Chapter 124 Contest Before the Siege

At the same time, the ballistas of the various legions of Dionysus were pushed to the southwest corner of the city of Rome, 200 meters away from the city, and lined up, shooting stones at the section of the city wall that protruded like dog ears. bomb.

Dozens of stone bullets bombarded the city wall at the same time, with a terrifying momentum, causing a burst of exclamations from the defenders on the city.

Round after round of stone bombardment, shattered wall bricks and stone flakes continued to fall down, which also made the defenders on the city uneasy.

Not only ballistas but also abdominal bows attacked the city of Rome. This kind of huge iron arrows shot by a bow that was magnified countless times was not aimed at the city wall, but fell into the slums behind the city wall one after another, causing panic among the Roman people.

But soon the people in the slums found that these iron arrows stuck on the ground and on the houses were bound with several papyrus scrolls, and the daring people stepped forward curiously and untied the papyrus scrolls.

Scipio the Great, the chief of the city guard, had a copy sent by the soldiers. He carefully looked at it. The paper was full of words in Latin: My compatriots in Rome, my name is Valques. I was a Roman citizen. Lives on Mount Laventin. Eight years ago, because a rogue drove the sheep, gnawed the wheat seedlings in the fields I rented, and provoked me with verbal provocation, making me angrily wounded, I was sentenced to a large fine by the court, which I was unable to pay. Under the coercion of the other party, I had to buy a slave to pay off this high debt. Later I found out that this person was a diners of Cabreus Claudius Sabinus, so I lost Lose this lawsuit that should not have been lost and become a slave!

All my compatriots who live in Rome and have no land like me, all my compatriots who own a small land but come from commoners, are you like me, living uneasy every day, very worried about those who own a lot of land and a lot of slaves The nobles who took their own insignificant share and turned themselves into their slaves, just because they were already rich enough, they wanted more! We have fought against the greed of the nobles many times and wanted to gain a little right to protect ourselves, so we have abandoned the city many times to let the greedy nobles realize the importance of our commoners! But to this day, these greedy Roman nobles still control all the power in this city-state, and we are their captive cattle and sheep, who may be slaughtered by them at any time! Compatriots, are you willing? !

Fortunately, Diana's blessing, and now the Dionians are here! Although Dionia is a country with a king, its citizens have great power, they own their own land, and the law protects it from plundering, no matter what birth or race they are, as long as they can Able to hold public office, and even eventually become a senator, even ordinary citizens can report officials who violate the law and discipline, so that they can be punished by the law...

King Dionia promised me to make Rome as beautiful as Dionia! My countrymen, if you do not want to become slaves, then join the Dionysian army and overthrow the rule of these greedy and ugly Roman nobles! "

After reading,

The Great Scipio felt a chill in his heart, his hands and feet became cold, and he ordered in a hurry: "Quick! Quickly send someone to confiscate all these papyrus, no one is allowed to hold it!"

When the city guards sent by Scipio the Great rushed to the slum, they saw some civilians gathered in piles on the side of the street, surrounded by a few literate civilians, while listening to them read aloud from the iron arrow. Paper roll, whispering to each other.

"I know this Valkes. He used to live in front of my house. He is a very good person. When he became a slave, he also distributed some of his family's things to everyone... sigh..."

"The people of the Claudius family are really bad! They have always been strict with us civilians! Last month, it was this Cabreus Claudius Sabinus who just entered the middle school. The captain's youngest son injured my neighbor just because of a trivial matter, and he can't go to the ground now!"

"It's not just the Claudius family. Which of these big families in Rome is not bad! According to me, the Dionysians are here, and it's better to kill them all!"

"Do you think it's true what this letter says, that it's so good to be a citizen of Dionia?"

...

Just as the civilians were talking about what these papyrus scrolls were telling, the city guards who carried out the commander's order rushed in and forcibly collected these sand scrolls, which naturally sparked a conflict.

Fortunately, the elders headed by Ambustus who got the news arrived in time to appease the enraged civilians on the spot and criticize the city guards who almost caused the incident.

At the same time, Ambostus held the papyrus scroll and shouted loudly: "Citizens, this is a conspiracy of the Dionians, they want to use this to divide us, so that we can't defend the city together! Ten A few years ago, we had a conflict because of internal quarrels and discord. Some people abandoned Rome and left to maintain love, which made Jupiter angry and made the Gauls give us the most painful punishment!

