Rome must fall.

Chapter 368: Karsi Penpas changes career
The Roman captives were put in shackles originally prepared for pirates. The pirates fixed them to the ends of the ships and sailed in the waters around Italy in a show of force.

The senators closed their eyes and pretended to be deaf and dumb. Even though the incumbent consul, Antony II, died in battle, they did not take any drastic retaliatory actions against the pirates who humiliated Rome.

This greatly encouraged the pirates' arrogance.

In the second year after Pompey stepped down as consul (68 BC), pirates invaded the port of Ostia, not only looting a large amount of supplies in the port, but also burning the flagship of the Roman consul in the dock.

The port of Ostia is located at the mouth of the Tiber River, only forty-five miles away from Rome. All supplies shipped from the sea to Rome had to be unloaded at this port. The pirates started a fire in the port, burning countless grains shipped from overseas provinces to fill the stomachs of Roman citizens, which immediately caused famine in Rome.

The hungry Roman people rushed into the forum in anger, strongly demanding that the Senate take action and appoint a commander - not a paper tiger like Antony II, but someone who could really solve the problem.

Who was the ideal candidate in the hearts of the people? ... Catullus and Hortensius knew it very well, but that man was already full of glory at a young age. If he continued to control the military power, it might threaten the security of the Republic. Therefore, the conservative senators continued to turn a deaf ear and tried their best to delay the matter.

But Pompey's move to remove Sulla's ban and restore the power of the tribunes while he was consul paid off at this time.

The newly appointed tribune Aulus Gabinius proposed a bill at the Citizens' Assembly: demanding that the Roman hero Pompey be given full authority to fight pirates.

Since the chief senator Catullus strongly called for not appointing "a de facto imperial monarch (referring to Pompey)", Caesar was one of the few senators in the Senate who publicly expressed support for this bill. He also went to the square in person to help the tribunes wave flags and cheer, and used his own personal experience to tell the people: how serious the threat of pirates to the Roman people is!
Caesar's resolute and strong support for Pompey made the senators realize that this radical and flamboyant newcomer to the Senate had unknowingly clung to Pompey's thighs.

At the beginning of 67 BC (the eighth year of the establishment of the Nix), Roman citizens gathered again in the form of a tribal council and enthusiastically passed the bill.

Pompey had access to an unprecedented military force, with five hundred ships and a hundred and twenty thousand men, and he could recruit still more men if necessary.

His command included the entire Mediterranean, all the islands therein, and extended inland for 150 miles...

Rome's military resources had never been so concentrated in the hands of one person, which in itself was a sign of hopelessness in eradicating the pirates. Even Pompey's supporters were somewhat pessimistic about this. They felt that it would take at least three years for Pompey to achieve this goal.

However, after Pompey set his sights on the pirates, he had a clear strategic plan after a long period of careful consideration: he divided the entire Mediterranean into thirteen regions, arranged a fleet in each region, and attacked and expelled any pirate ships found in that region; at the same time, he sent troops to wait near the pirates' bases on land, and when the pirates were defeated in the naval battle and fled back to their nests, he would launch an attack on land and capture them all in one fell swoop...

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In early August, the sun was as hot as fire, baking the earth mercilessly.

Roman warships patrolled back and forth on the Adriatic Sea. Once they discovered a pirate ship, they would pounce from all directions like a pack of wolves until all the people on board were killed.

Even if the pirates sensed the danger in time and luckily escaped to the east coast by boat, the long and narrow east coast belonged to the Roman province of Illyria, and the governor had long received orders from Pompey to have the provincial army patrol the coast in different areas. The pirates who escaped to the shore still could not escape the pursuit of the Romans.

However, the Ardei people living on the other side of the Dinarah Mountains were obviously unaware of the bloody storm on the sea and the shore. In the low hills on the eastern foot of the mountains, there was a huge mine filled with the smell of dust and ore. Thousands of slaves were quietly digging iron ore in the dust...

They were naked, their skin rough and dark from long-term labor, their hands calloused, their nails embedded with dust and stone chips, their hair dishevelled like savages, holding crude iron tools, digging ore with hoes, and each swing seemed unusually heavy...

Teams of warriors from the Ardei tribe, dressed in single clothes and holding spears and light shields, patrolled the entire mine with expressionless faces. Their eyes were as sharp as eagles. Any slave who tried to be lazy or resist would be severely punished. The slaves dared not slack off in front of them. Even if they were tired, they had to work hard.

