Chapter 107 The Roman Army is Coming

Usually Illyrian pirates would disguise themselves, sail into various port towns in Italy, and buy food. After all, due to blood transfusions from various provinces, the price of food in Italy has always been very cheap. But this year's situation is different from previous years. The uprising triggered by the gladiators swept almost the entire southern Italy, wreaking havoc on farms and cutting off trade routes. There was no sign of the rebellion being quelled in a short period of time, which naturally led to the collapse of cities and towns. Food prices have risen, and merchants have begun to hoard food. Of course, the Illyrian pirates can no longer buy food easily.

Alacosia came back soon, followed by Pygris. As soon as he entered the room, he said with a smile on his face: "Calsipempas, long time no see, thank you for finding us another Illyrian." friend!"

Kalsipempas responded, took the hand extended by Pygris, and introduced Onomabatis by the way.

The three of them exchanged some pleasantries, and Pigris immediately turned to the topic. He said seriously: "I just heard from Alakosia that you want to buy some food from us...

To be honest with you, hundreds of people join our team every day, so there is a huge demand for wheat, so now the port is trading with colleagues and foreign merchants. In addition to iron ore, the goods purchased are Just wheat. Moreover, now that Roman warships have strengthened their patrols near the port of Sarapia, trade with foreign merchants may be cut off in the future——"

He paused intentionally for a moment, and saw a look of disappointment on the face of Carl Sepimpas, and then said with emphasis: "However, our leader Maximus is an Illyrian. He cares about his compatriots very much. He once went out of his way to I told you, 'If you encounter difficulties, as long as we have the ability, we will try our best to help you solve it.' So I decided that you don't need to buy wheat. We will give you a batch of grain to solve your tribe's shortage. The problem of food.”

Kalsipempas had an expression of disbelief, and he started to stutter after speaking so quickly: "This... this is really... thank you so much!... But there is no need to give it away like this... we have money... we can use it." Money to buy…”

"Calsy Pampas, thanks to your help during this period, we have been able to get enough iron ore. These grains are our thanks to you, so don't refuse!" Pygris said in an irresistible tone. He said directly: "Is ten thousand catties of wheat enough?"

The reason why Pygris mentioned this number was because through many interactions with Carlsipempas, he knew that the pirate captain's tribe had a population of less than 400 people, and this number was enough to feed him for several months.

"Enough! Enough!" Calsipempas was extremely grateful. He took a deep breath and said resolutely: "You Free Italy have been so kind to me. I won't say thank you anymore. I swear to Ares! If you need me in the future, please feel free to ask, and I, Carl Sipempas, will do my best to help you do it!”

After sending Carlsipempas and the two away, Pygris asked: "This Onomabaitis is the first Illyrian pirate captain that Carlsipempas has called?"

"It should be the seventh one." Alacosia calculated silently and replied.

"This Calsipempas really has a lot of friends, and he is sincerely willing to deal with us, so it is definitely worth spending some food to win his friendship." Pigris said to himself with a slight complacency.

Alacosia finally couldn't help but asked: "Pigeris, our food is controlled by Capito. Will he agree to donate 10,000 kilograms of food to him?"

"Do you think what I just said about Chief Maximus is false? That's what the chief has repeatedly emphasized in these meetings. Capito dare not disagree unless he wants to go against the chief..."

As Pigris spoke, he fell into thinking: "Why does the leader value these Illyrian pirates so much? I was specifically asked to select you from the army to be responsible for dealing with them, and he also asked me to try my best to find a way. Help them and make friends with them? ...It can't just be because he has Illyrian blood, right?"

Alacosia listened to Pygris muttering to himself and said nothing, but firmly believed in his heart: Leader Maximus is an Illyrian, so of course he will be towards us Illyria! "

"Hey, it's getting dark. I have to go to Capito quickly to finalize the matter of donating grain. Then I will send someone to inform you. You can call on some more laborers and go to the warehouse to weigh out 10,000 kilograms of wheat. Alone Put them away so that Calsipempas and the others can quickly load them on the ship at dawn tomorrow and transport them back to his tribe smoothly. "

"Okay, Pigris, I will wait for your notification here and then take care of the next thing. Don't worry."

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The sound of killing outside the city of Metapontum was loud. The rebel army launched a strong attack from the east, west and north at the same time. Countless soldiers used ladders and ants to attach the city wall, pushed siege engines to ram the city gate, and even built a siege city. Tower, I want to climb directly to the top of the city...

Metapontum soldiers stood all over the city and defended it vigorously. The people all took action and worked tirelessly to send rocks, wood, and kerosene. Ships from nearby city-states such as Tarentum, Heraclea, Crotone, and Thurii entered the port with full reinforcements to support the town...

Under the command of Spartacus, the rebels used their full strength, and teams took turns attacking without stopping. The battle lasted from early morning to dusk. Countless soldiers died under the city, but they were never able to attack the city. …

"Chief Maximus!" The messenger galloped over on horseback and shouted loudly: "Chief Spartacus issued an order to stop the attack and retreat back to the camp!"

Maximus had been waiting for this order for a long time and immediately said to the bugler: "Blow the trumpet and retreat!"

"Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!..." The rapid sound of the brass horn sounded.

Maximus breathed a sigh of relief, and Quintus' voice rang in his ears: "We should have ordered a retreat long ago. The morale of the Metapontum people is very high, and they can continue to receive reinforcements from other towns. Even if we attack again Even after several attempts, it was impossible to capture it.”

Maximus heard the dissatisfaction in his words. Although he did not support the decision to attack Metapontum before, he still defended it at this moment: "We didn't expect that these towns in the south would come together to support us. Metapontum.”

"Although these southerners are too timid to go out to fight in the city, they can still fight with the tall city wall as a barrier."

