Chapter 63 Dionysian Barracks on the Northern Frontier

Since there has been no new successor since then, many soldiers believe that as long as Maximus acts in this position for one more year, he will be officially promoted to the baggage officer when his qualifications are sufficient.

Maximus himself thinks so, but he knows better: the reason why he was able to get a fairly important military position in the Frontier Corps from an obscure and backgroundless freed slave in just one year , and it is very likely that he will become a mid-level officer of the Kingdom of Dionia in the next year or two, which has something to do with his ability, but it is more likely that the intelligence department plays a role behind it. But in any case, it was very beneficial for him to become a citizen of the kingdom as soon as possible.

Because of this, he is no longer so annoyed about joining the intelligence service.

There are very few pedestrians on the streets in the military camp. They are either soldiers who just finished their duty yesterday and it is their turn to rest today. They are idle and chatting on the roadside; or they are soldiers who are responsible for various sundries cleaning on the roadside Sanitation, transporting garbage, feeding livestock, etc... But no matter who sees Maxims passing by, they will respectfully shout: "Good morning, Lord Maximus!"

Maximus, of course, greeted him politely.

The transportation officer has the power to purchase and distribute materials, and is the parent of the soldiers. During the period of time when Maximus was acting as an agent, he was not only impartial and selfless, but also whether it was material supply or three meals a day. All have been better promoted, so even though he is also a freedman, he has won the respect of the soldiers.

Maximus enjoys this respect, which means his abilities are recognized by the soldiers. He is no longer as repulsive to the life in the military camp as he was at the beginning, and he has begun to integrate into it. Of course, this is also because as an officer, he has more vacations in a year, and he can go back to Turiyi to get together with his wife and children more often.

Maximus greeted him all the way and came to the center of the camp.

In addition to the barracks headquarters, the most important building here is the granary. In order to preserve the food, the engineers of the construction department have racked their brains to design this kind of public granary of Dionia: it is a narrow and long two-story Buildings, with few and small windows, can prevent food from spoiling due to high temperatures or rain and humidity. However, in order to ensure that the granary is cool and breathable, there are multiple ventilation openings around the bottom of the granary, and the floor on the first floor of the silo is laid on the ventilation openings, so that even if there are rats and other pests entering the house through the ventilation openings, the Unable to pass the floor and enter the granary to scourge the grain. In order to prevent the walls from cracking due to excessive extrusion of grain or other items accumulated in the cabin, buttresses are also built outside the walls of the granary. There are also a number of dry large wooden boxes in the granary, which are used to store the raw material of the soldiers' staple food - flour. When the soldiers take it, they only need to open the outlet at the bottom of the wooden box, and the flour will flow out, so that the flour will flow out. Basically in a closed state, its shelf life will naturally be longer.

By the time Maximus arrived at the granary, more than a dozen trucks had been parked here, and the trucks were full of bags of flour.

The purchasing supervisor came forward and reported to him: "Sir Maximus, this time the Etruscans sent us 20 tons of flour, and I gave Luca and Arretium. ) The barracks each sent 6 tons, and here 8 tons are left.” (Note: The Etruscan alliance assigned the entire northern and northwestern frontier land to Dionia, and the military department based on the terrain and the Gauls In the case of the invasion, military camps were established near the three Etruscan border city-states of Lucca, Florentia, and Aretium.)

Maximus carefully checked the recorded account book and signature, then frowned and said: "The autumn harvest has just ended. I have not heard that the various city-states of Etruria have a bad harvest. They should not only provide such a small amount of food."

"The Etruscans said, 'The wheat has just been harvested, the time is too tight, they are understaffed, they have not produced much flour,

They are willing to provide the wheat directly if we are willing to grind our own flour. ’” said the purchasing officer, “but I refused, because we were short of manpower, and we didn’t have enough stone mills, so the Etruscans could only promise to bring us food in half a month. "

"You made the right decision. Well, after half a month..." Maximus made a slight estimate, and then said: "Our food reserves are enough to support after half a month, but you have to keep an eye on it, more Go and rush the Etruscans before they procrastinate."

"OK."

"Is our transport ship coming soon?"

"It should be in the next few days."

"When you go to Pisae (the Etruscan city-state near Lucca, a seaside town) to load and unload supplies, don't forget to remind them to bring more lamb and wool for knitting next time. The winter here is relatively Cold, I frostbited some soldiers last year, I hope we can spend this year safely.

