Chapter 661
When Camillus learned of the fall of Rome, he was devastated. He gathered the people of Rome who had fled to Adi and formed an army. At the same time, he convinced the people of Adi to join him. Then, he found an opportunity to launch a night attack on the careless Celtic tribes who had come to collect grain. He won a great victory.
The news of his victory quickly spread throughout Latin, and Camillus became famous. The people of Latin, who hated the Celts for their invasion, came to join him, and the people of Rome in Veia also asked to be under his command.
After taking a risk and receiving the appointment of a Rome senator who was still defending the Capitoline Citadel, he became the military dictator. Camillus organized an army that grew larger and larger, and at the same time, attacked the Celts who were collecting grain in various Latin towns.
As time passed, the situation of the Celts became more and more difficult. Because of the lack of grain and the fear of Camillus's army, they did not dare to loot everywhere. Large numbers of corpses were piled up in Rome. No one took care of them and buried them, causing an epidemic. Coupled with the fact that they were not acclimatized to the climate, the Celts fell sick and died in battle. Their morale was extremely low.
King Brennus, who had stayed in Rome for half a year, could not resist the persuasion of many tribal leaders and decided to negotiate peace with the people of Rome. However, the people of Rome who were defending the Capitoline Citadel secretly learned that Camillus was leading a large army to Rome, so they refused to negotiate.
Although Brennus was angry, he could not do anything. However, he was not willing to leave empty-handed. Just as he was hesitating, he heard that Camillus was leading a large army to rescue them. Seeing that the morale of the Celts was low, Brennus did not dare to fight them and was forced to retreat.
However, less than ten miles away from Rome, the Latin allied army led by Camillus caught up and the two sides engaged in a fierce battle.
In the end, the Celts suffered a crushing defeat. Most of them were surrounded and killed by their pursuers. A small number of them scattered and fled in different directions. As a result, the people of the neighboring towns and villages all came out to search for them. Almost all of them were slaughtered, and only Brennus and a few dozen of his trusted aides managed to escape.
This battle dealt a heavy blow to the Celts in the upper reaches of the Po River, and their strength was greatly reduced.
Although the people of Rome suffered losses in the war against the Celts, it alleviated the conflict between the nobles and the commoners. The people who had migrated to Veia returned to Rome and worked together to rebuild the city of Rome. The Senate also enacted laws to reconcile the nobles and commoners. At the same time, they took the time to accept the refugees who had lost their homes in the Latin Alliance and rebuilt the Latin Alliance.
Camillus learned his lesson from the defeat at the Alia River and combined it with his own battle experience. After obtaining the support of the Senate, he reformed the Roman army. At the same time, Rome unexpectedly received the support of a powerful country in the western Mediterranean. Therefore, in the second year after the war with the Celts, Rome began to recover its vitality. It began to attack the surrounding Latin city-states that had left the Latin Alliance and abandoned Rome. After a few years of hard fighting, most of the Latin cities were under its control and the Latin Alliance was rebuilt.
During this period, the Etruscans from the north took advantage of the fact that the Roman army was pinned down in the Latin region and sent out a large army to surround the important Etruscan city-state that Rome had spent many years to conquer. It was now a colonial city of Rome, Veia, and they tried to force it to surrender.
The people of Rome defended the city and refused to surrender. They repelled the enemy's attacks many times and even crossed the river to ask for help.
As soon as the Latin War ended, Camillus led the Roman army to attack the Etruscan army that had surrounded Veia on the north bank of the Taibei River.
The Etruscans had yet to recover their strength after being ravaged by the Celts. On the other hand, the morale of the Roman army was high after Camillus reformed the military system. The two sides clashed several times, and the Roman army was victorious.
After repelling the Etruscan army, the people of Rome did not give up. After learning about the weakness of the Etruscans through the war, they seized the opportunity and continued to attack the Etruscan territory that had been a threat to Rome for hundreds of years.
In just a few years, as the important Etruscan city-states such as Tarchna, Velch, Novi, and Volsii were conquered one after another, Rome had also brought most of the southern part of Etruscan territory under its control.
During this period, the Volsci and Hernici in the southern part of Rome were afraid that the rise of a powerful Rome would threaten the safety of their territory. From time to time, they would gather other forces around Rome to attack the territories of Rome and its allies. This time, the scale of the attack should be the largest in the past decade.
