Chapter 27 War begins

There was a tense atmosphere in the kitchen, and Maximus stayed there only for a moment before having to withdraw to avoid getting in the way.

At this moment, he suddenly felt a little confused: he came to this era and wanted to change the fate of himself and the Spartacus rebel army's final destruction. However, when it came time to actually fight the Roman army, he could only watch and wait quietly. The result of the battle was that there was no effort at all.

If only I could command an army into battle! ...Such an idea suddenly arose in Maximus's mind.

While Maximus was thinking, several figures flashed in front of him. He immediately came back to his senses and shouted: "Akgo, Cassius, what are you doing?!"

"Old...teacher, we want to help in the kitchen." Akguo stammered in reply.

The title of "Teacher" was given to them by Maxim. Of course, judging from the fact that he spared no effort in teaching the children knowledge, he indeed deserved this title.

"Didn't I tell you that at this special time you can't run around and you must stay with Uncle Vorenus! This way if something happens, I can find you at any time, do you understand?" Mark Sims said with a serious expression.

"We also want to do something..." Cassius explained in a low voice beside him. Maximus glared at him and immediately lowered his head.

"Teacher, we were wrong. We are going back right now. Don't be angry!" Nasuya quickly admitted her mistake, and other children quickly agreed.

Maximus nodded with a gentle expression: "This is your first offense, I will forgive you this time."

The children respected Maximus very much and did not want to make him angry, so they all turned around and returned to the main building.

Maximus followed and came to the front yard, where he happened to meet Pygris.

"Captain, do we still need to move everything to the carriage like yesterday?" Pigris asked eagerly as soon as he saw him.

"Of course." Maximus answered without hesitation. Seeing that he was a little confused, he then emphasized: "We must prepare for the worst and expect the best results."

After hearing what he said, Pigris calmed down a little and led his men to carry the supplies.

Maximus went to the roof of the main building. After a while, he saw the people in the kitchen pushing wooden carts filled with steaming food out of the farm gate. In the past, soldiers would come at this time. They scrambled like crazy and blocked the door, but this time they didn't show up, and the food cart was smoothly pushed to the camp.

This seemed to be a good thing, but Maximus was a little uneasy. He actually hoped that today would be like usual, which meant that the soldiers were not affected by the arrival of the Roman army yesterday. The subordinates gave lectures. It seemed that everyone was a new recruit and had the same nervousness and anxiety about the real war.

Realizing this, Maximus tried his best to calm down, because as the captain of the baggage team, his every move would affect the emotions of his men.

After Maximus had breakfast, he ordered Sexippus to drive the cattle and sheep to the back hill of the farm, and then gathered the other baggage team members in the farm.

It was already bright at this time, and the sun was slanting in the clear sky.

"Woo! Woo! Woo!..." The copper horn sounded rapidly in the camp.

Are the Romans coming? ! ...Maximus went to the top of the building again and looked ahead.

In the distance, heavily armed Roman soldiers lined up in an orderly manner out of the camp just built yesterday, and lined up directly in the fields...

About half an hour later, the Roman legions had formed a traditional three-line formation, and behind this formation were a denser array of auxiliary troops. The auxiliary troops were followed by ten carriages, and there were 50 cavalry on each side.

The brass horn whistled.

The Roman army began to slowly move towards the rebel camp.

It seems that this time the Romans are really going to attack! ...Maximus felt nervous and moved his gaze closer.

As the Roman soldiers marched out of camp, the rebel troops also began to take action. In fact, after breakfast, the rebel soldiers were already waiting in the camp. Due to what they had experienced yesterday, although the team was still noisy and chaotic, the formation speed was much faster. Just when the Roman army was approaching the foot of the mountain, the uprising The army was already in formation... This made Maximus feel a little relieved.

Then he saw Spartacus, who was at the front of the formation, walking to the front of the formation and saying something loudly. Then, the gladiators at the front of the formation waved their swords and spears and roared in unison. The recruits were also affected by this and started shouting one after another. Finally, the entire rebel army roared...

Although most of the slaves who joined the rebel army were still wearing single clothes and holding hoes, pitchforks, and wooden sticks in their hands... their hatred for the Romans had been aroused, so that they no longer trembled when facing the well-equipped Roman army at the foot of the mountain. and fear, but with anger spraying from their eyes.

Even Maximus, who was at the rear, felt this change in morale and couldn't help but feel more hope of victory.

The Roman army stopped advancing at this time. They began to adjust their somewhat disordered array at the foot of the mountain. Three or four soldiers jumped out of each carriage. They each carried a wooden frame through the gaps in the military formation, and placed the wooden frame They were placed in front of the military formation, and then started busy around the wooden frame.

"What is that thing they put in front of the formation?!"

"Why don't these Roman dogs attack?!"

…

The soldiers behind Spartacus were talking quietly.

"That's a Roman ballista!" Spartacus loudly explained to the soldiers to avoid their suspicion: "It's like a slingshot played by children. It can shoot stones, but it's not accurate. It's difficult to hit the target. ……"none

Spartacus looked very relaxed in both expression and tone, but he began to feel uneasy in his heart: How could I forget that the Romans would use this trick in battle!

"Report to the commander of the legion, all the ballistae have been installed and are waiting for your orders!" Widenius saluted and reported to Grabo.

"I understand." Grabo looked at the military camp commander who was over fifty years old in front of him. This was a veteran he appointed against all objections. He was once a centurion under Sulla and had an outstanding record in the war in Asia Minor. From the time Widenius took office to the present, whether it was marching, training, camping, military discipline... he had arranged all military affairs in an orderly manner, repaying Grabo's trust in him.

"According to the previous plan, let these ignorant slaves experience the horror of war!" Grabo pointed contemptuously at the rebels on the hillside.

After receiving the order, the Roman crossbowmen began to turn the handle, the double-layer spring arm was stretched backward, and then was caught by the metal hook, and then a lead shot was put into the slide rail.

This is a small lead shot that only weighs half a talent (a standard ballista lead shot weighs about one talent, which is about 26 kilograms). This is to allow it to fly farther and is different from the usual. The lead shot was different. It was wrapped in a layer of oilcloth. After being ignited, the crossbowman quickly pulled the trigger. Hearing the sound of "Hoo! Hoo!", ten fireballs ejected, flew towards the hillside, and crossed over one after another. Over the rebel array one mile away.

Most of the soldiers in the uprising team breathed a sigh of relief, but Spartacus was shocked. He did not expect that the ballistae fired not lead pellets but fire bombs, and the landing point of these fire bombs was not far from the uprising army's formation. 's camp.

The rebel camp was not planned, there were no obvious intervals between the tents, and there were no fire prevention measures. Moreover, it was early summer, the weather was hot, the items were dry, and fire bombs fell into the camp, immediately igniting the tents...

Maximus saw five or six fires coming out around the farm. He was stunned for a moment. Then he realized that something was wrong. He hurried downstairs and looked at Arconis, Pygris and others in the front yard. Shouted: "Quick! Take people to put out the fire in the camp! Go put out the fire!"

Maximus led the baggage team members in a hurry towards the camp, but forgot to inform Spartacus.