Chapter 116 The Disaster of Latin Civilians

"The laborers were mostly slaves and Latins, some Etruscans among the sailors, and some Campanians..."

Davos was slightly surprised: "No Romans?"

"There are merchants and some residents in Rome, but due to the short period of time, laborers and sailors in the port have not found any..." Midorades defended.

Hearing this, Davos has a glimmer of hope in his heart, because according to the data collected before, there are not many people living in poverty in Rome, and some even sell themselves as slaves, and the contradiction between them and the nobles is relatively outstanding.

But he thought about it: Ostia is a small city, and there are not many Roman citizens. Perhaps Rome has invaded Volsi and Herniki for more than a year, and gained a lot of land, allowing Rome Civilians have a new place to go...

Thinking of this, Davos asked again: "What about those slaves? Who are they?"

"We have our allies, the Volsci, as well as the Herniki, the Masi, the Equi, the Etruscans... basically all the alien races who were captured by Rome after being defeated, so they welcome us very much. come, and are willing to pull fiber for our warships, because we promised to give them freedom." Midorades said excitedly.

Davos nodded, and then his attention was attracted by the noisy voice in front: it was an open space illuminated by torches, and thousands of people gathered in the center of the open space under the guard of soldiers. It was still early spring in March, and the weather was cooler, but half of these people were still wearing simple linen clothes, and some of them were even naked. It was clear, but from time to time, he looked at the heavily armed soldiers around him uneasily.

Martius led the guards into the clearing first, and their flamboyant attire and neat and vigorous steps immediately caught their attention.

"The King of Dionia, Davos, is here!" Martius called out loudly, and the messenger after him immediately repeated it aloud in Latin.

Suddenly, there was a lot of commotion in the crowd.

But I saw the guards quickly lined up on both sides, and then two tall and strong guards walked into the open space with the kingdom's flag and the golden scepter high. After that, I saw a middle-aged man wearing a golden helmet and golden armor with flying colored feathers on his head, surrounded by a group of Dionysian officials in gorgeous Boltons, walked in unhurriedly.

The noise in the open space suddenly disappeared, people hunched their bodies uneasy, retreated unconsciously, but glanced secretly with some curious eyes, but when Davos's eyes touched them, they froze again. He hurriedly lowered his head like a frightened rabbit.

"I am King Davos of Dionia!" After introducing himself in a simple sentence, Davos said loudly: "For more than ten years, the Romans have been attacking the surrounding races and forces. , plundering land, slaughtering people, and forcibly turning captives into slaves, extremely greedy and bloody! The Volsci people and the Herniki people were worried that they would be wiped out by Rome, so they allied with our Dionia one after another. (Davos had allied with the Herniki before leading his army north).

We sent messengers to negotiate with Rome, hoping that it would stop the invasion of Volsi and Herniki and return its lands. Unexpectedly, the Romans not only did not listen to the persuasion, but instead accelerated their aggression against the territories of these two races. Now the Heniki people have been surrounded by the Romans in the city of Ferentirum, which may be destroyed at any time, while the Volsi The warriors who had been lost in previous invasions against Rome were powerless to stop the next invasion of the Romans.

In order to fear that our Dionysus would stop its aggression, Rome even encouraged its ally Carthage to tear up the peace agreement that Dionysus had been abiding by for many years, and brazenly declared war on Dionia! So——I came here with the army of Dionia to fulfill the covenant, protect Dionia's allies Wolsey and Heniki, and punish those who dared to violate the majesty of Dionia and provoke war. Rome and its allies must be completely defeated! "

The reason why Davos patiently said this to a group of lowly civilians and slaves was to show all the forces and races in the Latinum region and even the surrounding areas why the Dionysian army came here. , and the purpose of coming here.

As soon as several of the messengers spoke his words in Latin, they heard someone in the field shouting: "Kill the Romans! Save Herniki (Wolsi)! We want to be free!  …"

Davos looked up and saw that the group of undressed people were excited, and some people even shed hot tears, and there was an even bigger commotion in the entire open space.

Martius immediately pressed the dagger in his hand, took a step forward, and shouted, "Quiet!" The guards immediately roared in unison.

People were silent again.

Davos looked around them and said sincerely: "The only enemies of Dionia are the Romans, and the Roman city-states that help the Romans fight against us, whoever remains neutral in this war or even helps Dionia The city-state and the people will be regarded by Dionia as a friend and gain the friendship of the Dionias! You—" Davos pointed to the slaves: "You will be released in a few days, in order to ensure your safety. Back to your family, we will provide you with some rations, and if you can help the army during your stay in Ostia, you will also receive some salary incentives."

