Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece – Insanity Cave
Author: <unknown>
Date: 2022-05-27T16:24:25.149000+00:00

Chapter 01 – The death of Cyrus the Younger (1)

“The king’s army is coming! The king’s army is coming!!…” A scouting cavalry galloped from afar, shouting repeatedly in Persian and Greek.

The soldiers, who were about to stop for a rest, became agitated.

“Patikias, are you telling the truth? Artaxerxes is really coming?!” Seeing the cavalry who had just jumped off the horse, Cyrus the Younger asked immediately.

“Yes, Your Royal Highness. Artaxerxes is coming! Artagasses are here too! And that…damn Tissaphernes is here as well!!” Patikias gasped and said it in a hoarse voice.

“Very good, my friend! Very good! He is here at last!!” Cyrus the Younger jumped off the horse excitedly, and as he let his servant put on his breastplate, he shouted to his adjutant, Ariaeus, “Notify the whole army and prepare for battle!!”

“Yes, Your Highness!” Ariaeus hurriedly calls the messenger, “Notify the Greeks immediately, and quickly line up on our right flank! Prepare to fight!”

The messenger sped away.

Ariaeus also called all the persian generals. Cyrus the Younger allowed them to lead soldiers on their left flank, while he led 800 cavalry in the center.

Artapatus carefully asked, “How many enemies are there?”

“About 60,000…or 80,000…” There was a little fear on his face when Patikias recalled what he had seen.

“So many people!!” The attendants exclaimed with fear.

“Haha! Are you scared? My friend.” Cyrus the Younger came forward and gave Patikias a powerful hug, and he did not mind Patikias’ dusty and sweaty body at all. Then, he turned around and got on the horse and shouted, “Friends, are you afraid?!”

Of course, the followers of Cyrus the Younger expressed their courage one after another.

“Even if Artaxerxes had more soldiers, he is still the timid Artaxerxes! Don’t forget, a small hound could scare him to pee!” Cyrus the Younger’s vulgar words made the people around him laugh.

“And I have you! And my army! Together we defeated the mighty Athens! The Athens that had repeatedly defeated us in Persia!” Cyrus the Younger’s eyes swept through each person and the men straightened their chest.

“We still have the brave Greeks! They fought side by side with us!” Cyrus the Younger looked to the right where the Greek heavy infantry began their slow formation. Seeing this, he felt confident, “We are unstoppable! We are invincible!!”

“For victory” Artapatus shouted first, then everyone screamed one after another, “For victory!!”

In the face of high morale, Cyrus the Younger raised his right hand, “Friends! Warriors! After this victory, I swear to Mazda, the Supreme god, that I will do my best to repay your friendship and dedication!!”

“Cyrus, THE GREAT!!” No one knows who shouted. Immediately, like a flash flood, a loud shout erupted.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Hey, Matonis. Is there something going on?” Davos couldn’t help but slap the shoulder of a soldier that is in front of him.

“How many times have you asked? No! No!” Matonis wiped his sweaty neck with his left hand and irritably shouted, “Why hasn’t the enemy come yet? The sun had already reached the middle of the sky! If we wait any longer, we’ll be scorched by its flame!”

“Matonis, Even if your meat is roasted, I don’t want to smell it. One of this days, I’ll vomit when eating meat.” A soldier’s glib remark next to him caused a burst of laughter among the soldiers.

“Shut up! Olivos, you lecherous guy, if you want me to put your hand in your mouth and let you taste your own meat, then continue talking!” Matonis fiercely threatened while waving his sturdy arm.

“Oh, I am so scared!” Olivos put on a frightened look and caused another burst of laughter.

“Everyone stand up and stop making noises! Meno is coming!” As soon as Hielos’s voice fell, he heard a sharp voice coming, “Little children, what do you think this place is! Is it your family’s dinner place?”

A well-proportioned soldier with a red feather on his helmet stood in front of the square, pointing at them and scolding, “This is the battlefield! If you don’t go all out, then Hades will be happy to visit you!”

“The rotten-mouthed Meno!” Someone in the troops shouted.

“Who said that?! You come out for me!!!” They all laughed and were glad to see Meno jumping in front of them and shouting angrily.

Then someone shouted loudly, “Look ahead!!!”

The soldiers then looked ahead. Soon, the smile on their face was quickly replaced by panic.

Smoke and dust rose everywhere in sight, covering the hills, trees and houses, all of which were grey.

After a while, a thin black line drilled out the smoke and dust, it began to stretch to both sides, gradually becoming thicker…

A moment later, when the soldiers could barely see the outline of the enemy, countless lights began to shine in the dazzling sunlight.

The cold light emitted by the armor, spear and shield… seems to be like the endless Galaxy in the night sky; The sound of footsteps, shouting and hissing of horses gathered into a rolling wave, which made the earth tremble, not to mention the human legs.

Just as Olivos felt like he was about to fall, he heard Hielos shout, “Ready to fight!”

“Ready to fight!!”

“Ready to fight!!!”

Greek mercenary soldiers put on their helmet, took off the shield hanging on their left shoulder, held their spears, and began to strike their shields.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!…” The loud noise made Olivos realize that he is also in a powerful army, and his mood gradually calmed down.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Persian king’s army is still moving slowly and orderly, The chariots are at the forefront, followed by the archers without armor, next came the light cavalry, and finally the infantries with long-shield and spear, the sparabara. The heavy cavalry is divided into two parts, some of them are to protect the Persian King; some are deployed on the far left wing of the army…

The vast Persian army is like the thick clouds in the sky before a storm, slowly pressing and suffocating.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At this moment, Cyrus the Younger, with several followers, galloped left to right, giving instructions to every Greek mercenary leader…

With constant cheers, he had reached the far right end of the Greek army formation, and he could even see the roaring Euphrates river not far away.

“Honor to you, Your Highness!” Clearchus performed a military salute.

Cyrus the Younger looked at the Greek whom he trusted most, then pointed to the central location of the Persian King’s army and said, “When the battle begins, I want you to lead your men straight into the center of the enemy. Kill Artaxerxes, the victory of this battle must be ours!”

Chapter 02 – The death of Cyrus the Younger (2)

Clearchus looked at the much thicker phalanx in the enemy’s centre and saw that the enemy’s left wing was longer than his own. Although he had been fully supportive of Cyrus the Younger from the beginning, it doesn’t mean that he would obey his orders. So he bluntly refused: “Your Highness, I think we should first defeat the enemy’s left-wing and then hit the enemy’s centre; this would be much safer.”

“I know Artaxerxes, understand the Persian army and also understand your Greek phalanx as well! Believe me, my friend, your army will easily defeat the army of Artaxerxes! Although he has more troops, it’s useless. We will still defeat Artaxerxes!” Cyrus the Younger persuaded him.

Clearchus stubbornly shook his head: “Your Highness! I apologise, but I will not expose the phalanx flank to the enemy troops!”

Cyrus the Younger frowned and stared at Clearchus, but there was no time for him to organise his words to persuade the other party. As for ordering them by force, the other party is a mercenary and not his men.

“Alright, just do what you have said!” Cyrus the Younger turned his horse head. Then abruptly pulled the reins and returned.

When the two armies were about 500 meters apart, the Greek soldiers began to sing the song of Ares, the God of war and marched forward.

The two armies were only less than 200 metres apart once they finished their song.

“Ares!!!” The soldiers shouted in unison, then they started to jog, then ran faster and faster… “boom! Boom! Boom!…” as tens of thousands of Greek hoplites converged, their footsteps were like thunder gathering energy to break the dark night with lightning!

Besides the few chariots that rushed straight through the Greek army, accompanied by screams, broken limbs and finally disappearing into silence. The Persians on the opposite side forgot to shoot their arrows and raise their shields as they were completely frightened by the overwhelming sea of steel as the Greek army approached.

When the two armies were more than a dozen meters apart, the Persians collapsed as they turned around and fled.

The Greeks did not expect that victory would come so quickly. So with their abundant energy, the Greeks pursued their enemies more vigorously.

At first, the captains like Hielos kept reminding their teammates: “Stay in formation, don’t run too fast! Stay in formation…”

But the team still got completely dispersed, and all Greeks pursued in excitement.

Cyrus the Younger, who is currently in the centre, didn’t expect the victory of the right-wing to come so fast, and for a moment, he was somewhat stunned.

“Cyrus the Great, Long live!!!” The attendants had begun to wave their spears and shouted victory.

“Your Highness, are we going to follow suit?” Artapatus asked him.

He shook his head and looked straight ahead to his left.

He knows very well that only by killing that man can he attain the supreme crown.

“Messenger! Let the left-wing that Ariaeus leads to stop and prepare for defence!” Cyrus the Younger immediately issued an order. He knew very well that his strongest force was the Greek mercenaries; now that the Greeks had defeated the enemy’s left-wing, he did not have to rush to let his left-wing, which was obviously smaller than the enemy’s, clash with the enemy’s right-wing. In case of a quick defeat, the battle would be troublesome. Thus it would be better to wait as long as possible for the return of the Greek mercenaries who had pursued the defeated army, and victory would be in his hands.

But while he patiently waited for the enemy to come, the other side’s centre stopped moving.

Soon, his expression changed as the enemy’s centre began to split into two, with the left part changing direction towards the left.

“Not good! They want to attack the Greeks!!” Artapatus shouted.

The scattered Greek hoplites that were pursuing the defeated army would likely fall into chaos if they were attacked from the rear by the enemy, causing the situation to reverse.

“Artaxerxes, how dare you change formation on the battlefield. Did you really think that because I have fewer cavalry, I won’t dare take the initiative to attack?!” Cyrus the Younger sneered and quickly decided. He raised his spear and pointed forward: “Command the right-wing to speed up! Cavalries, follow me!”

“Your Highness, please put on your helmet!” The attendant hastily handed over his helmet. Afterwards, Cyrus the Younger rushed out, with the attendants on his left and right rushed to catch up and protect him.

More than 800 cavalries formed a wedge-shaped formation and sped straight towards the Persian king’s central troops.

Artagases, the commander of the Persian king’s central troops, did not expect that Cyrus the Younger dared to attack at this time and hurriedly deployed their cavalry to intercept. However, at this moment, their army is currently changing positions, so the vast revolving infantry formation blocked the cavalry’s way forward, and squeezing out thousands of cavalry from the gap in the formation wouldn’t be easy. Together with the galloping cavalry, Cyrus the Younger has already reached the Persians.

At the burst of neighing horses, the hastily patched cavalry defence of the Persian army got instantly torn apart.

Then, like a sharp knife, the cavalry of Cyrus the Younger plunged into the Persian king’s central troops that were turning around.

Cyrus the Younger was brave and fierce; he used to hunt black bears by himself. Birds of a feather flock together as his cavalry and followers are also warriors. When facing the back of their enemies, they didn’t even waste their spears*. Instead, they use their horse’s high-speed charge to break into the enemy formation and crush the enemy. (Because there were no stirrups at that time, and when the moving cavalry stabbed the enemy, they had to let go immediately, or the reactive force would push them off),

Affected by the defeat of the left-wing, the Persian infantry who took the lead began to flee, and the cavalry of Cyrus the Younger took advantage of the situation to hunt them down. Suddenly, Cyrus the Younger caught sight of the Persian king’s chariot in the dust. Because of the initial collapse of the main force on the left side of Persia’s central troops, it formed a big gap that caused the Persian king, who was in the rear, to be naturally exposed.

“Left!!” Cyrus the Younger was so excited that he swung his spear to bypass Persia’s central troops that had come to rescue and obliquely pierced towards the Persian king’s rear troops. Afterwards, dozens of cavalry followed.

“Come quickly! Protect the King!!” The Persian king’s imperial guard general, Artagases, shouted while he took the lead on guarding against the nearby enemy cavalry and intercepting them.

Faced with a swarm of enemies, Cyrus the Younger had no fear; he pulled out his Greek sword and clamped on the horse’s belly with both legs. When he saw the right moment, the spear on his right hand deflected the spear that Artagases fiercely stabbed. He then extended the sword on his left hand, and without any effort, he easily cut off Artagases’ neck with the Greek sword and the help of the horse’s forward momentum…..

Cyrus the Younger killed several people with his superb skill and riding skills. Soon, his cavalry caught up and blocked the other enemy horses for him. Between him and Artaxerxes, the Persian king, only the royal guards remained around the chariot. He could even clearly see his brother’s frightened face.

Thinking of his imprisonment and thinking of him occupying the throne that should be his (It’s just Cyrus the Younger’s imagination, the old Persian King didn’t even think about passing the throne to him), rage burned in his chest: “Artaxerxes!” He roared and threw out the spear in his hand; with the sound of exclamation, the spear flew through the gap between the royal guards and hit the Persian king in the chest.

The Persian king screamed and fell from his chariot.

Suddenly, chaos befell once they saw the Persian king fall. Cyrus the Younger finally vented his anger, and he wildly laughed, as if the Persian crown had arrived, but he did not hear the cavalry behind him that was urgently shouting: “Your Highness, look out! LOOK OUT!!…”

The laughter came to an abrupt end. A javelin flew out of the chaotic crowd and hit him in the eye.

Without uttering a word, Cyrus the Younger quickly fell off his horse…

Chapter 03 – Rebirth

“Brothers, I brought you something to eat.” Said Hielos as he entered the small tent.

The quiet military tent suddenly became lively as the few people who were lying down stood up and, like a hungry wolf, grabbed the food from Hielos’ arms as quickly as they could.

“Hielos, I would have starved to death if you didn’t come back.” Matonis chewed the half-cooked horse meat, which he usually disdained, but now it was indescribable delicious in his mouth.

“I got it from Antonios. Menon asked them to form a special team and risk getting attacked by the Persians to drag back the dead horses from the battlefield.” Hielos sighed and looked at the man lying in the innermost part of the tent and asked with concern, “How is Davos? Has he woken up?”

“He woke up. But he was in a daze all this time, he seemed unable to recognise those who spoke with him, and he didn’t say a word. It seems he is currently asleep now.” Giorgris answered gloomily.

“I think he might have sat on Charon’s boat when he accidentally fell into Lethe, now he has lost his memory.” Olivos said.

“Shut up!” Matonis reached out and pressed on Olivos’ head and pushed him away.

Hielos then forcefully separated the two men and screamed, “We’re all from the same town in Thessaly. In the land thousands of miles away from home and surrounded by enemies. If we don’t unite, I’m afraid we won’t be able to return.”

Silence suddenly fell in the tent.

Hielos felt the heavy atmosphere, so he comfortingly said, “I’ve seen several warriors who were hit in the head badly. At first, they are confused, but they’ll be normal after resting. Maybe by tomorrow morning, Davos will be able to greet us with a smile.”

“Davos is also a veteran warrior. How could he fall when pursuing!” Olivos had just irritatedly said a couple of words, and when he saw Matonis staring at him again, he immediately closed his mouth.

“Hielos, did Cyrus the Younger win or was he defeated?” The temporary silence made Giorgris unable to help but speak out the most concerned but fearful problem that all of them were facing.

Previously, only after returning to the battlefield from their pursuit of the fleeing enemies did they find out the Persian troops were still there, while Cyrus the Younger’s troops had disappeared. Because it was getting late, the two armies had no desire to continue fighting, so after they confronted for a while, the Persian troops retreated.

Only then did the Greek mercenaries discover that their camp had been looted. Due to their tiredness and hungriness, the soldiers naturally had no energy to think about and ask this very important question.

“Cyrus the Younger had led the cavalry. Whether they were victorious or got defeated, he could easily leave the battlefield and join us tomorrow to fight the Persian king once more.” Hielos lightly said.

“But the Persian king’s army was much larger than ours. So if Cyrus the Younger really got defeated, then there will be fewer troops to join us tomorrow.” Giorgris worriedly said.

“What are you afraid of? We have more than 10,000 hoplites! The Persians are as timid as rabbits! So no matter how many people dared to fight us, I still had not killed enough to be satisfied! Thus if there’s another battle tomorrow, it would just be right!” As soon as Matonis hear Giorgris, he encourages everyone in his own way.

“Even if Cyrus the Younger was defeated, we defeated their left-wing and killed many of them. Tomorrow, they will only have fewer soldiers than today!” Hielos is equally confident.

“These damn Persians destroying our camp, stole our food and stole a lot of my silver coins! Tomorrow we’re going to beat them and get our things back!” Matonis said angrily.

“That’s right!” Everyone hated the enemy, “We should not only take back our things but also take their things.”

“Oh!” Olivos thought of something and excitedly said, “I heard that they also captured the women of Cyrus the Younger with only one managing to escape. That’s the one I told you last time….a beautiful woman like Aphrodite. I heard that Clearchus took her into his camp! He will definitely have a fun time tonight!….” Olivos gulped and said in a sullen voice.

“Don’t talk nonsense!” Hielos warned him.

“Olivos. You must defeat the Persian king tomorrow and grab one of his women.”

“Oh, that is a great idea! Matonis, you really are smart once in a while.”

“Damn Olivos, do you want to get beaten again!”

While several people were talking and laughing, a hoarse voice came from the innermost part of the tent, “Don’t just think that Cyrus the Younger only got defeated! He has died!”

Tissaphernes arrived at the tent of the Persian king, and Masabates, the eunuch, was already waiting at the entrance, “The king is waiting for you. Quickly go in!”

When Tissaphernes gave his sword to the royal guard next to him, he found that the eunuch, whom the Persian King trusted the most, was somewhat melancholy and couldn’t help but think about, ‘Is his majesty hurt badly?’

Once he entered, a rich aroma of frankincense hit his nose, with a mixed scent of a few herbs.

Artaxerxes was lying on his side on the couch, dressed in a gorgeous scarlet gown with his bare chest wrapped in a white cloth that had faint blood seeping out. Beside him was a beautiful maid gently rubbing his shoulders and next stood the physician, Ctesias.

Ctesias then immediately withdrew once he saw Tissaphernes enters.

Artaxerxes asked him to wait outside his tent, allowing him to summon him immediately in case of any change in his condition.

Once he saw the Greek physician withdraw from the tent, Tissaphernes half-knelt and bowed his head, then said, “Your highness, please punish me for losing the battle!”

Artaxerxes did not speak, making Tissaphernes begin to feel a little uneasy, so he knelt more motionlessly on the ground.

It took a long time till he heard Artaxerxes speak, “You were defeated, Tissaphernes. But at least you dared to fight. I heard that you led your cavalry around the Greek’s hoplite and attacked their rear, only to be defeated by their peltast and almost got hit by a Greek javelin.”

“Yes, your highness. You know everything!” Tissaphernes sighed in relief.

“You’re much braver than those who run away before they even fight! Get up!” Artaxerxes was somewhat dissatisfied with the Persian troop’s left-wing’s performance yesterday; he then increased his voice, “I’m not as lucky as you are. Cyrus’s spear struck me, but fortunately, my armour was strong enough and allowed me to have the opportunity to strike him down!”

Wasn’t the guard Mithridates the one to strike Cyrus the Younger with his spear? Tissaphernes was surprised, but he did not show it. Instead, he spoke with admiration and excitement.

“Your highness, everyone used to say that Cyrus was brave. Yesterday on the battlefield, when we were about to suffer defeat, your majesty, at great risk that a king should not take, bravely stepped forward and personally killed Cyrus the rebel! And made us win an incredible victory! Your highness, you deserve to be the king of kings! You were born brave!”

Masabadi and Ctesias also immediately expressed their admiration for the heroic performance of the Persian king.

Artaxerxes looked flushed and said with resentment, “Cyrus has always been victorious since we were children. But as a brother, I have always let him be. Even last time when he tried to assassinate me at the ceremony, I still forgave him for mother’s sake! However, I did not expect that he would regard my kindness as weakness and deception, and dared to start a rebellion!! For the sake of the empire’s stability, I have to execute him even if he is my brother!”

“The king’s benevolence is well known to all the empire’s people! Cyrus, who doesn’t know anything, is guilty of seducing outsiders and invading the empire’s land!..” Tissaphernes spoke with great enthusiasm.

Artaxerxes nodded and coughed a few times as he had spent a lot of energy talking, “My Satrap, you have exposed Cyrus’ conspiracy to me many times, and your governance of Asia Minor has always been excellent! When this rebellion is over, I will reward you well!”

“Your Majesty, as the satrap of Asia Minor, this is my duty!” Tissaphernes solemnly said.

Then a complex expression appeared on Tissaphernes as a large earthen pot was placed on the wooden table in front of his left hand, “This is Cyrus’ head and hands that Masabadi cut off. Take it to the Greek camp and let them surrender immediately!!”

Note: There were two parties that have left a record of the Battle of Cunaxa, one is Xenophon and the other is the Persian Physician Ctesias, and his record was quoted by Plutarch during the Roman Empire in his 《Biography of Artaxerxes》, in which the Greek’s Hoplite defeated the Persian’s right wing a lot harder than what Xenophon had written. I chose Xenophon’s account in the novel, although his description is exaggerated, it can explain some of the strange performance of the Persians after the war.

. is the ferryman of Hades who carries souls of the newly deceased across the rivers Styx and Acheron that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead.
. was one of the five rivers of the underworld of Hades.
. is an aromatic resin used in incense and perfumes, obtained from Boswellia trees.
. was a Greek physician and historian.
. was a type of light infantry, originating in Thrace and Paeonia, who often served as skirmishers in Hellenic and Hellenistic armies.
. was a young Persian soldier who accidentaly killed Cyrus the Younger and he later got executed for kill stealing.

Chapter 04 – Davos

“Yes, your highness!” Tissaphernes couldn’t help but look at Masabates and thought, ‘No wonder this guy looks ugly, if the queen mother Parysatis knew that her most beloved son was beheaded and his hands got cut off, then she absolutely won’t give up.’

“Tissaphernes, do you think the Greeks will surrender?”

“Your highness!… With my knowledge of the Greek mercenary’s main leaders, I’m afraid…it would be hard. However, there may be a small number of people that is willing to obey your majesty’s will!” Tissaphernes said cautiously.

“It’s also good to cause internal strife among them.” Artaxerxes rubbed his finger across his jaw. Yesterday, the rapid impact of the Greek hoplite caused him to have a lingering fear, “…If they do not want to surrender, then they must be… expelled. This rebellion has already killed too many Persians! Don’t let these rude and savage Greeks continue plundering our property on my land! and killing my people!” Artaxerxes sighed. He has a gentle nature and does not like to argue with others. Otherwise, he would not tolerate Cyrus the Younger until now, which led to this great chaos. Even when Cyrus the Younger had started his army, he still hesitated and wanted to retreat eastward. If it had not been for his ministers’ vigorous dissuasion and full support, yesterday’s battle would not even have happened.

“Your highness, you love the empire’s people like your own children! It is a great joy for the empire to have such a kind monarch as you!” Tissaphernes’ words came from his heart. In fact, this character of Artaxerxes has won the support of the vast majority of ministers and nobles, which made Cyrus the Younger’s rebellion have no major turmoil in the core area of the empire.

“Your highness, this one has an idea!… It’s better to drive the Greeks to the north…” Tissaphernes said.

Artaxerxes pondered about it as he knew that Tisaphenes did not want the Greeks to once more trample on his jurisdiction – Asia Minor.

“Northward…” His eyes lit up, and he thought of the unyielding and unruly mountain tribes, such as the Carducians.

‘Have them fight those barbarians!’ He thought, with a smile on his lips.

“You are entirely responsible for this matter! I await your good news in Persepolis!” After saying that, he couldn’t wait to go home due to the news yesterday that another riot had occurred in eastern Persepolis. So he must return to the capital city as soon as possible. Moreover, he also began to miss his queen Stateira.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Early in the morning, mist covered the Cunaxa area, and the entire Greek military camp was quiet as most people were still asleep.

Davos stepped out of the tent and looked curiously at the strange place.

Yes, he is no longer Davos himself; his soul is from 21st century China. As a government civil servant, he suffered for more than ten years before being promoted to director of the city’s high-tech development zone. His friends arranged a feast to celebrate his promotion, causing him to be very drunk. But when he woke up, he found himself in a strange place and became someone else.

He had pinched his thighs several times just to prove that he was dreaming, and to this day, his thighs still hurt.

After a long night of adaptation and his strong adaptability, he no longer wondered why he was here. Back when he joined the government office, he was first in the civil service examination in the whole city. Yet, he was sent to a remote and impoverished mountain area as a village official and stayed there for several years. Still, he persevered and won the favour of the county leaders with excellent performance, and he was recalled to take an important task.

…just that his parents and his girlfriend, who he is about to marry…now they are separated by time and space, and they won’t meet again…he took a long breath and tried to dispel away his sadness.

He slowly walked a short distance to calm his mood a bit. After he wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes and warned himself, ‘Now that I had arrived at a new world, let’s live tenaciously.’

According to the memory of this body, he knew that “he” was a Thessalian. Two years ago, at the age of 17, he went out to work as a mercenary with his village friends to earn money because of their livelihood. A year ago, Macedonia and Thessaly clashed with the Macedonian cavalry attacking his hometown, killing his parents and capturing his relatives; now, he’s alone. Currently, he was following the mercenary leader Meno to fight for Prince Cyrus the Younger of Persia.

Last night, his companions thought he was asleep, but in fact, he had been listening to their conversation, which allowed him to learn more about the situation. As a promising young man of the 21st century, he barely counts as an impatient youth. And when he was a village official, he spent most of his time surfing the net in order to survive the long lonely night on some military forums, and it had almost become his sideline. Thus he came to know a lot about history and military knowledge, so he knows that he may have been in a period after the Peloponnesian War.

As for the Greek mercenaries who helped the Persian prince usurp the throne, which part of Western history is involved? As someone whose career does not relate to history, he really can’t think of it as the requirements are too high. Thus it was not until someone said the phrase “We are the ten thousand Greek infantry”, which evoked his memory that was hidden.

Those forums once advocated that one must read some books in order to understand the ancient history of the west. And one of the books listed in the list is 《Anabasis》, which aroused his curiosity, ‘Did the ancient west also have a long march?’ Because the author happens to be a famous historical person he knew, he conveniently searched the net. Only then did he find out that it originated from the famous ancient western historical event “Retreat of the Tens Thousand Greeks”.

As Davos vaguely remembered that the rebellious prince died in the incident due to his rashness, he ended up blurting it out in a moment of urgency. But he did not think that the other had more or less hoped for Cyrus the Younger to be victorious and everyone’s desire to make a fortune together, so they completely could not accept his guess.

Faced with the questioning one after another, he did not want to have a conflict with his companions after he first arrived and perhaps he also had a slight fantasy in his heart, ‘maybe this isn’t that historical event.’ So he kept quiet.

As a result, everyone was left unhappy. That night, he didn’t sleep well as the strange environment and the fear of the future made him toss and turn, giving him a hard time falling asleep.

Early the following day, he walked out of the tent and faced this strange new world for the first time. He saw tents one after another, which seemed endless at a glance.

Breathing the damp and fresh air, he summoned up the courage to move forward. Occasionally, he saw some people coming out of the tent and would come to greet him, so he responded with a smile. While the warriors who knew he was wounded will ask him about his injury with concern, he will stop to express his gratitude and take the opportunity to chat a few words to get some information from the others. Obviously, it is not because he is an important person that people will treat him kindly; it is because the mercenaries under Meno, some of whom are Thessalians, and many of them even fought side by side with him for more than two years, and they are familiar with each other. And as he continued his walk, the strangeness that he felt gradually dissipated.

Not far came the neighs of the horses and the sheep’s baa, attracting him to go forward. In the memory of Davos, this vast area enclosed by wooden fences and located in the centre of their military camp was the mercenary camp led by Meno. Besides the numerous packed horses and mules, there are also some cattle and sheep that they looted along the way and a batch of food distributed to Meno by Cyrus the Younger. In addition, there are merchants stationed inside, and when passing through the big cities, there will even be nearby people coming here to earn money.

But when he came to the entrance, a guard with spears stopped him.

“No one is allowed to enter without Meno’s orders!” A fatty angrily shouted behind the guard.

Davos looked at him and turned around as he didn’t want to get into trouble. Behind him, he could hear the fatty reprimand the guards, “The next time someone comes, you have to be more fierce. Otherwise, you would not suppress the thieves! From last night till now, we have already lost five sheep. So before Meno could punish me, I will punish you first!”

‘It seems that the mercenary has a serious shortage of food!’ He doesn’t know how much food the Persian troops looted yesterday, so he began thinking about it while walking. Before he knew it, a simple wall with branches and sticks loosely inserted in the soil blocked his progress. Although there were still dense tents ahead, he realised that they were the camps of the other mercenary groups.

By this time, the sun had risen to a high altitude and the dense for gradually dispersed, allowing him to see far away. With the high and vast sky, Davos indulged in the refreshing wind for a while… Listening to his companions, the city ahead should be Babylon and not far away is the Euphrates River: one is the capital of one of the four ancient civilisations, the legendary Hanging Garden that makes one yearn, and the other is the famous mother river of Mesopotamia. But he doesn’t know if he will have the chance to see it.

However, the sudden seething camp alarmed him. A feeling of uneasiness surged into his mind, and he returned quickly.

At this time, the soldiers rushed out of the tent one after another and began talking with each other with a nervous and uneasy look. And the words that came into his ears were converted into four words: Cyrus the Younger died!

His heart sank: This is really the great Retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks! Next, they were going to spend the next few days running!

Chapter 05 – God’s Favored

Davos was frightened as he walked along the already crowded camp corridor and nearly tripped several times. Yet, when he lifted the curtain and got inside the tent, he was greeted by four pairs of eyes with odd expressions.

But compared to the noise outside, the tent is quiet.

“Davos, Cyrus the Younger…is dead!” Olivos said in a strange tone, “You manage to guessed it, he is really dead!”

“I already heard what the others said.” Davos sat back on his “bed” and his mood has somewhat calmed down.

Hielos looked at this calm comrade of his; as a fellow villager living in the same village, they are both familiar with each other. However, he gave him a strange feeling at this moment, “Antonios just came over and said, Ariaeus, the adjutant of Cyrus the Young, sent someone to inform us that Cyrus the Younger has died in battle. He is currently gathering the scattered soldiers to join us.”

“Davos, I wanna beat you up for making me unable to sleep well last night. But I didn’t expect you were right!” Matonis scratched his head embarrassingly.

“Next, what should we do?” Giorgris’ words made everyone look at Davos with strange expression again.

Davos was wondering what was going on, when Olivos impatiently said, “Speak up! What oracle did Hades gave you?”

Davos looked at them with surprise. Only then did he understand why they were behaving strangely; they thought that he had received the favour of Hades.

When the news of Cyrus the Younger’s death spread to the ears of Hielos, they were surprised that Davos’ words were true, so they began discussing Davos. After summing up everyone’s views, they were surprised to find that almost everyone thought that their youngest companion, who they had been taking care of, woke up from a coma and behaved and spoke differently from his original behaviour, like a different person(although Davos didn’t speak much last night, the temperament of a modern man is naturally quite different from that of the ancients.)

So they thought that Davos must have been lucky enough to meet Hades and got his help to return to the world of the living. Moreover, the way he woke up is a bit scary; when they found him on the battlefield, he remained unconscious no matter how they call him, then his eyes suddenly opened wide.

So now that everybody was feeling helpless, this comrade of theirs who had received “god’s help” obviously became their only way to save their lives.

And Davos found it amusing getting such an opportunity. Because in this age of ignorance, even though the Greeks were not as superstitious as the Persians about gods, the Greek gods were closely related to every aspect of life. But Davos did not dare to take credit because he only knew that there was such a historical event and he doesn’t know the explicit process.

“What oracle! I just like thinking about the worst that could happen, only in this way I can be prepared in case of danger.”

‘To like thinking for the worst! Do you think we do not know what kind of person you were before? You were a foolish boy who only knew how to fight and brawl! Now that kid actually knows how to think, so if the gods did not favour you, how come your way of speaking changed?! Could it be that Hades told him to keep it a secret?!’ The four people understandingly looked at each other. The stories about gods that their parents told them every day from an early age had influenced them, letting them know about the whims of the gods and the complicated taboos. So for the sake of their safety, they stopped asking questions and expectantly looked at him.

The way their eyes see Davos is similar to that of the impoverished mountain people who hoped that the college student could change the prospect of the village when Davos first became a village official. Like them, he doesn’t know what to do. Davos sighed in his heart. But suddenly, his mind jolted and asked, “Do any of you know Xenophon?”

The four shook their heads.

“You mean Xenophon could help us?” Olivos couldn’t help but ask.

Davos smiled and said nothing. He felt it strange that nobody has heard of him, since on the internet, Xenophon had led the retreat and wrote a book, so he ought to be a mercenary leader!

“Where is Xenophon from? Is he part of our troops?” Hielos asked.

“He…probably…he…should be an Athenian.” Davos still knows Xenophon’s birthplace. After all, Xenophon was an ancient western writer, a military strategist, and a disciple of Socrates.

“When I have time, I’ll go ask people from the other camps.” Hielos earnestly said.

“Hopefully he isn’t under Clearchus! Otherwise, we can’t look for him!” said Giorgris. The relationship between the two leaders, Clearchus and Meno, was so bad that even the mercenaries under them also hated each other.

“It’s just a fight? Just beat them! We Thessalians are not afraid of those bastards!” Matonis said excitedly.

“Who are you going to fight?” The tent was opened and a man got inside – the man is Antonios.

Through the memory of this body, Davos knew that he was their platoon leader. However, the people in the tent continued to sit and lie down; none of them stood up to salute. After all, they are mercenaries, and he had no authority at all except during battles.

“We are telling jokes.” said Hielos.

“There’s a lot of noise outside, and you can still joke around, good! Good!” Antonios said half-jokingly.

He looked at the people in the tent and said to Hielos, “Meno asked me to inform you squad leaders and to console our brothers. Cyrus the Younger had an unforeseen death, but fortunately, his troops are still there, so we still have the upper hand, while the Persians are at a disadvantage, which still hasn’t changed. Tomorrow after meeting up with Cyrus the Younger’s adjutant, Ariaeus, we’ll have at least 30,000 men! At that time, we will defeat the Persian king once more and give us much more benefits! Maybe we will…we will even support a new Persian king!!”

Antonios was satisfied with their surprised expression and was ready to turn around, but got grabbed by Hielos, “Consoling the brothers can be, but you must let them eat their fill! Although everyone ate some raw horse meat from last night, everyone is still hungry! And there is no news from Mersis. So if they couldn’t eat, I can’t guarantee what’s going to happen!”

“Yes! That’s right! If we can’t eat, we will quit!” everyone shouted.

Antonios patted his stomach and embarrassingly said, “I’m also hungry, and my stomach is growling. Now the whole military camp has a food shortage. Besides urging Mersis to think of a solution, Meno himself went to Proxenus, as I heard that his camp have suffered fewer losses yesterday. But even if we could get some, it won’t be much for everyone, so let’s put up with it for a day!” Antonios finished and rushed out of the tent.

Hielos sighed and said to everyone, “I’ll take a look at the other tent.” He also went outside. Hielos was a squad leader and was in charge of 9 men, and the five other men lived in the adjacent tent.

Earlier, Davos had been entangled with his past and present life, that he hadn’t realized that he hadn’t eaten anything. After listening to everyone’s trouble, Davos’ stomach began to growl.

But he could only imitate the others and wrapped himself in a sheep blanket, and lay on the “bed” in order to reduce physical consumption.

Chapter 06 – Chess Player

After a moment of silence in the tent, Olivos said: “It’s a pity that Cyrus the Younger died in battle. Although he is a Persian prince, but he is polite and likes to help people, and he is also handsome and very popular with the ladies, even the Cilisian queen became his mistress. If he didn’t die, he would’ve been a good king!”

Being handsome and able to flirt with the ladies, is a good king? What rubbish logic is that! Davos secretly criticized.

“Yeah! Cyrus the Younger does not look down on us like the other Persians, he is sincerely kind to us Greeks! If he were the king, we Greeks would have a better relationship with the Persians!” said Giorgris.

“And he is a warrior, not weak like the other Persians!” Matonis chimed in.

“The most important is that he is very generous! Giving us a lot of gold coins!” Olivos emphasized another sentence that led everyone to agree.

Is this a memorial service for Cyrus the Younger? Davos was amused, according to the memory of his body, he couldn’t help but say: “Is Cyrus the Younger generous? I don’t think so! You see, first of all, he owed us more than 3 months of salary, but he didn’t gave it until the Cilisian king inspected the troops and paid us 4 months worth of salary.”

“When we suspect that Cyrus the Younger was going to fight the Persian king and refuse to move forward, he tried to persuade us by increasing our salary from one daric gold coin to one and a half, only then did we agree. For the next 2 months, did he give the money? Don’t forget that he once ordered us to threaten the Cilisian king and the timid king gave him a lot of money. When we found out about Cyrus the Younger’s plan, there was a big protest at the assembly, Cyrus the Younger promised afterwards that when capturing Babylon, he will give us five silver coin each. But did he gave it?”

After a while, Olivos bitterly answered: “He is dead!”

“You see, Cyrus the Younger did not spend his own silver coin and took us to a place about 1,500 km away from Greece – on a hostile land filled with dangerous enemies. If he had told us from the beginning that he was going to fight the Persian King, would we have agreed?”

The three shook their heads like a puppet.

“He concealed the truth. Giving little benefit at a time, just like using grasses to lure the sheep to go forward, and in the end, we have no choice but to agree.” Davos exclaimed: “Cyrus the Younger is a clever swindler! Without paying any price, he let more than 10,000 Greeks fight to the death for his conspiracy.”

There was another silence in the tent, and soon Olivos began to swear: “Damn Cyrus the Younger! Damn Persian! and that idiot Meno! Every damn time that he actively let us be the vanguard, he kept saying that Cyrus the Younger would appreciate us and give us more in return. Meno is a fool. His mouth is not only rotten, but even his head is rotten. Sooner or later, we’ll get killed by him!…fuck…my stomach…I’m going to starve to death!”

Davos was amused seeing Olivos making a scene. Not to mention the collusion in the old government, even the Kangxi Emperor on TV and the emerging emperor after Qianlong, even if he have not eaten pork, but he have seen pig run!

Cyrus the Younger was born in the mankind’s center of conspiracy – the court and getting the position of military commander in western Persia isn’t simple. Just watching him as he fool around with the Greeks, you can see how strong his wrists are. As for Meno, he probably isn’t foolish, as a mercenary leader, he may have known Cyrus the Younger’s plan on pushing his compatriots into the pit of fire long ago, but he was only interested in the profit.

“Davos, you couldn’t say such remark in the past. You really…really…” Matonis cautiously asked.

Davos knew that Matonis and “himself” had a good relationship due to both of them having a similar personality. So, he said: “Matonis, I am still me no matter what, I will always be your good brother! Thank you for taking care of me all this time! I hope you can continue on helping me!” With the repeatedly veiled reference to “God’s Favored” thing, Davos is now considering it, having experience society for the past 30 years and play as a simple-minded 19 year old Greek, he didn’t want to pretend, nor couldn’t, might as well just let the others think that way, that should be…good enough. Therefore, he neither denied nor acknowledged and gave a vague answer.

He haven’t expected that his words made Matonis became more lively: “You can rest assured! With me here, no one will dare to bully you!”

“Davos, can we return home?” Giogris’ voice is filled with worry.

Evidently, Davos disclosure of Cyrus the Younger made them begin to doubt their abilities.

Davos smiled bitterly. Although he did not know the development of this historical event, the Chinese history told him that the emperor of a feudal dynasty hated nothing more than rebellion. Unless the Persian king is mentally ill, he will definitely wiped them out completely, in order to deter all those who harbors different ideas!

As for attacking the Persian army and capturing Babylon. Davos is not optimistic, otherwise the name of this event should be called “Great March of the Ten Thousand Greeks” rather than “Great Retreat”. However, he said: “Don’t worry! We will return home smoothly.”

He leaned his head and looked at the others who have now a much relaxed expression, and sighed in his heart: it’s good being a simple-minded guy. Not even thinking about how the current situation is completely dangerous and placing their life on an “Oracle” is also a blessing.

Davos is thinking about it, when his mind jolted, he suddenly remembered a movie he had seen in his previous life 《2012》, when the world’s calamity came, those rich and powerful can easily sit on one of the 7 arks, while the ordinary civilians can only depend on luck, a chess piece can only be at the the mercy of others; only by becoming a chess player can he grasp his destiny in his own hands! But how to become one?

In the afternoon, Hielos squad was assigned half a bag of wheat flour and more than a dozen dates.

Everyone struggled and started making bread. Davos asked as he actively helped, because he has nothing to refer from his memory.

The ancient Greek bread making is actually similar to that of chinese noodles, and the most important thing is the fermentation. Bread was the staple food of the Greeks and they carry yeast when they march during war, and it’s well preserved.

After kneading the flour, they then put it on the iron plate and bake it using the firewood they collected. In the evening, only then did they ate the crude bread. They filled their stomach and hurriedly went to sleep.

In the early morning of the next day, Hielos woke everyone up and told them: “The messenger of Ariaeus arrived and said, ‘He is going to take his troops back to his hometown in Asia Minor’. The leaders are not willing to go back empty-handed and promise him ‘if Ariaeus is willing to continue attacking Babylon with them, they would like to make him the king of Persia.’ and they sent Cheirisophus and Meno together with the messenger in order to persuade Ariaeus.”

“Why did they send Meno?” Matonis asked puzzled.

“Don’t you know that Meno has a good relationship with Ariaeus?” Olivos smiled ambigously. T/N: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

“Can they persuade Ariaeus?” Giorgris said worriedly.

Everyone turned their attention to Davos, overnight, he had become their spiritual backbone. Davos felt a lot of pressure, but he did not evade and pondered for a while, then shook his head: “Ariaeus is a Persian aristocrat, who as an adjutant of Cyrus the Younger had been forced to take part in the rebellion. Now if there is another rebellion with the Greeks, if he fails, not only will he die, but his family will also be implicated. If he is really ambitious, as soon as he had learned about Cyrus the Younger’s death, he should’ve immediately took over everything Cyrus the Younger had and promptly united with the Greek mercenaries. It is only today that he wanted to go home. Obviously, after much consideration, he made a decision.”

There was disappointment on everyone’s face when they received a negative answer.

“Brothers, these are the things that the mercenary leaders should be concerned about. Let’s do what we should do.” Hielos hurriedly said: “Meno told us to slaughter all the excess livestock in the squad and prepare more to eat.”

We can finally have enough to eat! This news temporarily dispelled the fog in everyone’s mind.

Chapter 07 – Javelin and Food

The task assigned to Davos was to go to the battlefield and retrieve the spears, shields, and even the chariots that were discarded by both sides, to use as timber for cooking the meat. For this reason, they were also assigned an ox cart.

The battlefield is not far from the camp. Yesterday, the cavalry went out to scout and found that the Persian king’s troops had left, and only did they dare to send soldiers out to clean up the battlefield. However, many soldiers were sent out, mainly for fear of being attacked by Persian cavalry.

Before he got to the battlefield, Davos could see the sky in the distant, it look as if it’s dark, innumerable crows circling around and the jarring cry made his heart throb!

A few miles near the meadow, layers of human and horse corpses were covered with dense flies and insects, even the wolves and leopards were gnawing at the bones, they did not even hide when they saw people but looked at them from afar with a cold light in their eyes…

Every step Davos took, a layer of flies gets lifted, it buzzing around while going straight to his face and he couldn’t even disperse them even if he drives them away.

Davos looked pale and felt his stomach churning.

“Davos, you went through this scene many times, how can you still feel uncomfortable?!” Matonis’ words of concern have a hint of joy. Because he felt that although Davos had changed, but there is still places for him to take care of.

“I’m fine!…blech…” Davos swallowed his saliva. Memory is memory, after all, this is the first time that a modern man has witnessed this bloody battlefield. However, he knew it in his heart, that in this troubled world, such scenes will continously appear in front of him, he must adapt!

He loosened his hand that is covering his nose, forcing to endure the pungent stench, picked up the body on the ground and pulled out the shield underneath, quickly removing the maggots on it and threw it on the cart.

When he first arrived at the battlefield, the ox couldn’t stand this terrible environment, it was always restless and almost hit Matonis, it was Davos who gave the idea to cover the ox eyes with linen that made it calmer.

Everyone has been busy for a long time, the cart is full and each person was carrying a bundle.

“What about Davos?” Matonis found that one person was missing from the team.

“There!” Olivos pointed not far away, Davos was throwing a javelin at a vulture that was pecking a corpse, but the seemingly clumsy vulture quickly dodged away.

“It seems that he is ready to participate in the javelin competition in Olympia!” Olivos joked.

“Shut up!” Matonis glanced at him and walked toward Davos.

When Davos saw his arrival, he quite naturally picked up a javelin from the ground. Now he has begun to adapt to this harsh environment.

“Matonis, we have how many archers?” Davos asked while touching the sharp spearhead with his hand.

Matonis was not at all good at this aspect, fortunately, there is the attentive Giorgris: “Archer?… I remember that there are nearly 300 Cretan archers under Clearchus. If you count the Peltast that can throw javelins…uhm all of them…probably…there are 3000 people.”

“3000 people. How many Peltast are there on our side?” Davos asked.

“There are about 400…”

“Matonis, don’t burn the javelin, it’s a pity, what do you think if each of us is equip with 1 or 2 javelins?” Davos thought about it and said.

Matonis hasn’t responded, Olivos said first: “We are hoplites!”

“But in the face of Persian cavalry, our hoplites can’t reach them and we can only avoid their bows and javelins!” The reason why Davos made this proposal is that this body’s memory retains this regret. When collecting this wooden weapon, he suddenly had this inspiration, because he knew that in history, another renowned Roman heavy infantry was not only amazing in close combat, but their javelin throwing is equally frightening, that is why he proposed it.

“Ariaeus has sufficient cavalry.” Olivos said.

Davos smiled: “It’s better to depend on yourself than on others.”

“Is this the ‘Oracle’ that Hades told you?” Giorgris urgently asked.

Davos laughed but didn’t answer.

“I think this idea is good, let’s go back and talk to Hielos.” Matonis took the javelin in Davos’ hands, turned around and suddenly threw the javelin, the vulture that was still pecking fell on the ground.

“However, Davos, you still need to improve your javelin skills!” Matonis said proudly.

The fact that Hoplites did not use javelins was only due to tradition and habit, but the Greeks were not bad at using the javelin, even the regions in the Mediterranean were first-rate due to javelin throwing is one of the five events of the pentathlons of Olympian games, Greek boys have been training since childhood.

“Excellent! Not only do we have beef and mutton to eat at lunch, but also bird meat!”

“I heard that the meat of this bird cannot be eaten because it came from hell…”

In the camp, the animals have been slaughtered, the meat has been cut and place in the earthen pot, filled it with water and placed it on a temporary built earthen stove, everything is ready.

Everyone pulled their weapons, then chop them up and cook the meat.

Matonis told Hielos what Davos thought.

Since it was proposed by “God’s Favored”, Hielos considered it carefully and found the idea acceptable, the javelin is not heavy and a Hoplite carrying two javelin is completely doable. So he went to Antonios in the hope of getting support.

Antonios called the other nine squad leaders and wanted to hear their opinions first. Some squad leaders were in favor and some oppose. Those who oppose adhered to the Hoplite’s tradition, and they argued that it is completely unnecessary to let the Hoplite carry javelins due to Meno already having 500 Peltast under his command, while those that favored thought that although there were 500 Peltast in the camp, they were Thracians and the two sides have no tacit understanding and Hoplites with their own javelins can at least force the Persian cavalry to not come close and reduce their casualties. As the two sides argued, Antonios could not decide and said: “As long as it doesn’t affect the battle, each squad can decide whether to carry javelins or not.”

Hielos returned happily, ready to talk to Davos, but he only found a group of people greedily staring at pieces of meat that is turning over in the earthen pot and only Davos was missing.

“What about Davos?”

“He went to see the internal organs of the animals that were thrown away…and said it was a waste…”

When everyone was puzzled, they then saw Davos coming over with a long spear and carrying a bloody intestine.

“Hey, quickly take that stinky stuff away! It will affects our appetite!” The crowd covered their noses and shouted.

Davos ignored them and loudly said: “I saw a lot of cattle and sheep’s internal organs that were thrown away in the camp, it’s too wasteful just letting the birds and wild dogs take it! Don’t forget, two days ago we were so hungry that we couldn’t help but almost eat our own hands! In the next few days, whether we are fighting or marching, there may be time we would get hungry, so we should pick these things up and store them in order to have something to eat and prevent such things from happening again!”

“Can those things be eaten?” asked a sturdy soldier.

Davos remembered that he is called Martius, a soldier who lived in another tent, his question was exactly what everyone wanted to ask. The Greeks mainly live on grains and only ate few meats, it is only this time that they entered deep into Persia and due to supply reasons, they began to eat meat frequently. The animals internal organ is not only smells fishy, but in the absence of spices and proper cooking methods, it also taste bad. So in addition to using it for divination, few people will try to eat it or will even think they’ll get poisoned eating it.

“Of course! These things are not only useful in camping…it can not only fill our stomachs, but will also improve our body. For example, it allows us to see more clearly at night.” Davos positively answered.

“Really?! That would be great!” Matonis said happily.

The five people in the other tent were suspicious.

“Davos is ‘God’s Favored’! You know what? Before he fell on the battlefield and after a coma…” Olivos began to brag about the amazing changes of Davos these past 2 days.

Chapter 08 – Mersis

Davos knew that if he wanted to change their minds, he must speak with facts. So, he called Giorgris and went inside the camp and picked up a cow stomach, he then went to a stream besides the camp and painstakingly washed it, then boiled hot water in the pot and pulled out his sword and started slicing.

At this time, the 5 people that were doubtful of Olivos’ words and some curious soldiers surrounded Davos several times.

Davos unhurriedly took several spoonfuls of soup from another pot, where beef and mutton were being cooked and poured it into a new pot, after the soup boiled, it was then poured into the sliced cow stomach. After a while, he picked up the pot and sprinkled it with salt, a simple pot of ‘Baodu’ is ready.

“Come, try it.”

Matonis hesitated to pierce it with his sword, he then blows on it and slowly put it into his mouth.

In the face of inquiries from the others, he did not answer and he silently took another piece…then another piece…then everyone reacted and was ready to rush up, Matonis ignored the heat and pick up the pot and run, everyone curse and chase.

Davos didn’t think that Matonis, a thoughtful big man, is also quite funny.

“It seems that the internal organs of animals is not only edible but also taste good.” Hielos, who did not participate in the chase, sighed.

Davos didn’t say anything, the internal organs of the animals aren’t all delicious, like liver, but it is very helpful to the human body. There is no industrial pollution in this era and there should be no danger of getting poison when eating it.

“But we have enough meat to eat for a day. The weather is so hot and the internal organs will go bad tomorrow.” Hielos said helplessly.

Davos had thought of a way to deal with this problem, he pointed to the sheep intestines that had been thrown aside and said: “We can do – Smoked sausage! (In fact, in this era, some horse-herding Persian have already started making sausage using the horse’s intestines, but it hasn’t yet spread.”

“Smoked sausage?”

After everyone came back, they look at Davos with a slight awe. After tasting the delicious ‘Baodu’, they thought that Olivos’ words were correct. If it weren’t for being ‘God’s Favored’, why was Davos the only one among the more than 10,000 Greeks that had been able to think that those dirty things could be eaten and it is also delicious! Davos was like them before, throwing away the internal organs of animals, but now he have change a lot, it must be the favor of Hades.

As a result, it became much more easier for Davos to order them to do things. The internal organs and some remaining meat were chopped and stuffed into the intestine. Fill in a small segment, then tie it up with the thread that have been pulled from linen, add another segment, then tie it up again…

After it was done, they then hung it on a wooden pole which they have erected and they then smoked it. Davos learned this kind of smoking from the villagers when he was a village official in his previous life. Now the conditions are limited and the time is tight, so they can only simplify the process and as long as it can be stored for a few more days, then just eat it.

Davos and the rest flaunting around their smoked sausages, had attracted quite a number of onlookers. With Olivos, Matonis and the rest’s boasting, all the soldiers had their eyes glued on Davos like he was some kind of rare object.

At noon, a word came that the Persian king had sent an envoy to make them surrender, but was rejected by the mercenary leaders.

In the afternoon, another information came. Ariaeus messenger came back and brought Ariaeus answer: He refused to attack the Persian king’s troops, he only wanted to go back to Asia Minor and he is willing to help the Greek mercenaries on their return journey.

Once again, Davos was proven correctly and they no longer got surprised.

Soon another information came, Clearchus would sacrifice an animal and leave it to Zeus whether they would fight or retreat.

Davos is amused, this is clearly the mercenary leaders means to shirk their responsibilities.

However, his companions is extremely serious about the results of the divination. Davos was somewhat unreasonable viewing the ancients from the perspective of a modern man.

Obviously, the mercenary leaders did not obtain a good divination results. Thus, the mercenaries were ordered to join forces with Ariaeus and return to Asia Minor.

Now, the soldiers in each camp should immediately start packing and put their stuff on the cart. After it gets dark, when the bronze trumpet sounded, each legion will depart in turn.

Suddenly, tension permeated in the camp, but everyone’s face was more or less relaxed, after all, from Asia Minor to the present, it had been 8 to 9 months and they can finally can go home, nobody wants to stay in a hostile land for a long time.

“Can this sausage be taken?” Hielos asked.

Davos looked up at the dozens of sausages being smoked and shook his head: “Wait until it’s dark, we’ll take them before we leave.” He knows that half a day is insufficient to meet the standard of smoked sausage, but if it is bake a little longer, then it can be stored for a lot longer.

Everyone began to dismantle the tents and pack their stuff, and their movements were very skilled. Despite Davos having such memories, he still needs to convert this memory into a habit. He seriously learned while watching.

When everyone arrived at the supply unit with their tents and stuff, Davos then saw a fat man yelling and commanding his men to carry the goods. Although there were quite a few soldiers in the supply unit, he was able to maintain order and systematic work.

“Who is that?” Davos pointed at him and asked.

“Mersis, Meno’s supply officer. That fat pig is the worst, the last time I came here to find some woman, he actually asked me 2 silver coins!” Olivos said.

Davos looked thoughtfully at the noisy animals and asked: “Did we previously march during the night?”

“Seldom. Without moonlight, nothing could be seen at all. Even if there is, it’s very difficult to march at night. Those big guys are even more troublesome, despite them currently being docile, they easily get frightened at night and there have been several injuries in the past. Therefore, the supply unit are separated from us.” said Hielos.

Davos thought about it and place his stuff in Hielos’ hands and walked out.

“Hey! Come back! Mersis is not easy to deal with!” cried Olivos.

Fearing that Davos would suffer, Matonis rushed over.

“Stop!” A guard pointed a spear at Davos: “It’s not your turn yet, return to the queue!”

Davos pointed out that he is empty-handed and said: “I have something to look for Mersis.”

The guard subconsciously looked back and shook his head: “If I were you, I would not disturb fatty when he is busy.”

“Okay.” Davos gave a sly smile, then shouted: “Mersis, I can help you solve the problem of the animals getting easily frightened at night!”

His shout manage to attract the soldiers.

“That’s Davos! He can even solve this problem, he really deserve to be ‘God’s Favored’!”

“What ‘God’s Favored’?”

“Don’t you know? Davos is ‘God’s Favored’, This is what Olivos said…”

Davos listened to the crowd and realized that his goal was half completed.

“Can you really solve the animal problem?!” Mersis came over, he looked at Davos and asked suspiciously.

“Of course! He is Davos!” Matonis is already becoming his fan.

“You are Davos?! That Davos who made the smoked sausage?!” Mersis expression change and asked in surprise.

Davos nodded.

“Come and help me see if there is any problem with the sausage I made?” With that, Mersis pulled Davos inside.

Davos pointed out the problem after he saw the smoked sausage he made, Mersis slightly complained: “You should’ve told me about the sausage first and not the soldiers who only knows how to fight and kill. You should know that they are only wasting it! Unfortunately, by the time I heard about it, all the meat and internal organs were almost gone. Fortunately, i reacted quickly!” Mersis said, then he suddenly remembered the purpose of Davos for coming over: “Oh right! I almost forgot. You said that you can solve the animals problem of them getting easily frightened at night?”

“It’s very simple. Cover their eyes. The cows and horses have a timid and gentle nature. When they can’t see anything, they dare not walk a step and they will blindly obey the instructions given to them by the people who are leading them.” Davos said earnestly. This is what the old farmer in the former village talked about when they chatted with him.

“Oh! It turned out to be like this! I’ll go and try it!” Melsis turned and ran and suddenly stopped: “Davos, I hope you often come to me! If you want to play with woman, I won’t charge you!”

Davos smiled: ‘This fatty is really serious.’

Author’s Note: At this time, the nomadic people of Western Asia had begun using the horse intestines to make sausages.

[] is a halal tripe dish that is part of Beijing cuisine.

Chapter 09 – Night March

When the sun began to sunk, the soldiers began to pack their equipment.

Putting on their chest armor – which is made of layers of stiffened linen glued together. It is about 5 – 6 cm thick and it’s very hard and tough, but it isn’t heavy. The lower hem reaches till the thighs and cut into a shape that facilitate movement.

Equipping the greaves to protect their shins and calves. Attaching the kopis to their waist – this is a kind of sword, the sword is 65 cm long, it is a single-edged blade and it is curved like a dog’s hind leg.

They couldn’t wear their Corinthian helmet this time, due to the low visibility during the night march and this kind of helmet that only expose the eyes will narrow their sight.

The spear is the main weapon of the Hoplite. The spear’s shaft is made of ash tree, while the flat leaf-shaped spearhead was made of iron and at the end of the spear was inlaid with a copper butt-spikes.

Davos then picked up the shield with his left hand. It has a shallow bowl-shape, the inside is wooden, while the outer face is covered with copper and it is about 90 cm in diameter, the shield is decorated with a painted face of a Minotaur. There is a leather fastening for the forearm at the centre, so that the soldier can put their entire left arm on the round shield, which not only saves effort, but also facilitates defense and shielding. There is another small metal hook mounted on the inner and outher rim of the shield, which is use to hung it on their shoulders for easy carrying while they march.

Davos, with shield in his left hand and spear in his right, couldn’t help but bitterly smile, he had changed from a modern man to an ancient western armored warrior. However, the cells on his body started boiling with joy and it made him realize that it was this body’s muscle memory at work.

He tried to walk a few steps and felt very comfortable. In addition to the tension, there was also some excitement. Every man dreamt to be a warrior in their hearts! It is the blood flowing through our vein since the time our ancestors ate the raw flesh of animals and drink its blood. The modern people in the time of peace can no longer feel the courage to fight head-on and through travelling to this era, Davos got such opportunity!

While Davos was still getting used to his equipment, Hielos reminded him: “There’s still something you have forgotten.”

He saw two javelins on the ground and a string of sausages. He smiled bitterly, this really can’t be blame on himself!

He carefully placed the sausage on his chest, for fear of the grease getting on his armor.

At this time, Antonios came over and said to Hielos: “We have to go and work with Mersis.” Then he also nodded to Davos, the reputation of Davos has even spread to his ears and he doesn’t dare to ignore him.

“Who gave the order? Isn’t Meno still with Ariaeus?” Hielos curiously asked. He was reluctant to move together with the supply unit due to how slow they are and it is also dangerous.

“Under the orders of the adjutant, Philesius, he temporarily took command on behalf of Meno. The last time when the Persians broke into our camp, most of the slaves escaped. They are now short of hands and Mersis named our unit to help.” Having said that, he looked at Davos again.

“Davos, I didn’t expect that we will meet again!” Mersis laugh, he went straight through the officers and soldiers and gave Davos a hug.

He then realize that this fatty is the one making trouble! Davos has no choice but to smile.

“Everyone else go take the animals. Davos is with me.” he ordered.

This fatty is strict and ruthless if he isn’t familiar with you, but once your relationship gets good he will be too enthusiastic. Isn’t this just pulling everyone’s hatred to himself? Davos quickly refused.

There are hundreds of animals and dozens of carts full of goods, as well as many slaves and women.

Meanwhile. The lines formed can be up to 2 miles long. It’s only just one unit, imagine how much it would expand if it is the entire Greek mercenary supply unit. Davos watches as he contemplate.

At this time, a long trumpet sound rang out over the bustling camp.

It’s time to go. Davos was a little nervous and subconsciously pulled the cattle’s rope.

The team began to move forward. Their supply unit is on the right side, while the troops were on the left and the officers held torches. Under the cold moonlight’s illumination. The entire Greek troops is like a long unseen head of a fiery dragon slowly creeping out.

After about an hour, he heard the sound of rushing water in front. Davos realized that the Euphrates river is getting closer.

At night, the river is dark and it look as if it is infinitely wide and deep, which caused great fear. Therefore, the troops were quiet for fear of disturbing the river god.

At this time, the formation naturally turned into the supply unit marching along the left bank of the Euphrates river, while the troops were at the outer part protecting the supply unit. The leaders clearly have experience with marching at night. Davos watch as he studied silently.

Meno’s troops are at the end of the formation. Of course, this isn’t ordered by Meno, in fact, he sent people back to ask his men to walk in the middle of the formation. But the other mercenary leaders were dissatisfied with Meno. It is because at the start of the march from Asia Minor to Babylon, Meno in order to please Cyrus the Younger had volunteered to be the vanguard and got many benefits from killing, pillaging and burning. Now that they have to retreat, he wants his soldiers to be place in the middle so that they won’t get attacked and his losses will be reduced. How can they let him have all the good things by himself! So it was unanimously decided to let his troops be at the end. This is what Meno’s confidant, Mersis, told Davos and made him have a certain understanding of Meno.

At this time, the messenger of the whole army, Tormide, finally arrived at Meno’s troops and conveyed the order: “The vanguard has converged with Ariaeus’ troops. The leaders are currently discussing with Ariaeus. Stand down, keep alert and await orders!”

The quiet troops suddenly became noisy: “We can finally rest!”

“We have been walking for two hours, I am exhausted!”

“Me too. It’s so tiring leading the ox cart! We must not follow the supply unit again tomorrow!”

“That’s right! We need to talk to the commander tomorrow.”

“Let’s go and tell him now!”

Looking at the noisy warriors, Davos stood up and shouted: “Brothers, please be quiet! Brothers! I am Davos!”

He didn’t expect that his shouting was more effective than that of commander Antonios, the warriors of the supply unit stopped making noises and they wanted to hear what the ‘God’s Favored’ is going to say.

“Let me tell a story to help solve everyone’s fatigue, alright?”

“what story?”

“It’s called A…Aris and the Forty Thieves.”

“It sounds good! Tell us the story!”

So Davos cleared his throat and began to speak loudly: “There used to be a family living in a small town in Ionia…”

Gradually, the supply unit became completely quiet and even the animals had stopped their noise. The warriors, as well as the slaves and the women, listened attentively. They admired Aris for not acquiring the wealth of the thieves, laughed at Aris’ brother for screaming the cave’s password, nervous about the thieves finding Aris’ house and praise for the wisdom of the female slave.

After the story is finished, everyone is still discussing it:

“Aris is so lucky!”

“He is lucky because he has a smart and beautiful Persian slave!”

“Yes! I think it’s pretty good that he gave back the female slave’s freedom! After all, she saved Aris!”

“Stupid! He should have married the female slave as a concubine. In this way the slave can continue helping him!”

Everyone is discussing about it ceaselessly.

“Davos, is there really a cave full of gold and silver treasures?” Even Mersis couldn’t help asking Davos.

Antonios look at Davos’ back that is in front of him and he couldn’t help but sigh: “Hielos, there is a talent in your village!”

“Are you talking about Davos? Of course, he is ‘God’s Favored’! I even want to give him my position as a squad leader.”

“Squad leader?” Antonios lip’s twitched. A mercenary leader often replaces and replenished his soldiers, while most of the senior and middle officers in charge of his troops are his confidant, which is not easily replaced, because it would be convenient for him to control the troops. Antonios and Meno have also been working for 5 – 6 years and because they have also met many Greek and Persian dignitaries they have some experience in appraising people.

After observing for a day, he found that Davos was calm and was completely unlike a 19-year-old kid. He is very disciplined on his work, he is modest and courteous in dealing with people, and with a good eloquence, the soldiers were willing to approach him. And he often had ingenious ideas to solve problems that others couldn’t solve. During the march, he also witnessed that Davos was either carrying a shield or pushing the carts for others. Such a person, even if he is young, can be trusted.

If his ability to command in combat is not weak, then the future of such a charming and capable person is immeasurable. If he had enough financial resources, he could be a qualified mercenary leader! Antonios thought about it and he thought of Meno, What would he do when he realize that such a character had suddenly appeared in his troops?

[] was an ancient Greek weapon.
[] was a helmet made of bronze that originated in ancient Greece.

Chapter 10 – Meno

The next day, just before dawn, the troops was urged to hurry.

Meno bid farewell to Ariaeus and rushed back to lead his troops. He curse the other leaders in his heart, as he rode his horse back to the tail of the “long dragon”. He believed that the reason why they put his troops to serve as the rearguard was because the other mercenary leaders hated his close relationship with the Persians and persecuted him.

At the same time, he noticed that the soldiers were tired and complaining. It turned out that because of the march last night, the rest time was too short, but they also have to guard against the Persian’s sneak attack, basically they just lied on the ground. Early in the morning, they had to hurry and leave, so the soldiers had soon gotten tired and hungry. However, the supply unit could not provide more food, which lowered the morale of the soldiers.

Meno thought to himself, the food situation in the other camps was already bad. His subordinates might be more miserable getting bullied these 2 days due to his absence! He was afraid that his soldiers will make trouble and hurriedly rushed until he saw many familiar faces before slowing down.

As a result, he was surprised to find that, unlike what he had imagined, his soldiers were in a good spirit and many of them were chewing a bunch of dark things hanging on their chest as they walked. Therefore, he curiously called an officer to inquire.

“It’s called smoked sausage, it can fill your stomach and it won’t spoil for a few days.” The officer pointed to the thing on his chest and said.

Meno cut a small piece and tasted it, although it was a bit dry, the taste wasn’t bad. After he saw the soldiers of the other camps starving and his soldiers were able to eat enough, he became delighted: “This…smoke…was the sausage made by Mersis?”

“No. It’s Davos – the ‘God’s Favored’!”

“God’s Favored?” Meno curiously asked about the situation in detail. After hearing the officer’s words, his face turned gloomy and he immediately noticed that some soldiers were carrying 2 more javelins.

“Where is this Davos?”

“The unit he was in was sent to defend the supply unit.” The officer obviously didn’t notice his expression and asked with a little excitement: “Are you going to look for him?”

The officer’s look dissuaded Meno: ‘Is it worth making a fuss about a local kid from a small village in Thessaly?’ It’s totally inconsistent with his identity to hurriedly go looking for a soldier, especially now that the army is currently marching. If there is time, he can make Davos go see himself later.

From early morning to noon and then to the afternoon, the troops have been marching without rest.

Davos felt that his legs were filled with lead and every steps he takes is difficult and his throat is burning, the shields, spears and javelins were becoming burdensome. In the morning, he could still talk and laugh with his companions, now he felt that every time he opened his mouth wasted his physical strength, but he gritted his teeth and insisted, since his companions are also marching in silence.

Finally, the troops stopped. But the information from the front made them nervous again, they found the Persian cavalry!

Soon another information came again, it wasn’t the cavalry, it was the Persian army’s animals grazing.

The troops continued marching.

It was getting dark and after a short walk, Davos saw smoke rising in the distance.

Hielos told him: “That must be the Persian army camp.”

However, the mercenaries still continued to move forward, without the slightest shred of guarding and evading.

It was late and there is no moonlight. The soldiers relied on the torches to advance and it became more difficult to march.

Finally, an order came from the front, ‘Camp on the spot and rest.’

The terrain is flat and the trees were scarce, and it is impossible to order them to build a camp in the dark. At the same time, because there are Persian troops nearby and they are afraid of getting attacked. The soldiers started shouting at each of their friends’ name and gathered together to find a way to camp. Likewise, the exhausted officers could not control the order and the entire rearguard became a mess due to the shouting, like a boiling pot making a huge noise. Many of the animals in the supply unit became frightened and ran in panic, injuring many people. The screams made the troops became more uneasy and at danger of collapsing any time.

At the critical moment, Clearchus dispatched the only cavalry squad of the Greek mercenaries, each carrying torches and rushed to the rearguard, loudly announcing the order of Clearchus, demanding that the soldiers remain quiet, and at the same time, ordered the supply unit to take care of the animals and to punish anyone that would release them. The troops gradually recovered their composure after they had captured several soldiers who were frightened.

Only then did Meno found the leader of the cavalry, Tormide, known as the “Best Emissary”.

“How did Clearchus commanded the troops’ marching! There is almost an uproar that happened in the camp! I’ve just been away for a day and things got worst! He isn’t fit to command the whole army at all!…” Meno took this opportunity to discredit Clearchus.

Tormide didn’t utter a word.

“Where is he now?”

Tormide hesitated a bit: “…at the vanguard.”

When Meno noticed his hesitation, he immediately asked: “Is it the same as us, without a camp?”

Tormide had to tell the truth: “The vanguard stayed in the village… Meno, this is now a special time-“

Meno interrupted him with a sneer: “This is the so-called fair and just Clearchus?! He stayed in a warm house, while letting us sleep on the cold and wet ground!!” Meno couldn’t help but shout even though he also knew that it was not appropriate to stimulate the soldiers at the moment.

Fortunately, the soldiers around him were already exhausted after the previous uproar. After a swearing, they fell asleep.

“Meno! Meno!…” At that moment, someone shouted.

It is Mersis! Meno hurriedly brought him over: “How is the supply unit? Is there any loss?” The supply unit is the place he is concerned the most, because all his belongings were there, and only when he has money can he have soldiers.

“No!” Mersis’ fatty face showed a proud smile: “We formed a big circle with the supply cart and tied the animals to it, everyone slept inside and it’s very safe!”

“Those animals aren’t kicking a fuss and noisy?” Tormide asked curiously, since most of the supply unit he had seen before were in chaos.

“It was Davos who told me to blindfold these animals, and they really became obedient!” Mersis said excitedly.

That Davos again! Meno frowned.

“Meno, this kid is very smart! If you just assign him to the supply unit, then I’ll have a much easier time.” Mersis asked.

“We will discuss it later.” Meno said a few words. The supply unit is his foundation, Mersis has a close relationship with him, and he is good at supervising and financial management, and has no ambition, so he is assured in using him. Letting a stranger enter the supply unit and not just a stranger but a smart one, what if he finds out his secret?

The next morning, a messenger woke up Meno and informed him that the king’s envoy had come and the other mercenary leaders asked him to come over and discuss about it.

Meno mounted his horse and galloped to the main camp of the mercenary at the front. There wasn’t a shadow of the Persian camp within his sight, it turned out that last night the Persians got frightened by the huge noise of the mercenaries, and they withdrew their camp 5 km overnight.

As soon as he arrived at the main camp of the mercenary, Meno saw a full 4 Hoplite units in front of the camp, waiting in formation. He doubtfully went inside and saw several leaders, such as Clearchus, Proxenus, Agias, Socrates (not the philosopher in Athens), and Sossis were waiting and all of them are fully armed.

When he saw Clearchus, Meno snorted and sarcastically said: “It seems that you had a good sleep last night, while my pitiful soldiers slept on the wet ground for the whole night!”

As a Spartan, Clearchus is straightforward and obstinate, he likewise dislike Meno and did not want to talk to him much.

Agias laughed and said: “Yo, when did Meno start to care about his soldiers?!”

Proxenus came to mediate: “Meno, listening to what Tormide said, that there was no trouble that happened in your camp last night. Amazing! You must impart us some of your experience.”

“Not only that! Meno’s soldiers also made a kind of…something called smoked sausage. As a result, everyone was hungry and only his soldiers were able to fill their stomachs with this stuff!” Socrates sad to the others. His troops were in front of Meno’s troops in the marching formation, so he had a better understanding of the situation.

“Meno, tell us all about your experienced.” Meno was a little complacent by the requests of Sossis and several other mercenary leaders, and he couldn’t help but say: “Even if the environment I was given was any more difficult, I could still figure out a way to solve it. So only knowing how to fight won’t make you a good leader!”

“Well…let the envoy of the Persian king come in. Let’s listen on what new proposal does the king have?” Clearchus interrupted Meno’s bragging.

The leaders began to rouse their spirits and Meno shut his mouth helplessly.

Chapter 11 – Meeting

Unexpectedly, the Persian envoy did not mention the surrender of the Greek mercenaries, but proposed a truce between the two armies. The Greek mercenaries who are already in a tight spot is of course tremendously welcome it. After some negotiations, the two sides reached a truce agreement, the Persians on the other hand, had to provide rations for the Greeks, this is a good news for the mercenaries, because their food stocks are at an end, and they were prepared to burn and pillage villages along the way.

Although there was a truce agreement, Clearchus did not lower his guard, the Persian envoy led the way ahead, while Clearchus ordered the whole army to march in 3 column and 4 row battle formation. Along the way, there were trenches three or four meters wide and filled with waste water, the soldiers had to cut down trees to build wooden bridges. On the contrary, Davos, who is currently in the supply unit at the rearguard, have it easy.

“Oh, that’s Clearchus!” With the direction Olivos was pointing, Davos saw a tall, middle-aged man with bare upper body, a bronzed-colored muscle and several conspicuous scars, he is carrying a newly cut tree together with the soldiers. When he got to the ditch, he jumped down without hesitation, he didn’t mind getting splash by mud all over his body and immediately began repairing the just broken wooden bridge.

“Yeah, this is Clearchus! And where is our Meno?!” Matonis sighed while uttering a meaningful word.

Despite the contradiction between Meno and Clearchus, the troops led by them also fought because of the conflict. But the soldiers were not fools, they can see what their leader is doing, who is worth trusting? who is strong? It is clear in their heart. There are more than a dozen mercenary leaders, why does Clearchus always dominates?! It isn’t without a reason.

This is the way to command the army! Davos has been watching the performance of Clearchus and telling it to himself from the bottom of his heart.

At dusk, the Greeks arrived at their destination. The village the Persian envoy prepared for the Greek mercenaries to settle, not only did they provide comfortable accommodation, but also abundant food; fruit wine, drinks, bread, dates…

All the soldiers couldn’t help but cheer.

For a time, Davos wondered: ‘Are the Persians actually afraid of the Greek’s Hoplite and really want a truce?’

Just after he and his companions tasted the food and decided that there was no problem, when he was ready to eat and drink, Antonios came: “Davos, Meno wants to see you!”

“Now?!” Davos swallowed.

“Now!” Antonios nodded.

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing serious! Meno just heard that Davos had solved several problem for us and out of curiosity, he wanted to see him and maybe get rewarded!” Antonios guaranteed after seeing the concern of everyone.

Antonios took Davos to a large house in the middle of the village and said to the guard at the entrance: “Davos who Meno wants to see is here.”

The guard looked at Davos curiously and said, “Meno currently has something important to do, please wait.”

After a while, there was no movement inside. Davos still spoke calmly to Antonios. Antonios was in a hurry: “What matter that was not completed yet, I’ll go and urge them!” After that, he went inside and got stopped by the guards: “Antonios, do you want me to get scolded!”

Antonios stared at him and the guard finally gave in: “I’m afraid of you, I’ll go and take a look again.” Then he turned around and run into the house.

In a few moments, he came out: “Go in, Meno is waiting.” He said, but he did not dare to glance at Antonios.

Davos was about to enter, when Antonios held his shoulder and said: “Meno sometimes has a bad temper. If he says anything to you, don’t argue with him and just listen.”

Davos smiled and said: “Don’t worry, I am not a kid.”

Antonios nodded. The conversation deepened his understanding of Davos, this young man is far more stable than his peers.

Watching Davos enter the house, Antonios recalled: ‘No, if he isn’t a kid, then who is a kid? Meno?’

He laughed helplessly, and it seemed that this young man isn’t easy to provoke. He turned to look at the guard and said: “Botarkhos, you deliberately made us stay here.”

“Oh, Antonios, you should know. Besides Meno, who will do such boring thing.”

“Humph!”

“Is that young man the one you are calling Hades’ ‘Favored’?! I think he seems to understand what’s going on, he just laugh at me…”

Davos certainly knows what’s going on: He had seen it a lot in his previous life, they show their authority with force and the more they adopt this method, the more they have no confidence in their control. Is Meno such a person?

Davos smiled and walked through the small courtyard and entered the main house.

“Leader Meno, the soldier Davos you ordered to come is here!”

“Come in.” A sharp, crisp voice came from the room.

Davos walk inside, there was a man sitting in the middle of the living room and still wearing his shiny cuirass, but it didn’t seem to increase his majestic, because if he shaved off his beard, he would definitely be a beauty.

Davos couldn’t help but recall some of the bad rumors about Meno, such as the ambiguous story between him and Ariaeus, the adjutant of Cyrus the Younger. He suddenly got a little nervous:  ‘this person shouldn’t be eyeing me…’

Meno is also looking at Davos: A strong body, tall, average appearance, but also a slightly younger face without a beard, but he radiates an unusual temperament by just standing there.

“Hmm… I heard that you are ‘God’s Favored’, so I want to ask, are the Persian sincere on their truce between us? Or do they have other ideas?” Meno seemed to ask carelessly.

“Sorry, leader. I don’t know!” Davos answered without thinking.

Davos’s direct answer left Meno somewhat stunned, at last, he showed a slight smile: “So tell me, can we go home safely this time?”

“I don’t know.” Davos still frankly answered .

“Bastard!” Meno was furious and pushed the chair: “Didn’t you tell the whole camp that you got the god’s oracle! Didn’t you tell the others that you know everything! Now you aren’t talking! You swindler!”

Davos twitched: “Leader Meno, I’m lucky to be able to survive the battle, but I’ve never claimed to be favored by god. This point, my teammate can prove it. I don’t care what the others think and say, it is their business. As for what oracle, I have never said anything about it. Sometimes I just talk to my teammates about what might happen next, it’s just that I was fortunate on what I had said, nothing more. Whether we can go home safely or not is a matter of concern for the leaders, we soldiers just want to get some comfort and encouragement by talking and chatting after the fight.”

After listening to this, Meno’s first reaction was that this guy’s eloquence was good and for a moment, he couldn’t grasp the chance to retaliate, and he calmly looked straight into Meno’s eyes, so that Meno felt his courage.

Menon was a little agitated and after a while, he just waved and said: “I will investigate what you had said. In short, don’t speculate about the Persians, which will affect the morale of the soldiers.”

Davos immediately bowed his head and obediently said: “Yes!”

Meno felt better, he reached for a drachma and said, “In any case, this time you came up with an idea to help our troops, this is my – the mercenary leader Meno’s reward for you. You must remember, next time you have any good ideas, come straight to me, I will give you a reward!”

Davos pretended to take it with delight: “Thank you, leader!”

Meno waved and let him leave, he watched as he walk out of the house. Meno stared blankly, Meno and Davos were in an employment relationship, Meno didn’t have the right over his life and death, only the right to dismiss. If he dismiss a knowledgeable soldier and goes to the other camps and ends up getting an important position, Meno would be the only one that suffered losses. Meno just wanted to knock Davos down once, so that his influence in the camp won’t expand and keep him in control. But from this meeting, it seems not so easy…

Chapter 12 – Help?

It should be said that the Persians not only fulfilled their promises, but they also did a great job. They brought the Greeks to a fertile land, there are dense number of farmland in here, surrounded by dozens of fertile villages and two villages was vacated for the Greeks, and a large number of foods was prepared.

After several days of fatigue and hunger, the soldiers were fed to their heart’s content.

The next day, Davos woke up, he felt energetic and his fatigue was swept away. He felt confused thinking of what the Persians did, if this is the enemy’s plan, is it necessary for them to pay so much? Is this country bullies the weak and fear the strong, just like the Northern Song Dynasty in Chinese history.

He tried to recall the description of the ancient Persian imperial system by the university professors who were invited to teach the lessons of the decline of great powers during his previous studies at the Party School. The Persians took advantage of the decline of the two hegemon of the two rivers, Medes and Assyria, and rose in power. Because Cyrus the Great adopted a very tolerant policy towards other cultures and religions, and so wherever the soldiers went, all kinds of tribes surrendered, and its territory like a snowball became bigger and bigger.

How did they manage such a vast territory? First of all, the most prosperous place in Persia that is – Persepolis, the capital of Persia, was established by the king himself. The Mesopotamian Valley was the most fertile area under Persia and the Mesopotamian territory is directly under the rule of the Persian king! Most of the ethnic groups under the Persian jurisdiction are autonomous and paid taxes regularly and so on. While the rest was governed by the Satraps.

Davos had a flash of inspiration, he recalled that when the mercenaries passed through Cilicia, Cyrus the Younger allowed the Greeks to plunder but once they crossed the river in Thapsacus and entered Mesopotamia, they were much more tightly managed and need to pay for everything they bought, could it be….could it be that….

“Davos, come with me to see Asistes!” A big hand dragged Davos and interrupted his thoughts.

“Who?” Davos asked Hielos slightly confused.

“Asistes, the nephew of Antonios. When he was crossing the wooden bridge yesterday, the bridge suddenly broke and he fell into the river, he got a big wound on his thigh from getting struck by a broken wood. We didn’t expect that this morning, he started burning up and even though he is unconscious, he kept saying some strange things and the physician can’t do anything.” Hielos said anxiously.

“Speaking strange words?! It seems that he has reached hell and met Rhadamanthus, there is no hope for him.” Olivos saw Hielos glared at him, and corrected himself: “Of course, if Davos, who Hades ‘Favored’, doesn’t agree then even if he doesn’t want to live, he can’t!”

Davos smiled: “I want to help, but I’m not sure I can cure him.”

Hielos comforted him by saying: “Antonios understands. But for a person who is about to lose his loved ones, even if there is a little hope, he will still try.”

In the face of Hielos’ expectant eyes, Davos was silent and he gradually calmed down from the tension, even if he can’t save Asistes, he just can’t forget the help he had gotten from them these 2 days! Besides, he can just gain their trust again with his own ability without pretending to deceive them! And without this nickname, maybe some of Meno’s jealousy will decrease.

Thinking of it, he nodded and said, “Okay, I’ll go with you.”

“I will go too.” Giorgris also stood up.

When they came to a house with the doors and windows closed, the house was full of people.

“Davos is here!” A word quickly gave way to a passage.

Davos saw a young man in his twenties lying on the bed with his eyes closed, his lips were dry and he is very red all over his body. There is a six-centimeter-long wound on his left thigh near the knee and the wound was swollen as big as a fist. He is saying some strange things, his hands and feet are twitching, but someone is restraining him tightly.

Davos first put his hand on the patient’s forehead and felt it hot. Davos then gently pressed the swelling with his hands, and the wound expelled some green pus. He felt his fingers were sticky and has a faint fragrance.

At this time, the man who was restraining the patient raised his head and looked at him and said: “I applied a scented oil from grape leaves on the wound, hoping to make him quiet, but it doesn’t seemed to be effective.”

“He is Herpus, the camp’s physician.” Hielos saw Davos’s doubts and whispered. Such a strong guy is actually a physician?! Davos looked at him and blurted out: “Why didn’t you use bloodletting treatment?”

“Must bloodletting be used? I was considering it, but in case it would take a long time for Asistus to recover and we are on our way home!” Herpus explained: “I don’t have much ‘Mài è cài wēng xiāng’ left and was force to use it because the other spice doesn’t work.” He looked a little depressed.

No wonder there is a strange smell in the air, and it seems to be the smell of these people. Didn’t the west always use bloodletting treatment to cure diseases before the Renaissance? Davos was thinking about some interesting stories about the ancient west that he had seen in his previous life.

“Oh, what is your name? From which camp’s physician did Antonios call you in?” asked Herpes.

Dave hesitated for a moment and thought about how to answer. Antonios, who was waiting anxiously, interjected: “He is Davos! The ‘Favored’ of Hades, the king of the underworld!” After that, without looking at the sudden change of Herpus’ expression, asked Davos anxiously: “Asistes…he still has…hope?”

“I’ll try my best, but I’m not sure if it will turn out well.” Davos answered cautiously.

“Just do your best! Just do your best!” Antonios’ tired face eased: “Do we need to prepare the altar and the statue of Hades?”

“What do you need to prepare it for?”

“To pray!”

Davos glanced around, except for Herpus, who look coldly from the sidelines, the others are looking at him with anticipation and excitement: they are waiting to see “God Descend”!

Davos laugh in his heart and said solemnly: “I won’t pray and I don’t know how to pray. But I have some other treatments, to try, if you only want God to save Asistes, then I can only leave!”

“Hey!” Some murmured with disappointment.

Antonios, however, seemed to understand something, and said it firmly: “Just do what you have said!”

The reason why Davos said it: Firstly, it is to find a way out in case he failed on his treatment. Secondly, he does not want these people to associate him with God in all matters.

“Make everyone go out and wait!…Open the doors and windows!…Boil a bucket of water, find a few clean linens and put them in the boiling water! At the same time, find a sharp knife without a rust and put it in the boiling water!…And bring few more buckets of cold water!…” Davos shouted slowly and clearly.

Antonios, Hielos, and Giorgris didn’t question him and began to seriously carry out his orders and hurriedly rushed around.

Herpus had thought that Davos was a witch doctor and looked at him badly. Seeing what he had arrange at the moment is quite familiar, he couldn’t help but curiously asked: “Davos, how do you plan to treat him?”

“There is no massive bleeding in the wound and obviously the blood vessels wasn’t damage, but the wound is red and swollen with pus, he also have a high fever and it is clear that the wound infection had cause his high fever, so we must first perform debridement, then reduce his fever.” Davos explained it in detail. For modern people, this is just common sense, but in this primitive age, people tend to think that it is caused by the supernatural, which is why witch doctors are so popular and made Herpus thought that Davos was a witch doctor previously.

After hearing Davos’ words, Herpes’ eyes lit up: “This is somewhat similar to Hippocrates‘ method of dealing with fractures, ‘debridement, traction, and reduction’.”

“Hippocrates of Kos?” Davos was very familiar with this name. After all, Hippocrates was called ‘the father of Western medicine.’

“Yes. You know him?”

“I’m not familiar with him, but I have heard about him.”

“When I was crossing the Aegean Sea, I wanted to visit him, but he wasn’t there. Although many physician in Greece disagreed with him, but he did cure many people.”

Davos was moved after seeing Herpus’ regret and admiration: “You can be my assistant later, will you?”

“Thank you very much!” Herpus said gratefully. In this era, most physician have a tradition to passed down their knowledge from father to son. a commoner who wants to study medicine, will need to sign an agreement, pay expensive tuition fees and serve as an assistant for many years.

[] Party School – School of the Communist Party of China to train party members.
[] was an ancient empire of ancient Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media between western and northern Iran.
[] was a Mesopotamian kingdom and empire.
[] was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian Empire.
[] was an ancient town along the western bank of the Euphrates river that would now lie in modern Syria or Turkey.
[] was one of the judges of the dead and he is the son of Zeus and Europa and brother to Sarpedon and Minos.
[] is the withdrawal of blood from a patient to prevent or cure illness and disease.
[] 麦厄菜翁香 – some kind of herb/spice.
[] was a Greek physician of the Age of Pericles (Classical Greece), who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine.

Chapter 13 – Xenophon (1)

“Giorgris, help me restrain Asistes.”

“Herpus, soak the linen in the cold water and put it on his forehead, then wiped the sides of his neck with another linen.”

“Hielos, you wring out the linen that has been boiled and cleanly wipe his wound.”

“Take the knife out of the boiling water and heat it on the fire.”

When Davos took the knife, he hesitated. After all, the previous steps were common sense, which modern people can do. But the wound is a wedge shaped and must be opened and debrided. He only saw peasants getting injured in the mountain village in his previous life, sometimes the hospital is too far away and just let the barefoot doctor do it.

He gritted his teeth and said: “Giorgris restrain him tightly!” After saying that, he cut the skin with a knife.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“He had gotten quiet!” Herpus exclaimed in surprise.

Davos wiped the sweat on his forehead with his hand and looked at Asistes, who was no longer struggling and sighed in relief: “Keep wiping his forehead and neck with cold water, and… pay attention to the linen on his wound. If you find that it is covered with pus, follow my previous method and give him another debridement…”

“Okay, Davos!” At this moment, Herpus’ attitude became more respectful, and treat Davos similar to his teacher

Davos glanced at the small piece of wood on the ground that got taken out deeply inside the wound and felt a sense of achievement.

He went out of the room with Hielos and Giorgris, and the people waiting outside anxiously rushed up to ask about Asistes.

“He is much better!” Giorgris said proudly.

People cheered in surprise.

Davos said busily: “Asistes is not out of danger yet, these two days are the most dangerous time for him, he must rely on himself to fight against his illness. Herpus will take care of him according to my method.”

Davos said to Antonios: “Make sure to give your nephew plenty of water, but remember to not make him drink raw water, the water must be boiled then cooled down. In addition, when he wakes up, cook an oatmeal for him.”

“But he will spit it out.” Antonios said awkwardly.

“If he vomits, then feed him again. He consumed too much and needs food to replenish it.” Davos sighed and glanced at the people around him and said, “Asistes needs a quiet place to recover, don’t let other people go in to disturb him. Keep the room ventilated, and it is better to dry the air with fire…”

Antonios seriously remembered it and finally couldn’t help but asked a question: “If everything is done, will Asistes be fine?”

Davos is silent, if it is in his previous life, a bottle of antibiotics would solve the problem. But this is a primitive age in which there are few doctors and medicines, and he himself is not an expert.

He couldn’t make a conclusion and could only say: “We did our best. It now depends on him.” He hurriedly left after seeing the eyes of the people that slightly revering him.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Sorry, I have to go back.”

“Hold on, Davos will be back soon.”

When Davos and the others returned to their place, they saw Matonis dragging someone.

When he saw Davos, he shouted happily: “Hey, Davos, you’re finally back! I brought Xenophon for you!”

Xenophon? ! Davos’ eyes widened, and the man was looking at him.

In Davos’ eyes: Xenophon is around 30 years old, he is not very tall and has the common features of Greeks, black curly hair, high bridge nose, square face, thick beard, and in particular, a fairly wide forehead and a pair of smart and perceptive eyes.

When Xenophon saw that Davos was a childish boy, he was somewhat disappointed. Soon he found something special about this young man, the people behind him who are obviously older than him, surrounded him like he is their leader and made him distinct.

“Xenophon of Athens?” asked the young man.

“Yes.”

“Student of Socrates?”

“That’s right.” Xenophon was even more curious, everyone in his camp knows that he is Athenian, but only few people knows that he is a student of Socrates. Most of the Greeks who came to Persia are from the poor people of Ionia, Thessaly, and Thrace. They had no money, no land, and could hardly make a living, they can only come out to sell their lives to earn money, and of course, most of them are illiterate. Not to mention Xenophon, who is still a nobody, even the famous Socrates of Greece, not many people know of him.

“Which teacher did you learn from?” Xenophon asked.

“I haven’t studied Greek.” Davos said.

His answer stunned Xenophon. His self-confidence on his illiteracy made it difficult for Xenophon to develop a trace of contempt.

“Davos, today I went to various camps for a walk, I heard that there is a Xenophon in the camp of Proxenus, so I brought him to you, is it him?” Matonis said as if asking for a praise.

“Your companion insisted on dragging me over and telling me that the ‘God’s Favored’ is looking for me, and said a lot of things about you along the way.” Xenophon said with a forced smile.

“Thank you, Matonis!” For a person who kept his casual words in  his mind and worked hard to accomplish them, Davos has only gratitude in his heart, he then said to Xenophon: “Matonis is a very enthusiastic person, you can feel it if you have been with him for a long time.”

Matonis scratched his embarrassingly.

Xenophon understood Davos’ roundabout apology, he shrugged his shoulders and said that he didn’t care, he then stared at Davos and asked: “So everything he said about God’s Favored is true?”

“What do you think? Will the gods bless the Greeks in Persian land?” Davos asked.

“Of course! No matter where we are, the gods will never abandon us!” Xenophon answered without thinking: “I can come here was also under Apollo’s oracle.”

Xenophon’s answer surprised Davos, isn’t the more knowledgeable a person is, the more they believe on themselves and atheism?

He underestimated the extent to which the Greeks worshiped the gods and asked with amazement: “What is the oracle of Apollo?”

Xenophon spoke with a slight excitement.

It turned out that six months ago, in Athens, he received an invitation from a friend, Proxenus, in the letter, Proxenus told Xenophon that the Persian prince is a great man and sincere to the Greeks, he handed the recruitment of talented Greek to him, he has accepted the recruitment of Cyrus the Younger and invited Xenophon to help him in Asia Minor, and promised to recommend Xenophon to the Persian prince.

At that time, Athens had just ended the Spartan-supported tyrannical rule of the “The Thirty Tyrants”. The democrats adopted a moderate policy to restore the order of the city-state, and at the same time reached a reconciliation with Sparta. The peace of Athens made the young Xenophon want to increase his knowledge and broaden his horizons in Asia Minor, but he hesitated. For it was with the help of Cyrus the Younger that allowed Sparta to defeat Athens, fearing of getting punished by the Athenian government for Xenophon’s association with Cyrus the Younger, Socrates then sent him to Delphi to ask the gods.

Xenophon asked Apollo, which God he would offer his pray in order for him to successfully accomplish this journey and allow him to return home safely? The oracle told him the name of the god, and only after offering a sacrifice to the god designated by the oracle, did he set sail to Asia Minor and joined Proxenus’ troops.

“Which god did the oracle of Delphi said?” Olivos who was listening and couldn’t wait to ask.

Xenophon looked at Davos and said slowly and clearly: “H-a-d-e-s!”

[] Barefoot Doctor – a nickname for part-time paramedical worker in rural areas trained in simple techniques of diagnosis and treatment.
[] were a pro-Spartan oligarchy installed in Athens after its defeat in the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC. .

Chapter 14 – Xenophon (2)

The crowd couldn’t help but cry out: “This is amazing! Xenophon came to Persia by the order of Hades! And Davos have never seen Xenophon before, but he knew him through the oracle! This is Hades blessing us!!” The people began to sing the song of Hades.

Although Davos was surprised, but he thought it was just a coincidence. He pretended to follow everyone’s singing, and then said: “Even if there is the blessing of Hades, we also need to exert ourselves in order to pass the test and return to Greece safely.”

“Davos, you aren’t very confident about whether we can go home smoothly?” Xenophon looked at Davos. Xenophon believes in divine prophesies, omens in dreams, and prediction. It was precisely because he heard that Davos was favored by Hades and so he came over to find out. Because he believed that there must be some mysterious connection between him and Davos through Hades.

“I’m just an ordinary infantry, just like a frog in the well, I don’t understand the topmost situation. So it’s inevitable that I will be confused.” Davos said calmly: “You are a close friend of Proxenus, and the most outstanding student of Socrates. I hope you can tell us what kind of situation we are facing now, in order to relieve our confusion.”

Olivos wanted to say something, but Davos stopped him with his gaze.

Xenophon didn’t declined and said: “I think this time we should be able to return to Greece smoothly! Why?” Xenophon has a sense of responsibility because he came to Persia under the guidance of ‘God’. In the face of this possible disaster and when everyone was panicking, he thought that this was the reason why the gods let him come. Therefore, in the past few days, he was running back and forth in the camp to help Proxenus stabilize his troops.

At this time, he looked at the crowd and patiently said: “First, our hoplite is strong, while the Persian troops are weak. For decades since the Battle of Thermopylae, we have always steadily gained the upper hand in the battles between us Greeks and Persians. It was even more obviously shown in our previous battle against the Persian king, that our fierce attack directly resulted in their collapse. It can be seen that the Persian fear of our hoplite has penetrated into their blood. Although their cavalry is better than ours, but what is the use? The cavalry can only scout and harass, but they dare not fight us head-on, which won’t help improve their combat effectiveness.

“Yes, their cavalry are cowards!” Matonis shouted with great approval, and the face of Xenophon was a little embarassed.

“But the Persian cavalry’s javelin and arrows caused us a lot of trouble,“ Hielos reminded.

“But their cavalry, like their infantry, lacks the skill and courage to confront us head-on. It is impossible for them to shake our courage with bows and arrows. As long as we decide to retreat, they will never be able to stop us from leaving.” Xenophon confidently said it based on his knowledge of cavalry.

“Secondly, I heard the Persians say that their new king, Artaxerxes, was a gentle and timid guy since he was a child, which is why Cyrus the Younger dared to revolt. I heard that in the regions of Susa and Persepolis, some friends of Cyrus the Younger began to respond and although Artaxerxes had fortunately killed Cyrus the Younger, he would never dare risk fighting us to death while his rear had not calmed down.

Third, our commander, Clearchus, is a very capable person. Although I am an Athenian and he is a Spartan, but I can’t deny that during the war between Athens and Sparta, he had caused Athens a lot of trouble, then he defeated the Thracians many times. And several leaders like Proxenus and Meno are also experienced commanders and they have good understanding of Persians due to having dealings with them all year round. The Persian commander-in-chief was Artaxerxes, the Persian king who had just became a king and had never commanded an army, and the general he relied on, Tissaphernes, was even defeated by us, they aren’t at all a match against several of our leaders!…”

Davos carefully listened to the story of Xenophon. Through Xenophon, he learned a lot about things that he didn’t know before. This time, he sincerely applauded: “What a wonderful speech! You really are worthy to be the disciple of Socrates!”

“Yeah! It is the man that Hades has guided! Your words gave us confidence!” Hielos said sincerely.

In the face of everyone’s praise, Xenophon’s looked calm, it was a common thing for him to persuade ordinary soldiers, his eyes fell on Davos and seems to want to see the unusualness of the “God’s favored” of Hades in the rumors.

“But you still forgot to say one thing.” Davos certainly can’t let the other person look down on himself, especially in front of his teammates: “Although Persia has a vast territory and has a large population, they can’t effectively governed it. Most areas are still autonomous, they have their own culture and religion, obeying the Persian rule requires only two things – paying taxes and serving in the military. The Persians believed only in themselves, so there were very few foreign officials in their army and court. If the foreigners could not integrate into Persia, they would not die for Persia. I think that’s one of the reasons why the Persian troops collapsed when they faced us.”

Xenophon savored what Davos said and recalled what he had seen along the way, which was very consistent. He was stunned, he apparently isn’t as well educated as a 19 year old young man who didn’t know a thing about Persia, he can only blame it on something like “God’s favored”! Xenophon can only comfort himself in this way: “You’re right! This is the illness of the dictatorship of the king! On the contrary, it is the superiority of Greek’s democracy, for we are fighting for ourselves!”

Superiority of democracy? Davos seemed to see the face of a country that self-proclaimed itself as the “Global Sheriff” in his previous life. He tried to cast aside his contempt, but was seen by the careful Xenophon: “Davos thinks I am wrong?”

“Xenophon, which period in Athens do you think was the most stable and prosperous in the past centuries?” Davos decided to use his previous life’s knowledge to shock this historical celebrity in front of him and impress him so that his name will spread to the top of the mercenary through him.

“The period when Pericles is in power.” Xenophon answered without hesitation.

“You forgot to mention the reign of Peisistratos.” Davos reminded him: “It was under his rule that Athens had completely owned the Attica region and made the port of Piraeus prospered, and only then did Athens became another powerful city-state in Greece besides Sparta!”

“But…” Xenophon didn’t expect that Davos would mention Peisistratos, the Athenians were proud to live in the most democratic Greek city-state, and almost no one would talk about the dictator. He wanted to retort, but for a moment he doesn’t know what to say. After all, Xenophon, a highly educated and knowledgeable person, knows that Davos was telling the truth.

Davos seized the opportunity and continue to say: “You want to say, ‘But Athens was stronger under Pericles’, right? However, there are problems with the statement about Pericles’ Reign. How many years did Pericles serve as a strategos? Thirty years! He has never been defeated in thirty years and has been elected as the Polemarchos for many times! All the important domestic and foreign laws and decisions in Athens were proposed and formulated by him, which created the golden age of Athens. Isn’t it ironic that in order to prevent an autocratic democracy in Athens, the once a year Ostracism method was invented. Is Peisistratos dictator? Is Pericles democratic?! Pericles is merely a more subtle and gentler than Peisistratos political means.

And what do you think happened to the superiority of democracy without Pericles? Athens with its richer financial resources, stronger navy and more allies than Sparta, has internal strife and struggle with each other, and the people of Athens are often unable to tell the truth and false apart, and are easily incited by the politicians. That’s why at the crucial moment of the expedition to Sicily, the most talented strategos of Athens, Alcibiades, was forced to defect. The strategoi who had just won a key sea battle in Arginusae but failed to rescue the drowning soldiers in time due to a gale, was easily tried by the masses and even executed…these foolish acts of Athens are not uncommon in this long war with Sparta! This is what Athenians think as the perfect democracy?! It has consumed the strength it accumulated over the past hundred years in the constant internal friction!”

The ancient democratic system of Athens was a key point in the study of Davos in his previous life’s party school, because it was the origin of the modern Western political system, Davos still has fresh memories of it.

Author’s Note 1: Western historians doesn’t have a high evaluation of Xenophon. They think that Xenophon only has a shallow knowledge of history and philosophy, and his depth of research and understanding of history is not as deep as Thucydides and Herodotus, and his philosophical attainments aren’t as good as his classmate, Plato. Moreover, in his works, he believed in divine prophesies, dream omens and prediction, and often used his political preferences to select historical materials and judge historical facts, which was full of exaggeration. When I read his works, I also experience it. However, in any case, he left a lot of valuable first-hand information, so that the modern people can have a clearer understanding of that era, otherwise there will be no such novel that I have wrote today.

Author’s Note 2: After the Arginusae sea battle, among the generals that was tried by the people of Athens was the characters I wrote in my last novel – Pericles the Younger, the only son of Pericles and he also got executed.

[] was an ancient city of the Proto-Elamite, Elamite, First Persian Empire, Seleucid, Parthian, and Sasanian empires of Iran, and one of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East.
[] was a prominent and influential Greek statesman, orator and general of Athens during its golden age – specifically the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars.
[] was a ruler of ancient Athens during most of the period between 561 and 527 BC.
[] Strategos = General.
[] Polemarchos = Supreme Commander.
[] was a procedure under the Athenian democracy in which any citizen could be expelled from the city-state of Athens for ten years.
[] was a prominent Athenian statesman, orator, and general. He played a major role in the second half of Peloponnesian War as a strategic advisor, military commander, and politician.
[] took place in 406 BC during the Peloponnesian War near the city of Canae in the Arginusae islands, east of the island of Lesbos. (interesting fact is that Pericles son, Pericles the Younger, was one of the generals that have been executed.)

Chapter 15 – Miracle Physician

After Athens failed in the Peloponnesian War and experienced the brutal rule of the “Thirty Tyrants”, the wise men in Athens were more or less aware of the flaws in the system, but there wasn’t anyone who had completely denied the Athenian democracy like what Davos did.

This deafening words were like a loud thunder, that made Xenophon not regain his sense for a long time and absentmindedly said “…You mean Sparta… is the best?”

“Sparta?!” Davos sneered: “When they decided to turn its compatriots into Helots (referring to the Messenians), it is destined that it will never be strong! Although the Spartan warriors are very brave, but thousands of Spartan warriors have to suppress slaves ten times their number. Its city-state is like a volcano that will erupt once it meet a great defeat.”

“Davos, now Sparta is the most powerful city-state in Greece!” Olivos interrupted.

“Then let’s wait and see how powerful it is in a few years!” Davos answered confidently. He vaguely remembered that it wasn’t long before another war broke out in Greece, and Sparta got defeated by the rising Thebes and thus fall in decline.

“Is this an oracle?” Several of his teammates were surprised.

Davos laughed but didn’t answer.

“So, which city-state has the best system?” Xenophon relunctantly asked.

Davos also responded with a mysterious smile.

At this time, Xenophon seems to have recovered his calmness on the surface, but in fact, his heart is thumping. He didn’t made any blunder even though decades of habits and beliefs was smashed by what Davos had said and it is due to Socrates’ years of teaching that made him more adept at learning and thinking independently than the average person.

The restless man could not stay any longer and has to go back and think about what Davos had said. So, he bid farewell to Davos.

As he was leaving, Davos seemed to ask a casual question: “Xenophon, have you ever commanded an army before?”

“I served as a cavalry captain.” Xenophon hastily answered.

Davos’ face became grave as he watched the shadow of Xenophon fade away. As a student of Socrates, Xenophon’s insights were clearly beyond those of his teammates. However, as a newly arrived Athenian with a low reputation and without a rich mercenary experience, and currently is still only an adjutant of Proxenus, how did Xenophon manage to lead the retreat?

When he thought how the author of 《Anabasis》 is Xenophon himself, Davos will inevitably have some doubts: ‘Did Xenophon stole other people’s credits for himself?’

“Davos, Athens and Sparta are really that bad?” Hielos clearly understood than the others and was more confused.

Davos nodded and sighed: “Both Athens and Sparta will live very well if it is in a period of peace, but this is an era in which you are doomed to perish if you don’t struggle!”

Hielos seemed to understand and couldn’t help but ask the same question as Xenophon: “So is there a city-state in the Mediterranean that has a better system than Athens and Sparta?”

Davos looked at the curious and eager eyes of Hielos and turned his head. On the horizon, the sunset emits its last afterglow before falling, looking at the red clouds, thinking of the Mediterranean in the future, with frequent wars and powerful countries that have come and gone, until the emergence of a great Emperor and his dazzling light that shined the western world for more than two thousand years…

Davos had a sudden surge of enthusiasm in his heart, this time he did not refuse to answer and said positively: “Not at the moment. But if you and I can live longer, maybe one day you can see it!” (T/N: Most likely talking about Alexander the Great’s Macedonian Empire)

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the early morning, Davos’ mind was in the midst of confusion and heard the voices of people outside.

“Wake up! Wake up! My nephew woke up!!” Antonios ecstatically broke into the room and hugged Davos: “Thank you! Thank you! Asistes, he is alive!!”

Davos wasn’t fully awake and confusedly asked: “Really?”

“It’s true!” Then Herpus said excitedly: “Asistes is awake! His temperature is not as hot as it was yesterday, although he is still weak, he can already eat porridge made of bread. Davos, the method you taught really works!”

In the face of Herpus admiration, Davos was finally relieved, he suppressed the excitement and said calmly: “Although Asistes is out of danger, you can’t relax and need to continue taking care of him with the method I taught before, so that he could get better soon!”

“Yes!” Herpus replied respectfully.

“Davos, there are many people outside that want to see you.” Hielos came in and said.

“Oh, it’s Kapus. They were surprised when they heard that Asistes woke up. They must have come over to see you and want to get your help.” Antonios answered with some shame, Davos have put so much energy into saving his nephew that he might have even prayed to Hades. And he hasn’t paid him back yet and brought him another trouble.

“Kapus?” Davos had no impression of the name.

“Another hoplite squadron leader in our camp.” Hielos explained.

Davos slightly murmured and immediately stood up: “Let’s go out, don’t keep them waiting.”

He walked out of the house, while being surrounded by people.

“Look, Davos is out!”

“This is Davos? He is too young!”

“Despite his youth, he is really favored by Hades! If not, he would not have been able to save Asistes. You and I have seen that Asistes was in a coma back then.”

“Davos, one of my brothers was also injured like Asistes, he is burning and unconscious, I hope I can get your help!”

“I also have one of my men injured…”

“And me…”

In the small yard, crowds of people are desperately waved their arms, shouting like a surging tide, and they are waving higher and higher.

In the face of an out-of-control incident, everyone were slightly nervous, but only Davos’ look remain unchanged. As a cadre that was promoted from the bottom in his previous life, no matter if it is in towns, counties and cities, he have seen mass petitions a lot of times. Even when he was the village head, he once held a meeting in the town and was caught up by peasants that have surrounded the town government to discuss the land expropriation, the leaders hid while only he stood up and faced the hoes and sticks in the hands of these passionate peasants, he tried his best to persuade them to withdraw. This small incident in front of him is really hard for him to ignore, besides, it is a good thing for him.

He raised his hand and shouted: “Everyone be quiet!”

“Quiet! Quiet!!…” Antonios also helped shout.

People gradually calmed down.

“I am very grateful for everyone’s trust!” Davos said with excitement: “We are all comrades who fought together and face death! They are good brothers who are able to entrust their right shoulders to protect their teammates! If any brother is injured, I will take Herpus with me and do our best to save and never abandon any wounded!!”

Herpus was thrilled to hear his name.

Hearing this, the soldiers in the yard were even more grateful.

“This is great! Thank you Hades!!”

“Thank you, Davos, you are our savior!!”

“Davos, you are our best brother! Whatever you want in the future, I will try my best to do it for you!!”

In this era, it is very common for soldiers to be injured and get infected and die, which is also a nightmare that plagues the army, now, Davos gave them hope. And this person is generous and kind, how can they not be moved!

“Davos! Davos!…” Their shouts resounded over the sky of Meno’s camp.

Chapter 16 – Conflict

When Davos and Herpus were discussing how to treat the wounded more efficiently, a guard of Meno called him over.

As soon as he entered, Meno shouted angrily: “I said, ‘If you have a new ideas, let me know first’! and you agreed. But now, you deceived me! You broke your promise!”

“What did I do wrong?” Davos was puzzled.

“You are able to save those comatose soldiers and did it secretly without telling me in advance!”

After Davos heard what he said, he was amused: “Respected leader Meno, the situation was urgent and saving people is important, if I have reported it to you first and then organize people to treat them, Asistes would’ve died!”

Davos added sarcastically: “Besides, this isn’t a new idea, it was a medical skill passed down from my ancestor. I came to be a mercenary and not to be a slave that needs to get your permission to treat people!”

Meno was unable to respond. Just now the soldiers were shouting the name of “Davos”, which made him confused by jealousy, and without thinking, angrily called Davos, which resulted in his embarrassment.

He simply said: “I am still lacking a guard here. From now on, you will be responsible for guarding my safety and you can’t leave without my orders!” He had a hunch that Davos had to be separated from the soldiers to avoid further influencing them and thus weaken his control over the mercenary.

“I’m sorry, leader Meno. I am better suited to be an ordinary soldier than a guard. Besides, my squad leader won’t agree!” Davos guessed Meno’s intentions and he certainly would not agree.

Meno laughed with anger due to the unexpected direct refusal: “I am your leader! Who dares to disagree with my orders!”

“I disagree!” With a shout, Antonios entered the living room.

“I also don’t agree!” Following him was Kapus, then was followed by several squadron leaders.

Davos was relieved to see Antonios nodding to himself, he is now safe. Of course, he didn’t know that when the guard called him threateningly, Hielos felt something wrong and immediately ran to inform Antonios, this is why Antonios and the rest appeared here so soon.

“Who let you in?! Where is my guard?!” Meno was anxious and angry. He felt uneasy with how several of his main squadron leaders came unannounced.

“Leader, the wounded in the camp are still waiting for Davos to treat them and we can’t delay!” Antonios listened calmly to the words filled with hidden threat that made Meno heart tremble in fear and the cold gaze of the crowd made Meno feel even more hesitant.

He end up yielding and stutteringly said: “Well…I…am very pleased that Davos used his great medical skill to save the wounded and unconscious soldier. So I called him to come…uhm…I want to appoint him as the camp’s physician in order to treat more soldiers.”

“I am very willing to heal our wounded brothers! But whether if it is a physician or a guard that you previously mentioned, I won’t accept! I just want to be a soldier under Hielos.” Davos straightforwardly answered. Although he would be safe being the camp physician, but it doesn’t comply to his plan. Moreover, he was unwilling to accept Meno’s compromise now that they have torn each other face, and it is hard for him to change his initial understanding of Meno.

Meno was very embarrassed getting rejected by a low-ranking ordinary soldier in front of everyone and he immediately shouted: “DAVOS!”

Just as his words left his mouth, there was a sudden noise outside: “Return Davos to us and give the soldiers a way to live!!”

“Meno, if you don’t let Davos come out, we will rush in!!”

It was the yelling of countless soldiers, making Meno tremble with fear.

“Davos, you go back first.” Antonios said.

Davos nodded and said loudly: “Everyone, thank you for your help!”

Meno immediately turned his resentful gaze to the squadron leaders after hearing it.

After Davos left, he immediately said:  “Antonios, Kapus… are you also starting to go against me?”

“Meno, you are our leader and of course we have to listen to your command. But Davos is favored by Hades and the soldiers have witnessed the many miracles he had created! The gods are watching us in heaven and blessed us so that we can smoothly go home from foreign land, and the least bit of blasphemy isn’t allowed.” Antonios answered evasively.

Meno certainly heard his implication: ‘We all know what you did to Davos. We can follow your command, but when it comes to Davos, we will defend him.’ He also wanted to refute in order to preserve his dignity as the leader, but Amintas, who dislike him the most among his officers, shouted: “Listen Meno! Once our mission ends, we don’t mind re-electing a new leader if you mess up again! I believe the soldiers won’t choose you anymore!”

Amintas’ words manage to hit the crucial point of Meno’s worries. Mercenaries are a loose military organization. Meno became the leader due to his wide range of connections and being able to receive missions, get money and pay the soldiers. Now the situation is that, after the death of Cyrus the Younger, Meno lost his employer and could no longer get money, nor could he pay the soldiers. The reason why the soldiers still believed in him: Firstly, it’s due to their common goal of returning home safely, and they must be united, since a scattered soldiers can’t survive on Persian land. The command system of the mercenaries is readily available and effective, and the soldiers were used to it. Secondly, the long years of living as a mercenary, these experienced officers are rarely replaced and most of them had a good relations with Meno, they help him control the whole troops. But now, for the sake of Davos, the officers and soldiers have joined forces against him, indicating that his control of the troops is at stake.

He knew that he has a bad reputation in the hearts of the soldiers. In the past, he didn’t care because as long as he have money, he could replace a group of soldiers any time, due to most of the land in Greece are barren and the previous Peloponnesian War causing the livelihood of the people to decline, more young people go out to seek for survival. But it now has become his biggest worry.

After he calmly sent away Antonios and Kapus, he returned to the living room to scream and vent out his depression: “I’M GOING TO KILL THAT KID!!” As soon as he spoke, he realized that something was off and hurriedly went to the entrance, he did not know when the guard at the entrance who had followed him for more than a year had already disappeared.

He was frightened and restless in the living room. He looked at the room which had become a mess due to his anger, he hesitated for a while and finally decided to go to Ariaeus. He heard that many relatives of Ariaeus came to him these two days and with their help, the mercenaries might not have to go back so laboriously…

Meno had an idea after he thought about it. He tidied up his makeup and went to the yard to pull a horse, after clamping hard on the horse belly, he then galloped northward.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

After testing his influence in Meno’s camp through this incident, Davos returned to his residence and actively recruited Herpus to discuss the treatment of the wounded.

Although Davos wasn’t a doctor in his previous life, but he has the accumulation of more than 2,000 years of knowledge than the people of this era, which is enough for him to make a more better medical plan than that of this time. Firstly, setting up a medical team with Herpus as the lead, then from the camp, find one or two soldiers who are interested in medicine and serve as a physician. They then need several female slaves from the supply unit to train them as a nurse while they do treatment, he believe that they can adapt fast to their new roles. Secondly, they should open up an area to serve as a wartime hospital, so that they can concentrate on the treatment of the wounded and improve efficiency. Thirdly, the most common thing in the army is getting wounded, by establishing a practical medical system and training the doctors and nurses the concept of sterile hygiene, as long as the infection can be prevented, by virtue of the strong physical condition of the soldiers, most of the mild and moderate injuries can get better. Finally, gathering some of the local remedies from Persians along the way, Mesopotamian civilization is one of the oldest civilizations on earth. For thousands of years, people who live in this land have their own unique means and methods to cope with diseases. After studying it, they will then use modern analytical methods to remove the bad part and it will naturally expand the scope of treatment of Davos’ medical team.

Davos intends to develop this medical team into a permanent and essential organization in the camp for the future.

To master the health of the soldiers is to master the mind of the army.

Chapter 17 – Dances with wolves

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Just as Davos started preparing for his field hospital, the Persian envoy came to the Greek camp, this time the envoy was the Persian general that was most familiar to the mercenary leaders, the satrap of Asia Minor, Tissaphernes. He brought with him the hope that the Greeks would be able to return home safely. He was willing to convey to the Persian king that the mercenary leaders were unwilling to fight and just wanted to go home.

The mercenary leaders welcomed him with pleasure.

After Tissaphernes left, the mercenary leaders saw hope for a peaceful settlement and were eagerly awaiting for his return.

After anxiously waiting for two days, Tissaphernes once again came to the Greek camp and read out the latest decree of the Persian king to the mercenary leaders. The king has accepted the apology of the mercenary, despite the opposition of many ministers, he decided to let the Greek mercenary return to Greece under the leadership of Tissaphernes and had agreed to provide a market for the Greeks to solve their problem with supplies on their way home. At the same time, the Greeks must abide by the local order and destruction or looting along the way is not allowed…

The leaders certainly couldn’t ask for more. They soon reached an agreement with Tissaphernes and both sides swear an oath in the name of their God. Tissaphernes then warned the leaders to patiently wait, while he report back to the king and to make arrangements for their return.

Soon after Tissaphernes left, the news spread throughout the camp and the soldiers cheered.

Davos still did not relax his vigilance. Although he heard what Xenophon said last time, he realized that there were many differences between the actual situation of Persia and his own guessed based on Chinese history.

Just yesterday, Xenophon visited again and had finally adjusted his mood after a few days, he wanted to talk with Davos about the democracy of city-states. Davos did not want to remain entangled on this issue, and had instead skillfully led the topic to the local customs of the Greek city-states.

Most of the time, it was Xenophon who talk incessantly, while Davos listens attentively. In between, Davos asked about Tissaphernes, so Xenophon said something about Tissaphernes that he had heard from Proxenus, which made Davos remember them deeply.

When Tissaphernes served as the satrap of Asia Minor, it was during the time of the Peloponnesian War. Tissaphernes chose to form an alliance with Sparta and had wanted to use the strength of Sparta against Athens in order to restore Persian rule over the Greek city-state on the Ionian coast, while Sparta would receive funding to build an enormous fleet capable of fighting Athens. It wasn’t long after he stopped his promised financial support to Sparta, which cause the Spartans to protest to the then Persian king, Darius II, Darius then appointed his second son, Cyrus the Younger, to serve as the military commander throughout the western Persian region and to fully support Sparta against Athens.

Tissaphernes was relieved of his military power, but he seemed to not care. He got along very well with Cyrus the Younger and they soon became friends. But when the new king Artaxerxes came to power and Cyrus the Younger went to the capital to attend the grand ceremony of his big brother’s ascension, Tissaphernes told the new king that Cyrus the Younger wanted to rebel, which resulted in the arrest of the Cyrus the Younger, he had only gotten released after the repeated pleading of the Queen Mother.

After Tissaphernes returned to Asia Minor, he started opposing Cyrus the Younger on everything. So when Cyrus the Younger started his rebellion, the first thing he wanted to do was to capture him and as a result, he ran away long ago and showed up in the king’s army. When the left wing of the king’s army got crushed by the Greek’s hoplite, Tissaphernes dared to lead the cavalry around the hoplite and attack the Greek’s rear troops. Although he failed, his courage and determination naturally stood out among a group of defeated generals, so he was able to negotiate a truce with the Greek troops as the Persian envoy on behalf of the king, which obviously shown the king’s favor of him.

What Davos heard about Tissaphernes was heard by Xenophon from Proxenus, and most of what Proxenus knows came from Cyrus the Younger, regardless of whether he liked or disliked Tissaphernes, but the fact was true. Therefore, after analyzing, Davos believes that Tissaphernes was a typical politician who was accustomed in deception, he is good at judging the situation and daring to grab the opportunity. It is hard to expect such a person to keep his promise!

When Davos told Xenophon about this concern, Xenophon sighed and said: “Proxenus was very clear about it and they won’t relax their vigilance against Tissaphernes, but we may not be able to go home unless we gave up fighting the Persian King. Euphrates and Tigris rivers alone can cause us enormous trouble and we can’t smoothly cross such a wide river in front of the enemy. Another huge problem is that there isn’t enough food. Once we go “collecting” food, the scattered soldiers can be easily attacked by the enemy…

You see, the Persian king has a huge advantage that if he really want to destroy us, it is absolutely unnecessary to give us supplies and let Tissaphernes swear an oath in the name of their God on his behalf, because if he breaks the oath in the future, he won’t only be laughed at by Persians and Greeks, but they will get abandoned by the Persian gods, unless he wants to become a king without faith as soon he ascended! Therefore, we can only believe in them and can only cooperate with them to guarantee our safe return home!”

Davos saw that what Xenophon has said is more like persuading himself and sighed. The Greek mercenaries were in a disadvantaged position, so even if they were given “poison”, they had to swallow it.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Day by day, Davos’ field hospital had begun to take shape, and after they carefully took care and treated the 12 wounded, 7 of them have significantly gotten better.

For most of the time, Davos learned Greek from Xenophon and entrusted Mersis, who had went out to buy, to bring back several pieces of linen and cut it into slender strips and using his legs, began to experiment on how to wrap it. At the same time, he pulled his teammates to train with him and learn combat skills so that he can unify his mind and body memory.

Because of Asistes recovery and the event where Menon’s troops protested, his relationship with Antonios became closer and he visited Antonios many times and asked him about his experience on commanding the hoplite and formation…and in order for him to understand the skill in using a Kopis. He also studied from the Peltast troops to gain an in-depth understanding of the characteristics of this units.

The success of the field hospital made Davos’ reputation as “God’s favored” deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and his modesty and eagerness to learn also won the favor of everyone. There are only few people who couldn’t recognize him anymore as he walk throughout Menon’s camp.

As time went by, the Persians haven’t appeared, uneasiness and suspicion have gradually enveloped the entire Greek camp. Davos used his busy days to dilute his worries and his inability to change the predicament of the Greek mercenaries, so he could only change himself and enrich his experience as much as possible.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After more than 20 days of waiting, Tissaphernes finally arrived with his army and accompanied by the satrap of Armenia, Orontes and his army.

The Greek mercenary leaders, who were anxiously waiting for a long time, had led the troops and set foot on their journey home without any suspicion.

But at the beginning of the march, the situation change. The troops of Ariaeus who was originally warm and intimate with the Greek mercenaries, began to march with the Persian army and not only marching together, but they also camp together. Over the past 20 days, the Persians were not idle, they have sent the relatives and friends of Ariaeus and the other generals to Ariaeus camp, and by promising to not held them accountable, they finally manage to persuade the generals of Cyrus the Younger.

This undoubtedly increased the suspicion of the Greek mercenaries, who were far behind the Persian army, they acted alone with their own guides. At dusk, the Greek troops and the Persians were 5 km apart, guarding each other as if they treat each other as their enemy,

Tissaphernes did indeed fulfill his promise to provide markets for the Greeks every day. Of course, the mercenaries have to pay for it themselves.

Menon had also tried to retaliate against Davos by giving Hielos’ squad less food, but Mersis opposed it. Previously, Mersis was very reluctant when Davos asked him to leave 2 Egyptian slaves.

Who knew that not long after, Davos gave him a Chinese massage with the trained Egyptian slave and he became addicted to it. He then went to the field hospital every day to ask for a massage and shamelessly said that it was the slave who owed him and they are paying off their debt. He was still hoping that after they return to Greece, he would make Davos teach this unique technique to him and buy * then his brothel will be overcrowded. Therefore, not only will he not offend Davos, but will also try to satisfy most of Davos’ demands.

[] was king of the Persian Empire from 423 BC to 404 or 405 BC and the father of Artaxerxes II and Cyrus the Younger.
[] as an Armenian ruler of the Orontid Dynasty who ruled as satrap of the Achaemenid Empire between 401 BC – 344 BC.

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Chapter 18 – The eastern kingdom of dream

A few  days later, Davos saw a huge wall in front of him, which was more than 20 meters high, and extending infinitely to the southeast…

“Oh! The Median Wall!! I still feel shocked, no matter how many times I see it!!” Xenophon sighed aloud. During these days of marching, he would often run into the troops of Menon and accompany Davos. In his words ‘Talking with Davos helps stimulate his knowledge by making him think deeply.’ Davos thought that he was bored marching together with the troops of Proxenus, because he had no common language with the others except Proxenus, so he came to show off his knowledge to Davos.

“It was said that this Median wall was more than a hundred miles long, built by the former kingdom of Babylon, in order to defend against the Medes in the north. But the kingdom of Babylon was destroyed by the Media…” Xenophon looked up at the tall walls and sighed, “The Media were later destroyed by the Persians and Herodotus had a wonderful description in his book 《The Histories》. ‘Just as man is born, aged, sick, and die, so is a powerful kingdom.’ Therefore, despite the vast territory of Persia, we still don’t know who will destroy it in the future! I hope that I could see that day in my lifetime!”

Davos certainly remembers that in the past history, Persia was destroyed by Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, who had been admired by Westerners for more than two thousand years. He couldn’t remember the exact timeline, but it is probably several decades later. In his memory, the current Macedonia wasn’t a unified kingdom, but also his own “enemy”.

Looking at the huge wall made of burnt bricks and bitumen, Davos was equally impressed, It seems that building a Great Wall to defend against the barbarian isn’t exclusively belongs to Huaxia. Now China should currently still be in the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period…

He turned to look at the East, standing for a long time, with indescribable attachment and regret in his eyes. He is a Greek in this world and thousands of miles away from his native land, it’s impossible for him to return…

“Davos! Davos!…” Davos returned to his senses after hearing Hielos calling him, he then found out that he had been standing still which affected the progress of the march. He step up his pace and couldn’t help but say, “You know what? Perhaps there is a country in the far east, which governs a much more bigger territory and more people than Persia. Its manners and customs are totally different from Greece and Persia, and its political system is also different from Greece and Persia, which is strict and efficient! It has gorgeous clothes, elegant etiquette, magnificent mountains and rivers and delicious food! It has a strong army and the people are wealthy…”

“Davos, you are dreaming. How can there be such a powerful kingdom in the East?” Xenophon interrupted Davos’ speech and said seriously, “According to Herodotus’ record, India is to the east of Persia, Arabia is to the southeast, and the Scythians and the Arimaspi are to the northeast… There shouldn’t be such a kingdom that you had said! Is this a revelation that Hades has given you?”

“So what is beyond the east of the races you had just mentioned?” Davos asked.

“It should be the ocean.” Xenophon uncertainly said.

“This is what Herodotus said. Did he personally confirmed it?” Davos asked again.

“He…it should be what he had heard from other people’s recount…and took note of it.” Xenophon began to stutter.

“Since he had just heard of it, then we can’t be sure that it is true, nor can we deny that there is no such country in the distant East!” Davos retorted.

Xenophon was unable to respond for a moment, and strangely looked at Davos, “Looking at how serious you react, it seems that there really is such a country.”

Davos smiled and said nothing.

“How wonderful it would be if one day I can go to the distant east to have a look!” Olivos, was attracted by the scene described by Davos, and he suddenly said it with a sigh.

“Then you have to go through the Persian kingdom first and then there are the Massagetaens, who come and go like the wind, and was said to have cut off the head of the Persian king, Cyrus the Great…well, there are also the terrible Arimaspi and the mysterious India…if you are lucky enough to not be killed or be captured as a slave, then you can see whether the distant East is an ocean or a powerful country…” Xenophon said half jokingly and half serious.

Olivos shrank his neck and didn’t speak anymore.

Matonis was a little annoyed, although he didn’t like Olivos, he even more hated the knowledgeable Athenian, “What are you afraid of? If I have a strong army, not to mention going to the distant east, I would dare go anywhere!”

“Strong army?” Xenophon disdainfully pointed his finger to the loose marching formation ahead, “Like this one?”

“Of course a much more powerful than this one!” Matonis said loudly.

Davos listened to their bickering and narrowed his gaze, ‘A stronger army?’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Passing through the Median wall meant that the Greek troops has left Babylon. In the next few days, what always appeared in Davos’ sight was, Vast plain, endless golden wheat fields, and rivers that was dug by man… These man-made rivers divert the water from the large rivers into a lot of small canals and ditches and eventually into farmland…

Davos couldn’t help but sigh after seeing this, ‘This should be the oldest irrigation project in the Middle East! A fertile land and an abundant water that have nurtured a large number of people and created a brilliant ancient civilizations of the two rivers one after another!…’

Further on, the source of those man-made river, the Tigris River. As one of the other mother river in the plains of Mesopotamia, the Tigris river was equally wide and at first glance, it seems to be difficult to reach the opposite side. There were countless sails moving over the river, merchant ships were the ones who move fast with their oars, while the fishing boats sails slowly along the river. The singing of the fishermen and the shouting of the sailors were heard across the river. Numerous aquatic birds were chirping and flying over the river, and there were large fishes leaping in the water from time to time, a beautiful and tranquil view of the river.

Near the river bank there is a large and densely populated city, Sittace, the Greek mercenaries approached the city and set up camp. The Persian army and Ariaeus troops crossed the bridge and camped across the river. That night, Davos and the rest finally manage to have a good sleep, because the Persian army was on the other side, and the psychological pressure on the Greek soldiers was much lesser.

On the second day, the atmosphere suddenly changed slightly. When Davos crossed the river, they saw armed soldiers on both sides of the bridge and there were also vigilant soldiers on the other side after crossing over the pontoon bridge.

What happened?

It wasn’t until Xenophon came that Davos understood why.

“Last night, a man came from the other side and said that he was a confidant of Ariaeus, he had brought a message to Clearchus and Proxenus. Therefore, the several leaders met him, I followed Proxenus in the main tent and listed to what the man had to say, ‘Ariaeus warned Clearchus to be vigilant because the Persian troops might attack the Greek mercenaries at night and they also intend to destroy the pontoon bridge and trap all of you between the Tigris river and the man-made waterway.’ the several leaders and I became nervous—”

Xenophon said with a slightly irritated tone, “After thinking about it, I think that this news is unreliable!”

“Oh, what did you think?” Davos curiously asked.

“Because if the Persians attack us, whether it is victory or failure. If they are defeated and destroyed, there is nowhere for them to escape. If they win, we are on Persian land, there is no place to run at all and so why bother to destroy a bridge that is not easy to build. Therefore, Clearchus listened to my advice!” Xenophon proudly said.

“Well, it makes sense!” Davos thought about it and praised him.

“Since even you can think of it, Tissaphernes certainly is not a fool, so why did he need to make up such a lie?” Olivos sarcastically said.

“That’s because he is really afraid of us destroying the bridge!” Xenophon glanced at him, not wanting to argue with this uneducated fellow, “As you can see these days, there are many villages in this area, and the land is fertile, producing a large amount of food, enough to support our mercenaries for half a year and if we destroy the bridge, they can’t come for a while since Tissaphernes’ troops is on the other side, so—“

[] was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon and conquered the Achaemenid empire.
[] Huaxia – old name of China.
[] was a period in Chinese history from approximately 771 to 476 BC (or according to some authorities until 403 BC).
[] was an era in ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation.
[] were Eurasian nomads and the “classical Scythians” known to ancient Greek historians, agreed to be mainly Iranian in origin, and were located in the northern Black Sea and fore-Caucasus region.
[] were a legendary tribe of one-eyed people of northern Scythia who lived in the foothills of the Riphean Mountains, variously identified with the Ural Mountains or the Carpathians.
[] were an ancient Eastern Iranian nomadic tribal confederation, who inhabited the steppes of Central Asia, north-east of the Caspian Sea in modern Turkmenistan, western Uzbekistan, and southern Kazakhstan.

Chapter 19 – Suspicion

“The disaster of the Persian is coming!!” Matonis laughed happily and loudly, as if the Greeks would really do it.

“It seems that the Persians really want to send us away!” Hielos said as he realized it.

Or maybe Tissaphernes wants you to think that way. Davos thought to himself, without saying anything, he always felt that Tissaphernes isn’t simple. After all, his ideas were different from the Greeks of this era. According to his deep contact with the Greek soldiers during this time, he found that most of these Greeks grew up listening to their father’s stories about how they beat the Persians, they advocated strength and likes to fight head-on. Even if they employ schemes it was mostly tricks, their brains were indeed less inferior than the Persians in dealing with intrigue.

Davos was always worried because he knew that Tissaphernes was a brilliant politician, “Xenophon, do you know our marching route?”

“I’m not quite sure, it was decided by Tissaphernes, Clearchus, and Ariaeus. But it is surely not the way we entered from. Because you know—” Xenophon shrugged, “Your leader, Menon, took the lead and collected a lot of good things along the way, the local Persians hated us…don’t worry, we will be able to go back!”

‘Collect? You mean pillage! I am afraid that in the Persian’s eye, we are the aggressors! A bandit!’ After hearing that, Davos was slightly annoyed, so he secretly breathed out to calmed his mood as much as possible, “Do you know about the mountains, rivers, cities and roads in Persia?”

“Davos, this is the first time that I have gone deep into Persia, I don’t exactly know where they are, except that I know some famous cities in the book, such as Babylon, Susa, Persepolis, and so on…” Xenophon raised a piece of papyrus in his hand and said excitedly, “However, I kept a brief record of what I saw every day and when I get back, I will write them down, so that the Greeks can understand the situation in Persia!”

Davos smiled, ‘Well, I know that you’re going to write a book called 《Anabasis》 in the future, but it won’t solve the urgent problem now.’

Where can I find someone who was familiar with the Persian geography? Davos distressedly thought…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As time went by, the Greek mercenaries and the Persian army camped near each other, but when they went to the rivers to carry water and collect firewood, the soldiers of both sides would often meet and when they disagree, they would fight, which increased the hatred of both sides.

A few days later, they arrived at Physcus river and met the troops led by another brother of Artaxerxes, king of Persia. He came to help the king, but when he arrived, the war was over and he had to return with his troops.

Clearchus was afraid of an accident and he ordered the entire troops to be fully armed, and to protect the supply units at the center and keep the battle column westward. The Persian troops, were not surprised by the Greeks who appeared here and they may have been informed by Tissaphernes to continue marching eastward. The two troops are only a few tens of meters apart from each other, and at a glance, they can clearly see each other’s appearance and expressions. You can imagine how nervous they are.

For the first time, Davos saw the Persian army in its entirety, at the front were two-man chariots and four-man chariots, with 2 horses and 4 horses pulling each chariots respectively. One of them was responsible for controlling the chariot, while the other one or two soldiers for fighting, and he can see spears, shields, and bows in the chariot. There are only a dozen chariots and the legendary Scythed chariot wasn’t in-sight, but when he thought about it, he can see that the scythe can certainly be disassembled, otherwise it is very easy to injure its own teammates while marching in peacetime.

Behind the chariots were the cavalry. Most of the horses were slightly around 1.4 meters high, which was obviously shorter compared with the horses for racing that Davos saw at the Olympic Games in his previous life. They have bridle but no saddles and not to mention stirrups, they only place a thick blanket on the back of the horse. The riders, wear helmets, while some wear a soft hats, there is no leather armor or shield and they all wear short robes. They have a variety of weapons in their hands, bows are the most, followed by javelin, then spears, and a few with short mace…

Hundreds of cavalry galloped past and a huge infantry unit was on display. After looking at it for a while, Davos found that the the Persian infantry were a mixed troops: A shieldman with a large shield, the shield height is up to the shoulder, while its width is able to hide a person, closely followed by a spearman, then 6-7 archers and it will repeat.

This is very similar to the Persian infantry combat formation mentioned by Antonios, when the enemy arrives, the shieldman were in the first row and the shield walls they erect will protect the formation. The spearman will resist the incoming enemy and prevents them from breaking up the shield wall. The archers in the rear will use their bows and arrows to kill a large numbers of enemy. Whether they are shieldmen, spearmen or achers, they all have a common features, they are wearing light armor and some with no armor. Combined with the cavalry before, Davos can easily make a judgement, the Persian army is a force with excellent long-range lethality, strong mobility, but weak in close combat. No wonder they always get defeated by the Greeks in battle, because in a head-on battle, their infantry wasn’t an opponent at all under the impact of the Greek’s hoplite. The characteristics of the Persian Army were more suitable for long-range killing and harassment, and even much better with a wide scale mobile outflanking warfare.

The two armies passed each other and nothing happened, just a false alarm.

After this interlude, the troops quickly entered Media. This land once nurtured the fierce Medians and the Median kingdom they founded was a nightmare for the people of Mesopotamia. However, after a hundred years passed, its glory has ceased and for some reasons, this land under the Persian rule has become somewhat desolate and the terrain became uneven.

Due to the decrease of market supply, the fighting between the two armies for resources began to increase whenever they camped.

“Davos, you made this…this…leg bindings it really works! If I have another day’s walk today, my calf would have been too swollen for me to move in the afternoon, but now I don’t have to worry about that!” Hielos exclaimed while he sat in the tent removing his leg bindings.

“Of course, Davos is ‘God’s Favored’! He is blessed by Hades, and the ideas that he came up with can’t fail! Now, many companions of the other troops begun to learn how to use leg bindings!” Olivos proudly said.

Davos didn’t speak, and now that he’s hearing so much good things about himself, he even became slightly numb. He knew very well that some of the little things he had known in his previous life were only meant to improve the soldiers’ situation and further enhance his influence in Menon’s camp, but there would be no change in the situation of the Greek mercenaries as a whole.

“Davos, there’s a rumor circulating in the troops these days that the Persians are going to take action against us and give us to the Persian king as slaves after we’ve been captured. Do you think…this is true?!” The voice of Giorgris came from the corner.

This is exactly what Davos had been thinking. Although the suspicions between the two armies had existed before, such rumors could spread quickly in a day or two, making everyone knows about it and from his past experience it is impossible if no one deliberately spread it.

‘Is it the Persian? Or our own? Why do they want to spread such rumors? Let the agreement break down? Making the Greeks nervous and collapse?’ Davos had no clue for the moment, faced with the concerned gaze, with a bitter smile in his heart, he calmly said, “We have all been safe these days, so don’t be nervous and we all just need to be vigilant!”

Just then, a man went inside the tent.

“Matonis, you are out fighting again!” Hielos saw the bruises on Matonis’ face and said with a slight reproach.

Matonis spat a mouthful of blood and said excitedly, “Despite the Persians being weak in battle, but when it comes to fighting, they aren’t weak. We have more than a dozen people together with Martius, but it still took a lot of effort beating 20 of them!”

He sat on his bunk, while rubbing his cheeks and pretending to be mysterious, “I did not only fight, but I also heard something.”

“What is it?” asked Hielos.

Matonis looked at the crowd and said loudly, “Further on is the territory of Cyrus the Younger and his mother. I heard that there were many villages in there and they are relatively wealthy!”

“So we can finally eat something good!” Olivos cried happily.

The others were also slightly excited, since they haven’t eaten well these days.

Chapter 20 – Bandit

The next day, a more exciting news came, Tissaphernes announced that the Greek mercenaries could pillage this area for supplies.

Everyone was cheering, but only Davos was silent, ‘Pillaging?…this is a revenge against Cyrus the Younger! But what does the people here have to do with Cyrus the Younger’s rebellion?…Don’ tell me! It is just because they live here that they will suffer this disaster! Tissaphernes is really vicious! And what about the Greeks?…’

In the afternoon, the mercenaries of Menon rushed into a village.

The quiet village was soon filled with screams and crying…

Davos saw it with his own eyes that his comrades who were usually intimate and friendly had now turned into a bandit. They stabbed the Persian men that had attempted to stop them and kicked over the old who were pleading, they then picked up the Persian women who were crying and broke into every house, they snatched the gold and silver, and also took the animals and food…each of them had a mix expression of greed and madness on their faces, which made Davos felt strange.

Davos was like a wandering soul, that weakly wandered through the village, all the soldiers who saw him looked at him in surprise. There were Persians lying on the ground, covered with blood while pointing and shouting at him, there was a limping old man holding him and begging…although he could not understand what they were saying, but deep inside his heart knew they were angry at him. There is nothing he can do, so what are they pleading for?

He tried to avoid it like a plague by running unsteadily to a deserted place, avoiding the angry gazes that made him felt guilt. At the same time, he was trying to comfort himself in his mind, ‘This is war. This is war!! I was just forced…’

Just then, a sudden scream awakened the absent-minded man, it was Olivos’ voice!

‘I fear that Olivos might be in danger!’

Following the sound, he broke into a house quickly. A Persian man had fallen into a pool of blood in the yard. He didn’t have the time to think about it and with one foot, kicked the door open: A naked Olivos fell motionless on the bed. There was a woman curled up at the bed and at the bedside stood a girl around 10 years old, trembling while holding a big rock in her hand…

When Davos saw this, he could probably guess what had happened. Obviously, Olivos fancied the beauty of the hostess, he first killed the man, then forcible carried the woman to the bed and ravaged her. Who knew that the daughter that was hiding ran out and smashed his head with a stone, while he was having fun…

Shameless! He cursed in his heart, but he still shouted out of concern to his comrade, “Olivos, are you okay?!”

Olivos didn’t reply, but it woke up the little girl. She turned her head quickly and saw another Greek soldier standing at the door, she was greatly stimulated and screamed, “Bandit! Bandit! Die!! Die!!…” She struggled in throwing the rock at Davos and at the same time rushed at him.

Davos subconsciously blocked the stone with his shield, and he naturally revealed the spear held in his right hand.

The girl did not shriek at the shiny spear, nor did she dodge it, and as if she became insane, jumped straight at him.

Davos couldn’t evade and only felt that his right hand sunk, and as soon as the girl’s hand grabbed his face, she fell on him powerlessly.

The woman on the bed cried out in despair and rushed over nakedly. Davos stepped back powerlessly and let the woman held the girl with a spear in her chest tightly. The heart-tearing cry was like a sharp knife piercing his heart and made him feel like he was going to faint, but someone supported him.

“Are you okay?!” Davos who was absent-minded, heard the voice of Hielos.

“I’m fine.” He pushed Hielos and slowly walked into the yard.

Hielos had discovered Davos behaving strangely, and so he followed him all this time. At this moment, although he was worried about Davos, he was even more worried about the safety of Olivos who was inside the house, thus he quickly entered inside…

When he came out of the house, he found Davos sitting on the side of the road, leaning against the wall, while looking at the sky and not moving, he wondered what Davos was thinking…

Hielos wanted to pull him up, but he felt it inappropriate, after thinking about it, he just simply sat with Davos…

He didn’t know how long it took, when Davos suddenly stood up and repeatedly scream strange speech loudly, while tears run down his cheeks.

After a while, he calmed down and asked, “What about the woman?”

“She went insane.” Hielos sighed.

Davos was silent for a long time, and said, “Her husband and daughter died, perhaps going insane might be the best relief for her…”

“Yeah.” Hielos felt the grief in his words and said, “Olivos is fine, he was just knocked unconscious. He woke up and is currently resting in the house.”

Davos didn’t speak, and Hielos shivered when he saw the cold gleam in his gaze.

“Now, we need to ask the people of this village whether there is someone who knows the Persian geography best.” Davos then stood up.

Hielos hesitated, “We had just pillaged them, I am afraid they won’t tell us.”

“There’s a way to make them to speak.” Davos’ faint comment made Hielos feel a chill. The current Davos seems to be different from his previous self. Hielos doesn’t know whether the change was good or bad…

At dusk, the mercenaries threw down the weeping villagers all over the place, and returned fully loaded. Davos also found the man he wanted — a Persian merchant. In order to make him speak, Davos also asked Hielos to capture his wife and daughter. Although Tissaphernes made it clear that it was not allowed to capture any Persian as a slave, but the troops of Menon ignored what Davos had done and even covered for him.

Davos succeeded in bringing the people back to the camp.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“You mean that our team has been moving northwest?” Davos looked at the Persian merchant, Marigi, and asked. The interpreter next to him repeated Davos’ words in Persian.

The tall and slightly chubby Persian, who claimed to be a small merchant, cautiously looked at Davos and quickly lowered his head and stroked the grass with a branch, “According to what you had said before, you are going back to Ionia. Ionia is in the Aegean Sea to the west. You passed through Babylon, Opis, and now you are here…if you keep going west, not only will it be a long way, but it’s also difficult to cross the Taurus Mountains and you will need to take a detour…”

He once more looked up at Davos, and when he saw that he was listening carefully, he raised his voice, “So you are obviously heading northwest along the Tigris River through the mountains of the Carduchian, then to Armenia and eventually to the Black Sea by boat to go back to Ionia…”

“Oh, it turned out to be like this! It seems that Tissaphernes’ route is still reasonable.” Olivos suddenly thought about it and shouted.

Davos found that when Marigi heard this, his body slightly shook. He immediately glare at Olivos.

“Shut up!” Matonis scolded in a low voice. Olivos, who likes to argue with Matonis, stop talking.

Davos looked at the sketch drawn on the ground and looked at it carefully for a while, and then asked, “Which place do you think it would give us a lot of trouble when marching on our future routes?”

Marigi said without hesitation, “The mountain area of the Carduchian! There lived the savage and ferocious Carduchians, who won’t easily let strangers pass through their lands, but—“ He glanced at Olivos and said quickly. “Your troops are huge, and you have the Persians leading the way, so you should be able to easily get through.”

“How do you know that we have a huge troops?” Davos asked immediately.

“Because…because before I came in, I saw your camps one after another…” Marigi began to tremble.

Davos patted him on the shoulder and smiled, “Don’t be afraid, you have a good observation. Do you know Tissaphernes?”

Marigi immediately shook his head, and suddenly thought of something and began to nod his head hard, His voice trembled even more, “I just heard that…because he used to…to accuse our lord, Cyrus, of rebellion…he was almost beheaded…”

Davos looked at him, and he was avoiding Davos’ gaze with guilt.

Chapter 21 – Marigi

“There is still a problem.” Davos regained his gaze and seriously asked: “Until where on the road will we be able to leave the jurisdiction of the Persian royal family?”

Marigi was eager to please Davos, and so, he carefully thought about it and drew a circle on the sketch: “Here! After Mespila!”

“Mespila?” Davos looked at the pattern on the ground.

“Mespila was the former capital of Assyria, Nineveh! After passing it, the next place is the Carduchians.” Marigi emphasized.

Davos nodded: “Are you familiar with the Carduchians?”

“Not really, I just did business with them by exchanging food for their mountain goods!” Marigi said, with an angry look on his face: “But they are dishonest savages who often don’t pay, they will also hurt you and steal something!”

Davos listened carefully, then he turned to Matonis and said, “Take his family to the supply unit and let Mersis look after them, but you must tell Mersis not to abuse him and his family and not to turn them into slaves!”

As soon as he finished talking, Marigi threw himself down on his knees, “I beg you! I beg you! Let me and my family go! I already said everything! Please let us go…”

“It seems that you can understand Greek, but pretended that you didn’t.” Davos said.

Marigi had no excuse this time and just burst into tears.

“In fact, it’s for your own good that I didn’t release you and your family. Do you know that your lord — the king’s brother, Cyrus the Younger, had died in battle!”

Marigi suddenly stopped crying, and the hands holding Davos’ legs also lost strength, he then asked weakly, “His Highness Cyrus really died?”

“Actually, you have already guessed it, didn’t you? Otherwise, how can Tissaphernes bring us here, and allowed us to pillage your village, because it was the punishment for Cyrus the Younger’s rebellion! I believe this punishment won’t be the last time! I fear that all the people close to him can’t escape, right?”

Marigi was paralyzed on the ground and lost his senses.

Matonis pulled and dragged him.

“This person isn’t like an ordinary merchant.” Hielos watched as Marigi got dragged and said to Davos.

“You are right!” Davos nodded. The family living in a dilapidated house, but hid a lot of gold, silver, and gorgeous clothes, he is also proficient in Greek and knew so many thing, and the only thing that made him and his wife like an ordinary Persian merchant was their temperament. Perhaps he is a relative of Cyrus the Younger or his royal merchant. After knowing that Cyrus the Younger rebelled, he fled to a remote village in his territory to escape disaster. If it wasn’t for the village head giving him away, he would have missed a big fish.

Davos thought happily, while he has selectively fogotten how he had tortured the village head and his family. He said to Hielos, “Squad leader, I have to trouble you to once again emphasize to Mersis that no one is allowed to harass his family, he is very useful to us! Now that Cyrus the Younger is dead, I want him to truly join us!”

Davos’ leadership in the squad was already established which made everyone present not surprised on how a soldier gave an order to his squad leader.

“Alright.” Hielos stepped out of the tent without hesitation.

“Pikors, thank you very much! You have been a great help to me today!” Davos faced a soldier and said.

“It’s my honor to be of help!” Pikors humbly said.

Davos pulled out 2 drachmas and shoved them into his hands.

“This…this…” Pikors tried to decline.

Davos said, “Please accept it! I really want to thank you for this matter, and I hope that you can keep it secret, and to not let Menon know about it!”

Pikors no longer decline after he heard what he said, he then stuff the silver coins and said, “You can rest assured that I also don’t like that guy! I Promise to Hades that I won’t say a word about it!” Pikors made a ‘keep his mouth shut’ gesture and excitedly said, “Next time you have this kind of work, you can just call me!”

“I definitely can’t leave you out!” Davos laughed.

After Pikors left the tent, Giorgris immediately asked with concern, “Pikors is a Persian translator of Menon, can we trust him?”

“I heard that whenever Menon meet someone who speak Persian, Pikors doesn’t have anything to do. On the contrary, Meno often use him as a laborer. He would be too foolish if he offend us and besides, he will earn some money.” Olivos chimed in. After he woke up, he knew that he almost went to hell and immediately thanked Davos, who knew that Davos responded to him coldly and realized something, so he had been quiet until now.

But as soon as he spoke, the tent fell into a brief silence.

“Davos, how did you know that the Persian merchant buried his money in the yard?” Giorgris suddenly asked.

Davos understood that Giorgris wanted to liven up the atmosphere and said, “It’s very simple, when we captured Marigi, I found that he wasn’t only worried that we would take advantage of his wife and daughter—” Davos said this and glanced at Olivos, “His gaze kept sneaking a glance at the old tree in the yard from time to time, and so I went over and took a closer look, there I found a spot under the tree with a different color and it was a new soil. Of course, I have some suspicion, but I didn’t scare him that much, that guy was too timid and voluntarily confessed.”

Several people prase Davos’ meticulousness, especially Olivos, who spoke the loudest.

Davos then said to Giorgris, “This money is of great use to us, you need to go to the supply unit every day to check it out. Don’t let that fatty take advantage.”

“Okay.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After the Greek mercenaries plundered many times, the marching formation of the mercenaries became even larger and bulky.

For the next few days, just as what Marigi had said, the mercenary troops had been marching along the right bank of the Tigris river, then crossed the river to reach the city, Gainie. They manage to get another adequate supply in here. But the suspicion of the Greek mercenary soldiers against the Persians became more serious, and a new rumors continued to spread among the troops, which leads to increased conflict between the soldiers of the two armies after they camp.

When they finally reached Zapatas river, there was a large-scale conflict between the soldiers and more than 100 soldiers on both sides held weapons and fought, killing and injuring more than 10 people. If the leaders of both sides had not arrived in time and sent troops to separate the two sides, then the result would have been unimaginable.

This led the marching to be cancelled the next day and the soldiers in each unit were restricted from leaving their camp. The constant march these days made Davos both physically and mentally exhausted, they seldom had free time and so, they all slept deeply.

Mersis, who was in the supply unit, seized this moment to slaughter some of the looted animals and made smoked sausages.

Just as Davos woke up, Antonios got into the tent and looked anxiously, “Davos, Menon, Clearchus, Proxenus and the other leaders went to the Persian camp to negotiate!”

“WHAT!!!” Davos was startled.

“I heard that after the incident last night, Clearchus immediately went to see Tissaphernes to negotiate, hoping to elimate the suspicions of mutual distrust and to avoid the recurrence of such hostilities. Perhaps the two sides had a good conversation that made Clearchus to directly spent the night in the Persian camp. He returned safely this morning and sent people to inform the other leaders to follow him to the Persian camps to have further talks with Tissaphernes. It was said that many soldiers and officers of the other mercenary team opposed their decision, but the leaders eventually reached an agreement and they are about to leave.” Antonios quickly spoke about what had happened.

“Why was nobody in our camp notify us of this?” Hielos asked strangely.

“Meno didn’t consult with others and quietly brought the 2 captain, Kapes and Mirstik.” Antonios said with an awkward look. He knew it in his heart that after the last collective “forced” incident, most of the officers and soldiers were no longer willing to obey Menon’s order, and after Menon lost his prestige, he no longer want to discuss it with them anymore and therefore, directly sought out the 2 captain who are still willing to listen to him.

Antonios did not explain it in details and said, “I just heard the noise of the soldiers of the nearby Socrates camp and only then did I know about it after asking them.”

“Who are the ones that are going?” Davos stood up, he then dressed quickly, and asked seriously.

Antonios’ heart “thump” after he saw Davos’ expression which confirmed the uneasiness he felt, “Clearchus, Proxenus, Meno, Socrates, Agias these five leaders, and more than a dozen captains.”

“Faster! Faster! take me to them, before it’s too late!!!” Davos put on a linen and anxiously pulled Antonios out, followed by Hielos.

[] Mespila was the capital of the former Assyrian empire. Its other name are Nineveh(back in the Assyrian empire period) and Mosul(modern day).

Chapter 22 – Stop

The soldiers guarding the gate of the camp, look at Davos and Antonios as they directly pass them. And only after Hielos did they try to stop them. Davos had no time to heed their shout and followed Antonios as he ran north. After running for a while, he then saw a group of people ahead.

Clearchus was having a conversation with the Persian king’s younger brother, Ostanes, who came to meet with them, when they suddenly heard a shout from behind, “Stop! Stop! This is a conspiracy! A conspiracy of the Persians!…”

The 5 leaders and more than a dozen captains, plus 200 soldiers escorting them who intends to go to the market when they passed by it, were shocked and immediately stopped to look back.

Davos rushed to them, faced with the many gazes that were strangely staring at him , he said it loudly while he panted, “This is a conspiracy!… Tissaphernes is ready…ready to kill all of you! If we do not have a leader, we will fall into chaos which will lead to the annihilation of the whole mercenary troops!”

Several leaders subconsciously looked at the Persian envoy, Ostanes.

Ostanes pointed angrily at Davos and shouted, “Who is he?! How dare he say such thing! It was you who asked for the talks, Tissaphernes just responded to the request of Clearchus and treated him warmly. Is this how you repay the Persian general, Tissaphernes?! This is not only an insult to him! It is even more insulting to our king!! I will leave! And I will report this to Tissaphernes and suggest that he report it to his majesty, so that his majesty will cancel the agreement with you Greeks!”

Several leaders hurriedly stopped his horse and even apologized.

Davos didn’t think that this meeting was the request of Clearchus, nor did he gave much thought to it and said eagerly, “Even if the meeting resumes, not all the leaders and captains should go to the Persian camp! We have all been on guard against the Persians! Who knows whether Tissaphernes being friendly to us for ten days, is to lessen our vigilance?! Have you forgotten his previous treachery?!”

As soon as Davos stop talking, Menon jumped out and vented his resentment for these ten days, “Audacious madman! Shameless liar! Not only did you deceive the soldiers in my camp, but you also incited them to oppose me! Now you want to destroy the peace between us and the Persians! You want to make everyone unable to go home!! Someone catch him for me!!”

However, none of the soldiers obeyed his orders. Firstly, he had only 2 captains with him, and didn’t bring other followers. Secondly, some of the soldiers recognized that Davos was the rumored “God’s Favored” in Menon’s camp for quite some time, so they started talking in low voices.

At first, several of the leaders who heard Davos’ words, hesitated. Who knew that Menon’s scolding immediately made them disgusted of Davos. Despite his bad character, Menon and them have been working together for quite a long time, and several leaders also knew that his ability wasn’t weak. An ordinary soldier actually dared to oppose his leader, which was undoubtedly a big taboo for the leaders.

Clearchus had a different ideas. He was surprised to think that Menon had found a soldier to act here and wanted to destroy the meeting. Because there was another purpose of the meeting: Tissaphernes promised him that he was willing to openly point out the one that was communicating with the Persian army and creating rumors among the mercenaries.

Clearchus had been speculating that it was Menon. Because Menon had always openly competed with him for the command of the Greek mercenaries since they entered Persia, and he is currently been staying with Ariaeus, who was already close to Tissaphernes, and he had many secret meetings with Socrates and Agias which is definitely in order to oppose him. This time, he must expose this vile character in public, and thus consolidate his command. Because he firmly believes that only he could bring the mercenaries back to Greece intact. This is also why he hated the Persians, but had to endure this humiliation and the burden of peace talks with Persia, and he also hated anyone who tries to destroy the unity of the team.

So, he immediately ‘pushed the boat along the river’ and said, “Now that Menon had already said it, take this clown and send him back to the camp to be lock up. We’ll judge him once we get back!”

He looked around and said firmly, “Now I will go to negotiate with Tissaphernes! Those who believe in me can follow me, and those who don’t can go back!” After that, several soldiers went over and held down Davos, Antonios tried to blocked them and was also taken down.

Clearchus marched northward, Proxenus slightly hesitated and followed. Menon heavily spit on Davos’ face and proudly shouted, “When I return, you are dead!!” After that, he laugh while moving forward. Most of the soldiers also followed their leader, and only a handful of soldiers who had heard of Davos’ “miracle” remained in their place.

Davos didn’t care about Menon at the moment, he was pressed to the ground and ate a mouthful of dirt. He struggled and shouted in the direction where the leaders left, “Clearchus, you fool! Your stubbornness will not only harm you, but also the whole mercenary troops! You will regret it! Oh right, you might not have the time to regret it!…”

However, his cursing did not bring back Clearchus, and the figures of the leaders grew farther and farther away and blurred. Finally, Davos calmed down and sat down on the ground. Previously, he thought that Clearchus was a “famous general” and should be very clear-headed, but he was so stubborn that he doesn’t listen to any opinions. In fact, Davos did not know that most Spartan men are conservative and stubborn, and once they made up their mind, they often do not look back. The most famous one was the Spartan strategos in the Battle of Plataea. Before the battle, the Greek coalition commander ordered the troops to retreat, but a Spartan strategos thought that retreating in front of the enemy would be against the Spartan tradition and refused to retreat even after many persuasions, which made the Spartan troops lag behind the formation and almost led to their defeat.

The advance party continued to move forward, while the soldiers escorting Davos pushed him back. Instead, the soldiers who were left behind introduced themselves and comforted Davos.

At this time, Antonios got free and asked, “Davos, are the leaders really in danger?”

“The sheep negotiating with the wolf, what good results will it lead!” Davos sighed. Such deception were countless throughout the history of ancient and modern China and foreign countries. The success of Tissaphernes’ strategy was mainly due to their illusion about the peace talks, while the others trusted Clearchus more than their fear of their own safety. Or that his influence was still not enough!

“What should we do?” Antonios was slightly nervous.

‘What to do? Of course it is to help ourselves! ! ’ Davos suddenly remembered Xenophon. Why did he boast that he led the retreat in his book? It was because of the — more than 20 mercenary leaders and captains were killed and the entire Greek mercenary leadership faced a change! !

Thinking of this, he threw aside his frustration and renew his spirit, “Fast! Let’s go back!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Along the way, Menon added fuel to Proxenus as they talked about Davos’ “misdeed”, which succeeded in arousing their anger, he then secretly hid his excitement, ‘This time, I can completely get rid of this huge trouble!’

Before arriving at the Persian camp, most of the soldiers that were going to the market, bid farewell to their leaders.

Entering the Persian camp, Clearchus saw the same scene as he saw when he left here yesterday and some relaxed Persian soldiers looked at them curiously and talked to each other about, “Why are there so many Greek barbarians coming to our camp?” Such things instead made Clearchus and the rest at ease.

When they arrived at Tissaphernes’ tent, Ostanes went in and informed, “The five leaders can come in, while the others need to wait outside the tent temporarily!”

Clearchus was the first to enter. The light inside was dim, he squinted his eyes and found that there were many people inside the tent. He was shocked and before he could react, he heard a shout, “Capture him!!”

[] was the final land battle during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place in 479 BC near the city of Plataea in Boeotia, and was fought between an alliance of the Greek city-states (including Sparta, Athens, Corinth and Megara), and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I (allied with Boeotians, Thessalians, and Macedonians).

Chapter 23 – Shock

More than twenty strong men rushed out on both sides, and Clearchus and the four mercenary leaders fell to the ground and were immediately tied with ropes.

The captains and the soldiers waiting outside the entrance were also surrounded by heavily armed Persians, who cut down the unarmed Greeks with sharp blades, spears, and large shields.

“Satrap, congratulations, your plan was successful!” There was a wild laughter inside the tent.

The candle was lit and the light was restored.

Clearchus saw three people in the center of the tent, Tissaphernes, Orontes, and Ostanes laughing proudly and he screamed in anger, “Tissaphernes, you mean and shameless villain! You deceive us with lies, slaughtered my soldiers, and you broke your oath to your supreme god, Ahura Mazda, when you signed the contract! Are you not afraid of the wrath of your gods?! Are you not afraid that your king will suffer from tens of thousands of people cursing?! Are you not afraid of the disaster that will come to your family?!!…”

“Hehehe…” With a smile on his face, Tissaphernes took a glass of wine from his attendant, he carefully tasted it and walked up to the mercenary leader, before he slowly said, “Clearchus, let me tell you something. Our great king had already returned to Persepolis the day after the death of Cyrus the Younger. Of course, he has never given any instructions about ‘peace talks with you’ which I just made up to deceive you… As for whether the gods will punish me, you don’t have to worry, since they wouldn’t!” He said it in an aggravated tone, “Mazda, will reward me for capturing and killing a group of savages who invaded Persian territory and massacred Persian people!…Oh, I will also tell you one more thing, those rumors were ordered by me!”

Seeing the horror on Clearchus’ look, he was in a happy mood and drank all the wine in his glass.

Proxenus spit at him, but he dodge it.

“Liar! Coward…” Proxenus shouted.

Tissaphernes was not angry, and proudly said, “Liar?! Lying?! No, no, no! I would rather call it wisdom! Unlike you Greek savages who only knows how to fight, we Persians prefer to use our brains to find ways that will cost us less in exchange for greater victory! Just like how I made you less alert by negotiating a truce. Of course I know that you will still be vigilant, but once you get used to this kind of peace and stability, you don’t want to go back to the tense and hostilities of the past, and so you want to work hard to maintain peace. Therefore, I deliberately sent soldiers to clash with your mercenaries, swearing, fighting… and then spreading rumors so that you won’t doubt me, then who will you doubt?”

Tissaphernes’ eyes swept over the captured leaders and ridiculed them, “I guess it was Menon, isn’t that right?! You see, I know all the dirty things inside your camp! And I also know that you are a very responsible leader, Clearchus. The more conflict between the two armies, the more worried you will be, and on the contrary, you will come to my place to negotiate on your own initiative! Oh look, you did not only came to my place on your own initiative, but also sent me a big gift!…”

“Stop talking nonsense and kill us if you want!” Clearchus shouted while his face turned red.

“Lord Tissaphernes, forgive me! Please spare my life!!……” Menon struggled and pleaded, “Even if you let me become your slave, as long as you forgive me! I’ll go and persuade those foolish mercenaries and let them surrender to you! I can also subjugate Asia Minor for you! I am willing to do anything for you, I am just asking for you to spare my life!!…”

“Anything?” Tissaphernes blinked, as if he was interested, “Go bark like a dog first.”

“Woof woof woof!…” Menon actually barked.

“Oh, this is the Greek savages!” The Persians in the tent were all happy.

“Menon, you shut up!…” Clearchus, was ashamed and scolded Menon.

Menon turned a deaf ear, he simply knelt down and looked at Tissaphernes with pleasure.

“Very good! Very good!!…” Tissaphernes smiled, clapped his hands and walked toward Meron.

Menon curled both his hands, sat on the ground, spitting out his tongue, and barking happily.

Tissaphernes came up to him and gave him a sly smile, he then quickly pulled out his sword and slashed down Menon’s neck.

In the shouts of everyone, blood gushed out and the head of Menon rolled to the ground , with his face solidified a shock look.

“Idiot! You thought that I didn’t know that you were desperately swearing at me in front of Cyrus the Younger and took the initiative to attack my house!” Tissaphernes stepped on Menon’s head with his left foot and his face got splashed with blood and was cold as ice.

The four leaders were sullen as they looked at the headless body on the ground. Even Clearchus, who always held a grudge against Menon, had grief on his face. They felt sad for the death of their own comrade.

“Place this man’s head on a jar with saltpeter, and immediately escort it to Persepolis along with the four criminals, so that his Majesty can personally judge them!” Tissaphernes ordered.

After the four mercenary leaders were taken out, Socrates mournfully regretted, “I wish I had listened to that young man!…”

Clearchus was expressionless and said nothing.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Ariaeus asks to see you my lord!”

“Let him come in.”

Ariaeus walked inside the tent and saw a shocking pool of blood on the ground. As soon as he slowed down, he heard Tissaphernes say, “That is the blood of Menon, I just cut off his head with a sword!”

“Rashnu knows (the god of judgment of good and evil in Persian mythology), that this is the punishment he deserves!” Ariaeus hurriedly said, looking at Tissaphernes who had a playful smile, and immediately said, “Lord Satrap, I have sent the cavalry to kill all the Greeks who are wandering outside their camp, as you have ordered.”

“Very well, I will report your merits to his majesty!” Tissaphernes understood that for the troops of Cyrus the Younger, he had to deter them as well as get close with them. After all, they are nearly 10,000 troops, and when he returns to Asia Minor, he had to rely on these local Persian nobles.

“Now that the main leaders of the Greek mercenaries have been taken down, those foolish Greeks are probably in a panic and don’t know what to do. You and Ostanes go to the Greek camps and try to get the Greeks to surrender…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Antonios hoped that the soldiers would escort Davos to Menon’s camp, because no one in there dared to do anything to Davos.

Davos refused and obeyed the soldiers’ request and went to Clearchus camp. Because it is the vanguard troops, the camp were also located in the northernmost part and close to the Persians so that he could easily get information immediately. He asked Hielos to call Xenophon and let Antonios return to Menon’s camp to prepare himself, then he thought of something and pulled over Matonis and whispered to him, Matonis then looked at him with amazement and finally nodded.

As they watched Hielos leave, Davos suppressed the tension in his heart as they headed for Clearchus camp. The soldiers who escorted him could not help but ask, “Is Clearchus really in danger?”

Davos asked, “Who is in charge of your camp in the absence of Clearchus?”

“The captain of the first unit, Timasion.”

“Then you’d better go and tell him to be ready for defense.” While Davos was talking, the guard of the camp screamed in shocked and pointed at the front, “Look, the Persian cavalry!!”

Davos and the soldiers looked back together and saw countless Persian cavalry galloping back and forth hundreds of meters in front of the camp, stirring up the dust all over the sky, and shouting from time to time in the dusty fog.

“This…” The soldiers looked nervously at Davos.

Despite the fact that his guess came true, Davos didn’t have a trace of joy, ‘The war is finally coming!’ and he was also nervous.

“Fast! Get back to the camp!” He called the soldiers accompanying him to quickly enter the camp and close the gate.

At this time, a soldier came out of the dust fog ahead, running while covering his bleeding abdomen with one hand and stumbled.

The guards and Davos immediately rushed forward and returned to the camp with him.

“I…we are on our way to the market…the Persian cavalry…then suddenly rushed toward us…many of our brothers died…Agias…Go and inform Agias…he is in danger…” The wounded soldier weakly said.

Chapter 24 – Showing up prominently

Davos saw the huge wound in the man’s abdomen and he could even see the intestines inside, he knew that the man’s life was slim, but he couldn’t bear to just give up, he then said to the soldiers besides him, “Bring him to the field hospital in Menon’s camp as soon as possible and tell them that Davos sent him.”

“Field Hospital?”

“Oh, I know!” Someone answered, so the soldiers carried the wounded soldier, and was ready to go through south of Clearchus camp. The others looked at Davos not knowing what to do.

Davos anxiously said to them, “Quickly inform the officers of each camp, that the Persians violated their promises and massacred the Greek soldiers. I am afraid that the leaders who went to have a meeting have been captured by the Persians, and so they have assembled their soldiers and were ready for a battle!”

The soldiers immediately rushed to their respective camps.

“Davos, what happened?!” At this time, Xenophon arrived at the gate of the camp.

Davos quickly told him about the summary of what happened.

Xenophon looked gloomy and his eyes were filled with regret, “I had also previously persuaded Proxenus, but he didn’t listen, and I did not insist on persuading him…I’m afraid that Proxenus has already…” Xenophon’s trembling voice sobbed.

Davos nodded silently.

Xenophon looked at the Persian cavalry galloping ahead and said loudly, “We should immediately call the entire mercenary troops! We need to attack the Persian camp and rescue Proxenus!”

“That is not a good idea!” Along with the voice, came a sturdy middle-aged man, “Although the soldiers fought with the Persians a lot of times previously, but we had been peacefully camping with them during this time. Now you’re suddenly going to war with the Persians, the soldiers can’t adapt immediately, let alone sieging the Persian camp.”

“At least we should get rid of the Persian cavalry in front, and maybe we can save some of the soldiers that are outside!” Davos reminded.

The man glanced at him and asked, “Who are you?”.

“Davos, a soldier under Menon.”

“What we need to do is a matter for the officers, we don’t need a soldier to teach us!” The man yelled angrily.

Davos wasn’t interested to continue talking.

“Xenophon, you immediately go back to your camp and inform Agasias to immediately bring the troops.” He once more ordered Xenophon.

Xenophon responded and turned and left, Davos immediately followed him and asked Xenophon who that man is, and now knew that he is the adjutant of Clearchus, Timasion.

Clearchus’ troops slowly gathered, the soldiers were wearing their armor while they slowly came out of their tents, and they were still chatting with each other. Obviously, thy did not know the danger they were facing, Timasion was so anxious that he beat and scolded them again till he managed to gather around 500 soldiers.

While Davos and Xenophon had not yet left Clearchus’ camp, the officers from the other camps have arrived with a small number of soldiers, they were: Cleanor of Agias camp, Xanthicles of Socrates camp, Agasias of Proxenus…while Menon’s camp had the largest number of people, including his adjutant Philesius, the captains Antonios and Kapus, of course Hielos’ squad were also among the soldiers. Their arrival made Davos relieved.

After the meeting, some of the officers still doesn’t know what happened and several captains headed by Antonios of Menon’s camp asked Davos to tell them what happened, because he had witnessed the whole thing.

Some of the officers headed by Timasion were surprised at how Davos, who was just an ordinary young soldier, had been greatly respected by the officers of Menon’s camp.

The others looked at Davos curiously, because some of the soldiers who went back started to preach without restraint, saying Davos of Menon’s camp was favored by the gods and had tried to prevent Clearchus and the others from going to the Persian camp, but the leaders did not listen to his “Oracle” which resulted to this disaster. And it soon became known to everyone.

Therefore, Davos facing the complex gazes of everyone, had calmly go through what had happened and briefly explain it.

The officers of each camp quickly reached an agreement, to immediately drive out the Persian cavalry in front of the camp so that the soldiers outside can smoothly come back.

The soldiers began to line up and Davos returned to Hielos team. At this time, Antonios who was in front of the formation shouted, “Davos, come to the front!”

Davos was stunned.

Then, Kapus also began to shout.

“Go.” Hielos gave him a nudge of encouragement, and his teammates looked at him excitedly.

Davos understood. His heart beat faster, but he did not refuse, and with great effort, he pushed forward and the soldiers took the initiative to open a way for him.

“Your position is here.” Antonios pulled him to the left side of Philesius – this is the front of Menon’s troops and seriously said to him, “We might have to negotiate with the Persians later, so we will need your guidance!”

Antonios once more said to Philesius, “Phily, take care of him for us!”

Philesius answered without hesitation, “Don’t worry about it!”

For the first time, when standing in the position of the phalanx commander, Davos was both excited and somewhat forced, he then turned his head and looked at Philesius, who was also looking at him and giving him a gentle smile.

Previously, Davos had had several contacts with Philesius, and learned something about him through Antonios and the others. Davos had a preliminary impression of Philesius, this 45-year-old Thessalian is a good old man who knew military affairs well and doesn’t like to fight for fame and wealth. If you think about it, you can see that Menon, who has a strong desire to control things, will certainly not choose an equally ambitious person as his adjutant, due to how he often goes out to meet Persian dignitaries in order to accept some mercenary tasks, and the affairs in the camp must be presided over and must be handled by someone for a long time, there is also the danger that the soldiers will only recognize the adjutant and not him, therefore, he carefully chose the good-tempered Philesius as his adjutant. At this time, it was without a doubt that Davos had it easy, because Philesius had no objection to a young man standing in the position of a commander, and his attitude was very friendly.

The Greek mercenaries in front of the camp had about 700 hoplites and 200 peltast. The hoplites was in front and the peltast at the rear and with the sound of a bugle, the formation began to move forward slowly. The Persian cavalry didn’t come up, but they instead retreated and the stifling sound started to fade and the dust in front was gradually dissipating. Every now and then, dusty Greek soldiers ran back to the camp, but there were a lot more corpses of their comrades on the ground, their grief and fear was increasing.

“The enemy is coming.” Philesius quietly said.

They saw a Persian troops appearing ahead and slowly approached them. Davos was nervous and excited, was his first battle about to begin?

When the two armies were about 200 meters apart, a group of cavalry rushed out from the opposite side and came to the front of the Greek army, and shouted it in Greek, “The Greeks on the opposite side listen, let your officers and the captains come up and listened to the decree of the king!”

There was a commotion in the Greek phalanx, and the officers whispered to each other, but none of them came forward. The impression of the soldiers who had just been attacked was too deep, and the previous violations of the Persians were alarming.

The Persians shouted again and the Greek army was still calm.

At this moment, a man stepped out of the mercenary troops, armed with a copper shield and a spear, and slowly walk forward without hesitation.

“Who is that?! He is courageous!!”

“That is the Davos from our camp! He is favored by Hades!”

“Is that true?”

“Oh, he is so young!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The soldiers were curiously talking about him, while the officers were still hesitating, Philesius caught up to him. He promised Antonios that he would keep Davos safe. Then Xenophon also stepped out of the troops, how could he fall behind if Davos, who was younger, dared to move forward.

“What a mess!” Timasion scolded in order to hide his embarrassment and move forward. Subsequently, more than a dozen officers such as Xanthicles, Cleanor and Agasias also move forward one after another.

Davos did so not because he was afraid of the Persian cavalry’s attack, but because he knew that when the mercenaries was in great trouble and the soldiers were panicking, only those who dared to take a risk and take the responsibility could be supported by the soldiers and might even forget that the was young and inexperienced.

He walked unhurriedly, and was always taking a glimpse at both sides, and when he saw that the other officers were catching up, he was slightly relieved. Only then did he found that the hand that was holding the spear was full of sweat.

Chapter 25 – Negotiation Breakdown

As he approached the Persian cavalry, Philesius told Davos that the Persians in front of him were Ariaeus, Artaozus and Mithridates, the three of them were the most trusted subordinates of Cyrus the Younger. Another Persian that Davos knew, was the former Persian envoy, Ostanes.

The officers stopped about 20 meters from the Persian cavalry.

“Please come closer!” Ariaeus pointed at his horse.

The officers did not move.

Ostanes couldn’t help but sarcastically said, “Are the Greeks so timid?”

“Because the Persians have repeatedly violated their oath, therefore we can no longer trust the Persians anymore!” Xenophon retorted.

“Yes, the Persians are shameless villains, they can even deceive their God!” Cleanor scolded angrility, his words resonated with the other officers.

“Please keep quiet! Listen carefully to the decree of the king!!” Ariaeus shouted.

“That is your king, not ours. If you still want to read it, then we will go back!” Davos also shouted.

“We Greeks are free, unlike you Persians who are slaves to your king!” Timasion said it sarcastically and pridefully.

Ariaeus was so angry that his nose got crooked, he then turned to look at Ostanes and Ostanes nodded at him, he helplessly unfolded the papyrus in his hand and loudly read it, “All of you Greeks, I, Artaxerxes, the Persian king, the king of all races, declared that Clearchus had violated the oath of alliance and destroyed the truce, therefore the gods had punished him. Proxenus, Menon, Agias, Socrates the other four leaders had accused him of conspiracy and are now being treated with great courtesy by my Satrap, Tissaphernes! In order to prevent such terrible betrayal from happening again on your way home, and also for the sake of safety—” Ariaeus increased his voice and solemnly said, “I ask that all the Greek soldiers to hand over your weapons, because the money for these weapons came from Cyrus the Younger who had rebelled and his money came from the Persian treasury, which belonged to me! Surrender your weapons and I swear to the supreme god, Mazda, that I will ensure your smooth arrival in Ionia!”

“HA HA HA!!…” Davos laughed loudly, “The wolves trying to scam a deer to be their friend in order to eat them. The wolves who have tasted the benefit also wants to trick all the other deers into breaking their horns so that the wolves can safely and daringly enjoy their meat! Hahaha… How foolish a man must be to fall into such a trap once more, or do you mean to say that your king have a problem with his head?!!”

“Audacious!!” Ariaeus pointed angrily at Davos, “You’ll be burned by insulting the king!”

“Enough, Ariaeus, you shameless vile man! And some of you were the few of the closest comrades of Cyrus the Younger, are you not ashamed in front of the gods!” Cleanor pointed to Ariaeus, Artaozus and Mithridates, and shouted angrily, “You have sworn to the gods that we would be allies against the Persian king, but now you have betrayed us and even cooperated with the inhumane vile man, Tissaphernes, and not only did you deceive Clearchus, but you also tried to sell out the rest of us! Knowing what you had done, Cyrus the Younger will curse you, even in hell!”

Ariaeus unnaturally shrank his neck, and subconsciously glanced at Ostanes who was next to him, who acted like he had nothing to do with him, which force him to say it again, “His highness really wants to send you back home safely, because the rebel, Cyrus the Younger, has already received the most fair punishment, and you were all just deceived by him! The mercy of the king doesn’t want to let the Persian land to suffer another senseless war! However, after the report of Proxenus and the rest, Clearchus began to conspire against lord Tissaphernes and the Persian army more than a dozen days ago and spread rumors in an attempt to alienate the Greeks from the Persians, we have taken actions against him!”

“Since you said that Proxenus has exposed Clearchus and received your reward, then let them come here, which will naturally resolve our suspicions and as the leaders, they can also make better suggestions for the reconciliation between us!” Xenophon was still trying to save Proxenus.

“That’s right, let our leaders come here and we will then trust you!!” The officers loudly shouted.

“Uhm…Proxenus, they accepted the feast that lord Tissaphernes prepared…and are already drunk…so…” Ariaeus stutteringly said, Ostanes got slightly impatient and said, “His highness has ordered that you hand over your weapons immediately, in order to ensure your safe return, otherwise we will not provide you anymore help!”

“Ares, us Greek warriors will never abandon our weapons and be slaughtered by others!!” Timasion hit his bronze shield with his spear and screamed.

“Whoever wants to take our weapons, will need to fight us for it!” Cleanor yelled.

“Proxenus and the rest couldn’t come, is not because they were drunk, but because they have been killed by you, right?!” Xenophon sadly said, and wanted to force Ariaeus to tell the truth by seriously saying the result, but he didn’t expect that he would arouse the anger of the officers.

“The Persians want to kill all of us!”

“Revenge for our leaders!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The enraged officers surrounded Ariaeus and when Ostanes noticed that the situation was turning bad, he turned his horse around and fled, Ariaeus then followed them back. After running for a while, Ostanes looked back and saw that he was far away from the Greeks, he remembered how he got frightened away by a group of barbarians and was ashamed and angry, so he shouted, “Greeks, you have missed your best chance, and soon you will regret it!!”

“I don’t know who will be the one regreting it!” Xenophon unyieldingly answered.

Watching the Persian cavalry leave, everyone was worried and it was certain that the mercenary leaders won’t have a good end, the Persians had torn their faces, what should they do now?

Surrender to the Persians? Even the Persian king’s brother, Cyrus the Younger, got his head and hands brutally cut off and most of the officers did not think that their fate would be a lot better after surrendering! Either they are killed or become a slave. For this choice, it was unacceptable for the officers, nor can they accept it.

Otherwise, they had to fight the Persians again in this strange land! Now they were led by the Persians on a route that they have never traveled before, thousands of miles away from their home, they can only feel their way forward without the help of the Persians, and they do not know how many hostile tribes and villages they have to face, but they also have to be prepared for the attack of the Persian army. The most distressing thing was that the Persian can’t fight against them head-on, but they also can’t catch up with the Persians, and once they fail, the entire mercenary troops might get destroyed. It was because of these difficulties that everyone was depressed and didn’t know what to do. When they left the camp, the soldiers still had some spirit, but when they returned to their camp, they sighed and looked worried.

Returning to the camp, when the officers in charge of the units gathered again, Davos naturally followed Philesius and participated in the discussion. Of course, as a newcomer, he seldom talk and was mostly observing these officers. In a heated debate, they are more likely to expose their personality, the grumpy Timasion, the shrewd Cleanor, the Prudent Xanthicles, and Agacia who has a good relationship with the other officers…

Xenophon was much more active, he not only had many heated arguments with the others, but also agitatedly said, “Everyone, Clearchus and the rest have been captured by the Persians, we must immediately elect new leaders to replace them, then convened a general assembly for the whole mercenary troops in order to renew the determination of the soldiers to fight the Persians and their confidence that we can return home on our own. Otherwise, leaving the chaos to go on like this, will result in our demise before the Persians even attack!”

Davos thought that Xenophon was right, although he had just started his military carrer, he had been a village official in his previous life, and he was also the leader of a high-tech development zone and had managed more than 10,000 men. Therefore, he knew the importance of uniting their thoughts and inspiring confidence in a group.

Timasion seemed to resent Xenophon’s excessive display, he did not look at Xenophon at all and turned to face the others and said, “Don’t worry, Cheirisophus will be back soon!”

[] was a Spartan general who fought with the Ten Thousand under Cyrus the Younger.

Chapter 26 – Cheirisophus

“Yes, let’s discuss it again once Cheirisophus arrives!” As soon as he mentioned Cheirisophus, everyone’s expressions became obviously more relaxed, which made Davos curious and asked Xenophon in a low voice, “Who is Cheirisophus?”

Xenophon said with a complicated expression, “I heard that Cyrus the Younger had an agreement with Sparta, he gave his full support to Sparta when they were building their navy. When Cyrus the Younger goes to battle, the Spartans needs to provide military assistance.”

Davos immediately responded and said in surprise, “You mean, Cheirisophus was sent by the Spartan?!”

“He is an ephor of Sparta. I heard that he brought 700 spartan hoplites and joined Cyrus the Younger… At that time, he did not know that Cyrus the Younger was going to rebel, when he found out, it was already too late, so he and his troops kept a low profile in the mercenaries, but many high-ranking officers knew his identity…” Xenophon said gloatingly.

Davos knew why Xenophon had such an expression, because he was an Athenian. He previously heard Xenophon introduce the ephors of Sparta, unlike the other Greek city-states’ overseer, the Spartan system of Ephorate was unique because they held great powers: They can supervise the citizens, judge the Períoikoi, punish the helots, enjoy the highest civil authority and criminal judicial authority. They can monitor the king’s every moves with a vigilant gaze, they have the right to indict a king and might get summoned for a trial at any time. Moreover, the Spartan ephors can only be held by civilians, every autumn, five ephors were elected by lot by the citizens over the age of 30. A command will be issued when they enter their post, requiring every citizen to shave of their mustache and beard which complied with their national law. This shows the importance Sparta attaches to the ephors. According to Xenophon, because of Sparta’s ephorate, Sparta wasn’t regarded as a tyrant state by the other city-states due to the civilians were holding authority.

There was such an important person hidden in the Greek mercenary. He was probably the only strategos in the mercenary that held an official status and was also a Spartan. The former Spartan Clearchus was a deserter and was sentenced to death by the Spartan government, and this upcoming Spartan warrior was a real Spartan, and he also brought along 700 Spartan warriors of his same kind.

He was about to see those ancient Spartan warriors who were popular all over the world in his previous life, Davos while he eagerly awaits, maliciously thought, ‘Will they wear red underpants?’

While waiting for Cheirisophus, the temporary leaders of these camps were not idle. They invited the officers of each camps to participate in the discussion, from the rank of a squad leader to the rank of a captain. There were more than 200 people in the tent and because there wasn’t much room for so many people inside the tent, so they all sat down in a big circle in the open space of Clearchus’ camp, it wasn’t long after everyone had arrived that Cheirisophus had arrived.

Early in the morning, Cheirisophus went to a nearby village to prepare with his soldiers, the village was located on the south side of the Greek camp and was therefore not intercepted by the Persian Cavalry. When the messenger found him, he was hurrying back and have learned about the things that have happened on his way back. When he came to the meeting place, everyone consciously offered him a spacious space and he did not hesitate to directly sat on the mad like everyone else and began to look around, it’s true that he didn’t see the main mercenary leaders…he felt sad thinking whether Clearchus was still alive or dead. He and Clearchus were comrades, who had made many achievements in the war with Athens, he was one of the leading strategos of Sparta, but fled because he could not adapt to peace and refuse to obey the orders of Sparta and was then sentenced to death. When Cheirisophus saw him in the army of Cyrus the Younger, he did not ordered his men to arrest him. Firstly, he did not want to destroy the cooperation with Cyrus the Younger. Secondly, he cherished their friendship as comrades…

His gaze slowly swept through everyone’s face and stopped as his gaze landed on a man, who has a very young face, in this huge group of officers whose average age was mostly over 30, and this young man shouldn’t be older than 20 and he was sitting at the forefront of the officers, so he was very conspicuous. Strangely enough, the attitude of the several people around him were quite respectful of him, the young man looked back at him and nodded with a smile… Cheirisophus was confused and asked his adjutant in a low voice, his adjutant then asked the others before he answered.

‘The “God’s favored” of Menon’s camp? All of his “Oracle”, came true?’ Cheirisophus frowned, ‘The management of the mercenary is indeed chaotic, letting such a young man with a childish face occupy a high position!’

Although the Spartans claim to be descendants of Heracles(Hercules), they were not very respectful to the gods, they only believed in their own strength. These old-fashioned and inflexible people doesn’t believe in the idea of being young and promising, otherwise they wouldn’t have a “Spartans are not allowed to break away from their collective military life until they are 30 years old, to be independent, to marry and to hold an important position…” provisions. Hence, Cheirisophus had a bad first impression of Davos.

In Davos’s eyes, the image of Cheirisophus and his imaginary Spartan warrior was quite different, he wasn’t tall and looks ordinary, if he didn’t have a scar on his face and a sharp gaze that remind others of his status as a soldier, otherwise, Davos might have think that he was just an ordinary Greek farmer.

After the surroundings became quiet, Cheirisophus began to speak, “I already know what happened, do any of you have suggestions?”

For a while, there were many whispers but no one stood up to speak. After all, in order for them to express their opinions in the face of more than 200 experience officers, they not only need courage, but they also need some skills in speaking and insights, which wasn’t easy for the poor Greek mercenaries.

Davos didn’t speak out, not because he was afraid, but because he had been in contact with the officers in charge of the troops, he found himself young and was just an ordinary soldier in this group and too much arrogance will easily offend them, therefore, he decided to wait and see what will happen.

Finally, Xenophon stood up, “Officers, the Persians violated their promises and killed or imprisoned our leaders and brothers, and they even want us to surrender our weapons. Now, the fight against the Persians is inevitable! As you have seen, most of the soldiers in the camp who knew about it were confused and afraid! If this situation doesn’t change quickly, once the Persians come to attack and our soldiers are needed to fight, they won’t be able to show their courage and wave their spears at the enemy, our whole troops are in danger of getting wiped out!

Everyone, you are the officers of the various camps, usually in peacetime, your salary and status are higher than those ordinary soldiers and your ability is also stronger than them. Now in the face of danger, the soldiers are pining their hopes on you and you must show great courage and determination to fight the Persians to death, in order to stabilize the mood of the soldiers and boost their confidence!!

At the same time, we must immediately select people with outstanding ability to serve as the new strategos of the camp, replacing Clearchus with them in managing and restraining the soldiers of the various camps, making good plans and commanding the whole troops to defeat the Persians, and smoothly lead us back to Greece! With the protection of Zeus, we will definitely be able to leave Persia!!…”

Xenophon’s words evoked great reactions of the crowd and some even applauded. Xenophon was slightly complacent and turned his gaze to Timasion, who had an indifferent expression, then withdraw his gaze.

In fact, the Greek mercenaries who are in trouble at this moment have only one choice. Cheirisophus immediately stood up and said in a decisive and firm tone, “Everyone, we have no time to delay and according to Xenophon’s words, go back to your respective camps and immediately elect your new leaders, and then let them come here for a war council to discuss a plan.”

He looked around and continued to speak loudly, “In the afternoon, we will hold another general assembly for the whole mercenary troops!” After that, he turned around and leave before the officers could respond.

Sure enough! Davos squeezed his fists and followed Antonios as they stood up.

The officers then rushed to their respective camps.

[] were leaders of ancient Sparta and shared power with the two Spartan kings. The ephors were a council of five elected annually who swore “on behalf of the city” while the kings swore for themselves.
[] were the members of an autonomous group of free non-citizen inhabitants of Sparta.

Chapter 27 – New Leader

When Davos and his party returned to Menon’s camp, the soldiers were eager to welcome them and asked about the situation.

“Clearchus, Menon, and the rest have been killed by the Persians, and the Persians want us to surrender, but the officers rejected it, our fight with the Persians is inevitable!” Antonios deliberately exaggerated the situation.

The soldiers became noisy. Although they had been informed by Hielos and was already prepared, they still have a slight illusion of peace, but now, this last illusion shattered. They panicked, confused and was at a loss.

“Now, we must immediately elect a new leader to replace Menon and lead us back to Greece!” Philesius shouted.

As soon as his voice fell, Antonios’ nephew, the young man who was saved by Davos, Asistes, raised his right hand in the crowd and eagerly shouted, “Brothers, who predicted the death of Cyrus the Younger?!”

“…it’s Davos.” Hielos took the lead in responding.

“Who invented the smoked sausage to keep us from starving?!” Asistes continued to shout.

“It’s Davos.” The soldiers responded.

“Who created the field hospital, so that we no longer need to worry about injuries anymore?!”

“Davos!” The soldiers began to answer in unison.

“Who predicted that the talks with the Persians today were a conspiracy and had tried to stop Menon from their scheme?!”

“Davos!!” The soldiers simultaneously shouted.

“Who is the one Hades favored?! Who can bless us on our return to Greece?!”

“Davos!!!” The soldiers shouted in unison.

“Who—” Asistes pointed at Davos and shouted in a hoarse voice, “Is our new leader?!!”

“Davos! Davos!! Davos!!!!” The soldiers of the whole camp shouted excitedly for a long time.

Philesius and the captains were suddenly faced with such a scene, and they were somewhat at a loss, they all look at Davos and he was also surprised and didn’t seemed to know anything about it. He caught sight of Matonis and Giorgris prancing in the crowd and he didn’t expect Asistes to lead the soldiers, and the effect was much better that what he had expected.

The shouting of the soldiers became louder and louder, the officers had to respond to this and after an urgent consultation, Philesius came out and he looked at Davos with a complicated expression, he then shouted to the assembled soldiers, “Brothers, are all of you sure you want to choose Davos as our new leader?!”

“Yes!!!” Under the leadership of Asistes, the soldiers shouted in unison.

“Are there any other candidate?!”

“No!!”

“We need the guidance of the gods!!”

Philesius turned around, Antonios, Kapus nodded, then Amintas, Alexis… and the other captains also helplessly nodded.

Philesius solemnly shouted, “The gods witnessed, upon the recommendation of the soldiers and the approval of the officers, Davos is now our new leader!”

The cheers rang out.

Davos loosened his clenched fist and his palm was already sweaty. He breathed a sigh of relief and was overwhelmed with excitement, ‘This period of hard work and efforts were not in vain!’ He, who was someone from another world, an ordinary young soldier crossed the ranks of squad leader, captain and became the leader of more than 1,000 soldiers. Although it was only a mercenary, his dream was realized in a short time, from a chess piece to a chess player. Of course, this also means that he will have to bear heavy responsibility, but compared to dying as a cannon fodder, no matter how big his responsibility is, there is nothing to be afraid of!

Faced with the excited faces, he raised his right arm high.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Compared with the other camps, Menon’s camp sufered the least losses, because of the lack of cooperation, only 3 officers followed Menon to the Persian camp, and the soldiers immediately elected their successors.

Then the soldiers retreated and the new leader, Davos, and the captains held their first meeting in the tent. Philesius was only the adjutant of Menon, he did not lead the army. Therefore, when the new leader was elected, his position was naturally relieved, so he could only stay outside.

Davos looked at the 13 captains, including Antonios, Kapus, and many others who he wasn’t familiar with…the captains also looked at this young man who was too young to be the new leader, some with expectations, some were just curious, and some simply ignored and talk with themselves…

It’s not that he have no experience as a leader in his previous life, therefore Davos wasn’t afraid at all, he faced them with a serious gaze and kept silent for a long time, which made the noise inside the tent from the beginning gradually became quiet. The invisible pressure from the silence that the young man exudes made the captains to seriously face him.

At this time, he opened his mouth slowly and said, “I am grateful for the soldiers for trusting in me! Thank you for your support! I will use my actions to prove that your choice is correct!”

This young new leader wasn’t modest at all! Alexis and the others opened their mouth in surprised, while Antonios and Kapus were infected by his confidence and revealed a smile.

“Now, I have decided to let Philesius continue to serve as an adjutant to assist me in the management of military affairs.” This proposal temporarily relieved several captains who were worried about Davos’ inexperience.

Philesius was invited in, he smiled and thanked Davos, then sat down next to Davos.

“I decided to set up a medical camp, with Herpus as the medical officer and he had to attend the important meetings as well!” The field hospital of Menon’s camp has long been operating independently, but now it is only for formality.

Amintas raised an objection, “Physicians can only heal our injured brothers, they won’t understand the military meetings they attend and they have never done anything like that before!”

“This is now a special period!” Davos looked at the robust and somewhat ferocious-looking man, and said in an irritated tone, “We may encounter a lot of battles in the coming journey, we must protect our medical camp and at the same time, we need to know, how many wounded soldiers can be treated by the medical camp? Is there a lack of labor? Is there a shortage of medical supplies? …All of these need to be discussed with Herpus!”

Amintas was stunned, he scratch his head and didn’t speak. No one wants their wounded soldiers to be left untreated, and so Davos’ proposal was easily passed.

“I hope that Mersis, who is in the supply unit, will also attend the military meeting. Because we need to know if the food is sufficient? Is there enough animals?…” Davos’ second proposal was once more accepted, after all, food was the most important concern for everyone. Besides, there are still their salaries and the money they looted in the supply unit, they of couse need to be kept informed and protected.

After three successful appointments, Davos stopped proposing.

At this time, Philesius who was next to him touched Davos and said to him.

Davos suddenly realized from his words, he also forgot a key position – the herald. Don’t underestimate this position, it’s up to him to transmit and issue military orders and decree smoothly. Now it’s easy to make mistakes in front of everyone. Or it is a lack of experience!

Davos slightly thought about it and quietly said, “In addition, I appoint Asistes as the herald!” Not only to repay the merits of his promotion, but also with his help in assisting Antonios in doing some trivial military work and he was also familiar with Menon’s camp. Besides, Davos has met this young man a lot of times, he is cheerful and energetic and the officers were very impressed with him. And also he is grateful to Davos, so who would he use if not him!

Sure enough, this candidate has also been successfully recognized by everyone.

Antonios went out to call Asistes.

After excitedly expressing his gratitude to everyone, Asistes immediately began to perform his duties. He quickly went to call Herpus and Mersis.

At this point, all the new officers of Menon’s camp have arrived.

Chapter 28 – Initial Authority

“In order for us and our brothers in the camp to unite, we must first understand the camp’s current situation. Therefore, please introduce the personnel and goods under your management.” Davos looked around and said.

The tent was slightly silent, Antonios was the first to open his mouth, then Kapus, then Alexis… The situation of the supply unit was the most complex, and Mersis was the most talkative, Davos had to remind him to be as brief as possible.

Davos listened and took note. After carefully listening to the introduction of everyone, he had a general understanding of the overall situation of Menon’s camp. After he organize it a bit, he said, “According to your report, we have ten hoplite units in our camp, with a total of 1,094 soldiers. Four peltast units, with a total of 487 soldiers. A total of 1,581 soldiers that have weapons and armor, in good health and no injuries.

There are 3 physicians, 6 female slaves and 2 camels in the medical camp, but apart from Herpus who is proficient in treating the injured, the other two physicians were unable to treat the wounded soldiers independently.

In the supply unit, there are 50 guards and 273 slaves, including 198 female slaves and 75 male slaves. Then 29 horses, 18 bulls, 56 sheep, 37 chickens and ducks, and 580 bags of wheat flour and the remaining money we have for purchasing supplies is a Taranto silver, 30 minas, and 5 drachmas, that is all we have.” Davos put down the roll of paper he had used to take note and said to everyone, “Do you see anything that was left out?”

The officers were slightly surprised. It is important to know that mercenaries, including the officers were mostly uneducated, not to mention doing numeric calculations and summarizing by themselves.

Mersis “Pa! Pa! Pa!” clapped his hands, “Davos, you are too great! Your ability to calculate is much better than me!”

Antonios who was next to him remembered that Davos was illiterate, he quietly glanced at the roll of paper and was shocked to find that it was full of strange symbols.

The officers glanced at each other and added a little bit of recognition of Davos’ ability.

“Since there is no objection. Then wait while I go attend the war council of the mercenary leader with Philesius. The captains will go back and inform the soldiers to check their weapons and prepare for battle. In the afternoon, the 10th hoplite unit will be stationed in the camp, while the other units will line up in order to enter the venue for the General Assembly. Because there would be too many people, you must maintain order and prevent riots.” Davos finished talking, then look at Herpus and asked, “What’s the situation in the medical camp? You need to have a plan since the war is about to start and there will be more wounded soldiers. The clean linen bandages requires more preparation and at least twice as many assistants more than now…”

From time to time, Herpus consulted Davos about some medical problems, such as ‘Why use fire to heat up the knives use for debridement? Why do you place a piece of cloth dipped in cold water on the forehead of a patient with a fever?’ ….Davos’ answers were always peculiar and thought-provoking, so Herpus regards Davos as a teacher and he always has a respectful attitude, “Please rest assured that I will do my best to prepare for it when I return. If there are any difficulties, I will definitely come to you for help.”

“You are our Asclepius (A god in ancient Greek mythology, the son of Apollo), of course we must do our best to help! If there are any medical problems, I can discuss it with you. If you are lacking labor, then the captains can provide some. If there is a lack of things, then you can go find Mersis.” Davos laughed.

Everyone has also expressed their willingness to help the medical camp.

Mersis took the initiative to report to Davos: “Leader, this morning I had the slaves slaughter some sheep to make a lot of smoked sausages. After a while, I will slaughter the remaining sheep, chickens and ducks, as well as the extra cattle to make smoked sausge for our march later. What do you think?”

“Mersis, you are our caretaker! We are all at ease because you are the one responsible for the food, am I wrong?!” Davos said it half-jokingly.

“Yes! Mersis is very good at managing the supply unit!” Antonios said it amiably.

“Yeah, he charge more expensively!” Epiphanes shouted jokingly.

“Even if I gave it to you for free, you won’t be able to enjoy it! You are only interested in boys!” Mersis immediately retaliated.

“Ha ha ha…” The crowd laughed and the atmosphere in the tent eased a lot.

“Philesius, do you have anything to add?” Davos finally asked his adjutant.

Philesius who was facing a leader much younger than himself was somewhat strained, so he coughed twice and said, “I have two questions that I hope will make you leader to pay attention. First, since we are about to fight the Persians, will our next marching route change? If so, where should we go? The second…er…previously, our troops had been serving as the rearguard of the whole mercenary troops, now that we are going to start a war, if we serve as the rearguard once more, our troops will suffer too much.”

“Philesius is right, we can’t be the rearguard anymore!”

“Rest assured that I will raise this questions at the war council and will strive for it! As for the marching route, I think it will be decided at the war council, because this is the most important issue!” Davos’ confident words made the officers half-doubtingly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At the end of the meeting, the captain of the first peltast unit, Epiphanes, could not help but wonder, “I can’t believe that this young man is our new leader!”

“Despite his young age, his arrangement isn’t only meticulous, but it is also very organize and with majesty, none of us experienced veterans, stood up against him and refute him!” Another peltast captain, Cid, said with admiration.

“I think this young man is great! At least the atmosphere of the meeting is very good, unlike Menon, who was like a venomous snake, which meeting did he not throw a fit and teach you a lesson!” The hoplite captain Lysimachus said with a grin.

“If on the battlefield, this little guy will also show a wonderful perfomance, then he will be a qualified leader!” Another hoplite captain, Amintas, reminded them.

“Rest assured that although this new leader is young, but he is wise and with Philesius assisting him then there will be no huge problem.” Hoplite captain, Alexis, reassured them.

“We are in war, what do we fear! Davos only needs to play his role as the god’s favored, so we can reduce our casualties and go home safely!” Cid said loudly, and everyone repeatedly agreed.

Kapus who was following Antonios, said with ease, “It seems that Davos has taken his first step in winning the approval of everyone.”

Antonios was still immersed at what he saw in the meeting, and muttered, “He still needs to prove himself in battle, but I have confidence in him! He will become a great mercenary leader!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos stood at the entrance and calmly watched everyone leave. At this time, he wasn’t thinking about the effect of his debut as a leader, but was considering the issue of military management.

The military system of the Greek mercenaries is roughly the same as that of the Greek city-states. The lowest-ranking officers are the Squad Leader, with 10 men under them. Next would be the Captain, with 100 – 120 men under them. Sometimes there will a platoon leader that are established, with 50 men under them. Then the Taxiarchos(brigadier), who has about a thousand men under them. Lastly, at the top are the Strategos, whose number of soldiers depends on the number of troops that their city-states can send. Davos was supposed to be a Taxiarchos at this time, but a mercenary can have thousands of soldiers and even a larger mercenary unit, so that they can undertake combat missions independently, therefore they are barely considered as a strategos.

Davos graduated from the University of Political Science and Law in his previous life, but he studied management. Therefore, he knew that the most effective number of people under a leader was 7, there were 14 captains who attended the meeting today, but in a real war, would it not be very time-consuming and slow for the messengers to convey an order? If he could only re-integrate those units… Davos knew that he could only think about it now, after all, he had just became the leader and if he rushed to reform the military system, it might arouse the resentment of the officers. He suppressed his thoughts and turned to face Mersis, who was still in the tent and said, “They are now all gone, what do you want to discuss?”

Chapter 29 – War Council

Mersis came over and whispered, “Davos, according to your request, I took good care of the Persian that you had sent to the supply unit last time!”

“Is it?” Davos looked at him with a grin, “How can I thank you?”

“You are our leader and this is my duty.” Mersis smiled and approached him a little more and quietly whispered, “In addition, Menon has an assets of nearly 2 Taranto minas stored in the supply unit…”

2 Taranto minas are equivalent to 65 kg of silver, which was a huge sum of money, and Menon was really reliable in earning money. It just that Davos, who has only been reborn not long after, didn’t have a very deep concept about Greek coins, so he didn’t look surprised. He carefully thought about it and said, “Does Menon have any direct relatives?”

Mersis had been looking at Davos all this time, and he didn’t seem to be different, after he heard it again that he immediately understood Davos’ intention and felt admiration and hurriedly said, “No.”

“Did he have a will?”

“No. He never thought that he would die so early.”

Davos lamented for a moment and muttered, “Menon created this mercenary troops and he also made a lot of effort for this camp, so let’s use this money for the development of our camp.”

“Davos, you are just and selfless!” Mersis said loud compliments, then rubbed his hand and asked carefully, “Did Hades enlightened you so that you were able to calculate so fast?”

Davos had seen that there was still something in his mind but he didn’t expect it to be this, “Of course”

“Can you teach me?” Mersis knelt down and beg.

Davos was surprised that although this fatty wasn’t young anymore, he still had such a strong thirst for knowledge that he could not help but admire him slightly, “Sure, no problem.”

“Great! Davos, you are the best leader!” Mersis couldn’t help but hug Davos, which cause Davos to be stiff, the tradition of homosexuality in ancient Greece always made him wary of excessive physical contact, but soon he found that he was just over-thinking. Mersis was only expressing his gratitude to him and undoubtedly, this fatty has become one of his firm supporter.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

It was already noon after he properly arranged everything. Davos thought that he would be late, but when he and Philesius arrived at the main tent of the mercenary, they only found Cheirisophus and Timasion inside.

When Cheirisophus saw the two men, one of whom was the same young man he had seen at the meeting earlier, his brows immediately frowned and said, “You are mercenary from Menon’s camp. Who is the leader that you have elected?” As he said that, his eyes naturally turned to look at Philesius.

Before Davos could speak, Philesius was on the left side of Davos and said, “All our soldiers unanimously elected Davos as our new leader!”

Cheirisophus and Timasion stared in shocked. After a while, the two men looked at each other and Timasion questioned loudly, “We are going to fight against the Persians now, and everyone has to go all out, yet you want to drag us down by choosing a kid who hasn’t yet grown up! Do you know that people end up dying in war, and many will die!!”

The last sentence of Timasion was directed at Davos, which obviously to intimidate him.

Davos unfalteringly responded to Timasion, who had a somewhat grim expression, “Wait till the fight starts, then we will find out who is dragging who! It is impossible to rely on brute strength alone when fighting the Persians! Where were you when I went to stop Clearchus and Menon! If they had listened to my advice, then we would not have such a bad situation today!”

“Of course…I also tried to stop them…” Timasion had been guilty of Clearchus’ capture. Hence, he was led by the topic of Davos and answered with lack of confidence.

“Everyone in our camp thinks that Davos is our best candidate for leadership, and no one objected! And I was entrusted to serve as his adjutant, assisting our leader, Davos, in managing the troops.” Philesius once again stressed it out loudly. As an old mercenary, he knew what Cheirisophus and Timasion were worried about and what they are trying to do.

Cheirisophus once again looked at Philesius, “This is?”

“Philesius, the adjutant of Menon, the one who is actually managing his camp…” Timasion said to Cheirisophus with an unusual tone.

“Oh…” Cheirisophus had an expression that seems to understand. Davos could guess what they were thinking, but he didn’t want to argue, time will prove everything.

“The others are still fiercely selecting, but you manage to choose quickly.” Cheirisophus finally stood up and said with a slight ridicule.

Davos immediately said, “At this critical moment, it is better for the whole troops to have a unified thoughts than them to act on their own will!”

Cheirisophus was stunned, he did not know the capability of this young new leader, but at least his eloquence wasn’t weak. He reluctantly saluted and said, “Welcome.”

Davos returned his salute and said, “I am glad to fight together with you!”

For a while, the tent was quiet.

Ten minutes later, Xanthicles came in and he replaced Socrates as the new leader.

Then, Cleanor replaced Agias and became the new leader.

The last one that came in was Hieronymous, who squeezed out Agasias and replaced Proxenus as the new leader. Together with him was Xenophon, an acquaintance of Davos, who became the adjutant of Hieronymous.

Everyone was surprised at the age of Davos. Fortunately, it was already afternoon and time was running out.

As soon as he arrived, Cheirisophus immediately said, “Everyone, let us first decide on the route we would take on our retreat back to Greece. My opinion is to follow the original route, along the Tigris River, into Armenia, and reach the Black Sea then return to Ionia by boat…”

“This is the route that Tissaphernes arranged for us and it was originally their scheme! I heard that there are many barbarians in the north, and even the Persians felt a headache, they are a huge threat to us!” Xanthicles objected.

“So what is your suggestion? Go west?! Not to mention that it is further away, but more importantly, we are now in a state of war with Persia, and it is dangerous if we stay on Persian land for one more day or more. The Persians can mobilize more soldiers to besiege us at any time! The North has made the Persians have a headache, it just shows that their rule over the north isn’t strong, this is our chance! Those barbarians and us doesn’t have any hatred, let alone that we have a common enemy – Persia!…” Timasion eloquently said and apparently he have already previously discussed it with Cheirisophus.

Sure enough, we still have to go north! Davos saw that Xanthicles and the others showed approval.

“Let’s vote. Raise your hand if you agree to go north!” said Cheirisophus.

Everyone agreed unanimously.

Cheirisophus added, “In order to concentrate our soldiers on fighting the Persians and prevent them from being attacked because they are scattered, I suggest that a small mercenary troops such as Sossis and Pasion be merged with us. Of course, this depends on both parties merging voluntarily.”

“How to distribute military supplies when they merge? How to distribution the previously collected property?…” Hieronymus asked seriously.

“It has been said that both sides are willing, if he wants to join your camp then you can discuss it in private.” Timasion impatiently said.

‘Merging with the smaller mercenary camp?!’ Davos has some intentions, after all, the more troops he have, the more likely they will survive the battle.

“Now that we all have agreed, we will announce this at the General Assembly. In addition, there is a more important issue, in our current state of getting attacked by the Persians at any time, what formation will we use in our march in order to ensure our safety?” Cheirisophus looked at everyone, but before they could answer, he had taken out a stick and made a comparison, “My suggestion is to move forward in a large empty space square formation, that is, 2 mercenary troops serve as the vanguard to guide the whole army, one mercenary troop on the left and right to protect our flanks, and then 2 mecenary troops to serve as the rearguard, with the supply unit and the non-combatants in the middle… What do you think?”

Chapter 30 – General Assembly

Despite Davos being a novice in military affairs, he saw the main purpose of this formation was to prevent the Persians from raiding and protecting the supply unit, and to march on such a wide formation, the speed must not be fast and under the harassment of the Persians, they have no choice.

Several people gathered around to look at the rough sketches on the ground.

Timasion pointed to the two squares at the forefront and said, “Cheirisophus is a Spartan, and his soldiers are Lacedaemon. They have rich combat experience and therefore, they should be the vanguards to open a path for the whole mercenary troops, I think everyone will be assured.”

There was no one who objected the proposal.

“Second…” Timasion thought about where his troops should be responsible.

“Second, I am the youngest and I am willing to be the rearguard of the whole mercenary troops!” Davos excitedly said.

Philesius was startled and thought, ‘In the end, Davos forgot what we previously have discussed and even took the initiative to offer to be the rearguard. He really is still young and inexperienced!’

Philesius did not dare to make any big movement in-front of everyone, and he had no choice but to give a warning glance at Davos.

However, he heard what Timasion said in surprise, “You…you want to be the rearguard?! No! No!” He repeatedly shook his head, “The rearguard is very important, and he must have rich experience in order to face all kinds of complicated situations. If you can’t properly deal with them, you will end up dragging down the whole mercenary troops, I think it’s still better to…have my camp to serve as the rearguard.”

Davos answered back as soon as Timasion finished talking, “Isn’t there another position for the rearguard? I am willing to work with you!”

“No!!” Timasion did not want to loudly reject, “Cleanor, come and join me in the rearguard!” He directly appointed his comrades who fought side by side with him.

Cleanor had a good relationship with Timasion and had no choice but to nod.

The candidate for the rearguard was quickly decided. Philesius still haven’t yet understand that Davos had deliberately set a trap to lure Timasion to the bait, he really wasn’t fit to be an adjutant.

The gully between the eyebrows of Cheirisophus became deeper, he did not appreciate the little tricks that Davos did, he even more hated how he knew that Timasion’s choice was correct, so he simply said to Davos, “Your camp is responsible for protecting the left wing.” Since the mercenaries are gonna march northward along the Tigris river, the left wing will mostly be close to the river bank and should encounter the least danger.

Davos saw the undisguised contempt in the gaze of Cheirisophus, and he clenched his fist secretly and nodded.

Then, Cheirisophus proposed to let Xanthicles to join him in the vanguard.

It was Hieronymus who was similarly unhappy, Cheirisophus took Agasias, the former adjutant in the camp of Proxenus, into consideration, but now the elected leader was replaced by a captain, Hieronymus, and he was the last to arrived, which indicates that there was a great controversy among the soldiers in his camp about who should be the leader, and to be on the safe side, they should let his camp, act as the right wing.

After the leaders finished the war council, it was time to hold the general assembly of the whole mercenary troops.

This wasn’t only a gathering to show the new leaders, but also a good opportunity to unify the thoughts of the soldiers. Therefore, Cheirisophus reminded everyone to speak more words of encouragement.

When he asked the leaders, his gaze was mostly fixed on Davos. He wasn’t confident about this young leader, it was a gathering of ten thousand people and most of them would not even be able speak in such a tense situation. In case Davos screwed up, this carefully arranged oath-swearing will turn into a farce!

So he suggested to Davos that Philesius, the adjutant, could deliver the speech for him.

But Davos insisted on doing it in person.

Cheirisophus appearance was very unsightly, but he couldn’t refuse to let Davos attend because he was the new leader unanimously elected by Menon’s camp which have 1,450 soldiers, accounting 1/9th of the entire mercenary troops. So he arranged Davos to be second, even if Davos did badly, there are still other leaders that will make up for it.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

It was the end of August, in late summer, the weather in the afternoon was no longer so hot.

A wooden platform was erected in the center of Timasion’s Camp (formerly Clearchus’ camp), and the tents around it had been removed, a large open space has been vacated and are occupied by soldiers from various mercenary camps. They are either standing or sitting, chatting and complaining to each other…

The whole venue was crowded and noisy…

Under the escort of heavily armed soldiers, Cheirisophus squeezed a path through the dense crowd and came to the wooden platform.

Cheirisophus was the first to go onstage

There was a commotion among the soldiers.

Because Cheirisophus deliberate low profile, most ordinary soldiers did not know who he is, they were surprised to see a stranger appearing first on the stage, and so they ask the others of his name.

Around the wooden platform stood dozen of soldiers with loud voices who were responsible for repeating the words of the one speaking, so that thousands of soldiers could hear what they say.

Cheirisophus spoke, “Brothers from all over Greece, I am an ephor of Sparta, Cheirisophus!”

There was an uproar among the soldiers, after the soldiers on the wooden platform repeated what he had said, the shock in their hearts was even greater than when Davos heard about it. The Spartan warriors have fought one battle after another for centuries, subduing the Greeks of other city-states with their bravery and strength. Now, Sparta has become the hegemon of the Greek world, dominating the Mediterranean. How could they not get excited and thrilled when the ephor of Sparta was among the free people. The soldiers who had been terrified of their leaders’s death had suddenly have someone to rely on, their panicked face began to flushed red and began to show curiosities to focus on things beyond survival, ‘Why is an ephor of Sparta, who has a high position, be here?’

So when Cheirisophus asked them to be quiet, the soldiers stopped talking.

“Brothers, we are in a very bad situation right now! Not only did we lose our outstanding leaders, captains and soldiers who have been with us for a long time, but even our former allies Ariaeus and his men betrayed us! However, the more we are in such a critical situation, the more we need to invigorate our spirits as soon as possible, in order for us to bravely face the Persians who want to destroy us and to never give in. We need to defeat the enemy with our shield, spears, and our bravery and slaughter a path for ourselves to return to Greece! Zeus will be together with those who are brave!!” Spartan likes to be frighteningly concise, Cheirisophus had reminded everyone to say encouraging words, but he quickly ended his speech, just as he made the soldiers excited.

When Cheirisophus stepped down fron the stage and passed by Davos, he saw Davos was smiling at him and thought to himself, ‘Oh, it seems that this young leader isn’t nervous, but why did he made the messenger on stage, hold more than a dozen wooden sticks?’

Asistes also did not understand the purpose of Davos making him follow on stage while holding a stick, but when he stood on the stage, he could not think about it anymore, because there were a lot of people in all directions under the stage and it densely stretch to the distance… At this time, the noise he hear from his ears got much louder than when he was under the stage, as if the sea was stirring up a strong wind and waves, while he and Davos was just a lonely boat floating in the deep sea, and are in danger of capsizing at any time.

Asistes couldn’t stop his legs from trembling, he even felt that he might collapse at any time together with the similarly trembling wooden platform beneath his feet.

“Oh! Oh! Look! Who is this?!”

“A little kid who hasn’t grown hairs yet! This isn’t a place you are allowed to come! Get out of here and go home and drink your mama’s milk! HAHAHA…”

“Which camp have elected this new leader?! Are they insane?!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The laughter and doubts were overwhelming.

Asistes was shocked and even retreated a few steps, almost to the edge of the wooden platform. To his admiration, Davos stood firmly in the middle…

The leaders who weren’t on the platform felt slightly impatient, they were dissatisfied with Davos again, now that he was facing thousands of soldiers, but they are a group now.

Timasion complained, “I knew that this would happen, I shouldn’t have let him go on stage. This is simply hell!”

The others also agreed.

Xenophon immediately said, “Let the next leader to go up and quickly replace him.”

Cheirisophus has already regretted his previous decision and nodded his head in agreement.

[] – Sparta was known as Lacedaemon in the past. The city-state was named after their king, Lacedaemon, who then renamed it after his wife, Sparta.

Chapter 31 – An Astonishing Cheer (I)

Just then, a thunderous cheer rang out, “Davos! Davos!! Davos!!!…” The shouts were so organize and loud that they overwhelmed all the noise and made several of the leaders turned pale.

“That’s the mercenaries of Menon!” Timasion tiptoed and look in the direction of the sound.

“They should now be the mercenary of Davos!” Heironymus enviously said.

Davos, who was on the stage, smiled and said, “Greek warriors, I am Davos of Thessali, I am the new leader that replaced Menon!”

When the soldiers on the stage finished repeating what he had said, the soldiers of Davos’ camp immediately stood up and applauded him, causing the other soldiers to look at each other, ‘Are these guys crazy?!’

Some of the people who knew about the inside story began to show off their information in front of their companions, “I heard that this young man is favored by Hades, and every time he gets an ‘oracle’ its effectiveness is incomparable!”

“I also heard that he magically saved a dying soldier. Yes! That man who is standing behind him!”

“He also invented something that were very useful to us! Like this one on my leg…um…leg bindings…”

The soldiers’ words spread from mouth to mouth and in the blink of an eye, everyone looked at him with less contempt and now became curious.

Davos’ words once more resounded in their ears, “Just now, Cheirisophus’ speech was very thrilling, but they were just too short! Just like when a man and a woman do things, and when the woman started to get excited, the man was already done. How uncomfortable the woman would feel!”

The soldiers did not expect that such a vulgar words would be uttered from the mouth of a still childish young man. They were stunned for a moment and then burst out laughing, “Ha ha ha…”

Many people also took the opportunity to catcall…

“This young man is very interesting!” Many soldiers said with a smile.

“Nonsense! This is a mess!” Timasion looked at Cheirisophus and swear.

Xenophon was also surprised that Davos, whom he knew, was a young a man with a unique insights and polite speech and should not be so crude.

Cheirisophus didn’t speak, he wasn’t angry despite Davos ridiculing him. Cheirisophus, who had been living in the military camp until he was 30, knew what the thoughts of the soldiers, and he did not know whether Davos didn’t know about it or was intentional. All in all, this dirty joke has made the soldiers felt intimate with this too young of a leader.

“When I came up just now, I saw that all of you are drooping in frustration and some of you even had tears in yours eyes. You are afraid! You are afraid that you can’t get back to Greece! You are afraid! You are afraid that the Persians will annihilate you! But think carefully, when we were in the middle of Persia and our employer, Cyrus the Younger, was killed and we did not know what to do, the Persians, who had more soldiers than us, did not immediately attack and destroy us! What did they do?” Davos slowly aroused the interest of the soldiers with questions.

“Everyone in here are very clear. The Persians spent their energy talking to us and providing us with plenty of food and to accompany us on such a long journey… they spent so much time, money, and energy in order to fool our leaders just to kill them!” Davos said slowly, then he paused and loudly asked, “Soldiers, tell me! Who is the one that is afraid?! In fear?! – It’s the Persians! They are more afraid than us! They are afraid of our bravery! They dare not fight us! They are cowardly enough to use these schemes quietly! They fear us more than they fear their gods, so that they violated the oath made before their gods!

Now that they have killed our leaders, when we are in chaos, they still not dare attack us immediately, and instead, want us to surrender! What do you fear in the face of such timid Persians! You know, that we Greeks are a race that is not afraid of any threat! Decades ago, Darius, the King of Persia, led an army that conquered all races in the land. When he pointed his next conquest at the weak Greek city-states across the strait, SOLDIERS, TELL ME, DID GREECE SURRENDER?!” Davos leaned forward and stretched out his right hand, and asked loudly to the soldiers below.

“No.” Someone answered one after another.

“Too low, I can’t hear it! Tell me, did Greece surrender?!!” Davos asked louder.

“No!” The answer was very organize.

Davos was still not satisfied, “The voice is as low as a timid Persian! Once again, DID GREECE SURRENDER?!!”

“NO!!!” the soldiers shouted, causing their emotions to stir.

“Yes! We Greeks did not surrender! In the battle of Marathon, the Athenians beat the Persian army with fewer people, and Darius got frightened and retreated back to his old nest and within a few years, he died of illness. For revenge, his son, Xerxes, assembled an unprecedented army and once more invaded Greece. But we Greeks never yield to power! Soldiers, tell me where did we beat the Persians?!”

This time, There was no need for Davos to lead them and the soldiers shouted enthusiastically, “Salamis!”

“Plataea!”

“Thermopylae!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos took the lead, “Yes, the Greeks united and defeated the Persians repeatedly, which made Greece a fertile land of freedom, peace, and prosperity for decades to come. Soldiers, can any of you tell me the names of some of the strategoi and soldiers who fought against Persia?!”

“Miltiades!”

“Aeschylus!”

“Pericles!”

“Leonidas!”

“Themistocles!”

“Aristides!”

“Pausanias!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

One by one, the soldiers scrambled to shout out the names, at first they shouted the names of the strategos and later the names of soldiers who had participated in the war…around 80 years have passed since the Persian war, and almost the entire Greek world was affected. The mercenaries still vividly remembered it and even many soldiers who are present were descendants of those who fought in the war. They couldn’t wait to proudly make the names of their ancestors known to the public. Even the leaders such as Xanthicles, Cleanor, and Hieronymus couldn’t help but participate. The atmosphere of the whole venue began to boil…

Timasion couldn’t help but stare at the young man and realize that he had underestimated him.

It took a long time for the shouts from all directions to fade…

Davos continued to passionately speak, “These names in your mouth were written by Herodotus in 《Histories》, and into your memory! They became Greek heroes! Their spirit is as immortal as the gods! We grew up listening to their stories and when we grew up, we followed their examples and longed for an earth-shattering achievements like them! Now, soldiers, you have the opportunity to be a Greek hero and write history like them!” At this point, Davos paused again.

The eager soldiers stood up and eagerly asked, “Tell us! Where is the opportunity?!”

“Don’t you already know!” Davos loudly shouted, “Our ancestors defeated the Persians, in Greece and at sea, and there has never been a Greek army that was able to invade the Persian Empire. Yet we were able to go deep into the middle of Persia, and so long as we work together to defeat the Persians and overcome difficulties, then triumphantly return to Greece and make history! Our deeds will be written into books, compiled into songs and sung all over Greece, beautiful girls and lovely children will chase us and we would tell our adventurous story! Our children and grandchildren will be proud of us as we are today! More importantly-”

Davos took a deep breath and said with excitement, “Our deeds will inspire future Greeks! We will let them know that the Persians who look strong, are in fact weak inside, and they are just giants made of clay. The countries are like humans, there is a time when they are strong, similarly, there is also a time when they age. One day, when Persia and Greece are at war again, the Greeks will follow our example and invade Persia along the route we have traveled. What will they say when they win and come to the battlefield where we once shed our blood, offering sacrifice and praising us?!”

The soldiers were fascinated by what they heard.

[] took place in 490 BC, during the first Persian invasion of Greece.
[] was a naval battle fought between an alliance of Greek city-states under Themistocles and the Persian Empire under King Xerxes in 480 BC which resulted in a decisive victory for the outnumbered Greeks.
[] was the final land battle during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place in 479 BC near the city of Plataea in Boeotia, and was fought between an alliance of the Greek city-states (including Sparta, Athens, Corinth and Megara), and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I (allied with Boeotians, Thessalians, and Macedonians).
[] was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, led by King Leonidas of Sparta, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I over the course of three days, during the second Persian invasion of Greece.
[] was an Athenian citizen known mostly for his role in the Battle of Marathon, as well as his downfall afterwards.
[] was an ancient Greek tragedian. He is often described as the father of tragedy.
[] was a prominent and influential Greek statesman, orator and general of Athens during its golden age – specifically the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars.
[] was a warrior king of the Greek city-state of Sparta, and was mostly known for his last stand in Thermopylae.
[] was an Athenian politician and general and he fought during the first Persian invasion of Greece at the Battle of Marathon.
[] was an ancient Athenian statesman and was remembered for his generalship in the Persian War.
[] was a Spartan regent, general, and war leader for the Greeks.

Chapter 32 – An Astonishing Cheer (II)

“They might say, ‘Great ancestors! It was your heroic deeds that have given us strength! Encourage our confidence! And let us accomplish an unprecedented great cause!!’”

“Will there be such a day?” Timasion breathing got faster, clenching his fists and muttered.

The leaders were also tempted by the assumptions of Davos and were intoxicated. They don’t know that in history, a Macedonian named Alexander inspired his soldiers with the retreat of the ten thousand Greeks and embarked on a journey to attack the Persian Empire few decades later…

When the soldiers were all immersed in the beauty of Davos’ fiction, Davos reached out and took the wooden stick from Asisters and made a quick turn, “Soldiers, some might ask, ‘Davos you said it so well, but there is a key issue. First of all, we have to safely return back to Greece.’”

Davos saw the soldiers were still listening attentively and continued, “I don’t want to speak much about the issue about battles. Because the leaders such as Cheirisophus, Timasion, and the others, as well as all of you in here, have rich experience in combat. Most of you have participated in the struggle against Athens and eventually won. This is not comparable to the Persians who have enjoyed the comfort throughout the year.”

Hearing this, Xenophon grinned.

“What I want to say is that in such a difficult situation, each of us is like a wooden stick in my hand-” Davos picked up the stick and broke it into two pieces without effort. Then he broke another one, “It’s easy to break. But when they are all together-” Davos grabbed all the remaining sticks and went to a tall and strong soldier and passed it to him while asking “Brother, what is your name?”

“Eubulus.” said the soldier.

“Can you try breaking it?”

The soldiers stared at Eubulus, they saw his face flushed, and tried his best to break the wooden stick, but it was in vain.

“Thank you brother!” Davos patted him on the shoulder and thanked him.

Eubulus blushed and scratched his head embarrassingly.

“Soldiers, you have all seen it. A single stick can be easily broken by a thin young man like me. But when they are together, even the strongest warrior can’t do anything about it with all their strength. What does it mean?”

Xenophon nodded, and now he knew what Davos was talking about. Of course, he wasn’t the only smart man, a soldier shouted, “Unity! It is unity!…” After a reminder from some soldiers, everyone also came to understood.

“Yes, it is unity!” Davos completely went wild and was in a high spirit that he even change the way he speak, “Brothers, we have come from various Greek city-states. Usually, because of different customs and personalities, there are some minor contradictions and conflicts. But we are all Greeks of the same race with the same blood, with the same goal of returning home safely and creating history, any problems within us should be melted away like ice and snow under the sun! Just like how our ancestors resisted the Persian invasion, we should be closely united and not be shaken by the rumors of the Persians, and trust our teammates to protect our backs! In the face of the difficulties that we will encounter on our way home, we should not only unite in spirits, but also in wisdom. Brothers, you should not leave the problems to be solve by the leaders, you should take the initiative to find a solution. As long as we work together, then any problems won’t be able to intimidate us!

Brothers, let us unite just like a one man! Then the power of this man can be as powerful as Ares! The wisdom is as profound as Athena! The enemies and difficulties along the way will be easily crushed by us!” At this point, Davos raised his fists and shouted, “Brothers, remember that only by uniting can we create miracles! Every step we take is creating history! Let’s fight side by side!!”

“HOOAH!!!…” The cheers from the field shook the earth and lasted for a long time.

“Davos! Davos!…” His name was shouted and many people have teared due to excitement. There are even people begging him, “Say a few more words! Davos, just a few more words…”

As soon as Davos walked to the wooden stage, the soldiers gathered around him and lifted him together, then passed him to the people behind, as if he was a strategos that had returned victoriously.

This made Cleanor, who was about to go up on stage look silly, ‘the morale of the soldiers has already been stirred up to this extent, is it still necessary for the others to go up?’

“At least in terms of speaking, he is better than any of us!” Xanthicles sincerely admired.

“Fighting is not a matter of speaking, but of spears and shields!” Timasion reluctantly said.

It was impossible for Xenophon to say that he was not jealous after seeing Davos getting thrown up in the distance. Xenophon with the consent of Cheirisophus, was ready to appear on stage because Hieronymus wasn’t good with words, and had made careful preparations in order to show his talents in front of the whole mercenary troops, but now that this happened…

In fact, Cheirisophus agree with Timasion in his heart. The Spartans have always been tired of the eloquence of the Athenians, just as how the Athenians hated the old-fashioned and inflexible Spartans, but he had to admit that Davos performance was beyond his imagination, not only did did he achieved their goal, but he exceeded the goal of inspiring the whole mercenary troops. It seems that this young man can be elected as a leader was not only by borrowing the name of the gods, but also by his own ability…

The captains of Menon camp were also pleasantly surprised, even Amintas, who had some opinions about Davos being elected as the leader, told Antonios as he watched Davos get crowded by the soldiers from the other camps, “Our new leader seems to be doing well.” You must know that he used to call Davos “little kid”.

Antonios laughed, ‘Davos, Davos, you always surprise people!’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Finally, Cheirisophus went up on stage again, and announced that his camp would depart tomorrow, and march northward, then he also informed the whole mercenary troops of matters that needs attention and preparations.

The general assembly of the mercenary troops has thus ended.

The scattered soldiers recalled the speech of Davos with relish and praise,‘Sure enough, the reputation of the “God’s Favored” is well deserve!’

The soldiers at Davos’ camp, surrounded their new leader in praise, as they returned to their camp with their heads held high, while they preached his deeds to the remaining soldiers.

Davos finally got rid of the excited soldiers and went back to his old tent, before it suddenly occurred to him that Menon’s tent was his new place.

When he arrived at his new place, Mersis was standing at the entrance of the tent. He greeted him with an odd look, “Davos, there’s someone waiting for you.”

“Who is it?”

“You will know when you go in.” Mersis tried to indicate the tent with his lips, and had a wretched appearance doing it.

Davos curiously opened the curtain, and in the middle of the tent stood a woman, a tall and graceful woman…

Since his rebirth, Davos has seen Greek and Egyptian women of this era in Mersis supply unit and Herpus medical unit, but there wasn’t any woman who could make his heart full of desire by just looking at the back…

Where did Mersis find her? Davos couldn’t help but swallow.

Chapter 33 – Cheiristoya

Just then, the woman turned around and Davos couldn’t help but stare at her eyes: a woman with beautiful blonde hair and her hair was simply piled up in a bun which looked like a cloud behind her head, revealing a slender white neck. A pair of curved eyebrows beneath her smooth forehead, bright blue eyes like the Aegean Sea. Curved eyelashes that shadowed the eyes, which add a slight hazy temptation. The bridge of her nose is not entirely straight, but has a small curve, thus it look less heroic and more cute and graceful. Her thick and even lips have brilliant blood color, and a delicate white face that is as smooth as a goose eggs. Finally, with a perfect curve that outlined her slightly raised chin…

Despite having seen countless beautiful women on television in his previous life, the beauty of this woman still made Davos dazzled…

She opened her lips lightly and revealed her white and even teeth, “Esteemed leader, Davos, I am Cheiristoya.

“…er…” Davos subconsciously repeatedly rummage his memory, ‘Who is Cheiristoya? Am I familiar with her?’

Cheiristoya obviously saw a lot of men who had forgotten themselves in front of her, so she didn’t show any contempt and step forward and softly said, “I am the daughter of Pronifos, an aristocrat of Miletus, and the concubine of the Persian prince, Cyrus the Younger. I came to seek asylum from you!”

The concubine of Cyrus the Younger?! Davos was so excited that he suddenly remembered what Olivos had said before and blurted out, “You are the…woman who fled from the Persian soldiers when Cyrus the Younger was killed!”

As soon as he spoke, he felt that what he said was insensitive and quickly said, “I’m sorry! I shouldn’t…shouldn’t-”

“It doesn’t matter… this is the arrangement of the goddess of fate.” Cheiristoya looked dejected, “I was lucky that I was able to escape, but the other sisters…”

Her mournful grief made Davos’ heart throb again. He scolded himself for being worthless, ‘I am not a virgin and was soon getting married in my previous life!’

But after all, it was the first time that he had been alone with such a beautiful woman. He asked while coughing unnaturally, “Where were you before?”

“Clearchus was a trustworthy leader who, for the sake of Cyrus the Younger sheltered me. Unfortunately…”

Despite being attracted by the beauty of Cheiristoya, Davos was still clear-headed and so he continued to ask, “Although Clearchus is dead, Timasion had become the new leader, and you can let him continue to shelter you. Now that we are at war with Persia, you don’t have to worry about anything anymore.”

“But Timasion doesn’t have much prestige as Clearchus in his camp. He wouldn’t be able to control those who wanted to… the people that wants to shame me.” Cheiristoya blushed while crying.

Davos had no intention of admiring her beauty, and now that he had calmed down and thought more about it. He thought to himself, ‘I publicly advocated unity at the general assembly and as soon as I returned from Timasion’s camp, this beautiful woman ran to my quarter and if he didn’t understand the situation, he might thought that I was greedy for her beauty and had abducted her, regardless of the friendly troops!’

He was lost in thoughts, while Cheiristoya became anxious since she didn’t see Davos responding, “I heard that you are the “favored” of Hades, the soldiers of the entire camp, revered you, and so I have chosen you among the leaders. That’s why, while you were at the general assembly, I took advantage and sneak over when the management was lax. For the sake of the gods, you must help me!” In a moment of desperation, she went forward and grabbed Davos’ hand, pleading.

The two were close to each other, and so Davos could smell the fragrance of her beautiful hair, with him slightly lowering his head, he could see her white and plump breast. He suppressed the urge to embrace her and said, “Do not worry, I’ll help you.” With that, he took a step back and shouted, “Asistes come in!”

Cheiristoya gave a “Ah” sound and retreated in a hurry, her face blushed again.

As the herald of Davos, Asistes had been waiting outside his quarter, and when he heard the order, he immediately came in and became speechless by the situation inside.

“Go to Cheirisophus and say, ‘The Milesian concubine of Cyrus the Younger, Cheiristoya, wants to march with our camp and ask him if he agrees’”

“…Asistes!…Asistes! Do you understand?”

“…oh…oh…I understand.” Asistes regained his senses and hurriedly took back his gaze and answered in a hurry.

“I see, why aren’t you leaving then!”

“Yes! Yes!!” He didn’t forget to sneak a glance before he went out.

“This little guy!” Davos laughed and said, “Don’t blame him, who told you to be too charming!” He couldn’t help make a joke.

Cheiristoya chuckled, “Leader, you seem to be younger than him, but I don’t see you behaving like him.”

Davos had an awkward smile and there was a moment of silence inside his quarter.

“Will Cheirisophus agree in letting me stay?” Cheiristoya was the one to speak first and asked with concern.

“I don’t think that it’s a big problem. You are free and not a slave to anyone. You have the right to choose where you want to go.” Davos consoled her and said, “In fact, Cheirisophus is your best choice to seek refuge.”

“I don’t like Spartans!” Cheiristoya answered very simply.

For some reason, Davos was relieved.

When she heard the phrase ‘You are free and not a slave to anyone’, Cheiristoya suddenly felt like crying, and her gaze was roaming over Davos. A short while later, she said softly, “Leader Davos, where are you from?”

“Just call me Davos.” Davos corrected her, and his remnant memories poured into his mind, “I am a Thessalian, my home is in a village near Macedonia.”

“Doesn’t your parents worry about you coming out as a mercenary so young?”

“My parents have already passed away.”

“Sorry, I didn’t know…” Cheiristoya repeatedly apologized.

“It’s fine.” Davos waved his hand, he didn’t feel anything about this body’s parents, he really didn’t feel anything due to his rebirth, but Cheiristoya’s question reminded him of his previous life’s parents, which made him sad.

Cheiristoya looked at him quietly, and she suddenly felt that there was a slight throbbing. On one hand, the young age of the leader and the death of his parents stimulated her maternal instinct to protect him. While on the other hand, his calmness beyond his age made her feel like she was talking to someone at the same age as her. This difference highlighted the mystery of Davos, which greatly attracted Cheiristoya.

“They all say that you are the ‘favored’of Hades, is that true?” When Cheiristoya uttered this sentence, she realized that she was too presumptuous.

Nevertheless, Davos did not mind, and asked back, “Do you believe it?”

“I believe!” Cheiristoya immediately made up for her previous mistake.

Davos smiled and said slowly, “In difficult times, we always find a God to trust, so that our mind won’t collapse out of fear. But if we depend too much on God instead of our own effort to get out of predicaments, then it will only speed up our end…”

Cheiristoya slightly opened her mouth, as if she was deeply pondering…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

He doesn’t know why the two of them unexpectedly have an agreeable chat.

For Davos, the repression and distress of his travels have been vented.

For Cheiristoya, the daughter of a Milesian aristocrat and the death of her mother from an early age, while her stepmother did not care about her… when she grew up, Miletus was besieged by Cyrus the Younger, and in order to preserve his own family and power, the only father who loved her, gave Cheiristoya to Cyrus the Younger. Cyrus was very fond of her, but in private, the other concubines harassed her out of jealousy. After the death of Cyrus the Younger, she fled to the camp of Clearchus and every day she got confronted by the guards of the supply unit and the lustful gaze of several captains, which made her uneasy… Presently, she rarely confides about the oppression she had suffered with someone that she had just met…

As their chatting gets heated, Asistes came in, followed by the herald of the whole mercenary troops, Tolmides.

Chapter 34 – Guards

“Leader, Cheirisophus ordered Tolmides to confirm whether the situation is true.” Asistes reported.

Tolmides also saluted.

“Okay.” Davos nodded and agreed, he understood that this was a normal procedure. With the cautiousness of Cheirisophus, he must confirm that Cheiristoya voluntarily asked to come to the camp of Davos, and wasn’t being threatened.

Tolmides, who was known as the first herald of the whole mercenary troops, was obviously much better than Asistes. He calmly faced the beauty and charm of Cheiristoya and ask her the details, and when he got a positive answer, he turned to face Davos and said, “Since Cheiristoya voluntarily came to you, Cheirisophus and several other leaders had said before I came that, ‘Cyrus the Younger has already died, but he will always be a good friend of the Greeks! We must not forget the aid he did to Greece! We must take good care of his concubine, Cheiristoya, who is also our fellow Greek, this is the hospitality of us Greek!’ I hope that leader, Davos, will take good care of Cheiristoya and not let her be taken advantage!”

‘I am afraid that he can’t forget the aid of Cyrus the Younger to Sparta! ’ Davos criticized him in his heart and then asked, “What is the attitude of Timasion towards this matter?”

Tolmides understood what Davos was worried about and did not hesitate to answer, “Leader Timasion has no objection to this!”

“That’s good!” Davos nodded. “Asistes, you take Cheiristoya to Mersis and let him be responsible for her settlement!”

“Yes!” Asistes answered excitedly .

“Thank you, Leader Davos.” Cheiristoya walked out calmly.

“Cheiristoya! You can directly tell me if you have any difficulties!” Davos couldn’t help but shout.

“I will.” a smile flashed acrossed her face.

When they went out, Tolmides smiled at him, “Leader Davos, you deserve to be the ‘God’s Favored’, your speech was not only great, and even the most beautiful woman in the mercenary camp took the initiative to go to you!”

“The first herald of the whole mercenary troops is not only accurate in giving orders, but is also great at giving flattering words!”

The two laughed.

Tolmides looked at the young but clever leader and seriously asked, “When I came in, I noticed that there were no guards outside your quarter.”

Davos did not directly say that it was because he hadn’t had the time to arranged it due to the lack of time, but instead, he modestly asked for advice, “Before today, I was an ordinary soldier, the brothers in the camp trusted me and unanimously elected me as the new leader. If I immediately arranged guards, then it will isolate me from my brothers. Will it make them think that I have changed?”

Tolmied positively said, “Military rules are military rules, it is there in order to ensure victory in battle! Look at how much chaos the death of Clearchus had caused the whole mercenary troops, you should know that the safety of your life is very important to your camp! At the same time, establishing guards will also prevent idle personnel, who doesn’t have anything to do, from frequently entering and leaving your quarter and interfering with your thinking and rest, which is equally important!”

Davos nodded and said, “Thank you for your teaching, I got it!”

Tolmides looked at the modest manner of Davos, and said it with certainty without any contempt, “It’s not easy to be a good leader, but I believe you can do it well!”

“Thank you for your encouragement!” Tolmides’ words dispelled his last concern.

After sending Tolmides away, and when Asistes returned, he immediately said to him, “You go to Antonios and ask him to send the squad of Hielos to be my guard.”

“Understand!” When Asistes turned to leave, he was called back by Davos, “Asi, I had just became a leader. I am not too familiar with military affairs, you should point out the things that I neglected.”

Asistes blinked and politely said, “Then let me say this first. You should appoint 2 more heralds to me, otherwise once the battle starts, the conveying of orders will be delayed.” It is indeed true that it would take too long for one person to convey orders to 14 captains, plus the supply unit and field hospital, and in battle, time is life.

‘I was careless’ Davos hurriedly said, “Yes, you can choose personnel from the whole camp.”

“And horses.”

“Go look for Mersis.”

Asistes rushed out.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Hielos, you have finally arrived, come in!” Davos happily welcomed him.

“Leader!” Hielos immediately saluted.

“You are all my good brothers, so you can just address me with my name in private.” Davos gave him a warm hug.

“Just like i have said, even if Davos became the leader, he won’t forget us! He is not Menon, he is Davos!” Matonis hit Davos’ chest with his fist.

Davos smiled and said, “Don’t blame me for giving you additional tasks.”

“The guards have better treatment than an ordinary soldiers, so you are the one taking care of us. You can rest assured that with us, there will absolutely be no one that can hurt you!” Matonis patted his chest and made a pledge.

“It’s your duty to protect me, and if I get hurt then Matonis, you will be punished! And as yous punishment, you will only be given half of the food!” In front of his former squadmates, Davos deliberately created a relaxed atmosphere.

“Damn it, you are even more terrible than Menon!” Matonis scratched his head and complained.

Everyone laughed.

“Davos, you can rest assured that I will arrange your guards!” Hielos said it with seriousness.

Davos nodded.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Next, Davos called Marigi and asked him to act as a guide.

Because the death of Clearchus made Marigi felt worried, and at the same time, made him no longer worried about getting discovered due to the Greek mercenaries fighting the Persians. Therefore, he readily agreed to the request of Davos.

Davos was given detailed information about the the terrain ahead and the surrounding barbarians, especially the Carduchians…

Just after sending Marigi away, he found that Matonis was fully armed and was standing at the entrance of his quarter. Davos didn’t disturb him, when he saw that Matonis was staring straight ahead, and as he turned around, he suddenly saw that there was 2 javelins on the back of Matonis and so he stopped.

The proposal to equip the Greek hoplite with javelins could be said to be his failed proposal. At that time, he thought of the Roman heavy infantry in history, he also hope that the Greek hoplite, who could only fight at close combat, could also have a mid-range projectile firepower and attack the fast-moving Persian cavalry. Who knew that when the 2 troops were on good terms for quite a long time, the 2 javelins that they carried became a burden and unfavorable when marching. Therefore, most of the soldiers threw away their javelins, and only the squad of Hielos firmly believed on Davos and still carried it with them, but they cut the javelin into a meter long and was inserted in their back with a strap fixed so that they can easily insert and take it out, and it is also convenient to carry.

Davos thought that it might be useful in future battle.

That night, Davos didn’t slept well. After all, the next day was his first time marching with the troops or maybe his first time leading a battle. It was impossible for him to not be nervous, and so he tossed and turned around until late at night.

The next day, he was woken up by Asistes.

“What time is it now?” Davos asked with a slight guilt.

“The soldiers are currently eating, and it’s still too early to depart.” Asistes said, and brought him breakfast – two pieces of bread, a piece of cheese, a sausage, and a glass of water.

“This is quite plenty, the soldiers are also eating this?” Davos asked while pointing to the breakfast.

“Almost. Because there may be battles today, and so we must eat more to gain strength.”

Davos was relieved.

He ate his meal then after a while, there was a long copper horn sound that was heard throughout the camp. Davos began to wear his armor, and all his other equipment remained the same, except for his helmet that was replaced with a red helmet with a feather on its top.

The soldiers were also dressed neatly, they came out one after another and began to dismantle their tents and sent them to the supply units.

Then they began to line up.

“First Unit! First Unit!…”

“Second unit! The second unit is here!…”

“Brothers of the fourth unit and the fifth unit are coming!…”

The shouts came and gone, and from time to time they were accompanied by horses and cattle, it was the supply unit on a wagon for the animals, and the whole camp was like a noisy market.

Chapter 36 – Decapitation Strike

He gave a brief summary of his plan, and Philesius looked at him with amazement.

“Will it work?!” Davos was urging him.

Philesius thought it over and hesitatingly said, “…it should be feasible, but it won’t necessarily succeed.”

“There isn’t any plan that can guarantee a 100% success, but if we don’t try it then there won’t be a chance!” Davos decisively gathered the guard team of Hielos and told them of his plan in detail. Out of their trust in him, they agreed to this dangerous plan without any hesitation.

Who knew that Davos then added, “This time I will go with you!”

“No! Davos, you are the leader, you can’t take any risks!” Philesius immediately objected.

“The distance back and forth is only a hundred meters, and in a blink of an eye, I would be back, so what is the danger! Besides, I am still a ‘God’s Favored’ and I have the blessing of Hades. If I die, then doesn’t it mean that this ‘God’s Favored’ thing is not reliable!” Davos persisted with a smile, and pointed to Hielos, “You are my good brother. Now, I will join this assault as a member of Hielos’ squad!” Hielos swallowed back the words that he wanted to say to dissuade him.

“Alright, let us brothers live and die together!” Matonis excitedly exclaimed.

“Yes, let the others see the courage of the warriors of Thessaly!” Olivos, who had been silent, shouted excitedly at this moment.

At this time, the herald arrived, “Mithridates went to the side of Timasion and shouted… only 3 soldiers surrendered to the Persians!” This was the ability of Clearchus in uniting the troops, even in death, he still affects his soldiers.

“Mithridates will be here soon! There is no time to delay! Philesius, stay here for me!” Davos was in a hurry.

“Okay.” Philesius helplessly agreed.

“Asistes, you immediately inform the captains to get ready…”

“Understand!” Asistes excitedly said.

“The squad of Hielos, come with me to the front!”

“Hou!!……” Everyone screamed at the same time, causing the other soldiers to curiously look back.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Reporting to the ephor, Mithridates is already on his way to Davos camp!”

After hearing the report of Tolmides, Cheirisophus couldn’t help but look at his side.

Even the troops of prestigious leaders such as Cleanor and Timasion have defected. Can this inexperienced young man control his soldiers? Cheirisophus was full of worries.

“Tolmides, you immediately go to Timasion and let him send the Cretan archers to go after and attack Mithridates.” He finally made a decision.

“Yes!” Tolmides immediately rushed to the rear with his horse.

‘Young man, you have to hold on!’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos, who had change into a regular helmet, together with the squad of Hielos were now in the first row, and have javelins on their back, hidden under their shoulders. They faced the west like the other soldiers, filled with vigilance and they were tensely paying attention to the rear of the troops.

Suddenly, someone squeezed into his side and before Davos could look who it was, he then heard Asistes, “Leader, I have already conveyed your orders to the other captains. I am your herald, please let me fight together with you!” Asistes seriously beg.

Davos nodded.

“Leader, here they are!” Hielos quietly reminded him.

The sound of horse hooves came from the rear and gradually became clear…

Soon, 30 light cavalry appeared in front of them. The first person that is wearing a shiny scaly armor that covered till the knees, must be Mithridates.

Davos widened his eyes and clenched the copper shield in his hands.

“Damn coward.” Matonis quietly sweared.

“Greek warriors, I am Mithridates, a good friend of Cyrus the Younger!” Mithridates stood at a place 200 meters ahead of Davos and shouted. His cavalry soldiers repeated what he shouted in Greek at the same time.

“Moreover, I am still a good friend of Menon! I have always been friendly to you Greeks, especially you, the soldiers of Menon, I have visited your camp a lot of times! Believe me, Clearchus was punished for breaking the agreement, however you did not! The truce agreement is still valid for you! Come on, come to our side! I swear to Vahram (T/N note: another name of Verethragna a Persian god), the god worshipped by my family! That I have no malice against you, and we will safely send you back to Asia Minor! At the same time, Satrap Tissaphernes is ready to hire you once more, because he needs your help since Asia Minor is still not peaceful, and he had prepared a lot of rewards…”

“You Persians who have smeared honey on yours mouths, don’t think that we will get fooled!” Asistes spat.

At this time, Davos quietly said, “Get ready – start!”

The squad of Hielos began to shout, “Is it true that you will let us go home?”

“You really won’t hurt us?”

“How much will Tissaphernes pay in hiring us?”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After a commotion, they unanimously shouted, “We surrender! Surrender!…” With that, they threw down their shields and spears and ran towards Mithridates.

“We also surrender!” Another hoplite unit near the squad of Hielos immediately dropped their weapon, and soon they mixed up with the squad of Hielos.

“General, look! There are many people who surrendered this time!” A cavalryman happily said to Mithridates.

“Of course! Who is Menon, he and Ariaeus has the best relationship! I think we can keep on shouting here!” Mithridates said while feeling proud of himself, because it had such a great effect just as soon as he shouted, which boosted his confidence.

Davos was running as he stared at the movement of the cavalry of Mithridates, who was opposite of him. At this time, two Persian cavalry ran up to him and made him nervous.

“Run to the right! Run to the right!…” They shouted in fluent Greek, while gesturing and turned their horse around to lead the way and signal them to follow.

“Ignore them! Increase your pace!” Davos shouted in a low voice.

The Greek soldiers did not listen to their command and suddenly increase their speed, running to their direction, which caused Mithridates to doubt.

Just then, the cavalryman beside him shouted in panic, “Not good! They… they have javelins on their backs!”

The reason why he could clearly see it was because he was 30 meters away from the Greek soldiers.

“Get ready!!!” Hielos shouted. The squad members quickly pulled out the javelin on their back and took a great strides forward.

“Damn!!” Mithridates hurriedly pulled the reins, and clamped on the belly of the horse and tried to turn the horse’s head and retreat.

However, it was too late. Matonis threw a javelin that even made him fell due to the strong inertia.

Among the screams of the Persian cavalry, ten javelins flew towards Mithridates and he had no time to dodge them. Several javelins pierced his body and even the horse had its neck impaled, with a neigh, the horse collapse together with him.

Just as the Persian cavalry panicked, the rapidly closing squad of Hielos threw a second round of javelins and two more cavalry fell.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Antonios, who was watching closely, shouted excitedly, “Success! They succeeded!!”

The soldiers cheered.

“Quickly aid leader Davos!” Kapus screamed calmly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Just as the two teams were about to retreat, Mithridates, who had just fallen to the ground, suddenly moved and struggled to pull out his right leg that was trapped under the horse. His thick armor had apparently protected his vital point.

Now he was 20 meters away and was looking around the fleeing Persian cavalry. The situation was so urgent that Davos had no time to think about anything, “Kill him!!” Davos was the first to rushed up.

The soldiers did not hesitate to catch up with him, they picked up the javelin and spear on the ground.

Matonis threw another javelin and hit a Persian cavalry, who wanted to rescue Mithridates, off his horse, scaring the rest of the cavalry to once more run away.

Mithridates lifted his dusty face. Looking up at Davos with his grieved smile revealing his bloody mouth, “…you… won’t be able to escape…”

Davos did not speak, and directly plunged the tip of his spear into his neck.

T/N: Decapitation Strike: Is a military strategy aimed at removing the leadership or command and control of a hostile government or group. The strategy of shattering or defeating an enemy by eliminating its military and political leadership has long been utilized in warfare.

Chapter 35 – Mithridates’ Scheme

After a long time, his adjutant, Philesius, came to report, “All the troops are ready.”

Davos declare it in a deadpan tone, “Set out.”

Previously, he didn’t felt it obvious while he was in the squad, but now he found the problem while looking at the whole situation as the leader. In his previous life, although he wasn’t a soldier, but he saw movies and visited forums and knew that one of the foundations for an army to win battles was strict discipline and quick mobility. In military training in universities, when they setup emergency assembly they calculate it by minutes. Now, it took more than an hour from when the horn sound till they queue, and their sloppiness doused half of his excitement as a new leader.

He can only quietly observe and record all their shortcomings since he currently doesn’t have any prestige in the mercenary troops, he then need to think about a solution and wait until the time is ripe to talk about rectifying the troops and reforming the military system, it will probably take him a long time.

When nearly half of the troops has left the camp, Philesius then said, “Leader Davos, we should also leave.”

Davos nodded and Hielos had already brought his horse. Yesterday, Davos was nervous when he learned that the leader has to ride a horse, since he didn’t know how to ride a horse in his previous life. But who knew that he was able to freely control the horse after he had mounted it. Turns out that one of the best horse-riding races in the Mediterranean world at this time was the Thessalian. The original owner of his body had grazed sheep and horses from an early age, and with his remnant memory and the instinct of his body memory were enough for Davos to freely control his horse.

He grabbed the horse rein and mounted the horse, he then slightly clamped his legs on the horse belly. The horse neighed and trotted forward with its four feet.

Davos held his head high and sat upright. Yesterday, Tolmides’ words made him stop thinking about sharing the joys and sorrows with the soldiers and giving the horses to the old, weak, and disabled soldiers. Now he needs to be on the horse in order to always remind the soldiers that he, Davos, is the leader of the whole troops! As for the way of buying the heart of the people, he would wait until he become a famous strategos.

Riding on a horse and looking at the vast marching ahead, Davos naturally grew a sense of pride in his heart, ‘Real man should be like this’

Davos took control of his horse, followed by Philesius and Asistes, then by Hielos squad who were on foot. After leaving the camp and marching ahead, they reached the assembly place for the whole mercenary troops.

Davos had thought that his team was slow, and didn’t expect that the other team haven’t arrived yet. It seemed that the sloppiness was a common problem of the mercenaries, and everyone was accustomed to it.

The Spartan troops of Cheirisophus had already stood in front. When Davos rode over to greet him, there was a small commotion in the troops, the soldiers from the other camp recognized him as the leader who made a wonderful speech yesterday, but there were still some people who felt superior and thought of him as a young man who is still wet behind the ears. Jealousy, dissatisfaction, and bad words that questioned his commands, made Assistes, who followed him to turn red from anger.

Only the troops of Cheirisophus was quiet as if they didn’t see him coming, which made Davos seriously look at these real Spartan warriors. They are dressed in a complete set of arms, arrange in a neat square formation with each individual fiercely standing quietly, like a tall and straight pine, becoming a unique sight in this noisy assembly. Davos felt their sharp and murderous glare and that a powerful force would be unleashed once this silence breaks out! Body, skill, tactics, and discipline are all in one, this are the Spartan warriors!

Davos looked at them enviously, ‘When can I command such an elite soldiers!’ He later learned that only about a third of Cheirisophus’ troops were genuine Spartans, the rest were Perioikoi.

On both sides of the Spartan troops were the small mercenaries such as Sossis and Pasion. After the whole mercenary assembly, most of them joined the troops of Cheirisophus, while several other leaders also joined the other camps, and the only one they were not interested was the camp of Davos. Davos felt helpless about it.

This time, the troops of Davos was fast in their formation because they basically adhered by the order when leaving the camp, the outermost part was the hoplite column, which was divided into four columns, the first column was arrange towards the rear in turn. The innermost part was the Peltast, divided into two columns, and it have the same length as the hoplite column, around half a mile long. When the enemy attacked from the outside of the left wing, the soldiers in the advancing column could turn right at once, with the hoplite at the front and the peltast at the rear, which will quickly formed a regular combat formation. The supply unit was located inside the huge open space on the left side of the peltast. Davos and his guards were between the peltast and the supply unit.

About half an hour later, when the troops completed lining up, the copper horn rang out once more, and they can finally depart.

The speed of their march wasn’t fast, it was mainly due to the supply unit with the tents, food, medicine, goods, and the other materials that could not be carried by people were carried by horses and cattle. The horses couldn’t pull wagons that are too heavy, otherwise the harness will squeeze their neck and trachea, which will lead to suffocation, and even though the cattle are stronger than horses, they have poor stamina and bad temper.

Davos saw Mersis, who was in the supply unit, shuttling back and forth, dealing with unexpected situations, and from time to time call out the soldiers to help. Davos secretly thanked himself on having followed the advice of Mersis, sending him a unit in advance in order to assist him in the supply unit. Eventually, Davos’ gaze fell on one of the women, Cheiristoya, although she was dressed the same, but her figure and temperament were like a crane among a flock of chickens, which made her easy to recognized.

Cheiristoya seems to have sense his gaze, so she turned around to look in his direction.

Davos took back his gaze.

“The speed of this marching won’t be able to cover 10 miles in an hour.” (note: miles in here = chinese miles, which is 500 meter)

“It is already good without the harassment of the Persians.” Philesius was glad, and after he just finished talking, there was a commotion in the rear.

“What happened?” Davos was nervous and asked.

Asistes immediately dispatched a herald to the rear to check.

After a while, the herald rushed back, “It is Mithridates, the Persian general! He brought about 30 cavalry, and they are at the right wing of the whole mercenary troops, loudly pressuring them to surrender!”

Psychological warfare! Davos brows twitched.

“Mithridates was a general of Cyrus the younger, but his scheme won’t work, we have been fooled by the Persians once, we will be a fool if we get fooled for the second time.” Philesius unhurriedly said.

Davos nodded and said, “Keep watching Mithridates, and keep on asking!” At the same time, he made Asistes dispatched another herald, so that the information could be sent back in turn.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“There are more than 20 soldiers that have abandoned their weapons and ran to the Persians!…they…they surrendered to Mithridates!”

Davos’ heart quivered, it is clear that Philesius had overestimated the wisdom of the mercenary. What’s more, the troops of Hieronymus had a lot of disputes about the leader they elected yesterday. It is now easy for Mithridates to tear a gap between the dissatisfied troops of Hieronymus. Will this lead to a snowball effect for the whole mercenary? Davos began to worry.

“Mithridates went around the right rear and pressured the troops of Cleanor!… There are around 10 soldiers that had thrown down their weapons and ran to the Persians!”

Damn it! The fear of Davos is coming true.

Philesius was equally nervous.

It seems that Mithridates was ready to circle around the huge formation of the mercenary and to constantly disintegrate the fighting spirit of the soldiers. And he will soon arrive before Davos’ troops!

“If we could only get rid of him.” Asistes said it with hate. But he also know that this is impossible, the other side is a light cavalry that can come and go like the wind, while their mercenary have no cavalry at all.

“Just shoot him with a javelin!” Matonis who was in the guard squad, shouted while pulling out the javelin on his back.

“How do you shoot them?! When you take out your javelin, the Persians would have run far away! Besides, the javelins have not yet been shot, but the Persian mounted archer can already shoot from afar!” Asistes retorted.

A flash of inspiration flashed through Davos’ mind, he eagerly asked the herald, “What is the distance between Mithridates and the formation when he shouts?”

“Around 100 meters.”

“Did the Persians retreat when the surrendered soldiers ran past?”

“No.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos asked several questions in succession and got the answer. Faced with Philesius’ doubtful gaze, he pondered for a while and then said to him, “Now, I have an idea. Do you think this will work?”

Chapter 37 – Raid of Artaozus

“Go! Hurry up and go!!” Hielos pulled him back and took the lead in running, then the soldiers immediately withdrew.

The Persian cavalry came rushing again with their bows, while several of them lifted Mithridates’ body and the rest went to chase the Greek soldiers. This time, they have learned and divided into 2 so that they can surround Davos on both sides.

“Watch out for their bows and arrows!” Hielos shouted and beckoned the soldiers to disperse.

Davos, who lacked experience in the middle of the team, had slightly hesitated and was suddenly thrown down from behind, then he heard a groan.

“Olivos!” Davos recognized the one with twisted face due to pain, but there was no time for him to think more. Matonis and Giorgris, who was next to them, had quickly pulled them both and run to the curve ahead.

“Woosh! Woosh!…” Several arrows came again, and there were two more screams.

By this time, their reinforcement had arrived, and the peltast row threw their javelins at the Persian cavalry, then held up their leather shield and continued to charge forward. Then came the hoplites with their erected shields that formed a wall of shields to block the arrows.

The Persian cavalry that were just over 20 people did not dare to fight and quickly fled together with the body of Mithridates.

Davos then finally had the opportunity to see Olivos’ injury.

Olivos saw that Davos was coming and quickly broke away from Giorgris.

“Leader… I… I-” Before he could finish, Davos gave him a powerful hug, “My good brother, thank you!!”

Upon hearing this, the gloomy face of Olivos revealed a smile, and his whole body relaxed, then came the pain, “Ugh!” He groaned.

Davos had thought that he had touched his wound and hurriedly let go.

“Hey, Olivos, fortunately the arrow hit you in the ass, if the arrow hit the front, then I won’t have any idea what your scream would be like!” Matonis taunted.

“Damn you Matonis, you should try getting hit next time since you are brave!” Olivos touched the arrow on his ass and sarcastically retorted.

The commotion had returned to the squad of Hielos.

In addition to Olivos, there was another soldier that got shot in his thigh and the other one in the back, however due to the thick armor, he only suffered a shallow wound.

“Giogris, you go bring Olivos to Herpus and asked him to treat Olivos well!” After that, Davos patted the shoulder of Olivos, “Get treated and come back to fight with us as soon as possible!”

“Yes, leader!” Olivos loudly responded.

“A very good raid! Unexpectedly, you actually succeeded. We were all worried about you just now!”

“Yeah, you manage to kill Mithridates, and partially took revenge for Menon, the entire mercenary should be grateful!”

“Timasion had said back then that we were crazy to randomly elect a leader, I wonder what he will say now?”

Philesius and the captains, Antonios and Kapus, came together and congratulated Davos, while Amintas directly saluted him.

The clever Asistes brought a horse to let Davos mount it.

The soldiers consciously gave way to him, while shouting victory as they welcomed him back to their battle formation…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“What did you say?! Davos killed Mithridates?!” After listening to the heralds, Timasion looked as if he couldn’t believe it, “We are currently at war, and if you relayed wrong information then you will be punish!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Davos killed Mithridates!” Xenophon exclaimed, “He came up with a bold plan and succeeded!”

“Excellent!” Hieronymus then spoke with hatred, “This time let see who else wanted to flee! With the death of Mithridates, the Persians will surely vent their anger on those deserters!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Cheirisophus carefully listened to the narrative of Tolmides. Although he very much doesn’t like this young man, but he had to admit that he had done quite well this time and it could even be said that he had saved the whole mercenary troops. Because he very well knew that the mercenaries lacked discipline, their management was lax and even though they were not afraid of the attack of the enemy and the more they fiercely attack, the more the mercenaries will be united. However, the method of Mithridates will disrupt the morale of the soldiers, which will cause the collapse of the whole mercenary over time.

Thinking of this, he loudly said to Tolmides with a smile on his face, “Please go give my gratitude to leader Davos for his efforts for the whole mercenary troops on my behalf! And also, remind him that the attack of the enemy might soon come.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“What?! Mithridates died?!” Ariaeus could not believe what he had heard.

“Yes, general, his body is outside your quarter!” said the guard.

Ariaeus hurried out of his quarter, followed by Artaozus then the confidant sent by Tissaphernes.

Mithridates’ body had been treated simply, but it’s still terrible with 4~5 wounds and a bloody fist-size hole on his neck in which the blood continuously ooze.

Ariaeus bent down and was about to closely look at it, when Artaozus couldn’t help but shout at the Persian cavalry that fled, “Who did it?! Who did it?!”

“It is…a soldier of Menon, they…” The Persian cavalryman completed describing the whole process as he stuttered.

“A group of idiots! You actually got defeated by the trash of Menon! Since you did not manage to protect Mithridates, each of you will be subjected to 30 lashes according to the military law, then as punishment, you will be sent to the supply unit as a servant.” Artaozus angrily shouted.

“General, spare us! General, spare us!!” The Persian cavalryman pleaded for mercy.

Although these cavalryman are proficient in Greek, it didn’t change the fact that Ariaeus has no intention in stopping Artaozus. He instructed the guards to detain the cavalryman and then said, “Go and bring a few Greeks that have run away, I want to asked them in detail.”

“What’s there to ask! Kill them all! Then lead the army to attack those Greek barbarian!” Artaozus impatiently shouted.

“After their leader were captured by us, the mercenaries must have elected new leaders. We must first understand who they are before we can take the next step.” Ariaeus patiently persuaded him.

“You go ask, while I’ll go avenge Mithridates first!” Artaozus angrily left.

Ariaeus shrugged helplessly at the confidant of Tissaphernes. Nominally, he was the leader after the death of Cyrus the Younger. But in fact, Mithridates and Artaozus each had their own troops and both of them were good friend, they confronted Ariaeus in secret and in the open, which often constrained Ariaeus. When Mithridates died today, Ariaeus was secretly pleased, compared with the sly Mithridates, the impulsive Artaozus was much easier to handle…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Although Artaozus was impulsive when doing things, but when it comes to fighting he wasn’t a fool. He knew that the Persian infantry could not beat the Greek hoplite and so he only chose 200 mounted archers and 200 archers, and hurriedly led them to catch up with the Greek troops.

Because the troops of Artaozus were mounted archers and archers, therefore they are highly mobile. In the afternoon, the huge formation of the Greeks entered his sight.

“Instruct the troops to spread out into goose formation and quickly pressure them forward!” Artaozus elatedly gave instruction, as his gaze became cold and murderous

The Persian army was on the right rearguard, the troops of Cleanor had anticipated the arrival of the Persians, but when they only saw few enemies, they had thought that they were only gonna shout again like they did last time. Therefore, although they were on guard, they didn’t take them too seriously.

However, the Persians quickly spread out and approached them, and in the blink of an eye, the distance was only less than 100 meters.

Cleanor felt something wrong, and shouted, “Prepare for defense!”

As soon as his words fell, the Persian arrows had arrived and most of the arrows fell like raindrops on the soldier’s shields. Because of the Greek soldiers’ tight formation and the close proximity between the hoplite and peltast, some of them were immediately got injured and most of the injured were the peltast.

“Dispersed the formation and the hoplites rushed forward!” Cleanor anxiously conveyed his order.

The arrows struck once more, some fell and screamed. At this time the troops was slightly in a mess, specially the supply unit that was behind them, the guards and servants rushed northward with the neighing horses and cattle, away from the rearguard in order to avoid the disaster.

The Persians immediately withdrew, as soon as the 3 hoplite units that were armed with round shields, rushed past the raining arrows.

Chapter 38 – Slingers of Rhodes

It was impossible for the hoplites to catch up with the lightly armed archers, let alone the faster cavalry. The hoplites charge could not last and when they stopped to rest, the Persian archers began to attack once more.

The Greek hoplites hid under their round shield, which greatly reduced the chance of injury, but that’s not to say they wouldn’t. First of all, their arms and thighs were unprotected, and secondly, their thick armor is made of linen, although it can prevent the arrows from penetrating, but some flesh wounds can’t be avoided.

If they can’t get close to the enemy, then they won’t be able to exert the strength of the hoplites, while the enemy only need to stand and shoot arrows. Cleanor did not dare to dispatch the peltast because their javelins won’t be able to reach as far as arrows, and their protection wasn’t as strong as the hoplites, it will only increase their casualties.

At this time, Timasion dispatched 200 Cretan archers to reinforce them in haste.

Cleanor, who had expectations for them was soon disappointed. In the Greek city-states, the Cretan archers was known for their archery, but their range wasn’t as far as the Persian archers who dominated the Mediterranean. On the contrary, in order for them to shorten the range, they had left the hoplites’ protection, which had caused dozens of casualties…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At this time, the entire mercenary troops halted, and the leaders were trying to find a solution.

Davos also listened anxiously to the heralds of the left wing. At this time, Tolmides came riding on a horse, “Leader Davos, Cheirisophus wants you to dispatched troops and you need to take a detour in order to avoid the scouting of the enemy, then go behind the enemy and attack them.”

When Davos thought about it, he understood the plan of Cheirisophus. He looked at Philesius who was beside him, and Philesius nodded at him

“Asistes, go and inform Kapus to come!” Davos ordered.

“Yes!”

Philesius thought that Davos would consult with him about who to send, but he instead directly made a decision, and it was the most suitable person. It seems that him asking for advice throughout the journey wasn’t just a front, and the young leader’s ability to learn is really strong.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Kapus led the hoplite unit, Hieronymus, who was on the other side, also sent a hoplite unit, and all of them were trying to circle behind the Persians, then cooperate with Cleanor to surround and annihilate them.

However, the experience Artaozus had long been on guard. The two wings of the goose formation were the Persian archers and mounted archers, they are very loose and can also be used as a scout, and soon they discovered the anomalies, so they quickly retreated and made the attempt of the mercenary to fail.

The prudent Kapus immediately withdrew as soon as he saw the plan failing. While Xenophon, who was the leader on Hieronymus’ side, was unwilling, so he took the initiative to seek a fight and continued pursuing. As a result of chasing and stopping, instead of injuring the Persians, it had caused him more than a dozen of people to be injured. If not for the arrows of Artaozus’ troops running out, then Xenophon’s unit would have lost more. So when he came back, he got reprimanded by Hieronymus.

Without the harassment of Artaozus, the Greek troops increased their pace and finally arrived at the village that was mentioned by the guide before the sun had set. Although most of the villagers had fled, it still renewed the soldiers’ spirit. Davos had no intention in stopping the soldiers to pillage, and he only suggested that Mersis should capture some Persian slaves and promise them freedom in exchange for their sincere help. He then rushed to the commander’s quarter.

He heard the complaint of Cleanor, before he could enter, “These Persians are like flies, we can’t get rid of them without a fight and there is nothing we can do about them since we don’t have enough cavalry.”

Davos and Philesius went inside, and everyone nodded to them. Compared with yesterday’s alienation, a lot of them took the initiative today. Obviously, Davos’ performance won the recognition of everyone, it was just because they were worried about the attack of Artaozus that they were not able to show their enthusiasm.

“What should we do if the Persians still attack us like they did today?” Cleanor said worried, because he had suffered the most casualties today.

“What is even more worrying is that if we can’t quickly find a way to defeat the Persians, the Persians will surely think that this method of attack is the most effective against us and they will not only continue using this method, and the next time they come will not only be few hundreds of people, but instead will be thousands of archers and mounted archers! I think that this will be our disaster!” Xenophon depressingly said, since he had suffered a lot today.

The other leaders were equally serious. They had easily won in the previous battle with the Persian king, and the tolerance of Tissaphernes made them believe in their own strength. But now, a small Persian troops, composed entirely of archers and mounted archers had made the hoplites that they are proud of, suffer. They then suddenly realized the shortcomings of their troops.

“We have to have the same or longer range than the Persians -” said Cheirisophus.

“The slinger of Rhodes!!” Xenophon suddenly shouted.

Davos brows skip. He heard Antonios say that the Rhodians are good at throwing rocks among the Greek city-states. They can sling a rock up to 400~500 meters and with a high precision within 100 meters. Therefore, the Mediterranean city-states likes to employ the Rhodian slinger as an important reserve force of their army.

The reason why Davos is familiar with the name of Rhodes, wasn’t only because of the slinger, but it was also because of “One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World” that was widely circulated in his previous life, – The Colossus of the Sun God of Rhodes that was built on this island, but it seems that it have been built after Alexander the Great.

Davos thought to himself. In fact, the Greek city-states have many unique and elite military units, such as the Archers of Crete, the Cavalry of Thessaly, the Slingers of Rhodes, the Hoplites of Sparta, and the Navy of Athens… if Greece was united and these force are integrated then they will surely be able to dominate the Mediterranean! Unfortunately, the Greeks who love freedom have always been a scattered sand. Athens, who was the last one that wanted to make this effort has been defeated and now the hegemon of Greece, Sparta, without looking at history, was impossible to do so because of their extremely closed and conservative political system…

When Davos sighed in his heart, Timasion said with regret, “Unfortunately we don’t have Rhodian slingers!”

“But we have people from Rhodes!” Xenophon said excitedly, “Everyone, throwing rocks is a skill that the Rhodians had practice since childhood and they make a living from it, just like how the Cretan makes a living with their archery. When we were recruiting mercenaries in Eurasia, many Rhodians have joined us, but because of the generosity of Cyrus the Younger, made them abandoned their slings due to the large amount of weapons and picked up the round shields and spears that they were only able to afford for a large sum of money, but now it’s time for them to once more pick up their slings!”

“Xenophon is right, we should immediately assemble them and form slingers to fight the Persian archers.” Cleanor immediately said.

Everyone agreed.

Cheirisophus nodded and said, “Then let’s do that right away. We have a lot of sheep, we can slaughter a part of them and use their intestines as slings.”

“In addition, we still need cavalry. Otherwise, we will not be able to catch up with the Persians when they retreat. I suggest that each camp will gather their surplus packhorses and select soldiers who are good at horse-riding and form a cavalry units.” Xanthicles said.

“Agree!”

“Agree!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the face of this crisis, the leaders united and quickly reached an agreement.

The whole mercenary troops immediately acted. Soon, more than 300 Rhodians, who were good at slings, were organize and more than 50 packhorses were assembled. Most of the cavalryman that was selected came from Davos camp, and most of the soldiers in his camp are Thessalian.

When Xenophon recommended the Athenian, Lycius, as the captain of the cavalry unit, Davos expressed his disagreement and believed that his own camp, the Thessalian Ledes (recommended by Philesius) was more appropriate.

Since most of the cavalry were Thessalian, the leaders eventually agreed.

The next day, instead of continuing the march, the mercenaries took a day off to conduct assault training for the newly formed slinger company and cavalry unit.

Chapter 39 – Respective Plans

On this day, the Persians were not idle.

After Artaozus succeeded in harassing the Greeks, he returned to the camp and proudly showed his achievements to Ariaeus, and proposed that Ariaeus should hand over all the archers and mounted archers to him, and he will defeat the Greeks in one fell swoop.

Ariaeus first cogratulated him, then began to find reasons to refuse Artaozus. After all, the army of Cyrus the Younger was defeated in the battle with the Persian king before, and there were only 7,000 people left after he had gathered them up. If he followed what Artaozus had said, then he would only have 3,000 people left under his command and as the nominal commander of this army, how can he order the whole army if his subordinates have more troops under their command than him. What’s more, a Persian army can’t be the Persian army without archers. Thus, the cautious and stingy Ariaeus disapproved of such gambling tactics.

Artaozus was furious when he saw that Ariaeus did not agree. He believed that Ariaeus was jealous of him and doesn’t want to see him succeed.

Therefore, in a fit of anger, he straight up ran to Tissaphernes camp.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Can you defeat the Greeks as long as I give you enough archers and cavalry?!” Tissaphernes asked with some suspicion.

“Lord satrap, I have had many contacts with the Greek mercenaries due to Cyrus the Younger and I know the condition of their troops. Most of their soldiers are hoplites and as long as you don’t fight them at a close range, then they wouldn’t be able to exert even a bit of their strength, and they don’t even have enough archers. Therefore, they won’t be our opponent at all. I had only brought 400 mounted archers and archers in attacking them and without losing a soldier, it resulted in about 500 Greek casualties (which is obviously an exaggeration). If not for the arrows running out then the Greek would have even more casualties!” Artaozus said with a respectful attitude, “Therefore, I want to increase the number of archers and mounted archers, which will increase our long-range attacks on the Greeks, and in turn, will increase their casualties, and I hope to bring them down faster in order to solve these Greek barbarians for you lord and for the king as soon as possible!”

He then switch the conversation to some other subject, “But Ariaeus refused my proposal, so I can only come to you, lord Satrap!”

Tissaphernes did not answer directly, but said with a sad expression, “I am very sad and surprised that Mithridates died in battle!”

“At the same time, his death may have also returned the confidence to the Greeks that have lost their leader!” Tissaphernes turned grave, “I heard that the Spartan ephor, Cheirisophus, has become the new commander of the mercenary troops, correct?”

“Yes, lord Satrap. That’s what the Greek soldiers that have deserted said.” said Artaozus.

“We must absolutely not allow him to succeed in taking over this Greek troops and obtain prestige!” Tissaphernes said in a cold and firm tone, “We must constantly attack them, let them flee continuously, and make them cry for death and mourn for hunger! Artaozus, since your method is very useful then continue using it to fight against the Greeks! I’ll give you 2000 archers and 500 mounted archers. In addition, there’s Ariaeus -”

Tissaphernes turned to Siste, who was standing by and said, “I have to trouble you to go first, Since Ariaeus dared not fight the Greeks, I will give the soldiers to those who had the ability to command them! Otherwise, I don’t mind discussing with him what he did during the rebellion of Cyrus the Younger!”

Siste laughed disapprovingly, “Lord satrap, you don’t have to be so angry. I believe that Ariaeus is a sensible man.”

“He better be!” The gaze of Tissaphernes flashed a bit of chill.

“Thank you for your trust, lord Satrap, I will bring you the news of victory!” Artaozus was thrilled and said his thanks in a loud voice.

“When you win, you will become my adjutant.” Tissaphernes made a promise.

As Artaozus followed Siste out of the tent in high spirits, Orontes said with concern, “Can Artaozus succeed?”

“Since he had won a perfect victory, why can’t he have a second one? If we can get rid of the Greeks at once, then I am willing to bet!” Tissaphernes firmly said.

“I didn’t expect the Spartan ephor to be in this mercenary! It seems that the rebellion of Cyrus the Younger must have received the support of the Spartans!” Said Orontes in a hateful tone, as the son-in-law of king Artaxerxes, he is certainly wary of any party that may be friendly to Cyrus the Younger.

“The Greeks hated us for decades. This is the reason why I opposed funding Sparta against Athens, it was a pity that his majesty Darius was deceived by Cyrus the Younger, removing me from my post and replacing me with Cyrus the younger and supported Sparta!” Tissaphernes bitterly said, “What is the result! Sparta supported the rebellion of Cyrus the Younger, so that they can profit from it! It was in our best interest that Sparta and Athens should continue fighting instead of helping Sparta to win!”

“You are right, Tissaphernes! When the matter here is over, I’ll go and advise the king to reconsider the relationship with Sparta.”

“Yes, that is why we have to quickly solve these Greeks. Artaozus will definitely bring us good news!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At dusk of that day, the leaders once more gathered at the military quarter.

“The slinger company already have slings in their hand, and after a day of training, they are already skillful in using it, and they can now go to battle and kill the enemy!” Cleanor had reported that his troops at the rearguard had lost the most in the battle yesterday. Therefore, at his strong request, the new company was temporarily under his command.

Then, Davos also made a report, “The cavalry unit has also no problem in going to battle and killing the enemy.” Because most of the cavalryman came from his camp and since he is once more in the flank, and so, the cavalry was temporarily place under his control.

Davos briefly spoke. After watching the cavalry’s day of training, he also got a general idea of the ways the cavalry attack in this era, horse collision, spear stab, javelin throw, archery. Because there are no stirrups, they dare not let the horse run as fast as it could, nor they dare not go all out, otherwise they would easily fall off the horse.

The newly built cavalry is equipped with only one weapon – the spear, so their best way of attack is to chase the fleeing enemy.

At this moment, Cheirisophus said, “Everyone, I had taken the guide out of the camp in order to explore the route that we will take tomorrow and their surrounding terrain -”

“That was too dangerous! Now the Persian scouts are roaming around our camp, if you had come across them then you would’ve been in trouble!” Timasion shouted.

“I was prepared for that, and with the blessing of Zeus, I didn’t meet the Persians.” Cheirisophus nodded to Timasion and expressed his gratitude for his concern, “Instead, I found an important discovery.”

“What important discovery?!” Cleanor asked urgently.

“I found that there are several mountains 4 miles ahead and there is only one valley that we could pass. Otherwise, we would have to take a longer path.” Cheirisophus said as he use the wooden stick on the grass, “This valley can only accommodate up to 20 people side by side.”

“What you meant is that… you fear the Persians will attack us as we pass through the valley!” Xanthicles asked worriedly.

“This is indeed a problem. However, this can be solved. We will depart through the valley before dawn, and the Persians will never be able to think about it.” Xenophon had thought about it and said.

“This is a good method! The Persians are afraid of the night, specially when their cavalry could not see the path under their feet in the dark. That is why when we were marching with Cyrus the Younger, they always waited until dawn before leaving the camp. And the day before yesterday, Mithridates had only caught up with us long after dawn. If it still the same tomorrow, then we would have already passed through the valley.” Cleanor agreed and the others also agreed, they then turned their attention to the final decision-maker, Cheirisophus.

Cheirisophus glanced at the crowd and said in a calm tone, “Everyone, I have a plan. Since the Persians are keeping up with us, then we can use this valley to our advantage and strike them hard!”

Chapter 40 – Hellish Encirclement and Annihilation (I)

“What do you mean…” Xanthicles thought about it and asked, “After passing through the valley, we will immediately start the formation and fight the Persians that came chasing us.”

“Moreover, the path in the valley is narrow and will delay their retreat, which will make it easier for us to catch up with them. The more Persians that come chasing, the slower their retreat from the valley, and the more Persians we could kill!” Timasion excitedly said.

“But the Persians are not fools, why will they risk and cross the valley if they saw that we are ready?” Xenophon’s question stunned everyone.

Cheirisophus said with confidence, “That’s why we won’t attack them near the entrance of the valley. Once the Persians catch up with us, then we will attack! Therefore, we need to lure them to chase us!”

“Right! Anyway, the Persians won’t dare to fight us head-on, and we have the slingers and cavalry, which will surely give the Persians an unexpected surprise! At that time, the whole troops will attack them together and drive them to the entrance of the valley, and the narrowness of the valley will delay their retreat and help us catch up with them!…”

Everyone said their opinions and soon the plan was perfected.

Suddenly someone said, “We should ambush the Persian army on this side of the valley and immediately block it after they cross it.”

Everyone was stunned and abruptly turned around, it was Davos, he had been sitting in the corner and was seriously listening to them.

“…Do you want to annihilate them all?!” Cheirisophus looked at Davos, as he tried to suppressed his astonishment and said slowly.

Davos extended his left five fingers, then squeezed it into a fist and forcefully slammed it, “Of course! If we just defeated them, then they will surely return to once more attack us, after they retreated and regroup. Only by surrounding and annihilating them can we give the greatest deterrence to the Persians!”

The Greeks advocates strength and preferred head-on clash, this characteristics was further emphasized by the fact that their mercenary troops mainly consist of hoplites. The same is true for the Spartans who are the best at fighting, the Battle of Marathon, the Battle of Platea… not to mention that these big battles were won by Greeks through their strength and head-on collision. Even the countless small battles were seldom roundabout, outflanking, ambushing, surprise attack, and surround and annihilation… Everyone in the later generations knows some of these most common military terms well, and even though they seem simple, but it’s almost blank in this era, throughout the military history of the Greek city-states, the hoplites were their main fighting force. Of course, such battles occasionally occured, but few people paid attention to it and was just skimmed. Hundreds of years later, Hannibal, the commander of Carthage, killed half of the men in Rome with repeated battle of annihilation, which have force Rome, the overlord of the Mediterranean, to learn from their enemies and finally take the military tactics of the classical West to a great level.

Davos, whose soul had came from later generation, is certainly won’t be restricted by this era. Although his military experience is still immature, but he is two thousand years ahead with his military thoughts. What he was thinking at this time was a sentence often said in later generation, It is better to cut off one finger than to injure ten.

Cheirisophus looked calmly at this young man with an immature face, but he was shocked by his courage and concept. He admit that Davos’ proposal was tempting and feasible, but he still asked cautiously, “There is a dense forest not far from the valley, but if we have too many soldiers for ambush, then they will be easily spotted by the cavalry scout of the Persian. But if there are too few soldiers and if there are too many Persians that comes, then how can they stop the Persians from retreating? What if the Persians doesn’t come chasing tomorrow? You should know that they didn’t come today.”

Davos had already thought about it and answered seriously, “There is no plan in the world that is perfect, there are risks in any military actions, therefore we should consider all possibilities as thoroughly as possible. First of all, I want to ask you, Cheirisophus, how far is this forest from the entrance of the valley?”

“About 3 miles.” Cheirisophus blurted out as if the terrain had been imprinted in his mind. This made Davos admire him very much. Surveying the topography is a necessary skill for a qualified commander, and he also need to study it!

At the same time, Cheirisophus’ words cleared his biggest concern about the plan, he said it with his analysis, “According to what has been said before, when the whole mercenary troops sets out before dawn, then the troops for the ambush will be able to arrive at the forest, and the enemy cavalry scout should still be sleeping. We only need 300~400 soldiers for the ambush, therefore the chance for them to be discovered will be small, and the Persians will only think of fleeing and won’t have the time to organize resistance, although we won’t be able to wipe them out, but the results won’t be too bad!”

‘Surrounding the three sides was theorized by Sun Tzu, a military strategist and the first one to raise the ancient art of war to a new height, and should be living in the same era!’ Davos’ inexplicable sense of pride made him more relaxed, “As for the Persians not coming, then you don’t have to worry. If the enemy hasn’t yet appeared after noon, the troops that is task for the ambush could withdraw on their own initiative, and their actions will be more swift since they don’t have any baggage, and our main force will also be at the entrance of the valley, so there won’t be any big problems…” (note:  it  is about surrounding a place, but only 3 sides have troops and leaving 1 side unguarded in order to give the enemy hope of escape, and then take advantage of the situation to surround them and gradually annihilate them.

Davos’ detailed thoughts eventually conquered all the other leaders that are present and they all agreed with his suggestion: Adding an ambush force.

Cheirisophus, who had always been unable to get used to Davos because of his youth, couldn’t help but treasure his talents, but the way the Spartans treasure their younger generation is different, “Davos, are you willing to command this ambush force?”

Davos was stunned, he saw trust and expectation in the gaze of Cheirisophus. He carefully thought about it and despite the obstruction of Philesius, and faced with the complicated gaze of everyone, he nodded, “I can!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next day, before dawn, the Greeks got up at the urging of the bugle, they packed up their baggage and equipment, and departed with sleepy eyes.

There is only a glimmer of light appearing on the horizon when they arrived at the entrance of the valley.

Davos led three hoplite units and one peltast unit, and separated from the main mercenary force. The leaders then sent their blessings one after another.

“Zeus will be with you!” This is what Cheirisophus had said.

“May Ares give you strength!” This is what Timasion had said.

“May Athena give you good fortune!” This is what Xenophon had said.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In order to fight with the Persians, the whole mercenary troops are united.

“Take care of the leader! Come back safely!” Philesius said seriously.

“Do not worry, Philesius, we will take care of the leader!” Antonios interrupted.

“You take care as well!” Davos said while giving Philesius a powerful hug. Then, in the gazes of the remaining soldiers and officers had begun to change into admiration, as he led the troops along the foot of the mountain and rushed to the forest on the left side…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In fact, Artaozus acted earlier than the day before, because his troops had grown so large that there were around 4,500 archers and 1,500 mounted archers, which doubled his confidence and made him eager to crush the Greek mercenary troops as soon as possible in order for him to get the adjutant position that was promised by Tissaphernes earlier.

The scout reported back that the Greeks had long left their camp and crossed the valley, and the distance was 20 miles away from the Persian army.

He took it for granted and thought that the Greeks acted so quickly in order to avoid their attacks, and felt anxious thinking about the oath that he had pledge to Tissaphernes, ‘They must not be allowed to run away, we must crush them today!’

So he urged the troops to speed up the march. When they passed through the valley, they did not stop because the scout had told him that the Greeks were 5~6 miles away from the mouth of the valley.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Leader Davos, the Persians have entered the valley!” Asistes ran back to the forest and reported it to Davos.

“How many people?” asked Antonios on the side.

“Their troops is very long, I am afraid that there are thousands of people!” Asistes said as he gasped.

“This is really a big fish!” Amintas whistled.

“Then we will immediately implement the second plan that we had discussed last night.” Davos was nervous, but he manage to control his facial expression.

“Brothers, start working hard!” Kapus shouted in a low voice.

Chapter 41 – Hellish Encirclement and Annihilation (II)

“Report, the Persians came out of the valley and are already came chasing!”

“Very good. How many people?”

“There are about 6,000~7,000 people, all of whom seems to be archers and mounted archers!”

“Damn Persian! They must have a ridiculous idea of using arrows to defeat us all!”

“That is just right! The more that comes, the more we kill!”

“Can Davos block them?”

“That is why, our attack must be fast and powerful!” Cheirisophus firmly said, “Everyone, return to your command post at once and immediately spread out the formation, and move out!”

“Hou!!…” The leaders are itching for a fight and began to move out.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Artaozus left the valley, he couldn’t wait to spread out his battle formation, and just like the day before yesterday, the archers were in the middle and the cavalry were on both wings.

Just 2 miles after leaving the mouth of the valley, the scout came back to report, “The Greeks are coming toward us!”

Although Artaozus was in high spirit, he after all has a lot of combat experience. He doesn’t want to be confined near the mouth of the valley due to his attack tactics needing space to maneuver. So he immediately ordered his entire troops to move to the left.

The archers and mounted archers are all highly mobile, but it still takes time for 7,000-man troops to change their battle formation, which the Greeks did not give them.

Not long after Artaozus gave his instruction, the Greeks appeared in his sight. He suddenly became nervous, and he clearly knows that it is seeking death to change formation while the enemy is advancing.

He ordered that the battle formation be restored and quickly thought it in his mind that in a little while, after 2 rounds of arrows are fired, the advance of the enemy will be disrupted and they should quickly move to the left, breaking away from the Greeks and finding another opportunity to fight.

However, his face quickly changed, because the Greek’s front line was very long, it far exceeded both his wings, and as they move to their direction, both wings continuously extend.

Artaozus is aware of the traditional Greek phalanx. They often piled the formation very thickly, usually more than 7~8 rows, and crushed the other side with a powerful impact. Now the other side’s formation is so thin that they only have 2~3 rows, why did they dare do that? Artaozus soon understood that it is due to their side being all mounted archers and archers, the Greeks can still win without using the strength of numerous people to crush them.

The Greeks wanted to surround them! He was careless! Artaozus was a little flustered and his expression change to confusion. He wanted to immediately withdraw, but he felt that since the formation was already been spread out, and if they dejectedly went back, then the morale would be affected, and the important thing is that they will be delayed.

He had made an oath. He thought to himself that even if they don’t have the time left to retreat, they should at least shoot a round of arrows, 7,000 arrows can disrupt the Greek’s formation and may even cause chaos.

With this in mind, Artaozus decided to take risks. He quickly called the officers under his command and told them to remember the order of withdrawal…

When everything was properly arranged, he felt a lot more relieved. Looking at the approaching Greeks, he decided to wait and instructed the arrows to be fired when the distance between the two sides is about 100 meters.

Come on, Greek barbarians, come and die! He smiled maliciously. However, at a distance of about 200 meters, a brass bugle sounded on the opposite side, and the greek stopped moving forward! He was anxious, but he doesn’t want his troops to move forward, because it is easy to cause chaos when turning a sudden attack to a retreat, while Artaozus only wanted a smooth retreat. But if he wait for the Greeks to attack, he now felt that there are too many troops and there might be some problems on the commands due to inconsistency.

Then he saw the Greek hoplites facing him stretch out countless arms behind and started swinging overhead.

Slingers!! Artaozus was so frightened that he remembered that there were no slingers in the Greek mercenaries, why did they appear all of a sudden?!

Then he doesn’t have the time to think about it, countless fist-sized stones crashed into the middle of the Persian army like hailstones. These Persian archers were drawing their bows, when they suddenly got hit. They aren’t protected by armor, and their head got badly battered and even directly got knocked unconscious…

There was chaos in the Persian army.

The rate of the slingers are very fast, and soon another flying stones was thrown from the other side’s formation, which have covered the sky…

Artaozus’s eyes turned red from anxiousness and hoarsely shouted, “Retreat! QUICKLY RETREAT!…”

The bugler was preparing to blow the bugle, but there was a loud brass bugle that sounded on the opposite side, and the silent Greek hoplites roared, “Ares!!!” The whole Greek front started taking big steps rushing towards the Persians like a surging tide without fear of the reefs and shallows ahead, vowing to swallow up the land. It was an unprecedented momentum, strong enough to crush the Persian morale. The front of the Greek troops split open a passage in which dozens of cavalry poured out and took the lead to charge at the enemy Persians.

The Persians totally collapsed! They did not listent to the officer’s order and even pulled them in their arms as they ran back at full speed. The order of withdrawal that was arranged beforehand could not be carried out. The cavalry, archers, right wing, left wing, and center have all rushed to the mouth of the valley like a swarm of bees. They only have one idea in their minds, ‘Get away from those terrible Greeks!’

Defeated! Defeated! Defeated without shooting a single arrow!! Artaozus had participated in the Battle of Cunaxa before, and as a teammate of the Greeks, he cheered at them as they easily defeated the Persian king’s army.  But now that he is personally facing the charge of the Greeks, he felt the horror of the Greek hoplites and at this moment, his brain was blank, but his hands were clasping around the neck of his horse, and was surrounded by his retinues as they rushed to the mouth of the valley. He was close to the mouth of the valley due to him being at the rear of the center. Therefore, he and his cavalry retinues were ahead of the Persian army as they run.

The mouth of the valley is ahead in which the vast space suddenly narrowed, and the steep and continuous peaks made the air to only flow in the valley’s mouth, making Artaozus, who had just entered the valley, almost got blinded by the intense mountain wind.

“Hia!” He clamped the belly of his horse and clearly knew that the faster they cross the valley, the less troops he would lose!

The path on the valley is not a straight line, but a curved “S” shape. It wasn’t a problem for the Persian cavalry who rode on sands all year round, they have good control on their horses and they didn’t slow down too much even if there is a curve ahead.

Just as they whirled around the foot of the mountain, a half-man high wall made of stacked stones and wood appeared in front of them. Artaozus and his cavalry were unable to stop their horses from crashing into it. People and horses immediately screamed loudly…

Artaozus was thrown out and what he eventually saw was the rapidly enlarged mountain wall in front of him.

The defeated Persians entered the valley like a torrent and filled it up as they push forward…

When the rest of the cavalry at the forefront stopped moving in horror, the soldiers in the rear were still desperately running…

Therefore, a more tragic scene happened. The soldiers at the front were crushed and trampled by the soldiers coming from behind, while the struggling soldiers end up tripping the rushing soldiers, and the defeated soldiers still crazily pouring in, in order to escape the slaughtering of the Greeks…

Inside the valley, people fell, trampled, fell, trampled… Behind the stone wall, the Persians piled up in layers extending all the way to the entrance of the valley, and even some of the soldiers have been trampled into minced meat, while the others are still struggling and screaming in the river of blood… it’s hell on earth!

“Vertical shield wall!”

“Javelin ready!”

As Davos saw the Persian soldiers pushing each other in front of the stone wall, although he was slightly nervous, he still calmly transmitted his orders very clearly!

The peltast led by Epiphanes first shot those Persians that are struggling to climb the stone wall. Then the Greek hoplites formed a shield wall in a dense formation so that they can block their path, and the soldiers in the front four rows stuck their chest on the back of the soldiers that are in the first row in order to support them, and their spears can also reach in front of the soldiers on the first row and together, formed a wall of spear that tightly block the path and easily stab the panicked and unorganized Persians that are trying to flee.

Davos simply build the stone wall by asking the soldiers to carry stones and wood. His original intention was to prevent the charge of the Persian cavalry, because even if there are multiple rows of hoplites, they won’t necessarily be able to block a horse once it goes wild, and they would suffer heavy losses. Therefore, he used a barricade to slow down the Persian cavalry. Unexpectedly, the effect of the stone wall was far beyond his imagination, the valley was blocked with mountain of corpses and it made it impossible for the defeated force to gather together to attack Davos’ line of defense.

The battle did not last long, there is no way out for the defeated Persians that were being followed by pursuers in the middle of hell, they completely had a mental breakdown and surrendered one after another…

Chapter 42 – Reminiscing the Ancient Capital

Several leaders couldn’t help but have their blood freezes after they rushed to rendezvous with Davos and seeing the tragedy in the valley. They look at Davos with a slight awe, and Xenophon said, “…Davos…you…you deserve to be…favored by…Hades!”

Davos was equally unsettled, as he repeatedly comfort himself in his mind, ‘This is war! This is war!’

“What to do with these Persians?” He noticed that the soldiers were collecting weapons and armors of the soldiers that surrendered. He suddenly felt slightly sympathetic, and asked Cheirisophus.

Cheirisophus mercilessly replied, “After collecting their weapons and armor, cut off the tendons in their hands and feet, and stab their thighs, then return them back and let Tissaphernes have a headache.”

Davos was silent, of course he understood Cheirisophus’ purpose. The mercenary doesn’t have extra food and people to look after them, and Tissaphernes will need to send out people to look after the injured Persians, which will naturally reduce the number of soldiers attacking them.

“Davos, you did a great job!” Cheirisophus looked around and said, “I think the Persians will be frightened by the sight in here!”

When Davos led his troops out of the valley, the soldiers that they passed by cheered at the bloody people as much as they could, because they know that it was this young leader that led a few people to block the path of a large number of Persians, and made the mercenary have a perfect victory.

The young Davos had won the recognition of the whole mercenary troops with his feat.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the afternoon, Tissaphernes main force unhurriedly arrived at the valley.

When Tissaphernes saw the tragedy in the valley and the wounded soldiers lying on the ground and struggling, he angrily threw his helmet to the ground. He then sent a small group of troops that he trusted to deal with the aftermath, while the other troops were forbidden to enter the valley and took another path to bypassed the mountains.

Ariaeus, who followed Tissaphernes, stayed silent, he did not see Artaozus’ body, but it must have been among the numerous corpses. In these 3 days, the 2 generals that have fought him for power have died in battle one after another. At this time, he doesn’t have a trace of joy, but instead, his lips are gone and his teeth felt cold…(chinese idiom about having mutual dependency when confronted with a powerful and aggressive enemy)

In this battle, more than 3,000 Persians died and more than 3,000 were injured and no one manage to escape, while the casualties of the Greek mercenary were negligible.

Perhaps it was really like Cheirisophus had said, that the Persians got frightened so much that they didn’t show up for days. This made it easier for the Greek mercenaries to plunder and march all the way to Larissa[], a city on Tigris river.

This is a magnificent great city. The lower part of the city wall is made of stone and the upper part is made of earth bricks, the wall is about 30 meters high, 8 meters wide, and 10 miles long. Such a magnificent city wall made the Greek mercenaries have no interest in attacking it. Moreover, the city has fewer people compared to the cities that they had encountered along the Tigris river, and most of the fields and villages outside the city are deserted, which seems to be somewhat desolate.

“Larissa, it was said that its former name was Kalhu, it was first a great city under Assyria, then was taken by the Medes. The great king Cyrus defeated the Medes, but he wasn’t able to breach the city. Finally, Mithra, the sun god, covered the city of Kalhu’s light with dark clouds and made its day as dark as night, which terrified the residents and made them think that the gods had abandoned them, so they abandoned the city and fled. King Cyrus then seized the city…” Said Marigi.

Ever since Davos learned from Cheirisophus about “understanding the topography” being important for a qualified commander, he took Marigi as his guide and kept him at his side. Xenophon, as an adjutant of Hieronymus, was too busy that it was impossible for him to come and talk with Davos as easily as before. As a merchant, Marigi not only knew the surrounding terrain, but also knew many story about the history of Mesopotamia, which adds a lot of fun to Davos’ tense and tiring march.

“Hey, you Persians have a sun god, we also have Apollo, who is more powerful?” Matonis, who was working as a guard, said.

Marigi glanced back beside Davos and disdainfully said, “Mithra is the master of nature, he ensure the abundance of vegetation, fertile land, and made people live and work in peace and contentment. Therefore, Mithra is worshipped by all! He is not a small god can compare!”

“What did you say?! How dare you insult Apollo!!” Matonis angrily wanted to beat up Marigi, but was pulled back by Hielos.

Marigi was scared and hid behind, but Davos snapped at him, “Matonis’ question did not offend you, but you insulted our gods that us Greeks respected! If you don’t apologize immediately, then I won’t stop them from beating you in anger!” The Persian’s sense of superiority that thoughtlessly came out made him have a headache, it was time to teach him a lesson.

Marigi looked back and saw the anger in the soldier’s gaze, he knew that he would have been torn to pieces if it hadn’t been for Davos. As a merchant, adaptability is his nature, so he quickly bowed down and sincerely apologized, and even gave himself a slap in the face.

It was only when he saw that Marigi was forgiven that Davos asked the questions that he had been wondering before, “Why does the city look so desolate?”

Marigi vaguely said, while clasping his red cheeks with one hand, “Because the inhabitants here are mainly Medes.” After that, he stayed quiet.

Davos thought it over and it dawned on him, “The Persian royal court does not attach importance to this area because it was the core area of the former Medes and Assyria for fear that their old fire might be rekindled, and so they even adopted a suppression policy, right?”

Davos see Marigi looking at himself in amazement, and knew that he had guessed the main point and he couldn’t help but somewhat proudly said, “Let me guess the methods they had used. For example, the people here are often conscripted to join the army to fight? Higher tax?…”

“Leader Davos, if you are really what they called favored by god, then you’re really quite different from the rest that only have muscles and no brains!” Marigi looked at Davos with amazement and sighed, for he had just suffered a loss and said in a low voice, “If you are a Persian, you would also have been successful as an official of Persia!”

Davos smiled and said, “Unfortunately, I don’t like Persia even though it is a big country.”

“Because you are Greek?”

Davos did not reply, he looked at Larissa not far away and was distracted, is he a Greek? In addition to this body, his soul and thoughts, from the bottom of his heart, considered himself to be a Chinese. Greek tradition and culture can not assimilate the people that came from the 21st century, even to the extent that it had little impact on him. Only the reality of his helplessness and sincere friendship in war that made himself acknowledge to be a part of this team. Don’t look at his usual tone, “We Greeks are what…” It is just to fool the Greeks in order to boost the morale and highlight his position as a leader, in a word – to survive! Therefore, if Persia who is superior than Greece, extended an olive branch to him, he would not hesitate to join Persia. However, he looked down on Persia, because the political system of most Greek city-states is more similar to countries in the 21st century, which naturally has an affinity with modern people that advocates freedom,  and even Athens is more democratic than modern society…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next day, they marched to Mespila.

“This is Nineveh, the capital of the former Assyrian kingdom. Allegedly, Medea, the wife of the last king of Medes, took refuge in the city after us, Persians, seized the kingdom of Medes. The great king Cyrus led an army to besiege the city since it was the last castle of the Medes that had not been captured for a long time. Bahram, the god of war among the gods, saw that there are too many Persians that died and injured. Therefore, he sent out an earth-shaking thunder that made the whole city tremble, and it was then conquered….” Marigi still served as their guide and “narrator”.

“Haha, the Persian gods are really great that they even went to help.” Matonis mocked him at the back, and with the lesson of yesterday, Marigi ignored him.

Davos immediately looked at the city on the Tigris river. The height of the wall of the capital of the former Assyrian kingdom alone is about 17 meters high, Kalhu is already a magnificent city, but it seems that it is only a third of Nineveh. He could imagine the strength and prosperity of the Assyrian kingdom which was founded by military force, when it swept across the western kingdoms! At this time, the capital is desolate and ruined, the wild weeds and numerous thorns on the walls swayed in the river wind, it seems to be telling of its current miserable state.

A sense of vicissitudes of history came to his mind, and Davos naturally remembered the poem “Where, before me, are the ages that have gone? And where, behind me, are the coming generations? I think of heaven and earth, without limit, without end, and I am all alone and my tears fall down.[]” He sighed with regret, “No matter how powerful a country is, there is a time for its demise!”

[] is an ancient Assyrian city located 30 kilometres (20 mi) south of the city of Mosul, It was a major Assyrian city between approximately 1350 BC and 610 BC. The city is located in a strategic position 10 kilometres (6 mi) north of the point that the river Tigris meets its tributary the Great Zab.
[] On a Gate-tower at youzhou is one of the 300 Tang Poems and was made by Chen Zi’ang, there is also this .

Chapter 43 – Archery Battle

“Will it also happen to Persia?” Asistes curiously asked.

“What about Greece?” Marigi immediately looked back and asked, not willing to be outdone.

Davos looked at them and said it somewhat serious, “If you live long enough, then you might be able to see it in 50 years.”

“Is this an oracle?” Asistes asked excitedly.

Marigi obviously didn’t believe it.

Davos smiled and did not reply. If the flap of his butterfly wing is weak enough to not change the course of history, decades later (he can’t remember the exact time), Alexander of Macedonia will conquer Greece and destroy Persia. And since the Greeks does not consider the Macedonian in the north as one of them. Therefore, in a sense, he conquered the 2 most powerful forces in the Mediterranean at that time.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

For the next 2 days, the Greek mercenary continued to march at ease.

Tissaphernes army finally appeared on the third day.

Currently, Davos had basically use the light cavalry unit of 50 Greeks as scouts and sent them out. After all, the Persian cavalry are stronger individually, and the Greek cavalry is no match against them when fighting one-on-one. So they, in a group of 5, did not dare leave the main force too far, and only moved within 2~3 miles around the formation. When they saw the Persian army from afar, they immediately returned.

“The Persians are coming, prepare to defend!”

“Cheirisophus ordered for the defense to be ready!”

The heralds quickly conveyed the order around the huge formation.

The Greek mercenary used a large hollow square formation to protect the supply unit. Therefore, it was impossible to change position before they meet the enemy. They just made the supply unit gather in the center, the soldiers were armed with shield and spears, and raise their vigilance, while they slow down the marching speed and keep the formation intact.

Soon, the Persians appeared in the rear of the troops. From the army flag that is fluttering, the soldiers realized that Tissaphernes had come. The Greek mercenary had easily defeated him in the Battle of Cunaxa, so they did not take him too seriously.

Then, on the left wing of Tissaphernes, another troops appeared and as the formation advance, the Greeks’ heart tighten, it was another army of more than 10,000 people! Everyone was familiar on the emblem on the army flag, the Satrap of Armenia, Orontes, had arrive, which the leaders had already expected.

Then, on the right wing of Tissaphernes, another large army appeared, with no less than 10,000 people, the flag held high is familiar to everyone.

“Oh, I remember! That is the army we met on our way, which is said to be led by the brother of the Persian king!” Asistes shouted.

“The army that was supposed to march in the opposite direction of ours is here! I’m afraid that they have been quietly following us! Tissaphernes had evil intention to us for a long time!” said Philesius.

Davos nodded a little stiff, with his hands clutching the reins.

Tissaphernes army also contained the remnants of Cyrus the Younger led by Ariaeus. The 4 army came together magnificently and spread out in a geese shape formation, as they slowly approach the Greek mercenary.

This seemingly endless, dense crowd was the most the Greek mercenary had seen since the Battle of Cunaxa. Last time, they had Cyrus the Younger to rely on and the mercenary was only responsible for the right wing, but they now need to face the Persian army and everyone was inevitably nervous.

Despite the tension, the Greeks realized that their only way to live is through a bloody battle. Cleanor watched the distance of the marching enemy, and as they were about to enter the range of the slingers, he immediately gave an order, “Slingers, get ready!”

The slingers in the entire rearguard immediately started swinging their slings. More than 300 meters away, the accuracy and strength of the flying stones will be worse, but there are so many Persians, it was so dense that almost every stone that fell evoke a scream. There was chaos in the middle of the Persian army, and their pace of advance almost stopped.

“Lord Satrap, the attack of the enemy is too fierce! Should we retreat temporarily and let the troops on both wings go forward first?” An adjutant beside Tissaphernes suggested it to him.

Tissaphernes’ face was equally unsightly, but he did not hesitate to refuse. Although the king appointed him as the commander of the plan to expel the Greeks, Orontes only came to assist him, while the king’s brother, Siste, only help due to their friendship. One of them is the same as him, a Satrap, but he is the king’s son-in-law, while the other one is the king’s brother. How could he expect them to help him if he doesn’t do his best? Moreover, they have a close relationship with the king, and if they want back to privately tell Artaxerxes about his performance, then the good impression that he had built in the heart of the Persian king will be destroyed.

Tissaphernes fiercely glanced at his adjutant and immediately ordered, “Speed up and continue to move forward!” This time, he amassed nearly 50,000 troops. He have plenty of people! Since the Greeks want to compete with him with long-range firepower, then he wants to see who shoots better! Look at who can last! Anyway, he wasn’t ready for a frontal clash with the Greeks. after the Battle of Cunaxa, the scene where the Greek hoplite’s charge had unexpectedly defeated the left wing of the Persian army so easily, had happened beside him and left him a great impact.

The Persians screamed and ran all the way, Tissaphernes even sent the imperial guards to supervise the war and cut down the deserters one by one to warn the whole army. Under such circumstances, both wings of the Persian army quickly surrounded the mercenaries, and because the Persians had too many troops and the mercenaries were in a square formation, so the Persian army had to stretched out its front and almost all the mercenaries were surrounded.

Davos had already dismounted, and the horse was led to the supply unit in the center of the square formation. He was not as nervous when facing the approaching enemy, as he was at the start, “Shield Wall!”

Asistes and the other 2 heralds conveyed the order of Davos throughout the troops in the left wing.

4 hoplite units began to move closer, with their round shields overlapping with each other and soon, a long copper wall was erected. The shield of the Greek hoplite is unique among the infantry of the Mediterranean countries, the round shield is 1 meter in diameter, the core of the wood is covered with copper. It wasn’t held by hand, but instead has 2 grips that the arm can pass through in the back of the shield, which save them some efforts and it is also not easy to slip, and because it is big and hard enough, the arrow have a difficult time penetrating it.

The archers that strayed behind the hoplite had quickly went near the shield wall, so that they can reduce the damage of the other side’s arrows.

Because of the previous total annihilation of Artaozus’ 6,000 people, not only did the mercenary replaced the bows of the Cretan archers with the Persian’s composite bow, they also selected soldiers who are good with bows from the hoplites and peltast unit and had them joined the ranks of archers. The number of the archers in the mercenary reached 500, and they were scattered in the rearguard and in the left and right wings.

When the Persian army approached within a hundred meters, both sides almost simultaneously fired their arrows.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!…” A series of bows and strings rang, and countless arrows flew to the air, like a huge dark cloud covering the blue sky and the scorching sun. The denseness of the arrows had even caused numerous arrows to collide in the air, when most of the “dark clouds” fell on the mercenaries, there was a clear “Clang! Clang! Clang!…” that sounded, and sometimes there was a scream or two; And when a small part of the “dark cloud” fell on the side of the Persian army, there were a lot of screams…

Arrows and arrows came and went between the two sides.

The Persians even pushed their frontline within 50 meters away and stop moving, no longer taking a single step. Because the Persians are clear that further ahead will have the Greek peltast go into battle.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The archery battle lasted for some time.

Apart from the clean land beneath the long square shield wall, the mercenaries were surrounded by densely packed arrows, which made the Greek archers with empty arrows no longer worry about it, they simply just plucked an “arrow grass” from the ground and return fire.

Davos got used to the sound of arrows hitting the shield, but what he was more worried about was the muffled groan that came into his ears from time to time, which meant that there was someone that got hit by an arrow. His left arm was somewhat numb, but he remained in the same position without moving, and he did not dare leave the shield. Now both sides tenaciously fighting to see who can last till the end.

Chapter 44 – Medical Benevolence

Now, Tissaphernes was in a dilemma. For this offensive, he also specially prepared many large shield, but his recklessness on having too much light infantry on his army made not even half of them be protected. There were too many soldiers and the formation was too dense, which made most of the stones and arrows of the mercenary troops hit. Because of his coercion, the soldiers could barely maintain their morale, but the horses of the cavalry were wounded and wildly run around throwing a tantrum, which end up colliding with some soldiers and made the formation chaotic. By now, most of the cavalry had retreated to the rear.

Tissaphernes looked at the formation on his side that is thinning and the groans that he could hear. He look at the opposite Greek shield wall that wasn’t as tightly close as before, although the protection of the Greek hoplite is tight, but they cannot completely avoid the arrows at close range. Will he continue? He hesitated, after paying the price, but not getting the result he wanted, and such miserable retreat will not only affect the morale, but will also attract the dissatisfaction and contempt of the other generals. But if they continue the archery battle, the casualties will only increase and before the Greeks collapse, his own troops will first be in turmoil…

Just then, a herald came, “Lord Satrap, lord Siste said that he had too many casualties and had suggested to either immediately attack? or retreat?”

Tissaphernes became relieve and answered without hesitation, “Retreat!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Greek soldiers who had been struggling could not believe their eyes when they saw the Persians receding like the tides. They waited for a while and when they saw that the Persians did not appear again, they then began to cheer…

In this battle, the Persian army suffered more than 4,000 casualties, and the mercenaries also have more than 900 casualties. However, most of the wounded were arrow wounds in their hands and feet.

After the battle, the soldiers were exhausted and hurriedly cleaned up the battlefield. The troops went north for a while and before noon, they began to camp and rest…

In his quarter, Davos and the officers urgently discussed how to treat the wounded. Due to this battle, the troops under the jurisdiction of Davos had incurred 19 death and 185 wounded, which was totally beyond the capacity of the medical camp, they must mobilize the whole troops for treatment.

Amintas disagreed and said, “There is no need for such troubles. When we went out to fight as soldiers, we have long been aware of dying in battle! It’s just an arrow wound, just do a few casual treatment, that was how we have handled it before.”

When Davos looked around the crowd, he felt that Amintas is not the only one who had such an idea. Therefore, he said with earnestness, “You guys, we are far away from our families, our hometown and going out to fight, we aren’t only united in battle! In fact, we regard our friends as our relatives, and the camp as our home. Can we watch our comrades struggled with their wounds and remain indifferent! If so, when we are wounded, there won’t be anyone willing to help us! You-” Davos said it with a determination, “Remember, it used to be before! But now, as long as you are my troops, we have to make a belief that we will never let go of an enemy, nor will we give up on our comrades, we will live and die together!”

“Good Point!!” Philesius could not help shout with praise. The other officers fervently applauded.

Davos’ words touched them and the whole camp immediately went into action.

First, a large area was opened in the center of the camp to be the location of the medical camp. Davos then divided the wounded into 3 categories, minor, moderate, and severe. The soldiers were also divided into four groups, the hardworking are responsible for the medical camp, to clean up the blood and dirt at any time, and to expel the flies, mosquitoes, and flying insects. Those with strong bodies were responsible for carrying and supporting the wounded. The skillful one are responsible for helping the doctors and nurses to pull out the arrows, debride the wounds and bandaging. Another group that had worked as a carpenter in their hometown were responsible for cutting down branches and making stretchers. The one with severe wounds were directly sent to Herpus, because he is the only one who could handle it. While most of those with minor wounds can return to the camp after getting the arrows pulled out, debrided and bandaged. And the others remained in the medical camp for observation and consider whether to suture them for further treatment depending on the situation.

Under the command of Davos, the entire rescue operation was carried out in an orderly and highly efficient manner. By afternoon, the wounded at Davos camp had been treated.

At this moment, the words that Davos had said in his quarter were advertise into the ears of the soldiers by Antonios and the others. Davos got his authority due to relying on the name of “God’s Favored”, which was an instinctive act of the soldiers in resorting to gods when they are helpless. Later, Davos killed Mithridates and Artaozus, he gradually won the soldier’s recognition of his commanding ability with his courage and feats. This time, his touching words and practical actions finally conquered the hearts of all soldiers in his camp. Everyone gave him another nickname, “The Benevolent”, and even began to call the young leader, “Our Davos”.

This large-scale rescue operation also shocked the other camps, it started when an individual soldier helped a wounded and came here to ask for help. Davos agreed. But soon, the news spread and more and more wounded came, and the staff of the medical camp is obviously insufficient. The soldiers in Davos camp were somewhat dissatisfied and they began to quarrel with the outsiders due to them occupying the resources of their own camp.

At this time, Cleanor and Timasion came after hearing about it. After a quick visit to the medical camp and facing Davos, the 2 leaders(including Timasion, who doesn’t get along with Davos) have became slightly more respectful, since they also thought that such an unusual and efficient medical camp was obviously not an average man can do. Even though they used to disdain at the rumor that Davos is “God’s Favored”.

Davos agreed in treating their wounded soldiers without any hesitation, but because there are too many wounded soldiers(As the 2 rearguards, they suffered the most and more than 500 people were wounded) they will need to send people to help, and they will need more supplies, such as linen, earthen pots, wood, tents, and so on. They even agreed in sending their physician to study and help. Davos was so generous, of course with some selfishness, because he believed that the medical knowledge he had learned in his previous life was enough to attract the physicians to stay and expand his medical camp.

Cleanor and Timasion gratefully left. Later, the other leaders also came, and Davos made the same commitment and request to them.

On the way back, the adjutant of Cheirisophus praised the ability and generosity of Davos.

This made the adjutant felt strange. Cheirisophus frankly then said, “I admit that I was biased against him previously. Davos is indeed an excellent talented man! Especially what he founded…the medi…the medical camp is very helpful in battle. Sparta need this in order to deal with the upcoming war.”

“War? What war?!” asked the adjutant in surprise.

“The Persian war against Sparta.” Cheirisophus grave appearance, “Cyrus the Younger, who was friendly with us, is dead and we were involved in the rebellion against the new Persian king. And the person in charge of Asia Minor has now been replaced by Tissaphernes, who oppose Sparta. You must know, in our agreement with Persia, there are some in Asia Minor that have objection, and the new Persian king is likely to launch an attack…all indications are unfavorable to us.”

The adjutant listened and was silent. Sparta and Athens have been at war for more than 2 decades, and even though Sparta finally won, but their losses were also huge. Now, they will face Persia, who is much more powerful than Athens, even though he is a brave and fearless Spartan, he still felt a great pressure.

Cheirisophus looked at him and change the subject, “Do you think Davos will join us?”

“Of course! We are Sparta – the hegemon of Greece!” the adjutant said proudly.

“I hope so.” Cheirisophus nodded.

Chapter 45 – Spring Breeze

Herpus was focused on treating the patients and had no time to manage the medical camp and maintain order. What’s more, he isn’t good at management and prefer to study medicine. So when everything is working smoothly, Davos had to leave Hielos behind to take charge of the medical camp for the time being. He is wasted being the head of a small medical camp and he can only go find him a suitable position in the future. However, as a trusted subordinate of Davos, Hielos who work steadily and was clever, therefore Davos intends to train him into his powerful arm.

When Davos returned to his quarter, it was close to dusk.

When he finally have spare time, he began to look back on today’s battle in order to analyze his problems in commanding the battle, and to find a better way do deal with it. At the same time, he compared it with the military knowledge he knew in his previous life, this is the homework he must do before he goes to bed every day, and it is also the method he came up with in order to improve his military commanding ability more quickly. Some people engage in war all their lives and has always been a famous generals, others are young enough to turn war into art, but the most important thing is their attitude towards war.

The last battle gave Davos an insight into the limitations of terrain and space on the infantry in the cold weapon era, the trampling caused by fear, and the damage to a dense formation! Today, he understand the inability of the archers in dealing with the hoplites.

What about throwing javelins at the hoplite? Davos thought that it will be more lethal than arrows, he once asked Matonis to throw a javelin into an abandoned armor and he could penetrate the heavy armor at a close range, as for the copper shield, he could also make a hole in it. Therefore, why didn’t Tissaphernes do that? The answer is obvious, he doesn’t have a javelin soldiers, while the Greek mercenaries have nearly 3,000 peltast, and they are mostly Thracians, they are the most powerful peltast in the Mediterranean, with a first-class javelin skill.

