"If our tens of thousands of young and middle-aged citizens had not been transferred, the Dioonians would not have been able to attack the city, and we could have fought in the field—" Plenius had just said in a loud voice when he was interrupted by Marugenesis: "It has already happened, so don't mention it again, all our energy now should be focused on the great matter of how to hold the city of Rome!" ”

Portitus nodded approvingly, and although there were often disputes and disagreements between him and Marugineensis over power and interests, the interests of the major clans were the same when Rome was in danger.

"It's all this time, I wonder if our reinforcements have arrived?" After receiving criticism from Marugineensis, Prenius awkwardly changed the subject.

"Paulus, Metius, and Pantius could not sit idly by while Rome was in danger, and so was Victoria, for I am afraid they have already fought against the Dionians, but we do not know it." Ambustus said loudly in an affirmative tone, and his words gave many senators a reassurance, because everyone understood that judging by the current offensive of the Dionians, reinforcements were the key to their defense of the city of Rome!

……………………………………

The senators in the square were worried about the safety of the city, and the people of Rome were busy caring for the wounded soldiers, and the blood of the wounded gathered into a thin stream, which flowed into the gutters and then down the drains into the wide sewers......

If the official in charge of the sewers were to lift the stone slabs and enter the sewers, step on the narrow walkways on both sides of the sewers, and follow the direction of the flow of sewage, and when he reached the residential area above the sewers, behind the embankment on the north side of the city of Rome, he would be surprised to find strong figures crouching in front of him, filling the sewers.

Two hundred soldiers of the Mountain Reconnaissance Brigade struggled hard all night, and finally all entered the Maxim sewers.

After wrestling with the water of the Tiber River, carefully climbing, and squeezing into the iron grate in the sewage, even the excellent scouts who had been trained hard for a long time and selected all felt exhausted, and some of the members who came first sat in the dark, damp, garbage-strewn sewers while waiting for the people behind them, and endured the unpleasant stench, and actually fell asleep.

However, the commander of the covert operation, Izzam could not let them rest immediately, he had them wake them up one by one, ordered them to take off their soaked liners, wring them out, and then checked them for water to avoid catching a cold.

And for those who were bruised or bruised on the way, he and the last few soldiers who came in carried a package wrapped in several layers of fur, which contained clean linen and some prepared herbs to wipe and wrap the wounds and prevent infection.

Then, he had to send someone to re-camouflage the sawn iron bar, so that tomorrow the Roman soldiers on the embankment would inadvertently see the anomaly.

In addition, he had to arrange for his team members to take turns on duty, and the sentry was not primarily to spot the enemy, but to drive away rats and possibly even snakes in the sewers, to prevent them from gnawing at their sleeping comrades, and to wake up some of his teammates when they were asleep and snoring loudly. Although the top of the sewer is covered with stone slabs, it is not tightly sealed, and there are still many large and small gaps, so you must always be careful to prevent detection.

With the lives of two hundred people on his shoulders and the arduous combat mission, Izzam was under a lot of pressure, so he kept thinking about things in his head for the rest of the day, and he never fell asleep until it was almost dawn......

I don't know how long it took, Izzam was pushed awake, he opened his eyes in a daze, and was immediately dazzled by a beam of sunlight that focused on his face through the gap in the stone slab, he put his hand on the top of his head, turned his head to look around, and a pair of concerned eyes converged on him, these are all soldiers he trained with his own hands! A hint of warmth rose in Izzam's heart.

I'm still old, and my body is not as good as before! He sighed in his heart, struggled to squat up, and asked the team members to report the numbers in turn in a very low voice, saying that the sound of numbers passed from this side of the sewer, and came back from that side, two hundred counts no more and no less.

"Is there anyone who is not feeling well?" Izzam asked in a whispered uneasy.

Every member of the team said they were doing well.

Izzam certainly knew there was moisture in the answers, but at least it meant that the players didn't have any major injuries.

Finally, a smile appeared on his face, and he then asked, "What's going on outside now?" ”

The answer to him was the leader of the reconnaissance team, Cardulillus, who was from Campania and spoke Latin, and he squeezed effortfully to the side of Izzam, pointed his finger upwards, and whispered: "Captain, the Third Legion has begun to attack, they first bombarded it with ballistas, and as a result the Romans retreated to us, and then listened to their panicked conversations from above, and learned that our fleet had built a pontoon bridge over the Tiber with warships, and that the soldiers of the Third Legion had already launched an attack on the embankment, and those Roman soldiers hurried to defend againIt's been about ...... by now."

