Chapter 66 The Gallic Invasion

"Dido is also a little dissatisfied with this, but she said that King Davos wrote a letter to her specially, hoping that she would not prevent Hanno and these people from escaping to the Eastern Mediterranean, otherwise the news of their murder would be sent back to Carthage and let her The Carthaginian nobles panicked, which caused twists and turns in the alliance between Carthage and Dionia... Oh, King Davos, he also promised that even if Hanno and the others fled to Tyre, they could not escape Dionia's Punishment, but not now..."

"What do you mean?!" Hasdruba blinked and asked in surprise, "Could it be that King Davos still wants to declare war on Persia?!"

"It's not impossible." Kisgow apparently also noticed this sentence and analyzed it carefully on the way back, so he said: "East Phoenicia is a vassal of Persia, and they sent their fleets to participate in the Western Mediterranean. The war is actually equivalent to Persia's declaration of war on Dionia, but the two sides have tacitly agreed not to mention this until now. However, at the end of the Western Mediterranean War, Persia once sent messengers to King Dionia to stop The war against Carthage is said to have threatened, and was rejected by King Davos. Davos is a king with a strong character, and he may have been thinking about this..."

"Fight against Persia!..." Hasdruba leaned his body against the back of the chair, with boundless longing in his eyes, he said excitedly: "Dare to fight against the mighty Persia, this is a rising It seems that I also need to do more military exploits here, and in the future, I can lead the army to seek revenge on Hanno in person!"

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In the early morning five days later, in the Diorian barracks in the Florentia territory, the sentries on the top of the city were patrolling.

"Look! There is an enemy situation!" A sentinel shouted with a finger in front of him.

I saw a black smoke rising from the mountains to the north...

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a black smoke rising from the mountains in the northeast, and then the northwest...

In a short period of time, at least six or seven places of black smoke shot into the sky where the sentries could see. They were all built by the sentry towers in the mountains around the barracks. Usually, two strands of smoke could be seen at the same time. Black smoke is hard to come by, and a situation like today has never been seen before.

"Go and inform the legion commander, the Gauls have invaded!" said the patrol officer nervously.

Before long, the alarm bells in the barracks rang.

The soldiers quickly put on their armor, took their weapons, and ran out of the dormitory.

The people in the civilian area also received an emergency notification, and they quickly carried important things and fled to the city of Florentia not far from here.

Surrounded by his subordinates, Hasdruba climbed to the northern front of the city, just in time to see thousands of Gauls gushing out from the mountains and rushing towards the barracks.

It was the first time Hasturruba had seen such a large number of Gauls, but he did not panic, but said calmly: "Immediately notify the entire battalion of soldiers to prepare for defense! At the same time, send a messenger. , inform the troops of the other two military camps to stick to the camp and not to rescue each other!"

"Yes!"

"Immediately send a messenger to Rome, and complain to Asistes, the administrator of the Roman region, saying that the Gauls have invaded Etruria in a big way, and ask him to help!"

"Yes!"

After arranging it all,

Hasdruba looked at the nervous soldiers around him and shouted loudly: "The soldiers of the Frontier Corps all say that the Gauls are terrible, but we have defeated them many times! Don't look at how many they have now, but These natives are not good at sieging cities, and we have strong city defenses and sufficient military rations. As long as we hold on for ten days to half a month, the reinforcements of the kingdom will arrive. At that time, we will cooperate with them to destroy the invading Gauls together. You have made great achievements, and the kingdom may reward you and shorten the period of time for you to become full citizens!"

"Roar! Roar! Roar!..." The soldiers roared excitedly.

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In the evening, a banquet is about to take place at the residence of Clotocatax, the Roman aide-de-camp, to celebrate the prince's promotion to the prefect of Viai.

All the invited guests have arrived, except for one of the most important guests, Asistes, the administrator of the Roman region, has not yet arrived, so the banquet has not yet started.

However, the guests all knew that Asistes was busy with business, and he never attended anyone’s banquet. This time, he promised to come because of Clotokatax’s special status. It is an honor for everyone to come, so the guests are waiting patiently with anticipation.

At the beginning of the feast, Clotokatax was having a pleasant conversation with his brother-in-law, Patroclus.

