Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 124: The contest before the siege

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At the same time, the ballistas of the Dionian legions were pushed to the southwest corner of Rome, two hundred meters away from the city, facing the section that protruded like a dog’s ear. The city walls fired stone bullets.

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

Round after round of bombardment with stone bombs caused the broken wall bricks and stone fragments to "crash" continuously falling down, which also made the city defenders feel uneasy.

Not only the ballista but also the belly bow attacked the city of Rome. The huge iron arrows fired by this kind of bows magnified countless times were not aimed at the city wall, but fell into the slums behind the city wall, causing panic among the Roman people.

But soon the people in the slums found that these iron arrows stuck on the ground and in the houses were tied with several papyrus scrolls. The bold people came forward curiously to untie the papyrus. roll.

The chief of the city guard, Scipio, had a picture sent by the soldiers. He watched it carefully. The paper was filled with words in Latin: Compatriots in Rome, my name is Valquez, and I was a Roman citizen. , Has lived on Mount Raventing since childhood. Eight years ago, because a rogue drove the sheep, gnawed the wheat seedlings in my rented field, and provoked me with verbal provocations, I was angrily wounded. In the end, the court ordered a large fine. I was unable to pay. Under the persecution of the other party, I had to buy a slave to pay off this high debt. Later I found out that this man was a eater of Capules Claudius Sabinus, so I lost. Lose this lawsuit that shouldn't have been lost and become a slave!

All the compatriots living in Rome who have no land like me, and all the compatriots who have a small share of land but were born civilians, are you like me, living in uneasy everyday, very worried about those who own a lot of land? , Many slave aristocrats seek to seize their insignificant share and turn themselves into their slaves, just because they are rich enough they want to get more! We have repeatedly fought against the greed of the nobles and wanted to get a little protection of ourselves, so we have abandoned the city many times, wanting the greedy nobles to realize the importance of our civilians! But to this day, these greedy Roman nobles still control all the power of this city-state, and we are their cattle and sheep, and they may be slaughtered at any time! Compatriots, are you willing? !

Fortunately, Diana, blessed, now the Dionians are here! Although Dionia is a country with a king, its citizens have a lot of power. They own their own land and the law protects it from being looted. No matter what their birth or race they are, as long as they have the ability. Be able to hold a public office, and even eventually become a veteran, even ordinary citizens can report officials who violate the law and discipline, and let them be punished by the law...

The King Dionia promised me that he would turn Rome into a beautiful place like Dionia! My fellow citizens, if you do not want to become slaves, then join the Dionian army to overthrow the rule of these greedy and ugly Roman nobles! "

After reading, there was a chill in Scipio's heart, his hands and feet were cold, he hurriedly ordered: "Quick! Send someone to collect all these papyrus, no one is allowed to hold it!"

When the city guard sent by the Great Scipio rushed to the slum area, they saw some civilians gathering in piles on the side of the street, surrounded by a few literate civilians, listening to them read aloud from the iron arrow The papyrus scroll that came down, whispering to one another.

"I know this Valks. 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... Hey..."

"The Claudius family members are really very bad! They have always been harsh to us civilians! Last month, it was this Capules Claudius Sabinus just The youngest son of the squadron leader only injured my neighbor because of a small incident. He is still unable to 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 Dionians are here, it's better to kill them all!"

"Do you think what the letter says is true? Is it really so good to be a citizen of Dionia?"

……

Just as the civilians were talking about the things these scrolls were telling, the city guards who were executing the command of the chief rushed in and forced to seize the scrolls, which naturally caused conflict.

Fortunately, the veterans headed by Ambustus arrived in time to appease the enraged civilians and criticized the city guards who had almost caused the incident.

At the same time, Ambustus took the papyrus scroll and shouted loudly: "Citizens, this is the conspiracy of the Dionians. They want to use this to separate us so that we can’t stand together. City! Ten years ago, we had conflicts due to internal quarrels and discord. Some people abandon Rome and go away from Victoria’s Ai, which aroused Jupiter’s anger, and the Gauls gave us the most painful punishment!

