Chapter 1116
Since there was no new successor, many soldiers thought that as long as Maximus stayed in this position for another year, when he had enough experience, he would officially be promoted to the position of supply officer.
Maximus thought so too, but he knew better. The reason why he was able to become an important military officer of the Kingdom of Diónia within a year from an unknown freed slave with no background, and was likely to become a mid-level officer in the Kingdom of Diónia within a year or two was related to his ability, but it was more likely that the intelligence department played a role behind the scenes. Regardless, it was beneficial for him to become a citizen of the Kingdom of Diónia.
Because of this, he was no longer so upset about joining the intelligence department.
There were very few people on the streets of the barracks. Some of them were soldiers who had just finished their shift yesterday, and it was their turn to rest today. They were idling and chatting by the roadside; some were soldiers who were in charge of cleaning, transporting garbage, feeding livestock, and so on. But no matter who saw Maximus, they would greet him respectfully, "Good morning, Lord Maximus!"
Of course, Maximus would greet them back politely.
The logistics officer had the power to purchase and distribute supplies. He was the life and death officer of the soldiers. During the time that Maximus was in charge, not only was he fair and selfless, but he also improved the supply of supplies and three meals a day. So even though he was a free man, he won the respect of the soldiers.
Maximus enjoyed this respect because it meant that his ability was recognized by the soldiers. He was no longer as averse to life in the barracks as he was in the beginning. He began to integrate into it. Of course, this was also because as an officer, he had more holidays in a year, and he could go back to Turií more often to spend time with his wife and children.
Maximus greeted everyone along the way and arrived at the center of the barracks.
Other than the barracks headquarters, the most important building here was the granary. In order to preserve food, the engineers of the Ministry of Construction had racked their brains to design the public granary of Diónia. It was a long and narrow two-story building with few and small windows to prevent food from spoiling due to high temperature or wet rain. However, in order to ensure that the granary was cool and ventilated, there were many air vents around the bottom of the granary. The floor of the granary was laid on top of the air vents. This way, even if rats and other pests entered the room through the air vents, they would not be able to enter the granary through the floor and harm the grain. In order to prevent the walls from cracking due to excessive pressure from the accumulated food or other items in the cabin, there were also buttresses outside the walls of the granary. There were also many large dry wooden boxes in the granary, which were used to store the raw materials of the soldiers' staple food — flour. When the soldiers needed to use the flour, they only needed to open the bottom of the wooden box, and the flour would flow out. Thus, the flour was basically in a sealed state, and its shelf life was naturally longer.
By the time Maximus arrived at the granary, it was already filled with more than a dozen pack carts, each loaded with sacks of flour.
The purchasing supervisor approached him and reported, "Lord Maximus, the Etruscans have sent us twenty tons of flour this time. I've sent six tons each to Luca and Arretium's barracks, leaving eight tons here." (Note: The Etruscan Alliance had given the entire northern and northwestern border to Diónia. Based on the terrain and the situation of the Gauls' invasion, the Ministry of Military Affairs had set up military camps near the three Etruscan border city-states, Luca, Florentia, and Arretium.)
Maximus carefully checked the records and signatures, and then frowned. "The autumn harvest has just ended, and I've never heard of any of the Etruscan city-states having a bad harvest. They shouldn't have provided us with such a small amount of grain."
"The Etruscans said, 'The wheat has just been harvested, and time is too tight. They don't have enough manpower, and they can't grind much flour. If we're willing to grind our own flour, they're willing to provide the wheat directly.'" The purchasing supervisor said, "But I refused because we're also short on manpower, and we don't have enough stone mills. So, the Etruscans could only promise to send us the grain after half a month."
"You've made the right decision. Hmm, half a month later … "Maximus made some calculations, and then said," Our grain reserves are enough to last for half a month, but you'll have to keep an eye on them at all times, and urge the Etruscans to prevent them from delaying. "
"Alright."
"Our transport ships should be arriving soon, right?"
"Should be within the next few days."
"When we go to Pisae, an Etruscan city-state near Luca, and it's a coastal town, don't forget to remind them to send more mutton and wool next time. The winters here are colder, and some of the soldiers suffered frostbite last year. Hopefully, we'll be able to survive this year.
I've heard that the prices of cattle and sheep in the livestock market in Turií have plummeted this year, and that's because the tribes in central Italy have also sent their livestock to Turií to be sold. There are too many cattle and sheep in the livestock market … I believe that the Ministry of Military Affairs can easily fulfill our request. "
"I've noted it down."
