Rome Must Fall

"Chief, I... I can't write." As an ordinary Pannonian, it was normal for Gilicus to be illiterate, but he still felt a little ashamed.

This was expected by Maximus. He said gently: "If you can't write, just dictate to Quintus. But as the chief of intelligence, it is not conducive to your work in the military intelligence department if you can't write or read! You can take more time to attend the tribal school and work hard to learn to read and write!"

"Chief, please rest assured, I will redouble my efforts to learn to write as soon as possible!" Gilicus expressed his attitude again. He is now full of energy.

"The Military Intelligence Department is scheduled to have 5 subordinates. The tribe will assign you a subordinate who can write and calculate. For the other candidates, you can select those with outstanding abilities from those who are working for you now. I heard that when you captured the East Village, two of your subordinates died in the battle. Do they have parents, wives and children?"

"One has a wife and children, and the other has only a younger brother."

"Tell all this to Quintus. The tribe will give them some pensions and care, and will not let those who work for the tribe die in vain!"

"Thank you, chief!" Gilicus said gratefully. He suddenly remembered something and asked, "Chief, I followed Cassius' orders before. Will I still do so in the future--"

Maximus waved his hand and said, "No need. Now the tribe has a Military Intelligence Department. You are the chief officer. You are in charge of collecting intelligence. However, the Military Intelligence Department is under the General Staff. You must report any intelligence to Quintus in a timely manner and follow his advice."

"Yes, chief!" Gilicus responded loudly with confidence.

In fact, Cassius had done a good job in leading Gilicus in the past few months. After the Nix army entered the territory of Segestica, most of the instructions made by Gilicus came from Cassius. Maximus knew it in his heart, but he still decided to separate Gilicus.

In this way, the Military Intelligence Department of the General Staff will be mainly responsible for the Nix tribe, while the focus of the Intelligence Department of the Secretariat will be on the tribe. It can not only meet the needs of Maximus himself and the tribe, but also compete with each other and supervise each other, preventing such a secret department from being controlled by one person for a long time and causing trouble in the future.

Maximus came back to his senses and emphasized: "You must set up the Military Intelligence Department as soon as possible and start collecting intelligence on the surrounding forces. The territory of Segestica in the north, the territory of Desitiatai in the east, the Gonamite Lake area in the south, the territory of Brochi and the territory of Mazii... These territories of forces must be paid special attention to, and abnormalities must be discovered early so that the tribe can take timely precautions, just like you did before."

Gillicus immediately felt the pressure, and he hesitated and said: "Chief, the Military Intelligence Department has only five subordinates now, but... but there are so many places where we need to collect intelligence, and there are not enough people...!"

"You don't understand, these five subordinates of the Military Intelligence Department are official officials of the tribe. They are here to assist you in managing this department. The tribe will issue them monthly Salary.

You can quietly recruit the people you want to send out to collect intelligence from the tribesmen, just like those who followed you before. Although they are not formal members of the Military Intelligence Department, they can still get the tribe's commendation reward for collecting intelligence and making contributions. I believe that based on this alone, some tribesmen will be willing to work for the Military Intelligence Department. "

Gillicus suddenly realized and immediately stated solemnly: "Chief, I understand. Please rest assured that I will establish the Military Intelligence Department as soon as possible and send people to the areas you mentioned to collect more intelligence and ensure the safety of the tribe!"

"Good! Good! ..." Maximus nodded repeatedly with satisfaction. He had been observing Gilicus's expression and felt that the other party had completely returned to Nix. Compared with Cassinos, Gilicus was undoubtedly a better role model for the Pannonians!

Thinking of this, Maximus encouraged him in a gentle voice: "Gillicus, I believe you will not stop at being a first-class tribesman. Do a good job for the tribe. After you destroy Mazii and rescue your wife, let her enjoy the rich life and glory you have won in the tribe!"

Gillicus did not expect that the young tribal leader still remembered what he said at the beginning. He felt his nose sour and said in a trembling voice: "Thank you...thank you, leader. I...I will."

Maximus patted him, then looked at the people around him and said apologetically: "I have kept you waiting for a long time. Let's cross the bridge now."

So, Carminus and the officers of the Third Legion led the way as guides in front, and Maximus followed closely with Capito, Volenus and other department officials, surrounded by the guards.

The group successfully reached the other side through the newly built wooden bridge and entered the East Village.

