Soon, the shallow waters of the whole harbor were full of soldiers standing half-waisted in the water, shields in both hands, some without any armor, all trudging towards the piers and squares, and the Rhodians were desperate, and they abandoned the walls and vantage points that could cover and suppress the harbor, and they were under the onslaught of two legions outside the city of Cassiio, and many of them were patrolling the open space between the new wall and the acropolis, looking for their city magistrates.

The magistrate Clearcus was found in front of the woodland outside the Acropolis while he was directing a group of men to assemble larger catapults to fend off the towing surprise of the Cassilo fleet, but he was soon surrounded by many elders, nobles, and officers, demanding that "now that Camillos is nearing the fall, it is time for him to surrender honorably".

"Is this the collective will of the nations? But you must know that even if Cassiio had taken the city of Camillos, it would have been difficult for him to win the all-out confrontation with the Roman High Priest, and if we surrendered here, we would have lost all our efforts, and we would not have to wait for the High Priest to come and our state would be stripped of its right to tax and its independence. The sheriff asked the crowd.

This question caused the crowd to fall silent again, and the magistrate then looked at the situation around them, and continued in a low voice to everyone, "In my opinion, first send an envoy to the peace talks, and express your willingness to cede the land and pay compensation, and talk to Cassiyo about everything, and delay the time; On the other hand, we concentrated the remaining baggage and money and withdrew to the Acropolis to continue to hold on. ”

Several elders expressed concern about this tightrope approach, but this is the time. The construction of the magistrate also seems to be the only feasible way to preserve the state. Who called the people of Rhode Island a small state that has survived between the teeth of various powers for hundreds of years?

In the harbor. Among the wreckage and corpses floating around, a small boat carrying envoys, under the banner of peace, boarded the flagship of Cassillo, and expressed its willingness to cede the ports of Rhodes, Camillos, and other ports that were open to the sea on the island, and to hand over to Cassiillo all the remaining ten large ships with decks and ramming horns (which the Rhodians cunningly hid in caves by the sea), and promised to provide Cassiillo with ten new ships every year for the next three years. and the corresponding oarsmen, and finally the envoy was willing to sign a treaty on behalf of the state to pay an indemnity of three hundred talents.

"If you give it all to me, Rhode Islanders, what will you leave for yourself?" Cassiyo laughed maniacally and asked the envoy.

"We would rather return to the mountains in the middle of the island and live a life of logging and grazing, and it will be enough to save our gods, women and children." The envoys pleaded with Cassiio in a begging tone.

"Don't use this to deceive me, I'm also the commander of the Roman navy. Aware of the cunning of you seafolk people, your promises are as varied as the sea itself. Cassiyo replied loudly. Now do not say a word before me more, but hand over at once thirty noble hostages, and then before sunset the last acropolis, and all the strongholds and barns of the whole city, or I will destroy the whole city of Camillos and the kingdom of Rhodes to ashes, as you love the false high priest. ”

The envoys were terrified and fled under the rebuke of Casillo, and then the heralds stood on the deck in turn, and Cassiio gave them an order: "The Rhodesians are all a trick to delay time, and I will order the two legions outside the city to intensify their assault on the new walls of the city of Camilos, and try to destroy them all before sunset, and send three more brigades to the harbor to reinforce me." ”

Sure enough, half a day later, the Rhodian gathered all the remaining strong into the acropolis, and continued to resist desperately, while the rest of the old and weak were all thrown on the side of the wall, and the cry shook the sky, and many of the priests had poisoned themselves in the city temple, and the corpses were lying all over the temple.

On the seaside of the siege position, several centurions and tribunes of Cassiyo were directing reinforcements to board the deck of the transport ship, "Hurry up, hurry up, now the sun is setting in the west, the commander does not have so much time, we must seize this vital city before the enemy gets support, as long as it is defeated, the situation will become favorable for our side." ”

A little while the sun was setting off on the back of all their ships, carrying twelve hundred men, about six Roman miles away, at the harbor on the other side of the headland, when the sun was already setting behind all their ships, and the masts and sails shone with a golden glow.

The monotonous sound of water, the monotonous sound of paddling and drumming, in the light refracted on the surface of the sea, the navigator at the forefront, already seeing the mountains and birds in front of the port of Camillos, "ready to turn the rudder." ”

At this moment, there was a commotion on the deck, and on the side of the cliff on the opposite headland, several transport ships had come around, all of them were soldiers, and the shields hanging on the sides of the ships were shining.

"Spread the flag, wave the flag, ask for their identity." The navigator was terrified, and although he had learned the answer to the mystery, he was still not dead.

By the time the other navigators waved their flags, the fleet was still heading forward, as if their goal was only to reach the port, completely blind to their own side.

"Bastard, bastard, hit the shot!" With the roar of the navigator, the bowstring of the ballista on the deck of the ship shook, and the stone bullet flew over with a whizz, hitting the stern of a parallel ship opposite, and the soldiers over there were killed and wounded a few, and then the angry curses began, and now the navigator could see clearly, it was all Italian mixed with the Gallic dialect, and the shield logo floating on the sea that fell over there was a white elephant, and it was clear that this group of soldiers was the enemy's Fifth Lark Legion.

The Fifth Legion was unequivocal, and when they found out that it was the enemy, they also opened fire with the small stone throwers or scorpion crossbows of their own ships, and the two sides approached each other in front of the narrow channel of the shipwreck of the harbor, and because there were no tiered cabins and decks, the oarsmen stood up, and stabbed and slapped each other at the long oars, and the infantry soldiers of both sides also staggered to their feet, jumping and slashing each other between the approaching sides of the ship, and those who fell into the water and groaned and crawled everywhere on the deck.

Soon, before the shipwreck, many transport ships were quickly sunk, and the waterway was completely sealed, but the fleets of both sides continued to fight in chaos.

However, this fleet, carrying the two brigades of the Skylark Legion, was the advance team, and the main fleet of Li Bida, with purple sails in the back, was lined up in a queue of flying geese, and quickly joined the battle group, and the victory was decided in an instant, and the reinforcements of Cassiyo were either destroyed, or rushed to the side of the sunken ship and ran aground, more than a thousand soldiers were partially drowned, and the rest were all captured like dead fish, and several of them were twisted to Macmillan. (To be continued......)