ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1113 The Dionysia military camp on the northern border
Since no new successor has arrived since then, many soldiers believe that as long as Maximus remains in this position for one more year, he will be officially promoted to baggage officer when his qualifications are sufficient.

Maximus himself thought so, but he knew better: the reason why he was able to obtain a very important military position in the Frontier Corps from an unknown and unrecognized freed slave in just one year , and is likely to 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 to be the role played by the intelligence department behind it.But in any case, it will be of great benefit to him to become a citizen of the kingdom sooner.

Because of this, he was no longer so upset 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 hanging out and chatting on the roadside with nothing to do. Or they are soldiers who are on duty to clean up various debris on the roadside. Sanitation, transporting garbage, feeding livestock, etc... But no matter who sees Maximus passing by, they will respectfully shout: "Good morning, Lord Maximus!"

Maximus would of course return the greeting politely.

The baggage officer has the power to purchase and distribute materials. He is the food and clothing officer of the soldiers. During Maximus's time as agent, he was not only able to be fair and selfless, but also provided materials and three meals a day. They all got better promotions, so even though they were both free men, he won the respect of the soldiers.

Maximus enjoyed the respect, which meant his abilities were recognized by his fellow soldiers.Now he is no longer as repelled by the life in the military camp as he was at first, and has begun to integrate into it. Of course, this is also because as an officer, he has more vacations in a year and can go back to Thurii to spend more time with his wife and children.

Maximus greeted them all the way to the center of the camp.

In addition to the military camp headquarters, the most important building here is the granary. In order to preserve food, engineers from the Construction Department have racked their brains to design this kind of public granary in Dionia: it is a narrow and long two-story building. Buildings with fewer and smaller 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, multiple vents are built around the bottom of the granary, and the floor of the first floor of the granary is laid above the vents. In this way, even if mice and other pests get into the house through the vents, they will not Unable to pass through the floor, enter the granary and harm the grain.In order to prevent the walls from cracking due to excessive compression of grain or other items accumulated in the cabin, buttresses are built outside the walls of the granary.There are also many large dry wooden boxes placed in the granary, which are used to store the raw material for the soldiers' staple food - flour. When the soldiers use it, they only need to open the outlet at the bottom of the wooden box, and the flour will flow out, thus making the flour Basically in a sealed state, its shelf life will naturally be longer.

By the time Maximus arrived at the granary, there were already more than a dozen pack cars parked here, and the pack cars were loaded with bags of flour.

The purchasing director came forward and reported to him: "Lord Maximus, this time the Etruscans sent us 20 tons of flour. I gave it to Luca and Arretium. ) The military camps each sent 6 tons, and 8 tons were left here.” (Note: The Etruscan League assigned the entire northern and northwest border land to Dionia. The Ministry of Military Affairs based on the terrain and the Gauls’ According to the invasion situation, military camps were established near the three Etruscan border city-states of Lucca, Florentia, and Aretium.)
Maximus carefully checked the recorded account books and signatures, then frowned and said, "The autumn harvest has just ended. I haven't heard that the various city-states in Etruria have poor harvests. They shouldn't just provide such a small amount of food."

"The Etruscans said, 'The wheat has just been harvested and time is too tight. They are short of manpower and can't grind much flour. If we are willing to grind our own flour, they are willing to provide wheat directly.'" said the purchasing officer: "But I refused because we were short of manpower and did not have enough stone mills, so the Etruscans could only promise to send us food after half a month."

"You made the right decision. Well, half a month later..." Maximus made an estimate and then said: "Our food reserves are enough to last until half a month later, but you have to keep an eye on it at all times. Go and hurry up the Etruscans to prevent them from delaying."

"Ok."

"Our transport ship is arriving soon, right?"

"It should be in these few days."

"When you go to Pisay (pisae, an Etruscan city-state near Lucca, a seaside town) to load and unload supplies, don't forget to remind them to bring more mutton and woolen clothes next time. The winter here is relatively cold. It's cold. Some soldiers got frostbite last year. I hope we can get through this year safely.

I heard that the prices of cattle and sheep at the livestock market in Turii have dropped sharply this year. This is because these ethnic groups in central Italy also transport their tribal livestock to Turii 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 flour inside later, try to empty half of the granary, and then collect more hay and store it in the granary. Winter is coming, and we have to reserve more fodder for the livestock and war horses..."

"Yes."

……

While Maximus was instructing the purchasing supervisor, he watched the laborers unload bags of flour from the oxcart and carry them to the granary.

At the same time, his confidant statisticians are also carefully checking whether the quantity of flour is consistent with what the purchasing director said.

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

Now, he said goodbye and left. The next place he was going to was the armory.The baggage camp is not only in charge of food reserves, the storage of weapons and equipment is also one of the important tasks he is responsible for.Yesterday, a company sent by the military camp repelled the Gauls who invaded the Florentia territory. When they returned, it was too late, so he did not have time to learn more about the loss of weapons and equipment and the acquisition of trophies.According to Maximus's habit, confirmation is usually required on the same day. Postponing it to the second day is already a bit of a delay in his work.

The armory was built not far from the camp gate to facilitate the troops in collecting equipment when they went on an expedition.

In fact, there are not many weapons and armors in the armory. They have been distributed to the soldiers one by one for a long time, and the soldiers themselves do the maintenance and care.During the rest period, these armors, long shields, spears, daggers, and javelins were placed in the soldiers' dormitories. If they were damaged and rendered unusable during non-combat periods, compensation would even have to be paid, because these weapons and equipment belong to the soldiers. The kingdom owns them, unlike regular legion soldiers, the individual weapons and equipment already belong to themselves.

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

When Maximus rushed to 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 going on today. This legion commander from Carthage always has strict requirements for the soldiers! ...Maximus thought for a while and decided to go to the training ground.

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

Knowing that Maximus was leaving the city, his followers soon came with a horse from the stables.

Maximus mounted his horse, passed the inspection of the city guards, and left the military camp.

Within 50 meters outside the military camp, the entire trench system is covered. From the city wall outward, they are: deer village, trench, shallow trench, lily bush (deep pit dug, pointed wooden stake buried), meat hook...

When Maximus left the city, he also caught a glimpse of a squad leader leading the soldiers to place trees with many pointed branches in the shallow ditch.

Due to the existence of these defensive facilities, although this area was often attacked by Gauls, the military camp was never attacked.

After passing the trap area, it is the civilian area.The family members of the Border Legion soldiers are not allowed to accompany the army, but after the military camp is established here, some Etruscan people will naturally move to settle near the military camp because they believe that the protection of the Dionian soldiers will be nearby. It is very safe. In fact, they are rarely attacked by the Gauls (the Dionia Senate has already passed a resolution: allowing the Etruscan people to settle in the new territory on the northern border of the Dionia Kingdom, And you can rent land, or apply to become a Dionian citizen in accordance with the new "Immigration Act").

In addition, some Etruscan traders opened shops here to earn money from the border legionnaires.Pottery shops, blacksmith shops, shoe shops, cloth shops, butcher shops... were built one after another along the avenue. Of course, the most popular one among the soldiers was the tavern.

The soldiers who participated in the battle yesterday were all given a day off today. Some of them asked their team officers for leave to leave the camp and go to the tavern to drink.

A can of wine mixed with water, a can of beer with a lot of residue, a plate or two of stewed chickpeas, a plate of sliced ​​bacon... The price of the wine is not enough for these soldiers who are paid every month. It's not worth mentioning to them at all, but it can make a small team of soldiers sit around a table, drink wine, and chat for a long time.

　Thanks to the other side of remembrance for the reward!Your support is my motivation to write! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)