Chapter 802
"But, Your Majesty, your safety …" Olivers said with concern.
The Devers waved his hand and said loudly, "My safety is protected by the guards! Besides, this city has been conquered by our brave soldiers. I don't think there are any Romans here who have the courage to challenge the kingdom! "
None of the senior generals raised any more questions.
The Devers looked at Temosepes again and said kindly, "Hurry up and get your treatment. I hope to hear the news of your meritorious service again soon!"
The Devers then looked at the soldiers standing next to him, waved his hand and said, "Warriors of Diónia, go back to your station and have a good rest. Recover your strength and be ready for the next battle!"
At this moment, Temosepes, who was moved by the Devers' words, could not help but shout, "Long live Your Majesty, the Devers!"
The soldiers around him who heard the Devers' words also shouted excitedly, "Long live Your Majesty, the Devers! … "
Soon, their voices rang throughout the city. The people of Rome who were hiding in their houses were a little frightened when they heard the deafening shouts.
Some of the bolder ones even looked through the windows at the Devers and the others who were walking on the street, their eyes filled with hatred.
The Devers, of course, also saw the gazes that were as sharp as knives, but he did not care. Instead, he looked around leisurely, and from time to time, he would poke the ground with his foot. He clearly felt that the current Rome was still far from the Roman Empire that was famous for its roads, bridges, and buildings in his previous life. After all, Rome had just risen in central Italy. It was far from building a huge road system for the convenience of ruling the whole of Italy. Even the bridge over the Tiber River was not a stone bridge. Moreover, the strength of Diónia in construction had far surpassed that of Rome. This made the Devers feel happy. He could not help but say, "I heard that in order to rebuild the city of Rome quickly, the people of Rome built the whole city very ugly. It seems that the rumor is true."
"Yes, Your Majesty! Not only are the walls of Rome ugly, but the city is also ugly. Originally, this place had rivers, hills, and flat land. If it was properly planned and built, it would have been a very beautiful city, but in the end, it was ruined by the people of Rome! "Heniboris sighed regretfully.
"Now that this city belongs to Diónia, we can demolish it and rebuild it!" said Matonis nonchalantly.
"It seems that you, Matonis, are very interested in rebuilding the city of Rome. After the war is over, you can ask the senate to appoint you as the supervisor of the city of Rome," Dyvers joked.
"No, Your Majesty, I'm not interested in rebuilding Rome. You should give the job to someone else," Martonis said immediately.
Everyone laughed heartily.
The smile on the Devers's face disappeared when he saw the dead body of a Rome citizen at the corner of the street. "Before the siege, I asked the legions not to kill the citizens of the city indiscriminately after conquering the city. How are the soldiers doing?"
Olivers glanced at the Devers's face and said carefully, "We have emphasized it many times, and the soldiers tried not to kill the citizens of the city, but some people didn't know what was good for them and took the initiative to attack us, so there was nothing we could do about it. In fact, the main reason why they were injured and killed was because they ran away in panic after we conquered the city. They pushed and trampled on each other, so there were a lot of casualties in their square … "
The Devers certainly knew that there would be casualties after conquering the enemy's city. Otherwise, how could they intimidate the people of the enemy? He only wanted to warn the legion commanders to restrain their soldiers and not to act recklessly, "The army of Rome is still on their way. The more citizens of Rome we have, the more advantageous it will be for us in the upcoming battle … Have the citizens of Rome returned to their houses?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, some of them are unwilling to leave and are staying in the square. We have no choice but to take some forceful measures!" Matonis said.
Daves nodded. At this time, he had already stepped into the Roman Square. The wide and flat field, which was originally paved with white stone slabs, was now almost red. Pools of blood constantly reflected in Daves' eyes. He frowned as he watched the soldiers cleaning up the square and dragging away the corpses. He then asked, "What are you going to do with these corpses?"
Matonis pointed to the front and said indifferently, "Drag them to the square outside the eastern part of the city and cremate them."
The Devers pondered for a moment and said, "Bring some people from Rome with you when you cremate them. Let them confirm the identity of the deceased and bring the ashes to the relatives of the deceased."
Matonis was stunned. He felt that the matter was a little troublesome. He wanted to argue further, but Olivers stopped him and interrupted, "Alright, Your Majesty. I'll send someone to inform Amyntas who is in charge of this right away."
The Devers and the others went straight to the north and crossed the square. He saw twelve bronze pillars that could be hugged by a person. They were set up at intervals at the edge of the square. He went forward and looked up.
