CHAPTER 359: CHAPTER 238: LEGION ASSEMBLE

In fact, in the daily life of the tribe, team officers are equivalent to the roles of the head of a district and village chief.

Since the soldiers in the army are accustomed to obeying the orders of the team officers, they are also willing to accept their governance in daily life, which allows the Political Affairs Hall’s decrees to be smoothly implemented at the grassroots level, making the entire tribe orderly.

However, officers govern the military on horseback and the civilians off horseback, and even though only centurions and decurions have this right, this system has significant drawbacks, which Maximus, well-versed in historical knowledge, is acutely aware of.

It’s just that with the tribe newly established, political structures fledgling, manpower lacking, and resources insufficient, temporarily delegating grassroots power to team officers can better ensure the efficient operation of tribal governance and the unity of the tribesmen, so he does not intend to make any changes in the short term.

Casaridaoa certainly wouldn’t know Maximus’ painstaking efforts. After the establishment of the Nix Tribe, Nick meticulously executed the new appointments given to them by the Political Affairs Hall. Although this is much more tiring than being an officer in the army, his youthful strength and positive attitude made him relish it.

After ensuring that nearby subordinates have all their equipment, he sent them to gather at the training ground first, then proceeded to the outskirts of the settlement himself.

Initially, when the Nix Tribe was established, the First Legion Soldiers were settled in Westeni. Because it was adjacent to the Segestica Territory, they didn’t expand outwardly like in Snowdonia at first but instead added some defensive facilities. Due to insufficient housing within the settlement, many single Official Tribe Members were crowded into various homesteads.

It wasn’t until Nix and Segestica signed a ceasefire agreement that Westeni began to expand outward, with the Westeni Town Hall allocating homesteads to each single, homeless Official Tribe Member.

Although the tribe had explicit regulations that the construction teams must build houses for these contributing single Official Tribe Members for free, most single Official Tribe Members did not actively apply for house construction from the town hall. Instead, they merely marked their residential plots with wooden poles because, with the cold winter, hastily building a house to live alone was both lonely and freezing.

When spring arrived and the weather warmed, both Westeni and Snowdonia immediately experienced a housing construction boom because each Official Tribe Member had their own land, and by summer, after harvesting wheat, without their own house and courtyard, there was nowhere to store the grain.

Not until late August did the two settlements basically resolve the housing issues for all Official Tribe Members. For this reason, Westeni had not yet had time to build new settlement walls.

After calling upon these few single subordinates, Casaridaoa did not plan to inform the only two remaining Reserve Tribe Members in the squad, because the department responsible for governing Reserve Tribe Members would collectively take them to the training ground.

On the way to the Military Department training ground, a soldier couldn’t help but ask, "Captain, why can’t we set off a few days later? I heard that the tribe is planning a harvest celebration the day after tomorrow. Maximus Leader is going to award the tribesmen who did the best in farming and paid the most taxes, and there will be a rugby competition for the whole tribe. Each legion, including the Reserve Tribe Members, can organize teams to participate. The top three teams will receive rewards from the tribe—"

"The Harvest Celebration is much more than that!" Another soldier interjected: "I have a good friend in the Commerce Department. He told me that Leader Maximus had already sent Business Officer Pigeris with some food to gift to the nearby friendly Alde Tribes and also negotiated with them, reaching an agreement for free intermarriage between the peoples—"

"Is that true?!" The other soldiers asked eagerly in surprise.

"I asked my good friend the same thing. He solemnly swore to the Divine in front of me that ’everything he said is true, and the tribal notice will be out in a few days.’"

That soldier first responded proudly, then mysteriously lowered his voice and said: "And he also told me that Leader Maximus plans to hold a series of bonfire parties for several nights after the Harvest Celebration and ordered Pigeris to invite tribesmen from the Alde Tribes, men and women alike, to come and participate—"

"Men and women alike..." Another soldier was the first to react: "We just reached a mutual marriage agreement with the Alde Tribes, and then we invite the women from these tribes to our bonfire parties, isn’t this a matchmaking event!"

"Yes, that’s what my good friend told me." The soldier sighed with regret: "My luck is terrible; last year, I was injured, and at the matchmaking event, no woman took a liking to me. Now, just as another matchmaking event is about to occur, I have to go to war, sigh..."

