Why is this? The reason is very simple. The Romans led by Roman elders and nobles retreated to Mount Capitolin. Although the army of Dionys only blocked it and did not attack it, they often sent people to shout at the mountain, such as "Your army expedition to Helniki sneaked into the city of Rome and was repelled... Kesrera and Vière have been captured... The Roman army led by Camillus was defeated in Ostia..."

At the beginning, only a few Latin people were shouting, but later, many Roman civilians familiar to the people on the mountain joined the team. They would add some other content to the shouting: for example, "We have lived in a comfortable residence that originally belonged to you... We have the land that originally belonged to you..."

Although the elders repeatedly avoided the distance: "These are lies, the tricks of the Dionians, who want to create chaos among us!"

However, when the people on the mountain listened to the shouting at the foot of the mountain, they could also look out for the many people in Roman civilian costumes in the square during the day and had a seemingly friendly conversation with the soldiers of the Daonian helmets and black armor, and then left one by one with big bags of things (in fact, Roman civilians applied to become Daonian citizens and went to the square to receive the rationed food every day). They would inevitably be suspicious. In addition to the dilemma on the mountain, some chaos occurred.

Therefore, the elders finally ordered the cliff that could clearly see the square.

In the darkly lit back hall of the Jupiter Temple, hundreds of Roman veterans who had just looked at the square on the top of the cliff were sitting around with solemn expressions, and the atmosphere seemed a little depressing.

"Cough! Cough!..." Portitus's coughing sound was particularly clear in this quiet space, attracting everyone to focus their attention on him, but he really just coughed because of his weakness and did not have the desire to speak first.

After a while, Ambstos, the manager of Capitolin Mountain, who was temporarily appointed by the Senate, broke the silence: "Dear elders and newcomers, I want to remind you that although the people cannot see the situation in the square today, they can hear the shouts in the square. I think this will cause great trouble to them again, so I hope that everyone will take good care of their families and diners after they go back! Scipio, you must also be vigilant and let the soldiers pay attention to maintaining order!"

"I have sent more soldiers, so don't worry." Sepio responded.

"Hey!" Apuleus suddenly shouted, and seeing everyone looking at him in surprise, he stood up and shouted loudly: "We have been going up the mountain for almost ten days! Ten days! Why haven't we seen our army attack the city?! Is it true that Camillus' army has been defeated by the Ionians as the Dionians said?!"

When many veterans heard this, they unconsciously shook their bodies. This was the issue they were most afraid of mentioning.

"Ahem... There is a 70,000 army outside the city, and Camillus is the commander, and there are so many Latin allies and colonial cities that can support it. How could it be that it will suffer a crushing defeat!" Portitus tried to comfort everyone.

Since going up the mountain, in order to unite against the enemy, Apuleus has been warned by Marugineensis, "Don't randomly criticize the dictator in danger and trigger unnecessary panic." But the long-term pressure finally caused Apuleus to burst out again: "If Camillus' army did not fail, then where were they?! Could it be that they had escaped, right?!"

Marugine Encis immediately shouted: "Don't talk nonsense! Don't believe what the enemy said, the rumor that our army was defeated in Ostia, but this rumor also told us a piece of news that Camillus might be leading the army to attack Ostia!"

The elders, led by Portitus, Marugineensis, and Scipio, who had rich experience in war, certainly made reasonable speculations on the reason why Camillus had not siege for a long time. Many elders had accepted this explanation before.

But at this moment, Apulius was still relentless: "Why do you attack Ostia instead of attacking Rome directly?! Did Camillus be confused and thought that we Romans all lived in the small town of Ostia?!"

"Roman city is high and thick, and with heavy troops, it is better to attack Ostia than Ostia. Camillus is likely to want to attack Ostia, consume the troops of the Dionians, block them inland, force them to leave the city to fight a decisive battle, or choose to fight...Aprius, I have explained these words once yesterday, don't let me say them a second time!" Marugineensis looked directly at Aprius with sharp eyes. The person who supported him suddenly began to become a little disobedient, which made his eyes full of anger.

Apuleus was tactful and stopped talking.