He also thought about the javelin[] used by the Roman soldiers in the future, the shank is very thin and will bend when it struck the shield and it becomes a burden to the movement of the enemy, and they would need to throw away their shields thus effectively reducing the enemy’s defense. He even went on to imagine what would happen if Tissaphernes had such heavy infantry as well. When Davos thought about it, he felt that the Greeks only had one way and that is to surrender. Because even the Battle of Cannae in his previous life, Hannibal dared to use a thin arc front creatively in order to face the thick Roman army. The most important prerequisite was that his cavalry is much stronger than the Roman in order to defeat both wings and completely encircle them. At present, the Persian cavalry was dozens of times more than the Greeks…

Davos kept on thinking while writing down his experience on a papyrus with Chinese characters. This time, he stood in the perspective of Tissaphernes and thought about what the Persians would do next…

Then someone came in, “Leader Davos, there is someone looking for you outside.”

“Olivos, it’s you! Is your injury all right?!” Davos was surpised when he found that it was Olivos was the one standing in front of him, and made him not notice his strange expression.

“I’m okay, Herpus allowed me to return.” Olivos reluctantly explained that he had actually requested to leave on his own initiative. Herpus saw that he had no problem, and that today the medical camp had received too many wounded soldiers, so he let him go.

“Why are you standing guard? You have just recovered and you should rest more. What about Hielos?” Davos asked with concern, and as soon as he spoke, he remembered that he had left Hielos in the medical camp.

Olivos hurriedly went out and brought in the visitor.

The visitor was dressed in an elegant chiton, her head was covered with himation(i.e. a cloak)[], and the loose linen clothes can hardly hide her graceful figure.

“Cheiristoya!” Davos blurted out.

The visitor stretched out her slender snow-white hand, lifted her himation and showed her beautiful face. She move graceful and bowed, “Leader Davos!”

Olivos winked and went out.

Davos remembered what Olivos said when he just got reborn, ‘Cheiristoya is as beautiful as Aphrodite’.

Cheiristoya saw Davos distracted, and guiltily said, “Leader Davos does not welcome me?”

“Your arrival makes me happy that made me forget what to say, and your beauty makes my mind unable to think!” Davos has a 19 year old body, while his thought is that of a 35 year old. There was a bit of teasing on his praise.

“Leader Davos, you really have a way with words!” Cheiristoya smiled and said, “Over the past few days, I heard everyone praising your achievements in the supply unit! Mithridates and Artaozus, as far as I know, are excellent generals of Cyrus the Younger and they lost to you, it was enough to dispel anyone’s doubts about your ability. I came to congratulate you, I am not sure if it’s too late?!”

“Your words are worth thousands of other people’s words!” Davos laughed, “You didn’t come just to congratulate me, right?”

“I have a request!” Cheiristoya looked at Davos, “You had said that ‘I can come to you if I have any needs.’”

“Of course! Of course! you can say it.”

“I want to go to your medical camp!” Christovia seriously said.

“What?” Davos thought he heard it wrongly, “Someone in the medical camp treated you badly?”

“Mersis is very kind to me.” Cheiristoya paused for a while, thinking about her words, “Everyone is busy with marching and fighting, I am the only one doing nothing… I’ve been to the medical camp several times, and I think I can do what the slaves do, and I can do it better than them!”

“Are you sure you want to go to the medical camp? In there, you will see terrible wounds and scarlet blood every day, you will touch the dirty body of the soldiers, comforting patients who went mad due to pain, and may even be harassed by them…”

Davos tried to persuade Cheiristoya to give up her thoughts, but she looked determined, “I am not afraid! In fact, you don’t know much about the wounded soldiers in your camp, they did not bully them, instead they were very grateful to these former female slaves…” Cheiristoya closed her eyes and seemed to recall what she had observed at that time.

Davos watched her, he feels like seeing a woman struggling to do something meaningful in the face of modern society in order to prove her existence.

“Okay, I approve.”

“Really?!” Cheiristoya opened her eyes in disbelief. The Greek city-states are very conservative towards female citizens. They are under the control of their father before marriage, husband after marriage, and sons when they are old. They have no freedom of their own(of course, common women are exceptions). Cheiristoya was insecure, fearful of doing nothing, being abandoned by the mercenaries, and envious of the respect that the female slaves in the medical camp received. Through contacts with Davos, she found that the young leader is different, and so she tried to request it, but she didn’t expect to get an approval so soon.

In fact, Davos doesn’t know much about the traditional customs of the Greeks. On the contrary, he has long been accustomed to the concept of equality between men and women in the modern society. Women are the majority in hospitals, he only opposed it at first due to him being worried that the beauty of Cheiristoya would cause trouble.

“Really!” Davos earnestly said.

Cheiristoya rushed to him with excitement, and he involuntarily stretched out his hands towards her back and embrace her, and smelled a fragrant scent. At that moment, heaven’s thunder set fire to the earth… (uhm something like the 2 develop their feelings rapidly, like a spark, or well something not suitable for children ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°))

“Olivos, why aren’t you standing on guard, and instead, eavesdropping on the tent?! This is a violation of military rules and you will be expelled from the camp!” Shouted Giorgris, who had come to change post.

“Shh!” Olivos made a silent gesture and mysteriously said in a low tone, “Come and listen, there’s a fierce war going on inside!”

“War situation?” Giorgris was slightly confused.

Olivos pulled him over. Immediately, they heard bloody moans and also heated panting coming from the tent…

“Davos’ spring is coming!” Olivos’ face was full of admiration, “This guy is blessed by gods, and actually took the most beautiful woman in our whole camp…”

– was a javelin commonly used by the Roman army in ancient times.

– The chiton was a simple tunic garment of lighter linen and usually pleated that was worn by both sexes and all ages.
-The himation was a simple outer garment worn over the peplos or chiton.

Chapter 46 – Mountain Warfare

On the second day of the march, Davos rode on his horse feeling content, and his mind was filled with the pleasure he had with Cheiristoya last night. Cheiristoya is not only beautiful, but her body is also sexy as her appearance, her snow-white smooth skin and undulating mountains made him fond of it, and her extremely flexible body allowed him to indulge in it, and tried to vent the desire of this young and strong body that was accumulated for 19 years. She stayed till late at night, and if not for Olivos covering it up for him outside, then I’m afraid that a morning person would’ve expose his good deed. Therefore, he let go of Olivos’ “crime” of eavesdropping.

After the passion, Cheiristoya rested on his arms and coyly expressed her willingness to be with him. Davos felt that the barrier between him and the world seemed to be much smaller, with this concern, it made him think about the path to take in the future. Davos, who is an adult and came from modern society, knew that passion cannot last. Cheiristoya was born in a noble family, and she was a concubine of Cyrus the Younger and enjoyed a luxurious life. However, he is just a mercenary, an ordinary commoner in Greek society, he isn’t even a citizen and have no fixed home and just wandering around. It is okay in a short time, but he isn’t sure that Cheiristoya won’t be tired of it after a long time… of course, this idea was buried in his heart, and it is currently not the time to think about it, because the main problem at present was to return to Greece safely and alive.

The emergence of the Persians ruined his good mood.

This time, Tissaphernes changed his strategy, no longer attacking, but to harass. The Persians followed the mercenaries and kept a safe distance, from time to time, a team of mounted archer get closer and shot a round of arrows and immediately withdraw. The damage to the mercenaries isn’t great, but it made their nerves always in a tense state, which affected their marching speed and morale.

In this regard, the leaders have no choice and the only thing they can do is to mix the slingers, archers and hoplites, so that when faced with the fast-moving Persian mounted archers, they can force them to not be too aggressive.

At the same time, the Greek mercenaries encountered other difficulties. As the distance to the Corduene mountains became nearer and nearer, the plains gradually became hills and the terrain became rugged. The huge square formation of the Greek mercenary can’t be kept intact, specially when crossing the rivers and trekking the narrow mountain paths, the whole formation fell apart. The Persian cavalry took advantage of the situation and used their archery to cause more confusion to the mercenaries.

After the leaders discussed about it, they had to take the small mercenary troops that had joined Cheirisophus at the vanguard(because so far, most of the attacks of the Persians came from the rear and flanks), and have formed 4~5 units, each with about 200 people and are placed inside of the flanks and rearguard camps. As soon as there is a big crack in the formation, or the formation is compressed due to the narrow terrain, they will rush out to form a new rearguard force to block the charge of the Persian cavalry and provide protection for the archers and slingers who will arrived afterwards.

In this way, the mercenaries had tried their best to deal with the harassment of the Persian cavalry while marching, this situation lasted for 4~5 days. The whole mercenary troops were relieved when the current area became a continuous mountain ridge, because they all know that it is impossible for the cavalry to go up the mountain.

They pantingly trekked the rugged mountain path, over the first mountain, to the foot of the second mountain, the troops then stopped to rest due to fatigue.

Most of the soldiers took off their armor, wiped their sweat, and sat down to rest. In addition to resting, the guards of the supply camp also need to check the injuries and damages to the animals and wagons. The whole troops gathered in a narrow area between the 2 mountains, ready to have a rest and resume the march, once their strength is restored.

Suddenly, there came an attack, countless arrows and stones swoosh, and the mercenaries were caught unprepared, the soldiers and women screamed, the animals run wild and the whole mercenary troops became a mess.

The first to react was Cheirisophus and his 800 spartan warriors, because these Spartans didn’t discard their weapons and armors like the other soldiers after they came down the mountain, and they still have plenty of strength due to their strict daily training. When Cheirisophus found that the attack came from the second mountain, he immediately and decisively gave an order, “Sparta, ADVANCE!”

The Spartan warriors immediately followed him and rushed to the top of the mountain with their shields.

The Persian light infantry can shoot very fast, with a series of arrows slanting down the mountain.

After the initial chaos, the mercenaries also reacted quickly. After all, they were all veteran soldiers who had been through war, they quickly grabbed their round shield that are beside them and hid themselves under it. Only the personnel of the supply camp, except the guards, are mostly slaves and women that have been plundered, have no combat experience. Driven by fear, most of them did not escape, but screamed and ran, so a lot of them got injured in the dense rain of arrows.

At this time, Davos was very anxious. These days, he didn’t go see Cheiristoya in order to take into account the impact in the camp. Now, the situation is urgent, and he doesn’t know whether she is safe or not.

“Asis, tell the officers to form a shield wall and move closer to the supply camp and the medical camp!” He shouted.

“Yes, leader!”

In fact, even without his order, Philesius, Kapus, and Antonios had led their troops to lift the round shield on their heads and form a shield formation to move towards the center.

Olivos and Matonis rushed forward with their shields to protect Davos.

Davos yelled, “Marigi! Marigi, are you okay?!”

“I’m fine!” Shouted Marigi behind him.

“Fast, protect him, don’t let him get hurt!” Davos gave his order.

Although Matonis looked down on the Persian, he still carried out Davos’ order meticulously.

Currently, he was the acting captain of the guard team, under his order, Giorgris and several people came to protect Marigi.

Marigi stared at Davos’ back, without saying a word, his gaze was filled with gratitude.

Davos had no time to see the situation of Marigi. He was half kneeling trying to look at the direction of the supply camp from under his shield, as he looked around the chaotic scene.

He hurried to the center anxiously, and he was slightly relieved after he saw that there is also a shield formation arranged in the medical camp. In order to avoid suspicion, he first shouted, “Herpus! Herpus!”

“I am here!” The voice of Herpus came from the shield formation, “We are all fine!”

Hearing this, Davos became at ease. At this time, Hielos came over and briefed him on the situation; the reason why the doctors and the female slaves in the medical camp were safe was related to Cheiristoya. When the first wave of arrows rained, she immediately called them to hide under the wagon, Hielos then directed more than 100 wounded soldiers to form a shield formation to protect the safety of most people.

Davos highly praised Hielos and Cheiristoya’s quick and calm response in the face of danger, and made him have better understanding of this woman. This was perhaps the reason why she was the only concubine of Cyrus the Younger that have manage to escape the plundering of the Persians.

The supply camp have it much worse, Mersis was not injured under the protection of the guards, but there were many slaves and women that got hit by arrows, and several animals died. In the face of Mersis’ weeping, Davos, who was used to life and death, did not send people to protect the non-combatants that had already scattered. Fortunately, the attack of the Persians did not last long, because the troops led by Cheirisophus were about to rush to the top of the mountain.

Of course, the Persians would not insist on fighting the mercenaries, and they quickly retreated.

Cheirisophus left the Spartan warrior at the top of the mountain as a precaution.

After going down the mountain, Cheirisophus called the leaders together to discuss the countermeasures, and said, “The Persians are light infantry, so we can’t catch up with them, although they retreated, they will probably continue to attacks us with arrows in the third and fourth mountain. Our troops is too large to evade.”

In fact, he had already figured out a countermeasure on his way back from the mountain, “I have just carefully surveyed at the top of the mountain, these mountains are not high and doesn’t occupy much land. We can send a unit to first go around the right side of the next mountain to the back, then I will lead my soldiers at the front. If the Persians want to occupy a higher place and continue attacking us, then we will cut off the enemy’s route of retreat.”

Cheirisophus poked at the sketched on the ground with a branch, “Afterwards, we will surround and wiped them.”

Chapter 47 – Cheiristoya’s Appointment

“Good idea, but I don’t think the Persians have the courage to stay and attack us.” Said Xanthicles regretfully.

“Yeah, the Persians are timid like rabbits.” Timasion cursed, the casualty of the soldiers made him angry and helpless.

“Let me lead the soldiers to bypass the mountain!” Xenophon took the initiative to request for the war task.

Hieronymus’ face suddenly changed, he thought of Xenophon’s reckless dispatch of troops which resulted in most of the damage to the soldiers

“I think Xenophon can do it!” Davos immediately agreed.

“We have no time to delay, we must immediately act, else we may have to spend the night in the mountains tonight!” Cleanor looked up at the weather and said anxiously.

Hence, Xenophon’s request was quickly approved, and the leaders went back to reorganize their troops.

Davos lag behind, as if thinking of something.

When Cheirisophus saw it, he couldn’t help but stopped and asked, “What does leader Davos thinking?”

Davos was slightly surprised to see the normally reticent Cheirisophus who rarely took the initiative and asked him a question, “I was thinking…um…fortunately, the Persians didn’t build a defensive camp on the mountains, otherwise we would lose a lot.”

“You overestimate Tissaphernes. Although the Persian cavalry and archers move fast, their overall marching speed is much slower than ours. These Persian nobles, led by Tissaphernes, doesn’t have the strength of us Greeks to endure hardship, they marched with magnificent tents, beautiful concubines, dancers, and a large number of slaves and so on. Everyday, they must wait for the sun to come out before they depart , otherwise it will be too cold, and they must stay away from the enemy camp at dusk, because it will be too dark. Under their influence, how could the Persian soldiers not be influenced by them? I estimate that these Persian soldiers who had attacked us had just arrived recently.” Cheirisophus seriously analyzed.

Davos original thought that the mercenary troops was already bloated, but the Persian was even worse. He thought about it and said, “Would the effect be better if the Persians split these light infantry into several teams and hide them in the rear, flank, and front of our army in the forest and launch attacks in turn?”

Cheirisophus frowned and asked, “You mean…”

“Just like back then, the Persians will launch an attack on the mountain ahead, and when we drove them away and think that we are safe, the Persians will launch an attack in the rear…and then…this will not only cause more casualties on our troops, but also force us to run back and forth, dispersing our forces, we will then need to be careful on every step forward, thus greatly slow down our marching speed.”

Cheirisophus looked at him in surprise, “You are thinking about these things all this time…”

It’s very rare for Davos to see such expression on Cheirisophus’ face, and said it with some embarrassment, “Because I lack experience, so I need to study and think more…”

Cheirisophus returned to his serious and rigid face, “It’s indeed a good method. However, not anyone can use it, because it requires a lot of courage, training and the ability of the strategos to complete such tactics. Do you think the Persian army can do it?”

Davos shook his head.

Cheirisophus gave him a deep glance and said, “If you have any ideas later, then we can discuss it together.” After that, he strode away.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The attack of the Persians resulted in more than a thousand casualties in the mercenaries, more than half of them were non-combatants.

There are more than 150 casualties in Davos camp, and most of them were animals that got shot, so nearly half of the soldiers had been ordered to go to the supply camp to help the wounded and carry the supplies.

The entire mercenary troops were affect by this and made their movement slower than before, but the vanguard troops made smooth progress, because Xenophon led the troops to make a quick detour around the mountains, while the Persians were hesitant and afraid of being attack at the front and back, so they did not dare to block them in the front, and allowed the mercenaries to passed through the mountain area smoothly.

At dusk, the soldiers found Persian villages ahead of them. What happened next was that the Mercenaries ransacked the villages and stayed there. Fortunately, they also found that the villages collected a lot of supplies for Tissaphernes army, which improved the morale of the soldiers after enjoying the abundant food. While Davos’ medical camp was busy again till late at night…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After the passion, Cheiristoya was all over Davos’ body, while Davos’ hands fondle her smooth and elastic skin. They were still immersed with the previous fierce battle…

After a while, Davos said, “Herpus said that you learned very fast in the medical camp, and helped him manage the wounded soldiers and female slaves very well. The wounded soldiers listened to you very much and gave you the nickname ‘Persephone on Earth’.”

“Uhm.” Cheiristoya snorted and slightly raised her head with a sly smile, “Then, I will not be your woman!”

Davos’ gaze sweep past her charming smile, long and thin goose-like neck, and the half-hidden and half-exposed snowy-white skin in the lining. All of a sudden, the desire in his heart came back, and he couldn’t stop himself, he once more pressed his body under her under and said pantingly, “I just want you to be my woman…”

Cheiristoya smiled and said while pretending to be surprised, “You are blaspheming the gods.”

“I am not afraid!” Davos held her tightly…

Cheiristoya shivered and her hands clasped tightly around Davos’ arms.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Davos.”

“Hmm.”

“Do you know why the wounded soldiers listened to me?”

“I don’t know.” In fact, Davos knew.

“I told Hielos to tell them that ‘I am your woman!’, you have a high prestige in the mercenary troops now, and they will be hesitant, and I also asked Herpus to give the ultimate treatment to a wounded soldier that tried to molest me, and his wailing didn’t stop until evening. I think it also gave them a good warning!…Davos…what do you think of me…” Cheiristoya laid powerless on Davos and murmured.

“You did a good job, better than what I expected!” Davos sniffed her black hair and said, “Hielos can’t stay in the medical camp all the time, and Herpus is focused on improving his medical skills, so I want you to manage the medical camp.”

“What did you say?! You want me to manage the medical camp?!!” Cheiristoya’s astonished gaze were mixed with pleasant surprised.

“Just like what you had said before, your father was busy with the political affair of Miletus, and you helped him in managing the slaves of the farm. These days, your performance in the medical camp also showed that you are fully capable of managing this small group.” In his previous life, Davos was used to the tradition of equality between men and women. He doesn’t like the Greeks of this era in binding women firmly in their home, nor he doesn’t mind women appearing in public or even performing better than him, “Of course, Herpus is still the nominal medical officer. After all, we need to take into account the opinion of others, but in fact, you will be the one in charge of management. Wait for a while, I will go and talk to Herpus.”

“Davos!” Cheiristoya hugged him and excitedly said, “It’s great that I followed you!”

“Don’t get excited, you still have a mission. You are to try to persuade the physicians from the other camps, who had come to the medical camp to help, to voluntarily stay, as well as the wounded soldiers.” Said Davos while he patted her on the back.

“Yes, leader!” Cheiristoya’s naked body, saluted while giggling, which have an unspeakable sexy seduction, if it wasn’t for Davos being exhausted, he would definitely do it once more.

Cheiristoya saw Davos’ gaze was about to spurt out a flame, and so she lazily put on her chiton, “Davos, I can understand why you want to expand the medical camp since it is really understaffed right now. But why should we persuade those wounded soldiers to stay?”

Of course, Davos can’t say that when he came to this strange world, he has a strong sence of insecurity, so the more soldiers he commanded, the more he can dispel his uneasiness. In front of Cheiristoya’s curious gaze, he revealed a little of his intention, “We still have a long way to go till we get home, I don’t know how many difficulties we will face. It is better for us to have the soldiers under us than them being led by others, so that we can be more safer and can display their abilities to the fullest!”

After hearing this, Cheiristoya looked at Davos’ young face and was stunned, he is an ambitious and confident man. In a trance, his face coincided with that of Cyrus the Younger, which made Cheiristoya slightly afraid, so she stepped forward and hugged Davos.

Chapter 48 – Race Against Time (I)

“What’s wrong?” Davos felt the strange look on her face.

“…back to Greece…what do you want to do?” Cheiristoya asked softly.

“Oh… I haven’t thought about it yet…” Said Davos, but in fact, he was thinking about it all this time, but he hadn’t figure it out, “But one thing is for sure, no matter where I go, I will take you!”

Cheiristoya put her face on Davos’ broad shoulder, stroked his rough skin and firmly said, “I’ll follow you wherever you go!” After that, she thought of something and stressed one sentence, “But you’d better not go back to Asia Minor!”

“Why?” Davos was slightly surprised.

“Because it could become a battlefield.” Cheiristoya’ words surprised Davos, “I heard from Cyrus the Younger-“

Cheiristoya subconsciously glanced at Davos once more and saw that there was no abnormality on his expression, and so she added, “The conflict between Sparta and Tissaphernes is deep, and the Spartans were involved in the Persian rebellion. Now that Tissaphernes is back in Asia Minor, he will not miss this chance to punish Sparta. Because Sparta is now the protector of the Greek city-states, and is bound to replace Athens as the protector of the Greek city-states in Asia Minor. However, in order to get the support of the Persians, Sparta reached an agreement with them, Sparta agreed to hand over the Greek city-states in Asia Minor to Persia. At the end of the war with Athens, Sparta had been dragging out this agreement, and… Cyrus the Younger, for some reason, did not urge Sparta. So…”

“So, now that the new king sat on the throne, Tissaphernes will return to Asia Minor and will surely urge Sparta to fulfill the original agreement on behalf of the Persian king!” Davos didn’t expect that there was such a secret between Sparta and Persia. Sparta acting shameless suprised him, but it was understandable. If Sparta agreed, then it’s a betrayal for the Greek hegemon to actually give the land of his countryman to the enemies of the Greeks, this is simply “betraying the motherland”! There is no doubt that it will greatly damage their prestige that they had established after winning the Peloponnesian War, and even some city-states will rise up against its hegemon due to dissatisfaction. If they disagree, then it will be a violation of the agreement, and a war may erupt.

Davos stroked his chin and was deep in thought, ‘Did Cheirisophus took the initiative to talk to me in order to win me over?’ He thought about it and suddenly made him recall something, “Cheiristoya, I’m not going to Asia Minor, but are you not gonna go back to Miletus?”

“I just said that I would follow you!” Cheiristoya then said with a slight gloom on her expression, “Besides, I will bring disaster to my family if I go back now.”

Davos immediately understood what she meant, as a concubine of Cyrus the younger, she is an important family of a rebel, her return will undoubtedly attract the Persian authorities to her family in Miletus.

Thinking about this, Davos comforted her and said, “You can rest assure that one day, I will let you go home!”

Cheiristoya looked at Davos, who was very serious, and the haze on her face gradually fade, “I believe in you!”

She put the himation on her head and said, “Now that you made me manage the medical camp, I will start exercising my rights. I will give those female slaves their freedom, so that they will work harder to take care of the wounded.”

“This is your right. But I have to speak to Mersis first.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

3 days later, the mercenary troops began marching.

In the afternoon, Tissaphernes came with his army.

When the leaders got the news from the scouts, they quickly led the troops to the nearby village and started camping since there are too many soldiers in the mercenary troops who can’t fight at this time; the wounded, the soldiers carrying the wounded, then the soldiers carrying the weapons of the wounded and the soldiers carrying them. The reduction of a large number of soldiers who can fight made it impossible for the mercenaries to march and fight at the same time like they did before.

When Tissaphernes army arrived at the village, the mercenaries found that the flag representing Orontes and Siste was nowhere to be found. The officers speculated that the reason why Tissaphernes didn’t appear for a while was due to him seeing off the two royal nobles. At the same time, they began to worry about the later routes. They don’t have to worry about the Persian king’s brother, but Orontes is the satrap of Armenia, and will likely intercept the mercenaries on their way to Armenia.

The Persian army was attacked by the slingers of the mercenaries, then they also started shooting arrows in front of the camp, and the two sides started their daily long-range attack on each other. Due to this method of attack, the Persian army suffered losses, specially now that the mercenaries have the protection of a camp and the advantage is more obvious. The leaders couldn’t understand why the shrewd Tissaphernes was in a rash.

The battle lasted only for a dozen minutes, and Tissaphernes then retreated with his army. The camp of the Persian army is 5km away from the mercenary camp because they are afraid of getting attacked at night due to them having many cavalry, which will lead to chaos.

After the leaders discussed, they decided to let the soldiers rest at dusk, march before dawn, and camp if the Persian army catches up. This is not only to ensure the safety of the troops, but also won’t delay their march.

In fact, this arrangements of the leaders seemed superfluous, since the Persian army did not appear for 3 consecutive days until the 4th morning, the cavalry ahead of them reported that the path ahead was narrow, and there are several peaks on the side of the road, among which, traces of Persians were found on the lower mountain. The previous lesson made the leaders extremely cautious.

“Just like before, I will lead a unit around the right side of the mountain in order to drive them away.” Because of his previous success, Xenophon said it with his face full of confidence.

Just then, the scouts at the rear came to report that they had found the great army of Tissaphernes!

This news immediately made the leaders nervous, since the combat effectiveness of the mercenaries is not as good as before, and they have too many wounded, so the mercenaries are afraid to fight with all their strength. At this time, the whole troops is located in a hilly area, the terrain is narrow which is not conducive to the deployment of the troops. In addition, the amount of people is too dense which will greatly increase the casualties under the long-range attack. It is obvious that this time, Tissaphernes carefully planned to give the mercenaries a huge blow.

Emergency! Cheirisophus was not able to discuss with the other leaders, and seriously said to Xenophon, “You need to get rid of the Persians that occupied the mountains as fast as possible in order to ensure our smooth passage. As long as you captured the mountain, we will be able to guard the mountain path, and Tissaphernes won’t dare pursue us anymore.”

“I need some light infantry!” Xenophon immediately made his request.

“I can’t give you the archers and slingers since they are the only one that can fight Tissaphernes.” Cheirisophus made a statement in advance.

“I have 500 peltast that I can dispatch.” First of all, Davos had said that they can’t save their strength at this time and must work together in order to weather the storm.

Xenophon was very grateful to Davos because he has expressed his support to him many times in public.

“I’ll give you 800 Thracian peltast!” Timasion glance then said it out loud. Because the former leader of Timasion, Clearchus, used the money given to him by Cyrus the Younger to recruit mercenaries in Chersonese and attacked the Thracian army near Hellespont for more than a year, and so he recruited many Thracians, which made his camp have the most peltast among the Greek mercenaries.

Xenophon once more expressed his gratitude, he then quickly set off together with his 200 infantry, for a total of 1,500 soldiers.

The leaders also ordered the whole mercenary troops to speed up their march and move closer to the mountain path while raising their guard.

When Xenophon led his troops to the foot of the mountain and found that the Persians occupied a mountain, as he was about to order an attack, at this time, Epiphanes, the leader of the first peltast unit under Davos, put forward his opinion. He pointed to the mountain and said, “Xenophon, look at the mountain next to the Persians. If we attack the Persians directly, they may retreat to the higher mountain again…this will not only delay us, but also make our attack more difficult. It’s better for us to occupy the higher mountain peak first, and then throw javelins and stones at the Persians, so that we can easily defeat them.”

The peltast captains all said that the approach of Epiphanes was good, and so, Xenophon followed it and ordered the troops to quickly occupy the mountain peak!

Chapter 49 – Race Against Time (II)

The Persians were prepared to defend against the attack of the mercenaries. Later, they gradually discovered that the mercenaries route was clearly the nearby mountain. They were shocked and realized that they had made a mistake, they then gathered their troops to march towards the nearby mountain…

By this time, Tissaphernes army was approaching the mountain pass, while the mercenaries formed their formation near the mountain pass. The supply camp and the wounded were all concentrated in the rear, which was close to the mountain occupied by the Persians. If the Persians on the mountain shot their arrows with all their strength, then they would be able to reach the edge of the mercenary troops. But at this moment, these Persians and Xenophon’s troops were all rushing to the mountain peak from 2 directions at the same time.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Hold the shield!”

“Slingers be ready!”

“Archers be ready!”

The leaders with their imposing expression, gave the orders to their troops loudly. In front of the mercenary troops, the Persians approach them like tides, and slowly spread their formation…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Fast! Fast! Brothers, persevere, you are competing for our survival! At this moment, with a little more strength, we will be able to march more easily in the future and avoid many troublesome battles!” Xenophon encouraged the troops as he led the way up the mountain.

When they reached the mountainside, the soldiers obviously felt muscle-ache, panting and slowing down. They could see that when the Persians on the side of the mountain peak are doing the same thing, and gave them a sense of urgency, which made them dare not relax.

Although the Persians are closer to the mountain peak, but they are on the steeper side of the mountain, unlike the mercenaries who are walking on the gentle slope behind the mountain.

In the “mountain competition” between the 2 troops, the Greek had the last laugh. They manage to get to the top of the mountain first and threw javelins and stones at the Persians who were climbing in spite of their fatigue.

The Persians turned around and fled, they even abandoned their original position as they run to the foot of the mountain..

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The long-range attack of Tissaphernes is still going on. Although the casualties of his troops are increasing, he still did not give the order to withdraw, which greatly pressured the mercenaries, but just as they are struggling to support, the cavalry scout rushed to report that Xenophon had sent a message that they have occupied the mountain and had driven away the Persians!

“Retreat!” Cheirisophus breathed a sigh of relief.

As a result, the mercenaries began an orderly retreat…

The Persian army closed in step by step…

When all the mercenaries retreated into the mountain path, and the Persians who were still following them entered the range of Xenophon troops, they were then hit by the stones and javelins from the top of the mountain, only then did they blow the bugle to sound the retreat…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The mercenaries walked down the mountain path and entered a plain. There are quite a few villages here, the mercenaries then began camping, treat the wounded, and provide a lot of rations, because the guides said that the mountain ahead is Corduene. For this reason, the leaders held an important meeting.

“We Greeks resisted Persia, and the Carduchians are also against Persia. According to the guides, the Persians had sent around 100,000 troops to attack the Carduchians, but they were defeated. Since we and the Carduchians are all enemies of Persia, we and the Carduchians should be able to get along with each other. What’s more, we only need to go to Armenia and will not infringe on the Carduchians in any way, and as long as we send envoys to express our wish of peace with them, I believe that they will accept it!…” Xenophon spoke with fervor and assurance, he had become more confident after this period of time.

“Get on friendly terms with them? That’s easy to say!” Timasion sneered at him, he didn’t like the public display of Xenophon. Both Davos and Xenophon are young and outstanding, and are showing too much of their ability, which made Cleanor, Timasion and other veteran mercenaries to be somewhat dissatisfied, “Ten thousand troops have entered their territory, and they have defeated the Persian army many times, the Carduchians won’t be tense?! Are they not afraid?! I don’t believe it! Oh…you said that we are only passing through Corduene, but if we suddenly attack when passing through their settlement? The price they will pay would be too high, would the Carduchians take this risk? You should know that the Carduchians are fierce and savage, and even Persia, who has vast territory that surround them, is afraid. Would they agree with our demands, from us who came from thousands of miles away?!”

After Timasion just finished speaking, Cleanor then said, “A few days ago, my soldiers captured several Carduchians slaves of the Persians. After questioning them, I learned that ‘Carduchians’ was only the name given by the Persians to the people living in this mountain area, In fact, there many tribes and different races in the Corduene mountain, they often fight and kill each other for the benefit of their tribe, and some of the tribes even went so far as to become mortal enemies. Now the problem is – even if we can get an agreement on one tribe, after climbing few mountains, we may be attack by another tribe. But if we go negotiate with each individual tribes then the negotiation will take too long, which will have us starving. You must know that the Corduene mountain is a barren land and have shortage of food!”

“It seems that we can only forcefully enter!” At this moment, Hieronymus, who rarely talked, said with a strong tone, “When we enter Corduene, we won’t take the initiative to attack them, but if anyone dares to attack us then we will hit them hard!”

“At that time, I don’t know who will be fiercer” Xanthicles helplessly said, “Before, when the Persians occupied the mountains, they caused us a lot of trouble and it was just a few mountains! But once we enter Corduene, it will be all mountains. Most of us are hoplites and we have a lot of supplies, we will have a difficult time marching, let alone fight. The Carduchians are familiar with the terrain, climbing is a skill they have trained since childhood, while we can only rely on a guide. And the mountain path is narrow, and our troops will only get longer, and the Carduchians can appear out of nowhere to attack us, but we have no way to seize them…” Xanthicles’ words made everyone silent.

Xenophon then took the opportunity to say, “So we still have to negotiate with the Carduchians?”

Everyone ignored him and looked at Cheirisophus.

Cheirisophus looked at Davos, who hadn’t spoke in the corner, and asked, “Leader Davos, what do you think?”

Davos smiled and slowly said, “After listening to what everyone had said just now, there is in fact 2 opinions. First, is to negotiate with the Carduchians, the advantage is safety, and the disadvantage is that will take too much time and the Carduchians may disagree. Second, is to forcefully enter, which has the advantage of saving time, but the disadvantage is the heavy casualties. Therefore, why don’t we combine these 2 opinions into 1?”

Into 1 method? Everyone looked at each other, and Cheirisophus was also confused.

Philesius, who was next to him, saw their expressions and made him inwardly laughed. In fact, the officers of Davos camp had already discussed this matter last night. When Davos told them his method, everyone was shocked by his strange idea and made them admit that this method is feasible. Now, he can’t help but feel a sense of superiority in front of the leaders.

They all asked in unison, “How?”

“Find a tribe, cooperate with them and let them open a path for us!” Said Davos.

Everyone was stunned.

Xenophon was the first to react, “Davos, you mean…to have the Carduchians fight the other Carduchians?! Is this possible?”

“Benefits, as long as there are benefits, then everything is possible!” Said Davos possitively.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

During the 3 days the mercenaries camp, the Persian cavalry appeared several times, attacking individual soldiers who had separated from the troops, taking away the livestock and trying to set the village on fire.

After the leaders discussed, they thought that Tissaphernes was doing this in order to prevent the mercenaries from entering Corduene, and even burned the territory and people of the Persian king. In order to prevent him from doing anything more insane, the mercenary troops entered Corduene ahead of time.

So in the morning of the fourth day, the mercenaries decamp and started marching northward.

Tissaphernes watched the long dragon troops of the Greek mercenaries from afar, gradually being shrouded by the shadows of the mountains…

Chapter 50 – Negotiation

“Lord satrap, are we really letting these Greeks go like this?” The adjustant on his side asked unwillingly.

“Letting them go?!” Tissaphernes ruthlessly glanced at him, “This is the king’s order, I have succeeded in driving the Greek savages into Corduene according to his will! Do you believe that they will have an easy time?!”

Tissaphernes fiercely said, while pointing to the mountains, “Steep and narrow mountain paths, snake and insect infested forest, and the fierce Carduchians will devour their courage! Even if they manage to get past the Carduchians, there is still the army of Orontes waiting for them! Even if Orontes could not stop them, they would meet the Chalybian, Chaldaean, Macrones…and let these savages fight against each other! Let see how many Greek savages that can go back to Greece in the end?!”

He sneered and said, “We don’t need to spend all our time and energy here, since we still have important things to do in Asia Minor. Troops, withdraw! Let’s return!” He simply called out, then turned his horse around and didn’t notice the expressionless face of Ariaeus not far away, with a slight daze while subconciously once more looking back at the rolling mountain: It was a great feat in capturing the Greek mercenary leaders, with everything going well, but due to Mithridates and Artaozus getting killed, and more than 10,000 soldiers were killed, it had led to his achievement getting reduced. Next, he hope that the Greeks, as they hope, will completely annihilate themselves in the mountains so that it will solve the hatred on his heart!

But, can it really be done?

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The mercenaries arrived at the edge of Corduene mountain on the second day and began camping. The next move will depend on the success of Marigi’s mission to the Carduchian tribe.

Davos and the other leaders sent Marigi to the mountain pass, accompanied by dozens of soldiers led by Hielos. They drove several wagons full of armor, shields, and spears from the dead Persian soldiers, which are the equipment that the Carduchians are lacking. In addition, there are a dozen Carduchians, mainly the slaves that Mersis intercepted from the Persian village under the order of Davos.

“Marigi, it’s all up to you!” Davos gave him a big hug and whispered in his ear, “If things don’t work out, then leave as soon as possible and Hielos will help you escape. It doesn’t matter if the negotiation isn’t successful, since we could just forcefully enter, while your safety is the most important thing.”

Marigi was stunned, then looked at the other leaders behind Davos, and immediately said, “Don’t worry, with these weapons, our negotiation with those Carduchians is already half successful! I have many dealings with the leader of this tribe, Kangmoro, and I still know him better. He has always been very ambitious, and tried his best to make his tribe stronger by monopolizing the trade channel between the mountains of Armenia, Corduene, and Medea. Therefore, he fought with the surrounding tribes and I believe our proposal will make him interested!”

“I hope so.” Timasion came forward, then said with a blunt tone, “You’d better hurry up, don’t forget, we can only wait for you here for a day!”

Marigi glanced at him and didn’t continue speaking.

Davos ignored Timasion and went to give Hielos a more powerful hug. For Hielos, who strongly urged him to move forward and repeatedly persuade him a lot of times, knew that Davos choice is right. Only this most powerful confidant can make Marigi fully believe that in any case, Davos will not give them up easily.

Davos felt thankful in his heart and said to Hilos, “Come back safe, brother!”

Hielos took a step back and performed a solemn salute.

Davos watched as they walk into the forest until the dense trees completely covered them…

“It feels weird that we were driven here by the Persians, yet we still have to rely on a Persian to help us out of danger.” Said Cleanor in a strange tone.

“Don’t think too much, Cleanor. Aren’t we all looking forward to the Persian being successful?” Said Xanthicles lightly.

“Perhaps this is the arrangement of the gods, they are pleased with this kind of marvelous collision of fate.” Xenophon’s gaze is full of expectations, “And now we have to wait patiently.”

“In addition to waiting, get ready to fight.” Cheirisophus reminded everyone. With that, he turned around and went back to the camp.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On this day, the mercenary leaders banned all the soldiers from going out, in order to prevent these idle mercenaries from plundering and clashing with the Carduchians, which will affect their plans, and at the same time, raising the defense against the attacks from the Carduchians or Persians.

But nothing happened on that day. There are occasionally only few Carduchians with fur jackets and red stripes on their faces that wandered around the camp with hatchets and bows.

The soldiers watched and tried to find fault.

Compared with the relaxed and comfortable soldiers, the leaders were worried about whether their plan can be accepted by the Carduchians, specially Davos, who didn’t manage to sleep well all night.

Until the early morning of the next day, Asistes entered his quarter and woke him up, “Marigi is back!”

Davos was so excited that his drowsiness disappeared.

“Leader Kangmoro, the leader of the Carduchian tribe, has listened to my suggestion and is willing to form an alliance with us!” Marigi’s excited voice sounded behind Asistes.

“Great!” Davos jumped up and put his hands on the shoulders of Marigi and happily said, “You saved the entire mercenary, and all Greek soldiers would like to thank you!”

There was a smile on the face of Marigi, and he looked embarassed, “Hielos and the others didn’t return because Kangmoro was going to entertain them.”

Davos was stunned, he heard the unusual tone of Marigi, and asked with his complexion turned unsightly, “Hostage?”

Marigi immediately explained, “Yes, in order to be safe, because Kangmoro wants to discuss the alliance with the leaders in person!”

Davos’ face softened a little and asked, “When? Where?”

“He originally wanted to negotiate with you in a fortified mountain village, but I refused. Finally, after repeated arguments, the place was set at the foot of the mountain ahead this afternoon.” Marigi stressed the difficulty of his negotiations.

“This afternoon…at the foot of the mountain ahead…” Davos pondered and raised his eyebrows and said, “It seems that this Kangmoro is eager to form an alliance with us!”

“Yes, leader!”

“What are you waiting for! Come with me and go to Cheirisophus and the others!” After that, they strode out.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the afternoon, Cheirisophus, Cleanor, Davos, and 50 Spartan warriors was led by Marigi to the foot of the mountain. In order to avoid repeating the same mistake that Clearchus and the other leaders being captured all at once, the other mercenary leaders led their troops to the mountain pass 500 meters away from the foot of the mountain.

“Right over there.” In front of Marigi’s finger, there is a stump on the grass not far away and was bigger than the round shield of the Greek soldiers. The section is polished smooth and flat, it was half a man tall and have several wooden blocks around it. Besides the stump, there is a curved path extending up to the depth of the mountain…

“This Carduchian leader is a man with high aspiration.” As the one advocating this plan, Davos had to show his confidence, so he was the first to walk over and removed the dust and leaves from the stump and sat down.

Cheirisophus also calmly sat down.

Cleanor looked around, then sat down slowly.

Marigi was standing beside Davos.

At this time, it is already late autumn. It was warm when they march in the Tigris river before. In the Corduene mountain, the weather turned cold and the grass began to wither, the leaves continued to fall as the mountain wind blow, and the ground was covered with a think layer of leaves.

Cheirisophus looked up at the branches that started to get bare and worriedly said , “We must pass through this mountain area as soon as possible, otherwise it will become colder once winter comes, and the soldiers doesn’t have thick clothes to keep them warm…”

What Cheirisophus said reminded Davos of the thing that he never really thought about.

When the 3 people began to discuss how to cope with the arrival of winter, the Carduchians came, dozen of sturdy young men, as well as an old man dressed strangely.

Chapter 51 – Carduchians

Cheirisophus’ gaze was focused on the man in the middle first, he was slightly thin compared with the brawny men around him, but he is wearing a short-sleeved leather robe with a lot of bright-colored fur to make up for the defect in his body shape. In addition, he is wearing a tawny Persian robe covering his exposed legs.

When his light brown gleaming eyes locked on the men of Cheirisophus, he raised his right hand and listened to the shout of the old Carduchian, “The leader of the Carduchian’s great Sokangte tribe greets the guests from afar!”

The mountain people strike their wooden shield with the hatchet, and came a sound from their mouth, “O LA O LA…”

The high-pitched, animal like roar made Davos’ eardrum uncomfortable. Several of the mercenary leaders were at a loss because the old man spoke in the language of the Carduchian. Marigi immediately translated it to them in a low voice, and soon they regained their calm, and even Davos curiously enjoyed the primitive way of hospitality.

Marigi, with the consent of the leaders, also loudly shouted in the language of the Carduchians, “The Spartan ephor, Cheirisophus, sends his friendly greetings to chief Kangmoro!” Just as his voice fades, the 50 silent Spartan warriors shouted at the same time, “HOO! HAA!” Accompanied by the two roars was a uniform stabbing on the ground with their spear, and the opening and joining of their round shield, then the silence was restored. Compared with the noise of the other side, the Spartan warriors were low-key and reserved, but it gave an invisible pressure on the people.

Kangmoro’s complexion slightly changed, and his eyes were fixed on the 50 warriors who were as tall and straight as pine, and with a big symbol “Λ” in the center of their round shield held in their hand, while muttering to himself, “Sparta…”

Over the past centuries, the prestige of the Spartan warriors has spread throughout the Mediterranean, and even the people in this remote mountain area have heard a bit about them. He raised his right hand, and the roaring of the mountain people stopped. He then said in the Persian language, “Welcome! Please sit down!”

As an ephor of Sparta, Cheirisophus, who often have contacts with Persia, can of course undestand it, he then also replied him in the Persian language, “Please sit down as well!”

The negotiations officially began…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

To Davos expectation, the seemingly Carduchian savages were particularly shrewd in their negotiations, specially Kangmoro. Their demands were to use the Greeks mercenaries as a laborer and hired thugs, and their reasons were quite adequate, ‘When our tribe become an ally of the Greek mercenaries, it will then offend the powerful Persia and also get isolated and excluded by the other tribes in Corduene. There must be enough benefits to make the whole tribe to agree in signing the alliance.’

The Greek’s negotiating ability is also not weak. Cheirisophus’ diplomatic ability is beyond doubt since Sparta had sent him as a liaison to Cyrus the Younger. While Davos, as the main director of the urban High-Teach Development Zone in his previous life, had participated in many business negotiations. Plus Marigi, a merchant who is greatly familiar with the Carduchians.

Before they came, the mercenaries had already agreed on the bottom line that they must adhere to: and that is, the marching route of the Greek mercenaries must be decided by them and not at the mercy of outsiders. They deliberately showed that they didn’t attach great importance to this alliance. When the negotiation was in a stalemate, Cleanor had repeatedly said that it was okay if the alliance doesn’t succeed since their soldiers can just forcefully enter.

Due to this, the chief of the Sokangte tribe have a headache. After all, they are the first stumbling block on the way of the mercenaries to Armenia. They can undoubtedly take advantage of them, but they have to choose to fight and defeat the Greeks who had defeated Persia. Of course, they can also choose not to fight head-on, the Mercenaries have no way to attack them, but their stronghold can’t be move, so their houses and goods can’t be saved. What’s more, this will hit the prestige of Kangmoro, and will increase the coveting of the surrounding tribes on the Sokangte tribe.

After several clashes, the alliance was finally reached:

First, the Greek mercenaries and the Sokangte tribe of Corduene became allies, and the two sides will be on friendly terms and refrain from attacking each other.

Second, The Greek mercenaries will decide their own marching route, and the tribes near the route will be attack by the mercenaries and the Sokangte tribe together. The mercenaries will get 60% of the goods and wealth, while the Sokangte tribe will get 40%. The captured enemies will be handed over to the Sokangte tribe. The mercenaries could not kill or plunder indiscriminately without the consent of the Sokangte tribe.

Third, During the operation, Cheirisophus and Kangmoro will coordinate the command, and if there are differences that cannot be resolved, the operation will be cancelled. (This one was originally put forward by Cheirisophus for fear that Kangmoro, for the sake of the interests of the tribe and regardless of the lives of the mercenaries, will take some tactics against the mercenaries. Therefore, this was specially emphasized. In fact, this part has not been implemented in the end, because after tasting the sweetness, Kangmoro was afraid that the mercenaries would cancel assault plan. Therefore, when the mercenaries have any objection, he would take the initiative to seek a solution while consulting Cheirisophus.)

Fourth, If the Sokangte tribe has special targets to attack and is not near the marching route of the mercenaries, then they can hire the Greeks to attack, but they will need to consult with the leaders and obtain the consent of the mercenary soldiers. (This one is mainly the request of Kangmoro, while Cheirisophus and Davos, after discussing, thought that if this cooperation between the two sides went smoothly, then the targets to be attacked will only be close to each other, and it is not impossible for the mercenaries to be employed. After all, since the death of Cyrus the Younger, the soldiers are no longer paid.)…The alliance will be implemented on the same day, and ends when the Greek mercenaries leaves Corduene.

The last step to implement the alliance is a sacrifice. Cheirisophus was ready for this, he ordered 3 white lambs to be slaughtered, and the fresh blood was to be placed on the stump. The Sokangte tribe also slaughtered a deer.

Then the two sides inserted wood strips around the stump, lit it on fire, and read aloud the clauses of the alliance written in Persian on the two animal skins. There were no priests in the mercenary troops, so Cheirisophus had to do it. On the Carduchian side, it was performed by the oddly dressed witch.

When the sacrifice was over and the two sides began to discuss their next action, a mountain wind came and caused the leaf to fall and blew out the torches around the stump, which made the expression of everyone change. The Greeks, including the silent Spartans, respectfully called out the name of “Zeus”, while the Carduchians fell to their knees and paid respect to the mountain god that they worshipped. Obviously, everyone thought that the gods had come by and made their presence known in order to recognized this alliance.

As a result, the attitude of both sides was much more energetic. Kangmoro had even sent one of his sons to the mercenary troops as a guide.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

20 days later, the mercenaries left the Corduene mountains and entered the plains.

In the past 20 days, the mercenaries cooperated with the Sokangte tribe to breach 4 mountain villages and also defeated an alliance of Carduchian tribes. The casualties in the battle were not small, but they manage to seize a lot of supplies, which made their rations keep up during the long march in the mountains. The gains of the Sokangte tribe was even greater, most of the captured mountain people, except the fanatics, are forced to join the Sokangte tribe. No one knew how big the population of the Sokangte tribe became, but it’s obvious that Kangmoro was satisfied, as it can be seen from his sincere gift of a good white wolf skin to Cheirisophus at the time of their parting.

One afternoon, they found some villages after a few days since the mercenaries had marched in the plain. Hence, the mercenaries happily stopped moving forward, and started driving away the villagers, plundering supplies, and camping in the village. They can finally sleep well without worrying about getting bitten by snakes and insects.

The next morning, the mercenaries marched to the river Centrites(T/N: Kentrites or Botan River), which is the border between Armenia and the country of the Carduchians, the river is about 60 meters wide.

According to the guide, the troops came to the place where there was a pontoon bridge, but found that it had been burned.

The leaders looked at the burning marks of the bridge piles on the river bank, and their hearts sank: the Persians are nearby!

Cheirisophus immediately order Ledes and his cavalry squad to explore the surrounding area(after they entered the mountain area, the cavalry squad lost a lot of horses, leaving only 5~6). At the same time, he ordered some soldiers go down the river to explore the depth of the water.

After they received the order, several soldiers that are good swimmer took off their armor and walked into the river, the water reached their chest when they reached the middle of the river.

At this time, someone shouted, “Persian!”

Immediately, there was a commotion in the troops. There are many Persian cavalry on the other side of the hill, while on the plain below the hill, are Persian infantry in battle formation. They raise the dust which filled the whole sky as they marched towards the river bank…

Chapter 52 – Crossing the River (I)

“All troops in formation!” the officers shouted.

The soldiers in the river retreated in a hurry and were almost swept away by the current.

“There are many big and round rocks at the bottom of the river, which makes it slippery and hard to walk!” The soldiers reported it to the leaders after they came ashore.

“It seems that it is difficult for us to cross the river from here when there are Persians on the opposite side!” Said Timasion helplessly, while the other leaders agreed. They watched the other side closely: the Persians had stopped moving forward as they were close to the river bank, and their row were about a mile long and seemed that they have no less than 20,000 soldiers.

“It’s the army of Orontes!” Said Cleanor while in shocked.

Xenophon regretfully said, “It seems that he is ahead of us.”

Xanthicles pointed to the other side of the river in amazement and said, “Look, he hired a lot of Chaldaeans!”

Chaldaeans? Davers didn’t know about them, as he looked at Philesius in confusion.

“The Chaldaeans are tribes living in Armenia. They are said to be fierce and aggressive. The Persians like to recruit them as heavy infantry.” Explained Philesius, as he pointed to the other side, “Look, that’s them!”

In the direction of his fingers, Davos saw some Chaldaeans in leather helmet, robes, long shields and spears standing at the forefront of the Persian army.

“Orontes seems to be trying to stop us, but too bad, the Chaldaean are not our opponent!” Said Timasion not willing to be outdone.

“But with this river, everything is hard to say.” Said Xanthicles with a slight pessimistic.

“Have the soldiers camp and rest first, then send people to explore whether there is a better place in the river to cross on foot.” Said Cheirisophus calmly.

The order was conveyed and the troops retreated to a camp less than a mile from the river Centrites.

Before long, Ledes brought back informations, there are no trace of the Persians found on the river bank, but there are some Carduchians spotted in the nearby mountains spying on them. This made the leaders frown.

“Go get Izam.” Said Cheirisophus.

Izam was the son of Kangmoro, the chief of Sokangte tribe, that was sent to be their guide. As a result, the energetic young man had a strong curiosity about the distant Greece as he stayed with the Greeks for 20 days. He didn’t want to go back to the secluded mountain village, and wanted to go out wandering from place to place. With the consent of Kangmoro, the mercenaries accepted him.

When Izam got the news, he was stunned and immediately swore that those Carduchians were not sent by the Sokangte tribe. And volunteered himself to scout.

With the consent of the leaders, Ledes took him with him. 30 minutes later, he came back to report that those men are from the tribes that had allied together in the mountains to attack the Greek mercenaries, some of whom he had seen before.

After Izam left, Xenophon breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Just like what I had said, Kangmoro and us have cooperated very well previously. They couldn’t have started having ideas as soon as we split up.”

Cleanor snorted, “Don’t readily place your trust on those Carduchians. How do you know that this son of Kangmoro didn’t lie?! We have all seen what Kangmoro does, after every battle, he would argue with us about the ownership of the spoils for half a day. He won’t even let go a clay pot. Such a greedy man, now that we are going to fight the Persians again, how can he let this great chance slip by!”

“Let alone now that the alliance has ended, and there is nothing restraining him anymore!” Timasion added.

“We have his son!” Reminded Xenophon.

“I heard that he has more than 10 sons. It is no deal to him if one died. And who knows if Kangmoro had made up his mind and let him to be a spy?!” Cleanor retorted.

Davos, who was sitting in the corner, looked at the atmosphere of the quarter. Xenophon is an active and energetic man, with his recent familiarity with the mercenary affairs, he became more active. In the views of some leaders, they think that he is showing off, and will try to look for opportunities to strike him from time to time. Davos had once advised him to restrain himself, but his answer was, “I haven’t done anything wrong. Hades had asked me to come here, not to please someone, but to contribute in saving the lives of more than ten thousand Greek brothers!”

In contrast, the younger Davos is much more modest. When he became a leader, he worked hard to perform and won respect and prestige for himself, he is usually reserved when discussing matters and often just listens, since he knew that these leaders have been wandering on the battlefield for many years and have rich experience, which is worth learning and reflecting on.

“We all know that Kangmoro is an ambitious and intelligent man who knows when and what he would do. Now, the most important thing that the Sokangte tribe should do is to quickly annex and digest the four tribes, and have them integrate into his tribe so that they can become his strength. Therefore, I don’t think he will provoke us just after leaving the mountain and parting with us, since his tribe’s internal situation is still unstable, and he knows that our troops is powerful, specially since he has a lot of enemies around him.” Said Davos in a low voice. He has a good relationship with Xenophon, and so wants to help him both in public and private.

“So, the people that had come to spy on us, just as the kid said, are from the tribes that we had defeated. But instead of attacking the Sokangte tribe, they provoke us who are much more powerful.” Taunted Cleanor.

“Just like what you had said previously, they had come to see if they can get some small advantages.” Davos responded wittily.

Cheirisophus said, “Whether they are members of the Sokangte tribe or not, as long as we are on guard, we are not afraid of anyone in the plain. It is currently important to find a way to cross the river, break through the defense line of Orontes, and enter Armenia. Otherwise, the longer we are delayed, the greater the difficulty.”

The leaders were silent.

Time passed, and they still have no discovery.

The next day, there was still no good news, but there was a lot of bad news. There were more and more Carduchians in the nearby mountains, and Ledes had roughly estimated that there were more than a thousand people. It seems that the Persian soldiers on the opposite side are also increasing, while they sense that their supplies are rapidly decreasing, and the soldiers who went out to collect firewood got attacked by the Carduchians from time to time…

The grim situation not ony made the soldiers worried, but the leaders had also felt it. As the leaders discussed, Xenophon suggested that Izam should go back to his tribe and find his father, Kangmoro, to see if he could help the mercenaries drive out the Carduchians.

He was then ridiculed by Timasion, and the two sides had even quarreled.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the morning of the third day, Xenophon, with 2 young soldiers, entered the tent proudly. The 2 soldiers had found a place where they could easily walk across the river.

Hearing this news, the previous conflicts of the leaders had disappeared, and they become excited.

In order not to attract the attention of the Persians on the other side, Cheirisophus changed into a normal soldier outfit and walked with the soldiers to the place where they could cross the river…

By the time he came back, they saw the relaxed expression of Cheirisophus, and realized that he had crossed the river.

Chapter 53 – Crossing the River (II)

“The place to cross the river is 4 km upstream from our camp. The width of the river is about 85 meters, and the deepest part reaches till the waist. The bottom of the river is sand and gravel, which is neither too slippery nor hard. This side of the river bank is flat, while the other side has many rocks…” Cheirisophus gave a brief summary of the exploration he carried out.

“This is most probably the best place to cross the river! Let’s gather the whole troops at once and cross the river quickly!” Said Timasion excitedly.

“However, we should also consider that Orontes troops will stop us on the other side of the river. If we cross the river forcibly, then the casualties of our soldiers will increase!” Xanthicles said cautiously.

“The Persians would never imagine that we would wade across the river so easily! And as long as we rush to the other side of the river at the fastest speed, we will definitely be able to give them a sneak attack!” Said Timasion confidently.

“Don’t forget, there are Carduchians on our rear! What about our supply camp? Moreover, the Persians have a lot more troops than us, and they also have the Chaldaeans. As long as they can withstand our impact for a while on the river back, then we will be in trouble. And who knows how long the sand in the river can support the soldiers!” Said Xanthicles with a slight concern.

Timasion ask straight away, “Do you have a better method?”

Xanthicles said, “Aren’t we all here to discuss how to cross the river smoothly and minimize our losses?”

“I thought you came up with something?” Timasion looked at him.

“I have a suggestion.” Xenophon interjected, “We can split some of the soldiers to protect the supply camp. When the main troops is ready to cross the river, these soldiers will lead the supply camp to pretend to cross the river at the former pontoon bridge. The Persians will surely think that we will gonna cross the river again from there, we will then attack them from the rear and we will split our troops to defend, once the main troops defeat the enemy on the opposite side, then these soldiers protecting the supply camp will go back to the place where the troops fought and cross the river. In this way, the troops are scatted and the supply camp is protected. What do you think?” Said Xenophon while being slightly proud.

They have to admit that Xenophon’s plan is good, and everyone lost in thoughts. After a while, Cleanor asked, “The supply camp is very large, how many soldiers do we need to assign to protect it? If it is too many, then it will affect the time in defeating the Persians. Moreover, the supply camp and the soldiers will march back and forth and not only will they get easily exhausted, but they will also be easily attacked by the Carduchians. Have you considered this?”

“This…” Xenophon hesitatingly said, “It is inevitable that there will be casualties in war, but as long as we can minimize our loss…”

At this point, Davos said, “Xenophon’s words inspired me, and allowed me to think of a solution.”

Everyone focused on him as soon as he started talking, because it was proven a lot of times that this youngest leader had never spoke casually, and his suggestion has always solved the problems.

“We won’t cross the river during the day.” Davos looked at the leaders and saw that they were slightly astonished as they continued to listen quietly, “In the evening, we will send troops across the river to find a place to hide after the Persians have all gone to sleep in their camp. When our main troops are fighting the Persians tomorrow, those troops will sneak attack the rear of the Persian formation, which will end up disrupting their formation and it will not only let us defeat the Persians, but also possibly wipe out some of them, thus weakening the Persians. And therefore, once we enter Armenia, we will be able to reach the Black Sea more smoothly…”

Everyone’s eyes brighten. Davos’ suggestion is trully ingenious and out of the ordinary. But in fact, the thinking of the leaders are just trapped in the military tradition of clashing head-on that the Greeks had admired for centuries, while Davos’ plan to cross the river was inspired by the strategy adopted by the Great Red Army in his previous life when they liberated Hainan by “combining the smuggling of small troops and the large troop forcefully crossed the river at the front.”

“Davos, the soldiers doesn’t have any experience in crossing the river at night. How many soldiers will you dispatch to cross the river first? In case of any disturbance caused by their fear when crossing the river, it will easily lead to drowning and death, and will even alarm the Persians and have our efforts go for naught. And it will also make the Persians know about the location of the river crossing that we have worked hard to find!” The way Cleanor speak is a lot more polite than when he spoke with Xenophon, and his concern was also an important reason why the mercenaries dare not cross at night.

“And how will you hide the troops after you go ashore? When will they start attacking the rear of the Persians? I’m afraid that all of these needs to be taken into consideration.” Reminded Timasion.

Daves said without any hesitation, “The problem you had said is not a problem for that troops!” Then he looked at Cheirisophus.

Cheirisophus nodded in agreement.

That night, 700 Spartans successfully sneaked across the river Centrites.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Early morning of the next day, the mercenaries began to march out.

The Persians saw it and quickly gathered on the other side.

The mercenaries slaughtered 3 lambs, and the leaders offered them to the god of the ocean and river, Oceanos, and the entire mercenary troops sang a song of praise.

Orontes had a premonition that the Greeks might cross the river, and so he ordered his army to be ready at once.

After the prayer, the mercenaries began marching downstream along the river bank. After a few miles, they stopped and rested for a while. They then head upstream…

The handsome satrap of Armenia, who was deeply favored by the Persian king, did not understand where the Greeks were going. He thought that they won’t dare cross the river when there are Persian troops on the other side and was instead trying to find a way out. He felt pleased as he watched them scurrying around like headless flies.

The Persian army continued to follow the marching on the other side.

Finally, the mercenaries arrived at the crossing place that was marked by Cheirisophus, and immediately stopped. Then according to the prior plan, with the end of the left wing as the axis, the whole troops whirled towards the river bank…

Before Orontes could understand it, the mercenaries had formed a formation facing the river Centrites. The whole troops was split into 3 sections, the first one has about 7,000 soldiers who are prepared to cross the river and fight the Persian army. They are standing on the river bank in a narrow, thin and vertical formation (because the reach of the river is not long). The second one is the supply camp, they are closely followed by, the third one, which has about 3,000 soldiers and they are at the rear of the supply camp, and have their back turned towards the river bank in order to prevent the Carduchians from making a surprise attack.

Just as the Persian army slowly adjust their formation, the mercenaries blow the bugle to start the attack and the 7,000 soldiers stepped into the river Centrites without any hesitation…

Orontes complexion changed. He finally understood that the Greeks were ready to cross the river from here!

Without worrying about the long-range attack of the mercenaries and slingers, Orontes urgently shouted, “Fast! Have the infantry block them! Archers! Archers, quickly shoot your arrows!” As he screamed, he hoped that the river Centrites would slow down the progress of the mercenaries, while their archers would cause chaos on the Greeks, which would lead to the Greeks drowning due to panic and crowding. After that moment of panic, Orontes, regained his composure. After all, he himself tried the depth of the river.

Perhaps this is his chance to earn great contribution! He thought excitedly.

Davos followed behind the soldiers of the right wing at the front, treading on the hard river sand and made great stride.

In the early winter, the river water was already piercing cold, but at that moment, the morale of the soldiers were high and made them have no time to feel it. Their hearts were only filled with one thought: To rush to the opposite river bank as fast as possible!

Chapter 54 – Crossing the River (III)

When they reached the middle of the river, the water depth was just like what Cheirisophus had said, only till their crotch, which completely relieved the soldiers who were slightly worried and made their pace even faster.

The Persian army was originally some distance away from the river bank, but due to their haste, their speed was affected by the rocks on the river bank. The slingers behind the mercenaries used their long range to disrupt the Persian army’s formation, so there are some confused Persian troops that had not yet arrived at the shore, while the archers hasn’t shot 2 rounds of arrows in all, when the mercenaries had rushed ashore.

Orontes, A persian nobleman who had spent most of his time drinking wine and playing with the dancer in his camp, never had a detailed search and understanding of the surrounding areas of the battlefired. He was completely in a panic faced with the fact that the mercenaries waded across the river so easily and quickly, and had approached him ferociously like hungry wolves.

Luckily, his adjutant was calm and had urged the infantry to quickly come to the front.

After the first several mercenaries rushed ashore, they had to slow down because of the rugged rocks on the shore, which gave the Persian army time to breathe. Finally, they surrounded them like a tide and gradually enclosed the mercenaries on the shore…

The mercenaries are never afraid of melee fights. The shields on their left hand protected their bodies and teammates, while the spear on their right hand was raised high above the shield and pierce the enemy in the opposite direction. Then the soldiers in the next several rows tried to extend their spears as far as they can, which will protect their teammates at the front by deterring the enemy. Although the soldiers behind the formation can’t participate in the fighting, but they didn’t stand by watching, they tried their best in pushing the soldiers in the front, hoping to push back the other side’s front with their strength, or even crush them…

The fierce Chaldaeans directly faced the fierce impact of the mercenaries, and they did not show any weakness and fought back with their spears. The more troops and the higher terrain of the Persians had offset some of the impact of the Greek hoplites. The archers and the mounted archers at the rear of the Persian army did not dare show any weakness, as they counterattack by shooting a round of arrows at the long-range attackers of the Greek, the slingers and archers.

The two sides fought a bloody battle on the north bank of the river Centrites. If the mercenaries win, they will set foot on the land of Armenia and ravage its land, which is what Orontes and his Armenian soldiers would not wish to see. And if the mercenaries fail, they will face their doom. Therefore, both sides are doing their best.

The mercenaries standing in the river faced their biggest dilemma: on one hand, the piercing cold river is gradually sapping their strength, on the other hand, most of the arrows of the Persians fell on them. They brought their round shields in order to protect themselves and at the same time, to prevent them from being washed away by the river.

Davos saw it with his own eyes when a soldier had slipped, and the soldiers around him stepped forward to save him. He got separated from the protection of the shield and was shot by an arrow, he then fell on the water. He was not seriously injured, but he was having a hard time getting up due to the heavy armor…

Why haven’t the Spartan warriors appeared? Davos anxiously await.

Orontes, who was standing on the top of a large rock, was reassured with the balance of the war. He saw the mercenaries struggling to not get washed downstream of the river Centrites from time to time, and started having hope. Of course, he can’t see nor will he go see his men falling down again and again…

Suddenly, there was a huge noise from the right wing of the formation.

“What is Artuchas doing?” Orontes looked to the right angrily, and saw an amazing scene: The light infantry and archers in the rear of the right wing were running away in panic, behind these defeated soldiers were hundreds of fully armed Greek soldiers forming a thin infantry line, driving the defeated soldiers to the center…

“Greek! It’s the Greek!! Fast! Fast!…” Orontes panicked once more, disorder shouting burst out from his mouth.

His adjutant hurried up together with the satrap’s personal guard to try stop the defeated troops, so that they can prevent them from rushing to the center of the formation. But who knew that those Greek soldiers were completely different from those ordinary Greek hoplites. They run fast and chased after the defeated soldiers who fell behind, a wave of their shield will make them faint, and stabbing them in one hit, they are an efficient killing machine. The Persians run like demon beast, the personal guards couldn’t stop them and within a moment, they were forced to flee to the left and the front, and the formation on the right wing and center of the Persian fell apart…

And the mercenaries who got blocked on the river bank easily broke trough the defense line of the frightened Chaldaeans and began their killing…

It must be mention that the Spartan warriors had been engaged in military training since their childhood, and they have a strong tactical literacy. According to the prior rough plan, they will start by deliberately driving the defeated soldiers to the river bank. Except for a few clear-headed Persians, most of the soldiers did not know the direction, but fled by following the flow of people. However, once they saw the wide river Centrites, they all cried desperately…

After the guards guarded Ortas to escape to a safe place, Orontes saw that the mighty 20,000-strong army now only has a few hundred people, and can’t help but cry. He knew that with his power he could not stop the Greek mercenaries from embarking on the territory of Armenia.

The mercenary leaders were excited. They made a quick decision in the face of a large number of surrendered soldiers, releasing the soldiers of Armenia of other ethnic groups, such as the Chaldaeans, and showed them the goodwill of the Greek mercenaries, while the Persians, the leaders, including Davos, chose to kill them!

The Greek hoplite lined up in a dense formation, and ignored the demands of thousands unarmed Persian soldiers, as they use their shield walls and spears to drove them towards the river Centrites, stabbing them, using stones and arrows to pushed them in the river in chaos. The people who fell in the water will pull the other people down for their own survival, just like crabs inside a pot pulling each other’s legs with no one able to escape…

Before long, Davos looked at the river covered with floating corpses. He sighed and looked away to the other side: he could not see a trace of the Carduchians, they were obviously got scared when they saw the unexpected great defeat of the army.

The supply camp and the mercenaries behind were able to cross the river Centrites easily. Afterwards, under the leadership of the leaders, the whole mercenary troops occupied the empty camp of Orontes, with the Persians leaving behind a lot of materials and supplies. The entire mercenary troops had once more made another sacrifice to Zeus and Oceanus, and began the victory celebration.

Because everyone knew that after the defeat of Orontes, no one in Armenia can stop them from moving forward, which made them more confident that they can return to Greece!

First volume end: (T/N: will just tl some part of it)

After completing the first volume, Davos adventure in Persia came to an end. In fact, this content that I wrote is only a small part of Xenophon’s 《Anabasis》. The mercenaries will also experienced a lot of difficulties and setbacks, but there is no need for me to waste ink on it, because that’s not the focus of the book.

Chapter 55 – Byzantium

In 657 BC, Byzas, the prince of Megara(next to Athens, southwest), was going to lead his people to the coast of Asia Minor to establish a colony. He asked the oracle of Apollo at Delphi on where to choose the proper place to build the city. He got a vague answer: ‘Build the city opposite the land of the blind.’

At the beginning, Byzas didn’t understand the meaning of the oracle of Apollo. But when his ship came to Chalcedon, east of Bosporus, he suddenly understood the meaning of the oracle. Because Chalcedon’s geographical position was so bad that it couldn’t see the opposite Golden Horn, it was clear that only the blind could build the city. Thefore, he built a colonial city on the other side of Chalcedon and named it, Byzantium.

Because Megara is not a strong city-state, and has limited immigrants, after hundreds of years of development, Byzantium is still a small city, but its position has gradually became important. After the rise of Athens, the food had mostly came from the city-states on the Black Sea. Therefore, Byzantium, which had conquered Chalcedon, became the hub of the sea passage that guarded the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea, which naturally made Athens interested. Later, Byzantium joined the Delian League and became allies with Athens.

After the Peloponnesian War, Sparta, as the victor, had also took a fancy to the geographical position of Byzantium. They did not only supported a puppet governance in Byzantium, but also stationed troops in the city to control the Bosporus Straight.

One day, in the early spring on 399 BC, Burkes’ ship sailed into the port of Byzantium. Standingg on the bow of the ship, he could see more than 100 warships in the port, and was relieved for a while, ‘I should be able to make it in time.’

When he ordered the crew to slowly navigate the ship into the designated dock in accordance with the instructions of the port management personnel. The people who were busy in the port suddenly screamed. In this chaos, many people jumped on the ship in panic, untied the cable and left the port. Without the coordination and command, the ships collided with each other and made a mess. Even some of the ships were knocked over and the crew members fell in the water in panic…

Burkes hastily ordered the boat to go back, but fortunately he had not yet entered the dock and escaped. He reluctantly stopped the ship outside the port and looked at the situation. A lot of people held the same idea as him. After a while, hundreds of ships, big and small, were moored outside the port, floating up and down in the sea.

Looking at the port which was still busy previously, it had now became empty and left a mess in the blink of an eye. Burkes was confused, so he asked the neighboring ship loudly, “Er, what’s going on?”

“It’s those wretched mercenaries! Those mercenaries came back from Persia and will attack Byzantium!”

“The mercenaries is attacking Byzantium?!” Burkes’ heart abruptly leaped, “Why?”

“I don’t know. I heard that the Spartans lied to them and said, ‘As long as we get to Byzantium, we will provide support’ as a result, when they arrived in Byzantium, they didn’t keep their promises, and cheated them out of the city and closed the gates. Therefore, those mercenaries got angry. Alas, in this world, soldiers with shields and spears are like bandits. Unfortunately, all of us are ordinary citizens!” An old man, who looked like the captain, answered, “Brother, you aren’t a Byzantine, where are you from?”

Burkes hesitated a little and said, “Thurii.”

“Thurii… Oh, I know that city, isn’t it in Great Greece(Magna Graecia)? I haven’t been there, but I have been to Taras(Tarentum/Taranto), it’s a good place, and prosperous! I say…it must be nice to you guys! Now Asia Minor is in a mess, and a war might happen!…”

Burkes isn’t in the mood to listen to the old man, and so he asked, “Who is in charge of Byzantium now?”

“The Spartan governor-general(Harmost), Cleander.” The old man complained, “The Spartans only know how to kill, and not how to manage a city! It had only been a few years since they occupied Byzantium! Look, it became much more worse than before…alas!”

Burkes’ heart jolted, and asked, “What’s your name, old man? You’ve been a captain for a long time! You must be familiar with other shipowner in here!”

“Pisilas of Byzantium. I started operating the ship when the Athenian Pericles became the polemarchos. At that time, he also led the Athenian fleet to buy wheat in the Black Sea, and I have seen him! I am familiar with the captains and crew in here. I grew up watching a lot of people…” As the old man boasted his past, he seemingly asked unintentionally, “Why? do you need a ship?”

“Uhm…if it’s possible,“ Said Burkes vaguely.

“Is it for transporting?” The old man continued asking, “Food? Wood? Stone? Olive oil?…”

In the face of this old man who relied on his experience, Burkes had no choice but to think about it and say, “…maybe people.”

The old man’s eyes widened, and the experienced man immediately thought of something, “Are they mercenaries?! No wonder you had ask me if I know all the shipowners here! Good! Excellent! Let’s get rid of them immediately, Byzantium might become peaceful for a while!”

Burkes neither admitted nor denied it.

At this time, a signal came from the port that signals everyone that everything is safe and the ships were allowed to enter the port.

“Hey, boy! If you want to use a boat, you can come to the port and say this to any Byzantine in the port, ‘I’m looking for old Piri’, and they will bring you to me!” The old man was still at the stern, leaving a loud message to Burkes.

“Okay!” Burkes replied, while thinking whether to first go visit the Spartan’s governor-general of Byzantium, Cleander?

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Not far from Byzantine are some Thracian villages, where the Greek mercenaries camps are endless. It is already dusk, and most of the soldiers went to rest. There was a quarter that is filled with the flickering of the candlelight.

Davos was thinking so hard in his quarter that he didn’t notice Cheiristoya entering.

“Dear, what are you thinking?” Cheiristoya asked softly, while holding Davos in her arms from behind.

Davos sniffed her hair and sighed, then said, “Today, we had arranged the soldiers to make a scene, letting them act like they will attack Byzantium and had manage to force the Spartans to soften for a while and had them agree in giving us some supplies, but this did not solve the fundamental problem.

Mersis infiltrated the city and got some information. Thimbron, a Spartan general, was appointed as the harmost of Asia Minor of Sparta, he had arrived at Ephesus and began recruiting soldiers.

Cleander of Sparta has trapped us here and want us to help them in eliminating the nearby Thracians, but I fear that there’s still a chance that they will want us to help them fight the Persians.”

“Wasn’t Cheirisophus greatly valued you? When he went back to report, he entrusted Anaxibius to take care of you. Unfortunately, you ignored Anaxibius advances, and now, he is currently intimate with Xenophon.” Cheiristoya made fun of him while stroking his face.

“Xenophon is an expert at this, and I am not interested in Sparta.” Davos irritably scratched his head, “If we follow Sparta to war, then I am afraid that we won’t even have a place to die. Unfortunately, we are currently a fish out of the sea, and at the mercy of the humans!”

Cheiristoya kissed him on the face, “Dear, don’t be disheartened. I unexpectedly encountered a man when I came, he may be able to solve your troubles.”

“Who?” Davos heard her words.

Cheiristoya turned around and shouted out of the tent, “Martius, let him in.”

Chapter 56 – Thurii

Davos looked attentively. He saw a middle-aged man coming inside his quarter, he was of medium height and had a kind and amiable face.

The middgle-aged man was also staring at Davos. Although he had previously heard some rumors about this mercenary leader, but he was still surprised at his youth. But at this time, Davos was slightly different compared to the time he was in the Battle of River Centrites half a year ago. Not only did he have a round of stubble on his chin and a scar on his face, but the hardship and bloody battles along the way made him more fierce, and his gaze became more sharp and threatening.

“Burkes, a citizen of Thurii, had come to greet leader Davos!” The middgle-aged man came forward and saluted Davos.

“Thurii?” Davos was a bit confused, he knew nothing about a city-state with this name in his previous life, and his body’s uneducated memory couldn’t help him.

At this moment, Cheiristoya saw his confusion and explained softly, “The city of Thurii is located in the west of Magna Graecia’s Gulf of Taras. It is the youngest Greek colonial city-states in southern Italy. After Sybaris was destroyed twice by Crotone(Kroton/Krotone), the Sybarites, who had lost their home, had then asked Athens for help. At that time, Pericles, the polemarchos of Athens, responded to the request of the Sybarites and decided to build a new pan-Greek city-state on the site of Sybaris. Therefore, he sent a call to all the Greek city-states, including Miletus, to go there to emigrate. That is the origin of Thurii…”

“Lady, what you had said is correct. I respect your profound knowledge!” Although Burkes was surprised at the presence of a woman in an important places of discussion, but he was still polite.

“Sybaris…Sybaris…” Davos felt that the name was familiar. He repeated saying it a few times and suddenly remembered, “Oh, isn’t the life in there so luxurious that even their war horses are used to train dancing, which resulted in Crotone beating Sybaris’ music?!”

“Yes.” Looking at Davos’ excited appearance, Burkes wondered if his ability was as miraculous as the rumor.

The reason why Davos remembered this story is due to the history of their ruin which caused by the luxurious life of the Sybaris and have become a fable story of the west in his previous life, and this story is also related to Pythagoras, a famous mathematician in ancient Greece. Ah, Italy!…Davos thought a bit and suddenly became interested, “You came to me for what?”

Burkes was nervous. At first, he was full of confidence, but the refusal of several leaders had made him a little anxious about the gain and loss. Davos was his last hope, “Thurii is suffering from the invasions of the aborigines, and so I want to hire you and your soldiers to help us repel these aborigines.”

Davos and Cheiristoya looked at each other.

Burkes continued, “We will of course pay you an ample salary!”

“How much can you pay?” Davos leaned forward and asked interestedly.

Burkes felt hopeful and immediately became spirited, “A soldier can get 1 daric gold coin a month!”

Davos sat back instead of talking.

“Oh, I remember incorrectly. It should be one and a half… ah, no! Not! It should be 2, 2 daric gold coins!…” Burkes saw that Davos’ face was still expressionless and his words were quivering.

“Is there an important event in Thurii that made you so anxious?!” Davos suddenly revealed a smile.

Hearing this, Burkes, ‘Crap, I underestimated this young man, and at the same time I was too anxious in hiring him, and end up giving myself away under the composure of this young man.’

“Burkes, if you want us to work with Thurii, you’d better tell me the truth!” Davos’ tone showed that he won’t tolerate refusal.

Burkes heard a slight hope, so he adjusted his mood and said heavily, “Lucanian, the aborigines of Italy, had invaded the territory of Thurii. After a unanimous decision, the citizens’ congress of Thurii decided to send troops to fight back the Lucanians. Therefore, we sent 10,000 hoplites and 1,000 cavalry, but it resulted in our defeat…the savage and cruel Lucanians slaughtered our soldiers, cut their bodies into pieces and stacked them outside the city…only less than 300 citizens manage to return to the city…When I departed, the aborigines had not yet attacked the city, but they had occupied the city north of Thurii, Amendolara, which caused considerable panic to the citizens of Thurii…now, all their hopes have been entrusted to me! Therefore…therefore…” Burkes wept as he said this.

Davos, who had seen a lot of tragedies in this past year, was cold as steel. About Burkes’ grieved, although he was familiar with it, but he didn’t saw it, and so he asked him in astonishment, “So many soldiers, are they all citizens of Thurii?”

“Yes, Thurii is one of the most prosperous city-states in Magna Graecia!” Burkes wiped his tears and said with a little pride.

“11,000 troops have failed, are the Lucanians formidable?” Davos continued in curiously asking questions.

“No, in fact, the Lucanians seems to only have 8,000 people.” Burkes was afraid that Davos would be frigtened, so he added, “It’s just…it’s just that the internal of Thurii…um…um…the main reason is that there is no good commander, they rashly advanced and got ambushed…”

“Oh, so that’s how.” Davos stroked the stubble on his chin and asked, “Why not seek help from the other city-states?”

“We have a defensive alliance in the southern Italian Greek city-states, but in recent years, we don’t know why the aborigines began invading the territory of the city-states, Taras and Locri…and Krotone doesn’t have the extra strength to support us, and Syracuse is facing the attack of the Carthaginians…I have also asked Sparta for help, but Sparta seems to be fighting with Persia, and had refuse my request, but agreed to make it convenient for me to hire soldiers in Greece…” Said Burkes helplessly

“The whole of Greece is currently not short of troops. Why do you look for us?” Davos once more asked.

Burkes immediately said, flatteringly, “I already recruited some soldiers in Ephesus, but I heard about you! You manage to safely return from the middle of Persia, your bravery and strength have been strongly proven. If we can hire you who are experience with war, then there won’t be a problem in defeating the Lucanians! Therefore, as soon as I heard from a merchant ship at Ephesus had spotted you in Chrysopolis, I had immediately rushed there. However, I didn’t expect you to once more return to Byzantium.”

Burkes’ compliments didn’t affect Davos’ thinking, he nodded and continued to ask, “Are the Lucanians strong? What kind of weapons do they have?What is their equipment? What are their combat characteristics?….”

One question after another, like nails hitting the brain of Burkes. At first, Burkes was able to answer it with ease, but later, it was very difficult, because Davos had asked some complex questions, for example: How big is the territory of the Lucanians? How many cities they have? What do they mainly live on? What about their political system? What about their foreign contacts?…

Burkes tried his best to answer Davos’ questions, and at the same time, was surprised that a mercenary leader could ask such advanced questions. After feeling Davos was different, his confidence had also increase, because only those who wanted to go would think of a detailed understanding of the situation.

“I have a general idea of the situation.” After Davos’ said this, Burkes took a long breath. This was several times more difficult than answering the questions at the ecclesia!

“I think Timasion, Xanthicles, and Cleanor had all rejected you, didn’t they?” Said Davos.

Burkes once more looked at him in astonishment.

“My camp is at the back, you have to pass through them before you can reach me. And as far as I know, Timasion wanted to go back to his hometown, Aeolian. Xanthicles and Cleanor were invited by one of the Thracians’ tribal leader to work for him. And Xenophon is now with Anaxibius, so I’m your only choice, isn’t it?”

Davos’ shrewdness has made Burkes no longer want to hide anything, and frankly said, “Yes, leader Davos, you are my only choice! Will you then refuse or accept?”

Chapter 57 – Davos Camp

Davos smiled, “My answer is to accept Thurii’s employment.”

Despite having some mental preparation, Burkes still couldn’t help but look surprised.

“Don’t be happy too early! This is just my personal opinion, and I still have to persuade my officers and soldiers. Many of them fought in Persia for more than a year, and are tired of the war and are eager to return to their hometown.” Davos poured cold water on him first, and then said, “However, I will try my best to persuade them, and of course, the higher the salary, the more you can impress them.”

“A soldier will get 2 daric gold coin a month!” Burkes said decisively.

Davos thought about it and asked, “How many people do you need?”

“Of course, the more the better!” Burkes said it without thinking.

“Oh, such a big tone! If I take 5,000 people, the monthly salary and supplies will be a huge number, can Thurii afford it?”

“Just like I had said, Thurii is one of the most prosperous city-states in Magna Graecia! Even if you bring 10,000 people, Thurii can easily support you for a year on her own!” Said Burker confidently.

“Well, I hope so.” Davos cautiously expressed his optimism and asked, “Furthermore, how are we going to Thurii? How many ships do you have?”

“I’ve talked with the shipowners of Byzantium. When the time comes, so long as I can pay, then no matter how many ships you want, how many ships there would be!”

“So, will the Spartans here agree to let us depart to Thurii?” At this time, Davos asked his most concerned question.

“I have been authorized by the Senate of Sparta. Meanwhile, the harmost of Byzantium, Cleander, is having a headache about your existence, and he will be happy to see you leave.” Said Burkes confidently.

Hence, Davos simply responded, “It looks like you’ve already arranged it. And so, tomorrow morning, I will tell you about the number of soldiers I will lead and discuss a more detailed employment agreement with you.”

“Alright, I’ll come back tomorrow morning. I hope to receive your good news!” Although there were some twists and turns at the start, but it was finally settles, and Burkes left happily.

“Dear, do you really intend to go to Turui?” Said Cheiristoya, who had been listening quietly.

“Yes!” Davos turned around and his eyes shine with excitement, “Cheiristoya, maybe this is a good opportunity! An opportunity for us to change from a fish in the water to a fisherman that will cast the net!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Matonis sat on the ground, excited and curious in his mind. You must know that he has never participated in any decision-making discussion in the camp since he served as a squad leader. This time, the herald, Asistes, urgently informed them that these squad leaders would attend the meeting. Will there be a huge decision?

He looked around and saw that not far away, Olivos was talking and laughing loudly with others. This kid is now also a squad leader, equal to his position, and he will be upset every time he see him,  and so he shouted, “Olivos, here is a war council and not your tent, so be quiet!”

Olivos turned around and smiled, “It turned out to be the brave Matonis. Did you punish those 2 soldiers who violated the military rules and robbed the Byzantium citizens?”

Although Matonis was completely angry from hearing this, but he dare not shout again.

Since entering Armenia, Davos has been the leader of the mercenaries. His military abilities has not only been recognized by the officers and soldiers, but also conquered their hearts. Therefore, he began to gradually rectify and reform his troops.

At that time, during the journey in Armenia, the mercenaries had small conflicts with the aborigines, and there were not a few casualties, including the officers. What’s more, Armenia and the later area such as Phasian and Tubal were mostly mountainous areas, which made larger troops not easy to spread out. Therefore, according to the actual situation, Davos merged the troops of 1,400 men into 7 units of 200 men and a unit had 4 platoons of 50 men, this not only made commanding convenient, but also more flexible and varied in fighting in the mountains, because a unit has enough strength to repel a small group of enemies, while another has the ability to undertake independent combast tasks, and because it has 4 platoons. It can use 2 platoons to fight head-on and another platoon to detour and flank, and then have 1 platoon to be ready(reserve) and so on.

After this reorganizing, the combat effectiveness of his troops has greatly improved, and even some soldiers are proud to say this in private, “Our Davos is not only favored by Hades, but also enlightened by Athena!”

While some of the officers were killed and wounded, Davos had then promoted his capable trusted subordinates. For example, Hielos had been promoted into a captain, while Matonis, Olivos, Georgris, and others have become a squad leader, making him more firmly in control of his own troops.

He then began to carry out the second step of his reform plan, devising a 《Military Law》, and strictly retrain the soldiers. For the free and loose mercenaries, it is like killing them, but at that time, the situation was special. A considerable part of the conflict with the aborigines was caused by the soldier’s wanton plundering. Therefore, the best way to reduce the conflict was to regulate military discipline. However, Davos did not purge the military discipline, but also made some regulations in the military aspects such as marching, camping, and scouting. For example, Davos was previously surprised by the simplicity of the mercenaries in building their camps, and sometimes there is no protection at all, so he stipulated that when camping, the camps must need to dig trenches, lay an abatis(field fortification), and build earthen wall.

At first, the soldiers were not willing to carry it out, since they were very tired after marching and fighting, and now they need to do such hard work, even if they are tired or not! However, when the mountain people attack the camp twice at night, the other camp suffed a huge defeat and the soldiers had suffered casualties. Only Davos’ troops were safe under the protection of the trenches and walls. It was only then did the soldiers began to accept this rule from their hearts. Of course, Davos only made some simple regulations in various aspects and didn’t dare to be too strict. For example, in his previous life, running away in battle is considered a heavy offense worth beheading since ancient times, but if he did it, then the soldiers in his camp might revolt. Therefore, he only applied some lighter punishment like caning(not too much), fasting, and so on. for the Greeks who value honor, it’s a shame for them to be stripped of their pants and get spanked in front of their comrades. And so unless it’s a special case, they will try their best to abide by the rules.

Of course, there are many soldiers who couldn’t stand the restrain and ran to the other camps. In addition to the dead and wounded soldiers, the number of soldiers in Davos camp should have been greatly reduced. You must know that when the whole Greek mercenaries returned to Byzantium, they were reduced from the original 13,000(soldiers only) to 9000(half more than the number in history, in which Davos played a great role). However, the number of soldiers under his command is not much different from when he took over, and have about 1,4000 soldiers.

There are 4 reasons why the number of soldiers has not decreased. First, Davos managed his troops as fair and just as possible, no matter whether they are officers or ordinary soldiers, they were all treated equally and without making any exception. Every time they fought and plundered, the goods they got were distributed to the soldiers according to their merit by Marigi, with him getting nothing. Second, his troops have the strongest combat effectiveness and have the least casualties, specially after the military reform. For the soldiers who wanted to go home alive, they of course have a strong dependence on him. Third, the medical camp he built treated a lot of wounded soldiers, and half of them chose to stay, of which the intentional guidance of Cheiristoya played a great role. Fourth, the charisma of Davos. “Favored by God” and military genius made him quite mysterious, and he is kind to the soldiers and even use his horses to carry the wounded many times…the soldiers were happy to accept his command and affectionately call him “our Davos”.

Now, Davos had led his mercenary troops in many battles for half a year, and under this special environment, they have begun to adapt to the military law that seems relatively simple to Davos, but these military laws are already strict for these soldiers. Therefore, Matonis knew that his soldiers had violated the rule made by Davos before they came to Byzantium, and they are bound to be punished, but it is hard for him to accept this and so tried to shield this pair. But at this time, he had no time to think too much, because Davos had opened the tent, and stepped into the meeting place together with Marigi.

Author Note: The incident were more than 10,000 militia in Thurii were annihilated by the Lucanians is historicaly true, but about 10 years later (the exact time is unknown), the cause will be mentioned later.

Chapter 58 – Oracle

Inside the quarter of the leader, Davos, were no more than 40 people, and so he asked the leader of the guards, Martius, to lead 30 members (the number of the guard has also increased), to make a space in front of the quarter to prevent strangers from coming in to spy, and to light the torches around…

Davos’ gaze swept over everyone’s face:

Captain of the first hoplite unit – the prudent and magnanimous, Kapus

Captain of the second hoplite unit – the one good at understanding people and seizing the opportunity in combat, Antonios

Captain of the third hoplite unit – the brave, Amintas

Captain of the fourth hoplite unit – the one good at thinking and planning, Alexius

Captain of the fifth hoplite unit – his most trusted subordinate, Hielos

Captain of the first peltast unit – the one with strong tactical skill, Epiphanes

Captain of the second peltast unit – the one worshipping Davos for his devotion to god, Cid

As well as the logistic officer – Mersis, medical officer – Herpus, the herald – Asistes, and the cavalry captain – Ledes (although his horses are few, Davos still retains them, after all, they have a lot of experience in cavalry combat). There are also 28 squad leader, all of whom are experience and talented officers. Plus the 1,400 veterans who have been through a long expedition for more than a year. This is his whole troops in this world!

Tonight, he must persuade them that they must continue to follow him, after a long year’s expedition, to another country a thousand miles away. He isn’t confident about this when he thought about it. He coughed lightly and said, “Brothers, the farce you played in Byzantium today is good! Cleander immediately expressed sympathy for our situation and is willing to provide us with some food. This is all your credit!”

Everyone laughed.

Olivos then loudly said, “Leader, this is not a farce, but a comedy. You should’ve seen those Byzantines fainting due to fear!”

There was another burst of laughter, only Matonis have a guilty conscience and so he had to lower his head to snigger.

“Yeah, comedy.” Davos sighed and said, “However, how long can this comedy last? We are trapped here and we can’t go anywhere, and we also dare not leave. According to a reliable information, Sparta is ready to fight with Persia. The strategos, Thimbron of Sparta, has arrived at Ephesus to recruit soldiers. How could he let go of us veterans, who have a rich experience in fighting against Persia! It won’t be long till we once more fight in the Persian land!”

“Is this real? I’m tired of fighting the Persians, and I don’t want to go back!”

“How could this happen! I’m already ready to buy a piece of land in Crete and find a wife…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The crowd immediately became agitated, and there was a great deal of uneasiness in the discussion…

Davos didn’t answer them, but he instead told another amazing information, “What’s more, Cleander is about to step down, and will be replace by Aristarchus of Sparta!”

Someone leaked an “ah” cry.

Davos glanced in that direction and coldly said, “Some of you may know him, and some of you don’t. I will inform you that this Spartan was very famous in the previous war with Athens! Not because he fought bravely, but-” Davos with an imposing expression said as he heavily emphasized, “He sold the Greeks, who have been defeated, into slavery twice!!”

This is like pouring a pot of cold water into a pot of boiling oil, and immediately burst the pot.

“Is he going to sell us?!”

“I’ll fight him if he dares to do so!”

“We are free people, and not the enemy of Sparta! There is no reason for him to do so, and this is against the Greek tradition!”

“Sparta was already unreasonable and overbearing, but now as the hegemon of Greece, they can do something that isn’t far from a final say!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos watched the panic crowd, and said with a voice full of emotions, “We Greeks are free. We live through hardship in order to live. However, in the eyes of the Spartans and the citizens of those city-states, we are landless pariah, thieves and robbers that threatens the stability of the city-states! Therefore, Anaxibius can deceive us(referring to how the Spartan admiral deceived them in order for them to go to Byzantium by saying he will pay them and then broke his words as soon as they arrived)! Cleander has also deceived us, deceived us out of the city and closed the city gates, and we not only have no food, but also face a large number of Thracians! Sparta is so strong, do we dare to resist?! We will either be sold into slavery that we will be starved and be ill dressed, until one day we die due to exhaustion on the farms and mines, and then be dumped into the wilderness. Or go to fight together with Sparta and our body will be covered with wounds every day until we die in some unknown wilderness. Of course, we may be lucky to return home safely, but what about it?! As a freeperson without land, we are strangers in any city-states, and we aren’t entitled to the rights of any city-states, and be cast aside until we die without anyone knowing us…”

Everyone listened quietly, so quiet that they could hear someone sobbing…

At this time, Davos is also full of tears, “Is this the result we want after a year of fighting bloodily in Persia and struggling to return home! Do you not even want the right to have a peaceful and happy life!! Surely it doesn’t mean that there is no place for us poor freepeople to live in peace!!!”

Davos’ heartful howl and questioning awakened all the officers inside the quarter. They clenched their fist and their teeth, and their gaze filled with anger and agony…

Hielos stood up shaking and reaching out his hands and said, “Leader Davos! Our commander! Favored of Hades! Please tell us on what we need to do?! What we need to do in order to get rid of our predicament!!”

“Yes, leader Daves leader, we need your oracle!!” The words of Hielos had reminded many people, and Kapus and Antonios excitedly plead Davos.

When the gaze of everyone were on the face of Davos, his expresion became extremely solemn, “Last night…a man came into my dream. The golden light on his body made me not see his face clearly…he pulled me out of the bed, through the window, all the way to the air…I look down in fear, and in front of me is the Mediterranean Sea, which is clearly just like the one in the painting…the Peloponnesian peninsula is like a hammer deep into the sea, and in the west next to it is Italy which is like a leather boot…and further west, I saw the pillars of Heracles as a gatekeeper separating the Mediterranean from the ocean…the Mediterranean coast of Egypt is like a long green carpet stretching all the way to Africa…”

Davos’ dreamlike narration attracted everyone, and they found that the Mediterranean sea is indeed looked like this when they compared their geographical cognition, which made them believe what Davos said.

“At that time, the person that radiates a golden light said something to me.”

“What did he say?” Everyone asked.

“He said, ‘Davos, you and your soldiers have a mission in the west of Mediterranean!’, after that, he pushed me down from the air, and I then woke up.” Said Davos with a lingering fear, and still in a dreamlike trance.

“West of Mediterranean? Where is that?”

“Sicily?”

“It could be Italy.”

“Iberia is also a possibility.”

“Why not Nubia.” (T/N: should be Numidia since Nubia is in south, while Numidia is in the west…but 努比亚 is Nubia)

“Who is that man that is radiating golden light? Hades?”

“How could Hades radiate golden light? It should be Athena!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

During everyone’s speculation, Davos sighed. Since he became the leader, he deliberately avoided his status as the “God’s Favored” and won the trust of his subordinates through his own ability. But it’s a big deal this time, and he had to resort to the Greek gods once more, and he purposely made a vague oracle.

Since the oracles are ambiguous. For example, there used to be a kingdom of Lydia in Asia Minor, and it wanted to fight with Persia, so they went to Delphi and spent a lot of money to get the oracle of Apollo. And the oracle said that a great power will perish. And so the Lydians happily went back to war, but the result was the demise of the kingdom of Lydia. The explanation of the priest of Apollo is that the kingdom of Lydia was also a great power in Asia Minor.

Chapter 59 – To Magna Graecia

“At first I didn’t know what the ‘West of the Mediterranean’ meant. But today, when the Thurian came to find me, I then understood that the dream had come true!” Davos gave a brief introduction about Burkes with a little excitement.

“Thurii wants to hire us to fight the aborigines?” Asked Kapus.

“Yes, I heard that the whole Magna Graecia is threatened by the aborigines, and Thurii is the city-state that have suffered the most.” Explained Davos.

While everyone were still thinking whether to accept the invitation, Antonios stood up and said, “Persia is far away from us, and so is Thurii. There is no difference between going to war in Thurii and in Persia!”

Davos secretly cast a look of appreciation towards Antonios, because he put forward their doubt on the surface, which made it convenient for Davos to explain it further. Davos seriously said, “If we follow Sparta to fight Persia. If we win, Sparta will reap the profits and we will only get a meager payment. If we are defeated, we will die on a foreign land, and even our soul will not return to hell(T/N: Underworld, Hades’ place, etc.). While going to Magna Graecia will be different-”

Davos looked at everyone and said with a slight excitement, “First of all, as I just said, the payment Thurii will give us is 2 daric gold coins per person per month, which is much more than what Cyrus the Younger gave us. Secondly, Magna Graecia is the same as us, Greeks, fighting for them on the land of the same race not only we will not lack support, but also receive consideration and concern. Thirdly, Magna Graecia is different from the barren mainland Greece, there are many rivers, fertile land, and each city-states are very rich. Does anyone here knew how many people lived in Athens during the time of Pericles?” Davos asked while he looked at Alexius, because this hoplite captain from Megara had studied in Athens for 2 years when he was young.

Sure enough, he lived up to Davos’ expectations, he pondered about it for a bit, and said, “Around 300,000 people.”

“Yes, 300,000 people, an amazing number! But do you know? A few decades ago, there were also 300,000 people in Syracuse, Magna Graecia! And in Thurii, Crotone, Locri, Taranto(Taras), Lijim(t/n: not sure about this one, maybe it is Rhegium?), Agrigento, and so on are all big city-states like Syracuse (Davos learned this information from Cheiristoya)! Therefore, the place we are going to is not a remote and backward land, but a prosperous city, where there are many opportunities waiting for us!” Davos spoke highly about the prosperity of Magna Graecia.

“Leader Davos, what opportunity? Defeating the Lu…Lucanians and receiving a lot of rewards, or there is still something else?!” The sharp Epiphanes notice the ambiguity in Davos’ words and asked.

“Good question! What I’m about to say is the last and greatest benefit of going to Thurii-” Davos put up a finger and said it briskly, “The messenger said, ‘Because of the large-scale invasion of the Lucanians and Bruttii, some small towns in Magna Graecia, especially in southern part, were occupied by the the native people.’ What does this mean to us?!”

Davos clenched his fingers into a fist and vigorously raised it in the air, “It means that once we get a foothold in Magna Graecia and recapture a small city, we will have an opportunity to become the master of the city! We will no longer be landless people who are looked down upon. We will be a city-state citizens who own a land! We will no longer be a mercenaries that can’t decide our own destiny, but instead be the master of a city-state! I think this is the mission ‘The man in my dream’ told me! No matter what your decision is, I have decided to go to Magna Graecia and fulfill my mission!!”

The meeting place fell into a strange silence, and only the sound of rapid breathing can be heard, and everyone’s gazes are fixed on Davos’ fist that was raised high, with full of utmost desire. For thousands of years, the Greek city-states have been fighting with each other for the small and sandy barren land of Greece. Wasn’t it all just for the land?! The Greeks became a seafaring nation, it was because they were force due to more people and less land! The mercenaries have no choice but wander places to places in order to live! Now, a hope to own a land is placed in front of them, how can it not make them elated, lest the flames of hope blow out!

At this time of silence, Cid weakly said, “But there are a lot of powerful native people there, and even the people in Magna Graecia can’t stop them, we-”

“We are not trash like those in Magna Graecia! The Lucanians will not be more powerful than the Carduchians! Don’t go if you are afraid!” Amintas shouted in disdain.

“Who said that I won’t go! Leader Davos, since this is the mission Hades gave you, then I will help you complete it even if I give my life!” Cid unclenched his hands and knelt to Davos.

“Davos, I’m your shield, how could you possibly go to Thurii without me!” Hielos raised his right fist and stood up.

“And I, Amintas, am your spear. It’s not enough to only have a shield without a spear!” Another fist was raised.

“Leader, please let me continue to help you deal with military affairs, so that you have more time to think about how to win the battle!” Philesius stood up.

“Leader, you naturally can’t do without a vanguard in Thurii!” Antonios stood up.

“Leader, let me take charge of the center for you!” Kapus also stood up.

“And I, Alexius, will always be your reserve force at the critical moments!” Another fist was raised high.

“How can you go to Thurii without us the peltast who can fight and shoot!” Epiphanes stood up smiling.

“Davos, don’t forget, you are still lacking an important supply unit officer!” A chubby fist was raised.

“My respected teacher, I will still continue learning medical theory from you, so wherever you go, I will follow!” Herpus stood up seriously.

“I’m your herald, you can’t leave without me! Asistes hastily stood up.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos looked at the more than 40 fist raised up straight to the sky, like a small forest rising to prepare for the baptism of the coming storm. He couldn’t help have his blood boil and he suddenly waved his right hand forward, “BROTHERS, FOLLOW ME TO THE WEST TO FIND OUR ‘ELYSIUM PARADISE’!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After receiving a warm response from the officers, Davos discussed with them to keep the real purpose of going to Thurii a secret, else there will be many who will obstruct them.

Everyone immediately swore to the god of the underworld.

Afterwards, Davos told them to go back and to try every means to persuade the soldiers to go with them, and also to covertly go to the other camps and secretly persuade the soldiers to join. Davos doesn’t want to let go of these veterans with rich combat experience, so that they could once more fight together.

Davos then took Mariji back to the main tent and before he could spoke, Mariji said, “I would like to go to Thurii with you.”

Davos turned around and smiled, “You’re smart.”

“Isn’t that the reason why you allowed me inside?” Mariji said angrily, “What will you do if I do not agree? Kill me?”

Davos shook his head and said, “I’ll just tie your hands and feet, throw you in the cabin, and will only let you out once we get to Thurii.”

“Davos, I always thought that you are a cultured, knowledgeable and righteous Greek. I didn’t expect you to be a bandit like them!” Mariji said while gritting his teeth.

“Is this what a slave says to his master who had grace him with saving his life?” Said Davos while pretending to be surprised.

“Slave?” Mariji’s face was shocked, as he look at Davos’ expression.

Author’s Note: Elysium Paradise – In Greek Mythology, after the trial of the three judges of hell, the innocent will be allowed to enter Elysium Paradise, where it is beautiful and peaceful, without any worry about food and clothing. And it still part of the area controlled by Hades. It was once said that the heaven in Christianity was modeled after Elysium.

Chapter 60 – Agreement Signing

“What do you think you are in the eyes of Timasion and Cleanor? Think what will happen to you, your wife and daughter, if I leave you here!” Davos sneered.

“You said that you will send us back to Asia Minor!” Mariji said indignantly.

“Didn’t you hear that there will be a war in Asia Minor?”

“W…We can just go to a remote mountain area in Asia Minor and live there covertly!” Mariji stubbornly said.

“It’s a waste for your talent. Mariji, I have always thought that even though Cyrus the Younger allowed you to be his royal trader, but it had buried your ability! It is certainly due to your family background that had limited your success! But if you follow me, you will not be restricted and I will give you a vast world to display your talents!” Davos made a promise to him.

“Follow you?! To fight and kill the aborigines, and then lord over a ‘small village’?” Marigi sneered.

“Mariji, there is a saying in the east called ‘east of the river for 30 years, west of the river for 30 years’(T/N: Chinese Idiom thingy – 30 years of Hedong, 30 years of Hexi or The pendulum has swung back). Your founding monarch of Persia, Cyrus the Great, was just a leader of a small tribe in Persia at first. He was humiliated by Medea, and who knew that he would build a powerful empire in a few decades! Today, I’m just a leader of a mercenary, and in a few decades there might be a glorious day!” Davos said with confidence and pride.

“You…how can you compare yourself to Cyrus the Great!” Mariji said scornfully, but in a much lower voice. He did not dare look straight due to Davos’ gaze. He hesitated again and again, and quiveringly said, “Do I have a choice?”

Davos smiled, “Say it!”

“If…if you do succeed, what will you make me do?” Mariji raised his head and looked at Davos.

Davos pondered for a bit, raised two of his fingers and seriously said, “Two choices. One is to have you be the foreign minister in charge of foreign affairs within all the city-states. The other is to establish a new Ministry of Commerce that will be in charge of all business and trade affairs.”

Mariji hesitated and finally made up his mind, “The last time that I negotiated with the Sokangte tribe, I was already in a state of anxiety, so I choose the second one!”

“Okay, I’ll save it for you!” Davos promised.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next day, Burkes was very excited to learn that all the officers of Davos’ camp are going to Thurii. Davos asked Mariji to negotiate an employment agreement with Burkes, while he went out to focused on persuading the soldiers to accept Thurii’s employment.

In fact, most of the mercenaries are mostly destitute, and there is nothing to worry about. They had chosen the life of licking blood, and their long career in wars had made them unable to adapt to a peaceful life, and the great gap between their yearning for their hometown while in Persia and the treatment they received when they returned to the Greek city-state, and they are also attracted by the charm of Davos and the rich payment of Thurii. So most of the soldiers are willing to go to Magna Graecia with Davos, while only 300 chose to stay. At the same time, the lobbying of the officers in the other camps had also gotten results. As they were about to return to their hometown, the officers had neither the intention nor the ability to control the soldiers, which made the soldiers in the other camp join in succession. By evening, the total number of Davos’ troops was more than 2000, including the general, Hieronymus.

The fierce debates have also fallen into dust. The main content of the final employment agreement are:

I – Thurii hire the troops led by the leader Davos, a total of 2133 soldiers. The salary is 2 Daric gold coins per soldier every month, which must be paid off at the end of each month, and provide the camp 1 jin(500 grams) of wheat flour per person per day for free. In case of any default or delay, the salary and supplies would be doubled in the next month. (This is the lesson they learned from Cyrus the Younger. Because of his early death, the mercenaries not only did not get paid, but also had to lose their lives, and it took them a year to come back from Persia. So Davos had learned from it, and in case the mercenaries beat back the Lucanians earlier, it would be troublesome for them since Thurii won’t hire them anymore! So the time limit was set by him, whether the task is completed or not, they must be paid according to the agreement)

II – The mercenaries are only responsible for defending Thurii and fighting back the Lucanians on the territory directly under Thurii. If there is any other request, it will be discussed separately. (This is proposed by Davos for fear that the Thurians will give additional difficult task, such as attacking the territory of Lucanians and so on. which will reduce Davos’ strength.)

III – When the mercenaries arrive in Thurii, they are not allowed to violate the laws governing Thurii, and if they do, they will be punished in accodance with the laws of Thurii.

IV – The mercenaries are not allowed to enter the city of Thurii without permission.

V – In battle, the stuff the mercenaries seize belongs to the mercenaries.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The agreement was signed on April 1 of the second year of the 95th Olympic Games (399 BC) and ends on April 1 of the third year. At the end of the signing period, the parties shall decide whether to renew the contract according to their wished.

After Burkes swore to the gods in the name of the Thurii council together with Davos, he signed his own names on the agreements written on both parchment. (under Cheiristoya’s tutelage, Davos has mastered writing in Greek)

Burkes tucked the parchment into his arms and asked casually, “Leader Davos, there is something that I don’t quite understand. Those slaves and women that you will take to Thurii, not only will you be responsible for their own food, but also in protecting them from being robbed by the Lucanians. It’s obvious that they will be a burden, isn’t it better to sell them here? Why do you have to take them?”

There are nearly 500 slaves and women, and in order to prevent Burkes from being suspicious, Davos had to answer seriously, “Most of the mercenaries are single, they don’t have the money to buy slaves to help them with their work, nor to marry. So they regard these slaves and women plundered from Persia as their precious property. If I don’t take them, the soldiers may also not go to Thurii with us!”

“In fact, that is unnecessary. A year later, they will all be rich.” Burkes said jokingly, he was in a good mood after the agreement was signed successfully.

“They must need to be alive!” Replied Davos.

“Okay.” Burkes shrugged helplessly and said, “I’m just worried that they will affect your battle. Now that the agreement has been signed, we will set out next year, and I have contacted the ship. Now I will go to the city and prepare food and water according to the number of your troops.”

“Cleander has allowed us in the city?”

“Oh, I almost forgot!” Burker slapped his forehead with his hand, “Cleander allowed you to enter the city, but had ask for you to enter the city without your weapons.”

“No weapons?” Davos felt a chill in his heart.

“Exactly, abandon your shield, spear and sword.” Burkes consoled him, “Howerer, it doesn’t matter. When we arrive to Thurii, we will equip you with new weapons and equipment.”

“No, it matters. It matters a lot!” Davos said seriously, “We will never give up our weapons!” Not to mention the fact that they were cheated in the past. On their way back, the local natives that they also met with smiles many times had raised their swords in a flash. In case this is Cleander’s scheme, wouldn’t it be just offering their necks if they went into the city without a weapon! Davos would never allow his life to be in the hands of others! The weapons are what he depends on!

“If you don’t abandon your weapons, Cleander won’t let you inside the city, and we won’t be able to set off!” Burkes said anxiously.

Davos thought about it and made a concession, “I can let the soldiers cover their spears and swords with clothes, but we will never abandon our weapons!” He once more reaffirm.

Burkes had to compromise after seeing Davos’ tough attitude, “Alright, I’ll go negotiate with Cleander again.”

Author’s Note: The ancient Greek chronology mainly uses the number of Olympic Games to calculate the year, because the ancient Olympic Games were also held once every four years.

Chapter 61 – Farewell

Cleander finally agreed to the request of the mercenaries to bring weapons into the city. It wasn’t due to Davos compromise of wrapping the weapons with clothes, but the key to opening the city gate was the half Taras coins that Burkes sent to Cleander. After Davos found out the truth, he had exlaimed, ‘The Spartans that had lived a simple life began accepting bribes!’

The next morning, the leaders, the officers and the soldiers of the various mercenary camps all came to see off the troops that is on their way.

As their comrades who had fought with them together for a year, were not only the soldiers, but also the officers and leaders of the other camps have offered their sincere blessing, even Timasion, who didn’t like Davos at first, had gave him a strong hug, “If I were a few years younger, I would’ve followed you to Magna Graecia.”

“You are still not old.” Davos smiled.

Timasion pointed to his chest, “This part is old, and just want to go home! Anyway, I hope you come back alive! And-” Timasion took a deep breath and whispered, “Thank you for the great help. If it wasn’t for you, there would be a lot more people that died!”

“This is the result of our efforts! It’s my honor fighting with you!” Davos modestly said.

“It’s my pleasure. May Zeus bless you all the best!” Timasion sincerely said.

“You too! I hope we can meet again!” Davos waved goodbye to him.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Timasion, Cleanor, Xanticles and their soldiers retreated several hundred meters, then the gates of Byzantium opened, and Davos led his troops into Byzantium.

Xanticles exclaimed, “How time flies! It’s finally time to part! The scene of Davos giving his speech on the stage seems like it had just happened yesterday!”

Xanticles’ words aroused sentiment of several leaders: they fought together for more than half a year, and then they finally began to go on their separate ways.

Several people silently looked at Byzantium, until the city gate closed.

At this time, the herald, Tolmides, said, “Do you think that Davos is really favored by Hades?”

“If not, then he is a very capable leader. But have you seen such a young capable leader before?” Timasion asked, preferring to admit that Davos was favored by the gods rather than acknowledging him to be better than them.

Cleanor and Xanticles shook their heads.

“I think once Cheirisophus finds out that Davos had gone to Magna Graecia, he would be very regretful. Back then, you can see Cheirisophus obviously wanting Davos to be an honored guest of Sparta. And before leaving, he ask Anaxibius to looked after him. Unfortunately, Anaxibius dislike the young man, and Davos would rather go to Magna Graecia than Sparta.” Cleanor said gloatingly.

“No one likes Sparta, they are too overbearing!” Timasion’s words resonated with everyone.

“But why did Hieronymus choose to go to Magna Graecia?” Tolmides asked.

“It’s because of that Athenian!” Timasion frowned, “The soldiers re-elected their leader in Sinope(Sinop), and as a result, Hieronymus lost his position as the leader and had that mouthy Xenophon took it. He might’ve wanted to stay away from here and prove himself in Magna Graecia.”

“It’s good to not be the leader, at least he doesn’t need to worry about so many things. However, soon, we can easily go home!” Said Xanticles, which also attracted the feelings of several others.

Perhaps they realize that there wasn’t much time for the next meeting, and the four of them solemnly took a salute and then turned their horse’s and went to their respective camps.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Both sides of the street were Spartan soldiers armed with their dazzling spears, as they watch Davos’ troops marched to the port.

The mercenaries tried not to look at the Spartans on both sides of the street and the Byzantium citizens that were behind them, as they look straight ahead and move forward in a serious manner.

“Damn mercenaries, leave Byzantium!” A Byzantium citizen suddenly roared and threw a rotten dates at Davos, who was walking at the front, destroying the previous calm.

“Get out of Byzantium!”

“Bandits!”

“Thieves!”

“The Gods will punish you, so that you will die a violent death!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The citizens of Byzantium were swearing and throwing things at the mercenaries that were in the middle of the street.

Although Davos had expected this in advance, and warned the mercenaries. But at this moment, he felt the danger and covered his head with one hand, and shouted, “Asistes, lead your heralds and tell each officers that they must strictly control their soldiers and not let them leave the troops!”

Davos’ order came in time, as some of the newly hired became angry. If not for the armed Spartans on the side of the street, they would have rushed to fight with the citizens of Byzantium.

The officers ran up and down to stop them from making any mistakes, and Davos also timely ordered, “Whole troops, RUSH FORWARD!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Cleander, who was standing at the platform at the roof of the praetorium, looked down at the mercenaries passing through the street. He was surprised to see that these scattered and undisciplined mercenaries were able to restrain themselves and didn’t have a conflict with the citizen of Byzantium, which made his plan to collect the weapons of the mercenaries to waste.

“Who is the leader of this mercenary?” He casually asked.

“It seems to be…Davos.” The adjutant thought and replied.

Davos? Cleander thought that the name was familiar, but he could not remember where he had heard it before, “The mercenaries he led were not bad.”

“Do you want to stop them, my lord?”

“Forget it.” Cleander waved his hand. He had taken the bribes of Thurii merchant. The reason why he also designed this small scheme was that once there was a conflict, he would be able to confiscate the weapons of the mercenaries.

The mercenaries braved this humiliation, endured their anger, and speed up their march, hoping to reach the port within a fewer steps.

When the mercenaries and the female slaves got on the ship respectively, everything was properly arranged, and the fleet of 57 merchant ships left the port of Byzantium, the soldiers began to yell, even the good tempered Asistes could not help but shout aloud, “Byzantium, someday I will return this humiliation!”

Davos ignored how the soldiers vented their anger, as he stood quietly at the stern of the boat, watching the city of Byzantium disappear below the horizon.

The fleet entered the sea of Marmara, then turned south and halfway they were stopped by dozen Spartan warships.

Burkes had to let his boat pass by and get on the Spartan flagship in person, asking the Spartans to let them go.

After a while, he asked his men to carry a big box to the warship.

After waiting for about an hour, he and his men went back to the boat and took a long breath and gave the order, “Depart.”

“What’s going on?” Asked Davos curiously.

“The Spartans now control this strait, and any large fleet passing through it must be examined by them, especially since I hired you from Byzantium.” Said Burkes as he took the cup he handed him.

“Why is that?” Davos was more curios.

“Since Sparta defeated Athen and took control of the Aegean Sea, it has been stipulated that ‘any city-state that wants to hire soldiers within the sphere of influence of Sparta must obtain their permission.’ And Byzantium is now being occupied by Sparta, which also belongs to the sphere of influence of Sparta. In the past, Sparta only allowed Dionysius of Syracuse to hire soldiers in Sparta for a long time, and even the local soldiers.”

“Dionysius?”

“The tyrant and dictator of Syracuse!” Burkes said in disgust, he obviously did not have a good impression of him, and Davos noted the name.

“Fortunately, in this special case, I manage to persuade the council of elders of Sparta to issue a certificate of employment.” Burkes took a sip of water and sighed, “Even so, I had to spend another half Taras to passed through. Alas…how could the general of Sparta become so greedy now!”

He looked at Davos and said, “I hope you can prove that my expenses is worth it with your performance in the battlefield.”

“You’ll see!” Said Davos seriously.

Then someone on the opposite ship shouted, “Davos! Davos!”

Author’s Note: It is only up to this chapter that the story of Davos in Persia came to an end. Does he still have a meeting with the mercenary leaders such as Timasion and Cleanor, as well as with the Persian Satraps such as Tissaphernes and Orontes?

Find out next time on Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Z

Chapter 62 – Arrival

Davos looked at the triremes besides him, only to see someone waving at him at the side of the ship.

“Hey, Xenophon, I didn’t think that I would have a chance to say goodbye to you!”

“Davos, I accepted the request of Anaxibius and hurried to Byzantium to gather our mercenaries again and rush to Asia Minor. I did not expect that you are going to Magna Graecia! Stay, let’s continue fighting together side by side!” Xenophon made a sincere request to Davos.

Davos secretly thought ‘that was close’, then shruggered his shoulders and seriously said, “I’m sorry, I have already signed an agreement with Thurii and made an oath to Hades!”

“That is…unfortunate!” Xenophon, who respected the gods, expressed his regret, “We won’t be able to fight together!…”

“It seems that Sparta is going to war with Persia. I can only wish you the protection of Zeus in the next war!” Davos said it from the bottom of his heart.

“I wish you the same!” Xenophon sincerely said, “I would have like to invite you to Athens to meet my teacher, Socrates. He would have been interested with your new ideas! And one of his students, my good friend Plato, have similar point of view as you. You two would’ve been good friends! Unfortunately…”

“One day I will go to Athens! I believe you would be able to finished the story of our battles in Persia. Don’t forget to send me a copy.” Davos only knew that Xenophon later wrote the Anabasis, but he doesn’t remember Xenophon’s life experience. After all, he was not a historian in his previous life.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make you another copy.” Xenophon laughed.

Davos vaguely remembered that Socrates was convicted and was poisoned by the Athenian authorities. He didn’t know the exact time, but he remembered that Socrates could have chosen to be expelled from Athens, but he insisted on staying and wanted to wake up the numb Athenian citizens with his death. So Davos gave up the decision to remind Xenophon and just waved and said, “Goodbye!”

“Goodbye!”

Who knew that this goodbye would have a great change, friends becomes enemies. Which is hard to predict…

As the fleet moved forward, the ships of Sparta gradually disappeared under the blue sky…

Seeing that Davos was still standing at the stern, Burkes couldn’t help but walk over and said, “Still missing your Athenian friend??”

“Xenophon is a talented and capable person!” Davos was disappointed. After all, Xenophon was the first historical celebrity that connect this world with his previous life.

“Athens is built up by a group of talented people to create its glory!” Burkes said with deep thoughts, “Even we have the same glory as Athens, Only after Thurii is established it has prosper!”

“Oh, is it?” Burkes’ words succeeded in arousing Davos’ interest.

“At that time, the leaders in charge of the establishment of Thurii were two highly capable Athenians, Lampon and Xenocritus, as well as Protagoras, a famous scholar in Athens, who had made the laws for Thurii. Athens also invited Hippodamus, a famous Greek architect, to design the city of Thurii and was responsible for its construction at the same time, though other celebrated names in Athens moved to Thurii. One was Herodotus, a scholar who writes history. The other one is Lysias, a famous orator. There was even Cleandridas, a Spartan, who took control the war for Thurii. As a result, Thurii can keep the peace with Crotone to the south. Fight for the Siritris plain with Taranto to the north. Defend against the invasion of Lucanians and Bruttii to the west. Strengthen trade with Greece. Therefore, in one fell swoop, it became a great power in Magna Graecia!” Burkes couldn’t help recall the past.

Davos listened carefully.

Then, Burkes’ proud expression faded, “Unfortunately, Athens lost to Sparta. Now Sparta is the overlord of Greece…”

“Does it have a huge impact on Thurii?” Asked Davos.

Burkes didn’t want to say more, and just replied, “When you arrive to Thurii, you will find out.”

Davos smiled and comforted him, “Don’t worry, Sparta’s hegemony won’t last long.”

Davos’ astonishing words immediately attracted Burkes’ attention, “Why?”

“Because the Spartans are starting to take bribes.” Davos said half-jokingly, “The unique system that have come from ancient times for Sparta was intended to train the Spartan citizens into a fierce warriors, only in this way can several Spartans suppress the more numbered Helots, and dominate Greece with external rule. For this reason, only by letting the Spartan citizens maintain a plain and simple life can they ensure basic equality. Otherwise, the citizens of Sparta will raise objections, ‘why do you eat well and wear warm clothes? while I accept cruel training since I was a kid, and I need to be 30 years old to get out of the single life in the military camp.’ So they closed their gates, commercial trades are banned, the use of more portable currency are banned, banned debate, banned drama, banned poetry, banned writting and selling books other than military affairs. Everyone says that Spartans are terrible because the Spartans have no other entertainment except fighting and killing! Now, Sparta has become the hegemon of Greece, the strategic areas need to be garrisoned, their fleets needs to sail, and the Spartans needs to leave their country and stay out for half a year and they will of course touch things that they haven’t been exposed to before. It’s not easy to maintain a plain and simple life, but it’s too easy to destroy it! Once the spirit of the Spartans to dominate Greece has been eroded, how long can Sparta maintain their hegemony!!”

Burkes had never heard anyone use such simple and vivid language to analyze the political system of Sparta, just like a sharp dagger stabbing at the fragile core of the Spartan system, which sounds very reasonable. He looked at Davos in a daze, this young man made him feel a little awe, and he suddenly remembered the rumor regarding Davos being ‘God’s Favored’. He opened his mouth and found that his voice was dry. He coughed several times and couldn’t help but ask, “If it’s so, who will be the opponent of Sparta in Greece?”

Davos shrugged, “I’m not a god, how would I know,” He raised his head and looked up at the seagulls flying in the blue sky, Thebes, Macedonia… a string of city-state names flashed through his mind, and he doesn’t know why there was a sense of pride in his heart…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After being stopped by the Spartan warship, Burkes ordered the fleet to travel both day and night for fear of further accidents.

A few days later, after arriving at the island of Euboea, they went ashore to replenish food and fresh water, and then sailed through the Cyclades Islands, bypassing the Attica Peninsula in Athens, because there was no time to go ashore, and Davos could only regretfully look westward on the ship to the famous classic, Athens, which was not in sight.

Then, the fleet passed through Argos, and carefully bypassed the Peloponnese Peninsula, until they reached the island of Zakynthos, and finally went ashore for a night. The next day, they sailed northward to the island of Corfu. Then they turned to the west and entered the Gulf of Taranto, named after the powerhouse in Magna Graecia, Taranto.

This is a calm harbor, the wet sea breeze can’t lift a wave. The blue water is like a smooth and clear blue silk, countless ships are like silver shuttling around, weaving a beautiful picture on this huge blue silk.

When the mercenaries saw this beautiful scene, their bodies and minds which was exhausted by the long sea voyage, had suddenly became excited and began to make trouble.

Burkes’ large fleet has also attracted the attention of those interested parties, a few triremes with a “person riding dolphins” on their sails came to meet them.

“It’s okay, it’s Taranto’s ship.” Burkes talks to Davos as the fleet’s leading ship moved forward.

“Are we in the waters controlled by Taranto?” Asked Davos curiously.

“Not yet. This is just an agreement between several city-states in this gulf, in order to maintain information between each other, just in case.” Explained Burkes.

Seeing the warship of Taranto turning around and leaving, the fleet continues to move forward…

About an hour later, Burkes pointed in front of him and said, “Ahead is Thurii.”

Davos quickly held on to the ship’s side and looked at it with his wide gaze. More than 500 meters ahead was a green coastline, including a white “streamer” from west to east, straight into the sea; at the end of the “streamer”, countless white sails gathered, thousands of seagulls swirled in the sky, but there was no shadow of the city to be seen…

Chapter 63 – Ruins

Burkes seemed to noticed Davos’ doubts and explained it to him, “The city of Thurii is situated about 10km from the river Crati.”

Davos went “Oh”, and asked, “How can there be so many ships that are here trading when Thurii is fighting with the Lucanians?”

“The Lucanians have no ships and therefore they are unable to cut off the sea trade of Thurii, and more war means that more goods and materials are needed. These merchant ships has come to earn money…” As the two people talk, the fleet has stopped advancing forward.

The leading ship went ahead alone and soon merged with the white sails…

About an hour later, the leading ship returned and approached the ship of Burkes, and then a man came up.

“Burkes, at last, you’re back! I had thought that the Lucanians had frightened you into migrating to Greece.” The guy came forward whilr laughing.

“How could I leave, if you who is the most timid, didn’t leave.” Burkes joked and gave him a hug.

“Did everything went well?”

“Is Thurii fine?”

The two asked and laughed at the same time.

“The city of Thurii should still be safe from just seeing your relaxed appearance.”

“As you know, those savage Lucanians doesn’t have any superb skills. They could neither build siege equipment nor build ships. They can only destroy villages and farms outside of the city. Fortunately, the wheats had already been harvested in autumn. In winter, the Lucanians outside the city broke away and had to return to the northern mountains, leaving only a small number of soldiers in Amendolara-”

“Wait, you are talking about the plague?” Burkes’ face was startled.

“The Lucanians have killed thousands of Thurii citizens and piled their bodies outside of the city. Zeus was angry and punished the Lucanians, but we, the people of Thurii, were not hurt at all!” Said the guy with anger and pride.

Burkes praised Zeus.

The guy continued, “Now that it’s getting warmer, they would start going south again. Fortunately, Taranto sent reinforcements.”

“As the one who advocates the Magna Graecia defense alliance, they should’ve sent reinforcements long ago!”

“We can’t blame them. They just repulsed the attack of the Messappi, and soon after, sent 1,500 hoplites and 50 cavalary and the leader is Archytas.”

“Which Archytas?”

“Which other Archytas! Of course, the son of Histiaeus the former archon of Taranto, the genius among the citizens of Taranto!”

“Speaking of geniuses, I also have one here.” Burkes pulled Davos and said to Polyx, “I’d like to introduce you to Davos of Thessaly, a Greek mercenary general in an expedition to Persia” Said Burkes seriously. Then, pointing to the guy, and said, “Davos, this is the strategos selected by Thurii this year, my good friend – Polyx!”

“Greetings, Strategos Polyx!” Davos saluted slightly.

“Welcome.” Polyx nodded, then turned to Burkes, “What did you just say? A Persian expedition?”

Burkes saw Polyx’s casual behavior, and so he promoted Davos’ deeds greatly. Polyx’s gaze on him immediately became enthusiastic, “It’s difficult to imagine! Davos, you are so young and yet have done such an amazing thing! Under the siege of thousands of enemies in the middle of Persia, and leading the soldiers back home! Truly…amazing!”

Davos said sincerely, “This is the result of the joint efforts with my brothers, and many have died on our way home…”

“I invited the camp of Davos to Thurii, hoping that they will help us in defeating the Lucanians with their rich fighting experience!” Burkes took this opportunity to explain how he hired Davos’ camp at a high cost in advanced.

“You came just at the right time. We are currently deliberating on a counterattack against the Lucanians.” Polyx said to Burkes, “I have come here in order to tell you that the general assembly had agreed that your fleet would disembark at the wharf at the estuary, and let Davos and his mercenary troops camp in the old city of Sybarys.”

“What?! Letting them camp in the old city of Sybarys!!” Burkes’ face changed, and he immediately pulled Polyx aside and whispered, “Are you crazy?! Have you forgotten that when Thurii was built, we have an agreement with Crotone that the site of the old city of Sybarys could not be touch! Otherwise, we would have build the city of Thurii on the location of Sybaris, since it is clear that it has a better location and a better port!”

“Every Thuriian knows about what you had said. But this is the result of Kunogelata’s strong advocacy, and the other strategos agreed! The soldiers you hired before have been camping in Sybarys for nearly a month.” Polyx’s shrugged in order to show that it had nothing to do with him.

“Kunogelata again! He had expelled the Athenians, and now he wants to infuriate Crotone. Does he want to destroy Thurii!” Said Burkes angrily.

“It’s not as bad as you have said. Decades had passed and the Thurii have been abiding by this agreement. The grass of Sybarys has grown taller than that of the others, and now that Thurii is suffering from war and it is only just using it as a temporary camp. Besides, Crotone doesn’t have time to pay attention to this matter either, they are fighting fiercely with the Bruttii. Where else would these mercenaries camp? I’m afraid that when you add up the previous and this time’s mercenaries will reach up to 4 – 5 thousand people. The camp built must occupy a large area. Now, all around Thurii are farmland and villages, except for that wasteland…”

“Didn’t you say that all the farmland and villages outside the city have been destroyed?” Asked Burkes.

“After the Lucanians retreated, the people went back to their villages and towns and began rebuilding. Otherwise, they would all gather in the city and would have problems sooner or later! As for those fields, the farmers have already sown all the wheat seeds, otherwise there will be no harvest this year.”

“What if the Lucanians return?” Asked Burkes worriedly.

“That is why we are discussing on how to repel them.”

Burkes stared at Polyx for a long time without saying any words, and finally said, “It seems that the strategoi are very united, and brave! And have forgotten how they fled in panic last year!”

Polyx was embarrassed and speechless.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Because the channel had been cleared in advance, Burkes’ fleet got into the estuary smoothly, but disembarking became more troubesome because there was only a simple wharf.

Burkes, Davos, Philesius, Asistes, and the guards were the first to disembarked first, and stood on the soft ground.

Philesius bent down and reached for a handful of soil, twisted it with his fingers and put it on the tip of his nose and sniffed as if it was not soil but delicacies. Then he reached for Davos and said excitedly, “It’s black!”

Davos certainly understand what he meant. Before Burkes’ eyes turned around, he exlaimed, “This is a fertile land!”

Burkes said proudly, “Of course! The plain of Sybarys has several rivers, including the river Crati. It is not only rich in water, but also has large fertile and flat area. It is the best land in this area. Otherwise, the luxury life of Sybarys would not have come!”

After a short walk away from the back of the river, a group of people saw the ruins among the weeds. This is the old location of the city of Sybarys.

Davos came to a huge stone and stopped. Although it was covered with moss, the fine texture and dark red color of the flat stone surfaced, which proved that it was good marble. Looking at it, there are many such stones here, hidden under the grass, half buried in the soil…

To know that Greece and Italy produce white marbles more, and only Africa is rich in red marble, naturally the price is not cheap. Although Davos doesn’t know the price, there were few such stones in the previous cities, which were obviously not easy to get, “What a good stone! Why didn’t Thurii use it when they build the city?” He asked Burkes seemingly casual.

Author’s Note: Magna Graecia refers to the Greek city-states in the south of Italy, which is the foot part of the “boot” in Italy. The specific Greek city-states will be mentioned later in this book.

Chapter 64 – Scuffle!

Burkes hesitated for a while whether to tell the truth. After all, this is an open secret, and he doesn’t want this to affect the trust that was built between them, “When Thurii built the city, Athens had an agreement with Crotone, ‘Crotone will keep the peace with Thurii, while Thurii shall not build a city on the location of Sybarys, and will retain Sybarys as it is.’”

“Those tyrant Crotone! Did they really plan to use a ruined wasteland to show Crotone’s power to those who passed by it?” Asked Davos curiously.

“Maybe, but it is also a reminder to Thurii that they will never make the same mistake as Sybarys!” Said Burkes with firm expression.

“Thurii sure can endure.” Said Davos jokingly, and saw that Burkes expression turned grim, but some stuff had to be asked, “We are now camping here, is this not a violation of the agreement?”

Burkes pretended to be relaxed and said, “Now that the situation is urgent, I believe Crotone would be able to understand it.”

“I hope that is also what Crotone thinks.” Replied Davos.

Burkes didn’t speak anymore, he had learned the shrewdness of Davos and believed that Davos had seen the link.

As the group continued to move forward, there were fewer and fewer broken walls and stones, and the ground became more leveled…

Philesius, who was at the front, stopped and turned around and said, “Leader, I think we should build the camp here and use it as the center.”

Davos stood on a big rock and looked around, about 200 meters away north from the mercenary camp that they had arrived at earlier, the river Crati in the south, the sea in the east, and the west are farmlands.

He came down and poked his right toe into the soil. Under the thin layer of soil, there were basically hard stuffs, and should be the bricks that was laid in the city of Sybarys. This area should be the center of Sybarys.

Davos agreed in his mind, and nodded and said, “Yes.”

Philesius turned and went back to inform the soldiers who were still disembarking at the wharf.

At this time, dozens of people came out of opposite mercenary camp and rushed to their side.

“Hey, where did you lot come from?” One of them shouted.

Burkes recognized the man, and said, “Drakos, This is their leader, Davos of Thessaly, they have been invited by Thurii. And just like you, they will fight against the Lucanians.”

“Oh?…” When Drakos saw that Davos was too young, he could not help but felt it odd and looked down on him. When he saw that Asistes leading a convoy to mark and measure the groud, his expression changes slightly, “What are they doing?”

“We are going to camp here, and our two armies will be neighbors!” Said Davos with a smile.

“You will camp here?!” Drakos’ eyes opened wide and said it aloud.

“It’s convenient to camp here, and we can cooperate together.” Davos saw the change in his expression, but he did not care.

“Who will cooperate with you! Don’t drag us down! You aren’t allowed to camp here, you have to withdraw at least 300 meters south of here!” Drakos ordered with a fierce shout.

“300 meters to the south means that our camp will be by the river!” Davos reminded him.

“I don’t care! You have to leave here at once!” Drakos made a threatening stance.

“Drakos, this is the land of Thurii. You have no right to make such decisions!” Burkes yelled at him.

“But you, Thurii, had made this ruins of Sybarys as the camp for us mercenaries, then I have the right since we are the first to arrive here!” Said Drakos proudly.

Burkes wanted to talk again, but Davos pulled him.

“I see. It seems that who is in charge here must depend on his strength.” Davos sneered.

“Oh, lad, you are an understanding fellow. What’s wrong, you want to fight?!” Drakos said with a condenscing smile.

Davos called Asistes and whispered, “Go get the troops and tell them that there’s a good opportunity to move around.”

“Understood!” Asistes ran back excitedly.

“Martius, what are you waiting for? Follow me!” Said Davos and rushed past him.

At the start, Martius was also a warrior with the same reputation as Matonis in Hielos team. He became the captain of the guard team, and had to manage them on a regular basis. He had a lot of courage and ruthlessness, and he rarely met a good opportunity. He led the 30 guards like wolves as they rushed forward.

When Drakos saw Davos rushing, he threw a punch aiming at Davos’ head.

Davos had already been on guard. He went low, but at the same time, his speed was not reduced, and he was close to the right side of Drakos.

Drakos was late in recovering his right fist, just as he was about to turn.

Davos’ left fist struck his waist rib like lightning, which made him bend down subconsciously. Then Davos’ right hook hit him hard on the chin, which made his strong body jump up and fall.

Burkes who was at the back was so scared that his spine was sweating cold as he saw that within a flash, Drakos wasn’t able to stand. At normal times, Davos had a gentle appearance as they had good conversation, which made Burkes think that the young man had conquered the mercenary soldiers with his wisdom. Unexpectedly, his fierceness was also astounding. Under the leadership of Martius, he can see that the other guards are as fierce and precise like the tigers. They cooperated with each other to defend and attack, although there are 10 more people on the other side, they are like a group of loose sand, and they are always trapped between 2 – 3 people. Soon they are all beaten down and the side of Martius had basically no loss. (T/N: More like lions)

Burkes wanted to say something, but he heard footsteps rumbling behind him.

“Davos, here we are!” At the lead was Matonis.

Davos saw a lot of people rushing out of the opposite camp, but their speed was obviously not as fast as the one on his side. So he said, “How many people they have is how many people we will send, and everyone can take turns beating them all down, but they must not die!”

“Roar!” The soldiers howled excitedly and couldn’t wait for the other camp to arrive.

A huge scuffle between hundreds of people started, and the victor was soon decided. The result was obvious, the soldiers of the other camp saw their teammates falling down to the ground from afar, moaning incessantly, and were too afraid to rush.

Seeing this situation, Burkes was glad that he had made the correct decision in hiring Davos’ camp, and at the same time, he said worriedly, “Haven’t you gone too far? How will you be able to cooperate with each other in the future?

Davos rubbed his knuckles, and comforted him, “You don’t know anything about us mercenaries. After this fight, I believe that there will be no friction, and they will understand who has the right in making decisions in here!”

These words gave Burkes another understanding about Davos…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Matonis, if it wasn’t for the 2 daric gold coins a month, I wouldn’t have joined your camp!…” Xetippus, a mercenary who joined the camp of Davos in Byzantium, complained to the squad leader, Matonis, while digging trenches. “After more than 10 days in the ship, and we finally arrived in Thurii, but Davos didn’t let us have a rest, and had instead made us immediately dig trenches and build camps…”

Matonis glared and said, “If you don’t want to do it, then don’t do it!”

“I don’t want to be spanked!” Xetippus thought of something, and the more he thought about it, the more scared he was, “No wonder some people used to say that your camp was manage strictly, they really weren’t joking! If you don’t move you get spanked, I can’t stand this anymore! We are mercenaries, not Spartans…”

Matonis missed the soldiers he had led previously. After all, after a half a year of polishing they are already familiar with the things stipulated in the military law issued by Davos, when and what to do. Even without his urging, his brothers could finish it with their own initiative. But after half of the veterans were pulled out and got stuffed with the new soldiers that was recruited in Byzantium, there were a lot of small incidents occurring along the way, which made Matonis anxious and angry, such as this guy in front him that complained a lot. Matonis didn’t want to talk to him, but he had to remind him, “Boy, your digging is too shallow! The leader’s request is a “U” type ditch with a width of 3 meters and a depth of 3 meters. As you can see, you haven’t dug deep enough and this won’t passed the requirement!”

Chapter 65 – Camp Building!

Xetippus looked to the left and right, as he still wanted to say something more, but when he saw the face of Matonis, he immediately shut his mouth. He was afraid of Matonis, beacause he knew that he really dared to punched people with his fist. Of course, his guards was also famous in the whole camp, and so he held up his tools and dug them hard to the ground…

Matonis was too lazy to deal with him, so he picked up the wooden basket that was filled with soil, then stepped on the wooden ladder to go up to the ground, and poured the soil into the earthen wall that was being built in the ditch. He looked at the progress of his own team, which was pretty good. But after looking at the situation of Olivos’ team that was next to him, he was immediately worried, and so he stood by the trench and shouted, “Brothers, let’s work hard. Let’s strive to be the first to complete it this time and get the reward promised by the leader! If someone doesn’t work hard and drags us down, then I will never let him go!!!”

“Roar!” The veterans howled, while most of the recruits mostly responded weakly…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Leader, we need to not only dig trenches, earth walls, and sentry towers, but we also need to build wooden fences for the walls, and after the wooden fences, we still need to build walkways, and before the trenches, we need to dig pits and bury sharp wooden stakes…the requirements of this camp are too complicated! And the labor needed is much more intense than before, and the soldiers are complaining. Is this really necessary?! ” Asked Asistes who was puzzled.

As Davos watched the progress of the camp construction, he replied positively, “Of course, it’s necessary! Burkes said that at least 10,000 Lucanians had attacked last year! Unlike Thurii, we aren’t protected by a thick and tall walls. Can we resist the attack of the Lucanians if we don’t build a well defended camp?! When we are besieged by the Lucanians, will the Thuriians come to our rescue?!”

Asistes shook his head.

“So what if it’s a little bit tiring to build such a complex camp, but with it, the soldiers will feel at ease when they rest and sleep in it, and the enemy will have no way to deal with us! Moreover, the camp can be completed within a few days.” Davos glance at Asistes, and then said, “Before, I asked you to assemble the soldiers who had worked as carpenters in the team and set up an engineering camp. Now, have them lead the soldiers and fumble for the construction of wooden fences, sentries and walkways, with this as experience, we can do it again easier when we construct camps in the future.”

Asistes said sincerely, “Boss, you are so thorough!”

Davos smiled. This was an effective method that was condensed by the Roman army through a hundreds of years of war in history. He directly drew lessons from it and pushed it vigorously. It is his hoped that the military tradition of the Roman Legion of “No matter where you go, you must build a sold camp first” will also become the habit of his own army.

“Leader, Philesius is back” Asistes saw Philesius coming from the north.

Davos hurried up and asked, “How is it?”

“Burkes is right. There is a small river about 5 km to the north, and there are mountain forest on the other side of the river”

“Is it easy to cross the river?”

“The river is very shallow, but we found scouts of the Lucanians. According to the guide, they may be from the city of Amendolara.”

This news made Davos ponder for a while, and he said decisively, “Burkes said that this is the only Lucanian army left in the north of Thurii and their number is not large. I will give you 500 soldiers and 100 strong slaves, and lead them to the mountain forest and let some of them cut down the trees. The others will be responsible for keeping an eye. If possible, you will go north again and look at the situation around the city of Amendolara.”

“Ok.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On a huge rock a hundreds meters away from Davos camp, Drakos and two other leaders are standing while watching.

“What are those guys doing? A camp, that needed to be so complicated?! They are clearly building a city! Do the Thuriians allowed them to do this?” One of the leaders said sarcastically.

“Adrian, you have to admit that if such a complex camp is built, the Lucanians will have very difficult time attacking it! On the contrary, if you look at our camp, it’s much simpler! Listening to the Thurriians, the Lucanians are currently gathering forces in Laus. If they go south on a large scale, we will be the first to suffer! Should we consider re-strengthening our camp?” Another leader made a suggestion.

“Sesta, you aren’t ignorant of the nature of our soldiers. When they ask for money, they are active, but once you let them work, they will all be trying to escape work!” Adrian said helplessly.

“Yeah, this is what I find strange. They-” Sesta pointed to the soldiers who were working very hard in the distance, and said curiously, “They aren’t like mercenaries at all, and even the citizen-soldiers of some city-states aren’t like them as well. But, they are instead a bit like the Spartans! But just now, I heard their accent, Thessaly, Rhodes, Thrace, Crete, Chersonesus, Chalcis…Every place has their own accent, just like ours! But why is the difference so big?!”

“Don’t think about it. Although we had a fight with them, they didn’t mean anything to us. They also offered to help us treat our wounded, let’s not provoke them in the future. Besides, it’s also good that they are powerful, we can feel at ease with them around us!” Adrian said with emotion and jumped down from the stone, “Come, don’t stand here for a long time and made them think that we have any schemes!”

Adrian felt their horror, and he couldn’t help but want to stay away from them.

“I think we should still try and let our soldiers reinforce our camp’s defense again!” Sesta also jumped down as well.

“Well, let’s go back and discuss it with the soldiers.” Adrian shrugged helplessly, as he walked a few steps, he thought of something, and turned around and shouted, “Drakos, let’s go!”

Drakos grinned and his red swollen lower jaw still hurt when he touch it. He took a deep look at Davos’ camp and followed them.

Soon after returning to the camp, the wounded had also came back. These mercenaries were mainly from Ionia and Asia Minor (Because Burkes recruited them in Miletus at that time), and from their mouth, they learned that those mercenaries were the Greek mercenaries who fought on an expedition together with Cyrus the Younger! It must be known that after they arrived at the area in the Black Sea, the merchants and sailors, the merchant ships of the cities on the Black sea who had went to Greece to do business with Asia Minor and Ionia, had spread the events of the Greek mercenaries fighting in Persia through exaggerations and dyeing the chatters of taverns and inns, which had made them famous as they marched along the Black sea as it was already spread in Ionia. Many mercenaries understood their plight, but they end up envying their experience and had regarded them as heroes. After all, no Greek army had ever reached the central region of Persia so far.

Now that the group who had beaten them was part of the Persian expedition army, the mercenaries’ resentment had not only disappeared, but also sincerely exclaimed, ‘No wonder they are so fierce, it turns out that they are the Greek mercenaries who had come back from the expedition in Persian, and they are currently right next to us!’

The soldiers who couldn’t suppress their surprise rushed out of the camps’ gate, regardless of the obstruction of their leaders, and ran to the camp of Davos, hoping to hear their heroic tale in Persia…

Chapter 66 – Inquiry and Explanation (I)

At this time, Burkes was in the city hall being question by the Strategoi of Thurii.

The political system of Thurii is similar to that of Athens. Most of the times, the administrative management of city-states adopts the “10 strategoi responsibility system” (After all, it is a city that was established under the leadership of Athens, but it is also different from that of Athens, which was elected by the general assembly of the citizen. At the time of its establishment, the main immigrants from Thurii came from 10 regions of Greece, namely Arcadia, Achea, Boeotia, Ionia, Athens, Doris…Therefore, the annual election is from the citizens of Thurii in these 10 regions, each electing a Strategos, and the Polemarchos has always been from the descendants of Athens.)

But after the end of the Peloponnesian War and the defeat of Athens, in order to prevent the retaliation of Sparta and the city-states of Magna Graecia that had joined the Spartan Alliance. (such as Taranto, Crotone, Syracuse, etc. which are all strong states) Under the push of Kunogelata. all the descendants of Athens in Thurii were expelled. Currently, there are only “9 Strategoi” left in Thurii, and the polemarchos was re-elected by the council among the nine strategoi that was elected by the various ethnic group. Kunogelata has been the polemarchos for 4 consecutive years, until last year after the tragic defeat of Thurii due to the invasion of Lucania, the great majority had then voted Friis, who they thought that had the most military talent. Although he lost his position as the polemarchos, Kunogelata was still elected as one of the 9 strategoi. After all, his popularity in the Arcadian community is too high.

Now, taking the employment agreement signed by Burkes, he asked, “Burkes, as the person in charge of recruitment, you should know about the price of mercenaries in the whole Greek region. Around how much?”

“Usually about a half daric gold coins a month.” Replied Burkes truthfully.

“Hm, it’s about the same as what I know. I noticed that the first of the 2 employment agreements did follow the half daric gold coins per month, but the second one-” Kunogelata, facing the other generals, said loudly, “They are also the same that have more than 2000 mercenaries, but the payment you gave them is 2 daric gold coin per month!”

When they heard this, the other generals were surprised.

Before Burkes could explain, Kunogelata help up the parchment with the agreement and continued, “Not only that, but also you have signed a half a year’s employment with them. According to the above agreement, no matter whether the war ends or not, you have to pay them 2 daric gold coins every month! Think about it, if the Lucanians put off the attacks according to this agreement, these mercenaries will be able to get nearly 25,000 gold coins without doing anything for half a year!”

“Oh my god, this is too much!” Everyone was shocked once more, another general, Nianses, said angrily, “Last year, in order to prepare military funds to fend off the army of Lucanians attacking Thurii, we took out 300 Taras out of the treasury. As a result, in order to provide for the families of the citizens that were killed in the war, another 50 Taras were taken out. In order to defend against the Lucanians from attacking the city, another 150 Taras were taken out in order to make weapons, repair the city walls, summoning the citizens to be militia. By this year, in order to buy and supply food for the reinforcements and mercenaries of Taranto, as well as another 120 taras to repair the damaged villages, farmland and other facilities, which is not enough! Before the war began, the treasury was almost empty. Before that, we had discussed whether to levy a special war tax on the citizens. This is the wealth accumulated by Thurii over the years and the hard-earned tax income of the citizens! As the strategos in charge of the city’s finance and taxation, I can’t stand such a ridiculous agreement. I refuse to pay them!”

“Yes, we don’t recognize this agreement!” Most strategoi followed suit.

At this time, the polemarchos, Friis, said, “Kunogelata, the Lucanians are gathering forces in Laus, this news has been confirmed, and we all know that. Therefore, there is no possibility that the Lucanians will not attack in half a year, because they started gathering their army, which made the consumption of their food very huge, and the grain production capacity of the area in Lucania is impossible to support them for half a year, if they cancelled their gathering, it will only weaken the prestige of the chief of the tribal alliance, unless there is a special circumstance, the invasion of the Lucanians will come soon! And in this time of crisis, we need more soldiers to help us resist the attack of the Lucanians!”

“Friis, don’t rule out accidents. For example, people thought that after the victory of the Lucanians, they would attack the city, but in the end, they encountered a plague and were forced to retreat…” Kunogelata retorted, “Whether the enemy attack or not is not the key, the key is that this agreement makes those mercenaries, no matter what the situation, will have gains, while Thurii will be the only one who will suffer loses. That’s the problem! I don’t think the person in charge that you have recommended, Burkes, did his best in his mission! Look at his treatment of the mercenaries, not only the salary, but also this, look…‘The mercenaries led by Davos are only responsible for defending Thurii and fighting back the attacks of Lucanians on Thurii. If there are other missions, they must be decided by the two sides through consultation…’” Kunogelata read aloud the terms of the agreement, then sneered at Burkes and said, “Are you sure that you are recruiting mercenaries, and not the Spartans?! We are the one spending money, we are the master, but now, these mercenaries have become honored guest that we would need to ask their consent for everything! I now have serious doubts that Burkes had a private dealing with this mercenary. I ask for a financial officer to investigate this!”

“Enough, Kunogelata!” Friis finally couldn’t help but shout, “Although I recommended Burkes, but all strategoi had decided it together. Don’t forget that you are the second one to agree! It showed that his ability has been recognized by everyone. In such a short period of time, he went all over the world and worked hard to recruit more than 4,000 soldiers for Thurii. He solved the problems of the shortage of military resources in Thurii at once, he reassured the citizens and guaranteed the security of the city-state! He should have been rewarded by the city-state and thanked by the citizens, but now, he is receiving your humiliation here. Is this how Thurii should treat a citizen who has contributed to the city-state! If so, who will volunteer to work for Thurii in the future!!” Friis’ words put the city hall in a temporary silence.

Burkes said, “I didn’t expect the finance of the city-state would be in such distress! However, the reason why this agreement was signed and these soldiers were recruited was that on the one hand, the situation was urgent at that time, on the other hand, they were worth it! They are not Spartans, but they are not weaker than the Spartans!”

This remark immediately attracted the attention of everyone. Nianses obviously did not believe it and sarcastically said, “We all know that the Spartans have been trained as warriors since they were young, and therefore, they are so fierce once they grow up. Is there a second city-state in this world that adopted a similar system? Oh…are they perhaps the Immortals of Persia that was mentioned in Herodotus’ 《Histories》, are they Persians?”

Burkes looked coldly at Nianses, “These soldiers do have something to do with the Persians!”

“Oh?!” Friis asked with interest, “Do this mercenary have a special origin?”

Burkes saw that the Strategos’ gazes were all focused on himself, and he looked at Polyx, who had kept silent all this time, and calmly said, “After receiving the task assigned by the Strategoi, I had then set out on the same day by ship. As a result, when I passed the Adriatic Sea, I encountered two pirate ships, and was almost captured by them. Fortunately, with the blessings of Poseidon, there was a strong wind, and risking the ship, I escaped and sailed all the way to Crete, and then went ashore to rest and repair the ship. I wanted to recruit some archers there, but the locals told me, ‘It’s alright to recruit a small number of people, but if you need a large number, you would need to get permission from Sparta, because Crete is now part of the Spartan alliance.’ He also told me that most of the mercenaries are now gathered in Asia Minor and suggested that I go there to recruit, but it’s better to first get permission from Sparta. After careful consideration, I decided to go to Sparta.”

Several Strategos were unconsciously nervous. Although they had expelled the citizens of Thurii who were descendants of Athens in order to eliminate the retaliation of the allied city-state of Sparta, and turned the 10 major ethnic groups in Thurii into 9, they still did not know what the attitude of Sparta towards Thurii.

Chapter 67 – Inquiry and Explanation (II)

“…I pretended to be an emissary of Thurii and after several effort, I have finally arrived in Sparta. At the council of elders, I told the elders of Sparta about the disaster of Thurii and asked them for reinforcement. The elders of Sparta sympathized with what we have encountered, but they do not have any reinforcement to send. Instead, they gave a certificate permitting us to recruit…”

“Brilliant!” When Burkes said this, Friis couldn’t help praised him loudly, and several other strategoi were relieved. It seems that Sparta didn’t care much about Thurii’s help to Athens.

“Thanks to our timely measures, Sparta can treat us with such an attitude.” Kunogelata said on the sides and the several strategos agreed. No matter whether Sparta’s attitude was change because of Thurii’s exiling the descendants of Athens, or whether Sparta didn’t pay attention to Thurii at all, these strategos who had expressed their support and recognition of exiling the Athenian descendants needed this false recognition to dispel their guilt.

Burkes glanced at the strategos and continued, “When I arrived in Miletus and recruited Drakos, Sesta, and the other mercenaries, I heard a lot of news about Cyrus the Younger leading the Greek mercenaries to invade Persia and had attempted to usurp the throne.”

Several strategos nodded their heads. Although Thurii was thousands of kilometers away from Asia Minor, they still heard this news. Not to mention the merchant ship that frequently exchanged between the East and the West of Mediterranean, the first group of mercenaries could only be station outside the city, but there were constant peddlers even going to the camps to do business, so as to spread some news and stories to the city…

“The Greek mercenaries defeated the army of the Persian king. Although Cyrus the Younger was killed in the war, they still manage to defeat the troops of Tissaphernes, the Satrap of Asia Minor, and Orontes, the Satrap of Armenia, many times on their way back to Greece. It was said tbat tbey had also killed several famous generals of Persia! They marched thousands of kilometers, constantly fighting with the aborigines, which have many different mountain tribes that made the Persians have an headache. Strategos, do you think such a Greek mercenary lacks experience in fighting? Is their combat power amazing? Are they comparable to Spartans?”

“Is this the mercenary that you employed-” Some of the startegos exclaimed, “The Greek mercenary who went to Persia?”

“Yes, strategos.” Seeing the mixed expression of surprise and excitement, Burkes finally was relieved, “The reason why we failed in our last battle with the Lucanians was not only because of the carelessness of Asikulodox, but also because the citizens had lived in peace for a long time and lacked the experience in battle.”

In fact, it was not the wish of Asikulodox to take the initiative to invade the territory of the Lucanians, but after they defeated the invasion of the Lucanians, all the citizens of Thurii, including the strategoi, were pushing for it. This strong desire to retaliate against the Lucanians made the whole army march forward lightly on the enemy’s land, and had almost cost all the troops to be destroyed.

At this time, Burkes, in violation of his will, put the blame on Asikulodox. (which was made to be the scapegoat of the citizen assembly of Thurii after their defeat) Seeing that the strategos nodded their heads in agreement, he could not help but hate himself, but he still said seriously, “I think if such an army can be hired, the danger faced by Thurii can not only be taken over, but also have the Lucanians take a huge hit. Therefore, I arrange for my men to stay in taverns and inns to inquire about the whereabouts and movements of the Greek expeditionary force at any time. Soon after, I learned that they had arrived at Heraclea on the banks of the Black Sea, but at the same time, I learned another bad news, ‘Sparta and Persia are going to war, and the Spartan strategos, Thimbron, has even been appointed as the governor of Asia Minor, and has arrived in Miletus to start recruiting troops.’ I was afraid that this Greek mercenary would be recruited by Sparta, so I went to Hellespont overnight by a fast ship and found them in Byzantium.

But most of the mercenaries were tired of fighting and don’t want to go far away from their home to fight in a distant and unfamiliar Thurii. Only when the leader of Davos’ camp, under the temptation of high salary and after agreeing on some of their demands, did they accept our employment. After I took them out of Byzantium, we were stopped by the Spartan fleet, and turns out that Thimbron, governor of Asia Minor of Sparta, sent messengers to let the whole Greek expeditionary troops to fight for him. Davos’ troops was the best in the expeditionary troops, and several Persian generals had actually died in their hands. However, it’s only because they have signed the employment agreement, and with the recruitment permission issued by the Spartan Ephors, and paying half Taras to bribe the Spartan emissary, did they let the fleet go…”

“You guys, after accepting the task we gave him, Burkes had gone through difficulties and dangers, that he even risk his life. Instead of getting afraid and giving up, he has used his intelligence and tenacity to finally complete this recruitment, which could be said to be beyond our expectation! He not only brought a strong help to Thurii, but had also let us know about the attitude of Sparta towards Thurii, we should thank him! All citizens of Thurii should thank him!” Said Friis excitedly, and was the first to clapped.

The other strategoi applauded, and the applause lasted for a while.

Burkes didn’t know what to say at the moment.

Kunogelata stepped forward and sincerely said, “Burkes, you are the hero of Thurii! Please forgive me from what I had said just now. I shouldn’t have been so suspicious of you, it’s just that the financial problems of Thurii have been a headache for us recently. Would you accept my apology?”

Burkes nodded his acceptance.

Next, Nianses also expressed his apology.

Another general, Ansitanos, said “Should we visit the leader of the Greek mercenary who went on an expedition to Persia to show our welcome to them?”

“Ansitanos, I know you want to learn more about Persia from their mouth, in order to complete the sequel of Herodotus’ 《Histories》.” Kunogelata said, “But it’s currently not a good time. I admit that the combat power of the troops mentioned by Burkes is amazing, but they are mercenaries and outsiders after all! And we represent Thurii! As you know, it is not uncommon for soldiers who are used to killing to frighten the enemy and threat ourselves at the same time. We can’t pamper them and let them have unnecessary illusions, and if we give them too much attention, what would the other mercenaries think?! What would the reinforcement from Taranto think?!”

“That’s right! They are just free people, and we paid them to fight for us!” Shouted Nianses.

Kunogelata took the opportunity to take over the conversion and continued, “Nianses is right! No matter how strong a mercenary is, they are still a mercenary. We pay, so we are the employers. You guys, don’t get the relationship wrong!”

Although there are some disagreements with Kunogelata in governing philosophy, Friis also has to nod his head and say, “Kunogelata is right. We will treat them just like the mercenaries before, and there is no need to pay too much attention to them.”

At this time, he said, “Since we have a strong reinforcements and the Lucanians are about to attack again, shall we once more discuss the plan?”

Kunogelata immediately said, “The Villages and farms outside the city have been repaired, and the wheat seeds have been sown, we have to fight back the Lucanians before they can destroy the property of the citizens again!”

“The last time that we were defeated was because we were so aggressive, and had 10,000 of our citizens killed, so we must be careful! You should know that according to the news, the number of troops that the Lucanians have may exceed 10,000.” Friis said cautiously, “The number of our soldiers, plus mercenaries and reinforcements from Taranto, is no more than 9,000, including many citizens over the age of 40.”

Chapter 68 – Reconnaissance (I)

Kunogelata said, “The reason why Asikulodox failed was due to him leading his army to attack Laus. Because of the unfamiliar terrain, he was ambushed by the enemy on the mountain path. If it was on the plain of Thurii were we face the Lucanians, who are poorly equipped and are loosely organized, then they aren’t the opponent of our Greek’s hoplite, and even if our number is smaller, it still won’t be a problem.”

“Friis, we can’t afford this war. If we hide in the city and let the enemy trample on our farmland, burn our villages, fishing grounds and mines again, and needing to hold a citizen assembly every month in order to discuss whether to levy war taxes in order to pay the mercenaries’ salaries and food. I don’t think the citizens will agree.” Said Nianses as he stepped forward.

“Of course, the citizens will not agree! Friis, the citizens had chosen you as the polemarchos, because they think that you have the ability to quickly turn the tide of war, driving out the Lucanians, and ensuring the safety of Thurii. Just like how after you get into power, you had immediately sent Burkes out to recruit soldiers, and had then sent envoys to Taranto to ask for help. Now that the strong reinforcements have come, you should not hesitate any more. So you have to make a decision as soon as possible in order to live up to the expectations of the citizen!” Polyx, who had been silent before, had also spoke.

Burkes didn’t expect that Polyx would also joined in the urging of Friis. Having been noticed by Kunogelata, he retreated to the corner, and he had remembered something, ‘Important military meetings that involved the secrets of the city, must have the irrelevant people to take the initiative to leave’ for this reason, the guards brought Burkes out of the city hall.

Burkes stood on the steps of the city hall and stayed for a while: from a rational point of view, he felt that he should believe the judgment of Friis. After all, compared with the other strategos who had no experience in war, Friis, who was over 60 years old, took part in the war with Taranto when he was young, and successively served as the leader of the hoplites, and have a rich experience in fighting. But emotionally, he also hopes to defeat the terrible Lucanians quickly, because every Thurians wants those bandits to stay away from their homeland, and Davos’ troops had also given him the confidence.

Under the influence of this indecision, he subconsciously went to the port. After a while, he stopped, and although the strategos in the city hall had accepted the agreement that he had signed, but if he still had frequent contacts with the troops of Davos, then he might get criticized, and so he sighed and returned to his home…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos would not be aware that there was a dispute against them that had occurred in the city hall of Thurii. Although he found it strange that Burkes, who had promised him to report to the strategos of Thurii, had never came back. However, his main focus are invested on the construction of the camp.

These days, all the soldiers had worked together and made the camp in Thurii take shape. At this time, Burkes ordered his men to send four horses and said that they could use them.

Davos had been aware of the deliberate estrangement between Burkes and the top official of Thurii, but he didn’t care about it. After all, when their troops had passed through many Greek city-states along the Black Sea, those city-states had the same attitude towards the mercenaries.

He then asked for Burkes’ men to convey his appreciation to him, and then made Philesius to stay in the camp and deal with the military affairs. He took Asistes, Ledes, and a slave of Burkes as his guide and rode around Thurii to check on the terrain.

In the spring of April, the plain of Sybaris which is flat and fertile have grasses growing and birds flying, which makes a pleasing scenery. (although some Thurians call it the plain of Thurii)

Davos and his party were in a good mood as they rode their horses, while their gaze kept jumping into the green fields and canals, as well as the hard-working slaves and farmers. The wide dirt road was muddy due to the frequent spring rains, and from time to time, you can see slaves of a caravan pushing the carriages out of the mud…

A sudden though flashed through Davos’ mind: This situation was also common in the Greek city-states in the Black sea. The Greeks who are good at business are not very interested in constructing roads that can promote trade circulation. Their energy seems to be all invested in maritime trade and ships, but the Romans who rose after them had created the most complex and advance road work in the Mediterranean in their era.

About 10 kilometers west along the river Crati, you can see a big city standing on the north bank of the river.

At this time, the guide said, “That’s Thurii! When choosing the location of the city, the Athenians had found the junction of the river Crati and the river Coscile which was a good place to build the city. Because the river here is very wide and the flow is gentle, you can build a wharf that can accommodate a lot of merchant ships. When they were going to build the city here, they found that there was a huge natural fountain here, and the local people called it Thurii, and so they named the new city, Thurii…”

“It’s a very interesting story.” Replied Davos as he look up, and seeing lots of boats in the river Crati that made him not even see the other side.

“It would have been better to just rebuild the old city of Sybaris since it is better to build a port by the sea!” Said Asistes who was perplex.

Davos knew about it from Burkes, and so he didn’t want to discuss it, and so he points his finger forward and said, “Let’s go around the city.”

Because Thurii was built at the junction of the two rivers, and therefore, it was divided into three parts: South, North, and the delta that stick out at the junction of the two rivers.

Davos and his party walked about a kilo-meter along the moat outside the north city wall of Thurii which is made of large strips of rock, and the gap between the rock is closely connected. The wall is at least ten meters high, and twenty meters away from the wall is a moat which is five meters wide and is connected to the river Crati, and its depth shouldn’t be shallow. All of these are enough to give the invaders a headache. On the other hand, 3 – 4 squads of sentinels patrols the city back and forth, which made them feel the war is approaching.

The young Asistes had even jokingly waved at them.

Along the north bank of the river Coscile, Davos soon saw floating bridge on the river. He then noticed that the delta between the two rivers was not flat, but hilly. Listing to the guide: These uneven, undulating hills have become the key to prevent the spring river from surging and turning the land between the two rivers into a swamp.

After about 10 kilometers, the terrain began to rise gradually, and the ground had also change from pure soil to sandy soil. Fortunately, the riverside is relatively flat.

Davos and his party went a few meters further, and the upper reaches of the river Coscile had turned from west to southwest, while another river rushed down from the west, where it joined with the river Coscile.

“This is the river Tiro, a tributary of river Coscile. It’s the hated river of the Thurians.” Said the guide.

“Why?” Asistes asked curiously.

“It is because there are hotsprings upstream.” The guide gave an irrelevant answer.

“Hot Spring?!” Davos, on the contrary, became interested.

They sped up their speed, but when they got to the place, they were all dumbfounded. The river Tiro here has become a small river only several meters wide. On the south bank of the river, there are indeed pools of steaming hot water. However, countless streams flowed out from the rock crevices at the foot of the mountain, turning this area of rock and grass into a swamp.

“In spring, the snow on the mountain melts and they all become small streams and mixed together with the hot spring, and finally, they all flow into the river Tiro. During rainy season when the river Tiro surged, instead of overflowing the riverbank, it will flow back to the hot spring swamp on the south bank. As well as, the north bank, there-” The guide points to the front, “A big hirst.”

Davos looked at the front and saw that the bank that is in front of him seemed to have been bitten off, as it sank down to form a huge half bowl shape, and below it was the river bank that have tall gentle slopes surrounding it.

Chapter 69 – Reconnaissance (II)

A group of people went down the slope and into the huge hirst. It was much easier to walk here than the one before: the land was soft, the road was flat, which also in the same level as the river.

“You just said that the Thuriians hate this hot spring swarmp. Why?” Asistes is still has an invisible attachment on this problems.

The guide glanced at him and said, “Because of the hot spring, the water temperature of this swamp is very warm all the year round, so there are many mosquitoes that severely bites, so the Thurians almost don’t want to come here.”

Asistes looked across the river with wide gaze, and the water mist that greatly covered his sight, which add some mystery to the swamp.

Without saying a word, Davos stared at the big hirst, the river Tiro and the hot spring swamp on the other side, while thinking about something.

After about a 250 meters walk, the river hirst came to an end. They had to dismount and walk up the slope, because the mud was so slippery they couldn’t ride at all.

On the slope, after leaving the river hirst, it’s all uphill. There are fewer and fewer farmland, but more and more trees, which have become more and more dense, until there is no trace of human settlements.

By this time, they had reached the open area on the hillside, but the guide refused to go forward, “It’s too dangerous to cross the ridge, since the camp of the Lucanians is ahead!”

Davos tried every possible way to persuade the guide, and therefore, the guide agreed to take them to have a look.

Standing on the top of the hill, facing the sharp mountain wind, and looking forward: there is a higher hills ahead, which should have been full of green scenery. However, a large number of trees have been cut down to clear a large area, and countless tents are scattered in disorder. From a distance, the Lucanians are as small as ants, and are densely packed…

“Wow, there are many people!” Asistes, who had seen thousands of Persian troops, could not help but say.

Davos didn’t speak. He carefully looked around for a while, then pointed somewhere in front of him, and asked, “What is that place!”

The pale-faced guide looked blankly and asked, “Where!”

“On the right side of the hill, it seems that…from time to time a team of Lucanians appears from there…!” Said Davos who had pulled the guide, and pointed forward once more.

The guide opened his eyes wide, confirming it carefully, and said, “Oh, that’s the mountain pass. It is a mountain path for people to pass and it leads all the way to the territory of the Lucanians!”

“How long is the mountain path?” Davos continued asking.

“I haven’t traveled through it. But, I heard that it’s more than 20 kilometers. It seems like it isn’t that far, but it’s hard to walk through the mountain path. I’m afraid that it will take me a day or two to walk through it. Oh! By the way, it was in this mountain path that the army of Thurii got ambushed before being defeated…” Said the guide with lingering fear on his face.

Davos looked at the continuous mountains behind the hill and was lost in thought.

“Turii should’ve build a fortress here, so that the Lucanians couldn’t easily invade!” Said Ledes.

“Originally, Thurii had a camp here, but there was no major event for decades. In addition, the conditions here are simple, so there are not many citizens willing to stay here. We didn’t expect that the Lucanians would suddenly attack, and as a result…” Said the guide dejectedly.

“If the Thurians were here, then we would have nothing to do.” Said Davos lightly: from the fact that there is almost no development in this mountainous area means that the Thurians are not interested in this place at all. It would be strange if they can remain here, this is the common fault of the Greeks, a country that loves sailing and business. They have no interest in mountains at all.

Under the continuous urging of the guide, the party embarked on the return journey.

Seeing the relaxed look on Davos’ party, this family slave that was regarded as a confidant by Burkes, had heard from his master that these people were all experienced soldiers, and so he couldn’t help ask, “Davos, do you think we can defeat those Lucanians?”

“I won’t know until we fight!” Said Davos lightly.

This time, they went east along the right edge of the plain of Sybaris, which was also a continuous mountain. The sound of the stream accompanied them all the way to the east, and finally converged into a river. When Davos, who was travelling along the south bank of the river, saw the soldiers cutting trees on the other bank, he remembered that this was the river mentioned by Felix – and the guide called it the river Sibari.

Seeing that it was dusk, Davos then dismissed his plan to continue exploring the north. He got off his horse and crossed the river, he then help leveled the tree trunk with the soldiers, and carried the wood back to the camp.

After supper, he listened to the reports of Philesius and the officers of the various units, he then confirmed that all the mercenaries were working well and had then sent them away, Davos settled down and drew the terrain he saw during the daytime reconnaissance on the ground using a branch. He repeatedly modified it until he was satisfied, he then looked at it for a long time and firmly remembered the pattern and scene in his mind. Of course, this is just a sketch. Next, he need to send scouts to further improve it, such as the general area of the plain of Sibari, the width and depth of the river Crati, the area of the hirst, and so on.

Intelligence work is the most important in war, and terrain investigation is the most important in intelligence work! More than half a year’s war has taught Davos a lot. And combined with his knowledge from his previous life, he has always believed that the famous generals also needed “99 points of sweat plus 1 point of talent”. He is not the type of general that can just sit high in the command room and control the troops to win the battle. Therefore, he has been working hard.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next day, under the guidance of the guide, Davos and his party continued exploring the north. Across the river Sibari, there is about 5 kilo-meters distance from the mountain to the bay. The land between them is even more flat, and it is still part of the plain of Sibari, but the Thurians did not plant wheat here, but planted olive trees and vineyards.

Listening to the guide: The wine here is famous all over Magna Graecia. This reminded Davos of the story in his previous life about the luxurious bathing with wine by the ancient Sybarians. Those wine had probably came from here.

But at this time, the vineyards were overgrown with weeds and was neglected.

“That’s because from time to time, the Lucanians in Amendolara are wandering around. The people are afraid and dare not come…” Explained the guide.

“Thurii should send troops to protect their citizens!” Said Asisted with disdain.

“After their last defeat, I’m afraid that the strength of Thurii is insufficient. Keeping Thurii has become their priority.” Said Davos.

“Leader Davos is right!” The guide took advantage of the situation to escape from this embarrassment.

“Isn’t it true that there are not many Lucanians in the city of Amendolara? We can provide protection for the Thurians here, and of course you have to pay a little for it.” Said Asistes jokingly.

“Asi, in the future, you will also lead the soldiers independently. You must remember one thing, don’t scatter your forces easily!” Davos then added, “Our main task now is to help Thurii defeat the army of the Lucanians, and leave the rest alone for now. As long as we win, Amendolara won’t be a problem at all!”

Asistes and Ledes listened carefully and nodded.

The group continued on until a river blocked their way.

“This is the river Saraceno, which is the boundary between Thurii and Amendolara.” Said the guide.

“So that’s the territory of Amendolara.” Davos pointed in front.

“Yes, it is possible to encounter the Lucanians at any time. Therefore, we need to go back.” The guide is afraid of encountering difficulties.

And Davos became obviously interested, “Can this river be traversed?”

Before the guide could answer, Asistes, who had been unable to hold back, had driven his horse to jump into the river, and reached the other side of the ten meter wide river in a flash.

“The depth of the water will reach until the thigh!” Asistes stood in front of the horse.

“Ledes, Philesius left a hundred soldiers at the logging site for protection. You bring them here, and we will cross the river together.” Davos immediately gave his order.

“Yes!” Ledes rode back excitedly.

At this time, the guide can only wait helplessly.

Ten minutes later, Ledes came back in a hurry with more than a hundred heavily armed soldiers.

The soldiers, though breathless, were equally excited. Seeing them, Davos was even more daring, “Let’s cross the river!”

The guide didn’t understand why these people were so excited. Didn’t he know that there are terrible Lucanians on the other side of the river? But as a slave, he could not stopped and had to follow them in fear.

Chapter 70 – Reconnaissance (III)

After crossing the river Saraceno, Davos obviously felt that the terrain was rising. The mountains and the coast were parallel to each other to the north, but the distance between was shortening a lot. The narrow space increased the safety of Davos’ trip, but he didn’t take it lightly. Asistes and Ledes served as the scouts of the team, paying close attention to the situation in the mountains in order to prevent the enemy from detouring and following their way back.

On the way to the next place, Davos did not see the coast with soft beach. Instead, it was steep rocky walls and craggy rocks. The sea beat the coast rhythmically, with a quite amazing momentum.

‘It seems that there couldn’t be any port in Amendolara’. Thought Davos, a loss rose from the bottom of his heart.

At this moment, the guide shouted, “Look, that’s Amendolara.”

Following the direction of the guide’s finger, a city appeared in the distance.

The spirit of Davos lifted up, clamping the belly of his horse, and rushed forward for a while, and then the soldiers quickly catch up.

Now he can clearly see that Amendolara is actually a mountain city, which is not in line with the Greek’s tradition! It was built on a mountain and the height seems not low, as it face the east and overlook the Gulf of Taranto. The morning mist among the mountains and forest pervaded around it, it looks faint and graceful.

Davos move forward in order to see clearly.

The guide cautiously followed, because less than a few hundred meters away is Amendolara. Although he could not see any Lucanians, it doesn’t mean that the Lucanians would not come out to ‘welcome’ them after someone had arrived at their door!

At this time, another river blocked their way. The width of the river is less than 10 meters, and the bottom of the river can clearly be seen. There is no problem to walk through it.

“This is the river Sisno, and there is another river called river Burano not far to the north. Amendolara is between these two rivers. That’s all, we can’t cross the river anymore.” The guide begged.

Davos couldn’t help exclaim: The Apennine Peninsula is so rich on water resources! No wonder the citizens of Magna Graecia are more nourished than the aborigines, the snow in the Apennine melts and finally formed rivers. The rivers wash the earth and rocks on the mountains to the lowlands year after year, this is why the lands can be fertile! It’s heaven and earth when compared with barren land of Greece!

During war, the mountain cities are generally easy to defend and hard to attack, but they need to solve two problems: Food and water. Since Amendolara is surrounded by rivers, water won’t be a problem… Thought Davos as he watched the city of Amendolara not far away. It seemed to be a small city, at least 100 meters from the ground, but the slope was gentle, with a stone walls around the city’s periphery…

When the guide saw that Davos did not cross the river, but also did not leave and repeatedly looked at Amendolara as he stood by the river. Therefore, the guide started getting anxious and wanted to urge him once more.

Davos asked, “What is the relationship between Amendolara and Thurii? A city that was built by immigrants of Thurii?”

This guide is not an ordinary slave. As a domestic slave, he accompanied Burkes in studying and playing together when they were young. When he grew up, he followed Burkes to travel around and do business. As an important assistant of Burkes, he was also knowledgeable. In fact, the reason why Burkes send him to act as their guide was because of his guilt in breaking his promise, and so the guide told Davos a very extensive historical answer. After he thinking for a bit, he answered, “It was said that the city of Amendolara was built by the aborigines here a long time ago, and was later occupied by Sybaris. After Crotone destroyed Sybaris, they did not bother taking over it…and after the establishment of Thurii, Amendolara took the initiative to form an alliance with Thurii. And together with Thurii, it once resisted the attack of Taranto in the north…”

Alliance? Looking at the small city of Amendolara, and considering the scale of Thurii, it is obvious that the two cities are not of the same size. If they want to have an equal right to speak, it will be very difficult and so Amendolara is actually a vassal in a nominal alliance. However, Davos was secretly relieved as long as it Amendolara is not a colonial city of Thurii.

He has come to this era for more than half a year, and he specially learned a lot about the actual situation of the Greek city-state, completely reversing the concept of the city-states about it being just a city that he had known in his previous life. After the Greeks established the city, they would try to expand outward, establishing villages and towns, and bringing the surrounding land under its control. When the land is beyond the direct control of the city due to its distance, they would establish a colonial city or capture other cities. One of the reason is to maintain the momentum of expansion, and the other is to provide protection for the surrounding area of the main city.

At first, this kind of colonial city obeyed the orders of its mother state. After all, the citizens of the colonial city had migrated from the mother state, and even the governor might have been appointed by the mother state. With the passage of time, the Greek’s nature of loving independence and freedom has come into play. In addition, the Greek city-state’s politics is a closed political management, which naturally rejected unity, and why they go independent. However, due to the proximity of geography, as long as the mother state maintains their advantage in strength, and does not bully their neighbors excessively, they will form a natural alliance with the mother state. However, if the colonial city and the mother state are separated by the sea or too far away, just like in the past decades, because of the estrangement of relationship, it is likely that they will become two different city-states, or even become enemies of each other, such as Corinth and Korkyra(Corfu).

It is obvious that Amendolara was the colonial city of Sybaris, and it was only an affiliated ally to Thurii. Therefore, the land here does not belong to Thurii… Davos pondered, and once more asked, “How did the Lucanians manage to capture this city?”

“I don’t know about that. It seems that few of the citizens of Amendolara have escaped…at that time, Thurii was in a state of mourning for the defeat of the whole army and the killing of countless citizens. Thurii was also busy defending the attack of the Lucanians and had ignored the citizens of Amendolara that came to request help. Later, we did not know where they went?…” The guide said without care, but Davos kept it in mind.

At this time, Asistes said, “Boss, someone had come out of the city!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Vespa, the leader of the Lucanians in the city of Amendolara, has been fretting for some time, because the city of Grumentum had sent messengers asking him to lead the tribe and participate in the second invasion on Thurii that will be started by the tribal alliance of the Lucanians.

The tribe of Vespa had originally lived on the bank of the upper reaches of the river Agri in the southeast of the city of Grumentum. There are many tribal settlements there, and the tribe of Vespa is one of the larger ones. They have been living by grazing and simple farming, for decades, they did not have anything to do with the surrounding tribes. But the year before last, after the marriage and alliance between the city of Grumentum and Pyxous, the powerful city of Grumentum became more powerful and they no longer need to consider the balance of the equally powerful city of Potentia in the northwest. And so they began their expansion by attacking the settlements and villages of the surrounding small tribes. Under the pressure of the army of Grumentum, Vespa who did not want to get swallowed by them, fled to the southeast and hid in the forest at the junction of the western mountains of Amendolara and Heraclea. Because of their suffering from hunger and disease, some of them died, which included the two sons of Vespa. Just as Vespa could hardly hold on and wanted to surrender to Grumentum in order to survive, heard a message.

Since the expansion of Grumentum, the population and military strength have greatly increased, but at the same time, there came a problem – food. Originally, the mountain area of Lucania was not rich in grain production, and it relied more on grazing, which also depended on the nature of food. The winter of the previous year was much colder than that of previous years, and a large number of livestock were frozen to death, which made food a big problem for Grumentum in maintaining its hegemony in the south of Lucania. Therefore, last winter, Grumentum joined forces with Pyxous and led the army together with Nerulum, who recognized their status as the leader of this alliance.

Laus…waited for the troops of the Tribal city to join in and prepare to attack Thurii.

Vespa began to think of wanting to fish in troubled waters when the two sides were fighting, so that his tribe could escape from the danger of destruction. Therefore, he mobilize his whole tribe in building rafts, storing food, and preparing to plunder the east.

Just then, he heard a good news: Thurii had attacked Laus with 10,000 troops and the whole army was wiped out.

Vespa was overjoyed and thought that the good opportunity had arrived. Therefore, he immediately ordered his whole tribe to take a raft, go down the river and forcefully cross the dangerous river, and finally enter the territory of Amendolara.

Note: Grumentum
Pyxous
Nerulum
Laus
Potentia(Potenza)

Chapter 71 – Reconnaissance (IV)

Originally, he only intended to take this opportunity to plunder Amendolara and Thurii, but his scouts reported that the people of Amendolara were leaving the city with a lot of baggage.

How could Vespa and his people let go of such a good opportunity, they immediately caught up and started attacking the city of Amendolara. For Vespa, this is the blessing of the mountain god, Asinu! Their tribe won an easy victory, they not only seized a large number of materials, but also occupied a city and it is a mountain city that the Lucanians like to live in, and also captured a large number of “slaves”.

But he soon realized that it was quite difficult for his tribe with only a thousand warriors to occupy a city. First of all, he had to assign hundreds of his warriors to look after the thousands of prisoners. Then he had to prevent the Thurians from taking back the city of Amendolara. And then, the most troublesome is Grumentum. After all, at the beginning, Vespa did not want to accept the annexation of Grumentum. However, taking advantage of the bloody battle and victory of the Lucanian alliance, it didn’t take much effort to get the results that should have belonged to Grumentum, so how can Akpir, the great leader of Grumentum, spare them! However, making Vespa give up Amendolara and running back to the mountains again..how could Vespa and his people, who have had enough of the hardship of wandering places to places without a home, give up the comfort that they have obtained.

Just as he was hesitating. A few days later, a good news came that the Lucanian tribal alliance that was preparing to besiege the city of Thurii, was forced to withdraw due to the outbreak of a plague.

Vespa was overjoyed and had even praised the mountain god, Asinu.

In the following months, because of the great decline in their strength, Thurii did not send troops to retake the city of Amendolara which gave Vespa and his people a rare period of stability.

In the spring of this year, a messenger from Grumentum crossed the mountains and came to the city of Amendolara, bringing the order of Akpir, in which he is strongly asking him to join the Lucanian alliance and to prepare the second invasion on Thurii.

Vespa promised, but he sneered in his heart, because the messenger didn’t mention the ownership of the city of Amendolara after the war.

He now understand that if he wants to keep the city of Amendolara, he can only hope that the Luanian alliance and Thurii will both lose in order for his tribe to get a chance to survive. He can then use the time to slowly integrate the power of Amendolara and restore the vitality of his tribe. Therefore, he wasn’t worried when he find out that the mercenaries were constantly coming to Thurii, instead, he was happy.

He restrained his people from going out of the city as much as possible, it is not to stimulate Thurii, but to let the Greeks prepare for the war.

Today, the spy reported that there is a Greek army with more than 100 people have invaded the territory of Amendolara.

He was quite suprised. This is the first time that a Greek army has appeareed in Amendolara since the war last year. Did they came to attack the city? Why only a hundred people? Are they the vanguard? Despite the threat of the Lucanian alliance, Thurii wants to deal with them first? From his careful observation in the past few months, this isn’t like what the Thurians do!

With a lot of doubts, Vespa stepped on the wall and look down from the mountain. More than 100 Greek soldiers stood alone on the river Sisno for quite some time without moving, and there was also no movement from their back.

‘’They came here to investigate the situation!’ Vespa is sure about it.

Therefore, he decided to show their strength in order to dispel the illusions of the Greeks. He asked his son, Bagul, to lead a thousand warriors out of the city, and only leaving a hundred warriors to guard the captives.

Bagul led the Lucanian warriors and rushed out from the gate.

“Leader, look at their weapons!” Shouted Asistes.

Armor, shields, spear, they are all dressed as Greek hoplites. No wonder Asistes was shocked, as he had thought that Amendolara had been taken back by the Greek army!

Davos look at them carefully and said while smiling, “They should be Lucanians, who have looted the weapons and armor of the citizens of Amendolara and equipped it themselves. Unfortunately, they are just like that, and they are far from being a real hoplite.”

The Greek hoplite formation is tightly packed, and before a battle, they will basically slowly move forward and maintaining a straight line. They watch those Lucanian warriors on the opposite side, their formations are not only loose, but also varied.

The guide was extremely nervous when he saw that the Lucanian warrors had left the city. He then notice that Davos was still in the mood to joke around, which made him to swear at him.

At this time, Davos said, “Retreat, let’s go back!”

If the guide could be pardoned, he would take the horse and galloped.

The soldiers turned around in unison and began to jog.

Davos remained until the soldiers had left him behind, and then he started to walk slowly together with Asistes and Ledes, which made the guide awkward.

The Greeks were slow to retreat, while the Lucanians were slow to pursue. Therefore, the two sides kept a certain distance.

It wasn’t until Davos and his entourage crossed the river Salaqieno that the Lucanian stopped on the north bank.

“A thousand men…a thousand men…” Davos asked while deep in his thought, “Asi, do you think the Lucanians in Amendolara wants to fight us or not?”

“Of course, they don’t want to. You can just look at their posture.” Said Asistes without thinking.

“I heard from Burkes that there aren’t many Lucanians in Amendolara. How many are there?” Asked Davos to the guide.

“There is indeed a talk in Thurii, but it seems that no one knows exactly how many Lucanians are in Amendolara.” The guide was confused.

With a mysterious smile, Davos change the topic, “What is the north of Amendolara?”

The guide became more calm once they returned to the land of Thurii, “10 kilometers to the north is the river Sinni, then further north is river Agri, and on the other side is the city of Heraclea, where the plain of Siris is located and it is a fertile land. Decades ago, there were wars between Thurii and Taranto due to that land.” (T/N: This is Heraclea Lucania, ancient name of the river is Aciris and Siris which is now Agri and Sinni.)

“Who won?” Asked Asistes curiously.

“We Thurians won twice, but Taranto is a powerful city-state in Magna Graecia, they had kept on sending troops and made the war last a long time. At last, the two sides signed an agreement to jointly build Heraclea.” The guide said with a bit of pride.

“Oh, I didn’t think Thurii was strong before.” Said Asistes.

“That is because Thurii had the strategos, Cleandridas. He was a Spartan!” Said the guide reverently, and then he thought of something. He was not reconciled and curled his lips, “Last time, even if thhe Lucanians defeated Thurii, it was because they had ambushed Thurii with trickery. If they fought head-on, they would not be the opponent of Thurii at all.”

Asistes also wanted to argue, but he was stopped by Davos, “While it’s still early, let’s hurry to the south of Thurii and take a look.”

The guide didn’t understand what the young mercenary leader was doing all day long. The west and north, it was understandable since there are Lucanians, but there are no enemies to the south. However, it also reassured him because these mercenaries were too brave and made him tremble with fear of having an accidents.

Davos and his party crossed the floating brige not far west of the city of Thurii, and reached the delta between the two rives. Here, they saw carts going back and forth on a road leading to the west…

The guide told them that this is to transport copper ore and stones to the city of Thurii. Recently, due to the war, the city is in urgent need of stones and bronze ware.

“Are there copper mine and a stone mine to the west of Thurii?” Davos blinked as he watched the uneven dirt road through the hills.

“Yeah. Due to the Lucanians not being able to cross the river Coscile.” The very talkative guide didn’t want to say much at the moment, and he hurriedly ended the conversation and took them to the pontoon on the river Crati.

The river Crati is at least 50 meters long, and because it is currently spring, the water current is fast and the floating bridge swings back and forth. Davos was afraid of having their horses fall into the water and so they had to lead the horses on foot.

After crossing the river Crati, the land was still a part of the plain of Sybaris. This is a green and flat passage between the mountains and the coast, which is obviously much wider than the coastal passage of Amendolara. Here, you can see a lot of Thurians working in the farmland, which is obviously the only safe area in Thurii.

About 5 kilometers south, the passageway abruptly narrowed, this is because there is a large area of beach near the sea.

The guide stopped the horse here and said, “Ahead is the territory of Castellon. Do you still want to see it?”

Note: Castellon (卡斯特隆)

Heraclea: It was originally a city-state called, Siris, that was founded by a Greek colonists before Heraclea. Siris may have been destroyed in 550 BC by the joint force of Sybaris and Metapontum.

Chapter 72 – Goals!

“Ca…Castellon is a big city?” Asistes asked curiously.

The guide shook his head and said, “It’s a small city, it was built by the Sybarites and it is now independent.”

When he heard this, Davos looked to the south and sighed with heartfelt regret. He thought that at that time, the sphere of influence of Sybaris had reached Amendolara in the north and Castellon in the south…such a powerful city-state was destroyed by the smaller Crotone! The sentence “Life sprung from sorrow and calamity, and perish due to ease and pleasure” is correct.

A good while later, Davos said, “Let’s go back.”

After the guide left, Davos said to Asistes and Ledes: “Have you ever seen a hound meeting a bear?”

The two shook their heads. It is important to know that there are no bears in Greece, only when they arrived in the Carduchian mountains did they find out that there are such strong land animals in the world.

“The fur on the hound’s entire body will stand up, showing its sharp teeth and barking at the bear desperately as it makes a posture like it is about to attack. In fact, it knows that it can’t beat the bear and it just wants to show its strength so that the bear knows that they aren’t easy to mess with…” Davos saw it in an online video in his previous life.

After all, Asistes was young, so he immediately responded with what he just saw today, “Leader, do you mean…the Lucanians in Amendolara?”

“The Lucanians in Amendolara wants to scare us away, but they have exposed their thoughts and strength. I think they only have more than 1,000 warriors in the city!” Said Davos confidently.

At this time, Ledes also understood and said excitedly, “Leader…you are gonna lead us to take Amendolara?!!”

After all, they had attended the secret military meeting before they came to Magna Graecia, and they knew what the real purpose of the mercenaries is.

“Brothers, before the plan is implemented, we should keep it in to ourselves and not say a word out! Otherwise, the soldiers might end up spreading it out carelessly, Thurii will stop us, the Lucanians will strengthen their defense, and the other forces will disrupt our plans, because they will not want any strange foreign group taking root here! Do you understand!!” Davos seriously warned them.

“Understood!!” They nodded and answered.

“I decided to cover my mouth when I go to sleep.” Asistes jokingly said.

Looking at the excited face of the two, Davos said, “Now I have a task for you two. Ledes!”

“Here!”

“You will lead your men to monitor the camp of Lucania in the west and the city of Amendolara in the north and report it to me everyday. At the same time, you should try your best in finding out the defense situation of Amendolara, the more detailed it is, the better. But don’t let the Lucanians in the city find out about it. Can you do it?”

“Yes!” Ledes made a powerful salute.

“Asistes!”

“Here!”

“You secretly searched for the citizens who had escaped from Amendolara, and then try your best to bring them to our camp, and don’t let the Thurians know about it.”

“Understand!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Burkes listened to the guide carefully as he retell him about him leading Davos for the past 2 days, and he was surprised by the seriousness of Davos’ investigation on the surrounding environment of Thurii. In his impression, even the Spartan Cleandridas who was once hailed as a famous strategos by Thurii, didn’t personally investigate nor face the enemy alone like Davos.

BurkesHe couldn’t help but ask, “Moras, what do you think of Davos?”

Moras thought for a bit and said, “Master, Leader Davos is very kind to people!”

Moras, as an Egyptian slave, although he was regarded by Burkes as his confidant, but his contempt to him was obvious in the eyes of the other Thurii citizens. However, he did not feel that in Davos. On the contrary, Davos had always talked with him in an equal manner and had never ordered him around.

Burkes nodded, and he thought that Davos was a very cultured man even though he is a mercenary.

“And what else?” He asked again.

“Uhm… he has been thinking about ablot of things…asking questions, which I couldn’t understand, and it feels like he is a bit mysterious.” Continued Moras.

Strangely, Burkes had felt this before, as he contemplate it a bit more. After all, Davos wasn’t even 20 years old, is this due to the temperament of being a “God’s Favored”? He was dumbfounded and didn’t believe the gossips that the mercenaries had been spreading.

“And he is brave and he doesn’t seem to be afraid of the Lucanians at all!” Said Moras.

“He had experience huge war in person! Besides, charging at the front during battle and guarding the rear during retreat are the bearing of a great strategos. Just like what Cleandridas did. However, Davos is only 19 years old! ” Exclaimed Burkes, as he remember Archytas who went to visit Friis in the morning, the young aristocrat from Taranto is also very young. When he first saw him, Archytas was on the ground trying to figure out a mathematical problem. The rumors of him being the most gifted member of the Pythagorean school is probably true. The young aristocrat from the other side of the gulf is not pretentious, but is gentle and polite, and he is also sincere in his willingness to fully help Thurii to defeat the Lucanians.

The promise of Archytas is very precious! It must be known that before coming to Thurii, Archytas had led his army on several separate expeditions to repel the fierce Messapians that have come invading Taranto. Although he is not very good with words, but it can be seen that the soldiers of Taranto treat this young commander with sincere respect, which is very similar to the attitude of the mercenaries towards Davos. These are two young people with extraordinary talent! Why didn’t Thurii have them? Thinking of the son of Cleandridas, Asikulodox, Burkes felt lost, and at the same time, he suddenly thought about whether he could talk with Friis to make Davos a citizen of Thurii.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

A few days later, the mercenary camp was built and the soldiers were finally able to have a good rest.

Adrien and Sesta had taken this opportunity to visit Davos.

Davos received them warmly, the little conflict that had happened before had long been forgotten as both sides had a good time with their talks. As Davos said, the two mercenaries are on the same boat, and only by working together can they complete the mission and live to get their pay.

In fact, long before the leaders of both sides met, the soldiers of both sides had already begun getting close. On the one hand, Adrien’s mercenaries were curious about the Greek expedition troops, on the other hand, both sides are mostly from the Ionian region which can be regarded as their hometown, specially in this unfamiliar place. Therefore, at the end of the day, it was Adrien and their soldiers, as well as Davos’ soldiers who had built the camp together as they listened to the story of the expedition. The leaders of both sides did not prevent them, instead, they are glad about it.

Davos had also reached an agreement with Adrien to build a passageway that connects both camps, so that if one side suffers difficulty, the other side will provide assitance.

In fact, both sides knew that the recruits under Adrien will have higher chance suffering difficulties than the experienced troops of Davos. However, Davos did not hesitate in agreeing. He then sent the two leaders out of the camp, then Adrien and Sesta thanked him again and bid their goodbyes.

A soldier, who was not far away, pointed to Davos and said proudly, “Look, that’s our leader, Davos the God’s favored!”

“He’s Davos? He’s so young?” Another soldier from Adrien’s camp couldn’t believe it.

“What’s wrong with him being young! Several Persian generals died in his hands. He is like a lion when he charge, which made even the Spartans afraid! Can’t you even tell that your leader is so respectful to Davos!” Said the soldier proudly.

At this time, another soldier cut in, “And leader Davos is very kind to us soldiers! Even if you are seriously injured, he will not abandon you! I got shot by a Persian arrow, and my body was burning hot like fire and I thought that I was going to die. However, it was leader Davos who saved me from hell…” He lifted his clothes to expose his wound and treated it as a medal instead of a scar.

Hearing this, the soldier looked envious, “If only leader Davos could command us!!”

Chapter 73 – Request of Mersis

In the evening, Cheiristoya came to the tent of Davos and heard about what happened in the daytime. With her understanding of Davos, she said, “Do you want to annex those mercenaries?”

“I really want to help them.” Said Davos seriously.

“Really?” Cheiristoya smiled, her plump chest pressed against Davos strong chest, she raised her head and her sexy red lips were charming.

“Really.” Davos lowered his head and held her soft and moist lips, and sucked on it hard.

This kiss ignited their desires. Davos reached out his hands to hold Cheiristoya…

At this time, the voice of Martius was heard from outside, “Leader, Mersis and Mariji want to see you.”

Davos murmured and wanted to say, “No!”

Cheiristoya giggled and pinched him, and said, “Having Mersis and Mariji who contradict each other come to see you then it must definitely be important!”

Davos knew that she was right. Therefore, he reluctantly put down Cheiristoya and kissed her twice on the lips.

Cheiristoya pushed him away.

Mersis and Mariji entered the tent and saw Cheiristoya in it. They didn’t care at all, as the intimate relationship between Davos and Cheiristoya had been an open secret in the whole camp. They then immediately explained their intention to Davos.

It turned out that even during the time the soldiers began building the camp, Mersis and his men were not idle. No, It could be said that the Thurians were not idle, although the mercenaries are forbidden to enter the city of Thurii, the Greeks were famous for being good at business. As soon as they heard that there were mercenaries coming, the merchants and peddlers came running to the old city of Sybaris to see if there was any business opportunity. In addition to the food provided by Thurii, the mercenaries also needed other daily necessities, and so the two sides came to an agreement.

At the beginning of the trade, it was only one-sided. The Thurians were the sellers and the mercenaries were the buyers. However, Mersis soon found out that these Thurian merchants were interested in something in the camp. When the mercenaries were on their way back to Greece, they had not only captured women and slaves, but also robbed a large number of gold and silver wares, and some work of arts, such as wood carvings, exquisite gold statues, ivory carvings that are full of exotic tradition, and even some strange peculiar fragrance, they could use those as decorations, as souvenirs and as boasting evidence. Although throughout their way, many of the things that they had robbed such as numerous gold and silver wares and some work of arts had been lost during their continuous battles, but there are still some that have remained.

For the merchants of Thurii, who are thousands of miles away from Persia, these objects from the hinterland of Persia and some unheard races are very exotic, which made them felt that these are very novel, and they immediately realized the value of these things and expressed their intention to buy them from Mersis.

Mersis is not a fool. Of course, he couldn’t sell those at a low price. Besides, some of the items doesn’t belong to him, but had been stored by the soldiers in the supply camp for safekeeping. He thought about it and decided to first go see Mariji, because for these stuffs, only Mariji, who is also a Persian, can explain their origin, as well as the cultural meaning and values they represent.

Mariji gave him a suggestion: Why not make a market that is managed by the mercenaries and deal with Magna Graecia and perhaps collect taxes.

Taxing on a land in another countries?! Mersis thought the idea was too crazy, but he couldn’t resist the temptation of money, and so he went to look for Davos together with Mariji.

Building a market? Davos thinks that this is a good idea, not only can it meet the needs of the mercenaries, but it can also be a place to expand the influence of the mercenaries. It also helps them to understand the market situation in Magna Graecia, training the merchant teams in the mercenary, collecting intelligence and to search for talents…and so on. But from the perspective of the leader of the mercenaries, Davos, who had a huge plan on Magna Graecia certainly needs to think more comprehensively and thoroughly than Mersis.

The more he thought about it, the more he feels that this is a wonderful idea, and so he immediately nodded and said, “A market can be build. Tomorrow, I will have the soldiers build a market between the east side of the camp and the coast. Mariji is responsible for the construction of the market, but we don’t have much time, so do not make it too complex. When it’s finished, you will be responsible for its management and operation…” Mariji was excited after hearing what Davos had said.

Davos then reminded him, “My requirement is that the market can be simple, but it needs to be orderly, fair and tidy in order to expand the reputation of the market as much as possible and attract more merchants from the other city-states to trade here. As for the tax collection, you do not need to think about it, I don’t want to make the Thurians be unhappy, but you can think of other ways, such as letting our slaves help carry goods and providing cheap wastewater…and so on. And if the market is booming, then you can charge shop fees.”

Mariji nodded and said, “Leader, I didn’t expect your wisdom in business to be amazing!”

Davos smiled as these ideas had long rotting in the industrial age. But since the time he promised Mariji, this guy has entered into his state very fast. Does this guy really want to be in charge of the ministry of commerce?

Davos then faced the somewhat depressed Mersis, “Mersis, you will be incharge in our dealings with Magna Graecia.”

“Okay! Okay!” Mersis rejoiced.

“Don’t touch the valuables of the soldiers that they have left in the supply camp, unless they are willing to sell them, but you need to sign an agreement with them, in addition to a small fee for selling it…well, you can negotiate with the owner, but it’s better that it won’t exceed 1/50th of how much the item got sold. The rest should be returned to the owner, do not conceal it nor embezzle it! Mariji, you are in charge of supervising it!” Davos seriously instructed Mersis.

“Davos, you are too partial! 1/50th is too little, at least make it 1/20th! It’s not so easy for us to sell things, while also standing in the sun for half a day and the energy we would spend to convince people…” Mersis muttered his grievance.

“1/20th is too much, at least no more than 1/35th, that’s all” Davos wasn’t in the mood to debate with him, “Instead of thinking of ways to get our soldier’s money, you should think of ways to increase your trading projects and increase your financial resources!”

Hearing this, Mersis started pondering and soon a smile appeared on his chubby face, “There are some races from Persia and Armenia in the supply camp, and many of them had also learned the massage skills of the medical camp, which will absolutely be a novel experience for the men in Greece. We can then set high prices…” The exuberant voice of Mersis was then interrupted by Cheiristoya’s cough.

Talking about this kind of business in front of a woman, this guy…Davos doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry, then said, “I can give you idea. The physicians in our medical camp are very skilled, and besides, there are no major injuries in our camp now. Therefore, it’s better for them to open a clinic in the market that is to build, and collect consultation fees when they go see the doctor. You can discuss about the details with Cheiristoya.” Originally, there were eight physicians in the medical camp, but two of them left when they departed Byzantium. While six of the physicians led by Herpus continued to stay in the medical camp under the strong attraction of the so-called mysterious medical knowledge that Hades had imparted, and was taught by Davos from time to time. (In fact, those are just the basic knowledge of modern medicine)

When he heard Cheiristoya’s name, Mersis, who had his eye’s shine, looked bitter.

Cheiristoya didn’t embarrassed Mersis, this fat man seemed to bully her, but Cheiristoya understood his importance to Davos. Therefore, she seriously discussed about setting up a clinic with him, and how to distribute the consultation fee and so on. But she asked Mersis to not force the women in the supply camp.

Mersis cried out injustice and said, “Most of the women in the supply camp were captured by the soldiers during our way back to Greece, and few of them were slaves in the supply camp that needs to take care of the animals and manage the goods, and only a few dozens that are really used to this will be ***… to earn money with this method.”

“I’m afraid that there will more than that.” Mariji butted in.

Note: In the time of ancient Greece and Rome, there was no percentage, but commerce was already developed, and so the merchants and even the ordinary citizens were very good in using fractions to complete contracts and transactions. However, in order to make reading conveniently, percentage will be use as much as possible from the next chapter onward.

Chapter 74 – Mercenary Market Information (I)

“Persian, you shut up! I did not treat your wife and children badly when they were in the supply camp!” Said Mersis angrily.

“Mersis, you are really gonna have these dozens of slaves to receive…receive guest…?” Cheiristoya asked seriously while she blushed.

Mersis knew that he could not conceal it, and so he had to say, “There are still some women who have been captured by soldiers, but those soldiers had died in battle. As they have lost the one supporting them and are unwilling to do heavy work, and as they were influenced by these people and so they think that it is easier to earn money by doing this stuff. After all, we give priority to the soldiers for our food, and they also want to live…”

“Then why haven’t you let them go?” Asked Cheiristoya.

“Let them go? Where would they go? Their hometown is hundreds or thousands of miles away! They can’t go back, and instead of being captured and enslaved by the city-states and tribes along the way, they felt that it is better to just stay in our camp since they at least have a better life…” Said Mersis while pretending to be compassionate.

“These are all the faults of the soldiers!” Exclaimed Davos as he place his hand around the dejected Cheiristoya, and said, “Mersis, you don’t have to force them…What I am thinking is, we will provide them with food for free, and once we find a place to settle down in Magna Graecia, we will have them marry the soldiers…in the future, our soldiers will no longer plunder, because we will no longer be mercenaries!”

“Leader, you are so kind!” Mersis hurriedly said a compliment and hurriedly went away, as he doesn’t want to face Cheiristoya’s reproachful look.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As time goes on. the news from the west became more and more worrying, the camp of the Lucanians in the mountain pass on the west is expanding as the day goes by. While the Thurians who are working on the northern bank of the river Crati became increasingly fewer…until a dozen days later, the scouts of the Lucanians appeared on the outskirts of Thurii and it had caused panic among the people in the city. The strategoi in the town hall knew that the attack of the Lucanians was coming, and so they had to get ready.

Therefore, Burkes, with a mission in mind, took a boat to the simple warf at the mouth of river Krati and landed. (The Greeks has a bad habit that as long as the place can be reached by a boat, they will never walk.)

On the shore, Burkes found that this place was obviously more popular than the other parts of the Sybaris Plain. People walk in crowds on the wide and rammed dirt road that leads to a fortified enclosure.

“What is that?” Asked Burkes to Moras.

“That is the market that was built by the mercenaries that I had reported to you last time.”

He didn’t care about it when Moras told him, but at this moment, he became interested. Anyway, it won’t take him much time to go to the mercenary camp even if he enters the market to check it.

Before he entered the gate of the market, the voices of people filled his ears. In front of the gate stood two women in gorgeous clothing, and both of them are beautiful with a graceful appearance. From their appearance, he knew that they are not Greeks, but the greek they spoke is sweet and pleasing, “Dear guests, welcome! Is this your first visit?”

Moras couldn’t help but nod.

“If you are here to sell things, then there is a wooden room behind the gate, which is the market management office. You can find the person in charge to select a stall for you, but they will charge you a small fee.”

“How much it would cost?” Asked Burkes in a hurry.

“1 obol a day.” (T/N: Obol is a currency in ancient greece and cccording to Plutarch they were originally spits of copper or bronze traded by weight, while six obols make a drachma or a handful, since that was as many as the hand could grasp.)

‘The price is very cheap, BUT these mercenaries actually dare use the land of Thurii to profit!’ Burkes is a little angry.

“However, the stalls are currently full, so you can only come back tomorrow.”

This broken place is so popular! Burkes was taken aback, and tentatively said, “If I have a little extra money, can you give me a stall?”

“Dear guests, we don’t charge this fee to earn money, but in order to maintain the order of this market. The assistance we will provide you even exceeds the value of an obol, and we just hope that the stall owners can fully display the value of the stall and earn far more than an obol every day!”

If a modern man heard this, he would feel that this sentence is very familiar. However, Burkes and Moras became completely shock.

The woman continued, “If you are here to shop, then there is a wooden sign hanging on the door of the market management office, which tells about the little requirement of our market for every customer. I hope you can comply with them, and if you encounter fraud or dispute during transaction, then you can go to the market management office to ask for help and they will gladly help you in solving it…”

Burkes and Moras had also traveled far and wide. But at this moment, they were astounded by the words of the women. In the Greek city-states that they had been to, they had never heard of such market that had such considerations for merchants and customers. With strong curiosity, they came to the market management office.

This is a simple wooden house with a large window that face the direction of the market. Several people are sitting by the window and politely answer the customers who came to ask questions.

“Hi! Is there any problem that we need to solve?” A dark-skinned, thin Egyptian politely asked Moras, who was looking through the window.

Moras was just about to make a perfunctory remark when someone inside shouted, “Lord Burkes, welcome!” A middle-aged man with brown hair and a long beard opened the door and warmly greeted him.

“You are?” Burkes felt that he was familiar.

“The chief official of the ministry of commerce of Davos, my name is Mariji.” Mariji wasn’t modest enough in telling him about his official post that Davos had promised him.

Burkes didn’t pay attention to what he had just said, but first corrected what Mariji said, “No! Please don’t call me lord! I’m just an ordinary citizen of Thurii.” Then he asked with curiosity, “Are you a Persian?”

“Yes.” Instead of avoiding this taboo, Mariji is a bit pleased of himself.

“What kind of races do you have here?” Exclaimed Burkes, then pointed to the “window” and asked with puzzlement, “What are these scales here for?”

“If a customer feels that the amount they bought is not enough, such as olive oil and fishes…and so on, they can take it here to weigh them, and once he learns that it is lacking, the management will find the seller and punish him. If it is a serious case, his stall will be cancelled and he will not be allowed to enter the market anymore.”

“Hm, this is indeed a good idea and it’s very thoughtful. Has such thing happened already?” Burkes said lightly, since he felt that the mercenaries doesn’t have the right to punish anyone on the land of Thurii, but he thought that it would be better to talk to their leaders about such matters.

“Only once, but after getting punished, no similar thing ever happened.” Mariji looked at him and cautiously said.

“You wrote on this board that there is ‘no spitting, littering, and the sellers must keep the booth clean.’ Why the need to emphasize this?! There is no such requirements in the markets of all city-states that I have been to, including Agora of Athens!” This is what interest Burkes most.

“This is the suggestion of leader Davos. He said that ‘the market is a place where people flow densely, and where garbage and sewage run rampart. When there is more garbage, it would not only stink and make people uncomfortable, but it will also attract a large number of flies and mosquitoes, which will affect the mood of everyone that are buying and selling stuffs. The most important thing is that those will lead to the occurrence of epidemics!’” Said Mariji discreetly.

“So serious?!” Burkes was a bit surprised.

“The leader is the favored of Hades, and his words cannot be ignored! We not only remind our customers, but also we have ten slaves to clean the whole market. I can say that although our market is simple, it is cleaner than any other market! We have spent so much sweat and effort, and so we charge a small fee.” Here, Mariji explained a bit for him without any change to his expression.

Burkes inhaled the still fresh air and looked at the flat ground, while lost in his thought.

Chapter 75 – Mercenary Market Information (II)

“I really admire leader Davos, he is not only good in commanding, but also has good business ideas! He put forward a lot of valuable suggestions, such as, at the entrance of the market, I was originally going to put two fully armed soldiers to guard it, but the leader said, ‘that won’t do, we would scare the customers who have come to buy and sell things. Therefore, we also need to consider the feelings of the customers.’ Therefore it became what you see now and it seems that the customers are responding well to it by now…hahaha…by the way, it is also his suggestion to include these scales. There are many such suggestions, but the main reason why this market can be so lively within 20 days is mainly due to his contribution! I think that even if he is not a mercenary, he can certainly still become a successful merchant with his talent!” Mariji’s words came from the bottom of his heart.

“Yeah, he is really surprising.” Answered Burkes, while thinking about something.

He turned and went to the market, and Mariji hurriedly followed him as his guide.

As the crowd of people moves foward, the first stall is of course owned by the mercenaries, and so the area is very huge, and there are many strange objects and exquisite gold and silver wares placed in different categories…there are many people who had stop, look and ask about the price.

“Mersis!” Mariji shouted.

The fatty who was commanding the slaves to move things behind the stall, had turned around and proudly said, “Mariji, are you here to congratulate me?! I have sold a lot today!”

Before waiting for Mariji to answer, he had then notice Burkes, and a smile immediately appeared on his face, “Burkes, you have come to buy things as well. You are just in time, since I have good stuff here. Guess what it is?” As he said that, he held up the things in his hand, which were glittering and shining, it was a thin silver rope, and filled with small pieces of gold as thin as cicada wing in the middle, forming an inverted triangle and another silver rope at the top…

When Mariji’s eyes narrowed, he then heard Mersis shouting, “Mariji, don’t talk!”

“What is this?” Asked Moras curiously.

Mersis saw that all the people had gathered around curiously and he put on a dirty smile and said mysteriously, “This is the gift of Cyrus the Younger to his most beautiful concubine. This wonderful thing was specially request by Cyrus the Younger to the best goldsmith in Persia, which can provide joy in that respect! Guess where would Cyrus the Younger’s concubine wear it?”

“Is it…down there…” Someone shouted with uncertainly.

“That’s right. You seemed to have a lot of experienced!” Mersis finished talking, and there was ambiguous laughter around him.

“It was said that Cyrus the Younger’s concubine wore it every night, and together with Cyrus the Younger…well…when Cyrus the Younger died in the war, his concubine was captured by the king of Persia, and this thing was left in the camp and was picked up by our soldiers.” Mersis held it up and flashed it in front of the crowd, “You can smell it, it may also have the body fragrance of the concubine of Cyrus the Younger! I wanted to keep it, but I don’t have a wife. If you think about it, you can buy it and take it home, then enjoy the life of the Persian royal family with your wife or lover!”

After hearing this, Burkes also got moved.

A man besides him, has shouted, “How much is it? I’ll buy it!”

To his surprised, Burkes recognize that this man is a merchant of the city-state of Scylletium.

“It’s not expensive at all. Look at how exquisite this stuff is! Moreover, these are made out of pure gold!” Mersis shook the gold in his hand and it made a “swoosh swoosh” sound, “The lowest price is…hmm…50 Daric gold coins.”

“I have 55 gold coins. So I will take this!” Shouted the Scylletium merchant.

“I have 60!” Shouted another one.

“Hey, I bought it first!”

“But I offered more!”

“65 Daric gold coins!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mariji didn’t expect Mersis to make such a huge profit by turning the rare ornaments of Persian nobles into an object of royalty. But he didn’t want to remind Mersis that once Cheiristoya heard about it, I am afraid that her opinion of him would turn badly.

He hurriedly followed once he noticed that Burkes was squeezing out of the crowd.

“It seems the merchants of the other city-states are coming here to do business.” Said Burkes.

“There are quite a few. Taranto, Scylletium, Caulonia, Crotone, and other city-states.”

Burkes was startled when he heard Crotone.

At this time, Moras pointed to a dozen strong men in front of him and said, “Are all of them soldiers of your camp.”

Mariji looked at them and replied, “They might be the soldiers of the mercenary camp next to us.”

“It looks like there are a lot of soldiers shopping in this market, and it seems that your soldiers are very rich.” Said Burkes jokingly.

Mariji smiled and casually said, “After all, mercenaries doesn’t even know if there would be tomorrow. So if you have money, you must enjoy it.”

When Burkes heard this, his expression became gloomy and sighed, “Indeed, it’s not easy for anyone to live in this turbulent world.”

Mariji didn’t speak. In fact, the soldiers in Davos’ camp doesn’t have such thoughts at all. Davos inherited and carried out the practice of Menon, he strengthened the role of the supply camp, and during wartime, the soldiers will leave most of their belongings in the supply camp for safekeeping, and had even made it clear who would inherit their belongings in case of misfortune by writing in the supply camp registration form . So that after their death, they can hand over his remains to his successor…and so on. Moreover, when the soldiers is in urgent need of money and they don’t have enough,  as long as their request is reasonable they can borrow money from Davos, the leader of the mercenary. Mersis will then deduct the money they borrowed from their monthly salary and there is no interest…these practices in the supply camp has not only enabled the soldiers to reduce their worries and fight with all their strength, but also reduce their bad habits in the camp, such as gambling, usury and wasteful spending.

Mariji is sure that most of the soldiers who are squandering money in the market are not from Davos’ camp. What’s more, there is a quota limit for the number of soldiers who are allowed to leave the camp every day, and there is only enough space for 2 small team, and they must return to the camp in time, or they will be punished according to the military law.

Mariji had witnessed the efforts of Davos to change the army. How many times had he faced criticism, and had almost caused the army to disband, but he didn’t give in and overcome it. Now, these soldiers are able to follow the rules of the military, and most of the time, they are either in the training ground, building camp facilities, or going to the supply camp to see how much their money has increased. From the blaze in their eyes, you can feel that they are no longer an ordinary mercenary.

Mariji had also seen the Spartan army led by Cheirisophus, a group of disciplined killing machines, but in addition to fighting, they lacked the passion for life. He had also seen the Persian army, despite their large army, their discipline is lax and lack conviction, specially those who enlisted in the army. While the army of Davos not only has the bravery and discipline of the Spartans, but also has the faith to fight for a better life. Besides, they have a magical commander. What if Davos didn’t only have 2,000 men, but 20,000 or even 30,000? This beautiful idea is one of the reasons why Mariji stayed…

“It seems that you have everything in this market!” The voice of Burkes had interrupted Mariji’s thoughts.

“There is also a blacksmith shop!”

“It’s just a small shop that receive orders. Thurii won’t let us into the city, but we need to purchase weapons and also we must repair them.” Explained Mariji.

“And this one clay pots?”

“We can’t make soup with just our hands.”

“Cloth shop?”

“The clothing of the soldiers haven’t been change for half a year. You can’t expect them to wear armor on days that they don’t fight.”

“Then stone shop?”

“We can’t just use trees for our camp, the key places still need to use stones in order to keep it firm.”

“What about this boat shop?! Don’t tell me that you mercenaries needs to build a fleet!” The expression of Burkes was full of rage and shouted, “You robber! You are robbing the market of Thurii and stealing the wealth of Thurii!”

Mariji lowered his head and argued in a low voice, “The amount of goods being bought and sold is not much-”

Note: Scylletium, a city-state in Magna Graecia, it is located south of Crotone.

Chapter 76 – Davos’ Camp

“It’s only because there is just a small wharf here!” Burkes’ chest heaved with rage. Just now, he realized that as he walk through the market that the reason why the types of business here are so complete is not due to the needs of the mercenaries, but the needs of the merchants and surrounding residents. No matter how wide the river Crati is, it is still not as wide as the sea, and due to that, when there are too many merchant ships, it would take them time to wait in order to enter the port of Thurii, and after entering the market, there will be tax on transactions. But now, the mercenaries have built a market near the coast, and once their ships arrived at the wharf, they can just unload the goods, and when they enter the market, they only need to pay an 1 Obol (which is the same as it being free) and without the need to pay the tax. As for the buyers, Thurii is not far away and there are many sailors and fisherman…and so on, but they are mainly free men and not citizens of Thurii, and they are more willing to go a few more distance to buy cheaper goods (because they don’t need to pay taxes, therefore they are cheap) than buying in the market of Thurii. What’s more, there are merchants from various city-states that got attracted by those exotic stuffs, hirings and selling military goods.

Although Burkes was angry, but he didn’t continue what he want to say because he notice that Mariji has his head facing down and was ready to be criticized, “Forget it, I’ll just tell Davos about this! You can’t even decide about it because you are just a Persian slave.”

When Mariji heard this, his body trembled and almost shouted, You are the Persian slave! Your whole family are Persian slaves! You Greek savages are blind! I had been the royal trader of the Persian royalty!!

Fortunately, he finally held himself back, but didn’t want to talk anymore and so he walk behind them.

As they approached the west gate of the market, Burkes found that there was a meter tall wall separating the area, and there was a large wooden hut in it. Compared with the noisy stall, it was quiet here, but there was a long line at the entrance…

“This is…” Asked Burkes with some doubt.

Despite his dissatisfaction, Mariji still had to explain, “This is a clinic, the physicians in our camp have been learning from our leader, Davos, for a long period of time, and with their excellent medical skills, a lot of people who had been ill had their health improved after their treatment, and so they are very popular now. Most of the time when the market is about to close, the patients still doesn’t want to leave.”

“They are really so great?!” Burkes was a bit shocked, and Moras whisped into his ear, “Master, the old lady can come here to have her illness check, and maybe they can really cure it.”

Burkes watched the “long dragon” in front of the hut and nodded, and he suddenly realized something and asked, “You just said that these physicians have learned their medical skill from Davos? Davos also teach medical advice?!”

“Of course! The leader is favored by Hades, and so he of course can understand the mysteries of diseases that brought death to people.” Said Mariji proudly.

After leaving the market and bidding farewell to Mariji, Moras then asked, “Master, are there really people who are good at commanding battles, good at business and treat diseases?”

“Isn’t there Davos? And he is also the favored of Hades.” Said Burkes indifferently.

A few hundred meters to the west, the camp of Davos came into their view. It is more accurate to call it a military fort than a camp as there is a 3 meters wide and 3 meters deep trenches, 3 meter high earthen rampart with a 2 meter tall wooden wall for protection. The sentry patrol can be seen behind the wooden wall, so it can be judged that there are also walkways on the wooden wall. Inside the wall are several 6 meters tall watchtowers which overlook the trenches and blindsides under the wooden walls. The middle of the wall has a wooden gate placed in it, and above it is a simple gate tower…

Burkes and Moras carefully walked along the straight path in front of the camp’s gate, because there were several huge wooden signs on the side of the pathway: “There are traps, please take the pathway!”

Moras looked at the glint on the tall grass along the road and guessing what kind of traps in there, and exclaimed, “Master, we don’t seem to have such a complex fortification in Thurii.”

Burkes is a bit gloomy, as he started worrying about a problem: What will Crotone think when they see that these mercenaries had build something like a city here?

The guards at the gate of the camp asked them what they want and he then immediately sent someone in to report it.

After a while, Asistes came out and led them inside.

In the camp, all the grass and debris were cleared up and the ground was flattened and cleaned. As expected, there is indeed a wooden walkway that was laid and the wall beyond the walkway could just barely block the chest of the soldier. There are also several wide wooden ladders that could be use to go up the walkway. While the tents are placed in an orderly manner and there is a wide open space between the tent and the wall, there is also wide pathway between the tents and these leads to the center of the camp, and in the center of the camp is a circular stockade.

Seeing that Burkes was full of doubts, Asistes explained, “Inside is the supply camp and medical camp, as well as the tents of the leader and the officers. During battle, once the enemy breaks through the periphery, we can retreat inside and continue defending.”

“This is really the most complex and thorough military camp that I have ever seen!” Even if he have some opinions about the mercenaries, but at this moment, Burkes could not help but exclaimed.

Asistes said with a pleased smile, “Leader Davos said that this is the most basic camp fortification, while the more complicated one can’t be done now. And he has said that ‘You can never remain undefeated in battle, but a strong camp can provide protection for the soldiers if they fail and reduce the casualties while improving the morale. Therefore, even if you need to work hard, you must build it patiently and carefully. If you sweat more in time of peace then you will bleed less in time of war…’”

“If you sweat more in time of peace then you will bleed less in time of war…” Burkes muttered these words and he suddenly realized that he was going to meet a mercenary leader with rich experience in war. Without consulting Davos, the strategoi of Thurii had made a plan in advance and wanted him to comply. Is this appropriate?

At this time, Moras asked, “Why is it that there is only a few soldiers that can be seen in the camp?”

“Our brothers are all currently participating in the ‘Tug of War’ competition at the back.”

“Tug of war?” Both of them became curious when they heard a strange word.

In fact, there was a huge shouting ahead of them and Asistes just simply took them around the central circular stockade and walked into a wide field where they saw a dense crowd. Thousands of soldiers forming 5 – 6 circles, and each of their face are flushing red with excitement as they clenched their fist while shouting.

“Second team of the first company, WIN!”

“Fourth team of the fifth company, YOU CAN DO IT!”

“Come on! Come on! Use more strength!”

“WIN!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Such an intense and exciting event, and Burkes had only seen it during athletic games, and his blood is already boiling even though he is just currently listening to the shouting and still haven’t seen the actual scene.

Seeing through the thoughts of the two, Asistes squeezed himself into the cirle and let them in to watch, while he went to go to the leader first.

On the ground in the middle of the circle is a rope that is 40 meters long, which should have been made with several ship ropes and has a thickness of a fist.

At this time, a person in the middle of the open space shouted, “Next round, from the 2nd team of the 3rd unit and the 1st team of the 7th unit, please enter!”

Soon, more than a hundred strong men entered the circle. After confirming the number and name, the man then said, “Both parties, get ready.”

And so, both parties pick up the rope.

Burkes then noticed that there was a red rope tied in the middle of the rope, with a heavy object hanging at the end of the rope which directly points to a white line on the ground, and there was also another white line on both sides of the white line.

“Match begins!” shouted the man who Burkes considered to be similar to the referee of atheletic games.

A hundred strong men on both sides tried their best to pull the rope to their side, and the sound of cheering resounded like the roaring of a tsunami…

Just watching the red rope swinging to the left then right then back…after a period of stalement, it started to move to the left by a huge margin…and the cheers also reached the climax.

Finally, the red rope reached the white line on the left.

The referee waved his hand. The game is over!

Cheers and sighs broke out at the same time…

The two of them watched it with great interest, when Asistes manage to find them and they left reluctantly.

Chapter 77- War Plan

“Burkes, I haven’t seen you for some time. I thought you had forgotten this old friend of yours!” Davos greeted him with a smile.

“How could I forget! I had just came back and so I had a lot of backlogs that needs to be dealt urgently, and I have no spare time for a while” Explained Burkes.

“Oh, so have you finished it now?” Davos jokingly said.

“Still not finished.” Burkes then added, “However, there is an important order from the city hall of Thurii for me to convey.”

“Oh, what’s the important order? The lords of Thurii finally remembered us mercenaries.” Davos said teasingly.

“Shall I speak here?” Burkes looked around.

“I’m sorry, this is my negligence, then let’s go to my tent.” Davos led them to the center of the camp while he apologized.

“Have you learned this ‘Tug of War’ from Persia?” Asked Burkes.

“I came up with it mainly because I was worried that if the soldiers stayed in the camp for a long time and have nothing to do then some accidents may happen. Therefore, I have them compete in sports not only to consume their energy, but also to exercise their bodies and develop their teamwork. As a matter of fact, there is a reward for the final champion of this competition, and I put out a lot of money myself.”

“You handled these mercenaries very well!” Praised Burkes, and he then change the topic, “But you don’t have to worry about it anymore. Soon, you will have some stuff to do.”

Davos was not surprised, “The Lucanians are already started appearing. While Thurii isn’t taking any actions, and made me thought that you were ready to give them the land outside of the city.”

Hearing the resentment in Davos’ words, Burkes was thinking about how to respond, but the afterglow on his eyes made him see a 4-meter high stone wall inside the wooden wall on the right, which shocked him and said, “Do you still plan to build a stone wall?”

Davos blinked, “The floor of the wooden wall is relatively wet, so it is not strong enough. Therefore, a stone wall is built inside using stone debris to prevent it from being broken.”

“You and your soldiers are so great that the camp you built turned into a city!” Burkes vaguely criticized.

“We can’t help it. The number of our people is too small, and if we don’t make the camp stronger, once Thurii is surrounded and us mercenaries needs help as we also get surrounded, then who will help us? Therefore, we have to rely on ourselves!” Said Davos frankly.

“The market outside is also related to the defense of the camp?” Asked Burkes rhetorically.

“At first, I just wanted to rely on the market to buy and sell some stuffs that we need for our daily needs. However, I didn’t expect that it would become like this…but you don’t have to worry, when the Lucanians are defeated, everything will be back to normal.” Davos assured him.

Burkes just wants to gain some psychological advantage in the following conversation. After all, only the city hall and council can make a decision whether to force the mercenaries to close the market, and so he no longer pursued it, but had instead decided to go back and report it to Friis. After entering the tent of Davos, he immediately said, “According to the situation, the Lucanians may attack Thurii in 2 days. After deliberating, the strategoi decided to meet the enemy and ask for you to participate in that battle.”

“Please tell me, what is the plan of the strategoi of Thurii?” Said Davos sarcastically. In fact, he felt helpless, as a participant in this war, he didn’t even have the right to participate in the discussion, which he find it really strange. He didn’t know that this is the same back when the Greek mercenaries were under the command of Cyrus the Younger, but at that time, the mercenaries accounted for half of their number, and they were powerful. Therefore, Cyrus the Younger heavily relied on them, to add to that, he had cheated the mercenaries in advance and concealed about the rebellion. Therefore, when there was certain demands, he would consult with them such as Clearchus…at the time of Davos transmigration, Cyrus the Younger had died in the war, and so the mercenaries were the main force in everything, so everyone was discussing about everything. Currently, Davos started having a bad feeling just like when he first came to this world, that everything was decided by others and he could not decide his fate.

Burkes was also equally helpless. In fact, Friis once proposed to let the leaders of the mercenaries to participate in the discussion and plan the battle together, but Kunogelata firmly refused saying that it was to prevent incident like with Dionysius. (Dionysius is the tyrant of Syracuse during this time, he was once driven out of power by those democratic. Afterwards, he quietly led the mercenaries into the city and crushed the democratics and thus secure the throne of dictator of Syracuse) The proposal of hiring mercenaries was proposed by Friis, which had been discussed by the strategoi and the council approved it. They then sent Burkes to start recruiting by the recommendation of Friis, and so he need to avoid suspicion.

“According to the scouts, there are more than 10,000 men in the Lucanian coalition. While on our side, you have more than 2,000 soldiers, Drakos also has more than 2,000 soldiers, Taranto has sent 1,500 reinforcements, and Thurii have 4,000 with 200 cavalry, and the total number is close to 10,000…”

Burkes finished introducing the forces of both sides, then picked up a branch and compared it on the ground, “The stragoi plan is that the reinforcements of Taranto will be on the right wing and due to their minimum number a thousand soldiers of Adrien and Sesta will be added to them. The center will be our army, but because of the last defeat, the number of young and middle-aged citizens of Thurii has been greatly reduced, and due to that, more than half of the 4,000 soldiers are citizens over 40 years old. Therefore, we will add a thousand soldiers from Drakos in the center. Because your troops are experienced and powerful you will be in charge of the left wing together with a hundred cavalry. Another 100 Taranto cavalry will be on the right, and of course, this is just a plan. When it comes to the battlefield, it may change depending on the situation of the enemy…” Burkes finished explaining and he looked at the expression of the face of Davos.

Davos held his chin on one hand and looked at the drawing on the ground as he contemplate and said nothing for a long time.

Burkes started to get nervous.

“Would you like to hear my opininon?” Davos raised his head and pointed to the drawing on the ground and calmly said, “This troops allocation given by Thurii should be relatively balanced. And it is obvious that the strategoi wanted to use defense to drag down the enemy’s attack through a long confrontation.”

Burkes nodded because Friis had said something similar when he explained it to him about why he had done it this way. Davos really deserved his reputation, from just him looking at the drawing he managed toinfer the intentions of the strategos.

“Although I haven’t fought with the Lucanians, but I have fought with many mountain races in Persia. Their fighting characteristics should be similar, they are fierce, loosely organized and poorly equipped. Maybe that is the reason why your strategos have the confidence to take this kind of formation. However, there are a few problems that needs to remind your strategos-” Davos turned around and raised his tone, and said,

“Last year, there are more than 10,000 citizens of Thurii that was killed in the battle with Lucanians, which means that nearly 10,000 sets of excellent Greek hoplite equipment fell into the hands of the Lucanians. They can then use these equipment to completely update their simple equipment, I have encountered this situation while scouting Amendolara. Secondly, according to my scouting, there are at least 13,000 warriors in the Lucanian coalition, which is 3,000 more than us. This mean that their formation will be denser than us, not only will they have greater impact and pushing force than us, but also the threat of getting flanked. They have just won a great victory, and their morale will be much higher when facing us, and as far as I can see, you Thurians are afraid of the Lucanians from the bottom of your hearts, and so it’s hard to say who will retreat first after a long battle.” Davos uses the branch to draw on the ground, which represents Thurii’s center, “Don’t forget, half of your force has ‘old men’ included.”

Burkes confidence about the “Greek hoplite clashing with the savages without being afraid of them in the face of war” was shaken due to the words of Davos.

“Do you want to hear my plan?” Said Davos at this time.

Chapter 78 – Before the Battle

“Please say it!” Said Burkes.

“The arrangement will be the same, I will still be on the left, Taranto on the right and Thurii will be in the center. But I will place all the 2,000 mercenaries and 200 cavalry from Adrien, Drakos and Sesta on the left. Then I will lead the more than 4,000 infantry and 200 cavalry to defeat the enemy’s right wing in the shortest possible time, and by cooperating with the center to attack the enemy’s center, then it would only be a matter of time before we won the whole battle.”

“Are you sure you can defeat the enemy in the shortest period of time after we give you the right to command the 2,000 mercenaries and 200 cavalry?!” Asked Burkes.

“There are so many unexpected factors in battles that I won’t know it until without fighting them. However, in my opinion, my plan has a much more likely possibility to win than the one you said!” Davos is trying to convince Burkes.

After a long silence, Burkes murmured, “But the thoughts of the strategoi is that their plan is more likely to succeed…in any case, I will report your proposal to strategos Friis, and the others and they will decide whether to adopt your proposal or not.”

Davos understood the implication in the words of Burkes, and a trace of disappointment surfaced on his face, but he sood recovered, “If you can’t give me 2,000 mercenaries, then you can also just give me 200 cavalry.”

Burkes shook his head, “You should know it better than me that it’s a military tradition to having cavalry on both wings. What’s more, a hundred of them are from Taranto, and they won’t leave their own countrymen behind to go to the left wing.”

Davos couldn’t change his mind and so after thinking about it, he asked, “How strong is the reinforcements of Taranto?”

“They should be strong. Archytas has led them twice in defeating the Messapians, a race as strong as the Lucanians.” Said Burkes in high regard.

“Archytas…” Davos remembered the name and said with determination, “In that case, send all the 200 cavalry to the right.”

“Are you sure about it and it is not just because of your anger?” Asked Burkes in shocked.

“For me, war is the most important event that determines the rise and fall of a city-state and the fate of countless lives! Therefore, for this war that has no close relationship with me will also devote myself to it without any selfishness and negligence! However, it’s hard to say in regards to the strategoi of Thurii, did they investigate about the strength of the Lucanian coalition in details? Did they trained all their troops in advance so that they can cooperate with each other in battle?…”

Davos’ discontent has finally showed up through his questioning, which made Burkes blushed from shame. He felt that Davos has really put his all into this battle and he had tried several times to say something but stop, and he resolutely said, “Davos, you can rest assured that once I am done with the camp of Drakos, I will rush back and pass on your proposal to Friis and ask him to seriously consider it!”

After Burkes left, Davos immediately called Asistes, “How are our brothers doing with their practice on climbing a stone wall using a grappling hook?”

“They could climb the stone wall easily. Leader, the grappling hook you have designed is really a great climbing tool!”

“Wonderful!” There was finally a smile on Davos’ face, “Now, you go to the market and tell Mariji that I want to order another 20 sets of grappling hooks, and ask him to urge the blacksmith to finish them as soon as possible in 2 days!”

“Roger, I will immediately go.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the early morning on the last day of April, 399 A.D., the climate is warm and the sun shone brightly, the flowers are blooming all over the mountain and it’s a good day for an outing.

However, there are lots of scouts in the plains of Sybaris and the air is filled with killing intent.

The officers filled the tent of the mercenary leader. Davos looks at everyone: some of them are his old comrades who had been following him, such as Hielos, Antonios, Capus, and so on while the others are those who have newly joined, such as Hieronymus, Agacia, etc. And now, all of them have tense expression as if they are facing a formidable enemy and are waiting for Davos instructions.

“The army of the Lucanians has advance to Thurii, and Thurii has come to inform us to immediately leave the camp and join them. Brothers!” Davos smiled and said with confidence, “It’s time to make those ignorant and arrogant Thurians see how powerful the Greek expeditionary army is!”

“Hoo!!!” The officers fighting spirit soared.

“According to the previous arrangement, the 5th hoplite unit led by Hielos and the 3rd peltast unit led by Arpernst* will stay in the camp to prevent the enemies from Amendolara’s sneak attack. The rest of the troops will leave in order.”(Note: They are composed of mercenaries who joined in Byzantium, which includes archer and slingers, totaling more than 200) .”

“By your command!!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the army of Thurii left the city, they then saw the mercenaries of Davos waiting early outside the city.

“This is the Greek Expeditionary troops?! I think that statement is exaggerated, you see, these soldiers are either squatting or lying on their sides, with their spears and shields all thrown aside. They are not soldiers at all!” Kunogelata’s face is filled with disappointed from spending a lot of money but getting an inferior product.

Friis wasn’t in the mood to argue with Kunogelata about this common military knowledge because he is worried about the upcoming war.

When suddenly, a young man that is next to him said without any hesitation, “The messengers that we had sent to inform them had just come back, but this army is already standing here waiting for us. This shows that this army has a strong ability to mobilize and carry out orders! As for them lying and squatting, it is for them to conserve their physical strength before the battle, which also shows that they are experienced and are able to relaxed even though the war is coming! I now have some faith that they have the ability to support the left wing on their own!”

Kunogelata quietly ‘hmph’. After all, this young man is a distinguished guest of Thurii, and so he had to shut his mouth.

At this time, Davos, led by Burkes, came to them.

“Strategos Friis, I’m Davos, the leader of this mercenary General Ferris!” Davos while riding on his horse, immediately gave his greeting.

“Although I have already heard it from Burkes, but your young age still surprises me! Young leader, thank you for helping Thurii. Let’s fight the enemy together!” Friis also responded to him.

“As you wish, strategos Friis.” Answered Davos, and then he turned to Kunogelata, who, of course, he could accurately say his name due to the instructions of Burkes, “Hello, strategos Kunogelata!”

“Leader Davos, your proposal is very daring and to be honest, I am very impressed. But after discussing it, we had thought that it is too risky, and so we didn’t adopt it. I hope you don’t mind it!” Kunogelata apologized for that, and he rode his horse forward and patted the shoulder of Davos to show his closeness.

“The purpose of pre-war discussion is to gather ideas. Once a decision is made, it is necessary to firmly implement the order. Don’t worry, I’m also a soldier, and so it’s naturally my duty to carry it out!”

“A good sentence, ‘It’s naturally the duty of the soldiers to carry out orders’” The young man praised him loudly and introduced himself, “Hello, leader Davos! I am Archytas of Taranto, I have heard the legends of the Greek expeditionary army, and you did not disappoint me after seeing you today!”

Davos fixed his gaze at the young man in front of him, although dressed in military uniform, but he still looks gentle and elegant with a sincere smile on his face and a pair of bright eyes, “Strategos Archytas*, it’s my honor to fight together with the mathematical and military genius of Taranto!” (Note: Taranto is a double ruling system, and so there is no ‘strategos’ position and it is just an honorary title.)

Davos returned the friendly greeting and continued, “I think there is an inevitable connection between mathematics and military. Every soldiers in the formation is a point, and countless points forms a straight line and a square. The basic condition for victory is how to make every point give full play to its role…”

“You’re right!” Archytas was happy and asked kindly, “Leader Davos also studies mathematics as well?”

“I don’t know much about mathematics, but I am full of respect for the Pythagorean school!” Said Davos.

When Archytas saw that he spoke with sincerity, he immediately became very friendly with him and was ready to talk again.

But Friis interrupted him, “The leaders of the other mercenaries are coming, and now we need to clarify our respective responsibilities and unify the orders.”

Note: Archytas, the second historical celebrity in this novel, has too few historical records compared with Xenophon, and his activities are focused mainly in Magna Gracia. Maybe there are readers that are mathematics majors that are familiar with him, he has great ideas in classical mathematics and physics. Archimedes used pulleys to make machinery to defeat the Romans besieging Syracuse. And pulleys was first researched by Archytas and Archimedes developed it.

Chapter 79 – The Battle of Thurii (I)

The signals for the attack and retreat of the Greek city-states are almost the same. Thurii’s military arrangement hasn’t change, except that 200 cavalry will be allocated to Archytas, which made Archytas have a favorable impression on Davos and thanked him.

Burkes stood not far away and watched them discussed. He doesn’t understand why Davos would have a good opinion on the Pythagorean School right now, as he hadn’t heard of it before. Doesn’t he know that no city-states in Magna Graecia have a good opinion on the Pythagorean School besides Taranto, which made this mysterious group having a hard time surviving in Magna Graecia. I’m afraid that due to this, it will affect the perception of Friis and Kunogolata on him.

Just as Burkes started worrying about Davos, the meeting would soon be over, and Davos jumped on his horse, and trod slowly to his own troops, while he observed the other troops that were going to fight together with them. The reinforcements of Taranto that is led by Archytas, all of whom are strong young men in their twenties and thirties, they are full of energy as they carried their round shields on their left shoulders, spears on their right, marching while talking with their companions and have relaxed expression. However, most of the citizen soldiers of Thurii have a serious expression, many of whom have gray hair and also have their back slightly bent…

Davos frowned while looking at them, and suddenly felt that there is something wrong. He pointed to them and asked Burkes who was besides him, and said, “What’s going on? Why are these soldiers in leather armor?…and some of them are even half naked, and there are a lot of soldiers who are like this…not right, your troops should only be more than 4,000!”

Burkes answered, “Those are free men and outsiders(foreigners) that are living in Thurii. After discussing about it, the citizen assembly of Thurii adopted a resolution, ‘All free men and foreigners who took part in the war will become citizens of Thurii after we win the war.’, it is thanks to your suggestion that made us remember. Currently, the number of troops that Thurii have is about 6,000 men.” Burkes is a bit complacent.

This slightly eased Davos’ uneasiness, and he exclaimed, “I didn’t think that there are a lot of free men in Thurii!”

“In fact, this is only a part of them, and there are still more than half that are just watching and didn’t join the war.” At the same time, Burkes’ words surprised Davos and made him think about it.

The Thurii alliance is divided into 3 parts, namely, the left wing, center, and right wing, and they lined up on the plains of Sybaris, and slowly advanced westward along the river Crati, and sending scout cavalry to and fro, reporting the movements of the Lucanians.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

A herald came rushing and said to Davos, “Strategos Friis has ordered you to stop advancing and to stay your ground here!”

“Understood.” Davos nodded in response, then said to the bugler, “Blow the bugle, and halt the advance!”

When the bugle rang, the mercenaries soon stopped advancing.

“Formation!” Daveus ordered again.

The bugler sounded the round brass bugle again.

Immediately, the mercenary column’s head move to the right, and its tail advance forward. Davos’ army is based on units as the basic of combat (squads are only for management role, and can’t fight independently). When arranging the columns, it would be arranged according to four columns of one unit, and then turned to row. Therefore, when the “long dragon” of the whole troops turned and faced the west, the formation is basically completed, and the speed of completion is very fast.

Davos put the first hoplite unit on the far right, because this side is connected with Thurii on the center, so the stable first hoplite unit leader, Kapus, will take command of the attack and retreat of the team to prevent the disconnection from the center. At the far left is the third hoplite unit’s that is led by Amintas, considering the large number of enemies, the flank at the far left have a chance to get surrounded. Therefore, a captain who dares to fight will keep the morale of the soldiers high. In fact, Davos was thinking of Hieronymus, who is also brave and has a more experience in battles to be more suitable for this task. However, Davos is not sure because he is the only leader who had joined from the former expeditionary troops, and there are too many recruits (who joined Davos’ troops in Byzantium). Fortunately, there are 2 peltast units behind Amintas, and Davos thinks that he will have no problem in stabilizing the defense. Traditionally, the Greek’s phalanx has at least 8 rows, while Davos’ only has 4 because of the small number of his troops, and also to ensure the length in the front, and so the thickness can only be thinner. But Davos believes that the experienced mercenaries are capable of blocking a large number of enemies.

The left wing has finished with their formation, while the center are still in the middle of arranging. The shouts of the officers and the orders of the heralds, and the reminders to the soldiers are all mixing together, just like a noisy market… Friis placed the 1,000 mercenaries of Drakos at the forefront, and the citizen soldiers of Thurii is in the middle, afterwards are the free men…

The right wing is also fast with their formation. Archytas placed the citizen soldiers of Taranto in the front, and behind them are the mercenaries, while the 200 cavalry are placed at the far right. And his phalanx is 8 rows thick.

Finally, the center’s formation is completed, and the left wing, center, and right wing’s formation forms a line. The priests of Thurii carried the statue of Apollo, the sun god and the protector of Thurii, and came to the front of the phalanx and began singing hymns. They then offered blood and food to pray for their victory, the soldiers also began praying silently to Apollo for his protection. The soldiers of Taranto are also praying, but not to the sun god, as their city-state had their own patron god, Poseidon, and the city-state even have a legendary demigod, Phalanthus. Most mercenaries believed in Ares and Zeus, but Davos’ soldiers are different, they used to believed in Ares, but after Davos led them to victory one after another and created many miracles, they then began believing in Hades…

When the whole army is busy in their prayers to their gods, the scouts returned one after another, bringing news that the Lucanians are coming. The scouts of the Lucanians also appeared in front of them and were forced to quickly retreat due to the large number of Greek cavalry.

“The Lucanians are less than 2 kilo-meters from us…we should start preparing!” Kunogelata said nervously.

Friis waved his hand and said, “Don’t worry, the Lucanians won’t attack immediately. Their army has not yet appeared and even if it does, it would take them a while for them to arrange their battle formation.”

Kunogelata bitterly backs down.

After a while, they saw a golden light shining all over the distant field, like a golden flood surging to the east.

Kunogelata took a deep breath and nervously said, “It’s just as the young mercenary leader had said, the Lucanians did indeed replaced their weapons and armors with ours, which will make it a bit troublesome!”

“Don’t worry, even if the Lucanians change their equipment, they won’t be able to learn the troops formation of us Greeks in such a short time, rather, they have abandoned their own strengths. Perhaps this is a good thing for us instead.” Friis calmly reassured them, and then face the herald and said, “Go inform the officers of all units quickly, so that they don’t feel anxious, and have the soldiers continue to rest.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Damn it, the sun is on our backs, and it’s shining on them, which makes our eyes uncomfortable. During the battle, it will affect the javelin throwing of Epiphanes and Cid!” Matonis felt a bit uneasy.

“What can we do about it, who told us to be located in the east. Isn’t Apollo the patron god of Thurii? Make them pray to Apollo so that he won’t come out today.” Olivos cracks a joke.

“It’s better to go ask our leader, Davos, and have Hades turn the day into night. Then, there is no need to fight this war.” Bantered Epiphanes.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The mercenaries are resting, while the officers gathered around Davos and joke around, as they didn’t take the large number of Lucanians in front of them seriously.

Chapter 80 – The Battle of Thurii (II)

The Lucanian alliance stopped their advance a kilo-meter away from the Greeks, and they then also started to get in formation.

The Greeks just quietly waited for them and did not take this chance to attack. This is not surprising, because Thurii hopes to redeem themselves from their miserable defeat during the first war, while the Lucanians also hopes to use this war to completely eliminate the remaining forces of Thurii, and so a war is the common will of both sides.

If they attack the Lucanians at this time, then the Lucanians will only just retreat without them completing their formation, and infantry will have a hard time catching up to the opposing infantry with a gap of a kilo-meter distance, and this will only lead to the delay of the battle. This is unacceptable to the strategoi of Thurii who have already completed their preparations, as well as the citizens of Thurii, because this means that they will remain in a state of anxiety.

The Greeks gave the Lucanians enough time to complete their formation, and the Lucanians have also made full use of it. The Lucanians’ scout reported the general situation of the Greek army’s formation to the leaders of the alliance and after an urgent discussions, the alliance leaders quickly decided their warriors position in the formation: Akpir, the great leader of the city-state Grumentum, will lead 6,000 of his tribal warriors in the center, on the left wing are the 4,500 warriors of the city-state of Nerulum and Laos, while on the right wing are a combined 5,500 warriors, of which 4,000 warriors is led by Cincinnag, the great leader of Pixous, which is another powerful tribe in the Lucania region and is also the main ally of Grumentum, together with 1,500 warriors from a tribe in the Brutium region. The total strength of the Lucanian alliance is 16,000 warriors, with them not having any cavalry.

Grumentum has been fighting for the past 2 years, and its leader, Akpir, can be regarded as a highly experienced on things about military. Before the war, he had sent a lot of spies into the port of Thurii(the port is the place with the largest number of free men, where fish and dragons mixed together, and so it makes it harder to get found out), which allowed Akpir to get a lot of information and combining with the information of the spies that have returned, made him form a plan in his mind: In the Greek army, although many of the citizen soldiers in the center are old, but they are large in number, which could not be underestimated, and so he would personally deal with them. The Greek army’s right wing is the reinforcements from Taranto, and he heard that they have repeatedly defeated the Messapians in Taranto, and their strength is not bad. The one facing them will be Nerulum and Laus, and because they are sister cities, their cooperation wouldn’t pose a problem and so, 4,500 warriors are more than enough to deal with them. The left wing of the Greek army is the least in number, and their difference with the other other two can be seen almost at a glance, due to their number being too small. It is said that this Greek mercenary once traveled to Persia, but after hearing the stories about them, it made Akpir thinks that the rumors about this mercenary were exaggerated. It is precisely because they got defeated in Persia and just fled, it’s nothing more than just the Greeks, who are engaged in trades, boasting about themselves. He had no idea about the distant power in the orient, Persia, and he also believe that the strength of only 2,000 soldiers would be limited, and the bravery of the warriors of Pixous is no less than that of Grumentum, and the ability of its leader, Cincinnag, is not weak, nor that of his son, Gennat(who is also the son-in-law of Akpir), with 4,000 warriors and together with 1,500 Brutians, they have almost 3 times the strength than the other side, so they can completely defeat the left wing of the Greek’s in one fell swoop. Thus the victory of his right wing is already guaranteed.

The Lucanians completed their formation much faster because their formation is not as solid as the Greeks, and their loose formation made their already huge troops looks more massive.

With the long-drawn-out sounds of several ox horn ringing out, an astonishing number of troops slowly advance towards the Greek army…

The battle is about to begin! Friis’ somewhat blurred old eyes caught sight of the enemy’s shadow on the opposite side. He took a deep breath and puffed his shriveled chest, turned around and dismounted, then ordered his slave, “Go get my weapons and helmet!”

Just then, he heard a noise from the soldiers at the front.

“What happened?” He asked doubtfully, and the people around him became doubtful as well. He had to mount his horse once more and look at the front. There was no change, but looking in the direction of the disturbed soldiers, he saw hundreds of soldiers on the left that are rushing out of the formation and running straight to the Lucanians…

What are they doing?…are they going to surrender to the enemy?…when Friis thought of this possibility, his heart went cold: Is it true about what some people said that ‘The mercenaries doesn’t have any sense of belonging and so they are not reliable’!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Epiphanes and Cid led more than 600 peltast out of the formation and rushed to the right wing of the Lucanian alliance. Of course, they did not go to surrender, but carried out a new tactic that they had been practicing in accordance with the requirements of their leader, Davos. Before the two armies collide, they will have the peltast kill the enemy at a range first in order to crush the enemy’s morale and make their formation in disorder.

In the face of a large number of enemies, the hundreds of lonely soldiers are like small trees in the wind that are in danger of being blown away at any time. This kind of psychological pressure and fear will make the cowards collapse. However, these soldiers have been tempered a hundreds of times in their journey throughout Persia, their spirit has become extremely tenacious, and although their formation is scattered, they are not in disorder. Instead, their speed in charging forward is getting faster.

When they were less than 400 meters away from the enemy, Epiphanes and Cid almost shouted at the same time, “Slingers, get ready!”

The slingers stopped and began to untie the slings around their waist, while the rest of the soldiers continued to advance forward, and as soon as they were 100 meters away from the enemy, the archers halted their advance, while the 400 peltast continue running…

The reason why Gennat is loved by the tribal warriors of Pixous is because he personally takes the lead during every battle and rushes to the front line. At first, he was puzzled when he saw these Greeks in leather armor in two loose lines rushing forward. To the north of Pixous is the Greek city-state of Elea, Pixous has invaded its territory a lot of times, and both sides fought frequently. Therefore, Gennat is familiar with how the Greeks’ fight, but he has never seen such weird behavior. But soon, he was taken a back when the Greeks raised their glittering spears and taking big strides in order to make preparations for throwing the spear, “Watch out for the javelins!!! Defense!!!”

Soon, hundreds of javelins came howling with a fierce wind. The experienced peltast did not throw it in a straight line, but in an oblique direction. Although the Lucanians were equipped with the Greek hoplite’s equipment, they still haven’t learned the principle of ‘I protect the others, and they will protect me’ of the Greek hoplites. They hurriedly protected themselves with the round shields, which made the original loose front line exposed a large gap. The javelins, which had its spearhead specially thickened by Davos, crossed the gap between shields, and most of them penetrated the multi-layered linen armor and into the pleural region of the tribal warriors, as shrill cries sounded and they fell down.

Gennat was quick to respond and blocked the javelins with his shield, but the javelin even manage to pierce the bronze layer of the round shield and get stuck to it. Just as he was planning to pull out the javelin, the man next to him shouted, “Be careful, archers!!”

Arrows and stones fell like raindrops…

Gennnat got hit on the head, and although his head is protected by a helmet, it still made him dizzy and he almost fell down.

This wave of arrows and stones hit the Lucanians. Even though the Lucanians have suffered only a bit of loss, but the first few rows in the middle of the right wing of the Lucania were in chaos. However, the Greek’s peltast took this opportunity to throw a second round of javelins, which greatly increase the javelins lethality…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Friis and Kunogelata were stunned when they saw this kind of sight, as they could only guessed the strength of the mercenaries of Davos, but they had never thought that it would be such a novel tactic, and its effect is so alarming!

Kunogelata exclaimed excitedly after seeing that some part of the forefront of the enemy’s right wing has almost fallen apart, “We should have learned this tactics from the mercenaries earlier and adopted it!”

Friis shook his head and said, “Our peltast aren’t so courageous in attacking a huge number of enemies with only a few hundreds of meters away from their formation, only these mercenaries who have experienced hundreds of battles dares to use this. I am afraid that this tactic is what they learned from Persia.” There is still a trace of regret in Friis: Before the start of the clash, the strength of Davos’ mercenaries has exceeded his expectations. Perhaps if they have given him another 2,000 mercenaries, just like what the young leader had suggested…

Friis put his thoughts down because the original strategy have been implemented, and it is better to carry it out to the end! This is the experience that he had gained through his many years in the army.

“Get ready to fight, the enemy is about to attack!” He reminded the soldiers that are around him as he dismount and started to wear his helmet.

Chapter 81 – The Battle of Thurii (III)

“Oh, these brothers are amazing! They are indeed worthy of being a hero who killed their way through Persia and return to Greece!”

“Look at those slingers, they are all my fellow Rhodians!”

“And those Thracians, see how accurate they throw their javelins! I really want to remove this heavy armor and pick a javelin and join them!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Drakos heard the admiration and envy of the soldiers around him, he firmly squeezed the belt behind his shield and said with a blazing intent for battle, “Come savages, come and taste our strength!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The confident leader of Pixous, Cincinnag, had never thought that his troops will suffer loses even before the battle start, and what made him even more depressed is that the traditional weapons of the Lucanians were javelins, spears and daggers, while the javelin were also their main strengths. In order to better attack the Greeks, most of them have equipped heavy equipment, and only a few warriors in the rear formation have a javelin, while the enemy’s arrows and stones could even reached their rear, while only a few of their warriors that have javelin were able to fight back and they try to avoid the enemy’s attack. However, they couldn’t see the enemy, and their numbers are few and scattered, which naturally made their results bad. Fortunately, the peltast of the enemy is not a lot, and the two ends of the right-wing’s formation are not affected. Therefore, under the helplessness of Cincinnag, he could only urge both ends to advance forward toward the middle in order to try encircle or disperse these damned and terrible enemies…

The Lucanians at the center and left wing saw the tragic experience of the right wing, fearing that they would also suffer the same situations, both the warriors and the leaders subconsciously accelerated their progress, hoping to clash with the Greek’s as soon as possible.

Tens of thousands of warriors took huge step and charge forward, which shook the earth.

All stragoi and leaders such as Archytas, Friis, Drakos and so on., started shouting, “Shield, DEFENSE!”

The soldiers on the front row of the phalanx formation took a slight stepped forward with their left foot, and step firmly on the ground with their right foot, with the round shield guarding their left while raising their spears and pointing it forward. The soldiers in the rear then stacked one by one against the back of the soldiers that are in front, while stabbing their spears forward, connecting with the shields…The whole phalanx is like a huge metal monster with long thorns.

A hundred meter charge on a slightly higher terrain (though the plain of Sybaris is flat, but the terrain gradually increase to the west), the Lucanian warriors directly crashed into the Greek hoplites’ phalanx with a strong momentum,

With a loud bang at the end of April of 399 BC, the battle between Thurii and Lucania officially started…

This war is a life and death for both sides, but in the eyes of powerful city-states in the Mediterranean, it is simply insignificant. Carthage and Syracuse will not pay attention to it because both sides are gathering their strength in order to fight for the dominance of Sicily, as they are about to start a new round of war. Rome won’t pay attention to it because they are busy besieging and attacking the Etruscan city, Veii, on the upper reaches of the river Tiber. Sparta and Persia will not pay attention to it, because both sides are preparing for the coming war in Asia Minor. Athens will not pay attention to it, because they are more focused on how to recover their strength as soon as possible, while enduring the overbearing behavior of Sparta. Macedonia will not pay attention it as its kingdom is divided and its kings are frequently getting changed, and the Macedonians who are suffering from internal and external troubles may be yearning for a powerful monarch to save them in this deep water… Hundreds of kingdoms, city-states and races in the Mediterranean are busy trying to survive or conquering, and they have no idea or ability to understand the fight between two unknown forces in the southern part of the Italian peninsula. However, this war (It’s later called the Battle of Thurii) opened a new chapter in the magnificent ancient history of the Mediterranean.

The Lucanians are a mountain tribe, they are enthusiastic and impulsive, and during their rapid charge, their fighting spirit continue to rise. Therefore, when they saw the spear shield formation that are in front them, some of the warriors didn’t even take into consideration the impact of the shield that their leaders have emphasized before, as their brains have already been filled with their high morale and so they leap straight to it. Specially Grumentum that have produced a large number of brave men due to long-term war, and so the number of people adopting this “reckless” action were not the minority. Although they are more likely to get stabbed, but they will disturb the defensive formation of the Greeks.

In particular, the soldiers of Thurii and the mercenaries of Drakos in the center did not even trained together before, and so their cooperation is lacking. The connection between rows in their phalanx is not very tight, and in addition, Drakos has never seen this kind of charging from the mountain people and so he lacks the means to deal with it. Thus, the center of the Greek army fell into a hard battle from the very beginning…

The soldiers of Tarantum on the right-wing are obviously much more experienced in dealing with the charging of the Lucanian warriors, and also considering that the warriors of Nerulum and Laus are far less fiercer than those of Grumentum, as they have not caused too much impact on the right wing of the Greek army. The shields of both sides collided with each other, and the spears has come and gone as they began pushing and fighting… 200 cavalries also galloped forward and occasionally hitting the left flank of the Lucanians, and they will immediately withdraw as long as the warriors of Lucania tried to block them. The Greek cavalry’s are like a flower that are raised in a greenhouse as their skill in riding is far from the superb skill of the Numidians, and they are not as fierce as the Gaul and the Germanic, and the only thing they could do is just to harass. But even so, the Lucanians on the left wing was on guard and they dare not go all out in their offense. Therefore, even though they have more people than the right wing of the Greek army and their phalanx formation is more solid, both sides remained in a stalemate…

When both the left and the center of the Lucanians had begun their battle, but the right wing of Lucania could only advance slowly due to the peltast attacking them as the peltast retreat, which slowed down the progress of the Lucanians, and the distance between the two armies were kept close to 50 meters. The Peltast then withdrew from the front and partially retreated to the rear through the special gap on the phalanx formation.

At this time, the formation of the right wing of the Lucanian has become a crescent moon, with both ends protruding and the center sunken. Cincinnag has lost control of his troops and he is no longer able to reorganize the formation and the only thing he can do is to command the bugler to blow the order to charge. There is only a 50 meter distance left for the final sprint, but when their horn is blown, there is also another bronze bugle that rang out from the opposite side, which made Cincinnag alert and nervous trying to guess the next step of the fierce enemy on the opposite side. Gennat, who is at the forefront on the front line has suffered many injuries, when he notice the Greek hoplites on the opposite side raising their right arm and their bodies titling back, and their legs lunging forward, this action…made Gennat, who was like a frightened bird, hid his whole body under his shield with great speed.

Thousands of javelines flew tens of meters in an instant and fell into the formation of the Lucanian who are just about to charge. What was set off was no longer a drizzle like before, but a heavy rain of death. In an instant, it resulted in hundreds of casualties and has almost hindered the advance of the Lucanians…

And just then, the horrible bronze bugle rang out again, and the Greek mercenaries immediately shouted, “Hades!!!” As they charged forward armed with shield and spears.

The mercenaries did not charge at the same, as the soldiers at their right end didn’t advance forward because of the connection with the center, and only the soldiers at the middle and left end had rushed towards the enemy without considering the thinness of their own formation nor the large number of enemies, just like a dragon swinging its tail.

The front line of the Lucanians have not yet recovered from the javelin attack and their whole formation was in chaos. But at this moment, the mercenaries charge came one after another. The soldiers skillfully used the kinetic energy that was converted from their charging speed and strike the opponents with their fitted shields in order to open up the opponent’s defense, then the spears in their right hand strike like a viper to stab the throat or the face of the enemy quickly and accurate. This made the front row of the Lucanians collapsed at the same time…

The Lucanians at the rear got frightened by such horrible efficiency in attacking and threatening momentum. Even though they boasted their bravery earlier they can’t help but flinch now…the mercenaries are chasing, while the Lucanians are retreating…the collapse of the right wing of the Lucanian is just around the corner.

Note: Vergae is the northernmost town of the Brutti and it borders Laos.

Chapter 82 – The Battle of Thurii (IV)

Although Cincinnag, who is at the back of the phalanx formation, couldn’t understand the situation of the battle in details, but it’s an indisputable fact that his troops are retreating while screams can be heard from time to time. Looking on both sides, there are even soldiers running away in the distance…Cincinnag was very anxious and angry, but at this moment, he had no time to think about why such situation happened, and the most urgent thing he needs to do now is to stop this disadvantage or else the right-wing would be defeated, which will then lead to the defeat of the whole Lucanian tribal alliance! Although he is related as an in law to the Great Chieftain of Grumentum, but Cincinnag does not think that the tyrant will easily forgive Pyxous. Now, the soldiers of Pyxous are at the midst of the battle and he could no longer command them as the only one left who he can commands are the warriors that have not yet joined the battle.

“Go and call the Vergaens to help! Tell their chieftain that if we lose this battle, then Lucania will not forgive Vergae!” Shouted Cincinnag to his guard.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Great chief, the Lucanians are going too far! It’s clearly Cincinnag who had thought that they could easily beat the Greeks without us, but now he is saying that their failure is our fault!” The young Salu said angrily.

Sedrum looked at the situation on the battlefield not far away and did not respond.

“These Greeks are so powerful that they are beating the Lucanians with their small number!” Salu looked ahead and said excitedly and hesitantly added, “Great chief, the Luanians are going to lose! Otherwise…we should stop fighting and leave! Maybe…maybe we can break away from their alliance!”

At this time, Sedrum said, “Even if the Lucanians are defeated, how many of their people will die? Will the Greeks dare enter the mountains?…As long as the Lucanians still maintain their strength, they will still have the final say, unless we, like our fellow tribesmen move south, and fight Crotone for their land.” Exclaimed Sedrum, “Command our warriors to go in formation and push forward from the right end!”

2,000 Brutians, clad in leather armour and armed with wooden shields and spears, formed a much solid phalanx than the Lucanians, and joined at the right-end of the Pyxous’ formation that is about to collapse.

The Lucanians that are about to collapse could not push the battle formation of the Brutti, and they instead got pushed forward. In order to survive, most of the Lucanian warriors had no choice but to turn around and fight. After all, the Lucanian formation is thick and it is only due to them panicking that led them to flee, rather than the mercenaries slaughtering them. Once their reinforcements arrived, they gradually stabilized their emotions and positions, and their formation began to recover…

The casualties of the Lucanians are still increasing, but the mercenaries are gradually retreating…the pushing force that was generated by the extra-thick formation of the Lucanians and the Brutians which obviously can’t be compared to the thin formation of the mercenaries. Once the gap between the two sides became narrow, their superb fighting skill will no longer play a great role. Fortunately, the experienced mercenaries took the initiative to slowly retreat in order to relieve the pressure exerted by the other side…

Davos is not like the other strategoi that personally go in battle, and so once the battle begun, he fully focused in watching the development of the battle. He rode on his horse from left to right and right to left at the rear of the phalanx formation and paid close attention to the progress of the battle, and giving commands at any time through his heralds. Prior to this, it made him excited when the right end of the Lucanian formation was about to collapse. However, his disappointment could be imagined when the battle situation reversed, but he didn’t urge his soldiers to attack again, because he knew that, in addition to the factors of the arrival of the enemy’s reinforcements, it is also related to the stamina of the soldiers. It is impossible for them to maintain such a fierce attack for too long, and as long one is a human, there will be a limit to their stamina, not to mention that they were heavy infantry. Even at this critical moment, Davos ordered the peltast who had retreated to the rear to join in the attack on the rightmost end of the enemy. Unfortunately…

If he had those 2,000 mercenaries and 200 cavalry under his own command, then his soldiers are now chasing a defeated army! He can only blame himself for being too confident and not insisting on getting more troops from Thurii… as soon as this thought of regret came out of his mind, Davos nipped it out. In war, any unexpected situation may happen, the commanders can’t foresee them, and the only thing he can do at this moment is to keep a cool head and try not to let his excessive emotions affect his judgment.

The front of the mercenaries was originally an “arc”, but now it has gradually flattened. As the phalanx move backward, Davos realized that the soldiers, while competing with the enemy’s powerful pushing force, should not only prevent the thin formation from being broken, but also kill as much enemy as they could in this battle. The consumption of their stamina and energy is quite huge, it’s already very good that they could maintain such situation! Unless there is a major accident, the left wing of the Thurii alliance will not improve, as for the center, the return of Asistes told him that it is not optimistic, and it is even worse than the left wing. The only one that are currently in an advantage is the right wing, but it isn’t much (this is the judgment of Asistes, who went to scout on a horseback, and based it on the fact that Taranto’s front only moved forward a bit). After learning that the overall situation of the battle is not favorable, Davos removed the luck from his mind and he considered to withdraw his troops once the battle is lost.

5 kilo-meters in the plain of Sybaris, nearly 30,000 soldiers are fighting for their life and death. Dust swirls in the air and the noise of battle rose to the skies as the conflict intensify, and bloods splattering…after more than an hour of fierce fighting, the Greek army gradually felt restless.

The number of the Lucanian alliance is more than 6,500, but according to the observation of the scouts of Thurii and Davos, they estimated that there were about 13,000 Lucanians. In fact, the cunning Akpir hid some of his troops in the back of the mountain of their camp, while 2,000 men of Vergae joined at the last moment, which caused the Greek to make a mistake in their judgment, and the impression of Friis of the Lucanians remained a few years ago (he did not participate in the battle last year). In fact, in recent years, the Lucanians developed very fast, specially Grumentum, which has begun to break away from the tribal alliance tradition and started to develop towards a kingdom. In the recent 2 years of tribal annexation war, the warriors of Grumentum have become more brave and tenacious due to their frequent baptism of blood.

In the old concept of the stragoi of Thurii, as long as they kept on fighting head-on, the loosely organized Lucanians are bound to be crushed by the strength of the Greek hoplites. However, the facts prove how ridiculous their ideas are, specially the center of the Greek army with the mercenaries in the front row and the citizen soldiers in the middle, and the free men at the back. The three forces can never be effectively combined as one, and under the fierce charge of the warriors of Grumentum, the center of the Greek army begun to retreat…as the battle went on, the three different groups of soldiers begun starting to have their own ideas: The mercenaries fought for money, in the case of a hopeless victory, they of course will think of what they need to do, which is to save their lives first. The citizen soldiers of Thurii did indeed fought as hard as they can, but half of them are middle-aged, whose stamina has reached their limit, but they still continued in their struggle, because Thurii is their home and must not be trampled by the savages. And the free men have a just try attitude in joining the war, winning will get them their citizenship, and if they lose they will just flee Thurii and go to another city-states to live a new life.

As the center of the Greek army retreated faster and faster, the gap between them and the left and right wings widened. And when the warriors of Grumentum rushed into the gap on both sides and started attacking the center of the Greek army from the sides, the whole center formation broke up and the soldiers fled everywhere…

Davos, who has been paying close attention to the situation, sighed. He suppressed his disappointment and decisively ordered their retreat, the command to signal their retreat is quite special as it was designed by Davos, which is quite different compared to the general Greek army. First, it’s a long sound, followed by the same sound that signals a charge. The soldier repeatedly sounded the salpinx three times, and most of the Lucanian warriors thought that the mercenaries would charge again. In this daze moment, the mercenaries widened the distance up a bit, and the peltast in the rear formation threw their javelins once more (this is really the courage of skilled men, without any strict training, it would easy for them to accidentally hurt their comrades by mistake). While the Lucanians were busy defending, the mercenaries quickly completed a series of retreating actions, such as turning, running, and so on…

Note: Cosentia, the central town of the Brutti region.

Chapter 83 – Retreat

Taranto’s reinforcement who are on the right wing of the Greek army were also forced to retreat. Fortunately, they have 200 cavalry who are ready by the side, and the Lucanian warriors that are in front of them did not dare to catch up too much, fearing that once they scattered, they will be taken advantage by the Greek cavalry, and so their retreat is relatively smooth…

Only the center of the Greek army have scattered all over the place without any order…

“Strategos Friis, we are defeated! We lost!! What should we do? What should we do?!…” Kunogelata, a strategos who is usually quick witted and eloquent in the city hall, is now in a panic.

“What else can we do!” Friis smiled bitterly and said regretfully, “It’s my fault that I couldn’t hold on to my own suggestion! It’s my fault that I looked down on the enemy! It’s my fault that I was too stubborn and failed to listen to the suggestion of the others! Thurii’s defeat today lies with me!”

He looked at the fleeing soldiers that run past him, and his expression became very firm, “You all go back to Thurii, and have the citizens to prepare for defense! And I will buy time for Thurii to repent to Apollo!” As he said this, he took up his shield and spear with his dried-up arm, and pushed away the fleeing troops and faced the surging enemy. The guards, slaves, and men that are around him shouted, “For Thurii!” Hundreds of people gathered around the old strategos and went against the flow. Wherever he went, had infected some of the citizens of Thurii and they stopped running, and joined him.

Kunogelata hesitated for a moment, and finally set off with his horse to escape, running and comforting himself at the same time: Friis said it well, if everyone here died, then who will protect Thurii!

Friis, who is a 60-year old strategos, faced the enemy and led 800 men, and shouted, “Apollo!” As he took the lead in killing the enemy, and launched a counter charge with them. The soldiers bravely killed the enemy without fearing their death. To their surprise, the warriors of Grumentum who were scattered due to their pursuit have almost exposed their formation, and had forced Grumentum to gather up their warriors and encircle this small group of extremely brave and tenacious soldiers of Thurii…

The most tragic scene of the battle finally came to an end. 800 Thurians led by Friis have all died in this battle, and none escaped.

Kunogelata was eager to hurry back to Thurii, and was almost knocked down on his horse by some of the fleeing soldiers several times on his way to escape. He was worried about the safety of the city and regretted a bit that he joined in the battle in order to gain fame…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The city of Thurii is only a few kilo-meters away from the battlefield, and the people in the city are all paying attention to this war, which is related to the fate of the city. Every family prays for the soldiers either at their home or in the square.

When the scout rode back to the city in a panic, and shouted, “WE LOST! WE LOST!” At this time, the news quickly spread all over the city like a thunderbolt, which made the people felt like the sky is about to collapse. Those that are timid have fainted immediately, while those that are suspicious thought that the scouts are just spreading rumors and they wanted to drag him off the horse and beat him. Those that are pessimistic claimed that Thurii will perish, and have everyone quickly flee the city. Those rogues took this opportunity to stir up trouble and fish in troubled waters in order to take advantage of this chaos to get some benefits…the whole city, specially in the square can hear sounds of crying and it is extremely chaotic.

The two of the most important leaders of the “Nine Strategoi” are on the battlefield. Fortunately, they have experience in dealing with the defeat from last year, and at this critical moment, several of the strategoi led by Nianses stood up and have first sent out guards to maintain the order of the city, and then called on the public in the square to take up arms to defend their homes, whether they are men, women, old and young. He then led these people and the slaves to the city wall.

At this time, several nobles on horseback headed by Kunogelata rushed across the drawbridge and into the city.

The people who heard the news immediately surrounded them and inquired about their relatives. Kunogelata, who knew that the situation was urgent, didn’t hear them out, and anxiously shouted, “The Lucanians are coming soon! Close the gate! CLOSE THE GATE!! DON’T LET THEM COME IN!! OTHERWISE THURII WILL BE FINISH!!!”

Nianses frowned and said, “If the gate is closed, then the soldiers will not be able to enter the city!”

“Have them go around the walls and jump into the river Crati. We will then pick them up by boat! The Lucanians could not swim!” Kunogelata had already worked out a countermeasures while on the road.

At this time of crisis and everyone panicking, the appearance of Kunogelata and his suggestion immediately gave the people a backbone. They discussed it and as soon as they found that it is feasible, they immediately pulled up the drawbridge, closed the gate of the city and began shouting to the soldiers that are running towards the city, “Jump into the river, there are boats waiting to pick you up! JUMP INTO THE RIVER…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos sent Asistes back to the camp first to report the situation of the war. He then led his troops to retreat to the camp quickly. Beside him is Ledes, who held up the flag in order to guide the whole troops.

The warriors of Pyxous were attacked by the peltast previously, and so the distance between them and the mercenaries widened. And Grumentum received the counterattack of Friis, which delayed their pursuit. So the retreat of the mercenaries was smooth without risking too much. However, along their way, the fleeing soldiers rushed into their ranks, and the mercenaries knocked them down with their shields, but due to the organized retreat of the mercenaries of Davos, and their neat military had appeared had cause them to naturally attract the panic-stricken soldiers. And even if the mercenaries treated them violently, they just let them swear and beat them up, as they continue to follow them like tamed dogs…

When the troops passed through the city of Thurii, the troops of Davos became a bit bloated, but he didn’t care as he looked at the countless troops in the distance under the city of Thurii, and then looked back at the movement of their pursuers. He then took the flag and handed it to Asistes and said to Ledes, “Go to the city of Thurii and tell the soldiers that the Lucanians will arrive soon. Our camp’s defense is very strong and have them come to our camp first in order for them to evade the enemy.” (T/L Note: Didn’t Asistes went ahead?)

Ledes left following the order.

“EVERYONE, TO THE RIGHT!” Shouted Davos, the red flag waving in the wind guiding the soldiers, but not directly to the west gate of the camp, but towards the south gate.

The warriors of Pyxous led by Gennat, chased the mercenaries. Since the time he became a warrior, he had participated in dozens of battles, and had never been so timid or had even nearly lost his life. However, these Greeks, after wantonly killing his people, wanted to escape, which made him angry. Therefore, in his eyes, there is only this mercenary: To catch up to them and slaughter them!!!

He doesn’t care about those defeated soldiers under the city of Thurii, even if they are closer to him. As a result, the Pyxous troops collided with the warriors of Grumentum, who were chasing the defeated soldiers, and when the two armies finally separated, the mercenaries of Davos had already entered their camp.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The strategoi of Thurii led by Kunogelata, have little experience on the battlefield (the only one with rich experience has died in the battle), and so they could only think about the problem simply.

It is true that some people left the gate and jumped into the river Crati because of their shouting, but some of the soldiers didn’t want to leave. After all, the gate is in front of them, and they were already exhausted that they didn’t want to go around a long way to just jump into the cold river Crati. They were begging and swearing under the city, and due to this moment of delay, the warriors of Grumentum arrived. They begun chasing and killing them, and the defeated soldiers who were unwilling to jump into the river, have no other choice but to jump. But due to their panic and the time being short, they didn’t manage to remove their armors and many of them immediately sank into the river and drowned alive…

The people in the city watched their relatives get killed or drowned. They loudly cried and some women even jumped out of the city wall, smashing their bodies in order to accompany their dead husbands to hell…

The ferocious appearance of the Lucanian warriors and this bloody and tragic scene became the nightmare of the Thurians that they could never get rid throughout their life…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Lucanians failed to catch up in time, which relieved Davos. However, they didn’t directly enter the west gate, but went around towards the south gate, and so he was worried that the soldiers would enter the camp slowly. However, his fears did not disappear, as it is even worse than what he had expected, as the panicking soldiers disturbed the order of his troops entering the camp.

Davos had no time to regret. He rushed to the wooden wall and directly ordered his soldiers to knock-off more than a dozen defeated soldiers, which shocked and terrified them and made his troops enter the camp smoothly.

Chapter 84 – Camp’s Defense

By this time, the Lucanians entered Davos’ sight.

“Act according to the defensive deployment that we have trained previously!” Davos immediately gave his orders to the captains.

The captains began to orderly command their subordinates to go to their designated positions:

“FIRST HOPLITE UNIT, follow me to the north gate’s eastern wooden wall!”

“BROTHERS OF THE SECOND HOPLITE UNIT, follow me to the south gate’s northern wooden wall!” (T/L Note: Errrrr)

“BROTHERS OF THE THIRD HOPLITE UNIT, follow me to the training ground! Damn it, move faster!”

“The archers of the first peltast unit will be led by their team leader!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Soon, the soldiers were in place, and only the group of defeated soldiers are left and are surrounded by the guards.

“How many?” Asked Davos to Philesius, who had just been placated.

“Quite a lot! Nearly 400 men, and most of them are free men and are unarmed.” Said Philesius.

“Mersis!” Shouted Davos.

Mersis came in a hurry.

“How many javelins do we have left?”

“Five hundred and twenty-six. These two days, the blacksmith shop in Thurii urgently made them, and all the money we made in the market was spent on making these weapons…” Complained Mersis.

At this time, Davos is not interested in listening to his nagging, and said to Philesius, “Give each of them a javelin, then assign several people to each unit and have them participate in the defense!”

“Understood!” Philesius then walked towards the defeated soldiers.

Mersis stood still.

Davos understand what he was hesitating about, and immediately said, “Once the javelin is used, we will retrieve them back. Besides, the Lucanians will send us their weapons!”

This immediately made Mersis smile, and he immediately told the slaves to carry the weapons in the camp. Out of his trust in Davos, he did not consider at all that the mercenaries might not be able to defeat the enemy, and their camp would be occupied.

The mercenaries stood behind the wooden wall without any worries, as they calmly watched the enemies who were flooding towards their camp. They even have the time to educate the new recruits.

“Now, do you think that it’s not necessary too build such a complex camp?” Asked Matonis with a smile.

“It’s necessary!” He said excitedly, “Now, I hope that these savages can taste the traps that I dug!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

While relying on the wooden wall, the mercenaries seize the time to recover a bit of their stamina, while preparing to happily watch a play. The fifth hoplite unit of Hielos, because they did not participate in the previous battle, wish for the enemy to rush over and start fighting them.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Once the warriors of Pyxous separated from the army of Grumentum, they immediately pursued eastward.

Gennat ran at the forefront, and the mercenary camp entered his sight, and he roared, “CHARGE! KILL THEM ALL!!”

The warriors roared in succession, and their fatigue seemed to disperse with their roar, and charge faster.

“Captain, the Lucanians are less than 200 meters away from the camp!” The leader of the archer troops shouted to Arpernst.

“Remind me once they enter 100 meters!” Replied Arpenst, then he turned around and gave orders to the slingers behind him, “Get ready!”

The slingers had to wait under the wall due to the walkway behind the wall being too narrow for them to spread out. At this time, they, one by one silently took out an egg sized rocks from their leather bags and place them into the net pocket in the middle of their slings.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

100 meters!

The soldiers on the wooden wall were all staring ahead and could not help but cheer when they saw many Lucanians stepping into the mark location.

Gennat didn’t know what the Greek’s in the camp said, but he subconsciously raised the round shield in his hand. During their pursuit, many of their warriors thought that the round shield is too heavy and affected their speed, and so they threw it away. But he still kept it.

“Greeks, you will soon be silenced!” He murmured viciously, but suddenly, his right foot was hurt.

“There are traps!” He was shocked and instinctively pulled back his foot, but a more severe pain came, which made him unable to speak. Looking down, a large piece of flesh was torn off in his right calf, and bled. Looking at the barren grass, there is a sharp iron thorn with a barb, about 30cm long, that was obliquely inserted into the soil. He tried to pull it hard, but he couldn’t pull it out. He then strike the compact soil and then saw that the lower end of the thorn was tightly attached into a piece of wood, which was deeply buried in the soil. No wonder that it could tear off his flesh and skin so easily.

“Vicious Greeks!…” Cursed Gennat, as he tore a piece of linen from his body, and wrapped it around his injured leg, then supported himself up with his spear as he resisted the pain and shouted, “Be careful, there are iron barbs on the ground!!”

But his warning came too late. Many warriors fell to the ground and screamed, while the mercenaries on the wooden wall cheered loudly when they heard their screams, “The barb works! Another one fell for it again!…”

The veterans proudly told the recruits that this is the masterpiece of their leader, Davos, so that the recruits will be awed. As a matter of fact, this is the standard configuration of the Roman garrison. Davos learned this from the military history forum, although this kind of trap seems to be not very lethal. In fact, the injury on the foot in enough to make a soldier lose his ability to fight during the cold weapon era.

The Lucanian warriors that cane afterwards, saw this tragedy and naturally became more careful. They bent down, and searched carefully among the weeds and rocks, and moved forward slowly to avoid those terrible traps. Who knew that the range attack of the mercenaries came immediately. Although the slingers could not see the enemy, they still have the archers to observe on the sentry tower and in addition, the large number of the warriors of Pyxous, made their accuracy not reduce. In order to avoid these rocks, it was impossible for them to pay attention to the ground under their feet, and so the warriors of Pyxous were either hit by the rocks or got stabbed by the iron barbs…

After struggling for tens of meters, they encountered a more terrible trap – the mercenaries called it the “tombstone”. It’s a hole about 1.5 meters deep, under which are sharp wooden pikes buried, and was covered by loose soil. If they step on it carelessly, and with the effect of gravity, the sharp wooden pikes is enough to pierce through the soles of their feet…

When Cincinnag, the great leader of Pyxous, arrived. He saw countless warriors falling to the ground and covering their feet. The voice of mourning resounded most of the time, and the other warriors standing hundred of meters away from the enemy camp, have their face filled with fear and hesitated to move forward…

“What’s the matter?! Why are you not attacking?!” Cincinnag asked angrily, and looked at the countless warriors who fell on the ground.

“Father.” Using the spear as his crutch, Gennat walked up to him step by step and said as he lament, “These despicable Greeks have laid out many traps outside of their camp, we…many of our warriors have gotten injured and yet, we still couldn’t get into their camp.”

“Warrior?! So all of you can also be called warriors!!” Cincinnag’s swearing made everyone around him look down in shame.

Looking at his most highly regarded son, made him in a difficult position and embarrassed. His son’s normally vigorous expression was replaced by tiredness and loss. Cincinnag became more distressed and his tone became softer, “How is your injury?”

“It’s okay father, this is just a flesh wound.” Gennat forced himself and said, “Just that…there are too many casualties among our people…can’t…we can’t attack anymore…”

Cincinnag nodded a bit, and looked at the mercenary camp not far away, and thought of the casualties that these mercenaries had caused to his soldiers. A sense of hatred welled inside him, “Have the Brutians attack!”

After the defeat of the Greek army, the warriors of Vergae did not have the same impulse as the Pyxous for revenge, and so their speed in pursuing was not fast. Therefore, they arrived at the same time as Cincinnag, and the tragic appearance of the warriors of Pyxous entered into their sight. However, under the low eaves they must bow their heads*, and as the leader of the city of Vergae, Sedrum accepted the order of Cincinnag, but he made a request to borrow the round shield of the warrior of Pyxous. (T/L note: chinese proverb meaning that they are controlled by others and so they have to bow their heads and obey.)

And Cincinnag agreed.

Pyxous gave orders to Vergae and in order for them to not make them angry, they could only endure it and prove to them that they are better than Pyxous. They learned from the experience of Pyxous and did not walk on the grassland. Instead, they only charge in the narrow and flat passage in front of the enemy camp. They protected their heads tightly with their round shields and formed a long line, then advance cautiously.

Chapter 85 – Contradiction

The rocks of the enemies are all blocked by the round shield, and so they did not get harmed. The warriors are also glad that they found the right way. After another ten meters, they only have less than 50 meters until the gate of the camp.

But then, the four sentry towers behind the wall in the west of the mercenary camp began attacking them. The arrows that pours down from different angles made it not easy for them to block, and if they try to move the round shield to prevent the arrows from their sides, they would then get hit by the enemies’ rocks. As they have all gathered in the middle path, it allowed the archers and the slingers of the mercenary to just concentrate their firepower, due to that, the arrows and the rocks hit them from all direction like hail. In an instant, dozens of their people were killed, and the vanguard of Vergae were almost destroyed, which scared the rest of them and made them forget the experience of Pyxous as they fled. As a result, the traps of the mercenaries made new contributions, and in a short time, hundred of Vergae were killed.

No matter how much Cincinnag urged, Sedrum did not continue their offense.

The mercenaries were overjoyed to see the enemy flee in a panic, but when the enemy stopped attacking, they became dissatisfied once more. After all, fighting back against the enemy were mainly due to the traps and the peltast. They couldn’t even touch a single hair of the enemy, and so they started shouting and swearing at them due to their dissatisfaction.

Seeing this situation, Davos nodded to himself, ‘the soldiers morale is still there!’

He didn’t expect that the relentless and aggressive attack of the enemy would stop so quickly, even if there are trenches in front of the camp. If he thought about it more carefully, he would find that after the previous battle, the Lucanians have consumed a lot of their energy and stamina. It is only due to the stimulation of victory and revenge that allowed them to maintain the strong desire to fight. As a matter of fact, these tribes are not good at siege battle, and they will calm down after suffering setbacks in front of the fortified camp of the mercenary of Davos.

Davos analyzed the situation of the war and added this experience for future defensive operation. At the same time, he sent Asistes through the passage towards the camp of Drakos to learn about the situation of the war.

The information that he got back is also gratifying: due to the enthusiasm of the expeditionary soldiers in building their camp, Drakos, Adrien and Sesta had also led their soldiers to dig deeper trenches outside their camp and to reinforce their walls. Although they weren’t able to arrange complex and complicated traps (this requires certain technical ability and experience), it is still enough to make the pursuing enemy suffer. After all, Taranto’s reinforcement has also retreated into their camp, which helped the defeated mercenaries to recover their morale quickly.

The soldiers of Nerulum and Laus attacked for a while, but after suffering some casualties, they found that the defense of the mercenary is tight, and when they learned that they couldn’t beat them immediately, they naturally gave up their offense, and so they are obviously much smarter than the Pyxous who wanted revenge.

After they ensured their security, Davos’ attention is no longer focused on the gradually calmed battlefield. As he needed to calm down in order to think on what they should do next.

If they couldn’t do a decisive battle, then it will be very difficult for the Lucanians to capture the city of Thurii. Davos had visited it many times, and the six meter wide moat and the ten meter high wall are very difficult for the Lucanians who lack siege equipment and experience. Besides, they also don’t have any boat, so they can’t come and go freely on the river Crati.

The Lucanians will never set up an army just to win a battle. Their purpose should be to occupy the plain of Sybaris, build a camp, herd their cattle and sheep, and grow wheat on this flat and fertile land…

The Thurians lost a lot in these two battles. Obviously, they couldn’t fight back against the invasion of the Lucania for the time being. But they also have the plain on the south back of the river Crati, and so they could last for some time, while they accumulate their strength, recruit soldiers and fight back…

But this situation is not good for the mercenaries of Davos who are on the north bank of the river Crati. Their defeat on this battle have not only affected his next plan, but also made the mercenaries the target of the Lucanians. At the same time, Davos did not want to be a pawn of the Thurians in holding back the attack of the Lucanians for them. But having him lead his troops to leave here, and leave Magna Graecia, is also unacceptable! Here are all their hopes, dreams and ambitions! Davos can’t stand leaving without succeeding and to once more fight for survival!…what should he do…what should he do?…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The other one who is also worried is Vespa, the Lucanian leader that occupied the city of Amendolara, because he did not respond to the order of Grumentum to send troops for this war. He wanted to wait for the result of the war between the two armies before deciding and so they stayed. But when he learned that there were more than 15,000 warriors in the Lucanian alliance and had easily defeated Thurii, did he only start to panic. He hurriedly called the several elders to discuss a countermeasures, then asked the priest to make a divination. Which made Vespa, who had a heated discussion and preliminary countermeasures, to feel a bit relieved.

He then sent an envoy and a small groups of warriors to transport a team pack with wine and food to the plains of Sybaris. He hoped that this friendly way of rewarding the tribal alliance of Lucania could get him a bit understanding from the leader of Grumentum and will lay some foundation for him to beg for forgiveness. If the envoy feels that the situation is not good, then they could only escape back to the mountains at night.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After being defeated, Cincinnag is still unwilling and have sent his people to the east, south, and north of the mercenary camp to scout. But the result is disheartening: not only were there traps, trenches, and sentries, but there is also a passage in the north that connects with the nearby camp, so they could get timely support.

Then he drop his illusion and stand down with his people, waiting for the arrival of Akpir.

After waiting for a long time, Akpir finally led his army to them. After all, it’s not easy to gather the six thousand warriors that have scatted to pursue the fleeing soldiers of Thurii.

The warriors of Grumentum killed all the soldiers outside of Thurii, and some of the warriors have red eyes, as they have been forced to cross the moat and invaded the city of Thurii. But the result is, the people of Thurii who shared the same hatred with the people at the city wall have angrily attacked them with arrows, javelins and rocks, and so they could only hurriedly retreat in panic.

Seeing this situation, Akpir also took a break from trying his luck below the city of Thurii. Therefore, he had to reorganize his troops and rushed to joined with the others, but when he saw that most of the warriors of Pyxous were wounded and tired, he was surprised and asked why.

Cincinnag told him how his people fought bravely, but the mercenaries they met were very vicious and cunning…and so on. At the same time, they complained about the Vergae’s passiveness and negligent in this battle, and even the criminal act of killing the Lucanians during the fighting.

Sedrum, the leader of Vergae, didn’t expect that Cincinnag would complain first. He hurriedly cried out for being wronged, and also said angrily, “Leader Akpir, you must know that it is not that we did not fought with all our strength, but it’s due to leader Cincinnag being too confident, and thought that only the bravery of the warriors of Pyxous is enough to defeat the left wing of the Greeks, and so he has arrange the warriors of Vergae to be place in the rear. He is the leader of the right wing, so I can only obey his order. On the contrary, when the front line of Pyxous was about to fall, it is the warriors of Vergae who fought bravely and helped the Pyxous to stabilize the situation and save our right wing. Therefore, we Vergae have made great contributions to the victory of this war! As for us killing the Pyxous warriors, it is because their fleeing warriors are disrupting the formation of the right wing, and so, in order to prevent them from fleeing, we have force them to rejoin the battle. In fact, not many Pyxous got wounded, and it is only due to our emergency approach that the right wing was able to finally defeat the enemy. And we have also suffered hundreds of casualties while trying to attack the camp of the Greeks…”

“Nonsense! If it weren’t for you, Brutians being unwilling at first, then how could we fought a lot harder! Just now, when we were attacking the Greek camp, you Vergae people arrived last!” Shouted Cincinnag angrily, “Gennat, tell us, how many of our warriors that got killed by Vergae?!”

Gennat hesitated for a bit, and, under his father’s sharp gaze, he muttered, “About…about 150 warriors, and all of them got…stabbed by a spear from behind.”

When Gennat finished talking, both the Pyxous and the Vergae started glaring at each other, and the atmosphere became quite tense…

Chapter 86 – Undercurrent

Both Cincinnag and Sedrum looked at Akpir.

Akpir watched all this and he knew very well that the Vergaean did indeed not fight with all their might. After all, they are Brutians and not Lucanians. Of course, what Sedrum said might also be true, that they saved the right wing and contributed to them winning this battle! He also knew Cincinnag very well, he is greedy for petty stuff and likes to bullies the weak and is afraid of the strong. Even though it’s his duty to reward and punish him, but he can’t really do it according to their agreement. Pyxous is the most important ally of Grumentum, as it is only with their support that Grumentum had become so powerful today. Moreover, Pyxous is also a powerful tribe in Lucania, criticizing or even punishing the leader of Pyxous in front of the Brutians will inevitably lead to the dissatisfaction of Pyxous and will cause the Lucanian tribal alliance to break apart.

The Brutians inhabited areas bordered the south of Lucania, and their tribes are not unified. Therefore, their strength is weaker, which naturally made them the next target of Grumentum’s expedition after they defeat Thurii and occupy the plain of Sybaris. Vergae is the most adjacent city of the Brutians to the territory of Lucania, and them actively surrendering(under the threat of the army of the Lucanian alliance) gave Grumentum a springboard to enter the Brutti region, and so he can’t treat them too harshly. However, he can’t just make his position unclear, because Lucania is the master, while the Brutians are doomed to be enslaved!…

After making up his mind, he slowly said, “Winning this battle is the result of our joint efforts! Therefore, after we occupy this place, I will give you spoils according to your performance! But-” His sharp gaze made Sedrum’s heart tremble, “As an ally, killing your comrades is an ugly act of breaking your promise, and the gods will punish you! So, Vergae must pay a fine enough to satisfy Pyxous to compensate for their loss! At the same time, we will offer the same number of Vergaean to be buried!”

“WHAT!!!” Hearing this, all the warriors of Vergae yelled in anger.

The warriors of Grumentum and Pyxous then immediately surrounded them.

“Sedrum, do you agree or disagree with my decision?” Akpir stared at the great leader of Vergae with cold gaze.

Sedrum stayed silent as he bowed his head, while clenching his fist, his face turned pale and his forehead was covered with sweat.

“Great leader, you must not agree! The Lucanians have bullied us too much, so we should not obey them! Let’s just go back!!” Salu yelled in anger.

“Yes! Let’s go back! Great leader, Let’s just go back!!…” Said the warriors of Vergae.

“Go back?!” Cincinnag sneered at them and said to Akpir, “You see, these Brutians are not reliable. They want to quit the alliance that they have sworn to the gods to join so quickly! In this case, it’s better to…”

Hearing this, Sedrum was shocked. He suddenly raised his head, and saw the sneering face of Cincinnag and the cold expression of Akpir.

As he looked around, the Lucanians surrounded his people with their shields and spears. Although the warriors of Vergae desperately struggled, they are too few and they only wore leather armor, and they did not even have any shields and only have their speard. Their equipment is too simple…the fingernails of Sedrum dug deep into his palms…as he struggled to squeeze out a sentence, “I…I agree…”

“Great leader!!…” The cry of the warriors of Vergae is like a hammer that struck the already fragile heart of Sedrum. He staggered a few steps and sat down on the ground.

“It’s up to Wudlei to supervise the execution of their punishment.” Said Akpir, as he choose a neutral person as he is worried about them causing a riot due to Cincinnag stimulating the Brutians.

“Alright.” Answered Wudlei, the leader of Nerulum.

“When we occupy this place, I will allocate a piece of land in the plains of Sybris to you Sedrum, so that your people can graze here, as this land is a much more fertile than the land of you Brutians!” After Akpir punished them, he then gave Vergae the carrot.

“Great leader…thank you…” Sedrum held his grief and said his thanks.

Instead of waiting for Cincinnag to speak, Akpir asked kindly, “Gennat, my dear child, how is your injury?”

Gennat endured the pain and straightened his chest, “Leader, I’m okay. It’s just a flesh wound.”

“That’s good. You should protect yourself more, since I don’t want my daughter to become a widow at such a young age, and I am still waiting for my grandson!” Laughed Akpir, and the warriors around him also laughed together, which made Gennat a bit embarrassed and shy.

Cincinnag breathed a sigh of relief, because Akpir still attached great importance to Gennat, and his promise to Pyxous would not change due to this setback.

“So the best warrior of Lucania has been humiliated by a much smaller number of Greeks!” A sarcastic voice came together with the laughter of the soldiers.

Gennat followed the direction of this voice and saw that it was Seville, a tribal leader in the city of Grumentum. He had proposed to the daughter of Akpir, but the great leader married his daughter to Gennat for the sake of tribal interest. And from then on, Seville didn’t have a good opinion of him.

Gennat, unwilling to show weakness, said, “If you have the ability, then why don’t you try capturing this camp!”

“Alright, I will show you the power of the warriors of Grumentum!” Seville was excited and did not refuse. He turned around and called, “Brothers-”

“That’s enough!” Akpir’s deep and dignified voice immediately stopped the young leader’s impulse, “Let’s go back to our camp!”

As soon as his voice fades away, Cincinnag cried out, “Go back now?! We aren’t going to continue attacking this camp?”

Akpir looked up at the sky and said, “It’s almost dusk. Our warriors are very tired, and we have killed the last citizen soldier outside of Thurii, and they won’t be able to stop us from taking root in this land. When we go back, we will have the wounded rest and recover our strength and to prepare equipment. Tomorrow, we will build a city here, a city of Lucania!” Akpir’s voice became a bit agitated, “These mercenaries are not worth our concern at all. If they dare to come out, then we will defeat them, and if they don’t come out, then we will just block them so that they will not get any support from Thurii, and will doomed themselves. As for Taranto’s reinforcement, it is said that the relationship between Taranto and the Messapians is currently tense, so they won’t be able to stay long here!”

The others were lost in thought.

Wudlei asked, “Akpir, are we not going to Amendolara?”

“Tomorrow.” Although he didn’t pay attention to the mercenaries on the surface, their combat strength still surprised him. The tribe that captured Amendolara did not join them according to his order, but if he led his army to Amendolara at this moment, then they will likely refuse to open their gates. Although their strength is 10 times than that of the other party, the Lucanians are not good with siege. Besides, the city is a mountain city, if they couldn’t capture it quickly, once evening comes, their warriors will be extremely tired and won’t be able to eat, and there is still the threat of the mercenaries and Taranto’s reinforcement behind them. Besides that, there is also a group of unstable Vergaean in their midst, and Akpir is afraid that something unexpected will happen. Why should the Lucanian alliance take such a risk in exchange for a steady and assured victory.

“If that tribal leader in Amendolara is smart, then they should go back to the mountains as they had done back then. Otherwise, I will make them know who has the final say in the region of Lucania.” A ruthless sneer appeared on Akpir’s face.

Hearing this, Cincinnag’s face twitched a few times.

Chapter 87 – Choice

The Lucanians retreated.

As the soldiers cheered, Philesius came to the camp’s main quarter to meet Davos, but he saw him absorbed drawing something on the ground with a wooden stick. Sometimes he will raised his head to think of something, and sometimes he will anxiously walked back and forth, unaware of the outside world.

Philesius called him a few times, but seeing that there is no response, he simply just stood aside and watch him. He then poke his head to see what Davos was drawing. On the ground is a rough and messy, and could barely be discerned topographic map around Thurii, the river Crati and its tributary, the river Coscile. The square at the intersection of the two rivers should represent the city of Thurii…but he doesn’t know what this thin line refer to. ‘This thin line that is connected to the river Cosceli, is it river Tiro? And what are the dots and circles around river Tiro represent?…’

Just as he was about to think harder, he suddenly heard Davos shouting something in a strange language. He looked up and saw his very excited expression and his face flushed red.

Did he just talk to Hades just now? Philesius thought of some of the rumors, which jolted his heart.

“Philesius, you just came in time. Go and tell all the captains, and squad leaders to come for a meeting.” Davos said suddenly, and the unquestionable firmness of his voice shocked Philesius.

After Philesius left, Davos took a deep look at the patterns on the ground, and once again said in a firm tone, “Whether we succeed or failed, I will bet it all here!”

He stretched out his foot and wiped away the patterns on the ground. He resolutely sat on the wooden chair in the middle of the main quarter. While waiting for his tense and excited mood to calm down, as he await for the arrival of his officers.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

During the construction of the camp, Davos expanded his quarter to meet the needs for the war. However, when dozens of officers stood inside his quarter, the space inside is still very narrow, but no one cared about it. As they are more worried on where they will go once they lose this battle. Previously, they didn’t have the time to think about it due to them needing to fight, but now, every officers are worried and so their gaze are all fixed on Davos, and hope that their leader who led them out of trouble and constantly created miracles can show them their way.

“Brothers.” Said Davos, “We were defeated. And although the Lucanians have retreated, they will still come again tomorrow. The Lucanians had long wanted to occupy this fertile plain of Sybaris. For this reason, they launched two battles against Thurii and defeated them at great cost. As a result, Thurii suffered huge damage and hid inside their city, and the Lucanians will never give up on the plain of Sybaris! So what should we do?”

Davos looked around at everyone, but he did not want them to argue at this time due to the time being short, and continued, “Although I haven’t publicly said it, I’m afraid that all of you have already know, because you all have been working hard for it. Yes, Amendolara is my target! It’s the city that I chose for us in Magna Graecia! It’s our future home!!”

Most of the officers were calm and only a few were surprised.

“But if the Lucanians takes over the plain of Sybaris, then even if we capture Amendolara, it will then become the focus of their attack! Because our number is too small and the weakest, and they also bear a grudge against us! Even if we beat them back once more like we did today, as long as they are here, they will always be a great threat to us! So what should we do?” Asked Davos a second time.

“It goes without saying, it is to defeat them!” There was someone that shouted during this silence, and it is the voice of Matonis.

“You are right! In fact, the Lucanians are not as strong as what Thurii had said. As long as they scattered, we can defeat them!” Amintas also loudly said.

These two brave officers can charge fearlessly even when faced with enemy ten times their number.

But Kapus, Alexis, Philesius and the others obviously don’t agree with their ideas and are trying to refute them.

Davos laughed, “Well said, we must attack the Lucanian alliance, but it is not to attack the scattered ones, but to annihilate them in one fell swoop! Only in this way will we be able to settle down in Amendolara with a peace of mind, and to deter the obstruction of Thurii and other forces, so that we can freely plant wheat and graze animals on the land of Amendolara!”

Annihilating the Lucanian alliance?!! Everyone was stricken dumb with amazement.

“Leader, we only have 2000 soldiers. Even if we surround them, we won’t be able to do it. How could we annihilate the Lucanians that have tens of thousands of warriors?” Philesius’ words voiced the doubts of all officers that are present.

“It is not only us, but there are also Taranto’s reinforcement and the mercenaries of Drakos.”

“Even if you add them, it’s only 6000. While the Lucanians have more than twice the troops than us!” Said Kapus, while shaking his head.

“Are the reinforcement from Taranto and the other mercenaries even willing to attack the Lucanians?” Antonios ask the main problem.

“They don’t know yet, but I’m confident that I will be able to persuade them to agree!” Davos looked at everyone with confidence. Seeing that they were still full of doubts, he then added in a loud voice, “Brothers, remember this, ‘victory or defeat of a war is not determined by the number of soldiers, but depends on the quality of the soldiers, their level of morale and the quality of their weapons…and the most important thing is to work out a feasible and careful plan, to let us lead the enemy by the nose, restrain the enemy’s advantage, and give full strength to our advantage in order to get the final victory!”

Everyone are absorbed in their thoughts.

Amintas impatiently urge, “Leader Davos, tell us about your plan!”

“Asistes, go and get the map of Thurii.” Davos ordered.

Asistes immediately brought the map that had been carefully drawn on a parchment some days ago after their repeated reconnaisance.

Davos spread the map on the wooden table, and everyone gathered at once.

“Please look…this is the camp of the Lucanian, this is the river Tiro…” Pointing to the points and lines on the map, Davos then spoke slowly and in details to explain his plan.

Everyone carefully listened and pondered.

When Davos finished speaking, there was a silence.

Then, they began to quietly discussed in small groups.

Davos waited quietly for a moment and said, “Brothers, this plan, is it feasible?”

“Leader.” Alexis sincerely praised him, “I have never seen such a wonderful idea. This is simply an ingenious plan!”

“Alexis is right. According to this plan, not only will the advantage of the enemy due to their large number be remove, but will also allow us to easily exert our strength!”

“Our leader is really worthy of being our leader. Our great leader. The favored of Hades!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

For a moment, words of flattery is thrown.

Davos seriously said, “This is not the time for flattery, as this is a critical moment of our life and death! So let’s talk about your opinions. We need to gather our wisdom to overcome this difficulties and win!”

Everyone look at each other. Alexis coughed a few times, and his expression became serious, and first said, “Leader, according to your plan, the first thing we need to solve is how to lure our enemies…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After their heated discussion, the battle plan was finally set, and the atmosphere in the main quarter became warm.

“Brothers, the war is about to begin! Go back and tell the soldiers, tell them what we have been concealing! This war is not for Thurii, nor for the officers, BUT FOR THEMSELVES, FOR THE LAND WE ALL DREAM OFF!! HADES WILL BLESS US!!!”

“WHOAAA!!!” Davos’ stirring words ignited everyone’s emotion. Even a person with a warm and watery nature like Philesius is now burning with the flame of hope at this moment…

Chapter 88 – Allies

When Archytas walked into the camp, cheers came from every tent that he passed. The air was filled with excitement and happiness, even if a man is downhearted he will also be infected. He could not help but exclaim, ‘This mercenaries is indeed a powerful force that has experienced many battles and became the headache of Persia!’ during the day, he saw it with his own eyes how these mercenaries attacked the Lucanians with their novel tactics and fierce assaults. and what was more commendable is how they are able to maintain such a high morale even after getting defeated in battle!

Archytas desired to see Davos immediatey grew even more.

As soon as he arrived outside his quarter, the young man who made him have favorable impression went out to meet him, and said, “Strategos Arhytas, we are going to attack the Lucanian alliance tomorrow, so I hope that we could get the help of Taranto’s reinforcement.”

Archytas couldn’t believe what he just heard, “…do you mean to attack the Lucanians?”

“Yes!”

“Is it the 15,000 Lucanian army in the west, and not the ones in Amendolara?” Archytas asked once more.

“That’s right, it’s the Lucanian alliance that is in the west!” Davos nodded.

After receiving an affirmative answer, Archytas stared at Davos for a long time, and reluctantly suppressed his excitement, and said, “…what are you planning to do?”

“Come on, let’s enter inside to discuss.” Davos quickly brought Archytas to his quarter, they arrive at the map and told his plans in detail…

Archytas held his chin and thought for a long time, then slowly said, “I have to say that this is a very bold plan, which almost uses the troops to the extreme. Moreover, this is certainly feasible, which is very tempting for me…”

“So, will Taranto’s reinforcement join?” Asked Davos.

Although Archytas didn’t speak, Davos was not worried. After a long silence, Archytas saw that Davos was still calm and could not help but say, “It seems that you are already sure that I will agree.”

“I have heard that Heraclea is an ally of Taranto. If we win tomorrow, Taranto will not have to worry about the west anymore, and you can just focus in dealing with the Messapians.” Davos said slowly. In fact, his words are more courteous. Heraclea is not only an ally of Taranto, but is actually a subordinate controlled by Taranto. 20 years ago, their higher ups were either immigrants of Taranto or was directly assigned by Taranto. Although Heraclea is nearly no longer the subordinate of Taranto as before, their influence on Heraclea is still strong, and regards Heraclea as its barrier to the west. If the Lucanians were to occupy the plain of Sybaris and the neighboring Amendolara, then the threat to Heraclea would be too great even to the northern Metapontum, which is an important reason for Taranto’s reinforcement.

Archytas finally nodded, “Taranto is very happy to fight side by side with the Greek warriors of the Persian expedition!”

“This is really wonderful. It is due to Taranto’s reinforcements that you led that I dare put forward this plan, because you are great with battle!” Davos said it from the bottom of his heart.

After they discussed the details, Archytas suddenly said, “Davos, I have a suggestion for you to consider.”

“Please say it.” Davos was surprised at Archytas seriousness.

“Whether we win or lose the next battle, I sincerely invite you to become a citizen of Taranto! And I will fully recommend you to the elder and hope that you will take an important administrative position.” Archytas made a serious commitment.

Davos didn’t expect Archytas to make such a request, which caught him off guard, “…well…well, I have heard that it’s hard for an outsider to become a citizen of a great city.”

“Yes.” Archytas frankly nodded, but then he added, “However, people with extraordinary talents like you will be warmly invited in any city-states of Magna Graecia! After all, this is not Athens, and we are all colonies. The main thing is that they should have the vision to discover talents!” Archytas pointed to his eyes with pride.

“Only just me, and not including my brothers?” Davos though of a reason to refuse.

“If too many people join Taranto, then neither the archon nor the elder will decide, as we would need to hold an ecclesia to make a collective vote, which is very difficult.” Said Archytas in embarrassment.

“Thank you for the invitation, after the battle tomorrow, I will seriously consider this issue.” Said Davos, while pretending to be serious.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Due to the invitation of Davos, Adrien, Sesta and even Drakos came.

Davos told them about his plan, and all three were shocked.

In today’s battle, they are not like Taranto’s reinforcements and Davos’ mercenaries that have lost less. They have suffered 400 casualties, specially the troops of Drakos. For those with only 2000 people, it could be said that they have been injured, so if they were to agree on the request of Davos, then their casualties would be even greater. Therefore, Adrien and Sesta are a bit hesitant.

“Leader Davos, I am willing to participate in the battle tomorrow!” Drakos, who had been depressed all the time, said suddenly, which startled the other two.

“The Lucanians are not terrifying, but the Thurians have dragged us down today. I believe that fighting with you tomorrow will make them taste defeat!” Said Drakos reluctantly.

Davos did not expect that the first one to agree would be Drakos, who had previously fought against him, which made him look at this leader’s desire to fight and toughness. Seeing that the other two were still hesitating, he immediately added, “This battle against the Lucanians is not for the crappy payment of Thurii, but to win back Amendolara and become its master after defeating the Lucanians!”

Davos’ words once more shocked them.

“Are you sure you will be able to capture the city of Amendolara?” Sesta asked in astonishment.

“We have attacked many fortified villages in Persia. A small mountain city won’t pose a problem!” Davos said confidently, “At that time, we will invite you to become citizens of Amendolara, acquire the land there and lay a foundation in the rich Magna Graecia! Of course, if you just want to go back to the war-torn and impoverished Iona, then just think that I haven’t said anything.”

“You….really mean it?! …really let us obtain lands?” Adrien stutteringly asked.

“Of course, this is what we all yearned!” Said Davos.

“But…but…” Adrien, calmed his excitement, and asked, “Is there no objection from Thurii and Taranto?”

“Thurii has been hit hard, and they have no ability to oppose it.” Sneered Davos, “As for Taranto, maybe they will be even happier that we do this because we have the ability to defend Amendolara and protect the western border of Taranto from the encroachment of the mountain tribes.”

The three looked at each other and said at the same time, “We are willing to join!”

“Great!” Davos said happily, “Now we are a family! Let’s fight together for our own future!”

After discussing the details of the plan, Davos told them to keep it confidential and not let Taranto know about it for the time being.

After seeing off the three men, Davos prepared to let some freemen who were going back to Thurii to return. After that, he was going to asked Burkes to come to the camp quickly and discuss urgent matters. Unexpectedly, the guard came in and announced, “Burkes is outside of the camp and has asked to meet you.”

Davos was surprised and immediately think about the urgent needs that the town hall and the council of Thurii for him.

Sure enough, as soon as Burkes entered his quarter, he couldn’t wait and asked, “Leader Davos, do you still intend to carry out our original agreement?”

Davos looked puzzled and said, “I am a man who keeps his promise, but the problem now is that we lost the battle. When my troops retreated, a lot of our weapons are lost and a lot of my soldiers are injured. Tomorrow, the Lucanians will definetely carry out a large scale attack here! My troops are currently lacking weapons and manpower, I’m afraid that we won’t be able to resist. Before you came, my officers had just finished discussing it with me, and they proposed to leave here, even if we don’t get paid!”

Chapter 89 – Luring the enemies into an ambush

“How can that be! You have sworn to the gods!” Burkes entreated eagerly, “Leader Davos, please! Have your soldiers stay and help Thurii! Payment…we will double your payment! Lack of weapons…there are a lot more in Thurii, I will immediately get it for you! Lack of people…the battle today, as you can see, Thurii suffered more than 2000 casualties, there is no one left!” Burkes cried and nearly fell to his knees.

But the expression of Davos turned cold.

Burkes then said in a hurry, “Let me think again…think again…oh…although there is none left in Thurii, there are still enough slaves that are mining in the mines. They are all young men and are relatively strong, so we can give you as much as you want!”

Davos touched his chin and thought for a long time before he said with reluctance, “…hmm…but we don’t have food to support these slaves.”

“There is enough grains and meat in Thurii, so we can give you as much as you want!” As long as Davos promised to stay, he can put forward any request to Burkes, as he seemed to try his best to satisy Davos…

On that night, the whole of Thurii was busy. In order to survive, the people braved their grief and drove hundreds of cargo ship full of weapons, food, slaves and tents (Because Taranto’s reinforcements refused to enter the city and were willing to stay in the camp of the mercenary, so they had to prepare tents for them) and sent them to the simple wharf at the estuary…

Davos ordered Mersis to lead his men in the camp to take over the goods and let the soldiers rest early to recover their energy…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Just before dawn, the mercenaries in front of Davos’ camp had finished their formation. Davos inspected them before the battle, and their high spirited morale made him nod his head.

“Matonis, are you ready?” Looking at his old comrades that is in front him, made Davos asked.

“I can’t wait!” Shouted Matonis.

“In a while, there will be plenty of enemies to fight, and on average, each of our brothers has to kill three enemies to ensure our victory. Are you sure?” Asked Davos with a smile.

‘YES!!!’ The soldiers around shouted in unison, mixed with the unwillingness of Matonis, “Three is not enough for me!”

Davos laughed, turned around and mounted the horse led by Asistes, he came to the front of the army, and in the face of countless excited and hopeful eyes, he yelled, “Brothers, I see hope in your gazes, and after today’s battle, I hope that you will turn that hope into reality! HADES WILL BLESS US!”

“FOR VICTORY!”

“FOR VICTORY!!”

“FOR VICTORY!!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the endless shouting, Davos seriously said to Philesius, “I await for your good news!”

“Leader, rest assured, with the blessing of Hades, we will succeed!” Said Philesius excitedly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Seeing his troops that were heading north disappeared in the morning mist, Davos took a long breath, and knew that the war that decide his fate was about to begin…

“Asi, let’s go back to the camp! Start our preparations!” He exclaimed in an energetic and excited tone.

“Yes!!” Asistes’ response was equally energetic.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Hey, do you hear that? There seems to be an army marching.” The guards on the walls of Thurii reminded their companions.

“Did the Lucanians came to attack us?!” Another guard, of course, heard the sound and said in alarm.

“Ring the alarms and inform the citizens!” The guards ran to the gate tower.

But when the citizen soldiers of Thurii reach the wall, the outside became silent.

Facing the fog outside of the city, the cavalry refused to go scout, so they had to wait until the fog disperse…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

By morning, the sun had risen into the sky and the fog dissipated.

A horn resounded throughout the camp of the Lucanians, as the warriors began to prepare for their advance into the plains of Sybaris.

Just then, a guard rushed into the camp, “The enemy is coming! The enemy is coming!”

How could their enemy dare attack their camp? The Lucanian warriors curiously looked outside of their camp.

200 heavily armed Greek hoplites appeared outside, and under the gazes of tens of thousand of eyes, they stopped at a distance of a hundred meters and began throwing some round objects into their camp.

After those things landed, the warriors found that these are the heads of the Lucanian warriors that have died in the camp of the mercenaries (for fear of their casualties increasing, the Lucanian warrors did not dare take the bodies of their comrades from the traps outside of Davos’ camp yesterday). They were beheaded and their eyes were gouged out, and their death was tragic…

When the flames of anger of the Lucanian warrior was ignited, the Greek soldiers outside the camp raised their skirts and started urinating and shouting.

The Lucanian warriors were infuriated and broke through the obstruction of their leaders, as thousands of men rushed out of the camp and relentlessly lunge on the Greek soldiers.

The Greek soldiers immediately turned around and ran. But after going around the ridge, the pursuing Lucanian warriors were shock to find that there are nearly 2,000 Greek soldiers waiting for them. It was too late for them to escape, as a round of javelin rained on them and immediately caused the Lucanian warriors to fall. Then, it was followed by the Greek soldiers’ powerful charge, which completely destroyed the warrior’s morale.

Then, the Greek soldiers began pursuing them. Under the gaze of everyone in the Lucanian camp, the Greek soldiers quickly knocked down the escaping Lucanian warriors one after another, then they stabbed the fallen warriors a few more times to ensure that they are dead.

This cruel way of killing and the screams of their people made the Lucanian warriors and their leaders, who have witnessed all of this in the camp, unable to contain their anger. However, they were deterred by the number and ferociousness of the other side, and so they began to ask their Great leader.

Before Akpir could respond, Gennat suddenly shouted, “I know them! They are those damned mercenaries who we fought yesterday!”

Akpir said with wide-eyed, “Child, are you sure?”

“I won’t mistake them even if they were beaten to death!” Gennat who have suffered bitterly had his hatred grow.

“Great leader, let me lead 3,000 warriors to fight them and avenge our fellow warriors from Pyxous!” Seville came forward requesting to lead his men.

Gennat glared at him and went forward as well.

Akpir exclaimed, “How dare these Greek mercenaries leave their camp in order to harass us! This is just right, wipe them all out here and this will save us from once more attacking their camp!” The more Akpir spoke, the more enrage he got, “Immediately blow the horn to attack and form a formation outside the camp. After we defeat them, we will take advantage of this situation and march into the plains of Sybaris!”

All the leaders were equally excited, and only the leader of Vergae, Sedrum, remained silent.

Akpir glanced at him and said in a deep voice, “Sedrum, do you have any questions about my decision?”

Sedrum said with a bitter smile, “Leader, I will absolutely obey your orders! It’s just that…after last night, the warriors of Vergae…refuse to fight…”

“Did such a thing happen?!” Akpir stared at him.

“My warriors said, ‘If you are not killed by the enemy on the battlefield, then you will be killed by your own people when you return. Anyway, it’s better to just lie in the camp and let your own people kill you, at least, we don’t need to get tired.’ I can’t persuade them, since they don’t even listen!” Sedrum lowered his head.

“Akpir, the Vergae doesn’t listen to your orders, so they must have some malicious intentions. We need to capture them immediately!” Cincinnag stood up and pointed to Sedrum.

Sedrum’s complexion changed slightly.

Akpir interrupted Cincinnag, “Alright, since the warriors of Vergae doesn’t want to fight, then they could just stay and guard the camp.”

Sedrum was relieved. Cincinnag wanted to say more, but with a wave of his hand, Akpir impatiently said, “The warriors of Pyxous have also suffered heavy casualties yesterday, and so they will guard the camp together with the warriors of Vergae. When we defeat the Greeks, you will go and deliver the cattle, sheep, tents, equipment and all the camp supplies to the plains of Sybaris.”

Cincinnag stopped making trouble, and accepted Akpir’s order and stopped the objection of his son, Gennat. However, this did not reduce the ill feeling of Akpir towards him. Originally, after returning to the camp yesterday, Akpir intended to let Sedrum kill some dozens of seriously injured Vergae, but Cincinnag insisted on killing 150 warriors of Vergae as sacrifice. This approached obviously made the Vergae distance themselves.

After looking at Sedrum, Akpir knew that it was time for him to seriously consider the issue of Vergae, but for now, the plain of Sybaris is his main target. Therefore, he need to make Pyxous monitor these outsiders for the time being.

The horn continued to blow, and the Lucanian warriors leave the camp and began forming up.

Chapter 90 – The Battle of the Great River (I)

And the Greeks stopped their chase, and began gathering up their ranks and slowly move forward.

In addition to the warriors of Pyxous and Vergae, there were also the wounded warriors of the other three cities. Outside of the camp are more than 9,000 warriors, from south to north, the formation’s length was about several meters, and they all belonged to the tribes of Grumentum, Nerulum, and Laus. Therefore, their speed in forming their formation is slow.

A mere 2,000 Greek mercenaries seemed to be too weak in front of a titan, which is the Lucanian tribe, but they suddenly turned left as they slowly move a hundred meters away from the enemies’ formation.

When the leaders of the Lucanians failed to respond, the Greek army manage to quickly approached the right wing of the Lucanian alliance. And the Lucanian warriors that are in a disorderly formation watched in horror as the Greek army threw javelins at them, and launched a fierce attack…

In the blink of an eye, the right-wing end of the Lucanian army collapse…

“These despicable Greeks went against their creed and launched an attack without waiting for us to finish our battle formation!..” Seville furiously curse.

Akpir found that he had made a mistake in sending out a large army against the small and capable Greek army, just like when a bull face a flexible mouse, they are too big too move and ineffective.

“Blow the horn, and have the warriors attack immediately!” Akpir quickly ordered, while the Greek army continued attacking the left wing along with the right end of the right wing, “Surround them! Don’t let them run away!”

At the same time, the other leaders issued similar orders.

The Lucanians, who were freed from their restraints, were like hounds that quickly pounce on the Greeks whom they hated so much, with them wanting to tear up the Greeks who had repeatedly made fun of them and humiliated them.

The Greek army immediately turned and ran eastward. As they ran, they threw away their round shields, their spears, and their swords, to ensure that they would not be overtaken by the Lucanians who were chasing them like crazy.

