Rome must fall.

Chapter 406 The Meeting of Two Heroes

In order to avoid such a bad thing from happening, Maximus has been entrusting the Scodisci tribe to convey his desire to make peace with the Dacian king in recent years.

In the process of conquering the Boyi tribe, he also specifically ordered a fleet to use a captured Boyi river port on the west bank of the Danube as a base and patrol along the west bank of the Danube every day.

At the same time, a camp was built on the west bank of the Danube, and more than one legion was stationed there... These measures were taken to prevent the Dacians from suddenly crossing the river to attack.

However, since the war between the Nyx and the Boii, the King of Dacia has never expressed any goodwill to Maximus, but there has been no unusual movement on the east bank of the Danube, so Maximus thought that the Dacians did not care about the changes in the situation on the west bank of the Danube at all.

Unexpectedly, at the final moments of the Nebo War, the Dacians sent a message.

Did they want to stop the destruction of the Boyi tribe? Or did they want to get a piece of the pie? Although Maximus was upset, he was not too nervous because he had discussed the possibility of the Dacians joining the war with the Ministry of War many times and had made some preparations.

However, the envoys of the Scodischi tribe repeatedly assured that King Burebista had no ill will towards the Nix tribe. He just wanted to discuss in person with Chief Maximus the relationship between the two major forces of Dacia and Nix and the peace of the entire Danube Plain.

Maximus was skeptical, so he sent the business officer Pigris to follow the leader of Scodisci to the Dacian territory to meet Burebista and find out the truth.

Pigris's visit finally confirmed the statement of the Scodischi envoy. After that, the envoys of both sides visited each other several times and finally determined the date and place for the meeting between the two leaders.

On the first day of June, when the first rays of morning sunlight shone on the surface of the Danube River, a team of thousands of people quickly gathered on both sides of the narrowest part of the Danube, which flows from north to south.

After the heavy and distant sound of the horn, a well-built wooden boat sailed to the center of the river. Then four heavy iron anchors tied with thick ropes at the bow and stern were thrown to the bottom of the river, allowing the wooden boat to stand steadily in the middle of the river.

After ensuring the safety of the wooden boat, the whistle sounded again.

Although it is the narrowest part of the Danube, the width of the river is more than 250 meters. Maximus could only vaguely see a man wearing a very tall straight hat, surrounded by a crowd of people, stepping onto a small boat on the opposite bank.

So he said goodbye to the officials and soldiers who followed him, and boarded the covered boat anchored on the shore with an official from the Ministry of Commerce who was fluent in Dacian.

The Danube River flows gently, and the water is as clear as a huge mirror. From time to time, you can see plump fish swimming under the boats, and groups of wild ducks playing happily on the river... A gust of river breeze blows, and ripples appear on the water, with dots of golden light flashing in it...

Maximus was not attracted by the beautiful scenery before him, his mind was only on the upcoming meeting.

Soon, we arrived at the meeting point in the middle of the river.

Maximus took a deep breath, calmed his chaotic thoughts, and stepped firmly and forcefully onto the deck of the big wooden ship.

This large wooden boat was provided by the Nix tribe. In order to improve the ability to transport troops and supplies, the Nix fleet specially commissioned the shipbuilding workshop to manufacture a new ship that can sail stably on the wider Danube River in recent years. Its fat belly is enough to accommodate thirty soldiers, and its capacity is more than five times that of the original shuttle ship.

The shipwrights modified the boat, laid flat and thick planks on it, built a roof to block out the sun, fixed a wooden table in the middle of the boat, and added a few chairs... It looked more like a small pavilion standing in the middle of the river.

At this time, there were already two people standing at the wooden table in the boat, and Maximus walked over with steady steps.

One of the middle-aged men with a tall stature and a rough face looked at Maximus carefully and said in a loud voice: "I am Brebista! You are Maximus, the leader of the Nix tribe, right?!"

After he finished speaking, he looked at the official from the Ministry of Commerce who came with Maximus and signaled him to translate.

Unexpectedly, Maximus responded in a slightly stiff Dacian: "I am Maximus! Nice to meet you, King of Dacia!"

Bray Bistaton was surprised: "You can speak Dacian?!"

"My father is Illyrian and my mother is Thracian. They were both Roman slaves. I have been able to speak these two languages ​​since I was a child. I heard that the Dacians are a branch of the Thracians and their languages ​​are roughly the same, so I have been practicing with my subordinate who can speak Dacian. However, I haven't spoken Thracian for many years, so I don't speak it very well. Please forgive me."

