Chapter 61 Situation Change

What Portitus said made Camillous look ashamed.

At this moment, another venerable elder, Ambestus, raised his right fist and said loudly, "I choose Camillous to be the dictator!"

Panthius also immediately spoke: "I also support Camillous as a dictator!"

Paulus followed: "Camillous is my choice!"

...

When the voice of shouting Camillous kept resounding through the venue, Marugineensis, who had always been at odds with Portitus, remained silent.

Under Quintus' envious gaze, Camelos clenched his fists...

In December of the 13th year of the Dionysian Kingdom (that is, 380 BC), the elders reached an agreement: to elect a dictator to lead Rome to fight against the Dionysian Kingdom.

At the next Hundred People's Meeting held in Mars Square, the elders favored Camelus, who was once again elected as a dictator by the meeting, and fully responded to the war with Dionia.

For the next period of time, the northern battlefield became silent.

After the Volsci found that Antium and Sartnicum were heavily guarded, they temporarily stopped retaking the occupied territories by the Romans, considering their own lack of strength and the suggestion of Amyntas. The town's plan, while allowing the soldiers to train with the First Dionian Legion so that they can strengthen cooperation in future battles, began to contact more racial forces that were dissatisfied with the Romans, such as the Herniki, the Horses The Westerners, the Equas, even the Sabines... came against Rome.

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"Under the pressure of 50,000 troops in Rome, the weak Volsci, with the help of the Dionians, actually repelled the Romans!" The news quickly spread throughout central Italy, and indeed made some The forces moved their minds.

So, Tapirus, who was staying in Selsche City, started to get busy.

The news that "the Romans were defeated by the Dionysian-Volsi coalition" also spread to the neighboring Samonay Mountains. Originally dissatisfied with Dionysian's delay in returning the captives, he planned to send envoys to Tuen. After the Kautini senior officials who protested in Liyi knew the news, they immediately died down and quietly observed the situation.

And this news is accompanied by the words of the Romans who questioned the Carthaginian messengers: "If the Carthaginians do not send troops to attack Dionia, Rome will have to sign an armistice with Dionia!" It spread to Carthage and Ibi Leah Peninsula,

Into Margo's ears, he immediately realized that he had to change his strategy and couldn't continue to stalemate with Hanno on the issue of whether to send troops, otherwise once the Romans and Dionia stopped the war, Carthage would If people attack Dionia independently, they will encounter great difficulties. Even with what he knew about the conservative guys in the Senate, they were likely to abandon the declaration of war on Dionysus and re-sign a peace agreement with it.

Therefore, he immediately convened a meeting of family members. After reaching an agreement, he quickly sent a messenger to the Senate of Carthage and asked Pretakuba to express at the meeting that the Iberian colony was willing to send 20,000 troops to obey the Senate. Designated commander in chief.

Hanno, who had regained control of Marco's soft service, was satisfied, but he also knew that the situation at this time did not allow him to delay any longer, so the Senate quickly made a decision to "send a large army to Sicily and attack Dionysus." Sub-Territory" resolution.

The commander-in-chief of the Carthaginian army appointed by the Senate was Monte Ardno. He was a member of the Hanno faction. Over the years, he has been implementing the political concept of "exploiting inland" advocated by Hanno, and has led the army to defeat Numibi many times. The tribes of Asia made great contributions to Carthage's conquest of Numibia. Therefore, Hanno felt more at ease in letting this veteran, who was considered to be an outstanding warrior, serve as the commander-in-chief of the expedition to Sicily.

As a result, the entire city of Carthage, its allies, and the Numibia region under its control all acted, and began to recruit soldiers, gather warships, and prepare baggage...

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At this time, the free city of the Kingdom of Dionia - Lijim's riots that lasted for dozens of days have subsided, and the citizens of the city are holding an important citizens' assembly. The assembly has only one theme - to vote on whether to Lijim is fully incorporated into the Kingdom of Dionia.

The result is obvious: the starving masses voted in favor, the merchants who wished their family's trade would go a step further, the politically more ambitious citizens voted in favor of... Some people strongly opposed it, but the Citizens Assembly voted in favor of this important proposal related to the future development of Lijim,

When Lijim's messenger brought this important news to Turii, Davos was well prepared, and he immediately wrote an enthusiastic letter praising the Lijim people for making the most correct decision and saying A solemn promise: After Lijim truly becomes part of the kingdom, it will continue to maintain prosperity in trade, and its people will receive more rights and better care...

At the same time, under his proposal, the Senate quickly appointed Protesilus as the chief executive of Lijim, with the chief officials of the city, such as Lijim judges, tax collectors, household registration officers, etc., who were appointed at the same time. Going south, the fleet also carried a lot of grain transferred from the granary.

