Rome must fall.

Chapter 281 Guidance
After Casinos finished speaking, silence fell in the sentry tower.

But soon the people of Segestica began to whisper to each other.

"Well said." Maximus praised with a smile.

Casinos bowed to him with a complicated expression, but said nothing.

Maximus didn't care. He walked to the wooden railing, overlooked the crowd on the shore, waited for a moment, then raised his right hand, and the trumpet was immediately blown.

When the shore was quiet again, Maximus shouted loudly: "People of Segestica, you have plenty of time to consider whether to join our Nix tribe. Now, so many of you are gathered here, it is already dark, it is cold at night, and the wind is strong by the river. It is easy to get sick and have a fever, and once there is a riot, it may threaten your lives. For your safety, listen to me carefully! Ahem..."

Maximus cleared his throat and called out in a gentler voice, "Are any of you injured?!"

No one in the crowd responded.

Maximus shouted anxiously, "We have doctors with excellent medical skills in our team. They have also studied with Sage Aymeric. They will definitely treat the injured among you and do their best to restore them to health! If anyone among you is injured, please tell us immediately. If you delay, you will hurt your own body!"

Still no one in the crowd responded, but everyone began to whisper again: "Is he talking about Emmerich?"

"It should be. Didn't Emmerich follow Chief Vollis to the Kupa River a few years ago? The Nixes occupied that place, and he might have joined them."

"Even Emmerich has joined the Knicks. Maybe what this Knicks guy said is credible..."

"Don't forget, Emmerich is from Scotschi, he is not trustworthy!"

"But he did cure many people in our tribe!"

……

At this time, a Nix soldier on the outskirts of the crowd suddenly shouted loudly: "Tamoses, I saw everything just now. Your leg was injured and you lost a lot of blood. Why are you still hesitating? If you delay any longer, do you want your wife to lose her husband and your children to lose their father?"

Soon, a trembling voice came from the crowd not far from the soldier: "I... my leg is injured..." As soon as the voice came out, the people around squeezed out, revealing a small gap. A man was sitting on the ground with a pale face. His wife and children were holding him nervously. There was a pool of blood on the ground...

Maximus was on the sentry tower, pointing at the soldier who had just spoken and loudly asked, "What's your name?!"

"Chief, are you talking about me?"

"Yes, it's you!"

"My name is Cythonus, Chief!"

"Which centurion?"

"The 400th Squadron of the 3rd Battalion of the 3rd Legion."

"I now appoint you as the temporary captain of the Sestika Wounded Transport Team. The 400th Squadron of the 3rd Battalion will assist you in bringing all injured Sestika citizens to our medical team for treatment. You can also pick some new Sestika soldiers to help you complete this mission. Do you understand?"

"I...I understand!" Setonus was so excited that he could hardly control himself. He spoke out rashly just to attract Maximus' attention, and now he really succeeded!
"Did the soldiers of the 400th Squadron of the 3rd Battalion hear that clearly?!"

"I heard it clearly!" the soldiers of the 400th team responded in unison.

"Then you should start taking action immediately!" Maximus waved his hand and shouted.

"Come, come, come, everyone, make way, let us take out Tamosis who was just injured..." Under the persuasion of Setonus, the people of Segestica hesitantly made way for a narrow passage.

Cythonus and his comrades carefully lifted Tamosis and carried him out of the crowd, followed by Tamosis' wife and children.

At this time, the doctors and nurses of the medical team had received the notice and rushed to the periphery of the Third Army's array. They immediately checked the wounded, applied pressure, stopped bleeding, cleaned the wounds, and bandaged them. Then they asked the soldiers to carry the wounded to the temporary station that the medical team had found in the village...

All of this was seen by the people of Segestica who were nearby. They spread the news from one person to ten, and from ten to a hundred. The people looked at the Nix people with less fear or hatred, but more curiosity and confusion...

So when Maximus asked again, "Is anyone else injured?", responses came from all over the crowd.

Tamosis and his comrades were busy taking the wounded out of the crowd for treatment. Later, Maximus saw that the people of Segestica not only took the initiative to make way, but some of them also took the initiative to help carry the patients... The atmosphere between the Nix soldiers and the fleeing people of Segestica became less tense.

