CH 801

Chapter 801 – Postwar Arrangement (I)

Meanwhile, Olivos became negligent and failed to conduct proper surveillance after the Fourth Legion breached the city walls. Moreover, he couldn’t control the soldiers under his command, allowing them to rush recklessly into the breach. As a result, they became trapped beneath the wall, and the enemy seized the opportunity to pour burning oil on them, inflicting heavy casualties.

As for Matonis’ Second Legion: Davos witnessed the entire battle since he was in the rear and knew that although the Second Legion had the best siege equipment, the Romans also gathered many troops to defend the area he was attacking. Hence Davos wasn’t angry at Matonis that much.

In these years of war, Davos seldom criticise them harshly, so the several legates hung their heads in shame.

Davos stopped looking at them, lowered his tone, and said to Steichicodas, “What are the difficulties you are experiencing in treating the soldiers?”

“There are too many wounded, but we don’t have enough manpower to care for them.”

“Tolmides, you are responsible for commanding the soldiers from the various legions to follow Steichicodas’ order to assist the medical camp and rescue our comrades.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Your Majesty, we still need many spacious and clean rooms to allow the wounded to rest and recover.”

“This matter is easy to handle.” Davos thought momentarily and said, “I heard that many Roman nobles fled to Mons Capitolinus. Trotidis, you are responsible for leading the soldiers to vacate those nobles’ homes and give them to the medical camp.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Steichicodas hesitated and continued, “And…Your Majesty, I also wish to save those wounded Romans.” A compassionate healer always puts the well-being and interests of their patients first. So even though the two sides are hostile, there are only patients in the eyes of a physician.

Davos smiled slightly and said with relief, “I would have ordered you to do that even if you didn’t tell me.”

He then looked at the legates and said, “Now, let’s define each legion’s camp within the city of Rome.”

Upon hearing this, the legates immediately leaned forward and looked at the map of Rome on the table.

“The First and Second Legion would camp in the Roman Forum,” Davos pointed to the map and continued, “The Fourth Legion would camp in the arena, the Sixth Legion would camp in the southeast corner of the city, the Fifth Legion would camp in the southwest corner of the city, and the Third Legion-”

Davos paused momentarily and looked at Litom, “You will still be staying in your camp and continue improving the camp’s defence by including the riverbank where the Third Fleet docked their ships. Although you will have to work harder than the other legions, you must understand that guarding the camp is of utmost importance as it is where the convoy fleet would transport the supplies for the entire army! So you must guard it carefully and ensure nothing goes wrong!”

“You can leave it to our Third Legion, Your Majesty!” Litom exclaimed.

Davos nodded and looked at the various legates, “Everyone should understand the location of your camp, right? If you face any difficulties, feel free to ask them now.”

The several legates looked at the map, and all expressed no object except for Giorgris. Davos then looked at him and said, “Giorgris, tell me if you have any difficulties.”

Giorgris said cautiously, “Your Majesty, the southwest corner of the city is full of ruined houses, so there is not enough open space for the Fifth Legion to camp. In addition, with rubbish scattered everywhere, the smell was so unpleasant that it wasn’t good for our soldiers’ rest… Since there are quite a few vacant spaces near the arena, do you think it’s possible for my Fifth Legion to camp there as well?”

Upon hearing that, Davos quickly looked at the map. Although it didn’t indicate any slums in the southwest corner of Rome, he still believed in Giorgris’ statement since they were on the frontline.

“Okay!” Davos immediately agreed with Giorgris’ suggestion and asked the legatus of the Sixth Legion, “Trotidis, do you have any difficulties in having the Sixth Legion camp in the southeast corner?”

“Your Majesty, I’ve noticed plenty of open space from the top of the city walls, so there seems to be no problem setting up camp.”

After discussing the infantry legions, Davos then looked at the cavalry legates, “The place where the two Cavalry Legions would camp is on the north side of Collis Caelius, just south of the Roman Forum. When I entered the city gate just now, I saw a large market there that the Romans no longer use, and it had some animal pens and stables that are suitable for your cavalry to use.”

Ledes and Kurcius nodded without objection.

“Now that we have clarified the camps of each legion, next would be to determine your area of responsibility.” Davos pointed at the map and continued, “The sections of the walls you had attacked would be the ones you would patrol while also responsible for order and security. The initial arrangement would be as follows: The Fourth and Fifth Legions would be responsible for the area south of the arena, the First and Sixth Legions would be responsible for the area from the Roman Forum to the north of Collis Esquilinus, and the Second Legion, marines and mountain reconnaissance brigade would be responsible for the centre of the city.”

