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Upon receiving his subordinates’ notification, Theris immediately came out of the city hall to welcome Mithridates, who had just arrived.

After greeting each other, Mithridates delivered Davos’ edict to Theris.

When they first took over Ostia, Davos simply announced the liberation of slaves, as well as several rights for the Latin refugees, the liberated slaves’ citizenship and the distribution of land… Now, he ordered Theris to implement the decree announced in the Roman Forum yesterday to the Roman plebeians and slaves while handing over the Roman nobles and their followers in Ostia to Mithridates, who would take them aboard the ships.

After reading the edict, Theris felt at ease and said, “Following His Majesty’s will, managing Ostia would now be easier.”

After saying that, he called his subordinates and ordered them to immediately escort the captive Roman nobles to the port as required and hand them over to the Third Fleet.

Then he said to Mithridates, “After hearing the merchants who returned from Rome last night discuss the decree announced by His Majesty in the Roman Forum, I had already selected those captives in advance. Ostia only have one hundred and seventy-eight Roman males from noble backgrounds, probably less than a hundred who meet His Majesty’s requirements. So, you don’t need to wait too long before they board the ship.”

“It’s no wonder His Majesty placed such an important task in your hands, given Lord Theris’ meticulousness in your work!” Mithridates complimented him, pleased that he would spend less time in Ostia, enabling him to lead the warships south to Terina and recruit new marines earlier.

“While my subordinates complete their work, could Navarch Mithridates provide me with a detailed account of His Majesty’s and the army’s conquest of the city of Rome?” said Theris smilingly.

“With great pleasure!” Mithridates responded straightforwardly. He had long heard stories about this statesman from Sicily. Unlike those many statesmen who had become Theonian through political achievements or various special reasons, this burly, middle-aged man had humbled himself to undergo training at Thurii’s military camp. Through his outstanding performance in training, he quickly rose from a new recruit in the reserve legion to the esteemed position of a reserve senior centurion. His achievement earned him the respect of numerous military personnel, including Mithridates himself.

Theris then gladly said, “Since it’s almost dinner, why don’t we have some drink? We can chat and drink while I’ll have the chef cook a few more dishes.”

Mithridates thought that since he was leading his men south, it meant they already left the battlefield. So he did not refuse.

While the two enjoyed their conversation, the guard captain at the door burst inside and exclaimed, “My Lord, there is an urgent report from the scouts stationed outside the city. They have spotted a Roman army rapidly marching towards Ostia, estimated to consist of over twenty thousand men!”

Both Mithridates and Theris were surprised, but Theris quickly laughed and said, “The Romans arrived just in time! Aren’t you all worried about not having a chance to fight on the battlefield? The opportunity for glory has presented itself; it all depends on your ability to seize it! Kesilas, could it be that you are afraid?”

The captain immediately replied loudly, “My Lord, my brothers and I couldn’t wait for the Romans to initiate their attack so that they could taste our strength!”

“Immediately notify the three senior centurions and have the soldiers start eating. Then, lead the brigade to their respective defensive positions according to the previous training.”

“Understood, My Lord!” Kesilas immediately turned around and left.

Immediately after, Theris summoned his assistant, Lukedeius.

Lukedeius was a Latin Theonian citizen from Irna and had stayed behind at the behest of Davos to serve as the interpreter of Theris, who didn’t understand Latin. However, Theris boldly offered him the position as his assistant to provide advice in governing the place. He had also given him the position of adjutant of the newly created brigade, responsible for organising and training the one thousand two hundred thirty Ostian slaves and Latin refugees who had applied to become Theonian citizens. Since he was just a common citizen of Irna and a common soldier of the reserve unit before that, he naturally worked extremely hard after suddenly taking on such an important task.

Theris had now instructed him to assist the senior centurion in assembling the soldiers of the newly formed brigade after they finished eating their dinner, serving as the city’s defence reserve, prepared to engage in battle at a moment’s notice.

After arranging these things, Theris apologised and said to Mithridates, “These damn Romans interrupted your wonderful story. It appears that we can only continue enjoying this liquor after I repel them and you return from your journey to Scylletium.”

“Then it would be my turn to hear how you repel the Romans.” Mithridates smiled. Then with a serious look, he advised, “When I was in the city of Rome, the Roman army outside the city was busy building a camp and didn’t seem they would attack the city immediately. It turns out they had quietly sent troops to take Ostia. So Lord Theris, you must be on your guard as it is clear that the enemy is well-prepared. After all, Ostia is too important for our army in Rome!”

