Augustus Road

When Lepidah woke up, the first thing he found was that he was completely naked.

But he had no time to feel ashamed, because the second thing he discovered was the dead bodies surrounding him. He was horrified. He also heard the noisy and sharp sound of horns and trumpets, as if tens of thousands of people were shouting from all sides.

He looked up and saw that the relief of Mithridates on the cliff was still visible, but it was surrounded by colonnades, stairs and various statues. Although the fireworks were blazing, he could still see that these were not the ruins of 13-year-old monuments. , but alive, as alive as those grotesque corpses.

Before Lepidah could curl up his naked body and try to find two pieces of clothing to cover his body from the corpse, a group of soldiers covered in armor and bloodstains appeared in the firelight. The leader was wearing a bronze helmet with a horsehair decoration on the top. , wearing a "bell-shaped" leather breastplate on the upper body, with two silver pendants on it, like an angry bull, which is a typical ancient Roman centurion's attire.

Just when Lepidus sat up and was about to call out to the centurion for help, he received a friendly punch from the centurion on the bridge of his nose, and blood splattered from his nose.

Then his hair was grabbed by the other party, and the whole scalp was so painful that it almost fell off. He had to stand up, regardless of the shame of [***]. Le Bida did not expect that ancient soldiers were so barbaric, but he He couldn't protest, because the centurion's other hand was holding a bright Roman dagger, which could cut his throat at any time. Fortunately, he understood ancient Latin. What the centurion said was "Pig slave, go quickly." Move rocks and wood!”

Apparently the centurion treated him like a slave, pulling him by his hair and hurling him toward the back of the line like a pile of rubbish. Whether they belong to one's own side or the enemy's, slaves are slaves and just slaves. They can be asked to do the work that slaves should do at any time. Lepidus, naked like this, together with the other "pigs", under the urging of the supervisor, instinctively walked to a pile of stones and wood. The supervisor tapped the open space under the cliff with his whip, indicating that the materials should be removed. Carrying it there is the purpose of work.

Dozens of slaves, including the dizzy Lepidah, hummed and continued to work.

There, several unarmored Roman soldiers assembled the long and short pieces of wood that had been transported with their hands and feet - Lepidus discovered that these pieces of wood were not just randomly cut tree trunks, but sequenced precision parts - the answer was very clear. It was about to be revealed. A double-bottomed ballista bracket was quickly formed, and then the gun body was installed, and the horsehair rope was wrapped layer by layer.

During the process, the centurion led the soldiers to tightly protect the ballista position. The target they attempted to attack was a 20-meter-long city wall between two cliffs. The defenders behind the wall, They also noticed the intentions of the Roman soldiers. Amidst the shouts, flaming arrows flew down. The centurion's soldiers knelt down one after another, raised their huge shields, and blocked the arrows. Outside the ballista position.

Finally, the artillerymen installed bronze barrels on both sides of the gun body, and inserted simple sights between the barrels. The installation of the two ballistae was completed. With a creaking sound, the artillerymen turned the torsion wheel. After shrinking the spring back, the overseer's whip came down again, "Quick, load the ballistae with stones!"

Following the centurion's order, the crossbow fired a dull "Gedagda" sound, and the stone cannonballs flew out one after another, leaving splatters of blood and lime on the city wall - -The ballistae was equipped with a sight, and its firing accuracy was not low. Soon the battlements of the city wall were destroyed, leaving the defenders with nowhere to stay and the wall crumbling.

"Load the heavy javelin!" The centurion waved his dagger, and several Roman soldiers tied the heavy javelin in their hands to ropes and loaded it into the crossbow. They shouted "Gedagda" several more times. The javelin dragged the rope on its butt and was wedged firmly into the city wall. Except for one queue, the other soldiers ran to the ballista and pulled the rope. Several chants were heard and a huge roar was heard. And soot, that wall was actually torn down!

The centurion raised the whistle on his chest and blew it. The soldiers lined up again, holding their shields and marching in one after another. There was silence behind the city wall for a while, and then the horn sounded. In the smoke and night, The defenders wearing Greek armor howled and fought back, and they clashed and fought with the centurion's Roman team on the rubble of the city wall.

Lepidah stared at all this with his mouth open. The defenders counterattacked as fast as a tidal wave, because they understood that there was nothing behind this broken wall, and this was the last front. But the Roman soldiers seemed to be in a loose formation, but they were as solid as rocks. They flexibly wielded short swords and shields, making them almost invulnerable. After about twenty minutes of hand-to-hand fighting, the counterattack was easily crushed, and a burst of shield collisions After the sound, the Roman troops were unstoppable, stepping on the bodies of the dying enemies, and poured into the broken wall.

Later, Lepidus outside the wall saw the screams and fire rising from behind the wall. He roughly knew what the Roman soldiers who entered had done.

Yes, if Lepidus guessed correctly, most of these Roman legionnaires wore lockets and bowl-shaped helmets with short visors sticking out from the back, standard attire of the late Republic, and their enemies should be Mi The army of Thradates VI, even if it can be said that Lepidus traveled to the time of the "Mithridates War" launched by ancient Rome in Asia Minor, and witnessed with his own eyes Gireson, or Calabi, the capital of Pontus. The scene of the fall of the royal palace! Late Roman Republic legionnaire bowl helmet

A late autumn wind blew, and Lepidus shivered violently. It was unclear whether it was because of the cold or because of excitement.

The Roman soldiers had been in the palace for a long time, but the slaves around the crossbows were all sitting or lying down. Not to mention moving around, not even a cough could be heard. Lepidus was surprised by their calmness. Two soldiers finally walked out of the gap in the wall slowly, came to Lepidus and his group, and asked loudly: "Who among you can speak the Greek language?"

After a moment of silence, the naked Lepidus slowly raised his hand and stepped out of the line with another slave.

Lepidus wiped the blood from his nostrils and said, "I can speak, but respected officer, please give me a piece of clothing to cover my body first."

The two Romans opposite looked at Lepidus strangely, as if they thought that a slave like him would actually care about whether to wear clothes or not? Then the two men nodded to each other, one of them took off his cloak and put it on Li Bi Da, then tilted his head slightly behind the wall, indicating "go away". ;