Rome Must Fall

Kabdus is a little scared. He just hopes that the soldiers in the village will see the flags they hold high, hear the horns blowing, know about their arrival, and start making preparations...

There is no one on the wall of the stockade. It should be Wallis who has gathered all the soldiers in the stockade, ready to attack at any time... Kabudez stared at the front, and his heart was full of confidence again: In terms of combat, Wallis Still very trustworthy!

When the two sides met less than 100 meters apart, "Woo!...Woo!...Woo!..." a high-pitched copper horn suddenly sounded, and the enemies standing silently in front roared in unison and rushed toward Kabudez. Come over, the momentum is as impressive as the landslide he has seen before.

"Blow the attack horn! Let the boys charge!" Kabudez shouted urgently.

Before the horn sounded, the Pannoni heavy-armored warriors in the front row also began to charge, thus leading the light infantry behind...

Soldiers from both sides collided hard while running fast.

"Chief, hurry up! Look behind you!" The guard's horrified shout made Kabudez, who was watching the battle intently, turn around and see a shocking scene: hundreds of heavily armed enemy soldiers came from the forest beside the river bend. He ran out wildly and gathered at the riverside behind his team...

I've been ambushed! ... Kabudez's heart suddenly hit the bottom. If the guards hadn't caught him in time, he would have almost fallen off his horse in a daze.

"Blow the attack horn again!" With a pale face, he clenched the reins with both hands and opened his eyes wide. He looked through the soldiers fighting fiercely on both sides and stared at the village in front. His only hope was that Wallis would quickly lead his troops to kill him. Come out and defeat the enemies in front first!

However, the gate of the village was always closed, and the enemies in the rear had already formed their formation and began to move quickly towards this side.

"Chief, run away! If you don't run away, we will be surrounded!" the guard captain reminded urgently: "If you are... trapped here, what will happen to our tribe!"

Kabdus, who had lived a peaceful life for a year, was moved: Yes, I still have a tribe to guard! I have to go back quickly! ...This is all Voorhees's fault! This damn guy is hiding in the stockade and letting my children be surrounded by enemies! …

Kabdus gritted his teeth, turned his horse's head, and took another look before leaving. The gate of the village was still closed...

…………………………………………………………………………

"Chief, we killed and wounded more than 500 enemies and captured about 1,500 people. Only a few enemies escaped. This is a great victory!" After counting the battlefield, Carminus excitedly reported the results to Maximus.

"What are the casualties of our army?" Maximus asked calmly.

"36 people died and 120 people were injured." Carl Mulus' voice became lower.

Maximus knew in his heart that the reason why there were more casualties this time than in the last battle was because the team took the lead in charging and could not maintain a tight defensive formation. In addition, the opponent also charged, resulting in an initial melee. Casualties increased sharply.

However, in order to prevent the enemy from getting closer to the stockade, discovering anomalies and escaping, it is necessary to launch a charge to stick to the enemy as quickly as possible so that they cannot escape. The subsequent battles also proved this point. As the ambush army launched an attack from the rear and the enemy leader abandoned his troops and fled first, the enemy's fighting spirit dropped rapidly after being attacked from both sides. This led to a situation where there were few casualties and many prisoners. .

Maximus did not comment much on the casualties of the army and asked: "Did Aulus lead his men to pursue the defeated army?"

"Yes, he brought 3,000 men to pursue the fleeing enemies, hoping to take the opportunity to capture their stronghold like here."

"Hopefully." Maximus was not sure about this. Just now he saw on the city wall that some of the enemies who were the first to escape were on horseback. If they returned to the stronghold early, the stronghold would be prepared in advance for pursuit. The troops' attempt to attack the village in one fell swoop with the help of a rout would not work.

At this time, Pecot came over with a sullen expression: "Chief, I tortured a few prisoners, and they said there are still 800 soldiers left in the village."

Seeing that his hands were still stained with blood, Maximus did not ask him how he tortured the prisoners. He looked up at the sky and said with some disappointment: "It seems that we don't have much time to capture the next stronghold, but I hope there’s still time today—”

Maximus suddenly realized something and asked: "By the way, are you the prisoner who asked directly? Can you understand what they said?"

