Rome must fall.

Chapter 249 War Planning
Although Puro was also older, as Volenus's right-hand man, he was relatively well-known in the previous supply camp. Naturally, women would fall in love with him, so he got married after the tribe was established.

"No, no, come to my place to eat tonight!" Valerius objected hastily.

"Eat at your house? What delicious food can you make?" Puo objected disdainfully.

"Don't think that you are the only one with women in your family, I just found one too and the food she makes is very good!" Valerius boasted.

"Okay, Valerius, I found a woman without saying a word. I have to go to your house to celebrate tonight." Pro said with a smile.

"Leontias, how are you now? Are you still single?" Valerius proudly asked the only young man among the three.

"Well..." Leontias lowered his head in shame.

"It's okay, it's okay." Valerius comforted him: "Go to my house tonight and ask my woman to introduce you to one. There are many women from the Aldiyi tribe where he belongs, and they all want to marry us Nyx people. You You can pick a good one.”

Leontias said nothing, but looked at Valerius with eyes full of expectation.

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

"Chief, our Ministry of War selected 500 tribesmen yesterday. They can easily cock the crossbow four times, raise the crossbow to fire steadily, and can trot long distances without much effort. They are completely in line with our requirements for crossbowmen. According to the request, they will start training today. In addition, we have selected more than 4 people as reserves. Once the crossbow team expands, we also have enough reserve soldiers," Frontinus reported.

"Yes, the training of crossbowmen is relatively easy. I believe the team will be formed in less than a month." Maximus looked at Capito: "The key question now is whether the iron workshop can produce enough in a short time. Crossbow?”

This was not a routine political hall meeting, but Maximus called the three chief officers of the Ministry of War, the chief officer of the Ministry of Property and the chief officer of the Ministry of Works to discuss relevant military affairs.

"Chief, after the iron workshop received our order to speed up the production of crossbows ten days ago, as of yesterday they had produced forty crossbows and more than five hundred arrows..."

Capito reported truthfully: "The problem now is that there are not enough materials, mainly linen, and insufficient manpower... If these conditions are met, Kedesos promised me that it will be fully equipped within two months." A crossbow troop of five hundred men.”

"Pigeris has already reached an agreement with the Ardei tribe regarding the flax issue. The flax will be shipped in a few days. As for the shortage of manpower..."

Maximus touched his chin and said: "You can ask the iron workshop to stop making other iron tools and concentrate all the manpower on making crossbows! If there are not enough people, your Ministry of Works can remove the manpower from other workshops and give priority to ensuring the crossbows. manufacture."

"With these words from the leader, the iron workshop will definitely be able to complete the equipment of the crossbow troops within two months." Capito said with a relaxed expression.

"Chief, what is the situation of the Pannoni now? When will they attack us? How many enemies will there be?" Frontilus asked eagerly.

Maximus looked at everyone with a serious expression and said in a deep voice: "According to the information we have received now, the territories of the two large Pannoni tribes, Segestika and Broch, have begun to surrender in large quantities. food, summoning tribal people for military training, and the blacksmiths in the tribe are also stepping up to build armor and weapons...

The most important thing is that the Segostika village adjacent to us has not only strengthened border patrols, but also has convoys entering the village from time to time carrying supplies... These all show that the Pannoni people will have a large military force. Action, and it’s directed at us! "

"It seems that the Pannoni people want to attack us for sure." Quintus said thoughtfully: "Last year, several Pannoni tribes united to attack our temporary camp. At that time, their strength was about There were more than 3 people, and we were finally repulsed. This time they will only gather more people to attack us. "

"Even if Pannoni's army came in greater numbers than last time, our strength now is much stronger than when we first came here last year. The First Army easily defeated the Otariat army, which was far more numerous than them. It fully shows that the strength of our army is far superior to these tribal armies here that have not undergone strict training. "

Frontenius said confidently: "What we are worried about now is that we don't know when the Pannonians will attack? How will they attack?... If we can know this in advance, we can be prepared to reduce the risk of Our own loss." "Emmerich once told me that the Pannoni are like other races here. They all worship the gods and abide by the promises they made before the gods. If the new leader of Segestica By violating the armistice agreement signed with us before the sacred ceremony and launching a war against us, isn't he afraid of the anger of the gods and the dissatisfaction of the people?"

