The clone army withdrew from the wall like a black tide back to the camp.
The clone soldiers who were in charge of collecting the armor and weapons of the dead who were in the dry ditch did not go unnoticed and were discovered and attacked by archers from the wall.
Fortunately for the clones, the aim of the archers clones, in the darkness was very poor and the clone soldiers were very dispersed.
The lack of balanced nutrition caused many people of antiquity to lack the necessary vitamins for the human body and one of the consequences was night blindness.
The Roman archers would be effective if they faced an army grouped in a dense formation but, against soldiers dispersed in the darkness they were not very effective.
Septimus did not plan to continue attacking Rome until he found an effective way to manage to insert his soldiers inside the city.
The clone spies inside the city of Rome numbered 562 and the majority held the identity of freedmen, thieves, vagabonds or foreigners.
The city of Rome as the seat of the Roman Senate and the nucleus of the power of the Republic was plagued by various gangs very united and related to influential families.
The infiltration of the clone spies would take a considerable amount of time and during the last years, with the efforts of the clones, the influence in the underworld has been growing.
It is a pity that the clones have not had enough time to complete their infiltration and create a support force in the underworld of the city.
The number of clone spies was not sufficient to achieve an effective surprise attack against the wall of the city.
The second option was to let the clones replicate inside the city of Rome and accumulate a sufficient number of men, to launch an attack from inside and outside the city.
It is a pity that the clones infiltrated inside the city do not have enough weapons and space to accommodate the clones and arm them.
In the city of Rome you can only open a shop or workshop with the support of an influential figure. Although Septimus can help economically and sponsor the shops and workshops, his interference would reveal the identity of the clone spies.
The clone spies would lose their purpose if it is discovered that they are subordinates of Septimus and they could be attacked, Septimus would not make a useless effort without benefit.
A clear example is the white sugar shop of Septimus that was confiscated after the battle of Capua.
On the other hand, common people in the city of Rome lived in houses with a single courtyard with numerous families living together as neighbors.
A large number of replicated clones would be noticed quickly by the neighbors in the surroundings.
The clones who assumed the identity of freedmen could only belong to the class of unofficial freedmen and earn a living by doing various jobs.
Septimus could only grant unofficial freedom to the clones who pretended to be slaves.
The freedmen clones with their newly acquired identity were very limited within Roman society.
The manumission of Roman slaves was divided into official and unofficial manumissions.
Official manumissions involved freeing slaves before magistrates or consuls. These slaves not only became free slaves, but if they accumulated a certain amount of property, they were granted Roman citizenship. These Roman citizens were assigned to the four lower-ranking tribes. Although they could not hold Roman public office, their children received full Roman citizenship.
These free citizens still remained essentially vassals of their patrons, sometimes subject to their restrictions, obliged to perform unpaid work and even subject to their patrons' right to confiscate their property.
Of course, this type of freedom was much better than unofficial manumissions, which involved freeing slaves in front of friends.
These freed slaves were not only subject to all the restrictions of officially freed slaves, but their property would also belong to Septimus after their death.
The progress of the infiltration of the clones in Roman society was very slow because the clones were limited by their identity as unofficial freedmen.
The clone spies could only try to blend into the gangs that controlled the city and, over time, gain a foothold.
After weighing the Roman social situation, Septimus considered that the identity of a slave with official freedom with the possibility of becoming a full Roman citizen capable of rising in social class would not add a significant advantage to his influence.
The number of legions determines the true power in Rome.
Espionage only serves as entertainment for Septimus.
With the end of the siege of the clone army, the situation of the entire general panorama of the war calmed down.
The legions of Lucullus and Pompey were stationed in small cities waiting for favorable weather to continue attacking.
The winter in Italy was in its final phases and the frozen ground of the soil with time would melt and as a consequence there would be a large amount of mud that would make an attack impossible.
The weather did not favor a battle on flat terrain and much less a large siege.
The Roman army and the army of Sulla had a tacit understanding avoiding a confrontation temporarily.
2 days passed.
On the outskirts of the city of Rome an army marched in an orderly manner.
Sulla and his generals observed with a serious expression the army that was approaching.
Septimus had led three legions of reinforcement.
The clone soldiers marched in an orderly manner maintaining impeccable discipline without shouts from centurions to maintain order.
Septimus was at the front of the army with his personal guard.
Sulla and the generals looked seriously at the new reinforcements.
A total of three legions with black armor identical to the five legions of the camp.
The clone army maintained an elite discipline comparable to a veteran army with countless experiences in battle.
On the other hand, it was easy to discern that the Roman army would suffer a great defeat with the prolongation of the war.
The city of Rome, no matter how large and populated it was, could not withstand the consumption of food for a long time.
Generalized hunger among the population of the city would result in riots and looting in all the warehouses.
The lack of food would also have a terrible consequence on the morale of the Roman army; the Roman generals would not be able to force the legionaries to take up their weapons against their families to pacify the riots.
It was very likely that attempts to control the riots among the population of the city would cause a rebellion within the Roman army.
The imprudence of the Roman army should not be underestimated; the great consul Cinna was a victim of the discontent of his own army.
Norvanus and Carbo were aware that the inhabitants of the city in a starving state would cause riots and as a consequence the Roman army would have a high probability of rebelling.
On the other hand, the three clone legions marched in an orderly manner toward the camp.
Sulla and his generals observed the discipline of the clone army with solemnity.
The origins of the five legions of Septimus in the camp were a mystery and the three legions that had just arrived only generated great doubt in Sulla and his generals.
The clone legions differed too much from a novice legion with little training and discipline.
The aura shown by the clone army gave the impression of being a veteran army.
The question was; where did Septimus get so many veterans to support him?
Sulla could only assume that Septimus had a great talent for training legionaries.