Rome must fall.

Chapter 309: Leader of the Gonamah Lake Tribe
Pricas had no intention of appreciating the beautiful scenery. Only at this time did he lead his men to paddle hard and steer the boat into a river port on the left shore.

There were already quite a few ships in the river port, and it took Prikas a long time to dock the ship at the pier.

Young Ancasus had fallen asleep, so Pricas carried him ashore.

There was a village not far away. Some Segstika people who had fled here by boat were gathering at the entrance of the village. At the entrance, a dozen strong young men holding wooden sticks blocked their way.

The leader shouted loudly: "My leader said that outsiders are not allowed to enter the village, otherwise we will not recognize anyone with the sticks in our hands! However, since we are all members of the same tribe, we will provide you with some food. You should take the food and leave quickly. Don't stay here for long, understand!..."

The fleeing people started shouting and cursing in dissatisfaction, but this group of young people managed to keep their composure and did not curse back. However, if anyone dared to rush forward, they would really beat them with sticks.

"It's Chief Prikas!"

"Chief Prikas is here!"

"Chief Prikas, they actually treat us as enemies. This is really too much!"

……

Everyone rushed to complain to Prikas and at the same time made way for him.

Prikas' face was livid. He walked up to the group of people and said in a deep voice, "I am Prikas, and I want to see your leader Iberus!"

Of course the young men knew who Prikas was, and the leader quickly said, "Chief Prikas, please wait a moment, I will go tell our leader!" After that, he ran quickly into the village.

After a while he came back again: "Chief Prikas, my chief wants to see you!"

The young men made way for a narrow passage. Pricas looked back at his followers, held Ancasus in his arms, and walked into the village first. His followers followed closely behind him. Other people also wanted to follow, but the young men stopped them forcefully.

"Chief Prikas!..." The fleeing people shouted for help from Prikas.

"Let them in too," said Prikas.

The young men looked at the young man who had delivered the message before, and he shook his head.

So everyone remained unmoved.

Prikas had no choice but to walk forward with his head down. When he came to the square in front of the main house of the village, he suddenly stopped. There were many tents set up in the square. There were people living in the tents and sitting between the tents. Most of them looked haggard and confused. Even when they saw Prikas and others coming, no one took the initiative to come forward and say hello.

At the door of the main house stood a man with gray hair and beard, but his slender figure and ruddy complexion made it difficult to judge his real age. This man was Iberus, the leader of the village.

Seeing Pricas, he looked solemn, took the initiative to step forward, and whispered: "I really don't want to see you here, it seems that the East Village is also lost?"

Prikas nodded.

Iberus glanced at Ancasus, who was on his back, and then looked at the followers behind him, and said, "Let's go into the house first."

"Is there anything to eat? We are all starving." Prikas whispered. "I will arrange it right away."

The group entered the main house and found a place for Ancasus to sleep. Pricas followed Iberus to the living room and briefly recounted the fall of the East Village.

"Has the Segestica tribe been cursed?!" Iberus sighed after hearing this. "Since last year, Andres has been fighting with these Nix people and has suffered many defeats. In the end, he even lost his life... This year, the tribal alliance formed a large army. I originally thought that the Nix people were doomed this time, but I didn't expect that such a large coalition army would suffer a disastrous defeat in the blink of an eye. Moreover, the Nix took the opportunity to invade our territory and occupied the entire main village in just two days. Alas! Segestica - it seems that our tribe is doomed!"

Prikas was immediately displeased and rebuked: "What are you talking about? The tribe is only in temporary trouble now, but as long as we can cheer ourselves up again and ask for reinforcements from the tribal alliance, we will be able to quickly regain our lost territory!"

"Cabudes used to think so, but what about now?!" Iberus smiled bitterly and spread his hands.

"Cabudes is a coward and a deserter! If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have been defeated so badly!" When Cabudes was mentioned, Prikas became furious.

"But Andres, who was good at fighting, was also defeated miserably! At least Kabudes was able to clean up the mess left by Andres and brought everyone a year of peace." Iberus said regretfully: "But he also died in the battle... At this critical moment, I am afraid that no one can unite the remaining tribes and let the fleeing tribesmen regain the courage to fight the powerful Nix people!"

