"Father, now Rome is changing! Like Licinius, Frius...... Wait for civilians to serve as military and political officers! Dictator Camillus once said, 'In the future the Senate will be open to the plebeians of Rome!' ’”

"Hmph, Camillus! He was the one who ordered the arrest of our civilian leader, Marcus! Don't take the nobles at their word, we were deceived by them and gave up the battle at the critical moment, and in the end nothing changed in Rome! Child, the Licinius family is already a nobleman among the commoners, and so is Frius, they have a close relationship with those nobles, not that we can compare, you don't have any extravagant expectations! But now we don't have to worry about that, because the nobility of Rome has been completely defeated! ”

"What do you mean?"

"The Ionians announced the cancellation of all our debts! They declared that 'as long as there were Roman commoners willing to become citizens of Dionia, they could be allocated fertile land and comfortable dwellings'! They also declared that 'any Roman commoner who became a citizen of Dionya could apply for the office of the kingdom and, through his merits, eventually become a senator'! ……”

"Father, the Dionians are enemies! It is the enemy who has invaded our homeland! Anything they say is a lie, just to deceive us not to resist their aggression! ——”

"No, they didn't cheat! They found all the paper rolls and planks in the houses of the nobility in Rome that had recorded the debts, and destroyed them all in the square! They imprisoned the families of the nobles, confiscated their homes and land, and began to distribute them to the Roman commoners who joined Dionia! They also made a Roman commoner who had been enslaved by debt a municipal magistrate! I've also inquired about it, and many of the elders of the Dionian Kingdom are from low backgrounds, so—"

"Father! Whether what the Dioonians are doing is true or not, it will be useless until we take back the city of Rome! On the contrary, these Romans, who had benefited from the Dionians, were bound to be severely punished by the Senate! ”

"Take back the city of Rome? You have to be able to do it! Look at these scars on my body, although I have not been a squadron leader, I have participated in far more battles than you, and I know very well that if you want to win a war, you have to see which side has more soldiers, more brave, more obedient to orders, better weapons and armor, right! When the Dioonians attacked the city, although I did not go to the city to fight, I learned in detail from the neighbors who fled home that the Dionian soldiers were no less brave than the Roman citizens, but their armor and weapons and siege equipment far surpassed ours, and they conquered the Roman city without invading the people of the city, and they also surpassed the Roman citizens in terms of discipline—"

"We have an army of 70,000! Our commander-in-chief is Camillus! We will definitely take back the city of Rome! Father, don't say any more, hurry up and rest with me at the station, and when we have driven out the Dionians, the family will be reunited!" ”

"Camillus is better than the victorious King of Dionia?! 70,000 people can take the city of Rome defended by 50,000?! Sextus, you're confused, look at your soldiers, they know it very well! ”

Upon his father's reminder, Sextus was surprised to find that some of his men were silent, some were embarrassed, and more were surrounding the old men and asking about their homes in the city, and they looked quite excited.

Only then did Sextus remember: in the squadron he led, there were not many citizens like him who had grown up in Rome since childhood, and most of them were exiles who had only joined Rome in the past ten years, and they did not have a strong sense of identity with Rome, so they might not be able to resist such temptation.

So, he reminded the soldiers loudly: "Do not forget that the Dioonians are aliens, they do not believe in Jupiter, Juno, Vesta!" They also have kings! We can't go to such a foreign country that is completely different from Rome! ”

"Rome was a city-state composed of many races, and so did Dionia, and it is said that many alien races also became their senators, and their king personally worshiped the temple of Diana, the temple of Vesta, and even our civilian gods Kelis, Liber, and Libera, which shows that Dionya completely allows us to have our own gods! As for saying that they have kings, there's nothing to worry about, don't forget that when those Roman nobles killed Marcus, they accused him of wanting to be kings, but he was a Roman hero who really cared about our commoners! So, it doesn't matter if there is a king or not, what matters is whether we can treat our commoners more fairly, so that we don't have to worry about debts and become slaves, but can get land and power?! Another old man said loudly.

Those last few words made the soldiers' eyes light up when they heard it.

