Chapter 16: Active Maximus

Chapter 16: Active Maximus

It was precisely considering these factors that Gaius Claudius Glaber instructed the recruiting officer to recruit soldiers with combat experience as much as possible.

Glabers idea was good, but the problem was that several years ago, one of Marius subordinates, Quintus Sertorius, initiated a rebellion in Iberia and achieved repeated victories. Later, he joined forces with the remnants of the populares faction and increased his military strength. In order to suppress the rebellion, Rome even violated centuries-old political traditions and allowed the 30-year-old Pompey, who was neither a praetor nor a former consul, to lead the troops into battle. They even reinforced him twice. As a result, there were very few excellent soldiers with combat experience left in Rome.

Glaber had to lower his requirements and recruit some veteran soldiers. These veterans were all former soldiers under Sulla and had marched on Rome with him. After Sulla became dictator, he fulfilled his promise by constructing colonial cities (such as Florence) within Italy and allocating land to his soldiers, ensuring their well-being. However, the problem was that these soldiers had been constantly fighting outside and had forgotten how to farm when their swords turned into plows. Year after year, many of them went bankrupt due to the mismanagement of their farmland. In their destitution, they had to return to Rome to seek a living. But now, ten years had passed since they had threatened Rome as soldiers, the veterans who were not recruited by Pompey were all over 40 years old.

Glaber didnt despise them; instead, he appointed these veterans as decanus and centurions to help him manage the new recruits.

Within a few days, Glaber completed the recruitment of soldiers. After spending additional days organizing the army, Glaber led the troops into battle without conducting any training.

The distance from Rome to Mount Vesuvius was about 200 kilometers. Even with the Via Latina and Via Annia, it would take four or five days to travel by land. Although traveling by sea would undoubtedly save time, Glaber chose to travel by land because it allowed the new recruits to march and set up camps, utilizing the time for training.

I am Pullo, from Egypt, living by the banks of the lower Nile River. I used to own my own land, and it was very fertile! When the flood season was about to end, I would build embankments with mud and keep the remaining water in the fields. Then I would start sowing, and when the harvest season arrived, the fields would be filled with abundant wheat

Later, there was turmoil in Egypt. The village chief, who had long coveted my land, falsely accused me of colluding with rebels. Without any investigation, the city lord arrested my entire family and threw us into prison. Later, we were sold to Roman slave traders and locked in the overcrowded and sweltering lower holds of the ship on the way to Italy My wife my children all fell ill and died

Standing in the center of the courtyard, wearing tattered clothes, a thin man resembling a skeleton spoke with tears streaming down his face. There were several people sitting around him, each with a solemn expression, listening attentively and empathizing with his words. Some even shed tears.

At this moment, Maximus, who was sitting on the ground in the front row, stood up and passionately exclaimed, Pullo is just like us, oppressed by the wealthy and powerful, losing our homes, losing our families, and forced to toil for the rich under the threat of punishment. Is this fair, brothers?!

Thats enough for the self-introductions of our new brothers of the logistics team today. Starting tomorrow, a few of you will work with the rest of the group and get familiar with our tasks. Once youre settled in, our leader, Hamilcar, will assign you specific duties. Understood? Maximus asked with a friendly expression.

Vorenus, Pullo, and a few others nodded.

Reius.

Yes! a thin man in his 40s responded.

Youll be in charge of their accommodation arrangements.

Understood.

Maximus surveyed the entire courtyard. It was filled with slaves sitting around, clearly more than there were at the beginning. They must have secretly come from other teams, and he was pleased to see it. He asked loudly, Brothers, what should we do next?

Tell stories!! the slaves cheered loudly.

No, before I tell stories, we need to learn! Maximus said seriously. Yesterday, we learned addition and subtraction within 10. Today, before we move on to new arithmetic, lets review. Akgo, Cassius, bring the blackboard over.

Yes. Two young slave boys immediately carried a wooden board to the center of the courtyard.

One side of the board was painted black. Maximus took a piece of chalk and said, Lets say there are five bags of wheat in the courtyard, and we bring in four more bags from another farm. How many bags of wheat are there in total now? As he spoke, he wrote 5+4 on the blackboard and asked, Who can solve this arithmetic problem?