Chapter 117: Legion and Flag (I)
For the position of centurion that was vacated after the promotion of Kapus, Davos has proposed that the 20 platoon captains of the five centuria under the first brigade should be selected as candidates for the soldiers to vote. After the results came out, Davos was somewhat surprised when he learned that Matonis was the one elected, and he was elected for the following reasons: First, because he protected the weak, so the soldiers loved him. Second, he fought bravely, so the soldiers respected him.
While the soldiers of the second brigade are composed of the mercenaries brought by Drakos, Sesta and Adrien. Since Drakos brought the most mercenaries, coupled with his bravery and tenacity in battle, and is often the one in the frontline. Therefore, Drakos was chosen as the leader of the second brigade, while Sesta and Adrien became the centurion of the first and second centuria of the second brigade.
Then the third brigade consisted of the 6th and 7th unit (they are mainly the ones that have joined the mercenary of Davos in Byzantium), the original citizens of Amendolara, the freeman of the city-state who were the former slaves of the logistics camp, and a small number of Drakos’ mercenaries. The senior centurion of the third brigade is Hieronymus, who had been one of the leaders of the mercenaries in Persia and this can be regarded as him “getting back his position”. Agasias is the centurion of the first centuria of the third brigade.
Then there was the seventh brigade*, namely the peltast brigade, and the senior centurion of the first brigade is Epiphanes, who also served as the centurion of the first centuria. While the centurion of the second centuria is Cid, and the third centuria is Arpenst. They have a total of more than 600 people. (T/N: Yes, 7th brigade 七大…might be because the 4th-6th brigade is for the hoplite unit.)
And then, there’s the cavalry, which is led by Ledes.
Davos had also made a strict regulations on the helmets of the officers at all ranks. The top of the helmet of a platoon captain must be decorated with a white crest, the crest on a centurion’s helmet must be red, the crest on a senior centurion must be purple, while the legion’s main commander have a red, white, and purple crest on their helmet. At the same time, it is also stipulated that the crest of the officers must be arranged from front to back, so as to facilitate unity and management in battle.
But as soon as the new regulations came out, the officers had immediately went to either the weapon shops of Heraclea or Thurii* to modify their helmet, because this is a soldier’s honor. In his previous life, when Davos watched movies and televisions, he always thought that the high crest on the helmets of ancient western generals were just for the sake of appearance and to show off their identities, and it is without a doubt that it is flashy. However, after more than a half a year’s battle career, Davos became deeply aware of the necessity for this kind of appearance. After a long fierce battle between two sides, the formations will easily be chaotic, and once a soldier ends up splitting off with his team and the team became disorganized, they could not only search for the flag in the crowded battlefield, but also to search the officers through their tall and gorgeous crest of their helmet, and they will voluntarily moved closer to the officers and reorganized the formation to restore their combat strength. (*at this moment, Amendolara is in a state of deficiency, and there are no shops.)
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
In the early morning, the citizens of Amendolara, as well as the freeman, came to the square armed.
The freeman had just escape from their slavery and had no money to buy weapons and equipment. However, after the defeat of Thurii in the last battle, the Thurians had presented thousands of complete set of weapons and equipment to Davos mercenary, in order to have them continue defending the plains of Sybaris and hold the Lucanians. And after the annihilation of the Lucanian alliance, the mercenaries stripped off nearly 10,000 sets of shield and armors from thousands of corpses (which also includes the one in the camp of the Lucanians where it was burned to the grounds). Of course, all of these weapons and equipment were owned by the mercenaries and were not included in the weapon warehouse of Amendolara.
The officers had a heated discussion on how to distribute the spoils and the consensus was that the money from the sales of the spoils will be divided equally among the soldiers. Then Davos put forward his own suggestions that the wounded and the disabled soldiers will setup a weapon shop in the market of Amendolara that specialize in repairing and selling weapons and equipment that they have seized in combat, and the profits that they obtained will be used to subsidize the lives of the soldiers who were injured and even disabled in the battle now and also in the future.
After all, no one could guarantee that they won’t get injured in the future. With these “disability subsidies”, they would have less worry when fighting.
As a result, a large weapon shop had quickly opened and launched its own signboard “Legion”. The store is large and it has a lot of weapons and equipment, and considering that a full set of a hoplite equipment is worth 400 to 600 drachmas, which is not low, so they have even allowed for the equipment to be rented. And even though the rent is not a small sum of money, the freeman are still willing to rent it because they know that only by joining the army and participating in a war can they become citizens quickly and acquire lands! At the same time, being a soldier is a glory for the citizens and the best way for the freeman to improve their city-state status quickly!
