Rome Must Perish-Chapter 275 - 173 The Panoni Alliance Army Has Arrived

"Why didn’t you say so earlier!" Pequot angrily cursed and turned back to shout, "Stop training! Everyone return to your tents and rest well, no shouting or yelling, or you’ll be punished according to military law!"

"Great... Great Captain, we’re far from the enemy here... they can’t possibly discover us, you don’t need to worry!" The young man cautiously consoled.

The young man Adobag was a Skodisqi, once a male slave of the Segestica Chief Wallis, herding sheep for him, thus being very familiar with the terrain surrounding this Segestica village on Validosi’s eastern side.

Adobag, once having lost a few sheep and fearing his master’s punishment, risked being attacked by wild beasts deep into the hills, eventually discovering the current location of the camp. The terrain here was flat, with few trees and weeds, had a water source, was relatively hidden, and there weren’t many birds inhabiting the area... He finally found the sheep, but because he returned to the village very late, Wallis, suspecting him of wanting to escape, beat him nearly to death. If not for Emmerich’s meticulous care, he wouldn’t have survived to this day.

This time, the rebel army intended to establish a secret camp in the hills on the eastern bank of the Kupa River, gathering Skodisqi familiar with the area’s terrain to provide suggestions.

Consequently, the place Adobag mentioned became the first choice, and due to his familiarity with these hills and his ability to move swiftly through the mountains, he was heavily used, becoming the most important scout of the troop.

Thus, Pequot had a fairly good attitude towards him: "You don’t understand, the Segestica people are pressing heavily, to defeat them, we mainly rely on us!"

Pequot recalled the time before departure when Maximus repeatedly instructed him, and he said with emphasis, "We are a surprise unit, before we play an important role, we absolutely can’t let the enemy know of us, otherwise once they are prepared, we will lose significant effectiveness, so we mustn’t be careless, understand?"

Adobag thought for a moment, then nodded heavily and said, "Understood."

"Good that you understand. In these days, you stay in the camp, and when the Segestica army thinks their rear is secure and lowers their guard, I’ll send you out with a few other scouts to find out the defensive situations of those two Segestica villages, food stockpile locations, and their grain transportation patterns. Then we’ll hit them hard!"

"Yes, Great Captain!" Adobag responded excitedly with a salute.

After Adobag left, Pequot squeezed his hands; his palms were a bit sweaty, and the arrival of the Segestica army made him somewhat tense.

Originally, there was a debate within the Military Department regarding which team to dispatch as the surprise unit hidden outside, and it was Maximus who persuaded several Chief Officers of the Ministry of War.

He believed since Pequot was an Illyrian, he could better communicate and make the Scodisiqi new soldiers in the unit obey; additionally, the soldiers of the Guard that Pequot commanded were mostly Celtic and Illyrian, accustomed to living and fighting in the mountains; most importantly, in the last battle, Pequot led the Guard and the Scodisiqi new soldiers in effectively completing the surprise attack mission, becoming a key factor in defeating the Segestica army, thus it was worth entrusting an important task to him once more.

Ultimately, after discussions, Pequot led over 300 Guard soldiers, plus over 100 Scodisiqi new soldiers, forming a 500-man surprise unit, hidden outside, seeking opportunities to disrupt the enemy’s grain routes and rear.

Pequot, don’t betray Leader Maximus’s trust, this is a time to showcase your ability, what’s there to panic about! Pequot told himself silently, clenching his fists.

.............................................

Andres, after attending the tribal alliance meeting, slowly returned to the Segestica Main Camp.

Upon returning to the camp, he immediately convened a tribal meeting, announcing to the elders that the tribal alliance would send reinforcements, led by him, to go after this foreign mercenary force, eliminate them, and rescue the captured tribesmen!

This news invigorated the whole tribe and comforted the people who had lost loved ones, reducing the number of people coming to his main house to complain.

However, Andres didn’t feel much relief, as he had two major issues urgently needing attention.

The first was conscripting grain. With 30,000 troops setting out, the amount of food consumed in just one day was substantial, and the failure of the last war proved that this mercenary force was a strong enemy likely not to be eliminated quickly, hence Andres and the elders decided that at least enough food for 30,000 people for more than 10 days needed to be prepared at once. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

This was a huge number, far beyond what the tribe directly under Andres could provide and required collecting from all Segestica tribes.

Although most Segestica tribes were located in the Sava River Plain and had just reaped a bountiful harvest, they warred year after year, leaving no surplus food reserves. Plus, they had already been requisitioned once during the last war, so requisitioning more this time would surely cause discontent... Andres entrusted this troublesome task to Cabdes.

The other issue was that recently, a band of Skodisqi thieves had appeared on the southern boundary of Segestica’s territory. They raided Segestica villages, killed tribesmen, burned villages and towns, and rescued slaves. But when the Segestica army arrived at the scene, they always escaped early... As a result, this caused considerable panic among the Segestica tribes south of the Sava River.