"Yes, Lord Dictator! We'll be in Rome tomorrow night! Quintus and Licinius immediately stood up and made a loud promise.

"When you arrive outside the city of Rome, you must see the situation on the battlefield clearly, and do not attack rashly, but put pressure on the Dionian army, so that they do not dare to attack the ......city of Rome with all their might," Camillus patiently admonished his men, and then he said in a deep voice: "I will do my best to lead the army to arrive the night after tomorrow, meet with you, and fight the Dionians to the death!" ”

When the generals in the tent heard this, their anxiety after learning the news turned into excitement......

………………………………………

In the dark night, when everything was silent, most of the Romans inside the city and the Ionian soldiers outside the city fell asleep. But outside the northeastern walls of Rome, hundreds of soldiers quietly came out of the camp of the First Legion of Dionia.

They wore black undershirts, black cloth tokers, leather shields and daggers tightly tied to their backs, and a small bag of beef jerky tied around their waists. On this night when they couldn't see their fingers, they silently marched southwest, through the open Mars Square.

Piazza Mars was originally a wide wetland created by the long-term flooding of the former Bo River, and Servius, the sixth king of Rome, drained and filled the wetland, eventually obtaining this vast flat land, which was named Piazza Mars. Named after the Roman god of war, it is clear that this flat land was originally used to gather troops, but later it also served as a voting place for citizens' assemblies, after all, there was no such large open space in the city to accommodate all the citizens. However, after the arrival of the Dionian army, the Romans retreated to the city, and Piazza Mars was left vacant, as it was located outside the northern walls.

When the group reached the edge of Piazza Mars, they saw the towering walls in front of them, and the dark and secluded hill behind the walls, the Capitoline, which held an important place in the hearts of the Romans.

After these men had determined their position, they quietly followed the direction of the city wall and turned westward.

After walking for a long time, they heard the sound of rushing water, and the Tiber River was ahead.

The men immediately dispersed and groped their way along the riverbank, and soon someone shouted in a low voice: "Captain, here!" ”

Known as the captain of the brigade was none other than Izzam, the captain of the Mountain Reconnaissance Brigade, who hurried over.

Where the soldier stood, two stout wooden pillars had been driven deep into the ground, only half a man high, with planks between the wooden pillars, leading to the river, and then broken halfway through, a ruined wooden bridge.

Izam looked ahead, less than 20 meters from the riverbank, a vague outline of land, which he knew was the island in the middle of the river, which the Romans called Tiberina, and who had evacuated the inhabitants of the island and destroyed the wooden bridge that led to it before the Dionian army could reach Rome.

If the Romans had not been evacuated from the island, perhaps we would have been able to detect our actions at this moment...... There's only a flash of thought in Izzam's heart, and then he whispers, "Bring the rope and tie it to this wooden post!" ”

More than a dozen men carried a large bundle of ropes the thickness of the barrels of guns, and tied one end of the rope firmly to a wooden post.

"Is Terentus ready?" Izzam asked in a low voice.

"Captain, I can't wait!" A strong soldier replied in a slightly stiff voice.

"Okay, it's up to you!" Izzam hammered his strong chest with his fist, turned back to the other soldiers, and said, "Tie him up." ”

The other end of the rope was wrapped around his waist, and instead of carrying a leather shield or dagger, he was hung with a rope hook, a chainsaw, and a large iron tong.

When the rope was tied around his waist, the team members tugged at it, and it felt very strong.

Izzam looked at the warrior from Mesapi expectantly, and encouraged, "Hades will protect you, go, become a kingdom hero like Sekerian!" ”

Tyrentus solemnly gave a military salute.

Izzam and his teammates also solemnly returned the salute to him.

Terrentius put the inflatable lamb's belly under his arm, and then grabbed the rope with both hands, and walked backwards into the river.

The cold of the river made his skin tighten suddenly, and the slippery bottom of the river made him unable to stand up completely straight, the Tiber River, which seemed to flow gently during the day, only felt how strong its momentum was when he walked into the river, and Terrentius rushed downstream involuntarily, but fortunately, the rope around his waist pulled his body, and his teammates were putting the rope out little by little like a tug-of-war, which allowed him to go downstream slowly......

It didn't take long for him to see that the bank in front of him was no longer flat, but had become an embankment seven or eight meters high, and it stood straight at the side of Terrantus.

Terentus, who had observed the terrain beforehand, knew: it meant that he had passed through the walls of Rome.

