Chapter 81 Reorganization of the supply camp

"That's right! That's right!" Altonix and Attumus responded heartily.

Enomuyi had never cared much about the supply camp in the past, but now that he thought about it, it really was like this.

After hearing what Spartacus said, Cross suddenly realized: The people in the supply camp seemed to be very convinced of this guy Maximus, and they kept saying these words, "Our leader Maximus said" . Maximus now has the right to build his own team. His former subordinates are likely to take the initiative to leave the baggage camp and join his team. By then, even if the baggage camp has sufficient supplies, it will lack good manpower. What's the use of soldiers cooking and treating wounded soldiers? …

The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became, but he was not willing to let Maximus lead both the army and the supply camp. When he was in conflict, he heard Spartacus say again: "But from now on, everyone will The team under your command will become larger and larger. In order to facilitate the collection of food or to fight independently, they may be scattered everywhere. By then, the supply camp may not be able to provide you with logistics support in time, so while everyone is gathered in Pompeii, During this period, you'd better start planning to build your own baggage camp and ask Chief Maximus for his experience in managing the baggage camp. I believe Chief Maximus will also be happy to provide help to you.

Of course, the baggage camp that Maximus is in charge of is always the general baggage camp for our entire team. When other teams ask for help from the baggage camp, Maximus should provide support. "

"I agree." This time Cross agreed without hesitation, and several other leaders also agreed, because Spartacus's proposal gave them greater autonomy in developing their own teams.

The reason why Spartacus did this was mainly to prepare for the future march to the south. Although his proposal had been approved by the overwhelming majority of leaders, he did not want the young leader he was optimistic about. He was dissatisfied with this, so his eyes were always on Maximus.

"I also agree." Maximus said this sincerely, because after each team's supply camp is completed, his own supply camp can be used for his own development, and it will also help each team to strengthen With his strength, he broke through the siege of the Roman army and successfully escaped from Italy.

"Okay, this proposal is approved, let's discuss it again -"

"Wait a minute, since each of our teams will have its own supply camp, should the many supplies previously stored in Camp Maximus be distributed equally to each team?" Cross asked loudly.

"Of course." Maximus said without hesitation: "Including the supplies our supply camp obtained from Pompeii this time, they were evenly distributed to each of your brigades."

Cross didn't expect Maxim Four to be so generous: "Is what you said true?"

"Of course, since our previous rule was that any materials seized by the team must be stored in the baggage camp for everyone to use, then the materials obtained by the baggage camp from Pompeii should naturally belong to our entire team."

Maximus said righteously. To be honest, he would not hesitate to share the supplies evenly as long as it could enhance the strength of the rebel army. However, he would not let people think that he was being taken advantage of, so he reminded him in a more serious tone: "But when this batch of supplies is distributed, we will develop our own teams in the future, and we will have to raise military rations and supplies ourselves. Of course, if we have difficulties, we can ask each other for help, but by then we will have to settle accounts with each other."

"What you said makes sense. However, please rest assured that if your team lacks materials in the future, we will be happy to help." Based on Maximus's generosity, Cross' tone softened a lot, but he still had A bit arrogant, because he felt that it was too tricky for the baggage battalion to capture Pompeii this time, but luck can never happen again. More victories must rely on real battles. In this regard, their team is obviously stronger than those who have almost never participated. The supply camp of the great battle.

"Thank you very much." Maximus said calmly without any further rebuttal. He was also confident in his team.

"Uh...Maximus, this is our first time setting up a baggage camp. We're afraid we don't have experience. Can you allocate some people to us?" Altonix asked carefully.

If Cross had said this, Maximus would have definitely retorted in displeasure, but he still had some affection for Altonix. Altonix, who was also a Thracian, and Spartacus and Hamil Ka was close to him and had supported proposals in favor of Maximus at meetings of military commanders many times, so he said with careful tone: "People are not material, they will have feelings after getting along for a long time. I am reluctant to assign people from the supply camp to If you join your team, they will be reluctant to leave the baggage camp. Of course, if you can persuade them to join voluntarily, I will not stop you.

Speaking of lack of experience, we had no experience in leading troops to fight in the beginning. Didn't we learn it all in just a few months? The same goes for managing the supply camp. What's more, during the period when we are all in Pompeii, I will send people from the supply camp to each of your brigades to teach you this experience, keep supplies, cook food, take care of the wounded... In fact, it is not very difficult, as long as you are serious If you go and learn, you should be able to learn it quickly. "

Maximus showed a calm attitude of welcoming people to poach, because he firmly believed that the vast majority of people in the supply camp who were accustomed to the stable and orderly environment he provided and where they could display their talents would not be able to join other habits. In a team that values ​​force and does not have strict military discipline.

After Maximus finished speaking, everyone was thoughtful and secretly making up their minds.

"Okay, now that each group has decided to build its own supply camp, let's talk about the military flag issue that Maximus just mentioned." Spartacus said, bringing the meeting back to the topic. He looked relaxed, and was not worried at all about the team he led to build a supply camp, because with the assistance of Hamilcar, he was good at handling military affairs, and he had a close relationship with Maximus, so he was not worried about getting anything. help from the young leader.

"We really need to have a military flag. This will not only facilitate combat, but also boost morale and show others that we are a regular army." Cross looked at the other leaders and then said: "I suggest The flag depicts gladiators fighting with swords to show the origin of this team.”

