"Previously, the soldiers feared the Romans mainly because many of them lacked armor and weapons. Today’s victory has improved this situation. I believe the soldiers are eager to achieve another victory to completely solve the problem of weapon shortage." Tormas’s words both agreed with the suggestion and subtly explained why they chose to retreat initially.
At this moment, Cleonis said loudly, "Leader Spartacus, although I don’t have the right to vote yet, I agree with your proposal. I think Phitodorus and Depeitimas would not oppose it either."
Phitodorus and Depeitimas could only nod in agreement.
A major victory completely changed the attitudes of all the leaders, and Spartacus’s proposal smoothly passed.
Riding on the momentum, he continued, "I know that today’s victory was achieved with significant casualties to the forces of Maximus and Attutmus. However, our greatest advantage over this Roman Army lies in the number of soldiers, so I hope you two can dispatch parts of your forces to join us in advancing south against the Roman Army and concentrate as much strength as possible to quickly crush them!"
"I am willing to lead all soldiers to fight in the south," Attutmus replied without hesitation. So far, he had gathered 15,000 scattered soldiers. Although Spartacus openly claimed today’s major victory was mainly due to the steadfastness of his and Maximus’s armies, he felt guilty inside and his troops were in urgent need of achieving a victory personally to boost morale, which is why he showed such enthusiasm.
"Today’s battle caused many casualties among my soldiers, urgently needing rest. But defeating the Roman Army is now the top priority, and I am willing to send 6,000 men to participate," Maximus agreed, partly as he truly said, to defeat the Roman Army, and partly to further train the troops, improving combat power and shaping the military spirit through one victory after another.
"Great!" Spartacus smiled, "Next, let’s discuss how to advance southward tomorrow?"
The leaders finished discussing the southward combat plan, and at the same time discussed the proposal that "Phitodorus, Depeitimas, and Cleonis join the Military Commander Conference as official members," which was also passed.
After the meeting ended, everyone left, except for Attutmus, who remained in the military tent.
He said with a guilty face, "Maximus, I couldn’t hold back the Romans, causing your army to suffer—"
"Attutmus, don’t say that!" Maximus quickly stopped him and sincerely said, "If it weren’t for you blocking the Romans upstream of the Womans River, buying me a lot of time, I wouldn’t have been able to hold on until Spartacus and the others arrived.
Moreover, your army’s position was unfavorable for defense, and it was natural for the Romans to focus their attack on you first, which was normal for your troops not to hold on. Didn’t my forces also collapse in the end, if not for—"
As he said this, Maximus’s mind immediately flashed back to the scene of "soldiers collapsing like a landslide, him powerless," causing a burst of panic, prompting him to change the subject quickly: "Over the past six months, you and I have cooperated very tacitly, there’s no need to be so polite between us. By the way, have all your soldiers returned to the ranks? Since you are leading troops south tomorrow, how about I send my subordinates to help gather any scattered soldiers?"
Attutmus was thrilled: "Maximus, if that’s possible, I would be very grateful!"
"See, there you go being polite again."
........................
After Attutmus left, Maximus called the various leaders in the army. After discussion, it was decided that the First and Second Legions would each draw out three cohorts, totaling 6,000 men, led by their respective Legion Commanders to fight in the south.
Centurion Stags lifted the tent flap, walked into the military tent, and hearing the continuous snoring inside, shouted loudly, "Still asleep, get up!"
"Who is it? Yelling and waking me from my beautiful dream!"
"Sounds like the captain."
"Captain?! It’s not even daylight, what’s he doing here?"
"Everyone quiet!" Stags roared, and the complaints suddenly ceased: "The Legion Commander just gave us a mission. Tomorrow, we are to go south with Leader Spartacus’s main force to fight against the Roman Army following us."
"Another battle? Can’t we just have a good rest?" someone complained.
"Want to rest, huh? Then go to another team, anyway, this time we’re only sending half the force, there’s plenty of people to replace," Stags said, pretending to leave.
The soldiers immediately shouted again: "Who the hell wants to rest; I just want to fight the Romans now. Although we won today, we were too tired to enjoy the thrill of pursuing the enemy, and we can’t miss it next time."
"That’s right, those Roman soldiers weren’t that great. We fought them to a standstill despite being outnumbered, and with Spartacus’s main force, the next battle will definitely be another victory."
Stags nodded: "Since you all understand, prepare to set off early tomorrow morning. If you lack armor or weapons, or have damaged ones, you can now go to the Supply Camp to get new ones."
At these words, the tent suddenly erupted into a frenzy.
A voice emerged, "Captain, can I also get weapons and armor?"
Stags recognized it as Casaridaoa’s voice and smiled, "Of course, you performed very well today!"
He indeed did, because Casaridaoa had saved Stags’s life.
In battle, when the already weary Stags lost control and fell, a Roman Soldier’s short sword was about to cut down on his head when Casaridaoa, standing in the rear, quickly thrust the javelin without a spearhead into the Roman Soldier, knocking him down, and then yanked Stags up from the mud, saving him from a perilous situation.
"Great, now I can finally have armor and weapons!" Casaridaoa cheered, arm-waving and foot-stomping in delight.
"You’re really lucky, joining the team not long ago and getting weapons and armor, unlike me, joining for months, only now getting this chance."
"Leonidas!" Stags called out.
"Organize your team, line up, and go to the Supply Camp to change armor. There are torches along the way; don’t walk randomly. If you cause any disturbance, there will be military law punishment!"
........................
Before Crodianus deployed his forces, to prevent Publilius from learning and coming to steal the glory, not only was Ascoli Port blockaded to prevent anyone from reporting, but the Brindisi Fleet was also required to pause information delivery to Publilius. As a result, Publilius was completely unaware of the battle at Womans River that day.
In fact, because of reconnoitre report that the rebel army split most of their forces to speed up their march, Publilius presumed this to be a sign of the rebel army gathering forces for a massive assault on Ascoli Camp.
Out of concern for his comrades, he urged his troops to hasten their march, leading to the bivouac being set in the wilderness at dusk instead of choosing a town or port, and his army being only half a day behind the forward rebel army.
On the next morning, Hamilcar, after receiving the swift communication from Spartacus, did not proceed north but first informed his soldiers of the victory in yesterday’s battle, boosting everyone’s morale, and then quickly led his army south.