A soldier immediately shouted: "It’s not fair! Why can’t we take part in such a good opportunity to find wives! Brothers, we need to protest to the Political Affairs Hall and ask the leader to let us attend the bonfire parties before leaving!"

Before the others could join the commotion, Casaridaoa quickly shouted: "What nonsense are you spouting! How is it unfair! Do you not know that the Military Department and several Legion Commanders debated for a long time about which legion to send to aid the Aldeans in battle? Sending us out means that other legion brothers might consider it unfair!

Want to find women and also earn military merits, how can there be such good things! If you really want to find women, I can suggest to the Great Captain to have you transferred to another legion, how about it?!"

"No, Captain!" The soldier quickly shook his head: "I was just talking nonsense, I really don’t want to find a woman, I would rather win victories and gain more land, and become a Noble of the tribe!"

"Alas, I felt the same way when I first heard this news, but I came to understand later." The soldier who revealed the news seriously said: "Perhaps the tribe is holding the bonfire parties after we leave to make other legion brothers feel better and not envy us.

After all, our tribe and the Alde Tribes have already signed the intermarriage agreement, and we can gain more military merits and land. In the future, we will have more chances to attract even better Alde women to marry us."

"Aristis, you’re right!" The other soldiers became excited again.

"Stop the nonsense; we need to pick up our pace, or we’ll be late and have to face the military stick!" Casaridaoa solemnly reminded them.

The soldiers felt a sense of urgency and hurriedly followed Casaridaoa.

When they merged with other tribesmen and rushed into the Military Department training ground, the first round of copper horn sounded just in time, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Though the training ground was crowded and noisy, the number flags of the six Great Captains of the First Legion stood tall in a row, and Casaridaoa quickly found the Centurion Unit he belonged to.

The rest of the squad, including the two Reserve Tribe Members, had already arrived. Casaridaoa carefully checked the weapons, armor, and marching supplies of the two Reserve Tribe Members and found them no different from the others (these legion supplies for Reserve Tribe Members were provided by the tribe, all from previously fallen rebel soldiers), then he relaxed and began to organize the ranks.

At this point, Centurion Stags approached with two others: "Casaridaoa, do you remember what I told you this morning?"

Casaridaoa looked at the two young men behind him: "Captain, are these the Reserve Tribe Members you’re assigning to my squad?"

"That’s right. Look, they’re pretty strong, and they were among the first batch to join our tribe as Reserve Tribe Members. They’ve participated in the battle with the Segestica people and the defense of the temporary camp, so they have considerable combat experience."

Stags explained seriously: "Originally, they were in Proconsus’ squad; if it weren’t because that squad had too many Reserve Tribe Members and Proconsus himself isn’t fluent in the Illyrian Language, making command a bit challenging, he wouldn’t have been willing to separate these two."

After listening, Casaridaoa didn’t immediately agree but directly asked the two Reserve Tribe Members in Illyrian Language: "Have you two attended legion training?"

"Of course!" One of them responded quickly: "During the agricultural off-season in March and April this year, we were brought here every one or two days for training led by Pro... Proconsus Captain or other soldiers in the squad."

"What kind of training did you do?" Casaridaoa continued to ask.

"Shield holding practice, wood stump cutting, battle practice, also formation marching, charging..." Another Reserve Tribe Member eagerly added: "During the agricultural off-season in July, we also participated in a three-day training with the entire legion to familiarize ourselves with the flags, orders, and various formations..."

After listening, Casaridaoa finally relaxed and said: "Captain, I’ll take your word for it, and assign these two to my squad."

"You little rascal, claiming to take my word for it, I see you almost had ’doubt’ engraved on your forehead! I promoted you with my own hands; why would I harm you!" Stags scolded a few times but did not show clear anger on his face.

Casaridaoa didn’t reply, just touched his head and smiled foolishly.

"Alright, which two of your capable subordinates do you plan to transfer to Proconsus’ squad?" Stags asked.

Casaridaoa still didn’t speak, just pointed twice within the squad.

Stags saw clearly that the two individuals Casaridaoa indicated both had more seniority in the First Legion than Casaridaoa. Back when Casaridaoa was exceptionally promoted due to his Battle Merit and abilities, these two were the fiercest opponents. Although after multiple scoldings from him, these two had cooperated relatively well in training and operations, clearly, discord still remained.