Chapter 226: Marcus’s Fury 4
Chapter 226: Marcus’s Fury 4
In war, plundering, arson, beating and killing civilians are not uncommon.
All these were considered the rightful privileges of the winners of war.
Especially in ancient times, losing a war meant falling into slavery or a similar existence.
But mass killings with the sole purpose of murder were not very common.
That’s why Rome was so enraged by the cruel treatment of the Huns in Gaul and Germania.
Of course, Rome also had a history of cruel actions in its occupied territories.
But most of them had a strong intention to show an example of retribution to those who resisted to the end even after losing the war.
Even Corinth and Carthage, which were completely destroyed and razed, did not kill everyone in the city.
Rather, such actions were criticized as inefficient and irrational from everywhere.
It was not because Rome was morally superior.
It was because it was much more economical to capture and sell them as slaves than to kill them.
Caesar also sold the Gallic and British tribes who did not keep their promise of surrender or betrayed him as slaves.
In that sense, what Marcus and the Roman army were about to do was undoubtedly alien and contrary to common sense.
It was absurd to come to war and not fight the enemy’s army, but turn around and slaughter civilians.
Even Bayatur did not imagine that Marcus would come out like this.
He expected him to rotate without a doubt and left with almost all his troops to the black soil plain.
As a result, the forces left in their base were virtually nonexistent.
Among those who remained, those who could use weapons were either those who had not yet reached the age to serve as warriors, or those who had retired from the front line due to old age.
Even their expected targets for fighting were not humans, but wild beasts.
The Huns had swept away all the small bands of robbers and marauders who dared not set foot here after making this place their base.
That’s why they had to be less vigilant than during the time when they were divided.
Of course, they were prepared for the minimum since it was wartime and they might have to move their residence again if they made a mistake.
They had prepared everything so that they could pack up everything and move to another place whenever a signal came from outside the village.
But no one thought that the enemy cavalry would suddenly break in.
Marcus led his cavalry back from the southeast, so this place was practically the rear for the Huns.
Naturally, they did not expect an enemy from behind and did not even set up a guard.
Marcus drew his gladius and pointed at the Huns’ gers lined up in the distance.
“Show no mercy. Kill everyone you see from now on!”
“Uaaaaaa!”
As soon as the attack order fell, the Roman cavalry clenched their weapons tightly and advanced.
It was different from normal plundering.
Even Marcus’s legion was famous for minimizing plundering even when occupying a local area.
There were few soldiers with excited faces.
The rest of them trampled on the Huns who had been I'm mersed in a peaceful atmosphere until a while ago with cold expressions.
There was no mercy.
There were people in the Roman army who hesitated to kill those who could not resist.
But even these people shook off their hesitation by remembering the grudges of their compatriots who had been massacred in Gaul and Greece.
This was not something Rome started.
It was just returning what they received.
It was what they brought upon themselves.
“Revenge on the enemies!”
“Kill them all and burn them!”
The cavalrymen tore through here and there like angry waves, mercilessly swinging their weapons at everyone they saw.
“Uh, ugh! It’s Rome! The Romans have broken in!”
“What’s going on! Why are the Romans here…”
The screams of terror from the Huns erupted everywhere.
They panicked and ran around in confusion at the sudden appearance of the Roman army.
The peaceful morning of the tribe turned into He'll in an instant.
Some tried to escape desperately, but no one could get out because they had already surrounded them and attacked them.
As Marcus emphasized repeatedly, there was no mercy or forgiveness for prisoners.
Women, old men, even children were no exception.
The screams of nightmare that echoed from all sides soon subsided.
It was a terrifyingly fast and swift massacre.
“We’ve done enough here. Let’s move on.”
Marcus didn’t even set fire to it.
He thought there might be some tribes that would be alerted by seeing smoke.
After capturing a few prisoners, he tortured them and found out the location of a large settlement where people gathered nearby.
