At this time, the sentinels in Adi also heard the "bang, bang", but they did not arouse vigilance, after all, Adi was far away from the center of the Latin city-state, and far away from the Helnikians, Eques, and Masi in the east, and it rarely had major wars in the past, except for some territorial conflicts with Wolsey. And now there are Antium and Saturnicum belonging to Rome blocking its south, during this time the fighting in the south has subsided, the Adi people think they are safe, they don't think it will be the enemy at all, and they think that the Roman army is moving, so they don't send detectives to investigate at all.

After passing through the city of Adi, the 1st and 3rd Legions of Dionya began to approach the coast, and this black army was discovered by the merchant ships and caravans of the Latins passing by, who were so surprised that they hurried to the neighboring towns to call the police, and the more alert merchant ships turned around and headed south, ready to inform Antium, which was heavily garrisoned.

In fact, there was no need for this at all, and after more than two hours of fidgeting at the head of the city, Paulus, the defender of Antium, finally decided to send one of the few scouts once again to venture out of the city to re-investigate the movements of the Dionian army.

At this moment, his subordinates suddenly shouted: "General, fireworks have been lit on the harbor lighthouse!" ”

Paulus was startled and hurriedly looked back, only to see a plume of black smoke rising from the direction of the port.

There is an enemy coming from the sea?! Paulus's heart tightened again, and then he saw the cavalry rushing towards the city, shouting under the city walls: "General Paulus, countless warships and troop transports have appeared on the sea outside the harbor!" ”

Paulus was shocked: Did the Dionians want to repeat the last time they captured Antium?!

"Immediately dispatch 500 light infantry and 2,000 heavy infantry to the port to set up defenses!" Without thinking, he gave orders to his adjutant.

"Yes, General!"

After saying this, Paulus quickly got out of the city, mounted his horse, and hurried to the port with the convoy.

There was already panic in the city, especially at the gate leading to the port in the inner city, where countless people from the port were rushing to rush into the city, and some even shouted in panic: "The enemy's army is coming!" Run! ……”

Paulus and the escort managed to get out, and they hurried under the towering lighthouse on the breakwater.

When he reached the lighthouse, he was amazed by what he saw: it was past noon, and the sea outside the harbor was sparkling, and the shadow of the sail appeared in the distant sea, beyond his line of sight, and met the sea and sky in the distance...... One of the characteristics of these sailing ships is that their side is glaring with a golden glow.

Although the Romans did not have a strong navy and had hardly fought large-scale naval battles, Paulus, who had served as a military and political officer several times, had a lot of experience in warfare, and often humbly asked Camillus for advice, so he could judge that most of the frightening fleet was troop carriers, because troop carriers had a characteristic, after the soldiers got on board, they had to hang their shields on both sides of the hull, which not only freed up the space in the ship, but also made it easy to take, and at the same time could also defend against long-range attacks from enemy ships, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone. So it has become almost a common tradition of troop carriers in the countries of the Mediterranean.

How many reinforcements did the Dionians send?!! Paulus was shocked, and his voice trembled slightly and asked, "Harbor...... Is the chain down? ”

"It's already pulled up."

"Where's the watchtower on the Bo Ti? Are the soldiers already in place? ”

"Rest assured, General, the archers have already climbed the watchtower, and the asphalt, arrows, and rags are all ready."

"That's good!" Paulus was comforted a little, and he added, "The army in the city will arrive soon, so don't panic. ”

"General." The head of the harbor said, "According to the observation of the lighthouse sentinels, I am afraid that this huge fleet is not coming for Antium, it must be heading north!" ”

Paulus was stunned for a moment, and looked carefully at the distant sea again: although the fleet was too far away to see clearly, compared to some of the ships that were fleeing towards the port of Antium, the white sails showed only the side, and the glitter on the side of the ship, and the distance between his fleet and the shore did not seem to have changed much during the time they spoke...... Apparently, the Dionian fleet was continuing its voyage north!

"Could it be that the Dioonians are preparing to land on the coast north of Antium?" Paulus whispered uncertainly.

The head of the port reminded him: "General, it is better for the Dioonians to land in the north than in the south, and the last time they landed on the southern coast, and the last time they landed on the southern coast, and finally occupied Antium. ”

Paulus then remembered that between Antium and Adi was a low, hilly area, and although it was quite flat, it was obviously not convenient compared to the south, so ......

