"The luminous cup of cherry wine, and the pipa is about to drink. Don't laugh at me when you are drunk on the battlefield. How many people have returned from war since ancient times? Uh..." The chubby eunuch of the Eastern Roman military supervisor read a Latin poem in front of the Song Dynasty without shame. After hiccupper, he raised his silver cup with great interest and drank the cherry wine inside.

Although the young science and engineering men in the Song Dynasty did not have the poverty and etiquette of Jinshi, they were even more happy because of the victory during the day and even raised their glasses. Then they began to discuss the traditional hobbies of science and engineering men.

"The spearmen should be equipped with paper armor."

"Yes, the chain mail is still too uncut."

"Although the paper armor is good, the one-handed axe can still be cut open."

"Calculate the cost. Besides, I didn't say that the axe soldiers were equipped with paper armor. It is most suitable for the spearmen to use paper armor."

"The most suitable steel armor!"

"I said, you can calculate the cost!"

...

Ulysses, the commander of the Eastern Roman Empire, did not drink wine. According to the military discipline, the generals should stay awake at all times and not drink sour wine during marches and wars. The wine is also limited. Ulysses himself willingly abides by military discipline. As the largest central regular army commander of the Eastern Roman Empire in three hundred years, he considered the subsequent battle at this time.

During the day, he defeated the Serbian barbarian army on the battlefield, but the barbarians defended the pass with their courage. Ulysses did not want to suffer any more losses and chose to stop and occupy the battlefield. Tomorrow he would fight to capture the pass, and he felt uneasy. If possible, he hoped to be able to fight head-on with the enemy. Attacking the pass was too beneficial to the defense side.

A loud voice rang in front of Ulysses, "His Excellency Ulysses, don't worry. Our counterweight threshing opportunity made the Serbs understand the power."

Looking up, he was a member of the Song Dynasty teaching group. Ulysses smiled and said, "I hope so."

Looking at the face that was still worried, the young man from the teaching group said confidently: "I really don't have to worry!"

"Don't brag! It may not be so smooth." There was no one in the teaching team. After scolding their teammates, they apologized to Ulysses. They were still clear-headed and pulled away with great enthusiasm.

Looking at these excited guys, Ulysses could only sigh in his heart. These Song people who could sail thousands of miles did not understand the pain of the Eastern Roman Empire. After three hundred years, the national strength of the Eastern Roman Empire was declining. In the past thirty years, the Middle Eastern Roman Empire even destroyed its country for a time and was forced to surrender to the so-called Latin Empire.

In recent years, through the commercial network of the Four-way Alliance, the Eastern Roman Empire received a large amount of food. It was only by using the food to pay military salaries to the residents of the city controlled by the emperor that they could gather 40,000 troops. Before gaining half of the imperial army command, Ulysses could not believe that the emperor could be so decisive. After taking the eagle flag, Ulysses heard the emperor say in a heavy tone: "Ulysses, I believe in your loyalty. The imperial army... is going to be entrusted to you. Try to make more people come back alive!"

The army left Constantinople in a mighty manner, and the women who saw farewell saw tears in their eyes, and some even burst into tears. For more than a hundred years, the Eastern Roman emperors had relied on mercenaries to fight, and they would not make the Eastern Romans sad even if they died. Now these Eastern Roman women are seeing their husbands fighting for their country, their strongest feeling is not glorious.

The heavy pressure made Ulysses feel depressed, and the cheerful banquet seemed to him another world with no connection.

In the Serbian camp, seven or eight miles away, His Excellency Duchamp was vigorously motivated and tried to regain courage for a group of dejected generals. However, this was too difficult. He watched the daytime battle from beginning to end from high places. The Greeks did not use tricks or the Greek fire they rely on for fame. What he saw was the well-equipped and well-trained, strong fighting will and extraordinary physical strength.

The Serbian army showed its maximum strength in every detail. They were not defeated by the enemy's trick, but were defeated head-on by the more powerful Greeks. His Excellency Duchamp has not yet come up with a way to defeat such an enemy head-on.

"Iron Niu must have rebelled! Otherwise, why didn't he appear until now?" General werewolf roared angrily.

After hearing this, Lord Duchamp couldn't help but feel a glimmer of hope in his heart. It was not hope to find excuses for defeat, but hope that General Iron Niu did not fight with the enemy. With the combat effectiveness and caution shown by the Greeks during the day, General Iron Niu, who claimed to be 2,000 or 5,000 or 600, would be wiped out if he fought rashly. Iron Niu's army was considered good at fighting among the Serbian army, and Lord Duchamp needed his strength very much.

