During this short break, Portitus also called his henchmen: "Go to the house and bring me something to eat." Vertex X23US" he said aloud as he kept using his hand on his crutches.

"Venerable master, what do you want for dinner?" The clever house slave immediately asked loudly.

"What a fool, have you forgotten all the things I love to eat, and I want to tell you again!" Portitus grumbled discontentedly, and the slave nodded and leaned over.

"I don't want bread, I can't bite because I have bad teeth, bring me a big bowl of hot porridge, and ......," said Portitus, his voice growing quieter and quieter as he seemed to be tired.

The slave could only get closer and closer, and then he heard his master's whisper: "Send at once and overnight to inform Camillus of the news of the invasion of Latium by the Dionian army!" ”

Watching the slaves leave the venue, Portitus was in a trance: even if there is only a slight possibility, Rome cannot be harmed, but can only wronged you, Camillus! But as long as I am here, no one will dare to accuse you in the Senate!

Portitus scanned the room and saw that no one seemed to notice his movements, so he leaned back in his ivory chair and closed his eyes.

At this time, the senators were discussing: Carthage had already started a war with Dionia, and there was a report of the war from Sicily, why did the Dioonians not concentrate on Carthage and dare to send a large army to Rome?!

"Is it because Carthage has been defeated by Dionys, so Dionya can free up his hands and send an army to attack us?"

"It was only a small defeat, Carthage is a powerful state in the Western Mediterranean, how can it be possible to fight Dionya in such a short period of time! I think it must be because the war has just begun, and Carthage did not use all its strength to make it easy for Dionia, so they dared to send an army against us. ”

"We should send messengers to inform the Carthaginians that they should intensify their attack on Dionya and fulfill their obligations as allies!"

"You said it easily, but how do you not?! Now the coast of Latin is completely controlled by the Dionian fleet. ”

"There's a way, if you're willing to use your brains, Abinius. The Dionian fleet had blocked the shores of Latinum, but they had not blocked the coasts of Etrunia, and in the south of Etruscan there were many of our vassal city-states, and the messengers could take their ships north, along the coast, and eventually to the coast of Iberia, where the famous Carthaginian royal family of Magonides, whose patriarch had just been appointed commander-in-chief of the Carthaginian army, was responsible for the war against Dionia......"

"It's a great idea! As long as the Carthaginians knew that Dionya had sent a large army to Rome, they would certainly increase their attack on Sicily, and Dionyas would have to deal with the war in the north and south, which would certainly be unsustainable, and they would definitely retreat from Latin to avoid being defeated by the Carthaginians. ”

"We can't rely too much on Carthage, in fact we have 100,000 citizen soldiers and allies now, led by the warlike Camillus, we can defeat the oncoming Dionian army! ……”

Scipio the Great was right! We are fighting on our own soil, and there is absolutely no need to fear the Dionians, we should take this opportunity to defeat them, establish the prestige of our Rome, and then take complete control of Latinum! ……”

In the midst of heated arguments, the senators still approved the proposal to send an envoy north to Etrusa to sail to Etrusa and ask for help from Carthage, and at the same time had the idea of waiting for Camillus to return with his army, and then look for an opportunity to fight the Dionian army.

In the evening, news finally came back: Paulus, Megius, and Pantius, led an army of 25,000 soldiers, who had suffered a crushing defeat to the Dionian army of almost equal numbers.

This bad news plunged the entire Senate into a long silence.

After a long time, some of the senators began to shout in a weak heart: the Dionian army is so strong, it should be immediately allowed to Camilus to lead the army back to defend Rome!

There were even a handful of proposals to make peace with Dionya and return the occupied territory of Wolsey......

This was of course attacked by most of the senators, and Apleius and his supporter Maruginensis were trying to comfort the panicked senators, whose greatest argument was that there was no news from Ostia that it had not yet fallen into the hands of the Dionians......

Portitus looked coldly at the scene of the argument in the venue, and did not say a word, but in his heart he was glad for the decision he had made earlier......

…………………………………………

On this night, not only the Senate was lit with candles, but also in the Roman Forum, and it was full of people.