However, some people raised doubts: "Camilus' attack on Ostia may be the right strategy, but we all heard what the enemy said, 'Vie and Kesrera have been captured by them'. Yesterday they also said, 'Survotum and Khosa surrendered to them, and even our allies, the Etruria, formed an alliance with them'... If these are true, even if Ostia is taken back, it will not work."

These words immediately caused whispers from the elders.

When Marugine Encis saw that the person who spoke was Lucretius, he secretly hated this old guy and put a topic that everyone was very worried about publicly. Was he dizzy? But he was still afraid of an old man who had been in the Senate for decades, so he said perfunctorily: "I said that these are all lies of the enemy, and we don't need to believe it."

"Why don't you send someone to sneak down the mountain to investigate? Just like Pantius back then! If we can be sure that these are the lies of the enemy, we and the people will feel at ease."

Marugine Encis finally couldn't help it and said angrily: "Luclitus, you are sleeping every day except worshiping Jupiter. Have you ever attended meetings seriously and participated in any matters?! Scipio told him, what have we done?!"

"So far, we have sent five warriors to dive down the mountain to find out the news, but we have not returned yet." Scipio said solemnly: "When the Celtics occupied Rome, their discipline was relaxed and the blockade of Capitolin was not tight. The Dionians... Just look at the camps they built at the foot of the mountain, and it is very difficult to sneak past secretly."

"Okay, as the dictator of Rome, Camillus will do his best to fight back the Dionians, just like he defeated the Celtics back then!" In order to avoid Lucretius's embarrassment and causing an argument, Ambustus interrupted: "Let's just pay attention to important issues related to us first! Our food is only enough for 20 days. If Camillus fails to regain Rome within 20 days, we will be hungry.

There is also drinking water. Although there is a small spring on the mountainside not far from the Juno Temple, it is not enough for more than 5,000 people to drink. Fortunately, the rainy season has just passed, and there have been a few rains in the past ten days, and a lot of water has been stored in the temples. However, if it does not rain for five or six days in a row, it will become very difficult for everyone to drink enough water...

There is also the disease. We rushed up the mountain without bringing many herbs. The people were crowded on the mountain, unable to eat or sleep well, and in a bad mood, some people became sick and could not get well treated and could not recover..."

Ambustus's words made the elders' expressions even more worried.

"Oh!" Portitus sighed: "I remember when the Celtic invaded, there were only a few hundred people when we retreated here, but now the number is more than ten times that of that time, and naturally consumes much more materials..."

"Are we going to drive too many people down from Capitolin Mountain?!" asked an old man anxiously.

These words caused an uproar in the temple.

Ambustus quickly said, "We don't need to do this! I mean... we must strictly control the consumption of food and water, and prevent the occurrence of epidemics, so that we can hold on the mountain for a longer time, and stick to it until Camillus leads the soldiers to repel the Dionians and regain Rome..."

Before the elders began to discuss, a man stood up in the crowd and said loudly: "Dear elders and newcomers, I have doubts about whether Camillus can retake Rome! You have seen the triumphal movement of the Dionians just now. So many Roman civilians have joined their triumphal celebrations. What does this mean?! The civilians of Rome are betraying us and supporting the invading Dionians! With the support of those civilians, the Dionians have more soldiers to defend against Rome, and Camillus can still-"

"Nonsense!" Marugine Ensis shouted loudly and glared fiercely at the person who was talking: "Aprius, are you crazy?!"

Apuleus also made his promise at this moment: "I'm not crazy, my mind is very clear, you are also very clear, but they are all escaping! When Rome was lost, there were so many people trapped in the city. In the first few days, we could still see and hear fighting sounds in the city on the mountain, and even fires and smoke... But now! How many days have we not heard the fighting sounds, but the square is getting more and more lively. I'm afraid the Dionians have been completely-"

"Guard! Guard! Take him down for me and lock him up!" Marugine Encis yelled in anger.

Scipio hesitated for a moment. After all, this violated the regulations of the Senate. But seeing that many respected veterans such as Portitus, Ambustus, Lucretius and others were nodding, he immediately called the guards.
Chapter completed!