Chapter 108 Orders change overnight

"At least 7 Roman legions!" Altonix's face became more solemn: "The combat effectiveness of the Roman legions is not comparable to those of the city guards!"

Hamilka went on to say: "In addition, Cross believed that the Romans must have informed the towns near Thurii of the news of sending troops by sea in advance, because he found that there had been changes in these towns in the past few days, and there were not only signs of recruiting troops. , and even sent scouts to spy on his camp..."

"The Romans can use the sea route to order the towns near Thurii to participate in the attack on Cross. I am afraid they can also order Tarantum and the surrounding towns to do the same!" Attumus reminded.

"Spartacus, what should we do now?!" Artemidonus and other leaders looked even more nervous and asked almost in unison.

"Don't worry too much." Spartacus looked resolute and said unhurriedly: "When we in Free Italy only had more than 10,000 people, we annihilated a Roman legion in Campania. This time the Romans The strength of our troops has increased seven to eight times, but the number of our soldiers has also increased to more than 100,000. We can still defeat the Roman army this time as before!"

Spartacus's voice was not loud, but it was full of confident power, which made Artemidonus and others feel at ease.

"Spartacus, how should we deal with this coming Roman army now?" Artemidonus asked again.

Spartacus looked at everyone in the military tent with bright eyes, clenched his fists, and said in a deep voice: "Of course we must gather all our troops to face the Roman army's attack head-on! As for where to gather, the specific location is not yet known. OK. My suggestion is that everyone gather their troops in the territory of Tarantum and fight the Romans there. But Cross's suggestion is that we should fight the Romans in the plains of Turi. What do you think of this? "

Altonix first responded: "Of course it is best to fight the Romans at Tarentum, where our troops are the largest and can be concentrated more easily."

"I also think it is best to stay in the Tarantum territory. You have all seen these days that Metapontum is so close to us. More than 20,000 of us have spent a lot of food camping here. If we all go to Tarantum, "Li Plain, I'm afraid it will drag down our food supply." Hamilcar raised a logistical supply issue that everyone was concerned about, which attracted the attention of the leaders.

"I agree to fight the Romans here at Tarantum," Maximus began.

Immediately afterwards Artemus also agreed with Spartacus's opinion, which completely relieved Hamilcar. He had been a little worried that Maximus would put forward new suggestions to concentrate the army in Apulia.

Of course, he didn't know that Maximus had his own plan in mind: Since the rebel army in the previous life had won consecutive victories during this period, he only needed to tighten Spartacus's thigh and obey the command. There was no need to be ingenious to avoid disturbing the situation. history.

"We made a decision before to gather the army to attack Metapontum. Chief Cross did not obey the order and has not led his army here yet. Now he wants us all to go to the Tuli Plain to help him defend his camp. "Isn't he thinking too beautifully?" Fitodoras's sarcastic words brought up a topic that everyone had deliberately avoided during this period.

Spartacus immediately and solemnly warned: "Fitodoras, the Roman army is coming, we must fight with all our strength, and don't say anything that affects unity!"

"Chief Spartacus, I have no other intentions. Now everyone agrees to fight the Romans in the territory of Tarantum, but Chief Cross is not here. He will be willing to leave the Tuli Plain and lead his army to Tarantum. Your camp?" The question asked by Fitodoras was what everyone was concerned about.

Spartacus replied without hesitation: "He will!"

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Early the next morning, Spartacus issued an order to retreat to the entire army. Although the leaders temporarily kept the news of "the imminent arrival of the Roman army" secret as required, the hasty ending of the siege still caused a stir. There was quite a commotion.

Maximus did not care about the impact of the cessation of the siege on morale. He led his troops directly north along the road and returned to Sarapia only two days later. Then he called all the leaders for an emergency meeting.

He first introduced Pequot and the thousands of soldiers he commanded to join the team (more than 600 people were killed in several battles against Metapontum), and then told them about an army with seven or eight News of the imminent arrival of legions of Roman troops. At the same time, he also mentioned that after discussions at the officers' meeting, various units of the rebel army would gather in the Tarentum territory to face the Roman army.

This news made everyone present nervous, and Maximus comforted them with confidence: the rebels will definitely be able to defeat the invading Roman army!

At the same time, he solemnly reminded everyone: Just in case, everyone in the team must be prepared to evacuate at any time.

The predecessor of Maximus's army was just a small baggage team that was not valued by the rebel soldiers. It grew rapidly under his leadership and became an important force of the rebel army. All the leaders were awarded because of his respect. He was promoted and reused, and now he has complete control over the team. Therefore, although some leaders were worried about the upcoming war, no one was dissatisfied at this time. They all followed Maximus's instructions and began to perform their duties.

However, when the news that "the Roman army was about to invade" spread throughout the entire team, it caused a fluctuation in the morale of the soldiers, especially those soldiers who joined the team after leaving Campania.

Fortunately, Maximus had strict control over the army. Each of his subordinate units had independent military camps. They carried out training, patrols and other tasks under the leadership of team officers every day. They worked and rested according to the prescribed time. They were not allowed to go out without permission. So there wasn't any big trouble.

However, there were very few deserters among the staff in the two major logistics departments of the kitchen and warehouse.

For this reason, Maximus had to strengthen the management of all departments, and personally went to various places for several days to work with the supervisors to appease the personnel and improve morale...

After finally stabilizing the situation, Maximus was about to lead the first and second legions south to Tarantum, but suddenly received an urgent message from Pheasalus, commander of the first legion, who was in the military camp near the city of Bari: Many Free Italian Army soldiers from the south entered the territory of Bari with their families, saying they were moving north... asked Maximus if they wanted to be expelled?