When Paulus thought of this, his face suddenly changed: the Dioonians were preparing to land on the coast further north, attack the Latin allies, and possibly even attack the weakly defended hinterland, and finally approach Rome......

Thinking of this, Paulus broke out in a cold sweat, for he immediately thought that the Dionian army that had appeared from the south in the early morning was probably there to meet this huge convoy, and they had already passed through the blockade set up by Rome on the border of Wolsey and entered the heart of the Latin city-state region!!

It is no wonder that Paulus did not think about this aspect in advance, he still had the original information in his mind "Dionia's army in Wolsey is only nearly 10,000 people", he did not get the news of Dionys's increase in troops to Wolsey (because the Third Fleet has completely blocked the sea route south of the Latin area during this time), so in his subconscious thought: a numerically inferior army through the blockade, deep behind enemy lines, even if it can take advantage of a moment, it is difficult to escape the fate of being encircled and destroyed, Such aggressive tactics were suitable for the swift and light mountain races, but not for the regular Dionian troops, which were dominated by heavy infantry.

Although he had already been taught a lesson by the Dionian navy before, it was impossible to free Paulus, the former Roman military and political officer, who had become accustomed to traditional land combat, so quickly.

"Immediately send out scouts to track along the coastline to find out where this fleet has landed, and then report immediately!" Paulus gave an urgent order: "Send another messenger to inform the defenders of Satnikum and Villitre that Dionia's army has entered the hinterland of the Latin region, and that their navy is to land along the coast, so that they are ready to attack!" And also...... Send another messenger and quickly rush to Rome to inform the Senate and make them ready! ”

………………………………………

The combined forces of the 1st and 3rd Dionian Legions passed through the small Latin city of Lavinium by the sea.

The city was small, but it held an important place in the hearts of the Latins, who, according to Latin legend, were descendants of Aeneas, the hero of the powerful city-state of Troy in Asia Minor (who was said to be a Trojan royal family), second only to Hector.

After Troy was occupied by the Greeks, Aeneas fled to Italy by boat with some of the Trojans, landed in the region of Ladin, was welcomed by the Latin king, and married his daughter Lavini to him, so Aeneas built a new city on the Latin coast, named after his wife, which is the origin of Lavinium. Later, their son founded a new city near Lake Alba, a volcanic lake north of Lavenim, called Albaronga, which became the center of the Latins until the twins born to the princess Sylvia of the royal family went into exile and were fed by she-wolves, founded Rome, and eventually destroyed Albaronga.

Although Lavenium was the birthplace of the Romans, it was a small city-state, with low walls and a small number of inhabitants, and the sentinels at the head of the city trembled with terror when they saw Dionia's army swaggering past the city, and the people inside the city were terrified.

However, the Dionian army did not stop marching, and they continued north along the coast.

"The two Legionnaires, the First Cavalry Legion and the Second Cavalry Legion have rushed back—" Before the Scout could finish speaking, the sound of horses' hooves rumbled behind him.

"Amintath, Lizaru, our cavalry regiment is back on time!" Ryders shouted on his horse.

"How's it going?" Amintas asked.

"At least until we left, we didn't see any troops coming out of Antium and Satnikum." Ryders patted his horse's neck and said with a little smugness: "During this period, they sent a lot of scouts, but none of them escaped our interception. What about your side? Arrived at your destination? ”

"It's past Lavenium, it should be almost there." Amintas wiped the sweat from his face, then shook his hand, and said with a slight complaint: "I began to assemble and set off before dawn, and I have been walking until now, I'm afraid I have walked seventy or eighty miles, the brothers are already very tired, if it weren't for the fact that we have been walking on a flat road, we are afraid that this task issued by Your Majesty would not have been able to be completed at all." ”

"I don't think the brothers will complain." Ryders looked at the tired-looking legionnaires passing by and said with relief, "They should be very excited to participate in this big battle that is about to start." ”

"It's not just the soldiers who are excited, we're excited too!" Lizaru chimed in.

Several legion commanders looked at each other and laughed.

The Ionian army finally stopped advancing. Under the command and arrangement of several legion commanders, 20,000 legionnaires lined up an unhurried military formation with their backs against the silver-white flat sand, with a length of four miles and a thickness of eight columns.