Starbuck and Dixon's first goal is very clear - to gather the most slave gladiators in the shortest time.
Easier said than done.
Not all slave gladiators are willing to be subordinate to others, especially those with ambitions. Along the way, while they gathered many slave gladiators, they also encountered several groups of fish in troubled waters, and relied on their influence to gather many slave gladiators.
A fighter who respects his own troops and ignores Starbuck and Dixon.
The two champion knights didn't even discuss it. Like two wild humanoid tanks, they rushed into the middle of them and directly cut off their general's head.
In such a situation where the army does not number more than a thousand, clamoring against the champion knights, especially two champion knights, is simply asking for death.
Without the leader, the slave gladiators became a piece of loose sand. It was only natural to join the two champion knights.
They were originally put together temporarily. Most of them had the idea of uniting to protect themselves. They had no feelings for the original generals and it made little difference who they followed.
What's more, there are two famous champion knights on the opposite side, and it is obviously more promising to follow them.
In the evening, Starbuck and Dixon, who had separated into two groups, reunited again. The team led by the two snowballed to 20,000 people. Following them, there were five generals of all sizes.
Person No. 60.
These people showed their outstanding organizational skills in the chaos. Before meeting Starbuck and Dikron, they had already gathered a number of people around them, ranging from seventy to eighty to as many as two to three hundred.
Compared with those unruly people, they are all discerning people. When they see Starbuck or Dickron, they will bow to him without saying a word and call them generals.
For such people, Starbuck and Dikron will pay the greatest attention. After all, what they have to do is a huge thing that cannot be completed by just one or two people. These people have already demonstrated their abilities and are ready to do so.
The backbone of the army must be strengthened, so it is natural to recruit more.
The people under their command are still left to their leadership and will be reorganized when there is an opportunity in the future.
The benefits of this are obvious. Even if the number of people has increased hundreds of times, their management workload has not increased much.
However, there is also a hidden danger, that is, forming a group.
Many people usually have a special sense of belonging to the first group they join. If they break up at the beginning, the group led by Starbuck and Dixon will be their first group, but they don't do this.
, still let the original general take charge.
In such a large group, there are still small groups. These small generals usually have their own selfish motives. If they have any good things or good things, they will naturally try to get them from their own small group, which will further strengthen the internal cohesion of the small group.
Nothing can be seen in a short period of time, but as time goes by, the problem will become bigger. The entire slave gladiator rebellion army will turn into a huge rag - a rag composed of colorful small groups, which can easily tear apart if you are not careful.
.
Starbuck and Dickron obviously did not have such foresight. To be more precise, even if they were aware of it, there was nothing they could do.
After all, there isn't much time for them to waste right now.
"Judging from the reaction of the city defense army, Archduke Borg was seriously injured even if he was not dead. This is our perfect opportunity to take down Faerun Castle in one go. The armaments and food stored in it are enough for us for half a year.
, then our options will be much wider.”
"Faerun Castle has been in operation for many years. There are nearly a thousand elite soldiers stationed inside. The city defense army has been assembled. Once we are stuck in the castle and the city defense army launches an attack from behind, you won't expect us, a group of ragtag people who have not been reorganized, to follow us.
The city defense army will fight head-on, right? Although the equipment and training of the city defense army are far inferior to those of the regular army, they are a hundred times better than our group of troops who can't even hold weapons in their hands."
"Don't look down on yourself so much. Although our composition is a bit complicated and the conditions are indeed a bit more difficult, we have an absolute advantage in terms of numbers, not to mention that we still have gladiators as the main force. If it really doesn't work, let's take down the city defense army first.
, arm yourself with their equipment, and then attack Faerûn Castle.”
"We don't have that much time! If we stay here for one more day, the situation will be even more dangerous. Once we collide with the regular army, even if our number is doubled, we will easily collapse. The most important thing for us now is not to reach the sky in one step.
Instead, we are looking for a stronghold for internal rectification.”
"There will be no time to rectify. In a few days, the entire regular army led by the military will be chasing us like mad dogs. Don't try to compete with the regular army in terms of elite level. It took many years of training and how much military expenditure was spent to raise them.