The Greeks ran like hell at the front, and the Lucanians kept up with them, and gradually formed a long, dense line which was several meters long…

The Greeks turned around the ridge and ran eastward along the low mountain path for about 5 kilo-meters. All the soldiers were out of breath, and behind them were the Lucanians who continued to follow them.

At this time, the Greeks left the mountain path and approached the river Tiro. They then ran down the gentle slope and came to the shoal of the great river on the other side of the famous hot spring swamp. Although the soil here is moist and soft, the terrain is flat. Compared with the uneven, rock covered mountain path, their running became easier and faster. Of course, the Lucanians still followed them down the river, otherwise, they won’t be able to catch up with the Greeks…

“Brothers, hold on for a bit more, we will…soon be there!” Philesius, who was running at the front, breathed heavily with his hoarse voice to cheer up the soldiers around him. In fact, as a veteran that is over 40 years old, this long-distance running had almost exhausted his strength.

After the Greeks ran across the shoal and over the gentle hillside, the Lucanians still followed closely. However, when they were just about to step on the top of the slope, they were surprised to find rows of heavily armed Greek hoplites that were in formation waiting for them.

“It’s an ambush-” The words of the warrior at the front have not yet manage to yell it, when the spear of the Greek pierced his chest.

The Lucanian warriors, who had been exhausted due to their running, had completely lost their ability to dodge. They rolled down like dumplings one by one under the relentless stabbing of numerous spears of the Greek hoplites, while the warriors at the back doesn’t know the situation at the front and were still running forward…

At this time, Taranto’s reinforcements were responsible for intercepting the enemies, while the soldiers of Davos’ mercenaries, had been the one responsible for luring the enemy, and were currently eating bread and drinking hot water, while the women and slaves of the supply camp brought new shields, spears and swords to quickly equip each soldier. The mercenaries knew that their time was tight and they had to replenish their strength as quickly as possible, then rush forward at the fastest to complete their encirclement.

Mersis also knew that his time was very tight, and after replenishing the mercenaries, he had to take the armed guards of the supply camp, the slaves, and also the slaves from Thurii, and the dozen of mercenary soldiers that served as the captains of the slave soldiers and were in charge of commanding them. Their total number was about 1000, including more than a dozen pack animals, and rushed to the narrow area in front of the mountain path to build a defensive line and block the reinforcements of the Lucanian alliance.

Drakos, Adrien, Sesta led about 1,500 mercenaries and hid on the side of the shoal of the river, which was more than 1 kilo-meter long, although their rank is relatively weak. Fortunately, there are about 700 peltast soldier and 700 armed mine slaves behind them. Between the two troops were Davos and his guards.

“Leader!” Asistes came riding his horse and excitedly said, “Our troops has already begun to advance rapidly to the western mountain path!”

Davos nodded and tried his best to suppress his excitement and nervousness. The beginning of their operation can be said to be fruitful, as he looked at the dense enemy below, his lowest estimate is at 8000~9000 which is more than half of the troops of the Lucanian alliance being concentrated here. Excluding the warriors that was killed yesterday, the warriors left in the enemy camp should be no more than 5,000. After annihilating the enemy in front him, the Lucanians will no longer be able to make trouble in the plain of Sybaris. So they should take this advantage while the enemy’s organization is being chaotic on the shoal of the river to launch an attack and win as soon as possible.

“Peltast unit, ATTACK!” Davos decisively gave his order.

Afterwards, Epiphanes and Cid led the peltast units towards the front of the mercenaries, while Arpernst ordered the slingers and archers to start loading their ammo…

The front is blocked, but the Lucanians were still rushing due to their inertia. Soon, countless Lucanian warriors crowded together under this great river about a few hundred meters wide and more than a kilo-meter long. A lot of them already felt that there is something wrong and were shouting at each other anxiously…

At this time, numerous Greek soldiers appeared on the slopes on their side.

“Enemies!”

“It’s an ambushed!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Along with their cries, javelins, arrows, and rocks poured down on them…

The warriors were so crowded and in order to make it convenient for them to chase, most of them have thrown away their shields and helmets, and some even remove their armors. In the absence of any protection, the mercenaries’ peltast doesn’t even need to aim, and each of their javelin, rocks, and arrows easily hit their target.

“Quickly retreat!!” Their companions fell down one by one, and the frightened warriors wanted to escape. However, in the crowded and narrow space, some of them were trying to avoid the rocks, some wanted to retreat, and some wanted to kill the Greeks that were in front of them in anger…each of them have their own ideas, and run in all places like a headless fly, but this got their whole troops in chaos, which made it difficult for them to complete a smooth retreat. On the contrary, they are more likely to get trampled. In the face of death, the terrified warriors push down the people that are in front of them, and them silently dying at the feet of countless people…

The leaders of the tribes and the warriors were very anxious after seeing this. However, in the turbulent and noisy crowd, any shouting and obstruction were futile, and the Lucanian’s bugler fell far behind their ranks and could not be depend on.

“Kill them! Follow me to kill them!…” With his sturdy body, Seville squeezed through the panic-stricken warriors. Armed with a spear, he kept yelling angrily as he rushed to the gentle slope at the side of the river…

His charge attracted the attention of both sides and reminded the panicking warriors to avoid the rain of arrows. Some warriors began to follow him as they brave the enemy’s range attack and ran up the gentle slope.

Cid pulled out a javelin, wrapped a thin strip of cloth around the middle of the javelin, and the leather ring was wrapped around his finger. He stretched his body like a bow string and stared at Seville, who was getting closer and closer to him, and remained still. When he saw that Seville blocked a javelin thrown by a peltast soldiers with his round shield, and his feet were slipping due to the excessive force, did he threw the javelin at Seville. The leather ring in his hand was covered with the cloth strips, and used it to pull the javelin in accordance with the situation. The javelin not only have a strong kinetic energy but also a rotation. In a blink of an eye, it accurately penetrated Seville’s linen armor.

Chapter 91 – The Battle of the Great River (II)

Seville staggered back a few steps as he struggled to throw the spear that he held in his hand in order to fight back, but his already tired body had been struck once more, and so he fell and slid down the slope…

Seville’s death did not frightened the warriors that followed. Their belief to survive gave them temporary courage and strength. Even though numerous warriors were repeatedly shot down, but a lot more warriors rushed up. Seeing that the Lucanian warriors are approaching the top of the slope…

A salpinx resounded and the peltast unit quickly retreated from the gap between the hoplites’ formation. The hoplites stepped forward and formed a long and thin phalanx formation, and stood at the top of the slope to destroy the hope of the enemy from escaping. While the peltast that were behind them continued to throw their javelins, arrows and rocks, regardless whether their arms are sore, as they threw their projectiles in a perfect arc over the hoplites at the front and rain down on the slope, continuously killing the enemies. And the slaves at the back brought bundles of arrows and javelins to replenish the projectiles of the peltast.

Drakos stood at the forefront of the defensive line and faced the enemies who are beginning to rush up the slope. He doesn’t feel any tension and fear, on the contrary, his morale soared, “Brothers, drive them down!”

“HOUU!!!” His morale infected the soldiers as they raised their shields and spears, and roared at the same time.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As the great leader of Grumentum and the leader of the Lucanian alliance, Akpir, who is over 50 years old, is unlikely to rush into pursuit like a young soldier. And so, he did not chase them. Of course, his guards that are composed of 400 Grumentum warriors is in charge of his safety, and couldn’t possibly just leave him alone to chase the Greeks. Like them, the leaders of Nerulum and Laus were in the same situation. There are a total of about 700 warriors in these three groups.

Once they reach the hot spring swamp, they heard the sound of fierce fighting and screaming…

The complexion of the leaders changed.

“Go quickly!” Akpir urgently issued his order.

The fast-moving group suddenly encountered the mercenaries of Davos who were also rushing to complete the encirclement.

Philesius saw the enemy on the mountain path, and his heart “thump”. Fortunately, due to his experience, he manage to quickly make his own arrangement. The first, second and third units that were under the command of Kapus, will block the encircled enemy. While the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh units will follow him to attack the enemy ahead.

At the same time, Philesius dispatched the herald, “Tell Mersis to arrive quickly together with the slaves!”

When Akpir saw that the Greeks dared to divide their troops in the face of this situation, made him feel more and more uneasy. ‘If there are no any urgent matter, then would these timid Greeks even dare to divide their troops?!’ And he immediately issued an order, “Attack them with everything you got!”

The two heavily armed groups and are both elites, collided directly with each other without deploying any formation…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Kapus led his troops to the west of the great river and ran into the startled Lucanian warriors who had manage to just climbed out of the slope.

The enemies were immediately hit, leaving dozens of corpses rolling down the slope, and the mercenaries immediately closed the gap of the encirclement.

Now, to the east of the great river is Taranto’s reinforcements. To the north is Drakos and their mercenaries, and also all the peltast and slave soldiers. To the west are the hoplites of Davos’ mercenaries. To the south are the hot spring swamps and the river Tiro, which gets flooded due to spring rain.

More than 9,000 Lucanian troops were surrounded in a narrow low-lying area about a kilo-meter long and few hundred meters wide. While the total strength of those that encircled them was only over 7,000 (plus the slave soldiers). The encircling line is weak, specially the one in the west, as there were only about 600 of Davos’ mercenaries, which is almost only a single row of infantry and extends to the north towards the mercenaries of Drakos in order to connect with their formation, just like a thin skin of a dumplings with a lot of stuffing and are in danger of breaking at any time. Fortunately, the Lucanians inside the encirclement are temporarily disordered and disorganized, as they collided with each other like headless flies and are unable to form a unified front.

In the plan of Davos, the range attack of the peltast is the main factor in weakening the strength of the enemy. His Persian expeditionary troops have not only played a role in completing the encirclement, but also was his most trusted offensive force. Now, due to an accident, the force of this expeditionary troops have split up. After Davos learned about this emergency situation from the scout, even though he was anxious, it was still one of the several possibilities that can happen in his plan. Therefore, he has a countermeasure.

So he immediately sent his cavalry to urge Mersis to speed up his progress to the place where Philesius is currently fighting. And join Philesius in wiping out the unexpected enemy in one fell swoop, then rejoin the encirclement and annihilate the Lucanians.

Now is the key moment to the victory of the Greeks.

Akpir also realize its importance.

Two elite troops bloodily fought with each other. On one hand, the warriors selected from all of the Lucanian tribe alliance are still energetic from not having fought any fierce battle. On the other hand, the Greek mercenaries who had gone on an expedition to Persia were experienced and highly skilled, but their constant running had made them lack stamina. However, the course of the battle surprised Akpir. He originally thought that the Greeks that did not form a phalanx formation will be weaker in this kind of melee fighting, and it should be the Lucanian warriors that are used to this kind of fighting have the advantage. However, the Lucanian warriors were gradually beginning to be pushed back…

Standing high in the rear, Akpir observed that the Greeks will often gather in groups of dozens(in fact, this is the uniqueness of the units of Davos’s mercenaries). They weren’t just very organized, but also flexible, and they have a tacit cooperation between them, which made it more lethal. While the Lucanians which is like a piece of loose sand were cut into pieces by them…

This made him realize the seriousness of the matter. So he quickly sent a small group of warriors and ordered them to quickly return to the camp, and inform the leader of Pyxous, Cincinnag, to immediately lead the remaining warriors to come and help him defeat this enemy, and to destroy their scheme!

The warriors that went back to report the situation were then followed by Ledes (last night, Davos borrowed ten horses from Burkes to rebuild the mercenary’s cavalry team). But due to the rugged mountain path, the speed of the cavalry couldn’t be fully utilized. Therefore, several wounded warriors manage to escape from their pursuit and ran all the way back into the camp of Lucania.

“Quick…quickly inform leader Cincinnag! We were ambushed, and he need to send reinforcements!” They shouted urgently at the warriors who were about to withdraw from the camp.

However, the expression of the surrounding warriors began to become somewhat strange.

“Crap, they are Vergaean!” The warriors who reported about the situation found that these people were different, and were shocked.

But the man squatting down saw him and asked him, “Ambush?! What happened?!”

He seemed to remember that the man who just spoke was a leader of Vergae named Salu…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Akpir asked the Pyxous and Vergae to take charge of the evacuation of the camp, but Cincinnag left all the hard work to the Vergae, while he and his son and other several leaders were in the main tent and are currently discussing about “how to protect the interest of Pyxous after occupying the plains of Sybaris”. When the guards suddenly burst in and shouted in panic, “Great leader, it’s not good! The Vergae suddenly attacked us!”

‘What!!’ Cincinnag was startled and immediately sweared angrily, “Those Vergae, they don’t want to live anymore!!”

When he stepped out of the tent, he saw a scene far beyond his expectation. Smoke billowed everywhere in the camp as countless tents were burning, and the Vergae’s were armed with spears and were divided into numerous groups, chasing and slaughtering the unprepared Pyxous’ warriors. While the other Pyxous warriors fled in panic…

Cincinnag’s ears were filled with the shrill screams of his people, which almost drove him mad, “Ahhhhhh!!…I knew that we should’ve killed these despicable Brutians, but Akpir just won’t listen!…Gennat quick! Quickly go and organize the warriors to fight back! Fight back! Beat them back! Kill them all! And destroy Vergae!!…Aaahh!!…”

There was no need for him to say more as Gennat and the other leaders had already rushed out in a hurry.

But for Pyxous, this situation is the worse, as the Vergae had come prepared, while Pyxous has suffered too many casualties yesterday (more than a thousand people were injured), and most of their warriors have stayed in their tents to take care of their comrades, while the Vergaeans set fire everywhere, causing many Pyxous to be burned alive in their tents…

Chapter 92 – The Battle of the Great River (III)

For a time, there was chaos in the camp, and Gennat and the others weren’t able to gather up enough warriors to fight back the revolt caused by Vergae…

“Captain, look!” The mercenary cavalry that was outside the camp of the Lucanians, exclaimed excitedly.

Ledes was upset that he wasn’t able to stop all the warriors from going back. Unexpectedly, the enemy’s camp was suddenly lit on fire, and then saw the people inside began fighting each other, and couldn’t believe what he saw.

“Captain, they have an internal struggle! The enemy is in conflict!!” The cavalryman continued to shout excitedly.

Ledes suppressed his excitement and observed for a while. After confirming it, he then said, “Come! Let’s go back and tell leader Davos that there is a serious internal struggle in the enemy camp and they have no ability to send reinforcements for the time being!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos was worried about the situation as he didn’t know about the internal struggle in the camp of the Lucanians.

Although the Lucanian warriors were ill equipped and were already lacking in stamina, they were still like the tides in the sea that continuously pounds the Greek defensive line one after another, and their blood boils with the screams of their compatriots. If they were stabbed by a spear, they will hold on the spear tightly, and if they are knocked down by a shield, they will try their best to grab the feet of the Greek soldiers before sliding down the slope…

The Greek defensive line on the north was crumbling.

“Report, leader Drakos is down!”

“What?!” Davos was surprised. He had already felt the commotions of the mercenaries at the front even though he was at the rear of the hoplite row, and it was now spreading.

“Have Archytas select 300 of his men to aid the north!” Urged Davos.

“Leader, you have already gave this order not too long ago. Taranto has no soldiers that they could send and they are also in a difficult situation!” Prompted Asistes.

“Right.” Davos kneaded his face, as this is his first time to independently command such a huge battle and it is relevant to his future fate and of his soldiers, which made him a bit nervous. He took a deep breath in order to calm himself down, and then decisively ordered, “Give the command to the slave troops and the peltast units to join the battle!”

He then looked back at Martius and said, “It’s time for us to also join!”

“Hooo!” Martius excitedly beat his round shield with his kopis, while the other guards drop their spears and drew out their kopis, and roared loudly. Those that are experienced knew that in such a crowded battlefield, longer weapons are no longer effective.

Davos took the lead in the charge, and the guard team of Martius followed closely and quickly protected him, while Asistes held the flag high behind Davos.

The waving flag made the mercenaries that was about to disperse, hesitate. While it also allowed the Lucanians to find their target, as they gradually get closer to Davos, which relieved the pressure on the other defensive line. However, the pressure on Davos suddenly increase…

At this time, the salpinx rang out.

Although the peltast soldiers’s hands and feet were already numb due to their frequent throwing of javelins, they did not hesitate in raising their leather shields and Rhomphaia* under the leadership of Epiphanes and Cid, and rushed to close the gap on the defensive line. (T/L note:

And the slave soldiers couldn’t wait anymore, for Davos had promised them that they would be free as long as they win this battle. Therefore, as soon as they receive the order, they chanted, “FOR FREEDOM!!!”

With a lot of energy and high morale, they forced some of the enemies that manage to breach the defensive line, down slope even though they don’t have any combat skills. At the same time, some of the enemies were also pushed down by the mercenaries…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Another group that were also shouting “For Freedom”, was the team led by Mersis. Under the leadership of the veterans of the mercenaries, the 1,000 slaves have not only manage to quickly arrive at the location of Philesius, but also manage to bypass the two sides that are in the middle of a tangled warfare, and hit the flank and rear of the enemy like a hammer.

Akpir and the other two chieftains, who were worrying about the war situation at the rear, were the first to bear the brunt of the attack, and the small number of guards around them could not hold back the fierce assault of the excited slaves.

“Why?! Why hasn’t Cincinnag arrived yet?!” Akpir shouted angrily.

“Leader, leave here quickly or you won’t be able to escape anymore!” His subordinates urged him anxiously.

Withdraw? Leaving nearly 10,000 warriors here?! How could Akpir just give up, he still wants to hold his ground, but he then heard a mournful cry not far away, “Chief! Chief!…”

Wudlei, the Chieftain of Nerulum, have numerous spear wounds in his body and fell to the ground.

Akpir finally stopped hesitating, and under the desperate protection of his subordinates, Akpir and the chieftain of Laos, Tula, fled westward with a few dozens of people in panic. While the remaining 500 Lucanian warriors were wrapped up like dumplings.

At this time, the cavalry team of Ledes had just rushed back to the battlefield and shouted, “There is an infighting at the camp of the enemy, and their reinforcements will not come for the time being!”

This good news greatly boosted the morale of the mercenaries, while the warriors who could understand the Greek language among the Lucanians were shocked (as the neighbors of Greek city-states, although the Lucanians are hostile with them, they also conducted trades and many of them knew Greek). In addition, their leader had fled and so their morale plummeted…

500 Lucanian warriors were either killed or have fled. While the mixed troops did not rest, as Philesius ordered the slave soldiers of Mersis and the mercenaries to reinforce the western defensive line.

At this time, the situation of the western defensive line was even worse than that of the northern defensive line. The troops led by Kapus were limited and are stretched. The thin defensive line was breached by the surging flow of the Lucanians.

Kapus, Antonios, and Alexius joined the battle and fought the Lucanian warriors with their shields and spears. (according to the military law formulated by Davos: without any special circumstances, the captains are not allowed to battle with the enemy in person, so as to prevent the troops from being out of control.)

At this time of crisis, Philesius had finally manage to lead his troops to arrive quickly, and nearly 2,000 soldiers joined in, which finally secured the defensive line…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The battle lasted more than an hour, and the assault of the Lucanian alliance on the defensive line began to weaken…

The whole shoal area is full of warriors wounded by stabbing, grabbing, arrows, rocks, and even getting trampled by their own people. There were endless groaning, shouting and crying, as the sound gets louder and louder, the number of tribal warriors who are still fighting is getting lesser and lesser…

Seeing that there is no longer any hope in breaking through, an increasingly number of warriors stepped into the river Tiro and fled to the hot spring swamp. As a result, they were either washed away by the river or their feet getting stuck in the muddy swamp and couldn’t move…

At this moment, Davos took this opportunity and resolutely issued the order to attack.

The salpinx sounded in a high and rapid way. Stimulated by the impending victory, the soldiers of the Greek army, led by their strategoi Davos, Archytas and Philesius, launched a final attack from the east, west, and north to the almost defenseless enemy at the foot of the slope. The Lucanian warriors were unable to resist and retreated in succession…In the end, except for a small number of warriors that have surrendered, the rest were killed, either by getting forced into the river Tiro and the hot spring swamp, dying from arrows, and getting struck by a javelin…

The first major battle that Davos independently conducted during his long military career: The battle of the Great River (later, it will also be known as the hot spring swamp war of annihilation), with about 7,500 mixed troops (including slaves) against more than 9,000 Lucanian warriors. And the final result with the Greek army only losing more than a thousand people(half of them were slaves) and the Lucanian alliance with more than 9,000 warriors getting annihilated, except for the 400 warriors that have surrendered. Davos won a great victory.

And the whole river shoal is covered with numerous corpses and rivers of blood….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The efforts of Cincinnag, Gennat and the others were in vain. The defeat of Pyxous was irreversible, as they could only fled the camp with more than 200 people, and watch as the flame burned their camp into ashes miles away…

And their sworn enemy – the Vergaen, under the leadership of Sedrum, entered the mountain path on the west and set foot on their way back home.

Chapter 93 – Postwar

“Chieftain, when Akpir returns, he will probably go crazy once he sees such a sight!” Salu stood at the mountain pass, and watched the burning camp, with indescribable satisfaction in his heart.

“So what! Even a crazy Akpir can still command his army to destroy Vergae!” Said Sedrum worriedly, as he complained about Salu’s arbitrarily attacking Pyxous, which forced him to take action.

“Vergae is not easy to attack. As long as we build a defense on the mountain path, they can only attack uphill. Not to mention that they might not even be able to reach Vergae!” Salu then complained, “We shouldn’t have succumbed to their threats, and have joined this wretched alliance!”

“Salu, it’s easy for you to say that! Laus is very familiar with our terrain, and we don’t have any reinforcement. Our warriors would die one after another, and our food is not enough. We can’t afford this war!…” Sedrum told his helplessness.

“Rest assured, Chief! I don’t think the Lucanian alliance will come!” Salu confidently comforted Sedrum, “You have also heard what the guards of Akpir had said previously! The Lucanians were ambushed and they even need to return to call for reinforcements. It can be seen that their situation is very bad!”

“I hope so.” Sighed Sedrum and seriously said, “What we need to do now is to return to Vergae immediately, and recruit people to strengthen our defense and send someone to Cosenza to ask for their help!”

“Ask Cosenza for their help?!” Salu was taken aback.

“These past few days, I have been thinking…if the Brutians kept fighting against each other, then the Lucanians and the Greeks will always oppress us!”

“Yes, we should join forces with Cosenza, just like the alliance of the Lucanians.” Salu is still young and has less hatred towards the other Brutian tribes.

Sedrum didn’t say anything, as he fell in deep thought.

At this time, Salu excitedly said, “Chief, since we have become enemies with Lucania, can’t we take this opportunity to plunder Laus as we pass by it?!”

“I think you have lost your mind! Are you still worthy of being a leader if you don’t cherish the life of your people? Laus still have Avinoges! It’s already a problem for us to cross the lower reaches of the river Laus without making them suspicious, and yet you still think about plundering!…” Sedrum lashed out at him, and finally, the excited young leader bowed his head. As their team walk for a while, Salu couldn’t help say, “I didn’t expect that the defeated Thurii could still ambush the Lucanians. Could it be that they got reinforcements from Taranto or Crotone?”

Sedrum did not answer, but looked back at the smoke that rose to the sky, and couldn’t help but excitedly think, ‘If the Lucanian alliance have indeed suffered heavy losses in the ambush of the Greeks, then the situation in this region will have great changes! What should Vergae do?….’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Cincinnag retreated to the east together with his remaining people. And there is only one thing in his mind and that is to find Akpir and lead their army to slaughter the city of Vergae, and avenge his men!

They then run into the defeated warriors of Akpir on their way.

Akpir hoped to return to their camp quickly in order to get their reinforcements so that they could turn this defeat. But when he found out from the mouth of Cincinnag that the Vergaeans have rebelled and Pyxous have suffered heavy casualties, and their camp was burned to ashes had made him so anxious that he suddenly fainted on the spot.

And Cincinnag have also learned that the more than 9,000 warriors were ambushed by the Greek army, and they still don’t know what their fate is, which made him dumbfounded then and there…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the morning, the strategoi of the city hall of Thurii receive a report from the guards on the wall that there is a suspicious large force outside the city.

When the morning fog cleared, the scouts went out to explore, and soon brought back their report that there is nothing unusual around the city of Thurii. It’s just that the camp of the mercenary is practically empty.

The strategoi were shocked: Last night, Burkes came back and said that the mercenaries were willing to stay, and due to this reason, the city of Thurii was busy all night preparing supplies for those greedy mercenaries. Unexpectedly, they went back on their words and fled that very night?!

The strategoi denounced the mercenaries and some of them have even suggested that they should dispatch warships to the sea to search for their tracks and strike them hard to make them return.

But then, the scout that went to search the west came back.

“WHAT?!! The mercenaries had allied with Taranto’s reinforcements in order to attack the Lucanian alliance?!!” Kunogelata couldn’t believe what he had just heard.

The strategoi of the city hall reacted very strongly.

Nianses sweared, “That lunatic Davos. He is trying to ruin Thurii’s hope!”

“Yes! Without the protection of the mercenaries, Thurii will face the attack of the Lucanians alone. What should we do?” Said Polyx worriedly.

Kunogelata decisively said, “Send Burkes immediately and have him persuade the mercenaries to return at all costs! Thurii will not allow them to mess thing up!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

However, Burkes failed, as Davos, who had always been kind to him, have strongly rejected his demands, and have his people send him back to the city and to await for the news of their victory.

“I think that Davos is very confident in defeating the Lucanians. Shouldn’t we believe in him?” Burkes comforted the strategoi in a way that made even himself doubt it.

His words immediately incur the strategoi’s severe reprimand.

Kunogelata criticized him for not being able to judge a person’s character.

Polyx didn’t directly blame him due to their friendship, but complained that the mercenaries were immature and could not even keep their promise.

Nianses angrily accused him of wasting money, food, and supplies of the city’s treasury and recruiting a group of useless mercenaries, and threatened him by suggesting that he would be tried at the council.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Thurii’s strategoi spent the whole morning complaining, hurling profanities, and being uneasy. They however did not have the courage to send the city’s only 2,000 citizen soldiers out to help.

In the afternoon, the sentinel on the wall of Thurii once more heard rumbling footsteps, and sent out a scout. The scout then saw the returning troops of the mercenaries. Although their armor were broken and covered with blood, and were supporting their wounded comrades, they don’t appear to be demoralize from getting defeated. On the contrary, they are full of energy, as they talk and laugh throughout the way. In their ranks, more than a dozen pack animals loaded with armors and weapons, and many slaves were also holding several sets of armors, and were also carrying shields, spears and helmets, while they held their heads high and looked proud. At the back of the troops are hundreds of naked men that are escorted by soldiers as they limp towards the camp of the mercenaries. When they saw their long hair, he immediately knew that they were not Greeks…

The scout’s heart leaped wildly as he guessed of a possibility! An almost impossible possibility!

Just then, one of the mercenaries’ cavalry galloped towards him, and raised his hands up to show that he is unarmed, so as not to frightened the Thurian.

As expected, the scout of Thurii stayed still. The mercenary cavalry came to him, reined in his horse, and said with pride, “Our leader, Davos, asked you to pass on to the strategoi of Thurii that our mercenaries and Taranto’s reinforcements have wiped out the main force of the Lucanian alliance on the shoal of the great river. And we have driven them out of the territory of Thurii!”

“You…you have really defeated the Lucanians?!” The scout asked in disbelief, and his voice quivered.

“Of course it is true. There is no need for us to lie!” The mercenary cavalry then pointed with pride to the prisoners in their ranks and said, “What’s more, our leader asked me to remind you, Thurians, that the shoal of the great river is full of corpses, and he hope that you can deal with them as soon as possible. Otherwise, if it’s left for a long time, it will easily lead to a plague.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Before the scout could even reached the city, he had already waved his hands and excitedly exclaimed, “VICTORY! WE WON!! THE LUCANIANS ARE WIPE OUT!!…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the city hall, the energy of the strategoi was exhausted due to suffering a long period of uneasiness.

At this time, the cheers outside resounded and became louder and louder, and woke up the drowsy strategoi.

Chapter 94 – Night Raid

“What’s going on?” Asked Nianses.

“Bang” with a loud noise, the door of the city hall was pushed open, and the guards rushed in with a look of excitement, “Reporting, the scout came back, and he said…he said…he said that the mercenaries won! The Lucanian alliance have been wiped out!!”

“Is this true?!” The strategoi could hardly believe what they heard and asked at the same time.

“The scout are just outside. He also went to the shoal where the mercenaries fought the Lucanians, and said that there were corpses of the Lucanians there!!”

“Unbelievable! Truly unbelievable! They really won!!” Nianses murmured.

“How did they do it?!” Kunogelata went to the battefield yesterday, and the ferociousness of the Lucanian warriors still scares him. Besides, he knows the great difference between both sides. Therefore, this news of victory is a miracle to him.

“What kind of person is Davos?” At this moment, Ansitanos was interested in getting to know this miraculous mercenary leader.

Polyx immediately remembered the smiling young man that he had seen on the ship of Burkes, but he did not expect that the young man, who seemed harmless, had annihilated the Lucanian alliance, which Thurii had regarded as monster, and saved the city of Thurii, which was in great danger.

“He is a young man, but it’s rumored in the mercenary that he is favored by Hades! He is also called as miracle maker! On their way back from Persia…” Burkes, who had been reprimanded by the strategoi, was very proud to say aloud about the heroic deeds of Davos that he had heard. And there was only one thing stirring in his mind, ‘He did it! He really did it!’

The strategoi did not laugh at these seemingly absurd rumors, nor face the excited gaze of Burkes, as they stride out of the city hall one after another.

On the square of the city hall, countless women, children and old people in black gauze who were mourning before, had now shouting victory. Some even cried, but they were tears of joy, and now the haze in the minds of the people of Thurii has disappeared.

The scout also brought a message from Davos, hoping that Thurii would send people to clean up the battlefield and to bury the corpses in order to prevent a plague.

Out of caution, the strategoi decided to send someone first to check the battefield. When they arrived at the shoal of the great river, the sight in front of them made them gasp: the shoal area, including the hot spring swamp have turned into a river of blood, filled with naked corpses (the mercenaries stripped away their armor and weapons), which is basically a hell on earth…

“This is a frightening miracle!” The whole body of Nianses shuddered, “The dreadful favored of Hades!…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In order to thank the leaders and strategoi, Davos, Archytas, Drakos, Adrien and Sesta for their contribution to Thurii. The strategoi discussed in the council and decided to send Burkes to accompany Ansitanos to the camp of the mercenaries, and invite them to the victory celebration in Thurii. And to accept the gratitude of the Thurian and at the same time, bringing a hundred barrels of wine and fifty barrels of olive oil to reward the soldiers.

A group of people rushed to the camp, but they were stopped by the guard, claiming that the officers and the soldiers were extremely tired after a day of fierce fighting, and most of them had fallen asleep to recover their energy. Therefore, the guards were informed that no one was allowed to enter the camp to prevent any accidents.

Burkes kept trying to persuade them, but the guard stood firm. Burkes had been to the camp of Davos several times before, and he knew that their military discipline is very strict. In addtion, the camp is really quiet, and so the Thurians had no choice but to leave.

Then, they found Archytas.

Archytas was very happy to receive them, but when they explained their intention, Archytas looked embarrassed and said, “To tell you the truth, this victory is entirely due to the ingenious plan of Davos, and Taranto had only assisted. If Davos doesn’t go, then we of course can’t go, in order to avoid being ridiculed!”

Ansitanos had no other choice but to try invite them again tomorrow.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The mercenary soldiers were indeed forced to rest, but the officers, as well as Adrien and Sesta, were currently in Davos’ quarter.

After getting the report from the guards, Davos then said with a smile, “Thurii used to be on guard against us, as if we were thieves, but now they want to please us. Too bad that they are a bit late!”

“Yes, seeing the Thurian’s face makes me puke. We did not kill the Lucanians for them.” Amintas said scornfully.

“It’s too bad that we would miss the celebration of Thurii. There might even be beautiful girls waiting for our leader!” Olivos’ words caused a burst of laughter.

Davos looked at him ridiculously, “Otherwise, I’ll give this opportunity to you?”

“I can’t.” Olivos shook his head, “It’s Davos that Thurii had invited, not an insignificant person like me. It’d be better for me to just keep on sleeping in the camp!” Olivos’ antics caused another burst of laughter.

“Leader, we still need to maintain a good relationship with Thurii. After all, they will become our neighbor.” Cautioned Philesius.

Davos nodded, Then his gaze fell on Adrien and Sesta, and asked them with concern, “What’s the condition of Drakos?”

“He is much better now after the treatment of Herpus, and have told us to follow your orders!” Sesta said gratefully, and Adrien nodded.

Of course, Davos recognized that Sesta had expressed his obedience to Davos through the words of Drakos. And he immediately said, “That’s great. We don’t want to lose a warrior like Drakos! If he had not stood at the front line to resist the enemy’s attack and boost the morale of the soldiers, then the northern defensive line would have been breach!…” After praising Drakos, he then looked around at everyone and said, “Let me repeat the battle plan for tonight!”

The crowd immediately stopped laughing and focused on Davos.

Davos took up the stick and pointed to the wooden table, on which was a model of a city made of clay, “At 2 o’clock tonight, the whole army will leave for Amendolara and will be on standby on the river Sisno. Hielos!”

“Yes!”

“Don’t make our effort in building that stone wall in vain. I hope that your more than 10 days of training can be fruitful.”

“Leader, don’t worry!” Said Hielos confidently, “The soldiers will climb up the wall and open the gate in the shortest time using the grappling hook.”

Davos nodded and then said, “In case the enemy finds out about it, our sneak attack will be obstructed. Therefore, Kapus and Antonios, both of your units will carry long ladders. Alexius, your unit will carry the battering ram at the fastest speed, and rushed to the city gate to assault it!”

“Yes!” The three answered immediately.

“After the gate is opened, Amintas, you and your unit will be the vanguard that will break through the enemy’s line of defense as quickly as possible and enter the city!”

“It’s finally my turn!” Amintas grinned.

“After entering the city, all the troops, under the lead of the guide of Amendolara, will quickly attacked the top of the mountain along these two mountains paths according to my previous arrangement.” Davos pointed the stick on the model of the city, “According to the people of Amendolara, there are not many large and flat areas in this mountain city, and it is only the city hall, the square, and the temple at the top of the mountain. Therefore, these three places are most likely where they camp and the place where the Lucanians imprisoned the people of Amendolara. So you must occupy these places as quickly as possible. Is that clear?!”

“Yes!!!” They all shouted at the same time.

At this time, Alexius asked, “When can we light the torches?”

“Good question!” Davos realized that he had missed an important thing. So he thought for a moment and said, “When the city gate is opened, or when the sneak attack fails, you can then ignite it once you carry out your assault! Everyone-” Said Davos, and emphasize, “Tomorrow, Thurii may ask us for help in recapturing Amendolara, or the Lucanians will escape Amendolara, and so, our chance is only tonight! Only when we take Amendolara back from the Lucanians on our own, can she become our spoils, which would saves us a lot of troubles and truly become the master of Amendolara! So tonight, there can only be a success, and no failure!!!”

“HOOO!!!”

Chapter 95 – Recapture

Vespa could not imagine that things would go through such twists and turns.

Yesterday afternoon, when his envoy arrived at the plain of Sybaris, the Lucanian alliance army had to retreat back due to their for fear of being attacked by the Greek army. Today, Vespa anxiously await for the Lucanian army to arrive in the plain of Sybaris. Unexpectedly, in the afternoon, his scout returned in a hurry: The Greek mercenaries completely annihilated the Lucanian army on the shoal of river Tiro!

Vespa was stupefied, and felt frightened. He wanted to immediately get away from those terrible mercenaries. The farther away, the better!

The powerful tribes of the Lucanians have suffered heavy losses together, and their control of the surrounding tribes will inevitably weaken, and means that Vespa’s tribes will not be oppress once they return to the mountains of Lucania. However, it made him reluctant to just leave empty handed and to give up the mountains of spoils that they had seized in the city.

At this time, another sentence from the scout made him calm. The Greeks has also suffered a lot, and they have at least a thousand casualties.

Indeed. Doesn’t the Greeks also need to rest after a great war? Vespa scolded himself for being muddled, and made his people to start loading their baggage and supplies, and depending on the situation, they will transport it in batches.

After a busy afternoon. In the evening, his men were tired and fell asleep.

This delay became a small regret in his life. However, several decades later, when his people and descendants talked about this day, they are all glad that they did not immediately leave…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Late at night, a full moon hung on the sky, bringing a glimmer of light to the dark night.

The moonlight is like water, quietly scattering in the plains of Sybaris, only to see a long line quietly advancing to the north along the river bank, then crossing the river Sybari, over the abandoned vineyards, across the river Saraceno. Their speed did not decrease, instead they got faster and faster, until they arrived on river Sisno in which the whole troops stopped.

Every soldiers were very excited when they glimpsed at the city of Amendolara in the moonlight.

Davos took a deep breath and calmed himself down. He then wave down his hand at Hielos.

Commence the attack!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

This night, Vespa had a nice dream. He did not leave Amendolara, but lived here for many many years, and every day, he will inspect his flocks of farm animals, then wander in the olive trees full of fruits, while drinking sweet wine…

“Chieftain, not good! The Greeks invaded the city!” The guard rushed inside in panic.

“What did you say?!!” Vespa woke up with a start.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Early the next morning, Archytas, who just woke up from his sleep, got a strange report from the guards: the mercenaries next to them have disappeared!

He immediately went to check, and it is truly empty.

Archytas immediately felt like something was wrong. They then went to the nearby camp of Davos, where they still saw people inside the camp. However, they were all people from the supply camp, medical camp, wounded soldiers, women, and a large number of slaves (they are mainly from Thurii). And they were all loading their baggage and are preparing to leave…

Archytas strode forward and caught Mersis, who was shouting and ordering the slaves, “Mersis, where is Davos and his soldiers?”

Mersis hesitated and did not respond, which made him more suspicious.

Just then, a familiar voice came from behind, “Archytas, I apologize for being late, and made you worried.”

Archytas looked back and saw Davos smiling. He looked tired, but in a good mood, “Where have your soldiers gone?”

“I have a good news for you.” Davos dismounted from his mount and gave the reins to Asistes, and calmly said, “We have taken Amendolara back!”

“WHEN?” Archytas was startled.

“Last night.”

Capturing a mountain city in one night?! Davos seems to be not lying base from his expression. It must be known that siege is a big problem for any city-state army. The battle yesterday has made Archytas marvel at Davos’ great courage, creative strategy, strong commanding ability, and the ability to mix different troops. However, the fact that he conquered a mountain city in one night made Archytas, who had many experience in battles, to be completely in awe, “Davos, you have once again completed another impossible mission. I’m so jealous!”

Archytas’ frankness made Davos laugh, “In fact, we were blessed by the goddesses of fates(Moirai). The Lucanians are lax in their defense and were completely unprepared.”

“Oh, is that so.” Archytas was curious on this topic and wanted him to continue, but Davos then seriously said, “I wish to get the support of you and Taranto.”

“What is it?” Archytas looked at Davos’ serious expression and was suddenly became dumbfounded.

Davos gazed at him and said, word by word, “We the mercenaries wants to be the citizens of Amendolara!”

Archytas was once again dumbfounded, and doubtfully asked, “All the mercenaries?! Are you serious?”

“This is the wish of all of us mercenaries!” Said Davos firm and loud voice.

Archytas’ expression became serious. He looked around, whether it was Mersis, Asistes, or even the busy guards, have all stopped their work and looked at him with expectant gazes. Archytas turned around and looked at Davos, and said, “It seems that the capture of Amendolara was not a sudden move on your part.”

Davos did not answer straight away, and instead said with emotion, “Archytas, you were born into the aristocracy of Taranto, and have lived a good life. You can’t understand the situation of us mercenaries that wandered around, and couldn’t decide where to live and die. To have a home is what we yearned the most!”

Archytas was silent for a moment and asked, “Does Marcellus, archon of Amendolara, agree?”

“He was seriously wounded the day the Lucanians occupied Amendolara, and died few days later. Another archon, Glatephro…last night, when we attacked Amendolara, its people were held in the temple of Zeus on the top of the mountain. Before we reach the top of the mountain, under the leadership of Glatephro, they launched an attack on the guards of the Lucanian. As a result, a fierce battle broke out between both sides, and by the time we arrived, Glatephro had already died, including some members of the council…” Said Davos.

Archytas gazed at Davos, as Davos calmly continued, “According to our statistics, there are about 1,000 people living in Amendolara, and they are not in good health. And nearly half of them are old people, and a lot are wounded. Even if we leave, I’m afraid that they won’t be able to maintain the normal management and work of Amendolara, let alone to defend this mountain city.”

Archytas understood that Davos had not only wanted the mercenaries to become the citizens of Amendolara, but also to be its master. He was shocked by the ambition of Davos and evasively said, “You should first ask Thurii. After all, they are the ally of Amendolara.”

“Archytas, to be honest with you, Thurii has suffered two disastrous defeats and suffered great losses. I’m afraid that they won’t be able to take care of Amendolara. Although the weak Amendolara is not rich, its position is still very important. I’m afraid that it will attract other forces. At least if it is in our hands, we can defend it and are willing to form an alliance with Taranto in order to protect the security of the region and ensure that Heraclea will not be threatened by the aborigines again!” Davos made a serious commitment.

After all, the poor performance of Thurii in the war with the Lucania had almost caused a disaster in this region. Therefore, Archytas said cautiously, but made his stance clear, “I don’t have the right to decide whether you can have Amendolara, it will require the consent of the council of Taranto! I will send a boat back to Taranto at once and I hope that you can send someone to express your wishes to the council of Taranto!”

“Archytas, thank you very much!” Said Davos excitedly.

“My only regret is that you couldn’t become a citizen of Taranto.” Said Archytas honestly.

Davos was greatly touched and said, “But we will be allies. And maybe we will one day fight side by side once more!”

Without getting the consent of the people of Amendolara, and without consulting the opinion of her ally, Thurii. They have decided the ownership of the city through their conversation and laughter.

Chapter 96 – Davos’ Thoughts

Despite the absence of Davos and Archytas, the victory celebration of Thurii was still held, and the whole city temporarily suppressed their grief and celebrated their hard won victory.

In particular, the banquet held by the strategoi had lasted until late at night. Ansitanos, who had drunk many pots of wine, had been sleeping until the sun went up, and so it was almost noon when he left the city. However, when he arrived at the empty camp of Davos, he was suddenly dumbfounded. Fortunately, Taranto’s reinforcements were still in the camp of the mercenaries, and they then learned from them that the mercenaries had gone to Amendolara.

The mercenaries recaptured the city of Amendolara! This astonishing news had once again shocked Ansitanos and Burkes.

They immediately went northward, as they were eager to see Davos. But halfway through, Ansitanos suddenly halted their march, “Let’s return immediately.”

“Strategos, why?” Asked the puzzled Burkes.

Ansitanos, who had calmed down, sighed, “The mercenaries were so anxious in capturing Amendolara last night. And today, even their slaves and supplies have moved into the city. What does this mean?”

With an “Ah”, Burkes exclaimed in surprised, “They…they want to occupy Amendolara?!”

Ansitanos nodded, and said with a bit of melancholy, “More importantly – Archytas had also went to Amendolara, so what does this mean?”

After getting reminded by Ansitanos, Burkes came to his senses and once more exclaimed, “Taranto supports the mercenaries in their occupation of Amendolara?!”

“Maybe it is just Archytas’ personal wish…” Ansitanos comfort is not only for Burkes, but also for himself, “If Taranto truly supports the mercenaries, then can Thurii refuse? Taranto and the mercenaries are the heroes who saved Thurii…” Ansitanos sighed again, worriedly, “Ah…and from now on, the troops of Taranto can now cross over Heraclea and get to the plains of Syberis!”

“Then…what should we do?!” Asked Burkes anxiously.

“Of course, it is to go back and discuss a countermeasure, and then…” Said Ansitanos, judging from his helpless expression, he obviously doesn’t think that Thurii had any good way to obstruct the mercenaries from taking over Amendolara.

On the way back to the city, he kept murmuring to himself, “Alas…only half a year had passed and Thurii was reduced to this…teacher was right that a ‘War is the quickest way to change the rise and fall of a city-state.’ What Thurii currently lacks is a military talent like Davos and Archytas!…”

Hearing this. Burkes remembered that he didn’t even got the chance to invite Davos to join Thurii. And now it seems that even if he did, Davos would not agree. He remembered that his slave, Moras, had led Davos to scout the surroundings of Amendolara. He fears that at that time, Davos already had intention for this mountain city! Before the situation could even be resolve, he had actually began planning on capturing Amendolara and finally achieved it, is this luck? No, He had led the mercenaries to win these two battles, which he finally achieved with his own effort!

Although the force occupation of the mercenaries on Amendolara infringed on the interest of Thurii. But in the mind of Burkes, he was not sure whether he should resent him more or be amazed…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos accompanied Archytas on his visit to Amendolara.

As he listened to how Davos was able to capture this mountain city last night. Archytas inspected the route that the mercenaries took when attacking and enthusiastically tried to use the grappling hook.

After entering the city gate, Archytas saw a lot of bloodstains along the way, and every few steps, he saw mercenary soldiers and their faces were filled with the same excitement and pride as Davos. He hesitated again and again, and decided to put forward his suggestion to Davos, “Davos, I think that it is better for your mercenaries to get the consent of the citizens of Amendolara if they want to join the city-state successfully.”

“Okay! Okay!” Answered Davos.

Archytas saw his perfunctory answer and thought about it, and prepared to persuade him, “If a city-state wants to have a good order, it must not only have strict laws, but also abide by them all the time. After a long time. the law will form a good tradition for the city-states and it will naturally become its cornerstone, and it will bring security to the people, and bring development to the city-state. If you harm it since the very beginning…” Archytas stopped, then pointed at the strange shaped pine tree growing on the hillside, and meaningfully said, “It will become like this pine tree, if it’s crooked since the start, no matter how desperate it grows, it will never become a towering tree.”

Davos, of course, understood the metaphor of Archytas, which made him ponder. The Chinese historical tradition is in emphasizing the result that no matter what means are to be used as long as it succeed in the end, everything that has been done before will be forgiven and finally be acknowledged. This is why there is “The winner is the king”, “Act first, talk later” and other popular saying. However, Davos, who had graduated from the University of Political Science and law in his previous life, and knows that in the Roman Republic, which is known as the “Son of Law”, it’s law and traditions restrict the excessive behavior of the officials. Even if there are many disruption, the country will not have any great turmoil. Caesar, who crossed the Rubicon, did not allow the army to enter Rome because it was a tradition. Mark Anthony, who doted on Cleopatra, did not agree on her request to merge the Jewish kingdom into Egypt, because it was the duty of every Roman citizen to not damage the interest of Rome. Octavian, who was in power, did not immediately change the Roman Republic into an empire, because it was a deep-rooted tradition that the Senate and * were the center of power of Rome, and he could only slowly change the Roman constitution gradually for decades…However, the leader of the guard, out of public interest, assassinated the one that he had been guarding since childhood, the radical Roman Emperor, Caligula. As a result, a bad tradition of frequently assassinating the Roman Emperors by their guards was established…

It was fine if Davos was only a leader who only cared for immediate interests and sought immediate pleasure, but his ambition was not limited to the small Amendolara. The advise of Archytas woke him up like a sudden blow to his head. The actions of the mercenaries should not only consider the feelings of the people of Amendolara, but also be favourable for his future rule. Considering that the mercenaries are outsiders, this act of plunder by taking root in Magna Graecia will make the feelings of the surrounding city-states to be obviously unwelcome and will be easily isolated.

Davos decided to change his previous approach of being impatient for quick success and instant benefits. At the same time, he will also need to change his behavior afterwards. And so, he began to think from the perspective of a real Greek.

“Archytas, thank you for reminding me!” Thanks to Archytas, Davos decided to immediately put one of his ideas into actions, “I heard that the Pythagorean school situation in Magna Graecia is not good.”

When Archytas heard this, his expression became dim and complicated, “Yes. Many of the people in the city-states in Magna Graecia does not agree with the idea of our school. They suppressed our members by various means, so that most of our disciples had to leave Magna Graecia and go back to mainland Greece. Now, only Taranto is the only one tolerant of our school.”

“I agree with your school ‘All is number’. I think that if you use ‘number’ in managing the city-state, it will be more elaborate and efficient. I also agree with your school’s encouragement of self-control, abstinence, purity and obedience. At the same time, you dare break the customs of this world by allowing women to take part in studying, which is even more a pioneering work!” Davos then added sincerely, “If the mercenaries becomes the master of Amendolara. I will certainly invite members of the Pythagorean school here to train students, set up schools, and get funded by the city-state.”

The reason why Archytas was so frank about the present situation of the Pythagorean school was because Pythagorean school is famous in Magna Graecia, and before that, Davos had also expressed his favor for the school. However, he did not expect that Davos was so fond of the school that reached such a level and couldn’t respond for a while, “What you say is true?”

“Should I pledge to the gods?”

“On behalf of the school, I am grateful for your support! I will tell the members of the school about your proposal as soon as possible!” Said Archytas excitedly.

Chapter 97 – Cornelius

Cornelius was excited and anxious as he was led into the city hall by the soldiers.

Since the occupation of Amendolara by the Lucanians. the life of Cornelius had been hell for the past six months. During the day, they will go out to graze the animals, cut down trees and carry the goods under the supervision of the Lucanians. If they slack off, the lightest punishment would be getting scolded while in the worst case it would be getting whipped or not given any food. In the evening, he was imprisoned with the others in the temple of Zeus. Although the temple is large, thousands of people crowded together to do their daily routine* inside. The air was dirty and the space was narrow. Moreover, the children often made noises and the adults weep, which made him to not be able to sleep soundly every night. At the same time, the Lucanians only gave them food enough to make them half full, which made them weak, and a lot of them constantly fall ill and die. (TL note: eat, drink, shit, pee, sleep)

During his long period of imprisonment, Cornelius, like everyone else, was exhausted both physically and mentally. And had already accepted his fate and felt that he would live such an empty life until he quietly go to the underworld….

However yesterday, they were urgently gathered together to load the carts and carry supplies, and were busy till late night. Even the ferocious Lucanians started to work as well, and Cornelius noticed the panic in their expression.

Sure enough, the people who could understand the language of the Lucanians quietly told them that he had overheard what the Lucanians were talking about, and they said that “…the army of Grumentum was annihilated by some Greek mercenary.” and “Those Greeks are murderous monsters, and are terrifying…” and so on.

This news cheered the people of Amendolara, as they saw hope of getting freed from their hardship. In the middle of the night, many people tossed and turned, and were unable to sleep. They then heard the faint sound of battle…

What is happening?!! The sensitive people of Amendolara got up one after another, and came to the gate of the temple and peek through the crack. The Lucanian guards panicked and yelled at each other, which allowed the people in the temple to hear what they said clearly, “The Greeks attacked the city!”

They were so flustered that the archon, Glatephro, who had always acted decisively, saw that the guards were leaving one after another. It seemed that they were going to reinforce their troops that were fighting down the mountain, and so he immediately organized the citizens to fight back. The people of Amendolara, who hated the Lucanians, work together to break through the gate and knock down the few remaining Lucanian guards with rocks and their fists.

They had just come out of the temple, but had encountered the Lucanians who had returned (In fact, the Lucanian warriors were totally unable to fight back the attack of the mercenaries. In his desperation, Vespa thought to hold the thousand of Greeks in the temple as hostage in exchange for the survival of his tribe.) Of course, the unarmed and frail people of Amendolara were not the opponents of the Lucanian warriors. However, the angry and hopeful people of Amendolara did not want to surrender again, as they had just broken out of their cage and their reinforcements were coming. As a result, the archon Glatephro was the first to die, and almost all the strong and powerful citizens who were charging at the front were almost annihilated. Just as the Lucanians could no longer control their impulse and were ready to kill the rest of the trembling people of Amendolara, the Greek mercenaries arrived.

In front of the people of Amendolara, these strong and burly soldiers showed their great power. In a flash, the enemies who had just been extremely vicious were crushed, and they then knelt down and surrendered.

The people of Amendolara couldn’t stop themselves from shaking, when the murderous soldiers approached them. Unexpectedly, these soldiers were full of concern and supported those that are weak, and prepared a clean bed, giving them steaming hot porridge, and the physicians carefully examined their bodies and treated their wounds.

Cornelius left tears of gratitude more than once, and he, like the others, began asking about the origin of this brave and caring troops. The soldiers, the physicians, the women who had bandaged their wounds and were called “nurse” by the soldiers, as well as the slaves, had told the people of Amendolara everything about themselves. Therefore, Cornelius knew that this Greek army had come from Asia Minor, and under the leadership of the Persian prince, Cyrus the Younger, they went deep into the territory of Persia to fight against the Persian king. Then, they safely returned to Byzantium, and accepted the employment of Thurii and came to Magna Graecia. After losing the battle that the Thurians had led, the mercenaries took the lead and joined with Taranto’s reinforcements, and completely annihilated the Lucanian alliance. Then, without even resting, they went to capture Amendolara last night and saved them…

The story of the mercenaries is as legendary and fascinating as the epic 《Odyssey》. What made Cornelius felt even more amazed is the leader of the mercenaries, Davos. According to the soldiers, this young leader was at first just an ordinary soldier, and there was nothing special about him. However, while they were fighting the army of the Persian King, he fell into a coma and after waking up, his character had not only changed a lot but also his intelligence and wisdom, and have manage to solved a lot of problems. The soldiers thought that it is due to Hades favoring him that he got enlightened and why he have changed. Hence they choose him as their leader, and Davos lived up to their expectations and created one miracle after another. He led the soldiers out of the Persian encirclement and return to Greece. When they got defeated in the battle and everyone was pessimistic, he resolutely launched an attack on the powerful Lucanian alliance and annihilated the enemy with a mix of troops, and created an almost impossible miracle. And then, when the others thought that the mercenaries needed a break after the war, he then launched another attack on Amendolara within that day…

Therefore, when the mercenary told Cornelius that their leader, Davos, wanted to see him, he was so eager to see the man that have led such a unique army and was respected and admired by his soldiers, and was called the “God’s Favored”, “The son of miracles”, “Our Davos”.

As soon as he entered the hall, he met a smiling young man and called out to him kindly, “Lord Cornelius!”

Cornelius was dumbfounded, “Are you?”

The guard that led him said with pride, “This is our leader, Davos!”

Although he learned from the mercenaries that Davos was a young man, Cornelius was still surprised by how young he is and so easygoing. He is totally different from the mercenary leader that have experienced many battles in his imagination. For a moment, he forgot his manners.

Davos was also looking at the Elder of Amendolara. It was said that his family was one of the founders of Amendolara more than 200 years ago, which has continued to this day. Even though there have been countless archons and elders, and Cornelius himself is only an elder, but he is kind and helpful, and has a high reputation among the people, which is why Davos had chosen him first. Looking at the middle-aged man who had been in prison for a long time, Davos asked him with concern, “I heard that you were wounded last night, are you feeling better now?”

Cornelius touch the bandage on his abdomen and said gratefully, “A lot better! Your physicians are very skilled! Leader Davos, I am thankful that you manage to arrived in time last night, otherwise we would all be finished!”

Davos heart jolted and looked carefully at Cornelius, his sincere appearance didn’t seem to be a lie. Last night, when he learned that the Lucanians had a fierce battle with the people of Amendolara that have escape the temple, he deliberately slowed down the pace of their attack, which resulted in the death of most of the young citizen of Amendolara. He felt a bit guilty and quickly said, “Err… Lord Cornelius, thank you for coming here today, I have something to tell you.. We will be leaving soon.”

Cornelius was startled, “WHY?”

“Although the Lucanians have suffered heavy damage this time, but after all, they have a large population, and we heard that Potentia is going to help Grumentum. Therefore, Thurii urgently asked us to go back and help them defend their city.”

Chapter 98 – Ecclesia

“THURII AGAIN! Selfish Thurii! May the goddess of misfortune curse them!” Said Cornelius as he gnash his teeth.

Davos can guess the reason (Archytas told him) why a good man who had always been kind to others can hate like this, but he pretends to be curious, “Lord Cornelius, I seem to remember that Thurii and Amendolara were allies, but you seem to hate them very much.”

“The Thurians forced us to leave Amendolara temporarily to help them defend Thurii, otherwise they would not help Amendolara if the Lucanians besieged them. At that time, the Lucanians were invading the south and the north was safe, and so we had no choice but to carry a large amount of supplies and opened the city gate to prepare to move to Thurii….as a result, we were unprepared…the Lucanians had taken advantage of the situation and took a risk by drifting down from the river Sinni…over the past six months, we have suffered a lot…the temple was defiled, the women were assaulted, the children were starved to death, and the citizens were slaughtered…” At this point, Cornelius was in tears, “All of these came from the selfish decision of Thurii, whose own city is still intact! Every one of us, Amendolara, hates the Thurians more than the Lucanians!”

“Alas!…” Davos sighed, and  doesn’t know what to say.

“I heard that your soldiers said that it was your own decision to take back Amendolara, and not the order of Thurii?” Asked Cornelius, while he wipe his tears.

“Yes.”

“That’s good. It means that we don’t owe Thurii anything! As long you will stay, we will pay twice the salary Thurii had offered to hire you.” Said Cornelius decisively.

Davos helplessly said, “Why? This is not necessary. We numbered 3,000, our food consumption and salary every month won’t be a small amount, neither is Amendolara a wealthy city-state. Moreover, even if we accept your employment, we will only be able to leave once our deadline with Thurii is over. We are people that have no home, and we need to constantly leave to accept employment and earn money to make a living…” On the contrary, his words reminded Cornelius, “No home…” He then blurted out, “Then stay.”

As soon as he uttered it, he seemed to have gotten encouraged and said it a loud, “Yes, all of you stay! Become a citizen of Amendolara!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Previously, the square in Amendolara was used by the Lucanians as the location for their camp, and it is the only place in the city where the mercenaries met with a decent resistance last night. This afternoon, the square has been cleaned up, and only the remnants of blood on the marble floor revealed that there had been a battle.

In addition to the young children, the remaining people, including the women and minors have gathered in the square.

At this moment, standing on the central wooden platform of the square are the five renowned citizens of Amendolara, headed by Cornelius. Cornelius observed almost all the people in Amendolara, whether they are old and young, and most of them were women. A lot of them are still physically weak and even need the help of the mercenaries and the physicians. A year ago, there were 4,000 citizens of Amendolara (citizens of Greek city states can only be adult males), with a total population of more than 10,000. Now, there are only a few thousand of people, and they are mainly elderly, children and women, and are unable to successfully do the daily task of protecting the city, planting wheat and herding animals, which strengthened his resolved.

“Citizens, women, and children of Amendolara, I, Cornelius, a member of the council, have gathered you all here today because there is an important matter for us to decide together! More than 200 years ago, our ancestors left Sybaris to build a city here. And over the past 200 years, with the nourishment of the two rivers, and the protection of the mountain of Amendolara, we have a stable life with abundant supplies. Even when our mother state, Sybaris, was destroyed, our land was never affected by war. But…since last year, when our citizens followed the Thurians into the territory of the Lucanians, we…” Cornelius shed tears and many of the audience began to cry.

“My wife didn’t want to be assaulted by the Lucanians and so she committed suicide…and one of my children died of an illness…and you all have the same miserable experience as me…for 200 years, this is the only time Amendolara has encountered the flames of war, and this one has almost made Amendolara a thing of the past, just like our mother state, Sybaris. When we prayed for our salvation in the temple of Zeus day and night, did Zeus finally respond to our prayers and sent our saviors. They are the mercenaries from the Ionian region of Greece, our compatriots!” Cornelius then pointed to the rear of the crowd, and Davos, with his officers and some soldiers, as well as Archytas who stand as a witness, were standing there quietly waiting.

“They have defeated the ferocious Lucanians, and rescued us from our suffering, and took care of us! To be honest, I have met a lot of mercenaries before, but they are totally different, as they are just like our family!…” Cornelius’ words won the approval of many people, in particular were the emotional women.

“However, they are about to leave, and leave Magna Graecia!” As soon as he finished speaking, many people began to panic.

“If they leave, then what should we do? Who will ensure the safety of Amendolara? Thurii?” Cornelius paused, and there were a lot of swearing.

“NO! I would rather be killed by the Lucanians than get deceived by the Thurians!”

“The selfish Thurians are no longer allowed to set foot on the city of Amendolara ever again!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Taking advantage of the anger of the peole, Cornelius then said, “This time this bitter lesson had taught us that we can only rely on ourselves to defend our own homes! But Amendolara is very weak now, so what should we do?” Cornelius glanced at the people under the stage and asked this question, which caused them to think deeply.

“The archons of Amendolara are dead. As a member of the elders, I, Cornelius, have filed for an important proposal and applied for an ecclesia and vote to decide whether it will be passed. Because the number of citizen is small, and this concerns the interests of every one of us, so I specially ask all Amendolarans to vote.” Cornelius has just finished his speech, then the five other people on the stage expressed their support.

Most of the women under the stage were excited about their first vote in their lives, and naturally those who wants to oppose it couldn’t go against the flow.

“I have heard that Cornelius of Amendolara is a good man, but doesn’t care much on politics. I didn’t expect that he would make such an amazing move today!” Said Archytas to Davos, while feeling surprised and doubt. After all, it is unprecedented for women to vote for the city-state affairs. Perhaps it had only happened in ancient times. It was said that the reason why Athena could become the patron of Athens was because the women voting played a major role.

Davos laughed and said nothing. It is certainly his idea to allow the women to vote. Compared with men that valued interest, the women are more emotional and yearns for the protection of the strong. In the face of the mercenaries who saved them and have treated them kindly, their choice can be imagined.

“Since we all agree to this, then my proposal is -” Cornelius glanced at the distant Davos and said, “To accept our benefactor, all the mercenaries that have rescued Amendolara and to become a citizen of Amendolara. Then we will no longer have to worry about the safety of our city-state!”

There was an uproar in the crowd. After all, it isn’t easy for a freeman to become a citizen of a Greek city-state. Moreover, it’s very rare to accept more than 3,000 people to become citizens of a city-state at the same time. (after all, Greece is not Rome)

But after a commotion, a woman raised her right arm first, and shouted, “Agree!” Afterwards, the voice of “Agreement” rang out all over the square.

Chapter 99 – Thurii’s Loss

Looking at the countless raised right arms in front of him, Archytas said happily and with a trace of regret, “Davos, your wish has come true. Congratulations!”

Davos was relieved and said sincerely, “Thank you! I also earnestly hope that the council of Taranto will agree to my proposal, so that we can become allies!”

“A total of 1,382 people have participated in the voting of this proposal, 1,076 have agreed and 306 opposed, and so, this proposal is passed! I declare that -” When Cornelius saw the result, his mood was a bit complicated at the beginning, but he was soon relieved. So he used all his energy and shouted, “From now on, all the mercenaries will become citizens of Amendolara!!!”

As soon as Cornelius’ voice fell, the soldiers around Davos roared with joy. Then the excited officers warmly hugged Davos, and they kept saying a sentence to him, “Leader, we finally have a home!!!”

Hearing this, Davos became absent-minded, ‘Home?!…unfortunately, my real home is not in this world…’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At the same time as the ecclesia of Amendolara was held, the envoy of Thurii, led by Ansitanos, reached the gate of Amendolara.

“We are the envoy of Thurii. We want to meet your leader, please open the gate quickly!” Burkes said to the guard in the city.

Before the guard could answer, a man came out and swear, “GO BACK, THURIANS! AMENDOLARA DOESN’T WELCOME YOU!”

On hearing this, the envoys were a bit angry, and even the always gentle Ansitanos exlaimed angrily, “Rude mercenaries, don’t think that you can do whatever you want after defeating the Lucanians, by ignoring the laws of the Greek city-states and forcibly occupying other Greek city-states!”

The man sneered and said, “Hmph, it seems that you really cared about the life and death of the people of Amendolara! OPEN YOUR EYES AND SEE CLEARLY, I am a citizen of Amendolara who has lived here since I was a kid!”

Ansitanos was dumbfounded, and Burkes finally recognize him. After all, he is a merchant, and had often came to Amendolara for trade and knew a lot of people, “Is that you, Anticles?!”

“You didn’t expect that I am still alive?!” Anticles spoke bitterly, “Thanks to Thurii, the Lucanians had cut off my right hand, but fortunately, I survived. Most of my neighbors and comrades are dead due to your selfish demands and threats, and made them anxious in reaching that damned city of yours. As a result, they were unprepared and got attacked by the Lucanians. All the sufferings of Amendolara was caused by Thurii! From now on, you Thurians are not welcome here! This is not my personal will, but the common will of every Amendolara that have survived!”

Burkes, Ansitanos, and the envoys were shocked. They did not expect that the citizens of Amendolara would treat them like this.

Although Amendolara and Thurii are allies, their strength were quite different. There were more than 20,000 citizens in Thurii, and with a total population of about 100,000. In addition, the number of freeman is close to 140,000, without counting the slaves. While the largest population of Amendolara were more than 10,000. As a result, Thurii had treated Amendolara more like its own subordinate city-state, and rarely considered their feelings. When the Thurians received the report that Amendolara was captured by the Lucanians, besides expressing their regret, they were more worried about whether it will threaten the northern part of the plain of Sybaris. When the fleeing citizens of Amendolara asked Thurii for help in getting back their lost territory, the Thurians had just ignored them and have only considered on how to defend against the Lucanians. Now that they have felt the resentment of the citizens of Amendolara being so deep, besides from being shocked, they were alarmed.

“Don’t think that you can ask anything more from Amendolara, we will never listen to you Thurians ever again! Do you hear those cheers?!” Anticles laughed wildly and patted the shoulder of the guard with his left hand and said, “All the people of Amendolara have voted to accept all the mercenaries as citizens of Amendolara! Therefore, they have not forcible occupied Amendolara, as they have become the citizens of Amendolara legally! I heard that the Lucanians that have defeated Thurii twice was annihilated by them, and now anyone who wants to invade Amendolara in the future should first taste the strength of our new citizen!” The threat in Anticles’ words made the envoy looked unsightly.

In the laughter of Anticles, the envoy of Thurii went back with resentment.

Anticles stopped laughing and turned to looked at the guard that was beside him happily. When the guard felt nervous, Anticles then showed his pleased expression and asked, “What’s your name?”

“Trotidis.”

“Where are you from?”

“Thessaly, the same as leader Davos.”

“Your age?”

“28.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After asking a series of questions, Anticles then said to the guard, who was still in doubt, “I have two daughters. One is 21 year old, she is pretty and her husband is dead and has a 2-year old son. And my other daughter is only 16 years old and is not engaged. Choose one and become my son-in-law. Decide tonight and tomorrow, I will bring you to my home and get you married.”

Trotidis was stunned, and the other guard came forward to congratulate him and then said unashamed, “Anticles, you have two daughters, so let me be your other son-in-law.”

And there was laughter on the wall.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The envoy of Thurii kept on shouting.

“Who is that Anticles?” Ansitanos asked quietly.

“A noble of Amendolara, and is the captain of the patrol team and the fire brigade.” Answered Burkes.

Ansitanos said, “Oh” and didn’t say anymore.

“Strategos, even if the people of Amendolara have some problems with Thurii, but I know that the mercenary leader, Davos. Although he is young, he is very dependable and has a good impression of Thurii. Besides, we have an agreement with him, and will not be easily swayed by the people of Amendolara. I believed that after a while, when the people of Amendolara have calmed down, we can still have a good talk with them.”

“I hope so.” Ansitanos sighed, “The mercenaries are now the legal citizens of Amendolara, and so our protest will have no effect. In view of the present situation, we will have to discuss a new countermeasures once we returned. Oh!…Burkes, do you think what I am thinking?”

“No.”

“My teacher had once said, ‘After the Peloponnesian war, because the Spartan was superior to others, they have treated their neighbors with harshness and cruelty. Therefore, the Greek city-states that were far away from Sparta made contact with the more friendly Athens, and eventually lead to the formation of the Delian League*.’” Ansitanos thought and bitterly remorsed, “Are we really tyrannical? It’s not good to be so proud without having a powerful strength!…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After the voting, the women and children withdrew from the square, and Cornelius asked Archytas to leave, because the next step is the real ecclesia of Amendolara.

In addition to the guards that were patrolling the city walls and the soldiers guarding the prisoners, there were 512 original citizen of Amendolara and 2,920 newly promoted citizens (which includes the 1,837 mercenaries of Davos and the 1,083 of other mercenaries ) in the square, with a total of 3,432 citizens of Amendolara.

Cornelius wanted to continue with the following topics but the cheering of the mercenaries interrupted the ecclesia for a while, and waited until the square regain its calm, and said loudly, “Citizens of Amendolara, since most of you are new citizens, it is necessary to first teach you the political system of Amendolara. Amendolara is similar to Taran….similar to Athens.” Cornelius originally wanted to say Taranto, but on second thought, these mercenaries were from Ionia and probably did not know about Taranto, and so he mentioned Athens, a well-known city-state, for comparison.

Chapter 100 – A king or an Archon?

“The highest authority of Athens and Amendolara is the ecclesia, as all the citizens are allowed to participate and decide on the legal, military, and diplomatic affairs of the city-state. Athens has a system of ‘Ten Strategoi’, while Amendolara has 2 archons, who are in charge of the internal affairs of the city-state in peacetime and serve as the polemarchos of the army in times of war, and they are elected by the ecclesia every year. Athens has the council of 500, while Amendolara has the council of 100 elder, and its members are also elected by the ecclesia every year. They are responsible for the implementation and trials of the laws of the city-state, and assist the archons in managing the city-state, as well as ordinary foreign affairs. They also have an important task of examining and providing candidates for archonship. Originally, the election of an archon is held in june every year. The elders nominates the candidates and the ecclesia will elect them. However, because Amendolara has just experience a war, and there is a need to urgently elect an archon in order to lead the people to rebuild our home. Therefore, an exception will be held today. I’d like to invite Davos, the former leader of the mercenaries, and the main officers to come to the stage and to discuss it with each other and elect the candidate for archonship first.” As soon as Cornelius spoke, the new citizens (former mercenaries) were getting impatient.

“Who else to choose! The archon of Amendolara can only be our leader, Davos!” Someone shouted in the crowd and it immediately got the approval of the new citizens.

“Yes! We are not going to pick anyone but leader Davos!”

“Only Davos can lead us and continue to create miracles!”

“With Leader Davos being the polemarchos of a hundred battles, we won’t need to worry about losing!”

“Leader Davos for archon!”

“Davos!”

“Davos!!”

“Davos!!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Thousands of the newly joined citizens that are in the square unanimously shouted the name of Davos, and their momentum is overwhelming.

Cornelius encountered this situation for the first time, and he could not help but panic and immediately turned to look at Davos for help.

Davos smiled and said a word to Asistes, who immediately ran to the back of the square.

Soon, there was a loud sounding salpinx that rang out in the venue, which immediately silence these former mercenaries of Davos, and the other mercenaries have also gradually stopped shouting.

Cornelius was alarmed by the powerful charisma of Davos: There is no doubt that Davos would become the archon. Therefore, the other archon must be chosen among the original citizens of Amendolara.

Cornelius was anxiously thinking on how he should say it, when suddenly, someone in the crowd shouted, “Brothers, although we have chosen leader Davos as the archon, don’t forget that he will need to share his power with another person, and next year, there will be a need to elect a new archon. But who can do better than leader Davos! Who can create more miracles than leader Davos! Who can command a battle better than leader Davos! Who else is more favored by the gods than leader Davos!”

“NO ONE!!”

“NONE!!”

“Are you all willing to let an inexperienced and incompetent man rule over you?” Another man shouted.

“NO!!” This is what the mercenaries were worried about.

“Brothers, think about it. Is democracy really good? Think of Athens, it is once the most powerful city-state in Greece, but it was destroyed by a group of incompetent politician fighting against each other! Think about the city-states that we passed through in the Black Sea, which are also democratic, and the governance of their city-state are very bad. An army must obey the command of a wise strategos in order to win. If a city-state wants to be strong, then it should follow this principle. Brothers, in the past year, we have experienced a lot of difficulties, but we have also gained a lot of knowledge. We have seen the vast territory of Persia, the tyranny of Sparta, and the tyranny of Thurii…are you willing to enjoy freedom under democracy and live your life being bullied, or are you willing to be strong under the leadership of leader Davos?! Soldiers, tell us you choice!” Davos nodded unnoticeable at Olivos, who was shouting in the crowd.

“King Davos!” Suddenly, there was a loud shout in the crowd, and Cornelius and the others on the stage, as well as the original citizens of Amendolara were shocked.

Both Sesta and Adrien turned to look at Davos not far away, as well as the senior officers of these mercenaries around him, such as Antonios, Kapus and Amintas who remained calm. If they knew Davos better, they would find that the people that led the soldiers in the venue were Hielos, Matonis, Olivos and so on. Sesta and Adrien looked at each and remained silent.

With that loud shout, the whole venue fell into a terrible silence, but soon, the new citizens began to shout, “King Davos.” It was sparse at first, but in the end, it became more louder and clearer.

Cornelius and the others looked at each other, and one of them wanted to rush out but was held back, and he finally gave up. In the face of the overwhelming momentum of thousands of people, no one dared to summon up their courage and shout, “You are wrong! Amendolara will never let someone to be elected as king! The law of Amendolara does not allow it! The citizens of Amendolara will never allow it either!!” The reason they manage to live to this day and not die in the hands of the Lucanians like the rest of the citizens of Amendolara is because they are not brave enough, and that’s why Davos chose them. However, most of the citizens of Amendolara are old, weak, sick and disabled. They have neither the intention nor the capability to confront the mercenaries.

Cornelius suddenly regretted in promising to allow the mercenaries to join Amendolara, but the current situation did not allow him to think much about it. And once again, he turned his pleading gaze to Davos.

Davos saw that the time was right. The new citizens then saw his figure appear on the stage, which made them more excited and shouted at the same time, “King Davos!”

“King Davos!!”

“King Davos!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Cornelius gave Davos a complicated look and gave way.

Davos faced the crowd under the stage, and the shouting had almost burst his ears. He then swung his hand down with a majestic air…

The venue gradually became calm.

“Soldiers, no, you should now be called citizens of Amendolara! When we left Byzantium, I said to the officers that ‘you will become citizens of a city-state and will have your own land.’ In less than two months, I have fulfilled my promise. Today’s harvest, you have won it with your sweat and blood, and indomitable spirit! You deserve it. Congratulations to you – the new citizens of Amendolara!!”

“Hooray!”

“Hooray!!” The new citizens cheered excitedly, and some even shed tears.

“Thank you very much for your trust in choosing me to be the king of Amendolara. For me, being king does not mean that I will have great powers to oppress the citizens and gain benefits for myself. It means that I will have greater responsibility to make the citizens of Amendolara live a happier life, and make our city-state stronger and free from being bullied by others! Although I have the confidence to do so, but -” Paused Davos, and Cornelius was so tense that his heart was about to leap out of his throat.

“I will have to apologize to you, but I can’t be king.” As soon as this was said, the rest of the people in the stage breathed a sigh of relief, while the new citizens were in a state of uproar.

“Why?!” The new citizens are asking questions.

“Because there are few Greek city-states that adopt the monarchy system, even Sparta has a dual kingship (Macedon does not count, as the Greeks do not regard them as a Greek city-state). If I become the king of Amendolara, then Amendolara would be rejected by the city-states of Magna Graecia, and if Amendolara wants to develop, it will need to trade with other city-states. In order to be strong, Amendolara needs to unite with the other city-states. If Amendolara was isolated and has no allies, then all great ideas will become nothing. What’s more terrible is that Amendolara will be attacked by other Greek city-states who doesn’t like monarchy. Therefore, for the sake of Amendolara, I can’t be a king!”

Chapter 101 – Archon for life

After hearing what Davos said, Cornelius and the others nodded, and they all felt that Davos was very calm and clear-minded, and that there is no problem for him to be an archon. On the other hand, the new citizens were somewhat frustrated and sighed.

At this moment, Hielos cried out in the crowd, “Since you can’t become a king, then you can always be an archon for life! Just like Dionysius of Syracuse, the surrounding city-states weren’t hostile to Syracuse, but instead they turned to Syracuse to ask for their help!”

“Yes! Become an archon for life! So that we won’t have to worry about mediocre people managing Amendolara!” Added Olivos.

“Davos, archon for life!” Matonis, Giorgris and the others then yelled.

The enthusiasm of the new citizens were rekindled.

Cornelius was anxious while he listened to the waves of appeals, and wanted to tell the mercenaries who only knew how to kill that Dionysius of Syracuse, was not elected by the ecclesia, and had seize the city-state by force. And also Syracuse is the most powerful city-state in Magna Graecia, how would the other city-states dare to be hostile to it.

Faced with the noisy crowd, Cornelius backed down again, and he once again cast his gaze to Davos, hoping that the cool headed young leader could once again veto the unreasonable demands of the soldiers, “Since the citizens of Amendolara have chosen me to be the archon for life! I will gladly accept this position that you have entrusted to me, I swear to Hades that I will use all my wisdom and ability to lead all of you in making Amendolara to be more prosperous and powerful, and give you a better future!”

There was a huge chearing under the stage.

“These people don’t know anything about freedom! They have no idea what an archon for life means! Cornelius, you have to persuade the young leader!” Listening to his companion’s tone of panic, Cornelius summoned up his courage and stepped forward, “Davos…uhm…it is against the law and tradition of Amendolara, because we never have the position of archon for life. This farce must be stop!”

Davos suddenly turned around, “Farce?! You say that this is a farce?! Is the ecclesia not the highest authority of a city-state! A bill doesn’t need to be proposed by it, but the ecclesia needs to approved it before it can be implemented, right?! The people under the stage shouting are the citizens of Amendolara! And the ones that are shouting are more than half of them! The bill that they had proposed and have passed due to their vote is in accordance with the legal procedures of Amendolara!!…”

Davos words were like nails hitting Cornelius, and he could only respond stutteringly, “But…but…”

“Otherwise, you want to say to them that ‘citizens, your proposal is unacceptable, and we won’t acknowledge it!’” Davos continued with a sneer.

Cornelius watched the crowd under the stage as they continued to cheer. He swallowed his saliva and subconsciously shrank back.

Davos sneered and said to Cornelius, “The model of the Greek city-state’s democracy, Athens, after its defeat, some citizens have already begun doubting democracy. Then Athens started the ‘Thirty Tyrants’ and it is inseparable from their support. Many Greek city-states in the east have already begun abandoning their democracy. And alsom wasn’t it due to the bad effect of democracy that led Amendolara to suffer today?”

Davos words was very loud, and Cornelius wasn’t the only one who heard it but also the other citizens on the stage. Indeed, at that time, the archon, Marcellus, strongly advocated to defend against the Lucanians in the city and have opposed leaving the city. However, another archon, Glatephro, was more inclined to temporarily move to Thurii, which made the citizens to be divided into two factions. Due to both sides being in dispute, some people were forced to leave Amendolara without waiting for a resolution to be reached, which includes those that Cornelius led. Finally, in order to prevent division, the people of Amendolara had to pass a resolution and leave together…

Guilt and fear came to him at the same time. Cornelius felt his throat dry, and so he swallowed his saliva again. He then heard Davos solemnly say, “Don’t worry, I swear to Hades that your rights and interests will not only be protected, but it will also become better!…”

Just as Davos made a promise to Cornelius and the others, someone in the stage then said, “I agree in making Davos to be archon for life!”

“I agree!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

All the citizens have agreed.

Cornelius made his way to the front, step by step with heavy steps. He didn’t know what will the consequences of this decision would bring to Amendolara, but he knows that if this matter doesn’t reach any satisfying results, then the angry mercenaries will definitely smash Amendolara into pieces.

Cornelius, who wasn’t in the mood to regret whether he had “led the wolves into their house”, stood in front of the stage, and calmed himself down and reluctantly said, “The proposal on making Davos the archon of Amendolara for life is passed. From today on, Davos will be Amendolara’s archon for life until his soul returns to the underworld…”

“Hooray!”

“Hooray!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The new citizens under the stage cheered like they had won a great victory, forming a sea of joy.

While the original citizens of Amendolara: Some were angry and quietly cursing; while some were indifferent as if it has nothing to do with themselves; and some cheered together with the new citizens…

Sesta and a handful of officers who have different views were disappointed, but they all tried to smile.

With a smile on his face, Davos strode forward and said in a loud voice, “As your newly appointed archon for life, and in order to better govern Amendolara, I propose to make Cornelius to be the deputy archon!”

“Agree!” Not only the new citizens who were enthusiastic, but also many of the original citizens, who thinks that with the help of Cornelius, this young and unfamiliar archon will at least not mess around, but they did not know that the mood of Cornelius has fallen to the bottom.

Cornelius wasn’t depress due to the fact that Davos changed the power structure of Amendolara and created a new post, but the main reason is that he had hope to elect another archon, even if it needs to be elected once a year. It will at least check and balance the power of Davos, but he didn’t expect that Davos would not give him this opportunity at all, and directly erased the political tradition of “dual archonship” of Amendolara. The post of deputy archon is a subordinate to the archon, and it seems that Davos wanted to become autocratic!

As far as Davos is concerned, after more than a half year of honing and with his experience in his previous life, it had made him not agree with the democratic system of the Greek city-state in this world. Specially in this war-torn era, and felt confident that his rule and being supplemented by the masses is more effective than a multi-person split governance! and also a lot more powerful!

After analysing it and preparing in advance, he believed that: Although the Greeks all have the tradition of independence and freedom, specific problems need to be considered in details. Specially for the special job of the mercenaries, as they are used to obedience due to them fighting outside of Greece for many years. Otherwise, they will not be able to win. The soldiers worship the general who had led them to win many battles, but the great reputation that Davos accumulated over the past six months is enough to make the soldiers entrust their lives to him, and after their previous experience in Persia, where they have seen the vastness of the Persian Empire, and their views on monarchy and dictatorship were naturally different from those of ordinary Greeks. Of course, if they vote after living a stable life for half a year, then the situation might be different.

After his careful planning, Davos finally achieved his goal. An archon for life is in fact, a lifetime autocrat! In his memory, Sula and Caesar seemed to have held this position in the previous Roman history. He had just changed “dictatorship” to “ruling” as a cover up because he is afraid of arousing the resentment of the other city-states.

Davos looked at the cheering crowd, and his heart was full of excitement and thoughts. Under the western sky, the sun was about to set, and once today is over, the old Amendolara will be the past, and tomorrow, a new Amendolara will be created…

Note: In the test of blood and fire, Davos won a foothold for himself, but Amendolara is so insignificant among the thousands of city-states in the Mediterranean. If he wants to realize his ambition, he still has a long way to go. In the process of developing himself, he will also face a more arduous and cruel tests!

Chapter 102 – The first council meeting (I)

In the evening, there was a bright candle in the city hall of Amendolara.

Davos, Cornelius, and the five renowned citizens who had stood on the stage together with Cornelius before, as well as Sesta, Adrien, and the captains of the units headed by Kapus and Antonios. Davos had also insisted on calling Herpus, Mersis, Ledes, Asistes, and the leaders of each squads. Dozens of people gathered together to discuss the redevelopment of Amendolara.

As the only archon, Davos naturally became the chief of the council and sat in the middle of the city hall, “Citizens, the reconstruction of Amendolara needs a lot of work, but we are pressed for time. First of all, we have to complete electing council members.”

Davos said seriously, “The council(Boule)*, is an important institution of the city-state of Amendolara, as they are chosen from the most experienced and wise elites among the citizens of a city-state. They put forward suggestions and advise to the archon, selecting candidates for senior officials position to be approve by the archon, and to supervise the operation of the city-state, from auditing financial affairs to the morality and customs of the citizens, and have the power to propose bills. The high ranking officials of the city-states are also elected from the members of the council. Therefore, the council must also have certain administrative ability. This is what you once lacked as mercenaries. Fortunately, the population of Amendolara is not large, and so you should start learning and sincerely consult Cornelius and the respected original citizens for advice…” “>

Cornelius was not amused by the fact that a 20-year-old youth was teaching a group of men in their thirties and forties and them seriously nodding. To his surprise, a young man that was said to be from a remote village in Thessaly that had never lived in a city was so familiar with the political structure of Amendolara…. ‘is this really the so-called revelation of Hades?!’

Due to getting absent-minded, he intentionally or unintentionally ignored how Davos had partially altered the functions of the council.

“And so, I propose Cornelius, Tritodemos, Stromboli, Scambras, and Raphias to be one of the elders.”

Except for Cornelius, who had been an elder before, the other four were not. Davos repaid their efforts in giving the mercenaries their own home. At the same time, it’s also him fulfilling his promise. With the exception of Cornelius, the other four could not stop from smiling.

“Agree!” Although the officers in the venue raised their hands, they weren’t following Davos blindly, but also out of their guilt as they had to make up for them occupying the lands of other people and seizing their rights.

“Sesta, Adrien and Drakos, as leaders of the mercenaries, should also join the council.” Continued Davos.

“Agree!” Not only the officers raised their hands to express their opinions, but also the new elders began performing their duties.

At this moment, Sesta whispered a few words to Adrien, then he stood up and walked to the center of the city hall, and said in a loud voice, “Adrien and Drakos had asked me to thank all of you, specially to you, archon! When we came to Magna Graecia, we had only wanted to earn some money and make a living. We didn’t even expect to become citizens of Amendolara, let alone enter the council! These are all the things that the archon and all of you here have given to us. Even though we don’t have anything to repay you, we will certainly contribute all our strength to Amendolara!”

“Clap Clap” applause rang out, as the former mercenary officers clapped hard. While Sesta was returning to his seat, Davos had gotten a new impression of the mercenary leader who he only had been in few contact.

“The 12 senior officers of the mercenaries, namely Philesius, Antonios, Kapus, Amintas, Hielos, Hieronymus, Agasias, Epiphanes, Cid, Arpenst and Ledes, and the 2 head of their respective departments, Mersis and Herpus, I recommend them to join the council.” Continued Davos.

“Agree!!” This time, the voice of approval is a lot louder.

Davos glanced at the familiar faces at the back row, such as Matonis, Olivos, Asistes, Giorgris, and Martius, and said calmly, “As for the squad leaders and the others, I am not going to recommend you for the time being.”

As soon as he finish speaking, there was sighing at the back row, but no one dared to question Davos.

He continued to explain, “It is because most of you are still very young (when saying this, Davos obviously did not include himself, and the others had taken it for granted). A few months ago, you were soldiers, lacking experience in managing a city-state and handling political affairs, but don’t be discouraged. As long as you actively participate in the affairs of the city-state and strive to improve yourself. As I had said previously, the council will always be open to excellent citizens of the city!”

Davos’ words of encouragement had cheered up the squad leaders.

Davos then went on to say to the new elders, “Although the council has no salary, they are very important to the city-state. I hope that you can prove through your performance that you are worthy of this lofty position. According to what I had discussed with Cornelius before, once you enter the council, you would be an elder for life (this is the benefit that Davos gave to Cornelius, which is actually what Davos had already expected). But I don’t want it to be like this, and so I will discuss it with you to formulate some regulations. Those who are not competent for this position or violate the laws of the city-state, should voluntarily withdraw or else will be remove by the council.”

When they heard this, they suddenly felt cold in their heart.

“I guess this is the end for electing the council. Cornelius, do you have anything else to add?” Davos asked his deputy politely.

As the only former elder in this assembly, Cornelius had never had the chance to speak due to the strength of Davos. And now, he thinks that it is necessary to give a good advise to these beginners, “First of all, I want to let you all know that it is not only the elders who are not paid, but also the other administrative position of Amendolara who won’t even get a 1 obol salary, as it is the honor for every citizens to serve the city-state!…” Cornelius had taken this opportunity to educate these new citizens of Amendolara and then reminded Davos, “Amendolara has a hundred elders, which is far from enough-”

“If we don’t have enough, then we will have these position be vacant first, until we have suitable candidates to make it up.” Davos would not be constrained by the traditional system of Amendolara, let alone listen to Cornelius who relied on old teachings. At the same time, he believes that hastily replenishing the number of elders will only reduce their quality and ability. And also, more than 20 elders were enough for the population of Amendolara, which has only about 5,000.

Cornelius opened his mouth, but he was unable to persuade him.

“What administrative positions does Amendolara have now?” Davos continued to ask him.

“The executive magistrate of the city that is, the one responsible for assisting the archon in managing the affairs of the city-state, maintaining order in the city, and taking charge of litigation. Under its jurisdiction are departments such as the patrol force, fire brigade and the prison. The position changes once a year, and the council -” Cornelius looked at Davos, who was staring at him, and hesitated for a moment and then changed his words, “The council will be the one to propose the candidates, and the archon will be the…the one to give the final decision…”

Davos was not very familiar with the various official functions of the Greek city-states. Athens and Sparta were just the typical examples, as there are hundreds of Greek city-states. Even if their political system were basically the same, but there are also various differences between them. However, he was familiar with the Roman system. In his previous life, he had also taken courses in this field, and the system of Amendolara was somewhat similar to that of Rome, and the post of executive magistrate was somewhat similar to that of the Roman’s praetor. And so he said to Cornelius, “It seems that the duties of the chief executive of the city are not only the same as those of the deputy archon, but also more comprehensive and more acceptable to the citizens. I think you should take up this post and the position of deputy archon is obviously my negligence, and can be remove.” (T/L note: We will just call it praetor…much shorter)

Chapter 103 – The first council meeting (II)

The proposal of Davos has been recognized by everyone, specially the new citizens who were completely unfamiliar with the laws of Amendolara and how they will manage prosecution. But as time goes by, a large number of mercenaries and other foreigners will pour into Amendolara, and over time, they will surely be in conflict with the local people. As the candidate recognized by both sides, Cornelius should be able to resolve this kind of conflict.

Cornelius laughed bitterly in his heart: Within half a day, his post as deputy archon was removed. Although the jurisdiction of praetor is larger than that of the newly established post, the deputy archon is after all the second in command, which means that it will check and balance the archon, while the praetor is a thorough subordinate of the archon. However, Davos is now in complete control of the council, and from now on, although he is young, he seems to be familiar with politics. Even Raphias, thinks that he is more suitable for this position. What else can he say.

“I am willing to serve as the praetor of the city!” At this moment, he have been completely subdued.

Davos looked at him and said with a smile, “Cornelius, you will have a lot of work, specially maintaining the order of the city. Therefore, we should give you a suitable patrol captain.”

Then, he looked at the others, “Next, we will select the patrol captain. Although this is a low-level position, most of you have no experience of holding a city-state public office, and so I suggest that you should start from the bottom and accumulate experience. All of you here, including the elders of the council, can recommend themselves!”

Davos’ words made them lost in thought.

“Your majesty, the position of patrol captain has already been taken!” Remind Cornelius.

“Oh, who is it?”

“Anticles, who also serves as the captain of the fire brigade. During his term, he was highly praised by the citizen, but his right hand was cut off by the Lucanians. However, he is already okay.”

“Since he is wounded, once there is a conflict, he won’t be able to intimidate those troublemakers, and so just have him continue to serve as the captain of the fire brigade. Fire fighting and disaster relief for the citizens of the city-state is a big thing, specially in Amendolara, in which fire and mudslides are terrible disasters. Therefore, the captain of the fire brigade has a great responsibility, and it really need an experienced and capable citizen to serve! I suggest that we also add a vice-captain for the fire brigade, and you all can recommend yourselves and learn how to prevent disasters.” Said Davos seriously.

“Lord archon, what you said is very reasonable.” Cornelius had to admit that Davos had a deep understanding of the importance of the fire brigade in the mountain city of Amendolara. Of course, he couldn’t even imagine that Davos had been a village official in a mountain village in his previous life.

“So, who would like to be the patrol captain?” As soon as Davos spoke, two men, Sesta and Hielos, rose to their feet.

Davos thought for a moment and said, “Sesta, the number of former mercenaries that have participated in the Persian expedition is the largest among the new citizens. In Persia, these soldiers have killed, plundered…and have done everything. Fortunately, there are military laws in the camp, but I’m afraid that now that they have return to the city, they won’t be able to adopt for a while, and some accident might happen. And since you don’t know them well, I’m afraid that they won’t listen to you, and so I will recommend Hielos as the patrol captain.”

“Don’t worry my lord! I will help lord Cornelius to keep the city in order!” Promised Hielos.

“Cornelius, what do you think?” Asked Davos.

“I agree.” Cornelius did not hesitate. As he had already notice that Davos is determined to give various position of the city-state to his own people.

Instead of showing disappointment, Sesta once again asked, “Well, I want to apply as the vice-captain of the fire brigade!”

“Alright, I have no objection.” Davos nodded.

Naturally, the appointment of the two men was passed smoothly.

“Next, is there an inspector?” Asked Davos.

“Yes.” As soon as Cornelius nodded, he saw that most people were laughing.

Davos explained to Cornelius who was a puzzled, “When we were in Persia, there was a Spartan inspector who led hundreds of Spartan soldiers to fight with us, and so they are familiar with this position. However, I think that the inspectors in Sparta and Amendolara must be very different.”

“Why?” Asked Olivos.

“Because the power of the Spartan ephors(inspector) is so great that they can supervise their king. However, the power of inspector in Amendolara shouldn’t be so great.” Explained Davos. Of course, even if there was one before, he would never allow it to happen again.

“They can even supervise the king?!” Olivos and some of the crowd looked surprised.

And Cornelius was no longer surprised on why Davos knew so much, as he begun to believe the rumor of the mercenaries about Davos being favored by gods!

“The inspector of Amendolara is mainly responsible for reviewing the list of elders of the council, supervising their late arrival and early departure at the council meeting, supervising the civic morality of the city-state, conducting investigation on the citizens, examining the expenditure of the public property of the city, and managing public works…” The crowd took a breath of cold air once Cornelius finished talking. The inspector of Amendolara is also very powerful!

Seeing that everyone were restless, Davos then said, “You should all bear in mind that it won’t be easy to be an inspector. First of all, you should be able to write reports. Second, you should be able to do calculation and understand financial reports.” Davos didn’t say that it doesn’t matter if the inspector is illiterate and can’t do calculation, as long as his slaves can. However, slaves that can read, write, and calculate are high-end goods in the slave market, and ordinary people can’t afford them, and they will also be reluctant in buying them.

Hearing this, most people gave up as most of the new citizens were born in poverty, it’s already good that they know few words, and it’s just extravagant to even be able to write report and check accounts. However, there are still people who stood up to recommend themselves, Antonios and Alexius, as well as two nobles of Amendolara, Raphias and Stromboli.

Even though two captains under his command recommended themselves, Davos didn’t show any favoritism, and so all the people in the council meeting voted. In the end, Antonios won, and the reason is very simple: Davos had promoted almost all the members of Hielos’ squad to become officers, and the squad of Hielos was under Antonios at that time, and he himself had also ask for favor and so he naturally got the most vote.

“Alexius, don’t be discourage, as this position is change once a year. Maybe it will be your turn next year.” Davos said jokingly.

Alexius didn’t feel depressed, and instead, he smiled and said, “I don’t have to wait that long, I only need to wait for Antonios to step down, then I will take it up.”

Antonios glared at him, “Am I really that bad”

The new citizens laughed, while Raphias and the other original citizens were silent, and Davos notice it.

“In addition, we have financial officer who are responsible for managing the treasury, collection of taxes, public goods such as stone mines, and the management of the population of the city-state.”

As soon as Cornelius’ voice fell, Mersis stood up and Raphias followed.

To liven up the atmosphere, Davos smiled and said, “Olivos, why don’t you recommend yourself?”

Olivos shook his head vigorously, “I have a headache when it comes to mathematics. In case the tax collected is less and the inspector finds out about it, then I won’t be able to afford it.”

There was another burst of laughter.

“I think that Mersis is the most suitable for this position. Back then, he was the one in charge of the supply camp and his accounting of the money and supplies were very clear, and there weren’t any shortage nor became greedy and no one complained about him…” Continued Olivos.

If they do voting again, then it will definitely be the former mercenary to win again. Although this will achieve the goal of Davos in controlling Amendolara completely, it is not beneficial to the unity of the city-state. Therefore, Davos thought about it and said to Cornelius, “I think we can setup another position, a census officer. The financial officer is the one to be in charge of the finance and taxation, while the census officer is the one responsible for the management of the population. Citizens, the families of the citizens, even the slaves and liberated slaves, and all foreign freemen will be under its jurisdiction. The census officer’s work is very heavy, because there are thousands of new citizens to register, and in the future, it might be even be busier. And so, I recommend Mersis as the financial officer and Raphias as the census officer.”

Chapter 104 – The first council meeting (III)

Cornelius now understand it clearly that Davos is trying to remake a new political system of Amendolara. And with Davos already being the one in control of Amendolara and the council, the only thing Cornelius could do is nod.

The appointment of these two people naturally passed.

“Hol…my lord, even after adding up the spoils that we seized from the Lucanians, we only have more than 3,000 drachmas in the treasury of Amendolara….” Cautioned Mersis.

“Hah, you just got elected and you are already started working, the enthusiasm of this public servant is too high!” Epiphanes jokingly said, and the crowd laughed.

“3,000 drachmas, and it’s not even a Tarant*…” Davos muttered to himself while frowning. (T/L note: Taranto/Tarant coin is much larger compared to other silver coins)

Cornelius felt his face heating up and quickly explained, “Amendolara has no port and that there are not many merchants coming to trade with us. And there are quarries available in many city-states and so, only Heraclea will buy some stones from us every year…”

“It seems that there is a need to set up a commercial officer responsible for the management of trades and to think of more ways to earn money for Amendolara.” Said Davos.

Mersis’ eyes lit up and said, “I recommend Mariji to be the commercial officer.”

“Oh, are you on good terms with him now?” Davos was surprised.

In fact, it wasn’t due to the relationship of Mersis and Mariji improving, but it is due to Mersis wouldn’t need to worry about money since Mariji is great at getting a lot of profit, which Mersis knows very well.

“Although Mariji is a persian, he has a strong ability in trades. Before that, he did a great job in the market that we had set-up next to our camp.” Olivos shouted from the back row.

“I also agree with him becoming the commercial officer. I have been to that market and it was really bustling.” Added Epiphanes.

“Olivos has a crush on Mariji’s daughter and wants to take this opportunity to please his future father-in-law.” Said Matonis to make fun of Olivos.

“Shut up you big oaf!” Olivos swears.

“Quiet! The council is a sacred place, and it’s not the place for you to hurl insults at each other! Anyone that tries to say nonsense stuff will be driven out of here!” Davos glared at them fiercely: A very good proposal was messed up by these two, and he is afraid that it will cause the others to think badly.

Matonis and Olivos immediately shut their mouth.

“This Mariji is a Persian?” Asked Cornelius.

“He was, but afterwards, due to the persecution of the Persian King, he, together with his family, joined us to fight against Persia, and came to Magna Graecia to participate in the fight against the Lucanians. He is one of my soldiers and therefore, he is now a citizen of Amendolara. This morning, I have sent him to Taranto to discuss our alliance, and he is indeed a very outstanding talent! I believe that with him as the commercial officer, the gold and silver in our treasury will significantly increase!” Davos spoke highly of Mariji.

Cornelius attentively listened. He hesitated at the proposal of Davos and glanced at Raphias several times, trying to signal him if he have no objection to it as the new census officer and not just have him oppose everything by himself!

Raphias hesitated, he then stood up and said, “But he is a Persian…the Greek city-state has never had -”

“What’s wrong if he is a Persian! As long as he is really willing to become our citizen and had made so many contributions for us, then we should accept him!” Davos suddenly stood up then faced all the people in the city hall and said out loud, “Originally, I wanted to wait until the right time to say this, but since the census officer has already mentioned this sensitive issue, so I would like to share some of my opinions with everyone here.”

“We all know that in almost all Greek city-states, it is very difficult to obtain citizenship. The richer and stronger a city-state is, the more difficult it is to obtain citizenship. For example, in Sparta, it is almost impossible for foreigners to obtain citizenship; in Athens, the current rule is that ‘only when both parents are Athenians, can a child become an Athenian citizen once he reach adulthood.’ Why is it so difficult to obtain citizenship?” Davos raised his question out loud, and the people sitting in the meeting place fell into silence for a short time, specially the new citizens as they remembered the sweat and blood that they had paid for their citizenship and the huge risk they had taken. The words of Davos resonated with them.

“That’s because they are afraid that outsiders will share political rights, land and wealth of the city-state with them.” Said Alexius bitterly.

“That’s right! The selfishness of the Greek city-state made them refuse outsiders from joining them, and at the same time gave up the opportunity to strengthen themselves! After their defeat in Sicily, Athens was unable to recover, why? Because they don’t have enough young citizens. Sparta, even though they now dominate Greece, had mainly sent mercenaries and allies to fight, why? Because they only have 3,500 citizens and they need them to prevent the Helots from rebelling. The Spartan citizens who love war could only fight less and less, and eventually lose their hegemony. Let’s take a look at our neighbor, Thurii, after the defeat of the Lucanian alliance, and knows that we had defeated them, they were careful not to open their gates, why? Because they don’t have enough young citizens to defend against us.”

Everyone laughed, and so did the original citizens. On the issue of Thurii, everyone had the same understanding.

“And then look at Persia, which we have been to. How large is the territory of Persia?”

“Large, too large!” The new citizens answered at the same time.

“Are there many Persians?”

“A lot! People from various races!”

“At the beginning, Persia was just a small tribe which was bullied by the Medes. However, Cyrus, the leader of their tribe, was very wise and open-minded. He was friendly with the surrounding tribes and generously accepted other tribes, and the races that was oppressed by the Medes who had dominated the plain of Mesopotamia turned to him one after another. Later, even their enemy, Media, surrendered to Persia. Persia is like a snowball on the top of a mountain, and in just a few decades, a small tribe has become a huge empire…”

Everyone carefully listened on Davos retelling of the history of Persia, including the well-educated Cornelius. He only knew little about Persia, a great country in the east, and listened with great interest.

“Why is the Persian Empire so powerful? It is because they had accepted other tribes as their own people, just as the Mediterranean sea is big because of the numerous rivers flowing into it.” Davos words made everyone ponder.

“As I had said before, if you are only content with farming in a small city-state every day, until other cities and forces become strong, and leads a large army towards our city and forced us to obediently surrender and become their vassals, then I will not say much. But if you are not satisfied with today’s ordinariness, and want to make Amendolara stronger and not be bullied by others, then please remember that the people is always the greatest wealth of a city-state! We Amendolara, must not be closed and conservatives like the other city-states! We need to be open, and must sincerely accept everyone who is willing to join Amendolara and contribute to its prosperity, no matter where they had came from. Only in this way, will our strength grow rapidly! Perhaps you would say that Amendolara doesn’t have so much land and wealth to share with them. It is because your eyes are only focus on the small land of Amendolara!”

Looking around the crowd, Davos pointed his left hand towards the west and said with great enthusiasm, “Look around us. There are the Lucanians and Brutians in the west, Messapians, Peucetians and Daunians in the east, and I heard that there are also Samnites to the north of Naples…and so on. There are so many indigenous people… don’t they have enough land and wealth to share?!!”

“Defeat them and take their land!…” The squad leaders headed by Matonis were shouting with excitement, and most of the new citizens were excited because this is the first time that their leader, Davos, had showed them his great ambition. For these former mercenaries who had their horizons broadened in Persia, after meeting the basic needs of becoming citizens of a city-state, Davos had given them a greater ambition, and with great ambition, these mercenaries, who were no longer able to cultivate land, graze or do farm work, and were used to fighting on the battlefield, had immediately gotten a new motivation, and they regarded it as their lifelong goal and became the biggest supporting force for Davos to consolidate his power.

Chapter 105 – The first council meeting (IV)

“But…but…a war will result in many people dying…Amendolara…too many of our people died!” Cornelius stammered.

“With leader Davos leading us, we will only be victorious. Surely, you also want to take revenge?! To attack the Lucanians?!” Amintas looked at Cornelius with a slight contempt.

Before Cornelius could answer, Protesilaus and Tritodemos, who were behind him, cried out, “Of course we want to have our revenge! We must make those wicked savages taste the strength of Amendolara!…”

Amendolara has been weak for a long time, and its people were also thinking of changing! Davos was very happy to see this change, and he immediately said, “Although conquering the indigenous people is our goal, we are not going to war blindly. First we need to strengthen the power of Amendolara, and then wait for an opportunity. Therefore, do you all agree in submitting this proposal ‘Anyone who is interested in joining and becoming a citizen of Amendolara will be accepted by the council of Amendolara as long as they are willing to abide by the laws of Amendolara and meet some conditions’ to the ecclesia and to first vote for it? As for the conditions that needs to be fulfilled, we will need to discuss it again and then decide.”

“AGREE!!” Shouted everyone.

Cornelius sighed and closed his eyes for a bit. He now understand that from now on, Amendolara will no longer be the traditional conservative Amendolara that will not change for decades, because according to the current composition of the citizens of Amendolara (new citizens accounted for the vast majority) and with the atmosphere at this time, this proposal is bound to be passed by the ecclesia.

(A few days later, Davos’ proposal was approved with a lot of votes in the ecclesia. This proposal will be later known as the “Davos Immigration Law” written by the world historian in the history of Europe in later generations. Its promulgation has changed the tradition of the city-states in Magna Graecia, and changed the political system of the entire Greek world, and finally changed the history of the Mediterranean Sea.)

“In that case, I recommend Mariji to be elected as the commercial officer, so that he can be the first benificiary of our new bill and set a good example for later generations.”

“Agree!”

“We have no problem!” The new citizens, specially the squad leaders, have all agreed. This the reason why Davos insisted on letting them participate, and with their support, even if some of the original citizens were dissatisfied, they could only keep their silence.

At this moment, the mood on the venue is very different from before. With a new goal, the enthusiasm of these new citizens is obviously high, and Davos decided to strike while the iron is hot, “Do we have an aedile* in Amendolara?” (T/L Note:

“Aedile?” Cornelius said that he had never heard of it, “You mean the one responsible for the construction of public buildings? Amendolara has no such fixed position. If the council decides to build a public facilities, then we will just elect a temporary person to be in charge.”

“The duty of an aedile is not only to build some public facilities, but also to supervise and build various buildings in the city, and to regularly maintain them. At the same time, he would need to supervise the cleanliness, hygiene and safety of the roads, and pay attention to the entertainment facilities of the city. His responsibilities does not only involve the daily life of the citizens, but also relate to the image of the city-state, ranging from building wells, and roads to the temples and the arena, is the scope of his authority, which can be said to be a very important position!” Said Davos seriously.

“Which city-state has this position?” Cornelius was a bit suprised.

Davos laughed and didn’t answer, because the city-state that has this official position is Rome, which had the world’s top in terms of architectural technology in his previous life. Of course, he doesn’t know whether the current Rome had such an official position.

“Since our goal of development is to attack the indigenous people, it is very important to create this official position, because we need to build solid, wide and flat roads and bridges to facilitate our army’s transportation, and to connect and dominate the land that we would occupy in the future. We also need to build magnificent buildings to show our superior culture to the indigenous people and speed up their submission to us.” After another ardent sentence, Davos then asked, “Who would like to recommend himself?”

“I’m afraid that someone has to have experience in construction to take it.” Said someone, and everyone who was eager to try became hesitant.

Alexius decisively stood up.

Davos smiled and asked, “Alexius, do you have any experience as a bricklayer before?”

“My lord, since I am the only one who has recommended myself, does it mean that this position is considered mine?” Alexius asked instead of answering.

“I have no objection. How about everyone else?” Davos looks at the others.

“Since there is no one else but him, then just let him have it!”

“But can he do it?”

Everyone said in succession.

“Tell me, how will you guarantee that you can do your job well as an aedile??” Asked Davos.

“Although I don’t know how to build, I can still learn, and I can also have someone who is proficient in construction as my subordinate. Even if there is no such person in Amendolara, I can go to the nearby city-states and find one among the freemen and I will apply for his citizenship according to the bill that you have proposed my lord Davos…” Said Alexius confidently.

The others suddenly realize that they can still do it this way.

Many of them began to consider whether or not to recommend themselves.

“It seems that you are already thinking on how to do your best on your job as an aedile!” Davos then said with appreciation, “I hope that you and your men will research on construction technology, so that the construction technology of Amendolara can be ahead of other Greek city-states!”

“I will try to do my best!” Said Alexius.

“The treasury of Amendolara is not rich. So if we want to build large-scale projects, I’m afraid…” Cautioned Cornelius.

“Of course, we won’t do a lot of constructions now, and we will only just setup the organization first, and then act once we have a lot of money.” After a few words to relieve Cornelius, Davos then continued, “Next, I propose the establishment of a military officer to be responsible for the defense of the city, the training of the citizens, researching and maintenance of weapons and equipment, pre-war preparation and post-war statistics…and so on.”

“Agree!” For the new militant citizen, this position is the most important, so they are a bit excited.

But when Davos asked, “So who do you think is the best fit for this position?”

The new citizens became dumbfounded. To say who is the most prestigious in the army that deserve this position is without a doubt, Davos, but he is already the archon, and he himself is also the supreme commander of the army of the city-state. Besides him, they can also consider Hieronymus, after all, he was once a mercenary leader, but he is a newcomer in Davos’ troops. As for the others, Kapus, Amintas, Epiphanes…and so on, these squad leaders have made many achievements in the war, and each has their own characteristics. However, it wasn’t clear who is the best of them.

In the end, the gazes of everyone fell on Philesius. This former mercenary adjutant who was usually low-key and was easy to be overlooked. In fact, he had been a mercenary for nearly 20 years, he has rich military experience and is familiar with military affairs. Since Davos became the leader, he had been carefully assisting him, Davos’ success was inseparable from his silent assistance, which includes camping, training, pre-war preparation, post-war stastics and so on. ‘Isn’t the work he is already doing is the work of a military officer now?! It turned out that this position proposed by leader Davos is for him!‘ With this in mind, everyone became at ease.

Therefore, Philesius was smoothly elected.

“Before, in the mercenary, we have a military law, but it was relatively simple. And so I hope that once you assume your post, you will gather everyone in a few days, and I will also participate in the discussion and formulate a more perfect military law, so as to help us train our citizens and to guide them.” Said Davos seriously.

“Got it.” Philesius nodded.

On hearing the need to enact a stricter military law, Matonis and the others at the back immediately lamented.

When Davos heard them, he sternly said, “In the past, we were mercenaries, and in order to survive, we followed the orders of our employers and attacked others indiscriminately. We could kill and plunder at will, but from now on, you are the citizens of Amendolara, and the interests of Amendolara are your interests. Your image when going out to war also represents the image of Amendolara, unnecessary killing and looting will only provoke more enemies for Amendolara and cause the people of Magna Graecia to hate us. Moreover, we now have a grand goal, and without strict training and a complete military law, how can we build an army of Amendolara’s citizen with discipline and strength! However with it, we can win against large numbers of indigenous people with the small number of Amendolara and dominate Magna Graecia!”

Chapter 106 – The first council meeting (V)

Hearing these words, the new citizens no longer complained, and their eyes shone, and have all said, ‘We will take the lead in abiding the new military law!’

Sesta and Adrien have heard that in Davos mercenaries, there is a military law with numerous provisions, and the reason why his soldiers were strong was closely related to the military law’s strict requirements. At that time, they were also very curious on why a small mercenary had made a special military law for themselves, and now, they have a chance to personally experience it!

For the original citizens like Cornelius, it was only during the battle in front of the temple that they had seen the ferociousness of the mercenary, as they had only heard about the destruction of the Lucanian alliance and their attack on the city of Amendolara. Amendolara and Thurii had fought together many times before, and naturally, the city-states have some conventional military law in order to ensure the smooth progress of the military operations. However, this is the first time that they heard the need to specially formulate a complete military law.

And so, Cornelius reminded, “I just hope that the military training does not affect the daily work of the citizens.”

“I believe that Philesius can coordinate it.” Davos had faith in Philesius, and then he said with a smile to the captains, “The military officer, Philesius, must have other subordinate to serve as training instructors, and so you can discuss it with him.”

As soon as he finished speaking, dozens of people rush over to compete in recommending themselves, leaving Philesius exhausted.

Although the literacy and arithmetic of the officers weren’t good. They are, however capable of demonstrating their abilities to the public as new citizens of Amendolara.

“It seems that they are eager to contribute to the city-state!” Said Davos.

Cornelius nodded on the surface, but in his heart he thought that these new citizens who are used to fighting on the battlefield were unable to stay idle. And he hope that they can abide by the laws of the city-state!

“For the time being, that’s all for the main body of the city-state.” Davos’ words made Cornelius breathe a sigh of relief. Every time the new archon proposed a new post, it will impact the tradition of Amendolara, which made Cornelius have mixed feelings..

“And now, there is a very important matter that requires all the elders of the council and the officers in order to solve.” The seriousness of Davos made Cornelius tense again.

“And that is the resettlement of our new citizens and the distribution of land.” As soon as this was said, the officers who were pestering Philesius had immediately stopped, and they all looked at Davos.

“In order to maintain the harmony and stability of the city-state, and to not disturb the people who have just been liberated from the imprisonment of the Lucanians, we, the new citizens will voluntarily set up tents and live in the square tonight and even tomorrow night. However, this is not a long-term solution, nor reasonable! After all, in order to protect this land, many of our comrades were killed in the battlefield, which had brought peace to Amendolara today!” At this point, Davos was somewhat emotional, “And So, we must settle them down as soon as possible and allocate them the land that they deserve in order to repay their contributions and their rights as citizens! Otherwise, if we delay it, it will be very difficult to guarantee that there won’t be a problem!”

Davos’ words excited the new citizens that were currently present, while the original citizens have their complexion changed.

“Now, how many women that have lost their husbands among the people of Amendolara?” Davos asked Cornelius.

“I’m afraid that it is more than a thousand. The exact number will be known after we do a census.” Said Cornelius as he looked at Raphias.

“When the meeting is over, I will immediately get to it.” Said Raphias, the new census officer.

“Then tomorrow morning, please call them all to the square. Officers, you will also gather all the unmarried soldiers to the square, and the two sides will meet each other. However, neither the arrangement of the elders nor forcing them will be allowed, and it will depend on their own ability and charm. Both men and women must voluntarily get together. In addition, the unmarried girls in Amendolara should also participate in this blind date.” After Davos finished speaking, Cornelius and the original citizens were fine with it, as Davos had already told them about his idea and had convinced them while they were on their way to the city hall.

The new citizens burst into discussion. It should be known that in addition to a very small number of mercenaries who had been married, and also another small number that have manage to capture local women in Persia and have forced them to be their wives, but the more than 2,000 of them are still single. But under the leadership of Davos, these mercenaries had not only become a citizen of a city-state, but had also solved this problem. This is a really good thing! Because these women have status in the city-state and are not freeman or concubines that they had bought. If they marry them, they will also get the land and wealth left by the women’s ex husband.

“GREAT! My brothers finally have hope now!”

“Don’t be happy, Matonis. Your subordinates that are like you will have a hard time finding a wife! If you want a woman to like you, being strong is not enough!”

“Isn’t it already good to be strong? I can at least give them protection and I am able to do more farm work. I think that’s what they need the most now! And Olivos, if you dare go to the square tomorrow, I’m afraid that the Persian girl will ignore you.”

“Hieronymus, you loghead. This time, you definitely must speak a lot more to the girls. This is not only related to your happinness, but also to give example to your men!”

“Giorgris, why aren’t you talking? You don’t have to be so nervous. If you go to the square tomorrow, you only need to be your usual self, and Aphrodite will arrange a woman for you!”

“Captain Hielos, don’t just care about me. Settle your marriage first!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos grinned as his men excitedly talk to each other.

The originally citizens like Cornelius were somewhat helpless, the women who were originally citizens of Greek city-states were very traditional, and they seldom appear in public, let alone meet strange men. Their marriage is arrange by their parents, and their husband is a citizen of the city-state or a citizen of the neighboring city-state. After their marriage, she will be under her husband, and her responsibility is to give birth to their children and take care of the housework. If the husband dies early, she will still have her children so it would still be okay, and the property will belong to the child and she will need to manage it, and raised the child. In the future, her child will take care of her. If they have no children, then the husband’s family will have a reason to let her go and have her remarry…

There were about 4,000 citizens in Amendolara, but now there are less than 500. They don’t have enough strength to defend the city and enough labor to support so many women, children and elderly. Cornelius and their willingness to accept the mercenaries as citizens of their city-state were mainly for this reason, and of course, they are also grateful. In the same way, it is also out of their helplessness in allowing the women to break the tradition of the Greek city-states to appear in public for such a large-scale event. After all, this will be the best way to settle down the soldiers and quickly integrate into Amendolara and become a true citizen.

“At the same time, I want to remind you. When you marry the woman you selected, you should treat her children from her ex husband as your own and properly raise them up. You should also take care of the elderly in her family as your own. And…well…I hope that you won’t blame her for the humiliation she had received from the Lucanians, because it’s not their fault! But the fault of the men of Amendolara as they have not done their duty to protect them! We are real Greek warriors, what we should do is to take good care of them and never let them suffer such humiliation again! And then we will carefully prepare until the day we invade the Lucania and let those aborigines taste the strength of the men of Amendolara!” Said Davos seriously.

“Leader, you are right!”

“Get rid of those Lucanians!”

“Leader, you can rest assured that we will take good care of the women, the elderly and the children!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The new citizens were in an uproar and made a promise.

The original citizens felt that every word Davos was like a whip that made their faces hurt.

“I suggest that after the meet-up tomorrow is over and every couple is determined, we will hold a grand wedding on an auspicious day. All the men and women who have confirmed their relationship, including those who were taken in Persia before, and of course, also including my wedding, will be held together!”

The city hall became lively again.

“Leader, you have finally decided to marry Cheiristoya!”

“How enviable, Cheiristoya is a wonderful woman!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos ignored the commotion and asked Cornelius, “Do we have a priest of Hera?”

“No, Amendolara worshipped Zeus. And the nearest and most famous temple of Hera is in Metapontum.”

“Then send someone to Metapontum and invite a priest of Hera to preside over this grand wedding for us and to bless the newlyweds!”

Although Hera was the patron saint of marriage, the traditional wedding ceremony of the Greek city-state does not require the priest of Hera to be present. Hence why Cornelius was puzzled.

Davos looked at him and said, “Because this wedding means the rebirth of Amendolara. I hope that Hera will bless these people who represent the future of Amendolara! And I remember that the archon has the right to supervise the rituals and create festivals.”

Cornelius had wanted to say, ‘That was the power of the archon at the end of the era of monarchy. But now, it is the era of democracy, the right to supervise sacrificial rites and make festivals has long been given to the council.’

But prior to this, Davos had already gained a lot of rights beyond those of the former archon of Amendolara. He was numb and under the sharp gaze of Davos, he could only helplessly nod and said, “Yes.” And this nod meant that, as an archon for life, Davos had taken the most sacred religious authority of Amendolara from the council.

Chapter 107 – The first council meeting (VI)

“I suggest that the wedding day should be the Marriage Day and the celebration of Hera, so that the citizens can remember the suffering and rebirth of Amendolara, and make them realize the importance of marriage and family, which is much more conductive to the unity of the citizens of Amendolara!…” Davos said solemnly and made Cornelius surprised by the depth of his consideration on the problem and his sincere thoughts for Amendolara. He nodded his head and said, “My lord, I think that all the citizens will be happy to have such a wonderful festival!”

“Yes, we all agree in establishing a celebration of Hera and Day of Marriage!” The original citizens had also expressed their approval, and not to mention the new citizens.

At this time, Hielos stood up and asked with concern, “My lord, how should we deal with the soldiers who were unable to find a woman to marry?”

Davos was prepared for this, and motioned to Cornelius to answer it.

“Before the war with the Lucanians, Amendolara had 4,000 citizens…at present, there are only more than 500 citizens and more than a thousand widows…as a result, more than 2,000 families and couples perished, and so…there are enough houses to accommodate the new citizens. Of course, if the former owner of the house has children or elderly left behind, then we hope that the new citizens can take care of them…” Said Cornelius with tears twinkling in his eyes, and the rest of the original citizens were sad.

Looking at the new citizens, Davos said it out loud, “It’s not hope, but a must, as they will definitely raise them! Because you have accepted the legacy of the original owner, including their land and wealth, so it is only natural that you should do the duty for the original owner!”

“My lord, you can rest assured that we will let our brothers take good care of the elderly and the children!” Hielos was the first to make a commitment, and the other officers also expressed their support. Amintas even said, “I will beat those, who occupies the house but doesn’t support the elderly and children, to death!”

Davos nodded, “Good. I hope that you officers can strengthen the management of the soldiers! At the same time, the council will issue a bill to carry out its implementation.” Said Davos, then he looked at Antonios, “This is the duty of the inspector. Antonios, if you find someone who violates the law and abuse or doesn’t take care the orphans and the elderly, you must report it to the council immediately, and we will deprive them of their citizenship and expel them from Amendolara!” Davos’ harsh words made everyone feel nervous.

“I will supervise them carefully!” Antonios pledge earnestly.

The original citizens nodded in silence, as they appreciate Davos on his firm protection of the rights and interests of the elderly and children.

“Well then, next, let’s talk about the issues that you are most concerned about.” Said Davos with a smile in order to ease the atmosphere, “The council will introduce a bill to ensure that each new citizen has at least 2 hectares of land. Of course, some people may be lucky enough to find a good wife and inherit more land, while others may have less. But it doesn’t matter, since I will ask Mersis, the financial officer, to make a detailed statistics of the land wealth that everyone owns, and after obtaining new lands in the future, priority will be given to the citizens who have less land. Are you all satisfied with this arrangement?”

“Satisfied!!”

“It’s fair!!” Exclaimed the crowd excitedly.

By this time, nearly two hours have passed, and it was already late, but the citizens were so excited that Davos decided to put forward an issue that he had been thinking about for a long time and had never made up his mind. He took a deep breath and stood in the center of the meeting place. Facing the crowd, he said it out loud, “Men, as citizens of a city-state, it is your right to participate in all political activities of the city-state. It is your duty and right as a soldier to fight in a war and defend the city-state. Because it is impossible for freemen and slaves to join the army of the city-state unless there is a special circumstances. Only citizens have the right to fight for the city-state, so it is also your political right.”

Both of the original and new citizens nodded with approval.

“However, it’s not easy to manage a city well. It costs money to build all kinds of public facilities. It costs money to repair the city defense and equip weapons. In case of a great disaster, we will need money to help the people. If it’s only four or five days war, the citizens can bring their own rations to solve the problem, but after extended time, the city-state will still need to buy the food that they will need, let alone hire carts, boats, laborers, and so on, which will cost money. Moreover, the public officials in our city-state have no salary at present, and all of us are willing to contribute to the city-state. In the future, the management area will be larger and the affairs will be heavier, as a public official, there will be almost no free time to take care of their own farmland and grazing in their home, his income will be less than that of the citizens who are not public officials, and this will be unfair and I am afraid that the public will no longer be willing to continue holding their position. Therefore, if a city-state wants to develop healthily, it can’t do without enough money in the treasury!”

For most of the new citizens who were born poor, they do not know that the operation of the city-state is so complex, and so they keenly listened. The original citizen felt that the young archon for life is able to think so deeply about the problems of the city-state as soon as he took office, and their worries about his lack of experience were dispelled. Cornelius, on the other hand, felt his brows twitch, and he had a hunch that something big was going to happen.

Davos continued on saying, “The revenue of the treasury of Amendolara is quite small. As Cornelius had explained the reason just now, which had hindered the development of the city-state. In the future, we will occupy more lands, and more people will join Amendolara, will they be able to fight for the city-state like us? I’m afraid that they won’t, because the reward is too little and if they obtained it easily, they won’t cherish it too much!”

“That’s right!” The original citizens cried out, as they were not satisfied with the immigration bill that Davos had proposed.

Davos, of course, understood what they were thinking. With a sneer in his hear, he said in a loud voice, “And so, I propose to charge a 1% land tax every year to the citizens of Amendolara who own a land!”

As soon as this was said, it felt like lightning hitting the ground, and the whole city hall was stunned, and it was like someone had poke a nest of hornets and they started buzzing.

Cornlius tightened his hands and feet and shouted, “No!”

“Did I hear you right? Do you want to collect land tax on the citizens of the city-state?” Asked Stromboli feeling unsure.

His attitude was still polite, while the old man, Scambras, rushed directly to Davos and pointed to Davos’ nose and asked, “ARE YOU STILL A GREEK?! Don’t you know that the tradition of the Greek city-state is that they will never collect land taxes on their citizens! You’re crazy about money! If you want to be an archon like this, then can we still live?!”

Although the new citizens had also criticized Davos, they won’t allow others to insult their leader that they respected, specially the squad leaders. With Matonis as the lead, he quickly rushed over and pushed Scambras away, “HEY OLD MAN. HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO THE ARCHON IN THIS WAY?”

“I’m going to say, whatever is the problem! You ignorant country bumpkin who don’t even know the serious consequences of having land tax!” Scambras face turned red and curse in contempt.

This angered the group of young squad leaders, “WHAT DID YOU SAY?! Say it again, believe it or not, I’ll beat you up!…” He rebuke while pushing Scambras.

The weak body of Scambras was unable to bear the strength of these experienced officers, and he sat down on the ground grasping for breath. Cornelius and the other original citizen rushed forward to help him, and some have quarreled with the officers.

The two sides were in chaos.

“QUIET! BE QUIET!” Davos was also anxious now, and went directly to stop them from fighting.

Finally, the two sides were separated.

Scambras was still swearing, and Matonis was glaring, then he lowered his head and did not dare to speak.

At this moment, Mersis stood up and said, “One percent of tax is very low! In Persia, we all know that their land tax is over 10%!…” As a financial officer, he is certainly concerned about loading the treasury.

“That is Persia, the tradition of the Greek is to never collect land tax from its citizen!” Stromboli retorted.

“There was in the era of monarchy.”

“That was hundreds of years ago, and it’s now the era of democracy. Archon Davos himself had promised that he would ‘not be a king’. I think that if there is a land tax, all citizens will oppose it!” Stromboli looked at Davos in a quiet but threatening tone.

Davos looked at the crowd. Due to the prestige of Davos, the new citizens did not say anything against it, and they just continued to watch. While the original citizens obviously have dissatisfaction on their faces. Only Mersis was really supportive. Then Davos laughed and said, “I haven’t finished my proposal, and you are all so excited. Don’t worry, and allow me to finish my proposal first. Citizens who have lived in the city of Amendolara before today, will have their land to be tax-free in order to thank them as the descendants of the city founder and their contributions to Amendolara for the past 200 years. When the treasury has money, we will cast a batch of ‘Amendolara Founder Silver Badge’, and each original citizens will receive one, which they can keep forever and wear it on grand public occasions, so that those who had come after will know that their family has a long tradition and glory.”

As soon as he said this, the original citizens and Scambras, who was still chattering, did not speak anymore. This is glory! Although they had no choice but to let the mercenaries join Amendolara, their pride and the reality of getting oppressed by the aborigines made them uncomfortable, and Davos had given them a chance to show off their identity forever! Compared with this, the tax money is nothing, not to mention that it won’t be collected from them.

“Agree!” Scambras was the first to shout.

“This is not fair! You will collecting tax on us, but not them!” Exlaimed Matonis in discontent.

Chapter 108 – Proposal

Davos ignored him and went on to say, “For the new citizens who had defeated the Lucanian alliance and recaptured the city of Amendolara, and had joined Amendolara today, their land will be tax-free! At the same time, a batch of ‘Amendolara’s Rebirth Silver Badge’ will be cast, and each of the newly joined citizens today will have one and permanently keep it, so that the future generation can know of their achievements!”

“That’s just about right!” Matonis sat down satisfied.

Now, the new citizens have also straightened their chest.

Davos gave honor to both sides, and both sides have accepted it with satisfaction, which restored the calmness of the venue. Cornelius could only acknowledge that he has a great political skill.

“Everyone doesn’t pay taxes, so what is the use mentioning this law?!” Mersis was discontent.

“Don’t you understand, financial officer.” Laughed Cornelius, “All the current citizens don’t have to pay land tax, but those who will become citizens of Amendolara will have to pay taxes when they will own a land.”

“Please note that you don’t have to pay tax on your existing land, but you will have to pay land tax for the land you will own in the future.” Reminded Davos.

“If that is the case, then I can accept it.” Antonios stood up and said, “Amendolara was created by the ancestors of Cornelius and the others, and they have suffered so much for this, and so we should respect them. While we have also paid our blood and sweat for Amendolara, and we should get something in return. The citizens who will join us in the future will enjoy these things that we have done for the city-state. So they naturally will have to give something for Amendolara, and paying taxes – is what I think to be a good way!”

“Antonios, you are right! We agree to this method!” The new citizens have agreed.

“Yes, we are the founders of a new Amendolara! In order to let the future generation know the things we have done today, these tax free land and silver badge are the best proof and glory!” Exclaimed Protesilaus* excitedly, and the other original citizens did not object. (TL note: One of the 5 renowned citizens.)

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After the meeting, the new citizens all went to the square, while the original citizens walked on the rugged mountain path.

“Cornelius, you had given way too much to that young man tonight! You didn’t even refute the laws that he proposed, and just watch him easily persuade those uneducated mercenaries!” Complained Stromboli loudly.

“Hey, Stromboli, don’t just keep shouting ‘young man’, Davos is our archon, so we should respect him!” Raphias looked behind at the not too far citizens that have newly joined, and so he reminded.

“Archon? I think you mean king. He didn’t even asked our consent to even one of his proposal! Which of his proposal has been discussed with the elders in advance?! He had also allowed so many mindless mercenary soldiers, who only know to be obedient to him, to attend this meeting, it is obvious that he only wants to have the final say!”

Scambras was unable to bear it and interrupted him, “Since you have a problem with the archon, why didn’t you say something at the meeting?”

Stromboli was tongue-tied for a moment, and rolled his eyes, “You weren’t against it, so why should I oppose him alone? I’m not stupid! Oh…I know, Cornelius became the praetor and Raphias is now the census officer, they are already a big shot! This is the gift of the archon, and the reason why you are too embarrassed to oppose him, right?”

Scambras rushed and glared at him, then said, “Shut up Stromboli! You can’t say that about him, Cornelius did his best to protect this mountain city! Also…although the soldiers were rude and hit me. But to be honest, these laws that this young archon have proposed is very interesting, specially the one about the tax payment. I am really surprised, but Amendolara has not changed for hundreds of years…”

“Uncle Scambras is right! We, Amendolara, have suffered so much that we can no longer live as before! Whether it is appointing Davos as archon for life, or his proposal, as long as he can make Amendolara strong and no longer be bullied, then I will accept even if the tradition of Amendolara is changed!” Said Tritodemos seriously, and made several of them nod in secret.

“Not only will we not be bullied anymore, but we will attack Lucania, defeat and exact vengeance on them!” Said Protesilaus, the youngest of the six, excitedly.

“Lucania has a large population, a vast territory and most of them are mountainous areas. It is not so easy to attack them. The young archon is just boasting, nothing more.” Said Stromboli doubtfully.

“It is a fact that Davos had led a small number of mercenaries to wipe out the large number of Lucanian troops! It is also true that Amendolara was recaptured in one night! Which strategoi and citizens in Magna Graecia can do these two things?” Protesilaus retorted.

Stromboli “grunted” and did not answer.

“Did you notice the look in the eyes of the new citizens when they looked at Davos? It is as if they are gazing a god!” Protesilaus said with exaggeration.

“I heard that they call Davos the god’s favored. Maybe he can really create miracles.” Tritodemos said with some expectation, “I have long heard that there is a beautiful lake in the northwest of Amendolara and the upper reaches of the river Sinni, and the Lucanians call it Docara (now lake Senise). It seems that not only can I go and have a look, but also get a piece of land there.”

Stromboli snorted again, but he is only a little less angry.

“In the end, fighting a war will cause deaths, whether you are good at fighting or not.” Cornelius sighed

“We don’t have to fight anyway. I think those mercenaries are very keen on it themselves.” Raphias was indifferent.

“They are also citizens of Amendolara.” Cornelius cautioned, then paused for a moment, then exclaimed, “However, we have all looked down on Davos. Although he is young, he is very familiar with the politics of the city-state. Is it really just like the rumors among the new citizens that he was ‘enlightened by Hades’?”

His exclamations did not get refuted by the other five people, and it obviously surprised everyone.

“However, we need to further observe the actual ruling ability of Davos. We do not know how much impact and change he will have on Amendolara. What we can do now is to try our best to ensure the stability of Amendolara, find out the problems and to remind Davos on time. At least, for now, Davos is not the same as Dionysius of Syracuse.” Cornelius seriously reminded them.

The other four nodded, and Stromboli asked, “What if Davos messed up Amendolara and don’t listen to our dissuasion?!”

“If that’s the case…” Cornelius doesn’t know how to answer for a moment.

“Then get rid of them!” Scambras said decisively, “For the sake of Amendolara, even if we need to cooperate with Thurii again!”

The others faced each other and finally nod in silence.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

It was late when Davos returned to the square.

He returned to his tent, where the candle was still bright, and Cheiristoya, who had been waiting for his return, had fallen asleep on the paved floor.

Davos gently walked to the floor and squatted in front of Cheiristoya. The flickering candlelight reflected her beautiful and sexy face. Her breath was light and long, with a smile on her lips…

She must be dreaming a sweet dream! Davos stared at her quietly, feeling a bit silly. Coming to this unfamiliar world alone and living desperately in order to survive, even if he has a group of comrades who he can entrust his life, but his lonely wandering soul can have a port to seek shelter is only because of her.

He couldn’t stop himself from reaching out his hand and gently stroke on Cheiristoya’s long and supple hair. He didn’t want her to wake up immediately, but she rubbed her hazy eyes and said sluggishly, “You’re back.”

Davos took her hands, folded them together and said gently, “Cheiristoya of Miletus, would you like to be my, Davos’ wife?”

Cheiristoya’s eyes suddenly glistened, and her beautiful face glowed in the candlelight. With this, one of the things that she had been most worried about while following Davos around no longer exist. She hugged him tightly and whispered her lifelong vow, “I do!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After their passion, Cheiristoya lay down on Davos, listening to him talk about what had happened in the meeting that night, and sleepiness gradually came to attack her…

At this moment, Davos said, “Cheiristoya, I’m hesitant to have you do something.”

“What’s the matter?” Asked Cheiristoya curiously.

“Have you ever heard of banks?”

“I have heard of it, isn’t it just loaning money. My father also ran this business in Miletus. I heard him say that he admired the Athenian banker, Pasion*, the most because he not only became the richest man in Athens by loaning money, but also won the respect of the Athenian citizens…” Cheiristoya thought of the past and was somewhat sad. (TL note:

“Great! I want you to open a bank in Amendolara to give loans to the citizens.” Said Davos immediately.

“Open a bank?! Me?!” Cheiristoya was stunned.

“Yes, you!” Davos raised his head and looked at her with trust in his eyes, “If you can manage the medical camp so well, then I am sure that you can run this bank well!”

Cheiristoya calmed herself down and thought for a moment, and reminded him, “This will need ample amount of silver coins.”

Chapter 109 – Andrea

“You don’t have to worry about that. There are still the Tarant(Taranto) coins left by Meno in the camp, and during our way back to Greece we acquired a lot of supplies through fighting and…snatching….except those that were allocated to the soldiers and others, there are still some Tarant left. In addition, Mariji and Mersis also made a lot of money in the market that they have previously build. Logically speaking, all these should belong to the mercenary leader…I will talk to Mersis and ask him to give you all the money.” Davos counted his savings for the past six months.

“Bank lending invites hatred, and few bankers can do what Pasion did. As the archon of Amendolara, I’m afraid that it will invite criticism or even opposition from others!” Instead of being surprised by the wealth of Davos, Cheiristoya cautioned him with concern.

Davos smiled with gratification, “If you can think like this, then it seems that my choice of asking you to open a bank is not wrong!” He put his arms around Cheiristoya’s delicate body and said softly, “Why money lending is hated? That’s because the interest demanded by the Greek city-state money lenders are generally too high! I heard that the lowest interest rate is 20%, and once the borrower is unable to pay back the money, then his land will be taken to pay off the debt, and his family will be destroyed. Of course, that is not what I want. As the archon for life of Amendolara, I hope that every citizen of Amendolara will have a good life, so that our city-state will be rich and strong. And the bank itself can promote the development of the city-state trade, but the greedy practices of the bankers have ruined its reputation, and so, I want you to open this bank-” Said Davos, “The interest shall not exceed 5%!”

“Only 5%?!” Exclaimed Cheiristoya is surprise.

“Only with such a low interest rate can the citizens who have the ability to do business have the confidence to borrow money and to realize their ideal. Only in this way can the citizens who are in urgent need of money be saved from the terrible usury and their hope for life can be restored….I believe that the bank you will build will speed up the recovery of the economy of Amendolara after the war and promote the great development of its trade.” Said Davos confidently.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the next day, these new citizens, who were usually busy with battles and doesn’t care about their appearance with their hair being fluffy and a messy beard, while wearing shabby clothes, have cleaned up the tents in the square early and tried to make themselves as clean as possible. They changed into Doric-style made of light linen, so they all looked tall and straight.

As they wait on the square with expectant faces. When the whole square was covered with sunshine, the women of Amendolara appeared. They came by groups under the leadership of an old woman, with curiosity on their shy faces. Although the Greek woman’s clothes were extremely simple, they tried their best to dress themselves up, by adjusting the density of the sagging folds of the chiton to make the long skirt look elegant and beautiful, and they fastened exquisite metal ornaments and buttons on the joints of their shoulders and cuffs in order to increase their charm. They also combed their hair according to their own situation, and apply dark or light make-up on their faces to make them look younger and more attractive.

When the new citizens saw them, they were just like bees seeing flowers, and they no longer maintain their demeanor as they flocked to them and tried their best to talk to the woman they liked in order to attract her attention.

On the sidelines, Davos asked a couple of musician to play the lyre and aulus, which add a romantic atmosphere to the “large-scale blind date event” in Amendolara.

In fact, the situation on the square soon became less romantic and more heated. After all, beautiful women will always attract many pursuers and even cause conflicts. At this time, Davos will show up in time with his patrol team and warn both sides with his prestige, and then ask the wishes of the heroine of the conflict…

When a group of men and women became attracted to each other, some of them would leave the venue and take a walk along the mountain path to continue their talk in order to improve their understanding. While the others would directly go to Raphias, who was waiting by the square, and to tell him that they were willing to get married. So Raphias will register the names of the two parties and allow the women to take him home (in fact, in the Greek tradition, they must first get married before they can live together. However, Davos convinced Cornelius that they only need to obtain an official confirmation and registration of Amendolara, to be husband and wife, and they will only need to owe a wedding, which they can make up for later.)

It is not only the men who actively pursue women, as some of the older or less attractive women will also take the initiative to talk to the men they like to show their advantages, such as being good at weaving, making wine, making olive oil or showing off that they are of noble origin and have rich families.

By the afternoon, there were few women left in the square, but there were still a lot of men.

At this time, Davos notice at one of the corner of the square, were many new citizens that had formed a large circle, and so he look for someone to inquire about the situation. It turned out that there is a young lady of Amendolara in the circle who have ignored all the men who had come up to talk to her, but she is just too beautiful. Therefore, the men were still very persistent in trying to impress her, and so far, no one had succeeded.

Davos was curious, and because dragging it down like this won’t resolve it, and will easily lead to conflict, so he called Raphias and they squeezed into the crowd together.

“Hey girl, here comes our leader, Davos. If you still don’t like him, then you will have to find a god to be your husband.” Someone in the crowd jokingly said.

When the woman heard this, she raised her head and opened her sleepy eyes.

Davos looked at her, the woman has a snow-white skin, a beautiful face and a pair of big and bright eyes…

Raphias had immediately recognized her and whisphered to Davos, “Her name is Andrea. Her husband followed the army of Thurii to attack Lucania last year, but he died in Laus, leaving her to live alone together with her 3 year old son. She seems to be only 20 years old…”

As Davos was listening, Andrea stepped forward and said, “Are you the archon, Davos?”

“I am.”

“I wish to tell you something.” Andrea said directly.

Davos was taken aback for a bit, “Say it.”

Andrea looked around and pleaded, “I want to talk to you alone, is it alright?”

Davos immediately felt that things might not be easy. He hesitated for a bit, but seeing the urgency in the gaze of Andrea, he nodded and said, “Come with me.”

Seeing that Davos was going to take Andrea away, some of the new citizens were unwilling and said, “Leader Davos, you already have the beautiful Cheiristoya, so don’t snatch her from us as well!”

Davos laughed, “Brothers, don’t worry. She just wants to have a word with me alone. As you all know, I already have Cheiristoya. If I mess around, she won’t allow me to go to bed tonight!”

Davos’ dirty joke made them laugh, and they made way for them.

Davos took Andrea to a quiet part of the square, which was then surrounded by the patrols.

“Go ahead and tell me what is the matter?” Davos asked in a soft tone.

Andrea bit her lip and hesitated several times. Finally, she got her courage and asked, “I want to kno…Bagul…he…how is he now?”

“Bagul? Who?” Davos asked uncertainly.

“He…he is a Lucanian…” Andrea’s voice was suddenly as quiet as a mosquito, “I was in the temple, when I saw you knock him down and caught him…he…how is he now?”

Seeing Andrea’s flushed cheeks, he would have been a fool if he still don’t understand what’s going on, “You like the Lucanian? Why?”

Davos’ calm tone made Andrea panic, “I…I just…”

“I won’t blame you, so don’t be nervous. Tell me truth and maybe I can help you.” Davos action had immediately soothed her.

“Really?! Can you really help me?” Exclaimed Andrea, as if she had found a straw to clutch at.

Davos made a ‘hush’ gesture and said, “First, tell me why you like him.”

Finally, Andrea began to tell her story.

It turned out that Andrea had been praised as “the rose of Amendolara” by the people due to her beauty, and have many pursuers. Later, she was arranged by her father to marry a rich and handsome young nobleman of Amendolara four years ago. Although there was no contact between them before their marriage, Andrea was still satisfied with the marriage. However, after their marriage and having lived together for a long time, she found that her husband was a jealous person, and he doesn’t allow her to have contact with any men. Therefore, for this reason, he had executed two of their male slaves, and Andrea, who was only 16 years old and full of life, could only be confined in her home. Her husband also had a much more terrible bad habit, drinking. He often held banquets at their home or attend to the parties of other people, and when he return home, he will be often drunk and abused her. Andrea, who had just become a young woman, couldn’t stand it and so she ran back to her parent’s house, but her father forced her back and warned her, ‘As a woman, you should treat your husband as if you were a slave serving her master. I hope that you won’t come back again, so that our family will not become the object of ridicule.’ Andrea then came back to her new home, and endured what her husband did to her.

Fortunately, she became pregnant soon after. During the birth of their child, her husband stopped abusing her, but he then began to hang out with prostitutes and female slaves. As this is the hobby of the male citizens of Greece, so Andrea could barely accept it, but what she couldn’t tolerate was that sometimes her husband will forced her to watch as he had sex with a female slave. As a noble city-state woman, the lowly slave girl who was usually under her control would look at her with strange gaze, and Andrea’s dignity as the mistress of the house was trampled on mercilessly. As a result, she began to have a conflict with her husband, and one time, she was even directly knocked out unconscious by her husband. From then on, Andrea was afraid and hated her husband to the extreme, but for the sake of her young child, she could only swallow her tears and bear it silently.

Chapter 110 – The Happiness of Giorgris

Last year, when the army of Thurii had suffered a crushing defeat in Lucania and the other women were crying for their dead husband, only Andrea had closed the door of her house and wept at home, as she was finally released from her sea of suffering!

Who knew, that few days later, the Lucanians attacked Amendolara, and all the people were taken captive, and she was no exception. The Lucanian warriors took a fancy to her beauty and escorted her to Bagul to please the successor of the tribal chief.

Seeing this tall and huge man with long hair, and looks different from the Greeks, Andrea shuddered and began to lament her fate in her heart. However, the strong man in front of her did not force himself on her, and had instead spoke Greek to comfort her and to not be afraid…

When most of the people of Amendolara were held in the temple, Andrea and her son had lived in their own home, and everyday Bagul will bring them abundant food in person. He cared for her, but never touched her, which made Andrea to gradually lower her guard and finally fell in love with this Lucanian man. She felt that, compared with her original husband, and although Bagul looked fierce, he was calm, loving and caring…a hundred times better than her ex husband! The young woman had experience what love is for the first time. Finally one day, she took the initiative to invite Bagul into her room…since then, as long as Bagul visit her, she would be inseparable from him. She felt happy: If her previous married life was hell, then now it is paradise!

So when Bagul anxiously told her that the Lucanians were defeated, and their tribe was ready to retreat to the mountains, and when he asked if she would like to go with him, she had only hesitated for a moment and agreed.

The night before yesterday, the mercenaries attacked the city of Amendolara. Andrea took her child with Bagul and together with his people to the temple of Zeus at the top of the mountain, and when she saw the Lucanians and the people of Amendolara fighting in front of the temple, she didn’t felt concern about her compatriots as much. Instead, her gaze was focused on Bagul, and finally she saw him getting knocked down by the mercenaries…

Davos didn’t expect that he would encounter a ridiculous plot in this world. As a political figure, he certainly won’t be moved by Andrea’s story and infatuation, but what he thought of was the question of how to deal with the Lucanian prisoners. At yesterday’s meeting, he did not mention anything about the Lucanian prisoners, as he was afraid that the grieving original citizens and their family members, would burn them to ashes due to their anger. And so he was waiting, waiting for the hatred of these original citizens to diminish over time, and for those that were left behind to forget the old grudges due to them establishing a new family.

“If you don’t choose a new citizen to marry, then according to the present law, your land and property will be subject to the supervision of the city-state government until you get married again, or your son grows up and we will return it to him. Do you understand?” Warned Davos.

“I understand. I am willing to donate my husband’s property that he left behind to the city-state, as long as…as long as you ensure that Bagul live and treat him well!” Andrea pleaded.

“When the Lucanians were captured, they were only imprisoned and not killed or abused. That is, if the person you mentioned was not seriously injured first.”

“He didn’t! He didn’t!… I saw that he had only gotten knocked down, and when you captured him, he was already awake!” Said Andrea excitedly.

“Hmm, I’ll go back and find if there is someone called Bagul. If so, I’ll arrange you to meet him.” Said Davos.

“Truly?!! My lord, this is really wonderful! Thank you! Thank you very much!! You are as kind as the goddess Hera!!…” Andrea was so happy that she fell down on her knees in front of Davos.

Davos gaze were fixed on the soldiers in the square who had nothing to gain, and his mind is full of thoughts, the Lucanians they captured were not only warriors, but also elderly, women and children. It seems that this tribe originally wanted to take root in Amendolara. With these elderly, women and children, he has more confidence to control the warriors of this tribe. Moreover, if his soldiers were allowed to marry a single Lucanian woman, then the citizens of Amendolara will be related to the captured Lucanian tribe, and his hidden plan of “assimilating the losers” will be one step closer. Therefore, he must act on this matter immediately.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Giorgris followed a woman named Daerys, or well, Daeneya(because he was too nervous and had made him misheard her name), and came to Raphias, the census officer.

Because he met Giorgris at the council meeting last night, so Raphias had purposely slowed down his introduction of Daeneya’s family to Giorgris, and asked if he would like to marry Daeneya.

Giorgris was a bit shy and has a cramped expression, as he did not know what to say.

Daeneya whispered to him from the side, “Quickly say yes.”

So he nodded and everything was like a dream to him.

Giorgris didn’t want to participate in the “blind date” but he was forced to come by his subordinates. From the beginning, he just stood in the corner and didn’t want to go to the flocks of women like the others did. However, when he was idle and wanted to sleep, a woman appeared in front of him and took the initiative to say her name to him, and introduce her family, then immediately said to him that she had fancied him and wanted him to be her husband.

Giorgris was blinded by the beautiful face of the woman, and did not know what to do. Under the woman’s soft words, he nodded his head and then was taken out of the square by the woman.

As a 30-years old woman who had already married twice, she despises those girls who indulge on the rhetoric of men. As she thinks that a honest and stable man is the one that can bring happiness to women. So in the square, when she saw Giorgris who was uncomfortable in the corner, she fell in love with him.

Daeneya’s home is halfway up the hill, which was fairly large.

When Daeneya opened the door, she saw Giorgris just standing outside and was still hesitating whether to go in. So she smiled and took his hand and said to him, “Come on in, from now on, this will be your home, and you are the master here!”

Home?! This word touched the self-abased and lonely heart of Giorgris.

Giorgris looked around curiously as he followed Daeneya into the gate. On the periphery were high walls of square stones of regular shape and coated with lime. After entering the gate, there is an open courtyard between the entrance and the hall. The courtyard is surrounded by colonnades and formed a central hall. In the middle of the courtyard is a pool, the water in the pool was mainly from rain water, and it leads to the underground reservoir for daily use (this was later told by Daeneya). There are many kinds of plants around the pool, and in the middle of the pool stands a statue of a girl in white marble. She is naked, enchanting and delicate…seeing this, Giorgris blushed and his heart beat….

Daeneya led him around the pool, into the hall and then forced Giorgris to lie beside her on a cushioned kline(couch), she then said with concern, “Are you hungry? If so, I will go cook first.”

“I’ll come as well.” Giorgris tried to get up, but was held down by Daeneya, “No, this is a woman’s business. Instead, you go take a bath first and have a rest.” With that, she yelled upstairs, “Ibiya! Ibiya!”

With a clear response, a dark skinned slave girl rushed downstairs.

“From now on, he will be your master!” Said Daeneya with a slight dignity.

The girl modestly walked to Giorgris, with a bit of curiosity in her eyes, and bowed respectfully, “Master!”

“You go boil a bucket of hot water for your master, then help wash him, and afterwards, dressed him into new clothes!” Ordered Daeneya.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Giorgris was lying in a big wooden barrel full of hot water, his face was flushed red and his heart was beating with enthusiasm.

Because Ibiya was only wearing a thin linen cloth, while she scrubbed his body. His well toned-body clung to her wet and vaguely see-through cloth, which made the young Giorgris gulp, ‘Is this the life of a city-state citizen?’

Even though he was in a state of nervousness, he was more surprised.

The dinner was bread and olives, and Daeneya apologetically said, “Sorry that the dinner is too simple. I couldn’t do anything because Cornelius only gave me this much, and he also said that it would be like this for some time to come.”

Recalling the meeting last night, Giorgris comforted her by saying, “Don’t worry, leader Davos…his lord has sent someone to Taranto to ask for assistance, and fortunately, the grains that the Lucanians have forced you to plant can be harvested in the early autumn. After the council arrange lands for the new citizens like me these few days, you will be able to take back your own land.”

“Is that true?!”

“At the council meeting last night, the archon had made the decision after discussing it with everyone.” Said Giorgris trying to show off a bit.

“Great!” Daeneya said happily. In fact, what she was more happy about was that she did not expect that the young Giorgris who looks ordinary, could attend the council meeting of the city-state. She really indeed picked up a treasure, “However, you are wrong. What we want to take back is not my land, but your land!”

That night, Daeneya tried her best to serve Giorgris who was still a virgin…

On a starry night, the same passionate and romantic scene took place in many newly established family in Amendolara.

Chapter 111 – Bagul

Davos and Cheiristoya were assigned to a house, the original owner is the former archon of Amendolara, Marcellus. At the same time, he has two children, a 6 year old daughter, Cynthia, and a 3 year old son, Adoris.

After learning about it in the afternoon, Cheiristoya immediately asked for some slaves from Mersis and rushed to the house of Marcellus. The house was basically cleaned by the time Davos got there, but he didn’t have the time to enjoy his new home, as he even need to hurriedly took a few bites of bread and meet the two children that they will adopt. The two children hid behind Cheiristoya nervously and watched him secretly. It was obvious that the 21-year old Cheiristoya had won the trust of the two orphans.

Before he could speak, Asistes hurriedly came in and said, “Bagul has been brought.”

Davos asked Asistes to take the man to the wing room.

After starving for a day, Bagul had been then taken to the wing room while his hands were tied, and he simply just fell flat on the ground, as his physical weakness and mental despair made him lost hope to live.

At this time, He heard a voice, “Is this the son of Vespa, the Lucanian tribe leader, and the Lucanians call him the warrior Bagul?”

Another voice answered, “Yes, archon.”

“Why does he looked like a dead dog?” Hearing this taunt, Bagul still remained motionless and even his eyelids did not blink.

“Andrea praised him for being a warrior, but he doesn’t even dare to look at me. Hahaha” The guy continued to taunt him.

However, this time, Bagul opened his eyes, and a man younger than the person who brought him just now came into his sight. He was a little surprised, because he clearly heard that this guy was called the archon.

“An…how is Andrea?” There was a deep concern in his hoarse and frail voice.

Instead of continue make fun of him, Davos stepped forward and said seriously, “She is fine. Just that, she has been begging me to release you, and wants to be with you.”

Bagul closed his eyes, and his blood-stained, tanned face showed extreme pain. He suddenly turned over, and his chest began to heave sharply…

After a long time, he opened his eyes and looked at Davos, “…release? Can you release us out?! Will you give us freedom?!”

“What do you think?” Davos sneered, “Think about what you have done in Amendolara. You slaughtered the citizens of Amendolara, assaulted the women of Amendolara, forced the people of Amendolara to do heavy labor and confined them in a narrow space, and only gave them a small amount of water…in less than half a year, the number of citizens of Amendolara has dropped from 1,500 to 500*. This is the crime committed by you and your people! The elderly, the young, women, and children of Amendolara would like to eat your meat and drink your blood! Do you think that you can get away from getting punish!!” (TL note: I think the number of citizens that died is from them suffering from the tribe of Bagul, while the other 2,500 citizens that died was when Thurii invaded the Lucanian cities?)

Davos’ words were like a gust of wind blowing out the candle in Bagul’s eye, as he lay on the ground as rigid as a puppet, and his face was shrouded with despair.

“However-” Davos change his tune, “I, Davos, the new archon of Amendolara, will not approve of killing as revenge! Of course, the crimes committed by the Lucanians needs to be paid back, but I hope that it will be in a different way.”

A bit of hope have return to Bagul’s eyes, and he looked up at Davos and couldn’t wait to ask, “What way?”

“All the men of your tribe will become slaves of the city of Amendolara! They will be responsible for building roads, repairing city walls, digging canals, tilling the farmland. grazing the animals…and as auxiliary soldiers in wartime, and will accompany the citizens on expedition!” Davos stared at Bagul.

Bagul was silent for a moment. In fact, they had done the same to the people of Amendolara after they occupied Amendolara. ‘God Asinu, is this our retribution!’ But he was not worried about the men of his tribes, “What about the women?”

“Of course, they will also be slaves of the city. They can go shear the wool of the animals, learn to weave, beat olives…as for the adolescent girls and widows among them, my soldiers, the new citizens of Amendolara will marry them!” Davos increased his voice to accentuate his last sentence.

Bagul was shocked by his words, he sat up and looked at Davos in disbelief, “Not as a concubine?!”

“Yes, as their wives!” Affirmed Davos, “This is my sincerity! So I ask you and your people to be slaves of Amendolara for 5 years, you must bear the insults of any citizens in silence. Of course, if a citizen of the city tried to attack you, he will be severely punished. But if your people flee or attack the citizens of the city, then if one tried to escape, I will execute 10 Lucanians! If you hurt a citizen, I will also execute 10 of your people!” At this point, Davos’ expression turned a bit grim.

Bagul was silent for a moment and then asked, “What about 5 years later?”

“5 years later, all of you will become freemen. If you want to become citizens of Amendolara, you can apply to the city-state. If you want to go back to your hometown, then we will not stop you. However, I think that you will not choose to leave anymore.” Said Davos confidently, “In addition, if you perform well, such as helping citizens win a war, building a good road in a short time…and so on, then the 5 year period can be reduced…”

Bagul’s expression at this time was much more lively compared to when he just came. After all, from a doomed death to a hope for freedom, one could imagine his joy. Moreover, he felt the kindness of the new archon to the Lucanians. Otherwise, he would not let his soldiers marry a Lucanian women and make them relatives with the captured people. And so he said, “I personally agree with your proposal. However, I have to go back and discuss it with my tribesman, specially my father. After getting their consent, shall we sign a contract?”

“Contract?” Davos sneered, “There’s no contract here. You can only believe on my words.”

“WHAT!!” Bagul was taken aback. This matter concerns the life and death of his tribe, but he can only rely on a few words of the other party.

“Don’t you know that all the citizens of Amendolara wanted to execute you, but I did not agree. (in fact, the new citizens have no ill feeling towards the Lucanians. After all, they are not the victims, but became the winner and beneficiaries.) Under these circumstances, I can only convinced them, and your good performance and time will slowly wipe out their hatred. So you are not qualified to sign a contract with me, you will need to either trust me, or go back to prison until you die!” Said Davos sternly.

Bagul’s face went paled and said with a hoarse voice, “You are too young…so why should we…”

Davos confidently said, “Why? Because I am the leader of the troops that defeated you Lucanians. The soldiers trust me because I always keep my promise! And as the archon for life of Amendolara, the people are willing to believe me, because I promised to bring protection to Amendolara, so that they will never suffer from such disaster again!”

Bagul looked at Davos, the strength of his eyes and frankness in his words made Bagul choose to give in, and he said, “I will go back to discuss it with my people. If they agree, I hope that you can keep your promise!”

“Of course! As a matter of fact, the citizens who will become relatives of your tribe will even take the initiative themselves to ask for your freedom.” There was a smile on Davos’ face.

When Bagul heard his words, he did not respond anymore. Relying on women to fight for their freedom is a shame for these Lucanian warriors, but who told them to be the loser of the war!

After Bagul left, Davos then said to Asistes, who was silent, “Tomorrow, you will be the one responsible to take Bagul to the place where the Lucanian women are being held. Then ask him to pick out the women who are going to marry our soldiers, and then have them dressed up. At the same time, you will have your uncle, Antonios, and Kapus, and the officers to incite the soldier to come to the council to make a demand to marry a Lucanian woman!”

“Will the soldiers be even willing to marry an indigenous woman?” Asked Asistes curiously.

“That is why you will spread a rumor that the Lucanian women are tall, fit, and are hardworking…”

“Are these all…true?” Asistes was skeptical. It must be know that the Greeks advocate “the beauty of the human body”, just saying a “fit body” will attract the attention of many Greek men.

“Of course it is true. Think about the Lucanians who live in the mountains, they will climb up and down every day. What’s more, they are famous for herding animals in Magna Graecia, and the beef that the Lucanian’s produce are the best offering for the temple of Zeus in the city-states of Magna Graecia. They eat more meat, while we eat more grains… who do you think will grow bigger?!…” Explained Davos.

Asistes recalled the captured Lucanians and nodded.

“In addition to marrying a woman from Lucania, there are also preferential laws from the city-state*, ‘If we occupy the land in Lucania in the future, we will give them priority to it or allocate more land, because they are the son-in-law of the Lucanians, which make it easier for them to get along with the locals.’” Davos further increased the appeal to the soldiers. (Actually, he just temporarily thought of it and haven’t yet brought it to the council.)

“I will do it.” Even Asistes was a bit moved when he heard this, but he still had some doubts, “Lord Davos, I still don’t understand, these Lucanians have become our captives, so it is a matter of course to turn them into slaves. So why even bother to make it so troublesome? And you even need to promised them?”

Chapter 112 – Proposal concerning the slaves

Davos patiently explained it to him, “Which one is better, forcing them to work while getting beaten or them doing it voluntarily?”

“The latter, of course.”

“What’s more, I don’t want them to be slaves, but to be a citizen of Amendolara. Only in this way can we continue to strengthen our strength! And if you think about it, one day, when the indigenous people of Lucania trembled with fear under the threat of our spears, saw some soldiers in our ranks who had the same appearance and spoke the same language as them, but wore Greek armor, ate Greek food, and talked freely with the Greeks, what would they think?”

Asistes thought for a while and said feeling unsure, “They might surrender?”

“That’s right, Bagul and the others will be the examples of the Lucanians, and make them know that they will not be abused but will live a good life if they surrender to us. Think about how the Persians treats foreigners, and we will do it better than them, because we will treat the foreigners as equals, accept them more leniently and let them enjoy the same rights as us. Only in this way can we eliminate the estrangement between them and us, and quickly make Amendolara stronger!…” Said Davos earnestly and passionately. In this era, he did not want to be a lone traveler, as he wants to spread his political ideas to the people around him, infect them and change the narrow thinking of the Greek city-states.

Asistes then said with admiration, “My lord, you think so far ahead!”

“Asi, I heard that you haven’t pick a wife this time. Are you interested in choosing a Lucanian woman as your wife? If so, I will ask Bagul if he has any sister, and you can become his relative.” Said Davos jokingly.

Asistes immediately remembered the terrifying appearance of Bagul and shook his head.

“Joking aside, if you do marry a Lucanian woman. Then one day once we have conquered Lucania, I might appoint you as the satrap(governor) of Lucania.” Said Davos half-jokingly.

Satrap?! Asistes thought of the majestic appearance of Tissaphernes, the Persian Satrap of Asia Minor, and as a young man, he was really moved. However, he didn’t think much about how throughout the Mediterranean region, the position of satrap has only existed in the Persian Empire, and the satrap was appointed only by the king of Persia…

Watching the back of the departing Asistes, Davos was still thinking whether it is necessary to set up a low-level public office under the archon -clerk, so that the work of Asistes can be justified, and Davos use this chance to also train a group of like-minded young men and become his assistant in governing the city in the future.

Davos was still thinking about it, when Cheiristoya came in and told him, “Olivos is here.”

Davos wondered what this guy wanted coming so late at night.

Olivos’ voice could even be heard before he even came in, “My lord, your house is so big! I would’ve lost if there was no one to guide me…oh, this marble statue is really good, which master has created this masterpiece? Looking at the outline of these muscles…” Olivos started a long, rambling conversation.

Davos looked at him and said, “I will drive you out of here if you don’t say what you came here for!”

“No! No! I really have something to ask for your help!” Said Olivos hurriedly, “Archon, you must help me with this matter!” He begged.

“What’s the matter?!” Davos, who seemed to be impatient, had become more interested in Olivos’ problem.

Olivos suddenly became bashful, and mumbled, “I…I want you…to…help me propose marriage to Mariji.”

“What? To propose a marriage?” Davos didn’t hear it clearly.

Olivos took a deep breath and then exclaimed, “I have fallen in love with the daughter of Mariji, Mitra. I want you to help me propose our marriage to Mariji!”

Davos finally understood, ‘It turns out that the jokes that they made these few days are true! When did this guy fell in love with Mariji’s daughter?’

Davos couldn’t remember what Mariji’s daughter looked like, as he only remember that she was a petite and shy girl.

“You like her, but does she like you?” Davos must clear this matter first.

“Of course, she is willing to be with me!” Olivos said confidently.

“Does Mariji know about it?” Asked Davos again.

“He doesn’t know. However, Mitra’s mother is very much in favor of our relationship, but she can’t make the decision.”

It is natural that she couldn’t be the one to make the decision. In this era, both Greeks and Persians are dominated by men. Davos’ won’t even consider it, even if he put aside Olivos’ licentious past, but since that incident happened, he had changed a lot. Instead of taking women by force, he would even dissuade others from doing it. On one hand, Olivos is his savior, while on the other hand, Mariji is the talent that he could even regard as his own arm. So Davos is happy to see their combination, “I’ll go and propose it to Mariji. I will try my best to get you both together, but it will depend on your performance.” As soon as he finished speaking, Olivos jumped up happily, “Great! Wonderful! Davos, you really are a good man!” Olivos gave Davos a big hug,

Davos was dumbfounded as he look at Olivos who was singing and dancing out of the courtyard. He was actually given the good person card.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the next morning, the new citizens that are still single had protested in front of the council, demanding a solution to their problems of lacking women to marry and offered a suggestions that they could even accept marrying a Lucanian women.

The council then held an emergency meeting to discuss this matter. In the continuous protest outside of the court, the council elders headed by the archon, Davos, had no choice but to pass a resolution* and agreed to allow the new citizens to marry a Lucanian women who were once the enemy of Amendolara. (Davos and the new citizen elders were all acting)

At the same time, the council had also passed another resolution: To turn all the captives Lucanians into the slaves of the city-state, and they will work for free until the day they died. However, no Amendolaran shall harm these slaves, for they are the wealth of the city.

After that, Davos put forward another bill.

Cornelius was unconsciously tense when he saw that Davos would propose another bill, because the things that he repeatedly proposed will destroy the tradition of Amendolara and made Cornelius slightly depressed. However, this proposal was relatively normal.

Prior to their attack on the Lucanian alliance, Davos had promised the slaves to set them free once they won.

After wiping out the Lucanian alliance, Thurii had brought back the more than a thousand slaves that they had lent to Davos, as well as his request to grant them freedom, as their promised before the war. The remaining 300 slaves, who were looted and collected by the mercenaries throughout their journey in Persia, and had accompanied them through countless battles and tribulations. According to Davos, these slaves is their own people, and as a result, more than 20 elders unanimously approved the proposal of Davos.

However, another proposal of Davos caused controversy that will allow the slaves who had become freeman to freely leave or apply to become citizens of Amendolara.

Stromboli was the first to stand up and expressed his strong opposition, “There has never been such a precedent in Amendolara to allow the slaves to become a citizen of the city-state! If you do this, then Amendolara will be the laughing stock in Magna Graecia!” His words were approved by the several original citizen elders.

At this time, Antonios stood up and retorted, “Please note that after we passed the previous bill, they are no longer slaves, but freemen. And every city-state has a precedence of accepting freemen as citizens, this is specially true for Amendolara, who had accepted us outsiders with magnanimity, and made us citizens of Amendolara, which also includes a Persian! Why couldn’t we be magnanimous with these freemen! And we are already currently discussing the 《Immigration Act》 that was proposed by Lord Davos. Isn’t it just right that these former slaves, who are now freemen, and have contributed and sacrificed for the sake of Amendolara, are the first to benefit of this bill!”

The new citizens agreed one after another, while the original citizens were tongue tied.

Amintas stood up and told them the story of his life when he was saved by a slave during the battle in Persia. At last, he said it out loud, “They are not slaves, but our brothers! So we should return this favor!”

Herpus had also briefly described how the slaves in the medical camp helped the physicians to rescue the wounded day and night.

Then, Mersis also exaggerated how his slaves could quickly calculate money, distribute goods and supplies without any error, so as to provide the best guarantee for the success of the mercenaries, and is proud to claim that they are the best managers!

Although there were only 21 people in the meeting place, the atmosphere gradually turned heated, and there was no need for Davos to speak. The proposal was passed, and after discussing it, the resolution is as follow: After the application for citizenship is confirmed, they will have a 2-years probation period. During this time, they will have to learn to speak Greek and be familiar with the laws of the city of Amendolara. They also must not have any records of violating the laws, and when the 2-years probation period is over, they will pay 200 drachmas to the city-state to become a prepatory citizen. When there is a major campaign in Amendolara, they can voluntarily participate, which will shorten their probation period according to their achievements.

At that time, the elders did not realize that the passage of this law, together with the previous 《Davos’ Immigration Act》, will have a profound impact on the later Mediterranean Greek history. The example of Mariji and the 300 slaves becoming Greek citizens had later became an important precedent on the acceptance of freemen and slaves in the city-states under the rule of Davos.

Chapter 113 – The aid of Taranto

At the meeting place, some people were still complaining about whether the 200 drachmas is too much.

Some people retorted that paying more is necessary, because only in this way can they think that it is not easy to become a citizen of Amendolara and will know how to cherish it.

In the next day, the census officer, Raphias, reported that the Archon’s wife, Cheiristoya, had paid money in advance for 10 freeman, and at the same time, Mersis had also paid in advance for 6 freeman.

Only then did the other realize the value of this group of freeman. Not to mention the sinister insight of Mersis, as he had searched many talented people who were able to write and calculate, as well as craftsmen with excellent skills. Most of the ordinary slaves were also physically strong, because they were the one doing the labor of the supply camp. And after fighting a lot of times and with a little bit of training, they could become a qualified soldiers. What’s more, they are mainly Persian farmers. In the Mediterranean region, there are 3 countries that have a very experienced farmers in growing crops: The first are the Persians, the fertile land in the two river basins has trained excellent farmers. The second are the Egyptians, the Nile Valley, which surges every July, makes the Egyptians only love to do two things in their life, farming and worshiping their god. The third one are the Carthaginians, the two powerful magical weapons of Carthage are sea trading and agriculture, for this reason, they had even compiled a special book about agriculture. As for the Greeks, because their native land is barren, and so they could only do maritime trade, herding animals, planting olives and brewing wine, and crafting handicrafts…however, these new citizens have been fighting all over the place, and are bad at farming.

As a result, the 300 freeman were quickly divided up. The citizens who did not manage to employ them had to go to Taranto’s market to buy slaves (at that time, Taranto had the largest slave market in Magna Graecia). Some citizens even fancied the large number of freeman in their neighbor, Thurii. Of course, this is a story for later.

The council did not immediately disbanded after they finish handling the slave law, because Mariji had returned from Taranto.

If one had taken the sea route from Amendolara to Taranto, it won’t be far, and with a downwind from the port of Thurii, one can arrive there in less than two hours. However, it was a mistake for Davos to send Mariji to Taranto, because as a Persian, Mariji wasn’t allowed in the council of Taranto, but he had no other better talents to use at that time. Fortunately, Archytas anticipated this situation and wrote a letter, and have Mariji take it to his father, Histiaeus. With Mariji’s flattery and the rich and novel gifts that he had bought, it made the senior elder Histiaeus to actively mediated for him. Thus, the council and the archon of Taranto showed enthusiasm for Amendolara’s initiative to form an alliance with Taranto.

Of course, it wasn’t due to Histiaeus that made Taranto so enthusiastic about the proposal of the mercenary. The actual reason is that, Although Taranto and Thurii has an armistice for decades, and both are a part of a defensive alliance, they are, after all, a loose alliance with no binding force. Because this alliance was initiated by Taranto, and they need to actively made some efforts in order for some city-states that have accumulated deep hatred with each other, to not actively tear each other part, such as Crotone and Locri. Including Taranto, who was somewhat hostile to Thurii. After all, Taranto, as one of the most powerful city-state in Magna Graecia, was defeated twice in a row against the newly built city-state. In the end, although they have an armistice agreement signed in order to build Heraclea peacefully, Taranto greatly lost its face in Magna Graecia. Amendolara, who was once a member of the alliance of Thurii, now wants to form an alliance with Taranto. The council of Taranto had suddenly regained its face. Moreover, the addition of Amendolara means that their affiliated city-state, Heraclea, will now be well protected. How can there be any reason for them refuse!

However, another request of Mariji have put them in a dilemma, as Mariji asked Taranto for assistance on the ground that Amendolara had just experienced a war and was in urgent needs of supplies in order to maintain their living. As a newly established ally, it is easy for them to help with some material things, because Taranto is also a wealthy city-state. However, the amount of supplies that Mariji had demanded was a lot, and the elders needed to discuss this matter.

It wasn’t until the next day, when Archytas manage to lead his troops back to Taranto, and reported the course of the expedition, had emphasized the fighting strength of the mercenaries and the outstanding military talent of their leader, Davos. He also stressed that the mercenaries who were now the new citizens were the one in power in Amendolara.

In fact, Mariji had already long praised the performance of the mercenaries on them wiping out the Lucanian alliance. However, it had instead aroused the dissatisfaction of some elders that had thought that they just wanted to take the credit of the work of Taranto’s reinforcement. But now that Archytas, whom they trusted, had said the same thing, and had praised Davos so much, they then realized that the new Amendolara could do much more than protect Heraclea from the wind and rain. Therefore, they not only did not cut down the number of supplies that Mariji had requested, but had also added something extra.

When Mariji read out the agreement with Taranto in the city hall, the original citizens didn’t feel much when they heard it. As it still the same alliance and the contents did not change much, the only thing that was changed was their partner, from Thurii to Taranto. However, the one that had attracted their attention was the Persian and now a citizen of Amendolara, Mariji, not only was he fluent in Greek, but had made them remember the two laws that was passed, which made the original citizens felt complicated for a while.

Next, Mariji read out the list of the aid that Taranto had sent: 100 tons of grains, 1,000 kilograms of salted fish, 200 sets of round shields and spears, and a hundred piece of linen cloth…

They were surprised every time they heard about the quantity of the supplies. Finally, before Mariji could even finished reading it all out, everyone had cheered, ‘Taranto is so generous!’ Not to mention the other things, a hundred tons of grain is already enough to keep the whole population of Amendolara alive for six months, and the wheat fields of Amendolara should be ready to be harvested by that time. Amendolara’s biggest difficulty was easily solved and had made the elders think that they are dreaming.

“Due to the sheer amount of supplies, Taranto needed to divide it into several batches and transport it to Heraclea and then to here. The first batch will arrive tomorrow!” Everyone applauded as soon as Mariji finished speaking.

By taking advantage of the situation, Davos say out loud, “Brothers, in view of the great achievement of Mariji for Amendolara, I propose that Mariji, a citizen and the city-state commercial officer of Amendolara, to become a council elder!”

The proposal was warmly supported by the new citizens, while the original citizens reluctantly raised their hands.

Next, the council had also decided to send an envoy, led by the praetor, Cornelius, and the inspector, Antonios, to visit Taranto the next day to express their gratitude to their ally and further discuss the details of the treaty.

At the end of the council meeting, Mariji followed Davos out of the city hall.

“Thank you for your help! You had not only made me a citizen of Amendolara and a commercial officer, but also a council elder!” Said Mariji gratefully.

“See, I didn’t lie to you.” Davos laughed.

“My lord, I know you have always abide by your promise. It is impossible for you to deceive others!” Mariji seemed to have forgotten what he had said when he came to Magna Graecia.

“Mariji, you must remember that this is not my decision, it is the gratitude of the elders of the council and your reward for your contribution to Amendolara!” Davos, modest as he was, said it as reminder.

Mariji looked around and whispered, “What council! I only know for a fact that without you my lord, I’m afraid that I won’t even be a citizen of Amendolara. I, Mariji, will always be faithful to you my lord Davos!”

Mariji’s words were sincere, and Davos laughed again and said, “It seems that you still have to get used to being a citizen of a Greek city-state.”

Mariji wanted to say more, but Davos patted him on the shoulder and asked, “How about Taranto?”

Mariji is a smart person, and instead of continuing what he was gonna say, he instead seriously said, “The time is too short, and after walking around in a hurry, I feel that Taranto is a big city with a lot of people and a lot of them are wealthy…there are a lot of merchant ships in their ports, and their market is prosperous. I estimated that their trading volume in a day is not low…” Mariji looked envious.

Davos nodded and asked, “I heard that the Messapians are invading Taranto. What’s the situation now?”

If he had not joined the mercenaries, Mariji would not even have cared about the situation, let alone find out about it. After learning from the mercenaries, he had some understanding of the military, “The Messapians have retreated, and their invading troops were mainly composed of cavalry and light infantry. They did not clash with the hoplite of Taranto at all. They can only invade the lands outside of the city of Taranto, but Taranto had no way to deal with them, because they couldn’t catch up with them.”

“Cavalry? Do they have a lot of cavalries?” Asked Davos keenly.

“I don’t know. However, it seems that the terrains to the south of Taranto does not have many mountainous areas and rivers, and most of it are flat grassland, so the Messapians graze a lot of animals there.”

Davos thought that in the Apennine Peninsula, besides the Gauls in the north that raised horses on the vast plains and marshes in the river Po basin, which had made their cavalry to be very strong. While the other forces in other places are mainly infantry, and only a small number of cavalry act as a facade. He didn’t expect that in the south, in the “Italian Leather Boot” or “Heel” there is a tribe that has a cavalry as their main force. After this, it is a must to have Antonios visit Taranto and look into the strength of the Messapian’s army. (In fact, the information of Mariji is wrong. The cavalry is not the main force of the Messapians.)

Note: The Messapis was said to be a race that have come from Illyria* a long time ago (*it is now Epirus in Albania today). The people who immigrated to the “heel” of southern Italy were regarded as an indigenous people because they have arrived earlier before the great colonial era of Greece.

Chapter 114 – Hera’s Ceremony and Wedding Celebration

He then said to Mariji, while suppressing his excitement, “Currently, the city-state is suffering from the lack of money in the treasury, and you have return just in time. As the commercial officer of Amendolara, it is your duty to change the situation in where Amendolara does not have much trade, and increase the tax revenue for the treasury! I hope that you can do your best for the city-state by investigate and to come up with a good plan!”

“I will do my best!” Mariji was itching to to do it.

“And-” Davos stopped as soon as he spoke, ‘I’ll discuss about the marriage proposal after a few days. After all, Mariji has just returned.’

Mariji saw that Davos did not continue what he was gonna say, nor did he dare to ask, and just said, “Oh right, milord. Two men from the Pythagorean school of Taranto had came together with me to Amendolara and said that they were invited by you.”

“Where are they now?” Asked Davos.

“They ought to be looking for you.” Said Mariji feeling unsure.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Soon, Davos met the people from the Pythagorean school in his own house. One of them is called Marticoris, and the other is Metotikles, both of whom looked young and should not be over thirty.

Hence, Davos who had just returned home, said with a smile, “Both of you look so young!”

This annoyed Marticoris, who exclaimed, “Mathematics is not about judging the level with age. No one in Taranto can compare with my speed in calculation! Do you think that I am willing to even come to this remote town myseff?”

Davos laughed, “You see, I have become an archon as a young man. If I look down on your young age, doesn’t it mean that I am also looking down on myself?”

Marticoris was taken aback.

“On the contrary, I am glad that the Pythagorean school is full of young people. Because young people are energetic. Because young people are ambitious. Because young people, are the one that dares to break the rules, and think about the things that their predecessors doesn’t dare to think! This is specially important in the academic field, isn’t it?” Said Davos passionately.

The previous silent Metotikles opened his eyes wide.

Marticoris muttered embarrassedly, “What you had said is very reasonable…”

“Don’t worry! I will strongly support the development of your school in Amendolara, and I will also provide you with a large house free of charge for your residence and place of lecture. As long as you do not violate the laws of Amendolara, you can train your students in Amendolara without any restrictions. I believe that with your ability, you will be able to create a brilliant career in Amendolara that your colleagues in Taranto couldn’t do! So you must make up for the regret of Pythagoras, your father!”

Davos’ commitment and encouragement ignited the passion of the two young man. After they showed their respect to him, they asked him to send someone to take them to their house, as they need to take a short rest so that they can start their work immediately.

Davos naturally welcomed them. When the two men were far away, Davos could still hear Marticoris’ voice, “That archon is not bad! He is really better! Better than Taranto’s…”

“Marticoris, keep your voice down. You are still in other people’s house!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos listened and he was unable to stop himself from laughing.

“Are you really gonna give your full support to the Pythagorean school in Amendolara?” Cheiristoya came from the wing room, then put her hand on Davos’ shoulder, and said with a bit of worry, “I heard that the Pythagorean school has a bad reputation, due to them being secretive and disrespectful to the gods. On the contrary, they think that everything is made up of “numbers”…in the past, they had many conflicts with the ecclesia and the council in many city-states in Magna Graecia!”

Davos did not take it to mind and smiled, “What’s the problem with it? Aren’t we, Greeks, already accustomed to the harmony between man and god?! And we won’t be in the same situation as the Egyptians who were completely ruled by the Gods, and those who do not respect the Gods will be executed. Besides, it is not easy to become a disciple of the Pythagorean school, apart from a small number of highly educated nobles, while ordinary people wouldn’t even be able to pass their test, which is the reason why their school cannot grow, and that, they are against democracy!”

“Oh…” Cheiristoya’s eyes rolled and said, “Do you think that they will support you?”

“Whether they support me or not won’t affect me!” Shrugged Davos and added, “However, it will at least means that they won’t be a big problem. What’s more, don’t think that they only study mathematics, as they are also interested in philosophy, music, art…and study them thoroughly. There is also another area that you are interested in, as they advocate the equality between men and women in academics.”

“Really?” Asked Cheiristoya in astonishment.

“It’s true. I heard from Archytas that Pythagoras’ wife is his student.” Davos then smiled, “With them moving in, you won’t have any shortage of employees in your bank that can do accounting.”

“Didn’t you say that they won’t be able to grow?” Cheiristoya remembered what he had said just then.

“Of course it is impossible with the way how the Pythagoreans teach. However, after the two young men hit a wall, I don’t believe that they still won’t change.” Said Davos confidently.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the early morning, the wild flowers bloomed all over the Amendolara mountain, a colorful and romantic sea of flowers. Most of them are purple thyme, which swayed in the mountain wind and spread a strong fragrance all over the city.

A pair of men and women dressed up, and came out of their homes and gathered in the square…

More than 1,500 newlyweds turned the small square into a happy sea of people. The dawn shone on their happy smiling faces, and their gazes were intensely focused on the central platform. There stands the statue of Hera from the temple of Hera in Metapontum. The goddess holds a scepter in her right hand, while she twists the corner of her clothes with her left hand, as she face the newlyweds under the stage with a kind smile.

Around the statue were several priestesses in white robes, dancing the sacred dance of offering, and singing the hymn of Hera…

After the ceremony, the high priest of Hera said to the countless newlyweds with her deep and clear voice, “Today is a beautiful day, and Hera is here to witness your happy union! The Greeks value family the most, and a happy marriage is a sign of the prosperity of a family and the cornerstone of the city-state’s stability!…”

The high priest stepped forward and asked, “Hera had entrusted me to ask all the men present, ‘Are you willing to protect your wife from the wind and rain, no matter how difficult the situation that you encounter and love her until the end of your life?’”

The men, headed by Davos, said without any hesitation, “I do!!!”

“Hera had entrusted me to ask all the women present, ‘Are you willing to manage your husband’s home and raise your children no matter how difficult life is, and respect him till the end of life?’”

The women headed by Cheiristoya said from the bottom of their heart, “I do!!!”

The high priest was smiling, “Now the newlyweds can kiss each other!”

Davos and Cheiristoya, Giorgris and Daeneya, Olivos and Mitra (because of the early arrival of the priestess of Hera from Metapontum yesterday afternoon, Davos had to hurriedly propose the marriage to Mariji, and Mariji readily agreed. In fact, Mariji, who was influenced by the monarchy system of Persia, hadn’t cared much about the reputation and wealth of Olivos. What he cared the most was how Olivos was a close friend of Davos, and that Davos had personally proposed the marriage)…countless newlywed couples gaze affectionately with each other and kissed sweetly…

Stromboli, who was watching from the side, couldn’t bear to look at this, and protested in a low voice, “This is against the Greek tradition! This is too vulgar! Inspector…the inspector should stop them!”

“The inspector had already went to Taranto.” Scambras said with a smile, “I think this Hera’s ceremony is very interesting.”

“‘A happy marriage is a sign of the prosperity of a family and the cornerstone of the city-state’s stability.’ This sentence does make sense!” Exclaimed Raphias.

“I have never seen a Hera’s ceremony like this before.” Cornelius had some doubts.

“I heard that the archon rushed to the high priest’s residence last night to discuss something. This must be the archon’s idea.” Guessed Protesilaus.

“Listening to what you are saying, it seems that your archon is an interesting young man.” Anlokris, the envoy of Heraclea, looked at the square and said with a smile.

“The goddess Hera wish for your happiness!” The high priest, with both her hands raised to the heaven, said devoutly.

Several priestesses began to sprinkle holy water under the stage, and the newlyweds also devoutly sang the hymn of Hera.

Just after the wedding ceremony, the fire fighter on the side of the venue started to sprinkle water using a water filled jar. Although they had been informed in advance, the women still screamed and hid in the arms of their men, while the men protected their wives, and also wanted to steal the jars from the fire fighter. The screams of the whole venue continued, and the square was lively and bustling with excitement…

“How interesting! How interesting!” With an excited look on his face, Protesilaus suddenly turned and ran back.

“Where are you going?” Asked Tritodemos.

“To go and get a water jar!” Protesilaus ran without looking back.

“Getting a jar?” Tritodemos was taken aback, and he soon understood what he meant. Looking at the bustling venue, he also wanted to join the fun, and shouted, “Get more jars!”

“Yes, get more!” Scambras was also like a kid, and he lamented, “Too bad that i got married early!”

“Amendolara hasn’t been so lively for such a long time!” Sighed Raphias.

Stromboli was touched by this sentenced, as he watched the water mist rising in the square and condensed into a rainbow under the sun. He stopped complaining for a while and murmured, “Won’t this celebration be held on this day every year in the future?!”

Chapter 115 – The invitation of Syracuse

After the mass wedding, Davos did not go home immediately. As he and the elders met with the envoys of Metapontum and Heraclea in the council.

One is the ally of Taranto, and the other is the affiliated city-state of Taranto, and now, Amendolara has become an ally of Taranto, and so their discussion went on smoothly and friendly. Davos put forward the proposal of Amendolara wanting to get along with Metapontum and Heraclea, and help each other. In which the envoys of the two city-state had readily accepted. The three sides also discussed on strengthening their exchanged and trades…

Davos finally returned to his home after a busy afternoon. However, he did not expect to have a guest waiting.

The sharp-eyed middle-aged envoy presented a rich gift, and he then politely introduced himself, “Greetings, honorable archon, Davos! I am Herolis of Syracuse, the envoy of the great strategos, Dionysius.”

Davos was shocked when he heard the two words “Syracuse” and “Dionysius”.

In his previous life, when mentioning Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, he could only think of the story of the sword of Damocles*. This story reminded Davos that it is very dangerous for him to be a tyrant in the Greek city-state. Besides that, he had no deep impression on Dionysius or even Syracuse, and he is just like other ordinary people where his gaze were focused on Athens, Sparta, and Rome. And the only thing that he knows is that during the Peloponnesian war, the Athenian army was completely destroyed in Syracuse, the philosopher Plato stayed in Syracuse, and the mathematician Archimedes died in Syracuse…that’s it. (T/N: )

However, when he came to this era, specially after coming to Magna Graecia, he often went to find Burkes, Cornelius and others to talk about the local conditions and customs of Magna Graecia, so he knew that Syracuse was not an ordinary big city-state. If the Greek city-states manage to successfully resisted the invasion of the Persian army with Athens and Sparta as their allies, then under the leadership of Syracuse, the city-states in Magna Graecia and Sicily had defeated the Carthaginian army to the south (coincidentally, the day of their victory was the same as the Battle of Salamis in the east), and helped the Greek city-states in the Apennine Peninsula to fend off the aborigines’ invasion. Therefore, several decades ago, Syracuse was the Hegemon of the Greek city-states in the western Mediterranean, and ruled with tyranny at that time. This time, Syracuse had once again implemented the system of tyranny, and the one in the throne is Dionysius, the so-called great strategos.

After having a brief understanding of how Dionysius usurped the power from others, he can see that he is not only skillful in using his power, but is also ruthless. His military and political abilities are not weak, and his luck is also good (Carthage took advantage of Syracuse’s civil strife and attacked Syracuse and its allies, and even to the extent of them managing to siege the city of Syracuse. As a result, a plague broke out and Dionysius repelled them). What’s more, he also knows the truth that “whoever muster a powerful army can be the emperor*” as he vigorously trained and employed private troops to consolidate his power…so Davos has labeled this tyrant of Syracuse as “dangerous”. Even if he doesn’t know what happened to this man in his previous life, but he had read something from a book in his previous life, and one of the words in it that had impressed him deeply, ‘from the very start, a rising country will consciously or unconsciously wants to firmly hold in its hands the power and land it once acquired when it was strong.’ Syracuse used to be the hegemon of Sicily and the city-states of Magna Graecia! What about the current Syracuse? It must be known that people with little ambition won’t even dare to be a tyrant… (TL Note: Original is “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun” is a phrase which was coined by Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong. Both are same thing with the latter is just a modern reiteration, and I think the other one is much more in line with the settings.)

Davos fell into deep thoughts, but his face was full of smile, “Oh, I can’t believe that the distinguished Syracuse will come to our small mountain city! Please have a seat!”

When Herolis sat down, Davos asked him, “Lord Herolis, is there anything that Syracuse has sent you to do?”

“I was given an order, and when I set out to Thurii, I didn’t know that you had already become the archon of Amendolara. So the original order is no longer applicable, but I think that I should still say it.” Herolis cleared his throat and said, “When the story of you and your army wiping out the Lucanian alliance with only a small number of troops in Thurii spreads to Sicily. The Greeks in Sicily were very happy, and they all said that this was a brilliant victory over the aborigines in Magna Graecia in these years! When Dionysius learned about it, he had immediately decided to hire you to Sicily with a generous salary to fight against Carthage, the enemy of the city-states in Magna Graecia and the dog of the Persians.”

Davos was relieved and pretended to be curious and ask, “Good pay?! How good is it?”

“A soldier will receive 4 daric a month, and you will get 20 daric a month.” Herolis then looked at Davos.

Davos looked surprised, “4 daric gold coins…that is more than double than the payment of Thurii to us! Is Syracuse so rich?!”

“Being able to invite the heroes of the Persian expedition and the famous strategos that wiped out the Lucanian alliance’s troops, is a glory for Syracuse and no amount of money is worth it!”

‘It seems that I have now become a famous general!’ Davos rubbed his stubble on his chin with a bit of pride in his heart. He greatly like the envoy, but he still said with regret, “It’s a pity that we are no longer mercenaries, but a citizen of Amendolara.”

“Yea, I didn’t expect that you and your army would recapture Amendolara without even resting after wiping out the Lucanian alliance. This is another brilliant victory!” Herolis sincerely praised him, as it was more difficult to attack a city than fight in a field. And of course, he did not know that Davos and the mercenaries had attacked the Lucanians at night, and so, he sincerely said, “Amendolara is lucky to invite you to become their citizens! However, I would need to abandon the order that I have accepted. And now, I want to make a new request on behalf of the great strategos, Dionysius of Syracuse.”

Davos gestured for him to say it.

“I would like to invite you to lead the army of Amendolara and Syracuse to fight back the invasion of Carthage and to bring peace to the Greek city-states in Sicily! Of course, Syracuse will pay your army the same generous reward. And at the same time, I know that Amendolara had just experienced a war, and so, Syracuse is willing to provide you with your urgently needed supplies free of charge, so that Amendolara could recover as soon as possible!”

Davos dodged the question and had instead asked, “I heard that Syracuse and Carthage had signed an agreement for truce the year before last. Did Carthage tear up the agreement and start the war again?”

Herolis was a bit embarrassed, but soon said seriously, “Carthage chose a truce because their army had suffered from the plague at that time, which was the punishment of Apollo! However, Carthage had still occupied many Greek city-states in Sicily, from Selinus in the westernmost part, to Agrigento the southern coast of Sicily, then to Gela and Kamarina near Syracuse. Thousands of Greeks lived a life worse than death under the slavery of the Carthaginians. Moreover, the huge army of Carthage is stationed in Kamarina, which threatened Syracuse. Whether it is for the sake of Syracuse’s safety or to rescue the people of Gela and Agrigento, Syracuse must deal a heavy blow to Carthage in order to stop the city-states that was established by the Phoenicians from coveting the Greek city-states in Sicily, and restore the Greek’s former territory in Sicily!”

Davos thought about it for some time(in fact, he had already made a decision), then he shook his head and said, “I would like to help the people of Sicily, but I am already the archon of Amendolara, and I have to be responsible for them. You see, I am always busy all day, and I don’t even have the time to rest, let alone travel far away. And the citizens of Amendolara are currently busy reorganizing their homes, restoring the agriculture and order of the city-state, as well as its security, and they are unlikely to follow me to Sicily. So I could only give you and the great strategos, Dionysius, my thanks for your invitation. However, I can only apologize!”

Herolis had only a bit of hope in getting a favorable answer. Therefore, he didn’t feel too disappointed, and he just sighed and said, “What a pity! I just hope that we would have a chance to cooperate in the future.”

Davos then said politely, “Please convey my apology and thanks to Dionysius, the great strategos!”

Davos then sent out Herolis.

When they approached the gate, Herolis stopped then turned around and said, “Lord Davos, can you allow me to ask a personal question?”

“Say it.”

“As far as I know, when you recaptured Amendolara, you could have let your men take over Amendolara, because the citizens of Amendolara were almost wiped out…what made you choose to let the people of Amendolara hold a voting to decide whether you will stay or not?” Asked Herolis earnestly.

Facing the probing gaze of Herolis, Davos secretly wondered whether this envoy was dissatisfied with Dionysius’ seizing of Syracuse using mercenaries and ruling it with an iron fist.

After looking at each other for a while, Davos then said, “We, mercenaries, are tired of war and death, and we just wanted to live a peaceful life, and not to loot wealth and gain power. If we don’t want Amendolara to fall into riots again and again, then every soldiers who wants to become a citizen of the city-state should follow the laws of Amendolara and follow the legal procedures of the city-state to become a citizen of the city-state. Then the original citizens won’t have any complaints against us, and we will also have a peace of mind, so that the whole city-state can remain stable…”

Herolis was silent for a moment, and he looked at Davos with a lot more respect, “It’s my pleasure in knowing you!”

Chapter 116 – Dionysius, the Tyrant

Davos watched as Herolis, the envoy of Syracuse, leave. When he returned to the living room, he looked more grave and worried. The trees wanted to be quiet, but the wind won’t stop blowing. It seemed that Syracuse was getting ready to fight Carthage. No matter what the outcome was, Amendolara needs to develop and strengthen itself as soon as possible in order to gain a firm foothold in troubled times.

Two days later, Dionysius, the Tyrant of Syracuse, heard the report of Herolis in his palace. At first, he was gloomy, and then he laughed, “A little mercenary leader has become an archon for life! Macias, what do you think?”

Macias, a former leader of a Campanian mercenary, stood next to him and said without hesitation, “My lord, I think that as a leader of a mercenary, he should have focused on how to win a battle, and get more gold and honor for himself, instead of doing something that he had never done. Although it might seem to be good, it can easily lead to his failure, and it will also drag down the innocent.”

“You are right!” Praised Dionysius, and then patted his throne, “I trembled everyday whenever I sit in this place, as I don’t even dare to slack even the slightest! A mercenary who is only brave and fierce dares to be a tyrant of a city!”

Herolis was unable to restrain himself and said, “My lord, this Davos is not a tyrant, but an archon for life elected by the people of Amendolara!”

“Herolis, what do you mean by that?!” Dionysius stared at Herolis with a gaze as sharp as a knife.

It was only then that Herolis realized that he had inadvertently touched Dionysius’ reverse scale. Immediately, he was wet with cold sweat, and so he lowered his head, and did not dare to speak again.

Dionysius looked at him carefully for a long time, then withdrew his gaze and said scornfully, “He is just playing a petty trick. We can only say that this young man is a bit clever, so it is no wonder that can win several battles. Unfortunately, he has only a small vision. Philistus*, do you know how many citizens there are in Amendolara?” (T/N: was a Greek historian from Sicily.)

On the left of Dionysius, a middle-aged man with elegant temperament opened his mouth, “As far as I know, they should have less than 4,000 citizens. And of course, their current number is far below that now.”

“Hearing that, even if Amendolara had not been troubled by war, they only have 4,000 citizens. They aren’t even as good as our Greek city of Syracuse that have as many citizens in a block.” Dionysius shrugged and said with a slight disdain.

The palace resounded with scattered laughter.

“If that mercenary leader named Davos had came to me quickly, then after defeating Carthage, he can then choose either Marsala, Ziz(Palermo), Eryx(Erice), Isuli Egadi, Segesta and other cities to be a tyrant. Those are a lot better than the small city of Amendolara. It’s a pity that he won’t have another chance!” Said Dionysius with great pride, and then he looked at Macias, “How is our troops preparation in attacking Carthage?”

“At present, we now have more than 10,000 mercenaries that have come to camp outside Syracuse, and we can also mobilize at least 40,000 citizen soldiers in Syracuse, including about 20,000 troops of the cities like Catania, Leontinoi, Tannurus and Pachino…in addition, there are also 2,000 cavalries. My lord, your army is a powerful army that has never been seen in the history of a Greek city-state! Even the most powerful Athens did not have such a huge military strength!” Said Macias excitedly.

Dionysius, however, has a calm expression and turned his gaze to his young brother, Leptines*, “How is the preparation of the navy?” (T/N: is a brother of Dionysius and is one of his military leaders.)

Although Leptines is the brother of Dionysius, he, however is, straightforward and frank. Because of this, Dionysius trusted his brother very much and promoted him to be the chief commander of the navy of Syracuse. He then replied, “We now have 150 triremes, and together with other warships, we have a total of 320 large and small warships.”

“Not enough…” Dionysius sighed, and his fingers began to tap on his throne, “You see, when fighting Carthage, you need 2 things – ships and cavalry, and we don’t have enough of both. Leptines, it seems that you have to urge the other cities to speed up the construction of warships. As for cavalries, Macias, send your people to the Apennine Peninsula to recruit some Celtic cavalry. Philistus, go to Sparta and ask for some Thessalians cavalry. Men, we have to speed up our progress! Once next spring comes, we are going to attack Gela!”

The three immediately responded that they will do their best to fulfill the task assigned by Dionysius.

“Macias, you need to work harder! It’s shameful that a leader of a small mercenary can wipe out those barbaric aborigines with only 2000 men, while we have the largest army of a Greek city-state, but we couldn’t even create a greater glory!” Dionysius was still thinking about the refusal of Davos, and so he encouraged Macias.

“My lord, be assured that I won’t let you down!” Macias declared immediately.

“Very well, Macias!” Praised Dionysius, and then he waved, “Philistus, stay, and you all can go.”

Herolis, Macias, Leptines, and two other courtiers withdrew, but the gaze of Dionysius was fixed on the back of Herolis, until Philistus called his name.

“Do you think that Herolis has changed a bit?” His finger tapped on the throne.

Philistus was startled, and cautiously defended Herolis, “My lord, I did not find anything wrong. Herolis is still the same Herolis as before.”

Dionysius looked at him, “I know that you have a good relationship with him. As I also cherish the help that he gave in my most difficult time, and so, I don’t want anything that can destroy our friendship!” Said Dionysius with emotion, “…Recently, I heard that he was studying the history of Egypt. I think of giving him some time off so that he can concentrate on his study…” Murmured Dionysius to himself, and Philistus sighed in his heart, “My lord, I understand…”

“This is merely a temproary arrangement…” Comforted Dionysius.

“Phili, Philoxenus* is your good friend, can you invite him here.” Dionysius changed the topic and said, “I have just written a poem and I’d like to invite him together with you to evaluate it. You know, the last time I discussed poetry with him, I had offended him by not saying anything and he haven’t come here for three months already.” (TL Note: was a Greek dithyrambic poet.)

“Philoxenus is a good man, but he likes to put on airs. I will try my best to persuade him to come.” Philistus laughed and joked, “My lord, you, a great strategos, even takes your time to meet ordinary citizens!”

Dionysius also laughed and spread out his hands, “So, who said that I am a dictator!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

During this time, Davos and Philesius, the military officer, were busy with reorganizing the city-state’s army.

After the mercenaries became citizens of Amendolara, and the more than thousand soldiers of Drakos, Sesta, and Adrien, and the more than 1,800 soldiers under Davos, and nearly 300 former slaves that became freeman. In addition, about 250 original citizens of the city-state that are still in the range of the service age. The total number of people who can fight in the city is about 3,500.

Originally, the highest position of the mercenary was the brigade commander (in fact, this was the position of Davos), and the highest unit was a brigade. However, with the increase number of of soldiers, the original established unit could not adapt to the actual situation of the city state. After discussing it with Philesius, Davos decided to add a higher tier unit, which he named “Legion”, and the highest commander of the army is still Davos himself, with a strength of 7,000 men. It is composed of seven brigades (6 hoplite brigades and one peltast brigade), with a thousand people in each brigade and the highest rank commander (will later be commonly known as “Senior Centurion”). A brigade has 5 centuria with 200 people in each centuria, and the highest rank leader of a centuria (will also be known as Centurion). A centuria has four platoons under its jurisdiction, each of which has 50 people and its highest rank is called a platoon captain.

Because of the influence of Rome from his previous life, Davos had planned to cancel the platoon and change it into a hundred man unit. However, Philesius raised his objection, as he thought that a platoon was superior in a skirmish and mountain warfare, because of their mobility and flexibility, and with the support of 4 platoons, the centuria’s ability to go indepedent was greatly enhanced. After much deliberation, Davos finally agreed with Philesius. Since then, the platoon was established as a unique military unit in the city-state under the control of Davos. As the lowest ranking officer, the platoon captain played a key role in connecting the army, and was later called the “leader of the soldiers” by the soldiers. Later, many strategoi under Davos were proud of being a platoon captain. As a result, Davos issued a military order that stipulates the need for them to serve as a platoon captain for 2 years before they can be promoted to a higher rank in the legion, which made the position of a platoon captain to be more dazzling, and of course, this is something in the future.

A platoon consist of 5 squads, each of which has ten men and a squad is led by a squad leader (later, it was renamed as Sergeant, which is assumed by veteran soldiers). In addition, the legion also has a cavalry, engineering camp, medical camp, logistic camp…and the actual number of people in a legion might be as high as 8,000. Of course, these are all just assumptions for now.

Since there are currently only about 3,500 soldiers in the city-state of Amendolara, Davos had to organized them into four brigades.

The soldiers of the first brigades were all from the mercenaries that Davos had led. However, the selection of the leader of the first brigade gave Davos and Philesius a little headache. In terms of ability and prestige, Antonios is comparable to Kapus, but considering that Antonios was serving as a city-state inspector and was the third most powerful official in the city-state, only next to the archon and the praetor. So for the sake of equality, Davos, after talking to the two men, decided that Kapus would be the leader of the first brigade.

Chapter 117 – Legion and Flag (I)

For the position of centurion that was vacated after the promotion of Kapus, Davos has proposed that the 20 platoon captains of the five centuria under the first brigade should be selected as candidates for the soldiers to vote. After the results came out, Davos was somewhat surprised when he learned that Matonis was the one elected, and he was elected for the following reasons: First, because he protected the weak, so the soldiers loved him. Second, he fought bravely, so the soldiers respected him.

While the soldiers of the second brigade are composed of the mercenaries brought by Drakos, Sesta and Adrien. Since Drakos brought the most mercenaries, coupled with his bravery and tenacity in battle, and is often the one in the frontline. Therefore, Drakos was chosen as the leader of the second brigade, while Sesta and Adrien became the centurion of the first and second centuria of the second brigade.

Then the third brigade consisted of the 6th and 7th unit (they are mainly the ones that have joined the mercenary of Davos in Byzantium), the original citizens of Amendolara, the freeman of the city-state who were the former slaves of the logistics camp, and a small number of Drakos’ mercenaries. The senior centurion of the third brigade is Hieronymus, who had been one of the leaders of the mercenaries in Persia and this can be regarded as him “getting back his position”. Agasias is the centurion of the first centuria of the third brigade.

Then there was the seventh brigade*, namely the peltast brigade, and the senior centurion of the first brigade is Epiphanes, who also served as the centurion of the first centuria. While the centurion of the second centuria is Cid, and the third centuria is Arpenst. They have a total of more than 600 people. (T/N: Yes, 7th brigade 七大…might be because the 4th-6th brigade is for the hoplite unit.)

And then, there’s the cavalry, which is led by Ledes.

Davos had also made a strict regulations on the helmets of the officers at all ranks. The top of the helmet of a platoon captain must be decorated with a white crest, the crest on a centurion’s helmet must be red, the crest on a senior centurion must be purple, while the legion’s main commander have a red, white, and purple crest on their helmet. At the same time, it is also stipulated that the crest of the officers must be arranged from front to back, so as to facilitate unity and management in battle.

But as soon as the new regulations came out, the officers had immediately went to either the weapon shops of Heraclea or Thurii* to modify their helmet, because this is a soldier’s honor. In his previous life, when Davos watched movies and televisions, he always thought that the high crest on the helmets of ancient western generals were just for the sake of appearance and to show off their identities, and it is without a doubt that it is flashy. However, after more than a half a year’s battle career, Davos became deeply aware of the necessity for this kind of appearance. After a long fierce battle between two sides, the formations will easily be chaotic, and once a soldier ends up splitting off with his team and the team became disorganized, they could not only search for the flag in the crowded battlefield, but also to search the officers through their tall and gorgeous crest of their helmet, and they will voluntarily moved closer to the officers and reorganized the formation to restore their combat strength. (*at this moment, Amendolara is in a state of deficiency, and there are no shops.)

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the early morning, the citizens of Amendolara, as well as the freeman, came to the square armed.

The freeman had just escape from their slavery and had no money to buy weapons and equipment. However, after the defeat of Thurii in the last battle, the Thurians had presented thousands of complete set of weapons and equipment to Davos mercenary, in order to have them continue defending the plains of Sybaris and hold the Lucanians. And after the annihilation of the Lucanian alliance, the mercenaries stripped off nearly 10,000 sets of shield and armors from thousands of corpses (which also includes the one in the camp of the Lucanians where it was burned to the grounds). Of course, all of these weapons and equipment were owned by the mercenaries and were not included in the weapon warehouse of Amendolara.

The officers had a heated discussion on how to distribute the spoils and the consensus was that the money from the sales of the spoils will be divided equally among the soldiers. Then Davos put forward his own suggestions that the wounded and the disabled soldiers will setup a weapon shop in the market of Amendolara that specialize in repairing and selling weapons and equipment that they have seized in combat, and the profits that they obtained will be used to subsidize the lives of the soldiers who were injured and even disabled in the battle now and also in the future.

After all, no one could guarantee that they won’t get injured in the future. With these “disability subsidies”, they would have less worry when fighting.

As a result, a large weapon shop had quickly opened and launched its own signboard “Legion”. The store is large and it has a lot of weapons and equipment, and considering that a full set of a hoplite equipment is worth 400 to 600 drachmas, which is not low, so they have even allowed for the equipment to be rented. And even though the rent is not a small sum of money, the freeman are still willing to rent it because they know that only by joining the army and participating in a war can they become citizens quickly and acquire lands! At the same time, being a soldier is a glory for the citizens and the best way for the freeman to improve their city-state status quickly!

But where did they get the money to rent it? The freeman did not need to worry about it for a long time, as they soon found out that a bank had opened and it is called “Cheiristoya”, and the interest rate was very low(compared with the loan interest in Greek city-states at that time). As they all know, Cheiristoya is the wife of the archon, and these freeman who had accompanied the mercenaries for thousands of miles knew about her and so they decided to borrow from this bank. This was also the first loan from Cheiristoya’s bank.

Now, once the soldiers arrive at the square, they will go and find the squad that they were assigned to and joined the leadership of their squad leaders, and then merge into a centuria to form a small phalanx formation. Finally, they will go to their designated area in the brigade in sequence. Although the whole process is slow, it was not chaotic, and they finally formed into three phalanx formation in an orderly manner.

However, the third brigade is still trying to form their ranks…

On the stage, Philesius saw Davos frowned a bit and hurriedly said, “My lord, the third brigade has the most complicated assembly of soldiers, specially those who have never received military training before, and the original citizens of Amendolara didn’t even received strict training, so -”

Davos interrupted him, “I understand, and so, Hieronymus has a lot of responsibility. I heard that he asked for a lot of veterans from the first brigade, and even the amiable Kapus was anxious for him.”

“Yes, my lord. Hieronymus is also anxious, as he is a very responsible person!” Explained Philesius tactfully.

Davos laughed, “Soldiers should be conscientious in their duty and they must not admit defeat. I believe that Hieronymus will be able to make the third brigade to catch up quickly!”

Then he asked, “Did the Lucanians came?”

“They are here.” Philesius pointed to a small slope in the southeast corner of the square, and said anxiously, “My lord, there are 800~900 of them, in case that something goes wrong -”

“No need to worry!” Said Davos disapprovingly, “The soldiers in the square can wipe them out. I don’t think that Vespa and his son are so stupid. What’s more, even the women of their tribe have become the wives of our citizens. And most of them have even came here today to cheer for their husbands…”

Davos looked at the distant hillside and ordered, “Beat the drum.”

The drummer waved his drumstick and began to beat the big drum in front of him rhythmically.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!…” Hearing the drums, the soldiers on the square began to step in place and continue to adjust their formation. When the four phalanx formation were in order, the sound of their footsteps were in sync, “Boom! Boom! Boom!…” The magnificent marching steps made the birds fly and the wild animals to run away, like a thunder in the sky and the rumbling of a mountain…

Cornelius and the other elders were shocked and muttered to themselves, “This…this is the army that shook Persia and destroyed the Lucanians! As expected…they are really different!”

When the Lucanians saw this, most of them went pale and became quiet.

While the women and the children outside the square cheered with excitement.

Davos felt the tremor of the mountain and hurriedly waved his hand to stop.

The drummer hit the drum twice and then stop, and the square soon became quiet, as if the huge noise had never even happened. A freeman’s throat was itchy that made him coughed, and the veteran squad leader that was nearby glared at him.

Davos took two steps forward on the stage, “Brothers!”

The crowd shouted at the same time, “Davos!!!”

“How is your happy life these days?”

“Great!!!”

“I am afraid that, because your life is too good, it had made your feet soft and made you not even be able to wield your spears!”

The soldiers were all laughing ambigously.

“Many of you have fought together with me in Persia and won great fame! And you followed me to Magna Graecia, defeated the Lucanian alliance and made a brilliant achievements! Now that you are all citizens of Amendolara, this is a new beginning! From now on, you must guard, develop and expand Amendolara, and create an everlasting glory for the future generations!” Said Davos passionately.

The soldiers brandished their spears up and down and exlaimed in great excitement.

“For Amendolara!”

“For Amendolara!!”

“For Amendolara!!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“You are not a soldier, so why are you so happy?” Stromboli was unable to stop himself from saying it after seeing Anticles, who was beside him, holding up his left hand and cheered together with the soldiers.

“This is a real army! This is the army that we, Amendolarans, have long longed for!” Said Anticles excitedly, glancing over his right arm, and his expression darkened again, “It’s a pity that I won’t be able to follow them to war anymore…”

Stromboli, after all, was an old neighbor of Anticles, and had a good relationship with him. Instead of continuing his sarcasm, he then said with concern, “Didn’t you hate them, these outsiders that have stolen your position as the patrol captain?!”

Chapter 118 – Legion and Flag (II)

“That was just a moment of anger. As a matter of fact, Hielos is a very nice and humble man, and he often comes to me to asks questions.” Anticles then said frankly, “Besides, my two new son-in-laws are new citizens, specially my eldest son-in-law, who is a platoon captain! See there…the tall man with a white crest on his helmet is my eldest son-in-law”

“Hey Anticles, he’s just a platoon leader! And they only manage a few people! Back then, you and I were even a strategos.” Stromboli disagreed.

“That’s different, because we were appointed by the archon due to our status as a noble. However, according to Trotidis, archon Davos had stipulated that ‘a platoon captain must have experienced many battles and be recognized by the soldiers. The soldiers will then elect him and then be approved by their superiors before they can be appointed.’ In order for them to command the same experienced and proud soldiers under them.” Said Anticles with pride.

Stromboli didn’t talk back anymore, as he could not deny it, because they were able to command the powerful soldiers of the Persian expedition army.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Cheiristoya, with teary eyes, looked at Davos standing high in the middle of the square: This is the husband that she had chosen during such chaotic times, and it turned out that her vision is correct, and Davos had achieved his dream!

“The archon is so awesome!” A clear voice had awakened her, and she knew that it was Andrea without needing to look back. A few day ago, Cheiristoya learned about Andrea’s story during a small chat with Davos. She was moved by her infatuation and had asked Andrea for her help because she was running a bank and currently lacking staffs. And so Andrea had readily agreed, and soon they became friends. And with Mrs. Davos, Cheiristoya, as her shield, Andrea received less gossip and glaring.

“Why? Do you like Davos?” Joked Cheiristoya.

“Madam, you jest.”

“I heard that Davos had ordered the Lucanians to come and watch the ceremony. After that, I will go and ask Davos to arrange for you to meet him, how about it?” Said Cheiristoya.

Andrea expressed her gratefulness, “Madam, thank you!”

Cheiristoya looked back at her and said, “Are you really going to wait 5 years for him?”

Andrea nodded without hesitation.

After sighing, Cheiristoya remembered what Davos had said, “Then you should persuade Bagul to take good care of his people and to not make any mistakes, and to seriously complete the various task that the city-state had assigned them. Once the city-state has any major campaign, they should actively participate in it, and strive to make achievements, so that they can shorten their 5 year period as soon as possible!…”

Andrea nodded.

Cheiristoya said, “Sister, I sincerely hope that your wait will not be too long, and your wish will come true eventually.”

Andrea bit her lips and sobbed.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The military officer, Philesius, came forward and said in a loud voice, “Now, on behalf of the council, I declare the establishment of Amendolara’s first Legion! And the head of the legion will be the archon for life, Davos!”

The crowd gave a thunderous cheers.

“Now to confer the flag of the first Legion!”

The sound of salpinx rang out and soon the square turned solemn.

Philesius, with a serious expression, held a four meter flag in his hands. Davos then took it with both of his hands and held it high, then walked slowly around the stage.

Mersis yelled from the field, “See that! That’s the flag that I have spent several days carefully designing and urging people to do it. Isn’t it beautiful?!!”

“You designed it?” Mariji’s face was filled with suspicion.

Mersis laughed and said, “I’m kidding. Davos was the one who designed the flags, but if not for me, the flags wouldn’t have been made so quickly!”

The soldiers held their breath and looked at the golden flag in the sky. At the top of the flag was a bronze statue of Hades holding a bident* (they have no other choice as Amendolara is currently poor and they can only use brass for the time being.) Under the statue is a circle of red fluffy flag tassels, and then the flag pole is covered with a square, reddish wool and hemp fabric. The flag is embroidered with a golden Greek “The first legion”, and on the middle of the other side is the Hesperus. Then Davos pointed to the Hesperus and shouted to the soldiers under the stage, “Brothers of the first legion, as the founder of the new army of Amendolara, this Hesperus represents your honor in wiping out the Lucanian alliance and taking back Amendolara!” (T/N: I have no idea…maybe on the top of the pole.)

The soldiers cheered loudly, and they then straightened their chest and looked at the Hesperus on the flag, with full of pride in their gazes.

“And every time you win a huge victory, there will be a Hesperus drawn on it, so that everyone will remember your achievements! I hope that the Hesperus will spread all over this army flag with your constant victory!” The soldiers cheered with excitement due to the ardent expectation of Davos, “For victory!”

“For victory!”

“For victory!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The morale of the soldiers in the square reached its peak.

“In my decades of experience in fighting for the city-states, I have never heard of such a military flag! And such a way to boost morale! As a citizen soldier, how glorious it would have been to fight under such a military flag!!” Anticles yearned for the flag very much.

“It seems that there is a statue of Hades mounted on the top of the flag*. This is Davos’ vague claim that he is the favored of Hades!” Said Stromboli with discontent.

Maybe something like this?

“Many people already think that this is true!” Said Anticles, and he covered the end of his right hand with his left hand and said with a sigh, “Besides, Hades is on our side and will bring death to our enemies, which is a good thing! We can expect that our first army will become a frightening army! It’s a pity that I can’t fight under the flag of Hades!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Now, the flag bearer of the First Legion, Martius, come to the stage and receive the flag!” Shouted Philesius.

Martius, the normally bold captain of the guard, felt a bit nervous at this moment. He once more tightened his armor and straightened his helmet, and then walked to the stage solemnly, then stood in front of Davos, then his right fist pounded his left chest.

Davos returned his salute, and said in a loud voice, “The flag bearer of the Legion is the bravest soldier of the whole army, and it is also the highest honor! I hope that you will hold the flag of war high on the battlefield, and no matter how dangerous it is, you will always move forward and encourage the whole army to win!”

Martius solemnly took over the flag and swore, “Hades, I, Martius, will treasure the flag as much as my own eyes, and will always move forward and to never retreat!”

Amidst the cheers, Matonis murmured, “If I hadn’t became a centurion, then this flag bearer position would have been mine!”

“Next, now we will invite the senior centurion of the first brigade to come on stage and accept the flag of the first brigade!”

Before Kapus went to the stage, the soldiers behind him began urging him, “Hurry up captain! Go and take the flag!…”

However, Kapus took his time to go to the stage.

Davos then took the flag from the guard’s hand and earnestly said to Kapus, “The first brigade of the Legion is the role model of the whole army, it is the elite of the elite! In a battlefield, the first brigade should be in the place where it is the most difficult and the most dangerous, and they must face the difficulties and open the door to victory for the whole army! I hope that you will remember that!”

“The first brigade of the first Legion will certainly not disappoint the archon. The first brigade will always be the spear of the whole army!” Kapus’ voice was as hard and powerful as a rock.

He took the flag of the first brigade and looked at it carefully. Unlike the Legion flag, the top of it is an iron statue of the death god Thanatos, who is under Hades, and he is brandishing a sword, while wearing a black robe, and spreading his wings, with a ferocious face. On the flagpole below the statue is also a red flag tassel and the flag is embroidered with a golden Greek “The first brigade of the First legion”, and on the other side is also a Hesperus…

Kapus then waved the flag, and the soldiers of the first brigade that were under the stage cheered.

Then came Drakos, the senior centurion of the second brigade. He was still covered with bandages, but he was fully armed, and staggered towards the stage, then the soldiers under the stage cheered with encouragement.

Looking at this tough guy who he had fought with, Davos asked with concern, “Drakos, are you alright?”

“The physician said that I am all right.” Drakos calmly faced Davos, who had beaten him, and now, he only had respect in his heart, “Thank you for your concern!”

“The first battle with Lucania had showed me the bravery of the soldiers of the second brigade. But to be honest, compared with the first brigade, there is still a big gap. I hope that you will discipline and train them in accordance with the military law in future training, so that they can catch up as soon as possible!” Said Davos with great expectation.

“Rest assured archon, the second brigade will not lose to anyone!” Said Drakos with firm determination.

When Hieronymus, the senior centurion of the third brigade, came to the stage, Davos said nothing more because he knew that he would train his team as hard as he could.

When the captain of the seventh brigade, Epiphanes, came to the stage, the nimble senior centurion took the initiative to ask Davos, “My lord, as you can see, my brigade has the least number of people, and we are still short of about 500 people, so can I send someone to Thrace, Crete, and Rhodes to recruit some peltast, archers and slingers?”

“As a freeman of Amendolara?” Asked Davos with a forced smile.

“Naturally, they will start as a freeman, and then, in accordance with your earlier proposal in the council, they can then apply to become a citizen of Amendolara after a few years.” Said Epiphanes while laughing.

Davos was happy to see this happen, but he reminded Epiphanes.

Chapter 119 – Mariji’s Business Plan (I)

Davos reminded Epiphanes, “If these new people came, I’m afraid that you will need to submit a new proposal to the council meeting for the elders to discuss and review, because they are after all, different from the freeman of the third brigade, but I can tell you for sure that I will do my best so that your proposal get passed. However, if they want to become a citizen, I’m afraid that the conditions for them will be much more difficult, and they should be mentally prepared. In addition, it’s better to quietly go to the eastern Mediterranean and not to provoke Sparta!”

“Understood!” Said Epiphanes excitedly.

Then he finally, took the flag, and at the top of the flag was an iron statue of Tisiphone, the goddess of vengeance, the goddess feared by the Greeks, holding a torch on one hand and a snake as a whip. The flag under the statue is also embroidered with the Hesperus and the brigade number…

And at the top of the centuria’s flag is an iron statue of Cerberus, the three headed dog of hell…

The whole ceremony lasted for nearly two hours, and from beginning to the end, the morale of the soldiers was high and the cheers from the side, continued.

In the end, Davos raised the army flag again, and the groups of flags such as the legion, brigade, centuria, platoon, the gold(bronze), and iron statues, the red and yellow flag tassels, the red, purple, and white helmet crest has added a bit of luster to this place, but more importantly, with these, the morale of the soldiers will be even higher, and the officers will be able to command them more efficiently and act more quickly…

Davos was happy to see a genuine army taking shape. He waved the flag and yelled, “Where the flag is, the army is there! If the flag fell, then the army is dead! The military flag signifies the armies! Invincibility!”

“Where the flag is, the army is there!!! If the flag fell, then the army is dead!!! The military flag signifies the armies!!! Invincibility!!!…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Most of the Lucanians couldn’t understand what the soldiers in the square were shouting, but the huge pressure caused by their shouting had scared anyone with hostility.

Both Vespa and his son, Bagul, understood what they said and so they remained silent for a bit longer.

Finally, Vespa let out a long sigh, as if to spit out the uneasiness in his heart, “Son, do you remember the wolves that we often see in the mountains? After a powerful wolf king defeats the other lone wolves, some of the lone wolves would choose to submit to him. Do you think that those wolves are very timid?”

“No, father… I think that they are the most intelligent, because they know that only under the leadership of the powerful wolf king, will they have enough food, and won’t be attacked by other vicious enemies, and their blood will continue!…while those arrogant wolves will either die old and lonely in the mountain or become the food of other beasts!…” Bagul understood what his father was thinking, and so he took this opportunity to comfort him.

Vespa nodded and slowly made up his mind, “When I was young, I used to lead my people around to make a living, and saw many Greek city-states armies, such as Naples, Thurii, Taranto…but never before has an army of Greeks moved me so much as they did! You have to know that Amendolara is just a small city, but with such an army, the archon may not want to stay simple. Since we couldn’t beat them and have become their captives, then…we can only make a choice that is more favorable to the survival of our people. I just hope that the Greeks will not break their promise!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the whole city was still immersed in the spectacular scene on the square yesterday, the commercial officer, Mariji, had told Davos about his business plan at Davos’ home, “My lord, we, Amendolara, are few and poor, our land is also impoverished, and we don’t have many rich citizens, and have no special output, and we have no port, which makes it very difficult to attract foreign merchants to our place to trade with us according to the usual method…”

Nodded Davos, but the truth is that, why has Amendolara been a small city for more than 200 years, and has always maintained the population of citizens at 4,000? Because this small city can not support more people, so the extra people can only migrate to other places to make a living. Therefore, Amendolara has always been a small city. Davos believed that Mariji dares to tell this fact, because he must have come up with some good methods.

“But -” Mariji then raised his voice and said, “Our neighbor, Thurii, has a very prosperous port, and everyday there are hundreds of merchants ships from other city-states that comes to Thurii to trade. Heraclea, our other neighbor, although it has only been built for a shorter time, has 20~30 merchant ships that comes to trades with them everyday. The port of Metapontum, which is further away from us, is also prosperous…but according to my observation these days, there are some problems in their ports and markets. Because there are too many merchant ships and too many goods, that their warehouse is no longer enough, and they need to queue up in order to rent a warehouse. Therefore, the goods are stacked on the open space, but they are easy to get stolen or rot if they are exposed to the sun for a long time. At the same time, because of the large number of foreign sailors and the lack of inns in the city, not only the cost of living is rising, but also the price of food, which made them complain very much. In addition, there are a lot of people in the port, which makes it prone to disputes, and in case of disputes, the city-state is not only too slow to solve the problems, which delays the merchant’s time, but also tends to be partial to the people of the city-state…” Mariji said about the disadvantages of the many neighboring city-states’ ports. Obviously, he did a full investigation and even combined with some of his own experiences when he was a merchant.

Hearing this, Davos could guess what business he was going to do in Amendolara. These days, when he was chatting with his wife, Cheiristoya, he found that compared with the modern people in his previous life, the Mediterranean merchants in this era wasn’t lacking in the economic concepts, and even the banking industry in Athens had insurance (mainly marine insurance). Moreover, the Athenians have learned how to use money to promote and consolidate the commercial hegemony of Athens. Before the Peloponnesian war, the Athenians used the silver from the mines of Laurion to cast high-purity silver “owl” coins*, and even at the most difficult times of Athens, they still did not reduce the purity of their silver coins, which made them very popular among Greek city-states. Then, Athens forced the unification of currency in the Delian League, which made Athens to firmly control the trade of the Delian League and consolidate its hegemon, and only more than 2,000 years later that Uncle Sam picked up the work that the Athenians had done. Therefore, Davos did not dare to underestimate the wisdom of these ancient people, and instead of rashly expressing his opinion, he carefully listened to Mariji.

“The distance between Thurii and us is not more than 25 kilometers, so is Heraclea, and it is only more than 45 kilometers away from Metapontum, which only needs more than an hour to reach by horse, and a caravan can arrive in half a day. Therefore -” Mariji looked at Davos with a complacent smile, “We can build a lot of warehouse between the river Bradanus and river Saraceno in Amendolara for lower rents. In addition, a large number of simple inn can be built and charge them with lower fee and provide rich and sufficient food and drinks. I believe that this will certainly attract foreign merchants, sailors, and freeman to settle in. When there are more people, we can build a bigger and better market next to these warehouses and inn according to the market that we had established in Thurii before, and to protect the interests of these merchants and sailors with our good service and then the trade of Amendolara will certainly prosper!”

Said Mariji confidently, Davos could not help but clap his hands, ‘Isn’t this the distribution center in his previous life?!’

“Excellent! It seems that you are worthy of being the commercial officer!” Davos did not hide his appreciation of Mariji, “Back then, Cyrus the Younger, had only allowed you to be the trade director of Medes, which had really buried your talent!”

When talking about Cyrus the Younger, Mariji became gloomy and said, “Because his highness likes soldiers and farmers more than merchants, and he had said many times that he likes ‘two kinds of people best, one is the one who can buy farm tools and livestock for the land, and cultivate the land well, and the other is the one that can defend the land, farm tools and livestock best.’”

Davos thought carefully and sighed, “Yes, after all, Persia has a vast land, farmers and herdsmen accounted for the vast majority of their people. Therefore, ensuring the stability of Persia is the most important issue, and with so many dependent states, cities and races paying taxes to the Persian royal family every year, Persia is not short of wealth, so Cyrus the Younger is right. If he was alive, he might have been a good Persian king, unfortunately, when many people’s hopes are pinned on him alone, his life is no longer belonged to him. However, he doesn’t know this, and he had instead, took such a huge risk and lead troops to battle in person…what a pity!”

Mariji sighed as well.

“I approve of your plan! However, I would like to add a few more points.” After Davos finished speaking, Mariji immediately raised his ears, as he knew that Davos had extraordinary talent in business. The temporary market that they had built in Thurii before was so lively, is mainly because of the hands of the archon.

“One is the road. At present, there is only one dirt road between us and Thurii and Heraclea, which made it too difficult to walk, and not conducive to the merchants in transporting their goods. Therefore, we must build a flat, wide and solid road, and to also build strong bridges on those rivers, and so we need to start preparing for this soon. The other is that the warehouse and inn should not only reduce the cost of rent, but also to ensure the cleanliness and safety, and no theft or robbery is allowed. This requires you to discuss with Hielos and come up with a solution. By the way, what are the tariff of Thurii, Heraclea and Metapontum?”

“It depends on what kind of goods the merchant is selling. The tariff on commonly used and is urgently needed by the city-state is low, which is generally only 2%, while for foreign goods that are not commonly used by the city-states, or even threaten the survival of the citizens that produce similar goods, has a tariff as high as 20~30%…” Mariji gave a serious account of what he had learned.

Chapter 120 – Mariji’s Business Plan (II)

It seems that the ancient Greeks were not fools, as they also knows how to protect the economy of their city-states.

“We currently have nothing in Amendolara, so we don’t need to worry about lowering our tariffs. Therefore, when the surrounding city-states charges 2% then we charge 1%, when they take 20%, we take 10%…as long as we can attract them to us, then our trade will develop, and the citizens will take the initiative themselves to look for opportunities to earn money for their families.” With lacking money, Davos has made up his mind to undercut the other city-states.

“Lord Davos, I await for your decision!” Mariji was happy, but he quickly reminded, “Heraclea and Metapontum have a good relation with us and are in the same alliance, and so I believe that we can have a good negation with them, but the relationship between Thurii and us is not good, and so they might hinder the foreign merchants from transporting their goods from Thurii to store it to us, and then to transport it back to the market of Thurii to sell.”

This is really a problem! Davos rubbed his chin in embarrassment.

Originally, the Davos mercenary had a good relationship with Thurii, and Davos was also the great benefactor that has saved Thurii. However, after the mercenaries became citizens of Amendolara, in view of the animosity of the native Amendolarans to Thurii, Davos wasn’t willing to take the initiative to contact the envoys of Thurii, which had also angered them after many of their visits got blocked. Amendolara, who was originally a “little brother” of Thurii, is now inexplicably arrogant, and it had dampened the self-esteem of the Thurians, and at the same time, they were also angry at the “deception” of the Davos mercenary.

As a result, the relationship between the two sides became rigid. And such stalemate is not only unfavorable to Amendolara, but also for Davos, because this will not only affect the economic diplomacy of Amendolara, but also the strategic plan of Davos and the commitments that he had made in the council.

In his plan, Amendolara should take advantage of the weakening of the Lucanians, and to invade their lands. But these days, when he calmed down and studied the map carefully, and also to personally scout the surrounding terrain, he found a big problem. On the north side of Amendolara there is Heraclea, an ally and is being backed by Taranto. In the south, there is Thurii, although their strength has been severely weakened, Davos couldn’t lead his army to attack them, because Thurii and Amendolara have no hatred, and they were once allies, and they were also the one that invited them(mercenaries). This will undoubtedly arouse the dissatisfaction and vigilance of the city-states in Magna Graecia, and Amendolara’s small size couldn’t dare to provoke them. On the west side of Amendolara, between Amendolara and Heraclea, you can indeed reach Lucania by trekking up the river Siris, and this is the road that Vespa took when he led his people.

For this reason, Davos also went to inquire Bagul about it, only then did he find out that the west of Amendolara is a wilderness with many mountains, rivers and lakes, dense forests, with a lot of snakes and insects. The tribe of Bagul had stayed there for more than a year, and from the more than 10,000 tribesman that they have, in the end, only less than 4,000 were left. This is the reason why after they had occupied Amendolara, Vespa did not want to go back to Lucania. If they want to use the river path, going down to reach Amendolara is much better, while if they went up against the current to reach Lucania, the number of casualties caused by injuries on the road alone will be staggering, and if the Lucanians were to attack them, then the reinforcements at the back wouldn’t be able to help them.

Therefore, the only way to get there is to trek the rugged mountain road westward through the plains of Syberis to Laos. Although the road is long, at least there will be fewer non-combat related casualties, and in order to pass through the plains of Syberis, they must have a good relationship with Thurii.

Davos rubbed his chin. He had planned to wait for a while for the new family of Amendolara to settle down and their hatred to gradually fade and forgotten, which will make it better when negotiating again. But now, it seems that whether it is to improve the economic and trade, or to enhance their military strength, they must solve the bottleneck of the diplomatic relations with Thurii. So Davos made up his mind, “Mariji, don’t worry! This afternoon, I will hold a meeting in the council to discuss the issue of Thurii, and hope to improve the diplomatic relations with them.”

“Lord Davos, as long as you put forward a proposal, do they even dare not approve it?” Mariji wasn’t flattering him, but was telling the truth. However, Davos had to take into considerations the feelings of the elders like Cornelius. After all, this is about the solidarity between the old and new citizens of Amendolara. But he didn’t want to discuss it with Mariji now, and so he just laughed. After all, it will take a long time for a Persian to adapt to the political system of the Greeks.

Mariji looked at his expression and immediately stopped discussing it. Then he raised his voice and said, “Oh, lord Davos, I have another idea that I have almost forgotten to say. The medical skills of the physicians in the medical camp of our mercenaries are quite high, and when we opened a clinic in the market that we have built in Thurii, many citizens and freeman came to see the physicians, and later, more and more patients came to visit. And when we wanted to tear down the market and move to Amendolara, some of the patients have even begged us not to leave…do you think that we should also open a big clinic in Amendolara?! And to attract patients from neighboring city-states to come see the physicians, we can also allow them live and eat in Amendolara, buy goods, and increase the income of our city.”

Mariji’s words really reminded Davos. Recently, he has been busy, so he had forgotten that Amendolara still have a special product, that is – medical treatment! Therefore, he excitedly said, “A clinic is too small, so we will build a large hospital!”

“Hospital?”

“The hospital doesn’t only give consultation to patients, but also allow them to live in the hospital, and it is more conducive to the rehabilitation of the patients due to the physicians being able to observe their conditions and continue their treatment at the same time. And they can also conduct medical research, hold medical lectures and train young physicians…I believe that such a place will attract a lot of patients to come for treatment!” Davos explained to him in detail.

Mariji went in a daze. Although he didn’t understand some of the contents, he couldn’t stop himself from saying, “When I was at Persia, I have never heard of such clinic that can turn into this kind of hospital that you had just mentioned, my lord. This is really…really wonderful!”

“What I said is indeed good, but we can only do it step by step in order to reach the level that I had mentioned. Therefore, we better make some preparation first. To tell you the truth, I still owe Herpus two medical classes!” What Davos said reminded Mariji that the young man in front of him is the real leader of the medical camp, and the physicians respect him so much whenever they mention him. A young man who knows everything about military affairs, politics, commerce and medicine is definitely a gift of god! Leaving the house of Davos, Mariji felt that he had chosen the right person to follow.

While Davos is currently thinking at this moment that if they want to build Amendolara into a medical center of Greece, then can Amendolara also be turned into a huge recreational/amusement center?!

Thinking of this, Davos then immediately went to the wing room.

In the wing room, Cheiristoya is working with several freeman servants who are currently working as accountants for the bank loans. Next to her is Azune (Azune is an Egyptian slaves who was sent to the medical camp by Mersis, and while Cheiristoya was in charge of the medical camp, she found that Azune was smart and capable and so she asked Azune to follow her.) She was currently arranging work task with several male and females slaves whom Cheiristoya had just bought from Taranto.

Azune saw Davos as soon as he entered. So she immediately bowed her head and said, “My lord, welcome back.”

The freeman also saluted respectfully, while the new slaves were confused.

“Cheiristoya, have you found a leatherworker?” Asked Davos.

“Yes. But the money for the leatherworker is enough for me to buy four ~ five slaves.” Complained Cheiristoya.

“Business should be done in a long term. Regardless of the fact that a leatherworker cost a lot more money now, but later, they will earn enough money to buy tens of thousands of slaves.” Davos said half jokingly and half serious, while he didn’t dare to make any intimate moves in front of everyone.

“Okay, great merchant!” Cheiristoya glance at him and said, “Our family needs a leatherworker anyway.” She then pointed to one of the slaves, “That’s the one you want.”

Davos walked over, and the skinny old man bowed to him respectfully, “Master.”

“Are you a Greek?!” Davos was slightly surprised when he saw his appearance.

“Yes, master.”

“From where? What’s your name? Why did you become a slave?”

“I am Tulkas, and I came from Ephesus. I became slaves because I couldn’t pay my debts.” The old man said calmly.

“In a few years, as long as your craftsmanship is good, then you can save enough money to redeem yourself and become a freeman.” Promised Davos.

“My son died on the battlefield, while my wife died early, and so now, I lived alone. So if master doesn’t drive me away, then I would like to stay here until the day I meet Charon…” Davos was taken a back and he could only nod helplessly, “In that case, you can rest assured that you can spend your remaining years here.” With that, he took Tulkas to the atrium and used a stick to draw a pattern on the soil where the plants were planted.

“Is this an olive?” Tulkas looked at the simple pattern on the ground and said uncertainly.

“This is a Rugby ball made of cowhide!” Said Davos with gleaming eyes.

“Rugby?!” Tulkas eyes widened.

Chapter 121 – Alliance with Thurii (I)

In the afternoon, at the council meeting, Davos proposed to contact Thurii and improve their diplomatic relation, but it was met with the strong opposition from Stromboli and the other elders.

Instead of voting immediately, Davos said earnestly, “Elders, I urge you to consider this proposal calmly and seriously, and to not be blinded by hatred! You are the elite of the city-state, so you should create more livelihood for the people of the city-state and point them to the right direction for the prosperity of the city-state! Will the security of the city-state improved by being friends with Thurii?! Will the trade of the city-state improved by being friends with Thurii?! Will the war with Lucania give us more advantage by being friends with Thurii?! As long as you are sincere for the city-state and for the sake of our descendants, I believe that you will make the right choice! Remember, individuals can have grudges, but there is only eternal benefits between city-states!”

The word of Davos obviously move Cornelius, and most of them bowed their heads and thought about it.

At this time, Scambras stood up and said angrily, “Will we just forget what Thurii has done to us and greet them with a smile?! Davos, you have never felt the tragic experience of having your wife and son die. Hence, why you can easily talk about making friends with Thurii here!…”

“I am just talking about improving relations with Thurii and not about forgetting your hatred. There’s a saying in the east that ‘it’s never too late for a gentleman to take his revenge within ten years.’ We will use Thurii to strengthen ourselves, until one day we are strong enough to the have the Thurians swallow the bitter fruit of our hatred!” Argued Davos.

“Just that I don’t know how long we have to wait…” Muttered Scambras, the discontent on his face faded.

The result of the final voting is that, except for Stromboli, Scambras and Raphias abstaining, the rest of the elders voted in favor and the proposal of Davos, passed smoothly.

Davos acted immediately, and he asked Asistes to send someone into the port of Thurii to give a message to Burkes that Amendolara is willing to repair the relationship with Thurii.

And in order to show their sincerity, Thurii sent a delegation of delegates headed by Kunogelata, Nianses, and Ansitanos.

For the sake of reciprocating the diplomatic etiquette, Amendolara also sent a delegation headed by the archon, Davos, the city’s praetor, Cornelius, the inspector, Antonios, the commercial officer, Mariji, and the council elder, Stromboli (he himself strongly asked to participate), and at the same time, he put forward a special request, that the delegates of Thurii should not cross the river Saraceno, and the meeting should be held on the southern bank of the river.

Just as the delegate of Thurii exited the gate of the city, they then received a message from the north and it was like a blow to their head, which had immediately halved their happiness. Without having any alternative, they still agreed to this proposal.

In the morning, the two sides met on the bank of the river.

With the exception of Kunogelata, this is the first time that the other Thurians meet Davos the hero that have wiped out the Lucanian alliance and have saved Thurii, and now, he is the archon for life of Amendolara. Although he is still young, none of them dared to underestimate him. On the contrary, in addition to respect, they were somewhat afraid of him.

However, Kunogelata’s thoughts were deeper. After all, when he met him for the first time, he had slap the shoulder of Davos and said some words of concern and encouragement as an elder meeting a younger generation. At that time, Davos seemed to be mild tempered and even a bit shy. Kunogelata had of course, did not pay attention to it, and even doubted in his heart when he heard that the mercenaries manage to accomplish the impossible. At this time, Davos was as gentle and friendly as when he had met him for the first time, but Kunogelata felt his heart tremble:  In just one move, nearly 10,000 Lucanians perished, and at the same time, he could make the people of Amendolara to willingly choose him as an archon for life. Isn’t it frightening that the young man who now completely controls the power of Amendolara can still maintain such a seemingly humble attitude!

Ansitanos didn’t think it too much, and he just thought that when the meeting is over, he would ask Davos to tell him about their experience in Persia.

The main representative of the two sides sat down under a temporary shelter made by the soldiers.

“Before the meeting, allow me to say a few words.” Kunogelata stood up and said emotionally, “This invasion of the Lucanians has caused great disaster to both Thurii and Amendolara! The city of Amendolara was taken over, and the people were captured and most of them died from getting abused. While in Thurii, nearly 13,000 citizens died in the war, and every family mourned and everyday, the whole city of Thurii is covered with the sound of mourning…Here, on behalf of the strategoi and elders of Thurii, I would like to express our deep condolence to the people that died in the two cities…” With that, he shed tears from the corners of his eyes, and the delegates of Thurii bowed their heads with sadness.

Davos was taken aback, as he didn’t expect that the Thurians would do this, and he hesitated whether he should also put on a sad expression. Then a sneer came from behind, “If it wasn’t for your unreasonable demands, then we, the people of Amendolara, would not have gone through such sufferings! Stop acting here and get down to business!”

Stromboli’s voice broke the melancholic mood created by Kunogelata, which made the Thurians in the meeting place to be a bit embarrassed. However, Kunogelata continued to look at Davos and said gratefully, “Fortunately, Lord Davos, you have led those brave mercenaries to fight back against the powerful Lucanians, and saved Thurii and Amendolara! You are the hero in the eyes of the Thurians! Several times ago, we have tried to invite you to the victory celebration and to accept the heartfelt gratitude of the people of Thurii to you, but we weren’t able to. Which have cause the other strategoi and I, and also the elders to be heavily criticized by the people!” When he said this, Nianses and Ansitanos nodded in agreement.

“I hope that once the discussion is over, you will be able to visit Thurii! This is the wish of the whole city of Thurii” Kunogelata gave the invitation with sincere expression.

In the face of this kind of hospitality, Davos could not immediately refuse. Fortunately, Stromboli once more sneered, “Lord Davos is now the archon for life of Amendolara. His visit to other city-states is no longer his personal matter and needs to be discussed and decided by the council!”

“Then, we await for the decision of the council of Amendolara. However, the people of Thurii will once more criticized us.” Kunogelata looked disappointed, and then he said, “Now that both Thurii and Amendolara are actively engaged in postwar reconstruction, Thurii is willing to give our full help if Amendolara needs anything!”

As soon as Kunogelata said this, Stromboli stood up and shouted, “Amendolara doesn’t need any help from Thurii, because once we accept it, it may cost us more next time!”

Kunogelata’s expression did not changed, then said to Davos without even looking at Stromboli, “Who is the one in charge of Amendolara?”

Davos smiled slightly and then said, “Let’s start the discussion.”

Hearing this, the members of the Amendolara’s delegates straightened up immediately.

Kunogelata looked at him, and felt afraid in his heart.

Ansitanos was the first one to say, “Everyone, we all know that there had been a 41 years alliance between Thurii and Amendolara, and the last alliance agreement has not yet ended. So, Thurii and Amendolara should continue to maintain our former alliance.”

Stromboli wanted to speak again, but was immediately held back by Cornelius, and shook his head.

Stromboli held himself back and spat on the ground.

“Amendolara also agreed to renew the alliance with Thurii -” As soon as Antonios said this, the Thurians all beamed with joy, “But on one condition, that it will not harm the interest of Taranto. That is to say, if there is a war between Taranto and Thurii, Amendolara will be on the side of Taranto.”

As soon as Antonios said this, the delegates of Thurii was in a state of uproar.

“You have violated your vows to the gods! Remember that the alliance between Thurii and Amendolara has not yet ended. Therefore, it is against the alliance agreement for you to privately contact Taranto and sign an agreement. Considering the friendship with Amendolara for many years, we do not intend to raise this matter for the time being. But now you think that we are weak and easy to deceived, and have even made such a shameless request!” Nianses stood up and shouted.

“You Thurians should also remember that when you Thurians broke your oath and did not immediately send reinforcements to rescue the fallen Amendolara, the former Amendolara died on the day when it got occupied by the Lucanians! The one in front of you now is the newly born Amendolara, if there was any debt owed to Thurii before, I believe that the Amendolarans have already paid it off with their half a years imprisonment, but has the debt owed by Thurii been paid off yet?! In the most difficult time of Amendolara, Taranto gave Amendolara the greatest help! Therefore, Amendolara has nothing to repay them back besides our utmost sincerity! What did Thurii gave to Amendolara? It is the fall of the city of Amendolara, and the imprisonment of its people!!” The words of Davos stabbed Nianses like a sharp dagger and made him unable to say anything.

Stromboli roared, “I have already said it a lot of times that we shouldn’t even bother talking about alliance with these selfish Thurians. They will never be considerate to others, and will just think about themselves! If it wasn’t for Davos insisting on coming, I wouldn’t even bother coming to meet them. Them being not satisfied, makes me happy! If they are going to teach us a lesson, then I am even more happy, and the spears of the citizens of Amendolara is ready!”

Chapter 122 – Alliance with Thurii (II)

On hearing this, many of the delegates of the Thurians were shocked.

Kunogelata had no choice but to suggest the need for them to have a private discussion on the issue first before making a decision.

Davos nodded in agreement. And when he saw the delegates of Thurii going far away, he turned around and gave Stromboli a thumbs up, “Lord Stromboli, you said it so well!”

“What I had said is the truth!” Said Stromboli while glaring at them.

“What I want is the truth!” Laughed Davos.

Stromboli also laughed. Today, in front of the Thurians, he let out his pent up anger!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Everyone, it seems that Amendolara has reached an alliance agreement with Taranto, and it is certain that they have obtained the consent of Taranto to put forward such condition. If we do not agree to their condition, then this negotiation will not continue.” Kunogelata said with a serious expression.

“Then we don’t need to negotiate with them! Anyway, the threat of the Lucanians has already been solved, and so we don’t need to even bother with those Amendolarans!” Said Nianses angrily, as he thought of how the Amendolarans have treated the envoys of Thurii with respect a year ago, but now, in just a blink of an eye, they even dare to point and yell at the strategoi of Thurii. The great difference in their attitude had made him unable to bear it, “Damn Taranto, I thought that they were sincere in helping Thurii, but I didn’t expect them to scheme in secret!”

Ansitanos said helplessly, “Who allowed us to be defeated in the war! It is the law of history that a weak city-state cannot be respected. We have all received information that the Bruttians have stopped their war with Crotone, and some people in the council of Crotone have started to talk ‘regarding us using the location of the ruins of Sybaris’, which should arouse our vigilance. If they attacked, we will also have the hostile Amendolara on our back, which will put us in a very dangerous situation! In addition, we also know that the Lucanians are very vengeful. After this war, we don’t know when they will be able to recover, but once they do, they will start their invasion again, and the one to bear the brunt of their attack is us, Thurii. Can we beat them? Don’t we need the help of Amendolara…. ”

Ansitanos’ words made the rest of the people worried, and Nianses snorted coldly, but did not argued back again.

“In fact, the key to this question is whether Taranto has the ambition to encroach on Thurii.” Kunogelata reminded everyone, and he analyzed it seriously, “I don’t think that Taranto is attempting to do that. Otherwise, they would not spare any effort in advocating and establishing a Magna Graecia defense alliance to deal with the indigenous people. If they want to get their hands on Thurii, I’m afraid that city-states such as Crotone and Scylletium will join us against them, and the alliance will collapse, and all their efforts over the past few years will be in vain. And even if they occupy our city-state and support a puppet government that favored them, it is not worth their loss, because they will face three powerful enemies: The Messapians in the southeast, the Lucanians in the northwest, and the Crotonian alliance in the southwest. Once the Lucanians or Crotone invades, then Taranto, as the ‘mother state’, will need to send more than 1000~2000 people to Thurii to deal with them. So the reason I think why Taranto did this is because we have beaten them and they wanted to have a small revenge. Since our ancestors were able to build a city more than 40 years ago, then we will make Thurii into a great Greek city-state in just a short year! As long as we temporarily endure it and work together, we will be able to make Thurii rise again in a short period of time! Then, we will return the humiliation that Amendolara and Taranto gave to us, just like what our forefathers did!”

“Lord Kunogelata is right!” Kunogelata’s words inspired the spirit and confidence of everyone present. Returning to the negotiating table, the Thurians readily agreed to the first condition put forward by Amendolara.

Looking at Kunogelata, Davos knew that this gloomy looking old man played a big part of it.

At this time, Antonios stood up again and said, “At the beginning of April, our archon, Davos, signed an employment agreement with Thurii. The main content of the agreement is to ‘assist Thurii in defending against and repelling the Lucanians.’ The term of the agreement is half a year, and during this half a year, regardless of whether the task is completed or not, Thurii will need to pay the regular remuneration to the mercenaries and a certain amount of grain. This is the original agreement.”

Antonios handed the sheepskin to Ansitanos, who is on the opposite side, “According to the agreement, even if the Lucanians have been repulsed, Thurii will still need to continue paying the salary of the mercenaries and supplies, and the mercenaries will continue to implement the requirements of the agreement, that is ‘to defend Thurii until the end of the half year period.’ Now it’s time for you to pay the salary and the grain.”

Kunogelata nodded and when he was about to answer.

Nianses stood up quickly and said, “Thurii will not carry out this employment agreement!”

Not only was the delegates of Amendolara in an uproar, but the Thurians were also surprised. They had discussed this matter before they came, and thought that it is necessary to implement this agreement, because Davos had become the archon for life of Amendolara, and to employ him is tantamount to employing Amendolara. First of all, this will satisfy the poor self-esteem of the Thurians, and the most important thing is that the strength of the current Thurii has been greatly weakened, and in fact, they need the protection of the strong mercenaries led by Davos, in order for them to safely recover. At that time, Nianses had objected on the ground that the treasury was empty. Finally, he was convinced by Kunogelata, but, unexpectedly, at such a critical time, he turned back on his words and caught the delegates of Thurii by surprise.

Under the cold stare of Kunogelata, Nianses heart trembled and hurriedly avoid it. Forced to the edge of the cliff because of his impulse, he hardened himself and continued to say, “First of all, the target of Thurii’s contract was the mercenaries. Now the mercenaries have become citizens of Amendolara, and the identity of the party signing the contract has changed. However, the employment of the citizen soldiers of a city-state involves more complicated interest relations and procedures, which can not be solved by this simple employment agreement. Secondly, you should take note that the name of the one who signed this agreement is the strategos, Friis, at the beginning, he asked Burkes to be in charge for the recruitment of the mercenaries. But when the agreement was taken back to the city hall of Thurii, most of the strategoi objected to the contents of the agreement. In the end, Friis forcibly passed the agreement as the Polemarchos, and he said that he would be responsible for preparing half of the salaries and supplies, so he signed it with his own name on the agreement. But now, he and his family had mostly died in the battle, so…”

“Ptew! They are not only selfish, but are also dishonest and shameless. They even slander the old man who fought for Thurii to death!…” Stromboli once again lashed out at the Thurians to shame in order to vent the anger of the Amendolarans.

Davos saw that Kunogelata was anxiously pulling Ansitanos, and so he turned around and winked at Mariji. Mariji immediately stood up and said, “We agree with your proposal in scrapping this employment agreement! But it isn’t because we believe in your explanation, but because we don’t want to add extra special taxes to the people of Thurii because of Thurii’s empty treasury, which will make the grief stricken people of Thurii even more miserable! After all, Amendolara and Thurii were allies for many years!” Mariji had a compassionate expression.

The Amendolarans, including Stromboli, were serious, which made the Thurians more ashamed.

On the other hand, Kunogelata looked coldly at Nianses, and Nianses felt no sense of accomplishment in the argument.

“Amendolara and Thurii should not only defend against our common enemies through military, but also to strengthen our cooperation in trade…” Mariji continued to talk, and tactfully stated the terms that he had previously discussed with Davos.

Out of guilt, most of the Thurians agreed, not only out of their psychological guilt over the cancellation of the employment agreement before, but also some of the provisions will also help solve the difficulties of Thurii. For example, due to the long-term influx of freeman, foreign merchant ships and sailors, the port of Thurii has become crowded, and made it difficult for them to accommodate them all and at a high cost, which ends up with a lot of them complaining. And also, the last time, in order to win the battle with the Lucanians, the city hall decided to recruit the freeman to fight for the city and they orally announced, ‘After winning the war, the freeman who participated in the war will be given citizenship of Thurii.’, As a result, the battle ended and Thurii was defeated, and the freeman had suffered heavy casualties, but at the end of the battle, the Lucanian alliance was wiped out, and the living freeman who participated in the war demanded that the city hall of Thurii fulfill its promise. However, after discussing it, the strategoi and the elders believe that the repulsion of the Lucanians was entirely due to the mercenaries and Taranto’s reinforcements, and the freeman did not participate in the subsequent battle. On the contrary, in the previous battle, the freeman were the first to retreat, which led to the defeat of the entire battle. Therefore, there was no reason for the freeman to claim their citizenship.

The freeman were dissatisfied at the refusal of Thurii, and a tense atmosphere begins to pervade the port area. Quarrels, fights and disturbances are gradually increasing and the city hall has to increase the number of patrol teams in the port to deter those dangerous elements. The problem is that there are only more than 3,000 young and middle-aged citizens in Thurii, but there are many more freeman in the port area and the city, which will be a disaster. Therefore, the construction of warehouses and inns in Amendolara is conducive in dispersing the crowded flow of people in the port of Thurii and alleviate the contradictions, which is beneficial to Thurii.

The two sides finally reached an alliance agreement, but they have not yet signed it. For the sake of respecting Taranto, Amendolara had to submit the contents of the agreement to the archon and council of Taranto for them to check, and confirmed that the interest of Taranto had not been harmed before they could complete the signing.

Chapter 123 – Izam of Corduene

The Thurians were no longer angry at the moment, and they could only nod helplessly.

On the way back to Thurii, Kunogelata rode at the front in a distance, which made the heart of Nianses who was following him felt cold. He tried to stop Kunogelata several times, but he got ignored every time. He was able to become a strategos of Thurii due to the strong support of Kunogelata, who had proposed that he should be in charge of the treasury and trade on the ground that he was good at financial management and accounting. However, today, without consulting with Kunogelata, he arbitrarily changed the decision that they have discussed earlier, and based on his understanding of Kunogelata, this strategos, who has never been soft on his opponents, must hate him very much! What should I do? Nianses asked himself anxiously. He had finally become a city-state strategos and doesn’t want to be remove from being a city-state strategos.

Kunogelata does indeed hate Nianses. If it was in the past, he might have made the same choice as Nianses, just like how he had opposed Friis in the city hall last time. However, their defeat on the last battle had aroused the fear in his heart, as he kept on waking up from his dreams countless of times due to the ferocious face of the Lucanians. After this war, he found his weakness, War – it’s a very different world from politics. His political tactics were totally useless in this bloody battlefield, and what was more terrible is that, he found out that Thurii is just strong in appearance but weak in reality, and so he had to maintain the employment agreement even though they are having financial difficulties. As long as he strengthened their ties with the military genius, Davos, he believed that for the next six months, the alliance between Thurii and Amendolara will stabilized, but Nianses, a “traitor”, destroyed it all!

Kunogelata was angry, and at the end of the meeting, this idiot, who was only a lowly employee of a huge merchant have the guts to say to Ansitanos, “In any case, it’s all the same alliance. Why the need to engage in employment and waste money?” He knows nothing! Can an alliance and employment have the same binding force on Amendolara?! Did he not see that the shrewd young archon of Amendolara wished that we would scrap this agreement earlier, so not only did he not refute it, but he even voluntarily gave it up! This political idiot must not stay in the city hall anymore! He must be remove!

Ansitanos was still angry that Davos refused his request for an audience. So now he was currently thinking on how to find a reason to come to Amendolara after the signing of the agreement and learn about the situation of Persia from the new citizens of Amendolara who had gone on an expedition to Persia. Therefore, he did not notice the irregularity of the two strategoi.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Davos came home, he thought of an important thing and pondered it for a long time, but he was still at a loss.

So he called for Asistes and said, “Now that we are about to sign the alliance agreement with Thurii. We must start preparing our plan for Lucania in advance. First of all, we need to know what is the current situation of Lucania is, so that we can devise a precise strategic plan and make targeted preparations according to the actual situation. But the problem is that the Lucanians have little contact with Thurii and Amendolara, and it is even more impossible now, so we can only send someone to scout. However, a Greek certainly won’t be able to do it, because the difference in their appearance is too obvious, while I’m afraid that if we send those capture Lucanians, they will take this opportunity to escape, and they would instead, reveal our situation! Alas!…this is too difficult! Asi, do you have any suggestions?”

Asistes also thought about it for a while, and suddenly smiled and said, “Milord, you have forgotten someone. I think he is quite suitable.”

“Oh! Who is it?!” Davos was just asking, but he didn’t expect that Asistes thought of a candidate.

“Izam!”

“…the son of the chieftain of the Carduchians!” That’s when Davos remembered him. In Byzantium, Izam was in the camp of Timasion, and at that time, the Carducian had no value, so he just regarded him as an ordinary soldier. In addition, they were longing for the future and the morale of the troops were fluctuating, so no one cared about his movements. It’s just that Davos vaguely remembers someone saying to him that Izam later joined his mercenaries, in the company of Hieronymus. Now that he thought about it, Izam is full of curiosity, cleverness, and ability to learn language, which left a certain impression on Davos. Besides that, he grew up in the mountains.

“Does he look like a Lucanian?” Asked Davos.

“He looks like them!” Affirmed Assistes, “Their size and body shape are similar, but the color of his hair is slightly different, but this can be dyed. The most important thing is that he married a Lucanian woman, and he can learn the language from his wife.”

“Oh, just like you!” Davos finally relaxed and joked after finding the right person, “I didn’t expect that you really married a Lucanian woman, and she is even the sister of Bagul!”

Now Asistes became shy and stop talking.

“How does she look? Does she look like his brother?” Davos smiled and asked curiously.

“She is…not…bad…” Asistes awkwardly mumbled for some time before he could squeezed out a sentence.

“Not bad?! That’s good!” Davos, who knew his herald better than himself, said positively, “Vespa is the leader of the whole tribe, so he will of course, choose the most beautiful woman in all the tribe to be his wife, and the daughter she gave birth to is certainly not bad. As for Bagul…he is ugly.”

Davos continued to tease him, “However, your brother-in-law is also very amazing, with how the first beauty of Amendolara still loves him and is willing to wait for him for five years.”

Seeing that Asistes didn’t speak and just laughed, Davos then said, “Asi, I’ll give you a piece of advice. You should have a better understanding and a tolerant attitude, learn from your wife, and get to know the Lucanians seriously. Maybe one day, when you have enough ability, I will be able send you to Lucania.”

“Lord Davos, can we really conquer Lucania?! I heard from my wife that there are 5~6 major cities in Lucania, with hundreds of tribes and a population of more than a hundred thousand…” Asked Asistes, worriedly and doubtingly.

“As long as you have the guts to think of it, and prepared meticulously and have a precise plan, then everything is possible!” Davos encourage him.

Asistes was lost in thoughts.

“You go and get Izam.” Said Davos.

“Roger!”

“Wait a minute!” Davis thought of something and stopped Asistes, who was about to leave, “I have an important task for you! I need you to keep an eye of the movements of the surrounding city-states, such as Taranto, Thurii, Heraclea, Crotone and so on. As well as the new laws and changes that they made regarding trade, politics and military, as well as the situation of the people in the city-states and so on. Special personnel should be specially assigned to organize the manpower, collect intelligence, make a brief summary and report it to me in time, so that we can timely formulate a corresponding laws and measures according to the situation of our neighboring city-states. You are responsible for this, and I will supplement you with the needed money and manpower.”

“By your will, milord Davos.” Asistes agreed without any hesitation.

Seeing that he was very enthusiastic, Davos reminded him, “It is a tedious task to collect intelligence of city-states, and requires patience and alertness. You currently don’t have experience, so you can start with Thurii first…” Davos then told Asistes in details about the principles and experiences of intelligence collection that he had seen in books and on the internet in his previous life.

Asistes listened and remembered it carefully. He was very excited because this will be the first time that he will be independently responsible for a specific thing. It was obvious that this is more interesting and important than what he was doing before when he is just calling people and delivering orders.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Izam and his Lucanian wife were working on their farm.

As a Carduchian, Izam doesn’t follow the Greek tradition of not allowing his wife to appear in public. When his wife asked him to go to do farm work with him, he not only agreed but was also very happy. In Corduene, when people are in short supply, the women will have to throw spears to hunt or even fight. His wife taking the initiative to go work with him, showed that she had gotten use to her new family, which naturally made Izam very happy. Although the citizens of the city-state who met him on their way to the farm looked at them strangely, he was still very happy and kept talking to his wife in broken Lucanian.

Since Izam joined the mercenary very late, the land that was allotted to him was not very good. Not only was his land only 2 hectares, but it is also far away from the river, and it is closer to the mountains, so the quality of the land is not high. Fortunately, when he chose to serve as a guide for the Greeks and had expressed his desire to go out on a journey to his strict father, Kangmoro, the chieftain of the Carduchian had given him a lot of money, and he can now finally use it. At the suggestion of his close comrades, he bought three slaves from Taranto at once,  two of them were Egyptian slaves and were responsible for farming his fields, and another one is a Greek slave that was responsible for herding the animals for him. After all, his land is close to the mountains, so it is more convenient to graze*. In fact, if Cheiristoya had not opened a bank to provide loans at a low interest rates, many of his comrades would have borrowed money from him. (*the mountains are the public property of the city of Amendolara, anyone can go in and out to graze, but cutting down trees must first be approved by the city’s financial officer, and a certain fee will be charged according to the situation. This is the proposal that Davos had proposed and was passed by the council, it is mainly to prevent deforestation) (T/N: Rich boy Izam)

Izam, with an open mind, went to ask one of his Egyptian slaves to teach him how to hold a sickle and plow. While his wife pulled weeds in the wheat field with her hands, another Egyptian slave went to the river to fetch water, and the Greek slave went to the mountain with more than ten cattle that had just been bought for a few days.

Chapter 124 – Heracleides the Architect

Many people knew the clerk of the “archon” Davos, because he often went to relay the order of Davos to the troops. So when Asistes stood on the farm ridge and shouted, Izam immediately dropped his farm tools and ran over.

Asistes found it funny seeing the independent Carduchian, “Hey Izam, why do you work so hard on the farm and you have even taken your wife with you?!”

“The city-state’s first military training will be carried out in two days, and I heard that it is very tiring and after the training, the archon will teach us an interesting game! So I have to finish the farm work fast, so that I can devote myself to training.” Said Izam, as he wipe his sweat.

Asistes said half jokingly, “Your farm is pretty decent, you are more like a Greek than us Greeks!”

Izam laughed and regarded the words of Asistes as a praise, “It’s easy to work, but it’s troublesome to get water. I needed to waste a slave just to fetch water!” He complained.

“I heard that lord Davos asked Alexius to convene the carpenters in order to discuss some kind of ‘waterwheel’ that should be build. After its completion, it will be placed on the river bank, so that the water of the river can flow directly to higher fields like yours.” Whispered Asistes.

“Oh, is there such a magical thing! What is this ‘waterwheel’?!” Izam asked curiously.

“From what I heard from lord Davos, it’s like a carriage wheel. You can ask lord Davos what kind of wheel it is.” Shrugged Asistes, and said that he wasn’t very clear.

“How could I even dare ask the archon!” Said Izam in veneration. When he first served as the guide of the mercenary, he often came to Davos, at that time, he was more curious about this young man who had manage to become a leader of the mercenary. However, with the repeated success of the mercenaries that he had led, Davos weight in Izam’s heart became more and more important. In addition, there was a lot of rumors about him in the army, “He’s a God’s Favored”, and some rumors even said that “Davos is the son of Hades”. This made Izam, who was a Carduchian that worship the Gods more, hold the young leader in veneration. In Byzantium, when Davos called on the mercenaries to follow him to Magna Graecia, even though it was thousands of miles away from his hometown, Izam did not hesitate to follow him, because he firmly believed that by following the “Son of God”, they would never suffer defeat.

“Now you have a chance. Lord Davos wants to see you.” Said Asistes with a smile.

“Really?!” Izam asked in disbelief.

“Of course! How would I dare make fun of you in the name of lord Davos!” As soon as Asistes said it, Izam cheered and he then called out to his Lucanian wife, and ran towards the direction of the city of Amendolara without wiping his face.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Izam, we finally meet again! I heard that the council has given you a house and a land, and that you are now married. How are you now? Are you used to it? Do you cry because you miss your hometown?…”

As soon as they met, Davos greeted him with concern, which made Izam relaxed. He then excitedly told him about his experience during this time, while Davos listened carefully and then said, “You see how the Greeks, Carduchians, Lucanians can live together very well, like a big family, right?!”

“Yes, your majesty!” Izam boldly added, “As far as I know, many of my teammates that have married a Lucanian, have said that they have found a good wife, and even if they don’t speak Greek that well, and couldn’t weave cloth, make bread, nor command the slaves to work…but they will take the initiative to help their husband in doing heavy work. Moreover, they express their feelings in a very warm way, and they dare try all kinds of things with their husband at night…” ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Said Izam, although it was a bit vulgar, Davos still laughed, “Yes, our Greek women are too traditional and conservative, both sides should learn from each other and communicate!”

Izam notice that Davos was so amiable, he became more daring and said, “It’s just…it’s just that these Lucanian women miss their relatives very much, and hope that their relatives can get back their freedom as soon as possible!”

In fact, Davos was very happy to see such a situation happen, “Rest assured, the city-state does not abuse their relatives and have been taken good care. As long as they can abide by the agreement, then they can get back their freedom once the deadline we agreed ends, and as long as they perform well, this period can be shortened. You can go back and tell your wife that she can tell the other Lucanian women that the city-state will arrange for them to meet their relatives in a while!”

“I will, milord.” Nodded Izam.

“I called you here today to ask if you are willing to take a mission.” Davos finally got to the point. He looked at Izam and said, “We need to know what’s going on in Lucania. Currently, we don’t know the situation in there, and so I need someone to sneak in and collect information. And so, Asistes has recommended you.”

“I am willing!” Answered Izam without any hesitation.

Davos did not expect that he would get an answer so quickly, and so reminded him, “This is a very dangerous task, and is even life-threatening. So are you sure that you won’t reconsider it?”

“I’m sure!” Although Izam yearns for the prosperity of the outside world, the strict regulation of the army always made him felt uncomfortable. And he likes the feeling of running freely in the mountains and forest, and the excitement of quietly approaching his prey, and now, he finally has a good opportunity, “But, milord archon, please give me some time to prepare.”

“Don’t worry, you can take your time to prepare carefully. As long as you successfully return from Lucania, I will set up a mountain reconnaissance team with you as their captain. In addition, after you leave, I will have Cheiristoya pay attention to your family’s situation and solve their difficulties at any time!”

The commitment and care of Davos had made Izam grateful and excited, and so said it out loud, “Rest assured milord! I will do my best in finding out the situation of Lucania and return successfully! Please keep the position of the mountain reconnaissance’s captain for me!”

“Good!” Davos likes his confident subordinate. Setting up a mountain reconnaissance team is what he was thinking these days. After all, the Apennine Peninsula has a large number of mountains, which restricted the cavalry scouts. A mountain reconnaissance team that can easily cross mountains and do a concealed observation will give more help to the army of Amendolara.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Bagul was leading his people to build warehouses and inns for Amendolara, and they are divided into several groups: One is responsible for cutting down trees, another one is responsible for grinding stones, and the last one is for tamping down the foundation.

There were also a dozen or so craftsmen of the city-state, some of whom were commanding the Lucanian slaves to lay the foundations, and the others were making measurements.

Alexius and Heracleides were on the site monitoring the progress of the project and looking at the drawings.

Heracleides, is an apprentice of the famous Greek urban planner, Hippodamus, and had participated in the design and construction of the city of Thurii with his teacher when he was young. His greatest regret was that he wasn’t able to stay in Thurii at that time, since he returned to Athens together with his teacher, else he would have been one of the first citizen of Thurii. Later, the political enemies of Pericles accused his mistress Aspasia of accepting bribes during the construction of the Parthenon, and made Hippodamus to be inexplicably involved, and so he was imprisoned. While Heracleides was also expelled from Athens, and had to return to his hometown in despair. Then the Peloponnesian war broke out, and his hometown fell into the chaos of war and he began to struggle in life…

Twenty years later, he took his wife’s girdle and fled from his hometown that was occupied by Sparta to the relatively war-torn Greek mainland, then to the relatively peaceful Magna Graecia, to Thurii which he had contributed. However, the city was no longer the one that needed a large number of immigrants and talents like when it had been built, and so the city hall refused to accept him as a citizen of the city-state, Heracleides, who was penniless, had to live at the port for more than 20 years. For the past 20 years, he, together with his son had built houses for others and maintain the city walls…for their living, which gained him some fame and had manage to saved some money. However, he was still a freeman living in a crowded and humid shack without any land and status. And now, he is old, and his wife had died of illness a few years ago. He does not have much demand for life, but his only regret was that his son, Heracleides the Younger, was still young and have fully inherited his skills and should have had a brighter future…

Just as he was worrying about the future of his child day and night, one day, a stranger entered his shack that he shared with others, and he still remembers their conversion clearly.

“Who is Heracleides?”

“That is me. Who are you?”

“I heard that you were an apprentice of Hippodamus, and that you had contributed in building the city of Thurii?”

“Yes, this is indeed the truth, and I have never lied about it.”

“Then, are you willing to be hired by Amendolara to supervise the construction of some projects with a salary of 50 drachmas a month?”

“What kind of project?”

“I don’t know much about it, but when you go to Amendolara, Alexius will tell you about it, and at the same time, he also asked me to tell you, ‘If you do a good job and truly have a great architectural talent, then he will recommend you to the archon, lord Davos, for you to become a citizen of Amendolara.’”

He then immediately heard the envy of the people behind him.

Note: Hippodamus, is a native of Miletus, and a friend of Pericles. He is the most famous master of architectural planning in ancient Greece, the Piraeus and the Agora of Athens are his own work.

Chapter 125 – New Roads

Heracleides had once went to the city of Amendolara to help build a courtyard for a family. In recent times, the name of Amendolara had frequently appeared in the mouths of the freeman in the port of Thurii, ‘All the mercenaries who had wiped out that Lucanian alliance and won high prestige have become a citizen of Amendolara. Their leader, Davos, had even become an archon, and they had also turned their slaves into freeman, and was even said that they will be given citizenship in the future’…these days, with the restart of the trade with Amendolara, many of the recent events in Amendolara had spreads among the freeman of Thurii, and there are even some magical things that the lowest people of Thurii have never dared to think of, but they extremely yearns for it! The freeman and even the slaves of Thurii were originally living an ordinary and peaceful life but it was like having a stone thrown into the water and stirred up the fishes.

This made Heracleides, who had lived for a long time, to unable to stop his excitement, ‘Since this is the invitation of Amendolara, then surely their won’t be a problem with their promise?!’

Therefore, Heracleides asked eagerly, “Can I take my son with me?! His talent in architecture is no worse than mine!”

“You may.”

In the envious gaze of others, he and his son packed their baggage in a hurry, and followed the man to Amendolara. When he saw Alexius, his first sentence made Heracleides excited, “I am Alexius, the aedile that is responsible for the construction, maintenance and supervision of all the city-state buildings. In the other Greek city-states, there is no such post, so you can see the great importance that Amendolara attach to architecture, and as long as you have the talent in this field, then you will be put in important position!”

Feeling that Amendolara attached great importance to architecture, the old heart of Heracleides began to ignite his enthusiasm for construction just like when he was young.

The first task of Heracleides was to design and build warehouses and inns, which were not difficult for him, and his plan was soon passed by the Council. Then he and his son led a dozen craftsmen and nearly a thousand Lucanian slaves to start the construction under the city of Amendolara.

Although Heracleides is a shrivelled and a thin old man, he is still very energetic and meticulous. He wandered around the construction sites every day to urge the construction speed and check the quality of the project. He will severely criticize them if he found that their work is slow, and immediately correct it if there is a mistake in their work, and he even give a demonstration in person. If there was any deviation in the measurement, he would immediately have them re-measure it until it was accurate. The craftsmen and slaves were both respectful and afraid of this old man.

Today, Alexius went to look for Heracleides and handed him a paper scroll and said, “This is the next construction task, it is to build a road from the river Siris to the city of Amendolara and then to the river Saraceno, so you should start preparing. And the archon asked the road to be built in the way he had drawn.”

“Your archon knows nothing!” Heracleides was unable to stop himself from saying that. As a craftsman who has been engaged in construction for many years, he has his own persistence and pride, and what he dislike the most is the ignorant trying to interfere with his work.

“You should look at the archon’s drawing first.” Alexius reminded him.

The ignorant bystander is the only archon for life of Amendolara! It is directly related to whether he and his son can become a citizen of the city-state! Heracleides suddenly remembered that and he was drench in cold sweat. After decades of suffering, he thought that as long as the design of the archon is not too out of line and him modifying it slightly, then he will do as he had requested.

At this moment, he and his son’s survival triumph over his high pride.

He unfolded the paper scroll and swept his gaze without a care. However, his gaze seemed to be stuck and could not be pulled out.

Alexius saw that he was seriously looking and so he smiled. He got up and looked around, the scattering dust around the construction site, the craftsmen and slaves were working in full swings. After two days’ absence, the whole construction site had greatly change…

This made him feel excited, “At this rate, could we finish it in half a year?!”

“Half a year?! Four months is enough! If those Lucanians were smarter, then three months would be enough!” Said Heracleides, without even looking up.

“It seems that you are not very satisfied with these slaves.” Laughed Alexius.

“They don’t know anything about construction. I don’t even know how many words I had spent and my voice has even become hoarse. I’m not satisfied with them, so can you give me another batch?!” Complained Heracleides.

“You know that it is impossible.”

“However, the Lucanians are not as frightening as I had thought. Maybe they are more afraid of you, and so they are so obedient!” Sighed Heracleides, those who have experienced war know what is the most important in troubled times.

“These Lucanians are not afraid of us, but the method of lord Davos works!” Exclaimed Alexius.

Speaking of Davos, Heracleides turned his gaze back to the drawing then pointed to the patterns on the paper and said seriously, “The road construction drawing of the archon is more complex than your usual road, but if you think about it carefully, it is very reasonable. First, tamp the earthen road, then lay a layer of sand, then lay a layer of gravel on the sand, and finally pave a more tightly assembled stone slab. There are ditches on both sides of the road, and a soil wall is built outside the ditch…I can just imagined that if such a road is built, it will not only prevent water and sand, the road itself will be strong and resilient, and won’t be easy damaged by loaded carriage. I have never seen such a road before. What a wonderful design! If this is what your archon thinks, then he is a great master of road architecture!” This time, Heracleides said it from the bottom of his heart.

Alexius was already used to the fact that Davos repeatedly created miracles. Now that Heracleides had approved of his drawing, he was relieved and said, “So you agree to build the road according the drawing?”

“Of course! I also want to see what kind of road will be built with this method look like sooner!” The wrinkled old man said excitedly. But then, he pointed to a part on the paper and asked in doubt, “We all know that the mortar used for construction is made of limestone mixed with water to decomposed it and add sand. However, the drawing emphasized that the mortar used to splice the cracks of the stone slab should not only use limestone mixed with water and sand, but also add a certain amount of pozzolanic ash. The archon call this mortar…ce…ment, does this really work?”

“The citizens of Amendolara all knows that lord Davos, the archon, is the favored of Hades, and so this must be the revelation of Hades. I believe that you will understand the magic of this kind of thing after you try it.” Said Alexius solemnly.

“You are right. How would I know if I don’t try it!” Heracleides became interested, “I remember that Sicily and its nearby islands have many volcanoes. Back in ancient times, this place was said to be the place where Hephaestus, the God of Fire, forged his magical weapons. Hmm, we can send a ship to load a ship full of pozzolanic ash back, which should not cost much.”

“Heracleides!” Alexius suddenly became serious, “According to you and your son’s previous performance, lord Davos has suggested a proposal, and with the approval of the council of Amendolara, you and Heracleides the Younger, have become a preparatory citizen of Amendolara. During this two-year inspection period, if you perform well and continue to contribute to Amendolara, then you and your son will be an official citizen of Amendolara. Congratulations!”

Heracleides was taken aback, he tried to open his dry lips, but no words could come out, and in the blink of an eye, tears fell out.

Alexius was touched by it, and his tone became softer, “As a preparatory citizen of Amendolara, you must know that the archon, lord Davos, has repeatedly told me, ‘The method of making cement is the highest secret of the city of Amendolara!’ Except for you and your son, you are not allowed to tell it to anyone else. If it gets leak, the council will send the inspector to investigate your responsibility, and you may be severely punished. I hope that you can find a way to use and protect its secrets!”

Heracleides immediately became nervous, and he hurriedly crammed the drawings into his arms…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The 18 years old Arsinis, was training in the military camp for the second time, and as a young adult, this is also the second time in his life to participate in the military training. In the past, he only learned how to hold a shield and wield a spear under the guidance of his father. Other times, he was either learning language or exercising in the arena with his other friends, but since the war between Thurii and the Lucanians, his life has changed dramatically. His father died in the battle, and his mother died in imprisonment, and the 18 year old Arsinis inherited the property of his family.

According to the 《City-state Military Service Act》 issued by Davos after he became the archon for life, all adult citizens of the city-state must attend the military camp training every six days during the busy farming season, and once every three days during leisure time after the autumn harvest and before the spring sowing. Arsinis couldn’t wait to learn combat skills, so that he would be able to gallop on the battlefield as soon as possible and defeat the Lucanians to avenge his parents. But the first training, was beyond his imagination of a military camp. In addition to the rugby game that the archon had taught at the end, which was very interesting, the rest of the time was not only arduous but also boring.

The second training was still the same as the last one. The recruits will first put on the Corinthian helmets, linen armor, bronze greaves, round shields, spears and kopis on their waists. Then they will walk 5 kilometers wearing the full gear, and they had to walk slowly and had to withstand the instructor’s stick. Last time, he saw several freeman recruits being beaten by their instructors. Although their equipment weighed nearly 20kg, Arsinis didn’t feel that it is too heavy due to his innate traits and acquired training.

Chapter 126 – Recruits and Training (I)

The instructor told Arsinis that the battle in a war is very short, and the time is more spent on marching and camping. Therefore, to become a well-trained citizen soldier of Amendolara, they should first adapt to and learn how to march.

Arsinis trusted his instructor because he was said to be a well-known warrior in the whole army. He controlled his pace and adjusted his breathing according to the method of his instructor, so as to save his stamina. (T/N: wonder who he is)

During their march, he also saw a group of Lucanian slaves passing them with their newly cut trees. In the past, he would have express his anger by insulting and throwing stones at them, but now, he will not. On one hand, he has adapted to their existence, who are the property of the city-state and are creating wealth for the city-state, and injuring them means that they will get punished. On the other hand, their instructor had told them that such a practice is the performance of the weak, and the truly strong one should defeat their enemies in the battlefield. Arsinis wants to be a strong man!

The five kilometer march ended, but the training is not over at all. After taking a break, the recruits began their charge training, a training program that slightly excite Arsinis. The heavily armed recruits will from a dense phalanx, and with the beating of the drums, they will start moving. The sound of the drum went from slow to fast, and the speed of the recruits changed from fast walking to jogging, and then to running. Across a narrow, trench, over a ridge, and so from time to time, the recruits fell, and the most difficult part of the charge training is to maintain the formation while running. Everyone should not charge ahead or fall behind, so that the phalanx formation can rush to the target as a whole. The recruits tends to often lose sight of one another, and so the instructor on the side kept on scolding them…

After the charge training, all the recruits were numbed, and so they threw their spears, shields and helmets aside, and they all fell directly on the ground gasping for breath. But the training was not over, the instructor kicked and pulled them, and drove the recruits to the river.

The next training program is swimming, which is the favorite sports of the recruits of Amendolara like Arsinis. Although Amendolara is a mountain city, there are still many rivers in its territory, so the citizens can go and swim. Arsinis, and the others cheered and quickly took of their gear, and with a “plop” they plunge into the water and the cool river water had immediately taken away the dry heat brought by their training, and wash away all the sweat and dust on their body, and eliminate their fatigue…after swimming in the water for a while, Arsinis and the others went ashore, because the recruits had a show to watch…which is, the veterans who usually look at them from above and contempt were clumsily swimming in the river. It is a fact that the Greeks are maritime nation and most of them can swim, but some of the city-states are located in mountainous and inland areas with few rivers, so they did not have a chance to learn how to swim from childhood, such as Thessaly.

Although these veterans swam awkwardly and repeatedly drunk water, they still persisted in continuing their practice…

Arsinis grinned, but then stopped laughing. He remembered that his instructor had said about the importance of swimming. When they were in Persia, and were marching hard and fighting the Persians, and during their journey, they had to go through many mountains and rivers. Some of his comrades, who were unable to swim, brave the arrows of the enemies and was forced to cross the river, and so they slipped and fell into the river and drowned in vain. Therefore, in the war, the soldiers will encounter all kinds of unexpected situations, and so it is better for them to learn all kinds of combat skills, in order for them to save themselves and kill the enemy.

At this time, a huge cheering from the front had awakened Arsinis from his thoughts.

“What happened?” Arsinis asked his teammate who was looking at the river.

“The archon is swimming with everyone.” The one who answered him is Melisander. His father died in the war, and his mother who was in her thirties has just married Philesius, a new elder of the council. Melisander is only 16 years old and has not yet reached the age of service. However, he insisted on participating in the training, and his reason is the same as that of Arsinis, and his stepfather, Philesius, was entangled about this and so, he had to go and ask Davos. Then Davos approved of his participation in the training. However, he is not allowed to go to the battlefield until he becomes an adult. Because Arsinis was close to his age, and is the youngest in the military camp, they soon became good friend.

“The archon also came to swim as well?!” Arsinis was astonished.

“Lord Davos will always do it himself first before asking others to do it. You usually don’t see it, but the archon and the veterans usually trains together.” The voice of their instructor rang in their ears.

Arsinis nodded and ran down the river excitedly.

“Wait for me!” Shouted Melisander.

They had squeeze into the crowd, and they then saw that there were five people in the river swimming hard at the beat of the drums. One of them swum in the water, and his body kept leaning to the left and then to right, it is a swimming movement that they had never seen before, and he quickly moved forward like a big fish and had long left the others behind…

When the drums stopped, the man stood up. The river’s water at most reach his waist, he is the archon Davos, whom Arsinis had met before at the ecclesia.

At this time, Davos said with a smile, “Who else would like to come down and compete with me?”

The soldiers who were cheering loudly before had immediately went quiet.

Seeing that there is no response, Davos turned around and hugged the people who had competed with him, and was ready to go ashore.

Melisander then gave Arsinis a big push, and so Arsinis rushed out of the crowd. Facing the gaze of everyone, he hurriedly shouted, “I…I wanna do it!”

The soldiers were in an uproar, “It’s just a youngster!” There is regret in their words.

“What’s the matter with him being young! Lord Davos is only a few years older than us!” Retorted Melisander, and the crowd soon became speechless.

“Well said, Melisander! A man must not depend on the number of their age!” Said Davos to Melisander with a smile. He recognized this young man because of Philesius, and then he focused his gaze on Arsinis, “It’s always the young people that have the courage to challenge things!”

Arsinis walk nervously to Davos. The Greeks of this era view strong body as a beauty, and swimming naturally trains the whole body. Davos was of medium height and his body is well-proportioned, and his gaze were particularly sharp, but the sharpness of his gaze was covered by his smile.

Davos was also looking at Arsinis, and said with a smile, “I don’t think that I have seen you before, are you a new recruit?”

“Yes, lord Archon. My name is Arsinis, the son of Aligoras.” Said Arsinis nervously, “I…I may not be able to swim as fast as you, but I am willing to compete with you.”

Davos praised him, “As a soldier, you must have the courage to dare face challenges! We, the soldiers of Amendolara, should have and must have such fighting spirit!”

As soon as Davos finished saying it, the soldiers on the shore shouted at the same time, “Banzai! Banzai!! Banzai!!!…” (T/N: omae wa mou shindeiru )

In such a mood, Arsinis suddenly relaxed and was filled with strength. The result of the competition: He, of course, lost.

Davos patted him on the shoulder and encouraged him, “Train hard and you will definitely become a brave warrior!”

Arsinis nodded his head. It was strange since Davos is only two years older than him, but he felt like a respected elder talking to him.

“Who is your instructor?” Asked Davos.

“Matonis.”

“Oh, that guy.” Davos had a smile on his face, “If you train under his guidance, then you will definitely feel happy because he is very protective. But also painful, because he is very demanding, specially to you.”

His last sentence made Arsinis puzzled.

Davos raished his head and called to the soldiers around him, “Brothers, is my swimming fast?”

“Fast!!!”

“Do you want to learn it?”

“YES!!!”

“I will write down the main point of my swimming skill and add it to the training item in the 《Military Book》, and you, yourselves will practice it according to this in the future. I hope that you can learn it as soon as possible!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After their swimming, the sun has already risen in the middle of the sky, and it’s finally time for them to eat. Traditionally, the Greeks only eat twice a day, but Davos believes that the soldiers who trained hard, needs to consume too much, and so they must eat lunch in order for them to complete their day’s training.

The soldiers took out bread and cheese they brought from their home, while Philesius, the military officer, provided each soldiers with a bowl of mutton soup together with his subordinates and slaves. The money for the mutton soup is from the disabled soldier’s fund in the weapon shop. In the future, the money from selling other goods in addition to the weapons will be included in the military, so that the cost of training can be covered.

Arsinis ate his bread and drunk his steaming mutton soup, and felt his whole body regain strength, “Melisander, I heard the old man say that the ‘Archon is too strong, and he by himself had decided all the laws and proposal, and he doesn’t give the others a chance to discuss it and he wants to be a dictator.’ However, today, the archon seems to be easy to get along!”

Melisander, who was next to him, then said, “Don’t listen to those old men, they are just jealous! Because, lord Davos, as soon as they have become a citizens of Amendolara, they then became the archon and elders, and they themselves have the ability. Otherwise, do you think Thurii will ask us to sign an equal alliance agreement with them? I also hope that lord Davos will have more power, and not like before where it took the elders for a long time to discussed a matter and couldn’t even resolve it! Look, Amendolara has change so much now!”

“You are right!” Arsinis took a gulp of mutton soup and looked at Melisander, “It seems that you and your stepfather get along well.”

Melisander was taken aback and then took a few bites of the bread before he vaguely said, “He isn’t bad…he is very kind to my mother…so he is okay for me, but it would be better if he could be as brave as our instructor…”

Chapter 127 – Recruits and Training (II)

“Just like the instructor?!” Laughed Arsinis, “In that case…while you are staying at home! Melisander, get up and run…Melisander, stop eating and come train with me…Melisander, take this rock and walk around the courtyard ten times…” Arsinis imitated the voice of Matonis, with exaggeration.

“Arsinis, do you want me to tell the instructor what you had just said and see who will run ten laps with a rock?” Melisander pretended to threaten him.

Arsinis repeatedly asked for forgiveness, and Melisander spared him.

“Are we really going to attack Lucania?” Asked Arsinis.

“Do you think that the reason why we have trained so hard is just to defend Amendolara?!” Melisander said scornfully, “It would be a waste of our strength, if it is!”

“Hey -” Arsinis excitedly said, “If we really manage to take the land of Lucania, can I find a Lucanian woman to be my wife? I have seen many Lucanian wives of the new citizens these days, and they are tall and plump, and can do heavy work. They are totally different from our Greek women…”

“Isn’t it too early for you to think about that now!” Asked Melisander in surprise.

“I am not like you. My home is empty and I am all alone…” Arsinis became dispirited.

“Then let’s practice our skill of slaughtering enemies and together, we will conquer Lucania, and then marry a Lucanian women and have a lot of children!” Melisander encouraged him.

“Yes, let’s work hard together!” Arsinis and Melisander shook hands.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After lunch, the recruits did not have a long break, and soon, Arsinis and the others assembled again.

The training in the afternoon started with individual fighting, but it isn’t a one-on-one, but a group battle with three people holding a round shield in their left hand* and a long rod in their right hand, which is heavier than the spears. (The shield should have been a heavier wooden shield made of thicker wood, but they don’t have the time nor manpower to make it.)

Arsinis found that his rod was thicker and that his teammates, Melisander and another young companion were replaced by two stronger teammates. He then cast a puzzled gaze at his instructor who was supervising them.

Matonis looked at him and sternly said, “If you want to be a warrior, then you have to train harder.”

Arsinis now understood what the Archon had meant. Instead of arguing, he just accepted it in silence.

The training begins, Arsinis was the one to attack first. He roared and held his round shield, and charge into the “enemy” at the front with all his strength. With a “bang”, the body of the “enemy” shook, then Arsinis immediately stabbed the long wooden rod dipped in lime powder at the round shield in the hand of another “enemy” who was hiding behind the other “enemy”. The stabbing action must be fast, otherwise, the “enemy” in front him will soon be able to stand firm and block the path of attack…

After ten rounds of attack, each person will take a break and then do a step and stab, that is, holding a round shield and a long wooden rod, they will step forward to hit the head of the humanoid target that is in front of them.

After hitting it ten rounds, they will then had a rest and then continue the training. It was still a group of three, but this time, the long wooden rod was replaced by a short rod, which was the same length as a kopis. Arsinis’ rod was still thicker, and this time, he did not have any doubt. The content of the practice is still to hit and stab the “enemy” who was hiding behind the shield. However, due to the much shorter length of the rod, the attacker must use greater strength to break through the “enemy” at the front and take his position to stab the “enemy” at his back. This is also a ten round training.

Then continue onto the next round of practice – hitting humanoid target. First of all, each recruit is required to use the wooden rod in their hands to hit the target made of thick wood that was assigned to them, and make way into the mud and stand upright and steady: Then the recruits were armed with rods and round shields, and like facing a real enemy, they will need to do their best to stab the “head” and “face” of the wooden target, and sometimes attack its ribs, stab its leg, and slice its kneepit(popliteal fossa)…

Under the strict requirements of their instructor, they need to step back then leap forward, doing various stabbing and cutting motions…

After these training programs are completed, they are already limp and numb, and don’t even have the energy to lift anything.

At this moment, Matonis then said, “You are all doing better than last time! It seems that the reason you all can still hold on is that, after you all went back last time, you did some training at your home every day, right?”

“Yes…” The recruits answered weakly.

“Good! If you keep on training like this, then you will soon become a qualified Amendolaran Hoplite.” Matonis then smiled with encouragement, “Next, a new training program will be added, and all of you will return to your centuria and train together with the veterans.”

Not long after Matonis finished his speech, a salpinx resounded throughout the camp. At the urging of Matonis, the recruits dressed neatly and carried their round shields and spears. As they had been training with thick wooden rods which was heavier than a spear, now that they had replaced the rod with a spear, they felt the spear as light as a feather. Arsinis then remembered what instructor Matonis had said when he answered the soldiers’ complaints in the first training, ‘When you train, you will hold heavier rods, but when you go to the battlefield, your real weapons will be much lighter. So you will feel very relaxed, and you will be more powerful and energetic when fighting.’

Arsinis also remembered that when he was young, he watched his father participate in the training of the city-state soldiers, but they only practice marching in formation once in a few months and then a one-on-one training. Their training program was simple and relaxed, far from the training he is carrying out now, it is not only arduous and complicated, but also progress step by step, just like a child learning words. The requirements are very reasonable, but are also very strict and the amount of training is very large. It is no wonder that the veterans were able to defeat the Lucanian alliance! He also heard that these training methods are all from the training regulations in the 《Military Law》 that was newly compiled in Amendolara and was mainly written by the archon, lord Davos. He is really a mysterious man!

Arsinis and Melisander were not in the same centuria, and he did not even have the time to say goodbye to Melisander, as he had to hurriedly searched the third centuria. According to his instructor, Matonis, the captain of this centuria is called Giorgris, and he was once his comrade on the same squad, and he has a mild temper. (T/N: all native citizen and freeman of Amendolara are in the third brigade)

He shouldn’t be stricter than Matonis! This is the only thing Arsinis is thinking about. After the salpinx sounded, thousands of people moved together, and the training ground was full of dust, and he could only barely see the bright red flag standing high on the training ground. Arsinis spent a lot of time looking for his centuria, and he became more and more anxious. Finally, he managed to find the flag with the number of the centuria that he belonged to.

As soon as the platoon captain, Trotidis saw him, he sternly said to him, “Soldier, you are late! Considering that this is your first time, you will not be punished. But I hope that there won’t be another time!”

Arsinis repeatedly nodded, and under the leadership of the squad leader, he quickly went to his position.

At this time, a 30 year old man came over and said to him kindly, “I am Xethippus, and I will be your squad leader.”

“Hello, squad leader!” Arsinis quickly saluted to him.

Xethippus looked at him and said, “Hmm, you are a strong guy! Are you a recruit!”

“Yessir.”

“A native citizen of Amendolara?”

“Yessir.”

“Hmmm, who is your instructor?”

“Matonis.”

“What?! That madman?!”

“Sir, do you know instructor Matonis?”

“I used to be under him, but due to the reorganization of the army and because of my excellent performance, I was forced to come here in the third brigade. Matonis didn’t want to let me go, but Giorgris was his best friend. But I didn’t think that when I came here, I would run into you, the student of Matonis. This is all the arrangement of the goddess of Fates.” In fact, Matonis thought that he was too naggy, and so, when the third brigade came to ask for some people, he directly recommended him and he doesn’t have any reason to keep him.

“Don’t worry, I will take good care of you!” Said Xethippus seriously.

“Thank you sir!” Arsinis said gratefully.

“Xethippus, stop talking and start preparing for the training!” At this moment, Trotidis shouted at the front.

“I know!” Xethippus gave a reply, and then murmured, “You are lucky to be a platoon captain. If I was the first to follow lord Davos, I would have been a centurion now…”

Arsinis felt it strange hearing what he said.

The soldier next to him said, “Our squad leader likes to nag, but he is very nice.”

I hope so. Thought Arsinis.

Since the previous training intensity was very intense, the training of the centuria only allowed the soldiers to familiarize themselves with their comrades and carry out small phalanx formation and marching training. For the soldiers of the first brigade, this exercise is just a kind of leisure in order for them to recover their physical strength, because they are already familiar with each other. While for the third brigade, this is necessary because they are a new unit, and the soldiers in the brigade are not familiar with each other.

According to the traditional military training method of the Greek city-state, the army officers are relatively fixed in their position, while the soldiers will often be changed. During war, the citizens are called to the square and will be randomly assigned to a team according to the order or drawing lots. This will prevent the soldiers and officers to huddle in the same team together and affect the normal political order and democratic election of the city-state.

While Davos believes that a fixed military team is favourable to the improvement of the team’s unity and sense of honor, and during battle, they will be more united and more effective in combat. Therefore, the soldiers of Amendolara are all fixed in a certain team, and the squad leaders have a certain term for their position and they will be replaced once their term ends, so to prevent any soldier from harboring too big of an ambition in replacing the leader.

Chapter 128 – Rugby

The squad training duration is not too long, but with the help of Xethippus, Arsinis manage to quickly integrate into his squad.

Then the squad was merged into the centuria for further formation training, and Arsinis begun to become more familiar with the more complex tactical instructions and flags: The rhythm of the drums, and at what speed. The salpinx sound when advancing. The salpinx sounds when retreating, and the salpinx sound when they are gonna charge.

In addition, under the different sounds of the drums and salpinx, they also paid attention to the direction of the flag. When the flag points forward in a certain direction, then they would move, rush or charge in that direction. If the flag is facing a certain direction backward, then they would slowly retreat in that direction. If the flag circles around continuously, then it means that they need to stop moving, rest, be alert or start preparing. They also need to learn how to quickly change the column into a row, and then to quickly split the phalanx formation into lines and move quickly. There are also some complex tactical operations, such as the second and third platoon to go in defense, and the first and fourth platoon do a pincer attack.

Then the next step was to merge with the brigade. But this time, instead of the complicated tactical instructions, it was more about the transformation of the formation. For example, the fish scale formation (Named by Davos, which is in fact the Roman’s checkerboard formation), which rapidly change into a large phalanx formation, then the large phalanx formation will then change back to the fish scale formation. The front row will retreat, and the rear row will move forward, which will then form a new large phalanx formation. In addition, the phalanx formation can rotate to the left and right while keeping the formation close.

And finally, a great joint training of the whole Legion. Besides the formation transformation, they also increase the cooperation with the other brigades. For example, when advancing, the peltast brigade at the rear will quickly pass through the gap of the fish scale formation and rush to the front of the formation, then the peltast soldiers will scatter into a line, then make a throwing and shooting action, and then quickly retreat to the rear from the gap of the formation, and then the fish scale formation will quickly merge and form a huge phalanx formation. When a sharp salpinx sounded, it means that the cavalry on both wings will launch an attack (although there are currently only few cavalry now, Davos still specially prepared a tactic for them). The peltast unit in the peltast brigade (the seventh brigade) which had retreated behind the phalanx formation before, will then follow behind the cavalry. When the cavalry attacked with their spears, the peltast will then follow them behind in a loose formation while holding wooden shields and Rhomphaia, then the hoplites in a formation will slowly push forward.

Arsinis had never seen so many novel ways of attack and defense, which has greatly broadened his horizons. At the same time, he was also troubled by the changing flag instructions, but with the constant reminding of his squad leader, Xethippus, and his comrades, it made Arsinis and the others to not make a huge mistake. Gradually, they were able to keep up with the pace of training.

It was still early when the training ended due to it being May already.

At this time, the archon, Davos, stepped onto the temporary stage.

The tired soldiers became excited.

“Brothers, what are we going to do next?!!” Said Davos.

“Rugby!!!”

“Are you now familiar with all the rules after the last practise?”

“We are!!!”

“Then, let’s begin!!!”

“Just like last time, we will set up four fields. First will be, the first platoon of the first centuria of the first brigade vs the first platoon of the first centuria of the seventh brigade. Next, the first platoon of the first centuria of the second brigade vs the first platoon of the first centuria of the third brigade. There are only 4 hourglass* in a match, and the one who scored the most will be the winner and the losers will be eliminated, and the winning team will need to prepare for the next round.” (T/N: 20 minutes each? No idea about rugby)

While the soldiers were waiting for the archon to say “Get ready”, Davos, however, continued to say, “Now, I am announcing a new rules and that is, each team must have five Lucanian slaves to join them.”

The soldiers went into an uproar, while the senior officers such as Kapus, Drakos, and Hieronymus have already been informed by Davos in advance, and that this is an effort of the archon in order to integrate the Lucanians.

And no one dares to refute the order of Davos, so Bagul and the other 40 Lucanian slaves were taken to the training ground.

Bagul and the others were originally grinding stones, but Alexius suddenly gathered them together and then pointed at the 40 people that Bagul led, and said that they are the best 40 men among the slaves that are working today. And as a reward, they will be allowed to play rugby with the citizens of Amendolara.

Bagul needed to translate it to them because most of the Lucanians do not understand Greek. The slaves were restless and worried that this was a scheme of the Greeks and that they wanted to take advantage on them.

And so Alexius swore to the God that they will be able to come back before dark!

Bagul and the others were then brought into the training camp and stood in front of the Greek soldiers.

However, when most of the soldiers were still at a loss, Olivos, the platoon captain of the first platoon of the first centuria of the first brigade, quickly picked Bagul and the other four strong Lucanian slaves. Then the others finally reacted, and in a flash, the 40 slaves were completely divided by the teams playing in the first round.

Davos briefly explained to them the rules of the game, and Bagul translated it to them. The others that were incorporated to the team of Olivos, listened to Bagul but they couldn’t fully understand it.

The rugby field is a flat grassland about 100 meters long and 50 meters wide, with white line every 10 meters drawn using lime powder. There are wooden poles inserted at the intersection of the white lines in order to prevent unclear boundaries due to the lime power being wiped off during intense game.

According to the requirements of Davos, the centurion can only serve as coaches, and the platoon captain must serve as the team’s quarterback, because the coach should arrange the tactics according to the advantage and disadvantages of his side and the opponent. And the quarterback is the core of the team on the field, and so he will be the one to change the tactics according to the changes and lead the players to victory. Davos wanted to train the leadership and command ability of the officers with this, because he thought that rugby a modern sport in his previous life, was very similar to the cold weapon battle of the ancient time. The middle base and the two wings can not only utilize the strength, speed and agility of the soldiers, but also trained the unity and cooperation of the whole team, and at the same time, it can also train the centurion and the platoon captains for them to think calmly and quickly, and make the correct response in the intense competition. This is very beneficial to the whole army, because of the systematic and complex units (temporarily lacking cavalry) that Davos created, and in order for them to exert its true power, as it is very dependent on the ability of the middle and low-level officers.

First, the two sides will draw a lot in order to decide the order of the attack.

Olivos was lucky to draw the first to attack, and the “coach” Antonios began to arrange the tactics of the team, “Bagul, you are new here, so you should first just watch and get familiar with this game, and learn.”

Bagul nodded, ‘it seems they are playing a game.’

All the soldiers around were serious, which made the slaves to be also serious.

“You, you, you, you, and you will go first, you all must pay attention when catching the rugby ball from the other side after the kick-off. After receiving the ball, do not hesitate to pass it to Olivos, Olivos you will pass the ball to the big man and have him run with the ball to test the strength of the other side, and the others will pay attention in blocking the opponents for him!” Antonios arrange the tactics against the players on the field.

At this time, the whistle sounded and the referee, Drakos, urged the players of both teams to get into position. According to the rule, the senior centurions will serve as the referee, and so there are a total of four referees. But since Epiphanes, is the senior centurion of the seventh brigade and was also the centurion of the first centuria. So the cavalry captain, Ledes, will take over.

The soldiers took off their helmets, greaves, swords and other metal equipment, and they only wore their linen armor in order to prevent injury. At the same time, the two sides wrapped a prepared linen strips that are dyed red and blue around their upper bodies, and tied it tightly in order to distinguish the two teams. There are 55 players on each side plus the five slaves, and only 11 players are allowed to play in the field at a time. However, rugby is a very exhausting sports, and also because the soldiers are already tired from their training, so they have to constantly change players in order to maintain their strength.

Drakos gave the signal and the game begins.

The hourglass also started to trickle.

The team of Epiphanes kicked the ball into the opponent’s part of the field and rushed to the other side immediately.

Antonios to his surprise, found that the other side actually sent the five slaves at the start and wondered if they were using the slaves’ abundant stamina in order to block their attack rather than the soldiers. Antonios then decided to watch the game first before making any adjustments.

A soldier jumped up, and receive the ball, and an opponent rushed toward him.

Although the opponent was also wearing a linen armor, it turns out that he is a Lucanian.

The soldier with the ball was taken aback, and this distraction was immediately grabbed by the other side. Fortunately, he fell down to the ground in time to press the ball under his body.

Antonios and the members that were outside of the field cried a sound of regret, while the opponent side was shouting and several players excitedly came forward to pat the Lucanian to express encouragement.

And like that, an offensive opportunity was wasted. According to the rules made by Davos, the attacker has three chances, and during this period, they must move forward to the field of the opponent by ten meters, and then get the three attacking opportunities. Otherwise, the opponent will be the one to attack.

Olivos wasn’t in a rush, and even crack a joke, “Xenotemas, did you have fun with your wife so many times last night that have made you so weak that you couldn’t even pass the ball?!”

The players laughed.

“Well, brothers, this offense of ours must show them the strength of the strongest platoon in the whole army!” (According to Davos’ military law, the “First”, is not just a number, but also the embodiment of their ability and honor. The first brigade is the strongest brigade of the whole army. And in the same way, the first platoon of the first brigade is also the strongest not only of its own brigade, but also of all the platoons of the whole army.)

The soldiers shouted and their morale soared.

The two sides line up on the white line where the ball had stopped, and the center of the two sides clashed with each other. On one side, they are ready to catch the ball and the other side was ready to block them.

The whistle sounded.

Chapter 129 – The Sorrow of Kunogelata

The center of both sides tried their best to push each other. At last, a soldier of Antonios got the ball and passed it back to Olivos under his crotch, and Olivos immediately threw it hard to Tagetinos, the big man on the left.

Tagetinos received the ball and made a spin, dodges, jumped forward to grab his opponent, and rushes forward while holding the ball.

Another opponent leaped from the side.

Xenotemas manage to stop the opponent in time.

Tagetinos is a strong man, and once he manage to speed up, he is unstoppable. Even though he was grabbed by the opponents twice, he was able throw them away with his powerful momentum.

Seeing that Tagetinos had already rush through between the second mark on their own field, had made Epiphanes unable to maintain his composure and shouted anxiously outside the field.

At this time, a team member from the rear flank manage to quickly caught up with him, and did his all to pounce at him, he opened his arms in the air and held the feet of Tagetinos firmly and accurately.

Tagetinos fell down on the grass. Fortunately, he manage to hold the ball in his arms and didn’t lose it.

The members of Epiphanes’ team rushed up and patted the body of the player excitedly. He was a Lucanian, and although he could not understand what the Greeks were shouting about, he could still feel the joy and kindness in their words, and so he opened his mouth and laughed as well.

The Lucanians on Antonios’ team suddenly exclaimed.

“What did they say?” Antonios ask Bagul.

“They are shouting the man’s name. His name is Litom.” Bagul pointed to the Lucanian player on the field, “He is a famous warrior in our tribe and is also a very powerful hunter!”

Antonios nodded thoughtfully.

Drakos ran over and asked with concern, “How are you? Is there something wrong?!”

Tagetinos struggled to stand up, he then took two steps to show that he was okay. Because it is easy to be injured due to confrontation in rugby, and it is currently impossible to make protective gear for every soldier under the current conditions of Amendolara, and so Davos had strictly stipulates that, an offense can only be disrupted by catching, grasping, pulling and blocking. It is not allowed to hurt the players with dangerous actions such as collision, punching and kicking. Otherwise, they will be prohibited to participate in the competition. Therefore, the soldiers were afraid of getting banned and so they were very cautious. At the same time, Davos arranged a doctor nearby to be ready.

“Great! Great! Great job! We have progress so much. Now let’s work harder to score this point!” Olivos clapped his hands hard to encourage his teammates and arrange a new tactics.

The game resume again, Olivos gets the ball and threw it to Tagetinos.

Tagetinos with the ball, ran two steps then he saw two opponents rushing to him, and he immediately threw the ball back to Olivos.

Olivos, under the protection of his teammates, thew the ball back to Tagetinos again.

The big guy quickly threw the ball back to Olivos again.

For the third time, Olivos was going to throw it to Tagetinos, when he caught the attention of the other side, so he jerked to one side of his body, shook his wrist, and tried to throw the ball to the front at the right side, when suddenly, he was knocked down by the opponent.

In the screams of the players on the field, the ball flew a distance of 20 meters in the air, and was about to fly out of the baseline. Then a player of Antonios’ team rushed over, jumped up and held out his hand to block the ball, but he failed in catching it because it was too fast. So after landing, he quickly jumped up again, but still did not grasp it firmly, and the opponent was already rushing over to catch it.

In the regret of the soldiers watching the game, the team of Antonios lost their offensive chance.

While the slaves in the field were also shouting loudly.

“What are they shouting about?” Asked Antonios curiously.

“They said that ‘if it’s them, then they will be able to catch the ball!’” Explained Bagul, “We Lucanians have been walking and hunting in the mountains and forests since we were a child, and we often climb high places and the other races may not be able to match us!”

Antonios nodded and said, “Now it is time for us to defend. You five will play together.”

Bagul was taken aback, and then became excited. After watching the game off the court for a while, he thought that the game was very interesting and exciting, and so he was eager to try it.

“In addition, I suggest that after you go back, you’d better urge your people to learn Greek, otherwise you won’t be able to communicate during the game!” Antonios reminded him with profound meaning.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As it was already getting late, the more than 800 Lucanian slaves were anxiously waiting on the construction site. Some of them even became restless and began to quarrel with the soldiers who were supervising them.

At this moment, the forty slaves came back talking and laughing.

“Hey, are you all okay?!!” The people of their tribe came forward one after another and asked with concern.

“Don’t worry, we are fine!” Bagul comforted them, and his face was filled with excitement.

“Hey, the Greeks invented this interesting game called rugby! You didn’t see it, but in the final round of the game, Bagul jumped up and caught the ball in the air, then he evaded the defense of two people in a row, and scored directly with a charge and help his team to win the championship!” One of the returning slaves said excitedly.

“It’s not a charge, but a touchdown” Corrected Bagul.

“If it wasn’t for my team’s bad cooperation, we would have beaten you and entered the final match!” Said Litom unconvinced.

“Brother, you should know that the reason for your poor cooperation is due to language barrier! If you want to defeat me next time, then you must learn Greek well!” Bagul warned him.

Litom thought about it and nodded seriously.

The slaves that were waiting were confused: What game…match…championship?

Then, the returning slaves begun to excitedly tell them about their experience in the training camp of Amendolara. From the initial curiosity of the slaves that were waiting to a lot of people becoming interested in the game, and they made a secret decision that next time, they would work harder on the construction site, and strive to be selected, and participate in this interesting game!

From this day on, the progress of various projects in Amendolara has been greatly improved…

For the native citizen of Amendolara*, they are destined to spend a sleepless night. Arsinis, for example, cannot forget the fact that his parents died due to the Lucanian. But when he carried the ball forward, the Lucanians on the same team with him, have repeatedly blocked his opponents and made him score. When he hugged his Lucanian teammate due to excitement, he threw away his hatred out of the air. When he returned to his home and thought about it, his heart became contradicting. This is the charm of modern group sports in Davos’ previous life, when individuals integrate into the group and win by unity, any previous hatred and conflicts will be eliminated by the joy of victory. This is the intention of Davos on why he had force each team to have five Lucanian slaves join them. (T/N: Author use 卢卡利亚 which is Lucania, but with the context it should be Amendolara)

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next morning, after breakfast, when Davos was about to go out to inspect the carpenters’ production of the elevated waterwheel, he then saw Asistes rushing in.

“What happened?!” Asked Davos immediately.

“Kunogelata….Kunogelata has been expelled from Thurii, and is now leading his family…and also his clansman to the direction of Amendolara!” Said Asistes, panting.

What?!! Davos was taken aback.

It turned out that after the signing of the alliance agreement, Kunogelata had sent people to investigate the financial situation of Thurii’s treasury on the ground that “they need to develop a new business plan to enrich the empty treasury.”

While the investigation was in progress, rumors began to spread in the city of Thurii, “The hasty battle against the Lucanians was the doing of Kunogelata. At that time, Friis and the mercenary leader were strongly opposed to it, and even the hero who saves Thurii, Davos, had submitted another more feasible plan, but all of them were rejected by Kunogelata and under his urging and tyranny, the old strategos, Friis, was forced to fight. In the battle, it was the early escape of Kunogelata that led to the collapse of the center’s phalanx formation, while Friis died bravely…”

With the help of some person with intention, the rumor spread quickly throughout the city. Because some of the rumors were facts, the doubtful people went to find witnesses, and some selectively believed the facts, because they were the families of those that died in the war. Even though their grief was suppressed by the victory of Davos, now they need to vent it to someone, and Kunogelata is the best candidate. So anger broke out among the people and they gathered and shouted, “Kunogelata, step down!…punish Kunogelata severely!…” This shouting surrounded the city hall.

Seeing that something bad might happen to him, so Kunogelata slipped back to his home from the back door of the city hall. Unexpectedly, the people who heard about it went to surround his house as well.

Kunogelata urgently ordered his family and slaves to step up their guard to prevent the people from rushing into his house. He stood in the courtyard wall and yelled at the angry people.

When the two sides were in a stalemate, someone suddenly shouted, “Everyone, don’t forget that it was Kunogelata who forced the city gate to be close after he manage to escape back to the city! As a result, the fleeing citizens were unable to enter the city, and more than half of them were killed by the Lucanians! HE IS A MURDERER!!”

This reminded many people of Kunogelata’s shouting, “Close the city gate!” In fact, this measure under state of emergency at that time have saved the people of the city. But at this moment, the angry people would not think about it at all, and they only remember how they watched their relatives being slaughtered like lambs under the city wall. They hated their own powerlessness and, of course, hated the “culprit” even more！

And so, a more intense conflict occurred. The people forcefully rush into the house of Kunogelata, and the people in the courtyard tried to stop them, but the angry people even carried a log, and finally opened the gate and countless crazy people poured into the courtyard. If Kunogelata had not pretended to be dead and the slaves had not been loyal to their master, then he would have been killed on the spot.

On this day, the people had looted the home of Kunogelata like a mob. One of his sons was killed, and his daughter was raped and had committed suicide, many of his clansmen and slaves were injured, and most of the family’s wealth was looted.

Chapter 130 – Welcome to Amendolara

On this day, the people had looted the home of Kunogelata like a mob. One of his sons was killed, and his daughter was raped and had committed suicide, many of his clansmen and slaves were injured, and most of the family’s property was looted.

The next day, the heartbroken Kunogelata was unable to walk due to his injury, and so he sent a letter to the city hall, expressing his willingness to resign as a strategos. However, the people were still angry and worried that Kunogelata would retaliate for what they had done yesterday. Therefore, they continued to rally and protest in front of the city hall and demanded that an ecclesia must be held immediately. Strategos Nianses and the others agreed “reluctantly”.

After that, the ecclesia was quickly held soon, and the first topic was: The people proposed to expel Kunogelata, and most of the citizens painted “agree” on the pottery, and the proposal was passed. As a result, Kunogelata who served as the Polemarchos for several consecutive years after the Peloponnesian war and helped Thurii escaped the vengeance of the new Greek hegemon, Sparta, and her allies, was expelled from Thurii by the “ostracism” that was invented by the Athenians.

The second topic of the ecclesia was to re-elect the “Nine Strategos”. In the end, Nianses was elected as the Polemarchos, Burkes was also elected as a strategos because of his successful employment of Davos mercenary, and on the other hand, Ansitanos did not get elected because when the people was besieging the city hall, he defended Kunogelata and so he was abandoned by the people.

Kunogelata got the news while he was at home. He was silent for a long time and let out a deep sigh. Originally, according to the “ostracism”, he could only return to the city-state ten years after leaving, but he was determined to leave this city. After obtaining the consent of his wife, children and his people, they began to pack up their baggage in the afternoon of that day, and sold his house and fields at a very low price, and during this period, only Ansitanos had visited him once.

A day later, Kunogelata, with his family, and some of the people who were with him, and nearly a hundred slaves that were loyal to him, were ready to leave the city while carrying baggage and pack of loaded carts.

After hearing about it, the people of Thurii came one after another, but it is not to see them off, but to hurl insults and vent their resentment. They even threw things at Kunogelata and his family members, and all the people accompanying him were afraid of getting hit and so they lowered their heads and run quickly. Only Kunogelata, who was lying on the cart due to his injury, was calm in the face of countless angry gazes. A few years ago, he expelled the Athenian citizens of Thurii in the same way, and today, he is experiencing the same situation!

He also recalled the Asikulodox family who had also been expelled due to the defeat in the war, and the native Sybarians who had been expelled and even killed on a large scale shortly after the city was built…

Is this the Greek democracy? He suddenly had some doubt, until his youngest son, Dicaeogelata, woke him up from his thoughts and said, “Father, Nianses is there!”

He looked in the direction where his son’s finger pointed. Nianses was standing above the city gate and was looking down at him.

Kunogelata, who has been involved in politics for many years, knows who is the one behind what happened, and at this moment, when they gazes met, it did not arouse any more hatred in his heart.

He just watched quietly until he got out of the city gate, and he looked back at his mother city, which have given birth to him and raised him up.

Suddenly, he said, “Nianses steered this beast called “public opinion” to deal with me. This time, I had underestimated him, but I am afraid that if he want to control this beast with just his ability, then something will happen sooner or later…”

Dicaeogelata said not fully understanding it, “Will this bad guy be driven out of Thurii?!”

“Who knows…” Kunogelata turned back, stroked his son’s head with one hand, and looked at their uncertain future in the north. He then nervously said, “Let’s go, just as we have discussed before, we will go to Amendolara first…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Kunogelata and his party came to the river Saraceno, they then saw the archon of Amendolara, Davos, leading several elders and a team of guards waiting on the opposite bank.

When Kunogelata heard about it, he told the slaves to drive the cart to the front.

Seeing Kunogelata lying on the cart, Davos said in a loud voice, “Lord Kunogelata, I’m glad that you have chosen to come to Amendolara! After hearing that you are coming, and after an urgent discussion, our Council have decided to grant you the citizenship of Amendolara. Are you willing to accept it?”

Perhaps this move of Amendolara is just them being sincere, after all, Kunogelata was only expelled from the city-state, and was not deprived of his citizenship. He could return to Thurii ten years later, as he only need to live in another city-state for 10 years.

But when Kunogelata heard this, his slightly uneasy mood finally recovered and he immediately expressed his gratitude to Davos and said sincerely, “I am very happy to be a citizen of the same city-state as you, lord Davos!”

His clansmen were also relieved. Although Thurii and Amendolara had just signed an alliance agreement, but with the bad relationship between the two cities, they were afraid that Amendolara would refuse them.

In fact, because of this problem, Davos did not welcome Kunogelata with great fanfare, for fear of causing dissatisfaction among the native citizens. As for Kunogelata, Davos had only met him twice and did not know much about him. However, the two meetings had made him feel the political ability of Kunogelata to be not low, and according to the information he got, during the time he served as the polemarchos, Thurii was always able to maintain their political stability and trade prosperity, which showed that his political ability was excellent. Unfortunately, due to his poor military ability, he lost his seat as the polemarchos and was eventually expelled from Thurii. But this was in line with Davos, and what’s more, this expulsion incident made Davos felt something was amiss, so he actively welcomed Kunogelata.

On the way to Amendolara, both sides avoided talking about Thurii.

“There are still some vacant houses in Amendolara that can be lent to you and your family. However, I suggest that you buy it because the price is not high. As for your people, they can only rent it for the time being, because they are not citizens of Amendolara.” The financial officer Mersis did not care that Kunogelata was a new guest, and gave him a serious introduction.

Kunogelata understood it and said, “I heard that the city-state has recently passed an 《Immigration Law》. Do you know if they meet the requirements? Can they apply to become citizen of Amendolara?”

Has this matter already begun to spread to Thurii?! Davos was glad to hear this news, and so he immediately explained in detail, “Of course, they can apply. Raphias, the census officer, is the one responsible for this matter, I think that there won’t be a problem in registering them after they are interviewed. However, according to the provision of the 《Immigration Law》, there will be a long period of evaluation, which usually takes two years. If you are familiar with the laws and customs of Amendolara, and there is no violation of the law and discipline, then they can become a preparatory citizens first, and they then can enjoy some of the rights of a city-state citizen, but it will take another two-three years for them to become an official citizen…”

“In other words, it will take five to six years for them to become an official citizen of Amendolara?!” Kunogelata was a little surprised. After all, these people left Thurii voluntarily because of him, and he was responsible for their future life.

Davos, of course, notice the objection regarding this, so he stressed, “Because, according to the new law of Amendolara, the official citizens of the city-state are to be ‘allocated a share of land’, and so we can’t be careless!”

Kunogelata thought that he had heard it wrong and looked at Davos in surprise, but his expression is serious and he didn’t look like he is lying. It must be known that the right to give citizens a ‘share of land’ is only granted when the city was first built. The land of Thurii is much larger than that of Amendolara, and since its establishment, no ‘land’ has been allocated to new citizens. Even though Amendolara has a much longer history than Thurii, its land is even less than that of Thurii. Where can they get surplus land to allocate to new citizens?! And even pass it as a city-state law?! Kunogelata would like to question Davos, but he is just a newcomer here, if he doesn’t take the young archon seriously, it will make them feel uncomfortable. Besides, he can still ask about it in the future, so he changed the subject, “I have also heard that the slaves in your city-state could easily become freeman and have the opportunity to become citizens of the city.”

“It is true, but their circumstances are special. If you want your slaves to become citizens of Amendolara, the conditions will be more difficult.” Said Davos truthfully.

“As long as there is a chance, I will try my best to make them citizens in order to repay their loyalty in protecting me and my family in Thurii!” Kunogelata finally said something about this matter, but his face was calm, as if he had seen everything in the world.

This Kunogelata was quite different from the understanding of Davos. Did this incident gave him a rare lesson?! Some people grow up in setbacks, while others abandon themselves. If Kunogelata is the former, then Amendolara is lucky. Davos thought of this and sighed, “These slaves are lucky to have you as their master!”

Kunogelata immediately responded, “Amendolara, with you as the archon, has undergone unprecedented changes, which is also the luck of the city-state!”

“There is no way besides to change!” Davos, without modesty, said firmly, “In today’s troubled times, if we don’t change, we would be destroyed. If we change, we will survive!”

After hearing this, Kunogelata pondered this sentence in silence. When they reach the foot of the mountain of Amendolara, he then saw Lucanian slaves who were busy on the construction site. Kunogelata stopped and looked at them with complicated expression for a long time, and then said in surprise, “I can’t believe that these Lucanians are so obedient! I’m afraid that there are at least more than a thousand people here, but there are not many soldiers guarding them and yet they are still working so hard!”

“Because the city-state did not cut off their way out due to their crimes, but have given them hope!” Said Davos meaningfully.

“Hope?!”

“Why do the Greeks and the Lucanians have to kill each other to death?! Why can’t we live together peacefully in a city-state?!” Because of seeing some gratifying changes in Kunogelata, Davos decided to reveal some stuff in advance.

