Chapter 53: Heading North (Part 1)

Today's breakfast was particularly rich, with cheesecake, honey bread, and pickles, a black technology that was said to be from the Germans. The soup was still as meaty and rich as the previous day, but for some reason, everyone sat at the table but could not hear any clinking of utensils or the sound of eating. Everyone, including Andrew, turned their heads to the side, trying not to look at the rich food.

I looked around, and I was the only one who seemed to be fine, holding a piece of honey bread in my left hand and a pickle in my right hand. It was a sweet and sour taste. This sour and sweet taste might really be just me, because everyone else was feeling miserable.

For the first time, Guy, the chief centurion, did not eat his own food, but sat in the middle of us. Today, he still wore the same scale armor as yesterday, but wrapped it with a layer of iron discs with dents all over it, which was also a symbol of his battle experience. He sat at the table, picked up the bread and the soup bowl, took a bite of bread and a sip of soup. When he found that the centurions and soldiers around him did not eat, he stopped chewing, looked at them, and asked, "Eat, there is still a long way to go. How can you have the strength to walk without eating?"

"Sir, we all understood what you said yesterday." A centurion beside him asked him directly, "Tell us the truth. When you looked at the parchment yesterday, what was written on it?"

"Yes! What on earth did it write?"

It seemed that the question that every soldier wanted to know the most was touched upon. They all turned their eyes to Guy, eager to get the answers they wanted from him.

Guy swallowed the food in his mouth, slowly put down the bowl and said, "Since you are so eager to know the answer, I will tell you." He stood up, pulled out the parchment from the pocket of the small backpack on his waist, held it high above his head, and said loudly, "The order above is very simple! When we get to the battlefield, we will be the first formation, and we will do the job of charging into battle!"

Silence. After Guy finished speaking, everyone present remained silent. Unlike in the TV dramas, they did not cheer and jump for joy as if they had picked up a huge bargain. On the contrary, the order on the parchment was more like hell calling to them. Almost no one thought this was a good opportunity to make a contribution.

"Take the lead."

The people around him murmured, as if this order had brought back memories they did not want to recall. Chief Centurion Guy returned to his seat after his announcement, put the parchment back into the small leather bag at his waist, picked up the soup spoon, and drank the soup in the bowl mouthful by mouthful.

"Drink it now, or you may never be able to taste something this delicious again!"

I don't know who said this, but the soldiers seemed to have figured it out. They all lowered their heads and used wooden spoons to put pieces of meat and soup into their mouths, greedily tasting this breakfast that seemed like the food provided for death row prisoners. It was time to get ready to set off.

The sun rose above the eastern horizon, and a long horn sounded in the military camp, which meant that other troops in the camp had begun to set off.

"Quick! Gather! Gather!"

The centurions shouted and blew their whistles, and the soldiers trotted out of the tents, carrying their bags on their backs, and lined up in front of their respective centurions.

"It looks like everything is ready." Guy looked at the neatly-formed square formations and nodded with satisfaction. He waved his hand and shouted, "Let's go!"

The gate of the camp slowly opened, and everyone took steps, just like they did during the training yesterday, and walked out of the camp where they had only lived for a day. The camp outside was no longer crowded with soldiers running back and forth like yesterday. The road under their feet was cleared, and they were neatly lined up on both sides of the road under the leadership of their own centurions. The closest to us was a chariot, and the person standing on it was Antony. He was wearing a brass muscle breastplate, a gorgeous battle suit, a red cloak, and holding the flag of the twin legions with the Senate documents. When he saw us walk out, he also symbolically nodded and saluted slightly to the chief centurion Guy. This was an affirmation of the identity of the chief centurion. Guy just nodded in return, and came to Antony's chariot, took the flag handed down by Antony with both hands, and slowly walked to the front of the team.

"Look, this is the flag of our legion," Guy raised it high above his head so that all of us could see it, and then he continued, "We belong to the First Battalion, and it is our natural responsibility to guard the flag. When the flag advances, the men advance. If the flag does not retreat, the men cannot retreat either!"

“Hooha!”

We could only express our determination to him by shouting during training, but this simple shout was quite useful to him. He smiled, turned around and held up the military flag, and the bugler behind him blew the rhythmic trumpet, and we marched forward in an orderly manner, step by step, to the beat.

The fully armed soldiers opened the main gate of the camp for us. As soon as the gate opened, the first thing that caught our eyes was the cavalry. A large number of cavalry lined up at the camp gate, but they did not make way for us. They wore copper-inlaid barbarian helmets with tassels and wore full-body chain mail. The most eye-catching thing was the nearly three-meter-long spears they carried on their shoulders. From their facial hair, it was obvious that they were all barbarians. Only barbarians could have such good cavalry. But what was annoying was that they held their heads high, as if they didn't take us seriously at all.

“Woo~woo~”

A rough horn sounded, and a gorgeous carriage pulled by four tall horses passed in front of the cavalrymen and moved north along the dirt road under their feet. The barbarian cavalrymen rode forward and followed closely behind, leaving us with only waist-high dust and horse manure along the way.

"Wow! Look, everyone, look!"

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The chief centurion Guy, who stood at the front, suffered the most. When the dust cleared, his figure was revealed. He covered his mouth and nose with his sleeves in embarrassment, and his body was covered with a thick layer of dust. It seemed that this group of cavalrymen not only ignored us, but also the chief centurion of such a noble status was defeated.

"Yes, this is Aetius! He is so prominent and arrogant!"

Guy dusted himself off and followed the team with an awkward smile. "If we defeat the Burgundians, he might not even take the current emperor seriously!" Of course, he said this behind their backs.

(End of this chapter)