Rome Must Fall

"Big Chief, can you please buy me a glass of wine first, and we can talk slowly." Kalsipempas said directly.

Akupagos laughed and said: "Don't worry, you will be indispensable for the wine. I will keep you drunk."

The group of people entered the meeting hall and sat down respectively. The waiter brought wine.

The Ardei tribe does not grow grapes. The wine is obtained by the tribesmen working as pirates and robbing merchant ships.

Calsipempas was indeed a little thirsty as he walked along. He drank several sips before wiping the foam from the corner of his mouth and said: "Big Chief, a big event is happening in Italy across the sea now. You do you know?"

"You're talking about a group of slaves and paupers who rebelled in Italy and fought against the Romans."

"Yes, this army composed of slaves and poor people has successively defeated two Roman consuls and the Roman legions of the North Italian Province, a total of more than 100,000 troops -"

"Really?!" Akupagos was surprised. He hadn't heard the news yet.

"It's true. Now the entire east coast of Italy is in chaos. Even the Roman fleet has no intention of chasing us-"

"Okay, okay, well done, this is God's punishment for the Romans!" Akupagos laughed heartily. He hadn't heard news about the Romans' misfortune for a long time.

Acoupagos hated the Romans, or rather the Ardeans hated the Romans.

This hatred can be traced back to the alliance between the Kingdom of Illyria and the Kingdom of Macedon against Rome a hundred years ago, but was defeated by Rome. Rome supported puppets and wanted to control the Kingdom of Illyria. However, the Illyrians were unwilling to surrender and continued to resist, but were defeated by Rome. Rome destroyed the Kingdom of Illyria, and in order to ensure the security of the east coast of Italy and combat piracy, it placed the coastal areas of Illyria under its own control and became the Roman province of Illyria, while the inland Illyria region was Called Dalmatia, but in fact Dalmatia is just the most powerful of the Illyrian tribes.

The Illyrians lost their land and even their names. One can imagine their frustration.

The Ardeii were a tribe in the northernmost part of Illyria. They once had many port towns on the Adriatic Sea and made a living mainly by sea trade and maritime robbery. Later, the coastal lands were seized by Rome and they were forced to retreat to the mountains. The inland areas have to rely mainly on cultivating the land to make a living. However, most of the territory they own is mountainous, the land is barren, and the output is not abundant, resulting in slow population growth and difficult life.

Therefore, Acoupagos has always believed that it was the Romans who caused the Ardei tribe to survive today. He would be happy when he heard that the Romans were in trouble. The last time he was so happy was when the Roman Alliance War broke out in Italy.

"Great leader, after defeating the Romans, this army continues to march north. They are preparing to leave Italy and go to Gaul to gain true freedom!" Carlsipempas said with emphasis: "There is a leader among them, named Maximus, he is an Illyrian, and most of his men are Illyrians. Although this leader is young, he is brave and good at fighting. He once led an army to capture Sarapia alone and opened it to us pirates. The port has given us a lot of care, and the food you mentioned before was generously given by Chief Maximus.”

"So that's it..." Akupagos stroked his sparse beard and said with emotion: "It seems that Chief Maximus has not forgotten his roots!"

"Yes, the great leader." Carlsipempas carefully observed Akupagos's expression, and then said in a deep voice: "Not only has he not forgotten, but he is not planning to follow others to Gaul, but wants to He brought his men back to his dream homeland, so he asked me to ask the great chief if he could be allowed to buy a piece of land from you so that he and his Illyrian soldiers could stay on Illyrian land. Life!"

"You mean that this leader Maximus wants to come and live in our land of Ardei?!" Akoupagos became serious.

"He wants to buy land from you, and he is willing to pay enough money!" Carlsipampas quickly explained further: "And he doesn't want the core land of our tribe, but the land on the edge of our tribe, with other forces. Just the bordering land.”

"Is that so..." Akupagos fell into deep thought.

After a while he said to his attendants: "Go and fetch Cleobrotus and Aristarchus."

Cleobrotus was the elder of the Ardei tribe and a confidant of Acupagos.

Aristarchus was the eldest son of Archupagos.

The two came to the meeting hall quickly. When they saw Carlsipempas, Cleobrotus greeted him very friendly, while Aristarchus, who was the same age as Carlsipempas, only nodded reluctantly. He greeted him, then walked straight to Akupagos and sat down next to him.

Archupagos briefly recounted what Chalcyponpas wanted, and asked their opinions.

Aristarchus first expressed his objection: "I don't agree! Even if Calsipempas said that it's called... it's called -"

"Maximus." Carlsipempas reminded.

"Listen, Maximus, Maximus, this is not the name of our Illyrians, this should be the name of the Romans!" Aristarchus questioned loudly.

Calsipempas hurriedly explained: "Maximus is indeed an Illyrian, but he was once sold as a slave, became a gladiator, and was forced to fight bloody battles for the entertainment of the rich in Rome. This name is Those nicknames given to him by the Romans later became accustomed to being called by this name by his teammates and his subordinates, and he did not take back his original name."

"Okay, even if this Maximus is an Illyrian, most of his men are Illyrians, but they are not Ardii, they are all outsiders! And now, you have to let these Outsiders have entered our territory and have to live in our land for a long time. Kalsi Pampas, have you lost your mind? Have you forgotten our family motto? If any stranger dares to invade our land, then There’s no way he can leave alive!”

