Chapter 121 Take the initiative

"Great! Now each of our brothers can wear armor, have a shield and a dagger!" Pheasalus happily high-fived Toreligo, even the gloomy Carmenus and Austrian Luce also showed a smile. Only Pecott looked at Fesalus with a complicated expression.

"Carminus, Aulus, I feel very sad about the heavy losses suffered by the Third Army!" Maximus's words made the smiles on the faces of Carminus and Aulus quickly disappear.

"I have discussed with Quintus and Frontinus before that this is not your fault. No one in your position can do better than you two. Our only mistake is There are no more troops to guard against enemy surprise attacks, and this is my responsibility, not yours!" Maximus's sincere words made the two of them feel better.

"The same goes for the escort. With a small number of enemies, they performed very bravely!" Maximus praised loudly. He would not publicly criticize the escort's wrong tactics that led to heavy casualties, but he would send people to deal with them in the future. Train them hard.

Pecot interjected: "No, the guards did not perform well! If they could strictly abide by the disciplines like the three legions and fight in a tight defensive formation, there would not be so many casualties! Leader, Can you start sending some instructors to our escort team from tomorrow and conduct military training on them whenever you have free time?"

Maximus did not expect that Pecot would take the initiative to make such a request. Looking at the other party's serious expression, it was obvious that he was not just talking, but making a serious request. This made him very happy and also expressed his gratitude to Pecot. Te had a new understanding: "Of course! Frontinus, I'll leave the training of the escort to you."

"Yes, chief."

Maximus quickly put away his smile, his expression quickly became solemn, and he said in a low voice: "These brothers who died in battle today are all heroes. I will hold a public funeral for them tomorrow so that everyone can pay their respects." them!"

Holding public funerals for the war dead was a method Maximus learned from Spartacus.

"In addition, if I have the opportunity in the future, I will definitely replenish the Third Army and the Guards with soldiers so that these two heroic teams can fully exert their combat effectiveness!"

The gloom began to lift from the faces of Carminus, Aulus, and Pecot at the promise of Maximus.

"Quintus, Frontinus, what do you think we should do next after this battle?" Maximus asked again.

The two men answered almost in unison: "Of course, to destroy the Roman army in the south!"

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"What we have to do next is to attack this Roman army that is chasing us!"

At night, the leaders held a meeting of military commanders in Maximus's military tent. Spartacus made an impassioned speech: "Today, we won a great victory. What's more important is that the soldiers eliminated all attacks on the Roman army." The fear gave us the courage to fight the Romans. On the contrary, the Romans originally planned to annihilate us in one fell swoop through a flanking attack from the north and the south. But now that we have killed the Roman army in the north, only this one in the south is left. ——”

Spartacus stretched out his arms and gestured: "This army has accelerated its march in the past few days and is getting closer and closer to us. Before we came for reinforcements today, this Roman army had already arrived at Pala The area of ​​Palanum and Trebula was less than a day's journey from where we were, which was a bad thing, but now it was a good thing.

When we left Tarantum, the news we heard was that the Roman army numbered about 50,000 people. Later, although they won the battle with the Cross army, they suffered at least several thousand casualties.

Today we learned from the prisoners that this Roman army was not all composed of Roman legions. They only had 4 Roman legions and more than 20,000 people. The rest were all levies from various towns. Their combat effectiveness was not as strong as we imagined. , and our military strength is twice its size, and we are fully capable of defeating it!

As long as the consul commanding this Roman army is not a fool, if he learns that we have defeated the Roman army in the north, he will definitely lead his army to retreat immediately to avoid our attack. Therefore, we must seize this favorable opportunity and lead all the troops south quickly tomorrow morning to fight it decisively and avenge Cross! As long as this trouble is solved, nothing can stop us from free Italy! "

Spartacus said this excitedly, his hands fell on his thighs, and he heard a crisp sound: "Do you agree?"

In previous meetings, Hamilcar was often the first to respond to Spartacus's proposal, but this time he needed to lead the remaining main force on the march and did not come, but Maximus took over this role: "I Agree to Spartacus’ proposal and quickly deal with the Roman army in the south, so that we will no longer have to worry about going north!”

"As long as the soldiers are no longer afraid of the Romans, we will be able to defeat them, just like we did in Campania." Altonix, who has always been cautious, also agreed.

"This Roman army has been chasing us for so long, it's time to let them taste our power!" Attumus said immediately.

"Before, the soldiers were afraid of the Romans. The main reason was that many of them had no armor or weapons. Today's victory has improved the situation. I believe the soldiers are eager to win another victory and completely solve the problem of lack of weapons." Thor Maas's words not only expressed his agreement, but also tactfully explained the reason why they chose to evacuate in the first place.

At this time, Cleonis said loudly: "Chief Spartacus, although I have not yet obtained the right to vote, I agree with your proposal, and I think Fitodorus and Depetimas will not object. of."

Fitodorus and Depetimas could only nod.

A great victory completely changed the attitude of all the leaders, and Spartacus's proposal was successfully passed.

Taking advantage of the momentum, he continued: "I know that today's victory can be won. Maximus and Artemus' armies suffered a lot of casualties, but the biggest challenge between us and this Roman army is The advantage lies in the number of soldiers, so I hope you two can send some troops to follow us south to attack the Roman army, and concentrate the maximum strength to defeat it as soon as possible! "

"I am willing to lead all my soldiers south to fight." Artemus replied without hesitation. So far, he has collected 15,000 defeated troops, although Spartacus publicly declared today's victory This was mainly due to the perseverance of him and Maximus's army, but he felt guilty in his heart, and his troops also urgently needed to win a victory with their own hands to rebuild their morale, so they acted so actively.

