Chapter 11 Friends of God (Part 2)
Defomochis is a well-maintained, fat man about forty years old. Although he has some small Egyptian-style decorations, he still looks like a white-skinned ghost from top to bottom. His face is very rosy. At first glance, Nourished by the finest local wine in Cyprus, the interior decoration of the Temple of Love is also luxurious enough. It is obvious that Defomochis had heard about the war in advance and found many craftsmen to decorate all the gold and gem wall decorations. It was smeared with plaster to hide it from others, but Lepidus was not a fool. He stood on the gorgeous porphyry floor of pure Upper Egypt and politely saluted the high priest, claiming that this time he sent troops to your country, he was really following the general order of the Republic. , and as a last resort, I hope to be forgiven by God’s agent. .
"Personally, I don't want to fight with your friendly and honest side at all, and I have no intention of destroying this gorgeous wonder that is famous all over the world. I hope you can understand this." Lepidus lowered his hands and spoke in a polite Greek tone. He was polite and unlike any arrogant and rude Roman general, which was enough to make Defomochis feel at ease.
But then his heart arose again, because the general looked up again at the giant goddess statue that had been smeared with plaster. He seemed to have swallowed his saliva, and then with an innocent expression on his face, he pointed and asked, "I heard The jewelry on this cupid statue is worth six hundred to eight hundred talents, right?"
The high priest murmured that it was probably like this, and then Lebid's next words made him furious. The naturalized general sighed quietly and said, "It's not easy to fight a war. There are eight thousand people in front of me now." I was in trouble while eating, so I hoped to get a solution to the problem by offering sacrifices to the God of Love." Then the entire temple hall became completely quiet, and I could only hear the chatter of the soldiers outside and the noise of the wind.
After a long time, Defomochis begged, "I understand your difficulty, General, but please don't do this."
Li Bida touched the marble base of the statue in embarrassment and whispered, "Actually, I wanted to explain to you yesterday that those two stone bullets were not accidentally fired at all, but some of the subordinates did it intentionally. I heard that in the army A considerable number of centurions and soldiers had no intention of worshiping the gods and spent the whole day planning to loot this sacred place." Then he sat quietly in front of the high priest and continued with a smile, "It's difficult. Let's do it. I'll accept those people. It's embarrassing to say that they are all pirates, horse bandits, sailors, and soldiers. It will be a miracle that I can bring them to the island. If they don't succeed, even if they don't succeed. My life is in danger, can you understand what I say?"
"I am willing to pay a thousand talents of real money and silver, but I do not want the buildings, vegetation and trees of the Holy Land to be destroyed." Defomochis made the conditions.
"One thousand, one thousand talents!" Lepidus shouted out in a daze at first, and then seemed to realize that he was too rude just now, so he said to Defomochis, "But can we really come up with so much money here?" Without waiting for the other party to answer, Lepidus put on an expression of sudden realization and shouted yes, yes, yes - because the officer I got to surrender, who was of course your brother's former subordinate, said that the entire treasury of seven thousand talents was hidden by your brother. In this holy place, he was willing to sacrifice himself and went to the city of New Paphos to attract our attention.
How boring you two brothers must be. Lepidus approached Defomochis again, gently but clearly with a threatening tone, "So I hope to get the remaining six thousand talents. Besides, this is not your property in the first place, and I want it to be returned to its original owner.”
"Stop your wishful thinking. One thousand is the limit price. Don't think that you can be lawless when you come with swords. If you dare to invade this holy place, the whole world will not let you go, not even the Roman Republic."
"So what? Is the status and honor here comparable to that of Athens in the past when Sulla came to the city? I am only responsible for my soldiers, not the Republic. Besides, even if I am punished, if I die, my property will only be confiscated. Just to be exiled and have my property confiscated? That's a joke. I will give 6,800 talents to the flute player, and then take 200 talents back to Rome and let them confiscate them at will, just for a little fun. Just a small trick will do. And you will be mercilessly beheaded here, your brother will not survive, and all of your royal family will-" At this point, Lepidah made a gesture of wiping his neck, "I repeat it again. , we are not regular soldiers, we are just mercenaries who work for profit-seeking and murderous gangsters. Our external name is the "Cyprus Clothes Strippers". There is no royal law that can control us. Maybe this way, a projectile error during the siege! The fire bomb fell into the Temple of Great Love, causing the entire holy place to be burned down. This seems to be a very normal and fair reason. "
Defomochis was trembling a little, and then he slowly walked to the corner, picked up a glass of wine, took a few sips, calmed down, and said, "Tell me your conditions."
"It's very simple. Hand over all the seven thousand talents without leaving a penny. Don't keep copies of the account books. Don't play tricks. In addition, let me lead all my subordinates to publicly sacrifice to the Temple of Great Love, because this is The birthplace of my superior Julius Caesar," Lepidus said clearly, holding on to the pillars, "I will pray for him and the Julius family here, and this temple will nominally belong to the Republic. All, and I want to be given the title of 'Friend of God'. In return, I will never invade the Holy Land, and I will try my best to protect your position as high priest, but I can't help your brother in the new city."
"This condition is too harsh, too harsh." Defomokis tried to calm his bleak mood and kept begging.
"Okay, you know the flute player is eager to see you two brothers finish off. This condition is very generous, and there is not much time to consider. I am waiting for your reply here." After saying that, Lepidus saluted the high priest again, and then walked around the hall. The clattering footsteps were like a clock that never stopped, slowly testing the high priest. In the end, he still put his hands on his waist, supported one hand on the side, and waved to Lepidus, indicating that he agreed with the Roman general's opinion.
The next day, except for one infantry battalion left to guard the siege camp, all the other 8,000 soldiers held their team emblems and flags and stood in front of the Great Temple of Love in an orderly manner. They all held their breath and waited quietly for their commander-in-chief to come out of the inner hall. About half a day later, the commander of the restoration army, Lepidus, wearing the family heirloom robe given to him by Julia, walked out with great grace.
"The restorer of the Temple of Love, the liberator who rescued the ancestors of the Republic from the hands of foreigners!" Hebrida and Tagus were the first to stretch out their hands and shouted, and then the soldiers shouted this name in turn, and the team emblems were waving everywhere. (To be continued.)