After saying that, Davos looked at Matonis and said, “Your Second Legion is responsible for the largest area but has the smallest number of soldiers. However, you don’t have to worry since the information I received so far reported most of the inhabitants in the centre are Roman nobles, and many of them have fled to Mons Capitolinus, so your task should be relatively easy.”

“Your Majesty, our brothers from the Second Legion wouldn’t feel any pressure even if there are still here. After all, what’s so scary about a bunch of elderlies, children and women?!” Said Matonis confidently.

“The Third Legion would be responsible for the northern shore of Rome’s Pons Aemilius and protect the port we will build there. As for the two Cavalry Legions, your task would be to patrol the whole city and, if you find any anomalies, inform the legions responsible in that area in time for them to solve the problems. Since fighting in the city isn’t good for the cavalry, you shouldn’t let our precious cavalry be lost here. In addition, the legions should hurry to improve the section of the city walls they are defending, placing abatis and setting up traps outside the walls…to ensure that we would no longer need to pay massive casualties just to keep the city that is already ours… Oh, by the way, we need to repair the two sections of the walls that the Fourth and Fifth Legions had collapsed as soon as possible!”

“Your Majesty, our soldiers are already doing their best repairing it,” said Giorgris immediately.

“Excellent!” Davos nodded at him with satisfaction. Although Giorgris wasn’t as brave as Matonis in combat, nor was he as intelligent as Olivos, and was even timid by nature, it was precisely because of his timidity that he became cautious and meticulous that allowed him to play a crucial role in certain situations.

“Your Majesty, what about us? Where would we stay? What would be our task? You wouldn’t have forgotten about us, will you?!” Epiphanes hurriedly asked.

“How could I possibly forget your troops!” Davos laughed. He then pointed at the hill-shaped icon immediately to the west of the northeastern wall and said deeply, “I ask you to lead your army to build a camp to enclose Mons Capitolinus.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to storm the place directly?!” Epiphanes loudly suggested.

“No! We need to keep them,” Davos smiled mysteriously, “Only then can we control the Roman army outside.”

Davos’ words made the legates ponder.

“Are you clear about your tasks? Does anyone else have other questions?”

“None,” the legates responded simultaneously.

“How many captives have we captured?” Davos turned around and asked Tolmides.

“From the preliminary statistics, there are over twenty-one thousand three hundred.”

“That’s a lot.”

“Many were elderlies, women, children…and slaves,” Tolmides reminded.

“Release all the captives over fifty-five and under fifteen of age, while the rest will be divided among the legions to serve as labourers…and so on-” Suddenly remembering something, Davos’ tone changed as he said, “First distinguish between the nobles and plebeians among these prisoners and those followers of the nobles. Moreover, you shouldn’t release the young and elderlies of the nobles and their followers.”

“That…we are not familiar with Rome’s situation, so we might not be able to distinguish them clearly in a short time.” Tolmides said embarrassedly.

“You should…take Valerius, the Roman slave who surrendered to us, and order him to identify the deceased while you just need to oversee the process.” Davos understood that although these men under him were good at fighting, they had no experience handling political matters. Thus he was now incredibly eagerly awaiting the group of statesmen and officials in Ostia to arrive.

“Understood.” Tolmides accepted the order.

“Orophes, the engineering camp you have organised has done us a great service in taking the city of Rome by making numerous siege equipment in a short time!…” Davos didn’t mince words when praising and told the military inspectors to ensure that the contributions made by the engineers and craftsmen must be recorded as an important basis for awarding them plots of land based on their merits after the war.

He then told his request, “I need you to lead all the engineers to build a simple dock as soon as possible on the riverbank where the Third Fleet has docked their warships so that our convoy fleet can load and unload supplies.”

Surprised, Orophes said, “But Your Majesty, isn’t there already a river port here? Why build another one?”

Although Orophes was a mercenary, Davos knew that he had gotten engrossed in researching and building siege equipment all these years, so he didn’t understand the current situation well. Thus he explained to him patiently, “The Roman army is about to arrive tomorrow and has probably nearly seventy thousand men. Unfortunately, the current situation of our army doesn’t allow us to fight against them. Thus we can only stay and defend inside the city of Rome for now. However, with the river port outside the city and no solid wall for protection, it would require us to pay a lot of casualties to keep it, which is completely unnecessary. Hence we can only rely on you! Since numerous men and ships will arrive in Rome tomorrow, I hope you can speed up the construction of the dock!”

“We will do our best!” said Orophes. Although he felt a certain amount of pressure, he still had the confidence to build the dock tomorrow. After all, he now has over a thousand experienced and skilled engineers and craftsmen (including the engineering camps of the various legions) in his hands, as well as sufficient lumber.