As soon as he pinpointed the place, he divided his troops into several units and launched an efficient extermination operation.
“Follow the training and loot their food and supplies for local provision. We have to kill as many as possible before the barbarians notice the anomaly.”
“Yes, sir!”
The Roman army, transformed into an avatar of vengeance, was truly terrifying.
The 30,000 allied cavalrymen who followed Marcus also had a high hostility towards the barbarians.
Their compatriots had also been killed countless times in the Germania and Larissa campaigns.
Marcus prioritized speed above anything else in this operation.
He was worried that the supply would be delayed by receiving it, so he decided not to rely on the supply coming by ship unless it was an emergency.
Instead, he changed the eating habits of the cavalrymen to meat-eating similar to the nomads before starting the operation.
He planned to kill them all and plunder them, replenish the resources consumed locally, and then move to another place to continue the scorched-earth operation.
It was a frighteningly cruel but efficient method.
As a result, dozens of tribes were wiped out in just a few days after Marcus attacked the barbarian village.
It was a literal annihilation with no survivors.
The number of barbarians killed by the Roman army quickly surpassed tens of thousands.
It seemed that the barbarian race might die out completely if this trend continued, except for the warriors who went out to fight.
Usually, one would expect to feel some doubt or fatigue after killing so much.
In fact, some of the commanders suggested that they had shown enough examples and that they should only target the enemy’s stronghold now.
“How about capturing some prisoners and transporting them by ship? It would slow us down a bit, but we could spare some troops to escort them. Isn’t that feasible?”
“So you think we’ve done enough?”
“Uh? No… I mean, not exactly…”
“You are too soft-hearted. Of course, if that’s what everyone thinks, I’m willing to follow. But can you really forgive them after seeing this?”
Marcus led them to Gero, a place that looked more luxurious than the others.
The Roman commanders gasped at the sight.
There were priestesses wearing the robes of the Roman goddesses, resting in a lavish tent under the protection of the soldiers.
Marcus had covered their bodies with silk he carried, but their clothes were torn in places and traces of abuse were visible on their arms and legs.
Even Roman citizens would face the most severe punishment if they treated the priestesses of the temples rudely.
The Vestal Virgins, who were the most revered by the Romans, as well as the priestesses of other temples, received respect and reverence comparable to them.
That’s why they prioritized the retreat of the temple priests and priestesses when they withdrew from Gaul and Greece.
Even in such a situation, the priestesses who were captured by the barbarians were beautiful souls who cared for the citizens until the end.
The noble ladies were soiled by the filthy savages.
The eyes of the Roman army turned completely upside down.
Even the moderate commanders who thought it was enough changed their minds completely.
They remembered that Bayatur had also used the Aquila, the symbol of Rome, as a tool of mockery.
The barbarians were not just enemies who killed many Romans.
They deliberately trampled and ridiculed the pride and dignity that Rome was proud of.
“Root out these savage bastards!”
“They are the ones who defiled the face of Rome with their filthy lust. Show them no mercy, not even a handful!”
As the news of the priestesses being soiled spread, the soldiers became even more furious and ravaged the black soil plain.
The endless plain was filled with the blood of the barbarians and the anger of Rome.
No one complained anymore.
The soft idea of capturing prisoners more effectively also disappeared.
“Antonius’s legion has found and burned down eight barbarian settlements in the north.”
“Publius’s cavalry has annihilated three barbarian tribes in the west.”
“We have received a report from Spartacus’s unit. They found a large tribe in the south and rescued the priestesses who were I'm prisoned. It is presumed to be a tribe ruled by one of the enemy’s leaders. They have completed the burning and there are no survivors.”
Marcus listened to the reports of the messengers with an indifferent expression.
The place where he settled was a He'llish sight when he first started the extermination.
He never felt pleasant seeing the corpses rolling around everywhere.
But he had no choice.
This level of slaughter was necessary to relieve the anger of Rome that had risen to the limit after a long war.
