ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 839 The Choice of Roman Soldiers
This chilled the hearts of many civilian soldiers who had firmly followed Rome. The antagonism and suspicion between the Roman nobles and civilians in the camp became deeper and deeper. Mykelius and the others, who were initially firm in their stance, began to waver now, but they continued to The battle left them with no time to calm down and think about the future.

This morning, the unwilling Roman generals sent several squadrons to search the city of Ostia, hoping to find something.

Mykelius's squadron was assigned to the port.

Mykelius has been to the port of Ostia many times before. The scene of the port being crowded with ships and the docks crowded with people no longer exists. The rows of houses and warehouses have now turned into piles. The burned ruins and the black smoke rising everywhere are crying out about the tragic experience the port suffered last night...

Looking at all this, Michaelius's heart was filled with desolation, and he couldn't help but think of Rome, Victoria, and himself...

"Captain, the dictator told us that as long as we can recapture Ostia, we can force the Dionians to negotiate with us and regain the city of Rome... Now that we have recaptured Ostia, we can really Are you talking to the Dionians?" A Weiai soldier next to him asked doubtfully.

Mykelius could not answer his doubts: the soldiers were not fools. The two sides had been fighting fiercely for these days, and there were many casualties. According to the Romans' past war habits, after gaining an advantage, they would completely conquer their opponents and let them never fight again. Incapable of confronting Rome, would the equally powerful Kingdom of Dionysia easily let Rome go?

"What does it have to do with us whether the Dionians can cease the war? I've had enough of this endless fighting. While Jupiter is still protecting me, I want to leave here and go back to Weiai!" Another A soldier said loudly.

Mykelius glanced at him and said: "As long as the Dionysians still occupy Rome, there will be danger in Viai not far from Rome. We are fighting here for ourselves. Look here -" Mykelius pointed at the ruins of Ostia's port and said worriedly: "We must never let Viai become like this!"

As soon as Michaelius' words came out, everyone suddenly stopped talking and looked up to the northeast, their faces full of worry.

After a while, the soldier who spoke before said softly: "Why don't you... join Dionia, which can not only preserve Weiai, but also increase our wealth..."

The other soldiers still didn't speak, and even Michaelius didn't scold him. They all looked at each other with strange expressions.

At this time, someone from the front shouted loudly: "Look! A ship is coming!"

After entering the city of Ostia in the morning, the soldiers saw nothing but ruins, so many soldiers curiously flocked to the breakwater of the port.

I saw a sailboat sailing far away from the northern coast, turned into the mouth of the Tiber River, and first approached the north bank. It seemed that it saw many Roman soldiers in the port, then turned around and sailed straight towards the port.

"Is it an Etruscan ship?" Many soldiers guessed this. The mouth of the Tiber River is more than 200 meters wide. In addition, there is mist on the river in the early morning, so it is difficult to see clearly. They can only follow the arrival of the ship. Judging the direction, of course they also hope that this is the case in their hearts.

When they saw clearly the pattern of "black hair entwined with double forks" painted on the canvas, the soldiers suddenly became commotion and picked up their weapons one after another.

The sailboat stopped and rolled sideways more than 30 meters away from the breakwater. Several people on board shouted loudly in Latin.

The team led by Michaelius failed to squeeze onto the breakwater, so they couldn't hear what the people on the boat were shouting, but they soon saw a commotion among the soldiers in front, and then the shouting sound rushed into their eardrums: " This is impossible! They are lying, it is impossible that the city of Keslera has also been occupied by the Dionians!"

"You are right. The city of Keslera is built on a mountain and is difficult to capture! Moreover, the main forces of Dionia are concentrated here to fight us. How can there be enough troops to attack Kesrela? Leila, this must be a lie!”

"Such a large Roman city was captured by the Dionians in one day! This already shows the terrifying ability of the Dionians to siege the city. Is Keslera still more difficult to capture than Rome?! What's more, you Everyone has seen it, this ship is coming from the north!"

"So what! The cunning Dionians probably made the ship deliberately go around in a circle to deceive us!"

"Hey, you guys are talking about Keslera, haven't you heard from the people on the ship that Weiai was also captured by them! It took us ten years to capture Weiai, how could the Dionians do it in such a short time? Capture it, so I say the Dionians are deceiving us!”

"If Keslera and Veai fall, our Sutrium will be in danger! No matter what, I must go back and take a look immediately!"

"I'll go back with you!"

