blocking it.

Soon, the rain wetted the thin chiton of the statesmen, and the strong wind chilled their bodies. However, the statesmen ignored it as they cheered like everyone else, while the statesmen, such as Amintas and Matonis, directly rushed into the rain to enjoy bathing in the heavy rain.

While the statesmen were ecstatic, a passionate voice rang out, “This is a divine omen! A divine omen from Hades! When Syracuse invaded Theonia, Hades revived the Fountain of Thurii, and then we defeated the mighty Syracuse! Today, when we face Carthage's threat, Hades has once again blessed us by sending the rain we desperately need! With his blessing, there is nothing for us to fear!” Plesinas shouted with his arms raised.

His words enlightened the statesmen that even Cornelius, Lysias, and the others worrying about the war with Carthage also gained much confidence.

On the other hand, Pretasdrubal disapproved of it.

Suddenly, he heard Davos say, “In fact, I am glad that Carthage has cancelled our friendly treaty. Moreover, I welcome you to start a war against Theonia, allowing us to finally avenge the Theonian sailors and merchants that you have cruelly burnt to death!”

Pretasdrubal turned his head and looked at the serious Davos. Then he proudly and confidently said, “Carthage is no longer something Theonia can defeat!”

Davos sneered, “So will Carthage rely on your soldiers who the Numidian rebels tortured? Or will you rely on the mercenaries owned by the nearly independent Iberian kingdom that your master Mago had occupied?”

Pretasdrubal's expression darkened, ‘How could Theonia know so much about Carthage?!’

. . . . . . . . . . . .

After the excitement of the rain, the statesmen began returning to the meeting hall.

Even though there was a threat of a possible war with Carthage, none of the statesmen regretted firmly rejecting the Carthaginian envoy's proposal.

Since the people who could sit in these positions were not fools, they could deeply feel the hostility of Carthage to Theonia from those harsh conditions the Carthaginian envoy had proposed. And since they are one of the most powerful nations in the western Mediterranean, Theonia wouldn't accept such humiliating peace terms that would even fetter its development, let alone stop their rescue of Volsci for fear of the Carthaginians' declaration of war. And since a large-scale war may come, such an approach would only drive away the many indigenous Italian races that could help them from Theonia. And since aiding Volsci was imminent, war with Carthage would soon come if what the Carthaginian envoy said was the Carthaginian Senate's intention and not just intimidation.

Thus the statesmen began discussing with King Davos a countermeasure.

The first agenda was the food shortage. As long as they had a sufficient food supply, the kingdom of Theonia could assemble an adequate number of soldiers to deal with any enemy invasion. Hence they asked the Minister of Agriculture, Burkes, to continue observing the weather in the next few days. Supposing the rain continues to fall all over southern Italia. In that case, the Ministry of Agriculture should act and let the Theonians replant some fast-maturing crops to reduce the food shortage and, at the same time, make careful preparations for next year's spring planting.

At the same time, the statesmen also requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to send envoys to Egypt and try their best to establish friendly ties with the Egyptian pharaoh in hopes of getting food aid from the country with the reputation as the largest granary in the Mediterranean.

In addition, they suggested that King Davos postpone their negotiation with the Caudini while trying not to be too overbearing so that they won't force the Samnites to change sides and go with the Carthaginians in the coming war.

They also suggested that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs send envoys to the various forces in the western Mediterranean as far as possible to try to make them stand on Theonia's side in the upcoming war.

The Theonian envoys' first target was the Greek city-states to the south of Sicily that were friendly with Theonia, such as Gela, Agrigento, Tyndaris…and so on. Theonia must ensure they stand firmly on their side before the Carthaginian army's arrival and provide a certain amount of food supply to the Theonian army to ease their logistical pressure.

And since a skinny camel is still bigger than a horse, Syracuse, even though it has lost most of its strength due to the continuous civil strife over the past ten years, is still the largest Greek city-state in Sicily (not including Theonia's cities in Sicily, of course). Hence even though they have had some disagreements and had little contact with Theonia recently, the statesmen still hope the Ministry of Foreign affairs will send envoys to make Syracuse stand on their side as much as possible or at least maintain its neutrality.