Rome must fall.

Chapter 73 Teenagers (please subscribe)

Maximus continued: "...and then rush westward along the road without stopping. The Pompeii soldiers who arrived one after another on the way may have been chasing you, or they may have been chasing you on the wall not far from the road. If arrows are fired, if you move a little slowly and react slowly, you may be killed by the arrows, or you may be overtaken by the enemy and be surrounded.

And when you arrive at the Gate of Herculaneum, you must fight against the enemies guarding the gate and kill them as quickly as possible, so that you can control the gate before the enemy's large forces arrive and ambush them outside the city. Only if the main force of the escort team can enter the city smoothly can we win the final victory... Now tell me, can you do it? ! "

The team was silent for a while, and after a while, some soldiers responded softly: "...can...do it..."

Maximus looked around at everyone with a serious expression: "It seems that you are self-aware. Even such a simple training cannot be successfully completed. How can you successfully raid Pompeii and return safely! As your leader, I am most concerned about It depends on whether you can come back alive, so I hope you can practice this training repeatedly, not only during the day, but also at night, until you have practiced it so well that you can do it in the shortest time with your eyes closed. Complete the entire simulated action within the required time, so that you can sweat more in peacetime and bleed less in wartime!

My sincere hope is that when we take Pompeii, every one of you will be alive to receive the envious looks from other brigades, and listen to their heartfelt praise, ‘The soldiers of the heavy escort team are great! He is a hero who can create miracles! ’”

After listening to the leader's emotional words, the soldiers were out of breath and hunched over. They all held their heads high and chests high, full of energy.

Carminus took the opportunity to ask loudly: "Brothers, do we want to continue training?!"

"Yes!!!" the soldiers shouted in unison.

Quintus looked at the Guard soldiers who were resuming training and said softly with emotion: "There are outstanding people among slaves!"

"Are you talking about Maximus?" Spukala's heart moved.

Quintus nodded without saying much, but looked at Aulus: "I think you should lead the others to participate in the training. We haven't participated in a battle for more than ten years, and our hands and feet are all rusty. Don't make a surprise attack." When things go wrong, let them laugh.”

Aulus sneered: "It's good if we don't laugh at them. How can they laugh at us! However, we should train with them a little so that we can cooperate tacitly during the raid..."

Aulus said, turning around to call his other companions. Although he still looked down upon these new recruits in the escort, he had experienced war for a long time and knew that war was not a child's play and should never be taken lightly!

……

In the early morning, in the backyard of the rebel army headquarters and the olive oil farm, a wooden shed was set up in the open space in front of the kitchen. There were more than 10 simple wooden tables and benches inside. This was the "exclusive canteen" of the logistics department of the supply camp.

There are a group of teenagers eating breakfast here at the moment. Most of them have finished eating. Only a few are still chewing slowly. One of the children is relatively thin and has delicate features like a girl. He is Quintus’ only child. Grandson - Valles Quintus.

Since the Lucelia people came to the camp with their families, Maximus assigned the elderly and women among them to the logistics department, while their children were directly assigned to the youth team. Since Maximus did not imprison them all in solitary confinement, but treated them equally with his own men, the men of Lucelia were able to accept it even if they had to live separately from their own families.

"Walles, eat quickly, we'll be waiting for you!" Akgo urged.

Valles quickly wolfed down the remaining bread into his mouth, and then drank the remaining oatmeal in the jar in one gulp.

"I have brought you your shield and sword. Let's go directly to the training ground." Marcus said, handing him the wooden shield and wooden sword. These things are made by people in the military warehouse and are better than the soldiers. The ones used for military training were smaller and lighter, but much more refined.

"Thank you!" Valles reached out and took it.

"Let's go." Akago patted Valles and walked out of the cafeteria first.

Valles followed the other children and jumped up and down to their own training ground. The guard's training ground was right next to it, with a few rows of oak trees in the middle.