Cardulilles looked around uncertainly, and the other team members made a five-stroke gesture and a six-and-six gesture.

“…… About an hour or so passed. He concluded.

Izzam didn't expect that the siege battle had already begun while he was sleeping, and he felt scared when he thought about it, but fortunately it was not the best time to attack.

As he was about to speak, there was a chaotic sound of footsteps and the sound of the Romans talking from the top, which were amplified in the tunnel, echoing repeatedly, until the chest was stuffy, and the dust kept falling from the stone wall, but the team members immediately made no more sound like wooden clay sculptures, but just looked at each other.

It took a long time for the sound overhead to completely die down, and silence returned to the tunnel, and the team took a long breath, even the foul air was stronger than the maddening sound.

"What did the Romans say just now?" Izzam immediately asked Cardulilles.

Cadullilles laughed silently, dusty, and very funny, and he laughed and whispered: "Captain, I have just heard a Roman say, 'I have grown up with my master, taking care of his daily life and food, and serving as his scribe...... I haven't even killed a sheep or even a chicken, and now you want me to kill someone?! ’

The other was laughing at him, 'Keep crying, cutie, don't be scared when you're facing an enemy.' ’

Later, one of the officers may be scolding them, 'Stop talking, hurry up and rush to Shibashi, if the enemy breaks through the blockade of the embankment, we will all become cattle and sheep that the enemy can kill at will!' ’……”

The team members around him all understood the meaning of the words, and sparks of excitement burst out in their eyes: "Captain, it seems that the Third Army is attacking fiercely, and the enemy is almost unable to hold it, shouldn't we also go out?!" ”

Before Izzam could speak, one of the team members in front exclaimed, "Look at the water! ”

Through the beams of sunlight that shine through the cracks in the stone slabs, you can see that the dirty water, which was originally black and yellow, with all kinds of filth, is now gradually dyed red......

"Could it be that our army has already invaded from somewhere else?!" One of the captains exclaimed.

"Quiet!" Izzam made a silent gesture as he had to make a choice in the face of the eager gazes of his teammates.

He looked down at the bright red blood in the waterway, listened to the sound of the street above, and after thinking for a while, he finally whispered: "Whatever the situation may be in other places, Your Majesty has given us the task of assisting the Third Legion and the Third Fleet to break through the defenses of the embankment and enter the city of Rome. Now that the enemy's reinforcements have just passed, the streets above are still quiet, and it can be seen that the Third Army is still fighting fiercely, so we need to wait a little longer! ”

Seeing that the team members next to him were unwilling to speak, he immediately said: "However, since the Romans have sent slaves who can't fight, it can be seen that they have no extra troops, we just need to wait a little longer, and when these Roman reinforcements are all put into the battle and have no strength to stop us, we will go out and storm their rear!" But now we have to find a way out first! ”

"Captain, we've already figured out our way out in the early hours of the morning." Tyrintus raised his sheathed dagger and pointed to the top of his head: "As long as you use the dagger to cut off the slurry between the slabs, you can push the slabs away with all your might, and then climb out." ”

"That's good." Believing in the judgment of his subordinates, Izzam said in a deep voice: "Let's fill our stomachs first, and when I give the order, we will start acting immediately!" As he spoke, he opened the pouch around his waist and took out a strip of dried beef.

The team members also took out dry food one after another, and the beef jerky soaked in the river water tasted strange, but the team members chewed hard and ate it very sweetly.

……………………………………

In the middle of the southern city wall, not far from the old Roman square, the sound of killing was shocking, and the soldiers on both sides were fighting fiercely.

The ladders were toppled by the defenders at the head of the city, and the Ionian soldiers on the ladders fell down the city, but after a while, the soldiers who followed came from a distance, carrying new ladders, crossed the ditch, and rushed to the bottom of the city, and set it up on the empty part of the city.

From time to time, the arrow blocking vehicles in front of the trench were ignited by rockets, but this did not affect the Dionian light infantry to continue to hide behind the burning flames, and continued to fire arrows at the head of the city, their more accurate archery skills were quite dangerous to the defenders of the city, if it was not for the heavy infantry fighting in front of the battlements, if they could not shoot the parts that were not covered by armor, they could not cause greater damage, I am afraid that the defenders were powerless to prevent the Dionian soldiers from climbing the city.