His words touched the concerns of Portitus, Marugineensis and others, and also uneasy the more delusional senators, and there was a commotion in the temple.

At this moment, a soldier came in and reported that the southwest of the city was brightly lit, and the sound of killing shook the sky.

"Could it be that reinforcements are coming?!" The speculation of one of the patriarchs lifted everyone's spirits.

Everyone hurried out of the temple, and under the escort of the soldiers, they came to the edge of the cliff, and sure enough, they saw that the night to the southwest was red by fire, and there was a faint light around the city of Rome elsewhere, which should be the torches on the entire wall that were lit by the enemy.

"I'm afraid it's really reinforcements coming!" The patriarchs stood on the edge of the cliff, staring at the firelight in the distance.

The people at the top of the mountain, led by the high priest, prayed excitedly and devoutly to the god Jupiter.

……………………………………

It was the 6,000 Roman soldiers led by Quintus and Frius who attacked, and without any other siege machinery, they only picked up a dozen thick logs from Priniste, and rushed straight with torches alof.

Perhaps the impression of the Roman soldiers was that the Dioonians had just taken the city of Rome and were plundering the city's belongings and women, and it was when the gates were wide open and the defenses were empty, just as the Ecqua and Helnikians had breached Prinister last year, or the Celts had breached Rome and other Latin city-states ten years earlier, and their rush could have taken the enemy by surprise.

Who knew that when I rushed to the outside of Rome, I saw that the city of Rome was quiet, the gates of Rome were closed, torches were lit on the city, and there were enemy soldiers fully armed and ready for battle.

The reality was different from what they had envisioned, and Quintus and Frius were a little drumming in their hearts, but they nevertheless ordered the soldiers to make a tentative attack.

As a result, the Roman soldiers climbed through the ditch with great difficulty to reach the city gate, and paid a lot of casualties under the long-range attack of the defenders, and then they soon found that hitting the city gate with the wood had little effect.

It turned out that when the Romans were defending the city, they sealed all the gates with wood and stones because of lack of manpower. After the Dionian army entered the city, Davers only had his soldiers clear the southern wall, the closest to the square, the Cirio Gate, and the west Nevia Gate (mainly to facilitate the transportation of supplies into the city), and the other gates were still sealed, which led to the failure of the Roman reinforcements to storm the city gates, and the morale was damaged.

Just as Quintus and Frius were already considering retreating, the spies reported that they had found two gaps in the western wall.

This gave hope to the two Roman generals, and they immediately led the soldiers who were bent on rescuing their relatives to attack the western city.

As a result, the 4th and 5th legions of Dionysa were waiting for the breach in the wall, and the light infantry were fiercely attacked with bows, arrows, javelins, and stones on the wall.

Davers immediately sent a cavalry corps and rushed out of the Cirio Gate, preparing to pursue the rout, and to wipe them out.

However, the cavalry was intercepted by the Prinister reinforcements led by Megus, because it was night, and for a while Davers could not figure out how many reinforcements were coming from Rome, so in order to prevent accidents, he ordered the pursuit to be stopped, so that the Roman rout could escape.

……………………………………

The distant fire lasted less than half an hour before it went out, and there was no movement, apparently a failure.

The people on Capitoline Hill were very depressed and sighed.

"Folks, our army is far away in Helniki, it is impossible for us to arrive so quickly, it is only reinforcements from other allies! ......" At this moment Scipio the Great's voice rang out, unusually clear in the darkness of the night, and slightly relieved the disappointed populace.

At this time, Portitus whispered to Marugenesis: "What if...... Camillus's army could not retake the city of Rome in a short time, and there were too many people on the hill, which would only consume food and shake the morale of the army...... Ahem......"

It's April, it's not yet summer, the night is cold on the top of the mountain, the mountain wind is strong, and old people like Portitus used to stand on the edge of the cliff for half an hour because they were concerned about the war, even if they were wrapped in leather robes, but now they couldn't stand it anymore and began to run snot.

“…… When the army of Camilus arrives, let's see how the battle goes......" Marugineensis looked at the dark night, as if the dispute with Portitus in the Senate all these years did not exist, and comforted him: "Whoever launched the attack on the city of Rome tonight, they also created an opportunity for us, and the people we sent should be able to escape from the city, find Camillus, tell him about the situation in the city, and let them be prepared......"

