Chapter 686
Just as Tapirus was about to leave, an official from Rome finally appeared. He vaguely remembered that the man walking towards him was the senator of Rome called Paulus.
"The senators of Rome are even more difficult to meet than the king of Diónia. They haven't shown up for more than ten days and don't let us out. I thought that Rome was going to imprison us here. I almost couldn't help but want to send someone to Turií for help." As soon as Tapirus saw him, he said sarcastically and threateningly, not caring that the timidity in his words would damage his reputation.
Paulus remained unmoved and said, "Esteemed Dionysian Emissary, you have seen the chaotic situation outside the hotel. We are doing this to protect your lives. In the past ten days, the Senate has been engaged in a heated debate about Diónia's proposal. There has been no clear result, so we didn't inform you. "
"So, there is a result now?" Tapirus raised his eyebrows slightly.
"Yes." Paulus said with a serious expression, "Wolsey and Rome are enemies. When Rome was still weak, the Wolsey had been relying on their strength to constantly invade the land of Rome and kill the people of Rome. The citizens of Rome are determined to eradicate this mortal enemy, Wolsey, in this war. So in an emergency meeting of the citizens, they passed the proposal to continue the war with an overwhelming majority. So I'm sorry …"
Tapirus was not disappointed or shocked. In fact, before leaving Turií, the king of Devers had vaguely expressed his hope that Rome would reject this proposal.
The main task Tapirus shouldered was to go deep into the city of Rome and understand the details of the politics, military, society, and other aspects of the city. Although they were restricted and could not go out, they had already bribed the servants and low-level service staff in this hotel, so they knew a lot of things.
At this moment, Tapirus asked with a faint smile, "It sounds like … you guys even held a citizen meeting?"
"Because the Senate couldn't come to a consensus, we had no choice but to seek help from the General Assembly," Paulus said solemnly.
"Alright, I can only bring your decision back and tell His Majesty the King." Tapirus looked regretful, but in reality, he had long desired to leave this godforsaken place.
"I've really wronged you by making you stay in the hotel all this time! To express our apology, this is a gift from the Senate to you and your entourage on behalf of the citizens of Rome. "Paulus waved his hand, and the accompanying soldiers carried two boxes.
When he opened it, he saw that it was filled to the brim with silver coins, which added up to at least two Talient.
The previous delay was to allow Rome to occupy as much of Volsci's land as possible in order to increase its leverage in negotiations with Diónia. After receiving the explicit support of Carthage yesterday, Rome, who had become more courageous, did not really want to go to war with the Kingdom of Diónia after rejecting the proposal of the Kingdom of Diónia. Even with the help of Carthage, a war with the Kingdom of Diónia would definitely cause some losses to Rome. Therefore, they tried to avoid it as much as possible. Therefore, they used money to bribe the emissaries of Diónia, hoping that they would put in some good words for them.
Tapirus blinked and said, "Thank you." He accepted it without any hesitation.
Of course, he did not want to keep the money for himself, because according to the law enacted the year before last, accepting gifts from foreign countries was a form of bribery. If he was greedy for money, the Ministry of Supervision would probably receive a report from his entourage in the emissary group not long after he returned to Tuliyi, and they would start accusing him. He just wanted to bring back the money from Rome and hand it over to the Ministry of Finance. It was also a small contribution from his trip to Rome.
As for putting in some good words for the Kingdom of Rome, that was impossible! Tapirus would only tell the King of Devers everything he saw and heard in Rome.
For the safety of the Diónia emissary group, the Senate of Rome even arranged for a patrol to escort them to the port of Ostia.
When Tapirus and his entourage walked out of the hotel, countless Roman citizens shouted at them fiercely, "People of Diónia, Rome does not welcome you! Get out of Rome like a dog! "
"Damn people of Rome, how dare you threaten us with war and try to steal our land! Let me tell you, the people of Rome are not afraid of war. We will kill as many as you come! "
…
Not only did they curse, but they also threw things at the Diónia emissary group, but most of them were blocked by the patrol soldiers with long shields.
Cassius, the captain of the patrol, apologized repeatedly, "I'm really sorry, these guys are rude and ignorant, but when it comes to war, they are very brave warriors. I hope you don't mind!"
Was he apologizing? Tapirus' eyes narrowed into slits, and he said faintly, "I heard that there are many rude and ignorant civilians in Rome. When they turn their ferocity against the enemy to the nobles of Rome, I'm afraid you won't feel good either."