Devers stared at Rome and its colonial cities on the map, as well as the allies that had surrendered to him. It had already covered a large area.
He knew that if Rome was allowed to grow, it would cause a lot of trouble to Diónia. However, for the past ten years, Diónia had been concentrating a lot of manpower and resources to integrate and unify Southern Italy and eastern Sicily. It really did not have the extra power to interfere with Rome in the middle of Italy. To the people of Diónia, that was an unfamiliar area. It would be too much for Diónia to send a large force, and sending a small force would be easy to destroy.
He hoped that this attack from the Volsci could pose a threat to Rome. Unfortunately, his understanding of the history of Rome in his previous life was more from the beginning of the Punic War. He knew very little about the history of the early rise of Rome. The only person he knew was Camillus. After reading the information collected by the intelligence department and combining it with the little knowledge he had learned in his previous life, he realized that Camillus, who was very famous in the Latin region at this time, was the Camillus who was known as the "Father of Rome" in his previous life.
"Where is Camillus now?" he asked immediately.
Aristiras was stunned for a moment and immediately understood that Devers was talking about the person he had asked them to pay attention to. "Previously, Camillus did not serve as the commander of the expedition to Etruria, citing his old age and weak health. He has been staying in the city of Rome, and there is no new news so far. "
"It seems that this time, the people of Rome will let him serve as the commander of the coalition against the Volsci." Devers sighed softly. "Observe the war closely and report to me at any time."
"Yes, Your Majesty," Aristiras replied.
Devers pondered for a moment and remembered something. He hurriedly said to his clerk, Henepolis, "Henri, immediately write a letter to the governors of Catanai, Naxos, Siculi, Herbita, Hera … these cities in Sicily. Ask them to try to persuade the people to sell their surplus food to the City Hall at an appropriate price after the autumn harvest for the people in the southern region … "
"Yes, Your Majesty. I will write the letter immediately and give it to you for review. "Henepolis finished speaking and immediately prepared to write the letter.
Devers looked down at the icon of Rome on the map again and sighed inwardly. This drought really came at the wrong time …
… …
Two days later, Devers received the Delphic priest, Clementine, who had hurried over to the palace.
Devers did not show any joy at Delphi's invitation. On the contrary, he only expressed his gratitude to Delphi politely, but said that unless Delphi openly invited the Kingdom of Diónia to join the Holy Alliance, Diónia would only take action. Otherwise, it would be impossible for Diónia to take the initiative to make an application!
Clementine was stunned. He thought that Diónia would be grateful to Delphi's favor, but he did not expect the Devers to be so cold and arrogant.
In fact, if Clementine had a deeper understanding of the national conditions of Diónia, he would definitely understand why Devers did this.
Because Devers was not only the king of the Kingdom of Diónia, but also the high priest of the Temple of Hades and the descendant of Pluto. How could he proactively worship another god? Even if the two gods controlled different territories, it would still make him feel that he could not explain to the priests and believers of Hades. But if Delphi took the initiative to invite him, Devers would find it easier to accept. On the surface, it was just a question of whether he took the initiative or not, but in fact, it was an important issue that would determine who was the leader of the two gods in Diónia.
Both sides were at a stalemate at this crucial point, and neither could give in.
Clementine had no choice but to change the topic — to invite Diónia to participate in the next Pythian Games, which would be held two years later (in the summer of 379 BC).
Devers thanked Delphi again for the invitation, but reminded him, "Diónia is a kingdom of many races. As long as the Pythian Games allow foreign citizens of Diónia to participate, Diónia will definitely form a team to participate."
This condition was precisely something that Delphi could not agree to on its own. Such an unconventional action would require the approval of the members of the Holy Alliance. Similarly, Delphi, of course, could not risk the wrath of Sparta by openly inviting Diónia to join the Holy Alliance.
Clementine thought that he came with sincerity, but because of the arrogance of the Devers, he got nothing. In the end, he left in anger, and the matter of Diónia joining the Holy Alliance was put on hold.
However, when the angry Clementine returned, he spread the rumor that the king of Diónia was arrogant and rude to Delphi.
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