……………………………………

Early the next morning, the soldiers of the 1st and 2nd Dionian Legions began to pack up their tents and clear the square.

In the morning, the people of Rome, driven by the Ionian soldiers, came to the square, which was surrounded by heavily armed Dionian soldiers, which made them frightened.

Especially the people from the slums, who had been haunted by the battle at the breach of the wall not far from them yesterday evening, and the crushing defeat of the Roman reinforcements, could not be frightened by the fact that the Dioonians had made them stand at the front of the square.

By the time it was almost noon, the square was already crowded with Roman people.

At this moment, the trumpets sounded, and a group of Ionian soldiers in splendid armor escorted a man in golden armor and a flowing feather helmet on his head as they stepped up the stone steps and walked up the high platform in front of the gate of the Senate.

"That's the king of Dionia?!" There was a restlessness in the crowd in the square.

The Dionian soldiers around the square immediately struck their long shields with their short swords and roared in unison, and immediately poured a basin of cold water on the Roman people gathered in the square, and silenced them, but the eyes of Davers who looked high above were both fearful and hateful.

Completely ignoring the anger in their eyes, Davers exclaimed: "Citizens of Rome, I am Davers, King of Dionia, the new master of the city!" I was going to take you to the foot of Capitoline Hill, where one of the Roman heroes I admired died, Marcus. Manlius. Capitolinus, I'm sure you all remember the name! ”

When the messengers translated Davos's words into Latin and spread them throughout the audience, the crowd in the square was in a commotion again, and the faces of the Roman people were full of doubt, for they never expected that their enemy, the king of Dionia, would speak of the Marcus they knew as soon as he opened his mouth. Manlius. Capitolous, so they focused their eyes more on Davers and had more curiosity in their eyes.

Davers stretched out four fingers and said loudly with emotion: "Debt! Land! Enslavement! Power! From the founding of the city of Rome to the present day, your ancestors and you have been fighting against the aristocracy unremittingly, and have even threatened to flee Rome many times, and have paid the price of blood many times. However, Rome has developed a small village into a city-state with such a vast territory, but your situation has not improved much, you are still living in hardship, and you are still suffering from the humiliation of the nobles!

Unlike other Roman nobles, Marcus not only defended Rome with his bravery, but he was also able to abandon the arrogance and greed of the nobles, and did his best to help you commoners, he paid off the debts of more than 400 of you commoners at his own expense, and for the first time in the Senate called for the forgiveness of your debts and the distribution of the land you acquired......

Is he using you for some purpose?! No! He is so that you can have a better life in the city-state! To this end, he did not hesitate to betray his origins, become one of you, and lead you in a brave struggle against the evil Roman aristocracy! Remember what he said to you, 'I will not forsake any of you, and you must be careful that my destiny does not forsake me.' I myself will not be afraid as your defender, and you have all seen that I was once shackled and then discarded with the help of many of you. If the enemy is more arrogant to me, the gods will stop them, but the gods will never come down from heaven for us, and we must have your full support......"

Speaking of this, Davers glared at the crowd and shouted, "But, did you do it! No! You flinched under the fierce counterattack of the nobles, you actually believed the nonsense of the Senate, and allowed Marcus to be framed and arrested by the Senate, and watched him be pushed down the Capitoline Hill and fall to his death by the vicious Roman nobles! Don't you feel ashamed in your hearts?! ”

Davers's words reminded the people of Rome of the past, and the shame welled up in their hearts, and a strange scene appeared: the people of Rome bowed their heads under the questioning of the king of Dionia, who had occupied their homeland.

Of course, although Davers ordered the army to gather the civilians of Rome in the square, it was inevitable that there would be some petty nobles and aristocratic diners, so they shouted angrily: "Don't listen to the rumors of the enemy!" Don't forget, he just led an army, invaded our homeland, and killed our loved ones! The Senate did nothing wrong, Marcus. Manlius' attempt to dictate and divide Rome is more than innocent! Now it seems that he is still in collusion with the Dionians, and he should have dug up his bones and broken him into pieces! ”

。 Museum of Literature