Chapter 14 Settling in Vesuvius
Maximus was moved in his mind: "Are these large farms you are talking about located in the Mount Vesuvius area?"
"That's right, it's right there!" the old man said firmly with emphasis: "Almost each of those large farms owns more than a thousand yogurts of extremely fertile land, owns hundreds of slaves, countless grain and livestock, and there are Some beautiful slave girls—"
"Hey!" Maximus interrupted him and said rudely: "Old guy, you are telling us this to instigate us to rob those big farms."
"No...no, I just want to tell you the truth." The old man shook his head in denial.
Maximus sneered, and the old man's words stirred up the memory of the original owner in his mind: "Facing competition from these large farms, can this farm's wheat and wool be sold? How much money will it cost to sell them?"
The old man stopped talking.
Although there are no large farms around Capua, the market there is basically dumped by the agricultural products produced by these large farms. According to the original owner, most of the owners of these large farms are Roman nobles who used Mount Vesuvius to Fertile soil and many cheap slaves grow better wheat, better grapes, and better olives... They sell these agricultural products at the same or even lower prices, and the people naturally flock to them, even if they have a few hundred yogurts. The original owner of the land often lamented that his things could not be sold. The owner of this farm is probably not much better, let alone the common people...
Thinking of this, Maximus regained his composure and said to everyone in the kitchen: "Everyone has eaten. Then continue working and bake three hundred more loaves."
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In the early morning of the next day, the gladiators, who had eaten wheat porridge and bread, released a group of people from the farm and prepared to continue their journey south.
Spartacus, who had interrogated the young man last night and learned about the surrounding situation, asked the gladiators to move forward in full force.
Hamilka and Maximus exchanged the donkey cart for a carriage on the farm, increasing the number of carriages in the team to six, which was more than enough to carry weapons, food and wounded people.
As an active volcano that erupts from time to time, Vesuvius's ash covers an extremely wide area, covering an area of more than 150 square kilometers, so the gladiator team entered the Vesuvius area not long after leaving the farm.
In addition to the fields of wheat growing gratifyingly, there are also more vineyards along the way, and the number of farmers working in the fields has also increased significantly. From time to time, you can see overseers holding whips and wearing robes shouting loudly, while they are shackled and covered with bruises. The slave is trembling...
The gladiators were eager to try, but Spartacus and Cross tried their best to restrain them. After all, the first task now was to get to the foothills of Mount Vesuvius and find a foothold.
However, Spartacus didn't want to cause trouble, but trouble still came to them.
The free-spirited gladiators would inevitably trample on the wheat seedlings while walking on the fields. When the overseer of a large farm noticed this, he immediately rushed over with his men and stopped the team.
It seems that the news that Spartacus led the gladiators to launch a riot has not spread here. These people regarded the gladiators as city guards and arrogantly claimed that the owner of this farm was a certain senator from the city of Rome and demanded that The gladiators must make compensation, otherwise the Lord will give them a good look.
After the gladiators laughed wildly, they drew their daggers and chopped them down one by one.
The other overseers and thugs realized that they were coming with bad intentions and ran away in fear. Many slaves also wanted to escape, but they were shackled and couldn't run fast at all. Some slaves stayed where they were, watching curiously.
"We are gladiators who cannot bear the oppression of the Romans and initiate riots. Do you want to join us to fight against the Romans and pursue freedom?!" Spartacus said loudly.
The slaves who were watching hesitated for a moment, then staggered over, dragging their shackles.
The leader spoke loudly in blunt Latin: "We...are from Iberia...the Celts in the mountains...the Romans captured our tribe...and took us captive here..."
"Welcome to join us! As long as we defeat the Romans, we will try our best to get everyone home!" Spartacus promised with a smile. Compared with the few slaves in the farm who refused to join the team last night, today The smooth joining of these Celtics made him relieved. It seemed that the decision to develop in Vesuvius was still correct.
The gladiators even caught up with the farm steward, chopped him down and obtained the key, helping the slaves to open the shackles. The slaves cheered excitedly.
Maximus, who was driving the carriage, also heard the slave's words, and something moved in his mind: In his previous life, when he was looking up the historical information about the Spartacus Rebellion, he vaguely remembered that there were two wars going on in Rome at this time, one was In Asia Minor, one is in Iberia, and the "Great Pompey" should be in Spain!
The joining of the slaves did not change the forward route of the gladiators. As the team advanced, the terrain began to become uneven. It slowly rose upwards in the direction of Mount Vesuvius and had entered the foothills of Vesuvius. , wheat fields are gradually disappearing here, almost all are vineyards.
The long-weathered volcanic ash land of Vesuvius is particularly suitable for growing grapes, and the three wines of Falania, Statania and Carlenia produced are the best wines in Italy. Of course the Romans would take good care of them. Use every bit of land here. Although there are no wheat fields, there are not fewer slaves, but more slaves, because tending grapes is more delicate than planting wheat seedlings. In this season, in addition to turning the soil, fertilizing, and watering, the main work is to pinch seedlings, branch, and set up trellises. For this reason, you can also see some female slaves working in the garden.
Killing the overseers and inviting slaves to join them was something the gladiators did easily during the march. By the afternoon, when the team stopped moving, the number of slaves who had joined reached 150, one-third of whom were from Iberia. Asia, one-third came from Asia Minor, and one-third came from northern Greece. They were all new slaves who had stayed here for less than three years.
The main task of the leaders Spartacus, Cross and others along the way was to observe the terrain and find a good foothold. In the end, they unanimously took a fancy to a large farm.
It is located on a gentle mountainside, and the mountain behind it gradually becomes steeper, like a screen protecting the back of the farm, with only a path leading to it.
Whether they are Spartacus from Thrace or Cross from Gaul, they are all mountain people. Living in the mountains will make them feel more comfortable when they may be attacked by the Roman army at any time. It was safe, so it was the unanimous opinion of the team leaders to capture this large farm and station the team here.
The farm has a wall more than two meters high, and there are several guards inside the farm. Seeing that the situation is not good, they closed the wooden door early and took a defensive posture. The people in charge even climbed up the wall to warn the approaching people. The gladiators left quickly, otherwise they would die without a burial due to the wrath of the Roman senators.
Spartacus ignored it and gave the order to attack.
Although this farm has a wall, there are fig trees planted outside the wall, and grapevines climb on them to form so-called grapevines. This is also a way of arranging grapes, but at this time the gladiators used The fig tree easily scaled the courtyard wall and entered the manor, cutting down all the guards and overseers who dared to resist, and soon occupied the entire farm.
Yesterday, the family drove to Yanjiao to register their children for school. They were busy all day and returned late at night, so they didn't have time to update the novel.
Now that I think about it, my child received an admission notice from Lumei High School in May. If he ends up going to Lumei High School, then registration for the start of school will not be a matter of one day. He is far away from home and it will take him two or three days to get back and forth.
Fortunately, my child succeeded and finally got admitted to her favorite school, which also made me feel relieved.
