Augustus Road

"Slow down your steps, keep your steps steady, don't let the enemy see your immaturity, rookies." As they were crossing the river, Hebrida, who was holding the flag, blew his whistle and shouted loudly.

"Calm down, calm down!" Everyone, including Calabis, responded, but when they stepped into the cold and biting river water, many people's voices could not shout out. It was a kind of water that could freeze blood vessels. "Be careful to avoid the ice floes in the water. If you get cut, you're finished!" Heibrida continued to shout.

Finally, when all the members of the Third Regiment lined up and stood in the snow, Karabis heard the noisy shivering and coughing around them. Everyone was breathing white breath. The snow was getting heavier and heavier, and the sky was getting darker. It became extremely dark, and the ice particles mixed with the strong wind were coming back and forth. He almost felt that his hands and arms were no longer his, and the handle of the javelin was almost stuck to the skin of his hand, but Hebrida was still there, giving instructions: "Do your best to keep warm. You can stuff leather and hay into the curtains, and you can stay put. Remember, when fighting, look at your captain. Whatever he does, you do." Karabi Shiveringly, Si took out the leather hat Poti had given him in advance and wrapped it around his head. The whole world felt warm, and he was so moved that his nose came out. It would be better to have a woman!

At this time, he had some time to observe the situation around him - his vision was terrible, he could only see the regiment around him, not even the centurions dozens of meters away, let alone the enemy. , there is a mixture of snow and fog everywhere.

Gradually, he heard a huge sound coming from the opposite side, getting closer and closer, like a wave. Soon, people were running towards his position, many, many people, but the shouts in their mouths were in Latin: "The enemy is destroyed." , The enemy is destroyed!" These fleeing troops are all the remnants of the Eighth Army. They broke out from the encirclement of the Pontic cavalry when the wind and snow increased. As for the "enemy destruction", it was planned by Triali today. The password used by the entire army is used to identify ourselves and the enemy. Now it sounds really ironic.

One of them, covered in a tattered cloak, ran up to the Third Regiment with sloping steps, knelt down as if he had lost all his strength, and shouted to Hebrida holding the flag: "Centurion, Hurry up and ask your people to help me. I am Army Commander Terry Ali. Hurry up!" Haibrida glanced at him and said, "I'm sorry, I'm from the Third Regiment of the Sixth Brigade of the Seventh Army, and I'm not affiliated with it. The Eighth Army. Commander, please walk through the defense line. There are clowns and wine and meat waiting for you in the camp - wish you a great victory!"

Everyone in the Third Regiment, including the newly liberated military slaves, burst into laughter. Terry Ali was in despair and did not dare to break out. He could only walk back alone with other defeated soldiers. On the way Several angry defeated soldiers discovered his identity and pushed him down on the snow, beating and insulting him.

"Listen carefully, there is the sound of horse hooves and footsteps ahead, very neatly. The enemy is coming, don't worry, they are just a group of cowardly Greeks." After Hebrida finished speaking, he blew a sharp whistle, and Arminius (He was in charge of Calabis's group.) He shouted loudly, "Everyone, bend down for me and lower your posture."

After all, Calabis had participated in military training in high school, so he knew some passwords and immediately followed Arminius' instructions obediently. As a result, before he lowered his body for three to five seconds, there was a whooshing sound above his head. A wave of arrows and javelins flew past, and some freedmen who were still standing there stupidly were instantly pierced through their bodies, screaming and falling on the snow.

"Keep lowering it, keep lowering it. Hold on! Hold the dagger and javelin at an angle." The order became more and more tense and shrill. In the wind and snow, the people of Pontus may have launched a cavalry assault. Karabi Si felt that the ground beneath his feet was shaking slightly. Then he heard the people next to him praying quickly and in a low voice with their eyes closed.

"I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid, I can't die, I won't die. I have already killed two people, and I will no longer be afraid of killing. Potty is still waiting for me to go back..." Karabis himself I was also thinking about it in my heart.

A huge force came towards me. The people who were close to each other, including Calabis, were shaken back and forth. They could hardly hold the equipment in their hands. They gritted their teeth and slammed the javelin. Stick it in the snow to stabilize your body. "Steady, steady!" veterans such as Hybrida and Arminius were still shouting at the top of their lungs. Two or three free people were shaking and crawling back from their posts. , but was stabbed to death by the last row of regular soldiers who were scattered like skirmishers. "No one is allowed to escape, and anyone who escapes will be killed!" Arminius shouted like a fierce spirit.

What bumped into the Third Regiment was a group of lightly-armed Scythian cavalry. It was difficult to say that these people rushed up with a target. They might have just been chasing deserters from the Eighth Army, but they failed to identify their target in the heavy snowstorm. He hit it in a daze. But it turns out that Hebrida's arrangement of the formation was also very foresight - almost all the regular soldiers of the three regiments with combat effectiveness were listed in the first row. Many of them wore double-layer armor and fought desperately to resolve the problem. After being attacked by the Scythian cavalry, if the freedmen were placed in the front row, they would probably collapse by now.

Before Calabis, who was half-kneeling on the ground, could return to his original state, Arminius was the first to pull him up rudely and received a kick on the butt. "Press them all up and attack with a leap! Leap forward." attack!"

It turned out that when the infantry fought against the cavalry, once the cavalry's charge was stopped, the infantry would immediately switch to hand-to-hand combat to prevent the cavalry from regrouping. But the "leap attack" mentioned by Arminius was a skill that only legionnaires with at least one or two years of military service could master. How could these freemen know it? It was just a spur of the moment.

Therefore, the freemen in the back row, such as Carapis, could only howl, swaggeringly holding up their short swords and javelins, standing tall, and crowded against the Scythian cavalry, and counterattacked...

The desperate fight lasted until the evening. Seeing that the wind and snow were endless, and that they had already achieved fruitful results in almost completely annihilating the Roman Eighth Legion during the day, the Pontic army gave up further attacks on the Apis camp and returned to the camp one after another. But from the perspective of Apis, his achievements should not be underestimated. He relied on this small force composed of wounded soldiers, defeated soldiers, and free people to scare the Pontic offensive and rescue more than 500 survivors of the Eighth Legion, including their commander Triari.

After nightfall, the camp increased the intensity of martial law, torches on the walls were brightly lit, and pine torches were tied to the stakes on the trenches outside to burn. Even though the wind and snow were overwhelming, Apis did not slack off for a moment, guarding against possible sneak attacks.

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