The entire mine was filled with a depressing atmosphere, with only the heavy breathing of the slaves and the banging of tools echoing...

Not far from the mine are small hills made of iron ore. Under the sunlight, the dark brown iron ore is coated with a faint, textured golden light.

The slaves loaded the iron ore onto carts and transported them one by one to the Kupa River three miles away, where there was a dock built by the Aldi people with more than twenty ships moored.

At this moment, a group of Aldei people were directing slaves to load the brought ore into wooden baskets, and then carry them to the ship one basket at a time... "How long will it take to finish loading?" The Aldei elder Themispros, who was standing on the dock and watching all this, couldn't help but ask.

"Don't worry, we will be able to finish loading it before the sun sets, and it won't delay our departure tomorrow." Karsipenpas said calmly.

At this time, shouts came from a distance: "Father! Father!..."

The familiar voice made Chalsipoppas look up, and he saw a group of people hurriedly coming from the south, led by his eldest son Coblumbodus.

Chalcipompas' heart skipped a beat, and he hurried forward and asked, "Why are you here? Is there anything wrong in the village?"

"Everything is fine at home, except..." Cobron Bodus lowered his voice and replied, "Father, your men at sea came to the village to look for you. They also brought some pirates from other ships. They were anxious to see you. I was also worried that if they waited too long near the village, it would affect the safety of the village, so I quickly brought them here."

Chalcipompas looked behind his son. The people he saw panting were either his pirate subordinates or friends he met at sea...

Finally, his eyes fell on a person: "Onomabaitis, you are so anxious to find me, is there something big happening at sea?"

"Boss, what you warned us about has come true!" Onomabaitis said with lingering fear, "The Romans really sent a huge fleet to the Adriatic Sea to encircle us. Their warships filled the entire sea area, and there were Roman troops on the shore to cooperate with them. I heard that many pirate ships were sunk by them, and many pirates were captured by them...

Fortunately, we listened to your warning before and did not dare to leave our residence during this period. We also sent people to inquire about the situation everywhere. As soon as we found that the situation was not good, we quickly hid on the island.

But we didn't expect that the damn Romans had already known our hiding place and actually used warships to transport soldiers to the island to attack. I quickly led my brothers to swim away from the island, and after getting ashore, we ran desperately into the mountains.

Unexpectedly, the Romans ambushed a cavalry on the shore, and our team was dispersed. Some...some brothers were killed by the Romans, or captured-"

"How many brothers have we lost?!" Karsipenpas's face changed drastically and he asked anxiously.

"About... forty-five people..." Onomabaitis lowered his head and responded in a heavy tone.

Karlsippenpaston felt a sharp pain in his heart. During his time as a pirate, he had accumulated a total of three ships and about 150 men. In one go, he lost one third of his men.

Although most of his pirate subordinates were not members of his tribe, they were still his compatriots. Moreover, they had been sharing life and death and hardships at sea for so many years, and the friendship they had formed was deeper than that of brothers. Therefore, when he heard the news that they were in trouble, he was immediately plunged into grief.

"…We fled into the mountains, but the Romans wanted to pursue us, so we led them through the mountains for two days and made them suffer a lot before they retreated…"

Oenomabaitis continued, "Our settlement on the island was occupied by the Romans, and our ships were also seized by them. After discussion, we decided to come to you.

On the way to your tribe, we met several pirate brothers who escaped from the encirclement of the Roman army. They were willing to follow us to find you—"

"Brother Chalsipompas, you still recognize me, right?!" A burly young man behind Onomabaitis stepped forward and shouted excitedly.

"Of course I recognize you, Agatacus, a warrior from Epirus in the south." Chalsipompus looked at him and said seriously, "We once worked together to intercept several Roman merchant ships. We even drank together! We also drank with your helmsman###...boatswain###..."

Chalcippus listed the names of several other pirate leaders who had followed Agatacus, which made them all feel relieved: since Chalcippus still remembered this friendship, he should not turn them away.

"Captain Chalsipompus, we have all heard from Onomabaitis that you predicted a few months ago that the Romans would launch a large-scale siege against us, and you reminded your men many times..." Agatacus was respectful, with hope in his eyes: "The main reason we came here this time is to ask you, a wise man, for advice. What should we do next?!"

(End of this chapter)