The East Village of the main village of Segestica was the center of the tribe during the rule of the Skodishchi people. In fact, Andres later began to transfer some administrative functions of the tribe to the West Village for the needs of war, but in just a few years, the East Village still could not change its important position in this land.

From the outside, the East Village is larger in area, and the village is almost entirely filled with houses. The courtyards are arranged in an orderly manner, and the roads are straight and flat, especially the main house. There are more than a dozen houses within the high wooden walls, like a small military camp. The Sacred Stone House, the Sacred Forest Courtyard, the Square, the River Port...all kinds of tribal buildings are available, and even the road outside the gate is built more flat and spacious than that of the West Village.

After Maximus and his party inspected the East Village, they all felt that this place was more suitable than Snotia as the center of the Nix tribe. With a little renovation, all departments could move in directly to work.

Maximus and the heads of various departments did not need to worry about the reception and management of the entire East Village, because the chief executive of Ophidalia had been appointed. He was the former chief executive of Westeni, Xikrops.

As the new main village of the Nix tribe, Ophidalia had a vast land under its jurisdiction, many villages, a large number of tribesmen, and a complex personnel. It needed an official with strong ability and rich administrative experience to take charge. When Maximus was unwilling to reassign the heads of various departments who were easy to use, the most suitable candidate was Xikrops.

Xikrops was once a small businessman in Pompeii. Because he owed a debt to the Areius family and could not pay it off, he was forced to sell his family into slavery and work as an accountant at the private dock of the Areius family. After Maximus led his army to capture Pompeii, the family of Cecrops was rescued and joined the rebels. Because of his writing and calculation skills, he was valued by Volenus and became a capable assistant. When the Ministry of Agriculture was first established, Volenus appointed him as an adjutant, and later recommended him to Maximus to become the chief executive of Westenni.

At that time, Westenni bordered the territory of the Segestica people. Although the two sides signed a truce agreement, some friction was inevitable. In addition, the contradictions between the Scodisci and the Segestica reserve tribesmen in Westenni were deep, and there were occasional conflicts...

The position of chief executive of Westenni was not easy, but under the management of Cecrops, the order of the town was always relatively stable. Moreover, in the past year or so, the people in the territory under his jurisdiction had a good harvest, no one evaded taxes, and the military training was also carried out very well, which led to the good performance of the next two legions...

In short, Xikrops performed well during his more than one year as the chief executive of Westney. Everyone agreed to let him serve as the chief executive of Ophidalia at the meeting of the Council of State.

Maximus' deepest impression of Xikrops was that he was extremely diligent and serious in his work.

After receiving the inauguration order issued by the Council of State, he quickly completed the handover and then rushed to Ophidalia alone. In the past few days, he has been familiarizing himself with and handling the affairs of the West Village with his new subordinates day and night. Today, he followed Maximus to the East Village and was busy counting the real estate, supplies, and population in the village...

After a rough inspection of the East Village, Maximus did not disturb Xikrops' work, and followed Carminus to the temporary military headquarters of the Third Legion.

Carminus was more cautious and did not use the main house as the military headquarters, but chose a large mansion not far away.

After entering the living room, Maximus sat down on the main seat, looked at Carminus, and asked in a deep voice: "Yesterday, there was a conflict in Village No. 81, and two civilians of Segestica were killed. The messenger you sent yesterday was vague. Now tell me in detail, what happened?"

Carminus was shocked. When he met Maximus before, Maximus praised him. He thought Maximus was satisfied with his handling of the matter and did not take it to heart. Unexpectedly, Maximus only talked about it seriously when there were few people at this time.

"Leader, this is what happened..." Carminus told the story nervously.

Village No. 81 is a village near Dongzhai. A centurion team of the Third Legion entered the village. After some efforts, nearly half of the villagers joined the Nix tribe. Except for a few who escaped, the rest of the villagers were escorted back to Dongzhai as foreign auxiliary people. Later, some of the newly joined tribes of Scodischi slaves were assigned to the village... The whole process is the same as what happened in various villages on the west coast during this period.

But then a newly arrived Skodischi slave and a Segestica member met in the village. Because of the other's contemptuous look, they took the initiative to punch each other, which led to a conflict between more than a dozen people on both sides. By the time the soldiers of the Third Legion stationed in the village arrived and quelled the conflict, two Segestica people had been beaten to death...