Chapter 169 Persuasion

"Father, now Rome is changing! Civilians like Licinius, Frius... etc. are not all serving as military officers! The dictator Camillous once said, 'In the future the Senate will be open to Roman civilians!' "

"Hmph, Camillous! He was the one who ordered the arrest of our civilian leader Marcus! Don't believe what the nobles said, we were always deceived by them and gave up fighting at critical moments, and finally what happened to Rome? It hasn't changed either! My son, the Licinius family is a noble among the commoners, and so is Frius. They are closely related to those nobles, and they are not comparable to us. Don't have any extravagant expectations! But now we don't have to. Don't worry about these anymore, because the nobles in the city of Rome have been completely overthrown!"

"What's the meaning?"

"The Dionians announced the cancellation of all our debts! They proclaimed 'fertile lands and comfortable dwellings as long as there were Roman commoners willing to become Dionian citizens'! They also proclaimed 'Anyone who became Dionian Citizens of the Roman commoners can apply for public office in the kingdom, and through political achievements, they will eventually become patriarchs'!  …”

"Father, the Dionians are the enemy! The enemy who has invaded our homeland! Anything they say is a lie, just to deceive us not to resist their aggression!—"

"No, they didn't deceive! They found all the paper rolls and boards that recorded debts in the houses of the nobles in Rome and destroyed them in the square! They imprisoned the families of the nobles together, confiscated their houses and lands, Started to distribute to the Roman commoners who joined Dionia! They also made a Roman commoner who was a slave due to debts as a municipal officer! I also asked someone specifically, there are many elders in the kingdom of Dionia They all come from humble backgrounds, so—"

"Father! It doesn't matter whether what the Dionians do is true or false, it will be useless when we take back the city of Rome! On the contrary, these Romans who benefit from the Dionians will inevitably suffer Serious punishment by the Senate!"

"Recapture the city of Rome? You have to do it! Look at these scars on my body. Although I have not been a squadron commander, I have participated in far more battles than you. I know very well that a war requires To win is not to see which side has more soldiers, more bravery, more obedience to orders, better weapons and armor, right! When the Dionysians attacked the city, although I didn't go to the city to fight, but I fled home with me Our neighbors have learned in detail that the valour of the Dionian soldiers was no worse than that of the Roman citizens, but their armor, weapons and siege equipment far surpassed ours. They conquered the city of Rome, but they could not invade the people in the city, and they were also very disciplined. more than Roman citizens—"

"We have 70,000 troops! Our commander is Camillous! We will definitely take back the city of Rome! Father, don't say any more, hurry up and go to the station with me to rest until we drive out the Dionysians, the family We can reunite!"

"Camilus is better than the victorious King Dionia?! 70,000 men can take down the city of Rome, which is defended by 50,000 people?! Sextus,

You are confused, look at your soldiers, they are very clear! "

After being reminded by his father, Sextus found that some of his subordinates were silent, some were embarrassed, and more were surrounding the old people, asking about the situation at home in the city, with expressions on their faces. Quite excited.

Sextus then remembered that in the squadron he led, there were not many citizens like him who grew up in Rome. Most of them were refugees who only joined Rome in the past ten years. The sense of identity is not strong, and I am afraid I cannot stand such a temptation.

So he loudly reminded the soldiers: "You don't forget that the Dionians are aliens, they don't believe in Jupiter, Juno, Vesta! They still have kings! We can't go to such a person with Rome. A completely different alien country!"

"Rome is a city-state composed of many races, and so is Dionia. It is said that many alien races have become their elders, and their kings have personally worshipped the Temple of Diana, the Temple of Vesta, and even the The gods of our common people, Kellis, Liber, Libera, this shows that Dionia completely allows us to have our own gods! As for they have kings, there is nothing to worry about, don't forget those When the Roman nobles killed Marcus, they charged him with wanting to be a king, but he is a Roman hero who really cares about our civilians! So, it doesn't matter whether there is a king or not, what matters is whether he can treat us more fairly Civilians, let us not worry about debts and become slaves, but get land, power?!" Another old man exclaimed.

