Chapter 184 Burning Ostia

But after fighting in the battlefield all his life, he quickly adjusted his mentality, because he knew that the plight of the Roman army now did not allow him to be overly depressed.

Quintus, Frius, Licinius, Aulus, Titus, Servius and other generals have all gathered in the tent.

"Lord Dictator!" Everyone hurriedly bowed respectfully when they saw Camelus staggering into the tent.

"How is the situation in Ostia?" Camelus asked Servius directly without being polite to them.

Today, Servius, who was in charge of preventing the enemy from raiding the city, hurriedly replied: "The Dionians have stationed a lot of soldiers on the top of the city, maybe they saw our troops outside the city, and they didn't dare to go out of the city to destroy ours. Dirt, but they are hurrying to mend the gap in the city wall!"

"So we have to hurry up, reorganize our troops, and launch an attack again!" Camelus was a little anxious when he heard this. He looked at Licinius: "How is the progress of the Tu Lei construction?"

"It must be closed before dark!" Licinius said with certainty: "Thanks to Adi, Antius and Satnicum for sending a large number of people to help us build!"

"Good! Good!..." Camelus repeatedly praised, the solemn expression on his face also stretched a lot: "Licinius, you have done a good job, I thank you on behalf of all the soldiers! As long as we build The earthen barrier can completely surround the city of Ostia. Not only do we not have to worry about the enemy's sneak attack from the city, but we can also send a large number of light infantry, and even like the Dionians, move ballistas up and attack the city from a long distance. And the enemy in the city, provide the greatest help for our heavy infantry's attack and reduce their casualties... The Etruscan allied armies of Kesrela, Walch, and Tarcuna are no longer clamoring for Let's go?"

Camelus' last words were, however, to Titus, who had been sent to appease the Etruscans.

"Lord Dictator, these Etruscans are just talking about it. If you really let them go, do they dare to go alone?!" Titus sneered disdainfully: "There is Dionia's fleet at sea. , only the upper reaches of the Tiber River can pass through and reach the north bank, but with their army of less than 10,000 people, and their courage, without our company, they dared to march alone for seventy or eighty miles, bypassing the Dio The city of Rome, which is heavily defended by Niah?! However, they said that if they were to storm the city of Ostia like this in the next battle, they refused to participate in the battle!"

"Refused to participate in the battle?! Do these Etruscans think they joined our team just to share the spoils?!" Quintus said angrily: "Lord Dictator, the next time you attack the city, Be sure to put them at the top of the attacking team, and I'll see if these Etruscans who we have conquered dare to fight hard!"

"Quintus,

Don't get too excited. Doing so will only completely screw up our relationship with the Etruscans, and it will also affect the perception of us by the Latin Confederate armies. "Olus reminded.

"If we don't do this, why don't we let our soldiers rush to the front?! It is our Roman citizens who have suffered the most casualties these days! So far, nearly 5,000 civilian soldiers have fled the camp and joined the enemy! The rest Thousands of civilian soldiers, can we trust! Now we can really fight no more than 15,000 civilian soldiers, and many noble Roman citizens died heroically in the city with a deep hatred of the Dionians! We will not let the troops of the Etruscans and the Latin allies rise up, even if Ostia is recaptured, I am afraid that the citizens in the city of Rome are almost dead!" Quintus' sad and angry words made everyone in the tent look sad. , fell silent for a while.

"We have recaptured Ostia, are the Dionians really willing...to negotiate with us?" Titus was the first to break the silence, he said hesitantly, "You must know where the Dionians are in Rome. What it does... is to turn our nobles into slaves!"

His words conveyed the doubts and unease in the hearts of the generals, and everyone focused their attention on Camelus.

Camillous did not answer immediately, because the defection of the Roman civilian soldiers and the stubborn defense in Ostia had shaken his confidence and made him unable to answer in the affirmative.

On the contrary, his son Lucius exclaimed: "We can force them to make peace with us only by hurting the Dionians and threatening their safety with our bravery and determination! The Niians are not only fighting against us Rome, but also our allies, the Carthaginians. The Dionysian army lost too much here, so what will they use to fight the Carthaginians?!"