After the wounded were carried away, Maximus shouted again: "People of Segestica, it's late now. You must be very tired and hungry. I have two suggestions for you! First, those who live in this village and those who live nearby can go home and have a good rest now. Second, those who live far away may have difficulty going home tonight. You can choose to stay here first. I will let the soldiers find a place for you to sleep in this village for one night, and let them make some food for you to fill your stomachs. You can leave tomorrow... What do you think?!"

There was silence on the shore. The Segestica people looked at each other in surprise. Finally, someone couldn't hold back any longer and raised his head and asked loudly, "You...really allow us to leave?!"

"Of course!" Maximus answered decisively, raising his right hand: "I can swear to the goddess Danu that if I lie, I will be punished by her!"

Maximus' words were like a stone thrown into a pond, causing ripples: "You're really going to find us a place to sleep?!"

"You're really going to give us food?!"

"My child is not even one year old yet, can you give him some goat milk?"

……

"Of course!...Of course!...Of course!..." Maximus kept responding loudly.

"Excuse me...can we join the Knicks now?!" someone in the crowd suddenly asked loudly and nervously.

"Of course!" Maximus smiled and responded in a louder voice: "The sooner you join the Nix tribe, the sooner you can become a formal member of the tribe and get 50 acres of land!"

"Then...I...I want to join you Knicks now too!"

"I'll join in too!"

……

With someone taking the lead, some of the people of Segestica threw aside their hesitation and reserve and started shouting.

Maximus had to gesture to the back and the trumpet was blown again.

"Everyone, don't worry, let's do things one by one!" Maximus shouted loudly: "Captain Carminus!"

"exist!"

"Tell the soldiers to clear a passage and maintain order. Those who want to go home can go back now!"

"...Yes!" After receiving the order, Carminus first sent a large group of soldiers to stand on both sides of the avenue leading to the west gate of the pontoon bridge, and then asked the soldiers in the formation to make way for three people to pass side by side.

"Anyone who wants to go home can leave now, but don't be in a hurry, walk slowly towards this side!..." Maximus shouted on the watchtower, pointing in the direction of the exit.

With Maximus' repeated reminders, the dense crowd began to flow slowly...

By the time no one else had walked out of the passage, less than half of the people were left on the shore.

Maximus didn't know how long he had been standing on the watchtower. His legs felt weak and he felt sleepy. He was still trying to hold on and continued to shout, "Valerius! ...Captain Valerius of the Crossbow Corps!"

"Ah...ah...Chief...I'm here!" The crossbowmen led by Valerius were located behind the Third Legion's formation, in case of a major riot, they could assist the Third Legion in suppressing it.

Thanks to Maximus's actions, the besieged people of Segestica remained calm. After all, Valerius was old, and after a whole day of marching, his body could no longer support him. He fell asleep leaning against the wall of a house by the road. He responded hastily after being awakened by his men.

Maximus looked down at Valerius who was rubbing his eyes hard downstairs, and said apologetically: "Valerius, I know you are very tired now, but I need your help now. I wonder if you are willing to accept the order?"

In order to maintain the initiative in the war with the Pannoni, Maximus led his army in rapid motion. This also resulted in the fact that when he led the Third Legion as the main force into the territory of Segestica, even officials from the Ministry of War such as Quintus and Frontinus did not follow him, not to mention officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Works. As a result, when their abilities were needed, there was no one available by Maximus' side.

However, he soon thought of Valerius. Since Valerius had not been well-known before, Maximus only knew that there was such a person but did not know much about him.

But when Valerius became the captain of the crossbowmen, his calm and outstanding performance in the battle on the hills east of the Corana River immediately attracted Maximus' attention. After the war, he had a special conversation with him and learned that this man was born a slave, but was freed because he accidentally saved his master's life. Later, he joined the Roman army and spent thirty years in the army. He had served as a groom, an orderly, a light auxiliary soldier, a trumpeter, a legionnaire, a decapitation, and even a centurion. Later, because of his old age, he was transferred to the army's logistics personnel, such as ordnance guard, geodesist, actuary accountant, assistant adjutant, etc. It can be said that he had done all the low-level positions in the Roman army. He was simply a small encyclopedia of the Roman army. This surprised Maximus and he also regretted knowing him too late.

(End of this chapter)