"Who said there isn't one?" Pricas immediately retorted, "Ancasus, the son of Chief Andres, has the noblest blood of the Segestica tribe! As long as he becomes the new chief, he can gather the tribe members together again!"

Iberus curled his lips in disapproval. "How can a child who hasn't even fully grown his hair have any appeal? No one voted for him to be the leader last year, and it's even more impossible at this special time. You, stop messing around. It's best to let the child grow up in peace."

"What do you mean, Iberus!" Pricas' face changed, and he said angrily: "Chief Andres has always trusted you and given your tribe so many benefits, making you the most powerful chief in the area of ​​Lake Gonammi. Is this how you repay him now?"

Instead of feeling guilty, Iberus responded angrily: "Andres has given my tribe a lot of benefits in the past, but that was just his way of wanting me to lead other tribes around Lake Gonammi to obey him. Do you know how the people of other tribes here call me in private! - Traitor!"

Iberus laughed bitterly twice and said self-deprecatingly: "I am indeed a traitor. Last year, Andres recruited warriors twice to fight against the Nix people. I actively cooperated and sent many people from here, but in the end... very few came back!
And this year, I was stupid again and was persuaded by Kabudes to provide a lot of food for his army. As a result... Hehe, the people of Lake Gonammi scolded me, and they were right to scold me!"

Seeing the other party's painful expression, Prikas' anger suddenly disappeared by half, and he comforted him: "Iberus, all the tribes in Segestica have had a hard time in the past two years, not just your Gonammi Lake. Compared with the areas on the east and west banks of the main village, your situation is much better. At least this time you did not send your people to follow the stupid Kabudes to fight, and you still preserved some strength.

The reason why I chose to come here is that I hope to get your support, use Gonamihu as a base, rely on Brochi, and gather the fleeing tribesmen—"

"Shut up! Stop talking!" Iberus interrupted Prikas and said bluntly, "There are not many fields in Lake Gonammi. This year we handed over a lot of food to the main village. Now all the tribes are short of food and mainly rely on fishing for a living.

But yesterday, many tribesmen fled from the north. For the sake of our compatriots, we took them in. You should have seen it when you passed by the square just now. But this made our already insufficient food supply even more insufficient. The tribesmen are very dissatisfied with this, so from today on we will no longer take in people from any other tribe!
Of course, you and your people must stay. No matter how hard our lives are, we will squeeze out some food to feed you. But for the others, hmm--"

Iberus snorted twice: "We don't want them to stay in Lake Gomi. Who knows if they will destroy our fields and rob our property when they are extremely hungry!——"

"Iberus!" Pricas shouted angrily, "Those people outside the village are not robbers! They are not enemies! They are Segestica people! They are your compatriots! Your people!"

"I'm sorry, I seem to remember that I am a Brochi. The tribes around Lake Gomi originally belonged to the Brochi territory." Iberus' words immediately blocked Pricas' anger.

The ownership of the Gonami Lake area is a bit complicated. It did belong to the territory of Brochi, but after the Pannoni were conquered by the Skodisti, the Skodisti who ruled the branch of Segestica took the Gonami Lake under their jurisdiction. However, the Skodisti later found that the Pannoni in the Gonami Lake were difficult to control. They often did not pay tribute on time and even dared to take in some Pannoni who resisted the Skodisti. Once the Skodisti sent troops to punish them, they would drive their boats and hide in the reeds...

Due to the special terrain of Lake Gonami, in order to make the people here completely obedient, a lot of effort must be made to regulate it. The great leader Skodischi did not want to mobilize a large army, so he simply separated it and gave it to one of his sons to rule... Later, the Pannoni tribes rose up in rebellion one after another. It was the Segestica tribe that took the lead in defeating the Skodischi people entrenched in Lake Gonami, and the Pannoni tribe here was merged into Segestica.

But this was only in name. Due to years of separation, the people here did not have a strong sense of belonging to Segestica. The food handed over to the main village was dispensable, and the orders given by the chief were obeyed or not. The semi-independence of the Gonamai Lake region lasted for several years until Andres succeeded to the throne. On the one hand, he severely punished the disobedient Gonamai Lake tribe, and on the other hand, he supported the Iberus tribe who were willing to obey his orders, and finally made the Gonamai Lake tribes bow down to his dominance.

(End of this chapter)