His words run wildly in the heart of Kunogelata, and he suddenly look at him with disbelief.

Chapter 131 – Mathematics and Waterwheel

“Other city-states regard land as the greatest wealth, so they are not willing to accept outsiders and freeman, and they are also not willing to share the benefits and wealth of the city-state with them. On the contrary I think “people” is the greatest wealth of a city-state! With people, we can grow food, make art and create wealth! With people, we can build weapons, army and defend the city-state! And with enough people, we can get much more land!” Said Davos firmly.

His words had an unprecedented impact on Kunogelata, as smart as he is, he certainly did not know how they will get enough land. Apparently, Davos was implicitly telling him the source of the “allocated land” for the new citizens, so he kept quiet…

Then, Sostratus, the eldest son of Kunogelata, saw some of the warehouses and inns on the construction site that were nearly completed and asked, “I heard that you are going to attract merchants from Thurii and other city-states to store their goods and lodging here. These warehouses and inns that are under construction will be it?”

“Yes.”

“It seems that there will be a lot of warehouses and inns that are going to be built here. Is the city-state going to manage them all by themselves?” Asked Sostratus again.

Mersis heard what he meant, and so he immediately said, “Of course not! We don’t have so much public officials in the city-state, and everyone has their own business and so we are ready to have a public auction and rent them out.”

“Auction” was a new word, and the Greek merchant genes made him quickly understand what was going on, and so he asked, “Can we participate?”

“You are very welcome!” Replied Mersis happily.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Although he had been busy from moving and arranging the house most of the day and the whole family was tired, Kunogelata still woke up early the next morning. Getting up early was a habit that he had developed after many years. The slave helped him get up and dressed, and then he decided to go out for a walk with the help of the slaves and came back to have breakfast.

Kunogelata’s house is at the foot of the mountain of Amendolara. After allocating the houses to the new citizens, there are still many vacant houses here, and it can be seen that in the previous war, it had done great harm to Amendolara. Only after Kunogelata came here did he understand why the native people of Amendolara were so angry with Thurii.

Most of these empty houses were rented to the freeman at a low price, so as soon as Kunogelata went out, he could see freeman rushing to work by groups. Their faces were full of vitality and passion that the freeman in the city of Thurii did not have, and even when they meet Kunogelata, who is a stranger, they would still speak with him with strange Greek and pay friendly greetings.

Kunogelata knew the reason why they were so passionate about life, because they had changed from slaves to freeman, and their employers have also paid the so-called “preparatory citizenship tax” to the city-state for them, and as long as they abide the law and work hard, then they can become a preparatory citizen of the city-state in two years.

It was currently June and the weather has began to get hot. While the city of Amendolara is relatively cool due to it being built on a mountain, and the sea breeze and mountain wind take turns to cool down the small city.

As Kunogelata walked up the road, from time to time, he will meet citizens who will go down the mountain, and they are all going to work in the fields. Both the native and new citizens said hello and laughed at each other, which was very harmonious. The slaves who followed them also showed great spirit, and all these must be the deeds of those mercenary slaves who could become citizens that have given them hope.

What really surprised Kunogelata was that there is also a woman that accompanied a citizen. She was a citizen’s wife, not the wife of a freeman (in order to make a living, the wives of a freeman often came out to work and earn money in order to support their families, such as setting up stalls, being employed in a restaurant, and so on.) She was going to accompany her husband to work in the field. It seems that his son had mentioned to him about some strange things in the city yesterday afternoon, and looking at the appearance of the woman, she is indeed a Lucanian woman. If he was a traditional and conservative foreigner, then he would have made a fuss. However, Kunogelata, who had been in politics for many years, had first thought of the significance that is represented by this phenomenon. Apparently, Davos was not just barking about it, but he was indeed trying to assimilate the Lucanians in various ways.

This young man has extraordinary ambition! Under his leadership, the small city of Amendolara had become strange and different, and in such a short period of time, it became full of vitality! Kunogelata had become more interested, and he noticed that there were many people going down the mountain, but there were also many people going up the mountain, including many children. When he asked, he found out that there is a Pythagorean disciple teaching mathematics for free on the square.

There is a Pythagorean school here! After getting surprised, Kunogelata suddenly remembered the scene of their first meeting and instantly understood that it must have been Archytas! The Pythagorean school is against democracy and supporting aristocratic politics. Will Davos tolerate them?!

But Kunogelata had thought about how Davos is an archon for life, and so, Amendolara is not a democracy!

Coming to the square, there are already some people around the stage, on which a young man is teaching basic mathematics.

This young man was Metoticles. At the beginning, he and Marticoris got the promise of Davos  to recruit apprentices. However, they strictly followed the Pythagorean requirements, which is, the disciples must have a certain mathematical foundation, and so a test is required.

But when they excitedly went door-to-door to inquire, they were rejected. First of all, most of the new citizens have a low level of education, and they are currently have just been assigned a field and houses, and so they are busy taking care of everything. How can they have the time for a test and study? Even though there are a few who wants to learn in order to prepare for public services in the future, they need to pass the test first. Although the education level of the native citizens are higher than that of the new citizens, on the one hand, they are busy doing funeral services to their relatives, and on the other hand, the Pythagorean school’s reputation in Magna Graecia is not good, with them being a secret association that worship evil gods (they regard “number” as their god), and they oppose the city-state and so on, it has long been spread to all city-state, and so they are, of course, not welcomed.

After busying for several days, they did not get any new disciples, which greatly shocked them. And so they wandered around the city-state all day long, and inadvertently discovered the Hades numeral (which is actually the Arabic numerals) that Davos had taught to Mersis to use for bookkeeping. It must be known that the Greek scholars who study mathematics in this era have a headache due to the tedious writing of Greek characters that represents numbers more than 10,000, which brought a lot of trouble for scholars in carrying out calculation. However, the Hades numeral are simple, easy to learn and easy to remember, and it can easily solve the problem that gave them the most headache in the field of mathematics. This will certainly improve the efficiency of their mathematical research, and the most important thing is that mathematics will be more easy to popularized among the public. (In history, Archimedes was the first person to solve the Greek problem, as he had invented the method of myriad (exponent).)

Thinking of this, the two men felt like they hit the jackpot. However, Mersis refused to teach them the secret of how to use this symbol, “Lord Davos is the one that have taught this, and it is said that this is a gift from Hades. And so, you must first get his permission for you to learn it!”

And so, they had to look for Davos again, which they thought that it would be more difficult to get his agreement. But Davos immediately agreed and said that, “Mathematics comes from daily life, and so naturally, I hope everyone can learn it, so that they can apply it to their daily life to solve the problems that they encountered in life and provide convenience. This is the real significance of learning knowledge!”

The two young men were greatly touched by the words of Davos.

Therefore, Davos had put forward a suggestions: That they are to open a free public lecture on mathematics on the square to teach the citizens of the city who are willing to come and learn the basics of mathematics, and the council is willing to endorse them in advocating the active participation of the public, which can also cultivate a large number of mathematics enthusiasts for the Pythagorean school over a long period of time. Which would naturally, make the Pythagorean school take root in Amendolara.

The two young and vigorous disciples did not want to return to Taranto with nothing to show. So after much deliberation, they finally decided to break the tradition of Pythagorean school and taught in public.

After getting their agreement, Davos was very happy and immediately invited them to participate in the designing in the manufacture of the waterwheel.

In his previous life, Davos had seen a lot of waterwheel in southern China, which seemed to be very easy thing to make, but when Davos had asked Alexius, the aedile, to lead the carpenter to try and make it, he found that it was not easy to make. It wasn’t due to the uneven force on the support frame and made it collapsed, or that the wheel axle angle which was not the same and caused the rotation to fail…and so on. But it was in fact, the involvement of precise mathematical calculation and the application of mathematical mechanics in making the waterwheel. In this era, mathematicians are also often both versed in mathematical mechanics and physics. And because of his close relation with the two, Davos had to ask the two young Pythagorean disciples for help.

When he took out the simple design of the waterwheel and explained its use, they were then immediately got attracted. After careful observation, they thought that this was a perfect gift of the “God of Mathematics” to help human beings live a better life (completely ignoring that this was the idea of Davos). In addition, under the leadership of Archytas, the Pythagorean school of Taranto has begun to involve in the study of mathematical mechanics for several years, and it just so happen that they can apply what they have learned, and so the two had immediately expressed their willingness to help develop the waterwheel.

Today, while Metoticles was teaching on the stage, Marticoris has begun to build the waterwheel on the river Siris. Although Metoticles was worried, he tried his best to stabilize his mood to finish the lecture with good quality and quantity and patiently answered the questions of the public. After that, he hurriedly went down the mountain…

In a narrow section of the river Siris, the surging river pushes the huge waterwheel axle to slowly rotate. When the bucket full of river water goes up to the center above the waterwheel, it then went down and dump the water into a wooden channel, the water was then led into the canal through the wooden channel, and flow into a large and small, meandering canals and then lead the cool and clear water of river Siris into the higher fields…

Chapter 136 – Outbreak of War

After an urgent discussion with the council, the terrified strategoi decided to send an envoy to ask for forgiveness to Crotone and to tell them that they are willing to make all compensation.

When this information reached Amendolara, Davos and the statesmen were shocked: After all, the envoy of a city-state represents the city-state itself, and it is a taboo to kill them, because that may mean war.

So Amendolara immediately cancelled their plan to participate in the Isthmian Games and began to pay a close attention to the development of the situation.

“Father, this is it! The Thurians will be punished by the gods!” Sostratus ran into the backyard excitedly.

Kunogelata, who was lying on his bed and basking in the sun, was not as excited as his eldest son. The former Polemarchos of Thurii, sighed with a sad look, “Just like what I had kept telling! Just like what I had kept telling, Nianses will harm Thurii!…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the envoy of Thurii rushed to Crotone, in fact, the strategoi of Crotone had already receive the information through the merchant ship, so they only listened to the envoy’s words coldly and they dismissed Thurii’s proposal of “willing to make any compensation” by saying one sentence, “We can go to Thurii and take as much as we want!”

Crotone has already tolerated Thurii for a long time. Since the defeat of Sybaris a hundred years ago, Crotone’s strength has been on the rise, becoming an important power in Magna Graecia. However, due to the strong strength of Athens, they were forced to allow the creation of the city of Thurii, which was undoubtedly a great shame for Crotone, who was used to dominating the “sole” of South Italy. After this incident, the new debt and the old debt will be calculated together, which can also make up for their empty treasury, this will be like killing two birds with one stone.

On the same day, Crotone’s ecclesia have successfully passed a resolution to declare war on Thurii and launched a war mobilization to the citizens. On the morning of the third day, they have gathered 7,000 strong citizens. In addition, Aprustum and Scylletium sent 3,000 militia to join them, while Terina, who had just gone through a war and had faced the Bruttians directly, sent only 30 cavalry. Caulonia had also expressed their intention to join this war, which was politely refuse by the Crotone, because the south of Caulonia is the Locri alliance, and Locri and Crotone have been in a bad relationship for a long time. Caulonia is an important barrier to the south of Crotone, so there can be no mistakes.

Four days later, after offering a sacrifice at the temple of Apollo in Crotone and divining auspiciousness, one of the ten strategoi, then led a large army of ten thousand troops and march towards their enemy.

The war between Crotone and Thurii has finally broken out.

After receiving the information that the army of Crotone was already marching toward Thurii, Nianses had become extremely anxious. At the reminder of his colleagues, he proposed to the council that an ecclesia must be held urgently.

At the ecclesia, he made a passionate speech, first of all, it is about the failure of the peace attempt made by the council of Thurii, and explained the answer of the Crotones, which immediately aroused the indignation of many citizens. But when they heard that Crotone had ten thousand troops attacking, there was a long silence in the venue. It should be known that although the number of troops of Crotone was smaller than that of the Lucanian alliance, they are a true Greek hoplite army, and Crotone’s citizen soldiers were always known for their strength in Magna Graecia.

At this time, Ariphes, the vineyard owner, shouted, “We should send an envoy once more to make peace with Crotone and to give them whatever they want.”

“Their demand is only more money and supplies, but the main point is that our treasury has bottomed out!” Strategos Bolus stood up and then said, “We can’t give them more money unless we impose an extra war tax on the citizens.”

When they heard the collection of taxes, the place fell into silence again.

In the end, the war-torn citizens, who were already afraid of war, made a compromise. They reluctantly said that they agreed with the city hall’s tax collection requirements in order to avoid the flames of war reaching Thurii, but they were afraid that even this would not satisfy the appetite of the Crotonians..

“We have to first try.” Plesinas raised his arms and shouted, “If you lose your wealth, you can earn it back, but it’s too late to regret when you lose your loved ones!”

And so the proposal was passed, and Nianses has temporarily breathed a sigh of relief.

“Why don’t you send someone to Taranto and asked them to help us make peace with Crotone?! Since Taranto advocates the establishment of the Magna Graecia’s defensive alliance, then they certainly does not want a war between city-states!” Another person stood up and then said, “Moreover, with Taranto’s powerful strength, Crotone will certainly be worried about them, and an armistice is more likely to happen!”

“That’s a great idea, Enanilus!” As the owner of the largest shipyard in Thurii, Nianses couldn’t easily offend him, so he nodded repeatedly, “Thank you for reminding me, we will immediately send someone to Taranto!”

“Even if there is a possibility of an armistice, we should also be ready in case of a failure! What should we do if Crotone insist on fighting?” Another man stood up and said.

As soon as Nianses saw him, he identified that it was Ansitanos who was talking. Although the relationship between the two was strained because of Kunogelata, he had to admit that his proposal very reasonable. So, Nianses asked, “Do you have any good advice, lord Ansitanos?”

“First of all, we will have our citizens arm themselves. Crotone has a large force, so we can’t fight them head-on outside the city. Therefore, the high wall will help us resist their attack and weaken their morale…”

The words of Ansitanos have been recognized by many citizens, “Yes, the city of Thurii is strong, and even though the Lucanians had manage to reach the city twice, they still couldn’t do anything about it. So it will be the same with Crotone!”

Ansitanos continued, “Next…Amendolara is our ally, and everyone here knows the strength of their soldiers, and so we should request for their aid!”

When it comes to Amendolara, Nianses is as miserable as eating a fly. However, all the participants agreed, “Ansitanos is right! We should go and ask them for their help. Only if there are here, can we be at ease!”

“I have said it for a long time that it is not worth fighting Amendolara for the sake of a few slaves. I am afraid that it won’t be easy to ask for their help now!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Nianses heard these words, he was embarrassed, and then said, “This is a good proposal. Burkes, you are to go to Amendolara.”

Burkes, who had always been mild tempered, immediately refused, “I am not competent. It is better to let the capable Plesinas go.”

On hearing this, Plesinas bowed his head and did not speak. He knew that if he went, he would not only fail to request reinforcements, but might also be beaten severely.

It is not surprising that Burkes won’t cooperate. At the start, he urged the city hall to fulfill its promise to give the slaves their freedom, but the city hall ignored his proposal, which led to the slave uprising, and some of the slaves have fled to Amendolara. At this time, as a strategos, Burkes understand Davos and thought that it would be better to fulfill his promise and give freedom to the slaves, so as to make good friends with him.

Nianses and the other strategoi had not only rejected his proposal, but also thought that, due to the relationship between him and Davos, it would be difficult for him to demand the slaves back from Amendolara, and so they had sent the arrogant and inflexible Plesinas. What Burkes had said just now is the same words that Nianses had said when he refused to send him as an envoy to Amendolara, and now, Burkes has returned it back to him intact. One can only imagine the expression on the face of Nianses.

At this moment, even if Nianses secretly hates Burkes, he could only plead, “Burkes, this is a matter of life and death for Thurii! No one but you can complete this task! I hope that you can go to Amendolara and request reinforcements from Davos!”

Burkes just snorted and simply nodded his head in response to the request of the citizens.

“Amendolara is a small city-state, so they should not be able to send too many reinforcements. So it is still up to us to rely on ourselves.” Ansitanos continued, “I propose to mobilize the freeman and promise to give them citizenship. Of course, we have made the same promise before, but we haven’t fulfilled it. This time, in order to win their trust, as long as they promise to participate in the war, we will grant them citizenship immediately!”

Another proposal of Ansitanos have made Nianses felt uncomfortable. Let alone him, the citizens who participated in the ecclesia almost did not agree with him because of their interest. At last, Ansitanos only got an answer, “We will consider it later…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

During the time of the ecclesia in Thurii, the army of Crotone has arrived outside the city of Krimisa after a half day’s march.

Krimisa, was originally a colonial city-state of Sybaris. After the fall of Sybaris, it changed side to the alliance of Crotone. After Athens construction of Thurii, an agreement with Crotone specifically mentioned that Roscianum* and Krimisa must remain neutral. (T/N: We are renaming Castellon into Roscianum, because we couldn’t find any city-state with that name and the only city-state in the same location as Castellon is called Roscianum.)

And now, in front of the army of Crotone, Krimisa did not hesitate to open their gates to welcome them, and they even took the initiative to dispatch a thousand men to join the army of Crotone.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Melanseus of Crotone, he is 45 years old, and he have won two Olympic wrestling championship and one Isthmian wrestling championship when he was young. He took part in many battles against Locri and the Brutians, and he had independently commanded a battle twice and won…he fought bravely and often took the lead in charging, but he was not liked by the soldiers because he always liked to attribute the victory to himself…It was said that he was tall and handsome, and lived a luxurious life and he was very popular with the women of Crotone. For this reason, the men envied him and deliberately did not vote for him, making him lose the election of strategoi many times. His friends had even often advised him to ‘not pay too much attention in dressing up and to keep a low profile.’ But he replied with, ‘Apollo have given me a strong body and a wise brain. If no one envies me, then I won’t be able to show my exceptionality!’”

Chapter 137 – Repaying Evil with Kindness

“Asi, you did a great job collecting this much information about the commander of Crotone, Melanseus!” Praised Davos after listening to Asistes.

“It’s mainly because he is so famous in Crotone that as soon as our people arrived at the port of Crotone, they manage to get his information from everywhere…” Said Asistes truthfully.

Davos nodded, “We can see that this Melanseus is a proud man. In such a battle concerning the survival of a city-state, why was he made as the commander?”

Asistes answered, “It might be due to how Melanseus has never been defeated in the battles that he had participated in. Besides, he fought bravely and liked to attack quickly. Crotone must have wanted to settle the battle with Thurii as soon as possible. Moreover, they had also sent Timaras, an old and steady man, as his adjutant. I believe that he would be able to balance Melanseus…”

“Hmmm…your analysis is reasonable!” Davos thought of something and asked, “What are the characteristics of the soldiers of Crotone?”

“The citizens of Crotone are keen on physical training, and they have many famous athletes. In each of the four major sports events, and the athletes of Crotone has always won the championship, specially in wrestling, boxing and discus throw. Therefore, the citizens of several city-states have always say that Crotone’s soldiers are powerful, attack fiercely and agile…”

Davos rubbed his chin, “That is to say, their individual combat strength is very strong. What about their group strength? Do they often conduct military training?”

Asistes laughed, “Milord, not every city-state trained as frequently as us, Amendolarans, and the intensity of our training is also high. The Crotonians spent much less time training on military drill than on the arena!”

“It seems that you are not satisfied with our training.” Davos laughed as well.

“How come? I like the training best! Specially rugby!” Asistes immediately defended himself.

“Isn’t rugby a sport?!” Continued to ask Davos.

After a burst of laughter, Asistes asked, “Milord, will the war between Crotone and Thurii affect us?”

“It is impossible for us to not get affected!” Sighed Davos, “A weak neighbor is always much safer than a new neighbor who is strong. At the most critical moment, Amendolara still had no other choice but to go to Thurii. Those idiot Thurians did those stupid stuff, and now it seems that our plan to attack Lucania need to be postponed…sigh, it is hard to predict what will happen!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Burkes rushed to Amendolara and asked for reinforments from Davos.

In the council, the statesmen argued fiercely. Most of the native citizen statesmen like Cornelius and Raphias who does not support sending reinforcements and they believed that this is what the Thurians had brought to themselves. What is more, Amendolara and Thurii are allies in name only, but in fact, they are already in the state of the alliance breaking apart. So there is no need for Amendolara to offend a powerful city-state for a neighbor who frequently causes trouble for itself. Moreover, the army sent by Crotone seems to be very strong, and even if Thurii and Amendolara unites, they still won’t be able to defeat the Crotonians.

The new citizens, such as Kapus and Hielos, believed that currently, Crotone has a very strong momentum, and so Amendolara should wait for a chance and make a decision according to the situation.

But Alexius, Antonios, and the other new citizens have different opinions. They think that it is necessary to protect Thurii in order to ensure the safety of the surrounding environment of Amendolara. The wall of the city of Thurii is high and thick, even if Amendolara does not battle them head-on, they can at least help Thurii guard the city inside it. As long as the attack of Crotone is blocked, then they will have to withdraw within a month. After all, the daily food consumption of tens of thousands of soldiers isn’t a small amount.

Alexius and Antonios spoke in a reserved way, while Epiphanes said it in a loud voice without any scruple, “We would rather have our neighbor to be the weak Thurii than a strong Crotone, which would make us uneasy day and night, unless Amendolara joins the alliance of Crotone, but are you all willing?”

Burkes, the envoy of Thurii, would be ashamed if he were to hear this, but he was currently staying in the wing room of the council, waiting for the final decision of the meeting.

Epiphanes’ words have move the statesmen that are present, but after a long discussion, Davos still has to be the one to give the final decision.

Davos looked around at everyone and said solemnly, “I don’t need to go into details because you have already analyzed the situation very clearly. What I want to say is that we have signed a treaty of alliance with Thurii, which is a sacred treaty signed under to eyes of the gods and in their names! In the past, we have ridiculed Thurii for their treachery, and now, when a greater danger comes, can we keep our oath?!”

Davos pauses, seeing their shame and contemplation, he raised his voice once more and said, “OF COURSE WE CAN! We want to prove to all the city-states of Magna Graecia that, as an ancient city-state with a long history, Amendolara, will stick to her promise and uphold the glory and tradition that we had inherited from ancient heroes, such as Heracles, Theseus, and Achilles, regardless how difficult the situation is!”

When Davos went to look for Burkes, he announced to him the decision of the council, “Amendolara has decided to abide by our previous agreement and to send reinforcements.”

Burkes was in tears.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Due to the flooding in the area to the north of Krimisa, swamps and mud flats have formed, which have slowed down the march of the troops of Crotone. It took them a day to arrive at Roscianum, a city that had join the alliance of Crotone after the destruction of Sybaris. Instead of resisting, they opened the gate and welcomed Melanseus into the city.

In the city of Roscianum, Melanseus met the envoy of Thurii and Taranto who were waiting.

Faced with the pleading of the envoy of Thurii, he did not even have the patience to listen, and just said impatiently, “The sword of Crotone has been pulled out of its sheath, and it will never be sheathed without tasting blood.”

Melanseus still showed a slight respect for the envoy of Taranto, but he asked, “What would Taranto do if a city-state that have violated your agreement with them and have killed your envoy at the same time?! Can the lost dignity of Taranto be compensated just by them paying for some money?!”

The envoy of Taranto was unable to respond for a moment.

Melanseus looked at him with disdain and said firmly, “And so Thurii will be punished!”

As night fell, the strategos of Crotone was ready to go to bed, when the guard hastily reported, “Strategos, there are two people outside that wants to see you and they said that they have an important information to tell you regarding Thurii…and wants to exchange with you.”

Important information regaring Thurii?! Melanseus became interested, “Bring them in!”

The two sailors, under the watch of the guards, went inside the bedroom of Melanseus trembling.

“So let’s talk about that important information that you want to trade with me.” Melanseus, with one of his hand on his head, while laying on his side on the bed, looked at them with disdain, “If it is really valuable, then I will consider your request.”

The two looked at each other, and one of them made up his mind and quietly said, “Noble strategos, I am a freeman from Thurii…”

With the sailor’s words, the gaze of Melanseus brightened, and he turned over and sat up with excitement on his face…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Although Davos promised to send reinforcements, he did not immediately summoned his troops to set out. After all, it was Thurii who was asking for help. If Amendolara were to immediately rushed to help, the world would only laugh at him for his childishness.

He first agreed in order for Thurii to stabilize the morale of their army and their people, so that the people of Thurii could boost their fighting spirit against Crotone. However, Davos wanted to wait and see. First, it is to observe the fighting situation of both sides and understand the army of Crotone. Second, only when Thurii needed the reinforcements the most can they reduce the casualties of the soldiers of Amendolara, and to gain the gratitude of the people of Thurii, and to increase the chance of defeating Crotone. In any case, Amendolara is not far away from Thurii and only need a half a day walk to reach.

Amendolara’s response made Nianses be temporarily relieved, and at the same time, he was very grateful to Amendolara and regretted his extreme behavior. After this information was spread to the people of Thurii, the low morale began to rise and praise Amendolara one after another. But the information from the south had made their hearts tighten. It took only two days for the army of Crotone to arrive at Roscianum, and both Krimisa and Roscianum did not resist them and had opened their gates to greet them. Moreover, they have strengthened the army of Crotone, and more importantly, Crotone rejected Thurii and Taranto’s peace agreement…

The incoming bad news frightened Nianses. On the one hand, he is cursing Crotone, Krimisa and Roscianum in the bottom of his heart, and at the same time, he asked Burkes to go to Amendolara and urged them to send their reinforcements quickly. While he also asked the citizens to reorganize their weapons and to strengthen their defense. He even began to consider whether to implement the advice of Ansinatos and mobilize the freeman to participate in the war.

However, on the next day, the army of Crotone that are stationed outside of the city of Roscianum did not move, and they even sent some people to invite back the envoy of Thurii, saying that a peace could be negotiated.

When this news reached Thurii, the strategoi and the people were in a tense mood, and were looking forward to a good news about the armistice.

In the afternoon, Melanseus declared that the negotiation broke down and expelled the envoy of Thurii on the grounds that the envoy of Thurii had delayed to comply with the request of Crotone and was not sincere (in fact, Melanseus had asked too much and refused to give in), and then he immediately ordered his troops that had been prepared to advance to Thurii.

When Nianses heard about this, the army of Crotone was already under the gate of Thurii.

Chapter 138 – The Fall of Thurii

The salpinx to signal the attack rang over the city of Thurii, the freeman and the slaves that have gathered in the port area of the northern and southern part of the city, got the signal to immediately start a riot. They took out their hidden weapons and attacked the defenders.

The town on the southern part of the city on the south bank of the Crati river, was initially for the citizens who went to the plains on the south bank of the Crati river that will sometimes worked too late, and since it is dangerous to cross the river at night, so they have built some huts on the south bank for the night. Later, it gradually developed into a village, and because of the occasional crossing of the Bruttis on the mountain, and them taking the livestock, killing the citizens, so a wall was built in there for their safety. Therefore, the southern town is not big and it doesn’t have much guards. But now, due to the increase of guards these past two days and the fake news of armistice, they were unprepared. The attack of the freeman made them react in a hurry, and were now already having difficulty in resisting them.

Therefore, the soldiers of Crotone were hardly wounded when they crossed the moat. They erect a siege ladder, and quickly occupied the city gate, then they drop down the suspension bridge and opened the gate, then the army of Crotone poured in and disperse the garrison, and orderly boarded the ferry, cargo ship and merchant ship, and the freeman served as sailors and quickly sailed to the port on the northern part.

The strategos of Thurii were all flustered when they heard that the army of Crotone had reach the city and they had not yet have the time to give an order, when a tragic news of the freeman revolting at the port on the northern and southern part of the city came. They hastily summoned the citizens to the port to suppress the freeman, and the elderly over 50 years old and the young people over 14 years old had all put on their armor and took up shields and spears. For them, this is a crucial moment for the survival of Thurii, and every citizens must stand up to defend their homeland.

Although it took some time to gather the citizens, they all hate the same people, and the unarmed freeman can only continuously retreat, but then, the army of Crotone landed.

As soon as they went ashore, they immediately went straight to the army of Thurii and the nearly destroyed frontline of the freeman was soon stabilized.

The two sides were fighting in the narrow streets of the port. Although the soldiers of Crotone that had landed were far more than the citizens of Thurii, they could not deploy all their soldiers in the narrow alleys. Although the soldiers of Crotone are tall and strong, and the troops of Thurii are mixed with the elderly and young ones, and even the strategoi have also put on their armor. Behind them are hundreds of Thurian women who kept shouting and cheering for their family. It is a solemn and tragic cry! While the Crotone fought hard, the Thurian were desperate, and so the situation remained in a stalemate!

Melanseus, who had always been at the front, was dragged behind because of the water leakage on his boat, and when he got on the port, it was already full with boats and could only look for a place to land. Seeing that the battle situation is in a stalemate, he immediately ordered the buildings on both sides of the road to be demolished.

When the soldiers of Crotone began to encircle them from both sides, the Thurians gradually lost their support, they persisted for a while, but finally they could only retreat in the face of their citizens getting constantly killed.

Nianses didn’t want to escape, and so he face the enemy that came in great number. Since getting his position, this civilian born strategos has been highly praised by the citizens for his humble and hard-working attitude. However, less than two months after he reached the top of the city-states’ highest position, Thurii has suffered a great disaster, and he could only die under the spears of the soldiers of Crotone, while several other strategoi, such as Bolus had fled for their lives.

Burkes and Plesinas led some citizens, women and children to retreat into the acropolis on the hillside behind the city, where the temple of Apollo and the altar of the goddess Hera were located, and its flame has been burning for the past 41 years since its completion, and it is the place where the spirit of the citizens of Thurii is kept, and it is the resting place of their souls, a holy place! And the people of Thurii has decided to make their final resistance on this place.

After Melanseus occupied and pacified the rest of the city, it was already late. So he ordered his soldiers to light the torches and surround the acropolis, and then sent Bolus as a messenger: Surrender immediately or we will burn the acropolis of Thurii.

They didn’t expect that the Crotonians to be so cruel. After all, Apollo was also the patron god of Crotone. After a painful choice, they opened the door, and at this moment, Crotone had completely occupied the city of Thurii.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos was watching the citizen’s military training in the training camp, when the information regarding Thurii reached him. He and the officers were shocked to learn that Thurii had fallen.

“I didn’t expect that Thurii would fall like this!” Hielos said emotionally.

“If it wasn’t for Thurii for not managing to handle the conflict against the freeman and the slaves, then how could Crotone win so easily!” Amintas is obviously not convinced by Crotone’s victory.

“However, the strategos of Crotone is not so simple. Even with the help of the freeman, he was still able to use a scheme to deceive the Thurians in advance, and then make a sudden attack and it is even organized that he manage to conquer the city of Thurii in less than five hours, and the soldiers of Crotone can also be said to be well-trained!” Davos analyzed the Crotonians rationally, “The army of the Crotone is, in addition to the 800 Spartans that was led by Cheirisophus, one of the strongest enemies that we have met so far. So we must be more alert!” Davos warned everyone.

“BUT WE ARE NOT AFRAID OF HIM!” Exclaimed Amintas feeling unconvinced.

“Right, we all must have this kind of spirit! We attach importance to the enemy, but we are not afraid of them and we dare to fight any enemy!” Davos encourage everyone

“Legatus*, what should we do next?” Asked Alexius. (note: While inside the military camp, they would call Davos with his military position and not his administrative position)

“What do you think?” Davos asked him back without answering him.

Alexius thought for a moment and said, “We should send more scouts to monitor the army of Crotone, and to strengthen the defense of Amendolara…”

“Very well, we will quietly observe for now.” Said Davos. Davos is happy to see that despite Crotone conquering Thurii and demonstrating their strength, none of his officers suggested to curry favour with Crotone.

Looking at the soldiers who were actively training on the training ground, and thinking of the army of Crotone that was raiding the city of Thurii, Davos felt no fear in his heart.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At this time, in the city of Thurii, Melanseus did not restrain his soldiers after they have occupied the city. As a result, the soldiers ran wild in the city, looting, injuring the people and even the women, the people of Thurii were miserable.

Melanseus took a fancy to one of the most luxurious mansions. After expelling its master away, he lived in the house himself and held a banquet with his officers to celebrate their victory.

While he was drinking, he heard the prostitute in his army say that there is a disciple of Herodotus, a historian in the city of Thurii. So he immediately became interested, and have the guards to invite this person.

When Ansitanos arrived here, he saw a group of Crotonians lying in the couch in the hall, sipping wine and eating delicious food, while holding beautiful women in their arms. Most of those who took the initiative to smile and flirt were high-class prostitute, while those who forced themselves to look happy were the women of Thurii.

Some of the Crotonians were boasting about the victory and flattering Melanseus, while the others were making vulgar jokes, and its protagonist is the stupid and pitiful Thurii, while some only cared about their own actions and did shameful things directly in public with the women in their arms…amid the laughter and cheerful voices, Ansitanos entered the hall with a taut expression and stepped on the marble floor, which was wet due to wine.

“Oh, here comes the historian of Thurii!” Even though Melanseus has drank a lot of wine, his mind was still clear. Then he patted the breast of the woman in his arms, “Go and pour him a glass of wine.”

The woman handed the wine to Ansitanos, then he took a sip without hesitation.

“Thurian, are you drinking to celebrate our victory?!” An officer took this opportunity to press on him and laugh.

“No, I am just reminiscing the city of Sybaris, which was once famous for its wine. At that time, they were strong and Crotone was weak, just like today with Crotone and Thurii, but in the end, the oppressor had eventually perished.” Ansitanos calmly said.

“Ha! Ha! Ha!…” Laughed Melanseus, “But it was the weak Crotone who had destroyed the mighty Sybaris! Today, the weak Thurii was occupied by the powerful Crotone, so your statement is completely wrong!”

“The gods are looking from above, and even the most powerful city-state will still perish in the end.” Ansitanos replied strongly.

“Maybe one day…uck…” Melanseus belched and said disapprovingly, “But you and I may not have the chance to see it.” Saying that, he then sat up and said in a loud voice, “I heard that you are a disciple of Herodotus. So if you were to write the history in the future, will my name and this brilliant victory be included in your book for future generations to know?!”

“No, it will only be the crimes and evil deeds that you have committed in Thurii” Replied Ansitanos coldly.

“Audacious!”

“Do you not want to live anymore, Thurian!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the officers heard what he said, they shouted at him in succession and even threw some foods at him.

Melanseus waved his hand and did not regard Ansitanos’ provocation. Instead, he held up his glass and said triumphantly, “‘The winner proves his strength by his actions, while the loser can only prove his weakness by his excuse.’ This is an athlete’s maxim. Ancient heroes only enjoy the joy of conquering Troy, and no one had cared about the suffering of the conquered Trojans. If you are defeated, then you must recognized it, just like the Lucanians…”

Speaking of this, he suddenly thought of something and asked, “I heard that the archon of Amendolara, Da..Davos has wiped out 10,000 warriors of the Lucanian alliance with only 6,000 men, is this true? or False? or is this the work of Taranto? Or this is indeed his feat?”

“He was indeed the one that planned and organized that battle.” Ansitanos answered truthfully.

“In that case, this Davos guy…who is better him or me?” Melanseus was eager to have a go.

Ansitanos looked at him, and said, “Behind you stands the powerful Crotone, while behind him is only a small Amendolara.”

Chapter 139 – Intimidation

“So what?!” Melanseus glanced at him with a not convince expression on his flushed and drunken face, “The place where he and I were born is the arrangement of fate, so it is only natural that he is doomed to lost!”

He asked in a loud voice again, “Thurii and Amendolara are allies, and I heard that when my army was approaching Thurii, Amendolara has promised to send reinforcements, right?”

“It is true that the envoy of Amendolara had once said, ‘just give us a few days to gather troops and wait for the reinforcements to arrive, so Thurii must definitely hold on!’” Answered Ansitanos, adding a little more to emphasize the original words of the Amendolarans, as he saw the face of Melanseus get more flushed.

Melanseus turned to Timaras who was next to him and said, “Tomorrow, send someone to question Amendolara, ‘Ask them whether they want to be the enemy of Crotone? and to make them immediately break the alliance agreement with Thurii and form an alliance with us!’”

Timaras hesitated, “Amendolara is allied with Taranto!”

“So what if they are in alliance with Taranto? They had also formed an alliance with Thurii, so why can’t they form an alliance with us?” Said Melanseus.

“Alright.” Timaras reluctantly agreed.

Melanseus turned his glass, with his eyes gleaming, ‘Davos, what will you do?’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The news about Crotone capturing Thurii had spread quickly across Magna Graecia, and Thurii immediately became the focus of attention.

The city-states such as Taranto, Locri, and Rhegium had all paid close attention to the development of the situation. Even the people of Syracuse in Sicily who were preparing their troops and supplies in order to attack Carthage has also paid attention to it. After all, Locri is an ally of Syracuse, and Dionysius had even married a notable family of Locri, Doris, the sister of Demodokas, who is the current polemarchos of Locri. Locri and Crotone are enemies, and so Crotone getting stronger is not what Locri and Syracuse wants to see, as it is also related to Dionysius’ long-term strategic plan.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The envoy of Crotone came to Amendolara and brought with him the order of Melanseus for them to surrender to him, which made the political atmosphere in Amendolara tense.

There was a heated debate at the Council meeting.

Cornelius, Raphias, and Stromboli believed that Crotone who had won a great victory, had came to flaunt their great strength. While Amendolara, who had just experience a war, could not stop them, and in order to prevent their territory from being destroyed, they should temporarily compromise and agree with the demands of Crotone.

Scambras, Tritodemos and Protesilaus, however, suggested that they should delay the time and ask Taranto to test Crotone, and act depending on the situation.

While almost all of the new citizen statesmen were hardliners. They were angered by the arrogance of the envoy of Crotone once he came to the city, and so they firmly said, ‘Amendolara must not yield to the threat of Crotone. If Crotone sends troops to invade, then they must taste the strength of Amendolara!’

After the army of Crotone occupied Thurii, Davos had already expected that such a thing would happen. As a leader who had relied on his military prestige to convince the mercenaries and has become an archon for life of Amendolara by his military might, he must not show a trace of weakness and concession, because that will shake his power. So he resolutely said, “Since Amendolara has already made a decision before, then we should stick to it! Don’t undermine the trust of Taranto in us! What’s more, Magna Graecia should not think that Amendolara is a city-state that will yield to power and disregard its principles for its own sake!”

The powerful words of Davos put an end to the Council meeting.

When the envoy of Crotone received the reply of Amendolara, he was surprised at first, and then he threatened fiercely, “Are you not afraid of experiencing the same thing that happened to Thurii?!”

“You can try.” Replied Davos coldly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The resentful envoy returned together with the reply of Davos, “Dear strategos of Crotone, we Amendolarans are awed by your victory. However, abiding by the agreement signed in the name of the gods is a century old tradition passed down in Amendolara. I hope that you can understand!…”

After reading it, Melanseus laughed angrily, and tore the letter to pieces, “The archon of Amendolara is quite courageous…haha…how would a mercenary know how to keep his promise?!”

He walked back and forth in the hall and made up his mind, “It seems that we need to teach this disobedient little city-state a lesson! Timaras, go and gather eight thousand men and go to Amendolara!”

Timaras anxiously said, “But Taranto-”

Melanseus waved his hand, “Don’t worry, I won’t act recklessly.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After the troops of Crotone left the city, they marched rapidly to the north.

The scouts of Amendolara immediately reported it back, and the people of Amendolara became nervous when they learned about it.

Cornelius, Raphias and the others had once again suggested to Davos that they should soften up to Crotone and join its alliance.

Davos then said, “I am not accustomed to being forced to make peace with a sword and a spear!”

The new citizen statesmen, however, were eager for a battle, and calling for the mobilization of the troops and clashed head-on with the arrogant Crotonians, but they were also forced down by Davos.

Davos then ordered everyone to go back to the city and complete the defense.

Due to his authority, the officers had no choice but to obey his orders.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Council of Taranto also paid a close attention to the movement of Crotone’s army. They got the news later than Amendolara, and the archon immediately held an urgent consultations with the statesmen.

The statesmen had said one after another, ‘Crotone ignored that Amendolara was an ally of Taranto, and attacked it blatantly, which shows that they look down at Taranto! There must be a serious protest against it!’

However, most of them were cautious about whether Taranto should take part in the war in the event of a battle between Crotone’s army and Amendolara, saying that they should act depending on the development of the situation. After all, Taranto and Crotone are great powers of Magna Graecia, and each with a group of allies. Once there is a war, it won’t just end with just a few battles.

Archytas volunteered in the council to go meet the Crotonian commander, Melanseus, and it was then approved. Taranto then sent an envoy to go to Crotone by boat, and it only took a half day to reach there with favorable wind.

While the council of Taranto was still in a discussion, Melanseus had already led his army across the river Saraceno, and two hours later, they reach the foot of the mountain. He looked at Amendolara over the hill, the city wall is full of armed soldiers and under the direct sunlight from the east, made it looks like a shining wall, and he couldn’t help but say, “The soldiers of Amendolara all look like this. If I attack them in the morning, the sunlight will make my soldiers suffer.”

He ordered his troops to form a phalanx formation, which was more than 500 meters long, and slowly approached the city wall. They beat the round shield, and shouted a battle cry, which was very powerful…

However, under the strict orders of the officers, the soldiers of Amendolara just stood quietly at the top of the city wall without saying a word.

Arsinis was unable to bear it and said, “Captain, the Crotonians are too arrogant. We should also shout back.”

The squad leader Xethipus, however, only quietly said, “Shut up, this is the order of the Archon, do you want to violate the military law?”

As soon as Arsinis heard this, he stopped complaining.

“Anyway, you must remember, as long as the Crotonians doesn’t attack, we will just watch them perform. As long as they dare to attack, hmph…” Reminded Xethipus.

“Understood!” Arsinis tightened his grip on the spear in his hand. Even though the enemy troops under the city looked extremely massive, Arsinis still looked forward to their attack, so that his skills that he had trained hard during this period could be used.

Seeing that the Amendolarans did not respond, Melanseus immediately stopped the marching and sent someone to the city to ask to see the archon of Amendolara, Davos. However, there was no reaction from the top of the city wall.

Melanseus thought that Davos was afraid and dare not have a direct conversation with him, and so he simply sent some soldiers to insult him.

“Davos is a coward, and so, he dare not face the army of Crotone!”

“The Amendolarans doesn’t even dare to take breath the moment they saw the army of Crotone!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the recruits heard this, their faces turned red and they began to complain. Then they were scolded by the veterans, “Courage and cowardice, you won’t know until you fight, so what’s the use of talking about it. As for the Archon, when he led us to defeat the Persians many times, I’m afraid that these Crotonians are still enjoying the cheers of the audience on the stadium.”

In fact, these veterans were also holding themselves back, but the experienced ones are used to following the orders of Davos, and they also don’t want to waste their energy on unnecessary things.

Even though the soldiers of Crotone were getting hoarse, the Amendolarans still didn’t have any reaction.

Melanseus was not amused with it, and so he finally ordered, “Burn down all these buildings as a warning to Amendolara!”

Melanseus was humiliated and angered by the silent Amendolara. And so, all the warehouses and inns that were about to be completed at the foot of the mountain of Amendolara burned in flames, and the efforts of the Amendolarans for several months were destroyed…

The flaming blaze reflected the angry faces of countless soldiers on the wall. Their eyes widened and glared at the departing Crotonians…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When this news reached the Council, everyone in the meeting place became angry.

Only Davos looked calm, as he listened attentively to Asistes, who came back from the city, and he carefully described the performance of the army of Crotone under the city. From this, he inferred the character and psychology of Melanseus and verified the things he already knows.

“Did the Crotonians do this in order to declare war on us?” Said Raphias in surprise.

“The Crotonians has invaded our territory and burned our buildings. This is already a declaration of war!” Reminded Philesius.

Chapter 140 – Burning the City

“The Crotonians are oppressing us, so why won’t the soldiers give them a good beating?!!” Stromboli, who wanted to compromise with Crotone, was also angry.

“The soldiers have obeyed the orders of Lord Davos and guarded the city, but they all wanted to eat the meat of the Crotonians raw!” Amintas vented his resentment to Davos.

“Milord Archon, are we just going to watch the Crotonians go wild on our land?” Scambras shouted with reluctance.

“Of course not!” Answered Davos, with a strange gleam in his eyes, “Retracting ones fist in order to hit harder. The army of Crotone is stronger than us, this is a fact. So we have to wait, just like in boxing, a good player always defends first and wait for the opponent to show his weakness, and then land a fatal blow! ”

Everyone in the meeting place was shocked.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

By the time Archytas landed at Thurii, Melanseus had already returned to the city.

Archytas, on behalf of Taranto, made a serious protest to Melanseus, and Melanseus said with objection, “Crotone has no malice towards Amendolara. I just wanted to go out and greet this young Archon, who was said to be able to win against enemy with more number with only less men. But I didn’t expect that he was too timid to even come out and meet me!”

Archytas breathed a sigh of relief for a moment, and then he dropped a ruthless sentence, “If Crotone goes to war with Amendolara, Taranto will unite with Metapontum and Heraclea, and will not hesitate to fight Crotone!”

At the same time, he also advised Melanseus, “Since Crotone has now occupied Thurii, you have already washed away your shame and won a great glory. Then you should now go back to Crotone and restore peace to the land. Else, I am sure that Locri will be as happy as Taranto!”

Melanseus could naturally hear the threat in the words of Archytas. He was calm and did not respond.

After completing his mission, Archytas rushed to Amendolara.

Once he reach the foot of the mountain, he saw the ruins of buildings, which were burned to ashes and smoke still coming out. He became nervous once more.

When he entered the city, the anger on the people’s faces came into his gaze. Therefore, as soon as he saw Davos, he expressed his sympathy and concern for what had happened to Amendolara, and then frankly said, “Davos, Taranto has no intention to fight Crotone for the time being. I hope that you can understand this.”

“Don’t worry, even though we are angry at the actions of Crotone, we can still hold ourselves back.” Davos then said calmly, “If a man is bitten by a dog, will he still come back to get bitten again?!”

Archytas didn’t smile. The calmer Davos shows, the more uneasy he felt. After the destruction of the Lucanian alliance, the soldiers in Taranto went to celebrate their victory, but Davos and his men went back to camp and sleep, saying that they wanted to recover their strength. However, the next day, he told him that, ‘We have taken back Amendolara!’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the envoy of Taranto arrived at Crotone, the Council in the town hall of Crotone were having a heated discussion on the “follow-up occupation of the city of Thurii”.

Conservatives such as the strategos, Lysias, had suggested that, after plundering the wealth of Thurii, they should support a puppet government that favoured Crotone, and then for them to retreat in order to avoid causing discontent among the surrounding city-states.

Radicals like the polemarchos, Milo* (he has the same name as Milo, a famous athlete of Crotone a hundred years ago. Because this athlete is so legendary, he was regarded as a hero in Crotone, and so many Crotonian childen are named Milo by their parents.) considered that, Thuri and Crotone have already formed a deep hatred, so it is very difficult for a puppet government to keep their seats. Moreover, Thurii is close to Taranto, and so they will need to leave a garrison on it. However, not only will Crotone’s own strength be dispersed, but will also cause hatred between them, and the local people and Taranto over a long period of time. So the best way is to burn the city!

“Burn the city?!!” The other strategoi and members of the council were taken aback.

“Yes, burn the city!” Milo then said excitedly, “Our forefathers defeated Sybaris and destroyed their city twice. The last time was to dig a channel in the Crati river and destroy the city of Sybaris with a flood, which created a great reputation and frightened Magna Graecia. The city of Sybaris was exchange for the prosperity of Crotone and our hegemon of this region! However, since the time we were defeated by the allied force of Locri and Rhegium a few decades ago, some of the city-states no longer respect us as much and has even secretly oppose us. So we need to re-establish the dignity of Crotone! Now, a great opportunity is in front of us. This is a gift from the gods! If we miss it, we will be punished!

Moreover, after the destruction of Thurii, the Sybaris plains will become a land with no owners for a time. So we can first recruit immigrants from the city-states who had become friends with us from Greece or other places. Then after building a new city on the Sybaris plains, we can then send some landless citizens to become new immigrants of the new city, and I believe that with this, the surrounding city-states will not find any fault against us, and the strength of Crotone will expand to the north and strengthened our power…”

The words of Milo were both inspiring and doable, and it was then approved by the majority of the Council.

So, an envoy of Crotone soon arrived at Thurii. At the command of Crotone’s city hall, Melanseus, who was idle, became excited and said happily, “As the third strategos to destroy the city-state on the plains of Sybaris, I will definitely be remembered in history!”

He then moved quickly. First, he asked the freeman to join him and build a pontoon bridge on the Crati river using boats (the original pontoon bridge had been burned by the Thurians.)

Then there was the framing up, claiming to punish those that were behind the killing of the envoy of Crotone. As a result, the rich merchants in Thurii were arrested, tortured, imprisoned and even executed, and all their family’s wealth was confiscated.

Soon, the impatient Melanseus thought that this method was too slow and had no patience. So he simply ordered to plunder all the food and wealth in the city!

All of a sudden, the whole city of Thurii was mourning. The people of Thurii who were lying on the ground and wailing did not expect that a more terrible disaster would befall on them soon after…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The scout of Amendolara who was moving outside the city of Thurii, saw from a distance that the soldiers of Crotone were escorting the people of Thurii to go out of the city.

After a while, the city was full of smoke, and soon, a fire broke out…

The scout then immediately reported it to Ledes.

Ledes was shocked and quickly rode across the Saraceno river to confirm it.

At this time, Thurii had become a city of flame, and the people outside the city were mourning…

Soon, Davos received this urgent news, and immediately got dumbfounded. ‘Crotone is destroying the city?! Are they going to retreat?!’

Asistes cursed Crotone for this cruelty, while Davos sat down and rubbed his chin, and pondered what this event will mean to Amendolara.

Then, Asistes saw that Davos got up again and paced up and down the hall with a strange expression.

Davos suddenly asked in a trembling voice, “If Crotone’s army depart now, then where will they possibly be by dusk?”

Asistes thought for a moment and said, “They should not be able to march that fast with so much baggage. So it is estimated that they should arrive at Roscianum by dusk.”

“Will Roscianum allow the army into the city?” Asked Davos urgently.

“That is impossible! These guys have just looted and burned the city of Thurii!”

Davos nodded. Asistes’ opinion was in line with his thought. He walked back and forth a few steps and finally made up his mind, “Tell Ledes to keep an eye on whether the pontoon bridge on the Crati river has been burned down! At the same time, send Izam’s reconnaissance team to follow the army of Crotone, and find out where they will camp and how it is arrange…find all the details, but they must be hidden and don’t let the Crotonians find out! Then I want him to send someone to report to me at all time!”

“Roger!” Asistes replied excitedly. After following him for so long, he knew that Davos must be brewing a big storm. He still was unable to restrain himself and ask excitedly, “Milord, are we going to attack this army of Crotone?!”

“To attack or not will depend on whether the Crotonians will give us a chance!” Sneered Davos, “Crotone, a wolf who owes a lot of blood debts, wants to go back easily, will find it that it won’t be easy. I believe that the just Hades will take care of us! And so, it’s time for us to show our fangs!”

In fact, there is another reason for why he had made up his mind. The destruction of the city of Thurii gave him a greater chance than attacking Lucania, an opportunity to make Amendolara stronger quickly! But this needs him to once again gamble!

The Council meeting was held urgently. When Davos announced the news that “Thurii was burned”, the statesmen were not surprised. Before they came, they had already digested the shocking news. However, the native statesmen were in a complex mood. They once hated the selfishness of Thurii, which had caused Amendolara to suffer heavy losses, but when a more tragic retribution came to Thurii, they found that they did not feel so happy and sympathy overwhelmed their hatred.

But then Davos said with indignation, “Crotone’s crime must be punished! As an ally of Thurii, we Amendolarans have the duty to avenge the people of Thurii! Of course, it is more necessary for us to tell Crotone that the plains of Sybaris is not a place for them to just come and go whenever they want! I declare Amendolara to mobilize for war and prepare to attack the army of Crotone!”

As soon as he said this, there was an uproar at the venue.

“Great! It’s time to beat those damn Crotonians!” Exclaimed Amintas excitedly.

Chapter 141 – Rescue

“Lord Archon, there are many Crotones, while there are only a few of us. If we attack them rashly, won’t it be likely-” As soon as Cornelius spoken his worries, Amintas immediately rebuke, “If you don’t understand war, then don’t blindly poke yourself into it!”

Davos immediately berated Amintas and asked him to apologized. Then he explained to the native elders like Cornelius, “As the archon of Amendolara and at the same time, as a leader who is well experience in the battlefield, I specially treasure the life of the citizens of Amendolara. If I don’t have full assurance, then I won’t carelessly attack the powerful army of Crotone! The Crotonians have occupied Thurii, which won them great glory and bountiful spoils, and us, Amendolarans, have chosen to make a concession. They must be very proud, and their strategos, Melanseus, is definitely much more prouder! These Crotonian soldiers, loaded with spoils, who are on their way back, are all probably thinking about how to get back to their home and how to get their share of wealth, and so, they have no desire to fight. And so, when they set their camp, they will be exhausted, and the security of the camp would be lightened, and so, we will strike them hard while they are asleep, just like the time we recaptured Amendolara!” When Davos saw that Cornelius and the others were pondering, he then added, “Of course, if our scouts find that the camp of Crotone is well defended, then we can only cancel our attack.”

Philesius emphasized it, “His lord archon’s plan is indeed feasible!”

Antonios said, “I agree!”

At this time, Scambras, Tritodemos and Protesilaus expressed their approval in advance, and the strategy was approved immediately.

“Now, go and gather the citizens of the four brigades to the square immediately. All the senior centurion must pay attention in telling the soldiers to not make any noise, and to keep quiet! I don’t want the spies of Crotone to find out that something is amiss!” Davos calmly ordered, “My strategy is…”

Philesius and the elders who served as officers of the Legion all accepted their orders.

Davos then said to Cornelius seriously, “Thurii has suffered such a disaster, and as its allies, we should go help its people. I want to set up a Thurii Emergency Rescue Committee under your command, to provide Thurii with food, accommodation, treatment and other assistance…”

Cornelius only hesitated for a moment and nodded.

The other native elders who hated Thurii kept silent, but Stromboli still reminded him, “If we took some food to help the Thurians, I am afraid that we won’t have enough.”

“Don’t worry!” Davos then said confidently, “The Crotonians have looted so much food that once we defeat Melanseus, we will have so much.” He also added a sentence to himself, ‘Of course, we will get more important things!’

“I hope that the Crotonians are as unprepared as you have said.” Stromboli didn’t argue any more because he also have expectations.

Thinking of another person in the city-state who was familiar with Thurii, and so Davos asked, “By the way, is the wound of Kunogelata already healed?”

“He should be much better now. I saw him in the temple yesterday, and he walked down the mountain alone without the help of his slaves.” Said Scambras.

“Then have him be your assistant, as he is very familiar with the people and stuffs in Thurii.” Said Davos to Cornelius.

“But he was previously-” Cornelius hesitated.

“What I think is, since he was after all, born in Thurii, and it is also his mother country in where he grew up and where he had lived for decades. The damage that was done to him couldn’t be compared to his worry and yearning for Thurii in his heart, specially after the city of Thurii was burned down!” Affirmed Davos, although he has only been in contact with him for a few times. In his impression of the old man, (in fact, Kunogelata is in his early 50s) he had spent most of his energy on the stability and prosperity of Thurii in the past few years, and he did not even hesitate to offend so many people, and so, he definitely won’t easily discard Thurii.

Sure enough, Kunogelata, who had heard the city of Thurii getting burned, had almost made him faint in grief. He then immediately went to the house of Cornelius in order to discuss with him how to rescue Thurii.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

And now, in his own house, Davos summoned the leader of Lucania, Vespa, and his son, Bagul.

“Tonight, we are going to attack the army of Crotone, and so, I hope that you will join us. If we win, your five-year service will be halved.” Davos didn’t beat around the bush and went straight to the point.

“Attack the army of Crotone?! I heard that they numbered more than 10,000!” Although Vespa is currently a slave, his eyes and ears were not blocked, and so he hesitated.

“Let’s join!” Said Bagul immediately.

“Son, you-” Vespa was frightened and was about to give him a warning glare.

Bagul did not look at his father, but raised his head and shouted it once more, “We Lucanians will join!” Because of his age, and status as a leader, Vespa was only confined in the city and was not forced to take part in the labor service. During this period, Bagul had participated in a lot of Rugby matches, from which he learned about the special features of Amendolara’s citizen army. He had also chatted with the soldiers in private, and knowing the miracles of the young archon that was in from of him, he believed that since Amendolara dared to attack, they would surely have a chance to succeed. This was a good opportunity for his tribe.

“Good! Very good!!” Davos was not only happy with Bagul’s agreement, but was also excited due to the “assimilation policy” which had achieved results so quickly.

Davos came forward and patted the shoulder of Bagul and said with a bit of excitement, “I believe that this decision of yours will be very good for you and your people!”

Bagul did not dodge it.

And Vespa could only sigh.

“What you will do next, is for you to have your brother-in-law, Asistes, be your adjutant and you will be the senior centurion of the Lucanian brigade.” Davos then looked behind him, and Asistes could only smile shyly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At noon, the army of Crotone have abandoned the thousands of people of Thurii outside the ruins of the city, and they retreated with a large number of looted supplies, but they did not burn the pontoon bridge.

The information was transmitted back to Amendolara. Davos, accompanied by the priests, arrived at the temple of Zeus at the top of the mountain and offered a bull as a sacrifice. While the hymn is being sang, he prayed to Zeus for this time’s expedition, the priests blessed him and performed a sacred divination.

Davos then went back to the square and told all the citizens that were waiting, “The prophecy of Zeus is a good omen! We will definitely win!”

Because of the military order, the citizens without armor did not shout for joy, but they all showed a look of excitement and fanaticism.

The whole city of Amendolara began to take action.

Watching the people rush out of the gate with carts loaded with food and supplies. The words of Caesar that he had said in front of the Rubicon River in Davos’ previous life, inexplicably appeared in Davos’ mind, “Alea iacta est!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As for what happened on that day, Ansitanos, who wrote the 《History of Magna Graecia》 more than ten years after, has described it in detail in the chapter 《The Burning of Thurii》.

On that day, the sky was dark and the thick dark clouds were very low. It seemed that the gods had shown an ominous omen from the start…

The soldiers of Crotone are not men, they are bandits, they are beasts! They snatched all the food that they can eat, even taking the porridge in the bowls of the children. They plundered all the valuable things, even the artificial tooth in the mouth of the people. Anyone that dares to come forward to stop them will be trampled down by them mercilessly and might even lose their lives. For those who had knelt down and beg, they just gave them a cold stare. From every house came the cry of despair of the people of Thurii, and every street was filled with the blood and tears of the people of Thurii. What kind of sins did the Thurians committed that they have invited such a terrible demon! (It should be said that the position of Ansitanos in the book 《History of Magna Graecia》 is basically neutral, but in this chapter, he had put his strong feelings, and made the later Crotonians to protest, believing that Ansitanos had seriously exaggerated the facts, which was not beneficial to the unity of the country, and demanded for it to be removed. Ansitanos, however, refused and so the lawsuit went on for a very long time.)

Finally, the soldiers of Crotone drove the people out of the city with spears and shields, then they covered every corner of the city with branches and hay, and oiled the city and so, the city began to burn…

The Thurians watched as their homes turn to ashes in the fire, and their temples collapsed, but they could not do anything about it. Did the gods abandon Thurii and let Hephaestus cast down the flames of wrath?!

After the Crotonians retreated, the people of Thurii ran into the city like madman, regardless of the smoke and the flames in the city. The hot temperature fumigated their flesh and blood, but they still desperately rushed into the ashes braving the flames, looking for anything that could still be used…

No shelter, no food, no clothes, no money, how can the Thurians survive in the plains of Sybaris that have become a wilderness…

Just when they were in despair, the Amendolarans appeared.

Thousands of Amendolarans, with hundreds of loaded cart (half of which were filled with hidden weapons and equipment), began to rescue the people of Thurii, they set up tents and excavate camps…Kunogelata has already completely forgotten what the Thurians had done to him before, and even though his injuries that he got from getting beaten before was still not fully healed, he still kept running around every corner to help all the Thurians that are in need. While the Praetor of Amendolara, Cornelius, arrange the manpower, distribute the supplies and organized the rescue work in a very orderly manner…

Finally, allow me to mention Davos. At that time, he was the archon of Amendolara and the hero who saved the city of Thurii from the Lucanians. However, this was the first time that the Thurians had met him, and they had met him in such a situation. In their eyes, this young man, who seems to have just become an adult, was as friendly as the child of their own family. He always wears a gentle smile, listen to the suffering of the people with great attention, and comforts the injured with a gentle voice. He picked up the crying children and wipe away their tears and dust for them, he lift up the injured old people and gave them soft bread..

Under the leadership of Davos, the Amendolarans were like their relatives, they did their best to help the Thurians. Davos had once more rescued the people of Thurii, so that the people who had lost their homes did not suffer from hunger and disease. The Thurians thanked the people of Amendolara from the bottom of their heart, and specially thanked the hero, Davos, who saved the people of Thurii twice!

-Excerpt from 《History of Magna Graecia》 by Ansitanos

Chapter 142 – Surprise Attack (I)

Timaras, had at first, suggested that some of the spoils should be shipped back to Crotone in advance, since there were too many of it.

However, Melanseus rejected it. His reason is that Roscianum and Krimisa has joined the Crotone Alliance for the first time, so they would need to show them of their results in conquering Thurii and the serious consequences of fighting against Crotone.

In fact, there was another reason in his heart, it was because he was afraid that the spoils that will be shipped back would be privately divided up by the group of people in the city hall, which would end up him having much lesser share of wealth.

As for why they didn’t burn the pontoon bridge? The worry of Davos was totally unnecessary, because Melanseus doesn’t even regard Amendolara at all, and after the destruction of the city of Thurii, there is no longer any force in the northern part of Magna Graecia that could threaten Crotone anymore, and in order to facilitate the migration of the Crotonians to Sybaris, they needed the pontoon bridge.

Crotone’s marching line was 5 kilo-meters long, and most of them were fully loaded carts, so their marching was extremely slow. However, they still manage to arrived in Roscianum by dusk.

The Roscianums were really afraid. The polemarchos, Amikles, led the city’s top officials with a smile on their faces, they opened the city to welcome Melanseus, who had won a victory, and held a grand victory banquet for him, as well as the other strategos of Crotone. At the same time, they euphemistically said to Melanseus, that the city of Roscianum is too small to hold such a large army, and if so many spoils are stored in the city and in case it got lost, it wouldn’t be good if a conflict broke out.

While also saying that the city of Roscianum has prepared plenty of wines and food for the soldiers of Crotone to celebrate their victory and to make up for Roscianum failing in letting them enter into the city.

Melanseus was not a man who would care about his soldiers. Seeing that the Roscianums were so thoughtful, he readily agreed and lead a dozen of his senior officers, such as Timaras, into the city with Amikles.

On their way into the city, Melanseus heard his scout, who had returned, that the people of Amendolara had rushed to the Sybaris plain to help the people of Thurii. Then he said with a laugh, “The Amendolarans are just wasting their efforts, because we will be back soon, and the Sybaris plain can only belong to Crotone!”

When the soldiers of Crotone heard that there was wine and meat to eat, they sped up their march. It was already late when they started camping, and so they just only set up their tents because they couldn’t wait to start drinking and eat the meat to celebrate their victory, and made a lot of loud noises till late at night. However, their tired body couldn’t resist the attack of the God of Sleep, so they fell deep asleep…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ansitanos did not wrote this part in his book. On this day, the citizens of Amendolara, contrary to their usual training habits, had only set their tents up roughly, and built their camp simply and had all began to sleep. As a matter of fact, during the afternoon, it was mainly the women, teenagers, and elderly Amendolarans who were outside to help the people of Thurii…

For this war, almost everyone in the city have went out.

That night, Davos did not allow the people of Thurii to enter the newly built camp for accommodation, and so the exhausted people fell asleep in the ground and under the cover of the sky. The officers then woke up the soldiers of Amendolara in the camp one after another. While their eyes were still sleepy they began to eat the prepared bread, drink the hot mutton soup, and ate a little mutton and cheese in silence. Although they had dinner a few hours ago, these food will allow them to store more protein and calories, which will be consumed by the following long-distance march and battle. Then they began to put on their armor that they have taken out of the loaded cart, and began checking their spears, kopis and round shields.

At this time, in the middle of the camp, a few torches were erected in an open space. Davos, and the officers were under the faint light of the fire and were carefully observing a terrain model of the camp of Crotone, which was simply made out of clay according to the information that they had gotten from Izam.

“Melanseus was a bit cautious. He made his troops cross the Trionto river and camped in the south of the city of Roscianum, and had thought that they are safe, since the city of Roscianum is blocking the way. However, this would make his soldiers more unprepared.” Davos used a stick to point out in the model of the Trionto river that separates the city of Roscianum from the camp of Crotone, “So Izam has repeatedly tried to cross on the different sections of the river, and he said that there is one section on the river that is completely walk-able and it is located in the middle of the river, which is far away from the camp of Crotone and they weren’t found out. So he sent someone back to report that the ‘Crotonians had spent the night drinking in their camp.’ So I believed that they will be sleeping like dead pigs when we attack them tomorrow.” The words of Davos made everyone laugh.

“They also didn’t dig any trenches, nor set up fences and an abatis, and they might not even have some guards by tomorrow morning. Do they think that they are just walking in their own courtyard?! And made them so relaxed!” The officers were not amused by the situation that Davos introduced, and were infuriated. They were secretly angry, and so they must definitely  not let go of these arrogant Crotonians.

“The only thing troublesome is that their tents are very scattered and the space is relatively large. This part of the south protrudes a large part, because this is where they stored the spoils that they had plundered.” Davos made a huge circle over the camp model with his stick and said cautiously, “Our citizen soldiers and the Lucanian brigade led by Bagul are only about 5,000* and in order to be able to encircle the camp of the Crotonians, we can only attack them with a single row of soldiers.” (note: Arpenst sent some of his people to the eastern Mediterranean to recruit about 500 freeman from Thrace, Rhodes, and Crete, in order to make the seventh brigade complete.)

“Don’t worry Legatus, one row is enough! It is indeed difficult to deal with people with only that, but it is easy to deal with a group of sleeping pigs!” The words of Amintas made the crowd cover their mouths and laugh.

Davos smiled and said to Kapus who was besides him, “The south of the camp will be handed over to your first brigade. You will be the one to attack first, and because the area in the south is large, and there are a lot of carts and spoils blocking your path, so you and your subordinates must discuss a way to solve these problems. I have only one request, whether the first brigade can become the first in the whole army depends on whether you can keep up with the attacking speed of the other groups, or even be faster than them!”

At the same time, Kapus, who is usually prudent, was also excited and said, “Rest assured, the first brigade will live up to your expectations!”

Davos nodded and turned to Drakos, “The second brigade will go to the eastern part of the camp, and only after the first brigade attack, can you start your attack. The first thing the frightened enemies will think of is to escape into the city, so you should use the most violent attack to expel their idea!”

Drakos looked at Kapus, and then said, “Legatus, our second brigade will prove that we are no worse than the first brigade!”

“Hmm. that’s the confidence!” Davos nodded then turned to Hieronymos, “The third brigade will be attacking from the west. Although most of your troops are new recruits, I believe that the third brigade will perform well.”

Hieronymos clenched his fist and said, “Rest assured!”

“Epiphanes.”

“Yes.”

“You and Cid will lead the peltast soldiers of the seventh brigade to attack from the north.”

“Legatus, isn’t our number less?” Epiphanes immediately questioned.

“Don’t worry. Is Bagul here?” Asked Davos.

“Here I am!” Said Bagul behind the crowd.

“Come to the front.” Davos beckoned him to come, and then said, “The Lucanian brigade that you lead will join the attack in the north, with Epiphanes as the commander.”

Bagul hesitated to look at Epiphanes, while Epiphanes just gave him a friendly smile. He then lowered his head and said, “Alright.”

“The peltast soldiers are good at close combat, while the impact of your Lucanian warriors are also very powerful, and the enemy may not even consider running north at first because of the Trionto river. And so, I am not worried about your offensive strength, but what I am worried about is your lack of cooperation and the sudden advance might lead a gap. So after you get in position, you should have a good communication and solve the problem of how to improve the cooperation and control the offensive rhythm.”

“And more importantly!” Davos accentuated his voice and said with a serious expression, “Bagul, I have already told you before, and I would like to stress it again that before the battle, whether marching or sneaking, you have to be quiet and must not alert the enemy! So you must warn your tribesmen and for them to take care of their mouths. If anyone disobeys the order and affect this operation, according to 《Amendolara’s Military Law》 those with serious cases will be executed!”

“Roger.” Bagul was secretly frightened, and so, after deciding to go back, he will immediately discussed it with Asistes on how to prevent his people from making mistakes.

“Legatus, will us archers and slingers not take part in this operation?” Arpenst saw that there was no place for him in the deployment, so he was unable to stop himself from asking.

“We of course cannot do without you.” Laughed Davos, “Arpenst, you will lead the archers and slingers to ambush along the road leading to the city of Roscianum in the east of the camp. Once someone comes out of the city to rescue them, you will deal them the greatest damage!”

“Yes!”

“According to the intelligence of Izam, the soldiers of Roscianum who went together with Crotone did not return to the city because they wanted to celebrate their victory in the camp. So there should not be many soldiers in the city who can fight, and their combat strength should not be strong. Oh…there are also the high-ranking officers of Crotone who are having fun in the city. I estimate that their legs will be weak in the morning, and won’t be able to wield their weapons…” Davos finished speaking, and the crowd laughed quietly.

“After you are all in your position, and have deployed your centuria in the attacking row, but you must remember that – there must be no gap in the attacking row between platoons and platoons, between centuria and centuria, and between brigades and brigades!”

Chapter 143 – Surprise Attack (II)

Davos stood up and looked around the crowd, and said with a deep and powerful voice, “The first battle tomorrow morning will determine the ownership of the Sybaris plain! Will determine the future of us, citizens of Amendolara! When the battle starts, there will be no salphinx and no shouting! We must be cruel! Be fierce! Be quick! Destroy the enemy in their sleep with the fastest speed! Rush to the center with the fastest speed! The faster we advance, the closer and thicker the formation will be, and the more flustered the enemy will be. We will then surround them in the center and force them to surrender! Brothers, the Crotonians are like a pot of barley porridge now, and so let’s see which brigade will eat the fastest and eat the best!”

The crowd didn’t reply, but there was a burning sense of battle in their eyes…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the early summer night in the southern part of the Apennine Peninsula, the weather is still relatively cool. Unfortunately, there is no moon nor star in the dark sky.

Amendolara’s troops began to set out. The first platoon of the first centuria of the first brigade left the camp in turn. The head of each company held a lighted torch to illuminate the road ahead. The five thousand strong troops marched quietly and orderly. The sound of the river, the sound of the insects and frogs, and even the howling of wild animals in the distance covered up the sound of their marching and the collision of their armor. From a distance, you could only see the faint flash of fire every few hundred meters.

Crossing the pontoon bridge at night was one of the biggest trouble of the march. The troops march in two columns to ensure that there is enough space on the bridge deck and both sides will take care of each other. Fortunately, most of the soldiers in the first brigade who walked at the front had participated in the Persian expedition. So they were very experienced at marching at night, they manage to successfully crossed the first pontoon bridge and then passed the second one as well. Their good performance gave confidence to the subsequent troops.

The second brigade had also manage to arrived on the other side.

The speed of the third brigade’s marching began to slow down once they reach the bridge. Arsinis stepped on the board that goes ups and downs, looking at the dark river that was flowing under the pontoon, and imagining its depth, his body could not help but shake along with the bridge’s board, and his body was about to learn out. At this time, a hand firmly grasped his arm.

“Don’t panic, look up at the front and don’t look down at your feet!” It was the voice of Xethippus, the squad leader, who was in parallel with him. He stabilized his mood and did it according to the squad leader’s method, which was much better.

After a few steps, he heard a splash behind him, followed by a cry for help.

Someone fell into the water! Arsinis was shocked.

“Don’t look back, and move forward!” The voice of Xethippus, who usually love to nag, was unusually calm at this time.

Arsinis finally manage to set foot on the junction of the two rivers. With this experience, it made crossing the second pontoon bridge much easier.

In order to help the Lucanians cross the river smoothly, Epiphanes had thought of a way, which is to let a Greek and a Lucanian walk side by side on the pontoon bridge. With the help of these veterans, most of the Lucanians had also manage to cross the river smoothly.

When he reach the south bank of the river Crati and set foot on solid ground, Arsinis’ nervous mood fell to the ground, then he ask the squad leader, “What about our comrades who have fallen in the river?”

“The Legatus has asked the military officer, Philesius, to arrange some people on both sides of the river to rescue them. As long as they throw away their round shields, spears, and helmet, and swim to the shore, of course, and also depends if they trained their swimming skill seriously. Now you realize the importance of training, every training should be completed seriously, because maybe you will use it one day in the future.” Xethippus seized every opportunity to educate the recruits.

Arsinis nodded seriously.

Two hours later, the troops approached the city of Roscianum and all the torches were extinguished. Being led by the squad of Izam, they came to the middle reaches of the Trionto river(Roscianum was located at the mouth of river Trionto), they then formed eight columns and the soldiers held their spears in front of and behind each other (the shield is hung on the shoulders of the soldiers and the helmet is hung on the neck.) and wade through the river. Although this section of the river is the widest, its depth doesn’t even reach the waist, and the current is not rapid. In addition to a lot of pebbles, the river crossing on the river Trionto didn’t cause any trouble to the soldiers.

The camp of Crotone wasn’t far away.

It’s still currently deep in the night, and the sky still haven’t yet brightened. And under the leadership of the mountain reconnaissance team, each brigade quietly and unhurriedly went to their predetermined position and began to lie down and rest to recover their stamina. The officers went closer to observed the camp of Crotone, comparing it with what they saw in the previous map, they began to adjust and arranged the attack position of their teams.

As soon as there was a glimmer of light in the eastern sky, the officers began to wake up the rest of the soldiers. While they were tidying up their weapons and equipment, the platoon captains made a quiet pre-war mobilizations. For the veterans, just saying ‘These arrogant Crotonians have the courage to insult our Lord Davos and burned our buildings. And now, we have to make them pay the price with blood, with our spears and shields.’ That was enough to ignite their anger. For the recruits, in addition to encouragement, they should also be reminded of some details that needs to be paid attention to in the battle, such as ‘Don’t just focus on charging by yourself, but move forward with your whole team. When the spear goes into the body of the enemy and can’t be pulled out, then don’t waste time in pulling it out, and just draw out your kopis and continue slashing them’ and so on.

Arsinis began to line up together with his comrades, and then putting on his heavy Corinthian helmet, but he didn’t feel the usual sense of being isolated from the world. Although he couldn’t sense his teammates that were behind him (because they are in a separate column). However, through the eye hole of his helmet, he saw not only the tents erected by the Crotonians a hundred meters away, but also the thin front rank formed by his Amendolarans comrades which have reflected the light in the corner of his eyes, which extended infinitely along the terrain and encircled the camp in an arc until it was out of his sight…

Arsinis stepped forward and approached the camp of Crotone. The nearest tent was less than 40 meters away, and there was still a dead silence ahead.

Arsinis was both excited and regretful. He wanted to fight the sober Crotonians in order to show his developing skill.

At this time, there was a loud scream from the front of the camp.

Xethippus said in a low voice, “Advance!”

Everyone then began to stride forward. The shields next to each other rubbed and made a low “bang bang” sound. Their feet in leather sandals stepped on the mud soaked by the dew, leaving rows of clear footprints.

Arsinis had long been aware of the sleeping enemies lying outside the tent, but when he stood in front of them, he became hesitant.

“Do it!” The comrade next to him urged him and at the same time, he stabbed his spear into the throat of the enemy. The enemy suddenly opened his eyes and held his throat with his hands. He wanted to scream, but he couldn’t make a sound. His expression was filled with extreme pain and his whole face was distorted.

When his comrade pulled out his spear, the blood from the wound gushes out like a fountain. The wounded enemy begins to breathe heavily, which made the other enemy woke up from his sleep.

“Why are you not doing it yet!” His comrade once more said. Arsinis finally stopped hesitating, and he quickly stabbed out his spear and pierced the enemy’s chest.

His comrade turned his head and nodded to Arsinis. Although the expression on his face could not be seen due to his helmet, Arsinis still could guess that it must be a satisfied smile. Inspired by that smile, he resisted the discomfort in his stomach and continued killing the enemy that were still sleeping outside the tent.

There is a tent in front of the squad, which blocked their route. Xethippus made a gesture, and the ten soldiers surrounded the tent and then plunged their spears inside. There was a burst of poking accompanied by screams as blood splashed on the curtain.

“Arsinis!” Shouted Xethippus.

Arsinis immediately held up his shield, bent down and went inside the tent, and soon came out and said, “There are four men, two…blerch…two are seriously injured, and the others…blerch…are all dead.”

“Regardless, keep going!” Xethippus waved his hand, then looked at Arsinis and said, “Even if you vomit, do not stop and move forward.”

After a long march, Arsinis saw the enemy coming out of the tent by groups in front of them. They were wearing short sleeve linen clothes, some were even naked and most of them were unarmed. They seemed to still have not been completely awakened from their drunkenness and drowsiness. They looked at Arsinis and didn’t understand what was going on until they saw Arsinis and the others stabbing some of them down. The screams have woken them up, they did not rush forward to fight, but cried out in panic, “There are enemies! There are enemies!…” Under the attack of Arsinis and the others, they fled everywhere. The panic and confusion had made Arsinis remember that when he was a child, he went up on the mountain together with his father and saw some sheep getting chased by hungry wolves.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Kelebus’ ancestor were the earliest immigrants of Crotone, so they were allocated a large and fertile “share of land” and his whole family lived a relatively rich farming and pastoral life. However, with the passage of time and the rise of trading, many merchant citizens gained amazing wealth, and used the wealth to gain considerable power in Crotone’s political arena, and have become the new nobles of Crotone. Kelebus’ grandfather was an ambitious man, he envied these merchants and was no longer satisfied with farming. So he was determined to devote himself to the business trend and win a brighter future for his family. So he mortgaged their land, loaned a large sum of money, bought several ships, and started to do port transshipment trade with full of goods, sailing between the Greek city-state of Zakynthos in Iberia, Massalia in Gaul, Naples on the west coast of Italy, and back to Crotone.

At first, everything went well and he made a lot of money, but then, when the cargo ship passed through the strait of Messana(Messina), it was caught in a vortex, and the ship was destroyed and the people on board died. Then the family of Kelebus began to decline, and when he grew up, his life was in a state of poverty. Apart from having the status of a citizen of Crotone, he had nothing like a freeman from other city-states. However, he could vote in the ecclesia and join the army to fight.

Chapter 144 – Surprise Attack (III)

This time, he went out to follow Melanseus to battle, but he didn’t expect that it would be so smooth. They easily manage to capture the city of Thurii, and Kelebus had also managed to seized a lot of spoils. ‘No wonder that many people had said that Melanseus was favored by the Goddess of Fortune.’ Moreover, he heard that the city hall of Crotone are preparing for the immigration to the Sybaris plain. After returning to Crotone, he would first cash in his spoils, saved money, marry a wife and then joined the immigration team of Crotone. The land in the Sybaris plain is more flat and vast than that of Crotone, so he should be able to get a share of land.

That night, Kelebus had a beautiful dream, but was awakened due to pain. He opened his eyes and saw his comrades running out of the tent like a hornet who had their nest destroyed. He was trampled by several feet by the entrance of the tent.

“Watch it!” He roared angrily.

“Enemy attack! Come out and fight!” His comrades shouted while they rushed out of the tent.

“Enemy attack? Where is the enemy?” Kelebus was still a bit confused.

At this time, he heard screams one after another, so he roused his spirit and used his hands to push on the ground and reluctantly stood up. He drank a lot of wine last night without mixing it with water. So he was a bit dizzy, and he couldn’t fully control his body, and almost fell down, because of that, he had no time to wear his helmet and armor. He grabbed his spear from the ground and staggered out of the tent. He could see the well-armed hoplites lining up in a tight formation, then they quickly approached them. His two companions rushed up with their spears, but were soon stabbed by the enemy. The tacit cooperation, concise and skillful skill had completely awakened Kelebus, and fear instantly coursed through his whole body in an instant, and so, he threw away his spear and ran away..

“Run away! Get out of the way!” With a strong desire to survive, Kelebus looked at the direction of the sun in the sky as he run. He decided to flee to the east, because the city of Roscianum is in the east.

After running for a while, he saw some people running towards him, but they shouted out in horror, “There are enemies, run quickly!…”

‘There are enemies in the east as well?!’ When he heard it, it made Kelebus flustered and end up following them.

Next, he ran around like a headless fly, and more and more people started following him, many animals had even fled together with them, which had injured many people, but still couldn’t escape.

By this time, Kelebus became more flustered and understood that they were surrounded, and the encirclement was shrinking.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Legion headquarters of Davos is just behind the second brigade, between the camp of Crotone and the city of Roscianum. Thirty guards were waiting, and their attention were focused on the east, and captain Martius raised the Legion flag. While Davos was carefully listening to the report of Ledes on the latest situation of the battle from his cavalry team.

“The first brigade had started their offense!”

“The second brigade had also started their offense!”

“The third brigade had also started their offense!”

“The seventh brigade and the Lucanian brigade had also started their offense!”

“The first brigade manage to break in and the enemy did not resist!”

“The second brigade is smoothly advancing!”

“The first brigade crossed the logistic area and continued to advance!”

“So quickly?!” Davos was somewhat surprised and asked, “How did they do it?”

Ledes replied, “All the freeman and slaves who had taken refuge in Crotone were all around the logistic area. When they saw our troops, they all ran away. Kapus and his troops bypass the area and just left some troops to clear the area, while the rest of the troops advanced.”

“Hmm, Kapus made the right decision!” Davos nodded approvingly.

At this time, another cavalry report came, “The second brigade has turned into two rows!”

“The brigade has become two rows!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Legatus, our offense went smooth and the encirclement is shrinking rapidly!” Asistes was excited.

“Yes, it went smoothly beyond my expectation!” Davos breathed and his nervousness was relieved, and then he asked Ledes, “Is there no movement in the city of Roscianum?”

“No.”

“It seems that the vigilance of the enemy and their reaction to danger is very low, seems like Arpenst won’t be able to fight this time.” Davos was in the mood to joke around, “When that champion wakes up from his sleep, he would be confused and ask, ‘Where did my troops go?’”

There was a burst of laughter from the people around.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In fact, Davos’ judgment was still wrong. The sentry of Roscianum did not fail to notice that there was something amiss in the camp of Crotone. Although the Crotonian camp is few kilo-meters away from the city, and due to the covering of the woods and rivers, even the outline of the camp cannot be seen even when standing on the city wall. However, the sentries can still vaguely hear the huge sound with a mix of screaming of tens of thousands of soldiers.

And so, the sentries reported this abnormal situation to the captain, but the captain had thought that the camp of the Crotonians should be very safe! The Bruttians in the west were cut off by the mountains, to the north, while Thurii has been burned, and the Trionto river protects them, and in the south, Krimisa has also joined Crotone, and Roscianum is in the northeast, and so, Crotone doesn’t have any enemy at the moment. Is it the arrogant Crotonians who got up early in the morning and started partying again?

Out of habit of his profession, he still symbolically sent some cavalry to see what happened. As a result, just as they are passing through the woods, they were all annihilated by the archers of Arpenst who stayed there for an ambush.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

With the further reduction of the encirclement, some centuria had even changed into three rows because the line of attack is shrinking. While the army of Crotone who are surrounded became more and more crowded due to the reduction of space.

Even though Melanseus and the other senior officers were invited to the city for a party and failed to return, the captains were still there. In particular, as soon as the officers who were sleeping in the middle of the camp realized that the situation was not right, they began to ask their men to put on their armor, take up weapons (because most of them were drunk) and to get ready to fight. It was just that the attack of the Amendolarans were so fast that there were fleeing soldiers everywhere, which disrupted their hastily organized troops. But now, when the space is so compressed and the deserters couldn’t run around anymore, the captain with a bright crest on their helmet became their backbone.

“We are surrounded. We can only survive if we break out through the east! Go east!…” The captains yelled in unison to attract the attention of the people around them. Under their leadership, they began to rush towards the sun, and the army of Amendolara has also faced the most severe test since their surprise attack.

Drakos did not panic at all when he saw the dense enemy coming. This is not the first time that his second brigade has encountered this situation. The last time, they had blocked the vicious Lucanian’s attack, and after several months of training, they are now more confident in blocking these poorly armed, without any armor and even naked enemies.

“Defend on the spot!” Drakos ordered the drummers. (note: each brigade is equipped with five drummers, who can not only convey instructions, but also adjust the pace of the soldiers with the sound of drums during the march in order to keep the formation consistent and to also boost morale.)

The rhythmic sound of the drums sounded, and the flag bearers of each centuria waved their flags. In fact, according to the judgment of the centurion, they have already began telling their soldiers to stop and defend.

The charge of Crotone is like a row of big waves, even though it is impressive, its power is scattered. The defense of the second brigade was like an iron wall, thin but strong.

The two armies collided. One has maintained their offensive, and consumed a lot of stamina, while the other had fled from the very start and are exhausted. One is fully armed, while the other is not fully equipped. One has lesser number, while the other one has more. The outcome of a clash between the two sides is obvious, however, the Crotonians have finally showed their bravery at this critical moment. Without weapons, they hit them with their bodies and feet, when they got stabbed by the spears, they will grabbed it tightly with their bare hands.

For a moment, the second brigade is in a arduous struggle.

When Davos learned about it, he immediately ordered, “The rest of the brigade speed up their attack and bring down the enemy!”

At the same time, he ordered Ledes to send Arpenst back with the peltast to assist in the attack of the second brigade, while Davos had also led his guards forward.

When the Legion flag appeared behind the defense line of the second group, and the bronze statue of Hades shone in the morning light, the soldiers of the second brigade who had been struggling had their morale boosted greatly.

“Drakos, can you still hold on?” Davos asked the senior centurion of the second brigade, who was commanding in the rear.

“Legatus, we will soon be able to defeat the enemy!” Drakos clenched his teeth and turned to the drummers and yelled, “Beat the drums to signal the attack! We must attack!”

Under the gaze of the commander and the sound of the drums that signals attack, the soldiers became full of energy. Although they only have three rows in their formation and were relatively thin compared to the enemy, they still manage to start their counterattack. They vigorously waved their round shield and strike forward, and the spears in their hand penetrates into the exposed gap. If the enemy grabbed their spears, they will pull out their kopis and then slashed them. Originally, the confrontation between Greek hoplite was very taxing. The metal rattled when their shields collided with each other, and the clattering sounds of the spears on the armor, and the sound of the kopis slashing at each other. It was impossible to defeat the opponent in just a short time, but now, with every swing, every stab, and every slash, you can hear the enemy groaning in pain, the tearing sound of metal stabbing into the bones and flesh of the enemy, and the string of blood brought by the kopis…

The rapid counterattack of the second brigade resisted the impact of the enemy, and the courage of the majority of the Crotonians, who were unarmed and didn’t even have an armor, were quickly weakened before the iron wall.

The peltast who arrived soon rained arrows and stones at the rear off the Crotonians’ formation, making their subsequent forces unable to keep up to form a concentrated force.

The last weight on the scale of the war was the fierce attack of the other three brigades. The encirclement was shrinking rapidly, and the Crotonian army in the center was almost crowded with people, making it difficult for them to turn around, let alone break through.

Nearly ten thousand of men were tightly surrounded in this big circle less than 500 meters round. The arrows and stones in the sky kept on falling, and the shouts of ‘surrender and you won’t be killed’ rang around, and with people constantly screaming and falling down, the panic and fear quickly permeated the enemy…

The freeman and the slaves were the first to kneel on their knees.

Followed by the soldiers of Scylletium, Krimisa and Roscianum.

Then finally, the exhausted Crotonians lowered their proud head…

Chapter 145 – Post Victory

The sentries of the city of Roscianum were still waiting for their cavalry to return, and the noise at the camp of Crotone seemed to have disappeared. Out of doubt, the captain himself had led ten cavalry out of the city from the south gate, crossed the pontoon bridge, and went westward through the forest. Everything was still the same*, until they reached around the bank of the Trionto river and climbed up the high slope. What appeared in front of them was a shocking scene. In the vast flat land where the Crotonians had camped, was a mess of collapsed tents, scattered weapons, horses and animals that are running wildly, and what was more terrible was the dense number of corpses, and the seriously wounded soldiers struggling in pain, and the bright red land stained with blood. In the middle of the camp, were many heavily armed soldiers, who have surrounded a huge number of people that were not well dressed, and kept their encirclement, then they escorted a row of captives that have their hands bound…. (note: Arpenst’ peltast had already hidden the bodies of the previous scouts and removed the traces.)

A tremendous fear gripped the heart of the captain, ‘The Crotonians were defeated?!!!’

The captain quickly turned his horse around and galloped towards the city of Roscianum, while these terrible and strange enemies have still not notice them…

“Legatus, the cavalry of Roscianum has returned to their city.” Ledes came to report.

“Asistes, inform the 7th brigade and the Lucanian brigade to set an ambush in the woods. The city of Roscianum will probably…no, it should be Melanseus who will give us a great gift! Ledes, you keep a close watch on the city of Roscianum!” Davos gave the order.

“Roger!” Ledes followed Davos order and Asistes then sent a herald to the north.

After a while, Davos then ordered Asistes again, “How long has it been since a cavalry been sent to Mersis?”

“About half an hour…Legatus, there are too many goods in the logistic area! Since some of the animals were injured and some have even scattered during the attack, and we are short of beasts of burden to carry the supplies.” Said Asistes, slightly worried.

Davos smiled and pointed to the prisoners, who are not far away, crouching on the ground under the pressure of spears and swords, “Aren’t they already a ready-made ‘beast of burden’? It doesn’t matter if they walk slowly, as it will also consume their strength. Anyway, these Crotonians who have trained competitively for a long time can still be useful.”

“Ah! Why didn’t I thought about that! Legatus, you always come up with great idea!” Exclaimed Asistes and praised him.

“Asi, if only your ability to handle things is as good or better as your ability to flatter!” After the great victory, Davos was also in a good mood, and so he joked around with Asistes for a while, and then said, “Let’s go and see the soldiers. They are the heroes of this victory.”

In the distance, a glittering flag was slowly approaching, and a strategos wearing a distinctive helmet with a purple, white, and red crest appeared on the battlefield, and those cruel and ruthless enemies immediately gave out thunderous cheers, and so, the gazes of the captives were filled with horror and sorrow.

“Davos!!”

“Davos!!”

“Victory!!”

“Victory!!”

The clever men among the captives had immediately thought that this strategos was probably the Archon of Amendolara whom they had insulted, and these enemies were the owners of the buildings that they had burned. At that time, they had laughed at the cowardice of the citizens of Amendolara, but now they are shaking under the spears of these “timid” enemies…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The polemarchos of Roscianum, Amikles, was shocked by the emergency news from the captain of the city defense, and immediately sent someone to inform Melanseus and his subordinates.

Melanseus was sleeping in a guest house with a high-class prostitute in his arms, but he was then forcefully awakened and so, he was extremely dissatisfied. But after hearing the anxious report from his subordinate, he manage to immediately wake up. Then said, “Maybe the enemy had broken into our camp and was captured by our soldiers…”

Timaras shook his head with great concern, “The Roscianum had said, ‘although the flags held by the heavily armed soldiers are blurry from a distance, but it is not the flag of Crotone because of its peculiar shape and style!’ Melanseus, we have to rescue them!”

“…ah…ah, you’re right, you are right…” Melanseus has never expected that they would suddenly get attack while they were complacent about returning home triumphantly. He was unable to stop himself from getting flustered, “Come! Come with me and find Amikles and ask him to send out all the citizens of Roscianum together with us in order to rescue them!”

Amikles, naturally, could not completely agree with Melanseus, as he must first ensure the safety of Roscianum, but he did not dare to offend Crotone by refusing the request of Melanseus. Moreover, some of the soldiers of Roscianum were also trapped in the camp, and so, he hastily assembled 700 citizen soldiers and were led by Melanseus and his subordinates, to rescue the captives.

Melanseus hastily marched towards the camp, while Timaras had advised him to be cautious, but he said, “According to the information of the Roscianum, the number of the enemy is smaller than us, and they have estimated that the reason they manage to win is because they did a sneak attack. Now that they are still in the same place and want to turn our soldiers into captives, our sudden attack will certainly surprise them. At the same time, it will also arouse the resistance of the soldiers who have surrendered. The enemy will instead be defeated by us! I will make these thugs who have the audacity to attack Crotone pay a heavy price!” Melanseus is like a gambler who had his eyes turned red, and was looking forward to his last big bet, in order to win back all his previous losses.

When his troops passed through the forest in a marching column, they were suddenly got attack by the peltast of Amendolara who were lying in ambush. Epiphanes led the peltast to rain down arrows, stones and javelins at them, causing a lot of casualties. While the soldiers of Roscianum was in a state of panic, the Lucanians rushed into the enemy line with a Greek kopis like a tiger attacking a sheep…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Legatus, the reinforcements of Crotone has been defeated! With the few exceptions who had managed to escape back to Roscianum, the others were either killed or captured!” Ledes rushed back to report it excitedly.

Davos nodded, without feeling much joy, as this was a well prepared ambush, so victory is already assured.

Seeing the calm expression on Davos face, Ledes added, “The Lucanians have also managed to capture two high-ranking officers of Crotone, Melanseus and Timaras!”

“Oh!” Davos smiles, but not because they manage to capture the enemy’s high-ranking officers, “The Lucanians have made a great contributions, so their sentence will be reduced by half a year.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the Lucanians cut into the Roscianum’s ranks, Melanseus’ many years of military experience have told him that failure was inevitable.

So he immediately turned around and raw away. However, the Lucanians seemed to recognize him, and after paying several casualties, they manage to push him down and dragged him to Davos.

“Melanseus, we finally meet.” A gentle young voice sounded in his ears.

Melanseus struggled to raise his head. His handsome face was scarred by the sand and stone that were along the way as he got dragged. His vision was blurred by blood, he blinked his eyes hard. Then an unfamiliar young face appeared in front of him.

“Who…are you?”

“The archon of Amendolara, Davos.”

“Amendolara? Davos?” Melanseus, who had his head repeatedly hit before, was a bit slow to respond, and suddenly, his eyes widened, “Amendolara?! Amendolara!! You are despicable to sneakily attack us without declaring war! You have violated the tradition of the Greek city-state and defiled the honor of the Greeks. The Greek city-states of Magna Graecia will punish Amendolara!”

“Champion of the Olympics, aren’t you too conceited?!” sneered Davos, “The war had already started when your troops entered the territory of Amendolara without permission and burned our buildings. As for the sneak attack, I vaguely remember that an athlete’s maxim is ‘the winner proves his strength by his actions, and the loser can only conceal his weakness with excuses.’ I am not sure if I am right?”

Melanseus bowed his head and said in a low voice, “I hope that you will treat me and the soldiers well. Crotone will pay Amendolara enough ransom.”

“It isn’t me that will decide whether you will get treated welll.”

“Then…who?”

“The surviving people of Thurii!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Mersis arrived at the camp of Crotone, he saw the mountains of spoils and burst into laughter. But he soon got upset, because these loaded carts couldn’t cross the river.

Davos then said with confidence, “It’s simple, we cross the river by the fording place.”

Therefore, after the soldiers and the people of Amendolara have cleaned up all the valuable things in the camp of Crotone (including weapons, armors, and linen shirts worn by the dead enemy), formed a long line heading east, through the forest, and can be seen in the city of Roscianum on the north bank of the Trionto river.

Davos could even hear the panicked voices of the enemy who were at the top of the city wall. So he jokingly said to Mersis, “Didn’t you say that we don’t have enough beasts of burden? You can go and borrow some from the Roscianums”

Mersis did indeed sent people to borrow some beast of burdens.

At the top of the city wall, the polemarchos of Roscianum, Amikles, and the others watched the heavily armed Greek infantry march on the south bank of the Trionto river with their spears and shields. And under the escort of their spears and shields, were prisoners who were dejected, stained with blood, carrying heavy things and faltering, as well as jubilant people in civilian clothing and the logistic camp full of items…the long line bypassed the city and went straight to the boats. The expression of every Roscianum were tense and puzzled, but there was no anger nor greed, because most of the citizens of Roscianum have lost half of their numbers. Now that they don’t even have enough troops for defending the city, how could they even dare to provoke this terrible army.

“They…where did they came from?” One member of the council asked nervously.

Amikles looked at the direction where they are marching, and said with uncertainty, “They are heading north, they are probably…from Amendolara.”

“The mercenaries who have defeated the Lucanians?!” The strategos Gorkes’ eyes widened.

“Very likely!” Said Amikles to Gorkes, and Amikles strengthened his speculation, “Maybe only they could dare to defeat the powerful Crotonians!”

“They…they have sent someone!” Someone shouted with a trembling voice.

The people on the top of the city wall, from the soldiers to the strategoi, had all became nervous.

“We are citizens of Amendolara. The archon, Davos, has asked me to borrow a hundred beast of burden from you. We will return them back after we have finished our transportation!”

The voice of the one that had come to the city was clear, then everyone looked at each other.

Davos! The hero in the rumor who had saved Thurii! The Archon of Amendolara! Amikles could only smile bitterly. This is the second time that Davos has saved Thurii, but it has also made Roscianum suffer.

In the top of the city wall of Roscianum, the strategoi and the council member agreed after a brief discussion. It wasn’t because of Davos good reputation in keeping his promise, but in the words of Amikles, ‘The situation in the northern part of Magna Graecia is bound to change greatly because of the destruction and capturing of the huge army of Crotone by the Amendolarans. So we need to act carefully, and what is more, many of our citizens might have become the captives of Amendolara, and leaving a good impression on them, might make us be able to negotiate with them in the future.’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the early morning, a few people of Thurii who had already woken up, saw the people of Amendolara who had rescued them have gathered together and began to cross the pontoon bridge and head south. They were surprised and uneasy, ‘Are the Amendolarans going to leave us?’

At noon, all the people of Thurii, and some of the freeman and slaves have woken up in front of an empty camp, their helplessness and despair reached the utmost point. Then they prostrated on the ground and crying, because the words of Cornelius, Stromboli and other few people have persuaded them that ‘Amendolara had went to war with the army of Crotone and has won’ this is totally unbelievable, and even those who are overly emotional have sweared.

At this time, someone yelled in horror, “Look! Look! An army is coming!”

They all look back in a hurry, then the people of Thurii saw a majestic army, led by a strange flag that they had never seen before, crossing the pontoon bridge with vigorous steps and marching towards their direction.

“That’s our army! The army of Amendolara! They are back victoriously!” Cornelius, the Praetor of the city of Amendolara, who had not approved the war with Crotone at the previous council meeting, although the resolution was passed, he still has a hidden uneasiness. But at this moment, he cheered like a child.

Kunogelata looked at the approaching army of Amendolara, and there was only one thing in his mind, “The Amendolarans have won! They won!! They have defeated the powerful army of Crotone!!!”

The people of Thurii were skeptical.

But soon, when the troops at the front stepped on the north bank of the Crati river and approached them, they could see that it was the young and gentle archon of Amendolara who was walking at the head of the army and was under that peculiar flag! At this moment, he is fully armed, but not wearing a helmet, and was waving at them with a smile. The hot sun reflected from his shining armor as it emitted the most dazzling light like a god.

At this time, some people with sharp eyes noticed that behind Davos was a person walking with his hands tied on his back, naked and being led, and once he walked slowly, the guard with a spear will leave a wound on his body. Why does this man look like Melanseus, the demon who ordered the burning of Thurii?! Did the army of Crotone really got defeated by Amendolara?!!

There is no doubt about it, because behind the vanguard troops, they saw soldiers of Amendolara holding spears and escorting young men with heavy loads that were all naked and faltering along the way. The troops stretches all the way to the south with no end in sight…

Looking at this incredible spectacle, the people of Thurii burst into tears. They cried, laughed and screamed, and threw rubble at the soldiers of Crotone. Some even went to fight them like lunatics….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Standing on a makeshift wooden stage. Davos looked at the people of Thurii who quickly came together with the old and the young. He said with a solemn, but passionate loud voice, “People of Thurii, in these days, the Crotonians had occupied your homes. You have lost your loved ones and your homes, and you have cried helplessly on its ruins! But the gods have not forsaken you. He has made your neighbor, the brave Amendolara, not afraid of the strong enemy and defeat the demons that have destroyed Thurii! The gods have also asked the kind people of Amendolara to help you with what you need, food and clothing! The night will pass and the light will shine in front of you! Although you have no home, we can build a more comfortable house! You have no city, we can rebuild a stronger city! You have no temple, we can rebuild a more magnificent temple! People of Thurii, wipe your tears, lift your chest and join hands with the people of Amendolara and together, we will build a much beautiful home and build a city-state free from foreign invasion!”

The people of Thurii have once again burst into tears. They cheered and worshipped, the hero Davos, who had saved Thurii twice, as if he was a god.

Davos gave his order, ‘the captured senior officers headed by Melanseus and Timaras will be put on the wooden stage, and their life and death will be decided by the people of Thurii.’

The cheers of the people of Thurii reached its peak. They rushed forward, venting their anger with stones, stick, fist and teeth. Soon the Crotonians have become bloody and miserable, but the people of Thurii did not stop, even though the enemy had fallen to the ground and was dying.…

Watching this bloody scene, Ansitanos could only sigh, “From now on, I am afraid that Thurii will be different…”

Kunogelata then pointed to Davos, who was standing on the side of the wooden stage, watching the execution and said with a dignified expression, “It is not that I am afraid, but that Thurii will certainly change!”

Ansitanos was silent…

This conclude this volume. If you want to know how Davos will resettle the people of Thurii who had lost their homes, and whether he would take the Sybaris into his pocket, and the impact of this great victory on Magna Graecia and whether the defeated Crotonians would start a greater war….then stay tune for the next volume: Theonia’s City-State Union

Chapter 146 – Establishing the Thua Union

In the afternoon, Davos held an urgent meeting with the council of Amendolara and he have invited Kunogelata, as well as more than a dozen notable and influential citizens of Thurii, including Ansitanos and Burkes, and even Plesinas and Bolus.

Asistes was puzzled and asked, “My lord, why should we allow, a brazen and vile person like Plesinas, take part as well?”

Davos answered him with seriousness, “To us, Plesinas is shameless and vile. While for Thurii, he was a patriot who was willing to destroy his own honor for the benefit of the city-state. So we should also respect such people!”

“What about Bolus? He is a deserter!”

Davos did not answer. He looked at Kunogelata and though Kunogelata was betrayed by Nianses and Bolus, he still suggested Davos to invite Bolus to attend this meeting, because his family has always been a rallying force of the immigrants of Boeotia in Thurii.

Ever since the time when the people of Amendolara have come to help the people of Thurii, Plesinas has been in a state of anxiety and even wants to leave Thurii and go to other city-states. When the herald of Amendolara have found him and sent him an invitation, he was skeptical. Then the heralds relayed the words of Davos to him, and it made Plesinas to shed tears. It was because the people of Thurii, who had gotten the help of the people of Amendolara for these past few days, had felt guilty and so they pushed the blame on Plesinas for breaking the friendship between Thurii and Amendolara. Even his family are alienating him, and the affirmation of Davos had made him very grateful.

At the same time, the invitation to Plesinas has also made the people of Thurii to see the attitude of Amendolara to let bygones be bygones, which relieved many of them that have made efforts to antagonize Amendolara.

But because of the poor conditions, the meeting was held on the meadow. The people sat on the ground in a circle, and was surrounded by the guards.

At the meeting, Davos had proposed the establishment of the Thurii-Amendolara Union, and the citizens of the two cities will share an Archon and a Council, and invite the statesmen of Thurii to join, including Kunogelata to become a member of the new union’s Senate*. (T/N: We are now changing Council to Senate, but only for the Thurii-Amendolara Union in order to reflect this new change that the new union had brought and how Davos is copying some aspects of Rome. Or do you prefer to just keep it as council? )

This proposal was discussed by Davos in advance with the statesmen of Thurii, who were in a weak position and were heavily reliant on the aid and protection of Amendolara. In addition, they can also join the senate, so why should they refuse?

This news soon reached the people of Thurii, most of whom were cheering. The main reason is that if this union is established, then they will be able to accept the aid of Amendolara and the protection of Amendolara’s powerful soldiers, without worrying about betrayal and worrying about being abandoned, because everyone have become a family!!

The cheers was transmitted back to the ears of the new statesmen of Thurii, who were in the meeting, and their last concern disappeared.

Then Davos added, since Thurii and Amendolara have become a family, the laws of Amendolara should also apply to Thurii, and the rights and obligations enjoyed by the people of Amendolara should also apply to the citizens of Thurii.

With the exception of a small number of statesmen of Thurii who had a slight objection regarding the law about “citizens who owns a land will have to pay a one percent land tax every year”, the proposal of Davos was passed by a huge vote.

Then Davos have also put forward the fulfillment of the previous commitment in granting freedom to the slaves who had taken part in the battle with the Lucanian alliance. And also, to make the freeman, that have taken part in the battle with the Lucanians alliance, but had not betrayed Thurii and joined the army of Crotone, a preparatory citizen of the new union. While the leader of the freeman, who have started the rebellion that led to the fall of Thurii, shall be sentenced to death by the people of Thurii!

The proposal was passed without debate. Because through the burning of the city of Thurii, the people of Thurii have also carried out deep reflection in themselves, and they realized that it was precisely because of Thurii’s breaking its promise and improper treatment of the freeman and slaves that have led to this disaster.

After listening to the proposal of Davos, Plesinas was slightly embarrassed. And to his surprise, Davos had suggested that Plesinas will be the one responsible for implementing this proposal. This was a good opportunity for Plesinas to wash his own stain, and he was once again grateful to Davos.

In fact, most of the freeman who have participated in the battle of the Lucanian alliance have participated in the rebellion, and have followed the troops of Crotone to carry the spoils to Crotone. As a result, they were captured by the army of Amendolara. While the slaves who manage to escape because of the fall of Thurii, most of the miner slaves have fled to the mountains, while most of the slaves in the city have chosen to stay, because in most case, they will still end up being a slave if they flee to other places, and if they were captured by the aborigines, their situation would be even worse. Hence, it would still better for them to follow a familiar master, in addition to having no freedom, they could still live a good life. There are very few freeman and slaves that have really meet the requirements of the bill, but for those who still lingered in the ruins of Thurii and have not left, this is undoubtedly a great news. They also thought about the rumors regarding the Archon having a good opinion on the slaves and freeman, and he was also an Archon for life, which means that they will have more opportunities to be free and become official citizen in the future.

By stabilizing the feelings of the freeman and the slaves, and stimulating their enthusiasm for the new union, it guaranteed the security of Thurii, because they are far more numerous than the citizens of Thurii.

The first Senate meeting of Thurii-Amendolara Union was highly efficient, passing numerous proposals to help the reconstruction of Thurii, and Davos had also proposed Kunogelata to be the Praetor of the city of Thurii and was elected with a high vote, and among the votes, are from the votes of the statesmen of Thurii. The main reason is due to Kunogelata sparing no effort in helping the people of Thurii, which made them feel guilty. In addition, the shrewd statesmen of Thurii also knew that the future political situation will be dominated by the people of Amendolara for a long time. So if Kunogelata can be valued by Davos, then they will need to work hard in order to make Kunogelata speak for the people of Thurii.

Since the two cities are not far away from each other, so the office of the city’s praetor will be shared by both cities. If necessary, they can assign a deputy or an assistant to each city for them to perform their duties.

Simultaneously, a Council responsible for Thurii’s reconstruction was established, it was led by Davos and was supplemented by the two city’s praetors, Cornelius and Kunogelata, to lead the reconstruction of the whole of Thurii.

In the end, Burkes was the one to ask the questions that the people of Thurii were worried about, “What if the Crotonians come again?”

Davos expression didn’t change and said with a smile, “I think the military officer can answer this question.”

Philesius stood up and said, “Everyone, I would like to briefly introduce our army’s achievement this time. We have sent out a total of 4,895 soldiers, and more than 6,000 enemies were killed and 9,000 enemies were captured (this is a very high casualty rate, with an average of one soldier of Amendolara defeating more than one enemy. According to the average battle, even though the combat strength of the soldiers of Amendolara was strong, this situation shouldn’t happen at all, as it was only because of the sneak attack at that time that made Crotone suffer such a high casualty, under such special circumstance like drunkenness, sleeping, lack of armor and weapons), and only 72 of our citizens have died, while 200 were injured.”

As soon as this was said, the senators of Thurii were astounded.

Philesius continued, “Of the nine thousand prisoners, there are about five thousand Crotonian. (mainly because the Crotonians have arranged the camp with the soldiers from other city-states to be on the periphery)” Philesius then took a look at Davos, then continued, “We can use these captives to force Crotone to have a truce with us. If the truce agreement fails, even though Thurii has been burned down, the walls are made of stones, and most of them are still in good condition. So we can organize a large number of people to repair the wall quickly and defend against the attack of Crotone. At the same time, we can also seek assistance from Taranto.”

“Will Taranto help us?” Burkes was puzzled. It must be know that Thurii have already tried it before, but Taranto has only sent an envoy as a symbolic and there was no more movement after they failed to persuade Crotone.

“Now that the strength of Crotone has been greatly damage, not only Taranto will help us, but Locri will also take action!” Kunogelata, who was familiar with the situation of the city-states in Magna Graecia, said, “Milord, we should organize our manpower now, and build the wall of the city first, and then try to form an alliance with Taranto at once!”

“We and Taranto are allies!” Said Amintas abruptly.

“That’s not the same, it was Amendolara who signed with Taranto, and now, Amendolara has become the Thurii-Amendolara Union.” Antonios explained it to him in a low voice.

Amintas scratched his head in embarrassment.

“Lord Kunogelata, you have reminded me that we indeed need the help of Taranto now!” In his mind, he didn’t think the assistance of Taranto was necessary, but they need to understand the attitude of Taranto. Because Amendolara, was originally just a humble ally of Taranto, but suddenly, it became a two city-state union, and its strength has increased rapidly. What would Taranto think? Kunogelata has reminded him! So Davos express his gratitude.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mariji and Ansitanos were then ordered to go to the Council of Taranto.

When the archon of Taranto and elders heard that Amendolara has defeated the army of Crotone, they still couldn’t believe it. Tens of thousands soldiers of Crotone were defeated and captured in one morning. This was not the fanatical, but undisciplined, ferocious, but couldn’t last long, Lucanians, but a real Greek citizen soldiers, and it is even the citizen soldier of Crotone who are known for their sports and strength. How could it not shock Taranto!

Chapter 147 – Renewing the Alliance

“It seems that Davos is indeed blessed by the gods, as he had created another miracle!” Archytas sighed, his eyes were sincere without a hint of jealousy, but more on curiosity, “I want to know how Davos manage to beat Crotone!”

Marigi briefly told them about the process of the battle, and he emphasized that it was a night attack, and that the Crotonians were too proud and unprepared. They not only did not build a camp with seriousness, but also were drunk, which have made their surprise attack easier.

However, the statesmen of Taranto were still shocked by the military talent of Davos. It was clear that the victory of the young Archon against the Lucanians was not a fluke, nor did he rely on the reinforcements that Taranto had sent.

The statesmen of Taranto became even more cautious to the envoys of Amendolara.

One of the Archon, Umacas, said, “Amendolaran, since you have already won, then what are you doing here in Taranto? Are you here to flaunt your achievements?”

“We, people of Amendolara, have always been filled with respect to Taranto that have saved us! So we never dare think to show off!” Marigi bowed to them to show his respect, and then said, “We are here because Thuriii, who have lost their home, and Amendolara have formed a Union. Therefore, it is necessary to revise our agreement with Taranto.”

“What do you mean?!!” There was an uproar in the Council, “The people of Thurii have formed a Union with you? What Union?”

“You sure that you, Amendolarans, have not taken the land of Thurii by force? Just like how your leader have taken over Amendolara!” Exclaimed one of the statesmen.

“I protest to what his lord has said!” Marigi shouted out angrily, “This is not only an insult to our Archon! But also an insult to Amendolara! I can’t believe that this came from Amendolara’s closest ally!”

“Lord Diaomilas, what you have said is not right! On the day of the ecclesia in Amendolara, I was there and witness it with my own eyes on how the people of Amendolara warmly invited the mercenaries to become their citizens!” Archytas stood up to defend Amendolara.

Despite the affirmation of Archytas, Diaomilas still strongly retorted, “If it wasn’t for the coercion of Amendolara, then why would Thurii choose to unite with the weak and poor Amendolara, rather than the rich and powerful Taranto?”

“Diaomilas is right. If it wasn’t for Amendolara’s threat, then Thurii would have chosen Taranto!” Many of them immediately agreed.

The people of Taranto think that they are the best! Marigi sneered in his heart, and immediately wanted to refute them, but he was held back by Ansitanos, who stood up and said, “Esteemed statesmen of Taranto. I am Ansitanos, I was originally a strategos of Thurii, and I have visited Taranto a lot of times in the past. Some of you should know me, such as lord Umacas and lord Disitimas…”

The statesman that he had named had to nod.

“As a citizen of Thurii, I swear to Apollo that Amendolara did not threaten Thurii with force! On the contrary, when the city of Thurii was occupied by Crotone, that it even made the people of Thurii thought that they had been abandoned by the gods and have even given up struggling. However, only the weak Amendolara is the only one that have not yielded to the powerful Crotone, and even though the powerful army of the enemy came to their border, they still adhered to their treaty with Thurii! When the city of Thurii was burned down, and we, the people of Thurii have lost our homes, and were threatened by wounds, disease and hunger, it was the people of Amendolara that have come in time to hep us selflessly! Seeing the atrocious crime of burning the city, that the Crotonians have committed, which is unheard of in the history of Greece, plundering all our things that we use to depend on in order to survive, without any punishment. When they left, no other city-state of Magna Graecia came out to uphold justice. Only the weak Amendolara had dared to fight against the powerful Crotone, the enemy of Thurii and avenged us!

What other city-states can do the things that Amendolara did to Thurii?! We, the people of Thurii, regard Amendolara as our hero that have saved us, and we even regarded them as a family. Therefore, from the bottom of our hearts, we are willing to share one Archon and a Senate with the people of Amendolara, and share the rights and obligations as its citizens. They are like a brother in a family, without making any distinction between us. Hence why it is a natural choice for us, the people of Thurii!…”

After listening to Ansitanos’ warm words, the Council of Taranto fell into silence, and some even felt ashamed.

After a while, the Archon, Umacas, said coldly, “Both Amendolara and Thurii have united, and their strength is greatly stronger than before, and the prestige of Amendolara alone can make the other city-states not dare invade them. It doesn’t seem to make sense for you to talk about alliance with Taranto.”

Marigi put on a sincere expression and said, “Before we came, Lord Davos had told me again and again that ‘Taranto is the great benefactor of Amendolara when we were in our most difficult situation! And if there would be any changes in Amendolara in the future, our gratitude to Taranto will never change. I hope to have a long-term alliance with Taranto and to always be friends. We hope to have the opportunity to repay this kindness in the future!’”

The council of Taranto became quiet again.

Another archon, Disitimas, stood up and said, “Now, let us have the two envoys from Amendolara and Thurii to leave for the time being while we discuss about the alliance.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Everyone, it is rumored that the Archon of Amendolara, Davos, is a very young man. Young men are always energetic and full of ambition. He was a mercenary leader more than half a year ago, and now he is the Archon for life of two city-states. With such a fast rate of promotion, he is very similar to that man in Syracuse, Sicily! Hence why I don’t trust him very much!” Diaomilas expressed his concern, “I am afraid that if we were to form an alliance with them today, then one day they will turn their spear against us, Taranto!”

The words of Diaomilas made the statesmen laugh, “Diaomilas, you are too timid! As for the three~four thousand citizens of Amendolara, as well as the thousands of citizens left in Thurii, I am afraid that they will only have less than ten thousand people, will Taranto be afraid of them?!! Are you really a man of Taranto?!”

“It is even a question whether Amendolara and Thurii can survive the wrath of Taranto*. Do they still have the time to think about other things?” (T/N: This should be Crotone)

In the laughter of the statesmen, Diaomilas sneered at them, “Everyone, when Thurii was founded, our ancestors in the Council of Taranto have also mocked them like what you are all doing today. What is the result? We were defeated twice by the people of Thurii! But it seems that we have not learned our lesson!”

After hearing the words of Diaomilas, some of them were thinking, while the others were not worried, and some have even rebuke him, “That Thurii had the strong support from Athens, otherwise, we would have been the final winner! The current Amendolara and Thurii are far from being compared with the old Thurii. Diaomilas, if Taranto even has to worry about this, then what are we still doing here? It would be better for us to immgrate as soon as possible!”

“I am just reminding everyone that Taranto needs to be vigilant against Amendolara! Amendolara has such an Archon with a shocking military talent, and now they have merged with Thurii. In the future, they may become a strong city-state in the northern part of Magna Graecia, and cause trouble to Taranto. In order to prevent such a situation to happen, we must not support them, but should deliberately limit their development!” Said Diaomilas patiently persuading them.

Archytas stood up immediately and said in a loud voice, “Since lord Diaomilas is afraid of Amendolara, then it stands to reason that we should make them our ally more, because their Archon has always kept his promise. Whether it was when he was still employed by Thurii, in where he had still led the mercenaries to stay and then turned defeat into victory, even though Thurii was miserably defeated and faced the danger of encirclement by the Lucanian alliance. When the army of Crotone reach their city, they still didn’t give up on their treaty with Thurii. All this shows that once the alliance with them is formed, Davos, as the archon for life, will not harm Taranto, but will even lend a helping hand when Taranto gets in trouble one day!”

Then, Disitimas said, “Archytas is right, statesmen, don’t forget who is the greatest threat to Taranto? It is not Amendolara, it is not Thurii, but the Messapians who surround Taranto! The Messapians are hard to deal with, and those damned Athenians have taught them the tactics of the hoplites and armor making. Now, it is more and more difficult to deal with them every year. How many people they have killed, and how many farmlands that they have destroyed every year! Our roots and temples are here, not in Amendolara, not in Thurii! We should know that Taranto has only one city, while the Messapians occupied most of Apulia. If they are allowed to grow in this way, we may lose all our lands outside the city and be trapped inside. This is the real reason why we advocate the establishment of the Magnra Graecia defensive alliance! So, isn’t it a good thing that Amendolara and Thurii united?!”

There was a long silence among the statesmen, and most of them became serious.

In the end, “The Taranto – Thurii-Amendolara alliance” proposal was passed. When the two sides concluded the treaty, although Taranto had promoted this new alliance as an ally with relatively equal strength, Thurii-Amendolara still proposed that Taranto should still be the leader in future joint military operations.

Marigi and Ansitanos did not raise any objection. Hence, the treaty was concluded.

Chapter 148 – The envoy of Crotone-Lysias

When the report of the defeat of their army reached Crotone, the whole city became alarmed.

The city hall urgently called for a meeting, and it became a heated debate.

On the one hand, Milo, the Polemarchos, denounced the despicableness of Amendolara (referring to their sneak attack) and the incompetence of Melanseus, and proposed to organized another army to attack Amendolara and restore the prestige of Crotone.

Lysias opposed Milo and thought that, it was because of his order to burn the city that have caused the uneasiness of the surrounding city-states, and made them hostile to Crotone. Now that Crotone has suffered a great defeat, he should not use any more swords to avoid being besieged by the city-states such as Locri, Taranto and Amendolara.

Both sides have their own supoorters, and neither could convince the other.

Half a day later, a news that the united Amendolara-Thurii* that had been deliberately spread had arrived. The Thua Union has captured more than five thousand men of Crotone, about a thousand men of Aprustum and Scylletium, about one thousand two hundred men of Krimisa and Roscianum, and more than a thousand freeman and slaves… (note: hereafter referred to as the Thua Union)

The grieving people of Crotone heard about it and gain hope. They gathered and went to the city hall to make the Council buy back their loved ones.

Then came another news, the Thua Union and Taranto have formed a military alliance.

Milo finally stopped clinging to his own ideas, and after discussing it, the Council have finally decided to send Lysias as an envoy to Thurii in order to buy back the Crotonian captives of the Thua Union. If necessary, an armistice agreement could be signed.

Lysias led the delegation to the north by boat, just in time to catch the wind. Half a day later, they arrived at the estuary of the river Crati. Here he saw an astonishing sight: Innumerable merchant ships were densely arranged in the estuary like a wooden wall. From time to time, there will be ships sailing out of the wooden wall, and new ships will come from every directions…

Wasn’t Thurii burned down? How can so many merchant ship come to tade? Lysias is full of doubt.

Soon, his doubts were answered, as a crude fishing boat came close, “Hello, have you come here to trade or something else?” Said a man in the bow.

After receiving the instructions of Lysias, the attendant then asked, “What do you do?”

“See the pattern on the sails?” The man pointed his hands up with a proud expression. A black hair and flame wrapped around the center of a cold, shining weapon – the symbol of Hades, the Bident, “You see, our Archon, Lord Davos, is a descendant of Hades! I am Seclian, and I am currently appointed by the commercial officer, Lord Mariji, responsible to navigate the ships in order to keep the water way clear. So you must first tell me what you are here for or I will have to ask you to leave so as not to block the ships that are behind you.”

Lysias hesitated for a moment, then he firmly made his decision, and called out to the other party, “We are the delegates from Crotone, that have specially came here to negotiate with the Thua Union!”

Instead of anger, insult and other extreme emotions, Seclian looked calm, he then nodded and said, “You, Crotonians sure are calm that you only manage to arrived here just now. While the delegates of Roscianum, Krimisa and Scylletium have arrived earlier!”

Lysias heart jolted, and his entourage asked him with curiousity, “Why are you not angry?”

“Should I be angry because you are Crotonians?” Shrugged Seclian, “You have burned Thurii, but I am not a citizen of Thurii. I am just a freeman. On the contrary, I am very grateful to you, Crotonians.”

Seclian gave a mysterious smile, and then said, “Let’s stop talking, and follow my boat, so that you won’t block the water way.”

Seclian’s fishing boat led Lysias into the river Crati and sailed upstream.

Looking at the estuary of the north bank, Lysias could see that several simple wooden docks had been built on the shore. Goods were constantly getting unloaded from the merchant’s ships, and the goods were then transported to the earthen enclosure not far from the dock by a cart. The location it was heading seemed to be the location of the old city of Sybaris.

Lysias frowned. Initially, Crotone had sent an envoy to question why Thurii had violated their agreement, which was all agreed by the members of the Council. However, Lysias was opposed in sending troops to attack Thurii and avenge the envoy. By accepting the apology of Thurii and getting more compensation, means that they already achieved their goal, so there is no need to send troops to war. It is not only a waste of money, but also, he is afraid that there will be an accident. And now, after the defeat of Crotone, Thurii finally no longer cares about the attitude of Crotone and began to take advantage of the old city of Sybaris.

“You still haven’t said why you should thank Crotone.” One of the envoy asked with curiousity.

Seclian said in a loud voice from the fishing boat, “Isn’t it already obvious?! If it had not been for you, Crotone, who had burned down Thurii, there would have been no Thua Union, and Davos would not become our Archon. He is a descendant of Hades, and even though his status is noble, he is still very concerned about the ordinary people. He also doesn’t discriminate against freeman and slaves, and he is very friendly, just like an ordinary citizen! Have you ever heard of 《Amendolara’s Immigration Law》 that Lord Davos have proposed and made into law? Oh wait, it should now be called 《Thua Immigration Law》.”

The Crotonians shook their heads.

With an expression saying “such ignorance”, Seclian said aloud the main content of the immigration law, and then excitedly said, “Lord Davos has said that this law will be implemented when the city of Thurii’s first phase is completed. All the freeman who wants to become a citizen of Thurii and have perform well, can apply to the census officer. And if they manage to become a preparatory citizens, then they will be able to join the army and fight, then receive a share of land! Now my companions are working so hard, hoping to finish building Thurii tomorrow. Maybe the next time you come here, I would already then be an official citizen!”

Seeing Seclian’s intoxicated appearance, some people can’t help but refute, “I have never heard of any city-state that allows outsiders to become a citizen so easily. Maybe this immigration law is a scheme, in order to make you work harder for them!”

“Shut your mouth. Don’t spout nonsense!” Seclian was furious, “How could Lord Davos, standing in front of all freeman and slaves, declare this law as not real! Who is lord Davos?! In the face of Thurii’s threat, he would rather break off diplomatic ties and pay for the promised freedom of the slaves that have fled! In the face of your, the army of Crotone, he would rather fight with you than break off all relations with the conquered Thurii! Lord Davos has proven that he is a man who keeps his promise, and so I believe what he says, and all of us believe it! If it wasn’t for you coming here to negotiate, I would have already sent you below the river to feed the fishes!!”

The Crotonians turned red, and couldn’t stop themselves from cursing him out. Lysias then stopped the impulse of his entourage.

Seclian watched  the movement of the ship in the rear coldly. Seeing that the situation have soon calmed down, he was a bit disappointed. And so, he deliberately spat out his sputom towards the river in his back, and then ignored them.

Lysias was lost in his thoughts: As far as he knows, the number of citizens in Thurii may not exceed three thousand, while that of Amendolara is estimated to be only four thousand at most. Crotone alone has more than thirty thousand citizens in its city, and they also have their affiliated city-state, Aprustum, allied city-states such as Scylletium, Caulonia and so on. But if the Thua Union can make use of the tens of thousands of freeman and slaves here, then they really need to pay them attention. It’s just that, by hurrying to make the outsiders from all over the places to become citizens of the city-state, can their loyalty to the city-state be compared with that of the native people who have been citizens of the city for generations?

Lysias was skeptical.

Looking at the river, he saw that many fishing boats with a Bident symbol on their sails came and went…

And now, a tall city-wall appeared on the banks of the river, Lysias knew that they are approaching the city of Thurii, and he looked at the two towers on the city wall. In the past, there was an iron chain connecting the two towers that are facing each other, which was quite spectacular. But when an enemy ships attack, the iron chain would then be drop down to prevent the enemy from entering the city through the water. As a result, Melanseus had used the traitors to directly attack the southern town, making the chain ineffective, and now it is already gone, it must have been cut off by Melanseus…when he thinks of Melanseus, although the relationship between Lysias and Melanseus is not very good, and even their ruling philosophy are completely opposite, he still can’t help but feel sad after hearing about his tragic end (when he was killed by the people of Thurii, his body is too bloody and you can’t even identify it as a human).

The fishing boat of Seclian landed at the dock in the city of Thurii. He then got out of the boat and ran to report to a group of soldiers that are stationed at the dock.

A group of soldiers, led by their captain, soon approach them.

The Crotonians soon noticed that even within the city, the soldiers still maintained a complete formation.

“Strategos, we should get off the ship.” His entourage reminded Lysias who was still lost in his thoughts.

Lysias, who had regain his senses, looked around. He had been to Thurii several times, and at that time, there were more than a dozen docks in the port of Thurii, which were made of stone and wood. In the port area, there were hundreds of ships dock in it, and rows after rows of warehouses, inns, and residence. But now, there are only a few stone docks that are far away at each other, all of which are burnt black. Of course, all of these are the masterpiece of Crotone!

Lysias got off the ship with a calm expression on his face. The same group of soldiers then calmly examined them and confirmed that they were indeed the envoys of Crotone. Immediately, one of the soldiers rode to report it to the Senate, while the delegates continued to wait.

Seclian returned to his fishing boat and was dazed by the imposing look of the patrol captain. He was in a daze, until his companion came to remind him, “Seclian, it’s time for us to leave the dock!”

Chapter 149 – Reconstruction of Thurii

“I will be like him in the future!” Seclian said it out confidently, full of hope for the future, “Untie the rope, let’s go to the estuary of the sea!”

Lysias also looked at the patrol captain in front of him, and asked, “Are you a citizen of Amendolara?”

The patrol captain looked at him and said, “No, we are citizens of the Thua Union!”

“Apologies.” Lysias then asked him politely, “I would like to ask what is the situation of the soldiers of Crotone who you have captured.”

“I can’t tell you where they are being held, because it is a military secret!” The patrol captain said seriously, “But I can tell you that they are in good condition now, and even Lord Davos had let the hospital treat the wounded soldiers, but if your negotiations fail, then their situation might turn bad. I heard that the statesmen of Thurii, had strongly suggested that they should be sent to the mine!”

Lysias was surprised. Letting the captives go mining will have them absolutely die! He remembered that after the Athenian army failed to attack Syracuse, about five thousand ~ six thousand men were captured and they were then sent to mine in the quarry. In just a few years, almost all of them have died! This made him a bit nervous.

After a while, a soldier came back and whispered into the ears of the patrol captain, “Lead them using the farthest route.”

And so the patrol captain immediately nodded and said to the delegates of Crotone, “The Senate has agreed to meet you. Let’s go.”

After the group passed through the ruins of the port and entered the city, the delegates of Crotone could not believe what they see. Compared with the very cold port just now, this place is filled with people and noise, both men and women, old and young, are busy. Some are cleaning up the ashes and carrying stones and debris. Some have already started to tamp on the land again, and pile the ground according to the instructions of the craftsmen. Then, more and more people build wooden frames, putting stones and bricks around the wall. Bricks, mortar and wood…?? The whole main city of Thurii has become a large construction site, where people sweat and enthusiastically rebuild their homes. They are so focused in what they are doing that when the delegates of Crotone passed by, almost no one looked up.

Although thousands of people were working at the same time, the noise was not chaotic, but are well organized. Lysias noticed that some people with red ropes on their heads played an important role in it. They directed and coordinated the operation on the construction site. And the real master was a gaunt old man. He kept on patrolling the place, and when he found a problem, he would stopped and check the drawing. Then he will talk to the people around him, and someone will then rushed to correct it.

“Who is he?” Some of the delegates of Crotone asked curiously.

“Heracleides, the disciple of the Greek architect, Hippodamus.” Replied by the patrol captain.

Heracleides was originally going to continue to direct the construction of the road from Amendolara to Thurii after finishing the construction of the warehouses and inns in Amendolara. However, after he heard that the Senate was going to rebuild Thurii, he immediately volunteered to design and preside over the reconstruction work of Thurii.

Davos readily agreed, and put forward some of his own requirements for the construction of the new Thurii.

Heracleides have a complex feelings about this city, which has recorded his glory and where he had lived for 20 years. He is so familiar with it that he can walk around the city smoothly even with his eyes closed. He can count the height of the terrain and the curvature of the river bank in every place…he poured all of his emotions into his pen and finished the design drawings of the new city of Thurii overnight.

Davos looked at it with great admiration. After that, Heracleides spent every day on the construction site, full of energy and meticulous supervision of the operation of the reconstruction work. His enthusiasm for the work has also infected the people who were rebuilding their homes for themselves, and so, the reconstruction progress was sped up.

And the delegates of Crotone certainly did not know the extent on how much the people of Thurii respected this gaunt old man, nor remembered who Hippodamus was. And so, they only responded politely, then they turned their attention to other places.

Lysias asked, seemingly unintentionally, “I am afraid that there must be more than 10,000 people working here? There should not be so many people in Thurii left. Could it be that the people of Amendolara are among them?”

“We do indeed have some people of Amendolara, but most of them are freeman and slaves.” The captain looked at Lysias, as if he knew what he was thinking, and said without any concealment, “You must be wondering why these freeman and slaves are working so hard? It is not only because they may become citizens of the city in the future, but also because the Archon, Lord Davos, has passed a temporary decree in the senate that ‘the widowed women of Thurii are allowed to marry a freeman, but they must be willing to marry them.’”

“What?!” Lysias was astonished.

“Crotonians, you should know that the citizens of Thurii that died were not only those who you have slaughtered after your occupation of Thurii. More than 10,000 citizens have died in the prior war with Lucania, almost all of them have wives that have become widowed. And I heard that Thurii was going to issue a decree in allowing citizens to marry more than one wife. This shows how much Thurii are short in men.” The captain showed a faint smile, “Now, these freeman are working hard in order to show their performance in front of the women of Thurii, who were busy rebuilding their homes, and earn their favor. You should know that once they succeed, they will not only get a wife, but also become a preparatory citizen of Thurii immediately and also get a house. Although they won’t get a share of land, but these won’t be a problem. These guys are really too lucky to have so many educated and beautiful women of Thurii to choose from, like us back in Amendolara-”

“Captain, don’t complain. Your wife is a famous beauty of Amendolara and is also a Persian beauty. Don’t you know how much the other citizens envy you?!” One of the soldiers couldn’t stop himself from saying it.

“Ha! Ha! Ha!…” The captain laughed brazenly, “Of course! Of course! My wife is the most beautiful woman in all Amendolara besides the wife of the Archon! Beautiful and cultured! And I was complaining for you sake for not catching up with the times!”

“My Lucanian wife is very good! Not only is she enthusiastic and tall, but also big here…” A soldier patted himself on the chest and said intoxicatedly, “Greek women can’t even compare!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

A group of soldiers began to argue about which woman was the most beautiful. The more they say, the more vulgar it became, but Lysias was not interested in listening to it.

These decrees issued by the Thua Union is a total deviant for the conservative Greek nobleman like Lysias. And it is totally impossible for Crotone, a city-state that has been built for a hundred of years and whose clan and phraties were already firm. But he had to admit, for the people of Thurii who had lost their homes and have lost a lot of their elite citizens, this is a good way for them to boost the strength of the city-state quickly. However, Thurii, who can quickly recover their strength and once again prosper, is not what Lysias would like to see, because they are the mortal enemy of Crotone!

Lysias thought of this and went out of the city together with the team. On their way to the camp, they “just in time” saw a dozen of group of soldiers training. They seemed to be playing a game with about fifty people on each side(it is actually a platoon). They use a long wooden rod wrapped with coarse cloth on the head and use it as a spear, and a crude board is used as a round shield. The two sides will charge and stab at each other as if they are in a real battle, until one side manage to draw a white lime powder on the other side, the game won’t be over. The losing soldier will then squat down and put his hands behind his back jump around the field (frog jumping) as punishment.

You can see that this game stimulates actual combat and it is quite hot and fierce. Lysias saw it with his own eyes on how several soldiers that got stabbed and directly went off to receive treatment. However, the enthusiasm of the soldiers did not diminished. They kept on clapping and cheering, wanting to join. The bloodlust and fighting desire of the soldiers were evident.

Some of the delegates asked curiously, “Do you usually train like this?”

The patrol captain chuckled, “We practice every five days, and there are a lot of training courses from morning to evening in each training session. This is just one of the less intense training course.”

The delegates of Crotone looked at each other. It was obvious that the intensity of the Thua Union’s military training is significantly higher than that of Crotone’s soldiers who had spent most of their time in the Amphitheatre.

Lysias did not fully believed the words of the captain, but he can also see from this that the soldiers of Amendolara are trained strictly and are experienced in the battlefield. Otherwise, it would not be possible for them to defeat the army of Crotone so easily, even if it is a sneak attack.

After entering the camp, they were then led to a big tent in the center. The patrol captain went inside and reported that Lysias and his entourage are waiting outside the tent.

Then, a man came outside the tent, and Lysias looked at him and felt that he looks familiar, but he couldn’t remember who this guy was for a moment.

The man did not expect to meet Lysias at this time, and so he was taken aback, then he calmed down. He smiled at Lysias and immediately turned away.

Lysias gazed at him, trying to remember who he was.

“His lord Archon has asked you to get inside!” The voice of the patrol captain sounded from behind.

So Lysias immediately returned from his thoughts, then opened the tent and went inside.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The patrol captain then took the soldiers out of the camp, and his serious expression immediately turned into a smile, “Brothers, how was my performance just now?”

“Captain Olivos, you did great! You are very serious, like you were a completely different person!” One soldier praised.

“I don’t think it became better. There’s a joke about women in the middle of the conversation, which showed too much of his identity!” Another soldier had raised his own objection.

“What?!” Olivos looked at him with contempt and discontentedly said, “Xenotemas, you are not serious in carrying out your mission today, so you must accept your punishment!”

Chapter 150 – Armistice Agreement and the Alliance of Thua Union

“No way…captain, you…you are taking this opportunity to retaliate.” Cried Xenotemas.

Olivos laughed and said, “Brothers, let’s go back and continue patrolling the city, and teach the freeman who fought at each other for the women.”

“Yes, Captain!” A group of soldiers were laughing as they walk towards the city of Thurii.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

There was a long wooden table inside the tent, and there were several people sitting and in the middle was a young man. Lysias heard that Davos, the Archon of Amendolara, was very young and it is obviously him. Next to him was a bearded man who he happened to know, Kunogelata, the Polemarchos of the former Thurii, and the other person doesn’t look like a Greek.

Kunogelata had of course, recognized Lysias and whispered to Davos. Davos then looked at Lysias as he listened to Kunogelata. This middle-aged man from Crotone is slender and handsome, with a well trimmed beard. According to Kunogelata, he is the leader of Crotone’s conservatives, and even though the conservatives of Crotone has been declining, he still manage to get elected as a strategos by the citizens for ten consecutive years.

Lysias stepped forward and then said, “I am Lysias, who had come to Thurii on behalf of Crotone…to negotiate with the Thua Union!”

“Welcome, strategos Lysias.” Davos stretched out his right hand and motioned him to sit on the opposite side of the wooden table, then looked at him calmly and said, “We are recently busy in rebuilding the city of Thurii, and we also have to meet the delegates of the other city-states. The time is very tight, so you can just immediately tell us what you want in coming here.”

Lysias didn’t expect that Davos would be so direct. He coughed a few times to cover up his surprise, and then said, “In that case, I would like to say our, Crotone’s request. We hope that the Thua Union will release all the Crotonian captives and her allies, then Crotone will cease war with the Thua Union in order to achieve peace!”

“Hahaha…” Davos looked at him and laughed, “The Crotonians have killed our citizens, destroyed our city-state, and looted our wealth. You just said, ‘we will have a truce’ and so we would unconditionally release the culprits who caused this disaster? Are you naive or just shameless?”

Lysias, with a calm expression, said, “Lord Davos, don’t forget, that this war was not initiated by Crotone.”

“Hmph, I don’t want to argue with you about who is right and who is wrong. Please go back.” Davos just straightforwardly wave of his hand.

Lysias was taken aback. After just saying a couple of words, he no longer wants to talk about it. The approach of Davos of not following the diplomatic manner had aroused his anger, “Your lordship, are you not afraid to once more fight Crotone! We can organize another army thirty thousand strong at any time, and we will not make the same mistake that we had made before!”

On hearing Lysias threat, Davos only replied, “Speaking of it, we are not afraid of war! The Union will also not make the same mistakes that Thurii had done before! We will also kill all the captives and sacrifice their blood to the gods. Then we will defend the city wall so that you Crotonians will use human life to fill every step forward! The people of Thua Union are not afraid of Death and will never surrender, even if the young, the old, and the women die! If Thurii falls, then we will just go back to Amendolara! If Amendolara falls, then we will just go to Heraclea! As long as the enemy still tramples on our territory, we will continue fighting them till the end!”

After hearing what Davos has said, Kunogelata, who was originally averse to war, was also enthusiastic, and so he blurted out, “Yes, this is our, Thua Union’s conduct in the face of aggression!”

Lysias was shocked by the morale of the other side. He clearly felt that this newly established Union was not only weaker than the old Thurii, but also more militant. It is not a good choice to start a war with the Thua Union!

He was about to say a few words to ease the mood, but Davos said aloud, “Kunogelata, go and call back the envoy of Locri who had just left. We need to have a good discussion with him regarding the alliance terms that he had just proposed!”

The envoy of Locri! Lysias’ heart leaped wildly, and he suddenly remember that the man who he thought looks familiar just now was Metelofes of Locri. Even though he went to Crotone in order to negotiate twice, he still didn’t manage to remember him.

“Milord Archon, tell me what you want.” Lysias had to give in first.

Davos stopped Kunogelata, who had just stood up, and said, “Wait.”

Marigi straightened himself up and said in a loud voice, “What our, Thua Union demand is,

First, because Crotone had burned down the city of Thurii, which had caused the people of Thurii to lost their homes. In order to compensate for their loss and to rebuild the city, Crotone needs to compensate the Thua Union with two thousand Tarants.

Secondly, if Crotone wants to buy back your soldiers, then you will need to pay 500 drachmas for each soldiers. At the same time, as the culprits of burning the city, these captured soldiers must work in Thurii for a year to absolve their sins.

Thirdly, Crotone must allow Krimisa, Roscianum and Thua Union to become allies.

Fourth, the peace treaty between the Thua Union and Crotone will last for five years, during which, the two sides will have mutual non-aggression。”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After hearing this, Lysias shook his head again and again, “Your demands are too high for Crotone to agree.”

And so, a long negotiation began.

And so Davos handed this difficult task to Marigi. Afterwards, he went to another tent not far away.

Here, Davos went to with Amikles of Roscianum.

As the polemarchos of the city of Roscianum, the fact that he was able to come to Thurii in person has showed his attitude. As soon as he saw Davos, he began to flatter him and said, “I have long heard that the Archon of Amendolara is a hero who is favored by Hades. Seeing you today, made me realize that you are indeed different from ordinary people!”

Davos said with a smile, “What is the matter that it even made lord Amikles to come to Thurii?”

Amikles did not answer directly and emotionally said, “Lord Davos, in fact, the three city-states of Thurii, Amendolara and Roscianum have a common origins. We are all the children of Sybaris (there were also some people who were descendants of Sybarites when Thurii was founded, which can be barely counted). We all have come from the same place! Back when Sybaris was strong, Roscianum had contacts with Amendolara. How peaceful and tranquil it was back then! Unfortunately, after the fall of Sybaris, Roscianum had been forced to join the alliance of Crotone and was then bullied. Fortunately, Roscianum manage to become independent with the establishment of Thurii, and have enjoyed nearly 40 years of peaceful life!”

“Roscianum is now sandwiched between the Thua Union and Crotone, so it is hard for you to stay neutral!” Davos interrupted him and said seriously, “Since Roscianum has a lot of connections with Thurii and Amendolara, why don’t you join us again! Crotone and us, are currently in negotiations, and if an agreement is reached, Crotone will not interfere with Roscianum’s choice. As long as Roscianum become allies with the Thua Union, we will unconditionally release the Roscianum captives. And as an ally of Thua Union, we will not interfere in the internal matters of Roscianum, and we also do not need you to pay tribute and we only need you to agree to two conditions.”

“What are your conditions?” Amikles eagerly asked, he is obviously a little bit excited.

There was a smile in the corner of Davos’ lips, “First, after the alliance is formed, Roscianum should not form any agreements and alliance with other city-states and forces. Second, when the Thua Union goes out for battle, the city of Roscianum must send troops to participate, and the strategos of Thua Union will command the whole army. The spoils obtained after the victory will be distributed according to the proportion of troops sent by both sides.”

After carefully considering these two conditions and the benefits of joining the alliance, Amikles’ eyes gradually brightened…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After more than a day of negotiations, the armistice agreement between Crotone and the Thua Union was finally established.

First, Crotone will make a one-time compensation of thirty tarants to the Thua Union. (the reason for the big difference from the price that Marigi have set first, is because Crotone only suffered a slight set back, and in addition to this war, their previous war with the Bruttis, this two successive wars have greatly consumed the treasury of Crotone. If the price is too high, the agreement would not be reached.)

Secondly, the price for each captured soldiers are 200 drachmas, and they have to work in the territory of the Thua Union for half a year. The Thua Union also needs to ensure the safety and health of each captives and allow their family members to visit. (Taking into account the captured soldiers of Aprustum, Scylletium, there are about 6,000 captives of Crotone and his allies in the Thua Union. And each soldiers is equivalent to the price of four cattle. The price is neither too high nor too law, and if all the soldiers are bought back, this alone will bring 200 Tarants to the Thua Union. Moreover, the Thua Union will only need to provide basic food and accommodation for these captives. And in order for them to eat and dress well, they will have to rely on Crotone and his allies to find a way. In fact, the captive’s food were provided by their families. And the Thua Union will have 6,000 people as free labor for half a year. The families of these soldiers had also brought extra income to the city of Thurii with them buying food and needing accommodation.)

Lysias was firmly opposed regarding the need for them to serve, but Marigi was also extremely persistent and have even frankly said, “We are afraid that after these captives return, Crotone will immediately arm them again and once more attack Thurii.” In the end, the two sides reached a compromised, and Lysias, who was not at ease, had specially added a clause in the agreement, “You are not allowed to make the captives mine!”)

Chapter 151 – Pregnancy

Third, Crotone must not interfere in Roscianum’s joining the alliance with Thua Union, however, Krimisa must remain neutral. (After all, Krimisa is very close to Crotone, and them joining the alliance with Thua Union will be like a sharp knife against Crotone’s abdomen. So Lysias, will of course, not agree with this, and Marigi didn’t insist on it, because the Thua Union doesn’t even have the strength to help Krimisa defend against the attack of the enemy. Therefore, Davos has decided that the Krimisian captives will be the same as that of Crotone. Six months later, they will then be released, and the envoy of Krimisa is very grateful, and promised that, “We won’t be enemy with Thua Union!”)

Fourth, the Thua Union must not form an alliance with Locri, nor sign any agreement that is against Crotone. (Lysias strongly insist this, and Marigi pretended to be in a dilemma. But in fact, Davos had already told him in private, “We currently do not have any plan to form an alliance with Locri, in order to not provoke Crotone and having the negotiations break down.” Marigi used this as a bargaining chip in order to force Lysias to make some concessions in other aspects.)

Fifth, from the date of signing the agreement, Crotone and Thua Union will maintain the armistice for three years, and will renew the agreement according to the situation after the agreement expires.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The delegates of Crotone returned to their home city-state with the preliminary agreement. After the confirmation of the Council, they once again went to the city of Thurii.

When they returned to Thurii, the attentive Lysias noticed that the smoke and burn marks in the walls of Thurii is no longer there, and the collapsed areas were filled with newly built stone bricks and mortar, which looked like it is new from a distance. He was shocked by the labor’s high efficiency and the enthusiasm of the people of Thurii. In fact, in his heart, he did not want to have any conflict with the Thua Union, but when he left, Milo had repeatedly reminded him, ‘Even if an armistice agreement is to be sign, it should not exceed two years.’

Lysias understand that most of the strategoi of Crotone and its Council members, headed by Milo, does not accept their defeat this time, and they are ready to take revenge in the future! Crotone is famous for its sports competition in Greece, and the personality of its people is also characterize with unyielding sportsmanship, which is somewhat similar to that of the Amendolarans in the Thua Union, who he had been in contact with for more than two days.

With a sigh, Lysias and his party entered the camp on Thurii again.

Apart from changing the duration to “two years”, there were no other major changes in the other contents of the armistice agreement. The two sides offered a sacrifice to Apollo, and chanted the names of the gods and pledge that “Crotone and Thua Union will never violate the armistice agreement”, then they signed their respective city-states’ name and their own sacred vows. (Why to Apollo? Because Crotone and the former Thurii worshipped Apollo as their city’s patron god, so that both sides could abide by the agreement.)

After completing the agreement, Lysias was eager to return, and Davos and the others would not detain him. Before sending Lysias to embark on the ship, Davos said with sincerity, “I hope that Crotone and Thua Union will never go to war again!”

The sharp gaze of Davos made Lysias felt that the scheme of Milo had already been seen through by this young archon, and he immediately said, “Apollo sees from above, and this is also my sincere wish!”

Staring at the bow of the ship, and the still noisy construction site on the city of Thurii, and looking at the merchant ships that were passing by at the estuary of the sea, Lysias left Thurii with full of worry…

Davos and his entourage were at the dock and were watching the ship of Crotone depart.

Cornelius then said, “Now we are safe!”

“Yes, we are temporarily safe! But I am afraid that Crotone will come attack us in two years!” Said Kunogelata calmly.

“That’s right. Otherwise, they would not specifically ask for a shorter armistice period. Therefore, we must make full use of these two years to make the Thua Union stronger as soon as possible, so that any forces that covet us will not dare invade!” Davos encouraged everyone.

“Yes!” It aroused everyone’s spirit.

“Lord Davos, let’s look at the compensation in the armistice agreement-” Marigi immediately wanted to request it.

But Davos interrupted him and said, “All of these will go to the treasury and will be in the custody of Mersis.”

Mersis’ eyes brightened up.

“It’s use will be planned, managed and disbursed by the Redevelopment Council, and, also the previously seized supplies will be used entirely for the daily expenses of the people of the city’s reconstruction and public construction. Any department that needs allowance must submit an application to the Redevelopment Council for approval before they can get the funding, and the financial officer will be the one responsible for its supervision!”

When Davos finished speaking, Mersis winked at Marigi, and Marigi looked away in anger and didn’t want to look at him.

“In addition, on the first day of each month, Mersis, you must give a detailed report on the collection and expenditure of the treasury at the meeting, If there is a mistake, you will need to take full responsibility!” Said Davos sternly.

“Yes.” Mersis answered weakly.

“Asistes, go and tell the captives about the agreement. If the Crotonians doesn’t want them to mine, then we will have them build roads. We will build a road connecting Heraclea, Amendolara, Thurii and Roscianum, and have the son of Heracleides…”

“Heracleides the Younger.”

“Yes, him. To lead the whole road project, and have him take a group of craftsmen to supervise and manage the project according to the previous drawing plan.”

“Understood, Lord Archon.” Alexius, the aedile, responded.

“I can understand the reason of building a road connecting Heraclea, Amendolara and Thurii. But why Roscianum as well? Since Crotone will likely launch an attack in two years’ time, and it is impossible for Roscianum to stop them, then won’t it make more convenient for the enemy to march after the road is built?” Ansitanos asked with doubt. The other statesmen of Thurii also showed concern.

So Davos explained with seriousness, “If we build a road leading to Roscianum, then we will have more frequent exchange and trade with Roscianum, and be more closely connected, which will make Roscianum be more inseparable from us. And with this road, our troops and supplies can reach Roscianum faster. Roscianum is also our ally now, so we have the responsibility to maintain their security, and in the future, Roscianum will be our vanguard to defend against the enemy from the south. Of course, building the road will also make it easier for the enemy to get to us, and so, we must do our best to keep the enemy out of our territory so that they can’t use our road.”

Ansitanos and Kunogelata were absorb in their thoughts, some were motivated by it, while the others were skeptical…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After a busy day and returning to his tent late at night, Davos found someone waiting for him inside the tent.

“Andrea, why are you here? What happened to Cheristoya?!” Asked Davos impatiently.

Andrea bowed respectfully, “Milord Archon, because Madam knows how busy you are in the reconstruction of the city of Thurii, so she does not want to disturb your work, but I think that I should tell you about it.”

“What’s the matter?!” Asked Davos urgingly.

“A few days ago, Madam has vomited and couldn’t eat anything, and so I wondered if she is pregnant. And so, I asked Lord Herpus to examine her, and she is indeed pregnant.” As soon as Andrea finished speaking, Davos became surprised and asked once more, “Cheristoya is really pregnant?!”

“Yes, Milord.”

“Great! Great!…” Davos hugged Andrea with excitement, then spin her around several times, ignoring the shyness of Andrea.

He then shouted out loudly, “Martius! Martius!”

“What’s the matter, Milord?” Martius came inside.

“Go fetch my horse, I want to go back to Amendolara!” Said Davos impatiently.

“Milord, it is already too late, and the road is not safe, so you should return tomorrow.” Said Martius.

“I can’t wait that long! Cheristoya is pregnant! And I am going to be a father for the first time, so I need to go back to see her right now!!” Said Davos firmly and excitedly.

“Congratulations Milord! This is the blessing of Hera! In that case, we will escort you back.” Said Martius, who was also happy.

“Great!”

A group of people galloped out of the camp, and the rapid sound of the horses’ hooves awakened many people in the camp, “Who is riding in the camp so late? This is against the rule!”

“I heard that the wife of the Archon is pregnant, and so, he is going back home!”

“Really?! Then this is really a happy event!!”

Late at night, the originally quiet camp became lively with cheering.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos came home in a hurry and run upstairs, then he saw a small head poking out of the door, looking out warily.

“Cynthia!” He picked up his little daughter and gave her a kiss, “It’s already so late, why haven’t you gone to bed? Do you want to get spank?!”

“I woke up because of you.” Cynthia wiped the saliva from her face with her little hand, and complained with her mouth pouting.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Davos patter her on the head with a smile, and then said, “Where is your brother?”

“Sleeping inside.”

“What about your Mom?”

Cynthia hesitated and pointed to the master bedroom.

Davos put her down and patted her on the bottom, “Go to bed then.” With that, he then strode to the master bedroom.

Cheiristoya was looking at the account book under the oil lamp, when she heard the sound of footsteps, she turned her head and looked, and was surprised, “How come you are back?”

“If I didn’t come back, you would have kept it a secret from me, right?” Said Davos, pretending to be angry. He then sat down next to Cheiristoya, put his arm around her, and patted her plump hips twice with his other hand, “How dare you not tell me that we will have a child?!”

“You already know about it?” Cheiristoya then put her arms around Davos’ neck, “Did Andrea tell you about it?”

“Fortunately she told me about it in time!” Davos then pointed to the thick account book on the table, then scolded her, “You aren’t taking good care of your body and our child! From now on, Andrea and the others will take care of these things, and you need to take good care of yourself at home and let our child grow up healthily!”

Chapter 152 – The War Preparation of Syracuse and the Trade Revival of Thua Union

Davos gently stroked the smooth, but not yet swollen stomach of Cheiristoya, and said, “Until our child is born smoothly. Do you understand!”

Despite Davos’ domineering tone, Cheiristoya still enjoyed his stern attitude. She then put her head on his chest and softly replied, “I understand…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos then gently moved the sleeping Cheiristoya away, then got out of the bed carefully, and crept to the wing room. Then he fumbled to light the oil lamp in front of the niche beside the window. The flashing light illuminated the bronze statue of Hera, who was twisting her garment and smiling.

For the very first time, Davos knelt down and prayed devoutly with tears in his eyes. However, what he said was not a prayer to Hera, “Dear Mom and Dad, do you know? Your son has finally has a child of his own in this world. I hope that you can bless him to come to this world smoothly, grow up healthily, continue my bloodline and inherit my position…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the palace on the island of Ortygia, Dionysius was discussing important matters with Philistus and Leptines. Then, his chief intelligence officer, Hipparinus, came up to him and handed him a copy of the intelligence.

Dionysius then looked at it, but he couldn’t believe what he had read, “Is this real?!”

“When did the intelligence that I have confirmed ever be wrong!” Said Hipparinus coldly.

Dionysius didn’t care about the attitude of Hipparinus. After all, Hipparinus was his father-in-law and one of his colleagues who had firmly supported him in the process of gaining power over Syracuse. Dionysius then exclaimed, “It’s unbelievable that the young mercenary leader has manage to win again! And this time, he defeated Crotone, who had given the Locri headaches!”

“It’s just a sneak attack.” After reading the information from his brother, Leptines obviously didn’t appreciate the way Davos won.

“Brother, you have to understand, whether it is a sneak attack or a frontal clash, as long as you win, it is praiseworthy! And he was able to win against enemy with more number than his, twice in a row. It seems that this man is indeed a powerful strategos!” Said Dionysius seriously, and he suddenly sighed, “Davos…Davos…what a pity…unfortunately…”

“Milord, do you still want to recruit him?” Asked Philistus.

Dionysius shook his head, “He is obviously not satisfied with just being a mercenary leader. He had already manage to successfully become an Archon for life of Amendolara before, and now, after defeating Crotone, I am afraid that he is thinking about how to bring Thurii under his control…this young man is not simple, and I had previously underestimated him. It seems that we should pay more attention to him in the future!” Said Dionysius seriously.

“Got it.” Replied Hipparinus.

Dionysius sighed in his heart when he saw Leptines with a look of disapproval. His brother is loyal and diligent, but his scheming is not good. However, because of this, he could entrust important mission to him, not to those who have different intentions. The lesson of his father-in-law, Hermocrates*, must be kept in his mind! (Note: Hermocrates is the former father-in-law of Dionysius, the leader of Syracuse, and the hero who had defeated the invasion of Athens. The democrats of Syracuse were worried about his dictatorship and so, they incited the people to expel him. After he was expelled, he led the Sicilian people to resist the attack of Carthage. Finally, the democrats of Syracuse were extremely afraid of his brilliance and schemed him to return to Syracuse and killed him.)

“By the way, how is Herolis now?” Dionysius thought of the man who he had set aside.

“He has been quiet for the past few months.” Said Hipparinus.

And so, Dionysius then said to Philistus, “Herolis has been resting long enough. Phili, go and get him back and have him help you to prepare for this war.”

“Roger!” Philistus looked joyful.

Dionysius looked at Philistus and Hipparinus, and thought of Herolis, who was currently far away in Egypt. It was these people who had firmly supported himself in his most difficult times! Herolis should still be loyal to himself. This time, it was just a small warning to him, so that he would watch out what he says in the future.

After telling Philistus about what he should do, Dionysius was much more relaxed. He then turned his attention to his main concern, “How is the migration of the people of Leontinoi to Syracuse going on?”

“They have been resettled, and are busy adapting to the new environment, and their conduct is currently stable.” Answered Philistus.

“That’s good.” Dionysius then turned to Leptines and said, “How is the work of the craftsmen going?”

“They are done!” Leptines was waiting for his brother to ask about it, then he said excitedly, “It’s power is so great! It’s the weapon of the god of war! It can shoot 6 kilo-grams of stones a hundred meters away, and an average city wall that is hit by it for more than ten times, will certainly collapse!”

“Good! You go and reward those craftsmen for me, and let them make more of this thing, but you must pay attention to secrecy. If anyone divulges it, I will have his entire family killed!” Said Dionysius grimly, “Next year, I will surprise those Carthaginian!”

“Why don’t we attack now?” Said Leptines, then added, “We have conquered the Greek city-states in the eastern part of Sicily outside of Messana, and we have a huge number of troops and these powerful siege weapons. The cities of Carthage in the west of Sicily won’t be able to resist our attack.”

“We must be careful in dealing with Carthage, because they can bring thousands of soldiers from Africa at any time, and so, we must be very sure before we go to war!” Said Dionysius.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

During this period, Kunogelata had been very busy with the reconstruction of Thurii. He slept in the camp every night and seldom takes a trip back to Amendolara.

Just after dinner, his eldest son, Sostratus, heard the news about his return. He called out with a smile on his face, “Father, you are back!”

“Yea.” Kunogelata then snorted, “I heard that you have been wandering outside all this time, and have not participated in the reconstruction of Thurii. Are you still a citizen of Thua Union?!”

“It is already good that I didn’t cheered when Thurii was destroyed. It’s impossible for me to work with those murderers that have killed my brother and raped my sister!” Sostratus looked indignant, and at the same time he explained, “But I didn’t just wander around either, I have participated in the military training organized by Amendolara for four times. Let alone the fact that the military training of Amendolara is very complicated and arduous. After each training, I would feel like dying! It is no wonder that Amen…no, our soldiers are so capable. What is more, the game called rugby that was invented by the Archon is very interesting…”

Sostratus’ mention of his dead brother and sister is like lifting a scar in the heart of Kunogelata, which made his face darkened.

When Sostratus noticed it, he immediately changed the topic and excitedly said, “Except for the military training, I have been working with the commercial officer, Lord Marigi, for the rest of the time. Father, you might not know, but since the time we sent out the news that ‘the reconstruction of the city of Thurii needs a lot of materials’, a large number of merchant ships have come from all over. In addition, our market tax rate is low, the service is good and the management is strict, and so, the merchants in various city-states were full of praise. Now, those merchants have settled in our port and have occupied it. The current market is no longer enough and so, we need to expand it, but now, the manpower is all with you, so I guess that the day after tomorrow, Lord Marigi will come looking for you.”

“Is this true?!” Kunogelata had been staying in the city of Thurii all this time, and had no time to go to the port to check on it. He didn’t expect that just two months ago, that the port and market that Marigi and his people had roughly build in the area of the estuary in the location of the city of Sybaris, had become so prosperous in just a short time.

“Of course it is true! And I remember it very clearly, because I am helped Lord Marigi to keep tab on it. And almost every day, it would costs about ten tarants to buy the materials that is needed for the city’s reconstruction. At the same time, the taxes collected and the profits from the things that have been sold have reached eight tarants. Otherwise, where do you think the materials other than wood and stone have come from?!” Said Sostratus.

“Davos had managed gather such excellent people! I didn’t expect that Marigi, a Persian, was so capable in business!” Exclaimed Kunogelata.

He then looked at his son, and said faintly, “Tell me, what do you need from me?” Kunogelata knows his son well.

“Uhm…uhm…the warehouse and inns at the foot of the mountain of Amendolara were burned down by the Crotonians, but they are now about to be built by the Crotonian captives. I heard from Lord Marigi that he would auction these new warehouses and inns and rent them to the people of the Thua Union to make money…uhm…I want to participate, but I don’t have enough money, and so I want to find you father to…borrow some.”

“How much do you want?”

“Uhm…fiv..five tarants.” Said Sostratus, summoning up his courage. This was almost half of Kunogelata’s wealth.

“Are you going to rent them all?”

“Yes, father. At present, there are many merchant ships in Thurii, but our ports have not yet been built. A large number of merchants and sailors can not find a place to eat and lodge, and there is no place for them to store their goods. There are warehouses and inns in Amendolara, and the roads between the two city-states are under construction. I am thinking of taking these warehouses and inns to earn a lot of money for our family!” Said Sostratus confidently.

Kunogelata pondered for a moment, then looked at his son and said, “My son, since I was expelled from Thurii, I have reflected on my previous practices. And I felt that I have been too radical in my previous work, and frequently did not consider the feelings of the others, so that when that incident had happened, no one came to help us willingly…”

Chapter 153 – The construction of bridges and the discussion in the Senate

Kunogelata could only sigh with a sad expression, and said, “Davos had Amendolara built these warehouses and inns, in hopes that it will increase the revenue of the treasury and benefit the people. If you are the only one who will own all those warehouses and inns, what do you think Amendolara would think?! Specially since we are still outsiders. Doing business and managing the city-state are one and the same, it is not for you to only earn money, but also to win the hearts of the people.” Kunogelata told his son with great care that Davos should be the role model that Sostratus should learn from. After this period of observation, he found that the young leader doesn’t only have outstanding military talents, but was also a genius in politics. As for each proposal that he put forward, he always considered the issue from the perspective of the city-state and the people, and he rarely cared for his personal interests. Therefore, it made people forget that he is actually an Archon for life. And as long as Davos stays like this, then Kunogelata is willing to be ordered by him.

“Father…I understand.” After pondering about it, Sostratus gave a slight reluctant answer.

“It’s good that you understand.” Chucked Kunogelata, then he remembered something, and so he asked, “Sostratus, it seems that you intend to do business, are you not going to take up public office?”

“Is it not possible to hold public office and do business at the same time in Thua Union?” Asked Sostratus with doubt.

“Of course it is possible. Since you like to stay in the market, then you might as well become a tax collector under Marigi, but you have to pass an examination.”

“Examination?”

“If you can’t calculate, then how can you be a tax collector?!”

“This is easy.”

“In a few days, the Thua Union Public Service Act proposed by the Archon, Lord Davos, will be announced. And all the citizens in Thua Union will have the right to hold public office and receive remuneration.” Kunogelata decided to give his son a thorough detail of the matter.

“Isn’t that like Athens?” Exclaimed Sostratus.

“It is not quite the same as that of Athens, You will find out about it.” Said Kunogelata, but in his heart, he could only sigh. The announcement of this law will make the people who has been very supportive of Davos to love him even more! What a terrific young man, to be able to think about it and carry it out.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Three months after the signing of the armistice agreement between Thua Union and Crotone, the main road from the Siris river’s fording place to Thurii was completed. The Lucanians who have taken part in the road construction were awarded by the Senate of the Thua Union on the same day: Their sentence got reduce by a half a year.

With this, the Lucanians only have a year and a half of hard labor left*. Of course, they and the Crotonian captives needs to continue building the road to Roscianum. (note: Fighting the Crotonians have reduced their sentence by 2 and half years, and it was once again reduce by half a year because of them managing to capture the high-ranking officers such as Melanseus.)

After the construction of the road between Heraclea and Thurii, the wide and flat and solid road has accelerated the speed of the pedestrian and carriages, and the time required for the journey was reduced by at least two fifths, which is a great convenience, specially for transportation.

In fact, after the slaves and the captives have straightened out and became proficient in the process of the road construction, their progress became very fast. However, the main difficulty they encountered lied on the bridge. This section of the road will pass through four rivers, except for Siris river, which was located at the border between Amendolara and Heraclea, which already have a pontoon bridge there. So three more bridges needed to be built and Davos requires that the bridge must be a flat bridge and not a pontoon bridge nor arch bridge, in order to facilitate the transportation of goods.

Heracleides the Younger had spent most of his time thinking on how to build the bridge. He even went to asked not only his father, but also the experienced craftsmen and even the two Pythagorean disciples. What kind of geometric bracket that can make the bridge more stable? Only after his ideas matured, did he submit his bridge construction plan to Davos, which got his approval. However, the Archon had asked that the captives must not be allowed to build the bridge, and had instead allowed the soldiers to participate in the construction.

At the same time, Davos issued an order that the soldiers must participate in the road construction in the morning of the military training day. Davos hoped that the soldiers could master the skills of building roads and bridges, in order to prepare them for future campaigns.

So Heracleides the Younger then ordered the soldiers to tie up the two bunch of logs, one end of which was pointed and slanted into the riverbed, and then another bunch of logs was driven into the riverbed, symmetrically 10 meters parallel to the stump. Then a thick wood was erected between the two group of logs, which was stuck in the gap at the upper end of the log (because the two piece of logs that were fixed together) they then tightened it up and tied it. In this way, a row of piers were completed, then they will spread wooden boards on the piers to make the bridge’s deck, with this, the main body of the bridge is completed. The work that followed was much easier, making guardrails, then additional support were added to the pier in order to prevent long-term water impact…and so on. It took them seven days to finish the first bridge, which was 15 meters long and 9 meters wide flat bridge and stretches across the Burano river.

With the experience of making the first bridge, the construction of the latter bridge became faster…by the time the third bridge was built, it only took them two days to complete it.

After hearing this, Davos greatly praised him and asked Heracleides the Younger to incorporate the methods and the steps of building flat wooden bridges into the《Thua Union Military Book》.

Heracleides the Younger was greatly encouraged, but then he gotten a headache, because building a bridge over the Crati river is much more difficult. Although it will be built at the place of the pontoon bridge on the west of the city of Thurii, but there was a delta in the middle, and the Coscile river is also more than 20 meters wide and the water was too deep to walk. Heracleides the Younger had to find a way on how to drive a bridge piles into the riverbed more easily and for it to be stable.

While he was thinking hard about it, Davos has also said, “Currently, the Thua Union will only build wooden flat bridges. But in the future, we will build stone bridges and make it possible for a trireme to pass through under the bridge. If you can do all of this, then you will be known as the master of bridge construction and be remembered by future generations!” in order to encourage and stimulate him.

The word of Davos made Heracleides the Younger feel the pressure, but at the same time, it ignited his spirit…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

A few days later, the reconstruction of the city of Thurii came to a temporary end. Countless freeman flocked to the census office, and the census officer, Raphias, received tens of thousands of applicants to become a citizen of Thurii in a day. He was so busy that he had to ask for more staff from the Senate.

And the Senate is currently holding a meeting in order to discuss about the construction of a large square that could accommodate tens of thousands of citizens to hold an ecclesia and to gather troops when the union goes on a campaign.

“I have no objection to the construction of the Grand Square. And from the distress letter of Raphias, we can see that our official citizens can easily surpass 10,000 in a few years.” After nearly half a year of hard work in the post of Praetor of Amendolara, specially in the past three months, Cornelius’ experience and self-confidence have increase which allowed him to talk and laughed in front of dozens of statesmen, and it has also aroused the laughter of a group of statesmen.

Then Cornelius questioned, “However, I am not sure if we also need to build an assembly hall that can accommodate 600 people for the Senate. At present, the number of statesmen is less than 50, and building such a large assembly hall will not only a waste of manpower and materials for the reconstruction of the city of Thurii, but also make us sit in such a large place to discuss issues, which will not be pleasant.”

The words of Cornelius were shared by some statesmen.

At this moment, Davos got up from the meadow, which have immediately attracted the attention of everyone. It wasn’t only because the building of such a grand assembly hall is his proposal, but also because the statesmen of Thurii who had managed to survived this disaster, are awed at Davos, who was able to rescue Thurii twice and gained the highest authority of the new union.

“The reconstruction of Thurii is not only to rebuild the homes of our people, but also to consider and plan the future development of the union. Therefore, we have to build better roads, better bridges, better ports, bigger squares, more orderly neighborhood, and elevated viaducts that have never been seen before…In the future, the new city of Thurii will be one of the most beautiful city-states in Magna Graecia and even the whole Greek world! Therefore, the Senate which is the central power of the Union, and where the statesmen of the Union will discuss and decide the survival, development and prosperity of the Union every day. If the place where the people often paid attention to and where they will often come to visit have not changed, and stay simple and thrifty, will make the people dissatisfied and they will say, ‘Look, that little Senate hall can’t match our beautiful city at all, and makes our beautiful Thurii ugly!’”

While the statesmen chuckled, many of them nodded to show that Davos was right.

Then, someone says, “Milord, then we…we can make the assembly hall more beautiful, but it doesn’t have to be that big.”

Davos felt that the voice was unfamiliar, and so he looked at him and turns out, it was Bolus, whom he had met before, “The reason why I have proposed to build an assembly hall that can accommodate 600 people, is because I am thinking about the future. The statesmen of Amendolara knows that half a year ago, there were only 20 statesmen in the Senate, but now, we have close to 50. Maybe in the future, we would allow other city-states or tribes join our inion, and will need to include their statesmen and tribal leaders of their city-states into our Senate, just as what we have done, in order to make the new city-states that joins and the union integrate smoothly, and to stabilize the hearts of the new people that will join and to ensure their interests?! For example, a year later, the tribe of Vespa will come and ask us for them to join us as a citizen of the union. And Roscianum, for example, may ask to join our union one day…”

The statesmen of Amendolara knew that Davos had long planned to attack Lucania. This time, he had successfully defeated Crotone and merged with Thurii, which have convinced them of the ability of Davos. Therefore, they had no objection.

Chapter 154 – Shocking disputes over the reconstruction of the temple

The statesmen of Thurii were surprised after hearing the ambition of Davos for the first time.

Burkes stared at Davos, who was talking and laughing in the circle. He remembered the time when he had worked so hard to invite him to Magna Graecia because he was a capable mercenary leader. However, he did not expect that this young man had such a great ambition, he not only saved Thurii, but also changed the political situation in Magna Graecia! Because according to Davos, the assembly hall of 600 people means that many city-states will be merge into the union!

The other statesmen of Thurii where discussing it with each other in a low voice, and some even asked, “Who is Vespa?”

They were either suspicious or excited, but most of them did not raise any objection. After all, with the help of Amendolara that was led by Davos, they and Thurii were lucky to be reborn. Before they become familiar with the young Archon, they would not rashly object him.

Only Bolus said something about it, “There must be a limit to the number of statesmen, as it is impossible to expand it indefinitely.”

“600! Because the new assembly hall can only hold 600 people! But I believe that the situation of our union will be very different once the establishment is full. At that time, there might come a new bill and a new assembly hall!” Said Davos without hesitation.

The self-confidence of Davos made Bolus envious. He could not restrain himself from saying, “Unfortunately, I am afraid that I won’t be able to see that day.”

When he said this, everyone’s expression changed.

Davos looked at him and said lightly, “Lord Bolus, I believe that you will be able to see it!”

In an instant, Bolus felt his back soaked with cold sweat. Although Davos did not scold him, he still felt an invisible pressure, and so, he kept his head down and kept quiet.

“Milord Archon, the Senate is a life-long tenure. So how can the citizens of this union become statesmen?” Kunogelata changed the topic in this way.

“Although your question has nothing to do with the question of ‘whether to build the senate assembly hall or not’, but it doesn’t matter, I would like to tell you about my opinion.” Davos withdrew his gaze, organized his words, then said slowly, “Our public officials are currently elected once a year, but I don’t think that this is appropriate. For example, once Amintas is elected as the Aedile-”

Amintas immediately exlaimed, “Milord, I am not interested in architecture at all!”

Everyone laughed.

“I know, this is just an example.” Davos also laughed, “Amintas doesn’t know anything about architecture, but in this position, he would need to serve the public, and so he has to put his energy into understanding and learning his work as an aedile. When he finally mastered the knowledge of architecture and understand the needs of various parts of the union’s project, his tenure is finally approaching its end. In this year, he has hardly done any effective work, but if he was given another year, his work will certainly be much better than that of his first year, because he has basically understood the whole construction situation of the union and the needs of each city-states. So in the third year, his work efficiency will be even higher, because he has already became fully familiar with it. So he would be able to apply for funds from the Senate, direct the builders, craftsmen, laborers and slaves to build large-scale buildings and maintain public facilities. Moreover, he will finally be able to get some achievements, right?”

Everyone nodded.

Amintas then yelled, “Yes!!”

And another burst of laugher rang out.

“Therefore, it is a waste of time and inefficient to elect a civil servant once a year. This should be changed, but the specific tenure of each public position needs to be discussed later. Now back to the question of Kunogelata….” Facing the crowd, Davos said with seriousness, “Under the law that we are going to issue, every citizens has the right to become a civil servant. In my opinion, a citizen who has just reached age of 18 and wants to become a statesman of the Senate, will need to. Firstly, he would need to held at least three kinds of low-ranking public positions for five years, such as patrolman, fireman, census writer, and so on. At the same time, he must join the army and fight, and must have participated in more than two major battles before he can apply to the Senate and ask for a higher position.”

By this time, he would have rich experience working at the bottom, and be physically strong and familiar with war and he should be about 30 years old. According to his performance, ability and specialty, the Senate can decide whether to let him serve as a city defense captain, a fire brigade chief, a census officer, an aedile, a commercial officer, a financial officer, or an inspector.

Then he must held two or more intermediate public positions, or served as a senior centurion or even as a centurion for three years. By this time, he should have reached the age of 40, and he will become more stable, and familiar with the political affairs and also be able to handle more complex situations, and can also lead the troops to war.

Then at this point, he can finally apply to join the Senate. The Senate will then decide whether he can become a statesmen according to his performance. But the Praetor of a city-states can only be held by a statesmen of the Senate. I wonder if you approve of my idea?”

“Agree! Agree! Young men should exercise more!” Exclaimed the statesmen.

‘For at least 20 years, we won’t have to worry!’ This is the thoughts of a few ordinary people.

The statesmen elected in this way will definitely be an outstanding elite among the citizens, and the fact that a fool like Nianses becoming a polemarchos will never appear again in the union! Kunogelata gave his full approval from the bottom of his heart.

‘It seems that we would need to take up more public position and accumulate administrative experience in order to avoid being looked down upon by the young people in the future!’ This are the thoughts of the hard-working people like Hielos.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The vast majority of the statesmen agreed with the idea of Davos, because whether it is to extend the length of public service or serve as the city-states’ praetor, makes the interest of the current statesmen more protected, but some people have raised objections.

“There are only a few public position in the union. So if we extend the tenure, I am afraid that many people will not be able to serve.” Said Ansitanos with concern.

“For now, there are only these many positions, but in the future, it might be possible for someone to go to a city hundreds of kilo-meters away to take his post. At that time, every city would probably need low-level census officers, low-level financial officers and other low-level officials, and then be under the control of the senior census officers, senior financial officers and other senior officials under the Senate. So we need to also establish a committee in the Senate to supervise, manage and evaluate the performance of these public officials.”

The ambition contained in the words of Davos had made some people feel excited and some to be skeptical. But on the whole, everyone was very happy because the establishment of a new committee would give many idle statesmen something to do, and their power will also not be small.

Only Mersis was worried, “If there will be so many public officials in the future, then how much should their salaries be?!”

And another burst of laughter rang out.

Davos had to say, “We will talk about their salary later.”

The resolution of “building a Senate Assembly Hall of 600 people” was passed. Next, is to discuss the construction of temples.

There wasn’t any need to discuss the issue of constructing the temples, because according to reasons, they can just build the new temples directly on the location of the old temple. The statesmen did not have much objection to this, and so, the resolution was about to pass smoothly. But suddenly, Plesinas stood up and spoke out loud, “I am against rebuilding the temple of Apollo!”

Everyone was taken aback.

Plesinas was very satisfied with the result of his words. Then he took a look at Davos, while completely ignoring the astonished expression of everyone else, and continued to say in a loud voice, “Because our devotion to Apollo have not gotten us the protection of the sun god! The betrayal of the freeman, the occupation of Thurii, and the whole city were mourning, but Apollo have turned a blind eye to it, and the gods cannot stand by idly and watch his inaction, and so, his temple has suffered a disaster and turned his flames into ashes!”

It seems that Plesinas have blamed Apollo for the destruction of the city of Thurii, which seemed to be blasphemous. However, as the protector of Thurii, Apollo did not even protect his temple. This have indeed made the statesmen who believed in him to feel odd, and after being “reminded” by Plesinas, ‘Did Apollo abandon Thurii?’

Davos looked at Plesinas with interest.

“Who…who saved the citizens of Thurii and avenged Thurii?! It is beyond doubt that it was the citizens of Amendolara! But which god is supporting the army of Amendolara?! Look at the flag that is held high by the brave citizen soldiers. Isn’t it Hades who waved his bident to bring death to the Crotonians?! It was Hades who have blessed the mercenaries in the hot spring swamp, and have made the god of death blow the wind of the underworld and easily took the lives of 8,000 Lucanians! Now that Thurii have reborn from its ruins, and Amendolara and Thurii have become one. Then, Hades, as the patron god of the army of Amendolara, and is also the one who have saved Thurii twice be our patron. This is the reason why Apollo yielded, and so, we should not forget the blessing and protection of Hades! Therefore, the new temple of Thurii should be the temple of Hades, in order to protect the long-lasting peace and tranquility of Thurii!”

When Plesinas finished his speech, the statesmen went into an uproar.

Kunogelata turned to look at Davos, and found that Davos was also surprised. ‘Could it be that this is Plesinas’ own thoughts?’

“Plesinas, you should know that Apollo is the main god worshipped in the city-states of Magna Graecia(the other one is Hera). It is because of his blessings that have allowed our ancestors to smoothly arrive here in Magna Graecia, and to successfully build the city-states. Apollo is very important to the people of Thurii!” Reminded Ansitanos.

“Of course I know it. The citizens can still build an altar of Apollo and continue to worship him, but as the protector of the city-states, his inaction has ended his mission! We need a new and powerful protector that is more willing to protect us, and to maintain the peace of Thurii in this troubled time! So we should build the temple of Hades in our Acropolis!” Said Plesinas proudly.

“From what I remember, there is hardly any temple of Hades in Greece, let alone being a patron god of a city-state. Why? Because the kingdom of Hades is dark and terrifying, which made the people afraid of him! I am afraid that no one wants to go to the Acropolis after the temple of Hades is built! Not to mention getting laughed at by the other city-states!” Bolus stood up and objected.

Chapter 155 – The influence of the Temple of Hades in the future

Plesinas was obviously well prepared. He then calmly said, “Don’t forget that Hades is also the one in charge of Elysium, a place filled with sunshine in which you won’t worry about death, clothes, and sorrows. It is a place that any Greek would like to go after death! Besides, Hades, as the king of underworld, controls the wealth of the underworld and can protect the mineral resources of our Union’s territory! As for his terrifying and dreadful nature, it is aimed towards the enemy, because he will bring death to the enemy, while bringing us victory!”

“That’s right, all hail Hades!” Cheered Amintas.

“I agree with building the temple of Hades! Because he had already brought us victories, and he will bring us more!”

“Our Archon is the descendant of Hades, and having Hades as our protector, he will protect the Union more!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The former mercenary statesmen expressed their approval one after another, and have created a huge momentum.

Bolus could only sit down bitterly, and the others weren’t able to stand against the momentum.

Davos tap his thigh with his left hand, and watched them calmly. He did not talk about it with Plesinas in advance, and because he was very busy this time, he wasn’t able to think about it at all. However, he did not expect that Plesinas would give him a huge surprise, which made him realize that there are many things that can be done.

His brain started to quickly think about the pros and cons of this, and then he stood up, which made the gaze of everyone focused on him, “Gentlemen, when we are helpless, we pray to the gods. When we are lost, we pray to the gods. The gods doesn’t only possess powerful divine powers, but can also enlighten us in wisdom and mind. Hades is a god who can give us a lot of help, not only can he bring victory to our army, but he also can enlighten us.

Look, good people can go to Elysium and live a happy life after death. However, those who did evil before their death could not escape the trial of Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus, and they will in the end suffer in hell. Hades is an impartial and selfless God. Once his temple is established in the city, it will always remind the people that even if the wicked manage to temporarily escape the restrain of the law, they will not be able to escape the punishment of the underworld after death, which will force them to repent and do good while they are alive. And for the people who do good and worship Hades will also encourage them to not give up the good in their heart due to temporary grievance, because the beautiful Elysium will call them…in this way, the morality of the people of our Union will become better, the order of the city-state will be more orderly, and the citizens will get along more friendly! Isn’t that right?”

“I agree! With the temple of Hades, my work will be much easier!” The inspector, Antonios, immediately echoed.

While some were still hesitating, Davos continued, “For the construction of the temple of Hades, I suggest that there can be one main temple and auxiliary temple. The main temple should be painted with bright and cheerful colors, and the happy images of Elysium be drawn on it, which shows that Hades is gentle and kind. But the auxiliary temple is dark and terrifying, surrounded by the images of hell, and shows the indifference and majesticness of Hades. In addition, we can also build a memorial hall for our heroes in the main hall, and the citizens who died for the Union and the city-states should have their names engraved on it and enjoy the people’s respect and worship! And their heroic souls will be together with Hades in Elysium!”

When Davos said his idea with emotion, it has moved the statesmen, specially the last sentence, and so, they finally decided to build the temple of Hades.

Then, Davos proposed that the construction of the temple will be entrusted to Plesinas and it got passed.

Letting Plesinas be in charge of the most important public building project of the Union is not only because of the good intentions of Davos, but also because of his proposal in constructing the temple of Hades, and without a doubt, Plesinas would work twice harder to build it.

When the meeting was over, Plesinas came to thank Davos in private, and Davos had also reminded him to discuss it with Heracleides.

The next agenda is “about the distribution of the land in Thurii”. Melanseus had slaughtered the nobles and rich merchants in Thurii, and among the remaining citizens, there were almost no people that owns a lot of lands except for a few people, such as Burkes, Bolus, Ariphes, Enanilus, Marsyas and so on.

Because of the destruction of the city of Thurii, the newly established Union Senate have redistributed the lands to the native citizens of Thurii, in order to avoid disputes and ensure fairness. Basically, each family is guaranteed to have 3,333 square meter* of land, and only a few people have expressed their objection. Among them, Bolus is the one who opposed it the most. His reason is very simple, because his family used to have more than 333,333 square meter of land, but now, only 3,333 square meter of land was allocated to them, which is not enough. (T/N: The unit here is Mu(亩) and 1 Mu is something like 666.67 square meters. So 5 Mu is 3,333 square meters)

As soon as he caused trouble, people like Ariphes, Marsyas and others just watched indifferently.

And Davos only quietly let Burkes to stand up and take the lead to give up their original land willingly and accept the new allocation of land.

At the same time, he secretly signaled Amintas and the others to stand up and attack Bolus, and even reminded him that the old Thurii has already been destroyed, and though the new city is being rebuilt, it has nothing to do with the old city. If someone insist on connecting it to the old city, then it is necessary to tell the crimes committed by some people in the destruction of Thurii to the public, and trust that the people won’t just expel these accomplices who have ruined their families!

Bolus was so frightened that he no longer dare to oppose it, and naturally, the others could only agree. In fact, this is the greed in their hearts, they did not imagine that in this war, they would not only lost land and wealth, but also a large number of clansmen and slaves. Even if more land was allocated to them, they will not even have enough manpower for it, and even they won’t be able to support so many people.

After this resolution got passed, the insufficient “land” that was allocated to some citizens of Amendolara before will also be supplemented this time.

The Sybaris plain has a vast area and fertile land. After the distribution of land to the citizens of the Union, the Senate found that they only occupied less than one tenth of the area of the Sybaris plain, and there was a large amount of land left unused. For the Thua Union, which was currently in urgent need of money and food, how could they just watch it be wasted.

After discussing it with the statesmen, Davos announced the《Land Lease Law》, that is, all the preparatory citizens of the Union can lease the public land of the Union, but the land area won’t be more than 3,333 square meter, and the annual tax is one tenth of the land’s income.

Mersis had proposed for the tax to be 1/5th, but was rejected by Davos. He believed that since one has become a preparatory citizen, then he must enjoy the benefits of the Union in advance, in order to encourage the other freeman to join the Union.

At the same time, the decree of the Senate has also announced that all preparatory citizens who actively engaged in agriculture and pay taxes can smoothly become official citizen after their preparatory period ends.

This is the suggestion from Kunogelata. He thinks that farming can show whether a person is hardworking, patient, and strong. A good farmer is a good citizen of the city-state, so this is also a kind of assessment.

The statesmen agreed with him. Later, it became a common practice that all preparatory citizens had to rent a land for two~three years.

More land, means more people will rent land. So Davos proposed that the post of agricultural officer should be establish in order to centrally manage the land allocation, leasing and farming of the Union.

The proposal was passed, and Burkes was nominated for the position.

At the same time, the responsibility of the military officer, Philesius is also very important, because only three more months left until the Crotonian captives gets released. In order to prevent Crotone from suddenly breaking the agreement after the captives return, the Thua Union must train a large number of preparatory citizens and enable them to have certain combat strength after three months. As a result, Philesius had to order more veterans to join the boot camp as instructors on training day.

The next topic is still the proposal of Davos, that is, paying the Union’s low-ranking civil servants about three obols a day in order to support their living needs.

When the proposal was put forward, Mersis stood up hurriedly, “Lord Davos, since every citizens will own a land and only pays 1 percent of the annual tax, then their income is already more than enough to support their daily needs. It is the duty of the citizens of a city-state to serve the public and it is also a kind of honor. So why should we pay them?! If, according to your proposal, a low-ranking civil servant is paid about three obols a day, then the treasury will need to pay him about 16 drachmas a month. Currently, we estimate that the Thua Union may need about 200 low-ranking civil servant, which is about a Tarant a month. This is not a small cost! We can’t follow the examples of Athens, Athens has the mines of Laurion, and so they can produce three tarants a day, while we are spending more than what we make!”

“Rest assured Mersis. We will take our time discussing it.” Davos motioned Mersis to calm down and asked, “How many clerk do you have?”

“Five, but they are all preparatory citizens.”

“Do they come to work in the treasury every day?”

“No, because we didn’t have much revenue in the treasury. So we just asked them to come over when we needed to. The rest of the time, they will rent a land from the citizens to farm.”

“And now?”

“Now…now that there is Thurii, and with the market and the port, the tariff alone brings in a lot of money to us every day. So they will of course have to follow me to and fro between the treasury, the market and the port every day.”

“Then, do they still have the time to farm now?”

“No.”

“So, what do they live on?”

Chapter 156 – The Thua Union in the eyes of the foreigners (I)

Mersis looked at Davos timidly, and said, “I…I also had given them a share of rations and supplies that…that we distribute to the citizens of the Thua Union every day…”

Then he hurriedly explained, “All of these are recorded, so you can check it.”

Davos calmly asked, “These rations and supplies can be counted as money?”

“Of course.…”

“You see, you are already aware of the difficulty of those low-ranking civil servants, even before our proposal is passed, since you are already paying them.”

The statesmen burst into laughter.

Mersis was unable to talk back.

Davos struck while the iron is hot and said, “Your clerks are the slaves that you have given back their freedom and had followed us since our time in Persia. Now that the 《Land Leasing Law》is about to be publicize, it is certain that a large number of preparatory citizens will go to Burkes to apply to rent a land, while your clerks can only contribute silently to the city-state. A year later, what do you think they will think if all the other preparatory citizens have food, clothing and are rich, while they can only live on your charity? What would their families think? Will they still feel that it is an honor to work as a civil servant?”

“We can later just employ…official citizens.” Said Mersis with a low voice.

“So, what you meant is that we should just employ the citizens to work as a low-ranking civil servant in the Union?! Is it because the land of the citizens is already being taken care of by their slaves, and so they can work without worries, right?”

Mersis nodded.

Davos then asked Cornelius, “The families of ordinary citizens in our union, generally only have one slaves, right? And they will also need to lead the slave to work, right?”

“Yes, Lord Archon. There are also some families that don’t even have slaves.” Replied Cornelius.

“If the citizens go to work for the Union, then the labor force in their home will be reduced by half, and their family’s income will also be reduced, right?! And in the long run, working as a civil servant will become a burden to them! And the reason our Union can function normally is because of the, scribes under Raphias, the firemen, guards, jailers, jurors under Cornelius, the water patrol and the market officer under Marigi…the hard work that these lower rank civil servants contributed! We cannot just let the horses run and not let them eat grass. We should not only make them feel that it is an honor to serve the city-state, but also a kind of welfare, which will allow them to go home with money every day and make their families be happy as well. Only in this way can more and better citizens be willing to contribute to the city! Of course, all of you here, will not get any salary, as we should not allow money to corrode the dignity of our Senate!” The words of Davos resonated with everyone.

“That’s right!”

“Excellent!”

The statesmen straightened their chests and agreed.

Davos patted the shoulder of Mersis, who was a bit depress, and said to him, “And paying the salaries of civil servants will also help you get more taxes.”

“Really?!!” Mersis raised his head abruptly.

Davos looked around and saw that Kunogelata was also surprised, and so he said in a loud voice, “When a citizen has money in his hand, he will have the desire to buy things, a bronze pot, a pottery pot, a pot of olive oil, a set of tables and chairs…even more luxurious stuffs such as wine, spices…when citizens have money to buy things, the market will also be prosperous, and you will receive more tax…”

Mersis then said, “But most of the money will be earned by outsiders.”

“That is currently the case. But once our products will be produced…let’s have Marigi explain the situation.”

Marigi stood up and said excitedly, “As of yesterday, there has been a pottery workshop, olive oil workshop, masonry workshop, milling shop, two carpentry shops, a paint shop and a stone carving shop in the market of Thurii. At the same time, there is also a large winery being planned, which is about to start.”

“That’s the winery of Ariphes, whose family has been famous throughout Magna Graecia for decades!” Kunogelata interjected, then pointed to an old man.

“Thanks to the loan from the bank of Cheiristoya, my family can now rebuild the vineyard and winery!” Ariphes nodded his thanks to Davos, and the people of the Union now know who the real owner is behind the bank that has contributed so much to the reconstruction of Thurii.

“We should impose high taxes on the same types of foreign goods to protect our Union’s emerging business.” Kunogelata suggested.

“You are right!” Nodded Davos, “In fact, our commercial officer, Marigi, is already currently preparing to implement some new measures in the market of Thurii. If it is the same commodity, we should levy low taxes on our merchants and high taxes on foreign merchants. And the commodities that we currently need and cannot produce for the time being, we will still use low taxes in order to encourage them to actively transport these commodities to Thurii to sell. For very important commodities, we can produce them, but we must not compete with foreign merchants for the time being and will give them subsidies. For foreign luxury goods, in view of the limited money in the pockets of the citizens, we would need to levy heavy taxes on them for the time being, so that the citizens will not easily yield to temptation. In this way, we can guide them to buy our own commodities. Only in this way, can our own business prosper!”

Everyone nodded their approval.

Davos once more said it out loud, “Gentlemen, we must understand that the silver coins in the treasury that are not in use, is not money, but are just a pile of metals. Only when it flows, can it generate huge profits, so that our citizens can live a better life, our commerce and trade prosper more, and at the same time, will make our treasury be more abundant!”

“Agree! Agree!…” Some of them even clapped their hands.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tios, a Corinthian merchant, wandered through the noisy and crowded market of Thurii, and saw the excited people of Thurii talking to each other excitedly, “The Thua Union has announced the 《Civil Service Law》, any citizens of the Thua Union can apply for public office, they will start from the bottom and if they perform well, they can take up higher positions. The Union even intends to pay these civil servants 1 to 4 obols a day…”

‘OMZBy Zeus, the Thua Union wants to copy Athens?! Are they as rich as Athens?!’ Tios did not want to listen to the citizens of the Thua Union. Although he thinks that the Union will not be able to be as successful as the Athenians, he was still jealous.

As an ordinary citizen of Corinth, although Tios is very rich, he could only serve as a bottom-level official, because only nobles could serve as members of the City Council (Corinth use a noble system), and so he had chosen to join the merchant world. The reason why he came to Thurii this time is because of the relations between Corinth and Sparta is currently tense, and a war might erupt at any time. Therefore, he needed to reserve food for emergencies.

200 years ago, the trade in Corinth have developed. Weapons, pottery and other commodities were sold to the coastal city-states in the Mediterranean and had made them rich. Later, Athens have caught up and competed with Corinth in all aspects of trades, especially in the pottery industry which the Corinthians was proud of, which has given Corinth a heavy blow that they have never recovered. Now, the trades of Corinth are not as good as it used to be, but it is still a great city-state on the Peloponnesian Peninsula, and is still rich. As a city-state not rich in grain, Corinth had always bought food from foreign city-states, and their grain was generally imported from the black sea. But now, the fleet of Sparta sails across the Aegean Sea, and so, in order to prevent any accidents, Tios had chosen to come to the western Mediterranean.

Sicily was his first choice. Unfortunately, the price of grain in Sicily, which is famous for their abundant wheat, has risen recently. He heard that Syracuse was buying food on a large scale, and it seems that there will be something important that will happen in Sicily. When Tios felt this, he was hesitating whether to go to Carthage. But just then, he heard that Thurii was in the process of reconstruction and is in urgent need of a large number of supplies, and the tariff was very low.

Tios became greatly interested and asked about the food situation of Thurii, who knew that the Sybaris plain is famous for its rich wine, wheat, livestock and beeswax during the period of Thurii’s “Grain harvest”. And so, he decided to change his destination to Thurii. (By the end of the summer, the wheat harvest in Amendolara was abundant, while the wheat in Thurii was forcibly harvested by the Crotonians in advance, and in the end, all of it fell into the hands of Davos. Therefore, the Thua Union has abundant food. Besides meeting the rations of the people, there is still enough surplus of food to sell.)

When his merchant ship finally squeezed into the port, he went to the dock and found the so-called “market management office”. When he saw the market officer, he complained, “Your ports need to be expanded. It’s too small! And it had wasted a lot of my time!”

The market officer politely replied, “Yes, you are right. We will also expand the port. I apologize for the difficulties that this temporary port has caused you! Is there anything that I can do for you?”

The apologies of the officer have dispelled most of Tios’ resentment. He had wanted to go to the market first, but the attitude of the market officer has won his favor, so he said his request directly.

The officer immediately checked the transaction log of the day and introduced him to a seller. In fact, Nicobulos, the seller is under the agricultural officer, Burkes, who is responsible for the sale of agricultural products of Amendolara.

After seeing the samples and negotiating the price, Tios has decided to buy five ships worth of wheat.

However, Nicobulos has told him that a 5 ships worth of wheat is a lot, and there is not so much stock in the market. And so, it will need to be deploy in Amendolara and be delivered tomorrow.

So Tios expressed his understanding.

Out of apoloy, Nicobulos then told him, ‘The inns in the port area is currently full, so you’d better go to Amendolara, where there is an inn in the special business area. The accommodation is comfortable, cheap and quiet.’

Chapter 157 – The Thua Union in the eyes of foreigners (II)

Through the management office, Tios contacted Thurii’s four ship owners (because he only has one ship with him), under the guarantee of the market officer (the officer assured him that the shipowners will do their best to help him transport the goods, because they are all the preparatory citizens of the Thua Union. If they fail to fulfill the agreement, the Union will consider that their integrity is questionable and will immediately cancel their citizenship) and so Tios was assured and discussed the price with the shipowners. After signing the agreement, he is now relaxed and so, he leisurely explored the market.

Although the market of Thurii is relatively crude, it has a strict management, good order, clean environment, and it has at least no peculiar smell, which is very rare.

There are also many kinds of commodities in the market.

In the crowded market, Tios accidentally found a place with a large open space, and it only has a large house, but he could see the market patrol team patrolling the streets around the house. So Tios curiously walked over and saw a sign outside the house that said, Cheiristoya’s Bank.

In many Greek city-states, there are banks in all the prosperous cities. This is not a new thing. However, it is rare to see such a long line in front of the bank’s entrance and all the people were excited. In addition to currency exchange, a bank will also provide loans and the interest rate of the loan is usually 20% and even 30%. Usually, unless a merchant is in an urgent need of money, or has no other way besides going to the bank to borrow money, otherwise, he will never go near it. What is more, it is rare for borrowers to be so happy at the thought of repaying so much interest.

Therefore, Tios came forward to ask politely, only then did he find out that, this bank’s loan interest rate is only five percent!

Tios thought that he had misheard it, as everyone must know, the Mediterranean trade is well developed, and after a trip, you can get more than 10% of the profits. Of course, the premise is that there are no accidents, such as pirates, storms, and so on…so a 5% interest is equivalent to the bank lending money in vain! No wonder the customers are lining up in front of the entrance!

Tios, too, was greatly moved, wondering whether he should borrow a large sum of money in order to buy more wheat.

However, when he asked at the counter, he found out that this bank only provided loans to the citizens of the Thua Union.

Which made him depressed.

On the way out of the market, he calculated in his mind that his five ships of wheat, due to the low tariff and the relatively low price of the wheat, could earn him at least one tarant when he sold it back to the city-state of Corinth. Therefore, despite the announcement of the Thua Union’s 《Civil Service Law》 and being slightly depressed from learning about the Cheiristoya’s bank’s preferential treatment for the people of the new union, he was still happy. He then felt tired and hungry due to the day’s work, so he decided to stay in Amendolara as Nicobulos has suggested.

As soon as he got out of the market, someone has stopped him and asked, “Are you going to Amendolara? Do you want to take a carriage?”

“A Carriage?” Tios saw six carriages drawn by horses on the grass not far from the market. The roads in most parts of Greece are rugged and uneven, so it is not suitable to ride a carriage, and it cost a lot of money to raise and maintain horses. Therefore, only a few wealthy merchants and nobles use it as an entertainment tool. Just like the racing events in the Olympic games, this is the only time an ordinary spectator can have a chance to see them. And though Tios has some wealth, he had never ridden a carriage since he was young, and so he asked with curiousness, “Can I take a carriage to Amendolara?”

“Of course! You will know if you try it. It is fast and comfortable, and it will only take you a few hours to get to Amendolara.” The old coachman strongly recommended it.

“How much?” Tios became interested.

“Just 2 obols.” Seeing a business, the coachman also revealed a smile on his face.

The price of 2 obols is really not expensive. So Tios decided to experience the feeling of riding a carriage. He sat on the carriage’s seat which was padded with wheat straw and covered with fur, which was very soft.

Solikos waved the reins and steered the carriage forward slowly.

A few coachmen nearby exclaimed in envy, “Soli, you manage to get another customer again!”

Solikos laughed, “Ha ha, just wait patiently and it will be your turn soon.” The carriage was already on the move, while he was talking.

Solikos flicked his whip and the horse began to trot, and the wheels began to accelerate…

Soon, the horse began to gallop…

“How is it?!” Solikos shouted as he controls the reins.

“Excellent! It’s so great-” As soon as Tios opened his mouth, the strong wind rushed through his throat, and an invisible force pushed him back tightly on the chair and the scenery on both sides was rapidly going by. He liked the high-speed stimulation. It wasn’t because Tios has never ridden a horse, it’s just that riding a horse is too bumpy and after a long time, his buttocks and thighs will hurt, unlike now which is so comfortable.

He, of course, know that this was mainly due to the road, which was so flat and solid, and it is also wide enough to have 6 carriages running side by side. At the same time, he also noticed that there were ditches and trees parallel to the road on both of its side. When he thought about it, he manage to understand the intention of the builders, and could not help but exclaim, “Your roads are really well built!”

“Of course, this is the best road in all of Greece!” Tios did not refute the words of Solikos, because it was true that he had never seen such a good road in all the city-states that he had visited.

“I heard that the road was designed by our Archon, Lord Davos, himself! He is indeed the descendant of Hades, as he can do anything!” Solikos said with pride.

Tios has only heard the name of Davos after arriving in Thurii, but after half a day, his ears were already filled with the deeds of this man, when Davos led the mercenaries to repel the Persian army multiple times…when Davos defeated huge number of enemies with only few men, and annihilating the Lucanian army, and capturing the army of Crotone…when Davos drafted and proposed to enact the 《Immigration Act》…and so on.

Tios did not believe the rumors about Davos being a descendant of Hades, because many Greek city-states and rulers have claimed to have some kind of intimate relationship with the gods, such as the Spartans claiming that they were the descendants of Hercules, Athens claiming that their city-state had always been under the protection of Athena. Even Corinth itself has claimed that it has a very close relationship with Poseidon, and even dedicated the Isthmian games in his name…

However, it was the thing that Davos did that surprised Tios. If all these things were really done by the Archon, then it can be said that the Thua Union has almost all relied on Davos’ own strength. It is no wonder that the people of the Thua Union are full of reverence when they mentioned him. And he even heard that Davos is still a very young and unfathomable man! Would he be the Periander or Pheidon of the Thua Union? (Periander, one of the Seven Wise men of ancient Greece, was the ruler of Corinth in the 7th century B.C., and had made Corinth the richest city-state in Greece. Pheidon, is the king of Argos in 7th century B.C., he is the arch enemy of Sparta and he had once ruled the Peloponnesian Peninsula and made the Spartans tremble in fear under his prestige.)

“Not only does Lord Davos took good care about us ordinary people, but his wife is also a good person!” Solikos then continued, “It was she who proposed that the citizens who could drive carriages be allowed to take people on this road, and provided us with loans, even though my properties were burned in a fire by Crotone. Otherwise, how could I even afford to buy an expensive horse carriage?”

“What’s her name?!” Asked Tios out loud against the wind, and he thought of a possibility.

“Can the name of the Archon’s wife be asked casually?!” Solikos pretended to be angry and then laughed, “But our lord doesn’t care about such conservative tradition of city-states, and had even allowed his wife to appear in public and to open a bank that provided low interest loans for the citizens. Her name is the name of the bank-”

“Cheiristoya’s Bank!” Tios blurted it out.

“Yes, as long as you have been to the bank, you will see it. And she is the most beautiful woman in our Thua Union!” Solikos sincerely praised, “I recently heard that she is currently pregnant. Hence why she didn’t appear in the market for a long time. Both of them are good people, and everyone hope that she would give birth to a healthy boy that can become an excellent archon in the future.”

“You mean to make their son inherit his position? Won’t this make the government of Thua Union into a monarchy?” Solikos was taken aback by the question of Tios, and then laughed, “It’s just an idle talk, why are you taking it seriously?”

He raised his hand and flicked the whip in the air. The horses that was trying to gallop to the middle of the road became scared and obediently returned to its original path.

Solikos drove his horse for a while, and then he said seriously, “You have to know that the strategoi and the statesmen in the old city hall of Thurii knew nothing but debate and quarrel every day. The way to transport ores is so bad, and even after so many days, I still haven’t seen the city hall do anything to change it. It can’t even compare to the order of the archon for life, Davos, who had managed to make such a good road in just more than three months. What is more important is that once a war broke out, not only the strategoi and the Council, but even us citizens will convene an ecclesia only for our own interests, to vent our hatred and to deny all proposals that are not favorable to us. And in the end, nothing will happen, and the army of the enemy will already be outside the city…”

Solikos sighed heavily and shook his head vigorously. He seemed to want to throw away all the painful memories, “The democratic system used to be very free, but we in Thurii have already tasted the pain of our city being destroyed. The management of a city-state should not be directed by people who knew nothing, but should let the truly capable people to implement their ability and govern the city-state according to their plans without any interference…”

Chapter 158 – Turns out that beer was invented by the Egyptians

Speaking of this, Solikos raised his voice and said, “But now, with Archon Davos as the backbone and the other statesmen as the auxiliary, the Union will be much more efficient. Moreover, all citizens will now have land, and will no longer worry about their livelihood, let alone getting invaded by enemies. What is more, they can now freely get employed as a civil servant and get paid, which is a lot better than before! So, even if Thua Union has indeed turned into a monarchy system, there is nothing wrong with it. As long as the future kings can be like Lord Davos, the people of the Union will support it as well, is what I think!”

Tios listened to his words and fell into a deep thought. The Greeks were born to love politics. From ancient times to the present, every citizens of a city-state will seek the perfect system that will make their city-state more prosperous and the citizens to be freer. A few decades ago, Athens have become the role model for all the city-states to follow. However, after their defeat in the Peloponnesian War, it had made many people to see the disadvantages of the Athenian democratic system. Some nobles, including the philosophers, began to praise Sparta, which have followed the ancient Greek system of semi-monarchy and semi-democracy. However, the hegemony of Sparta had specially disgusted the neighboring countries in the Peloponnesian peninsula. And the governing system of Thua Union seems to be interesting as well…thought Tios in his heart.

The carriage continues to move, and when it crossed the wooden bridge, Tios looked back and observed for a long time.

Even though there are a lot of pedestrians and animal-drawn vehicles on the road, they are all very orderly and do not interfere with each other.

Tios looked around and found something, “You all seemed to be walking on the right of the road?!” He exclaimed with doubt.

“That’s right, you seem to have observed it carefully!” Solikos exclaimed happily, “After this road was built. Lord Davos had erected a monument at the fording place of Amendolara, Thurii, and Heraclea, suggesting that all travelers should walk to the right. In the first few days, a lot of people didn’t listen to it, and frequently crossed the road. But because this road is so good, it made the speed of carriages and mounts to be relatively fast, so there are several people getting injured, which resulted in the road getting congested. We then realized that what Lord Davos had said was right! You see, our Archon is like this, even though he has a lot of power, he does not often use it to coerce his people to obey but tries his best to persuade the other party. This is one of the reasons why we aren’t worried, even though he is the only archon!”

“The Thua Union has indeed have a good Archon!” Sighed Tios, “What is more, I notice that every other distance, there will be a stone tablet on the side of the road, which engraved the distance from Amendolara and Heraclea. He is so careful in managing a road, seems like the government of the city-state considers the feelings of the people.”

“Yea!!” Solikos whipped his whip and straightened his chest with pride.

“How much do you earn every day by driving a carriage?” Asked Tios.

Solikos, who was happy, then frankly said, “At the start, I only earn 10 obols a day, and most of them were from the new people of the Thua Union. But now, when working from morning to night with almost no rest, I can earn at least 46 obols. If it continues like this and by deducting the cost of taking care of the horse and its fodder, then I can earn about 600 obols, which is nearly 100 drachmas a month. And in four months, I would then be able to pay off my loan and its interest!”

They talked happily. And because there were not many carts on the road, and the road is very smooth, so they manage to arrive at the warehouse and inn area under the city of Amendolara in less than two hours. As a matter of fact, it is not as quiet as what the market officer has said, but it isn’t too noisy.

Solikos and Tios got out of the carriage, then he said to him, “I suggest that you should go to Cheiristoya’s restaurant for dinner. Their mutton soup and tripe are very delicious, and the price is not expensive. I usually go there to eat every few days. I also didn’t expect that the offal that people usually don’t want will be so delicious and had made me spent half of my money on it.”

“Is it so delicious?” Tios was doubting.

“You will know once you try it.” Said Solikos, then another customer got on the carriage, and so he waved at him to say goodbye.

“May Hermes bless you so that your wish will come true as soon as possible!” Tios also gave his blessing.

Seeing that Solikos drove away, Tios was already hungry and his stomach begun to grumble, and so, he decided to go to the restaurant that Solikos has recommended first.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Compared with Amendolara, the land, population and works in Thurii is far more. Therefore, the Senate hall will be relocated to Thurii, even though the Senate hall is still not been built yet. Because most of the statesmen’s homes are in Amendolara, the redevelopment council has allocated some houses in Thurii to the statesmen, in order to facilitate the speed and convenience of the discussion in the future. Because of Davos’ busy work, and the need to discuss political matters and public officials in his home, he was also given a new house, twice the size of his house in Amendolara. Davos wanted to refuse at first, but Cheiristoya like the house so much that he could only accept it.

The house is located on a high-lying hillside on the bank of the river inside the city of Thurii. By just standing at the gate of the courtyard, you can have a panoramic view of the beautiful scenery of the Crati river and Cosceli river, and on the other hillside at the north, is the former temple of Apollo (The temple of Hades is now currently being built on it) and also the Acropolis, which shows that the location is very excellent.

It was late September, which is the beginning of autumn, but the climate in the southern Apennine peninsula was still hot. Fortunately, the river breeze that comes from time to time cooled Cheiristoya.

The courtyard of the new house is large. Some time ago, Cheiristoya has invited a bricklayer to build a wall in the middle, and putting a door to it, and thus divides the courtyard into the front and back. In the front yard, there is a room for the slaves and also the reception room(Andron*), while the rear has the bedroom for Davos and her, a room for their adopted daughter and son, and a place for their personal servants. (T/N: A place to receive male guest)

Cheiristoya has stayed in the rear all this time, the environment was quiet and private. At this time, she is wearing a light linen clothes, and together with her female slave, Azune, plants her favorite flowers and plants in the backyard of the courtyard. Her clothes flutters and her snow-white chest was faintly visible, which made people have fancy thoughts.

Andrea then entered the backyard with the permission of the slave girl at the entrance. Andrea then saw Cheiristoya putting down her picked, then took the towel from Azune and wiped her sweat.

Andrea hurriedly walked over and warned her, “Madam, the physician has said that you should take a quiet rest during this period of pregnancy, so as to ensure the smooth growth of the baby, and you should also not exercise vigorously!”

“I am no longer vomiting much now. and Davos has also said that ‘proper exercise will help me, and my child be healthy.’” Said Cheiristoya, stroking her belly, and her delicate face brimming with tenderness.

“Even though Lord Davos is so busy, he still cares so much about you and your child! Madame, Hera has blessed you with a good husband!” Andrea’s timely compliment made Cheiristoya smile even more, “Andrea, you shouldn’t envy me, because you will be together with Bagul in another year! I did not expect that it would be so soon!”

“It’s all due to the Lord Archon. Bagul and his people are very grateful!” Said Andrea sincerely.

“Are Bagul and the others willing to stay and become a citizen of Thua Union after they have completed their sentence?” Cheiristoya handed the towel back to Azune and ask, seemingly unintentional.

“Bagul told me that ‘most of the young people are willing to stay, because even though they are tired, they are very happy and felt safe. So, they do not want to go back to the mountains and live a life filled with fear. And only few elderlies were hesitating, which also includes his father…’” At this point, Andrea was a little bit worried. Of course, she would like the Lucanians to stay, so that her marriage would be more smooth.

“Don’t worry, Davos will definitely try to make sure that they will all stay!” Cheiristoya comforted her, then she picked up a jar from the nearby table, then poured a glass of water and handed it to Andrea, “You have just came from the market, so you must be thirsty. Here, have a drink.”

Andrea hurriedly took the cup, then she swept her eyes on it, and she saw that the cup has a golden yellow liquid on it, and with a white foam floating on it. She didn’t dare to ask immediately, so she first took a sip then tasted that it was bitter and sweet, and was also cold.

She could not stop herself from trying to drink once more. A large amount of foam wrapped in liquid flowed into her stomach smoothly, making her burp a few times and she suddenly felt her body gets hotter and also felt refreshed.

“What kind of drink is this?” She asked in amazement.

“It’s delicious right? I have it soaked in well water for quite some time.” Cheiristoya grinned and said, “As for what it is, I will have Azune explain it to you.”

The dark-skinned and pretty Azune hurriedly said, “It’s called beer, and it is a kind of alcohol that we Egyptians love to drink. A few months ago, I heard Lord Davos said to his wife ‘I am considering making the Rugby as a formal competitive sport, which will be very popular to the public. However, there is still a lack of good drink, so that people can sit in the arena and watch the game in the scorching sun, which will not only quench their thirst, but also make them lively…’ , so I was unable to stop myself from saying ‘You can try the drinks of the Egyptians.’”

Hearing this, Cheiristoya “hahaha” laughed and said, “You should’ve seen the expression on Davos face. He was very surprised and looked at Azune and asked her several times, ‘What’s the name of this drink?’, then he asked about the color, taste and the production process of it. Later, he sweared something about ‘I…I was tricked by the Germans and turns out that the beer was invented by the Egyptians.’ Then he urged me to find someone to make it, and so I had to send someone to the slave market in Taranto, and pay a high price to buy an Egyptian slaves who could make beer and have him make it.”

Author’s note: Each civilization has left their own unique mark on the world, and the Egyptian civilization also has many interesting inventions. I will just list some of the things that women are interested in, eye shadow, wig, nail polish, various accessories, rose bath, milk bath, hair care, essential oil…and perfume was not invented by the French, as there was even a provision in Egypt three thousand years ago that made using perfume in public places to be illegal. All the interesting life of the Egyptians will be described in detail in the second half of this novel, and this is just a brief introduction!

Chapter 159 – Becoming rich and noble, nothing is forgotten

Cheiristoya then pointed to the cup of Andrea and said, “This beer is made from barley, and the one you are currently drinking has been made through many experiments. It tastes good, but there is a little bit of scum, but Davos said that ‘It doesn’t matter, drinking these things is good for your health.’ Currently, even though I need to drink a little bit every day to quench my thirst, but it won’t easily make me drunk…”

“This beer has a special taste, but after drinking it, it will make me still want to drink more! Please give me another one!” Said Andrea, then she gave the cup to Azune.

Azune then filled the cup again. Then she took another sip and then said, “Madam, I have a good news to tell you. Most of the money that we have lent to the citizens of Amendolara in April has been paid off!”

“So fast?!” Cheiristoya was slightly surprised.

“I heard that there are currently wars going on in Sicily and the Peloponnesian Peninsula, and so in this year’s wheat harvest, the price has increased. In addition, our restaurant has also actively purchased animals, which also included their internal organs, and so, they made a lot of extra money.” Explained Andrea, “Therefore, they manage to pay both the loan and the interest, and some people even want to continue borrowing more money to buy more animals to meet the needs of our restaurant.”

“Good! If they can earn money, then we will be able to get back the loan, and we can then earn more money. Both sides will benefit and according to Davos, this is called a ‘win-win situation’. What’s more, we can also lend money to the citizens of Thurii in the Union who needs a lot of money!”

“Madam, we got 400 drachmas for the loan interest this time, and the restaurant in Amendolara has earned about 500 drachmas after only opening for more than a month. So far, we have nearly a thousand drachmas.” Said Andrea excitedly.

“Yes, who would have thought that the entrails of livestock that the people disliked would be so delicious and is also good for the health! If Davos had not put all his heart into governing the city-state, then he would have become a famous merchant in all of Greece!” Said Cheiristoya happily, “This time, his advice about this beer has made me very optimistic. It seems that this will become our new money earning business. Now, we are just waiting for the arena to be built!”

“Lord Davos is the descendant of Hades, so there is nothing that he couldn’t do! And Bagul greatly respect Lord Davos!” Andrea agreed with praised. She then thinks of something, then added, “Madam, several groups of preparatory citizens have come to the bank these days to ask if they can get a loan, because they want to engage in maritime trade.”

“Maritime trade?” Cheiristoya frowned, she then thought about it for a bit and then said, “The risk of maritime trade is high. If we are not careful, the ship will be destroyed and the people on it will die, and we won’t be able to recover the loan. What’s more, they are still just a preparatory citizen, and once their trade fails, they could just run away. Then who will pay back our money?! However, Davos has said that the biggest role of our bank is to support the commerce of our city-state and promote the prosperity and development of our trade…” Cheiristoya thought carefully, while forgetting that she was holding a rose that she was going to plant, and the prickles on the stem pricked her finger.

Azune and Andrea immediately came to help suck her finger and bandage the wound with strips of cloth.

Cheiristoya didn’t feel anything, so she continued with what she was saying, “We should be careful regarding the application of preparatory citizens for loans. First, we need to investigate their personality and integrity, as well as their navigation skills, and whether they have an equivalent collateral and a trustworthy guarantor…if all the above conditions are met, then it would be better to indicate in the agreement that they are forbidden to do a long-distance maritime trade between the east and west of the Mediterranean…”

“Madam, I understand.” Andrea nodded.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

While Cheiristoya and Andrea were talking in the backyard, Davos on the other hand, is receiving two guests in the living room.

“Hieronymus, Agasias, have a seat! This is the first time that the two of you have come to see me!” Davos happily welcomed them, and immediately sent the slaves to bring dried figs, dates and wine to entertain them.

Hieronymus was a bit restrain, while Agasias said with a smile, “Milord, we want to ask for your permission!”

“Hoh, what’s the matter?”

“Milord, when we were all in Persia, in order for us to return to Greece, our companions have helped each other, killed the enemy together, and established a deeper friendship and affection. In Byzantium, I, Hieronymus, and a few comrades have followed you to Magna Graecia. However, most of our other comrades have chosen to go back to their home because of confusion and fatigue. And I have thought that they have all manage to go back to their home and living a peaceful, war free life. But who knew that some time ago, some of the peltast that Epiphanes have recruited from the east Mediterranean had said, ‘The mercenaries of the Persian expedition did not go back to their home, as they were forced by the Spartans to fight the Persians in Asia Minor with only a low salary’.

When we find out about it, we felt bad. We are enjoying a rich life here, but our former comrades are still suffering in the distance and they might be killed by a javelin, a sword and a spear at any time. Archon, since we have so much land left and so many enemies waiting for us to defeat, so why don’t we invite them here?! They are not only experienced in the battlefield, but also have come from the east Mediterranean like us. They have the same habit as us, and we are very familiar with each other, unlike the citizens here-” Just as Agasias said this, he saw the expression of Davos change, so he hurriedly did not continue what he was going to say.

“What is the matter with the citizens here?” Asked Davos in a strong tone.

Agasias stammered, and before he could speak, Hieronymus took over, “Some of the Thurians has said, ‘You are just a lower class from Greece, who only knows how to kill, and have no knowledge in managing a city-state at all. You will just end up messing up Thurii…’”

Davos lowered his gaze and immediately comforted them, “They are just a few people, and most of the Thurians are very grateful to us! What is more, the power is in our hands, so just let them say whatever they want to vent their depressed feelings, it won’t hurt us. Am I wrong?!” Said Davos.

“As for inviting Timasion to Thua Union, I haven’t thought about it yet. But now that they are the mercenaries of Sparta, and with our present strength, we dare not provoke the Spartans.”

“Milord!” Agasias then say earnestly, “You and I all know that being a mercenary is a free profession, if the conditions are not good, they can leave their employers at any time. They are only staying because if they leave Sparta, they will have nowhere to go, but we could offer them a new choice. As long as you send someone to Asia Minor to spread the news, I believe that they will try their best to come here once they find out our situation!”

The words of Agasias had greatly made Davos interested. It must be known that the only reason why he had managed to achieve his present career, is mainly because of his military victory, and the basis of his victory is the soldiers of the Greek expeditionary army. And future wars will only be more and bigger, so he needs more excellent soldiers. He is tapping on the chair, as he weighed the pros and cons, then he decided to give it a try, “Very well, we will send someone, but it is better to not contact them directly, so we will need to spread the news. Have you decided who to send?”

Both Hieronymus and Agasias beamed with delight at the agreement of Davos.

“Milord, Hieronymus needs to stay here to train the soldiers, and so, I will be the one to go there.” Said Agasias.

“Alright, but you must pay attention to safety. Go early so that you can come back early!” Nodded Davos, then he said to Hieronymus, “How are the citizens’ training these days?”

“The recruits are training very seriously, specially the native citizens of Thurii. They have now mastered all kinds of skills proficiently and are only lacking real combat experienced.” Responded Hieronymus.

“Before long, there will be a lot of new recruits joining the various teams, and our troops will be significantly expanded. I hope that you will strengthen your training and not let their combat strength to decline. Next year, you will have a chance to let them participate in real combat.” Said Davos.

The eyes of Hieronymus brightened, ‘Lucania?!’

After Hieronymus and Agasias left, the expression of Davos became serious. He then called Asistes, “Recently, there are people in Thurii who are dissatisfied with the Amendolarans. Find out the reason and who are they!”

“Roger!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In October, the leisure season, should be the month of the Greek city-states to hold an ecclesia and elect the strategoi and archons. However, in the Thua Union, there is only one archon and he is also an archon for life and so, there is need to elect it. While the statesmen of the Senate either have the special approval of the archon or have gotten their seats due to their qualifications. According to the newly passed law, all senior civil servants will hold their position for 2 years, and the Senate will be the one to elect them and are then appointed by the Archon.

Fortunately, the citizens of the Thua Union at this time-the Amendolarans are busy doing all kinds of business because the warehouse and inn area under the city of Amendolara is getting more and more prosperous, and the citizens of the Thua Union-the Thurians, are currently focused on rebuilding their homes. While the preparatory citizens were excited about the lands that they have rented for the first time in their lives. They began to till, fertilize and water the land early, and the jobs that they have vacated were filled by the influx of freeman who heard more about the Thua Union. The port area is full of foreign people who speaks various accents, they act as sailors, porters, cleaners, and even do small trading. While doing dirty and hard work, they actively register at the census officer, and they will only need to count the days with their fingers and hope that they can apply for preparatory citizenship immediately after two years.

Chapter 160 – An unexpected visitor

The prosperity of the port has made the statesmen of the Senate busy.

The city of Thurii’s praetor, Kunogelata, is busy dealing with all kinds of disputes and lawsuits all day, and he also has to select the patrolman and firefighters to maintain the order in the booming port area, prevent fires and to pay attention to new management problems brought about by the increasing numbers of preparatory citizens in the city.

The city of Amendolara’s praetor, Cornelius, is also facing the same problem because of the influx of foreign people into the warehouse and inn area and the newly built market.

The inspector, Antonios, has to pay a close attention to the changes in the moral atmosphere of the people in the two cities, whether the people get along well with each other, whether there is a maltreatment of the elderly, women and children, and whether there is abusement of the freeman and slaves.

Philesius, the military officer, has a headache about how to integrate the huge preparatory citizens into the army and train them into qualified soldiers in the shortest time.

One can only imagine how busy the census officer, Raphias, is. As he had asked the Senate more than once to increase the number of scribes and archivists.

Mersis, the financial officer, was busy collecting land tax and business tax. Although he lost a lot of weight because of this, but the busier the fatty is, the happier he becomes.

Marigi, the commerce officer, is under great pressure. He not only have to ensure the high-quality service of the market and the port, but also to maintain the order of the two areas with the largest flow of people, especially in the port areas with a large number of foreign people. At the same time, he should also consider the sustainable development of the trade of the Thua Union. Because with the gradual completion of the reconstruction of Thurii, the demand for certain commodities among the residents of the city will naturally decrease significantly. How to prevent the sharp decline of foreign trade? He has been trying to find a way out, and Davos has even gave him an advice, ‘Before the Thua Union can developed a new, unique and high-quality goods, we can only rely on novel competitive games and entertainment to attract the rich people from other city-states to consume their money in the city…’

Although the agricultural officer, Burkes, was a merchant before, he was also a landowner. He had planted grapes, olives, and wheat, so he was familiar with agriculture. So now, he was not only responsible for measuring the land, allocating land, leasing land, resolving disputes between neighbors, but also to provide suggestions to the people according to the actual situation of the agricultural land, in order for them to obtain higher harvest and income.

Alexius, the aedile, is undoubtedly one of the busiest senior civil servant. Although the redevelopment council is in charge of the reconstruction of Thurii and is presided over by Heracleides, the specific implementation is his work. He is not only responsible for purchasing various building materials in time, but to also organize human resources and maintaining order of the goods. At the same time, he has to supervise the construction of the roads and bridges that is presided over by Heracleides the Younger. And also, the construction of the new market in Amendolara. Therefore, he is busy from morning to night every day, like a tired dog. When he sees Davos, he yells to him saying he will quit, but the next morning, he will devote himself into his busy schedule.

Besides the statesmen who are so busy serving as civil servants. The other statesmen were not idle, either. They had set up committees at the initiative of Davos, in order to assist the Union in managing its affairs.

The important Union mediation committee is composed of three members. Once there is a big dispute in the city-state and cannot be solved with the law for a moment, they will be the one in charge to solve the dispute.

The civil servants in the investigation committee is composed of five members, which are responsible for the monitoring the employment situation of the middle and low-ranking civil servants and establishing files for future promotion as a reference. At the same time, if the people report a civil servant, they will need to investigate whether it is true and to respond to it.

There are also three members in the coinage committee. Most of the Greek city-states cast their own coins. First, it is to make trading and earning profit more convenient. Second, it is to commemorate events and the gods that they worship. Third, it is to publicize their existence to other city-states. Of course, the Thua Union is no exception, and they are just waiting for the first coins of their own after the reconstruction of Thurii…

There are also temporary committees, such as the temple preparation committee, which is headed by Plesinas. The statesmen of these committees serve the same duties as civil servants, most of whom serve for two years and rotate at the end of their term.

Although October is not the general election day of the Union, it has now become the 《Union Civil Service Act》, after the announcement, the various departments have a day to recruit civil servants, and the candidates are gathered. When the candidates are tested, the person in charge will screen those who had pass the test according to the situation of the citizens. Those who have joined the army and have fought many times, pay taxes on time, abided by discipline and law, and had performed meritorious service or have paid wounds bravely in the battles are preferred. The first two are compulsory. However, if they do not join the army or pay taxes, then they do not have the qualifications to serve as a civil servant. And disabled citizens will be check whether their works will be affected by their disabilities.

At a time when the statesmen were confused and the citizens were busy with their official duties, Davos met a special guest at his house in Thurii.

This is a strong middle-aged man, although he is wearing Greek clothes, but it cannot hide the fierce wildness of the mountains. Sure enough, under the watch of the guards, he spoke in strange Greek, “Milord Archon of the Thua Union, Avinoges of Laos has asked me to give his greetings to you on his behalf. I am his brother, Alobamus.”

Davos was shock, but his expression remained unchanged, and said slowly, “Laos? Laos of Lucania?!”

“Yes.” Alobamus stares at Davos and said straightforwardly, “Although Laos is currently belonging to Lucania, my brother and I are both Greek!”

Davos already knew about it, so he was calm and looked at Asistes who was next to him.

Asistes immediately asked, “As far as we know, Avinoges is an important leader of Laos. Before the war between Lucania and Thurii, he had strongly supported the alliance of Lucania and Thurii to fight. He is one of the main enemies of our Thua Union, so it is not important whether he is a Greek or not!”

Alobamus didn’t expect that the other side knew about their situation very well, and it was useless using the same race card, which made him a bit flustered, “We are Greeks! Laos is a colony built by Sybaris. A hundred years ago, the Lucanians march south when the city of Sybaris was destroyed by Crotone, and no other city-state had sent troops to rescue Laos. We, people of Laos, had no other choice but to turn to Lucania in order to save our people. However, we have not forgotten the noble Greek blood flowing in our veins. We still speak Greek at our home, worship the great Apollo and Hera, and we look forward to returning back to Greece! Because of this, the Lucanians are very wary of us, oppress us, insult us, and regard us as a different race. In order not to be doubted and destroyed by them, we needed to do something against our own wishes!”

Alobamus look at Davos with respect then said excitedly, “And my brother and I have been greatly heartened to hear that you, Milord, have defeated the Lucanian alliance with only fewer men! I couldn’t imagine that not long after, you had managed to lead your army again to defeat the mighty Crotone, and become the master of Amendolara and Thurii, which are adjacent to the territory of Lucania! My brother admires your great military achievements and sincerely hopes to get your help, and let us, the suffering descendants of Sybaris and the city of Laos, to return to the embrace of Greece!”

Davos was not moved by the praised of Alobamus, and just nodded calmly, “What kind of help do you need from Thua Union?”

“My brother hopes to form an alliance with Thua Union and fight against the Lucanians together, after taking back Laos!” Alobamus said excitedly.

‘Sure enough!’ Said Davos to himself, then he said, “What kind of agreement?”

“Just like the agreement with Thua Union and Roscianum-” Alobamus recalled what Avinoges had taught him, “As an ally, the Thua Union does not interfere in the internal affairs of its allies, you can only manage…diplo…diplomatic power and war leadership…”

Obviously, Avinoges has conducted a detailed investigation on Thua Union and have come prepared, which shows that they attach great importance to this visit! After Davos grasped the situation, he said without showing any interest, “I see. You can go back to your accommodation and wait for me to discuss it together with the statesmen before I can give you an answer.”

“I hope that lord Archon will give me an answer as soon as possible!” Alobamus said anxiously.

“Why?” Davos pretended that he could not understand.

Alobamus was unable to respond for a moment.

Asistes then said with a smile, “It’s because Nerulum has chosen a new leader and has urged Avinoges to lead his people to the city of Nerulum, right?”

Alobamus was stunned, ‘The people of Thua Union already knows everything!’

“Hmm, I’ll give you the answer as soon as possible.” Said Davos with certainty this time.

After Alobamus left uneasily, Davos then asked, “Asi, what do you think of the requirements of Laos?”

“Milord, just as we have analyzed before, Avinoges has been forced to resist, but according to his present situation, even if we make more demands, he will still certainly agree. It would be too good for him if we give him the same agreement as that of Roscianum!” Said Asistes with reluctance.

Davos shook his head and said, “Although Avinoges rebelled against Lucania and can only rely on us. But if our demands are too harsh, Avinoges will be discontent. If there is any accident, it is likely that he will rebel once again! We have no foundation to the west of the mountains, so we must rely on the full help of Laos. As long as Laos joins our alliance, we will have a foothold in the west coast of the Apennine peninsula, which will greatly promote the trade development of our alliance! Therefore, we should have a long-term vision and don’t weigh in comparison with those small benefits!”

What Davos said made Asistes felt ashamed and so he nodded again and again, and then he heard Davos say, “Of course, it is not like we are not asking for anything. My request is – Nerulum!”

Chapter 161 – Join hands

Davos urgently called in Philesius, Kapus, Drakos, Hieronymus, Epiphanes and other high-ranking officers to discuss the countermeasure against the alliance with Laos.

After that, he asked for an urgent Senate meeting, and after the discussion, the proposal of Davos was approved.

That night. Alobamus was again taken to the house of Davos.

“Did you have a good rest, our distinguished guest from Laos?” Said Davos jokingly.

Looking around, Alobamus saw a few more people around Davos, and asked eagerly, “Milord, have you made a decision?”

“Yes, after our deliberation, our Senate has decided to accept Laos as an ally of Thua Union!” Said Davos with a smile.

“Great!” Alobamus could not hide his excitement. Before he came here, he had listened to Avinoges’ detailed introduction on how to negotiate with the Greeks and the procedures for signing a treaty. For such a major event, the Greeks would hold a meeting, and would need two to three days of repeated discussion until there would be a result. Therefore, he had urged Davos. Unexpectedly, it only took a half a day for the Thua Union to make a decision. This new force is indeed different.

“It’s just that I have heard that Nerulum has sent 800 soldiers to Laos. Can you and your brother take over Laos easily?” Davos asked with concern.

After the previous conversation, Alobamus was not surprised on why Davos knew Laos so well. So, he said with confidence, “There’s no problem. Not only do we have more than a thousand soldiers, but also the slaves in the port are descendants of Sybarites just like us, and they are willing to follow our command! We have lived in the city of Laos for generation, while the newly arrived Lucanians don’t even know how many streets there are in Laos. How can they be our opponent! It’s just that after we take over Laos, we will definitely be attack by Nerulum or even Grumentum, so we need your support!”

“That is to say, the risk in the process of taking over the city is not big. But after taking over Laos, it may lead to the retaliation from the Lucanians, right?” Asked Davos patiently.

Alobamus nodded involuntarily.

“Then I have a better way for you to capture Laos smoothly without the later risk!” Davos said with temptation.

“What should we do?” Asked Alobamus impatiently.

“Help us take down Nerulum first, which will cut off the passage for the Lucanians to go south to rescue Laos. By then, you won’t even have to attack Laos, because the Lucanians in the city will have to surrender once they lose their support.”

There’s a lot of truth in what Davos said. And Alobamus was greatly became interested, but said with concern, “Although Nerulum is not a city made of stone, it is still not easy to attack it. If we can’t take it down fast, in case our plan will be exposed, Grumentum will come to rescue.”

“We are not going to siege Nerulum.” Laughed Davos.

Alobamus was puzzled.

“How many warriors does Nerulum have?” Davos continued.

“They originally have nearly 6,000 warriors. But after getting defeated by you, they only have more than 2,000 left. Now, there are 800 warriors in Laos, so there are only more than a thousand warriors left in the city of Nerulum.” Alobamus answered truthfully.

“Besides those warriors, do they have others that can fight?” Asked Davos.

“Rest of their people are elderly, women and children. Nerulum only has a small area, and their land is barren. Hence, they couldn’t support too many tribes. The reason why they have so many warriors is because, we, Laos have given them a lot of food every year.” When Alobamus thought of the oppression and exploitation of Laos by Nerulum for so many years, his hatred rose.

Davos laughed, “My request is very simple, I only need you to help us open the gate of Nerulum, and the rest will be left to us.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Alobamus set out to return to Laos. Along with him were Asistes, the scribe of the Thua Union’s archon, and Izam, the leader of the mountain reconnaissance team. They took the agreement for Avinoges to sign it, and to also confirmed that the one signing it was Avinoges himself. Then they will further discuss the conquering of Nerulum and Laos.

Meanwhile, the high-ranking officers of the Union began to discuss on how to attack the city of Nerulum with the map left by Alobamus, and at the same time, they began to mobilize for war in secret. Although Alobamus said that there are only more than a thousand warriors in the city of Nerulum, Davos still decided to adopt the strategy of Lion fighting a Hare for the sake of insurance. Besides the first brigade, who will stay in Thua Union, the second, third and seventh brigades with rations enough for 5 days, will prepare for a surprise attack on Nerulum.

In addition, Davos was also preparing a banquet for two people.

“Chief Vespa, have a seat!”

“Milord, you are very kind. I am no longer the tribal chief, but just a prisoner of Thua Union.” Said Vespa in a dull tone.

“That is only for the time being. When you become a citizen of Thua Union, you will still be the chief of this tribe!” Said Davos, to comfort him, as well as making a promise.

Vespa’s heart moved.

Then Davos also said to Bagul, who was holding himself back, “Haha, the camp’s most famous rugby quarterback, did building a road made you stronger? Am I right, Andrea?”

Andrea, who was following behind Cheiristoya, blushed and bowed her head.

“Milord Archon!” Bagul said with a smile.

“Sit down! Sit down!” After Davos had asked his guests to sit down, he then said in a loud voice, “There are no outsiders here today. Chief Vespa and Bagul, you are all my old friends! This is my wife, Cheiristoya.”

Cheiristoya nodded and smiled to the two.

“And there is no need for me to introduce this person.” Davos pointed to Andrea and said with a smile, “I am still waiting to attend your wedding!”

Andrea and Bagul have their faced flushed red, and Vespa could only show his helplessness. Although he doesn’t like Bagul marrying to a Greek woman, in the present situation, marrying a Greek woman is of great help to their tribe.

“And so today, we don’t need to pay attention to etiquette. You can sit and eat however you like! I have prepared some novel food here, which has not been release in the restaurant, and you are the first to taste it. I hope that you would enjoy it!” The words of Davos aroused everyone’s curiosity. Even Vespa, who did not go out very much, knew that Cheiristoya’s restaurant is very famous in the Union.

Davos himself took the lead in setting an example. He moved a wooden chair to sit in front of the dining table instead of lying on the couch. He had long been dissatisfied with the sitting posture in Greek banquet, which is not good for digestion and health. Davos inviting Cheiristoya and Andrea to the banquet is also against the tradition of the Greek, and because he did not treat them as outsiders, Vespa and Bagul felt that Davos was bold and generous.

The slaves first served some fruits and snacks to each person, and then placed a jar of wine and a jar of golden liquid.

Bagul drank it with curiosity, and suddenly a cold feeling flowed through his entire body, and he could not stop himself from asking, “What is this drink? It’s so good!”

“It’s an Egyptian alcohol called beer.” Andrea, who was learning modern sales talk, explained to her lover, “According to his lord’s request, after the slaves have carefully brewed it, this drink will be better.”

“Huh, this is better than some soft wine. This alcohol is what men should drink!” Bagul took another gulp and then spoke out loud.

Vespa took a sip due to getting influence by his son, and then took a few more sips in silence.

When Davos saw this, he looked at Cheiristoya with a smile and said, “How can you just drink beer without good food?”

Cheiristoya immediately signaled Azune.

Azune then ordered the servants to bring an iron object to each person’s part of the table, which was as tall as the wooden table. On top of it was a pot containing water and some spices. The servants began to light the wood and put it into the cavity under the pot.

They watched it with curiosity and the slaves then brought two plates to each person.

“Is this mutton?” Vespa looked at the thin, red and white slices of meat on the plate and said with doubt.

“This is mutton. This is beef.” Davos pointed to them and said, “I call this kind of food beef and mutton hotpot.” While the water in the pot is boiling, Davos took a piece of beef and put it in the pot. The beef rolled in the boiling water and soon turned white, Davos then scooped it up with a wooden ladle that have holes in it, put it in a plate with dipping sauce, dipped it a few times, then took it and put it into his mouth with a look of intoxication.

After trying it, they all looked surprised. Bagul even said, “I have never eaten such a delicious beef. How do you make this?”

“Skin the slaughtered sheep or cow, after that, remove the bone and blood, then put it in the cellar, then send some people to the mountains to collect a lot of ice and put them into the cellar. Seal it up, and after a day, take out the frozen beef and mutton, then you can cut it thinly, with a knife, then put it in boiling water and wait for it to be cook…” Davos explained it patiently.

“And what is this thing?” Bagul continued to ask, pointing to the small plate.

“It’s a dipping sauce to regulate the flavor of the beef and mutton. This dipping sauce are made from shrimp, shellfish…uhm…there are also sea grass and so on. Afterwards, you will chopped it, mix it and then ferment it, then add a bit of spices, but you will need to ask my chef on how to make it.”

“This kind of food looks simple. But I didn’t expect it to be so troublesome!” Bagul could only sigh and had to give up his plan to try making it in his home in the future.

Davos smiled, then he turned to Andrea and asked, “Our great merchant, do you think this will be popular in our restaurant?”

Chapter 162 – Persuade

“Uhm…it’s going to be very popular!” Andrea was embarrassed, so she blocked her mouth with her hand. Then after she swallowed the delicious mutton, Andrea sincerely praised it. At the same time, she also put forward her own opinions, “But this food is more troublesome to cook because you need to continuously add firewood in order to maintain the heat.”

“Andrea, you are right. Therefore, to eat such food, we would need to have a special staff to serve them, and our charges will naturally be more expensive. And it’s not just for this food, but some other stuff as well.” Explained Cheiristoya, while gesturing to the slave that was on stand-by.

The slaves then immediately brought up the cut tripe, seaweed and so on. After blanching and tasting it, they also thought that its taste is also very good.

At this time, Davos talked to Vespa and Bagul, “You see, after slaughtering a sheep, the fur can be used for clothing to keep out the cold, the bones can be used for the soup, the meat can be eaten, the intestines can be use for making sausages and other purposes, and other viscera can be made into delicious food…almost all parts of a livestock can be sold for money. With our full promotion, the Greeks will gradually start to like eating beef and mutton*, and the Lucanians are the best at grazing, and the Lucanians’ sheep and cattle are famous in the whole of Magna Graecia. In the future, the livestock of Lucania will be welcomed by the citizen of Thua Union, and the life of you, Lucanians, will become better…” (The main food of the Greeks and the Romans are grains)

Vespa and Bagul did not expect that Davos would extend the livelihood of the Lucanians through this meal. An archon of a Greek city-state is considering how to make the life of the Lucanians better, this had made them felt strange and be emotional. For a while, they do not know what to say.

At this point, Davos raised his glass, “Come on, let’s keep on drinking!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Eating new dishes, drinking new alcohol, and having two beauties to adjust the atmosphere, they naturally enjoyed the banquet.

Three men were left in the andron after they have eaten their fill.

Vespa ask directly while feeling tipsy, “Archon, what did you mean that I could still be the leader of the tribe?”

“When you have finished your sentence and become citizens of the Thua Union, I will invite you to become a member of the Senate, which will allow you to make suggestions for the Lucanians who live in the Thua Union and safeguard their interests. Is that not the equivalent of being a chieftain of a tribe?” Explained Davos.

After hearing this, Vespa was somewhat moved. After nearly half a year as a prisoner in Amendolara, he understood that Davos had really wanted the Lucanians to stay, otherwise, he would not try to reduce their sentence. Most of the young people in his tribe also wanted to become citizens of the Thua Union and enjoy the prosperous life that they couldn’t even dream of enjoying in the mountains. However, as the leader of the tribe, he was still worried. But now, Davos made a promise to him.

Hence, Vespa continued to say without restraint due to him being drunk, “If you want my people to become your citizens, according to your rules, I am afraid that it will take five years, which would be too long!” After all, he is very old.

“According to the 《Thua Union Immigration Act》, it will indeed take you five years to complete your service, from applying to become a preparatory citizen to becoming an official citizen. However, there is a special mission. If your tribe participate in it, I will apply to the Senate to make all the men of your tribe into official citizen of Thua Union when you completed the special mission. And you, will not only become a member of the Senate, but also Bagul. I will also recommend him to be a member of the Senate!” Davos spoke something amazing.

The expression of Bagul became excited when he heard this.

Vespa was naturally excited as well, but he is much more experienced than Bagul. Davos was able to give them such favorable terms, which showed that the mission was not simple, “What kind of mission it is?” He asked with a bit of caution.

Davos looked at them and said, “The leader of Laos, Avinoges, has formed an alliance with Thua Union, and is ready to help us to capture Nerulum.”

Both were shocked and then fell into silence. Thua Union is ready to declare war on the Lucanians! Making Vespa and Bagul help Thua Union to fight against Greek, won’t be a problem. However, it is not easy for them to attack their own people, although the Lucanian tribes often fought with each other, massacre and extermination of an entire tribe rarely happens.

Seeing that they were just silent and did not say any objection, Davos could guess what they were worried about, and so he said, “In the future, like the Greeks, the Lucanians under the rule of Thua Union will not only enjoy the rights and obligations of the citizens of the Union, but also maintain their own cultural traditions and customs. And the union will not interfere with it, but will also protect it.”

When Vespa heard this, he was moved and asked, “Can we continue worshipping our gods?!”

“Not only can you continue to worship your gods, but you can also build altars and temples for them. I heard. That you Lucanians have an important event called…uhm…Bull Festival?”

“Bullfighting Festival.*” Bagul interjected. (Note: a celebration in where two bulls fight each other in order to celebrate and bless the prosperity of their livestock.)

“After joining the union, this can also be continued! And we will make it bigger, by having us Greeks participate!” Said Davos with great interest.

“Milord, are all of these true?” Vespa was visibly moved.

“I can swear to Hades!” Said Davos solemnly.

Since the culture, customs and religion of the Lucanians are not changed, then it is equivalent to just having the great chieftain of the Lucanian tribe be replaced by the Senate of Thua Union and Davos. Moreover, if Lucania can be unified, the disputes and killing will be reduced, and bring peace to Lucania!

Vespa found a proper excuse for his compromise. And so after a bit of discussion with Bagul, Vespa immediately said that they are willing to join the army of Thua Union and participate in the military campaign in capturing Nerulum.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next day, the Thua Union held another emergency Senate meeting.

The meeting was held in Amendolara for the sake of confidentiality, because Thurii’s Senate Hall had not been constructed. So, early in the morning, Solikos and other coachmen brought these noble statesmen to the city of Amendolara.

There are two topics for this meeting. First, Asistes brought back the agreement signed by Avinoges himself, and the war against Lucania was about to start, which made all the members of the Senate to be excited. And the other topic is to make the tribe of Vespa become citizens of the Thua Union.

Although according to the 《Immigration Act》, many outsiders have become citizens and preparatory citizens. The most typical example is Marigi, who is currently sitting in the room. But with such a large number, and what is more, they are the Lucanians who have caused great harm to Thurii and Amendolara, to become citizens of Thua Union, it made it difficult for many statesmen(specially the statesmen of Thurii) to accept it.

Many people expressed their opposition, among which, the words of Bolus were the most unsound, and he protested loudly, “Milord, this is a serious harm to the feelings of us the people of Amendolara and Thurii, by making the Greek civilized city into a barbaric and dirty stronghold of the Lucanians, and letting the people who have just survived the war with Lucania become their slaves again!”

Even Scambras and Stromboli, who had begun to accept and support Davos, joined the opposition.

Antonios, Kapus, Alexius and the others all stood up and supported the decision of Davos. They all thought that the Lucanians also loved life and were civilized and polite like the Greeks. Moreover, they had built the roads and help Thua Union defeat the Crotonians, you can see how much they wanted to serve the Union!

Bolus immediately retorted, “This is just a rush measure by which the cunning Lucanians did in order to gain freedom. In short, you outsiders can’t understand our pain!”

The words of Bolus infuriated the statesmen who were former mercenary, and the debate at the meeting became fierce, even to the extent of swearing at each other.

Raphias, the rotating chairman, rang the bronze bell several times to stop the argument, but they all ignored him.

So, Davos had to stand up and shout, “BE QUIET! Otherwise, you can go out!”

The silence in the meeting soon return. Bolus wanted to say more, but when he saw the sharp gaze of Davos stabbing at him like a knife, he immediately lowered his head.

Davos then looked at everyone and exclaimed, “Since you all think that the alliance with Avinoges and capturing Nerulum is of great benefit in stabilizing the western side of the Union and preventing the invasion of Lucania. Then for now, let’s put aside other reasons such as emotion and seriously consider this problem. After taking Nerulum, how will we manage it?”

Davos paused, then without waiting for the others to answer, he continued, “According to what you had just said, if we want to stabilize Nerulum, then we can only kill all the Lucanians in the city, or make all of them into slaves and moved them to Thurii, and then we will emigrate our people to Nerulum, right?”

This was the traditional practice of the Greeks in the colonial era, and there was no objection from the statesmen who had opposed before.

“First of all, Nerulum is a mountain city, and it is located in mountainous area. There is not much arable land in there, so we can only rely on grazing. Making the Greeks who love the sea move to the mountain city surrounded by mountains and the land production is not abundant, I am not sure how many people are willing to go there. I believe that you can give me an accurate answer.”

The wise statesmen like Kunogelata and Cornelius just stood by and no one else came forward to answer it.

Chapter 163 – Heated debate in the Senate

The wise statesmen like Kunogelata and Cornelius just stood by and no one else came forward to answer it.

Davos continued, “Then let’s look to the north of Nerulum, which are all the territory of Lucania, as well as several large cities and towns. I heard that their total population is more than 100,000, which is several times more than our population. Although they are still fighting with each other, once the Greeks occupy their traditional territory and threatened their own security, will they unite against us? Even if we defeat them, as long as they hide in the mountains, we won’t be able to do anything else, and it will make the Lucanians hate us even more. They are familiar with every mountains and every rivers there, and they will change their tactics by attacking our farms and the citizens that will go herding, raiding our supplies and caravans, and the output of Nerulum cannot support a large number of people. There are only a few of us, while the Lucanians have more, if we couldn’t conquer them, they will devour us instead. Then what should we do?”

Davos sneered when he saw that someone was trying to say something, “One might say, ‘Isn’t there Laos? They will help us!’ Yes, Laos is indeed our ally. But when we, the alliance leader, asked them again and again for military support and supplies, it might be okay at the beginning. But after a long time, do you think that Laos will not look down on our strength and have other thoughts?! Don’t forget, Avinoges is not a pure Greek, and they have never cooperated with us Greeks before. And so, we can’t expect him to stick to the agreement forever.”

Davos paused for a moment to give them time to think, and then continued, “Therefore, we can only constantly transport food from Thurii and Amendolara, and to increase the number of soldiers in Nerulum. Not to mention that it is difficult to traverse the mountain road, which will make the war cost huge. Do you think that it is meaningful to continuously invest and consume the valuable human and material resources of Thua Union into a city without any benefits?! What is more, there is also a powerful Crotone, who are ready to take their revenge!”

“Then what is the reason for us to attack Nerulum and provoke the Lucanians?” At the words of Davos, Bolus began to flinch.

“You should have deep impression on the Lucanians that have invaded Thurii many times. Although they have suffered defeat this time, they, after all, have numerous population. If we do not attack and weaken them, they will be able to recover their strength, and they will surely come to invade us again. Of course, we hope to keep them out of the union’s territory, rather than let the war burn on our land and destroy our farms and houses that we had work-hard!” Alexius stood up and answered.

“Can the Lucanians help us stabilize Nerulum and solve the difficulties that the Archon has said?” At this moment, Scambras stood up and asked.

There was a slight smile on Davos’ face, “First of all, they are Lucanians, and the victory over Nerulum will helped us stabilize the mood of the city’s residents. There are also rich and poor people in Lucania, so we should capture the rich and their warriors and turn them into slaves. Then we will distribute the captured livestock to the poor and let the mixed team of Greeks and Lucania be responsible for managing the whole city. At the same time, there are also powerful tribes and weak tribes in the tribal alliance of Lucania. Some tribes, like Vespa, who are unwilling to join us, but because of the war and it is hard to survive, they will wander around the city. So we can open a market on the border of Nerulum, and use our pottery, iron products and other goods to attract those poor tribes to come exchange their livestock, furs, prey and so on., and give them appropriate help when necessary. Over time, they will be happy to be close to us. In this way, we not only have promoted our trade, provided food for the garrison soldiers, but also weakened the power of the Lucanians.

You might ask why would the Lucanians believe in us Greeks and be willing to be close to us?” Davos then said, “Because Vespa and Bagul are there, and they are involved in the management of the city. In the eyes of the Lucanians, they still worship the gods of Lucania, maintain the traditional customs of Lucania, and so, they are still true Lucanians! But they are the citizens of Thua Union, dressed in gorgeous clothes, drinks wine and live in a comfortable houses…their way of life is bound to arouse the envy of the Lucanians and eventually lead to the willingness of other Lucanians to join our alliance!”

“But allowing Bagul and the other Lucanians who have only been in the Thua Union for half a year, be released to the land that they are familiar with. What if they rebelled?” Asked Stromboli.

“If we give them citizenship, and treat them as we treat our people, and let them live in a civilization far beyond the reach of Lucania, a brilliant culture created by our ancestors through generations of hard work and wisdom! I firmly believe that they will be assimilated by us, instead of us being assimilated through their ignorance and backwardness! Of course, there is a small possibility of them rebelling, but I think that this risk is worth taking! Because if we fail, we will only lose more than a thousand slaves and postpone our plan to attack Lucania. But if we succeed, we will get a vast land and the hundred thousand population of Lucania. With all this, do we still need to worry about Crotone?! No, Crotone is just a small stone on our path forward, we can just kick them off easily and welcome a broader world!”

Davos’ passionate speech made the statesmen excited, and they began to talk to each other excitedly.

Then Davos announced that the meeting was temporarily adjourned.

Then he went to Kunogelata and Cornelius, the city’s praetor, and hope that they would take the lead in supporting his proposal.

“I have carefully listened to your plan to stabilize Nerulum with the tribe of Vespa and Bagul, and I think that is worth a try.” Said Cornelius, while abandoning his personal feelings.

“Lord Davos, are the circumstances that you have mentioned before is so dangerous and difficult without the help of the Lucanians like Vespa?” Kunogelata asked in a slightly skeptical way.

“If you think about the worst, then you can work for the best.” Answered Davos.

Kunogelata thought about it and nodded.

At the second meeting, most of the statesmen agreed under the guidance of Kunogelata and Cornelius, and so, the proposal of Davos was passed. Bagul will then lead nearly a thousand Lucanian warriors to join the army, and after capturing Nerulum, they will all be eligible for citizenship, and Vespa and Bagul will also join the Senate.

Although few statesmen, led by Bolus, lamented, ‘This is an unprecedented disgrace to the Greek city-states! The sacred Senate Hall will be defiled by the dirty smell of those aborigines!’

But most of the statesmen just ignored their noises, and were all looking forward to the huge gains that they will get in Lucania…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As soon as Philesius stepped into his house, he heard the courtyard being very lively.

The courtyard was assigned to Philesius. And his wife, Delia, who was originally going to plant some apples and fig trees in the courtyard, and Philesius had no objection to it, but his adopted son objected to it, because he wanted to transform the courtyard into a training ground, so that he could exercise his body and skills at any time. In the end, his loving wife agreed to it.

As soon as he heard the noise in the courtyard, Philesius knew that it was Melisander and was practicing with someone.

He walked up the corridor and came closer to see that it was Melisander’s friend, Arsinis. The young man appearing here is obviously because of the campaign tomorrow.

When Philesius thought of his appointment today, his heart was filled with tension. He never expected that Davos would make him the commander of the campaign to Nerulum. To date, since the time he was a mercenary, he had only managed to command battles alone a few times, and he felt even more pressure under the dazzling aura of Davos.

He leaned against the colonnade, to think about it, while watching the battle between the two young men in the field.

“You’re back!” His wife’s gentle voice sounded behind him, “This is the drink that I have just boiled today, and with some dates, it should be sweeter. Quench your thirst first with this.”

Philesius held the warm drink (because it’s almost winter), then Delia said with a smile, “For dinner today, I had made your favorite roasted cod, stewed mutton, boiled porridge and bread. Because Arsinis will stay here tonight, so the dinner is a little more than usual.”

Philesius took a sip and said, “It’s very nice to have a visitor in our house and make it more lively.”

Delia was busy cooking dinner in the kitchen and directing the slaves to set the table. Philesius looked at her busy figure and couldn’t help exclaiming that his choice was correct. Although Delia was a little older, she was a diligent and virtuous Greek woman, who arranged the family affairs in an orderly manner.

The training on the field was finally over, then Melisander said, “Arsinis, you had only managed to beat me because you are two years older than me. Once I come out of age, I will no longer lose to you!”

“When you become an adult, I don’t even know how many real battles I would have experienced!” Arsinis retorted without showing weakness. As soon as he turned around, he saw Philesius outside the courtyard, and called out with respect “Lord Philesius!”

Chapter 164 – Spy

Arsinis saw Philesius outside the courtyard and called out with respect “Lord Philesius!”

“We are at home, so just call me uncle!” Said Philesius amiably.

“Uncle Philesius!” Arsinis said it obediently.

“Father.” Said Melisander in a low voice. Compared to before, he was now able to say “father”, but he is still not used to it.

Philesius didn’t care about this, and he then comforted Melisander, “My son, I just saw your battle with Arsinis. Your strength and speed are no less than that of your good friend, but you are still inexperienced, especially experience in the battlefield. You will only be able to understand it once you experienced war several times.”

“But I have to be eighteen to go to war! Father, why don’t you talk to Lord Davos again-” Said Melisander eagerly.

“Didn’t I try it several times already?! Lord Davos values military law very much and will not take the lead in setting a precedent for you.” Said Philesius with seriousness.

Melisander could only hit the pillar in frustration

Philesius did not pay any more attention to him. He turned to look at Arsinis and said, “We will set off tomorrow, are you ready?”

“Uncle, I can’t wait to defeat the Lucanians and capture their towns under the command of Lord Davos.” Said Arsinis excitedly.

Philesius looked at him with a smile and said, “Tomorrow, Lord Davos will not lead the army. He will just stay in Thurii to deal with the unions affairs, and guard against the Crotonians!”

“Then who will lead us to attack Nerulum tomorrow?” Asked Arsinis eagerly.

Philesius then laughed.

“Uncle, is it you?!” Exclaimed Arsinis.

“Is that true?! Father, have you become the army commander?!” Melisander looked surprised, and the “father” that he said was so loud.

At that moment, Philesius was filled with pride, and the tension in his heart was swept away. He would win the battle and let the children be proud of him!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the third day, when it was about to dawn, and most of the union’s people were still asleep, about 4,000 people from the second, third and seventh brigades and also the Lucanian brigades were about to leave outside the northern part of Thurii.

Davos, as the founder of this army, did not personally command the battle for the first time, and the soldiers will also fight without the command of Davos for the first time. Both sides were more or less uneasy. So Davos rode pass all the soldiers on the expedition, and every time he passed a unit, he would glanced at the soldiers with trusting eyes and tell them, “Brothers, I await the news of your victory! By the time you come back, the Apsída tou Thriámvou* should be completed. Then I will hold a triumphal victory for you, so that all the people in the Union will be proud of you!” (T/N: Arc de Triomphe/Triumphal Arch)

Because of the regulations in advance, the officers and the soldiers, who will go for the expedition could not shout for joy, but their morale was high, and their spirit was ignited.

The officers of the first brigade also came to see them off. Their way of seeing them off was different from that of Davos. They played various jokes on the officers of the expeditions, such as Drakos, Sesta, Hieronymus and Epiphanes, “If it wasn’t due to our brigade shouldering the responsibility of protecting the Union, then it wouldn’t even be your turn to capture Nerulum! I heard that there will be a triumphal ceremony for you! Damn it, you are really luck. If you lose in this battle, then don’t bother to return!” There was a strong jealousy in their words, but it also aroused the competitiveness of the officers, such as Drakos, Hieronymus, Epiphanes and so on.

In the end, Davos came to the front of the Lucanian brigade. He did not say much. He first made a solemn salute and then said in a loud voice, “Congratulations, our Lucanian brothers! You are about to become citizens of Thua Union, and from today on, we will be one family!”

The Lucanian soldiers have been playing rugby with the Union’s soldiers for months. In the soldiers’ training days, Davos would even allow the Lucanians to stop building the roads, so that they can participate in the military training, so now, they could uniformly do the union’s salute.

Seeing this, Davos was very happy. He took a new flag from the guard’s captain, Martius, and held it high to show it in front of the Lucanian soldiers. This is a beautiful brigade flag, it has the same bronze statue, the god of death and a bright red star below which represents the brigade participating in the battle against Crotone and won.

Most of the Lucanian soldiers have started to study Greek, though they still couldn’t read the Greek characters yet. However, this flag belongs to them, which is no different from the other flags, and had made them happy. And Bagul saw the words on the flag. The fourth brigade of the first legion!

They truly are now a family! Bagul took over the flag excitedly, and then said, “Legatus, you can rest assured that the fourth brigade will successfully complete the mission and guide the Lucanians to join our union!”

“Good!” Davos turned his expectation into a fist and strike his chest hard…

Leaving them, Davos came to the commander of this military expedition, Philesius, “It’s all up to you now!”

Philesius suppressed his nervousness and responded with a powerful salute, “Legatus, you can rest assured!”

“Depart!” Nodded Davos.

Under the guidance of the legion’s Hades flag, the troops quietly headed west…

Davos gazed at the long line, and stood for a long time…

Some of the preparatory citizens and slaves who got up early and worked in the fields west of Thurii were so surprised that they forgot their work, when they saw the Union’s troops marching along the road besides the fields.

Of course, the military action of Thua Union could not escape the eyes of those that are paying attention.

Due to Crotone suffering a great loss in the last attack by Amendolara, in order for them to grasp the movement of Thua Union, they have sent several landless citizens to enter the port of Thurii as a freeman in order to collect intelligence, one of them was Teratus.

Because the statesmen of Thua Union had frequently went to Amendolara for meetings two days ago, it had attracted his attention. Therefore, he had a hunch that there was a major event that happened in Thua Union, so he paid close attention to the city of Thurii. And so today, he found that the army of Thurii went out, so he sat in the grass and determined the approximate number of troops before he made a leisurely and slow walk to the port.

What he did not know was that there were also people staring at him not far behind him. Of course he doesn’t know that due to him advocating the alienation of the people of Thurii in the Thua Union, and also the relationship between the people of Amendolara and the former mercenaries, it has aroused the vigilance of Davos, which in the end, had exposed himself.

“Brother, this man is collecting important information about our Union again. We should go forward and catch him immediately, so as not to reveal the fact that we have sent our troops to an expedition!”

“Brother, no. Asistes had once told us that ‘We should not disturb them.’ So, we should first go and tell it to Asistes.”

When they returned to the city and came to the residence of Asistes, they were told by the slave who opened the door that Asistes was not there, and that he had joined the expedition as an adjutant of the fourth brigade.

The two men were in a daze. The person in charge of them is not present, ‘What should we do?’

At this time, the slave of Asistes asked, “Any of you is called Aristias?”

“I am.” One of them answered.

The slave looked at him curiously, and then said, “The goddess of faith has blessed you! The master told me to tell you that you should go straight to Lord Davos!”

They were very excited and did not hesitate for a moment to go to the mansion of Davos, and they were easily received by Davos.

After listening to their reports, Davos was not surprised. Instead, he looked at them with interest. The short man seemed nervous and anxious, while the tall and thin one was much more calm. Davos looked at him, and he was also looking at Davos.

“Do you know why I didn’t let you go after this spy of Crotone?” Asked Davos suddenly.

The short man didn’t know what to say, but the tall and thin man said calmly, “I believe that Milord must have your own plan. This spy may be able to play a certain role, and Milord is not afraid of Crotone knowing about our troops being dispatch!”

Davos’ eyes lit up, he then looked at him and said, “Your name is Aristias?”

“Yes, Milord.” The tall and thin man nodded.

Davos then look at the other person, “Your name is Antrapolis?”

“Yes! Yes! Antrapolis is me!” The short man replied excitedly.

“Thank you very much for your effort for the city! Asistes once introduced you to me in detail, and he said ‘The two of you are brothers, and are from Katane, Sicily, and have applied to be a preparatory citizens of Thua Union…’ Asistes also specifically mentioned you, Aristias, and said that you used your wisdom to quickly find the spy of Crotone, and did a good job!” Praised Davos.

After hearing the praise of the Archon, who is also a military genius, and the “God’s favored” of Thua Union, the calm Aristias has also showed a trace of complacency.

“You have received education?” Asked Davos again.

“Yes. When we were young, our parents have hired tutors for us…” Aristias’ calm words were mixed with some pain.

“The vicious Dionysius had not only captured Katane, but also turned most of its people who did not manage to escape into slaves. A small part of them were forcibly moved to Syracuse, and the bandits of Syracuse occupied our lands!…” Antrapolis said angrily.

“Hm, Sicily is like a volcano that is about to erupt!” Davos said with a sigh, remembering what he had learned these days. Then he changed the conversation, “Don’t you think that this Crotonian, who was sent to collect intelligence, is stupid, by trying to spread rumors, which ends up exposing himself?”

Chapter 165 – Arriving on the lands of the Lucanians

“Of course, otherwise, we would not have found him so easily.” Replied Antrapolis first.

While Aristias pondered about the purpose of Davos’ question.

Davos glanced at him and said with seriousness, “This Crotonian did not do IT well enough. A good spy can not only accurately and timely collect information, but to also distinguish the information’s authenticity. And in the event of a war, they can also create chaos within the enemy, alienate the enemy, destroy their unity, destroy the walls, shipyards, weapon storage and other valuable facilities of the enemy state, and provide the greatest help for their city-state to win the battle that they are facing. And so, they will be the secret soldiers of our Thua Union!”

Seeing that the two were lost in their thoughts, Davos then said, “Aristias, would you like to be the one in charge of such an organization for me? Collect intelligence, and train such excellent team to help the alliance?”

This sudden invitation surprised them.

Antrapolis nudged his brother with his elbow excitedly. Aristias was also excited, but he could still maintain his calmness. He hesitated and said, “But Asistes…”

Davos nodded to himself, “Asistes has other important tasks to complete, and will no longer be the head of this organization.”

“I am willing to work for you, Milord!” Aristias straightforwardly answered.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Half a day later, the polemarchos of Crotone, Milo, received the intelligence from the spy, ‘In the early morning, about 4,000 soldiers of Thua Union left Thurii and marched westward.’

Milo pondered about it, ‘As far as the position of Thurii is concerned, there is only one force to its west – the Lucanians. Is it possible that Thurii will go to war with the Lucanians again? Is it Laos or Nerulum?’

Milo suddenly became excited. Although Lucania is far away from Crotone and was separated by several forces, they still have a bit of understanding and little contact with them, ‘The Lucanians are the powerful indigenous forces that the rich and powerful Greek city-state alliance, the alliance of Campania dare not provoke! Thua Union, however, has defeated the Lucanian alliance once before, so did they believe that they could create another miracle by having 4,000 men to win against enemy with only lesser troops? Even if they succeed, aren’t they afraid to trigger another war with all Lucanians? Can the Union, who are still under reconstruction, sustain such constant consumption? Maybe the young Archon was daze by his previous victory?!…’

Several thoughts flashed through Milo’s mind, which made him suddenly have an idea of just watching a play, ‘Maybe we won’t even need to wait for the armistice to end to declare war again. The Lucanians will once more go to Thurii, so we should make our preparation…’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

While Milo received the intelligence, the Thua Union’s troops had reached the entrance to the pass to Lucania. Here, the Union had set up a simple sentry post. Every day, there will be three sentries stationed here, if there is any situation, they will immediately light the beacon fire and informed Thurii to prepare for battle.

The mountain reconnaissance team led by Izam had set out early to find out whether there was any abnormality in the mountain path.

Then the troops began to enter the mountain path.

The widest part of the narrow mountain path can accommodate up to four people in parallel. On both sides are steep mountains and towering trees. The mountain path is not only narrow, but also rugged, and it is all uphill. If they are not careful, they will end up slipping down and wounding their whole body…

In the future, a cold joke of a soldier will then be circulated in the whole army. ‘If the enemy were to push down a large round stone in the mountain path, it will roll down the mountain path and wipes out the entire Thua Union’s army….’

The autumn weather in Magna Graecia is still hot during October, the snakes and insects are all still active in the mountains, and the wolves can be seen from time to time. The soldiers trudged along the mountain path with their rations, weapons and equipment weighing nearly 30 kilograms, they are all sweating and are very tired. However, no one dared to fall behind, once they fell behind, they might fall and be injured or get attacked by wild animals.

At night, they were unable to build camps according to the military regulations, so they can only sleep in the mountain path, but it is still necessary to carry out guard duty. Listening to the howling of all kinds of wild animals in the mountains, and looking at the green and dim lights that flashes in the dark, even if the guards have countless comrades lying beside them, they still couldn’t help but feel chilled.

For the rest of the soldiers, the biggest difficulty in the mountain is the weather. At the end of autumn, the temperature in the mountain suddenly became cold. The soldiers were well prepared, as they all took out the sheepskin and went to sleep, and moreover, campfires were set up in the middle of the soldiers every ten meters, but it was still a bit cold…when they woke up in the morning, some soldiers ends up screaming, because there were some things near them: Lynxes, hedgehogs, badgers, and the most terrifying are the poisonous snakes…and as a result, several soldiers were bitten.

Most of the soldiers had only one thought in their hearts, that is, to get out of the mountain path quickly and capture Nerulum!

After two nights, the troops began to go downhill. At the reminder of Bagul, Philesius knew that they had traversed more than half of the way, so he ordered the troops to slow down.

The team of Izam had already crossed the mountain and had reached the exit of the mountain path. He asked most of his men to continue to monitor the movement of the surrounding areas and guard the expeditionary troops. He then took advantage of the night to avoid being detected by the sentry post in the pass and rushed to Laos to inform Avinoges.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tula, the great chieftain of Laos, was in a good mood these days, because Avinoges has finally agreed to move his people to Nerulum, and they have been preparing for the relocation these days.

In the early morning of the next day, he received a report from his men that Avinoges was going to send his people to Nerulum in batches, and now, the first group has left the city for Nerulum.

Tula laughed, “Avinoges, Avinoges! Aren’t you a smart person?! How could you be so stupid this time! If you go with all your tribes, then with your overwhelming numerical strength, they won’t dare to split you up too much and will just swallow up some of your people. But if you leave in groups, they will gobble them all up! But this is just right, since we won’t have to worry about these bastards of Laos anymore!”

Thinking of the days where he had to endure and hold back because he was afraid of the riots caused by Avinoges. Tula took a deep breath and said, ‘The days of fear are finally over!’

He is now much more relaxed, so he immediately asked his servants to bring the beautiful Greek slave, who was offered to him by his servants a few days ago, to have a good time.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Alobamus led the team to the exit of the mountain pass. There was originally no sentry here, however, last year, when the army of Thurii invades Laos, though the Lucanian won a great victory, it also made them realize the need to set up sentries.

This exit is just between Laos and Nerulum. As Laos was attached to Nerulum, so Nerulum was the one in charge of the sentry. As a result, it became the place where the Nerulum warriors blackmailed those merchants who go to and fro between Laos and Nerulum to trade.

In the morning, when the sentries saw a huge convoy coming from the south, their first thought was to extort more money, even if they belonged to Avinoges, the famous chieftain of Laos.

Alobamus, the leader of this team, agreed to the sentries’ unreasonable demand. After leading the convoy into the sentry post, they suddenly launched an attack, and easily get rid of these ten greedy Nerulum warriors.

Then, Izam, who was hiding in the convoy, ran into the pass immediately. An hour later, the Thua army immediately came out to join Alobamus. The fourth brigade(Lucanian brigade) took off their armor and put it into the carts, then they changed into the tattered leather robes and scattered, while the other three brigades were far in the back.

When Alobamus saw Bagul coming up, he was taken aback, “I heard from Izam that there are Lucanians in the army of Thua Union, but I didn’t expect that there are so many of them!”

He was speaking in Lucanian, and Bagul cracked a smile and said in Greek, “Asinu will bless our cooperation.”

“R…ight…”When Alobamus was warmly embraced by Bagul, he had still not fully recovered.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tula had sent some people to follow Alobamus, to see if they have successfully entered the hands of Nerulum, seeing that the convoy had stayed at the sentry post for a long time, had made them puzzled, then when they saw countless Greeks in armor, they were shocked, “Avinoges has rebelled, he has colluded with the Greeks!”

So, they then immediately returned to Laos like a frightened rabbit.

But Avinoges, who knew Tula very well, was already prepared for it. Tula’s men had not yet rushed back to Laos, when the warriors of Avinoges, who were hiding on both sides of the road and were watching for any abnormalities, had rushed to capture them.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Moeris heard the report from his men that there were dust flying in the south and feared that there is a large army coming!

“That must be Avinoges who had brought his people!” He immediately determined.

In the past few days, Avinoges has sent some people to say that they are going to move here, and he had also sent his younger brother, Alobamus, many times to confirm the place where his people will live, where they will graze and where they will work, and had put forward a lot of requirements. It not only made the whole city know about it but had also made the chieftains such as Rhiam have a headache. However, since Avinoges is so serious, it is obvious that he was unable to withstand the pressure of the two cities and so, he could only move.

In the end, the leaders of Nerulum discussed and decided to agree on the request of Avinoges first. But once he enters Nerulum, it will no longer be up to him. At present, they are in urgent need of warriors and strong labor, so they are all looking forward at the fat meat of the tribe of Avinoges.

Moeris went up the wooden wall and soon saw the convoy. There were dozens of carts, and even though there are not a lot of warriors, there are many slaves. Under the threat of the warriors’ whip and spear, some of them have carried heavy loads, and some help push the carts…behind them, were many elderly and women, some of them even have children. There are also livestock on both sides of the convoy, which made the whole convoy huge and bloated. In the dust fog, the people were shouting, and the livestock were making a lot of noises.

Chapter 166 – Deceiving a City

Soon, when the convoy reached the city, a man came out of the convoy and went to the gate, and shouted, “Open the gate quickly! Open the gate!”

Moeris recognized that it was Alobamus, and so he hurriedly walked closer to the edge of the wall and stuck his head out, “Chief Alobamus, how come I don’t see chief Avinoges?”

“My brother will come back soon after I settle the elderly, women and children.”

‘Damn it, those Laos bastards, they are too cautious!’ Moeris cursed to himself, then said with a smile, “I will need to inform chief Rhiam, so have your people camp outside first.”

“WHAT?! You want us to camp out in the wild!!” Alobamus shouted angrily, “We have been walking for so long and the children and elderly could no longer stand it! Let us inside, so that we can rest!”

“Chief Alobamus, there are too many of you. If you all come in at once, it will disturb the order in the city.” Moeris secretly sweared in his heart, but he still patiently persuade Alobamus.

“What?! We are too many?! Aren’t you the one that made us move here?! But now, because we are too many! Good! Good! So this is how Nerulum treats us!” Shouted Alobamus, then he turned to the others and said, “Go, let’s all go back!”

Moeris became flustered. The chieftains had finally managed to make the tribe of Avinoges move here, but if they go back now because of him, then his good days will be over.

“Wait, chief Alobamus! I will open the gate and let you inside! But please maintain order and don’t cause trouble!” Moeris shouted hurriedly.

Alobamus immediately turned around and smiled, “Alright, thank you for taking care of our tribe! As thanks, I will give you five sheep as a gift!”

The Lucanians are direct in bribing, so Moeris doesn’t have any worries and yells, “Open the gate!” At the same time, he told his subordinates, “Immediately notify chief Rhiam that Alobamus and his people have come.”

Then Moeris himself ran to the gate and was ready to receive the gift of Alobamus.

Alobamus asked the people to lead the livestock in order to avoid blocking the gate. Then he had made his men catch five sheep and gave them to Moeris.

Moeris repeatedly expressed his thanks.

“Captain, is it okay to slaughter one, so that we can have a good meal?” Greedily said by one of his subordinates.

“Don’t worry, but first, help me get these sheep back to my home!” Moeris kicked his men.

Some slaves were pushing and pulling the carts of Alobamus, one after another, through the gate in an orderly manner. And some slaves were also mixed in the convoy carrying the baggage…

Moeris watched them by the gate and then felt that something was wrong. So he subconsciously asked Alobamus, “How could you have so many Lucanian slaves?”

With an odd smile, Alobamus drew out his dagger and stabbed him.

It was abrupt, so Moeris had no time to dodge it. He could only watch the cold dagger tip pierce into his chest.

“Start!” Yelled Alobamus, while he slashed at Moeris’ other guards.

The “slaves” immediately threw away the heavy objects that they were carrying, and quickly drew out the weapons in the carts.

“Murder!”

“Laos is rebelling!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Seeing this scene, the people of Nerulum, who were watching, screamed and fled.

Bagul, who was at the forefront, ordered Litom to lead some soldiers to the wooden ladders on both sides to kill the small number of guards at the top of the wall, and take control of the gate. Then he and Asistes quickly assembled the other soldiers of the fourth brigade, and under the guidance of Alobamus, moved forward.

The other brigades, who had been informed of the attack, immediately marched towards the city of Nerulum.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Rhiam got the report from his men, ‘Avinoges has sent his people first.’ He couldn’t stop himself from being overjoyed, but he didn’t dare to move first. So he could only call the other chieftains to discuss how to divide the tribe of Avinoges. After all, his strength is the weakest among several chieftains. The reason why he was elected as the great chieftain was quite complicated.

After the death of the former great chieftain, Wudlei, several chieftains of Nerulum fought for the position of the great chieftain. When a war among themselves was about to break out, the great chieftain of Laos, Tula, sent an urgent message, ‘There is a danger of Avinoges rebelling!’ The chieftains all know the importance of Laos to Nerulum, so once Avinoges successfully rebelled and occupied Laos, Nerulum will face food shortage. Moreover, Laos is a city made of stone, with thick walls, which made it difficult for them to defeat Laos with their own troops. So, they would need to ask the neighboring Grumentum for help. However, the situation between Grumentum and Pyxous is also tense, and war is about to break out. So they won’t be able to help Nerulum within a short time. In the face of crisis and the mediation of the priests, they finally came to an agreement. In order to maintain the balance, Rhiam, who was the weakest and had not participated in the fight for the position of the great chieftain, was chosen as the great chieftain. So now, the new great chieftain had to rely on the other chieftains.

The great chieftain, Rhiam, had waited until all the chieftains have gathered. When he was ready to start the discussion, his men rushed in flustered, “Great chieftain! Not good! The enemy…the enemy has entered the city!”

All the chieftains stood up in shock.

“What’s going on?! Where is the enemy?!” Asked one of the chieftains.

“A…Alobamus has defected! He had also brought in the Greeks!”

“WHAT?!!” The panicked chieftains knocked over the tables and chairs and ran out in a hurry.

“How many enemies are there?” Asked Rhiam.

“Th…there are enemies everywhere! They…they have already entered the wolf tribes’ place!”

The wolf tribe is currently the most powerful tribe in the city, and now they have been captured! Rhiam could only sit on the wooden chair in a dejected way and said to himself. “It’s over…it’s over…”

Under the swift and fierce attack of the brigades of Thua Union, the scattered Nerulum warriors could only retreat and were finally forced to retreat to the sacred forest – it’s where Nerulum worshipped their gods.

Then the soldiers of Thua Union surrounded them, and under the reminder of Bagul, Philesius did not give the order to storm in.

“Abinu! Kesima! Ulasa! Are you there?! I am Bagul! Abinu! Kesima! Ulasa! Are you there?! I am Bagul!…” Bagul stood in front of the sacred forest, and repeatedly yelled several times. Finally, someone responded, “Bagul? You are Bagul?! You are still alive?!”

“Under the protection of God Asinu! Not only am I alive, but am living well! Kesima, surrender with your people, including the other Lucanians! I can assure you that you will not be harmed in any way!” The voice of Bagul echoed in the silent forest.

After a while, there was fighting and screaming inside the forest.

Philesius looked at Bagul, and Bagul nodded to indicate that everything is alright.

Soon, the forest became quiet again, and then the gate to it opened. And a tall young man came out cautiously and looked around.

“Kesima, I am here!” Bagul strode forward.

“Bagul?” Kesima exclaimed in surprise, in what he saw, the majestic appearance of Bagul in his blood-stained Greek armor, holding an intricate helmet with a purple crest on top.

“You have become a Greek?” Kesima hesitantly embraced Bagul.

“No, I am now a citizen of Thua Union, but I am still a Lucanian!” Bagul let go of him, then corrected, while pointing to his side and said in Greek, “Come and meet my commander, Philesius!”

Obviously, Kesima knew Greek. He hesitated for a while and reluctantly came to greet Philesius under the repeated urging of Bagul.

“What is the situation inside?” Asked Philesius bluntly.

“Rhiam and the other chieftains have been captured by us. We…we are willing to surrender…” Said Kesima in a low voice due to being pressured by the momentum of Philesius.

“Then, have them come out and surrender!” Ordered Philesius.

Kesima then looked at Bagul for help.

“Don’t worry, the tribes that are like you that have been forced to join Nerulum will be fine, and only the native tribes from this city will suffer a bit!” Bagul promised them.

Kesima calmed down and he then whistled towards the sacred forest.

The gates opened again and the Lucanians went out…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Union had managed to capture Nerulum with only minor casualties, and after a midday break, at the repeated request of Alobamus, Philesius, left the second and fourth brigades to stabilize the situation in Nerulum, while he led the third and seventh brigades to the south to assist Avinoges in capturing Laos.

According to the new provisions of the 《Civil Service Law》: The position of a city’s praetor can only be selected from among the Senate. However, when Davos consulted the statesmen of Thurii and Amendolara, who were still hostile to the Lucanians, about the candidate for the city’s praetor of Nerulum, none of them were willing to take up this post, so he can only choose from the statesmen of the former mercenary. As the military officer of Thua Union, Philesius must return to Thurii immediately after finishing this battle, and he still has a lot of military work to do. The first brigade stayed in Thurii. While the second brigade’s senior centurion, Drakos, the third brigade’s senior centurion, Hieronymus, and the seventh brigade’s senior centurion, Epiphanes, were not interested in government affairs. Bagul, the senior centurion of the fourth brigade, has just become a citizen of the union and is also a Lucanian, so he is not suitable to be the praetor of Nerulum for the time being…in the end, it was only Sesta, the centurion of the first centuria of the second brigade, who was suitable for the position.

Sesta himself is interested in administrative affairs, and he is also humble and hard-working. During his tenure as the deputy captain of the fire brigade of Amendolara, he soon became familiar with and mastered the work of the fire brigade. And the fire brigade captain, Anticles, had willingly taken the initiative to yield his position to him.

Hence, Davos proposed that after capturing Nerulum, Sesta will be appointed as the praetor of Nerulum.

Chapter 167 – Killing and Appeasement (I)

Sesta himself agreed to it and expressed his gratitude to Davos for his recommendation. While the other statesmen have no objection. If there is an objection, I am afraid that it would be Anticles who was in Amendolara, because he now has to continue to serve as the captain of the fire brigade.

At the same time, Davos has also made Asistes take up the post of being the clerk of Sesta, to assist him in dealing with the affairs of Nerulum and carrying out policies that targets the Lucanians. In addition, he had also appointed Bagul as the special inspector of Nerulum, dealing with various disputes and contradictions in the city, and coordinating the relationship between the Lucanians and the Greeks…and so on.

After capturing Nerulum, the first thing Sesta did was to screen out the captives. First of all, the ruling native people of Nerulum and their affiliated family members were detained, while those small tribes that were forced to joined Nerulum, were advised to submit. He gave this task to Bagul.

The second is, to release the slaves. Nerulum had a lot of slaves, and many of them came from two sources. First, the Greeks that were captured by the Lucanians, and most of them were people of Thurii, because Nerulum was close to Thurii, so they harassed them every year. Especially after the great defeat of the army of Thurii last year, the Lucanian alliance went deep into the Sybaris plains and captured a lot of people in Thurii. The second was the Lucanians, mainly those tribes that were defeated by the Lucanian alliance led by Grumentum and were unwilling to submit to Nerulum. These Lucanian slaves were left to Bagul and Asistes to manage.

The Greek slaves were summoned outside of the city by Sesta. Looking at these skinny Greeks who once had plenty of food and clothing, and even the women were not covered with clothes…Sesta was greatly concerned, and so he said, “Greeks, you have all suffered. However, today, Hades has sent us the Thua Union to save and avenge you!”

With that, most of the slaves burst into tears.

At the command of Sesta, the soldiers took the nearly 700 naked captives to the Greek slaves and gave each of them spears and swords, then Sesta said out loud, “You may take on your revenge on those who have oppressed and humiliated you!”

As soon as Asistes noticed that the situation was not right, he tried to stop Sesta and said, “Milord, you can’t do this. This is a violation of the order of the Senate!”

“So what?!” Sesta pointed to the Greek slaves and said angrily, “Look at them! Any Greek who sees this will do what I will do! The Archon have slaughtered the high-ranking officers of Crotone in Thurii and told Magna Graecia that the Thua Union should not be provoked! And today, I want the Lucanians to know that the Greeks can’t be provoked!”

As he was saying this, a fierce male Greek slave howled, then he grabbed a spear in both of his hands, then rushed up towards one of the captives and stabbed him.

With this as an example, the other slaves rushed to kill them. Knowing that the disaster is coming, the captives screamed in horror and tried to resist. The soldiers who have surrounded them knocked them down with their shields, to stifle their attempts and then allowed the slaves to continue killing them…

The killing continued, but in the end, it didn’t go on, because the remaining captives were protected by the female Greek slaves…

Sesta was astonished. Asistes then went to inquire about the situation, and when he returned, he told Sesta with a sad expression, “These women were either raped by these captives and have given birth to their children, or that they are still pregnant…pity!…it’s because these Greek men did not do their best to protect them that they have fallen into such a miserable situation!…Milord, will you still continue?”

“Damn Lucanians!” Sesta fiercely sweared, then he raised his hand and said coldly, “Stop!”

After the order was sent out, there were still slaves brandishing the spears, threatening the female slaves that were in front of the Lucanians to move away. But the soldiers immediately went to disarm them.

Sesta then stepped forward, then put his foot on a corpse and called to the Greek slaves, “Listen up! According to the new law passed by Thua Union, ‘Those who were formerly citizens of Thurii and Amendolara or were slaves of the people of Thurii and Amendolara* will immediately become citizens of Thua Union! Those who are not citizens or slaves of Thurii and Amendolara, if you want to stay in Thua Union, then after two years, you can apply to become a preparatory citizen of Thua Union. Three years later, if you meet the requirements, you can become an official citizen!’ So, would you like to stay in Nerulum or go back to Thurii?” (note: In Greek city-states, the women of the city-state cannot become a citizen, but they are still part of the people of the city-state)

Most of the male slaves said that they wanted to go back to Thurii, while most of the women hesitated. Because the Greek city-states of this era have a very strict requirements on the women’s chastity. Not only before marriage, but especially after marriage, The women can only stay in the house after marriage and not in public places, they must be as diligent and frugal as bees when managing the housework, and even the design of the houses had considered the prevention of their wife from cheating. Therefore, the bedrooms of traditional Greek couples are all on the second floor, and the only stairway is at the door of the living room. So that both the master and the slaves could see when the woman goes in and out. This is to prevent the husband from being tired of his wife and staying in a brothel for a long time, which will lead to the resentment of his wife who could only sleep in their bedroom alone. Some city-states even stipulate the frequency of sex of the citizens. For example, Solon of Athens has stipulated in the Athenian law that, ‘Having sex three times a month is enough care for a virtuous wife of a citizen.’

Now, a large number of Greek women who have long been slaves of other races have given birth to children, and some are currently pregnant…what will happen to their families when they return to Thurii?! Every female slave didn’t dare think about it, nor face it…

Just then, Asistes stood up and said in a loud voice, “At the suggestion of Lord Davos, the archon for life of Thua Union, and was passed by the Senate, ‘Any Lucanian who marries a woman of Thua Union will automatically become a preparatory citizen of Thua Union and after two years, they will become an official citizens, and enjoy the rights of having a land allocated to them by the Union and a tax exemption for two years. Any Greek man who marries a Lucanian woman in Thua Union and is willing to become a citizen of Thua Union will automatically become a preparatory citizen and become an official citizen after two years, and will also enjoy the right of land allotment and tax exemption for two years.’”

“…is this true?” The slaves couldn’t believe what they had heard, so someone braced himself to ask.

“Of course it is true! The couples who will marry according to my previous statement can immediately go to Nerulum’s town…no, at the house of the great chieftain to register!” Exclaimed Sesta affirmatively.

These female Greek slaves, like a long drought, shed tears with excitement. They knew that as long as there was this law, and as long as Nerulum was in the hands of Thua Union, they could live in this land with their heads held high! The archon, Lord Davos, was such a good man for them!

The male Greek slaves, who were not citizens of Thurii, hesitated for a moment and made a decision. In contrast to taking a long time to become an official citizen of Thurii, marrying a Lucanian woman will immediately make them enjoy many benefits, which seems to be more attractive!

Asistes could guess that once this bill is announced in Thurii and Amendolara, countless freemen will come to Nerulum and take the lead to marry a Lucanian woman!

He then looked at the execution ground, where the bodies were piled up like hills and their fresh blood like a flowing river, and thought that at least a large number of widows in Nerulum will be taken care of.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The bloody scene created by Sesta outside the city scared all the Lucanians, and the bereaved families wept in fear.

Even in the evening, when Bagul hosted a banquet for some well-known Lucanians, such as Kesima and Ulasa, they were still trembling.

“Sit down! Sit down! We are all old friends, sit down!…” Bagul subconsciously imitated the expression and the tone of Davos when he had served them before, but the guests couldn’t relax.

“Kesima, why I still couldn’t see Abinu even now?” Asked Bagul, while glancing at the crowd.

“Abinu…he once had a quarrel with the son of Wudlei, Tamalu, and was killed!” Said Kesima gloomily.

“Damn Wudlei! Damn those big tribes that have oppressed us! Where is this Tamalu now?” Roared Bagul angrily.

“He is dead! The last time they went to Thurii, he died at the hands of the Greeks, just like his father, Wudlei.” Said Ulasa, while taking a glance at Asistes, who was beside Bagul.

“Hmph, too bad…I couldn’t avenge him myself! However, it is good that Abinu can serve the mountain god!” Sighed Bagul and he then calmed down.

At this time, one of his guests said, “Wudlei and Rhiam, have oppressed us. Won’t the Greek also oppress us?! Won’t we get slaughtered like what they did to Rhiam earlier?!”

“Right! Right! The Greeks have killed more than 500 Lucanians, who have surrendered, outside the city in one breath!”

“Soon, they will also kill us like livestock!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

There was a commotion among the guests, who had vented their dissatisfaction at the Greeks.

At this time, Asistes felt that the massacre outside the city had an impact on the hearts of the people. So, he had to stand up and said, “We, the Thua Union, will never oppress you! We-”

“How can a Greek attend a Lucanian banquet?!!” A voice from the guests interrupted Asistes.

“Of course he can!” At this time, Bagul did not wait for the guests to cause another disturbance. He immediately said, “He is the son-in-law of the Lucanians, my brother-in-law, and the husband of Dina!”

Chapter 168 – Killing and Appeasement (Ii)

Amidst the uproar, a voice exclaimed, “The husband of Dina? Ulasa, it seems that you…no longer have a chance!”

For the first time, this sentence had caused a slight smile from the guests.

“I had thought that you were all killed in the pursuit of Grumentum…” Said Ulasa bitterly, “So…I already have taken a wife.”

“At that time, we couldn’t make sure that we could live to this day!” The words of Bagul resonated with the guests, and he then continued, “So tonight, we will just drink and nothing else! Let’s celebrate that we are still alive today!”

“That’s right!” Kesima took a sip of the wine and exclaimed, “Good wine! This is the first time that I have drunk such a good wine! So tonight, I have to drink all the good wine of Bagul!”

There was a burst of laughter.

Bagul was secretly grateful to Kesima’s help. He then raised his glass and shouted, “Come, let’s thank god Asinu for his protection!”

Bagul took the lead in leading the party. After several drinks, the atmosphere of the banquet became lively and their glasses were filled with wine. Bagul then stood up and said to Asistes, “Brother-in-law, come, let me introduce you to my guests!”

Asistes carried a wine jar in one and a glass in the other.

“This is Kesima, my childhood friend and my wrestling opponent, but he couldn’t beat me!”

“Don’t listen to his drivel!”

“You don’t believe me? Then we should fight again on another day!”

“Why another day? Let’s do it after the banquet is over, do you dare?”

“Good, I am just afraid that you wouldn’t!” Bagul readily agreed.

Hearing that there will be a wrestling match to watch, the other guests were also excited.

Asistes greeted Kesima, then they both toast their glasses together according to the etiquette of Lucania, and drink all of it at once.

“Good!” Yelled someone. Apparently, Asistes, who was a Greek, began to attract their attention.

“This is Ulasa, my good friend, and he used to be the suitor of Dina!”

“Nice to meet you!” Asistes came forward to toast his glass with him and said, “Don’t worry, Dina is living well, and I will continue to treat her well!”

Ulasa glared at Asistes and spat out, “Let’s have a match later, do you dare?!”

“Okay!” Replied Asistes, raising his glass and drinking it.

“Good!!” The other guests shouted one after another, and they began to think that the Greeks were very agreeable.

“This is Uncle Hermon, who used to take us fishing when we were young. His fishing skill is the best among all the Lucanians!…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As he mingled with their circle, and finished drinking a jar of wine, Asistes felt like he was walking on air, but with this, the wariness of the guests had disappeared.

“Brother-in-law, you must know….” Bagul, who returned to his seat, said in a serious tone, “In the past, we were all just a small tribe living in the mountains between the upper reaches of the Lao river and the Agri river. So, we often had contacts with each other and often united to fight against foreign enemies. However, after the establishment of the alliance between Grumentum and Nerulum, we were unable to confront them at all in the face of their strong strength. Some were forced to join Grumentum, some were like Kesima and Ulasa who were forced to join Nerulum, and some of them had escape the mountains like us…but I didn’t expect that we would still be able to get together again…” Said Bagul emotionally, “If father knows it, he will not be able to sleep at all!”

The words of Bagul have made the guests that were present reminisce, most of whom were deeply saddened.

At this time, Bagul patted Asistes on his shoulder and said in a loud voice, “My brother-in-law has another identity. He is a follower of Thua Union’s Archon. This time, Lord Davos had sent him to help manage Nerulum!”

As soon as his words came out, the guests all exclaimed in amazement.

“Davos? You mean the Greek who had killed more than 10,000 men of Akpir with only a few thousand people?!”

“Asistes, I heard that Davos had managed to defeat 10,000 Crotonians with only a few thousand people again afterwards?”

“I also heard that he is a son of a Greek god?”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

It was no wonder that the guests were surprised. Although Nerulum and Thurii were cut off by war, there is still the port in Laos. As long as there is foreign trade, news from the outside would still reach Nerulum. The Lucanians who were wondering why the powerful Lucanian alliance got defeated, heard the name of Davos for the first time, and as long as they paid attention to it, they would hear more about him from foreign merchants in the port of Laos.

For the Lucanians, who were superstitious and worshipped the strong, they were awed by this powerful and mysterious Greek who managed to achieve so much. So when Bagul learned about it from the captives, he immediately realized that he could take advantage of this, and so, he did not mention the position of Asistes and just said that he is a follower of Davos, which immediately put a halo on Asistes.

Asistes then took the opportunity to say, “Lord Davos once said that, ‘In Lucania, the big tribes oppress the small tribes, annex their tribes and plunder their livestock. In the end, the chieftains of the big tribes are as rich as kings, and the people from the small tribes are treated only a bit better than the slaves.’”

“Yes!”

“That’s right!”

The words of Asistes resonated with the guests.

“And we, the Thua Union, will never oppress you!” Asistes said with great certainty, “Before I came, Lord Davos told me again and again, ‘Treat the Lucanians like our own people!’ and ‘Under the rule of Thua Union, the Greeks, Lucanians, Egyptians and other races will all enjoy the same rights and obligations regardless of their status!’”

“This is true!” Bagul immediately took the lead and proved it, “Marigi, the chief commercial officer of the Thua Union, is a Persian, but he is also a citizen of the Union! And even though I am a Lucanian, I am still able to become the captain of the fourth brigade of the first legion of Thua Union, and I am also a member of the Senate! And my father, Vespa, is also a member of the Senate!”

The guests found it hard to believe. Lucania is surrounded by Greek city-states, and the long-term contact and exchanges between them made them roughly know about the Greek city-state’s system. The statesmen of a Council(Senate) is equivalent to the chieftain of a large tribe in Lucania. He can participate in the discussions and decisions in the tribal alliance, and they can even influence the decision of the great chieftain.

“How can I become a citizen of Thua Union?!” Many people felt envious and couldn’t stop themselves from asking aloud.

“As long as you are willing to join the Union, you can become a preparatory citizens, and as long as you abide the laws of the union and perform well, then you will be able to become an official citizen in five years*.” Explained Asistes. (Note: The Senate of Thua Union had considered the special situation of the Lucanians, so long as they are willing to submit, they can become a preparatory citizen. But for the sake of fairness, like the Greeks, they could only become an official citizen after five years.)

“This prepar….what is the difference between a preparatory citizen and an official citizen?” Some attentive people notice the difference between the two words.

“Preparatory citizens do not enjoy some of the rights of an official citizen, such as the allocation of land by the Union, the ability to hold public office…and so on. However, the preparatory citizens enjoy the protection of the Union and can get its assistance. For example, once you become a preparatory citizen, if you are willing to farm, then the Union will lease the land of Nerulum to you to plant, and the tax rate is only 5%(this is a new policy to encourage the preparatory citizens to move to Nerulum.) If you are willing to graze, then you can rent some livestock and the tax rate is also 5%. You should know that it is not so easy for many Greek freemen to become a preparatory citizen of the union. After applying for it, they will have to go through at least two years of inspection before they can become a preparatory citizen.”

“This is indeed the case. The Senate of Thua Union has considered the vigilance of us Lucanians against the Greeks, in order for them to show the sincerity of the Union, the conditions for the Lucanians to become a preparatory citizens have been relaxed, and many citizens had criticized them for this!” Bagul once again endorsed the Union.

In fact, the two were just worrying too much. Most of the guests don’t care about this, because previously, about half of their income will go to Nerulum every year. As for the small tribal chiefs who usually have to go out to war and rely on hunting to survive, the tax rate given by the Thua Union is already too good! So, the guests were eager to discuss it with each other.

“Aren’t you afraid that we would take the livestock that you have given and run away with it?” Someone jokingly said.

“We are not afraid!” said Asistes confidently, “With just these few livestock, we would then be able to differentiate those who are not fit to be a citizen of the Union. And where can those people who stole the livestock go? Run to other Lucanian tribes, who will then take away their livestock and continue to be oppressed by an unfamiliar chieftain? Or to other Greek city-states and become their slave? Or roam alone in the wild until they froze to death, die of disease, or starve to death? It’s better to stay in a friendly and peaceful Thua Union and live a stable life! The Union also respects the culture and customs of Lucania, and allows you to have your own temple, freedom to sacrifice, and have your own festivals, as long as it does not violate the laws of the Union and disturb the public order….”

After listening to this, every guest fell into thinking.

At this time, someone shouted, “How can I become a statesman of the Thua Union?”

Bagul recognized the one who spoke, Hemon, and laughed to himself. At the beginning, the tribe of Hemon was second only to the tribe of Vespa, which was the largest among the tribes in the area between the Lao river, and the Agri river, but now, they only have a few hundred warriors.

Chapter 169 – The return of Laos and the Glory of Sybaris

“I had led my people to build new roads and residential areas for the Thua Union, and I had also led my people to participate in the battle against Crotone, and now, we have captured Nerulum. Hence why I had become a statesman of the Senate!” said Bagul with pride, “And even though my father didn’t do anything else, he had bravely led more than 2,000 people to join a Greek Union, which no other Lucanians had ever done before. He created a history and had agreed and encouraged me to lead our people to do everything for the Union, and so, Lord Davos has invited him to join the Senate!”

Everyone could only exclaim in admiration.

Asistes also stressed, “The Senate is open to any citizen in the Union. As long as you make enough contribution to the Union, the Senate will take the initiative to invite you!….”

Hemon nodded with understanding.

“But, what if Grumentum, Pyxous, and even Potentia attack Nerulum, who had just joined Thua Union?” Someone asked with concern.

“I think you all know very well that Grumentum and Pyxous are currently fighting each other, they are in such a mess that they wouldn’t be able to care about us in a short time. And even if they attack, there is nothing for you to be afraid of, because we have Lord Davos!” Said Asistes in a loud voice, this sentence is worth thousands of words, which immediately relieved everyone’s worries.

“I am willing to lead my people to join Thua Union!” Said Kesima, standing up.

“I am willing as well!” Said Ulasa, while also standing up.

“I won’t let Vespa be proud of himself in the Senate!” Hemon stood up, as well.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Seeing that almost all the guests are willing to join and become a preparatory citizen of the Union, Bagul and Asistes looked at each other and smiled. They then raised their glasses and said, “Let’s drink to the Thua Union, which belongs not only to the Greeks but also to the Lucanians.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next morning, the troops of Avinoges opened the city gate and the army of Thua Union joined them. After easily defeating the garrison of Lucania, he finally rushed into the residence of the great chieftain. When they caught Tula, the great chieftain of Laos, he was shivering in his bed, and next to him lay a female Greek slave who had been strangled to death, with her body turned cold. Then the angry Thua Union soldiers immediately pierced his chest with their spears.

Avinoges then graciously invited Philesius to lead his troops to camp in the city, but was politely refused by Philesius, “Laos has just been recaptured, and the order in the city still needs to be rectified. If there are too many soldiers in the city, I am afraid that it will cause chaos to you and affect the friendship between Laos and Thua Union! We will rest outside the city for a while, and then leave. Lord Davos had explained it to us before we came here!”

The persistence of Philesius and the initiative of the Thua Union for the sake of Laos made Avinoges very moved. So, he gave Philesius half of the money and livestock that they have seized to show his gratitude.

Philesius did not refuse it. In addition to the loot that they seized in Nerulum, the Thua Union has gained a lot in this campaign. According to the order of the Senate, all the livestock will be left to Nerulum for Sesta to use in assisting the Lucanians who had joined the Thua Union, while most of the money will be brought back to Thurii, part of it will be use as military funds, and another part of it will be turned over to the treasury, and a small part will be given to the soldiers as rewards. The weapons that they had seized will be donated to the soldiers’ council free of charge.

Philesius then left the second and fourth brigades to guard Nerulum for the time being, and then led the rest of the troops to leave Laos with only 5 days’ worth of rations. Then they came to the entrance of the pass and the whole army stopped and began to build their camp according to the order of Philesius.

Alobamus, who was accompanying him, was surprised.

In the face of Alobamus’s inquiry, Philesius replied truthfully, “The order of the Senate* was, ‘After capturing Laos and Nerulum, the army must build a fortress at the entrance of the mountain pass and send soldiers to guard it in order to prevent the invasion of Lucania in the north in the future. So that even after they encircle Nerulum, they won’t be able to hinder the support of Thua Union to Nerulum and Laos by blocking the mountain road.’”

Alobamus was silent for a moment and asked, “What about the trade and personnel exchanges between Laos and Nerulum in the future….”

“It won’t be affected! They can pass through the fortress without any fee!” Said Philesius affirmatively.

In order not to destroy the good alliance relation that had just been established between Laos and Thua Union, Alobamus had no choice but to express his approval. In fact, both sides understand that building a fortress here and protecting the mountain road connecting to Thurii, is not only for the Thua Union to smoothly support Nerulum in the future against the army of Lucania, but also, if one day, Laos betrays the alliance or there are other abnormalities, the army of Thua Union can still go through the fortress and go straight to the city of Laos. This is an open conspiracy!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Early in the morning, many Lucanians, who wanted to join the Union, and to rent livestock and farmland, have swarmed into the temporary residence of Sesta.

Sesta was very happy to let Bagul and the soldiers of the fourth brigade to maintain the order and act as his interpreters. And the deputies of the census officer and agricultural officer were all prepared.

Household registration, signing, fingerprint….

Writing lease contract, signing, seal….

However, more and more Lucanians came. Not only because of the group effect, but also because of the 《Intermarriage Law》 that Thua Union had announced in order to quickly consolidate the newly occupied Nerulum, which have made some smart Lucanians to realize that they must get the benefits from Thua Union quickly, else the Greeks from Thurii will rob them.

On the northwest of Nerulum is the Lao River, on the other side of the river is a mountain that is not too steep. To the southeast is a narrow and flat valley less than a kilo-meter wide, which leads directly to Laos. Further east, there are continuous and insurmountable mountains, with only one path leading to Thurii. Only in the northeast on the area between the upper reaches of the Lao river and the upper reaches of the Agri river, although the terrain is high, the soil is still fertile and it used to be the settlement of many small tribes, and later fell under the control of Nerulum. The shape of this area is irregular, the terrain is rugged, and part of it is divided by mountains, which is not easy to measure and distribute. Therefore, Bagul suggested to Sesta that the land be divided according to the number of tribes, and the tax will be collected by the chieftains of each tribe. And those Lucanians without tribes will have lands allocated to them separately*. This will save them time and manpower and avoid direct friction and conflict between the Union and the Lucanians of Nerulum. (note: In fact, this situation is relatively rare.)

Sesta agreed with the suggestion of Bagul after he considered the peculiarity of the mountain area in Lucania and the Lucanian tribes.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Just as Sesta was racking his brain on how to govern Nerulum, Davos received an urgent report on the situation on the west, it was the victory of Nerulum and Laos that he had already expected, and the only part of his uneasiness caused by the fact that he did not lead it directly was eliminated. He has repeatedly warned himself that he cannot follow the steps of Napoleon. The Mediterranean is very large, and Thua Union will inevitably encounter many enemies in the future, so he needs more excellent commanders who can independently command operations.

The performance of Sesta in Nerulum was beyond his expectation, however…after handing the papyrus roll over to Aristocrates and asked him, with a slight anger, “What do you think about Sesta allowing the Greek slaves to slaughter the Lucanian captives?”

After he made the decision to let Asistes assist Sesta in governing Nerulum, Davos did not intend to let Asistes return to be his clerk. The young eagle will eventually grow up and fly in the vast sky independently, but he still needs to find another candidate.

Davos remembered Aristocrates, who had faced Plesinas, who had come to demand the return of the slaves that fled to Amendolara. He was able to defend himself calmly and moved the Senate, and so, he sent Aristias to look for him, and turns out, he ends up working in Cheiristoya’s new restaurant in Thurii, and when Aristias told him that Lord Davos needs a secretary*, he readily accepted it. (because the clerk is a public office, and Aristocrates is only a freeman, so he cannot be appointed as one.)

As a result, when Davos came home that night, Cheiristoya complained that he dug people into her own place, and finally carried out her “revenge” and had almost squeezed him dry….

“Milord, I don’t know anything about Nerulum, so I can’t comment about it.” Aristocrates, who had suffered a lot since childhood, was much more cautious than Asistes.

Davos glanced at him, ‘Is this a subtle reminder to me?’

Davos thought for a moment and said slowly, “You are right. About the situation of Nerulum, Sesta knows it better than us. Since he was appointed to manage Nerulum, we should just let him do what he thinks is right…but I didn’t expect that Sesta, who was usually ordinary in normal times, would act so straightforwardly and violently, which is much more fiercer than me!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Because the Senate Hall of Thurii has not yet been completed, the meeting of the Senate in the afternoon was still held in Amendolara.

At the meeting, Davos announced loudly that the Thua Union had successfully captured Nerulum and helped Avinoges recapture Laos.

Although the statesmen had already received the news before the meeting, they still cheered loudly.

Then Davos said passionately, “Everyone, from today on, the Thua Union will now have the territory of Thurii, Amendolara, and Nerulum, and we also have two allies, Roscianum and Laos, who are our main allies. Although Krimisa is still neutral and Poseidonia is still in the hands of the Lucanians, we now have Nerulum. In addition to the shortage of population, and the prosperity of trade and prestige not being enough, but we, Thua Union, has basically restored the territory and allies of Sybaris a hundred years ago, and with this, we will recreate the glory of Sybaris in Magna Graecia once more!”

Chapter 170 – Theonia City-State Union

Sybaris! Although Sybaris has become the laughing stock of the whole Magna Graecia and the negative model of the city-states, it is undeniable that more than a hundred years ago, it was the largest city-state in Magna Graecia, which spanned to the east and west of the Apennine Peninsula and had ruled many city-states, it had shocked many native races such as the Bruttiis, Lucanias, and possessed amazing wealth. At that time, Syracuse was only a small city-state and Taranto and Crotone could only look up to it. Recalling the past glory of Sybaris and reveling in their vision for the future, the statesmen once again cheered with excitement and even exclaimed excitedly, “Let’s cross the Siris river, take Grumentum and take back our Poseidonia!”

When did Poseidonia become ours?! Davos laughed to himself but was glad to see this happen.

At this time, Vespa stood up and asked with concern, “Lord Davos, what’s the situation with Grumentum and the other Lucanians?”

“Because our attack was successful and no one managed to escape, I estimate that the Lucanians in the north are still clueless about it. Sesta is now seizing this moment to stabilize the situation in Nerulum, and with the full assistance of Bagul, a large number of Lucanians and slaves in Nerulum are willing to become our citizens. So now, Sesta and Asistes are busy registering them, distributing land and distributing the livestock for these Lucanians that have joined us, and also strengthening the defense of the city….in addition, Asistes is also building a fortress in Lao river, and they will be able to return in two days. Even if the Lucanians in the north learned about it, they would not be able to attack Nerulum for the time being. According to the information that we had received before, we all know that Pyxous has just had a battle with Grumentum, and due to the rebellion of some chieftains, Lusau, the son of Akpir who occupied the city of Grumentum, was defeated, and had led his people to flee to Potentia, and Potentia sheltered him. Obviously, even if Cincinnag of Pyxous occupied the city of Grumentum, he also had to be careful about the intervention of Potentia. With this, Nerulum is safe for the time being!”

The words of Davos had dispelled some of the statesmen’s worries, and the place became enthusiastic.

However, Cornelius loudly said, “Everyone, there is an important problem which needs to be solved by the Senate!”

Most of the statesmen were taken aback, ‘What is the important problem in this day of victory?’

“Before, we had two cities, Amendolara and Thurii, so we had called it Thua Union. It was simple and clear, and the people understood its meaning as soon as they heard it. But now, there is Nerulum. If we still call it Thua Union, it would not be right!” Said Cornelius earnestly.

The carefulness of Cornelius made the statesmen realize that it was indeed inappropriate. This is tantamount to excluding Nerulum. What will the people of Nerulum think in the future? Moreover, from the perspective of the development trend, the majority of Nerulum will be the Lucanians. So many efforts and a lot of bills have been made just to bring the Lucanians into the Union, this was a long-term plan that was gradually agreed by the statesmen. And just because of a name problem, it may lead to discord and division, and the long-term efforts of the Union will be in vain! This is really an important problem that needs to be solved immediately!

“Then let’s call it the Thurii-Amendolara-Nerulum Union!” The answer of Amintas was simple and clear, but some of the statesmen couldn’t stop themselves from laughing.

“Well, it’s convenient to call it that way. But…what if we manage to take Grumentum? Should we go on to name it Thurii-Amendolara-Nerulum-Grumentum Union?! If this continues…every time we mention the official name of our union in the future, it will take a lot of time!” Said Mersis with exaggeration.

Everyone burst out laughing.

Amintas said angrily, “Mersis, then give us a better name!”

“It’s simple, since we want to restore the glory of Sybaris and regain its amazing wealth….” while saying this, they felt that Mersis was salivating, “We will simply call it New Sybaris!”

As soon as he said this, Kunogelata shook his head in opposition, “This name is not good! This will easily intensify our relationship with Crotone, and it will also make the neighboring city-states feel uneasy!”

Ansitanos agreed, “Yes, when the trade was prosperous, there was competition with many city-states in Magna Graecia, and their relationship was not very good, even the Campania Alliance* to the north of Lucania was hostile to Sybaris. We must not have a stalemate with our neighbors just because of a name!…” (Note: Campania is the alliance of Naples)

As a historian, Ansitanos’ words had naturally won the attention and recognition of the statesmen. Many old statesmen have already thought of a good name, but it may cause discontent among the neighbors, and could only swallow it back to their stomachs, such as Antonios’ “The Magna Graecia Union”. At this time, the statesmen found that it was not easy to choose a name. They should not only let it contain a certain meaning but must also represent all the cities in the union. At the same time, they should consider the future development and the relationship with neighboring city-states. Some of the statesmen pondered and discussed it quietly, while some just simply turned their gaze to Davos….

“It’s not easy to choose a name, but I have thought of one and all of you will definitely like it!” Someone said confidently.

It was Plesinas.

“Say it!” At the urging of the statesmen, Plesinas said it slowly, word by word, we will call it Theonia City-State Union!“”

When the statesmen with only a bit of culture like Amintas were still pondering over the meaning of the name, many of them then turned to look at Davos once more.

Davos did not expect it. He really ignored the issue of the union’s name before. When everyone was thinking about a name, he was also thinking about it, but he did not expect that Plesinas would manage to repeatedly surprise him. The name of Davos means “Son of God”. Some of the people in the Union think that the name of the Archon was given by the gods, otherwise, how could his parents know whether their children will become the favored of Hades, or is his descendant! And “Theos” refers to god, and the name “Theonia” means the land of god. Therefore, the two names “Theonia” and “Davos” are closely related. (T/N: We are not sure if the fact besides “Theos” is correct.)

Before Davos could make a statement, Marigi has already exclaimed, “Good name! Good name! The Greeks have a tradition of naming the city-states with the names of the gods, just like Poseidonia, that was mentioned earlier, as well as Athens that we all know of….our Union have been blessed by Hades for many times, that had made us win against forces that outnumbered us, to defeat the strong, and develop so rapidly in just a short time! To thank Hades, the symbol of our Union is Hades, and the flag of our army is Hades, and we are also building a temple for him, but that is still not enough! The people of the whole Union deserve his blessing, so the name ‘Theonia’ is just right! I believe that with it, the development of our Union will be much more faster!….”

Having a Persian talk about gods and blessings of the Greeks seems strange. However, the statesmen here are all listening very carefully. Some of them have already nodded their approval. Due to the troops going on a campaign, a lot of the former mercenary statesmen who firmly supported Davos are missing, without these people cheering, the place was a bit quiet.

Davos looked around, and his gaze fell on Cornelius and Kunogelata, “The two praetor, what do you think of this name?”

Cornelius bowed his head and said, “I have no objection.”

Kunogelata glanced at Plesinas, then looked at Davos and said, “I totally agree. This is a good name!”

“Then we shall call it Theonia City-State Union!” Davos calmly made the final decision.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At the end of the meeting, Davos went out together with the statesmen, but he did not deliberately talk to Plesinas.

Just after leaving the Senate hall, all the statesmen were surprised: In front of the Senate hall of Amendolara, were a lot of people standing densely, which extended to the foot of the mountain. Among them were the wives who had lost their husbands in the hands of the Lucanians, the elderly who had lost their children, the children who had lost their fathers, the hundreds and thousands of Thurians that are suffering from their phobia due to the Lucanians, and the Amendolarans who were worried about the situation of the war at the front line (almost all the families of the soldiers on the campaign are in Amendolara)…at this moment, they all stood still and when they saw Davos and the others come out, no one knew who shouted it first, but it was then followed by a roar like a tsunami, “ALL HAIL THUA UNION!!!”

“LONG LIVE THE SENATE!!!”

“LONG LIVE LORD DAVOS”

“THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU….”

Everyone was cheering heartily with tears in their eyes…this was years of humiliation getting cleared! This was a comfort from having their hatred settled! This was a joy from being no longer afraid from now on!

The Thua Union that was led by Davos had captured Nerulum, which had solved the troubles of Thurii for many years. The people’s sincere gratitude had infected all the statesmen. At this moment, they all felt the pride of being a part of the Senate of Thua Union, just as Davos had said, ‘We must lead the people to create a prosperous and powerful Theonia City-state Union! And making the Theonian, no matter which city-state in the Mediterranean, be proud to claim that they are citizens of Theonia, and that no foreign forces dare to invade Theonia!’

Naturally, Teratus saw this magnificent and moving spectacle, no matter how he felt in his heart, the message that he sent back to the city hall of Crotone was brief, ‘The Thua Union has captured Nerulum, and Laos has become its ally.’

The strategoi of Crotone, such as Milo and Lysias, and the members of the council were surprised. Less than a year after the arrival of the mercenaries that were led by Davos to Magna Graecia, the high winning rate of the battles that they had led made them feel dread.

Chapter 171 – Meeting Timasion

After a discussion, they decided to first observe the development of the situation. After all, the Greeks leaving the seaside to occupy the mountains of the indigenous people, has no successful precedent in the history of Greek colonization of the western Mediterranean. Even if Thua Union captured Nerulum, how will they suppress the resistance in a mountainous area full of Lucanians? That is the big question.

At the same time, the city hall decided to send merchant ships to establish trade relations with Pyxous as much as possible, to keep up to date of the developments in Lucania.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ephesus, located on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor, is a famous city of the kingdom of Lydia. It was said that Ephesus was built by the Athenian colonists around 900 B.C. after hundreds of years of development, it, along with Miletus in the south and Samos, became the three most dazzling pearls among the Greek city-states in Asia Minor.

At the center of the triangle formed by the three prosperous city-states is mount Mykale, on which there is a sanctuary “Panionium”, which means the sanctuary of all the Ionians. It was once the place where the Greeks of Asia Minor gathered to celebrate their alliance. Although it has lost its former glory, it is still a place where the Greeks of Asia Minor often go to worship. At the same time, the influence of another temple is increasing day by day. This is the temple of Artemis, the masterpiece built in Ephesus.

A hundred years ago, when Ephesus was still attached to Lydia, it had become the trade center of Asia Minor. Citizens of various city-states flocked to Ephesus. After they finished doing their business and work, they would naturally pay homage to the temple for spiritual comfort. As a result, the Ephesians found that the original altar could no longer meet the demand, and the believers often had conflicts in order to occupy a good place to pray. Therefore, the construction of a temple became a top priority. At that time, the rich king of Lydia, Croesus, donated generously (this king, who later donated a large sum of money to Delphi to seek the Oracle, and was misled into fighting with Persia and finally perished.) And a new temple was built on the original crude location of the altar, and the most famous architect and sculptors at that time were invited to design the temple.

The temple that was built is 100 meters long and 55 meters wide, with 127 huge columns of 18 meters high supporting the huge roof of the temple. The whole temple was basically made of huge stones with a length of 5~8 meters high, which is magnificent and heavy. In the temple, the bronze statue of Artemis is 2 meters high, with a crown on her head and a bow in her hand, she had a kind face and a vivid expression. There is no roof above her, so the believers can look up to the sky and be together with the goddess in the temple….

After the completion of the temple of Artemis, it soon became another holy land for the Greeks in Asia Minor. Even though the destruction of the kingdom of Lydia and the outbreak of the Peloponnesian war and many other events happened successively, it did not diminish its status. And there are still an endless stream of Greeks who came to worship every day for hundreds of years.

On this day, a brawny Greek came to the temple in a hurry. He looked around and went straight along with the crowd to the temple’s entrance.

The temple is too big, and the steps alone consist of dozens of steps. After climbing the steps, he was a bit short of breath even though he is physically trained.

“Timasion!” He heard a familiar voice shouting in front of him.

As he went along the flow of people, a man in purple chiton stood at the entrance of the temple and waved at him.

“Agasias?!” Timasion walked towards this man, who had a seemingly extraordinary bearing, in disbelief.

“Call me lord Agasias! I am now a statesman of the Senate of Thua Union!” Agasias shook his sleeve, which exposed his left hand, then gently held his sleeve*, (this is the so-called aristocratic action often performed by the statesmen of Thurii in their meeting.) jokingly.

“You really have become a…master of a city-state?!” Timasion looked at him and asked in a trembling voice.

“Not just a city-state, but a master of two city-states!” Agasias held out two fingers and carefully explained, “Davos is the archon for life of these two city-states!”

“The archon for life?! This is hard to believe….” Murmured Timasion, it must be known that it has only been more than half a year, and the memory of their parting from Davos was still very clear, and yet now, there is a big difference between himself and Davos!

“I am telling the truth! If you don’t believe me, Artemis can be the witness. I will go inside and pledge an oath to her!” Said Agasias seriously, while pointing to the temple behind him.

Timasion shook his head and looked at Agasias thoughtfully, “I believe you! What do you want that you have come all the way here to see me?”

“Although we have successfully changed our status, we have not forgotten our comrades, who had brave countless dangers together!” Agasias held out his hand and said sincerely, “Archon Davos had sent me to invite you to Magna Graecia!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Thimbron has been holding his anger back lately.

Since the time he was sent to Asia Minor by the Gerousia(Spartan council of elders) as the harmost of Asia Minor, he had led the army against Tissaphernes, the Satrap of Asia Minor, and had captured many Persian cities. And had forced Tissaphernes to not dare attack the Greek city-states in Asia Minor, and had thought that he had done a great job for Sparta, but because he had encountered some difficulties when besieging Larissa, and had failed to attain victory after a few months, and had instead, suffered some small losses, and in the end, that damned inspector had actually asked him to give up Larissa and attack the Kairan area instead! He was indignant; however, he didn’t dare to not obey.

Since the end of the Peloponnesian war, Lysander had gained great prestige because of him defeating the Athenian navy. In order to strengthen his power, he had put forward a number of bills to the Gerousia and had it passed. One of them was to expand the power of the inspector, so that these civilian-born inspectors could go out with the army and find faults, whether they were ordinary strategoi or kings, and to question them any time. If the problem is serious, they can also propose to the Gerousia for punishment.

So Thimbron was then forced to return to Ephesus, where he was going to rest for a while, and then set out to attack Kaira. However, within a few days, he had received bad news: Several Greek city-states in Asia Minor had sent messengers to Sparta, accusing him of allowing his soldiers to plunder the allies of Sparta in Asia Minor.

