"The victor kills, and the loser is killed." —Xenophon

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Calabis looked at the herald's cavalry and asked, "Has the Acropolis fallen?" ”

"No, but Lords Marca and Claudius are concerned about the lack of troops to defend the city."

"Tie these two up." Calabis clapped his hands, and then several GIs stepped forward, tied up the two hapless messengers, and twisted them into a tent covered with thick snow on top.

Then Calabis jumped over the trench, took the flag from the flag bearer, walked to the front of the line, pointed to the top, and said to all the hundred-man soldiers, "Do you see the palm mark on the flag?" This is the pride of our 10th Brigade, which means that in the 13th Legion, we are always the forerunners, the eternal killers, the eternal main force, and this time is also the same - General Petronius has let us come to Ponticabion in this ice and snow, not to eat barbecue with nothing to do, we have come to stain our swords with the blood of the enemy. Today, we are here to annihilate a force of the Pontic cavalry, proud, fierce, and invincible, sitting on the galloping Piosia horses, thinking that no one on the shijie can stop them, their generals call themselves bisons, and all the soldiers consider themselves the elite of the elite, but now they are sealed up on this headland by us on two legs, and I can now confess to you that the enemy is doomed! What we have to do is to fill their deaths with a little glory and glory, plunge your sword into their chests, and in the blood of the enemy, the Thirteenth Legion will surely become the true Eagle Banner Legion! We'll be here. Become a legend. ”

“VIVO！” All the soldiers shouted. Then they will prostrate themselves down. On the terrace of the Roman camp, three brigades of eighteen ballistas burst into fire, and the stones and javelins fired whistling over the people's heads, and the Pontus position in the narrow area was smashed to the ground of men and horses, and the debris of wood and earth burst everywhere. The Bosphorus's minion archers, followed by a wave of ignited rockets, fell like a meteor shower.

In the rain of fire, the Romans' trotting pace, taking advantage of the gap between the firepower, pressed towards the wooden fence and trench of Pontus, and all the cavalry of Pontus dismounted, lined up, and threw javelins and arrows at the Romans through the wooden fence. The Romans also threw their javelins during the charge, and the two sides quickly exchanged short hands near the shallow trenches. Many veterans armed with Scythian spears with barbs, stabbed and pulled, that is, the wooden fence was pulled down, and all of them stepped on the corpses lying in front of the trench and the wooden fence, and bravely attacked the Pontic interception.

At this time, the trumpet sounded in the city of Khersonnes, and the defenders fought their way out of the towers, gates, and secret gates, and cooperated with the Romans in attacking Takselle's position.

In the gap of death, the cavalry of Pontus fought until dusk, the dead and wounded, the frightened war horses scurried around, the bloody Tak Schiller, standing on a slope of Xiangshang, the antler wooden fence on all sides had been trampled down, and the corpses were pressed on it, this was the most fierce area of wrestling battles, the hot blood melted the snow, the helmet of the "bison" had been split, and he was holding the sword in one hand, and the black feathers of the former pride were scattered in the wind, and the messy hair covered his eyes, But from a distance, he was still the cavalry general who terrified the enemy, a wild bull galloping across the wilderness.

The Roman soldiers holding the flag slowly surrounded from all directions, Hebrida shouted to everyone cowardly, and then several soldiers who couldn't hold it back, holding shields and javelins, rushed up, "Bison" shouted violently, with a long sword to cut the shields and weapons of these soldiers, stabbed an auxiliary soldier, suddenly with both hands, a Celtic sword pierced into the side of the bison, the bison howled in the air, the snowflakes were blown up the trajectory, and then many soldiers hugged him, one by one with a fighting sword and dagger, piercing into his shoulders, neck, and back

"Pull the ballista further." Among the corpses all over the ground, Calabis was asking the auxiliaries and military slaves to move the dead bodies of the enemy and us, and the artillery and sappers were moving the ballistas forward, and then Calabis saw a corpse, a very young corpse, still holding a sword tightly in his hand, and four gold chains hanging from his breastplate, he was silent for a while, and then half knelt down and dusted off the snow covering the other party's childish face, "Bury our battle hero well, and return this gold chain to his family." ”

When the slaves put the captured Pontus horses on new harnesses and led them to the rear to set a circle, the Roman legions' ballista positions had been moved forward, and the target was the towers and gates of the city of Khersonnes, 1,500 Roman hoplites, and thousands of servants, lined up in a solemn formation, staring at the castle quietly, and the snow falling quietly.

The city of Khersonnes panicked, they did not know what the purpose of this Roman legion with the eagle banner was, whether it was to save the city or to destroy it.

"Hand over two hundred thousand drachmas, and save the city; If you don't, you will destroy the city. "Facing the representative of the city's self-government, Calabis, who sat on a horse and held a cup of hot drink, gave a multiple-choice question, and beside him, there were flags of various teams, and two centurions carried the head of the buffalo Tak Schiller, and shook it in front of everyone, and put it in a wine urn, and handed it to the horseman who rode on a black horse, and after the horseman had fastened the urn in the saddle, he stretched out his hand to Calabis and the centurions, and then galloped in the opposite direction, and he reported the victory to the city of Ponticabion— But the two horsemen, who had delivered Marcha's orders, were still tied up in their tents.

"However, the order received by your army," the representative was about to say.

"Who cares!" After Calabis finished speaking, he suddenly skewered a few pieces of roast meat with his fighting sword and stretched them out in front of the stunned representative.

“”

"Eat it." Calabis spoke calmly.

The representative's eyes looked at the cold tip of the blade, and then he opened his mouth tremblingly, slowly trying to swallow the meat, but his eyes began to look at the expressionless Legion envoy on his face again.

After the representative had gone through a lot of hardship and had bitten off a small piece of meat, and swallowed it with great difficulty, Calabis laughed, "That's what we usually eat, meat with blades buried. ”

Eventually, Khersonnes handed over 150,000 drachmas, plus a considerable amount of grain, wine, and meat, and Calabis decided to return to the city of Ponticabion, as Claudius sent a second round of emissaries. (To be continued......)