After the reconstruction of Rome, we have sworn an oath on Capitoline Hill and never make mistakes again! So, don't be fooled by the enemy's rhetoric, and you must not allow the tragedy of the destruction of Rome to repeat itself! ……"

Ambustus’ words quickly extinguished the anger of the Roman people who were constantly gathering.

At this time, someone shouted: "Yes, the civilians who fled from Victoria Ai eventually moved back to Rome, but have the promises made by the Senate have been fulfilled?! We still owe high debts, and we can’t By renting publicly owned land, we cannot hold important positions in the city-state. We hope that among the two consuls elected every year, there must be a request from a commoner, and the Senate simply ignores it!"

Ambustus looked intently, and the speaker was really the guardian Gaius Julius Brutus. He had not explained this yet, and the people roared again: "Guardian The official is right, the Senate is always perfunctory to us. It just wants us to sell our lives and doesn't want to give us any rights at all!"

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

"Whenever promised that we have the same rights as the nobles, we will take up arms and fight against the Dionians!"

……

The protests of the people rushed towards the elders like a tide, making them panic. If in peacetime, they have many ways to deal with such protests, but now they are besieging the city by a large army, and if they are careless, I am afraid that the enemy's offensive has not yet begun, and their own internal chaos will first. So Ambustus and the others hurriedly said: "The Senate will discuss their request immediately. Please rest assured and wait for a reply."

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

However, whether it is to cancel debts or share public land with civilians, it seriously involves the interests of the elders and nobles. Not to mention allowing the civilians to hold important positions in the city, or even the governor, it is a great taboo of the nobles. Therefore, despite the fierce controversy in the Senate, no conclusion has been reached.

………………………………………

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

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

He immediately rushed to the southwest corner of the city wall, standing at the top of the city, looking south, and saw a three-tiered paddle warship lined up with dragons, dragged by slaves and laborers, and the sailors were rowing with all their strength. Under the oars, and upstream along the Tiber River, the foremost warship has already approached the river port...

These very small warships on the vast sea are extremely large on the Tiber River, which is only about 100 meters wide. The 50-meter hull crosses the river and reaches half the width of the river. This makes the city The first many Roman soldiers who had not seen the three-layered oars were very nervous.

What made Scipio even more nervous was that he saw many Dionian soldiers boarding the warship from the river port, and then the warship sailed to the opposite bank to dock, and the Dionian soldiers boarded the opposite bank. River beach...

The Dionians want to attack Rome from the north through the Shiiqiao! Great Scipia's heart was stirred and immediately ordered: "Go and inform Cassius, strengthen the defense against the vertebral bridge, and watch out for the attacks of the Dionians!"

After the soldiers left, Scipio thought that he was still a little worried, and sent 700 more Roman soldiers to Shiiqiao. Of course, most of them were citizens over 50 years old.

Great Scipio was worrying about the north of Rome, and another soldier came to report: Outside the western wall of Rome, a group of Roman slaves and Latin laborers appeared. They were facing the head of the city under the protection of Dionian soldiers. The soldiers shouted.

The content of these slaves and laborers’ propaganda is actually similar to what was written on the Papyrus scrolls. It’s just that these people speak from their own experience, which increases their persuasive power. Moreover, they target not only Roman civilians, but also There are slaves. Because of the lack of military strength in the city, the Roman Senate had to let 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 not affiliated with their gods. Their condition has even infected the people in the city. The Senate’s inability to make a decision also angered them. They rallied and ran to the Senate’s gate. The former protested and even declared: If the Senate does not give them a clear answer, they will open the city gate and welcome the Dionians.

The urgency sent by the chief of the city guard, Scipio, and the people outside the door made the elders panicked like ants on a hot pot.