At first, he was angry and threw all the valuable statues in the living room, and then he was worried about the gain and loss because what the messengers of Asia Minor had complained about was true. At the beginning, he brought 5,300 soldiers to Asia Minor, including a thousand liberated Helots, 4,000 other Peloponnesian people, and 300 Athenian cavalries. After arriving in Asia Minor, with the help of the allies, many soldiers were recruited, and most of them were mercenaries who had participated in the expedition to Persia with Cyrus the Younger, which made his troops reach 15,000 soldiers. However, there was hardly any real Spartan soldier in this huge troop, and the salaries of so many soldiers cannot be sustained for a long time with only the donations of the Greek city-states of Asia Minor. Therefore, it is inevitable to plunder the occupied Persian cities and territories. However, when the troops passed through their allies, the mercenaries who had become accustomed to plundering couldn’t control their limbs, and started looting their compatriots’ property, which had happened frequently. Thimbron, however, did not use military discipline to restrain them, and had instead thought that, ‘Since we are fighting hard for you, it is proper to have you pay a price!’

And now, the revenge of the Greeks in Asia Minor is coming.

That night, Thimbron couldn’t sleep.

The next day, the inspector, Cheirisophus, came over and told him coldly, “Thimbron, the Gerousia has sent Dercylidas to take over your position, and you have to go back to Sparta for a trial! You must stay in this house for now, and you are not allowed to leave until Dercylidas arrives!”

Thimbron sat down and watched as Cheirisophus arranged soldiers to guard his door. He couldn’t restrain himself from shouting, “Don’t worry, I won’t run away like Clearchus! Even if I go back to Sparta for a trial, I will be acquitted!”

Without looking at him, Cheirisophus replied, “I hope so!”

Cheirisophus came out of Thimbron’s house and was finally relieved. For the Gerousia to investigate Thimbron, he is very welcome, because he was the one behind it.

The reason for why he did this was because he knew very well that Sparta had made great determination and had spent a lot of money to fight against Persia, which includes strategic considerations. The radical faction in Sparta that was led by Lysander, believed that they should go out of the narrow Greek territory and extend their influence to the more vast and rich Asia Minor, defeat the Persians, and become the patron of the Greek city-states of Asia Minor, and then become the hegemon of the eastern Mediterranean and fulfill the dream of the Spartans from generation to generation. It was precisely because Cheirisophus had traveled with the expeditionary forces to the interior of Persia, and had seen the vast and rich Mesopotamian plain, that he was in favor of the radicals and deeply understood the hard work of Lysander. But Thimbron was a pure Spartan soldier, he did not think anything except fighting and killing. He attacked the Persians while conniving at the soldiers plundering their allies. And so, the allies in Asia Minor had complained about Thimbron’s troops and began to feel dissatisfied with Sparta.

Seeing that more than half a year’s effort would be in vain, Cheirisophus had admonished Thimbron several times, but Thimbron first pretended to listen, but did not carry it out. Later, he just simply refused to listen.

In desperation, Cheirisophus secretly encouraged the allies in Asia Minor to file a complaint in Sparta, and now, his goal has been achieved. As for the coming Dercylidas, he has always been known for his resourcefulness. He is a Spartan strategos who can think with his head, and Cheirisophus believes that he will not make the same mistake as Thimbron and will cooperate well with himself.

Chapter 172 – The worries of Cheirisophus

Cheirisophus’ good mood continued until Thimbron’s adjutant came to him.

“What are you talking about?! All the soldiers had run away?!!!” Cheirisophus was so surprised that his first reaction was whether Thimbron played a trick.

“Not all of them, just those who had participated in the expedition of Cyrus the younger! After returning to Ephesus, the troops were stationed outside the city, because…because of the investigation of Thimbron, I have not visited the camp these days….” Said the adjutant carefully, “It wasn’t until you asked me to act as Thimbron’s replacement for the time being…that I then decided to gather the whole army for a lecture to prevent the soldiers from feeling uneasy about Thimbron being transferred. As a result, I found that there were more than 3,000 soldiers missing….”

‘More than 3,000 soldiers!’ Cheirisophus took a deep breath, ‘This is not a small amount! Once Dercylidas arrived at Ephesus and found that the number of troops he was going to lead was greatly reduced, then he would probably blame himself for not handling Thimbron well, leading to the fluctuation of the morale of the military.’

“Is it because Thimbron had connived at their plundering and was afraid of getting punished?” It’s no wonder that Cheirisophus had asked this, because he knew so much about the mercenaries that went on the expedition with Cyrus the Younger.

“No.” The adjutant’s reply relieved him a bit and made him curious.

“When I found out about this, I immediately blocked the camp and started an investigation. I quickly learned the truth from the mercenaries who had participated in the expedition with Cyrus the Younger.” The adjutant then showed a strange expression, “They had ran away because of a rumor!”

“Rumor?”

“Yes. Recently, there is a rumor circulating outside the city, it is said that ‘another group of mercenaries who had participated in the Persian expedition together with these mercenaries had gone to Magna Graecia, under the leadership of a leader named Davos. They defeated the barbarians there and established a union there called Thua Union, and had become the archon of the Union, and the mercenaries who had followed him had become the citizens of the city-state, and were given land. While the officers of the mercenary became…uhm…nobles, one after another, and had taken high positions….’ These simple-minded mercenaries thought that this was real. So many of them had wanted to go to Magna Graecia and share the benefits of their former comrades. But I heard them say that this man named Davos, had only split up with them for only less than half a year. How could he have done so many things? This is obviously a lie!” When the adjutant finished speaking, he saw Cheirisophus frowning and was deep in thought.

“Where did these rumors come from?” Cheirisophus asked seriously.

“It seems that it came from the port market in Ephesus, after they had gone to buy some goods.”

“Are the leaders of the mercenaries still there?” Cheirisophus once more asked.

“Besides Xenophon, the other leaders like Timasion, Xanticles, Cleanor…had all run away. Some soldiers had stayed because Xenophon had convinced them….”

“Send someone to the council of Ephesus and ask them to send a patrol to block the port immediately. You can also send some troops to help. If you find any deserters, then arrest them immediately and escort them back to the camp! At the same time, inform the neighboring cities with ports to take the same measures!” Cheirisophus made a quick decision.

“What to do with the mercenaries that have been captured?”

“In front of the whole army, set an example by having the officers and leaders-” Cheirisophus coldly made a gesture of beheading.

After seeing off the adjutant, Cheirisophus’ emotion fluctuated and could not be calmed. The escape of the mercenaries had started a few days ago, and only taking measure now is already a bit late. It seems that while sending Thimbron back to Sparta, he would need to also write a letter to the Gerousia to explain the situation here. Otherwise, when Dercylidas finds out and asks about this matter, he will be passive! ‘Ah…Xenophon should’ve known about this early, why did he not inform me?!’

Cheirisophus then thought about how Xenophon had a good relationship with many of the leaders during their expedition to Persia, especially Davos. He was able to persuade the soldiers to stay was already his consideration to Sparta.

Davos!…half a year later, hearing this familiar and also unfamiliar name again, made a clear image of the extremely young mercenary leader to appear in his mind. For Davos, he had always regretted that he had failed to keep him in Sparta.

He remembered that when he came back to Sparta to report on his previous experience, he met Anaxibius, the former commander of the navy, who had come back from his post. When he had asked him about Davos, Anaxibius asked back blankly, ‘Davos? who?’ He had wished that he could have slapped him on the spot, due to him forgetting all the things that he had repeatedly told him, and had let Sparta to miss this Greek military genius. Later, as he helped Thimbron settle Asia Minor, he had become busier, and so he had forgotten about him temporarily. Unexpectedly, he heard his name again. This unforgettable young man has already made a position in Magna Graecia?! If this is indeed true, then it is amazing! But it also shows that he did not misread the person at all! I just don’t know if he has anything to do with this desertion. I hope that it is not his instigation, else the Gerousia will definitely send someone to investigate it!

It is just that Davos has now taken root in Magna Graecia and he obviously won’t consider joining Sparta anymore. What a pity….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Xenophon actually knew more than what Cheirisophus had guessed. He even knew that Timasion went to the temple of Artemis in Ephesus to meet Agasias, and only after receiving his promise did he return to the camp and encourage the soldiers to go to Thua Union.

Xenophon had also received the invitation of Agasias. He was really surprised by the fact that Davos had become the archon for life of two city-states in Magna Graecia. He was also curious about how Davos achieved such a brilliant achievement in just half a year! Both of them are young men, one is a rural man from the edge of Greek civilization, while the other is an elite trained by Athens, the center of Greek culture. Now, the “rural man” had already mastered the supreme power of two city-states, but the elite was still fighting for survival in a foreign land. To say that he was envious and jealous, Xenophon must have it in his heart. But he refused to leave here just to start a new life in the unfamiliar Magna Graecia.

It wasn’t because of his self-esteem, but as an Athenian, Xenophon had always believed that Athens was the center of the world. After experiencing defeat in the Peloponnesian War, the expedition of Cyrus the Younger and the battle with Sparta in Asia Minor, seeing the vast territory and political corruption of Persia, the weakness of Greek city-states in Asia Minor and the military tyranny of the Spartans. Why couldn’t an economically prosperous Athens and a military powerful Sparta join hands to lead the divided and struggling Greek city-states to defeat Persia, which has always been hostile to Greece, and create a new era for the Greeks?!

For this ideal, he was willing to continue to fight in this unfamiliar land and cooperate closely with the Spartans who he had long been interested in. Therefore, although he did not report Timasion because of their relationship as comrades for more than two years, he had also prevented more soldiers from leaving. He was also relieved to learn that the Spartan commander was about to change, because he also thinks that Thimbron was not a qualified harmost of Asia Minor, even though he had kept winning battles.

He wrote down the events that happened in the past few days. But the event when Timasion and the others left the military camp and went to Thua Union, he hesitated for a moment, but he still decided not to write it down. It was not out of confidentiality, but he always adhered to his principle that the eastern Mediterranean is the focus of his work. And the western Mediterranean is far away from the center of civilization, so it is not worth much attention.

After that, he packed up his drafts and decided to go to Cheirisophus to have a good discussion. He had some ideas and suggestions on how to manage these mercenaries and prevent their morale from drifting.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After the construction of the fortress (The fortress is an enhanced version of a military camp), Philesius left a centuria to guard it and then led the rest of the third and seventh brigade back to Thurii.

Davos went to meet them outside the city and delivered a passionate speech to the soldiers. After that, the troops were disbanded, and the soldiers went home. On the other hand, Philesius came to the house of Davos and told him in detail the process of capturing Nerulum and Laos, as well as the general situation of Nerulum.

After listening carefully, Davos asked, “Do the soldiers of the first centuria of the second and third brigade have any dissatisfaction with staying in Nerulum for about ten days?”

“Not for the time being.” Replied Philesius, “Since you, Milord, have promulgated a new plan for the distribution of spoils, with having the soldiers that remained to get more. I think they are very happy.”

Davos nodded and sighed, “We are not like Persia that have their soldiers supported by their state and are especially responsible for fighting and can carry out combat tasks for a long time. Five days is the limit of our Union soldiers in a volunteer battle. If it exceeds this time, we will have to prepare food for the soldiers. Moreover, if the time is too long, it will delay their farming and earning money. And we can’t let the citizens who fought for our Union to get poorer and poorer. Therefore, the distribution of spoils is not only for this time! I hope that after you get back to work, you and Mersis can discuss a long-term plan for the distribution of spoils, with having three priorities.

First, the families of the soldiers who are killed in the war must be given preferential treatment. Second, the troops and soldiers who have made outstanding achievements in the war must be given preferential treatment. Third, the troops and soldiers who undertake the most arduous combat mission must be given preferential treatment….what is more, in future campaigns, we may also involve our allied forces for a joint operation. Therefore, this must be taken into consideration when formulating strategic distribution plans, and a fair and equitable distribution must be achieved!”

Chapter 173 – The Visit of Davos (I)

“I understand. I will go and discuss it with Mersis tomorrow.” Nodded Philesius.

“Mersis is a miser, he may want to save more money to the treasury, so you must stick to your principle.” Said Davos half-jokingly.

“Then I will take Amintas and Matonis tomorrow.” Said Philesius seriously, then they both laughed.

Taking advantage of the happy mood, Philesius carefully put forward his own idea, “Milord, since one can get a salary when holding a public office, shouldn’t one also get some salary if they couldn’t go home due to the need to serve for a long time in war time?”

“Heh, you, the military officer, have begun to learn to get benefits for your own department.” Davos pointed to him and said with a smile.

Philesius replied with a smile, “If not, the soldiers will blame me for not fulfilling my duties during my term.”

“According to reason, it should be. I remember someone had said, ‘The sailors in Athens are paid two obols a day, and the hoplites are four obols…’” Recalled Davos.

“It is indeed the case, milord.”

Davos sighed, “But that is Athens, one of the wealthiest city-state in Mediterranean, and so they could afford it. While the Theonian Union couldn’t. There are currently less than 200 civil servants, but the treasury could only barely afford their salary. While there are thousands or even tens of thousands of soldiers to go on a campaign, even if one soldier only gets one obol a day, if you calculate it, how much money do we have to pay every day! The reconstruction of Thurii and the salary of the civil servant have already made Mersis unable to stand it anymore, if you were to mention this, I’m afraid that he will fight you desperately.”

Davos laughed then said with certainty, “But once the Union is rich in the future, you can rest assured that I will not let the soldiers that go on a campaign suffer losses!”

Although it was only the verbal promise of Davos, Philesius knew that this is certain. It is not only because Davos had already kept his word, but also because Philesius had worked with Davos for a long time, so he deeply knew that Davos is a man with great ambition, and an army that can’t conduct prolonged war won’t be able to fulfill his ambition.

“How is the military disciple of the troops in Nerulum?” Asked Davos.

“It’s not bad. There was no conflict with the Lucanians of Nerulum.” Philesius laughed, “Of course, it has something to do with the triumphant return that you will hold for them. They are afraid of violating the military disciple and not being able to attend the ceremony.”

“A soldier with a sense of honor is a good citizen!” Sighed Davos, thinking of those comrades of his that had gone on an expedition to Persia together, and are now coming. Hoping that they, who were accustomed to plunder and being unrestrained would not cause too much trouble in the Theonian Union.

Suppressing the concern that had just emerged in his heart, he looked at Philesius, “Are you ready to face the public?”

“I….” The gentle mannered man, who had spent half of his life in the battlefield, seemed nervous and shy.

“Hey, there is nothing to be nervous about. You are not the only one who will go there, there are also Drakos, Epiphanes, and Hieronymus! You need to show the image of our Theonian strategoi to the people of the Union and let them know that only by fighting bravely for the Union can they enjoy such lofty honor!” Said Davos solemnly, while he patted Philesius on the shoulder.

Philesius understood the significance of this triumphant return for the army, so he was unable to make himself relax.

Davos had to change the topic, “By the way, Bagul and the fourth brigade are also going to participate in this triumphant return, so we have to let the first brigade go to Nerulum to replace them for a few days.”

Davos then thoughtfully said, “After that, the soldiers of Bagul’s fourth brigade will settle in Nerulum. In this way, they can defend Nerulum, which will also save us on military expenses… However, the military quality of the fourth brigade is far from meeting our requirements, so we must send some instructors in turn to carry out strict training….”

Seeing that Philesius hesitated to speak, he asked in doubt, “Are you anxious about the fourth brigade?”

“No, I am not anxious about the fourth brigade. Bagul is a good leader, and he is also the son-in-law of the Greeks, and most of his soldiers believed in him, and the sisters of these Lucanian warriors are basically married to our citizens. So, in our Union, in particular, the Greek citizens of Amendolara and the Lucanians have a very close relationship. Therefore, during the campaign, the fourth brigade has been very proactive in cooperating with the other brigades!” praised Philesius, “I just want to ask you, Milord, how to solve the problem of the Lao Fortress, in which we would need to have soldiers stationed there for a long time?” There is no such profession as a soldier in the Theonia Union, so it is impossible for the soldiers to leave their livelihood and stay there for a long time.

In Philesius’ opinion, this is a difficult problem, but Davos had already thought of a solution, “We will have the preparatory citizens to take turns, this can be regarded as an assessment content that they must carry out to become an official citizen of the Union. At the same time, the veterans are also allowed to serve as instructors and officers in the Lao Fortress to manage and train them. In this way, Lao Fortress will be regarded as a military training base of the Union. First, to train the preparatory citizens to be qualified soldiers. Second, train the veterans to become qualified reserve officers. Third, with this, Lao Fortress will be garrisoned for a long time….”

Davos spoke after a great deliberation, “The Lao Fortress controls the main road from Thurii to Laos and to Lucania, and I believe that this road will soon be busy with the rapid increase of merchants. Think about it. Instead of going through the Strait of Messana and accepting the exploitation of Messana and Rhegium, the caravan can now reach the port of Laos on the west coast of the Apennine Peninsula directly by land. And Laos is our ally, which will give preferential tariff. Therefore, this is very attractive to Greek merchants. In addition, as long as we can stabilize the situation in Lucania, some Lucanian goods, such as fur, cattle, sheep….and so on., can also attract the attention of the merchants. Therefore, we can collect a very small percentage of tariff at the Lao fortress, without damaging the enthusiasm of the merchants, and will also allow the union to use this money to buy food and supplies for the garrison. At the same time, it should be more than enough to pay a certain amount of living expenses to the soldiers who were unable to work for two ~ three months….”

At first, the business content that Davos talked about had made Philesius felt dizzy. It wasn’t until Davos mentioned the garrison troops of Lao Fortress that Philesius understood that the food and salary of the garrison troops could be easily solved by collecting taxes. This simple solution of Davos had made Philesius admire him more.

“So, it will take about three days to get to Nerulum from Thurii via the mountain road?” Davos suddenly asked.

“Yes, Milord. We started out at a relatively fast pace, even so, it still took us three day, and if we were to march at normal speed, it will take about four days.” Replied Philesius.

“I am afraid that it will take more time if there are more loaded carts.” Davos tapped his finger on the chair’s armrest and muttered to himself, “So it is necessary to put it on agenda the building of a road between Thurii-Nerulum-Laos. It is best to build the road of the three cities at the same time, so as to connect Thurii and Lucania, and strengthen the connection and enhance their integration….”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Three days later, Davos suggested for him to go to Nerulum on the Senate.

Some statesmen tried to dissuade him from going there at this time, due to the instability of the political situation in Nerulum.

Davos replied firmly, “Hence why I am going to Nerulum, to make it more stable!” Which finally convinced the Senate.

The group that will travel to Nerulum includes more than a dozen statesmen who hold no public position, such as Vespa, Scambras, Tritodemos, and so on. and were escorted by the officers and soldiers of the first brigade. At the same time, the first brigade is also going there to temporarily replace the fourth brigade stationed in Nerulum, so that they can come back to participate in the triumphant return. In addition, there are also the families of the soldiers of the fourth brigade, and some merchants of the Union.

Heracleides the Younger has been recently busy thinking about how to build a wooden bridge over the Crati river. Finally, he got some ideas, and was about to start the construction experiment. However, he was forced by Davos to join, so that he could inspect the place where he would build the road connecting Thurii-Nerulum-Laos.

Heracleides the Younger did not have his father’s stubbornness, and Davos was also kind to him, so he put aside his work for the time being and went to Nerulum together with Davos. But once he enters his working state, his degree of concentration can make him ignore the bad environment around him and even the identity of the people that were with him.

“In this mountain, there are a lot of sharp rocks on the ground, which must be polished off. This will undoubtedly increase the workload and slow down the speed of the road construction.”

“You see, there are also a lot of drifting soil on the mountain wall. Once it rains, it may be washed down and block the road. Therefore, it must be fixed with mortar, and the small trees growing on the cliff must be cut down!”

“This section of the mountain road is too narrow for even a cart to pass through, so it must be widened!…hmmm, I think that we can burn this large bulging part of the mountain and pour cold water on it, to have it burst. But be careful not to burn the forest!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos and the statesmen gathered around Heracleides the Younger like a student, listening to him observe and analyze how to build the mountain road. Naturally, the speed of the whole group would not move too fast.

In the evening, the whole group could only sleep on the mountain road in the open air, and the guard team and the first brigade arranged the warning lines and sentries.

For the family members of the fourth brigade, the mountains are their home. After a year of being away, they finally returned to this familiar land, and their breathing became much smoother. They lay on the ground with ease and soon fell asleep.

While most of the soldiers of the first brigade have travelled to Persia, so they had most commonly camp in the field.

And the merchants travel around, and for profit, they can bear anything.

Chapter 174 – The Visit of Davos (II)

For the Amendolaran statesmen like Scambras, they felt that this is nothing compared with the calamity of getting imprisoned for half a year.

Only the statesmen of Thurii who listened to the howling of all kinds of wild animals in the mountain and thinking about the insects and ants that drills out of the soil have their hair stands on end. However, the Archon had taken the lead in sleeping on the ground wrapped in a woolen blanket. They toss and turn, but found it hard to fall asleep. Then they heard the voice of the Lucanian statesman, Vespa, “Milord, I…I would like to ask…now that we had taken Nerulum, does our Union intend to continue our attack northward?”

His voice, though small, was very clear in the dark.

The Thurian statesmen, who couldn’t sleep, couldn’t stop from saying, “Capturing Nerulum is to prevent the Lucanians from attacking Thurii, and it’s impossible to attack the north. You see, the mountain road is so difficult to trek which will make it very difficult to transport food. In addition, we are not familiar with the terrain in the north. The mountains are rugged and uneven, so our hoplites can’t be deployed and it is easy to be ambushed by the Lucanians. I don’t want to see the…tragedy of the army of Thurii being wiped out by the Lucanians…be repeated…”

Listening to the voice of the statesman, Davos recognized that it was Enanilus. His family was famous for its shipbuilding, and he once owned two shipyards in the port of Thurii and could skillfully build a Trireme. Unfortunately, it was completely damaged when the Crotonians burned the city. Now, the shipyard is currently being rebuilt. One of his younger brothers had died in the battle when the army of Thurii attacked Laos.

“Enanilus is right. We are not ready to attack the north. We currently need to have a firm foothold in Nerulum first. Then we need to let the Lucanians of Nerulum to gradually integrate into the Union, and we need to let more Lucanian tribes in the north to acknowledge our Union. All these will take time.”

What Davos had said made Vespa feel relieved. He was afraid that Davos would be impulsive after taking Nerulum and would continue to attack northward. Then his tribe would have been the one in the lead, and their losses would have been heavy.

However, Enanilus understood the meaning of the words of Davos, “Milord, listening to what you had just said. Are we going to attack the Lucanian region north of Nerulum in the future?”

“Of course. When the news of victory got transmitted back to Thurii, didn’t you all shouted to defeat all the Lucanians? I even remember someone had said to even take Poseidonia!” Said Davos smilingly.

“That’s what I had said.” Another voice sounded, and through the bonfire, Davos recognized the one who had spoken was Marsyas.

Marsyas sat up next to Enanilus and said with embarrassment, “At that time, it was on impulse. After trekking this road today, I now know why the army of Thurii…their annihilation was not only due to the negligence of the commander, but also related to the bad environment here…” The family of Marsyas made a fortune by mining. Before Crotone attacked Thurii, his family had more than a thousand mining slave, and were contracted by the city-state to quarry. After the end of the war, they only have no more than 50 slaves left. Now, they mainly undertake the grinding and carving work of some stone materials in the temples, the Senate Hall, and the Grand Square.

Davos noticed that most of the statesmen have woken up and gathered around, so he said with seriousness, “What impulse? Why can’t we attack the north and take Poseidonia and Pyxous?! We need to have our own port city on the west coast, after all, Laos is only our ally. With them our maritime trade will be more convenient and the revenue of our treasury will be greatly increased. Pyxous and Poseidonia also have better ports, but because of the ethnic relationship, the Lucanians did not put it to good use, but our Union can easily do it. Isn’t that right, Lord Enanilus?”

“Yes, Lord Davos. But….” Enanilus was still hesitant to say whether this would be too risky.

Davos then turned his head to Vespa, “I heard that there are a few small iron mines in the Lucania region, right?”

“Indeed, there are. They are mainly distributed in the mountains between Potentia and Grumentum.” Vespa then added with pride, “That is why the Lucanians can make armors and short swords, and are not like those Bruttians who only have crude spears.”

“If there are iron ores, then there may be other minerals, such as copper, tin, lead…that we might discover in the future, coupled with the wood, fur, livestock and so on., with these, the Lucanian mountains also contain great wealth, isn’t that right? Marsyas.” The night has covered the meaningful smile on the face of Davos.

“Y…yes!” Marsyas’ voice became a bit agitated.

“The most important thing is that we, Greeks, love the sea so much that as a result, we have built our cities along the coastline, which, although beneficial to the acquisition of the wealth in the sea, are also vulnerable to an attack and not good in defense. The Union should vigorously advance inland, expand our living space and integrate with Lucania. In this way, even in the event of a very strong enemy invasion and we couldn’t defend the coastal city, we can still retreat to the mountains. With the Lucanian citizens as the backing, the mountain area is our home. We can attack any enemy who dares to attack the mountain area rashly, and finally defeat the powerful enemy!”

At the end of Davos’ warning words, there was no one to respond. Only a rapid breathing could be heard, and finally, after a long time, someone asked, “Milord, do you think that we will encounter a strong enemy?”

“Currently, isn’t Crotone a powerful enemy? A hundred years ago, Sybaris was powerful in Magna Graecia, didn’t they also attract the enemies’ attack?! Didn’t the powerful Athens also suffer the attack of the Peloponnesian alliance?! When a city-state is strong, other cities will try their best to hinder its development or even overthrow it, either because of fear or because they have challenged its status! This is a troubled time, so we must try our best to strengthen ourselves, or we will be like the former Thurii, the defeat in a battle will make it decline….”

The people around him, especially the statesmen of Thurii, were lost in thoughts….

“Why don’t we attack Grumentum now?! We all know that there was a battle between Grumentum and Pyxous, and both sides have suffered heavy losses. Now is a good opportunity to attack it!” When Scambras accepted the ideas of Davos, he immediately became a bit radical.

“If two brothers in a family are fighting, and an outsider comes in and steals things. Do you think the two brothers will continue to fight, or will they join forces to kill the outsider first?” Asked Davos.

“You mean our attack will make the Lucanians unite against us?” Scambras responded immediately.

“Yes, it is very likely!”

“But we have already entered the home of the Lucanians!” Protesilaus used this metaphor and continued.

Davos replied calmly, “Yes, but we can tell them, ‘we are retaliating for what they have stolen from us last time, and we will only take that and won’t take more. We can also sign an agreement with them to stop stealing within a certain period of time, as long as we have Nerulum, it is enough.’ Even if they have doubts, they will choose to believe it, because compared with the Greeks, who are not very interested in the harsh mountainous areas, their hostile cousins are more threatening. Once defeated, the whole tribe will be swallowed up and their families will become slaves. In order to defeat the opponent early and concentrate on driving us away, what will they do?”

Protesilaus’ eyes lit up and said loudly, “The battle between them will become more intense!”

“In this way, there will be more tribes in Lucania who will become poor because of the war….” When Davos said this, he thought of something and said apologetically, “Lord Vespa, I hope you can understand me.”

With a bitter look on his face, he could only shake his head bitterly and said in a low voice, “It’s common to have wars among tribes here.”

“Yes, these weak tribes had no choice before, but now they have. On the one hand, to win the war, the big tribe will ferociously exploit them. On the other hand is Nerulum with its peaceful life, who they will choose is obvious.” Davos sincerely asked Vespa, “In order to unify Lucania as soon as possible, so that this mountain region will no longer kill each other, I hope that Lord Vespa, after you arrive at Nerulum, you can walk among the tribes and tell them that our Union is friendly to the Lucanians, in order for them to understand us and are more willing to join us….”

Vespa was silent for a moment and squeezed out a sentence, “I’ll try my best!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At noon the next day, the group finally walked out of the mountain road and arrived at the Lao Fortress.

After carefully inspecting the situation of the Lao Fortress, Davos praised the soldiers of the first centuria of the second brigade for being able to defend the Lao Fortress with diligence and had completed the final defense mission, and announced that at the end of his visit to Nerulum and returning to the fortress, they can then return to Thurii with him and be at the front of the ranks in a triumphant fashion.

The soldiers cheered in unison.

After hearing this, the soldiers of the first brigade murmured with a bit of indignation, “A bunch of recruits…they are just lucky. If we were not guarding Thurii….”

Although the first brigade’s soldiers complained, it did not prevent them from marching northward.

At present, the area that they can pass through is much more spacious, about a kilo-meter wide. There are mountains to the east, and the Lao river to the west. The river surface of Lao river is not wide. However, most of the cliffs on both sides of the river have large water drops and deep water channels, so it is difficult for large troops to reach the opposite bank.

Heracleides the Younger looked at the terrain throughout the way, he shook his head and sighed, “I am afraid that it is very difficult to build a bridge on the upper reaches of the Lao river!”

Chapter 175 – The Visit of Davos (III)

Hearing his words, Davos also fell into thinking, but after all, he had seen a lot in his previous life, so he tentatively asked, “Can we build a suspension bridge?”

“Suspension bridge?” Heracleides the Younger looked at him for advice, as he always attached great importance to the suggestion of Davos.

Thus, Davos told Heracleides the Younger the general structure of the bridge (which he does not know very well.)

Heracleides the Younger, who had rich experience in bridge construction, had his eyes brightened. He pondered about it along the way, standing on the cliff from time to time and looking across the river where there are continuous low hills and lush woods. As long as there is a bridge, this area will no longer be impassable….

After walking for a while, Heracleides the Younger said to Davos, “It seems that it is indeed easier to build a suspension bridge on the Lao river. Of course, we have to go through specific experiments to make a conclusion. However, the most important material for this suspension bridge should be the rope. Just now, it will take at least 50 meters long and tough rope to reach the opposite bank….”

“The rope is not the problem.” Enanilus, worthy of being a shipbuilder, interjected, “We can just lengthen the gears of the sailboats. I can guarantee that it is strong and durable enough.”

“However, the number of people passing through the bridge at one time is limited, so we need to build several more.” Added Davos.

Heracleides the Younger nodded, then his gaze was fixed on the ground and continued to think.

During the march, Davos carefully observed the terrain around him. From time to time, he will see Lucanians grazing in the mountain on the right side. Perhaps they were nervous and alert at such a large group, especially the armed first brigade. Some simply hid behind the trees and rocks to peep, and even the sheep ran out of the mountain and ran into the convoy, but the Lucanians dare not come to ask for it.

“They should be the Lucanians from Nerulum? The livestock that they are grazing should be rented from the Union, right?” Asked Davos with interest.

So, Vespa took the sheep from the soldiers, then he went to the edge of the mountain and called them in Lucanian.

After a long time, he returned the sheep to them and came back to Davos.

The statesmen gathered around to find out what he had discuss with the local people.

“Lord Davos, they are indeed from Nerulum, but they are not all Lucanians. There are also some Greeks who were once a slave of Wudlei, and are now free and had married Lucanian widows, and are now a preparatory citizen of the Union. Two other Lucanians, who were once slaves, are now preparatory citizen of the Union, and one of them had married a Greek woman, who was also a slave before. The other shepherds were all small tribal people who had been oppressed by Wudlei and have now become preparatory citizen of the Union…”

“What is their attitude towards the Union?” Asked Scambras.

Vespa looked at him and replied, “They are very grateful that the Union has saved them! Now that they have become citizens, they feel very free, and only have a bit of complaint.”

“What are they complaining about?!” Asked Scambras.

“Their complaint is that the Union is not allowing them to rent more livestock.” Vespa kept a straight face and tried not to smile.

“Their idea is good, but there are only so many livestock. If they ask for more, others won’t be able to rent one.” Scambras muttered.

“Do they have any objection to the 5% tax?” Asked Marsyas.

“The tax is already much less than before, and now they hope that the livestock can give birth to more offspring, because they will all belong to them.” Answered Vespa.

“It seems that Sesta and Bagul did a good job in Nerulum, and the people here are beginning to accept us….” Smiled Davos.

Even the statesmen who had opposed the admission of the Lucanians had to agree with Davos.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the afternoon, Davos’ group arrived in Nerulum.

Nerulum is similar to Amendolara, it is also built on a small hillside, but it is larger than the city of Amendolara and has wooden walls.

Here, the cliffs on the east bank of the Lao river are inclined and gentle, and people can easily reach the river. From here, the terrain gradually gets higher, but the area is more and more open. Further north is the area between the Lao river and the upper reaches of the Siris river. The Lucanians call this area “Fertile soil in the mountains”. In fact, its terrain is not flat, but compared with the mountainous area, it is much better. Moreover, the land is more fertile and suitable for farming. Therefore, it has become the settlement of the small tribes. This is obviously the reason why the Lucanians of Nerulum chose to build a city here.

In the morning, Kesima was informed by the praetor that Davos, the archon for life of the Theonia Union, was about to visit.

Like other Lucanian youth, Kesima signed up enthusiastically and came to welcome Davos. After this period of publicity and hearsay, Kesima had long been eager to see the famous strategos of the Union and the rumors about him being “The son of god.”

Although they waited for a long time, when he saw the arrival of the huge group, Kesima, who was already a bit tired, quickly liven up and strode forward together with Sesta. Davos is very young, but everyone around him sincerely respect him, which makes him exude a kind of unspeakable dignity. However, his face always dons a kind of friendly smile and give sincere greetings to everyone. Dignity and gentleness have actually formed a strange harmony in him….

“Milord, I have violated the order of the Senate and have made a mistake!” Sesta said to Davos, frankly.

“No, we do not understand the situation here, and you done a good job! Facts have proven that you are an excellent praetor. This is the common opinion of the statesmen and me!”

“Thank you, Milord!” Sesta was relieved when he heard from the slaves sent by Philesius that the Senate was not dissatisfied with his killings of the captives.

“Greetings, Lord Davos!”

“Bagul, you have accomplished the mission that was assigned to you by the Union! I will also fulfill my promise to you. You see, I have brought not only your father, your people, but also a special guest. Guess who it is?” Compared with his conversation with Sesta, Davos was more relaxed when facing Bagul and even joked around.

“I can’t guess it.” Replied Bagul, while scratching his head.

“Go look at the back.”

“Ah….Andrea?!”

“It’s a little late to recognize her. Andrea will punish you for forgetting her!” Said Davos jokingly. Andrea then glared at Bagul fiercely, with a flushed face.

“Hahaha!….” Laughed everyone.

“I wanted to hold a wedding for you here, but Andrea insisted on holding it at Hera’s wedding ceremony in April next year, so you can discuss it with yourselves. I can’t help you with it!” Teased Davos, which drew another burst of laughter.

“Greetings Lord Davos! I am Hemon.” A middle-aged man stepped forward and said with respect.

“Oh, I know you! Sesta praised you, saying that you have cooperated with him actively to stabilize the situation of the city, and helped him solve many problems. Thank you very much!” Davos praised him loudly.

“It is nothing. I am also a citizen of the Union!” Hemon felt that it was worth it to make the number one in the Union remember him.

“Yes, it is very good to know you! This Union is mine and yours, and also belongs to the Greeks and the Lucanians!….”

“You are right, Lord Davos!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Kesima listened and unconsciously felt excited. He felt as if he had really integrated into the Union.

Then Davos came to him.

“Lord Davos, I am Kesima!” He strode forward and greeted him with great respect.

Davos also returned his greetings, and said happily, “I heard that you are a good friend of Bagul, and he talk a lot about. I am also a good friend of Bagul, and I don’t know if I have the chance to also be your good friend?”

“Of course! Of course!” Kesima agreed excitedly.

Davos greeted the people who came out to meet him, and then asked Sesta, “Why haven’t Asistes come?”

“Because the time to wait had taken a bit long, the second and fourth brigade went to play rugby to kill time, and Asistes served as the referee.”

“Didn’t I ask Izam to tell you that you don’t have to ask so many people to come out to meet me?” Criticized Davos.

“They came on their own free will, and they all hope to be praised by you milord.” Explained Sesta.

“But now it seems that rugby is more attractive than me!” Davos jokingly said, eliminating any previous dissatisfaction.

He looked along the direction where Sesta pointed: There was a large circle of people not far from the north of the gate, cheering and exclaiming can be heard from time to time….

“Because the arena in Thurii hasn’t been built yet, so the competition has not started. And now you guys have started it here first!” Laughed Davos.

“Yes, the soldiers of the second and fourth brigades are playing football every day, which often attracts the people to come watch.” Sesta then said with some concern, “I am afraid that they would be too addicted to the game and would delay their work.”

“So, Bagul and Drakos must warn their soldiers.” Davos nodded then said, “However, it seems that the citizens here like this game too.”

“Lord Davos, we love rugby very much. It is already excited just watching the game!” Interrupted Kesima.

“Can you play?” Davos asked with interest.

“We are not familiar with the rule of the game, so we could only watch and learn. In fact, we have been watching it for a long time already!” Said Ulasa with discontent.

Chapter 176 – The Visit of Davos (IV)

“Haha, that’s because he hasn’t played it himself!” With that, Davos said, “Do you want to play it?”

“Of course, I want to!!….” The Lucanian youths scrambled to answer.

“Good! I am going to be the quarterback. Whom of you would like to join me to challenge the winner of this match?” Shouted Davos.

“Me, I am willing!” Exclaimed Kesima.

Ulasa also stepped forward…and soon, a team of fifty-five men was formed, with the exception of Davos, and the captain of the guard, Martius, who were Greeks, the rest were all Lucanian youths. Davos then led them to the field, and more Lucanians soon followed. The guards didn’t stop them because of the instructions of Davos.

Sesta then grabbed Kapus, hoping that he could command the soldiers of the first brigade to maintain the order of the field.

The family members of the fourth brigade were then arranged to enter the city, while the statesmen of Thurii walked slowly towards the arena.

“Vespa, have you really, as what your son had said, become a member of the Senate of Theonia Union?!” Hemon looked at Vespa, who was among the statesmen, with admiration. He was dressed in the same clothes as the other statesmen, and his gestures seemed to have the semblance of a great man.

This kind of envious look greatly satisfied the vanity of Vespa. He was not only seen by Hemon, but also many of his former acquaintances. It was a mixture of surprise, fear and respect, which made Vespa feel that he had returned home in glory. This kind of pleasure drowned his guilt of turning to the “enemy”.

“It is of course true!” As the other statesmen did, he shook the sleeves of his chiton, revealing the purple sleeves that symbolizes the statesmen of the Senate, “Just like what the Archon had just said, ‘the Union belongs to the Greeks and also to the Lucanians.’ So it is normal for the Lucanians to enter the Senate of the Union and become a statesman!”

“Lord Davos is indeed very friendly to us Lucanians, and being able to get the recognition of those young people so soon shows that he is sincere and has no prejudice against the Lucanians! But-” Hemon pointed covertly at the statesmen of Thurii in front of him, and whispered, “Their attitude towards us seems to be bad.”

“There is no way! They are either from Thurii or Amendolara, and have suffered from us, Lucanians. It is impossible for them to change their attitude in a short time. Lord Davos has said that it would take time for their attitude to change. Fortunately, the Union is mainly decided by the Archon!” Vespa frankly whispered back.

“What do you do as a member of the Senate?” Asked Hemon curiously.

“Putting forward proposals, passing laws, discussing major events in the Union, and assist the Archon to come up with solutions….” Vespa said with a bit of complacency, “Sometimes, I have to be responsible for some specific matters. For example, I am now in charge of the affairs of the citizens in the Lucanian region. As long as there are issues related to Lucania, the Senate will first ask for my opinions, and I can also put forward my own suggestions and plans to safeguard the interest of the Lucanians, it’s like….uhm….uhm….for example, my proposal to levy a 5% tax on the Lucanian citizens of Nerulum. Originally, the Greek preparatory citizens in the Union would be charged 10% of the land they rent….” Vespa was obviously boasting, because he was not in the Senate when this proposal was passed.

“Oh! You have done us a great service!….” Hemon looked at him with admiration, which made Vespa more complacent. Fortunately, he had not forgotten his main mission in Nerulum, “It is just that there are only two Lucanians in the Senate, Bagul and I. And Bagul might always stay in Nerulum in the future. And I am too weak to argue with so many Greek statesmen, so I can’t fight for more interests for the Lucanians! Alas….”

“Then….can other Lucanians become a….statesman of the Senate?! This will also help you get more benefit for us, Lucanians!” Asked Hemon eagerly.

Vespa laughed to himself, ‘What other Lucanians? Isn’t it just you for you! I know what kind of person you are, so why the need to pretend!’

Vespa cleared his throat and said, “Of course, as long as he can make great contributions to the Union, for example, making more Lucanians to join the Union, get more support from the Lucanians, and be able to complete some difficult mission in the Lucanian region….and so on. If the Senate feels that he can play a more important role, it would then be easy to make him a member of the Senate….”

Hemon listened carefully, his eyes shone with scorching light….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the evening, Davos and the statesmen listened to the report of Sesta at the praetor’s residence.

“To this day, Nerulum has registered 2,503 preparatory citizens, of whom, 2,2001 are Lucanians and 302 are Greeks. These days, there are 627 marriages between Greeks and Lucanians. And we have allocated 785 cattle and 5,400 sheep, and we have 203 cattle and 2,000 sheep left to be distributed to the soldiers of the fourth brigade.” Said Asistes, then Bagul immediately expressed his thanks. (T/N: Remember, females are not counted as citizens)

“Now, the small tribes in Nerulum, captives and slaves have all become preparatory citizens of the Union. If the fourth brigade settles here, there will be 3,455 citizens including the preparatory citizens….” As soon as Asistes had finished speaking, Davos said directly, “I can tell you clearly that the fourth brigade will settle in Nerulum and become the backbone to stabilize and defend Nerulum.”

“That is what the soldiers of the fourth brigade want! As citizens of the Union, we will firmly control Nerulum for the Union!” Bagul stated his position with seriousness.

The statesmen nodded, satisfied with his answer.

“Lord Sesta, Bagul and Asistes, you have been able to stabilize the situation in Nerulum in such a short period of time and have achieved so much. On behalf of the Senate, I would like to express my sincere respect for your outstanding performance.” With that, Davos took the lead to applaud.

In the applause, all three of them were excited: Sesta was excited because he used his performance to prove to Davos that his talens is not inferior to those of the leaders of the Persian expedition, thus attracting the attention of the archon; Bagul was excited because his and the performance of the Lucanians were recognized by these Greek statesmen, which will make it easier for them to integrate into the Union; Asistes was excited because he has proved to Davos that he has the ability to be independent. Maybe next time, Davos will assign him more important tasks.

“In addition, according to Bagul, the leaders of the small tribes, such as Hemon, Kesima and Ulasa, are going to send people to the mountains to persuade the tribes who had fled to the mountains to join the Union. And in these past two days, Laos had come to Nerulum and asked to join the Union.” Asistes added.

“Our livestock are now not enough. What should we do?” Asked Scambras hurriedly.

“All these tribes have livestock, so we just need to allocate land to them, because we have enough land.” Replied Bagul.

“Even if the ‘Fertile land between the mountain ridge’ has been divided in the future, we can still go to Thurii. Now, after the land in Thurii has been handed over to the preparatory citizens, there will still be a lot of vacant land to the west (mainly the lands to the west of Cosceli river), which are already ready to be leased to the registered freeman who have applied for preparatory citizenship.” Davos reminded everyone.

Some of them nodded, while the others were hesitant.

“As for Laos, let’s wait for Avinoges to come and discuss with us.” Said Davos hesitantly.

“Will Avinoges come?” Marsyas asked with uncertainty.

“He must come!” Protesilaus exclaimed, “The Union had helped him capture Laos, and yet, he has not expressed his gratitude to us. Now that we have arrived in Nerulum and yet he still has not come, couldn’t we, as allies go to Laos!”

“Maybe he doesn’t know that we are here yet.” Said Sesta to help Avinoges.

“Laos and Nerulum have always been in contact with each other. With so many of us and in such a big situation, it is impossible for him to remain uninformed. By tomorrow, we will know whether he will come or not. If he doesn’t come, then we would need to reconsider the sincerity of Laos!” Davos understood that Sesta, as the praetor of Nerulum, would need the support of Laos in the future, but as the Archon, Davos needed to consider the overall situation from a higher position.

The statesmen agreed with the words of Davos.

“Sesta and Bagul, after you have settled down the people of Nerulum, you should seize this moment to train the military, and I will send instructors from Philesius to train them. We should break up the youth of each tribe and try to mix them up with Greek citizens. If there are not enough Greeks, we should also mix them with other tribes. We must not let the soldiers of the same tribes be together! And….rugby games can be held as much as possible. It seems that the youth of Lucania like this game very much!”

“Yes, Milord. They have told me many times that rugby is much more interesting than bullfighting. We Lucanians like this kind of fierce sport!” Bagul interjected.

“Then let them compete, but a team has to be a mix of Greeks and Lucanians, which will also help the Lucanians learn to speak Greek. Oh….speaking of it, Bagul, you must think of a way to make the Lucanians of Nerulum learn to speak Greek as much as possible!”

“I’ll try my best, milord.”

Chapter 177 – The Arrival of Avinoges

Then he asked the question that the statesmen were all concerned about, “What is happening on Grumentum in the north?”

“On the day after we had captured Nerulum, the scouts of Grumentum entered the ‘Fertile land between the mountain ridge’ After being discovered by the soldiers of the fourth brigade, they immediately fled.” Answered Sesta.

“So soon? Did they find out that we have captured Nerulum?” Davos asked in doubt, because the Senate had received the war report that no one had escaped after they had captured Nerulum.

“Erm….it’s like this….” Seeing that there was something wrong on the expression of Davos, so Sesta quickly explained, “Bagul and I had analyzed it afterwards that when we attacked Nerulum, some people of the city were grazing on the mountains, and when they saw that the city fell, they directly fled to Grumentum….since then, the scout of Grumentum have never been seen again. Then we sent the team of Izam to scout, and at the same time, through the information from the Lucanians who came from the north, we learned that Cincinnag, the chieftain of Pyxous, had a very bad relationship with the tribes that had betrayed Lusau after they occupied Grumentum. Those tribes did not obey the orders of Cincinnag because he had not fulfilled his promise to them. Now, each side occupies half of the city and are on guard against each other. Perhaps for this reason, Grumentum did not take any action against our occupation of Nerulum!”

The improvement of the situation in the north did not make Davos feel better. On the contrary, he looked serious and asked, “Why hasn’t anyone reported these things to the Senate first?! The Senate will not interfere with your governance of Nerulum, but we manage the entire Union, every accurate intelligence and information determines the next step of the Senate, to go war with Grumentum? To have peace with Grumentum? Do we need to mobilize the entire Union?…and so on. Do you think a single Nerulum can take the offensive of the Lucanians?!”

Davos’ unceremonious criticism made Sesta unable to lift his head up, and Asistes felt more guilty: Originally, he was going to report it to Davos, but Sesta said,‘We need to first figure out the situation, because if we were to ask the Senate for instructions every time, it would just show how incapable we are.’ Out of the bravado nature of being young, he agreed. But when they managed to get to the bottom of the matter, they heard that Davos and the others were coming, so they put it aside for now. But they didn’t expect Davos would be so angry.

“Lord Sesta, you have violated the orders of the Senate and have killed the captives without authorization! Because the Archon has interceded for you, so the Senate did not pursue the matter seriously! Now, you are making your own decision, and aren’t taking the Senate seriously. Do you think that the Senate will not impeach you because you have a two-year term?!” Scambras criticized him loudly.

Then the statesmen expressed their dissatisfaction on the approach of Sesta one after another.

Sesta’s face flushed red, but he cleverly remained silent and did not argue for himself.

Of course, Davos would not let the praetor and the aides that he himself recommended continue to be criticized, so he said, “Your achievements are still major! However, I hope that you can learn from this lesson and keep in contact with the Senate at any time so that we can have a timely grasp on the situation in the Lucania region….” As Davos said this, he decided that once he goes back, he would increase his investment in his private intelligence organizations, and urge Aristias to expand their area.

“Is there anything else you have forgotten to report?” Davos reminded him again.

“Everyone!” Asistes blushed, he summoned up his courage and said, “The day before yesterday, a Lucanian came to complain and said, ‘My daughter married a Greek, and the Greek got the status of a preparatory citizen. But after he managed to rent the allocated land, he began to treat my daughter badly. He beat her and swore at her every day and said that he wanted to divorce.’ After our verification, what he had said is indeed true. So we then warned the Greek, saying, ‘If you dare to divorce her, we will cancel your preparatory citizenship and expel you from the Union!’ But I am afraid that this is not the only case. I hope the Senate pays attention to this matter!”

“What you have done is correct! However, for such a shameless person, I think that we should give him a beating as a warning!” Although he doesn’t like the Lucanians, he much more doesn’t like the people who take advantage of the law and play tricks.

“It seems that it is necessary for us to investigate the living conditions of those freeman who had married Thurii women, and to amend the previous marriage laws by adding additional requirements, such as to not allow divorce within 5~8 years….” Said Davos thoughtfully.

His words aroused the approval of the statesmen and so they discussed the amendment of the marriage law.

On that night, after the crowd left, Asistes admitted his mistake to Davos. Instead of criticizing him, he praised his performance in Nerulum that had exceeded his expectations. He hoped that he could continue to play a greater role in Nerulum and be able to stick to his own ideas and not be influenced by the opinions of other people….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the morning of the next day, the expectations of the statesmen of Theonia did not fail, Avinoges of Laos drove a large number of livestock, and carts loaded with animal furs and jewelry (mainly amber), and ten Tarants as thanks for the help of Theonia. This time, the statesmen of Theonia did not complain, and they immediately held a simple but grand banquet for the arrival of Avinoges.

The banquet was held at the praetor’s residence in Nerulum. Davos and the statesmen were present, which also included Sesta and Bagul. On the other hand, only Avinoges and his 17-year old son, Henepolis, were present. The position of this father and son in the banquet was arranged to be on the left side of Davos.

Avinoges was about 40 years old, he has a burly figure and looks more like a Lucanian than a Greek. He looks simple and honest, though he wore a Greek chiton, he seems to be uncomfortable. It seems that he seldom wears these kinds of clothes. While his son looks weak and delicate, but has the elegant demeanor of a Greek nobleman.

Although Davos is very young, Avinoges was very respectful towards him. When he followed him into the living room, he was half a body behind and always used honorific terms. Suddenly, as soon as Henepolis was seated at the table, Henepolis immediately asked, “I heard that the Greeks always eat while lying down when they hold banquets. Why is this so different?”

Avinoges gave him a warning glance, while Scambras, who was opposite of him, then said with a smile, “Young man, you know a lot about the way of life of the Greeks.”

“Naturally, I am a Greek!” Henepolis responded impolitely. Perhaps because he was rude, Avinoges patted him.

“Our Union’s hospital has studied that eating while lying down is not good for digesting the food, and it is easy to get fat (in fact, it was a study that Herpus did under the instruction of Davos and then preached it to the patients who came to see the physicians.) And sitting while eating your food can help your food to smoothly reach the intestines and stomach, which is good for your health. For elderly like me, this is very important, so it is natural to choose the correct way to eat.” Scambras said with a smile, in the Greek tradition, the elderly are always very tolerant of young and handsome boys.

“Even in our remote Laos, there are often people who praise the skill of the Theonia Union’s physicians. Of course, what they said is very correct.” As soon as Avinoges finished speaking, Henepolis interjected curiously, “I heard that the physicians of your Union have been guided by Hades. Is this true?”

“I am not sure about that.” Davos said perfunctorily with a smile, “If you have the opportunity, you can go to Thurii in person and ask Herpus, the head of the hospital.”

Then, Henepolis nodded his head vigorously and said, “Uhm, I will go to Thurii soon, and I will ask the person you have just mentioned….uhm….Herpus.”

When they heard this, everyone looked at each other.

Then Avinoges said, “Lord Davos, I have a request.”

“Say it!”

“I want my son to live in the Union.”

As soon as he said this, everyone was surprised.

“Lord Avinoges!” Davos thought that the leader of Laos was worried that Theonia would break the bridge, so he seriously said, “The alliance between the Union and Laos is a sacred covenant made under the witness of the gods! Unless Laos breaks the contract, we, the Theonia Union, will not break the oath under any circumstances. You can rest assured!”

“The story of Lord Davos’ adherence to his promise, no one in Magna Graecia does not know about it, so I of course believe it! I didn’t say this because I am worried about the agreement, but….” Avinoges said with a bitter smile, “Erm….my child is frail and sickly since he was young. I heard that the medical skills of the alliance are superb, and my son has been longing for the Greek culture since he was a child. Therefore, even if it adds trouble to the Union, I will still put forward this decision, but as a father, I hope that the Union will agree to my request!”

Avinoges said it so sincerely that Davos made a decision after exchanging glances with the statesmen, “In that case, on behalf of the Union, I would like to welcome Henepolis to Thurii as a long-term guest! And give him the greatest care in education and medical care, so that he can live a healthy and happy life in the Union, and to be able to return to Laos in the future and inherit your heritage, because he is your only son!”

As soon as Davos finished speaking, Henepolis cheered, “Great! I can finally go to Thurii!….”

Chapter 178 – Having an audience with Cincinnag

Avinoges lovingly touched his son’s head, and there was a bit of reluctance in his eyes. A moment later, he expressed his thanks to Davos.

After that, the relationship between the two sides became much closer and the banquet became lively.

After several glasses of wine, Avinoges exclaimed, “Lord Davos, we, Laos, are ready to be like the Union and would like to also implement the system of archon for life. Do you think that it is okay?”

The statesmen were slightly surprised, but Davos looked calm and said with a smile, “It is very clear in our agreement that the Union will not interfere in the internal affairs of any allied city-states. We only need the allies to advance and retreat together militarily, and maintain unity in diplomacy and strengthen economic exchanges….”

Avinoges was happy in his heart and listened to what Davos is saying, “But-” Avinoges suddenly began to be nervous again.

“I have some small suggestions for Laos, I hope you can always ensure its stability. Otherwise, when there is a riot and you can’t solve it, we will have to send troops to help you restore the order of Laos. Sending troops to fight is hard work that costs money and effort, right?” Said Davos half jokingly, then the statesmen echoed.

Avinoges was relieved. In fact, he didn’t want to be an archon for life, and Laos was not used to the Greek system, but they only wanted to keep the Theonia Union from thinking that Laos is just a city of the indigenuous, so he choose to be the archon for life, because he thinks that this position is very similar to the great chieftain. So at this moment, he happily said, “I feel very honored to be an ally of the Theonia Union! I can assure Lord Davos and the statesmen that I, Avinoges, will do my best to ensure the stability of Laos and will always be the best ally of the Theonia Union!”

“Good!!!” The crowd applauded.

“I’d like to perform a dance for the esteemed Lord Davos and all the lords to express my most sincere gratitude!” Amidst the cheering, Avinoges was also excited. He took a sip of the wine in his glass, strode to the center of the hall, and began to shake his shoulders, he then turned around and sing aloud,

“The high mountains,

Where Asinu resides,

At the foot of the mountain is where we graze the cattle and sheep,

Beautiful young girls flash in the mountains and forest,

Their happy figures are like leaping deer,

That has caught my attention.

….”

Vespa and Bagul began to sing along. Although Davos and the other statesmen could not understand what they were singing, they all beat and hummed the tune softly….

Avinoges has endured humiliation, and had been cautious for decades. He was swept away in the heroic singing and vigorous dancing, leaving nothing but happiness in his heart, which he could not express.

When he took his seat, applause rang out ceaselessly.

Scambras stood up with a flushed face, belched and said. “Er….the guest from Laos has performed a dance…erm…our Union should also respond to it. So I will sing you the hymn of Zeus….”

“Great! Great!!….”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

A few days ago, Cincinnag was ecstatic, because he had defeated Lusau, the son of Akpir, and occupied the city of Grumentum. With two big cities, he could become the new overlord of Lucania.

But then, a series of events made him realize that it was not easy to replace Akpir.

Because he was reluctant to allocate most of the property of the tribe of Akpir to the tribes that betrayed Lusau, and he is even more reluctant to divide most of the land owned by the tribe of Akpir to the tribes in Grumentum. On the other hand, he is a miser, while on the other, the tribes of the city of Pyxous who had followed him also needed to be rewarded. Of course, he can tell who is close to whom.

His breach of the agreement naturally aroused the anger of the tribes in Grumentum, who had united to occupy the northern part of the city, and refused to allow the subordinates of Cincinnag to enter the area under their control without permission, and threatened to drive Cincinnag out of Grumentum.

Cincinnag was furious, because he had already regarded himself as the master of Pyxous and Grumentum. How could he allow anyone to damage his majesty. So at his command, the Pyxous fought several small battles with the Grumentum tribes in the city. At the same time, he again tried to use a scheme to try to break up the tribes that had united against him by bribing, but he failed, because none of the chieftains of Grumentum were willing to believe his promise again.

Cincinnag racks his brains on how to clean up the Grumentum tribe that betrayed him, when the worst news has come: Nerulum has been captured!

He immediately asked the Lucanian herders who had fled to Grumentum and heard them say, “We saw countless Greek soldiers enter the city of Nerulum.” He could hardly believe this fact: Nerulum was taken over by the Greeks!

‘How could this be possible?!’ Since more than a hundred years ago, the Lucanians have been occupying the land of other races since the time they moved southward from the central Apennine Peninsula, and have no records of having their large cities be occupied by other races! With suspicion, Cincinnag sent out some scouts to check it.

Although the north of the city of Nerulum is heavily guarded, the Lucanians are a race that mainly graze and hunts, so their scouts manage to sneak into the mountains within the control of Nerulum and got accurate information from the Nerulum folks that have went up the mountain to graze: Nerulum is being currently ruled by the Theonia City-State Union, which was ruled by Davos, a Greek, who had defeated the Lucanian alliance.

Hearing these, Cincinnag was in a state of panic. His first thought was to run back to Pyxous, which is far away from the Greeks who had defeated the mighty Akpir!

Then, he wanted to reach a compromise with the tribes of Grumentum to deal with the possible attack of the Greeks. However, the disadvantaged tribes of Grumentum believed that this was a great opportunity to force Cincinnag to give in and make the Pyxousian withdraw from the city of Grumentum….and so on. But this is unacceptable to Cincinnag.

Cincinnag, with powerful enemies outside and troubles on the inside, was unwilling to give up the city of Grumentum, which he had spent countless efforts and sacrifices. After agonizing for several days, he finally decided: At the risk of losing Pyxous, he will once again draw more warriors from the city of Pyxous to Grumentum. First, they will work together to bring down these hostile tribes, and thoroughly master this central city of the Lucanians.

Just as he was about to send a herald to Pyxous and give the order of dispatch to Gennat, who was guarding the city of Pyxous, the guard came in and reported, ‘A Lucanian, who claimed to be the envoy of Nerulum, had come asked to see the great chieftain.’

Cincinnag was so surprised that he hesitated for a moment, but he still decided to meet him.

When Hemon was brought into the Great Hall of Grumentum, he kept looking around: At the entrance of the hall stood two rows of fierce warriors, and Cincinnag sat high on the central part of the hall. Sitting on both sides were the chieftains of the tribes of Pyxous….

Looking at this majestic hall, Hemon recalls the rumors that he had long heard that says that Akpir wants to be the king of the Lucanians. At least from the hall of this unusual chieftain, he may have such a plan, but it’s a pity….

Hemon was lost in thought, when he heard Cincinnag spoke, “I didn’t expect that you would be the envoy of Nerulum! I heard that your city has been occupied by the Greeks, but is that true?”

The tribe of Hemon before being annexed by Nerulum was also very influential in the “Fertile land between the mountain ridge”. So he, the tribal chieftain, was also known in the Lucanian region. He greeted Cincinnag respectfully and then said, “Esteemed chieftain Cincinnag, Nerulum is now part of Theonia Union, and under the leadership of Avinoges, Laos has become an ally of Theonia Union-”

“What?! Laos has also surrendered to the Greeks?!!”

“I’ve said it for a long time that those bastards of the Greeks are unreliable!”

“What are we going to do now?! Without Laos, the Greeks can attack us safely!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The words of Hemons were like thunder, which made the chieftains who were sitting there in panic. Cincinnag used to like this high seat because it can reflect the dignity of a great chieftain, but at this moment, he hated this seat due to it being too conspicuous that made his fears noticeable. He held the armrest of the seat tightly and looked at Hemon who was standing there with a smile, just like watching a play. This turned Cincinnag’s fear into anger, “Damned Nerulum! You have forgotten the teaching of Asinu and surrendered to our enemies! Do you think my sword is not sharp enough?!”

“You are wrong, chieftain. We didn’t surrender to the Greeks, but have become citizens of Theonia Union! Not only can we still continue worship Asinu, but as long as we have enough money, we can also go to Thurii, and Amendolara….we can also build the temple of Asinu on the lands of Thua Union without interference, we can also continue our bullfighting every autumn in Nerulum, and the custom of bride kidnapping among the Lucanians is not change*….the Lucanians of Nerulum, like me, have volunteered to become citizens of Theonia Union, but, we are still Lucanians, we have more freedom, with more land and more livestock, and we only pay very little tax!” Hemon boasts of the benefits of being a citizen of Theonia Union. (T/N: Is a practice in which a man abducts the woman he wishes to marry.)

The chieftains and the warriors in the hall are in disbelief, “Can the Greeks be so good to us Lucanians?”

“Davos, the archon of Theonia Union, the man who had defeated Akpir, had said, ‘Theonia is not only a union of the Greeks, but also a union of the Lucanians!’ If you don’t believe me, you can ask the chieftain of the Merino tribe, Vespa, and his son. They have become citizens of Theonia Union much earlier, and have now become a statesmen of Theonia! And Theonia Union also intend to continue-”

Chapter 179 – Sparta

“Silence! Drag this Lucanian traitor and chop him up, then feed him to the dog!” Exclaimed Cincinnag, he must not allow Hemon to preach the benefits of joining the Greeks here, which may end undermining the morale of the people.

“Kill me? Great! The archon of Theonia, Davos, is the most protective! When you attacked his camp, he had annihilated the Lucanian army! When the Crotonians invaded his territory, he then captured all the Crotonians as captives! If you kill me, a citizen of Theonian Union, believe it or not, tomorrow, the troops of Theonia Union will appear here!” Hemon allowed the soldiers to hold him, and shouted fearlessly.

The face of Cincinnag twitched a few times, then he changed his words and said, “Get…get him out of here!”

Hemon laughed inwardly. He had heard that the chieftain of Pyxous is a coward who bullies the weak and is afraid of the strong. As expected, if it was Akpir, Hemon would not dare to offer himself to get killed, “Don’t you want to hear the good news that I have brought?!”

“What is it?!” Asked the chieftains impatiently.

Hemon pushed aside the guard and said it aloud, “As the envoy of Theonia Union, I was appointed by the Senate to talk about the possibility of peace with Grumentum and Pyxous!”

Cincinnag was shocked when he heard what Hemon had said.

“The Greeks won’t come to attack us?!”

“Great! We don’t have to abandon Grumentum!”

“You can’t trust the Greeks! If they really wanted peace, then why would they occupy Nerulum?!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

They felt a sense of relief even during the fierce argument among the chieftains.

“Foolish Pyxous, have you forgotten the Lucanian’s old saying? ‘If you have a big club in your hand, then there is no need to be afraid of the wolves.’” Hemon laughed, “Will you sit down and talk with Theonia if they didn’t occupy Nerulum?! In fact, the Greeks who love the sea are not interested in the land of Lucania at all. Mountains are everywhere, the land is barren, and the roads are extremely bad. It is very difficult for them to do business or travel. The reason why the Union occupied Nerulum was to block you from going south, because the Lucanians have always attacked Thurii through Nerulum….”

The chieftains thought that this was a fact, and so they stopped talking.

Then Cincinnag once more asked with uncertainty, “Do the Greeks really intend to have a peace with me?!”

“Of course! Else, why am I here?!” Said Hemon in a sullen voice.

Cincinnag felt relaxed. He leaned back in his chair and said, “Is it because Nerulum is still in a mess, and are afraid that I will take advantage of this and attack?”

“Great chieftain, aren’t you talking about yourself?” Hemon said sarcastically.

Cincinnag coughed awkwardly, and said, “Erm, let me listen to your….Theonia Union’s condition.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Both sides have a desire for peace, and naturally, the negotiations went smoothly.

One day later, they have reached an agreement. The boundary between Theonia City-State Union, Pyxous and Grumentum is the pass between the two rivers, the two sides are not allowed to invade each other, and they can open markets at the intersection. Theonia Union must not support the enemies of Pyxous, and if there are small tribes or vagrant mountain people who are not under the control of Pyxous and want to go to Nerulum, then Pyxous must not stop them….

The term of agreement is one year. Originally, Cincinnag hoped that the term would be five years, but Hemon rejected it. His reason is that many people in the Union doubt whether Pyxous can abide by the agreement. If Pyxous manage to win the trust of the statesmen of Theonia Union with their good performance, then after a year, the next renewal people can be extended.

Cincinnag was angry, but he was helpless, because he needed the peace agreement more than the Greeks, so that he could deal with the hostile tribes in the city of Grumentum without any worries, and then against Potentia who had sheltered Lusau. As for Theonia Union, he could wait until he became the great chieftain of Lucania….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Prior to the signing of Theonia Union and Cincinnag, Avinoges of Laos had reached a new agreement with the Union. First, Laos agreed to build the Thurii-Nerulum-Laos road and was willing to provide a large number of labor (There was a large number of Greek slaves in Laos, they are mainly descendants of the Sybarites, and they have now become freemen. However, Avinoges was unable to give them land and had to sell their labor to make a living. In addition, the Lucanians of the old Laos were either killed or have become slaves.) At the same time, Avinoges also intended to provide all the funds for the road construction. In this regard, Davos politely declined his good intention, and finally proposed that they should share it equally.

Second, without the permission of Laos, Theonia Union is not allowed to convert the people of Laos who have entered or fled into the Union into the Union’s citizens, and they are responsible for returning them back to Laos.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At the southernmost tip of the Peloponnesian Peninsula, there is a piece of land called Lacedaemon in ancient times, and it is now called Laconia. The land is surrounded by some natural barriers, in the east and the south faces the sea, in the north is the gray and terrible Parnon mountains, in the west is the tall and desolate Taygetus mountain, and its five claw-like peaks are often covered with snow even in hot summer. The small plain under the protection of these dangerous terrain, have the Eurotas river run through from the north to the south. On the crags of the promontory at its entrance, the red rock is the tomb of Helen, who once charmed Greece and triggered the ten-year Trojan War. Along the entrance of the river, up to the middle of the river, is a city without walls. Its name is Sparta.

This is a rather rustic city. Although it seems to occupy a large area, except for the temple, the other buildings are low and crude, but there is a kind of tranquility and peace peculiar to the countryside. In the early morning, the people in the city got up early one after another, the Helots went to farm in the fields, while the housewives did housework at home. Some men went out to participate in military training and some went to participate in political matters.

The Gerousia and Ephors are the two major powers in Sparta. On this day, the two powers were dealing with Asia Minor at the same time. For the powerful Ephors, Thimbron’s rhetoric about Cheirisophus at Ephesus was doomed to be a joke. The evidence of his dereliction of duty is conclusive. Moreover, the envoys of the city-states in Asia Minor are still waiting for the result of the trial in Sparta. No one dared to speak for Thimbron, he was then fined and sentenced to exileship.

At this point, Thimbron will be expelled from Sparta.

In the Ephorate, except for king Agis II, who was unable to attend the meeting because of his serious illness, he could only entrust his younger brother, Agesilaus II, to attend the meeting. All the other 29 elders attended the meeting on time and discussed the aftermath of the city-state of Elis.

The city-state of Elis was located near the Olympia region of the Peloponnesian Peninsula. It has always been supported by Sparta to win the right to host the Olympic Games from another city-state. However, during the Peloponnesian War, they took refuge in Athens, and in the year before last, they stopped the Spartan king, Agis II, who went to Olympia to offer a sacrifice to the temple of Zeus because of the oracle of Delphi….

These things finally infuriated the Spartans. Six years after the surrender of Athens, they declared war on Elis and sent king Agis II, who had been humiliated, to invade Elis. If it was not for the earthquake that made Agis II think that it was not a good omen, and withdraw his troops. Then the war would have been over at the beginning of this year. At the urging of the inspector, a month later, Agis II then led his troops to successfully invade the territory of Elis once more, burning, killing and looting, destroying the fields and the buildings, and capturing a large number of livestock and slaves. Finally, they arrived in Elis, a city without the protection of the walls, under the threat of the powerful troops of Sparta, the people trembled. Then the people, out of fear, rioted in the end. Although the chaos was suppressed, the national strength of the city-state of Elis was greatly damaged.

Agis II did not take advantage to capture Elis. After all, this is an ancient Greek city-state, as the host of the Olympic Games, they enjoy a reputation in the Greek city-states. So Agis II could only withdraw and return home, then soon fell ill.

After a discussion, the elders agreed that, if Elis, whose strength was greatly damaged, does not want to be attacked by Sparta next year, then they will certainly come to the peace talks. So, Sparta must force Elis to allow three of its towns to become independent, which will then further weaken the strength of Elis and make it no longer able to resist Sparta. If Elis agrees, then Sparta will allow them to have the right to host the Olympic Games and to also have the jurisdiction of the sanctuary of Zeus in Olympia.

The reason why the elders of Sparta do not want to return the Olympic Games and the jurisdiction of the sanctuary of Zeus to Pisa* is because they think that Pisa resents Sparta since the time Pisa has been separated from the Olympia region by Sparta a hundred years ago. And also due to Pisa having a good relationship with the mortal enemy of Sparta – Argos. (T/N: was a town, or perhaps an independent district, in Peloponnesus. It included Olympia, the site of the Ancient Olympic Games, and Dyspontium. This area subsequently formed part of the territory of ancient Elis.)

After dealing with Elis, Lysander stood up and said, “Elders, I believe that you have read the report of Cheirisophus at Ephesus. The investigation council hopes that we can come up with a solution as soon as possible.”

An elder murmured discontentedly, “The investigation council is too overbearing now, and are now even commanding us!”

All the people who were present seemed to not hear it, and only king Pausanias had said abruptly, “Isn’t it because of the support of Lysander?!”

Chapter 180 – Sparta’s Punishment

The conference hall suddenly fell into a cold silence, the elders all know that Pausanias and Lysander have a very stiff relationship.

An elder coughed twice and asked, “Why haven’t I heard of this Thua Union that was mentioned in the report?”

“It’s a newly formed union, it’s full name is Thurii-Amendolara Union!” The explanation of Lysander left the elders who paid little attention to the western Mediterranean Sea in a daze. However, after some investigation, Lysander reminded them, “Do you all remember the time when the envoy of Thurii came to Sparta to ask for help a year ago?”

“Erm…yes, and we have rejected his request at that time.” The Elder Leucippus nodded and said, “But we have given Thurii the right to recruit mercenaries in the Greek city-states of the eastern Mediterranean. For a city-state that once supported Athens and sent troops to war. If it weren’t for them being invaded by those savages, out of morality as fellow Greeks, we had shown them the generosity and kindness of Sparta, otherwise….”

“That’s right!” The other elders chimed in.

“It is this envoy of Thurii that has obtained the permission of the Gerousia and arrived in Byzantium, he then recruited some of the mercenaries who had just returned from the Persian expedition, and it was these mercenaries who helped Thurii defeat those savages, and they then recaptured Amendolara, which was also occupied by the savages. Eventually, these mercenaries have become citizens of Amendolara, and their leader is called….called…Davos, and he has even become the archon for life of Amendolara.” When Lysander said this, Agesilaus II shouted in surprise, “Cheirisophus had once said to me, ‘During my expedition to Persia, I have found a military genius named Davos. So I wanted to apply to the Gerousia to let him become a distinguished guest of Sparta, and give him land to settle in Laconia.’ Is that the same person that Cheirisophus was talking about?!”

“Military genius?” sneed by Diopetus, an elder,, “Isn’t it ridiculous to talk about military genius in front of us Spartans?!”

“We Spartans all know that there is no such thing as genius in battle, only with continuous training from childhood to adulthood and continuous battles to gain rich experience. When they get old enough, every Spartan citizen can become an excellent commander!” Elder Leucippus said with pride.

“You are right!” Said Agesilaus.

Lysander looked at them and continued on, “Before long, we all know that Crotone occupied Thurii and burned down the city, and it was this Davos who led the Amendolarans to attack the army who were ready to return back to Crotone, and captured them. After that, Thurii and Amendolara formed a union, and Davos is still the archon for life….”

“It turns out that Crotone was defeated by these mercenaries. It seems that this Davos person has indeed some abilities.” An elder exclaimed.

“Archon for life of two city-states! I am afraid that this Davos is ambitious and wants to be the tyrant of Magna Graecia like Dionysius!” Leucippus reminded everyone.

“It has become clear that these mercenaries who have settled in Magna Graecia wanted to have their fellow mercenaries who had fought together with them, to help them in Magna Graecia, so they sent people to Ephesus to incite the mercenaries to flee!” Diopetus exclaimed.

“The report of Cheirisophus didn’t mention anyone found to be causing trouble, perhaps it was because these mercenaries heard the news about Magna Graecia.” Another elder wanted everyone to not take these too seriously.

“Then why haven’t we heard anything about these rumors in Sparta? This is obviously done by people who have intention!” Diopetus retorted.

Several people argued. Although Lysander and another elder were at odds with each other, Lysander still said, “As long as there is a connection between these two things, if we Spartans say that it was the Thua Union who did it, then they did it!”

“Agree! That’s the way we Spartans do!” Lysander’s tough approach was approved by the elders headed by Leucippus. Pausinias inwardly scorned Lysander, who has always been known for his anti-tradition, said that he would carry out the tradition of Sparta. But he could only remain silent and did not object.

At the end of the argument, the culprit was found, and how to punish the Thua Union, the opinion of everyone are almost the same, that is, to send people to denounce the Union, and demand compensation for the losses of Sparta, and send back the mercenaries who fled to Thua Union!

Lysander added, “Since Davos of Thua Union is good at commanding, then let him lead his troops to join the army of Dercylidas and fight against the Persians!”

“Agree! It’s their punishment for sabotaging the Spartans in Asia Minor!” Several elders agreed.

All the elders had determined the fate of Thua Union.

At this time, Agesilaus asked, “What if Thua Union refuses our request?”

“If they dare! Then it means war with Sparta!” Diopetus just finished speaking, then felt that something was wrong.

Pausanias immediately responded, “Now we are currently dealing with the Persians and defending the Peloponnesian Peninsula, and are currently preparing to attack the city-states that are dissatisfied with Sparta like Elis. I am afraid that we will not be able to send troops to Magna Graecia.”

“Agree! Magna Graecia has always had a good relationship with Sparta, and we have never sent troops to Magna Graecia. If the city-states were to be dissatisfied with us, the gain will not be worth the loss.” Another elder chimed in.

“Will we just tolerate the Thua Union trampling on the dignity of Sparta?” An elder exclaimed in anger.

“Rest assured, even if we don’t know how the Thua Union will react to this, even if they refuse and we can’t send troops, isn’t there still Syracuse?” Lysander said with a smile. His words awakened the elders. Sparta supported Syracuse and even ignored the fact that Dionysius is a tyrant. They hoped that in the western Mediterranean, a place that has not yet been touched by the Spartan army, there would be a strong city-state that is friendly with Sparta and is able to act according to the will of Sparta and stabilize the situation there. Therefore, the elders no longer entangled themselves in this issue and began to discuss the candidate to send to Thua Union.

“I will go.” Agesilaus recommended himself, because he was a little interested in the Davos that Cheirisophus mentioned.

“Not you, else the Thua Union will look down on Sparta!” As soon as Diopetus said this, the other elders felt that he had gone too far. Obviously, this was Diopetus mocking Agesilaus lameness.

In the face of such humiliation, Agesilaus still manage to keep his calm. It seems that he had been facing the scorn of others for decades and so his mind had become extremely strong, and his expression remains unchanged. He wanted to say something more, but.

Lysander said, “The Thua Union, a remote union of small cities, is not worthy of the noble royal family of Sparta, the Greek overlord!”

Lysander’s words not only restored the dignity of Agesilaus, but also blocked him from going to Thua Union.

“I propose Phidias to be the envoy.” Lysander recommended.

The elders then exclaimed, “Phidias?! That guy is quick-tempered and wilful!”

“We need a strong envoy to force Thua Union to give in!” Lysander said firmly.

Afterwards, they have finally determined Phidias to be the envoy that will go to Thua Union.

At the end of the meeting, Lysander stopped Agesilaus, who was about to leave, “Are you still complaining for not letting you go to Thua Union?”

Agesilaus shook his head, he had already thought about it, and then said with a smile, “I think that you are doing this for my own good, isn’t it because of Agis?”

Lysander then put his hand on his shoulder with satisfaction and whispered, “Agis won’t be able to last. You must not let his illegitimate son, Leotychides, to take advantage of your absence….rest assured, I am always on your side….”

Agesilaus immediately expressed his thanks to Lysander.

Lysander smiled. He liked the prudent and humble character of Agesilaus. Agesilaus was friendly and respectful to him, and is easy to control….

Lysander didn’t see it, but behind him, Pausanias watched him and Agesilaus talking and laughing.

Pausanias called Diopetus and said in a low voice, “Look, our ‘reformer’ have been very close to Agesilaus lately.”

Diopetus looked coldly at them, then turned to Pausanias and said, “Although Leotychides will undoubtedly succeed the throne, there have been rumors recently. In order to ensure that he can succeed Agis, I need to ask for your help.”

“You are asking me to ask Delphi for an oracle in the name of the king?” Pausanias immediately understood what the request of Diopetus was. Since ancient times, the two kings of Sparta claimed to be the close descendants of Heracles. So they have a privilege that other Spartans do not have, it was up to them to ask Delphi for an oracle and therefore, have the power to interpret it.

“Yes!” Diopetus looked at him with expectation.

“I will send someone to Delphi!” Pausanias then simply nodded, “I will never let that fellow extend his ambition to our royal family!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The time has come to November, if it was in the ancient times hundred of years ago, this would have been not a good time for sailing, but with the progress of navigation technology, even in the Mediterranean Sea where there are many storms in winter, the main trading routes are still very busy.

The merchant ships that Timasion, Xanticles, Cleanor and the others took had finally arrived at the Gulf of Taranto in Magna Graecia.

“In front of us is Thurii, our city-state!” Said Agasias excitedly, while pointing to the looming green coastline ahead.

They all leaned to the side of the ship and looked forward.

Chapter 181 – Triumphant Return and Former Comrades (I)

After some time, they could finally see the port on the shore and the dense ships that are just like wooden walls.

“There are so many ships. It seems that this place is not worse than Ephesus!” Exclaimed Xanticles, but Agasias did not respond, because he noticed that after being away from Thurii for more than a month, the port had changed significantly, not only did its area expand, but also the number of docks and the buildings in the breakwaters increased.

At this time, a patrol boat greeted them and motioned them to stop.

“I am Agasias, a statesmen of the Senate of Thua Union, and I would like to disembark at the dock in the city of Thurii!” Agasias stood in the bow of the ship in a majestic manner, which made the mercenaries admire.

The one who can be the captain of a water patrol team must be a citizen of the Union. Even though he have only met more than a dozen statesmen, he still have an impression of him, and so the captain signaled to bring the patrol boat closer, only after a careful inspection and confirmation did he give a respectful greeting, and said out loud, “Esteemed Agasias, I, Mithridates, the captain of the Union’s water patrol, greets you! You must have been out of the Union for some time, haven’t you milord?”

“Indeed, I have gone to Ephesus before September, and have just come back.”

“No wonder that you didn’t know that the name of the union has now changed to Theonia City-State Union, and is no longer Thua Union!”

“What?! The name has changed?! Why?!” Agasias asked in surprise.

“Because the Union has managed to capture Nerulum, so we now have another city. The name of Thua Union is no longer applicable. Not only that, Laos has become our ally! Lord Davos has fulfilled his promise and we will no longer have to worry about the invasion of the Lucanians anymore!” Mithridates said excitedly.

‘Captured Nerulum, Laos became an ally, and the union changed its name!’ Agasias didn’t expect that so much stuff would have happened just a few months after he left the Union, it’s as if it had become a stranger. He wanted to return to the city immediately, but the patrol boat was still in front of him, “Milord, today, the Union is holding the triumphant return in Thurii for the strategoi and soldiers who have returned from Lucania! In order to prevent accidents, the Union had stipulated that no vessel can enter the Crati river, so you need to disembark at the port.” Mithridates then looked at the mercenaries that are behind Agasias, and reminded him, “In addition, the Union stipulated that, besides the citizen of the Union, preparatory citizen and invited guests, foreigners and freemen can only watch outside the city, which is also for safety!”

Although Agasias was disappointed, Agasias also knew that the Union is justified in doing so. So he reluctantly said with a smile, “Thank you. I will disembark at the port right away. Has the triumphant return begun yet?”

“It shouldn’t have started yet, so you might be able to catch up.”

As soon as the patrol boat left, the mercenaries swarmed around Agasias.

“Agasias, you really did not deceive us and have indeed become a nobleman of a city!”

“Esteemed Agasias, when can we be like you?”

“Congratulations to Theonia Union for getting another city! Agasias, how strong is Theonia Union now in Magna Graecia?”

Facing both the envious and surprised gaze, the vanity of Agasias was greatly satisfied. He then replied to the question of Timasion with pride, “As I have told you before, the Union owns both Thurii and Amendolara, and has now also gotten Nerulum. We also have two affiliated city-states, which are Laos and Roscianum. These are really big cities, each with subordinate towns and villages. In particular, Thurii, whose land area is no less than that of Attica in Athens, and is far more fertile than it is. Moreover, the Union has a lot of land left, as long as we have enough citizens to farm, then our strength in Magna Graecia will definitely be unmatched!”

“Then what are we waiting for, let’s hurry up and see Davos!” Everyone shouted eagerly.

The merchant ship entered the port according to the water patrol’s instructions and then docked at the port.

As soon as they got out of the dock, they were stopped by a patrol team. All the other properties of Timasion and the others that they had robbed were changed into money, except for the armor, shields and spears that they are carrying, which made the patrol thought that they were all carrying dangerous weapons, and it’s especially bad since the triumphant return was about to start. Even though Agasias act as a guarantor of the Senate, they are still required to store their weapons, otherwise, they cannot enter the territory of the Union.

They then reluctantly store their weapons back to the merchant ship. Faced with the complaints of the mercenaries, Agasias had to explain, “At present, there are few citizens in the Union, but there are too many freemen and foreigners pouring in, and so there are often fights and disturbances. These are all for the sake of the security of the Union, hence why the requirements are so strict!”

Some of the mercenaries still have some complaints, but Timasion, Cleanor, Xanticles and the other leaders were all silent. Because Agasias had reminded them many times that all of them were used to being free, so, “After arriving at the Union, you must abide by the laws and regulations, and do not cause trouble, because the laws of the Union are very strict!” Most of the dozens of people who followed Agasias were mercenary leaders and officers, and they are quite disciplined. So they didn’t think much of the words of Agasias before, but at this moment, cold water was poured onto their excitement, because even the guarantee of Agasias who is a statesman of the Union would not work. So one can imagine the seriousness of the people here.

But the fact is, they have forgotten their status as mercenaries. For a long time, they were not allowed to enter other cities even if they were recruited by that city.

The port has indeed changed a lot, not only has it expanded its area, the docks and houses have also increased, and a city wall has also been built with soldiers standing guard and patrolling. Agasias’ group had to pass through the guards under the wall to enter the Union’s territory.

The guards at this checkpoint asked them carefully and registered them before allowing them to pass.

Timasion frowned and then said, “Agasias, you have strict requirements here. We’d best follow you, and I am afraid that our other brothers who will come here later will encounter some trouble!”

“It doesn’t matter. I will come here every day to pick them up.” Agasias also thought of this problem, so he just answered him straightforwardly. Three thousand people are not a small number, and everyone has expressed their intention to join Agasias to welcome their comrades.

The market of Thurii is on this side of the city wall, and has also expanded a lot. Next to the market, there are more buildings: Weapon Shops, Cloth Shops, Carriage Repair Shops, Ship Rigging Workshops, Gold and Silver Processing Workshops, Pack Animal Rental Shops, Bakeries, Inns, Restaurants…but the market which was supposed to be very noisy, seemed to be a bit deserted.

Agasias and the others bypassed the market and came to the side of the road. Dozens of coachmen then surrounded them, “Are you going to see the triumphant return? It’s about to start, if you take a carriage now, you may be able to catch up!….” The coachmen persuaded them with words.

Although the market is only a few kilometers away from Thurii, the mercenaries are willing to experience the feeling of riding a carriage.

The carriage was fast and stable as it galloped on the flat road. The mercenaries were still indulging in the excitement of speed, when they heard a huge noise.

In front of the city of Thurii were packs of people, that have burst into thunderous cheers, and only one sentence resounded, “Here they come!!! Here they come!!!….”

In the west of the city, facing the gentle sunrise, a long golden dragon marches towards the city….

The coachmen then stopped the carriages, because there were many people squeezing in front. However, standing on the carriage made them still see what is happening:

The flag bearers who marched at the front were the bravest and the most notable in this campaign, Litom did not expect to get this honor, so much so that from the start of the march until now, his normal rigid face was filled with smiles. He is about to reach the crowd, so he once more straightens his chest and raises the Legion’s flag high. Cheers, exclamation, praise came together and rushed towards them. It’s like a magic medicine that made his whole body full of strength….

Timasion narrowed his gaze and saw that the majestic bronze statue of Hades that was holding the bident was at the top of the flag, which made him remember the rumor that “Davos is the favored of Hades”.

Looking at the golden characters and the four golden stars embroidered on the flag of the “First Legion”, and listening to the narration of Agasias of its origin, made them all feel a bit lost.

Next to the flag bearer of the Legion is the military flag, which was under the grim statue of death with its wings spread out, and the flag is embroidered with “The Second Brigade”. Originally, the fourth brigade, who is the one that has made the greatest contribution in this battle, should be at the front, but considering the perception of the people, Davos ends up giving the honor to the second brigade. After all, they have also worked hard and made great achievements, and no one had any objection based on their achievements in guarding the Lao Fortress. As compensation, Davos gave the Lucanians the honor to be the Legion’s flag bearer.

The soldiers marched vigorously and passed through the crowds with their heads held high, enjoying the cheering of the people….

The mercenaries paid close attention to them, the amateurs watched the excitement, while the experts appreciated this moment. Xanticles then said to Agasias, “Your soldiers are excellent. They have good morale and momentum!”

“But are worse than us!” Said Cleanor, unconvinced.

Agasias didn’t say anything and just laughed.

At this time, Tolmides exclaimed, “Look at those soldiers, they should not be Greek!”

Agasias fixed his gaze on them: The second brigade to pass through the crowd and the flag was embroidered with “The fourth brigade of the first Legion.”

When did the Union have a fourth brigade? With doubt, Agasias looked at the soldiers, at the same time, he thought about the fact that they had captured the city of Nerulum in Lucania. He then understood the reason why Davos did this, “They are Lucanian, since they are now part of the Legion, I am afraid that they are now Union citizens.”

Chapter 182 – Triumphant Return and Former Comrades (II)

“Can foreigners become citizens of your Union?” Exclaimed Xanticles.

Agasias didn’t know the situation. So, he could only give a vague answer, “….there are, of course, some special reasons for this, because our Union is more open than other Greek city-states and so, we are more tolerant. And it is also common for foreigners to become citizens of the Union, just like the Persian merchant that you all know and was used to be with Davos, and now, not only is he a citizen of the Union, he is also a member of the Senate and he is also the senior commercial officer of the Union.”

“Whoa!…” They were all amazed, and some people even jokingly said, “Since a Persian can become a statesman, then shouldn’t be us, who are your comrades and have been with you for a long time and have shared hardships, be more fitting?!”

“Agree! Agree!….” Some people echoed.

In order to attract Timasion to Magna Graecia, Agasias said some unrealistic things, but now, he couldn’t take it back. And it was Solikos, the coachman, who could no longer listen to them, interjected, “You foreigners, stop talking nonsense. It’s not easy to become a statesman of our Union! According to 《Theonia Union’s Civil Service Act》 a citizen must first serve as a low-rank civil servant for at least six years and perform well before he can be promoted to a middle-rank civil servant. Only after five years of excellent performance as a middle-rank civil servant can he enter the Senate. However, the first thing is to pay taxes on time every year, and to actively join the army and fight wars and have no record of violating the laws and be disciplined….Do you think it’s so easy to be a statesman?! As for the current statesmen, they have made contributions to the establishment of the Union, and the one you were talking about, the Persian, Marigi, the reason for why the port and market of Thurii can be as prosperous as it is today, is all his credit! While the Lucanians, Vespa and Bagul, who have recently joined the Senate, I heard that it was because of them that Nerulum was able to stabilize so quickly! Foreigners, just because you have opened your mouth, so you will become a statesman? May I ask what have you done for the Union?!”

The mercenaries were unable to speak for a moment.

“So, if you want to stay in the Union and develop, you should be more practical by first becoming a citizen of the Union.” Solikos became complacent and admonished them seriously.

“Old fogey, it’s tiring listening to your nonsense!” Toras and some of the young mercenary officers yelled in exasperation. Timasion and the others stopped them, but they had already angered the coachmen. The coachmen then immediately yelled for the mercenaries to get out of the wagons, and some of the mercenaries after getting out, couldn’t stop themselves from talking back and the two sides began to argue. Agasias tried to persuade them, and Solikos also persuaded his companions. With the help of Timasion and Xanticles, the two sides reached an agreement. Their argument had almost attracted the intervention of the patrols that were maintaining the order outside the city.

Then Solikos and the coachmen took their fare and drove the wagons away from the mercenaries.

Solikos looked at the sturdy backs of these mercenaries, then said to the others, “If these people were to stay in Thurii, I am afraid that they will become a headache for the patrol.”

Timasion then asked Agasias in a low voice, “Is it so difficult to become a statesman of Theonia Union?”

Agasias nodded in silence.

“If we had known that you would have this status today, we would’ve followed you in Byzantium!” Xanticles sighed with regret then added, “This is the arrangement of the goddess of destiny, there is nothing we could do about it. We don’t have to be a statesman of the Senate, it’s already good to become a citizen and have a land!”

“Then we might as well be a freeman in Asia Minor, and we would not have needed to run to such a remote place, and be bound by this and that. Agasias, you are right!” Cleanor said indignantly.

Agasias was embarrassed and didn’t know how to respond. The group then continued to watch the parade with their own thoughts.

The ranks and march of the soldiers of the fourth brigade were not very neat, but they are tall, sturdy and are very stunning. For the first time, these Lucanians from the mountainous areas received the cheers and praise from the public, they then discard their inferiority complex and restraint as foreign race. They were all excited and even waved back to the crowds.

After the fourth brigade passed by, they were followed by more than a dozen of loaded carts filled with dazzling and glittering gold and silver kitchen wares, statues, jewelries and coins seized by the army from Nerulum and the wealth that Laos presented to the Union….and so on.

It made the crowd even more amazed. If it weren’t for the powerful soldiers around the carts, I’m afraid that some people would not be able to stop themselves from grabbing some.

War brings not only death, but also wealth! Davos used the most direct way to present it to the Senate and people of the Union.

“Will all the spoils that you get be handed over to the Union?” Timasion asked curiously.

Agasias answered, “A small part of it will be allocated to the soldiers that participated in the war, and most part will be handed over to the treasury and private possession is not allowed.”

“If there are no spoils, then there is no passion to fight. Who would be willing to fight to the death then!” Cleanor said with discontent.

Agasias thought for a moment and said with seriousness, “They are citizens of the Union. It is their responsibility to join the army to fight and defend our territory. Moreover, after the spoils are turned over, it will still be used for them, such as pensions for the soldiers that died, and to care for the disabled soldiers, and the maintenance and replacements of weapons and equipment. Do we have these benefits when we were mercenaries before?! Think of our brothers who have died on the battlefield and couldn’t even return home!!” Said Agasias with some anger. He obviously has some dissatisfaction with these people who used to be his comrades.

Cleanor snorted and stopped talking.

While Timasion and Xanticles were greatly moved.

Then, Tolmides exclaimed, “Look, who is that?!”

After the loaded carts, five wagons appeared. The first one was a wagon pulled by two pure white horses(the original plan was for the wagon to be pulled by four horses, but it was because Thurii was now in a state of ruin and there were not so many horses, so they changed to two horses.) A man in shining armor stood tall on the beautifully carved wagon. He was not wearing a helmet, which was to make the people see his face. However, his expression was a little bit serious, and it was obviously not suitable for such a lively occasion.

“Philesius! That’s Philesius!” Exclaimed the mercenaries.

The people were also shouting his name and cheering, “Philesius! The hero of the Union! The one who had defeated the Lucanians!….”

Philesius, who was surrounded by the people, naturally could not see his former comrades. Facing the heartfelt thanks of the people, he finally squeezed out a smile and waved his arms around.

After Philesius, came a man in the second wagon pulled by a motley horse. The mercenaries didn’t know him, and after listening to the introduction of Agasias, they learned that he is Drakos, the senior centurion of the second brigade of the first legion of the Union. He was also a mercenary and has participated in all the battles after Davos arrived in Magna Graecia, hence why he got his present status.

The man in the third wagon made the mercenaries exclaim again, “Hieronymus!!”

Hieronymus, who was squeezed out of the leader position by Xenophon, had been ridiculed by many people in secret. Some have even looked down on his behavior of following Davos back in Byzantium, believing that he was abandoning himself and giving up his dignity to follow a young man with less experience and qualifications than him. Now, the man that they looked down now stands tall in the wagon. Although his expression is as serious as a wood carving, the cheers of the crowds did not decrease at all, which shows that he has become a pivotal figure in the Union.

On the wagon that followed, they also don’t know him, but he looks like a Lucanian. He was Bagul, the senior centurion of the fourth brigade. As the only Lucanian who rode in a wagon, he was both proud and afraid that the people of the Union would ignore him because he was a foreign race. However, the scene of jubilation made him feel relieved. This is the case outside the city, so he no longer needs to worry once he is inside the city, because there are his father, Vespa, and a large number of Lucanian preparatory citizens from Nerulum, such as Hemon, Kesima and Ulasa, who had come to Thurii to watch the triumphant return. At this moment, he was thinking that his image in the wagon will certainly inspire the Lucanians of the Union to play more actively for the Union!

The man in the last wagon had once again made the mercenaries exclaim, “That’s Epiphanes!!”

Because of his easy-going character, Epiphanes got along well with the leaders of other camps during the expedition to Persia, and they all knew him very well. At this moment, he was smiling and waving to everyone around him. His movements were natural and free, and some women of the freemen were shouting his name in an attempt to attract his attention. What they did not know was that the captain of the seventh brigade was more interested in men than women.

Looking at the high spirited appearance of their former comrades, one can only imagine the loss in the hearts of Timasion and the others. One must know that, in Persia, Philesius was only an adjutant, Epiphanes was only a squad leader, and Hieronymus was an ousted strategos, and were not like Timasion, Xanticles and Cleanor, who have commanded thousands of soldiers and discussed the fate of the whole mercenary….but today, the former little soldiers are now prominent figure in such a large Union, and the former leaders who held powers and have fought in Asia Minor for a year, had ended up being a mercenary hated by any city-state. After this contrast, Timasion and Cleanor felt very uncomfortable.

When the legion flag entered the north gade, colorful petals were scattered from the sky, which fell on the soldiers, adding a bit of romance to the valiant soldiers….

There was even more cheering inside the city.

After they enter the city of Thurii from the north gate, they then walk a few blocks ahead and then turn to the west, they were then able to reach the square.

Chapter 183 – Triumphant Return: The Highest Honor of a Union’s Warrior

The rooftops on the streets were filled with people. They called out the names of their families, interacted with the soldiers in excitement, and proudly introduced their husbands or fathers, who were marching, to their neighbors with pride, and made every soldier feel that they were returning home in full glory.

Philesius, who was advancing forward, passed his house, so he subconsciously looked at it. On the roof of his house were filled with people, when suddenly a young man shouted and danced around, it was Melisander! In the noisy crowd, he could still hear the shouting of Melisander, “That’s my father! That’s my father! Father! Father!!….” And by Melisander’s side, was Delia, who was watching him with a smile….

Philesius smiled, a smile that came from the bottom of his heart….

The marching army then turned west, and here stood a huge arch made of white marble. Davos called it Arc de Triomphe(Αψίδα του Θριάμβου): The vault has the image of goddess of victory, and the stone walls on the lintel are carved according to the suggestion of Davos so that the later generations will remember the foundations that they had laid to found the Theonia City-State Union: The battle to annihilate the Lucanian alliance, re-capturing Amendolara at night, the surprise attack on the Crotonian army, and the ingenious take over of Nerulum, will be carved. However, due to the lack of time, they still haven’t found a good sculptor, and the arch is still currently blank.

After passing through the Arc de Triomphe and continuing towards the west, the road gradually widens. At the end of the road is the newly built square, which was immediately put into use and it’s still lacking a name because of the time being tight

Litom, who was holding the flag, quickened his pace, for he had already noticed the dozens of white clothed figures on the stage of the square. According to the prior instructions that he had received, he knew that those were Lord Davos, the archon that he respected, and the statesmen of the senate who were waiting for their arrival.

“Here they come! Here they come!….” Exclaimed Henepolis excitedly.

“Be quiet, son.” Avinoges held down the restless Henepolis and he then said to Davos, “Milord, thank you for taking care of Henepolis during this time!” After Henepolis arrived in Thurii, Davos did not make him stay in an inn, but had allowed him to stay in his own home.

“Henepolis is very sensible! He love to learn as well! His teacher, Ansitanos, likes him very much! And after he came, my house became a lot more lively!” Said Davos with a smile.

These past two days, Avinoges found out from Henepolis that Davos had taken good care of him. Avinoges is not someone who just talks about being grateful, so he secretly determined that he would repay Davos for his kindness in the future. He then changed the topic, “Milord, your warriors are coming!”

“They are not only the warriors of the Union, but also the warriors of our alliance, they are the one who will guard the security of the whole alliance!” Said Davos with a smile.

The polemarchos of Roscianum, Amikles, nodded in agreement. As a member of the Theonia Alliance, the leaders of Roscianum and Laos were invited to attend the Triumphant Return, and they all gladly accepted the invitation.

At this moment, when they saw the troops marching towards them neatly, they did not feel that Theonia Union was showing off its force to them, because Theonia Union as the leader of the alliance, would not be like Athens in the Delian League who would exploit its allies and ask for tributes. And Theonia Union will not interfere in the internal affairs of its allies like Sparta in the Peloponnesian League. As for sending troops to war, it is their obligation as an allied city-state and also a show of equality. Therefore, the stronger Theonia Union is, the safer they will feel as an ally.

Davos looked at the troops that are heading to the square and his thoughts was filled with imagination: Why did he not let the officers and strategos go first like the Romans in his previous life, and had instead let the soldiers be at the front?; First, it is in order to train the sense of honor of the soldiers and highlight the concept of equality in the Union, and the morale of the troops will be greatly improved. Second, it is to reduce the influence of the victorious strategoi on the people, so as to avoid some accidents in the long run. For this reason, he had also let Philesius be in the middle, and made several senior centurions enjoy the honor of riding in a wagon. Even so, this kind of novel way to celebrate their victory that has never been held in a Greek city-state is a great honor.

The salpinx resounded and the drums rang, and the soldiers began to enter the square.

“I can’t believe it! Litom is unexpectedly at the forefront!”

“Who is Litom?”

“He is a famous hunter in the tribe of Bagul!”

“Look! He is the one walking at the front, and is actually ahead of the Greeks. The Union truly has no prejudice against us Lucanians!”

“Look! Look! Bagul! Bagul is unexpectedly riding in a wagon! So envious!!”

“When can I be like him?!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Among the crowds on the square, were the Lucanians like Kesima, Ulasa and Hemon, who came from Nerulum, and had yelled and screamed and danced with excitement….

Naturally, Bagul could not see them amidst the dense crowd. The coachmen drove the wagon around the square, and after going for a round, they then drove towards the center of the square. Bagul’s majestic figure is like a huge rock, which has aroused huge waves in the hearts of the Lucanian youths, ‘A warrior should enjoy such glory!’

When the drum beatings stopped and the square became quiet, the soldiers then looked at the Union’s Archon who was standing tall on the stage.

Davos then stepped forward and said in a loud voice, “Warriors of the Union, in these 20-odd days that you have been away from your families and had rushed to the strange mountainous region. You had fought with the fierce enemy and captured Nerulum. At the same time, you helped our ally recover Laos and solved the problem of Thurii being attacked by the enemies from the mountains for many years. Thank you! The Senate thanks you! The Union also thanks you! The Senate and I would like to express our most solemn gratitude to your efforts and sacrifices!” With that, Davos took the lead and solemnly bowed to the officers and men that were in front of him.

Roars rang out in the square in a flash.

“All hail Davos”

“All hail the senate!”

“All hail the Union!!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The soldiers screamed with excitement.

“Because of your efforts, Theonia Union is now officially established! After the deliberation and decision of the senate, today’s Triumphant Return will become a festival on the whole union to celebrate the birth of Theonia Union! And the military flag will become the flag of the Union, and will flutter all over the union!”

“Long live the Union! Long live the Union!! Long live the Union!!!….”

Listening to the cheers of the soldiers and the people, Davos believed that the national day and the national flag will surely unite all the people of all ethnic groups under the Union and add a lot of weight to the formation of a brand new race in the Mediterranean!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the afternoon, Davos hosted a banquet for Timasion, Xanticles, Cleanor and Tolmides at his residence in Thurii, and they were accompanied by Agasias, Philesius and Hieronymus.

Eating new and delicious food, drinking mellow alcohol, and recalling the battles that they had fought together in the past. The mood of the banquet was quite warm.

At this moment, Cleanor belched and asked, “Davos, looking at your beautiful courtyard and you becoming the archon and the commander of the army, how enviable….erm….when can we be like you?!”

‘Here it comes!’ Agasias immediately aroused himself.

Davos laughed and then said with seriousness, “As long as you work hard to make contributions to the Union, it will not be a problem for you to become a citizen of the Union, get a land, and have the same life as me! In fact, there are wealthier people in the Union than me….”

“Contribution? What kind of contribution?! I have heard that it will take five years for one to become an official citizens in your Union, not to mention becoming a statesman of the Senate, which is even more difficult!” Complained Cleanor.

“Yes, the laws of the union are like this. All foreigners and freemen need to abide by this, and there are no exceptions!” Said Davos calmly with firmness.

“But-” Cleanor, pretending to be drunk, pointed to Agasias and said loudly, “Erm….that is not what Agasias had told us back in Ephesus, he said that ‘As long as we come to Magna Graecia, we will soon become citizens and get a land! And even become statesman of the Senate!’ It is because of listening to his words that we came to such a far away place. Now, you are telling us that it will take five years to achieve all this?! What is more, I heard that the Lucanian warriors in the Triumphant Return were slaves half a year ago, and manage to become official citizens only after half a year, and their leaders had also become statesmen. Are we inferior to those aborigines?!!”

The atmosphere in the living room suddenly became tense.

Agasias clenched his fist angrily. In order to attract Timasion, he had indeed said some inducing words, but it was not as exaggerated as what Cleanor is saying. He wanted to retort, but in such a situation, it would undoubtedly make the situation become more tense.

Agasias hesitated, Philesius also hesitated to say something, and Hieronymus frowned and looked at Davos. On the other side, Timasion, Xanticles, and Tolmides seemed to not hear anything and continued eating, but they secrealy pricked their ears up….

Davos’ expression did not change, he then cast a comforting gaze to Agasias and said slowly, “Cleanor, rest assured. Just sit down and listen to what I will say….”

Cleanor tried to stir things up, but it was like setting a fire on a wet cotton cloth, which didn’t seem to work….

So, he could only sit down angrily.

“To tell you the truth, why does it take five years for some people and only half a year for others? It’s all about interests!” Davos looked at these mercenary leaders and said seriously, “Because the Lucanians were able to help the Union to pacify Nerulum, they can even help the Union to conquer more Lucanian territory, what is more, they have made a lot of contributions to the Union before. They have built the roads that you travelled by wagon, they then helped us defeat Crotone, and they also actively learn Greek and have tried to understand and comply with the laws of the Union. For such a group that are willing to integrate into the Union and can bring great benefits to the Union, it is natural that the Senate will give them citizenship in advance, and the people have no objection because they all know that the Union will get much more than what we paid!

Agasias is right. Although you don’t have the advantages of the native people like the Lucanians, you are good at fighting and there will be no less wars in the Union in the future. As long as you win many battles and let the Senate see your value, it will not be a problem for you to become citizens in advance!”

Chapter 184 – Cloud and Rain (Love Making)

Agasias breathed a sigh of relief. He was grateful to Davos for fulfilling his previous commitment.

Timasion and the others listened very carefully, and Cleanor wasn’t satisfied, “Davos, you are the archon for life, and I heard that you are in control of the Senate, aren’t you the same like….the one from Athens….uhm….Peisistratus*? What laws are needed, isn’t it just a word for you? Why do you need to make it so troublesome, you can just immediately make us citizens, no?!” (T/N: Peisistratus is the tyrant of ancient Athens whose unification of Attica and consolidation and rapid improvement of Athens’ prosperity helped to make possible the city’s later preeminence in Greece.)

“Cleanor, you have gone too far!” Yelled Philesius.

Davos waved his hand to indicate that it was okay, and continued to patiently say, “You want to say that I am a tyrant, right?”

At this time, Cleanor realized that he had gone too far. After all, Davos at this time was no longer the one he could talk to on an equal footing. Therefore, he bowed his head and did not dare to respond.

“I will tell you one fact, and not anything else. There are currently more than a thousand mercenaries in the union, and more than 5,000 formal soldiers, plus more than 20,000 preparatory citizens. Most of them are Greeks of Magna Graecia. As foreigners, we still account for half of the number of statesmen in the Senate. So, do the local people have no objections? I definitely think that there must be, so why does no one rise up against us?” Davos said this, then he paused for a moment to give them time to think, and then continued, “Because we have tried our best to be fair and just. We have treated the Amendolarans, the Thurians, the Lucanians, the foreigners and the freemen in strict accordance with the laws of the union. If I were to propose a law today that will give you citizenship, then tomorrow, with more than 20,000 preparatory citizens, they will make trouble in the Senate, and the Senate will then launch an impeachment against me. Can we, who are only more than a thousand foreigners, beat the tens of thousands of citizens of the union? Even if we win, will the union still exist? So as a friend, I can help you as much as possible! But as the ruler of a union, I can’t give you special treatment. I hope that you can understand it!….” Davos’ serious words made the place quiet.

At this time, Hieronymus apologetically said, “Lord Davos, we have long been in Thurii, but I have never thought about these things and had made you worry about us all this time, I am really sorry!”

“I haven’t thought about it either, and had thought that it is just right for us to enjoy such a life!” Said Philesius with emotion.

“That is how it should be, don’t think too much and live naturally, cultivate the land, and battle once it is time to fight. You have never caused me any trouble and have always supported me and helped me maintain the current situation. I would like to propose a toast to you all!” With that, Davos raised his glass and drank together with Philesius, Agasias and Hieronymus.

Timasion and Xanticles looked at each and nodded. Then Timasion said, “Davos, I’d like to know what arrangements and suggestions you have once our 3,000 brothers arrived?”

Davos thought about it and said, “I suggest that after they come, they should first apply for a ‘willing to be a union’s citizen’ to the census office in Thurii….afterwards, they should go find a place to live first, they can find a cheap place to stay in the inn area in Amendolara. They can also help the citizen to rent land to farm, in this way, they can save the rent and just live in someone’s house. Of course, they can also find friends who they are familiar with before and live in their home, such as Kapus, Antonios….most of the soldiers in the first brigade were mercenaries from the Persian expedition. I think that all of you should be familiar with them. They will soon come back from Nerulum, then Philesius will arrange for one or two of you in one family to settle the accommodation problem….

Afterwards, they will need to look for a job. Now, the harbors and markets are booming, there is a great need for a lot of labor, and the road from Thurii to Nerulum is about to start construction, so it will also require a lot of labor, hence why it will not be difficult to find a job. When you find a job, you must work hard, it’s not only to earn money, but at the same time, to show your diligence to the staff of the census office responsible for investigation, and that you are not an idler, which will help you in becoming an official citizen in the future. In addition, on the military training day, Philesius will arrange for you to participate. The combat method of the union is relatively complex, so you need to be familiar with it to avoid accidents due to poor cooperation. I estimate that by next year, the union may launch a war against the Lucanian region. As long as you perform well in the battle, I think that it will not be a problem to shorten the period of you becoming a citizen of the union!….”

Obviously, after a careful consideration, the proposal of Davos had made sense to Timasion and the others.

At this time, Xanticles expressed his concern, “I heard that during the inspection period, if a problem were to happen, then it will become much more difficult to become a citizen. Davos, as you know, us mercenaries when fighting outside, because we are used to freedom, will inevitably violate the laws of the union, at that time-”

“I understand!” Davos nodded cautiously and then said comfortingly, “As long as it’s just the first offense, it will not be a big problem. But I hope that you can remind everyone who will come to the Union in time and manage them. In addition….erm, I have a suggestion. I know that every one of you has come to Magna Graecia with armor and weapons, I hope that you can hand your weapons to Philesius for the time being, and let him keep them in the armory. After a while, when you get used to the life here, Philesius will give them back to you.”

As soon as Davos finished speaking, Timasion was about to speak, but was immediately interrupted by Davos, “Don’t worry, the union will not embezzle your weapons! In the armory of Theonia, there are numerous weapons and equipment from the soldiers of Crotone and Nerulum. The main reason why I suggested that is because once the other brother comes here, they will inevitably have conflicts with other people. However, if they were to use their weapons to injure or even kill, then it will not be easy to solve it! Of course, this is just my suggestion. You can go back and think about it carefully….”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After sending off the guests, Davos went up to the second floor.

Cheiristoya was standing at the window, when she heard the sound of footstep. She then asked softly, “How was the banquet?”

Davos sat down on the bed with a long sigh, “I haven’t seen them for more than half a year, they are still the same, but we are no longer what we were.”

Cheiristoya, slightly frowning, walked slowly up to Davos and sat down, “Are they asking too much?”

Davos nodded, “They wanted to become a citizen of the union immediately and to also become a statesman of the Senate!”

“Who brought it up?” Cheiristoya then pressed her slender finger on Davos’ lips and said mischievously, “Let me guess….hmmm, it must be Cleanor, isn’t it?”

Davos smiled, “Among these people, Xanticles is humble, Tolmides is sleek, Timasion is prideful, and only Cleanor is a bastard and he used to hate me and Xenophon. If not him, then who else! But I think all of them have this idea.”

“Who made you so outstanding that you only need half a year to reach where you are now….” Cheiristoya’s white hands rubbed Davos’ face, gazing at him admiringly, then murmured, “Anyone who have meet you will be mad with jealousy….”

“Are you one of those crazy people?” Davos clasped her hand and said with a smile.

“I love you, I am crazily in love with you!” Said Cheiristoya affectionately, then gave her husband a deep kiss.

Then the kiss ignited the passion of Davos, who was depressed due to his wife’s pregnancy. So, he decided to temporarily put his annoyance behind him for the time being, he then carefully held Cheiristoya’s waist with one hand then caressed her bulging abdomen with the other and gently said, “Is my son happy today?”

“Who said that it will be a boy? I still haven’t gone to the temple of Hera yet!” Cheiristoya look at him coquettishly.

“If it will be a girl, then she will definitely be beautiful and kind like you.” As Davos said this, his hand began to move down slowly, and his heated palm entered Cheiristoya’s sensitive area, and made her whole body begin to tremble slightly.

“I….I am pregnant with your child….no….we can’t….or you go find Azune….” Said Cheiristoya pantingly.

“Who says that you can’t do it if you are pregnant? You can definitely do it as long as you are stable. I am the teacher of Herpus, so I have the final say….” Davos softly spoke to her, and the heat of his breath blew on Cheiristoya’s long white neck. His strong breath has filled Cheiristoya’s nose and listening to his words has made her whole body hot. Finally, she could not stop herself any longer and she gently leaned her arms on the bed….

Davos then immediately took off her clothes for her. Cheiristoya’s body was much more plump than before, which might be due to her pregnancy….

Davos’ breathing had also become rapid, he then gently licked the smooth skin of Cheiristoya….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Did you hear that?! Davos wants us to farm! To build roads! For the past ten years, we have done nothing but kill! BUT TO BUILD ROADS?! And he wants us to hand over our weapons? Aren’t we just letting them bully us?!….” On the way back to the inn, Cleanor vented his dissatisfaction loudly.

“What Davos said is also reasonable. It is not easy to govern such a large union. Besides, they are also outsiders, so it is natural for them to be careful when doing things. It is impossible for them to give us special privileges….”

“Their strength is insufficient, isn’t that why they had asked for our help?! ” Cleanor retorted, then after a few steps, he might’ve felt that he was a bit dogmatic, so he sighed, “I just….just can’t figure out why they can have all these, while we still haven’t gotten anything yet?!”

Chapter 185 – The arrival of Sparta

As soon as he said this, everyone felt depressed.

“This is the arrangement of the goddess of fate. Who told us not to follow Davos back then?!” Tolmides said it with a sigh, “It still not too late for us to follow him since he has made such a great career in only half a year!”

Listening to the words of Tolmides, Xanticles, who was already in his old age, looked up at the quiet starry sky, and his heart was filled with sadness, “I don’t know how you feel, but I am already old and I am tired of wandering around and fighting. I always fear that after today, there will no longer be a tomorrow. It would be good for me to settle down here….”

After saying this, everyone became quiet.

“Erm, everyone, don’t think about the future, but first think about how we will receive our other companions, and prevent them from making trouble, otherwise, we will be in trouble!” Timasion reminded everyone worriedly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Timasion’s concerns were answered the next morning.

When Timasion and the others hadn’t yet arrived at the port, they learned that there were more than a dozen foreigners looting in the market, and also having conflicts with the management personnel who had come there, and injuring people, until all the market patrol teams arrived and arrested them. Timasion then rushed and saw that it was their comrades. In the end, he asked Agasias to pay and make a promise and the mercenaries were also fined for a month’s worth of hard work before the matter was settled.

In order to prevent such a thing from happening again, Timasion rented a house in the port.

Even so, every day, the conflicts and disputes began to increase, most of which were related to these mercenaries. Even some of the statesmen proposed to expel these mercenaries from the Union and restore peace to the Union at the meeting. Eventually, the proposal was aborted under the opposition of Agasias, Antonios, Kapus and the others, but it also made Davos feel a bit of pressure.

The time passed quickly, and by the end of November, the shipyard of Enanilus was completed. The statesmen such as Davos and the others had come to congratulate the completion of the shipyard and ordered three triremes.

The establishment of the Theonian Fleet as soon as possible has been put on the agenda of the Senate in order to protect the increasingly prosperous harbor and the maritime trade of the Union. At the same time, it is also necessary to change the embarrassing fact that the Theonia Union has no fleet and has even fewer ships than its two allies.

By the beginning of December, the assembly hall of the Senate of Thurii was completed, which finally brought an end to the sad history of the statesmen who had to go to Amendolara once they had an important meeting, which is no longer confidential and is also energy consuming. And the sorrows of the coachmen of driving them for free has also come to an end.

At the same time, the land part of the bridge on the Crati river that is still under construction has been completed, and the Thurii’s Sports Square is also about to be completed.

When the good news from various construction sites came, a small warship with a large “Λ” symbol on its sails entered the Gulf of Taranto in Magna Graecia. When the various ships saw that symbol, they had all taken the initiative to avoid it and made way for it.

Phidias, the Spartan strategos who was just over 30 years old, had taken it for granted. He then instructed the helmsman to drive straight to the harbor of Thurii without the need to avoid the ships.

In the western Mediterranean, Sparta deals with Syracuse the most and therefore has some knowledge of Sicily, but most Spartans have little understanding of Magna Graecia. Apart from seeing the athletes from the city-states of Magna Graecia at the Sport Games, they have no contact with other aspects. Because true Spartan citizens can’t do trade and do not have any trade relations with the city-states of Magna Graecia….therefore, after entering this area, Phidias looked at everything around him with interest.

After looking at the port of Thurii for a while, he then said to his entourage, Dorotheus, “There are quite a lot of merchant ships here. I think that this place is similar to Corinth.”

Dorotheus is a Perioikoi. The Periokoi are also Lacedaemon, it’s just that they are non-Spartan citizens and most of them live on the border of Laconia. They have personal freedom, and have the right to handle local affairs, but they don’t have political rights in Sparta. In the past, they mainly engaged in trades that the Spartan citizens could not engage in, but now, because of the years of war, the number of citizens in Sparta has decreased, and so, they also began to join the army. It’s because of the different occupations that he was engaged in the past that made Dorotheus have a character that was rarely seen in Sparta. He watched the ships passing through the mouth of the Crati river, then he deliberately asked, “The trade in Corinth is sluggish and it is not as lively as here. Phidias, you should’ve ask me ‘How does it compare with Athens?’”

When it comes to Athens, the face of Phidias became unsightly. Originally, when Athens was defeated, Lysander founded the “Thirty Tyrants” in Athens, to try manipulate Athens’ political situation. Although some Athenians revolted, with the full support of Sparta to this puppet government, the Athenians who were rebellious did not have wonderful days. However, King Pausanias and the elders headed by Diopetus who were at odds with Lysander, not only did they deprive Lysander of his military command, he had also advocated to the Gerousia to negotiate peace with the Athenian Democrats. In the end, the Athenian Democrats overthrew the Thirty Tyrants and established a new democratic regime. Moreover, Athens, which has learned a bitter lesson, has adopted more flexible policies than before. On the other hand, they tried to please Sparta, on the other hand, they are trying every means to restore trade and agriculture after the war. A few years have passed and the trade in Athens began to boom again.

Phidias snorted and stopped talking.

At this moment, the Theonian water patrol boat came near.

Phidias then said aloud, “I am the envoy of Sparta, I want to meet the archon of your Union!”

The water patrol did not dare to neglect him, and so they immediately sailed back to Thurii.

Diplomatic matters like the visit of Sparta are of course handled by the Senate. But it is impossible for the more than 50 statesmen of the Senate to stay in the Senate hall every day, because not every day will have big events that need them to deal with. Moreover, many of them have official posts, so Davos adopted a rotating system, that is to say, every five statesmen are on duty for one day in the Senate Hall, and the next day, the other five will take over.

Just as the patrol boat rushed to deliver the news to the Senate Hall, Davos had already received the urgent report from Aristias in his courtyard.

The envoy of Sparta is here! Davos frowned and immediately thought that Sparta might have come for Timasion and the others.

Soon, the patrol boat returned to the mouth of the river and signaled the Spartan warship to follow it.

Before coming, Phidias didn’t know anything about Thurii, and so, he did not know that the city and the harbor were not at the same place, which was similar to Athens. However, because the harbor was not connected with the city wall, it is easy to occupy the harbor once a war breaks out. Phidias looked at everything in front of him from a military point of view.

“There is no such big river in Athens, and you can see that the terrain is very flat, and the soil should be very fertile, so the agriculture in Thurii should be very good!” While his entourage, Dorotheus, looked at it from an economic point of view.

After a few kilometers of sailing, Phidias saw the watchtower of Thurii on both sides of the river. Both watchtowers have chains hanging in mid-air across the Crati river. Phidias knows that once a foreign enemy fleet breaks through the mouth of the river, the iron chain will be lowered which will then block the warship’s path to the city.

The patrol boat finally entered the dock on the north bank.

Phidias noticed that the docks, trestles, and houses on the shore were all clean and tidy, except for the docks on the outermost side which were scorched black. So, Dorotheus asked the captain of the water patrol with curiosity.

“Our archon Davos has asked us to preserve it. They are all over the city, which also includes temples, because he wants every citizen to see the ruins wherever we go and remind ourselves all the time that the city was burned down by the invaders. So we have to remember this great shame, and not let Thurii be oppressed again. Only with victory can we regain our former glory! Just a few days ago, we had repaired a ruin because we managed to capture Nerulum!”

Looking at the captain’s serious and proud expression, Phidias looked at him disapprovingly on the surface, but felt moved in his heart.

At this moment, a group of guards came.

Phidias looked at their mindset and every move, and he can see that this is a team that has been well trained. The soldiers have a strong discipline and certainly have rich practical experience. To be frank, he has never seen a patrolman that can maintain a good formation and be ready to fight at any time, in any other city-state except for the citizens of Sparta. Phidias was indeed a bit surprised.

The water patrol captain then handed over the task of escorting them to the patrol captain, Olivos, and then sailed away.

“Please come with me to the Senate, but your soldiers must stay on board!” Olivos said to Phidias with seriousness, “The Union has a rule that forbids foreign soldiers from entering the city!”

“They are Spartan warriors! They are free to go in and out of any Greek city-state!” Phidias said in a loud voice. Although it is a bit exaggerated, the Spartans do indeed have this privilege in many Greek cities in the easter Mediterranean. Hence why so many city-states are dissatisfied with them.

Olivos looked at him and said disapprovingly, “I know who you are, but I don’t care what you do in other city-states, as long as you step on the land of Theonia, you must abide by our laws!”

Phidias was very angry, but Olivos, the patrol captain, did not give in and look at him with a firm expression of “Either you abide by the rules of the Union or you leave the territory of the Union.”

Finally, Dorotheus made a compromise and allowed the Spartan soldiers to change into civilian clothing before they were allowed to go.

Phidias then angrily entered the city of Thurii. Before he came, he had heard that Thurii had been burned down by Crotone a few months ago, but now, he could hardly see any trace of it in the city. The streets are straight and wide, the new courtyards are well-spaced, and the roofs are filled with blooming flowers. Looking in the distance, you can also see that there are two long elevated aqueducts extending from the huge wheel-like devices on the river bank to the two urban areas in the east and west through the towering water tower. The river water was then drawn into several pools where the children played, there are also fountains and statues in the pool. The people also used these to draw water and to rest. The water then continues to flow through the drain holes in the several directions under the pool, along the ditch beside the street, flowing in front of thousands of houses, washing away the garbage and dust, and making the whole city clean and tidy, and with the moisture of water, the who city is full of vitality.

Chapter 186 – Arrogance: The Symbol of Sparta

In general, the most stunning buildings of a Greek city-state are the temples, arenas, amphitheatres….but at this moment, Phidias and his entourage have not seen many large-scale buildings, and was instead been impressed by the careful and thoughtful design and the clean and tidy appearance of the city. Phidias has been to the famous city-states in the Mediterranean, although Athens is prosperous, it is noisy and dirty. Although Sparta is quiet, it must be noted that the whole city is as simple as a city-state in the countryside. Only Thurii have managed to blend together simplicity, freedom, elegance, quietness, and tidiness, with full charm.

Dorotheus then asked, “Who is the one who designed this city?”

“Heracleides, the disciple of Hippodamus!” Olivos, who was watching their astonishment, said it out loud.

“Oh, Hippodamus!” Exclaimed Dorotheus. The name is not unfamiliar to the Spartans, because he was the one who designed and built the port in Piraeus port, which has created a lot of wealth for Athens. At the beginning, the Spartans had also made great efforts to capture the port.

Further on, they saw a huge white arch across the street, which the Spartans had never seen in any other city-state.

Dorotheus asked with curiosity, “What is the use of this arch?”

The expression of Olivos suddenly became solemn, and said in a deep voice, “This is the Arc de Triomphe! Strategos and soldiers returning from victory will march through the gate to accept the homage and the cheering of the Archon, the Senate and the people of the whole Union. A triumphal victory return was held not long ago because we have captured Nerulum. Alas, it’s a pity that our first brigade can only wait for the next opportunity….”

Phidias did not see the regretful expression of Olivos as he and several Spartan soldiers that were behind him were looking up at the huge Arc de Triomphe. Besides feeling shocked, there is envy. As a warrior, it is their greatest wish to win the cheers of the people of their own city after defeating the enemy! And make them feel that their blood and sacrifices are sacred and meaningful! But in the Greek city-states where democracy prevails, this is almost impossible to happen, because the Democrats believe that this will give the strategoi too much prestige and lead to dictatorship. And even though Sparta is a militant city-state, the Ephors would never allow victory to be excessively promoted and let these young, bloodthirsty Spartans go out of control, Lysander is the best example. But now, there is a colonial city-state in the remote western Mediterranean outside of Greece who had actually done it, and will continue to do so, and made him feel conflicted. Phidias originally did not want to talk to the patrol captain, but now he asked, “How often do you do military training?”

“Why do you ask!” Olivos expression became serious. He thought for a moment and said, “However, it’s okay to tell you. During the busy farming season of our Union, we train every seven days. But now that it is the slack season, we train almost every two~three days, and we train almost the whole day!”

‘Such frequent military training has surpassed most Greek city-states. No wonder these soldiers seem to be well-trained. This is also a city-state that advocates military might!’ Phidias has a hunch that it will be difficult for him to achieve his purpose.

Passing through the wide and flat Νίκη(Victory) Square(after the Triumphant Return, the new square has finally had its own name. Since the main function of the square is to gather the troops before going for a campaign and to hold the Triumphant Return after a war, so they named it “Victory”), Phidias finally entered the Grand Senate Hall of Thurii.

This assembly hall is so large that it could accommodate thousands of people. Seeing Phidias coming in, all the statesmen stood up and gave an applause to welcome him, and saluted respectfully to show their respect to Sparta, which finally made Phidias feel happy.

A young man in the lead then said, “Welcome, the Spartan envoy from afar! What prompted you to come to our Theonia Union?”

Phidias thought that this must be the military genius and the archon of Theonia Union that was mentioned by Cheirisophus. And Phidias also started to think that the Triumphant Return was planned by him.

Phidias looked at him with sharp gaze and aggression.

And Davos did not evade his gaze, and he also looked back at him, as if to see through his purpose.

What Davos sees: The Spartan is dressed in a bright scarlet himation, with long hair not often seen in ordinary Greeks, and his rough face is not only scarred, but also has arrogance and looks at everything in contempt.

Davos, who has a deep understanding of this era, felt that the image of this envoy was the normal image of the Spartans when facing strangers, and only Cheirisophus was an exception.

The two people faced and stared coldly at each other, and the air suddenly became tense.

Kunogelata coughed twice, trying to break the mood that suddenly became tense.

Phidias then spoke and said bluntly, “I have come here on behalf of Sparta to denounce the Theonia Union!”

As soon as this statement was said, the statesmen went into an uproar.

“In order to protect the Greek city-states in Asia Minor and the interests of Greece as a whole, Spata had sent troops across the sea to Asia Minor to fight against the Persians. However, at such a critical time, some of our soldiers fled the battlefield in Asia Minor because of your temptation, which hindered the war against the Persians. Even Thimbron, the harmost of Asia Minor, was exiled by the Gerousia! Therefore, the Gerousia has sent me to denounce you for this treacherous act!”

Is it really grave?! The statesmen looked at each other and were slightly nervous.

“I don’t understand.” Kunogelata asked suspiciously, “You said that we tempted your soldiers, but Theonia Union is thousands of miles away from Asia Minor, and we seldom interact with you Sparta. So, how could we tempt your soldiers to flee?”

“That’s right! As a newly established Union, not only do we have no contact with Sparta, we don’t even know where Asia Minor is!” Said Plesinas, exaggeratingly.

As if Phidias didn’t hear it, and just looked at Davos and sneered, “Those soldiers are mercenaries who have participated in the Persian expedition! And your archon had fought in Persia for more than a year and some of you, have deep friendship with them. Our officers in Asia Minor have witnessed with their own eyes the frequent entry of strangers into these mercenary camps….”

Agasias then saw Antonios and Kapus, who was quietly casting an inquiring gaze at him, so he shook his head gently.

“Are you sure these strangers are our Union’s citizens?” Asked Antonios.

“What I am sure is that these deserters are on their way to Magna Graecia!” Said Phidias decisively, “Therefore, the Spartan Gerousia has decided that ‘Theonia Union must hand over all the mercenaries who have escaped here, and -’” He raised his voice, “As punishment to Theonia Union for hindering the war of Sparta against Persia, we demand for your archon to lead 5,000 soldiers to Asia Minor and join Sparta in our battle against the Persians!”

“What?!!” The statesmen were shocked and clamored, “We, Theonia Union, have no diplomatic relations with Spara, so why do you Spartans dare order us?!!”

“As Greeks, you have hindered the holy war of Sparta against Persia on behalf of the Greeks! And also because Sparta is the leader of all Greece!!” Said Phidias haughtily.

Davos laughed.

Hearing the scorn in his laugher, the agitated statesmen suddenly calmed down.

Mersis asked him quippingly, “Lord Davos, what are you laughing at?”

“I am laughing at the shamelessness of the Spartans!” Davos cast a contemptuous glance at Phidias, “Didn’t Sparta defeat Athens by colluding with Persia, who has always been the enemy of the Greeks, and killing your fellow Greeks?!! So, why is Sparta now fighting against Persia, who was once their ally?”

“Why?” Mersis quickly spoke.

“I heard that Sparta had signed an agreement with Persia before in order for Persia to support them to defeat Athens, agreeing to give up protecting the city-states in Asia Minor and give the jurisdiction to the Persian. After winning the war, Sparta reneged, so the war between Sparta and Persia happened….” Davos looked at the somewhat unnatural expression of Phidias and said discourteously, “Such a city-state that betrays the interests of the Greek city-state and repeatedly breaks its promise says that their war with Persia is a holy war on behalf of all Greece! Do you think that it is not funny?!”

“Yes, it is indeed ridiculous! It is a shame for us Greeks to have such a shameless city-state!” The statesmen, led by Antonios and Amintas, deliberately laughed loudly.

Phidia’s face turned red and shouted, “YOU DARE INSULT SPARTA? ARE YOU NOT AFRAID OF THE WRATH OF SPARTA?!”

The laughter still continued.

Amintas then said excitedly, “Wrath? Are you talking about war? That’s great, I can’t wait for the next Triumphant Return!”

“Lord Davos, you should let us the first brigade take on the next battle. The soldiers couldn’t wait any longer!” Even Kapus, who had always been quiet at meetings, came to join the fun. Obviously, he was infuriated by the unreasonable tyranny of the Spartans.

“That’s right, the first brigade has always been following you, Lord Davos, since before, and yet, they still have not participated in the Triumphant Return and so, the soldiers are already having some thoughts.” Antonios also added.

Phidias was dumbfounded, and his anger had been skillfully changed into a battle assignment by these Theonians.

“Is the Theonia Union prepared to go to war against Sparta?” Phidias shouted angrily.

Chapter 187 – The incitement of Phidias

“Theonia Union has no intention of going to war with any Greek city-state, but if any city-state wants to start a war, insult us and invade our land! Gentlemen, what is our answer?” Davos looked at everyone and asked loudly.

“Fight to the death! Destroy the enemy!”

“Fight to the death!….” The former mercenary statesmen shouted at the same time.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Phidias came out of the Senate Hall with a stern face, Dorotheus greeted him and noticed that his expression was not looking good, so he asked, “How is the situation?!”

“Go! Board the ship! We will go back!” Phidias exclaimed angrily.

Under the “escort” of the patrol team, the men of Phidias rushed back to the port and boarded the ship, then they sailed to the sea under the watch of two patrol boats.

“Hey, if my ships were to hit them!” Phidias pointed to a patrol boat and asked angrily, “Will they sink?!”

“Ah?….” Dorotheus was shocked. Before he arrived at the Senate Hall, he already had a premonition that this mission would fail, but they had actually made Phidias so angry…what happened in the Senate Hall? But he didn’t dare to ask.

Phidias looked at the city of Thurii which was about to disappear from his sight, he then buried his humiliation in his heart and said in a cold voice, “Let’s go to Roscianum!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Milord, I fear that our expulsion of the Spartan envoy this time will be detrimental to the union.” Said Cornelius worriedly.

“I have kept on saying that we should’ve driven those mercenaries away! But you insist on them staying, and now, the trouble is coming!” Bolus said discontentedly.

In the face of their condemnation, Kapus and Agasias, who were former comrades of these mercenaries, found it hard to defend them. But at this time, Plesinas stood up and said, “Aren’t those mercenaries been punished by the union’s law for their mistakes already?! Didn’t the other freeman have also made mistakes?! So why must we get rid of those mercenaries?! Everyone, now, our union is in dire need of labor, it is through the open, free and equal attitude of the union that made us attract so many foreigners and freemen. So there is no reason to hastily drive away those who have come to the union, as it will only damage our image and will only make all the Greeks who want to join us be in doubt!”

“But what if Sparta declares war on us?” Asked Ariphes who was somewhat worried.

“So what?! Do you want to accept the unreasonable request of Sparta to have Lord Davos lead our citizens to Asia Minor?” Plesinas angrily rebuke.

“I….I….” Ariphes cast a glance at Davos with a guilty conscience and no longer dared to speak.

“Sparta might not even dare to fight us!” Said Davos with a confident smile, “We are not a small city-state, but a powerful force in Magna Graecia! If Sparta wants to win, I am afraid that they will find that it won’t be easy! But now, most of their energy is focused on Asia Minor, and the war with Persia won’t be easy, and won’t easily end! I also heard that not long ago, Sparta had a war with the city-state of Elis(Elea), which was responsible for hosting the Olympic Games. It can be seen that even on the Peloponnesian Peninsula, there are many city-states that are dissatisfied with Sparta. At this time, I doubt that they would even dare to wage another war in Magna Graecia!” Said Davos, but in his heart, he regretted that he had not given careful consideration to the fact that he had rashly agreed to Agasias. There has never been an absolute thing in the world, if in case Sparta goes crazy and goes to war with Theonia Union, though Davos is not afraid to fight Sparta, his planned expansion of the Union will be ruined.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Spartan warship sailed to Roscianum and it was beyond the expectations of the union, and the patrol boat immediately reported this discovery to the senate.

After an urgent consultation with the statesmen, Davos decided to send a herald to Roscianum immediately together with the order of the senate: For Roscianum to not entertain the envoy of Sparta.

The herald rode on a fast horse and quickly arrived at the city of Roscianum by taking advantage of the newly built Thurii-Roscianum road. The polemarchos of Roscianum, Amikles, have led the other strategoi and some members of the Boule(council of 500) to the port in order to meet the envoy of Sparta. After all, the envoy of Sparta, the hegemon of the Greek city-state has come to Roscianum, a small remote city-state, so they certainly do not dare neglect them.

Seeing Phidias disembark, they went to greet him and to introduce themselves, but suddenly, the subordinate of Amikles hurried over and handed him a parchment. After reading the content, the complexion of Amikles turned pale and then hurriedly said to Phidias, “Esteemed envoy of Sparta, please wait a moment, because there is something urgent that we need to discuss!”

Before Phidias could give his reply, Amikles hurriedly gathered the strategoi and the members of the Council to the distance.

“It seems that something has happened?” Dorotheus saw them forming a circle and was arguing about something.

Phidias did not speak and only looked at the distance and felt that it wouldn’t go well.

Amikles then return with a somewhat resolute expression, “Esteemed envoy of Sparta, I am sorry to tell you that Roscianum, as a member of Theonia Union, has just received a strict request from Theonia to not allow you to enter the city of Roscianum! So-” Amikles then waved apologetically, then a group of soldiers came.

“THIS IS AN INSULT TO SPARTA! Have you ever thought of the consequence of your choice?!” Phidias threatened angrily. He originally wanted to alienate the relationship between Roscianum and Theonia after getting into the city of Roscianum. Because as far as he knows, it hasn’t been long since Roscianum joined the alliance. Besides, he also wants to stay here for a few days and send soldiers into the port of Thurii to catch some of the mercenaries that have fled, then go back to the Gerousia, and at the same time, to retaliate against Theonia Union. But now, it seems that it is impossible to achieve his goal.

Watching Phidias leave in anger, Amikles breathed a sigh of relief and became worried again, ‘The Theonia Union is too courageous to provoke the Spartans, what should we do if they were to indeed lead an army to attack?!’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Phidias was still not willing, so he made the ship turn and head to Taranto.

Phidias does not believe that Theonia Union can influence Taranto, a strong city-state in Magna Graecia. Moever, Taranto is a child of Sparta and the relationship between the two is friendly.

The establishment of Taranto is somewhat dramatic. A hundred years ago, Sparta was greedy for the fertile land in the land west of Laconia, so they launched a war, and finally, after nearly a hundred years of fighting, Sparta managed to completely annexed Messenia. They then turned the same Greeks of Messenia into helots, but due to the Spartan men needing to fight outside of their homeland for a long time, the women that stayed became lonely. As a result, they had a relationship with the Partheniae(sons of Helots) in Sparta and gave birth to a number of babies, but after they grew up, Sparta did not acknowledge them. Therefore, after many efforts, Phalanthus, the leader of the Partheniae, obtained the opportunity from Sparta to allow him to request an oracle from Delphi. As a result, the Temple of Apollo gave a puzzling oracle: Find a place where rain can fall from a clear sky and you can build a city there. So, Sparta agreed for Phalanthus to lead the illegitimate children and the exiles to leave Sparta to establish a colony.

Phalanthus led his group to sail westward in search of a settlement. Their fleet crossed the Adriatic Sea and went to the Gulf of Taranto, along the way, they saw many places but they did not meet the requirements of the oracle. However, the long sea voyage has made the people complain and depressed, and Phalanthus himself was also very frustrated. So he then told his wife about his distress, then his wife, in order to comfort him, placed his head on her lap. However, his sentimental wife has become depressed instead. When Phalanthus felt her tears splashing on his forehead, he suddenly realized the real meaning of the oracle, because the meaning of his wife’s name is “Clear Sky”. So he immediately ordered the people to disembark, and the place where they disembark was Apulia. They then built a city there and named it after Taras, the son of Poseidon.

Although the founders of Taranto left because they couldn’t obtain Spartan citizenship, and though they developed Taranto into a democratic city-state, it’s a dual archonship, their council system and the ecclesia, are similar to those of Amendolara and are all derived from Sparta’s dual kingship, the Council of Elders(Gerousia), and the Apella(ecclesia version of Sparta), with the absence of the Ephors. It became a prosperous commercial city, which is quite different from its mother-state of Sparta, which has always adhered to the agricultural tradition, but they have always maintained a good relationship with Sparta. During the Peloponnesian War, Taranto stood firmly on the side of Sparta and when the Athenian fleet expedition to Sicily passed through Magna Graecia, they did not allow them to anchor and refuse to provide them food and water. So Athens retaliated by strongly supporting the Messapians against Taranto.

Naturally, the arrival of Phidias was warmly welcomed by Taranto. However, after exchanging greetings with the senior officials of Taranto, he immediately mentioned the insolence of Theonia Union and the lack of respect as a traditional Greek city-state, and he reminded the statesmen of Taranto that Theonia Union advocates force and aggression, which is a threat to the city-states in Magna Graecia.

He also advised Taranto not to form an alliance with Theonia Union and to also limit its expansion.

The newly appointed archon Diaomilas and Umakas evaded the subject and continued to chat and laugh, until Phidias forced them to take a stand. Then, they said with a smile that there must be some misunderstand between Theonia Union and Sparta, so Taranto is willing to help them mediate. Besides that, they did not mention anything else.

Chapter 188 – The action of Taranto and the remorse of Agasias

Seeing Phidias board the ship and leave the port of Taranto, the expression of Diaomilas immediately changed and then said to Umakas, “The Spartan said something correct. If Taranto does not pull itself together, then even Theonia, a new city-state without any historical tradition will look down on us!”

“Are you really planning to start a war against the Messapians?!” Umakas asked hesitantly.

“Haven’t the Messapians been waging war against us all this time?!” Diaomilas asked back, then said, “It is because we have always been tolerant to the Messapians that they increasingly think that we, Taranto, are weak, so their invasion has increased and made the other city-states in Magna Graecia ignore Taranto more! We have to fight back, and completely deal with the Messapians!”

“To completely deal?! That is not what you had told me last time!” Said Umakas, frowning.

Diaomilas slipped up, so he hastily said, “I mean, we first of all, should concentrate on capturing Manduria and then see if we have the chance to capture Brentesion, so that our strength will be greatly strengthened! We can then slowly capture the other city of the Messapians….”

Umakas became a bit excited, but he was still hesitant, “Do we even have the strength to beat the main force of the Messapians in one fell swoop?”

“Of course we have!” Said Diaomilas firmly, and in order to persuade his colleague, he added, “And we also have a strong reinforcement!”

“Who?” Umakas was taken aback.

Diaomilas then pointed to the west of the sea, “Theonia, our ally, we have helped them for so long already, now it is the time for them to contribute!”

Umakas eventually said, “I will support your proposal in the council.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Shit, Theonia, Roscianum and Taranto are all in one group!” Said Phidias angrily on the ship.

“Why don’t we go to Crotone?” Dorotheus cautiously advised.

Phidias stared at him and said, “We will go to Syracuse!”

Of course, Phidias knew that Crotone and Theonia have a bad relationship because of the previous war, but the reason why he didn’t go there is because he knows that the enemy of Crotone is not only Theonia. Their relationship with Locri is much worse, and Locri is an ally of Syracuse, the ally of Sparta in Magna Graecia. If he were to go to Crotone, Syracuse would file a complaint to Sparta. Though it was to take his revenge on Theonia, he didn’t want to be exiled like Thimbron, and what is more, compared with Crotone, Syracuse is a much better partner.

Phidias had heard that the Sicilian Tyrant was a little bit overbearing and so in order to get along with him, he learned his lesson of being too outspoken in Magna Graecia, so he changed his approach to achieve his own goal.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The new Cheiristoya’s restaurant in Thurii is located in the southwest part of the city and is near the port. Compared with the other Cheiristoya’s restaurant that is next to Thurii’s market, its customers are mainly the citizens of the union, foreign envoys and rich merchants, so they offer high-end dishes, such as hotpot beef and mutton. And so, a part of the restaurant was specially partitioned into an open-air small courtyard, so as to exhaust the smoke while barbecuing.

Timasion, Xanticles and Cleanor were invited into the courtyard by Agasias, and they were not unfamiliar with the dishes that are in front of them, for they had already enjoyed these dishes in the house of Davos.

Cleanor was interested in the price of the hotpot, and so he asked the slave that was serving him, “How much does it cost to eat this?”

The slave thought for a moment and said, “Distinguished guest, it depends on how much you eat. Usually, a person pays about two~five drachmas.”

“It is so expensive!” Cleanor exclaimed in surprise, “I couldn’t even earn one drachma a day now!”

“It is more expensive than ordinary dishes, but it’s worth it!” The slave patiently explained, “First of all, the beef and mutton in our restaurant is purchased from Nerulum and Lucania, which is famous in all of Greece, and the price is not cheap. Secondly, the restaurant also needs to send people to the top of the mountain in the west to collect unmelted ice and snow in order to freeze the meat, which is a very risky thing! Then, there are also some slaves that are good at cutting meat to constantly slice the meat for you, and the restaurant has also hired chefs from Egypt to prepare various condiments for you. Finally, I will serve you….you see, there are so many complicated processes and so many people needed to make the hotpot that you like. Do you still think that this is expensive?!”

“You have a smart mouth!” After hearing what the slave said, Cleanor couldn’t help but sigh. Then he once again sighed and frankly said, “It is a pity that you are a slave!”

“Though I am a slave now, my merciful Master still pays me every day. According to the slave act of the union, ‘A slave can become a freeman as long as he has worked hard for his master for more than four years, and raise enough money to redeem himself while also having the consent of his master.’ And our master, Cheiristoya, is as kind as Lord Davos, and has made a sacred oath in front of Hades! Therefore, I think I can become a Theonian citizen in ten years!” The eyes of the slave sparkled with gratitude and hope.

‘Davos, you always win the support of the populace! Aren’t you afraid that the owners of the slaves will be against you?’ Cleanor, who was watching the slightly excited slave, did not utter what he was thinking and casually asked, “What is your name?”

“Tanarus.”

“I hope that your wish will come true.” Cleanor said contrary to his thoughts.

Tanarus happily replied, “Thank you for your blessing, kind guest!”

“Look, there is finally a man that praise Cleanor!” Timasion jokes..

“Timasion, you are just jealous, aren’t you?!” Cleanor held up the beer mug and pretended to be angry, “Come on, let’s drink!”

“Ho, you want to challenge me with only that much?!” Timasion did not take the mug, and took up a jar, “Come on, let’s finish this in one drinking.”

“Let’s drink!” They looked at each and drank it.

Xanticles cried out, “You two, drink slowly. Agasias spent a lot of money to treat us to dinner.” Then, he jokingly said to Agasias, “This restaurant should be the property of Davos. So you should have a discount when you check out.”

“Erm….don’t worry about Agasias, he is a statesman, so how can he not even have dozens of drachmas?” Cleanor, belch, and said loudly with sourness in his words.

“Cleanor is right. You don’t have to worry about money, and let’s eat and drink tonight!” Said Agasias loudly, as if he had not heard the sarcasm of Cleanor.

“Give me another beer!” Timasion then said to Tanarus, “This is a good liquor. I love it!”

“Give me another mug as well!” Cleanor followed.

“Please wait a moment.” Tanarus rushed to the door and called out the needs of the guests to the waiter in the lobby.

The banquet lasted about half an hour, and everyone was slightly drunk.

“A year ago, we fought with the Persians every day, and every day, we saw the stiff bodies of our comrades. At that time, we didn’t even have much hope that we would be able to return to Greece alive, let alone to drink and eat so happily like today….” Xanticles said with emotion, “It wasn’t easy! We really have to thank the gods for their protection and blessing!”

“Let’s drink to the fact that we can be together alive!” Timasion raised his mug,

“Thank Zeus(Hades) for his blessing!” The others also responded.

Xanticles put down his mug and said, “Agasias, you didn’t call us to just eat and drink, right?” Xanticles who was attentive, has long noticed that the expression of Agasias was a bit depressed.

Agasias stretched out the spoon to scoop out the meat and paused in the air. A short while later, he put down the spoon, wiped the stains from his mouth with his hands, then he looked at the three people who were looking at him and said, “Today, the envoy of Sparta came and asked the union to capture you and hand you over to Sparta….”

The information about the arrival of a Spartan warship in Thurii has long been spread in the port. Of course, Timasion knew that the envoy of Sparta had come specially for them.

“How did you answer the Spartans?” Cleanor asked urgently, and the other two were nervous as well.

“Don’t worry, even though the Spartans have threatened us with war, Davos still firmly refused the envoy!” The reply of Agasias made the three people be relieved.

“Davos is worthy of being the leader who always wins every battle. He isn’t even afraid of the threat of the Spartan at all!” At this moment, Cleanor praised Davos.

“In fact, the Spartans are not frightening. We have followed them to fight in Asia Minor for more than half a year, so we know about them. Though their strategoi are really experienced in combat, there are too few Spartan citizens that can be sent to the battlefield. They mainly rely on the army of their allies and us, mercenaries to fight. In fact, their combat strength is not very strong and it is very difficult for them to deal with the Persians alone. I don’t think that they have the spare strength to wage war against the union!….” Timasion also consoled him.

These words didn’t seem to have much effect on Agasias. His gaze were fixed on the ground that was in front of him and his face was full of apologies and murmured, “It was I who had forced Davos to bring you here from Asia Minor….and in order to attract you all to come, I have also offered you some conditions that the union did not gave, because I wanted you all to live a peaceful life like us, but when you came, I didn’t expect that….there will be so many conflicts and disputes that made you suffer so much and also the dissatisfaction of the union’s citizens….Alas, Sparta is now even hostile to the union! For this reason, Davos was also blamed by the statesmen! I….am I really wrong in this matter?”

Chapter 189 – The vigilance of Dionysius and the funeral of the Spartan king

The three looked at each other.

Xanticles then comforted him, “Agasias, you have done nothing wrong! We are all very grateful to you for saving us from the battlefield of death in Asia Minor! As long as we stay in the union patiently, we believe that we will eventually obtain citizenship and land, and it is just a bit uncomfortable now. As for Sparta, you have to believe Timasion and I that they will not be hostile to the union for at least three to four years!”

The Greeks like to drink alcohol with water. Agasias thought that it will not be easy for him to get drunk and made a stupid move, even though he didn’t drink beer tonight, he had drank liquor without water and finally got drunk.

Timasion and the others could only help him get home with difficulty.

When they came out, the three people sighed.

Cleanor’s mouth twitched and said, “He regrets that he had called us to Magna Graecia…is he not going to help us anymore?!”

“Agasias is not such a man!” Xanticles shook his head, “I think he is just under too much pressure recently and wants to drink to relax. But we should really restrain those who don’t listen to us!”

They argued for a while, but when they turned around, they saw Timasion walking slowly, and was thinking about something.

“Timasion, what are you thinking?! It’s time that we went back to the port!” Shouted Cleanor.

Timasion looked at them and said slowly and seriously, “I remember that Davos used to say, ‘It’s better to rely on yourself than to rely on others’!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Phidias arrived at Syracuse, he was warmly welcomed by Dionysius. He invited him and his entourage to his palace and organized a banquet and accompanied him in person.

Looking at the attractive dance of the beautiful slaves in the center of the banquet hall, Phidias, who had developed strong self-control in the military camp since childhood, also felt thirsty. So he had even drunk several mouthfuls of liquor.

‘I heard that Lysander had lived in a small city-state in Asia Minor that he controlled at that time and lived like the princes in the east. It should be like this!’ thought Phidias.

“Phidias, I heard that you went to Theonia, has the matter been resolved?” Dionysius casually asked, because the Spartan warship had made a trip to the Gulf of Taranto, so the news regarding it had already been spread to Syracuse.

“Yes, but it is without success.” Phidias frankly admitted, with some appreciation in his tone, “The Archon and statesmen of Theonia Union are very unyielding, and even in the face of Sparta, they refused to give in!”

“Oh!” Dionysius was slightly surprised and said, “Sounds like you have a good impression of them?”

“Although the time we met is not long, I can feel that they highly value battles and victory, they respect capable strategoi and warriors, and train very frequently, which is similar to us Spartans!” Phidias wasn’t stingy in his praise, “And the new union is developing very fast. I heard that it was only a small city-state more than half a year ago, but now, it has three cities and two affiliated allies. I believe that it won’t be long before it becomes a powerful force that dominates Magna Graecia!”

After hearing this, Dionysius squeezed out a smile and said, “This is a great news. At least the natives of Magna Graecia will encounter a worthy enemy.” Having said that, the mug that he was holding went “bang” and the wine splashed on the table. He then immediately changed the topic to his army that was about to attack Carthage.

Phidias noticed it and a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the way back to Sparta, Dorotheus, who had endured it for a long time, asked, “Phidias, why did you praise Theonia at the banquet?”

“My compliment will make Dionysius sleepless!” Phidias said with a smile, “Since the time of the former tyrant of Syracuse, Gelon I*, Syracuse has been regarded as the leader of Sicily and Magna Graecia. I remember the old man once said that Gelon has even sent troops to the north in Campania in central Apennine in order to defeat the Etruscans who had besieged Cumae….but Dionysius was more ambitious. He used force to turn the Greek city-states in southeast Sicily into a subordinate of Syracuse. Would he allow a powerful force in Magna Graecia to threaten the status of Syracuse?!….unfortunately, he is going to attack Carthage soon, so he can’t take action against Theonia in a short time….” (T/N: Gelon I: was a 5th-century BC ruler of and Syracuse. )

“Oh, I see!” Dorotheus was suddenly enlightened, but he immediately asked, “Since Dionysius is interested in Magna Graecia, Theonia might not be as important in his mind as Rhegium and Crotone.”

“Yea.” Phidias acknowledge it, “The current strength of Theonia is not as powerful as these traditional states in Magna Graecia, but its speed of development will also arouse his vigilance.”

Dorotheus recalled the magnificent sight he had seen when they were invited by Dionysius to inspect his army. He could not help exclaim, “Dionysius is so powerful that he can send a large army of 50,000 men and 3,000 cavalry to attack Carthage!”

“Although they have many men, I don’t think that they even have many soldiers who are really good at fighting!” Said Phidias, half of his statement was fact, while the other was out of jealousy because even Sparta, who had become the Greek hegemon, could not send such a huge army at one time. So one can imagine the strength of Syracuse and its affiliated city-states.

‘Syracuse, Carthage, and Theonia should slaughter each other!’ Phidias cursed in his heart.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Entering the new year (398 BC), the Thurii-Roscianum road has been completely finished, and the thousands of Crotonian captives of Theonia returned to Roscianum because the six-month period has ended.

For Davos, he was becoming more and more nervous and excited, because the stomach of Cheiristoya was getting bigger and bigger, and it is only less than a month before her due date.

At this time, information came from Nerulum that Potentia has officially announced that they would support the son of Akpir, Lusau, to retake Grumentum, and asked Cincinnag to return to Pyxous, otherwise, Potentia would send troops to join the war.

Cincinnag became nervous, and so he sent envoys to the tribes of Grumentum who were occupying the southern part of the city and expressing his willingness to immediately implement their earlier demands, as long as they can re-unite to deal with the army of Potentia that will come.

And these tribal chieftains were very happy with Cincinnag’s soft approach, and they were also afraid that once Lusau where to retake Grumentum, he would find them to seek revenge. Because they knew that Lusau, like his father, was also a man who always repaid grievance.

Everyone believed that it was due to external pressure that forced the two forces in the city to compromise and re-unite. However, when the chieftains came to the center of the city to prepare for the peace talks, they didn’t expect that Cincinnag had prepared a large number of warriors to ambush them in advance.

Because their chieftains were killed, it made the tribes in the southern part of the city unprepared. As a result, under the planned attack of Pyxous’ warriors, their casualties were heavy. Some warriors have surrendered and some of them fled the city of Grumentum.

In the face of the military threat of Potentia, Cincinnag resolutely unified Grumentum in one fell swoop. Knowing about this, even Davos had to admire the determination and ruthlessness of Cincinnag, but he didn’t know that the reason why Cincinnag managed to do this was mostly because of the painful memory of being attacked by the Vergae’s from behind.

Soon, Sesta sent a report to the Senate saying: As a result of Cincinnag’s slaughter in Grumentum, some Lucanians fled to Nerulum. In addition, with the impending war with Pyxous and Potentia, the small tribes that are sandwiched between the two forces had fled to the south one after another for fear of being caught in the flames of war. As a result, the number of registered preparatory citizens in Nerulum has increased to 8,000. However, Nerulum doesn’t have enough land to allocate and could not support such a large population, so he demanded that some of the Lucanians should first go to Thurii.

After a repeated discussion with the statesmen, especially during this period of time where the stability of Nerulum and the good performance of the Lucanians had led to the senate’s agreement in accepting their migration.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Phidias returned to Sparta, his report to Theonia did not attract the attention of the Gerousia. One of the reason is that he has always acted on his own, and the Spartan elders who were familiar with him were disgusted at his repeated emphasis on the “Theonia Union is disrespectful to Sparta and is arrogant, so they must be punished” because they all knew that it was he, who had caused trouble and caused such a result. The more important reason is that the elders do not have the energy to deal with this matter now, because Agis, one of the two kings of Sparta, has died due to his illness.

Since the time of Homer, Sparta has been ruled by two kings. And both kings were known as the direct descendants of Heracles, and was born from two hereditary royal families: One is the Agiad family in the center of Sparta and the other one is the Eurypontid family in southern Laconia. Agis was born into the Eurypontid family. Although in this era, due to the rise of democracy, the monarchy of Sparta has been greatly restricted, but they still enjoy many honors, especially at the time of their death. The whole territory of Sparta was preparing for the funeral of Agis: The cavalry galloped around Laconia to announce the death of king Agis; The women beat the iron pans and spread the news all over Sparta. After learning about what happened, each family must send out two free people, one male and one female, in mourning clothes; The Perioikoi* also had to send a fixed number of people to attend the funeral organized by the Gerousia. (T/N: Perioikoi means those dwelling around – they were the members of a social class and population group of non-citizen that inhabited Laconia and Messenia.)

The funeral lasted ten days, during which public matters could not be dealt with. After ten days, the elder’s first priority was to elect a new king.

Chapter 190 – The Court in the Market of Thurii

According to the law of Sparta, the throne will be inherited by the eldest son, but if the eldest was born before the king succeeded, he would need to give way to the oldest son born after the succession. If the deceased king has no offspring, the throne will be inherited by his nearest male relative. And if the heir is still young, he will be under a regent. (The founder of Sparta’s current regime is the regent, Lycurgus.)

Agis has only one son, Leotychides, who is 23 years old, so it should be logical for him to take over as the new king. However, whether Leotychides was the child of Agis has always been a topic of gossip among the Spartans. During the Peloponnesian War, the Athenian strategos Alcibiades took refuge in Sparta, and king Agis valued him very much. However, he did not expect that the handsome and romantic Athenian would seduce his queen, and even made the whole Sparta find out about it. The humiliated Agis threatened to dismember Alcibiades, but after knowing about it in advance, Alcibiades cleverly ran back to Athens. Before long, the wife of Agis became pregnant. Therefore, the people of Sparta had doubts about making Leotychides king.

While the brother of Agis, Agesilaus, who is 45 years old, has always performed excellently. In the eyes of the public, he is a traditional and pure Spartan. Although he is lame, he also has the support of many people.

The elders can already infer that the next issue of succession to the throne will be enough for them to worry about. So, how can they even have the thought to deal with a trivial matter such as Theonia?

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Corinthian merchant, Tios, came to Thurii for the second time. The port has changed a lot after not being here for a few months: First of all, the Theonian dug inward on the estuary of the Crati river, thus expanding the port. Two long stone breakwaters were like a giant’s arm encircling the merchant ships that are entering the port. The docks are no longer as simple as they were when the last time they came, a wooden trestle bridge goes deep into the shore, and on the bank are orderly stone houses and buildings, and there is also a wide and flat road for transportation….

Although there are many merchant ships going to and fro the sea and port, the management personnel of the port still manage to command them to dock and unload the goods in an orderly manner with high efficiency. The porters at the port are also very quick in their work and they seldom act lazily or even try to cheat others.

From time to time, Tios saw people wearing white chitons walking back and forth between the docks while holding papers and pens, and wherever they went, those laborers became more diligent. Later, after he asked the other merchants he found out that those people are public officials sent by Theonia’s census office and are responsible in examining the usual labor performance of those freemen who want to become citizens of the union. If there are any bad deeds, it will become much more difficult for them to get the status of a preparatory citizen when the inspection deadline ends.

Of course, the two ~ three small groups of armed soldiers patrolling back and forth in the port has also helped maintain the order.

When Tios entered the port, he found that the Theonia Union had surrounded the port with a thick and tall wall, and the market was outside the wall.

When he came to the market, it was also a noisy place. The original wall of the market has been demolished, because there are too many shops, the speed of the market expansion can not keep up with the increasing number of shops. Shops and workshops line by row and occupy all the open space, leaving only a wide passage for customers to buy and sell, transport goods and for the firefighters to extinguish fires.

In addition, there are two special buildings that are independent of the market.

One of them is the hospital. Most Greeks in the northern part of Magna Graecia know that the physicians of Theonia Union are highly skilled. and some people even say that they are much better than the physicians of Crotone! Moreover, Davos has created an unprecedented general hospital in Greece, which is obviously different from the asklepieion. Regardless of the facilities, system and management, it is very standardized and strict. This is an unprecedented treatment method for patients who went to see a physician. That kind of sacredness had even made the patient feel better even before the physicians started their treatment. For the physicians, it is like a magnet that attracted their attention, and it was said that if it wasn’t for the rigid relationship between Theonia Union and Crotone, many Crotonian physicians would have liked to come here to study and visit. Naturally, every day, the front of the hospital is filled with people.

On the other hand, a lot of people were watching the other building, only after Tios asked did he found out that it was the court that was specially establish by Theonia Union for the market and port of Thurii in order to quickly deal with various trade disputes and conflicts that occurs frequently every day, and to provide convenience for the merchants, customers, as well as the large number of sailors and laborers. Tios was very interested in this pioneering work that other Greek city-states did not have, so he squeezed into the crowd.

The Theonia Union had set up the post of Judge in early November, mainly because after the influx of a large number of immigrants, the city’s praetor had to deal with more detailed and complicated legal disputes. So all the three praetors are complaining. Therefore, Davos proposed to establish the post of Chief Judge after discussing it in the senate(In Greek city-states, there is no special judge, and the case is often judged by the strategoi or the archon. In Athens, there is not even a judge, and the jury is the one that makes the verdict. In Theonia, as the only Archon, Davos certainly has the highest judicial power. However, he is busy with public affairs, so unless it is a major case, it is impossible for him to spend time to deal with common disputes. Therefore, this power  was initially delegated to the praetors.) The Chief Judge oversees the junior judges that are assigned to various cities and handles appeal cases. One of the names to be elected by the senate was Bolus, but when it was submitted to Davos to review it, he didn’t say anything. In the end, the winner was Protesilaus(due to the strong recommendation of Davos).

Protesilaus was originally supposed to be in the court of Thurii(though it has not been completed yet), and his subordinates was the one in charge of the court next to the market. However, the newly established union is like the morning sun. The people are busy with their own affairs and there are few complicated and influential cases for him to deal with. Therefore, the energetic and idle new judge has come to the market and seized the power of his subordinates and tries the case in person.

“What is the next case?” Protesilaus asked eagerly as soon as he settled a dispute.

The second judge, Praxileos, looked at him bitterly. Praxileos was a former subordinate of Kunogelata and he assisted the praetor in legal affairs at the city hall, but after the judicial power was separated this time, and because there were not many people who were proficient in the law in the union. So Kunogelata recommended him and was quickly promoted to be a junior judge, and so, he had also entered the ranks of middle-ranking officials in the union. Who knew that after a few days of happiness, his court was taken over by Protesilaus, and he did not dare to say anything. After all, Protesilaus is not only a stateman of Theonia, but is also the chief judge. In order to show the importance of the law to the union, Davos made the position second only to the praetor of a city as soon as the position was established. And as the boss of Praxileos, Protesilaus has the right to report his performance to the Civil Service Council that is under the senate and to recommend him when he wants to transfer.

“It is the wife of a union’s citizen accussing a Rhegium merchant of discrimination against her.” Said Praxileos.

“Discrimination?” Protesilaus had some doubt.

“That woman is a Lucanian.” Whispered Praxileos.

“Oh.” Protesilaus nodded, “Then bring both the complainant and the defendant.”

The court in the market is not big, and can only accomodate a judge, clerks, guards and other public officials. The complainant and the defendant can only stand outside the open court with iron railings behind them. The public can freely watch outside the railing, so that the public and the outsiders can understand the union’s law and achieve the role to preach and educate the people, and at the same time, let the judges be supervised by the people.

A man and a woman entered the court, under the guidance of the guard. They then first recited the names of the three judges of Hades, Minos, Rhadamanthus and Aeacus, and swore by their names that all the things they say is the truth.

Then the complainant gave her statement.

The young Lucanian woman spoke with a weird but fluent Greek, “Your honor, I am the wife of Izam, a citizen of the union. Today, when I came to the market to buy an earthenware jar for the olive oil, I arrived at his shop-” The woman then pointed to the merchant next to her and said, “I found that the pottery he sold had many designs and they are also very beautiful, so I decided to buy them from him. He then suddenly became angry at me just because I had taken a bit longer to select a pottery and said, ‘Damn barbarian, do you want to buy it or not? If you can’t afford it then don’t touch my pottery with your dirty hands, otherwise my pottery will be broken. It won’t even be enough to make you a slave in order to compensate for it!’ and he said….he said….”

“Your honor, she is lying! I have never said anything like that!” The merchant shouted.

“Silence! Wait for her to finish speaking, and it will be your turn to speak afterwards!” Yelled Protesilaus, and then said to the woman, “You can continue.”

“He also said-” The woman blushed, then she glared at the merchant and gritted her teeth, “He also said, ‘A barbarian woman like you is not worthy of such noble pottery. It is better for you to become my slave and make me happy….If I am happy, I may reward you with a piece of pottery-’”

Author Note 1: The involvement of Alcibiades as a third party has been described in my other novel 《从城邦到帝国》

Author Note 2: The provision on the succession to the throne of Sparta “If the eldest son was born before the king succeeded the throne, he would need to give way to the oldest son born after his father’s enthronement.” There seems to be a similar tradition in Persia. One of the main reasons why Cyrus the Younger wanted to rebel at the beginning of the novel is that he was the eldest son born after his father ascended the throne, but his elder brother, Artaxerses, king of Persia, was not. Therefore, he thought that he was the rightful king.

Chapter 191 – Amendolara’s Economic Development Zone

“NO! I DIDN’T SAY THAT!” Seeing the sudden change of the judge’s expression, the merchant hurriedly refuted. Suddenly, there were angry voices behind him, “How dare you discriminate against us Lucanians, do you no longer wish to live?”

“Izam is a brave warrior of our union. How dare you shame his wife! Your honor, please punish this lecher severely!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The merchant could only secretly complain. He originally thought that the woman was just a pretty good-looking Lucanian slave, because she just ask the price and had taken her a long time to buy, so it made him confuse for a moment and had said those words, but he didn’t expect that the woman he provoke is the wife of a citizen of Theonia. In fact, it was because he had only been here for a few days and didn’t understand the customs here, and because most of the wives of other city-state citizens stayed at home. If a woman can go to the market to buy and sell things, if they are not foreign women, then they must be female slaves, and even if you try to take advantage of them, no one would care even if you touch them twice. However, Theonia is different, many of its citizens married Lucanian women, while many Theonian Greek women married Lucanian preparatory citizens. These foreign races did not have as many complicated practices as the Greeks, and they acted boldly and openly, which naturally had gradually influenced and changed the conservative Greek citizens of Theonia. In addition, their revered archon, Lord Davos, had even allowed his wife to appear in public and had even opened banks and restaurants in the market, which naturally further promoted the change of their practice. Therefore, it is now common to see the wife of Theonian citizens in the market.

“Defendant, what the complainant said is the truth?” Protesilaus asked. Seeing that the merchant wanted to open his mouth immediately, he reminded him in a loud voice, “If you only discriminate against her, then you will only pay fines and a corporal punishment, but if you were to still lie after swearing an oath in front of the gods, then it will become a crime of blasphemy and you would be punished by having your tongue pulled out! So you have to think clearly before you speak!”

When the merchant heard it, he was silent for a long time, and his forhead was dripping with sweat and he finally said in a low voice, “What she said….most of them are the truth….but….but I didn’t know that discrimination against diffirent race is also against the law!”

“Really?” Protesilaus looked at him with seriousness, “When you rent a stall, didn’t you familiarize yourself with the 《In order to do business in Theonia, you must follow these regulations》 that was written by the market management office?”

“No….”The merchant wanted to deny it, but he suddenly remembered one of the regulations of the market management office of Theonia: If you are not familiar with the regulation, then you are not allowed to rent a stall. So, he could only nod and say, “Yes.”

“In that case, since you know the law and have still violated it! First of all, if you violate the law ‘In Theonia it is forbidden to discrimate against different races’ you are to pay a fine of ten drachmas and a corporal punishment of getting caned twice, so that your memory will improve and never do it again! As for your harassment against the complainant, but had not done any action, this….does our union have a law in this respect?” Protesilaus asked Praxileos.

Praxileos thought about it and shook his head.

“It seems that at the next meeting of the senate, I will have things to do.” Protesilaus muttered to himself. He then thought about it and said, “As to what your punishment for harassing the complainant is, I will leave it to the complainant to decide.”

The merchant trembled, he then looked at the complainant with a pleading gaze. The young Lucanian woman did not decline and simply said, “Then have the administrator of the market management office to punish him by having him do five days of compulsory labor.”

“Hmm, alright!” Protesilaus applauded the proposal of the complainant, “Defendant, you can choose to not accept the ‘five-day compulsory labor’ that was proposed by the complainant, but you will be expelled from the union and will never be allowed to do business here!” Then Protesilaus said with a more serious tone, “Are you willing to accept this punishment?”

As a merchant, dignity is not important. What matters is whether he can earn money. His pottery business in Thurii is very prosperous these days, so he of course does not want to be expelled from the union for such a small matter, and so he naturally accepted the punishment.

The next dispute was the opposite, it was a conflict between a registered freeman vendor and a foreign merchant. The fact is clear and the evidence is conclusive, so there is no need to dispute about this and can be punished directly in accordance with the market management regulations with the violation of “Do not discriminate against foreign merchants” and “fighting and making trouble”. However, during the trial, the freeman refused to admit the beating, and constantly hinted to Protesilaus that he is a follower of Bolus, and had been working for him. So he hoped that the judge could put the matter to rest.

The young and energetic Protesilaus couldn’t understand why these people often showed off their noble birth, especially Bolus who looked down on statesmen that were not from Thurii. So he took this opportunity and would not let him go and loudly denounced, “Audacious, how dare you ruin the reputation of Lord Bolus! You have not only bullied the complainant, but have also hurt him and have behaved cruelly! And you still refuse to admit your crime and have violated your oath. So I will also sentence you to the crime of blasphemy and carry it out immediately!”

The freeman was shocked and immediately asked for mercy, while the crowds cheered Protesilaus loudly.

In the end, the freeman was unwilling to accept the “tongue pulling”, and had instead chosen to receive the equivalent punishment of getting caned 40 times and carried it out of court. At the same time, the scribe recorded his crime, and even if he recovers, the census office will expel him from Theonia.

The cases in the market and port are just some minor disputes and conflicts, so the judgment process is very fast and there is no need for cumbersome legal procedures, lawyers and juries….

Tios watch from outside of the court for a while and understood that this small court is to show the citizens, slaves, and outsiders the just position of Theonia Union, and to safeguard the legitimate rights of all law-abiding people in the territory of Theonia, specially for the merchants like them who have traveled from place to place, which moved them.

Merchants like Tios are considered citizens with status in their own city-state, so when they are doing business in other city-states, the local citizens are often envious of them and hold the mentality that “These outsiders wants to take the money of the city-state” and have often taken some hostile actions, and the officials of the city-state often favors the citizens of the city (because they need the support of the citizens in elections). Among the Greek city-states, Athens has the best attitude towards outsiders who had settled and did business in their city-state, because of their super developed trade and crafts, they need an open attitude to welcome the technology, capital investment and employment brought by foreigners, and so on., So they gave the foreigners considerable power in the law, apart from being unable to own land and hold public office, outsiders could even contract mines in Athens, monopolize shipment and so on.

The generosity of Athens is naturally rewarded with kindness from the foreigners. In normal times, they would make some charitable donations, such as repairing the temple, holding theater celebrations and allowing the citizens of Athens to watch it for free. When Athens is in danger, they will also step forward like the Athenian citizens to serve as a soldier, or purchase weapons and equipment, and even triremes and donate them to the government of Athens.

And now, Theonia is likely to follow the footsteps of Athens, and was even bolder than Athens in some aspects. Tios had come this time because the Senate of Theonia Union had passed a new law: Allowing foreign merchants to lease the land between the Saraceno river and Siris river as a land for crafting for a period of 20 years.

This news had immediately caused a stir among the foreign merchants in the market of Thurii and quickly spread to Magna Graecia. Most of the merchants who have been to Thurii are optimistic about the business prospects of Theonia Union, what is more, Theonia has allowed Laos to join its alliance, so that any merchants who does trade in the union can enter Laos at a favorable price and open up trade with Naples, Marseille, Gaul, Iberian Peninsula and Mauritania. In particular, the construction of Thurii-Laos road has begun. With the quality of the road built by Theonia, the completed road will certainly make transportation between the two cities be more convenient, and they estimate that the shortest time to get from Thurii to Laos is only two days, which is not much different from the time needed for shipping through cargo ship, moreover, the risk of going by sea is greater, because as long as one encounter pirates or storm, all their efforts may be destroyed. At the same time, when crossing the Strait of Messana(Messina), the city-states of Messana and Rhegium, one south and one north, charge high tolls, which will greatly reduce the profits that they will earn.

The land through which Tios travelled when he last stayed at Amendolara, though it is flat, the land is hard(mostly gravel). Because it can not be used as agricultural land, so it was not included in the ‘allocated land’. Most of the land has been left idle except for a small part of the land where the Amendolara military camp was built for public militia training. For Tios, such barren land was also full of value, he thought to get one and then open a weapon workshop.

After profiting from the last trade, Tios became more interested in this newly emerging union. He realizes that Theonia is a union that advocates military might, otherwise, they will not hold a Triumphant Return to give honor to victorious strategoi and soldiers. Therefore, Theonia will have no less wars in the future, and with the rapidly increasing number of Theonian citizens, it will mean that there will be a greater demand for weapons. According to his understanding, there is a large weapon shop in the port of Thurii, which he found out to be established by the union in order to provide for the families of the soldiers who have died in battle and also to take care of the disabled soldiers. Most of the weapons and equipment that are sold were seized, most of which needs to be repaired. Basically, Theonia has no production of a complete set of heavy infantry equipment from scratch, nor they have the ability to do it, which allowed Tios to see a chance to earn money.

The most famous commodity of Corinth right now are weapons. Corinth’s weapons and equipment are well-known throughout Greece, and Tios had done this field of business before and had rich experience. Moreover, Tios is able to hire the highly skilled Corinthian blacksmith and set up a smithy in the union. This not only saved him shipping costs, but also facilitated the acquisition of raw materials and the cost will also be lower, because Thurii has copper mines and the iron ores of Lucania. And he can tailor-made high-quality armor and weapons for the citizens of the union, or he can also sell them to the union in bulk, or even to the aborigines(Theonia Union does not restrict the exportation of weapons). This is more profitable and stable than buying and selling grain, so he couldn’t wait to join the auction after he made a decision.

Chapter 192 – Theonia’s Rugby Competition (I)

After leaving the market, Tios saw that rows of stables had been built on the roadside, long gone from the crude and messy sight filled with horse dung.

Tios had a good impression of the old coachman, so he wanted to ride in his wagon again, so he began to shout loudly, “Solikos! Solikos!….”

“Hey, the old man is rich now, so he no longer drives his wagon, get on my wagon instead!” Yelled someone.

“Stop talking nonsense, or else I will beat you up!” Solikos said it with a smile.

Tios got on the wagon and said where he was going.

“Oh, you are also going to see the land that will be leased out?! There are so many people who have come to visit it recently!”

Tios nodded and said with a smile, “I heard that you have made a fortune?!”

“They are just spouting nonsense, it’s just that, after paying off the loan and interest of the wagon, I bought another wagon and rented it to a freeman, because I believe that I can soon pay off the loan again! And then I will buy another one….” Solikos said with confidence.

“Congratulations!” Tios then praised him, “It seems that in another year, you will be a wagon merchant.”

Solikos laughed when he heard it.

“I remember that you are a Theonian citizen. The union should have given you an ‘allocated land’. If you are here to earn money by driving a wagon, then what will happen to your land? I heard that there are agricultural officers in your union, who are responsible for supervising how the citizens utilize their land.” Tios asked curiously.

“I have rented it out to a freeman to farm, so there won’t be any problems.” Solikos replied.

Solikos drove the wagon on the Thurii-Amendolara road, then the wagon sped up on the Sybaris plain. On both sides of the road are houses built on the thousands of farmland.

‘They are finally building villages!’ Thought Tios: The development of the new Thurii is very rapid and has begun to gradually recover its former prosperity and it is even completely different from the former Thurii, and might even surpass the powerful city-states in Magna Graecia!

After crossing a wooden bridge, the wagon then passed the vineyards and wineries, which is the famous wine producing area in Magna Graecia.

After crossing the Saraceno river, they finally entered the territory of Amendolara. The land to be leased is on the side of the road and has already been partitioned into pieces of land for rent with a stick inserted on each land. The lands are close to the main road, which made transportation convenient; The land is also close to the river, which made it convenient to provide water for the workshop; It is also close to the forest, which have a lot of trees to be cut(Theonia Union naturally has strict rules for cutting down trees). In addition, after building the workshops on the leased land, they can also build a house for themselves and for their employees to live on, so that they can have a place to rest while they are doing business in Theonia. There is the sea in the front, forest at the back, river on the side, and a road for easy travel. This is an ideal place to live! He believes that every foreign merchant who wants to rent here has the idea of building a workshop and a residence at the same time. Twenty years is enough for them to double their investment, provided that Theonia Union still existed.

After several ideal lands, Tios wanted to find a place to rest first, because the so-called “auction” would not be held until tomorrow.

At this time, Solikos suggested to him, “You have come just in time today. The arena in Thurii was completed yesterday, and in order to celebrate it, Lord Davos announced that a ‘A rugby competition for the four cities will be held in the arena today and tomorrow!’. If you are free in the afternoon, you can go and have a look. I heard that it is very exciting and is even more lively than the competition in the Olympics!”

“Rugby?” Tios was curious and puzzled.

“It’s a game invented by Lord Davos. I heard that he got the idea from Hades!” Said Solikos.

“It is…it is…the game where two teams compete for a ball made of cowhide and shaped like an olive…uhm…and score….I don’t know how to describe it. Anyway, people who have seen this game say that it’s very interesting and fun! You will know it after you go see it.”

“Alright, I will go and take a look.” Tios became interested due to the strong recommendation of Solikos.

“Then you should go early, I heard that because there are so many people, you won’t be able to enter if you are late!” Solikos kindly reminded him.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The arena is located in the east of the northern part of Thurii. It is close to the port of the city and far away from the main area of the city. It was built here in order to not affect the daily life of the people of Thurii.

The city guards, who are usually strict in their inspection, are relatively lax today. As long as they do not carry weapons, they will basically let them enter after they count the number of people. However, if the number of people exceeds the specified number, then they are prohibited from entering the city.

Tios was lucky to enter the city because he had come early. While on his way, he met a Cretan merchant, Dicaeapolis, who was engaged in the olive oil business. He also came to watch the rugby matches. He had seen one in the morning and was fascinated by this novel game. In his words, this is the best gift given to the Greeks by Hades, and no sports can match it!

This aroused the interest of Tios even more.

At the entrance of the arena, a long line has formed. Although there are many people, they still abide by the order under the supervision of a group of soldiers.

At this time, Dicaeapolis let Tios guard his place while he went to a nearby shop that has a “beer” sign on it. He then picked up two jars of beer and two bags of dried fruit and gave half to Tios.

Tios was too embarrassed to say thanks, and had instead asked, “How much is it?”

Dicaeapolis said, “It’s fate to meet you here and watch a rugby game together! If you pay, then it means that you don’t like to be friends with us Cretans!”

So, Tios had no choice but to accept it, and he became more fond of the frankness and zeal of Dicaeapolis. At the same time, he noticed that many people went to buy beer, drinks and snacks.

Dicaeapolis then told him, “Because the match is long, and we have to watch it under the sun, so it is easy to become thirsty and hungry. In addition, there are a lot of spectators entering the arena, in case they want to pee and can’t find a place, then this-” he held up the liquor jar in his hand and said with a teasing smile, “After emptying it, you can then use it as a urinal….”

The guards at the entrance of the arena allowed a group of people to enter and then another group after  a while. When it was finally their turn, the arena was obviously not full yet. The guard then signaled that they could enter and follow the passage on their right hand side, while on their left side was another passage, but they could not go in because it led to the seats for the distinguished guest. Almost all the arenas were designed in this way.

The arena of Thurii is not very large, all the stone benches around the arena can seat about 4,000 people at most. In fact, more than 4,500 people have entered the arena, and half of them are freemen and foreigners. Like other arenas, its sports field is surrounded by a track field, but inside the track field is a flat rectangular sandy land, which is divided into several areas by dozens of white lines.

Dicaeapolis patiently explained the rules of the game to Tios and told him why it was called the Four City Rugby Competition, “The four cities are Amendolara, Thurii, Nerulum and Laos. Listening to my Theonian friends, this game was first played by Lord Davos as part of a military training, starting with those mercenaries who became citizens of Amendolara….later, Thurii and Amendolara united to conduct military training for the citizens of Thurii and the preparatory citizens. Naturally, they learned this game as well…afterwards, after they captured Nerulum, the first batch of Lucanian soldiers then taught the Lucanians of Nerulum about this game….as for Laos, it was when they sent a large number of labors to help build the roads, with the Theonians as the foreman. During their break, the Theonians taught the people of Laos how to play this game, in order to prevent them from being too exhausted due to work.

It might be due to Laos having just started to learn the game, but they were not skilled and it seemed that they didn’t cooperate well. Therefore, when they played against Thurii in the morning, they easily lost. This afternoon, the match would be between Amndolara and Nerulum. I heard that the strength difference between the two sides is not big, so it might be interesting to watch!”

“You seemed to know a lot!” Exclaimed Tios.

“It’s because it interests me that I naturally want to understand it.” Dicaeapolis said with pride, “I have been here for some time now and I have made friends with several citizens of Theonia. One of them is also a platoon captain of their so-called Legion, and he told me that….”

“Why is there no Roscianum?” A voice then came from the side.

Dicaeapolis turned his head and saw that some people had gathered around them.

“It might be because they have less contact with the citizens of the Union and have no chance to learn….” Dicaeapolis shrugged, “However, this morning, I saw some Roscianums watching the game, and I believe that after this competition, the next time it will be held, I am sure that it will become a five city rugby competition.”

“Cretan, you are right. We Roscianums will join next year!” Someone in the crowd shouted.

“Agree, we will make suggestions to the council once we go back!” Another echoed.

Dicaeapolis winked at Tios and whispered, “You see, I am right.”

Suddenly, a salpinx sounded and the athletes began to enter.

At this time, the players were not crudely dressed as they were when they were playing rugby in the military camp. Now, they are all wearing fluffy leather caps that could cover their whole head and neck, and a thick protective clothing made of wool and linen, and are also dyed red and blue to distinguish them, and they even have strange symbols embroidered on the back of their protective clothes in order for the referee to identify the players. (Author’s Note: It is actually Arabic numerals, it is because Greek numerals are so complicated and are not easy to use.)

As the players from both sides entered the field, a strong and rhythmic drum beat rang out.

The red team immediately formed a neat phalanx formation to match the beat of the drums, and with vigorous strength, they danced the dance that praised Ares when winning on the battlefield in a neat movement….then came the warm cheers from the audience.

Chapter 193 – Theonia’s Rugby Competition (II)

Then the sound of the drum beats vanished, then came a long and powerful horn sound.

The blue team members also began to dance enthusiastically in a loose formation. Their movements were weird and unrestrained, and were filled with primitive wildness, which had made everyone become excited….

When the horn sound stopped, the two teams then lined up and earnestly greeted the audience, the cheering in the arena continued for a long time….

Tios became interested by this new and unprecedented opening that had made him to not hear Dicaeapolis clearly.

“Tios, which team do you want to win?”

“The blue team!” Tios answered without thinking, the blue team’s wild war dance had caught his eyes.

“You want the Lucanians to win?!” Dicaeapolis was a bit surprised.

“The blue team is the team of Nerulum?!” Tios had only suddenly realized that their dance movement was out of the ordinary.

“The competition information is posted at the entrance of the arena. Didn’t you read it?” Dicaeapolis then stressed, “I support Amendolara! Many of its citizens are from Crete, which also includes my friends*.” (Referring to the soldiers of the seventh brigade of the first legion.)

At this time, the players from both sides turned around and faced the seats of the distinguished guests. Amidst the commotion, Tios saw a man standing on the seats of the distinguished guests.

“He is the one and only archon for life of Theonia Union, Davos!” There was awe and jealousy in the voice of Dicaeapolis.

But that wasn’t the case for Tios, instead, he has a strong urge to see the legendary favoured of the gods with his own eyes.

He then saw Davos swung down his right hand, then the rapid and sharp salpinx sounded in succession, then the match started.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Lord Davos, there are a lot more people that have come to watch the game this afternoon than in the morning. According to the report of the guards who were in charge of allowing the entree of the people at the entrance, many of them were merchants from various city-states.” Marigi then excitedly added, “It seems that your plan to attract the rich people from the surrounding city-states to Thurii for consumption with wonderful competitions is quite possible!”

Mersis was also excited, “I just went to the arena for a walk and the beers, juices, and dried fruits were almost sold out. And we have even managed to sell a lot of hats and linen cushions!”

“It is mostly due to rugby being too fascinating!” As the praetor of Thurii, Kunogelata was also one of the persons in charge of the competition. He had participated in the preparation work from the aspects of organization, publicity, security and safety in accordance with the instruction of Davos. He personally developed the planned rugby competition into this current situation, and he was also shocked, “Lord Davos, I think the rugby games can be held regularly in the future and we can charge a fee for it. It would be like watching a play.”

“Will the money from the tickets go to the state treasury?” Mersis hurriedly asked.

“Of course, it belongs to the state treasury, but the salaries of the players and the pensions of the injured players should be paid in order to encourage more people to actively participate in the sport. The rest of the money will be use to prepare for the construction of more arenas in Amendolara and in Nerulum…Kunogelata, Cornelius, Marigi, Alexius and Mersis you need to form a rugby athletic committee to discuss how to further promote rugby and attract more foreigners to watch and formulate a more detailed and perfect plan and to quickly implement it. After rugby becomes popular in Magna Graecia in the future, we can also host a rugby tournament in Magna Graecia, and invite the teams of various city-states to participate!….”

The words of Davos have inspired Kunogelata: There are four Games with great influence in the Greek city-states in this era. The Olympic Games held by the city-state of Elis in the Peloponnesian Peninsula is the oldest and the most sacred, which was mainly to honor Zeus, and the temple of Zeus in Olympia is the holy land of the Greeks(one of the seven wonders of the ancient world); The Isthmian Games held by Corinth was mainly dedicated to Poseidon; The Pythian Games held by the famous temple at Delphi in Greece is to celebrate Apollo, the sun god; There is also the Nemean Games, which are held by the Argives who claimed to have the noblest royal blood in ancient times, the Nemean Games is also to honour Zeus. In addition, there is also the Panathenaic Game to honor Athena, the goddess of war and wisdom, and also the Panathenaic festival held by Athens is equally influential. Moreover, it is not only a sports competition, but also music, poetry, plays and other kinds of competitions. Whenever these celebrations are held locally, famous people from all over Greece gather there, and the eyes of all Greeks are focused on there, winning a great reputation for the host city. If the rugby game were to develop well, then holding a large-scale panGreek rugby match to honor Hades, will not only expand the influence of Theonia Union, but will also make Kunogelata famous in history and gain the favor of the gods.

Seeing that they were in a trance and having shortness of breath, Davos vaguely guessed what they were thinking: In the ancient history, the Roman’s Gladiator Games was famous throughout the Mediterranean, but his Theonia Union does not need such a bloody, cruel and inhumane savage events to entertain the public, nor to inspire the people’s warrior heart. Theonia can do a better one! Besides rugby, they can also hold basketball in the future….ah, basketball might not be good because the requirements for the ball are too high. Can the current technology even do it?….while Football may be possible. Davos then thought about going back and asking the leather tanner, Tulkas, to try it….

“SCORE! A TOUCHDOWN SCORE! Good job Tagetinos!” Amintas and Matonis, who were watching the game, excitedly yelled and clinked their mugs to celebrate.

“Buy me another beer.” Said Amintas to the slave attendants.

“Master, the beer outside are all sold out.”

“No more?!” Amintas immediately turned around and exclaimed, “Lord Davos, your beer is a great drink, but there are too few!”

Davos smiled bitterly, it seemed that he needed to expand the brewery again. While thinking of it, he thought of another matter.

“Everyone!” Davos then said out loud, “As you all know, my wife has recently bought the hot spring swamp area north of Thurii.”

Burkes was the first to nod his head. As the chief agricultural officer, he himself handles the land sale process. At that time, he also advised Cheiristoya to, ‘In addition to a few hot springs in the area where the mosquitoes breed, you can neither farm nor build houses there. So don’t waste money in buying them.’

“I am going to build a large-scale hot spring bath there to attract the merchants in Magna Graecia and the Theonia people to soak in and have a rest, because it involves the drainage and filling of the swamps, the area of the hot springs, diverting the Tiro river, and the construction of the baths….which all needs a large investment. Are any of you willing to cooperate with me to invest in this hot spring bath?” Davos sincerely invited the statesmen.

Soak in a bath?! The Greeks of this era did not have the habit of the ancient Romans who liked to take a bath. They lived a simple life and didn’t like to take a bath. If their bodies were too dirty, they would just put olive oil on their bodies, then scrape them with special tools and then wash them with water. Therefore, there are many statesmen who are hesitant about this new thing.

Marigi, who has enjoyed the luxury life of Persia, was the first to shout, “ME! I want to invest!” Marigi had often discussed with Davos about the trade development of the union, so he naturally knew about the young archon’s ability in business. Among his other businesses like the Cheiristoya’s bank, restaurants and breweries are so prosperous, and all their success is due to Davos.

“I! I, as well!” Mersis was also someone who understood the talent of Davos in business.

“I will also invent some money as well.” Kunogelata and Cornelius said successively. As the two praetors who often discuss the city-state management with Davos, they certainly have some understanding of the talent of Davos.

“We will also join.” The officers of the former mercenaries, such as Hielos, Matonis, Amintas, Antonios, Alexius and so on, have blind trust in him.

In addition to several Thurian statesmen, such as Burkes and Ansitanos, who are willing to put in a small amount of money to show their support, the others, such as Bolus and Enanilus, have made it clear that they are not optimistic about it.

The Amendolaran statesmen such as Scambras and Stromboli, originally did not believe that the hot spring baths could profit, but they had instead chosen to support Davos, whom they regard as an Amendolaran, because of the disapproval of the Thurian statesmen.

Vespa didn’t understand any of it at all, but he knew that he was in absolute disadvantage in the senate, so he could only follow Davos.

Davos originally raised the matter about the funds for business purposes from the statesmen in order to tie their interest together, and to also promote harmony in the senate, and yet, it became a demonstration of the statesmen attitude towards him.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tios kept his gaze on the field, the game was indeed very exciting, which was beyond his imagination.

He originally thought that whether this kind of ball games will be similar to a kind of stone ball throwing game in Sparta, but now, it seems that it is completely incomparable.

Dicaeapolis supported the team of Amendolara, but he doesn’t know why he feels that Nerulum would win from the bottom of his heart, even though the current score is 3:0, and Nerulum is behind.

Tios was a bit anxious and inwardly cheered Nerulum.

Now, it is the turn of Nerulum to attack. The red team obviously cooperates with each other well and knows how to use tactics. They cut off the passing line of the player of the blue team who was currently holding the ball, and forced him to the foul-line, then two red team players rushed forward. The player of the blue team no longer has any room to dodge, so he could only throw the ball from his crotch to the rear before being knocked down. The quarterback of the blue team was fast and quickly caught the ball, then two more red team players immediately trapped him….

Just when Tios yelled, “Crap!” The quarterback of the blue team made a lunge and used his strong body to clash with the player of the red team who had come up to stop him and made him go unsteady, then the quarterback threw the rugby ball hard.

Chapter 194 – The Ambition of Timasion

It was a long pass of nearly forty meters! The rugby ball flew high and fast. The blue team’s supporters watched its trajectory and lamented that this pass will definitely go out of bound, and it would be then the time for the offense and defense to change again!

But at this moment, they saw a player of the blue team on the right-wing run pass the red team’s interception and quickly rushed to it and jumped high.

“By Zeus, he managed to jump so high!” In the exclamation of the audience, the player of the blue team stretched out his long arm to block the rugby ball that was flying fast in mid air. When he was falling down, he held the rugby ball tightly with both hands, and the touchdown area was only a few meters in front of him.

“Stop him!” The red team players yelled anxiously, which could even be heard by the audience.

A red team player nearest to the blue team player rushed forward. The blue team player did not evade, with the strong inertia of his previous sprint, he threw his whole body out with all his effort together with the red team player who had managed to grab his legs, and they heavily landed in the touchdown area with the ball still firmly in his hands.

TOUCHDOWN!

Tios, like the other Nerulum fans, became excited by the brilliant performance of the player of the blue team. He was unable to restrain his excitement, he suddenly stood up and started to dance and shout, and had even drank a mouthful of beer. The cold foam had washed away his restlessness and had made him feel refreshed.

After he sat back down, he realized that his hands were full of sweat due to his nervousness. This is indeed a more exciting competition than the traditional Greek sports!

Dicaeapolis looked at him and suddenly said, “So you support Nerulum!”

Tios embarrassedly made an excuse, “Someone has to support them, who are of different races, so that the game will be more intense and exciting!”

Dicaeapolis nodded in agreement.

At this moment, several referees ran to the touchdown area because the blue team player who scored just now had not yet stood up.

What happened? Tios began to get nervous again.

The referee waved to the physician on the court, and soon even a stretcher was carried over. The blue team player shook his head and refused to lie down on the stretcher. His left arm drooped as he struggled to stand up….

“It seems that his arm is dislocated.” Said Dicaeapolis.

The injured player walked down the court and waved his right hand to the surrounding audience to apologize. His brilliant and heroic performance have impressed the audience, and so, they gave him a heroic respect with warm applause and cheers.

“Rugby is really a game for the brave warriors!” Tios said emotionally.

At this moment, the audience who had asked Dicaeapolis priorly could not wait to say, “I will call on the citizens of Roscianum to learn rugby tonight, and we will have a wonderful performance in the next rugby game!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Just as the eyes of Theonia Union and most foreigners were focused on the rugby game, in one of the houses in a low-cost residential area under the city of Amendolara, Timasion, Cleanor, and Toras had gathered for a confidential meeting.

“Leaders, I have contacted all our brothers. There are about 1,700 men who are willing to follow us.” Said Toras, the trusted subordinate of Timasion and a former mercenary officer.

“1,700 men….” Cleanor said with some dissatisfaction, “The number is still a bit low.”

“It’s enough to attack Krimisa!” Timasion said calmly and resolutely, “I have investigated Krimisa in detail. After their last war, there are only more than a thousand citizens in this small place who could participate in battle, defeating them will not be a problem, but, the problem would be how to quickly take the city of Krimisa?!”

“So we must carefully prepare siege equipment, and at the same time, we must keep it a secret and not leak it out, because once Davos and the others find out, they will not only stop us, but will also make Krimisa be alert!” Reminded Cleanor.

“I didn’t tell anyone the truth. I had only told them what you have taught me leader Cleanor that, ‘We are going to take them to Syracuse and accept the employment of Dionysius to attack Carthage, because after the war, Syracuse will make us citizens!’” Said Toras.

“For Xanticles and Tolmides, we should not tell them that we are leaving. I have tried to talk to them several times, but I feel that they are already satisfied with their life here…” Cleanor said with contempt, “Xanticles and the others would rather go work as porters in the port than take up arms to fight on the battlefield. They have turned from warriors into a group of cowards!”

“When we become the master of Krimisa, they will regret it!” Timasion consoled Cleanor.

“What if….once we capture Krimisa, Crotone will then lead their army to attack us?” Toras said anxiously.

“It’s simple!” Cleanor said with a bit of ridicule, “As soon as we capture Krimisa, we will immediately send someone to inform Davos that ‘Krimisa is willing to join Theonia Union.’ Davos will not abandon us! Even if he really forgot our previous friendship, Philesius, Agasias, Hieronymus…and the other officers like old Diogenes who is also now a statesman, and the soldiers who have fought together with us and are now citizens of Theonia will also speak for us. Therefore, Davos will not ignore the opinions of so many people. Didn’t he claim that it was the people who had elected him?! Can he go against the will of so many people?! Isn’t that right, Timasion?!”

“Indeed, the way Davos and the others manage to acquire Amendolara and become the rulers of a city-state in Magna Graecia! We can also learn from their experience and obtain Krimisa with their help! We are no worse than them! Why are they so up high, while we are so down below?!” After arriving at Theonia, Timasion, who has been silent, is now voicing his thoughts and his face is full of rivalry.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

A few days later, when Davos received a report from Aristias that there was a change in the mercenaries that was led by Timasion and Cleanor, Timasion had taken the initiative to come see him.

“You are leaving the union?!” Davos heard the request of Timasion and was slightly surprised.

“We will go to Syracuse and help Dionysius attack the Carthaginians. I heard that he promised that ‘After they win the war, you can become a citizen of Syracuse and get allocated a fertile land.’” Said Timasion with seriousness.

Davos was silent, because of what Aristias had said (Syracuse had a grudge against him), and that Davos knew a lot about Syracuse, and Dionysius had indeed made such a promise to the mercenaries.

Timasion, seeing that Davos was silent, continued to say, “Davos, we are very grateful to you and Agasias for your help and care. However, we are all used to our freedom and are unable to adapt to the strict laws here, and also because we are unable to become a citizen of the union immediately. Our brothers have started to have some opinions, and I think that our departure will be good for you and for us!”

Davos gazed at Timasion. Seeing the resolve on his face, he nodded slowly and said, “Hmm, so you are going to Sicily. Is there anything I can help you with?”

“Please return our weapons and equipment that are stored in your armory to us, and…can you be our guarantor, so that we can hire a number of ships to transport us to Syracuse?…erm, if you can also give us some tents so that after we arrive in Syracuse, we can camp in the wild before we get hired…of course, if you can also give us some more food….”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The news that  themore than 1,700 mercenaries led by Timasion and Cleanor were leaving Theonia Union had caused a small stir among the statesmen.

For statesmen like Kunogelata, Cornelius, Protesilaus and the others who had taken up important positions and have been tortured by these often trouble causing mercenaries in recent months, think that it is a great thing.

For the statesmen that were former mercenaries such as Philesius, Agasias, and Hieronymus, they are deeply saddened.

Although Davos expressed regret on the surface, he felt much more relieved. After all, many people in the union now know that Timasion was his comrade when he was in Persia, so as long as they have done any huge problem in the union, not only are there people in the senate(the Thurian statesmen that are headed by Bolus) who would make a complaint, but the masses as well. If things go on like this, it will certainly damage the prestige of Davos.

On the day Timasion led the mercenaries to leave, the statesmen that were former mercenaries and many other former mercenary soldiers have gone to the port to see them off.

Facing the apology of Agasias, Timasion gave him a strong hug, “Among our comrades, I am mostly grateful to you, because you have truly wanted to help us! Zeus watches from above, so he will surely repay your kindness!”

On the other hand, Cleanor gloatingly said to Xanticles, Tolmides and the others, “One day, you will find that it was your mistake that you didn’t leave with us. Then at that time, you will come to us and beg!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Looking at the transport ship filled with mercenaries that were leaving the port. Agasias was disappointed, he then dejectedly said to Davos, “Did I make a mistake and should not have let them come to join the union?”

Davos patted him on the shoulder, and then pointed to the side and said, “You didn’t make a mistake. Not every mercenary likes to live a life of constant fighting. Didn’t they choose the union with your help?”

Following the direction of Davos’ finger, the mercenaries such as Xanticles, Tolmides, and others who were leaving to continue their day’s work after seeing off their companions….

“During this period of time that you were in contact with them, I believe that you have noticed it.” Davos said to the depressed Agasias, “Today, we are no longer what we were in Persia, but they are still the same. We have accepted those who are willing to accept the new changes, but those who are not willing to adapt to the new environment like Timasion, leaving is the best choice for them!”

Chapter 195 – Surprise attack on Krimisa

After hearing what Davos has said, Agasias looked at the distant ship, remembering the complaints of Cleanor and the others about themselves during this period. Agasias nodded and said, “You are right!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Half an hour later, the transport ship was far away from Thurii and was heading south on the route leading to Syracuse.

Timasion, who was in the first ship, gave an order, and the soldiers on board immediately took action to capture the captain and the sailors and said aloud, “We will not hurt you, we just want you to go off course!”

While appeasing the frightened captain and sailors, they raised the red flags on the main mast and scattered them on the other ships. The officers who had been secretly informed by Timasion a day before their departure, saw the signal flag flying high on the first ship and immediately started to take control on the other 40 ships.

“Go to the beach between Krimisa and Roscianum!” Timasion gave the order to the captain.

“What are you going to do?!” The captain, though flustered, still shouted.

The soldier who held him gave him a kick and said, “Hurry up and do what our leader had ordered!”

Seeing that the captain was hurt, the sailors began to be agitated. They only shrank back after two of them got stabbed by a mercenary.

“We are all registered freemen of Theonia Union. Are you not afraid to arouse the anger of the union?!” The captain looked at the wounded sailor who was struggling on the deck and shouted out angrily.

‘This is really a problem!’ Timasion had spent more than two months in the union and knew about the law of Theonia. Even those sailors who have only registered but have not yet become a preparatory citizens, if they are treated unfairly in foreign city-states, according to the law, Theonia Union is obliged to negotiate with the concerned city-state, not to mention their protection of official citizens. If they were to really kill them, he fears that the statesmen who were once their comrades in the senate of Theonia will be infuriated and say that ‘The law is the law’, and they will no longer be able to use Theonia to keep Krimisa.

So he sent someone to help the two wounded sailors and bandaged their wounds and then said to the captain as kind as possible, “In the name of Zeus, I, Timasion, have no intention of infringing upon the union. As long as you send us ashore, you can sail away!”

The captain then turned to the helmsman in doubt.

Timasion hurriedly but quietly told his men, “Try to tell our companions on the other ship to not hurt anyone as much as possible!”

Why is it trying? It is because this is a makeshift team, and they are also a mercenary, it is only because they do not want to be bound by the union, and because the two leaders, Timasion and Cleanor, have high prestige that they are willing to follow their command. However, if they were to control them, Timasion himself has no such ability.

Another half an hour later, under the guidance of the two guides who they paid expensively, the fleet landed on a sparsely populated beach closer to Roscianum in order to avoid being discovered by Krimisa.

While the captain was still worried about whether there would be damage to the bottom of the ship, the soldiers then pushed them off the ship.

“You said that you would let us go!” The captain yelled to Timasion in panic.

“I did, but not now. We will need you to stay here a little bit longer so that you will not report us back!” Said Timasion coldly. He then ordered the soldiers to pull the boat to the beach, then tie up the captain and the sailors and throw them into the grass. While implementing it, the sailors resisted, and naturally, there will be casualties, but Timasion doesn’t have the time to worry about them at this time. He and Cleanor and the other officers had quickly gathered the mercenaries together, and then took out some timbers hidden under the tent that was given by Davos and their former comrades, then they all worked together to quickly make a ladder.

Timasion knew that Davos was very cautious. So he only asked for tents and food, not only to hide some siege equipment, but also to numb him. And now, after each soldier had carried enough ration for two days, he then said to the captain, “The supplies on your ship belong to your archon, Davos. So don’t forget to return it back to him when you go back.”

Afterwards, he ignored the crew’s cry and led the mercenaries to the south.

During daytime, it is difficult to hide the trace of 1,700 people moving on the plain, especially in the sunny season of spring sowing. Timasion’s initial idea was to disembark at night, but that meant that the fleet of more than 40 ships could only roam around the sea during the day. If they are too close to the coast, it will easily arouse the vigilance and suspicion of patrol boats and the merchant ships that are passing through Crotone and Krimisa, if it is too far away from the coast, it would be difficult to distinguish the direction and make an accurate landing in the dark, and are also prone to accidents.

Therefore, Timasion and the others had prepared to strike Krimisa by surprise and the key was to move quickly! Fast enough to make Krimisa not able to react quickly even if they learned about it.

Between Roscianum and Krimisa is a relatively large marsh, which was caused by the long-term flooding of the Traeis river and its tributaries. At the beginning of December last year, Timasion had come here to check the terrain. It was completely easy to traverse on the coast, and also, in order to facilitate the land exchange and trade between Krimisa and Roscianum, a fording place and pontoon bridge were also built.

However, what Timasion didn’t expect was that by the end of December, when spring came, the snow melted, and the torrential rain in January this year has made the river water surge far more than in previous years, which naturally expand the march significantly compared with previous years, which brought great difficulties to the mercenaries’ rapid march.

While Timasion and the others trudged in the marsh, they occasionally saw farmers and slaves who were leading their livestock, chickens and ducks to the edge of the marsh to forage. When they saw the mercenaries in the distance, they immediately ran away in panic. Later, scattered cavalries began to appear in the sight of Timasion, which let them know that their surprise attack had failed.

Timasion immediately convened some of the officers, such as Cleanor and Toras, to urgently discuss whether to cancel their plan to attack Krimisa.

Mostly everyone such as Cleanor and Toras, insisted on moving forward, because they had already taken such a long time of waiting and careful preparation to get such a good opportunity. If they give up easily and return to Theonia, they will only be ridiculed. What’s more, if their attempts were to be found out by the others, Davos will definitely be wary of them, and the Thurians will no longer be kind to them. At that time, they can only leave Magna Graecia and will never encounter such a good opportunity again!

When Timasion saw that everyone had the same idea, he immediately put forward his revised plan after thinking about it: In order to speed up their marching, they should rush to the city before the Krimisians put up their defense, capture Krimisa in the shortest time and then defend against the possible reinforcements of Krimisa, and obtain the approval of Theonia Union for them to join the Theonia alliance after obtaining Krimisa. With the protection of Theonia, their safety will be guaranteed!

The officers had no objection to his new plan, so they immediately put it into action.

“Brothers, speed up! Pick up the pace! As long as we get out of here, Krimisa will be like a delicious olive waiting for us to pick!” Timasion cheered up the depressed mercenaries.

Cleanor, Toras and the other officers were also urging them.

The soldiers who had been fighting for such a long time also knew that the situation was urgent, so they could not tolerate the slightest hesitation. They cursed at the terrible environment while struggling to advance…finally, the army managed to get out of the marsh.

At this time, one of the cavalry, who had been watching them, came forward and shouted, “I am Timacharis, the captain of the patrol team of Krimisa! Stranger, you are trespassing on the territory of Krimisa! Immediately-” His voice stopped, as a javelin pierced his chest and he fell down on his horse, then the several cavalries who were nearby were immediately frightened and ran away.

“Damn it, who threw the javelin?!!” Timasion, who was walking forward, yelled. He wanted to cajole the Krimisians in order to buy some time for their attack, but he did not anticipate it to be immediately destroyed by these bloodthirsty mercenaries.

“Now that it has happened, don’t blame them anymore, lest it affect the morale of our brothers!” Whispered Cleanor.

Since the time they disembark, Timasion had experienced successive troubles, which had made him depressed. However, he had to restrain himself, ‘Cleanor is right! We need to hurry up!’

After spitting a mouthful of phlegm, he then asked the guide, “How much longer till we reach Krimisa?”

The guide could only swallow his saliva after he saw the twisted and ferocious expression of Timasion, and said in a trembling voice, “….about…about 5 kilomers away….”

Timasion looked at the sky and said to the herald, “Have the brothers work harder. We will continue on rushing, we will then rest once we get to Krimisa!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

While on their way, they could no longer see anyone. The farmers and slaves who had been working hard in the fields have apparently learned about them and had fled into the city.

Half an hour later, Timasion saw the city of Krimisa in the distance. He then immediately told the troops to stop rushing and advance slowly.

The city of Krimisa is located at Calabria in the region of Punto Alice. More than 200 years ago, it was originally the settlement of the indigenous people, and was then later occupied by the Sybaris, who had then built the city of Krimisa. It has since then become the sub-state of Sybaris until the fall of Sybaris a hundred years ago, and the weak Krimisa had to rely on its strong neighbor, Crotone. Decades later, thanks to the establishment of Thurii, Athens had reached an agreement with Crotone, which made Krimisa and Roscianum become independent. However, the war between Thurii and Crotone had broken the neutrality of Krimisa, because they wanted to join the powerful Crotone and to at least share some fruits of victory. However, they never thought that the powerful Crotone would be defeated by the weak Amendolara, and so Krimisa had also paid a heavy price of nearly 2,000 casualties.

Chapter 196 – Storming Krimisa

Although the Thua Union had not punished Krimisa in the end, Krimisa had to return to becoming neutral again, and the strategoi and statesmen of Krimisa were uneasy. Although Crotone lost, they had not lost their strength: And the merchants who had been to Thurii marveled at the rapid development of Theonia Union. One of them has suffered humiliation of losing in a war for the first time after many years, and the other has suffered from having their city burned. The two forces will surely fight again. This is the consensus of the top-level of Krimisa, but this will be a disaster for them, who is sandwiched between Crotone and Theonia.

After Roscianum joined the Theonia alliance, Theonia had built a road that connects Roscianum, and had given them trade preferences. As a result, the trade of Roscianum had rapidly grown in just a short period of more than half a year. Despite the envy of the Krimisians, most of them will not try to curry favor with Theonia. After all, Krimisa is closer to Crotone and has been influenced by them for a long time. Both in terms of feelings and interests, the Krimisians are more inclined to Crotone.

When the council of Krimisa received an urgent report from the cavalry that there were countless soldiers crossing the marsh in the north, which made everyone shocked, though some of them have thought to check out the situation first.

However, the polemarchos, Androlis, strongly opposed the opinion of everyone and insisted on: While they send out scouts to check out the situation, they would send someone to Crotone to ask for their help.

He then exclaimed, “Everyone, these men that have come from the north, armed or not, from Theonia or from other places, but they have stepped into our territory without permission. It is without a doubt that they have malicious intent! Krimisa has not yet recovered from our previous defeat, and there are no more than a thousand citizens who can fight. I am afraid that once we have a thorough understanding of them, the enemy would have already arrived, and then it will be too late to ask for help! I’d rather ask for help first and apologize to the Crotonians later if I made a mistake than losing our ancestral home because of hesitation!”

The words of Androlis had convinced most of them. Half an hour after they sent a herald to Crotone, the scouts brought back a news that made them worry: About two thousands soldiers, most of which are hoplites, rushed to Krimisa with long ladders, and had killed a Krimisian cavalry who went to question them.

‘They are enemies!’ The members of the Krimisa’s council no longer need to doubt, but they had no time to thank Androlis for his foresight, as  they had to inform the citizens to start arming themselves, and at this moment, they had also issued an emergency mobilization order for battle, which ordered all the people who can fight to go to the wall.

As a small town, Krimisa does not have any special products and the trade of its port is not developed. Even so, Androlis and the other strategoi had learned the lesson of the old Thurii and had immediately granted citizenship to nearly 500 young and strong freemen and asked them to participate in the battle.

Just as the Krimisians were preparing for the battle, the mercenaries had already advanced to more than 200 meters from the northern part of Krimisa, and Timasion could now already see the shadowy figures of the guards on the top of the wall.

“It seems that the Krimisians are ready!” Cleanor said with a bit of disappointment.

While the expression of Timasion remained unchanged. Timasion then said, “Since our surprise attack plan can no longer be used, then we will take Krimisa by storm!”

He then immediately ordered, “Brothers, take a rest on the spot!”

He, Cleanor and Toras and the other officers quickly gathered together to discuss how to attack the city of Krimisa.

The city wall of Krimisa is only four meters high, and there is only a three meter wide moat outside. There are no fortifications or traps, such a simple city defense is not worth mentioning compared to the cities that they had captured in Asia Minor with Thimbron. Even though the city wall was full of soldiers, Timasion and the officers did not think that they could withstand the powerful offense of the mercenaries because Krimisa have been at peace without experiencing war for decades, and half a year ago, when they followed the army of Crotone against the union, the Krimisians were completely massacred.

Timasion, Cleanor and the officers firmly believed that the Krimisian soldiers, who have no combat experience and have low morale, are all incompetent!

After quickly completing the deployment, Timasion went to the front of the formation and said to the mercenaries, “Brothers, I believe that you will never forget the two months that you have stayed in Theonia Union! You have left there and have followed us here because you are not satisfied! Why is it that Davos and the others who were mercenaries like us, have everything, while we have nothing?!” Timasion turned around and then pointed to the city of Krimisa and shouted, “Now, the opportunity is in front of us, once we take down this city, we will also become noblemen! And be the masters of the city as well!!”

The mercenaries beat the shield with their spears and roared to vent their depression and frustration over the past two months. At the same time, they also wanted to win and hope for a better life in the future!

Their roars have even reached the top of the city wall, which made the Krimisians pale.

The strategos in charge of military affairs, Eurypus, was anxious when he saw this situation. In order to boost their morale, he then shouted, “Citizens, the number of enemies is as large as ours! But we have walls and moats to protect us, so they won’t be able to hurt us! What is more, the Crotonians are on their way to aid us!”

When the Krimisian heard of reinforcements, they became a bit courageous.

“Attack!” Timasion saw that the morale was high and so he gave the order without hesitation.

And so, the salpinx sounded, and Cleanor led his troops to the west of Krimisa, while Timasion led his troops to the north.

The hoplites were at the front, with 5 men carrying long ladders, and were marching slowly in a very loose formation, and the light infantries were at the back. As they were about to enter the range of the archers of Krimisa, they started to take off their round shields, then use the shield to protect their head and chest, and moved forward by staying low.

The arrows that came from the walls were like rain, but the mercenaries were not afraid. They then manage to arrive at the moat without a suspense, then several people helped to put the six meter long wooden ladder on the moat. When they stepped on the long ladder to cross the moat, compared to hoplites accidentally falling into the moat, the arrows did not cause as much as casualties to the hoplites.

Eurypus, who was watching the skillful tactics and calm performance of the enemy, had made him nervous. ‘These enemies are experienced and I fear that it will not be easy to deal with them!’

“Come on! Go and prepare more stones, wood and flax oil, and bring them to the top of the wall at once!” Eurypus shouted anxiously.

After the hoplite basically crossed the moat, they took the long ladder again, and quickly rushed to the bottom of the wall, they then laid the long ladder against the wall, but there are still some long ladders on the moat that were not retracted, as it is for the light infantries to use to cross the moat.

The Krimisians then rushed to throw woods and stone, and poured the flax oils. As the torch dropped, the flame rose and the casualties of the mercenaries sharply increased….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At the height of the fierce battle between Krimisa and the mercenaries, Davos received
an alarming information that Timasion had not gone to Syracuse, but had instead went to Krimisa.

On the eastern coast of Magna Graecia, there are frequent ships that come and go, so when they see more than 40 empty ships stranded on the beach, there will always be curious merchant ships that stop to investigate. They then found the captains and sailors who were bound and were left in the grass.

After being rescued, they immediately sailed back to the port of Thurii and complained to the guards about what happened.

After Davos learned about it, he became furious. As the guarantor of Timasion, the hijacking of the transport ship and the 15 casualties of the sailors have already made him angry, but what made him even more angry was that, Timasion had led more than a thousand mercenaries to land on the coast between Roscianum and Krimisa.

With a bit of thinking, he managed to guess what their goal was, ‘Krimisa! Those audacious mercenaries actually have the idea of taking Krimisa! I had even felt sorry for their departure! Damn Timasion, he cheated us all!’ While complaining about his carelessness, Davos was already thinking about the consequence of the action of the mercenaries: Whether they manage to take Krimisa or not, they will break the delicate balance between Theonia and Crotone, and now, Theonia has to start to prepare earlier now!

But when he thought of holding a senate meeting, Davos felt a bit of a headache, because some people will certainly take this opportunity to make trouble. Although it will not have any actual impact on him, he indeed had made a mistake! And sure enough, those in power must not be easily influenced by their personal feelings. If he had hindered his personal feelings and not agreed to Agasias at the start, then how could there have been so many things afterwards! This is a profound lesson that he should bear in mind!….

“Aristocrates, immediately send someone to Philesius, Agasias, Hieronymus, Kapus, and Antonions and have them come here!” Davos told Aristocrates that he needed to talk to these former mercenaries.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Leader, our men are going up fast!” His subordinate shouted with excitement.

Timasion became spirited, he then exposed his head from under his round shield and peeped up. He then saw a soldier managing to step on the battlement not far away.

At this time, seven spears pierced straight towards the soldier who was busy blocking it with his round shield, but because of this, he could not stand firmly and was forcibly pushed down the wall. However, the wall was only four meters high and there were corpses on the ground, so he did not suffer so much damage after he fell. The soldier then unsteadily stood up, he was currently not fully awake and have even forgotten to take a precautions when a rock hit his head*, so he fell down again, but this time, he didn’t get up. (Because the Corinthian helmet is bulky and the vision is too narrow for a siege so they had taken it off.

Seeing this situation, Timasion then shouted, “Have Execias and the others to get closer to the wall to give more support to the hoplites who are sieging the city!”

“Leader….” The herald’s face showed an awkward expression, “They are light infantries who are lacking protection. Doing so will make them vulnerable to arrows!”

Chapter 197 – Capturing the City

“You should know that we are sieging a city! Sieging!!” Timasion shouted angrily, “If the hoplites can’t go up the walls or open the gates, then saving their lives is useless! Quickly! Quickly!!”

Timasion sent heralds across the moat to the light infantries. Then he turned his gaze and swept the ground under the city wall. There were countless corpses littered in all directions, and there were also mercenaries and Krimisians struggling and groaning….

Timasion had already seen such sights so many times. Before going to Magna Graecia, they were under the command of Thimbron, as they launched a siege on Larissa(Larissa Phrikonis) in Asia Minor for several months. Therefore, he had a deep understanding of the difficulty of a siege. It’s just that…he has no other choice but to keep on sieging, because time is the key to their success.

“Leader, be careful!” The shouts of his subordinates made him subconsciously hide his head under his round shield, when he suddenly heard a “clang” sound, and the back of his hand shook. An arrow hit the surface of his shield and bounced back.

As soon as he breathed a sigh of relief, he then heard people shouting “Aaaah! Aaaaahhhh!”, followed by a loud “bang” sound.

There is no need for him to see it, because he already knew that the siege ladder was pushed down by the enemy, and the agitation in his heart began to grow.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Strategos, the archers unit of the enemy is now coming!” The panic cry of the soldiers had alarmed Eurypus.

The light infantries who were initially in front of the moat had quickly rushed under the city wall. Compared with the poorly trained soldiers of Krimisa, the archery skill of these enemies are accurate and fierce. Soon, most of the casualties of the citizens were caused by them.

“Don’t worry about the enemy on the ladder. Concentrate on attacking the archers of the enemy!” Eurypus run around to give orders to the archers.

“The enemy has come up again!” The soldiers stopped Eurypus by shouting in panic. Not far away, a mercenary had managed to reach the top of the city wall. Facing a thrusting spear, he covered his upper body with a shield and jumped forward. Not only did the spear fail to stab him, he had also managed to crash onto the enemy. He did not immediately get up, and instead, with his right hand, quickly slashed with his kopis randomly, slashing the unprotected thighs of several enemy soldiers. He then got up, but did not take advantage of the chaos to attack, and he instead retreated to the ladder, with his back against the parapet, he then squatted down and covered his body with his round shield.

The spears of the soldiers did little harm on him. On the contrary, they did not dare to approach him because they were afraid that his sword would stretch out from under his shield and slash their feet. During this delay, another mercenary managed to get on the top of the city wall.

“Push forward! Block them!” Eurypus led the reserve soldiers, and the dense spears forced the enemy to the corner.

“Get rid of their shields!” As soon as Eurypus shouted his order, the soldier next to him let out a shrill scream, as a javelin pierced his chest.

The light infantries under the city tried their best to support their comrades, bows, arrows and javelins were concentrated on this section of the city wall, and the hoplites had also increased their pace on climbing the city wall.

Eurypus hurriedly mobilized all the remaining troops to block them. After a fierce battle between the two sides, the mercenaries were driven down, but this part of the alure was filled with injured and dead Krimisian soldiers.

Facing such a group of enemies who are obviously experienced in combat and are fierce and bloodthirsty, every time they manage to make an opening, they will cause a lot of damage to the defending soldiers. Eurypus felt hard pressed, and his extra manpower began to dwindle, “Go and tell strategos Androlis that the enemy has put all their strength into the northern wall! Have him send troops for reinforcements because we can’t hold it anymore!”

Androlis also has no soldiers to spare. However, since the enemy has been storming the north and west, their troops that are responsible for the eastern part have been idle at this time of crisis.

Androlis immediately made a decision, he then sent someone to inform Pleitinas, the strategos in charge of the eastern wall, to immediately lead the troops that are stationed there to reinforce Eurypus.

“Timasion! Leader Timasion!….” The herald, while avoiding the arrows, had run to TImasion in a hurry, “The enemy on the eastern wall has left!”

“I saw it!” Timasion was a bit excited, “Go and tell Toras to act at once!”

“Yes!”

Looking at the herald that was leaving, Timasion immediately raised his arms and shouted, “Brothers, work harder! Attack together with me! The enemy could no longer last!” After that, he wore his round shield and took a few strides to the front of the ladder and grabbed it with his right hand. The mercenaries guarding the ladder supported him to climb up, Timasion then climbed the ladder, while the mercenary that was in front of him had already reached the top of the city wall. Timasion then soon reach the top of the ladder, he then quickly drew out his kopis and stepped onto the alure, he protected his front chest, ignoring the spears and swords, he leaped forward, and crash on the enemy by force, and the kopis in his hand had also slashed forward at the same time.

“Protect each other’s back! Protect each other’s back!” Shouted Timasion while slashing the enemy.

The mercenaries who had huddled in the corner of the wall, immediately drew closer to each other.

Encouraged by their leader, Timasion. The mercenaries launched another fierce attack and tore many openings into the defense of the enemy on the northern wall. If the soldiers led by Pleitinas did not arrive, then the troops of Eurypus would not have been able to keep on defending.

Both sides fought fiercely in the walkway, as the Krimisian’s morale soar due to the influx of reinforcements, they were ready to drive the mercenaries out of the city wall again.

At this time, a huge disturbance came from the eastern wall.

“The enemy is coming! The enemy is coming!….” The soldiers screamed in panic.

Eurypus hurriedly turned his head to look at the east, he then saw that many peltast, armed with leather shields and rhomphaia, rushed along the walkway of the eastern wall.

Eurypus had no time to think about how these people got there, he quickly asked Pleitinas to lead the reinforcements back in order to intercept the enemy, but the two sides are currently intertwined fighting each other and it is now difficult to extract their troops.

However, the attack of the Thracian peltasts of the mercenaries were very quick. They broke into the crowd and in a narrow space, the rhomphaia exerts a terrifying killing power. If they are caught by the sharp blade, then their muscles and bones will be cut off. If the hook of the blade hits your neck, then it will be sliced off…the soldiers of Krimisa fell down in a flash, and had made them frightened that they retreated, while the peltasts chase them like maggots on bones, and the nearby mercenaries also took advantage of this chaos to climb the city wall….

The defense on the eastern end part of the northern wall of Krimisa has been torn open, and the experienced mercenaries drove the Krimisian soldiers to retreat westward….

In the crowded walkway, the panic stricken Krimisian, in order to escape, had pushed each other, and had caused some people to fall from the city wall….

Eurypus and Pleitinas had also become flustered seeing this tragedy. They were afraid of the misfortune and had retreated from the walkway in a hurry. As a result, the mercenaries easily managed to occupy the walkway near the city gate, and blocked the countless Krimisian who were left….

The mercenaries then killed them mercilessly, forcing more Krimisian to jump off the wall….

Androlis, who was originally organizing and coordinating the defense under the city wall, saw this tragic sight and listened to the continuous screams of the citizens. However, at this critical moment, he had to resist his grief and arrange for the demobilized soldiers and the people to retreat to the acropolis in the southern part of the city for the final defense…

The mercenaries then occupied the northern wall, they then opened the gate, and the soldiers outside the city rushed in….

“Leader, we won! We have captured Krimisa!” The subordinate, who was supporting Timasion, shouted with joy.

Timasion was stabbed in the thigh and had a stab wound in his right arm. If the enemy didn’t fall down on his own, then he would have died under the spear. At this moment, he was also very excited, “We can now also say that we have a city!” Timasion said with content. The mercenaries were able to capture the wall because of the success of his plan. In Theonia Union, his former comrades had told him in detail how they captured Amendolara. They also let him know about the special siege equipment, Grappling Hook, and got its sketch. Timasion then sent some people to the blacksmith shops in Heraclea and made dozens of them. When they attacked Krimisa, he deliberately attacked both the western and northern wall of the city. Once he manages to force the Krimisian who are defending the eastern wall to come support either the western and northern wall(to the south is a river), Toras will then lead dozens of trained peltast soldiers to climb the eastern wall with grappling hooks. Even if they are found out, they will not attract the attention of the enemy because they are not carrying ladders. In this way, the peltast soldiers manage to climb up the wall with the grappling hook and give a fatal blow to Krimisa.

After Timasion entered the city, he joined up with Cleanor, who had captured the western gate, and commanded the mercenaries to continue pursuing the defeated soldiers.

At first, everything went well, but gradually, the mercenaries went out of control. They then began to break into the houses, looting and even capturing women….

Timasion was furious, not because he was against looting, but because the battle was not over. He later learned that the forces of Krimisa were hiding in the acropolis, so they must take them down in one go and completely occupy Krimisa in order to celebrate their victory.

But the excited mercenaries did things by instinct and refused to obey his orders. Timasion finally felt what Davos felt at the beginning. Knowing that it was useless, Timasion still shouted and vented his grievances.

“Leader, they are all in the acropolis anyway, so they won’t be able to run away. We will only need to block the acropolis and wait until our brothers finish what they are doing. Afterwards, we can gather them again and attack the acropolis.” Toras consoled him.

“I am not worried about Krimisa, I am worried about Crotone!” Timasion said anxiously.

“Even if Krimisa were to ask Crotone for reinforcements while we were attacking the city, it would still take some time for the herald to arrived at Crotone, for the council of Crotone to discuss it, for them to make a decision to mobilized their army and come here….with so many processes, the fastest time it would take them to come here would be in the evening. I don’t believe that the Crotonians have the courage of Davos to attack the city at night! We have already captured the whole city of Krimisa and the heralds that we have sent should have already arrived at the senate of Theonia. By the time Crotone attacks tomorrow, Davos and the others, should have already made a decision.” Cleanor seriously analyzed it for Timasion.

Chapter 198 – Fall

“So there is no need for us to worry about Crotone, and the most important thing to worry about is whether Theonia will accept our occupation of Krimisa and become their ally!” This is what concerned Cleanor the most.

“I don’t know….” Timasion thought about it, but he was still not sure, “I am afraid that the other city-states would not accept our occupation like this. After all, they are all Greeks of Magna Graecia, and they are all full of vigilance against us, mercenaries. If we want to succeed, we can only gamble and take a risk! If we want to be safe, then it would be better to stay in Theonia Union!”

At this moment, Timasion cheered himself up, while Cleanor, seeing that success is in sight was a bit worried about his gains and losses, “I hope that Agasias and the others can persuade Davos!”

“If Crotone does indeed send reinforcements, then tomorrow, we can only pretend to be soldiers of Theonia and try to delay them for a while!” Timasion gritted his teeth fiercely. They had already deceived Theonia once anyway, so he didn’t mind doing it again for a second time. He then pointed to the chaotic sight in front of him and said anxiously, “No matter what the decision of Theonia is, and whether Crotone will send reinforcements, we must first attend to our own matter. We need to take over the whole city as soon as possible, and imprison the Krimisians, and then send some scouts to check the south, so that our brothers can be prepared for defense! Things like this must end as soon as possible, otherwise, we will always be anxious!”

“Forcibly issuing an order to prohibit looting and murder, otherwise they will be punished according to military law….” Cleanor then added with a wry smile, “That is pretty much what Davos would do, that’s what he did when we were in Persia. We must not copy him…moreover, during the siege, more than 200 of our brothers had died and many were injured. So we need to let them vent their anger. Timasion, don’t irritate them. We should instead take our time….”

“To tell you the truth, when we were in Persia, we laughed at Davos and said that he was a fool…and it is only until today, that I realized that we were really the stupid one!…I…I have to admire Davos, because he always thinks in the long term…once we settle down, we must rectify our military discipline!!” Timasion exclaimed and made up his mind.

He then immediately sent heralds to each officer and told them to try their best to gather their troops. While he and Cleanor rushed to the acropolis of Krimisa with their own soldiers and sent someone to persuade the Krimisians to surrender.

And their answer was, “NEVER!!!”

Due to that, the two sides confronted each other until the afternoon.

Seeing that more and more enemies are now besieging the acropolis, and have even begun to prepare siege equipment, the gaze of the Krimisians that were trapped became more and more desperate. They realized that the attack of the enemy was imminent, and many people began to wail. Androlis, with a grave expression, is ready to live and die with the acropolis.

But at this moment, there was a disturbance in the still quiet camp of the enemy.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“The army of Crotone is approaching the north gate?! How can this be possible?!” Cleanor felt like getting struck by lightning, he was too alarmed that he didn’t want to believe that the information they got was real.

Toras was both flustered and puzzled, “Our scouts in the south…they really did not see any sign of the Crotonians in the south?!”

“Leader, it…it is real! The Crotonians are already forming up their ranks outside the city, and they…will soon start attacking!!” The guard captain of Timasion, who was in charge of guarding the northern wall, anxiously shouted.

Timasion barely managed to keep his composure. How could he not believe his trusted subordinate? After thinking for a bit, his expression changed, “Damn! This is our negligence. They might have come by boat just like us!”

“How…how many soldiers are there?” Cleanor asked nervously, hoping that the guard captain would say a small number.

“I am afraid that they numbered at least 5,000….” The words of the guard captain destroyed the hope of everyone. They then gaze at Timasion.

And in this desperate situation, Timasion asked, “Brothers, shall we withdraw?”

“I…I…” Cleanor, while looking at the acropolis that was in front of him, struggled inwardly, with unwillingness, he shouted, “We are not like the Krimisians! We can block them with the help of the wall! As long as we can hold on until tomorrow! As long as we can hold on until tomorrow!…Timasion, you have said it yourself that if we want to be the rulers of Krimisa, we can only take a risk! Then we will risk our life in this gamble! Even if I die, I don’t want to go back to Theonia Union and have them laugh at me!!”

“Me as well. What is there to be afraid of death?! With the help of the city wall, we can block the Crotonians!” With fierceness in his expression, Toras spoke what most officers and soldiers wanted to say.

“Agree, we will fight Crotone!” Everyone immediately echoed.

Timasion no longer hesitated, he gazed at the mercenaries that are still present, and gave his order in a powerful tone, “Cleanor! Toras! Quickly gather all our brothers who are still scattered in the city and quickly lead them to the city wall!”

“Roger!”

“Parthax! Lead 200 men and keep an eye on the acropolis! If those Krimisians dare to come out, then kill all of them!”

“Leave it to me leader!”

“The rest will follow me to the northern gate, and make the Crotonians taste our strength! And ensure that they will never take our city!” Timasion clenched his fist and shouted.

“Alala*!!!” The mercenaries roared and their morale soared. (T/N: Battle cry)

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Timasion was an excellent commander, he was able to command the mercenaries calmly and ingeniously make the enemy move to another place in order to break in into the city of Krimisa in the shortest possible time. However, as a warrior, he was blinded by jealousy and impatience. The only thing he could see is that the strength of Krimisa, a small and neutral city-state in Magna Graecia, could be captured with just their strength. He lacked the quality of a politician to consider the relationship between the city-states of Magna Graecia, especially the attitude of Crotone towards its neighbor, Krimisa.

Prior to the creation of Theonia, Crotone did not attach much importance to Krimisa, on the one hand, it is because of their agreement with Athens, and on the other, Thurii did not pose a threat to Crotone. However, after they were defeated by Theonia Union, the situation changed greatly. Theonia had captured Nerulum, while Laos joined the Theonia alliance, and Theonia had opened up the land trade routes between the east and west…and so on. Theonia is rapidly becoming stronger and prosperous, which made the Crotonians restless, and they started to feel the threat of this emerging power in the north. The strategic position of Krimisa as a buffer zone has become extremely important. Therefore, in the past six months, Crotone has stepped up their efforts to win over Krimisa.

This is why the first thought of Krimisa when they heard of an attack was to seek help from Crotone. At the same time, when Crotone heard that Krimisa was attacked by an enemy from the north, their first reaction was that “The Theonians have finally begun their attack!”, and so, the council of Crotone had almost immediately approved the proposal to send reinforcements. At the same time, considering that it might be the Theonians, because the herald of Krimisa only said, “There are only two thousand enemies”, for caution’s sake, they dispatched an army of 10,000 men.

The reason Timasion thought that the reinforcements of Crotone were all in the north was because 5,000 men were already quite large for only reinforcements between city-states. Therefore, he had sent almost all his troops to defend the northern wall, and also taking both the east and the west into consideration, but he never thought that another fleet would enter the estuary of the river in the south, and break into the almost empty port and forcibly land 5,000 Crotonians. The soldiers then immediately occupied the south gate and easily defeated the two hundred men of Parthax. After meeting with the Krimisians in the acropolis, they continued to go north.

Not only the strength of both sides vastly differs, but the mercenaries are also in a dangerous situation of being sandwiched. After learning that “A large number of Crotonian soldiers broke into the city from the south”, the mercenaries lost their morale, and Timasion and Cleanor felt helpless at this moment.

When the Crotonians from the south had arrived, the mercenaries just resisted them for a bit and then fled in all directions.

Timasion, who was in the city, saw the fleeing mercenaries being driven away and slaughtered by the Crotonians like livestock, just as what they had done to the Krimisians before. The wrath of the goddess of Vengeance had quickly fallen on the mercenaries so quickly, which made him feel empty.

“Timasion, go! Let’s go to the north!” Cleanor cried anxiously.

Timasion just shook his head. His gaze then landed to the north with a relieved smile, ‘Davos, in the end, I lost….’

Without hesitation, Timasion drew out his kopis and slit his neck.

Cleanor didn’t have the time to grieve. He took the few people with him to get out of the city with a grappling hook.

The Krimisians hated them for burning, slaughtering and looting their city, and the Crotonians meddled till the end, as they continued their pursuit. In the end, except for a few who had managed to escape, most of them were either killed or captured. Cleanor and Toras finally surrendered, but they were beheaded by the angry Krimisians….

By interrogating the captured mercenaries, Crotone and Krimisa learned that these vicious enemies were mercenaries from Asia Minor and Ionia, and that they had fought together with the archon of Theonia, Davos, and they had even live in Theonia for more than two months before. Their attack on Krimisa was a premeditated independent action of these mercenaries.

Although Theonia is seemingly unrelated, the strategoi of Crotone and its statesmen thought that they had found the best excuse. Unless Crotone is willing to maintain peace with Theonia for a long time, they are undoubtedly a great threat to Crotone to allow them to develop. Only now that Theonia is currently a fledgling can Crotone wage war and destroy this emerging union!

With the vast majority of the warring faction, this proposal was smoothly passed. Even Lysias, who was someone from the moderate function, did not firmly oppose it. He is obviously aware of the threat of Theonia.

Chapter 199 – The trouble caused by the mercenaries

The Crotonians mobilized their troops to reinforce Krimisa. Such a huge development had naturally attracted the attention of the spies of Aristias, who were stationed at the port of Crotone.

In the early morning of the next day, when the herald sent by the mercenary arrived at the house of Davos, Davos had already learned about the reinforcement of Crotone from Aristias. So, he immediately judged that the situation of Timasion and the others is grave.

Therefore, when Phrigres, the herald of the mercenaries, asked him, “Lord Davos, leader Timasion have managed to capture Krimisa, and we hope to join the Theonia alliance and get additional soldiers right away!”

Davos, with a heavy heart, told his former comrade who had worked as an interpreter in the camp of Meno, and later worked for him. However, he had chosen to leave when they were in Byzantium, “Phrigres, you are late. I have just learned that ‘at noon yesterday, nearly 10,000 soldiers from Crotone had set out by ship.’ They should have arrived at Krimisa in the afternoon of that day, and I don’t think that Timasion and his men will be able to keep Krimisa….”

“TEN THOUSAND SOLDIERS?!” Phrigres froze at the spot when he heard it.

“I have sent someone to inquire about it, and I believe that we will find out the truth by noon.” Added Davos.

“Maybe…maybe they are still defending Krimisa….” Phrigres came back to his senses and prayed, “Lord…leader Davos, as someone who had fought together with us, please…please send an army to Krimisa and help them!! Otherwise, I fear that it will already be too late once you learn about what happened!!….”

Phrigres call of “leader” had made the mood of Davos fluctuate, but he still shook his head and said, “Hmph…I can’t mobilize the army immediately just because I want to! This requires the consent of most members of the senate, and without accurate information, they will not agree! Because if the Krimisians manage to recapture their city and the army of Theonia where to enter the territory of Krimisa, then this would be a violation of our agreement with Crotone, which means that it will be war! A war with Crotone!!”

The impatient Phrigres had obviously not heard the patient explanation of Davos, and had almost frantically shouted, “If you want to rescue our brothers, then it’s inevitable to go to war with Crotone! What are you afraid of?! You are the only archon for life of Theonia, so you have the final say! Send troops, please, leader Davos! The lives of Timasion, Cleanor, and all our mercenary brothers are waiting for you to rescue them!!….”

Davos shook his head, and had no idea how to properly tell him, “You go and have a rest first. I will inform you once I find out the situation.” Then he motioned to the servant to take him away.

Phrigres pushed away the servant and shouted, “Davos, you would have died in Persia without the help of Timasion and our brothers! But look at how you treat your former comrades now! When we arrived here, you did not provide any help, and had let us suffer a lot of grievances. Now, the life of Timasion and the others are threatened and are asking for your help, and yet, you don’t even lend a helping hand, and you instead give an excuse by saying ‘it needs the approval of the senate’….”

Phrigres yelled at Davos for his ingratitude, and made Davos angry when he heard that and thought, ‘You have falsely claimed that you will go to Syracuse, but in fact, you had invaded and occupied Krimisa without even discussing it with me! Isn’t it because you wanted to take advantage of me and Agasias and have Theonia take the blame for you? You did not even think about how this will make Theonia and myself passive! Now that you have failed, you came here begging, without even apologizing. In the end, who is ungrateful? Do you think that I am a pushover?!’

In his present position, there is no need for him to argue with a simple minded mercenary, so he simply made the guards drag Phrigres out of his house.

There was a lot of noise in the living room, which made Cheiristoya, with the help of Azune, come down from the second floor with a big stomach and asked with concern, “I just heard a quarrel. What happened?”

“It’s nothing.” Davos squeezed out a smile and whispered with reproach, “You are about to give birth, yet here you are still walking around and not taking a rest.”

Cheiristoya no longer asked, she then said while clutching her bulging stomach, “Our child had kicked me just now, which woke me up.”

“My child, be good, and let your mother have a rest!” Davos put his face on Cheiristoya’s stomach and said softly.

“Oh my, he kicked me again!” Said Cheiristoya with pleasant surprise.

“Madam, he must be a boy, because he is so naughty!” Azune said with a smile.

“Naughty little guy!” Davos patted her stomach and said softly, “Cheiristoya, I will accompany you with your walk.”

At this moment, he and Cheiristoya are both smiling happily.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After Phrigres was kicked out of the house of Davos, he immediately regretted it. The entrance of the house was tightly shut so that he could not open it, so he went to look for Philesius and the others.

Who knew that Philesius, Kapus, Antonios and the others had either hid from him or apologised to him for having no way to help him.

In the end, Agasias told him that, “During the time when the mercenaries have caused trouble in the union. Lord Davos and the others were under a lot of pressure in the senate. Especially this time, when you rashly invaded Krimisa without telling Theonia. As a result, several Thurian statesmen, such as Bolus, had directly named and criticized Davos at the senate meeting, saying that he is using Theonia for the personal gain of the mercenaries! This is the first time that Lord Davos faced such severe criticism and humiliation since he became the archon! Under such circumstances, Davos could not mobilize the army without authorization!”

After listening, Phrigres finally seemed to understand, and realized that they had thought things too simple.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At noon, the information from Krimisa had come: All the mercenaries were wiped out.

Davos sat alone in silence, and after a long time, he let out a sigh.

The incident seemed to have come to an end, but Davos realized that it was far from over.

Just as what he had expected, in the afternoon, a transport ship from Crotone sailed into the port of Thurii, then two people disembark from the transport ship: The strategos of Crotone, Lysias, and the polemarchos of Krimisa, Androlis.

What does this mean? The complexion of the statesmen, who were in charge of welcoming them, changed slightly.

Because two corpses were also taken out from the ship: Timasion and Cleanor.

This greatly saddens the statesmen who were former mercenaries such as Philesius and Agasias.

Therefore, when they started the senate meeting today, the atmosphere was already very tense and grave .

Androlis, the polemarchos of Krimisa, was the first one to speak. He was tearful and accused the mercenaries of all kinds of evil deeds that they had committed in Krimisa and the pain that the Krimisians had suffered. Then he burst into tears, “Why do the Krimisians, who were living peacefully for decades, have suffered from wars in succession?! Could it be that we had accidentally offended Ares, which made Ares vent his anger on the people of Krimisa?!….”

Lysias looked around and noticed that some of the statesmen of Theonia looked unnatural, while the archon, Davos, listened attentively and occasionally nodded with a sympathetic expression. With a sneer in his heart, he stood up and went to the center of the senate hall, he embraced Androlis and greeted the statesmen of Theonia, “Esteemed Archon and statesmen of Theonia Union, what I would like to say as an envoy of Crotone, we have manage to send reinforcements in time to save Krimisa from being destroyed by a group of bandits! After the war, we interrogated the captives and learned that these bandits were mercenaries from Asia Minor who have fought together with Lord Davos and some of the current statesmen, in Persia for more than a year. And later, by your invitation, they have come to Magna Graecia and registered in your union to become a citizen of Theonia. Is this true?!”

“That’s right.” Davos acknowledged it with a nod.

Lysias did not expect that Davos would straightforwardly answer, which made him unable to speak for a bit. He then raised his voice and said loudly, “According to the confession of the captives, ‘they were instigated by Theonia to raid Krimisa and to turn Krimisa into an ally of Theonia-’”

“Nonsense!”

“Rubbish!”

“This is a false charge!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Amintas, Dragos, Agasias and the others stood up and shouted.

“Whether you admit it or not, this is a fact! The corpses of the two leaders of the bandits are still on the port, and some of you had even shed tears.” Lysias pointed with a serious expression, then shouted, “Theonians, you have broken the armistice agreement with Crotone, and you still want to deny it!”

Androlis then glared and pointed at Davos and cursed, “Since the time you outsiders have come to Magna Graecia, there has not been a day of peace! No, it is not because Krimisa angered Ares, but it is your expansion and aggression that have brought wars to the city-states of Magna Graecia! The grievances of thousands of Krimisians must be answered and Theonia must be punished!”

There was an uproar in the Senate Hall.

Davos stood up, walked to Androlis and said while sneering, “I initially wanted to express our apology to Krimisa, even though we have nothing to do with it.”

Androlis was about to open his mouth to refute, but Davos looked at him and shouted, “SHUT UP!”

Which frightened him.

“But now, I can see that both of you have come here together not to find out the truth, but to join hands to suppress us, Theonians! Come on, say the conditions that you have prepared, let’s hear how harsh it is!” Davos saw through their intentions, and his unconventional remarks had made Lysias lost for words and also to remind the statesmen who are still clueless.

Chapter 200 – The War Potential of Theonia

“Crotonian, let us hear how huge the appetite of Crotone is, by taking advantage of our Theonia!” Amintas, Scambras, and the other statesmen began to shout. A short while ago, they still felt guilty, but all of a sudden, they have joined together against a common enemy.

Lysias glanced at Davos, ‘This young man must not be underestimated!’

He cleared his throat and said, “Crotone and Krimisa demand Theonia to compensate Krimisa for the great losses they suffered in this battle by paying them 500 tarants-”

“What! FIVE HUNDRED TARANTS!! YOU ARE CRAZY!!!” Shouted Mersis.

Lysias ignored him, he looked at everyone and continued, “Secondly, in order to prevent the aggressive Theonia from invading its neighboring city-states again, we ask Theonia to dissolve the union and allow Amendolara and Nerulum to become independent, and to also abolish the alliance!”

“What?! Did I hear you wrong?! What right does Crotone have to tell us what to do!”

“We will never agree. This is a humiliation to Theonia!”

“LEAVE! You are out of your mind to even dare say such a thing at the Senate of Theonia!”

“Only a fool would agree to such a request! And only a fool would make such a request!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the senate hall, the statesmen screamed angrily. While those that have short fuse such as Amintas and Scambras even want to beat Lysias, but were stopped by Kunogelata, Cornelius and others. Everything is a mess.

Lysias and Androlis looked at it as if they were not responsible for this mess, until Davos stepped forward and said, “Do you hear me?! This is our answer!”

Davos then said it loudly, word by word, “WE! DON’T!! AGREE!!!”

“Then that means war, because you were the one who broke the agreement first.” Said Lysias sternly.

“Then war it is, isn’t that your real purpose by coming here?” Davos had already seen through their plan, and he was too lazy to argue with them. Their condemnation is just a pretext.

Davos brushed it lightly and had made Lysias not see the reaction that he expected, just like punching the air, so he subconsciously said, “War! I am talking about war between Crotone and Theonia!”

Davos slightly smiled, he turned around and said, “Are we afraid of a war with Crotone?”

“Wonderful! We can finally fight again!”

“I can’t wait to beat Crotone up!”

“We have defeated Crotone once, so we can defeat them again! And this time, we will burn the city of Crotone!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Facing the high-morale of the statesmen, which had exceeded the expectation of Lysias and had made him feel a bit uneasy.

“Kunogelata, write down the demands of Crotone. We will use it in the next negotiation.” Davos said abruptly.

“Next negotiation?” Lysias was confused.

“Yes, after the war is over!”

Lysias felt afraid by the burning will to fight in Davos’ eyes….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After sending off the envoy, the mood on the senate hall was still warm. Compared with the high morale of the statesmen who were former mercenaries, the statesmen of Amendolara and Thurii expressed more concern about the upcoming war.

Kunogelata spoke what everyone is thinking, “Milord, are you sure that we will go to war with Crotone? Crotone has been a strong city-state in Magna Graecia for decades, and they also have a strong alliance, and can organize an army of 40,000 men! They also have 25 triremes, while we don’t even have one. Once the war starts, Crotone can easily block our port. This time, I am afraid that they will not make the same mistake of underestimating the enemy again….”

Davos listened carefully, then he looked at everyone. He could feel their fear of Crotone, especially the Thurians, which was the influence of having their city destroyed by Crotone thrice.

He thought about it for a bit, then just as he was about to answer, a voice suddenly cut in, “I have told you to get rid of those damned mercenaries, but you didn’t even listen. And now, the vengeance of Crotone has come! We should first investigate those people who had indulged in those mercenaries!” It was Bolus.

Agasias and the others glared at him.

“Am I wrong?!” Bolus glared back in order to not be outdone.

“Now that the war has broken out, it is meaningless to argue about this. All of us should unite and tide over the difficulties together, and we should not make arguments and weaken our strength!” Burkes persuaded his friend.

“It is precisely because this incident has led to a war that we need to figure out the problem in order to avoid similar incidents in the future!” Bolus stubbornly retorted.

Then Antonios stood up and said, “As the chief inspector, many people have recently reported to me that during the reconstruction of the city of Thurii, statesmen such as Burkes and Plesinas often went to the homes of the people to express their apologies. However, some people, as the subordinate of Nianses, who were responsible for the burning of Thurii, swaggered in and out of the senate everyday showing no remorse for the people of Thurii. We were asked to conduct a thorough investigation in case something similar happens again….”

The expression of Bolus changed drastically.

Davos deliberately asked, “Bolus, do you think that it is necessary to clear this matter first?”

“I…I….” Bolus trembled slightly at the sharp gaze of Davos.

“Antonios, just like what Burkes had said, now is the time that we should unite and deal with this war that will decide our life and death, all other matters will be put on hold.” The calm tone of Davos penetrated through the ears of Bolus, as if he was pardoned, which made him relaxed and slumped on the stone bench.

Antonios glanced at Bolus with contempt, he then turned around and said, “Understood, lord archon.”

Davos then said with a relaxed expression, “Apologies, I was interrupted just now. What I want to say is that, everyone, you are all busy with your own matters during this period, so it’s natural that you don’t know much about the military strength of the union now. Scambras, do you think that the number of soldiers in our union is still only more than 5,000?”

Scambras, who was a stubborn old man, touched his beard and said with a smile, “There must be more than that! There are currently more than 6,000 official citizens in Amendolara, while I don’t know much regarding the other cities, but it is certain that they also have more.”

“Let us have Philesius, our chief military officer, tell us exactly how many soldiers we have.” Philesius stood up after Davos finished speaking, “Fellow statesmen, the numbers that I will state is the number of people in Thurii, Amendolara and Nerulum that have participated in military training and have been enlisted into the army. However, this figure is lower than the total number of those registered by the census office of lord Raphias, this is because citizens over the age of 45 and those that are in some special trades who are protected by the city-state, such as physicians, engineer, scholars and so on., were not included in the military training system.”

The statesmen nodded and turned their attention to Philesius.

“There are about 5,500 citizens from Amendolara who have participated in military training for more than 3 months, in Nerulum there are about 4,300, while there are 14,800 in Thurii.” Seeing the surprised expression of the statesmen, Philesius continued, “Among them are 7,000 official citizens, and all the rest are preparatory citizens. At the end of December, lord archon has ordered me to reorganize them into three legions.”

The first legion is mainly composed of veterans and preparatory citizens of Amendolara, they are the strongest, and the legatus will be Kapus.

The citizens and preparatory citizens of Thurill will form the second legion, and Drakos will be the legatus.

The third legion is mainly the official citizens and preparatory citizens of Nerulum, the legatus will be Hieronymus and the first senior centurion is Bagul.

The regular number of soldiers in each legion is now 7,000, and the total number of soldiers in the three legions is 21,000. In addition, there is a reserve force with 3,600 men, so the total will be 24,600. There is also the cavalry force that Ledes is leading, which has about 300 men….”

“Philesius did not even mention the freemen that have registered in the census office. In fact, we could even organize 20,000 freemen who have been trained to fight as light infantry. Besides, Laos can also provide us around 3,000 reinforcements, and even though Roscianum can not provide many troops, they at least have 50 cavalries….” Davos looked at everyone and said in a passionate tone, “If we were to mobilize the whole army, then we can at least dispatch nearly 50,000 soldiers! Considering the need to guard the port of Nerulum and Thurii, the actual number of troops that we can dispatch is certainly far less than this number, but it is certain that we won’t have too much difference with Crotone! Gentlemen, you can rest assured that the situation of fighting enemies with a lesser number of soldiers will not happen again! On land, we can compete with Crotone!” The words of Davos made the statesmen excited. Statesmen such as Amintas were even more confident and shouted, “Back when we have fewer soldiers, we were not afraid of Crotone, and now, Crotone is no longer our match!”

“As for the sea.” Davos looked at Kunogelata and said, “We can’t really do anything about it, but what else can the fleet of Crotone do besides block our port?! As long as they dare to enter the estuary of Crati river, we will annihilate them! And our cavalry will keep an eye on the beaches from Amendolara to Roscianum to prevent the Crotonians from sneaking in. I don’t believe that Crotone would do such a risky thing as long as they have a normal mind. Theonia and Crotone are so close that victory and defeat can only be determined in land!”

Chapter 201 – The Outbreak of the Second Crotone War

Kunogelata, who had a grave expression, was greatly relieved. He thought for a while and said, “I am afraid that the war between us and Crotone won’t end in just three days. So, how should we solve the problem with the food supply for the tens of thousands of soldiers, this is the main issue that we should consider.”

Marigi then immediately said, “I will go to the market now and suspend all the trades regarding wheat, and I will also immediately purchase all the flour and other foods in order to prevent the merchants from having malicious intent by raising the prices of grains once they learned about the outbreak of war. I also suggest that we should immediately send someone to Heraclea to buy food as a reserve….”

Davos nodded and agreed. Although Mersis is sad, he still took Marigi to the treasury to take the money.

Burkes stood up at this time and said, “It is now the season of wheat sowing, if most of the citizens went to war, it would seriously affect this year’s harvest. So I propose to suspend the mining instead, and organize the thousands of slaves to farm the land of the citizens, and at the same time, give some preferential treatment to the freemen of the union, and let them take the initiative to help, so that our land will not be short of labor.”

“Burkes, you are very considerate.” Davos said solemnly, “Cornelius, Kunogelata, and – (Nerulum, after all, is far away, so Sesta naturally can’t attend the senate meetings every time)” Then the gaze of Davos moved to the people at the back, “Vespa, Hemon (Hemon had been sent to Grumentum many times and had even managed to successfully signed a peace treaty with Cincinnag, and he even repeatedly persuade the small tribes of Lucania to submit to the union. His influence among the Lucanians is even stronger than that of Vespa. In the end, Bagul suggested to Davos to make him a statesman and Davos suggested it to the senate, the statesmen then voted for it, and now, he became the third Lucanian statesman.), you will discuss it together with Burkes and work out a feasible plan as soon as possible to ensure that our farming and grazing will not have problems because of the war.”

“Understood.” Several people answered.

“Philesius, immediately issue a war mobilization order to all cities in the union! In addition, send someone to inform Laos and Roscianum, and ask them to provide reinforcements…oh…and…hmm…tell Roscianum to strengthen their city’s defense and burn the pontoon bridge on the Trionto river!”

Philesius was taken aback, he wanted to say that there is no bridge on the Trionto river. But out of faith and obedience to Davos, he immediately accepted the order and said, “I will immediately send someone.”

“Plesinas.” Davos apologetically said to him, “We have to suspend the construction of the temple and invest all the revenues of the treasury into this war!”

“I understand and I also agree with it!” Replied Plesinas.

Davos nodded his head, then looked at the statesmen in the senate hall. He clenched his fist and raised his arm, and loudly said, “Everyone, Crotone has destroyed the city on the Sybaris plains three times! After we have beaten them, they must have been very resentful of Theonia! Why? Because they are afraid that Theonia will take revenge on them after we have become strong, so they will try their best to destroy Theonia while still in her cradle, so this war is not something we can avoid just because we want to avoid it! The war has come. We must unite together to defeat Crotone once more and burn their city, and open up a wider world for the future of Theonia!”

“War! War! If we can beat Crotone once, then we can beat them again!” Kapus, Antonios, Amintas and other statesmen, who were former mercenaries, raised their arms.

“Fight the Crotonians to the death!!” Scambras, Protesilaus, and other Amendolaran statesmen vigorously responded.

“Thurii can never be destroyed again! We will do our best to fight Crotone!” Some Thurian statesmen such as Burkes and Ansitanos had also expressed their support.

“We, Lucanians, are also citizens of the union, so we will defend Theonia with all our might!” Of course, the two Lucanian statesmen, Vespa and Hemon, supported the decision of Davos.

In the excitement of the “declaration of war”, the two praetor, Kunogelata and Cornelius, who had been hesitant, also decisively said, ‘We will lead the officials and the people that are under their jurisdiction to prepare for this war.’

“BANG!!!…” While Marigi led his people to the market to buy grain, the huge bell that was casted for the temple of Hades and was temporarily placed in front of the gate of the Grand Senate Hall, because the temple was not yet completed. And today is the first time that the bell was rang. Then the cavalry galloped out to Amendolara, to Nerulum, to Laos, and to Roscianum!

When the people heard the bell rang throughout the whole city, most of them were still in a daze.

At this time, the patrolmen ran through the streets and kept shouting, “Attention, citizens! Attention, citizens! The war has broken out! The war has broken out! All citizens who have participated in the military training should immediately gather in the Victory Square! Immediately go to the Victory Square!….”

On the vast Sybaris plain, the cavalries that were sent out had also shouted the same words in every village.

The war had suddenly come, so it is natural for the people to have doubts and panic. However, the strict military training that they had participated in has taught the citizens and preparatory citizens, discipline and obedience. They put down their housework, stopped their work, prayed to the statues of the gods that were enshrined at their homes, and hugged their families and bid farewell. They then took all their weapons, equipment and rations, and converged into the Victory Square in Thurii from all directions….

Such an obvious move by the city of Thurii had naturally attracted the attention of Teratus, who had then written a secret letter, ‘Thurii had issued a war mobilization order, and had rushed to buy foods in the market. There was also a riot in the port but was put under control, and for the time being, I am not clear about the situation in the other cities.’

On his way back from the port after sending the secret letter, he saw a group of freemen with sad expressions rushing to their crude shacks, and a trace of regret rose in his heart. After staying in Thurii for more than half a year, he had gradually fallen in love with this vibrant city. He has ridden a horse-drawn wagon, had eaten hotpot, and watched the exciting and fierce rugby games…he admits that the life here in Thurii was more interesting and more humane than that of Crotone. If he was not a Crotonian, he would be willing to live here for a few years and then strive to become a citizen of Theonia. Unfortunately….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After leaving the Crati river, the transport ship of Lysias did not immediately return to Crotone, but instead went to Roscianum first.

At this time, Roscianum still did not know that a war between Theonia and Crotone had broken out. Out of etiquette, they went to meet Lysias.

When Lysias told them that “Crotone and Theonia Union is at war” the strategoi of Roscianum and the statesmen were shocked.

Lysias then threatened them and said, “The 40,0000 soldiers of Crotone are now coming, this is the largest army even in Magna Graecia! Roscianum can only be spared if you leave the Theonia Alliance and join Crotone, else, you will be destroyed!”

Although they were really afraid of Crotone, their alliance with Theonia Union had brought them too many benefits since the time they had joined the alliance. Transportation and trade has become more convenient, the income of the people and their state’s treasury has increased. Moreover, the status of Roscianum has improved a lot. And up to now, Theonia has never discriminated against Roscianum. In fact, according to their agreement, they will never pay any tribute to Theonia or be ordered to do things that are against their will. On the contrary, they were invited to participate in any of their important celebrations…with each passing days, the popularity of Theonia to the Roscianum is increasing, and they seem to have found the feeling of a happy and safe life just like the time they were under the protection of Sybaris a hundred years ago.

In the end, Roscianum reluctantly refused the request of Lysias, and Amikles said in a roundabout way, “According to the agreement with Theonia, we have no right to sign any treaties or agreements with other city-states, so we are very sorry!….”

Lysias could only reluctantly leave the port.

By this time, the cavalry of Theonia had arrived and told the council of Roscianum that the union was gathering troops, and soon, up to 20,000 troops would arrive to help defend Roscianum.

Amikles and the others became completely relieved, they then began to follow the instructions of Theonia to reinforce the city walls, stack food, burn the pontoon bridges, and close the port.

Lysias then saw the billowing smoke on the Trionto river while aboard the ship, which made him understand the determination of Roscianum. At the same time, he was surprised by the strong influence of Theonia, which strengthened his determination to agree to the war with Theonia.

The transport ship he was on had quickly moved south, passing through Krimisa, where the fleet of Crotone had been waiting. After they got the news of “The war has broken out” from Lysias, they could not wait to stretch out their sail and head straight to Theonia….

At this time, Davos sent Plesinas to Taranto under the reminder of Kunogelata, to ask them for 40 triremes to aid Theonia at sea and prevent the fleet of Crotone from blocking the port of Thurii.

However, under the strong opposition of Diaomilas, the council of Taranto, after a heated discussion, regretfully told Plesinas that the request of Theonia had come too late, because after the new year, the Messapians invaded Taranto again, and Diaomilas led the army to repel them. The council believed that Messapians must be given a heavy lesson and to get rid of their arrogance. Therefore, Diaomilas will once again lead the army to attack Manduria, the stronghold of Messapians. And the warships of Taranto had also rushed to the Adriatic Sea to harass the interior of the Messapians and to stop them from sending reinforcement to Manduria. Therefore, Taranto is unable to help Theonia and can only allow them to buy low priced food at Heraclea.

Author’s note: Because of some questions of the readers, here is a description of the population in Magna Graecia: According to several data, the number of soldiers that went to attack Lucania at that time in history was 10,000-15,000. It means that there are many militia in the city of Thurii, because of the fact that they even dare to send such a large number of soldiers away from the city. Therefore, the author of one of the documents speculates that at that time, the population of Thurii was at least above 200,000 (total number, not just the citizens). While in other datas, it shows that at the peak of Taranto, they have a population of at least 300,000, which shows that Taranto is not weaker than Athens. Taranto entered their final glory during the time of Archytas. Ten years after the start of the novel, the population of Taranto at this time is no less than 250,000. Then Crotone, who is comparable to Taranto, and has a huge geographical area and population that might not even be less. While the relatively smaller city-states such as Rhegium and Locri have smaller territory and certainly have fewer population than that of the above-mentioned city-states, they are still an influential city-states in Magna Graecia, with a population of no less than 100,000. The combined population of these major city-states in Magna Graecia is more than a million, and if we were to include the other city-states in Magna Graecia such as Terina, which is located in the Euphemia plain, and Metapontum, which is famous for their agriculture, then the combined population of Magna Graecia may be more than 1.5 million.

Taking into account a part of the population of Lucania, it is just right for Theonia to be able to dispatch 50,000 soldiers. Don’t forget, Theonia is not worse than the other long established city-states even though it is an emerging union. In terms of Theonia’s population composition, the number of old people among the freemen is naturally fewer than that of the young. So I estimate that the population of Theonia is about 250,000. Of course, this is only a rough estimate, because freemen kept pouring in.

Chapter 202 – War Preparation

Plesinas had indeed not seen any warships of Taranto patrolling the coastal waters when he entered the great port of Taranto. Nevertheless, he still continued to brazenly ask the council of Taranto, ‘Even if you only send a few warships to Thurii.’

It was a part of his petty calculation that Crotone would never dare provoke Taranto while they are at war with Theonia. Therefore, even if only a few warships of Taranto patrol the coast of Theonia, it will be enough to serve as a facade, and it can also play a role of deterring them, thus ensuring the basic safety of the coastline of Theonia.

However, even with the persuasion of Plesinas, the council of Taranto firmly refused, and let this brazen man go back in vain.

As soon as Plesinas returned to the port of Thurii, the fleet of Crotone arrived and the maritime trade route of Thurii was immediately cut off, and made the port fall into panic.

Olivos with a large number of patrolmen arrived to help Marigi maintain the order.

After finding out the decision of Taranto, Davos pondered for a while and said to Aristocrates, who was beside him, “I seem to remember that the envoy of Sparta had been to Taranto?”

“Yes, Aristias reported ‘The Spartans hope that Taranto would abolish their alliance with us and take the lead to be against us, but it was rejected by the council of Taranto.’”

“But it had still worked.” Sighed Davos, then he sneered, ‘Taranto wants to just sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight! In the end, this war will depend on us!’

“Tell Aristias that you can now close the net for that Crotonian spy.”

“Roger!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Theonians closed the port, just like what Teratus had expected, and so, he had already made arrangements in advance that a fast-moving ship of Crotone would receive the information from him every night on a particular beach at the estuary of the Crati river.

Just as he was about to start writing the confidential report again, the door of his house was suddenly opened and five people came rushing in.

In his panic, he subconsciously grabbed the parchment in his hand and just as he yelled, “Who are you-” he got pushed down to the ground by the person who had rushed in, then the man broke the clenched hand of Teratus and took away the parchment, and the expression on Teratus’ face suddenly changed.

“This afternoon, about 10,000 soldiers were stationed in the military camp of Thurii, and a thousand hoplite were stationed in the port. I have also heard that the soldiers of Amendolara are on their way to Thurii. Nerulum-” A clear voice sounded above his head, “Teratus, I have to admit that your observation and calculation skills are very good. The information written to Crotone is also in accordance with facts. It’s no wonder that Crotone has sent you here to Thurii and made you stay for half a year. I wonder what your impression of this place is?”

At hearing this, Teratus already understood that his whereabouts were in the hands of the Theonians.

When he was forced to stand, he saw a tall and thin middle-aged man with elegant appearance standing in front of him and was looking at him with great interest.

“What do you plan to do with me?” Asked Teratus with a hoarse voice.

The tall and thin person did not speak, and he instead took an object from someone else’s hand and brought it near to Teratus: It was a small wooden knife that was carved roughly.

Teratus’ eyes suddenly widened and looked shocked. He struggled and shouted, “What have you done to my son?! You have captured my son didn’t you?!! He is only seven years old! Hera watches from above, please spare him!! Spare him!! I will do whatever you want me to do!!….” Teratus begged bitterly and finally broke down in tears.

Then, the tall and thin person said coldly, “Your wife and son are still in Crotone, but they are being watched by our men. My name is Aristias, the chief intelligence officer* of the archon, Lord Davos. I will give you a choice. Work for Theonia. If you refuse, not only do you die, but your sick wife will also die due to lack of money and your son will become a slave. But if you agree, you will become a preparatory citizen of Theonia, and we will try our best to rescue your wife and son, and will let the physicians of the union treat your wife. You should already know that our union’s physicians are better than Crotone!” Aristias paused for a bit, and seeing Teratus lowering his head, he then continued, “You can choose whether to live or die.” (Though Davos had promised him this position, he is still currently a freeman, so he still has not become a formal official yet.)

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At dusk, the polemarchos of Crotone, Milo, received a confidential report from Thurii saying that this afternoon, Thurii had begun to gather their soldiers. According to the report, about 4,000 citizens in the city have gathered in the Victory Square. While the villages outside the city are still being gathered and no large number of citizens have entered the city. And Thurii has also sent about a thousand soldiers to the port and has sent many cavalry to inspect the coast, and there are no troops from Amendolara and Nerulum that have arrived yet.

In the past six months, Milo knew a lot about Theonia due to the intelligence that Teratus has sent and also the information he learned from the released soldiers, and so, he was very vigilant towards Theonia. Therefore, he had been prepared in advance and immediately did a war mobilization after he helped Krimisa take out the mercenaries. This time, in order to completely defeat Theonia, Crotone and its subordinate city-state, Aprustum have assembled all the forces that they could muster: Twenty thousand in Crotone and three thousand in Aprustum; Scylletium, an ally of Crotone, who is a big city, but due to the last attack on Theonia Union, they have suffered the most serious losses, but for revenge, they still squeezed out and dispatched 2,000 troops. Terina, a city-state close to the Bruttians, have also sent a thousand men, and this time, Crotone did not refuse them. Only Caulonia was refused by Crotone, because south of Caulonia is the enemy of Crotone, the Locri and its allies. Although in recent years, there hasn’t been any changes, Crotone knew that Locri had been eyeing the north all this time. If Locri were to suddenly attacked and capture Caulonia while they were fighting Theonia, then they would be able to easily take Scylletium which is currently short of soldiers and strategoi, and approach the empty Crotone from the rear….therefore, their vigilance and defense against Locri must not be relaxed.

At the same time, the battle with Theonia should be started as soon as possible, without waiting for the troops of Theonia to arrive. Therefore, Crotone’s protracted pre-war preparation against the Greek city-state seemed particularly efficient this time. Not only did they completed the assembly in one day, but their reinforcements from their allies have also stepped up their pace by their urging

As a matter of fact, Locri was extremely pleased to learn of the outbreak of war between Crotone and Theonia. After a discussion, the council of Locri has sent an envoy to Theonia. However, Crotone had not only blocked the road to the north by land, but had also sent their warships to patrol the sea, which have forced the envoy of Locri to change course by first changing direction of the transport ship to northeast of Taranto and disembark then take a large circle by land.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos was analyzing the military intelligence of Crotone with the high-ranking officers of the army and discussing the countermeasures against the enemy, when Aristocrates came in and whispered a few words to him. Davos nodded and said, “Let them come in.”

Davos then turned to the officers and said, “Brothers, Xanticles and Tolmides have come.”

The living room which was noisy due to their argument has soon become quiet.

Xanticles and Tolmides came in with a worried expression on their faces. But they didn’t expect that there would be so many people in the living room, which has made them freeze.

At this time, Davos said with a smile, “I was just about to call you two, but you unexpectedly came here first. We are just about to begin discussing how to deal with the Crotonians. Come in and tell us what you think.”

Xanticles and Tolmides looked at each other, then knelt on the ground and said apologetically, “Lord Davos…and…fellow comrades, we are…very sorry! We have brought war to Theonia and have troubled you! Timasion and Cleanor have been in contact with the mercenaries some time ago and have even repeatedly asked us for our opinions, which made has thought that they just wanted to leave here, but we didn’t expect…we-”

“What Timasion and the others did, it has nothing to do with you!” Davos interrupted them and said with a serious expression, “Everyone has their own thoughts and a life they like to live. You and the other mercenaries have chosen to stay instead of leaving, which shows that you agree with the system of Theonia, and like to live here and are willing to become citizens of Theonia. Therefore, come fight with us! In front of the army of Crotone, the time of your test has come! Use your braveness to fight back the doubts of others, prove to the Theonians that we didn’t misread your characters, but also to prove your determination to defend Theonia to the death and let the Theonians open their arms to welcome you!”

“Davos is right! Xanticles, Tolmides, let’s fight together and defeat the Crotonians! And avenge Timasion and the others!”

“Wonderful, we can finally fight together in battle again!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Amintas and Antonios extended a warm welcome to Xanticles and Tolmides, which made them relieved.

Author’s Note: The fourth volume has come to a close after the Crotonians have assembled their large army to attack Theonia Union. Want to know if Theonia can survive the fierce attack of the Crotonians? Can they reverse the situation and win? Continue reading the next volume: The Overlord of South Italy

Chapter 203 – Before the War

On the morning of the next day, the reinforcements from Scylletium and Terina has arrived, and Crotone also received information from Thurii that about 4,000 reinforcements from Amendolara have arrived in Thurii, and the Theonian citizens from the Sybaris plans has entered and gathered in the Victory Square. According to the amount of people, there are about 8,000 and they then moved into the military camp in the northern part of the city of Thurii. Afterwards, there is no longer any movement, it seems that Theonia is still waiting for the reinforcements from Nerulum and Laos.

This information had prompted Milo to take immediate action. Under his active urging, the council has passed an order to attack Thurii. Milo, the polemarchos, is the commander of the army and another strategos, Philederus, served as his adjutant. He led about 27,000 soldiers, with 20,000 of them being hoplites, and 6,500 being light infantry. Of the 6,500 light infantry, 4,000 of them were soldiers wearing light armor, leather shields and spears, but they were not capable of spear throwing(they are not a peltast unit). and they also have 800 cavalries. In addition to the regular army, they also have a large number of slaves and freemen to transport the supplies, which makes the actual number of the whole army as high as 40,000.

For this reason, Crotone has organized a large fleet in their port, and had taken them nearly three hours to load the supplies and get the soldiers on board. It wasn’t until noon that the convoy, under the escort of the fleet of Crotone, sailed northward. After passing through Krimisa, another 500 soldiers joined in, bringing the total number of combat troops to 27,500.

Because the whole process of boarding at the port of Crotone was cumbersome, protracted and chaotic, Milo became even worried that the situation would be even worse when they disembark. He and Philederus were also quite concerned about the intelligence of Teratus regarding “The shoreline of Theonia is being watched by their cavalries.”, for the sake of safety, they did not dare to land on the coast north of Roscianum, and had instead, after passing through the marsh, they immediately stopped at the place where Timasion and the mercenaries had landed a few days ago.

Milo had first let the cavalry to disembark the ship in order to expand the range of their surveillance to 1 kilometer, and then start to disembark on a large scale after confirming that there was no enemy. Countless soldiers with weapons and equipment, some have even led horses, have jumped off the transport ship and stepped into the sea and arrived at the shore, because there was no dock, the slaves and the freemen had to carry the food, tents and other materials to the shore.

The whole beach was filled with a dense number of people, and it was messy and noisy with the shouting and the neighing of the horses, and even the officers were in a hurry; The disorderly arrangement of the supplies had even affected the formation of the soldiers, so Philederus has to beat and scold the slaves…which had taken a long time to rectify all this trouble, and after all this matter, it was already dusk and everyone was dead tired.

After confirming the campsite, Milo issued an order with strict requirements: Each team must build a solid camp and arrange sentries, negligence is not allowed!

The defeat of Melanseus is a lesson that they have learned. This time, Crotone has the absolute advantage and even the opportunity to move first, and they only need to advance steadily and victory is just around the corner.

Capture Roscianum tomorrow and make it a forward base for the army and fleet of Crotone…Milo has already conceived the next military action plan in his mind, and gradually fell asleep.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the main tent of the camp in Thurii, Davos, the chief military officer-Philesius, the legatus of the first legion-Kapus, the legatus of the second legion-Drakos, the captain of the cavalry-Ledes were analysing the situation of the enemy.

On the wooden table was a two-meter square smooth wooden board, on which a detailed map of Magna Graecia was drawn. Philesius, who was holding a stick, pointed to the map on the board and said, “Everyone, we just received a report from our scouts, the Crotonians have sent about 30,000 soldiers and they have landed here on the coast south of Roscianum. I estimate that by tomorrow, they will attack Roscianum!”

“30,000 men?!” The cavalry captain, Ledes, took a deep breath, “I am afraid that Crotone has sent out all their citizens to deal with us!”

“30,000 men is nothing!” Exclaimed Drakos then said, “If the third legion can arrive in time, plus the freemen that we have recruited, then we will have more than 30,000 men! And even if we don’t have the 30,000 men, Crotone is not our match!”

“But the soldiers of Crotone are all citizens!” Kapus looked at Davos with a slightly worried look, “Milord, do we really not wait for the third legion to arrive and just go straight to Roscianum?”

Davos then said calmly, “We don’t have the time. This time, Crotone is determined to destroy Theonia, this is why they have prepared so much and have marched so fast! If we wait, it means that we will give up Roscianum. This will not only undermine the reputation that Theonia has just established, but it will also allow the enemy to enter the Sybaris plain, which is a violation of our previous promises! And if we were to fight the Crotonians on the plain, it is not guaranteed that we will win, and if we were to use the defense of the city wall, the war will then last longer, which is not good for us!” Davos took the stick from Philesius then pointed to the curved marked on the map of the Trionto river, and said, “So we must make full use of the river!”

As for the plan of Davos, all of them here are already clear. Philesius finally opened his mouth and asked a question, “Lord Davos, will the Crotonians rush to cross the Trionto river with their troops?! I heard that their commander, Milo, is someone with rich combat experience.”

Davos laughed and said with seriousness, “There is no guarantee that any plan can work, but Milo is now misguided with the false information that I have sent. Seeing that he is so eager to gather the troops, means that he wants to reach the city before we finish our assembly, which means that he is very likely to be caught in our trap. Naturally, if he doesn’t fall for it, then we can just go back to Thurii and fight a long defensive battle with the Crotonians!”

“He will be tricked!” Drakos spoke of the expectations of all the officers that are present, because all of them do not want the Crotonians to set foot on the land of Theonia.

“How many cavalries do they have?” Ledes asked an important question.

“About 800.” Replied Philesius.

Ledes clenched his first, because his cavalry did not have the upper hand in terms of number or experience. So the only thing he can do is to see whether the wonderful tactics of Davos would work.

“Brothers!” Davos looked at these officers who were eager to give it a go. He knew that there was no need for him to rile them up because their morale was bound to go high. So he just calmly said, “It is already getting late. You all should go back to your respective teams and follow the previous plan! Hades will bless us and tomorrow it will all go well!”

“Roger!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

That night, the camp of Crotone was safe.

In the early morning of the next day, the sky was clear and rainless. Milo woke up and felt that he was relaxed and energetic, and the intelligence from Thurii was delivered in time: ‘The reinforcements from Laos and Nerulum have yet to arrive and in the afternoon, 3,000 soldiers from Thurii have rushed to Roscianum.’

The confidential report should have been sent out last night, and at the same time, the warship of Crotone have cruised the coast of Thurii in the morning and have not found any trace of large-scale military operations on the road of Thurii-Roscianum….Milo thought that the Theonians should have found out about the arrival of the army of Crotone, but they were still in the process of war mobilization, so they can only send 3,000 reinforcements. But they want to keep Roscianum  with only these 3,000 soldiers?! According to his understanding, Roscianum has only more than 4,000 soldiers, and the city-wall of the small Roscianum is less than four meters high, it is without a doubt that they will not be able to stop the army of Crotone from crossing the Trionto river and taking Roscianum. Milo even hopes that Roscianum would send all their army to stop them from crossing the river so that he can inflict the greatest damage on them in the wild and easily capture Roscianum. The weather and the situation of the enemy is favourable for Crotone, this is the blessing of Apollo! Crotone must seize this opportunity while Theonia has not yet completed their war mobilization and their army has not yet been assembled and arrived. He must quickly cross the Trionto river, take Roscianum as soon as possible, and then fight with the army of Theonia!

Milo immediately discussed it with Philederus and made a plan for crossing the river.

Under the further urging of Milo, the army was then quickly re-arranged, of which 22,000 soldiers were led by Milo and marched northwest: The other 4,500 soldiers and 500 cavalries, led by Philederus, will march north.

There are two ideal walking places for the Trionto river: The first one is located in the middle reaches of the river, it is not only shallow and flat, but the length you can traverse is more than a kilometer, this was the place where Davos crossed when he attacked Melanseus. The other is located downstream, and it is just west of Roscianum, with short reaches but has deep depth.

The plan of Crotone to cross the river is for the five thousand men led by Philederus to contain and attract the enemy, but they will not cross the river immediately. Instead, the army led by Milo will be crossing the wider section of the river first.

The army of Crotone led by Milo formed a column of eight with a length of 2 kilometers.

The ears of Milo, who was in the center, is filled with the sound of noisy footsteps and armor collision….however, he felt it extremely pleasant, because the huge army gave him sufficient confidence and have even given him a leisure time to think about something: Both the cities of Roscianum and Krimisa were built on the north bank of the river, this is because they were the child city-states of Sybaris and so they were closer to Sybaris and were on guard against Crotone. ‘After this war, we should force them to move their city to the southern bank! As for Thurii…if everything goes well, I don’t mind destroying it for the fourth time!’

“Reporting, our scouts that have crossed the river were surrounded by the enemies’ cavalry, four have died and only two have managed to escape and return back.”

“Have they discovered anything?”

“They saw thousands of enemies marching along the north bank.”

‘Thousands? Are they following us?’ Milo thought for a moment and said, “Has Philederus reached their destination?”

Chapter 204 – Ambush

“They still have not yet reached the location.”

“Tell those at the front to slow down their pace, and at the same time, let Philederus speed up their march to attract the attention of the enemy. Also…now that the situation is clear, have Alexias(captain of Crotone’s cavalry) withdraw the scouts, don’t waste our cavalries for nothing!”

“Roger!”

After giving the order, Milo casted his gaze on the forest ahead. He is quite familiar with this place, because after passing through it and further going west, it is the place where the army of Melanseus was attacked. After the peace agreement with Theonia was signed, Milo has personally led some people to take the thousands of corpses of Crotonians and their allies…that tragic sight had made him unable to forget it for a long time!

Milo tugged at the reins of his horse, ‘This time, Crotone will wash away her shame and avenge our people!’

When they stepped out of the forest, there was a flat wilderness in front of them. The river surface of the Trionto river narrowed down here, so it is impossible for them to traverse through the water. This was the reason why Melanseus chose this place to camp.

“Enemy! There is an enemy ahead!!” The soldiers near the river bank became restless.

On the opposite bank of the Trionto river, a heavily armed Theonian formation marched westward along the river bank.

It seemed that the Theonians have noticed their movements and are ready to prevent them from crossing the river. However, Milo wasn’t too worried, although he could not see all the enemy on the opposite side, he could still feel that their number was not too large. Just like what the report had said, the vanguard troops sent by the Theonians to Roscianum was less than 4,000, and they have to also defend against Philederus. How many enemies could there be to stop his troops from crossing the river!

The upper reaches of the Trionto river run through the narrow valley between the mountains until it rushes out of the canyon then will meet the lowland and be like a child out of control as it happily expands its territory to both sides. As a result, the width of the river reaches around 40 meters. At the same time, the water slows down and the depth decreases. After flowing slowly for more than 1 kilometer, the river surface will narrow and become deeper again because of the elevation of the terrain.

Now, on the south bank of the Trionto river, Milo arranged his 22,000 soldiers(including the 2,000 light infantry) into a formation of a long phalanx with a thickness of 10 columns and covered the entire traversable area. Because the number of the enemies on the other side of the river is only 5,000 and also have the same formation as Crotone. However, not only the thickness of their formation is thinner, their formation is also very loose, and so, Milo firmly believes that even with the help of the Trionto river, the Theonians will not be able to block the advance of Crotone, and their thin formation is bound to be broken by the massive army of Crotone!

“Attack!” Milo, who was located behind the center, gave the orders to the soldiers.

The loud sounding salpinx resounded through the quietly flowing Trionto river. The whole phalanx then began to move slowly towards the river bank, except for the 2,000 soldiers led by Milo at the center that didn’t move because the forces on their side had already far exceeded the enemy, so he didn’t need to send them to fight.

Kelebus is one of the 20,000 soldiers. After he was captured by the Theonians last time, he had been building roads while being imprisoned and had suffered a lot. And his family, in order to redeem him, have incurred a lot of debt, so in addition to his strong desire for revenge, he also hoped to defeat the Theonians to obtain a lot of spoils in order to pay off his debts.

The land here is not soft with fine sand, but was instead covered with pebbles of different shapes and sizes, which made the ground hard and is easy to slip. Therefore, they had to walk slowly and steadily….

The Trionto river is just in front of them, and through the small eyehole of his Corinthian helmet, Kelebus saw many people rushing out of the enemies’ formation on the opposite bank. Without waiting for the reminder of his squad captain, he quickly raised his round shield and placed it in front of his chest.

“Clang!” The arrow of the Theonian struck his bronze shield and made a harsh sound, but it didn’t hurt him. Then with his right foot, he stepped into the river.

“Watchout!!” The shout of the officer echoed. Kelebus subconsciously looked up and saw countless black dots in the air.

“Damn it!” He quickly raised his shield up in order to protect his head.

At this time, he listened to the officer’s urgent cry, “Watch out!!”

However, the hearing and eyesight of the hoplites were severely impaired, resulting in their slower response than ordinary people, and many of them, including Kelebus, were unable to quickly follow the order. He then felt a slight blow on his chest, then a little pain. An arrow managed to stab through his left chest even after penetrating the several layers of tightly woven and glued linen armor. However, the kinetic energy of the arrow was exhausted and it’s tip just barely touched his skin. With his experience, Kelebus knew that the damage was not great.

However, his teammate who was shot in his unguarded thighs, had fallen into the river screaming and his blood turned the river red. Looking at his teammate struggling in the water, even though Kelebus wanted to help him, his strength is lacking and the cunning Theonians have made him occupied by fending off the arrows that they have shot. So Kelebus could only watch as his teammate finally stopped struggling and floated on the river, which naturally had made him feel sad….

“Stride forward! Stride forward!….” The officers yelled and urged the soldiers to speed up their crossing.

The depth of the river is not deep, it is just below their knee, but there are lots of pebbles at the bottom of the river, which made it a bit slippery. Therefore, Kelebus squatted down and protected his head and chest with his round shield, and the water protecting his legs, with this, the probability of getting hit by an arrow was greatly reduced, but they were unable to move forward fast. After the initial panic, the soldiers gradually calmed down and moved forward slowly while protecting themselves against the arrows. At the same time, in the process of advancing, they readjusted their formation which has become a bit messy.

After almost reaching the middle of the river, the depth of the water has no longer increased, and Kelebus who was on the right side of the phalanx formation, could not even feel the strength of the current. At this time, he observed that some of their enemies have rushed out of their formation and had almost ran into the river, and is only less than 20 meters away from them, then the tip of the javelins that they are holding gleamed coldly in the sunlight…Kelebus’ heart jump wildly, so he instinctively sat down and had almost all soak his whole body in the water.

“Watch out for the javelins!!….” The shouting of the officer increased significantly, because the javelins did more damage to the hoplites than the arrows.

Kelebus then heard the wind whistling in his ear and then heard a “Bang!” The spear pierced through the copper plating and the wooden board then his left arm, and the strong impact had even pushed him backward and brought down the soldiers behind him. If it was not for the timely help of his teammates, these soldiers in heavy helmets and heavy armor will drown from this seemingly gentle and harmless river water. It can be seen how powerful the javelin throw of the enemy is as it caused another panic to the frontline of the Crotonian army.

At this time, the light infantry in the rear had closely followed, and finally, they could start fighting back. Their arrows fell like raindrops on the opposite bank of the river, forcing the enemies’ range unit not to attack the frontline wantonly.

The casualties of the Crotonians were only a fraction. Although Milo felt a bit of headache, he didn’t pay much attention to it. He was only surprised that nearly half of the 5,000 enemy troops on the opposite side were light infantry. Their skillful cooperation, tactics, fierceness and accurate attack that he has never seen in his previous battles, has aroused his vigilance. But there is no doubt about the outcome of this battle, because-

“Strategos! Our troops reach the other side! We reach the other side!….” The men around him cheered.

Milo thought it was easy to cross the Trionto river, but looking at the bodies floating on the river and looking at the relieved expressions of his men, it showed that the light infantry of the other side was powerful beyond their expectations.

“Beat the drums! Don’t let them escape!” Milo, on his horse, could vaguely see that when his soldiers stepped on the other side, the light infantry of the enemy had quickly passed through the gap between their phalanx formation and retreated to the rear.

“Yes, strategos!” As soon as the herald’s voice dropped, he heard a loud salpinx sound on the other side of the river. This deafening sound needs at least ten salpinx to play at the same time.

Milo couldn’t hide his shock, ‘Could it be that Theonia has sent more than 5,000 troops to Roscianum?!’ These thoughts flashed through the minds of Milo and his men, and their gaze were fixed on the rear of the enemy.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!….” The war drum was quickly beaten, and it reached the ears of Kelebus, who had managed to come ashore, and had increased their confidence..

“Attack! Attack!….” Without the attack of the arrows and javelins, the officers were full of excitement while giving orders.

The soldiers of Crotone then called out the name of Apollo and marched toward the enemy.

However, a loud cry came from the opposite side, and a red flag suddenly rose from behind. Then there were soldiers tightly lining up and with the same fierce drum beatings, they quickly rushed to their comrades who had served as baits. Then successive flags were erected and fluttered in the wind which evoked the painful memories of the Crotonians who had been captured, like Kelebus.

‘We have been deceived! This is an ambush!’ Every Crotonian soldiers had a similar thoughts running in their minds, but this thoughts was rapidly swallowing their morale, making them hesitant and wandering on the shore, cowering while watching the Theonian army join their first troops and started to reorganize their formation….

Chapter 205 – Battle of Trionto River (I)

It wasn’t only the soldiers, but at the moment when the army of Theonia appeared, the mind of Milo had also gone blank, his body trembled and his face became pale, ‘He was deceived! Deceived by these cunning Theonians!’ It was a very wrong military action for any qualified strategos to rashly let his army cross the river in front of an equally huge number of enemies, while thinking that there are only a few enemies! However, it’s already too late for him to retreat. Retreating in front of the enemy and going back to cross the river is a taboo, because for the soldiers of the city-state who do training at peace time, this means that they have been defeated without a fight. And the Theonians can easily attack them and turn the seemingly gentle Trionto river into the tomb of the Crotonians.

Milo did not expect that the battle between Crotone and Theonia would unfold at this time and place. However, in the face of the decisive battle related to the life and death of a city-state, he could only try to force himself to calm down, and put his guilt and fear behind him, and instead to focus on the battle that is in front of him, “Blow all the salpinx! Beat all the drums! Let the soldiers rush forward! Cross the river bravely! We can only now hope for victory!!” Milo waved his arm anxiously.

The herald directly jumped into the river and shouted.

The sudden increase of salpinx and drums urged the army to advance forward, and the officers in the formation were also aware of the danger and had taken the lead.

The army of Crotone then began to increase their pace, but the formation of the army of Theonia was rapidly reorganized. Because of all the pebbles, neither side charged like what they usually do in the past, and instead approached each other slowly….

When the distance between the two sides was only more than 20 meters, Kelebus saw that amidst the shouting of the officers, the enemy on the opposite side suddenly stopped moving, then the frontline of the enemy slightly squatted and countless cold gleaming light appeared in the rear of the formation of the enemy. The actions of the enemy had let him immediately understand what was going to happen, so he immediately squatted, and he didn’t even have the time to shout the word “Javelin”.

Listening to the continuous “Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!….” sound like a gust of wind, accompanied with the incessant screams, the frontline of Crotone’s whole army fell down in a blink of an eye, which had not only interrupted the pace of the Crotonian soldiers, but had also made the phalanx formation at the front to be somewhat fragmented.

The Theonians did not stop, as another round of javelin was thrown. At such a close distance, the lethality of the heavy javelin is quite frightening.

Just as the soldiers of Crotone were in a hurry to avoid the javelins and rescue their companions, the Theonians took this opportunity to march forward, bashing the frightened Crotonians with their round shield and thrusting their spears at the enemy who had just survive under the rain of javelin….

Had it not been for the rear row to make it in time, then the frontline of Crotone would have collapsed already. However, it had also kept the troops of Crotone to not be able to retreat back to the bank of the river, and Milo’s well prepared formation is now in trouble. In addition to their frontal clash, another effective way of attack is to push each other with the thickness of their formation to achieve a breakthrough. However, the current situation of the Crotonians is not only unable to form a unified joint attack, but they could only slowly retreat under the strong push of the enemy.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the javelin that covered the sky flew into the formation of Crotone, Milo felt that his heart was about to stop beating.

‘The hoplites of Theonia can also throw javelins!’ Milo regretted that he was too careless and that he didn’t go to learn more about the tactical characteristics of the army of Theonia. Looking at their light infantry and their hoplites, it is obvious that they are a well-trained force with unique tactics!

Just as Milo was grieving over the death and injury of his soldiers and regretting his negligence, his men watched the fight on the other side and anxiously shouted, “These damned Theonians have so many infantry! It must be their reinforcements from Nerulum and Laos!”

Indeed, according to the heralds that have come from the left and right wing, the Theonian formation has almost the same length as them and can even force their own formation to fall back. Although they have the advantage in terrain, he fears that the thickness of their formation is not thinner than their own. ‘Does the current Theonia have about 20,000 soldiers?’ Listening to the report of his subordinate, it was just like a flash of lightning striking the mind of Milo. Due to his determination to take his revenge, he had always carefully studied the confidential reports that have come from Thurii, so he knew something about the Theonia Union.

He remembered the report saying that it will take at least three days to reach Nerulum from Thurii and it will take the same amount of time to get to Laos, so even if the mobilization order have reach Nerulum and Laos, it would take at least 6 more days to gather the troops then depart and reach Thurii. After all, the construction of the Thurii-Nerulum-Laos road was only recently started, and it has only been four days since the declaration of war, unless the Theonian has called up their troops in advance. However, three days ago, the mercenaries had not yet attacked Krimisa, he had even tortured the several prisoners, including Cleanor and Toras, and they had all said that they had concealed their invasion of Krimisa to Davos. Therefore, the reinforcements of Nerulum and Laos should still be on their way to Thurii. Where did Theonia get so many infantries?

Thurii and Amendolara don’t have so many citizens. Milo can be sure of this, he then suddenly remembered something, ‘….freemen?! It is those so-called registered freemen of Theonia!!’

Milo suddenly remembered that in the previous reports, Theonia have frequently organized their freemen for military training. Milo still remembers that many of the statesmen of Crotone have ridiculed Theonia for their hunger that they even turned those vulgar freemen into city-state citizens! But the present situation shows that the method of Theonia is effective, and the armour and spears of these former poor freemen are all from the soldiers of Crotone who had died or have been captured in the previous war!

Despite his resentment, Milo understood it more clearly that Thurii had even sent these freemen to the battlefield, so it means that they should’ve sent all the people that they can send and that they might not even have any extra troops left!!

Milo watched the battlefield and got spirited, “Eurydemos!”

“Strategos, what is the matter?” A subordinate of his responded.

“Immediately lead these two thousand soldiers to the east and give the command to Philederus.”

“What?! Strategos, didn’t you want them to step forward to strengthen the center?!” Eurydemos asked with doubt.

“Follow my order!” Milo glared at him, his friend’s son is indeed a hard working man, but he talked too much, “Tell strategos Philederus that there will not be too many enemies on his side, so he should take this chance to cross the river as soon as possible, regardless of casualties. After he defeats the enemy, he will need to rush here to attack the Theonian army! Victory or defeat of this battle will depend on his action!” Milo said with seriousness.

“Understood!” Eurydemos, reminded by Milo, rushed to carry out the order excitedly after seeing an opportunity to win.

Milo jumped down from his horse, armed with spears and shields, as he led his escort guards to traverse the river and join the battle. He then shouted in order to make the soldiers fight more bravely.

Since most of the hoplites of the Theonian are preparatory citizens, he does not believe that these novices who were freemen half a year ago and have never had any combat experience could grasp the combat essence of a hoplite in just half a year! This is where his confidence lies in, he firmly believed that even though the soldiers of Crotone were in disadvantage, they could still hold on until the arrival of Philederus.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the center of the Theonian army, a big flag stands tall and the top of the flag is the statue of Hades, and the flag is obviously larger than the flag of the legions, and it is only embroidered with large golden characters “Davos”.

There are three legions in the Theonian Union, naturally, Davos has to abdicate and return to his original position. But according to the old tradition, the archon is also the highest commander of the city-state. Therefore, the position of Davos in the union is the highest, the Grand Legatus of the Theonia Union army (Grand Marshal).

Currently, Davos was watching the enemy on the other side.

“Grand Legatus, the troops of the enemies are now stepping into the river!” Aristocrates reminded him loudly, as a talent that pique the interest of Davos, he had the intention to train him like what he did to Asistes, so he was allowed to follow him in this war. However, he is still a freeman, so Davos could only temporarily make him his assistant.

Davos had been waiting for this moment, so he then called out, “Tolmides!”

“Milord, please give your orders!” The reply of Tolmides was his sincere respect of Davos.

The rapid march of Crotone was greatly beyond their expectation. In the case that the troops of Nerulum and Laos could not arrive in time, then there would be a big difference between the forces of both sides. During their military discussion, many people proposed to abandon Roscianum and instead defend Thurii while waiting for the reinforcements to arrive before doing the decisive battle. However, Davos insisted on making Roscianum the battleground. Out of his long established prestige, he finally managed to persuade everyone.

He then recruited all the citizens and preparatory citizens of Thurii and Amendolara who have participated in the military training and were able to fight, he even included some of the freemen who had just arrived in Thurii. He really had taken a great risk, by fully concentrating all the army of Theonia in Roscianum, and leaving Thurii and Amendolara with almost no defense except for a few troops that were left in the port. If the fleet of Crotone were to land on the shores of the Sybaris plain, Theonia wouldn’t be able to resist them for a while, but Davos had still dared to take such a bold move.

Chapter 206 – Battle of Trionto River (II)

Just like what Davos had expected, the army of Crotone had crossed the river in this place and the Theonian army had been lying in wait. The Theonian army, which had a large number of new recruits, have occupied the land and used novel tactics to inflict the greatest damage on the army of Crotone, which was famous for their bravery in Magna Graecia, and took the upper hand.

When he was in Persia, Davos was famous for his ability in wiping out the enemy, battling in an ingenious way and only suffering few casualties. Tolmides, as the herald of the whole mercenary, was the one responsible for the coordination of the whole mercenaries, but the camp of Davos was always the most strict, so Tolmides could only take a glimpse of his military ability. When he arrived in Thurii, he heard that Davos had led the army many times, which made his heart itch for a long time. In this military operation, Tolmides served as the deputy herald(because he is still a freeman), so he have participated in the whole process, so he managed to finally witnessed how Davos held on to his opinion against the others, conceiving strategies that he have never seen before, and making all the department of the union to carry out actions around his plan like: Making the elderly and women walk in the port in armor to confuse the fleet of the enemy; A detailed arrangement in their marching at night to make it possible for the new recruits and freemen who have never had any experience to reach the city of Roscianum smoothly; The army carrying out strict discipline and to completely blockade the city of Roscianum to prevent the information from leaking out. The mountain reconnaissance team of Izam being sent to cross the river to spy on the movement of the enemy and to report at all times. At the same time, the cavalry was sent to intercept the scouts of the enemy that had crossed the river, so that the enemy knew nothing about the situation on the other side of the Trionto river, then leading the army to quietly and quickly hide before daylight, and setting bait in front of the river bank(referring to the four thousand soldiers) and at the same time, to cover the trail of the army. And deliberately deploying more than a thousand people in the Trionto river, so that the Crotonians will not dare to take the risk of having heavy casualties by traversing the other part of the river and instead to choose the safer middle section of the river.

Throughout the whole military operation, the strategy of Davos was fully demonstrated: Deception, rapid march, reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance, ambush, temptation….have been perfectly combined to successfully lure the enemy and achieve his goal, which has expanded the sight of Tolmides. In this era, most of the wars between city-states were to recruit soldiers then fight in a place that was accepted by both sides, or when one side was stronger, the other side would defend stubbornly until their reinforcements arrived and then counterattack. The commanders of both sides will only use tactics during the battles(this is what the Spartans are good at.) Initially, Davos made plans according to the situation, and made a series of complex and delicate actions to achieve his goal, just like carving the bloody battle into a fine and beautiful Athenian pottery. Just as what Davos himself had said, “War is related to the survival of a city-state, so we must be careful and cautious before taking any action.”

‘This is why Davos became the archon of a powerful union, while Timasion died in a small city-state!’ Tolmides was lost in his thoughts.

“Tolmides, go to the east and inform Xanticles, Epiphanes, Cid and Ledes that the enemy will soon cross the river. Tell them to get ready and act according to the plan.” Davos gave the order.

“Roger!” Tolmides got on his horse and galloped eastward, and though the tactics that will be used in the east would be more bizarre, he already had faith in Davos.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Philederus was startled when he learned from Eurydemos that Milo had led his army to cross the river and encountered the Theonian army and that he was currently in a bitter battle. The Theonians had nearly 20,000 troops lying in wait on the other side of the Trionto river, which was totally beyond their expectation.

‘Is there also an ambush here?’ Looking at the more than a thousand light infantry deployed on the opposite bank, he couldn’t stop himself from thinking about it. He had hoped that Milo would come to help him drive away the enemy after he crossed the river, so as to reduce the casualties of his soldiers. But now, he instead would need to lead his troops to help Milo. The situation was so dire that he was unable to think straight.

In this place, there is no room for more than 6,000 soldiers to cross the river at the same time. So he had to quickly divide his army into three: The front, the center, and the rear. At the front are more than 3,000 hoplites, with their strong defense, they can reduce the casualties from the arrows and javelins of the enemies and successfully reach the opposite bank to disperse the enemy. Close behind them are the 500 cavalry, who can chase down the light infantry of the enemy and crush them, and finally in the rear, were nearly 3,000 light armored soldiers.

After suffering from the long-range attack of the Theonians, and after paying some casualties, the hoplites of Crotone finally stepped into the river. However, they no longer needed to chase them because the light infantry of the Theonian had already fled, and so, Philederus managed to lead his army to cross the river smoothly.

“Strategos, will you have us pursue them?” Asked Alexias, the captain of the cavalry.

Philederus shook his head and said cautiously, “We are now going to help Milo, your cavalry will be the one to guard our surroundings, so don’t act rashly.”

Philederus had just made his troops turn westward to march, when suddenly, the sound of salpinx came from the north.

Philederus’ heart tightened, ‘Sure enough, there is an ambush!’

At this moment, Alexias also rushed over and said with a puzzled expression, “Strategos, an enemy force is heading here from the north. They numbered seven thousand, and all of them were archers, slingers, peltasts and hundreds of cavalries.”

Philederus was taken aback, “There are no hoplites?”

“None!” Alexias nodded.

Philederus, though puzzled, was obviously relieved, so he decisively gave the order, “Everyone, face the north!” Since the attacking army of Theonia had no hoplites, it meant that they lacked the ability to have a frontal clash, so Philederus did not mind to defeat them first before marching in order to reduce their harassment.

“Alexias, how many cavalries the enemy have?”

“More than 400.”

“It’s fortunate that we have twice as many cavalry as they do.” Philederus became more relaxed and said, “Alexias, your cavalry will particularly be important when fighting the enemies’ light infantry. So I will need you to lead the cavalry to defeat the enemies’ cavalry, and do your best to not pursue them, and instead attack the flank of the enemy’s center, do you understand?!”

“Yes!” Alexias then went away.

And the army of Theonia moved quickly, not long after, they appeared in Philederus’ line of sight. When he roughly saw the enemy, he became surprised, because the light infantry of the other side was too light. No matter if it’s the archers or peltasts, they are all wearing thin linen clothes, and even the cavalry are either armored or just in plain clothes. They are extremely shabby.

‘Are all these freemen have been recruited from the port of Thurii?’ Philederus couldn’t help stop from smiling, ‘What Milo had guessed is correct, the Theonians did indeed only have a few citizens so they now have a shortage of troops, that they even have to result in using light infantry. He could even sweep them all with just the cavalries trampling them!’

500 meters away from them, the soldiers of Theonia suddenly stopped and began to reorganize their formation.

“I think the Crotonians will be very surprised to see us. They must have thought that we are only here to harass them, but they have no idea that we have allowed them to cross the river with the purpose of wiping them all out here.” Said Tolmides.

“This battle will prove to the Greeks that the light infantry is as important as the heavy infantry and that the light infantry can easily defeat them as long as the strategy is right!” Epiphanes said with confidence.

“The important point is to see whether Ledes and Xanticles can wipe out the cavalry of the enemy first.” Tolmides was still a bit worried.

“Rest assured, Lord Davos, the favored of Hades, has carefully devised this strategy! He is the favored of Hades!” Cid said with admiration.

“You and I couldn’t even expect it, let alone our enemy! They are all going to fall for it!” Just as he finished speaking, Epiphanes then jumped to his horse and joined the ranks of the soldiers and ordered them to widen the gap so that the formation became more loose, which will make it easier to shoot and run.

Cid had also rushed to the right wing to give the same order, while the cavalry formation of Ledes on the left wing was also loose. In this, the left, center and right wing of Theonia had almost doubled in area, just like a fermented bread.

For Philederus, this will be the first time that he would encounter such a situation, he hesitated for a while and finally decided to make his formation be more compact. However, the arrangement of the soldiers were still dense as usual, because he felt that although both the heavy infantry and the light infantry could not hit at a far away place, and as a unit that is good at close range combat with strong clashing strength, the dense formation is their magic weapon for defeating the enemy. At this moment, the traditional habitual thinking of Philederus has confined his thoughts, which resulted in the Crotone’s army’s length to be equal to that of the center of Theonia and had allowed the Theonian army to encircle the army of Crotone in a crescent way.

However, Philederus was not worried, because he knew that the number of soldiers on both sides were not much different, and as long as the soldiers of Crotone can get near to the enemy, then they will be victorious, and the greatest guarantee for his confidence is due to the double the number of cavalries. Because the length of the formation of the enemy was too long, he needed to order the cavalry of Alexias to break away from the center and directly face the cavalry of the enemy.

The center of Crotone has 3,000 light armored soldiers, whose speed is faster than that of a hoplite. When the cavalry manage to defeat their opponent, they will then go flank the center, and with the speed of the lightly armored soldiers, they can cooperate with the cavalries to defeat the center of the enemy. As for the more than 3,000 hoplites on the left wing, Philederus certainly understood that they could not catch up with the light infantry with their slow speed, this is why they only need to move slowly and protect themselves from being pinned down by the right wing of the enemy and prevent them from reinforcing the center.

Chapter 207 – Battle of Trionto River (III)

On the side of Theonia, there are 3,000 light infantries on both the center and on the right wing, which includes arches, slingers and peltast. Most of them are freemen from the port of Thurii, while hundreds of them are veterans and are drawn from the original first, second and light infantry brigade, and served as officers.

The more than 400 cavalry on the left wing has always been just an extra, but according to the current plan, this time, they will play an important key to win this war. It is no wonder that Ledes, who has always been serious, has become out of breath due to him repeatedly ordering each cavalry squad captain to the things that they should pay attention to once the battle starts.

“Captain, we are already clear what to do, so you don’t have to worry so much!” Said Solikos. This large group of coachmen that was financed by the Cheiristoya’s bank had not only increased the taxes of the union, but had also made a group that are good at horse riding and have enough horses. Therefore, they have become the main targets of the cavalry recruitments. As citizens, they are duty bound to put on their armor and fight. Though the age of Solikos is just above the age limit for conscription, he is still very active, at the age of 50 it might have been tough for him to be an infantry soldier, but he thinks that with his experience, he is more than capable enough to be a captain.

“Is that so, then prepare to fight.” Nodded Ledes.

“We are clear about it, but do the people behind us understand it? Won’t they screw it up!” Said by a young cavalry squad captain.

Ledes looked back at him and said, “Don’t worry, Cleitus and the others have fought more battles than the salts that you have ever eaten, and in Persia, they have even faced more cavalry!”

The young cavalry squad captain was not convinced and had wanted to say more, but suddenly, someone had shouted out, “Look, our slingers are starting to attack!”

There was no sound of salpinx or shouting when the slingers, under the leadership of the veterans, slipped out of the formation and quickly ran to the frontline. They then started to brandished their slings at a distance of more than 200 meters, and the soldiers of Crotone, who were still in formation, immediately enjoyed the baptism of the “rain of stones”, and many of their soldiers did not even have the time to raise their shield for protection, and had gotten their head struck.

“Shameless Theonians! Deceitful Theonians! Apollo will punish you!” Philederus did not expect the enemy to attack in this way, so he was caught off guard and could only curse at them.

“ATTACK! ATTACK! ATTACK THEM NOW!” He shouted angrily.

Then a salpinx that signals the attack was blown.

Alexias, who was waiting for a long time, pointed his spear forward, “Cavalry! Advance!!”

The 800 cavalry of Crotone were in an inverted fan-shaped formation, their legs clamped on their horse’s belly and shook their reins, then the horses began to gallop forward.

While the cavalry of Ledes formed a loose wedge-shaped formation with two experienced riders at the front, each holding a red flag and brandishing it in the wind. Seeing that the enemy had begun to move, Ledes then took a deep breath in order to restrain his excitement, then patted the neck of his horse, and watched as the enemy’s horse reached a certain distance before shouting, “Forward!”

“Go! Go!….” Everyone yelled and urged their horses to move forward. Different from the cavalries of Crotone who had held the reins with their left hands and the spears with their right hand, the cavalries of Theonia held the reins with both hands, and their spears are still hung on their straps. The cavalries controlled the speed of their horses and did not dare to let them gallop as fast as possible. Otherwise, they would easily fall down before they could get closer to the enemy.

The sun at noon in the spring is not hot, but the horses are puffing clouds of dust everytime they raise their hooves, and soon they cross the distance of 500 meters in a flash.

When the distance was only 50 meters left, Ledes shouted at the flag bearer that was right besides him, “Turn right!!!”

Solikos, who was parallel on his left, had also immediately shouted, “Turn left!!!”

The two flag bearers in the front had quickly separated to the left and right.

During combats between cavalry, because the cavalry’s speed is too fast, the one in the rear may break away from the formation if they do not pay attention, due to this, the wedge-shaped formation is characterized by a small front and a large rear, so the cavalry at the back can see the forward direction. In addition, with the red flag waving in the wind on both sides, even during the dusty battlefield, the Theonian cavalry can still basically follow the flag bearers. Therefore, they managed to successfully divide the wedge-shaped formation into two parts, and bypassed the incoming enemy from the front.

The cavalry of Crotone did not expect that the Theonians would make such a move. They were completely dumbfounded, but they did not dare to stop nor make any other move without prior planning and coordination, because not only will they disrupt the formation, they will also end up getting knocked down by the cavalry at their back and getting trampled together with the mud, so the only thing they can do is to continue galloping and then turn around.

But after passing the Theonian cavalry, they saw, with astonishment, an innumerable sharp spears protruding from the morning mist, revealing a ferocious chill to them.

“Hoplites! Hopl-” Exclaimed by the Crotonian cavalryman, while trying to pull the reins of his horse, but his strong inertia had made him unable to stop, and he ended up getting slammed into the spears. In an instant, the spear was broken and blood splashed.

Some of the hoplites were hit and flew out due to the powerful impact, but the other soldiers did not see it and still kept on holding their spears with the spear’s butt at the ground, and in front of them were dozens of horses and people falling in a row, struggling in the river of blood…

There is no real heavy cavalry in this era, due to this, it’s not just the cavalries of the Greeks, but also the cavalries of any Mediterranean country has never faced a tight formation of spears and dared to charge towards it. The cavalries at the back had tried to control their horses in order to prevent them from colliding with the forest of spears, but the sensitive and timid horses neighed and suddenly stopped their fast galloping body, and due to the inertia, the riders flew straight into the forest of spears and was then skewered….

Amidst the cavalries, Alexias managed to stop his galloping horse. However, some of his comrades have fallen down, some of them are going around in circles, some of them are shouting, and some of them have their horses stopped moving. Their wails, shouts and the neigh of the horses have mingled together, and the whole cavalry of Crotone was in a mess….

Knowing that he was caught in the scheme of the Theonians, Alexias was in a dire situation, and he was unable to think carefully, so he could only order, “Turn left! Turn left! Get out from the side!”

Alexias shouted loudly, and the escorts that were around him have shouted as well. The chaotic Crotonian cavalry had finally got a pillar of support, and soon, there was order.

Just as they managed to turn their horse and tried to dodge the spear formation that was in front them, the two cavalry units of the Theonians had suddenly closed like human arms.

Soon, there were wails all around Alexias, he now realized that his troops were surrounded: A cavalry unit being surrounded by both infantry and cavalry, which should’ve been impossible, but it has now become a reality!

“Slaughter your way to the left! Slaughter them!” Alexias shouted in anger.

But a more powerful voice which had covered his shouts had come from the front, and the salpinx that signals the hoplites to charge was then blown.

“Brothers, kill all these Crotonians and avenge Timasion and the others!” Xanticles took off his helmet and is the first to rush with a spear.

Then more than a thousand mercenaries roared and followed him forward. The soldiers who had been knocked down and were struggling to get up, had hurriedly drawn out their swords and joined the battle.

The previously solid “spear wall” has suddenly turned into a pervasive water that penetrated into the Crotonian cavalries who were in a mess. It was easy for these experienced mercenaries to kill the stationary cavalries, and had adopted the method of two mercenaries fighting one cavalry: One is responsible for restraining and attracting the attention of their opponent, while the other will take the opportunity and quickly approaches from either the side and the rear, and accurately stabs their spears upward, and the spear tip penetrates into the lung through the space between the armor under the ribs, and reached the heart and kills the target. If they avoid the stab, the mercenary will sweep down their spear and knock down the cavalryman, and before they can get up, they will get a heavy kick on their head and neck.

The efficiency of the mercenaries in killing is very high, and the Theonian cavalrymen have subconsciously kept away from these fiends.

The battle had ended quickly. Besides the dozens of Crotonian cavalries who have managed to escape and the more than 100 cavalries that have surrendered, all the others have died. The Theonians has also managed to obtain more than 400 horses, with only 50 cavalrymen and 20 mercenaries injured and killed. This is a complete victory! The strategy that Davos has conceived has worked! Ledes kept on smiling as he listened to his men’s report, but he knew that the whole battle was not yet over.

He then assigned 70 cavalries to continue pursuing the enemy and then urged the rest of the cavalries to go to the nearby city of Roscianum, “Hurry up and retrieve your javelins!”

“Ledes, we will go with you.” Xanticles and a number of mercenaries came riding on the captured horses.

“You….” Ledes instinctively wanted to refuse, but the mercenaries have played a decisive role in the battle.

Xanticles saw through his thoughts and said, “You currently don’t have many cavalries. Although we are not good at horse riding, we are better at throwing javelins than you, and the more people means the more pressure we can put on the Crotonians and it’s better to end this battle earlier in order to reinforce Davos as soon as possible!”

The words of Xanticles have reminded Ledes and have made him no longer obsessed with the question of whether they are a cavalrymen or not, “I hope that you can keep up with us, because I won’t stop to wait for you.”

“Rest Assured.” Laughed Xanticles.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Philederus did not know that his cavalries was almost destroyed, and now the light armored soldiers that he led in the center were in trouble.

As soon as the salpinx was blown, the light armored soldiers advanced.

While the enemies’ slingers retreated in a hurry.

Then the arrow rain came…and then the javelins….

After paying some casualties, the light armored soldiers manage to get closer to the enemy.

Suddenly, the light infantries in the center retreated as a whole.

The light armored soldiers began to pursue them again, and the enemy retreated again. If the light armored soldiers pursue them faster, the enemy retreats faster; If the light armored soldiers pursue them slowly, the enemy will retreat slowly…the two sides have always maintained a distance of only tens of meters.

Chapter 208 – Battle of Trionto River (IV)

Although the light armored soldiers are “light armored”, they still have “armors”. Moreover, with a leather shield and a spear in their hands, how could they catch up with an enemy who was only wearing a single piece of clothing. However, if they were to stop chasing, the enemies’ range attack will come.

What’s more problematic is that the enemy in the center has gradually divided into three groups, when the light armored soldiers are advancing, one of them will draw the light armored soldiers into the formation, and the other two will go to the flank of the light armored soldiers.

As the light armored soldiers advance, their flank will get attacked by the enemy. If they focus their attention at the front, they won’t be able to take care of their flanks, and if they were to take care of their flanks, then they won’t be able to defend against the enemy at the front. The light armored soldiers of Crotone could only recklessly charge like a wild boar, and as a result, not only did they fail to do anything to the enemy, their own casualties have gradually increased.

“Where are the cavalries?! Why haven’t they come yet! What is Alexias doing!!” Seeing his soldiers fall one by one, Philederus became impatient and couldn’t stop himself from shouting. This was the first time that he realized how hard it was to fight an enemy who was all light infantry with only just pure infantry. They couldn’t even catch up with them, let alone fight them, and they have instead become living targets of the enemy.

“Retreat to the left! Retreat to the left!!” Exclaimed Philederus, and his escorts echoed what he shouted. If in the previous pursuit the excited soldiers could not hear what Philederus was shouting, but now that they are all gathered together and are carefully avoiding the arrows and stones, and was already a bit afraid and tired, they manage to hear the orders of Philederus and it is exactly what they wished, and so, the light armored soldiers retreated in a hurry.

Who knew that the light infantry of Theonia are like maggots on a bone and won’t let them go.

Philederus had initially meant to retreat back to the left and join up with their hoplites who were on the left-wing, so that they could protect the flanks of the light armored soldiers and reduce their casualties before the cavalry returned from their victory. (Philederus is still convinced that Crotone would win.)

However, he didn’t know that the hoplites that he originally thought would still be in his left rear were actually diverted by the right-wing light infantry of the enemy. The enemy had actually deliberately retreated slowly to the northwest, and the slow moving hoplites had unknowingly changed from facing north to northwest, and as a result, the distance between the center and the left-wing of Crotone had widened.

The light armored soldiers retreated quickly for a period of time, but not only did they not meet their left-wing, their casualties had quickly increased because they could not protect themselves well while retreating, and now, they are forced to turn around again and protect themselves with just their leather shields, and slowly retreat to avoid the rain of arrows. They could only watch as the number of injured and fallen comrades on the ground and getting slaughtered by the enemies increased, and the morale of the light armored soldiers was shaking.

At this time, they suddenly heard the sound of horse’ hooves at their rear, but they could not look back as they had to focus on avoiding the arrows. However, they still exhaled a sigh of relief, “Cavalries! Our cavalry has arrived at last!!”

Philederus wondered how the cavalries of Alexias got to their rear, because he had told him that after defeating the left-wing of the enemy, he would lead the cavalry to attack the center of the enemy from the other side. When he started to feel annoyed, someone shouted in a hurry, “Javelins! Be careful of the javelins! They are enemies!!”

Accompanied by this cry, hundreds of javelins howled from the rear.

Philederus, who was at the rear of the formation and was wearing a brightly colored helmet of a strategos, had naturally become the target of their attack and he immediately got struck by three javelins. When Philederus fell, he still could not understand how the superior cavalry of Crotone lost!

The cavalry that they had high hopes turned out to be the enemy! This has become the last straw to crush the light armored soldiers. Their morale vanished and they all fled in different directions, and the light infantry and the cavalry of Theonia had taken advantage of this situation to chase them. The light armored soldiers of Crotone were unable to run faster than these poorly equipped light infantry, let alone the speed of the cavalry. After the Theonians caught up with them, most of the Crotonian soldiers had chosen to surrender.

After dealing with the cavalry of Crotone on the right-wing and the light armoured soldiers at the center, the Theonians then concentrated on dealing with the difficult hoplites.

When the more than 3,000 Crotonian hoplites were surrounded by the more than 7,000 light infantry and cavalry of Theonia, these hoplites has soon understood that their center and right-wing might have encountered a disaster, specially after seeing the head of Philederus being held up by the cavalry of Ledes and circling around the hoplites and shouting for their surrender. The blow to the hearts of these Crotonians could only be imagined.

The strategos in charge of the hoplites was Philos of Crotone, and his adjutant was Batrius of Scylletium, and the two of them had a dispute in the face of such a critical situation.

Philos believed that the light infantry could not do much damage on them. So as long as they could keep on advancing and reach the main force in front of the river fording, they could then get their aid to defeat the army of Theonia, and the final victory would still belong to Crotone.

While Batrius thinks that under their current circumstance of getting fully encircled and being attacked and the morale of the soldiers is very low, and the destination they want to reach is at least more than 3 kilometers, so it is almost impossible for the soldiers to keep going forward to the western reach of the river.

Neither side could persuade each other, and in the end, they parted ways. With the 1,700 soldiers from Scylletium and Terina, Batrius began to retreat and prepare to return to the south bank of Trionto river, while Philos led the 1,400 Crotonian hoplites and began to head west at a fast pace.

The sudden division of the troops of Crotone had caused trouble to the several high-ranking officers of Theonia.

Ledes and Cid believed that they should surround the hoplites that are heading west with hoplites and chase the retreating enemy with a small number of troops.

Epiphanes objected. He thought that since the enemy is already retreating, it shows that their morale is already low, and as long as they continue pursuing and attacking them, they will surely surrender. After that, they can just re-encircle the remaining hoplites and completely wipe them out, which will make the next part of the strategy to be implemented easier. And his opinion was supported by Xanticles.

The situation is urgent and there is no time for them to argue. So the force of Theonia was also divided into two, with Epiphanes and Xanticles leading their troops to pursue the retreating hoplites.

Although the citizens of Scylletium have suffered many casualties from the attack of Theonia half a year ago, they are not Crotonians and do not have much conflict of interest with Theonia, and the main reason for them joining the war was because of their treaty and avenging their dead citizens was only second, but when the situation of the war worsen and have started to threaten their lives, they will certainly no longer fight so hard. So when the troops were divided, they were greatly in favour of it, because they think that the attention of the Theonians will be focused on the Crotonians who are heading west. However, they did not expect that the Theonians would continue to pursue them in large numbers, they got flustered and once they arrived at the lower reaches of the Trionto river, they suddenly remembered how they had paid a great price when crossing this river before, and now that there are more enemies, their attack will certainly be more fierce.

The Terinians were the first to surrender, then Batrius led the Scylletiums to surrender afterwards.

The hoplites of Crotone had said to quicken their pace, but their speed was not much faster than before. Although the hoplites have good protection, it does not mean that they are not afraid of the long-ranged attacks of arrows, javelins and stones. The impact of the stones on their helmets will make them dizzy, while they would need to be careful of the arrows because their thighs, toes and hands are not protected, and their armor can’t completely block the short-range attack of an archer. Naturally, their big round shield with a diameter of one meter and covered with copper plate can indeed completely resist the attack from the front. However, the enemy is not only in the front, but also in the flank and rear. So how will they be able to protect themselves from them?

The distance left till they reach the main army of Crotone is only a few kilometers away, which usually takes an hour when marching normally. Now that half an hour has passed, it is only less than a kilometer away…but some of their comrades are constantly falling down from getting struck by arrows and javelins, they are like a giant beast that are constantly getting bitten and bloodied by the agile wolves, and are getting weaker and more exhausted. There is no hope ahead and the arrows and javelins of the enemies seems to be infinite(Davos asked the Roscianums to donate all the arrows and javelins that they had been accumulating for many years, and carried them to the rear of the battlefield.) When Epiphanes and Xanticles, who had returned together with their troops, threw the captured flags of Scylletium and Terina to the front of the hoplites of Crotone, who were surrounded. The morale of the Crotonians that was already crumbling due to them trying to defend against the long-range attack of the Theonians for so long, had finally shattered. At the time of their surrender, there were only less than a thousand soldiers left.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Arsinis who was a recruit half a year ago, is now a squad captain of the first legion, and he is in charge of nine soldiers, six of whom are preparatory citizens and recruits.

The rapid expansion of the Theonian army in the past six months has brought about many problems, especially in such a fierce war where the quality of hoplites on both sides has gradually shown over time. The hoplites are not only a qualified heavy infantry with armor, shield and spear, but they also have trust and tacit understanding with each other. On a compact formation, a hoplite holds a shield in his left hand and a spear in his right hand. The heavy copper plated round shield will naturally make him lean to the left, which will not only make him protect his left chest but will also protect the right chest of his comrade on the left, and his right chest will be protected by the shield of his comrade on the right. In this way, the surface of the shield will form a line to defend against the attack of the enemy and they will only need to move the round shield back and forth to defend. Such movement not only consumes less physical strength, but it makes it easy for the formation to be disrupted. But with this, they will only need to focus on two actions, to stab continuously with their right hand and to keep pushing forward. And they will need to trust their comrades to protect themselves. This is the key to a successful hoplite phalanx.

