Although the surrounding soldiers were all on guard against Qin Dong to prevent him from fleeing suddenly, they didn't dare to do anything to him, Qin Dong didn't do anything to them, they were already shouting in their hearts God bless, where would they have the courage to do anything to Qin Dong, if it weren't for the military discipline constraints and military orders, these officers and soldiers would probably all run away.

No one cared about the corpse of Vlatu anymore, and the general asked a few miscellaneous people in the arena to drag the corpse away, and then respectfully invited Qin Dong to the underground cell of the arena.

The whole arena is an elliptical rectangle, the emperor's stand is next to the long track on the east side, there is a performance area in the middle of the two tracks opposite the emperor's stand, here is the performance area for gladiatorial fighting, when performing gladiatorial performances, this performance area will drop about five meters under the operation of the arena personnel, and there is a mechanism control zhì underground.

The lower section, which is closest to the gladiatorial area, was the special seating of Roman nobles and officials such as emperors, senators, and bishops, and such VIP seats were carved from a single block of marble; The second and third zones are the seats of knights and citizens; Above the fourth zone are seats for ordinary freemen. There are longitudinal aisles at regular intervals, and these aisles are radially distributed on the inclined plane of the auditorium. The structure has been carefully calculated and cleverly conceived to allow the audience to sit and exit quickly, so that even in the event of a fire or other chaotic situation, the audience can leave the venue quickly and easily.

There are a large number of pipes and aqueducts underneath the performance area, which can quickly send out the stagnant water in case of heavy rain, and the underground also serves as a preparation area for gladiators and beasts. In later words, it was the actors' backstage, where the gladiators and beasts who came to participate in the gladiatorial fight were preparing underground in the performance area, once it was their turn to play. The Colosseum will use a machine sling to lift them to the upper performance area, and when they are done, the winner will take the elevator back to the preparation area.

In the basement of the performance area there were cells for a small number of extremely murderous gladiators, most of whom had been trained in gladiator schools, but there were also a small number of gladiators who were not trained, but were captured by enemy soldiers or slaves, and these cells were extremely fortified. And they were guarded day and night with swordsmen.

Qin Dong walked in the pit of the cell under the arena, followed by the general and a group of soldiers who were guarding him, and the sound of heavy chains mopping the floor even drowned out the sound of the soldiers walking.

The slave gladiators in the cells on both sides of the pit got out of bed when they heard the sound. Holding on to the iron railing of the cell door, watching Qin Dong, who was wearing a mask, passing by with his hands tied by huge iron chains.

A gothic prisoner with short hair shouted at the generals and soldiers in the back, "Hey, who is this guy?" Still wearing a mask, making it so mysterious, what the hell? More majestic than my Bart? ”

No one answered him. Qin Dong turned his head to look at the short-haired gothic and stretched out a middle finger to gesture, and continued to walk forward, the prisoner gladiator Bart saw Qin Dong stretching out his middle finger to him, although he didn't understand the specific meaning, he still understood that this was definitely an insult, and he immediately shouted: "Hey, damn it, do you dare to insult the brave and invincible Bart?" Don't let me run into you on the field. Otherwise, I'm going to blow your balls! ”

A small man with short curly hair in the next cell reminded, "Bart, I advise you not to provoke him. Don't you see that so many soldiers are just escorting him alone? This man is definitely not an ordinary person! ”

Bart said proudly, "So what? You must know that the invincible Bart has won thirty-three games in a row, and none of the people who meet me can survive under my hands! Will, I think your kid is frightened by this formation, don't look at such a big formation, in fact, it's all bluffing, that kid is wearing a mask, I guess he must be very ugly, otherwise he wouldn't have worn a mask, so as not to frighten the audience."

The gladiators are actually the lowest people in society, there are slaves, death row prisoners, prisoners, and civilians who volunteer to be gladiators for money, they are actually a group of poor people, their sadness is that they are not united enough, after all, everyone is selfish, and this selfishness makes this group of people who should be sympathetic not only kill each other, but also slander each other, which is really sad.