"Later, when the laborers move the flour in, try to empty half of the granary. Then, collect more hay and store it in the granary. Winter is coming, and we need to store more fodder for the livestock and the War Horse … "
"Yes."
…
Maximus instructed the purchasing supervisor as he watched the laborers unload the sacks of flour from the ox carts and carry them into the granary.
At the same time, his trusted statistician was also seriously checking if the quantity of flour matched what the purchasing supervisor had said.
After the statistician had confirmed it, Maximus did not immediately sign his name on the account book. After the entire loading and unloading process was completed, he would come back to the granary in the afternoon to confirm it.
Now, he had to take his leave. His next destination was the armory. The supply camp was not only in charge of the food reserves, but also the storage of weapons and equipment. Yesterday, the barracks had sent a company to repel the Gauls who had attacked the Florentia territory. When they returned, it was too late, so he did not have the time to check the damage to the weapons and equipment and the spoils of war. According to Maximus's habit, the verification was usually carried out on the same day. Postponing it to the next day was already a delay in his work.
The armory was built not far from the barracks gate. This was for the convenience of the army when they went out to battle.
In fact, there were not many weapons and armors in the armory. They had been distributed to the soldiers long ago, and the soldiers would take care of and maintain them themselves. During the break, these armors, shields, spears, daggers, and javelins were placed in the soldiers' dormitories. If they were damaged during non-combat and could not be used, they would even have to pay compensation. This was because these weapons and equipment belonged to the kingdom, unlike the soldiers of the regular army, who already owned their own weapons and equipment.
The armory mainly stored military supplies such as tents, blankets, blankets, shovels, and other consumable weapons such as arrows and javelins. There were also a few armors and weapons.
When Maximus rushed to the armory, he learned that the guards of the armory had already sent a batch of javelins and arrows out of the city to the training ground.
They had just gone through a battle yesterday, and they still had to go through military training today. This commander from Carthage was always strict with his soldiers! Maximus thought about it and decided to go to the training ground.
Most of the barracks in Diónia had their training ground set up in the barracks. The training ground could be changed to a football or rugby field at any time. However, the three barracks located at the northern border of Etruria did not have their training ground set up in the barracks. The main reason was that there were not many soldiers stationed in each barracks, and it was not easy to provide reinforcements in a short period of time. In order to facilitate defense, they had to try their best to reduce the area of the barracks. Therefore, military facilities such as the training ground that occupied a larger area could only be set up outside the barracks.
Knowing that Maximus was going out of the city, his entourage quickly came from the stable to fetch a horse.
Maximus got on the horse, and after passing the inspection of the city guards, he left the barracks.
The entire area within 50 meters of the barracks was covered by a trench system. From the city wall to the outside, they were divided into: deer abatis, trenches, shallow trenches, lily bushes (digging deep pits and burying sharp stakes), meat hooks …
When Maximus left the city, he caught a glimpse of a squad leader leading the soldiers to place trees with many sharp branches into the shallow trenches.
It was because of the existence of these defensive facilities that the barracks had never been disturbed even though the area was often attacked by the Gauls.
After passing through the trap area, it was the civilian area. The family members of the border legion soldiers were not allowed to follow the army. However, after the barracks were built, some Etruscans moved to settle near the barracks because they thought they would be safe with the protection of the Diónia soldiers. In fact, they were rarely attacked by the Gauls (the Senate of Diónia had passed a resolution to allow the Etruscans to settle in the new territory of the northern border of the Kingdom of Diónia. They could rent land and apply to become citizens of Diónia according to the new Immigration Act).
Apart from that, there were also some Etruscan merchants who opened shops here to earn money from the border legion soldiers. Pottery shops, blacksmiths, shoemaking shops, cloth shops, and butcher shops were built one after another along the main road. Of course, the most popular among the soldiers was the tavern.
The soldiers who participated in the battle yesterday were given a day off today. Some of them applied for leave from the barracks and went to the tavern for a drink.
They asked for a can of watered wine, a can of beer with a lot of residue, one or two plates of stewed chickpeas, a plate of sliced bacon … The cost of the drinks was not worth mentioning to the soldiers who were paid every month, but it was enough for a squad of soldiers to sit around the table, drink and chat for half a day.
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