Since Patroclus took office as the commander of the 14th Army last year, the two families were relatives, but now they live closer together, so there is more contact and the relationship has become closer.

At this moment, someone rushed into the hall and said loudly: "My lords, I just received news that the Gauls have invaded the territory of Etruria, and Lord Asistes ordered you to rush to the area immediately. Executive Office, discuss countermeasures!"

Everyone recognized that this was the secretary of Asisters, and the order he conveyed would not be false.

Clotokatax stood up without hesitation and said, "The Gallic invasion is a big deal, we have to hurry to the Executive Office!"

Then he would say to the servant: "Pack up all the dishes and send them to the Executive Office! Everyone may be busy until late tonight, how can you survive without dinner!"

The servants hurriedly went to work, and the guests followed him out of the mansion, while Quakerlotokatax was thoughtful.

In the back room, Dido was also entertaining the families of the guests, saying that it was celebrating her husband's promotion, but for her, it was also celebrating the big event of "Hano was expelled and Carthage joined the Dionysian League".

After the news of the hall reached the back room, the women all seemed panicked, only Dido seemed calm, and she comforted them loudly: "Ladies, there is nothing to worry about! The Gallic army is far north of Etruria, With our frontier legions at hand; our allies in and around Rome will soon organize a large reinforcement to cross the Tiber to repel the Gallic invasion of Etruria; To the south of us, after the kingdom gets the news, it will send more reinforcements soon, it is impossible for the Gauls to step into the land of the Roman area, you can rest assured!"

Under Dido's comfort, the wives of these officials not only gradually relieved their panic, but also ate happily.

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The Rome Regional Administrative Office is also located in the city of Rome, only two blocks away from the City Hall. When Clotokatax, Patroclus and others entered the conference room, Asisters was fighting against him. officials gave orders.

"You immediately set off and hurried to Sershe, and informed the Volsci people that they would send reinforcements in accordance with the covenant to defend against the invading Gauls with our army!"

"Go to Frontierum at once, and tell the Henicians that the Gauls are here, and let them gather their troops to join them in Rome!"

"You immediately inform the Sabines and ask them to send reinforcements as soon as possible..."

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After receiving the order, one of the officials hurried out of the conference room, and before he could even return home, he acted as a messenger, mounted a horse, brought his entourage, and rushed to his destination in the dark.

When Asisters saw Clotokatax coming in, he said to him sternly: "I'm sorry that your banquet could not be held. Moreover, before the enemy, the manpower in Rome is tight. As a Roman administrative adjutant, this For more than a year, I have basically taken over the main government affairs of the city of Rome, so I have to ask you to suspend your appointment as Wei Ai, help me to manage Rome temporarily, and at the same time take on the important task of providing logistical support for the army!"

After Asisters took office as the administrator of the Roman region, Davos did not remove his position as the former administrator of Rome, and let him continue to serve concurrently. However, Asistes did not get carried away because of his power, but made a decision on the grounds that "I want to manage the administrative affairs of the entire region and I am too busy": Clotokatax gradually takes over the administrative affairs of Rome .

It's just that he never imagined that Davos would transfer Clotokatax to Viai one year later.

"I am willing to listen to your arrangement, Lord Asistes, and contribute my greatest strength to defending against the Gauls and the Roman region!" Clotokatax said firmly.

Asisters expected that Clotokatax would answer like this, and he immediately arranged for the young man to lead a group of officials to count the material reserves in the Roman area in the past few years, and estimate how much food supplies could be drawn for supply. army.

After receiving the mission, Asisters turned and asked Patroclus: "I have sent someone to inform the Latin Allies, Volsi, Herniki, Masi, Equus, Sabine... When the forces allied with us let them send reinforcements to defend against the Gauls together with us, based on past experience, how long do you think it will take them to lead their troops to Rome?"

As the Gallic invasion of the northern Etruscan territory became more and more frequent in the past two years, in order to be prepared, Patroclus organized two military trainings with the allied troops after he came to Rome. Allies are still cooperative.

Patroclus thought for a while, and said, "If the Latins, Volsci, and Herniki are closer to us, the army will arrive sooner and will arrive in four or five days; the Sabines, the Equi , the Masi... The distance is far away, at least eight or nine days. However, now that the Gauls are invading, I think they will speed up the gathering of troops. What is the situation in the north now?"