Chapter 91: Spending the Winter

I felt an unprecedented heat in the flames, and this painful and real feeling kept reminding me that yes, this is real, and this is not a dream!

I struggled in pain, but felt as if my whole body was bound by iron chains and I couldn't move.

“Ugh!!! Ugh!!!”

I struggled continuously, trying to shout out loud and force myself to wake up, but I couldn't move. I felt as if my body was being burned. The burning flames sucked away all the air around me, and I almost stopped breathing.

At that moment, I suddenly opened my eyes, and the flames that bound me were all extinguished. There was darkness in front of me, and the only thing I could see was a dim moonlight shining in from outside the tent.

"It turns out that this was really a dream!" I stroked my head and got up, only then did I realize that my whole body was wet with sweat. I pushed away the thick and overlapping blankets covering me, because they were too hot on my body. This must be the culprit that caused me to have a nightmare.

I was no longer sleepy, so I got up, put on my clothes and fur boots, and the helmet was quietly placed at the head of my bed, reflecting a faint silver light in the moonlight.

Wrapped in the fur blanket that had become warm, I knew the temperature outside was not friendly, so I deliberately held the fur blanket tightly with both hands, stood up and walked out of the tent.

At this time, except for the soldiers on guard and patrol, everyone outside the camp was still asleep. I sat down next to the campfire, gently brushed away the snow on the firewood with my hands, took out a few pieces of wood and put them into the campfire, so that the flames could burn more vigorously.

A new day has begun. It is only the beginning of winter. The severe cold and heavy snow prevented us from attacking the city of Worms where the Burgundians were stationed, but also made them shrink in the city and unable to move. Every day's visit is indispensable, and every day's routine is different. For example, today we don't bring anything, tomorrow we must carry a ladder up, and the day after tomorrow we must push a trebuchet. However, these are all deterrents, and there will be no substantial attacks. But the Burgundians have never relaxed once, because they don't know when we will come for real. Over time, they have calculated the time of our arrival and stood on the top of the city in advance to stare at us.

Aetius did not relax. He took advantage of the free time left by the heavy snow in winter and used the mechanical master invited from Milan to make siege equipment day and night. Don't ask me how I know. The camp gate facing south has never been closed. There is a constant supply of wood to the camp. The iron-covered siege cones, the Burgundians' treacherous tactics of fire and boiling oil, are vulnerable to this iron guy; the towering siege towers are also covered with iron sheets and cowhide. I think even in Worms, they can clearly see such a magnificent siege building. Siege is only one aspect, and deterrence is the main purpose.

The days were repeated day after day, and I had a deep understanding of the famous saying "time flies like an arrow, days and months pass like a shuttle". My hair started to grow long and became greasy, dirty, and infested with lice after not washing it for a long time. I would usually cut off the hair with my sharp cavalry sword. I also used the same method when my beard grew longer.

The food doesn't change every day. Sometimes I stare at the bread in my hand and even wonder what the Burgundians in Worms will eat. I don't know if the food they have stored can support them through the siege day after day, because they are an invading race. No one here or other peoples north of the Rhine will help them out. Now they are like the fat meat on Aetius' plate, but with a hard shell on the outside.

In high latitudes, especially near what the Romans called the end of the known civilized world, the harsh environment is not something everyone can imagine. Winter here comes earlier than in other places in Rome, and of course, it leaves later. Until Aetius made all the preparations, the siege equipment he stored in the camp was enough to support his army to flatten the walls of Worms, but the thigh-deep snow was still the biggest obstacle to him. This must be God's will, not wanting him to conquer everything in front of him too early, so he had no choice but to wait.

One month, two months, in addition to completing the daily work, every weekend I would receive my share of salary, no less than ten orens. This kind of life lasted for a long time, and I almost forgot what Tenaia and Anai looked like. Xiaoya's appearance also became more and more vague in my memory. I thought about them every day when I was at the foot of Worms City and when I lay down in the tent in the camp. I didn't want to forget them. This might be the only fun I had in my life.

Soldiers could be heard complaining around the bonfire from time to time. The vendors had left because of the cold weather, and the girls they missed had gone to do business somewhere, probably in the Italian provinces, where it was still warm. These "hungry wolves" had money but nowhere to spend it, and some had to turn their greedy eyes to their comrades. To be honest, I despised such behavior and could not accept it psychologically. But I did not stop or punish those who did so. This might be a tradition passed down by the Roman army for hundreds of years. There was no military regulation prohibiting it. If there was before, it must be invalid now.

Living without any fun, I really don't want to do too much. The most laborious thing now is to catch the lice on my body. It's not that I don't take a bath, but I'm fighting outside. There's really not everything. The most important thing is water. There's not enough water for making soup and drinking, let alone taking a bath. It's okay to wipe your body with snow water. Melting snow water to boil water for bathing takes a long time and a lot of work. Chopping wood and burning fire. For the working people who stand all day when we go out, who has the energy to come back and do this? Besides, after the water is boiled, a group of people come up and drink your bath water in a few minutes. If you are a centurion, it's okay, but as a centurion, I'm too lazy to do this. If you are a soldier, let alone whether the cook will give you a pot, you will complain. You have to protect your chrysanthemum when you sleep at night. Not everything can be done according to your temper.

I have been busy with the oath rehearsal for a day and will start formal training tomorrow. Book friends, the updates may be intermittent in the future, please understand.

(End of this chapter)