Rome Must Fall

"I don't know what the reward you are talking about is?" Budokaribas asked with interest.

"I want your people to work in my tribe, mainly to help the people of my tribe cultivate the land. Many of my Nix people were originally engaged in fighting or other industries and were not very good at farming, and you The tribe has been living on this land by the river. They know the habits of the land here and are better at farming than them...

After the fields are harvested next year, I think those of you who come to help will be able to get at least 10% to 20% of the harvest of the land planted. Of course, it may be more. As for the specific amount, it depends on the private opinions of both our ethnic groups. The result of the negotiation. "

In this regard, several leaders gathered together to discuss quietly, and finally expressed their willingness to consider Maximus's suggestion.

At the request of the Ardei leaders, Maximus quickly made an oath with them, which roughly means: when the Nix tribe attacks the Pannoni, these Ardei tribes will send troops to help, and after victory Maximus must then allocate part of the land to these tribes in the newly occupied Pannonian territory. The allocated land must meet the living needs of all the tribesmen. These tribal leaders must support the tribesmen to come to work in the Nix tribe, and the remuneration they deserve will be determined by the tribesmen of both sides through discussion...

The oath was engraved on the wooden board, and both parties signed their names or pressed their fingerprints. Apart from swearing to abide by the oath to the gods they respected, there was no other solemn ceremony. The main thing was that Budokaribas hoped that both parties could Keep it a secret and don't let anyone else know about it.

Maximus was of course happy to comply.

After doing this, several leaders refused Maximus's banquet and hurriedly left Snodia. Halfway through, Tenedorotis stopped and stood on the river bank, looking back at the place. The village is bustling with people.

"Don't look at it. Since we have all signed the oath, it is equivalent to giving up the land that once belonged to us, but I believe that Chief Maximus will allocate us land that is not much worse than here in accordance with the oath." Cleo Nidas said in relief.

"No, I'm not reluctant to part with the land I owned in the past, I'm looking at that -" Tenedorotis raised his right hand, pointing in the direction of the wooden bridge spanning both sides of the Kupa River, although there were still There are many craftsmen busy at work, but its framework has been built, the bridge deck is almost finished, and it is already passable...

Before entering the main house of Snodia to discuss with Maximus, several leaders specially ran to the root of the bridge and looked at it again and again.

At this moment, Tenedorotis said with emotion: "I'm looking at that bridge, a real bridge! Our tribe has lived here for decades and has been troubled by how to cross the river. We have built several floating bridges. It's always washed away during the rainy season, so I mostly rely on boating...

And they had built such a bridge within a few months of coming here! Who among the Pannonians, Boii, Skodisci, the rumored Dacians, or us can do it? "

"All the races here are not good." Budokaribas said: "And the Nyx tribe can fight and build such a bridge. They settled here and may want to change everything here. This is why The reason why we are willing to sign an oath with Chief Maximus is that I think we have made the right choice!”

The other leaders nodded in agreement.

Cleoneidas asked: "Budokaribas, your tribe is now separated on both sides of the bank, connected by a small pontoon bridge. I heard that the pontoon bridge broke suddenly last year and caused many people to fall into the water. Why didn't you just do that? Ask Chief Maximus to help you build a wooden bridge like this?"

Budokaribas shook his head and said: "We are here to talk about important things today. I cannot affect everyone because of my personal affairs. Besides, we will obtain new territories in the future, and if we want to build, we must build on new territories. Why waste time building a bridge in that small place!”

"It seems you are really confident that you can get land from the Nyx tribe."

"This is our only hope, isn't it?!" Budokaribas' rhetorical question caused several others to fall silent.

Then Ciceliotes said loudly: "I think we should try our best to help the Nyx tribe to make it stronger and more capable of defeating the Pannonians, so that we can not only get the land, but also get Maxim Other rewards from Leader Si, such as building a bridge..."

"That makes sense."

"I agree!"

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After several Ardei tribe leaders left, Maximus fell into deep thought. After making the oath with them just now, he realized that the Ardei tribe was not a monolith: the conflicts between the landless tribes and the non-landless tribes, and the Arko The great leader of Upagos is actually seriously ill... There should be something to be done about this...

