Rome Must Fall

Hamilcar, accompanied by Maximus, entered the farm, and the task given to them by Spartacus was to count the supplies in it.

The farm was not small in size, but compared to the one they stayed in last night, it had fewer buildings. There were no manure piles near the farm, no granary in the yard, no pigsty, sheep pen, or even a stable, so there was no obvious smell.

In the middle of the yard was a flat stone ground, not for threshing, but for drying raisins. In the middle of the ground was a pool used to collect rainwater. On one side of the yard were two wine-making rooms with presses and various sizes of barrels inside. On the other side were multiple wine cellars, some storing large wine barrels, and others storing wooden barrels… The entire farm had only one relatively small warehouse, storing flour and barley, as well as a small amount of smoked meat. It was evident that this was a farm specifically for producing wine.

Finally, the two entered the only residential building in the farm. The ground floor was for the slaves to live in, with small and cramped rooms, while the top floor was where the overseers and guards lived, spacious and comfortable.

Walking into the largest room, Maximus noticed a piece of papyrus on the wooden table, with an opened envelope next to it.

He walked over, picked it up, and read the Latin letters written on it.

“What does it say?” Hamilcar, who couldn’t read, curiously asked

After reading it, Maximus thought for a moment and said in a deep voice, “The man just now didn’t lie. This farm does indeed belong to a Roman senator. He wrote a letter to inform the steward here that the price of Roman wine had risen and demanded the immediate delivery of twenty barrels of wine to Rome. There’s his signature on the letter.”

Maximus pronounced each word slowly, “Marcus. Porcius. Cato.”

“I’m not entirely sure either, but I vaguely remember my former master mentioning him. This family called Cato has a lot of influence in Rome!” Maximus said solemnly.

In fact, he knew nothing about the person who wrote the letter. However, he was familiar with the Cato family, because in his previous life’s history, two members of this family left a deep impression on him:

The Cato family was originally Roman plebeian, and the Cato the Elder rose to prominence during the war against Hannibal. He often shouted in the Senate, “Carthage must be destroyed,” which eventually led to the downfall of Carthage by Rome. There was also Cato the Younger who consistently opposed Caesar… This family seemed to have a trait that once they set their sights on a goal, not even a nine-headed cow could pull them back.

“We must tell Spartacus about this!” Hamilcar’s expression turned serious as he turned to leave.

Maximus was about to follow when he caught sight of a stack of papyrus on the bed. He immediately walked over and picked it up.

“What’s this now?” Hamilcar stopped in his tracks and asked.

Maximus glanced at the first page and said, “It seems to be a book teaching people how to cultivate crops and raise cattle and sheep.”

“Oh…” Hamilcar lost interest and left the room.

But Maximus carefully searched the entire bed, picking up several scattered pages, neatly stacking them, and carefully putting them into his arm before leaving the room.

After the gladiators eliminated the resistance, they gathered all the slaves from the farm together. Spartacus not only invited them to join their cause, but at the same time, he generously declared, “If anyone is unwilling to join, they are free to leave. We will not harm them.”

As a result, nearly 30 slaves chose to stay.

While everyone was resting in the courtyard of the farm, Spartacus, Crixus, and a few other leaders were already sitting in the room where they found the letter, discussing the situation.

After hearing the situation described by Hamirlcar and Maximus, Spartacus spoke with a serious expression, “Brothers, although we have temporarily found a foothold and gained more slaves joining our ranks, the Romans will soon learn that we have taken over their farm and taken their slaves. They will likely send troops soon. Should we stay here and fight them or rest for a few days before continuing south?”

“Of course, we should stay here and fight the Romans!” Crixus decisively exclaimed, “We have only been here for half a day, and the number of people joining our ranks is close to 200! There are slaves everywhere here. If we launch a full-scale attack, killing the Roman overseers and inviting the slaves to join us, it won’t take long for our numbers to reach thousands! Moreover, there are many farms here, storing an ample amount of food. We don’t have to worry about going hungry! If we abandon such a good place and choose to run south, that would be a foolish decision!”

“Crixus is right. Since we have already decided to resist the Romans and will inevitably have to fight their army, the sooner we achieve victory, the sooner we can establish our reputation and attract more people to join us. That’s when we won’t fear the Romans anymore!” Artorix, who was usually cautious, now had a fiery gleam in his eyes.

“Us Germanic people have never feared battle with Rome!” Oenomaus expressed his determination concisely.

Spartacus glanced at Hamilcar.

Hamilcar nodded.

“Good! Since we are all in agreement, then we shall face the Romans here!” Spartacus’ face was filled with enthusiasm. He looked around at everyone and spoke in a deep voice, “However, the Roman legion is not like the soldiers in Capua. They are well-organized and disciplined. I once served as an auxiliary for the Roman legion in Asia Minor, and I can attest to this. If we want to fight the Romans, we can no longer engage in random battles like before. We must organize our brothers well, strengthen our training, and maximize our strength. So, I have a suggestion.

“Our army now exceeds 400 people. Crixus, Artorix, Oenomaus, and I will each command a hundred men. Each hundred-man unit (centuria) will consist of half veteran brothers and half newly recruited slaves. This way, the new recruits will not perform poorly under the guidance of our veteran brothers. Additionally, we will elect one squad leader for every ten people, which will bring more order to the entire army and prevent chaos during battles. What do you think?”

“Spartacus’s suggestion is right. This way, we won’t be disorganized in battle,” Artorix was the first to express agreement.

“Let’s do it,” Oenomaus replied straightforwardly.

Only Crixus hesitated.

Spartacus understood his thoughts and persuaded, “Crixus, our veteran brothers are limited, but the number of people joining the team will increase. In the future, our veteran brothers may become centurions or even commanders, leading troops to fight against the Romans. If you overly protect them and prevent them from gaining experience, they may blame you in the future.”

Crixus’ heart trembled slightly: Among the gladiators, there were more than a hundred Gauls, and he had always considered himself their leader, unwilling to let others interfere. But Spartacus was right. If these proud individuals saw gladiators inferior to them becoming captains, leading seven or eight slaves, while they themselves remained as subordinate soldiers, their dissatisfaction would quickly erupt…

Thinking of this, Crixus finally nodded, “I have no objections.”

Spartacus smiled, “Good, we will proceed accordingly. You will be the first to select a hundred men.”

Crixus readily agreed.

Spartacus continued, “We also need to establish a cavalry unit to scout the surrounding area, especially the movements of the Roman army. What do you think?”

“I agree.”

“How many people should be in this cavalry unit?”

“Let’s start with five for now.”

“But all the horses we have are used to pull wagons, and there are no extras,” reminded Hamilcar.

“There are plenty of farms around here, so we won’t lack horses. If we capture more horses, we’ll allocate them to the cavalry unit first,” suggested Spartacus.

Everyone agreed.