But having fought on the battlefield all his life, he quickly adjusted his mentality, because he knew that the predicament facing the Roman army did not allow him to be overly depressed.

Quintus, Frius, Licinius, Aulus, Titus, Servius and several other generals had gathered in the Great Tent.

"Your Excellency the Dictator!" Seeing Camillus staggering into the big tent, everyone hurriedly saluted respectfully.

"What's going on in Ostia City?" Camillus didn't say anything polite to them, and asked Servius directly.

Servius, who was in charge of guarding against the enemy's surprise attack out of the city today, hurriedly replied: "The Dioonians have stationed a lot of soldiers in the city, probably seeing our troops outside the city, they did not dare to go out of the city to destroy our earthen ramparts, but they are hurrying to repair the gap in the wall!" ”

"So we have to hurry up, regroup our troops, and attack again!" Hearing this, Camillus was a little anxious, and he looked at Licinius: "How is the construction of the earth and lei progressing?" ”

"It must be closed before dark!" Licinius affirmed, "Thanks to Adi, Antius, and Satnikum who sent a large number of men to help us build!" ”

"Good! Good! ......" Camillus praised repeatedly, and the solemn expression on his face also stretched a lot: "Licinius, you have done a great job, and I thank you on behalf of all the soldiers!" As long as the earthen ramparts we build can completely enclose the city of Ostia, not only do we not have to worry about the enemy sneaking out of the city, but we can also send a large number of light infantry, even like the Dionians, to carry ballistae up and attack the enemy at the head of the city and inside the city from a distance, so as to provide the greatest help for the attack of our heavy infantry and reduce their casualties...... The Etruscan allies of Kesrera, Volch, and Tarjuna didn't clamored to leave, did they? ”

Camillus's last words were to ask Titus, who had sent him to pacify the Etruscans.

"Your Excellency the Dictator, these Etruscans are just talking, if you really let them go, do they dare to go alone?!" Titus sneered disdainfully: "There is a fleet of Dionyas on the sea, and only the Tiber River can pass upstream and reach the north bank, but with their army of less than 10,000 men, and their courage, without our company, they dare to march alone for seventy or eighty miles, bypassing the city of Rome heavily defended by Dionia?!" However, they said that if they would storm the city of Ostia like this in the next battle, they refused to participate in the battle again! ”

"Refuse to fight?! Do these Etruscans think they've joined us just to share the spoils?! Quintus said angrily: "Your Excellency the dictator, the next time you attack the city, you must put them at the front of the attacking team, and I want to see if these Etruscans who have been conquered by us dare to fight!" ”

"Don't get too excited, Quintus, it will only completely strain our relations with the Etruscans, and it will also affect how the Latin allies' armies perceive us." Aulus reminded from the side.

"If we don't do this, will we still let our soldiers rush to the front?! The people who have suffered the most casualties these days are our Roman citizens! By now, nearly 5,000 civilian soldiers have fled the camp and taken refuge with the enemy! The remaining thousands of civilian soldiers, can we trust! Now we have no more than 15,000 citizens who can actually fight, and many noble Roman citizens died heroically in the city with a bitter hatred for the Dionians! We don't let the Etruscans and the armies of the Latin allies go up, and even if we retake Ostia, I'm afraid that the citizen soldiers in Rome will be dying! Quintus's indignant words darkened the expressions of the people in the tent, and they fell silent for a while.

"We have recaptured Ostia, and the Dionyans are really willing...... Make peace with us? Titus was the first to break the silence, hesitantly saying, "Know what the Dioonians did in the city of Rome...... It is to turn our nobles into slaves! ”

His words expressed the doubts and uneasiness in the hearts of the generals, and everyone focused on Camillus.

Camillus did not answer immediately, for the defection of the Roman civilian soldiers and the stubborn defenses of Ostia had shaken his confidence in the past few days, preventing him from giving a definite answer.

But it was his son Lucius who exclaimed: "We can only force the Ionians to make peace with us if we have beaten them and threatened their safety with our bravery and determination!" After all, the Dionicians are not only fighting against our Rome, but also our allies the Carthaginians, and the Dionian army has suffered too many losses here, so what can they do to fight the Carthaginians ?! ”

"Don't put too much faith in Carthage! If they did attack Dionya with all their might, how could the Dionians send so many troops against us! "At the mention of Carthage, Quintus was filled with resentment.