"Today's battle resulted in a lot of casualties among my soldiers, who are in urgent need of repairs. But defeating the Roman army is the top priority now, and I am willing to send 6,000 people to participate in the battle." The reason why Maximus agreed was that on the one hand, it was exactly what he said It was said that it was to defeat the Roman army, but on the other hand it was also to further train the team and use victory after victory to improve combat effectiveness and shape the spirit of the army.

"Great!" Spartacus smiled: "Let's discuss how to go south tomorrow?"

After the leaders discussed the plan to fight southward, they also discussed the proposal that "Fitodoras, Depetimas, and Cleonis should join the meeting of military governors as full members" and the proposal was approved.

At the end of the meeting, everyone left, except Arttumus who remained in the military tent.

He said with a guilty look on his face: "Maximus, I failed to stop the Romans and let your army bear it——"

"Attumus, please don't say that!" Maximus quickly stopped him and said with a sincere face: "If you hadn't blocked the Romans on the upper reaches of the Vomanus River, you would have won the victory for me. For a lot of time, I couldn't hold on until Spartacus and them arrived.

Besides, the position of your army is not conducive to defense. The Romans will focus on attacking you as soon as they arrive. It is normal that your army cannot stop it. My army will also collapse in the end, if not-"

Having said this, the image of "the army was crushed and he was helpless" immediately appeared in Maximus' mind. He suddenly felt palpitated and quickly changed the subject: "For more than half a year, you and I have been working together very well. There is no need to be so polite. By the way, have all your soldiers returned to the army? You are going to lead the army south tomorrow. Why don't I send my men to help you collect the fleeing soldiers? "

Attumus was overjoyed: "Maximus, if this is possible, thank you very much!"

"Look, you're being polite to me again."

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After Attumus left, Maximus called the generals in the army. After discussion, it was decided that the first and second legions would each draw three brigades, totaling 6,000 people, to be led by their respective legion commanders to fight south.

Centurion Staggs opened the tent and walked into the military tent. Listening to the snoring inside, he shouted loudly: "You are still asleep, get up!"

"Who is it? The one who yelled woke me up from my sweet dream!"

"It sounds like the captain."

"Captain?! It's not dawn yet, why are you here with us?"

…

"Be quiet!" Staggs roared, and the complaints suddenly disappeared: "Just now, the legion commander gave us a mission. Tomorrow we will go south with the large army of leader Spartacus, and we will follow you. The Roman army at the back fights."

"We have to fight again, and we won't be allowed to take a good rest." Someone complained.

"If you want to rest, then go to another team. Anyway, we only sent half of the troops this time, and there are many people who can be replaced." Staggs made a gesture of walking out.

The soldiers immediately shouted again: "Who the hell wants to rest? I want to fight the Romans right now. Although we won the battle today, we were too tired and did not enjoy the fun of chasing the enemy. We can't miss it next time." ”

"Yes, those Roman soldiers are actually not that good. With fewer enemies and more enemies, we can basically beat them to a draw. Plus, with Spartacus leading his large army, we will definitely win the next battle. "

Staggs nodded: "Since you all understand, then be prepared to set off early tomorrow morning. If you lack armor or weapons or are damaged, you can go to the supply camp to get new ones now."

As soon as these words came out, the tent suddenly started to boil.

A voice came out: "Captain, can I also pick up weapons and armor?"

Staggs recognized Casaridoa's voice and smiled: "Of course, you performed very well today!"

Which is great, of course, because Casaridoa saved Staggs' life.

Staggs, who was already very tired during the battle, lost control of his body and slipped to the ground. At that time, the Roman soldier's dagger was about to chop off his head. Casaridoa, who was standing in the back row, quickly stabbed out the The javelin without a spear head poked the Roman soldier down, and then grabbed Casaridoa by the back of his neck and pulled him up from the mud. Only then did he escape death.

"Great, I can finally have armor and weapons!" Casaridoa cheered while dancing.

"You're so lucky. You were able to get weapons and armor not long after joining the team. It's not like I joined for several months and now I have this opportunity."

"Leontias!" shouted Staggs.

"exist!"

"Organize your squad and go to the supply camp to change armor. There are torches on the road. Don't wander around. If you cause a disturbance, you will be punished by military law!"

"yes!"

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Before Crotianus sent troops, in order to prevent Publicola from knowing the news and coming to take credit, he not only blocked the port of Ascoli to prevent anyone from reporting the news, but also asked the Brindisi fleet to stop sending troops to Publicola. Cora passed on the news, which led to the fact that on this day Publicola had no idea that the battle of the Vomanus was taking place.

Publicola even learned from Tan Ma that the rebels in front had separated most of their troops to speed up the march, thinking that this was a sign that the rebels were gathering forces and preparing to attack the Ascoli barracks in a large scale.

Out of concern for friendly forces, he also urged his troops to march faster, which resulted in camping in the wilderness at dusk instead of in selected towns or seaports. At the same time, his army was only half a day away from the rebels in front.

Early the next morning, Hamilcar, who received the message from Spartacus's horse, did not continue to go north. Instead, he first informed the soldiers of the victory in yesterday's battle. Everyone's morale was boosted, and then he quickly led his army south. .