After rebuilding Rome, we have sworn an oath on Capitoline Hill that we will never make a mistake again! Therefore, don't be fooled by the rhetoric of the enemy, and never let the tragedy of the destruction of Rome repeat itself! …”

The words of Ambestus quickly quenched the anger of the Roman people who were gathering.

But at this time, someone shouted: "Yes, the civilians who fled to Wei'ai finally moved back to Rome, but have the promises made by the Senate been fulfilled?! We still owe a lot of debt, and we can't rent public ownership. We cannot hold important positions in the city-state, and we hope that among the two consuls elected every year, there must be a commoner’s request, and the Senate will simply ignore it!”

Ambustus looked intently, and the person who spoke was really Gaius Julius Brutus, the tribune. He had not explained it yet, and the roar of the people sounded again: "The tribune is right. That's right, the Senate is always perfunctory to us, just wanting us to die, and doesn't want to give us any rights at all!"

"This is the Rome of the aristocracy and the rich, not our Rome! What does it have to do with us if such a Rome is destroyed!"

"Whenever we are promised the same rights as the nobles, we will take up arms and fight against the Dionysians!"

...

The protests from the people rushed towards the elders like a tide, which made them panic. In normal times, they would have many ways to deal with such protests, but now that the army is besieging the city, if one accidentally moves, I am afraid that the enemy's attack will not start, and there will be chaos within themselves. So Ambostus and the others hurriedly said: "The Senate will discuss their request immediately, please calm down and wait for the answer."

With the consent of the people, the elders were able to return to the Senate and an emergency meeting was held.

However, whether it is to cancel debts or share public land with the commoners seriously involves the interests of the elders and the nobles, not to mention that the commoners hold important positions in the city-state or even the consuls, which is a big taboo for the nobles, so the elders Although the debate was fierce in the court, no conclusion has been reached.

……………………………………

At this time, Scipio the Great, who had been busy defending the city of Rome, received another urgent report: Dionia's warship appeared on the Tiber River.

Although he had already considered the possibility of an enemy ship invading the Tiber River after learning that Ostia had fallen, he was still very nervous when the news came.

He immediately rushed to the southwest corner of the city wall, stood at the head of the city, looked south, and saw three-tiered oared warships lined up in long dragons, pulled by slaves and laborers, and under the full force of sailors' oars, Going upstream along the Tiber River, the most front-line warships have already docked at the river port...

These very small warships on the vast sea are extremely huge on the Tiber River with a width of only about 100 meters. The hull of more than 50 meters crosses the river, reaching half of the width of the river, which makes many people in the city still The Roman soldiers, who had never seen a three-deck oar, were very nervous.

What made Scipio the Great even more nervous was that he saw many Dionian soldiers board the warship from the river port, and then the warship sailed to the other side to dock, and the Dionian soldiers boarded the river beach on the other side...

The Dionians want to attack Rome from the north through Shiibashi! The Great Scipio was shocked and immediately ordered: "Go and inform Cassius, strengthen the defense against Shiibashi, and be careful of the attack of the Dionysians!"

After the messengers left, Scipio the Great was still a little uneasy after thinking about it, and sent 700 more Roman soldiers to Shiibashi, of course, most of them were citizens over 50 years old.

Scipio the Great was worried about the north of the city of Rome, and another soldier came to report: outside the western city wall of Rome, a group of Roman slaves and Latin laborers appeared. Under the protection of Dionysian soldiers, they shouted to the soldiers at the front of the city. .

The content of these slaves and laborers' shouting is actually similar to what was written on the papyrus before, but these people said it from their own experience, which is more persuasive, and they are not only aimed at Roman civilians, but also slaves. Because of the lack of troops in the city, the Roman Senate had to let the city-state slaves serve as soldiers and promised to give them freedom after the war. Now these civilians and slave soldiers on the west city wall are a little distracted. Their state has even infected the people in the city, and the Senate's delay in making a decision also angered them. They gathered and ran to the gate of the Senate. The former protested, and even declared: If the Senate does not give them a clear answer, they will go to open the gates of the city and welcome the Dionysians.

The urgent notice sent by the chief of the city guard, the Great Scipio, and the force of the people outside the gate made the elders panic like ants on a hot pot.