Davers touched his chin, thought for a while, and said, "Spy on them secretly, don't alarm them, and report to me as soon as there is a situation." ”

"Yes!"

"Amylius, the intelligence you have gathered during this time has helped the army to win one after another, and when this war is over, the kingdom will give you and your men a reward!" Davers praised without hesitation.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Amylius looked excited, and her eyes narrowed into a slit.

Davers looked at him, smiled and said, "It's been a busy day, I'm hungry, and I happen to have dinner soon, so come eat with me." ”

"Huh?! This...... This! Be! Be! ......" Amylius was so excited that she was a little incoherent.

……………………………………

At this time, in the temporary camp of the Roman army outside the city of Prinister, the Roman dictator Camillus was discussing the next battle plan with his generals.

"Your Excellency the Dictator, you want us to attack Ostia instead of Rome?!" Minuccius looked at Camillus in surprise.

In addition to Titus, the other generals were equally surprised.

Camillus saw it in his eyes and said in a deep voice: "To be precise, we should have put on a posture of attacking the city of Rome, but we should first send an army to capture Ostia!" ”

Without waiting for the generals to ask, he continued to explain: "We all know that it is very difficult to storm a city, and before we 70,000 people besieged a city of Filentirum, which was composed of a routed army with less than 10,000 defenders, it took us more than ten days, and we also paid a lot of casualties. There were at least 50,000 Ionian troops in the city of Rome, and we all knew that they were very strong in combat, and the walls of Rome were so tall and thick, relying only on our army, which was more numerous than the other side, to attack the city of Rome, if we wanted to retake Rome...... Hard! ——”

"Master Camillus!" Minuccius interrupted him loudly, called him by his first name, and rebuked him angrily: "As the dictator of Rome, you have the only powerful force in your hands that can save Rome, and the citizens are looking forward to you to take back our homeland, and you are already afraid before you have even fought the enemy, are you still the hero who saved Rome?!" Where has all your courage gone?! Are you still worthy of being the commander of this army?! ...... "Perhaps it was precisely because of the depth of his love and his responsibility that Brother Minu could not control his temper at all, and his face was angry.

"Minusius, how can you speak to the dictator in such a tone!" As a relative of the same clan, Aulus immediately criticized the young man.

Camillus was not angry, but patiently explained: "It is precisely because the army under our command is the last hope to save Rome that we need to be more cautious, otherwise once we fail, it will become more difficult to retake Rome——"

"The Ionians were able to ...... in one day Capture our Rome, why can't we?! Minusius said angrily.

Lucius finally couldn't help but retort: "When the Dionians attacked the city of Rome, they were mostly faced with old men and young men, as well as freemen and slaves, and if we attacked the city, we would face a well-trained Dionian army!" Moreover, according to the situation reported by the defeated soldiers, the Dioonians made a lot of powerful siege equipment, including a lot of ballistas, and our most powerful siege equipment - ballistae was given by the Carthaginians! ”

Minusius was stunned for a moment, and then retorted: "Didn't the routs say that there are two gaps in the southern wall!" And there are still our citizens on Capitoline Hill, and if we attack the city with all our might, they can flank the Dionians inside the city, and then join forces to retake Rome! ”

"Young man, siege warfare is not as simple as you think, why don't you sit down and listen to the dictator?!" Titus admonished with a serious expression, for although he was a relatively young senator, he had a great reputation in the army, having been one of the main generals in the attack on southern Etruscan and had played an important role in several key victories.

Camillus didn't care, he looked at Minusius with a slightly worried expression, and then looked at the generals, and said solemnly: "According to the previous information, this Dionian army is led by their king, Davers, who is called the 'undefeated general' by the Greeks, they have just occupied Rome, and their morale is high, and since they are good at attacking cities, I am afraid that the ability to defend cities is not weak, and they may be looking forward to us attacking cities, so as to dampen the morale of our soldiers, so we must be cautious!" But this Ionian army, which occupied our Rome, still had its shortcomings, and its shortcomings were in - Ostia! ”

Camillus said loudly, pointing to the port city on the map: "The reason why the king of Dionya dares to attack Rome alone is because it has the advantage of water, and the ships of Dionya can transport soldiers and supplies to the city of Rome at any time through the Tiber River, they are not afraid of being besieged by us, but if we capture Ostia-"

"Even if we capture Ostia, the mouth of the Tiber is so wide, and the fleet of Dionyas is so strong, it is impossible for us to block the entire river!" Minuccius retorted.

