At dinnertime, Highburda was summoned and received by Luculas in person.

Lucuras' tent was easy to find, and the one topped with a statue of a golden eagle was adorned with a statue of a golden eagle, and when Hebrida entered, he saw that Lucuras had removed his armor and that a shield-wielding slave was carefully wiping down a set of treasures worth 30,000 ceths. The commander-in-chief, dressed in a casual robe, sat at a simple conference table, surrounded by non-commissioned officers and commanders of all ranks, including the commander of the Seventh Legion, Sekdilius "Reckless", and Uterius.

"Dear centurion, I heard that you were brave in a battle a few days ago." After watching Highburda finish the military salute, Lucurasrang's tone was very kind.

"Your Excellency, I must act at the opportune moment, and the veteran centurion Utarius is not on the front line. Therefore, when I noticed that the enemy in the palace was showing signs of escape, I categorically allowed the brothers to take offensive measures, and I hope that Your Excellency will understand. This set of rhetoric, Highbrida has been reading it well in the past few days.

"My men are like that, even I don't know that Mithridates has fled beforehand, haha." Sekdilius told a very boring joke to help his men out of the siege, and when no one around him responded, he grew his mouth and snorted awkwardly.

Luculas slowly raised his hands and propped his chin in front of him a board of poplars covered with words, "Centurion, I can understand your courage and determination, but the list presented to me by the Commander and the Military Tribune is quite bad for you, and perhaps I should give due consideration to your punishment." ”

Highbrida was silent, and stood straight in place, full of dead pigs who were not afraid of boiling water.

After a moment of silence, Luculas spoke: "Centurion, if you can hand over all the captured supplies and verify the identity of the prisoners, I can consider giving the soldiers of your regiment a reward of two hundred drachmas each, and be exempt from military law, how about it?" Utyrus tried to say something, but was stopped by Lucuras with his eyes.

"Yes, Your Excellency, I have no opinion." After a brief pause, Highburida agreed.

"But you have to make sure you don't hide anything from me, and that's the basis of our dealings – trust. Can you do it, Centurion? Lucuras blinked, his gaze pressing.

"Yes, Your Excellency, I am willing to swear before the gods."

"But the centurion you must accept the punishment - I forbid you to participate in the next battle, you must be confined until the end of the next battle, and the spoils of war will not be yours."

Highburida's face shook twice, then she replied, "Your Excellency, I don't have any opinions. ”

"Good, take a break!"

"Hey, may the god of war be with Rome!" Highbrida "snapped" and made a military salute, then turned and left.

"He's the core of the Febrian Veterans, a rascal who doesn't keep his word!" Fresh after Hebrida left, Utiris protested dissatisfiedly.

While the crowd was talking, Luculas sat down and raised his voice: "Gentlemen, I remind you not to forget the objectives of this expedition. The scene immediately fell silent, and several slaves brought the sand table map, Lucuras raised his scepter and banged on the table, and all the generals and staff officers surrounded him.

"Cancel this year's winter camp again." This was Lucuras's first command, and it immediately stirred up a great "! And then there was a long "......", and they thought in their remnants, did the commander really not know what the soldiers were thinking?

This was the third time that Luculas had announced the cancellation of the winter camp, and the soldiers of the three legions camped in the desolate wilderness or in front of the enemy's fortresses during the long expedition, and Luculas never allowed the soldiers to set foot in the extremely prosperous Greek cities on the coast of Asia Minor.

As a result, the soldiers nicknamed Lucuras "the patron of the Greeks".

"Do you want to cross the Taurus Mountains and continue the pursuit of Mithridates?" Seeing that the people were embarrassed and silent because of the cancellation of the winter camp, Utiris was the first to speak to break the deadlock.

Luculas put his scepter on the sand table, where Cappadocia was located, "No, we are alone, and it is easy to cut off the supply lines of Pontus and the Armenians here. Then the scepter swiped up on the sand table, "I will leave behind the four brigades of the Eleventh Legion, along with my minions, fascists, and eagles, to act as suspicious soldiers, so that the enemy thinks that I am preparing to cross Taurus—but in fact, together with the Seventh Legion, I will turn back and sweep the city of Pontus on the southern shore of the Yukxing Sea (Black Sea), exhaust the wealth and military resources of Mithridates, and burn the war all over his territory, making him a lost dog, so that he can no longer sustain himself." Gentlemen, I judge that in three years at most, Ben will be destroyed by me. ”

After all the people praised Luculas's "striking the east and attacking the west", the commander slowly sat down and said: "After the surrender of Pontus and Armenia, the occupation of Parthia in Mesopotamia will not be afraid, but I am more worried about the discipline of the army and the question of the tax collectors than the military." ”

The official system of the Roman city-state was very simple, and the senators and some affairs officials were born to adapt to the state of small countries and widows, but when the republic miraculously became a hegemon in the Mediterranean for nearly three hundred years, such a rudimentary system could not absorb and manage the vast new conquered territories, so Rome adopted the "tax collector" system, cooperating with some insatiable tax companies: the company's tax collectors followed the army to various regions, responsible for squeezing oil and water from the heads of the local people, After handing over the pre-negotiated haode tax to Rome, the remainder goes to the tax contractor.

Quite simply, unlimited expansion of that remaining tax is the ultimate dream of all tax collectors.

Quite simply, the people of the conquered territories hated the Roman army, hated them for killing their husbands and fathers; But the hatred of the tax collectors is even more, and the hatred of them even deprives their children of the right to live.

At that time, the dictator of Rome, "Sulla the Lucky", in order to punish the cities of Asia Minor for their support for Mithridates VI, imposed a fine of 20,000 Talents on the local people, and sent legions and tax collectors to collect them - but according to Lucuras's statistics, the tax collectors had already squeezed 100,000 Talents from the cities of Asia Minor before they gave 10,000 Talents to Rome - this is the fundamental reason why Mithridates has been defeated repeatedly, because many Minor Asians regard him as a savior to overthrow the tyranny of the Roman tax collectors.

Therefore, when Luculas crossed the sea to Asia Minor, he forbade the army to plunder, swept away the greedy tax companies, abolished the heavy debts of the region, and did not hesitate to offend many knights in the city of Rome (the wealthy class of Rome was inferior to the senators, and most of them were usurers and business owners based on assets alone), and many officers and soldiers of the legions. The Romans hated him as much as the Greeks loved him. The rumors of the Senate to remove him from his post are already very tight, and the recognized successor is the "General Pompey", who is deeply supported by the common people and soldiers, the smirking Pompey, the lowly Pompey, is now being loved by the Senate and is given great power to eliminate pirates in the Mediterranean.

"Next target, Amisus. We had to complete the deployment and set off in the early morning. "This is Lucuras' unquestionable order.

When everyone had been ordered to leave, Luculas looked at the slaves who were tossing their armor and swords with slightly tired eyes, and then took out a book, which, by the candlelight, was titled "Memoirs" and was signed by Sulla.

The dead dictator wrote at the frontispiece, "This book is dedicated to my dear friend, my orphan, my warrior, Lucius. Licinius. Lucuras", and then the next line reads, "Lucuras, you are so much remembered by the Divine, and I can only remind you of one thing, and that is to always be in awe of the gods and dreams. ”