……

During the siege battles in the past few days, the Roman army suffered a lot of casualties. Camillus took the opportunity to reorganize the army and mixed the citizens from the colonies with the citizens of the city of Rome in order to command the battle more smoothly. Therefore, a Roman squadrons often included Roman citizens from many places.

Mykelius's team were all citizens from Weiai. When they heard these words, their expressions changed.

"What should I do, Captain?!" The soldiers all looked at Michaelius in panic.

Michaelius was also confused. Although he also felt that the Dionians might be deceiving them, he could not say "leave them alone, stay and continue fighting". He hesitated for a while, thinking in his mind He repeatedly recalled the scene when he saw off his wife and children at home when he went on an expedition. Finally, he suddenly changed his mind and said: "Let's go too! We immediately returned to the camp, picked up our packages, left the army, and rushed back to Weiwei from the upper reaches of the Tiber River. like!"

"What if...what if Weiai is really occupied by the Dionians?!" the soldiers asked with trembling voices.

"That's like...just surrender to the Dionians..." Michaelius squeezed out these words from his mouth in pain.

None of the soldiers objected verbally. On the contrary, the expressions on their faces relaxed.

Not only Michaelius's squad, but also several squads of soldiers were clamoring to rush back to the camp immediately. No matter how much the squadron captain from the city of Rome tried to dissuade or threatened them, they could not stop them.

The previous sailboat had already sailed to the north shore, but did not anchor on the other side because there were too many tidal flats at the mouth of the river. Instead, it moved forward and glided for a while before docking.Dozens of trackers got off the boat and hung ropes on the sailboat. The sailors paddled and the trackers pulled the boat upstream of the Tiber River.

Not long after, ships one after another came from the north, turned into the mouth of the Tiber River, and sailed along the north bank toward the city of Rome in the east.

Seeing this scene, the Roman soldiers who were still staying at the port finally no longer doubted what the Dionians had said before, and ran out of Ostia City and back to the camp. This time, the camp was already boiling...

.............................................

After learning from the doctor that his father had regained consciousness, Lucius immediately opened the tent and walked into the tent.

Camillus was lying on the couch, staring straight at the tent ceiling with his eyes open, not knowing what he was thinking.

Lucius walked quietly to the bed and asked softly with concern: "Father, are you feeling better?!"

"Ahem...I'm fine." Camillus replied weakly with a hoarse voice, and then asked: "Now...how is the situation in the camp?"

"Well... no... nothing serious. The order in the camp is relatively stable." Lucius said perfunctorily.

Camillus turned his head. Although his face was pale, his eyes were still bright: "You are my son, can you hide your words from me...I am lying here...I can hear the noise coming from outside. , it can be seen...it can be seen that something big has happened...tell everything, I can withstand it."

"Father, the doctor said you should pay more attention so that your body can recover! Titus, Quintus, and Aulus are temporarily in charge of the army. Don't worry too much!..." Lucius said softly Counseled.

"I am the dictator of Rome! As long as I am alive...I must be...responsible for all Roman citizens! When I die...I will have time to rest...ahem..." Camillus slapped his hands. Lying on the couch, he spoke loudly and anxiously.

Seeing him coughing repeatedly, Lucius hurriedly said: "Don't be anxious! Don't be anxious! Take a breath first and listen to me tell you slowly... This morning, we sent several Roman squadrons to search for the burned Osti As a result, the soldiers believed the rumors spread by the Dionian ships, saying that both Keslera and Veai City were occupied by the Dionians——"

"Keslera and Veai City were captured?!" Camillus' eyes widened in shock.

"I said this was just a rumor! The walls of Keslera and Weiai are strong and the terrain is dangerous. The main force of Dionia is fighting us again. How could it be possible to capture these two city-states in such a short period of time!" Lu Qi Us said anxiously at this moment: "But those stupid soldiers believed it, and the rumor spread throughout the military camp. As a result, not only Viai, but also the colonial cities on the north bank of the Tiber River, such as Survottum and Xosa, The soldiers also fled the camp one after another, and even the troops of the Etruscan allies asked to leave! Titus and Aulus have urgently led their troops to stop them..."

Camillus never expected that the situation would become so bad when he woke up.In his anxiety, not only could he not think of any good solution, but he also had a splitting headache.He propped up the couch with his hands and tried to get up, but he couldn't muster any strength.

"Hurry!... Call the soldiers to carry me out... out... I'll persuade them!" He was so anxious that he wanted to speak loudly, but the sound he managed to make out was very weak.

(End of this chapter)