Upon hearing this, Theris nodded solemnly before asking, “Navarch Mithridates, did the Roman army fully surround the city of Rome? Or could I still send a messenger to enter Rome smoothly?”

Mithridates shook his head and said, “Before leaving, the Roman army was already stationed outside the city apart from the east. However, it would be difficult to make a detour!”

“It seems it is safer to take the waterway…” Theris pondered and said, “Navarch Mithridates, can I ask you to send a boat to Rome to inform His Majesty of the enemy situation here immediately?”

“That’s my duty!” Mithridates responded directly. Then he cautioned, “It would take at least half a day from here to Rome via the Tiber and even longer in the dark since there is also a certain danger for the boat pullers and sailing. Thus His Majesty might not receive the information until tomorrow, and it would take at least noon tomorrow for the reinforcements to arrive! So you should be prepared.”

Mithridates paused, then continued advising when seeing Theris fall into pondering, “I hope you can make room in the port, as I will order some warships docked at the port to dispatch their sailors to assist you in battle and make up for the shortage of defenders. However, you need to provide them with weapons and equipment.”

Feeling surprised and grateful, Theris immediately expressed his gratitude and said, “There’s no need for you to worry about their weapons and equipment, navarch. After defeating the Romans here and the spoils collected from the battlefield, apart from some we had sold to the merchants, have been piled up in the warehouses, enough to equip six to seven thousand men.”

“Then I can rest assured,” said Mithridates. Although his sailors weren’t like the Marines, as they usually trained on the sea and weren’t good at land combat, they were all young adults, which isn’t a severe problem when defending a city.

And the reason Mithridates help him so actively: On the one hand, if he, as a senior officer present, had left without offering any help when Ostia was facing danger, he would inevitably receive impeachment by the Ministry of Military and received criticism from his colleagues once Ostia falls. But the important reason was that he had discovered the importance of Ostia to the Third Fleet. If they could establish a military port here, they could extend the Third Fleet’s control over the southern coast of Italia to Etruria. Thus he hopes he could obtain the approval of King Davos in the future, as well as the active cooperation of the praetor of Ostia, so he needs to win Theris’ favour.

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

While the city of Ostia prepares for defence, the Roman army led by Titus set out from Praeneste at dawn, passed through Rome, passed through Lake Alba in the south, turned northwest, and marched for nearly forty-five kilometres. At dusk, they finally reached their final destination – Ostia.

Titus immediately ordered the soldiers to eat their rations, put on their armour and take up arms, and get ready to besiege the city.

While the soldiers rested, he ordered the ballistae team to push the remaining nearly twenty ballistae to the forefront to bombard the thin city wall of Ostia, which was less than four metres in height.

Despite getting excited about finally participating in the battle, Theonia’s reserves could only watch helplessly as the Roman army, resembling a winding dragon that stretched into the distance, arrived near the city wall. Then hundreds, if not thousands, of troops began dividing and gradually encircling Ostia. As a result, feelings of nervousness and fear overwhelmed the Theonian reserves.

Theris, who also served as the commander of the Ostian army, stood at the top of the city gate, gazing at the enemy below while feeling nervous. Despite this being his first time in actual combat, he had repeatedly ordered the soldiers to strictly follow what they had learned in military training to carry out their defensive arrangements, as he believed that this could completely block the enemy’s attack.

“Lord Theris, look! The enemy has ballista!”

Theris didn’t need his men’s reminder since he could see the dozen ballistae the Romans pushing to the front. Still, he had remained calm.

During the decade following the South-Italian War, Theonia’s Ministry of Military made significant advancements in using ballistae and gastraphetes. Designed initially for sieging cities, they had adapted these weapons for city defence. To achieve this, the engineers worked to reduce the size and weight of the ballistae, as well as modify their firing mechanism (Since they would need to fire the ballistae downwards when defending the city, the stone projectiles could easily slip out). Thus, at Davos’ guidance, a new type of fortification was designed to fully unleash the ballistae’s strength. And based on that, they had even developed a new defensive strategy combining the ballista and gastraphetes.

After capturing Ostia, Davos decided to leave ten defensive ballistae and five gastraphetes, considering Ostia’s importance, all of which were placed atop the city wall by Theris.

Not far away from Theris, on the walkway, stood a ballista. And due to insufficient time, further improving the city wall would be impossible. Therefore, they had placed a large wooden board below the ballista, allowing its body to be higher than the battlements. Next to it were dozens of stone projectiles, with two soldiers in charge of each ballista: One was the ballista’s gunner responsible for the firing, and the other was the spotter responsible for the parameters.

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