, even if we carry out reorganization for a year and a half, we are still no match for the other party."
"I don't deny the combat effectiveness of the gladiator brothers, but we had an encounter with the city defense army before. A squadron of city defense troops suppressed hundreds of us and retreated steadily. At that time, there were many knight-level experts among us, and we could not use our skills at all.
If we don’t come out, we should give full play to our greatest advantage.”
"What is our greatest advantage? Number of people! The two adults just climbed up and shouted, and nearly 20,000 people gathered in one city. This shows how unpopular Grand Duke Borg has been for so many years.
One hundred, or eighty, if we sweep through them one by one and expand our military strength tenfold, there will be absolutely no problem."
"When we have hundreds of thousands of troops, even the regular army led by the military will have to retreat when they see us. When the time comes, we will consider taking root and reorganize the elite before it is too late."
"If we really do what you say, wouldn't we become bandits?"
"What's wrong with the rogues? As long as we can achieve final success, do we still care about this reputation? In the eyes of those nobles, we are worthless slaves and thugs who cause trouble! If we can win, who will care?
We can say whatever we want about the process. If it fails, do you still expect those noble gentlemen to say a few good words about us in history?"
"Reputation cannot be ignored at all. We still need more people to join us. If it is spread everywhere that we are bandits, what will those unaware people think? How can they take the initiative to join us?"
"The rogue representatives have no foundation. Once they fail, they will not have the chance to start over again. They must be carefully considered."
"If you don't become rogues, don't you want to be lords? Even if I give you a fortress, are you sure you can defend it from a large-scale counterattack by the entire army? If you can't hold it, it won't be over. Like rogues, they are in constant activity.
Being in the middle is our best way out."
Starbuck and Dickron occupied the private residence of a nobleman.
The original owner didn't know whether he had escaped or was unfortunately killed. When they settled in, they looked like they had been looted by bandits, and no one was breathing.
The hall turned into a temporary council room. Except for Starbuck and Dikron, as well as a few generals with more than 300 troops who grabbed a seat, most people could only stand. However, the temporary team was not so particular.
.
Everyone was blushing and talking loudly about their future.
Their origins determine the height at which they view the world. Most of them are slave gladiators. They grew up in slave training camps from childhood to adulthood. They cannot read a single word. They spend 90% of their lives on the road of training and training. Most of them are slave gladiators.
Part of being able to gather a bunch of people relies on force, not wisdom.
This group of people just gathered together and entered the temporary meeting room and became mute. At most, they could only echo some people's remarks.
The people who really make suggestions are those who have been fortunate enough to have a lot of contact with the outside world. Although they may not be very clever, they have a certain overall view.
In the end, two views prevailed.
One is to take advantage of the strong military momentum, and the regular army led by the military leader has no time to react, to defeat the Solo City defense army in one fell swoop, and take advantage of the situation to capture Faerun Castle.
The reason is very good. Faerun Castle is the root of the Faerun family. It has been in operation for many years and has accumulated a large amount of materials and wealth. Once it is captured, the entire team can be equipped, and the entire Solo City will be under their rule.
Next, we will take advantage of the trend to expand to the surrounding areas, and we will be able to grow in size within a month or two.
There are many people who support this approach, especially those generals who are former ruffians. They follow the riots not for oppression and justice, but purely for money.
In their eyes, Faerûn Castle is the biggest treasure cave. As long as they capture this place and make a lot of money, they don't care about the success or failure of the slave gladiator rebellion. Success is the best, and they will be prosperous and rich together.
If they fail, they also have a fortune at the bottom of the box, giving them the opportunity to change their minds and start over.
Most of the people who oppose it are those who are more knowledgeable and look at the problem from a long-term perspective.
They think the first method is terrible. If nothing else, it is still a question of whether they can crack the hard nut of Faerûn Castle.
The Faerun family has been running Faerun Castle for hundreds of years. It is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and anyone with a discerning eye can see it.
A long and narrow mountain road limited their numerical advantage. The number of troops deployed to attack the city would not exceed a thousand at a time. The number of people gathered together was to deliver food to the trebuchets and ballistas on the top of the city. Without the number of people
Advantage, it is very difficult to capture a castle that has been prepared for a long time.