"Don't trust Carthage too much! If they really used all their strength to attack Dionia, how could the Dionias send so many troops to attack us!" When it comes to Carthage, Quintus Full of resentment.

"In addition to taking back Ostia, we have no better way..." Olus sighed, which made the other generals look gloomy.

"Everyone, don't think about it in advance in the future, let's do the things in front of us first." At this time, Camelus said: "Judging from the situation of yesterday's battle, our siege has achieved a great deal. Progress, the soldiers have all broken into the city and engaged in a melee with the Dionysians, which has already given the enemy a lot of pressure and damage. Next, we only need to…”

Camelus detailed some new ideas for the next attack and some improvements to the siege tactics. This is the result of his careful observation and hard thinking over the past few days.

His tone was calm, but there was a power in it that would make everyone calm down and listen carefully.

Seeing that everyone was listening carefully, Camelus glanced at Quintus and emphasized: "In order to ensure the next siege goes smoothly, we must unite our allied armies!  …"

Including Quintus, everyone finally agreed with Camelus' opinion, and discussed and improved the siege plan together.

After sending everyone away, Camelus relaxed a little, and suddenly felt weak. Worrying about the war these days, eating less, sleeping less, and feeling anxious, even a young man's body can't stand it, let alone an old man in his 60s who has to lie down and rest.

He slept past dusk until he was woken up.

"All the sentries at the head of Ostia suddenly disappeared?!" Camelus, who had just woken up, patted his still confused head, thinking about the meaning behind the action of the Dionysians.

At this time, the tabernacle was opened again, and Lucius broke in: "Father, the fire in the city of Ostia!"

"What?!" Camelus was startled, and with the help of his servants, he hurried out of the tent.

The camp was full of soldiers walking out of their tents. They looked at the city of Ostia, which was blazing in the distance, in astonishment. The noise and discussion filled the entire camp.

Seeing this scene, Camelus froze for a moment, then suddenly shouted: "No, the Ostians are fleeing! Hurry up! Hurry up and send troops! Rush into the city, put out the fire, and catch the Dionysians! quick!……"

In the dark, the Roman soldiers were organized and rushed towards the burning city of Ostia.

But they were still too late.

After receiving the "retreat" order from Davos, Telis ordered his officers to contact the cargo ships of the chambers of commerce in the port and the Dionia fleet cruising in the nearby sea, and gradually began to retreat in an orderly manner.

Since most of the evacuations took place in the small port directly facing the sea to the west, the Roman army monitoring the mouth of the Tiber did not notice anything unusual.

Finally, as the Dionian soldiers at the top of the city began to evacuate, Telis had the tarred city and port set on fire.

When Camelus learned that "the army failed to put out the fire, the city and the port of Ostia were burned, but not a single Dionian was seen", he felt suffocated and could not say a word.

He already understood at this time: the Dionysians would rather burn the city than let them occupy it, and have already shown their determination not to compromise!

"Father, what's the matter with you?!" In Lucius' exclamation, he saw Camelus clutching his chest and slowly fell to the ground.

………………………………

Mckelius was a small captain, and although he was a Roman commoner, his home was not in Rome, but in Viais, where he had his own land and family.

In the past few days, the news about "the Dionysians give special treatment to Roman civilians" has spread in the camp, and the civilian soldiers living in the city of Rome began to flee the camp one after another. Although the Roman civilians in the northern colonial city were a little excited, they did not leave. After all, in a colonial city that had only been built for less than ten years, the conflicts between nobles and commoners were not serious, and their lives were not bad. Under such circumstances, abandoning the home country where they have lived for decades, and joining a strange kingdom, it is difficult for them to make such a choice as farmers.

However, they were not rewarded due to their loyalty to Rome, but were hated by the Roman noble soldiers in the camp.

These nobles and diners learned from the news that "their families in Rome were imprisoned, the land was divided among the commoners, the houses were occupied by the commoners, and the wealth of the family was robbed by the commoners (this is a rumor)" , coupled with the constant betrayal of civilians these days... Of course, they have no good feelings for the civilian soldiers still in the camp, and suspicion, ridicule, and abuse are still light. It is not once or twice that during a siege, the blatant use of power, placing civilian soldiers in the most dangerous offensive positions, without allowing them to retreat and provide assistance.