I heard that the price of cattle and sheep in the livestock market in Turi has dropped sharply this year. This is because these ethnic groups in central Italy also transport their own tribes’ livestock to Turi to sell. There are too many cattle and sheep in the livestock market... I believe that the Ministry of Military Affairs can easily meet our requirements. "

"I got it."

"When we let the laborers carry the flour inside, try to vacate half of the granary as much as possible, and then collect some more hay and store it in the granary. Winter is coming, and we have to reserve more fodder for livestock and war horses..."

"Yes."

...

Maxims told the purchasing supervisor at the same time, while watching the laborers unload sacks of flour from the ox cart and carry them into the granary.

At the same time, his confidant statistician is also carefully checking whether the quantity of flour matches what the purchasing supervisor said.

After the statistician confirmed it, Maximus did not immediately sign his name on the account book. When the whole loading and unloading work is completed, he will come back to the granary to check and confirm in the afternoon.

Now, he said goodbye and left, and the next place to go is the Armory. The baggage battalion is not only in charge of food reserves, but also the storage of weapons and equipment is one of the important tasks he is responsible for. Yesterday, a company sent by the barracks repelled the Gauls who had harassed the Florentia territory. When he came back, it was too late, so he did not have time to learn more about the loss of weapons and equipment and the acquisition of spoils. According to Maxims' habit, confirmation is usually done on the same day, and delaying it until the second day is already a bit of a delay for him.

The armory was built not far from the camp gate, which was for the convenience of getting equipment when the army went on an expedition.

In fact, there are not too many weapons and armors in the armory. They have been distributed to the soldiers one by one, and the soldiers will maintain and maintain them themselves. During the rest period, these armors, long shields, lances, short swords, and javelins are placed in the soldiers' quarters. If they cause damage and become unusable during the non-combat period, they will even be compensated, because these weapons and equipment are owned by the soldiers. Owned by the kingdom, unlike the soldiers of the regular legion, the individual weapons and equipment already belong to them.

The armory mainly stores tents, quilts, blankets, shovels, shovels and other military supplies, as well as some expendable weapons such as arrows, javelins, and a small amount of armor weapons.

When Maximus arrived at the armory, he learned that the keeper of the armory had transported a batch of javelins and arrows out of the city to the training ground.

There was a battle just yesterday, and military training is still taking place today. This regiment commander from Carthage has always been strict with his soldiers! ...Maxims thought for a while, and decided to go to the training ground.

In the various military camps in Dionia, most of the training grounds are located in the military camps, and the training grounds can be changed to football and football games at any time. However, the three military camps located on the northern border of Etruria did not set up training grounds in the camp area, mainly because there were not many troops stationed in each military camp, and it was not easy to reinforce in a short time. In order to facilitate defense , we must try our best to reduce the area of ​​​​the camp, so military facilities with a large area such as training grounds can only be set outside the camp.

Knowing that Maximus was going out of town, his entourage soon came with a horse from the stable.

Maximus rode on his horse, passed the city guard's review, and left the barracks.

Within 50 meters outside the barracks, the entire trench system is covered. From the city wall to the outside, they are: Luzhai, trenches, shallow trenches, lily bushes (dig deep pits, bury pointed stakes), meat hooks...

When Maximus was out of the city, he also caught a glimpse of a squad leader leading the soldiers, placing trees with many sharp branches in the shallow ditch.

It was with these fortifications that the barracks remained undisturbed, although the area was frequently invaded by the Gauls.

After the trap area, is the civilian area. Families of border legionnaires are not allowed to accompany the army, but after the establishment of the barracks, some Etruscans will naturally move to settle near the barracks, because they think that there will be the nearest protection of Dionian soldiers. Very safe, in fact they were rarely attacked by the Gauls (the Dionysian Senate had already passed a resolution: allowing the Etruscan people to settle in the new territory of the Dionysian kingdom on the northern frontier, And you can rent land, or you can apply to become a Dionysian citizen in accordance with the new Immigration Act).

In addition, some Etruscan traders set up shop here to make money from the frontier legionnaires. Pottery shop, blacksmith shop, shoe shop, cloth shop, butcher shop... One by one, they were built on the side of the road. Of course, the most popular among the soldiers was the tavern.

The soldiers who participated in the battle yesterday all got a day off today, and some of them asked the team officer to leave the camp to drink in the tavern.

For a can of wine with water, a can of beer with a lot of residue, a plate or two of stewed chickpeas, a plate of sliced ​​cured meat... the price of wine to be paid for these soldiers who are paid monthly It's not worth mentioning at all, but it can let a small team of soldiers sit around a table, drink wine, and chat for a long time.