Speaking of this, Publius felt a sense of sorrow. He let out a light breath and said loudly: "So, King Dionia hopes you will surrender!"

The venue suddenly became boiling again, and many veterans stood up angrily and said to Purbrianus, "The Romans would rather die in battle than surrender!" and so on. Of course, some veterans were also talking in a low voice, "Why did even Philipine and Gabi be occupied by the Dionians?!"

"Are the king of Dionia too confident?" Portitus sneered: "Even if what you said just now is true, we have experienced it when the Celtic invasion, and that situation was worse than this time, and we won in the end!"

"The invasion of the Celtics is completely different from the invasion of the Dionia. I believe that although you are trapped on the mountain, you should be able to feel it!" Publius retorted loudly: "The Celtics burned, killed and looted in the Etruscan and Latinum, resulting in all races opposition to them, and their atrocities were punished by the gods, which caused them to be infected with plague, and they were eventually defeated by the united Latins led by Camillus, but now--"

Publius shook his head and pointed his hand at the foot of the mountain outside the gate of the temple: "Not only did the Etruscan city-states form alliances with Dionia, but Latin city-states such as Prinister and Bonne have also surrendered to Dionia one after another, and even the Roman civilians in the city have almost become citizens of the Kingdom of Dionia. In addition to this, the Roman city has completely become a city in Dionia, and you have become isolated people in the Latinum region!——"

"Fake! What you said is false! Dionia is the invader. Etruscan and Latin city-states cannot form an alliance with it. They will only be loyal to Rome!" In a riotous venue, the veteran Lucretius roared hysterically.

Publius turned to look at him, with only pity in his eyes: "I don't need to lie. You can ask Desims and Domigos later. They will tell you the truth. Mei Meng should wake up!"

Portitus, Marugineensis, Ambestus, Scipio and others looked at each other, and the words of Publius confirmed their concerns.

Finally, Portitus coughed lightly and said, "We already know your purpose. We want to discuss this matter. You go out and wait for our decision first."

Publius bowed. When he turned around and walked out of the hall gate, the former colleagues had no past arrogance on their faces, but more of a sense of panic and jealousy, which made him feel indescribable pleasure. He raised his head and stepped out of the hall gate step by step. When leaving the dark apse, he also saw Desims and Domigos being brought into the hall by the guards.

A few hours later, he was led into the apse again, and only Ambustus was left in the apse.

"You have made a decision?" Publius asked directly.

"Sit down and talk, Publius." Ambustus did not answer immediately, but pointed to the seat prepared for him next to him.

Publius was not polite, and sat down, holding his hands in front of his chest: "From my understanding of the Roman Senate, the decision you made must be to refuse to surrender, right?!"

Ambustus looked at him without saying anything.

"I am actually happy to see you not surrender, because you are all a group of selfish, arrogant and cruel people. It is best to die on this mountain!" Publius said sarcastically, and then changed his subject: "But in this mountain, there are also your family and other people, especially the civilians, who are all hungry on the ground and cannot even make a moaning sound. Do you have the heart to let them bury with you? These are thousands of people! Do you really want the Roman nobles to be completely extinct?!"

Ambustus twitched a few times, but he did not respond directly, but said softly: "Publius, Marcus insisted on helping civilians, and almost provoked civil unrest. There was no way for the Senate to make such a decision-making-"

"Facts have proved that Marcus did the right thing. If the Senate had approved his suggestions at that time, the Roman civilians would not have surrendered to Dionia today, and you would not have fallen into the predicament of today!..." Publius loudly vented his dissatisfaction with the Roman Senate that had been holding in his heart over the years.

"Maybe we have made some wrong decisions over the years..." Ambustus sighed, stared at him, and said in a heavy tone: "As one of the oldest clans in Rome, the Manlius clan has lived here for generations. There are many relatives of your family who have married, those who have given you favors, and those you have helped... Do you have the heart to abandon all this, including Jupiter and Juno, who you have believed in since childhood—"

Publius walked up and interrupted him: "What the hell do you want to say?"

