Chapter 109 Internal strife and division

Cross was stabbed in the foot, jumped up suddenly, strode over, grabbed Cleonis's clothes, picked him up, and shouted: "Who the hell do you think you are? You dare to talk nonsense here! When I was killing the Romans in Campania, you didn't know where to beg for food..."

Cross, who was extremely tall, stared at Cleonis fiercely at close range, with a ferocious light shining in his eyes, like a giant beast about to devour people.

Cleonis was able to call on the civilians in southern Calabria to raise a team and join the rebel army. His ability and courage were not bad. However, at this moment, he was so frightened by Cross's intimidating momentum that he forgot to resist.

Spartacus caught up in time, separated Cross with force, and shouted in an equally angry voice: "Cross, didn't you hear what I just said! Go back to your seat and discuss it with everyone. If you dare to act recklessly in our next actions, I will be rude to you!"

With a crisp sound of "pop", Cross forcefully opened Spartacus's hand on his chest, and said in a hateful voice: "I'm going to make trouble here today, what's the matter! Spartacus, what are you going to come up with again?" What a trick to use against me!"

After hearing this, Spartacus clenched his fists and his chest rose and fell sharply, but he gritted his teeth and controlled the rising anger.

The two faced each other, glaring at each other.

Seeing that something was wrong, Hamilcar quickly stood up and advised: "Cross——"

"Shut up!" Cross pointed at Hamilcar angrily: "You, an accomplice of Spartacus, help him come up with bad ideas and make everyone stupidly follow your orders. I have long wanted to beat you!"

"You, Altonix, Spartacus's follower, what else can you do besides nodding your head and agreeing with him!"

"And you -" Cross pointed at Maximus again: "The traitor of the Gladiators has killed so many brothers, and yet he can still become the leader!"

Maximus has not understood why these things happened since he came in. Faced with Cross's accusations, he decided to wait and see what happens.

"And you, Attumus, a guy who has never killed anyone, can actually..." Cross cursed the leaders in the military tent one by one, venting the anger that had been pent up in his heart for a long time. , and then angrily he bent down and picked up the dagger stuck on the ground.

Others subconsciously drew out their daggers and pointed them at him.

Cross looked around, took two steps back, and then shouted with his sword: "What, you want to swarm me and kill me here?!"

"Cross, don't slander us. It was you who took out the dagger to threaten us first!" Altonix scolded.

Cross said angrily: "I've seen it a long time ago. You guys are joining forces to deal with me! Okay! Okay! What an officer meeting, let it go to hell. I won't stay with you cowards anymore. You want to Just go ahead and become a deserter, I will never leave! I will stay here with my brothers—"

Cross looked directly at Spartacus and said decisively: "Without you, I, Cross, can defeat the Romans, just watch!" After that, he sheathed his sword and strode out of the military tent.

Spartacus's face turned blue and white, and he was obviously very angry, but he hesitated for a moment and chased after him.

Hamilcar followed.

The other people in the military tent looked at me and I looked at you, with uneasiness on their faces.

"Arttumus, what's going on? Why did Cross suddenly fall out with us?" Maximus approached Arttumus and asked in a low voice.

"You don't know what happened when you first arrived. Ever since this guy led his army here, he has been quarreling with Spartacus and these leaders over whether to retreat north. Before you Before he came in, this guy was screaming and jumping, and he was almost about to hit someone. If Spartacus hadn't stopped him, we would have beaten him down long ago!" Attumus said angrily, Having been pointed in the face and scolded by Cross just now, he was also filled with anger.

It seems that Cross's angry departure has nothing to do with him being late for the meeting... Maximus was not in a relaxed mood, and then asked: "Didn't I agree to fight here before? Why did I suddenly change my mind and retreat to the north? "

"Alas, there is no other way." Attumus glanced at the others and whispered: "After we withdrew from Metapontum, the news that the Roman army was coming spread quickly. Here, most of the soldiers commanded by these leaders were Magna Greeks. They were very afraid of the Romans and were very panicked when they heard the news.

They believe that although we in Free Italy have a large number of people, we lack armor and weapons and cannot even capture the small city of Metapontum, so it is impossible to defeat the Roman army...

Spartacus and the others rushed to various camps. No matter how they tried to appease the soldiers, it was no use. There were also poor people who relied on us but were not included in their respective teams and were scattered around the periphery. They had even begun to flee north one after another.

Later, Cross led his army here, and the Roman army also arrived at the Tuli Plain. The people here became even more panicked. They protested to Spartacus and the others, refusing to fight the Romans and demanding an immediate retreat...

This is the reason why Spartacus wants to hold an emergency meeting. In fact, it is not just here. Although my place is farther away, the reactions of the soldiers who joined later were similar. In addition, they saw the soldiers who continued to flee north. People, how can they still have the courage to fight the Romans? I came here in a hurry because I wanted to talk to Spartacus about this matter. Is this the same situation over there? "

"Yeah." Maximus responded vaguely.

"We still think highly of ourselves." Altonix's voice came from behind, and he said seriously: "Actually, we don't even need to discuss this matter. According to our previous regulations, major matters require a soldiers meeting. To decide, now that so many soldiers are asking to 'give up the fight and move north', we should listen to their opinions."

As Altonix was talking, the curtain opened, and dark-faced Spartacus and Hamilka walked in heavily. It seemed that persuading Cross was not successful.