As a former Roman, Quintus had a look of contempt for the Greeks in southern Italy. He touched his chin and said: "I think it was the administrator of Metapontum who killed Enom. After that, anticipating that we might come for revenge, we persuaded other towns to provide support in advance, and also made full defense preparations. With our current strength, it is impossible to capture it. There is no need to lose troops here, it is better to do it early. It’s best to withdraw your troops and go back.”

"Yes, you are right." Maximus did not argue anymore and changed the topic: "However, even if Metapontum was not captured this time, our army in Free Italy gained a lot. It’s not like you didn’t see that at the beginning, there were more than 20,000 people in a mess, especially the teams of the later leaders. They were not familiar with the orders and did not even obey the orders. They attacked when they wanted to and retreated when they wanted to. …

It's much better now. Spartacus put in a lot of effort to be able to form a team of all the soldiers in just a few days and to obey the command and advance and retreat during the siege. "

"It does have some benefits for us in this regard, but we still can't take Metapontum City with all our strength, and many soldiers were killed and injured. I'm afraid it will have a great impact on morale!" Quintus reminded.

Maximus silently looked at the retreating team in front: Aulus and Pecot were walking at the front, and most of the soldiers following them were former subordinates of Enomui and had just followed them. Pecot joined Maximus's army not long ago, so Maximus did not draw any more troops from Sarapia, but temporarily mixed the 500 escort soldiers with the more than 2,000 former Eromyi army soldiers. Editors, commanded by Aulus and Pecot respectively, as their own siege team, some of the newly joined soldiers were bent on avenging Enomui, and they clearly expressed their dissatisfaction with the first two tentative attacks, and now these soldiers The helmets and armors were abandoned, blood was stained, and they supported each other like bereaved dogs. There was no trace of unruly spirit.

Maybe the blow to their morale caused by the failure of the siege will be good for me... Maximus thought to himself, immediately put on a solemn look, rode forward, and said loudly: "Brothers, although Our siege failed this time, but among all the siege teams, you fought the longest and almost stormed the city. You were the bravest. I am proud of you!"

When Maximus paused for a moment, he saw the soldiers raising their heads and focusing their eyes one after another. He shouted with concern: "You must be tired and thirsty now. I have already prepared enough food and hot soup for the camp! I also asked the medical team to prepare enough medicinal herbs and wait outside the camp. All injured brothers will receive good treatment and care! ... Let’s go back to the camp quickly, and everything will be fine!”

The retreating soldiers looked at Maximus waving his arms vigorously and listened to his heart-warming words. Their tired bodies seemed to have some strength again.

At this time, Maximus jumped off his horse, walked quickly to a pair of wounded soldiers who were supporting each other, and said loudly: "You are injured yourself, how can you help your comrades! It's better to let Let me do it!"

As he spoke, he supported the body of a wounded soldier, put his arm on his shoulders, and walked forward slowly.

Many soldiers were greatly touched when they saw this scene. You must know that as the rebel army grew rapidly, the status and prestige of the leaders also increased rapidly. Even Spartacus would no longer be the same as he was at the beginning of the rebellion. Ordinary soldiers get along well, not to mention the somewhat inflated Cross and Enomui, but this young leader can still be so concerned about ordinary soldiers...

"May I have your name?"

"Diocles."

"It sounds like a Greek name."

"I am from Poseidonia, and I joined the army when the leader of Enomui passed by."

"You have not been a member of our Free Italy for a long time, but I see that the courage you showed during the siege is no worse than that of the veterans!"

…

Unknowingly, the soldiers were following Maximus and listening to the conversation between the two. One soldier couldn't help shouting: "Chief, I also joined the team in Poseidonia!"

"Oh, your injuries are not light. It shows that you are very brave in battle!"

"Chief, I am from Crotone. I heard about the reputation of Free Italy and rushed to Turii to join the team."

"Oh, it seems that there are warriors who dare to fight against Rome and pursue freedom in the southernmost part of Magna Graecia!"

"Chief Maximus I am a gladiator from Capua."

"I remember you, Kumoso, the cheetah from Mauritania..."

…

Pecot looked at Maximus, who was surrounded by soldiers and chatting and laughing with the soldiers, his expression changing.

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Back at the camp, Maximus settled the team, and the post-war statistics came out: more than 750 casualties.

For Maximus's army, which had only more than 2,500 troops here, this was already a strain.

But Maximus did not take it to heart. After dinner, he was notified and rushed to the Spartacus camp to attend a military meeting.

After every siege battle, Spartacus would inevitably call a meeting with the leaders to discuss, sum up experience, and change the method of attacking the city. This is the main reason why he was able to unite his team so quickly and improve combat effectiveness.

Entering the military tent, other leaders had already arrived. Maximus saw that everyone's faces were a little ugly, and thought that everyone was suffering from the losses caused by the failure of today's siege. Unexpectedly, Spartacus looked at He said in a deep voice: "I just got the news from the Cross messenger - the Roman army is coming!"

Although he had been mentally prepared for the arrival of the Roman army, when he heard this, Maximus' heart beat involuntarily. He hurriedly asked: "How many people are there in the Roman army? Where are they?"

"According to the messenger, Cross's cavalry captured a caravan heading south, and learned from the merchants that the Roman consul Publicla commanded an army of about 40,000 to 50,000 people and had passed through Campa. Nia, heading south along Ania Avenue—" Hamilcar introduced.

"Forty to fifty thousand people?!" Maximus's heart beat even harder. Although based on historical facts from his previous life, he roughly knew that the rebels had finally defeated the Roman attack this time, he still felt nervous when he was in it. Who could I don’t know if there will be an adaptation in this life.