Augustus Road

Within a few days, Pompey's fleet appeared on the coast of Silesia. Its luxurious scale stunned everyone who came to greet it: a thousand rowing three-story warships, 30,000 heavily armed soldiers, Five thousand cavalry, five hundred bronze relief prows, all carrying a pottery urn containing three hundred drachma silver coins ashore - because Pompey claimed that he had completely wiped out the pirates in the Mediterranean, annihilating a hundred thousand people in total. A pirate, he destroyed one hundred and twenty pirate lairs, and the treasures and treasures seized were incalculable.

This was a naked demonstration against Luculas, because Luculas had fought hard in Asia Minor for many years. Although he defeated his opponents many times, he could not conclude the war. In the end, he still made wedding clothes for others, which was a waste of money for the person he hated most in his life, Pompey.

Pompey, wearing a loose robe, under the stars of his staff and the attachés of the Governor's Palace of Bithynia, led the capable and capable guard soldiers, holding the scepter and the eagle flag, and entered Lucullus' palace leisurely. The military camp caused a huge commotion - the soldiers collectively shouted Pompey's name, treating him as an unparalleled hero, and completely disgusted with Luculas, as if the other party had never done anything useful at all.

Later, in order to stabilize the morale of the army, the two commanders decided to temporarily avoid the military camp and chose to hold talks in a secluded and uninhabited village. Only a few staff and entourages from both sides attended. Calabis and Demetrius also followed Lucula. Behind Si. The meeting took place in a spacious barn in this small village. At this time, Calabis saw the "honorary general" of ancient Rome, Gnaeus Pompey Magnus, for the first time.

At that time, Pompey had just turned forty years old. He was slightly stature, but very strong. This was inseparable from his years of training. Even in the days of Rome, he must go to Rome every morning with the young soldiers. The school grounds include horse riding, running, swimming and javelin throwing. His hair was very thick and curled layer by layer. Pompey deliberately combed these hairs back, which is said to make him look more like Alexander the Great, the world conqueror three hundred years ago, but there was always a single strand hanging down. On one side of his forehead, it swayed as he raised his hand, which made him look a little funny. Pompey not only imitated Alexander in dressing up, but in fact he also followed in the footsteps of his idol in terms of dreams. This man was deeply loved by the Roman people. At the age of twenty, he enjoyed the first great triumph in his life, which was celebrated throughout the Mediterranean. Whether it is the stone circle place in far Spain (Gibraltar) or the Egyptian swamps in the east, the reputation of this general is recited. Pompeo always strived to be precise when speaking. He raised his chin and contracted his brows into an inverted figure, trying to make his eyes look deeper, but this also brought about a flaw, that is, when he smiled, he would give It gives people a false sense of relief.

Soldiers and commoners especially loved him, but nobles generally hated him. Luculas and Crassus publicly accused Pompey more than once of being a nouveau riche and a half-liar, and most of his so-called achievements were fake. Out of all the pretense, he is very good at deceiving and coercing the Senate and citizens in order to achieve his ambition of robbing others of their achievements and pursuing his own honor.

But now, Pompey has won again, and the object of his competition this time is Luculas.

The two were extremely at odds, and it had been an open secret since Sulla was a student. But today, Luculas still had to maintain superficial restraint. He didn't want to lose military power while also losing his military power. demeanor. So at first, the two of them fist-bumped and hugged each other enthusiastically, just like comrades reunited after a long absence. They were also cautious when talking about the settlement of affairs, hoping to avoid the other's inaccessible zone. When Luculas saw that the laurel leaf crown Pompey carried on his head had withered due to the long journey, he ordered his subordinates to give him a fresh green one.

Calabis and others, under the instructions of Apis and other tribunes, together with Pompey's entourage, were busy sorting documents, seals, letters, and tokens, and were busy in the barn. But in the end, the two people quarreled in front of many generals and tribunes.

No one knew the source of the quarrel between the two of them, or which party said the wrong thing, but they all witnessed the determination and courage of the two commanders who would fight to the end without fighting. Pompey loudly accused Luculas: "Your expeditions in the past few years have achieved nothing except wasting the money, blood and reputation of the Republic. Now that Mithridates has risen again, Pontus has been unable to eliminate it. It is precisely because the fathers of the Senate cannot tolerate you that they temporarily assigned me to clean up the mess. Today I took a tour of your Excellency's military camp. It is full of indolence and corruption. Don't you know that in the future? How much trouble will I have to bear in my battle?"

Luculas refused to give in: "Yes, I squandered some things from the Republic to stabilize the situation in Bithynia. Before I came, this kingdom was already crumbling. It was I who saved it and made it possible." It returned to the embrace of Rome. With only 10,000 or 20,000 soldiers, I conquered no less than 300 cities and fortresses, wiped out hundreds of thousands of enemies, and defeated the two most powerful emperors in Asia Minor. The first Roman general to enter the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, I silenced all my enemies - and then you, Pompey with a false smile, came and used despicable tricks to deceive the people, take away my men, and take away It’s an honor that should be entirely mine!”

Pompey raised his head and smiled: "Compared with my brilliant achievements, your achievements are only a tiny fraction of the light. When I was twenty years old..." Who would have thought that Lucullus interrupted his boasting: "We know about your achievements. In Spain, your army was repeatedly defeated by the one-eyed dragon Setoulis, and you only wore silk robes in front of the legionnaires, performed the Victory Goddess Cervantes, deceived Rome into your victory, and wrote a letter to threaten the Senate, saying that if your army's supplies were not met, you would let Setoulis enter Italy. When the one-eyed dragon was defeated by his rebellious subordinates After the assassination, you took everything as your credit - in Spain, you stole Metra's credit; in suppressing the Gladiator Rebellion, you stole Crassus' credit; now in Pontus, you are stealing my credit - Pompey, you are an insatiable corpse-eating eagle. When I, Luculus, killed the enemy with my sword and left corpses all over the ground, you were attracted by the stench and blood of the corpses, eating the rotten meat, and then croaking, all of this is my credit, all of this is my credit. "

Even Carapis, who was watching, felt that this was a bit too much. Pompey raised his head, and his curly hair was stiff with anger. Then Luculus curled his lips, waved his hand, and prepared to leave the barn, leaving Pompey alone there, and parted unhappily.

"Please stay, Governor of Cilicia." At this time, Triari suddenly spoke.

Luculus turned around and said in a mocking tone: "What's the matter, Mr. Triari Lecurnicus?"

The suffix "Cus" to the domain name of the kingdom is generally used in Rome to refer to the great commanders who conquered this place, such as Numidicus, Africanus, Germanicus, etc. Now Luculus called Triari "Lecurnicus", which was obviously a harsh satire on his incompetent defeat here.

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