"Needs make every poor person unreal."

- I. Plilius. Syros

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"Hang the basket. I repeat, hang the basket. When the beating became more and more intense, Calabis mustered up the courage to give the order, believing that if the Acayans had really wanted to dig the walls, they would have already started from the pipes, so why keep sending such a signal?

A row of baskets was under the head of the city, and there was a soldier on standby at each pulley, holding a dagger and an axe in his hand, and when he found that the sign was wrong, he cut it instantly, as if the Acaya would put a poisonous snake in the basket, and when the basket hung down, someone in the pipe pulled the basket, and the pulley creaked and swayed, very violently—the dagger in the hand of a recruit was trembling and shaking because of excitement, and the rope was crooked, and all the people on the battlement looked at him, and their expressions were very nervous, and an old soldier next to him was fiercely down on his helmet.

"Move the torch forward a bit and see what's going on below." Pope suggested, but Calabis stopped him, saying, "Let's get a basket first." Then several men kept pulling and pulling in, and carried the heavy one in the middle as fast as they could, and cut it open with their swords, and saw that it was indeed wheat flour, chestnuts, and a little dried vegetables, and many of them lit torches, and they all shed snot and tears. Don't panic, this is just one of them. Calabis tried to tell his subordinates to stay calm, but his own tears were also swirling, and he remembered that when he was a university monk, he read a sentence from Mr. Lao She, and he was very impressed. But now I'm even more impressed. "Hunger is the greatest truth. It's women who have to sell meat."

What's more, now because of the gender disadvantage, even meat can't be sold!

After the Roman soldiers emptied the basket, they threw copper and silver coins into the basket in the sound of more violent beating of the pipes below, which was the request of Calabis, and if the Acayans really gave food, we would give money, without ambiguity.

And then. In the sound of banging, baskets full of grain were pulled up one by one, and coins were sent down one by one, the whole process was orderly, and zuihou did not need to knock as a contact signal, and both sides reached a tacit understanding. In the early hours of the next morning, the Roman soldiers were cooking in the temple of the Acropolis, and Calabis was strictly forbidden to light a fire at the head of the city or in the open air. Ignoring the dignity and solemnity of the temple of Goddess Minerva, little Niko sat with his mother, Elcapa, under a pillar in the corner. Eat to your heart's content – the feeling of dying and reviving is not ordinary.

Sitting on the steps, Calabis hiccuped a few times, and watched several centurions beside him gesture with their canes to counterattack Jihua outside the city, "The Ajaya still can't be overly convinced, although they have sent food, our counterattack must not be too close to their camp - we must act at the opportunistic." Pop insisted, and Calabis had no choice but to respect, though he had placed a letter in his basket the previous night, asking the Acajas, when they saw the signal, to storm the Bronze Shield Army outside the city.

"Brother has long been annoying, the direction of the main attack is set at the siege equipment field of the copper shield guys under the city, kill and burn them all, and they will be finished." High-Bridda kept poking at the steps with her cane, emphasizing the plan.

Calabis touched the stubble on his face and agreed to Highbrid, "It's been raining a little bit this damn spring, and it seems that Philippron's follow-up team is going to wait for Pompey to act, but it will kill us, and we will have to rely on ourselves." Listen, take down the Brass Shields, kill Mithridates, take six thousand Talrants of silver, and return to Rome in triumph, that's what we're going to do. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, there were a few muffled thunders in the sky, and thin raindrops fell again, and the centurions dispersed to gather the training troops, preparing to counterattack on a later date. Calabis walked to the corner of the temple, where Helenputina was squatting and wrapped in a blanket, and Niko's little face was still exposed, "Good girl, do you still want lambs?" "The lamb that Calabis had given her had sunk into the sea.

Little Niko nodded happily and stretched out her little fist, learning the tone of a legionary soldier, "The Romans never owe favors. ”

Calabis laughed and swore an oath to his daughter, and then he looked at the queen, and seeing that the other party's previously ambiguous eyes had disappeared, Helenputina gave Niko's father a smile and said, "Should I give a kiss to a man who is about to go on a journey, like other ordinary Greek women?" ”

"You're a lot better than men, if you will."

Helenputina tilted her forehead and kissed Calabis lightly, then raised her eyelashes lightly and looked at him, "Come back alive, you promised me to build a huge temple of the goddess of hunting on this island." ”

When Calabis said goodbye to Helenputina's mother and daughter, walked out of the temple in the drizzle, and was about to check the battle preparations, a herald with the laces of his military shoes scattered, stepping on the puddle of water with one foot deep and one foot shallow, ran to the envoy of the legion, "Soldier, you should tie the leash well, otherwise you will die on the battlefield." When Calabis complained, he half-knelt down and tied the straps on the soldier, who was so frightened that for a moment he stumbled the situation, "There is a boat in Pontus that has landed, and it is ...... Someone wants to see you, the envoy, and says that he is Achilles, the commander of the Pontus navy. ”

"What?" Karabisnahan muttered.

The towers on the long walls on both sides of the small pier, the ballistas were all ready to go, and a small boat floated on the water outside the stakes, on which the Pontic soldiers waved their small flags nervously, and Calabis was accompanied by several of his men, who of course protected him with several shields.

"Excuse me, is it the Legion Envoy of the Latins behind the shield?" An officer on the boat shouted.

Behind the shield, Karabis looked at the subordinates next to him, and the eyes of several subordinates clearly indicated that he was shouting about you, the envoy, what do you look like we are doing. Calabis coughed twice, poked his head out of his shield, and raised his hand to indicate that he was the Legion's envoy.

"By oath before the gods Minerva and Mithra, Commander Achilles invites you to go to the ships over there to discuss some matters of war and peace, and the noble one awaits you there, and uses his honor to ensure the secrecy and safety of the meeting."

The suspicion in Calabis was even greater, so great that his curiosity could kill nine cats, he pushed away his shield, and then asked the soldiers to push the only small boat in the whole acropolis (the queen sailed back) out of behind the hidden wall, sit on it, find one of the stakes that had not been killed, and make a mark, and knock it down, and sail out of the waters of the small pier. (To be continued......)