"Let them laugh at me and slander me, and I will enter Rome with my madness, with my legions, damned Appis, and the bed bugs that surround him, whose end is near."

The day after Cicero's speech, Antony's army arrived at the city of Rome, but Antony, who liked to be simple and rude, did not directly attack the city this time. He estimated the strength of both sides, and the force defending the city was at least four legions, and it was unclear how many recruits Apis had recruited during this time. The city of Rome had strong and tall walls, and for a while, it was impossible to shake the line of defense.

To this end, Anthony let the Navy act first. Ships mobilized from the East and Greece followed Antony all the way north, and now it was time for him to use force. More than 1,200 Roman warships departing from Alexandria and replenishing on the way approached the port of Ostis, and Appis's navy in the harbor tried to meet it.

At the mouth of the Tiber River, thousands of sails set sail, and the waves are rising.

Countless ships huddled together, throwing flints and heavy javelins at each other, soldiers screaming and falling from the deck, the water pouring down the broken gaps of the ships, and Roman and Egyptian ships sank into the water in a sea of smoke and fire.

In the sea where the fighting between the two armies was fiercest, every second, dozens of heavy javelins and artillery swept the sky, with thick flames, sweeping across the hull and deck, the sky was covered in thick smoke, and the pungent smell of tar fuel wafted in the air.

One of Appis's naval warships was besieged by two of Antony's Egyptian warships, the shells pierced the side of the ship, and the sea water poured into the cabin, and many of the crew and oarsmen were swallowed up by the raging waves before they could even flee...... However, the design of the water compartment made it possible for the ship not to sink immediately, however, it also lost the possibility of retreat. For soon two more Roman warships of Antony surrounded them. Throwing cannons and firebolts at the scarred ship......

The Battle of Ostia, which was almost a crushing battle, Apis's navy was less than 20,000 men, three hundred large three-deck sail ships and more than a hundred small sail ships, and in the face of Antony's more than a thousand large sea ships, he was almost powerless.

Originally, Appis's naval fleet was rushing out of the harbor to fight, but when he found that there were too many enemy troops, he was almost about to retreat into the harbor waters. In the end, the commander-in-chief of Antony's navy, Marcus, directly ordered the ships on both sides to advance quickly, cutting off the route of Apis's navy into the harbor, and then hundreds of Roman and Egyptian warships surrounded Apis's navy in the middle to hunt and kill.

Artillery shells rained down.

After whistling by, the hull of the ship smashed out of a terrible hole, in the naval battle, even if you want to surrender, it is impossible, because the distance is so far, no one knows whether you want to surrender or continue to fight, so, everything can only continue to bombard indiscriminately, the water column that soars into the sky continues to rise, mixed with a faint blood, floating on the sea The "corpse" of the Apis naval warship, the wounded or uninjured soldiers floated on the sea, struggling weakly, however, the terrible thing is that they have to struggle not to drown, On the other hand, you have to be careful of arrows and stone projectiles flying overhead.

Many of them jumped into the sea and were fired by arrows, and a large amount of blood gushed out of their wounds, and the sea was noticeably redder than the surrounding sea in the sea area under siege by the navy......

20,000 Roman sailors were besieged and annihilated in a single day, and their corpses were nowhere to be found...... Then, Antony's naval commander marched into the harbor of Ostia with the victorious army. The poor port town changed hands twice in a year, first from Octavian by Apis, and now by Antony. As with Appis's route ideas when he marched into Rome, Antony first used sea power to cut off Rome's river supplies.

Then, besiege the entire city with a large army.

It was a week after the news of the defeat in the naval battle reached Apis's ears, although he had been mentally prepared for it, but when the bad news came, Apis couldn't help but feel heartache, Antony's threat was much stronger than Octavian's back then. His army and navy are too large.

"Brother, for a long time, I have had an idea, how can a person at the bottom of society change his fate?"

"Are you saying that joining the legion is the only way for the people at the bottom to change their class?"

In Rome, when Appis stood anxiously on the tower overlooking the city, little Crassus soon understood what he meant as a brother and friend.

"Yes, I intend to mobilize the freedmen of the city, and citizens alone may not be enough. Some of the citizens of Rome were wealthy enough to risk their lives to fight, and even if Antony, as Cicero put it, a beast and a demon, not all of them were willing to take up arms and fight for their lives. But the freedmen were different, even slaves, who had no property, who did the lowest jobs in the city, who were exploited, who had no savings of their own, and whose army would have expanded much if they had agreed to join the legions. The city of Rome was too big for Antony to besiege the city to the bustle. There are always weak points in the defense, and we can organize the main forces, break through at once, and then go around to the rear of the besieging troops and carry out a surprise attack. Disrupt their formation. Believe me, brother, Antony would never have erected a defensive wall on the periphery of Rome. That would take at least a few months. He doesn't have that much material either. ”

A cool evening breeze whipped across his cheeks, and Appis said thoughtfully.

The city's only supplies were now cut off, Antony had blocked not only the estuary, but also the upper reaches of the river, and the Tiber River could not wait for a foreign ship to pass through the autumn water, so Apis knew that he had to break out as soon as possible, and even though the city had stored a large amount of grain, the daily consumption was enormous. A large area of grain fields and manors outside the city was occupied by Anthony, and for a long time, the supply of materials and grain and grass was one and the other. Moreover, the autumn harvest is just around the corner......

"It's going to be a big battle that will shake the heavens and the earth."

After knowing Appis's plan, little Crassus couldn't help but sigh.

At present, the city of Rome is full of people, not only the citizens of the city are actively preparing for war, but also the towns and provinces of northern Italy are actively preparing for this war. If the previous war against Octavian did not achieve absolute popular support, then this time, Apis completely occupied a favorable position in public opinion. 10