Augustus Road

"In the dust and fog caused by the barbarian cavalry, the power and glory of the Roman Empire seemed dim." - "Cambridge Medieval History" evaluates the disastrous defeat of the Romans in the Battle of Adrianople in AD378.

"You are really calm. When this happened, you knew to bring the doctor with you."

"Stop talking nonsense, hurry up, go to Apilon, hurry up!" Karabis shouted.

After nightfall, lightning in the city of Rome illuminated the street corners from time to time. Even the most dedicated neighborhood managers or firefighters hid in their houses and did not dare to come out. The torrential rain gradually fell, and Timo Xiuhe Calabis rode a horse together and ran towards the outside of the city.

"You have to be grateful to the horse god for giving you the luck. Riding horses on the streets is not allowed in Rome, but I am a Scythian, and there must always be a stable for horses in the backyard." Timothy held the horse between his feet. abdomen, sprinting forward. There were several Tianzhu guys behind him, carrying medicine boxes, and a clever and agile Tianzhu dog, following them at full speed in the puddles.

"One block ahead, go right, that's the shortcut." Karabis reminded amidst the thunder.

"Are you sure? I remember that there is no road at the end there."

"Don't hesitate any longer, or I'll kill you!" Karabis became impatient and pressed his fighting sword against Timothee's lower back. "I want Bodi and Paluma to live well. I hope I still have time." Then he felt a pain in his waist and touched it. It was the statue of the doll that Bodi had carved for him before leaving that day. "God of the family, I beg for your blessing..."

The horse neighed and rushed through a bush. In the flash of lightning, Timothy saw what Calabis called the "shortcut", a section of the city wall that was in disrepair and collapsed. On both sides were the lines used by Romulus when he determined the city boundaries hundreds of years ago. The trenches drawn by plows, or to put it more clearly, the "sacred area" of the Roman city, the forbidden area that no one is allowed to touch in any name, "Damn it, Calabis, I never thought that your shortcut would be here, We will offend the city's patron saint," Timothy hesitated, pulling on the bridle rope.

"Shut up, you and me, and those curries behind, their patron saints have nothing to do with this city. Cross over, now!" Calabis said firmly, and the few Tianzhu guys in the back waved their hands and shouted loudly. He shouted, "Timothy, hurry up, your horse is blocking our way."

Timothy was a devout theist. He was still pulling the horse, spinning in circles in the rain. Calabis, who couldn't bear it, raised his fighting sword and gave the horse a hard blow on the buttocks. The problem was solved. The horse screamed and crossed the "sacred territory" desperately...

Among the people on foot, the leading Tianzhu man named Maya jumped over the ditch and received a small box thrown by Karabis from horseback. "Maya, there are five big shak in it (popular in ancient times) (gold coins from West Asia), walk diagonally 600 Roman feet from here, you can see a gladiator tent, hire all the people inside, and head towards the small villa in the innermost part of Apilon. After that, I will. I’ll give you five more big Shaks alone.” Namoye agreed with a loud voice, then spread his bare feet, hugged the box, and ran towards the direction indicated by Karabis.

There was indeed a gladiator tent there. The little pigeon Paluma skipped school more than once, and would spend the three or five sesterces his adoptive father gave him to come here to watch cheap performances - the tent was filled with a group of retired hornmen who had passed away. The fighter, overwhelmed by the professional gladiator school over in Capua, could only sit pitifully in this corner, with two old, hairless beasts in a simple circle made of wood. Here, performances are given to poor people or children.

Calabis, who came here again and again to catch little pigeons who were truant from school, naturally remembered this place.

But now Karabis can only count on them.

After Maya left, Calabis and Timotheus continued to run towards Apilon. Finally he saw the Apilon villas in the smoke and dust. Catiline's followers were burning and looting everything they could see there. Wealth, according to Catiline's prior arrangement, the Apilon raid was for this group of people to "enrich their courage", and then they would be driven to the Pletes Fortress outside Rome to seize weapons and baggage, and then To the north of Rome, Sulla veterans from the Etrunia region echoed each other to seize the heart of the republic.

However, this group of mobsters still encountered a nail in front of an inconspicuous small villa.

By coincidence, Milu, Tagus, and Pope, as well as most of the veteran gang, were here today, preparing to do the final finishing work. After Potty arrived, the weather became bad, so the hostess took out the meat from the cellar. and drinks to entertain everyone and give them a break. It wasn't until Paluma and Fan Lundina were playing hide-and-seek on the top tower that they discovered a large group of people holding wooden sticks and iron forks in the distant wilderness, rushing towards them with murderous intent. Milu felt that the situation was Seriously, "Maybe today is not a good day to rest."

The tower of the villa, though? That's right. This is Pope's design. He will fully respect the requirements of the master Karabis in terms of interiors, but on the outside...it just looks like the bad taste of a legionnaire veteran:

The entire villa is surrounded by dense forests and valleys on three sides. The side with the door faces a steep slope, and the slope road is divided into narrow and curved shapes by various trees. The wall of the villa is very high, has no concavities or windows, and is extremely smooth with volcanic ash (ancient cement). It is very difficult to climb, not to mention that there is an iron fence on the top of the wall. The gate was made of extremely strong bronze, and a rectangular space was specially left in front of it. Milu and the others used pointed wooden stakes from the villa's warehouse (yes, they stored these things in the owner's warehouse, so the name was euphemistic. Said to be used for the farm project in the future), they formed a forward position to isolate themselves from external attacks. While the mob and bandits were busy robbing the conspicuous and fragile large villa, this group of veterans, a total of twenty people, also used tools to move along the A simple trench circle was dug for the gate!

Hundreds of mobs were completely repulsed in the attack two hours ago. Six veterans, led by Tagus, held up wicker shields for practice and sharpened temporary wooden spears, across the proposed trench Luzhai , stabbing to death two or three thugs who tried to pull up the barrier, so that they did not dare to move forward and only dared to throw stones and torches from a distance.

But the stones didn't last long - Pop, Milu and others built a simple small ejector on the top floor of the villa using ready-made (?) wood. (? Maybe Calabis will find the answer later on why there are these things in his villa), lit the sheep's head stone on fire, and smashed it on the heads of the mob with a roar, which made the besieging mob feel terror. The flaming sheep's head stone roared and smashed into the surrounding bushes. The sticky asphalt quickly burned the grass and trees. Many mobs carried flames on their buttocks and backs and ran down howling. In addition, in the rain, The smoke produced by the fire was enough to suffocate people. The group of people did not last long before they fled one after another.

On the top floor of the small villa, which was brightly lit by fire, the veterans even erected a pennant, fluttering it in the wind and rain, very proudly.

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