Although the man was still by the river, the river had become deeper, and his feet could not step on it at all, but fortunately, the buoyancy of the sheep's belly allowed him to float on the surface of the river and slowly float downstream. And Terrantus kept his eyes wide open, staring ahead.

It didn't take long for him to see the Roman vertebral bridge lying across the river in front of him, which had been emphasized many times by the captain, and his heart suddenly rejoiced.

……………………

The ropes that the mountain scouts were holding on to were originally taut, but suddenly relaxed.

The team members are also happy: it should have arrived!

Izzam always looked solemn, and then asked in a deep voice, "How long is the rope?" ”

The team member in charge of counting next to him replied: "Nearly 250 meters." ”

"That should have arrived." Izzam was so sure because he had asked Valquez and several other former Roman citizens in detail.

……………………

At this moment, Terentus was holding the pillar closest to the embankment, turning his head to look at the embankment, and by the thin moonlight of the crescent moon in the sky, he could faintly see that there was a large black hole in the embankment near the vertebral bridge, about four meters above the surface of the river.

Terrentius was overjoyed again, and he knew that he had found what the captain had called the famous drainage system of Rome, the Maxim Sewers.

So, he untied the pickaxe hanging from his waist, untied the wrapped strip of cloth, and pulled the rope with his other hand incessantly and frequently.

Soon, his teammates, who got the signal, pulled him back again.

He took the opportunity to paddle hard with his hands and feet, and got close to the embankment.

After a while, the rope was lowered little by little, and he was swept down the drain by the current, which was easy to distinguish because of its foul stench, and the banks were wet and moss-covered.

Terrentius immediately raised his pickaxe and stabbed it hard.

The pointed beak of the pickaxe dug into the crack in the stone.

He grabbed the pickaxe with one hand and tugged at the rope with the other, telling his teammates to stop releasing the rope and pull the rope tightly to keep him in this position.

Then, he patiently unhooked the rope hook on his body, grasped the end of his head in his hand, estimated the distance, and threw it on his head with all his might.

He heard a crisp sound of a "bell" above his head, and he secretly screamed that it was not good, and hurriedly dodged, and the iron hook stuck to his body and fell into the river.

It's dangerous! Instead of immediately pulling up the hook that had fallen to the bottom of the river, Terrentius stuck to the embankment, carefully observing the movement on the vertebral bridge, lest the Roman patrol soldiers hear it.

But he clearly underestimated the Tiber, and though it seemed to be calm, far less roaring than the Seklian had crossed the Crati, the river had been pounding against the pillars and banks for years, and the sound was low and heavy enough to absorb any thin sound that was produced near him.

After a long time, seeing that there was no movement on the bridge or on the shore, Terrantus threw out the rope hook in his hand again, and heard a small crunch, followed by a low, muffled sound.

The rope hook did not fall off! Terrentius was overjoyed, and he reached out and tugged hard, the rope was very tight, and it seemed that the rope hook was very tight.

He pulled the hoe off with all his might, hung it back on his waist, and then grabbed the rope hook with both hands and slowly climbed up. This section of the embankment is where the sewer sewage is discharged, and it is relatively slippery. Terrentius slid several times and slammed his body against the stone wall, but he couldn't hold back and didn't make a sound.

Finally, he climbed to the exit of the sewer and grabbed the iron grate blocking the exit with both hands.

The Maxim Sewer was originally a drainage ditch dug by the Romans to drain the lowlands between the hills, which happened to be built by the last Roman king, Tarvin, and it was originally started in the Roman Forum next to the Senate.

With the improvement of the city of Rome and the increase of population, drainage and desilting are no longer necessary, but the discharge of domestic sewage has become a concern of the people, so every household began to dig a drainage ditch in front of their house, and connected with the original large drainage ditch, and discharged all kinds of sewage generated by the family every day through the drainage ditch into the Tiber River. Over time, the drainage ditches became more and more numerous and longer throughout the city of Rome, and their lines were extremely intricate.

Later, a senator named Maxim proposed a new department to establish a new department and send special city-state officials to manage the drains in the city.

The proposal was adopted by almost unanimous votes. As a result, the drainage ditch was dug wide and deep, and stone slabs were laid on the ground, which were dredged regularly...... From then on, the gutters became sewers, and the Romans created a god for this complex sewer system, the goddess Cloacina.

The outlet of this sewer is a man high, almost circular, and the iron gate is firmly welded into the stone wall, and each iron rod is the thickness of an adult's finger, but this iron fence is obviously old and rusty, especially under the iron fence, which has long been corroded by the sewage discharged every day.