Rome Must Fall

Chapter 49: Military Training (I)

Crassus smiled slightly and said, “Sulla, you should know that when you want to buy a house, it’s best not to buy it when the price is still high. Wait until the price hits rock bottom, so you’ll make more profit.”

Young Sulla widened his eyes and asked, “Do you… do you think Varinius will fail?!”

“No one can say for certain who will win or lose in war,” Crassus turned his head to look at Varinius, who was excitedly talking to several other senators near the entrance of the Senate. He said casually, “But in business, sometimes you have to take risks. Besides, even if I misjudge, it won’t cause me much loss.”

Young Sulla shrugged and said, “You’re right. It’s a waste of time to defeat a group of slaves that not many people care about. It’s better to use that time to make more money.”

Changing the topic, he continued, “Have you heard? The war in Iberia is going well recently. Pompey has already captured several strongholds of the rebels. That Sertorius isn’t as rampant as before.”

Crassus’ face changed for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure and sneered, “The Senate has given Pompey such great support, and he commands nearly 100,000 troops. Yet, it’s taking him so long to deal with remnants of the populares. What’s there to be happy about?”

After speaking, he continued walking, but he felt a sense of urgency in his heart.

Young Sulla deliberately lagged two steps behind, and a smirk formed on his lips. He thought, “Hehe, Crassus, no matter how wealthy you are, there are still things that don’t go your way. However, to have the place where you started up become the territory for others to cultivate supporters and train their armies, anyone’s heart would feel uneasy about that!”

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“Before you stand your enemies. They have not only taken away your land and turned you into slaves, but now they also want to take your lives! You must tightly grip your swords, kill them, and seek revenge for yourselves. Do you understand?!” Frontinus shouted loudly.

“Understood!!” The fully armed guards responded in unison, holding wooden shields and wooden clubs in their hands as they attacked the wooden stakes set up in front of them.

“Try to strike the exposed parts of the enemy’s skin with your swords—hands and feet. Even a small wound that causes pain and bleeding will weaken their strength and morale, giving you an advantage… Always remember, when you swing your short swords, your long shields in your hands must protect you firmly. Otherwise, before you strike the enemy, you’ll be knocked down by them…”

The guards listened attentively to Frontinus’ teachings. The wooden clubs and shields they held were crudely made, but slightly heavier than real swords and shields. They practiced thrusting, stabbing, feints, and charges on the wooden stakes. Behind them, members of the military advisory group patrolled back and forth, occasionally correcting their striking movements. If they noticed any soldiers slacking off, they would immediately reprimand them and impose additional training time as punishment. As a result, no one dared to slack off.

Watching the soldiers drenched in sweat one by one, Frontinus showed a hint of a satisfied smile on his face. Throughout his decades-long military career, he had trained numerous new recruits, and the training attitude of these soldiers before him was undoubtedly the best. Not surprising, really, as slaves are always the ones most able to endure hardship and toil.

Frontinus’s gaze fell on Maximus, who was also undergoing rigorous training. On the first day of military training, this young leader of the logistics camp (due to the expansion of the logistics team, Maximus had changed its name to the logistics camp) had requested to participate in training like ordinary soldiers. Initially, Frontinus had some hesitation, fearing that Maximus would do something unexpected and disrupt the training atmosphere.

But in fact, during these three days of training, Maximus always listened attentively to his commands and meticulously fulfilled the training requirements he set forth. His leading by example also influenced the other soldiers, especially the leader of the guard team, Phaselus, ensuring that every one of Frontinus’ orders could be executed smoothly, which saved him a lot of worry.

Frontinus was grateful for this because he understood that Maximus was helping him establish authority. In reality, Maximus didn’t need to do the wooden stake striking training anymore since he was a gladiator, and it was already part of their basic skills.

“Time’s up, wooden stake training is over!” Frontinus exclaimed loudly. “Everyone, assemble in formation!”

As soon as his words fell, the soldiers stopped their training, holding wooden sticks and shields, and gathered together, panting heavily. They formed two columns in formation, with Maximus and Phaselus standing at the front. This simple formation was full of errors at the beginning, but after repeated training, they achieved the current result.

“March around the camp at a normal pace,” Frontinus said and took the lead.

Maximus and Phaselus exchanged a glance and led the formation closely behind.

Since the rebels had seized the supplies of the Roman army, there was now an ample stock of provisions. Therefore, in recent days, they hadn’t dispatched troops for plundering but instead focused on military training. The various cohorts were scattered around the camp, and trees and crops that hindered training had been cleared, creating an environment filled with dust and bustling voices.

Whenever the guards passed by, it would attract some curious gazes. “Is it necessary for the small guard team to come out to train?”

“They just need to keep an eye on those women. They shouldn’t get involved in the fighting—that’s our job to protect them.”

“Hey, don’t talk nonsense. They might complain about us later. When we get injured, the women in the medical team might refuse to treat us!”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

The soldiers of the guard team heard this, and although they felt indignant, no one retorted or argued, because this was an armed march after intense training. The entire unit had to march in orderly formation, and although the pace was not fast, if they expended effort arguing instead of using this opportunity to recover their strength, once they lost their rhythm and fell out of formation, they would be punished with double training sessions by Frontinus. So everyone, including Maximus and Phaselus, marched forward in silence, and by the time they returned to the original training ground, the soreness in their arms had mostly subsided.

“Shield collision training begins!” Frontinus commanded, and the guards formed pairs, each holding a wooden shield and colliding with each other. The one forced to retreat would be considered the loser, and after three consecutive losses, they would face punishment. The winning side would gain valuable resting time, so everyone gave it their all.

Both the wooden stake training and shield collision training were designed to cultivate the individual combat capabilities of soldiers in formation battles. Training with weighted wooden shields and clubs for an extended period would make the soldiers stronger and more powerful, enabling them to wield real swords and shields more freely and thus boosting their confidence.

After the shield collision training, it was another armed march around the camp. This not only laid the foundation for future long-distance marching training for the guards but also taught them to relax during marches because the next training session would involve more intense agility exercises.

Originally, in Frontinus’ initial training plan, the third individual training was spear-throwing. However, considering the current situation with the rebels, it was unlikely that there would be sufficient supplies of heavy spears for the various cohorts for a long time, let alone the logistics camp’s guards. So that part was temporarily skipped.

The third individual training was agility training, which was important for heavily armored soldiers who needed to climb ladders and overcome obstacles while fully armed.

The military advisory group set up two wooden stakes supporting a wooden beam in the training ground, reaching the height of an adult’s knee. The soldiers were required to hurdle over it while running, which seemed easy, but it was not so simple when wearing a helmet and breastplate. Even if they managed to cross, due to the inability to maintain balance, they would fall to the ground, and any protrusions or irregularities inside the armor would leave bruises of the same shape on their bodies. In the past few days since the training began, almost all soldiers, except Maximus and Phaselus, had numerous bruises on their bodies.

The soldiers who had started to adapt to this training didn’t fall this time, but they had no time to rejoice. The military advisory group added several more wooden beams on the training ground and demanded that they continuously cross them while running without stopping.

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