"We have no better way than to retake Ostia......" Aulus sighed, which made the other generals look gloomy.

"Everyone, don't think about it in advance in the future, let's do what is in front of us first." At this time, Camillus spoke: "Judging from the situation of yesterday's battle, our siege has made great progress, and the soldiers have broken into the city, and have engaged in a melee with the Dionians, which has already put a lot of pressure and casualties on the enemy. Next, we just need to ......"

Camillus elaborated on some new ideas for the next offensive and some improvements to the siege tactics, which were the result of his careful observation of the battle situation and his painstaking thinking in the past few days.

His tone was calm, but there was a power that calmed everyone down and listened carefully.

Seeing that everyone was listening carefully, Camillus glanced at Quintus and emphasized: "In order to ensure the success of the next siege, we must unite our allied armies!" ……”

In the end, everyone, including Quintus, agreed with Camillus's opinion, and discussed and refined the siege plan together.

After sending everyone away, Camillus relaxed a little, and suddenly felt weak. In the past few days, he has been worried about the war, eaten less, slept less, and is anxious, even the body of a young man can't withstand it, let alone an old man in his 60s, he has to lie down and rest.

He slept through dusk until he was woken up.

"All of a sentry at the head of Ostia suddenly disappeared?!" Camillus, who had just woken up, patted his still somewhat confused head, pondering the meaning behind the Dionian's move.

At this moment, the tent was opened again, and Lucius broke in: "Father, there is a fire burning in the city of Ostia! ”

"What?!" Camillus was taken aback, and with the help of his servants, he hurried out of the tent.

The camp was already full of soldiers who had stepped out of their tents, and they looked in horror at the burning city of Ostia in the distance, and the noise and discussion filled the entire camp.

Seeing this, Camillus was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly shouted: "No, the Ostians are going to flee!" Fast! Send your troops! Storm the city, extinguish the fires, and capture the Dionians! Fast! ……”

In the darkness of the night, the Roman soldiers were organized and rushed towards the burning city of Ostia.

But they still went late.

After receiving the order to "retreat" from Davers, Theliss ordered his officials to contact the cargo ships of the various chambers of commerce in the port and the Dionian fleet cruising in the nearby seas, and gradually began an orderly retreat.

Since most of the evacuation was carried out in a small port directly facing the sea to the west, the Roman troops monitoring the mouth of the Tiber did not notice anything unusual.

Finally, as the Ionian soldiers at the head of the city began to evacuate, Theliss set the asphalted city and port on fire.

When Camillus learned that "the army had failed to extinguish the fire, and that the city and port of Ostia had been burned, but not a single Dionian had been seen," he was so depressed that he could not utter a word.

He had now understood that the Dioonians would rather burn the city than let it occupy it, and had already shown their determination not to compromise!

"Father, what's wrong with you?!" In Lucius's exclamation, I saw Camillus clutching his chest and slowly falling to the ground.

…………………………………

Mycalius was a squad leader, and although he was a Roman commoner, his home was not in Rome, but in Viai, where he had his own land and family.

In the past few days, news of the "special preferential treatment of Roman civilians by the Dionians" spread in the camp, and the civilian soldiers living in the city of Rome began to flee the camp one after another. After all, in the colonial city, which was only built for less than ten years, the contradictions between the nobles and the commoners were not serious, and they lived a decent life. Under such circumstances, it is difficult for them to make such a choice as farmers to abandon their home country where they have lived for decades and join a strange kingdom.

However, their loyalty to Rome was not duly rewarded, and they were hated by the Roman noble soldiers in the camp.

The nobles and diners learned from the news that "their families in Rome were imprisoned, the land was divided among the commoners, the houses were occupied by the commoners, and the wealth of their families was robbed by the commoners (this is a rumor)", coupled with the continuous defection of the commoners in the past few days...... Of course, they did not have a good face for the civilian soldiers who remained in the camp, and their suspicions, ridicules, and insults were relatively light. It is not once or twice that the blatant use of power in the hands of the besieged city, placing civilian soldiers in the most dangerous offensive positions, without allowing retreat and providing assistance, has not been done once.

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