Enomui and Altonix, who are both gladiators, agreed with this, but Attumus disagreed: "The vast majority of soldiers in our ranks today are not gladiators. When such a military flag is drawn, I’m afraid it will be difficult to win their approval, and naturally it will not have the effect of boosting morale. I think that painting an image of a poor person on the military flag will be more popular with the soldiers.”

"Images of poor people? It will only make the Romans laugh, but it will inspire their confidence to defeat us." Enomui said loudly: "I think it is better to draw ferocious wild boars or powerful black bears on the military flag. In the past, we in Germany Tribes like to draw flags like this."

"Wild boars and black bears? The Romans already look down on us, and now they will probably laugh at us as barbarians. And when other poor people in Italy see such flags, they may have to think carefully about whether to join us." Art. Tumus retorted that he rarely argued with other leaders at meetings, but he was surprisingly sharp-tongued.

"You——" Enomuyi, who was not good at words, was speechless and could only look at the other person with wide eyes.

"Maximus, it was you who made this proposal. What do you think?" Spartacus asked.

"My proposal is this -" Maximus was indeed prepared. He stood up, picked up a piece of papyrus from the long wooden table, and handed it to Spartacus.

Spartacus was immediately attracted by the pattern drawn on the papyrus: a man in a single shirt was holding a farm tool and hitting a grinning wolf. Although the entire pattern was only drawn with blue ink lines, The picture is not complicated, but a few simple strokes can vividly depict the man's fortitude and the ferocity of the wolf.

"This is so flattering! I didn't expect you, Maximus, to have the talent for painting!" Spartacus couldn't help but admire.

Maximus, who formerly graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and often did advertising design for many small businesses at home, only thought this was a trivial matter and was not proud of it.

However, several leaders who were passing around this pattern all exclaimed in admiration. Not only was the painting good, but the key was that they all understood the meaning: the man in the pattern looked like a poor farmer, and the man on the other side looked like a poor farmer. The evil wolf is obviously Rome, because the Romans claimed that they were a race nurtured by she-wolves.

"The poor rose up against Rome, which oppressed them. This pattern can be understood by anyone, and it will definitely arouse the support of the poor people in Italy!" At this moment, the picky Attumus was the first to express his approval.

"And this pattern is simple, so it should be easier to draw." Altonix continued.

It was rare for everyone to reach an agreement so quickly, so Spartacus then asked: "Maximus, since you have designed such a good flag pattern, you must have thought of a name for our team in advance."

Maximus did not humble himself and responded directly: "What about the name 'Free Italy'? This is not only a slogan shouted for all slaves and poor people in Italy, but also for those who were once independent but later had to submit to Rome." The Italian city-states show our attitude.”

Spartacus tasted the name carefully, and then said: "I think this name is very good and bold. It can be matched with the pattern of the military flag to show our wishes to the whole of Italy. I believe there will be The more people support us, the more confident we will be in defeating the Roman army!”

This time Maximus's opinion was still unobjectionable, so the rebel army established its own name, military flag pattern, and new team organization.

After the meeting, the leaders had something to eat and hurried back to Vesuvius' camp.

Maximus also quickly summoned the leaders of the baggage camp who stayed in Pompeii and held a meeting.

At the meeting, Maximus first announced the appointment of Frontinus as military officer, and made it clear that the military officer's responsibility was to be responsible for various affairs within the army of the supply camp.

Then he announced that the original military advisory group would be reformed into a staff group, and made it clear that the staff group's responsibilities were to be responsible for the training of the supply camp troops and the planning and command of battles, and Quintus was appointed as the staff officer.

Then he announced the establishment of the Guards and appointed Aulus as the captain of the Guards.

Then he announced the establishment of the post of military judge, and made it clear that the military judge's duty is to supervise the entire supply camp (Maximus believes that now is a wartime state, the logistics department should also be included in the supervision), strictly enforce laws, and punish those who violate the laws. , and Sidonius was appointed military judge by him.

Many Lucelia people suddenly rose to the top of the supply camp, which immediately attracted the attention of other leaders in the team. However, because of Maximus's absolute status in the supply camp, no one raised any objections.

Maximus did not explain much, but simply told everyone the contents of the military commanders' meeting that had just ended, and told them: From now on, the team he leads will no longer be called the "supply camp", but will be collectively called "Mark". Sims' armies' (as well as those commanded by other leaders), baggage battalions are included.

Everyone present immediately realized that the supply battalion they belonged to had finally got rid of the nest of just providing logistical support to other armies, and could develop into a real army without restraint.

While everyone was happy, Maximus then promoted Pheasalus, Toreligo, and Carminus to captains, allowing them to finally get rid of the strange title of 'chief centurion'.

In a joyful atmosphere, Clerk Vollerus reported to Maximus: Today there are 780 slaves in Pompeii voluntarily joining the team. These slaves are mainly from wealthy areas, so the elderly and women account for a large proportion. The ratio is small, but there are also many slaves who can write, count, and have certain skills. The port area, which has a large number of strong slaves and workers, only sent a team to take over this morning, and it was basically stable in the afternoon. He still No one was sent to the port area to call on people there to join the team.

Maximus understood this, but he asked Vollerus to complete the propaganda and recruitment of the people in the port area before tomorrow night, because other teams would be stationed later.

Frontinus reported to Maximus that he had selected nearly 400 slaves from the 780 slaves who had joined the team and formed 4 centurions.