Maxim City's first reaction was that Spartacus and the others changed their decision and instead of fighting the Roman army at Tarantum, they chose to go north to temporarily avoid the Roman army.

But he thought about it again and felt that it was wrong, because this was not Spartacus's usual practice. Even if he was really going to do this, he would at least have to convene a meeting of officers to reach an agreement with everyone again instead of acting on his own initiative. Therefore, it is most likely that some soldiers in the Free Italian Army in the south were afraid of the Roman army and fled north without authorization...

Thinking of this, Maximus couldn't sit still. He immediately led the cavalry and galloped along the road towards the First Legion barracks.

Before arriving at the military camp, Maximus encountered rebel soldiers from the south. No, they should not be called soldiers, but poor people. They were scattered in Barry's territory with their families, unorganized and unorganized. Northbound…

Maximus asked his cavalry to question the civilians heading north, and their answers were generally similar: the invading Roman army was very powerful, and it was impossible for the rebels who lacked armor and soldiers to defeat them, so it was better to avoid them first... …

When asked which team they belonged to, their answers were very different. They came from all teams, even Spartacus's troops, and most of them did not belong to any rebel leader's army. Most of them were old, weak, sick and disabled. They were not included in the rebel army when they first surrendered to the army, but they did not leave either. Instead, they stayed near the rebel camp. What Maximus saw when he first went south Those simple and dilapidated outer settlements were built by them...

Seeing this situation, Maximus's face was as dark as water. He thought for a while and then ordered: "Argo, you should return to Sarapia immediately and tell Volerus that it is my order and let him Send messengers to inform the towns that have surrendered to us as soon as possible, asking them to evacuate the people outside the city to the city for refuge, and express our apology to them that we can no longer fulfill our commitments to them. "

Akguo was a little puzzled and surprised: "Chief, we want... to apologize to them?!"

"Although these towns may have received news of the arrival of the Roman army, and may even be secretly preparing to oppose us, at least they have fulfilled their promises in the past two or three months. It was we who failed to keep our promises and failed to stop them in the first place. People from other teams destroyed their land and should apologize, which is related to our credibility," Maximus said seriously.

Half of the cavalry team escorted Akago back, and Maximus rushed to the First Legion barracks.

As soon as Pheasalus saw him, he immediately knelt down and said: "Chief, I violated your order and did not order the soldiers to expel these people who entered the territory of Bari——"

Before he finished speaking, Maximus grabbed his arms and pulled him up forcefully: "You did the right thing. Now the situation has changed and it is impossible for us to stop them. You immediately send the soldiers Get together, abandon this camp, and follow me to Tarentum!"

"Are you going to fight the Romans?!" Pheasalus asked nervously and excitedly.

"That's not certain." Maximus responded noncommittally.

On the way south, the flow of people heading north never stopped, and there was an increasing trend. Maximus was lucky enough to encounter a messenger sent by Spartacus, and learned from him that Cross had led his troops. They left the Tuli Plain and came to the territory of Tarantum. Spartacus and other leaders also left Urria and gathered at the northern border of Tarantum to convene an emergency meeting of officers.

Meeting closer to Apulia... Maximus mused.

The location of the officers' meeting was the temporary camp set up by Cross's army. Maximus opened the curtain and walked into the military tent. The situation was the same as last time. Except for him, the other leaders were already in the tent.

Compared with the last meeting, the atmosphere in the military tent was extremely tense at this moment. Everyone's face was very ugly, especially Cross, who was sitting sideways on the ground with an unsheathed gun in his hand. The dagger kept poking at the mud in front of him with a fierce look on his face.

Seeing Maximus coming in, Cross immediately vented his anger: "Maximus, you are the last to arrive every time and make us wait for so long. Are you worthy of being a leader!"

Maximus was stunned and didn't understand why the other party was suddenly so angry against him. He didn't have time to think about it, and immediately replied without any sign of weakness: "With a certain person who did not implement the decision of the meeting and did not send troops to attack Meta. Compared with the people of Pontum, I feel that I am a worthy leader!”

Except for Spartacus and Hamilka, the other leaders burst into laughter, and even Fitodoras echoed: "That's so well said!"

Cross drew out his dagger, stretched out his hand, and saw a flash of cold light. Half of the sword blade was inserted into the mud in front of Fitodoras. Fitodoras, who was sitting on the ground, was so frightened that he let out an "ah" sound, and his whole body Falling backward.

Cross sneered, and glanced at the faces of Maximus and the other leaders with a wolf-like ferocious gaze, and said in a hateful voice: "Are you going to join forces to fight against me today!"

"Stop making trouble!" Spartacus roared, and he shouted with a rare look of anger: "The Roman army is approaching, and you still have the intention to quarrel here! Finish the meeting properly, and hurry up for We Free Italy make a decision on the next military action!”

When Spartacus got angry, Fitodorus quickly turned over and sat down. The other leaders also fell silent. Only Cross snorted heavily and mocked: "Spartacus, what kind of meeting do you need?" , don’t you alone have the final say in all decisions! When the Romans came, you said we would fight head-on, so we all agreed to fight head-on! You said we would gather all our troops in Tarantum, so I gave up on the Tuli Plains! We worked so hard to get here with all our brothers, but now you are telling me to avoid the Romans and retreat to the north——"

"Chief Cross, what you said is not right." Cleonis couldn't help but interjected: "How do I remember that when the messenger informed Turi of our decision to 'fight the Romans at Tarentum'? When you were in Pingyuan, you initially refused to implement this resolution!

The reason why you are here now is just because the Roman army has approached the Tuli Plain, and the Greek towns to the south of the Tuli Plain have also gathered an army of no less than ten thousand people. You are facing a flanking attack from both sides, so you are forced to come. here--"