"This month is passing away, and the next month is just around the corner." - Homer, The Odyssey

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Menander woke up at six a.m., a good habit of his twenty years of military service, a descendant of the Spartans, whose ancestors had long been mercenary officers in the Persian margins of Asia Minor and became professional officers. Minander himself was also lucky, his father was killed in the war with Mithridates VI, so he himself was promoted by the king, and was arranged in the rear of the Pontus Empire to train the elite Bronze Shield Army, which is said to be a drill, in fact, because the "Bronze Shield Army", the symbol of the Praetorian Guard of the Pontic Empire, has been crippled several times in the wars of the Romans, and experienced grassroots officers and superior commanders are very lacking, so Menander climbed quickly.

So, slowly, in Menander's mind, the Bronze Shield Army and the Benzo's Empire were on an equal footing, and he was disgusted with the old-fashioned lords such as Archelaus and Achilles, as well as the "new model army" that Adiana had formed in imitation of the Romans, "and these troops and personnel had no effective effect other than to disperse the best investments that should have been concentrated on the Bronze Shield." His Majesty's empire was supposed to be guarded by my men and horses. This thought also made Menander himself more and more stubborn and arrogant, and even before the death of Mithridates VI, he had the idea of taking control of the Bronze Shield Army and replacing it as the new emperor of Pontus, and after the Bronze Shield Army and the empire fell together, Menander took refuge under Pompey's tent. He also became the king of the Bosporus Kingdom and the Krien of Pompey, but during these years, he was still committed to reviving the great army of the "Bronze Shield Army", believing that as long as the Bronze Shield Army was resurrected, he would naturally have a natural inheritance to the Pontus Empire.

No, there is another basis, that is, he and Stratonis, the princess of Pontus, have a legally qualified marriage and the born Lin'er. Come to think of it. Minand, with his face shaved to a shiny iron beard, knelt down in front of the banner altar of the god Mithra with purple trim and a sun-patterned motif, and prayed for his family and army, "My wife. My baby. I hope you are in Sinop City. He also made a rich sacrifice to the gods, sinking the white bull and the black cow into the lake in front of the tomb of Amasya. Come and add the blood of slaughter to the spears of my soldiers, and the blessing of divine power to the cuirass of my soldiers, as long as I defeat the army of that and Caesar's two or three legions, the entire kingdom on the southern shore of the Black Sea will surely fall under my tent again, and I will reproduce the hegemony of the Pontus Empire, and in the future, whether it is Pompey or Caesar, if either of them wins the civil war, they will have to recognize my dominion here. Then, the recruitment and training of the army for a whole ten years are worth it, and the prestige of the Bronze Shield Army will once again resound all over the world. ”

After praying, he sat down straight at the table, finished his simple breakfast, and then put on a leopard-tail helmet that imitated the pomp of the emperor of Pontus, and a golden cloak, and walked out of the tent, where several manunons brought him a blue mid-bottom horse, which Minander stepped on with ease, and then waved his hand to his young standard-bearer, Sicobodias, in a very imposing manner, and signaled that when the priest's sacrificial ceremony was completed, he would pull up the banner of the legion, a sun emblem embroidered with golden thread, which was also a signal for the whole army to attack.

Today's battle is coming, Sicobodias is very excited, and nervous, when he heard that the priest's chanting has ended, he is ready to pull out the banner high, and the soldiers around the marriage heard a burst of birds, and saw several gray-black crows, out of nowhere, all stopped on the spear fork of the banner, and there were more and more crows, and those who could not be relied on made a very annoying noise around the military flag.

Sweat was running down Sicobodias's head, and he initially shook the flagpole slightly, ready to chase the crows away, but who expected to catch up more and more, and the coach Minander also looked at this scene with great fear, everyone knew that the crows represented carrion and death. Therefore, the general next to him quickly proposed to either remove another standard-bearer, or ask the priest to explain this terrible vision.

Because of Sicobodias's devotion to himself and his duty on the battlefield, Menander felt that there could be no better man to guide the army in battle, so he demanded an explanation from all the priests about what it prophesied—if the explanation did not satisfy the whole army, he would kill the chief priest in public, and let the body of the chief priest attract the crows.

While all the priests were terrified, one of the shrewd young men came out and shouted, "This is a great auspicious sign, and the crow symbolizes all the cities of the whole Ukxinghai, and they are rushing to the king's banner, that is, the king will rule the Ukxinghai after the victory of this battle!" ”

This explanation made Minander almost satisfied, and the generals and soldiers also cheered, and the morale of the entire left and right ear army rose rapidly, and today the snow was shining, the sun was shining on the battlefield, and there was no haze to stop the advance of the soldiers, so Minander waved his hand again proudly, and Sikobodias used all his strength to raise the banner and strode to the forefront of the 15,000 soldiers.

The bronze shield corps of each detachment began to form a long horizontal line that could cross the entire battlefield front, and the spearhead rumbled and flattened, they were all young men with good faces, with neat helmets, and the first three rows of double pay recipients were equipped with solid bronze cuirasses and colored feathers, competing with each other to motivate each other, competing against the camp of the enemy's 12th legion, and launched a surging spear forest assault!

Opposite them were the Romanized legions lined up in three columns, these people seemed to be deeply affected by yesterday's defeat, and the two small camps lost also made their left flank unable to deploy, and the whole formation seemed to be crooked and strange, now as long as the Bronze Shield Army was powerful and could tear apart the opponent's defense on the central front, they could achieve a great victory in this battle, and their commander and king would be able to rule the entire Youkexing Sea, and the Bronze Shield Army itself could win great wealth and glory.

"In order to fulfill today's prophecy, my companions follow the banner in my hand and bravely break through the enemy's camp!" The most excited was the young standard-bearer Sikobodias, who led the charge at the front of the line, and the sunlight shining obliquely from above the eaves of his helmet made it clear the battlefield situation between the enemy and the enemy.

In the sound of slogans, the lightly armed shooters on both sides rushed out of the array, throwing javelin hunting spears at each other, the young warriors of the Bronze Shield Army shouted, and the spear tips stretched out in the formation fanned out, so that the javelins and arrows thrown by the other party were thrown down to the ground, and then the sound of flutes and pipes sounded, and a pair of military shoes that were densely packed together stepped on these weak weapons under their feet, "The Bronze Shield Army is unstoppable!" I don't know who shouted this, and then in front of and behind the two assault groups on the left and right ears, they all shouted this slogan like a tide, and the sound shook all directions. (To be continued......)