What's more, the 20,000 people they have now are not all slave gladiators. They can account for at most one-fifth of them. The rest are slaves in Solo City and the bottom class who are not satisfied with their current life.
Some people are hooligans who want to take advantage of the situation, and some are even ordinary citizens who have been coerced into the situation.
There are both men and women, old and young, and you can mix them as much as you want. The fighting power can be imagined.
These people tend to be rogues and develop and strengthen themselves in the movement. The slave gladiators and slaves led by Manyu Army are their best sources of soldiers. They will develop and grow in a snowball, and finally become a torrent that will destroy the entire Manyu army.
The military leaders were overwhelmed.
However, the disadvantages of this are also obvious. There is no logistical supplies and they rely entirely on robbery along the way. Once they are frustrated in attacking a certain city and castle, they will face the dilemma of shortage of logistical supplies. Over time, they will inevitably fall apart.
As the scale increases, the pressure on logistical supplies increases. When the entire Manyu Army has nothing to grab, what should they do?
Both methods have their own advantages and disadvantages, and no one can convince the other, so they can only kick the ball to Starbuck and Dixon.
"Let's ask the two generals to make a decision. No matter what decision they make, I will obey it unconditionally."
"That's right, let's listen to the opinions of the two generals. After all, the uprising was launched by them. It's impossible for them to have no back-up preparations, right?"
"I also firmly support the decisions of the two generals."
Everyone's eyes fell on Starbuck and Dikron again, and Dikron's eyes fell on Starbuck. The other person was the initiator of this matter. He was just brought in passively. Even if there was something
The last move also came from him.
What can I do next?
Starbuck complained in his heart. Before this, although he had great ambitions and thought the success rate was high, in his estimation, it would be great to be able to pull up a team of three to five thousand people.
In that case, they had no other way to go. Even if they could escape the counterattack of the city defense army and become rogues, they would succeed.
Then they should take the path of the second scenario, gaining more supplies and soldiers by attacking cities and strongholds, and growing bigger bit by bit.
But he didn't expect that Solo City's city defense army would be so inactive. After just one day's efforts, he achieved the expected results in a month. Although it was a good thing, it also caught him off guard.
More than 20,000 people represent 20,000 mouths. If you handle them well, they are your own soldiers. If you handle them poorly, they will become your enemies. If you are hungry and anxious, they will eat them first.
However, Starbuck knew very well that he must not reveal his identity at this moment, otherwise his reputation would be fatally affected.
"Both methods have some truth, but neither is comprehensive or advisable. We have just gathered and are not suitable for fighting a tough battle. Victory will certainly boost morale, but failure will easily fall apart!"
Starbuck was born into a noble family and had received a relatively systematic education and study since childhood. His strategic vision was superior to that of everyone present, and he also saw things at a deeper level.
"The most important thing for us now is to obtain the first tranche of military supplies. Only with enough military supplies can we advance, attack, and retreat far away."
Starbuck obviously also has aristocratic bad habits. Although what he said is reasonable and well-founded, it is not really confirmed, and neither party is guilty, so they are allowed to listen.
"General Starbuck deserves to be a knight. He thinks more carefully than we do. We should really start with easy things first and then build up enough self-confidence. Solo City is so big. Those greedy nobles can say more but not more.
There are quite a few, why should we just focus on Faerûn Castle? Just find a few, and the food and money collected will be enough for us to use for several months."
"That's right, that's right. I know where there is a granary. It belongs to a hereditary baron who owns a fief. There are tens of thousands of bags of grain stored in it. The purpose is to hoard supplies so that when the grain shortage starts in spring, he can make a lot of money."
"I know a hereditary viscount's blacksmith shop. There should be a lot of weapons stored in it, enough for us to equip a centurion."
"I know……"
"I know……"
Starbuck's words undoubtedly opened another window and mobilized everyone's enthusiasm. Many people couldn't wait to share the information they had, including those who had always been in the shape of a saw-shaped gourd.
Apparently, they had their own plans before this, but after meeting Starbuck and Dixon, the plan ran aground.