When he arrived at the city hall, Teris, who had received his subordinates' notification, immediately came out and welcomed Midolades in.

After the two greeted each other a few words, Midolades handed Davers's warrant to Thalis.

When he first obtained Ostia, Davers only announced "give freedom to slaves, as well as several rights such as Latin refugees, slave citizenship and distribution of land...". Now he asked Thalis to implement the decree announced yesterday for Roman civilians and slaves in the Roman Forum in Ostia, and at the same time, he handed over the Roman nobles in Ostia to Midolades to escort the warship.

After reading it, Teris said relaxedly: "It is easier to manage Ostia according to His Majesty's will."

As he said that, he called his men and asked him to immediately escort the detained Roman prisoners and the nobles of the people to the port as required and hand them over to the Third Fleet.

Then he said to Midolades: "Last night, I followed the merchants returning from Rome and talked about the decree announced by His Majesty in the square. I have selected these Roman captives in advance. There are only 178 Roman men from nobles here in Ostia, and there are probably less than a hundred who meet the escort requirements, so you don't need to wait for a long time, and they will be sent onto the ship soon."

"Mr. Teris is really meticulous in doing things! No wonder His Majesty will hand over such an important town to you!" Midolades complimented. He wished he could immediately lead some warships south to Trina and recruit new fleet infantry, so he was of course happy that he could waste less time in Ostia.

"There is still some time before my men finish. Can General Midolades tell me the detailed process of Your Majesty and your army leading your army to conquer the city of Rome?" Teris said with a smile.

"I'm very happy!" Midolades responded simply. He had heard of the anecdotes of this veteran from Sicily. Among the many veterans who became Dionia by relying on political achievements or for some special reasons, this burly middle-aged man was the only one who had been condemned to the military camp of Turiyi for a long time. Through his training performance, he had been promoted from a recruit in the Legion reserve team to the position of captain of the reserve team. With this, he won the respect of many military personnel, including Midolades himself.

Teris said happily: "It's almost time for dinner now, so why don't we drink some wine. I'll ask the chef to make a few more dishes and let's talk while drinking."

When Midolades thought that he immediately led the team south, and had already left the battlefield, so he did not refuse.

When the two were talking very well, the guard officer at the door broke in and said anxiously: "Master Tellis, the scout cavalry outside the city came to report urgently and found that a Roman army was marching quickly towards Ostia, with a large number of people, more than 20,000!"

Midolades was shocked.

Teris was also surprised, but he quickly laughed and said, "The Romans came just right! Are you worried about not having the chance to go to the battlefield? Now that the military achievements are delivered, it depends on whether you have the ability to get them! Ksisas, are you afraid?"

The team official immediately replied loudly: "Sir, my brothers and I wish the Romans would attack Ostia now so that they could taste our power!"

"You immediately inform the three captains, and now let the soldiers start eating, and then lead the brigade to their respective defensive positions according to the previous training."

"See the order, sir!" Ksisas immediately turned around and left.

Immediately afterwards, Teris called his subordinate Luke Delius.

This was also a Latino Dionysian citizen from Enona. Daphste stayed and gave the speechless Tyris the translator. However, Tyris boldly gave him the position of his clerk, and made suggestions when he was managing the town himself. At the same time, he also gave him the position of adjutant in the new brigade, responsible for organizing and training 1,230 Ostian slaves and Latin refugees who applied to join the Dionysian citizens. Before that, he was just an ordinary citizen of Enona and an ordinary soldier in the reserve team. He suddenly got this important task and naturally worked very hard.

Now, Teris ordered him to assist the captain, and after dinner, the soldiers of the newly established brigade were gathered together as a city defense reserve, ready to enter the battle at any time.

After arranging these, Teres said apologetically to Midolades: "The damn Romans interrupted your wonderful story. It seems that you and I can only continue to drink this can of wine after I defeat them and return from Cilitun."

"It's my turn to listen to your words about how to repel the Romans." Midolades smiled, and then suggested with a serious expression: "When I was in Rome, the Roman army outside the city was busy building camps, and there was no need to attack the city immediately. Unexpectedly, they quietly sent troops to raid Ostia. Lord Teris, you must be vigilant. It is obvious that the enemy is prepared, because Ostia is too important to our army in Rome!"

After hearing this, Teris nodded with a serious expression and asked, "General Midoradez, has the Roman army surrounded the city of Rome? Can I send a messenger to enter the city of Rome smoothly?"

