Augustus Road

"When you hear the sound of the trumpet and everyone shouts, the walls will fall." - "The Bible. Old Testament. Joshua"

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"No, you can't kill me. Lepidus, you are Caesar's financial officer, and so am I. You have no power." Papinna turned his head, his face covered with sweat.

"You mean interim financial officer? Don't worry, neither of our titles are officially appointed by the Senate, so my power to kill you is not based on our title, but only - I need to get rid of you." After Li Bida finished speaking, he turned to the general Pope, who was approaching step by step with the hammer, reminded, "Tell this Papinna the reason why we executed him."

At this moment, Kang Bano on the other side of the stream also dismounted. The two minions beside him sprinkled rice oil and wine on the sword in Kang Bano's left hand and lit it on fire. The sword immediately burned. , illuminating the dark and deep forests and streams.

Pope's face was re-illuminated by the fire. He was a little excited while holding the hammer, but his words were clear and stable: "Okay, I tell you Papina, you have not been released from the status of public enemy of the Roman city-state. Enjoy You are not treated as a citizen, but you are still a member of the rebels ten years ago, and you are still a patriotic man seeking glory. As a subordinate of General Seth Uris, I have the duty and responsibility to avenge blood feud, Papina ——I think you should know how the legion punishes disobedient members. Scipio used this kind of punishment against rebel soldiers. "

These words shocked Papinna out of his mind. Only then did he remember why Pop was holding up the hammer. Tears and snot flowed down his face. He grinned, raised his arms, and cried out: "Please give me some dignity and have a good time." Death, a military death." Before Pope could answer, the fat old man jumped up, howled, took out a dagger from his arms, and stabbed Pope straight.

Popper flashed slightly and swung the hammer with one strike. Papinna's jaw was blown away almost instantly. The letters hidden in the letter box of his clothes scattered like snow flakes. The dagger was directly stirred into the stream. He turned sideways. He fell in the pile of leaves, his face covered in blood, but he was still crawling instinctively into the gaps in the crowd. Several horse bandits came wading through the water. They laughed and grabbed Papinna's hair. They cut his hands behind his back and pressed them on his spine, forcing him to kneel down with blood on his face and face Pope.

Pope took out a few long black nails and threw them to one of the men. At this time, although most of Papinna's teeth were knocked out, he still begged Pope with blood, tears and snot mixed in his mouth. voice, but the other party was indifferent to his grief. They pressed his back to the ground, holding his hands and feet, as well as his head and neck. Pope slowly squatted down, and then Papinna issued the third With a shrill cry, his arms seemed to be spasming, because Pope used a hammer and a long nail to pierce his left hand and nail it firmly to the ground. Pope was extremely calm when he did this, like It's like driving a wooden stake, jingling and orderly.

Then came the right hand, and then the two legs. Pope smashed it while holding the remaining nails in his mouth, trying to nail Lord Papinna firmly...

For a long time, Papinna stopped shouting. Many long nails pierced his hands and feet. He was like a specimen of animal skin, spread flat on the ground in a strange posture, and only the wounds that were penetrated were still seeping. With blood dripping on his face, Pop stood up and wiped the slight sweat from his forehead, as if appreciating a work of art. Two knowing men placed a cork pad under Papinna's neck, and then placed the A statue of an antlered god was placed in front of Papinna's lifeless eyes.

"That's it." Pop took a long breath, then twisted a very long spike and placed it on Papinna's soft and fleshy neck. After taking aim, he took a deep breath and the hammer in his hand fell heavily. Hit it again, and again, and blood spattered on his face until his eyes were blinded. Only when he was sure that what he was hitting was just a dead body, he stopped hitting and threw the hammer away. , looking at the tragically dead body of Papinna, he had mixed feelings in his heart. He first grinned, and then shed complicated tears.

After Papina died for a long time, Combano held up the flaming sword and stepped forward to cut off his head. He held it in his hand and dangled it in front of Lepidah's eyes. Lepidah frowned and only smelled it. There was a smell of blood mixed with burnt food, "In a few days, throw your head into the legion camp."

Later, Lepidus asked Combano whether you were afraid of being responsible for this murder.

"Killing this guy will just increase the notoriety of my fingerless Kang Bano, which is what I want."

"What if the reckless man and Apis come to hunt you down?"

"I am a horse bandit. Won't a horse bandit be chased down? And I have remembered your plan. When the enemy comes to attack me, I will retreat. When the enemy camps, I will harass them. When the enemy is tired, I will attack. , I will hunt down the enemy when they leave. Maybe in a few years, I will become the most prestigious horse bandit in Lusitania, no, in the entire southern Iberia." Combano raised his open palm. Extremely proud.

Lepidus nodded and said, "It doesn't matter. Actually, the Reckless Man and Apis are not interested in you now. At most one year later, these two legions, including my auxiliary legion, will have a wider area to go. As for you, you are a wedge I planted here. I will support you and convey important intelligence from the outside world to you from time to time, but you must know yourself, otherwise I will personally wipe you out sooner or later." After saying that, Lepidus walked to Papina's body and slowly picked up the scattered letters. These letters were all the most important dark secrets of the dignitaries. During the Roman Civil War, almost every dignitary family had people who fled to Spain for various reasons, either for public (public enemies) or private (family branches fighting each other). Their correspondence with Rome, both public and private, was carefully collected by Papina (he was a confidential staff member of Seteuris at the time), and finally became his secret weapon.

Seeing this scene, Combano was very excited. Yes, he was just a bandit, but even he knew how lethal these things were. As long as he held these things, money would pour out like a spring.

But the scene below shocked Combano again. Lepidus casually browsed the letters and piled them together. He took the burning sword from his hand and inserted it into the pile of letters. Soon, the most deadly secrets disappeared in the red and black flames and smoke.

"You, you, you are crazy!" Combano couldn't help shouting.

Who would have thought that Lepidus calmly used his toes to pick up the unrecognizable remains of the letters and said, "Those who hope to take these things back to Rome are crazy. The fate of these crazy people is the same as Pappina." After that, he took out a warrant, "In fact, I killed Pappina with the tacit consent of His Excellency Caesar." (To be continued.)