Gaius hurried over to explain, "Leader, after we occupied this village, this old man voluntarily approached us, saying he wanted to offer us help. At that time, we were eager to transfer the population and resources within the village to a temporary camp, so we agreed.
So, he ordered all the Scodisqi slaves to follow our instructions, voluntarily assisting us in transporting resources, finding those Segestica people hiding within houses and cellars, and uncovering the Nobles hidden among the Segestica citizens...
It was precisely because of the full cooperation of the Scodisqi slaves that we could evacuate this village so quickly. So when he requested ’not to go with other Scodisqi slaves to the temporary camp, but instead to stay here to see you,’ we discussed and agreed again. But unexpectedly, he didn’t stay put and sneaked out; this is all my fault!"
"Who do you mean by ’we’?" Maximus coldly asked.
"It’s Capito, Volenus, me, and Pigeris."
These are the four department Chief Officers I temporarily appointed to be responsible for the transfer and takeover of this village... Maximus’s mind turned, and his expression then softened, "This isn’t entirely your fault, we’ll let it slide this time, but be careful in the future. Let’s go inside first."
Gaius secretly breathed a sigh of relief. In the past, he didn’t feel anything when he just muddled along, but now that he had aspirations, standing beside Maximus felt a bit stressful.
"How have you arranged for our soldiers who will stay here tonight and these prisoners? Where are the transferred supplies temporarily stored?"
Maximus looked at the carriages entering the village and reminded, "You should know that tonight, there are not just over 3000 soldiers staying here, but also more than 6000 Segestica prisoners, including over 2000 Scodisqi slaves. Besides, we also brought a large amount of resources."
"Leader, please rest assured, the original population of this village was about 15,000, including over 3600 Scodisqi slaves, our troops can completely fit in." Gaius confidently answered.
"There are so many people in this village?" Maximus was somewhat surprised, because from the outside, the eastern village looked even bigger than this one, yet its population was less than ten thousand."
"Leader, we asked, this is not a normal tribe. It was only established to fight against the Alde, hence most are young and strong, often with many people living in one longhouse." Gaius said, pointing to a house at the roadside, "Leader, look, it’s a house ."
It was a wooden house over 15 meters long and only 4 meters wide, with a thick thatched roof.
Matthias pushed the door open and entered. The space inside was slightly cramped, but the lighting was decent. Besides a long bunk, several wooden cabinets, and shelves, there was nothing else.
Maximus immediately realized a problem, "How do they cook?"
"They don’t cook. Instead, they go to the training ground of the tribe’s main house, where the Scodisqi slaves cook for them."
The Segestica people even have a large canteen... Maximus felt a bit surprised and asked, "What identities do the Segestica people living in such longhouses have?"
"The vast majority are not the tribesmen of this leader, but come from other tribes of Segestica, drawn by the call of their Great Chief and admiration for this leader. They came to this tribe. Since they are newcomers, they don’t have their own houses yet, but they have been allocated land, which is cultivated by Scodisqi slaves."
"Not bad, you’ve understood the situation of this village so clearly in such a short time." Maximus praised.
"This was mainly due to Capito and Volenus’s efforts." Gaius said ashamedly. Previously, due to his own issues, he hadn’t interacted much with Maximus, unlike Capito and Volenus, who understood this young leader better, thus could work in a more targeted manner.
Maximus saw his thoughts and encouraged, "I believe you won’t perform worse than them in the future!"
This statement made Gaius emotional, almost bringing him to tears.
Maximus walked out of the longhouse and looked around: there were many such longhouses nearby, and the distance between them was relatively close, making it seem a bit dense.
He walked back to the roadside and looked at the other side: there were no longhouses, but typical wooden grass-roofed houses, similar to what he had seen of Aldean houses before, just larger, better quality, and each house had a small yard enclosed by a wooden fence, with chicken coops, pig troughs, and cattle pens in the yard... thus, the smell was somewhat unpleasant.
"These houses are probably where the Old Clan Members of this tribe live, right?" Maximus asked.
"How much grain did you obtain here?" This was what Maximus cared about the most.
"Due to time constraints, we didn’t do a detailed measurement, but according to everyone’s estimation, it’s at least enough to feed our entire team for a year. Including the prisoners captured here, it’s enough for half a year."
"There’s actually so much?" Maximus was somewhat surprised, "I remember Budocaribas saying that this Segestica village was newly built and just started farming last year."
"That’s correct." Gaius replied, "However, because it’s just after the autumn harvest, there’s quite a lot of grain in these Segestica tribe homes. Most importantly, this village has several large warehouses stocked with a substantial amount of grains and meats.