When the teenagers arrived here, they immediately became quiet and quickly formed four long lines. Under the leadership of captain Akguo, they began to jog around the training ground...

After five laps, Valles, who was at the end of the team, felt a little exhausted. Vice-captain Cassius, who was also at the end of the team, noticed something strange and immediately asked with concern: "How are you doing? Can you still run?"

Valles didn't want to be looked down upon, so he said hesitantly: "I...I'm okay."

"Then just hold on, it's over in one lap, come on!"

Cassius's encouragement gave Valles strength. He tried his best to follow the team and finished the run with gritted teeth. He was so tired that he could hardly stand.

Cassius quickly supported him and walked slowly on the sidelines. He also comforted him and said: "It was like this when I first started running. I was worse than you at that time. I vomited out my breakfast. Akko and the others also laughed at me. , but I got used to it after running for a few days, and now I can run ten consecutive laps at a relatively fast speed without any problem. Believe me, as long as you persist every day, you will be like me."

Valles listened carefully, felt warm in his heart, and nodded vigorously.

After a while, I heard Akago shout loudly: "Everyone, come here and gather in formation!"

The children who were resting immediately gathered around and quickly formed a dense square array of ten horizontal and five vertical, and Valles quickly stood in his position.

This is when an old man with gray hair and a majestic face came to the sidelines. His name was Rufus Gracchus. He was a former Roman veteran and later became a public slave in Rome. He is now a member of the military advisory team of the supply camp, a Many months ago, when Maximus wanted to select a military instructor for the newly formed youth team, he took the initiative to apply for the position.

He walked to the team and stood in front of the team. Akguo, who was at the head of the team, immediately strode forward, clenched his right fist and beat his chest, and said loudly and fluently: "Report to the instructor, the team has formed, there are fifty-two people in total, and no one is absent. , please give the order!” ˜ ˜ ˜ “Very good, join the team first.” Gracchus glanced at the children in front of him, and every time he saw these energetic and young faces, he felt a little younger. His eyes paused for a moment on a few of the children. They were all children of Lucelia. The former enemies were now working together in the slave-led army that rebelled against Rome. The arrangement of the goddess of fate was really wonderful!

Gragus's heart was filled with ripples, and he said: "Next, let's conduct formation training."

Teenagers are different from adults. Their skeletal muscles have not yet been fully developed. Too much emphasis on strength training will cause damage to the body. However, because they are young and have strong learning ability, the effect of formation training is much better than that of adults... This is Maxim The military training plan was formulated by Si and Frontinus after many discussions.

Gracchus was seen holding a bugle and blowing different trumpet sounds. According to the orders given by the trumpet, the teenagers sometimes advanced, sometimes stopped, sometimes formed a shield formation, sometimes launched a charge, sometimes all retreated...

After that, Gracchus gave orders again, directing the phalanx of the youth team to turn left or right, or to convert into a circle formation, or to form a column, or to press the rear team, and to extend the phalanx to the two wings... The youth team was training The formation was always a bit chaotic. The reason was that Valles and other young people who had just joined were completely unfamiliar with it, which slowed down the entire formation change.

However, Gracchus never stopped or corrected them. Instead, other teenagers took the initiative to tell them what to do. Everyone actively cooperated with each other, and few people complained. Therefore, even though the training was a bit bad, the atmosphere was not bad, and gradually it became better. Trends getting better.

After the formation training, the children took a short break and then began engineering training.

Gracchus divided fifty-two teenagers into two groups and competed. Each of them dug a trench five meters long, one meter wide, and one meter deep. A trap must be set in the trench and made of excavated soil. The one-meter high and five-meter long earth wall, whichever team completes it the fastest and makes the best one will win. The losing team will have to run around the field three times.

Therefore, both teams worked hard and worked hard.

Valles was assigned to the group that Cassius was in. Cassius specially arranged for Marcus to follow him and personally guided him on what to do. Marcus, who had carefully brought him weapons during breakfast before, At this moment, the requirements are very strict.

