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The following day, the noise outside the hill woke Tapirus up.

After putting on his clothes, Tapirus stood in front of the window. When he looked down, he saw hundreds of Romans gathered in front of the inn, waving their fist and shouting angrily. They even began trying to break through the barrier of guards to rush towards the inn.

“What are they shouting about?” Tapirus asked his interpreter.

“Those Romans are swearing at us!” The interpreter stammered as he angrily said, “They told us to leave Rome…saying we Theonians have no right to interfere in their matters…and also say that they do not fear us and would beat us if we dare to send our army!…”

Tapirus knew the translator didn’t translate it precisely as these angry Romans couldn’t speak so eloquently. Still, he didn’t care much about it, as there was a famous saying in Theonia, “Dogs that bark fiercely doesn’t bite.”

Even though the number of people is increasing, Tapirus remain undaunted. On the contrary, he hoped they would rush in and injure one or two of the envoys, worsening this diplomatic situation and giving Tapirus more edge in negotiating with Rome.

Unfortunately, Tapirus’ wish was doomed to fail.

The heavily armed Roman guards arrived soon to disperse these people, with a few physical altercations between both sides.

Then the guard captain Titus Cassius’ expression turned unpleasant when he saw Tapirus and threateningly said, “Theonians, this is what you get for demanding a truce! Since the Roman citizens wouldn’t get their land because of the truce, they would take out their anger on you. This is just the beginning, and I can’t guarantee that the guards will arrive on time every time.”

Hearing the interpreter’s translation, Tapirus pointed at the Romans shouting angrily and unwilling to leave, and said with a sneer, “Is that so? So why are they cursing, ‘Damn nobles, we will never allow you to take advantage of this matter to cancel the land you promised to distribute to us and turn it into public property!…’”

Cassius became speechless that he even ignored the Theonian envoy in front of him as he angrily shouted, “Damn plebeians!”

Then, with an ashen expression, he warned the delegates, “Seeing the anger of the Romans against you, I hope you would stay in the inn and don’t go out. If something were to happen, it would not be our responsibility!”

After saying that, Cassius sent more guards in front of the inn to protect the delegates’ safety before leaving.

‘Nobles and Plebeians?’… Tapirus stared at Cassius’ figure and pondered deeply…

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Rome could easily inform Carthage about the Theonian delegates through the special Carthaginian envoy stationed in the city after the two sides established a closer military alliance two years ago. Besides being the contact person of the Roman Senate and dispatching the support Carthage gave to Rome, he was here to strengthen the trade between Carthage and Rome and to monopolise the sale of certain goods. And it was also because of Carthage’s full support that Rome could maintain its absolute advantage in the battles against neighbouring powers, allowing them to recover their strength quickly and far exceeding the expansion of Rome in Davos’ previous life.

Archiega, the Carthaginian envoy, was shocked after learning about the arrival of the Theonian delegates from Paulus. And his first thought was about how the Theonians wiped out the Sikeloi tribe of the Tanikians in Sicily two years ago, which Carthage covertly supported. And now they are aiming at Rome, which Carthage supported in the north of Italia!

Seeing Archiega pondering deeply, Paulus asked cautiously, “The Theonians are urging us to give our answer, so we want to know what Carthage’s opinion is.”

“You shouldn’t respond to them for now. We should first send someone to inform the Carthaginian Senate first!” Archiega said cautiously.

“Esteemed Archiega!” Paulus stepped forward, lowered his head and asked respectfully, “If…I mean, if Rome and Theonia’s negotiation turned worse and led to a conflict…will Carthage support Rome?!”

Archiega immediately looked at Paulus for a moment. As a member of Hanno’s faction, he knew well of Hanno’s conservativeness, so he cautiously said, “This is a very important question that only the Senate could decide! Carthage and Theonia remained friendly for more than a decade. Moreover, we had just renewed our friendship treaty, so making this decision is more difficult! However…” Archiega showed a trace of fierceness, “Personally, I would like to support Rome and teach the arrogant Theonians a lesson!”

. . . . . . . . . . . .

By the time the Roman messenger managed to inform Camillus, Camillus was already on his way back to Rome with his army.

After learning that Rome was leading an army to attack, the people of Tusculum didn’t resist. On the contrary, they opened their gate to welcome the Romans, saying they had no intention to rebel.

