Chapter 65: Camp Building!
Chapter 65: Camp Building!
Xetippus looked to the left and right, as he still wanted to say something more, but when he saw the face of Matonis, he immediately shut his mouth. He was afraid of Matonis, beacause he knew that he really dared to punched people with his fist. Of course, his guards was also famous in the whole camp, and so he held up his tools and dug them hard to the ground…
Matonis was too lazy to deal with him, so he picked up the wooden basket that was filled with soil, then stepped on the wooden ladder to go up to the ground, and poured the soil into the earthen wall that was being built in the ditch. He looked at the progress of his own team, which was pretty good. But after looking at the situation of Olivos’ team that was next to him, he was immediately worried, and so he stood by the trench and shouted, “Brothers, let’s work hard. Let’s strive to be the first to complete it this time and get the reward promised by the leader! If someone doesn’t work hard and drags us down, then I will never let him go!!!”
“Roar!” The veterans howled, while most of the recruits mostly responded weakly…
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
“Leader, we need to not only dig trenches, earth walls, and sentry towers, but we also need to build wooden fences for the walls, and after the wooden fences, we still need to build walkways, and before the trenches, we need to dig pits and bury sharp wooden stakes…the requirements of this camp are too complicated! And the labor needed is much more intense than before, and the soldiers are complaining. Is this really necessary?! ” Asked Asistes who was puzzled.
As Davos watched the progress of the camp construction, he replied positively, “Of course, it’s necessary! Burkes said that at least 10,000 Lucanians had attacked last year! Unlike Thurii, we aren’t protected by a thick and tall walls. Can we resist the attack of the Lucanians if we don’t build a well defended camp?! When we are besieged by the Lucanians, will the Thuriians come to our rescue?!”
Asistes shook his head.
“So what if it’s a little bit tiring to build such a complex camp, but with it, the soldiers will feel at ease when they rest and sleep in it, and the enemy will have no way to deal with us! Moreover, the camp can be completed within a few days.” Davos glance at Asistes, and then said, “Before, I asked you to assemble the soldiers who had worked as carpenters in the team and set up an engineering camp. Now, have them lead the soldiers and fumble for the construction of wooden fences, sentries and walkways, with this as experience, we can do it again easier when we construct camps in the future.”
Asistes said sincerely, “Boss, you are so thorough!”
Davos smiled. This was an effective method that was condensed by the Roman army through a hundreds of years of war in history. He directly drew lessons from it and pushed it vigorously. It is his hoped that the military tradition of the Roman Legion of “No matter where you go, you must build a sold camp first” will also become the habit of his own army.
“Leader, Philesius is back” Asistes saw Philesius coming from the north.
Davos hurried up and asked, “How is it?”
“Burkes is right. There is a small river about 5 km to the north, and there are mountain forest on the other side of the river”
“Is it easy to cross the river?”
“The river is very shallow, but we found scouts of the Lucanians. According to the guide, they may be from the city of Amendolara.”
This news made Davos ponder for a while, and he said decisively, “Burkes said that this is the only Lucanian army left in the north of Thurii and their number is not large. I will give you 500 soldiers and 100 strong slaves, and lead them to the mountain forest and let some of them cut down the trees. The others will be responsible for keeping an eye. If possible, you will go north again and look at the situation around the city of Amendolara.”
“Ok.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
On a huge rock a hundreds meters away from Davos camp, Drakos and two other leaders are standing while watching.
“What are those guys doing? A camp, that needed to be so complicated?! They are clearly building a city! Do the Thuriians allowed them to do this?” One of the leaders said sarcastically.
“Adrian, you have to admit that if such a complex camp is built, the Lucanians will have very difficult time attacking it! On the contrary, if you look at our camp, it’s much simpler! Listening to the Thurriians, the Lucanians are currently gathering forces in Laus. If they go south on a large scale, we will be the first to suffer! Should we consider re-strengthening our camp?” Another leader made a suggestion.
“Sesta, you aren’t ignorant of the nature of our soldiers. When they ask for money, they are active, but once you let them work, they will all be trying to escape work!” Adrian said helplessly.
“Yeah, this is what I find strange. They-” Sesta pointed to the soldiers who were working very hard in the distance, and said curiously, “They aren’t like mercenaries at all, and even the citizen-soldiers of some city-states aren’t like them as well. But, they are instead a bit like the Spartans! But just now, I heard their accent, Thessaly, Rhodes, Thrace, Crete, Chersonesus, Chalcis…Every place has their own accent, just like ours! But why is the difference so big?!”
“Don’t think about it. Although we had a fight with them, they didn’t mean anything to us. They also offered to help us treat our wounded, let’s not provoke them in the future. Besides, it’s also good that they are powerful, we can feel at ease with them around us!” Adrian said with emotion and jumped down from the stone, “Come, don’t stand here for a long time and made them think that we have any schemes!”
Adrian felt their horror, and he couldn’t help but want to stay away from them.
“I think we should still try and let our soldiers reinforce our camp’s defense again!” Sesta also jumped down as well.
“Well, let’s go back and discuss it with the soldiers.” Adrian shrugged helplessly, as he walked a few steps, he thought of something, and turned around and shouted, “Drakos, let’s go!”
Drakos grinned and his red swollen lower jaw still hurt when he touch it. He took a deep look at Davos’ camp and followed them.
Soon after returning to the camp, the wounded had also came back. These mercenaries were mainly from Ionia and Asia Minor (Because Burkes recruited them in Miletus at that time), and from their mouth, they learned that those mercenaries were the Greek mercenaries who fought on an expedition together with Cyrus the Younger! It must be known that after they arrived at the area in the Black Sea, the merchants and sailors, the merchant ships of the cities on the Black sea who had went to Greece to do business with Asia Minor and Ionia, had spread the events of the Greek mercenaries fighting in Persia through exaggerations and dyeing the chatters of taverns and inns, which had made them famous as they marched along the Black sea as it was already spread in Ionia. Many mercenaries understood their plight, but they end up envying their experience and had regarded them as heroes. After all, no Greek army had ever reached the central region of Persia so far.
Now that the group who had beaten them was part of the Persian expedition army, the mercenaries’ resentment had not only disappeared, but also sincerely exclaimed, ‘No wonder they are so fierce, it turns out that they are the Greek mercenaries who had come back from the expedition in Persian, and they are currently right next to us!’
The soldiers who couldn’t suppress their surprise rushed out of the camps’ gate, regardless of the obstruction of their leaders, and ran to the camp of Davos, hoping to hear their heroic tale in Persia…