Maximus patted the arm of the chair, not realizing that Akago had already walked up to him: "Chief, Picris wants to see you!"

"Oh, Pygris is back, please come in."

Pigaris walked into the hall, and Maximus looked him up and down: "It seems that you didn't bring any good news."

"Chief, there is no good news, but there is no bad news either." Pigris sat down in an empty seat closest to Maximus, took a big sip from the water cup, and then said: "The Segestica people rejected our proposal to withdraw from both sides of the Kupa River, but they acknowledged the land we occupied and said they would not ask for it back."

"They also want to take back the land we occupy?" Maximus laughed contemptuously.

"However, they did not reject our request that 'if we want to stop the war, Segestica must make compensation', but only proposed that 'if we can release all the captured Segestica warriors and their families, they are willing to pay a lot of ransom', which includes a lot of food and livestock..."

"Hmm..." Maximus pondered for a while and said, "It seems that the Segestica people are eager to stop the war and negotiate peace, which is consistent with what I learned before... The chief of Segestica is seriously injured and cannot manage, and the nobleman named Kabudes who we once captured is temporarily replacing him, and the whole tribe is in turmoil... These situations are consistent.

Now the whole tribe of Segestica is in a bad situation, and they have to surrender temporarily, so the captives of Segestica must not be released all at once, otherwise it will recover its strength all of a sudden, and it will be our turn to have a headache... I think we can release 500 to 1,000 people , you decide the specific number, but the ransom must be high in order to solve our food shortage problem. "

"Okay, chief." Pigris rolled his eyes and said in a strong tone: "I have an idea. After we decide the number of prisoners to be released, we can let the Segestica people list the names of those they want to release, and we can refer to them, but we don't have to release them completely according to the list..."

Maximus thought about it for a while and understood Pigris's intention: if the leaders of Segestica decide the prisoners to be released, part of the contradiction will be transferred to them. The families of the prisoners who have not been released will have resentment towards the leaders, and the leaders of Segestica, based on their own origins, will probably list the release of prisoners with higher status, which will undoubtedly increase the contradiction between them and ordinary people... This is an open conspiracy, and the leaders of Segestica have to do it even if they understand it.

"Good idea, let's do it." Maximus praised.

Pigris chuckled and said, "The Segestica envoy hopes that the term of the truce agreement will be temporarily set at one year. If both sides abide by the agreement well within one year, they are willing to renew the truce agreement..."

"One year? It seems that we and the Segestica people have the same idea." Maximus smiled.

"Yes, these Segestica envoys are talking nicely, but in fact they just want to cheat for a year of peace so that they can solve the troubles of their tribe and restore some strength. When the truce agreement expires, they may declare war on us." Pigris reminded angrily.

"We think so, don't we?" Maximus tapped the arm of the chair calmly with his fingers: "What truce, peace, in the end, the ownership of this land will be determined by force."

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In early December, it was already winter. Although Snowtia and Westni were not too far from the coast, the temperature here was significantly lower than the pleasant winter in Italy. Although there was no snowfall, the sun during the day was not very hot. Moreover, living by the river, it was cold and damp. Once there was wind, it was enough to penetrate the bones. That kind of feeling was very uncomfortable.

However, on this day, even though it was a little cloudy and the temperature was lower than usual, most of the Nix tribe gathered in the fields outside the Snowtia village.

Tens of thousands of people formed a loose huge circle, and everyone's face was filled with eager expectations. Their eyes were focused on the center of the circle, where a simple wooden platform was built. Their leader Maximus was standing on it, holding a long trumpet made of tree bark to his mouth, and excitedly shouted in an extremely loud voice: "Fellow tribesmen, I have gathered you here today to do something you have been looking forward to for a long time, that is - dividing the land!" As soon as the voice fell, a loud noise broke out around, and everyone cheered to their heart's content. Not only was the sound deafening, but it was also long-lasting. Maximus looked around the boiling crowd with a smile on his face, and did not force them to quiet down. He knew that everyone had been looking forward to this moment for a long time.