However, the other generals did not have the thoughts of His Excellency Duchamp. With this breath, everyone scolded General Tie Niu, who commanded less than a thousand soldiers, for his evil deeds of escaping and even surrendering to the enemy. They did not mention the ugly situation of the Serbian army, who was thirty times larger than General Tie Niu, was defeated head-on.

After cursing for a while, General Stone shouted: "Tomorrow we will use axe soldiers to rush forward and defeat the Greeks from the beginning!"

After hearing this, many generals responded loudly. However, the werewolf general who was responsible for the battle of the axe soldiers could not help but show a hesitant look. The shouting was different from doing things. If the axe soldiers rushed forward, he would have to rush in the front. During the day's battle, the axe soldiers had already tried their best and suffered heavy casualties. If they did it again, the werewolf general who had been warriors intuition would not break the formation easily. If they fought as exhausted as the day, they were hit by the counterattack of the Greek axe soldiers, the axe soldiers who had suffered a lot would be miserable.

Not only did Lord Duchamp fight many wars in the Serbian army, but there were also many generals with some brains. As the discussion deepened, they could not find the weaknesses of the Greeks, and various methods of sneak attack were proposed. Some people simply suggested that the Serbian army restrain the Greeks with a small number of troops, and the main force went around behind the Greeks to cut off the Greeks' path.

This suggestion looks good and received a lot of support, but was denied by His Excellency Duchamp. The Greeks advanced along the main road, and the small troops could not cut off the road. The large troops of thousands of people were too slow to walk the road, and it was very difficult to supply. Moreover, the Greeks are now three days away from His Excellency Duchamp's important fortress. If they fail to defend the current pass, the Greeks can attack His Excellency Duchamp's important fortress. The old nest not only has a large population, but also a large amount of supplies. At that time, the Greeks can set out safely with His Excellency Duchamp's supplies, and the hungry intercepting troops will not last long.

When it comes to the late night, when everyone is sleepy and fighting with their eyelids, the military conference can only end in such a flawless situation.

Before dawn the next day, the Serbian army found that the "Greeks" approached the pass. The reconnaissance forces went out to fight and found that the Eastern Roman army used a large shield as a wall, and the crossbowmen kept shooting arrows from it. The Serbian scouts, who had suffered more than ten casualties, retreated back to the pass. When the generals who had learned the news gathered, it was already dawn.

Looking down at the pass, I saw the Greeks lined up neatly more than 70 meters away from the pass. The front row was a large shield that was one person tall. The Greeks behind the shield wall were assembling some strange wooden equipment. A general said uneasy: "Is it Greek fire?"

His Excellency Duchamp shook his head. According to what he knew, the Greek fire device did not look like this. It should be another weapon. Although the Serbian crossbow was very ordinary, His Excellency Duchamp still mobilized the archers to shoot at the Greeks. The Greeks immediately raised their shields, and the rain of arrows hit the shield, falling down weakly.

"Axe soldiers are ready to attack!" His Excellency Duchamp ordered that the Greeks could not be able to build equipment as they wished.

"We... haven't eaten yet." General werewolf replied.

It takes a lot of effort to swing the battle axe, and His Excellency Duchamp ordered: "Then go quickly!"

The Eastern Roman Army here had a meal early. All counterweight trenchers were spare parts. On the battlefield, they only needed to be assembled according to the drawings. The trained engineers did not look at the drawings at all, and they were assembled with quick hands and feet. General Ulysses, who was wearing steel armor, also brought the axe soldiers wearing steel armor to the front line. Seeing that the trenchers were quickly assembled, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. The heaviest part of the parts he disassembled could be carried by six people, but the entire trencher could be dragged by more than a dozen people. There was no room for more than a dozen people to display in such a mountainous area.

Seeing the sun rising little by little, General Ulysses, who was hit by several lost armor, became more and more anxious. Fortunately, the Serbs did not directly send troops to raid, and the catapult group was finally installed. Seeing the pass more than 70 meters away, Ulysses breathed a sigh of relief and shouted: "Start the attack!"

The counterweight cabin in front of the counterweight trench in Eastern Rome is made of iron. There are no box walls in front and on both sides. There are two manual lifts on both sides, which rely on manpower to lift the weight of the iron shell and lead core to a certain height. When the long arm of the lever at the back is fixed, the iron box in front is raised to a certain height. There are a whole row of rolling rods on the tabletop of the lift, and the heavy objects on the tabletop are pushed into the box by manpower.