Cassius' face darkened when he heard that.
In the afternoon, the Diónia emissary group left the port of Ostia.
… …
The news of the defeat of the Cayutini tribe spread throughout the Samonai region, causing a great shock.
The alliance of the four major tribes of Samonai immediately held an emergency meeting at the request of the Cayutini people to discuss how to deal with the matter.
The meeting was held in Cautium.
"Respected leaders, the people of Diónia violated the covenant and sent their army to ambush the people of Cayutini who went out to plunder in the Campania Plain. Caught off guard, our leader, Segovani, and more than 2,000 warriors were captured, more than 3,000 warriors were killed and injured, and all tribes suffered heavy losses … After the battle, the Cayutini Alliance immediately sent people to negotiate with the people of Diónia in Campania, but they refused to release our captured tribesmen and leaders, and they arrogantly warned us to stop all hostile activities.
Now, the army of Diónia is stationed in Tesala, threatening the territory to the west of Cayutini like a hungry wolf. The tribes living around the towns of Lola, Cesala, and Capua are all afraid of being destroyed, so they have migrated to the mountains. Now the entire Cayutini region is in chaos …
I implore the leaders to work together to stop the invasion of the people of Diónia and avenge the dead people of Cayutini, considering that we are all descendants of Savone! " The leader of another major tribe living in the city of Cautium, Usibique, pleaded with a tearful voice.
"When we entered the city, I think everyone saw the tragedy in Cautium. We can't let the people of Diónia go on like this, or else Cautium's today will be our tomorrow!" The leader of the Caraceni tribe, Controok, stood up angrily.
The Caraceni tribe lived in the middle of the mountains. They were surrounded by the Pentene, Hilpini, and the so-called Samonai branch, the Forentani. They were the smallest in number and territory, but they were also the most courageous, adhering to the ancient traditions of the Samonai.
"I said ten years ago, don't be afraid of the people of Diónia. Even if they kill many of our warriors, we, as the descendants of the Wolf God Savone, will fight them to the end!" Although Controok was over fifty years old, his voice was as loud as a bell. He pointed at the leader of the Pentene tribe, Bartani, "You kneeled to the enemy for the sake of your father and people who were captured, but when your father returned, he committed suicide out of shame. Don't you want revenge?"
"And you —" Controok pointed at the leader of the Hilpini tribe and reprimanded, "In the war ten years ago, your tribe suffered the most casualties, and you even lost large areas of land such as Khosa and Enona. As the leader, you didn't want to avenge them and take back your territory, but instead, you fawned on the enemy like a dog. What happened in the end?! The people of Diónia didn't give you any benefits. Instead, they treacherously alienated the friendly relationship between your tribes, causing the Abenilum to not listen to your orders, and instead become friends with the people of Diónia. This is a disgrace! "
"And you, Cautium!" Controok pointed at Usibik, "If it wasn't for your leader supporting those two idiots to sign the alliance with Diónia, he wouldn't have become a prisoner of the enemy today! Look at the areas like Nuceria. The people there have given up their faith in the great Wolf God and worshipped the gods of the foreign races. This is a betrayal of their ancestors! This is blasphemy! Today's fiasco is Savone's punishment for all of you! "
Reiscoc, Bardani, and Usibik were ashamed by Controok's scolding. Since Controok was the leader of the Samonese tribe for nearly 30 years, he was the oldest and had a lot of prestige in the tribal alliance. Therefore, even if they were dissatisfied, they couldn't refute.
At this time, Rhone, the high priest of the four major Samonese tribes, also said sternly, "The insidious and cunning people of Diónia have sinister intentions against us. Not only do they want to destroy our people, but they also want to replace our great gods with evil gods. They want to destroy our traditions and make us Samonese their slaves! We can't bear it anymore. We must pick up our weapons and fight them to the end! We must drive them out of the mountains, take back our land, and restore our traditional beliefs! "
"It's not enough to drive them out of the mountains. We must give them a heavy blow so that they won't dare to offend us Samonese again!" Controok emphasized again.
"Give Diónia a heavy blow?! Ha, that's easy to say! " The younger Bardani couldn't help but refute, "Do you know how big the Kingdom of Diónia is?! How many people are there?! They can easily organize an army of 100,000 people, but can we gather 40,000 soldiers?! "
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