More than 300 newly recruited Apulians were divided into two teams, moving as quickly as possible through the gaps in the front line to reach the moat and throw in sacks...
The soldiers defending the city, seeing this situation from the city walls, hurriedly threw down javelins, and the cries of agony were noticeably more than before...
Maximus, at the rear, heard these sounds and remained relatively calm. Having lived in this era and experienced many wars, he had become somewhat indifferent to death.
Some of the newly recruited Apulian soldiers were hit by javelins and fell by the moat, but the sacks they threw had already paved two paths in the moat (on either side of the moat, centered on the city gate). The rebel soldiers closest to the passageways shouted, charged across the moat, reached the city wall, and leaned the ladders they carried against the wall...
At the same time, stones rained down from the city, amid the screams, the real siege battle officially commenced...
Meanwhile, Maximus came before the Apulia New Recruits who had retreated from the front lines and said sincerely, "Brothers, thanks to your brave efforts, the army has successfully crossed the moat. On behalf of the entire army, I thank you! Don’t worry; the Medical Team will soon take care of the wounded brothers. Rest well for now, the Supply Team will bring you food and water to replenish your strength, and let’s wait for the news of our victory!"
The startled Apulia New Recruits, hearing Maximus’s comforting words, gradually calmed down. Someone shouted loudly, "Leader... Leader if we capture Canosa, can I go and kill that heartless merchant, Caso Dotos! He took away my land and forced my family to death, I will never let him go!"
His words immediately resonated with the others.
"Of course, you can! As long as the situation is true, you all can take revenge on your enemies, our army is here to speak for the poor!" Maximus promised without hesitation, not mentioning any public trials or the like, after all, once Canosa City was captured, it fell under the rebel army, and since they were already prepared to loot the city, a few murders shouldn’t be an issue.
The recruits instantly became excited, the previous person continued, "Leader, after capturing the city, can I reclaim my previous land?"
Maximus’s smile froze slightly, his mind racing, considering how to respond, another recruit gave the person who spoke a slap and said, "Proconsus, are you stupid! We are going to war with the Romans now, if we don’t thoroughly defeat them, even if you have the land, it will be taken from you, and you might end up on a cross!"
With these words, not only did Proconsus scratch his head, others who intended to ask the same question fell silent.
Maximus looked with interest at the middle-aged man who helped him out, "What’s your name?"
"Onomax, from Asculum, joined the Marci War when I was young, just appointed as the temporary Centurion of this unit two days ago." The middle-aged man solemnly replied.
Maximus approvingly nodded at him, then called out, "Everyone have a good rest!" After speaking, he turned and left, the smile on his face quickly disappearing, replaced by a solemn expression.
From his understanding of the southern recruits who joined the army late in Campania and the Apulians who came to join recently, most of these new recruits were landless wanderers, herders, and some poor sailors, with very few slaves.
One reason is that slaves face many restrictions and cannot escape far to Campania. But there’s another reason. The southern Italian mountains have little flat land, unlike Campania’s large estates, thus not capable of holding many slaves. City State citizens usually have only two or three slaves, tending to small plots, creating close relationships between master and servant. Slave escapes were not as common as in Campania.
But southern Italy has its own problems. The influx of cheap provincial agricultural products spread throughout most of Italy, farmers struggled to survive, relied on debt, and eventually had to sell their land. Such situations were common in much of Italy, but the southern Italian issue was that they were previously only allies of Rome, unable to enjoy the benefits of Rome’s victories, acquiring more land, gifting land to landless Roman soldiers, or establishing colonial cities, thus southern Italian towns’ landless poor issues were much more severe than those in the Latium Region and Campagna Region. Even relatively well-developed agricultural and pastoral Apulia Region was the same.
The Southern Italian poor joining the rebel army had more demands than slaves, just like the new recruits earlier. Many of them hoped to find the wealthy people who conspired to take their land and take revenge, and more hoped to regain land in their homeland...
When someday, the rebel army decides to march north, leaving Italy, into the rugged mountains, will these people be willing to leave?... Maximus began to have this concern in his heart.
Maximus hurried back to his command position, once again turning his attention to the battlefield ahead: wood ladders were already erected on the city wall, soldiers clung to them like ants, ascending cautiously with square shields, occasionally soldiers being struck by pieces of wood or rolling stones, screaming as they fell down... Sometimes, entire ladders were pushed away by the city’s enemy troops, collapsing and crushing a group of soldiers... What scared him the most was the enemies on the city wall occasionally throwing down burning oil pots, turning rebel soldiers into human torches, screaming as they leapt into the moat...