Seeing the people of Tusculum’s loyalty, the magnanimous Camillus didn’t let the army enter the city. Instead, he led the army back after the Tusculum leaders swore to the gods.

Thus Camillus was surprised to hear the news from the messenger while on their way back. Although he is already a famous victorious general of Rome in central Italia, he doesn’t know much about Theonia, only knowing that Theonia occupied the whole of south Italia and was powerful.

Because the rise of Theonia was too short and Rome was in turmoil during that time, and with Camillus spending most of his time on the battlefield, how can he spare time to learn about the kingdom of Theonia far to the south?

Another plebeian-born military tribune, Lucius, knew even less about Theonia. But due to his youth and recklessness, he discontentedly said, “The Senate is too cautious. They should’ve refused the Theonian envoy’s unreasonable request! If Theonia truly dares to send an army to Latium, we will crush them completely and let them know the might of our Rome!”

“Don’t trouble yourself about it too much; just let the Senate decide on this matter,” warned Camillus. He continued, “What we need to worry about now is how to attack Volsci.”

After hearing him say that, Lucius no longer made any further comments. With his failure in the previous battle, he wouldn’t have escaped the Senate’s criticism if Camillus hadn’t saved him. Yet even with his failure, Camillus still chose him as his assistant for this expedition regardless of past grievances, making him completely loyal to Camillus.

After a while, Lucius said, “Hmm, we will follow the order and lead the army directly to Satricum. However, we must inform the soldiers to avoid further protests before changing our route.”

After saying that, Lucius didn’t see Camillus say anything. Instead, he was rubbing his chin as he pondered something deeply.

“Camillus! Camillus!…” Lucius shouted several times.

Only after that did Camillus come back to his senses and say deeply, “No! We shouldn’t go to Satricum. Instead, we should head to Antium!”

That took Lucius aback, “Why?”

“With Quintus and Licinius leading the army to besiege Satricum, the Volscians had sent their army in a vain attempt to defend it. So even if we rush there, it would still be difficult to breach Satricum quickly. On the contrary, what the Senate hoped was for us to occupy more Volscian lands as soon as possible…and since Antium is far away from Satricum, I am sure they neglected its defence, so our surprise attack on it would likely be successful.”

Lucius’ eyes brightened, “Just like what we did with Praeneste?”

“Yes.” Camillus nodded confidently.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Just four days before Camillus led his army to invade the Volscian territory, the Theonian envoy, Carias, took a boat from Poseidonia. After entering the city of Neapolitan, he headed east into the Samnite mountains to Caudium, the central town of Caudini, one of the four major tribes of Samnites. There, he met with its great chieftain, Segobani and expressed to him the concern of the king of Theonia about the frequent incursions of Caudim warriors into their allies, the Campanians’ territories. And he hoped that Caudium wouldn’t violate the treaty again, restrain its people and ensure that similar things won’t happen again.

Segobani lightly said, “Understood.”

Then he, with a scowl, said that he would agree to Theonia’s term if Theonia cut off their contact with Kinduk, the chieftain of Nuceria, a town south of Caudium, in the future, much less send priests of Hades into its territory…

But since it’s Theonia’s strategy to attract and assimilate Nuceria, Carias naturally couldn’t agree to Segobani’s request.

Thus Carias suffered the cold shoulder of the Caudiums and was even loudly insulted and humiliated by some of them. At the same time, Segobani didn’t even stop them as he gloated at Carias’ misfortune.

Upon Carias’ return to Poseidonia, he wrote a letter to the Senate in Thurii with resentment. In the letter, he described what he experienced and saw when he went to Caudium. Then he judged that the Caudiums would likely launch another attack on the Campanian league soon.

So Davos had to discuss with the Ministry of Military in advance as Carias’ judgment was indeed in line with the habits of the Caudium for the past two years: Each time Theonia send an envoy to denounce the Caudium’s aggression, the Caudium would then launch an invasion of the Campanian league shortly afterwards.

And this just proves that this great chieftain of the Caudium had a rebellious mentality towards Theonia and would like to fight back against it.

Thus, after an urgent meeting with the Ministry of Military, Davos immediately dispatched the Third Legion to assist the Campanian league in their fight against the oncoming invasion of the Samnite’s tribe of Caudium.

After receiving the emergency dispatch order from the Ministry of Military, the legatus of the Third Legion, Litom, immediately sent the cavalry to inform the towns in Lucania and issued a mobilisation order for the soldiers of the Third Legion.

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