If you use your fist to hit the stabbing stick, it will be your hand that is the most poisonous.

- Plautus (the most important comedy writer of ancient Rome)

In fact, the defenders of the iron mine were not slaughtered by the army under the command of Gnaeus, but were angrily killed by the yellow-faced and emaciated captives; Gnaeus did not stop these soldiers of the Brutus family, after all, there were also a lot of soldiers among them who were under his command in the past, which the Kingdom of Epirus and Pyrus owed them!

By the time the reborn soldiers had vented their grievances, the defenders in the iron mines had become a mess of minced meat; Seeing them slump on the ground one by one due to the force they exerted, Gnaeus immediately prepared a large amount of food for them to eat enough to fill their stomachs, and watched them devour it with his own eyes.

Nearly three hours had passed between the time Gnaeus led his army into the iron mines and the time when the captured soldiers had eaten and drunk; And Tulbo's side still did not react in such an earth-shattering battle, and Gnaeus also roughly guessed the situation of the defenders in Tulbo's heart. Therefore, he did not urge those liberated soldiers to speed up, but only kept the army under his command on alert.

After all the liberated soldiers had stopped what they were doing, Ganeus stood on a high platform in an iron mine and said to the soldiers below: "Soldiers, you are the most brave and fearless warriors of the Brutus family, I am proud to have been your commander, and Your Excellency has prepared a new number of soldiers and a grand banquet for you.

Now, as long as you return to the main army of Your Excellency the Leader with the men and men of the Ninth Legion under my command, you can enjoy the great feast and warm welcome to your heart's content; After that, you will be able to regain your Legion number and new weaponry, and you will once again be the most elite soldier of the Brutus family! ”

Gnaeus's proclamation rightly drew loud cheers from the soldiers; However, there was a rather fierce-looking man who stood up from among these people, walked to the front of everyone, and asked in a loud voice to Gnieus, who was not far away: "General Gnieus, you let us follow the people of the Ninth Legion, what about you?" Are you here to stay? ”

Gnaeus glanced at the strong man who stood up with great interest, and replied calmly: "Yes, I naturally want to stay with my First Legion." Without waiting for the man to ask again, Gnaeus then asked him: "You are very good, tell me what your name is, and what your previous position was?" ”

The strong man looked at Gnieus with a fearless face, and reported loudly: "Rex, the captain of the second brigade of the third eagle banner legion of the Brutus family, has seen General Gnieus!" After saying this, Rex continued to ask, "General Gnaeus, why are you staying, do you want to attack Turbo's defenders again?" Is this the family's second conquest of the kingdom of Epirus? ”

Rex's performance did impress Gnaeus a little bit with him, and it was good that this man was able to survive the captives as his captain; Instead of keeping military secrets, Gnaeus replied head-on: "Captain Rex, the reason why I stayed here is to prevent the defenders of the city of Tulbo from attacking our army again, and to wait for the arrival of the follow-up army.

As you might expect, this is our family's second conquest of the kingdom of Epirus; Moreover, this time we have gathered eight heavily armed legions and an elite force of 10,000 archers to launch a strong attack on the kingdom of Epirus. We've taken twelve cities west of Tulbo, and my latest mission is to come here to rescue you, and the rest of the army will soon arrive. ”

Rex understood everything after listening to Gnaeus's explanation; So, without hesitation, he pleaded with Gnaeus: "Your Excellency, General Gnaeus, I beg you not to send me to the Chinese army of His Excellency the Leader; I wish I could stay with you for the time being, but give me a dagger and I will show the Epirus in Turbo what regret is! ”

Staring at Rex, who was kneeling on one knee in front of him, Gnaeus felt some dilemma; If he stays, it will be a bit of a disobedience to Tiberius's orders, but if he refuses, Ganeus really can't say anything! Before Gnaeus could think of a word, a large group of men stood up from among the soldiers, walked up behind Rex, and pleaded in the same way:

"I beg Your Excellency General Gnieus to leave me in the army for revenge!"

As soon as the word revenge was spoken, the atmosphere in the iron mine became solemn in vain, and the soldiers of the two legions under the command of Ganeus involuntarily clenched the weapons in their hands, and those soldiers who were liberated also seemed to think of something, they got up from their positions one after another, and knelt down on one knee behind Rex, and said loudly to Gnaeus:

"I beg Your Excellency General Gnieus to leave me in the army for revenge!"

