Chapter 3: Planning (I)

"Their horses are neither beautiful nor good at running, they only ride straight forward, or make a straight turn to the right." - Tacitus's Chronicles of Germania describes the Germanic cavalry

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The whole scene froze, and Adiana lay on the temple, her eyes staring through her hair at the statue of Minerva above, the eyes of the goddess seemed to look down on her, her hands naturally hanging to the side, and the pendant box rolling on the ground. Little Niko and Calabis stood beside her, watching the amazing scene.

"Father, what did she just drink?"

Calabis crouched down and stroked Nicol's hair, "She just drank a highly toxic poison, and she thought it would kill her quickly." But this princess named Adiana was chronically poisoned very early, and the toxin was called power and ambition. ”

Soon, Adiana's face turned blue and she began to retch, she thought that the toxin was beginning to spread in the blood and organs, she struggled to get up, holding the gilded base of the statue of Goddess Minerva, so that her mind would be more relaxed, and the posture of death would be more elegant, "Calabis, for the sake of our former master and servant, please do not insult my corpse." Then he was short of breath, his face flushed, and he kept saying "I'm going to die."

It wasn't until she saw that Calabis sat down cross-legged, looking at her miserable posture, still munching on the Massa, that she was furious, her chest heaving, her eyes glaring at the bastard, but her mouth was speechless, as if she were condemning the unrighteous man.

"This is the third time you've been stupid. The Princess. ”

When Calabis said this. Wang Nu realized it. The venom in the pendant had long since been replaced by the amphora, but she still asked, "What are you putting in it?" ”

"Ordinary mint water." After Calabis finished speaking, he stretched out his hand to Adiana, "I have to tell you, Adiana, the Bronze Shield Army has been severely annihilated by us, and your father is at the end of his life. Yes, I don't blame you if you want to hate me, but it's not too late to wait until the dust settles, and you also used poison and castration to force me to kill Obisius, and now it's okay to say anything. ”

"But there's also the vault in the hands of that Stratonis, who was with Governor Menander of the Bronze Shield Army, and you didn't find her filthy body when you cleaned up the battlefield?" With that, Adiana saw through Calabis's mind and knew that Stratonis and Menander must have fled. Then he whispered, "Something about six thousand Talents." I can join forces with you, but I want half of it. ”

"No way, these six thousand Tallant's gold and silver have been taken away by those two dogs and men to flatter Pompey."

"I told you on the white schooner that we could kill that slut and take the riches before Pompey or your commander of the Thirteenth Legion cameβ€”a small portion of it would be given to your men, and we would have the lion's share, and then we could be together, and with so much money, we would be kings and queens ruling Shijie." ”

"Will you be my queen?"

"Yes, because your amphora is a little bit more than I expected from you, I think it's better to marry you than to marry a fool like Chalnus or Marcha, but I'm going to share in the reign of our empire." When the princess said this, she was not ashamed at all, as if she were discussing a deal in the market of some small market town on the Black Sea, and she did not hesitate to shake the hand of Calabis.

Calabis laughed, "It's a pity that the Pontus Empire is almost gone, and I don't want to marry you, and I don't want to die on the couch one day." But we can still work together, as long as you can only get a thousand tarents, it's not bad, think about it, enough for you to pay a bribe to the Roman Senate, and enough for you to rule a kingdom as big as the Bosphorus. ”

"Deal!" Adiana's chestnut eyes rolled, and she agreed to this second-level plan: if she can really get this wealth, it will be enough to maintain a fleet of three hundred ships, "Speaking of which, your current combat achievements are only to lift the siege of the Acropolis, but if you want to completely defeat Pontus, you must have the support of the navy." ”

"I don't have a navy, Marcha's fleet is gone, Pompey and Peternius have not moved so far - the current situation, whoever wants to have a fleet will have the upper hand." Calabis judged.

Adiana's eyes rolled again, and she said, "We might as well wait for the time." ”

"What are you waiting for?"

"Wait for your Thirteenth Legion, and even Pompey to send you a fleet." The princess smiled mysteriously and said, "After the destruction of the Bronze Shield Army, my father only has the new model army of Arcilaus under his command, and the army strength is insufficient. The key to victory or defeat is naturally on Achilles' fleet, but whether it is Pompey or your legion commander Petnius, it will not be easy to defeat Achilles, the Roman fleet will inevitably stay here for a long time, and we will have the advantage of the landlord on this battlefield, when the time comes"

"You mean that we are using small means in this war to achieve our goals?"

"Amphora clay pot, I regret it, I should have let you follow me in the first place, so that the Pontus Empire would have been you and me a long time ago." Adiona sighed, and Calabis nodded politely, and then both of them laughed, and their hands tightened.

"Is there a sand table?"

Calabis told little Niko to move the multi-tube oil lamp closer, and arrange the sand table and paper sketches, and Adiana put her hands on her cheeks, stared for a moment, and gestured with her slender fingers: "When we crossed the Cimmerian Strait before, that waste Triari's Eighth Legion always followed our tail, but did not dare to engage in battle, and now it is estimated that it is still circling in Colchis. But if Pompey had eliminated Petra, Triari would have been at the vanguard of his army, and in the spring and summer the seas would be stormy, and he would have to let the fleet choose the shortest and most convenient distance. ”

"That is to say, Pompey has two routes, one by land from Colchis via the Simmerian Strait, and the other by sea from the seaport of the city of Stola in Colchis, and by sea directly to Ponticabion."

"Hey, Legion Envoy, it's up to you to decide what to do."

"I don't care how Pompey's team comes, I'm only responsible for keeping him neither up nor in Pontikabiang." Calabis laughed sinisterly, Adiana loved the expression of the amphora, which made her feel great pleasure.

At this moment there was a noise behind them, and little Niko called out to her mother, and Calabis looked back to see Helenputina standing at the temple door, with Elcapa holding a bloody head with a javelin in her back, and the queen looked at them with some dazed and complicated expressions.

"Don't talk to me!" Seeing Calabis, Helenputina didn't know what posture to use to face it, so she could only throw down the words stiffly and turn away. (To be continued......)