"Of course it can be done! For if a cargo ship wanted to cross the Tiber River to Rome, it had to rely on a slender man unless it encountered a strong easterly wind. The capture of Ostia cut off the source of the Slender Man. If our ally, Kesrela, on the north bank of the Tiber River, were to act, we would have been able to cut off the support of the Dionian ships to Rome, and put the Dionian army in Rome under real siege! Titus clearly understood Camilus' intention in asking for the capture of Ostia.

Minuccius had already approved of Camillus's proposal by this time, but he was still looking for loopholes in the plan: "But...... Since Ostia is so important, I am afraid that the defenses will be strengthened there, and the Dionian army of Rome will send reinforcements......"

Titus smiled: "Ostia is a small city, the walls are only more than three meters high, no matter how strong the Dioonians are to strengthen their defenses, it is impossible to turn it into a dozen meters high like the Roman wall in a short time, it is much easier to attack it than to attack Rome, and the Dionians want reinforcements, which can just weaken their power in the city of Rome." ”

Titus' explanation not only dispelled Minusius' anger, but also relieved some of the doubts of the other generals.

Camillus cast an approving glance at Titus, and then said, "In order to prevent the Dioonians of Rome from discovering our true intentions in a short time, it is best to retake Ostia as soon as possible with fewer casualties, so I have drawn up such a plan-"

Camillus looked around at the crowd, listened to them carefully, and then said: "Tomorrow when our army arrives outside the city of Rome, begins to build camps, blocks the enemy's entry and exit, and occupies the river port outside the city of Rome, Titus you lead an army of 25,000 soldiers of our colony and the citizens of the allies to march quietly and quickly to the west to storm Ostia!" ”

"Yes, Dictator!" Titus knew why Camillus insisted that he was leading the armies of the colonies and allies, because if it was the army of Rome, they were desperate to take their homeland, so they might resist orders, or even if they did, their morale would be low.

The other generals also knew this, and Licinius said with some concern: "Your Excellency, the Dictator, the Dioonians may notice the obvious difference in our numbers and take precautions as soon as possible. ”

"The Dioonians are stuck in the city, they can't see it really, we can disguise the people who are stranded here and place them in the rear of the army to confuse their eyes......," Camillus said unhurriedly.

"I think this plan can be implemented." Titus immediately agreed.

"I agree!" Other generals also expressed their opinions.

"What if the Dioonians find out what's wrong and instead go out of the city to fight us?" The quick-thinking Milucius spotted a loophole and reminded.

"That's exactly what we wanted! Even if the more than 40,000 Roman soldiers are outnumbered by each other, their belief in retaking their homeland will make up for this gap, not to mention that there are still our troops on Capitoline Hill, and the troops led by Titus will also return in time, the Dioonians will inevitably be defeated, and we can easily retake the city of Rome! Licinius said confidently.

Minuccius finally had nothing more to say.

At this time, Camillus looked at him and said, "Tomorrow when we march to Rome, we will also send an envoy to cross the Tiber River and contact the colonial cities on the north bank and the Etrunian allies, so that they can cooperate with us, and this task will be entrusted to you Minuccius." ”

"Me?!" Minuccius was a little surprised, and after he confronted Camillus several times, Camillus also gave him a heavy responsibility.

"You're the best candidate!" Camillus spoke sincerely, without any resentment at all for Milusius scolding him: "I believe you can urge them to send an army and take control of the north bank of the Tiber!" ”

"I'm going to get it done!" Minusius replied with an excited face and a firm tone, after all, as a young citizen who had not served in the military for a few years, he could not lead thousands of troops in the next battle, but he wanted to make a greater contribution to the salvation of Rome, and this task was the most suitable for him.

"Now that everyone has agreed to this plan, let's ...... then," Camillus began to make more detailed arrangements for tomorrow's operation.

………………………………………

The next morning, Davos received news from the scouts that Camillus' army was marching on the city of Rome.

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