A city-state has at least a few thousand citizens and at the most tens of thousands. And the citizens were either neighbors or their relatives, and they played together since childhood. When they are young, they will receive hoplite training from their elders, participate in competitions and study together, once they become adults, they will work together and attend parties together….although there is not much public collective military training every year, the trust have already formed from their childhood training, and as long as they stand on the battlefield, they will naturally stand together and twist into a rope.

Chapter 209 – Battle of Trionto River (V)

But the freemen of Theonia are different, they have come from various places, and have developed the habit of only being concerned about their own interest. Even before they have become a preparatory citizens of Theonia, most of them have not received hoplite training or been on the battlefield since they were young. And more than half a year of intensive training couldn’t completely eliminate their long-standing habits. So when the enemy’s spear stabbed a freeman’s right chest, he should have left it to his comrade on the right to defend it and use his spear to counter-attack, and force the other side to defend in order to reduce the pressure. However, due to his instinctive reaction, he drew back his shield, and as a result, his comrade on the left had half of his body exposed to the spear of the enemy…this kind of vicious cycle led to the fact that everyone could only take care of themselves, so that the frontline is no longer tightly closed, not only they are unable to effectively advance together, but they had also let the Crotonians squeeze in from the gap, and use their own ability to further disrupt the Theonian’s formation.

The first legion of Theonia was originally the legion with the most number of veterans and also the strongest among the legions. They used to have four brigades who are all veterans, but a large number of veterans were recruited to serve as officers at all ranks of the three legions, and Davos had also sent 300 veterans to the reserve team and as a result, a large number of new recruits have to be added, which led to a sharp decline in their combat strength. Even under the condition of occupying a favourable terrain and taking the lead as soon as the war started, not only did they not take the opportunity to drive all the enemies on the opposite side down the river, but after a long period of stalemate, they had actually began to retreat slowly under the crazy counter-attack of the Crotonians….

The squad of Arsinis was initially in the second row at the frontline, but several of the front row soldiers had fallen, so he loudly shouted and commanded his men to work together to drive the incoming enemy out and fill in the gap. After a long time of fighting, the arms of Arsinis had swollen with pain, and he was even more exhausted due to commanding these ignorant recruits. However, the fierce gaze from the helmets of the enemy has constantly reminded him, ‘Fight! Keep on fighting! Otherwise, only defeat and death awaits!’

“It’s the responsibility of the captain to lead his soldiers to fight bravely and win!” This is the advice given to him by his former squad captain, Xethippus, who is now a platoon captain, when he went to congratulate him by becoming a platoon captain and he had always kept it in his mind.

In the most difficult moment of the battle, these low-level officers of Theonia played an important role as a pillar.

In the battle of hoplites, Theonia was at a disadvantage, but in the battle of light infantry, Theonia has the upper hand. Not only is the number of light infantries increased by a thousand, but more than half of them are veterans from Asia Minor, and they have three kinds of light infantries: Stone slingers, archers and peltast, and they are all from Rhodes, Crete and Thrace, which are the famous places of light infantries in the Mediterranean sea. So how can it be possible for Crotone, who does not attach importance to the use of light infantry, to fight against it. Even though there were hoplites between the two sides, the light infantry of Crotone were getting killed and were forced to retreat due to the arrows and stones that were shot accurately.

Once the protection of the light infantry weakened, the rear of Crotone’s hoplite formation were then attacked by the light infantry of Theonia. Generally, these soldiers in the rear of the phalanx formation have not participated in the battle, and should still be energetic, but the fact is that most of them have been soaking in the river for a long time, and the river water in early spring is freezing, which has taken a lot of heat from them, and has made them hungry and exhausted. Therefore, in the face of the enemy’s long-ranged attack, their response has become somewhat sluggish. If not for the hoplites being well protected, their casualties would be extremely heavy.

Because each side has its own difficulties and disadvantages, they ended up being in a stalemate.

In the face of this situation, Milo was not in a hurry, because he has already achieved his goal by having a stalemate. Because the key to the victory of Crotone comes from the 7,000 odd men who have circled downstream of the Trionto river, and he firmly believed that the final victory would belong to Crotone.

And the archon of Theonia, Davos, also held the same idea, and he had already gotten the good news from one of the cavalry of Ledes, ‘The troops of Crotone in the lower reaches of the Trionto river have either been killed or have surrendered. Ledes and Epiphanes will lead their troops to rest a bit and then they will then cross the Trionto river and attack the rear of the army of Crotone.’

Davos was finally relieved and looking at the scratching and frustrated expression of the man next to him, he could not stop himself from teasing him, “Matonis, is your scalp itchy?”

“Grand legatus!-” Matonis complained loudly, “The last time when we went to capture Nerulum, our brigade failed to participate in the battle and so we didn’t manage to join the triumphant return! And this time, you have kidnapped me as the captain of the reserve team. We are going to win soon, and it’s too unfair that I am still stuck here doing nothing!”

Davos smiled and said, “Don’t worry, it should now be the time for you to join.”

After saying this, he then issued an order, “Signal the order for the formation change, let the soldiers at the frontline to retreat and the soldiers in the second line to go forward!”

“Grand legatus, we are about to win. So why should we bother to make a very difficult formation change! Most of them are new recruits, if something goes wrong, it will cause the entire phalanx-” Although Matonis is eager to fight, he doesn’t want to see the union be defeated.

“The formation that we have trained for so long has never been used in actual combat. If we don’t accumulate experience now that we are about to win, then when?!” Davos then seriously added, “What’s more, we have retreated in order to lure all the enemies onto the bank of the river, which will make it more difficult for them to escape. Matonis, you are the instructor of the recruits, so you should be confident in the results of the soldier’s long-term training and the commanding of the officers!”

“You are the one in charge, so you have the final say! Then is it our turn to join the battle?!” Matonis was no longer entangled with this issue, and had instead taken the initiative to join the battle.

“Lead your men to the right-wing of the phalanx, at the junction between the second legion and the three reserve brigades. In case the sudden advance of the enemy will cause chaos, you will need to rush forward in time to block the enemy’s attack and gain time for the soldiers to reorganize their formation!”

“Understood. I will now go! Brothers!-” Matonis then began shouting.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The soldiers led by Arsinis were still struggling with the enemy.

At this time, the salpinx at the rear sounded, which had motivated him. When he heard it again for the second time, he knew that it was the sound that signals for a “formation change”.

“Brothers, hold on! We will soon be able to rest!” The officers at the frontline, like Arsinis, reminded the soldiers loudly.

Then, the centurias at the second line quickly change position, one centuria remained in its place, while the centuria adjacent to its place retreated. After a while, the whole phalanx formation changed from the original thick long snake formation to a well-organized “checkerboard” formation formed by a small phalanx of a centuria. Due to some of the soldiers at the frontline of the whole phalanx formation not having the support of the soldiers at the rear, they were forced to retreat under the pressure of the enemy but in the end…they finally manage to withdraw between the gaps of the “checkerboard” formation under the command of the centuria’s drums and military flag.

When the drum of the centuria that Arsinis belonged to didn’t ring, he knew that his centuria was not very lucky, and because the centuria at their rear didn’t withdraw, they couldn’t even retreat for a bit.

At this time, the platoon captain, Xethippus, shouted out, “Brothers, protect our flanks!”

With the retreat of the centurias that are near them, the enemy then took advantage of the situation to rush in. Because the frontline of the Theonian formation did not retreat as a whole, the attack of the Crotonians on the formation became uneven, and the two sides’ frontline then interlocked, and the centuria that Arsinis belonged to was under the pressure of getting surrounded on three sides, but the enemy who had squeezed into the gap was also under the same situation. However, The troops of Theonia were prepared with their retreat and every small phalanx formation that met with the enemy was under the strong command of the centurion. On the contrary, the Crotonians were unprepared and disordered, and due to this, even though the Theonians were retreating, the Crotonians couldn’t take advantage of this opportunity to cause greater damage and confusion to the Theonians.

Then the drums of the centuria sounded, and the 20 x 10 phalanx formation formed by the four platoon units began to wave rhythmically together with the central military flag and began to slowly retreat…Arsinis, while defending against the attack of the enemy with his spears and shields, followed the retreat of the centuria at the rear, and their centuria also began to retreat orderly. When the rear centuria stopped moving, Arsinis and the others were then able to withdraw from the gap between the scattered phalanx…after several rounds of retreat, the soldiers at the frontline were finally able to successfully withdraw to the rear, and the soldiers at the second line manage to rearranged themselves into the dense formations and become the frontline of the entire formation.

The reason why the formation was smoothly changed and there was no big confusion(so that the worries of Davos did not become a reality) is that the Crotonians have never seen any army that has dare to carry out such bold and strange formation that were changing back and forth in such a fierce battle, and so they have failed to take effective countermeasures in time. Secondly, when fighting in a dense formation, the army of Crotone is better than Theonia, who has a large number of recruits. However, once the dense formation of both sides is divided into smaller phalanx formations due to the formation change, the targeted training conducted by the Theonians with platoon and centurias as the tactical units have played a big role, and their command is much more efficient and their actions are more flexible. On the contrary, the actions of Crotone and training are mainly based on large phalanx formation, and their command system is crude. After the soldiers poured into the gaps, their commanding became less effective and fell into disorder, and they had to fight on their own way and were at a disadvantage.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Milo, who was soaking in the river, heard the salpinx and drums of the enemy, which had caused him to be puzzled. Then the formation, which had been in a deadlock for a long time, began to advance forward….

Chapter 210 – Battle of Trionto River (VI)

‘Did we manage to break through? Has Philederus arrived?!’ Milo became excited and had wanted to immediately follow the soldiers to get to the shore, but after a while, his troops stopped moving, and they were then forced to retreat little by little….

“SOLDIERS, HOLD ON! With a little bit more effort, the enemy will be defeated!” Milo, who did not know what was going on, thought that the offense of his troops weakened, even though he knew that his shouts wouldn’t do much, he still kept on shouting in order to boost their morale.

However, the Crotonian army was never able to manage to advance forward.. The forefront of the Theonian army that has managed to complete the formation change is the newly replaced soldiers of the second line. Their physical strength is still abundant, which made up for their lack of experience as hoplites, while the Crotonian soldiers, after fighting for more than three hours, were already exhausted and were struggling to defend themselves, which had naturally weakened their offense.

Just as they were struggling, a cry of alarm came from the rear of the Crotonians as they were retreating to the other side of Trionto river, “Enemy! The enemy is coming!!….”

Milo, who was in the center of the formation, could not hear what they were shouting, but the frightened voices had made him turn his head and subconsciously looked back, and the sight he saw had shocked him: In their rear, he saw hundreds of cavalries rushing towards the fleeing light infantry of Crotone, and behind the cavalry were countless soldiers not wearing armor, then they quickly spread out their formations and held their bows and arrows, javelins, and targeted the location of the Crotonians. ‘Where did they come from?! Where are the troops of Philederus?!!….’ At this moment, Milo was frightened and countless thoughts flashed through his mind, and the only thing that had remained was, ‘We lost!!!’

In fact, he is not the only one who had seen what happened in the rear, many Crotonians have also seen what happened, and the scouts of Theonia standing high on the opposite bank also saw it. Just as Milo was in a state of panic and the morale of the Crotonian soldiers were shaking, Davos gave the order with great enthusiasm, “Everyone, attack!!!”

The salpinx that signal to attack sounded, and then the same sound sounded on the other side. Just as the hoplites of Theonia began their fierce offense, the nearly 6,000 light infantry of Theonia composed of freemen fired the first round of arrows, stones and javelins at the right-wing soldiers of Crotone….

In front of them are the hoplites that are still energetic even after the long battle, at their feet is the cold river water, and the arrows and javelins that were shot to take away their lives. The exhausted soldiers of Crotone could no longer hold on, the right-wing were the first to retreat, then the center, and then the left-wing. The Crotonian’s formation collapsed like an avalanche and the soldiers rushed to the south bank, and the non-stop long-range attack of the freemen had made them retreat even faster. And the Theonian’s hoplites’ charge has made this large-scale retreat even more chaotic. What is it like seeing nearly 20,000 people crossing the river and retreating under the attack on two sides?

Xanticles, who have witnessed the whole process on the south bank, have later talked about the defeat of Crotone in that battle to Ansitanos, who had later wrote the 《History of Magna Graecia》, he recalled, “….all the Crotonians cried out in horror ‘Run for your life! We have lost!….’ The loudness has even overshadowed the sound of our salpinxes. They desperately ran to the south bank and pushed each other, and even the Crotonians, who have fallen behind and were being chased by our soldiers, in order to flee for their lives have frantically knocked down the people in front of them with their shields and spears…alas…although the Trionto river is not deep, almost all the people who have fallen did not stand up again, because once they fall down, not only no one will help them, but also due to their heavy equipments and the constant pushing of their comrades had made them eventually drown in the river…as a matter of fact, neither our hoplites’ pursuit nor our light infantries’ long-ranged attack had caused more casualties to the Crotonians than the river…it must have been the wrath of Poseidon! It has reminded me of the event when the expeditionary army fought the Persians on the Kentrite river…well, when the battle was over, I came back only to see the Crotonians floating on the Trionto river, and it seemed that it had even blocked the river. It really made me shiver! I heard that more than 3,500 corpse were later recovered, not counting the ones that have floated into the sea….”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The soldiers of Crotone, who had managed to flee back to the south bank, had no time to relax. Although the hoplites of Theonia were tired, they still kept on their chase at the urging of Davos and continued to exert psychological pressure on the defeated soldiers. While the large number of freemen who were light infantry and were not burdened by the heavy armor, were the main force of the pursuit. They rushed up from their flanks and encircled the right-wing of the Crotonians like a dumpling, and the demoralized Crotonians who were in a desperate situation of getting block at the front and getting pursued by the soldiers, have surrendered one after another.

After handing over the captives to the hoplites, the light infantries continued their pursuit.

And now, the cavalry has become the main force of the pursuit. Under the leadership of Ledes, nearly 300 cavalry spread out and crushed the defeated soldiers. The Crotonians were either knocked down by the galloping horses and those who were not hurt were forced to change their direction and were finally captured by the light infantry.

The fleeing Crotonian soldiers were terrified throughout their way, and finally, because of their exhaustion, they fell on the road. Many soldiers, like Kelebus*, who had been captured once, saw no hope of escape, so they just simply squatted down and surrendered…till the end of the day, all the light infantry of Theonia have taken up the task of escorting the captives. (T/N: Author use Teratus but Teratus is a spy of Crotone who is now working with Theonia, so this should be Kelebus)

In the end, the Crotonians fled into the marsh area, and many of them rushed into such a dangerous area in panic. The Theonian cavalry have also followed them into the marsh, but because of the unfamiliar terrain, many horses were trapped in the mud, and because the sky was getting dark, they had to give up on their chase.

The battle that decided the fate of Theonia and Crotone has come to an end.

Crotone has invested about 27,000 men, resulting in 7,000 casualties(because they were defeated, it made it impossible for the wounded soldiers to escape), about 12,000 were captured, 8,000 have fled the battlefield, and only less than 5,000 managed to escaped to Krimisa and more than 3000 men were lost in the forest and in the marsh, some managed to escaped after a few days and some have never come out ever again. And Milo was lucky enough to escape back to Krimisa under the protection of the guards.

Theonia had also invested about 24,000 men, with only 4,000 casualties and won a brilliant victory.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On this day, the polemarchos of Roscianum, Amikles, had been paying close attention to the development of the war situation. In order to ensure sufficient firepower of the Theonian’s light infantry, because Davos had asked Roscianum to provide enough arrows and javelins. Therefore, Amikles was also the one responsible for organizing and transporting the military materials to the battlefield. When the troops of Crotone, who were at the lower reaches were wiped out, he had gotten the news even earlier than Davos. At that time, he excitedly told the members of the council of Roscianum that Theonia had won.

However, everyone was skeptical. After all, Crotone has been powerful in Magna Graecia for many years, and most city-states were deeply afraid of them. Coupled with the fact that their main force was not harmed.

It wasn’t until an hour later that countless corpses floated down from the upper reaches of the Trionto river, which had caused everyone in the whole city to watch around the port. The guards then went to examine the corpses one by one and determined that they were all Crotonians. After the news came out, the uneasiness of the Roscianums finally disappeared, ‘The Theonians have certainly won! Our Theonian Alliance has won!!’

As the cheers resounded throughout the city, the shadow of the threat of Crotone on the Roscianums were finally removed. The strategos and the members of the council looked at each other with a happy smile: They had endured the threat of the Crotonians and took the risk to support Theonia, and they had made the correct decision!

By the time Davos led his army back to Roscianum, the whole city was illuminated by candles. Amikles then led the statesmen and the people out of the city to greet them. Their momentum was so strong that it had surprised Davos, so he hurriedly dismounted his horse and walked towards them.

“Long live Theonia Union!!!” The crowd erupted into deafening cheers like that of a landslide and tsunamis.

“Lord Davos, congratulations! It is incredible that you have achieved a brilliant victory!!” Amikles sincerely congratulated Davos.

“It is all thanks to Hades! And the full assistance of you, the Roscianums!” Davos responded modestly.

“I am afraid that Crotone will not be able to attack again after this defeat.” Amikles asked in an indirect way what Davos was going to do next.

Davos, had of course, understood his implication and gave a smile, “If we don’t take this opportunity to hunt the wounded lion, then do we wait for it to recover and take revenge?! Tomorrow we will attack Krimisa, we will capture it and go straight to Crotone!”

Amikles was relieved and reminded him, “I think that Crotone may do what they have done last time and come to negotiate peace and ask for their captives to be released.”

“Peace?” Davos sneered and looked at the 12,000 captives who were escorted past his eyes. At first, he wanted to force these captives to be the vanguard in the attack of Krimisa tomorrow and even Crotone, because he thought that the Crotonians would hesitate in the face of their fellow citizens, and make Theonia easily seize the two cities, which was a common tactic used by the Mongols and Jurchen* to take over the world. (T/N: The Jurchen is a term used to collectively describe a number of East Asian Tungusic-speaking peoples who lived in the northeast of China, later known as Manchuria, before the 18th century.)

But Davos, who has lived in this era for a year and a half, changed his mind and chose to give up. Because he knew that the Greeks of this era still retained some of the characteristics of the ancient times. They respected the heroes, advocated strength and are fond of fighting head-on. To kill the enemy in a battle is justifiable, but to use the captives to attack the city and win will undoubtedly make the people despise and look down on them. Therefore, in the wars of city-states in the past, no one has ever dared to do it.

Chapter 211 – After the Battle of Trionto River

During the Peloponnesian War, Athens sent a large army to Sicily, which was eventually defeated by the allied force of Syracuse and Sparta, and more than 6,000 of their men were captured. At that time, even though Sparta was faced with a dilemma of being attacked passively at sea and couldn’t break through the walls of Athens on land, they still did not use the 6,000 captives to attack Athens. So if Davos were to do it, he will certainly set a precedent, but he will be labeled with the word “sinister and cruel”, which will not only make the city-states of Magna Graecia be wary of him, but will also alienate the people of Theonia who respected him. This will undoubtedly be a major blow to his prestige. Therefore, with Davos having such a lofty goal, he certainly will not make a mistake of picking up a sesame seed only to lose the watermelon. He didn’t mind capturing Krimisa a little longer because victory is already at hand. Therefore, as soon as the battle ended, he ordered the reserve brigade and the more than 5,000 freemen to escort the captives back to Thurii, leaving only two legions and two reserve brigades in Roscianum.

Compared to the other night, the people of Roscianum, who were delighted with the victory, were very happy to vacate their rooms and prepared a sumptuous dinner for the Theonians who would stay. However, compared to the legion soldiers who entered the city, the soldiers and freemen, who were tired and hungry, had to escort the captives for another hour or two at night and were much more miserable. However, the first time they took part in the battle, and such a large-scale battle at that, they were able to win. As participants, they not only walked with their heads held high, but even berated the captives. They wished that they could return back immediately and find an acquaintance to boast about their heroic deeds.

While the condition of the Crotonian captives was the most miserable. In order to make sure they won’t escape, they were stripped of all their armor and clothing, so they were naked while walking in the night. A gust of sea breeze came and they, who had their body heat already exhausted, were shaking and trembling. If they were to slow down, the wooden rod of the spear would be like a whip and cause them unbearable pain.

Kelebus was also one of the captives. Although he had once again become a captive, he secretly sighed that his fate was not good. However, compared with his comrades who have died in battle or drowned, he was still glad that he could survive, so he comforted his crying comrades, “Although these Theonians are hateful, they still keep their words. So as long as we do what they ask, we will eventually return to Crotone alive!”

Even though it is dark, the whole city of Thurii still came out to welcome the victorious soldiers. After a day of uneasy waiting, they finally could see the returning soldiers, bringing a lot more Crotonian captives than before. With this, they all understood that the Theonian army won the battle without a doubt!

Different from Roscianum, the Thurians kept on shouting the name of “Davos” a lot more in order to celebrate this hard won victory, because they all knew that it was the archon who had stood alone in the senate to start this battle ahead of time and finally win this victory!

The statesmen were also relieved, especially Philesius, who, as the chief military officer appointed by Davos, had to stay in Thurii without a soldier in his hand, and was always worried about the fleet of Crotone seeing through their camouflage and landing at the port. Now, with the return of the reserve brigade and the freemen, he had become confident. Moreover, with the tragic defeat of Crotone, they may not even be able to protect themselves, let alone dare to land and fight in the territory of Theonia.

Kunogelata and some Thurian statesmen asked the soldiers about the whole battle. As a citizen of Thurii, the Theonian Union defeating Crotone, has made them feel thrilled at getting their revenge.

On that night, both the preparatory citizens and the freemen who had participated in the battle were regarded as heroes by the Theonians, enjoying the warm cheers and abundant rewards. They were proud of themselves, and had also strengthened their confidence to become citizens of Theonia.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Androlis, the polemarchos of Krimisa, was sleeping at his home and was hurriedly woken up by someone who came to report that “The army of Crotone was defeated” and he could hardly believe it: Because at the port yesterday, he saw the huge fleet of Crotone with an army of nearly 40,000 men(he included the freemen and slaves who were carrying the supplies) – a huge army that has never been seen in Magna Graecia! They should have been able to sweep the Theonia Union, so how could Crotone be the one defeated after just one day?! How could Theonia have more soldiers than Crotone?!! Did Taranto join the war?!!!….

With countless doubts in his heart, Androlis quickly put on his clothes and rushed to the north gate, where Eurypus, Pleitinas and others were.

Under the light of the fire, he saw the Crotonians running from the north like bereaved dogs. Their feet were unstable, their minds were in a trance and their faces were covered with panic and exhaustion. Their helmets were gone, their armors were also thrown away, and even their shields and spears were lost. They stumbled into the city gate and lay down on the ground and weakly shouted, “Is there anything to eat? Is there anything to eat?….”

Seeing the tragic sight of the Crotonians, Androlis suddenly felt anxious.

In the end, they could only wait until Milo returned, although he was also in the same state as the soldiers, his mental state is still good.

“Strategos Milo, what should we do next?!” Androlis asked urgently, and this is exactly what the people of Krimisa were most concerned about at the moment.

Instead of answering immediately, Milo asked, “Is there anything to eat? I am gonna die of hunger!”

When Androlis watched Milo and the soldiers who had escaped gorging on the dry and cold bread, he had felt more or less disdain.

Milo was not in the mood to observe what the Krimisians were thinking. He just ate and pondered over how to appease the Krimisians. After trudging through the marsh, he gradually regained his composure, and while on his way back, he regretted that he had made a series of mistakes in belittling the enemy before the battle, which has led to their defeat. At the same time, he also thought about how to deal with the attack of the victorious Theonians…Krimisa is undoubtedly the most important link to save them from their defeat!

He wiped the crumbs of his mouth with his hand, and stood up and put the expressions of everyone around him in his sight, “Everyone…I am sorry, we have been ambushed by the Theonians, and fighting against them…we have suffered defeat, though I don’t know how many people have been lost…it definitely will not be less….”

The countless soldiers that were struggling in the water flashed through the mind of Milo. He clenched his fist so hard that it pierced through his palm and started bleeding, “And the casualties of the Theonians is…much less than us…”

‘What?!!’ Everyone was shocked: Tens of thousands of soldiers went out to battle, and yet they only caused little damage to the army of Theonia, while causing heavy losses to themselves, ‘This is unbelievable! How can this battle be fought?!!’

“Did the Theonians dispatch more soldiers than us? Or did Taranto also join?” Asked Androlis urgently.

Milo smiled bitterly. He didn’t want to tell the truth, but even if he didn’t say it, once the Theonians arrived, the Krimisians would soon find out about it and it would make the Krimisians more dissatisfied with Crotone, and so, it would be better for him to speak the truth and let the Krimisians be prepared so that both sides can work together. Therefore, he truthfully said, “The Theonians dispatched around the same number as us, and Taranto didn’t join….”

“Are you Crotonians all made of flour?!* You are always easily defeated by the Theonians!” Pleitinas shouted angrily. (T/N: Something like the ‘soft persimmon’ thingy you can find in other novel)

He shouted what the officials of Krimisa were thinking. Their last defeat had made it hard for Krimisa and their envoy had even made a promise to the Theonians, ‘We, Krimisians, will no longer be your enemies as long as our people are released!’ But this time, Krimisa had gone back on their promise and assisted Crotone to attack Theonia, who had once let Krimisa go. If they were to lose again, what should they do?

Milo opened his eyes and glared at them. When he was young, he was the champion of many Olympic Games, and had later become the polemarchos of Crotone for a long time. This kind of strength had frightened Pleitinas a bit, so he avoided the sharp gaze of Milo and daringly said, “If it weren’t because you Crotonians had waged a war against Theonia and saying that ‘We will surely teach the Theonians a painful lesson!’ We the people of Krimisa, out of our trust in our allies*, had declared war on Theonia. Now that you have lost, and you have lost so badly! What should we do?!” (*In the last agreement between Crotone and Theonia, Krimisa was made a neutral city-state. However, Krimisa had already been deeply influenced by Crotone and so they considered themselves as an ally of Crotone.)

“That is right. If it weren’t for you forcing us, how would we even dare provoke Theonia!” Someone in the crowd echoed.

‘What forcing! You Krimisians wanted to follow Crotone in order to get some benefits from Theonia!’ Milo sneered inwardly, but he could not say this, otherwise it would only intensify their contradiction.

“So what do you want? Do you want to negotiate an armistice with Theonia?” Milo looked around and said seriously, “Now that Theonia has the advantage, they will certainly want more. After Davos takes over Krimisa, wouldn’t he slaughter the people of Krimisa in order to avenge his mercenary brothers? He could also turn Krimisa into a city-state that they control like Nerulum!”

Afer Milo finished what he was saying, the expressions of the people of Krimisa became unsightly.

“The only thing we can do now is to defend the city of Krimisa! Theonia does not have a fleet, and the sea is under our control. Therefore, we can use the fleet to transport food and soldiers at any time, and the Theonians can’t trap us!” Said Milo.

Chapter 212 – The enemy passed through the earthen wall

“Although we have lost in the battle, we could at least organize another 20,000 soldiers. So if Theonia were to attack Krimisa, we will certainly give them a heavy blow! At that time, Theonia would have already been sieging for some time and they would have been exhausted, so their only choice would be to ask for a peace talk, and we will be the one that has the initiative. And we might even be able to find some opportunities to defeat the Theonians during the defense of Krimisa!”

After Milo finished speaking, everyone became lost in their thoughts.

Eurypus then said, “So Krimisa will once again become a battlefield.”

This sentence awakened the statesmen of Krimisa, but Milo immediately said, “Yes, the city of Krimisa is the key to the next war, but it will be the soldiers of Crotone who will defend it. If the people of Krimisa felt that it is dangerous here, then they could board the ship and take shelter in Crotone. We will provide them with sufficient necessity for them to live and guarantee that it will last until the end of the war. If there is damage to the houses and property in the city, Crotone will compensate for it….”

Milo’s idea was very considerate, so the Krimisians have nothing to say, and his words also reminded these people in a vague way, ‘The city of Krimisa is filled with soldiers of Crotone. Even if they want to make peace with Theonia in private, they have to ask whether the spears in the hands of Crotone will agree. If the Crotonians were angered, the situation would only get worse!

“Strategos Milo, Krimisa will fully support you in fighting the Theonians here!” Androlis soon made a clear statement on behalf of the council of Krimisa.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the early morning of the next day, Davos with the two legions and the two reserve brigades, with a total of about 16,000 men*, march towards the city of Krimisa. (this refers to the number of soldiers that can fight, excluding the engineering camp, medical camp, logistics camp, cavalry, salpinx and the drummer, and so on.)

In the morning, the army of Theonia arrived in the marsh.

Davos then left one of the engineering camp of the legion to investigate the geographical conditions of the marsh, fill the marsh as soon as possible, and build the roads and bridges on the river, so as to facilitate the smooth passage of future transport of caravans, and at the same time, he had also taken into account the construction of the Roscianum-Krimisa road in the future. In order to prevent them from being attacked by the Crotonians, he had also left two reserve brigades to build a camp here. In addition to protecting the engineering camp and the people of Roscianum who had come to participate in the construction, they are to also protect the transport route.

Davos then took the lead in crossing the marsh with the soldiers.

In the afternoon, the army of Theonia entered Krimisa.

By this time, the more than 5,000 soldiers of Crotone were already on standby on the wall of Krimisa.

After observing for a while, Davos gave up the idea of an immediate attack and instead ordered the building of a camp.

The captain of the engineering camp immediately came to inquire about the requirements of Davos for the camp. Davos then pointed to the city of Krimisa and said, “First surround it from the north.”

He immediately understood what Davos meant and immediately led his men to inspect the topography, terrain and water source, and calculate the area for the base of the camp…and so on., in order to select the site for the camp. Before long, he took his men 400 meters away from the city and began to insert a thin wooden pole every 20 meters….

At the command of the two legatus of the army, Kapus and Drakos, except for the two brigades in charge of defending and the cavalry of Ledes, the rest of the soldiers will immediately become construction workers, some are responsible for logging, some for digging trenches, and some are responsible for making earthen wall…the whole army was operating in an orderly manner, and even Davos had taken part in digging with a pickaxe….

Milo, who was on the wall, noticed that the army of Theonia did not immediately attack the city, which made him somewhat disappointed and also somewhat glad. But then, the sight of the army of Theonia building the camp was so lively and spectacular, and the camp being so close to the city had exceeded his expectation. So he kept on thinking of doing a sneak attack.

However, the two heavily armed infantry and cavalry of Theonia that are patrolling outside the city had made him dismiss this thought. He also did not think that the Crotonian soldiers who had just experienced defeat had the courage to go out of the city to fight against a large number of Theonians.

He could see that the Theonians wanted to besiege Krimisa, but if this delayed their siege, then he was in favour of their approach.

The Theonians were very efficient in building the camps. By dusk, they had dug out a 1.5 kilometer long trench and had built an earthen wall that surrounds the east, west and north of the city of Krimisa. Now, some of the soldiers started setting up an abatis in front of the trenches, and some have begun building the camps inside the wall… Originally, the loaded carts of the engineering camp had timbers that could be quickly disassembled and assembled to immediately build the camp gates, sentries and fences(this is the “modular” that Davos proposed to the engineering camp, which was the result of repeated testing by the engineers and carpenters.), but due to the fact that the loaded carts were easily trapped in the mud in the marsh area, they could not transport it to Krimisa in time.

Even so, Milo was amazed, naturally he would not have known that there is a “Camp Building” in Theonia’s military training program. After seeing the uneasiness of the soldiers, he finally made up his mind.

In the middle of the night, he decided to send 500 soldiers to attack the enemy’s camp while the Theonians were fast asleep due to the long march and constructing the camp. Even if they could only manage to make a small setback to the enemy, it would still boost their morale.

According to the observations of the warships on the sea during the day, there are also trenches in the north of the Theonian camp. Milo is however afraid of landing and attacking from the coast, north of the camp of Theonia, because once they are found, he is afraid that they won’t be able to return, so he chooses the south side of the camp of Theonia near the sea.

The 500 soldiers of Crotone quietly approached the camp of Theonia and while they were carefully crossing the abatis, they were then discovered by the sentry that was hiding behind the earthen wall. He quickly went to a nearby tent and quietly woke up the platoon captain and also woke up the others.

“Larys, you did a great job! Now, you need to go to the rear of the camp with my name plate and inform the cavalry that there is an enemy attack here!” The platoon captain Xethippus, praised the recruit who was also a preparatory citizen and handed him an egg-sized iron statue of a three-headed dog engraved with the legion, the centuria and the platoon units number.

“Roger!” Larys then ran.

Xethippus then asked his subordinate, Thratyllus, to keep the other platoon captain and centurion informed, while he took several soldiers to check the situation of the enemy, and found that their number was not too large, so an idea immediately came to his mind.

The Crotonian soldiers passed through the abatis, climbed over the trench, and over the earthen wall. When they saw that there was still no movement in the enemy camp, they became excited. They then began to light the incendiary they were carrying, but because there was still a distance between the enemy’s camp and the wall, they still had to cautiously continue to increase their pace.

All of a sudden, the soldiers at the front suddenly had their feet sunk and their soles were then pierced by a sharp objects, which made them scream. It turned out that after the earthen wall, the Theonians had also set up multiple traps to slow down the enemy once they managed to get through the earthen wall, in order for the Theonians to rearrange their defense and counterattack.

While the enemy was in a panic, the Theonian soldiers ran out from behind the camp and hurled javelins at the Crotonian soldiers. Many of them screamed and fell, and the courage of the rest of the Crotonian to continue fighting had disappeared, they then turned and fled in terror….

And the Theonians continued their pursuit through the safe route in the trap.

In the silence of the night, the sound of fighting was particularly clear. So Davos was woken up and had quickly dressed just as the captain of the guard, Martius, came to report, “Grand legatus, the Crotonians have sneaked in and have been repelled by the third brigade of the second legion, and the cavalry of Ledes started their attack, and I believe that the enemy won’t be able to escape.”

Davos nodded, then a map of the distribution of each legion, brigade and centuria in the camp had immediately came to his mind, “The third brigade of the second legion is the brigade of Giorgris…I remember that his brigade was in the easternmost part of the camp, which is close to the sea.”

“Yes milord.”

“The brigade of Giorgris has performed well, and they had strictly implemented the sentry duty system according to the 《Military Law》, and reacted quickly after discovering the enemy, which should be rewarded! And the sentry who had discovered the enemy in time should be rewarded even more!” Said Davos while looking at Aristocrates who had just arrived.

Aristocrates immediately wrote it down and will report it tomorrow.

“What about the other brigades?” Asked Davos once more.

“Each brigade was informed in time and there were no major disturbances.” Replied Martius.

Davos was very satisfied that the troops had managed to still maintain the smooth communication and order while in the dark, the strict training during normal times has played a factor, “The Crotonians wanted to copy our sneak attack, but too bad that we are not like the Crotonians. Everyone, get some sleep, because tomorrow, we will be busy.” With that, he turned around and entered the tent and soon fell asleep.

After speaking a few words with the guards guarding the tent, Martius then left.

Only Aristocrates, who was on the battlefield for the first time, could not calm down and could only stare at the burning brazier in front of the tent for a moment. When night came, it was necessary to set up a brazier in front of the commander’s tent and was also stipulated in the “Theonia Military Law”, according to the explanation of Davos: First, it is convenient when reporting the situation at night. Second, night attack and when accidents such as Camp hysteria* occurs, the soldiers can find the location of the commander at a glance in the midst of chaos, in order to stabilize their morale and reorganize the soldiers. In a word, because the commander is the key to the morale and hope of the whole army, so in the dark, it is necessary that the soldiers are able to see the commander’s tent anytime and anywhere, which helps to eliminate their fear of the dark. (T/N: Due to the camp being crowded and the soldiers are exhausted and are under great mental stress, when someone screamed in the night due to nightmares and such, it will often triggers a chain reaction and cause the entire camp to fall into a state of hysteria and might even kill each other.)

Listening to the gentle snore of Davos from inside the tent, and feeling the heat from the brazier, the tension that Aristocrates felt quickly dissipated….

Of the 500 soldiers who left the city, only a few dozen had managed to escape the interception of the cavalry of Theonia and fled back to the city.

After Milo learned about it, he stayed there standing for a long time. ‘This seemingly crude and unfinished camp of the Theonians was unexpectedly so heavily guarded.’ This lesson had made him to finally throw away the last trace of the ‘enemy just being lucky’ and now admits, from the bottom of his heart, that the army of Theonia is a well-trained army!

He then decided to stop taking risks and defend Krimisa with all his strength.

Chapter 213 – Disagreement in Crotone

Just as the Theonian army arrived in Krimisa, the news that the “Crotonian army was defeated in battle and suffered heavy casualties, with only more than 5,000 men managed to flee to Krimisa” reached Crotone and shocked the whole city.

If their defeat in the first war was caused by the negligence of Melanseus and the shameless attack of the Amendolarans, then this time, even with Crotone forming a much stronger army than last time and having their trusted strategos, Milo, who is equally experienced and reliable, as the commander. The Crotonian army had still been defeated and the situation was much more grave than the last war, with more than 20,000 of their men couldn’t even escape. Did they die? Or were they captured? There has been no news so far.

This time, every family of the citizens of Crotone was worried about the life and death of their family members and wept. At the same time, the backlog of anger broke out under the guidance of the spies of Theonia, and the people gathered to protest at the city hall and demanded that the ecclesia be held immediately.

In the face of the angry crowd, the council of Crotone was forced to respond to their demand, and the ecclesia was held in a hurry.

At the ecclesia, the people angrily criticized the incompetence of the strategoi and the statesmen of the council that had led to the defeat of their army, who had a clear advantage and put their city-state in a dangerous situation. They proposed that Milo must be dismissed in his position as the polemarchos and be sent back to the city for a trial. At the same time, they should immediately start peace negotiation with Theonia and to redeem the captured citizen soldiers.

With the support of the majority of the citizens, the proposal was successfully passed.

At this time, a herald sent by Milo had arrived in Crotone and brought back his message, “Milo is asking for reinforcements because the army of Theonia has surrounded Krimisa.”

As long as one is not a fool, everyone knows that once Theonia captures Krimisa, they will then be able to enter the plains of Crotone, destroy their farmland, burn their villages and reach the city of Crotone. If the situation of the war really turns out to be like this, then it will be like the time Sybaris invaded them a hundred years ago. The plains of Crotone will once again be invaded by the enemy at the north and the peaceful life of the people of Crotone will be destroyed, which is unacceptable to the people.

“Reinforce Krimisa and hold on to it” has become the common opinion of the citizens of Crotone. However, they had already sent out the young and middle-aged citizens of Crotone, so if they wanted to send more soldiers, then they would need to loosen the age of military service, while recruiting freemen as well. Fortunately, they will only need to defend the city of Krimisa, so as long as they can shoot arrows and throw javelins, which is what the freemen and sailors are good at, it will not be a problem to piece together a considerable number of reinforcements. But the problem will be the one to lead them, because all the citizens who could fight and could go to war were already in the army of Milo, including Milo himself.

The citizens finally reached an agreement to select several candidates after arguing for a long time. However, the candidates that they had selected refused to accept the position, when everyone started condemning them, they immediately said, “Even Milo and Philederus, who are great strategoi, have been defeated. So how can we, who seldom go to battle, command an army who are lacking citizen soldiers to resist the attack of the Theonians? It’s not that we don’t want to take responsibility in fulfilling our obligations as citizens, but that we are afraid that we will not be competent enough for this crucial position and that our city-state will suffer another defeat!”

After they finished speaking, the ecclesia of thousands of people suddenly fell into a dead silence, and the combatants of Crotone were in the predicament of having no one to lead them.

Then Lysias stood up and said, “Citizens, you all know that Milo and I often have disputes over some issues and have a bad relationship. However, I also have to respect the contribution of Milo to the city-state. He had led us many times to repel the invasion of the Bruttians against our alliance, and had twice forced Locri to withdraw from the territory of Caulonia. This is the reason why you have selected him as the polemarchos many times! I have always been jealous of his military talent, but now that he has lost, Milo, who has alway won more than he loses, has been defeated miserably in the battle that decides the fate of the city-state. Do you believe that he was careless and had taken this important battle as a game?!”

The words of Lysias had made the impatient citizens ponder.

“Of course not, this only shows that the archon of Theonia, Davos, has stronger military talent! By now, this is a fact that any Crotonian has to admit and must now face!” Lysias sighed and said aloud again, “After our defeat half a year ago, I think you all should know that Davos has won all the battles that he had personally commanded since the time he led the mercenaries to Thurii, and had triumph multiple times over armies with numbers superior to them. This is why there is today’s Theonia Union! Now, are there any citizens of Crotone who are more capable than Milo and are capable of fighting against the archon of Theonia, Davos?!”

Although the pale-faced citizens whispered with each other under the stage, none of them stood up to recommend themselves or someone.

“If not, why not let Milo continue to lead the army?! I believe that Milo, who has suffered a defeat, has learned his lesson and will try his best to defend Krimisa for Crotone and for himself! Citizens, Crotone is now facing the biggest crisis! I hope that you can put aside your likes and dislikes, and choose the right person to defend our city-state out of the interest of the public!” Lysias cried out.

His words had obviously played a role. In the new round of election, Milo is still the commander of the army, but his position as the polemarchos was deprived, and he had to be tried once the war ended.

With a satisfactory result, Lysias still didn’t look relaxed, because he knew that he would soon meet with Davos again as an envoy. Just a few days after meeting with him, the whole situation has reversed, and Lysias still remembers what Davos had said when he left Thurii, and it has now become a reality.

In the early morning of the next day, the army of Theonia still did not attack, but had continued to improve their camp, not only were they setting traps in front of the camp, but some soldiers that were protecting the engineering camp had also begun to build wooden bridges on the river.

When Milo, who was on the city wall, witnessed all of this, he was surprised: The cunning Davos is still able to take his time and continue building their camp. Will he really siege Krimisa?

He hesitated again and again, but still did not dare to send his few troops to harass them.

In the afternoon, Milo was finally relieved. The 5,000 reinforcements of Crotone were transported to the city of Krimisa by ship, increasing the strength of the city to 10,000 men.

In the port, he also saw Lysias, who got off the ship with the soldiers, and his expression then changed, “Did the council send you to talk about peace negotiation?”

“No.” The answer of Lysias relieved Milo, but Lysias immediately added, “It’s the ecclesia that has sent me.”

When it comes to the ecclesia, the face of Milo became even more ugly, and seriously said, “I don’t think that the…Theonians who are in advantage will agree to a truce and negotiate peace at this time, and even if they agree, the conditions that they will put forward must be very harsh!”

“You are right, but the people of Crotone are now more eager to know the safety of their families. However, it’s necessary to first try to understand the requirements of the Theonians.” Lysias shrugged helplessly.

The face of Milo twitched at the words of Lysias, he then coughed a few times and said in a low voice, “I heard that at the ecclesia…it was your speech…that had saved me from being escorted back home now….”

“In fact, like the rest of the citizens, I wish I could put you on a trial, for those who had died in this battle! But Crotone urgently needs you now, so for the sake of the city and for yourself, I hope that you can win several times in the next battle and lay a good foundation for the future peace negotiation!” What Lysias said had made Milo feel ashamed, so he didn’t say anything else and just clenched his fist.

Then Lysias, accompanied by Milo, went up to the city wall, and looked at the enemy: Not far below the city wall is the camp of Theonia, from the east to the west there are continuous camps, which are not only orderly arranged, but also has trenches, walls, abatis and sentry towers…and so on.

Even Lysias, who did not know much about military matters, could feel the strict security of the camp of Theonia while standing on the city wall.

Milo saw the expression of Lysias and said, “I don’t think these Theonians are like your common Greeks. We Greeks like to fight, but we don’t like to do dirty and tiring work after a battle. But as soon as these Theonians arrived here, they were like rats, constantly digging holes to build their nests, and it had only taken them more than a day to build their current camp, which had also led me to lose my men when I sent hundreds of soldiers to attack them! Now that they are building a bridge over the river, they must also want to build a camp on the south bank and besiege Krimisa on all sides.”

Milo stopped for a moment and said loudly, “However, now that we have these reinforcements, I am going to teach these arrogant Theonians a lesson!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The troops who were ordered to walk across the river to build bridges in the south bank were the second and third brigades of the first legion, and were under the command of Matonis. This is what Matonis had actively asked of Davos, as the strategos of the reserve brigade in the last battle, he almost didn’t manage to participate in the battle and had to hold back his strength, so this time, he must perform well.

So as soon as he led the troops to the bridge site on the south bank, he immediately used one brigade to stand guard and another brigade to dig trenches and to also build an earthen wall, even with all of these, he still did not see even a shadow of the enemy.

Chapter 214 – The Counterattack of Milo

Matonis cursed at those timid Crotonians, so without any other choice, he just let some soldiers participate in the construction of the bridge.

The river is not too wide or too deep, so with sufficient labor, the soldiers on both sides of the river will soon complete the construction of the wooden bridge under the command of the engineering camp and in accordance with the bridge building steps in the 《Military Law》. However, Matonis received a report from the scout that about 8,000 Crotonian light infantry are coming to attack them!

His lethargic expression suddenly brightened, “Brothers, stand up, we will soon fight!”

What kind of people bring what kind of soldiers. The soldiers, who had been lying down and resting, had stood up immediately and put on their equipment, and quickly approached the earthen wall and were keeping an eye out with excitement, and the soldiers who were building the bridge had also rushed back after hearing about it.

It wasn’t long before they saw the Crotonians.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After Milo fled back to Krimisa, Milo had specially questioned the very few surviving soldiers under Philederus, and came to a surprising conclusion, ‘The army of Philederus was defeated by the light infantry of Theonia!’ And currently, he has less heavy infantry and more light infantry, which is why he decided to copy the tactics of the enemy. He had even allowed some of the soldiers of the fleet of Crotone that was docked at the port of Krimisa to join the battle.

8,000 men then came ashore from the southern bank of the river. And under his leadership, they stormed along the river to the troops of Theonia that is stationed in the southern bank of the river.

When he saw the trenches and walls built by the Theonians, Milo laughed: The Theonians have bounded their own hands and feet, and had made it more favorable to the attack of light infantry.

Two hundred meters away from the Theonians, he loosely spread out his troops and surrounded the Theonians with a semi-circular formation, with the rear of the enemy being the river.

With an order, the archers advanced to within 100 meters and began shooting arrows.

For the hoplites of Theonia with the protection of the wall, the sky filled with arrows seems frightening, but it did not do much harm to them, as they only need to raise their shield to cover their head. The Theonian soldiers even have the time to joke around, “The Crotonians must have known that our arrows were nearly used up in the last battle, so they have come to send us more.” But the relaxed mood of the Theonian hoplites soon disappeared.

The light infantry of Crotone continued to move forward, and once the distance was only about 50 meters, the accuracy of their archers greatly increased.

Of course, the Theonian hoplites, who were protected by their round shield and the earthen wall, had still only suffered little damage.

However, once the peltast of Crotone continued to advance within 30 meters, the Theonian hoplites began to feel the pressure. Naturally, just by squatting behind the wall will make them not suffer any damage. Anyway, the enemies are light infantry, so they will not dare fight them head-on. However, shrinking their head like a turtle is not the style of Matonis, what is more, once they shrink to the wall, they won’t be able to know the movement of the enemy. What if they bypass the defensive line and go down the river to burn the wooden bridge that is currently being constructed?!

Matonis is now the commander of the south bank troops and he knows exactly what his responsibilities are.

“Javelins!” With a roar, he suddenly stood up from behind the wall, quickly put down his shield, leaned back and without even running up and by just relying on his core strength and arm strength, he manage to throw his javelin to more than 20 meters and pierced through the chest of a Crotonian peltast, and then immediately squatted down.

The Theonian soldiers, who had been suppressed by the arrows, got the order of Matonis and immediately began to fight back. Countless javelins flew over the walls and trenches, plunging into the Crotonian army and splashing blood. While the arrows and javelins of Crotone also fell on the hoplites of Theonia and the casualties on both sides began to increase.

Milo paid close attention to the development of the situation and he began to appreciate the advantage of using a large number of light infantry to attack the simple hoplites. Unfortunately, the Theonian’s hoplite is not the traditional Greek hoplites, and the javelins thrown by them had caused great damage to the light infantry of Crotone who had weak protection and the ratio of casualty on both sides varied greatly.

However Milo believed that trading a few light infantry for a hoplite is worth doing, because Crotone is currently not short of freemen and sailors, and the only thing they lack is citizens who can serve as hoplites.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Strategos Epiphanes, the enemy’s attack on the south bank is now fierce! Strategos Matonis wants your reinforcements!” The herald brought the message of Matonis.

“I know!” Epiphanes frowned and responded. He thought for a while and said, “Antiliochus!”

“Here!”

“I want you to lead the slingers across the river and immediately support Matonis!” Epiphanes looking at the centurion of the slingers, he then added, “Remember! Don’t enter the camp of Matonis, otherwise, the narrow camp will make you unable to avoid the attack of the large number of light infantry of Crotone! So you have to go around the periphery of the enemy and attack them with the long range of the slingers!”

“I understand strategos!” Antiliochus hurriedly went to gather his men.

The establishment of the light infantry brigade(the seventh brigade) of the Theonian legion is somewhat different from that of the hoplites. According to the 《Military Law》, the hoplite brigade has five centurias under its jurisdiction, each of which has 200 men and a total of 1,000 men; Although the established light infantry brigade has 1,000 men, there are only three centurias, namely, the centuria of the slingers, the centuria of the archers and the centuria of the peltasts, and the number of people under each centuria is varied.

This is because compared to the hoplite, the light infantry has a higher need for expertise and though the peltast has it better, the archers and slingers have it harder to become a qualified light infantry without long-term training. Therefore, the composition of the light infantry brigade of Theonia is often determined by the actual situation of their region. For example: The light infantry of the first legion, the numbers of each centuria are almost the same, but their peltast are actually the Thracian peltast soldiers; The light infantry of the second legion mainly came from the preparatory citizens of Thurii, and most of them were born as freemen and sailors, so they had more archers and fewer peltast; The light infantry of the third legion mainly came from the Lucanians, so the majority of them are peltast. Because the formation of the light infantry is loose, flexible and rarely in direct contact with the enemy, so more or less, the light infantry has little influence on commanding operations.

“Strategos, now that Antiliochus has taken the slingers, wouldn’t the warship of Crotone that is moored in the river, take this opportunity to go up against the river to destroy our newly built wooden bridge once they see that our number has decreased….” The centurion of the peltast, Zeniaris, said worryingly.

“I really hope that they will come. Even if we now have fewer soldiers, I have the confidence of destroying them! Not like now that we can neither attack nor retreat, and just allow those wooden ships that are staying there to hold us here, and we can’t even go to reinforce our comrades on the other side!” Said Epiphanes angrily.

“Since they don’t dare to come, then we can just go and attack them!” Interjected by a handsome young man, a guard besides Epiphanes.

Epiphanes slapped him on the back of the head and said with a smile, “Idiot, the place where the enemies’ ship is anchored is the deepest part of the river. If we were to attack those warships, it would be like attacking enemies that are on the top of the wall, and my own loss will be larger, while the loss of the enemy will be small. So why should I do this kind of battle knowing that I will suffer losses?”

“Now that we are on the river bank and there are some obstacles in the river, will the enemy who knew that they will be beaten passively still continue to come here? Will they do such a stupid thing?!” The handsome guard asked back.

For a moment, Epiphanes was speechless and then he gave him a nudge with his hand, and then laughed, “Okay, it seems that you have made great progress!” Then he sighed helplessly, “It seems that we are both wasting each other’s time! The grand legatus asked us to protect the wooden bridge, and I had thought that this was a simple task, but turns out, it is really a troublesome task!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

While Milo and Matonis are battling, Davos has been informed that Milo dared to attack with light infantry, although he was surprised, he still wasn’t worried, “Inform Ledes that his cavalry is temporarily under the command of the first legion. I believe that Kapus will soon be able to repel the enemy!”

Kapus, the legatus of the first legion and under the authority of Davos, had immediately mobilized three hoplite brigade and the cavalry to quickly cross the river, and try to get around the rear of the Crotonians and cut off their retreat.

Who would have thought that when Milo learned that the reinforcements of Theonia were soon coming and even with his advantage, he still ordered their retreat.

And so, the battle came to a hasty end. Among the 2,000 hoplites led by Matonis, there were 500 casualties and most of them were wounded. While there were more than 700 casualties among the 8,000 men of Milo, most of them were deaths. However, Matonis thought that he had suffered a loss, while Milo thought that Crotone had won a small victory because they had managed to strike the arrogant Theonians and would delay their progress in building the camp and besieging Krimisa.

But when Milo returned to the city, he had immediately gotten a grave report, ‘A large number of troops from the north were entering the camp of Theonia.’

‘They must be the reinforcements from Nerulum!’ Milo suddenly tensed up.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In fact, there are not only the 5,000 soldiers from Nerulum entering the camp of Theonia, but also the 3,000 troops of Laos, which had brought the total number of soldiers of Theonia at the frontline to 22,000.

The already high morale of the camp of Theonia is now filled with cheering at this moment….

Davos then went out to greet the worn out archon of Laos, Avinoges, as well as the many high-ranking officers, such as the senior centurion of the first brigade of the third legion – Bagul, his adjutant – Asistes, and the senior centurion of the second brigade – Litom.

Asistes saluted respectfully, then apologetically said, “Grand Legatus, we are late!”

“It had taken you more than three days to get to Krimisa from Nerulum, is this still slow?!” After a serious reply, Davos then praised them with a smile, “You have arrived at the right time, and the next part of the battle will depend on you!”

Chapter 215 – The Cooperation of Three Legion

“Grand legatus, you can rest assured that you can hand over the rest of the battle to us! Our brothers of the third legion have long been eager to take part in the battle and contribute to the union!” Bagul said aloud, while pounding his chest.

“Do not worry, there are plenty of battles for you to take part in!” Davos said jokingly, “But you’d better report to your legatus first, because he is the only legatus who is short of soldiers, and he might call your names in his dreams!”

Everyone laughed, and the normally expressionless Hieronymus smiled.

“Lord Avinoges, thank you for fully supporting Theonia! You have even personally led your troops!” Davos came forward and greeted Avinoges to show his sincere thanks.

“It is our duty as the ally of Theonia to send troops!” Avinoges hurriedly replied, “While in Thurii, I had heard of lord Davos’ brilliant record of defeating the army of Crotone once more. It’s another miracle of you triumphing over an army with a superior number than yours! Lord Davos, I am awed by your military talent. The soldiers of Laos believe that by following Theonia, we will be able to win more victories!”

“As long as we in the Theonian alliance remain united, there will be no lack of victory!” Davos responded passionately.

“You are right lord Davos!” Avinoges immediately nodded in earnest.

At this moment, Asistes interjected, “Grand legatus, I had almost forgotten one thing. When we were leading the army through the marsh area, the engineering camp was able to repair the road through the marsh area, and they would soon be able to transport the supplies here tomorrow.”

“Great!” Davos excitedly said.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Following Davos into the main tent were, legatus of the first legion – Kapus, legatus of the second legion – Drakos, legatus of the third legion – Hieronymus, and the senior centurion of the first brigade of the third legion – Bagul, the adjutant of the third legion – Asistes, and the archon of Laos – Avinoges.

In the middle of the main tent is a very smooth wooden table, on which a large map of the southern Magna Graecia was drawn.

“Kapus, tell us about the latest war situation for our newly arrived comrades.” Said Davos.

“Yes, Milord.” Kapus came near to the wooden table, found the symbol of Krimisa on the map and pointed to it and said, “After the defeat of the army of Crotone, and according to the information obtained from interrogating the captured soldiers, we estimate that there are about 7,000 soldiers of Crotone who had manage to flee the battlefield and have probably all escaped here -” Kapus glanced at everyone who were listening to him carefully and then said, “Then our first and second legions, with a total of 14,000 troops, arrived outside the city of Krimisa and started building the camps to surround Krimisa from the east, west and north. And today, when we were building the bridge on the river, our troops on the south bank were attacked by nearly 7,000 light infantry, indicating that Krimisa was reinforced by Crotone within this day, and their strength might have reached 14,000 troops. But with your arrival, the total number of our soldiers was brought to 22,000.”

Avinoges and the others gathered around the wooden table, and were staring at the map while listening to Kapus.

“It will be difficult for 22,000 soldiers to capture a city defended by 14,000 soldiers!” Said Avinoges based on his past experience.

“We don’t have to capture Krimisa.” The words of Kapus stunned the newcomer.

“If we don’t capture Krimisa, how can we attack Crotone?” Bagul asked in surprise.

“Surround it.” Kapus pressed Krimisa on the map with his right hand and drew a circle around it, “If we attack Krimisa with 14,000 Crotonians defending it, it will not only make us suffer heavy casualties, but once Krimisa couldn’t hold on, the Crotonians might retreat back to Crotone by boat and hole up in their city, which will increase the difficulties for our next attack. But if we were to make them keep Krimisa, it will disperse the troops of Crotone and we can then divide our forces-” The finger of Kapus slides from the south of the city of Krimisa, to the northern plain of Crotone.

Avinoges, Bagul, Asistes and Litom were staring at the map with wide eyes and were deep in thought.

“What if the Crotonians were to find out that our number is decreasing and then decide to attack our camp?” Avinoges asked with some concern.

But the others laughed at the same time.

“We welcome their attack. We will make them taste the defense of our, the camp of Theonia!” Said Drakos confidently.

“But, if we don’t attack Krimisa, we might let those Crotonians find out about our intention. What if they take the initiative to withdraw to Crotone?” Asistes also raised his own questions.

“Who said that we will not attack Krimisa? We would still properly attack it and put pressure on them. When they realized that something was wrong, our troops would have already messed up the territory of Crotone, and once the Crotonians withdrew, we could then easily take Krimisa! In a word, according to the words of the grand legatus…that is…we should actively make the Crotonians run back and forth, so as to make the Crotonians not be able to concentrate their forces while confronting us….” Explained Kapus.

“How wonderful! I think this must be the plan that Lord Davos has conceived. It’s the first time I have seen such a clever strategy! We don’t even need to fight so hard and we could easily achieve our goal!” Complimented Avinoges.

His words were unanimously agreed by everyone.

Davos laughed and said seriously, “Now I am mostly worried about one thing-”

“Our food supply?!” The silent Hieronymus interjected, because he had stayed with the army’s logistics camp, so he knows something about it.

“That’s right.” Davos gave him a look of appreciation and said seriously, “The soldiers are about to eat up all the food that they had brought. Next, we have to rely on the food that will be transported from the rear, but to meet the needs of 22,000 men, the amount of food we need is absolutely huge! And Thurii is nearly a hundred kilometer away from Krimisa, and we can’t protect such a long transportation line! If Crotone were to notice this, their warships can just land on any coast, attack our supply convoy, and even destroy the villages and kill our people and cause us great trouble! So we have to complete our plan as soon as possible so that Crotone couldn’t do anything!”

“Hieronymus!”

“Here!”

“You are to immediately lead the third legion to build a camp on the south bank and besiege Krimisa!”

“Yes!”

“Drakos!”

“Here!”

“Draw three brigades from the second legion to assist the troops of lord Avinoges in building the camp on the south bank. The requirement is for you to finish the preliminary works by tonight and to completely besiege Krimisa!”

“Roger!!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the afternoon of that day, more than 10,000 soldiers of Theonia crossed the wooden bridge and began to take turns building the camp on the south bank of the river.

Milo, however, did not rush to send his troops.

In the evening, the preliminary work on the camp on the south bank was completed. So far, the Theonian camp had formed a huge semicircle around the city of Krimisa, with the exception of the port facing the sea, which could not be surrounded.

In the early morning of the next day, the Theonian soldiers continued to improve their camp facilities, while Lysias, the envoy of Crotone arrived at the camp of Theonia at the north. He was blindfolded when he was brought to the tent of Davos.

“Apologies lord Lysias! You and I are currently at war and so we have to adopt this method.” Davos apologizes, however, there was no trace of being sorry on his face. On the contrary, he looks like a hunting dog seeing fresh meat, “I remember that we have just met four days ago. I didn’t expect that we would see each other again so soon. You wouldn’t have brought your harsh condition to threaten us, have you?”

Lysias had naturally heard the taunt in the words of Davos, but he responded as if he didn’t hear it, “Lord Davos, I have come for a peace negotiation. Crotone is willing to sign an armistice agreement with Theonia and compensate you for your losses in the war, and the only thing we hope is that the war between Crotone and Theonia can be quelled, so as to restore peace and tranquility in Magna Graecia!”

Davos then laughed, “If you Crotonians wanted a war, then you start a war. If you wanted to end the war, then you come ask for a truce. Do you think that war is a child’s game?”

Lysias continued to calmly ask, “Then what kind of conditions would make Theonia be willing to accept the armistice?”

“Conditions?” With a cold snort, Davos paced back and forth a few steps in order to calm himself down. When he looked at Lysias again, his excited gaze already returned to his previous shrewdness, “Remember what I had said the last time we met? It’s very simple, my conditions are the same as those you have previously mentioned in the senate hall of Thurii!”

Hearing this, the heart of Lysias “thumps”.

“First, Crotone should compensate Theonia 5,000 Tarants in one payment. Second, The alliance of Crotone should be dissolved, and Crotone should not form an alliance with any other city-state after that. Third, Krimisa will be merged into Theonia Union!….”

At the end of each of his sentences, the face of Lysias turned uglier. In the end, he just simply shook his head, “Your conditions are too harsh! The council of Crotone will not accept them!”

“It’s better if you don’t accept it! Our soldiers still want more victories in order to get more rewards!” Though Davos looked indifferent, there are threats in his words.

“I admit that the victory of Theonia had made us panicked, but this panic had also prompted us to act together to fight against the enemy who might invade the lands of Crotone! The battles that you Theonians will later encounter will only become more and more difficult! Lord Davos, I would like to remind you that grapes can only be sold at a good price when they are fresh, otherwise they will become worthless once they rot.

Chapter 216 – The Suggestion of Kunogelata

“We’ll just wait and see.” Davos said with a smile, without paying attention to the threat of Lysias at all, “But I also want to remind you that the next time you come, my conditions will not be as good as now! Besides, I also want to remind you that we are not the only enemies of Crotone…if the war continues, who knows what will happen?!”

Lysias was shocked by his words.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

By noon, the first batch of supplies arrived at the camp.

With this, Davos breathed a sigh of relief, and at the same time a letter written by Kunogelata was brought to him mentioning that an envoy of Locri has arrived in Thurii and had proposed to the senate about “Locri and Theonia forming an alliance against Crotone”. However, the statesmen did not give a reply to the proposal on the ground that the archon was not present. Afterwards, the envoy fell ill with a high fever due to the exhaustion from his journey and was currently hospitalized for treatment, and so, he could not go look for Davos.

At the end of his letter, Kunogelata had also put forward his own suggestion, “Whether milord archon has the confidence to defeat Crotone independently or not, please consider that the strength of Locri is second only to Crotone, and behind them is the strong support of Syracuse. Destroying or seriously weakening Crotone will lead to Locri annexing the allies of Crotone and they will then become a stronger enemy for Theonia….”

After reading it several times, Davos picked up another letter, in it was the confidential report from Aristias and was sent through a special channel. The report mainly mentioned what happened in Thurii these days, including the arrival of the envoy of Locri. Besides that, it also mentions the events around Theonia, such as: ‘After Diaomilas, the archon of Taranto, led his army to capture Manduria, Archytas led his army to attack the city of Brindisi and continued to fight fiercely with the Messapians.’, ‘Potentia is now gathering the nearby tribes and seems to be preparing to attack Grumentum….’

But the last piece of report had caught the attention of Davos, ‘Dionysius, the supreme strategos of Syracuse, had led 80,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry and 400 warship to fight against Carthage’…at the beginning of the year, the whole Greek world in the western Mediterranean was filled with wars, including the war between Theonia and Crotone.

‘80,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry, 400 warships?!!!’ Davos widened his eyes and carefully confirmed the number on the letter. Although he knew before that Syracuse was the leading Greek power in the western Mediterranean, the powerful strength it showed at this moment still made Davos worried. After all, Syracuse was located in Sicily, which is not that far from Thurii, as it only needed 2~3 days of travel by boat to reach. And Syracuse has a precedent of interfering in the internal affairs of other city-states in Magna Graecia when Hieron, the brother of Gelon, the tyrant who had created the glory of Syracuse a few decades ago, succeeded as the tyrant. So Davos had to be vigilant.

He then picked up the letter of Kunogelata again, and once more carefully read it and then pondered for a long time….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After returning to Krimisa, Lysias naturally talked with Milo about his meeting with the archon of Theonia, Davos. Milo was angry at Theonia for daring to put forward such harsh conditions for the peace negotiation with Crotone, but he also felt extremely guilty.

Throughout the whole morning, Milo just watched the situation in the camp of Theonia on the city wall, thinking about ways to break through the enemy. Whether it’s on the south or the north bank, the soldiers of Theonia continued to build their camps, and pushing their defensive line forward, trenches, abatis, traps, and so on…and had laid them at intervals, it feels like they are not the one going to attack, but instead the Crotonians were the one going to attack.

Milo could only sigh while thinking what method did the commander of Theonia use to make such brave and opinionated citizen soldiers willingly continue doing this kind of hard and dirty work. If it were the soldiers of Crotone, they would have already given up and started making trouble.

At noon, Askamas, the commander of the fleet of Crotone, arrived at the port of Krimisa. Which made Milo to finally become excited, because Askamas is part of the ten strategoi of Crotone, and was also the friend of Milo and is a representative of the radicals. Milo believed that he would agree to his plan and help him.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After seeing Askamas off and getting his positive reply, Milo can finally relax.

Just as he was about to lie down and rest for a while, the guard came in and reported that the situation of the enemy outside of the north gate had a change.

Previously, the soldiers of Theonia had been working hundreds of meters away from the north gate, but at this time, they suddenly pushed to within 100 meters, and were just outside the range of the archers of Crotone. They then began leveling and tamping the ground, and sorting out a large piece of flat land. At the same time, they were guarded by heavily armed infantry on both sides to prevent the Crotonians from attacking them.

In this era, there were no catapults, and there is a moat and a wall that blocks the enemies, so it is impossible for them to do any harm to the city of Krimisa, so the soldiers of Crotone just watched curiously on the wall without much nervousness.

Milo was also watching all of this, and he already started feeling tired and just wanted to figure out what the Theonian wanted to do.

The soldiers of Theonia then began carrying a 5 meter long tree trunk, then placing them on the edge of the flat land, and drove the tree trunks into the soil one by one. Afterwards, they connected and fixed them with ropes, and soon made a wooden frame of about 30 meters long and 5 meters wide.

“Do the Theonians want to build houses here? Are they not afraid that we would burn it?!” A Crotonian soldier cracked a joke, which immediately caused a burst of laughter.

But he then saw the Theonians carrying heavy sacks and putting them into the edge of the wooden frame and stacked them neatly.

“Hahaha…I think the Thonians don’t just want to build houses, they also want to bake bread(because it’s a sack for grain and flour)!” Another Crotonian soldier caused a burst of laughter.

As thousands of Theonian soldiers participated in the work, a wall of sacks was then built in a twinkling of an eye, and the height of the wall is leveled with the wall of Krimisa, and it is still continuing to rise….

Seeing this, the expression of Milo changed and the adjutant beside him cried out, “Not good, the enemy is building a taller wall in order to attack us!”

Seeing such a thing in front of them, the Crotonian soldiers who were just watching had realized something and began to panic: There are many powerful slingers in the Theonian light infantry, and they have a longer range, and now, the Theonians had use an ingenious method to quickly build a platform nearly two meters higher than the four meter city wall of Krimisa. This means that once the enemy starts besieging the city, their light infantry can just climb this tall platform and use their height advantage to let their arrows and stones rain on the soldiers on the wall of Krimisa, which will make the defending soldiers at the top of the city wall to be too busy avoiding the attack and not be able to defend…Milo then felt cold, ‘We have to destroy this platform!’

But he also knew that the enemy would be on guard, so he decided to attack at night.

Soon after, he saw that the Theonians began digging trenches around the platform, and filled the gaps in the middle of the platform with the excavated soil….

Milo then started to somewhat lose his mind, ‘Those Theonians are simply just rats, the only thing they could think of is to dig holes to protect their lives!’

At dusk, the Theonians built a small camp around the tall platform.

With this, Milo could only give up his decision to attack at night, because he didn’t want to waste the lives of his soldiers on this hopeless endeavor.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the early morning of the next day, the salpinx on the north camp of Theonia sounded, and the soldiers of the centurias of the second legion carried ladders and formed a small phalanx formation, which was a hundred meters away from the city wall.

Davos then stepped on the platform for the first time, and subconsciously stamped his foot twice, and felt that it was quite stable.

When he first saw the city of Krimisa, he had the idea of building such a platform, because a four meter high city wall is indeed too short. However, it’s not easy to build an earthen wall taller than the city wall, because it is easy to collapse. Fortunately, the engineers have come up with a good idea, using the tree trunks and ropes as the frame, then using sacks as support and then filling it with soil…which is not only fast to build, but is also firm.

Davos then looked at the panoramic view of the northern wall of Krimisa, seeing the soldiers standing on the city wall, he then said to Epiphanes who was next to him, “Can our archers hit the enemy?”

“Grand legatus, our archers won’t have a problem hitting them!” Epiphanes said confidently.

Davos nodded, “Then start the attack.”

“Archers, shoot!” At the command of Epiphanes, the archers on the platform began shooting the first round of arrows, and the slingers who were in the rear also began their attack.

At last, the siege has finally begun! Milo, who was standing at the top of the northern gate, is now filled with determination. Facing the flying arrows and stones, he shouted, “Defense!”

He had specially arranged for the hoplites to defend the section of the city wall facing the high platform. They then began raising their round shields one after another in order to cover their head….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the south bank of the Crati river in the Sybaris plain, is a new village. Aguilas is the head of the village, which is the lowest ranking official in the Theonian administrative system. According to the newly promulgated law, the head of the village is elected by the citizens of the village with a term of one year.

However, it is not easy to be a village chief, because candidates have to meet several necessary conditions: First, they must be a formal citizen of Theonia. Second, they should pay taxes on time and have no record of breaking the law and are disciplined. In addition, those who have served in the army and have made great contributions to the Theonia Union are much more preferred.

Chapter 217 – Crotone’s naval harassment

As a result, the new village was composed of dozens of households with the majority of them being preparatory citizens. Aguilas was elected without any dispute because he was one of the mercenaries who had followed Davos to Thurii, and during the siege of the Lucanians, he was seriously injured in his left leg and had become a cripple. After the establishment of the Thua Union, Davos had come to visit these wounded soldiers and Aguilas had made a request to him, hoping to change his “share” of land allocated to him in Amendolara to the south bank of the Crati river, his purpose was for him to stay away from his comrades who are still active, so as to not get depressed due to his situation.

With the influx of people and the large-scale development of farmlands on the plain of Sybaris, new villages have sprung up on this flat and fertile plain. Originally, in the eyes of the dozens of new households, they found Aguilas to be difficult to approach, but under the supervision of the public official sent by the senate, Aguilas was easily elected as the village chief. Because he found out that Aguilas was a mercenary veteran who had followed the Favored of Hades, the benevolent archon, the invincible strategos, Davos, and had gone through life and death with him. Looking at Aguilas, he had immediately become awed.

Aguilas was a serious person, since he has become the chief of a village, he needed to do his duty in maintaining the order of the village, resolving the disputes among the villagers, teaching morals and customs to the villagers, checking the planting in the farmland in the village, reminding the villagers to participate in military training on time, supervising their military service and pay taxes, recording the population growth and guard against epidemic diseases…he is in charge of all kind of work, no matter how big or trivial it is.

Every morning, he gets up and walks around every corner of the village while clutching a cane, and sometimes, he even drags his injured leg to jump into the mud and repair the canal together with the villagers….

A few months later, the whole village praised him for his performance. When they encounter him, their faces are filled with respect from the bottom of their heart, which has made him find the meaning of his survival and struggle.

After the battle between Crotone and Theonia started, all the adult men in the village went to participate in the war. However, the spring was the season of sowing and the labor was obviously insufficient. Although every family has slaves, agriculture is after all, different from commerce. If there are too many slaves, they will only consume money and food. In fact, when the labor force is tight, they can just rent slaves to survive the busiest period. Therefore, each family has only one or two slaves. So Aguilas had to rush to the senate of Thurii, and after registration, he brought 30 slaves back to help the whole village to do farm work.

Except for Aguilas, who is disabled, the whole village only has women, elderly and children, and the rest are all slaves and most of whom are males, but Aguilas was not worried that the slaves would cause trouble because the law of the union stipulates that every year on the founding day of Theonia City-State Union(that is, October 30), a group of slaves that had work hard and has good performance will be given freedom in front of the temple of Hades. This is their reward and also to show the kindness of Hades. Since the promulgation of this law, the enthusiasm of the slaves of the city-state has become high, and their efficiency has doubled. For the slaves in rural areas, it is not easy for farmers to own a slave, and they depend on them so much that it is only natural for them to cherish the slaves. So they often treat the slaves as a part of their family, and the longer the time they spent, the closer the emotional relationship between the two sides, and the more freedom the slaves could have. And as long as the master is rich and can afford the payment demanded by the union, many of the slaves can be freed before their master dies, and after they are free, they will often return to their master’s home and continue to help with the housework as servants.

With the help of the slaves, the spring ploughing of the whole village was completed. Of course, in his spare time, Aguilas will comfort the women and elderly in the village who are worried about their relatives.

On this day, because the waterwheel in the village had broken down, Aguilas had to rush to the city of Thurii early in the morning to find someone to repair it. After making an appointment with a skilled carpenter, he hurriedly went home.

As soon as he opened the door, the female slave immediately came forward and told him, “Master, madame is sleeping right now and she did not vomit today.”

Aguilas was relieved. He had fought for most of his life in the battlefield and had thought that he would someday die in the wilderness or live a lonely life. However, he did not expect that he would become a citizen of a city-state and get an allocated land, marry a wife and establish a family, and now, he will even have a child. This is the blessing of Hades!

At that time, when he heard the news from the physician, he had danced with joy and had immediately used his savings to buy a female slave to take care of his pregnant wife.

“Master, have a drink.” The female slave then held the wooden cup filled with water.

However, Aguilas didn’t immediately drink it, and had instead asked, “Is it boiled?” In the past, the Greeks used to drink raw water, but Herpus, who is highly skilled in medicine, had repeatedly appealed to the citizens to drink “boiled water” and insisted that this can reduce the incidence of diseases. Aguilas was no stranger to this, because during the Persian expedition, Davos had strictly demanded his mercenaries regarding this matter. And for the sake of his unborn child, he needed to take good care of his body.

The female slave nodded, so he drank the water with confidence.

“Bang!” The door was suddenly pushed open and made a loud noise, then a child half of Aguilas’ height came in.

Aguilas glared and was about to reprimand the boy.

The boy then pantingly said, “Uncle Aguilas, I was just picking shells on the beach…I then saw…saw a big ship stopping on the beach, and many people disembark with weapons!”

Enemies!! Aguilas immediately became alert, he then turned to the slave and said, “Go to the field and call back Pomis(he is the male slave of the family), and have him immediately help my wife to go north and wait for me in the square of Thurii!”

“Yes, master!” The female slave then ran outside.

“Boy.” Aguilas then remembered that the boy’s name was Patroclus. He was usually mischievous and was often beaten up by his father, “When you saw those people, is there anyone else by the sea?”

“I am the only one.”

Aguilas then asked, “Can you ride a mule?”

“I have ridden other people’s cows and mules many times.” The clever boy was obviously aware of the emergency, so he confided his secrets and was not afraid of being scolded.

“Do you know about the village in the south, which is very close to us?”

“Yes, I had fought with a kid in that village.”

“Uncle wants you to ride my mule and immediately go there to inform them and say ‘the enemy is coming, and to immediately evacuate!’ Can you do it?”

“I can!” The boy nodded hard.

“Good boy!” Aguilas praised and stroked the head of the boy. Suddenly he remembered something, and then took out the seal of the village head issued by the praetor of Thurii, and put it into the boy’s hand, “If they don’t believe you, then show them this.”

“Understood.” The boy nodded again.

Aguilas then immediately took the mule from the shed in the courtyard, and the boy easily jumped on the back of the mule.

“Remember kid, after passing the message, you will then wait for us by the wooden bridge on the Crati river!”

“Got it uncle.” The boy then shook the rein and the mule ran out of the courtyard.

Seeing the boy’s skillful movements, Aguilas became a bit relieved. As a veteran mercenary, he and most of his comrades have similar ideas, and this union was created by them with their blood and sweat, so they have the responsibility to defend this union, and not just focus on their own villages.

Aguilas reluctantly looked at his house, then strode out of the door and limped to the village square, and went to ring the bronze bell to order the villagers to evacuate immediately.

Aguilas then led the slaves to support the elderly and the children. Shortly after they left the village, thick smoke rose behind them….

The women shouted and cried for their burning village….

Aguilas could still manage to keep his calm. Based on his previous experience of plundering, he judged that the enemy would not go out of the village immediately to catch up with them. He then urged the villagers to speed up, while changing his fist tightly: His first home in the union was destroyed!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“This morning, three villages in Thurii were destroyed and 15 people were killed, but we didn’t catch the enemy! Philesius, you have to do something! If it goes on like this, the Nike Square will be filled with people who have lost their homes, and then the people of the whole union will fall into panic! Do the soldiers at the front even want to fight?!” Kunogelata said anxiously, as the praetor of Thurii, he couldn’t watch Thurii, who had finally recovered its prosperity, suffer another disaster.

“Lord Kunogelata,  just calm down and sit, in order for us to discuss it slowly.” Cornelius comforted him, then explained to Philesius, “To tell you the truth, the Crotonians are very cunning. They use their small warships to land on the coast of Thurii and Roscianum, and all of them are sailors with bows and javelins. And the young and middle-aged citizens of our villages have gone to war. Otherwise, how can they attack us so easily! As soon as the enemies found out that our troops had arrived, they would immediately flee back to their ship, and make us unable to catch up with them! And currently, there are only three brigades in the city and they still have to defend the port of Thurii and also to take care of Amendolara. We are really short of manpower!”

“But the problem must be solved as soon as possible!” Kunogelata snorted and then added, “If we don’t have enough people, then we can consider using those freemen!”

“Lord Kunogelata, that is a great idea.” At this time, Philesius, who had been pondering, then said, “There are tens of thousands of freemen who have nothing to do in the port right now. And as time passes, they are prone to make chaos. Yesterday, there were some freemen who had gone to the camp and said, ‘We have nothing to eat, give us what the soldiers are eating!’”

Chapter 218 – Invasion of the Northern Plain of Crotone

“The freemen have run out of food?!” Asked Kunogelata in surprise.

“The war has broken out so suddenly that many freemen did not manage to stock up on grain in advance. Afterwards, when they wanted to buy grains, it had already been sold out.” Philesius looked at the other two men, because the union itself was the cause of it.

“Then pay them food as their salary and let the freemen fight for the union, instead of just always shortening the assessment period of the citizen as a reward and making the citizenship of the union less valuable! Philesius, if the freemen can make great achievements and defeat the regular army of Crotone under the leadership of the archon, then even without the leadership of the archon, you should have no problem dealing with the invasion of the ordinary sailors of the fleet of Crotone, right?” Kunogelata asked Philesius in a blunt tone.

Philesius didn’t take it to heart, and said seriously, “Of course it wouldn’t be a problem! My plan is to make every 100 freemen form a team and patrol all the coasts where they can land, and at the same time, a large brigade will be sent to the Thurii-Roscianum road, and a centuria of hoplites will be stationed every 2.5 kilometers, and have the scout cavalry to make contact between the patrol unit and the stationed centuria. In case of a small group of enemies, then the patrol should be able to repel them, but when they encounter a large number of enemies, the patrol unit must first block the enemy’s surprise attack, and the scout unit will then go inform the nearest centuria and then rushed to attack the enemy together….”

Kunogelata was a bit surprised and said, “That’s a great idea.”

“However, I am afraid that we will need to tighten our grain supply again. If we want to use the treasury’s money to buy more grains in Heraclea, Mersis will once again complain at us.” Cornelius said helplessly.

“How can war be cheap? But as long as the archon can win the final victory, we will get more money.” Since their victory in the battle of Trionto river, Kunogelata, who is afraid of war, has become more confident in Davos.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Milo had thought that the Theonian army would attack the city with the help of the platform, but besides their exchange of arrows and stones the whole morning, there were no other movements. In the end, even the light infantry stopped their attack due to their hands losing strength.

Such an odd calm had puzzled Milo. Naturally, he wouldn’t know that the 5,000 soldiers of the third legion of Theonia and the 3,000 warriors of Laos had entered the northern plain of Crotone, and started destroying the farmland and villages, and did the same thing as what the Crotonian sailors had done, except that Davos had given a military order in advance that they are not allowed to kill the people of Crotone. So the soldiers were just intimidating and driving the Crotonians away.

As early as after their defeat in battle, the council of Crotone had advised the people in the villages on the northern plain to flee to the city to temporarily avoid the flames of war. Because of the spring sowing and the absence of any enemy for three days, the people of Crotone had thought that Milo had managed to block the Theonians in Krimisa, so most of them did not leave. But now, the army of Theonians had suddenly appeared in front of them, and made the Crotonians flee to the south in panic.

In southern Italy, the plains of Crotone is comparable to the Sybaris plain because of the two rivers. One is the Neto river, which originates from the mountains in the south of the Apennines Mountains and flows from the west to east into the gulf of Taranto. Due to the convergence of many tributaries, the width, depth and flow of this river is greater than that of the Crati river on the Sybaris plain. The other is the Esaro river, which also originates from the mountains in the southern Apennines and flows into the sea from north to south. These two rivers from east and south irrigates the plain of Crotone, and at the same time cuts the plains of Crotone. On the sea side of the core area is Crotone, a famous powerful city-state in Magna Graecia. As Crotone is close to the gulf of Taranto, it has one of the few deep-water ports among the Greek city-states in the Apennine Peninsula, and so, Crotone has both fertile plains and excellent ports. A hundred years ago, the main reason for the war between Sybaris and Crotone was that Sybaris wanted to destroy their potential rivals, while Crotone wanted to seize the trade dominance in southern Italy. Therefore, when a small part of the population of Sybaris fled to Crotone because of the dispute, it had then become the fuse of the war.

Between the rivers, mountains and the plains, is a city named Aprustum, which was founded by the people of Bruttii. To the west of the northern plain of Crotone is the continuous Apennine mountains, which is difficult to pass through. Trekking to the northwest by following the natural valley formed by the Arvo river, a tributary of the Neto river, one can reach the only plateau in southern Italy, Sila plateau. The Bruttians that were living there had come from the upper reaches of the Arvo river, and went all the way down to Aprustum following the river

However, After Crotone had become strong, they could not tolerate having an aborigine city which is only 10 kilometers away from them to control the upper reaches of the two rivers and the passage on the northern plain of Crotone, and threaten the safety of Crotone. Therefore, a hundred years ago, Crotone launched an army to attack the city of Aprustum, and after several struggles, they finally occupied the city and drove the Bruttians back to the Sila plateau. Aprustum has now completely become a Greek city-state. And as a colonial city of Crotone, Aprustum is now completely under their control, and has become their horns, guarding the safety of Crotone.

The news regarding the invasion of Theonia on the plains of Crotone had spread to the city of Crotone, and had frightened its people. In particular, the 3,000 soldiers of Laos had hurriedly advanced all the way and were now approaching the north bank of the Neto river.

The defenders on the south bank of the Neto river became flustered, so in order to not let the enemy cross the pontoon bridge and reach the city of Crotone, they had set the several pontoon bridges on the river on fire, which made many people who were fleeing south to be stranded on the northern bank of the river.

Just as Crotone was ferrying the people by boat, the army of Laos had reached the river bank, and so, the Crotonians cried and were forced to flee northwest along the river bank of the Neto river in panic.

When the Greeks first came to this plain, it had an abundant number of marshes due to the Neto river and its many tributaries and abundant rainfall. However, the Greeks had mature drainage technology, and after hundreds of years of management, there were basically no marshes left. But the people of Crotone are still in danger while escaping, because Laos had sent several units of soldiers to chase them.

The Crotonians were frightened and tired. Fortunately, before they knew it, there were more young men in their group, and they enthusiastically helped the women to carry their heavy loads, picked up the children, and helped the elderly, which allowed the fleeing group to not abandon the elderly and children. In the end, the soldiers of Laos stopped their chase, and the refugee could already see the city of Aprustum.

Strategos Phragris, a citizen of Crotone, opened the gate almost without hesitation, and nearly 900 refugees, covered with dust and panicked, entered the city.

But at this moment, a scout had urgently reported to him that 5,000 Theonian soldiers were coming to attack the city of Aprustum.

Phragris had immediately panicked once he heard it. In the two wars with Theonia, more than 6,000 men were drawn from Aprustum to join in the war, and were used as fodders and will never return again. And now, there are only more than 700 citizens in the city who can fight, so how can they stop the 5,000 Theonian soldiers who had managed to defeat the army of Crotone?!

Phragris, who lacks actual combat experience, has no confidence. But when his gaze fell on the frightened refugees in the city, he immediately changed his original idea of getting rewarded by the council of Crotone and gaining their favor by escorting the people out of the city.

“People of Crotone! People of Crotone!!” He stood on the stone stairs of the city wall and yelled, but there were loud clamors and only a few people paid attention to him. So the soldiers began to shout, and finally, the refugees calmed down and looked at the strategos of Aprustum.

“People of Crotone, there are 5,000 soldiers of Theonia that are coming to destroy this city!” As soon as Phragris said this, the crowd then became restless, “What?! The Theonians are coming?!”

“Why haven’t you opened the south gate yet? Let us leave here!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The crowd clamored more loudly, and Phragris and the soldiers had to calm them down first.

“Naturally, you can go. But you should know that because Crotone had launched two wars against Theonia, most of the citizens of Aprustum has followed the army of Crotone and had failed to come back. As a result, there are not many citizen soldiers in the city, and I am afraid that we couldn’t stop the large number of Theonians! Aprustum is the northern barrier of Crotone, so once it is occupied by the Theonians, they will then be able to smoothly go south and easily cross the Neto river and enter the central plain of Crotone, which will be a disaster!….So I urge all of you who can take up the shield and spear to join us to defend Aprustum! To defend Crotone!”

The words of Phragris were the truth, although Aprustum is supposed to be a city, it is a special case(from the administrative division of Athens, several villages were put together and formed a town). Although it had its own council, there was only one strategos in charge of the city-state, and was elected by Crotone’s “Ten Strategoi” every year. So in an emergency, Phragris, who is also a strategos of Crotone, has the right to give orders to the Crotonians.

The refugees fell into silence, and everyone was thinking and weighing the benefits.

Chapter 219 – Storming Aprustum

After a while, a young man holding a baby in his arms handed the baby to a woman beside him and stood up.

The woman grabbed him and whispered in a concerned voice, “You have to be careful!”

The young man felt guilty and avoided the gaze of the woman, “You too!” With that, he strode out of the crowd.

Under his leadership, many people said goodbye to those around them and strode out.

Phragris patted the young man on the shoulder and asked, “Young man, what is your name?”

“Phryntor.”

Phragris then glanced at the woman holding the baby and comforted him, saying, “Don’t worry. Once the enemy is defeated, you will soon be together with your wife.”

Phragris thought that the two were husband and wife, and the young man just nodded his head.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The 5,000 soldiers of the third legion led by Hieronymus rushed to Aprustum. Their speed is much slower than the troops of Laos who attacked the northern bank of the Neto river because they have to carry the siege equipment that they had made last night. However, they deliberately set up such a time difference so that the plan could proceed smoothly.

At this time, Hieronymus is talking with Izam while advancing with the troops, “Are you sure your men have entered Aprustum?”

“Of course! I have watched them go inside with my own eyes. If it wasn’t for my appearance being different from the Greeks, I would have gone inside together with my brothers! Legatus, I hope that you can rush to attack the city as soon as possible, because I am afraid that after some time has passed, they will be found out!” Pleaded Izam.

“I understand.” Hieronymus promised it immediately, and asked at the same time, “How many people went inside?”

“56 Soldiers.” Izam said it immediately, because he knows his subordinates like the back of his hand. With the union’s expansion, the legion has also expanded, and due to this, the mountain reconnaissance team has also expanded, and has now become a centuria.

Hieronymus was a little surprised. He didn’t expect that so many soldiers had managed to sneak into Aprustum, which made him more confident in taking over the city. Therefore, he told the people playing the salpinx to increase the pace of their march.

In fact, the marching speed of the soldiers are already in constant increase even without the urging of Hieronymus, because these 5,000 soldiers are from Nerulum, and they had missed the previous battle and so, they are now eager to fight and perform meritorious service.

The upper reaches of the Neto river are neither deep nor wide, but its banks are higher. Hieronymus was the first to arrive at the north bank, and when he saw many enemies on the other bank drawing their bows, he immediately gave his order, “Seventh brigade, attack!”

The light infantry of the third legion quickly formed a long stretch of skirmishers and scrambled down the river bank, braving the arrows that came at them while crossing the river. After paying a small amount of casualties and climbing on the other side, the enemies had already run away.

Then the hoplites who followed after, were carrying ladders and rafts made of trees and crossed the Neto river with ease.

The city of Aprustum is not far ahead and it’s on a higher terrain. However, it’s very easy for the Lucanian soldiers who were living in the mountains. Finally, they stopped in front of the city of Aprustum and began to line up at the command of the officers.

While the soldiers of Aprustum were looking at the enemies under the wall and were nervous, and behind them were the newly joined people, who were even more nervous.

Strategos Phragris saw an old man trembling, and having his shield fall to the ground many times, and so, he went forward and comforted him, “Don’t be afraid, the enemy can’t attack us! And this city has never been conquered by the enemy since the time Crotone owned it! A few decades ago, when we were defeated in the south(referring to the war between Locri and Rhegium against Crotone.) The Bruttians wanted to seize the opportunity to take back Aprustum, and they had a lot more people than the Theonians, but they had still suffered a disastrous defeat and could only go back home!”

His words have reassured the soldiers.

When Phragris walked along the walkway on the wall, inspecting the whole defense from west to east, and seeing that there were enough soldiers at each crenel, it also gave him enough confidence.

Aprustum, like Roscianum and Krimisa, is a small city, but because of its important geographical location, the Crotonians has expanded and strengthened its defense many times. Therefore, Aprustum has a seven meter high wall and a four meter wide trench, and it is also irrigated by the tributary of the Neto river to form a wide moat. Moreover, steep mountains are to its west and it is adjacent to another major tributary of the Neto river to its east, with wide river width and deep water depth. Therefore, it has only two gates, the north and south, and so the forces are concentrated on both sides, which made it convenient for defense.

Izam carefully watched the enemy on the wall, and he suddenly, with a look of joy on his face, ran to Hieronymus and excitedly said in a low voice, “Legatus, my brothers are on the wall!”

Hieronymus, who is always serious, had his countenance and change and impatiently asked, “Where?”

Izam, though excited, remained cautious. Instead of using his fingers to point, he whispered, “On the far left side of the city wall!”

Hieronymus then immediately looked at the far left side of the city wall. It was currently noon, and the sun was hanging in the middle of the sky and shining on the heavily armored soldiers at the top of the city wall. The light shining was dazzling, but there was a place where it was different. The dazzling round shields were neatly connected in a row, but the reflected light was bright and then dark, obviously, these people were turning the round shields in their hands at the same time. Whoelse would do such a boring and physically consuming thing before the battle? Hieronymus then smiled, “Izam, once we capture Aprustum, your team will be the first to be credited!”

“Thank you lord legatus!” Izam was overjoyed.

With the mountain reconnaissance team as the insider, Hieronymus had quickly made a plan to “attack the right side of the enemy to attract the attention of the defenders, while covertly attacking the far left”.

When the salpinx sounded, the soldiers howled like hungry wolves in the mountains and were like tides rushing to the city of Aprustum. Bagul, Asistes, Litom, Kesima, Ulasa and other brigade leaders had also taken the lead and led the charge in person….

The Crotonian soldiers then began to fire arrows at the enemy who entered their range. But for the Theonian hoplites in heavy armor and helmets, their casualties were minimal. The salpinx that sounded the battle had encouraged the wild lucanian soldiers of the third legion, and if an arrow were to hit their arms and thighs, they would just break the arrow shaft and continue to move forward even though they were wounded.

They then quickly reached the moat, and according to their training drill, the soldiers in the front quickly put the five meters long and three meters wide wooden raft on the moat, then the soldiers carrying the ladders stepped on the wooden rafts and crossed the moat and went straight to the wall, followed by soldiers holding the round shield and swords.

At this time, the attack on the city wall began to become fiercer, with arrows, javelins and rocks falling down, and the casualties of the Theonians had suddenly increased….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Lysias did not expect that the situation would become so bad as soon as he returned to Crotone.

The people who had fled into the city had spread about the invasion of the army of Theonia, and soon, panic spread throughout the city….

Many statesmen were also very flustered, they had thought that the reason why the army of Theonia could smoothly go south was because the army of Crotone was defeated again and the city of Krimisa was captured, and so they threatened angrily, “Milo must be convicted if he had dared to flee!”

Lysias then retorted, “I have just returned from Krimisa, and when I left, the city of Krimisa is still in the hands of Milo. When you calculate the time, it is impossible for Krimisa to be captured by the enemy in just a few hours and to also reach the north bank of the Neto river. The Theonians must have bypassed Krimisa! I have to admit that the Theonians are too brave, because without a boat, they will not be able to cross the wide Neto river, and as long as Milo holds on to Krimisa, the Theonians invading the plains of Crotone wouldn’t be able to do anything, and they will have to go back in the end.”

“The Theonians can’t cross the Neto river, but they can attack Aprustum!” Someone anxiously said.

“It will not be easy to capture Aprustum, the Bruttians had tried to capture it many times but had failed! I even hope that the Theonians would attack it, and become a great blow to the Theonians!” Someone retorted.

“If we continue to fight like this, then what good is it for us! We Crotonians have suffered huge losses, our farmland has been destroyed, our houses have been burned, the prices are rising, the wealth of our treasury is being consumed, and due to the lack of labor, our trade has also been greatly affected and a large number of our citizens has been captured! The people are already dissatisfied with us. Let us make peace with the Theonians!” Some people said pessimistically.

“Peace negotiation?! Didn’t you hear what Lysias had said about the conditions of the Theonians?! That damned archon of Theonia wants us to disband our alliance, can we agree to that?! Once Aprustum becomes independent, Caulonia, Scylletium and Terina will no longer be our allies, then tomorrow, perhaps Locri and Bruttii would have destroyed them and then come all the way here, to Crotone!” Someone denounced angrily.

“Peace negotiations are like buying and selling things. Theonia has offered us their conditions, and so we can continue to negotiate with them and lower their demands….”

“Peace negotiation is okay, but only after the attack of Theonians is repelled! So that we can stand up proudly and talk to the Theonians loudly!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

No one knew when the council had started debating over the issue of “whether to hold peace negotiations with Theonia”. Fortunately, they were able to distinguish their priorities and some emergency measures were quickly implemented: The warships will sail into the Neto river and cruise the banks to prevent the Theonians from sneaking in and building bridges. And at the same time, they will hire freemen in large numbers, some will be guarding Crotone, some will be stationed on the south bank of the Neto river to watch the Theonians on the other side, and a small number of freemen will be sent to Aprustum to strengthen its defense. In addition, they will send people to Krimisa to ask Milo to attack the Theonians who are besieging the city of Krimisa in order to force the invading enemy to withdraw.

Chapter 220 – Fall of Aprustum

Before the herald of Crotone arrived, Milo had already received a report from the warships cruising along the coast of Krimisa, ‘The Theonians have invaded the plains of Crotone!’

Milo was startled, and exclaimed, ‘We got fooled by the Theonians! It’s no wonder that they didn’t fully attack us, it turns out that they just did this to attract my attention! And the Theonians in the southern camp had already gone south!’

However, he hesitated on attacking the southern camp of Theonia. After all, the army of Theonia is still sieging the city. So once he mobilizes his troops, the Theonians will easily see it on their high platform. And if they take this opportunity to launch an attack, Crotone will lose Krimisa, and will become a greater trouble!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The siege of Aprustum was still going on fiercely. Phragris didn’t expect that the Theonians would attack as soon as they arrived, without fearing death.

The ladders were overturned by the push rod and were quickly set up again. The soldiers climbed up the ladder one by one, if one of them was pushed down, the next one would speed up without any hesitation. And the light infantry brigade approached the city without fearing the arrows, while fighting back with their own javelins and arrows at the defenders on the city….

The fierce attack of the Theonians soon achieved results, the defense on the top of the city wall was broken through many times. When the Theonian soldiers reached the top of the city wall, the defenders soon noticed that these Theonian soldiers in Greek armor were tall, strong, with long hair and strange battle cries. It was obvious that they were not Greeks. They are fierce and powerful, and in order to kill or drive away one of them, the defenders had to pay the lives of several soldiers.

Due to this, Phragris needed to send his reserve forces many times to help the frontline defenders to drive down the enemies who had managed to reach the top, specially in the far right section of the city wall, where the Theonians attacked the most fiercely.

Strategos Phragris, who had some experience in guarding a city knew that it is impossible for the Theonians to maintain such a fierce offensive momentum. So as long as they manage to last through this period, the Theonians will soon be helpless. So while he sent all the reserves, he yelled at the soldiers and encouraged them to fight bravely.

But he didn’t expect that at the most chaotic moment of the battle, the commander of the third legion, Hieronymus, who was below the city wall, had ordered his guards to line up and collectively rocked their shields at the left side of the city wall.

The defenders at the leftmost end of the city wall were concentrating on defending against the enemy’s attack, when suddenly, a shout came from behind them, “Attack!!!”

Those “Crotonians” that they had regarded as comrades had stabbed them with their swords and spears and easily gotten rid of the defenders. Without waiting for the soldiers of the third legion to come up, these dozens of soldiers of the reconnaissance unit had immediately launched an attack on the nearby defenders….

When Phragris, who was still commanding the battle on the right side of the city wall, got the report, the Theonians had already captured the left side of the city and a large number of soldiers had quickly climbed up the city wall, then rushed through the walkway and fiercely killed their way towards the center….

As soon as the Crotonians saw that the situation was not good, they immediately dropped their shields and spears and ran desperately into the city.

This desertion had immediately induced a domino effect. Under the attack of the Theonian soldiers in the front and the side, the defenders finally collapsed. They then scrambled to get out of the city, but the passageways were blocked. The terrified soldiers then directly jumped from the seven meter high city wall to escape, and fell drastically, which resulted in their feet and legs breaking and they all lay down on the ground wailing.

While the people in the city were also terrified and shouted in horror, “The enemy has entered the city! The enemy has entered the city!!….”

They supported the old and the young and hurriedly tried to escape to the south gate and flee to Crotone.

In the middle of their journey, the reinforcements of Crotone had ran into the people who were in a hurry to escape. When they learned that the city of Aprustum has fallen, they were so surprised that they didn’t even dare to go any further, and had immediately turned around and ran back.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The herald of Crotone arrived in Krimisa and had brought the council’s order to attack.

Milo, who is no longer the polemarchos and was just a sinner, had finally ended his hesitation and sent his 7,000 soldiers, including more than 2,000 infantry, to attack the camp of Theonia on the south bank of the river.

Davos, who was observing the movement of the enemy on the high platform, had immediately asked Adrian, the senior centurion of the first brigade of the second legion, to lead 2,000 hoplites and 500 light infantry to cross the river to replace the third legion and to reinforce the 2,000 soldiers led by strategos Matonis of the first brigade of the first legion that was stationed in the southern camp. With a strong camp and reinforcements from the north camp, Matonis has the confidence to repel these large numbers of enemies.

However, though the offense of Crotone was thunderous, the rain is small. In front of the camp of Theonia, they ate small losses due to the “iron thorn nail trap”, “meat hook” and other traps, and had made them to immediately retreat back to the city. Naturally, Milo would not waste Crotone’s only fighting force to clash with the heavily fortified camp of Theonia, when they are already lacking the courage to attack. So as soon as they found that the camp of the enemy was well defended, he immediately sounded the signal to retreat.

However, the herald of Crotone was angry at the immediate retreat of the troops and forced Milo to continue to attack, and threatened to dismiss Milo from his position as commander if he did not attack. However, the soldiers expressed their support for Milo one after another, and the envoy could only leave Krimisa and return to the council of Crotone to complain.

However, the council of Crotone was now in a mess due to an astonishing report, “Theonia has captured Aprustum!” it was like a bolt from the sky and had made all members of the council to be dumbfounded. And outside the council hall, the people had gathered in the square, while shouting to let the council to quickly come up with a solution to this crisis.

And this time, the call for peace negotiation is far stronger than before, and some people even said that the conditions of Theonia can be accepted as long as peace is restored in the northern plain of Crotone.

While the council was still debating about the peace negotiation, two things happened in succession that have prompted them to make a decision at last: First of all, the 500 soldiers of the Theonians third legion had crossed the Neto river and enter the core area of the plain of Crotone when they were pursuing the Crotonians, and they have even manage to get close to the city of Crotone, even though they soon retreated back to Aprustum, this astonishing sight had still shocked the defenders and the people in the city. Just when the whole city was in a state of panic, a transport ship from Caulonia entered the port of Crotone, and the envoy of Caulonia then came down from the ship and brought a bigger bad news – Locri has declared war on Caulonia! Their army had moved to Caulonia and the envoy had come to request help from Crotone.

The thing that the council of Crotone had most worried about finally happened: While Crotone fell into the quagmire of war, their mortal enemy, Locri, will then fiercely attack the allies of Crotone. And Crotone, as the leader of the alliance, was duty bound to send reinforcements, but at this moment, the manpower of Crotone was not even enough to deal with the attack of Theonia. So where else could they get extra troops to help Caulonia? And without the support of Crotone, it is impossible for Caulonia to block the attack of Locri, which means that Croone will face the worst situation of being attacked on both sides, and Crotone is in danger of being destroyed!

All members of the council had immediately stopped quarreling and quickly reached an agreement: ‘To reach an armistice agreement with Theonia as soon as possible!’

Lysias had to go north again, and in order to prevent him from being too unyielding and leading to the failure of the negotiation, he was accompanied by another envoy, a member of the council – Sisticos. (He is the one who had previously said that “regardless of what conditions Theonia promised, as long as the peace in the northern plain of Crotone is restored, they should agree to it.”)

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At this moment, the central army camp of Theonia was filled with a happy atmosphere. Because the news of “The third legion captured the city of Aprustum” had cheered them up.

“Grand legatus, we should take advantage of this great opportunity while the Crotonians are in panic and launch an attack on Krimisa, and we will surely capture it!” Said Drakos eagerly, as the legatus of the second legion, his legion’s achievement must not fall behind the third legion.

“The city of Aprustum is already ours, so it doesn’t make much sense for the Crotonians to stick to Krimisa. I am afraid that they will give up Krimisa soon. And we can then easily capture, so there is no need to sacrifice the lives of our soldiers to storm Krimisa.” Kapus said cautiously.

“However, allowing the more than 10,000 Crotonians to retreat will only increase the difficulty of our attack on Crotone!” Drakos retorted loudly.

Kapus couldn’t talk back for a while. Indeed, Crotone is a big city, not only with a vast land and a large population, but also with a ten meter high wall and a six meter wide moat. According to the conventional way of sieging, they are doomed to do a protracted siege. However, the water is not under the control of Theonia, and so they cannot completely block Crotone, and the only thing they could do is to attack it with force, but how many soldiers’ lives will it take to face such a formidable city? Can they even capture it? Almost all of them felt uncertain in their hearts. If the strength of the defender is further strengthened, the chances of their victory will be even more slim.

But with a calm expression, Davos turned and asked, “Lord Avinoges, what do you think we should do next?”

After entering the army tent, apart from congratulating Davos on his victory again, Avinoges, who has been observing silently, faced the gaze of Drakos and Kapus, and said, “Why do we have to attack Crotone? Now that we have such a great advantage, why can’t we force Crotone to make peace with us?”

“The Crotonians are about to lose, wouldn’t it be too good for them to negotiate peace now?!” Drakos immediately objected.

Kapus was pondering deeply.

Then a smile appeared in the corner of Davos’ lips: An archon’s angle of thinking is still different from that of a simple strategos!

Just as he was about to speak, Martius, the captain of the guard, requested to enter and then brought two letters.

One is from Philesius. After reading it, Davos frowned and pondered. Then he looked at the second letter with a special mark – it was from Aristias.

Chapter 221 – Peace Negotiation

Davos looked at the other people and said, “I have two piece of news, one is good and one is bad. Which one do you want to hear first?”

“Let’s listen to the bad news first.” Said Drakos.

“This morning, the supply transport unit returning to Thurii was attacked not far from the marsh by 300 Crotonian sailors. The freemen guarding the supply had lowered their vigilance, which had caused 50 casualties and a lot of the animals were lost. Before our soldiers could arrive, the enemy had already fled back to their ship moored on the coast….” Said Davos aloud.

“300 sailors?! As the number of Crotonian taking part in the attack increases, the more they become daring! I remember that we have troops stationed near the marsh though!” Said Kapus in surprise.

“Perhaps this is the reason why the convoy had their vigilance lax.” Davos then said seriously, “We must learn from this lesson to ensure that this will not happen again!”

Kapus and Drakos clenched their fists and strongly nodded.

“The hateful thing is that we don’t have a fleet, otherwise, how can we just let the Crotonians to easily attack our villages and slaughter our people in our territory!” Said Drakos angrily.

They were helpless in this regard. After all, Theonia is a new union who had just been established for less than a year. And the navy is unlike the army that can be sent into the battlefield as long as they have people, weapons, and a few months of strict training. Even if they increase up the speed, it would take at least three months to just launch a warship, especially for a main warship, a trireme. It will also require nearly 200 sailors and experienced helmsman….and so on. And after the training and testing, it will still take several months to skillfully operate the warship in order for it to be effective in combat. Therefore, the navy is an expensive arm that consumes time, money and manpower, and naturally, a small city-state can’t afford it. But with the current strength of Theonia, money and manpower is not a big problem, but what they lack the most is time. So Davos secretly listed the “establishment of the navy” as the top priority of the union’s next development after this war with Crotone.

“Lord Davos, what is the good news?” Asked Avinoges.

Davos smiled, “Locri is going to attack Caulonia! As you had said, in such a situation, Crotone might consider negotiating with us again. If they still don’t move-” Davos’ voice suddenly became as cold as the wind, “I will order Hieronymus to send troops across the Neto river and destroy the farmland, villages and canals…and all the facilities outside of Crotone and force them to come to negotiate with us!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the second day, Lysias and Sisticos entered the main camp of Theonia.

Davos looked at them and said with a smile, “Lord Lysias, I had said that we will meet again, but I didn’t expect it to happen so soon.”

Lysias ignored the teasing of Davos and said seriously, “Lord Davos, the conditions that you have put forward last time had been discussed by the council of Crotone. They had agreed to give up Krimisa, and to hand it over to Theonia and we are also willing to pay a certain amount of money to promote peace! As for the dissolution of the Crotonian alliance-”

Lysias stopped talking for a moment in order to think how to word it better in order to persuade Davos. However, Sisticos cut in and answered, “The council of Crotone had considered it all and agreed to dissolve the alliance, but now that Locri is attacking Caulonia. Based on the deep friendship between Caulonia and Crotone for hundreds of years, Crotone must give assistance to Caulonia, and having the identity as the alliance leader is favorable for Crotone to gather the citizens to form an army to reinforce Caulonia and repel Locri….after we beat Locri back, we will…disband….” Sisticos suddenly choked up and couldn’t even continue his sentence. The century old hegemony of Crotone in Magna Graecia was built by their ancestors, who had strove to get stronger and fought bloody battles, but now, all of it is going to be wasted…so he was unable to hold back his emotion.

Lysias complained at Sisticos throwing away all their cards to the other side as soon as he spoke, which was totally foolish and at this moment, his heart was filled with sadness.

“You don’t need to disband the alliance of Crotone!” But the words that Davos said were beyond their expectations.

Looking at their surprised expression, Davos continued, “Theonia can even release the tens of thousands of Crotonian citizens who have been captured!”

Lysias and Sisticos looked at each other and could not believe what they were hearing.

“But I have one condition.” Davos then slowly said, “Theonia does not have the habit of returning what we have gotten.”

Lysias responded quickly, “You mean…Aprustum?”

Davos smiled, “It isn’t only that.”

He walked to the map and pointed out a place, “Our army has already begun to camp here!”

Lysias stepped forward and took a look. Then, he was unable to stop himself from sucking a breath of cold air, “You still wanted the land on the north bank of the Neto river?”

“It’s not that I wanted it, but it is the condition that must be met if you want to negotiate peace!” Davos then added solemnly, “Crotone is the aggressor and had launched two wars against Thurii and Theonia Union. You have burned the city of Thurii, plundered its wealth and wantonly slaughtered the people of Theonia. Driven by the goddess Nemesis, we had fought back bravely, and with the help of Hades, we have won one victory after another. The confidence of the people of Theonia is high, and they also want to let Crotone suffer the pain of having their city burned! If there is no rich spoil, our people will never agree in negotiating peace with you! Many people have even suggested that the more than 10,000 captives should be sent to mine, just as how Syracuse had dealt with their Athenian captives!”

The tone of his voice had made Sisticos’ hair stand on end. He naturally know what happened to the Athenian soldiers who were captured, and he said in a trembling voice, “Aprustum plus the land on the north bank of the Neto river, occupied almost one third of the territory of Crotone, and there are so many people who used to live on these lands, so if we were to give all of these to Theonia, then what should Crotone do?! It is impossible for the council to agree to this!”

“These two wars had cost Crotone and Aprustum the lives of no less than 20,000 citizens, right? So their land should now be free and by moving the people to the city of Crotone, it will enrich your manpower and by redistributing lands that lacks labor force is a good way to reorganize Crotone, while at the same time, you will reach a peace agreement with Theonia, and it will also allow the returning citizens of Crotone to once again form an army to help Caulonia and repel Locri, this is like hitting multiple birds with one stone!” Said Davos in a deep voice.

There seems to be some temptation in the words of Davos, which had made Sisticos to want to nod his head, but he subconsciously looks at Lysias. Lysias, however, shook his head slightly, so Sisticos opened his mouth, but did not speak and then kept quiet.

“Of course, you can all go back and slowly discuss it. I am not in a hurry, and maybe after just a few days, it will not be you who will be standing in front of me, but Locri. As long as they can work with Theonia, I don’t think that Locri would even care how much the land of Crotone be divided.” Said Davos leisurely, with an air of indifference.

Lysias and Sisticos suddenly felt cold, and Sisticos hastily said, “Esteemed lord Davos, it is indeed true that it will be really hard for the council to agree in…giving the land on the north bank of the Neto river to Theonia, but part of the land…can still be given to you…and we can discuss the exact portion. As for Aprustum-”

On hearing this, Davos immediately cut him short, “Aprustum must be controlled by Theonia. This is not negotiable! To prevent Crotone from breaking your words again, and tearing up the agreement and launching a war!”

Sisticos stood embarrassedly not knowing what to say.

Lysias sighed at the bottom of his heart, the way how Sisticos had easily compromised, his incompetence and his weak performance had made him speechless, but the council had chosen him! As a matter of fact, Lysias also understood that Crotone has been completely passive since the war. So even if he is confident that the army of Theonia will not be able to break through the sturdy city of Crotone, and could even force Theonia to withdraw, but so what! The farmlands, villages and other facilities would have been destroyed, and they are lacking young and middle-aged citizens, and it will take a long process for Crotone to return to their former prosperity. And their grave situation does not allow Crotone to have the luxury to take their time, and the panicked people do not have the determination to fight. Therefore, compromising in exchange for peace and reducing losses for their future revival had become the best choice of the council.

Lysias no longer hesitated after he thought about it, “Aprustum is Crotone’s northern barrier, so once it falls into the hands of the enemy, it will only make the people of Crotone to feel more uneasy. I think that even if the council agrees, the ecclesia will oppose it!”

“So you reject the terms of Theonia.” Davos looked at Lysias.

Sisticos anxiously pulled the clothes of Lysias, while Lysias said calmly, “The people of Crotone are against Aprustum falling into the hands of the enemy, but they won’t necessarily be against it if it is being occupied by allies.”

“Ally?!” Davos, who has always been calm and steadily held the pace of negotiations, also appeared to be a little surprised.

“That’s right!” Lysias raised his head and said in a loud voice, “As long as Theonia and Crotone form an alliance, it will not be a big problem for us to hand over Aprustum and part of the north bank of the Neto river to Theonia.”

Chapter 222 – Unusual Alliance Agreement

Sisticos stood blankly with his mouth wide open.

While Davos stroked his beard and was lost in his thoughts: ‘Becoming an ally will indeed be excellent!’ Because the biggest obstacle to getting the Crotonians to agree in ceding the land on the north bank of the Neto river and Aprustum is the security of Crotone, so by becoming an ally, it will make that obstacle to no longer exist. Because the current Magna Graecia all know that the archon of Theonia is known for always keeping his promise, and Crotone, after this war, had weakened and needed to take shelter under the protection of Theonia. So does Theonia need this alliance? Of course! With so much new land, just immigrating, administrating and forming a new defense force…will take a long time. And their only biggest worry is that the immigrants will clash with the Crotonians near the border, or even provoke another war. But with this alliance, the Theonians can slowly annex, assimilate and stabilize this piece of land, so an alliance with Crotone will naturally be the best choice for both sides!

Davos looked at Lysias complicatedly and thought, ‘In the face of the enemy he hated, he is still able to come up with a clever proposal to form an alliance with the enemy, even though his own city-state is being pressured. Without a strong determination, it is difficult to keep calm and still be rational!’

Lysias, seeing that Davos was silent, kept looking at him, and had become a bit flustered, so he urged, “Does Lord Davos agree with this proposal?”

Davos regained his composure, “What kind of alliance is it?”

“Theonia Union and Crotone will form a separate offensive and defensive alliance!” Said Lysias in a deep voice.

As soon as Davos pondered a bit, he realized that Lysias was playing a clever trick. He didn’t want Theonia to enter the alliance of Crotone and influence the allies of Crotone such as Scylletium, Terina and Caulonia. In this regard, Davos does not care, because he believes that as long as their strength is strong enough, there will naturally be city-states running to them.

“Theonia Union can only form a defensive alliance with Crotone!” Davos calmly responded, it isn’t a problem for Theonia Union to protect Crotone, but to help Crotone expand such as: If Crotone were to attack Locri in the future, according to their agreement, Theonia will have to lead their army to participate in the attack…naturally, Davos would not do such a stupid thing, and Lysias, who was in a weak position, could only agree…

The negotiation lasted until the afternoon and manage to work out a preliminary draft: 1) The Theonia Union will form a defensive alliance with Crotone. 2) Theonia will release all the captured soldiers of Crotone and its allies and let them return to Crotone. 3) Crotone will transfer the city of Aprustum and half of the land of the northern bank of Neto river (mainly the land near the side of Krimisa) to Theonia Union. 4) Crotone will pay 500 Tarants in one payment in order to help the Theonians to migrate to Aprustum….

Finally, the alliance will last for five years. The original requirement of Davos was that the duration of the alliance should be two years, but Lysias strongly demanded to increase it to five years, comparing it to when they were negotiating an armistice half a year ago, the situation now is completely the opposite, which shows that the strength of both sides has switched.

Krimisa wasn’t mentioned in the pact because Davos thinks that Krimisa is a neutral city-state and does not belong to the alliance of Crotone, so Crotone has no right to discuss on behalf of Krimisa. Lysias, on the other hand, considered how to minimize the stimulation of the people of Crotone due to these agreements and had even re-word the reparation payment into aid. So naturally, it is better for them to not discuss Krimisa. In fact, one with discerning eyes can see that the city of Aprustum and half of the land in the northern bank of the Neto river now belongs to Theonia, which means Krimisa is already surrounded by Theonia, so do the Krimisians even have any other choice?!

Lysias and Sisticos then returned to Krimisa.

Milo then immediately asked Lysias about the negotiation, however, Lysias was afraid of creating more trouble, so he just said that the negotiation had just begun, and some of the conditions put forward by the Theonians could only be decided after discussing it with the council, and he then hurriedly boarded the ship and left Krimisa.

Milo felt uneasy in his heart: The fall of Aprustum and the declaration of war by Locri had made Crotone to only have few options and now it only depends on how harsh the conditions of Theonia are.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

However, the one that is more disturbed is the people of Krimisa, even though they are trapped in the city, the things that are happening outside couldn’t escape their ears and eyes through the port. Lysias has appeared many times in the city, so why has he come? They also know in their hearts that a small city-state like them could only struggle to survive amongst the big city-states, so they are quite sensitive to the situation.

Androlis, the polemarchos of Krimisa, had once taken the initiative to find Lysias. However, Lysias evaded the subject and didn’t talk about the fate of Krimisa in detail, and Milo has been avoiding him. Intentionally or unintentionally…all of these had made Androlis feel that this peace negotiation is very unfavorable to Krimisa. Even though Krimisa fully supported Crotone, in the end, they may be abandoned! Androlis felt heartache when thinking of these.

Therefore, after secretly discussing it with Eurypus, Pleitinas and the others, he decided to no longer sit still and took the initiative to contact Theonia and find a way out for Krimisa.

Although the defense of the whole city was handed over to the Crotonians, the Krimisians were the local snakes. Their men sneaked out of the city in the middle of the night, crossed the blockade and came to the camp of Theonia. After showing his intention, the guards then brought him to Davos.

“Krimisa wants to surrender?” With a teasing smile, Davos then said, “Your whole city is under the control of Crotone. So what good will your surrender bring me?”

The visitor was unable to respond for a while. After seeing the indifference of Davos, he gritted his teeth and said, “We, Krimisians, still have more than 300 citizens who can fight. Once you attack the city, we are willing to attack the Crotonians from the rear to help you capture Krimisa, and then-”

“Then once the war is over, Krimisa will continue to remain neutral!” Said Davos playfully.

“No! No!….” The visitor shook his head in a hurry. By then, Krimisa would have already offended Crotone, so how can they remain neutral! “Krimisa is willing…willing to join the alliance of Theonia!”

“It’s already too late!” Davos then said seriously, “We don’t need Krimisa to do anything nor join the Theonia Alliance. For Krimisa, there is only one option!”

In an emphatic tone, Davos said firmly, “Become part of Theonia Union! The people of Krimisa will become citizens of Theonia Union! Then the land and property of the Krimisians will be protected, while the strategoi and statesmen will be elected by the senate of Theonia, and some of them will then join as members of the senate!….”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When reading out the draft of the pact at the council of Crotone, Lysias and Sisticos thought that it would arouse their indignation and disagreement, but in fact, there were only a few that objected. Just before Lysias came back, the Theonian army had once again appeared in the core area of Crotone and destroyed a village outside the city. The members of the council witnessed all of this, and at the request of the masses, they hastily assembled thousands of people to get out of the city to stop them, but they were easily defeated and could only flee back into the city in embarrassment. Fortunately, the Theonian soldiers did not take advantage of this victory, and had taken the initiative to retreat.

The frustration of the Crotonians is conceivable. Besides that, this is literally not an armistice agreement  for the defeated, but an alliance agreement of mutual help, although part of the land has been “transferred”, most of the Crotonians are happier to be able to welcome back the captured Crotonian citizens and form an alliance with Theonia. Because they were now deeply afraid of Davos, the archon of Theonia, and some of them have even started believing that the rumor regarding “Davos is a descendant of Hades” and  “Favored of Hades”. So everyone was relieved that they will no longer be enemies with Theonia who has Davos, and has instead become an ally. Some have even put forward that, ‘Now that the alliance agreement has been signed, we should ask Theonia to send troops to the south together with the army of Crotone to repel Locri….’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At the end of January 398 B.C. the archon of Theonia, Davos, and the strategos of Crotone, Lysias, had formally signed an alliance agreement after offering a lamb to Apollo outside the city of Krimisa and the second Crotone war came to an end.

After the news of the end of the war spread, many Crotonian soldiers in Krimisa had cheered. In the past, they have always been invincible, but during the period of time they were fighting Theonia, they were always defeated, this huge contrast had made their morale drop sharply and their depression can be conceived, but they can now finally drop this huge rock in their hearts.

“Look, this is the voice of the citizens! They are tired of fighting Theonia!” This situation made Lysias sigh, and it is also in response to the complaint of Milo of Lysias compromising too much in the negotiation.

Through the window, Milo watched the soldiers throw away their shield and spears, and ran to the bars to drink alcohol, as if they had won a battle.

At this moment, the guard came in, “Strategos, Androlis asked us when we would leave.”

“Damn Androlis, don’t think that just because Crotone has lost you Krimisians can disrespect us!” Milo suddenly yelled at him and vented his anger, “Go and tell them to not annoy me, or else I will make the city of Krimisa become a ruin at my command!”

Chapter 223 – Entering Krimisa

“Milo, the Krimisians are now citizens of Theonia!” Sighed Lysias.

Milo’s angry shout stopped, he breathed in hard and kicked over the wooden chair by the window and strode out of the room.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The anger of Milo quickly reached the ears of Androlis, but he didn’t care. When the people they sent to contact Theonia brought back the condition of Davos, the strategoi of Krimisa hesitated whether to join Theonia Union, but Androlis had acted decisively, he insisted and finally convinced the public to agree to it.

“Eurypus, take hundred citizen soldiers to guard the temple to prevent the Crotonian soldiers from robbing our treasury while they are withdrawing!”

“Pleitinas, also take hundreds of citizen soldiers to guard the granary!”

“While me and the others will go see Lysias and see if we could get some of the goods that the Crotonians piled up in the port. After living in Krimisa for quite some time now, the Crotonians should pay for their accomodation!” Said Androlis threateningly.

“What about our people? The Crotonian soldiers might come to their house to cause trouble!” Someone asked urgently.

“Davos has announced that Krimisa is now part of Theonia! So have each household to engrave the words ‘I am now a citizen of Theonia’ on their wooden door and see if the Crotonians still dares to rob a citizen of Theonia and risk provoking another war!”

After Androlis said it, the people around felt awkward and fell into silence. Krimisa, which has been independent for decades, will now be merged into Theonia Union, and the Theonians will be managing the city of Krimisa in a direct manner, which means that most of the council members of Krimisa will lose their power. If it is not for their current situation, they are not willing to accept it. As a matter of fact, some of the Krimisians have responded to Lysias’ call and are willing to move to Crotone together with the army. It’s only because of the promise made by Davos and the rapid rise of Thurii and Amendelora that have made most Krimisians to stay, because as citizens of a small city-state, they were already fed up with being oppressed by big city-states during this period and they no longer want to live such a life anymore and had chosen the winner of this war, Theonia Union.

“Everyone, cheer up and work hard to do your task well!” Seeing this, Androlis cheered them up, “We are doing this not for the sake of others, but for ourselves. As long as we can smoothly hand over a complete and rich Krimisa to the Theonia Union and let them fully realize our sincerity and ability, then a lot more people will be invited into the senate of Theonia and strive for more interests for Krimisa in the future!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the afternoon, the first ships full of Crotonian soldiers began to leave the port of Krimisa.

Milo looked dismal compared with the excited soldiers. When the city of Krimisa disappeared from his sight, he turned to look at Lysias and said, “The pact that you have signed means that we will hand over the position of the overlord of Magna Graecia to Theonia! From now on, with just a wink of Theonia, Crotone must follow their order!”

Lysias was silent for a moment and said, “And who is responsible for that?”

The lips of Milo twitched and his face became bitter.

“It is better for you to think about how you will answer the council once we get back.” Sighed Lysias.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At the same time that the Crotonian army left Krimisa by ship, Davos led his army into the city of Krimisa. He had originally only wanted to take a few people in, but was opposed by the other strategoi. For the sake of safety, he was asked to take half of a legion.

Androlis, Eurypus, Pleitinas…and all the people that are left behind from the council of Krimisa came to meet the Theonians outside the city.

In the camp of Theonia, a light rhythm of salpinx and drums sounded, and the Krimisians were attracted by the music that they had never heard before, and the Theonian soldiers, dressed in clean military clothes, followed the rhythm of the melody and formed a four long column with neat steps and marched slowly to the city of Krimisa.

At the forefront of the column was Martius, the captain of the guards of Davos. He held high the flag representing the grand legatus of the Theonian army, and the statue of Hades that is shining and dazzling. Then there was a band composed of trumpeters and drummers of the whole army, followed by a team of thousands of outstanding soldiers drawn from the three legions. And the flags of the legions, brigades and centurias were held high in the air in every small part of the column, making the flag in the whole column flutter and shine, and the soldiers were all smiling. It was magnificent and had given the Krimisians the feeling that the Theonians are not here to show off their power and sovereignty, but to greet a relative. Otherwise, the music would not be so cheerful and the colors would not be so gorgeous. Even the Krimisians also noticed that the soldiers of Theonia were not carrying their shields and spears, which surprised them and at the same time became touched, because this meant that the Theonians trusted Krimisa!

Davos and the other legatus of the army and Avinoges did not ride the horses, and instead walked in the middle of the column and were surrounded by guards wearing red capes, so they are more less eye-catching.

The procession then stopped at the gate of Krimisa.

Androlis and the others came to greet them, while Davos, Avinoges, Kapus, Drakos and Hieronymus came out of the column and were escorted by the soldiers.

Androlis went straight to Davos, not because he had seen him before, but because the news that the archon of Theonia was a young man had been spread all over Greece, and it was clear who was the youngest among them. (T/N: Didn’t Androlis meet Davos when he went to Thurii together with Lysias?)

“Lord Davos, I, Androlis, the former polemarchos of Krimisa, and the former members of the council of Krimisa, welcomes you!” After that, he bowed respectfully, and some people behind him followed suit, while the others just stood silently.

Davos immediately greeted him back and said, “Thank you for your trust and support to Theonia Union! Facts will prove that your choice is absolutely right!!”

“Oh, really?! So what will be our benefit from fully supporting Krimisa in joining Theonia?” Someone interjected.

“Of course!” Davos ignored the odd tone on the guy’s voice and said in a serious tone, “To be a citizen of Theonia, you will be respected wherever you go! If someone dares to violate your rights, the union will get justice for you no matter if you are a noble or a civilian! If you are brave and are good at fighting, then you can get lands continuously by virtue of your achievements in battles! If you have outstanding ability, then you can take up public office after passing the examination, and then to finally become a statesman of the senate by virtue of your merits! Even if you are an ordinary citizen, you will also enjoy the convenience provided by Theonia Union, like providing cheap, but highly skilled medical care for the citizens, providing smooth roads and bridges for the convenience of the citizens’ travels and businesses, the agricultural officers will provide technical help for farming to the citizens, the commercial officers can grant you low interest loans for your business, we also have well-trained soldiers to ensure the security of our territory…once you get familiar with the life as a Theonian, understand the system and laws of Theonia, you will know how different we are from other city-states, and you will then become proud of being a citizen of Theonia!” At this moment, Davos was obviously a little boastful and complacent.

Androlis, Eurypus and the others seemed to be interested, while some were thinking of something.

“Oh…since Theonia is so good, do we have a chance to become an archon in the future?” Someone said it at this moment.

Due to this statement, Kapus, Drakos, Hieronymus and also Avinoges, all widened their eyes, and they felt that the one saying it had evil intentions and had obviously aimed his criticism at Davos.

While most of the Krimisians turned pale for fear that it would infuriate Davos and become detrimental to Krimisa.

Davos remained calm, this is undoubtedly what the other city-states criticize the most at Theonia. He knew that Krimisa is different from Amendolara and Thurii. The two cities were saved by Davos when they were about to perish, and so the people were grateful for him and needed his protection. Therefore, they had no qualm on Davos being the archon for life of the union. Besides, Davos abided by the law and discussed everything with the members of the senate, and he rarely acts arbitrarily. The only time he used his power was to oppose the public opinion and advocate the battle of Crotone, and they won in the end. Therefore, as time passed, the people began to happily accept Davos. There is no need to mention Nerulum, because the Lucanians believe in the strong, so they naturally have no objection.

Only Krimisa, who was once an enemy and was conquered by the power of Theonia, has some people that are unwilling and dared to open their mouth to criticize Theonia. So of course, Davos would not be polite to them, “In a short period of time, Theonia can rapidly develop into a powerful city-state in Magna Graecia and even defeat Crotone, because we have a different political system from the other city-states. I heard that some Krimisians have left together with Crotone, so if there are people here who don’t like Theonia, then they can still freely leave now, and those that are willing to stay and become a citizen of Theonia, then you must adapt and abide by the system and laws of Theonia as soon as possible!”

The hidden threat in the words of Davos had made some Krimisians, who still wanted to raise objections to stop talking.

“Look, this Theonia-.” The man who spoke just now had wanted to lash out at Theonia again, but his mouth was then covered by the two guards that Androlis sent.

“Lord Davos, it’s our fault for keeping the soldiers of Theonia waiting outside. Please get up and come inside!” Androlis apologetically said.

“Good!” Davos smiles.

Chapter 224 – We are one family

The people of Krimisa had just seen off the Crotonians and were now welcoming the Theonian army. They became slightly dazed about this very eye-catching army entering the city.

But as soon as they reached the square, the Theonian army disbanded, and under the leadership of the officers, the soldiers begun using the tools they brought in the loaded cart and started cleaning the streets that were full of garbage, leveling the damaged roads and even helping the people in repairing their houses…they worked hard to clean up the city after the war.

The Krimisians were first surprised, then they slowly tried to talk to these “conquerors”. Eventually, they were affected by the soldiers’ enthusiasm and had joined their ranks of rebuilding their homes with guilt. While the women brought food and water to express their gratitude to the soldiers, and at the same time, they told them about their own difficulties at home, hoping to get their help. Naturally, the soldiers were willing to contribute their strength and enthusiasm.

In the next afternoon, Krimisa, a war-torn and somewhat lifeless city, became vibrant.

The members of the former council of Krimisa were surprised to see this situation, and started whispering with each other.

Androlis, as the former polemarchos of Krimisa, had considered himself as well informed, but he had never seen or heard about soldiers of a conquering city-states helping the people they conquered in repairing their homes after the war. Like the others, he was so surprised and excited that made him not know what to say, “Lord Davos, this…this is….”

“From today on, the Krimisians are now citizens of Theonia. We are all one family! As a family, we have to help each other, right?” Davos said with a smile.

Looking at the shocked expression of the people around him, Davos was very satisfied with the effect of what they had done. Before coming, he had given the soldiers the order “to clean”. However, he could not make the soldiers to work willingly just because of his order, and so at the same time, he also told them that, ‘Because of our victory, and based on the performance of the soldiers, the freemen who have participated in the war will have their citizens’ evaluation period be greatly shortened, and the soldiers who have performed well on the war may immediately become an official citizen! With this victory, Theonia will get a lot of land, and all the soldiers participating in the war will be rewarded with “allocated land” for their contributions. And the land allocated will mainly be near Krimisa, and so, the Krimisians will become the new home for some soldiers, and because of the successive wars in Krimisa within half a year, a large number of male citizens were killed and wounded. Now, there are more women than men, and so Davos encourages every soldier that is still single to win the favor of the women of Krimisa with their action!’ It is for these reasons that the soldiers do not have the pride of the winner, and instead use practical actions to win the favor of the Krimisians, their future neighbors.

“And you-” Davos continued, “The treasury, the granary…have been protected well and were not robbed by the defeated Crotonian soldiers, and you had managed to completely hand it over to the union. Isn’t it because you agree with Theonia Union and regarded yourself as citizens of Theonia that you were so thorough! I am sure that the senate of Theonia will recognize your efforts!”

Everyone believed at the implication of Davos, and so their faces were beaming with happiness.

Davos looked at their smile, but he was very clear in his heart that even though the number of statesmen of the senate is far from full, this time, the senate will definitely need to be cautious and send people to secretly investigate who is the most prestigious and charismatic among the people of Krimisa. Only those who are willing to become citizens of Theonia and are hard working will be invited to join the senate, while the election is used as a cover. As a territory that was just merged into the union, he and the senate must firmly control Krimisa to prevent any accidents.

“Lord Davos, please follow me to the port and check the supplies that we have taken from the Crotonians.” The former polemarchos of Krimisa remained calm.

This made Davos look at Androlis with some appreciation and said, “Good!”

After inspecting the city of Krimisa, Davos immediately ordered for some of the food and supplies that were obtained be distributed to the Krimisians to compensate them for their losses that they have suffered as a result of the war.

This generous act had won the favor of the people. He had also ordered Kapus to lead the 2,000 soldiers of the first legion to stay in the city to maintain and stabilize the order and to continue helping the people in repairing the damaged buildings. While the rest of the army will continue to stay in the camp outside the city and begin burying the pitfalls and pulling out the iron nails…and so on, and return the environment around the camp to normal. Davos, on the other hand, politely declined the invitation of Androlis for dinner and led the cavalry of Ledes, accompanied by Hieronymus, to Aprustum.

Davos could see either farmlands or villages, as well as crisscrossing canals as they gallop on the broad plain of Crotone with slightly undulating terrain. Although he couldn’t see any visible human activities, some villages have smokes coming out. Except for the occasional bereaved wailings, the villagers are afraid to cast hateful gazes on the group of Davos. However, this did not affect Davos and his entourage, as they kept on looking at the newly acquired land of Theonia with great interest.

Ledes then said excitedly, “Although the terrain is not as flat as the Sybaris plain, its soil seems to be not as worse as the Sybaris plain!”

“It seems that you want to exchange all of your lands to here.” Said Davos jokingly.

“Milord, I don’t plan to do that. I will feel uncomfortable to do anything if I have the Crotonians next to me.” Said Ledes while shaking his head.

“In such a fertile land, you are still so picky. It’s true that the rich are the ones that don’t know the pain of the poor.” Davos continued to tease him.

The cavalrymen had also taken this opportunity to make fun of their captain.

At this time, Hieronymus who was next to him, said, “No matter how good the land is, if there is no powerful strength, then it is impossible to keep it.”

Davos took advantage of this situation and said, “That is right, so we definitely must not follow the steps of Crotone. We should continue to strengthen our training and defend our homeland! Your cavalry team, in particular, has made great achievements this time, but you must not get it over your head, and continue to improve your horsemanship and learn new cavalry tactics together with your captain. I hope that you all can become an important attacking force in the Theonian army and be the one to decide the outcome of the battle! Do you have that confidence?”

“YES!!!” The cavalries raised their spears and cried out excitedly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Standing at the top of the city wall of Aprustum, with a panoramic view, one can see the continuous mountains and snow to the west, the rushing torrents, cliffs, and the green fertile fields of the plain of Crotone to the east. When the weather is excellent, it is even possible to take a glimpse of the hustle and bustle outside the city of Crotone to the southeast….

“Such an amazing place! The Crotonians had actually given this to us!” Said Davos while groping the thick battlement.

“Of course, it’s not that the Crotonians wanted to give this to us, but they could not take it back!” Bagul said confidently, “The terrain of Aprustum is very good. With the city being this high, I will only need 2,000 soldiers to block the attack of 20,000 soldiers!”

Davos, who has checked the defense of the city in detail, nodded in agreement.

“The mountain reconnaissance unit of Izam helped a lot in capturing this city!” The words of Hieronymus had reminded Davos, so he turned to look at the young Carduchian that was accompanying them, “Izam, your unit has made a great contribution this time. Every soldiers who had taken part in capturing the city will have their great contribution be recorded!”

“I thank the grand legatus on behalf of my brothers!” Izam then excitedly said, “Milord, as long as  you can expand my reconnaissance unit to a thousand people, we will be able to play a greater role!”

Hieronymus and Asistes then looked at each other because the request of this Carduchian is so direct.

Davos did not mind it and smilingly said, “The role of the mountain reconnaissance unit is to scout, disturb and destroy the enemy from within, it is not for you to engage the enemy in a head-on confrontation. If you want so many people, commanding them will not be convenient and it will become easier for the enemy to find you….” Instead of refusing, Davos thought about it seriously and said, “It is not impossible for me to expand it, but first, I would like to see you make an expansion and training plan. How many more people will be added, how will you organize and train the expanded mountain reconnaissance unit and how to make this new team adapt to and enhance its special role in wartime.”

“Great, thank you milord!” Izam cried out with undisguised joy.

“If you just want to be a strategos(senior centurion), then say it earlier!” Asistes took this opportunity to tease him.

“You are now all strategos, so I naturally can’t fall behind.” Izam said it confidently.

Everyone burst into laughter.

“Are all the original inhabitants of the city gone?” Asked Davos, turning around and looking down at the city.

“The Crotonians came to the city and read the pact that they had just signed to the people here, and they vigorously mobilized them to leave. They all cried and made some noises, but they all eventually left, leaving no one. Moreover, we allowed them to take away their belongings. However, they also wanted to take away public property, but we rejected them, because this is our spoils!” Said Asistes.

“It’s good that all the residents of Aprustum are now gone, as we can now start immigrating our people and take firm control of this city!” Davos also warned, “As soon as possible, you should make a clear inventory of the property in Aprustum and then make a list so that you can divide it with Laos and Roscianum.”

Chapter 225 – Son

“Those are our spoils, it has nothing to do with Laos and Roscianum!” Bagul immediately objected.

“Bagul, calm down. Do you know what is stipulated in the Theonian Alliance agreement?” Davos asked patiently.

Bagul shook his head. He became a citizen of Theonia for just half a year, and he had not even fully understood the laws of the union, let alone the alliance agreement.

“When Theonia is at war, all allies need to send troops to participate in the war, and the spoils they get will be fairly divided….” Said Asistes, who was beside him.

“Yes, fairly divided!” Davos emphasized in a loud voice, “As an ally of Theonia, Laos had immediately sent 3,000 soldiers and even their archon, Avinoges, had personally led it himself as soon as he found out that we had declared war with Crotone. While Roscianum had not only refused Crotone’s invitation, but they had also given us great help in the battle. These two allies had given their full support to Theonia during the war. Could it be that we Theonia is too stingy that we are too reluctant to share the spoils with them? Then which city-state would like to fight together with us in the future! In my opinion, it wouldn’t even matter if we give all the spoils to them, because we still got a more precious things-”

In the face of Hieronymus, Bagul and Asistes, Davos slowly uttered a word, “Land!”

The three men immediately understood that the spoils they got could be shared, but the land won in the war is owned by Theonia alone. Theonia had used the soldiers of their allies to expand their territory for themselves, which was actually quite a good deal.

“Grand legatus, speaking of land, I have a situation to report to you.” Asistes interrupted, “Many Lucanian soldiers of the third legion thinks that the mountains around Aprustum are suitable for grazing, and the environment is even better for grazing than that of Nerulum, so they have ask me if they can get their share of land here.”

“You mean that they ask for an allocated land for their own?” Davos reacted very quickly and immediately understood the meaning of Asistes’ words.

“Yes.” Asistes said in embarrassment, “They didn’t know whether they will get any more land, because their tribes have already been allocated a settlements in Nerulum.”

Instead of answering immediately, Davos looked at Bagul and asked, “Do you know about this?”

“I know.” Bagul answered truthfully, “Asistes had already discussed it with me. Most of the soldiers who had come to ask for an ‘allocated land’ had come from various tribes in Nerulum. It is because they have seen that the Greek soldiers can own their own land, while they have to share it with their tribes, that is why they requested that they want to ‘leave their own tribe and live alone’.”

Davos looked at him and continued, “Do you think that their demand is reasonable?”

“I think that it is very reasonable!” Without considering the thoughts of Davos, Bagul replied without any hesitation, which had made Asistes worried, “The ‘allocated land’ that the soldiers earned in exchange for fighting for their lives should be owned by themselves, and the soldiers being independent will be more beneficial to their integration into Theonia.”

There was a smile on Davos’ face, “I am glad that you can think of it that way! But what do the leaders of those Lucanian tribes think?”

“I don’t think that they would object.” Bagul obviously thought about this issue and said, “In the past, the reason why the Lucanian tribes absorbed manpower was in order for them to survive and strengthen themselves, but now that they are under the protection of Theonia Union, we no longer have a crisis for survival. On the contrary, the departure of these soldiers will make the land in the hands of the tribe be richer, which is a good thing.”

“Then I agree to give an allocated land to those Lucanians who wants to be independent.” His words made Bagul and Asistes happy, but as he pondered, he began to pace back and forth. He is happy to see that the Lucanians tribes will be broken up and be eventually integrated into the union. However, he is worried that such a radical action will arouse the resentment of the leaders of these small tribes, which will not be favourable to the infiltration of Theonia into the northern region of Lucania in the future, so he should be careful, “But before doing that, after we return to Thurii, I will first let your father and Hemon go to Nerulum to test the attitude of those tribal leaders and try to persuade them. Hence, the allocation of land to these soldiers may be delayed….”

Bagul and Asistes agreed.

“If some of the soldiers of the third legion also settles here, then the training and gathering of the whole legion will be very troublesome in the future!” At this time, Hieronymus raised an objection.

Davos smiled and said, “It is not only the third legion, but also the first and second legions will have many of their soldiers settling down in Aprustum and Krimisa. Who told us to gain so much land so quickly? With this much land, if we don’t allocate it to the citizens, preparatory citizens and registered freemen who have made achievements in this war, then this land will be left idle for the enemy to take! I am afraid that after the land allocation is completed, we will have more than three legions…Philesius(Military Officer), Raphias(Census Officer), Burkes (Agricultural Officer) and you(Hieronymus), Kapus, Drakos and the senior centurion will be the one in charge of coming up a suitable plan for the specific personal arrangements and organization….”

Hieronymus reluctantly agreed, while Bagul and Asistes were a little bit excited because the expansion of the army will mean that there is a chance for them to become a legatus.

At this moment, Davos suddenly became conscious that in less than a year after they came to Thurii, they have experienced four wars, and under the circumstances of successive victories, the land, population and the army have expanded so fast! And thought that it might be the time for them to stop and integrate the union first.

“Oh, isn’t that Aristocrates?” Izam said suddenly.

They looked down below the city wall and saw Aristocrates passing through the moat and was about to knock at the gate.

It was already getting dark, and yet Aristocrates had still come running to find himself, it is certain that there is something important! Thinking of this, Davos hurriedly went down the city wall.

As soon as Davos arrived at the gate of the city, Aristocrates had already entered the city. When he saw Davos, though he was tired, he still smiled and said, “Lord Davos, I have gotten a letter from Thurii today! Congratulations milord, your wife have given birth to a boy yesterday morning!”

Davos rejoiced with excitement, he tried to take a deep breath to calm himself but his excitement did not weaken, “A son! I have a son now!! My own son!!!….” Davos abruptly hit Hieronymus who was next to him and shouted excitedly.

“Congratulations milord! This is the blessing of Hera!!!….” Hieronymus, Bagul, Asistes and the others, including the soldiers who were around and heard it had all congratulated him.

Davos grinned and hugged them warmly to express his joy. At the same time, he teased them that they should work hard and to not fall too far behind him.

Then he planned to take an escort to return to Krimisa and after quickly arranging all the matters, he would then rush back to Thurii at night. However, he was stopped by Hieronymus and the others, and even forced Davos against his will to stay in Aprustum for the night. Because it would already be dark once he set out, and he would even need to cross the mountain roads and rivers, and the war had just ended. If an accident were to happen, they would not be able to explain it to the people of Theonia.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next day, Cheiristoya had just finished feeding the baby and fell asleep.

Azune was holding the baby in her arms and was basking in the sun in the courtyard, she then noticed that the baby had pooped, so she had to go back to the outer room of the bedroom, scrub him with warm water and put on a new cloth diaper and then told the other slaves to wash the dirty clothes.

Afterwards, she put the baby back into the crib near the bed and sang to him. Gradually, the baby closed his eyes, and so Azune took advantage of her spare time and lay beside the bed for a nap. In a daze, she felt someone patting her on the shoulder, “Azune.”

Azune immediately woke up, looked around and could not believe who she saw, “Master, you are back!”

Davos made a hush gesture and asked in a low voice, “How is Cheiristoya?”

“Lord Herpus said that she and the baby are healthy, but the lady needs to take care of herself for a while. Lady Cheiristoya is currently sleeping in the bedroom.” Azune whispered, “Master, come and take a look at how cute the little master is!”

Davos crept forward and looked at his son carefully with excitement and curiosity. In fact, the child who was just a few days old wasn’t really cute because of his red and wrinkled skin. But Davos was so fascinated that he couldn’t stop himself from stretching out a finger and gently touching the baby’s red face.

The sleeping child seemed to feel itchy and scratched his face with his little hand.

Davos felt it amusing and so poked him again.

When the child scratched his face again, he opened his big and bright blue eyes, and so, the father and son looked at each other closely, then the child curled his mouth and cried loudly.

Whether in his previous life or in his present life, Davos had become a father for the first time. So he had no experience in dealing with the current situation and was at a loss.

Azune then took the baby and tried to calm him.

“Azune, is he hungry again?” Cheiristoya’s soft voice came from the bedroom.

“He is not hungry madam, just that, the master has returned!” Azune said excitedly.

“Ah!” Cheiristoya exclaimed in surprise.

Davos then walked quickly into the bedroom and saw Cheiristoya lying on the bed and was a little bit tired, but her complexion wasn’t bad.

“You are back!” There was a joy in her eyes.

“I am back!” Davos sat on the edge of the bed, he then leaned over and kissed his wife.

“Thank you for doing your best!” He said softly.

Cheiristoya propped herself up and snuggled into the arms of Davos, with a happy expression on her face, “Have you seen our child?!”

Chapter 226 – Crotokatax Davos

“Yea, I saw him. He is good looking, just like you!”

“I haven’t given him a name yet because I was waiting for you to come back.”

On the way back, Davos had already thought about the name of his child. He put his arm around his wife’s shoulder and the other arm around her chin. He thought about it and then said, “I remember the first time I found out that you were pregnant was when I have just beaten Crotone…this time, he was born when we defeated Crotone again, and the war with Crotone has just ended. This child is so closely tied to Crotone, which should be the wish of Hades! So I think that it’s better to name our child…Crotokatax, what do you think?”

“Crotokatax…Crotokatax…” Cheiristoya softly said it several times, then she looked at her husband with slight worry, “Wouldn’t this name cause complaints?” (kataktitís means Conqueror, and Crotokatax means conqueror of Crotone)

Davos smiled and said, “If my child has this name, then when he grows up, the Theonians will think about our hardship in founding Theonia and the contribution of his father to the union, and so they will be kinder to him! And at the same time, if our child has an ambition, then with the encouragement of this name, he will create his own glory!….”

Cheiristoya, who wasn’t too satisfied with the name, thought about it and finally nodded, “Okay, his name will be Crotokatax then.”

As soon as she said this, the crying of the child in the outer room suddenly stopped.

Cheiristoya covered her mouth and looked at Davos in surprise, “My god, Hera blessed this name! Our child accepted his name!”

At this time, Azune came in with the child in her arms.

Cheiristoya took him and whispered, “Little…little child, this is your father. Call him father.”

The child cried “dada” and moved around.

“Look, he is calling for you!” Cheiristoya said with a gentle smile, then she carefully placed the child in front of Davos.

Davos then carefully took him in his arms for fear that he might hurt the little guy.

This time, the child did not cry. He opened his eyes and looked at Davos curiously with his bright eyes, and scratched the face of Davos with his two chubby hands.

Davos just let him play around. But at this moment, Davos felt the blood surging through his heart and excitedly said, “Cheiristoya, I am going to take my name as the family name and pass it on to our children, and then they will pass it on to future generations. I believe that the Davos family will become the most dazzling family in the Mediterranean!”

The eyes of Cheiristoya brightened at the words of Davos. Most Greeks only have a first name but no family name, and in order for them to distinguish people having the same names, they will often add their native place or other annotation to their first name, such as: Socrates of Athens, Socrates – son of Asidates and so on., but the nobles of Persia, the great country in the east, have family names. As a native of Miletus in Asia Minor, Cheiristoya realized the ambition of her husband from his words, and so, she repeated her son’s future name with great interest, “Crotokatax Davos….”

At this time, Davos caught a glimpse of a small head poking out of the bedroom’s door.

“Cynthia, come in!” He beckoned.

The seven-year-old Cynthia took the nearly five-year-old Adoris, and went to the bed with hesitation.

“Come and see your little brother!” Davos said happily to both siblings.

“You now have a child…do…do you still want us?” Cynthia asked timidly.

Davos was taken aback. He didn’t expect that his adopted daughter would be so sensitive. After handing his child to Cheiristoya, he held both of them to his chest and said aloud, “You will always be my children, so how could I not want you?!”

Cheiristoya also softly said, “And mommy also hopes that you can take good care and protect your little brother once you grow up!”

The two children were comforted by the husband and wife, and their sadness had immediately disappeared. Then they took a look at the baby in the arms of Cheiristoya with curiosity.

“Can I touch him?” Asked Cynthia in a low voice.

“Of course you can.” Cheiristoya smiled softly.

Cynthia carefully touched the baby’s face, “What’s the name of my brother?”

“Crotokatax, his nickname is…uhm…Cro.”

“He is so small.” Adoris also gently grasped the baby’s hand with curiosity, and said like a small adult, “Brother, I will protect you.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Hey, wake up! Wake up!!…” Kelebus, who is in a deep sleep, was forcefully awakened. He still felt sleepy even after opening his sleepy eye, so he turned over and was about to continue his dream.

Immediately, a whip soaked in water strike his body, it was so painful that it made him jumped up in pain, and the demon like voice of the supervisor sounded in his ear, “Go to the quarry immediately, Lord Lysimenes wants to say something!”

Kelebus, who was scared of getting hit by the whip again, had dragged his sore legs and endured his hunger as he staggered out of the mines. But he accidentally knocked down his companion, while his companion subconsciously stretched out his hand and pulled him, so both of them fell on the ground. Kelebus stayed lying down for a while before getting up. During which, he was whipped again several times by the supervisor.

The Crotonian captives were like ants staggering out of the mines and gathered in the circular square in the mines, with lots of freshly dug marbles.

On the guard tower at the entrance, Lysimenes, the person in charge of Thurii’s quarry, was impatiently watching the sight below, and he then ordered his men, “They are too slow. Go and make these Crotonians to hurry up!”

As a result, the Crotonians were like lambs that were driven toward the guard tower by the supervisors with their sticks and whips.

This similar sight was also happening in front of the construction site of the Temple of Hades and the copper mine in Thurii.

“Crotonians, I wish I could keep you here for hundreds of years due to the crimes that you have committed on Thurii! And let your dirty flesh and blood flow into the sewage and your fragile bones to become powder!…” Lysimenes cursed maliciously, “But the great Hades was kind enough to let Theonia sign an armistice with your damn Crotone, and…become an ally…so now, all of you can go home….”

After Lysimenes reluctantly said these words, the square suddenly fell into a dead silence, and the captives couldn’t believe what they were hearing.

“He…what did he just say?” The companion next to Kelebus asked in a trembling voice.

“He…he just said that we could go home….” Murmured Kelebus, then he seemed to realize something and grabbed the shoulder of his companion, “Did you hear that?! We can go home! We are free!….”

Only after countless people confirmed what they heard was true, did they become so excited and started shedding tears. They hugged each other, cheered, kissed the land under their feet, and closed their eyes and felt the warm sunshine…these days, they were like slaves digging in a dark cave while enduring the beating of their supervisor. They couldn’t even eat enough and sleep well…making these Crotonian citizens who lived a comfortable life nearly collapsed. They have never felt freedom to be so precious as they do today.

Lysimenes snorted coldly not wanting to watch them any longer, “Get the bread and cheese and let them eat.”

“What if they resist after eating their fill?! With so many captives, we couldn’t handle them!” One of his subordinates hesitatingly said.

“That would be better!” Lysimenes sneered, “If they broke the contract that they have just signed, then we can just annihilate them all!”

“Understood.”

“Once they are done eating, let them take a bath in the river and change their clothes, so that those Crotonians won’t say that we are abusing our captives.”

‘Is this not called abuse?!’ His subordinate silently criticize.

With the arrival of Crotone’s envoy, the captives finally became convinced of the fact that “Theonia and Crotone have become allies and that they are now finally going home.” They then began marching towards the port of Thurii under the protection of fully armed Theonian soldiers.

Why the need for protection? For fear that the radicals of Thurii would harm the unarmed and weakened Crotonian captives. Kelebus had already experienced that situation half a year ago, but this time, the Thurians did not cause any trouble to the huge group who wanted to return to Crotone, like he had worried. And even when they arrived at the port, they could only see few Thurians.

Where are the people of Thurii? This thought only flashed in the mind of Kelebus, then his mind became completely occupied with the joy of finally going home smoothly!

It was only when the transport ship left the port of Thurii that the captives became relieved.

“I will never return to this damn place again!” One of the captives vented, and was echoed by most of the soldiers, including Kelebus: Two wars, and they became a captive twice, especially the second one was so nightmarish that it had made them to not even want to recall it. Each of them had more or less fear of Theonia in their heart!

In fact, in the second Crotonian war, Theonia had treated the captives in this way because they had to. After all, managing tens of thousands of captives was very difficult and most of the male citizens of Theonia were busy fighting, and at the same time, the Crotonian fleet kept raiding the coast of Thurii from time to time. So once the captives rioted, the consequences would be unimaginable. That is why the senate decided to treat them like slaves and keep them away from the cost by imprisoning them in the mining area in the mountain and crushing the Crotonian captives with harsh environment, hunger and heavy labor.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

And the reason for why the Theonians are not paying attention to the Crotonian captives who left Thurii was because their heroes are soon coming back!

The third legion left 3,000 men under the leadership of Asistes to temporarily defend the city of Aprustum. And the first legion left 2,000 men and was led by Hielos to be in charge of Krimisa for the time being, while the rest returned.

Chapter 227 – Triumphant Return

Davos rushed to meet the soldiers after the army stayed for the night in Roscianum.

In the early morning of the next day, the whole army, who were dressed in a new attire, marched forward and lined-up in accordance with the predetermined order for the triumphant return.

After crossing the bridge, there were already thousands of freemen who had participated in the battle and the Greek mercenaries that Xanticles led were waiting to join the parade. Davos also changed his ride into a quadriga*, while Kapus, Drakos, Hieronymus and the archon of Laos, Avinoges had rode a chariot drawn by two horses, followed by the army marching toward the city of Thurii that is not far away. (T/N: A chariot drawn by four horses.)

When the freemen and some of the family members of the preparatory citizens, who had been waiting for a long time outside the city, saw the soldiers from a distance, it immediately caused a burst of tsunami like cheering.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Arsinis could never have imagined of becoming the flag bearer of the triumphant return. At that time, all the legions had nominated numerous candidates, but Davos, was the one who personally named him. As one of the squad leaders of the legion, Arsinis had led a team of recruits and fought in the frontline while facing the fierce attack of the enemy. He had not only taken the lead, but also commanded the recruits so well and dealt with the situation calmly in the battle that decided the victory and direction of the second war with Crotone. And even in the case of having more than half of his squad being wounded, as the representative of the whole army, Arsinis still fought back bravely!

When Arsinis, who admired Davos, heard his praise, he became even more grateful to the union’s archon!

At this moment, Arsinis held the flag that represents the whole army. Faced with the cheering of the crowd and seeing the thousands of waving arms, he straightened his chest with pride….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the face of such a marvelous sight, even Tolmides who had gone through numerous brutal battles, could not keep his calm and excitedly said to Xanticles who was beside him, “After so many years of fighting, this is the first time I have realized the pride of being a soldier. Davos is really amazing!”

Xanticles continued to look straight ahead while saying, “Stop looking around! March seriously, don’t disgrace our mercenaries!”

Tolmides quickly straightened his chest and raised his head, but he teased Xanticles, “Old man, you are more serious than me!”

“Taking a part in the triumphant return is nothing. In the future, we will also sit on the chariot like Hieronymus and accept the cheers of the people!” Xanticles’ face flushed with excitement.

“That is right!” Tolmides’ pride soared, “I heard from Davos that because of this battle, our citizenship evaluation period will be greatly shortened. And if there are a few more such battles, we will soon be able to become an official citizen of Theonia! By then…he he!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Kleigenes! That’s Kleigenes!!….”

“Stop shouting! He can’t hear you, he is now a hero of the union!”

“Hero?! With that thin body of his, I can beat him down even with one of my hands tied! If it wasn’t for his archery being better than me, I would be the one receiving the cheering now!”

“Yea, this guy was just favored by the goddess of luck! It seems that we all need to practice archery in our spare time and get selected the next time the conscription officers come to recruit!”

“Yea!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the ranks of the freemen entered the sight of the public, they had cheered even more intensely. After all, among the people outside the city that are welcoming them, a lot of them are freemen. Seeing that their former companions who worked together with them becoming heroes of Theonia had made them envious, but this had also encouraged their yearning for a battle and killing the enemy.

There are more than 20,000 soldiers that participated in the triumphant return, and the column that was formed was 3 kilometers long. When the rank of freemen who were at the end had just entered the welcoming area outside the city, the flag bearers at the head of the parade had just passed the Arc de Triomphe in the city.

Solikos looked at the carvings on the Arc De Triomphe, then he emotionally said to Ledes, “Last time, I was just a spectator watching the triumphant return, and now, I am a soldier participating in it!”

Ledes laughed and said, “So how do you feel?”

“Great!”

“Our cavalry used to be so weak that it couldn’t even be used in combat. But from now on, our Theonian cavalry must become the heroes of the triumphal every time!” Ledes ambitiously said, his eyes staring at the other flags besides the cavalry flag in front of him. Although the contents of the flag could not be seen from the rear, he knew that there was a text on it that was written by Davos, the words were “defeating the cavalry of Crotone with lesser number of cavalry and deciding the victory of the battle” because of this achievement, Davos put the cavalry behind the flag bearers.

Because there were too many soldiers participating in the triumphant return, the Nike Square could not accommodate them at all, and made it prone to accidents and so after arriving at the square, the marching troops were not allowed to stay. So after walking around the square for a while, they will then go out of the city from another street to the east gate.

In front of the senate hall on the west side of the square, is a platform, in which the statesmen solemnly paid great attention to the soldiers that were passing.

Amikles, who was invited to watch the ceremony, saw the valiant and high spirited army that was passing by the platform in neat steps. And involuntary exclaimed, “I didn’t expect that we would manage to win against the overbearing and arrogant Crotonians! This is really a great victory!” He was glad that he had made the right choice of standing firmly on the side of Theonia before the war had started.

His words were approved by most of the statesmen, but Scambras disagreed, “With Davos, victory is guaranteed! With him as the grand legatus, I had never doubted that the victor of this war would belong to our union! It’s just that I think we should have taken advantage of the weakness of Crotone to completely defeat them!”

A small number of Thurian statesmen agreed, and even Pollux said, “Davos did not consider the feelings of us people of Thurii on this issue and had let the Crotonians go!”

As soon as he said this, Scambras looked at him threateningly.

“Lord Davos did the right thing!” Kunogelata sternly added, “A great commander is the one that can lead the soldiers to victory! However, those who can use victory to win enough benefits for the union are the real leader! If the war had continued, Theonia would have suffered great losses! It is fortunate that we have such a great archon as Davos!”

“Lord Kunogelata is right!” Said Cornelius, “In this war, Lord Davos had not only won a lot of fertile land for Theonia, but had also made the influence of Theonia reach the southern end of Magna Graecia!”

“Next is how we will manage and allocate these new lands, which will cause us to spend a lot of time discussing and solving….” Tridodemos laughed, “This is really a sweet but troubling matter!”

Everyone understood it and smiled. The statesmen of the senate have a noble status and handled many matters, but they have no salary. Therefore, in order to improve their enthusiasm, while gaining their favor and stimulate their interest in expanding, the 《War Act》 that Davos had proposed and passed, stipulates that the land they won in each war, except for the land that will be allocated to the new citizens and the “allocated land” that will be rewarded to the citizen soldiers for their meritorious service, each of the hard working members of the senate will also receive a land as reward, but it will not exceed the average land area that the soldiers, who are participating in the war, will get. Even though it seems that the rewarded land is not too much, with the current expansion rate of Theonia, it will definitely add up to a large sum.

Pollux began thinking of something, while Amikles became envious.

“Look, here comes our hero!” The shout of Plesinas had grabbed the attention of everyone back to the square.

Davos, who was dressed in his military attire and was standing on the chariot, had appeared in the Nike Square. He then waved to the people around him with a smile, which pushed the triumphant return to the climax.

The crowd screamed and danced with excitement as they waved their arms wildly and shouted the name of Davos. They even ignored the blockade of guards on the roadside and violated the regulations and rushed into the parade. They crowded Davos and stretched out their arms wanting to touch this man who had saved Thurii and defeated Crotone twice and brought glory to the people of Theonia.

The guards became nervous and were afraid of having any accidents.

Davos, however, had a calm expression and had even stepped out of the chariot and greeted the people. He then asked them whether they had suffered any losses in the war and whether they needed the help of the union…and so on.

Due to this, the people ardently love their archon even more. They gathered around him and escorted him to the platform, and left with reluctance.

The statesmen then came forward.

Kunogelata first criticized him, “Lord Davos, the situation just now was too dangerous! You should have stayed in the chariot and wait for the guards to escort you!”

“What danger!” Davos smiled, “The statesmen and the people are just like fathers and children. As fathers, it is natural for them to love their children, and the children naturally love their fathers. So how can they hurt their family? Am I wrong?!”

‘Father and child?!’ The statesmen that are currently present repeatedly savour this sentence, and they were more or less shocked. Later, these words were spread to the public, which had greatly moved the people, and so, the statesmen of the senate had also gotten a new title – Father.

However, the worries of Kunogelata are not entirely superfluous. Among the people on the square, was someone who hates the senate of Theonia and the archon, Davos – The envoy of Locri, Metelophes, even though he is still suffering from his cold, after learning about the shocking news regarding “Theonia Union signing an armistice agreement with Crotone and formed an alliance”,  had made him anxious and angry. He hated himself for falling ill at such a critical moment, and at the same time, he was angry at the senate of Theonia.

Chapter 228 – King’s Election

Metelophes believes that the senate of Theonia had deliberately delayed making a decision and played him for a fool, when they are already in fact been talking peace negotiation with Crotone and were just wasting his effort on getting to Thurii. ‘How dare Theonia, a newly established union, make such a fool of and look down on Locri.’

As a result, he dragged his still sick body to participate in the triumphant return. As an envoy of Locri, the senate arranged him to live in an inn not far from the senate hall and since he was already living in the city and was also an important guest, he naturally was allowed to watch the triumphant return. Originally, he also wanted to meet the archon of Theonia at the end in order to vent his dissatisfaction and at the same time, to express some appropriate threats to Theonia, who had just formed an alliance with Crotone, and forced them to make some changes which is beneficial to Locri. However, after watching this magnificent and lively military victory ceremony, which he had never seen before and caused him to be shocked by Theonia’s huge military strength, high morale and the enthusiasm of the people, which made him realize that this is a union that admires heroes and military might from the statesmen to the common people. He is afraid that they won’t easily compromise, so he just retreated….

Seeing the last group of freemen leaving, the people then rushed into the square, and the triumphant return was brought to a successful conclusion with the speech of Davos, “On behalf of the senate, we thank you, people of Theonia!

When a formidable enemy tried to invade, you did not show any fear nor shrink back, but you had instead worked together and fought bravely! The soldiers without fearing any sacrifices had fought bravely in the frontline, and strove to become heroes. While those working in the rear had spared no effort in delivering supplies, avoiding the surprise attack of the enemy’s fleet, and enduring the grief of losing their loved ones, while supporting us in this battle!

And now, we have won. This is the result of the citizens, the preparatory citizens, freemen and their families joining hands! We will use this victory to comfort the warriors who have died in the battlefield, and hope that their spirits can arrive at Elysium! I, your archon, Davos, also wants to use this victory to tell you that the days of us being bullied have passed, and you will now have a better future! THEONIA HAS WON!…”

“Victory for Theonia!!!”

“Victory for the senate!!!”

“Long live Davos!!!”

“Long live Davos!!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At this moment, cheers rang out in the square and the whole city of Thurii became a sea of joy!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After the funeral of king Agis of Sparta, the Gerousia finally decided to elect a new Spartan king after a period of preparation in order to avoid the throne being vacant for too long and causing domestic political turmoil.

On this occasion, the 29 elders of Sparta had all entered the assembly hall early, and the two candidates for the throne were also present. They were Leotychides, the son of Agis and Agesilaus, the brother of Agis.

The speaker of the assembly, Cleostidas, then announced, “The sacred election conference begins! First of all, the candidates will state their reasons for why they should be the king.”

The young and energetic Leotychides was the first one to stand up and shouted to his uncle, “Agesilaus, the ancient law clearly states that ‘The son of the king, and not his brother, should be the first to inherit the throne. If the king happens to have no children, then his brother may succeed him.’ If you don’t want to lose face, then you’d better leave.”

Agesilaus did not face his nephew and had instead faced the crowd, then said with a respectful but firm tone, “Esteemed elders, the successor to the throne should be me, Agesilaus, the only brother of Agis!”

Leotychides jumped up and yelled to interrupt his uncle, “Agesilaus, don’t think that just because you are lame, you can pretend to be stupid! Stop fooling around and listen, the sacred Spartan law has stipulated that as the only son of Agis, I should become the king!”

Agesilaus then turned his head and looked at the angry Leotychides with some disdain on his face, “Yes, this is what the law stipulates, but only if you are the son of Agis! However, I heard from the man you called father say that ‘You are not his son!’ more than once.”

“Shut up!” Since growing up, similar rumors have always entered the ears of Leotychides, which became his nightmare that troubled him, and it continued to worsen as he grew up. At this time, his face suddenly turned red, he then jumped up from his seat and rushed to grab Agesilaus and shouted, “Damn cripple! Just because you are my uncle, don’t think that I will not beat you up!”

He tried to hold back his anger and clenched his teeth, “Listen, my mother knows the truth better than my father! To this day, she has always said, ‘You are the son of the king! You are the son of Agis!’….”

“Quiet! Be quiet! The assembly hall is a sacred place. Fighting is not allowed, else face expulsion!” Warned Cleostidas.

Agesilaus brushed aside his nephew’s hand and remained calm as he solemnly said, “Esteemed elders, you might remember that year when an earthquake struck Sparta. Agis left his wife and led the soldiers to do disaster relief for nearly a year. The anger of Poseidon had made the Spartans filled with awe, and at the same time, it also made the most powerful testimony that Leotychides is not the son of Agis! Time! Leotychides was born ten months after Agis left his wife!”

As soon as he said this, the elders fell into thinking, and some have even become serious.

“Shut up!” Leotychides once again became furious, but was stopped by the guards who were on standby.

“Alright, this is the end of the statement of the candidates!” Cleostidas then hastened to say, “Does anyone have anything to add?”

Diopetus stood up and said, “Everyone, as everyone knows before this meeting, I had been authorized by Pausanias to go to Delphi on behalf of the Gerousia and ask Apollo for an oracle. And the oracle warned us that ‘Sparta should be on guard against a cripple becoming a king!’ Therefore, I think Apollo warned us that if Agesilaus becomes the king, it will bring danger to Sparta!” After that, he passed the scroll parchment to the elders, and some of them nodded as they read it.

Diopetus glanced triumphantly at Lysander, who was sitting in front of him, and then made a gesture to pacify Leotychides.

The face of Agesilaus struggled to maintain his calm, but he was already clenching his hand tightly behind his back, because he saw the elders glancing at his foot from time to time, so he subconsciously drew his left foot back.

At this time, Lysander stood up, and due to his great influence, all the gazes of the crowd suddenly focused on him, “As everyone knows, the oracles of Delphi and Apollo have always been abstruse. If we only try to understand it from the literal meaning, we will often come to a wrong conclusion!” Lysander looked around and said, “At that time, the king of Lydia got an oracle about ‘a great nation will perish’ and so he thought that Persia would be defeated, but his kingdom is the one that had perished instead. If the Athenians built a wooden wall according to the literal meaning before the invasion of Persia, then they would not have defeated Persia in the maritime war…so we should try to understand the oracle more deeply! If the king we choose is not the true blood of Agis, then our proud dual kingship and the divine blood that was inherited from Heracles be tainted!”

The words of Lysander are thought-provoking and adding his influence, the elders continued to whisper and discuss with each other.

Leotychides glared at Lysander, but he did not dare to insult Lysander like what he did to Agesilaus. Although his power was intentionally weakened by the Gerousia a few years after the Peloponnesian War, he was still the hero of the Spartans and his charisma was still amazing, so how could someone who is only a successor to the throne insult him.

Pausanias, the other Spartan king, had no preference over the two heirs of the throne of Agis, but he was very hostile and wary of Lysander, who had once wanted to shake the “Dual Kingship”. Therefore, he would always oppose anything Lysander supported. However, according to tradition, another king can attend the conference regarding the election of a new king, however, he does not have the right to suggest and vote. Because Sparta is a dual kingship and they wanted to achieve mutual checks and balance, so the king must avoid any suspicion. Therefore, Pausanias can only signal to an elder that he trusted – Heliopidas.

Heliopidas hurriedly stood up and stammeringly said, “Sparta is now the overlord of Greece, but if…the king of Sparta is…uhm…someone with a physical disability, it will only cause the other city-states to secretly laugh at Sparta, which will reduce their reverence to us. What is more, Sparta has never had a king with disability in his body! Never had been!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Lysander immediately said, “Indeed, Agesilaus is lame. But he had fought bravely and was righteous. He has alway been respected by our elders and the people, he is a traditional and pure SPARTAN warrior, and has not disgraced the reputation of the royal family! But take a closer look at Leotychides, who do you think he looks like?!”

Leotychides is strong and handsome, and had inherited his appearance more from his mother. However, under the guidance of Lysander’s words and the influence of the rumors, the more the elders look at him, the more they feel that he looks more like the handsome and charming Athenian – Alcibiades.

Seeing the crowd’s expression, Diopetus became a bit anxious and hurriedly said, “The rumors regarding the birth of Leotychides are just rumors spread by some people in order to achieve their own purposes, and there is no conclusive evidence! And…and in our history, we have never let the heirs who have the first right of inheritance fall off from the throne because of false rumors!”

Chapter 229 – Affairs in Sparta

“Diopetus, are you really a Spartan?” Lysander sneered, “Don’t forget Demaratus!”

There was an uproar among the elders, Demaratus – a permanent disgrace of the Spartans.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Although the Spartan soldiers advocate strength and loathe pleasures, they don’t dislike beautiful women. While the best criterion for judging their future wife is her fertility, the beauty and morality of the Spartan women is a standard criterion for judging her becoming the mother of their future children. Since childhood, the Spartan women participated in the training together with the men which gave them their own unique beauty. They have long blonde hair, strong bodies and elegant legs. While the birth of an ugly daughter will make her parents feel frustrated, however, there is still a chance for their daughter to change, that is, for them to come to an ancient sanctuary next to the grave of Helen and pray to the bronze statue of Helen, which is said to make the child grow up beautiful.

A hundred years ago, a pair of Spartan parents prayed to Helen for their ugly daughter, and the priestess in charge of the sanctuary then grabbed the child’s long hair and made a prediction after seeing the child’s appearance, ‘She will become the loveliest woman in Lacedaemon.’

As time went by, the girl became a famous beauty that had even fascinated the Spartan king, so the king used his power to snatched her from her husband. But only seven months after getting taken by the king, the new queen then gave birth to a son. Is the father of the child the king or the commoner? However, the Spartans of that time did not delve into it too deeply. Then this child grew up and eventually became a king, he was Demaratus.

When Demaratus succeeded, Cleomenes, another Spartan king, had been in the throne for five years. However, Cleomenes had a much more difficult time succeeding the throne, because his father could not make his wife pregnant, the Ephors asked him to divorce his wife and remarry. However, he hesitated and had instead chosen bigamy. But then the first wife gave birth to Cleomenes, while the second wife gave birth to three sons. However, the king had already loved his second wife deeply, and had naturally preferred her children and Cleomenes was not favored by his father. The king had also trained his half-brother Dorieus and had designated him as the legal heir, and the people also think that Dorieus was the finest young man among his generation. However, after the king’s sudden death, the traditional Spartans believed that Cleomenes, who was born to the king’s first wife, had the priority in inheriting the throne, so Cleomenes, who succeeded the throne, exiled his brothers on the ground of sending Dorius to colonize the western Mediterranean. (T/N: This part is wrong. First, Cleomenes is the child of Ananxandridas II and his second wife and is also the eldest among the siblings, while the first wife of Ananxandridas II gave birth to 3 sons(Dorieus, Leonidas(yes, the legendary Leonidas), Cleombrotus). Secondly, ‘the traditional Spartans’ made Cleomenes as the king because he is the oldest among the brothers. Thirdly, Cleomenes did not exile his half-brothers, it is just Dorieus being impulsive and not wanting to be under his brother, so he left in order to establish a colony but tragically failed twice.)

Cleomenes is shrewd, resourceful, ambitious and eager for power. So how could Demaratus, who had just succeeded the throne, be his opponent? And so, Demaratus, who has no foundation, had been overtaken by Cleomenes. And for more than 20 years, Cleomenes held the power alone in Sparta, he defeated Argos, controlled Arcadia, intervened in Delphi and even interfered in the political situation in Athens…all of these had expanded the power of Sparta to northern Greece. At this time, the king of Persia, Xerxes, was ready to invade Greece again and he had also learned from the mistake of Darius, and so, he sent a large number of spies to Greece in order to divide and alienate the city-states. Aegina, an island city-state not far from the Peloponnesian Peninsula, had offered Earth and Water* to Persia, due to this, Cleomenes denounced this treachery and decided to punish Aegina. (T/N: Earth and Water symbolized that those who surrender to Persia will give up all their rights over their land and every product of land, and by giving the earth and water, they recognized the Persian authority over everything, even their lives will now belong to the king of Persia.)

The people of Aegina had to rush to Demaratus, another Spartan king, for help. And Demaratus was very happy to cause trouble for his political opponent, so he secretly joined hands with the elders in the Gerousia who were not willing to fight with Persia and actively provided support. This infuriated Cleomenes, and made him to finally decide to solve this intolerable coregency once and for all. Therefore, at the council meeting that Cleomenes initiated, he questioned the life of Demaratus. Not only did Cleomenes win over the people of Demaratus and most of the elders, but he had also bribed the priests of Delphi, so that the oracle they had requested would be detrimental to Demaratus. Hence, Demaratus was deposed from his throne and defected to Xerxes.

However, the complacency of the victorious Cleomenes did not last long, because his bribery to Delphi was soon leaked, which angered the Spartans. When he was found guilty, he first fled Sparta then later returned. But after returning, he was relieved of his power, and from then on, he just kept on drinking, beating and yelling at people, which made everyone think that he became crazy. His two half-brothers, Leonidas and Cleombrotus then locked him in the temple and announced that he became mad. However, the next day, the people found him dead with the flesh of his body being mutilated using the knife in his hand.

This had caused a huge commotion! Everyone kept on saying that this is Cleomenes’ punishment for his desecration and the public generally recognized the cause as, ‘suicide.’

Soon after, Leonidas became king. But in private, the rumors that were spread from time to time says that Cleomenes died at the hand of his two brothers.

And the reason why Leonidas led 300 of his personal guards to Thermopylae to defend against the Persian army was because the situation forced him to do so, while also proving his innocence to the Spartans.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

This was a treacherous history for the Spartans, and could even be said to be a disgrace. Everyone in the assembly hall fell in silence for a moment.

Cleostidas, the assembly’s speaker, simply declared, “The election for the new king begins!”

Both Agesilaus and Leotychides have their own shortcomings and have their own supporters. Therefore, the debate between both sides was mainly to fight over the neutral elders…and the result of the final vote – Agesilaus won.

With tears of humiliation, Leotychides glared at the elders who congratulated Agesilaus with hatred, and then left quietly….

Then Cleostidas asked the guards to allow the five Ephors who had been waiting outside the assembly hall to enter and announce the results of the elections to them.

The Ephors then went to Agesilaus. Agesilaus stood solemnly and listened as they read aloud, “The great Zeus stands as witness, according to the result of the Gerousia’s voting, we declared by the divine blood of Heracles that Agesilaus is the king of Sparta!”

No matter how hard it was for Agesilaus to maintain his calm, his voice still trembled as he swore, “I, Agesilaus, swear in the name of Zeus that I will govern and rule Sparta according to the laws of the city-state!”

And the Ephors responded at the same time, “As long as you keep your oaths, we will ensure that your kingship will last forever!”

In the year of 398 B.C., Agesilaus became the king of Sparta.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At the southeastern end of Sicily, Dionysius led the infantry, soldiers and warships of Syracuse to march westward along the southern coast of sicily.

While liberating the city of Kamarina, which was forced to pay tribute to Carthage, Dionysius learned about “Theonia defeating Crotone” and had made him silent for a moment, and then said to the attendant beside him, “Immediately write to Philistus and say that I agreed to the request of Locri to send reinforcements as soon as possible!”

Then he ordered the heralds to urge the army, which was about to take a rest day, to continue marching westward.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Crotone has made peace with Theonia!” Umakas, the archon of Taranto, was surprised after receiving the news from Crotone, “I didn’t expect that Theonia, which was a small city-state a year ago and had even needed our protection to survive, has now rapidly developed and become a powerful union in Magna Graecia!”

The former archon, and now elder of the council, Disitimas, sighed, “Fortunately, we are allied with Theonia!”

Umakas shook his head, “The safety of Taranto must not depend on the promise of others!” and firmly added, “We should speed up the conquest of the Messapians and strengthen the power of Taranto as soon as possible, so that we can have the confidence to talk face to face with Theonia!”

“Our attack on Manduria has caused great casualties to our citizens! But you still went to attack Brindisi, which will cause even more citizens of Taranto to die! How could the council agree to your radical approach!” Said Disitimas, with some indignation.

Umakas looked at Disitimas with a trace of contempt in his gaze, “Disitimas, my good friend, you still don’t understand! This is not only the will of the majority of the statesmen, but is also the will of the masses! Stimulated by the rapid rise of Theonia, the people had already become tired of the decades of inaction of the council! And they hate how they get harassed by the Messapians every year! They want change! Although they are casualties among the citizens, it is much more difficult for the Messapians to invade our territory after we become the master of Manduria! I believe that once Archytas learned that Crotone was forced to make peace with Theonia, he will also increase his attack on Brindisi even without our urging!”

After a moment of silence, Disitimas hesitatingly said, “I am a little worried that such a large-scale attack will stimulate the Peucetians in the north, who were of the same race as the Messapians….”

“So if we don’t attack, they will not regard us as an enemy?” Umakas retorted, “As long as we capture Brindisi, we will not only cut off the connection between the Messapians and the north, but will also link up the trade with the Adriatic Sea, which give us a lot of benefits in doing so…if we encounter the Peucetians just like what you have said and see our city being almost empty and take this opportunity to attack, then we can still-”

Umakas then looked at Disitimas, and soon, Disitimas understood what he meant and sighed, “Ask our ally Theonia for help!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Although Lysias tried his best to defend Milo, the ecclesia still made a decision to sentence him by “expulsion, and to not allow him to return for ten years”.

Chapter 230 – Senate meeting after the war (I)

After that, the ecclesia held an election for the position of the polemarchos, and Lysias, who had brought peace to Crotone, had been elected. Although many people criticized him for ceding their territory, the more than 10,000 citizens who returned to their family were grateful to Lysias for rescuing them from hell in time, so most of them have voted for him. At the same time, there was also the strategos Sisticos, who had participated in the peace negotiation together with Lysias. For a long time to come, the conservatives in the council of Crotone clearly had the upper hand.

Crotone’s newly formed ten strategoi was very clear that their top priority is to defeat Locri and rescue their allies. After careful consideration, they decided to appoint three strategoi with rich combat experience that had been previously captured by Theonia to lead them.

As a result, the soldiers who had just returned to Crotone had to go out again in their armors. In addition to the soldiers(including the 10,000 hoplites), they had also recruited freemen. After they had prepared the rations, they immediately set out for Caulonia.

However, the council had objections and demanded that more citizens must be left to protect the nearly emptied city of Crotone.

Although Lysias was a conservative, he was not cowardly. He not only did not agree, but had even sent envoys to Aprustum to tell the Theonian defenders that the city of Crotone was almost empty, and so they hoped to get help from them, their allies, when needed.

While receiving a clear response from Asistes, Crotone’s fleet, under the leadership of the navy strategos Askamas, sailed to Caulonia with both large and small warships.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Just as Crotone was about to fight with Locri, the senate of Theonia voted for five candidates from Krimisa to enter the senate, which included Androlis, Eurypus and Pleitinas.

This matter is just an appetizer for today’s long senate meeting, followed by rewarding the soldiers who had taken part in the war with Crotone. As the number of people involved in the war were too many, Philesius, the military officer, and Raphias, the senior census officer, had only roughly set a rough figure at the meeting: About a number of official citizens will receive lands according to their merits in the war. The statesmen headed by Davos had suggested that the land should be allocated to the city where the citizens live as much as possible. Naturally, if they voluntary want to change their land, then they should satisfy their wish;

The second is the registered freemen who had participated in the war, due to winning several successive battles, more than half of them will directly start the evaluation period of becoming an official citizen in accordance with the law. Because a large amount of land and acquiring two cities in this war, so it has made them in urgent need of people to quickly occupy these lands and defend the new cities. Therefore, although their official citizenship evaluation period is not yet over, the senate still decided to grant them 3,333 square meter “Allocated Land” in Krimisa, Aprustum and the northern plain of Crotone, because they still have not yet become official citizens, so the tax they will pay during this period of time is still land income tax and it is only when they become official citizens that the land tax be reduced to 1%;

For the nearly 6,000 freemen who took part in the war, the evaluation period for them to become preparatory citizens will be reduced by half, and they will be given the priority to rent the land of the city-state, of course, the tax burden will remain unchanged;

For the soldiers who died in the war, whether they are citizens or freemen, as long as their relatives are still alive, the senate will give them the rewards of normal soldiers, and at the same time give them generous pensions, mainly from the spoils they got in the war. (T/N: Hmm, no mention of the preparatory citizens)

The whole reward and distribution will be mainly decided by the agricultural officer – Burkes and the census officer – Raphias, with the assistance of the three legatus of the army, Kapus, Drakos and Hieronymus.

“The citizens of Theonia have come when they were called to perform their duties and fought bravely for the union. The senate, as the helmsman of the union’s ship, should also give them corresponding praise and fair care. We should not let our warriors shed blood and tears at the same time! Only in this way can more people contribute to the prosperity and strength of the union!….” At the end of the day, Davos reminded Burkes and the others of what they should do with a passionate speech.

After that, the next topic was about discussing the candidates for the position of praetor for the city of Krimisa and Aprustum.

There are many statesmen who have signed up to run as praetor of Krimisa, because it is a port city with excellent conditions. Although Krimisa is adjacent to Crotone, they have now become an ally after all, and Aprustum is in the middle, which naturally made the governing environment to be relatively safe.

The result of the final voting was that Scambras got the highest number of votes, which had surprised some people. However, when they thought carefully about it, though Scambras is a hot tempered old man, he is a straightforward person and if he makes a mistake, he will correct it. He also doesn’t scheme much and is willing to help the younger generations. Therefore, many people are willing to associate with him.

According to the law of Theonia, Davos has the power to veto over any proposal of the Senate, but as long as the proposal is reasonable, he seldom uses this power. Just like now, he thinks that the elected praetor of Krimisa is not bad, and the forthright and friendly character of Scambras may even win the favor of the Krimisians who are hostile to the Theonians. For this reason, he was the first to congratulate Scambras.

“Archon, rest assured. I will make the Krimisians recognize Theonia as soon as possible, while coordinating the relationship between the locals and the new immigrants….” Scambras gave an enthusiastic pledge to Davos.

Scambras, who is over 50 years old, had already grasped the two major problems that he needs to devote his energy to solve after he becomes the praetor of Krimisa, even before taking office, “With you in Krimisa, the senate has nothing to worry about!”

As for the candidates for the praetor of Aprustum, Davos said in advance, “Aprustum is different from Krimisa. It is located in the middle and upper reaches of the Neto river. So from time to time, it is harassed by the Bruttians to the north and it is also necessary to guard against and deter other Greek city-states in the south from coveting the northern plain of Crotone, and to also coordinate the relationship with the Crotonians.”

In addition, Davos told the statesmen that there are a number of Lucanian warriors who are willing to move to Aprustum. As a result, in addition to the Lucanian region(which included Nerulum of course), Aprustum has the highest proportion of Lucanian residents in the cities of Theonia. Therefore, the requirements for the praetor of Aprustum is relatively high. First of all, he should have relatively strong military strength, while making the Lucanians who have not been in Theonia for a long time and are still somewhat free and loose to obey him.

Letting those statesmen who have suffered from the war with the Lucanians, such as Amendolara and Thurii who always had an unforgettable fear in their hearts to deal with them independently. And Vespa and Hemon who likes to make active suggestions on issues concerning Lucania, but when it comes to the affairs regarding the Greeks, they will always just calmly watch and only act as voters. While most of the statesmen who were former mercenaries were either unwilling to deal with administrative matters, or they are not capable of doing them, while those with stronger administrative ability, such Antonios and Alexius, also hold important positions and could not leave. Therefore, when the rotating chairperson, Cornelius, announced that those who would like to be the praetor of Aprustum to raise their hands, no one responded for a while.

When Davos saw this, he was a little surprised. But then, a person’s name came into his mind – Asistes. However, Asistes was not a member of the Senate and according to the law, he was not allowed to serve as the praetor of a city: He had now realize that those who did not become a statesmen of the Senate before the promulgation of the 《Theonia’s Civil Service Law》, had made it harder for them to enter the Senate. For those guys who only wanted to fight, it was undoubtedly impossible for them to enter the administrative affairs and raise their position step by step. So it seems that he needs to add some special articles to the 《Civil Service Law》 for the strategoi of the legion to enter the Senate….

Davos, who was thinking about it, then saw a man in the crowd raise his hand. He was once the squad captain of Davos and also his most reliable follower – Hielos!

For quite some time, Davos was busy with his affairs, while Hielos served as the patrol captain of Amendolara, so apart from the meeting in the senate, they didn’t have many opportunities to meet with each other, but he still learned about his performances. With the prosperity of storage, accomodation and food in the city of Amendolara, a large number of immigrants have poured in, but there has still been no major conflict, which proves the performance of Hielos to be very great. And his ability to deal with emergencies and the fairness of coordinating and solving the conflicts between the residents and the outsiders have been highly praised by the people of Amendolara and also the praetor, Cornelius. As for his military strength, Davos evaluated him as good at using hoplites, which is suitable for Aprustum, which was in a special geographical position. So Davos believes that Hielos will not have a big problem winning over the Lucanians with his rich experience as a mercenary. As for administrative experience….

Davos thought that he could just let Asistes stay in Aprustum for a period of time to help Hielos deal with government affairs. And he believes that with Hielos serious learning attitude, he will soon be able to govern the city independently.

After a long wait, Hielos was the only one to raise his hand. So Cornelius could only helplessly announce Hielos to be the only candidate for the praetor of Aprustum.

“As Hielos is the most suitable person, I agree of him becoming the praetor of Aprustum!” Davos had first made his support clear.

Afterwards, Kapus, Antonios and the others also agreed, and so the selection of the praetor of Aprustum was determined. Only Cornelius sighed, “Although I would like to congratulate Hielos, I still have to express my regret for Amendolara’s loss of a good patrol captain!”

Chapter 231 – Senate meeting after the war (II)

Hielos expressed his gratitude at Cornelius for his disguised praise.

Davos said, “Then allow me to recommend a suitable patrol captain for Amendolara.”

Cornelius immediately cheered up, “Lord archon, please go ahead.”

“Epiphanes, he will become an outstanding patrol captain.” Davos then pointed to the back.

“Wha?!” Epiphanes, who was talking with Cid in a low voice, had not expected that he would be named and replied in surprised, “Why me?!”

“For you to focus more of your energy on the administrative affairs of the union and set a good example for your men, instead of scourging the young men of Theonia all day long!” Said Davos half jokingly.

Everyone burst out laughing. It is widely known that Epiphanes likes beautiful young men. In fact many statesmen also have this hobby, but Epiphanes was more obvious. It is not only a trend, but also a tradition for the Greeks to love and care for young men. Even though Davos felt uncomfortable, he still showed respect and didn’t want to force a change. Besides this, what Davos appreciates most about Epiphanes is that on the battlefield, he is able to think calmly and deal with complex situations flexibly, and can always accomplish the tasks given to him and could even exceed his expectations.

Under the pressure of Davos and the repeated pleading of Cornelius, Epiphanes could only agree.

The helpless expression of Epiphanes had once more caused Amintas and the others to burst out laughing.

By this point in the meeting, it was already noon, and Cornelius announced that the meeting would be adjourned for half an hour. Then the slaves, who had been waiting outside the Senate hall, immediately came in to give their masters water and food to fill their stomach.

Even with a half-hour break, Davos still has no free time. So while chewing his bread, he discussed with Scambras and Hielos about the problems that they would need to solve after taking their office and how the two cities should cooperate and strengthen ties with each other in order to cope with the situations that may arise in the south at any time.

Then Kunogelata approached him to discuss how to arrange the five new statesmen. As a statesmen of the senate, their residence should be placed in Thurii in order to make it convenient for them to perform their duties. And even if they were a praetor of other cities, they would still not move out their residence in Thurii. After all, the tenure of a praetor of a city is only two years, while the tenure of a statesman is for life.

There are a lot of public lands in Thurii that are not being used, which is controlled by the senate and will not be granted easily. Naturally, it is not possible to allocate a small land for the new statesmen to build their houses for free, because it is clearly stated in the 《Theonian Land Law》 that even if Davos were to buy a land, he still has to pay the market price. But due to the influx of people in this year, the price of residential land in Thurii has been increasing again and again, and this trend will definitely increase sharply now that Theonia has defeated Crotone.

However, Kunogelata hopes that the land given to the new statesmen by the senate will be sold at the original price in order to show the sincerity of the senate of Theonia and appease these new people.

Davos agreed, and had also considered that in case some of the five new Krimisian statesmen really can’t come up with the money, the treasury will pay it first and they will then repay it back later.

At the end of the half-hour break, the senate meeting continued.

Davos stood up and said his first proposal, “Although Theonia won this war with Crotone, some problems have come out. Among which is the navy, it is the most important and must be urgently solved!”

This sentence had immediately aroused a strong resonance among the statesmen as soon as Davos had said this.

“The archon is right! In this war, the biggest loss that we have suffered from Crotone was due to their fleets that have gone ashore and continuously plundered, burning down many villages in Thurii and killing many of our people. Up to now, the civil servants in Thurii are still suffering in trying to resettle the people and rebuilding their homes!” Complained Kunogelata.

“If we, Theonia, also have a navy, and it is as strong as our army, then Crotone would have long surrendered when we won the battle, and we wouldn’t even need to encircle Krimisa!” Emphasized Amintas.

“The trade of Theonia Union is becoming more and more prosperous, and our territory is also expanding rapidly. And so, we need a strong fleet to protect our maritime trade and prevent our long coastline from being attacked by enemy fleets and having our ports blocked by enemy warships!” Marigi warned loudly.

“That’s right! We need a strong navy to protect the security of Theonia Union!” Everyone agreed.

“Now that we have reached a consensus, my proposal is -” Davos looked at everyone and then said, “Besides accelerating the completion of the triremes that are under construction, we will also build seven more triremes this year. I had asked Enanilus about it and told me that Thurii’s shipyard doesn’t have enough docks to fulfill such a large order, but Krimisa also has a large shipyard and has the ability to manufacture triremes, so we can hand in a small part of the order to them. In the future, we will build ten triremes every year, until we have a fleet of triremes five years later. At the same time, we will also have ten medium-sized warships(i.e, hundred-man warships) and another ten small warships. Thus we will have a more powerful Theonian Navy.”

Everyone thought that the plan was feasible, and only Mersis disagreed, “No! No way! With that, the Union will spend more than 100 talents a year! That is too much!” (T/N: Ancient Greek currency goes 1 Talent = 60 Minae = 6,000 Drachmae = 36,000 Oboloi.)

“Although it will cost us a bit more, I think that our treasury can afford it. Last year, we had only collected land tax, land rent tax and trade tax alone, but this year, the lowest estimate given by Marigi is that the treasury’s revenue will at least double.” When Davos said this, many of the statesmen were surprised. Unknowingly, the revenue of Theonia was almost equal to that of Taranto and Crotone, and it should be more than enough to spend a small part of the money to build a fleet.

“Lord Mersis and everyone, in fact, it wouldn’t even cost more than a hundred talents to build ten triremes a year.” Marigi stood up and reminded them, “The cost of building a warship mainly consists of two parts, one is the timber, and the other is the manufacturing. However, there are countless cedars of high quality in the mountains of our union’s territory, especially in the mountains of Lucania, which are the most suitable when constructing triremes. I heard that back then, there was a special agreement between Athens and Thurii, with Thurii providing Athens with a certain amount of timber for shipbuilding every year.”

“There is indeed such an agreement of Thurii providing Athens with at least a thousand pieces of timber for shipbuilding every year, and if necessary, it will be doubled.” Said Enanilus. At the beginning, in order to complete the agreement, the Thurians had cut down a large number of trees for decades. Although they earned some money, the cedar trees in the mountains around Thurii became fewer. Moreover, there were more than a dozen large shipyards in Athens, and so there was no need to make the ships in Thurii. Therefore, the family of Enanilus had always complained about this. Later, there were many barren mountains around Thurii due to excessive logging, and the Thurians soon noticed the disadvantages, and so they began buying timber from the other city-states in Magna Graecia and then selling it to Athens while earning some difference.

“In the latter part of the war between Athens and Sparta, we were forced to cancel the agreement after the navy of Sparta held the advantage.” Added Kunogelata.

Davos nodded. As the archon of the union, he naturally knows about this agreement and even thinks that the reasoning for why the Athenian strategos, Pericles, agreed to the establishment of Thurii and had called for the establishment of a great pan Greek city-state was just a high sounding reason, and the real strategic purpose was for timber. Athens had two natural defects. First, they couldn’t produce much local food and had to rely on imports to maintain the needs of their city-state’s huge population. Therefore, they have built many colonies along the coast of Greece leading to the black sea or had controlled major city-states, such as Byzantium, and in order for them to ensure the smooth passage of food from the Black Sea, they need a strong navy. And the Athenians also ambitiously want to build a strong Mediterranean Greek city-state alliance, which also needed a strong navy. However, the second major defect of Athens is that it does not have many forests in its native land, and there are no trees that can make high-quality warships. What’s more, with the size of Athens navy and merchant ships, the required timber is bound to be a lot. Therefore, looking for timbers for shipbuilding has become a strategic issue related to whether Athens can maintain its strength. Egypt has no forest and even though Persia has timber, they will not sell it to their enemy, Athens. Though northern Greece and Thrace has forest, it is however located inland, cutting and transportation will be a problem, which will make the cost to be high, so Magna Graecia, which has the Apennine mountains running through it, has become an important timber purchasing location for Athens, and Thurii, which was established by the Athenians, was naturally the main supplier of timber.

“So I would like to ask the senate to discuss a plan to allow the union’s slaves to cut down a certain number of cedars every year to be used as timbers for the warship and it wouldn’t even cost us an obol. As for the manufacturing costs-” Marigi looked at Enanilus and said, while seemingly joking, “I don’t think that lord Enanilus will charge the union a high fee.”

Enanilus smiled helplessly.

Everyone thought that Marigi was reasonable, and their worry about the cost dissipated a lot.

“But have you considered the maintenance of these warships after they are built? It is also a huge expense!” Said Mersis unconvinced.

“Enanilus and I already had a discussion regarding this.” Said Davos, and Enanilus nodded indicating that what Davos said is the truth.

“We will naturally not leave the warships idle at the dock when there is no war. Except for a small part of them that will be use to patrol the coast of the union and some of them getting repaired in the dock, the rest can serve as escorts for the merchant ships, especially in the passage from the estuary of the Adriatic sea to the Greek mainland, where there are frequent incidents of piracy. They can also temporarily serve as a large cargo ship in order to transport goods for friendly city states…you see, our navy will not only earn its maintenance costs, but it will also train the seamen’s navigation skills, wouldn’t this be great?” When Davos finished with his thoughts, Mersis stopped talking.

“In addition, we need to find a qualified commander(nauarch) for the coming navy of Theonia. His current task will be to assist the military officer – Philesius, supervise the construction of warships, cooperate with the financial officer – Mersis in auditing the payment, and in the future, when the warship is built, he will also be the one in charge in recruiting sailors and crew members, conducting regular military training, arranging coastal patrol and -” Davos said emphatically, “Win the naval battle. Do you have any qualified candidates to recommend?”

Chapter 232 – Senate meeting after the war (III)

The statesmen looked at each other and for a moment, they did not speak. The statesmen that were former mercenaries were proficient in land battle, but not at sea. While the Lucanian statesmen understood mountain warfare, but feared the sea. And Amendolara has neither port nor warship, and its statesmen have no experience in naval warfare. So only the statesmen of Thurii are left….

Kunogelata looked at the others and then said, “I recommend Enanilus, who used to be Thurii’s nauarch*.” (T/N: Admiral/Navarch)

The other Thurian statesmen had also expressed their agreement. Davos also recognized the talent of Enanilus in this aspect, otherwise, he would not have discussed with him about the preparation of the navy in advance. And now, the only thing they need to worry about is that the family of Enanilus owned the shipyard, and Davos was worried about his private use of public stuff. But when he thought about it, how could the shrewd and stingy Mersis be fooled.

‘Compared with the army, there are still too few people who know how to do naval warfare!’ Sighed Davos.

In the end, Enanilus became the nauarch of Theonia’s navy and excitedly said, “We, Theonia, have a strong hoplites, so I no longer need to worry about having our warships being burned down in the port before they could even depart!” It seems that the fact that the warships of Thurii were either destroyed or captured by Crotone before they could even depart has always haunted him.

“The army of Theonia has already gained its prestige. Therefore, the things I need to do is to lead the new navy to actively cooperate with the army and create greater victory for the protection of Theonia Union!” With that, all the statesmen, including Amintas, applauded at the inauguration of Enanilus with a smile on their faces.

Pollux gazed at the figure of Enanilus with a sneer on his face.

The second proposal of Davos was about the construction of the Roscianum-Krimisa-Aprustum road. As soon as the proposal came out, it was unanimously approved by all the statesmen. Because Theonia has enjoyed the benefits of having roads constructed, and even if Davos did not mention it, the other statesmen will make similar proposals. By now, the Theonians already have a huge difference in concept with the other Greeks, and they no longer think that a city-state only needs to have a convenient maritime transportation and to not even bother to consider the roads and the likes. They not only care about the access to the sea, but they now also think that building a good road is a necessary infrastructure for the development of a city-state.

However, the second proposal of Davos is not yet over, and continued, “When we were sieging Krimisa, the herald brought messages between Thurii and Krimisa every day, and they had to travel back and forth for more than 50 kilometers, which exhausted the hoses a lot, and had made some important news to not be delivered in time. I then thought of a question, with the gradual expansion of our territory, the border cities will only get farther and farther away from Thurii which is in the center of our territory, so how can we grasp the situation of the other Theonian cities in time in order for our senate to timely respond in case of some emergencies?”

Davos’ question aroused the speculation of everyone.

“Since the merchant ships, who frequently come and go, could keep track of the situation in other cities-” Marigi then suggested, “Then we can use boats for the delivery of messages, which is fast and doesn’t even need horses.”

“There are several problems in sending messages by boat. First, boats can’t navigate during storms, especially in winter. Second, this will only be applicable to cities with ports, and impossible to deliver from inland cities such as Nerulum and Aprustum. Third, during wars, messages and reports transported by ships are prone to interception due to the sea being too big to be fully defended, and the army can’t always march along the coastline, so how can emergency orders and messages be delivered from the ship to the commanders in time?”

When Davos pointed out the disadvantages of using ships to deliver messages, Marigi became unable to respond for a while, and had embarrassedly said, “Milord, I haven’t thought about it yet.”

“It seems that we still have to go by land. We are now building roads to connect the cities of Theonia, so we can use mules and horses to deliver the messages more quickly and conveniently than before.” Said Cornelius.

“You are right about us needing to rely mainly on land, and then be supplemented by the sea. I think that what we should do now is to arrange a special personnel to be responsible for the delivery of messages and the daily matters of the city, so I propose for the union to set up a post office.” Said Davos with confidence.

‘Post office?!’ Everyone felt unfamiliar with the words that Davos had just spoken. It’s obvious that Davos had made it himself.

“The main function of the post office is to receive letters and parcels from the people of Theonia and then deliver them to the recipients….” Davos gesture with his hands and explained patiently, “We will first set up post offices in every city, then equipped them with personnel who will receive and deliver the letters every day. At the same time, we will set up post stations every 20 kilometers on the main road, which will also have personnel staying there. There will be a simple lodging and also extra horses in the post station, so when a messenger arrives at the post stations, he can go in and have rest, drink water and then continue his work…in this way, while the post office usually serve the public, every day the news from the other cities will be gathered to the senate through it, which will allow us to understand the situation in the territory of Theonia. And during wartime, the heralds of the military can use each post station through the main road to replenish their water, change horses and quickly deliver the military orders….”

“This is a wonderful idea!” Kunogelata kept on praising, “Pos…if the post office is established, it will not only help the army and the people, but also strengthen the contact between the people of various cities, and the cities of Theonia will become closer! I think that…in the future, we can also set up post offices in our allies to strengthen our exchanges with them.” As a statesman who was a former archon, Kunogelata immediately understood the bright future brought by the establishment of the post office to Theonia Union.

“I hope that the post office can be established as soon as possible! When I get to Krimisa, I won’t have to worry too much about my children!” Scambras said happily.

“But I constantly hear you say that ‘they are not obedient and that you don’t want to live with them’, isn’t that right?” Asked Stromboli.

Scambras raised his head and siad, “Those people that have no children shouldn’t speak.”

This had almost provoked Stromboli to quarrel with him, and made everyone laugh, then persuaded them to stop fighting.

Mersis then stood up with a bitter face, “Lord archon, regarding the building of a post office and post station. How much does the treasury have to spend on constructing them, the salaries of the civil servants and the cost of raising horses?”

Even without the explanation of Davos, Marigi immediately said, “Mersis, do you still not understand?! The post office will charge the delivery of their letters and parcels. There is also lodging in the post stations, so we could also charge the people that want to stay there. Mersis, I don’t know how you became the financial officer!”

Marigi seized the opportunity to make fun of Mersis.

Mersis didn’t pay him attention, and had instead eagerly asked Davos, “Is there a fee for the delivery? How much?”

Davos nodded, “The main purpose for setting up a post office was to deliver information and make it convenient for the public, so we can’t make it too expensive. Therefore, I think an obol for a letter will do. While the price for the delivery of packages will depend on its size and weight, Marigi and the person that will be in charge of the post office will be the one discussing it.”

“One letter, one obol. I think the public will be happy to accept this price. But I am afraid the post office will be very busy in the future.” Laughed Cornelius, “Because after we allocate the land this time, many citizen’s shares of land will be in different cities, and this post office will be really needed to send messages in order to strengthen the management of the land.”

The words of Cornelius have resonated with the many statesmen, not only the ordinary citizens got lands allocated to them, but also the statesmen. Therefore, they all agreed with the proposal of Davos.

After Mersis calculates the income of the post office, he found that the income was considerable and immediately asked, “Will the income of the post office be turned over to the treasury?”

“After deducting the salaries of the personnel and the various costs, the remaining income will naturally be handed over to the treasury.” The words of Davos had made Mersis smile, “In addition, I propose to set up a Road Bureau, which will be responsible for the planning, construction, maintenance and management of the roadside facilities of all the roads in the union.”

The proposal of Davos was also approved by the statesmen who enjoyed the benefit of the road, and they also knew that after a road is built, it will need long-term maintenance, otherwise it will become dilapidated in just a few years.

“Then we will have to charge for the use of the road in the future.” Mersis looked at Davos with glistening eyes.

“Free.” Davos uttered a word.

“Building roads to connect the city will costs us at least more than 10 Tarants* and the subsequent maintenance will also cost us additional expenses, so couldn’t we charge even a little?” Asked Mersis. (this does not include the cost of the land use, because the land that will be used for the road is planned in advance before the land is distributed to the citizens and it belongs to the union, so there is no need to spend money. Otherwise, the cost will be more than doubled when the price of the land is included.)

“The roads are different from the postal service. If we were to charge a fee, most of the people can just not use the road that we have built, which won’t even affect their travels. On the contrary, the road that we built painstakingly to serve the people, will only end up with just a few people using it, which is contrary to our purpose of building the road.” Explained Davos seriously.

“Milord is right! We, the people of Theonia Union can enjoy a comfortable and smooth road! Can enjoy high technology, but low cost medical care! We can enjoy the convenient….postal service! Our citizens can be allocated a land as long as they serve! As long as our citizens pass the test, they will be able to hold public office and get paid!…Theonia has created so much happiness for the people. Can Athens, the most prosperous city-state in Greece, do this?” Plesinas passionately said.

Chapter 233 – Senate meeting after the war (IV)

Everyone thought about it and shook their heads. Athens may be the richest city, but they can’t provide so many benefits for its citizens, as a city-state with a long history, they can’t do what Theonia, a newly established city-state union, does because of having too many vested interest groups, deep-rooted legal system and traditional ideas. However, they still manage to take care of the common people in the Greek city-states.

“Can Persia, the great power of the Mediterranean, do this?” Asked Plesinas in a loud voice.

Everyone shook their heads. Persia is a dictatorship where nobles oppress the civilians and the Persians oppress the other races.

“Then Theonia is the Elysium of the Greek city-states! I believe that when the Greeks know the rights enjoyed by our citizens, they will certainly be more active in pouring into Theonia!” Said Plesinas positively.

“Plesinas’ guess should be correct. Before the war with Crotone, the number of freemen in the post of Thurii had been growing…and now that the war has ended and after we fulfill our promise and even allocate lands to the preparatory citizens, it will cause more immigrants to flow into Theonia, therefore, we need to be ready to resettle them.” Kunogelata took the lead and gave them a warning.

After hearing this, they were both happy and worried.

“Now, let me add another right to the citizens of Theonia.” Davos then continued, “I just noticed that when you heard Kunogelata say that ‘more immigrants will come to Theonia’, you all seemed worried. What are you all worried about? Are you worried that Theonia will have a difficult time maintaining the city order?! Worried about so many immigrants entering and most of them are civilians with no education, and after they become citizens of Theonia, the overall quality of our citizens will decline?! That it will decline sharply!-”

“You are right lord Davos!” Marsyas, a statesman of Thurii, immediately got up and criticized loudly, “Thurii has now such an omen, especially in the port. Those new immigrants with all kinds of accents are rude and uneducated. They often curse and start a fight. I heard that the patrol of the port has to deal with dozens of conflicts in a day. Isn’t that right, Kunogelata?”

Kunogelata shook his head and seriously corrected him, “It is not that serious. If the freemen want to successfully become a citizen of the union, they will not dare to violate the law and be disciplined. According to the statistics, there are no more than five cases a day, and most of them solve the problems by themselves before the patrol team could even arrive.”

Marsyas brought contempt to himself and could only mutter to himself, “There are only three conflicts in a day….”

Pollux looked at Marsyas fiercely.

Davos smilingly said, “Because of these problems, my next proposal is to set up an akademia in Thurii, where all citizens of Theonia can send their children to learn literacy, arithmetic, painting, music and sports after paying a small fee….”

‘Akademia?!’ Everyone pondered over this new word. At this time, the Athenian Akademia had not yet been established, and so the way for the Greeks to receive education was mainly to rely on the rich nobles and rich people to hire private teachers and buy educated slaves to educate their children. Or famous scholars setting up private schools, collecting expensive tuition fees and recruiting disciples. It was unheard of having the city-state to fund a school to educate citizens’ children collectively! But the statesmen were very interested, and most of them felt that it would truly be of help to solving the problem of low cultural quality of the citizens of Theonia, so they began asking questions one after another.

Regarding the akademia, Davos was very familiar with it and with his experience of his previous life, combined with the actual situation of this life, he easily answered their questions.

For example, Amintas put forward, “What if the citizens also want to study?”

Davos answered him with, “We will set up a special class in the akademia to educate the adults. Its curriculum and education method are different from that of the childrens, which will make it easier for them to become literate quickly.”

For example, Kunogelata’s question is, “Children of different ages have different levels of education, so how can they benefit and advance?”

Davos answered him with, “There are three levels of education: Primary, Secondary and Advance. Children who have never learned anything will join the primary class and begin to learn how to recognize words, count and read…for the children who are already literate and have a certain foundation in arithmetic, they will enter the secondary class to learn how to use words to make sentences, write and be able to perform complex calculation operations…while advance class is mainly to master the rhetoric of words, speech, argumentation, and to be able to calculate a large number of complicated equations…this is to prepare for the training of logographer*, accountants, intermediate civil servants and other high-ranking talents of the union….” (T/N: logographer – is a title applied to professional authors of judicial discourse in Ancient Greece. In Ancient Greece, the law required the litigant to make his care in front of the court with two successive speeches. So if a litigant does not feel confident to make his own speech, he would need to seek the service of a logographer to whom he would describe his case. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logographer_(legal))

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The statesmen were satisfied with the detailed answers given by Davos, and even Kunogelata, who rarely praised others in public, could not help but marvel, “Milord archon, I now truly think that you are favored by the gods, otherwise, you wouldn’t be able to put forward so many wonderful ideas and have a complete plan to implement it at the same time!”

Kunogelata’s words were approved by the statesmen.

Davos continued with a smile, “I propose Ansitanos to be the one in charge of the school.”

“Agree!” The statesmen all agreed.  Because the most knowledgeable one in the senate is without a doubt, Ansitanos, who was a disciple of Herodotus. Naturally, some people think that Davos, who was rumored to be illiterate but was enlightened by Hades, and has always been mysterious and whose knowledge is hard to estimate, is also knowledgeable.

“Ah? Me….” Ansitanos, who was sitting in the back row and with his thoughts wandering in the sky, shook his head and refused, “I can’t, I don’t have the time! Thucydides has completed his 《History of the Peloponnesian War》 and was said to be highly praised by the Athenians, but my 《History of Magna Graecia》 hasn’t even been written yet!”

At their repeated request, and with Davos and the other statesmen even giving their promise to try their best to contribute materials to Ansitanos’ creation and to seriously cooperate if he wanted to interview them….

Only after all of these did Ansitanos reluctantly accepted it, but he immediately began to complain, “Milord, it’s not that I didn’t want to manage the school, it’s just that Thurii, who is only one of the city of Theonia, has thousands of children! And lord archon, you had even said to teach them Greek, arithmetic, painting, music and so on. How many teachers do you think it would need to teach them all of these?! We can’t find that many teachers in Theonia Union to teach the children!”

After saying that, everyone immediately realizes that it is indeed a problem. However, Davos had obviously already thought about it and said calmly, “There are indeed not enough teachers in Theonia Union, but there are in other city-states. When we were in urgent need of Silphium, we specially reduced the tariff for it in order to encourage the merchants of Cyrenaica to transport it to the port of Thurii in large quantities for sale. So since we are short of teachers, we can naturally make a preferential bill for them in order to encourage foreign scholars to actively come to Theonia!”

The statesmen were lost in their thoughts and Ansitanos asked, “What kind of bill will it be?”

“My proposal is…all foreigners that come to Theonia as teachers, even if they are slaves, will immediately acquire citizenship of Theonia! But the premise is that they should first pass the examination of our senate to make sure that they have the ability to serve as teachers…erm…Asitanos can be the one to lead this assessment. But once they get their citizenship and become teachers in the union’s schools, then they must devote their whole life to teaching their knowledge to the children. And if they were to change their professions, then their citizenship will be immediately cancelled and be deported! In addition, the union’s citizenship only applies to the teachers themselves, and therefore, their children will not inherit it unless they also become teachers….”

Everyone became interested at the proposal of Davos.

Ansitanos, who didn’t care about being the school administrator at the beginning, excitedly said at this moment, “Since Plesinas and Kunogelata thought that the Greeks envied the citizens of Theonia and wanted to become Theonian citizens, then I think the situation of Theonia of lacking teachers will soon change!…I remember that there was a union’s bill for the physicians before, and now, there is a proposal that favors the teacher. Milord, physicians and teachers are two sacred professions besides the priests of the gods. One is to heal the bodies of people, and the other one is to improve the minds of the people. I thank the archon for your foresight! And I also hope to get your support! With this, the senate of Theonia fully showed their respect for knowledge! And will make our union not only have prosperous trade, powerful military, but also a cultural brilliance! Theonia Union will then become the greatest city-state union!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the evening of the meeting, two other people said that they had a proposal to say and had made the statesmen to order the guards to light the candles in order for them to continue the meeting.

The first one to speak was Scambras, who had first given his apologies, “Everyone, I am sorry for delaying all of you from going home for dinner. Just now, I had consulted lord Davos, Kapus and Hieronymus in detail and I had learned that there is a large marsh in the north of Krimisa, especially in spring, when the rain overflows, it will make the marsh to expand outward, which will affect the road traffic and will occupy the farmlands….I wonder if we can use a lot of labor to fill up the marsh and build a dam for the river, which will not only ensure the safety of the territory and prevent the occurence of epidemics, it will also increase the fertile land by a large area!….”

“Old man, you have just been elected as the praetor of Krimisa, yet before you could even take your office, you have already begun carrying out your management of Krimisa!” Protesilaus jokingly said while laughing.

“What? Kid, do you have a problem with that?!” Scambras then glared at the Amendolaran junior that he had watched grow up.

Chapter 234 – The plan for Grumentum and the battle on the sea near Scylletium

Protesilaus shrugged his shoulder and stopped talking.

“The technology of draining and filling in the marshes, sinkholes and mudflats is a mature technology that we Greeks often use. And the people of Thurii used to build dams on the upper banks of the Cosceli river during rainy season, so we can technically do as what lord Scambras had suggested.” Then Kunogelata asked seriously, “However, it takes a lot of manpower and materials to fill such a large marsh area and turn it into farmland. Have you considered all of these?”

“Didn’t you just say that there will be a huge influx of freemen in Theonia in the future?! We can recruit a large number of freemen to do this project. For these freemen who will make great contributions to Theonia Union, we should not only shorten their citizen evaluation as incentives, but also to consider giving them an allocated land in the marsh area, so as to urge them to work harder! Also…considering the breeding of mosquitoes there, I hope that Herpus can send physicians to help the people once they get sick and prevent the disease from happening….” Scambras kept on talking and also said that although he has never been an archon of a city-state before, he will devote himself to the role of the praetor of Krimisa, and will use his long life experience to think about the problems carefully and to consider things more thoughtfully.

“Of course, there will not be any problem regarding this.” Herpus then immediately added, “We can give our support at any time!”

“Mersis, don’t worry about the money!” Scambras then turned to look at the financial officer and said in a loud voice, “Think of how much farmland can the marsh provide once we successfully transform it! And how much land tax you can collect from it! And all of these can be collected every year! Mersis, use your head and think about it!”

Mersis helplessly raised his hand, “Elder, no need to bother, I agree.”

“Does anyone else disagree?” The rotating chairperson, Cornelius, asked.

Everyone, including Davos, shook their heads. Scambras had managed to take care of all the problems by himself.

Next one to stand up was Vespa, “Milord, I have received a message from Nerulum, ‘The army of Potentia is approaching the city of Grumentum, and Cincinnag is afraid of the original tribes of Grumentum that he had forcibly annexed, so he did not lead his army to go out of the city to meet the enemy. And now, he is just trying to hold on to the city of Grumentum and he just kept on sending his people to Nerulum in hopes to form an alliance with us to fight Potentia.’”

“Cincinnag has a great idea.” Davos then said with a faint smile, “What do you think about this?”

Vespa hesitated for a moment and then said, “I don’t think that it is necessary to form an alliance with Pyxous. The previous events have proven that Cincinnag is not trustworthy. And the battle between Potentia and Pyxous, no matter who wins, the strength of both sides will be weakened, which is very beneficial for Theonia!”

Davos was very happy to see Vespa being able to think like this, which shows that he is already used to the life of the union, and will consider the interest of the union. So he said, “Lord Vespa is correct! However, we will naturally not refuse him strongly, and just say that Theonia has just gone through a great war and needed to rest. Therefore, we are unable to start another war for a while.”

Vespa then expressed his understanding.

At this time, Hemon said, “It’s not only Cincinnag who has come to asked us, but also the original tribes of Grumentum have also quietly sent their people to contact us, they hope to get our help to drive away Pyxous and the Potentians.”

“What will they give us in exchange?” Asked Davos.

“They said ‘We are willing to become a subordinate of Theonia.’” Answered Hemon.

“It seems that this condition can be considered.” Protesilaus seemed to be a bit interested and had joined in the conversation.

Davos looked at him and at the other statesmen who were agreeing, and then sneered, “These tribes had once betrayed their great leader, Lusau, and they later clashed with Pyxous. So with just these sentences, the tribes of Grumentum wanted us to fight against the two great forces of Lucania, Potentia and Pyxous, is that possible?! At present, Krimisa and Aprustum need a large number of citizens and preparatory citizens to settle down, and so for a period of time, Theonia’s army will be involved in a series of problems, such as division and reformation. Hence it is impossible for us to send enough soldiers to Lucania. Besides, Bagul, how much role do you think that our hoplites can play in the mountains of Lucania?”

Bagul thought for a while and frankly said, “The reason we were able to capture Nerulum was because of our sneak attack, and though we didn’t even fight the Lucanian warriors head-on, it is, however, difficult for the hoplites to gain the upper hand fighting the Lucanian warriors in the mountains. Just our soldiers walking on the mountain road can already consume a lot of their stamina. Moreover, we are not familiar with the terrain, and on the narrow mountain road, the enemy doesn’t even need to fight us head-on at all, as they only need to push a few rocks to cause us heavy losses, not to mention the difficulty of transporting food.”

“Bagul is right! When we were in Persia, we often encountered similar difficulties when we were going through the mountains of Armenia, and no matter how brave our hoplites were, they couldn’t even do a thing at all.” Alexius immediately said, and then the statesmen who were former mercenaries agreed with the words of Bagul one after another.

The statesmen that have the most combat experience were not optimistic about fighting in the mountains, which had made Protesilaus to feel a bit ashamed. However, he was able to recognize his mistakes and said with shame, “It seems that I was a little bit proud of our successive victories that we have won some time ago.”

The statesmen who agreed to accept the conditions of the tribes of Grumentum also bowed their heads in shame. In the past, war was a painful thing for Thurii and Amendolara. However, since the coming of Davos, it made them think that victory is easy and has given them the illusion that the soldiers of Theonia are invincible! And so they began to become a bit arrogant.

However, Davos did not lose his caution. He clearly remembers that when Rome began to conquer Italy in history, the biggest obstacle they encountered was not the Greek city-states along the coast, nor the fierce Gallic tribes in the north, but was the Samnites in the mountainous area in central Italy. When the Roman heavy infantry that dominated the plain attacked the Samnites in the mountainous area, they were almost unable to even make a move. The battle lasted for decades and the Romans have suffered several defeats and were forced to seek peace in humiliation. Davos naturally does not want to repeat the mistakes of Rome.

“So we are not going to attack Lucania? Archon, don’t forget that you have promised us that we will occupy the Lucanian region!” A man stood up and questioned Davos.

It was Pollux! Kunogelata, Burkes and the others frowned, while Kapus and Amintas were even more upset, but Davos remained calm, “Just because we aren’t going to attack Lucania doesn’t mean that we are going to give it up. When Potentia and Pyxous goes to war, the most affected are the small tribes scattered in the land near Grumentum and the ordinary people in the city. Hemon told me that the Lucanians who fled to Nerulum said that both Pyxous and Potentia were raiding their cattle, sheep and belongings and had even forced them to be the vanguards….”

“Indeed lord archon. When these people came to Nerulum, they saw that the Lucanians who had become citizens of Theonia were very rich, and had become so envious! And now, they yearn for Grumuntum for its peace to restore so that they can continue to live a quiet life under the protection of a powerful force.” Hemon solemnly said, “And we are the only ones who can help them to make their wish come true!”

“So you should send more of your men to do more activities near Grumentum, preferably if they can infiltrate the city, so that these Lucanians who have been affected by the war can understand all of these.” Said Davos.

Hemon nodded in agreement.

“Bagul, when you go back, tell Sesta to gather all the young Lucanians in Nerulum, and start carrying out the training according to the original combat of the Lucanians. However, it would be better to follow the current organization of the troops as it would be more disciplined. In addition, we should keep it a secret and not let the enemy in the north find out.”

The words of Davos made Bagul excited, “When will we attack?”

“Wait for a bit.” Uttered by Davos, he then looked around the crowd and said, “I’d rather have Potentia and Garaguso become the vassals of Theonia than let Grumentum be out of our control! The position of the city of Grumentum is very important, as it controls the access to the north, east and west of Italy, so it must be fully controlled by Theonia herself!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Crotone’s force had just arrived at Scylletium and continued to move south after joining with the small number of reinforcements from Terina and Scylletium. The Crotonian fleet, on the other hand, sailed southward, past Scylletium and almost went close to the sea near Caulonia.

At this time, the most forward reconnaissance ship sent back a message: ‘There is a fleet of Locri ahead!’

The nauarch/strategos of the Crotonian navy, Askamas, immediately ordered the fleet to slow down and to lower the sails, and to arrange the ships and prepare for battle!

Soon, the warships that had received the orders gathered together to form a formation in which the triremes were in the center and the other large and smaller warships were on its flank. They sailed as close to the coast as possible, because of the east wind. Although the sails were lowered, it was still possible to take advantage of the wind, allowing the sailors to save some of their strength, hence why the fleet tried its best to seize the windward position.

Before the formation was finished, Locri’s fleet appeared on the sea less than a nautical mile away from them.

Askamas then decisively gave the order to speed up the ship and prepare to attack.

From west to east, the Crotonian fleet was divided into five columns with ten ships in each column. They were ready to rush into the defensive line of the enemy ships with the extremely fast ships, and then use the advantage of many ships to achieve a one-on-one or two-on-one battle situation (this was the usual naval tactics created by the Athenians to fight more with less.)

Chapter 235 – Crotone’s Call for Reinforcement

Although the Locrians have fewer ships, they did not even hesitate to attack as well. The ships of both sides quickly sailed towards each other and crossed paths, but the Locrian’s ship did not stop to tangle with the enemy and had continued to speed, which was beyond the expectations of the Crotonians, thus allowing them to easily break away from the Crotonian fleet at the slight cost of two ships.

‘Do they want to escape?!’ Askamas was surprised at seeing the performance of the Locrian fleet.

However, the action of the Locrian fleet had once again surprised him. After taking a certain distance from the Crotonian fleet, the Locrian fleet turned its bow again and took an offensive position.

Askamas didn’t even think about the reason why the Locrians did those extra work for.

Instead, he ordered his fleet to follow suit.

Then the two fleets quickly approached each other again, but this time, the Locrian fleet did not escape.

Then the ships of both sides intertwined, circled and crashed against each other.

Sea battles are different from that of land, land battles paid extreme attention to formations, and so once the formation is broken, then it often means defeat, but sea battles once it starts, the formation will be scattered and often do individual duel between ships, and to win will depend on the superiority and inferiority of the ships and the skilful ship handling skills of the captains and the sailors.

Crotone and Locri have known each other for decades. And Askamas was very clear about the strength of the fleet, the composition of the crew, and even the characteristics of the enemy nauarch, and he firmly believes that it was only a matter of time before he could win the naval battle with the advantage of his fleet having six more triremes.

During the battle, Askamas’ ship went backward with great skill and speed, narrowly avoiding the impact of the enemy ship on the center of their ship. And after escaping the danger, the enemy ship was now placed in front of the bow of his ship. This was a great opportunity, so how could he let it go? So Askamas immediately ordered the sailors to stop rowing backward and move forward again.

But the enemy ship also spun quickly and turned its bow towards the seat of Askamas.

Although the enemy ships responded quickly, the experienced Askamas did not give up, and as his ship approached the enemy ships at a high speed, and were about to cross paths with each other, Askamas yelled, “Reel in the oars!”

The keleustēs(boatswain) who was listening to the order in the bottom cabin had immediately conveyed the order to the rowers. The well-trained men immediately pulled back the wooden oars, while the enemy ship had just passed over the bow and had no time to collect the oars. The 20 meters long triremes had smashed most of the wooden oars of the enemy ship close to its side due to the huge inertia and made the enemy ship unable to move forward.

Just as the sailors cheered and Askamas was ready to turn the bow and completely sink the enemy’s ship, a fleet of triremes suddenly appeared behind the Crotonian fleet and immediately launched an attack on them.

The Crotonian fleet was in danger of being caught in a pincer.

In the end, the Crotonian fleet was badly defeated, with some ships sunk, some captured and some were severely damaged. And Askamas could only lead a handful of ships to break out of the enemy’s encirclement.

On the way back to Crotone, Askamas thought bitterly about where the extra ships of Locri had come from.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The naval victory had encouraged the Locrian army that was sieging Caulonia. Early the next morning, when the Crotonian’s reinforcements arrived near the city, the Locrian army, despite their fatigue due to their attack on the city, had immediately attacked the reinforcements from Crotone.

While the Crotonian army did not shy away from the challenge.

As a result, both sides fought a fierce battle on the outskirts of the northern part of the city of Caulonia.

In terms of military strength, Locri was a bit stronger, but due to the need to divide their troops in order to besiege Caulonia, the two sides only had a small difference in troops. However, the majority of the Locrian army were hoplites and light armoured infantry, while Crotone has a clear advantage in regards to the light infantry composed of carefully selected freemen.

The strategos of Locri was worried about the impact of the Crotonian hoplites, and so he had thickened the column. However, the Crotonians had learned a lot from the bitter experience of fighting against the Theonian army. Therefore, just after the formation was completed, they immediately sent the light infantry to attack, and due to the small number of light infantry on the side of Locri, they were soon defeated.

Then the Crotonian light infantry began throwing javelins at the Locrian army and the infantry of Locri then began to suffer huge numbers of casualties.

In the face of the overwhelming hoplite charge of Locri, the Crotonian light infantry who neither has the strict organization and discipline as the Theonian light infantry, nor an experienced veterans to stabilize the morale of the army, nor has excellent and flexible strategoi like Epiphanes, Cid and Arpenst, nor has the stimulation of getting citizenship, lands and other rewards, what’s more, the Crotonian hoplites had no extra space for them to retreat, and so both the light infantry and the hoplites could only flee the battlefield in panic. As a result, many light infantry couldn’t escape and died under the charge of the hoplites of Locri. After finally escaping, and with the efforts of the strategoi, the light infantry tried to regroup but was immediately attacked by the cavalry of Locri and was forced to disperse again.

However, the attack of the light infantry had also consumed and dispersed the strength of the infantry of Locri, and now, only infantry vs infantry is left on the battlefield. One side had just come out of the sufferings at the hands of Theonia, and their body has not yet recovered. While on the other side, they had attacked Caulonia in succession and hadn’t gotten enough rest. One side has fewer soldiers, but they have the determination to wash away their humiliation and defend their territory, while the other side has more soldiers, but their morale is slightly low after being attacked by the light infantry.

After nearly two hours of battle, Locri finally gave up and retreated.

In this battle, the number of casualties in Crotone was similar to that with Locri. However, the majority of the casualties of Crotone were freemen.

Although Locri was defeated, the casualties were not serious and they had also stopped their siege on Caulonia.

Due to this, the reinforcement of Crotone managed to smoothly enter the city of Caulonia and were warmly welcomed by the people in the city, but the situation was not favorable to Crotone.

And the Locrian  army retreated to the camp south of the city, and are still eyeing Caulonia.

While the fleet of Locri cruises the sea and blocks the sea routes of Crotone. And due to this, Crotone has now also felt the pain that Theonia had suffered before.

At this time, the city of Crotone had most of their troops out of the city, while Locri still had some extra strength left. Two days later, more than a thousand Locrian soldiers landed on the coast between Crotone Scylletium, and had begun their invasion to the territory of Crotone northward while they burned, slaughtered and plundered along the way.

After experiencing the tragic defeat of the naval battle, the Crotonians were once again frightened by the news of the invasion of Locri. And the council accused Lysias of doing whatever he wants and making the city empty and are now unable to send troops to repel the enemy’s invasion.

Lysias did not refute the council’s criticism of him, as he was also shocked by the disastrous defeat of the Crotonian fleet. At this time, he could only propose to the council to mobilize the whole city and send envoys to Theonia and Aprustum to ask for help.

In this situation, Crotone actually has no other way out, it’s just that they had just ended the war with Theonia, and there are still some hatred for Theonia in the whole city that had not disappear, however, they had to beg Theonia for help, which made both the members of the council and the public to be embarrassed.

Aprustum was not far from Crotone, with great speed, Sisticos managed to arrive at the south gate of Aprustum in less than two hours.

Although Theonia had made peace with Crotone, they still did not relax their defense of Aprustum and had instead made it stricter, with groups of sentries patrolling back and forth in the city wall and guards being stationed in front of the city gate, and though there are only a few pedestrians going in and out of the city gate, the guards still continue to diligently carry out their task, which made Sisticos able to patiently accept the inspection of the guards.

Then the captain of the city guard appeared before and had brought with him the order from the praetor of the city, Hielos, that allows him to enter the city.

As soon as he entered the city, he was surprised by what he saw: The main street, which was not wide, had some people digging ditches on both sides of the street, while some people struck the stones stacked on the roadside with hammers and awls, and then spread the cut stones on the dirt road, and some others were tearing down some of the building that hinders the smooth road and were rebuilding the brick walls….

There were also those who were carrying soils, stones and garbage…countless strong men were busy with their work and had turned this place into a big construction site. Everyone was doing a lot of work and almost no one stopped to look at him.

“What are they doing?” Asked Sisticos with curiosity.

The captain replied, “Because we will be moving here in the future, so we need to build our own home because the roads in this city are too narrow and uneven, and the garbage and sewages were everywhere….”

The captain said a lot of the city’s disadvantages, which made Sisticos feel amused, he had often come to Aprustum and felt that it was no different from Taranto, so how could this Theonian say that? And so he immediately asked, “Are you not Greeks?”

“We are Lucanians, but we are citizens of Theonia!” Said by the captain of the city guard loudly.

“You speak Greek well.” Then, with a word of praise, Sisticos changed the subject, “I have heard that the Lucanian region is full of mountains, barren land, and you often could barely eat. So I didn’t expect that you would care so much about your living environment.”

“Ever since our tribe joined Theonia, we no longer suffer from hunger!” The captain, blushed as if he had been humiliated and said loudly, “Though the place where we used to live is not as good as the houses here, it is still not good enough compared to what I have seen in Thurii!”

Chapter 236 – Hielos’ Decision

The captain then continued loudly, “The legion engineers often tell us that ‘building a flat road will make walking easier, and digging ditches for the sewage and taking away the garbages can keep the city clean, while the viaduct brings clear water directly into the city, saving us the trouble of carrying the water back and forth and allowing for the continuous use of water….’

Praetor Hielos had also told us of what lord Davos had said, ‘All facilities that gives convenience to the people in Thurii should also be build in other cities of Theonia, so that every Theonian citizens, whether in Thurii or in other cities, can enjoy a clean and convenient life!….’”

The excited voice of the captain had attracted some of the soldiers that were working to look. For fear of causing any misunderstanding, Sisticos no longer talked back and the captain also did not want to say anything more to the Crotonian envoy who looked down on the Lucanians.

While walking quietly, Sisticos saw scholar like people measuring something with instruments at the corner of the street(it’s a framing square which is used to measure whether the building is perpendicular or not) and some people use lime powder to draw lines on the roadside and telling the soldiers where to dig the ditch…everyone’s expression was so attentive and had made Sisticos to be somewhat interested.

The Greeks can build solemn and grand temples, grand arenas, exquisite and solid amphitheatre…even though they have the most advanced construction technologies in the Mediterranean of this era, they do not apply it to improve the lives of the people. And the people are also used to their simple material life and devote their energies to politics, sports, competitions, drama…it seems that the Theonians are the only one that invest a lot of manpower and material resources in roads, bridges, ditches, viaducts, and other infrastructure that the Greek city-states are not willing to do. Sisticos has never been to the newly build Thurii, but the Theonian road is quite famous in the whole Magna Graecia, and it seems that even the barbaric Lucanians yearns for the way of life created by Theonia, so there must be something attractive about it…unconsciously, he arrived at the city hall of Aprustum and met Hielos, who had just taken his post for only less than two days, and the temporary garrison officer – Asistes.

After listening to the request of Sisticos, Hielos and Asistes became slightly surprised. After all, the bloody war with Crotone has just ended and has now become allies. But the Crotonians, who were once their enemies, are now asking them for their help….

Even though the two strategoi have been on the battlefield for a long time, they still somewhat have a hard time accepting it emotionally.

Hielos said with cautiousness, “Helping Crotone to defend against Locri means that Theonia will fight Locri. Deciding such a huge decision is not up to us as it needs the permission of the senate of Theonia.”

“We naturally understand this. Therefore, we have also sent another envoy to Thurii on a fast ship. But Locri’s army has already invaded our land and started burning our villages and killing our people…I am afraid that once the order of the senate of Theonia arrives, many of our people would have lost their lives! And a lot of houses will be burned down!….” Sisticos begged and said with tears, “Since the foundation of Theonia, you have always kept your promise. So as an ally of Crotone, will Theonia just watch Crotone suffer and perish?!”

The two strategoi who did not have much political experience felt a bit embarrassed. So Asistes could only say that on the ground that the matter was so important, they would need to discuss it, and so he led Sisticos, who was wiping his tears, out.

When Asistes returned to the hall, Hielos had already regained his composure and said, “Asistes, I will agree to the request of the envoy of Crotone. I will send our troops to the west bank of the Targines river to prevent Locri from entering the core area of Crotone.”

“What?! You will make lord Davos extremely angry if you go to war with Locri without the permission of the senate!” Asistes remembered that in Nerulum, Sesta had taken the initiative and caused himself to be criticized by Davos, so he immediately shook his head like a rattle, “No! This will definitely not work!”

“Who said that we need to go to war with Locri in order to stop them? We will instead do this….” Hielos said carefully of his own considerations.

After hearing this, Asistes thought about it carefully with a slight worry on his face, “Isn’t this too risky?! What if Locri really attacks our troops regardless of everything?”

“Asistes, you should know that even though Theonia Union had only been established for only less than a year, we have a high reputation in Magna Graecia, not only for our successive military victories, but also because lord Davos had always led us to stick to our own beliefs! When we were very weak, we didn’t even give up our alliance with Thurii in the face of the powerful Crotone. Now that our allies are asking us for help, and don’t lend a helping hand even though we can, then what is the use of the defense alliance agreement that we have just signed with Crotone?! What will the Crotonians think? When we came here, Lord Davos and the senate warned us that we should keep the peace and friendship with Crotone, so in this situation, can we still achieve it?! Will the other city-state in Magna Graecia still believe that we Theonians can keep our promise? I know that if lord Davos was in the face of this situation, he would not hesitate to send troops to protect Crotone! If Locri dares to attack, then we would just fight back without hesitation!”

Asistes was slightly touched after hearing Hielos say those words with seriousness, and defended himself in a low voice, “It’s not that I do not agree in sending troops, it’s just that I want to get the instruction of lord Davos first.”

“It would take more than a day at the earliest for the order to arrive, and by then, Locri would have already crossed the Targines river and caused great losses to the outskirts of Crotone. Since we want to help Crotone, then it is a must to be there when they need us the most!”

Hielos spoke with a firm and powerful tone, and Asistes was moved by it, “Erm, I agree. But we need to send a herald to Thurii as soon as possible to explain our decision!”

“That’s natural!” Said Hielos and nodded.

Sisticos was informed by Hielos that Theonia would fulfill their agreement and Aprustum would send troops to help Crotone defend their territory. Sisticos was unable to restrain his excitement and repeatedly thanked Hielos and Asistes.

Once Hielos made the decision to set out, the whole Aprustum began to take action, and the 2,500 troops of the third legion were quickly assembled and were led by Asistes to immediately set out south, while Hielos just left about 500 men to defend Aprustum.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The thousand men vanguard of Locri met almost no resistance and smoothly approached Targines river, while leaving behind a piece of ruins. If it was the ancient times hundreds of years ago where the war between the city-states was still tender, the two sides would have agreed on the time and place for the battle, and before the battle starts, there was even a duel between warriors, and the victorious side seldom chased the loser. But now, the war between city-states became very fierce with the defeated side getting destroyed. Therefore, when the powerful party were to attack, the weaker side naturally can only hide in their city and defend, and if the attackers are not willing to attack the city, then they can instead choose to destroy the farmlands, burn villages and slaughter people…it’s a common practice in order to force the other side to fight. For example: During the Peloponnesian War, when Sparta attacked Athens by land, Athens knew that they could not compete with Sparta, so the Athenians hid in the long wall of Athens, which had led to the Attica region to be trampled by into a barren wilderness.

These means can also weaken the morale of the enemy city-state, just like what the Theonian soldiers did in Crotone and what the Crotonian soldiers did on the Sybaris plains. And the decades-long feud between Locri and Crotone had given the people of Locri another purpose in doing these things – to vent their anger. Therefore, they did it thoroughly and had even slowed down their march.

Hearing that the Targines river was not far ahead, the soldiers of Locri wished to cross it immediately and rush into the core of Crotone to burn and loot. But when they rushed to the west bank of the Targines river, they found an army in front of them blocking their way.

Theophantes, the strategos who was leading the army of Locri, began to murmur to himself, ‘Didn’t the navy say that Crotone had sent all their soldiers and had emptied their city? Are they newly recruited freemen?’

When he looked closely, he saw that the army in front of him was arranged in a neat phalanx formation, and each of them was tall and upright, with helmet, chest armor, shin armor, round shield, spear, which is a full hoplite equipment. The whole phalanx formation was silent like a mountain, but their oppressive momentum had made the Locris, who were still talking and laughing, become quiet.

“Look at the flag!” Someone pointed to the center of the phalanx formation on the opposite side, which was holding a red flag high, and exclaimed.

The soldiers with good eyes can see that at the top of the flag is a bronze statue with wings and a sword.

“That looks like the god of death.” Said someone with uncertainty.

God of death?! Theophantes remembered what Metofeles, who had just returned to Locri a few days ago, told the council regarding what he had seen and heard in Theonia. He immediately realized that this unusual army ahead was not from Crotone, but Theonia, who had forced Crotone to make peace with them not long ago, a mysterious city-state that did not even exist a year ago, but is now playing an important role in the city-state alliance in Magna Graecia!

Theophantes immediately became nervous and began to reorganize his scattered ranks.

At this time, a small group of cavalry came from the opposite side and stood about 50 meters away from the formation of Locri. And the strategos in the middle, wearing a helmet with a purple crest, spoke out loud, while the other cavalry served as the herald, “I am Asistes, a senior centurion of the third legion of Theonia Union! Theonia and Crotone have signed a defensive alliance, and according to the agreement, Theonia has the responsibility to protect the territory of Crotone! Locri, Theonia has no intention to go war with you, but if you continue to stay in the lands of Crotone, then we will have to drive you out!”

A commotion in the formation of Locri broke out.

Damn! Theophantes murmured, and the most worrying thing had finally happened.

When the news of the alliance between Theonia and Crotone reached Locri a few days ago, it had shocked the whole council and everyone began denouncing Crotone for their shamelessness and cowardness.

Chapter 237 – Sparta’s Syssitia

Some Locrians have backed out and proposed that Crotone is already enough to keep Locri in check, and now they have a much more powerful ally that Locri couldn’t match. Therefore, they should withdraw their troops immediately!

At the same time, many people were against it and said that this is a rare opportunity to beat Crotone, and what’s more, Theonia and Crotone are just in a defensive alliance and so the Theonians should not intervene. Moreover, the war between them has just ended, so Theonia’s losses should be great, and their hatred to the Crotonians shouldn’t have been eliminated immediately and they definitely would not do their best to help Crotone. Therefore, they should seize this opportunity to attack!

Both sides continued to argue for a while until Demodekas brought good news about Syracuse agreeing to assist them, which turned the worries of the statesmen of the council into joy and agreed to continue the war.

When the council of Locri sent Theophantes to attack Crotone, they had only mostly considered that Theonia would not send their troops. Therefore, the council did not even determine the specific measures of what they should do if Theonia were to send troops.

Now that the Theonians were standing in front of them, Theophantes mind went blank, ‘Attack?!…this means war with Theonia!’ As a member of the council, he knew in his heart that the reason for the wishful thinking of the council of Locri was that they were too excited to defeat Crotone and therefore ignored the existence of any variables, and Theonia was undoubtedly the biggest variable. The Theonians were able to defeat Crotone, whom Locri had been unable to defeat and in addition, the scene in the triumphant return that was described by Metolephes made Theophantes a little bit afraid that if he were to attack, it will lead to Theonia joining the war and expand the war. Although Syracuse, the ally of Locri, had agreed to help, they are now fighting against Carthage with all their strength. So apart from a small naval assistance, it is impossible for the Syracusians to provide more help. And if he were to be defeated, the members of the council will certainly place the responsibility on him.

But if he didn’t fight….and just retreat like that, it will not only damage his honor, but also the prestige of Locri and be blamed once he returns….

While Theophantes was still hesitating, some of the soldiers began making noises.

“Theonians! Do not think that you are great! Just because you ask us to withdraw, we would withdraw?! I will tell you this, WE WILL NOT RETREAT!”

“That’s right, we Locrians are not easy to mess with! Locri has existed in Magna Graecia for hundreds of years! What is Theonia? I have never heard of it!”

“If we don’t retreat, what will you do to us?!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The clamouring of the soldiers made Theophantes anxious and angry. He had no more than a thousand men in his hands and half of them were sailors. Along the way, a lot of the soldiers began leading sheep and cattle, and had plundered a lot of spoils. Blinded by their greed, they no longer had the appearance of a soldier and now, they even got the courage to fight with the Theonians?!

Theophantes was about to retreat but had not yet given the orders, when the other side’s drums sounded and the stationary phalanx began moving, then came a relatively neat sound of footsteps. It is like a thick iron wall marching straight towards them, and the Locrian soldiers that were shouting immediately became silent.

Theophantes sighed and said, “Retreat!”

As soon as the order was given, and before the salpinx could even be heard, the Locrian soldiers had already turned around and ran, and the whole formation had completely broken apart.

Theophantes was unable to stop the soldiers’ disorder and frantic retreat, as if death was chasing behind them. And with their wish to escape much faster, they had even thrown their spoils that they had plundered….

Asistes didn’t expect that he would push back the Locrians so easily. And so, while sending a small number of soldiers to clean up the battlefield, he led the rest to follow the Locrians. It wasn’t until he saw the Locrians scrambling to get on the ship and leave the coast did he lead the soldiers back, and at the same time, they also return all the spoils that they had collected to the Crotonians who came to express their gratitude with mixed feelings, which made the Crotonians to be both grateful and ashamed.

Theophantes was naturally not willing to return to Locri just like that, so after the fleet sailed southward for a while, he led his team to land on the coast of Scylletium, which was not yet an ally of Theonia….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In Sparta, there is a building covering an extremely wide area, and the simple stone pillars supported the roof to shelter the people from the wind and rain. There is ventilation on three sides and a kitchen on one side, and the vast hall is filled with long wooden tables and chairs. This is the Spartan citizen’s mess hall.

At meal time, the Spartans gather here from all directions, line up in order and get their share of “Syssitia*” and then eat in the mess hall, which can seat 500 people at the same time. On a sunny day, dining tables were even set on the grass outside, and thousands of Spartan citizens gathered to eat together regardless of age and ranks. Everyone’s food is roughly the same, which not only reflects the equality of the Spartan citizens, but also emphasizes their unity. The Spartans, who emphasized discipline and obedience, always keep this grand dining scene in order. This was the communal dining system for which Sparta was famous in Greece. (T/N: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syssitia)

The food they receive is not free, but had to be produced from the “land” allocated to the citizens by the city-state and paid to the city-state in order to enjoy the syssitia. In fact, even if it was said that the land was owned by the citizen, the citizens themselves do not have the right to use the land, but are instead managed by the city-states and the helots being the one cultivating the land. But once the citizens lost their allocated land and could not pay for the output, then they lost the right to participate in the syssitia and thus be marginalized by the people of the city-states. Therefore, the communal dining system founded by the Spartans is not only a dining system, but also an important political authentication of being a citizen of Spartan.

Since the Peloponnesian War, the Spartan’s mess hall had a difficult time to recreate the spectacle of thousands of men eating together. Their citizens were either away on long campaigns or have died, and the number of people eating here has never exceeded 500. Even after their victory, their number had still not recovered, because the Spartan’s fleet needed to patrol the Aegean Sea, and garrisoned some of the important geographical city-states conquered by Sparta in order to keep their loyalty. Although most of the soldiers are mercenaries, perioikoi and helots, the strategoi and high ranking officers must be authentic Spartan citizens.

On this day, there were no more than a hundred Spartan citizens in the mess hall.

Phidias sat at the mess hall and chewed the bread in his hand, while recalling the accession of the new king to the throne not long ago. Agesilaus became the king, which was beyond many people’s expectation, but Phidias was happy, because Agesilaus had several close contacts with him and thought that Agesilaus is a kind and wise man, and will become a good king.

“Hey look! There are two wretched helots over there!” A man at a nearby table suddenly shouted, and following the direction of his finger, Phidias saw that the two men dining at the opposite table immediately looked a little unnatural, although both were also topless, but in terms of shape and skin color, they were different from a real Spartan citizen.

“They are new citizens. To be able to enjoy syssitia means that they have made enough contribution in the war, and that they are able to impress the conservative Gerousia to give them freedom and citizenship, and to also give them an allocated land, which is not easy! So we should respect them as real warriors!” Another man said gently.

“Hmph, who knows if Lysander did some tricks?! During the war, he used his power to turn a lot of perioikoi and helots into Spartan citizens on the pretext of defeating Athens!” The man lowered his voice and said with indignation.

“No matter how brave we Spartans are, we can’t withstand the casualties caused by the frequent wars. Without these new citizens, we wouldn’t have won against Athens.”

“But look how many around here are real Spartans, while several of my comrades were temporarily deprived of their citizenship and have been reduced to inferior status because they couldn’t pay their share of the communal meal!…if it continues like this, will Sparta still be Sparta?!”

“Uh…you are right….”

“I tell you, we….” The man leaned close to another companion and whispered.

The Spartans have always been taciturn, especially when eating. So when these citizens had not only talked a lot, but also whispering, it became hard not to attract the attention of Phidias. Just when he was about to turn his head to see who this person was, someone suddenly tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Phidias, king Agesilaus invites you to come over.”

“Alright.” Phidias immediately stuffed the last bit of bread into his mouth and finished his porridge, and wiped his mouth. He then stood up and followed the soldiers to the front of the mess hall. He subconsciously looked back at the person just now, but that guy had already finished his meal and left the mess hall, so he could only see his back.

Phidias shook his head to dispel the doubt in his heart and went to the new king of Sparta. At this moment, Agesilaus was different from his previous self, he looks more calm and more dignified.

Phidias bowed respectfully.

“Phidias, sit down.” Agesilaus looked at him with a smile and said, “You and I are old friends, so there is no need for you to be polite.”

After hearing this, Phidias stopped being modest and immediately sat down opposite of Agesilaus.

“Are you full? If it’s still not enough, I have a lot more here.” Said Agesilaus, while pushing a plate over.

The Spartan king also had to take part in the syssitia, and their food was no different from the other citizens. And the only privilege he has is that he could get a double portion of the communal meal. It wasn’t for the king to eat more, but for the Spartan king to use the extra portion to invite others to eat with him, it is not necessarily for the invited person to be a Spartan citizen, as they can even be foreigners. The previous king, Agis, entertained Alcibiades in this way.

In fact, the Spartan communal meal is not delicious, but it is a kind of political expression that means that the invited person is the king’s guest of honor, and to allow the Spartan king to use this power to draw someone in, resolve conflicts and to nurture trusted followers…and today, Agesilaus gave this honor to Phidias.

Chapter 238 – Agesilaus’ Intention

Phidias gladly accepted it, as he happened to be still a bit hungry. He picked up another piece of bread, spread some honey on it and ate it.

Agesilaus patiently waited for him to finish his meal before he said, “Can you tell me the details of your last mission to Magna Graecia?”

Phidias became happy, because when he came back to report to the Gerousia, however, due to the death of king Agis, the elders were busy with the funeral and the election of a new king, so they simply did not care about other matters.

Just as Phidias finished his brief mission to Magna Graecia, the new king of Sparta expressed his concern for Theonia, and Phidias immediately gave a detailed account of his mission to Theonia without any exaggeration.

Agesilaus propped his head on one hand, and straightened his limp foot and listened carefully, while showing a pondering expression on his face.

When Phidias finished his account, Agesilaus said, “It seems that the Theonians have embarrassed you, and that your impression of them is not good.”

“I am angry because of Theonia’s lack of respect for Sparta, but as far as I am concerned -” Phidias paused for a moment and said truthfully, “Actually, I appreciate Theonia’s….”

“Oh” Agesilaus was a little surprised and asked, “Why?”

“Perhaps it is due to their unyieldingness that they had shown…” Phidias then said with a sigh as he recall the situation at that time, “Although I was in Thurii for just a short time and didn’t have deep contact with the Theonian citizens, it gave me a feeling that the…the Theonian soldiers were also very disciplined, and I even heard that the senate of Theonia held a celebration ceremony to the strategoi and soldiers that have returned victorious. It gave me the feeling…the feeling that….”

Phidias pondered and said, “Theonia is like the Sparta of Magna Graecia….”

Agesilaus was taken aback, and then teased him, “You actually compare a city-state union ruled by a tyrant to Sparta where our citizens are equal and free.”

“Although there is only one archon in Theonia, and it is still a lifelong archon, they still have the senate. And from my experience in the senate of Theonia, those statesmen seemed to be able to influence the law-making of Theonia, and the relationship between the archon and the statesmen of the senate is…uhm…anyway, it is not like Syracuse, where Dionysius is the one who has the final say.” Phidias said with seriousness.

“You don’t seem to like Syracuse.” Said Agesilaus while glancing at him.

“I don’t think that anyone who hears that Syracuse can mobilize such a huge army to attack Carthage will be in a good mood!” Phidias straightforwardly said, “The tens of thousands of infantry are nothing. But the main issue is that there are thousands of cavalry and a huge fleet no weaker than us! And Dionysius is an ambitious man!”

Agesilaus looked at him and smiled, “I am glad that you can see these, Phidias! In the latter part of the war with Athens, we began to pay attention to the west and it was through the alliance with Syracuse that Sparta could get involved in the matters of the west. Carthage is the ally of Persia in the western Mediterranean, so we need an ally in the western Mediterranean to suppress Carthage and protect the rear of Sparta. Hence why we supported Syracuse, and at the same time, made Sparta to gradually deepen our influence among the Greek powers in the west. However, some of the past practices of Sparta has blindly allowed Syracuse to expand and allowed it to annex the Greek cities in Sicily, which might cause trouble to ourselves in the end. We don’t want our allies to be too weak, but we can’t allow them to become too strong.”

“You are right, milord! But now, Carthage still has the advantage in Sicily and our strength is concentrated in Asia Minor. So for now, we should continue supporting Syracuse for the time being.” Phidias understood the obscure meaning of Agesilaus, but he was still thinking about the city-state and said frankly.

“There is no need for us to do anything, because the power to restrain the expansion of Syracuse has emerged.” Agesilaus did not feel unhappy, but instead, smiled at him with relief and said, “It’s the one who had made you unhappy, Theonia.”

“Theonia!” Phidias was surprised and then shook his head, “Theonia can’t compare with Syracuse at all. Syracuse is too strong in terms of territory, population, trade and military strength.”

“That is true for now, but Theonia is expanding very fast.” Agesilaus then said with a complicated expression, “I have just received a report from Magna Graecia that Theonia has defeated Crotone and forced them to cede their territory and sign an alliance agreement with Theonia….”

“When did this happen?!” Phidias widened his eyes. Not long after he left Magna Graecia, Theonia has actually defeated Crotone once again!

Phidias could not believe it, “Crotone is obviously stronger than Theonia, and this time, Crotone should not have made the same mistake as last, so how could they….”

“A hundred years ago, before the war between Sybaris and Crotone, many Greek city-states thought the same, but the result was that the weak Crotone has won!” Agesilaus sighed, “Cheirisophus is right. Davos is a military genius. Although Sparta had missed him regretfully, it would still be good if he could lead Theonia against Syracuse.”

“Theonia will definitely clash with Syracuse!” Phidias was still thinking about how Theonia defeated Crotone, which has caused him to be slightly absent-minded, so he replied with a strong tone.

Agesilaus didn’t mind and said, “Now that Syracuse has occupied the eastern part of Sicily, with our support and with their own strength, it will not be a big problem for them to drive Carthage out of the eastern part of SIcily, and it is even possible for them to…completely expel Carthage out of Sicily, and even if they couldn’t, Syracuse will definitely become the leader of the Greek city-states in Sicily. And just like you have said, Dionysius is an ambitious man, so will he be satisfied with just those?” Said Agesilaus, while dipping his fingers in the porridge and drawing a simple map of Sicily on the dining table.

Phidias shook his head.

“So will he lead his soldiers into Africa?” Asked Agesilaus.

Phidias shook his head hard. Agesilaus was naturally joking, because Africa is the base camp of Carthage, and has been there for hundreds of years. So if Syracuse dares to send an army to set foot on the land of Africa, Carthage will certainly make sure that none of them will return, just like what happened to the army led by Dorieus, the elder brother of the Spartan king, Cleomenes, that was exiled a hundred years ago.

“And so, this is the only place where Syracuse can expand its power-” Agesilaus then drew a rough outline over Sicily, “Sicily and Magna Graecia is only separated by a narrow strait, and they are all Greek city-states, and Dionysius has always been cruel to his fellow Greeks….”

“You are right.” Phidias nodded in agreement. He and Agesilaus did not even think about the Greek mainland in the east of Sicily, because they thought that Dionysius would not dare to offend these powerful city-states with long history no matter how bold he was.

“Now that the Theonians have subdued the Crotonians, the only powerful city-states further south of Crotone are only Locri and Rhegium. And Locri and Syracuse are allies, with Crotone and Locri being mortal enemies, and now, Crotone is allied with Theonia. Therefore, sooner or later, Theonia will have a conflict with Syracuse….” Agesilaus analyzed.

Phidias looked at the table and shook his head and said, “Theonia is still too weak.”

“As long as the army of Dionysius set foot on the land of Magna Graecia, I am afraid that all the other city-states, except for Locri and Taranto, will unite around Theonia.” Agesilaus said solemnly, “We don’t want another Syracuse in the western Mediterranean, but I believe that Davos will be able to make Theonia create enough trouble for Syracuse, so that Dionysius wouldn’t be able to conquer Magna Graecia in a short time, and it will give Sparta the time to mediate. Don’t forget, there is also Taranto in Magna Graecia, which is a friendly colony established by Sparta.”

Thinking of what happened in Taranto, Phidias said, “Taranto may not listen to us.”

“Wait until Theonia and Syracuse become strong, and by then, they will definitely listen.” Agesilaus sneered and stretched out three fingers, and propped them on the table, “Syracuse, Theonia and Taranto are the three important city-states that maintain the stability of the western Mediterranean. This is what the Gerousia discussed after learning of Syracuse’s attack on the western part of Sicily and Theonia defeating Crotone. Therefore, you no longer have to worry about Theonia anymore.”

“Esteemed king Agesilaus, I understand!” Phidias understood that the indifferent elders in the Gerousia would not care about the tangles in the heart of a young strategos, and it was instead Agesilaus who was comforting him. For this, Phidias was very grateful.

Agesilaus gave a faint smile, as if it was just a matter of lifting his hand, and said, “There is another reason for why I have called you.”

Phidias immediately leaned forward with a serious expression.

Note: Agesilaus and Phidias underestimated the boldness of Dionysius. In history, Dionysius have sent mercenaries to attack Greece together with pirates. Of course, their target was not Sparta, but the sacred sanctuary of all Greeks – Delphi. Dionysius attempted to plunder the temple of Apollo of their hundreds of years of accumulated wealth in order to make up for their empty treasury caused by his long war.

Chapter 239 – The indignation of Leotychides

“With regards to the supervision of the implementation of the peace treaty and the cession of land and the resettlement of immigrants in the city-state of Elea, which was temporarily put on hold due to the death of Agis, I have recommended to the Gerousia for you to be the one responsible, I wonder if you are willing to go?” Said Agesilaus with seriousness.

“I am!” Phidias blurted out and said that apart from military training and attending the king’s funeral during this period of time, he had nothing else to do. So when he sees other people being sent to foreign places one after another to perform important tasks, it was inevitable for him to feel disappointed. Now that Agesilaus had placed such a delicious job in front of him, so how could he not be moved and grateful!

“Thank you very much for your trust in me king Agesilaus! You becoming our king is a gift from Zeus to Sparta!!”

Agesilaus smiled from hearing the flattery of the talented young Spartan, Phidias.

After Agesilaus and Phidias left, there were only a few dozen people in the mess hall remaining. A young man with linen cloth on his head then appeared stealthily from behind the pillar while looking at the back of Agesilaus with hatred.

He then hurriedly went to get his share of communal meals when the cook who was distributing the food jokingly said, “Leotychides, why are you dressed like this? You look like a woman.”

A Periokoi dared to make fun of him. If it had been the past Leotychides, he would have angrily beaten him to the point of possible cutting off his arms and legs, but at this time, the son of the previous king had no desire to argue, so after finding a corner to sit down, he then start eating his bread, and for some reason, tears welled up in his eyes. His failure of taking the throne had made him a joke in Sparta, while his usurper uncle had given half of the family’s fortune that was left by his father to those people who were having difficulty and thus won their support, and began praising the benevolence and righteousness of Agesilaus. While some people proposed to expel him and his mother out of Sparta on the reason that ‘He and his mother are not Spartans, and are a disgrace to Sparta.’ Although the Gerousia refuted this absurd proposal, the Spartans looked at Leotychides with increasing contempt.

“What have I done wrong?! That made the goddess of fate to punish me like this?! To prove myself, I grew up participating in ‘Agoge*’ which the sons of kings were not supposed to participate, and I have always excelled in all the training and tried my best to fight at the front in every battle. And I had always caused all my peers to be dumbfounded in my debates, and wrote better articles than them, but why?! Why?! They couldn’t see all of these and instead always focused on those rumors to insult me and my mother!! Damned Agesilaus! Damned Gerousia! Damn Agis, if you had not treated my mother so badly, how could there be such rumors spreading?!” In the end, Leotychides began blaming his dead father, “I can’t stand such humiliation anymore! I will take my mother and leave this disgusting place! I will leave Sparta!!” (T/N: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agoge)

Leotychides finally made up his mind, but when he was about to reach his destination, he saw a lot of people around the door of his house, and they were shaking their heads and sighing, while looking solemn. A sense of uneasiness suddenly rose from his heart.

“Leotychides!” Someone who have a good relationship with him saw him and said with sadness, “Your mother commited suicide.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Theophantes’ troops were plundering the territory of Scylletium, which made the garrison of Scylletium to go out of the city to meet with the enemy, but the Locrians retreated immediately.

The next day, the Locrians reappeared.

When the troops of Scylletium pursued them to the coast as they had done yesterday, they found that nearly two thousand Locrian soldiers were waiting for them.

The troops of Scylletium, which had been pursuing them and were no longer in a formation, had soon retreated, but the Scylletians had paid hundreds of casualties under the pursuit of the cavalry of Locri, and now, they could only hide in the city and could not go out. The only thing they could do was to send people to ask for help from the Crotonian army in Caulonia.

As the leader of the alliance, the Crotonian had to send 3,000 soldiers to assist Scylletium, but the Locrians had once more retreated to the sea.

Just as the Crotonian reinforcement hesitated whether to stay in Scylletium or return to Caulonia, 3,000 Locrians, Medmans and Hipponian troops marched along the west coast and crossed the Grande river, and entered the territory of Terina.

Terina, who had learned from the mistake of Scylletium, did not dare to rush out but went to ask Crotone for help.

Soon after the Crotonian reinforcements left Scylletium and went to Terina, the Locrians once again landed on the coast of Scylletium.

The Crotonian troops were forced to move back and forth, but they could not even touch a single hair of the Locrians, and had no place to vent their anger.

While Scylletium and Terina were also suffering, and their newly sown farms getting destroyed, and the people’s weariness of war began to rise.

Finally, the Crotonians found out that the more than 20 ships that have suddenly appeared during the naval battle, were not secretly built by the Locrians, but had instead come from the assistance of Syracuse.

This news had made the herald of Crotone panicked.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

During this time, in addition to dealing with the affairs of the union, Davos, who returned to Thurii, was staying at his home together with his wife and were taking care of their new-born baby, while educating his adopted children. He led a very full and happy life. Even if the envoy of Crotone had come to Thurii and asked for Theonia’s help, it still did not cause him any anxiety, because Hielos and Asistes had managed to push back the Locrians who invaded the territory of Crotone.

For this reason, the statesmen in the senate were praising Davos for choosing the right praetor of Aprustum.

In his letter to Hielos and Asistes, Davos greatly appreciated their decisiveness of taking the right measures in such a complex situation, and encouraged them to act boldly when the situation was critical and to not delay the time by being too concerned about his own feeling and waiting for the orders of the senate.

The excellent performance of Hielos had also made Davos to be completely relieved and to devote more of his energy in resettling Aprustum and Krimisa.

But at this moment, he got a report from Aristias that the “envoys of Crotone, Scylletium, Terina and Caulonia journeyed north together” and their purpose of coming to Thurii was obviously about the war between Crotone and Locri that Aristias was reporting to him these recent days.

The first thought of Davos was that this was a rare opportunity for Theonia to expand its strength and influence and that it was not unacceptable to engage Locri in a war by comparison.

But then, he began to hesitate due to the “special attention” of Aristias, who was in Catania, to Syracuse, so he also knew the truth regarding the defeat of the Crotonian fleet. Syracuse is the real ally of Locri and they have also sent reinforcements in this war, so Davos fighting Locri will certainly offend Syracuse, but is it worth it?

Davos had to consider it carefully.

In his previous life, he didn’t know much about the history of Syracuse and only knew that Archimedes of Syracuse was one of the culprits that triggered the second Punic War. And the Romans easily crushed Syracuse as if Syracuse’s strength was not worth mentioning, but it must be known that it was the Romans who used the power of the whole Italy to fight against Syracuse, which was in a period of decline.

When Davos crossed the Mediterranean world, it was in Magna Graecia where he felt the reverence of the Greek city-states of Italy for this great city-state of Sicily – Syracuse. Syracuse had repelled Carthage and dominated Sicily and Magna Graecia decades before, and now it seems that they are trying to regain their former glory and have the tendency to unify and rule the Greek city-states in Sicily and Magna Graecia. Although Sicily is only an island, its land is fertile and it is a famous wheat producing area in the western Mediterranean (mainly due to the volcanic ash), and what is more, the Greeks colonized Sicily in large numbers and had developed it very early on. In addition, Sicily being near the center of the Mediterranean Sea has made it become an important hub of trade between the eastern and western Mediterranean. All of these are the reasons why Sicily developed commerce and agriculture. Just looking at how Syracuse, who had only occupied the southeastern part of Sicily, could organize such a large army which Theonia, who was still in its infancy, could compare.

However, Davos is not a frog in the well who can not see the potential danger, on the contrary, countless cases in his previous life’s history, as well as the theories of politics, economy, geography and topography, and so on., all told him that no matter how much Theonia evade, once Syracuse truly defeats Carthage and unifies the Greek city-states in Sicily, then the rapid rise of Theonia will certainly attract the attention of Syracuse and will become an obstacle to its expansion, or even become the target for Syracuse’s next attack. So it is better to take advantage of the fact that Syracuse is caught in the quagmire of war with Carthage to seize this time to strengthen itself in order to have the strength to confront Syracuse in the future.

So after careful consideration, Davos finally made a decision and went to convince the senate.

Sisticos was the envoy of Crotone, and because of his accompaniment with Lysias and concluding a truce with Theonia and signing an alliance agreement, and then going alone to “persuade” the Theonians that were garrison in Aprustum to help Crotone repel the Locrians, had made almost everyone in the council of Crotone(except Lysias) to unanimously elected him to go to Theonia. So for the very first time, he was so highly regarded by the statesmen of Crotone, and the three envoys from the other city-states who accompanied him also looked up to him during their journey. Hence why Sisticos inevitably became somewhat proud.

Entering the city of Thurii, the envoys felt that the new city was not as bustling and wide as the city of Crotone. However, there is not a lot of crowding and noise.

Chapter 240 – Davos’ Proposal

The flat and wide streets, the neatly divided neighborhoods, and the neat and orderly houses…all of these had given away the Theonians’ regard for hygiene and order. The viaduct which stands high and spanned the whole city, the huge water wheels that were turning slowly and the uniquely shaped fountains and the flowing waters on both sides of the road…shows that the Theonians, as Greeks, have their own characteristics and pursuit of architectural art and technology.

What made the envoys stop were the white and towering Arc de Triomphe, the imposing Nike Square and the grand and magnificent Senate Grand Assembly hall, which clearly demonstrate the ambition and pursuit of Theonia. If they had seen this before, they might have secretly laughed at the overconfidence of Theonia, but after facing this city-state union in the second Crotonian War, they had clearly noticed that this emerging city, from the very beginning of its establishment, was different from other Greek city-states and had extraordinary ambitions.

Among other things, if you just look at the temple of Hades, which is about to be completed on the distant hill, it is only Theonia in the whole of Greece that have taken Hades as their patron god.

While the envoys were carefully scrutinizing the center of this rapidly growing new city-state union as they headed west to the Senate, the people of Thurii left their homes one after another and went east in droves.

“Did they just say…land allocation?” Asked the envoy of Scylletium curiously.

“Yes, I heard it as well.” Then the envoy of Terina directly asked, “Are you going to allocate the new lands that you have just occupied to the citizens?”

“Everyone, Theonia did not forcibly occupy those lands, all of those lands were all legally acquired in accordance with our agreement with Crotone.” Plesinas, who had come to meet them, immediately corrected them.

Even though the envoys did not retort, they still complained within themselves.

“According to the 《Theonian Military Law》 and the 《Theonian CItizenship Law》 and the promises made by the senate before the war, all the citizens and preparatory citizens who participated in the war will be granted an allocated land.” Plesinas continued without hiding anything, “According to the achievements of the soldiers in the war and the actual situation of the land in the the northern plains of Crotone, Aprustum, and Krimisa…the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Military Affairs under the Senate have done a lot of work during this period of time, and today is the day they will announce the results of the allocation of land, not only for the people of Thurii, but also the people of Amendolara and Nerulum will come and due to the number of people that will come, we can only hold it outside the city…envoys, if you are interested, you can go see it once the meeting is over.”

“We’d better hurry to the Senate first and get it over. The people of our city-state are still looking forward to our report!” Seeing that the other envoys were somewhat interested, Sisticos reminded them loudly and took this opportunity to hide his inner shame, after all, Theonia was allocating the land that they have forced Crotone to cede.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sisticos knew that this mission would not be as easy as the last time, but he did not expect that all the statesmen of the Senate of Theonia were very firm in opposing the dispatching of troops in the face of the request of the envoys of the four city-states.

….“The war has just ended and the loss of Theonia is also great. We don’t have enough money and food to cope with another war!”…..

….“The citizens of Theonia have just put down their shield and spears and obtained the land that they had just been assigned. They are all about to take a good rest and start planting wheat on their newly gotten lands while spring is still not yet over in order to catch up with the harvest, so there must be no fighting!”….

….“There is no need for Theonia to make an enemy of Locri and thus end up provoking Syracuse, a powerful city-state!”….

All in all, the thousands of words can be summed up in one sentence, ‘Theonia just wants to recuperate and not meddle.’

Due to this, the envoys of Scylletium, Terina and Caulonia expressed their willingness to sign the 《Defensive Alliance Agreement》 with Theonia, just like Crotone, but were strongly opposed by the statesmen of Theonia, whose reason was simple: Because with Theonia’s current strength, almost no force in south Italia dares to provoke them, while Caulonia, Terina and Scylletium kept getting invaded by the Locri and Brutti from time to time, so if this agreement was passed, it would be tantamount to these three city-states hiring a powerful city-state union to protect their security for free, which was obviously only beneficial to them and not to Theonia in any way.

Sisticos then became anxious because the negotiation reached a deadlock, but he could not do anything.

At this time, the envoy of Terina eagerly said, “What if I were to ask for us to join the Theonia Alliance?”

The envoy of Terina did not say it on a whim, because when they passed by Roscianum, Amikles and the others had entertained them warmly. At the banquet, the statesmen of Roscianum intentionally or unintentionally mentioned the many benefits Roscianum gained after they joined the alliance of Theonia, and at the same time, they saw the stability and prosperity of the people in Roscianum with their own eyes which made the envoys to become somewhat interested.

When he heard this, Sisticos was suddenly surprised and subconsciously shouted, “Siprus, do you know what you are talking about?!”

“To save Terina!” The envoy Siprus justified, “We, Terinians, have always abided by the agreement in the Crotonian Alliance and have always responded to the call of Crotone, we paid our tribute on time every year, and in every war we actively send troops and food! But what we are getting now in exchange is the devastation of the territory of Terina by the Locrians. Terina is a small city-state, but we live between Hipponion(the city-state allied with Locri, and are located in the south of Terina) and the Bruttians. If we can’t repel Locri as soon as possible, then even if the Bruttians do not attack, I am afraid that the people of Terina will all starve to death!”

Sisticos wanted to say that if Terina were to run out of food, Crotone will help them.

But he immediately swallowed his words. Crotone has just suffered heavy losses in these two wars with Theonia, and because of the blockade of the Locrian fleet, the whole city of Crotone also faced food shortage. This is also the main reason why Crotone urgently agreed for the three city-states in their alliance to ask Theonia for help.

Then he warned loudly, “Do you not know that by joining the alliance of Theonia, you can no longer have any alliance with any other city-states! If Terina withdraws from the Crotonian Alliance, then we will immediately withdraw our troops that are helping Terina to defend. And if the enemies were to invade in the future, we will no longer give Terina any more help!”

These words of Sisticos were not only aimed at Terina, but also a reminder to the envoy of Scylletium, Caulonia and even the Senate of Theonia. After all, Crotone is currently the main force in the south that is resisting Locri. So if Crotone were to withdraw, it would not only bring disaster to the other city-states but will also hinder the plans of Theonia.

Hence why the envoys of Scylletium and Caulonia who had some intentions had remained silent, and the envoy of Terina, Siprus, felt like he was riding a tiger at this moment and found it hard to dismount.

Seeing this, Davos slowly said, “All envoys from the city-states in the Crotonian alliance, if Theonia were to agree to your request and send troops to repel Locri, Locri and even Syracuse will most likely focus their anger on their defeat on Theonia. Therefore, no sane Theonian will make such a foolish decision that will harm the interests of our own union to help you.”

The words of Davos made the expression of the envoys gloomy.

Davos then changed the subject, “But as you had said just now, whether it’s Theonia or Crotone or Scylletium…because of conflicts of interest and contradictions, which might even lead to wars, it is ultimately a matter between our city-states in Magna Graecia. However, the collusion of Locri with Syracuse in the war between the city-states in Magna Graecia had undoubtedly brought a hungry wolf to a flock of sheep and threatened the security of Magna Graecia. Therefore, we need to take advantage while Syracuse is currently busy fighting with Carthage and end the war with Locri as soon as possible in order to not give Syracuse an excuse to interfere. Therefore, whether it is to send troops or not, we in the Senate of Theonia feel a dilemma! Because the people need a good reason to make them feel that they are not fighting a meaningless battle for the outsiders, and Theonia does not want to be abandoned after helping you and face a strong enemy alone in the future!”

The envoys fell into silence and what Davos meant was very obvious.

Sisticos, however, was troubled, as he remember the warning of Lysias before he left: Theonia may not want the large amount of gold and silver and supplies that the Crotonian Alliance promised to give in order for Theonia to send troops, nor sign the Defensive Alliance Agreement with the city-states, because they might want more….

Then Davos added, “I have a proposal for you all to consider.”

When he paused, all of the envoys pricked up their ears.

“Theonia, Crotone, Scylletium, Caulonia and Terina, our five city-states will form an alliance together to resist and attack the enemies who dared to invade our lands together, while having mutual nonaggression with each others, and if there are conflicts with each other, then the conflicts must be resolved through discussion!….”

Sure enough, when the envoys hear this, except for Sisticos whose face went darker, the others were obviously became excited, especially the envoy of Terina, Siprus, who became energetic again and asked, “Milord archon, may I ask who will be the leader of this alliance?”

As soon as this question came out, Sisticos became nervous.

With a smile, Davos said, “Alliance no matter how big or small needs to get along equally, and when problems arise and it is difficult to come to an agreement, then they can resolve it through voting….”

The answer of Davos was beyond their expectations, as they had thought that the reason why Theonia proposed to form a new alliance was an attempt to gain dominance of this alliance, and the eyes of the envoys, with the exception of Sisticos, brightened.

Chapter 241 – The Family Situation of Kunogelata

It must be known that the Crotonian Alliance, whether in foreign affairs or war, was dominated by Crotone, while the other city-states had to pay tribute every year. Naturally, Crotone contributed great efforts on the safety of the alliance in resisting foreign enemies, but with the strength of Crotone, they often decided many things without even consulting their allies, and their allies could only support them, just like their declaration of war with Theonia previously. But now, according to the proposal of Davos, the opinions of the small city-states in the alliance can be valued in the new alliance, which is a good news for Terina, Caulonia and Scylletium.

“I agree with the archon’s proposal in establishing such an alliance among our several city-states, so that our city-states in Magna Graecia can unite together to protect our interests and prevent enemies from angering us!” The envoy of Terina, Siprus, was the first to express his support.

Then the envoy of Scylletium agreed to the proposal, because his city was under the protection of the Crotonian army, and the envoy of Caulonia only implicitly expressed his approval.

Afterwards, everyone’s gaze was all focused on the body of Sisticos.

Sisticos’ mind was in a mess at this moment, because he knew that as soon as he gave his assent, this new alliance would be formed and the Crotonian Alliance would no longer exist and the century-long dominance of Crotone on Magna Graecia would end. In fact, after the second Crotonian war, the strength of Crotne had declined, but they still have the Crotonian Alliance as a cover to comfort their people.

Sisticos did not dare take such a big responsibility, and to become the scapegoat of the people’s blame, so he said, “This matter…I…I do not have the power to decide, it…it must be discussed and decided by the council.”

The other envoys were disappointed at Sistico’ delaying tactics, while Davos calmly said, “It doesn’t matter, we can wait.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Negotiations can wait, but the war will not stop.

The army of Syracuse managed to easily occupy Agrigento, which was the second largest Greek city-state in Sicily.

A few days later, with a small amount of reinforcements, the Locrian army came out of their camp and marched towards the city of Caulonia. Although the Crotonian reinforcements still had more than 2,000 soldiers stranded in the territory of Scylletium, they still resolutely joined hands with the soldiers of Caulonia and went out to meet with the enemy. An hour after the battle started, the Locrians began to gain the upper hand due to their large number of men, if it wasn’t for the coincidental gust of wind that prevented the Locrian cavalry from chasing them, then the joint forces of Crotone and Caulonia would have suffered not just a minor setback.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At the beginning, after the reconstruction of Thurii, each statesman of the senate was assigned a house. And Kunogelata had chosen a courtyard far away from his former residence so as to not think of the past and get depressed.

That night, when he came home, the living room was still lit with candle light, and his eldest son, Sostratus, came out and said, “Father, you have returned so late today, did something happen in the city again?”

Kunogelata glanced at his son while taking off his sweaty himation, he then stood on the courtyard and asked the male slave to bring water to wash his body and then said, “Androlis of Krimisa and the others have arrived at the Senate, which had caused me to busy today by registering them in the census office, assigning them residence and a whole lot of other matters….”

“But there is no need for you to do these things yourself tho, you can just let your men do them.”

“What do you know! Considering that Krimisa has just been merged into the union, we need to show these statesmen who represent the people of Krimisa that Theonia attaches great importance to them, so as to eliminate their worries….”

Sostratus, leaned against the porch pillar and said without regard, “Is that what Davos demanded again?”

“Fool!” Kunogelata grabbed the wet cloth from the hand of the slave and threw it at Sostratus and shouted, “I have told you a lot of time to not disrespect the archon, and yet you still do not listen!”

“When did I disrespect the lord archon?!” Sostratus cried out in aggravation while picking up the wet cloth and carefully threw it to the slave, “Lord Davos is my commander, and I have always obeyed the military law and his orders. It’s just that I can’t change the way I talk.”

Kunogelata looked at his son’s lazy appearance and could not stop himself from sighing. It seems that his son really is not fit for politics. Thinking of this, he asked, “Is the reason why you are waiting for me so late and still haven’t gone to bed is because you want to borrow money from me again?”

“Father, you are looking down on me. The last time I borrowed money from you was to contract the warehouses and inns in Amendolara, apart from paying you back and the rent I paid, guess how much I made?” Sostratus asked smugly and Kunogelata just ignored him.

“1 talent and 20 minae!” Sostratus shook his finger and triumphantly said, “If it wasn’t for the war with Crotone and the port of Thurii getting blocked, then I would have earned more money!” (T/N: Ancient Greek currency which goes 1 Talent = 60 Minae = 6,000 Drachmae = 36,000 Oboloi.)

After a pause, he continued, “Father, I have something to discuss with you.”

“Go ahead.” Kunogelata realized that his son must be up to something and said in a pretend casual manner.

Sostratus looked at his face and said casually, “After the war, the reward that the alliance will allocate to you and me is a total of 2,700 square meter of land in the northern plains of Crotone, which I would like to exchange to someone else for the land of Amendolara.”

“What?! You are going to trade the fertile Crotone plain for the barren land of Amendolara?!!” Kunogelata, who no longer valued money, could not be careless when faced with the issue of land, because land was the lifeblood of the Greeks.

“Father, let me explain!” Sostratus hurriedly said.

Kunogelata knew that his son must have a reason, so he rinsed his body and changed into clean clothes, then sat in the living room and listened to his son carefully.

“Father, you are the praetor of Thurii, so you should know the trade volume of the port has been rising since the reconstruction of Thurii last year.” Sostratus’s words made Kunogelata to snort. How could he not know of these things? He could even tell the number of cargo ships entering and leaving the port of Thurii every month and the amount of commercial tax for the market trade. Marigi had made a detailed plan to revitalize the trade of the union and had put a lot of effort to make this plan come true.

“Why could I earn money?! It is because the port of Thurii can no longer accommodate so many goods and foreigners, with the convenient transportation, it has made the warehouses and inns in Amendolara to be very popular. Now that we have defeated Crotone, we have not only expanded our territory once again, but also became a real power in Magna Graecia. Therefore, merchants and freemen will continue to flock here, however, the Senate has approved a law that forbids the use of the fertile land of the Sybaris plain for other purposes besides farming, otherwise it will be taken back-”

“Right, Burkes was the one in charge of this, it is to protect the arable land of Thurii.” Kunogelata interrupted.

“I also agree with this law!” Sostratus first praised it and then said, “In this way, Amendolara became the inevitable choice of these foreign merchants and freemen. Moreover, all the lands in the industrial zone that Marigi established last year have been auctioned off. I went there a few days ago to see, and a weapon workshop, pottery workshop and a stone carving shop have been started one after another. These are all large-scale workshops that require a lot of labor and slaves, so there is a great demand for accommodation, food and even entertainment. And a while back, I had a preliminary discussion with someone else to exchange 2,700 square meter of land on the Crotonian plain to 5,400 square meter of land on Amendolara near the industrial area. With such a large piece of land, I can build a large number of cheap housing and warehouses on it. Just the annual rent collected alone would not be a small amount, and we can also build some small stores to rent to others to do bakery, garments and so on…and if I have the money in the future, I can buy a lot of slaves and then rent them out to make a profit.” Sostratus talks about his dream.

“Father, no matter how fertile the land is, it will suffer heavy losses once famine comes. But according to my plan, as long as our Theonia Union remains strong, then our family’s annual income will be much more than when doing farming!”

Looking at his son’s spirited face, Kunogelata pondered for a long time and then said, “Sostratus, from now on, you will be the one in charge of the family’s finances, and I will announce this tomorrow and have Kleosus(the slave housekeeper of Kunogelata) listen to your arrangement from now on.”

“Really?!” Sostratus couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Of course! Since you have talent in trade, I won’t let you bury it. But-” Kunogelata added, “When I die, half of what you earn will be given to your brother. Can you promise me that?”

Under the gaze of Kunogelata, Sostratus calmed down and thought carefully and solemnly said, “Since the time when our family was driven out of Thurii, and my sister Sefina…left us, it made me even more cherish our family! Dicaeogelata is my only brother, so I will sign the agreement as father had requested, and once you go to…Elysium, I will share half of the family’s fortune with him! And once my sister remarries, I will prepare a rich dowry for her!”

“Good! Very good!!” Kunogelata was very relieved and felt that he had made no mistake in his decision. While the words of Sostratus had reminded him of one of his worries.

Diana, his eldest daughter, was already married when they were driven out of Thurii, so she did not follow them to Amendolara and got insulted by her husband’s family in the city of Thurii. And when her husband died during the attack of Crotone on Thurii, her husband’s family had driven her out of the house.

Chapter 242 – The establishment of the South Italia Alliance

Fortunately, shortly after Crotone burned the city, Davos led his army to take back Thurii, and Diana returned to her home, however, she became depressed. She is now 23 years old, and as a father, Kunogelata wanted to make his children happy, so he wanted to find a good husband for her, which also became his worries.

“Sostratus, what do you think of Hielos?” Kunogelata asked abruptly.

“About what?” Sostratus wondered why his father had mentioned Hielos all of a sudden.

“In the event of him becoming your brother-in-law.”

“You want to choose Hielos to be Diana’s husband?!” Sostratus’ eyes widened in surprise. Seeing his father nodding his head seriously, he quickly thought about it carefully and said, “Although I am a soldier under him, he is the senior centurion, and so he does not have much contact with us at normal times. The only thing I know is that although he trains strictly, he is fair and takes good care of us…I heard that he is still single and has no bad hobbies. Therefore, if sister were to marry him, then she should be well taken care of! But, father, why did you choose him? It seems that none of the statesmen of Thurii are willing to marry their daughter to these former mercenaries!”

“These people are still immersed in the past honor of their family, and are still hesitant and unwilling to accept the change of Thurii!” Kunogelata sneered and said solemnly, “Why do I want you to show respect to the archon?! It is because he is indeed favored by the gods. He is so young, but has great ability and means. The people love him, the army supports him, and the Senate is completely under his control! If you don’t want our family to experience such tragedy again, then the best way is undoubtedly to become family with the former mercenary veterans that have followed the archon to Persia! Hielos…I heard that he was the captain of the archon in Persia, and had taken good care of him. Although Hielos always kept a low profile in the Senate, it can be seen that the archon trusted him very much. Besides, although he used to be a mercenary, according to Cornelius, he is modest, firm and good at learning from others, so I believe that he will walk smoothly in the politics of Theonia in the future!….”

“Father, don’t think that it would be easy. Among the statesman who were former mercenaries that was brought by Da…the lord archon, Hielos is one of the few who are not married, he is only in his 30s and is a statesman, I believe that whether in Amendolara, or in Thurii there will not be few who will offer him marriage, however, he is still single now…I imagine that he may not agree to your request!” Sostratus reminded Kunogelata.

“I will naturally not go to him directly. I will instead let the archon come forward and I am sure that Davos will be happy to do it!” Kunogelata stroked his beard and said with a proud smile, “I had asked the archon in order to test the water, and he was very concerned about the marriage of Hielos. So with him as the matchmaker, and with the talent and appearance of Diana, how could Hielos not agree!”

“It seems that from now on, I will have to please my sister more, so that she won’t let my brother-in-law put me in the forefront of the phalanx formation when she is not happy….” Sostratus made a joke, which reminded Kunogelata about something and quickly said, “Don’t go out for these two days, Sostratus. The first legion will go south soon.”

“Has the agreement of the alliance been signed? Didn’t Crotone heavily oppose it?” Sostratus asked in surprise. With his father being a statesman, he naturally knew more about the politics of the union than ordinary citizens.

“Terina, Scylletium and Caulonia had all spoken in favor of it; so what good can Crotone’s opposition alone do? Besides, the current situation is very unfavorable to them! Even Lysias had rushed to Thurii, so you can see how anxious the Crotonians are!” At this point, Kunogelata begame a little bit excited, “We only need for the agreement to be signed and once the alliance is established, Theonia will truly become the leader of Magna Graecia!”

“What leader? I have heard that all the allies in this new alliance will treat each other equally, without distinction!”

“It looks like that on the surface, but the strength of the city-states still determines the weight of their words in this new alliance, especially when it does not involve the interests of the other allies.” Kunogelata then said with sincere admiration, “The archon is really amazing! Proposing such a way of alliance, which was immediately supported by the other city-states while isolating Crotone and forced them to join. So once the new alliance is established, it will also disintegrate the current Crotonian Alliance, and let us Theonia to smoothly squeeze into Crotone’s sphere of influence and become the de facto leader of this alliance!”

“Is this not because of the archon making full use of our victory over Crotone?” What Sostratus said is just a reminder of the opposition of Kunogelata in starting the war in advance.

Kunogelata was silent for a moment and instead of directly responding to his son’s question, he sighed and said, “I didn’t expect that during my lifetime, I would still be able to see Thurii becoming the center of Magna Graecia! Son, just as you had said before, Thurii is bound to usher in a big development!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the last day of February 398 B.C., Theonia, Crotone, Scylletium, Caulonia and Terina finally reached an agreement and signed a treaty to establish the South Italia Alliance.

Out of Crotone’s insistence, the agreement specifically stipulates that when discussing a decision, Theonia and Crotone will have two votes each, while the other three allies each have one vote.

The alliance’s base will be in Scylletium. At the start, Crotone asked for the alliance’s base to be set up on their territory, which was opposed by the other city-states. Later, Davos proposed it to be placed in Scylletium, which was approved by the other city-states, because apart from Theonia, Scylletium was in the center of the other allies, and its strength was not very strong, which made them feel at ease.

On normal days, the base of the South Italia Alliance will have personnel stationed in it to handle and negotiate the affairs among the allies.

With the Crotonian Alliance being officially disbanded, the new military defense alliance signed by Theonia and Crotone had also become invalid. And Crotone who had to pay 500 Talents to Theonia for the war reparations, but had only paid the initial 80 Talents and the rest were then annulled. This is one of the reasons why Crotone had finally agreed to join the South Italia Alliance, but it had left Mersis to hyperventilate and regret.

At this point, Theonia has the following treaties: Theonia Alliance, which is an alliance dominated by Theonia Union, due to Theonia controlling the diplomatic power of the alliance (i.e. other allies in this alliance are not allowed to sign any treaty or agreement with any city-states) and military dominance, so the other allied city-states are actually vassals of Theonia. Next is the alliance agreement with Taranto, due to the rapid expansion of Theonia, this agreement has been amended twice, from the initial dominance of Taranto to equal treatment and mutual assistance, and so far there has only been more trade and commerce, but no joint military. Finally, there is the newly established South Italia Alliance. In addition, there was also the non-aggression peace agreement signed with Pyxous in the north. With the exception of the Locrian League and the more southern alliance of Rhegium and one of two small city-states, Theonia and the other city-states in Magna Graecia had created a peaceful and stable surrounding environment for themselves in the form of alliance.

What Theonia urgently needs to do at this moment is without a doubt to fulfill the agreement and repel Locri.

This war is different from the previous battle, as it would take four days just to arrive at the battlefield, therefore, resolving this battle just by relying on the soldiers carrying rations that would last for a few days is not feasible. Their last battle with Crotone, the Crotonian fleet’s raid had already made the Theonians suffer a lot, and this time, the battle with Locri was even much more further away, which makes the food transport route to be much longer, and the Locrians also controlled the coastline, which would be a huge test for Theonia’s logistic.

In this regard, Davos adopted the following strategis. First of all, Mersis was responsible for the rapid formation of a huge logistic team, which would carry at least a month’s worth of rations enough for 10,000 people to eat. Then the transport team will depart together with the reinforcements, which would not only ensure the safety of the transport team, but will also reduce the labor force, escort and the surplus consumption of food. Secondly, it is to end the war as soon as possible, so for this reason, Davos sent the most elite of their army – the first legion.

Preparing military supplies, purchasing pack animals…these preparations for the war naturally cost a lot, but this time, Mersis was not stingy and had bought them, because the cost was shared equally by all the allies.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the rooster’s first caw sounded in the city of Amendolara, Giorgris had turned over and sat up, and his wife Daeneya had woken up as well.

“Go sleep a little longer.” Giorgris said softly, “I am leaving.”

“I can’t sleep! I will send you to Thurii!” Although Daeneya was older than Giorgris, she likes to act coquettish, because it makes her feel younger than Giorgris and Giorgris also enjoys this feeling.

However today, Giorgris shook his head, “It’s not good for the child for you to walk so far while being pregnant.”

“Who said that?! Herpus said that pregnant women should exercise more in order for a smooth delivery and the baby to be healthy!” Daeneya retorted.

Giorgris didn’t talk back anymore, as he trusted Herpus very much and that he is the direct disciple of the favored of the gods “Davos”. And also, he could not stand Daeneya’s repeated request, so he had to take her together with a male slave to carry his weapons and equipment, then left home and went out of the city.

It was currently dawn and the hired wagons from the port of Thurii were already rushing to Amendolara to snatch their customers, for they all knew that this morning, the first legion of Theonia was to assemble, reorganize and then depart at the Nike Square in Thurii.

Chapter 243 – Theonia’s Deployment

Giorgris is considered a rich man in Amendolara(it’s actually his wife), as he owns 7,000 square meters of lands in Amendolara, all planted with olive trees over ten years old and had his own oil press to make olive oil, originally the family only had a simple wagon, mainly used to transport the completed olive oil to the port of Thurii, but since Daeneya married Giorgris, and considering the frequent travel of Giorgris between Thurii and Amendolara for military training and handling military affairs, and in order to provide an appearance for her husband, she had bought a carriage for him to ride in, but usually, he just rode on the horse more often.

Although there were not many pedestrians on the road at this time, all the carriages still departed orderly. It has been almost a year since the construction of the Amendolara-Thurii road, and in order for it to be safe and convenient, the people have formed some customary rules under the guidance of the union.

But now the Department of Road Management of the alliance has been established and Heracleides the Younger has been successfully elected as the head of the department. According to the new department, Heracleides the Younger was ready to start two things immediately: First, he was going to submit to the Senate a bill for the maintenance and use of the roads of Theonia, that is, he was going to convert these customary road rules of the people into official road laws common to the union and improve the efficiency of the use of the roads. Second, he was going to propose to archon Davos a new road design and a plan to renovate the old ones.

The coachmen drove the horses to gallop at a constant speed, and the wooden wheels tightly clamped with iron sheets “clattered” on the flat road.

In the bumpy carriage, Giorgris listened to his wife’s chatter and thought about what he heard about the new department.

“Tomorrow, I am going to buy more slaves.” His wife’s words caught his attention.

“Don’t we have enough slaves already?” Giorgris said with doubt.

“I still haven’t seen the 2,000 square meter of lands that was allocated to you in Krimisa and I heard that they are all good land. According to the regulations of the Ministry of Agriculture, it can only be used to grow wheat. But now, you are busy with the military affairs of the union, so how can you have the spare time to work in Krimisa? Naturally, I will need to buy more slaves to look after the farms for us.” Explained Daeneya.

“It’s only 2,000 square meter of land, there is no need for so many slaves and it will cost us a lot of money just to support them.” Giorgris used to be poor, but he still kept his good habit of being thrifty.

“Dear, you do not know but the average citizen of Theonia now has at least two~three slaves in their family, and everyone understands that the only way to build merit, gain honor and win more land and concessions in war is to give the adult male of the family free time for military training. The slave market, which was only built six months ago at the port of Thurii, has now expanded several times. And the price of ordinary slaves has increased from 160 drachmae to 200 drachmae. If we don’t buy more now, then once we want to buy more slaves in the future, I am afraid that the price will have gone up to 300 drachmae.”

“Besides, we can send the extra slaves to Krimisa just in time to speed up the tilling of our farm, digging ditches,and to catch up on the planting of wheat seedlings, and when the farm work there is finished, a few can be sent back to the oil presses in Amendolara to assist in the transportation of the pottery pots, and go to the port to take care of our olive oil shop…during the busiest autumn season, more labor will be needed to harvest wheat, grinding the olives, extracting the oil and also grinding flour…when the time comes for farming, we will have enough slaves to use, so there will be no need to hire temporary laborers, which is a waste of money and is inefficient….” Daeneya explained it to Giorgris in detail.

Giorgris doesn’t know much about this, but he trusted his wife’s ability, so he nodded and said, “In that case, do as you say.”

Daeneya then happily snuggled in the arms of Giorgris.

After a while, the carriage stopped in front of the south gate of the city of Thurii. According to the rules, the carriage could not enter the city, so the couple had to get off and walk, while their slaves carried his weapons behind them.

Along the way, they could see many citizens being accompanied by their wives, and even the elderly and the children came to see them off.

Ever since Davos took the initiative to often take Cheiristoya out in public and with the integration of a large number of Lucanians, the tradition that the wives of the citizens of Greek city-states should stay at home and show their faces sparingly was now rarely observed in Theonia.

“Giorgris! Giorgris!”

Giorgris heard someone calling him, and when he looked back, he saw that it was Olivos.

Olivos then came over together with his Persian wife, Mitra.

After the four greeted each other, Olivos excitedly said, “I heard that you are back in the first legion this time!”

“Due to captain Hielos becoming the praetor of Aprustum, I had temporarily came back.” Giorgris kept his old habit while in Persia and called Hielos, captain.

“What do you mean temporary! Davos will definitely make you stay in the first legion for sure!” Olivos curled his lips and gave a mysterious smile.

“Why?” Asked Giorgris with suspicion.

“As the senior centurion of the first legion, it will be easier to become the legatus of another legion afterwards.” Olivos then came over and said in a low voice, “I heard that yesterday, Davos proposed a bill to the Senate and passed, ‘Anyone who has served as a Legatus for five years with outstanding performance can become a member of the Senate after getting elected by the statesmen!’”

Before Giorgris could speak, Daeneya, who was listening, said excitedly, “So my husband will become a member of the Senate in the future?!”

Olivos looked at her and said with a smile, “Yes, but after me. To be a statesman of the Senate, it’s not just a matter of being able to fight, you also need to have administrative skills. Like me, I have not only served as the patrol captain of Thurii, but have also invited a private teacher to teach me how to read, count and speak, and next year, I will try to become a mid-rank agricultural officer and a commercial officer…”

Daeneya looked at her silent husband and made up her mind to also urge him to strengthen his study and engage in more local affairs and to not always train the recruits…and so on.

Olivos found it interesting and fitting for the honest Giorgris to marry a shrewd-looking wife.

He looked at Daeneya carefully and suddenly said, “Are you pregnant?”

Daeneya stroked her belly with pride, “Yes, for five months!”

“My wife is pregnant as well!” Olivos announced it with the same pride and Mitra bowed her head embarrassedly.

“I am afraid that the rest of our comrades are like captain Hielos and Matonis, and are not married.” Giorgris suddenly said.

“You…you are not keeping up with the time! Kunogelata had taken a fancy to Hielos and wanted him to be his son-in-law, and wants Davos to be his matchmaker and Davos has already agreed to it! As for Matonis, didn’t you notice that he was acting a little strange when we left Krimisa?” Olivos said with a smile, “I asked my men to quietly go to his brigade and inquire about it, and turns out, this big guy became infatuated with a girl in Krimisa….hahaha!”

“Really?!” Giorgris was pleasantly surprised.

“Of course it is! But do not ask him, else he will beat you up and it will also implicate me.” Warned Olivos.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In accordance with the agreement, Theonia not only wanted to defeat Locri as soon as possible, but also to show their power to the city-states in the South Italia Alliance in order to increase its influence in this region. Therefore, Theonia had not only sent the most elite of their legion – the first legion, but had also transferred the experienced soldiers from the other legions to supplement the soldiers that are missing in the first legion due to injuries and illness. Even the personnel in charge of transporting the supplies were composed of more than a thousand mercenaries led by Xanticles, which not only ensured the safety of the supplies, but also provided a powerful supplement to the combat forces. Naturally, Davos and Philesius had their own selfishness, hoping that these former comrades of theirs would make more contributions in order to become a preparatory citizens of Theonia as soon as possible.

The first legion has more than 7000 men, with 1,500 men escorting the logistic unit, a total of nearly 9,000 men, and countless supply wagons made up of pack animals. A huge team then set out to the south.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The first time Locri heard of Theonia Union(it wasn’t yet called by that name at that time) was in the first Crotonian War. The army of Crotone was defeated and captured by the Amendolaran army, which was much smaller than them.

The Locrians became more excited than surprised, as they were very happy to see another city-state in the north of Crotone that could give Crotone a trouble “The enemy of the enemy is a friend” so Locri sent envoys to contact Amendolara in the hope of establishing an alliance with them to deal with Crotone. However, the Amendolarans did not say anything and instead signed an armistice agreement with Crotone and returned the captured soldiers of Crotone six months later. Moreover, during the negotiation, they had even used Locri as a bargaining chip to threaten Crotone and achieve their goal of armistice, so the Locrians began to have resentment against Amendolara.

Half a year later, the second Crotonian war broke out, and the Crotonian army invaded Theonia Union formed mainly by the Amendolarans. Locri, having taken a sigh of relief, did not forget that their greatest enemy was Crotone and so, they quickly sent an envoy to prepare for another alliance with Theonia, but because of various factors, the envoy – Metolephes, failed to get in touch with Davos in time, however, in just a few days, the Crotonian army was badly defeated at the Trionto river, and only a few thousand men had manage to retreat back to Krimisa to defend against the counter-attack of the Theonian army.

Chapter 244 – Peace in South Italia under the leadership of Theonia

The Locrians were shocked and alarmed by what they have learned. For decades, Locri has been unable to beat Crotone, while the newly established Theonia Union had beaten Crotone twice in a row.

Naturally, the most important thing for Locri was that Crotone had suffered heavy losses and was still in a bitter battle with Theonia, which is a great opportunity for them. Unable to wait for the report of their envoy, Locri began to plan their attack on the Crotonian Alliance, and in order for them to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop, they mobilized for war within the Locrian League and at the same time, the elder brother of Dionysius’ wife and the polemarchos of Locri – Demodokas, asked Syracuse for help. At this time, Syracuse had launched another war against Carthage and their powerful land army was capturing towns one after another, and only their navy had not met the enemy for the time being, so apart from some ships escorting the army along the coastline, the rest had stayed in the port of Syracuse for standby.

On one hand, out of their friendship with Locri and on the other was to make preparations for the future, so Dionysius sent more than 20 Triremes to assist the Locrians.

With Syracuse as their backing, Locri could no longer wait to start the war.

Who knew that Theonia and Crotone made truce again, and they had not only signed a defensive alliance agreement, but had also released all the captives. Metelophes felt that he was played a fool, and so he returned home in anger.

The Locrians were angry at Theonia for ignoring Locri’s good intention over and over again, and intentionally or unintentionally hindering the plan of Locri. It is only because they were currently fully engaged in dealing with their rival Crotone that they did not want to create complications and temporarily held back their anger for now. And at the same time, Locri began to be wary of Theonia.

After that, although the battle with Crotone had a small setback, they were still able to completely win a naval battle with the reinforcements from Syracuse. While the Crotonian army, which has lost the protection of the navy, was not strong enough and was forced to move back and forth by the Locrians and was put in a passive situation.

Just when Locri saw hope of victory, the news came that the envoys of the Crotonian Alliance had gathered in Thurii to ask Theonia for reinforcements!

The thing that Locri was worrying the most has happened. Given that the previous performance of Metelophes was unsatisfactory, they immediately sent Phantepes, who was the most eloquent in Locri. However, his arrival had not only failed to change the mind of Theonia, but had also accelerated the establishment of the South Italia Alliance.

As he left Thurii, Phantepes said angrily to the statesmen of the Senate of Theonia, “Apollo had bear witness at how we Locrians had always paid respect to the Theonians, but every time we offer an olive branch, we instead get the malicious deception and fooling of Theonia. From this day forward, Locri and Theonia will be enemies! The next time we come, there will be no more envoy of peace, but the wrath of Ares and a powerful army!”

The statesmen’s expression changed slightly, however, Davos calmly replied, “Previously, when the Crotonians launched the war last time, their envoys were standing where you are now and said similar things as you have, but now?”

Despite Davos’ calmed appearance, he knew that the Locrians were dominant on sea, so after the declaration of war on Theonia, they would likely repeat what the Crotonian fleet had done to Theonia. Due to this, he had to reorganize the cavalries of Ledes to patrol the coastline, while resuming the measures taken by Philesius in response to the Crotonian fleet’s raid, and the Senate to suspend the immigration to Aprustum and Krimisa.

But a few days later, nothing happened.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the first legion arrived at Aprustum, the more than a thousand soldiers that were stationed there had joined the army, which increased the number of soldiers involved in the war to more than ten thousand.

Five days later, the army arrived in the city of Caulonia without any accident. The reason why they arrived two days longer than the previous plan was that they had not expected the bad condition of the roads in the south of Magna Graecia, and the warm hospitality of the people when they passed through Scylletium.

After the reinforcements from Theonia arrived at the battlefield, the Caulonians were elated, but they still waited for the Theonians to finish their rest before immediately launching an attack on the camp of Locri in the south of Caulonia. However, they did not expect that the Locrians would send an envoy to talk about an armistice before their plan could even be implemented.

A hundred years ago, Crotone won the war against Sybaris and quickly became a powerful city-state in Magna Graecia, and had the ambition to dominate southern Italia and had launched an attack on the south many times. The most serious case was when Locri and the neighboring city-states were under Crotone’s attack and were defeated. Finally, in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of Sybaris, Locri and Rhegium joined forces to launch a counterattack against Crotone and had taken advantage of Crotone’s carelessness to severely hurt the Crotonian army.

The strength of Crotone was greatly hurt that made them unable to attack the south for a while, and in order to prevent the Crotonians from regaining their strength, Locri and Rhegium began a long-term attack on the Crotonian Alliance, and had even work together with the Bruttians in the north. For decades, Crotone has been beset by the threat of the Bruttians in the north, Locri and Rhegium in the south and was struggling to cope with them, which have exhausted them greatly and are unable to regain their strength. Therefore, when Athens wanted to establish the city of Thurii in the Sybaris plain, they could only make concessions and sign the agreement.

However, the cooperation between Locri and Rhegium was not close, so after the threat of Crotone had waned, the conflict between the two emerged. Their biggest conflict was due to the two city-states being both coastal cities and their proximity to each other had inevitably caused a rivalry in the sea trade. But due to Rhegium controlling half of the Strait of Messana, they had gained the upper hand in the sea trade, while Locri opened up a trade route from Locri to Medma and Hipponion (both of which were cities on the west coast of Magna Graecia), allowing the Greek merchants to reach the west coast by land-based trade routes without having to go through the Strait of Messana and paying higher toll fee, and thus robbed a lot of profit from Rhegium’s port that serve as a transit for the trade in the western Mediterranean….

These conflicts added up and finally burst out a few years ago.

Dionysius, who had just become Syracuse’s supreme military commander, had his wife killed by angry mobs in a previous power struggle. He was widowed and wanted to remarry, and as a tyrant this was also a political union to secure his power. So after marrying the daughter of a prominent nobleman who supported him in Syracuse, he had also wanted to marry another wife and his eyes were set on another house in Rhegium, which was only a strait away from Sicily. On the one hand, it’s because Rhegium’s geographical position is too important, and on the other, there is a woman in the city of Rhegium whose reputation was spread in all directions.

But the people of Rhegium refused, as they were full of vigilance against Dionysius, who was the tyrant of Syracuse, and they had not forgotten that the tyrants of Syracuse since the time of Gelon had coveted Rhegium, which have forced Rhegium to make an alliance with Carthage to protect itself.

However, due to their refusal, Dionysius had no choice but to propose to the Locrians, and Locri agreed, which led to the complete breakdown of the alliance between Locri and Rhegium.

As for why Dionysius did not go look for Crotone? It is because during the Peloponnesian War, Crotone and Thurii were on the side of Athens and even provided assistance when the Athenian army attacked Syracuse. While Taranto, the city-state created by the Spartans, had always been close to Sparta and was only of small significance to Dionysius.

However, the departure of Rhegium made it difficult for Locri to create trouble for Crotone again with only their strength. So it wasn’t until Theonia beat Crotone twice that their hopes were rekindled.

During the mobilization for war, Locri had also sent envoys to the Bruttians, and the Bruttians, who had always accepted the invitation of Locri before, had refused their request this time, and gave the reason that due to their attack on Terina last year, it had resulted in heavy losses and so they needed to recuperate.

But the Locrian envoy found that the Bruttian tribes in Cosenza seemed to be making some changes.

With the help of the Syracusan Navy, Locri then attacked the Crotonian Alliance. However, it turned out that even though Crotone was greatly weakened, a skinny camel is still bigger than a horse. Although the Locrian had the upper hand, they could not win quickly.

Now, Theonia had joined the war, and for Locri, the situation has taken a sharp turn.

After the diplomacy with Theonia had failed, the first thing the Locrians did was to go to Syracuse, and Dionysius then met the Locrian envoy in a hurry in the newly occupied city of Selinunte.

After hearing the envoy’s request, Dionysius frowned and thought for a moment and bluntly said, “The war between Syracuse and Carthage is at a critical time, so I have no reinforcements to send! Go and ask for a truce! Once I have pacified Sicily, I will help Locri get back this debt!”

Therefore, the envoy could only reluctantly return to Locri.

The Locrians were not fools. Without reinforcements, they have no chance to win, so their only way out is to ask for peace. After decades of entanglement with Crotone in which fighting and truce was a common occurrence, the Locrians were already used to it and will not insist on a hopeless battle just because of honor.

Therefore, when the first legion of Theonia came with great momentum, but there was no battle that occurred and they had instead become a mediator.

Fortunately, the South Italia Alliance were greatly impressed by the Theonian army, especially the Caulonians, who were surprised to find that the Theonian soldiers who had set up camp outside Caulonia had just stayed quietly inside their camp during the negotiations without making disturbing behavior, which was even better than the Crotonians who had been the allies of Caulonia for decades.

Syprus the envoy of Terina had arrived in Caulonia together with the army. Therefore, he had a more detailed and comprehensive assessment of the Theonian army when he returned to Terina after the negotiations and reported it to the council.

Chapter 245 – The four strifes in western Mediterranean

Siprus made a detailed and comprehensive assessment on the Theonian army at the Terina council meeting, “….What impressed me the most was the discipline and obedience of the Theonian soldiers, which was different from the armies of other allied city-states that I had ever seen, including ourselves. I had heard that the Theonians has a special military law to regulate the behaviors of the soldiers and has a strict rules on all aspects of military training, marching and camping…and so on., and there are also military inspectors in the army to supervise its implementation, and the soldiers were visibly not against getting punished if they were to break the military law, on the contrary, they are ashamed….

I have learned from the Theonian soldiers that they had to train every five days during their free time even during farming season, which is already a surprising amount for us in Terina, and they seemed to be very happy to train and were not complaining about wasting their farmlands because of training…in order to use the shield, spears, bow and javelins in their hands skillfully, and maintain a complete formation during a march. They are not only serious in building their camp, but also have a clear division of labor and high efficiency. Therefore, they were able to build a well guarded camp in a very short amount of time that made me amazed….

In addition, there is another obvious difference between the Theonian army and the other city-states, that is, their strategos and officers at all ranks were not temporarily appointed after a war mobilization, but have always held these positions in the army. Hence they are not only experienced in combat, but are also familiar with every soldier under their jurisdiction. Therefore, they are able to command the soldiers very smoothly while they are marching and constructing their camps, and have a tacit cooperation with each other…and so, the superiors and the subordinates understood well about their responsibilities when executing the orders….

What is even more surprising to me is that these soldiers are not afraid of fighting, and are instead eager for a battle, which reminded me of the Spartans in Greece. Although I haven’t seen them fight yet, the fact that they were able to defeat Crotone with less number of soldiers is proof enough of the Theonian army’s military strength. In short, I see the Theonian army as a finely crafted, well-maintained and terrifying weapon of war!….”

After listening to Siprus, the council of Terina decided to give Theonia as much support as possible in the South Italia Alliance as long as it does not affect their own interests.

After several days of negotiations, the peace agreement was finally reached: Locri will compensate Caulonia, Terina, Scylletium and Crotone for a certain amount of wealth and both sides will then achieve a truce….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Just as peace was restored in south Italia, a big war soon broke out in the Lucanian region, northwest of Theonia in early March.

The army of Potentia besieged and attacked Grumentum for more than ten days. And Gennat of Pyxous led his troops to attack the rear of the Potentia’s army, while Cincinnag, seeing the arrival of reinforcements, also led his troops to attack at the same time. Afterwards, Pyxous and Grumentum chased the Potentians who had lost their camp and fled in disarray.

When Pyxous and Grumentum broke into the camp of Potentia and saw the herds of livestocks, piles of grain and many other tribal women and numerous slaves that were captured by Potentia as they marched. Both Pyxous and Grumentum had no longer any more intention to pursue Potentia, and had instead begun plundering the camp’s properties and women, which caused a conflict.

Pyxous believes that they are the one that defeated the army of Potentia and so the spoils should belong to them, while Grumentum believed that most of the properties that were plundered by Potentia are from the tribes belonging to Grumentum outside the city and should be returned to Grumentum.

What started as a quarrel and conflict soon turned into an armed struggle, especially the people of Grumentum, who originally had a superior status in the Lucanian Alliance, not only had many of their chieftains were killed, but during this period of time were Pyxous ruled them, the Pyxousian had treated them with contempt and provocation which made the people of Grumentum feel lost and humiliated. In addition, the Pyxousian soldiers who followed Cincinnag were domineering in Grumentum. Therefore, the pent up resentment in their hearts finally burst out after getting stirred up and so the people of Grumentum gathered one after another and madly attacked the camp of Pyxous, and both sides started a bloody battle.

Cincinnag could not stop the fight, and when he finally decided to finally wipe out the erratic Grumentum people, the chieftain of Potentia, Polet, led some of his reorganized warriors to return and fight them again. The Pyxousians, who were fighting with the people of Grumentum in the camp, suffered a tragic defeat. And Cincinnag and his son could only flee into the mountains together with the remnants of their army, not even daring to return to Grumentum. In the end, they manage to return to Pyxous.

And Potentia finally captured Grumentum.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At the same time, after two months of sieging and struggling hard, Taranto finally captured Brindisi, a small city on the east of Taranto near the Adriatic Sea, which was a big breakthrough in the territory expansion of Taranto since their establishment.

The people dedicated their praise to Diaomilas and Archytas who had led the army. Archytas, however, could not be happy. The attack on the Messapians was supported by the city-state, and though they have achieved the initial plan agreed by the council and opening the land route between Taranto and the Adriatic Sea and cutting off the Messapians from the north, and blocking them in the peninsula, but the price they had paid was high, with 4,000 casualties among the Taranto’s soldiers.

The Messapians are famous in Magna Graecia for their ferocity. A few hundred years ago, during the Great Greek colonial era, many Greek city-states were established in Magna Graecia, but on this “heel”, there was only Taranto. While the other colonial city-states are getting attacked and assimilated by the nearby aborigines and expanding their territory. The people of Taranto, who have the advantage due to their position, are lamenting their misfortunes that their neighbors to the east, the Messapians, were not only fierce and numerous, but also that the Messapians were not completely barbaric aborigines. According to their own claims, they were Illyrians from the north of Greece near the Adriatic sea, with culture and tradition similar to that of the Greeks(the Greeks never recognized them and still regarded them as barbarians), and had prevented Taranto from advancing inland for hundreds of years. Especially a few decades ago when Taranto supported Sparta in the Peloponnesian War and had caused Athens to be hostile on them, so Athens supported the Messapians against Taranto, and since then, the Messapian’s invasion of Taranto began to increase, which had cause the people to suffer.

This time, if not for the stimulation due to the rapid rise of Theonia, then the Council of Taranto might not have made up their mind to attack the Messapians. However, Archytas knew that although they had temporarily won, the Messapians would never give up and the war with them would last for a long time.

The wailing of the wounded soldiers outside the city had mixed with the proud and ferocious cry of the crows pecking at the corpses, which made the people tremble….

Archytas, who was standing on the low wall of Brindisi, stared blankly at the western sky dyed scarlet like blood by the setting sun and his heart was full of fear for the future….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In April, Syracuse’s army continued to march westward, and the city-states such as Eryx and Halaesa opened their cities and surrendered one after another. Only Segesta remained loyal to Carthage and was besieged.

In the middle of the day, Dionysius’ army arrived at the westernmost end of Sicily and faced the island city in the bay and was also Carthage’s important base in Sicily – Motya.

Motya destroyed the causeway connecting to the land and prepared to defend it by the sea.

While Dionysius commanded the army to rebuild the causeway, while leading an expedition to the nearby areas. However, Segesta repelled the attack of Syracuse, which forced Syracuse to continue sieging it.

In May, when the causeway was completed, Dionysius led his army back to attack Motya.

At this time, Carthage had also prepared to send troops to rescue this precarious city on the sea. They had first adopted the strategy of besieging the base of Syracuse to relieve Motya by sending ships to Syracuse and breaking into the large port and destroying the ships docked there, in an attempt to lure Dionysius back, but Dionysius did not move.

The Carthaginian general, Himilco, had no choice but to lead his army to rescue Motya, while the large number of Carthaginian ships bypassed the Cape of Palermo and sailed aggressively into the bay in an attempt to destroy the Syracusan ships that remained near the beach.

Dionysius, who had been waiting for a long time, had laid down dozens of new weapons on the beach – Ballista. At the command of Dionysius, a bowl-sized round stone flew out and smashed into the Carthaginian ships….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos was examining a silverish white coin in his hand. It weighed four grams and was very close to the standard circle, with the head of hades with long beard and hair and engraved with the letters “Theonian Union” on one side. On the other side is a leafy poplar tree(the sacred tree of Hades) and engraved with the letters “The third year of the 95th Olympia Games.” And the image on both sides are located at the center, with subtle engraving, distinctive concave and convex, and clear letters.

Davos then tossed the coin and caught it, weighed it in his hand and asked, “How much silver does it contain?”

Tritodemos came forward and said, “According to your proposal and the Senate’s coinage law, the purity of a drachma silver coin is more than 95%, which is comparable to the purity of the Athenian “owl”(The Laurion silver coin known throughout Greece), but-” Tritodemos said anxiously, “We don’t have the large silver mine of Athens, and the revenue of the treasure mainly comes from trade and taxes, so issuing silver coins of such high purity would be a great loss.”

Davos nodded and explained patiently, “We will certainly suffer some losses, but I had already explained it very clearly in the Senate meeting. Now, Theonia’s monthly treasury revenue is nearly 50 talents, and according to the analysis of Marigi, this figure will increase more once we have closer ties with the other allies in the South Italia Alliance…therefore, we can bear this loss. Moreover, we have a market management office in each city, as well as banks for exchange, which, together with the additional fees charged, can partially compensate for the losses incurred by the union’s minting….”

Chapter 246 – Silver Coin of Theonia and the Institute of Mathematics

In this era, the currencies that are circulating in the Mediterranean trade were gold and silver. The Persians mainly use gold coins, while the Greek city-states did not have so many gold mines, so they mainly use silver coins. Because each city-states had the right to cast their own silver coins, the whole Mediterranean currency market was quite chaotic, and the weight of the coins issued by different city-states and the purity were not uniform, which brought difficulties in trading, hence why currency exchange came into being.

At the mention of a currency exchange, Tritodemos complained in his heart: In Greek city-states, the bank is the one undertaking the business of currency exchange, and the more prosperous the city-state is, the more developed the banking industry be, however, although there are many banks in each city of Theonia, they all belong to one person, Cheiristoya, the wife of Davos the archon of Theonia. Naturally, this is not the result of any administrative interference by Davos, but rather the fact that the Bank of Cheiristoya, since its establishment, had an average of loan repayment far less than the 15% interest rate of the Greek city-states, which is only 5% on its main business loans.

Although the Bank of Cheiristoya had broken the tacit rules of banking in the Greek city-states, there were no major wealthy merchants in Amendolara and Thurii that would obstruct them at that time. On the contrary, because of its low interest loans, countless families and small shops were helped out of their initial difficulties, thus gaining reputations for the Bank of Cheiristoya. The trade of Theonia these days was no longer comparable to what it used to be, with some merchants taking up the idea of opening banks, but they were forced to implement the low-interest loans in the union. However, the Bank of Cheiristoya has made its brand popular among the Theonian population making the people trust and appreciate it. Therefore, there is often a long line at the entrance of the Bank of Cheiristoya while there are only a few customers at the other bank. Normal competition is not possible, and playing other means is even more impossible. Don’t forget that the one behind the Bank of Cheiristoya stands Davos, the sole archon for life of Theonia. Because banks do not earn them money, the merchants had to invest in other industries, and with the expansion of Theonia Union, there are many industries that will earn them money and even though the competition has also become fierce, there is only one bank.

Tritodemos looked at the man in front of him, who was already the most powerful man in Theonia at such a young age, and he even has a smart and beautiful wife who earns a lot of money for him, which is enviable!

Davos didn’t notice the unusual gaze of Tritodemos, as he paid all his attention on the coins. He picked up two more silver coins and looked at them carefully, they were almost identical, so he asked with concern, “What do you think of the style and design of these Theonian silver coins when compared to the Athenian silver coin?”

The “Owl” in Athens not only has high purity of silver, but also has exquisite patterns. Even though Athens was defeated and the Delian League was dissolved, and were no longer able to force the other city-states to use the Laurion silver coins, the merchants and the people of the Greek city-states still voluntarily used it, and many merchants had even went to Athens just to exchange for their coins and put them in their own homes as art collections. Hence, the silver coins of Athens are the most widely circulated and used hard currency in the Greek city-states.

“I have repeatedly compared a dozen Laurion silver coins minted in different years with some people in the Coin Minting Committee, and we all agree that our Theonian coins are as pure and well engraved as theirs! And-” Tritodemos picked up the silver coin, rubbed the rim if the coin and excitedly said, “Archon, the suggestion that you have given at the beginning of using a simple bezel instead of the traditional method of making complicated and rough serration had not only improves the efficiency but had even made it to be less prone to erosion, and everyone thinks that it is as complex as the pillars of the temple! I believe that the Theonian silver coin will be liked by the people after it is issued!” Tritodemos said excitedly.

Davos’ expression remained calm. The design that he suggested was based on the characteristics of ancient Chinese coins, so there was nothing to be proud of. Instead, he was more concerned about whether the Theonian coins could quickly circulate and become the main currency used in the city-states in the South Italia Alliance. This was not only to expand the influence of Theonia, but also to dominate the currency in Magna Graecia and control the economy and trade of the city-states in the South Italia Alliance.

Like Athens, even in the latter stages of the Peloponnesian War, when the trading shrank, the financial situation fell, and the Laurion mines produced less silver ore, they still had not reduced the purity of the “Owl”. Therefore, the Athenian was rewarded for their adherence to their monetary credit, only a few years after the end of the war, more and more merchants came to the port of Piraeus, and now, the Athenian trade was gradually returning to its former prosperity.