As soon as Spartacus came in, he said directly: "Dear leaders, the Roman army has almost arrived at the Tuli Plain. It is only about three or four days away from us. Originally, we decided to fight the Romans here, but it was difficult for us to do so. Some brothers...were opposed to fighting them, so we had to reconvene a meeting to decide whether to abandon the previous plan and choose to move north..."

Spartacus' eyes were focused on Maximus when he spoke, because the attitudes of other leaders had shown before that these words were actually meant for Maximus.

Maximus felt the unwillingness and helplessness in his eyes. He did not answer immediately, but asked: "Even if we leave here, the Romans will be chasing us. Do we have to keep marching north?" ?”

"Well, that's it." Hamilcar took over and said: "We had discussed in private before that if the situation is not good, our team will go all the way north and enter the mountains in the north, where the Gauls live. The Romans would no longer dare to pursue us, and we would be free;

But if the situation changes, for example, there are Roman troops blocking the way from the north, or--"

"Or maybe the brothers have regained their courage to fight, and the Roman army has a flaw in the pursuit, then we can look for opportunities to defeat them, restore the prestige of Free Italy, and restore everyone's confidence in defeating the Romans!" Spartacus said in a deep voice, his words full of power.

Maximus immediately replied bluntly: "I agree to move north temporarily."

Spartacus looked at the others and said loudly: "Since everyone agrees to evacuate this place, in order to ensure the smooth march of the large army to the north, we must quickly formulate a retreat plan-"

"Spartacus, is Cross really planning to stay here and not go north with us?" Altonix couldn't help but ask.

Spartacus was stunned for a moment, and then said with a complicated expression: "Yes, he decided to lead his team to stay and not go with us. Now the Roman army is approaching, and we don't have extra time to slowly persuade I can only wish him good luck..."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

In the Turi Plain, the Roman army is now stationed in the camp left by the Cross rebel army. In the central army tent, the consul Lucius Gellius Publicola is listening to the administration of Metapontum. Chief Sertorius Tullius introduced the slave rebel army.

"Dear Archon, these damn rebels are mainly divided into three parts. One part used to be here, about 40,000 people. The leaders of the rebels are named Cross and Enomui, both of whom were once gladiators in Capua.

This Enomui once led an army to besiege Metapontom. I risked a cavalry attack to kill him, but unfortunately I failed to obtain his head. Overwhelmed by the army you led, Cross fled to Tarentum with thirty thousand men.

The main part of the rebels is in Uria, Calabria, here, here... The entire interior of northern Calabria has been ravaged by these rebels, who number about 112,000 People—" Tullius pointed at the map in front of him and spoke seriously.

"One hundred and twenty thousand people?!" Publikola was a little surprised when he heard this number.

"As far as I know, there are many old, weak, sick and disabled among them, and there are even women. I estimate that there are at most 80,000 to 90,000 people who can actually participate in the battle-"

"Eighty or ninety thousand people is not a lot!" Publicola still frowned.

Tullius immediately said with relief: "But most of them have no armor or weapons, and can only fight with simple wooden shields and sticks. Even those rebels with armor and weapons just put down their hoes and The poor people and slaves of the shepherd whip cannot use swords and shields well..."

Publicola looked at Tullius and asked: "These are the experiences you gained after two battles with the traitors?

"These rebels besieged Metapontum twice, and I know something about them. Moreover, I also sent my men to disguise themselves as poor people and infiltrate into the ranks of various rebels. Although these rebels are large in number, they lack military discipline. , the organization is disorganized, and it is easy to get all kinds of information. It can be seen that these rebels are just a group of rabble... However, they are very capable in fighting-"

Publicola nodded and said indifferently: "People who have nothing will naturally not cherish their miserable lives."

"Congratulations, Lord Archon!"

"Who is the leader of this group of rebels?"

"The main leader is Spartacus. He is also the leader of the entire rebel army. The rebels under him still have some military discipline. They can build camps and patrols decently, and they also have some fighting ability..."

Publicola showed a look of reminiscence: "Spartacus... I have heard of this name in Campania, and that idiot Valerius was defeated by him. According to that gladiator school The confession of Nista (Batiatus, the manager of the gladiator school) was that he had served in the Roman legions and was later sentenced to become a gladiator after deserting."

"Oh, it seems that this Spartacus has always been cunning and unfaithful. No wonder he would incite rebellion! But even if he had served in the Roman legions, what he had learned was only a little bit of knowledge. He would never Your opponent, Archon."

"There are three parts of these traitors you mentioned. Where is the other part?"

"The last part of the rebels is here." Tullius pointed to the Apulia region on the map: "There are two rebel leaders, one is named Attumus, and he has about 25,000 people, gathered in Canossa; there is also a man named Maximus, who is hiding in Sarapia and has about... about 20,000 people..."

Publicola saw the hesitation on Tullius's face and immediately asked: "It seems that you don't know much about this traitor named Maximus and his team situation?"

"Uh... Your Excellency the Consul, the situation is like this." Tullius defended: "This traitor named Maximus is very cunning. After he captured Sarapia, he blocked the entire city. Outsiders are not allowed to enter the town. His team has a camp near Bari. Outsiders are also strictly prohibited from entering. Two of the people I sent to inquire about the news were arrested by them..."

"It seems that this traitor Maximus is very strict in running the army."

"However, this rebel leader allowed merchant ships to enter the port and exchange the supplies they robbed for food and weapons. I once sent merchant ships in. According to the ship owner, foreign merchant ships docked in Sarapia Port every day, but the rebels The port is very strictly controlled and cannot enter the city at all, so it is impossible to know the specific situation of this rebel army——"