Rome must fall.

Chapter 21 Suggestions from my subordinates ()

Maximus had another consideration that he did not say: as the younger brother of the escaped gladiators, he had betrayed before, but now he suddenly jumped to the top of the uprising team, even in the baggage team, which was looked down upon by everyone. It will inevitably make people jealous, so it's better to keep a low profile.

Akonis did not expect so much. Out of respect for Maximus, she patted her chest and said loudly: "Captain Maximus, don't worry, I will supervise them (them) to work well!"

Maximus nodded, looked around the people in the courtyard, and said loudly: "From now on, I will be the captain of the baggage team! Don't worry, everyone, everything will be the same as before, continue to do what you should do, and then in the evening Gather in this courtyard, learn with me, and listen to my stories, okay?!"

"Okay!!!" everyone shouted in unison.

..............................................................................

Maximus said that "nothing in the baggage train will change", which was just a cliché to stabilize people's hearts. That night, after everyone in the baggage train had listened to the story and dispersed to rest, he called together several leaders of the team. Have a meeting.

The meeting took place in Maximus' bedroom.

Maximus's bedroom is a single room in the main building of the wine estate. Maximus, who is sitting in the middle, is already familiar with several other people in the room, but tonight he looks at them again by candlelight. Ichiban: Arconis, the fierce woman in charge of the kitchen; Cornelius, a thin and small old male slave who is responsible for guarding the warehouse and managing supplies; Pygris, who is responsible for leading the fleet and transporting supplies. The leader, he is relatively strong, but it is a pity that he is lame in his left foot.

The senior management of the baggage team seemed to be of poor quality, but Arconis was proficient in kitchen affairs, Cornelius was one of the few slaves who joined the uprising team who could write and calculate, and Pygris was very good at driving a carriage. They each have their own expertise, and the three leaders have one thing in common - they hate the Romans.

Aknis won’t say anything. Cornelius was a Sabine who was originally self-sufficient with a few acres of land. Later, due to the annexation of land by Roman nobles, he was heavily in debt and his family was ruined. Pygris was a Greek from Asia Minor and was forced to be involved in the war between Pontus and Rome. , was captured by the Roman army due to his injuries and became a slave...

The three of them are all older than Maximus, but they look at the young Maximus with respect in their eyes, not only because Maximus has worked with them and taught them knowledge in the past month. , and even more so because the group of gladiators who initiated the riot were their benefactors and the mainstay of the current team. From the leader to the centurions and even some of the centurions were all gladiators. In their view, Maxi As one of them, it is natural for James to hold important positions.

Maximus was satisfied with the respectful attitude they showed and asked directly: "You three have been the leaders of the baggage train for some time. What do you think and do about the affairs you are in charge of?" suggestion?"

The three of them were stunned after hearing this. They didn't expect that Maximus called them over for a meeting late at night and actually asked them to make suggestions. You must know that the previous captain Hamilka always gave orders directly and never discussed with them. Forget about taking advice.

Maximus saw the three people were silent and realized their caution. He immediately smiled and said in a gentle tone: "Leader Spartacus said, 'After joining our team, everyone becomes brothers and sisters. 'We are all members of the baggage team, and the affairs of the baggage team are everyone's business. You must have discovered some problems while working. If we discuss and solve them together, we can make our baggage team better, right? "

Maximus's words made the three of them no longer have any worries. Arconis was the first to say: "Captain Maximus, then...then I will say it."

"Speak boldly!"

Akonis bit her lip and said: "Kitchen...the biggest problem in the kitchen is that there are too many women. They work very hard, but they are always harassed by soldiers from other teams. Although Spartacus was there before The leader had issued an order to 'forbid people from other teams from entering the farm', but people still broke in often! The patrol team guarding the farm found out and did not try their best to stop them, especially those from the second team who often ran into the kitchen. , touching my men, scaring them so much that they can't work properly! Captain, you have to take good care of it, otherwise, if this continues, the kitchen will be in chaos and no work will be possible!" Maximus frowned He frowned, he knew about this matter, and had mentioned it to Hamilka before, but Hamilka didn't care about it. He thought: Most of the uprising team were young men, they were energetic and had no interest in women. Full of curiosity, without actually infringing on the women in the baggage team, satisfying their verbal desires a little will help enhance their desire to fight.

In addition, the second brigade was commanded by Cross. Due to Cross's indulgence, the military discipline of the team was indeed poor. However, Spartacus took into account that Cross was one of the leaders of the uprising team and had a paranoid and stubborn personality. He was afraid of affecting the unity. , never reminded or stopped him in this regard, Spartacus had concerns, let alone Hamilka.

Maximus knew that this matter was difficult to handle, but he still carefully wrote down this item on the wax board with a stylus, and then asked: "Very good, do you have any other questions?"

"Yes!" Aconis received the affirmation and no longer had any worries. She simply said loudly: "Although there are hundreds of people assigned to our kitchen, these people have to cook porridge twice a day, stew soup twice a day, and... Grinding flour, kneading dough, baking bread, distributing food to various brigade camps... busy from morning to night every day without rest.

But everyone has worked so hard, and now they can barely meet the needs of the entire team, and so many people join the team every day. If we don’t add more people to the kitchen, I’m afraid someone will go hungry next. . Also, we need more stoves, ovens, stone mills... Otherwise, even if we have more hands, we won't be able to make enough food without these things. "

Maximus nodded solemnly, wrote it down on the wax tablet, and asked, "Is there anything else?"

"The other thing is sleeping -" Akonis continued: "Our baggage team lacks tents, so we sleep in the yard on sunny days, and squeeze under the eaves of the warehouse and main building on rainy days. There are so many women in our kitchen, so It’s very inconvenient, and it’s also easy to get sick.”

Maximus frowned again.

Since Spartacus and several other leaders chose this place as their base, with the rapid expansion of the team, the wine farm could not accommodate so many people. It later became a base for storing supplies, and the baggage team responsible for taking care of the supplies naturally also Stayed at the farm. In addition to several leaders of the rebel team who still live in the farm, more than 4,000 soldiers are stationed in the hills and fields centered on the wine farm. They also lack tents and believe that the accommodation conditions of the baggage team are much better than them. Naturally, he would not agree to allocate another tent to the baggage team...

"This is indeed a problem." Maximus knew that this matter was not easy to solve, but he still took it seriously and wrote it down on the wax tablet.

"I've finished speaking." Aconis looked at Cornelius and urged: "Old man, if you have any difficulties, why don't you tell the captain quickly!"

Although the three leaders of the baggage train team did not know each other before joining the uprising team, due to similar tragic experiences and many intersections at work, they developed a good friendship with each other in just more than 20 days.

Cornelius nodded towards Arconis and said calmly: "There are three problems that need to be solved here in the warehouse. One is that people from other teams always come in and steal things, such as smoked fish, bacon, wine and so on. Yes, we couldn't stop them and were beaten. The patrols were useless and sometimes even followed them to steal;

Another is that we are getting more and more supplies now. Several warehouses in the farm have long been unable to store them. It is difficult to keep them stacked in the yard, and they are easily damaged when it blows or rains. Moreover, we must be careful about fire prevention. ;

Another problem is... I am old and my abilities are limited. I can barely manage the supplies of one farm, but now there are supplies from more than a dozen farms piled up here, and my subordinates didn't know how to count at all before. I have learned a little from you, captain, these days. To be able to count so many supplies, I need a few subordinates with strong arithmetic skills, otherwise the accounts of the baggage train team will become more and more chaotic..."

(End of this chapter)