There are not many gladiators imprisoned here, there are only thirty-six cells in total, and there are eighteen cells on each side of the tunnel, but there is another one at the end of the tunnel, this one has always been unoccupied, and now it is ready for Qin Dong.

The thirty-six gladiators here are not ordinary gladiators, one of them is drawn by lot every day to participate in the gladiatorial competition, and there is a gladiator and gladiator competition every day in the gladiatorial arena, and the gladiators who have graduated from the gladiator school duel with one of the ones who have been drawn here, and they can only survive if they win, and failure is death, and the same is true for those who come out of the gladiator school, and if there is one less person here, there will soon be new people to fill in.

While the other prisoners were standing behind the cell door looking at Qin Dong, the little man Will wondered, "Bart, don't you think it's strange?" ”

Bart said disdainfully: "What's strange? I find you weird every day! ”

Will said to himself: "The thirty-six cells here are all full, and the one who was added this morning, according to the usual practice, thirty-six is already full, if you count this masked man, there are thirty-seven here, don't you think it's strange?" ”

"What's so strange? One more is one more, and one less doesn't matter! Bart said nonchalantly.

Will could only shake his head helplessly, he couldn't talk to Bart at all, Baal was a brainless barbarian.

Qin Dong was imprisoned in the thirty-seventh cell, opposite the end of the tunnel, this room is not big, but it has been cleaned up, what makes Qin Dong a little happy is that this cell also has a small bathroom, which can be bathed and defecate, I have to say that the Roman Empire is still very successful in public health.

Although it was night, it was bright in the underground cell because of the moonlight. At night, the arena's gladiatorial performance podium is divided into two under the control of the people concerned. Separated from the middle, the underground prison section is exposed, so that the prisoners in the prison feel as if they were living in an open-air prison. During the day, the arena closed again. Prisoners who were drawn were hoisted up to the arena by a manually operated lift to duel with the gladiators of the gladiator school.

When the general and all the soldiers were gone, Will shouted, "Hey, that brother who just came, my name is Will, I'm a Vandal, what's your name?" ”

Qin Dong is not the kind of person who is particularly ruthless and deliberately pretends to be B. He was happy to communicate with the prisoner gladiators, and he said, "You can call me Bull, I used to be on the side of the Huns."

When a prisoner heard this, he asked, "Are you captured by the Huns?" ”

Qin Dong said: "No. I killed someone in Constantinople! ”

The prisoners began to ask, "Why are you wearing a mask?" Does your face look ugly? ”

Qin Dong shrugged his shoulders and said, "I'm not afraid to sue you, I'm actually very handsome, and those noble lords are worried that I'm too handsome." When the duel is played, the hearts of the ladies in the stands are hooked. So let me put on a face shield. ”

"Hahaha......"

"Waha......"

"Whoa.......

When the prisoners heard Qin Dong's boastful joke, they immediately burst into laughter, and some even learned to roar beasts as a way to express their excitement.

Someone shouted in a loud voice when others were laughing: "Hey, Bull, I heard that in order to make the ladies fall in love with you, you can't just rely on your face, but you have to be strong, thick, and durable!" ”

Qin Dong smiled: "Actually, I really want to compete with you. See whose is stronger, thicker, and longer-lasting! ”

The prisoners rejoiced: "Whoa, whoa, ......".

At this time, a roar sounded overhead: "What is the ghost called?" What is it called? Don't want to sleep? Believe it or not, I kept you awake all night? ”

The prisoners were silent, apparently they had been miserably groomed. They are not afraid of being beaten, but they are worried that they will not be able to sleep all night long, which is too uncomfortable.

Qin Dong walked under the iron prison door and looked up, only to see a circle of soldiers with weapons standing guard around the open-air performance venue. The specific position he is in is too narrow, and the specific situation on the performance field cannot be seen. Qin Dong asked, "Is the performance hall open here every night?" Are there soldiers standing guard on it every night?"

