After listening to Davers's words, Nemeri, the general of the Helnihician army, did not hesitate any longer, and he asked: "Your Majesty, if the Equeites and Masi also ask for an alliance with you Dionia, will you agree?" ”

Davers remembered that the Equeites and Marcy had been lured by the Prinister rebellion to invade Rome with the Wolsey and Helnikians the previous year, and were defeated by Camillus. Then, during the conquest of the Helnihians by the Roman army this year, the two races sent troops to the rescue, only to suffer another crushing defeat and severely weakened their strength...... Their desire to form an alliance with Dionya is probably also to dispel their fears and ensure the security of their territory, after all, rumors of Dionia's commitment to the covenant have been confirmed by the Wolsey and Helnickians.

"I am very welcome!" Davers smiled: "I not only hope that the Masi and Aqueurians can ally with Dionia, but also that other forces around Rome can also become Dionia's allies!" ”

……………………………………

At the end of the battle, Davos did not invite the leader of the Volch coalition into the city of Rome for a banquet. On the one hand, the Wolseys were anxious to rush back to their defense-empty territories to prevent the Romans from retaliating; On the other hand, Davos also took into account the feelings of the people in Rome. So, he gave most of the loot he had received (mainly armor and weapons) to the Warch coalition fighters, so that they would be grateful.

In this battle, apart from some casualties paid by the Woch coalition, the losses of the Dionian army were negligible, and the casualties of the Roman army were not much, but they had almost 2,000 prisoners, and the worst of all the Latin allies, who had more than 4,000 prisoners.

Most of the Roman soldiers fled back to Villitre smoothly, and it seems that the losses of the Roman army were not very large, but the defeat of this battle was another blow to the prestige of the Romans in the alliance, especially Dionya also captured so many Latin soldiers, so after the battle, Davos did not let Printos withdraw the siege troops to Rome, but also brought the fourth and sixth legions under Printols, so that he stepped up the attack on Gabby and took it as soon as possible.

Davers, who returned to Rome in the joy of victory, summoned Publius and gave him an important task: to persuade the Romans on Capitoline Hill to surrender!

And also made a promise to him: if the Romans on the mountain dared to harm him, Dionya would have the whole mountain buried with him! Regardless of whether his persuasion was successful or not, he would become the new senator of the kingdom of Dionia, speaking for the rights and interests of the Roman citizens of the kingdom in the Senate.

To this end, Publius made careful preparations, and the next day he climbed Capitoline Hill with trepidation, and he took with him a Roman nobleman who had been captured in the city of Via, and a Roman soldier who had been captured in the battle of yesterday, also of noble origin.

When the Roman soldiers received the order, they opened the pass, and Publius, who had been waiting at the bottom of the mountain for a long time, stepped into the Capitoline mountainside. The Roman patrol soldiers passing by all glared at him with strange eyes, and some even opened insults, he was mentally prepared, pretended not to hear, and followed closely behind the leading soldiers, while carefully observing the surrounding environment.

The reason why the Romans made Capitoline Hill the Acropolis is because it is the highest hill in the Roman city, the mountainside is relatively steep, the top of the hill is relatively flat, and the trees are abundant, the Romans believed that it was a gift from the gods, they must like to live in such a beautiful place, so the main temple was built on this hilltop.

However, when Publius ascended the mountain, he was amazed by what he saw along the way: in less than 20 days, most of the trees had been cut down, and the bare mountains were littered with simple wooden houses and tents, and countless ragged people were lying in the middle, all with vegetables on their faces and blank eyes.

Along the way, Publius recognized many acquaintances, all of whom were commoners who lived in the hills of Cirio and Vilna, either diners of the great nobles, or some commoners who had settled in Rome several generations ago, most of whom had been powerful helpers used by the nobles to deal with other commoners, but now they were lying tightly with their wives and children, and they only rolled their eyes when they saw him, and they were reluctant to waste the strength to wave and greet him...... Seeing these tragic circumstances, Publius once again firmly believed that it was an extremely correct decision for him to lead his family to the Kingdom of Dionysia!

At the top of Capitoline Hill, the courtyards of the temples, which were supposed to be solemn, were also crowded with people who had fled up the mountain, not only making the quiet and clean sacred courtyard noisy and dirty, but also filling the air with an unpleasant fishy smell.

