Rome Must Perish

Budocaribas exchanged glances with him for a moment, his knotted brow slowly relaxing: "In that case, I am also willing to lead the tribesmen to settle at the Sava River, but I would like to ask if we can choose our own territory?"

Maximus replied solemnly, "Didn't I just say? You will be allotted fertile land, and the safety of your tribe is guaranteed, what more are you dissatisfied with?!"

Seeing Maximus' displeasure, Budocaribas felt a bit uneasy and quickly defended, "It's not that we are dissatisfied, we just want to know how much land we can get..."

Maximus surveyed the crowd, seeing them all looking at him with tense expressions, he emphasized his words, "I can guarantee each household of your tribe will have 20 acres of fertile land!"

Most of the Aldean leaders showed joy on their faces, but some were dissatisfied: "Only 20 acres? Your tribesmen each have at least 50 acres!"

Maximus' gaze immediately turned sharp: "Our Nix tribesmen can get 50 acres of land because they've earned it with blood and hard work, and the Nix Tribe was established because of them! What contribution have your tribesmen made to my Nix Tribe that you want 50 acres of land for!? And you think 20 acres is small, did you ever have 3 acres of good land before?!"

The words left the person speechless, and others glared at him, feeling extremely dissatisfied with his ignorance provoking the Nix Leader.

"Leader Maximus is already fulfilling the agreement in such a short time, allotting us land, we are already grateful, how could we ask for more!" Budocaribas instantly tried to ease the situation.

"Yes, yes, Leader Maximus indeed is a great benefactor to our tribe!" Others also spoke one after another, expressing gratitude, instantly easing the atmosphere.

Maximus then softened his tone, saying, "Since you all agree with my suggestion, just report the population and households of your respective tribes to Pigeris first, once our tribe completely occupies the land and the situation stabilizes, I'll allocate land according to the conditions of your tribes. Then Pigeris will inform you, and you can bring your tribesmen over to settle..."

"Thank you, Leader Maximus!!"

........................

After the attendant sent off Budocaribas, Xisaites, and others, Pigeris presented Maximus with the newly compiled population register of these Aldean tribes migrating to the Sava River.

While paging through it diligently, Maximus sighed: "There are twenty-three Aldean tribes preparing to migrate here, yet there are less than 4,000 households, with a total population of just over 14,000. No wonder they are discriminated against in the entire Aldean Tribe, this population isn't even more than the first two Segestica villages we conquered!"

Pigeris explained from the side, "I just asked Budocaribas about this too, they told me that before the Segestica people's invasion, these tribes had a population of over forty thousand, but due to war, injuries, hunger, and a small portion of tribesmen joining other Aldean tribes for survival... that's why only so few are left.

If not for this, they probably wouldn't agree to your demands, moving away from their familiar homeland to settle on what was once enemy land. Leader, I think their small number is also a good thing, at least we don't have to grant much land."

"Pigeris, while it is your duty as the tribe's Commerce Officer to be frugal in negotiations with other racial powers, one must have a long-term perspective and a broad vision when considering issues..." Maximus earnestly taught him: "Now we are not lacking land, but population. At this stage, the tribesmen of these Aldean tribes are more reliable than the Segestica people forced to join us. Their joining will enhance our strength and allow us to occupy more land in a short time, thus accelerating the stabilization of the situation here.

In addition, if these tribes, like Budocaribas', live well here, will it affect other Aldean tribes? For example, tribes on the Karsipengpas side.

Besides, the land we've toiled to conquer isn't given to these Aldean tribes for free. The land allocated to them is within our territory, their tribesmen feel our tribe's strength and distinctive system day and night, you say, would they have other thoughts?"

Maximus' words left Pigeris deep in thought, then he sincerely exclaimed, "Leader, everyone says I'm clever and sharp, but compared to you, I'm far behind!"

Maximus laughed and said, "To make the tribe strong, one has to be a bit shrewd."

Pigeris then asked softly, "Leader, do you really think Aldean Great Chief Alistacas won't be angry about these tribes migrating here?"