After receiving an urgent notice from the Roman patrol, countless people came out of their homes and converged on the square.

There are two main groups of these people: adolescents between the ages of 15 and 17 and the elderly over 50 years old. In addition to the 3,000 young citizens stationed in Rome, other Roman citizens who were fit for military service had already followed Camillus to the war against Herniki. In addition, a small number of women wandered around the square, asking the Roman soldiers who were maintaining order about the "coming Dionians".

Compared with the panicked ones, most of the old people gathered in the square seemed calm, they had experienced many wars in their lives, and they had long since been unfazed, while the teenagers seemed very excited, they had long been eager to grow up to serve in the army, like their fathers and brothers, to fight on the battlefield and win honor for themselves. So although there are many people in the square, there is order and there is no chaos.

People in turn come to the recruiter and give their names, clans, tribuses, and resumes of their previous positions in the army, which the recruiters then assign to a squadron and give them a position in the army. In addition, most of the veterans have their own armor and weapons, while only a few teenagers do, so they need to be equipped.

Ambustus stood on the platform of the square, looking at the crowd below and feeling a little relieved, and his original worries were dispelled a lot.

"Father!" A crisp voice sounded in his ears, and he turned his head to look at it, and a kind smile appeared on his face: "Konya, why are you here?" ”

Ambustus's youngest daughter said with a worried face: "Stolo heard the notice of the patrol and wanted to know if Rome was really in danger?" ”

"Don't worry, this is just a precaution, let Stolo recuperate at home." Ambustos waved his hand and said with a relaxed expression.

After sending off his little daughter, the people in the square were gradually dispersed, but Ambustus's expression became more and more solemn, and he couldn't help but ask the patrol leader Cassius: "Have the people in the Aventin area really been notified?" ”

"I can swear to Jupiter that I really sent a patrol to the streets of the Aventine area to inform!" Cassius eagerly argued.

"Then why haven't they come yet?!" Ambustus was a little anxious, and in his opinion, compared to these old men and children, the civilians and freedmen in the area of Aventin should be the main force in the defense of the city of Rome.

Cassius smiled bitterly: "My lord, you don't know that the people there have either been fighting against our nobles and opposing the Senate; Either the exiles who have only joined Rome over the years are not loyal enough to Rome at all"

"Don't talk about that." Ambustus interrupted him and reminded softly: "Now that the enemy is present, all the Romans should be united......"

Ambustus stopped talking abruptly as a cacophony of human voices could be heard in the distance. He finally smiled a little: "Look, they're coming!" ”

…………………………………………

Why didn't Ostia come back to Rome that night? This was due to the fact that Davers had sealed the city of Ostia by land and sea, and not a single person or ship had escaped from Ostia after the breach. And during the siege, he ordered Midolades to block the waters off Ostia with fast three-layer oars, and no ships were allowed to approach. At the same time, on land, he also scattered the mountain reconnaissance brigade and blocked the surrounding area of Ostia, so that the spies of Rome and the Latin allies could not learn about the situation in Ostia, and it was not until the evening that he asked Izzam to withdraw the reconnaissance team. Even if the Roman spies noticed something strange later, it was already the next day when they rushed back to Rome.

When Amintas's messenger arrived in Ostia City, Daves was on his way to the harbor accompanied by Midorades.

"Your Majesty, you don't need to go to the port at all, we have made many statements to the workers of the port, and most of them have already expressed their willingness to assist us......" Midorides persuaded Davers as he walked.

"Midorades, I trust your abilities." Davos said seriously: "But you must know that this is the first time that Dionia has occupied the territory of the Latins, they are very strange to us, and they are more afraid of our strength, and with me, the king, personally intervening, it will be more able to convince them of the promises we have made, and it will also be of more help to us, and with their example, it will be much easier for us to manage when we occupy other Latin towns." ”

Midorades nodded as if he didn't understand, knowing that Davers had made up his mind, he didn't dare to persuade him again.

Davers, of course, did not expect an admiral to understand his approach from the perspective of the big picture, after all, he was conceiving a big game of chess, so he changed the subject and asked, "Where do all these laborers and sailors in the port come from?" ”