"Their pronunciation is a bit weird, but if you listen carefully, you can understand most of them." Pecot replied.

It seems that what Chief Ardie said may be right. The Pannonians may really be a branch of the Illyrians. This is good news! ...Maximus cheered up and looked around: "Where's Quintus?"

"He went over there." Akguo pointed to the stockade not far away.

When Maximus found Quintus, he was standing under the wooden wall, picking at the wood with his hands, kicking the wooden wall with his feet, and reaching into the gaps between the wood.

"What are you doing?" Maximus asked curiously.

"I'm studying the wooden wall built by the Pannoni." Quintus patted the wooden wall and said with a slight disdain: "The one they built is too simple! The gaps between the wood are too large, and the bottom is embedded in the soil. The inside is not deep enough. Some of the wood has begun to rot internally but was not replaced in time. In some places, I don’t know if it is to save trouble, but there is only one row of wood..."

Maximus patiently listened to his criticism of the wooden walls of Pannoni's stockade and asked, "So?"

"And there are no trenches dug in front of the wooden wall. If the stockade over there is the same as this one, it will be easily broken. When I followed General Sulla to fight in the province of Asia Minor, I once saw the aliens using a simple method. Come and break the enemy's temporary wooden camp..."

Sure enough, the old man had already seen that the next stronghold was not easy to capture, so he was here alone to figure out how to break into the Segostika stronghold... Maximus asked in a calm tone as much as possible: "What should we do?"

"Find some strong ropes, some thick long logs, and more importantly, pick some majestic bulls... They are all available in these stockades. It stands to reason that horses are also suitable, and they can get to the stockade over there quickly. "It's a pity that I walked around and didn't see any horses." Quintus looked puzzled: "This is very strange! Even if the Pannonians were once Illyrians and didn't like raising horses, they were brought from there." The Skodisci in Gaul have been enslaved for so long, and they must have developed the habit of raising horses. "

"You can ask the prisoners about this after we capture the next stronghold." After Maximus finished speaking, he immediately arranged for Pecot to prepare these things, and also found a dozen soldiers from the remaining soldiers. A person who once fed cattle and sheep to nobles.

Soon, Maximus led his escort and eight oxen and headed east along the river.

When they arrived at the stronghold, they found that the team led by Aulus had indeed been blocked from attacking the stronghold.

Maximus followed Quintus's suggestion and distributed many of the spears they captured and brought to each centurion. Then each centurion formed a tortoise-shell formation, approached the wall, and threw spears inward. Force the enemy away from the stronghold wall...

Then another team of soldiers was sent to throw the thick wood with ropes firmly tied at both ends across the wall. The other end of the rope was tied to the cow, and the cow was stabbed in the buttocks with a short sword. The cow ran wildly in pain, and pulled hard and got stuck in the wall. The crossbars between the logs could not withstand the huge force of the cattle. They were either broken or pulled down. The rebel soldiers who had been prepared took the opportunity to pour in through the opened gap...

…………………………………………………………………………

With two great victories and two strongholds captured, the newly formed Knicks tribe created an impressive record in one day.

It's just that Maximus didn't have time to taste the wine of victory at this time. He had to arrange for the soldiers who captured the stronghold and the baggage train personnel who arrived later to transfer all the materials and captive people in the stronghold to the first place before dark. In a captured village.

Cereals, bacon, smoked fish... these foods are the priority to be transported. The camp personnel brought more than a dozen pack trucks from the temporary camp. Because they also had to transport the supplies in the first village at the same time, there was simply not enough. use.

But fortunately there was no shortage of pack trucks in the village, because in the past Kabudez often had to transport some supplies to support the Volris tribe and assist him in continuing his attack on the Aldi people. Although there is a lack of horses in the stockade, there are many cattle and donkeys. The sophisticated vehicles carried by these animals are not inferior to those carried by the rebels from Italy. After all, the Gallic vehicle-making technology is famous in the Mediterranean, and even the Romans' The turning of carriages was also learned from them. The Pannoni had lived with the Skodisci for decades, and naturally they also learned this technology.

