Rome Must Fall

Maximus continued: "...and then rush westward along the road without stopping. The Pompeii soldiers who arrived one after another on the way may have been chasing you, or they may have been chasing you on the wall not far from the road. If arrows are fired, if you move a little slowly and react slowly, you may be killed by the arrows, or you may be overtaken by the enemy and be surrounded.

And when you arrive at the Gate of Herculaneum, you must fight against the enemies guarding the gate and kill them as quickly as possible, so that you can control the gate before the enemy's large forces arrive and ambush them outside the city. Only if the main body of the escort can enter the city smoothly can we win the final victory... Now tell me, can you do it? ! "

The team was silent for a while, and after a while, some soldiers responded softly: "...can...do it..."

Maximus looked around at everyone with a serious expression: "It seems that you are self-aware. Even such a simple training cannot be successfully completed. How can you successfully raid Pompeii and return safely! As your leader, I am most concerned about It depends on whether you can come back alive, so I hope you can practice this training repeatedly, not only during the day, but also at night, until you have practiced it so well that you can do it in the shortest time with your eyes closed. Complete the entire simulated action within the required time, so that you can sweat more in peacetime and bleed less in wartime!

My sincere hope is that when we take Pompeii, every one of you will be alive to receive the envious looks from other brigades, and listen to their heartfelt praise, 'The soldiers of the heavy escort team are great! He is a hero who can create miracles! ’”

After listening to the leader's emotional words, the soldiers were out of breath and hunched over. They all held their heads high and chests high, full of energy.

Carminus took the opportunity to ask loudly: "Brothers, do we want to continue training?!"

"Yes!!!" the soldiers shouted in unison.

Quintus looked at the escort soldiers who had resumed training and said softly with emotion: "There are outstanding people among slaves!"

"Are you talking about Maximus?" Spukala's heart moved.

Quintus nodded without saying much, but looked at Aulus: "I think you should lead the others to participate in the training. We haven't participated in a battle for more than ten years, and our hands and feet are all rusty. Don't make a surprise attack." When something goes wrong, make them laugh.”

Aulus sneered: "It's good if we don't laugh at them. How can they laugh at us! However, we should train with them a little so that we can cooperate tacitly during the raid..."

Aulus said, turning around to call his other companions. Although he still looked down upon these new recruits in the escort, he had experienced war for a long time and knew that war was not a child's play and should never be taken lightly!

…

In the early morning, in the backyard of the rebel army headquarters and the olive oil farm, a wooden shed was set up in the open space in front of the kitchen. There were more than 10 simple wooden tables and benches inside. This was the "exclusive canteen" of the logistics department of the supply camp.

There are a group of teenagers eating breakfast here at the moment. Most of them have finished eating. Only a few are still chewing slowly. One of the children is relatively thin and has delicate features like a girl. He is Quintus’ only child. Grandson - Valles Quintus.

Since those Lucelia people came to the camp with their families, Maximus assigned the old people and women among them to the logistics department, while their children were directly assigned to the youth team. Since Maximus did not imprison them all in solitary confinement, but treated them equally with his own men, the men of Lucelia were able to accept even if they had to live separately from their own families.

"Walles, eat quickly, we'll be waiting for you!" Akgo urged.

Valles quickly wolfed down the remaining bread into his mouth, and then drank the rest of the oatmeal in the pot in one gulp.

"I have brought you your shield and sword. Let's go directly to the training ground." Marcus said, handing him the wooden shield and wooden sword. These things are made by people in the military warehouse and are better than the soldiers. The ones used for military training were smaller in size and lighter in weight, but much more refined.

"Thank you!" Valles reached out and took it.

"Let's go." Akago patted Valles and walked out of the cafeteria first.

Valles followed the other children and jumped up and down to their own training ground. The guard's training ground was right next to it, with a few rows of oak trees in the middle.

When the teenagers arrived here, they immediately became quiet and quickly formed four long lines. Under the leadership of captain Akguo, they began to jog around the training ground...

After five laps, Valles, who was at the end of the team, felt a little exhausted. Vice-captain Cassius, who was also at the end of the team, noticed something strange and immediately asked with concern: "How are you doing? Can you still run?"

Valles didn't want to be looked down upon, so he said hesitantly: "I...I'm okay."

"Then just hold on, it's over in one lap, come on!"

Cassius's encouragement gave Valles strength. He tried his best to follow the team and finished the run with gritted teeth. He was so tired that he could hardly stand.

Cassius quickly supported him and walked slowly on the sidelines. He also comforted him and said: "It was like this when I first started running. I was worse than you at that time. I vomited out my breakfast. Akko and the others also laughed at me. , but I got used to it after running for a few days, and now I can run ten laps at a faster speed without any problem. Trust me, as long as you persist every day, you will be like me."

Wallace listened carefully, feeling warm in his heart, and nodded vigorously.

After a while, he heard Akeguo shouting loudly: "Everyone come and assemble in formation!"

The children who were resting immediately gathered together and quickly formed a dense square formation of ten horizontal and five vertical, and Wallace quickly stood in his position.

An old man with gray hair and a dignified face came to the sidelines. His name was Rufus Gracchus. He was a former Roman veteran, and later became a public slave of Rome. Now he is a member of the military advisory group of the baggage camp. More than a month ago, when Maximus wanted to select a military instructor for the newly formed youth team, he took the initiative to apply for this position.

