CHAPTER 36: CHAPTER 35 ESTABLISHING THE GUARD

After Maximus finished questioning these slaves one by one, he naturally couldn’t test them to verify the truth, because he had to act quickly to avoid other leaders noticing and coming to compete with him for people. Due to the limited spots, he chose those who responded to his multiple questions, so among the 30 people he selected, most were relatively older.

Seeing this situation, Hamilcar felt a bit uneasy and quietly asked, "The people you picked seem capable, but they are too old. Can they take care of so many wounded soldiers?"

Maximus responded confidently, "Teacher, rest assured, since I’ve taken on this responsibility, I have a way to handle the treatment of the wounded. However, in the future, you must give us in the Supply Team some younger and stronger ones."

Hamilcar hesitated a moment, then said, "Alright, you can pick five younger ones to return to the Supply Team."

Maximus reminded, "Teacher, thank you for your help, but if we do this, Cross and the others might—"

Hamilcar waved his hand, "You are taking away the elderly that each battalion doesn’t want; they are more than happy. Since you’re at a loss because of this, you should indeed get more compensation, and Cross and the others shouldn’t have any objections."

Seeing Hamilcar say this, Maximus no longer held back. He immediately called for five more army slaves in their thirties whom he thought were decent, then left the camp with these thirty-five people and returned to the wine farm.

He went directly to the kitchen to find Acronis, who was busy inside.

Upon seeing him, Acronis complained, "Captain, you informed me that the leaders want to hold a victory celebration for the warriors tonight and to make dinner more sumptuous, preferably before sunset. Time is tight, and we are short of people here. Everyone’s working hard, but it’s tough to finish by dusk!"

"I know your difficulties, so I brought helpers for you." Maximus led Acronis out of the kitchen, pointed to the thirty-five people he had just brought back, and said with a smile, "They were once slaves of the Roman Army, but now they are new brothers in our Supply Team. Since you lack manpower in the kitchen, I’ll let them help first. However, they just arrived, so there might still be a little—" Maximus pointed to his chest and subtly winked at Acronis.

After spending time together daily, Acronis immediately understood Maximus’s intention, promptly looked at them, smiled, and waved her hands energetically, saying, "Oh, that’s wonderful! Our Supply Team finally has some proper men coming in, welcome to join our Supply Team! Let me tell you, being in our Supply Team is better than joining other battalions; you’ll eat well, sleep well, and there are plenty of girls. If you work diligently, they will definitely notice you! Come on, come on, quickly help in the kitchen!"

Acronis’s words encouraged some younger slaves who immediately followed her into the kitchen.

Others didn’t move, instead looking at the oldest slave.

The slave glanced at Maximus and said calmly, "Since we’re already here, let’s do what needs to be done. It’s better than fighting outside, right?" Saying this, he walked directly toward the kitchen, followed closely by other slaves.

Maximus stayed at the door quietly, observing the performance of these newly joined slaves.

"Maximus!" A voice sounded beside him. He turned his head to see and immediately smiled, "Fesaros, welcome, welcome, I’ve been waiting for you!"

"I didn’t want to come, but this is Spartacus’s order. He said you specifically requested me to be the Guard Captain of this Supply Team," Fesaros said, a bit dissatisfied.

Maximus said softly, "Don’t worry, I didn’t bring you here to be a nanny for our Supply Team. There will certainly be battles for the Guard in the future."

Fesaros’s eyes brightened, and he eagerly asked, "Do you mean—"

"We’ll discuss those things later in detail." Maximus diverted the topic, jokingly saying: "At least you should thank me now for promoting you from centurion to centurion, and as Guard Captain, you won’t have to take orders from that... Anat—"

"It’s Anatolian. When he heard you were taking me away, he cursed and said he’ll give you trouble in the future." Fesaros laughed gleefully, then sighed, "Now I don’t need to follow his commands, but later I still have to follow your orders."

"Don’t worry, I’m not as overbearing as Anatolian. We can discuss things in the future." After comforting a bit, Maximus asked, "How many people did you bring?"

Maximus’s promise relieved Fesaros, who then seriously replied, "Fifty people, personally selected by Spartacus from the First Battalion. They’re all slaves who joined the team earlier, without any gladiators, but they participated in yesterday’s two battles and would no longer fear Romans like before. Spartacus also asked me to tell you that the First Battalion now only has over 600 soldiers, so he can’t allocate more, but the shortage will be made up as soon as possible in the future."

"I can understand." Maximus said, though he felt surprised internally: aware of the rebel army’s situation, he hadn’t expected Spartacus to send so many people so quickly; his strong initiative and generous actions were truly admirable and worth learning!

"Where are our Guard personnel now?" Maximus asked while looking around.

"In the front yard."

Maximus soon met with the Guard members. Facing them, he had a different speech, "Brothers, welcome to our ranks! Our Supply Team longed for a Guard of our own. Are you willing to live alongside our Supply Team’s elderly, children, and many ’women’ and protect them wholeheartedly?!"

"Willing! Willing!!..." The Guardsmen shouted excitedly.

"Excellent, from today onwards, you are part of the Supply Team!" Maximus looked at them, his expression turning serious, "The Supply Team has its own rules that you must strictly comply with, or you’ll face punishment! Those who diligently execute orders and perform well will receive my rewards, while those who underperform or disobey orders will face my severe penalties! Do you all understand?!"

"Un...understood." The soldiers’ voices lowered significantly, and they looked at Maximus with a trace of awe. Unlike the Roman Army’s slaves and military gladiators before, when they were desperate retreating to the mountain, they personally heard Maximus propose the miraculous idea of "descending from the cliff" to the leaders. Most of them later followed Hamilcar and Maximus to flank the camp from the gentle slope, witnessing firsthand him slaughtering enemies on the front lines, so they couldn’t help but feel reverence when seeing him again.

Maximus watched their expressions and continued, "Brothers, the girls in the kitchen are busy now, Fesaros will lead you to assist them."

The soldiers grew excited again. Being slaves previously, working was a usual task for them; although they might not bake bread, tasks like carrying water, chopping wood, slaughtering sheep, and skinning...were doable.

To get Roman Army slaves and Guard soldiers familiar and integrated into the Supply Team swiftly, the best method is for everyone to work together, which is why Maximus stuffed them all into the kitchen at once.

As he watched the Guardsmen follow Fesaros to the kitchen in the back, Maximus secretly felt excited: although as the Supply Team Captain, he could attend the rebel army’s Military Commander Conference, unlike Hamilcar, he only had advisory power, not voting rights. Moreover, those gladiators only recognized Spartacus, Cross, Antonix, Enomai, and Hamilcar as the army leaders, undoubtedly because these five were the original organizers. From this, it could also be seen that he had no prestige among the officers in the entire rebel army. Now he finally had a centurion under his command, perhaps he could do more to elevate his status within the rebel army!