The last few words made the soldiers' eyes light up.

"Yeah, it's as if I now have five acres of land south of the river port and on the banks of the Tiber River, which is far more fertile than my original land west of the city of Phedena, and it's much easier to farm." Sextus His father patted his injured leg and said happily: "My family also moved to Palatine Hill, and lived in a large mansion belonging to the Claudius clan, my former creditor, I once knelt down. At the gate of that house, begging them to delay my debt repayment... Hahaha, now I can be the owner of that house!"

"Father, you...you..." Sextus heard this, his eyes darkened.

"Yes, I have applied to become a citizen of Dioria, and I have shared the property of the former Claudius clan. According to the style of their clan, they will definitely regard our family as a mortal enemy. You are still hesitating. What!" The old man shouted suddenly.

"You're crazy! You went to provoke someone from the Claudius clan!!" Sextus responded angrily, but his face was full of fear.

"It's not just your father who provoked the nobles. Many commoners in the city are now stained with the blood of nobles and diners. They used to treat us cruelly. Now it's our turn to take revenge!" Another old man was on the side. said hatefully.

His words were not only echoed by other old people, but even made many soldiers agree.

Sextus became silent.

At this time, his father persuaded again: "Son, the Roman administrator of Turii, Asistes, announced an order today. In two days, the civilians of the whole city of Rome will gather in the square to jointly elect members. The local council of Rome is formed, and its role is to supervise and assist the Roman administrator to govern the city. Any civilian can participate in the registration. I have decided to run for election.

Also... The administrator of Asistes also announced that the city of Rome would be divided into nine districts. Considering that we do not have much administrative experience and do not know much about the laws and systems of the Kingdom of Dionysus, it is necessary to manage each city. The Demo chiefs of a city are temporarily held by officials from the Kingdom of Dionia, but the Demo lieutenants will be selected from Roman civilians. While assisting the chiefs in governing the Roman city, they will also learn from them, so that they will be more important in the future. job title...

An important condition for selecting these Demos lieutenants is to know Greek so that they can communicate better with Dionysian officials. Sextus, you have studied Greek, and I hope you can become the adjutant of Demos in the city of Silio! "

Sextus remained silent.

Not only the old people were watching him, but the soldiers were watching him too, especially the hesitant soldiers who were looking forward to the squadron leader's decision to help them finally make up their minds.

"We... just entered the city of Rome like this, the Dionians really won't suspect us and attack us?" When Sextus finally said this, the old people all smiled, and most of them smiled. The soldiers also sighed in relief.

At the same time, some soldiers reminded worriedly: "Let's go into the city without weapons? If the Dionysians go back on their word, wouldn't we be like lambs walking into the wolf's den!"

These words immediately aroused the anger of the old people: "Idiot! Am I putting my children in danger! You can distrust the Dionians, but how can you distrust your parents!  …"

"Are we going to Rome now?" Sextus interrupted their complaints.

"How is that possible! Our children haven't seen it yet!" some old people protested.

"In order for Dionia to finally defeat the Roman aristocracy, we must let more civilians leave the army led by Camillous and return to Rome to join Dionia, so as to weaken the strength of the Roman aristocracy. , to defend the interests we have just obtained!" Sextus' father reminded loudly.

Now that he had decided to defect from Rome, Sextus had made up his mind to consider the way out for his own people, so he thought for a while before saying to the old people: "You should know that the dictator Camillous has always The security requirements of the camp are very strict. You can't go in. You should go to the civilian camp first. There are also many civilians who are worthy of you to win over. The soldiers and I returned to the camp and quietly told others about the changes in the city of Rome. Your civilian soldiers, including your relatives, of course. After dark, all of us who are willing to leave will break out of the camp to join you and return to Rome together!"

"Okay, just do it!" Sextus' father took the lead in agreeing.

………………………………

During this period of time, he has been worried about the invasion of the Dionian army and the fall of the city of Rome. Coupled with the continuous marching these days, Camillous has not had a good rest. He was exhausted by Davos's tactics. He had a rare good night's sleep, and even dreamed that he had driven away the Dionians and led the army into the city of Rome.

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