But where did they get the money to rent it? The freeman did not need to worry about it for a long time, as they soon found out that a bank had opened and it is called “Cheiristoya”, and the interest rate was very low(compared with the loan interest in Greek city-states at that time). As they all know, Cheiristoya is the wife of the archon, and these freeman who had accompanied the mercenaries for thousands of miles knew about her and so they decided to borrow from this bank. This was also the first loan from Cheiristoya’s bank.
Now, once the soldiers arrive at the square, they will go and find the squad that they were assigned to and joined the leadership of their squad leaders, and then merge into a centuria to form a small phalanx formation. Finally, they will go to their designated area in the brigade in sequence. Although the whole process is slow, it was not chaotic, and they finally formed into three phalanx formation in an orderly manner.
However, the third brigade is still trying to form their ranks…
On the stage, Philesius saw Davos frowned a bit and hurriedly said, “My lord, the third brigade has the most complicated assembly of soldiers, specially those who have never received military training before, and the original citizens of Amendolara didn’t even received strict training, so -”
Davos interrupted him, “I understand, and so, Hieronymus has a lot of responsibility. I heard that he asked for a lot of veterans from the first brigade, and even the amiable Kapus was anxious for him.”
“Yes, my lord. Hieronymus is also anxious, as he is a very responsible person!” Explained Philesius tactfully.
Davos laughed, “Soldiers should be conscientious in their duty and they must not admit defeat. I believe that Hieronymus will be able to make the third brigade to catch up quickly!”
Then he asked, “Did the Lucanians came?”
“They are here.” Philesius pointed to a small slope in the southeast corner of the square, and said anxiously, “My lord, there are 800~900 of them, in case that something goes wrong -”
“No need to worry!” Said Davos disapprovingly, “The soldiers in the square can wipe them out. I don’t think that Vespa and his son are so stupid. What’s more, even the women of their tribe have become the wives of our citizens. And most of them have even came here today to cheer for their husbands…”
Davos looked at the distant hillside and ordered, “Beat the drum.”
The drummer waved his drumstick and began to beat the big drum in front of him rhythmically.
“Boom! Boom! Boom!…” Hearing the drums, the soldiers on the square began to step in place and continue to adjust their formation. When the four phalanx formation were in order, the sound of their footsteps were in sync, “Boom! Boom! Boom!…” The magnificent marching steps made the birds fly and the wild animals to run away, like a thunder in the sky and the rumbling of a mountain…
Cornelius and the other elders were shocked and muttered to themselves, “This…this is the army that shook Persia and destroyed the Lucanians! As expected…they are really different!”
When the Lucanians saw this, most of them went pale and became quiet.
While the women and the children outside the square cheered with excitement.
Davos felt the tremor of the mountain and hurriedly waved his hand to stop.
The drummer hit the drum twice and then stop, and the square soon became quiet, as if the huge noise had never even happened. A freeman’s throat was itchy that made him coughed, and the veteran squad leader that was nearby glared at him.
Davos took two steps forward on the stage, “Brothers!”
The crowd shouted at the same time, “Davos!!!”
“How is your happy life these days?”
“Great!!!”
“I am afraid that, because your life is too good, it had made your feet soft and made you not even be able to wield your spears!”
The soldiers were all laughing ambigously.
“Many of you have fought together with me in Persia and won great fame! And you followed me to Magna Graecia, defeated the Lucanian alliance and made a brilliant achievements! Now that you are all citizens of Amendolara, this is a new beginning! From now on, you must guard, develop and expand Amendolara, and create an everlasting glory for the future generations!” Said Davos passionately.
The soldiers brandished their spears up and down and exlaimed in great excitement.
“For Amendolara!”
“For Amendolara!!”
“For Amendolara!!!”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
“You are not a soldier, so why are you so happy?” Stromboli was unable to stop himself from saying it after seeing Anticles, who was beside him, holding up his left hand and cheered together with the soldiers.
“This is a real army! This is the army that we, Amendolarans, have long longed for!” Said Anticles excitedly, glancing over his right arm, and his expression darkened again, “It’s a pity that I won’t be able to follow them to war anymore…”
Stromboli, after all, was an old neighbor of Anticles, and had a good relationship with him. Instead of continuing his sarcasm, he then said with concern, “Didn’t you hate them, these outsiders that have stolen your position as the patrol captain?!”