While explaining the reason, Maximus intentionally or unintentionally revealed a little about his life experience. Sure enough, the thin and slightly old attendant next to Brebis immediately asked in surprise: "Captain Maximus, please allow me to ask, your parents are both Roman slaves, how did you become the leader of the Nix?"

Maximus looked at Burebista: "Who is this?"

"His name is Decheneu, the high priest of our Dacia, the person I respect the most!" Brebista introduced.

Maximus showed a solemn expression and said seriously: "I have heard that Archpriest Deceneu is a wise man among the Dacians. It is my honor to meet him today!"

"Those are just rumors spread by my tribesmen. I am just helping my king do some small things." De Cheneu said modestly.

"The high priest has really helped me a lot. Without him, Dacia wouldn't be what it is today!" Burebista praised loudly, making no secret of his dependence on De Cheneu.

"Captain Maximus, I'm sorry, was my question just now a bit presumptuous?" De Cheneu changed the subject and continued asking in a tactful tone.

"What's so rude about that? There's nothing wrong with my past experiences." Maximus smiled calmly, "My parents were Roman slaves, and so was I. But when I grew up, I couldn't stand the oppression of the Romans, so I fled from the Roman estates and towns with other slaves. We even fought a few battles with the Romans on the way. Later, we fled Italy and came here. With the help of my fellow Ardi people, we established the Nix tribe..."

Burebista and De Cheneu looked at each other.

De Cheneu then asked, "So, Captain Maximus, you must hate the Romans?"

"Of course I hate them!" Maximus did not hide his emotions. He said firmly, "I wish I could lead the army to conquer Rome and turn all the Romans into slaves! Not only do I hate the Romans, but the tribesmen who came here with me also hate the Romans! By the way, I forgot to introduce you to this person, who is the official in charge of foreign affairs in our tribe - Meda Vratis. He is from Dacia and was once a slave of the Romans!"

Metavratis then bowed and said, "Honorable King of Dacia and High Priest, #$&#!"

Maidafratis deliberately used a Dacian slang used for greetings, which made Brabistaton feel familiar. He asked curiously, "Which tribe are you from?"

"To be precise, I am a Geta, and my original tribe is west of Histria." Maida Vladis replied.

"The Getae are also part of us Dacians. Now the whole of Dacia and the Getae have united together to form a solid tribal alliance!" Brebista said without hesitation.

"Really? That's great!" Maida Vladis showed a look of surprise at the right time.

The Carpathian Mountains divided the middle and lower Danube plains into two parts, and also divided the Dacian territory into east and west. In the area near the Euxinian Sea in eastern Dacia, nomadic tribes such as the Scythians who migrated from the north and the Dacians had a long period of conflict and coexistence, and eventually formed a branch of the Dacians - the Getae.

Burebista was not lying. Over the years, he had incorporated the Geta tribes into the Dacian Alliance through both military conquest and political persuasion.

"I never thought that you, Chief Maximus, and your men are related to us Dacians!" Decheneu exclaimed with a smile.

"Since we are not strangers, let's sit down and chat slowly." Maida Vladis also smiled and asked everyone to sit down, then picked up the kettle on the wooden table and poured a bowl of rice water for everyone. The entire wooden boat and the furnishings in the cabin were provided by the Nix tribe, and Maida Vladis took the initiative to serve everyone as a host.

Maximus raised the wooden bowl and said loudly, "I am half Thracian, and Medafratis is a Geta. We traveled from Italy to here. Today, we are able to meet King Burebista and High Priest Decheneu. This must be the arrangement of the gods! For this special moment, how about the four of us drink a glass of water instead of wine?!"

"Well said! Let's have a drink first!" Brebista raised the bowl generously and drank it first as a show of respect.

After drinking a bowl of sweet water, Maximus saw that the atmosphere in the cabin had become more harmonious. He deliberately sighed and said, "King Burebista, I am a little dissatisfied with you. I asked Ipodres (the leader of the Skodischi tribe) to convey my goodwill to you, but you never responded, so I didn't dare to send an envoy to Dacia to meet you directly. So several years have passed until today when we met."

"Uh, this..." Brebista looked a little embarrassed.

Decheneu said quickly, "Captain Maximus, when Ippodreus first sent us the message, the king was about to send an envoy to contact you, but I stopped him. I'm really sorry!"

(End of this chapter)