When passing through the port of Lochry, the 7th Legion, who had already been notified, sent a large group of soldiers and boarded the convoy.

The convoy finally reached the port of Lijim, where Alcibiades and Phoebe led a large crowd to meet them.

Protesilus read out King Davos's appointment to him, and none of the people present objected loudly. Instead, they were happy to see the large quantities of grain that the soldiers escorted ashore.

Protesilus also announced another appointment, signed by King Davos and the Senate, electing Alcibiades and Phoebe as senators of the kingdom of Dionysus.

The people of Lijim cheered.

However, the two newly appointed elders could not go to Turii immediately, but wanted to stay temporarily and assist Protesilaus in taking over the affairs of the entire city-state.

With the full assistance of the two of them, a thousand soldiers of the 7th Legion to maintain order, and the political skills honed by Protesilus in the past ten years of administrative experience, the whole process of taking over Lijim is still in progress. relatively stable.

Ten days later, Alcibiades and Feidun received an invitation from the Senate to let them go to Turii to attend this year's Dionysian National Assembly.

By this time, the wounded and the remains of the dead of the I Corps had been returned to Turii.

At this time, the Assembly of the Parliamentarians and Tribunals of the Kingdom of Dionia is about to be held, and the annual Kingdom Football Final will also be held. On January 1, 14th year of the kingdom (that is, 379 BC), in accordance with the traditional customs formed since the establishment of the kingdom, on the first day of the new year, the king, the elders, representatives of members of the local councils of cities across the country, and tribunes Delegates gathered in front of the Temple of Hades on the Sacred Hill.

King Davos, who was the high priest, read the obituary in honor of the heroic spirit aloud.

In the sound of solemn music, the palace guards took steady steps and carried the stele engraved with the names of the soldiers who died in Volsi and Campania into the Hall of Valor. From then on, they would accept Hades' Blessing and the people's admiration, and their heroic spirits will also guard the land that they have defended with their lives.

Because of this, although the relatives of the deceased who also came to pay homage looked sad, few of them cried bitterly. On the contrary, they all had pride and hope in their eyes.

The next day, the same group of representatives of parliamentarians and tribunes sat in the VIP seats of the main stadium of Dionia, watching the lively opening ceremony of the Kingdom Football Final and the first game that followed.

For those MPs from the Downey region who came to Turii for the first time, the boiling scene of more than 50,000 spectators cheering in unison shook their spirits, and the wonderful game scene also attracted their attention...

On the third day, the parliamentary assembly was held.

The meeting place was in the Grand Council Chamber of the Senate. This meeting place, which could accommodate thousands of people, was finally able to fully function and was filled to the brim. In order to ensure that the participants can hear clearly, more than ten sound transmitters were arranged around the podium in the center of the venue.

Of course, according to past practice, all the councilors applauded Lijim for joining the kingdom shortly after the meeting began.

Next, the attention of the participants this time was on two topics - drought and war, so when the Minister of Agriculture Bulcos finished last year's disaster relief in the kingdom and some new agricultural measures to be taken this year After the move, the MPs spoke enthusiastically.

Among them, the words of a Mesapi congressman from Udière represent the voices of many people. This old man also experienced the great drought in southern Italy more than 20 years ago, because the Mesapi people are not as prosperous as the Greeks in maritime trade. , You can buy food everywhere, and you can go to colonize, so he saw with his own eyes that many Messapi people starved to death in front of him, and he has not heard of this drought no less than 20 years ago. There was news of a Mesapi man dying of starvation, so he excitedly praised the kingdom's disaster relief achievements, which resonated with many people.

Of course, some people expressed concern: "Although the drought has ended, the domestic food supply is becoming more and more tense, not to mention that now the war has broken out, can the domestic food last until this year's autumn harvest?"

Note: The Centennial Congress is one of the three major civic assemblies in Rome. At this stage, it is the highest-level civic assembly. The Centuries formed according to property and class can only have one opinion, and according to the status of the Centuries, they are ranked from high to low. When the proposal is supported by more than half of the vote, the vote will be terminated immediately. Often, the 100-member group behind often has no chance to vote, and most of them are composed of civilians.

The other two are the Curia and the Tribs. The Curia is completely only the Roman clan can participate in the people's meeting, and the common people are completely excluded. It has great power during the king's government, and at this stage Power is greatly reduced, but some affairs concerning the nobility are also handled. At this stage, the Tribus People's Association was only a meeting held by the Roman civilians according to the Tribus to which they belonged, and the proposals produced were only valid for the civilians. A hundred years later, it became the main legislature in Rome.