Chapter 21: Liberation I
"With the wind of flattery, historians no longer dare to write straight." -- Tacitos
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The queen faced Calabis silently for five seconds, unable to see her expression clearly through her visor, and then said softly in Greek: "There is no need to go back to the Bosphorus, the master's mission has failed, and there is no point in going back to life." We'll go to the upper reaches of the Donmother River to rest, where our little kingdom is, and everything will be known at the beginning of spring. β
"Everything" in the mouth of the queen, Calabis immediately understood.
"Can you tell me what your master asked you to do when he came?"
"Yes, my lord Marcha, if you want me to bring Adiana, the princess of Pontus, to make his sister his wife." Helenputina's answer, as Calabis expected, was a tradition of the Mithra family, where brother and sister were united to maintain the purity of the bloodline. No wonder Naisa told Adiana that she would eventually have the same fate as her mother: as a trophy, even if she was unwilling in her heart, she would accept domination, and true pleasure could only be obtained after death.
With that, Helenputina shook the reins with her hand, and was about to leave from the back door of the barracks in the light snow that was flying diagonally, when Calabis shouted at her back, "What would you do if it were a boy!?" β
But Helenputina did not answer, quickened the horse's hooves, and sped away.
But Ella Yoyo said twice, pulled the horse, spun around in a circle, threw a Persian embroidered belt to Calabis, nodded at him, and then chased after the queen and left.
The snow was falling heavier and heavier, looking at the snowflakes rolling on this belt, Calabis fell into a dazed and melancholy state, Potty walked slowly and grabbed his arm: "Calabis, you must survive, even if it is for me." β
Calabis smiled bitterly twice, and then said to Porti, "Yes, we can no longer be separated in the midst of suffering. β
At this moment, the two Roman sentries on the tower poked their heads out in panic and shouted to everyone in the camp below: "The Eighth Legion has suffered!" The Eighth Legion has suffered! Then he rang the alarm bell in a panic, and the whole camp was stunned, and they all put down their work, "Don't slack off, Highbrid, you are responsible for checking and correcting this place." Appis brushed shoulders with Hybrida, who had saluted in good measure, and hurried up to the tower, and then he saw the most horrific scene of his life:
In the wind and snow, the main force of the Eighth Army, which had rushed across the river, was attacked and assaulted by the cavalry of the Pontus Brigade who had been ambushed behind the hills in advance, and the shouts of killing were earth-shattering.
"Idiot, Terry Ali." Appis cursed in a low voice, and sure enough, Mithridates took advantage of his injuries to trick him to death, luring Tri Ali into the predetermined ambush circle.
In a few moments, all the people in the tower were stunned - for the golden eagle banner of the Eighth Legion had fallen and vanished, and it seemed that Triali had either been killed or had abandoned his troops and fled. The fall of the Eagle Banner completely shattered the courage of the soldiers of the Eighth Legion, who were charged back and forth by the Scythian mercenary cavalry dressed in animal skins, and the originally stable formation was divided, torn, and finally crushed, and even many of the bravest veterans and centurions could only crouch behind their shields, fending in vain against arrows and horses' hooves, but could not think of any way to change the situation.
"Sortie. Cross the river and set up, then blow the trumpet of communication, ready to meet Triali. As soon as Appis's order came out, the four centurions beside him couldn't believe it, "But Your Excellency, even if we add the wounded soldiers now, we will only have a force of about a thousand people." Doing so is tantamount to suicide. β
"Listen, if Terry Ali is finished, there will be no self-protection here." Apis held up the ring on his finger to the centurions, indicating that his power was unquestionable. The centurions looked at each other, but they could only accept the order and go downstairs to set up the task. Then Appis stepped on the stairway and ascended to the top of the tower, and shouted to everyone in the howling wind and snow:
"Good day, everyone, whether you are citizens or slaves, I, Apis, have a greeting to you in advance, Happy Saturnalia, for the weather is good today. Then the Roman unicorn army had a little trouble on the battlefield ahead, and we had to cross the river to meet them, but the centurion told me that the army was not strong enough. So, I came up with a little ideaβnow, Apis. Jodel, in your capacity as the Roman military tribune, has issued an urgent motion to free all the camping slaves in this camp, and yes, you are now free people. As he spoke, Apis held up a scroll of paper with a scroll and quickly signed and signed it, "This document is immediately in force in the army of the governor of Silesia, and from now on there will be no slaves left in this barracks, so all men, including the original slaves, take up arms and go out of the camp with the sound of the trumpet!" β
What the!
Neither Calabis nor Potty could believe their ears, which meant that they were now liberated, but Apis still did not call them citizens, but freedmen, and even so, he had to go into battle with the Roman soldiers of true citizenship in such a dangerous time - although Calabis had been seeing the battlefield, it now meant that he would have to go head-to-head with the Roman soldiers, armed with weapons, and face to face with the surging enemy, which was completely different from before.
But before he could figure anything out, Hybrida threw him a chain curtain, which was left by a wounded soldier of the Eighth Legion, and Calabis hurriedly buckled the shoulder strap buckle on the chain curtain, "You used to be a member of the Triple Wing, and now you are fighting with our Triple Wing." Then Arminius gave himself a Roman broad-edged dagger, and Calabiston felt that his hand sank, and Arminius saw this, and sighed and said to Hebrida, "This thing is still a rookie." β
"There's no time to train, even rookies have to recharge, listen to Calabis, you're standing in front of the queue." Highbrida gestured the short sword in her hand back and forth, and said.
Standing on the Zuihou side? This means that I am cannon fodder, and I am indeed used to make headshots. Then Calabis received a heavy javelin and a small round shield, which showed that Arminius was very caring, because he could not use the legion's javelin and shield flexibly without tempering, so this heavy javelin was actually equivalent to a spear for Calabis, and the small round shield was an ornament.
"Remember, just know how to aim the head of the javelin at the enemy." Arminius instructed, then patted Calabis on the shoulder, and put on his round helmet - alas, Calabis didn't even have a helmet, his equipment was all patchwork and incomplete.
"Triple team, lined up, ready to listen to the trumpet." Highbrida personally stood on the snow with a triangular "tongue of fire", and as a result, the entire wing was only about forty people, even the liberated military slaves. "Heat up the meal, I'll be back." Calabis turned his face sideways, looked at Porti on the side, smiled, and said.
Before leaving, Potty quietly stuffed a thick fur hat into his armor.
At the sound of the trumpet, the incomplete third team, together with the rest of the hundred-man team, marched out of the camp in columns.