Seeing this, a wave of anger rose in Publius's heart, and at the same time there was a little sadness, so that when some of the nobles recognized him and learned that he had come to negotiate as an envoy of Dionysia, they shouted insults and spat at him, and even rushed up to beat him, but these people who did not have enough to eat and walked shakingly could not break through the protection of the guards.

Publius didn't take them seriously at all, but returned them with a look of pity.

Finally the soldiers led him to the apse of the Temple of Jupiter.

"Please come in, messenger of Dionia!" The captain of the guard deliberately put the word "Dionia" very seriously to show his contempt for Publius.

Publius took a deep breath and strode into the temple.

"You still have the face to come here, Publius. Manlius, the patriarch of one of Rome's most glorious clans, who has abandoned the glory of your ancestors, tarnished the reputation of your family, shamelessly surrendered to the enemies of Rome, and now dare to step into this sacred temple, the enraged Jupiter will punish you severely! ”

If he had been afraid to speak to this old senator of great prestige, because he was the staunchest supporter of Marcus's execution, he even looked down on the Manlius clan and sneered at every turn, but today Publius looked directly at him sitting in front of him, glaring angrily, and his mood was very calm: "Today, I am the messenger of Dionia, and the king of Dioonia has sent me to discuss important matters with you, so there is no need to say more nonsense here." ”

"Nonsense?!" Marugineensis was even angrier, he stood up abruptly and yelled at Publius, "Do you know why you were let in?!" That's because we're going to deal with you traitor the same way we punished Marcus! Someone! ”

With this shout, two menacing guards walked in.

Publius immediately felt nervous, he tried to calm himself down, and shouted, "Kill me?!" Then prepare all the people on this hill and the other Roman nobles who were captured by Dionya to be martyred for me! ”

There was a commotion in the temple.

"Publius, you don't have to threaten us! Once you've fallen off the cliff and smashed into meat sauce, it won't be long before the Dioonians you've taken refuge with will be defeated by the great army led by Camillus, and we'll be back down the city and regrouped with Rome from the battle, just as it was back then! Abilius immediately stood up and shouted a loud rebuke to encourage him.

Publius laughed: "You are still dreaming of returning to Rome!" I suggest you go and ask the two men I brought up the mountain now, Decimus. Julius. Bruce, you're all familiar with it, he offered to take his family and move to Viai more than ten years ago, which was a big news in Rome at the time, and now he will tell you, 'How easily the Dioonians captured Kesrela and Viai and then captured him'.

The other person, you, Marugineensis, is more familiar, Domijuans. Cominelius. Sheila, this is your young man, who was previously a squadron leader in the army led by Camillus, and he will tell you, 'How Camillus's army has been defeated many times, and now these remnants of the defeated army will retreat to Satnikum, fearing that the Dionian army will attack them!' ’……”

As soon as Publius said this, the whole hall seemed to have exploded, and the discussion stopped. It has been more than 20 days since the fall of Rome, and the city of Rome has remained calm except for the battle in the evening of that day, and the time has passed, and the senators have a bad premonition in their hearts, but they did not expect the situation to be so bad.

“…… Falsehood! This is a lie! ......" Abilius hurriedly refuted, but obviously lacked confidence.

"I don't care what happens outside, as a traitor, you deserve the most severe punishment!" Marugineensis said in a tough tone after the initial shock.

Purbrius avoided his threatening gaze and looked around at the Roman senators, whose faces were slightly calmed by the panic and uneasiness on their faces, and he took a sharp breath and exclaimed, "In this case, I have no regrets about having all the Roman nobles die with me, come on!" With that, he beckoned to the two guards, then turned and walked out of the hall.

"Wait!" Some of the elders shouted.

Publius' nervousness was relieved, and he slowly turned around.

"As an emissary of Dionia, what do you have here to negotiate with us?" Portitus asked aloud.

Publius looked at him, then at Marugineensis next to him, and at the other patriarchs around him who looked out of shape, and then said aloud unhurriedly: "Judging from the current situation, the city of Rome has fallen, Kesreira, Viai, Phidinae, and Gabi have also been captured by Dionys, and the 70,000 army led by Camillus may now have only more than 10,000 people left, hiding in the city of Satnikum to survive, whether it is now or in the future, Rome is no longer the Rome of the Romans!" ”