Midolades shook his head: "When I left, the Roman army was already camping outside the city, and there was no enemy in the east, but it would be difficult to get around!"

"It seems that the waterway is safe..." Tenis pondered and said, "General Midoradez, can I ask you to send a clutch to Rome immediately and tell His Majesty the enemy here?"

"This is my duty!" Midolades responded very simply, and he also reminded: "It will take at least half a day from here to Rome through the Tiber River, and it takes longer to advance in the dark, because there are certain dangers in both fibre pulling and sailing. Therefore, your Majesty will not receive information about Ostia's attack until tomorrow. When the reinforcements are sent, at least not tomorrow will arrive at noon. You must be prepared."

Midolades paused for a moment, and saw that Teris was in thought, and suggested: "I hope you can make room in the port. I will let some warships berth at the port, so that the sailors can go ashore to assist you in the battle to make up for the shortage of defenders, but you have to provide them with weapons and equipment."

Teris was both surprised and grateful, and expressed his gratitude repeatedly, saying: "General, you don't have to worry about weapons and equipment. We defeated the Romans here before. In addition to some of the spoils collected from the battlefield were sold to merchants, some of them were piled in the warehouse, enough to equip six or seven thousand people."

"Then I'll be relieved." Midolades said that the sailors in the fleet he was under were not fleet infantry, and they usually conduct sea training and are not good at land combat. However, they are young and middle-aged people after all, so there is still no problem in defending cities.

The reason why Midolades offered so proactively: on the one hand, as a senior general present, he left without any help when Ostia faced war. Once Ostia fell, he would inevitably be impeached by the escort officer of the Ministry of Military Affairs and criticized by his colleagues; another reason was that he had discovered the importance of Ostia to the Third Fleet. If a military port could be established here, the Third Fleet's control over the southern coast of Italy could extend to the Etruscan region. Therefore, he hoped that with the approval of King Davers in the future, he could also get the active cooperation of Chief Executive Ostia, so it is important to win the favor of Teris.

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Just as the city of Ostia was preparing for defense, the Roman army led by Titus set off from Prinister at dawn, passed through the city of Rome, then passed through Lake Alba, then turned northwest, and marched for nearly 90 miles. Finally, at dusk, it arrived at its final destination, Ostia.

Titus immediately ordered the soldiers to eat rations, then put on his armor, picked up his weapons, and prepared to attack the city.

While the soldiers were resting, he ordered the crossbows troops to push the remaining nearly 20 crossbows into the formation and bombard the thin city walls less than four meters high in Ostiana.

The soldiers of the Dionia reserve who were originally extremely excited because they were finally able to participate in the battle watched the Roman army winding from a distance like a dragon, and could not see the tail at first sight to reach the city, and then divided hundreds of troops and gradually surrounded Ostia. They not only began to feel nervous, but even a little afraid.

Teris, who was also the commander of Ostia's army, also stood at the top of the city, staring at the dark enemy under the city, feeling a little nervous. This was the first time he had been in actual combat in person, but in the past few days, he repeatedly urged the soldiers to strictly arrange their defenses and arrangements according to what they had learned in the past training in the barracks. He believed that this could completely block the enemy's attack.

"Sir Tenis, look, the enemy's crossbow!"

Without reminding his subordinates, Teris could see more than a dozen crossbows pushed to the front of the formation by the Romans, and he was not panicked at all.

In the more than ten years after the Southern Italian War, the Military Affairs Department of Dionys had already developed the use of the crossbows and belly bows that were originally used for siege to defend the city. For this reason, they asked the engineers to reduce the shape of the crossbows, reduce its weight, and improve the launch method (the crossbows on the city fire downward, so the stone bullets are easy to slip away). Under the guidance of Davers, a new fortress that can fully exert the power of the crossbows' belly bow was also developed based on this.

After capturing Ostia, considering its importance, Davers shed a cross of defensive crossbows and five arches, and Teris placed them on the top of the city.

There was a crossbow on the aisle not far from Teris. Because the time was too short to transform the city wall, there was a large wooden board under the crossbow so that its cannon body could be higher than the battlements. There were several boxes of stone bullets next to it. Two soldiers were responsible, one was the crossbow gunner in charge of firing, and the other was the sightseeing hand responsible for reporting parameters.
Chapter completed!