Every bronze pillar was engraved with words. Perhaps it was due to the passage of time and the weathering of wind and rain, the pillars were rusty.
"Your Majesty, what is written on them?" Heniboris asked curiously when he saw the Devers staring at the pillars.
"This is the Law of the Twelve Tables of Rome. It records the laws of the people of Rome. Rome is just like us, Diónia, a country that abides by the law!" The Devers sighed emotionally. He remembered that when he was studying law in his previous life, the Law of the Twelve Tables of Rome was an important foundation to understand the formation of western laws. He did not expect to see the real thing today.
He reached out to touch the cold bronze pillar. His previous life and current life intersected at this moment. He said emotionally, "This is the most precious treasure of the people of Rome!"
Olivers said flatteringly, "It's a pity that this precious treasure of the people of Rome now belongs to us, Diónia!"
Heniboris glanced at the bronze pillars with greedy eyes. Although he did not know Latin, he had decided to buy a Latin slave who could read and copy all the provisions on the pillars.
"Let's go." The Devers led them up the stairs, pushed open the heavy wooden door, and entered the center of power in Rome — the Senate.
"This is the Senate of Rome? It's much smaller than our Grand Council Chamber! "Heniboris looked around and said with slight disdain.
The Devers did not speak, but he was also carefully looking at the building that frequently appeared in literature, history, and movies in his previous life. Compared to the Grand Council Chamber of Turií which could accommodate a thousand people, this circular hall could only accommodate two to three hundred people. Moreover, the indoor facilities were old. It suddenly made him realize that this was no longer the history of his previous life. In this life, the Kingdom of Diónia that he built would replace the position of Rome. The brilliant Caesar and the statesman who built the Roman Empire, Octavian, would no longer exist.
With this thought in mind, he strode to the center of the hall.
The guards had already set up wooden tables and chairs at the place where the Roman senators were giving their speeches. They had also placed a map of the city of Rome.
Matonis and Olivers quickly sat on the wooden chairs.
Not long after, Amyntas, Lizaru, Giogris, Trotiras, Epitenis, Ledes, Kuzius, Tormid, Midolades, Printos, Izam, as well as the chief of all the medical camps, Stesikedas, and the chief of all the engineering camps, Orops, arrived one after another.
"Let's first talk about the losses of each legion in this siege," the Devers glanced at the crowd and said in a deep voice.
After the Devers finished speaking, the faces of the legion commanders turned a little ugly.
After the reports of the legion commanders, it was the Devers' turn to look ugly. The casualties of the army were as high as 5,000, with Legio IV suffering the most casualties, followed by the first and second legions. Unlike in previous battles, 2,000 people had died in battle, and the death rate was much higher than before.
Although the Devers had expected that the casualties of this siege would be relatively high, they did not expect that it would be one-twelfth of the casualties of the army. Almost every legion of the six legions had suffered 1,000 casualties, and this did not include the soldiers who were lightly injured.
The Devers suppressed the shock in their hearts and asked Stesikedas, "What's the situation of these wounded soldiers?"
Stesikedas' expression was solemn. "The situation is very bad! So far, 450 people have died because of ineffective treatment, and there are 232 soldiers with serious burns. It is uncertain whether they can survive these days of fever and infection … There are also more than 1,000 soldiers with serious falls, stab wounds, slash wounds, smash wounds, drowning … It is impossible for them to recover in a short period of time, or even if they recover, they will not be able to live like normal people … "
After listening, the Devers felt depressed and uncomfortable. He knew that the main reason for such a large number of casualties was actually him. If he had not insisted on capturing Rome within a day, the legions would not have continued to attack so fiercely without caring about the sacrifices. But he still could not help but say sternly, "More than 5,000 people! This is usually the population of a small Greek city-state, but it has been crippled in one day of battle! The soldiers trust us and do their best to carry out every order we issue, and we also have to love them and lead them out, so we have to try our best to bring them home in one piece! "
At this point, the Devers slammed the table fiercely. "But some of you fight without using your brains and do not care about the lives of the soldiers. If you continue to fight like this, the entire legion will be destroyed! I want to see how you will face the parents, wives and children of the soldiers who died in the battle when you go back! "
The Devers's sharp eyes swept over the commanders who were sitting, and paused for a moment on Amyntas and Olivers.
Amyntas did not have the help of siege equipment, and did not have the cooperation of his allies to attack. He had delusionally wanted to break through the city wall with his own strength. He had actually invested almost all of his troops and continuously launched fierce attacks on the defenders at the top of the city wall, causing the strongest legion to suffer a lot of losses. ()
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