Ambustus looked at him with a sincere face and said with a deep expression: "We underestimated the war with the Dionians. We originally thought that even if they seized Rome, as long as Camillus' army returned, we could take Rome back again. So we brought so many people up the mountain, but as you said, the army led by Camillus has been defeated, and the plan to return to Rome is far away, and our food is already very tight... Alas, I believe you have seen the miserable situation of the people when you went up the mountain. In a few days, they... may starve to death on this mountain because they had no food to eat..."

Speaking of this, tears flashed in Ambustus's eyes: "You guessed that, we are not going to surrender, but we hope to allow them to surrender down the mountain so that they will not become food for crows..."

Publius was stunned. Ambustus' request made him feel embarrassed: it was by besieging Mount Capitolin and using the method of cutting off food to force the Romans on the mountain to surrender. Ambustus hoped to arrange most of the people who caused their greatest food consumption down the mountain so that he could continue to persevere. The shrewd King of Dionia would not allow the Roman elders to succeed in their self-wise proposal!

When Ambustus saw Publius silent, he immediately supported the ground with both hands, bent down, and knocked his forehead heavily to the ground.

Publius was startled and hurriedly stood up to avoid: "Ambustus, what are you doing?!"

"Please! Save these your compatriots!" Ambustus begged.

"I... useless, King Davers won't agree!" Publius shook his head vigorously.

Ambustus didn't speak, but kept lying on the ground.

If it were Portitus, Marugine Ensis did this, it would only have a counterproductive effect, but Ambustus had a good relationship with Publius in the past. After a long time, he sighed helplessly and finally responded: "Okay, I will try my best to convince King Davers."

"Thank you, thank you! I thank you for the people on the whole mountain!" Ambstus sat up and said gratefully.

"No need to mention thank you. If you curse me a few words, I will be content." Publius said self-deprecatingly.

Ambustus coughed a few awkwardly.

"But... don't have too much hope. King Dionia is very dissatisfied with the Roman nobles. Now you have made this suggestion again. Even if they are allowed to go down the mountain in the end, there will probably be no good results!" Publius warned.

Ambustus smiled bitterly: "There is hope in life, and we can't ask for more."

Publius was silent.

"By the way, have you ever seen my little daughter and son-in-law in the city? Are they doing well now?!" Ambstus asked anxiously.

"Your son-in-law and daughter were imprisoned in their own house and were not hurt. King Davers seemed to be interested in Storo. He also asked him to meet the captured Minusius yesterday..."

"Minusius was also captured?!" Ambustus was surprised.

"That's why I came to persuade you to surrender, because you have no hope." Publius took the opportunity to persuade you again.

Ambustus didn't speak.

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"This is the condition proposed by those Roman senators?!" Davers looked at Publius without being angry and happy.

"Yes, your majesty." Publius did not dare to contact Davers. He lowered his head and said respectfully: "After I went up the mountain, I patiently persuaded them, and even brought the Roman nobles who were captured in the previous battles, hoping that they could recognize the facts, but they never compromised... I could only bring back their proposals..."

"Thank you for your hard work!" Davers praised, and then said in a plain tone: "It seems that these stubborn Roman veterans are still unwilling to give up."

Publius felt nervous and did not dare to answer the conversation.

Davers walked a few steps in the middle of the Senate venue with his hands on his back, and suddenly asked, "How many Romans are there on the mountain?"

“There are about 6,000 people.”

"6,000 people..." Davers pondered for a while, and asked again: "How many people were guarding Capitolin Mountain after the Celtics captured Rome?"

Publius didn't understand why Davers had this question for a moment, and he answered truthfully: "532 people."

Davers thought for a while, turned to face him, and said decisively: "I promised their request to allow the Romans to go down the mountain, but they could only serve as the kingdom's servants, and there were only 500 people left on the mountain."

Heniporis, who was beside him, heard it and hurriedly persuaded: "Your Majesty, this is the Roman trick! They want to-"
Chapter completed!