Maximus also discovered that there was a simple wharf in the stockade, with four fusiform flat-bottomed single-masted boats moored. The boats could accommodate seven or eight people. They could not transport troops, but they could transport supplies. There were many in the rebel army. Sailors from Campania and Sarapia were able to maneuver their ships to fight the wind and waves on the sea, and it was easy to maneuver a few small boats to transport supplies on the gentle-flowing River Cupa.

At the same time, Maximus was puzzled: Since there is a dock and a boat in this village, why is there not one in the village to the west? Otherwise, when they surrounded and captured that village, some Pannoni could have escaped by boat and followed the river. And if they get here, the people here will no longer go to the rescue, and the results they have achieved today will be at least halved.

Later, Maximus learned that the Pannoni could indeed build ships and river ports, but they were all on the banks of the Sava and Drau rivers. The Segestika tribe invaded the plains in the middle reaches of the Kupa River. Four or five years ago, the tribe in this village stabilized at the beginning of last year and began to build a dock. The wood for shipbuilding needed to be dried in the shade for at least a year. The tribal leader really couldn't wait that long, so he decided to trade it with the neighboring Segostika tribe to the east. Coming ships. The Pannoni tribe in the west built the stockade even later, and has been busy fighting with the Ardei people, and has not had time to build docks and ships...

Maximus was grateful for this.

The next thing the rebel army wants to move is livestock and poultry, including cattle, sheep, donkeys, pigs, and chickens, ducks and geese. It can be said that the poultry and livestock in the village are not only complete, but also in large quantities. After all, the land here is fertile, the grains are abundant, and the fish in the Kupa River are The abundance of shrimps and the densely forested mountains make it possible for the Segestika people to raise more poultry and livestock to provide themselves with eggs, milk, and a rich variety of food.

Then there were all kinds of tools and materials to be taken away, including various iron tools, furs, cloth, wood... Maximus discovered the iron plows used by the Segestica people to cultivate the land, and the long-handled sickles used to cut veins. , which shows that their farmland cultivation level is not low.

He also discovered a complete set of iron processing tools used by the Segestika people to make leather, including scissors, rubbing sticks, leather punching pliers, leather knives, awls, thimbles... They are quite exquisitely made, which shows that the stuffing The Gostika people's iron processing and fur processing capabilities are not weak.

The last thing to take away are daily necessities, earthen jars, wooden frames, seats, tables, barrels, boxes, sheets, clothes... In short, the rebels are like greedy beggars who take away everything they can see and use. They took as much as they could with them. After all, they damaged and discarded a lot of things while crossing the mountains. Now that they were building a new home, everything was lacking.

As a result, except for the houses and wooden walls that remained in the entire village, everything else was looted. Even the large stone mill in the center of the village was dismantled and moved to the boat with great difficulty for transportation.

The materials in the village must be taken away, as well as the people here. They are divided into four categories: injured Segostika warriors, young and mature Segostika males, Segostika Old and young, women and children, and Skodisci slaves.

The rebel army asked the male residents of Segostika to carry the injured tribesmen on bed boards or door boards, and the extra young and middle-aged men had to carry sacks filled with wheat, so that they had no energy left to resist;

Old, young, women and children help each other walk, and those who have enough energy must also carry some daily necessities;

Except for the young and middle-aged slaves who need to carry supplies, the old, young, women and children can move forward easily. This obvious differential treatment surprised the Skordischi slaves.

Taking this opportunity, Maximus arranged for some Illyrian soldiers to spread the word among the Skodisci slaves, saying that "they were once slaves and knew the suffering of slaves, so they regarded the Skodisci as friends." ..." Words like this (Skodischi could roughly understand what the Illyrian soldiers said, not to mention that they had been in close contact with the Pannoni tribe for decades, and had been slaves for the past ten years. They also learned the Illyrian language), which obviously touched these slaves, so most of them obeyed the instructions of the rebel soldiers calmly, and some even took the initiative to help get more supplies.