Looking at the soldiers who knelt down in front of him, Gnaeus's heart was also surging and difficult for himself; After struggling inwardly, Gnaeus suddenly opened his eyes wide and shouted to Bruce, the commander of the Ninth Legion beside him:

"General Bruce, you immediately send someone to report the situation here to the Chinese army of Your Excellency, and say that I, Ganeus, have requisitioned these fourteen thousand soldiers before Turbo has taken them; Whether Your Excellency the leader wants to fight or scold, I will wait until I finish this battle! In addition, immediately take out all the spare weapons and equipment of the First and Ninth Legions and distribute them to them! ”

When the soldiers below saw that Gnaeus had given these two orders with such great courage, they immediately cheered excitedly; Gnaeus did not echo such cheers, but drew the short sword from his waist, pointed the short sword straight to the sky with his right hand, and shouted loudly: "Revenge! "Revenge! Revenge! Revenge! ......" all the soldiers naturally shouted in unison.

Let's rewind the clock to half a month ago, when Tiberius and Sula Pompey and others all arrived outside the port

Sulla and Pompey received information that Pyrrhus was leading a large army to confront the army of the city-state of Semon in the border area, and passed this information to Tiberius without reservation.

After Tiberius got this information, on the one hand, he lamented the eating and drinking of the nobles and wealthy merchants of the Epirus Kingdom, but on the other hand, he did not trust this information very much; Later, after a series of reconnaissance by the Brutus family, the authenticity of this information was finally determined, and it was also determined that Pyrus and his heavy army were in the border area.

This provided a perfect opportunity for Tiberius, and Tiberius certainly did not miss this golden opportunity; It is only reasonable to speed up the attack on the kingdom of Epirus, and another thing that should not be missed is to find a way to join forces with the city-state of Semon to deal with Pyrus and his heavy army.

For this reason, Tiberius consulted with Sulla and Pompey about the feasibility of the matter, and both agreed with the matter and were willing to do their utmost to facilitate its completion; Thus, with the support of Sulla and Pompey, Tiberius formed a small mission in his army, which was escorted to the city-state of Semon by a small fleet sent by Sulla and Pompey.

On the fifth day after the departure of the mission, they arrived at the port of Semon, where they landed successfully; Thanks to Sulla and Pompey. It was precisely because they had met a considerable number of high-ranking people in the city-state of Semon that the Brutus family's mission could successfully land in the port of Semon; It also provides an opportunity for the next alliance.

After landing at the port of Upper Semon, the members of the mission, escorted by Sulla and Pompey, rode their horses all the way to Semon, the capital of the city-state of Semon; Immediately after entering Semon, the mission sent by Tiberius identified himself like the top brass of the Semon city-state and was received by the high-ranking officials of the Semon city-state.

For the city-states of Semon, the Brutus family of the Roman Republic had little intersection with the countries of the Greek peninsula, except for some trade exchanges, there was no other intersection at all; Therefore, there are no conflicts and contradictions in terms of interests. On the contrary, the city-state of Semon and the Brutus family had a common enemy, King Pyrus and his kingdom of Epirus.

The enemy of the enemy is the friend, and this principle is the supreme law of diplomacy that is common in ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad. Naturally, the high-level leaders of the Semeng city-state also understood. Especially in the current situation, the Semon city-state is facing a large-scale attack by the Epirus Kingdom at any time, and the high-level of the entire Semon city-state is in a panic, with the visit of the Brutus family, everyone is much more relieved.

After all, the high-ranking members of the Semon city-state are not fools, and they have not yet arrogantly thought that the 10,000 Semon legions in their city-state can resist the 30,000 heavily armed legions under the personal command of Pyrus; Although the city-states of Semon and the kingdom of Epirus were founded by the Greeks, there is no tradition of dividing friends and foes between states by virtue of this relationship.

What made the city-state of Semon even more unacceptable was that the conflict in the border area was clearly provoked by the defenders of the Kingdom of Epirus from the beginning; As a hero and god of war sought after by the Greeks, Pyrus not only did not deal with it impartially, but even led 30,000 hoplites directly to the border area to oppress the Semon city-state.

Not only did Pyrrhus lose his heroic reputation and image in the city-state of Semon, but it also made the Greeks of the entire region of Greece disappointed with Pyrrhus and his kingdom of Epirus; After all, the Greeks sought after Pyrrhus, the great hero of the powerful foreign enemy, not Pyrrhus, who oppressed his comrades, and Pyrrhus completely disappointed the Greeks. (To be continued.) )