One of the prisoners in the cell on the left said: "Of course not, it will not be opened on rainy days, so that the dungeon will accumulate water, and the stage will only be turned on on a clear night, and almost every night there are soldiers standing guard on it, this is to monitor and prevent us from escaping!" ”

Then Qin Dong asked some more questions, and the prisoners answered them for him one by one, even if the prisoners here were often hung on the performance hall and never came back, there were still some very powerful ones who survived and were familiar with the situation here.

Through the conversation with these prisoners, Qin Dong finally had some understanding of the situation and the rules of the gladiatorial arena, the competition schedule of the gladiatorial arena was arranged as follows: eight o'clock in the morning to half past nine o'clock is the horse race time, ten o'clock to half past eleven o'clock is the time for the gladiator and the beast duel, and two and a half in the afternoon is the time for the gladiator to duel with the gladiator, and now the gladiators are more difficult to train, so basically only four duels between gladiators and gladiators are arranged every day, However, the duel between the gladiator and the beast can be arranged several more times according to the actual situation, and sometimes there are more horse races, so the duel between the gladiator and the beast in the morning will be postponed to the afternoon.

The four daily duels between gladiators were arranged in this way, the first three were fought by gladiators from gladiator schools, Constantinople had a total of four gladiator schools, funded by the gladiatorial arena, these four schools could accommodate 2,000 gladiators, in fact, these gladiatorial schools were just a combination of training camps and prisons, because the vast majority of gladiators were slaves and captives from all parts of the Roman Empire, they did not have any freedom and power, and lived at the lowest level of society.

Each of the four schools nominated a gladiator to draw lots, and then conducted a duel in pairs, this kind of gladiator competition has rules, it is not possible to kill people, let alone attack the opponent from behind, the two gladiators who lost leave, and the two gladiators who won took a break for half an hour to duel the champion and runner-up. They also can't kill their opponents, and the loser gets the runner-up title and leaves the field after a small sum of money, while the winning champion stays and rests for half an hour in the side lounge.

Next, the gladiatorial arena will draw a prisoner from the underground cell, and each of the thirty-six death row inmates underground has been determined a number, from number one to thirty-six, these numbers are written on the wooden skewer with Roman numerals (numbers on the clock), and the end of the number is inserted into the lottery, and the official in charge of the affairs of the gladiatorial arena shakes the lot, and the wooden skewer on the ground is written on the number, that is, the number of prisoners is selected to fight a life-and-death duel with the gladiator sent by the school who has just won the championship.

There were very few rules to the dueling this time, and the two sides of the duel had to draw lots to determine their weapons and equipment before starting the duel, one of them would draw a spear (or halberd) and a fishing net, and the other would draw a shield and a short sword.

For the Roman aristocracy, the most brutal fighting was undoubtedly the most exciting. The gladiators who came out of the school were specially trained, and the prisoners selected from the gladiatorial dungeons to participate in duels were very vicious, they were basically murderers or captives.

The gladiator with the net had to wrap the net around his opponent and kill him with a trident, while the other gladiator, wearing a helmet and holding a dagger shield, desperately chased after the opponent who wanted to defeat him. In the end, the losing side pleaded with the mercy of the people in the stands, and these spectators decided his fate, and if they waved a handkerchief, he would be spared death; If these people have their palms down, it means that they want to die.

In addition, there is one of the most brutal duels, this kind of duel is basically only held once a month, the two sides participating in the duel do not draw lots to decide on weapons and equipment, the two go on the field with their bare hands, but the ground of the gladiatorial arena has long been messy with all kinds of weapons and armor, relying on the gladiator himself to grab and pick up, which requires a very fast speed, sometimes one party's weapon is knocked down, he will not necessarily lose, because there are other weapons on the ground for him to pick up, as long as he has enough time.

There are no rules at all in this kind of duel, one qiē has the ultimate goal of killing the opponent, and the winner does not need the will of the people in the stands, he himself can decide to kill the opponent, and he cannot help but kill the opponent, because if he does not kill the opponent, both of them will be killed by the gladiatorial arena side, this kind of duel only one side can survive, and the loser must die. (To be continued......)