Chapter 72: Plundering the Village (Part 2)
"Forward! Don't stop, keep moving forward!"
“Go!!!”
I led my centurion like a pack of hungry wolves, not caring about the pain from the stones under my feet, and not caring about whether it would damage the reputation of the Roman Legion. I took the lead, and Andrew followed closely behind. We waved shields and a small cloth flag specially equipped for our centurion, with the momentum of the Japanese devils entering the village a thousand years later. However, when we used it, there was no doubt that we were the ancestors of the Japanese devils.
Strangely enough, there are not many people in such a big village. Every household has a small vegetable garden with cabbages, radishes, lettuce, etc. There is also neat land in the south of the village, which should be planted with wheat, but it was harvested quickly, so the seemingly desolate land is covered with scattered wheat stalks. But we didn't come here for these.
"Come, come, come! Give me all your leather boots, sir!"
I carried the rag flag of our centurion team and swaggered along the muddy path in the village. I kept shouting in Latin at the villages on both sides of the road. Only then did two or three dull-looking men come out, holding knives in their hands. These things are usually used to cut vegetables, but as long as they can hurt or kill people, it will be fine. This has become the only weapon they can use. These people are barbarians. Strictly speaking, they are barbarians who have been slightly civilized by Rome. They wear worn-out and loose shirts with patches all over them. I don't know if they are so poor or if they are deliberately playing the pitiful card in front of us.
A pair of eyes looked at me vigilantly, which made me feel uncomfortable. In order to be on guard, my right hand never left the hilt of the sword on my right side.
"Hey, who is your village chief? Stand up!"
I shouted at them, but to my surprise, they just stood there, looking at each other, indifferent.
"Fuck you, you bunch of troublemakers!" I was about to curse, but then I thought, this place is close to the Rhine River, and it is also the border of the empire. The people living here are all Germanic, so it is normal that they can't understand Latin. Now we need to find out how many things there are in this village. Communication is particularly important at this point! "Hey! Andrew! No, Centurion Andrew!" At this time, I remembered this Germanic man. This guy can speak Roman Latin fluently, but I don't know how much he knows about his native Semitic language?
"What's wrong? Centurion Luca?"
Andrew strode over and before I could open my mouth, he said, "Oh, Centurion Luca, I knew you were in trouble, so I have arranged for my people to block all the roads in this village. Humph, Centurion Luca, just ask boldly. If these country bumpkins resist your questioning, we won't kill them, but we haven't said we won't beat them!"
This guy Andrew made me look at him in a new light. He had repeatedly warned us not to rob, but now, before I even said the word, he was already ready. He is indeed a veteran in robbery. Today he really opened my eyes.
"No, Centurion Andrew." I explained to him with a smile: "I didn't mean that. I just wanted to ask if you know your native dialect. I found that they didn't seem to understand me."
"This bunch of peasants!" Andrew cursed, and with his arms crossed, he looked at the poor villagers in front of him and said to me thoughtfully, "Centurion Luca, to be honest, I don't even know my native language anymore. I have lived in a Roman environment since I was a child. Who can speak the language of these peasants?"
Well, different living environments do have a profound impact on people.
"Hey, do you guys know any Semitic?"
I asked the soldier behind me.
The soldiers behind me were whispering to each other and told me that they only knew a little bit. What use could such a little bit be? These guys made me shake my head.
"Sir, I know a little."
A hand was raised from the crowd. Because I was a little far back, I had to stand on tiptoe to see it. I pointed at the hand and shouted, "Hey, the one who raised his hand, come up quickly!"
The soldiers stopped talking to each other and made way for the other side. Gradually, the guy with his hand raised was revealed. I looked closely and said, "Hey, isn't this him?" I pointed at the guy and looked at Andrew and said, "Isn't this Fermiou?"
"Yeah, that's right!" Andrew nodded repeatedly, not looking surprised at all.
"No," I pointed at the Fermiou, "Isn't he in the Centuriae at the back?"
"Oh, Centurion Luca, listen to me." Andrew leaned over and whispered to me, "Femio peed his pants in the last battle, so he was laughed at in the centurion team and was nicknamed "Femio who peed his pants."
Fumio who peed his pants! I thought, and quickly used my shield to cover my crotch. Because of the long journey, I had no other clothes to change, and the urine marks had become a portrait, printed on my crotch. Fortunately, no one seemed to have seen it for so many days, otherwise Luca who peed his pants would be much more famous.
"So, he ran to your formation?" I asked.
"Yes, that was three days ago," Andrew replied.
"Then, didn't the chief centurion Guy look for him?" I asked.
"No, maybe they dislike him just like Formio's Centuriae." Andrew answered in a low voice.
"That's right. This guy is not suitable for fighting at all." I sighed and said, "Maybe he can become a quartermaster in the future, but it's too difficult for him to be a soldier on the front line."
"Hey, Fermiou, come here quickly." I waved to him and said to the trumpeter Brice, "Take thirty people to block the road outside the village. Even if God comes, he won't let him in!"
"Yes, sir!"
Brice nodded, turned around, and went to the intersection with the French horn and the thirty people he had personally selected.
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"Centurion Andrew, send your soldiers to help. I don't think thirty people can stop those bandits."
"Then I'll go directly." Andrew was about to leave when he turned back and reminded me: "Don't just think about yourself when the time comes! I can't let my 100 people lose!"
"Oh, I see!"
When Andrew walked away, I looked at Fermiou and said, "Come on, it's your turn to shine."
Femio nodded and came forward. I said to him, "Just ask who the village chief is. Also, we're going to buy fur boots, two denarii a pair." As I said that, I threw a denarius silver coin to him and asked him to show it to the village chief later to prove that it was real.
Femio took the denarius and walked to the group of villagers holding knives. He spoke to them in fluent language, because it was Semitic, the villagers could understand it. So the process was very fast. They spoke a few words each, and Femio listened patiently.
Just then there was a noise outside the village, I looked back and saw those auxiliary legions that had just arrived wanted to enter the village to plunder, but they were blocked by dozens of soldiers led by Andrew. They quarreled with each other, and the noise was probably Andrew telling them that this place was occupied by us, so it was our territory and they had no right to come in, while those people from the auxiliary legions were taking advantage of their seniority and acting like scoundrels.
Seeing that the village was full of our people, not to mention that we were from the field army, which was one level higher than their auxiliary army, and there was also Andrew, a stubborn guy, blocking us. So they could only stand outside and look in, wondering what we were doing in this village, neither looting nor killing people? After a long time, Fermiou seemed to have finished communicating with them, and came back to report to me: "The villagers said they have enough boots."
"How many pairs?"
"It can satisfy more than 200 of us."
"That's great," I looked at the sandals on my feet. It was time to put them away. Then I thought about the price and asked Fumiou, "What's the price?"
"One denarius!" Femio proudly tossed the denarius silver coin in his hand and said to me.
(End of this chapter)