Maximus replied with implied meaning: "Perhaps his anger might even be better."

Pigeris was initially taken aback, and then nodded thoughtfully.

........................

The experience of Siris can be described as rough.

He was born into an ordinary Segestica tribesman family, with their tribe not far from the Segestica Western Village. In his youth, the Segestica Great Leader, to please the Skodisqi people, gathered a group of youths from the tribe to serve the Skodisqi Nobles in Sava toir (the name for Segestica Main Camp during Skodisqi rule) city, he was among them.

His luck wasn't bad, being assigned to a relatively kind Skodisqi Noble family. Because of his cleverness and diligence, he received several praises and rewards from his master, and within a few years, became the master's trusted servant. Upon reaching adulthood, he even accompanied his master to suppress his compatriots' unrest.

In the war between the Skodisqi people and the Romans, he witnessed firsthand the great defeat of the Skodisqi people, and after much peril brought his severely wounded master home, but his master soon died. Instead of receiving rewards, he was beaten and detained on charges of "failing to protect the master" and detained.

Just when he thought his life was at risk, the Segestica people launched a war against the Skodisqi, and amid the chaos in the city, he managed to escape and joined the resistance army led by the Segestica Great Leader. In subsequent battles, he displayed bravery and repeatedly achieved battle merit, but due to his past "aiding the tyrant," he was never trusted with important tasks.

Although discontented, he continued to fulfill his duties, from breaking through Sava toir and completely overthrowing the Skodisqi's rule, to pursuing and eradicating the remnants of the Skodisqi and preventing them from making a comeback. For three to four years, he never stopped fighting, until the last of the bandits were cleared, and the Sava River Plain mostly restored to peace; only then did he return to his tribe, carrying scars and injuries.

Though he was still an ordinary tribesman at that time, he had already proven himself, cleared his past defamation, and became a warrior in the tribe, respected by the tribesmen. He then married, had children, and lived a happy life for ten years.

After Andres succeeded as the Great Leader, he broke the peace of the tribe. The ambitious Great Leader soon launched a war against the Aldeans, and because Siris was already old, the tribe did not summon him.

However, this war still affected his life. The grain they submitted to the tribe leader was considerably more than in previous years, and there were occasional temporary levies, causing discontent among the tribesmen.

Furthermore, Andres broke the tradition of the Great Leader not interfering in the internal affairs of each tribe by issuing a decree that tribesmen who participated in the war could voluntarily join newly established tribes and receive fertile land by the Kupa River. Due to Andres' strong stance, even the tribal leaders and nobles dared not oppose him. Thus, Siris found that many young people in the tribe never returned after being summoned, causing the entire tribe to grow increasingly desolate...

Although life had changed considerably, and days were getting worse, the continued victories gave Siris the motivation to hold on. After all, he hoped to see the tribe grow stronger.

Seeing that the tribe had already occupied lands along the Kupa River and driven the Aldeans to more remote places, Siris thought the tough days would soon end.

Unexpectedly, last year the Aldeans brought in a foreign mercenary force, and disaster struck the Segestica tribe.

First, they conquered two of their villages, then Andres assembled the army to attack but suffered a crushing defeat. The participating tribesmen were either captured or killed, with few able to escape back. In Siris' tribe, almost every family had someone weeping, and he himself was filled with sorrow.

Soon he could no longer worry for others because Andres regrouped the army to attack the enemy, and due to the loss of many young tribesmen, the scope of the draft had to be expanded. As a past warrior of the tribe, Siris, despite his age, couldn't avoid being drafted into the troops.

At this time, used to a simple life, and with old wounds, he had long lost the vigor of charging into battle from his younger days.

Moreover, this time they were assaulting the enemy's camp, and although Siris had experienced many battles, it was his first time witnessing a camp so complex in structure and heavily fortified. Before even fighting, he felt apprehensive, and relying on his past war experience, he evaded danger during the assault, but ended up with a minor injury, thus missing the brutal siege battles that followed.

Later, when the army finally breached the camp's perimeter, they were ambushed by the enemy again.