“Lord Tritodemos, your Coin Minting Committee has put a lot of effort into this small silver coin these past few months! I believe that once we successfully issue it and get accepted by the people of Magna Graecia, your name will be left in the Hall of Sages!” Hearing the words of praise from Davos, Tritodemos suddenly became excited. With the completion of the Temple of Hades, some special architectural structures in the temple became popular among the people. For example, there are two side halls in the temple, one is called the Hall of Valor, dedicated to the warriors who had died defending the safety of the union, and the other one is called the Hall of Sages, where the names of the citizens who made outstanding contributions to the union would be engraved in it. It was said that Davos was the one that had designed it. As citizens of the union, especially the statesmen, there is no one who does not want to leave his name in history, so it is inevitable that Tritodemos couldn’t control his emotion and was overjoyed.

At this time, a voice of discontent rang out, “Since these are all the work of the Coin Minting Committee and has nothing to do with our Institute of Mathematics, then don’t look for us again for making the ‘Order of Original Citizenship of Amendolara’…and other things!” Tritodemos looked back and saw that it was Marticoris, so he said to Davos, “It’s all thanks to Marticoris and Metoticles of the Institute of Mathematics that we could make such exquisite coins. If it wasn’t for the coin mold that they have designed and that water powered…water powered….”

“It’s a water powered press!” Marticoris added impatiently.

Tritodemos coughed awkwardly and said, “It is because they have designed these wonderful tools that we can make exquisite coins! Not to mention that it has already surpassed the coins designed by Pythagoras for Metapontum, and it is even comparable to the Athenians coins that are famous all over Greece!”

“These are all not our credit….” Being told that their skills were superior to those of their founder Pythagoras, the ever-stable Marticoris said modestly, “If it wasn’t for the waterwheel that Lord Davos have designed, which has given us inspirations, we would not have thought of using water power instead of human power, but unfortunately, the force generated by the water flow of the Cosceli river was not strong enough to make the large water powered forging hammer that you have mentioned last time that can continuously strike large pieces of cast iron to work.”

“Then use a dam.” Blurted Davos.

“Dam?!” Marticoris’ eyes brightened.

“We’ll talk about it later.” Currently, there are construction going on all over Theonia, including the resettlement of Aprustum and Krimisa, the construction of the Temple of Hades, road constructions, transforming the marsh of Krimisa, and the construction of the bathhouse in the hotspring of Thurii…so there is not enough labor to build a more demanding and complex dams. So Davos digressed and said to Tritodemos, “Marticoris and the others will not compete with you for this credit, for they are the mathematicians who are destined to become famous throughout Greece in the future, and there will certainly be statues of them on the Hall of Sages!”

Faced with such high praise, Marticoris was also slightly embarrassed, he stroked his head and laughed. While the performance of Metoticles who was beside him, although he was a little bit more stable, could hardly hide the excitement on his face.

After sending off Tritodemos, there were only two guests left in the living room, Marticoris and Metoticles. Now they are no longer the ordinary disciples of the Pythagorean School that he had first met. As early as last year, by virtue of their achievements in making waterwheels and popularizing mathematics among the people for free, Davos proposed a bill of the 《Drawing Foreign Scholars》 in the Senate meeting, which was passed(together with the previous 《Physician Act》 and 《Teacher Act》 which was approved afterwards, and later generations would call these three acts of Theonia the transformation of the quality of the citizens) making them official citizens of Theonia.

Although they had studied mathematics in Taranto, they were not citizens of Taranto. They were from the Sicilian city-state of Leontinoi, but due to their love of mathematics and admiration for Pythagoras, they had stayed in Taranto for a long time and had become homeless after their home was occupied by Syracuse. And the main reason for why the Pythagorean School let them come to Amendolara was because they were of no importance to the school. However, in the Theonia Union, their status changed dramatically, they not only have lands and houses, but were also respected by the people, and Davos had also privately funded the construction of a Institute of Mathematics for them, providing free assistants, slaves and various materials and funds, so that they can devote themselves to the theoretical research and practical applications of mathematics without outside interference.

Mathematicians of this era did not only study mathematics, they were also involved in the fields of physics and astronomy, for example, Pythagoras had his own ideas in temperament and aesthetics, and the famous “golden ratio” was first proposed by him. For this reason, Davos occasionally asked the Institute of Mathematics for some of his own requests, and Marticoris and his colleagues were willing to shelve their research for the time being and complete the tasks assigned by Davos, not because of the power of the archon, but because the various instruments and devices that Davos envisioned involved the use of some complex and even novel mathematical and physics knowledge, which is of great benefit in consolidating and studying the theories of mathematics and physics.

Chapter 247 – Ballista

“What are you researching lately?” Davos asked with a smile.

“In addition to helping the Senate in designing the molds and tools for minting silver coins, we are mostly researching pulleys.” Said Metoticles truthfully.

“Pulley?!” When Davos heard it, he became interested.

“Last year, when you defeated Crotone and annexed Thurii, Archytas had come to Amendolara.” Marticoris casually said

Davos did not mind it, and just nodded.

“He saw our new waterwheel and became greatly interested, so he came to discuss its application principle with us, and at the same time, he also mentioned that he recently became interested in mathematical mechanics and began studying the application of pulleys….” Marticoris then said with some embarrassment, “So I….” He took a look at Metoticles, “We…have also started studying pulleys as well….”

Davos understood. Although Archytas is an important figure and mathematical genius of the Pythagorean School, and these two are just ordinary disciples, they, however, are as competitive as anyone in the academic field, especially Marticoris. He has a vigorous energy, great curiosity and inquisitiveness, and now under the condition of a better life, he has a strong desire to learn and improve his shortcomings, and devote all his energy to research in order to compete with Archytas in academics.

“How is your research going?” Davos gently interrupted Marticoris who was stammering. Although Davos had forgotten a lot of the scientific knowledge that he learned from his teacher and school in his previous life, not so much as to not even know what a pulley is, which is just the basics of physics in junior high school.

“We have already created the mathematical formula for why pulleys can reduce the effort needed, and have verified its correctness many times. Naturally, it is thanks to the numerical symbols that you have invented that has saved us a lot of time and effort. Now we are further experimenting with multiple pulley combinations to refine our theory…by then, this discovery will change the whole Mediterranean world! Imagine a person using a pulley to pull up a boulder to more than ten meters high! Imagine a man using a pulley to pull a small boat by himself….” When Marticoris talks about math, his eyes light up and his hands move around.

Instead of being surprised like what they had expected, Davos said while smiling, “I believe that your research and invention will bring great convenience to the life of the union’s people!”

They glanced at each other and were a little depressed. Davos, as the favored of Hades, seemed to have long seen the future development of a mathematical research, so that whenever they stood in front of him, they would always not feel the superiority of being a scholar.

Marticoris had no choice but to complain, “If you hadn’t asked us to assist in the minting of the coins, then our research would have progressed faster!”

“Isn’t it for you to prove your ability to the Pythagorean School through coin minting?” Davos laughed, when he handed over the issue of coin minting to Tritodemos, he did not consider the two disciples of the Pythagorean School. However, the high demand that he requested had made it difficult for Tritodemos. In the end, Tritodemos took the initiative to find Davos and asked Marticoris to help them, because decades ago after Pythagoras was expelled by the Crotonians, he had stayed in Metapontum and designed an elaborate minting mold for Metapontum. which made the coins of this unknown Greek city-states to be very popular in Magna Graecia. Therefore, he thought of asking Marticoris of the Pythagorean School to help them.

“Compared with the era of Pythagoras, the research on the design of coin molds in the school has become more perfect, so-” As soon as Marticoris spoke modestly, Metoticles snorted, “But they do not have a water powered presses, hence why our silver coins are far better than theirs.”

After spending so much time together, Davos basically understood the two young men in front of him. Back then, most people of the Pythagorean School did not want to come to Amendolara, a small remote city, so they forcibly appointed these two unknown foreign disciples, which has given a big blow to these two sensitive Leontinians. But under the long-term intentional guidance of Davos, the two people who have low positions in the school have gradually deviated from and disagreed with some philosophies of the school, and are even willing to compete with their former teachers and classmates.

With a smile, Davos took out a piece of papyrus and said, “I have a drawing here, which is about the use of pulley, I wonder if you can make it?”

“Let me see! Let me see!” As soon as Davos’ voice fell, Metoticles was unable to hold himself back and snatch it from him.

Metoticles leaned over and looked at the drawing and asked, “What is the name of this instrument?”

“The Syracusans call it a ballista. I heard that it can shoot a stone that weighs 6 kilogram at a distance of several hundred meters. More than ten days ago, the Syracusans used it to repel the reinforcements of Carthage.” Davos looked calm, but his heart was not.

Davos was surprised when Aristias reported the situation of the sea battle of Motya to him. The Theonian catapults are still in its trial stage, and yet the Syracusans ballista and gastraphetes* have appeared in large quantities in Motya, and successfully sank many Carthaginian ships. Its strength and accuracy are not comparable to Theonian’s crude catapult, which shows the gap between Syracuse and Theonia in military technology. This made Davos feel the pressure and he immediately ordered Aristias to get the blueprints of the Syracusans ballista at all costs!

As for Aristias, who hated Syracuse, he could not wait to steal it. So after paying a great price, he got a rough draft of the Syracusans ballista.

Hearing the name “Syracuse”, the two scholars, who had also lost their homes, looked more serious and wished that they could get the blueprints.

“Metoticles.” At this time, Davos asked, “I wonder how is the thing that I had told you last time about attracting and recruiting more of your fellow classmates to Theonia to expand the scale of the research institute and further promote the research of mathematical theory and application is going?”

Metoticles looked away from the drawing with some reluctance and said helplessly, “Archon, since the school has denounced us for violating the rules by giving lectures in public, many students have cut off their communications with us. And only those few foreign students who have good relations with me have listened to my introduction of the good environment in Theonia and are willing to come.”

“As long as they are willing to come, Theonia will fulfill its promise! In addition, if they have any needs, you can immediately tell me and I will try my best to satisfy them! Theonia will do its best to create the best environment and conditions for you to study, discuss and research, and even though there are only a few of you, I believe that you will be able to achieve fruitful results not much less than those over in Taranto!”

Davos showed no reservation in fully supporting the Institute of Mathematics, which not only made Metoticles grateful, but also aroused his ambition. He then solemnly said, “We won’t let you down!”

“How is your discussion about sending teachers to teach at the akademia?” Davos asked once more.

“Initially, we were hesitant because there were too few people. Now that some of our classmates are coming and after discussing it with Marticoris, I had thought that you were right. Going to lecture at the akademia can help us sort out our own mathematical theory, consolidate our basic knowledge and expand the influence of the research institute. And we might even be able to get new inspiration while communicating with the students…hence why we are willing to send someone, however, we have a requirement.”

“What is it?”

“Once we find a student talented in mathematics in the akademia, we hope to give him special training and for him to join the research institute in the future.” Metoticles somewhat said, because it was his and Marticoris’ personal desire, since they had fallen out with the Pythagorean school in Taranto, they also wanted to develop their own academic groups to compete with the Pythagorean School.

“Of course, it is of no problem. But you need to first ask the students for their consent.” Davos did not hesitate to agree. In fact, he was very happy to see Marticoris and Metoticles consider the problem from their own interests, which showed that they deviate more and more from the Pythagorean School of Taranto in both emotion and action.

“In addition, during peacetime, I also plan to let those engineering technicians from various legions to come to the Institute of Mathematics as your assistants, which can not only solve your shortage of manpower, but to also closely combine theory with practical application.”

“They are naturally welcome to help the Institute!” Metoticles, who was better at handling things than Marticoris, said euphemistically, “But we don’t have enough money to pay their salaries.”

“You will have it soon.” Davos said with a smile, “The watermill designed by you has been tested and improved the efficiency of flour milling by several times, which can save a lot of time and animal power for the people. And I have already ordered people to build watermills in Amendolara, Thurii and Krimisa respectively, so the price of one kilogram of flour has become very low, which is less than one third of an obol, I believe that soon, the people will be willing to use the watermill after they have tried it. In accordance with our agreement, the research institute will receive 20% of the proceeds from the application of the device you have invented, and I think that will be a considerable amount of money that will be entirely at your disposal. And I also hope that you will make good use of this money, especially for the main inventors, and encourage their enthusiasm. Only in this way can more people be inspired to invent better instruments, and your income will also be more.”

Chapter 248 – Akademia of Theonia (I)

Marticoris was completely obsessed with mathematics and didn’t care about common things. While Metoticles was different, he is not averse in spending time on various matters, what’s more, mathematics gave him a careful mind, so that he is quite capable of managing the institute, arranging manpower and making plans, which is why Davos have made him serve as the director of the institute. In this regard, Marticoris raised both hands in favor.

“I’ll think about it.” Metoticles replied cautiously.

“I now understood the principle of this ballista!” At this moment, Marticoris came to Davos excitedly and pointed to the drawing and excitedly exclaimed, “Look here! Look here! The most important thing of this ballista is these two things, one is the string made of strong animal tendons, and the other is the pulley that can pull the string with less effort. In addition, the longer the slider, the farther its range will be, because the string will be pulled as far as possible, then the more force it will rebound and give to the stone…I think the Syracusans are very stupid, as they had only use one pulley system which is too simple and harder to use. In fact, making a pulley set and fixing it to the end of the slider will make it much easier to pull the string to the end of the slider. Give me the best carpenters and materials, and I will soon be able to make a better ballista than them!”

The confident look of Marticoris satisfied Davos and he then said with a smile, “I have just told Metoticles that I am going to send the engineering technicians of the Legion engineering camp to the Institute of Mathematics as your assistant, and Theonia has the best cattle in the western Mediterranean – The Lucanian cattle, which can supply you with a lot of high-quality beef tendon at any time.”

“Great!” With that, Marticoris took the drawing and walked out.

“Marticoris, I have an idea.” Davos stopped him in a hurry, “If the ballista can accurately tell where the stone will fall before shooting the stone, then it would be helpful for the operator to accurately hit the target.”

“This….” As for the proposal put forward by Davos, Marticoris and Metoticles did not feel that it was an additional burden, on the contrary, they started thinking about it.

“I still have another idea.” Davos then said seriously, “I think that no matter how much force we use and how many angles we throw the object, the trajectory of the object in the air should be like this -” Davos stretched out his finger and drew different arcs in the air.

Marticoris and Metoticles were staring at Davos’ moving finger and were lost in their thoughts.

“If there is no wind and the ground is at the same level, and with the highest point of the trajectory of the thrown object in the air as the center, the two sides of the trajectory when folded up should be able to overlap….” Davos said in a calm tone.

Both of them were shocked and suddenly became excited.

“Hold on…archon, this…this is…has Hades given you a revelation again?!” Asked Metoticles, stutteringly. There have been several similar situations in the past, when Davos talked to them both, he would occasionally put forward some novel ideas, which were verified to be correct afterwards, and each time, it allowed both of them to achieve a breakthrough in their study of mathematical theory, and also greatly expand their knowledge.

“You can think as such.” Davos smiled mysteriously.

“Come! Come! Now draw the trajectory in order for us to take a closer look!” Marticoris excitedly took Davos by the hand and walked outside without saying anything.

Davos understood what he meant. The floor of the living room was paved with marble, so naturally, they could only draw on the mud in the courtyard, so he followed him out of the living room.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Mother, come, come and see! Father is doing something in your garden together with someone, and has stepped on all of your flowers!” Cynthia pointed to Davos and yelled loudly.

“Shh!” Cheiristoya made a hush gesture and whispered, “Don’t wake up your brother!”

She came to the window, looked down and frowned slightly, then she turned back and said with a smile, “It’s nothing. It’s just your father and some uncles talking about some mathematics.” Although Cheiristoya loves her flowers, she is a woman who will never embarrass her husband in public.

“What is mathematics?” Adoris who was next to her asked curiously.

“That’s a very interesting knowledge and your sister will soon learn it.” Cheiristoya smilingly said.

“Can I go to school, too?” Asked Adoris longingly. (E/N: We will interchange between school and akademia)

“Of course.” Cheiristoya stroked his head, “But you are still young, so you will have to wait another year.”

“I don’t want to wait! I want to go to school together with my sister now!” Adoris said with dissatisfaction.

“Brother, stop causing trouble! Listen to what mother says, or I won’t let father tell you a story at night!” As soon as this was said, Adoris, though he was pouting, had quieted down.

“Mother, is it really good to go to school and study with other boys?” Cynthia said hesitantly to Cheiristoya. At this time, Cynthia was seven years old. According to the Greek tradition, a girl could marry at 16 years old, so she already knew about many things. Since childhood, her biological mother taught her how to be a good woman in a Greek family. In her impression, her mother never went out of the house, but now, she would need to study with many boys in public year after year, day after day, which made her feel a little uneasy.

Cheiristoya pulled Cynthia to her body, combed her long, slightly messy hair and said softly, “Child, do you know how lucky you are?! Apart from Theonia, girls like you in other Greek city-states are trapped in their houses for most of their lives. They are busy raising their children and managing housework, and they don’t even know what the outside world is like. They haven’t seen the sports game, drama, or even the sea. Do you want your life to be like them in the future?!”

Cynthia shook her head in fear.

Cheiristoya continued emotionally, “Your father is a great man! He worked hard to persuade the Senate to give you girls the same learning opportunities as the boys. At that time, not only you but also the girls from other citizens’ families will go to school. Cynthia, you will not be alone at the school. Therefore, you should study hard and prove that women are no worse than men. Don’t let your father’s efforts be in vain!”

Cynthia nodded her head.

In fact, although the social customs of the newly rising Theonia Union are different from those of other Greek city-states, and are more open to women, when Davos proposed “allow the girls to go to school together with the boys” in the Senate, he was opposed by many statesmen.

Davos was only able to persuade them with a passage that resonated with everyone, “….by allowing the daughters of the citizens of Theonia to also go to school will not only allow them to learn more knowledge and skills, they will also learn how to get along with the boys. Knowledge will make them more cultured, more temperate and more intelligent. When they grow up and get married, they will have more common topics and hobbies with their husbands, which will reduce the possibility of their husbands going out to find brothels and ensure the stability of the family. It will also help them in managing their family affairs wisely and not be hoodwinked by cunning slaves. It will also enable them to raise their children better, so that the future citizens of Theonia can develop good habits in their early years, which is vital for their entire lives!….”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In this era, because there is no electric light, most people go to bed as soon as it gets dark, except for a few rich people who continue to work with candles. Because they go to bed early, they will get up early in the morning, often after the rooster crowed. But for the diligent Theonians, most of them get up much earlier, often before dawn, when the stars are still shining on the night, in order to start preparing for their work. Only the children don’t like to get up early and only start washing up after getting urged by their parents.

Today, however, the 13 year old Patroclus got up very early. After washing up in a hurry, he helped his mother bake bread, which made his mother feel very grateful: His always naughty son really grew up after the invasion of Crotone.

At the dinner table, his mother asked again with concern, “Clus, do you really not want me to send you to the aka…akademia?”

Patroclus shook his head like a rattle, “No! When the bad guys from Crotone came, I was alone in sending messages to several nearby villages! Even uncle Aguilas praised me as a warrior. I am already old enough, and the akademia is in the city, if I still need you to send me, it would be embarrassing!”

“But-” As soon as her mother’s words were uttered, she was interrupted by Patroclus’ father – Periandorus, “Let him go alone!”

Periandorus looked at Patroclus seriously, “When you arrive at the school, you should listen to the teacher, do what you are told and If you don’t perform well, I will beat you up!” His illiterate father naturally hopes that his son can write well and have a better future, but he couldn’t say anything better to encourage him, so he can only use his usual tone to frighten his son. However, Patroclus, who often talks back, answered cleverly, “I know father!”

When Periandorus got surprised, a knock on the door came, “Who is it?”

“It’s me.”

“It’s uncle Aguilas!” Patroclus cheered and rushed to open the door.

“It’s time for little Clus to go to school today.” As soon as Aguilas came in, he touched Patroclus’ head with a smile and said, “I have brought you a schoolbag, a stylus, a few wax-coated practice tablets, and a small folding wooden chair that you can use for school.”

Chapter 249 – Akademia of Theonia (II)

This era can’t be compared with later generations, the price of papyrus is still expensive for the commoners and is generally used for formal writing. While the children learn to practice writing mostly with sand and clay, so Patroclus had prepared a wooden frame containing sand, even though the writing in a wax wooden tablet can be stored for a longer period of time and it is also easy to carry and the price is low, but Patroclus’ parents could not afford to spend this money. As for the small foldable wooden chair, it is the masterpiece of the newly-built Cheiristoya’s school supply store and the price is cheap and had soon become popular as it got released. It is much better than the simple wooden stool made by Patroclus’ parents.

Hence why when Patroclus received the gift of Aguilas, he became so excited that he jumped so high.

“Village chief…this…this….” Periandorus, who had been strictly disciplining his son just now, was both grateful and cowered in the face of Aguilas, who was a former mercenary and has now a high prestige and didn’t know what to say.

“What?!” Aguilas stared at him, “Little Clus saved a few villages, this is the reward that he deserves! I like this boy, he is courageous, flexible and does not panic when things go wrong, and once he can read and count, he will definitely be better than you in the future!”

Patroclus’ father became so excited from hearing Aguilas high evaluation of his son that he agreed to it.

While Patroclus’ mother covered her face, as she could not stop her tears from flowing down. She remembered those hard days when she followed her husband who was working as a porter at the port and wharf, and accepted employment by helping merchants watch their stalls in the market together with her son. She was busy every day from morning to night, she not only had to endure the discrimination and demanding customers, but also had to endure the severe heat and cold that had even made her faint several times due to heatstrong, and had to compensate for the lost goods. It made her to not even know how she manage to get through those hard days….fortunately, the Theonia city-state union was established, and the great archon, Davos, was the one in power, and had made the poor vagrants like them to have the opportunity to become citizens of a city-state, to own land and houses, and to live a stable and prosperous life….

Therefore, she hopes that her son will not follow her husband’s old path, and should study well and then become a civil servant in the city-state in the future and live a decent life.

After breakfast, Patroclus placed his school supplies into his brand-new linen schoolbag, and was then led by his mother to the altar in their home. In the past, they only have a humble statue of Demeter, the goddess of agriculture, and Ares, the god of war. One was to hope for a good harvest and the other was to bless her husband who was a soldier in the army during the war. It wasn’t until her son had to go to school that the statue of Apollo, the sun god, was added, because this god was also in charge of art.

Under the lead of his mother, Patroclus prayed to Apollo.

Afterwards, his mother handed Patroclus four drachmae, which was the tuition fee for one academic year. Only after her repeated instructions could Patroclus finally go on his way.

It was still dawn and the curved moon was still vaguely visible in the sky. Fortunately, it was summer and he was wearing a short linen shirt and bare legs. Otherwise, the dew on the grass on the roadside would surely wet his clothes.

The cool and fresh morning wind, mixed with the smell of earth and some herbs, blew on Patroclus, making him happy and unable to restrain his excitement. He shouted twice and then heard a “Glug! Glug!” from the canal on the side of the road, which was the sound of frightened minnows. In the past, Patroclus would have taken off his leather sandals and jumped into the canal and made a mess of it, but today, his mind was already at the akademia.

He was humming a tune as he stride forward while carrying a schoolbag, wooden chair and tablet.

On the main road, the number of pedestrians increased significantly. wagons with passengers, caravans filled with goods, farmers with their livestocks….of course, there are also many parents with their children going to the akademia to sign up, and the bustling flow of people going to the city of Thurii as well as the port and market.

Davos initial plan was to build the akademia on a hillside to the west side of the city of Thurii, on the north bank of the Tiro river, where there are mountains and rivers, and a large area of wilderness which would allow for further expansion, and also allow them to build a park in the future, making the Akademia of Theonia to be the largest educational centre of the Theonia Union.

However, as the discussion with Kunogelata and the others, Davos canceled the plan for the time being. After all, the majority of students were children, not only is the north bank of the Tiro river far, but it is also a bit desolate there now, and would be too physically demanding for the children and not very safe. Therefore, the akademia was finally located in the delta area at the confluence of the Crati and Cosceli river, which is not only part of the greater urban area of Thurii, but also right in the middle of the Sybaris plain, making it easier for the children of the citizens of Theonia on both sides of the Crati river to arrive at the akademia on time.

None of the statesmen objected, because they knew that it was for the children of the citizens of Theonia, which also includes their own children. Therefore, the construction efficiency was very high, in less than half a year the walls, classrooms, school buildings and playground were built, which naturally could not be aesthetically pleasing due to it being built in such a short period of time. However, the playground for the children to play and train was large enough to accommodate all the parents who came to enroll their children today.

Thousands of people crowded in the playground, for fear of accidents happening, Ansitanos also invited patrols to maintain the order.

Patroclus stood in the line and was looking around. He then noticed that there were not many children like him who had come to enroll alone, and there were only a few children as old as him, so when a lot of curious gazes were focused on him, he felt a little uncomfortable.

At this time, there was a commotion behind the line, and the noise became more and more loud, and the people around looked back, which made Patroclus very curious.

“It’s lord Davos’ wife, Cheiristoya, and her daughter!”

“How can his daughter be so big already when lord Davos is still very young?!”

“That’s his adopted daughter, I heard that she is the daughter of Marcellus, the former archon of Amendolara….”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Lord Davos’ daughter?! Patroclus became more curious after hearing the people around him. So he squatted down and looked through the gap between the crowd to see a tall adult woman, as elegant and beautiful as the goddess of beauty – Aphrodite. Next to her is a lovely girl, although she is a little shy, she also looks around quietly and curiously, and when she notices a pair of young gazes between the gaps, she doesn’t dodge it, and instead, she opens her bright eyes and gazes back at him.

Patroclus then quickly and shyly avoided her gaze.

“Madam, please come to the front!” It was not only out of respect for Davos, but also out of gratitude to Cheiristoya, because her bank has helped many families, hence why so many people are willing to give up their place.

Cheiristoya expressed her thanks, but she politely declined. As the wife of the most powerful person in the Theonia Union, the intelligent Cheiristoya has always placed herself as an ordinary person in public, in order to not give any chance to the political opponents of Davos. She had originally intended to let Azune accompany her daughter if it was not for the fact that today’s enrollment is very important to Cynthia. For this reason, she had specifically wore a simple dress in order to try to keep a low profile while accompanying her daughter to school, and the result, it has still caused some commotions.

Finally, order was restored and enrollment continued.

It was finally Patroclus’ turn. Under the gaze of the staff, he said his name and his parents’, and handed over the certificate issued by Aguilas.

According to the enrollment rules of the Akademia of Theonia, only the children of official Theonian citizens can enroll. This was partly to reduce the pressure on the akademia and to control the number of students; more importantly, it is to let foreigners and slaves who worked in Theonia to know that only when they become official citizens of Theonia can they enjoy these rights, which makes the identity of an official citizens of Theonia to be more precious and urges them to work harder to achieve this goal.

Patroclus’ father was only a preparatory citizen, so according to the regulations, he is not eligible for admission. However, Aguilas had applied to the Senate for his outstanding performance in the war, so in view of the child’s contribution in the war, the statesmen finally took him as a special case and gave their approval. Therefore, Patroclus is actually the only student in the akademia whose parents are not official citizens of Theonia.

Unaware of his own specialness, the staff member, after Patroclus’ found his name in the student register and confirming his identity, looked at him with interest and after taking the tuition fee, he ticked off Patroclus’ name and encouraged him, “You will be studying in Classroom One from now on. Go on and study hard, little man!”

Patroclus then rushed out of the crowd and came to the edge of the playground, where rows of buildings were hung with a big wooden sign with Greek letters on them.

However, Patroclus became dumbfounded as he could not read a word and had to go and ask someone else.

“Hello, where is Classroom One?”

At this moment, a clear voice came from behind him, “Classroom One is beside you, idiot!”

Patroclus turned his head and saw the daughter of the archon, whom he had just seen earlier, standing behind him and looking at him with big bright eyes and a teasing smile on her round face.

“Cynthia, it’s rude of you to say that. Apologize to this little brother.” Cheiristoya gently reproached her.

Cynthia usually listens to Cheiristoya, but when she faces a boy who was only a few years older than herself, she couldn’t say a thing, and her little face suddenly turns red and so she hurriedly turns her head away.

Therefore, Cheiristoya had to personally apologize to Patroclus.

Facing the noble wife of the archon, the 13-year old Patroclus was at a loss. So he bowed his head shyly and even said “It’s okay! It’s okay….” then fled in a hurry.

Chapter 250 – Akademia of Theonia (III)

The classroom of Theonia is a cube of three and a half meters in height; and is a colonnaded structure, with the interior being paved with cement and a brick wall was built to the northern side and was plastered in order to keep it smooth and was painted with black paint, while the other three sides were open in order to ensure sufficient light, and the roof is supported by numerous stone columns.

Before Patroclus entered the classroom, he saw many children already sitting inside, and so Patroclus had to sit in the back row if he didn’t want to sit outside the stone pillars and be exposed to the sun. He was not happy about this, but as soon as he saw that they were all boys (although the Senate had agreed to the proposal that girls could study at the akademia, but the traditional habits of the Greeks for many years still made them to make some restrictions, that men and women could not be in the same classroom), his usual mischievous nature began to show up.

Carrying his folding chair, he squeezed at the front and shouted, “Move back! Make room for me!”

Most of the boys in the classroom are only seven or eight years old, so the 13-year old Patroclus seems to be a huge man. Everyone had no choice but to retreat due to fear, but one of the children came forward and talked back to Patroclus.

With both of them refusing to give in, the verbal confrontation developed into a physical altercation, and by the time the teacher had arrived, he saw Patroclus throwing the boy to the ground.

He then quickly came forward to stop, then asked the cause of the fight and he immediately sent the culprit to stand outside the classroom.

However, Patroclus did not obey.

The teacher then sternly said, “If you don’t want to accept your punishment, then you don’t have to come back to the akademia anymore!”

Although Patroclus was stubborn, he knew the importance of the matter, so he obediently walked out of the classroom. Who knew that the boy who he had beaten took the opportunity to give him a kick in the butt, which infuriated the teacher and yelled, “You go out as well!”

After dealing with the fight, the teacher placed a big hourglass on the wooden table, then sat on a wooden chair and took out the student list, and said to the children sitting around him, “From today on, I will be the one teaching you Greek in this classroom. My name is Onatas….”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Hey big guy, I am Sthephilos, the adopted son of Amintas. What is your name?” The grudges between boys come and go quickly, and both of them who were standing outside the classroom felt very helpless and so he was unable to stop himself from not replying.

“Patroclus, son of Periandorus.” Patroclus casually replied, then he thought of something and asked quickly, “Your father’s name is Amintas? Which Amintas?!”

“It is of course the brave Amintas of the first legion!” Sthephilos said with pride.

“My father, Periandorus, is under your father, Amintas.” Patroclus said in surprise.

And so both boys got together….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the past two years, the consequences of the military actions of Dionysius in unifying the southeastern Sicily resulted in many people being forced to flee their homes, most of them then became attracted to the Theonian Migration Act and chose to come to Thurii, which is not too far from Sicily.

As the first place to be developed and colonised by the Greeks in the western Mediterranean, Sicily was not only well developed in agriculture and trade, but also had closer cultural links with the mainland Greece, and its cultural heritage was somewhat deeper than that of the city-states in the Italian Peninsula, so some Sicilians manage to successfully passed the test organized by Ansitanos to become teachers of Theonia Union, and one of them was Onatas.

He chose to become a teacher of the newly established Akademia of Theonia even though his salary was not as much as that of a private teacher, he, however, could immediately become a citizen of Theonia and get an allocated land.

There is no standardised textbook and the content and pace of their teaching is at the discretion of the teacher, however, the akademia requires that: After three academic years, primary students must be able to recognize and write at least a thousand Greek words, read texts with accurate pronunciation, and write short articles with clear text and meaning, in order for them to be able to pass the test and become secondary students smoothly. Moreover, every teacher’s teaching performance will be assessed every year, and the teacher with poor performance for three consecutive years will be disqualified, which means that he will be deprived of all the rights given to teachers by Theonia.

Therefore, Onatas has a sense of urgency in his heart. As a highly educated cultured person, he couldn’t allow himself to lose to other teachers, however, when he was learning knowledge, his parents hired teachers to teach him one-on-one at home, but now, he has to face more than 30 students in the akademia, so how could he ensure his teaching would be effective?

Onatas had seriously thought about it beforehand, so as soon as he came in, he punished the two children that were fighting, and after the roll call, he severely stressed the need to abide the rules of the classroom, and the students that violates the rules would be scolded and punished, and might even be expelled from the akademia.

In this way, the noisy classroom became quiet.

Onatas was very satisfied with its effect. He then stood up and picked up a white stylus from the wooden table, which was said to be made from limestone boiled down and mixed with some substances such as animal fat, which was then dried in the sun. Onatas had previously tried it out and he was able to write so clearly on the black wall that he could read it even from the back of the classroom.

Facing the more than 30 pairs of curious gazes, Onatas was overwhelmed with emotion. How lucky the children living in this new city-state union that attached so much importance to the quality of education of its citizens. They had not only created an unprecedented teaching system in the Greek city-state, but also attracted high-quality foreigners to serve as teachers with all kinds of favourable conditions, and even taking the trouble to research and make teaching materials!

At this moment, Onatas was already a citizen of Theonia, so he felt a sense of pride. He propped up his left hand on the flat wall and wrote a string of letters with the white stylus on his right hand, “Before I teach you the Greek alphabet, I hope that you know the word ‘Theonia’! Whether you are Greek or Lucanian, you live and grow up in Theonia and will become citizens of Theonia in the future. So read aloud with me, ‘T-H-E-O-N-I-A’….”

“Theonia!!….”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

For most of the children of the citizens of a city-state, they would have already begun to learn how to write under the guidance of their parents at the age of six. Therefore, compared with the students who are eager to answer questions, Patroclus seems to be having a very difficulty in his learning progress.

However, when it came to mathematics lessons, because of Patroclus growing up manning the market stalls together with his mother since childhood and being influenced by what he heard and saw, it had made him show great sensitivity to numbers, and even the teachers from the Institute of Mathematics had paid attention to his performance.

By noon, the morning class ended.

Originally, Greeks had two meals a day, but as a result of Davos’ influence and the military training, the Theonians had begun to get used to three meals a day. The children living in Thurii could go back to their home to eat their meals, while those who were far away, such as Patroclus, had been informed by the akademia in advance and so they had prepared dry food for lunch, and some children whose families had slaves, had sent their slaves to buy lunch in the city….

By the afternoon, the main focus was on outdoor classes. For the girls, it was dancing and music, and the akademia had even invited the priestess of the temple of Hera to teach. For the boys, physical training such as, running and long jump, and are supplemented by some of the simplest military exercises, such as queuing, formation and marching as a unit, and so on., which is taught by disabled veterans, so that the children can develop military discipline from childhood, and gradually understand and become familiar with the formation changes and some basic tactics of Theonia light and heavy infantry, and to know how to unite and cooperate, and so on., once they become adults, they would be able to easily integrate into the legion once they are called up. In this regard, Davos and the Senate humbly borrowed some of the Spartan’s practices.

After the military training, the children’s favorite sport is a new ball game invented by the archon – Football, because it is not as fierce and easy to get injured like rugby.

The children chase each other, controlling a nearly circular-looking ball made of stitched cowhide and stuffed with inflated tripe, and pass the ball to each other until they kick the ball into the goal….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Our initial design of the road had caused the trees to be too close to the road, and over time, their roots tend to burrow out of the road and damage the roadbed, which has occurred many times on Thurii-Amendolara road….and currently, the pedestrian, livestocks and horse-drawn wagons are all using the road. During the day when the road is busy and is packed with people and livestock, it had not only caused long periods of obstructions, but it had also led to numerous accidents involving collisions….

My suggestion is to cut down the trees on both sides of the main road and build another road for the pedestrian outside the canals. In this way, the people and livestocks can traverse separately and not interfere with each other, and makes the main road to be more accessible….”

Davos read the 《Plan for the Reconstruction of the Road》 written by Heracleides the Younger while listening to his explanation, which surprised him after hearing him.

He admits that there were some defects in his design when he first built the road, such as the problem of the trees by the road. For example, he did not expect that the development of Theonia was so rapid that after more than a year, the four horse-wide road would not be enough….

But he did not expect that Heracleides the Younger was able to think of laying sidewalks so soon. Naturally, he knew that sidewalks were not new things in the era of science and technology. In the middle and late period of the Roman Republic, which even had a complete set of road systems, such as roads, sidewalks and drainage.

With a gentle expression, he asked, “What else needs improvements?”

Heracleides the Younger pondered, “Archon, if a foreigner sets out from Crotone and wants to walk to Thurii, he would be tired, thirsty and hungry from walking for a long time. He wouldn’t even know how far is the next town…where he could eat…a place to stay…so for the convenience of the pedestrians, we have placed stone tablets besides the main road in every other distance to mark the distance between nearby towns….and…um….aren’t we building post stations? We can engrave the distance of the post station on the stone tablet, so that when the pedestrians see the stone tablet, they can plan their own itinerary according to the above tips, and avoid sleeping in the wild at night….”

Chapter 251 – Prelude to War

“Great!” Davos stood up excitedly, “Heracleides the Younger, it’s really amazing for you to be able to think about this!”

“Milord, it wasn’t my idea alone, it was a proposal made after discussing it with the rest of the Department of Road Management.” The young Heracleides said truthfully, while feeling some doubts: ‘How could the mere idea of road reconstruction made this young archon who was favored by god be so excited?’

Of course, he would not understand that what was on Davos’ mind was the identity of the Greeks. Through the historical materials in his previous life and his personal experience in this era, he felt that the Greeks were indeed a superior race. They have created splendid civilization in science and technology, culture, military, politics, sports and so on., but why did Rome, not Greece, was the one to unify the Mediterranean?

Davos believes that there are some fatal flaws in the identity of the Greeks: The Greek city-states, which have built numerous magnificent temples, arenas and theatres, were unable to keep their cities clean and orderly…therefore, since the time he became the leader of the mercenaries, he began to restrain the loose mercenaries with strict military laws, and he deliberately guided and changed the Greeks.

Heracleides the Younger’s Department of Road Management was able to pay attention to these details and make changes. This earnest and down-to-earth way of thinking of the people has of course made Davos gratified, and praised them, “My vision wasn’t mistaken, you are not only an excellent road and bridge architect, but also a good road director to manage the road system in the Theonia Union!”

Heracleides the Younger was a little embarrassed by the praise, but continued to say, “The reconstruction of the road will cost a lot, and I am worried that the Senate-”

“Don’t worry, the Senate will pass your proposal.” Davos made a pledge, “The benefits of the road on Theonia are enormous. The reconstruction of the road will only make it more convenient for people to travel and transport goods, which is a good thing and it is worth the cost.”

“Then I can feel relieved!” Heracleides the Younger was very grateful to Davos, because this young man was the one who made him and his father no longer wander around! It was this young man who made him find his own career! And it was the support of this young man that made him stand out in Theonia politics!

“How is your father?”

Davos’ words brought him to his senses, “Not so good. Recently, he often wakes up at night coughing incessantly and blood can be seen in his sputum….I told him to rest more at home and it wouldn’t be a problem to just let Piasikos watch the temple, but he just doesn’t listen!” Said Heracleides the Younger with a worried face.

Davos sighed. In fact, Herpus, who had gone to check Heracleides, had already told him in secret that this stubborn thin old man is running out of time….

Davos comforted him softly, “Your father treats the newly built city of Thurii as if it is his own child, hence why he couldn’t be relieved! Don’t worry, I will let Herpus send his physicians to take care of your father at all times….”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After seeing off Heracleides the Younger, Davos stretches to go back to accompany his sleeping wife and children.

But at this time, Ribaso, the one managing the slaves came in and said, “Master, lord Philesius, Bagul, Vespa and Hemon, came to see you.”

Davos of course knew why these people were here, it was a matter of whether the arrangements that Theonia had made all this time would finally bear fruit, so he needed to rouse himself up, “Invite the four statesmen to come in.”

In a word, Davos has some helplessness because the public officials in several cities of Theonia Union, such as the Praetor, Judges and tax officials, and so on., all have their offices, namely, the city hall. However, as the one with the highest authority in the union including the only archon, had no personal office other than the Great Senate Hall, where they deliberate on city-state matters and discussed and enacted bills. The senate had already discussed the construction of a grand office building for the statesmen of the union several times, but due to various factors such as money and manpower, the proposal just remained on paper.

After the four men were seated, Philesius, as the military officer, first said, “Lord Davos, we are here to ask you if it’s finally the time to start the plan to take Grumentum?”

“What is the situation of Grumentum now?” Davos asked seriously. In fact, he had already understood the situation of Lucania through Aristias.

“Archon.” Hemon leaned forward and said, “Not long after Potentia defeated Pyxous and occupied Grumentum, their great chieftain Pamot led the main army back to Potentia, leaving his brother Polet, with 2,000 tribal warriors to be stationed in the city of Grumentum. And the son of Akpir, the former great chieftain of Grumentum, had also stayed in the city to help Polet manage Grumentum.”

Davos then said with a smile, “That Lusau who was betrayed by his own people?! Potentia really dared to use him?!”

“You are right milord. It was a mistake of Pamot to leave Lusau!” Vespa took over the conversation and said with a sneer, “I have dealt with the man Lusau, he is a tyrant and extremely vindictive, and he was the one who led the army that drove my tribe into the mountains….I heard that when he was in Potentia, he flattered Pamot like a dog. Perhaps it was because of this that Pamot mistakenly believed that he would help Potentia stabilize their governance of Grumentum.”

However, after returning to Grumentum and getting the support of several tribes, Lusau’s strength was strengthened and he began to become arrogant. Although the leaders of those tribes who had betrayed him had been killed by Cincinnag, Lusau still didn’t spare those tribes. He often sent new tribes to stir up disputes and then use the excuse of disobedience to punished them, and take the opportunity to encroach on their settlements and pastures…he often verbally agree on the orders of Polet, however, once he turns his back, he would not carry it out, and even opposed them.

And those warriors from Potentia, who were victorious, likewise oppressed the people of Grumentum, even though Polet treated the tribes inside and outside the city gently, he could not keep his men in check, much less let Lusau obey his orders.

Now, the people of Grumentum hates Lusau, hate the Potentians!” Said Vespa, while looking at Hemon, “So when the envoys that Hemon and I sent to the city made contact with them quietly, they were greeted with enthusiasm and were desperate for us to drive out the Potentians! ”

“The people of Grumentum hate Lusau, but we should thank him!” Davos jokes, and everyone laughed.

Davos then asked, “What do they want?”

“They are willing to join Theonia, but they hope that after we capture Grumentum, we can let them move to Nerulum, and give them land no less than their current residence and pasture. And for Theonia to not interfere in their management of the people like those tribes in Nerulum. For this reason, they are willing to provide their greatest assistance to Theonia to capture the city of Grumentum.”

After hearing Hemon’s words, Davos was slightly surprised, “Isn’t their request so simple?”

“Initially, they asked far more than that, but our men made them realize that having betrayed Lusau, and then Cincinnag, and are now trying to drive out the Potentians, then the only one they could rely on would be our Theonia Union, and it is not wise to spite the masters that will provide them refuge in the future!” Hemon then added with some complacency, “The peaceful and quiet life of the Lucanians in Theonia and the good reputation of the union for keeping its promise made them finally choose to cooperate with us.”

“In that case, why don’t they stay in Grumentum after we capture it? It’s their hometown after all.” Davos had some doubts.

“Milord, that’s because they are afraid!” Bagul said with contempt, “They do not dare to face the wrath of Potentia and Pyxous, because they think that these two powers will come to retake the city of Grumentum again in the future!”

“These guys are perceptive.” Davos murmured. To tell the truth, Davos was not at ease to leave these erratic tribes in Grumentum, but since they knew enough to leave voluntarily, Davos naturally has to return the favor, “Is there any spare pastures in Nerulum to accommodate them?”

“Not for the time being.” Vespa hesitated, “However, I have already negotiated with all the tribal chieftains of Nerulum, some of them are willing to move to Grumentum in exchange for the settlement of the tribes in Grumentum, but they want to be compensated with the mining rights of iron ore in Grumentum.”

Davos shook his head gently. The iron ore of Grumentum has long been coveted by some statesmen of the Senate. For example, statesmen such as Marsyas have approached him several times, hoping to contract the iron mine of Grumentum.

He pondered for a while and said, “It’s impossible for them to get the mining rights, but they can get part of the proceeds from the iron ore, for exactly how much, Hemon you will go and negotiate with them, but it must not be more than 20%, provided that they provide the manpower and participate in the mining and transportation of the ore.”

“Understood. I will go to Nerulum tomorrow and talk to them.” Hemon nodded.

“Are the soldiers ready? And has the attack plan been drawn up?” Davos then turned his gaze to Bagul.

Chapter 252 – Attack Plan

Bagul, on hearing this, stood up and went to the map prepared by Davos, then he pointed to the pass between the upper reaches of the Lao river and the Cinni river, and said, “The Pyxous once built a camp here, it was mainly to guard against us, and after the Potentians occupied Grumentum, they did not abandon it and had instead strengthened it. According to the report of the reconnaissance team, there are about 200 Potentian warriors stationed in this camp. Although there are not many people, the narrow pass is not favourable to the deployment of troops. Hence why we won’t be able to win it in a short time, on the contrary, it will arouse the vigilance of the Potentians in Grumentum, and if they were to reinforce it quickly, it would become a big trouble for us!

After carefully considering it, Lord Sesta and I decided not to take the mountain pass, but to follow lord Davos’ previous advice, to cross the Lao river directly, then march from the mountain road and attack Grumentum.”

“Although the Lao river is not wide, it has steep cliffs on both sides of the river. Even a Lucanian with powerful climbing ability will take a lot of effort to climb it, so how can you cross the river with thousands of people?” Hemon questioned.

Bagul looked at Davos.

Davos smiled and nodded.

So Bagul said, “Lord Davos asked the men of Heracleides the Younger to follow us for several days and carefully surveyed both sides of the Lao river. They then said that they are able to build a rope bridge on both sides of the Lao river in just one or two days, and it wouldn’t even be a problem for 6,000 soldiers to cross it! Currently, the ropes and planks for the bridge have been prepared and are just waiting for the orders of lord Davos.”

Hemon and Vespa looked at each other, they hadn’t heard a word about this even though they had been trying to mobilise and plan for the tribes outside Grumentum to attack the camp that was defending the mountain pass and open the way for the attacking troops.

When Davos saw that the two of them look unnatural, he immediately and cautiously said, “According to the 《Theonia Military Law》, military plans must be kept secret, and if they are leaked, they will be punished and in serious cases, they may even be executed. It is only because you are a participant in this operation that Bagul told you about the plan. I hope that once you go back, you would keep it a secret and not let it out.”

After hearing these words, Vespa and Hemon released some of the discomfort in their hearts and made immediate assurances.

“From Nerulum to Grumentum, it would take more than a day, and even if the 6,000 troops are hidden, they can be easily found.” Philesius reminded them.

Before Bagul could answer, Hemon said in advance, “If Bagul leads his troops across the river and takes the southern mountain road, then there is nothing to worry….” Hemon’s fingers crossed the Lao river on the map and said confidently, “Because of our efforts during this period of time, the tribes in those settlements in the south of the city of Grumentum are basically willing to become part of Theonia. At that time, I will follow the troops of Bagul and I am sure that the tribes there will not only not reveal our whereabouts, but will also help us reach the city of Grumentum more quickly.”

“If lord Hemon will go, then it would be the greatest help when attacking Grumentum!” Davos smiled in welcome and said, “In order to prevent accidents, I will send Izam’s reconnaissance team to sneak in to the area of Grumentum in advance, and try to block several mountains roads in the south leading to the city and stop those Lucanians that may report, so that once you launch your attack on the city of Grumentum, the enemy will not know anything!”

“The tribes in the city promised us that if we attack, they will gather about 500 men to attack the south gate guarded by Lusau.” Hemon had gotten even more excited from Davos’ praise.

“With the combined efforts of several lords, our attack is now well prepared.” Davos opened his hands with a relaxed smile, looked at Bagul and said with seriousness, “Bagul, you will be the one commanding the frontline, the specific deployment in battle and the cooperation with our allies in the city will be up to you, while I will stay here in Thurii and will not interfere. I just hope that you will try to think about difficulties that you will encounter and have countermeasures in case something unexpected happens!”

Bagul nodded with seriousness, and felt the pressure. Vespa, who was sitting next to him, patted him on the shoulder and encouraged him.

In Hemon’s eyes, there was both excitement and envy, because this was the first time that a Lucanian would independently lead a battle in Theonia Union. Making Bagul having a brighter future, but he was already married, otherwise, he would marry his daughter to him.

“Anything else you need?” Davos asked again.

Bagul hesitated and said, “I fear that once I take away all the soldiers in Nerulum, the defense of the city will be somewhat empty. So I hope that some of the soldiers in Thurii can temporarily protect the safety of Nerulum.”

While Davos was still pondering, Philesius immediately said, “Milord, I think it’s possible to have Xanticles and his men to go to Nerulum, and-”

“And these mercenaries who came back from Persia together with me have a rich experience in fighting in the mountain.” After being reminded by Philesius, Davos remembered that Thurii had this elite force who does not cultivate farms and are just doing odd jobs in the port, “They can also help you capture Grumentum.”

“With their help, I am more confident in taking Grumentum!” Bagul said excitedly.

Davos stood up and looked at the four men, “Tomorrow, I will propose in the Senate for us to attack Grumentum. And the only thing I hope is that you will work together and get the news of victory as soon as possible.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After more than two days of trekking, a thousand mercenaries led by Xanticles finally walked out of the mountains and reached the Lao fortress.

Due to the need of confidentiality, the Lao fortress has blocked the passage to the north, claiming that there are a group of Lucanians fleeing from Grumentum and are hiding in the mountains and robbing the people and merchants of Nerulum many times, so Nerulum sent troops to search for them. As a result, there are only a few pedestrians on the road leading to Nerulum, and there are no merchants who usually come and go to trade.

“It’s only after getting here can we see flat roads, so the rest of the way should be easier.” Complained Tolmides, “I heard that the road from Nerulum to Thurii has been under construction for over a year now, and I can’t believe that it’s still only up to here!”

“After all, it’s in the mountains, not in the plains. It’s not like you do not know how difficult a mountain road is, and for Davos wanting it to become a flat road, I wouldn’t even think about it if it were me! Therefore, it is normal for the roads to be built here slowly, as long as they can finish it in the end.” Xanticles said to comfort him.

“Ticles, You have only been in Theonia for half a year, and yet you are already speaking up for Davos!” Teased Tolmides.

Xanticles looked at him and said, “Aren’t you also?”

Both of them laughed.

“I hope that this expedition goes well, so that we can all become preparatory citizens of Theonia.” Said Tolmides expectantly. Previously, he followed the first legion to Caulonia, however, Locri sought peace without putting up any fight, which thwarted the mercenaries’ attempt to get credits.

“I am not worried about that. What I am worried about is whether our weapon and equipment change will affect our fighting and increase our casualties!” Xanticles looked back at the sweaty, topless soldiers and said anxiously.

In order to march and fight in the mountains, Davos suggested to Xanticles that the mercenaries should for the time being refrain from wearing the Corinthian helmets, thick and airtight linen armor, bronze gaiter, and heavy round shields, and instead changed into the armors of the Lucanian warriors, leather helmet, short robes and wooden shields(in the battle with the Lucanian tribal alliance and the battle to capture Nerulum, Theonia had captured a large number of weapons and equipment of the Lucanians and left them in Thurii’s weapon storage, which was never been used afterwards). Xanticles, who had experience fighting in the mountain, finally accepted the advice of Davos after thinking about it repeatedly.

“Don’t worry, we have a lot more men than the enemy, not to mention that we have people from the inside, so it will not be a problem. And it is indeed much easier for our brothers to march with the Lucanian equipment. Otherwise, just climbing the mountain alone will be enough to wear us out. But here-” Tolmides pointed to the flat but always rising terrain ahead and said, “We still need to climb all the way up!”

Xanticles knew that Tolmides was right, it was just that he was too old to adapt to the new changes, so he remained silent.

Tolmides approached him and whispered, “Recently, I heard from Agasias that Davos had several discussions with Philesius and the three legatus of the army in preparation for the changing of the weapons and equipment of the Theonian soldiers, in order to make them lighter and more suitable for long-distance marching and mountain battle….”

Xanticles was stunned, and was slightly worried and said, “Is this information true? Without copper on the shield and heavy armor, would it still be a Greek hoplite?!”

“Ticles, don’t forget that the Greek hoplites used bronze armor decades ago! Wasn’t it because it was too heavy to fight that it was finally replaced with the current linen armor?!” Tolmides reminded, “Besides, that is not what you should be concerned about. What you should be thinking about is why Davos wants to improve his soldiers’ equipment!”

Xanticles was not a fool, and he immediately realized it after a reminder, “Davos wants to expand north?!” Changing the equipment of the army of a city-state was certainly not for just one battle or several battles, but to serve the long-term plans of the city-state as a whole. Davos wanted to make the soldiers’ armor light and durable, which is advantageous in the mountains, so when these characteristics were combined and when looking at the surroundings of Theonia, Davos’ intentions became more obvious; only the north of Theonia, in the middle of the Apennine peninsula in the north, will there be more mountains and more mountain races.

Chapter 253 – Attack on Grumentum

Thinking of Davos’ possible strategic plan in the future, Xanticles took a deep breath, “Tolmides, it seems that I won’t be able to escape from the battlefield for the rest of my life!”

“At least you don’t have to worry about not getting a chance to be a legatus of the army or even a statesman of the Senate! ” Tolmides said excitedly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Grumentum is a mountain city, and unlike the mountain occupied by Amendolara which is just under 200 meters high, the mountain occupied by Grumentum is about 300 meters high.

Initially, the wooden walls of the city of Grumentum were built at the foot of the mountain, then during the reign of Akpir as the Great Chieftain, he expanded on a large scale, annexed and reorganized the surrounding small tribes and moved them into the city. However, because of the lack of accommodation, he had to expand the city further, thus doubling the area of Grumentum and dividing the city into three parts: The majority of the outer part of the city is inhabited by the newly assimilated tribes; The inner part is inhabited by tribes that originally belonged to Grumentum; And the core area which is at the top of the mountain, also has wooden walls and inhabited by the tribe of the great chieftain. At its peak, there were nearly 30,000 people living in the city alone.

However, after the defeat of the Lucanian tribe alliance at the hands of the mercenaries of Davos and Akpir being seriously injured, and with Lusau lacking prestige and could not unify the tribes of Grumentum, and a war with Pyxous breaking out, some of the tribes in Grumentum began to flee. After Cincinnag captured Grumentum and in order to control the whole city, he had killed the chieftains of the various tribes and the people who didn’t obey him, which led to everyone fearing for their lives and so they had to leave the city, which caused the population to be greatly reduced. And with the number of people not being enough to defend the city, and after the declaration of war of Potentia, Cincinnag moved all the inhabitants into the inner part of the city and burned the houses and walls in the outer part of the city.

After the Potentians became the new master of the city, they did not rebuild the outer part. At this time, the inner wall had three gates, east, west and south, and the north was near to the cliffs.

Polet’s initial deployment was for 500 Potentian warriors to be stationed in each of the three gates, followed by the scattered tribes of the former Grumentum and further up the mountain is the tribe of Lusau who not only served as the reserve force in the event of a war but also to monitor the movements of these tribes. Once there were signs of riot, they would easily pacify it, while Polet would be at the core area at the top of the mountain together with 500 elite Potentian warriors, commanding Grumentum from the top.

However, the implementation of this set of deployment was destroyed not long ago, and the saboteur was Lusau. After he had grown stronger, he no longer wanted to follow Polet’s order, especially when Polet lost badly to Cincinnag and nearly trapped in the city. Therefore, he strongly demanded to guard the area of one of the gates.

Polet was finally forced to let Lusau defend the south gate. Because of the oppression of Lusau to the people, the tribes in the city were reluctant to live in the southern area and began to concentrate more on the area in the east gate.

Polet was well aware of the current situation of the city, but his prestige and strength are not enough to deter the increasingly overbearing Lusau, and due to the recklessness of Lusau, the Potentians started to become unhappy with him and he was now losing control of his warriors and the anger of the residents in the city of Grumentum is growing day by day. Polet felt like he was sitting in the crater of a volcano, and this sense of crisis made him finally decide to send someone to return to Potentia to complain about his current predicament to his elder brother, Pamot, and ask for Lusau to be transferred. And at the same time, to send more Potentian warriors to stabilize the situation in Grumentum.

After finally making this decision, Polet seems to have relaxed considerably and spent the last two days actively patrolling the city, as well as reprimanding the chieftains for the sloppiness of the guards at the eastern gate.

On that day, Polet returned to his residence at the top of the mountain. It was almost dusk and was feeling hungry, so he asked his guards to roast a leg of a lamb and to bring a jar of wine.

When suddenly, he heard the sound of shouting and killing coming from down the mountain. One must know that he is currently hundreds of meters high, and to still be able to hear the sounds from below means that the commotion was not small.

Polet’s expression suddenly changed. He immediately ran out of his residence and met the guards who came in a hurry to report, “Chieftain, the enemy is attacking the city! The people of Grumentum started attacking our warriors!”

“What?!” The words of the guard were like a bolt from the sky, which made Polet pale.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At dusk, it was the time for the warriors to have dinner. The Potentians were eating cheese, beef and mutton while venting their dissatisfaction on their leader, Polet because he had tormented them over the past two days.

When they were finally satisfied with their food and drink, the horn suddenly sounded. And when the chieftains of the various tribes led their warriors out of the camp, many of them could not believe that a war had come suddenly without any warning.

They hurriedly took up arms and reorganized their formation.

However, the enemy’s attack was very quick. As soon as they burst out of the dense forest and were revealed to the city’s guard, they quickly approached the eastern, western and southern gate of the city of Grumentum….

The guards on the top of the wooden wall on the eastern gate just watched helplessly as the enemies in front of them converged into a few narrow paths leading to the various gates, and couldn’t do anything due to the undulating hills and dense wooden fences.

If a large number of arrows and javelins had been thrown at this time, then the dense mass of enemies would have been badly wounded, however, only a dozen arrows landed in the enemy line, making no significant splash at all.

“Come! Come on! Hurry up!! The enemy is getting closer!!” The warrior on the top of the walls anxiously turned around to urge his comrades who are still wandering under the city wall. Suddenly, his voice stops: At the camp of Potentia, a group of several hundred people, armed with spears and in a column, rushes down.

It’s reinforcements from the people of Grumentum! The warrior at the top of the city wall felt slightly relieved, but what happened next left him frozen.

This group of Grumentums rammed straight into the rearguard of Potentia below the city wall, who were hastily preparing to go up to the city wall, and shouted, “DIE! DAMN POTENTIA PIGS!….” and thrust their spears at the Potentia warriors who were still at a loss….

Shouts and screams of death mixed and the city became chaotic….

While taking advantage of the chaos inside the city, the enemies outside have already reached the bottom of the city wall. They then throw their sacks filled with soil into the trenches and soon make a path, then they rush under the wooden walls to erect long ladders….

The warriors of Potentia resisted tenaciously, but most of them were fighting fiercely with the tribesmen of Grumentum, and while there were few warriors on the city walls, the enemy continued to attack upwards, regardless of their life and death, and it wasn’t long before the enemy reaches the top of the city wall….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Polet, who was at the lookout tower at the top of the hill, saw that the enemy kept on pouring in on the eastern wall below the mountain and the defence line was in danger, which had made him extremely anxious, “Take my wolf’s teeth and immediately go and tell Lusau that the eastern gate is in danger, and ask him to send some warriors to help defend, otherwise, the enemy will enter into the city and everyone will not be able to escape!”

“Yes, chief!” The guard nervously accepted the order.

Seeing the guards rushed down the mountain, Polet is still not at ease, so he also ordered the 500 Potentian warriors to go to the eastern gate.

After giving the order, Polet took a moment to calm down and think about where the enemy had come from.

‘Pyxous? Are they still able to send out so many warriors even after suffering a great defeat?’

‘Is it the Theonians?’ The thought of the powerful union of Greek city-states in the south made Polet hold his breath. Even though Potentia is not adjacent to Theonia, they still feel the pressure from the south from time to time, not only because it is powerful, but also because the Lucanians were not adverse to this union dominated by the Greeks, which is the most terrible! This terrible situation had made it impossible for the Lucanians to work together against this outsider! This is the reason why Pamot had to finally make up his mind to conquer Grumentum, because only by strengthening themselves can they compete with this powerful city-state with amazing expansion speed. Therefore, when Pamot left, he repeatedly urged Polet to focus on the movements of the Theonia Union. Of course, Polet attached great importance to this, so he sent 200 warriors of his tribe to guard the mountain pass, and at the same time, he also sent spies to the south to monitor the movement of Nerulum. It was only due to Nerulum being heavily guarded and a lot of guards were set up to block the northern passage that made the spies unable to return.

Now, there is no unusual news coming from the camp that is guarding the mountain pass, and the enemies that are sieging the city are all dressed in the clothes of the Lucanians, which made Polet’s suspicion to the only stay on Theonia for a while and then move to his last suspect – Garaguso, as the most traditional tribe in Lucania, they preferred to live in the mountains rather than on the flatlands, away from the heart of Lucania. The city of Garaguso was built in the mountains to the north-east of the region, and for decades, had rarely involved themselves in the disputes among other tribes, and refused to unite with other tribes, except for some Lucanian tribes. When Akpir united the south of Lucania, he didn’t bother them either. ‘Could it be that Garaguso had changed their traditions this time?’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

By this time, the eastern wall had been occupied by the Theonian soldiers and continued to march into the city without even resting.

At the front were the 500 mercenaries led by Xanticles, while the other 500 mercenaries led by Tolmides stayed to guard Nerulum.

Immediately behind the mercenaries were the 1,500 Lucanian warriors led by Litom, one of the senior centurion of the third legion. 2,000 soldiers led by Kesima were at the western gate, and 2,500 soldiers led by Bagul himself at the southern gate. Bagul had distributed his forces almost equally and had no choice but to do so, because the city of Grumentum was built close to the mountains, with crowded houses and narrow mountain paths. Therefore, with so many troops concentrated in one place, not only will they not be able to exert their strength, but will also easily cause congestion and affect their attack.

Chapter 254 – Occupying Grumentum and Elea’s Concern

Some of the mercenaries at the top of the eastern gate, armed with shields and spears, rushed down the wooden wall and attacked the Potentian warriors inside the city to support the people of Grumentum, while the rest of the mercenaries ran to the gate and turned the locked winch in order to open the eastern gate so that the subsequent soldiers to swarm in.

While the warriors of Potentia, who are defending the eastern gate, suffered from a pincer attack and are struggling.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Lusau was truly scared when he received the orders from Polet. He did not expect that there was another rebellion among these tribes in the city of Grumentum. His first reaction was not to worry about the situation in the east gate but to fear that these warriors would also have problems, because most of the more than 1,000 warriors were tribal warriors that had surrendered to him after returning to the city and since the enemy in the southern gate was attacking fiercely, he did not dare to disperse his forces at all, hence why he refused to send reinforcements.

However, the warriors stationed on the mountain had immediately gone down the mountain to rescue the Potentians in the eastern gate as soon as they received the order, but by the time they arrived, their companions in the eastern gate were already in a difficult situation, so the leader of the group had to lead the way into the enemy line without even thinking.

The reinforcements of Potentia made the battle in the eastern gate more complicated: The mercenaries and warriors of Grumentum pincered the defenders in the eastern gate, while the Grumentum warriors were pincered by the Potentian reinforcements and the defenders in the eastern gate, and the four forces fought each other in this narrow area inside the city near the gate….

The first to react was Xanticles, who, thanks to the Theonian Military Law, had been drilled many times during this period of training about the military commanders should not fight on the frontline except under special circumstances.

Hence why he stayed at the rear during this time. In this chaotic situation, with his rich experience on the battlefield, he had quickly made a decision and ordered the mercenaries to retreat slowly to the city wall, and informed Kesima to lead his soldiers around the houses so that they could encircle the enemy.

The retreat of the mercenaries gave the Potentian warriors hope in this bitter battle and thought that the enemy wouldn’t be able to bear it anymore, so their morale increased greatly, while the people of Grumentum felt desperate and their morale had almost collapsed, but the progress of the Potentian warriors had gradually got them surrounded and so they had to fight for their survival.

However, Polet who was at the top of the mountain was frightened, because what he saw was that the enemy was retreating in an orderly and organized manner, while the enemies who had entered from the city gate were circling between the houses on both sides and are gradually forming a huge encirclement, encircling the Potentian defenders and the reinforcements, including the people of Grumentum, while some enemies were standing at the top of the city wall and are raising their javelins in their hands, and at such a distance, it is almost a certainty that every throw they make will hit someone….

Polet closed his eyes painfully, now he is sure that the enemy is from the terrifying Theonia Union because even though the warriors of Lucania are full of passion when fighting, their formations are always loose, and they have no such strong organized and tight formation.

Polet cursed at Lusau who did not obey his order and hesitated whether to send his last troops to the eastern gate where there was no hope….

Then came the deadly javelin rain and the fierce attack of the mercenaries which finally led to the defeat of the eastern defenders, and the narrowing of the encirclement was like a noose around the neck of the reinforcing Potentian warriors, who finally surrendered in despair.

In the end, Polet did not send his remaining 500 soldiers but had instead held on to the top of the mountain.

Next, Xanticles and Kesima led their army to attack the southern gate, and Lusau who was already unable to defend was overwhelmed and killed by the uncontrollable Grumentum warriors as they retreated to the west.

As darkness fell, the Theonian army defeated the defenders on the east, west and south gates and entered the city of Grumentum. Only the 500 warriors led by Polet at the top of the mountain were left and were frightened when the Theonian army approached them.

At this time, Hemon held up his torch and went up the mountain alone, ready to persuade Polet to surrender.

In order to save their lives, Polet finally agreed to surrender. The warriors then had to lay down their weapons, open the mountain gate and follow Hemon down the mountain empty-handed.

Polet then bitterly said to Hemon, “Are you not afraid of the anger of Asinu for helping the Greeks to kill our own people and take their land?!”

Hemon looked back and said, “You are wrong. I am not helping the Greeks, I am helping the Lucanians, and so Asinu will only be happy about it!”

Theonia captured Grumentum with only 600 casualties, while Lusau and his men were slaughtered.

A few days later, Potentia signed an armistice agreement with Theonia, and the more than 1,000 Potenian captives were then safely returned to the city of Potentia.

Different from the fall of Nerulum, the news of Grumentum’s change of ownership quickly spread all over the Lucanian region, causing great waves among many small tribes and even multiple forces.

Even though Theonia did not take any further military actions, they have instead gradually implemented their plan that they have drawn up in advance: With Bagul serving as the praetor of Grumentum, Hemon serving as the intermediate judge of the city, Asistes was transferred to take up the post of an intermediate prosecutor and inspector of the city, and Kesima taking the post of patrol captain.

The first thing Bagul did when he took his post was to take control of the mountain pass camp between Nerulum and Grumentum. Secondly, only 2,000 soldiers were left in Grumentum, and the remaining 3,000 soldiers and the mercenaries led by Xanticles returned to their own cities, such as Nerulum, Thurii and Aprustum, to relieve the pressure on the military supplies. And several tribes in Grumentum went south together with them.

What they needed to do next was to fulfil the previous promises of Vespa and Hemon to the small tribes around Grumentum, by accepting them to join Theonia Union and allocate them their lands and abolishing many of the previous exploitation of Grumentum and Potentia on them….

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After learning about Theonia Union occupation of Grumentum, Cincinnag cursed them for their insidiousness and cunning. But on the surface, Pyxous, who had suffered greatly, had to send envoys to Thurii to express their goodwill for peace.

Even Garaguso, who rarely participates in the tribal disputes in Lucania, sent envoys so that they could know the intentions of this powerful new neighbour.

Potentia was forced to sign an armistice agreement with Theonia because of the issue of the captives, however, as the dominant tribe in the northern Lucania, Theonia’s attack had hurt its dignity and angered the various chieftains of Potentia, but their great chieftain – Pamot, had suppressed their anger and had instead chosen to be patient.

The strong Greek atmosphere of the Theonia Union was so unique in the Lucania region, which had immediately attracted the attention of another Greek city-state in the area, which was Elea.

Elea was also one of the many Greek colonies established on the Italian Peninsula in the Magna Graecia colonial era, decades after the first city-state to be built – Cumae, with the three neighbouring seaside cities of Elea, Pyxous and Poseidonia being founded one after another. Compared with the other two cities, Elea who was in the middle seems to be a little unknown, but in the process of the great southward migration of the Lucanians a hundred years ago, Poseidonia and Pyxous fell one after another, while Elea, who was weaker, survives tenaciously. However, Elea, who was surrounded by the Lucanians, was in danger of being destroyed at any moment, if it wasn’t for the contradictions between the alliance of several tribes of Lucania such as Potentia, Pyxous and Grumentum…..and making Elea into a buffer zone, which caused the Lucanian attack to ceased.

But for decades, Elea’s situation was not easy. Part of the land outside their city has been occupied by foreign races and would harass them from time to time, which made it very dangerous for their people to go out of the city due to them being an easy target for the plundering of the Lucanians and turning them into slaves. Therefore, Elea had to rely on the production and processing of handicrafts, as well as the development of maritime trade, cargo shipment, port services….and so on., to barely maintain the operation of the city-state and the life of the people.

But with the emergence of Theonia, Elea could finally see the dawn.

Therefore, after a discussion, all citizens decided to send an envoy to Theonia, a new Greek city-state union, to express their will of an alliance.

Kanos who was a council member happily took over this glorious mission.

However, it is impossible to go to Theonia by land, because Potentia and Pyxous will not allow him to pass through their land, so he can only go by sea. However, the good thing is that the passenger ship did not need to go around the Strait of Messana, because the Eleans knew that Laos is an ally of Theonia.

The passenger ship carrying Kanos, with the help of the strong south wind, drove south like an arrow.

While Kanos who was standing in the bow of the ship thought about his mission, when his Etruscan slave, Aino, pointed to the east and suddenly shouted, “Pyxous!”

Kanos looked up and in his field of vision was land on distant east and was just like a small green belt with a little white dot on it which was Pyxous – once the sister city of Elea, but has now become a nest of foreign race and a nightmare of Elea.

While grieving for Pyxous, Kanos also made up his mind for Elea to never make the same mistake again!

Because it was downwind, the ship sailed for two hours and arrived at Laos.

Kanos had been to Laos before and knew more about the port. Although Laos was occupied by the Lucanians at that time, they did not prohibit trade with the Greeks. It was only because of the habits of the Lucania – like plundering and racial discrimination that had made their reputation to be not very good. Therefore, there was not much direct trade between the Greeks and Laos.

But what Kanos saw in the port today was an endless stream of merchant ships coming in and out, a dense mass of labourers at the port and each of them was busy loading and unloading goods without stopping, and there are a lot of food and rubbish remnants floating on the surface of the port and in the foaming waters, which attracts numerous sea birds to circle and peck.

Chapter 255 – The Banquet of Avinoges

Just one year after Laos joined Theonia, the change on Laos’ port was so much that it had truly surprised Kanos.

His boat even needed to wait for some time before a dock was freed for him to anchor. An official sent by the city hall of Laos, who had received the news, was already on the port waiting to greet him, and Kanos gladly accepted the invitation to meet the master of the city, the archon Avinoges.

“Could it be that the port is this busy every day?” Kanos asked.

“Yes.” The official then added with pride, “The merchants of Theonia Union like to come to us and charter ships to trade with the Gaul in the north or the Iberian Peninsula in the west, and then land here full of goods and carry them back to Thurii. A few months ago, after the establishment of the South Italia Alliance, we had even gotten busier! Because as long as they are allies of Theonia Union, we in Laos will provide the best services and preferential fees for docking, accommodation and water supply. Now, after Grumentum became a part of Theonia Union, more merchants had started coming here, and most of them came here for the excellent iron ore of Grumentum…and we also greatly welcome the merchants of Elea to trade here as well!”

Kanos was just about to respond with a smile when suddenly, an angry voice sounded from the front, “Damn moron, don’t get in the way!”

Then came the sound of screaming, and Kanos then saw two naked men lying on their back by the roadside and their bodies were covered with bloodstained whip marks and several heavy sacks dumped on one side.

“These slaves are Lucanians.” For fear of leaving a bad impression on the guests, the official hastily explained, “Their ancestors had forcibly captured Laos and made all the Greeks of Laos their slaves, and making our lives worse than death for generations. And lord Avinoges then led us to take back Laos! A year ago, they were the masters of this city, and they had treated us like livestock, but now we Greeks are the master of Laos once more and they are now also tasting what it is like to be a slave!”

Kanos looked at the excited official and thought about how he doesn’t look like a pure Greek.

“You have turned all the Lucanians in this city into slaves?!” Kanos asked.

“Not all. Some of them are relatives of the Lucanian citizens of Theonia Union, and were later released by lord Avinoges and went to Nerulum, and they may have now become citizens of Theonia. I don’t know why the Theonians are so tolerant of these savages who believe in strange gods!” The official murmured in a low voice. Although he said it with some hatred, he did not vent it as loudly as he had.

This also shows the influence of Theonia on the people of the city-states that are affiliated with them.

The city of Laos that was located near the estuary of the Lao river was not too big and it only has less than 5,000 citizens: Some of them were part of the tribe under the command of the Avinoges, which was the core of his strength in becoming the archon for life of Laos, and so when these people became citizens, Avinoges had given them an allotment of land. The others were the original Greek slaves that were liberated by Avinoges and had also given them citizenship, but no land was allocated to them. So for them to make a living, they either serve as a low-level civil servant in the city or become hired workers or worked at the port…fortunately, the tax burden in Laos is not heavy, as long as they are hardworking and are willing to work, they should still be able to earn small savings.

Although Avinoges claimed to be a descendant of the Greeks, he himself knew from his heart that he was of mixed blood, like most of the citizens in Laos, so Avinoges and the citizens of Laos have similar feelings of inferiority, exclusion and ethnic identity. Moreover, he rescued them from slavery, and as long as he treated the people well, they will support him. Therefore, although he learned from Davos and had made himself an archon for life, the truth is the council of Laos was only a decoration, and they don’t even have an ecclesia, and Avinoges is the only one making decisions whether it is big or small, he was a real tyrant.

In this so-called city hall, which is actually the residence of the lord of the city, Kanos met Avinoges. The burly, fat and slightly ferocious archon of Laos had even prepared a banquet to warmly welcome Kanos.

After taking his seat, he also raised his wine cup and expressed his sincere thanks to Avinoges for his hospitality, “I came to Laos three years ago, but this time, I found that Laos has changed a lot, especially the trade in the port is now very prosperous. It has only been just over a year since Laos gained its freedom, and yet it has achieved so much. Lord archon must have put a lot of effort into this!”

Kanos’ words of praise were soothing to the ears of Avinoges, which had even made him laugh heartily and said, “It is natural as I have given it all, but I should thank the allies of Laos more. Because in this alliance, Laos has enjoyed a lot of conveniences!…”

Kanos listened attentively.

Then Avinoges asked, “Is the reason why Elea has sent you here is to join the Theonia Union?”

Kanos was stunned. With the current situation of Elea, and the fact that they have sent someone to go to Theonia at this time, anyone with a good eye can roughly guess the purpose of their mission, but Kanos didn’t expect Avinoges to ask him so directly. He put down his cup and thought about it, and vaguely said, “Whether to join the alliance or to adopt other forms of alliance will depend on the outcome of the negotiation with Theonia.”

Avinoges looked at him and grinned, “Please forgive me for speaking directly, but with my understanding of Theonia and Elea’s current strength, I am afraid that Theonia will not accept other forms of agreement.”

This is obviously to say that Elea is not strong enough, so don’t expect to get better treatment in the talks with Theonia. Kanos was a little embarrassed and then bowed his head to drink and didn’t respond.

Then Avinoges said, “I heard that Elea has close contacts with the Greek city-states of Campania. Theonia may not accept Elea to join the alliance if Elea has any alliance with Campania, because they do not allow the city-states in their alliance to have any diplomatic relations with other city-states.”

Kanos was a little surprised because he did not know that there was such a rule between Theonia and her allies, “Thank you for your reminder! Even though the city-state of Campania has given Elea some help, Elea has no alliance agreement with any city-state.” Answered Kanos without hesitation.

In fact, the Campania alliance headed by Neapolis and Capua has not agreed to accept Elea, because there are two powerful races between Campania and Elea, namely Samnites and the Lucanians, and Elea is not strong enough. Once they become an alliance, only Campania will continue to help Elea, while Elea could barely contribute to the Campania alliance, so how could the shrewd Greeks do such a loss-making business. The only reason why Elea was able to trade with Campania was due to mutual demand, with Elea needing to recruit mercenaries from Campania to defend against the attack of the Lucanian, and they had to pay for them.

“That would be great. With that Elea can join Theonia Union, and with the strength and reputation of Theonia, the Lucanians will no longer be your problem. And with Elea and Laos being the only two coastal ports of Theonia Alliance in the Tyrrhenian Sea, we could cooperate and strengthen our trade exchange in the future….” Avinoges smiled excitedly and seems to have given his advice without any motives.

Kanos was silent for a moment, but how could he express his position without even seeing the archon of Theonia, so he changed the topic, “Lord archon must have met the archon of Theonia union, lord Davos, right? So what kind of person is he?”

“I saw him a lot of times, and have even fought with him side by side!” Avinoges looked proud as he wiped the wine stains off his mouth and said seriously, “Here is a piece of advice! Don’t look down on him just because he is young, he is an amazing man!”

Since Elea wants to have a cooperation with Theonia, they naturally made some investigation of Theonia, and naturally, the focus of their investigation was Davos. The members of the council of Elea had given Davos both praise and criticism. What they appreciate is his extraordinary ability in making Theonia rise in such a short time, which is inseparable from his efforts. However, what worried them is that he is the only archon and an archon for life for that, how is that different from Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse.

Would Elea’s collaboration with Theonia lead the wolf into their house? The prosperity of Laos had made Kanos’ worries to be reduced, while the words of Avinoges had made his curiously stronger, ‘Is this the admiration of a tyrant to a tyrant?’

“By the way, I can take you to Thurii tomorrow.” Said Avinoges suddenly.

“Milord, I am very grateful for your hospitality! So how could I dare to make you send me in person? It will just make me uneasy!” Kanos was moved but had tactfully declined.

“Hahaha!….” Avinoges laughed loudly, “You don’t have to thank me, the ride was just along the way. The temple of Hades in Thurii has been completed and Theonia has invited me to come for the celebration ceremony!”

The teasing of Avinoges had made Kanos embarrassed, but he was even more surprised by what he just said, ‘Temple of Hades?!’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hearing that Heracleides had fainted when the Temple of Hades was completed and that he was in a coma, Davos immediately put off all his business and rushed to Heracleides’ home.

Although Heracleides managed to wake up, he was not able to move. His eyes were half-open, his mouth was wide open and his chest was heaving up and down like a ragged below and making a harsh “wheezing” sound…

Chapter 256 – The Proposal to make Hades as the Theonians’ belief

Herpus stood on the side of the bed, with a grave expression. He then shook his head slightly at Davos.

Davos walked with heavy steps to the bed and gazed at the thin old man.

Heracleides didn’t react even with the arrival of Davos.

Davos held his right hand, which was only skin and bone, and was covered with dust. He then held it tightly and said in a sincere voice, “Heracleides, thank you for your contribution to Theonia! Your name will be remembered by the people of Theonia!!….”

The words of Davos seemed to work as Heracleides closed his eyes slowly and the sound of breathing disappeared…

Herpus came over quickly, put his head on Heracleides’ chest and listened carefully, then reached to the tip of his nose to feel his breathing. Finally, Herpus shook his head and said quietly, “He’s gone….”

Soon, there was the sound of crying in the crowded courtyard, and all the architects, craftsmen, sculptors, slaves…and so on were all mourning.

Davos then spoke in a sorrowful whisper, “Elysium welcomes your entry. Hades will give you shelter and you will be his guest and build a splendid palace for your residence. Whether on earth or in heaven, the great name of Heracleides will be praised…”

Heracleides the Younger, who was crying beside him listened to the eulogy of Davos, he then wiped his tears and expressed his thanks to the archon.

Davos patted him kindly on the shoulder as a sign of comfort and said, “The celebration ceremony for the completion of the Temple of Hades will be held the day after tomorrow, so I need you to find the best sculptor immediately to make your father’s bust in these two days, and he will be the first person to enter the Hall of Sages for the public to revere.”

‘This was a glorious event!’ Heracleides the Younger stopped crying in excitement and thought for a moment, and then turned to speak with another man that was grieving.

The man came and saluted Davos respectfully, and said excitedly, “Lord Davos, it’s an honour for my teacher to be held in such high esteem by you! And it’s also glory for all of us builders and craftsmen! I will go talk with the best sculptor immediately, and finish the production of the teacher’s bust in two days!”

“Piasikos, I have heard Heracleides talk about you many times.” Davos nodded and encouraged him, “Heracleides is now gone, so as his best disciple, you should not only continue to carry forward the skills you inherited from him but also study new building techniques and to train more excellent disciples! Amendolara, Nerulum, Grumentum, Krimisa, Aprustum…and so on., in the future, there will be more cities waiting for you to re-plan and build a clean, practical and beautiful city like Thurii. I hope that in the future, you will also be able to enter the Hall of Sages like your teacher!….”

What Davos said made Piasikos excited.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the way back to the city, Davos called Plesinas to listen to his sacrificial procedures and arrangements for the celebration ceremony of the completion of the Temple of Hades.

Finally, Plesinas said, “Now all the celebrations, including milord’s lighting of the torch, have been practised many times to make sure there are no big mistakes. However, there is still one problem that needs to be solved, that is, we are short of priests that will be in charge of the temple.”

In the era of nobility, the archon had the rights to hold sacrificial ceremonies, so he also served as the high priest. Nowadays, with the power and prestige of Davos, not to mention the fact that he was the “Favored” of Hades, it is only logical for him to be the high priest. However, selecting the priest who will be the one to usually preside over the temple is now a dilemma for the Senate.

Hades, one of the 12 main gods in Greece, was also worshipped, but because of his death and darkness trait, only a few city-states have built temples that are dedicated to him, and so he had no priest. There was even a proposal made by the statesmen of Thurii to invite the believers of the Eleusinian Mysteries, which was popular in Athens but was opposed by everyone. The reason was that the Eleusinian Mysteries worshipped Persephone, the wife of Hades, and Demeter, the goddess of fertility, and not Hades himself, and it was inappropriate for the priests of the other gods and goddesses to be transferred, which was why the Senate had been arguing about it for a long time. Naturally, this also has something to do with the fact that Davos had not given his opinion.

At this point, Davos, as if not realizing that he was the one responsible for the problem, did not respond directly to Plesinas’ words, and had instead looked at the statesman of the Senate with great interest. He changed from the enemy that he had been when they had first met to a political helper with whom he had cooperated well, and due to Plesinas showing his loyalty and unique talent, which he appreciated very much, “Plesinas, you have done a good job in building the Temple of Hades. What do you intend to do next?”

There was a thrill in Plesinas’ heart, as he thought that this was the way of Davos rewarding him, so Plesinas immediately said, “I want to run as the grand inspector next year!”

Davos nodded. As he was on foot and with only an escort following him from behind, the people of Thurii, when they saw him, greeted him respectfully, and he, of course, nodded to the people from time to and time and then took this opportunity to say, “The woman who had greeted us just now is a Lucania, and she should believe in Asinu, and this one is a Thracian and the gods they believe in most should be Dionysius and Ares, and that one…you see, the citizens of Theonia had come from all over the Mediterranean and they believe in hundreds of gods. In the future, as the territory of Theonia continues to expand, the number of races that becomes citizens of Theonia will increase, and the number of gods in the Theonian Union will also increase. Although Theonia has a powerful military force to protect the lives of the citizens and an advanced and elegant culture which increases the citizens’ sense of belonging, but-” Davos pointed to his head and seriously said, “But it is a mess! If Theonia were to encounter any major disaster, it will be very difficult for the people to unite and tide over the difficulties together. In that case, all our efforts will be in vain!”

Since ancient times, the Greeks have always believed in multiple gods, so they seldom care about the beliefs of other races, and so Plesinas did not expect that Davos would take this religious issue so seriously and wondered what his intention is.

“Have you ever heard of the Jews?” Davos asked suddenly.

“I…I seem to have heard it from someone that they are…a race of people in Persia who are good at doing business….” Plesinas struggled to recall. The Jews at this time were not like the Jews under the peaceful rule of the Roman Empire hundreds of years later, where they were free to do business and settle down anywhere, and thus were in frequent conflict with the Greeks, but because the western Mediterranean at this time was controlled by two major races who were skilled in commerce – the Greeks and the Carthaginians, hence why the jews have no place in the western Mediterranean and were, therefore, less well known.

“Jews weren’t just known for their business, they are monotheistic and they believe in only one god.”

“Only one god?!” Plesinas could not believe what he was hearing. Among all the kingdoms, city-states and races in the Mediterranean, there is actually a race that believed in only one god.

“Yes, the Jews believe in only one god!” Davos answered him and said seriously, “Jews are a small and weak race, and had lived in Egypt in the past and were enslaved by the Egyptian Pharaoh and lived a hard life until a Jewish hero, Moses, appeared and led the Jews through all the hardship in escaping Egypt, and after decades of wandering and bloody struggle, they eventually captured the land of Canaan and established their own country. However, it didn’t last long, as the Assyrians destroyed the Jewish kingdom and sent all the Jews to Babylon as slaves, and stayed as slaves until Cyrus, the king of the Persians, destroyed Assyria and freed the Jews.

Afterwards, they returned to their homeland and rebuilt their country and religion. And during the turbulent century in Asia Minor, many other races that had lived alongside the Jews have perished, while the Jews had survived through the tribulations. Why?” After a pause, Davos gave Plesinas a time to think and then said in a deep voice, “Because their strong faith and worship of the one God has kept them united which allowed them to not lose themselves nor forget the roots of their own race in the face of other more glorious ethnic civilizations!”

Plesinas thought about what Davos had said and what he was trying to express, and then said with some hesitation, “Milord, the Greeks believe in many gods, and the people of Theonia believe in even more gods, these are traditions that have been passed down and ingrained! If…we were forced them to believe in one god, I am afraid…I am afraid that there will be huge trouble!”

Seeing the worried look of Plesinas, Davos then said with a smile, “I will naturally not make such a stupid proposal, but we can take the initiative to guide more people to believe in Hades so that the Theonians from all places and races can be as close to each other in spirit, isn’t that right?!”

“Milord, even if we build the Temple of Hades, the habits of the Greeks will not change easily. When going out to sea, they will pray to Poseidon. When doing business, they will pray to Hermes. When they are working at the farm, they will sing the hymn of Demeter…the Greeks are very realistic and prayed to whatever gods and goddesses for their needs, so they couldn’t just pray to Hades!” Said Plesinas while shaking his head.

“The people may pray to the other gods, but I hope that the Temple of Hades will be a place of peace for their souls! That is why I want to build the Hall of Valor and the Hall of Sages, and the Prison of the Wicked within the Temple of Hades, so that the Temple of Hades will become a sacred place for Theonia Union and to promote good and punish evil, a sacred place for the people to pay their respects and remember the heroes of the union! But this is still not enough-” Davos raised his head and looked in the direction of the temple ahead.

Chapter 257 – The Celebration Ceremony for the Completion of the Temple of Hades (I)

“The temples of the traditional Greek city-states are just like the nobles standing high, waiting for the people to donate money to build a sacred treasury, but rarely take the initiative to help the poor people of the city-state. What I envision is for the priests and priestesses of the Temple of Hades to use the money donated by the people to help the poor and needy, to aid the sick who could not afford to see a physician, to listen to the doubts and worries of the people of the union, and to use words to enlighten and remove the people’s confusion…and for the annual ceremony to free the slaves to be presided by the temple…Plesinas, how could the people not be grateful to the temple and believe in it when the Temple of Hades could provide so much help to the people of Theonia!”

It was as if the words of Davos had opened a window for Plesinas, and the approached that Davos proposed, which was different from the tradition temple, had given him a glimpse of the bright future of the Temple of Hades, and had made him so excited that he didn’t know what to say.

“Elysium is the paradise built by Hades in hell, and his temple should be the paradise on earth, the place where the hearts of the people return! In time, we will build the Temple of Hades in every Theonia city, uniting the people from every direction and all the races around it. Then Theonia Union will have nothing to be afraid of!” The tempting voice of Davos then rang clearly in the ears of Plesinas, “Plesinas, will you help me accomplish this great cause and become the high priest of the Temple of Hades?”

Plesinas faced the expectant gaze of Davos, he weighed it in his heart and then nodded heavily, “I accept!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Kanos followed Avinoges to Thurii and stayed in the guest house on the south side of Nike Square.

Strategoi, distinguished statesmen and citizens of the South Italia Alliance such as Caulonia, Terina, Scylletium and Crotone, were invited to attend the ceremony. The guesthouse of Thurii would have been inadequate If it were not for the fact that Amikles of Roscianum and the others had not lived in the house of Kunogelata and Cornelius temporarily, and the chieftains of the Lucanian tribes of Nerulum and Grumentum were scattered and had borrowed the house of Vespa and Hemon, while Avinoges of Laos had even directly lived in the house of Davos, and thus lightening the task of the officials who were in charge of the reception.

At this time, the hall of the guesthouse is very busy, even though the distinguished guests belong to different city-states, they all belong to the same alliance. It is difficult for them to get together and so they have taken this opportunity to visit each other to discuss their views on the current affairs…

Although Kanos was an outsider, he was received politely by the Theonian side, however, his request to visit Davos was not well received.

The person in charge told him, “The archon, lord Davos, is busy preparing for tomorrow’s celebration and he doesn’t have the time to see you until after tomorrow.”

Although he was envious of the conversion and laughter of the other people, Kanos heard that an envoy of Pyxous had also arrived in Thurii, so he and his men stayed in the room quietly in order to avoid conflict. It wasn’t until the taste of the unique food in Thurii that the anxiety of Kanos was temporarily relieved.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the early morning of the next day, the Theonian citizens, family members, freemen and even the slaves had gathered from all directions to the city of Thurii and entered the centre of Thurii one after another with the help of thousands of Theonian soldiers that are tasked to maintain order.

In just a short period of time, all the courtyards, houses and even the roofs were crowded with people and at a glance, the crowd was so spectacular that only the large open space in Nike Square remained.

Kanos was arranged on the left side of the platform in front of the square, while the envoy of Pyxous was arranged on the right side, the carefulness of the receptionist of Theonia helped Kanos avoid the embarrassment of meeting them suddenly and enabled him to calm down and enjoy the celebration.

“Oh, there are so many people! The Theonians are so brave and are not afraid of a riot happening, which will make this place a disaster!” Someone beside Kanos said worriedly.

“It would be good if there is a riot, as it would be the end of Theonia!” Another man gloated loudly.

Kanos, like everyone else, looked at him.

“Eudemus, how could the Crotonians let you into the council! If there’s a riot here, do you think we can escape?!” Someone recognized the one who had just spoken and so, he retorted loudly.

“Why run away! Isn’t this the celebration ceremony for the completion of the Temple of Hades! Why don’t we all go see Hades!!” Eudemus had the look of a man who was unafraid of life and death.

“Did the proud Crotonian begin to use verbal irony to vent their defeat?!” Someone immediately sneered.

Eudemus’ expression immediately changed.

Kanos didn’t pay attention to the verbal conflicts of the people around him and just looked around the square carefully: With so many people, it should be very noisy here. But the people were either sitting or standing and being as quiet as possible, and rarely moved around. Maybe they have been warned by the union in advance, but for the self-respecting and freedom-minded Greeks, this kind of performance is also quite amazing! Kanos had discovered this when he entered the city of Thurii yesterday, and now his impression was strengthened again.

At this time, the loud salpinx sounded together, announcing that the ceremony was about to begin, and the people consciously stopped talking and focused their curious gazes on the Nike Square.

Hundreds of men in Greek armour entered the arena, while Plesinas led 10 men and 50 women in white robes to the stage with solemn steps.

The Theonian culture is more open and even the outside of the square was filled with a lot of people with their wives and daughters watching the festivities, but the presence of dozens of women at the same time, especially on such a sacred occasion that not even the priestesses of the Temple of Hera or Aphrodite have, have led to the whispers from not only the people of the union but also from the allied envoys.

Neat salpinx resounded through the city again, and the square became quiet.

Then came a long and high pitched voice from Plesinas, “In the first year of the 95th Olympic Games, in the kingdom of Persia thousands of miles away from us, a group of Greek warriors were recruited by the prince of Persia – Cyrus the Younger, who loved Greece, in order for him to overthrow the tyrannical king of Persia. However, after the great war, the one who employed them had died and the mercenary leaders were deceived and captured by the Persians. Then the whole group of mercenaries fell into despair, but the great Hades did not abandon them….”

As soon as Plesinas’ voice fell, more than a dozen harpists began to pluck the strings under the platform. On the stage, 50 women in white robes opened their mouths together, and an ethereal humming, like a wisp of wind, blew across the audience.

With a jolt, Kanos felt the sweat on his skin stand up. The traditional hymn of the Greek temple could not be compared with the harmony trained by the modern bel canto and basking in the beautiful and harmonious songs seemed to wash even the soul.

The rest of the audiences, like Kanos, were completely immersed in the humming, and they were also affected by the heaviness in their weeping-like chant.

The soldiers on the field used exaggerated body movements to show the weeping, helplessness and despair, and only one man in the centre lies motionless on the ground.

At this time, the humming gradually weakened to silence, and the soldiers on the field began to fall asleep…

Just when the people felt lost, a high pitched voice sounded again, like lightning across the night sky, invigorating the audience.

Then they saw a man walking out of the corridor. He was tall, strong, with long black hair and a thick black beard wearing a black robe, holding a bident and walked majestically to the centre of the square.

Someone in the audience exclaimed, “Hades?! I know he is Hades!”

There was a slight commotion in the crowd, and more people were staring at the scene, and they had already begun to be attracted by this new performance.

Then “Hades” came to the centre of the field, stood next to the man who had been lying still, then waved his bident as if he was using his divine power…

The song disappeared again. Then the exit of “Hades” attracted the public to turn around and look.

“Boom! Boom!….” In the quiet square, the drum began ringing out. Then the man who was lying turned over and sat up, and began waking up the others and waving his arms and encouraging the people. Finally, everyone gathered around him, and someone placed a helmet adorned with a red crown on him and began lining up in front of him, and marched forward under his leadership….

Seeing this, anyone who had heard of the legends of the archon Davos has now vaguely understood. The most dazzling leader on the field should be the one who once travelled to Persia – Davos!

“Davos seems to have forgotten that he was not the only mercenary leader in Persia.” Tolmides, who was also watching the celebration, complained.

“Yesterday, Davos went to look for me and said that this was a need for the performance, so he hoped that we could understand it.” Xanticles shrugged, and his expression remained calmed.

“Well, this is Theonia, so he has the final say!” Tolmides said helplessly, “But this kind of performance is very interesting!”

The drums ranged from sparse to dense and interspersed with military salpinx.

“Wow!!!” With the audience’s exclamations, teams of soldiers, including cavalry, infantry and archers, appeared in the corridor. They were dressed in robes, holding long shields and in loose formation, and were under the command of a general wearing glittering scale armour, and then approached the Greek mercenaries in the square…

“They are ‘Persians’!” Someone in the audience was unable to refrain from shouting.

Chapter 258 – The Celebration Ceremony for the Completion of the Temple of Hades (II)

The Greek soldiers on the field seemed to have heard the cry, and they immediately put on their helmets, picked up their shields and tied up their red cloaks, and formed a tight formation to fight against the enemy’s attack…

However, there were too many “Persians” who swarmed in and surrounded the warriors. The cavalry galloped back and forth around the perimeter, the archers kept shooting their arrows into the air (all with their arrowheads cut off), while the infantry smiled strangely…

The audience can only see the dazzling red and the roar of the warriors through the gaps in the “Persian” encirclement.

The drums are getting louder and stronger…

The Greek phalanx also retreated step by step under the attack of the “Persians” and seems that they will soon retreat to the edge of the square…

The gazes of the general public were completely absorbed by the tense scene on the field, and someone shouted anxiously, “Fight! Greeks!”

It resonated with the whole audience.

“Fight!!! Greeks!!!….” The audience began shouting.

At this time, the high pitched humming sounded again, and “Hades” stood at the front of the stage at some point, and slowly swung his bident…

Surrounded by the Greek soldiers suddenly issuing a neat and powerful shout, “Hah! Oorah!! Hades!!! Hah!….” and more than a dozen salpinx were played at the right time.

The “Persians” began to retreat and finally dispersed…

The red square formation of the Greek mercenaries was now completely displayed in front of the audience, and they charged forward like a wall of iron with their neat and powerful strides together with the rhythmic beat of the drums…

The crowd was enthused and those who had never seen or participated in the Theonian military training, as well as the distinguished guests were overwhelmed by the strength and beauty of the soldiers on the field, they cheered, shouted and applauded.

The “Persian General” who had fallen behind was then pulled down by the charge of “Davos”, he then stepped on the “Persian General” and raised his spear, then pierced the “enemy” in the chest with an exaggerated movement.

“Davos! Davos!! Davos!!!….” The people couldn’t help but burst into thunderous cheering.

“The lord archon had said before that he wanted us to see a completely different ceremony and he has done it!” Marigi, standing at the back of the platform, said aloud in exclamation as he glanced at his fellow statesmen who have varying expressions on their face.

“Yes, it’s indeed a very different ceremony! Lord Davos is afraid that the public will forget his heroic deeds that he even promoted himself on such a sacred occasion!” Said Pollux.

Kunogelata and Cornelius looked at each other and did not say anything, but they were a little uneasy.

“He really did it! Haven’t you noticed?! This will definitely become a new kind of drama, a different kind of drama from the one or two people acting, it is a drama where hundreds and thousands of people recreate the spectacular historical event!….” On the contrary, Ansitanos became so excited that he became slightly incoherent due to Davos enlightening him.

Wonderful chorus, music accompaniment, close to real battle and the performance of hundreds of people had truly shocked the audience and even the statesmen of the Senate.

“I look forward to the next performance!” Mersis’ heartfelt admiration had reminded him of the difficult times in Persia, and his words are also a common opinion of the former mercenaries.

But Amintas curled his lips and quietly said, “The fighting scene is too fake!”

“Didn’t you hear Ansitanos? This is acting, not real fighting. Look at the excited people. Davos is telling them our heroic deeds in this way of performance!” Antonios, who was next to him, rebuked Amintas in a low voice.

“I think it was Olivos who was playing Davos…he really did a great job! But Ledes who was playing the Persian general is no good, he is like a log!….” Epiphanes’ interesting comments attracted the statesmen who were former mercenaries.

Next, “Hades” led the mercenaries to Magna Graecia, the Lucanian invasion of Thurii and the mercenaries defeating the Lucanian alliance…

A group of Lucanians, such as Vespa and Hemon, watched the play nervously.

Obviously, Davos had taken their feelings into consideration, and so the harm that the Lucanians once caused to the Thurians was only a brief passing, on the contrary, he focused more on the last scene. Accompanied by the cheerful and enthusiastic singing and drumming, “Hades” made “Davos” lead the Greeks to make peace with the Lucanians. They wrestled with each other, drank wine and put their arms around each other, and finally joined hands in a large circle, while “Hades” stood in the centre of the circle. The crowd then sang the ode of Hades, threw their arms and legs around and expanded and narrowed the circle, and the atmosphere was very warm that it attracted the people from outside to join in, and so the ode of Hades resounded throughout the city…

Hades, as the lord of the underworld, was said to be dark, cruel and frightening, hence why he is far less popular than Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo and the other gods among the Greeks. Kanos was just like the other Greeks in his likes and dislikes of Hades, so he was surprised when he heard that Theonia wanted to make Hades their patron god. He was distracted at first, but he was now so captivated by the wonderful performance in the square that it had made him have a good impression of Hades and could not stop himself from singing the ode of Hades with everyone.

It wasn’t only him, but also the Lucanian chieftains, who only worshipped Asinu, started asking the others about the meaning of the words in a strange and stiff Greek, and some had even hummed along. In contrast to the overwhelming devotion of the majority of the Theonian population, the invited guests from the South Italia Alliance had different ideas, and some, like the Crotonians, had even expected the Theonians to make a fool of themselves during the celebration ceremony.

But at this moment, they were also shocked by this unprecedented ceremony in the whole of Greece, and the polemarchos of Crotone, Lysias, sighed and said, “It seems that the faith of Hades will truly take root among these Theonians.”

“Hera and Apollo were the gods that the Greeks of the western Mediterranean believe in the most, and only these Theonians and the savages will believe Hades!” Askamas said angrily as his good friend Milo was expelled because he was defeated by Theonia, and so he had some resentment in his heart. What is more, Crotone has the most magnificent Temple of Apollo in Magna Graecia, and the Greeks from other city-states often go there to pay their homage to it. Therefore, although the performance in the square made him amazed, he still complained, “Look, it’s almost noon and it is already hot, but when are we going to be allowed to see the Temple of Hades?!”

“Yea, my legs are starting to go numb now!” Another seemingly playful remark by another strategos of Crotone caused a stir among the guests.

“Clang!!!….” Then a long and powerful bell suddenly rang, which shocked the people who were disappointed with the end of the performance.

“Look…the…the Temple of Hades!” There were constant exclamations in the crowd.

In the northwest of the Nike Square, on the hill behind the Grand Senate Hall, the building, which was half-covered by many scaffolds and large pieces of linen in the early morning, had finally fully revealed its true appearance as the people were concentrated on the performance on the square: A towering, grand white building shining in the hot sunlight!

Plesinas then took the lead, followed by the 50 white-robed priestess and the statesmen of the Senate, then the distinguished guests of the city-state, and the people on the north side of the square, followed by the people on the south side of the square…everyone began to move slowly towards the Temple of Hades under the orderly guidance of the soldiers…

The bronze bell was still being rung unhurriedly, more clearly and deeply, and soothed the urgent mood of the people.

As they get closer to the Temple of Hades, it became clearer to the eyes of the people. This is a very unique temple, it’s height is no different from other temples, but its length is twice as long as the largest temple in all of the city-states in Magna Graecia. More importantly, as the site of the city-state’s protection, according to tradition, it is also the centre of a city-state, and it should be enclosed by walls and become the acropolis of Thurii, just like the former Temple of Apollo in Thurii. However, not only does it not have any walls, but it also has stone stairs from the east, west, south and north, allowing easy access to the temple.

Androlis, who just recently became a statesman of the Senate, curiously asked Cornelius, who he got along well with during this period, “Why is there no wall in this new temple?”

Cornelius then replied to him seriously, “This is the proposal of Lord Davos so that the people can freely visit the temple to make offerings and prayers in order to show their love of Hades!”

Davos is the favoured of Hades and the high priest of the temple, and so proposals regarding the Temple of Hades would not normally be opposed. Androlis looked at the temple, but the hundred years of tradition had still made him confused, “But in this way, Thurii will have no acropolis!”

Cornelius sighed, his expression became slightly strange and said, “Lord Davos insisted that there will be no more Acropolis to be built in Thurii. He said something like this-” At this point, there was a bit more hardness in the tone of the always mild-mannered praetor of Amendolara, “‘The cities in the Theonia Union are the walls of the union, and Thurii is the acropolis of the union, and so Theonia no longer need an extra Acropolis!’”

After listening to this sentence, Androlis was taken aback, ‘Having the city as the wall?!….seeing the whole territory as a city?!…’ A sense of pride budded in his heart and the figure of the young archon came into his mind. He couldn’t help but be impressed by the kind of heart and spirit he has, and felt that it was no wonder that he can build a strong city-state union!

The people climbed up the stairs and at about 30 meters from the temple, the soldiers had formed a circular line and the people could only stand outside the line. The whole hill was filled with so many people that, except for the little bit of white at the top, it became almost a “mountain of people”.

Chapter 259 – The Celebration Ceremony for the Completion of the Temple of Hades (III)

When the bell stopped ringing, Plesinas and the priestess came out of the crowd, they then stood on both sides of the entrance of the temple and began to sing in unison.

This time, it’s no longer just pure humming, but now with lyrics, “

Hades is just and strict,

His light shines on earth,

Our hearts are filled with enthusiasm,

As we enter your sanctuary,

Your light shines on us,

….”

“This…is this a new ode to Hades?!” The hearts of the people were filled with surprise, and the distinctive melody was so wonderful and magnificent. As the song continues, they become deeply moved by the sacredness and ideals shown in the song.

Countless people fell to their knees devoutly, singing the ode of Hades and tears streaming down their eyes…

When the song ended, some people were still unable to extricate themselves until those around them cheered, “DAVOS!!!…” Only then did they realise that at some point, the archon of Theonia and the high priest of the union – Davos, appeared on the circular altar in front of the temple and was dressed in white robes, with a white himation on his head and a torch in his hand, while Plesinas was at his side carrying a large, smooth, concave bronze mirror with another male priest.

The people’s eyes widened with curiosity, for there had been rumours of a heated debate among the statesmen about the “Sacred Flame of the Temple of Hades” because the sacred fire is not only the symbol of the Greek city-states, but also a symbol of civilization, especially the Greek city-state in the western Mediterranean were all the city-states are colonies, therefore, the sacred fire of the acropolis was not lit by just any random fire source, but was taken by the founders of the colony from the temples of their mother-states and kept until the new city was built. Once the fire is lit, it will burn from generation to generation and the memory of their homeland will be passed onto the next generation!

Therefore, the statesmen who were born in Thurii, headed by Pollux, propose to light it with the flames from Athens once more, which was strongly opposed by Antonios, Amintas and the others, and the reason for that is the old Thurii no longer exist, and the new Thurii is not a child of Athens!

As for the proposal of Cornelius of “lighting it with the fire from the Temple of Zeus in Amendolara”, but the statesmen of Thurii thought that Amendolara was not enough to represent the whole Theonia Union.

There was a heated argument between the statesmen, and finally, Davos said, “Since Theonia is a newly built city-state union, and we have no mother state, and we are the only city-state with the Temple of Hades as our patron temple in the Mediterranean. What I think is that Hades will grant us the sacred fire on the day of the temple celebration to show his favour to Theonia!”

And his words were spread all over the city on the same day, and soon all over the union. Now, no matter whether they are ordinary people, statesmen of the Senate or the distinguished guest who just learned about it, they are all watching curiously and excitedly at the unlighted torch in the hands of Davos and waiting for either a miracle or the biggest joke of Magna Graecia.

Facing the entrance of the temple, Davos knelt solemnly on the altar while holding the torch high in his hand.

Plesinas and the priest stepped back and painstakingly raised the bronze mirror and slowly turned it to adjust the angle and then focused the hot sunlight on a cluster of scrap papyrus protruding from the top of the torch…

The already known ode to Hades was once again sung by the priestesses and the sound spread to the sky…

At noon, the sun was scorching hot, however, the sweating people didn’t even realize it as their attention was focused on the motionless Davos…

Time goes by as seconds turn to minutes.

The bronze mirror shines brightly, but the torch remains the same…

“I think it’s just his arrogance saying that Hades will grant the sacred fire, and thinks that he can do anything!” Pollux sneered in a low voice. He had a lot to do with the fact that the words of Davos in the Senate Hall had been spread so widely and so quickly because he wanted to see Davos make a fool of himself at this moment, which would be a great blow to the young archon’s prestige!

Burkes patted him to kindly remind him to be quiet.

However, Pollux gave him a contempt look. Burkes was a good friend of his, but now, he is one of the strong supporters of Davos in the Senate among the Thurian statesmen. Pollux would not have wanted to associate with him again if it were not for some certain reasons.

Suddenly, he seemed to see smoke coming from the top of the torch and had thought that he had seen wrong, so he blinked his eyes hard.

Then voices of surprise can be heard from all directions.

Soon, the smoke turned into a small beating cluster of reddish-yellow flames that had quickly ignited the linen soaked in olive oil.

Flames!

“Oh, Hades!” The whole hill seemed to shake as the people who witnessed this miracle with their own eyes let out a thunderous cheering.

Even the distinguished guests looked at each other in disbelief. ‘Could it be that Theonia is truly favoured by Hades?!’

‘Davos truly has the favour of Hades?!’ The statesmen looked at him in awe, while the body of Pollux slightly trembles, as he seemed to see the imposing eyes of Hades staring at him coldly in the torch held by Davos.

Although Davos had practised it several times before and had even specially chosen a sunny day and even used the square performance to extend the ceremony to noon, he was still a bit nervous. After all, it was in front of tens of thousands of people, so if he were to mess it up, his deliberate plan and the prestige as the favoured of god would be destroyed! Fortunately, he managed to succeed with the blessing of Hades!

Davos slowly rose to his feet, then held the torch high and walked slowly, as he bathed in the cheers of the people pushing him to the top again and again…

With the accompaniment of the priests, he walked into the temple and lit each of the dark bronze braziers in front of the statue of Hades. From this day onward, the flame of the Temple of Hades will continue to burn day and night, blessing Theonia with prosperity.

Once Davos walked out of the temple, a loud salpinx rang out, accompanied by a low drumbeat, and the three legatus of the military, Kapus, Drakos and Hieronymus, and the eight senior centurions, in full military dress, each carrying three stone steles and was escorted by 40 platoon captain, and arrived at the front of the temple.

As most of the people looked at the three stone steles which were as tall as a man with confusion, the words of the high priest, with the help of the envoy, reached the ears of the people, “The establishment and development of Theonia City-State Union cannot do without the protection of Hades! Nor could it have been possible without the efforts of the citizens who had paid for it! Today, when we enjoy peace and prosperity, we shall not forget these brave men who gave their lives to defend Theonia!” Having said this, Davos fell on his knees before the stone stele with a solemn expression.

Then, the legatus of the army, senior centurion and the platoon captains and all the soldiers present have knelt on the ground in front of the stone steles.

The inscribed stone steles was no longer a cold stone in the eyes of the people, but a vivid figure with names…

“Sob….” In addition to the distinguished guests, the hill became filled with Theonians who were kneeling, and in this solemn atmosphere, there were suppressed sobs from the families of the soldiers who had died in battle.

“Our brave warriors had not died, as their spirit lives forever!”

“Our brave warriors had not died, as their spirit lives forever!!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos led the people to kneel on the stone stele.

At this moment, the grass and trees sympathize, and heaven and earth are in sorrow. Then a strong wind was blown at the right time and even the sun was covered by the clouds, which further convinced the people that their cries were answered.

As the people continued to pray…

The salpinx and drums were played in unison and the strategoi and the officers walked in neat steps, carrying the stone steles into the temple under the gazes of thousands of pairs of eyes.

“The Theonians paid their respects to their warriors to such an extent!” Lysias had heard that the Theonians held a triumphant return ceremony for their victorious army, and was now moved by the sight of them bringing the stone steles of the warriors that have died to the temple.

“With such a sacred act, how can the Theonian citizens not be willing to fight to the death?” The strategos and nauarh of Crotone, Askamas, look serious and no longer have the mood to ridicule the Theonians.

He and Lysias looked at each other and were thinking the same question, ‘In case of another war with Theonia happens in the future, can Crotone defeat such an enemy with high morale?’

More or less, the distinguished guests from the South Italia Alliance all felt this way, while Kanos felt happy to see the strength of Theonia.

After the sound of the drum disappeared, the sound of a harp rang…

With the melodious sound of the harp, Heracleides the Younger and Piasikos carried a stone bust to the front of the temple.

“People of Theonia, please tell me who was the one that had designed and planned the new Thurii? Who was the one that had led us to build it?” Shouted Davos.

“….Heracleides!” The answers were not in sync.

“Who designed and built the Temple of Hades?” Davos asked again.

“Heracleides!” This time, the answer is much neater.

“No matter whether it is building a new city or a temple, he always comes first and the last to leave every day, and even if he were seriously ill, he still devoted all his heart to the designing of the city that he loves and finally dedicates his life.” Davos once again asked aloud, “Who is he?”

“Heracleides!!!” A neat and powerful answer echoed.

“In view of Heracleides’ contribution to Theonia, his bust will be placed in the Hall of Sages in the Temple of Hades and be favoured by Hades, and for him to continue to contribute his talent to Elysium! And at the same time, in the years to come, as long as the people of Theonia make great contributions to the prosperity and development of Theonia, their busts will also be placed in the temple and be revered by the later generations and their souls will live with the union!” Because of the miracle of the sacred fire, it felt like Davos was possessed by Hades at this moment, and his words had naturally inspired the people.

Author’s Note: At the beginning of writing, I was not sure whether focusing sunlight with a concave copper mirror could ignite a papyrus. Later, I remember the Roman siege of Syracuse a hundred years later where Archimedes designed a lot of equipment to help defend the city. One of them was to let the soldiers stand at the top of the wall while holding hundreds of concave bronze mirrors and focusing the sunlight to ignite the sails of the Roman ships that were anchored in the bay. If the sails can be lit, then it should not be a problem to light a papyrus and in such a short distance.

Chapter 260 – The Uniqueness of the Temple of Hades

When Davos bowed to the bust of Heracleides, all the people had bowed and wished that they would also receive such favour when they died.

It was already afternoon when the bust was carried into the temple. Although the people were a little tired, they were still in high spirits because of the unprecedented new ceremony.

And finally, the last and most important thing left to do is to enter the temple to look around and pray.

Under the command of Davos, the soldiers maintained the order and the people consciously abided and entered the temple orderly.

After experiencing the previous ceremony, Kanos’ perception of Hades was greatly improved, and at this moment, he was eager to enter the temple and find out what was inside.

Following the flow of people stepping on the entrance stairs and stepping on the base of the temple, they could see a statue on both sides of the main gate of the temple. On the left is a handsome young man holding a harp and playing it to his heart, on the right is a beautiful woman with her hand twirling her clothes and smiling as she looked tenderly at the youth.

The two cream-coloured marble statues were smooth and felt lifelike. The deep gaze between them created a beautiful atmosphere.

Kanos’ gaze wandered back and forth between the two statues until someone exclaimed, “Could this be the hero Orpheus and his beautiful wife Eurydice?!”

Immediately after getting reminded, Kanos looked at the statues carefully and found that he was right because their names were engraved on the base of the statue.

Orpheus is the son of Apollo, the sun god, and Calliope, a muse of literature and art. Orpheus’ wife, Eurydice, was bitten by a poisonous snake and died, and Orpheus, who loved her deeply, ventured into the underworld and impressed Hades and Persephone with his beautiful song, and was then allowed to take the soul of Eurydice. But before leaving the underworld, he could not look at Eurydice, otherwise, she would stay in the underworld forever. Orpheus kept his promise and trudged hard with his wife, and when he was about to leave the underworld, he accidentally took a glance at his wife, which led Eurydice to be taken back to the underworld, and Orpheus died of depression.

But at this moment, what the two statues were showing is not sadness and resentment, but happiness and warmth.

Under the influence of this emotion, Kanos entered the temple in a calm state of mind and was then greeted by the three stone steles that had been carried into the temple earlier.

Kanos saw the letters engraved on the eaves and learned that this was the Hall of Valor.

The Hall of Valor was just a side hall of the temple, it wasn’t too large and had colourful paintings on the wall. Kanos looked at them carefully and the main paintings on it were the humble beginnings of the former mercenaries, crossing the sea to save the people, fighting the barbarians, building a new city and the dramatic war that led to the establishment of the union…

Even Kanos, an outsider, couldn’t help but sigh about the hardship of the Theonians venture, however, he did not revere it as devoutly as the Theonians, and instead, he went to the brazier and bowed before it, then came out through the side door.

On the right side is another side hall, and it should be the Hall of Sages that was mentioned by the people just now, and it seems that many people stopped inside.

Kanos went straight ahead, crossed the middle entrance and entered the main hall of the temple.

This hall is more than 20 meters high, so as soon as the people enter inside, they will immediately become aware of one’s insignificance. In front of the hall stands a bronze statue over ten meters high, and the huge figure also gives the people a strong sense of oppression. Fortunately, this statue of Hades does not show the ferocious and fearsome face of legend, on the contrary, this statue of Hades has an expression of that of a kind and gentle image of an elderly. Beside him is another statue, the beautiful queen of the underworld, Persephone, who is holding her husband by the arm and smiling at everyone. The most feared of the Greek gods, the king of the underworld, Hades, and was also joined by the queen of the underworld in a way that makes one feel close to her.

Looking at the ground, a carefully selected patchwork of bright and colourful striped marble as smooth as a mirror, with the four walls being painted colourfully with dense forests, verdant green hills, turquoise grasslands and all sorts of rare and exotic animals, fairies and gods, and the humans are laughing and playing and enjoying themselves in perfect harmony…the sunlight from the skylight in the centre of the temple and the windows on both sides of the temple reflected the bright colours of the temple, which had made the hall more magnificent, and made them felt like they are in a fairyland, causing many Theonians to feel enchanted and murmured, “Elysium?! This is Elysium?!…” They fell to their knees in front of the sacred fire and are unwilling to get up.

To maintain order, the soldiers had no choice but to urge them again and again.

Seeing this situation, Kanos had to sigh. The bold and ingenious design of the Theonians had turned hell into paradise and evil into good! In such a warm place, there is no longer a need to worry about no one coming here to worship!

When Kanos walked out of the temple, he could not stop himself from savouring the beautiful scene in the temple.

“The temple on that side is frightening! Many people dared not go in!”

“No way?! It’s very wonderful inside! If the soldiers were not urging me, I would have stayed more!”

“Over there…that side is completely different from this side. If you don’t believe me, you can go and see it!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The voices of the people reached the ears of Kanos, which have taken him aback, ‘There is another temple? No, there’s already one here, could it be…it can’t be?!….’

Many people were as shocked as Kanos. It’s normal to be surprised. After all, the temples of the ancient Greek city-states have been a temple dedicated to the main god since ancient times, even though the appearance of the statue of Persephone, the queen of the underworld, in this temple is a bold breakthrough, fortunately, the people regard the queen of the underworld as a subordinate god of Hades, which is not too surprising! But they never thought that the designers had a bolder way and had divided the temple into two parts – one temple and two gods! It was no wonder that the temple of Hades is twice the length of most temples!

Under the strong impetus of doubt and curiosity, Kanos quickly went to the other side of the temple by passing through the outer corridor of the temple, which was supported by a dozen huge Doric-type pillars.

Sure enough, there is another entrance to the temple, which was equally filled with people.

There are also two stone sculptures on both sides of the entrance, but they were painted black, they were the ferryman of the river Styx – Charon, and the one guarding the gate of the underworld, the multi-headed dog – Cerberus.

Entering the entrance is a side hall, which has the name “Prison of the Wicked” engraved on it, in the centre is the terrifying statue of the god of death – Thanatos, holding a sword, with sentences engraved in black letters, “Here will be the prison of the traitors! Here will be the prison of those who have murdered! Here will be the prison of those who have raped!!….”

At the end of each sentence, there is a bloody skull painted on it, which sends chills down to their spine. And the four walls are painted with all sorts of horrific images of ferocious demons tormenting souls, which further added chills.

Kanos staggered, as the terrible sight had made him hesitate to continue inside.

At this time, he saw a “Confessional Room” on the right side of the hall, next to which was a large and bold inscription, “If you correct one’s mistake, god will forgive it!”

Kanos calmed himself and continued as he crossed the confessional room and stepped into the main hall.

Here is a black world. Black marble floor, black walls, no skylight, no windows, so there is no sunlight, and only the burning brazier in front of the statue brought glimmers of light to the temple, but it does not add much to the warmth of the temple, but rather the bright and flickering flame stamped a gloom on everyone’s face.

There is no longer the beautiful and gentle queen of the underworld beside the dozen-meter high statue of Hades, and Hades was clad in a black robe and wielding a bident, with imposing face and threatening gaze that seems to be able to discern those who are good and those who are evil.

In front of him, are the three 3-meter tall statues of Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus, each with a cold expression. One holds a scroll, the other is questioning sternly and the one in the middle is holding a scale with a weight on one side and a bright red heart on the other. This is the only red colour in the whole temple, but it made all the believers in the temple look tense and sweaty because it was so eye-catch that it seems to ask, ‘How is your conscience?’

Kanos walked out of the temple in a trance, and even the fresh air couldn’t make him feel relaxed: It was a test of the soul!

Kanos walked down the hill and was unable to stop himself from looking back at the magnificent temple.

The people emerging from one side of the temple are smiling and are happy, while the people emerging from the other side looked grave and lost in their thoughts. Heaven and hell are polar opposites, yet perfectly contained in one temple. The genius idea of the Theonians had conceived this unusual temple and Kanos wondered what effect it would have on the Theonians in the future

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At dusk, the hustle and bustle of Thurii have still not yet ended. The people in the streets are still talking about the celebration for the completion of the temple in the daytime with great interests, including the famous Cheiristoya’s Restaurant.

While munching bread and mutton soup, Kanos listened to their conversation.

Only then did he know that the unusual design of the Temple of Hades was originally proposed by the archon Davos, and even those unprecedented ceremonies in the celebration was also based on his arrangement, which made him more curious of what kind of person the archon of Theonia was.

At the celebration, Kanos had only seen Davos in front of the temple from afar, he looked very young but with extraordinary bearings. The thought of how he had yet to meet this Theonian authority had made Kanos feel a little dejected.

“May I sit here?” A man came across the wooden table and asked politely.

Kanos nodded.

“Give me a big plate of tripe!” The man yelled. Not long after he sat down, a steaming food was brought. He quickly scooped a large spoon of sauce in the earthenware pot on the table with a wooden spoon and put it on the plate. It was a sauce made from brewing shellfish. It tasted strange, which Kanos couldn’t still get used to, however, the man on the other side dipped the sauce with tripe and ate it with relish.

“Mmm, this is still delicious! I haven’t eaten it in months and I have been thinking about it every day, but I am still craving it!” The man looked enthralled, which caused Kanos to give a small smile.

The man looked at Kanos and said, “Do you know that when the Greek mercenaries were in Persia and Davos had just started as an ordinary soldier, it was this tripe that had made him conquer the mouths of the other soldiers and had attracted the attention of everyone, and later became the leader of the mercenaries!”

Author’s Note: The idea of two gods in one temple was not an original idea of Davos. Hundreds of years later, Caesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, one of the five great emperors of Rome, designed and presided over the construction of the Temple of Venus and Roma, which was dedicated to the goddess Venus on one side and to the goddess Roma* on the other side. And the ruins of the temple are just in front of the Colosseum in Rome. (that is, the deified personification of Rome)

Chapter 261 – The Secret of Theonia’s Strength? (I)

“Oh, that’s interesting!” Kanos smiled, while subconsciously looking at the man on the opposite side. He is tall and lean, with a thin face and with a hawkish nose, and a weak disposition.

Seeing that Kanos was looking at him, the man raised his head and said with a smile, “I have met you at the guest house in Thurii. I am Siprus and I have come from Terina.”

Kanos hesitated for a moment and said, “…I am from…Elea.”

“Oh, Elea.” Siprus didn’t appear to be too surprised. He looked at Kanos and said seriously, “I have been to Elea several times, and we have the same dilemma as Elea. The lands of Terina were often invaded by the Bruttians, while Elea is surrounded by the Lucanians, and the only difference between us is that we have allies behind our back, while you have to fight alone most of the time.”

Siprus’ words touched Kanos’ heart and this feeling of empathy had made him feel close to Siprus and he unconsciously leaned forward.

“I believe that the reason why you have come here was on behalf of Elea to ask Theonia for their help.” Added Siprus.

Kanos hesitated once more and then said, “Elea has come to seek an alliance with Theonia….”

Siprus saw his worries and comforted him by saying, “Don’t worry, Theonia will surely form an alliance with you!”

When Kanos saw the strength and prosperity of the Theonians in Thurii these two days, he became a little bit worried. The weak Elea could not attract the interest of Theonia, and they might be unwilling to provoke the vicious Lucanians.

At this moment, he put aside his guard and asked, “Why are you so sure?”

“Because the location of Elea is very important.” Siprus picked a piece of tripe with a wooden stick then threw it into his mouth, chewed it carefully and said, “As it is beneficial for the unification of Theonia in the Lucanian region.”

“Theonia wants to occupy the entire Lucanian region, how is that possible?!” Kanos was astounded.

“It’s certainly quite possible. Theonia’s polity dictates its ambition to expand.” Said Siprus with a complicated expression on his face.

“You mean-” Kanos suddenly realized, he looked around and bowed his head, “Theonia is run by a tyrant?!” City-states with a tyrant are always cruel, greedy and aggressive, as both Gelon, the tyrant of Syracuse decades ago, and his successor Hieron, the former tyrant of Rhegium – Anaxilus, and now Dionysius, have successively proved it.

Siprus shook his head. He was a thoughtful man, and since his last mission to Theonia, he had been analysing the reason for the rapid rise of this emerging union out of curiosity, “Not exactly, I don’t know whether the archon of Theonia, Davos, is a tyrant or not, but he is without a doubt the supreme ruler of the Theonian army, he has the sacrificial rights, he is the supreme leader of the city-state union and he is the grand statesman of the highest authority of Theonia – the Senate and has a great deal of influence, yet he does not do whatever he wants. His proposals even needed the approval from the majority of the statesmen, and the Senate has the power to elect and appoint senior civil servants, however, he has the right to veto it. The important events like waging war and making a truce are also decided collectively by the Senate, so unlike a tyrant who can easily decide the life and death of a citizen, his actions are still subjected to the laws of the union. However, there is no doubt that he has more power than the king of Sparta and the strategos of the democratic city-states….”

Kanos listened carefully and thought deeply, “No wonder…I have heard that this archon often does not want the protection of his guards in the city of Thurii and often goes in and out of the streets of Thurii alone, not at all like Dionysius who lives in his palace and having thousands of mercenaries to protect him. In this way, he seemed to look like a….uhm….democratic king.”

“Democratic king?!” Siprus listened and clapped the table excitedly, “This word is very suitable to show the position of Davos in Theonia Union! It is because of this unique system of archonship in Theonia that their rapid rise has been created.”

“Do you mean to say that Davos was the sole reason for the strength of Theonia?” Kanos asked in surprise.

“Mmm…Davos is of course a very capable archon, but Theonia’s political system is also very unusual-” It was a rare occasion for Siprus to find someone to relate to, and Kanos’ question was a convenient way for him to continue to elaborate on what he had been thinking on for some time, however, after eating a lot of sauce, he felt his throat getting a bit dry. After swallowing his saliva, he continued to say, “Kanos, do you drink beer? The beer in this shop is delicious. I heard that it was brewed by the slaves under the command of Davos after many experiments. This guy has not only a strong ability in military and politics but also a unique talent in business. It is no wonder that he is called the favoured of god!”

Beer is a drink for the bottom people of the city-state, but Kanos became interested after listening to Siprus.

Then Siprus immediately said in a loud voice, “Give us two big beers!”

Then a long, thin-necked jar was placed in front of Kanos. After picking it up, a faint aroma hit his nose. Kanos then hurriedly took a sip and the cool golden liquid went down smoothly into his belly, dissipating most of the dryness from his body, and couldn’t stop himself from taking another gulp.

“Taste good doesn’t it!” Siprus said smugly upon seeing his reaction.

Kanos nodded, he belched and asked, “What’s different about the Theonian system that you have just mentioned?”

After taking a sip of the beer, Siprus slowly said, “Whether it is Crotone or us, Terina, the highest power is the ecclesia, which decides everything in the city-state. Secondly, their number of council members was reduced, usually, at least 300~400 people attended the council meeting to discuss and solve the usual city-state affairs. While the strategoi are elected by the ecclesia and they are only the highest executor of the decisions made by the ecclesia and the council, right?”

“Right, so is Elea. The democratic system of the Greek city-states is basically like this.”

“The Theonia system came from Amendolara, and Amendolara…I guess that after they have separated from Sybaris, they were influenced by Taranto, just like Heraclea and Metapontum, because Taranto was a child-state of Sparta, and changed the ‘Dual Kingship’ to ‘Dual Archonship’ and the Gerousia to the Council, except that the archon is elected by the ecclesia. However, after Davos led the mercenaries to join Amendolara, not only did he change the dual archonship to a sole archon for life, but at the same time, the ecclesia seems to have never been held afterwards….” Said Siprus in a deep voice.

“Theonia has put aside the ecclesia?!” Kanos nearly exclaimed in surprise, but if it were based on what he learned previously before he had spoken to Siprus – that Davos was a tyrant – then it would not have surprised Kanos that there was no ecclesia in Theonia. But Siprus had told him that “Davos was not a tyrant and was equally subject by the Senate” hence why his perception of Theonia became that – it was still a relatively normal union of city-states – which is why he overreacted a little when he heard what Siprus had just said.

“Theonia’s ecclesia has not explicitly been put aside, but it was just not held….” Siprus slowly added, “I think that it might be due to the special circumstance of Theonia Union that prevented it from being held. After all, the citizens of Theonia are scattered in several cities and are of complex origin, there were Greeks, there were also a considerable number of foreigners, there were also Thurians, as well as Amendolarans and Krimisians…holding an ecclesia would be both time consuming and prone to arguments over their interest that would not allow anything to be decided….”

After careful consideration, Kanos had to admit, “Maybe, that might be an important reason. Just like Elea, even though we don’t have many citizens and live in the same city for generations, we still can’t reach an agreement on many important issues on every ecclesia that was held, let alone an emerging new union like Theonia, where the citizens come from complex backgrounds.

Siprus patted the jar with his hand, he hesitated for some time, tilting his head back and taking a sip before continuing, “In fact, the ecclesia handles various affairs…on any given subject, it makes it easier for the citizens to voice their opinions and exercise their vetoes just based on their preferences and interests, rather than the interests of the city-state, which often results in the issues to remain unresolved for a long time, especially in times of crisis! An ecclesia that is unable to unify its opinion quickly can put the city-state in great danger, and it is because of this reason that Terina who had been facing the invasion of the Bruttians for a long time now, has a different system than those other city-states from the South Italia Alliance such as Crotone and Scylletium, that is, in the event of an enemy invasion, Terina will immediately elect a strategos, with supreme authority, to decide all the affairs of the city during the war! In order to avoid endless discussions and disputes!”

Kanos smiled, “Elea will also elect a dictator during the most difficult times of war, with supreme power over the city-state, much like your grand strategos that you speak of.”

The common understanding had made Siprus stop hesitating and said bluntly, “You see, both Terina and Elea realized that there are some shortcomings with the ecclesia, but we have only made small changes. However, Theonia had completely put aside the ecclesia and made use of the ability of the archon, Davos, and the rich administrative experience of the statesmen of the Senate, who numbered less than a hundred, to be able to pass laws and make decisions quickly in the interest of the development of the city-state union, and Theonia has also enacted laws that no other ecclesia of the city-states in the South Italia Alliance could have passed, two of which are very important! These two laws have played a very important role in the rise of Theonia as a newly formed union!”

Chapter 262 – The Secret of Theonia’s Strength? (II)

“Oh, which two?” Kanos leaned his body forward once more.

“The first is-” Siprus unhurriedly placed a wooden stick on the table and said, “Anyone can apply to be granted a Theonian citizenship, whether they are foreigners, a captured enemy citizen, and even a freed slave, as long as they meet the requirements….”

Kanos took a breath, Elea had also given citizenship to freemen, but that was all due to war and a shortage of soldiers and labour, hence why it is really hard to imagine that Theonia would constantly grant citizenship, “Does that…that…mean that the citizenship in Theonia is not that important? And they couldn’t enjoy most of the rights of the union? And what kind of people can be a citizen of the union? How are they able to maintain the order of the city-state?….”

“Being a citizen of Theonia is very attractive!” Faced with Kanos’ tons of questions, Siprus shook his head and said in a deep voice, “Apart from the other rights, just the right of each new citizen receiving an allocated 3,333 square meter of land is enough to drive the freemen crazy. Not to mention that new lands can be allocated to citizens depending on their achievements in their military service.”

“That…is that true?!” Kanos found it hard to believe, and he couldn’t stop himself from gulping, because as citizens of Elea, who had been trapped in the city for a long time, lands were very attractive to them.

“Of course it is true. Otherwise, why would Theonia, with its small army, have been able to easily recruit 7,000 freemen without spending money in the previous decisive battle between Theonia and Crotone, and the freemen were even extremely brave in helping Theonia defeat Crotone. All of it was due to the allure of the citizenship of Theonia.” Looking around at those who were eating and talking enthusiastically, Siprus turned back and continued, “As for whether it will disturb the order of the city-state, there are at least twenty~thirty Theonians present at today’s celebration ceremony, right?”

After this reminder from Siprus, Kanos immediately understood, “It is the first time I have seen a union celebration and festival where so many people attended and without any major disruptions. I am afraid that it wasn’t just because of the large number of patrolling soldiers that were maintaining the order.”

Siprus responded in a low voice, “This naturally had a lot to do with the laws of Theonia Union that governed the citizens, freemen and even the slaves. The city of Thurii has not only more patrols than any other city-states but also courts. And these courts not only try cases and disputes but also record the names of those who break the law. If they are freemen, it will affect whether they can obtain their citizenship on time; If they are citizens, it will affect their allocation of land…therefore, for a better future, the vast majority of people living in Theonia will consciously abide by the laws here….”

“That’s a fantastic idea! Over time, the Theonians will naturally form the habit of abiding by the law. No wonder….” Kanos couldn’t help but praise, “This solution fundamentally solves the possible disorder that might happen in Theonia due to the complex origins of the people. I wonder who came up with this idea in the first place….”

He then saw a smile on Siprus’ face, and then he realized, “Was it Davos again?”

Siprus nodded.

Kanos shrugged helplessly, there was nothing more he could say about the archon of Theonia.

“What is the second law?” Siprus’ familiarity with Theonia and his unique inside had deepened Kanos’ understanding of Theonia, so he was eager to know more.

“Sub-city-state.” Two words came out of Siprus’ mouth, and a strange gleam flashed through his eyes, “Theonia’s way of dealing with their sub-city or territories they have occupied is very different from that of most Greek city-states.”

“What’s the difference?” Kanos was once again drawn to the words of Siprus and hurriedly asked.

“Do you know Aprustum?”

“I have heard that it used to be a city of the Bruttians, and had later become a sub-city-state of Crotone, and has now become part of Theonia Union.”

“Let’s take Aprustum as an example. What did the Crotonians do after they occupied it? They have killed all the Bruttians in the city, and move the landless citizens of Crotone to the city of Aprustum,  where it has the same political system as Crotone.” Siprus pricked a piece of tripe and tossed it into his mouth with a mocking grin and said, “The inhabitants of Aprustum are citizens of Crotone and its government is the government of Crotone. It is reasonable to say that Aprustum has become a part of Crotone, but why have there been two riots in Aprustum in recent decades and demanding secession from Crotone?”

“There have been two riots in Aprustum?” Kanos was slightly surprised because as far as he could remember, Aprustum was a city in Crotone.

“Yes, Twice.” Siprus stretched out two fingers and said slowly, “Due to Crotone quickly quelling the riots and deliberately blocked the news, you, Elea, who is far away in the north, naturally do not know about it…although it is true that Aprustum was completely attached to Crotone at first, 20 years ago, the situation has changed. According to the law of Crotone, only Aprustum men whose fathers were citizens of Crotone could become a Crotonian citizen, and over time, some foreigners came to Aprustum and married women from the city and had children who could not become citizens of Crotone and can only be a citizen of Aprustum…some people who were born in this small city and had grown up there had naturally become more attached to Aprustum than to Crotone, and they do not want to apply to become citizens of Crotone…

In this way, there are more and more true Aprustum citizens in this small city, more than the citizens of Crotone, and their willingness to safeguard the interests of Aprustum alone outweighed that of Crotone. And for the Crotonians, as the blood became more and more distant, they treated Aprustum more and more like slaves, rather than their own people. When there is a war, they will place the Aprustums in the forefront; In the event of a land dispute, the Crotonians were favoured…with the growing resentment against Crotonians among the Aprustums, how could they not demand independence?!”

When Kanos heard this, he nodded and took a big gulp of beer.

“The measures taken by Crotone against Aprustum after the riot was to kill the people who firmly resist Crotone and then to relocate a large number of Crotonian citizens to the small city while supporting the Aprustums who were close to Crotone and to give the citizens of Crotone control over the supreme power of Aprustum. But more than ten years ago, there was another riot in Aprustum, and the situation was the same as the last…as far as I know, the Greek city-states did roughly the same thing with their colonies and territories they occupied, and even though Aprustum was very close to Crotone, which was a powerful city-state in Magna Graecia and has enough power to control Aprustum, a small city, and yet such thing still happened. It is very common for those sub-states that were far away from their mother-state, or for those where the mother-state was not strong enough, to be unable to unite with their sub-state to strengthen themselves. What is even more terrible is that the mother-states becoming enemies with their sub-states instead…there are many such examples!….” Siprus said with a sigh.

His words reminded Kanos of Elea’s mother state. Elea had once sent envoys to her mother-state to ask for help, but had ignored the plight of Elea and refused to provide any help, and so both sides have become strangers. Kanos was slightly sentimental, “You are right!” With that, he raised the mug and invited Siprus to a toast.

Kanos wiped off the foam on his lips and asked, “How does Theonia treat the territories they occupied?”

Siprus took another wooden stick and put it on the wooden table and slowly said, “After Theonia occupied Aprustum, the first thing they implemented was to declare, ‘All Aprustums who are willing to stay will become citizens of Theonia.’”

“Hah?!” Kanos was surprised.

“Although there are very few Aprustums who choose to stay, I think they have made the right choice.” After emphasizing a sentence, Siprus continued to say, “The second thing that Theonia implemented was – the appointment of civil servants by the Theonian Senate to govern Aprustum, and the supreme administrator of the city is the Praetor, who must be a statesman of Theonia, and as I recall, the current praetor of Aprustum was…Hielos of the Senate of Theonia, a statesman who had a close relationship with Davos.

You see, the residents of Aprustum are now Theonian citizens, and according to the Theonian Law, ‘As long as either of the parents is a Theonian, their children will be Theonian as soon as they are born. Besides, the authorities of Aprustum are directly appointed by the Senate, and any Theonian citizen can apply for public office in the city-state. After a long period of serving as a public official, those who have rich experience and outstanding performance can become a statesman of the Theonian Senate.’”

Siprus said with a slightly excited expression, “This will make it less likely for the residents of Aprustum to betray the Theonian Union, either now, or later, as they enjoy the same rights as the citizens of Theonia in the other cities of the union. Aprustum is already a part of the Theonia Union, and it is also directly managed by the Senate of the union, and whether it is paying taxes or doing military service, it will directly enhance the strength of the union. Hence why Theonia was able to muster about the same number of soldiers and resources as Crotone, even though they are weaker back then. Because this form of government could better concentrate all the power of the cities under their jurisdiction! While Crotone and Aprustum could not even support each other to the fullest extent, let alone its allies Scylletium and our Terina. And that, I fear, is what is most intimidating about Theonia Union, that every land they gain would strengthen the union!”

Chapter 263 – Slave Liberation Ceremony and Theonia’s Rugby Tournament

Siprus continued, “Now that Nerulum and Grumentum that once belonged to the Lucanians are now part of the Theonia Union, hence why many Lucanians have become Theonian citizens. So how could the Lucanians from other tribes truly hate Theonia?! On the contrary, with the help of Elea, Theonia can take advantage of the weakness of the Lucanian tribes to occupy the whole Lucania region, which would greatly strengthen Theonia, so how could Theonia not ally with Elea?”

Kanos fell silent, as he thought about all the things that Siprus said for some time, and then said, “With Theonia becoming more powerful, won’t the other city-states belonging to the South Italia Alliance feel afraid?”

Siprus was still excited, he took a big gulp of beer and said without hesitation, “No matter what other city-states think, I think that the strength of Theonia will only be a good thing for Elea. We are already tired of the frequent wars between city-states and the stronger Theonia becomes the more they can bring peace to this land. After all, from the way Theonia has done things in the past, it has always been friendly to its allies, unless you are the one to take the initiative to invade Theonia, and they are far less brutal than the Syracusans in the south!”

Kanos understood what Siprus meant by “brutal”. Dionysius, after capturing the Greek city-states of Sicily, would sometimes go too far as to slaughter the inhabitants and turn all the remaining captives into slaves, something that had never been done before in the history of the western Mediterranean, which had greatly shocked the Greeks in Sicily and Magna Graecia, that had made Kanos to even hear about it even from as far away as Elea. He looked at Siprus across the table and thought maliciously, ‘Could it be that the cruelty of Dionysius was one of the main reasons why these city-states are willing to ally with Theonia?’

He asked curiously, “The Theonian government is so special that I suppose the city-states in southern Magna Graecia, including Terina, have noticed. Have any city-states tried to implement these Theonian bills that are beneficial to the expansion of the city-state?”

Siprus was taken aback and then laughed bitterly, “At today’s celebration ceremony, I had also talked about this topic with several members of the council of Crotone that I know, and we think that it is impossible. Think about it, first of all, would all the citizens of the city-state agree?”

Once he was reminded, it dawned on Kanos. How could the conservative and xenophobic citizens of Greek city-states allow outsiders to share the wealth and rights of their city-state?! And the highest authority of a city-state is the ecclesia, which is composed of most of the citizens of the city-state, which would undoubtedly not let these unfavourable bills and laws to be passed!

“Why can Theonia do it?” Kanos raised his question.

“This….” Siprus gently patted the table and pondered about it, “I don’t know the detailed reasons, but the great power and prestige of the archon Davos is undoubtedly the most important reason.”

Kanos agrees with this, but it is impossible for an archon like Davos to appear in Elea.

“But….” Siprus looked at Kanos and hesitated, “There are still some problems in an emerging city-state union like Theonia….”

“Like?” Asked Kanos urgently.

Siprus suddenly turned around, at some point without him knowing, the waiter stood behind his back and he could only shake his head and did not continue to speak.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next morning, the celebration of the completion of the Temple of Hades continued.

This time, it was in front of the temple and was presided over by the high priest, Davos, it was to grant freedom to the slaves of the union in the name of Hades.

Since this was the first time that this was held, not many slaves were released and most of them were union members who had made outstanding achievements in this past year, while most of the private slaves have come from Davos’ household.

With the expansion of the territory of Theonia Union, the banks and restaurants opened by Cheiristoya had also increased rapidly. At the same time, she is constantly exploring new commercial channels, such as Cheiristoya’s shop, which mainly sells school supplies of the new Akademia of Theonia, as well as rugby and football equipment. For this reason, she had bought a large number of slaves to ensure sufficient labour and at the same time, she had given freedom to those slaves who were outstanding. On the one hand, he wanted to use them as an example to give hope to the other slaves and motivate them to work harder; on the other hand, Davos set an example as an archon and guided the people to treat their slaves well, to ease the conflict between the slaves and their masters and society as a whole within the whole Theonia Union.

Among the slaves released by Davos and Cheiristoya was their servant, Azune, who had already told Cheiristoya that even if she gets her freedom, she is still willing to serve Cheiristoya as her employee, and of course, Cheiristoya greatly welcomes her. As a matter of fact, apart from the change of status, Azune’s way of life was not much different from before, including receiving a salary, since Cheiristoya had already been paying her, a close female slave, since back then.

Because private slaves usually spend a long time together with their masters, they would often develop a familial-like bond, therefore, it is not uncommon for the master to release the slaves before his death or for the slave to continue serving their masters after they had been freed. However, for the slaves who had just gotten their freedom, there is one more thing they must do as soon as possible, that is, they should immediately apply to the union’s census office to become preparatory citizens.

After the liberation ceremony, the celebration began.

The drama paid by the union will be performed continuously for three days in the new theatre in Thurii for free. If it was in Athens, there will be countless people lining up for the number plate to enjoy it. But in Theonia, especially in Thurii, the people are more interested in Theonia’s Rugby Games. Last year, the Rugby Games had only included four cities, namely Amendolara, Thurii, Nerulum and Laos, which have attracted countless people’s attention. This year, Krimisa, Roscianum, Aprustum and even the newly merged Grumentum, have even formed a team to participate(it is mainly composed of soldiers from the third legion who moved to Grumentum). The expansion of the team had made the competition to become even more intense, and the opening ceremony to be even more formal.

The distinguished guests of Theonia Union and the South Italia Alliance had all received invitations. After the whole arena was filled, a loud bronze salpinx resounded throughout the arena and the players of each city marched into the arena in turn and walked around.

The people cheered enthusiastically and were especially excited when they saw the players of their city.

Amikles applauded hard as he watched the Roscianum players march past the grandstand and said loudly to those around him, “Look, that is our, Roscianum’, players! At the front of the line is Gorkes, they are as strong as a herd of Lucanian bulls!”

Then came a burst of warm laughter from those around him.

Androlis, Eurypus and Pleitinas, the three new members of Theonia’s Senate, couldn’t understand why the polemarchos of Roscianum was so excited, while Kunogelata could only smile and whispered an explanation to them, “Last year, when we held the Rugby Games, we had invited Roscianum and Laos. As a result, Laos had joined, while Roscianum didn’t, hence why a lot of people made fun of them and said that ‘The people of Roscianum are timid in nature and they do not dare to take part in this kind of fierce game for men.’ and it seems that this remark had stimulated them, and so this year, they had specially organized a team to prove themselves, and even their strategos, Gorkes, have personally joined.”

For the three people who have never seen a rugby game, they still couldn’t understand the enthusiasm and craziness shown by the Theonians. However, the surrounding craziness had still infected them, and like the guests from other city-states, they applauded the players that were marching.

Then they saw the team representing Krimisa, with the player at the front of the group holding a wooden sign with “Krimisa” in bright red letters, however, most of the 50 men were unfamiliar faces.

Androlis knew that in recent months, there have been citizens and preparatory citizens of Theonia who have moved to Krimisa due to the land allocation. Therefore, even if they have just joined Theonia Union, their team’s skills won’t be too bad.

Androlis also saw a few familiar faces in the team, and they were just as excited as the rest of the team, as they talked cordially with their teammates while waving to the crowd. These former citizens of Krimisa are now citizens of Theonia, and even though it was only just a few months, they had already integrated naturally with the team. Which made Androlis feel complicated for a while.

“Lord Androlis, I am looking forward to seeing the performance of the players of Krimisa.” Kunogelata’s meaningful words brought Androlis back to his senses.

“Don’t worry, they will definitely perform better than Roscianum.” Androlis feigned calmness, which caused several people to laugh.

Eight teams finally stood in the middle of the field.

At this time, Davos stood up from the spectator stand and the boiling arena gradually quieted down.

The distinguished guests from the South Italia Alliance were shocked and envied the great prestige of Davos among the Theonians which was evident.

Davos’ voice sounded in the arena, “Hundreds of years ago, the great god Zeus created the Olympic Games. From then on, the fierce competition replaced the bloodshed, and there has been less war and more peace between the Greek city-states! And a year ago, the great Hades brought us rugby, which has since flourished in Theonia Union, a fierce sports game in which people gained health, happiness, unity and friendship! Today, the best players of Theonia Union and the Alliance had gathered here to thank Hades for his gift, and to compete in the most exciting and fierce rugby competition and fight for the only championship! Players, fight on! Hades will bless you!”

Chapter 264 – Elea’s Affiliation

The speech of Davos was met with thunderous applause, and the players and the audience became enthusiastic from hearing what Davos had said, and had joined the crowd off-field in singing the ode of Hades. After that, the teams hurriedly left and the Rugby Games officially began.

According to the new tournament rules, the eight teams will be divided into two groups, A and B. And the winner of last year and the runner-up, Thurii and Amendolara are seeded in the two groups, with the remaining teams drawing lots to determine their groups.

Finally, the members of group A were Thurii, Nerulum, Krimisa and Grumentum, and the members of group B were Amendolara, Laos, Roscianum and Aprustum.

And the two groups will compete in a single round-robin with one point for a win and zero points for a loss, there are no ties and the teams with the same number of points will go in a knockout stage with the top two teams in the group going to the final and finally decide who will be the champion.

In order to make a good start, Davos selected Thurii vs Nerulum as the opening match to attract the audience’s attention.

When Thurii and Nerulum re-entered the field, the crowd roared. Due to the majority of the audience being Thurians, they had naturally cheered for their home team, while the Lucanians were mostly cheering Nerulum. Amongst the cheers were the names of Tagetinos and Litom that were mentioned the most, because one is a strong and powerful running back and the other is a flexible and fast running back, and both of them are famous scorers of their respective teams.

Bagul who was in the audience was so enthusiastic that he shouted loudly while waving his fists and stamping his feet, he no longer has the appearance of a powerful statesman. If it wasn’t for the fact that he had just become the praetor of Grumentum and was so busy that he had no time to train with the team, he would not have stayed as just a spectator.

Asistes, who was next to him, saw through his mind and teased him by saying, “Now that you are the praetor of Grumentum, you should support the team of Grumentum. Nerulum is the main opponent of Grumentum and for Grumentum to enter the knockout stage, you should hope that they will lose.”

Bagul glared at him and then actually felt entangled.

The referee blew the whistle and the match began.

As the athletic powerhouse of Magna Graecia, the Crotonians are still dismissive of the Theonian Rugby Games, despite the fact that it had become well-known in Magna Graecia. Now, with the progress of the competition, these Crotonians that were invited became captivated by the fierce collision and confrontation. Even the Crotonian strategos and nauarch Askamas, who had been talking a lot before, have stopped his ridicule. The strict organization, reasonable rules, unique ball game, as well as the blood-curdling athletic scenes had still shocked this young strategos who had participated in the four major competitions on behalf of Crotone many times, and he exclaimed, “I didn’t expect that this Rugby is such a sport, it’s much more interesting than Sparta’s shot-put that you can only play by yourself. It really is very interesting and is very suitable for us Crotonians to participate!”

“Why?” Someone nearby asked.

“You see, there are a lot of people on the field, and even though it looks chaotic, there are basically only two movements, which is attacking and defending.” Askamas pointed his finger to the field and made a reasonable analysis, “To achieve these two points, the players need to have great strength, fast speed, and not be afraid of collision, which is what our Crotonian athletes are good at!”

Askamas’ arrogant words had attracted the people around him to nod. The athletes of Crotone have long been dominant in wrestling and boxing, and have a rich experience in training the athletes’ strength and explosive power.

“Once we return, we should persuade the ecclesia to allow the Crotonians to practice rugby and join next year to beat these Theonian teams!” Askamas looked around at the cheering Theonian audiences, with some anger in his eyes.

At this time, Thurii’s Tagetinos scored a touchdown with the ball in his hand and the crowd erupted into joy, which has made Askamas itch even more.

“Lord Askamas is right! Next year, we will take part and beat the Theonians!” Some Crotonians said with hatred. Being defeated by the Theonians had made these proud Crotonians feel aggrieved, so they wanted to win back their dignity in the competition to prove the strength of Crotone, just like what Askamas said.

Lysias frowned as he listened to the chatter of his companions. He wasn’t completely fascinated by the game and was instead thinking about some deeper issues. There are four traditional games and a Panathenaea that is famous in Greece and known throughout the Mediterranean, and the athletes from the city-states of Magna Graecia attended it in great numbers, and are far more active than the Greek city-states along the coast of Asia Minor, and excelled at each of the sports. However, Magna Graecia itself does not have any influential sports games, and Crotone, who love competition, had once tried and failed to organise one even with only the city-states of Magna Graecia participating. On the one hand, Crotone was not influential enough that they could not make the people of Magna Graecia agree with them; On the other hand, there were long-standing conflicts of interest between several city-states and no agreement could be reached. As a result, it became a regret for the Crotonians!

Now, although Theonia’s Rugby Game is only a single game tournament, it has included so many city-states of Magna Graecia, and it seems that they are still able to attract more city-states to participate…allowing Lysias to see a vague glimpse of a regional tournament.

Is this a coincidence? Or did the Theonians do this on purpose? Lysias looked at the figure of Davos in the front row. Through these two days of contact, this seemingly gentle young archon has given him the impression of being a man of great depth. In just a few months, Theonia had not only stabilised the newly occupied Aprustum and Krimisa but had also recently captured Grumentum, a large city in the Lucanian region.

While the Crotonian ecclesia is still arguing over a number of issues such as whether the newly added native inhabitants of Aprustum will be granted citizenship and the redistribution of the plains of Crotone, which was damaged due to the war.

At first, Lysias wanted to get through this difficult period and let Crotone rise again, but after having more and more contact with Theonia, and every time he compared the fast-growing Theonia with the stagnant Crotone, Lysias almost lost his confidence. If it goes on like this, Crotone would be left far behind by Theonia!

Even though he was anxious, he could do nothing. This had always been the case with Crotone’s democracy. He had also researched why the governance of Theonia was so efficient, but those methods can not be implemented in Crotone. Sometimes he had even thought that joining the union would be the best thing for Crotone.

At the words of Askamas, Lysias laughed at their naiveness, because even if Crotone were to send their team next year, so what if they could beat Theonia? Win or Lose, Theonia will still be the big winner!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the third day, as the Rugby tournament was still in full swing, the envoy of Elea, Kanos, was granted an audience by Davos.

The young archon received him very warmly, and Kanos, after two days, had now a deeper understanding of Theonia Union and had put aside his initial reservation, and so the two men engaged in a friendly conversation.

Davos listened carefully as Kanos talked about the current predicament of Elea, and learned from Kanos some information regarding the Campania region and the Samnium region…the conversation was pleasant, and in the end, an alliance agreement was reached with Elea joining the Theonia Alliance.

After the signing of the alliance agreement, the tension from the heart of Kanos could finally be relaxed because of Davos’ solemn promise of, ‘If any power dared to invade Elea, Theonia would immediately send troops to aid their ally, Elea, and repel the enemy!’

And at the same time, Davos had also implicitly said that in the future, when Theonia takes action in the Lucania region, he hopes that Elea can actively cooperate.

Kanos readily promised, and he realized with elation that at last, he is now able to see the arrival of hope for the end of the nightmare that has plagued Elea for decades, and the feeling of relying on a powerful force is truly reassuring!

Kanos’ mood was pleasant as he walked out of the living room. Then he saw a man coming towards him and waved at him with a smile.

‘Why is Siprus here?’ Kanos’ mind wondered as he returned the gesture.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Milord, since we have become allies with Elea, do we still need to talk with the envoys of Pyxous, Potentia and Garaguso?” Asked Aristocrates with curiosity.

“What do you think?” Davos was very relaxed as he watched the back of the departing Kanos. Elea joining the union had made him feel one step closer to his goal of integrating Lucania.

“I think…that we should take advantage now that the strength of Pyxous and Potentia had weakened, and while they are still unaware that Elea has joined the union to suddenly launch an attack that will surely take down either Pyxous or Potentia easily!” Aristocrates had been following Davos for quite some time now that he had more or less learned of getting the most out of the situation with the least casualties.

However, Davos shook his head slightly and did not agree, “Your plan for a surprise attack is indeed good, but it is not suitable to implement it at this time.”

“Why milord?” Aristocrates quickly asked with a bit of dissatisfaction.

“You were also there yesterday when Bagul and Asistes came to report the situation of Grumentum. The situation in Grumentum is not very promising, conflicts arise between the tribes from time to time, which has almost led to a small battle…after all, Grumentum is different from Nerulum. Grumentum is located in the heart of the Lucanian region, with many tribes from complex origins, and surrounded by enemies. It will take at least a year or two of hard work for Bagul and the others to get these Lucanians to merge with us from the bottom of their hearts and accept our governance…if we were to rashly attack the other areas now, should something unexpected happen, then there is a possibility of an upheaval happening in Grumentum and will likely repeat the tragedy of Thurii….” Said Davos calmly.

Chapter 265 – Alarming news from Terina

Aristocrates understood what the “Tragedy of Thurii” mentioned by Davos, it refers to the fact that the Thurians went to attack the Lucanians two years ago and rashly entered the mountain area, and eventually, all died on the bank of the Lao River.

After thinking about it, he still has some reluctance in his heart, “But…it would be a shame to miss such a good opportunity!”

“Aristocrates.” Davos smiled, “I would like to ask you something, is Theonia stronger now, or is Pyxous or Potentia stronger?”

“It is without a doubt that it is us, Theonia! Even if Pyxous and Potentia joined hands, they are still not our rivals!” Aristocrates answered back without hesitation.

“Since that is the case, what we should do is to eat them like when eating a bread, take a bite and slowly chew them and swallow them into our stomach and then turn them into our strength until we are full, instead of eating them in one bite one after another without swallowing and ends up choking.” Davos explained patiently.

“I understand milord!” Aristocrates said with sincerity, he is smart enough to understand what Davos meant. They should first spend time and energy to gain a firm foothold in the centre of Lucania, and then use Theonia’s strength to crush Pyxous and Potentia from the front without slowing down.

“And so we also have to negotiate with the envoys of Pyxous and Potentia and sign peace agreements with them, such as non-aggression to appease them and prevent them from blatantly making trouble in the surrounding areas of Grumentum, but the duration of the agreements must not be too long.” There was a hint of murderous intent in Davos’ gentle tone.

“As for Garaguso…I heard that they are located in the depths of the mountain and have little contact with the outside world, and their living environment is poor, so we can consider allying with them and strengthen trade exchanges….” As Davos was speaking, he heard voices from the outside of the living room, and he immediately stopped talking and smiled, “Seems like there is an interesting guest.”

“Interesting guests?” Aristocrates rarely heard such comments from Davos, and so he looked out the door curiously, when it dawned on him as Ribaso, the one who was managing the slaves, led a man in, ‘So it was him!’

When the envoys of the city-states of South Italia came together to ask Theonia for help, Siprus, a native of Terina, was quite notable for his long, thin, spear-like figure. Even his behaviour is quite notable, not only due to being the first envoy among the Crotonian alliance to give full support to Theonia’s offer to create a South Italia Alliance but even during the time Theonia sent reinforcement, the envoy of Terina, Siprus, had strongly demanded to march together with the Theonian army and had even eaten and lived together with the soldiers. There was even a report that during Terina’s ecclesia, Siprus had greatly praised the military might of the Theonian army and proposed that Terina strengthen their cooperation with Theonia…

Aristocrates remembers that after hearing about this man’s performance, Davos had commented that Siprus was quick-witted, observant and has a flexible mind that knows how to adapt!

Hence why he is one of the distinguished guests proposed and invited by Davos.

At this moment, as Davos gazed at Siprus, the thought that came to his mind was the confidential report regarding the conversation between Siprus and the envoy of Elea in the Cheiristoya’s Restaurant last night!

Davos knew that after Theonia defeated Crotone and its emergence as one of the most important and powerful forces in South Italia, it was only natural that it would attract a lot of attention. And while Theonia’s unique political system can’t escape the attention of those who wanted to see it, not many have analysed it as detailedly as Siprus did…

“Siprus, a good friend of Theonia, we very much welcome you!” Davos said in a loud, happy voice, “I have been busy with the celebration these days, so I have wanted to invite you after the celebration to express my thanks, but I didn’t expect that….”

Siprus greeted him respectfully and said, “Archon, I insisted on coming to visit because I was forced to do so and the city-state urgently asked me to convey a proposal to you.”

“Oh…what proposal?” Davos motioned Siprus to sit down and speak.

Siprus glanced at Aristocrates and he stopped talking.

“I would like to introduce you, Aristocrates, a very talented young man, he is my exclusive scribe*.” Aristocrates was deeply moved by Davos’ words. (In fact, the reason why he is only a scribe is that he has not yet become a preparatory citizen.)

Siprus nodded to him, then he sat down on the wooden chair and then asked, “Does milord archon know about the Bruttians?”

As soon as the words came out, Davos understood what Siprus meant, “I know something about this neighbour to the west of Theonia Union. The Bruttians are native to Italia and also live in the form of tribes, however, compared with the Lucanians, they are fewer in number and less of a danger to Theonia. And I heard that they often attack Terina.” Said Davos while looking at Siprus with a smile.

“It is not just Terina, they are also attacking Aprustum and the south of Thurii from time to time.” Cautioned Siprus.

“But after all, their attack has only been few and far between, and since the establishment of Theonia Union, the harassment on us has completely not been seen.” Davos said with a relaxed look.

“In fact, since last year, the Bruttians have stopped invading all the territories of the Greek city-states, and it wasn’t just because of the combined forces of Crotone, Scylletium and us Terina inflicting heavy losses on the Bruttians.” Siprus paused for a moment, as he sensed the focus of Davos’ gaze. He deliberately increased his tone and said, “It’s also because of the great changes that have taken place within the Bruttians.”

“What change?” Said Davos with a jolt in his heart, while his expression is still calm.

“Terina is on the border with the city of Clampetia of the Bruttians, and having fought the Bruttians all year round, we are relatively familiar with them and has some sources of information.” Then the expression of Siprus became grave, “Last year, we heard that the chieftains of the Bruttian tribes had gathered in the city of Consentia to discuss the formation of a tribal coalition.”

“Is that true?!” Davos was startled and couldn’t stop himself from leaning forward. It was no wonder that he became slightly upset because the reason why he had pretended not to care was that when he found out that the visit of Siprus was due to the Bruttians, he did not want to be too enthusiastic and lose too many chips when discussing the future attack on the Bruttians, who after all could not pose as great a threat to Theonia as the Lucanians.

As far as he knows, in the small mountain area occupied by the Bruttians, their tribe has always been scattered: The tribes in the north are centred on the city of Vergae, and due to its border with Laos, they had close relations with the Lucanians in the past and had even been present during the previous invasion of Thurii by the coalition of Lucanian tribes. The tribe in the middle is centred on the great city of Consentia and is the strongest among the tribes. In the east, on the upper reaches of the Crati River, live other Bruttian tribes, who had built the small city of Besidice, and in the past, they occasionally cross over the mountains to plunder the southern part of the Sybaris plain. In the southeast of Consentia, is another small city, Anbania and was said to have been built by the tribes that originally fled from the city of Aprustum when it fell to Crotone. To the south of Consentia is the city of Clampetia, and borders Terina and is also responsible for the invasions on Terina.

The mountainous region of the Bruttian, with its high mountains and rugged road, and is the only high plateau in south Italia. The city of Vergae and Clampetia guards the narrow passage between the north and south of the west coast, and Besidice and Anbania block the only two mountain roads connecting with the east coast, making these four areas a fortress. Since the time it has been called the land of the Bruttians, it has always been the Bruttians that rushed out of the mountains and invaded the others, while they have never been invaded, however, there were a lot of internal tribal wars. Most of the wars were started by Consentia, who was the most powerful and wanted to annex the other tribes. In addition to Clampetia’s close relation with Consentia, Vergae had remained neutral, while Besidice and Anbania often joined hands to fight against Consentia. It is precisely the frequent inter-tribal wars that had consumed the strength of the Bruttians, making them less of a threat to the city-states in Magna Graecia. However now that the Bruttians that are always fighting each other now even want to establish a tribal coalition, which greatly increases the threat they pose to the Greeks, especially Theonia, whose majority of their territory bordered the Bruttian mountains.

“It’s certainly true.” Siprus affirmed, “Because in May this year, the Bruttian Tribal Coalition was established! It was reported that all the Bruttian tribes have elected Pian, the chieftain of Consentia, as the chieftain of the coalition, while Sedrum the chieftain of Vergae, Likumu the chieftain of Besidice, Bodiam the chieftain of Anbania, and Pangam the chieftain of Clampetia became the elders of the coalition, with Consentia as the centre of the coalition and governs all the Bruttian tribes…”

After hearing the words of Siprus, Davos could no longer sit still. He stood up and paced back and forth slowly, then asked in a deep voice, “Where did you get all this information from?”

When Siprus saw such a display from Davos, he knew that the matter had attracted the great attention of the highest power of Theonia, and he was immediately in a great mood.

However, little did he know that the reason why Davos cared so much about this matter was not only because the Bruttians had formed a tribal coalition that could cause danger to the territories of Theonia Union, but also because Davos had already been considering the Bruttian issues for quite some time now.

With Theonia defeating Crotone and with the establishment of the South Italia Alliance, it had made it so that only a few powers could contend against Theonia in south Italia.

Chapter 266 – Assault on Bruttii?

Another power in Magna Graecia is Rhegium in the far “tip” of Italia and has remained neutral to the strife in Magna Graecia, and they cared much more about shipping and trade than to seek hegemony; While Locri now has a grudge against Theonia, but they are separated from Theonia by the South Italia Alliance and Crotone alone was enough to make them suffer, it would be enough to defeat Locri just by Theonia sending small reinforcements. As for Syracuse, the backer behind Locri, they are still tangled up with Carthage and had no spare energy to focus on the land north of Sicily. Therefore, the only force that Davos had to consider from making South Italia into the most stable base of Theonia Union were the Bruttians.

The area in which the Bruttians live was not coveted for its high terrain, as its land is not fertile and it is not near the sea. However, due to its existence, the territory of Theonia from Aprustum to Grumentum has changed into a long, thin “S”-shape. Especially in the east, as cities such as Aprustum, Krimisa, their ally – Roscianum, Thurii and Amendolara are lined up along the coast and formed a narrow passage. For the sea-loving Greeks, this is not unusual, but for Davos, who has been influenced by more than 2,000 years of history, had felt a deep sense of uneasiness with such a territory being too flat and without a depth. And with an excessively long coastline, any place would be an easy target for an enemy’s attack in the event of a powerful foreign invasion. And while the army of Theonia is marching, it will lengthen the army’s supply line and become another extremely vulnerable target, a disadvantage that had already been shown in the war with Crotone. Therefore, at the same time as the formation of the Theonian Navy, Davos had set his eyes on the Bruttian mountains.

Although the transportation between the Bruttian mountains and the territory of Theonia is not very convenient, if they were to have it, the Theonian territory in south Italia would then be united. The river valley paths north of Aprustum, the mountain path to the north of the southern city of Thurii and the mountain paths on the southern bank of the Crati River could all be transformed into a passage between Theonia and Brutti, not to mention that the soldiers of Grumentum and Nerulum can directly cross the west coast of the Bruttian mountains and reach Terina more quickly. Besides, the Bruttians are weak and not united, which made it easy to conquer them.

Davos’ original plan was to wait until Theonia’s three new territories, Aprustum, Krimisa and Grumentum had stabilised before launching his plans against the Bruttians. Hence why Davos had asked Izam to send some people to the Bruttians to collect information some time ago, but he didn’t expect that the Bruttians to be heavily on guard, and Izam’s people could barely speak their language, so instead of getting information, they lost several people. Therefore, Davos had to suspend his reconnaissance, but to his surprise, the envoy of Terina – Siprus had brought him alarming news.

“The Bruttian region is different from Lucania, as they are surrounded by Greek city-states.” Said Siprus seriously, “Therefore, every year, some Greeks or slaves flee for a range of reasons such as crime and persecution by political enemies to the Bruttian region and gradually formed a unique tribe…many years ago we, Terina, have become closely associated with this tribe, to whom we secretly sold some of their much-needed goods, while they passed on to us some news from the mountains, and by Terina relying on this tribe, we have prevented many times in advance the invasion of the Bruttians.

And this time…they have contacted us for several days in a row because the coalition of Bruttian tribes has threatened their survival, so there should be no doubt about its authenticity!” Siprus emphasized once more.

Davos was surprised, “What’s the name of this tribe?”

“Siro, which means ‘Heron’”

Davos nodded, as he didn’t need to ask Siprus as he could already guess that the reason such a tribe made up of Greeks could survive in that mountainous region was by taking advantage of the tribal disputes, and had even perhaps played the role of mercenaries or a black market, but now that the Bruttians had completed their integration, this foreign tribes would lose their ground.

Then came another question in Davos’ mind, “Why haven’t the Bruttians formed an alliance like the Lucanians, but had instead centralized their power? Won’t the other tribes object?”

Siprus said with a wry smile as he looked at Davos, “I don’t know much about the specific reasons…but maybe…it had learned from its neighbours. So far, at least, no major disturbances have been heard in the Bruttian region.”

Davos noticed the teasing in Siprus’ words, and was shocked, “Back then, the organization of the Lucanian tribal alliance was loose and each tribe had their own interests, which made it impossible to concentrate all the power, hence why the danger to Theonia was much less. But if like Theonia, they could concentrate their power to a higher degree, then it would be worthy of Theonia’s vigilance!”

Davos sat back in his chair and looked at Siprus and said solemnly, “Terina has sent you to tell me this news, so do you have any suggestions?”

Siprus had managed to understand Davos’ style of speak from the last time, so he stopped beating around the bush and frankly said, “The council of Terina hopes that Theonia will lead the South Italia Alliance in an active offence against the Bruttians and wipe out this tribal union before they can become a real threat and return peace to the people of the city-states in Magna Graecia.”

“South Italia Alliance….” Davos murmured, then he touched his chin and started pondering for a moment and then said, “Starting a war would be a huge event, especially against a big force like the whole Bruttians! Moreover, Theonia has just ended a war not long ago, so it may take some time for the Senate to make a decision on this issue….”

Siprus nodded in understanding.

“In that case, Siprus, you better stay in Thurii for a while and get a good feel for the life of a Theonian, while making it convenient for us to discuss the attack on the Bruttii with you at any time.”

When Davos sent out the invitation, Siprus immediately agreed and said with a smile, “Thurii is a city-state completely different from the other Greek city-states! I love the architecture and the tidiness, and more importantly the food that can’t be found anywhere else!”

Davos smiled and didn’t ask Siprus about what he had said in Cheiristoya’s Restaurant about ‘the flaw in the political system of Theonia’ even until he had sent Siprus away. For he did not want anyone to know that Davos had eyes and ears all over Thurii, because no one likes to be watched at all times.

In fact, this practice of Davos was not the first of its time. As early as 70 years ago, Hiero, the successor of the Tyrant of Syracuse, Gelon, had implemented the “secret police” which caused great public disgust. Of course, Davos, who cares about his reputation, will not be stupid enough to expose these dark sides, and in fact, he himself knows the biggest problem of the Theonian government.

After the Senate of Theonia had deliberately refrained from holding the ecclesia, ordinary citizens no longer have the opportunity to participate in politics. In Persia, this would not have been a problem, but this was Greece, and the Greek citizens were notoriously enthusiastic about political participation among the Mediterranean countries and city-states, and even Sparta, the most conservative oligarch had allowed its citizens to express their opinions on the laws and proposals that were made, not by voting of course, but by using the strength of their voices to either support a “yes or no”. The reason why the political situation of Theonia is still stable was due to the population of these Greek cities in Theonia Union dropping sharply after the war, and the rest of the people are still busy reconstructing their homes, and the fear of war had made them eager for the protection of the strong, and the army under the command of Davos can give them this great sense of safety; While the majority of the former freemen, who were the majority of the population, had always been on the edge of the city-states and are busy with their livelihoods and at the same time, they have no right to participate in the affairs of the city-states, and therefore had neither developed the habit of participating in politics nor have shown much enthusiasm for it; Not to mention the Lucanian citizens, who were formerly at the mercy of the elders and chieftains in their tribes, but now, in the union, these are all the things that are now decided by the Senate, and they are not in any way out of place.

And Davos knew that such a stable situation would not last forever. Once the union becomes stronger and the people become richer, they would then have higher demands. But Davos was not worried about this, as he had already taken corresponding measures to deal with it. For now, it is better to let the people of Theonia continue familiarizing themselves with the existing system until they become accustomed to it…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At the end of July, Dionysius had led the Syracusan army to launch a full-scale attack on the core city of Carthage in Sicily, Motya.

The causeway they have built from the coast has connected the small island in the bay, and with this, they are now able to directly transport the siege equipment near to the city, and so, the fierce siege war began; The people of Motya used bows and javelins, and throwing burning tar to kill the Syracusan soldiers, while the Syracusan used dozens of ballista to bombard the walls of Motya, forcing the defenders to stand on top of the walls…

After several days of fierce fighting, the sieging ram used by the Syracusans broke a big gap in the city wall of Motya, and the Syracusan army rushed in and the city wall of Motya fell.

Dionysius became very excited as he thought that victory was in his hand, but the bloody battle had just begun.

When the residents of Motya saw that the Carthaginian reinforcements were defeated by the ballistas in the bay, they had realized that they would have to fight alone. They also understand that the conflicts and wars between Carthage and the Greeks in Sicily for decades had accumulated countless hatred, and so there was no way out for them even if they were to surrender, hence why they decided to fight to the death.

Chapter 267 – The Kinadon incident and the counterattack of Messapi

The area of the city of Motya is small, and it can be used as the most important stronghold of Carthage in Sicily, however, it has a large population and in order to let everyone have a place to live, the residents of Motya build their houses tall, which are generally six or seven storeys-high, just like a spire.

When the soldiers of Syracuse rushed into the city, they were surprised to find that the residents of Motya not only had no intention to surrender but also tenaciously guarded every street and house. When the soldiers want to break through the barriers in the streets, the residents of Motya throw stones, javelins and even boiling water and hot oil from the top of their houses, causing a lot of damage to the soldiers in Syracuse.

Due to this, Dionysius had to suspend his offence and had to summon countless engineers to spend time building a siege tower of the same height as the houses in Motya. The siege tower they built was six storeys-high, with wheels under it and was huge…when everything was ready, the Syracusans resumed their attack.

The ten siege towers were then pushed by a large number of labourers. From the east, west, south and north of the city, along the widened gap on the city wall and the road, into the city of Motya, once they are near the houses, they would then lower the top bridges to the roofs of the houses, and the Syracusan soldiers would then climb the wooden ladder in the tower, reached the exit and entered the houses via the bridges. While the inhabitants of Motya threw burning woods and tars at the siege towers and fought to the death to prevent the enemy from entering.

Thus, the strangest battle in the city of Motya happened. Both sides fought in mid-air, with limbs and blood pouring from the air, and the soldiers and the residents falling from floors more than ten meters high, covered in fire, screaming and corpses scattered on the ground…

Due to the desperate struggle of the residents of Motya, the attack of Syracuse had only made little progress, and the battle then fell into a stalemate…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In Sparta, the new king Agesilaus and the elders are no longer in the mood to pay attention to the war in Asia Minor, because a plot that threatens their rule has surfaced.

Kinadon, a former Spartan citizen who no longer enjoys the privileges of a Spartan citizen, was relegated to a second-class status because he could no longer afford to pay for the Syssitia. In the beginning, he just wanted to get revenge on the Spartan nobles out of hatred, but after a long-term observation and constant contact with other ruling classes in the territory of Sparta, he gradually realized how terrible the Spartan system with its inhuman slaughtering and oppression of the Helots and the terrible treatment to the Períoikoi who has also contributed their sweat and blood to the city, and so he decided to overthrow Sparta’s oligarchy.

During this period with the frequent wars, the citizens of Sparta and the Períoikoi and even the Helots were constantly being enlisted to fight, and the land was becoming desolate for the lack of labour, but the tax burden of the city-state has instead increased, causing the discontent of all the classes of people on Sparta to increase sharply. Therefore, under the secret communication and propaganda of Kinadon at every opportunity, a large number of people in the territory of Sparta were inspired by his ideas to join his organisation, which even included the dissatisfied Spartan citizens.

As time went on, the number of this rebel group was increasing, but just as they were ready to take certain actions, some participants, out of fear, had reported to the Gerousia.

The king, the ephors and the Gerousia were shocked by the news, and because of this, they hurriedly held an informal meeting. Afterwards, they decided to send Kinadon to lead some young men to carry out the “clean-up operation” in the outskirts of the town. The so-called “clean-up operation” is an open and legal official action proposed by the Spartan government so that they could kill some helots regularly every year, due to their fear of the excessive population of the helots that could threaten the rule of the Spartans, not only to remind them of the cruelty of Sparta but also to temper the young Spartan citizens.

Kinadon wasn’t suspicious about received the order, rather, he was pleased, but it wasn’t because he was excited about having the right to kill any helots he encountered at will, but because he felt that with this right to roam freely, he could take the opportunity to contact the organisation and start a riot.

But his simple thought and lack of vigilance had led to his arrest shortly after leaving the city by the Spartan warriors, who had been lying in ambush and was then taken to a cell. After getting severely tortured by the Spartans, who are very experienced in extracting confessions due to torturing and oppressing the helots for many years, Kinadon finally revealed some of the organisation’s key leaders.

While searching for the rebels in the whole city, the inspector escorted the wounded Kinadon around the city to make a public display, while declaring to the people that are watching that Kinadon is a despicable traitor who wanted to incite the helots to start a riot to overthrow the Spartans and rob them of their wealth and become king himself.

As soon as Kinadon tried to open his mouth, the Spartans whipped him and also hit him with a club that has an iron spike. Kinadon was bathed in blood all over his body, and in the eyes of the people were anger and disdain, which had made him falter and stumbled to the ground and in the end, he died.

The Spartan government succeeded in eliminating Kinadon, while also discrediting him and making the Spartans who did not know the truth hate these rebels. However, there were too many people involved in the conspiracy, and the incident was far from over. Hence why the two kings, the Gerousia and the ephors were busy stabilizing the domestic situation in the ensuing period.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The rugby tournament in Theonia lasted for more than ten days, and the exciting games and fierce rivalries not only drove the people of Theonia and the distinguished guests from their allies crazy, but even the foreign merchants who had come to trade in Thurii became fascinated. When it came to the quarter-finals, not only was the arena packed, there were even countless people shouting outside the arena.

Kunogelata even needed to urgently increase the number of patrols to strengthen the maintenance of the order to avoid accidents.

And in the final, it was still between the two strongest teams, Thurii and Amendolara.

From the whistle to the end, the audience stood and cheered for the two teams…

In the end, Amendolara won a narrow victory and avenged their defeat last year.

When the unsatisfied audiences were about to leave, the tournament host announced loudly, “Next, a football exhibition match will be held to thank the people for their full support!”

Football, as the name suggests, it is to kick a ball, but how do you play a game by just kicking a ball? Many audiences who had not yet seen the sport sat back down to watch with confusion and curiosity.

Then the staff in the arena moved up to the goal and redrew the lines with lime powder.

Just as the audience began whispering with their friends who knew the situation, the players of both sides came on the court and the referee stood in the centre with a round ball in his hand.

With a whistle, the game began.

The audience was surprised to find that the round ball managed to bounce on the ground, while the players used their feet and other parts of their bodies to touch the ball, but not with their hands, which is the exact opposite of rugby.

When the players use their feet to control the ball, and make all kinds of wonderful movements and dribbles the ball past the opponents, the audience becomes surprised. When the players run like the wind with the ball and shoot hard, the audience couldn’t stop themselves from cheering.

When the audience began to immerse themselves in the game, they realized that the Theonians had invented another ball game no less fun than rugby, and it is without a doubt would take Theonia Union and Magna Graecia by storm!

At the end of the match, the host announced, “A football tournament will be held in Theonia next year to celebrate the day of the founding of the union!”

The audience left the arena with their interest being unsatisfied, and for some time afterwards, their conversation would revolve around the rugby tournament and the football tournament that will be held next year. While the merchants started pondering about the business opportunities of this great tournament and took these novelties to other ports and cities, which will make the fame of Theonia’s ball games slowly expand its influence in Magna Graecia…

At the end of the football match, the statesmen in the Grand Senate Hall have a dignified expression. Initially, they were just discussing whether to launch a war against Bruttii, but unexpectedly, Taranto had sent an envoy…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Earlier this year, Taranto had assembled a large force to capture Manduria, a stronghold city of the Messapians built specifically to attack Taranto, while spending several months and paying a huge price to also conquer Brindisi, an important port city of the Messapians, which greatly doubled the territory of Taranto.

In their elation, the people of Taranto still did not dare to be careless. Although they had badly beaten the Messapians, they would never give up. Centuries of fighting with the Messapians had given Taranto a deep understanding of the habits of this race, hence why Taranto had sent more soldiers to the newly captured cities while stepping up the repairs on the city defences.

Over the past few months, the area of Apulia (the “heel” of Italy) has been calm.

And based on the estimated strength of the Messapians and the geographical locations and importance of Brindisi and Manduria, the council of Taranto had given detailed consideration in advance. Therefore, they asked the young Archytas to lead more soldiers to defend Brindisi, which is farther and more important to Taranto, while only deploying not too many men on Manduria, due to it not being too far away from Taranto, and also because the troops on Taranto and Brindisi can come to reinforce Manduria at any time, and it is impossible for the Messapians to attack both cities at the same time with their strength.

On the morning of the fifth day after the celebration of Hades, Archytas, who was inspecting the construction process at the port of Brindisi, had received a herald from the council of Taranto.

“Manduria has been attacked by the Messapians?! How many people do they have?!” Archytas was slightly surprised.

“According to the scouts, the enemy is many, no less than ten thousand men, and are fiercely attacking! The council sent two thousand men to Manduria to temporarily suppress the enemy’s offence for the time being…”

Chapter 268 – Returning to rescue

The messenger continued to relay the order of the council, “Lord Diaomilas thought that the Messapian army attacking Manduria might be the last strength of the Messapians. Therefore, the council orders you to lead as many soldiers as possible to return, while ensuring the safety of Brindisi, and then join hands with the reinforcements from Heraclea and Metapontum and march to Manduria and defeat the Messapians once and for all! To completely ensure the safety of our new territories!”

Archytas lowered his head and pondered, “Taranto had lost nearly 5,000 men in the battle for Manduria and Brindisi, and the Messapians had suffered no fewer casualties than Taranto, as can be seen from the bodies of the Messapian that was buried after the battle. Although the Messapian alliance had seven city-states, the only one that can send tens of thousands of troops was their largest city-state Rudiae, therefore, the Messapian’s manpower should have reached their limit…however, why not attack Brindisi, which was wedged into the Messapian territory, instead of Manduria, which was closer to Taranto and be easier to rescue?”

But after a second thought, he cursed himself for being muddled: Brindisi was defended by 8,000 soldiers, while Manduria only had 2,000, so it is without a doubt obvious which was the easier city to capture.

He looked up at the messenger who was waiting for his reply and asked, “How many men Metapontum and Heraclea have sent?”

“As a result of their great loss last time, both cities had said that they can only send 3,000 men this time.” The messenger answered.

Archytas’ expression became slightly gloomy: He had fought side by side with their allies before, and he certainly knew what their casualties were. However, the final result was exclusive for Taranto alone, while Heraclea and Metapontum only got some rewards. However, isn’t it in this way that Theonia had defeated its rivals and grew rapidly?

Thinking of this, he no longer felt guilty, but became concerned about the city-state union across the gulf, which made him feel complicated, “The council…did they send an envoy to Theonia to ask for help?”

The messenger hesitated and shook his head with an odd expression.

Archytas’ thoughts shifted and had immediately understood that it was not only Diaomilas, one of the newly elected archon this year, who had always resented the Theonia Union, but the others too had more or less the same mentality. As a great city-state in South Italia with a history of 300 years, it is a disgrace and dishonour to ask for help from a newly emerging city-state union that has just been established for less than two years, besides, what would their allies and other city-states in Magna Graecia think! What’s more, unlike Heraclea and Metapontum which was dominated by Taranto, Theonia is in an equal offensive and defensive alliance with Taranto, and Theonia’s overall strength might even be better than…Taranto. Therefore, it is impossible to ask Theonia for their help without paying a certain price. Hence why Taranto would never send an envoy to Theonia until they are in a crisis.

Archytas pondered for a moment and simply said, “I am going to let Pebareus stay here in Brindisi together with 2,000 men, while I will take 6,000 men back to Taranto, while you have to return together with me, as I do not have enough cavalry to escort you back alone.”

The messenger was relieved and so he agreed. He had been terrified by the Messapians’ unpredictable light cavalry, and it had cost the cavalry squad escorting him a dozen lives just to get him safely into the city of Brindisi.

In the afternoon, the freemen who got the news came one after another, and watch in fear as 6,000 soldiers of Taranto leave the city. Although Taranto looked down upon the new and historical union of Theonian city-states, they had begun to learn from Theonia how to deal with the problems of their newly occupied territories. After seizing the two cities, the council had immediately promised the foreigners and freemen in Taranto that as long as they were willing to move to Brindisi and Manduria, they would acquire land and become citizens of Taranto, and at the same time, Brindisi and Manduria would also be under Taranto. Therefore, despite knowing that there is a lot of risks, many freemen had still come with their families. But now that a war has broken out once more, and having the defensive force of Brindisi to be reduced, so how could they not be nervous.

Between Brindisi on the east coast of Apulia and Taranto on the west coast would have been a straight road if not for the mountainous strip running east-west. Therefore, the army of Archytas could choose two directions when returning to Taranto: One was to go northward around the mountains and then westward to Taranto; or head straight west, past Manduria and go around the mountains to get to Taranto. Archytas had chosen the former which was naturally due to the road to the north being very safe except for the only Messapian city, Alytia, which they needed to keep in their mind. While choosing the latter means that they will always have to be alert to the raids of some Messapian cities in the dense forest in the south with Rudiae as the centre.

Not long after Archytas’ troops left the city and detoured past the mountains, the scout reported that he had found a small group of Messapian cavalries snooping around.

Archytas didn’t care much, because even though Taranto had taken Brindisi, the Messapian calvaries still swarmed along the route from Taranto to Brindisi from time to time and interfering with the exchange of personnel and transportation of supplies between Taranto and Brindisi, so Taranto had sent soldiers to attack these cavalries many times, but thanks to the speed of their horses, they would always run away early and reappeared when Taranto’s soldiers return in vain. Taranto had no choice besides considering building a new village and fortress between the two cities once the situation in Brindisi stabilised, so as to occupy the area completely. And in the meantime, Taranto had specially set up troops that are a combination of heavy infantry and archers that are a good match for these fast-moving cavalry in order to ensure the connection and transportation between the two cities, and Archytas had done the same as well.

After detouring past the mountains, the terrain leading to Taranto is flat and open, so Archytas divided the marching column into five columns, with a small number of light infantry in the middle, while the heavy infantry on the outside. The length of the whole column is about 1.5 kilometres long. Taranto and Brindisi are about 50 kilometres apart, and Archytas estimated that with their current speed, they would be able to arrive by evening.

Archytas controlled the speed of the troops’ marching and moved forward without slowing down.

However, over time, more and more Messapian cavalries are appearing, roaming around the marching force and attacking their scouts, causing Archytas to take back his already small cavalry and therefore no longer able to get a view of the surroundings beyond what they could see.

As a commander, although Archytas was well aware that there was no more strong Messapian force near the north side of the mountains between Brindisi and Taranto after the last war, this feeling as if he was blind gave him uneasiness, so he immediately ordered the troops to quicken their march so that they could reach Sigeon as soon as possible.

Sigeon is a village in the north of Taranto, and before the capture of Brindisi and due to it being adjacent to the Messapian territory, it was built as a small fortress, with strong earthen walls and multiple outposts to defend against the Messapians encroachment.

The salpinx was then sounded and the commanding officers began urging the noisy soldiers.

Suddenly, a loud salpinx had also sounded in front of the troops, which made the soldiers at the vanguard to be taken aback, ‘Could it be that our army is coming?’

“This is a signal to attack!” Some of the soldiers began exclaiming.

Just as a commotion started in the troops, the order of Archytas’ came, ‘Stop! Immediately spread up to the west, light infantry at the front, the hoplites at the back!’

The officers immediately took action to command the soldiers to go in formation.

Archytas, escorted by the cavalries, rode to the front of the line.

A hundred metres away, the loose Messapian cavalry stared at them like a wolf, while he looked through the gap between the enemy cavalry, and began wondering that if this were the army of the Messapian, how many soldiers could they have spared to prevent their troops from returning to Taranto, now that the main army of the Messapians is in Manduria?

Just as he contemplated, the marching column of Taranto began to spread out slowly to the west. The officers and the soldiers shouted to each other and started looking for their position while making a huge noise.

In front of the formation, Archytas and the nearby Messapian cavalries confronted each other quietly…

‘Here they come!’ Archytas’ eyelids twitched, he blinked hard and widened his eyes, only to see a line of small black dots appearing on the horizon a few hundred meters away, which was gradually growing bigger and longer…

As they got closer, Archytas and the others could see them more clearly: They also have uniformed round shields and bronze helmets and spears, and the same dense formation, but they are still not certain that it is an army from Taranto, because the Messapian soldiers are also equipped with the same equipment, which was all thanks to the Athenians!

When they got closer, the flag could finally be seen and the adjutant of Archytas exclaimed, “Strategos, it’s the army of Alytia!”

Alytia is a city-state in the northernmost part of the Messapian territory, and it is adjacent to the territory of the Peucetians, and whenever there was a conflict between Messapi and Peucetia, Alytia bore the brunt of it, so being a border city, it had a strong military capability and was the closest to Brindisi. When Taranto attacked Brindisi, the Alytians had come to reinforce them but they were repulsed by Archytas.

Archytas had also specially set up sentries in the north of Brindisi to monitor the movement of Alytia, and now that the troops of Alytia are present and Archytas had not been warned, it was clear that something had happened to the sentry post to the north.

At the moment, Archytas was not in the mood to mourn. He stared intently at the enemy’s formation, and with his mathematician’s mind, he had quickly deduced that the enemy’s force is roughly less than 3,000.

‘Nearly 3,000 men dared to stop us from returning?!’ Archytas didn’t feel at ease and was instead felt more confused.

But there was no more time for him to think about it, as the quiet Messapian cavalry rushed forward with a cry. While Archytas led the cavalries to turn their horses quickly and return to the formation. And the light infantry, who were already in the front of the phalanx formation, came forward to shoot their arrows.

Chapter 269 – Messapi-Peuceti Alliance

The cunning Messapian cavalry then quickly move diagonally which then exposed the infantry phalanx behind them.

Then the Messapian army stopped their advance, and once again entered a stand-off with the army of Archytas a hundred meters away.

However, Archytas couldn’t wait any longer, with having twice the strength of the enemy and his uneasiness also prompted him to immediately order to sound the salpinx!

In Taranto, there are a lot of people who are envious or look down on the Theonians, however, Archytas wasn’t one of them. He not only had a good relationship with Davos, but he had also carefully studied his military tactics and absorbed some of them and applied them to his troops. Increasing the number of light infantry, organizing them separately, and giving full play to their ability is a major change in his army.

When the light infantry attack the enemy first, the length of Archytas’ formation was far longer than the right-wing rear of the enemy’s phalanx formation, so he had also commanded the right-wing hoplites to advance and prepare to encircle the left-wing of the enemy.

While the Messapian phalanx remained motionless, the Messapian cavalry that is surrounding the formation of Taranto, pressed up from all sides and threw javelins at the soldiers of Taranto in an attempt to disrupt and hinder the enemies’ adance.

Archytas remained unmoved, as the salpinx kept on playing while the hoplites would soon enter the distance where they would be able to charge.

Then came a mighty and long horn sound ringing on the battlefield.

Archytas was startled, ‘This sound came from the rear?!!!’

“There are enemies in the rear! There are enemies in the rear!!….” Some soldiers at the rear of the right-wing of the phalanx formation began to shout in panic. Then rumbling footsteps could be heard and shadowy figures in the morning fog could be seen in the rear of the phalanx formation.

‘We walked into a trap! The Messapian had set up an ambush here!’ Archytas’ heart began thumping for a while, and a thought flashed through his mind quickly, ‘To advance or to retreat?’ he must make a decision immediately.

Fortunately, he had learned from the Theonian army, of having the commander not be in the phalanx and instead outside. Before this incident, some people had accused him in the council that carrying out a decadent aristocratic style in battle and not fighting side by side with the citizens is an act of greed for life and fear of death.

However, he did not change his approach due to some criticism, and thanks to this, he was now able to make adjustments before the battle starts, “Halt! Immediately retreat to the left rear while keeping the formation intact!” Archytas immediately gave the orders to the heralds and the men playing the salpinx. He hoped that by retreating, he would be able to turn the bad situation of being pincered into a direct attack on the two enemies.

The salpinx sounded. And the heralds galloped behind the phalanx and shouted the orders.

For the ordinary Greek city-state army, retreating to the left and back is a complex tactical action, which is difficult to achieve even in training, let alone on the battlefield. However, Archytas believes that the army he led, which has been fighting for half a year, like the Theonian army and is strictly trained by him, can do it.

In the many battles with the Messapians, Archytas had learnt of the bravery and tenacity of this race. He was not confident that he could defeat the enemy on the west, even with him having twice the number, head-on in a very short time, and he also did not want to fall into a dangerous situation of being caught between the front and the back, so the only way was to get out of the current battlefield immediately and regroup. Since the main force of Messapian was attacking Manduria, he was confident that the enemy here was not much more numerous than his army, if at all, and he was confident of defeating them in a frontal encounter!

The phalanx stopped their marching and had begun to retreat slowly, but instead of the Taranto army advancing, the Messapian infantry began to charge. Along with this, the Messapian cavalry had also begun to intensify their attack, howling and even driving their horses towards the phalanx in an attempt to disrupt Taranto’s retreat.

The desperate fighting of the Messapian cavalry had surprised Archytas and had begun to feel the determination of the Messapians to annihilate his army here, which made it hard for him to keep his calm.

‘Continue to retreat or strengthen the defence?’ Once again, Archytas had caught himself in a difficult choice.

However, time was pressing. The Messapian cavalry had rushed to the front and the light infantry quickly retreated to both sides. Hindered by the Messapian cavalry, the hoplites of Taranto, who could not retreat with all their strength, had to turn around to fight.

And in the face of such a dilemma, on the one hand, he had let the light infantry use arrows to disperse the Messapian cavalry, and told the officers to shorten the length of the hoplite’s phalanx and thicken the column; At the same time, the soldiers at the back of the phalanx formation will turn back quickly and faced the coming enemy and move forward for more than ten meters. In this way, the whole formation changes from the original “Snake formation” to “Two-line formation”, which is parallel with each other in order to protect each other’s rear.

Archytas believes that even if his troops are temporarily passive, he could repel the Messapians with a sturdy defence!

The Messapian cavalry in the rear then withdraw to the sides, then came the clear rumbling footsteps and the loud cries from the morning mist…

When the shadowy enemy approached, the Taranto soldiers were taken aback. Not only were the enemies staggering in numbers, but they were not dressed in the same attire as the Messapian soldiers. They were armed with wooden shields and spears, wearing simple helmets and breastplates.

“Lord Archytas, it’s the Peucetians! It’s the Peucetians!!” After receiving the report from the scouts, Archytas had also become shocked, ‘The Messapian and the Peucetians had united!’ For decades, the Messapian and Peucetians have always harboured hatred and frequent conflict with each other, but now, they have joined hands!!

Watching as more and more Peucetians warriors rushing in, Archytas shuddered, not only for the safety of this army but also for the situation of Taranto…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Congratulations, king of the Peucetians! Taranto’s army has now been surrounded!” Timogeras, archon of Alytia, shouted with a compliment.

“Yes, the Archytas who had made you lose a lot of battle is now surrounded by my brave warriors. Kill them quickly! So that we could attack Brindisi afterwards!” Telemani, the king of the Peucetians, had a joyful expression while not forgetting to mock the Messapians.

However, half an hour later, the flag of Taranto in the encirclement still stood upright. Besides compressing the encirclement, the Messapian-Peucetians alliance did not make any substantial progress. On the contrary, because of the concentration of Taranto’s soldiers, their attack had encountered greater resistance.

The king of the Peucetians himself had personally joined the expedition, bringing with him more than 10,000 warriors, which, together with the soldiers of Alytia, was more than double the number of Archytas’ army.

In this situation where the opponent was already surrounded, the battle had become harder.

The king of the Peucetians, the archon of Alytia and the generals of Peucetti had all gazed at the dusty battlefield with a startled look.

“Fight! Taranto fight! Son of Taras, don’t stop waving your spear! Remember, every time you kill an enemy, your parents, wife and children will become safer!….” In the centre of the encirclement, Archytas galloped back and forth while dodging the coming arrows and javelins, and shouted loudly to boost the morale.

His voice had become hoarse, his horse was panting, but he didn’t notice it at all. He knew that this time he was in grave danger, but even if he had to die, he wanted to inflict a heavy blow on the enemy and reduce the threat to his home city.

Taranto’s formation has changed from “=” to a round formation. Encouraged by him, the light infantry in the centre kept shooting their arrows, regardless of their fingers being cut by their bowstring and their arm muscles being strained; The hoplites kept close to each other and work together to resist the powerful impact of the enemy, and at the same time, they held their spears high and stab and withdraw from the top of the closely arranged shield wall. Once their spearhead breaks, they will immediately draw out their swords and continue to slash at the enemy…they knew that the only way to survive was to fight to their death, so even with the constant fall of their comrades around them, it still did not shake their fighting spirit.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

An hour later, the king of Peucetians’ face turned blue, because the flag of Taranto still stood, but his generals had asked him to stop the attack because their soldiers were already tired and their casualties were not small.

“Waste, a bunch of waste! Are you still the descendant of the heroic king Lycaon of Arcadia! Look at the Greeks that are surrounded by you, they are not as tall as us, nor are they as numerous as us, and if that scares you, I will have to replace you and let true warriors take command of my warriors!….” Telemani swore and waved his arm, and almost sweeping the spear in his hand into the face of the general in front of his horse.

“Esteemed king of the Peucetians, Archytas is indeed a famous strategos of Taranto, and the army he commands is truly powerful! We shouldn’t waste too much of our troops here as we have to take back Brindisi!” Timogeras suppressed his gloating mood and persuaded him.

“You mean to stop fighting?” Telemani glanced at him and said with disdain.

“The only reason why these Taranto soldiers are fighting to their death is that they do not have a way to escape, so if our encirclement can open a passage….” There was a sly smile on Timogeras’ face.

“You mean-” Telemani was not a mediocre king, when he was young, he had led his army around for the sake of Peucetti’s might, and he was just being too obsessed with victory at this time, but with the reminder of Timogeras, he had immediately woken up and turned his attention to the Messapian and Peucetian cavalries that are waiting silently on either side of the battlefield, who had merged and are close to a thousand, but they are now useless because the enemy was surrounded.

“I had the same thought!” Telemani said loudly while raising his chest to hide his earlier loss of temper. He then drove his horse forward and pointed his spear at Taranto’s flag standing in the middle of the chaotic battlefield, “Just don’t let Archytas escape!”

Because the Peucetians had many troops and the Messapians are in desperate need of their help, so the Messapian-Peucetians alliance deliberated and chose to give way in the direction of Alytia’s army.

Chapter 270 – The Death of Archytas

Timogeras lifted a rock and ended up smashing his own feet. Retreating in the middle of a battle, even if it is only a small part of them, was still very dangerous and could lead to an overall defeat if he was not careful.

Fortunately for him, the soldiers of Taranto, who had been in a state of complete defence for some time, had not fully reacted when the enemy in front of them had disappeared. And the soldiers of Taranto, who were already tired, could not believe what they were seeing and became ecstatic as they watched the enemy collapse in front of them which then revealed a large gap.

“We repelled the enemy!!!”

“The enemy has fled! We…we have won!!!”

In the middle of the battlefield, how can the soldiers who have been shrouded in the shadow of death for more than an hour could think so much? Just like how a drowning person will desperately try to grasp tightly even if it is just a floating straw. They cheered, and joy seemed to have replaced their fatigue as they rushed out of the gap regardless of everything, which had also led the nearby soldiers to run out involuntarily.

When Archytas discovered that the situation was abnormal, the whole army was like a flood of water, and not only did the soldiers rush towards the gap, but the high morale that they had accumulated was also quickly swept away.

“Stop right there, all of you! Don’t mess up! Stay in formation and then rush out as a whole!….” Archytas tried desperately to calm down the chaotic soldiers, but it was in vain. On the contrary, the Peucetians increased their attack and forced the people of Taranto to speed up their escape.

“Strategos, it is useless. We ought to run as well!” The adjutant cautioned him hurriedly.

The demoralized soldiers were totally unable to resist the attack of the Peucetians, and the casualties began to increase. The incessant scream reached the ears of Archytas, which added to his agitation, and as he looked at the guards around him becoming all panic-stricken, he had to pull himself together and shouted, “Follow me and kill! Follow me and kill our way out!!….”

Archytas tried to command the soldiers to concentrate their strength and charge westward and to expand the gap, and even defeat the Alytians so that more people could escape from the encirclement. However, on one side the enemy was attacking victoriously, while on the other side were the soldiers that had no intention to fight, and most of them only wanted to run away while ignoring his orders.

‘The soldiers of Taranto still lack training and experience!’ He sighed deeply in his heart, while also thinking, ‘What would Davos do if he were in this situation and is leading the Theonian army?’

Just as his thoughts wandered off, the guards had flanked him and rushed out of the gap under the push of the soldiers.

“Strategos, let’s run away!” The adjutant urged him impatiently.

‘Run? Where can I run?’ What Archytas could see in the distance was a group of enemy cavalries galloping across the flat field and reaping the lives of the soldiers of Taranto who were running for their lives; while close to him were several teams of enemy cavalry that are rushing towards him and are shouting something…

“It’s a pity that I haven’t completed my research on that lifting apparatus….” Archytas sighed again. Academically, he had regrets. Politically, he always advocated that the Greek city-states of South Italia should unite to fight against foreign enemies, and it seems that Theonia would fulfil this ideal of his…

At this moment, he put all his attachment and regret behind him as he drew out his sword and took the lead and rushed towards the enemy…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

With the setting sun falling and the tired birds returning to their nests, the dust and fog of the battlefield dispersed, and the sound of killing went away, and only leaving corpses everywhere and blood flowing.

Telemani, accompanied by Timogeras and a general of Peucetti, came to the body of Archytas.

This young military strategos, a Greek mathematical genius with high hopes from the people of Taranto, had three javelins piercing his body and collapsed among the bodies of several horses. Strangely, you could see no pain nor anger on his pale face, on the contrary, he was rather very serene…

“I thought it was a great man, but it is just a young man without even a beard!” The Peucetian general muttered disdainfully.

Telemani stares at him which made him close his mouth.

Telemani gazed at Archytas’ body for a moment and then said, “Cut off his head, and show it to the Greeks of Brindisi, and bury his body.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

It was not until late at night, when a handful of soldiers fled, with great difficulty, back to Taranto, that the people learned of the near-total loss of 6,000 soldiers, and the whole city was shrouded in great sorrow.

Compared with their defeat, the sacrifice of a large number of citizens, and the unknown whereabouts of Archytas, the council was even more shocked by the alliance of Peucetti and the Messapi, which doubled the pressure on Taranto.

The council of Taranto immediately held an emergency meeting late at night, only to find that the defeat in the battle had reduced the council’s number by nearly one-twentieth, as there was still no news regarding the six statesmen who had accompanied the army, including Archytas.

With grief, the people discussed how to deal with the difficult situation. At the end of the battle, Brindisi will be besieged by the combined forces of Messapi and Peucetti, and the main force of Messapi are still surrounding Manduria. With nearly 6,000 young and able-bodied citizens killed and wounded, and with the loss of up to 10,000 Taranto soldiers from the successive battles in the past few months, not to mention that nearly 6,000 soldiers trapped in the two cities, and what remained of Taranto was more than enough to defend, but less than enough to attack.

However, not only the statesmen of the council could not accept it, but also the people would never agree to it. So the only way was to ask for reinforcements.

But who to ask for help became their point of debate. Heraclea and Metapontum, as affiliated allies, were already at their limit with 3,000 men, and that Taranto would be facing an attack of perhaps 20,000~30,000 men from the Messapi-Peuceti alliance, which was far from enough. Therefore, the only option for Taranto was to ask for help from a city-state with a strong army, and Taranto had only a few choices.

Sparta in the east, as the mother-state of Taranto, had a good relationship with each other. During the Peloponnesian War, Taranto had stood on the side of Sparta, which added weight to the friendship between the two city-states, which was the choice of some conservative statesmen headed by Diaomilas; In the west, Theonia, as an ally of Taranto, had quickly become a union with six cities and two subordinate city-states within two years, and they had almost not been defeat in the battles that they have participated in. In one of the battles, they have even managed to send out 20,000 troops, and their strength was evident in their ability to deal even if they were vastly outnumbered. This was the choice of another archon, Umakas, and some of the statesmen; While some statesmen had also mentioned Syracuse in the south due to their relationship with Sparta, so Taranto and Syracuse still had some contacts. However, as a city-state of Magna Graecia, Taranto was also wary of Syracuse’s involvement in the affairs of South Italia. Besides, at this time, Syracuse was still fighting against Carthage, so how could they have spare strength to help Taranto? Therefore, they weren’t considered.

At the end of the discussion, most people tended to turn to Theonia for help. As Umakas said, “We, people of Taranto, had helped them selflessly when Davos was still just a leader of a mercenary: Archytas has led our soldiers to help them defeat the Luanians; When they covertly occupied Amendolara, we risked to offend the other city-states in Magna Graecia, even to selflessly helping them by acknowledging the legitimacy of their occupation of Amendolara, and we have also provided them with food and protected them from the attack of Thurii. When Thurii was burned and when Theonia was attacked by Crotone, it was we who extended our hand of friendship to them…it is precisely because of Taranto’s selfless help time and time again that the Theonia City-State Union is what it is today(of course, Umakas simply ignores the fact that Taranto had not sent any reinforcements during the battle with Crotone, as per as their agreement)! We, the people of Taranto, did not ask for rewards just because we have given favours to others. But we should also give the Theonians, who had enjoyed our help and have been restless in their hearts, a chance to repay us!….”

“Archon, you are right! We should generously give Theonia a chance to repay us!….” In fact, Theonia was the best choice to ask for help, both in terms of distance between the city-states and their current state of strength, not to mention that the two city-states are already in an alliance, while Sparta is currently involved in a war against Persia. It was just Taranto being ashamed for not sending troops to help Theonia in the past, and the reserve of being a powerful city-state in Magna Graecia with a long history that made them hesitant. With the tactful words of Umakas, it had managed to satisfy the vanity of the statesmen, which finally led them to an agreement.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Archytas is dead?!!” Davos looked in disbelief.

“Yes, archon, This morning, several soldiers who had fled back to Taranto had said that they saw the Messapians carrying the body of strategos Archytas on the battlefield….” Said Polidorus, the envoy of Taranto, in a sombre tone.

“How can a group of soldiers who are busy running for their lives see it clearly?!” Davos still didn’t want to believe this fact, “Maybe he was hurt and was captured?”

“We also hoped that strategos Archytas is still alive, but even if he is still alive and falls into the hands of the Messapians, he will also….” Said Polidorus, unable to continue.

Davos understood what he meant: As the main leader of Taranto’s army, the Messapians had seldom won against Archytas, especially this attack on Manduria and Brindisi which had dealt such a huge blow to the Messapians that they could not wait to drink his blood and eat his flesh! If he does fall into their hands this time, the fate of Archytas can be imagined!

Chapter 271 – The Theonians abide by their promise

Davos leaned back on his chair and did not speak as grief enveloped him for a moment…in this era, Davos has never stopped fighting and had long been used to life and death, and even if a mercenary soldier he had once shared a difficult situation with were to fall in front of him, it would have hardly made a ripple in his heart. But when he learned the news today, he had lost control of his emotion…

In fact, even though Archytas had not spent a long time with Davos, the two had immediately hit it off. This gentle and refined nobleman of Taranto was like a generous elder brother who helped Davos on many occasions. When Davos was still unknown, Archytas, as a statesman and strategos of Taranto, did not complain when he help Davos to repel the Lucanians; And after Davos captured Amendolara, Archytas had not only not feel any dissatisfaction with regards to Davos’ deception, but he had also actively let Taranto to ally with Amendolara, and at the same time, he had advised Davos not to seize power by violent means; Although the relationship between Taranto and Theonia began to drift apart, Archytas was still actively campaigning for friendship between the two city-states, enabling food to be bought from Taranto even when the port of Thurii was blocked by Crotone…

Davos was so immersed in his memories that his eyes began to moisten. He took a long and deep breath and then said aloud to Polidorus, with a solemn expression, “Theonia is Taranto’s ally, and it’s Theonia’s responsibility to help his ally repel the invasion of the enemy. Therefore, I will immediately request a Senate meeting! And I am confident that every statesman of Theonia will not hesitate to agree to send troops to rescue our friendly ally!”

Polidorus was sure that Umakas was right that the relationship between Archytas and Davos was extraordinary. And with the Senate of Theonia being said to be Davos’ alone, just getting his permission in advance means that there won’t be a problem in asking for their help this time!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Polidorus told the request of the statesmen of Taranto in the Great Senate Hall, with Davos taking a stand, there was little opposition.

Most of the statesmen from Amendolara and Thurii still remember the aid that Taranto had given them in their most difficult times. Kunogelata and the others had even said that keeping promises has always been the principle of the Theonians. And with Theonia becoming a powerful union in Magna Graecia, they should be brave enough to take up the responsibility of defending the city-states in South Italia and showing their sincerity to the surrounding city-states!

These words struck a chord in the hearts of everyone, and so the Senate voted unanimously to send reinforcement to Taranto, but there was a dispute over the number of troops to be sent.

Some statesmen, headed by Cornelius and Burkes thought that since it would soon be the autumn harvest season if too many young and able-bodied men were to be deployed at once and even with the help of the slaves, the harvesting would still be greatly affected. Therefore, they have suggested that no more than one Legion should be dispatched.

While a small number of Thurian statesmen headed by Pollux had thought that Theonia Union had been in too many wars within the past two years, and the people were already tired and in urgent need of recuperation. What’s more, with the help of Metapontum and Heraclea, Taranto’s military strength has not been greatly weakened, so Theonia only needs to send 3,000 men to show their sincerity.

However, Antonios, Kapus and other military statesmen raised their objection that the combination of Messapi and Peucetti was too powerful, so if Theonia were to only dispatch too few reinforcements, they would not be able to help Taranto to end the war quickly, and with the duration of the war being longer, it will affect the return of the reinforcements they have sent and will cause dissatisfaction among the people. Besides, only by sending a large number of soldiers can they take the lead in the war and avoid being randomly grouped up and ordered by Taranto, resulting in the soldiers being sacrificed in vain.

And so they suggested that it would be better to send two legions to Taranto.

The opinions of the military statesmen had convinced most of the statesmen, but the huge number of 14,000 soldiers in the two legions had still made the statesmen hesitant. In the end, everyone handed over the decision to Davos.

Davos naturally agreed with the opinion of Antonios and the others, and he then said, “Now that we have agreed to send reinforcements, we should show the sincerity and courage of Theonia as Taranto’s ally to the greatest extent. With the assistance of the two legions and the allied force of Taranto, we should be able to repel the enemy quickly and allow our citizens to return and take care of their farms as soon as possible…”

When Davos spoke this, he had consciously and unconsciously put the Theonian army in the position as the main force of the allied army, forgetting that once they arrived in Taranto, they would only be a visiting army. And no one in the Senate felt it strange, but rather had taken it for granted.

This time, there was no need for Mersis to worry about the dispatching of the troops, because when Polidorus learned that Theonia would send a huge contingent of 14,000 men, he was overjoyed and said to Davos in a loud voice, “The rations and needed supplies for the Theonian reinforcements will be provided by Taranto!”

Burkes of the Ministry of Agriculture had to get busy to ensure that each soldier’s farm could be better cared for while its owner was away.

Grumentum, Krimisa and Aprustum had only recently been integrated into the union and so they could not easily send troops into battle, while Nerulum, as the most stable rear of Theonia in the Lucanian region, also had the responsibility of having to send troops to stabilise Grumentum at any time, and so they would not send citizens from the city as far as Taranto unless there was an exceptional circumstance. Therefore, the citizens that Davos chose to go to war were all from Thurii and Amendolara, which are very close to each other, and these are the first and second legion. In this way, it will also save time and energy for Burkes when supervising the farmlands.

And at the same time, the Senate began to recall the soldiers belonging to the first and second legion who are going to Corinth to participate in the Isthmian Games.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Isthmian Games is one of the four major games in Greece which is held in the summer and autumn of the second year of the Olympiad. It is a celebration dedicated to Poseidon.

Davos didn’t know much about it, and it was Crotone’s polemarchos Lysias who, when bidding him farewell after the Hades celebrations, had sighed about the excitement of the Theonian Rugby Tournament and inadvertently mentioned that Crotone would soon be joining for the Isthmian Games in which Davos began to consider.

Today, the mercenaries led by Davos have not only taken root in Magna Graecia but also the Theonian Union he founded has become one of the most powerful in Magna Graecia, which is no less powerful than that of Sybaris a hundred years ago. However, while the exploits of Theonia are still well known in Sicily, they remain largely unknown from eastward of Sicily to Greece itself, and even less so to the Ionian Islands of the Aegean, let alone the Greek city-states of Asia Minor.

Theonia was now past the dormant point and needed to strengthen its ties with the Greek city-states of the eastern Mediterranean, which would be of great benefit in promoting trades and attracting freemen. Therefore, the proposal of Davos in the Senate to organize athletes to participate in the Isthmian Games was met with enthusiasm from the statesmen.

The enthusiasm of the Greek city-states in the western Mediterranean in participating in the four major Greek Games is not less than that of the Greek native people, and also much more active than that of the city-states in Asia Minor: First of all, the four major games are held either in the Peloponnesian Peninsula or near the Gulf of Corinth, which is closer to Magna Graecia and Sicily than Asia Minor; Secondly, these colonial city-states in the western Mediterranean have superior geographical location, fertile land and rich mineral resources, so most of them are relatively richer than their mother-city in Greece itself, and as there was no opportunity for comparison, the games became a stage for these “city-states rich men” in the western Mediterranean to show off their luxury by donating a large amounts of gold and silver to the temple treasury, and holding large-scale banquets for the athletes of the city-states…and so on., and to the dumbfounded eyes of the native people in Greece who were living a simple life, the Greeks of the western Mediterranean were ridiculed out of jealousy as “wretched people who have nothing but gold and silver”.

The Greeks of the western Mediterranean are not only able to show off their wealth at the Games but also get outstanding achievements. Crotone is a famous professional champion of major sports games, Syracuse is another, and athletes from Taranto, Locri and Agrigento have won numerous championships, while Sybaris, the former Thurii and Naples have all excelled in the Games. They are all keen to show their mother-city in Greece through the Games that although they are only colony or descendants of colonists, they are still far better than the Greeks in Greece.

And the proposal of Davos had merely inherited the glorious tradition of the Greeks in Magna Graecia.

After the announcement of the participation in the Games in the various cities, the Theonian citizens enthusiastically signed up, forcing the union to hold a trial competition. Finally, ten people were qualified to compete in Corinth, including Tagetinos who would take part in the wrestling competition, Matonis taking part in the javelin competition, Amintas signing up for the “armed distance race”, and Solikos taking part in the chariot competition…but now, they all have to return to the first and second legion to prepare for the battle at Taranto.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Although it was only a few months ago since the war that Theonia Union participated in had ended and the enemy they are about to face is quite formidable, it still did not dampen the enthusiasm of the citizens to go to war. Apart from the fact that war allowed them to accumulate merit and gain citizenship or land, the establishment of the Hall of Heroes and Hall of Sages in the Temple of Hades had also greatly stimulated their pursuit of honour.

Just as the citizens of Thurii and Amendolara were making active preparations for the expedition to Taranto, at the residence of the archon, Davos and the Chief of Military – Philesius, and the two legatus – Kapus and Drakos, were listening attentively to the detailed introduction of the two major powers in the Apulia region – Messapi and Peucetti, by the envoy of Taranto – Polidorus, “I think the several lords have heard the story that has been passed down since a long time ago….”

Chapter 272 – History of the Three race

Polidorus narrated, “…in ancient times, Lycaon – the king of Arcadia, was arrogant and disrespectful to Zeus. One day, he came up with a malicious idea to test Zeus, so he killed a servant*, cooked his meat into a soup, and invited Zeus to dinner. Zeus saw through his trick, destroyed his palace with lightning and turned Lycaon into a wolf, and then destroyed his kingdom…” (T/N: The most famous variant of the myth is Lycaon roasting one of his children and serve it to Zeus)

“I know about this legend, that the king of Arcadia was sacrilegious to the great god, so it is only natural that he and his kingdom were punished by Zeus, but what does this have to do with the Messapians?” Philesius interjected curiously.

Polidorus glanced at Davos and saw that he was also interested, so he said with a smile, “Yes, everyone in Greece knows the story of Lycaon, but his story is not yet over…Lycaon had three sons*, when the kingdom was destroyed, they took their own people and slaves, crossed the Adriatic Sea by boat then settled down on the south of Italia.” (T/N: Lycaon has 50 sons and almost each of them has founded a city in Arcadia.)

Polidorus looked at the crowd and said in a deep voice, “The names of these three sons are Daunius, Peucetius and Messapius.” (T/N:

“Oh.” Philesius was slightly surprised.

“After hundreds of years, the clansmen led by these three sons have grown, and they have named their tribes after the first three leaders to distinguish themselves from each other…this has been passed down among the Messapi, and due to us Tarantines being at war with them long enough, we manage to find out about it.”

When Polidorus finished speaking, Kapus asked anxiously, “And there is also a Daunian?! These three races were originally of the same race, so once we go to war with the Messapi-Peuceti alliance, wouldn’t the Daunian suddenly join?!”

Polidorus hastily explained, “Although they used to be of the same race, after hundreds of years of development, whether it is the Messapi, Peuceti, and Dauni, they are now all big races with dozens of tribes with more than 100,000 people, each of which has its own fixed territory. Not only do they have different political systems, but they also have conflicts of interest and have even become mortal enemies.

The Daunian are to the north of the Peucetians, and it was said that they have a large river and fertile land, and they have at least 5 big cities. While the Peucetians are sandwiched between the Daunians and the Messapians, and they have neither fertile land nor excellent port cities and trade channels like the Messapians, so they have a much more difficult time in developing. Therefore, they used to compete with the Daunians for land on both sides of the Ofanto River, hence why the two races were mortal enemies and could never unite. And to the south, the Peucetians and the Messapians have also clashed from time to time, and it is only because of our, Taranto’s, presence that the fighting between them has not been so fierce…”

Davos bowed his head and looked at the sketch of Taranto and the surrounding forces that Polidorus had roughly drawn at his request while listening to his narration. Then he suddenly asked, “What’s the difference between the political systems of Dauni, Peuceti and Messapi?”

Polidorus did not expect that Davos would ask this. He frowned and thought for a long time before saying, “Uhm…at present, the government of the various city-states of Messapi now is somewhat similar to our Greek city-states, but more than ten years ago, they were still a unified kingdom under their king – Artas, who offered hospitality to those Athenians who were going to attack Syracuse, and had even sent a large number of their warriors to join them…” Speaking of this, Polidorus sneered, “The territories of the Messapians are surrounded by our Greek city-states with frequent trade contacts. Therefore, the Messapians have long been influenced by the Greek’s democratic ideas, due to this, their nobles, tribes and cities have been clamouring to limit the power of the king, while Artas was a fool who had still chosen to have close contact with the Athenians. He knew nothing of the insidiousness of the Athenians, and just within a few years after the destruction of the Athenian army at Syracuse, the Messapian nobles revolted and the rule of Artas was overthrown, while he had lost his life…then, all the cities of the Messapi became independent one after another and were now largely ruled by the nobles who then elect an archon each year to rule the city-state along with a council of nobles, these Messapian city-states then formed a Messapian League with Rudiae at their head, and rarely fought with each other and are relatively united-”

When Polidorus said this, he spoke it in a somewhat lower tone instead, making Davos realise that this emerging Messapian city-states alliance seemed to give Taranto an even bigger headache.

“While Peuceti and Dauni are still ruled by a king…” Polidorus quickly changed the topic to the other two races, “The difference between them is that the king of Peuceti has more power, while the king of the Dauni…is said to be constrained by the various city lords…”

Davos listened thoughtfully, then asked, “Since Messapi and Peuceti have been in conflict, so why have they now formed an alliance?”

Polidorus said with a bitter smile, “You are asking me…however, according to the council’s analysis, the reason why the Messapians are willing to ally with Peuceti is that they are afraid of the offence of Taranto!”

There was a trace of pride on Polidorus’ face, while Davos nodded as he looked at the map again, but in his mind, he was thinking: Some time ago when Taranto attacked the Messapians, he heard that Taranto had suffered a lot of casualties, but they still manage to capture Brindisi and Manduria, and once they secured their newly captured territory, they could cut off the Messapians from the north, and with Taranto’s naval strength being one of the best in Magna Graecia, they could surround the Messapians and slowly swallow them. And even if Taranto lost men, they would still be able to supplement it with freemen, but the Messapians who have their people die one after another would only become weaker and weaker. This is probably the original plan of the statesmen of Taranto.

“As for Peuceti, perhaps they would rather have the Messapians who have the same blood as them be next to their territory than a foreign race! Besides, with the alliance with the Messapians, the Peucetians could fight against the Daunians with all their strength…”

This was only Polidorus’ guess, and Davos thought that there must be other reasons, otherwise, why would the Peucetians who are in a bad situation be willing to take risk in offending a powerful city-state in Magna Graecia?!

“The Peucetians sent out a large army to war, aren’t they afraid that the Daunians would take this opportunity to attack?” Asked Kapus.

“I heard that the Peucetians had attacked the Daunians last year and were defeated, and lost the land they occupied on the south bank of the Ofanto River, and the Peucetians eventually signed an armistice agreement with the Daunians.”

“Can an armistice agreement guarantee that the Daunians will not attack?”

Polidorus shrugged his shoulder and said angrily, “Who knows what is going on in the minds of these idiot barbarians. The Peucetians are already on our land anyway!”

Drakos yawned as he was not interested in what Polidorus was saying, but he was too embarrassed to interrupt once he saw that Davos was listening carefully.

At this time, he saw that Polidorus stopped talking, so he could not wait to ask, “What are the characteristics of the Messapians and the Peucetians’ army?”

When it comes to this issue, Polidorus had naturally become emotional again, “The Messapians used to have a lot of cavalry like the Peucetians, but their infantry was bad as they not only have no good armour, their formation was also loose, with the Messapians lacking discipline that they don’t even know how to arrange a phalanx formation, so they never dared to fight with us head-on, and they only know how to do sneak attacks and harassment, just like cowardly bandits! But the Athenians-” Polidorus increased his tone, “We are the children of Sparta, so during the Peloponnesian War, we naturally were on the side of our mother-city, but the Athenians went so far as to help a foreign race by supplying the Messapians with armour and weapons, and had even sent men to help train their heavy infantry and encouraging the Messapians to fight against us! The Messapians, having mastered our Greek tactics and with the support of Athens, did more harm to us than ever before! If it had not been for Archytas-” At this point, Polidorus became slightly gloomy.

Drakos did not care at all about the change of Polidorus’ mood and continued to ask, “What are the combat characteristics of the Messapian cavalry?”

Polidorus glanced at the others helplessly, but seeing that everyone was all interested, he could only say, “The Messapians are good riders. They could control the direction of the horses only by their legs even without holding the reins, moreover, they are good at throwing spears while on horseback, which is a threat to our hoplites.”

Davos and Philesius then looked at each other.

Polidorus noticed it, so he hurriedly said, “Although the Messapian cavalry is more powerful than our cavalry, is after all just a supplement in battle, and it is the heavy infantry that really makes the difference on the battlefield. And even if the Messapians had once had the help of the Athenians, their heavy infantry is still no match to a real Greek hoplite!”

Drakos once more asked, “How many men do the Messapian-Peucetian alliance have? How many citizens can Taranto send to war?”

Polidorus looked at him, he then spread both his hands and said, “I am just an envoy. It is up to the Council to decide how many citizens they would send to war, and I can’t make the decision. As for how many men there are in the Messapian-Peucetian alliance…we don’t even know whether Archytas is alive or dead, let alone the enemies’ number of troops. However, I estimate that there should be no more than 30,000 men, while among the citizens in Taranto who can fight now, including the garrisoned troops in Brindisi and Manduria, there are at least 16,000 young citizens and together with your own troops of 14,000, plus the 3,000 men from Metapontum and Heraclea, the total number of our joined troops is well over 30,000. Therefore, we should be able to defeat the Messapi-Peuceti alliance without difficulty!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After seeing off Polidorus, Davos returned to his mansion and continued the discussion.

“Lord Davos, if, it is as the envoy said that Taranto can send tens of thousands of men to join us, then we should rescue Manduria first.” Drakos then pointed to the map and said confidently, “With our troops being twice as the combined Messapi-Peuceti troops, we can not only defeat them, but we can even consider swallowing some of them. Which would make it much easier once we advance to the north to reinforce Brindisi.”

Chapter 273 – Theonia’s Interest Comes First

“I am afraid that instead of saving Manduria first, Taranto would make us rescue Brindisi first! Because at least for now, Manduria is safe, while Brindisi, with only two thousand soldiers and is far away from Taranto, was in much more danger!” Kapus said anxiously.

“If that is the case, we must not agree!” Drakos looked at Davos and said firmly.

“Milord, if we don’t repel the enemies that are in Manduria and we instead venture north, the Messapians could cut off our transport routes once Manduria is captured and we would be in danger of being pincered on both sides. So it would be best if we could gain command of the allied force, but if we can’t take command, then at least the autonomy of our Theonian army must be guaranteed!” Philesius also suggested solemnly.

Davos nodded in agreement.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After Kapus and Drakos had gone, Davos was left alone with Philesius.

“How is the preparation for the army that would go in the expedition progressing??”

“All the soldiers of the first and second legions have returned to the city for standby, but there are still many soldiers who have not yet changed their weapons and equipment.” Said Philesius, seeing that Davos’ face was slightly uneasy, so he hastily explained, “It is not that they didn’t actively replace them, but that there are only three weapon shops in Thurii and Amendolara. So they are unable to complete the production of tens of thousands of new armour and shields in just a few months, as just tanning the cowhide is already a time-consuming process, and with its quantity being so many that if it were not for the fact that we have the Lucanians of Nerulum and Grumentum grazing large numbers of livestock, it would have taken us years just to get enough hides…”

“In that case, we’d better use old equipment in this battle, while making the soldiers go to the weapons shop and temporarily exchange their original bronze helmets and shields.” Davos said with slight regret when he suddenly remembered something, “I heard that a Corinthian businessman built a large weapon workshop in the economic development zone of Amendolara, we could consider giving him some orders, but I do not know if he is willing to accept a trade-in.”

“The merchant’s name is Tios. I have spoken to him and he is more than happy to accept it.”

“Oh, he is a smart man, but too bad, he is a foreigner.” Davos thought of the simple water-powered forging hammer that had been successfully developed by the Institute of Mathematics and was considering finding a suitable big merchant to cooperate with. As a machine that could greatly save manpower and improve the efficiency of forging copper and iron, so naturally, Davos had to put it in his own hands for confidentiality.

“In addition, I have contacted the civil shipping association of the port(this is an unofficial shipping organization proposed by Davos and planned by Marigi, which has just been established, and all the Theonian merchant ships and passenger ships have joined its purpose in order to maintain the order of the port, prevent vicious competition, improve the efficiency of the industry, and facilitate cost management). Polidorus also said that Taranto’s ships will also come to the port to help with the transportation so that we can transport all the soldiers of the two legions to Taranto’s port at one time. Maybe the day after tomorrow, our army will be ready to sail to Taranto.” Philesius continued with slight excitement.

“Philesius, how many days does it usually take for a Greek city-state to go to war from mobilizing its citizens?”

Davos’ question has made Philesius to be taken aback, and he thought that Davos wanted to make a comparison, so he said, “From the mobilization of war to the selection of citizens, to the arranging of their household’s affairs, to the preparations of the weapons and equipment and food, to the forming the army and determining the officers…would take at least about three to four days, while we only need two days at most.”

“What if tens of thousands of people were to be mobilized?”

“Then it might take longer, maybe six or seven days, but for us, Theonia-” Before Philesius finished speaking, Davos waved his hand and said, “Then there is no need for us to be in too much of a hurry, as we can just set out after five days.”

Philesius thought that he had heard wrong, so Davos looked at Philesius and said in a deep voice, “In the past, although Taranto often fought with the Messapians, they had never attacked the Messapians with such complete disregard for the lives of their citizens as they did this time, do you know why?”

Philesius was not a fool, after more than a year of being the Chief of Military, both of his administrative ability and vision improved a lot, and he replied immediately, “It’s because of us.”

“Yes, it is due to us!” Davos added firmly, “The rapid increase of our union’s strength has put pressure on Taranto, and South Italia is not big enough that it can only accommodate for one hegemon, and that hegemon can only be Theonia! Now that Hades has helped us by putting Taranto in a difficult position, we must, therefore, seize this opportunity.”

Then came a sneer from Davos, “We can abide by the alliance agreement and help Taranto repel the Messapi-Peuceti alliance, but it should not be to help Taranto destroy their enemies and stabilize their newly occupied territories!”

Davos behaved calmly that one might even say he was cold because even his friendship with Archytas has not affected his decision on political matters.

As the second-in-command of the army, Philesius had helped Davos for more than two years, and he knew more about this leader of theirs than the other strategos, such as deliberately delaying the attack and causing heavy losses to the citizens of Amendolara, deceiving Cornelius into becoming an archon for life, and so on. The young archon was not as honest and upright as he appeared to be, but perhaps that is why he was able to lead the mercenaries to the heights that they have now reached, something that rough men like him, Kapus, Amintas and so on., who only knew how to fight, could never have achieved.

Philesius exhaled lightly, breathing out of his mind the enthusiasm that Davos had shown when facing Polidorus and the cold expression that he now wore…

“I understand, milord.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the next few days, Davos entrusted Avinoges, the archon of Laos, who was still watching the game and enjoying the food at Thurii, to find out all he could about the Bruttians to confirm whether the words of Siprus of Terina were true.

While spending the rest of his time in his mansion reading carefully the information collected by Aristias about Taranto and Messapi. And if he has time, he would use it to accompany his wife, Cheiristoya, and his son Crotokatax, who is now more than one year old.

Polidorus, however, was anxious day by day that he kept visiting Davos and Philesius several times, but they had rejected him with legitimate reasons. Besides, it is a fact that there are more and more soldiers gathering in Thurii every day, and mobilizing tens of thousands of soldiers to fight would take a longer time. However, the situation in Taranto is getting worse every day that they urgently needed the Theonian army to rescue them.

On the day after the defeat of Archytas, a fast messenger from Brindisi returned to Taranto to inform the council that when Archytas died in the battle, the Messapi-Peuceti alliance threw his head into the city and built a “mountain of corpses”, using the thousands of corpses of Taranto’s soldiers, outside the city, and threatens the garrison of Brindisi to open the city and surrender, which caused the people in the city to panicked. And after the Messapi-Peuceti alliance had waited for a long time and had still not received a reply, they then began their attack on the city.

Brindisi urgently asked Taranto for help and claimed that the enemy forces were too strong and the defenders were few. Moreover, they did not get enough time to completely repair the broken city wall, and if they did not get reinforcements, Brindisi would fall in two~three days.

When the Council of Taranto was discussing urgently “how to rescue Brindisi”, another news came regarding the Messapian army that was besieging Manduria to disappear!

The statesmen of the council, led by Umakas and Diaomilas, were not relieved to hear this news. Although it was impossible to know the direction of the main force of the Messapians because of the blockade by the Messapian cavalry, everyone could still roughly guess even without thinking that the Messapians were most likely heading east to join the Peucetian army, and means that Brindisi is in danger!

Although it has already been reported that Theonia would send more than ten thousand reinforcements, however, they would certainly not arrive within a short time. But if Taranto wants to send their troops to reinforce from the land, in the face of the blockade of tens of thousands of Messapi-Peuceti alliance, the Council thinks that this is simply them seeking death, so they finally decided that they would reinforce Brindisi from the sea so that they would be able to hold out until the allied force of Taranto and Theonia comes to their rescue.

Taranto then sent 80 ships, including 40 triremes, which are almost all of Taranto’s naval force, escorting a convoy filled with 4,000 soldiers to Brindisi.

After bypassing the “Heel” of the Italian Peninsula, the fleet was intercepted by the Messapi-Peuceti united fleet near Hodrum, a city-state of the Messapians.

Although the Peucetians’ navy is not strong, and they only have one port city, Barium, it is already good enough for them to scrape together half a dozen ships. However, the Messapians are different, as most of their city-states such as Alytia, Brindisi, Mesania, Uzentum, Hodrum are port cities. On the contrary, their largest city-state Rudiae is an inland city, located in the centre of the Messapian region and it is the capital of the former Messapian kingdom. Due to this, the Messapians were not weak in seafaring and had a more developed marine trade, and later, thanks to the Athenians, they were not only able to build their own triremes, but were also skilled in using the advanced naval warfare techniques of the Greeks, which had caused Taranto a lot of trouble at sea previously, and this time, the largest naval battle between Taranto and Messapi is about to break out. The Messapians have gathered all their city-state’s ships, 58 in all, including 25 triremes, plus the six ships of Peuceti, making a total of 64 ships.

One side is in a hurry to reinforce, while the other has to fight tooth and nail to intercept, and so both sides started engaging in a fierce battle at sea…

Although the Messapians had fewer ships, they attacked bravely, and even though Taranto had many ships, they had to consider the transport convoy behind them, so they were instead timid in their attack.

Chapter 274 – Another Huge Blow

The battle lasted for four hours, in the end, Taranto lost fifteen ships, including four triremes and four transport ships, while the Messapi-Peuceti fleet lost twenty-three ships, including seven triremes, which caused the Messapi-Peuceti fleet to take the initiative to retreat, while the Tarantine navy, who was busy saving the drowning soldiers had no intention of pursuing them, as they just wanted to leave this strange area on the sea as soon as possible and arrive at Brindisi to complete their task of reinforcing it.

Simultaneously as the fierce sea battle, the Messapi-Peuceti alliance learned the plan of Taranto to reinforce Brindisi from the sea. Therefore, despite the fatigue of the twenty thousand Messapi-Peuceti soldiers, they have launched their biggest siege and begun carrying ladders, pushing siege equipment and storming Brindisi…

After two days of hard fighting, only a few hundred defenders left on Brindisi. It is only with the help of the freemen in the city that they could still support even today, but facing the flood of enemies, the inexperienced freemen panicked…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Once the navy of Taranto arrived at the port of Brindisi, the soldiers began to go ashore. However, before they could assemble and form up, the city of Brindisi was breached. The defeated soldiers, freemen and their families ran to the port in panic, trying to find a ship to get out of the city that has fallen as quickly as possible. And the soldiers who had come to reinforce them also began to feel the grave situation and asked to get reboarded and leave. Everyone rushed to the ship, followed by the cry for help from the defeated soldiers and their families, and the whole port was then filled with people and had made the order to be chaotic, causing people to fall into the sea from the pushing…

In the face of such a situation, the nauarch was at a loss for a while and could only command the ships under his command to save the people. However, the Messapi-Peuceti allied force’s pursuit made the men scramble for their lives, pushing each other and scrambling to climb aboard, causing the two ships to capsize from being overloaded.

The nauarch felt the situation to be grim, so he urgently ordered the fleet to leave the port, but due to the soldiers and sailors fighting, several ships were unable to get out of the port.

At this time, the warriors of the Messapi-Peuceti alliance had already managed to get in, they were like hungry wolves rushing to the people of Taranto, who were trembling with fear, and started killing them wantonly even those who had already raised their hands and surrendered, and soon, the blood that is flowing on the port dyed the sea red…

The soldiers, sailors, and survivors who managed to board the Tarantine fleet could not bear to witness such a tragic sight, so they fled the port in haste. However, the disaster was far from over, and they were soon intercepted by the defeated fleet of the Messapi-Peuceti navy. Although the Tarantine fleet has many ships, the ships were now filled with people, which has caused them to lose their speed and flexibility and became a sitting duck for the Messapi-Peuceti ships.

During the fierce battle, the ships of Taranto were overturned, but there were no ships to rescue the people who fell into the water, and the sailors who were terrified by the tragic sight in the port had only one thing they wanted, and that is, to return to their home. And now, both sides changed positions, with Taranto only having 45 ships remaining, with only some transport ships managing to leave the battlefield.

However, the Messapi-Peuceti fleet who had won was still in hot pursuit…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the fourth day after Polidorus asked Theonia for help, the Messapi-Peuceti, who managed to recapture Brindisi, marched westward after a short rest. In the afternoon, they started to surround Manduria once again, which caused the whole city of Taranto to panic, and so they sent envoys to Theonia to ask for help one after another…

In the early morning of the fifth day, the Theonian reinforcements finally set out.

It was early September, and the morning started to become cooler.

After saying goodbye to their families, the first and second legion’s soldiers began to form a line in Nike Square.

After counting their numbers, the Grand Legatus – Davos, announced their departure.

The whole army first marched to the northwest of the city, then arrived at the hill of the Temple of Hades, and knelt to pray devoutly.

The bronze bells in the temple rang, and the priest in charge – Plesinas, led dozens of priests and priestesses of the Temple of Hades to sing the ode of Hades for the soldiers and give them blessings.

If it was in other city-states, it would be even necessary to make divination before going to war, but Davos had cancelled this practice. War is a matter of life and death for a city-state, and victory depends on strength, strict training and careful planning and not on the illusory thing called divine luck, and Davos does not want his soldiers to develop this bad habit.

At the end of the prayer, the whole army headed east and went out of the gate then to the port of Thurii. The families of the soldiers and the people who came to see them off were on both sides of the roads.

What made Polidorus lament was that only a few family members cried and refused to let the soldiers go out, some wished for the soldiers’ safety and encouraged them to obtain military achievements at the same time, while some were envious of the good luck of the soldiers and were not convinced and thought that they would perform better if they were the one chosen.

“The Theonians love war!” Polidorus had forgotten who had said this to him in the first place. He couldn’t help but look at Davos, the commander of this army who was beside him, a young man at the age of 20 who at the moment was showing a compose and serious expression beyond his age, ‘The fact that the Theonians have such a commander who is good at war, is the reason why they have risen to prominence today!’

But under the pressure of the enemy army, the strength of the Theonian army had made Polidorus feel a bit relieved because the Theonian army can be relied on.

Hundreds of transport ships, including those that are from Theonia, Taranto, Metapontum, Heraclea and even Roscianum are docked in the port…

Under the guidance of the port management, the troops entered each dock in an orderly manner, and under the command of their officers, they began to orderly board the ships in turn.

Polidorus’ transport ship was the first to leave the port because he had to go back to Taranto to inform the council to prepare to welcome the Theonian reinforcements.

Along with him was Antonios, who needed to coordinate with Taranto on many matters, such as the entry of the Theonian army into the port, settling the army, provision of the military and so on., originally, this task should be left to Philesius, but with Davos leaving Theonia, someone needed to defend Thurii in case of accidents. Philesius, as the second-in-command of the army, was naturally the most suitable person. With Philesius unable to go, and the two legatus – Kapus and Drakos, only knew how to fight and are unsociable people, Davos can only let Antonios, the senior centurion of the first legion to be in charge of the communication. In fact, Alexius, the second senior centurion of the first legion, is also a suitable person, but Davos thinks that Antonios is more tactful than Alexius.

There are also some special personnel on the Theonian army on board this ship, such as the engineering brigade of the legion. Because the place to settle the Theonian army in Taranto has been determined in advance, the engineers will go to the site first to investigate the terrain, plan how to build the camp, the size of the camp, the layout of the tent, the width of the trench and so on., so that the army can start building the camp as soon as they arrived at Taranto.

The soldiers stepped on the rickety deck and put their helmets, linen armour, round shields, shin protector, spears and javelins close to the side of the ship as they waved goodbye to their families and friends on the shore.

And so, the ships began to leave the port one after another.

In the morning, with a strong northeast wind blowing in the Gulf of Taranto, all the ships began to lower their sails and took advantage of the wind to head straight east, with waves occasionally lapping at their hulls from the side and rear, splashing and wetting the clothes of the soldiers, but it could not dampen their spirits in any way.

“I heard that the people of Taranto are very rich, with us helping them to defeat those aborigines this time, will they give us enough silver coins to thank us?” One of the recruits said excitedly.

“Fool, do you know how many soldiers are going to Taranto this time? It’s 14,000! This does not even include the Cavalry Brigade, Engineering Brigade, Medical Camp…so even if Taranto gives us dozens of Talents, how much of those coins can be distributed to each man after handing over some for the legion’s fund?!” Another soldier admonished him in disbelief, “You might as well kill a few more aborigines and accumulate more war achievements so that the union can allocate a few more square metres of land to you!”

“Speaking about war, I get angry just by thinking about it! The third legion is too lucky, they captured Aprustum, and then Grumentum, why do they always get picked?! Just because they are mostly Lucanians! And when we finally go out to rescue the city-states in the south, but before we could even start fighting, the Locrians are already begging for peace. Tell me, wouldn’t this make you angry? I just hope that this time, those aborigines won’t copy the Locrians and make us go on an expedition in vain!” The words of another soldier resonated with the soldiers around him, which stirred up their worries.

“Don’t worry, the Messapians wouldn’t be like the weak Locrians. I heard that they are very fierce and Taranto couldn’t even take advantage of them. Otherwise, Taranto would have already established several sub-cities nearby, and what’s more, this time, the Messapians have allied with the Peucetians and have defeated Taranto one battle after another. Their morale is increasing, and they might even try to destroy Taranto, so how could they negotiate peace with us?!” Said a soldier who knew something about Taranto.

“That would be wonderful! Only by defeating the Messapians can we show the power of Theonia and we will then become heroes that have saved Taranto!” One of the soldiers declared it in a loud voice, which aroused the excited cheers of everyone.

“I heard that all the women in Taranto are beautiful. Then, if we become heroes, can we marry one back?” Someone poked fun at the idea and was immediately shoved by another person, “Pesias, stop dreaming! The citizens of Taranto are arrogant, and they always looked down on the people of other city-states in Magna Graecia. Do you think that they would marry their daughter to us who they only see as “farmers”?!”

“Is that true, Sitalses?” Asked Pesias curiously.

Chapter 275 – Leotychides

“Well…the Tarantines don’t show it clearly as what Hybaterus said, but they do not like to associate with our city-state.” Sitalses, who knew Taranto very well, answered thoughtfully, “It is only in the last few years, because of the Messapians’ constant invasion, that they propose to build a South Italia defensive alliance in Magna Graecia to resist the aborigine barbarians jointly! Although city-states like Thurii and Crotone have joined previously, they are not that active…”

“Why do the Tarantines look down on us?” Exclaimed Hybaterus, “Brothers, you should all know about the Tarantines saying that they are descendants of Sparta, but in fact, it is all a lie! They are the descendants of bastards, children born of Spartan women and slaves*-” (T/N: Not really slaves but Perioeci aka freemen.)

As soon as he spoke these words, the soldiers went into an uproar as most of them were poor people with little education, so they naturally do not know about the history of Taranto, which made them surprised and asked, “Hybaterus, is that true?! The Tarantines were descendants of Spartan women and slaves-”

“Of course it is true! Any soldier who is a citizen of the old Thurii should know about this. I heard that hundreds of years ago, when the Spartan men fought outside of Sparta for a long time, the women…hehe…felt lonely, so they got together with the slaves! After the children were born and had grown up, the Spartan men who came back and found out about it could not bear the humiliation and drove them out of the city-state. Therefore, the Spartans built Taranto not because they had too many people and not enough food, but for the stability and reputation of Sparta, so it should not be Taranto who is looking down on us, but it should be us who is looking down on them! They are just a bunch of bastards! A group of-” Hybaterus was laughing triumphantly when he suddenly heard the people around him shouting, “Be careful! Get out of the way!”

Before he could react, a heavy blow struck his face, and he fell forward with his surroundings darkening; fortunately, his comrades supported him from behind.

“Hey, why did you hit him!” Shocked, the soldiers rushed forward to stop the enraged soldier.

“Shut your mouth! Shut up! If you dare say it again, I will beat you to death!…” The soldier’s eyes were red, and his face was furious as he roared towards Hybaterus.

“Prosous, shut up, you are mad!” Sitalses, who was the squad captain, rushed forward to angrily reprimand the soldier, “For your provocation and assault on your comrades, you will receive punishment according to the military law!”

At this time, Hybaterus woke up and became enraged once he saw the man clearly, “How dare you hit me! Brothers, let’s beat him up! Beat this disgusting stone*!” With that, he dashed over, pushed Sitalses aside and wrestled with Prosous, and several other soldiers were encouraged by him to join in the fight. (T/N: Will be explained later.)

The ship became a mess, and the noisy shouting had naturally alerted the platoon captain, who was on the same ship. By the time he arrived with his men, Prosous had already knocked the soldiers, including Hybaterus, to the ground.

“Prosous, do you want to be driven out of Theonia?!” Prosous, who was still angry, shuddered by the shout of Pamanius. Thinking of something, he immediately stopped fighting and just stood in the same place.

“Go and tie him up!” Ordered Pamanius.

The soldiers hesitated to come forward, while Prosous remained motionless, which allowed them to pin him down on the deck.

“Platoon captain, he was the one who started it. I did not provoke him when he suddenly rushed forward and struck me!” Hybaterus points to the bruise on his face and complains to Pamanius.

“Don’t speak for now.” Pamanius ignored him and had instead asked the squad captain – Sitalses for the reason, which immediately made his face darken.

“Why did you beat your comrade?!” Asked Pamanius.

Prosous was pinned to the ground with his hands tied behind his back; however, he still did not say a word as Pamanius continued interrogating him.

Pamanius is now feeling a headache.

Previously, the first and second legions had to expand their recruitments to make up for the shortage of troops because many of the soldiers had moved to Krimisa and Aprustum, where the fourth legion would be established.

Prosous, a registered foreigner who applied to become a preparatory citizen, was said to have come from Argos. After entering the camp, his performance in the training had soon surprised the instructors, as this young man is not only physically strong but also highly skilled. He is good at using shield, spear, sword and javelin, and he is also adept at marching in formation and listening to orders. He even managed to learn some of the unique Theonian tactical movements and easily won first place in the camp’s recruit competition.

The instructors were amazed by his military talent, and the officers of all ranks have also heard of his deeds and scrambled to have him join their team. Matonis is also one of them, and it is said that he had even used his connection with Davos to eventually get him to his team, and he reminded Pamanius several times to focus on him.

However, Pamanius soon discovered that Prosous had a huge shortcoming – he was not sociable. During training, he performed very well, but he doesn’t like to talk during their rest, and he even seldom talked with his squadmates, always sitting alone and not knowing what he is thinking, so his squadmates nicknamed him “stone” and was accused of being arrogant, which is why many had helped Hybaterus in the fight just now, it was clear that the soldiers in his squad did not like him.

“Very well, there is no need for you to say anything now, as the military inspector will make you say it once we get ashore!” Pamanius angrily left this sentence as he still had to figure out how to mention this to Matonis.

Prosous was tied to the mast, and even with the strange looks that the soldiers around him give, it still did not bother him, and he did not even care about the punishment of the military inspector. His eyes were still red as he bowed his head and tried not to let his tears fall because, at this moment, he thought of his mother.

Prosous is not his real name, his real name is Leotychides, the son of Agis, the previous king of Sparta, and his mother had ended up choosing to commit suicide because of the rumours, and so he finally made up his mind to leave Sparta.

In search of a shelter, he found that there were not many places for him to choose from. The eastern Mediterranean is now the world of Sparta, and Persia, which is at war with Sparta, could be one of the places he could go, however, although Leotychides wanted to get his revenge on Sparta, he did not want to discredit himself and his father and make the people think that they made the correct to choice in choosing his uncle, Agesilaus, to inherit the throne. The western Mediterranean is beyond the reach of Spartan forces, and there are many Greek city-states, however, he hopes that one day, he could give Sparta trouble for his humiliation and making his mother die, so there are only a few city-states he could choose from.

Syracuse is one, but they are allied with Sparta. Carthage is another, but they are a foreign race and could not speak Greek, which made Leotychides not understand them. In the end, he chose Theonia because of the accusation of Phidias of them not having any respect for Sparta when he went to report to the Gerousia, which made him very curious about this rare union of city-states who dared to look down on Sparta. Before that, the inspector – Cheirisophus, had even recommended to the Gerousia a person he called “A Greek with extraordinary military talent”, and this man is now the archon of Theonia

When he sought the opportunity to flee Sparta and came to Magna Graecia, he discovered that Theonia’s influence was great in Magna Graecia, and they had almost become the most powerful city-state in South Italia, just less than two years after its establishment.

Amazed by the rapid rise of Theonia, Leotychides took up residence in the port of Thurii to observe the city. After learning about Theonia’s past, its unique system of governance and city atmosphere, and especially after seeing the triumphant return, he had a hunch that one day, this city-state would be able to make his wish come true. Leotychides felt that he had come to the right place and so he decided to stay in Theonia while remaining anonymous.

With some of the wealth that his father, Agis, had secretly stored in Crete to support himself, he then applied to the union to become a Theonian citizen. And thanks to his childhood training in Sparta’s cruel “Agoge”, he stood out from the rest of the Theonian recruits and was granted full citizenship before he could even become a preparatory citizen.

But he was still despairing about the loss of his mother and with his unforgettable hatred of Sparta, he was unable to integrate into this new group. And the word “bastard” has become so taboo to him that it had made him mad just by hearing it.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Gulf of Taranto is similar to a gourd in shape with two naturally formed circular bays that are stacked together; it not only expanded the capacity of the port but also made it more secure. The Tarantines had fortified both the opening and the narrowing of the gourd-bay and had even built two watergates to strengthen the defence of the port even more.

At this moment, the first watergate was wide open, and countless transport ships carrying troops entered and were guided and supervised by dozens of Tarantine patrol boats, and sailed one after another to the northwestern corner of the bay. The coastline of the whole bay is quite long, and the city of Taranto, being in the southeastern corner of the bay, could not hold all the land defences of the bay, so Taranto placed the Theonian reinforcements in the northwestern corner of the bay, which was the weakest point of Taranto’s control of the bay and also out of a desire to have Theonia help in its defence.

When Davos’ ship passed the first watergate, he was struck by the fact that the rough sea, was not rough here at all, which made him sigh at this marvel: He was surprised to learn that despite the breakwater and the inward excavation and widening of the port, the port of Thurii was still somewhat crowded and in case of a storm, the ships will inevitably be damaged, but unlike here, they don’t have to consider these problems at all, as their port is an excellent natural port. And he wondered about another famous port in Magna Graecia, the port of Crotone?

Author’s Note: I have a little time today, so I want to discuss Archytas in history. The information I collected is mostly about his achievements in mathematics, but in other aspects, there are only a few. He is known as “Pericles of Magna Graecia”, after becoming the archon of Taranto in his middle-aged year, Taranto has become prosperous and powerful in Apulia for more than a decade, but please note that even during this period of prosperity, they had never occupied Brindisi and Manduria, which means that Taranto’s prosperity was still defensive. When Plato was rejected by Dionysius II, Archytas had invited him as a guest of Taranto, and Plato had considered Archytas to be his ideal philosophical king, because the Pythagorean School succeeded mathematics, but also had their own philosophy. Archytas eventually died in a shipwreck, and his body is said to have only been retrieved a century later.

At the beginning of this book, I have no plan to write about his death at this time, but the butterfly effect of the MC has made the Tarantines, who always take defensive measures against the attack of the Messapians on a large scale, take the offensive, and eventually, it has come to this point as I was writing it and became out of my control. And it is better for him to die on the battlefield than to sleep on the bottom of the sea, and his achievements in mathematics can only be accomplished by others, and I hope that it would be the Theonian Akademia.

Chapter 276 – The Meeting’s Undercurrent

Instead of following the fleet, Davos instead sailed ahead through the second water-gate towards the main port of Taranto.

Although it is currently wartime, the port of Taranto was still very busy, and even more so than usual, as the continuation of the war had increased the demand for all kinds of goods in Taranto, and despite the full assistance of the port staff, it had still taken a long while for Davos’ ship to dock.

Davos was not in a hurry, he carefully observed the port and compared it with the port of Thurii…

Once they got ashore, the Tarantines were attracted by the sight of Davos and his party, especially by his guards that were in full military uniform and were led by Martius, that had made them even stop what they were doing and watched curiously. And some people who knew what is happening had guessed that they might be the reinforcements from Theonia, but none of them expressed their welcome, let alone the cheers that are common in the port of Thurii. They just looked on coldly, and some had even shown sadness in their eyes. Davos noticed that many women were wearing black cloth on their heads, and the shadow of defeat had shrouded the people of Taranto.

The group of statesmen of the council of Taranto, out of reserve as an old and powerful city-state, did not go to the port to meet them and had instead waited at the gates of the city.

“Here they are!” With this shout, the crowd shook themselves to their feet and looked forward.

The one approaching them is a young man, he has a calm look with a steady gait and a sense of steadiness far different from that of ordinary young people. However, as an archon of a city-state, he is indeed too young.

Umakas nudge on Diaomilas, who was still lost in his thoughts, and was about to remind him.

Diaomilas understood what Umakas about to say and said, “I understand…who told us to ask for help from others.”

After speaking this, he strode forward and said, “Welcome, the young archon of Theonia. We had been waiting for the arrival of our closest ally, Theonia, like a dry field waiting for rain. Thank the gods that you have finally come at last!”

Umakas frowned and was worried that Davos would not be happy from hearing that.

Then Davos immediately said with an apologetic expression, “I apologise! As you know, it is only less than two years since the establishment of Theonia Union, and this is the first time that we sent nearly 20,000 people as reinforcements, which is almost two-thirds of the number of citizens of Thurii, and it is also the season when the autumn harvest is about to start, as well as the first time that so many soldiers are being transported across the sea, all these matters are too complicated and we are too inexperienced, so we have only arrived today, and I hope that we have not delayed anything important.”

“You are not late! You are not late! In fact, you are just in time!” Said Umakas hurriedly, “I honestly didn’t expect that Theonia would send such huge troops, which really helped us a lot! Lord Davos, we, the people of Taranto, thank you very much for your generous help!”

At this time, Polidorus finally had a chance to interject and started the introduction, “Lord Davos, this is our archon of Taranto, Lord Umakas.”

Judging from what he said just now, the archon was at least somewhat accommodating for Theonia, so Davos paid him respect.

“This is Diaomilas, the other archon of Taranto.” Polidorus continued on the introduction.

Davos glanced at him: Narrow eyes, thin nose, thin lips, a serious expression with a mean gaze, which is obviously due to his prejudiced against Theonia, according to the information of Aristias, there are a lot of such people in the council of Taranto, but Davos had still paid his respect seriously.

Next, they would meet the statesmen of the Council of Taranto in turn, which have been derived from the Spartan’s Gerousia, but they have much more statesman than the Spartan’s Gerousia, which has only 30 seats, and the council of Taranto is elected annually by all citizens, just like the archons.

“This is-” Before Polidorus could finish speaking, the old man in front of him raised his eyebrows and glared then pointed at Davos and cursed, “You still have the face to come to Taranto! When you promised to promote our school in Amendolara, we had sent our apprentices to Amendolara to help you. But who knew that not only have you let them betray the school, but you had also let them use money to lure more apprentices to leave Taranto! My son still regarded you as his friend, even though this is how you repay the Pythagorean school for its selfless help to Theonia! The only thing I can say to you is that Taranto does not welcome you!”

Davos didn’t expect to meet a Pythagorean here, so he was rather embarrassed. He then looked back at Polidorus and asked, “Who is he?”

“Histiaeus, the father of Archytas.” Replied Polidorus.

Davos countenance obviously changed, no matter how unhappy the old man was, Davos still paid his respect, “Archytas is my good friend and I will avenge him by repelling the Messapians and bring back his body so that you would be able to mourn him, uncle!”

“Even without the help of Theonia, we Taranto can defeat the Messapians and take back my son’s body!” Histiaeus’ had tears in his eyes, but he remained stubborn.

At this moment, a cavalry came galloping and shouting repeatedly throughout the way, “The fleet is back! The fleet is back!…”

After hearing him, the statesmen immediately left Davos and his party behind and ran to the port.

Polidorus hurriedly explained to him, and Davos listened with understanding and offered to go along to see what was going on.

Standing high outside the port and looking down at the beach: At the central dock of the port of Taranto, a line of warships slowly entered…

Polidorus opened his eyes wide and counted the number of ships. The more he counted, the more flustered he became. Finally, he said with a trembling voice, “There…there are only 19 warships and 25 transport ships…”

If Davos hadn’t helped him in time, Polidorus would have collapsed.

Davos had also frowned. According to Polidorus, when the fleet of Taranto left the port, it had 80 warships and 100 transport ships and 4000 soldiers on board. But now, only a quarter of the ships have returned, which is definitely a huge loss for Taranto, not only in ships and men but also in sailors, with a trireme needing close to 200 sailors for it to be fully manned, anyone can imagine how much loss this has caused to the manpower of Taranto’s port.

This has also given a warning to Davos: Before gaining absolute control over the sea, they must be cautious when transporting soldiers across the sea by ships!

All the people in the port were in great grief that even though Davos was far away, he could still hear the sound of mourning.

Polidorus was still stretching out his neck to look, hoping that there were still some ships that were just lagging behind which caused them to not be able to enter the port in time. In the end, he gave up and grip his hands tightly and repeatedly said, “Lord Davos, Taranto truly need the full help of Theonia!”

Davos nodded and thought to himself: Counting this naval battle, he feared that the war between Taranto and Messapi had resulted in tens of thousands of casualties among the soldiers of Taranto which had really hurt them.

As the Council of Taranto is still busy dealing with the aftermath, the upcoming meeting can only be postponed.

Davos did not care, so he just went back and started the construction of the camp with the soldiers.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The defeat of a major naval battle has repercussions in every war. Compensating for the casualties was just the bare minimum, it is also necessary to repair the remaining ships, speeding up the rebuilding of a new fleet, reassuring the merchants in the port and making sure that the sea trade routes had not been cut off by the enemy…however, the pressing war situation forced Taranto to put these complicated aftermaths aside for the next day as all of these could not be resolved in just a day or two, as it is necessary for them to immediately start the joint war meeting in order to launch a land-based counter-attack against the Messapi-Peuceti alliance as soon possible so that they could reduce the enemy’s threat to the city of Taranto.

Considering that Theonia’s archon was left out in the cold yesterday due to unforeseen events, Umakas decided to invite him personally.

Umakas then rode to the northwest corner of the bay and got surprised by the sight of a huge military camp, with trenches, fences, gates, guard towers, tents…everything was there, and it had only taken the Theonians one day to build a “city” in this relatively sparsely populated area!

Umakas was naturally not aware of Theonia’s emphasis on the importance of camp construction during wartimes that they had even standardised some of their camp facilities after being repeatedly researched and tried by the army engineers at the initiative of Davos, such as the materials needed for the camp gate and guard tower were already made in Thurii in advance and transported by the logistics camp. After arriving at their destination, they would only need to assemble it according to the actual situation, which saved them time and effort, and they would then take it back after the camp was removed. Of course, the premise is for them to have a strong logistics and transportation capacity and better road conditions.

Umakas became startled when he heard someone calling him. When he looked carefully, it turned out to be Timias, a theatre owner in the city of Taranto, which naturally made him asked with curiosity, “Why are you here?”

“Business of course.” Timias then pointed to the women dressed up around him and said helplessly, “When we lost in the war with the Messapians, the citizens didn’t have the mood to go to the theatre or play with the girls, which has caused me to not gain any profit for two months now. When I heard that nearly 20,000 reinforcements from Theonia have come, I came here to see if there is any chance to earn money. However, the guards here wouldn’t even allow us to get inside!”

When he heard this, Umakas was slightly embarrassed: Timias’ theatre mainly attracts people to earn money by performing some vulgar and obscene plays, and at the same time, he also worked part-time by providing male and female prostitutes for the rich, as they were mostly actors, they were more popular because of their high quality, but he didn’t expect that he would even come to the camp of Theonia. So he persuaded him, “A war is about to break, so you should not disturb the rest of the Theonians.”

Chapter 277 – Military Discussion

“What’s wrong if there is a war?! Before the war I, Timias, had not only provided good service to the soldiers, we had even served you, Umakas, at your door on more than one occasion, and I have not heard you say that it had interfered your rest!” Timias said out loud, and some of the women were even winking at Umakas.

“Hmph…if you want to stay here, then stay!” Umakas was furious and angry, but he could not show it in public, so he ended the discussion with some annoyance and drove his horse forward, asking the guards to go in and report.

“Lord Umakas, when you see the archon of Theonia, can you help us…to get us inside…” Seeing that Umakas was going to enter the camp, Timias went near him with a smile, while Umakas just ignored him and went straight in.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Davos left the camp, Timias and the women tried to surround him, but Martius led the guards and drove them aside.

Umakas pretended not to hear it, while Davos just laughed and pointed to a noisy area in front of the camp, “The mind of the Taratines is so flexible. We had just built the camp yesterday, and today, a lively market was immediately built here. To tell you the truth, it has made it convenient for our army to gather necessary supplies; however, prostitutes are strictly prohibited in the army, and according to the 《Theonian Military Law》, offenders will be deprived of citizenship. So even if they were to enter the camp, no one would dare to get in contact with him in violation of the military law.”

Umakas blushed slightly, and he sighed, “Your military laws are so strict, it is no wonder that you have such an excellent record in battle.”

The meeting was held in the manor of Umakas, on the outskirts of Taranto.

In the meeting room, Davos met not only Diaomilas but also the archon of Heraclea – Teriphias, and the archon of Metapontum – Taudeles.

Diaomilas still has the same expression as yesterday, but he at least didn’t say anything; presumably, the bad news of the naval fleet defeat had knocked the wind out of his sails.

Taudeles greeted Davos very politely while Teriphias did not only shake the hands of Davos, he had even given him an embrace while talking and laughing. After all, Heraclea is next to Amendolara, and when the mercenaries led by Davos had just established their foothold in Amendolara, they had constant dealings with Heraclea, and in less than two years, the two had established a relatively close relationship.

After everyone sat down, Umakas once again said, “Esteemed lords, thank you for the selfless help that you have offered us in Taranto’s time of trouble! On behalf of the Council of Taranto, and the people of Taranto, Diaomilas and I would like to express our heartfelt thanks to you! Having said that, Umakas bowed his head earnestly to the three men.”

Diaomilas also reluctantly followed suit, and the three men had also returned their politeness.

After all the courtesy, it was finally time to get down to business.

Diaomilas then stood up and said, “Manduria, with less than 4,000 soldiers, has been under siege for two days! According to reliable information, there are 30,000 men in the Messapi-Peuceti alliance. If we don’t act immediately, Manduria will suffer the same fate as Brindisi! Hence why the Council of Taranto has decided to immediately dispatch the soldiers to liberate Manduria and to find an opportunity to fight the Messapi-Peuceti army, do any of you have an objection?”

His eyes then swept over Taudeles, Teriphias and finally on Davos. Heraclea and Metapontum, city-states affiliated with Taranto, have always obeyed their orders, so the question of Diaomilas is naturally aimed at Theonia.

The two archons have given a positive answer, but instead of speaking immediately, Davos stood up and walked to the side of Umakas, who had a detailed map of Taranto on the wooden table in front of him and could see that the icon representing Manduria was not far from the south of Taranto, after making a gesture, he asked, “How far is Manduria from here?”

“Less than 25 kilometres.” Replied Umakas.

25 kilometres. Davos then estimated that with the normal marching speed of the Theonian army at 7.5 kilometres per hour, they would arrive in three hours. Manduria is located on a “coastal corridor”, with the sea on one side and mountains and forests on the other; however, Manduria is not located on the seashore but on the mountains. Considering that Taranto is not far to the north of the city, the Messapians must have considered Taranto’s naval strength when building this city so that they could make full use of their strengths while avoiding their weaknesses.

“How wide is it?” Davos pointed on the “corridor” on the map with his two fingers.

“The narrowest part is 3 kilometres.” Replied Umakas.

‘3 Metres. A formation spread by a commander with 30,000 troops can already exceed this length.’ After thinking about it, Davos asked again, “How many soldiers are Taranto going to send?”

As soon as Umakas was about to answer, Diaomilas could not stop himself and shouted, “DO YOU AGREE TO SEND TROOPS OR NOT? Make a quick decision and stop asking about this or that, as it will just delay our time!-”

“Diaomilas!” Shouted Umakas in a hurry, for fear that Diaomilas’ words might infuriate Davos.

Diaomilas was just angered by the fact that Davos had not only shown any respect for himself as an archon but had acted as if he were the one presiding over the meeting. At this moment, he remembered the advice of the statesmen of the Council and the dangerous situation of Taranto, so he could only snort and swallow his anger.

Davos looked at Diaomilas calmly and said slowly, “Starting a war is not only related to the life and death of the soldiers but also the rise and fall of a city-state. As the decision-makers of the war, we must carefully consider whether Taranto has a chance to experience another defeat?!”

Everyone was moved by what Davos had said, and Diaomilas only snorted again while he cautiously muttered, “That’s just a reason for your timidness.”

Davos laughed and said nothing.

Timid? No one else in this room will agree with what Diaomilas said. After all, the battles commanded by Davos in the past have always been against superior numbers, which has proved everything. Rather, Taranto was the one that was eagerly urging the reinforcements from Theonia in the face of the Messapi-Peuceti alliance, so who was being timid?

Umakas noticed that Teriphias was winking at Taudeles with a slight sneer on his face. He couldn’t remain calm from his shame, so he quickly mediated in a roundabout way, “Lord Davos, please forgive Diaomilas for his rudeness, he was just too anxious about the current…situation of Taranto, and it was only on impulse on why he had spoken those words carelessly and without consideration!”

As he apologised, Umakas winked at Diaomilas.

And Diaomilas could only hold his anger, but he did not apologise, and he just stops talking instead.

“Taranto will dispatch ten thousand soldiers.” Then Umakas said, “With your reinforcements, the total force will reach 27,000, which is not much different from the number of Messapi-Peuceti troops. After we liberate Manduria, the number of soldiers of Taranto will increase to 14,000, so the total number of troops will be 31,000, which is already a very large number that it wouldn’t be a problem to repel the Messapi-Peuceti alliance.”

“It’s best if things go as you say, but-” Davos exerted his strength on the icon on the map representing Manduria, “Have you thought about if the Messapi-Peuceti retreated instead of fighting with us?”

“That’s impossible! The Messapians are hot-tempered and have a ruthless nature; they love fighting and regard retreat as cowardice.” Diaomilas immediately retorted.

“The fact that the Messapians were able to join hands with the Peuceti in ambushing Archytas is already an obvious fact that they do not only know how to fight bravely and fiercely.” By the time he reached Taranto, Davos had also learned the truth about Archytas’ defeat, at which point he patiently analysed, “From what I had heard, the Messapians’ infantry is not as good as our hoplites, especially the Peucetians who is much worse. Even though their cavalry is strong, the area in Manduria is narrow, so if the two sides fight, it would not be good for their cavalry’s attack but would be favourable for our hoplites, and wise men will not fail to take this into consideration…here, perhaps this is their ideal battlefield.” Davos pointed to the relatively large gap between Manduria and Brindisi, where there are no symbols of mountains.

“However, if the enemy were to retreat, we would then be able to join up with the defenders on Manduria, which would cause our strength to increased, so the Messapi-Peuceti alliance would then be faced with a difficult choice, and it is not impossible for them to choose to just directly retreat.” Cautioned Davos.

“That makes sense.” Teriphias nodded in agreement. Heraclea’s strength was not very strong, and they had already suffered considerable losses following Taranto’s previous conquest of the Messapi region. Therefore, he naturally hopes to repel the Messapians without losing a single soldier and just fulfil his obligations as an ally without any accidents.

Taudeles also had the same mentality.

Umakas and Diaomilas then looked at each other, and there was worry on their faces, as they knew in their hearts that it would not be good for Taranto if the Messapi-Peuceti were to choose to retreat just as Davos had said.

The Greek city-states organised tens of thousands of soldiers to go out and fight, often in the interest of a quick battle. After all, if it takes too long, not only would the supplies be consumed, but a large number of citizens would be gone for a long time, which would cause the affairs of the city-state to be largely on hold so that by the time the war is over, the city-state would be in disorder and the houses and farms to be vacant, and the crops would have already died. Therefore, to date, the only ones capable of fighting for long periods have been Athens, Sparta and Syracuse, all of whom had the support of powerful city-state alliances behind them.

If the Messapi-Peuceti alliance were to retreat, the tens of thousands of Theonian reinforcements would surely not be able to stay for an extended period, so once the Messapians were to attack again, could Taranto ask Theonia for reinforcements again? Taranto had finally gathered such a large army, and the only thing they hoped for was that they would be able to deal a serious blow to the Messapi-Peuceti alliance in one fell swoop to change the fate of Taranto.

Chapter 278 – A surprising turn of event

“If the Messapi-Peuceti dares to retreat, we will go and destroy Brindisi! I don’t believe these aborigines would still be able to ignore it!” Diaomilas shouted threateningly.

Davos looked at him with surprise, ‘This is indeed a good idea!’

Davos notice that Diaomilas used the word “Destroy”. Hence the seemingly ill-tempered archon of Taranto had wisely realised that even if Taranto took back Brindisi, with their current strength, they would not be able to hold on to it and would instead increase the number of their casualties. Not to mention that the city defence of Brindisi had weakened from being fought over many times that it could no longer stop the Messapi-Peuceti alliance, so it is better just to destroy it. But do the Messapians, who had done all they can do to retake Brindisi, just accept it? This is why Diaomilas’ idea has undoubtedly hit the core of the Messapians.

For Davos, with the strength of Taranto taking a severe hit, if the Messapians and Peucetians are allowed to continue their rampage and expansion, then there will be serious trouble that would arise in this Greek area in the eastern part of South Italia. As Theonia is becoming more powerful, Davos, who had already regarded South Italia as Theonia’s backyard, certainly does not want to see such a situation happen. Hence why he had led 14,000 soldiers to Taranto not to sightsee, as his goal is the same as that of the Council of Taranto – to defeat the Messapi-Peuceti alliance! Moreover, both sides have an equal number of troops, and Davos believes that, given the Theonian legions’ capabilities, the final victory would belong to Theonia! So he finally said, “I agree with Lord Diaomilas’ proposal, Theonia is willing to reinforce Manduria.”

Now it is Diaomilas’ turn to look at him in surprise.

“That’s wonderful! Now that we have reached an agreement, we will send troops together at noon!” Said Umakas.

“Time is tight.” Teriphias complained.

“Wait!” Diaomilas stood up, looked at the crowd and exclaimed, “There is a saying in the port of Taranto, ‘No matter how many sailors there are in a ship, they have to obey the orders of the helmsman so that they could reach their destination smoothly.’ In the same way, we must have a supreme commander in such a huge army for everyone to obey so that there will be no confusion during battle.”

“Diaomilas is right. The Messapi-Peuceti alliance is very powerful, so we must stick together and follow orders while fighting to be victorious. Therefore, it is necessary to elect a supreme commander to command all the armies!” Umakas immediately added, “Naturally, the supreme commander does not decide all the plans and orders alone. As it is still needed to be discussed and agreed by everyone before they can be implemented, except in emergency situation.”

Umakas looked at Davos, as these words were obviously for him, “All of you here are commanders from their own city-state’s armies, and, I suggest that you select the person you think is the most suitable, which naturally includes yourself, and the one with most votes will be the supreme commander.”

“Who is the commander of Taranto’s army?” Asked Davos.

“It’s Diaomilas, the archon of Taranto.” Umakas then took this opportunity to praise his colleague, “His military ability is even stronger than that of Archytas, and he had led the army to fight against the Messapians many times in the past, it is why he was elected as the archon by the citizens of Taranto this year. Prior ago, he and Archytas had captured Manduria and Brindisi together, so he is very familiar with the area where we are going to fight, and I believe that he can lead the combined army to win this war!” After praising Diaomilas, he, of course, understood that there was another meaning to Davos’ question and hastened to clarify, “I am not going to vote, but rather, I will just act as the arbiter for this selection.”

The two archons of Taranto’s answer sound fair, but in fact, it showed that they are sure that they would be able to win the position of supreme commander. Vote?! Davos sneered: Heraclea and Matapontum are city-states affiliated with Taranto, so except for his own vote, he won’t be able to win any at all!

Davos has made up his mind that even if Taranto gets the command of the whole army, no one but himself would be able to command his troops. He could still consider reasonable orders, but unreasonable ones can just be ignored. But then the army, which was originally composed of several city-states, would be even more scattered and in such a large-scale battle, it would be challenging to win. So he decided to fight for it, “I don’t think that this method is appropriate for determining the supreme commander. War is a very cruel thing, and thousands of people are either killed or wounded in battle, and a good commander can reduce the casualties of his soldiers as much as possible and get the biggest victory at a smaller cost. Therefore, the selection of the supreme commander must depend on the ability and past achievements of the selected person.

Besides, we must also consider that we are an army made up of multiple city-states. Although everyone says that we should obey the supreme commander’s command, once the battle starts, inevitably, we will more or less think more about our own city-state army. Therefore, the more soldiers that can fully obey the command of the supreme commander, the more they can lead the progress of the battle smoothly!” Davos then glanced at everyone then said in a more serious tone, “Based on the above considerations; I think I am the most suitable to be the supreme commander!”

As soon as Davos’ voice fell, Diaomilas stood up and shouted, “HOW MUCH EXPERIENCE DO YOU HAVE WHEN YOU ARE JUST A BOY WITHOUT EVEN A BEARD?! Hmph! You wanted to be the supreme commander?! It’s impossible! The soldiers of Theonia are as young and stupid as you, so how could they compare to the soldiers of Taranto who have been fighting against the vicious Messapians all year round!”

In the face of Diaomilas’ insults, Davos calmly uttered a sentence, “As a commander, you must remain calm in order to cope with the complicated situation of the battlefield, that alone makes you not qualified!”

Diaomilas was enraged again and wanted to swear.

It was at this moment that Umakas stood up to stop him. From the bottom of his heart, he also felt that Davos was the most suitable choice for the position of supreme commander. Still, the statesmen of the Council of Taranto, out of political considerations, asked him to try his best to fight for this position. Because the war with the Messapians has greatly hurt Taranto’s strength, what would Heraclea and Metapontum think if they were to lose the command for the next battle? What would the other Greek city-states in Magna Graecia think? Wouldn’t they all think that Taranto could not do anything but rely on Theonia?! The proud Tarantines could not afford to lose their face.

“Lord Davos has put forward another proposal, and since we are an allied force, all the city-state armies should be equal. Therefore, to save time, I think we should simply decide whether to adopt Lord Davos’ proposal or my previous proposal? Let’s start the voting now!” With a smile on his face, Umakas spoke decisively and cunningly and grabbed Davos with words.

At this time, a brief silence shrouded the meeting room.

“I agree with Umakas!” Diaomilas said first.

Davos opened his mouth, but he didn’t speak in the end.

Umakas was pleased that Davos had no objection as Diaomilas could finally become the supreme commander.

“I agree with lord Davos!” A voice suddenly interrupted the calmness of the room and also broke the fantasy of Umakas.

The two archons of Taranto and Davos looked at the one who had spoken at the same time.

‘Teriphias?! How could it be Teriphias?!!’ Umakas was in disbelief.

“Teriphias, say it again! Who do you support?!!” Diaomilas was willing to believe that he had heard wrong, and so he demanded Teriphias to redo his choice but spoke in a rather impolite tone.

Teriphias, too, was nervous. So he avoided the fierce gaze of Diaomilas, then he turned his head to look at Davos, who was equally surprised and could barely squeeze out a smile.

A thought then crossed the mind of Davos, ‘Now that Taranto began to decline, could it be that Heraclea would want to grab on to Theonia for her own safety?’

In fact, Davos was only right about one of the reasons. More importantly is that the archon of Heraclea, Teriphias, has sensed that the combination of Messapi and Peuceti will make it more difficult for the weakened Taranto to defend their territory. And the people of Heraclea had previously complained greatly about the casualties of Hereclea’s soldiers who had gone out with the army of Taranto, so if they want to change this situation, they have to find a way to jump away from the tattered old ship of Taranto, and Theonia, who is closer to Heraclea, is certainly a better place to take refuge.

Davos had certainly not thought of that much at this moment, but he was overjoyed by Heraclea’s initiative to take refuge. No matter how long the friendship and alliance are, they are not as reliable as interests and strength! Davos sighed emotionally; he then smiled and nodded to Teriphias.

“Davos, the archon of Theonia and a famous strategos of south Italia, has never been defeated in the battles that he had taken part in! So I firmly support him as the supreme commander!” Teriphias’ tone became more firm.

“I recommend myself as the supreme commander!” Davos followed immediately; Teriphias has given him a big surprise after losing all hope from getting elected on such a rule.

Now the situation is 1:2.

Umakas did not expect the situation to turn out like this, and what was worse than not getting the position of supreme commander was the attitude of Heraclea towards the Taranto alliance. He was in such turmoil that he could no longer hide his emotions and looked at Teriphias with resentment.

And Diaomilas, who was more concerned about this election, turned his attention to Taudeles: With his support, the vote between Diaomilas and the young man would then become 2:2, and Umakas, as the arbiter, would then be able to find a way to help Diaomilas get the position of supreme commander.

As he was thinking of this, he saw that Taudeles, under the gaze of everyone, lowered his head slowly.

Chapter 279 – The response of the Messapi-Peuceti Alliance

Diaomilas began to feel uneasy.

“I…I abstain…” Said Taudeles reluctantly.

“What did you say!!” Diaomilas knocked down his chair as he stood up.

“I abstain!” Once again, Taudeles’ affirmation was like a bolt out of a clear sky on the head of Umakas, and he only felt everything turn dark.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the end, Davos became the supreme commander of the allied force. He then invited Umakas to act as his adjutant, which not only facilitated coordination and command but also gave Taranto a way out of this awkward situation.

As soon as the meeting was over, Teriphias followed Davos as they walked out of the room while talking and laughing.

Taudeles walked hesitantly behind but got caught up by Diaomilas and questioned, “Taudeles, what do you mean by this?! Are you also going to betray our alliance too?!”

Looking at Diaomilas’ furious face, the archon of Metapontum sighed and said with guilt, “To the north of Metapontum, on the upper reaches of Bradano River, is the city of Garaguso, where the Lucanian tribes gather. You must know that we used to have conflicts with these Lucanians, but it was just a minor problem. However, in the past two years, the conflict has intensified. According to the information we have received, the main reason is that the number of Lucanians in Garaguso is increasing, and the barren mountains are no longer able to support them. I had even heard that some tribes began quarrelling with each other and want to move south to obtain more land. If they truly go south, it will bring huge trouble to us, the city of Metapontum!”

“If the Lucanians dare to invade the land of Metapontum, Taranto would help you defeat these aborigines!” Blurted Diaomilas.

“Could Taranto be ready for a long-term war with the Lucanians in your current situation?” Asked Taudeles.

Diaomilas was unable to respond. At present, Taranto has two powerful enemies, Messapi and Peuceti, which have already overwhelmed them. If they were to provoke the Lucanians this time, not to mention the Council, any citizen of Taranto would have to think twice.

“I heard that when Theonia held the completion ceremony of the Temple of Hades, the Lucanians of Garaguso went to Thurii to express their desire for peace with the Theonians. With Theonia occupying most of the lands of the Lucanians, they have become the most powerful force there, and no Lucanian tribe dares to ignore them. I think that if Theonia were to protest against Garaguso, the Lucanians of Garaguso would think carefully…as the people of Metapontum all hope that war can be avoided. And that Metapontum would not be able to help you defend against the Messapi while facing the invasion of the Lucanians at the same time.” Taudeles politely expressed the sacrifice of Metapontum to Taranto. Then he said to Diaomilas with a slight apology, “It is just only a position. Isn’t it that you Tarantines are in urgent need of a victory, and lord Davos is good when it comes to war! Rest assured, Metapontum will always remain as Taranto’s greatest ally!”

Taudeles knew that he could not be as reckless as Teriphias. After all, Heraclea’s establishment was only more than 30 years ago, so their relationship with Taranto was not that strong and complex, and that their territory being closer to Theonia. While Metapontum is different, they have a friendship with Taranto that is over 200 years, and most of the citizens of the two city-states were either close or distant relatives, not something that could just be broken easily.

Watching Taudeles leave, Diaomilas’ resentment wouldn’t disappear quickly.

Umakas then came near and comforted him, “Now that Davos has become the supreme commander of the allied troops, it may be a good thing as he had to let his troops do their best when fighting the Messapians. Otherwise, it will damage his reputation.”

Diaomilas snorted, but he didn’t lose his temper again and was instead at a loss: The reason he became the archon was that the rapid rise of Theonia had stimulated the Tarantines, and his radical ideas were approved by the people and passed in the ecclesia. For the first time in Taranto’s history, they had launched a massive attack on the Messapians without regard for the lives of the citizens, not realising that perhaps the strength of Taranto had frightened its neighbours and had actually brought together the two races that had always been in conflict and had never been united, which led to Taranto’s current predicament.

“The most important thing now is that we must hold a Council meeting immediately! Tell the statesmen that Heraclea and Metapontum have changed their attitude towards Taranto!” Umakas looked with seriousness.

Diaomilas was shocked and became dejected: In just a few months, Taranto’s status as a powerful city-state was now under great threat! How could such a situation happen? Is it true that as what that damned young man had said that war is related to the rise and fall of the city-state? But why is it that, in just less than two years after its establishment, Theonia, who has never stopped warring, has become more and more powerful?!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Meanwhile, outside Manduria, in the tent of the Messapi-Peuceti camp, the archons of the city-states of Messapi and the king of the Peuceti, Telemani, were discussing the new information they received.

“Are you sure that more than 10,000 foreign soldiers have reinforced Taranto?” Telemani asked with a startled look.

“This news has come from our men who sneaked into the port of Taranto. For this reason, lord Timogeras specially sent cavalry to scout near the port of Taranto, and there is indeed a huge military camp built. To be precise, it should be the reinforcements sent by Theonia, an ally of Taranto.” Said Pasimeus, archon of Rudiae.

“Theonia, it is a union of city-states just west of the Gulf of Taranto. I heard that their archon is a young man who has never lost in battle.” Said Karminus, the archon of Uzentum. Uzentum is just south of Taranto, on the east coast of the Gulf of Taranto, so he knew more about Theonia, which is on the west coast, than the other Messapian city-states.

“Never lost a battle?! How many battles has this archon of Theonia has fought in?! The head of Archytas, the military genius of Taranto, who the Greeks boasted before is still hanging on the gates of Brindisi!” Telemani then looked at Pasimeus, the leader of the city-states of Messapi, and said cautiously, “However, Theonia’s ten thousand reinforcements is indeed a huge problem. We have been storming Manduria for two days without any progress, but we have instead lost many warriors. This damn city! You have built it to be too strong! Now that Taranto has reinforcement, they are bound to reinforce Manduria, and their troops will not be less than ours, while we are already tired from fighting for many days, so I suggest that we temporarily withdraw. Anyway, those Greek foreigners will not stay in Taranto for such a long time, and it will not be too late for us to capture Manduria after they leave.”

“Our king is right! Our warriors have been fighting for such a long time now, with many casualties, and our food is running out, and we won’t be able to capture Manduria in just a day or two. The enemy’s reinforcements would soon come, and if we were to fight the enemy head-on at this time, we would not have the advantage. Therefore, retreat is the best option for us.” The general behind Telemani expressed his support.

The archons of Messapi began to exchange glances. Indeed, unlike Brindisi, Manduria was built as a vanguard base for the Messapians to defend and attack Taranto, therefore, although the city is small, its walls are high and strong, but the archons of Messapi thinks that the Peucetians no longer want to fight anymore because they had already enjoyed the benefits of their agreement, that is, after taking back Brindisi, Messapi and Peuceti would jointly share its management, after all, it is one of the most important port cities on the Apennine peninsula, and hereafter the Peucetians would also enjoy the benefits of sea trade, and so they no longer want to pay anymore and pretended that the siege was difficult, hence why they wanted to go back on their words!

Pasimeus did not accuse Telemani of breaking the contract but said quietly, “King of the Peucetians, with your wisdom, you should be able to see that if we were to retreat at this time, all the victories we have won before would be lost again! The Tarantines will never stop their attack just because they have saved Manduria, and Brindisi will become their next target. Can Brindisi, who has few defenders and damaged city walls, resist the army of Taranto? And once we retreat, it would be impossible for us to assemble such a huge army in a short time! At that time, we can only watch as our people in Brindisi be slaughtered or enslaved by the Greeks!”

Telemani became startled: Just now, he was holding the mentality of taking advantage without suffering any losses and did not consider that there are more than 2,000 Peucetians who have just moved to Brindisi!

When Pasimeus saw him staying quiet, he continued, “What is more, we have made so much effort and paid so many of our warrior’s lives to make Taranto suffer more than ever. According to the information we have received, Taranto’s adult citizens are now either dead or disabled, and most of those who can fight are young and old, so if we are able to deal another heavy blow to Taranto in the coming battle, Taranto will no longer be able to resist our attack for time to come. Although it would be challenging for us to take Taranto, the land outside the city, especially to the west, will belong to us, Messapi and Peuceti!”

Telemani became interested. He rubbed his hands together and thought for a long time before saying, “If we really continue the battle, we must not have a head-on confrontation with Taranto’s reinforcements, as the Greek hoplites that are in a formation are like stones, too hard to bite!”

“You are the supreme commander and have a long experience in fighting, so we will follow your orders.” Pasimeus said humbly, with lowered posture, which has satisfied Telemani.

Telemani’s tone has also softened, “My suggestion is to lure Taranto…”

Chapter 280 – Conflict

The Theonian camp was, after all, close to the city of Taranto and are far away from the battlefield that they did not need to construct it in a very complex and fortified manner. Therefore, the next day when Davos attended the war meeting, the whole camp was at rest. According to the military law, one man from each squad would be allowed to go out during non-wartime and return by sunset.

But now that they are in a state of semi-combat and it is uncertain when the army will go to the battlefield. So, Antonios, who also served as the military officer, issued an order: ‘All the soldiers who go out can only roam around the camp and return at once, once you hear the salpinx.’

While the soldiers that were staying in the camp were not idle, as most of them were keen on some confrontation games organised by the upper rank of the Legion: Tug of war, Rugby, Football…and so on., which made the soldiers happy, but there is one thing that is forbidden, gambling, once found, they would be dealt according to the military law.

The reason why the soldiers were going out was to see the famous city in South Italia – Taranto. After all, most of them were not merchants nor wealthy people, so they had to work in the fields all year round and have no time to travel to Taranto, which is only one gulf away. However, since the stipulation does not allow them to enter Taranto, they could only visit the makeshift market in front of the camp.

Hence why the merchants in Taranto began calling to them.

“Come take a look! The skin of a hippopotamus, a divine creature from the great eastern nation – Egypt! Look at how thick it is! See, even if we were to slash it with a knife twice…there’s not even a mark on it! If you use this to make leather armour, it would not only be light but also strong, so you don’t have to worry about getting hurt in battle!”

“Brother, have you ever seen such a straight sword? Look, it has a sharp edge on both sides, and it’s very sharp!…it doesn’t matter, hold it and try it out…isn’t it a bit heavy? This is a short sword used by the natives of the Iberian Peninsula, and it is said that the reason why the Carthaginians have not been able to conquer the Iberian Peninsula is due to suffering from this weapon!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In order to earn the soldier’s money, the most important thing in this small market is to sell weapons, followed by food.

“Try this date from Libya. It’s small but very sweet, much sweeter than a fig!”

“Ostrich meat from Bedouin! You haven’t tasted it? Come and have a taste!…what is an ostrich?…erm, I will tell you, it is the biggest bird that I have ever seen. It’s as big as a horse, but it cannot fly and can only run. But it can run faster than a horse in the desert!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As the famous trading city-state in Magna Graecia, Taranto had a more prosperous and more diverse range of goods than Thurii, as could be seen even in this makeshift market.

The soldiers wandered around with great interest, but they did not just walk around without buying, as citizens and preparatory citizens of Theonia, they were allocated land which was enough to feed and clothe them while selling their extra grain and livestock at the market for extra money, plus the share of spoils of war after every battle they won, hence why their pockets were still relatively full.

Olivos was also one of the people who asked to go out while temporarily handing over the military affairs to his adjutant and strolled in the makeshift market to relax.

At this time, he stood in front of a metal ornament booth, picked up a palm-sized gold ornament and looked at it carefully.

“This is a statue of Horus, an Egyptian god, carved from the hands of a famous master carver of the Temple of Memphis. See how exquisite the carving is? Wear it, and you will be blessed by Horus!” The merchant highly recommended it.

Olivos gently shook his head, put the thing down and said regretfully, “It is good, but I only believe in Hades.”

“Hades won’t blame you for worshipping other gods occasionally, and they handle different aspects…” The attitude of the Greeks towards the gods is close, but they are not obsessed with them, as they believed in multiple gods; when going out to sea, they would worship the god of the sea, when in battle, they would worship the god of war, in business, they would worship Hermes, and in competitions, they would worship Apollo…that’s why the merchant tries to persuade him.

But Olivos shook his head and left the stall.

The merchant was so angry that he cursed behind Olivos’ back, “The Theonians are blockheads!”

If it had been before, Olivos would have turned back and argued with the merchant, but now he understood that his identity was now different, and he couldn’t even care.

Further on, he saw some big tents set up in front of them, and in front of the tents stood some beautiful women, while a fat merchant called out, “The cheapest price! The most comfortable enjoyment! Just for five drachmae, you can have a good time with the most beautiful girl in Taranto…”

Olivos frowned; ever since that incident happened in Persia, he has changed his ways. And now, whenever someone mentions the word “prostitution”, he felt disgusted.

He turned around and walked back, but Timias took a fancy on him, rushed to him, grabbed him and shouted, “Don’t go, seven drachmae for two girls. What do you think? This is already a big loss for me!”

Olivos said nothing, and with a strong wave of his left hand, it caused Timias to fall back and sat down on the ground.

After a long time of hard work and no business, the theatre owner of Taranto finally got angry and stood up and swore, “Damned Theonians! A bunch of country bumpkins! You don’t even know how to enjoy happiness! What military law! I have never heard that in Taranto’s army. That is just a piece of crap that your lowly archon has come up with for the convenience of ruling you! He wants you to have no freedom, no democracy, and only obedience to his orders! If you don’t resist it, then you deserved to be ruled by a dictator and just obey him like slaves!…”

Olivos, who heard it, was boiling with rage and strode over.

When the other soldiers on the side also heard these words, they all became furious: This fat man had insulted not only them but also insulted their grand legatus!

In an instant, Timias was surrounded.

Timias looked at the furious faces in horror and screamed, “What do you want to do?! This is Taranto!-”

Before he could even finish speaking, Olivos said, “Beat him!” While throwing a right fist first, directly to Timias’ fat face…

The Tarantines in the market heard the scream from the encirclement of the Theonian soldiers, but no one dared to stop them.

Then came a salpinx sound at the right time.

“It’s the assembly call!” The soldiers exclaimed.

All the soldiers in the makeshift market put down the things they were doing almost at the same time and quickly ran back to their camp, and in a flash, there was no more Theonian in the market.

The speed at which the Theonian soldiers returned to camp was as if the previous commotion was just a dream, and only the theatre owner was lying on the ground groaning…

When the gate of the camp opened again, a heavily armed army came out, marching out from the three camp gates: east, north and the south, at the same time, thus speeding up their exit.

The merchants of Taranto were equally surprised at the sight of these Theonian soldiers, who were previously joking in the market, but this casualness did not affect their tidiness and speed of movement.

The two legions left the camp, but they did not leave it unmanned. There was also a reserve of soldiers from the logistics camp and a thousand or so Theonian freemen as a supplement of the legion, who usually serve as guards and helpers of the logistics camp, will also participate in battles at critical times. Even though the tasks of these reserve soldiers are also complicated and arduous, countless freemen still scramble to join them every time they go to war because these will help the freemen to accumulate their merits and shorten the time needed to become a preparatory citizen.

As a matter of fact, in addition to the soldiers of the seventh brigade, there are also the medical camp, engineering camp, logistics camp and reconnaissance camp…their real number far exceeds 7,000. If they march in Theonia, Davos will do his best to arrange the marching column even if the queue would extend the troops very long because the smooth and solid road system of Theonia would speed up their marching. But the suburbs of Taranto, the wealthiest city-state in South Italia, were surprisingly all dirt roads, and it is the same wherever they go. Thus, Davos simply divided the army into four groups, with each group having five columns*, and marched forward in a wide front.

The road was dusty and noisy.

Many Tarantines watched by the roadside, while having mixed feelings in the face of the mighty Theonian army, but in a time of crisis of their city-state, reinforcements in such a large number and such appearance had given them a sense of security in a time of fear and uncertainty.

It wasn’t long before the Theonian army arrived outside Taranto.

When Umakas was informed, he was surprised by the speed at which the Theonian army assembled, knowing that the soldiers of Taranto were still currently gathering in the square.

Although Diaomilas was also surprised, he retorted, “The soldiers of Theonia are all in the camp, so they can immediately depart at the sound of the salpinx. Unlike us who still have to notify every town and every street…”

So Umakas had to rush out of the city, apologise to Davos and ask the Theonian army to wait outside the city for a while, while inviting Davos into the city to have a drink and rest at his residence. After all, it was still noon in early autumn, and the sun was still scorching hot.

However, Davos politely declined Umakas’ good intention. How could he leave his soldiers that are suffering while enjoying comfort alone?

Before long, Teriphias led a thousand Heraclian soldiers out of the city to join the Theonian army.

After a while, two thousand soldiers led by Taudeles had arrived as well.

Only after more than an hour did the city gate of Taranto open again, and the noisy wailings of people could be heard…

“Hmph! Are we going to the battlefield or to a cemetery?! Why are they all crying like that? We are just going to fight the aborigines!…” Because of the incident in the morning, Olivos didn’t have a good impression of the Tarantines, so when he saw such a messy farewell, he was filled with sarcasm.

Chapter 281 – Retreat?

Matonis was concerned about something else. After looking westward for a while, he said with a worried frown, “The Tarantine army has taken so much time just to assemble! And I can also see that many of the Tarantine soldiers have barely reached adulthood. How effective can such an army be?!”

“Just don’t expect anything from them; when the time comes, we will still be on our own. The only thing these delicate Tarantines have to do on the battlefield is to clean it up and collect the spoils for us after we defeat the enemy.” Said Olivos scornfully.

“Olivos, don’t underestimate the enemy! Lord Davos has said that the Messapians are not only fierce in battle but also have a tough personality and are not easy to deal with, so we must pay great attention and must unite the Tarantines and do our best to defeat them!” Reminded Giorgris.

Giorgris is the senior centurion of the third legion, but according to the new legion establishment rules: The officers and soldiers of the first and second legions should be citizens, preparatory citizens and freemen of Thurii and Amendolara; While the third legion is composed of the people of Grumentum and Nerulum; And the fourth legion, on the other hand, must consist of the people of Krimisa and Aprustum. That was done mainly to facilitate the management of the army, training, mobilisation, marching, and for the improvement of efficiency, but of course, this would easily lead to the formation of various factions and parties that only considers the interest of their legion, but Davos had already considered it, as the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, at least at the early stage of the union, by increasing the transferring of the officers in the future it would solve the drawbacks. So Giorgris, who was still living in Amendolara, and did not plan to move elsewhere, was transferred from the third legion to the first legion while still serving as a senior centurion.

Although Olivos had already gotten used on Giorgris’ picking on him, he was still unconvinced and also wanted to refute, but Alexius said, “Giorgris is right. This war is different from past wars, as this involves cooperation with other city-states, especially Taranto, and we must not only take it very seriously, but we must be careful in our relations with the Tarantines army. Otherwise, if our allies do not fully support us, then at a critical moment, doom will befall us. You all know that Thurii is a gulf away from here, which has made it difficult for us to return…”

Alexius is a veteran senior centurion, so Olivos couldn’t say anything while the other senior centurions agreed with Alexius.

Amintas slapped Olivos on the shoulder and exclaimed, “To tell you the truth, I also don’t like these feminine Tarantines! But in order to win, we have to bear it for the time being, and once we defeat the Messapians, I would like to see if the Tarantines would thank us!”

With that, he laughed, and so did Olivos.

“Alright, everyone, return to your own brigade, the Tarantine army has now come out, and it’s finally the time for us to form up and depart!” The legatus of the first legion – Kapus, reminded everyone.

Soon after, the big send-off crowd left the city gates, but the women hesitated to continue walking as the ground ahead sat and lay a dense mass of Theonian soldiers who are talking loudly, laughing and saying rude words, many of whom have even shown their upper body, which made the conservative Tarantine women feel shy.

While the Tarantine soldiers were dissatisfied with this and pointed to the Theonians, who were currently resting, and said some strange remarks.

“As expected, they are all just a boorish country-bumpkin!” Diaomilas hadn’t seen what the army of Theonia looked like when they first arrived with his own eyes, so after seeing this situation, he also expressed his dissatisfaction, “Where is Davos? Have him gather his men quickly!” Diaomilas used the word “his men” to express his disdain.

“He should be there.” Umakas guessed and pointed to the biggest and most dazzling flag in front of them.

“His military flag is very fancy!” Diaomilas snorted and rode together with Umakas.

Like the people around him, Davos took off his armour and was only wearing a linen cloth while sitting on the mud and talking with the soldiers.

Martius was the first to notice the archons of Taranto that were coming and whispered a few words in Davos’ ear, who then turned around to look.

“Lord Davos, when shall we leave?” Asked Umakas before Diaomilas could.

Davos glanced at the restless looking Diaomilas and said faintly, “It’s time to depart. The soldiers had been waiting under the sun for more than an hour, and we were almost dried out.”

Diaomilas realised that this was a veiled criticism from Davos on the slow movement of the Tarantine army that led to the soldiers of Theonia being so lax, so he could only cough a few times.

“Sound the salpinx and gather up!”  Davis no longer entangled with this problem and gave his order decisively.

As soon as the salpinx sounded, the soldiers who were resting in various positions moved quickly and helped each other in wearing their armour; And the officers at all ranks began calling their subordinates back, and the flagmen waved the military flags and shouting their team’s name and indicating their positions.

For a while, dust and noise were everywhere, but it soon became calm again.

Diaomilas could no longer see the sight of soldiers sitting around, chatting, sleeping and disorganised that was in front of him, but a queue of fully equipped and neatly arranged infantries…

Diaomilas took a deep breath of cold air. As a Tarantine strategos who had experienced many battles, he understood in his heart that to be able to do this meant that the army had rigorous training and a very strong discipline.

Looking back at Taranto again, he could still see that the soldiers and the people are still hugging each other and saying their goodbyes, and some are even weeping in tears, having no sign about going out to meet the enemy in battle.

Diaomilas, whose face was hanging by a thread, without saying a word, turned his horse around and hurried back…

At this moment, Teriphias and Taudeles had also arrived.

Davos, already in military uniform, said seriously, “Before we depart, we need to discuss the order of the march.”

He glanced at everyone then said, “My advice is that the Theonian army would be at the front, Heraclea in the middle followed by Metapontum, and Taranto would be at the end.”

As soon as Umakas heard this, he understood the intention of Davos. Once the enemy attacked, the Theonian army who stood in the front would block them, giving the troops at the back enough time to react and prepare.

This suggestion is truly without selfish motives, and so Umakas nodded in agreement. Teriphias and Taudeles were, even more, had no objections, as their army was the weakest, and the only thing they desire is to be in the safe middle.

“According to what you said last time. The terrain from here to Manduria is flat, so I will divide the army into five groups, widen the gap between and march side by side. It will not only make it easier to deal with the sudden attacks of the enemy, but it will also shorten the time for us to reach Manduria, and it will also help to protect the logistics by having them protected in the middle.” Continued Davos.

Umakas hesitated for a moment. Although Davos said it with ease, if one hadn’t been trained in this aspect, the columns might get tangled with each other during the march.

“I’ll have to discuss this with Diaomilas first.” Said Umakas cautiously.

The other two had no objections as they had fewer soldiers and were easy to manage.

“Also, when sending out scouts, I suggest for it to be a mix of Theonian and Tarantine cavalry.” If one doesn’t know the enemy’s situation at any time, it is equivalent to a commander having no eyes and ears, so despite hearing that the Messapi cavalry are formidable, Davos had still ordered Ledes to bring 200 cavalrymen over by ship. As someone who had come from the future and had knowledge of ancient military history, cavalry was one of the arms that Davos wanted to focus on training. Therefore, even if there is some loss, making the Theonian cavalry understand the things they are missing and work hard to make up for is still worth making. At the same time, he brought with him Izam’s reconnaissance brigade to understand and familiarise the terrains and mountains of this land for the future.

Since the start of the war, with the loss of the cavalry being great, some nobles had even refused to join the army, so Umakas greatly welcomed this proposal.

When Umakas went back to convey to Diaomilas the suggestion of Davos, Diaomilas replied after a moment of thinking, “What Theonia can do, Taranto can certainly do it as well!”

After a reorganisation, the TheTa allied troops set off.

As a matter of fact, the Messapi-Peuceti troops quickly withdrew and retreated to a camp 2 kilometres south of Manduria after knowing that the Greek army was departing. Thus the allied army of TheTa entered the city of Manduria at dusk without experiencing any fighting or even losing any scouts.

The rendezvous with the defenders had boosted the morale of the soldiers, especially the Tarantines. At the same time, with their increase of strength, the commander decided to take a rest for the night and advanced straight into the Messapi-Peuceti camp the next day. The only problem for them was that the small city of Manduria was overcrowded with nearly 30,000 men, and it was a challenge to arrange accommodation for the soldiers.

The next day, at daybreak, Solikos led a mixed cavalry team to the Messapi-Peuceti camp to find out the situation, but only to find it empty.

At the same time, under the guidance of the Tarantine cavalry, the cavalry team was then divided into two groups. One will go all the way south, in the direction of Uzentum, while the other will go all the way east, in the direction of Brindisi, to continue searching the trace of the enemy.

When Davos and the others were informed, they realised that the enemy was planning to run away, so they immediately assembled their troops. In the process, the cavalry came again to report that they found the trace of a large enemy army in the east.

When hearing this, their first reaction was that the Messapi-Peuceti would retreat to Brindisi.

“We can’t let them retreat to Brindisi; otherwise, we would be forced to siege the city, which would cause the casualties of our soldiers to be very severe! We need to catch up with them and fight them on the spot!” Diaomilas shouted impatiently, as the memory of the tragic situation of sieging Brindisi was still fresh in his mind.

Chapter 282 – The scheme of the Messapi-Peuceti Alliance

Both Heraclea and Metapontum had sent troops to the last siege of Brindisi, so both archons and Umakas had learned their lesson the hard way.

Davos agreed with this, but he had a vague feeling that something was wrong, however, he couldn’t pinpoint it out. As they have not found the trace of the enemy in the direction of Uzentum, the possibility of getting pincered between the front and back by the Messapi-Peuceti alliance was ruled out.

So in order to pursue the enemy, the whole army moved quickly and even left behind the logistics in the city of Manduria while taking the 3,000 garrison troops, so now, the total number of the Tarantine army has reached 13,000, and the whole allied army has reached more than 30,000.

They then pursued northwards in the same order as yesterday’s march. After 5 kilometres, they received another report from the scouts that the Messapi-Peuceti alliance had entered the mountains to the north.

‘With Brindisi already in front of them, the huge Messapi-Peuceti army had instead gone to the mountains?!’ Davos had some doubts, and Umakas, who was beside him, thought of something, and his expression became aghast.

“They may be going to the Anlen Hills!” Diaomilas nervously said after hearing the report.

Only after listening to both of them did Davos find out that the coastal corridors were not all thorny, forested and rugged mountains, but that there was a hilly area between the mountains that is not too difficult to traverse. Through it, one could reach the eastern part of Taranto. In the early days, the Messapians often used to come out of this area to harass the Tarantines. Later, when Taranto became strong, they began building defensive camps and guard towers near the exit of the hills to strengthen their surveillance so that the Messapians, who were exhausted by their journey through the hills, were often repulsed by the Tarantines, who were waiting for them. Later, influenced by the Greeks, the Messapians gradually became civilised and were no longer used to mountain warfare. In addition, with the establishment of Manduria, they now had a more convenient base to attack Taranto, so in recent decades, the Messapians no longer use the Anlen Hills to break into Taranto’s territory.

“That is to say…the defensive camp in there has been abandoned?!” Davos realised this immediately.

“Well…” Umakas was still thinking about how to say it when Diaomilas immediately said, “We have not abandoned the camp, it’s just that after Archytas’ army was completely wiped out, and with the Messapi-Peuceti alliance launching a large-scale attack, most of the people that are outside the city have fled into the city, so we have naturally withdrawn the soldiers in the camp. Therefore, it would now be easy for the Messapians to enter our land, destroy the fields we are about to harvest, burn our villages, and slaughter the people who have not yet left! That is why we have to catch up and stop them at once! And repel them!”

Diaomilas had agitation on his expression, and Umakas was also looking worried, but Davos was not swayed. He paced back and forth as his brain began to think quickly.

“What are you hesitating about! If we don’t act now, we won’t be able to catch up to them!” Diaomilas urged loudly.

“Why chase them!” Davos stopped in his track and reminded with a serious expression, “Don’t forget what you said before, ‘If the enemy retreats, we will immediately attack Brindisi and force the Messapians to fight a decisive battle against us.’”

Diaomilas was unable to respond for a while, so Umakas hurriedly explained, “Now the situation is different, as the Messapian army can rush into our territory and wreak havoc, which will cause panic among the people and they might even attack the city of Taranto!”

“Although the Messapi-Peuceti has large troops, Taranto is not easy to capture, whereas Brindisi is easy to take.” Davos pointed his finger ahead and spoke earnestly, “Besides, it’s hard for heavy infantry to catch up with infantry, so it’s better to take the initiative to attack and capture Brindisi than to passively chase the Messapi-Peuceti and get led around by the nose. If they still don’t come, then we will head north! I don’t believe that they will still not come for a decisive battle!”

Umakas bit his lips as it was hard for him to make a decision, while Diaomilas still shook his head stubbornly, “No! What the enemy wants to destroy is not your Theonian land, so you naturally do not care! But that’s our land, and I would rather drive them out of Taranto first and capture Bridisi later.”

On hearing this, Davos became angry, “Can you blame me for that?! When during the war council, you neither marked it on the map nor explained that a god damned Anlen Hill that they could pass through in the mountains! The reason why I would not have us go there was because you said that the roads there were complicated and the terrain is unfamiliar, so in case the enemy set an ambush there-”

While speaking, Davos’ mind jolted and caught a flash of inspiration, “I see! Now I see! Because of the cavalry! You have said before that the Messapian cavalry intercepted Taranto’s scout, causing great losses to your cavalry. But this time, we have not been attacked by the Messapian cavalry even now; why? Could it be that the Messapian cavalries have died from a plague?”

Davos looked at everyone confidently and said in a more serious tone, “No! The Messapians want us to know where their army is going, and they want us to follow them because they must have set up an ambush in Anlen Hills! So we definitely can’t go to Anlen Hills and bury the only army that can save Taranto there!”

Umakas’ countenance changed by these words, and Diaomilas became silent.

“I agree with lord Davos! We should attack Brindisi!” Exclaimed Teriphias.

“I agree.” Taudeles nodded in agreement.

The two army commanders made their stance clear, which made the proposal of Davos be passed.

Diaomilas could only mount his horse with reluctance on his face.

“Lord Diaomilas!” Davos called out in a loud voice, “Remember that Theonia is here to help Taranto and not to be humiliated! As the archon of Theonia and the one elected as the supreme commander of this expedition, if there is any more disrespect to the supreme commander and disobedience, I see no need for this joint army to exist!”

Davos’ words rang loudly, and a dead silence fell over the place. Even Teriphias and Taudeles were shocked at the toughness of this seemingly gentle young archon.

Umakas had to cough a few times and said, “Lord Diaomilas is just feeling anxious-”

Davos interrupted him with a wave of his hand and said in a cold voice, “Why does the Theonian army always win and remain undefeated? Because of discipline and obedience! An army of more than 30,000 men without a unified command would have been a mess! Since we already know that it would be a failure, then why bother to go out to battle!”

Under the threat of Davos and the gaze of everyone, Diaomilas turned red, and under the invisible pressure, he finally squeezed out a sentence, “I understand.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the Anlen Hills, the king of Peuceti – Telemani, and the archons of the Messapian city-states, were waiting with bated breath, but the report of the scouts that have returned has dampened their enthusiasm.

“What did you say?! The Greeks did not come this way and had instead continued to head east…Brindisi, their aim is Brindisi!” Exclaimed Telemani, he cared more about that coastal city than the Messapians because, for the archons, Brindisi is just an ally city, but for Telemani, it is a part of his new territory and a source of his wealth.

“Don’t worry, king of Peuceti.” Pasimeus, archon of Rudiae, encouraged, “Our cavalry went to inform Bridisi yesterday, and I believe that the inhabitants should have already left temporarily before the Greeks could get there. Even if the Greeks were to enter the city, they would not get anything, and if they dare immigrate to Brindisi again, then we don’t mind getting another batch of Greek slaves once we take it back! I think we should wait a little longer and let the cavalry make the burning of the villages in Taranto even more intense! I don’t believe that the Tarantines can continue heading east after they learn of this!”

The words of Pasimeus calmed Telemani down, and after thinking about it, he said fiercely, “Kill some of the Greeks we have captured in Brindisi, then throw their bodies on the road and see how the Greeks react!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Report!…more than a dozen smoke rises over the Anlen Hills and has caused the whole sky to blackened, and that there are many corpses of Tarantines scattered on the road, among them were women and children…”

“I just need you to watch the enemy’s movements and see if they come out of the hills!” Davos interjected on the report of the scout, “Go back and tell your captain that he should send a Theonian cavalry the next time he reports!”

The Tarantine scout rode away furiously.

Davos only looked at the silent Umakas who was next to him and reminded him once again, “The Messapians are tempting us to go to Anlen Hills, hence why we should not go!”

Umakas frowned and remained silent.

Davos no longer said anything. He then turned around and whispered to the herald – Tolmides, “Inform the officers to speed up the march and get away from that dangerous place sooner.”

All the mercenaries led by Xanticles have now become preparatory citizens because of their repeated military achievements. Philesius, the Chief of Military, has incorporated them all into the vacant 1st and 2nd legions, with Xanticles becoming the senior centurion of the 6th brigade of the first legion. For a preparatory citizen, this was a high position, but most of the centurion and senior centurion in the army are members of the Persian expeditionary army, so they had instead felt that Xanticles’ position is lower. After all, he was one of the five leaders. Therefore, once he becomes an official citizen, he will quickly be promoted.

Tolmides, on the other hand, had the reputation of “the first herald” in the mercenary troops before, and his ability to manage the relations with all parties, a timely and accurate manner when delivering orders and to get even the most uncooperative squad officers to accept and carry them out, have made him won the trust of the leaders.

Chapter 283 – Ambush and Counter-Ambush

With Asistes occupied with the local government matters, Davos has been without a suitable herald. And as the war expanded and the increasing number of men, Davos has become overwhelmed with the complexity of the situation and is in urgent need of assistance, and Tolmides is undoubtedly a suitable candidate. Therefore, Davos first appointed him to act as the acting herald, with the intention of slowly developing a team of staff to assist him in dealing with military matters of the expedition.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Instead of returning immediately to the Anlen Hills, the Tarantine scout went to the Tarantine army and reported the situation to Diaomilas in a more exaggerated way.

Before Diaomilas could respond, the soldiers around him began shouting, “Milord, we can’t ignore the Messapians slaughtering our families and burning our fields! Those outsiders pretended that they do not know anything, for it is not their city that suffered!”

“That’s right! We can’t take orders from those outsiders! We will go fight the Messapians and avenge our loved ones ourselves!”

“Go to Anlen Hills, chase those Messapians and kill them!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The roar of the soldiers gradually made the Tarantine soldiers find out about the situation, and this collective fanaticism infected every Tarantine soldier, which in turn increased the commotion of the army and in turn got out of hand.

Diaomilas was also infected, but he could still think more. After getting elected as an archon, he himself promoted the war against the Messapians, but now that the war has caused severe damage to Taranto, however, due to the war situation being critical, the Tarantines still did not have the time to deal with the one responsible for this mess. Now, in the face of boiling public opinion, if he still ignores it, then even if they take back Brindisi, the angry citizens will expel him from the city-state and leave him to bear a lifetime of humiliation!

Diaomilas forced himself to forget the fear that Davos had left in his heart when he lost his temper. Facing the army with boiling morale, he finally made up his mind, “Order the whole army to turn left and hasten towards the Anlen Hills!”

The soldiers erupted into cheers and immediately began to move.

When the Tarantines army left, the first to notice was the people of Metapontum that were in front of them, which alarmed Taudeles, so he immediately sent someone to inform Davos.

“Bastard! Bloody bastard!” Davos lost control of his emotions after hearing about it, for his worst fear has come true.

After calming his mood, he turned to the other archon of Taranto, who had been silent, and said, “Lord Umakas, the situation is urgent. I need you to dissuade Diaomilas and let him return together with his troops at once!”

Umakas shook his head, “I know Diaomilas. He is as stubborn as a rock, and since he has decided to disobey your orders, it is impossible to persuade him to return!”

Davos looked at him in the eye and said in anger, “So you mean that you are not going?!”

Umakas’ eye twitch, “I mean, it’s useless to go as I can’t persuade him.”

“Tolmides!” The roar of Davos startled Umakas, who was uneasy.

“Yes, lord commander!” Came a powerful reply from Tolmides.

“Go find that bastard and tell him, ‘If you don’t come back, I will immediately lead my troops back to Theonia.’ Go and return quickly!” Davos gave the order with indignation.

“Roger!” Tolmides nodded cautiously and mounted his horse.

“Da…lord Davos, will you really-” Umakas asked cautiously, but Davos shouted at him impatiently, “Shut up!”

Davos was furious as this was the first time that someone has disobeyed orders since leading an army! The two archons sang in chorus like a snake and mouse. At the same time, he thought that he should no longer participate in such a coalition in the future. Since its creation, he had not had a smooth ride, and he had spent most of his on balancing the relationship with Taranto’s army, and now, they had dragged them down and were in danger of defeat. Is it really necessary to return immediately?

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Milord, if the Theonians were to leave, our forces will no longer be equal to the large number of Messapi-Peuceti!” The adjutant of Taranto’s army said anxiously while watching at the departing herald of Theonia.

“Don’t fret. The Theonians will definitely follow! Isn’t the Theonian always claiming that they keep their ‘promises’?! Since they want to be the leader of the Greek city-states in South Italia, if they were to abandon their allies and flee the battlefield before the war even begins, then who will be willing to trust Theonia if such cowardly behaviour is known to the other city-states!” Diaomilas was confident on the surface but was still uneasy on the inside.

So he ordered, “Have the soldiers slow down their march.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Tolmides told Davos of Diaomilas’ refusal, Davos had already recovered his composure.

“Got it.” Davos replied lightly.

“Lord Davos, what shall we do now?” Asked Taudeles.

Davos looked at everyone. After taking into account the concerns of Umakas, the uneasiness of Taudeles, and the casualness of Teriphias, he firmly said, “Have the whole army turn around and reinforce that idiot!”

Umakas showed his gratitude, and Taudeles became at ease, and only Teriphias asked, “What if there is an ambush in Anlen Hills?”

“All the more reason to go, not to save Diaomilas, but to save thousands of Tarantine citizens!” Now that he has decided to go, Davos will undoubtedly have to make his words sound better. In fact, the reason why he wanted to reinforce is not only what Diaomilas has said, but also the fact that Heraclea had already become close with Theonia and Metapontum is already starting to waver, but if Taranto were to suffer a heavy defeat in this battle, it would no longer be possible to stop the Messapi-Peuceti, and these fierce aborigines could always go north along the coast and invade Metapontum at any time and threaten Heraclea, so Theonia will have to send troops to rescue them. Therefore, it’s better to save Taranto’s army while they are on the battlefield, repel the Messapi-Peuceti and maintain the balance of power in this land. As the founder of Theonia, temporarily bearing his dislike of the archon of Taranto is nothing as long as it is for the sake of the union’s strength.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Anlen Hills are, in fact, the junction of two mountain ranges and dotted with large and small hills, most of whom are several dozen metres high and rounded at the top, which, when viewed from above, looks like large green mushrooms, which present a strange natural beauty.

But for those who want to pass through it, it is a disaster. Although the hills are not high, they are wide and sloping, not easy to climb. Besides, the hills are continuous, so the only way to pass through them with less effort is to pass through the gentle areas between them, making the original straight path become tortuous. Moreover, as few people have passed through here for decades, the green grass has now grown everywhere, submerging the paths that were once on the open.

The Tarantine army saved a lot of trouble finding their way with the scouts, who had followed the Messapi-Peuceti, leading the way, and the pillars of smoke in the distance as a mark. During their journey, everything went well except for the soldiers complaining about the difficult path and that they didn’t even see any sign of the Messapians or even the Peucetians.

And when he received words from the scouts who had arrived that the Theonian army had also entered Anlen Hills, Diaomilas laughed, ‘Young man, you are not even close to beating me!’

He breathed out his displeasure and looked into the distance, the heavy smoke was not too far, and he estimated that they could probably reach there after a few more hills.

They could already see the corpses of Tarantines on the grass, each one dying a miserable way, which aroused the anger of the soldiers as if they could hear the helpless cries of help and the screams of their loved ones not far away, and as if their tired bodies were filled with strength again. Hence, they involuntarily sped up, and the whole column was soon stretched out due to the narrow path and becoming even more scattered and weak.

Then the Messapians’ salpinx suddenly rang out among the hills, which struck the hearts of every Tarantine soldier like a heavy hammer, and Diaomilas, who was pleased with himself for having fooled Davos, turned instantly pale…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Catch up with them! Don’t let them escape!” Solikos anxiously yelled at his men.

Although the Theonian cavalry chased at full speed regardless of danger and even having their teammates occasionally falling off their horses because of the rough mountain path, the distance between them and the fleeing Messapian cavalry was still getting farther and farther.

The Messapians manoeuvred their horses as if they were part of their bodies, running at full speed through the mountain path without any obstacle, leaving Solikos and the others sigh in disbelief and watching helplessly as the Messapians cavalry got away.

At this time, the shout of their “legatus” came from the rear of Solikos. When he turned around, he saw Ledes coming.

With one hand on the reins, he saluted to Ledes. The Theonian cavalry is an independent unit, with a total number of less than a thousand men, and does not belong to any legion. Although Ledes is only a senior centurion, his position is somewhat similar to that of a legatus.

Looking at the back of the Messapians who are already far away, with a serious expression, he turned to look at Solikos and said, “A lot of Messapi-Peuceti cavalries might soon come, so we must do all our might to stop them from finding out the direction of the army for as long as possible!”

“Roger!” Solikos responded at once but felt the weight of the task in his heart. He had heard that the Messapian cavalries could number in the thousands and were highly skilled in horse riding, not something that the Theonian cavalry, which had come with only 200 riders or so, could stop. Fortunately, the hills are numerous, which is not only not favourable to the spreading of troops and detouring off the cavalries, but they also cannot bring the advantage of the enemy’s large number of cavalry into play.

Seeing his nervousness, Ledes added, “Lord Davos has sent over 200 peltasts to help us, and they will soon be here.”

Chapter 284 – Battle of Anlen Hills (I)

Solikos was relieved from hearing this, as he knew the power of the peltast of the 7th brigade of the first legion, especially in a narrow mountain path where there is not enough room to dodge, it would be difficult to avoid the javelin throw of the peltast.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Pasimeus, archon of Rudiae, led the soldiers of the city-state alliance of Messapi to rush down the hills on both sides and attack the Tarantines in the mountain path.

While the Peucetians and the Alytian soldiers did not join the battle after finding out that the Theonians had entered the Anlen Hills as well.

Telemani hopes to see them rush to reinforce the Tarantines so that even if they had more soldiers than the Peucetians, a second ambush would still be able to wipe them out.

But the report of the scouts that have returned dashed his hopes.

“What?! The Theonians didn’t enter that mountain path and had instead disappeared?!” Telemani sprang to his feet and yelled, “And you have the nerve to say that you don’t know? Don’t think that just because you are a Messapian, I would not dare punish you! You must go find out where the Theonians have gone!”

“King of Peuceti, the Theonians had suddenly sent hundreds of cavalries to encircle our scouts, and it’s already their luck to escape.” Timogeras, the archon of Alytia, came forward and calmed him, “The Theonians will certainly come to rescue the Tarantines. The main point is for us to find out the direction they would appear, and it is only in that way we would be able to intercept them in time. Otherwise, the situation would become more dangerous.”

“Send out all the cavalries and search for them as quickly as you can! I don’t believe they can hide an army of tens of thousands of men!” Telemani shouted indignantly, the cunning Theonians had clearly come prepared and made all of Telemani’s arrangements go down the drain while thinking about the fact that the Theonian army had ignored the temptation of the Messapi-Peuceti and marched straight to Brindisi earlier and made Telemani realise that he had underestimated the commander of Theonia.