"Aristarchus, do you have something wrong with your ears? Chief Maximus is not trying to invade our land, but he wants to buy land from us, and what he wants to buy is only the fringe lands of the tribe, and even our An abandoned place that was once owned and now lost!”

Since Aristakas spoke so rudely, Carlsipempas naturally did not want to give him a good look: "Chief Maximus gave us so much food before, which saved our people from the danger of starving to death. , is our savior! The family motto also says, I will repay the life of those who save my life. Are you treating your savior with this attitude?

What's more, Chief Maximus wants to use a lot of money to buy our abandoned land, but we can use the money to buy livestock, wheat seeds, weapons from those Italian towns and Greek city-states... Let us After the snow disaster, the tribe can regain its vitality as soon as possible, and it can also have more strength to defend against the Pannoni.

So no matter how you look at it, Chief Maximus is the benefactor of our tribe. Aristakas, you are an important elder of our tribe. You treat our benefactor with such an attitude. I don’t know that the tribe knows this. What will you think next? "

"You——" Aristakas was speechless for a moment and yelled angrily: "I just don't agree with it anyway!"

Akupagos glared at his son dissatisfied and shouted: "Stop arguing! Kalsipempas, why does that leader Maximus want our abandoned land?"

"Big Chief, I once asked him out of curiosity." Kalsipempas replied seriously: "He told me that he purchased our tribe's abandoned land so that he and his men could obtain a land in Illyri. Eligibility to live on the land of Asia.

His men used to come from various tribes in Illyria and had been slaves in Italy for many years. The original tribes may have declined or even perished. But now they have been fighting together in Italy for more than a year and are unwilling to separate again. If they can buy A piece of land that we don’t pay much attention to, so that we will not have conflicts with our tribes over the land in the future, but also satisfy their request to return to Illyria, which is a great thing for everyone. "

"If this can be done, it is indeed a good thing..." Akupagos said to himself thoughtfully.

"The second is that Chief Maximus has his own ambitions. Although he is a young leader, he is very courageous. He heard me mention that the Pannoni have been sending troops southward in recent years and have invaded many parts of our tribe. After the land drove many of our tribesmen into the mountains and made life difficult, I was very angry!

He told me that if he had a chance to confront the Pannonians, he would definitely drive them back so that they would never again dare to covet our Illyrian land. "

"Oh!" Akupagos' eyes lit up.

"How many people does this leader Maximus have?" Cleobrotus asked.

"When I was in Sarapia, I heard Chief Maximus himself say that his army had 16,000 soldiers."

"16,000 soldiers!" Acoupagos and Cleobrotas looked at each other in surprise: Although the number of warriors in the Ardei tribe was more than this when it was most powerful, it is now at most just Over ten thousand!

Calsipempas saw this in his eyes, and then explained: "Of course, this was the number they had when they were still in the city of Sarapia. Now that they have been fighting the Roman army, I am afraid they are no longer so many. In addition, they There are also more than 5,000 elderly people, women, children and a few craftsmen, totaling probably more than 20,000 people——"

"We have a tribe of more than 20,000 people, which is not a small tribe here!" Cleobrotus reminded loudly: "It takes a large piece of land to feed so many people!"

"I once asked Chief Maximus the same question, but he said that he would not buy a large piece of land from us. If the land is not enough in the future, he will lead his army to ask for land from the Pannoni people."

Archupagos and Cleobrotus looked at each other again.

Cleobrotus asked: "How much money is this chief Maximus going to spend on buying land from us?"

"He said about 10 to 100 silver talents. The key depends on the size and fertility of the land we provide. Is it flat land or mountains? Is there a river?..."

100 talents! ...Acoupagos felt that his old heart was beating violently: If he had such a large sum of money, he could purchase a lot of supplies from outside the mountains to improve the lives of the northern tribesmen and ease their burden on the southern tribes. people and their own grievances.

Cleobrotus asked with a serious look: "Calsipempas, for the sake of our tribe, please tell me seriously, what kind of person do you think this leader Maximus is?"

Calsipempas immediately changed his expression and asked sternly: "Cliobrotus, what do you mean? Am I going to betray my tribe again!"

Akupagos quickly came out to smooth things over: "Calsipempas, don't be angry. Cleobrotas has no other intentions. More than 20,000 strangers are going to live around our tribe for a long time. Of course we have to make sure Whether they have hidden malicious intentions is related to the safety of our tribe. You are also an elder of our tribe and have always been trustworthy. We have had many contacts with them. Of course we want to listen to your judgment. "

Calsipempas's expression turned slightly, and he thought for a while before he said: "Well... Chief Maximus is only about 20 years old, and he is very strong. His men said that he was very brave when fighting. But when he spoke to me, he was not rude at all, but rather literate, just like the way a Greek scholar I once captured at sea spoke.

He looks very calm, speaks slowly and methodically, and has no youthful impulsiveness at all. However, when he gives an order, his men will carry it out seriously. I have been in contact with several of his men, and they all respect Maximus. This respect is not because of fear, but because of belief. In the past year, the young leader has allowed him to lead the team. The army lived better and more united than other chiefs' armies, like a big family.

For those of us Illyrian pirates who deal with him, he is a leader who can keep his promises and is also kind. Every time we transport grain and iron ore to Sarapia for sale, they will buy it at the previously agreed price. They will not deliberately lower the price because we are pirates, nor will they tamper with the weighing. On the contrary, when our ship was damaged by a storm, he also asked his carpenters to repair the ship for free..."