Maximus slowly said the idea he had already considered: "Moreover, the Pannoni Tribal Alliance wants to mobilize tens of thousands of troops to attack us. With their military mobilization and organizational capabilities, they cannot do it in a short time. But if winter comes and the weather is cold, their marching operations and food transportation will become difficult, so I think that as soon as the armistice agreement between Segestica and us ends, the Pannoni will rush to attack us. ”

"Chief, I think what you said makes sense. The Pannonians should launch an attack as soon as the armistice ends." Frontinus nodded.

"Well, we still have nearly two months. The iron workshop can completely complete the tasks assigned by you, leader." Capito interjected.

"The last time the armies of the Pannoni tribes met in the Segostika territory, then marched along the south bank of the Kupa River, and finally besieged our temporary camp..."

As the chief of the staff, Quintus has obviously considered this issue. He pointed to the simplified map of the surrounding area of ​​the Nyx tribe placed on the wooden table and said: "This time the Pannoni army will attack us again. South of the Kupa River Shore may still be their main offensive route——"

Frontinus interjected: "In this case, we can concentrate our troops on Westney, where if the enemy comes, we can intercept them and force them to fight with us to the north of Westney, where The terrain is not too wide, and the Pannoni army must be much larger than ours, which is not conducive to them spreading their troops. If we repel them there, we can also greatly reduce their damage to our territory. "

Quintus knocked on the map on the table and said in a deep voice: "But we must not ignore the other march route - the distance from the west of the Brochi tribe's territory to the east bank of the Korana River is not It is long and mainly has hilly terrain and rivers, which is also suitable for large troops to travel.

Pecot led his troops in the opposite direction once before, and the Broch territory suffered a lot of losses due to the lack of troops. If the leader of Broch is worried that such a situation will happen again, he may lead his troops to go here. A route——”

Quintus gestured on the map with his finger and said with emphasis: "After the Pannoni army reaches the east bank of the Korana River, they can go north along the river and bypass the Varidosi Swamp, and then they can invade our territory. Snodia territory!”

Frontinus stopped talking and bent down, staring at the map and thinking.

"I remember that there are many Ardei tribes in the Korana River. It is impossible for the Pannoni army to pass through the north bank of the Korana River and reach us so easily, right?" Cornelius, the chief officer of the Ministry of Property, couldn't help but said. .

Capito said disdainfully: "The last time the Pannoni army besieged our camp, the Ardi people did not send troops to the rear to harass them. This time they fought against the Otariat people. I heard that the Ardi people The losses were not small, and they did not have the courage to intercept the Pannoni army that had defeated them many times. I am afraid that the Pannoni army had not yet reached the Korana River, and the Ardeii people living there had retreated early. "

Cornelius was stunned for a moment and did not refute, because he also felt that this might become a fact, so he added: "We can also concentrate our troops in Snodia. If the Pannonians attack from here, we will Fight them on this side."

"What if the Pannonian army splits into two groups and attacks Snodia and Westene at the same time?" Quintus asked.

Cornelius's face changed, and he replied: "Then our army... will also be divided into two parts, and we will block them at both ends of the Kupa River... and then fight."

"If Pannoni's invading army is large in number, it will not only be more conducive to them to march and camp, but also more conducive to fighting. But for us, if the troops are divided equally, intercepted at both ends, and fighting occurs at both ends, With a small number of troops, we probably won’t be able to take any advantage..."

Frontilus sighed, looked at Quintus first, then looked at Maximus, and said calmly: "I didn't consider this attack route to the south before. Thanks to Quintus's reminder, if If the Pannoni army is large enough and the commander is smart enough, it is really possible to attack from two sides!

If that's the case... we'd better send a small number of troops to hold on to Westeni and Snodia, concentrate the main force to defeat the enemies on one side first, and then engage in a decisive battle with the enemies on the other side. "

Quintus took over the conversation and said solemnly: "Chief, if the Pannonians attack from both sides, I agree with Frontinus's suggestion. This is the best way, but in this way our territory may be destroyed. Suffered considerable damage.”

(End of this chapter)