Marcha's young face, wrinkled into a ball, smiled and raised his hands, probably about to accept his father's pardon, the two Pontic warriors quickly leaned up, cut his hands back, pressed on the trunk, the charred bark kept falling, Philip pulled out his sword, stabbed Marcha in the chest and abdomen a few times, Marcha grew his mouth, covered the wound and sat down, "I'm going to die, you killed me here, this is my father's order?" ”

Philip, who wiped the blood stains of his sword with a silk cloth, shrugged his shoulders and said: "I have to tell Your Excellency the Governor that your father pardoned you in the palace, but this Roman legion adjutant refused to surrender to Pontus, held you hostage and killed you, understand?" ”

On the other side, Marcha could no longer answer the young officer of the Bronze Shield Army, he crooked his neck and half-opened eyes, with a tired expression on his face, his eyebrows completely drooped, and he sat cross-legged, no longer breathing.

"Summarily execute the Roman murderer of the Bosphorus." Philip turned and shouted at Claudius.

Claudius, who knew it, smiled at the bearded face, "I can't die here." As he spoke, he struck the chin of one of the Pontic warriors behind him with his elbow, and the warrior fell on his back with a nosebleed and fell on his back, and Claudius crossed the man, dodging several javelins and arrow feathers, and slashed his hand at the samurai's blade, breaking the rope, and flying onto his mount, "Catch him!" Or kill him! Philip commanded loudly.

Pontus rode his bow and stringed, and Claudius' mount was as fast as lightning, and he bent over and picked up the Celtic sword that had just been inserted into the ground. Screaming angrily, he broke up the hussar's blocking formation. Also waving left and right. After slashing down the two Pontus, he jumped over the low wall of the ruins, and the javelins flew behind him, but he dodged them in his saddle, and in a short time he climbed over the hillside and departed.

Several brass-shielded officers looked at Philippe, who pointed to Marcha's body and said, "Bring it back to the palace in the city of Ponticabion." Let's just say that the Governor's killer has fled. So the bloody corpse of the governor was carried onto a shabby mule cart, and the burning sparks and black debris of the village and the branches of the trees drifted about, and the dull sound of spring thunder was heard in the distance, and the cavalry of Ponticus, with their spears raised, stood on either side of the corpse-carrying mule cart, and formed a long line, led by Philip, towards the city of Ponticabion. By the time the ewe had stepped out from behind the low wall in a state of fright, the mule cart was gone, and the cold rain was falling.

In the Acropolis. Calabis and a group of soldiers were riveting improvised aqueducts to draw rainwater – made of timber. Sending the water to the stone trough cistern, Pope was letting his hair get wet from the spring rain, and led a few craftsmen to the bottom of the aqueduct to smear the mud carefully, "This has the effect of preventing leaks and filtering." ”

The siege had entered the fifth day, and the food in the acropolis was running out rapidly, and Calabis had to order the wheat porridge to be boiled thinner in water to alleviate the famine, and the water in the cistern was quickly bottomed out, so he had to build an aqueduct to draw rainwater, but this was not a long-term solution, and the hordes of soldiers wrapped in cloaks and lying on the back of the covered battlements were very weak, and the wounded soldiers in the temple of Minerva were even more miserable, and there was a lack of medical treatment, and many people were infected with wounds, or were too weak, and died on the bed frame, Flies in early spring soon breed and fly around their corpses.

Helenputina did not want Necol to see such a scene, so she took her daughter and sat on the colonnade of the Acropolis, watching Calabis and the soldiers busy, but Necol could not be idle, so she went up and down the aqueduct shelf, and Calabis looked at her lively daughter, grinned with a stubble mouth, picked up some hay and reeds, and made a "little sailboat" with a few strokes, and let Neco's drive up and down the aqueduct, and the Amazon queen who was sitting on the steps looked at this scene of her daughter and her father, and laughed too.

"Hungry?"

Niko shook her head, and Calabis smiled, in fact, his own stomach was very hungry, and his head was a little dizzy. He didn't know how long he could last on such days, because the successors of the Thirteenth Legion in Philiplon, should they have forgotten themselves! Damn, even if Pompey comes to save us at this time, I'll bow my head and bow down.

Finally evening, the Roman soldiers of the Acropolis began to kill the horses, first the pack horses and mules for transport, "Hey, divide the meat evenly, two portions a day for each person." In front of the meat table, several butchers with the army stood in the rain puddle with their fingers outstretched, and the soldiers first set up a cauldron and boiled the horse meat in boiling water, and the stench of it could not stop the hungry stomachs, and then put most of the boiled haode horse meat in a cistern and stoned it to prevent it from spoiling, and then used a barbecue fork to get the ration of the meat, and roasted it on the fire—a Scythian diet that the Romans have the privilege of enjoying today.

In the drizzle, Calabis walked to the steps of the colonnade, and under the statuette of the goddess Minerva, he delivered the roasted haode horse meat to Niko and Helenputina, and Niko took a bite and grinned, obviously not very accustomed to this strange taste, Helenputina looked at Calabis who was sitting hunched over, and sent the roast meat back, "I observe, you haven't eaten for a day and a half. ”

"It's okay, the officer has extra rations." Calabis said with a smile.

"You don't have to lie to me, Calabis, there has never been such a thing, maybe it is in other Roman ranks, but you don't here." Helen Putina bit half of the horse's meat, "How, I'll give you half of it, it's okay, I don't dislike you." ”

Calabis nodded, took the queen's remaining half of the horse's meat, and suddenly asked, "You say, if the reinforcements don't come after another market day, should I go to Adiana to surrender?" ”

"You want to save your men's lives, it's a gamble, especially against the cunning princess." Helen Putina said as she gently bit at the horse's flesh.

"Yes, maybe three years ago, I might have followed you into the jungles of the Caucasus, even if it was as a slave boy in the Amazon. But now, I have a lot of responsibilities that drive me not to die easily, and on the other hand, they keep pushing me to death. ”

Helenputina laughed a little mischievously, which was a rare expression on her, "Is it also your responsibility to me and Niko?" ”

"Yes."

"Then after the war, you will go to our kingdom to be a male slave." Seeing that the man did not answer, Helenputina turned her face sideways and asked, "Yes, you also have your own responsibilities in the city of Rome, right, Calabis?" (To be continued......)