Davos' words made the slaves smile, and some even saluted Davos with the etiquette of their own clan to express their gratitude, and Davos immediately ignored the humble return salute.

His friendly behavior not only won the favor of the slaves, but also relieved the tension of the laborers.

At this time, Davos said loudly again with a serious expression: "Before I came to Ladium, I thought that only the Romans would destroy the peace of this area, but after I came, I found out that there is an equally terrible demon in the Let the people of this land suffer like living in hell, and that is—"

Davos saw that the workers' attention was drawn to him, and he said aloud, word by word: "Nobles! Nobles of Rome! Nobles of Latin city-states! They are like savage wolves, completely ignoring the friendship of their compatriots, With power and money, they shamelessly robbed the land of the people of their city-state, and then forced the people who lost their land to become their slaves, creating endless wealth for them like cattle and sheep, and finally died of exhaustion in the fields, even reluctant to bury their bones. And those people who did not want to become slaves and serve the nobles were forced to flee the city-state, but wandered around, living in hardships, unable to support their wives and children..."

Davos spoke in a heavy tone, and after listening to the emotional translation of the voice transmitter, the workers were reminded of their own tragic experiences, and some even wept softly.

Seeing this scene, Davos took advantage of the situation and said to a messenger, "What's your name? Where do you come from? What do you live on now?"

The young messenger immediately replied: My name is Adrius, and I was originally a citizen of Gabii in the Latinum region. The Gauls invaded the Latin region more than ten years ago, not only occupied Rome, but also The city of Gabi, not far from Rome, was attacked. When the Gauls were repelled, we returned to our homeland, only to find that the good fields of my home on the banks of the Anno, a tributary of the Tiber River, were occupied by nobles, because the village was destroyed by the Gauls, and the town hall was also destroyed. Therefore, there is no evidence that the field belongs to my family, and the nobleman bought the judge... Not only did we lose the case, but my father was also convicted of false accusation and punished with a cane... My father dragged his unhealthy body with his mother, Me and my brother left Gabi angrily..." When he said this, his eyes were already a little red.

"My God, you are like me, and I am also the land that was occupied after the war!"

"I'm not. I borrowed money from the rich to treat my wife's illness. I thought I would be able to pay off the debt when I sold the grain in the autumn harvest, but I didn't expect him to say that the money could only pay off the interest. It was forcibly robbed by that rich man!"

"You are borrowing usury! Damn aristocrats! Damn rich people! The city-state's senate will only speak for these rich people, where is our way of life!"

...

The story told by the black-haired, dark-eyed Latin speaker quickly resonated with the previously silent Latin laborers.

After reading the information collected from the Latinum area in detail, Davos realized that the fierce conflict between the nobles and the commoners occurred not only in Rome, but also in other Latin city-states, and the situation was even more serious. , civilians are burdened with heavy debts, making it difficult to make ends meet. After all, Rome could obtain more land and slaves through the expansion of force, which could give civilians a chance to breathe, while other city-states not only did not have this condition, but because they rebelled against Rome and were defeated by Rome, they were taken away by Rome. Some of the land was acquired, which made their arable land more tense, and the land contention and annexation became more intense, which was exactly what Davos wanted to see.

"How did you live after that?" a worker couldn't help but asked out loud.

So Adrius pointed to his feet and continued: "My father used to work here, but the port of Ostia was not as busy as it is now, and my father's income was not enough for our family to live. He took the risk of bringing We went to Naples to the south—"

"Oh, that's the Campania region occupied by the Greeks, but their maritime trade is indeed much more prosperous than here!" Someone exclaimed.

"But it didn't take long for my father's old injury to recur and he could barely walk. Through the introduction of a kind person, we supported my father and went to Pompeii, not far from Naples, and asked the priest of the Temple of Hades in the city for help. The old priest not only cured my father for free, but also let our family live in the temple for a period of time and provided food for free, and he also told us that not far south of Pompeii, there is the kingdom of Dionia. A city of Enona, there are not only a lot of job opportunities, but as long as you are willing to become a citizen of Dionia, you can apply to the city hall, and it is easy to get approved, as long as you obey the law and work diligently in that city After working for a few years, you can successfully become a citizen of Dionia and get the land..."