They also needed to leave a precedent that those who dared to raise their swords against Rome’s pride would fall completely.
“It’s about time for them to contact their main force outside. Maybe they’ll come back sooner than expected. Tell the units on the battlefield to be careful.”
“Yes, imperator!”
His subordinates hurried out of the commander’s tent with restrained movements.
They rushed to their horses and returned to their units, eager to kill more barbarians.
Marcus’s legion turned the entire black soil plain upside down like a death god.
The barbarian tribes who realized the situation too late gathered their strength and gathered anyone who could wield a weapon, but it was meaningless.
The cavalrymen that Marcus brought with him were elites in every aspect of equipment and skill.
Without exaggeration, they could push away almost any country in the ancient world with them alone.
The barbarian elites had no answer in front of them, let alone the self-defense forces hastily assembled.
The Roman army was happy to go out and fight if the barbarians did not run away and attacked.
It saved them the trouble of looking for and killing them.
Of course, not everything went perfectly.
Among the soldiers who were carrying out their missions smoothly, there were some who expressed their dissatisfaction with a reason that was not funny.
“Ah… I want to eat some vegetables now.”
“I want some fruits and soup.”
“Did you run out of bread? Why don’t these damn barbarians eat much vegetables or fruits? I’m sick of eating only meat.”
No matter how much they trained to change their eating habits for a few months, the habits they had eaten for more than ten years would not change so easily.
At first, the meat-based diet was not so bad.
They agreed with the policy that they had to fill their stomachs with local looting for quick movement, and they thought they could follow it.
But now they started to miss the smell of olives and cucumbers.
Marcus sensed this atmosphere and called the commanders and raised his voice.
“I know you are having trouble with food! But I’m fighting with you too. Put your complaints aside for the sake of Rome’s victory.”
He showed them that the commander-in-chief’s diet was no different from that of ordinary soldiers, and naturally a mood of resignation was created.
But even though he said that, how could the imperator eat the same food as the ordinary soldiers?
Marcus secretly took out a focaccia he had hidden in the commander’s tent and bit a piece.
He remembered the old days when he couldn’t eat rice without kimchi and smiled involuntarily.
“I shouldn’t eat it all at once. I have to save some for later…”
“Brother?”
As he was about to hide the remaining focaccia, Marcus’s eyes met with Publius, who had entered the tent.
They froze for a moment, and then Marcus sat back in his seat with the same posture and said in a calm voice.
“What are you talking about? I was just about to call you. Come here and have one. I know I shouldn’t get personal in a place like this, but you’re my younger brother, so I should take care of you a little bit. Haha, of course, this is a secret.”
Publius changed his expression as if nothing had happened and sat down in front of Marcus with a laugh.
“Hahaha, I misunderstood you again. How could the great Mesopotamicus be so stingy as to hide food and eat it alone? Hahaha!”
“Of course not. What do you think of me?”
As Publius was about to bite a big piece of focaccia, Antonius rushed into the tent.
“Marcus! They…”
He was about to spill out his words, but he saw the food in Marcus and Publius’s hands and his eyes went cold.
“I guess I interrupted your happy time. Should I come back later?”
“Haha, no. I was just about to call you too. Come here and sit down.”
Marcus took out the olives and pickles he had hidden and put them on the table with tears in his eyes.
Antonius saw the food from his hometown that he had missed so much and quickly smiled and sat down.
“I sincerely thank you for your consideration, imperator.”
“Yeah, yeah. Eat and report. What’s going on?”
“Yes. A few days ago, we spotted some barbarians riding horses down to the southeast. They must be the ones who went to inform their main force.”
“That was a few days ago?”
“If we calculate by the speed of their horses, I think they might have reached their main force by now. What should we do?”
The timing was right as expected, not too late or too fast.
Marcus took a pickle to his mouth and smiled casually.
“Tell the legions scattered around to gather together. Let’s move on to the next phase of the operation.”