Since his parents passed away, although his grandfather had neglected to take care of Valles, he had not suffered much. This was the first time he had done such heavy work, but affected by the warm atmosphere, he neither slacked off nor resented horses. Gus's sternness led him to conscientiously work according to Marcus's requirements.

Two hours later, Gracchus began inspecting the trenches completed by both groups.

"The first group was completed first, but the ditch walls on both sides were not steep enough, the sharp wooden sticks buried at the bottom of the ditch were not deep enough, and there were not enough water, and the water was not enough... Just imagine, what if the enemy was on a real battlefield? I want to attack your camp through a very wide trench, but the steep trench walls and slippery ground make it difficult for the enemies who descend into the trench to climb up... If they set up wooden ladders on the trench, they want to quickly If they pass through and accidentally fall down, they will fall on the densely packed sharp wooden piles. All that awaits them is death..." Gracchus explained the problems to them while also demonstrating the movements himself.

The dust-covered teenagers lined up and stood aside. They should have been playing carefree, but they were listening to the veterans talking about the bloody battlefield life and death. No one felt that something was wrong, but they were all listening attentively.

"...In comparison, although the second group finished slowly, it did better in this regard." Gracchus made the final assessment without haste: "Based on the performance of both groups, this time it is The second team wins!”

Cassius and Marcus cheered loudly, and Valles couldn't help shouting too. He also worked hard, so he deeply felt this collective sense of honor.

The teenagers in the first group were a little frustrated. Akguo took the initiative to take responsibility: "This time our group failed, it was all my fault. I patronized Tu Kuai and did not have strict requirements. I hope everyone can forgive me!"

A teenager immediately responded: "This is not your fault, captain, we all have faults! Teacher Maximus said, 'It is impossible for people not to make mistakes. It doesn't matter if you make mistakes, as long as you know your mistakes and correct them!'— —”

"Garrus is right, we should learn from today's lesson and strive to beat the second group next time!" Another boy said loudly.

"Yes, we will definitely win next time!!" A group of teenagers shouted, regaining their fighting spirit.

It’s good to be young! ...Gracchus smiled and silently watched the jubilant scene of the teenagers in front of him. After a while, he said loudly: "Next, let's do one-on-one training!"

The teenagers cheered louder together. Compared with the extremely restrictive formation training and the hard and tiring engineering training, this project was the most popular among them. Children who don't like to play and make noise.

Only the new kids like Valles were a little nervous. Although they had already participated in two days of training, this was their first one-on-one sword fighting training.

Rufus first paired up the teenagers one by one, trying to make the two sides of the match equal in strength, so as to better achieve the purpose of training.

"Valles, your opponent is Doreen."

After Gracchus finished speaking, Valles was dumbfounded: My opponent is actually a woman? !
  Maximus did not favor boys over girls. The youth team he formed consisted of five girls, who underwent the same training as the boys. Although he would not let them go into battle to kill the enemy when they grew up, he hoped that they would be able to do so. Exercising a healthy body will prevent you from getting sick easily, and will not hold you back when the team marches and moves in the future.

But when his opponent stood in front of Valles, his complaints stopped abruptly.

Doreen is 14 years old. Her parents are farm slaves. She joined the supply camp of the rebel army at an early age. Doreen was still very thin when she first entered the camp. After half a year of improving her diet, she is now in her growth period. Now she is stronger than Valles, who is the same age, is a head taller and has a strong build. If his facial features were not softer and his chest was slightly protruding, he would look like a boy.

"Hey, be careful, I won't be merciful." Doreen looked directly at Valles, threatened him, and then hit him with a wooden shield.

Valles raised his shield to block it. After the two shields collided, he was actually weaker than the opponent and was immediately knocked back.

Doreen hit her with a shield again, Valles resisted again, but retreated due to weakness again, and his arm was still a little numb, so when Doreen hit her with a shield again, he did not dare to resist and chose to dodge.

(End of this chapter)