"Yes, just as I now have five acres of land south of the river harbor and on the banks of the Tiber, which is far more fertile than the land I used to have on the west side of the city of Phidine, and it is much easier to cultivate." Sextus's father patted his injured leg and said happily, "My family has also moved to the Palatine Hill, and has moved into a large mansion belonging to the Claudius clan, my former creditor, and I used to kneel at the door of that mansion and beg them to delay the payment of my debts...... Hahaha, now I can be the owner of that house! ”

"Father, you ...... You ......," said Sextus, his eyes darkened.

"That's right, I have applied to become a citizen of Theoria and share the property of the former Claudius clan, according to their clan's style of retribution, they will definitely regard our family as mortal enemies, what are you still hesitating about!" The old man suddenly screamed.

"You're crazy! To provoke the people of the Claudius clan!! Sextus replied angrily, but his face was full of fear.

"It's not just your father who provoked the nobles, many civilians in the city are now mostly stained with the blood of nobles and diners, they used to treat us cruelly, and now it's our turn to take revenge!" Another old man said hatefully.

His words were not only echoed by the other old men, but also by many soldiers.

Sextus fell silent.

At this time, his father persuaded again: "Son, Acistrius, the Roman magistrate from Turi, has announced today an order, that in two days, all the civilians of Rome will gather in the square to elect the councillors and form the Roman local council, whose role is to supervise and assist the Roman magistrate in governing the city, and any commoner can participate, and I have decided to run."

And also...... The governor of Acistrius also announced that the city of Rome would be divided into nine districts, and since we did not have much administrative experience and did not know much about the laws and institutions of the Kingdom of Dionia, the prefect of Demo who administered each city was temporarily an official of the Kingdom of Dionia, but the adjutant of Demo would be selected from among the common people of Rome, and they would also learn from it while assisting the prefect in governing the city of Rome in order to take up more important positions in the future......

An important condition for the selection of these Demo lieutenants was their knowledge of Greek in order to have better communication with the Dionian officials. Sextus, you have studied Greek, and I want you to be the lieutenant of Demo in the city of Cirio! ”

Sextus was still silent.

Not only the old people were watching him, but the soldiers were also watching him, especially the hesitant soldiers who were expecting the squadron leader's decision to help them make up their minds.

"We ...... Just enter the city of Rome like this, and the Dionians really won't suspect us and attack us? When Sextus finally said this, the old men smiled, and most of the soldiers breathed a sigh of relief.

At the same time, some soldiers reminded worriedly: "Let's not take weapons into the city?" If the Dioonians repented, would we not have walked into the wolf's den like lambs! ”

These words immediately aroused the anger of the old people: "Stupid! Will I put my own children in danger! You may not trust the Dionians, but how can you not trust your parents! ……”

"Shall we enter the city of Rome now?" Sextus interrupted their complaints.

"How is that possible! Our children haven't seen it yet! "Some of the elderly protested.

"In order for Dionysa to finally defeat and defeat the Roman nobles, we must get more civilians to leave the army led by Camillus and return to the city of Rome to join Dionia, so that we can weaken the Roman nobles and defend the benefits we have just gained!" Sextus's father reminded loudly.

Now that he had decided to defect from Rome, Sextus was completely determined to consider the way out for his people, so he thought for a while before he said to the old men: "You should know that the dictator Camillus has always been very strict with the camps, and if you cannot enter, you should go to the people's camps first, and there are also many civilians who are worthy of your courtship. And the soldiers and I returned to the camp and quietly told the other civilian soldiers about the changes in the city of Rome, including your loved ones. After dark, all of our soldiers who are willing to leave will break out of the camp to join you and return to Rome! ”

"Okay, that's it!" Sextus's father took the lead in agreeing.

……………………………………

During this time, he had been worried about the invasion of the Dionian army and the fall of Rome, coupled with the continuous march in the past few days, Camillus had not had a good rest, and he was exhausted by Davers's tactics and had a rare good night's sleep, and even dreamed that he had driven away the Dioonians and led the army into the city of Rome.

。 Museum of Literature