He walked to the front of the team and stood still. Akgo, who was at the head of the team, immediately strode forward, clenched his right fist and beat his chest, and said loudly and fluently: "Report to the instructor, the team has been lined up. There are 52 people in total, and no one is absent. Please give orders!" "Very good, join the team first." Gracchus glanced at the children in front of him. Every time he saw these young and energetic faces, he felt younger. His eyes lingered on a few of the children. They were all children of the Lucerlians. The former enemies now worked together in the army led by slaves to rebel against Rome. The arrangement of the goddess of fate was really wonderful! Gracchus' heart was rippled, and he said, "Next, let's do formation training." Teenagers are different from adults. Their bones and muscles have not yet fully developed. Over-emphasizing strength training will cause damage to the body. However, they are young and have strong learning ability. The effect of formation training is much better than that of adults... This is the military training plan formulated by Maximus and Frontinus after many discussions. Gracchus was seen holding a military horn and blowing different trumpet sounds. The teenagers followed the orders issued by the trumpet sounds, sometimes advancing, sometimes stopping, sometimes forming shield formations, sometimes charging, and sometimes retreating altogether...

Afterwards, Gracchus gave orders again, commanding the teenagers' phalanx to turn left or right, or to transform into a circular formation, or to transform into a column, or to press forward with the rear team and extend the phalanx to both wings...The formation of the teenagers was always a little messy during the training, because several newly joined teenagers such as Wallace were completely unfamiliar with it, which slowed down the speed of the entire formation transformation.

However, Gracchus never stopped or corrected them. Instead, other teenagers took the initiative to tell them what to do. Everyone actively cooperated with each other, and few people complained. Therefore, even though the training was a bit bad, the atmosphere was still good, and it gradually improved later.

After the formation training, the children took a short break and started engineering training.

Gracchus divided the 52 teenagers into two groups for a competition. Each team had to dig a trench five meters long, one meter wide, and one meter deep, and set traps in the trench. At the same time, they had to use the excavated soil to make a one-meter-high and five-meter-long earth wall. The team that finished the fastest and made the best would win, and the losing team would run three laps around the field.

Therefore, both teams worked hard.

Wallace was assigned to the group where Cassius was. Cassius specially arranged for Magus to follow him and personally guide him on what to do. Magus, who had carefully brought him weapons during breakfast, was very strict at this moment.

Since his parents passed away, although his grandfather neglected to take care of Wallace, he had never suffered any hardship. This was the first time he did such heavy work, but he was influenced by the warm atmosphere and neither slacked off nor disliked Magus's severity. Instead, he worked seriously according to Magus's requirements.

Two hours later, Gracchus began to inspect the trenches completed by the two groups.

"The first group finished first, but the trench walls on both sides were not steep enough, the sharp wooden sticks buried at the bottom of the trench were not deep enough, not enough, and not enough water was poured... Imagine if the enemy wanted to attack your camp through a wide trench on a real battlefield, but the steep trench walls and slippery ground made it difficult for the enemy to climb up... If they set up wooden ladders on the trench and wanted to pass quickly, they would fall down and land on the dense sharp wooden stakes, and only death would be waiting for them..." Gracchus explained the shortcomings to them while demonstrating the actions himself.

The dusty teenagers lined up to the side. They should have been carefree and playful, but they were listening to the veterans telling the bloody way of life and death on the battlefield. No one thought it was wrong, but they were listening carefully.

"...Comparatively, the second group finished slower, but they did better in this aspect." Gracchus made the final assessment without rushing: "Based on the performance of your two groups, the second group won this time!"

Cassius, Magus and others cheered loudly, and Wallace couldn't help but shout along. He also worked hard, so he deeply felt the collective sense of honor.

The teenagers in the first group were a little frustrated, and Akeguo took the initiative to take responsibility: "It's my fault that our group lost this time. I was too busy trying to be fast and didn't set strict requirements. I hope everyone can forgive me!"

A teenager immediately responded: "This is not your fault alone, captain. We all made mistakes! Teacher Maximus said, 'It's impossible for people not to make mistakes. It doesn't matter if you make mistakes, as long as you know your mistakes and correct them!'——"

"Galrus is right. We should learn from today's lessons and strive to beat the second group next time!" Another teenager said loudly.

"Yes, we will definitely win next time!!" The teenagers in the first group shouted and regained their fighting spirit.

It’s good to be young! ...Gracchus smiled and silently watched the jubilant scene of the teenagers in front of him. After a while, he said loudly: "Next, let's do one-on-one training!"

The teenagers cheered louder together. Compared with the extremely restrictive formation training and the hard and tiring engineering training, this project was the most popular among them. Children who don't like to play and make noise.

Only the new kids like Valles were a little nervous. Although they had already participated in two days of training, this was their first one-on-one sword fighting training.

Rufus first paired up the teenagers one by one, trying to make the two sides of the match equal in strength, so as to better achieve the purpose of training.

"Valles, your opponent is Doreen."

After Gracchus finished speaking, Valles was dumbfounded: My opponent is actually a woman? !

Maximus did not favor boys over girls. The youth team he formed consisted of five girls, who underwent the same training as the boys. Although he would not let them go into battle to kill the enemy when they grew up, he hoped that they would be able to do so. By exercising a healthy body, you will not get sick easily, and you will not be held back when the team marches and moves in the future.

But when his opponent stood in front of Valles, his complaints stopped abruptly.

Doreen is 14 years old. Her parents are farm slaves. She joined the supply camp of the rebel army at an early age. Doreen was still very thin when she first entered the camp. After half a year of improving her diet, she is now in her growth period. Now she is stronger than Valles, who is the same age, is a head taller and has a strong build. If his facial features were not softer and his chest was slightly protruding, he would look like a boy.

"Hey, be careful, I won't be merciful." Doreen looked directly at Valles, threatened him, and then hit him with a wooden shield.

Valles raised his shield to block it. After the two shields collided, he was actually weaker than the opponent and was immediately knocked back.

Doreen hit her with a shield again, Valles resisted again, but retreated due to weakness again, and his arm was still a little numb, so when Doreen hit her with a shield again, he did not dare to resist and chose to dodge.