Chapter 77 Doubt

I swear, if I count the days before, today is my most tiring day. Like the other soldiers of the First Battalion, we dragged our exhausted bodies slowly past the other square formations that had stood indifferently behind us. I don't know what kind of eyes they were looking at us with, but I was so tired that I couldn't even raise my head to look directly into their eyes. I hoped to see guilt, shame, and humiliation in their eyes.

I was really surprised that thousands of them could keep silent. They separated into two rows and let us pass through the gap in the middle. At this time, my legs felt as heavy as if they were filled with lead. Every step I took consumed a lot of my energy. The armor on my body was like a mountain, pressing tightly against me.

Passing through the second array of the Twin Legions, I heard the sounds of whips and people wailing and screaming. Looking up, I saw dozens of shirtless men swinging whips back and forth in the air, hitting every person tied to the pillars with "slaps", leaving their skin torn and flesh exposed. Among the victims were both old and young.

"These cowards never thought that running away would lead to this kind of fate."

Passing by them and listening to their painful cries, Andrew did not have any mercy on them. This group of people were the remnants of the four auxiliary legion phalanxes in front of us, numbering more than two hundred people.

"Beating them like this will not have any effect at all, because their will has been completely crushed by the Burgundians." Andrew looked at them with unconcealed contempt in his eyes. He continued, "No wonder they can't become regular garrisons (During the Diocletian era, the Roman army was divided into border guards and garrisons. The garrisons were offensive troops for internal rebellion suppression and external expansion)"

We dragged our exhausted bodies and finally walked nearly a kilometer before returning to the military camp. In front of the camp gate, we heard a cry even more miserable than that of the deserter who was beaten. The wounded soldiers who retreated early were already receiving treatment here. Due to the backward medical conditions, the soldiers' wounds were forcibly healed and stopped bleeding with red-hot iron blocks. Because there was no anesthesia, many soldiers fainted or even died from the pain.

As soon as I opened the camp gate, I saw a carriage carrying the bodies of soldiers who had failed to receive treatment. They probably died in pain due to the failure of treatment, but I could do nothing about their lives.

"Brice!" I turned around and saw my bloody trumpeter. He smiled at me. This guy was stained with blood and there were five or six holes in his chain mail, but they were all cut. Fortunately, the wounds were not deep.

"What are our casualties?" I asked him.

"Sir, is it from our team, or all of them?"

"What?" I turned around and looked at him in surprise and asked, "Do you know anything else?"

"No, no, no, sir, I don't know." Brice shook his head. He turned around and secretly counted the number of soldiers following me. After a long time, he turned around and said to me: "Sir, we lost more than 20 heads this time, and many were injured, probably more than half of the team, of course, including me."

"Well, at least I won't become a commander without troops just a few days after becoming a centurion." I shrugged and continued moving forward, dragging my shield.

"Luka, Luka."

It was Andrew's voice behind me. He ran over and called me. I turned around and asked, "Andrew, what's wrong?"

"An order has come from above."

"How did you know that?"

"Anthony told our chief centurion Guy in the back, and I accidentally heard it when I passed by." Andrew looked into my eyes and didn't look like he was lying.

"Oh," I was immediately interested. I thought, was that an explanation for why no orders were given during the battle? Or something else? I didn't say anything, but just looked at Andrew quietly, waiting for his next words.

"Listen, Luca, our attack today, no, it should be said that the Burgundians' attack is a test."

"Probing?" I repeated, thinking of the Burgundian cavalry that led the charge with so much smoke and dust, and the Burgundian infantry that followed. What kind of probing was this? It would not be an exaggeration to say it was a full-scale attack. Anthony actually called this a probing attack? "Oh, Luca, don't look at me with such a frown." Andrew saw the incredible meaning conveyed by my expression. He immediately explained to me: "I heard from Anthony that Marshal Aetius has recruited a lot of German mercenaries, intending to end the war with the Burgundians before winter comes."

I then looked up at the sky and told Andrew what I was thinking: "This so-called cool autumn weather, it seems that there are only a few days left until winter, and the Burgundians don't have that many soldiers. They can eat up such a big city in one day, do you still want us to go?"

"No, no, no. After three days, we won't go up. We'll just wait and see from behind."

Andrew's words made me breathe a sigh of relief. At least it told me that I wouldn't have to go to that nightmare battlefield again next time.

When I returned to my camp, I saw several wounded soldiers sitting at the entrance of the camp. Their mutilated bodies meant that even if they recovered completely, they would never be able to return to the barracks again, so they were wounded and retired early. I walked past them, and they looked up at me, with two clear tear marks on their bloodstained faces. A military doctor bandaged them one by one, but even so, the critical period was far from over, and the infection of the wound would still cost them their lives.

"Brice," I whispered to my bugler, "Do these guys have any plans for after retirement?"

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"Well, we should be able to find them a piece of land in their hometown for farming. This should be their only destination," Briss said behind me.

"They are already disabled, how can they farm again?" I was puzzled.

"This is a rule that has been in place for hundreds of years," Brice replied calmly, as if it was a convention, a habit, a culture. "Sir, you should know that land is not something that can be obtained by being a Roman citizen. The laws of the empire will also ensure that the land they obtain is sacred and inviolable."

"This is a good destination for them, isn't it?" I nodded slightly and said, "I hope they can survive on that little piece of land and their broken bodies. It would be best if they could find a wife to serve them, instead of going to the tavern to exchange land for wine."

I have interviews and physical tests in the next few days, so I will update one chapter.

(End of this chapter)