The shooters let go of the rope on the back arm, and rely on the principle of leverage, the heavy object on the front short arm fell, pulled the throwing arm, and threw the heavy object pulled by the long arm behind. The iron box in front fell to the ground, and the engineer quickly stabilized the lever and pulled the heavy object out of the iron box containing the rolling rod. During this time, the lifting platform had lifted the other heavy object with the lifting platform. When the lever resumed the throwing posture, the counterweight object was sent into the iron box again.

After doing this, each catapult can be launched once every two minutes. Fifty catapults keep firing heavy objects, and then they see projectiles in the air flying towards the pass without interruption.

The axe soldiers here just finished their breakfast and stretched their limbs with satisfaction and prepared to attack. Suddenly they were hit by a disaster. Some of the projectiles were stones, breaking the bones and tendons of the Serbian axe soldiers and splashing blood. These heavy objects were not completely stones, most of them were gravel and soil in sisal cloth. When hit by this thing, it looked less tragic. However, more than 20 kilograms of heavy objects flew in this way, as long as they were hit, they would not survive.

Originally, the pass was full of guards, and quickly collapsed under the fierce attack of counterweight catapults. They were either smashed to death or hid in a safe place to avoid the deadly attack.

Seeing this, General Ulysses issued an order to advance. The Eastern Roman steel armored axe soldiers held battle axes in their hands, and waited for the last batch of heavy objects to be thrown into the air, shouting and killing towards the pass.

The captain who rushed in front held two one-handed axes in his hand, and a low barrier was built by the Serbian army at the pass. The captain hooked a part of the force with his left hand to hook up, climbed up two steps, and hooked up another part with his right hand to hook up two steps with his power to climb up two steps. A few alternations were made, and the captain turned over. Not only was the steel armor not pierced by the wooden stick, but the sharp tip was broken by the captain wearing the steel armor.

As soon as he stood up and rushed to the barrier, the Serbian swung his axe and slashed over. The captain turned slightly and swung his right battle axe out. Unexpectedly, the Serbian axe soldier was extremely brave and his hands were not weak. The axe hit the captain's helmet and actually knocked the helmet away. The warrior also paid the price. The captain's battle axe slashed deeply into his ribs, and the warrior fell to the ground and drove away.

Under the sunlight, the captain's dark face reflected oil. He shook his slightly confused head and smiled. A white tooth on his dark face was particularly conspicuous. At this time, another enemy rushed up and fought desperately. The captain raised his right battle axe with his right hand and blocked it. Under the command of the commander's left hand, he screamed, and another Serbian warrior, a pawn.

Holding the pass behind him, the captain made the two battle axes so well that they chopped down five or six people in a moment. At this time, Serbian spearmen on both sides stabbed the guns, and an Eastern Roman axe soldier in steel armor came out from the rear of the right to block the sprint on the right with a shield. The captain shook out the right-hand battle axe. The spearmen on the left was cut in the chest and immediately looked up to the bottom. The captain turned his head and saw that three or four subordinates had already come up behind him. He strode forward and pulled out the battle axe from the chest of the falling spearmen. The spearman immediately cried out a terrible cry. The captain ignored him, and the team member behind him had already picked up the helmet dropped by the captain and buttoned him up.

The captain shook his neck left and right.

As soon as he stood up and rushed to the barrier, the Serbian swung his axe and slashed over. The captain turned slightly and swung his right battle axe out. Unexpectedly, the Serbian axe soldier was extremely brave and his hands were not weak. The axe hit the captain's helmet and actually knocked the helmet away. The warrior also paid the price. The captain's battle axe slashed deeply into his ribs, and the warrior fell to the ground and drove away.

Under the sunlight, the captain's dark face reflected oil. He shook his slightly confused head and smiled. A white tooth on his dark face was particularly conspicuous. At this time, another enemy rushed up and fought desperately. The captain raised his right battle axe with his right hand and blocked it. Under the command of the commander's left hand, he screamed, and another Serbian warrior, a pawn.

Holding the pass behind him, the captain made the two battle axes so well that they chopped down five or six people in a moment. At this time, Serbian spearmen on both sides stabbed the guns, and an Eastern Roman axe soldier in steel armor came out from the rear of the right to block the sprint on the right with a shield. The captain shook out the right-hand battle axe. The spearmen on the left was cut in the chest and immediately looked up to the bottom. The captain turned his head and saw that three or four subordinates had already come up behind him. He strode forward and pulled out the battle axe from the chest of the falling spearmen. The spearman immediately cried out a terrible cry. The captain ignored him, and the team member behind him had already picked up the helmet dropped by the captain and buttoned him up.
Chapter completed!