“What’s the name of the young commander of Theonia?” Telemani asked with seriousness.

“It seems…it is Davos.” Replied Timogeras.

Telemani repeated the name a few times, with his eyes lighting up with excitement.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

With the place where the Tarantines were ambushed as the centre of the circle, the cavalries fought on every mountain path and on the lower slopes of every hill in a half fan area to the south, while Davos seize the opportunity to spread the mountain reconnaissance brigade to scout ahead and lead the army to the place where the sound of battle is.

However, Davos had not expected that although the hills here are not too high, they covered a large area and that sometimes the hills were so connected that there was no path through them, besides passing through the low places between the hills. Their original plan was to make a slight detour to the east to avoid the ambush of the Messapi-Peuceti and rush to the rear of the enemy and rescue the Tarantine soldiers. However, that slight detour has instead become longer.

With the increasing distance, the soldiers of Heraclea and Metapontum complained endlessly. And the soldiers of Theonia also had some discontent in their hearts, but few people spoke it out.

While Umakas was extremely anxious due to the scouts’ report and the distant sound of fighting has shattered his wishful thinking, ‘The Messapians had indeed set up an ambush!’

As soon as he thought of the warning of Davos, remorse filled his heart as he tasted the bitter fruit of his failure to trust Davos more firmly and prevent Diaomilas from acting arbitrarily.

At this moment, he pinned all his hopes on Davos, but he did not urge him so as not to annoy the young military genius and affect their rescuing of the Tarantine army.

Davos was also anxious, and he was also irritated due to the long march in the mountains and seeing the soldiers’ exhaustion. From hearing the sounds of fighting and screaming becoming clearer, the battlefield should be not far ahead, but he was unsure if there were any more difficult hills they needed to pass that would force them to take a long detour.

“Lord commander, Izam has returned!” Shouted Tolmides.

“Quick! Bring him here quickly!” Davos hurried forward to greet him.

“Lord commander, ahead…there is no need to take a detour, and we can go straight through…” Izam panted heavily. After giving a military salute, he said eagerly, “There are only two more hills to pass before we reach the battlefield. However, my subordinates have spotted the enemy rushing here as well!”

Davos calmed down, after all, with so much time passing, it’s natural that the Messapi-Peuceti alliance discovered the movement of his army, and since they were already on the inner circle, they no longer feel it is a pity. Besides, the other side is in a hurry, so they surely do not have any defensive measures, and an ambush is even more unlikely. As long as they do not have to take another detour, the Theonian army fears no one in a frontal confrontation!

At his request, Izam drew a simple map on the ground using a branch.

After pointing out the main points and asking them in detail, Davos already thought up a plan in his mind, “Order the whole army to go through behind the hill quickly and then form up. The first legion would be on the left, the second on the right, and the rest are to be in reserve!”

“Yes!” Tolmides replied excitedly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In fact, the Theonian reinforcements have made a big detour as they were already approaching the exit of the Anlen Hills, which is equivalent to reaching the rear of the Messapi-Peuceti alliance, where the terrain gradually levelled off.

Endless hills lay in front of the Theonian army after crossing the mountain path. Fortunately, these hills were no more than 30 meters in height and easy to climb.

After going over it, they would reach the battlefield! The Theonian soldiers listened to the sound of battle coming from the other side of the hill and watched as more and more foreign enemies appear on the hill as their combativeness began to boil…

‘We finally caught up!’ The king of the Peuceti climbed the hills and let out a long exhale. He then looked at the Greek soldiers who were pouring out of the path in front of him.

“My king, look there!” A Peucetian general pointed down the hill. Several Greeks, wearing brightly coloured helmets, were galloping along the path in front of the hills, stopping from time to time to point and discuss something while being followed by a group of soldiers, one of whom was holding a shining golden military banner.

“DA-V-OS!” Telemani murmured the name, which he found a bit awkward to pronounce, and took a few steps forward, subconsciously trying to get a better look at his opponent.

“My king, do you want me to send some archers to shoot them?” Asked the Peucetian general.

“Of course not!” Telemani refused without even thinking about it. He looked at his men and said with a slightly excited appearance, “Let’s have a real battle with the young Greek strategos and the Greek Hoplite!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos carefully controlled his horse and galloped back and forth along the road to observe the whole terrain of the battlefield.

“Where do you think would be the easiest place for us to break through?” Asked Davos suddenly.

“There!” Kapus and Drakos pointed to the same place at the same time.

It was the lowest point between the endless hills, only four meters high. It is not only gentle but also wide enough.

Davos nodded but reminded, “The easiest place to break through is often the place where the enemy defends the most tightly!”

He stared at both of them with a gleaming gaze, “Now, the Tarantine army is under siege, and time is of the essence, so I am going to have Amintas’ brigade attack there and try to break through the enemy line in the shortest possible time!” Antonios’ first brigade has the strongest comprehensive combat strength, but the brigade led by the brave Amintas did have a stronger impact, and what Davos needed most at this time was time.

Kapus nodded to show his understanding, while Drakos wanted to say something, but he did not say anything after hearing Davos.

“When the legions are ready, you will launch the attack on your own!” Davos gave the order decisively.

After Kapus and Drakos gave their military salute, they hurriedly returned to their legion.

“Let the armies of Heraclea and Metapontum spread out on the right side of the second legion as far as possible so that they can attack immediately once the second legion launches their attack.” Davos continued to give orders.

“Understood, lord commander!” Tolmides and two heralds immediately went back to the path behind them.

When Davos finished all the arrangements, Umakas asked with suspicion, “Why did lord Davos put Teriphias and Taudeles on the right? Wouldn’t this make the enemy’s formation on our left longer than ours?”

“We should arrange our formation according to the actual situation so that we can have the initiative in every battle. Our aim now is to break through the enemy’s obstruction and rescue the Tarantine army, while the enemy’s aim is to stop us from advancing. The reason why we have more soldiers on the right-wing than the enemy is to have an easier time making a breakthrough on the right-wing. Therefore, even if the enemy manages to block our left-wing, the right-wing would be able to break through, which would be equal to defeating the enemy’s attempt to intercept us…” After giving his orders, Davos had some free time, so he patiently explained to Umakas, “Besides, don’t you see that the further you go to the right, the more gentle the hill becomes(because it’s close to the edge of the hill), allowing the slightly weaker Heraclea and Metapontum troops to give full play to their strength.”

“But the enemy can see our formation on the top of the hill, and they will certainly make a change.” Reminded Umakas.

Davos smiled confidently, “They don’t have time.”

Umakas was curious and wanted to ask why they do not have enough time when he heard Davos shouting, “Matonis, why aren’t you leading your troops?!”

“Davos…oh, lord commander!” Seeing that Davos looked seriously, Matonis suddenly became nervous, “I…I request…that my brigade attack there.” Matonis pointed his finger in the distance to the breakthrough that they have discussed earlier.

Chapter 285 – Battle of Anlen Hills (II)

“I promise that my soldiers would slaughter them in the shortest possible time!” After remembering the purpose of his coming here, Matonis gathered his courage and said it loudly.

Davos’ face sank, “Nonsense! Do you think that this is a rugby game that you can do whatever you want?! Hurry back to command your brigade. If it affects the attack of the whole army, the military law will not spare you!”

After seeing Matonis left with resentment, Davos turned to Tolmides and said, “Tell Amintas that Matonis has asked to replace his brigade on the grounds that the third brigade of Matonis can do a better job, and at the same time, tell him to figure it out himself.”

Tolmides immediately understood the intention of Davos and rode away.

Umakas had mixed feelings when he saw that Davos commanded his strategoi and soldiers like his arms, not at all comparable to the strategoi temporarily appointed by Taranto.

“Lord Umakas, Let’s go up the hill.” Said Davos as he led his guards to the hill behind them.

“Eh?” Umakas asked in amazement, “Lord Davos, aren’t we going to take part in the battle?”

“If I take part in the attack, who will direct the battle?” Laughed Davos.

“Do you still need to command after the battle begins?” Umakas, who had also taken part in many battles when he was young, could not understand how an archon could “hide” behind his troops instead of taking the lead. However, he could clearly see that the soldiers behind Davos looked as though it was natural and did not think their archon was a coward.

Umakas could only follow with doubts.

“Lord commander, I…what should my brigade do?” Izam rushed up to him and asked him directly. Now his men have completed the task of scouting the road and are returning from various directions.

“Your brigade…” Davos turned to look at the reconnaissance men gathering not far away, and he had almost forgotten about this vital force. He thought about it and said, “For the time being, they will act as a reserve and have them first hide in the mountain path we came from and rest.”

“Ah…as reserves?!” Izam was not satisfied after hearing it.

“Don’t worry, fighting in the mountain is your speciality, so after the battle begins, you are all indispensable.” Comforted Davos.

Izam laughed.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“How did it go? I told you that you would fail! You still don’t understand Davos even after you have been with him for so long. Once the battle starts, he is completely like a different person, and no matter how close you are with him, he will strictly required you to obey orders; otherwise…hmph…” Olivos saw the dejected Matonis returning, so he comforted him while making a joke.

Matonis ignored him and went straight to the military banner of his brigade.

“Strategos, all centuria have formed up!” His adjutant came forward to report.

“Gather all the centurions. There is something I need to say!” Said Matonis with a calm expression.

Soon after, five centurions arrived.

“All of you listen. I have only one request, and that is for all the soldiers to attack with all their might and for our third brigade be the first to break through the enemy lines!” Matonis looked straight at them and said decisively, “Which centuria, which platoon, which squad, which soldiers not performing well, will not only get a scolding from me!”

“Roger!!” The centurions answered loudly without feeling the pressure; on the contrary, all of them looked excited.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Brothers, listen, take off your helmets!” A squad leader gave the order.

Although the soldiers took off their heavy Corinthian helmets as ordered, some of the recruits were surprised, “War is about to begin, so why do we have to take off our helmets instead? Wouldn’t that make it easier to get hurt?”

The veterans who have gone through the expedition in Persia and had fought in many mountain battles told them, “We have to climb up and fight with our heads up; the helmets are too heavy and tend to make us fall. Moreover, the eyehole of the helmet is small, and when we tilt our heads, the helmets will slide backwards and tend to block our view, which is not good during battles…”

“But without the protection of helmets, we would easily get wounded!” The recruits are still worried.

“You still have a shield.” The old soldiers posed, holding his shield above his head and lean his body forward, “See! The round shield and the slope would protect you from injury!” At this point, he sighed, “It’s a pity that we couldn’t wear our new helmets this time; otherwise, it would be no problem to climb and fight with them on!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“King, look at the right-wing of the enemy!” The Peucetian general, Pulo, pointed down the hill: Behind the “phalanx” formation of the Greeks, there was a steady stream of troops moving towards the far-right…

“They clearly have more people on the right than on the left! We don’t have that many troops on our side, so if we want to form a formation as long as theirs, we’d have to thin our formation, which would weaken the defence, but if we don’t do anything, their soldiers would go around the outside of our left-wing and attack our flank…”

Telemani frowned as he watches the changes at the foot of the hill. He understood the enemy’s intention and saw that the enemy had only formed “small phalanxes” one after another and did not form a large phalanx formation, hence why he thought that there was still enough time for them to adjust.

The Peucetian troops were on the top of the hill, so Davos could not see the approximate number of the Messapi-Peucetis. As a matter of fact, the army of Telemani is less than 12,000, together with the more than 3,000 Messapian soldiers of Alytia, which totalled about 15,000. In comparison, Theonia alone has about 14,000 men in the two legions, plus a thousand mountain reconnaissance brigade, and a combined 3,000 men from Heraclea and Metapontum, a full 3,000 more men than the Messapi-Peucetis alliance that are in front of them.

With Telemani being outnumbered, his greatest strength was the hill, and he must not lose this advantage. So he made an immediate decision, “Pulo, quickly take 1,500 men to reinforce our left-wing!”

Just as the Peucetians began to deploy their troops to the left in a panic, the salpinx suddenly sounded at the foot of the hill.

Telemani was greatly shocked, ‘The Greeks were in a hurry that they would even attack before they could complete their phalanx?’

To his puzzled gaze, the “small phalanxes” formed by the Theonians had begun to move slowly forward. When he turned to look at his own army, although the Peucetians did not have tightly arrange phalanxes like the Greeks, they also have a neat and orderly formation, but due to deploying his troops, his soldiers are now in a mess.

“Pulo, stop the deployment!” He hurriedly ordered.

“Understood! But what about the left-wing?”

Telemani thought for a moment and said, “Go and tell Timogeras to bring all the cavalries that are idle to help our left-wing!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Teriphias likewise did not expect the Theonians to start attacking so soon, while his army was still on its way to the right-wing.

“Milord, what shall we do?!” Asked his subordinate anxiously.

“Let’s go to our position first.” Said Teriphias while striving to maintain his composure.

Fortunately, because of the advance of the Theonian army, the path became less narrow and more convenient for them to march.

When Davos heard the salpinx, he couldn’t help but praise, “The first legion sure move fast!”

Then the salpinx on the right sounded.

He nodded, “The second legion is not slow either!”

“Lord commander!” Tolmides came rushing from the foot of the hill and said while panting, “The troops of Heraclea and Metapontum have not still arrived at their predetermined positions and cannot launch an attack.”

“No need to fret, as it is better for us for their attack to be delayed.” Said Davos calmly, as if everything was under control.

Tolmides was intelligent, so he understood what Davos meant after getting a reminder. If the soldiers of Heraclea and Metanpontum, who are weak, were to attack at the same time, they will be at a disadvantage against the fierce Messapi-Peucetis alliance and will probably suffer a loss and become a drag for the whole army. Therefore, their late arrival will put the enemy at a loss and make the enemy engage the second legion, making the late arrival of Teriphias and his 3,000 men an extra surprise on the battlefield!

Umakas, on the other hand, could not be as relaxed as Davos. His heart began to beat as fast as the sound of the salpinx, and his gazes moved with the movement of the troops at the foot of the hill. The battle of nearly 40,000 men was about to begin, and the victor of this battle would decide the fate of the Tarantine army…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Tarantine army, whose fate was about to be decided, is not far from the battlefield. On the narrow winding mountain path, their 3-kilometre long column was ambushed by the Messapians and thrown into confusion and panic, completely disorganised and out of command, and left to fight on their own.

Diaomilas did not have the time to regret not listening to Davos, as he shouted loudly to cheer up the soldiers around him to fight bravely for survival. But on the heated battlefield, his voice is like a stone thrown into a torrent, making no difference.

The Messapians attack from both sides, gradually compressing them into the mountain path, making it difficult for them even to swing their spears.

Diaomilas was in despair as his ears were filled with the shrill cries of the soldiers…

At this moment,  a commotion arises from both sides of the battlefield…

“Salpinx! It’s the salpinx! Our reinforcements are coming!” The soldiers’ cheers burst into the numb ears of Diaomilas, making him perk up and listen carefully.

The noises that filled the whole sky could not cover the sharp salpinx, which has broken through many obstacles and faintly echoes in the valley where the noise of battle was so loud…

The image of Davos immediately came to Diaomilas mind, but at this moment, instead of disgust, he exclaimed with delight, “Citizens, hold on! The Theonians are coming!”

Needless to say, the soldiers who have seen the hope to live had naturally had their morale rise. And the Messapians stepped up their attacks…

Chapter 286 – Battle of Anlen Hills (III)

“Archers, prepare!” Once Pulo saw the Greeks coming into range, he immediately gave the order. The height difference of tens of meters not only extended the range of the archers and enhanced the lethality of the arrows, and at the same time, it shortened the range of the archers on the other side. As a result, the long-range firepower of the Messapi-Peuceti alliance was at a great advantage, such as the benefit of having the high ground.

But just as the Peucetians pulled their bows, countless black dots whizzed from the foot of the hill, hitting the Peucetians with inferior equipment and causing the archers to scream in pain.

‘The Greeks have slingers!’ A chill rose in the heart of Telemani.

Unfortunately for Davos, the two light infantry brigades of the two legions – Epiphanes and Cid, only had about 400 slingers under their command, which was not enough to suppress the enemy, and the only thing they can do is disrupt their shooting.

The arrows continued to fall like raindrops, prompting the soldiers to hold their shields above their heads and advance slowly step by step. Unfortunately, the terrain had limited them from using the hoplite’s killer weapon, “charge”, and they could only endure the noise of arrows pecking at the bronze shield and making “clang clang clang” noise.

When they began climbing the mountain, javelins hit their shields fiercely, causing some soldiers to be injured.

The wounded soldiers then fell to the ground, huddling together and covering themselves with the shields as they wait for the medical camp to rescue them.

In the middle of the battlefield, the hoplites of Alytia were stationed at the place where Theonia focused their attack – the lowest point of the terrain.

“Come on! Hurry up!…” Amintas kept urging the soldiers, as he did not want to lose to Matonis, a junior in the mercenary. Therefore, he broke the rules of Theonia’s military law and took the lead in fighting at the forefront of the brigade, which made the soldiers who had been tired after a long march be excited and followed closely behind.

While charging through the rain of arrows to a distance more than 20 metres from the enemy, the whole brigade suddenly stopped their advance.

“Defence!” Timogeras gave a loud order as he thought that the enemy was about to charge.

Even if the gentle slope here is only a few metres high, this height is still enough for the Greeks to pay a heavy price!

However, what came was not the Greeks’ charge, but nearly a thousand javelins, which to the horror of the Messapians, drove powerfully into their phalanxes with whistling wind, raising a chorus of screams.

Timogeras had no idea that the Theonian hoplites could throw javelins, he shouted in exasperation without even caring about his surprise, “Shields up! Use your shield to defend!…”

Amintas quickly took out his second javelin and roared, “Rush with me!” With that, he was the first to rush to the enemy with a shield in his left hand and a javelin in his right.

The soldiers followed.

Timogeras was surprised: Normally, the Greeks hoplites would have broken up from their formation when charging, but the enemy on the opposite side still managed to maintain a basic formation, charging in fast like a thick wall of iron which made him feel suffocated.

“Defence! Defence!” He hoarsely shouted in a somewhat panicked voice.

However, the soldiers were not able to recover from their panic due to the javelins, while the brigade of Amintas arrived in a flash, stepping on the gentle slope a few metres high, took a few strides and with the help of momentum, they pushed forward with their left arm that was holding the shields, “Bang!…” After the sound of continuous metallic impact, the Messapian soldiers, who were unable to defend themselves together due to the chaotic formation, were forced to retreat unconsciously to ease the impact.

This retreat made it impossible for the dense mass of Messapian soldiers to take care of their comrades who fell to the ground from either getting stabbed by javelins or tripped by those at their back. On the back was the panic shouting of their comrades while only on the front were javelins stabbing towards them like poisonous snakes. For a moment, they were in a mess and could only continue to fall back, which allowed most of the soldiers of Amintas’ brigade to step on the slope.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As the leader of the seventh brigade of the second legion, Cid has a habit of praying before a battle.

He is not the only one doing it but also asks his men to do it together. In the past, he prayed to Ares, the god of war, but after following Davos, he changed his worship to Theonia’s patron god – Hades, the god of the underworld. After singing the ode of Hades, he stood up and said, “The slingers are to continue attacking the enemy here, while the archers will follow the infantry closely. Once in range, shoot the enemy on the hill. Peltast, follow me!”

The peltast captain, Satirus, quickly advised, “Strategos, you should continue commanding and let me lead our brothers to attack.”

Cid glared at him, “Now is a good chance for us to prove our peltast. So how can I hide behind!” In recent months, opinions sprung up in the army that the role of peltast has become dispensable as we already have the archers and slingers for long-range attacks and the hoplite throwing javelins for close-range attacks, so it is better to abolish this branch and replace it with light-armoured soldiers similar to the mountain reconnaissance brigade.

Naturally, Epiphanes and Cid, who grew up as peltast, strongly opposed this opinion and always expressed their thoughts to Davos that the peltast can never be replaced, that they can’t be replaced!

Now is the time to prove the value of the peltast.

Epiphanes and Cid led nearly 500 peltasts; they scattered in pairs and in groups of three as they pass through the gaps in the “fish-scale formation” of the hoplites.

Leotychides’ platoon was at the forefront of the front line, and he himself was in the middle of the first column of the platoon’s phalanx. On that day, he was locked up for half a day for assaulting his comrades, originally, he had to be punished by the military stick, but considering that the war was about to start, the military inspector postponed the punishment until after the war and allowed him to atone for his crime by doing meritorious service.

At this moment, Leotychides had already started climbing. Although he was not wearing a helmet, he was still carrying more than 40 kilograms of equipment and even had to carry weapons in both hands, so it was not easy to stabilise his body. Fortunately, it was early autumn, it was warm and dry, and grasses overgrew the hills; even though it hadn’t rained for ten days, the soil was still soft, and when you take a step on it, it will leave a small pit. Leotychides and his teammates slowly made their way up, one step at a time.

While the Messapians attacked them with even more ferocity, throwing their javelins from more than 30 metres high and directly hitting the shields, causing huge impacts. Most of them could pierce the bronze shields, and the remaining force had even pushed Leotychides backwards, so he quickly trusted the end of his spear into the soil to stabilise his body.

Some of the soldiers had already lost their balance from what he could see due to the impact. They slipped down and had even dragged down their comrades that were behind. Fortunately, the Theonians’ peculiar offensive formation is like a sawtooth, neither continuous nor dense, so it did not affect the orderly advance of the whole army.

Since Leotychides entered the training camp, he became interested in Theonia’s unique formations and found that these formations were more complex than the traditional Greek phalanx formations; not only was it very effective, it was also very suitable for all terrains. After analysing it privately, he thought it was more ingenious than Sparta’s tactics, which he had received training since childhood. Later, when he learned that it was the archon, Davos, who had invented this unique formation on his own, he had an impulse to discuss his views regarding formations. Unfortunately, it was only a fantasy, because Davos was the highest power of Theonia, while his current status was not the crown prince of Sparta, but only a freeman of Theonia, so he could only watch Davos from a distance whenever Davos gave lectures on the training ground’s stage.

At present, the Peucetian’ javelin came again.

Leotychides put aside his distracting thoughts, bent down and fixed his heels, and opened his eyes wide to see the direction of the flying javelin. He tilted his shield slightly, causing the javelin’s tip to make a string of sparks on the shield causing most of the momentum to be negated, which reduced the impact on him.

As soon as Leotychides breathed a sigh of relief, he heard a cry from a comrade on the right. He was shaking and was about to fall, so Leotychides quickly released his spear, stuck out his right hand in a flash and grabbed the man’s arm.

The man was Hybaterus. Hybaterus hesitated a bit and immediately shouted with sincerity, “Prosous, thank you!”

And Leotychides only nodded at him. Although there are contradictions between them, the battlefield is the melting pot of men’s friendship.

At this time, he looked up and saw someone running to the front of the formation.

A peltast! Leotychides blinked as he understood this type of unit. During the Peloponnesian War, Sparta had employed many Thracian peltasts as an auxiliary to the hoplites. However, in the battle sequence of the Theonian army, the peltasts are regarded as an important force. Therefore, their status is not lower than that of a hoplite.

These peltasts with leather shields in their left hand and rhomphaia on their right, while wearing thin cloth robes, approached the enemies on the hills in the form of scattered soldiers while deftly avoiding the javelins of the Peucetians.

Why can they be so fast and agile? It is because they are holding rhomphaia, an odd weapon with an almost curved blade that they could plunge into the earth, which would easily provide strong support to their climbing.

When Cid soon got close to the enemy, five to six spears came at him simultaneously.

Cid was very calm; he squatted down suddenly that his soft leather armour had almost stuck to the ground along the slope, with the leather shield protecting the top of his head blocking the spear.

Standing on the top of the hill, the Peucetians found it difficult to stab the enemy, who was almost on the ground and at such a low angle. And the ground sloped downward so much that they needed to move forward.

Quick as a flash, Cid pushed his legs back and slammed his whole body into the enemy, quickly reaching out to his rhomphaia and hooking one of the Peucetian warriors feet with it and pulling down hard.

Rhomphaias were weapons used by the Thracians with a straight or slightly curved single-edged blade attached to a pole, which in most cases was considerably shorter than the blade.

Chapter 287 – Battle of Anlen Hills (IV)

The Peucetian warrior screamed; he lost his balance and rolled down the hill shrieking.

Cid then avoided the incoming spear swiftly by rolling to the left…

Such a situation frequently played on the Peucetian defensive line, forcing the Peucetians to retreat involuntarily, which naturally reduced the javelin thrown to the Theonian soldiers.

“7th Brigade, good job!” Behind Leotychides, some soldiers praised loudly.

“Speed up the climbing!…” Taking advantage of this opportunity, the platoon captain – Pamanius, who was in the centre of the small phalanx, urged loudly.

And the flag bearers began waving the flag forward continuously.

Leotychides and his teammates saw the peltasts being alone, so how could they be willing to lag. They cooperated with each other and tried to climb upwards, and soon they reach the 30-metres height. The peltasts then retreated to both sides of the small phalanx, leaving only the enemy in front of them.

“Hades!!!” The soldiers shouted out the name of the union’s patron god. They then raised their shields and met the enemy…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The troops of Teriphias and Taudeles finally arrived at their pre-determined position on the right-wing. Usually, it would have taken them longer to re-organise before they could launch an attack. However, since the Theonian army was already engaged in battle, it had stimulated them to increase their pace.

As there was no enemy in front of them, Teriphias and Taudeles mixed the light infantry into the phalanx to increase its thickness and began climbing up the hill in a more scattered formation.

Without an enemy, they quickly went up the gentle slope more than 20 metres high, and they would then be able to attack the enemy’s flank and decide the victor of this battle.

But when they stepped onto the hill with confidence and ease, a large number of enemies suddenly appeared at the top of the hill.

‘Messapian cavalry!’ Teriphias was startled but then began to calm down. Although the Messapian cavalry is powerful, the terrain here is not flat, and there is not enough place for them to gallop. Do they even dare to fight the hoplites head-on?

And so, the Heraclea and Metapontum joint army continued their advance while the cavalry on the top of the slope began throwing their short javelins.

Just as the Greeks raised their shields in defence, many began to exclaim, “Cavalry! The Messapian cavalry is behind us!!”

Every soldier could only hear the rumbling cries behind them as a large group of Messapian cavalry came around the hill from a distance and began throwing javelins at the rear of the Greek soldiers who were climbing the hill.

With this sudden blow, it had caused confusion on Heraclea – Metapontum’s joint army for a while.

In fact, there are not only Messapian cavalry but also Peucetian cavalry, a full 1,300 cavalries. At this moment, the cavalrymen at the top of the hill began stroking the head of their mounts and began whispering something. In their eyes was reluctance, but soon their expression became firm.

“Lycaon!!!” The Peucetian cavalry raised their hands and shouted.

“Lycaon!!!” The Messapian cavalry also shouted one after another. King Lycaon had dared to test the Greek god Zeus, and though he was turned into a wolf, most of his descendants considered him a hero and would shout his name before a battle to boost their morale. The Messapians, who had gradually abandoned this tradition due to the influence of Hellenization, are now picking it up again.

The cavalry on the top of the hill clasp their hands tightly around the necks of their horses and their legs clamping down hard on their bellies, and soon, hundreds of horses began running down the hill in a loose formation, and their speed became increasingly faster. Although from time to time, a cavalryman rolled down to the ground together with his horse, it still did not affect the speed and morale of the cavalries.

“Rai…raise your shield…” Teriphias mind became blank for a moment from seeing this situation.

In the eyes of the Heracleaan-Metapontum soldiers, it was like facing a huge boulder rolling down the mountain, so who would dare to block it! Just as they tried to dodge in fear, the cavalry had already crashed head-on into the formation. Suddenly, horses and people screamed, cavalrymen flew, and the Greek soldiers tumbled to the ground; almost no one was standing.

In an instant, the Greek phalanx collapsed.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos soon received a report from Tolmides, ‘A large number of enemy cavalry suddenly appeared on the right-wing.’

He immediately felt a little uneasy and made a quick decision, “Izam, lead your brigade to reinforce Teriphias and Taudeles, and after you repel the enemy cavalry, continue attacking the enemy’s flank!”

“Roger!” Izam finally got the mission he was waiting for. He slammed his chest with his left fist and saluted to Davos. After that, he ran down to the hill and shouted to his men, “Brothers, follow me to slaughter the enemy!”

Amidst the cheers, the reconnaissance brigade’s soldiers, with a small leather shield in their left hand and a dagger in their right hand, rushed to the right-wing.

Even though Umakas could not understand why these Theonians were so eager to fight, he was amazed by their high morale. He secretly made up his mind for Taranto to try not to have a conflict with the battle-hungry Theonians unless they had no choice but to do so.

“Lord Davos, the Messapian cavalry could not defeat the Greek hoplites no matter how powerful they are. Besides, this is a hilly area, so there is no need for you to send more troops to reinforce them.” Umakas couldn’t help but advise.

“How could the Messapians, who are good cavalries, not know what we all know, and yet, they still sent their cavalry. So there is definitely something suspicious about that.” Davos said calmly.

Umakas became more worried when he heard the reasonable deduction of Davos.

Before this, the herald Tolmides had collected the information that was sent back by the heralds, who were on stand-by in the rear of the two legions and each brigade without interruption. He then gave their reports to Davos, “The brigade led by Amintas had forced the Messapian heavy infantry at the bottom of the central hill backwards…the first and second legions on the left and right-wings also had a slight advantage in fighting with the Peucetians who occupied the high grounds. And, after withdrawing from the frontline, the two light infantry brigades have joined forces and detoured to the left (because the Heraclean and Metapontum troops were on the right-wing) to attack the enemy’s flank…”

With having the advantage on all fronts, Davos has realised that the enemy had fewer troops than him, and for the first time since arriving in Magna Graecia and leading his army to battle, he had now the strength to send reinforcements to nip any possible disadvantage in the bud.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Telemani, the king of Peuceti, did not expect the battlefield’s current situation to be completely opposite of what he had imagined. Not only were the Messapian, who were heavily defended in the lower part of the hill, forced back, but even his proud Peucetian warriors, who had a clear geographical advantage, failed to repel the enemy.

Although they are now in a stalemate, judging from the situation of the battlefield, this stalemate won’t last because Telemani knows that his warriors are poorly equipped and have fewer men. Earlier, he had dispatched almost all his men to help the left-wing, just so that they could make their own formation and the enemy formation to be roughly equal in length and prevent their flank from being attacked. But when the geographical advantage and the bravery of his warriors are not enough to block and repel the enemy, the stalemate will only benefit the other side. Now, the only good news he received was that the cavalry had defeated the enemy on the far left-wing.

Telemani hoped that after quickly dispersing the defeated enemy, they would then assist the left-wing in defeating the enemy in front of them, so as to lay the foundation for the victory of the battle.

At this time, Telemani felt a bit uneasy after seeing one of his scouts galloping to the foot of the hill from a distance, dismounting and hurriedly ran up the hill.

“My king, more than a thousand enemies have reinforced the left-wing and our cavalry has fallen into a…hard battle!”

In fact, it is only an understatement to say that it was a hard battle. In reality, when the mixed cavalry of Messapi-Peuceti rushed down from the top of the hill and attacked the defeated Heraclea-Metapontum joint army and after pursuing the fleeing enemies, but due to the mountain path being narrow and the enemy and their allies are mixed together, it was somewhat tight, and so the speed advantage of the cavalry was completely lost, but the Greek soldiers who had lost their courage just continued to run away without even putting up a fight. But when Izam’s brigade bypassed the mountain path and surrounded them from both sides of the hill, the disaster of the Messapi-Peuceti cavalry came.

Riding on a horse without a saddle and fighting in place, the riders could not fight the Theonians with all their strength, and it was almost impossible for them to retreat immediately due to the crowded path. Under the protection of their leather shield, the soldiers of the mountain reconnaissance brigade could not only stab the riders with their short swords but also the horses. And the defeated Greek soldiers who finally had reinforcements gradually regained their morale and started to fight back…and the Messapi-Peuceti cavalry who had trapped themselves in a deadly situation was not far from being defeated.

“What?! How can the Greeks still have troops that they haven’t send to battle!!” Telemani glared at the scout. In this era, the city-states did not have the habit of having a reserve force during a war and would send all their troops to battle. Therefore, Telemani had dared to risk using cavalry attacks in such a terrain that was obviously unfavourable to cavalries, and now, his greatest hope of victory was extinguished.

He took a few steps forward and looked at the top of the opposite hill where a golden flag stand, and knew that the enemy’s commander was there.

“A military genius of South Italia…” Murmured Telemani in low spirits.

“My king, what shall we do now?” Pulo, seeing that Telemani’s mind was wandering, asked hastily.

‘What to do? Retreat?’ Now that the two armies are still entangled with each other, how can they easily retreat? It will only increase the casualties of the Peucetians. They had still underestimated the Theonians! He had heard that this is just a newly established city-state union, yet its combat strength is very strong. ‘If we could avoid fighting them in the future, then we should try our best to avoid them…’ There was a trace of fear in Telemani’s heart, regretting that he should not have played around and should have chosen to ambush the Tarantines instead and give the task of intercepting the Theonian reinforcements to the Messapians…

“…wait.” After a long time, Telemani could only spat out a word.

Pulo was startled, and soon understood what Telemani meant, it was to wait for the Messapians to defeat the Tarantines and come to reinforce them as soon as possible, that is to put their hope on others, which is not Telemani’s usual practice!

Pulo thought worriedly in his heart, ‘But what if the Messapians were late!’

Chapter 288 – Battle of Anlen Hills (V)

The Peucetians had sent a herald to the place where they ambushed the Tarantine. However, he could not find the archons of the city-states of Messapi as Pasimeus led them in engaging the Tarantine army to surround and annihilate them.

The Greek hoplites have a strong defence and are powerful in close combat, but a hoplite that could only defend and does not attack is only a hard shell, and it would only be a matter of time and energy to break them.

The Messapians’ initial ambush had cut off the serpentine column of Taranto into more than ten sections. However, surrounding each section of the enemy had caused the Messapian soldiers to be outnumbered, but as the battle progressed, the casualties of Taranto increased, causing each encirclement to shrink smaller and smaller.

If they had not heard the salpinx of Theonia, then the Tarantines might have already given up fighting, and now, the only thing supporting them is their belief to live. But with the gradual elimination of a small encirclement after another, the shackles around the remaining soldiers’ necks began to tighten.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hybaterus had heard of Prosous’ excellent performance in the recruit training camp, but he did not expect that Prosous was not soft-hearted in killing in a real battlefield, and he felt like this was not his first battle (it was not). His shield defence, slash and thrusting were skilful and ingenious, even though he does not swing his spear randomly, but as long as he strikes, it would cause an enemy to scream, which is truly cruel and accurate. The ruthlessness of Prosous made the fierce Peucetians afraid that they subconsciously avoided his attack.

Under the lead of Prosous, his teammates competed against each other, causing the Peucetians’ defensive line to be in danger.

Matonis, who was in the middle of the brigade and was in charge of supervising the battle, was overjoyed to see such sight and asked excitedly, “Who is the warrior rushing at the front?”

Pamanius, the platoon captain, replied quickly, “Prosous!”

“He is Prosous!!” His teammates had also rushed to answer.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Lord commander, Matonis’ third brigade has broken through the enemy’s line of defence!”

“The fourth brigade of Amintas has also broken through!”

“The light infantry brigade of Epiphanes and Cid has defeated the enemy’s flank!”

“Izam’s mountain reconnaissance brigade together with the troops of Heraclea and Metapontum had defeated the enemy’s flank!”

One good news after another had come. When Tolmides reported it to Davos, Umakas could not help exclaim excitedly, “Great! We finally won!”

Davos also showed a relieved smile, “Order. Blow the salpinx again and defeat the enemy in one fell swoop!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Retreat! Retreat! Go!” Even though Telemani’s expression looked bleak, he was still calm. After all, it is not like he had not experienced defeat, in the last war with Dauni, he had lost a lot of lands, yet he still survived.

In fact, there was no need for his orders as the whole army had collapsed and the Peucetian soldiers fled for their lives.

Before leaving, Telemani did not forget to take a look at the top of the opposite hill again, as if to keep the dazzling flag firmly in his mind.

“My king, do you want to warn the Messapians?” Reminded Pulo.

Telemani was in low spirit and wasn’t in the mood to speak much and just watch at the defeated soldiers all over the hills. He might as well give them a favour at a small cost, “Send someone to tell them that the Theonians had attacked fiercely and that we could not hold them off. Whether to retreat or continue fighting, let them decide for themselves.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

One after another, the soldiers beside Diaomilas fell, and he himself was wounded in many places and felt that he would return to the underworld this time. Suddenly, the Messapians surrounding them went into commotion.

He heard the enemy shouting something. Unfortunately, he could not understand the Messapi’s language, but someone among the soldiers was already shouting excitedly in a tired voice, “The Messapians says that the Peucetians were defeated! The Theonians have won! We are saved!!”

The despairing soldiers had immediately cheered up from hearing these words and shouted the news of victory to each other, and finally merging into one, “Hold on! Hold on!! The Theonian reinforcement will be here soon!!!”

As time pass by with difficulty, the attack of the Messapians gradually weakened and in the end, they retreated.

In the face of the retreat of the Messapians, Diaomilas has no intention to chase them. In fact, he could not command any soldiers at the moment as all the Tarantine soldiers, like him, had exhausted their strength and energy for more than two hours.

He sat down on the ground and no longer wanted to stand up. The joy of surviving could not match the unhappiness at the sight of the soldiers’ corpses and the groaning of the wounded.

In this battle, the Messapians have suffered 1,200 casualties, mainly from the near-total annihilation of the cavalry reinforcement and the heavy infantry of Alytia.

While the Peucetians’ casualties were less than 600, the reason for their low casualties was that in a frontal confrontation between infantries, they tended to only suffer few casualties, and the primary loss comes are after their defeat. For example, in the second battle between Theonia and Crotone, they relied on the light infantry and cavalry to pursue and capture most of the fleeing Crotonian hoplites. However, such a good opportunity did not appear in this battle because the Peucetians are familiar with the terrain and have simple equipment. These characteristics have made it impossible for the Theonian hoplites to catch up with them once they fled, and the Theonian cavalries did not even join in this battle. Even if they were to appear on the battlefield, there was still no way for them to defeat the Peucetians in the mountains.

On the other side of the war, the Tarantine has suffered more than 4,000 casualties, nearly one-third of its military strength, most of which had died in the battle; The Theonians have 600 casualties, but most of them were the result of getting injured by falling from the hill; While Heraclea and Metapontum have more than 800 casualties. Thus, although it was the Messapi-Peuceti alliance who had eventually retreated, the Greek allied force was the one actually suffering the more severe losses. Moreover, the Messapians and the Peucetians have lost a large number of cavalry, while Theonia had gotten nearly 400 high-quality horses.

When Davos saw Diaomilas, he did not assume the attitude of a saviour and continued to face him in his usual manner while enthusiastically directing the medical camp to aid the wounded soldiers of Taranto, much to Diaomilas’ shame.

The Messapi-Peuceti had withdrawn from the Anlen Hills, entered the territory of Taranto and soon retreated northward.

However, the Greek allied troops were unable to chase them due to fatigue and having too many wounded soldiers. For the time being, they settled in a few nearby villages to rest while sending men to the city of Taranto to report the war situation and escort the wounded soldiers back to the camp.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On this day, the Senate of Theonia received a man.

His name is Mithrobates, and he had come to ask Theonia for help. However, he had not come from any of the allied city-states of Theonia but from the Siro tribe in the territory of Brutti.

It turned out that the Bruttii tribal union in Consentia was in the process of unification. In the process of their unification, they began to accelerate the incorporation and merging of the small and large tribes within their borders; with the general trend and force submission, most tribes had chosen to comply, but few tribes led by the Siro tribe refused the integration.

According to Mithrobates, they are Greeks, and most of them were only forced to flee into the mountains to avoid disaster after the destruction of Sybaris. They have the pride as a Greek, so how could they be incorporated by barbarians and live a barbaric life?!

After several unsuccessful attempts by the envoys sent by the city of Consentia in Bruttii to persuade the Siro tribe, there was no longer any movement, so the people of the Siro tribe thought that the matter was over. However, a few months later, after Consentia completed its authority over most of the tribes of Brutii and was effectively ruling them, they had sent another envoy to Siro.

But this time, the envoy demanded that the Siro tribe immediately submit to the rule of the tribal union, else they would send a large army to eliminate them.

It was then that the Siro tribes panicked and hastily sent Mithrobates to Terina for help.

Terina admitted that they had no ability to intervene in this matter. Fortunately, they had already let Siprus communicate with the archon of Theonia, Davos, beforehand, so they had Mithrobates go to Theonia to ask for help.

On this day, the Senate’s rotating chairperson was Cornelius. He looked at the envoy that claimed to be Greek but looked nothing like one, so he was puzzled.

Seeing the doubts of the statemen, Mithrobates explained, “I inherited my Bruttian mother’s face, and it is because I do not look like Greek that the chieftain of Siro chose me, as only in this way would I not arouse the suspicion of the surrounding Bruttians.”

Cornelius murmured to himself: Before going to battle, Davos once raised the issue of Bruttii but was interrupted because of Taranto’s request for help before they could conduct a detailed discussion.

At this moment, Pollux stood up and said, “What could Theonia do? Protest to the Bruttians to stop annexing this small tribe? I am afraid none of you here will believe that just one word from us would make the Bruttians stop what they have been preparing for so long. What will we do if the Bruttians refuse? If we give up, we will only lose Davos’ prestige of Theonia being the most powerful union! But if we want to take further action, I can’t think of any other measures besides war.

However, the Theonian citizens have enough war this year! Now our archon is still leading our citizens to fight the powerful Messapians and Peucetians in Taranto!” Pollux then pointed to Mithrobates, and looked at him with pity then said, “And look at this envoy of Siro, just because he had said that they are Greeks, it would be better to fight than to kick them, but who knows if it’s the truth! Are we willing to send our citizens once again to an unfamiliar and terrible battlefield to fight against the fierce Bruttians for a race that does not even look like Greek at all?!”

Chapter 289 – A request for help from the Siro tribe

Pollux’ words spoke most of the concerns of the statesmen of the Senate. The statesmen born in Thurii and Amendolara, including Kunogelata, have suffered the disaster of having their city destroyed, so they have a deep fear of war. And the statesmen of Krimisa, such as Androlis, Eurypus and Pleitinas, supported their decision because they were newcomers and were closer to Cornelius and Kunogelata.

With the statesmen of the main war faction being either sent by Davos to other city-states to hold important posts, such as Hielos, Sesta, Bagul, and so on or have followed him to Taranto, like Kapus, Drakos, Antonios, Alexius and so on. The only one left is the Chief of Military – Philesius and the Chief Commercial Officer – Marigi, and they decisively said that they should support the Siro tribe and stop the annexation of Consentia and not let the Bruttian tribal union become more powerful.

Even Mersis, another trusted subordinate of Davos, wavered because he worried about the outbreak of war consuming a lot of money and goods.

While Vespa and Hemon, who were born in Lucania, have expressed their support for the Siro tribe based on similar experiences.

Overall, only a few people support the Siro tribe, as most of the statesmen are against interfering in the internal affairs of the Bruttii to avoid another war.

Pollux was pleased with himself on the fact that his opinion won the support of the majority in the Senate and was about to be adopted for the first time.

But at this moment, Plesinas stood up, “Esteemed statesmen, I remember lord Davos briefly mentioning about the Bruttians before he left, and he said worriedly, ‘Bruttii may become a great danger to our Theonia!’ That is why I think that any decision involving Bruttii must be made known to the archon, lord Davos and have him make the final decision, especially if we cannot reach an agreement.”

Plesinas is not an ordinary statesman as the chief priest in charge of the Temple of Hades; he devoted most of his energy to the affairs of the temple, training young priests and priestesses, improving the various systems of the temple, and to also supervise the construction of temples in other cities…it can be seen that Davos, who was the high priest, valued him greatly that he even allowed him to do whatever he wanted, while Plesinas had also repaid Davos’ trust with his excellent performance that in such a short period, the belief of Hades was accepted by the people of other cities in Theonia, which was inseparable from his efforts. Therefore, he not only has a certain reputation among the Theonians but also has weight in the Senate.

As soon as he spoke up, the others would have to re-evaluate the real intention of his words. After all, behind him stood Davos.

Philesius and Mersis were also part of Davos’ inner circle, except that these two men, one focused on military affairs and the other obsessed with money, are not sensitive in politics. Although Marigi is no stranger to politics, he is, unfortunately, a citizen of Persian origin. In the absence of Davos in the Senate, most of the statesmen of Thurii and Amendolara tend to ignore his opinions, intentionally or unintentionally.

Pollux thought that Plesinas was deliberately sabotaging him, and for a moment, could not help but stand up and angrily say, “Davos! Davos! Can’t the Senate decide anything or do anything without Davos!!”

Plesinas then said while pretending to be surprised, “Lord Pollux, in your eyes, have we done anything?! Lord Kunogelata and lord Cornelius exhausted themselves every day for the prosperity and stability of Thurii and Amendolara! Lord Burkes had travelled all the cities and villages of Theonia to supervise the people’s farming! Lord Vespa and Lord Hemon had paid close attention to the situation of the tribes in the Lucanian region and would even go there to resolve it once conflict arises! Lord Stromboli has created a silver coin for our Theonia that could be comparable to the ‘owl’! Lord Ansitanos is building new akademias for the other cities of Theonia! Lord Herpus called on the city-states of Magna Graecia to hold the first Medical Symposia in all of Greece! Lord Protesilaus proposed new bills now and then to improve the laws of Theonia! The union’s public service management committee, headed by lord Tritodemos, is concerned about the appointment and performances of each public officials in each city every day! Lord Enanilus is supervising the constructions of the warships and worked hard to train our navy! Lord Scambras…”

Plesinas would salute respectfully to the statesman who he had just told of his deeds in his work, and the statesmen whose name was mentioned smiled in response. He continued speaking without hesitation, almost going through most of the statesmen, “The reason why we have so many things to work on and enjoy, is because of lord Davos’ great leadership, which has led to the powerful Theonia we have today, and which has allowed us to govern the increasingly huge union’s territory without the worry of being invaded by other city-states! Who among us has better military talent than lord Davos? Better leadership? Have a stronger ability to judge the situation?…”

“No one!” Although only Mersis answered, all the statesmen remained silent, and they were more or less agreed with it in their hearts.

“In that case, when it comes to such an important matter that concerns the safety of Theonia Union, then even if lord Davos is not here, we should listen to his opinion before making a decision. Because there is no one here who can make the right judgment better than him!” The words of Plesinas made a small number of statesmen, mainly Pollux, who were dissatisfied with Davos’ excessive control over the Senate speechless. Indeed, there was nothing wrong with Davos’ decisions so far, and that is why Theonia had developed so quickly.

At this point, Kunogelata came out in support of the proposal to “leave the issue of the Siro tribe to Davos”.

The statesmen of Amendolara, headed by Cornelius, the statesmen of Thurii such as Ansitanos, Burkes, Enanilus, Marsyas…had all agreed, so the matter was settled.

After the meeting, Plesinas and Herpus walked out of the Senate Hall together. They were discussing whether some of the freemen and foreigners who were believers of Hades, who had no money to cure their illness, could be treated by the hospital first and then later be paid by the newly established relief fund of the Temple of Hades. (note: The money was from the Theonians who donated when they come to the temple to pray.)

“Chief Priest!” Plesinas heard someone calling him. After looking back, Marigi quickly caught up with him, “If it wasn’t for you, I am afraid that the request of the Siro tribe would have been rejected!”

After two years of training in specific government affairs, Plesinas has become much more mature and stable than before. He then immediately said with modesty, “I did not do anything. It is all due to the prestige of lord Davos playing a major role. Although Pollux shouted loudly, his persuasion ability was very average.”

“Lately, Pollux has been very active!” Marigi said meaningfully.

“Don’t worry. He can’t do anything.” Replied Plesinas immediately.

“This Pollux is so annoying. Why did you let him into the Senate in the first place?!” Herpus, who did not care anything besides medicine, not even politics, interjected.

Plesinas coughed a few times.

At that time, when Davos led the army to repel the Crotonian army and wanted to take control of Thurii, in order to soothe and stabilise the Thurian population and also to attract useful talents, he recruited those who survived the burning of the city and were of good reputation, status and skill into the Senate, which also includes Plesinas, who had once opposed Davos. Facts have proved that this method is very effective as it had not only made the people of Thurii accept the Amendolarans led by Davos quickly but also allowed him to dig a lot of talents, such as Burkes, Plesinas, Ansitanos, and the Nauarch of the Navy – Enanilus…

Herpus’ thoughtless words had embarrassed Plesinas, so Marigi steps forward to rescue him, “Lord Philesius is going to hold a dinner banquet this evening. Would lord Plesinas be interested in it?”

Plesinas’ eye lit up, he knew that although Davos valued him, Davos trusted the group of former mercenary statesmen and citizens who had been through life and death with him more, and these people were more united, making them the most powerful political force in Theonia and even more so militarily. Now that he got an invitation, does it mean that this group recognised him?

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next day when Davos, Diaomilas, Umakas, Teriphias and Taudeles discussed the army’s next plan of action, there came another disagreement.

Teriphias believed that although the allied forces were the “victor” of this battle, the soldiers suffered heavy casualties, and it was not advisable to continue the attack. Instead, they should withdraw to the city for recovery and then attack when the Messapi-Peuceti alliance invades again.

While Diaomilas was inclined to this opinion from the bottom of his heart, but as the commander of this Tarantine army, the soldier had suffered a lot of casualties with very few results. Once the people find out the situation, they will pour their anger on him. So in order to not get impeached by the ecclesia, it is necessary to get a decent battle record. Therefore, he suggested that after a short rest, they would continue north and attack Brindisi. If the Messapi-Peuceti alliance intercepts them, then they would engage them in a battle, but this time, they would fight on the plain. The Greek hoplites and the Greek phalanxes would be useful, while the Messapi-Peuceti cavalries had already suffered heavy losses; therefore, the Greek alliance would have the upper hand in this battle, even though they were fewer in number. And if the Messapi-Peuceti alliance avoided this battle, they would capture Brindisi, rescue the captured Tarantines, obtain the spoils of war, capture the aborigines in the city and take them back to Taranto and turn them into slaves to appease the people and make up for their mistakes.

Umakas also had a similar idea, but Taudeles supported Teriphias’ opinion this time because there were too many casualties among Metapontum soldiers.

Chapter 290 – The Messapi-Peuceti alliance’s plea for armistice

In the end, the four men turned their gaze to the supreme commander of this joint army, Davos.

However, at this moment, Davos was in a dilemma: After Diaomilas’ unauthorised actions and the easy collapse of Heraclea and Metapontum had made him frustrated with such a joint operation and worried that pig-like allies would drag him down. Teriphias just wanted to take his army back to the city, while he himself wanted to immediately bring back his troops to Thurii. But doing so would undoubtedly destroy the alliance with Taranto and may also impact the image of “keeping promises” that Theonia has worked hard to build.

As he hesitated, the guard came in and reported that the Messapians had sent an envoy.

Everyone was surprised.

With a thought in his mind, Davos asked that the Messapian envoy be let in and to hear what he had to say.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Initially, after regrouping the routed soldiers and reorganising the army, the various archons of Messapi, led by Pasimeus, thought that although the final result of the battle was not very good, with the allied force choosing to retreat and the cavalry suffering heavy losses, the army of Taranto should have suffered even more severe losses. Therefore, the strength of their army compared with the army of Taranto, on the contrary, was more advantageous than before the battle. So in the next battle, they should take the initiative and continue attacking the Tarantines.

King Telemani of Peuceti, who had received complain by several Messapian archons, and whose failure to stop the reinforcements had led to the loss of a good opportunity, had expressed his strong opposition because the main force of the Greek alliance, the Theonian army, has a unique formation, is well-trained, and its combat strength is so terrifying that they could even repel the Peucetians who had the high grounds on the battle, so he fears that when they fight on the plain, the Messapi-Peuceti army would be even less of a match for the Greek alliance army with the Theonian army as the main force.

The Messapians archon, who knew more or less about the fighting strength of the Peucetians, felt that it was unbelievable that the always unruly Telemani would say such a thing.

At this time, Timogeras stood up to back up Telemani. He once again stressed the terrifyingness of the Theonian army that they were even able to beat the Alytian heavy infantry, who has a much thicker formation than the Theonian hoplites!

At the same time, he also reminded everyone that the Theonian hoplites could throw javelins, which cause significant damage to the infantry at a close range.

Finally, the expression of the archons had become grave.

Kaminus, archon of Uzentum, said worriedly, “I heard that Theonia is a huge city-state union on the other side of the Gulf, which governs more than five cities and many allied city-states, and that its strength is stronger than Taranto and that they could easily send tens of thousands of men to reinforce Taranto. Therefore, even if we finally defeat them, I think that they can still send tens of thousands of men more, but could we afford such losses?”

After a short silence, Pasimeus said slowly and helplessly, “Maybe we should make peace with Theonia…”

‘Peace?!’ Everyone looked surprised.

Only Telemani remained calm, and Pasimeus looked at him and sighed in his heart, ‘It seems that the Peucetians have little desire to fight, and if we continue the war, I am afraid that they will no do their best.’

Therefore, Pasimeus’ desire for an armistice began to grow stronger. He then stood to his feet and said thoughtfully, “The Theonians have never had any conflict with us and are far away. The only reason why they are at war with us is that they are the allies of Taranto and have come here to fulfil their agreement. Defeating us would not do any good to Theonia; on the contrary, it would result in casualties among their soldiers due to the battle. So if we offer an armistice, do you think Theonia would be willing to accept it?! As long as this powerful outsider leaves, there will only be one Taranto left, and later…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Timogeras, the archon of Alytia, volunteered to go to the Greek camp, and only after the guards confirmed that he was not armed did they allowed him to enter the military tent.

In addition to the guards, there are five Greek strategoi in the military tent, and Timogeras’ gaze fell on the youngest strategos, ‘He should be the archon of Theonia, and the one that forced the Messapi-Peuceti to send an envoy to the Greek camp – Davos!’

Out of caution, he nodded to the young strategos, then asked in Greek, “Are you Davos, the archon of Theonia?”

“Yes.” Davos nodded.

“It’s an honour to meet you!” Timogeras respectfully performed a Messapian greeting and then said, “I am Timogeras, Archon of Alytia. I am here to represent the Messapi-Peuceti alliance and have come as an envoy to discuss with you how to end this meaningless war.”

‘Sure enough, they want to negotiate peace!’ Although Davos was happy, he said with a calm tone, “I think you have got the wrong person to negotiate with. You should discuss it with the two archons of Taranto, lord Umakas and lord Diaomilas.” His body slightly moved sideways, and his left hand gestured to the two people at the rear.

“We have just defeated you, and you want to make peace?!” Diaomilas, who already hates the Messapians, was even more furious because as soon as Timogeras came in, he ignored Taranto, “Go back and tell your companions wearing animal skins that Taranto does not accept your peace! We are going to keep attacking and take back Brindisi! If you have the courage, you can try stopping us!”

“Defeated by you?” Timogeras sneered sarcastically, “You and I know who lost more in the previous battle. If this is considered a defeat for us, then we don’t mind having more. Without the timely reinforcements from the Theonians, I am afraid that you would have long been a corpse, and you actually have the gall to yell at me here!”

In the face of Diaomilas’ bark, Timogeras continued to say in a loud voice, “The warriors of Messapi and Peuceti are ready to kill the enemies who dare to invade our territory even if we sacrifice our lives! I just don’t know if the Tarantines has such courage as well?”

After he finished speaking, he did not wait for Diaomilas to retort and immediately turned to face Davos again and said, “The bravery of the Theonians has won the respect of the Messapians. And Telemani, the king of Peuceti, admires you very much, and he specially asked me to greet you on his behalf! Just that, I would like to ask lord Davos, the Theonians crossed the Gulf and fought against us who had no conflicts and contradictions in the past. If you win, you won’t get any benefits, but if you lost, your bones would be buried in a foreign land. Is it worth it?”

Davos was very well aware that the archon of Messapi had come in and kept using various ways to separate the relationship between Theonia and Taranto. So he said and emphasise, “Taranto is a friendly ally of Theonia, and it is Theonia’s duty to abide by the agreement and assist our allies in defending against foreign aggression! Besides, Theonia has an obligation to maintain the peace of the neighbouring Greek city-states, because only when there is no war in neighbouring land can the Theonians have a peaceful life.”

The words of Davos revealed his hope and ambition for Theonia.

Teriphias and Taudeles’ eyes lit up as they listened.

And Umakas was lost in his thought.

Timogeras’ expression changed slightly, and he understood the warning given to him by Davos. So he quickly responded, “Lord Davos, from what you have said, you are here to help Taranto resist the invasion. But the truth is that Taranto is not suffering from our Messapians’ invasion; we are just taking back our, Messapians’ land! Manduria is a city of the Messapi! Brindisi is also a city-state of the Messapi! Since the beginning of this year, the Tarantines have attacked our people’s land, taken Manduria and Brindisi, which belongs to us, killed countless Messapian warriors, and turned countless Messapians, including women and children, into slaves of Taranto! We fought back and just wanted to take back our own land and avenge our people! Lord Davos, you said that Theonia had an obligation to help its neighbours to maintain peace and resist aggression. Does it also include helping your allies to invade other city’s land and slaughter their people?!”

Timogeras’ words were so emotional that both Umakas and Diaomilas went pale, while Davos secretly praised him in his heart, ‘Smart, straight to the point!’

Davos immediately put on an awkward expression, “This…this…”

“Damn you Messapian, don’t act all pitiful!” Diaomilas angrily retorted, “Who has been invading who all these years?! Who is the real victim! Who has been running to Taranto every summer to loot food and kill people! This year we have only attacked in response to the call of vengeance and to collect the blood debt you have owed to Taranto over the years!”

In the face of Diaomilas’ strong rebuttal, Timogeras remained calm and said, “Why do we invade Taranto every year? The reason is very simple, this land of Taranto originally belongs to us Messapians! Hundreds of years ago, your ancestors took over this land and drove out the weak Messapians who lived here!”

“So what! Hundreds of years have already passed, and this land belongs to us, Taranto, now!”

“Since you can take it from us, then we, of course, can take it back!”

“Unfortunately for you, you could not! On the contrary, after a few years, Manduria will become a city-state of Taranto!”

“Diaomilas!” Umakas shouted, interrupting the two who were shouting at each other, as the two men had strayed from the subject of their argument, and the three archons headed by Davos were already showing impatience.

Umakas hurriedly said, “Messapi, you are not here to quarrel, are you?”

“Of course not, I came for peace! As lord Davos said, Messapi and Taranto have lost too many men in this war!” Timogeras immediately looked solemn.

Chapter 291 – The Arrival of Marigi

“Listen-” As soon as Diaomilas spoke out, Umakas interrupted him, “Let’s first listen to the terms of the Messapians.”

Timogeras cleared his throat and said, “Taranto, Messapi and Peuceti immediately cease the war, return each respective territories and each other’s prisoner of war, and both sides would sign an armistice with a duration of two years, within which, they shall not invade each other. Afterwards, whether to renew the contract would depend on the situation after the expiration of the agreement…”

“What do you mean by returning each respective territories?” Umakas keenly perceive the problem of this sentence.

“Of course, it is to return to the state before the war began, and the occupied territories be returned!” Said Timogeras.

Diaomilas cursed loudly, “You want us to give up Manduria? Dream on! If you want it, then exchange it with the lives of your Messapians!”

Even though the negotiations quickly broke down, Timogeras was in no hurry and had even thrown down some words, “I hope that you will reconsider it seriously. Our Messapian camp awaits your arrival!” With that, he left without even listening to Diaomilas’ cursing. And he could see that except for Taranto’s stubborn attitude, the archon of Theonia – Davos, and the strategoi of Metapontum and Heraclea were all somewhat interested by the offer of peace, which means that the Greek alliance were not ironclad and that he could do something about it.

What Timogeras could see, Umakas undoubtedly could as well. So he explained to Davos, “We cannot agree to such a demand for peace negotiations, and even if we did, it would not work because the people of Taranto would not agree to give up Manduria that we have obtained by paying the blood of our citizens!”

Davos smiled, “I understand, but you can bargain as negotiations are like buying and selling goods. The Messapians don’t necessarily have to take back Manduria.”

Hearing that, Umakas was a little worried, “The Messapians have no sincerity, and the peace agreement they proposed would only last for two years. In two years, Taranto still could not regain its strength to cope with the aggression that they might start again!”

Davos pondered for a moment, and just as he was about to speak, Tolmides lifted the tent and came in, “Archon, the Senate sent an urgent message saying that there are movements in Bruttii!”

Davos stood up abruptly and asked, “Where is the message?!”

“The messenger is waiting for you in your tent, milord!”

With an anxious expression, Davos went straight out without even saying a word.

And the remaining people could only look at each other.

“Bruttians?” Umakas felt that the name was familiar, but he couldn’t remember it, while Diaomilas was not even familiar with them.

“The Bruttians are aborigines living in the mountains west of Theonia and are very close. Previously, whenever they come down the mountain, they would plunder the people and properties of Thurii, Roscianum and other city-states…” Teriphias gave a detailed explanation.

“This…Bruttians should not be powerful, right?” Umakas asked with hope.

Teriphias thought about it seriously, seemingly solemn, but intending to exaggerate the truth, he said, “The Bruttians have very little interaction with the outside world because no other race has ever managed to invade their land*. And I heard that they have dozens of tribes and more than five huge cities and that they are even stronger than the Peucetians.” (The city of Vergae submitted to the Lucanian coalition of its own accord, so strictly speaking, the Lucanians had not entered the land of the Brutti.)

After hearing this, both Umakas and Diaomilas became uneasy.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When he left the main military tent, the anxiety on Davos’ face disappeared without a trace, and he even has the leisure to tease Tolmides, “That was a good performance just now.”

Tolmides laughed as well. Back then, he was known as the “first herald of the mercenaries”, one of the main reasons was that he was good at understanding the leaders’ intentions and difficulties and did his best to help achieve or resolve them. It is because he felt the contradictions within Davos that he took the opportunity and used the request of the Siro tribe and shout so loud inside the tent. However, he was unsure whether Davos would accept his initiative, as this was the first time he got appointed as the herald of Davos. Even though the two of them had come and gone in Persia, there is a big difference in status between him and Davos now. And the words of Davos have dispelled his uneasiness.

“What is the specific situation?” Asked Davos in a good mood. Through the time he had spent understanding the Bruttians, even if this race were to move towards unity, he does not think the Bruttians can now pose any significant threat to the Theonia Union.

“It is reported that a tribe of Greeks in Brutti has sent someone to our Senate asking for help because they refused to obey the order of Consentia, and Consentia wanted to send an army to destroy them. For details, you can ask Marigi, who is waiting for you in your tent.” Said Tolmides seriously.

“Oh, Marigi is here as well.” Even though there was movement in Davos’ heart, his pace remained the same, ‘Greek tribes?…they should be the Siro tribe…just when I am about to take a nap, someone sent a pillow, just in time to kill two birds with one stone!…’

He kept thinking the whole way and soon reached his tent.

After reading the urgent letter sent by the rotating chairperson of the Senate, Cornelius, and listening carefully to Marigi’s narration, a slight smile appeared on his lips, “Wasn’t it because of Pollux that you, the busiest Chief of Commerce of the union had come to deliver the letter to me?”

“A Pollux who only barks in the Senate and has no power does not require my attention!” Marigi’s eyebrow twitched, “I came to Taranto mainly to take this opportunity to learn about their port. However, lord Davos, it is indeed a fact that Pollux has been a little too active these days, which have caused some statesmen to have other ideas…” Marigi took a few steps closer and lowered his voice as if to remind Davos of something.

Davos looked calm, but his heartbeat beat fast. He does not care much about Pollux’ dissatisfaction with him because there are only a few other statesmen in the Senate that would respond to him, and he needed such an “opposition” to show that the Senate not only have his own voice. But if Pollux thinks that he is weak due to his indulgence of him and become rampant, and leads to some possible chain reaction, then he needs to wake him up…

When Marigi saw that Davos was lost in his thoughts, he knew that his words had worked, and so he changed to another matter, “Milord, I heard from the reserve soldiers at Taranto that ‘over the past two days, many people in Taranto have been besieging the camp gate, not only hurling abuse at our soldiers but also demanding for the criminals to be punished.’”

“What criminal? What happened?” Davos frowned and asked again, as he is quite sensitive to violations of military discipline.

“They said that…some of our soldiers have beaten up a theatre owner in Taranto in the makeshift market outside the camp.”

“Such a thing happened?” As soon as Davos heard this, he got angry and shouted, “Tolmides!”

Tolmides answered and came in.

“Go and tell Kapus and Drakos to send their respective military inspectors to thoroughly investigate who in their respective legions was involved in the fighting in the makeshift market before we left for battle!” After saying this, his anger somewhat subside. After thinking more, he added, “And what is the cause of it?”

After Tolmides left, Davos put the matter aside for a while, then turned to Marigi and asked, “What’s the price of grain in the market of Thurii now?”

“It’s high! Because of the war in Sicily and the war here, especially the war between Syracuse and Carthage lasted so long and the number of participants being a lot that there was a great demand for grains, which had even affected the price of grain in the market of Thurii…” When it comes to commerce and trade, Marigi knows a lot, “However, the grain in Theonia is growing well this year, and in another ten days, after the people finished the harvest, the price of grain in Thurii should have a huge drop…”

Davos stroked the only few beards under his chin, paced back and forth and said, “Then once you return, tell Mersis to use the money in the treasury to buy grains quietly and at least guarantee reserves enough to last four legions for two months.”

Marigi’s eyes brightened. He did not even bother to think that such a use of the treasury by Davos without the consent of the Senate was a violation of the Theonian law, as a Persian, who still followed the monarchy system as his core, thought it was reasonable. What he was interested in was, “Milord, have you decided to support the Siro tribe and take action against the Bruttians?”

Davos looked at the excited Marigi and warned him gently, “I am just preparing for the worst, but I hope that you can keep this a secret and don’t do anything extra!”

The extra thing, of course, refers to Marigi’s use of information about the war to make profits for himself.

No matter how shrewd Marigi is, he still immediately made a solemn promise. He then asked, “Milord, if we go war with the Bruttians, what about Taranto?”

Davos smiled faintly, “Taranto could no longer fight, especially with your arrival. I am afraid that the two archons of Taranto are already discussing how to make peace with the Messapians.”

Marigi’s eye lit up again as he thought about the people of Taranto that he saw along the road dressed in black veils with sad expressions. As the commercial officer of Theonia, the fall of Taranto is absolutely a good thing, as he could finally see the hope that the port of Thurii would be able to surpass the most prosperous port in the Gulf of Taranto!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In fact, it was the people of Taranto who first proposed peace negotiations with the Messapians. After learning the truth about the war from the wounded soldiers, they began to hate Diaomilas’ recklessness and were disappointed with the whole prospect of the war. A few months ago, it was they who had pushed the Council to launch the war against Messapi; however, a few months later, except for the blood that had been shed, Taranto had only gained a little.

Chapter 292 – Lead by Example

For a long time, the people nourished by the prosperous trade and fertile land of Taranto, now that they felt the cruelty of war, they no longer have the ambition to compete with Theonia, and the only thing they hope now is that no more loved ones in their own homes would be sacrificed.

At the strong demand of the citizens, the Council hastily organised an ecclesia. After a heated debate, they finally decided to use the victory of the battle to offer a truce with the Messapians.

In order to prevent the resistance of the radical archon – Diaomilas, the ecclesia started the election of the next archon in advance. Umakas was still elected while Disitimas was once again become the archon, with the mission of going to Messapi and complete the peace negotiation.

As for Diaomilas, the Tarantines are not as radical as the Crotonians and did not demand a trial, but his return to power in Taranto would be fraught with difficulties.

While Disitimas was on his way to the Tarantine camp, Davos was writing a reply to the Senate of Theonia, ‘Esteemed statesmen, after leading the army to Taranto, we had fought with 30,000 Messapi-Peuceti troops in the Anlen Hills yesterday and won, even though our soldiers only suffered few casualties, the Tarantines suffered heavy casualties…’

Judging from the results of the battle, the decline of Taranto is inevitable. Therefore, the archon of Heraclea, Teriphias, took the initiative to express his intention to join the Theonia Alliance, and the archon of Metapontum, Taudeles, is wavering.

Statesmen, you may not have realised it, but Theonia Union is no longer the weak and small city-state that had been invaded by powerful city-states in the past and has now become the most powerful force in South Italia! Since Theonia has now become the hegemon of South Italia and become a concern to other city-states, we must therefore change our cautious and conservative manner and show the vigour of a powerful union. Only in this way can the city-states of South Italia unite around Theonia and defend the safety of Theonia, and Theonia will, in turn, protect the peace and stability of all Greek city-states in South Italia. And protecting the lives of every Greek should be what the Senate of Theonia should strive to achieve!

Siro, a Greek tribe living among foreign race, had come to us to ask for help in their time of crisis, which is a test to us. Rejecting them would cast doubts on our allies and on the city-states that are watching, but if we were to accept it, it will inspire encouragement to the city-states that have expectations to Theonia because Theonia has lent a helping hand on even a small tribe like Siro that we would even go to war with the Bruttii. And it would make them think that Theonia would give all their can to help other city-states once they were in danger!

In addition, even if we were to go to war with the Bruttians due to defending the Siro tribe, we don’t have to regret it because a war between Theonia and the Brutti is inevitable! The reason why the Siro tribe asked for our help because Consentia is uniting the Bruttian tribes to form a more powerful and terrifying Bruttian Tribal Union, just like the former Lucanian Tribal Coalition. As we all know, the Brutti Region’s land is barren and unproductive. Hence, the Bruttians would often cross the mountains and plunder the Greek city-states to obtain goods and population. And now, with the formation of a unified Bruttian Tribal Union, they are bound to expand outwards to achieve greater development of their race!

But look around Brutti; they are either surrounded by territories of Theonia or adjacent to our allies. Brutti is like a beast lying beside Theonia, so do we tame it before it could grow up? Or are we going to fight it once it is all grown up? The answer is undoubtedly the former!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos then gave the letter to Marigi.

After seeing him off, Tolmides came in and told Davos in detail about the investigation regarding the soldiers assaulting a man.

Davos became moved after discovering that the soldiers had violated the military law because of him as he had not even expected it.

He murmured, “Olivos…” and had difficulty deciding.

Tolmides took the opportunity to convince him, “Milord, it is because the Tarantine man insulted our soldiers…and you, that made Olivos and the others angry that they have assaulted him. I think they are not the ones at fault in this matter. And-”

Davos raise his head to look at him, and Tolmides immediately shut his mouth.

“Yes, for my sake…” Davos sighed and decided in his heart, “Go and tell Kapus and Drakos to leave half of his men to be stationed in the camp and lead the rest of the soldiers to the threshing floor in the middle of the village and then call the military judge.”

“Milord!” After hearing this, Tolmides wanted to convince him again.

With a wave of his hand, Davos did not allow him to say more, “Go and carry out my order.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Brothers!” Standing on a high haystack, facing several thousand Theonian soldiers, Davos exclaimed, “In order to fulfil Theonia’s agreement with Taranto, you have gone to great lengths and came to this unfamiliar land, fought bravely and defeated the fierce and cunning Messapians and Peucetians. I, and the Senate and all the people of Theonia, thank you!”

The soldiers puffer their chests out with pride.

After a long pause, Davos continued, “But an incident had happened, a few of our brothers had beaten up a theatre owner of Taranto. At that time…”

The soldiers pricked up their ears and listened carefully, and although the military law restricts them and could not move about, their eyes darted around, all guessing who had done it.

“Although it is the other party that first provoke, the Theonian military law is not a decoration. If you hit someone, you will be punished.” Davos then shouted with a serious expression, “Judge!”

The military judge besides Davos exclaimed, “According to the Theonian Military Law, soldiers who oppress or assault the people of allied cities during a war will get punished with a minimum of 20 military sticks, depending on the severity of the situation. However, because of the other party’s repeated provocation and malicious words, forcing the soldiers that are present to retaliate angrily…after consulting with the grand legatus, I have decided on the punishment – each offending soldiers will receive ten military sticks as punishment!”

The soldiers were relieved as this was a light punishment for them, who often received it during military training.

“Olivos, come out.” The judge continued.

When Olivos came out of the rank, there was a small commotion among the soldiers, as they had not expected that a senior centurion had taken part in it.

Leotychides was also quite surprised, as he had not expected that the Theonians, in order to maintain military discipline, would punish a senior centurion without hesitation just because they have assaulted a citizen of an allied city! In his memory, the equally disciplined Spartan army could not do the same, as they are only disciplined during wartime. But in peacetime, especially on the land of allies, the soldiers did not have strict restrictions on their actions and therefore ran amok, which causes great grievance to the local people, such as Corinth, Megara, and so on. Leotychides as the son of Agis, the Spartan king, had not received princely treatment, and he had also taken part in many battles as a soldier, so he had a better understanding of the Spartan army.

Olivos walked to the front calmly, as he was already prepared to be punished after assaulting someone.

After the judge called out the name of the offenders, Olivos saw Davos on the haystack cast his gaze on him, and he then heard him say out loud, “Besides, there is another person who needs to be punished by the military law, and that’s ME!”

After making this statement, the whole army went into an uproar.

Kapus, Drakos, Antonios, Alexius, Amintas and other high ranking officers were all shocked from hearing this, and for a moment, they forgot to restrain the soldiers. With the reminder of Davos, they manage to restore order in the ranks after great difficulty.

“Why am I also needed to be punished?” Davos pointed to the offenders and said in a sincere tone, “Olivos, as a senior centurion, does he not know that assaulting someone will violate the military law?! Do our other brothers not know the pain of being beaten up with a military stick?! Of course, they do. No one in the legion was unfamiliar with the Theonian military law. But why did our brothers of the first legion did not have such problems in Crotone, in Scylletium, in Caulonia, but made mistakes here in Taranto, across the Gulf?! Because the Tarantines were mainly insulting me, and Olivos and the others became angry in order to defend my prestige as the commander of this army! As the archon of Theonia and your commander, I led you to help Taranto, but I did not win the respect of the Tarantines for you and allowed them to belittle and insult us! This is my dereliction of duty, my responsibility! Since they have to be punished, then you have to punish me first, or else-” Davos pounded his chest, “I won’t feel good here, and I can’t forgive myself, so do not dissuade me! I will accept the punishment of ten military sticks together with these brothers! Drakos shall supervise the punishment, and no trickery shall be allowed!”

As Davos finished speaking, silence shrouded the threshing floor.

Each soldier gazes at their grand legatus with an excited expression and their chests rising and falling sharply.

Olivos only felt heat in his eyes as tears flow down his cheeks. He couldn’t stop himself from waving his arms and shout, “All hail Davos!”

Olivos took the lead, and a tremendous clamour spread over the whole village, with “Theonia win!” praise and “Damn Taranto!” swearing mixed in.

Davos, looking at everything calmly, reminded the equally excited judge, “Prepare the punishment.”

With that, he went down the haystack and stood next to Olivos.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As soon as Disitimas arrived at Taranto’s camp, he immediately summoned the citizens. First of all, he announced the resolution of the ecclesia, dismissing Diaomilas from his archonship and having his guards “escort” him back to the city, and then discussed with Umakas the truce with the Messapians.

Chapter 293 – Envoy to Brutti (I)

After some discussion, they both agreed that they should first get Theonia’s support for the negotiation to succeed.

So they hurried to the Theonian camp, just in time to hear the thunderous cheer in the camp.

Both of them felt confused when the herald of Theonia, Tolmides, arrived with the orders from Davos to allow them to enter the camp.

“Are you in the middle of a drill?” Asked Umakas curiously.

Tolmides said with a look of respect, “Do you mean this cheering sound? That’s our commander, lord Davos, receiving punishment!”

“What did you say?!” Umakas thought that he had heard wrong.

Tolmides briefly explained the previous matter with seriousness, which caused Umakas and Disitimas to be taken aback, ‘The archon of Theonia punished not only the offending soldiers for beating up a Tarantine citizen but also himself?!’

Instead of feeling grateful, they felt more and more fear in their heart. ‘An archon of a union being punished for such a trifle matter’ was something they had never heard of in all Greek history they knew! Both of them had also served as an archon several times and commanded the city-state army countless times, so they naturally understood the importance of discipline in the military during wars. With such a strict requirement for military discipline, it is no wonder that the Theonian army could defeat the fierce Peucetians!

“Frightening Davos!…” Sighed Disitimas in a low voice.

Umakas happened to hear it and was stunned. He then understood the meaning of Disitimas’ words. In order to achieve his goal, Davos could even be cruel to himself! And through the contact with Davos during this period, Umakas deeply felt that it was not good for Taranto for Theonia to have such an archon for life…fortunately, the citizens of Taranto have finally reached an agreement on the peace negotiation. Otherwise, with the current state of mind of the Theonian soldiers, if they were to attack Messapi again, who knows what would have happened! ‘Damned Timias! Can’t these free-spirited Tarantines think more about the city-state before making trouble?!’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the two archons saw Davos, he was lying in the military tent and receive medical treatment. When Davos learned of their intention, although he was surprised, he immediately expressed his support.

After a discussion among themselves, in the early morning of the next day, the Taranto allied army pulled out of the camp and marched east.

On the way to Brindisi, the Messapi-Peuceti alliance blocked the way, and the two sides face each other.

After an hour’s confrontation, the Taranto allied troops had not sounded the salpinx. The Tarantines who cared about face expressed them in this way, and the shrewd Pasimeus soon understood the intention of the Greeks. After witnessing the tight formation and the high morale of the Theonian soldiers, Telemani’s words weighed even more in his heart.

Without further pretence, he sent Timogeras again.

And so, the negotiations between both sides began.

At dusk, Taranto, Messapi, and Peuceti reached a peace agreement. Both sides would immediately cease war, Taranto will return Manduria to Messapi, and the three sides return the prisoners and soldiers’ corpses, respectively. And Taranto, Messapi and Peuceti will not invade each other for ten years…

In addition, Taranto signed a trade agreement with Peuceti.

In fact, Taranto returning Mandura was a last resort. The Council of Taranto, after prior discussion, had finally agreed that with the alliance of Messapi and Peuceti, one Manduria alone would no longer be able to stop the Messapi’s invasion because they could invade from the wider east of Taranto together with the Peucetians. And due to the repeated defeats, the number of citizens in Taranto has sharply been reduced. If the citizens were to be moved to Manduria, Taranto’s strength will not only be weakened but also be easily besieged.

Before the negotiations, the two archons had made it clear to Davos that in order to thank Theonia for their selfless help, they are willing to hand over Manduria to Theonia for free. However, Davos is not a shortsighted man, and it was clear that this is Taranto’s attempt to drive Theonia in the fight against Messapi and Peuceti and shield Taranto from the wind and rain.

Davos naturally did not want to be taken advantage of, and with Theonia’s current strength, they are still not able to fight on both fronts, so he politely refused.

So Umakas and Disitimas could only take Mandura as a bargaining chip and moved Telemani with the trade agreement, which finally forced Pasimeus to give in and sign the ten-year peace agreement.

At the time of the signing of the agreement, Telemani made a small request to meet the archon of Theonia, Davos. However, Davos politely refused him on the grounds that he had not recovered from his wounds and was not in a position to meet people.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At the same time as Taranto conducting peace negotiation, the statesmen of the Senate of Theonia had finally passed a resolution in support of the Siro tribe after reading Davos’ reply.

When discussing who to send to Consentia, Marigi immediately stood up and recommended Pollux while also praising his eloquence that would surely persuade the Bruttian tribal union to spare the Siro tribe.

After that, Mersis and Philesius vied with each other in praising Pollux, believing that he was the best choice to be sent.

The actions of the statesmen, who were former mercenary, have scared Pollux to death. He immediately felt that the followers of Davos are intentionally targeting him, so if he really went to Consentia, he fears that he will not be able to come back!

He was a man who would not easily take risks, so he stood up in a hurry and refused. Under the verbal siege of Marigi and the others, Pollux did not hesitate to degrade himself and had almost even begged for mercy.

Only after this did Marigi and the others stop teasing him. In the end, Androlis, a new member of the Senate and without any specific positions, volunteered to go.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Taranto allied army returned to Taranto together with the freed Tarantines and the remains of the soldiers, which of course included Archytas’ body that was pieced together.

The Council of Taranto, after being warned by Umakas, had even forbidden the people to leave the city, allowing the Theonian army to return to their camp without incident.

After attending the funeral of Archytas, Davos and some of the soldiers who remained behind returned to Thurii by ship first.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After accepting the mission to be the envoy, Androlis left with three companions for Consentia that afternoon.

He did not take the road that led west from Thurii, across the mountain road to Laos, and then to Vergae, although it would make their journey safer, most of these roads were in the mountain, which would take them too much time. Instead, they choose to take the path on the south bank of the Crati River, go up the river and reach Besidice and then go south to Consentia.

After crossing the wooden bridge over the Crati River, Androlis and his companions walked westward along the south bank of the Crati River. And as the terrain became higher, the road became narrower. After passing the last sentry post of Thurii, only a dirt road appears in front of them, which could only accommodate three people side by side: On the left side is a steep cliff, on the right side is a steep slope more than 10 metres high, and at the bottom of the slope is the roaring Crati River.

When Androlis looked down, he saw the dark blue roaring river, constantly hitting the rocks below, making a loud and shocking sound, one after another, huge whirlpools appeared and disappeared in which you couldn’t even know how deep the bottom is…

Androlis’ legs became slightly soft, and so they carefully assisted each other to move forward.

Due to being soak by the rain, some of the sections of the road had collapsed, making only one person able to pass through it.

The groups walked for four hours, but it was as if they had walked for a day which had expended their physical energy very fast. Fortunately, the path gradually descends, and the road became wider and wider. Suddenly, their eyes opened wide: Continuous green mountains, the river that has narrowed, but its current is more rapid than the Crati River, and between the mountains and river is a low-lying flat land, and on this land stands a small city – Besidice.

The Bruttian sentries soon stopped Androlis and his companions at the exit of the mountain path. Only long after, they made their intention clear that they were then escorted through the defensive camp blocking the intersection and into the city of Besidice and led to the shabby assembly hall of Besidice.

Although it was called a hall, it was, in fact, just a larger wooden hut with firewood burning in a pit in the centre. In early September, the weather in the city of Thurii is still warm, and most of the people are still wearing thin bare-shouldered summer chiton, but here in Besidice mountains, which are not too far from Thurii. The fire pits do not only provide light but also keep the cold away.

Three men were sitting around the fire pit and were all wearing fur coats. The youngest of them stood up and went to Androlis, with his fierce eyes filled with curiosity, “Greeks, why have you come here in the mountains?! Don’t you know that we Bruttians do not welcome you!”

After listening to the translation of his attendant, Androlis calmly said, “I am the envoy of Theonia, and I have been sent to Consentia by the Senate’s order to discuss something important with your leaders.”

“Something important?! What is it?!” He asked with interest.

Androlis said seriously, “I apologise. I am unable to say it until I see your leaders.”

The young man’s expression immediately changed, and he yelled with hostility,  “If you do not say it, I will not allow you to pass through Besidice! I now suspect you of being spies! Men, arrest them, and give each other ten lashes, and lock them up in the sheep pen!”

Androlis and his entourage became pale.

“Kanaru, wait!” At this time, the man next to him stood up and stopped him, “They are Theonians. It’s best not to hurt these people until the great chieftain and the others give their reply!”

Chapter 294 – Envoy to Bruttii(II)

“Since when have we Bruttians been so friendly to the Greeks! Are we afraid of them just because they are Theonians?!” Kanaru shouted angrily. Although the Bruttians were closed off, they still knew some of the matters that are happening from the outside. And the sudden rise of a powerful union of city-states around Bruttii had put the tribal chieftains under pressure. Only young men like Kanaru were not convinced, “We are wolves, while the Greeks are just sheep, so no matter how many and fat the sheep are, they would never be able to fight the wolves!”

“Kanaru, don’t forget what your father said to you when he was leaving, surely you do not want him to get angry when he hears that you do not listen to us again, and deprive you of the power you just got and transfer it to your brother.” Another older man also stepped forward to persuade him.

Kanaru seemed to remember something and his face paled slightly and angrily left. While leaving, he glared at Androlis angrily.

Androlis was listening to his companion’s translation of their conversation when he saw the older man approach and say in a gentle tone, “Envoy of Theonia, my name is Baripiri, I am the chieftain of Besidice, and he is Burim, another chieftain of Besidice.”

Androlis greeted him with a smile and gave his name.

“We will immediately send someone to inform Consentia of your arrival. In the meantime, stay here in Besidice temporarily. As soon as your entry is granted, we will even send someone to escort you to Consentia.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The sleeping of the Bruttians is simple, as they will only cover themselves with animal furs and slept directly on the wooden floor around the fire pit.

After an afternoon’s trekking and fright, Androlis and his group were already dead tired, so after dinner, they lie down and soon fell asleep.

In the dark, only one person still had his eyes open.

Among Androlis’ three companions, one was his most trusted slave, who took good care of his necessities during their journey. Another one is Adepiges, a registered freeman of Theonia; with Androlis not being able to understand Bruttii, the Senate had especially found a translator for him. The Bruttians had captured the mother of Adepiges, who is a Greek, and got pregnant after getting r*ped, and since his childhood, he was a slave of the Bruttians. After having experienced the hardship of life, he finally seized the opportunity to escape from the Bruttii mountains, and he ended up in Thurii. His last companion, the one who had not yet fallen asleep, was recommended to Androlis by Marigi, saying that he was a part of the Ministry of Military Affairs and needed to know what was going on inside the Bruttii region in case of a future war with the Bruttians, but the truth is, he is a reserve citizen of Theonia named Antrapolis, brother of Aristias, Davos’ private intelligence officer.

With Izam’s reconnaissance team following Davos to Taranto, Antrapolis needed to perform the scouting duties. At this moment, he was trying to recall in his mind what he had seen during the day, like how long it took them to reach Besidice from Theonia, the difficulty of traversing the road, the location and sturdiness of the city of Besidice, its population and the number of soldiers, and the personalities of the chieftains of Besidice that he judged from their conversations…and so on. Antrapolis recalled them over and over until he engraved them clearly in his mind, with some vague points that needed to be further confirmed by him the next day.

After that, Antrapolis turned his gaze to Androlis, who was sleeping opposite him. His other mission was to closely monitor and observe the performance of the new statesman from Krimisa during their mission to Consentia.

That was not the first time that Antrapolis had done such a thing. At the start, he was somewhat resistant. He even said to his brother, Aristias, that the former tyrant of Syracuse, Hiero, had gotten a notorious reputation from creating a secret service system to wantonly monitor the private lives of the citizens of the city-state. Therefore, he did not want Davos, to whom they were attached, to become such a person.

However, Aristias persuaded him that the notorious reputation of Hiero was mainly because he is too autocratic and is overly suspicious and oppressive of the citizens, which made the people seethe with resentment. Davos, on the other hand, as an archon for life, was open-minded and cool-headed, and he knew well how to safeguard the freedom of the people, so he definitely won’t make such a mistake. And what is more, he has such an outstanding capability, and had shown it through the rapid rise of Theonia Union, and was the best strategos whom the brothers had chosen to fight against Syracuse and rebuild Catania. Therefore, one of Aristias’ important duties was to consolidate Davos leadership and preventing people with ulterior motives from making trouble.

After getting convinced by his brother, Antrapolis began following and investigating the movements of several statesmen. It can be said that the vast majority of statesmen supported and agreed with the archon for life status of Davos, and despite the dissatisfaction of Pollux and a very few others, it had only stayed in words and did not take any concrete actions. As for Androlis, he was the leader of the Krimisians who joined the Senate. After coming to Thurii, besides attending the Senate meeting, he usually stayed in seclusion and had little contact with the other statesmen, which attracted Aristias’ curiosity. Therefore, this mission was an excellent opportunity to find out more about this Krimisian and also to provide a reference for Davos to use when appointing senior public officials in the future. At least from his current performance, although Androlis is a noble of Krimisa, he could endure hardship and is courageous. Therefore, Antrapolis is looking forward to his next performance.

The next afternoon, a messenger came from Consentia, bringing a message allowing the entry of Androlis and his companions to Consentia. Consentia.

Baripiri had also sent ten warriors to escort the Theonian envoys to Consentia.

After leaving the city, they began to walk westward along the mountain path and shortly after, they were stopped.

Kanaru rode up and appeared before them and smugly said, “Greeks, I still have not entertained you, yet you want to leave just like that?”

Androlis and the others immediately became nervous.

At this time, the soldier in charge of the escort came forward to talk to Kanaru, but Kanaru sent his men to stop him, “Don’t worry, I won’t let you go back without an explanation.”

After giving his promise, his face sank, and his eyes became fierce, “Give them five lashes! Let them know that it is not easy for the Greeks to pass through my Besidice without paying the price!”

After saying this, the Bruttian warriors swarmed Androlis and the others, who had no time to react and pinned them to the ground.

Each of them was given five lashes, and their skin was shredded, which made Adepiges so angry at the beating that he cursed in Bruttian.

Kanaru listened but just laughed it out and shouted, “Give them three more lashes!”

Adepiges wanted to swear more, but Androlis said to him in a low voice, “Adepiges, don’t forget what we came here for!”

Adepiges shuddered at the words and slowly lowered his head.

Seeing that the Greeks were not responding, Kanaru became bored, and he did not dare to go too far to avoid his father’s anger, “Timid Greeks, go.” Shaking the reins with both hands, Kanaru rode eastward along the road.

The four people help each other and walk forward with difficulty.

Although the terrain is getting higher, the road is no longer rugged and difficult to walk on. In front of them are gentle swaying grasses dotted with colourful wildflowers, just like a vast and colourful carpet, which extends to the distance…with herds of cattle, sheep, and horses grazing quietly on the slope or raising their hooves and running and frolicking. There are also scattered huts in the area, some of which have rising smoke from cooking.

And the number of people they could see on the road gradually increased, driving the cattle and sheep, carrying goods on their backs, and are appearing in various parts of the slope, heading in the same direction.

In the evening, under the moonlight, Androlis saw a looming huge black shadow appearing in front of him, and he knew that they had reached Consentia.

As the time to enter the city had passed, Androlis and his group had to set up tents outside the city for the night.

Early the following day, the Bruttian warriors who escorted them had immediately gone to inform the city.

Soon, Androlis and his group were welcomed by the guards sent by the tribal union and invited to enter Consentia.

After breakfast, Androlis was taken to the assembly hall of Consentia, which was more magnificent than the hut in Besidice.

On the centre sat a person, and on each of his side sat three people, and the seats seem to have been divided into primary and secondary, with the central seat being obviously higher.

Androlis respectfully bowed while thinking about the things he heard about the Bruttian tribes forming a tribal union under the leadership of the chieftain of Consentia, “Esteemed great Chieftain, I am Androlis an envoy of Theonia, bringing with me the greetings from the Senate of Theonia!”

Before Adepiges could translate it, the man said in Greek, “Envoy of Theonia, welcome to Consentia, the centre of the Bruttii Tribal Union. I am Pian, the chieftain of the whole tribal union.”

As soon as his voice fell, the man nearest to him on the lower left stood up and asked in Greek, “I wonder what the envoy had come here for, as Brutti and Theonia had never had any dealings before?”

As soon as this was said, the others in the assembly hall focused on Androlis.

Androlis had not expected for the Bruttians to put their question on the table as soon as they meet, but instead of immediately answering, he turned to look at him and asked, “And you are, may I ask?”

“Sedrum, the chieftain of Vergae, and also one of the elders of this tribal union.” Sedrum is the only one of the great leaders who have ever met Theonia. A year ago, when the Lucanian coalition attacked Thurii, he led his people to attack the camp of Davos, the former mercenary leader and now the archon of Theonia. Later, Davos devised a plan to encircle and annihilate the Lucanian coalition, which made Sedrum seize the opportunity to revolt against the Lucanian coalition. After that, due to the proximity of Vergae to Laos, he learned about the turmoil in Laos, the rise in power of Avinoges, the joining of Laos to the Theonia Alliance…and other series of events that happened one after another like a revolving lantern. Therefore, although he had not yet met Davos nor dealt directly with Theonia, he was wary of Davos and Theonia. So when he found that the envoy that Theonia had sent has arrived, Sedrum warned the others to act with caution because Theonia’s strength has now clearly exceeded Bruttii.

Chapter 295 – Envoy to Bruttii(III)

Androlis nodded at him and then looked around at everyone while they looked at him back with vigilance and scrutiny, which lowered his expectations for the success of this mission a bit more.

Androlis secretly encouraged himself, rallying his emotions as quickly as possible to make his words more powerful, “Great chieftains of Bruttii, Theonia, as the leader of the alliance of Greek city-states(here, he obviously exaggerated the position of Theonia.) has the responsibility to maintain the peace among the Greek city-states in South Italia and protect the lives and properties of the Greeks, and Theonia has been doing this for more than half a year already. A few months ago, Theonia had presided over the mediation of the war between Crotone and Locri, and a few days ago, at the request of our allies, we had sent troops to aid Taranto against the invasion of the Messapi and Peuceti…”

When Androlis said this, he saw the expression of the crowd becoming grave.

“Siro, a tribe, made up of Greeks, has been living peacefully in this mountain and has always been friendly with the surrounding tribes, but now you threatened their survival. Your newly formed tribal union had threatened this weak tribe that has never harmed any Bruttians by making them leave their homes where they have lived for decades and accept your, Consentia’s, integration, so they have no choice but to seek help from Theonia. In order to protect the life and property of the Greeks in South Italia, the Senate of Theonia reached an agreement and sent me here, hoping that the Bruttii Tribal Union would stop threatening the Siro tribe and restore their peaceful life!”

After Androlis finished his speech, the people present looked at each other, but they did not appear surprised. Yesterday, when they discussed the reasons for Theonia sending an envoy to Bruttii, some people have guessed that Theonia had come for Siro.

And the one who had guessed it is the great chieftain of Clampetia – Pangam, due to the settlement of the Siro tribe being not far from the north of Clampetia. At this moment, he stood up angrily, “Arrogant Theonians, Siro lived in the land of Bruttii. Their food and clothing are produced in this land, so they are Bruttians. And this is Bruttii’s internal matters and has nothing to do with you Greeks! If you have come here just for this, then you can go back! Bruttii does not welcome you, and we do not like a force outside the mountain interfering in Bruttii’s matters!”

Androlis sneered, “The only reason why this region is called Bruttii is simply because of the large number of Bruttii tribes have gathered here, so the people are accustomed to calling this mountain as the Bruttii region. In fact, this mountain region is neither under the jurisdiction of a country nor a city-state, so there is no unified territory or border! And everyone knows that Siro is a tribe that was formed by Greeks and have been living in this land since a hundred years ago, so they have the right to continue living here independently!”

Likumu, the Great Chieftain of Besidice, was as quick-tempered as his son Kanaru, so he immediately yelled at Androlis, “What right do the Theonians have to dictate what we should do on our lands! We have intended to deal with the Siro tribe in a few days, but now that you have said that, I have decided to send a large army to destroy it this afternoon!”

“If Theonia can make Krimisa, Aprustum, and Nerulum independent, then it won’t be a big problem for us to spare Siro.” Bodiam, the Great Chieftain of Anbania, said mockingly.

Androlis stood silently as if he had not heard their cursing.

At this point, Sedrum asked aloud, “What if we refuse your, Theonia’s, request?”

The sound of cursing in the assembly hall abruptly stopped.

“I have only been asked to deliver the message of the Senate. If you do not accept, the Senate of Theonia will need to discuss before making its next decision.” Androlis remained calm, but his tone became heavier, “However, Theonia has always kept its promise, and no matter how much price we paid, we would not allow our allies to be oppressed, as one example after another has already proven everything. As I have said just now, in order to fulfil our promise with Taranto, our archon, lord Davos has led 15,000 soldiers to fight against Messapi, who invaded the land of our ally, Taranto. A battle report had come when I was just about to leave for Consentia, ‘Lord Davos led an army and defeated the 30,000 Messapi-Peuceti troops in the mountain and caused the Messapi-Peuceti alliance to suffer numerous casualties, which forced them to sign a peace agreement with Taranto.’ Soon, lord Davos will lead the victorious army back to Thurii for a Triumphant Return!”

‘Threat! This is a naked threat!’ Everyone at the assembly hall looked at each other, and the Great Chieftain Likumu jumped to his feet and cursed and threatened that they are not afraid to go to war with Theonia.

“Be quiet! Be quiet!” Phitara, the high priest of Brutii, stood up to maintain the order.

“Theonians, we Bruttians are not afraid of war!” Pian, who was sitting in the middle, spoke up and added, “However, Bruttii and Theonia are neighbours, and once a conflict occurs, there will be lasting damage to the relationship between the two races and will lead to constant war. In order to avoid the possible sacrifice of countless lives just because of the Siro tribe, we Bruttians are willing to make a concession that we will not punish the Siro for violating our order, but we will have them safely leave Bruttii.”

“Pian, what are you spouting about! Bruttii will never give concession to Theonia!” Likumu immediately expressed his displeasure.

“What about the land? You will just take away the land where the Siro has lived for generations?” Androlis reacted quickly, so he promptly asked.

Pian glanced at Likumu. Even though he was still angry, he didn’t say anymore.

The high priest, Phitara, admonished Androlis, “Theonians, do not be too greedy. It’s already our, Bruttii Tribal Union’s, greatest kindness of not turning the Siro people into slaves!”

Androlis shook his head and said in a strong stone, “But the order the Senate has given me was that ‘The Siro’s right to live independently in Bruttii must be guaranteed!’”

The light in Pian’s eye dimmed away, and his tone became indifferent, “In that case, we will decide after we discuss it.”

“Besides, we do not know the current situation of the Siro tribe, so we need to send some people to understand it before we can make a judgment.” Sedrum quickly interjected.

After the guards sent Androlis out, the discussion in the assembly hall became more intense.

“Theonia is oppressing us too much, even though they are saying something about defending the Greeks in South Italia, I think that they just don’t want to see us Bruttians unite, so they are deliberately creating trouble for us!” Said Pangam angrily.

The high priest Phitara nodded and encourage everyone, “Therefore, we Bruttians need to unite more closely in order not to be afraid of the Greeks and Lucanians!”

“Why don’t we give these nasty Theonians-” Likumu waved his hand and made a beheading gesture.

“That must not be done!” Sedrum said quickly, “Both the Greeks and the Lucanians have rules for treating envoys well, even in times of war. We, Bruttii, are becoming a powerful union, and it is all the more reason to abide by these generally agreed rules of all races. Not to mention that killing the envoys will only infuriate the Theonians, and war will be inevitable.”

“Theonia is nothing! My people and I are not afraid of them!” Likumu said without showing weakness.

“We are naturally not afraid of Theonia! But once war erupts, our great cause of unifying Bruttii will be seriously affected!” Said Pian solemnly.

“I think that it is better to imprison them for a few days and only let them out once we settled the Siro. At that time, even if they want to defend Siro, the Siro tribe will no longer exist, and so they can only accept this fact.” Bodiam suggested.

Inspired by it, Sedrum had a bright idea and said, “Everyone, I think that is a good idea, and we can change it a bit more…”

After Sedrum finished expressing his idea, the others thought it was a good method, and only Likumu disdained it and said impatiently, “Why the need to make it so complicated? it is as if we Bruttians are afraid of the Theonians!”

Pian ignored him and cautiously reminded them, “It is feasible to implement the suggestion of elder Sedrum. However, we should also be prepared for a possible war, in case the Theonians do not accept our approach!”

After a brief silence, Likumu first said, “I admit that Theonia is better than us, but as long as they enter the Bruttii mountains, I can guarantee that they will never be able to leave! Because no one is more familiar with the mountains and plateaus here than us, Amara(goddess of snow, mountains, and plateaus that the Bruttians worshipped) has sheltered us Bruttians, who have been living here quietly for hundreds of years, and will continue to protect our people!”

Likumu’s words gave everyone encouragement.

The high priest, Phitara, said, “In addition, we need to find allies on our fight against Theonia, so as to reduce the pressure of facing Theonia alone.

‘Ally?’ The Bruttii region has been surrounded by Theonia and its allies, so where can they find allies? As they pondered it, Sedrum suddenly exclaimed excitedly, “Lucanians! We can ask the Lucanians! Theonia’s capture of Grumentum has already threatened the safety of Pyxous and Potentia, so if they don’t want to be the next Grumentum, then they should be willing to ally with us.”

Pian’s eye brightened. The reason why he did not think of the Lucanians is that two years ago, the Lucanians were still the most feared enemies of the Bruttians. When Vergae surrendered to the Lucanian Coalition, it had made the situation in the Bruttii region to be critical that it had even made Pian make up his mind to lead his tribe to move southward, and it is why he had led the army of Consentia to unite with Clampetia to attack Terina and fight a fierce war with Crotone and its allies. But just two years later, the former powerful Lucanians have been reduced to this point, which can not help but cause Pian’s vigilance.

“Elder Sedrum is a good friend of the Lucanians, so it is no wonder that only you can think of them. Therefore, it’s better for you to be the one to talk about the alliance with the Lucanians.” Likumu sneered loudly, ignoring that Sedrum and he were elders of the Bruttian Union.

Chapter 296 – Return

Back then, Sedrum, the chieftain of Vergae, had led his tribe to join the Lucania Coalition, which has frightened all the tribes in the Bruttii region and felt that they were in great danger. Although things have changed, many of them still have a prejudice against Sedrum and Vergae, which had become the worry of Sedrum. Originally, he was the first to abandon the past hatred among the tribes and had come to Consentia on his own initiative, and he is also the first to propose the establishment of the Bruttian union. Not to mention that the strength of Vergae in the Bruttii region is second only to Consentia, but in this assembly hall, his weight is much less than Likumu.

At this time, he just ignored Likumu’s taunt while he solemnly said to Pian, “Leave the matter of alliance with Pyxous and Potentia to me!”

Even at the end of the meeting, no one suggested letting the Siro tribe to exist independently.

Because once they do that, it will strengthen the confidence of the other tribes, who do not want to be merged and integrated, resist the new union, and the road to the reunification of Bruttii will no longer be smooth.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Adepiges, with a dejected expression, walked back into the house.

“How is it? They are still not letting us go out?!” Antrapolis came forward and asked.

Adepiges shook his head and said angrily, “It’s still the same words, saying ‘Some tribes in the city have rioted and they still have not yet solved it, so they are afraid that if they hurt us by mistake, it will lead to tension with Theonia. That’s why they have strengthened our protection.’ and so on. I think that they just want to imprison us!”

“Maybe they want to cover our eyes and ears and seize this time to solve the Siro tribe!” Antrapolis looks anxiously at Androlis.

Androlis, on the contrary, is just lying leisurely on his seat and letting his slaves apply medicine to the wounds that he received from the whipping of the Bruttians. The reason why he was not in a hurry was that in the Senate, the letter of Davos had said, “Help the Siro tribe by protesting against the Bruttians” Theonia was just using this as a good excuse in intervening in Bruttii matters and destroy the union of Bruttian tribes. If the Bruttii did not accept it and destroy Siro instead, then Theonia would have a reason to send troops to Bruttii, which is probably the real intention of Davos.

After nearly being together for half a year, Androlis had never looked down on the young archon. On the contrary, he understood the terrifyingness of Davos’ seemingly sincere smile. Therefore, this mission, whether it succeeds or not, the goal of Theonia has been achieved.

So he calmly said, “There is no need to rush, as we could just leisurely wait.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Three days later, Androlis had once again entered the assembly hall of Consentia, with Pian telling him the bad news that a civil strife happened in the Siro tribe. Some wanted to return to the Greek city-state, and some had wanted to be merged into Consentia. As a result, a conflict between the two sides broke out. Finally, the people who supported integrating into Consentia slaughtered the other side…

He also asked Androlis to meet with several leaders of the Siro tribe, who had repeatedly asked to join Consentinia and firmly refused any help from Theonia.

During the whole process, Androlis seldom spoke, which led to the illusion that the Theonians seemed to have no choice but to accept the result.

When Pian said to Androlis with an apologetic expression, “Things have already happened, and the only thing we can do now is to do our best in settling down the Siro people that are still living! We are worried that Theonia might misunderstand the Bruttii Tribal Union and make some radical decisions. Therefore, we hope that lord Androlis will convey our sincere apology and our sincere wish to have friendly exchanges with Theonia to your Senate after you return to Thurii!…”

Androlis calmly said, “I will report the truth about what happened to the Senate, and I will also convey your friendly words without leaving a single word. As for the decision of the Senate, I am unable to guess…”

Consentia did not prevent Androlis from leaving; on the contrary, they have even presented him with numerous valuable gifts, with Consentia even giving him a rather grand send-off.

During the send-off, Sedrum was the leading role, as he had not only sent hundreds of Vergae warriors as guards but also personally accompanied Androlis out of Consentia. Because Androlis had put into consideration that the road into the Bruttii mountains was not only difficult, but also the unfriendliness of the city of Besidice, coupled with the request of Antrapolis, so he decided to return without using the path they had traversed and instead, they went northward from Consentia to Vergae, to Laos, and then back to Thurii through the Lao Fortress.

After more than half a day’s trek, they arrived at Vergae.

Sedrum had specially prepared a feast with abundant food and warmly invited Androlis to the banquet.

The next day, Androlis left the Bruttii mountains and arrived in Laos.

The archon of Laos, Avinoges, led all the influential men of the city out to meet them, and it was only then that Androlis completely relaxed.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos’ ship arrived at the port of Thurii together with other transport ship. However, as there were a lot of people in the port, with the Theonians swarming to welcome the safe return of their families, Davos did not disembark with the soldiers as the noise and crowding were not favourable to the protection of the archon of Theonia, so Davos followed Martius’ advice and sailed westward along the Crati River and dock in the city of Thurii. Afterwards, Davos quietly returned to his mansion.

Ribaso, a housekeeper who was a former slave, was busily urging two slaves to clean the cistern in the middle of the courtyard when he saw Davos coming in, so he exclaimed with surprise, “Master, you are back!”

“How was everyone while I was gone?” Davos asked with a smile.

“Everything is good. Madame had been thinking and praying for you in the Temple of Hades every day! We..we have also gone to the Temple of Hades to pray for you!…thanks to Hades! You have safely returned so soon, master!” Ribaso said happily.

Davos then happily handed him something, “This is a Carthaginian leather hat that I bought for you in Taranto. It can protect you from the wind and sand and the cold in winter.”

Ribaso took the gift from Davos and was so excited that he fell to his knees with a “thud” and thanked him.

Davos quickly stopped him, “Now that you are a freeman and are in charge of so many slaves, you do not need to kneel as it undermines your authority as a supervisor. Do you understand?!”

With that, Davos could no longer wait to go through the front door and into the backyard.

“Boss, master is very kind to you! That he even bought you things!” A slave who had recently arrived said enviously.

Ribaso folded the leather cap carefully and placed it in his arms. Instead of being smug about it, he warned him by saying, “You are still new here, so you do not know that although master’s status is a noble, he is very kind to the slaves in his house. As long as you keep working diligently, master will see to it that in the future, you will not only be rewarded but will also get rid of your status as a slave and become a freeman.”

“Really?!”

“Aren’t I enough as a good example?!” Said Ribaso as he patted his chest.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Master, you are back!”

“Hey Azune, you are still as beautiful as before, and you haven’t changed a bit.”

“Madame is the one who should be called beautiful! Besides, you have only been away for a few days, and people are not like weather that would easily change!”

“Hahaha…”

“Lord Davos!”

“Oh, Andrea here as well! are you currently discussing business?”

Cheiristoya stood up with a smile on her face and walked towards Davos while holding the baby in her arms, “We were just discussing that once Andrea gave birth, if it is a girl, she would marry little Kro!”

Davos glanced at Andrea’s prominent belly and said with a smile, “I agree! As long as she doesn’t look like Bagul, then Andrea’s daughter would definitely be beautiful, and our little Kro would be the one taking advantage of it! Isn’t that right, my child?” Davos took little Kro and raised his son in his hands and rocked him gently.

The little guy was not afraid at all, on the contrary, he happily swung around his arms and legs in the air.

“You see, my child agrees.” Laughed Davos.

Cheiristoya pinched him on the shoulder and scolded, “You have sent Bagul to Grumentum while Andrea was pregnant with no one to take care of her, and you still have the nerve to say that?”

“It’s not me who decided it. The Senate was the one who appointed him.” Davos rubbed his shoulder while exaggeratedly complaining that he was wronged.

Andrea blushed and said, “I am in Thurii now and have my family to look after me. I am fine as Bagul would occasionally come back for a day or two, so there is nothing I need to worry about at all!”

Since Bagul was the praetor of Grumentum, he could have Andrea accompany him. However, Andrea had just gotten pregnant, and what’s more, they had just occupied Grumentum, so it is currently unstable. For the sake of safety, Bagul persuaded Andrea to stay in Thurii.

“At noon, we will have a small banquet to celebrate your triumphant return! And also to wish Andrea a successful birth with the blessing of the great goddess Hera! Is that okay?” Cheiristoya suggested to Davos in a low voice.

Davos naturally had no problem with it.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos woke from his sleep and reached out to block the dazzling sunlight shining through the open window.

He lifted the quilt and got ready to get up, however, this has caused the bare back of his wife, Cheiristoya, to be exposed.

After the banquet at noon, Davos carried Cheiristoya into the bedroom after seeing off Andrea and Azune taking little Kro.

A long separation had made their heart grow fonder. Moreover, the boring military life was more than enough to keep Davos’ energy last for nearly an hour, with Cheiristoya cl***xing more than three times.

Chapter 297 – Classified Report

Davos gently lifted the covers and looked at the body of Cheiristoya, it has only been six months after giving birth, and she has now regained her former slender and attractive body; white skin, long and lean legs, plump and smooth breast, and firm buttocks…

Davos was unable to stop himself from reaching out and slowly stroke upwards along her lovely toes…he began to feel the heat in his body rising…

“…Ahn…Davos…let me…sleep a little longer, I’m still so sleepy…” Cheiristoya squirmed and said drowsily.

So Davos could only resist his desires and covered his wife with the quilt.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Hoh, your brother went with Androlis to Consentia.” Davos sat in his study as he listened to Aristias regarding the things that happened in Theonia and the surrounding area while he was away.

“It’s has been six days, but there is still no report.” Aristias answered truthfully.

Davos felt something from his speech, so he asked, “Are you not worried?”

Aristias was silent.

“Be at ease, the Bruttians does not have the courage to hurt our envoy! They might even be on their way back; else they may have been imprisoned by the Bruttians…” Davos earnestly reassured him and added, “After a few more days, if there is still no news, then Theonia will give a ‘threat of war’ to Bruttii and force the Bruttians to release them!”

“…thank you, milord!” Aristias said with some anxiousness and gratitude.

Davos solemnly patted him on the shoulder and said, “Theonia will never treat the brave men, who dared to risk their lives for Theonia, badly! Once your brother returns, he will immediately become an official citizen, much earlier than you! However, there is nothing for you to worry about as I will keep everything you did in mind!”

Aristias did not reply but instead saluted him with great respect.

“Anything else?” Asked Davos.

Aristias adjusted his emotion and said in a deep voice, “There is. It’s about Pollux.”

“Pollux?” Davos blinked.

“We found out that Pollux has liberated many slaves in his family, and then these liberated slaves applied to the Ministry of Agriculture to lease a lot of land with his help…” Aristias said here and looked at Davos.

Davos listened calmly. From what Aristias had said, there seems to be nothing unusual about what Pollux had done, on the contrary, Davos might even need to praise him for responding to his call in setting an example by freeing many slaves.

But Davos knew that it would never be that simple.

“These liberated slaves used a portion of the income from the land they leased to pay taxes, a portion for their own use, while most of the income they obtained went to Pollux.”

Hearing this, Davos eyes widened, “How much profit they give to Pollux?”

“I am not clear about the exact portion, but I fear that it’s not a small number. Because he had about 35 liberated slaves that applied for a total of 120,000 square meters of land.” Said Aristias as he looked at the record in his hand.

“These slaves should know about Theonia’s Act on land leasing, so why no one had reported it?” Exclaimed Davos.

“We learned that these slaves were all born slaves of Pollux’s family, and they had lived in his family for at least 20 years, so they should be very loyal to him. Secondly, through his connection to the Ministry of Agriculture, Pollux had these slaves rent fertile land. In addition to the 20% land tax and the money given to Pollux*, the remaining income, even though it is small, it is still far more than what they earn as slaves. Moreover, these farmlands were all close to each other, so the liberated slaves lived collectively in several large houses, monitored each other. There is also report that some of them have ‘their families’ living together with them, but in fact, they are probably the people sent by Pollux to supervise them…” (note: registered freeman had to pay 20% of the land tax, preparatory citizens had to pay 10%, and citizens only need to pay 1% of the land tax)

Once Aristias finished reporting, Davos’ eyes narrowed to a slit, with a cold gleam glinting in the slits, and he asked angrily, “Does Burkes know about this?”

“Judging from the signs, he should not know.” Aristias answered seriously.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Davos stared at Aristias’ face for a while and was slightly relieved. He had a good impression of Burkes, especially after Davos led the army to defeat Crotone and took over Thurii. Burkes had not only taken the initiative to cooperate and stabilise the political situation in Thurii, but he had also responded positively to the new policies that Davos promulgated. Although both he and Pollux were famous nobles in Thurii and owned many lands, he took the initiative to give up the ownership of most of his land and even freed some of his slaves…

“If it is only not…” Davos said softly, but he knew in his heart that Burkes would be dragged down due to their friendship this time.

“Is there anyone else that has done this?” Davos asked again sullenly.

“We are still investigating, but there are so many people, and we don’t have enough people…” Aristias said with difficulty.

“Make a plan for how many people you need. After I read and think that it is feasible, then I will increase your funds. This matter must be carefully investigated for me! Investigate it carefully! You should focus on all statesmen of the Senate and citizens who hold public office!” Davos’ tone was stern, as he did not expect that less than two years after Theonia’s establishment, there is corruption breeding, which made him very angry.

But as an archon, Davos also had to consider other issues, so he reminded, “The investigation must be carried out quietly, without alerting anyone, and report to me as soon as a situation arises!”

“I understand, milord!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Davos! Davos!…” Mersis shouted his name angrily and hurried into the living room.

Knowing that the fatty must have something to ask of him again, Davos looked at him and said, “Mersis, you need to call me by my title here.”

“Understood, milord archon.” Mersis went close to Davos, stretched both his hands forward and said, “Please remove me from my position. I could not do this job!”

“Why? You want to take some time off and travel somewhere else?” Davos first teased him, but when he saw Mersis’ serious expression, he said in surprise, “Haven’t you doing quite well in your duties?!”

“Haven’t you made Marigi bring me word to prepare rations for four legions for two months in advance, right?” Questioned Mersis.

Davos understood it not and nodded, “Yes, I was the one who told that to Marigi.”

“That’s impossible for me!” Marigi said angrily, “Four legions of at least 30,000 men would consume 30,000 kilograms of grains every day. If it is for two months, that would be 2 million kilograms! Such a huge amount of grain, not counting the price increase later, we would have to pay at least…now, the treasury simply does not have so much money. Even if we include the land tax for September and October and the usual business tax revenue, it is still would not be enough, because we still have to pay: The salaries of all public officials; The Roscianum – Krimisa road and the Krimisa – Aprustum road; The reconstruction of the marsh area in Krimisa; And Plesina’s application to build small temples of Hades in other cities such as Amendolara, Krimisa and Nerulum! Which of these projects does not cost money?! Huh! All of them costs a lot of money!”

“Alright, Mersis. I know you have tried every means to save money for Theonia, and it is indeed very hard! But if you quit, I won’t be able to find a better Chief of Finance than you in the union! Do you have the heart to watch our hard-earned union collapse just because of the lack of effective management of the treasury?” Davos quickly praised him.

“Now that the union is getting bigger and bigger, the income and expenses would naturally become a lot. In order to manage them well, it is indeed not something ordinary people could do!” Mersis, having received the praise of Davos, had immediately become energetic, and his previous foul mood had dissipated. He no longer expressed his dissatisfaction but thought about it and said, “Archon, I can at most prepare enough grain for three legions and last for one month! If you can’t accept it, then replace me!”

‘One month!’ Davos stroked his chin. In the past, when leading the army to battle, most of the battles took place near the territories of Theonia, and the scope and scale of these battles were small and ended quickly. However, this time, the purpose of this war with Bruttii is to conquer a region, which would make them an enemy of an entire race, so its degree of difficulty would greatly increase. Even if the war goes well, he predicts that the end of it will be longer than before, and two months was just his conservative estimate. But he did not expect that this would already make Theonia feel overwhelmed and unable to provide full support.

‘War is a contest of national strength!’ This saying popped into the mind of Davos, and felt helpless. He thought about the beginning of the year when Syracuse led 80,000 men to attack Carthage, and even though the war has already lasted for half a year, it is still not yet over. Theonia had risen too fast, their accumulation is insufficient, and their foundation is too thin!

“Davos, I have a solution to the problem of military supplies.” Mersis stepped forward and closely called Davos’ name and said mysteriously.

“Oh, what is it?” Davos’ heart was stirred.

“The autumn harvest is soon coming. After the autumn harvest, almost all the citizens will have enough food in their homes, so we can have each of them bring their own food rations enough to last for 20 days or even a month, which would solve the ration problem!”

Chapter 298 – Henipolis

Hearing this, Davos fell into thinking: The custom of the citizens of the Greek city-states when going out to war was to bring their own rations that would last for three days, not more than five days at most, and more than that is basically the same as making them give a direct donation which he has never heard of before. Citizens have an obligation to fight for the city and to sacrifice their blood and life, but they have no obligation to donate their own property for the city. He fears that doing so will not only arouse the discontent of the citizens but will also dampen their morale and set a bad precedent…

Seeing Davos’ hesitation, Mersis continued to convince him, “Although we asked the soldiers to bring more rations, they still would not lose out. After defeating Bruttii, they would get more allocated land!”

Davos pondered for a moment. He then shook his head and said, “The allocation of land according to military merits is a plan that Theonia has worked out, so we cannot use this bill to give additional benefits for the citizens.”

“Davos…” Mersis still wants to convince him.

Davos interrupted him. After pondering about it, he then added, “But…Mersis, you have reminded me that we can instead borrow a certain amount of grain from the citizens in the name of the Senate…and then repay the citizens that we have borrowed the grains from with interest once the treasury is abundant. What do you think of this method?”

“That’s a good idea!” Mersis said loudly, “But the interest should not be too high.”

“You will be the one to decide about the interest.” Davos became happy after seeing the problem of military supplies being solved, “You are the best financial officer in Theonia! But you’d better work out a plan as soon as possible and put it forward at the Senate meeting.”

“With your support, Davos, is there any bill that won’t be passed?” Mersis was also in a good mood and had taken this opportunity to flatter him and then added, “I went to the Tiro River the day before yesterday, and I saw that your…the one under construction…ehm…the hot spring bath is about to be completed. When are you going to officially open it? Don’t forget to inform me first, as I want to be the first citizen to enter the huge hot spring bathroom and enjoy it!”

When they were in Persia, Mersis enjoyed the massage of the female slaves that Davos had trained. Moreover, he had also heard that the combination of massage and hot spring bath was not only more comfortable but also more beneficial to the body and he had been long yearning it. Since the hot spring bath construction had started, he had run to inspect it more times than Davos, the actual owner.

Davos naturally knew about it, so he happily agreed.

After seeing off Mersis, Davos went back to the living room and pondered over the map of the Bruttii region drawn by the envoy from Siro, ‘How to fight the war with the Bruttians? Which would be the best place to breakthrough in order to shorten the war?…’

After a long pondering, he got up and went for a walk in the corridor to relax and clear his mind.

“Father!” In the middle of the courtyard, Adoris, who was playing catch with the slaves, waved at him.

Davos also responded with a smile and reminded him to be careful. After more than a year of living together, the two siblings that Davos adopted, who were unfamiliar and formal with him at the beginning, had now finally integrated into the family. According to Cheiristoya, Cynthia, in particular, had become very sensible and often helped her look after little Kro. Since his return, Davos has still not seen the bright and lovely adopted daughter of his. Now, she should still be studying in the akademia.

Davos pondered as he walked around the corridor. After walking a circle, he came across Henipolis, who had just returned from the outside.

As the son of Avinoges, the archon of Laos, when Henipolis first came to study in Thurii, Davos made him stay in his own home from the very start. This is not only to win over Avinoges but also to develop Henipolis’ sense of identity with Theonia. This practice of Davos had also gradually spread among the statesmen of the Senate, so instead of staying in the guesthouse, most of the children of the leading figures of the city-states of the union such as Roscianum and Nerulum or the children of the chieftains of the small Lucanian tribes that had come to Thurii to play and study were invited to stay in the homes of the statesmen, which even include the children of Amikles, the polemarchos of Roscianum and are now living in Kunogelata’s house.

“Milord, you are back?!” As soon as he saw Davos, Henipolis began to shout, “How did the beating of the barbarians go?!”

Davos laughed and only said a faint word, “Taranto has signed a peace agreement with them.” Then he changes the topic, “I heard that you are learning from lord Ansitanos.”

When Henipolis first arrived, he was at a loss. First, he went to the hospital and said that he wanted to learn medical skills, but after staying for a while, he backed out due to being unable to bear the wailing of the patients and bloodiness. Then he went to the Institute of Mathematics but had gotten a headache due to the tedious arithmetic. He then went to the arena for a while and practised. It wasn’t until after the establishment of the akademia and applied to study under Ansitanos, a famous scholar in South Italia, that he did quite well for at least these few months.

“Milord, old man Ansitanos had gone too much and is using me as his slave, not only giving me a lot of work as a scribe, but I am also often running errands for him…” Henipolis poured out his grievances.

“In that case, I will go and talk with Ansitanos and get you another teacher.” Said Davos seriously and looked at him with consideration.

Henipolis waved his hand and said, “No! Don’t! If you say that, I would not even know how he would torture me afterwards!”

He lowered his head and stammeringly said, “…actua…actually, studying with him…has really taught me a lot and got me interested in history…today, he even asked me to come back and write an article on ‘why did Sybaris perish.’”

“Oh.” Davos became interested, “What is the reason for why Sybaris perished?”

“Of course, it was due to the difference in the commanding ability between Sybaris and Crotone during their war! The reason why Crotone was able to defeat Sybaris is that they have Pythagoras, just as we in Theonia were able to defeat Crotone today because we have you, milord!” Answered Henipolis without thinking while giving flattery.

‘We!’ When Davos heard this word, his eyes brightened and laughed, “There is a more important reason. The long years of a rich and luxurious life had not only eroded the body of the Sybarians but also corrupted their thoughts, making them lose courage and morale. Otherwise, even if Pythagoras won the battle with skills, Sybaris, who had a powerful national strength, could reorganise the army and use their abundant resources and sufficient population to continue fighting the Crotonians on a protracted battle, so as to not allow the Crotonians to take advantage of their victory and easily occupy their city-state!

It’s the same with Crotone today. As the hegemon of Magna Graecia, they have become proud and had lost their vigilance, and at the same time, they have become used to peace that when our troops set foot on Crotone’s plain, they hastily demanded peace. If they had chosen to continue fighting with us, Theonia, our union would not have achieved the position we have today so quickly. That is why there is a saying that goes, ‘Difficult environment makes the city-state strive for survival, and comfortable environment makes the city-state easy to perish!’”

Henipolis’ eyes lit up and repeatedly recited the last sentence and said excitedly, “Milord, what you said is wonderful! I am going to put it in my article and let the old man know how good I am!”

Davos said, “Don’t say that I was the one who said that.”

“Of course!”

Then a burst of laughter resounded in the courtyard.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

A few days later, Androlis returned to Thurii. Once the Senate heard what the Bruttians had done, they were outraged and threatened to punish the Bruttians severely.

A day later, Siprus – the envoy of Terina, came to Thurii with a small number of people from Siro who were lucky enough to escape from the Bruttian Tribal Union.

Davos received them personally and made a formal promise that Theonia would, in due course, seek justice for them from the Bruttian Tribal Union.

Then these people whose family had been slaughtered and had lost their homes had not only told about their tragic experience to the Senate but also told the Theonians in the square and at the assembly place, which aroused the sympathy of many citizens, ‘We should help these poor Greeks and take revenge on those abominable Bruttians!’

For a time, a tense war atmosphere permeated the territory of Theonia, but the Senate did not mobilise for war because the autumn harvest had come…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Corinth, a Greek city-state on the Peloponnesian Peninsula and a city-state with a long history like Sparta, is located in the geographical centre of Greece, making it an ideal place not only for Greek alliance gatherings, such as the Greco-Persian War decades ago but also for the Peloponnesian alliance armies to gathering and departing here. Its unique geographical locations also bring convenience to its trade.

As early as more than a hundred years ago, Corinth was famous throughout Greece. Not only were they one of the richest in the Mediterranean, but also culturally developed. For this reason, the strong and confident Corinthians founded the Isthmian Games and soon became one of the four major games in Greece.

This quadrennial celebration of Poseidon, the god of the sea, which follows the Olympic Games, should have been held this summer, but for some reasons, it was postponed to September. Even so, a steady stream of Greeks had still come to the city of Isthmus from all corners of the Mediterranean to participate in and watch the games, and almost all the prominent Greek city-states had sent athletes, even Sparta, which had some conflicts with Corinth in the past few years, had still sent a team. Except for Athens, which still held a grudge at the end of the Peloponnesian War. When the city-states of the Peloponnesian League were discussing what to do with Athens, the Corinthians strongly insisted on killing all the Athenians and turning the whole Attica region into a wilderness, and thus they had not sent any participants.

Chapter 299 – Pride and Prejudice

In the arena, the audience seats were already crowded as the excited people await the start of the preliminaries eagerly. Players from various city-states entered the arena one after another and were met with the cheerings of the audience.

However, the referee is still at the entrance arguing with someone, which delayed the match. The audience began to clamour with discontent, so a Corinthian official, who is responsible for maintaining the order of the competition, rushed to the entrance and asked the referee, “What’s going on? Why haven’t you started the game?”

“Look, this guy is saying that he is a runner in this group race and also had a number. But he is not a Greek!”

The Corinthian official looked at the place where the referee’s finger is pointed: The athlete has shoulder-length brown hair, deep sunken eyes, a tall nose, thick lips, slender body, strong muscles and even though his naked upper body was coated with olive oil, the fairness of his skin could still be seen…his appearance is clearly not a Greek.

The official was taken aback, “How could the priests of the temple allow him to participate in the competition?!”

“I think it was the officials of his city-state who registered for him, as the priest doesn’t know that he is of foreign race.” Replied the referee.

The official snarled, “Which city-state player is he from? Don’t they know the registration rules for the Isthmian Games?!”

“Theonia! We are from Theonia!” Adrian squeezed over and exclaimed, “Although Litom is a Lucanian, he is a citizen of Theonia, so according to the rules of the Isthmian Games, as long as he is a citizen of a Greek city-state, he can participate, so he is eligible!”

Theonia?! The official thought that the name seemed familiar, but he could not recall where he heard it and thought that it was not a large or powerful city-state, so he lectured him with a stern face, “It is a well-known fact that only Greeks can take part in the games because no Greek city-state had ever given citizenship to a foreign race! Stop blocking here and delaying the games! Leave now, or I will send someone to throw you out!”

Adrien became speechless. He was born poor and grew up as a mercenary, so he had never participated in a single Greek Games and naturally did not understand its rules. This time, the Senate of Theonia had decided to send a team to take part in the competition, and they had thought it would be best to have a statesman as the leader to show that they attached importance to the Isthmian Games. The reason why Adrian had actively signed up because he likes sports. Apart from this aspect, there were only a few places in the Senate where he, a statesman who only knows how to fight and cannot read nor write, could use his talents. Therefore, after taking charge of Theonia’s team, he went to Crotone several times to ask for advice from the experienced athletes. He also led the team and departed together with the Crotonian team to Corinth. But now it seems that Crotone are hiding something, and he fears that their goal is to see Theonia making a fool of themselves.

When Adrian was feeling regret, Litom shouted, “Lord Davos, the archon of our union, said that ‘No matter what race, as long as they are a citizen of our union, they should enjoy the same rights!’ Therefore in Theonia, whether they are Greeks, Lucanians, Thracians, they can all play rugby together!”

The Corinthian official was taken aback by Litom’s strange pronunciation and then laughed angrily. He raised his head and shouted to the audience above the arena, “Everyone, is this foreign race correct?!”

The audience, who had been waiting impatiently for a long time, rushed to the lowest floor of the audience seat and shouted, “What ridiculous fallacy! Those who can say these kinds of words can only be the leaders of your barbarians!”

“Barbarian, get out of the arena! Go back to the city-state that had given you citizenship and allow you to compete! That place could only be dirty and terrible!”

“Get out, savages! Don’t defile the sacred place of our Greeks!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mockery and swearing struck Litom and Adrian like swords.

Adrian’s face became pale.

Litom, on the other hand, was furious as he was a person who loved competition and never gave in to defeat. Ever since he became a citizen of Theonia and heard about the Four Great Games, he had been eager to compete with all the athletes in Greece because he thinks that no one can run faster than him! When the news of Theonia sending players to participate in the Isthmian Games reaches his ears, even though it was already a bit late, he still hurriedly went to sign up for it. But he was not allowed to compete just after he had reported his name!

Looking at the bustling arena, he was not reconciled. After giving a sudden roar, he ran out.

“Hey! What are you doing?!” Exclaimed the referee.

“Catch him! Catch him!!” The Corinthian official screamed with impatience.

Litom opened his legs with force, waved his arms vigorously and roared like a wolf. He ran on the soft soil barefooted, and he was as light and fast as the free mountain wind whistling in the wilderness, as he darted with all his might, leaving the Corinthian official and men who tried to catch him far behind.

The Corinthian officials’ anxious shouts alerted the athletes who were still waiting at the starting line to start chasing the wild barbarian.

Instead of feeling afraid, Litom became more excited.

The audiences were amazed at seeing: In the face of the players’ encirclement and interception, the barbarian, who was moving as agile as a civet cat and as fast as a cheetah, flashed past them one after another…

Even though the race has become a chase and capture, most of the audience had not only not complain but also felt the excitement that made some of them even stand up to cheer for the “lone hero” on the field.

As one of the best running back in Theonia’s Rugby Games, Litom uses his skills to skillfully dodge while maintaining his forward speed for one…two…three laps…

The cheers grew louder and louder, and it was only when the Corinthian officials called in more people to blocked the space on the field that they manage to hold him.

The panting Corinthian official came near to Litom and punched him without saying a word.

Litom struggled to break free, but there were too many people holding him, and he could only glare at the Corinthian official.

“Stop! Stop!…” Adrian came in a hurry and grabbed the first raised by the Corinthian official, “Let go of our citizen, or I will protest to the Council of Corinth!”

“Protest?!” The Corinthian official looked at him and sneered, “Arrest him as well! Disrupting the sacred Isthmian Games is a major crime!! Lock them up first and let your weird city-state make reparations, then have them come to collect you!”

After this, a group of men escorted Litom and Adrian off the field.

At this time, Litom struggled and roared, “I, LITOM, A CITIZEN OF THEONIA, IS THE CHAMPION OF THE ISTHMIAN RACE!!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The game resumed after the order on the arena was restored, but the audiences were still talking about the farce that had just taken place.

“That guy just now did run very fast. Unfortunately, he was a barbarian. Otherwise, he could have really won the championship!”

“What race is he? He said that he was a citizen of a Greek city-state, so which city-state that had actually granted citizenship to a barbarian?!”

“I think he said that it is Theonia…is Theonia even a Greek city-state? How come I have never heard of it?”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The audience of the Isthmian Games had come from all over the Mediterranean, and of course, there were Greeks from the Western Mediterranean, who naturally became the ones to answer these questions.

“Theonia is a city-state union located in the north-central part of Magna Graecia and had been founded only last year, and its main city is Thurii. That barbarian just now should be a Lucanian, as Theonia had occupied a lot of land of Lucania, and they had also wantonly granted citizenship to the Lucanians living in their territory.”

“In other words, this Theonia Union had not only given citizenship to one barbarian?!”

“Yes, it is not only the Lucanians, but also Thracians, Egyptians…as long as they are willing to become citizens of Theonia, they will be able to become a formal Theonian citizen after a few years, and they will also be able to get an ‘allocated land’!”

“Oh wise, Athena, have I gotten dizzy and misheard it?! Not only can barbarians become citizens, but they can also get an allocated land?! This is simply…simply…is Theonia really a Greek city-state union?!”

“Iabycus, you Peloponnesians are indifferent to what is happening in the western Mediterranean. As long as you arrive at the Gulf of Taranto by ship, the most frequently heard word is Theonia. There are not only thousands of freemen flocking to Theonia to become citizens, but the councils of all the city-states of Magna Graecia are watching the movements of Theonia…”

“I can still understand the freemen wanting to be citizens and get an allocated land. But why is it that even the top officials of the various city-states in Magna Graecia-”

“Because Theonia is already the most powerful city-state union in South Italia!”

“What?! Are you kidding me?! I still remember that the powerful city-states of Magna Graecia were Crotone and Taranto?!!”

“Haha, not long ago, Crotone twice lost to Theonia in a war and has long lost its former glory. And Taranto…just when I came to Thurii, heard that it was forced to ask Theonia’s help to drive the barbarians, who were invading their territory, away with Theonia promising to send reinforcements. You won’t even be able to imagine how big Theonia’s territory is! Theonia now controls Thurii, Amendolara, Krimisa, and Lucania, with Laos and Roscianum becoming affiliated city-state, and they are also allied with Taranto. In addition, Crotone, Terina, Scylletium and Caulonia had also allied with Theonia…now tell me if it is still not the most powerful city-state in Magna Graecia!”

Chapter 300 – The beginning of the war with Bruttii

“Oh…wait wait wait…I just remember you saying that it had only been a year since the foundation of Theonia, but it had now become the hegemon of Magna Graecia in less than two years?! That’s just…just…”

“You want to say it’s a ‘miracle’, don’t you? It’s been said that the archon of Theonia is ‘God’s Favoured’ of Hades. Even though he is very young, he has never lost in the battles that he commanded. Lucania, Crotone, Locri…have lost to him successively, and perhaps it’s a miracle!”

“From what you have said, Theonia is powerful in Magna Graecia that it would be better for Corinth not to have a bad relationship with them due to this small matter in the arena…”

“That’s your Corinth’s business, Iabycus.”

“Anyway, Hipparchus, tell me about your city. Rhegium is also in Magna Graecia, so why have you not allied with the mighty Theonia?”

“We, people of Rhegium, have no intention to fight for the hegemony in Magna Graecia, and we just want to live a good life.”

“Everyone thinks that as well, but Hipparchus, the gods are temperamental, and they may one day involve Rhegium in the conflict of the city-state in Magna Graecia. Therefore, instead of being passive, it would be better for you to take the initiative to find a strong ally…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Since this farce happened, everyone talked about that barbarian and the strange city-state union – Theonia. It is only after that incident that the name of Theonia began to be known to more Greeks in Greece.

At this time, in the audience seat in the arena, many people were inquiring about the origins of Theonia.

Among the audience were two young men who are from Thebes. After listening to the conversation between Hipparchus and Iabycus, one of them said excitedly, “Theonia…what a peculiar city-state union! What do you think, Epaminondas?”

The other young men sighed, “To be able to dominate Magna Graecia in such a short time is not only due to the ability of the archon, but Theonia Union’s political system must have its unique features!”

“You have also thought the same as what I have…I have decided!” The young man shouted, “After I finished my studies next year, I will go to Theonia. You must go there with me together.”

Epaminondas shook his head, “I apologise, Pelopidas! As you know, in recent years, my teacher Lysis has been propagating the teachings of the Pythagorean School in Corinth these past few years, so I no longer need to go to Taranto anymore. Instead, I could just learn from him who is nearby and help him deal with some affairs at the same time. Therefore, I can’t go that far away to avoid delays.”

The young man named Pelopidas pressed Epaminondas’ arms and said, “Didn’t that man just said that the central city of Theonia is Thurii, which is just across from the Gulf of Taranto and less than three days by boat from the Gulf of Corinth, which is not far at all. Besides, you are my best friend, so how can you bear to let me go away alone?”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Corinth imprisoned Adrian and Litom, while the rest of Theonian athletes were no longer in the mood to compete, so they hurriedly sent someone back to Thurii to report.

The Senate held a meeting to discuss the matter, and a few statesmen, led by Pollox, argued that the recklessness of Litom had tarnished the image of Theonia, and Adrian, as the head of the delegation, has failed to manage the team well and made Theonia the laughing stock in all Greece. Therefore, the union should punish them!

While Davos firmly opposed it, saying that Adrian and Litom’s action was not wrong, what is wrong is the conservative Corinthians, whose narrow-mindedness rejects the Theonians who are made up of multi-ethnic groups! Since the self-proclaimed orthodox Greek natives rejected the participation of Theonian citizens, who are composed of Lucanians, Thracians and other races, then there is no need for Theonia to participate in the four major competitions! As Theonia have the ability and strength to organise their own games!…

Most of the statesmen supported the speech of Davos, especially Vespa, Hemon, Bagul, Marigi and Epiphanes.

However, there was nothing more the Senate could do to get Corinth to release Litom and Adrian. After all, Corinth was an old Greek power and would not take the newly rising Theonia Union seriously, and the current strength of Theonia can not affect Corinth. Therefore, the only way is for them to send envoys to apologise to Corint and donate a certain amount of money to the Temple of Poseidon in Corinth so that the members of the delegation can return safely.

All but Mersis agreed. For Davos, the most important thing for Theonia is to concentrate on dealing with the Bruttians and not make a fuss, so this resolution of the Senate, despite his reluctance, can only temporarily endure it this time.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

During the autumn harvest, the citizens are busy harvesting.

Davos also did not stay idle. Davos, together with Heracleides the Younger, Metoticles, Mersis and others, quietly went to Aprustum to survey the valley leading to Anbania several times. They then went to the upper north bank of the Crati River to carefully observe the river and the location and environment of Besidice on the other side of the river. They had also gone to Laos to investigate the mountain road leading to Vergae. Everywhere they went, they had to calculate the speed and depth of the rivers, considering the possibility of building roads, bridges and the transportation of grains.

After coming back, Davos also discussed the attack plan repeatedly with high ranking officers such as Philesius, Kapus and Drakos.

At the end of September, before the autumn harvest was over, news came from Terina that some Bruttians had broken into Terina’s territory. However, the Terinian had captured them!

But the truth is: After Androlis went to Consentia, the Bruttii Tribal Union speed up their attack and annexation of the tribes that refused to be integrated, forcing some of the Bruttians, who did not want to join the union to escape from the mountains.

On the other hand, Davos used this as an excuse to let Aristias dispatch his spies to spread rumours in Thurii, Amendolara, Krimisa and other cities that the Bruttians are unifying the tribes. After they established a powerful tribal union, they will launch an attack on Theonia. Now, it is just a probing attack by the Bruttians…

At the same time, they also reminded everyone that they should not forget the blood debts of the Bruttians who plundered the Greek city-states in Magna Graecia many times!

A tense atmosphere soon shrouded the cities in Theonia, and the citizens were even more furious, and they strongly demanded that they should begin a war against the Bruttians, pay back the blood debts and eliminate this danger!

At the beginning of October, the autumn harvest was over, and there was a call for war in Theonia. The time was finally ripe to move against Bruttii.

After several rounds of discussion, the Senate announced to the citizens, ‘The Bruttians ignored Theonia’s warnings and proposal of peace and had wantonly destroyed the allies of Theonia, the Siro tribe. Based on the agreement and morality, Theonia declares war on the Bruttians!’

Finally, the war with Bruttii officially began!

In the square in Aprustum, soldiers from the fourth legion from Krimisa and Aprustum gathers…

In Thurii’s Nike Square, the soldiers from the first and second legion from Thurii and Amendolara gathers…

In the square in Nerulum, some of the soldiers of the third legion assemble…

Grumentum, because of its extremely important location and in order to stabilise the situation in the Lucania region, the citizens belonging to the third legion in the city could not move lightly.

Just as the preparations for the war were all in order, Davos once again met up with the Siro tribe survivors leader, Hegasitus, at his residence.

“Theonia has declared war on the Bruttians, and soon you will hear the news of victory. Despite our warning, Bruttii had still wantonly slaughtered our fellow Greeks, and we will surely punish them for it!” Davos made a solemn promise.

Hegasitus said with tears in his eyes, “Lord Davos, thank you! Thank you very much for your selfless help to our weak tribe! You are worthy of being the Favoured of Hades! You are the guardian of justice in Magna Graecia! All of us surviving people of Siro will pray to Hades and wish you health and safety! I also wish the citizens of Theonia a quick and victorious return! And also, I have a small request. I’d like to ask for your approval.”

“Oh, what is your request?”

“My people and I hope to join your army, fight side by side with you, and take revenge on the Bruttians!” Said Hegasitus excitedly.

“I can understand your feelings, but the Theonian army has undergone hard training and strict discipline. If there is a violation of military rules, the most serious case would be beheading! And I am afraid that your participation will not increase our strength but will instead affect our fighting because once the military law is violated, do you think you will not be punished for it? Therefore, I can’t agree to your request.” Davos politely but firmly refused.

Hegasitus, with a disappointed expression, said reluctantly, “Then…we can…be your guide!”

“We only need 2~3 people as a guide.” Seeing Hegasitus’ disappointment, he felt that the time was ripe, so he said, “But there is one thing you can do, and when you do it well, it will be the biggest blow to the Bruttii Tribal Union!”

“What is it?!” Asked Hegasitus.

“Last time, I heard from you that some tribes in the Bruttii region were not willing to merge, but they had to give in because of the strength of the Bruttii Tribal Union. Therefore, I hope you can sneak back to Bruttii, wait for the news that Theonia’s army has entered the Bruttii mountains, and then persuade these tribes to rise against this tribal union. By then, it will be easy for us to defeat the Bruttii Tribal Union!” Davos said here, then looked at him with slight apologetically, “However, for you guys, it’s more dangerous going back than when you escape-”

Chapter 301 – Prelude to War (I)

“As long as we could beat Consentia, we are willing to do anything!” Said Hegasitus radiating with decisiveness.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The news that Theonia had declared war on the Bruttians had spread rapidly throughout Magna Graecia. Roscianum immediately sent someone to the Senate of Theonia to say that they are willing to send a thousand light and heavy infantry and fifty cavalries to the war.

Laos had also sent someone to actively express that they would send 3,000 light and heavy infantry to battle.

Even Heraclea, who had just joined the Theonia Alliance, was not willing to be outdone. They are willing to send 500 infantry and 100 cavalries to fight.

Although the numbers and strength of these troops were nowhere near those of the four legions of Theonia, Davos had still readily accepted them as the participation of allies in a war was a sign of unity of the Theonia Alliance. Only by fighting side by side could they deepen their friendship with their allies and gradually influence and assimilate their military systems.

Although the Council of Taranto knew in advance that there was a conflict between Theonia and the Bruttians (from what Tolmides had leaked), they had mixed feelings after they learned about the outbreak of war had come because: If Theonia won, the gap between Taranto and Theonia would only widen; But if Theonia suffered a heavy loss, then the Messapi and Peuceti, who had just signed an armistice may have new thoughts. Taranto’s manpower and resources are now devoted to the recovery of the war-torn territories of Taranto, so it is impossible for Taranto to assist Theonia. However, not long ago, Theonia had saved Taranto from a crisis by honouring their agreement.

Therefore, the Council of Taranto sent an envoy, Polidorus, to Thurii and politely inquired, “What do you need from Taranto?”

Davos had naturally noticed the embarrassment of Polidorus, so he immediately expressed his gratitude for Taranto’s concern and said politely, “For the time being, Theonia doesn’t need the help of Taranto.”

However, Davos’ politeness showed his confidence and made Polidorus feel slightly guilty while letting out a sigh of relief.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Crotonians equally have mixed feelings, and even most hope that the war launched by Theonia will suffer a tragic defeat. However, Scylettium, Terina, and Caulonia had all sent envoys, so Crotone naturally had to show something, as they were, after all, part of the South Italia Alliance.

However, the Senate of Theonia politely declined their expectation of participating in the war on the ground that these city-states had just gone through war and needed to guard against Locri. At the same time, he put forward his own request that he hopes they can provide some military provisions and allow the army of Theonia to pass through their territory and wait for an opportunity to attack Bruttii from Terina’s side.

The envoys of Crotone and other city-states had immediately agreed.

The envoys even boasted that their city-state is willing to provide free food for the Theonian army attacking from Terina’s side until the end of the war.

While the envoy of Terina just spoke a little, as he actually knew inwardly that the Senate of Theonia had long had a secret agreement with Siprus to attack Clampetia together! This time, he had come with the other envoys just as a cover-up.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Father, it seems that the Vergaeans are right. Theonia has declared war on Bruttii! We-” Gennat said excitedly.

Cincinnag interrupted his son with a sneer, “What are we going to do?…declare war on Theonia as well?! We a grudge against the Theonians, but don’t forget that Sedrum, that old bastard, had slaughtered our people! If it weren’t for Elea, that Vergaean envoy would never have walked out of Pyxous!” Said Cincinnag in a hateful voice.

The loss of Grumentum had allowed the Theonians to enter the heart of Lucania, and the small independent Lucanian tribes have been defecting to Theonia one after another like flies gathering around sh’t. Although the Theonians had not yet taken any further action at Grumentum, they still had made the Pyxousians feel the pressure. Although the envoy of Pyxous came to Thurii and brought back the promise of peace by the archon of Theonia, how could the cunning Cincinnag easily believe on that thin piece of paper!

Especially when Elea had announced their joining of the Theonia Alliance, it was like a huge drum causing a huge stir in Pyxous, as this meant that not only did the Pyxousians not dare to consider Elea as a slice of fat meat that they could plunder every year as they had done before, but it had also made the city of Pyxous be surrounded by Theonia and its allies from hereafter. Potentia should also feel the same danger, so when the envoy of Bruttii arrived and with his help, the two tribal power of Lucania, which had a feud for a long time, finally decided to unite to fight against Theonia in order to survive.

“We have to be patient and not be in a hurry!” Said Cincinnag to his son.

“Until when?”

“Wait until both Theonia and Bruttii fought to exhaustion! Wait until Potentia to act first!” Cincinnag’s narrowed eyes gleamed with cold light.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the assembly hall of Consentia, the Great Chieftains of the Bruttii Tribal Union were urgently discussing the information that their scouts had reported.

“Yesterday, Davos had led what they called the first and second legions out of Thurii and marched westward, seemingly preparing to pass through the mountains to Laos…in Aprustum…uh, the fourth legion is also starting to move south…Everyone, the attack of Theonia is coming!” Pian said with a grave expression.

“It’s about time! We have long carefully prepared to let these arrogant Theonians taste the strength of Bruttii!” Likumu waved his fist excitedly.

“It seems that the main focus of Theonia’s attack is Vergae! Because their archon, Davos, had personally led the first and second legion, together with the third legion of Nerulum and the army of Laos, and the number of soldiers he leads may even be as high as 20,000! Not only did we strengthened Vergae’s defence, but we have also built several defensive camps on the mountain road…however, we only have at most 4,000 soldiers, and I fear that we would have a difficult time resisting the attack of so many Theonian soldiers!” Said Sedrum, looking at the others with melancholy.

“Sedrum, you coward! You have started to become afraid before the war even starts!” Likumu sneered.

“It’s normal for Vergae not to be able to stop the full attack of the Theonians alone. The fourth legion of Theonia had also headed south. They must be planning to attack the north of the city of Terina, together with the Terinian army, whose soldiers I fear numbered over ten thousand, while the warriors of the city of Clampetia are but two thousand, so for Clampetia to hold on, we must have your reinforcements!” Pangam defended both Sedrum and himself.

Sedrum nodded gratefully to him.

“Just after Bruttii had united into a tribal union, we have met a strong enemy. This is the test of Amara and Brutus! Under the protection of the gods and goddesses, we must unite closely and defeat the enemy in order to forge the future glory for the people of Bruttii!” The high priests, Phitara, said with a solemn expression. The Bruttians prided themselves on being the descendants of Brutus, who is the legendary ancient hero, demigod and protector of the Bruttians, and Brutus was the son of Heracles and the Queen of Bruttii – Valentia.

“The high priest is correct!” Pian looked at everyone and said, “I will lead ten thousand Consentian warriors together with Petaru to reinforce Vergae!”

Ten thousand warriors are almost the whole force of Consentia, so Sedrum hurriedly bowed and said gratefully, “Grand Chieftain, thank you for your full assistance!”

“This is what I should do as we are all comrades in the same union now. If the city of Vergae couldn’t hold on, then can Consentia be safeguarded?! If Consentia is occupied, what way out can there be for Besidice and Anbania?!” Pian said this as if to comfort Sedrum, but in fact, it was more of a reminder to Bodiam and Likumu.

“On the southeast of Anbania that leads to Aprustum is a narrow valley, and the Theonians does not dare to attack from here, as once found, our warriors would not even need to fight, and they just need to stand on the top of the valley and throw rocks at them, which would be enough to cause them heavy casualties. Therefore, I am willing to lead 3,000 warriors to reinforce Clampetia!” Bodiam immediately made his stance.

Likumu, unwilling to fall behind, said aloud, “The situation in Besidice is similar to that of Anbania. There are mountains and rivers as barriers, so the Theonians can’t enter through my territory at all. Therefore, I am willing to take two thousand warriors to help Pangam beat back the Theonians!”

Pangam also expressed his thanks to the two great chieftains.

“Brutus from above…this is how we should be! As long as we Bruttians work together as one, no amount of Greeks would be able to defeat us!” Phitara chanted the name of their god in a low voice.

“Although Anbania and Besidice have a geographical advantage, we should always be vigilant to prevent the Theonians from sneaking! You should all know how cunning the archon of Theonia is that it had even made Crotone lost twice with his cunningness, and Nerulum and Grumentum were also captured due to his sneak attack!” Pian solemnly admonished the two chieftains, hoping for them to strengthen their vigilance.

“Don’t worry. We have sentries at every peak of the valley, which would alert us as soon as the Theonians move.” Said Bodiam seriously.

“The riverbank path of Thurii leading to Besidice has long been blocked by a strong defensive camp built by us! If the Theonians were to come attacking, we would annihilate them!” Likumu said with confidence.

Chapter 302 – Prelude to War (II)

Pian nodded. He could only remind them that although he had been elected as the Grand Chieftain of the newly created tribal union, he, in fact, had no right to interfere with the management of these tribal cities at all. He then turned to ask Sedrum again, “Pyxous and Potentia had agreed to ally with us, so do you think that they will attack Theonia?”

“That’s hard to say…” Sedrum said with hesitation, “It is because the Theonians are attacking us and not them. Judging from Cincinnag’s cunningness, he will never be the first to attack unless we defeat the Theonians!”

Disappointment flashed on Pian’s eyes but soon went back to normal. Pian then shouted to motivate the crowd, “Everyone, as long as we hold off the attack of the Theonians and persist for even half a month and not allow the Theonians to enter the Bruttii mountains, would make their morale to be crushed, their transportation to suffer difficulties, and the Lucanians, who the Theonians oppress, will take this opportunity to rise and revolt, which would surely make the Theonians fall into trouble! At that time, it would be our time to counter-attack, completely defeat the blockade of Theonia and seize the fertile plain land of the Greeks for our future generations! ”

Pian’s words of encouragement made everyone’s blood boil, and Likumu yelled, “DEFEAT THE THEONIANS!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Constructing roads in the winding and rugged mountains is a huge and complicated project that costs a lot of manpower and resources and tests the engineering technology of a country. The construction of Thurii-Laos road started early last year, and even though a lot of manpower has been invested in its construction, it is still not been completed yet. Therefore, the 20,000 troops led by Davos and the huge logistics camp travelled in the mountains for five days before they could reach the Lao Fortress.

And Hielos led the fourth legion to the outside of Terina and met the strategoi and council member of Terina that had come out to the city to meet them. The atmosphere is amiable as Siprus started the introduction.

However, Hielos declined the Terinians’ invitation to dinner in the city and insisted on staying together with the soldiers, which won the praise of a group of politicians.

He then led his troops to camp on the coast 5 kilometres northwest of Terina, where the exit of the coastal path was only 5-6 kilometres away from Clampetia.

After Hielos arranged for the camp’s construction, he immediately took some guards and Siprus to get close to Clampetia.

On the left side is a cliff and on the right is a mountain. This coastal path leading to Consentia Plateau is not wide, but the place where Clampetia is located is even narrower. Even though the city of Clampetia is not more than 200 metres long, it had completely blocked the way in and out. Although the walls are only four metres high, the entire city is on higher ground. From where Hielos is, the road slopes upward and narrows more and more…which would make the soldiers spend a lot more energy just to reach the city, not to mention trying to avoid the enemy’s rain of arrows and javelins. Fortunately, its geographical environment is somewhat similar to that of Aprustum, so the soldiers have experience in this kind of terrain due to their regular training.

As Hielos examined the road, he began pondering whether the two siege weapons that had just been equipped in the third legion could be pushed to the city.

Seeing Hielos staring at the city of Clampetia and remaining silent for a long time, Siprus thought that he got intimidated by the difficulty of the siege. So he reminded him by saying, “There are still a few trails in the mountains near here that we could use to bypass Clampetia and go north to Consentia.”

“Really?!” Hielos turned his head abruptly.

“Yes, otherwise, how could Siro and the other tribes that rebelled against Consentia escape Bruttii.”

“Then those people also know about it?” Hielos pointed to the city of Clampetia ahead.

Siprus understood what he meant, so he affirmed, “Naturally, they do.”

Hielos had no luck, but he still decided to send someone to do some reconnaissance first.

“I heard that Clampetia has a port.” Hielos once again asked.

“There is, but it is not big.” Said Siprus. He then dismounted and went to the edge of the cliff.

Hielos didn’t act brave and dismounted the horse, as he did not think that he had excellent horsemanship. In case the horse was frightened and fell off the edge of the cliff, then the fourth legion would have lost one legion leaders even before the battle started.

“There it is!” Pointed Siprus ahead, and his voice sounding a bit wispy under the strong sea breeze.

Hielos fixed his eyes on the cliff jutting out from the land, with a height difference of nearly 100 metres from sea-level, he caught sight of the coast a few kilometres away from the north of Clampetia, where he saw a flat piece of land with a modest beach with a simple port with few dozens of boats docked on it…

Siprus then said, “According to the information from the Siro tribe and from what our ships have observed whenever they pass through the city of Clampetia, the port of Clampetia is built at the estuary of Savuto River-”

“Savuto River”

“The Savuto River is a large river within the territory of Clampetia. Although the city in front of us is either surrounded by mountains or the sea and seems to be barren, in fact, not far to the north is a small plain around the Savuto River, and along the Savuto River is a valley to the north that you can traverse to reach Consentia smoothly.” Speaking of this, Siprus showed a contemptuous smile, “It is said that the reason why the Bruttians built the city of Clampetia here is that they were afraid that we would destroy and plunder their farmland and pasture on the Savuto plain. However, we, Terinians, could not even completely farm on all the fertile land on the Ophemia Plain, so we wouldn’t even covet this meagre plain. With their city being 5 kilometres away from the Savuto River, it made labour to be inconvenient, so they had to build a small town on the banks of the river-”

“How is the defence of this town?” Hielos abruptly interrupted Siprus.

“I heard that this town doesn’t even have a wall.”

It made Hielos relieved from hearing it, as he did not want to spend more effort after capturing Clampetia just to capture a small town so that they could completely occupy the territory of Bruttii.

“In the past, Clampetia was not rich in production, and had poor shipbuilding technology and had little contact with other city-states in Italia, so they almost do not have any maritime trade, but-” Siprus said anxiously, “Now that they had established the Bruttii Tribal Union, this port has become the only port for the Bruttians, so I believe they will develop it soon.”

Hielos nodded. However, they have no clue that the Bruttians managed to break through the blockade of Theonia and formed an alliance with Pyxous and Potentia.

“Legatus, look!” At this time, his guard reminded him loudly.

Clampetia’s gate opened wide, and a group of men rushed out.

“Go!” Hielos order his team to return to quickly return to the camp.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“See, the Theonians are cowards!” Likumu, who was holding a spear, laughed wildly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos reached the Lao Fortress, where Sesta and Hieronymus had long been waiting.

“Lord archon, the people of Nerulum have been mobilised to listen to the arrangements of the city hall and are ready to carry provisions, constructing camps and transportation of the wounded…” Sesta took the initiative to report.

“Do the Lucanian tribes have any problem with it?”

“No. In fact, they are pleased to see us conquering the Bruttians, as the stronger Theonia is, the safer they will be. In addition, with this, Lucania will no longer only be the non-Greek race of Theonia. Moreover, they are also willing to provide a base for the legion, but in that case, our soldiers will have to be careful of Lucanian women breaking into their tents at night. You should know that Greek citizens of Theonia are very popular now!” Sesta said jokingly.

Davos became amused and laughed hard. He then looked at Sesta and said with some emotion, “Lord Sesta, to think that you were a mercenary that has never held a public office in a city-state or even has experience of managing a city.”

Sesta shook his head, “Back then, I worked so hard just to have a bite of bread, so how could I have imagined that I would have today? It is all because you, milord, have brought us unimaginable changes!”

“We should be able to seize the opportunities that have been provided to us. As a mercenary with no experience in managing a city, you have firmly chosen to leave the familiar army and come to this unfamiliar land, facing the Lucanians, who were still hostile at that time, without fearing difficulties, working and boldly solving problems. Now, I can say that Nerulum is fully and completely a Theonian territory! Sesta, you have done an excellent job! Not only do I think so, but so do other members of the Senate! You are now the one with the most administrative experience among the statesman of the Senate in our mercenary army! When your term ends next year, I think the Senate will definitely have more important tasks to give you!” Davos did not spare words in expressing his appreciation for Sesta.

After hearing this, Sesta was both proud and excited while keeping a few moments of clarity, “Milord, you are the one who has to have the most administrative experience in our mercenary!”

“Me?” Davos looked left and right and said, “I do not count. Did you not all say that I am “Favoured of Gods”? All of it is because of Hades!”

Then came a burst of laughter.

“Milord.” Hieronymus could not help but say, “What is the mission of our third legion in this war?” The third legion did not have a role when they sent reinforcements to Taranto, and the war mobilisation did not give any specific instructions to the third legion, which made Hieronymus inevitably worried.

Davos looked at this legatus who had completely relocated his home to Nerulum in order to facilitate training and commanding of the third legion that made him not even able to attend the regular Senate meetings. If Sesta had political ambition, this taciturn man had made his home in the military camp. Therefore, even though he was Greek and commanded the third legion that was mostly Lucanians, those Lucanian warriors, who once hated the Greeks, were very obedient to him for this very reason.

Chapter 303 – Probe

Although Davos was in a good mood, he did not joke with this ever taciturn man, so he seriously said, “As an important force to stabilise the Lucanian region, your third legion will be stationed on Nerulum and Grumentum. With Theonia at war with the Bruttians, wouldn’t Pyxous and Potentia take this opportunity to start a war to take back Grumentum?”

The words of Davos made Sesta, and Hieronymus thought about it.

After a while, Hieronymus said dejectedly, “Milord, do you mean to keep the third legion in place to prevent the invasion of Pyxous and Potentia?”

“Not just for defence.” With a soft smile, Davos said in a deep voice, “If they dare to tear up the peace agreement, then Theonia would conquer Bruttii and take Pyxous and Potentia at the same time!”

War on all fronts?! Sesta and Hieronymus looked at each other and marvelled at the young archon’s extraordinary courage, but it had also made them worried.

“Don’t forget, ELea.” Reminded Davos.

“What good is that meagre strength of Elea?” Sesta said, unimpressed.

However, Hieronymus, who had long experience in battle, suddenly thought of something and became more sure after seeing Davos’ smile, “Milord, I will discuss with Bagul how to lure them.”

“When we meet Avinoges, I will also ask him the use of their port, and I am sure he will agree.” Laughed Davos.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Lord Avinoges, I haven’t seen you for just two months, but you seem to have gained a lot more weight.” Davos said half-jokingly to the archon of Laos, who had come to meet him.

Avinoges patted his protruding belly with a smile, “Who told Theonia to be so good! With you protecting our a**, everything is developing so well in Laos that I don’t even need to worry about anything besides what new food your wife’s restaurant would make. Could I be the first one to taste it?!”

Looking at his trembling fat face, Davos could not help but caution, “I suggest that you still try to keep your weight down a bit by not eating too much at each meal. It will also be good for your health.”

Avinoges thought of something. He then patted his head with his right hand and said, “Oh, I almost forgot that, milord, is also a miraculous doctor! Since you have said that, I will try to control my weight gain.”

“Thank you for trusting me.” Davos picked up on the implication that he was going to control his weight rather than lowering it. It was clear that he does not care much about his body.

Thinking of the first time he saw Avinoges, his muscular body has now increased a size, but all of it was fat. And then, looking at Alobamus, who was beside him, had become even thinner than he was a year ago. Davos had also heard that Avinoges left most of the administration of the city-state to his brother. Once they have lost their sense of worry, lost their goal to strive for, and learned to crave for pleasure, they would have difficulty getting back on their feet..Davos lamented it in his heart.

“Lord Davos, this…the second legion of Theonia seems to be…there seems to be something wrong!” Alobamus, looking at the troops marching past them with the flag held high, exclaimed in disbelief.

“Brother, I heard that the Theonian army is recently replacing their weapons and equipment into a new one, so it is natural that it is different from before!” Avinoges interrupted Alobamus then ordered his brother, “The war with Bruttii is about to begin, immediately go and blockade the port as well as all the passages outside the city and forbid anyone to enter or leave!…”

Davos couldn’t stop himself from nodding. Avinoges was still the leader of the descendants of Sybaris who had dared to unite with Theonia and overthrow the rule of the Lucanians. Although his body had changed significantly, his mind was still clear, his military sense was still very sharp, and his political reactions were extremely quick that he could complete all the deployment without Davos having to ask.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

With the rapid sound of the salpinx, the soldiers quickly retreated down the slope of the mountain as rocks and logs rolled downward, chasing after them. If a soldier were unfortunately struck, his nearby comrades would rush forward to help, as screams rang out from time to time…

Kapus, who was was the foot of the mountain, had a gloomy expression from seeing such sight and he couldn’t help but sigh, “Such terrain is too unfavourable for us that we couldn’t even bring to play the advantage of the legion.”

“It’s not like our attack in these past few days were in vain, as we at least manage to capture one of the enemy’s camp and advanced our line of attack here.” Antonios comforted him.

“We did not capture it. It was the Bruttii taking the initiative in giving up on it. Up to now, we haven’t even seen a shadow of the enemy, but our brothers had suffered 300 casualties!” Kapus said with pain in his heart.

“Not many have died. All of those are mainly from injuries and fractures. After treatment in the medical camp, most of them could recover. That’s already very good enough, as there is no war where no one died, like when we were in Persia…” Antonios continued to comfort him.

“But our brother’s did not die from fighting the enemy. Such a way of death is unjust to our brothers! According to the guide, there is still five kilometres till we reach Vergae! Five kilometres! On such a difficult mountain road! I am afraid that by the time we reach Vergae, all of our men would be dead!” Shouted Amintas irritably, “When will the second legion start to move?! A long time has already passed, and yet there is still no movement! If we had known that this was the case, Kapus, you should have strongly demanded that our first legion should have carried out that mission!”

“Who told our first legion to be too famous?! If we don’t attack here, how could we possibly convince the Bruttians that our focus of attack is here! Only in this way can we attract the main force of Bruttii!” Alexius then said calmly and admiringly, “Only the Grand Legatus dared to do so! Who would have thought that we would attack Vergae at the risk of the lives of our citizens just to mobilise the enemy!”

“Quiet!” Signalled Kapus. He then looked around and said quietly, “I hope that the second legion can accomplish their mission so that our brother’s sacrifice won’t be in vain!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Chieftain, the Greeks are retreating!”

Hearing the report from his excited subordinate, Saru not only did not rejoice but was somewhat disappointed, “The Theonians fled as fast as rabbits. If only they had gotten over that ridge, more of them would have died when we pushed down the rocks on the mountain path!”

“Don’t worry, as long as they are still going to attack Vergae, there will be more opportunities like this!” Sedrum stood up and praised him, “We have resisted the enemy for three days! Despite Theonia sending their first legion, which they called the ‘strongest army’, to attack, instead of making any progress, many of their soldiers were either wounded or died! Saru, you have done a great job!”

“If this situation continued like this, we can completely keep the Theonians from reaching Vergae for a month!” Saru then said confidently, “Great Chieftain, we could deal the Greeks by ourselves and just let the Consentians go back. The soldiers are angry at them, as they had occupied our house and ate our food, but they did not fight!”

“The Consentians is still mainly eating the food that they brought with them, Consentia and we are now united, and there are still many opportunities to fight together in the future. Therefore, you should get used to it and persuade our soldiers not to complain too much.” Sedrum said to him patiently, “Besides, from the looks of things, the Theonians have not done their best, as they should still adapting to the terrain here. Don’t forget, they still have a force made up of Lucanians and the troops from Laos, who we have not yet seen. So we can’t be rash! Have you forgotten how the Lucanian coalition attacked our city?!”

“I haven’t forgotten it!” Saru clenched his fist.

“Yesterday, a report came from Clampetia that the Greeks there were trying to sneak in through the trail but were fortunately spotted in time to repel them. We should have also been on guard against the Lucanians coming from the mountains, but it is because of Consentia’s large army defending the city that we can fight the enemy here with confidence and boldness.” Sedrum continued to persuade.

Saru nodded in silence.

“The later the Theonians reach Vergae, the faster their morale will drop, the more food they will consume and the more chance we have in defeating them! By then, the glory of the Bruttii will come!…” He initially intended to persuade and motivate Saru, but as he spoke, the more excited Sedrum become.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The setting sun was almost behind the mountain, and the earth gradually descends into darkness.

The herdsman drove the cattle and sheep early, and the children who ran wildly in the mountains during the day were also called home by their parents because at night, the mountains are the world of wild animals.

The wilderness outside the city of Besidice has been deserted; occasionally, one could hear the wolves howling. In the silent dusk, the roaring of the Crati River during the day is more magnificent, which has been the case for thousands of years, and the residents of Besidice has long been used to it, and they feel that the louder the sound of the waves is, the more the protection of the Crati River is shown, so they all sleep peacefully with the sound of the waves.

But they have no idea that on the other side of the river, in the thick woods, thousands of Theonian soldiers were marching, and all the sounds they made were covered by the sound of the river.

The upper reaches of the Crati River have steep cliffs on both sides, but not all places are like this. In front of the levelled ground in the location of Besidice is a riverbank about ten metres long, where the people of Besidice often go to draw water and do their laundry. On the other side of the river is a gentle slope where you can use to go down the river, and the jagged rocks could accommodate ten people.

Chapter 304 – Hero

At this moment, in the piles of rock is an axle and a wheel, with ropes as thick as a wrist wrapped around it. On the other end of the rope is tied to the waist of a big brawny man with his naked upper body covered with an air-filled lamb intestine.

Even though the Thurians were raised and lived on the Crati River, their entire body trembles when they genuinely stand at the edge of this roaring river, while the Legatus and his men could only watch with mouth open, but you could not even hear a sound from it. In front of them is the Crati River, and their only little light is the setting sun, which made them see the surging water splashing up several metres high waves and the soul-stirring whirlpool on the river…

If ordinary people were to see and hear these, they would have long been scared that they would not have been able to stand up. However, before they become a citizen of Theonia, he and his companions were all sailors, and had lived on the sea all year round and were used to fighting in the strong wind and waves. Therefore, he firmly believed that by relying on his ability and experience, he would successfully complete their mission and fight for a bright future for himself and his family!

Frightened by the surging river, the lambs were led out trembling and unable to even make noises.

Drakos then cut off the lamb’s head with a dagger, place the head squarely on the reef, and smeared the lamb’s blood on the face of each warrior, and everyone prayed piously to the river god – Akheloios.

Then, the brawny man stood up and saluted Drakos. He then stood up by the river and looked at the left side of the opposite bank in front of him, which would be his destination. Subconsciously, he touched the rope to make sure that it was firmly tied. After taking a deep breath, he roared then dive swiftly into the water like a mermaid, and the waves immediately covered his body…

The dark river rushed forward and made it difficult to find his trail, and only the creaking of the axle could be heard…

Drakos’ eyes followed the rope extending into the river as his state of mind became tenser and tenser…

Before this, after surveying the terrain around the Bruttii mountains, Davos proposed that the best breakthrough in this war was in Besidice. When he told his plan, Philesius and the legatus became stunned as it was too risky to swim a hundred metres of rough waves while carrying 6 kilograms of weight(the weight of the rope and the force of the river) and not be found by the enemy sentry!

Davos, however, came up with strong evidence. Marticoris of the Institute of Mathematics ran specifically to the entry point and lowered down a trunk several times and found that the river would eventually push the tree trunk near the shoal on the opposite bank. He had also calculated the flow speed and the direction of the river here and thought that a person should be able to reach the other bank.

Davos had also asked one of Androlis’ companion(which is actually Antrapolis) on his mission to Bruttii to tell his discovery that the people of Besidice had built defensive camps and sentry towers in front of the river trail to the south and on the road leading to Consentia to the north, except for the absence of a post in front of the river bank. Maybe it is because Besidice is just ahead, or perhaps this roaring, unnavigable stretch of the river gave the people of Besidice confidence.

As a strategoi, getting into a long and hard drawn-out battle with the enemy is unwanted, but this is likely to happen in this war with Brutti. In the end, the strategoi of Theonia agreed to Davos’ risky plan.

In a blink, the 100-metre rope reached the limit stretching the rope straightly, and a huge force pulled the axle and wheel. If not for a few of the soldiers pulling it with all their strength, the axle and wheel would have been drawn into the river.

Drakos was disappointed, as the first soldier to go into the water must have failed. Otherwise, the rope would not have been so stretched. Still, he signalled the soldiers to continue holding on a little longer, hoping that the soldier would be able to untie the ropes from his body. With the buoyancy of the lamb’s intestine and the addition of more than a dozen boats in the middle reaches of the Crati River waiting with their nets open, there was a good chance he would be rescued.

However, the rope continued to be stretched, and the soldiers kept having a tug-of-war with the river until exhaustion.

Drakos, in the end, could only make a quick decision. He pulled out his sword and prepared to cut the rope. With a loud bang, the wheel and axle flew up and would have seriously injured Drakos if he had not dodged quickly.

The rope, together with the axle, plunged into the river without a splash.

The men on the shore stood still as grief and fear began to envelop everyone.

Drakos quickly snapped back to his senses; as the Legatus of the second legion, he was the heart of the legion, so he must not panic.

He immediately signalled the soldiers to quickly climb up the slope and carry a new axle and wheel and ropes down.

For such a sturdy 100-metre rope, all of Thurii’s ship workshops worked on them overnight for several days just to produce three sets of such ropes. That means that the second legion only has three chances at most.

“Who will go next?!” Drakos looked at the two remaining soldiers who had been selected.

In front of the frightening force of nature, coupled with the previous tragedy, the two good swimmers flinched, and, after looking at each other, they bowed their heads under the expectant gaze of Drakos.

A wave of anger flared up in Drakos’ mind, and when he was about to curse-

“Let me go!” At that moment, a man walked up to him.

Drakos took a good look at him and saw that it was the man recommended by the newly formed Theonian navy. He was said to be the fastest swimmer in the Navy, only to be put on standby because he was not sturdy enough. Davos and the others thought that it would be difficult for him to swim the 100-metre raging rapids with his weight. But at this critical juncture, his courage to face difficulties lifted Drakos’ spirit.

Without saying more, Drakos personally dressed him in a shawl made of lamb intestine and tied the ropes, then he solemnly said, “Hades will protect you!” The failure of the last soldier caused Drakos to subconsciously cast away the river god Akheloios and replace him with his most trusted Hades.

“Rest assured, I, Seklian, am the one who wants to leave my name in the Hall of Valor!” The sailor said confidently, strode to the most advanced reef. The afterglow of the setting sun casting what little warm light there on his slender, well-proportioned, streamlined body.

As he plunges into the water, Drakos’ heart was once again stuck on his throat. How could he not be nervous?! If they failed again, those two cowards would probably be even more afraid to go up! Without swimming to the opposite shoal, the troops would not be able to reach the other side safely, let alone capture the city of Besidice. If the predetermined battle plan couldn’t succeed, then they have to implement the second plan…this means that the extra time, energy and rations consumed will make the war against Bruttii even more difficult!

“Legatus…it’s…over!”

There was no need for the soldiers to shout with anxiety as Drakos had seen the axle stop turning.

‘Failed again?’ Drakos’ heart sank, but he was unwilling to give up, so he shouted, “Hold onto the rope!”

He shouted as he stepped forward to help. The rough rope was pulled back and forth across their palm leaving bloodstain…but Drakos felt the force not as great as before, so his spirits lifted, “Brothers, hold on! Hold on!…”

He rouses the spirit of the soldiers around him while the pulling force of the rope gradually weakened, and eventually, it slackened.

‘Success?!’ Drakos looked at the blurry opposite bank in disbelief. He felt as if his whole strength had been sapped. He sat down on the rock as the soldiers around him cheered.

The rope tightened bit by bit again…stop…move…stop…move…

They didn’t know how long it took, but just when Drakos felt that the time that had passed was long. Finally, the rope tightened again, and there came three faint vibrations, and after a while, three more…

Drakos confirmed the signal. He held back his excitement and shouted to the soldiers, “Move! Tie it to the tree! Hurry up! Hurry up!”

In the evening, a long rope spanned across the Crati River, connecting the two banks.

A soldier of the second legion with his feet coiled around the rope, hands clenched and moved forward by alternating them. His whole body hanged upside down in the air, and the lowest part of his body is only two metres from the river, with the spray of the river soaking his whole body. What’s more terrible is that the roaring of the river is like a dragon whispering in his ears, coupled with the shaking of the rope…

Although the soldiers trained specially for this day, the reality requires them to have greater courage. It was clear that this soldier had enough guts and his rope climbing skills were quite fast, so they arranged for him to be the first to cross the “rope bridge”. In addition, in order to cross quickly and ensure safety on the ropes while climbing, the soldiers did not wear helmets, armours, shin guard and copper shields. Instead, they only had a spear and a small wooden shield strapped tightly to their backs, and, of course, another rope was tied to the first soldier crossing the river.

When he finally got to the big tree on the other side of the river, he saw Seklian waiting under the tree, his chest dripping with blood, clearly wounded.

It turned out that the strong river carried him across the reef and hit him on the rocks, which almost made him faint. But his desire to survive caused him to endure the pain of being stabbed by the sharp edge of the rock on his chest. And just as his arms hugged the rock tightly, Drakos and his men pulled the rope with all their strength, giving him a chance to breathe. Then with all his strength, he struggled to climb up the reef, taking one careful step at a time to move up to the river bank…

With the joint effort of Seklian and the soldier, they connected the second rope. Then the soldiers of the first brigade of the second legion began crossing the river in turn.

Even though there are two rope bridges, the soldiers’ speed is still very slow because only when the current soldier reaches the opposite bank could the next soldier start. After all, hanging two or more people on the same rope at the same time would be a great burden on both the rope, which had taken a great deal of effort to connect the two sides and the tree, which was the backbone of the rope bridge. And Drakos did not dare to take the risk.

Note: Seklian had appeared before at the end of the first Crotone-Theonia War. He was the captain of the patrol boat when Lysias went to Thurii to negotiate peace.

Chapter 305 – Shouldering an important responsibility alone

Courage is not the only thing the soldiers need if they want to cross the rope bridge smoothly and reach the other side, they also need skill. Although it is only about 100 metres, it still takes a lot of time, and if the soldiers are clumsy, they could only cross the river at a snail’s pace. Even though the soldiers behind them were anxious, they did not dare to make a sound, as several of their companions fell into the river and disappeared.

It was already late in the night, and a third of the first brigade had still not yet crossed. Feeling the time was running out and that he could no longer wait around, Drakos ordered the centurions of the first brigade, who had not yet crossed the river, to organise the soldiers behind them to cross the river. He then reminded Adrian, the senior centurion of the first brigade who had already crossed the river, that as soon as daybreak, he would immediately lead the first brigade to raid the defensive camp along the river trail and capture it. Thus ensuring the smooth entry of the second legion to the territory of Besidice and join forces to capture the city of Besidice.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Most of the soldiers, who had crossed the river, lay quietly and in an orderly manner on the riverbank under the command of their respective platoon captain and squad leaders. Taking time to rest, calm their nerves and recover their strength and energy so that they could be in better shape for the coming battle. In contrast, a small number of soldiers, who are in a better state, would sneak into the forests and use the tools they carried to cut small trees as quietly as possible, cutting off the branches and making simple wooden ladders.

As the senior centurion, Adrian took several guards and crept not far from the defensive camp to observe its layout under the faint light of the campfire.

At this time, he felt someone patting him on the back. When he looked back, it turned out that it was the centurion of the first centuria.

He followed him away from the defensive camp before sitting up and asked, “What is it?”

“The warrior who swam across the Crati River has an urgent matter with you and wants to see you.”

“What is the urgent matter? Is he dying?!” Said Adrian impatiently.

Adrian had been quite irritable for the past few days. In order to organise the delegation to participate in the Isthmian Games, he had even asked for the approval of Davos to not follow the second legion to participate in the reinforcement of Taranto. In the end, the troops who went to war came back with honour while the sports delation that he led became the laughing stock of the whole of Greece. On his return, a few statesmen of the Senate attacked him for this incident, and even though Davos and the statesmen who were former mercenary defended him and did not receive much blame, he still felt frustrated in his heart.

With the outbreak of the war with Bruttii, his old friend Drakos, who knew him well, gave him a good opportunity to prove himself and to wash away his shame by approving the first brigade that he was in charge of to take up the important task of crossing the river first, occupy the defensive camp of the enemy and welcoming the whole legion. Therefore, he has been holding back.

Adrian hesitated for a moment. In the end, considering the credits of Seklian, he had decided to take the time to see him.

At that moment, a physician, who had crossed the river, was treating Seklian. Apart from superficial wounds, his most serious injuries were two broken bones on his ribs on the left side and some damage to his left lung. The physician fixed the broken bone and bandaged the wound.

Seeing Adrian, Seklian struggled to get up but was stopped by the physician.

“You’d better lie down!” Adrian’s tone became softer after he saw that he was seriously injured, “I heard that you are looking for me?”

“Y…yes…strategos…” Seklian strained his lungs as soon as he spoke, which made his face distorts in pain, and his voice hissing like broken below as he struggled to say, “I heard that you gave the order to attack the defensive camp of the enemy in the east…just after dawn…”

“Yes, this is the legatus’ order.” Adrian thought he wanted to fight, so he said, “You need to rest now and not take part in the next battle.”

“If…if you were to attack the defensive camp first…then the enemy in the city will find out that…we are coming…and will defend the city with all their might…since we want to capture Besidice…it would undoubtedly make it more difficult, and the casualties of our brothers would have increased…why…why not just attack the city of Besidice instead?!…I swam across the river…I know that they would never think of us…” Seklian said anxiously, panting even more. The physician had even told him to stop talking and have a good rest.

Although his words are disjointedly and were not clear, Adrian still understood what he meant. The city of Besidice is not on guard, so they should attack and capture it!

Andrian’s eye lit up: Leading a brigade to capture a city independently would undoubtedly wash away his previous humiliation! As for sneaking attack on the city, there have been many experiences of Theonia in this respect. The key in capturing Amendolara, Nerulum and Grumentum were to act suddenly, attack violently and advance quickly, and give the enemy the most significant blow in the shortest time and make them fall into a mess. Davos had summed all of these and written them into the tactical chapter of the Theonian Military Book.

Adrian still remembers a sentence that Davos repeatedly stressed: To be bold and careful in planning at the same time.

Now, he has made up his mind. Not only to capture the defensive camp but also to attack the city of Besidice! Thus he had to think hard about the situation regarding the city of Besidice.

Davos once wrote a booklet about the city of Besidice(actually, it was thanks to Antrapolis), and all the officers of the second legion could even recite it backwards. When Adrian closed his eyes, he could see in his mind a sketch of the interior of the city: The city of Besidice was a small city with walls not made of stones but of dual-layered woods (With the Bruttii’s being surrounded by Greek city-states, and were greatly influenced. The city walls of various cities were diverse according to their economic strength and degree of threat. The walls of Clampetia, Consentia and Vergae were made of stone, Besidice, on the other hand, has a solid wooden wall, while Anbania only has a simple wooden wall), and there were about 3,000 warriors inside the city. According to the continuous observation and surveillance they did, the city of Besidice had sent no less than 2,000 troops to the west, but they still have not yet returned. Therefore, the remaining strength of Besidice, including the defensive camp, should be similar to that of the first brigade.

Adrian, who could not think of it before because he was used to following orders from his superiors, had now decided. After repeated consideration, he decided to send 300 men to attack the defensive camp while he would personally lead 700 men to attack the city of Besidice.

He immediately called the centurions and platoon captains to reconsider the offensive plan while sending more soldiers into the woods to make more ladders. Naturally, their movement was much larger than before, however, the darkness of the night and the surging river provided the best cover for their actions. For a hundred years, Besidice had been peaceful, hence why they had not built any sentry tower outside the city, and the few sentries on the wooden walls went to sleep early, and silence still covered the whole city…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As time goes by, Adrian tossed and turned and have a hard time sleeping.

However, the night would still eventually pass. When a glimmer of light appeared in the sky, he rolled over and sat up, tapped the herald beside him awake and whispered, “Inform the centurions to start moving!”

The herald then went to notify the centurions, and the centurions went to inform the platoon captains, and the platoon captain went to tell the squad leaders to wake up their men.

The soldiers yawned, picked up the wooden shields and spears, then carried the ladders and advanced along with the officers.

There were no drums, no salpinx, and everything was quiet. The soldiers’ eyes stared dazedly at the flag in front of them. With the slow progress of the team, the scattered formation gradually became neat and orderly, and soberness replaced the daze on the soldiers’ faces.

150 metres…100 metres…50 metres…the team reached the trench of the city, yet there is still no movement on the wall.

In the three-metre wide and three-metre deep trench were countless sharp wooden stakes, which made the soldiers unable to cross with their bare hands, while on the other side of the trench is a wooden wall.

One end of the ladder was then stuck in the earth and held up by the soldiers, but the other end was not long enough to reach the top of the wall. So once the soldiers reached the far end of the ladder, they would reach up with their hands as far as they could, grasped the wall and, with a strong push, tumbled up the wall.

The sentries that were still wrapped in pelts were still sleeping soundly on the corridor against the wall, but the shaking and rattling of the walls alerted them to open their eyes. However, it was already too late: A dozen wooden ladders were placed on the wall, with more than a dozen soldiers climbing up the wall at one time, which soon filled the corridor, and the sentry could not even understand what was going on. They either died under the spear or became captives.

Then, the soldiers at the top of the wall quickly opened the city gate, and the centurions of each centuria led the soldiers into the city immediately. They then divided the soldiers according to their plan into the three roads and pushed forward quickly along the streets.

‘Success!’ Adrian cheered excitedly, “Blow the salpinx!”

At this time, the salpinx and the drum rang out together, and the soldiers had also taken this opportunity to roar. And immediately, the city was in a state of chaos as if an earthquake had occurred. Some, even though they were naked, had still gone out to check the situation; Some had hastily grabbed their weapons and rushed out of their houses but were met by soldiers marching along the streets and stabbing their spears without hesitation, causing the whole city to be filled with shrieks and screams for a while…the bloodshed had made the people of Besidice frightened, and just simply hid in their houses, not daring to make noises.

Although the city of Besidice was built in the mountains, it is located on a levelled ground and is, in fact, a flat city, which made the advancement of the first brigade to be very fast. In front of them was the residence of the great chieftain in the centre of the city, which also serves as the assembly hall.

Such big movement in the city had naturally startled Kanaru, who was still sleeping. As soon as he sat up with sleepy eyes, his men burst in and said, “Chief, n….not good! The enemy…the enemy, had gotten inside the city!”

Chapter 306 – North and South Pinned Down, Breaking Through the Middle

“What?!” Kanaru could not believe what he is hearing, and the shock had made him completely awake. He could clearly hear the noise coming from outside the house, “Enemy?! Where are the enemies?! Is it the Consentians?!” Kanaru was at a loss due to the sudden change, and it was not without reason that he subconsciously thought that the enemy was Consentia. Because of the terrain, the Greeks had never trespassed the territory of Besidice. However, Consentia had fought with them many times. In order to defend against Consentia, Besidice had built a small fortress to the west side of the plateau leading to Consentia. However, because Bruttii was moving towards unification, and for them to show their sincerity, Likumu removed the fortress and had kept only one sentry post. For this reason, Kanaru had quarrelled with his father.

Kanaru became furious at his clueless men, “Get out of here! Check it out and report back to me! Wait”

“Go and inform Chieftain Baripiri and Chieftain Burim to bring their tribesmen to the assembly hall!”

“Blow the horn and tell everyone to gather here!”

“Have everyone arm themselves and follow me to drive away the enemy!”

Kanaru’s orders were decisive, but it was difficult to carry out. The people of Besidice had never encountered such difficulties, so they lacked the means to cope with it, hence why the people in the assembly hall were panicked and confused.

After managing to organise a few dozen tribesmen, Kanaru hurried outside and bumped into an enemy who had pounced at him aggressively.

Kanaru shouted and rushed up, brandishing his iron rod first. When his iron rod struck down, it knocked down the enemy in front of him, which made even the enemy’s wooden shield to be knocked down, showing his great strength.

“Don’t fight him head-on. Go around him and deal with the others first!” Seeing this, Adrian made an instant decision.

‘Greek!’ At this time, Kanaru managed to look at the enemy in detail, which greatly surprised him. But at this moment, he had no time to think about how the Theonians intruded into Besidice.

Adrian giving order had made Kanaru think that he was the leader of the Greeks, so he immediately rushed into Adrian’s direction.

The experienced Adrian did not panic, and he continued commanding the soldiers around him to quickly retreat and not engage Kanaru head-on.

Kanaru became anxious and pursued him at every step, but he didn’t realise that the Theonian soldiers had blocked his men and separated them from him.

He became infuriated at Adrian, who kept evading h. It wasn’t until Kanaru heard the shrill screams of his men that he had come around. He turned around and found that the Greeks had scattered his men, so he had to turn back to rescue them.

Adrian commanded the soldiers to give chase and continued the entanglement.

At this time, the other two teams had arrived one after another from the other streets.

Seeing that the enemy outnumbered them, Kanaru no longer dared to continue fighting and immediately led his surviving tribesmen back to the assembly hall. In the process of their retreat, a javelin hit him, and it pierced into his cheek. However, he had still managed to fight back the Theonian soldiers, who had tried to take advantage of the opportunity and enter the assembly hall.

After retreating into the assembly hall and closing the door, Kanaru could no longer stand on his feet and fell to the ground, causing his tribesmen to be shocked from seeing it.

“Reporting. Strategos, we had captured the injured Burim, a chieftain of Besidice!” The centurion of the first centuria of the first brigade reported to Adrian.

Adrian had divided the seven hundred soldiers who entered the city into three teams for a purpose. According to the information they have gotten, he knew that there were three tribes in the city of Besidice. After asking Adepiges to interrogate the captives, they find out where the three chieftains lived, and so he immediately began to carry out the “decapitation strike*”. It seems that everything is going well. (T/N: Carrying out a targeted attack against the enemy.)

‘Burim’s residence is the closest to the city gate and should have been unprepared, but how come the other team had also arrived so quickly?’

The centurion of the second centuria gave the answer, “Before we could even start our attack, a chieftain of Besidice led his people to surrender!”

‘Surrender!’ Adrian did not expect such a situation. He remembered that this chieftain should be called Baripiri, and he had tried his best to assist the great chieftain of Besidice over the past ten years and is quite famous among the people of Besidice. Thinking of Davos’ instruction, Adrian immediately asked his men to invite Baripiri.

The 50-year-old Baripiri had white hair and beard, which shows his age. When he saw Adrian talk to him with a favourable attitude, he calmed down and immediately agreed to speak for Theonia to make the people in the residence of the great chieftain to surrender.

Baripiri was good at judging the situation. When Likumu’s tribe was strong, he gave up being the candidate for the great chieftain and had instead fully supported Likumu as the great chieftain of Besidice. Thus gain Likumu’s trust over the years and benefiting his tribe a lot. At the beginning of the war between Bruttii and Theonia, because the city of Besidice was only a river away from Thurii, he made great efforts to understand this strong neighbour. Realising that Bruttii could never defeat Theonia, but relying on the terrain, they might be able to force a peace agreement. However, during the chaos in the city, the people told him in panic that based on the appearance of the enemy, ‘the attackers may be Greeks’. After calmly thinking, he felt that the defeat of the Brutians was inevitable as they had lost their geographical advantage, so he immediately ordered his tribesmen to take the initiative to surrender. The words of a tribal chieftain who had served for 30 years had made most of them expressed their obedience while those few who objected were taken down on the spot under his order.

His surrender had caused the resistance in the city to reduce quickly.

Now, standing in front of the great chieftain’s residence, he shouted at the people inside. When the Bruttians, who were lying on the courtyard’s wall, peep out, they saw that even Baripiri had surrendered to the Greeks. One can imagine the shock in their hearts.

Only Kanaru, who was lying on his sickbed, cursed after learning the betrayal of Baripiri and vowed that after the Greeks were destroyed, Baripiri would be cut into pieces!

Kanaru endured his wounds and ordered his men to gather everyone in the courtyard to stand firm and defend to the last, only to be greeted by icy glare.

Shortly after Baripiri’s shouting, the gate opened, and Kanaru’s men went out to surrender together with the body of Kanaru, who, according to them, have died due to his wounds.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The three troops of the first brigade in charge of raiding the defensive camp had a relatively smooth start. After all, the camp was constructed to defend against the attack on the east, and they could not even expect the enemy to attack from the west. For a moment, they were caught unprepared and allowed the Theonian soldiers to enter the camp easily.

However, as it was during the war and this was the front line of Besidice, the warriors were still alert and quickly organised their resistance. In particular, the four towering sentry towers in the camp, which were initially used to shower the river trail with arrows and attack the enemy’s middle and rear from a distance, are now using its height advantage to slow down the fierce attack of the Theonians with their arrows, who suffered some casualties because the second legion soldiers were not wearing armours.

The Bruttians fought hard to resist, while the Theonian soldiers, though more numerous, could not fully capture the camp in a short time.

The fighting lasted for some time until the warriors of Besidice saw the fire in the city, which made them gradually lost their morale.

When the main force of the second legion trekked through the river trail and reached the defensive camp of Besidice, the battle had already ceased, and so the troops entered the territory of Besidice smoothly.

When Drakos heard the report that Adrian was leading his brigade to attack the city of Besidice, he ignored his fatigue and led his troops to reinforce him in great haste.

Reaching the gates of Besidice, he saw Adrian standing there with a smile on his face, making Drakos unable to understand how a city could easily change hands.

“Adrian, you sure have a lot of guts! That you did not even leave a small battle for us!” Drakos pointed to his friend, angry and annoyed, not knowing what to say.

“Legatus, please enter the city!” Capturing both the defensive camp and the city of Besidice with only one brigade and achieving such a brilliant record made the gloom in Adrian’s heart to dissipate, and he made an inviting gesture with a smile.

Drakos waved his hand and said seriously, “Once the Brutians find out that we have captured the city of Besidice, they will certainly send a large army to capture it back again! If they failed, they would build another fortress in the west to prevent us from entering the Consentia Plateau! Now, we don’t have the time to rest and must quickly build a fortress to the west of Bruttii before the Brutians attack, and prevent the enemy from entering Besidice and welcome the arrival of the main force led by Lord Davos!”

Adrian’s heart jolted: This had been part of the plan, only he had gotten too carried away by his victory. Luckily, Drakos was still clear-headed!

“Hurry and call Adepiges!” Adrian ordered his men to call the Theonian freeman, who acted as the guide for the troops.

On the other hand, Drakos told the whole army to not enter the city and continue going north and build a camp.

Even though some of the exhausted soldiers complained, they still obeyed the orders and marched westward.

As the representative of the side that had surrendered, Baripiri was also at the forefront of the group that left the city to greet Drakos. Seeing this, he could not help but sigh in dismay.

At this moment, Drakos approached him.

Baripiri knew the identity of the approaching man thanks to Adrian – Drakos, the legatus of the second legion. He had a deep understanding of Theonia and knew that the entire Theonia Union has four legions, and each legion having seven thousand to eight thousand men, more than twice the total number of warriors in Besidice. And Drakos was the one in command of such a number of troops and is the key to his own life, and the lives of his tribesmen are under his control. Thus Baripiri had to greet him respectfully.

Drakos hurriedly stepped forward and stopped him, “Chieftain of Besidice, thank you so much! Because of your help, the casualties of our soldiers and the people of Besidice has reduced. Once this war is over, Bruttii may become a part of Theonia, so once the Senate elects a new statesman from Bruttii, I would be glad to vote for you!”

Chapter 307 – After Capturing The City

Although Drakos doesn’t like saying such things, that does not mean that he would not say it. Besides, he didn’t dare to make such promises without having been instructed by Davos in advance. However, his words are too straightforward making Baripiri both sad and happy: Sad that Besidice and even Bruttii might no longer exist as an independent power in the future. And happy that he could hope to become one of the statesmen of the Theonian Senate. As far as he knows, there are several Lucanian statesmen in the Theonian Senate who had fought for many rights for the Lucanians in Theonia. If that is the case, then a new page in Besidice’s history is still worth waiting for as well…

“I will also vote for you!” Adrian also offered his good intention.

Feeling grateful, Baripiri decided to cooperate with the Theonians to seek a better future for his tribe and for Besidice!

The people of Besidice had once built a defensive camp on the western mountain trail to defend against Consentia and therefore built it in a narrow mountain pass for defence. In contrast, the second legion would build a fortress for both defence and offence. Thus, Adepiges led the soldiers to the exit of the mountain path, and in front of it is the gradually opened plateau. Although the mountain path here is wider and the amount of labour had undoubtedly increased, building camps and city defence had already become a habit for the soldiers due to being given an hour of training in this aspect in every military training session.

The engineers surveyed the terrain and made drawings for the fortress.

The soldiers were then quickly divided into several teams: Those responsible for logging, those responsible for levelling the ground, those responsible for assembling basic defensive contraptions such as sentry towers and walls, and those responsible for digging trenches and laying out various traps in front of the fortress to be built, such as sharp stakes, pitfall and so on…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After learning that Adrian captured the city of Besidice, Drakos immediately sent his escort back together with the news.

After an arduous trek, the escort arrived at Thurii’s sentry post, not far from the junction of Thurii-Amendolara road, where a herald was waiting.

After receiving the news of victory, the herald immediately galloped south through the built road, past Roscianum, Krimisa, Aprustum, Scylletium and finally to Terina…by utilising relays, changing the herald and horses, and galloping day and night, the news finally reached into the hands of Hielos, the legatus of the fourth legion, after a day and a half.

Hielos was overjoyed, but he did not forget to continue to send the herald to Laos. Through the port of Terina, he would immediately take a fast boat and quickly set out to sail north to Laos.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

It was already the twelfth day since the start of the war, and Davos accepted the hospitality of Avinoges in his mansion.

At this time, Davos was talking about Avinoges’ son’s performance in Thurii, “Lord Ansitanos praised him several times in front of me for his talent in the study of history!”

After hearing what Davos said, Avinoges was both happy and worried, “I am naturally happy for him to be a historian, but Heni…is my only son, and I hope that he will succeed me in the future.” There is a sense of probing on Avinoges’ words.

Davos, seemingly oblivious, said without hesitation, “Don’t worry, being a historian and an archon won’t conflict. Moreover, after having a detailed understanding of the rise and fall of many city-states in the past, Henipolis will know more on how to lead the people of Laos and make the city-state more peaceful and prosperous!”

“Milord, what you said is wonderful!” Avinoges raised his cup with great pleasure, “I’d like to propose a toast to you and thank you for taking care of my son for the past year!”

Davos smiled and responded with a toast.

At this time, a guard came reporting that the legatus of the Theonian army, Kapus, had something important and request for an audience.

“Invite him quickly!” Avinoges said to Davos in a disgruntled way, “I have invited lord Kapus several times, but he kept refusing. Since he is here now, then we must let him have a few good drinks!”

As soon as he stepped into the hall, Kapus excitedly shouted, “Grand legatus, the second legion has captured the city of Besidice!”

‘What?!’ Avinoges looked shocked.

“Great! Drakos had done an excellent job!” Davos, obviously prepared for this, excitedly finished his wine in one gulp, stood up and said, “The men of the first legion have suffered during this time! Tell them to cheer up, and we will go back to Thurii immediately and depart to Besidice. The real war is about to begin!”

“Yes!” The equally excited Kapus answered aloud.

“Have you sent someone to inform Sesta?”

“Yes, he is already rushing.”

“Good. We can now implement the plan of Sesta, Hieronymus, Bagul and the others! The key to success will depend on whether the other side will be obedient.”

Kapus turned to leave, but Avinoges did not stop him as he was still immersed in this astonishing news.

“Lord Avinoges.” Davos turned to him and said, “I will leave Laos with the first legion and the other troops and return to Thurii. I hope you can lead the warriors of Laos to keep up the attack on the city of Vergae to prevent them from drawing troops to rescue Besidice. Also, I hope that you will provide your help to Sesta and their plans!”

“Don’t worry, the business of Theonia is the business of Laos, and I will do my best to carry it out.” Avinoges spoke like a soldier facing a general, making a solemn promise.

Watching Davos’ back as he left, Avinoges let out a long breath. Having previous seen Davos using the allies troops plus some reserves passing themselves as the second legion, it had made him wonder what the real second legion is doing. Still, he did not expect that in less than ten days, the second legion could capture the treacherous city of Besidice! ‘Davos…was truly a fearsome man! Thank goodness that Laos was an ally of Theonia!’

Avinoges did not dare to enquire how the second legion had captured Besidice; all he knew was that with the conquering of Besidice, the defeat of the Bruttians is now sealed and that South Italia would belong to the sphere of influence of Theonia!

Which made him slightly disappointed…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the Theonians captured Besidice, a very small number of Bruttians fled to Consentia.

Because Pian had led his army to the city of Vergae, and only the high priest – Phitara, was in the inner city. When he heard the news, it made him so shocked that he dropped his wooden staff to the ground and nearly tripped himself. And the news that the Greeks now occupied Besidice spread quickly throughout the city, causing panic among the people.

At the same time as messengers were sent to Clampetia and Vergae, Consentia had also sent some people to spy on the enemy’s movements in the city of Besidice.

The distance from Consentia to Clampetia and from Consentia to Vergae was not much different, but the terrain to Clampetia is downward, so the messenger managed to arrive earlier.

At this time, Pangam, the great chieftain of Clampetia, was entertaining Likumu and Bodiam after having just foiled the scheme of the Theonians. The Theonians had attempted to take a more remote mountain route and go around to the rear, further away from Clampetia, only to be discovered by the Bruttians, who had already been on alert. Thus the Theonians could only hurriedly withdraw before a large number of troops could arrive.

“The Greeks are cowards. They only know how to sneak and don’t dare to have a real fight with me. This war is boring!” Likumu complained loudly as he drank, “What a fool this strategos of Theonia is! He had already tried to sneak through Clampetia once before and were found out, yet he still wants to try it again…does he think that we are all fools?”

Bodiam said with a smile, “I am afraid that he does not have a screw loose on his head, but that he can’t do anything else. The day after the fourth legion arrived, it launched an attack on us and ended up retreating before they could even reach the city. I even saw in the city that they took quite a few casualties.”

“These Greeks have excellent weapons, but they fear death too much! If we continue fighting like this, let alone defend for two months, defending for a year won’t even be a problem!” Pangam exclaimed, raising his glass, and now his confidence was also growing.

“Sedrum said that the Theonian army is powerful, and their archon has a strong, commanding ability…but in my opinion, all of that are bullsh*t! And he is also a coward!” Likumu hiccuped and pounded his right fist hard on the wooden table, “Why don’t we just take advantage of the low morale of the Theonians and attack their camp?!”

“That…that is too dangerous! In case…” Bodiam was slightly worried.

“What is there to be scared of?!” Likumu glared at him and interjected, “We have more than 7,000 warriors while the enemy is no more than 10,000, and they are all cowards. If we defeat them, there won’t even a need for us to defend here!”

Pangam became slightly tempted. Although both Bodiam and Likumu brought some of their own rations, Clampetia still needed to supply some of them. Moreover, their settlement also brought troubles to the residents of Clampetia, making Pangam devote most of his energy to resolving these disputes and conflicts.

When he was just about to say something, a guard suddenly broke in.

“Bang!” The cup fell on the floor, and the wine spilt all over the floor.

“What did you say?! Besidice has been occupied by the Theonians?!” Likumu rushed over and grabbed the messenger. With a flushed face, he cursed angrily, “Don’t spew rubbish! Don’t spew rubbish! There is no way for Besidice to be conquered by the Theonians! Impossible! Do you think I will not pull out your tongue and feed it to the dogs!…”

“Great chieftain, it is true! I have here a letter for you from the high priest! Help!…” The messenger struggled to cry for help while Pangam and Bodiam were equally shocked. Seeing this, they had to stop Likumu first, and they both stepped forward and pulled Likumu back, finally separating the two men.

“Yes, this is indeed the seal of the high priest!” Bodiam quickly glanced at the letter the messenger had handed him.

Chapter 308 – Bruttii Trembles

After quickly reading the letter, Bodiam cautiously said to Likumu, who had not yet regained his composure, “The letter says that some of the survivors of Besidice have fled to Consentia…Likumu, you can go to Consentia first to confirm whether this matter is true.”

After saying that, he handed the letter over.

Likumu dumbfoundedly looked at the letter Bodiam handed to him as if it was not a papyrus but raging flames. He hurriedly avoided it and sat back in his seat and said with blank eyes, “What should I do? What should I do?…”

Listening to Likumu’s helpless murmur, Pangam and Bodiam looked at each other, feeling both shocked and confused. Just now, they were still celebrating their victory and even had the confidence to go out of the city and fight the Theonians. However, in the blink of an eye, this confidence and arrogance were shattered by this shocking news. What should they do now?

They were also lost in their thoughts…

“I have to go back! I have to go back at once! Take back my Besidice and save my people!” Likumu sprang to his feet and strode out the door.

On hearing this, Pangam hurriedly stepped forward to convince him, “Don’t worry. It is still not clear what’s going on in Besidice. We will first send someone to take a look as we wait for the news from Pian and the others. It’s still would not be too late to act once everyone has discussed it.”

“You are naturally not in a hurry as it’s not Clampetia that is occupied! If I wait any longer, all my people will be dead!” Likumu unceremoniously threw down these words and left Pangam’s residence without even looking back.

“Great chieftain Likumu is right. This is not the time for us to just wait.” Bodiam came over and said to Pangam, who was still somewhat absentminded, “With the fall of Besidice, our defensive plan against Theonia has failed. Now what we are most worried about is that the Theonian troops will slaughter their way out from the city of Besidice, and we will all be in danger! I must immediately lead my warriors to Consentia, where I will meet with Pian and discuss what do to next.”

“If you all go, what about the enemy here?!” Pangam said in alarm.

“Can’t you see that the Theonians have deceived us?!” Bodiam said with some irritation, “The enemy here is just a lure for the Theonians to attract us. Their real focus of attack is in the direction of Besidice!”

Pangam was taken aback for a second as Bodiam leave, and could only cursed, “Damn cowards!…” No one knew whether he was cursing the Theonians or the two great chieftains.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In Vergae, the chieftains of Consentia, Pian and Petaru, and the great chieftain of Vergae – Sedrum, are discussing the withdrawal of troops.

It turned out that, except for the first few fierce attacks and the capture of a camp, the attacks of the Theonians were gradually weakening due to the tenacious resistance of the Bruttians and had almost stopped attacking these days. As a result, Sedrum suggested to Pian, “Grand chieftain, judging by the state of Theonia’s action now, their morale is weakening, and we would be able to withstand their next attack. Therefore, I propose that a small number of Consentian warriors be left to assist in defending Vergae while the main force can return to Consentia and become the reserve force for the whole war to deal with Theonia’s attack from other directions, which will also greatly reduce the pressure on our rations…”

Indeed, there are ten thousand Consentian warriors stationed in the city of Vergae without a thing to do. It is important to know that it has only been two years since the tribes of Bruttii have united together, and the conflicts and grudges in the past decades will not disappear so quickly. Moreover, the first close contact between the two cities had lasted for so long that conflicts and clashes would inevitably happen. Thus Pian thinks that Sedrum’s proposal is acceptable, and this will also help reduce friction.

After thinking about it, he finally decided to lead 8,000 warriors back to Consentia while Petaru would lead 2,000 men to continue helping Vergae defend the city.

Petaru is one of the members of the highest authority of the Bruttii Tribal Union, the “Seven Elders”, and is also the youngest. With Pian having no sons and no capable figures in his tribe and as a great chieftain of the tribe with lofty aspirations, Pian was not narrow-minded and worked hard to unify the tribes of Brutii. Therefore, he wed his daughter to Petaru, the chieftain of the second-largest tribe in Consentia, and did his best to help and insisted on promoting Petaru to become one of the elders of the newly established Tribal Union, regardless of the opposition of his people and other great chieftains. It was not only due to Petaru would strengthen the weight of Consentia in the Union’s elders as his son-in-law, but also because he hoped that after his death, Petaru could use his identity as his son-in-law to truly make the first and second tribe of Consentia merge and become the most powerful tribe in the Bruttii region. Then Petaru’s position in the Union would be unshakable, and the Tribal Union would be able to continue its stable development.

Petaru gladly accepted this decision. He is willing to stay in Vergae for a longer time to deepen his understanding and to enhance his friendship with the chieftains of Vergae. Although Likumu looked down on Sedrum and secretly called him “Traitor and Coward”, but the strength of Vergae is not weak and is deserving to be a friend of Consentia.

Even though the battle is still ongoing, the several chieftains all felt that the situation of Bruttii is good, so their worries about Theonia’s powerful force lessened. Thus the men happily discussed with each other until the messenger broke into the assembly hall in panic.

The shocking news of the “fall of Besidice” had alarmed everyone present.

Pian, who had always been calm, had actually shown strong doubts about this news like Likumu and seemed unwilling to believe this fact until confirming the letter from the high priest – Phitara.

He was doubtful not to mention the other people, and the whole hall fell into silence.

After a long time passed, Sedrum bitterly said, “We have been deceived! The Theonians had attacked Vergae and Clampetia just to distract our troops and divert our attention. Their real target should be Besidice!”

As the grand chieftain of the recently established Bruttii Tribal Union, Pian had already adjusted his thoughts after that silence. He then suppressed the pain brought by the sudden blow and said loudly, “We still have hope! The main force of Theonia is certainly here, and there are nearly ten thousand Theonians in Clampetia, so there should not be many enemies in Besidice. Therefore, we should immediately mobilise a large number of troops to quickly recapture Besidice before they could gather a large number of troops in there!”

Sedrum also immediately said, “Even if we can’t take back Besidice, we should at least block the road from Besidice to the Consentia Plateau!”

Pian glanced at Sedrum. He felt that the chieftain of Vergae was a bit pessimistic, but at this time, he obviously did not have the time to worry too much. He then said to Petaru, “I will first rush back to Consentia and urge the other tribes that have just joined the union to provide as many warriors as possible. At the same time, I will send someone to inform Likumu and Bodiam to lead their warriors back to Consentia to rendezvous, while you lead the ten thousand Consentian warriors to rush back!”

“I understand, grand chieftain!” Petaru became calm after hearing the arrangement of Pian.

“I apologise, elder Sedrum. You can only rely on yourself here!” Although the other great chieftains were still not used to it, Pian always insisted on calling them by their new position in the union.

“Don’t worry, grand chieftain.” Sedrum responded confidently, “Since Vergae is not the aim of Theonia, I am confident in defending it! But…I don’t know what would great chieftain Likumu would do when he heard what happened.”

Pian’s expression change after Sedrum’s words reminded him, “You’re right! I must leave immediately.”

Pian and Petaru left one after another, while Sedrum remained lost in his thoughts.

Salu, who had been silent, came forward and said, “Chieftain, do you think that…we could take back Besidice?”

Sedrum sighed, “Who knows…the archon of Theonia made a fool of us. Wouldn’t he already prepared after capturing Besidice?”

Salu opened his mouth and stutteringly said, “You…you mean…that we are going to lose?!”

Sedrum sighed again, “I’m afraid that only Amara and Brutus would know…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the war broke out between Theonia and the Bruttians, more than half of the citizens of Thurii went to war, and the city became somewhat desolate, except for the Temple of Hades, which was overcrowded. After the spectacular ceremony and the relentless propaganda of Plesinas’ subordinates, the people of Thurii and Amendolara have become very trusting of this great god, who is famous for his cruelty and terrifyingness among the Olympian gods.

All over the hillside were people prostrating and praying that the Theonian army would soon defeat the Bruttians so that their loved ones could return safely.

Plesinas led the priests, priestesses and holy women of the Temple of Hades…to comfort the people who come to pray every day and do their best in helping them, providing drinking water, shelter and even physicians…

For the safety of Thurii, the Senate decided to strictly check the people that are entering the city gate temporarily, only allowing the citizens to enter.

Compared with the desolate Thurii, the port and market are still busy: Wagons of grain, salted fish, meat and weapons were pulled out from the port and market to the outside of Thurii, where Mersis then distributed them. At the start of the war, some of these supplies were sent to the camp in the west of the city (where the second legion initially hid), while most of them went through the mountains to Laos, and finally, a small portion was then shipped by sea via the port to Scylettium and then to Terina.

Chapter 309 – Cheers from Thurii

In the market, Cheiristoya’s Restaurant is still packed every day, where the preparatory citizens and freemen of Theonia, as well as merchants and sailors from all other places, taste good food, drink good alcohol and talk about current events. Of course, there are also some gossips, such as rumours about Davos’ mother having s*x with Hades in her dream and became pregnant. There are also debates regarding the patrol captain of Thurii that everyone loved and hate, Olivos and his Persian wife, whether they are doing Greek position or Persian position when making love…and so on.

Of course, the war with Bruttii is the most discussed during this time. The preparatory citizens and the freemen, who had participated in military training, had seen the might of the Theonian soldiers and were convinced that Theonia would win. On the other hand, many foreign sailors and merchants expressed doubts because the war had been ongoing for more than ten days, yet there was still no progress. In the end, the two sides either quarrel or fight, making the restaurant become the most frequented place of the market patrol.

Dicaeapolis and Tios sat in the corner eating mutton and drinking beer while listening to the others talking loudly about the war that was going on.

Dicaeapolis sighed, “This is the only bad thing about Theonia Union. There are too many wars. So far, there have been three wars just this year, and my business had gotten affected,”

Tios comforted him, saying, “There is no place in this world now where there is no war! Even in Corinth, the people are worried about when a war will break out with Sparta due to their deepening conflict. Theonia is still pretty good. At least they haven’t lost so far, and they are always the one attacking other city-states…” There was a look of envy on Tios’ face.

“You are now running a weapon workshop and buying and selling weapons, so of course, you hope that there are more wars! I heard that the archon of Theonia visited your workshop some time ago.” Dicaeapolis also expressed envy.

“That’s right.” Tios was rather smug as he leaned his head in and whispered, “You are my friend, so I am not afraid to tell you that Theonia is improving its weapons and equipment. They have a huge number of soldiers, but their own weapon production is too low that even if they were to produce for five years, they still wouldn’t be able to give every soldier new weapons and armours. And my weapon workshop is the only large weapon workshop in Theonia, so the archon who likes war naturally favours me!”

“I am afraid this…has to be tens of thousands of sets of weapons and armour. You are going to be rich!” Dicaeapolis said enviously.

“I won’t make that much money.” Tios shook his head and said, “The archon, Davos, though young, is a shrewd man. He proposed to replace old weapons and armours with new ones and pay slightly more for the production at most.”

“Old weapons? You mean even those that are rusting?”

“No, the Theonian soldiers no longer use the traditional Corinthians helmets, bronze shields and shin guards of the Greek city-state, but had designed a leather helmet inlaid with iron pieces and with jaws, the shield is wood covered with cowhide, but it is half a human height, and it had to be curved. Making this kind of shield was too difficult that I don’t even know why they want to design it like this…” Tios described his doubts and complaints.

“The archon of Theonia is a famous strategos of Magna Graecia, so he naturally has his reasons for this design, and you only need to do what he says, so why think so much. And listening to you say so, you can resell those traditional Greek weapons and equipment to other city-states, which is also profitable.” Dicaeapolis reminded.

“But you did not include the shipping, the taxes and the time spent in selling it in other cities…” Tios took a sip of the alcohol, then a puzzled expression appeared on his face, “In fact, I don’t care much about these as it is a rare opportunity to have a good relationship with the archon while earning some money! But Davos said something to me when he left the weapon workshop that made me unable to sleep for some time…”

“What is it?” Asked Dicaeapolis curiously.

“He said, ‘unfortunately, you are not a Theonian citizen, else we could have further cooperation with you.’”

Dicaeapolis was stunned and pondered over the sentence. Then his eyes suddenly lit up, “He meant for you to be a Theonian citizen.”

“I think so as well.” Tios sighed, “But according to the Theonian Law, if I want to be a citizen of Theonia, then I will no longer be a citizen of Corinth, and it would also take me a long time to become a citizen of Theonia.”

“What’s so great about being a Corinthian citizen anyway? Do you even own a land?”

“I have no land in Corinth.”

“According to what you have said, Corinth is likely to have a war with Sparta. Can Corinth defeat Sparta?”

“No.”

“Then it’s better for you to prepare now than lose your family. You are not too old, and waiting for a few years in Theonia wouldn’t be too much of a problem. Moreover, becoming a citizen of Theonia allows you to own your own land and further your business. With such a good thing, the goddess of luck is blessing you. So why do you hesitate?!”

Dicaeapolis’ words wakened him up, and after a contemplation, Tios finally made up his mind, “My dear friend, thank you for reminding me! You are right. I really should have decided earlier!”

Dicaeapolis laughs, “Actually, I also want to be a citizen of Theonia. The longer I live in Theonia, the less I want to go back to Crete, which is small, barren and boring. Here, I can watch wonderful rugby and football games, eat delicious food, and have a physician treat you if you get sick. If you have nothing to do, you can go hunt in the mountains or fish in the lake. Theonia is a vibrant city-state union where the political situation is stable. Even though it is already strong, it is still becoming stronger that no other city-state dares to invade it, and only it bullies others!”

Listening to Dicaeapolis, Tios raised his mug and said, “Shall we go register at the census office of the city?”

Dicaeapolis was stunned, then laughed, “Okay, let’s go together!”

The two drain their mug, wiping away the knots in their hearts as they talk and laugh, feeling more cheerful.

However, the guests at the next table were arguing. When Dicaeapolis listened carefully, it turned out that it was because of the Isthmian Games, so he snicked, ”Tios, be careful. Don’t mention that you are a Corinthian here.

Speaking of this, Tios said angrily, “Most of the Council of Corinth are fools, I am afraid that this is the first time they have heard of the name Theonia, so they simply looked down on this new city-state union, but they do not know that this new city-state union is several times stronger than Corinth, and offending it will not do Corinth any good!”

Dicaeapolis felt the same way, “Not only Corinth, but most city-state citizens in Greece have a disdainful attitude towards the city-state in the western Mediterranean. They always think that the city-states here are just colonies and treat them as country bumpkins from remote areas. In fact, they don’t know that not only Syracuse but also Theonia is as powerful as Sparta and Athens, while city-states such as Taranto and Crotone are even among the top powers even in Greece itself.”

“Yea, offending a powerful Theonia would make the future of Corinth bleak…” Tios said with some worry.

“Why do you even need to worry about that? You have already decided to become a Theonian citizen anyway.”

“But I still have a lot of relatives and friends in Corinth!”

As the two discussed, a deafening cheer suddenly rang out from the market.

The people in the restaurant didn’t know what was going on and were curiously asking each other. A patrolman then came in and said excitedly, “All hail Theonia! Our brave soldiers, under the leadership of the great archon, Davos, has captured the city of Besidice in Bruttii!”

“Great! We won again!”

“Isn’t Besidice the small city on the south bank of the Crati River, next to our Thurii?! No Greek has even been there before. I heard that the terrain there was very perilous, yet we actually captured it?!! It has only been a few days since the war started!!”

“Brave soldiers, attack! Keep on your offence and try to capture Consentia as soon as possible!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Cheering filled the whole restaurant.

At this time, the waiter came out and said, “To celebrate this victory, my madame decided that the food and drink you want today are free!”

“Hooray for the generous wife of the archon, the beautiful Cheiristoya!” The guests stamped their feet with joy and cheered.

“Wonderful, please give me something to drink as well!” The patrolman said happily.

“Wine or beer?” Asked the waiter.

“Look how I am sweating, so of course I would drink beer to quench my thirst.” When he got handed a full cup of beer, the patrolman raised it high and said loudly, “Everyone, to our omnipotent archon, Lord Davos! And to our brave citizens who are fighting in the war!”

Everyone in the restaurant, including Dicaeapolis and Tios, raised their cup while the guests at the next table came to have a toast with them and said, “Congratulations to you both for joining the ranks of Theonia’s citizens! This is certainly the correct decision!”

Dicaeapolis looked at him in surprise, “You heard everything?”

The man blinked, “Otherwise, why do you think I cursed the Corinthians?”

Tios laughed with relief at this moment, “This is the arrangement of the goddess of Fate that we could usher such good news after making our decision!”

“Yes.” Dicaeapolis nodded in agreement.

“Cheers!” Several wooden mugs collided, and the liquor splashed all over.

Chapter 310 – Fall of Motya

“Cheers!!!” All the guests in the restaurant drank with joy.

“In addition, the Senate issued a notice-” The patrolman looked around and said solemnly, “That the freemen who have participated in Theonia military training can immediately register in the Nike Square, as the Ministry of Military wants to draft two thousand freemen to go to Besidice and assist the legion in the battle-”

“Why did you not say that earlier! With only two thousand spots, I am afraid that it would only take a while for all to be taken.”

“Go! Let’s go!” Complaints soon filled the restaurant, and after a burst, most of the diners run out.

And Dicaeapolis and Tios could only look at each other.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Now there is a sea of people in Nike Square.

The Census Registry Department first has to confirm that the freemen who come to register are indeed previously registered. Then the court staff will check the records to make sure that they have not committed any crime during their stay in Theonia. Then, the military training camp officers will select those who are physically fit, young and have shown seriousness in their previous training. Only after passing all these tests will the Census Registry Department will confirm, take a note, and sign their records, which would be the basis for shortening their time to becoming a preparatory citizen in the future.

These sets of procedures were followed by hundreds of public officials of the unions alone, and the various files were stacked like a hill. To prevent accidents, they have even mobilised a thousand heavily armed reserve soldiers to maintain orders.

In fact, even though more than ten thousand freemen came to the square, they were still able to abide by the order, not because they were afraid of those soldiers staring at them, but because they knew that even if they were not selected this time, it doesn’t matter, as they do not lack the opportunity to make contributions in Theonia. There is the temple that is being built in Amendolara that is short of labour and is calling for freemen; the construction of Krimisa-Aprustum road is also calling for freemen…such large construction jobs, even though the union only provides three meals a day and minimal pay, could likewise help the freemen reach their aspirations of becoming a preparatory citizen of Theonia sooner.

However, if the freemen were to disturb the public order of the union and violate the Theonian Law, then the way to becoming a citizen of Theonia will become even more difficult, and they might even be expelled from Theonia. Therefore, even if they are not selected, these freemen would at most swear, but they would not dare to have any radical behaviours. And if someone thinks that the selection process is unfair, they could appeal it to the notary office set up by the Ministry of Investigation on the other side of the square for a reassessment.

Standing outside the Senate’s Great Assembly Hall, looking at the heated sight of Nike Square in front of him, Philesius suddenly said, “In fact, I still think that it’s better to send the soldiers of the Legion reserve to help the second legion in Besidice. They have also undergone rigorous training, and the gap between them and the legion soldiers are not large. Compared with these freemen, they are more effective and are more able to obey orders.”

Marigi, who was next to him, asked back, “If you were to send out all the soldiers, Thurii would be empty. Then what should we do in case of an enemy attack or a big commotion happens?”

Philesius was at a loss for a moment. He then hesitatingly said, “Thurii is surrounded by either cities of the union or allies, so where would the sneak attack come?”

“We could sneak on Besidice, so why can’t someone else sneak on Thurii?” Quibbled Marigi. In fact, what he was thinking was about Philesius, besides being good at military affairs, was a complete idiot in politics. With Davos leading the army outside, then there must definitely be an army to stay. Now the Senate members are more complex than before, so in case of chaos, they could immediately suppress it.

At this time, Mersis is on the same page as Marigi, though his explanation came from a different angle.

“Send the reserve?!” Mersis shouted, “That’s easy for you to say! Philesius, you must know how much effort Davos and I put into preparing for this war! Not only did the treasury run out of money, but we also owed a huge debt to the citizens, yet we could only provide rations for four legions to go out fighting for four months. And the rations of a reserve soldier are the same as those of a legion soldier, at least 1.5 kilograms of grain a day and two salted fish for their rations, while the rations for these freemen are much simpler that as long as they are barely fed, it would be enough. Philesius, use your head and just don’t think how to fight every time. If you were to fight without food, you would all have starved to death.”

Mersis and Philesius are old acquaintance, so Philesius naturally understood the character of this fat man. Therefore, instead of talking back, he showed acceptance with an open-mind

Behind them was Androlis, who was still shocked by the news of the victory he heard this morning.

“Androlis, didn’t you say that the city of Besidice occupied a geographical advance and was almost impossible to capture, but how did the lord archon capture it so quickly?” Eurypus asked in confusion.

“I am also at a loss, and the messenger who brought back the news did not tell us in detail of the capturing of Besidice.” Androlis’ mind was still filled with the thrilling images of walking along the riverside trail, and he said helplessly, “It’s true that Besidice has a natural geographical advantage making it difficult to conquer, but who let our archon be the favoured of Hades? With the blessing of Hades, even with the greatest difficulties, it would just be a breeze for him. You can ask him for the details after he returns victoriously.”

“It seems that the lord archon is really very powerful in commanding the citizens to battle. Eurypus, why don’t we apply to him and join these legions of Theonia as well.” Pleitinas suggested.

“I had already inquired about it. The unique legion system created by the archon is quite different from the military system of an ordinary city-state. Every promotion in the army has a strict assessment. Even if it’s you and me, who are statesmen of the Senate, must also start training again from the military camp as we are not familiar with the tactics and the military formations…” Eurypus was still quite angry about this. To think that he, who had an honourable status as a nobleman of Krimisa and now a statesman of the Theonian Senate, had to sweat and train together with those poor freemen, according to Philesius of the Ministry of Military, who was a former mercenary,

“If we need to train, then train. Could it be that we are no better than those freemen?!” Pleitinas did not mind it at all.

Listening to their arguments, Androlis could only sigh. It seems that it is not only him that have accepted the fact that he became a citizen of Theonia, but so did Pleitinas and Eurypus. Even though he has been the polemarchos of Krimisa for several years, the plundering of a small Bruttian tribe had made him and the city-state people worry, while in Theonia, just by sitting in the Senate alone is enough to decide the life and death of the whole Bruttii race! There is an old saying that, “the higher you stand, the more scenery you can see. And the more you are used to eating delicious food, the more you naturally looked down on those hard bread.”

On the other side of the terrace, Kunogelata and Cornelius are talking about another issue.

“With the occupation of Besidice, it seems that the day of our conquest of Bruttii will soon come!” Cornelius couldn’t help sighing as he watched Theonia move from weak to strong for only two years.

On the other hand, Kunogelata was considering more lasting issues, “However, it would be a big problem on how to deal with the Bruttians after they are defeated!”

Cornelius thought for a moment and said with uncertainty, “We should govern the Bruttians the same way as we govern the Lucanians!”

Kunogelata considered it for a moment and then said, “The Bruttians are different from the Lucanians…” Here, he stopped talking and couldn’t help but shake his head again, ‘How far would the war would go on? What agreement would be signed?’ It is still too early to consider this as it is still impossible to predict the outcome. However, if they were to conquer the Bruttii region, then from now on, Thurii will be completely safe!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the Sicilian island of Motya, the war still continuing, in the same way, day after day. The people of Motya are all soldiers, and despite the heavy casualties, they still did not give in. The Syracusans’ attack advanced bit by bit, but they still failed to occupy the whole city despite their considerable cost.

As time went on, Dionysius became more and more anxious that it even made him execute two guards for petty reasons.

Finally, he realised that a forceful attack on Motya was not good. After accepting the proposal of the former mercenary leader Marsyas, he decided to organise a death squad to sneak into the area defended by the Motyans at night.

Fortunately, his gamble succeeded. After a short but fierce battle, they finally shattered the resistance of the Motyans.

However, the Greek soldiers had no desire to grab and loot their spoils at all. Having lost too many of their comrades in the previous battle, the only thing they wanted was to exact revenge. And with the atrocities of the Carthaginian general – Hanibal* ten years ago still fresh in their minds, they had also decided to be as cruel and ruthless as the Carthaginians had been towards the Greek cities, and so the massacre began. (This Hannibal is not the Hannibal during the Roman era. There were many Carthaginian generals named Hannibal in the different periods of Carthage, and this Hannibal is also more famous as the head of the Magonids.)

After a day of continued slaughter, which Dionysius eventually put a stop to, not because he was merciful, but because he thought that the dead could not become captives, hence the victorious soldiers turned their pleasure in slaughtering to plundering, looting this city of Carthage of everything of value and selling all the captives as slaves.

Dionysius then left a group of men to guard this empty city, which was filled with corpses, and another to continue attacking Segesta while leading the rest of his army back to Syracuse. At this moment, the Carthaginians still have a few coastal cities left in the northwest corner of Sicily, such as Eryx, Salus, and Palermo. It was not that he did not want to eliminate the remaining Carthaginians in Sicily completely, but that the rations he had prepared for his army were almost gone, and as it was already October, the winter is approaching. Thus he decided to return to the city for the winter and come back next spring to solve Segesta.

The fall of Motya is a great honour for Dionysius and a great victory for the Greek city-states that had never been accomplished in the history of Sicily. For the Carthaginians, however, it was the greatest blow. With the loss of Motya, the Carthaginian cities on the continent of Africa will face the Greek forces in Sicily directly, seriously threatening their safety.

Chapter 311 – Changes in Lucania

In the Carthaginian Senate, the radical faction led by the Magonids, who the people strongly supported, had vigorously criticised the conservative factions led by Hanno. Finally, their proposal to attack Syracuse and rebuild a defensive barrier for Carthage to the north was passed.

Thus the Carthaginian senate re-appointed Himilco, the head of the Magonids and one of the shophtim of Carthage (similar to an archon), as the supreme commander. He then began recalling the army sent to explore the Iberian Peninsula, whose supreme commander was Himilco’s brother, Mago, and had also begun preparing provisions for the army.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

A few days ago, a huge incident happened in Grumentum. Two small tribes in the north of Grumentum had a conflict due to territory disputes and even had an armed fight. Bagul, the praetor of the city, went to mediate in person but was suddenly caught unprepared and was suddenly besieged by tribal warriors. Fortunately, thanks to his personal guards, he managed to escape to the city of Grumentum. And soon after, the news about Bagul being seriously injured and in grave danger had spread. At the same time, the city gate was closed, and the city was under tight security, but no soldiers were sent to attack the two tribes who openly raised the flag of rebellion.

For a while, the tribes under Grumentum’s jurisdiction living outside the city were on edge as rumours spread everywhere.

The news soon reached Pyxous and Potentia.

“Son, that old fox, Pamot, has finally taken action! We could no longer wait, and we must send troops immediately to attack Grumentum!” Said Cincinnag excitedly and anxiously.

“Father, haven’t you said that we should only send troops after Potentia send troops?” Gennat asked puzzledly after seeing Cincinnag being excited.

“The situation is now different! Even though Potentia had not dispatched their troops, they had already acted. Didn’t you hear that ‘The praetor of Grumentum was ambushed and was seriously wounded’? This must be the work of Pamot and the others that have secretly instigated the Grumentum tribes close to Potentia! Normally, the Theonians should have dispatched their troops to retaliate against those tribes, but the Theonians did not and had instead locked the city gate. What does that mean?”

Cincinnag then said excitedly, “It shows that the Theonians simply do not have any spare troops to suppress those rebellious tribes, as all their soldiers have been dispatch to attack Bruttii. Why has the Bruttian envoy who came here yesterday was no longer nervous as he was the last time when he came to begged us to join him? He has already made it very clear that ‘even though the Theonians have sent nearly twenty thousand troops to attack the Bruttii mountains from the north, they were still unable to attack the city of Vergae and had instead suffered heavy casualties. And even the ten thousand soldiers sent to conquer Clampetia from the south were likewise unable to advance further beyond the mountains.’ The Theonians was caught in the battle with the Bruttians, therefore, the only thing they wanted was to keep the city of Grumentum. Right now, those tribes in Grumentum are panicking like calves that have lost their mothers. So we must rush ahead of Potentia and immediately send our troops to Grumentum’s territory, and those tribes will surely submit one after another, and our force will grow rapidly. By the time Pamot arrives, it will already be too late, and Grumentum will be in our hands!” Thinking of this, Cincinnag couldn’t help from laugh.

“Father, I will immediately gather the warriors!” Gennat was so excited by the words of his father that he immediately runs out of the living room, while Cincinnag’s voice filled with hatred could be heard from behind, “Cunning Theonians, who dared to take away my Grumentum, the day of revenge that I have been waiting has finally come! O god Asinu, I, Cincinnag, will offer the blood of the Greeks to you in the hope of receiving your blessing!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Brother, what are you still hesitating?!” Polet shouted anxiously, “Pyxous are the first to strike! It must have been the cunning Cincinnag who won over the tribes of Grumentum and planned to inflict heavy losses to Theonia and Bagul! Now, Pyxous must have already sent out their army! If we still don’t send our troops, Grumentum will fall to Pyxous!”

Compared with the impatient Polet, Pamot – the great chieftain of Potentia who was over fifty years old, after hearing these words, not even his eyebrows move, and he slowly said, “I will still say the same time – Wait.”

“Brother. If you don’t want to take risks, why don’t I take some of our warriors to Grumentum first-” Polet was so anxious that he wanted to say more, but Pamot’s expression became more serious. He looked at his brother and said in a cold voice, “I am still the one in charge of Potentia. If you want to give orders, wait until after I die.”

Polet no longer dared to say anything more as he and Pamot were nearly twenty years apart. In fact, his father died early, making his elder brother take care of him and brought him up. Therefore, although they were brothers, they were more like father and son.

“Polet.” Pamot’s tone softened, “Don’t forget how we lost Grumentum.”

Polet no longer spoke, but he still does not look convinced.

Pamot sighed. His face slightly more gloomy, “I know that over the years, you have been complaining that I have been too cautious in my actions that I did not even interfere in the internal disputes of Lucania and had allowed Akpir to get stronger, and now, I even refuse to move to act on the fat piece of meat which is Grumentum…but you must know that we in Potentia are different from Pyxous and Grumentum. They are surrounded by fellow Lucanians, but to our north are the terrible Samnites. Don’t forget what our ancestors always warned us, ‘We were driven to this mountain area from the north by these Samnites.’ Don’t look at how these Samnites tribes no longer fight with us now, as the only reason we are still safe now is that we have enough warriors, and they also have to deal with the Greeks in the west. But if our strength weakens, do you think those hungry wolves will leave Potentia alone?!”

Polet was slightly moved.

“At the start of the year, I did not resist your repeated request and have sent troops to Grumentum. In the end, you and our warriors were captured by the Theonians…do you know…that at that time, the Samnites have sent an envoy expressing their willingness to help us defeat the Theonians?!”

Now, Polet was visibly moved. He couldn’t stop himself from asking, “There is such a thing?! Did you agree?!”

“Agree?” Pamot sneered, “If I had agreed, Potentia would have already belonged to the Samnites. Fortunately, we have made peace with Theonia in time and released you, which made me relieved. Now, the situation in Grumentum is complicated, and I can’t even guess the outcome of the war between Theonia and Bruttii will be…if we are not sure, then we should not easily send troops. If Cincinnag wants to take Grumentum, then let them. The Theonians are not that easy to deal with.”

After hearing this, Polet was silent for a while. He then reluctantly asked, “If so, why did you agree to ally with Bruttii?”

Pamot’s hazy eyes flashed with a glint of light, “The alliance is also for an additional way out for us. With Asinu’s blessing, we might get a good opportunity…so now, we have to be still and wait patiently…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Pian rushed back to Consentia and was just in time to intercept Likumu, who had hastily led his troops back from Clampetia. Finally, with difficulties, Pian persuaded him to stay in Consentia and attack Besidice together after gathering the army.

But not long after, the scouts returned, reporting that the Greeks were building a fortress on the path leading to Besidice.

Pian could no longer sit still any longer. If the Greeks were allowed to build the fortress, it would undoubtedly add more difficulties in taking back Besidice. Thus he had no choice but to let Likumu lead his warriors to obstruct and gave him an additional thousand warriors from other tribes while repeatedly telling him not to fight the Greeks to the death.

After three hours of rushing with his troops, Likumu could already faintly see the Greeks ahead and stared in disbelief at the Greeks turning the exit of the mountain path into a huge construction site, digging pits, driving piles of stakes, moving wood…a site buzzing with activity. They had even erected a wooden wall that is three metre high and dozens of metres long, with gates, battlements, trenches, abatis…all the necessary defensive facilities of a fortress basically completed.

Likumu had acted quickly, but it was already a day and a half since the second legion occupied Besidice. The legion’s legatus, Drakos, had seized this favourable opportunity and divided his seven thousand soldiers into three teams and took turns to build the fortress day and night. The soldiers also knew that the time was short, so they put all their strength into the construction. In addition, the engineering camp had assembled some of the defensive facilities. Thus by the time Likumu finally arrived, the fortress had already taken shape.

When the scattered scouts found the Bruttian troops, they immediately rushed back to report. Then a salpinx rang throughout the fortress, and the working soldiers slowly retreated.

Likumu was even angrier that the Greeks were doing whatever they wanted in his territory than being surprised at the speed at which the Theonian soldiers built the fortress, knowing that it took eight days for Besidice just to remove the defensive camp facing Consentia.

“Kill those Greeks who are outside the fortress!” At his command, the horn sounded and his warriors, filled with hatred at the enemy who had taken their homes, rushed to the unarmed Theonians like fierce wolves.

Under the command of the officers, the Theonian soldiers didn’t panic as they continued to go through the gate orderly and retreated to the wall. The soldiers at the end of the queue had even turned their heads rather leisurely to look back, expecting something good to happen.

At a distance of fifty-metres from the city wall, the charging Bruttian soldiers suddenly screamed and fell to the ground. When they pulled out their feet, they were all drenched in blood, either from being pierced by a stake buried in the grass or the caltrop* that drills bloody holes in their foot. And the narrow foot trap that could twist their ankles…

Chapter 312 – Baripiri’s Scheme

Last year, the Vergaeans already had a taste of it, but apparently, Sedrum did not tell the other Bruttians about their painful experience.

“There is a trap in front of!…”

The momentum of the Bruttians’ charge came to a halt, and just as they stopped, Drakos, who was on top of the wooden wall, ordered, “Archers, prepare!”

Baripiri, who was next to him, hurriedly called out, “Legatus, please don’t do it yet! They are the warriors of Besidice. Allow me to try persuading them to surrender!”

Thurii had reinforced the second legion, and its strength increased to nine thousand, but a third of the soldiers stayed in Besidice to prevent unrest. At the same time, Drakos invited Baripiri to the fortress that was under construction. The reason he gave was to assist the soldiers of the second legion in familiarizing themselves with the terrain and learning more about the attacking enemy once the Bruttians arrived. But in reality, it was to transfer the most influential chieftain away from the city of Besidice to ensure the safety of the newly occupied city. Unexpectedly, this chieftain could play a role contrary to his expectations.

Drakos looked at the anxious face of Baripiri and hesitated for a moment, and nodded.

Baripiri held the crenel of the wall with both hands and shouted with all his strength, “People of Besidice, I am Baripiri! Although the city of Besidice has changed its owner, your families remain safe! Your parents, wives and children are looking forward to your safe return! Come home! The Theonians will not hurt you. Instead, they will accept you as their citizens! Come home! Your families are waiting for you at your home!…”

Within 50 metres outside the city, the warriors, who were supporting their companions and advancing cautiously,  had clearly heard the affectionate cry in the Bruttian language coming from the fortress walls.

“It’s the voice of chieftain Baripiri!…” For the people of Besidice, this voice is very familiar because Baripiri has always been respected among the Besidisians. Gradually, the groaning of the wounded warriors became less, and some had even forgotten to help their comrades. They listened carefully and began to whisper to each other.

Likumu, who learned about the situation in the rear, was furious and stormed out, “Baripiri, this damned old man! Why haven’t I notice that he was so vicious! It must be him! He must have betrayed us and allowed the Theonians to take my city! I will skin him alive! Eat his flesh!! And slaughter his whole family!!!…”

Likumu could only swear at him, as no matter how furious he becomes, he knew that at this moment that the warriors couldn’t continue fighting, so he had to order a temporary retreat.

However, when the horn sounded, a small number of warriors still lingered around.

Likumu became anxious and angry, causing him to hastily sent other tribal warriors with spears to drive them away. Only after great difficulty did they manage to withdraw from the battlefield, which had almost led to a conflict.

No longer daring to stay, Likumu hurriedly retreated several kilometres away.

The warriors helped each other and sighed throughout their retreat, and the morale of the warriors sank lower.

When Drakos, who was on the wooden wall, saw this, he didn’t seize this opportunity to attack because Baripiri had given him a better idea.

Likumu was now at his wits’ end as the Theonians filled the area 50 metres beyond the wooden wall with traps, and Baripiri’s words had even distracted his warriors. While ordering to set up camp, he sent some scouts to report the enemy’s situation to Consentia. After much pondering, Likumu decided to summon the chieftains of the Basidisian warriors and told them to emphasise to the warriors that they should not believe what the traitor had said. Their families had become slaves of the Greeks, and only by retaking Besidice can their families be freed…

Just as he had vehemently told his men to go back and boost the warrior’s morale, a guard came in and reported that a group of Besidisian women had arrived at the camp.

It turned out that Baripiri had gathered some wives of the warriors under Likumu. These women were all belonged to the old age group and were told that their husbands are outside, and if they want to keep them from dying in battle, they have to go and call them back! However, it was possible that they would not be able to return once they went.

Under the guidance of Theonian soldiers, these women walked out of the trap, travelled for several kilometres, and came to Likumu’ camp. Once the warriors who were guarding the camp saw that they were their relatives, they opened the fence and welcomed them instead of blocking them.

As a result, there was soon a touching scene of couples meeting each other in tears. These women would then tell their husbands that the Theonian soldiers did not hurt a single Besidisian after capturing the whole city. On the contrary, they have sent physicians to help those who were wounded, put out the burning flames, and repaired the damaged houses…and now, even the order in the city has gradually restored.

While a small number of Besidisian warriors grieved when they learned from the women that their families had died in the battle.

In the camp, the warriors all gathered in one place, and this mixed spectacle of sadness and joy is both lively and somewhat amusing. However, Likumu felt terrified after learning about it.

‘This is the Theonian’s conspiracy!’ Likumu hurriedly sent guards to try to separate the women from the warriors.

He wanted to prevent the situation from expanding, but he did not want this action to intensify the conflict. Watching at the women being forcibly pulled away and crying, some of whom had even fallen to the ground because of resistance, but the guards still dragged them away without any consideration. From seeing this, the Besidisian warriors became furious that they surrounded the guards from Likumu’s tribe, which was composed of his most trusted men.

At this moment, these guards, who usually relied on the power of Likumu to act tyrannically, saw that the situation was not good, so they all knelt down begging for mercy. However, the angry warriors ignored their pleas. They rushed at them and beat them up. Gradually, the guards were at death’s door under the beating and kicking of countless people. The warriors then stopped in fear after finding out that the guards were dying.

“Since Likumu won’t spare us from killing his people! Why don’t we capture him while we have so many people and then go back home!” At that moment, a young Besidisian shouted, which immediately became the beacon for the confused warriors.

Without thinking more, they gathered and rushed toward Likumu’s tent.

Likumu, who had received this bad news, had no time to regret it. He hurriedly mounted his horse and fled to the place where the other tribal warriors were camping. He then asked them to send troops to quell the rebellion immediately but was refused.

With only having a thousand warriors against more than two thousand angry Besidisian warriors, without the orders of their chieftains, how can they obey the orders of Likumu, who was just a union elder and was already all of his own?

So when the Besidisian warriors approached the camp, Likumu, feeling the danger, fled again on horseback.

Facing the other tribal warriors, who were standing by, the gradually calming Besidisian warriors took the initiative to retreat for fear that Likumu would bring troops to retaliate.

“Let’s return to Besidice, as what chieftain Baripiri said!” When the confused Besidisians did not know what to do next, the young warrior shouted again. In fact, this was the only way they could choose.

Outside the newly built fortress of the Theonians, Baripiri, together with several reputable old men from Besidice, came to meet the restless warriors.

Drakos had not expected that Baripiri’s proposal would be so successful, making him both excited and somewhat distressed on how to deal with the more than two thousand Besidisian warriors. If he were to simply just leave them all in the city, Drakos would feel uneasy. Fortunately, this time, he managed to repel incoming the enemy’s attack without even moving his men, gaining him more time. He was now desperately hoping that Davos would arrive early with his army.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Cincinnag had decided to lead six thousand Pyxousian warriors to Grumentum together with his son, Gennat. And just as he had expected, as soon as his army arrived, the tribes in the northern region of Grumentum came to submit to him, including the two tribes, who had ambushed Bagul.

Cincinnag, learning from his past mistake, had now treated all the tribes who came to take refuge with enthusiasm, which had quickly captured the hearts of these anxious minor tribal chieftains. Soon, his troops had been expanded to tens of thousands of men and continued marching south.

When the report reached the city hall of Grumentum, Bagul, who was “seriously injured”, was sitting on a chair unharmed, with a slightly worried expression, “Although we have spread the rumours that ‘Theonia was at a disadvantaged in the war against Bruttii’ and that ‘I am seriously injured’ in order to confuse the enemy, but I didn’t expect that all the tribes in the north to defect to Pyxous so quickly. Sigh! All our previous efforts were in vain!”

Asistes sneered, “As what lord Davos had said, ‘Only in the face of crisis can we see which tribes are truly loyal to Theonia! And which ones are the traitors!’ In the past six months, we have spent most of our energy mediating the territorial and property disputes of these tribes. However, they are all wolves that couldn’t be tamed! Now it’s the time to take care of all those tribes that have betrayed us except those few that we have arranged and completely bring the territory of Grumentum under our control!”

“They are all Lucanians!” Bagul knew that Asistes was right. Still, he was unable to stop himself from sighing again.

After being surprised, Asistes tried to convince him, “Brother, aren’t there a few civil wars in the past among the Lucanians? All of which caused rivers of blood, otherwise your tribe would not be forced to risk moving to Amendolara. However, after we unify Lucania, the Lucanians, as citizens of Theonia, will no longer kill each other again, and their lives will be better and better! Don’t you think so as well?!”

Chapter 313 – Ballista

Bagul listened to his brother-in-law’s words, and his expression gradually became firm, and said loudly, “You’re right, even though I am a Lucanian, I am also a citizen of Theonia. We must not let go of this great opportunity to unify Lucania!”

“Brother, however, there is now a problem.” Seeing that Bagul’s thoughts were now clear, Asistes immediately asked, “As you could see, the strength of Pyxious is growing too fast. Do we not need to reinforce Kesima and his tribe?”

“By us not doing anything, that cunning Cincinnag will be more convinced that we are really in trouble.” With Bagul’s confusion cleared, he now fully devote himself to the battle that was about to start, “Besides, these tribes in the south are long prepared as we have informed them in advance. Everything is now ready, and we only await the arrival of the legatus – Hieronymus and Litom. I believe that Litom is eager to wash away the shame he suffered in the Isthmian Games with a big victory!”

Although Asistes also looked forward to the early arrival of the battle, Davos had entrusted him to be the assistant of Bagul with the order to assist Bagul in organising a good plan for the Battle of Grumentum. Thus he had to slightly consider the problem more carefully so as to help the brash Bagul check and fill in his deficiency, “There is still no movement in Potentia, could there be a problem?”

“Don’t worry, the Potentians are already terrified at their last defeat, and they also have to defend against the Samnites, so they can’t afford another loss. In addition, as far as I know, their great chieftain – Pamot, is a very composed man that by the time he wants to make a move, we would already have launched an attack on the city of Pyxious!” Bagul laughed confidently.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Likumu fled back to Consentia in a state of disarray, which surprised Pian. After listening to Likumu’s ordeal, he was surprised and regretted it. He was shocked by the news that the Theonian’s fortress was about to be completed. At the same time, he regretted that even though he knew that the Theonians had captured Besidice, he still sent the Besidisian warriors to attack it, which was indeed a stupid move made by him in his haste. And he became distressed with the loss of more than two thousand elite warriors, given the shortage of Bruttian warriors!

Although Likumu assured him that as long as he came to the frontline, even if these Besidisians would not switch sides, they would not be willing to fight. Pian was not going to believe him completely, as this grumpy, violent chieftain of Besidice was not very good at winning the people’s heart. Besides, the revolt of these Besidisian warriors had a lot to do with him.

At this time, Pian could only suppress his anxiety. While waiting for the arrival of the army led by Petaru, he ordered the other tribes to send as many warriors as possible.

At dusk, Petaru had not only arrived together with the army, but he also had rendezvous with the great chieftain of Anbania – Bodiam, who had arrived together with his army. Only then did Pian feel slightly more relieved.

Early the following day, nearly 20,000 warriors, consisting of 11,000 Consentian warriors, 2,500 Anbanian warriors and 5,000 warriors from other races, led by Pian, Petaru, Bodiam and Likumu, together with 2,000 slaves, marched eastward.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Great chieftain, not good! The enemy is about to attack the city!” When he heard the report from his subordinates, Pangam wasn’t too nervous. After Likumu and Bodiam left with their troops in succession, the Theonians did not appear for two days in a row, which made him begin to believe what Bodiam had said about Clampettia being not the focus of Theonia’s attack!

“There is nothing to panic about. It’s not like the Theonians hadn’t attacked before, and we had even easily repulse them! Relaxed, with the strong walls of Clampettia, the Theonians wouldn’t be able to do anything to us!” Pangam cheered up his men.

“But, this siege of the Theonians are unlike the ones before. They have started digging…”

“Dig?”

By the time Pangam arrived at the wall, the soldiers of the fourth legion had already paved the slope a hundred metres away from the wall with earth and stones, creating a levelled ground of about 20 metres in length.

Then Pangam saw the Theonians placing a wooden frame about a man’s height…the Bruttian warriors were curious and guessed what it was, and many thought it was a tool for the Greeks to offer sacrifices to their gods.

Pangam continued to stare at it, watching the enemy carrying wooden boxes to the side of the wooden frame, and his uneasiness continued to increase…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Ready? Is it ready to be fired?” Hielos came to the front of what Davos called the “Ballista brigade” and asked the ballista captain.

The ballista captain replied with embarrassment, “We still need the spotter to position the ballista.”

The spotter, who was standing beside the captain, was an apprentice of the Institute of Mathematics established by Davos. After hearing Hielos’ question, he turned to look back and said, “Yes, but we have to try a shot first.”

He pointed to the wall ahead and added, “Although the city wall is about 100 metres away, the terrain of the city is higher, making it harder to judge the landing point. Thus I need to see the result of the test shot first before I could correct it.”

The captain nodded his head to show his understanding, while Hielos was a bit at a loss. He knew that he could not learn all kinds of knowledge as easily as Davos and get along with those learned scholars. However, even though he does not understand it, he still knew that since Davos selected the spotter from the Institute of Mathematics that he valued, there must be no question about his ability.

“Put the elevation lever in the middle position and draw the bowstring to its maximum.” Said the spotter.

Immediately, the captain gave a loud order to all the artillerist.

The artillerists immediately turned the multiple sets of pulleys at the end of the ballistae, and the iron hook began pulling the bowstring (This is Marticoris’ improvement of Syracuse’s ballista after getting some achievements in the study of pulleys, making it easier for the artillerists to pull the bowstring). As the bowstring moved further and further backwards, it drove a section of the two wooden ballista arms fixed to the main beam by the torsion spring set to move backwards as well. The artillerists felt some strain, and even the torsion spring set attached inside the main bean also began emitting “Creaking” noises. As the bowstring was pulled to the end of the guide rail, the artillerist busily jammed the pulley’s shaft.

“Prepare the ballista!” Ordered the captain. Then the artillerists took out a round stone projectile (it was made by mixing gravel with “Davos’ cement, solidified in a round mould and polished by slaves, so the shape was round and smooth), they then place it in the woven mesh bag in the middle of the bowstring.

“Fire!” At the command of the captain, the artillerist pressed the snap springs, and the spring set made of two thick bull tendons tightly twisted, causing the pulled crossbow arms to rebound suddenly. The huge force generated by torsion drove the bowstring, which then pushed the stone projectile to roll forward like lightning on the smooth guide rail and then pressed through the circular hole at the middle-end of the main beam.

Under the gaze of Hielos, the stone projectile flew out and turned into a small black spot in the air.

But in Pangam’s sight, the small dot in the air quickly became larger. Under the exclamation of the warriors, it flew over the city wall and fell into the city, smashing through the roof of a household, which caused screams.

Then the warriors began talking about what it was in a panic.

Pangam’s expression became gloomy, ‘This is undoubtedly Theonia’s new siege weapon, but why haven’t they used it before? And only use it now to attack the city after Likumu and Bodiam left? Is all of these planned?’

“The elevation angle is high, and the shooting distance is about 300 metres.” After observing the flight trajectory of the stone projectile, the spotter made a general judgment. He then carefully looked at the comparison table about elevation angle, torque scale and range drawn by the Institute of Mathematics that were based on the newly researched parabolic equation and then said, “Set the elevation lever a step forward, pull the bowstring to the maximum then fire another round.”

While the captain was giving orders and the artillerists were busy, the spotter then said to Hielos, “According to our research, the upper and middle sections of a wall are relatively weak, so our ballista should try to attack this area as much as possible…”

Hielos nodded as he listened.

The stone projectile flew out again, but this time, it hit the city wall accurately. With a loud bang, debris splashed, and one could clearly hear the enemy’s cries even at a distance of 100 metres.

Both the spotter and the captain were obviously satisfied with the result, so they continued to order, “All ballistae fire according to the previous settings.”

Then more than a dozen stone projectiles flew out one after another and blossomed on the enemy’s wall.

“Keep firing, don’t stop!” Even though Hielos was satisfied with the power of the ballista, he did not rely entirely on this secret weapon and had prepared another hand, “Order the soldiers to start building a ramp!”

The herald then left after getting the order.

Hielos then turned to look at Siprus, who had been following all this time, and said, “Lord Siprus, I hope that your men can also assist in the siege.”

“Legatus Hielos, there is no need for you to be polite. Just give me your orders!” Siprus said humbly, his eyes not deviating from the stone projectiles whistling in the air, a roar spread to his heart full of shock, ‘This siege weapon invented by the Theonians and the four metre-high tower that the engineers were building in the camp. Could there be even any city-state’s walls that could withstand the attack of the Theonians? Will the era when the Greeks, even if they are defeated, could still resist the attack of a powerful enemy as long as they hide in the city come to an end?’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the assembly hall of Besidice, Drakos, the legatus of the second legion, sats in the centre. On his left are the seven senior centurions. On his right are Baripiri and Burim, who got persuaded by Baripiri to surrender, and the newly elected chieftain of Likumu’s tribe, Kreru (the young man who took the lead in driving away Likumu).

Chapter 314 – Fortress offense and defense (I)

“Everyone, Consentia’s army has entered the Bruttian camp not far away. According to the reports of the scouts, the number of the enemy may be more than 20,000.” Drakos told the crowd. Instead of feeling nervous learning about the enemy, he was relieved.

Drakos had a headache about placing the two thousand Besidisian warriors who had voluntarily surrendered. It was Baripiri who had given him a suggestion saying that since Likumu will soon lead Consentia’s army back for revenge, then except for a few wounded warriors who need to return to Besidice to recuperate, the others should stay in the newly built fortress and assist the Theonians in defending against Likumu’s attack. To prevent Drakos from suspecting that he had too much military power, Baripiri also proposed that the chieftains of each tribe should lead their warriors.

Bagul was very grateful for Baripiri’s understanding, but after all, the battle between Theonia and Besidice had just ended, and some families of Besidisian warriors had died in the hands of Theonian soldiers. Thus eliminating the hatred between the two groups would not be easy. A conflict between the two groups would be inevitable in such a small fortress, which was what Drakos and Baripiri most worried about. Drakos had always been bad at dealing with such matters, so he was desperate to divert the soldiers’ attention in resisting the enemy’s attack.

When Drakos finished speaking, Adepiges translated his words into Bruttian while the senior centurions were all itching for a battle.

Although Kreru was nervous, he knew that he had to help the Theonians block the Bruttian union or else the enemy would get inside. And what he fears the most is that he would be the first person that Likumu would kill.

Baripiri sat still, but his thoughts were similar to those of the young Kreru.

Only Burim, who was covering his abdomen with one hand, which had been stabbed with a spear by a Theonian soldier and was later wrapped tightly with cloth by a physician, said in astonishment, “Twenty thousand Consentian warriors?! Consentia have that many warriors now?”

“I think Pian had also gathered the warriors from Anbania and other tribes.” Said Baripiri.

It had slightly reduced Burim’s astonishment, but he still exclaimed, “Twenty thousand warriors! That is a powerful army that Bruttii has never had!”

“Just those?! Theonia had defeated forces that have more than 20,000 troops, Crotone in the south! And Messapi and Peuceti across the gulf!…rather than fearing enemies coming in large numbers, we are more afraid that the enemy that comes would be too little!” Said Trotidis with great enthusiasm. He was the son-in-law of Anticles and was only a squad captain when they first arrived in Thurii as mercenaries, and now he is a senior centurion.

The other senior centurions nodded at his words.

Burim was still not convinced and wanted to say more but was stop by Baripiri.

The senior centurion, Adrian, watch the situation then looked at Drakos. Noticing that the legatus doesn’t seem to have the intention to speak, and from knowing his old friend’s temperament, he had to stand up and mediate, “Although Consentia’s army is huge, we also have tens of thousands of soldiers and a fortress as a defence. According to lord Davos, ‘it’s very difficult for the attacking side to defeat the defending side without having several more times of their strength.’ Besides, lord Davos will soon arrive together with the army he led.”

Obviously, the name of Davos made Burim lose the desire to retort.

Seeing silence returned to the hall, Drakos then ask, “Cid, how is the training of the two thousand newly arrived Theonian freemen that was handed to you?”

Cid then said with satisfaction, “These freemen sent by the Senate have been strictly selected and have all gone through much military training and can obey orders properly. While archery and javelin are their strong points, they could also fight in close combat for a while. I have already grouped them into teams and are perfectly capable of being useful in defending the city.”

“Excellent.” However, despite his satisfaction, there was no smile on his face, and he continued with a stern expression, “Given the small size of the wooden wall’s walkway, it definitely won’t be able to accommodate too many soldiers. That is why when the enemy attacks, you will lead the light infantry brigade and the two thousand freemen to carry out continuous long-range attacks until the enemy reaches the wall. Afterwards, you will immediately command them to retreat while letting the archers continue shooting the enemies to disrupt their rhythm.”

“Rest assured, legatus! With Hades blessing my brigade, my men would repulse the enemy that you won’t even have the chance to fight!” Cid said confidently.

Drakos was happy seeing such morale among his men, but he won’t praise and encourage it or even joke and enliven the mood as Davos does. He just nodded slightly without responding. Then he looked around at the other senior centurions to tell his battle plan “Once Cid’s troops retreat from the wall, the first and second brigade and the Besidisian warriors would quickly go up the city wall! The first and second brigade will defend the southern wall while the Besidisian warriors would defend the northern side, leaving no gap for the enemy’s attack!

The third and fourth brigades will wait in the fortress as reserves and immediately give support as soon as a dangerous situation arises!

While the fifth and sixth brigades would stay in Besidice!…do you understand your task?!”

“I understand! With Brutus’ blessing, we Besidisian warriors will never allow a Consentian to climb up the wooden wall!” The young and patriotic Kreru was the first to respond. While also making a commitment to Drakos on behalf of Baripiri and the silent Burim.

“Legatus, that’s not fair! Our fifth and sixth brigade also want to go to the fortress and kill the enemy!” Trotidis, the senior centurion of the sixth brigade, protested.

Although the senior centurion of the fifth brigade did not say anything, just the expression on his face had explained it all.

“That’s an order!” Drakos said firmly with a scowl on his face.

“But-” Trotidis wanted to refute but was interrupted by Adrian, “Trotidis, you must understand that the city of Besidice is very important to us! If Consentia were to break through the fortress, you who are left in Besidice would be our last line of defence to stop the enemy from blocking the mountains and also to welcome the army led by lord Davos!”

In order to wake him up, Adrian had to be that person. Even though Trotidis is impulsive, he is not a fool, and he immediately understood the meaning of Adrian. If there are no Theonian soldiers stationed in Besidice and got taken back, then the third legion’s way out would be cut off. Not only will they fall into great danger, but they will also make the plan made by Davos fail!

“I…accept the order.” Answered Trotidis.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

A Bruttian’s horn sounded from a distance.

Cid, standing on the battlement, looked at it: The yellow-green grasses in front were covered by a dense number of enemies, like a black tide rushing to the wall…

The formation of the Bruttians could be said to be relatively neat and compact, unlike the loose formation of the Lucanians. The Bruttians then stopped their advance, two hundred meters away from the fortress.

“Get the slaves. Have them fill up those traps for me!” Pian ordered.

Two thousand slaves, mainly Greeks, who have been captured from Magna Graecia by the Bruttian tribes over the years, came to the forefront under the threat of the warriors with spears, carrying a sack full of soil and began moving forward…

“Strategos, they have entered the trap area!” The soldier next to Cid reminded him anxiously.

Cid looked at him, then laughed and said, “You’re a new recruit, right? No need to fret and let more enemy come into range.”

A slave then dropped the sack on his back, turned and ran, then came another slave to fill the next gap…one after another, the scene was both tense and somewhat chaotic. From time to time, a slave would accidentally step on a trap and let out a shrill scream, which made more slaves nervous about throwing sacks.

But for the Bruttian warriors who were supervising the slaves, not only did they beat the slaves with whips, but they also stabbed them to death with their spear.

Facing the threat of death, the slaves did not dare to be sluggish. They ran to the rear of the formation obediently and then picked up another sack to continue paving the road.

“Archers, ready!” Cid felt that the time was ripe and raised his right hand.

Standing on the four metre-high wooden wall, the more than 500 archers of the seventh brigade and two thousand freemen drew their bows in succession.

Eighty metres, which is precisely within the range of the archers! After silently praying to Hades, Cid swung his right downward with force, “Fire!”

“Swish! Swish! Swish!…” With the continuous sound of bowstrings, more than 2,000 sharp arrows soared into the sky. In an instant, they whizzed down and scattered evenly among the slaves.

Pian’s countenance change from witnessing this sight. It was not because of the casualties of the slaves, but because he did not expect that Theonia has so many archers, and from judging the fall of the arrows, their archers’ skill was not even bad.

‘Could it be that the Theonian army here was not haphazardly put together but the main force of the enemy?!’ The report of the Besidisians that have fled to Consentia had told him that the enemy that attacks Besidice was not too many, and they should not be more than a thousand! And according to Likumu, who escaped back to Consentia yesterday, the number of the enemy had increased by another two thousand…all this information made him have considerable confidence in retaking Besidice. However, after coming here, he was already surprised by the size of the fortress that had begun to take shape and became even more alarmed by a mere round of arrows from the Theonians.

“Grand chieftain, the enemy has too many archers!” Petaru had obviously realised this and said with some concern.

Pian remained calm, “Let these Greek slaves, even if they all die, continue consuming the arrows of the Theonians!”

The Bruttian warriors then executed a dozen slaves that escaped, shocking the others. As a steady stream of relentless arrows were fired from the wall, the slaves were once again forced to fill in the trench…

Chapter 315 – Fortress offense and defense (II)

Eighty metres…seventy…sixty…the closer they get to the wooden wall, the more intense the attack, the fewer the slaves, and most of them have become stepping stones lying on the grass.

The fear of death made several slaves throw away their sacks and rush forward. Even with the sharp wooden stakes and other traps piercing their legs with blood and gore and screaming in agony, they still refused to stop moving forward, “Ow!…ow!…I…I am a Greek!…I am a Greek!!…”

The anguished cry surprised the soldiers on the wall, and they all looked at Cid with pleading eyes.

Seeing this, Cid had also become hesitant.

At this time, more than a dozen Bruttian warriors, ordered by their chieftain, rushed out of the formation, stepped on the sacks on the ground and threw spears at the slaves that got blocked by the abatis and could not move forward.

The screams of the Greek slaves before dying made Cid make a ruthless decision, and he roared angrily, “Continue firing!”

Countless arrows filled with sorrow and anger continued to fall…finally sweeping away almost all the slaves and Bruttians in range.

Although these slaves were almost naked and unprotected, two thousand were still either killed or wounded in the trap area within a short time, that they could not even reach the trench in front of the wall, causing the Bruttian chieftains to suck in a breath of cold air.

“Grand Chieftain, look…” Bodiam looked at Pian hesitantly.

“Send other tribal warriors to fill the trap! We have almost reached the wall!” Pian’s tone was cold and firm. Having come this far, he has to take a shot at the enemy’s strength no matter what and will never retreat easily.

Thousand of Bruttian warriors, in pairs, with shields in one hand and sacks in the other, began to march towards the wall in a very loose formation.

Cid very much hoped that the enemy’s advance would be slower so that the soldiers’ sore and numb arms could recover for even a little bit of time.

“Shoot again!” Cid waved his arm again.

The Bruttian warriors obviously had more fighting experience than the slaves, so when they saw the arrows covering the sky, they immediately stopped, crouched down, huddled together, and protected their whole body with the shield. The arrows rained down on them, and amidst the “Bang! Bang! Tak! Tak!” the warriors screaming became lesser than before. However, when they advanced to more than 30 metres away from the wall, the abatis set up here made them unable to advance forward. Then on the wall, not only the archers but also the peltasts joined in the battle. In a moment, javelins and arrows began pouring down, and the Bruttian warriors suffered a lot of casualties and began to flee in panic.

“Great chieftain!” Even Petaru was unable to bear it any longer.

“Attack again!” Pian ordered with a firm intention, “Elder Petaru, you lead 4,000 warriors to attack the northern wall! Elder Bodiam, attack the south! Elder Likumu, take the middle path! Don’t worry as we only need to follow our previous plan, clear the obstacles on the road, fill up the trench, and then attack the fortress…”

As the soldiers on the wall cheered at Brutti’s defeat, the enemy began attacking again not long after. This time, they were divided into small groups of dozens of men and were densely grouped together, with several wooden shields as big as a door.

And the road extending towards the gate was the only place without traps as it was the passage reserved for the third legion. At this moment, there were also Bruttian warriors pushing a wooden cart full of sacks filled with earth, forcing their way towards the gate.

The experienced Cid knows that when the enemy is well protected, blindly shooting arrows will only yield meagre results and only waste arrows and energy. Therefore, he stopped the soldiers from shooting in waves and waited for the enemy to leave the big wooden shield before firing again.

The wooden cart’ distance to the wall was only a hundred metres, but the Theonian light infantry focused their attack on the wooden cart in the middle of the road, causing the Bruttian warriors to just want to lay down on the road. However, the angry roar of Likumu urges the frightened Bruttian warriors to push the cart forward. Finally, they manage to reach the trench with difficulty, ready to dump the sacks piled up like a hill on the cart into the trench.

“Oil pot!” Cid yelled calmly. Then more than a dozen slingers lifted the olive oil pots they have collected from Besidice and threw them to the wooden carts causing the clay pots to shatter and oil splashing everywhere, quickly soaking the wooden carts.

“Flame arrow!” Cid shouted while firing a flaming arrow himself.

As soon as more than five flaming arrows hit the wooden cart, it ignited rapidly, causing even the several Bruttian warriors who were pushing the cart to catch on fire. They then dropped down and started rolling all over in a panic.

“Fool! Hurry up! Push it down! Push the cart down!” Likumu seeing the situation becoming urgent roared and threw down his shield. He risked being shot and pushed aside the hesitant warriors in front of him and rushed up. Ignoring the burning flames, he grabbed the handle with both hands and pushed it forward with all his might.

The Bruttian warriors had gotten encouraged from witnessing this had rushed up to his side one after another.

As the wooden cart was burning, the javelins and arrows rained on them.

Under the leadership of Likumu, the Bruttian warriors tried their best to push the carts. With a “boom”, they pushed down the whole wooden cart in the trench, and the sacks inside had half-filled the three-metre deep and three-metre wide trench. With the crisscrossing wooden stakes in the trench are now buried, the Bruttian warriors could now step on the sacks in the trench and cross it with only one big step.

As the warriors celebrate their success, Likumu fell into a pool of blood with two javelins piercing his body…

‘Likumu is dead!’ Hearing this, Pian could not help but feel sad. Although his relationship with Likumu is average, they had still shared a common cause…

After paying a great price, the Bruttian warriors approached the trench and began throwing sacks into it.

Pian gave the order at last, “All troops, attack!”

Ten thousand warriors were divided into two groups, one carrying long ladders and another carrying battering ram, and began approaching the wall.

Just as the Bruttian sounded the horn, the Theonian also blew their salpinx, and the soldiers of the first and second brigades began going up the wall.

Taking advantage of the time while the Theonian changing their position, the Bruttian warriors stepped on the bodies of their companions and took a huge stride on the trench. Then the soldiers of the third legion immediately threw a heavy shower of javelins, causing the Bruttian warriors that got hit to fall directly into the trench…

Reaching below the wall, the warriors looked up and cried out in dismay. As it turned out, the Theonians had placed countless pointed logs extending from the bottom of the crenels, making it impossible for the ladder to reach the crenel directly. Even if the warriors manage to climb the ladder, they are still a short distance away from the wall, which undoubtedly increases the difficulty of the siege.

As a Bruttian warrior got distracted, a stone hit him in the middle of his head.

“Well done!” Kreru slapped the meritorious Besidisian warrior and shouted, “Men, fight hard and don’t let a single Consentian go back alive!”

The battle raged on, with the Theonian soldiers and Besidisian warriors throwing javelins, stone, stabbing with their spears, pushing with a pole and slashing with their sword…they did all they could to stop the Bruttians.

And the Bruttians, besides sieging the wall with long ladders, had also used logs to batter the wall. Under the cover of the Bruttians’ javelins, dozen warriors holding massive logs had not only struck the gates, but they had also struck the wooden wall. Because Pian and his men thought that although the Theonians manage to build the wall in such a short time, it should not be very sturdy.

But in reality, it is. The wooden wall built by the Theonian soldiers was actually a double-layer wall with the middle of it being filled with the soil taken from digging the trench, and the upper part was paved with wooden boards to form a passage on the wall. However, due to the lack of time, the soil was not fully compacted, and the wooden wall not carefully reinforced.

After discovering their attempts, Drakos had to divert some of his forces to attack these unprotected warriors.

However, these two methods were not the only thing Pian prepared.

“Strategos, there’s a fire!” The soldiers loudly reminded Adrian. He looked down and saw a fire at the bottom of the wall, and several Bruttian warriors carried clay pots and were pouring oil on the wall, making the flames get bigger.

“Hurry and shoot that guy!” Adrian, while directing the soldiers to throw javelins, also yelled anxiously, “Pour down the sand! Pour it down quickly!…”

Due to the lack of time and lack of supplies, the wall has not been treated for fire protection. Fortunately, Drakos had already considered this when discussing with the senior centurions on how to defend the fortress and thought that they should place cloth bags filled with soils in the wall’s walkway.

Even after putting out the fire, Adrian’s expression was still serious. He reminded the officers and the soldiers to pay attention to any enemy with clay pots and make every effort to stop them from reaching the wall.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The siege was bloody and brutal. Pian anguished every time he saw ladders being pushed down and the warriors falling from the top of the wall, but as the leader of this whole army, he had to pay attention to the war’s progress. He moved forward, again and again, just to see more clearly, and finally reach the edge of the area filled with traps.

Maybe it was due to the corpse on the ground that made his horse feel uneasy that it neighed, burrowing its front hooves on the ground.

Pian did not expect that the Theonians had not only used only three days to establish a relatively complete defensive system, but also the soldiers’ experience and strength in defending the fortress was not weak.

Pian’s faith was gradually wearing off as he watches the Bruttian warriors struggles and groans under the wall…

Compared with the wall in the northern section, which is well defended, well-coordinated and well-ordered. The southern section, which the Besidisian warriors defended, was not unified in command, weak combat strength, and low morale. After an hour of defence, some Bruttian warriors had begun climbing the wall.

Chapter 316 – Bruttii’s retreat and Elea’s invasion

Fortunately, there is a sentry tower more than one metre taller than the wall. With the support of the light infantries’ arrow and javelins launched by the freemen led by Cid, the wall in the southern section remain relatively safe.

Cid fired an arrow piercing through the enemy’s chest that it even penetrated the thick leather armour, and the enemy fell towards the ground.

He then tried to reach for another arrow but found out that his quiver was empty.

“Fetch me a new quiver!” Cid shook his right hand and ordered the guard next to him.

A moment later, the guard hurried back. He handed him a quiver with ten arrows and said, “Strategos, the quartermaster requested that you save your arrows as there are not many arrows left.”

“How did it get used so fast?!” Cid said with some dissatisfaction.

“I asked him that as well. He said that the light infantry and the freemen have more than two thousand archers, and a quiver has ten arrows, so that is around twenty thousand arrows, and now, almost all the archers have used up their quivers…he also said…also said that ‘the arrows are all bought with money, and the price is not low. This time, due to their prior plan, our second legion needed it for defence, so Mersis had distributed 30,000 arrows to us. Otherwise, they would never have let us waste them like this!’” The guard said with some grievance.

Although Cid was a bit angry, the quartermaster of the logistics brigade was now under Mersis. Thinking of that stingy fatty, Cid felt some headache. He then said in a loud voice, “Brothers, even if we run out of arrows, there’s nothing to worry about as we still have our rhomphaia and javelins, right?!”

“Yes!!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Pian was anxious with the situation at a deadlock. He looked back at the warriors resting in the rear and hesitated whether to send his last 5,000 men. However, the narrow battlefield made it too crowded under the wall that no matter how many people there, it would not change anything.

Just then, he heard a “boom…” behind him, followed by cheers.

“The wall has collapsed! The enemy’s wall has collapsed!!…” As the warriors at his side cheered, Pian turned back in excitement: A large opening had appeared in the middle of the southern section of the wall, and the Bruttian warriors rushed in…

“Don’t panic! Don’t panic!” Burim shouted to appease the panicking Besidisian warriors. With Baripiri being too old, his nephew was the one leading the warriors in his tribes. Thus among the three chieftains in Besidice, Burim was the oldest, the most qualified and the most prestigious. Although he did not want to fight the Consentians, he had to work hard for the survival of his people on the battlefield.

“Hold your position. The wall will not collapse again!…” Shouted Burim. He knew full well that the hole on the other side was caused by the warriors’ negligence, causing the wall to be burned with oil and hit by a ramming ram.

“Hold on! Don’t worry about the enemies rushing in. The Theonians will deal with them!…” He said that because he had already seen fully armed Theonian soldiers lining up behind the collapsed section of the wall. He was surprised by the rapid and orderly movement of Theonian troops.

For the soldiers of the third and fourth brigades of the second legion, the collapse of the wall was a good thing as they could finally make up for their lament of not being able to go up the wall to kill the enemy…

When the Bruttian warriors stepped on the collapsed soil and kicked open the broken wall, and rushed inside, they were surprised to find that they were facing an iron wall surrounded by countless copper shields and sharp spears. At the rhythmic sound of the war drums, the Theonian soldier steadily struck and retracted their spears, with each jab potentially taking a life…

The Bruttian warriors who rushed in could not form a formation with their companions, nor were they organised by their officers. And with only their bravery, not only they could not resist the group attack of the Theonian army, but they also had to guard against the arrows from the towers and the javelins of the Besidisian warriors.

Within a short time after they stepped into the wall, the casualties of the Bruttian warriors increased sharply. Although they want to retreat, their way back was blocked by the excited oncoming warriors.

The third and fourth brigades of the second legion advanced steadily, shrinking the encirclement, causing the Bruttian warriors to huddle together, making it harder for them to even wield their weapons.

Pian was delighted at the sight of many Bruttian warriors rushing into the gap, but their advance suddenly halted, with the warriors lingering around the opening unable to enter. Then he became shocked at watching the Bruttian warriors who suddenly fled in disarray. Soon after, a team of brightly armoured Theonian soldiers came out of the wall’s opening, who then took advantage of the situation to attack the flank of the other Bruttians who were still attacking the walls. After a while, the disorder retreat was no longer just the point of the gap but evolved into the entire Bruttian offensive line…

Witnessing this, Pian’s heart sank with disappointment, as he could see that the Theonian army occupying Besidice was not just a minor force of Theonia with only a few thousand soldiers as judged by the chieftains. But it is most like that whatever legion that Theonia claimed!

“Retreat…” He shouted with pain.

However, after gathering the defeated warriors and returning to the camp in frustration, he received a piece of even worse news.

“What did you say?! There’s a revolt in Consentia?!”

“Yes, grand chieftain. In the early morning of the following day, several tribes suddenly led their people to attack the inner city after you left. If not for chieftain Kaduk leading his troops in time, I am afraid that they would have succeeded! Currently, they are occupying the western side of the outer city, and the high priest sent me to inform you quickly and hope that you can quickly quench these rebels and restore peace to the city of Consentia!” Said the messenger anxiously.

“I understand. Go back and tell the high priest that I will immediately return with my army and to not panic and defend the inner city first with Kaduk!” Pian made a quick decision. In the first place, in order for the ‘Council of Seven Elder’ to monitor and rule those disobedient tribes, they have decided to force them to move to the outer part of Consentia. Now, this revolt was a wake-up call to Pian that the Theonians has had an impact on the tribes in the Bruttian area, especially those who were forced to submit to the union. So he had to act quickly to avoid worsening the situation.

He then asks Petaru to carry out the order to pull out of the camp.

Shortly after, Bodiam broke in and exclaimed with agitation, “Did I hear it wrong? Pian, you want to go back to Consentia?! And just let the Theonians continue to construct their fortress here?!”

“Elder Bodiam, what else can we do? Continue attacking the fortress?!” Pian was no longer anxious as when he had just heard the news. He then asked calmly, “I am afraid that there are more than six thousand highly trained Theonian soldiers behind the fortress wall and more than two thousand traitors from Besidice who had taken refuge with them. Besides, with the fortress being well-defended, do you think that we can capture this fortress just by ourselves?! You should know that we have lost nearly two thousand men in today’s battle! TWO THOUSAND MEN!! That’s half the number of Anbanian warriors you have brought!”

After hearing this, Bodiam sat down with disappointment…after a while, he raised his head and murmured, “Do we just watch as the Theonian army breaks into our home through Besidice…”

“Then let them come!” With a loud shout, Pian looked at Bodiam, stepped forward and gave him a strong hug, and said in a firm tone, “We are going to go back and recruit all the Bruttians! We are going to fight the Theonians to the death on the Consentia Plateau! This war will determine the rise and fall of the Bruttians! And Amara, will protet us!”

“Plateau…” Through the reminder of Pian, Bodiam strengthened his morale, “Yes, Amara will bless us! We also have the Consentia Plateau!…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The highly energetic Cincinnag welcomed the help of many tribes in the north of Grumentum, advancing smoothly to the south and only encounter an obstacle after arriving at the south.

Those tribes that had previously migrated from Nerulum and were the first to submit to Theonia drove out the messengers sent by Cincinnag and united to prepare against Pyxous as they identified more as a Theonian, and trusted Theonia more than Pyxous, who was far to the west of Grumentum.

Cincinnag became furious. When he finally started to prepare to lead the army to attack these disobedient tribes, a report came that there was a movement in the city of Grumentum on the north, and about two thousand Theonian soldiers came out of the city.

This has made Cincinnag worry that if he were to attack the Lucanian tribes in the south, he would be suddenly attacked by the Theonians from the flank, prompting him to withdraw his army.

As soon as Pyxous’s army withdrew, the Theonians also withdraw into the city as well.

This happened for two days in a row, making Cincinnag judge that the Theonians were just acting and had neither the courage nor the gut to attack him.

Thus he asked Genat and two thousand warriors to keep an eye on the city of Grumentum while he himself lead the rest of his troops to conquer the tribes in the south.

At this time, Pyxous sent a messenger to tell him the bad news, ‘A thousand Eleans’ invaded Pyxous’ territory, destroying their farms and burning their settlements. But due to their limited strength, they do not dare to attack rashly, so they asked Cincinnag for emergency assistance!’

After hearing this, Cincinnag stamp with rage.

Chapter 317 – Meeting up in Besidice

Cincinnag thought to himself in anger, ‘A small Greek city-state like Elea which have been oppressed and nearly destroyed by us dares to make trouble in my territory?! Is it because they have become a part of the Theonia Alliance that these Greek cowards who only know how to hide in their city became courageous?! Do they not know that no one can save them after provoking us!’

He swore to himself that he would destroy Elea after conquering Grumentum.

But dreams are just dreams, and he must solve the current problem. Although it is impossible for only a thousand Eleans to break through Pyxous, just letting them wreak havoc outside the city would shake the tribe’s support for Cincinnag. It should be known that although Cincinnag has made his tribe the dominant among the tribes in Pyxous through various means over the years, his tribe is not the only tribe in Pyxous. After all, even in his tribe, the elders and priests are not in unity with him. During their miserable defeat in Grumentum last time, some of the people of his tribe were already discontent with him. And this time, he must take immediate action against Elea’s invasion. Otherwise, the anger of his warriors alone will give him a headache.

Thus he had to end the impending attack by sending Gennat together with three thousand warriors (two thousand Pyxousian and a thousand warriors from the other tribes) to return to Pyxous and wipe out all the invading enemies as soon as possible.

At the same time, this delay meant that the pressure on his military supplies has increased. Thus he needed to send another team of warriors to go collect supplies, and what he meant by “collect” is through burning, slaughtering, and plundering, which forced those neutral tribes to flee into the mountains or join the tribes in the south of Grumentum, that is, the Theonian side…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In Clampetia, the ballistae of the fourth legion of Theonia shoot their stone projectiles for most of the day, causing the walls to crack in many places. And the splattering rubbles also killed some of the defenders scaring and demoralising the Bruttian warriors.

Pangam could only make up his mind to send his troops out late at night to destroy these terrible siege weapons!

As a matter of fact, the reason why Hielos, who had always been cautious, had not moved the ballistae back to the camp once darkness came and just built an earthen barricade was not due to it being heavy, but it was to lead the snake out of the hole.

As a result, the soldiers of the fourth legion who were waiting around the ballistae ambushed Clampetia’s assault troops, almost completely wiping them out.

After losing hundreds of warriors, Pangam no longer dared to act blindly.

The next day, with the ballistae and light infantries’ long-range attack acting as a cover, the three siege towers built by the soldiers and the Terinians approached the moat. Afterwards, they began laying slabs of stone on the front of the towers.

Then the Clampetian warriors were surprised to see three siege towers slowly being ushed up the paved embankment.

These siege towers are five metres high, two metres higher than the stone wall. The top and bottom’s width is the same, two metres, while the front and rear’s width is three metres. It is made of wood, covered with wet cowhide, with huge wooden wheels at the bottom and wooden crenels and merlons around the top, which can accommodate three~four archers. It also has a suspension bridge at the top, and behind it is a long wooden ladder. Once the siege tower gets close to the city wall, the suspension bridge would be lowered until the top of the wall, and the soldiers would then climb up using the ladder and attack directly into the wall through the tower and suspension bridge, making the siege easier.

The siege tower designed by the Theonian engineers and carpenters was relatively simple and had a single function that could not even compare to the giant siege tower made by Syracuse. The only highlight of it is that the safety of the labourers was considered, with wooden bars protruding from the top of the wheel on both sides of the siege tower, and a shed-like barrier was placed on the top of the bars. Allowing the people pushing the tower to just stand as the wooden barrier will block the enemy’s arrow for them, allowing them to concentrate on pushing the siege tower forward.

As the siege tower advance slowly, the warriors of Clampetia became stunned. Although the siege tower has been used in Mesopotamia for a long time, it had never appeared in Greece, where there are many small countries and city-states. Even though Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, had taken the lead in innovating the siege technology of Greece, it had only just started and not yet spread, let alone the secluded Bruttians, who had never seen such colossal siege equipment. Arrows and javelins couldn’t even damage it, and a thrown stone couldn’t even reach it; maybe the Theonian siege weapon that could launch stone projectiles could destroy it, but Clampetia doesn’t have one. Thus the warriors could only watch as it approaches the moat.

Then the archer in heavy armour got into the siege tower, went up to the top through the ladder and began shooting at the warriors on the wall.

Both sides shoot back and forth. Although there are only a few Theonian archers, they have the higher ground and are protected by their armour and the wooden barrier, which obviously gave them the upper hand.

And the Theonian soldiers took this opportunity to fill the moat with soil so that they could continue pushing the siege tower towards the city wall.

The restless Pangam could only desperately order his men to stop the enemy’s attempt while sending some of his men to Consentia to ask for help. However, he himself knew that if he does not receive any reinforcement within a few days, the enemy will breach Clampetia…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Although the bloody and brutal battle in the fortress has just happened yesterday, it seemed that a long time had already passed.

Early this morning, Drakos, the legatus of the second legion, Adrian the senior centurion of the first brigade and other officers were waiting outside the city of Besidice with a smile on their faces to welcome the arrival of the archon of Theonia and the grand legatus of the whole army.

Among them are Baripiri, Burim,  chieftains of Besidice, Kreru, a new chieftain, and some of the high-standing men in the tribes of Besidice. All of them were either nervous, excited, or thrilled as they await the archon of Theonia.

For precaution against accidents, Drakos deployed the fifth and sixth brigades in the city.

“Kreru, is it true that the archon of Theonia is younger than us?!” Rodom, Baripiri’s nephew, couldn’t help but ask Kreru. He and Kreru had an average relationship in the past, but after fighting side by side yesterday, the two young men quickly became friends.

“Yes, I even asked Drakos! But you should not treat him like a young man!” Reminded Kreru, while quietly pointing to the officers, “Look at Drakos, and the Theonians, who usually face us with their heads held high, but now they look completely different.”

“Of course I understand! I heard from uncle Baripiri say that Davos is a descendant of a Greek god and that he had never lost in battle, so there is no Theonian that dares to be disrespectful to him!” Replied Rodom.

At this time, some soldiers hurriedly ran from the eastern defensive camp and shouted excitedly, “Lord Davos is coming! He is coming!”

Drakos immediately shouted, “Ready!”

The officers began arranging their uniform, and the salpinx and drums rang out at the same time.

After a while, the sound of neat footsteps came with the slight vibration of the ground. Soon after, a long queue appeared in front of the crowd. The man at the front of the queue was in full military attire, leather sandals, bronze shin, linen breastplate, which was no different from that of average hoplites. The only difference is the helmet which is not the heavy Corinthian helmet but a new type of iron helmet, decorated with long red and purple plumes. The helmet’s front is open, so everyone can clearly see the face, broad forehead, thick eyebrows…even though his eyes are not big, it is extremely sharp, although he looks young, he doesn’t look childish, and has a sense of majestic. Even though his pace is big and powerful, it is not too fast, and the whole person seems both full of life and composed…

‘He is Davos, the archon of Theonia?!’ The curious Besidisians found their answer from the straightened chests and reverent gazes of the Theonian officers and soldiers.

At the gaze of several hundreds pair of eyes, Davos got closer to Drakos, who gave a neat military salute, “Grand legatus, all the soldiers of the second legion welcome you!”

Davos immediately replied and teasingly said, “Okay, Drakos, you have made a huge stir! Since when did you learn about this stuff?!”

Drakos turned and looked at Adrian with embarrassment.

Davos understood it and laughed, “So this is Andrian’s idea. It seems that his trip to the Isthmian Games was not in vain. However, such ceremonies should be held after the war ends, as everything should be kept simple during a war.”

If others had spoken in this way, Adrian would think that he exposed his scar, which would undoubtedly give birth to resentment in his heart. But due to it being Davos’ words, he thought about it carefully and accepted it, “You are right, milord! The war has still not yet ended, so we must take it with seriousness!”

Davos came forward with a hearty smile and gave Adrian a warm hug, “I was startled when I receive the report. Adrian, you captured the city of Besidice with only 700 men, which is bold and decisive! Bravo! Excellent! You and your brigade can get a star all to yourselves! And the people of Theonia will gladly sing praise of your victory!”

This is exactly what Adrian was happy to hear. He is so delighted that he doesn’t know how to respond.

Davos, on the other hand, gave back a salute on Drakos and said, “This time, the second legion not only won the victory of Besidice but also successfully defend it, laying the first contribution for our next step on conquering Bruttii! Drakos, on behalf of Theonia, I thank you and the brothers of the second legion for your contribution and sacrifice to the union!”

Chapter 318 – Winning over Besidice

Drakos just grinned, proud that the second legion was no longer just a support for the first legion for once.

Davos patted him on the shoulder and asked, “Where is the hero that crossed the Crati River?”

“He was wounded when crossing the river, so the physician is currently treating him in the city, so for the time being, he is unable to go out.” Replied Drakos.

“Wounded? Is it serious?!” Davos asked with concern.

“From what the physician said, he has a few broken bones on his left rib, lung injury, and some trauma, but he should be able to recover after resting for a few days.”

“Without him, we would not have won today! So we have to take care of him!” Davos urge with seriousness.

“Don’t worry, milord. We will take good care of him!”

Davos nodded and wanted to say more, but he suddenly saw a large group of people coming over. With a smile, he turned towards the oldest Besidisian, “You are chieftain Baripiri?!”

Baripiri bent down in a hurry and prepared to perform the highest salutation of the Bruttians, “Baripiri, the chieftain of Pega tribe of Besidice, pays my respect to the archon, lord Davos!”

Davos hastily stopped him and said enthusiastically, “Thank you! If it weren’t for your help, we would not have restored peace in Besidice so soon! The people of Theonia and Besidice are grateful to you! With your decisiveness and selflessness, they will no longer loss their loved ones in vain!…”

What Davos said made the white-haired old man excited. These days, a lot of Besidisians called him a “traitor”. At this moment, the young man in front of him had made him feel like finding a “close friend”.

“Because of your merits, and through my proposal, the Theonian Senate urgently held a meeting. After getting the majority of the vote, the proposal was passed. Henceforth, you will become a member of the Senate of Theonia, just like Vespa and Hemon of Lucania, becoming a respected statesman of the entire Theonia Union. I wonder if you are willing to accept it?”

After listening to Davos’ words, the composed Baripiri showed a stupefied expression. But soon, he answered without hesitation, as if he was afraid that Davos would go back on his words, “I am! I thank the Senate for the trust they have placed in me!”

Davos grasped his arms and said with a laugh, “Great! From now on, we are family!”

Drakos, Adrian and the others congratulated Baripiri one after another.

A rare smile finally appeared on Baripiri’s face.

At this time, the voice of coughing came from behind. Baripiri then remembered that he had overlooked something and turned around to say, “Lord Davos, I’d like to introduce you. This is-”

“Chieftain Burim of Besidice!” Before he could introduce him, Davos already gave his greetings first. On his way here, he already had a detailed understanding of the several leading figures in Besidice. And at this moment, he said enthusiastically, “It was with your assistance that Drakos and the others manage to defend the fort! In the same way, the Senate of Theonia invites you to join the Senate in order to reciprocate what you have done!”

After listening to Baripiri’s translation, Burim stared blankly. Back when he saw the Consentian troops withdrawing from the fortress, he knew that Besidice would no longer belong to Bruttii and will belong to a union dominated by Greeks. However, he was still slightly unable to accept it.

“Talk! Have you gone silly from being happy?!” Baripiri winked at him and gave him a push.

“I…I gladly accept…” Muttered Burim.

Davos didn’t think much of it and said with a laugh, “Elder Burim, take care of your wounds! The next battle will depend on your help!”

Just after Burim answered, Kreru squeezed forward, and before he could speak, Davos looked at him and said loudly, “I know you, you are Kreru – the hero of Besidice! If you had not stepped forward, how could the warriors of Besidice go home smoothly!”

After listening to Baripiri’s translation, Kreru did not expect that the archon of Theonia, who he had never met before, not only recognised him but also knew what he had done, making him excited and pleased with himself.

“I initially proposed to the Senate that you should join the Senate, but after all, you are too young, and you have never managed a tribe before. So the statesmen of the Senate decided that you should first serve as a Theonian Affairs Officer. After accumulating a certain amount of administrative experience, the Senate will be open for you!” Davos explained to him that he had given his proposal to the Senate. However, it was only for show, as he himself did not want to let this young man into the Senate now, as it will only pull down the quality of the statesmen of the Senate and will make people think that the Senate has a low threshold. Although the quality of the former mercenaries such as Amintas, Arpenst, Ledes and so on., was not very high, it was due to it being at the initial stage, so Davos needed a lot of support. But now, the situation is different.

Kreru was slightly disappointed. However, not long ago, he was just an ordinary member of Likumu’s tribe in Besidice, and now, he had become the chieftain of a tribe. Hence why he did not expect too much, so he humbly said, “Compared with chieftain Baripiri and Burim, I am still lacking. Thus I will first try my best to make the people adapt to our new home – Theonia.”

Davos nodded. Although this chieftain was young, he was prudent and knew his limit, making Davos satisfied with Kreru.

Before going to the city, Davos went to the river bank first.

Davos listened as Drakos narrate the sneak attack on the city of Besidice amidst the roaring Crati River. Despite being the one coming up with the plan, he felt thrilled after seeing the rushing river and imagining it. He could not help but say, “I don’t see any problem at Seklian’s wish to be remembered in the Hall of Valor! It was with his and another warrior’s bravery and fearlessness that allowed us to stand on this place! I hope that their deeds will inspire the citizens of Theonia in contributing to the union, and the union will always remember those who have contributed!”

“I agree, Milord!” Drakos felt the same way.

Most of the Besidisians who went to the riverbank together with Davos now learned the cause of the fall of their city and felt regret over it. Some were still thinking that if they had built even one sentry tower in the riverbank, such an outcome would not have happened…

At this moment, Davos turned to look at Baripiri and said to him, “In fact, the distance between Thurii and Besidice is not too far. However, the river made communication between the two so difficult and likewise made the life of the Besidisians hard! Therefore, once the war ended, we would not only repair the rope bridge but will also build a real bridge, turning the city of Besidice from the poor and isolated place into a place where merchants gathers and people freely travel, which would surely make the city of Besidice prosper! Because taking the road of Besidice will be the shortest way from Thurii to Consentia Plateau!”

The words of Davos made Baripiri and the other Besidisians who could understand Greek feel excited.

Returning to the city gates, Davos refused to let the “troops into the city”; thus, the newly arrived first legion, allied troops and legion reserve soldiers were tasks to go expand and move into the eastern defensive camp. However, the Besidisians were still slightly frightened from seeing tens of thousands of fully armed soldiers making a neat turn in front of the city gate.

After entering the assembly hall of the city of Besidice, Davos began discussing with the three Besidisian chieftains and a few men with high standing about the ownership of Besidice without a moment’s delay. After half a day’s discussion, they finally reached an agreement:

I – The Senate will send a praetor to manage the city’s administrative affairs after integrating Besidice into Theonia Union.

II – The jurisdiction over the people and land to which each tribe owns will still belong to their respective tribes. At the same time, the tribal chieftain shall exercise the right of administration without the interference of the city’s praetor.

III – The chieftains must pay land taxes on time and must regularly attend military training.

IV – Since Besidice is the first city in Bruttii to be integrated into Theonia, the tribes may apply to the Senate to change for fertile lands for their tribe.

V – The rights and obligations enjoyed by the Besidisians are the same as those enjoyed by the Lucanians. But at the same time, if a Besidisian was to voluntarily ask to be separated from the tribe and live independently, the chieftains of the tribe should not obstruct them.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After reaching an agreement, Baripiri said with some hesitation, “Lord Davos…I have a small request.”

“Go ahead,” Davos replied politely.

“As the archon for life of the most powerful city-state union in South Italia, you have too few guards! Our, Bruttian’s great chieftains alone have two hundred personal guards, and some even having a thousand guards. Thus I hope that my nephew Rodom can be your personal guard and protect your safety. At the same time, he can learn how to be a qualified Theonian citizen from your teaching…”

‘Rodom?’ Davos thought of the energetic young man in the welcoming group. He was about to respond when the others in the hall realise the benefits of Baripiri’s proposal and hurriedly shouted, “Lord Davos, my son likewise wants to be your guard!”

“And my two sons as well!”

“There are five in our family!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The reason why the people in the hall were so enthusiastic was due to the tradition of Besidice. During the tyrannical rule of Likumu, almost all of them had sent their children to serve as his guards. Now, as the conquered, they inevitably felt a sense of loss and gain. If they could get closer to the highest authority in Theonia and add an extra layer of protection for their families and tribes, they would already make them happy.

Davos did not immediately respond as he thought of another thing. According to the Theonian Law, the archon’s personal guard was limited to a maximum of a hundred men, which Martius had always led.

Chapter 319 – Wiping out Pyxous

As a warrior as famous as Matonis, Matius is more composed, has no great ambition, and can be loyal to his duties, so Davos always trusted him. Although the archon’s personal guards are full, they can also serve as guards in important places such as the Senate Assembly Hall, Temple of Hades, The Arena, etc. Thus the vacant positions can be fully occupied by the young men recommended by these chieftains and high-standing tribal men in the hall. Supposing Theonia wanted to integrate the Besidisians into the union as soon as possible. In that case, they should let these young elites of Besidice join Theonia Union to understand the Theonian system as soon as possible, and learning the Theonian culture and get used to life in Theonia. Thus allowing them to integrate into Theonia, then return to influence the rest of the Besidisians.

Therefore, he needs to go back to the Senate and discuss this matter. But for now, he could agree for them to join as his personal guard as a volunteer of Besidice. After making up his mind, Davos immediately decided.

Soon, Besidice formed a personal guard of more than 60 men.

And Davos appointed Rodom as the captain and announced that they would be on duty tonight.

As soon as he issued the order, Drakos, Kapus and the others vehemently opposed it.

But Davos insisted and declared, “From now on, Besidice is already the Besidice of Theonia, and the warriors of Besidice are also the soldiers of Theonia! So how could the officers distrust their own soldiers?!”

In the end, Davos reached an agreement with Drakos and Kapus that Martius would be the one leading the guards to patrol outside the courtyard while the Besidisian soldiers would defend the inside.

After learning about it, Rodom and the others were all greatly moved and vowed never to give lord Davos, who trusted them, the slightest fright.

And due to this move, the restless Besidisians were put to ease.

Besides the high-ranking officers of the legion, the ones who are most afraid of accidents are the chieftains like Baripiri and high-ranking tribal men. Because they know that in the event of Davos getting into an accident, the two thousand Theonian soldiers in the city and the more than ten thousand soldiers outside will turn their anger towards them and burn the city of Besidice to ashes. Therefore, those men that would serve as guards tonight were greatly reminded by them.

And so the night passed safely.

The next day, Davos, who have gotten a night rest, and Kapus, Drakos, the three chieftains of Besidice, as well as the strategoi of the allied troops of Heraclea and Roscianum, who had not slept much at all, discussed how to march on the Consentia Plateau.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Cincinnag waited for the reinforcements he sent to return after quickly defeating the Eleans. In fact, He didn’t wait long to see Gennat fleeing back, covered in wounds, with a few hundred remnants of his troops.

“What did you say?! You were ambushed by the Theonians?!” Cincinnag could not believe what he heard, “How can there be Theonian troops outside Pyxous?! I have been watching Grumentum all the time, and they haven’t sent any troops!”

Gennat shook his head and said weakly, “Elea…I fear that they have come from Elea…I…I saw it clearly, although they were all wearing Greek armour, most of them were tall, and their hair colour…and even in their roaring voices were Lucanians…”

After the reminder of his son, Cincinnag’s thoughts were opened, “You mean that they are from Nerulum…why haven’t our spies find out about them?!”

While escaping, Gennat had already thought about this matter and said anxiously as he coughed, “They…cough…should have boarded a ship from Laos…instead of going along the coast…cough…they made a huge detour…and our ships are not a match against Laos and Elea’s ship…and could only patrol near the port…cough…it’s already good that they are not blocked…father, the enemy has about four thousand men…what should we do now?!”

“Return! We must return to Pyxous immediately!” Cincinnag had a hunch and added, “Can you still hold on?”

Gennat nodded and said, “Uh…what about the other tribes?”

“Let them come with us for now as we need more warriors. If a tribe refuse to follow us -” With a sullen look on his face, Cincinnag coldly said, “We will do what we have done in Grumentum once more!”

As soon as his voice fell, a scout came in a hurry, “Reporting to the chieftain. There is a Theonian army to the north of us, about four thousand men!”

“Reporting! The tribes in the South gathered about five thousand soldiers and are on their way towards our camp!”

“Reporting! Chieftain, Grumentum’s army has gone out of their city! I confirmed that their leader is Bagul!”

Ban news came one after another, making Cincinnag drenched in cold sweats. When he heard the reports, he became shocked, “You said that Bagul is not injured?!”

“That seems to be the case, chieftain.”

Cincinnag was petrified. After a while, he murmured, “Plot! This is a plot devised by the Theonians!”

He suddenly thought of something and said in a hurry, “Go and call the chieftain of Lud and Bren tribe. If they refuse to come, then drag them here!”

As soon as the guard went out, one of the chieftains of Pyxous came in staggeringly, “Great chieftain, not good! Lud and Bren are taking the lead in revolting!”

Cincinnag was so anxious that he sprayed a mouthful of blood on the ground.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Theonians were attacking Pyxous’ camp from the north, east and south, but the Pyxousians were in disarray and are unable to organise an effective defence and was thus easily breached.

After Gennat died in battle, Cincinnag fled to the western mountains with few men, and most of the others surrendered.

“Legatus Hieronymus, what should we do with these captives?” Bagul asked his boss for his instruction.

“According to the order of lord Davos, we will demote all of them into slaves of the city-state and take them back to Thurii as labours for mining, building roads and temples…” Said Hieronymus without paying attention to the expression on Bagul’s face, “In addition, draw out another thousand Pyxousian captives to force the tribes in Pyxous to surrender once we attack Pyxous.”

He then gave his order, “Bagul, stay and defend Grumentum. Don’t relax your surveillance of Potentia to the north, and if there is anything unusual happening, immediately send a messenger to inform me.”

“Roger.”

“Agasias, go and urge the soldiers to speed up the cleanup of the battlefield. Otherwise, we will not be able to rest once evening comes.”

“Don’t worry, legatus. I’ll keep my eyes open like a shepherd watching over his flock and will spank anyone who dares to slack off!” Laughed Agasias

The third legion carried out the decoy plan proposed by Davos and perfected it. Afterwards, they have gotten a perfect result, and Hieronymus finally showed a rare smile of relief after completing the task.

“Brother-in-law!” Asistes called out Bagul, who was walking back with his head down, “Lord Davos once said that ‘we should not be too kind to the enemies who surrender, because being too kind will make them forget their mistakes and will once more make the same mistake. Thus, we should hold up our sticks sometimes to make them fear and remember their lessons.’ Milord called it the ‘Carrot and the Stick’ method…”

Asistes looked at Bagul, who was lost in his thought and said thoughtfully, “Our law to appease those tribes in the north is good enough, not only in granting land but also selflessly allocating some livestock…but when we were in danger, rather than standing together with us through the difficulties, they instead defected to the enemy in a vain attempt to destroy us and get more land! Hence why I believe that this severe punishment will frighten all the Lucanian tribes in this land so that when making decisions related to Theonia, they will all think twice whether they will choose to accept the carrot or the stick!”

Bagul looked at the busy soldiers on the battlefield, who were either demolishing the enemy’s camp, picking up materials on the ground, grabbing the abandoned weapons and even removing the armour from the corpses…putting them on a fully-loaded cart, then lifting the enemy’s corpses and throwing them into the piles of burning corpses one after another…

The mountain wind blew and the ashes scattered everywhere in the air.

Bagul sighed and said, “I hope that after this war ends, peace can really be restored in the Lucanian region!”

Bagul breathed out his sorrows. He then slapped Asistes on the shoulder and said in a loud voice, “Anyway, Cincinnag was the one who finally solved our headache. Thus we need to celebrate it! Tonight, I will go to your house as I haven’t tasted my sister’s roasted mutton for a long time!”

A month later, tired of hiding from the Theonian soldiers while enduring the hardship of the mountains and the increasingly frantic abuse and beatings of Cincinnag, the Lucanians who had fled into the mountains finally took advantage while Cincinnag was asleep and killed him. Afterwards, they descended to the city of Grumentum and surrendered, a story to be told in the future.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The revolting tribes had long since fled by the time Pian led his troops back to Consentia.

In the following time, Pian led Petaru and Phitra to appease the people in the city and met with the other tribal chieftains…

While he was busy, a messenger from Clampetia arrived in Consentia.

Pian was astounded when he received Pangam’s request for help, as he had never expected that the city of Clampetia, which was known to be ‘easy to defend but hard to attack’, would already be unable to support itself after only defending for more than ten days. Moreover, he was shocked by the two terrible siege weapons of Theonia described in the letter.

Chapter 320 – Betting it all

In the messenger’s exaggerated retelling, the Theonians have a kind of siege equipment that can throw a round stone the size of a jar hundreds of metres away and hit the walls with such precision that the powerful impact could cause damage to the walls. Under repeated hitting, it could even make the wall collapse. While the other siege equipment is like a movable sentry tower, which is built taller than the city wall. The archers at the top of the tower can easily attack the defenders on the city wall, and once it gets close to the city wall, it will drop down a bridge that the enemy can use to easily rush to the top of the city wall…the combination of these two siege equipment is the nightmare of any city, and Theonia owns both!

Pian was now not only worried about Clampetia, as he became more worried about Consentia. In his original plan, he could’ve retreated to Consentia and use the solid wall to resist the attack of the Theonians until the enemy’s rations ran out. However, the messenger’s narration shook his decision, as he does not want to be trapped in the city and have stones being thrown at his head by the Theonians…therefore, they must protect the city of Clampetia. Otherwise, once it gets occupied by the Theonians, Consentia will then be attacked on both sides.

But at this moment, with Theonia’s strength occupying a great advantage, the Bruttian Union is now in a dilemma. Defending alone is too passive, and the possibility of losing would be greater. Thus Pian was more inclined to risk attacking because as long as they could beat the main force of Theonia, it will solve all their difficulties!

He then turned his attention to Besidice, who had surrendered, because it is the closest to Thurii – the centre of Theonia, from which the main force of Theonia will come to attack.

After a lot of thinking, he finally decided to send two thousand reinforcements to Clampetia, convincing Bodiam to return to Anbania while sending messengers to Vergae, hoping that Bodiam and Sedrum could bring many warriors as possible to support the battle between Bruttii Union and Theonia.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In order to wait for the arrival of the supplies and meeting the needs of the war, Davos stayed for another two days in Besidice.

Although Besidice is very close to Thurii, the transport was more difficult due to the road conditions. After learning his lesson and making the subsequent transport easier, Davos ordered his soldiers to each carry five days’ rations again.

In the early morning of the third day, Davos led the first and second legion, the mountain reconnaissance brigade, cavalry brigade, the army of their allies – Heraclea and Roscianum, the Besidisian warriors, the legion reserve, and the two thousand freemen…except for a small part of the legion reserve that would be stationed in the city of Besidice, the total number of men who will go to battle Consentia was about 24,000.

When it was close to noon, the scouts came to report to Pian that the Theonian army are now entering the Consentia Plateau, and they could even see the prominent flag of the archon of Theonia.

The report made Pian unable to sit still and immediately held an emergency meeting. Besides Petaru and Phitara, and the exception of Pangam, who was still struggling in repelling the enemy’s attack in Clampetia, Bodiam and Sedrum, who had just arrived last night with their troops, joined, while Likumu died in battle. With only five of the “Seven Elders” being present, it inevitable made the mood of everyone in the hall sullen.

“I expect for the Theonians to camp in this area once they reached Consentia in the afternoon.” Pian drew a circle about 3 kilometres to the east of the map with his finger and excitedly said, “With the protection of Amara, we shall take advantage of their discomfort after entering Consentia and take the initiative to attack them while they are busy building their camp and force them to fight a decisive battle!”

Sedrum understood what Pian meant by “discomfort”. Because the high terrain in the area where Consentia is located was so high that even though an outsider would have no problem moving around normally, it would quickly tire them out and have difficulty breathing after a long period of strenuous movements. While the Bruttian warriors, especially the Consentians, have already adapted to this environment since childhood and no longer experience any abnormalities in their movements.

Moreover, knowing the battle situation on Clampetia, he no longer has any hope in defending the city.

He and Bodiam looked at each other with a dignified expression. In the end, they could only agree.

After going back to gather the troops, they waited nervously for the arrival of the Theonian army.

But half an hour later, Pian urgently called for them.

“Elders, from the report I have just received, the Theonians stopped moving near the Finita River and begun setting up their camp!” Pian said anxiously.

‘Finita River!’ Sedrum and Bodiam rushed to see the map in the middle of the hall.

The Finita River, even though it is called a river, is actually more like a small stream, which eventually joins the upper reaches of the Crati River and flows through an area of relatively flat terrain. The main point is that it is located between Besidice and Consentia.

“That’s so far from Consentia, and it is still so early, yet they already start resting?!” Bodiam muttered in confusion.

“Those Besidisian traitors! The great goddess Amara will punish them!” Phitara said with anger.

Sedrum understood the high priest’s anger. In his memory, the terrain of Finita River was not as high as here, so the influence of the terrain on the people would not be as evident.

He quickly glanced at Pian and asked, “What should we do now then?”

Pian also cursed. He also thought that the Theonian’s action must be due to the Besidisians ruining his plan.

After thinking about it, he looked at everyone. He said with seriousness, “Currently, Clampetia is being attacked by the enemy every day that they could breach it at any moment! Therefore, the only thing we can do is either let the enemy advance slowly and allow them to get used to the weather and environment gradually, or make up our minds and concentrate on attacking them with all our might! It is up to you to choose!”

Sedrum and Bodiam looked at each other again, and their eyes gradually glisten with determination, “Do we even have a choice?!”

“Goddess Amara, bless the children of Brutus!” Phitara chanted loudly…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Out of caution, Davos chose to camp near the Finita River.

After hearing the reminder of Baripiri about ‘outsiders having discomfort when entering the Consentia area’, a word immediately came up in his mind – Altitude Sickness: The higher the terrain, the thinner the air, the less oxygen content, and the faster the people get tired due to lack of oxygen. Of course, Compared with Tibet in the far east, the height of the Consentia Plateau is nothing at all, but it is likely to become a decisive factor in a fierce battle.

With the advantage now in his hands, Davos does not need to take any risks, as he just needs to advance steadily towards Consentia and allow the soldiers to gradually adapt to the altitude and become familiar with the area’s geography. At the same time, it would gradually put pressure on Consentia and deter them from splitting their troops to reinforce Clampetia.

Although he was unable to grasp the developments in Clampetia, he believed, out of trust in Hielos and the fourth legion, which had both types of siege equipment, that the fourth legion has an absolute advantage over Clampetia. Once Clampetia is breached, the Theonian troops could advance, increasing their advantage significantly and deterring the whole Bruttian region, which would directly lead to the disintegration of the Bruttii Union and make the Bruttians yield even without fighting!

Although the idea was good, Davos did not let his guard down. Per the 《Theonia’s Military Law》 in the construction of the military camp, he did not let all the soldiers devote themselves to the camp’s building. Instead, he just let the soldiers of the first legion and the reserve brigade work first, with the assistance of the freemen, while the second legion and their allies, as well as the Besidisian warriors, protects them.

“Why were we the ones to do the camp building first? We are the first legion of Theonia!” Hybaterus complained about with indignation. He fixed his gaze on the soldiers of the second legion, who were sitting and resting in front of him, as he dug.

“Perhaps it is because the second legion has just finished fighting the Bruttians the day before yesterday, so the grand legatus gave them a reward!” Pesias guessed.

While listening to his teammates, Leotychides mind wandered: Although the Spartans also attached importance to marching and camping, they didn’t attach much importance to it as Theonia did to the point of paranoia. When the Theonians arrived at a place to camp, the first thing they would consider is how to build an extremely solid camp that they even have engineers to measure and inspect the site, and even having penalties in case of defects…even though Leotychides had practised it many times in the training camp and in Taranto, he was still unable to adapt to it.

“If our first legion were the one to attack Besidice instead of the second legion, we would have completed it better! The grand legatus is not unfair, but giving the crucial task to the second legion, while he commanded our first legion to either climb the mountains or march that I don’t even know how many roads we have walked these days, and now the soles of my feet are filled with blisters!”

Hybaterus was chattering away his depression when someone suddenly patted him on the head, “Hybaterus, stop talking and work harder! If you slow down the progress of our camp construction and cause our team to lose to Olivos’ team, strategos Matonis will never let you off lightly!” Yelled Sitalses, the squad leader.

At the mention of Matonis, Hybaterus did not dare to say anymore.

Leotychides was somewhat impressed at the fierce-looking Matonis, who was very protective of his soldiers that could even go to the extreme. Leotychides had even witnessed him several times with those “terrifying” military judges because his soldiers were being punished according to the military law for violating discipline and even argued with Davos once. In addition to his incredible strength and superb skills, the soldiers loved and respected Matonis.

Chapter 321 – War is Coming

However, the strategos was strict with the soldiers on two things: I – In battle, the soldiers are only allowed to advance and not retreat. Otherwise, he would kick the timid soldiers out of the brigade. II – None of them could lose to the sixth brigade – Olivos’ brigade.

This kind of bickering may seem a bit funny. However, in the Theonian army, it was not uncommon for centuria to compete with each other, brigades to brigades, and legions to legions. And instead of forbidding such competition, the officers of all ranks strongly promoted it, such as Tug of War, Rugby, Football…all of these popular group sports and competitions in the military camp are between squad vs squad, platoon vs platoon, fiercely fighting for victory.

Leotychides felt that It is precisely because the officers at each rank attaching great importance to victory and defeat that even though these Theonian soldiers were mere farmers, fishermen, merchants, and so on, they quickly developed a sense of honour in their team and fought bravely in battle!…

“Prosous, I heard that you Argives and Spartans are enemies. So have you ever fought a Spartan?” Hybaterus, who was quiet for a moment, had begun talking again.

After the last commotion on the ship and the fierce battle against the Peucettians, Leotychides and his teammates, especially with Hybaterus, became quite friendly. When Leotychides heard this, he did not glance at him to hide the change in his expression. Instead, he continued looking down and dig the soil while quietly replying, “Yes.”

Hybaterus, who become interested, approached him and asked, “Who do you think is better, the Spartans or us?”

Leotychides had not expected Hybaterus to ask this question, making him unable to reply immediately.

His other teammates also seemed interested in it, and all approached him. While their squad leader, Sitalses, did not say anything.

The truth is, Hybaterus asked the right person, as Leotychides was indeed the best person to answer this question because he was a Spartan that has spent half a year in the Theonian army and even fought in battles. Thus he had considerable knowledge of the military situation between the two forces.

Facing the curious gazes of his comrades, Leotychides could not refuse. However, he did not know what to say for a while. He put down his pickaxe, patted the dirt on his hands and thought about it carefully before saying, “The Spartans from the age of six carried out a brutal combat training called “Agoge”. Except for a small amount of time to learn how to read, they would live in the military camp until they come of age, and their rite of passage is to kill any Helots they encounter alone…”

“Oh, that’s cruel!” Shouted his teammates.

Remaining unperturbed, Leotychides continued, “After becoming an adult, the Spartans would do nothing besides fighting until they die…that’s why the Spartans are the strongest warriors in the world, as they are familiar with every detail of battle and could kill their enemies as easily as drinking water!” After saying this, his pride as a Spartan came out.

Some of his teammates booed with discontent.

“Prosous, with you praising the Spartans so much, are you really an Argive?!” Someone chided with dissatisfaction.

Leotychides was astonished at how he had slightly lost his vigilance a bit from getting along with his teammates. So he hastily added, “But the Spartan warriors are too few, and the number of their young citizens is only half of that of Theonian’s legion. Even if the Perioikoi were added, it is only more than ten thousand. While the Theonian soldiers are the best, I know of among the city-state whose soldiers don’t fight for a living! And have a very unique and well-developed military system. I personally think that there are some things that Theonia is even better than Sparta! And the most important thing is that there are many Theonian soldiers and that the number will only continue to increase after defeating the Bruttians this time…”

“I know what you mean, Prosous. In a one-on-one fight, we can’t defeat the Spartans, but in a real war, the Spartans are no match against us because their number is too few, right?!” Hybaterus interrupted.

“Our Theonian Union has always emphasised teamwork and cooperation. Hence why no matter how powerful a Spartan is, they will never be able to defeat four-five Theonian soldiers that cooperate closely!” Said Pesias.

“That’s right! No matter how fierce the running back is in a rugby match, he won’t be able to score without the help of his teammates!” Another squadmate chimed in.

Leotychides knew him. He is a Theonian citizen who had violated discipline and suffered punishment several times during the training camp. In the last battle against the Peucettians, they added him as some soldiers under Leotychides’s squad were seriously injured. However, he is now a qualified legion soldier. That is the frightening thing about the Theonian military system as it could train free-spirited Greeks into qualified soldiers through arduous training, sports and competitions in a short time.

The Spartans who founded their state with military might have learned a truth during their long conquest: Whether the city-state army is strong, individual strength is only secondary, as the most crucial thing is strict discipline, unconditional obedience and persistence in training. Most Greek cities can neither understand nor achieve those, but the newly established Theonia has required it since the beginning. It was said that all of those were from the hands of Davos, the ruler who the gods have blessed. Compared with Sparta, the truly terrifying thing about Theonia seems to be this young man!

Leotychides reminded them as he didn’t want his teammates to make a wrong judgment and think Sparta was weak, “Even though there are only a few Spartan soldiers, the Spartan seldom fight alone. Don’t forget, they are the leader of the Peloponnesian League and now is the hegemon of the whole of Greece, with countless soldiers from their allies fighting for them. And most Spartan strategoi are qualified commanders…”

“Hey, I am only talking about a comparison between Sparta and our Theonia. If we also talk about allies, then Theonia also has them, Laos, Roscianum…” Said Hybaterus with discontent.

“Also Heraclea…the South Italia Alliance, such as Crotone, Scylletium, Terina, and…”

“Caulonia.”

His teammates scrambled to shout, making Leotychides felt slightly emotional. In the eastern Mediterranean, many city-states talked about Sparta and feared the Spartan warriors, including even the prominent city-states like Athens and Corinth. However, these Theonian soldiers in front of him discussed without fear who was stronger and weaker between Theonia and Sparta, not because they were ignorant, but because their constant victory gave them confidence.

Their shouting finally alerted their platoon captain, Pamanius, who was not far away, looking angry, “All of you are just gossiping instead of digging trenches properly! Do you not fear the military law!”

His teammates quickly disperse and went on their own.

Then their squad captain, Sitalses, came over and whispered, “Prosous, you are right! But next time, you should change ‘you’ to ‘us’.”

Hearing this, Leotychides couldn’t help but feel embarrassed, as he still hasn’t really integrated into Theonia and regard himself as a Theonian…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

While the soldiers of the first legion were busy, Davos was talking with Teriphias, the strategos of Heraclea’s troops.

“You want our engineers to come to Heraclea and build bridges?”

“Yes, Lord Davos. We could hear Theonia’s superb bridge-building skills even in Heraclea. After leading my soldiers, I had gotten a deeper experience after passing through the two wooden bridges in Thurii. As you probably know, there are many rivers in Heraclea’s territory, and the main city of Heraclea is built on the delta surrounded by the Agri River and its tributaries, making the rainy season in April and May the most difficult season for us in Heraclea.” Teriphias sighed and said helplessly, “When the river surges, it would often wash away the pontoon bridges would often. Thus we have to sail out to sea every day to fetch them and dock them again for us to get to our farms, so we urgently need some sturdy bridge, just like the wooden bridges on the Crati River!”

After listening to Teriphias’ request, Davos immediately promised, “Heraclea is an ally of Theonia, and it’s our pleasure to assist you!”

“I heard that besides being a master bridge builder, Heracleides the Younger is also serving as a public official of Theonia’s road management. And so, we, Heracleans, are willing to donate fifty tons of grain to Theonia as thanks to Heracleides the Younger and his team for their help during their busy time.” Teriphias said sincerely.

Davos did not refuse as Theonia has a food shortage, and Teriphias’ move was like sending charcoal in the snow. Teriphias’ kind offer made Davos once more think highly of him. Although there are a dense network of water and fertile lands in Heraclea, fifty tons of grain is by no means a small amount. Besides being a reward for building the bridge, Heraclea’ gift is also an expression of Heraclea’s attitude. In this regard, Davos noted it in his heart.

With this agreement, the conversation between Davos and Teriphias became more intimate and casual.

Davos even spoke happily about not expecting that there was such a good grassland in Consentia, which could be used to raise horses.

Just as they were enjoying their conversion, the herald, Tolmides, came in with a nervous expression, “Grand legatus, Ledes urgently reported that they have found the Bruttian army marching towards here!”

“How many are they?” Davos asked right away.

“According to the scouts, there may be twenty thousand men!”

Twenty thousand! Davos no longer has a calm expression, ‘The Bruttii Union clearly wants to fight a decisive battle here!’

Chapter 322 – Reconnaissance before the Battle of Finita River

Davos had chosen to camp here because he does not have any plan to fight the Bruttii Union now. At the same time, he thought that the Bruttii Union would be more cautious after their failed attack on the fortress the day before. However, he did not expect that the enemy would abandon their land advantage and march for dozen of kilometres to challenge them. But since they are here, then let’s fight!

Both sides were equal in strength, and although half of the Theonian soldiers might be exhausted from building the camp, that was no reason to avoid a war. Davos stood up abruptly and asked. “How is the camp construction?”

“We have already dug the trench and are currently building the earthen wall.” Answered Tolmides, then he asked, “Do you want for the soldiers to retreat behind the trenches?”

Davos waved his hand and refused because the Theonian army has always been on offence. Although the trench would make it difficult for the enemy, it will also limit their offensive capabilities and hinder the soldiers’ morale. That’s why besides some exceptional circumstances, he will never do that.

“Sound the salpinx, gather the soldiers, and then call legatus Kapus and Drakos, as well as the cavalry’s strategos, Ledes…and also, call Epiphanes and Cid.” Davos gave his orders.

“Roger.” Tolmides swiftly transmitted the orders.

“Are we going to fight the Bruttians here?” Asked Teriphias, who was slightly nervous.

“Yes, it seems that the end of the war with Bruttii would be shift earlier!” Davos smiled confidently, and Teriphias has gotten affected by this smile and relaxed. He then gave a Greek military salute, “Then allow me to gather my soldiers first!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Pian led the army towards the Finita River, over a high slope and down to a wide, flat meadow. On the field were countless Greeks gathering and forming up, and when viewed from up high, it looked like a hollowed-out mound, which was quite a messy sight.

“Stop moving and prepare to form up!” He immediately ordered.

Although the Greek’s formation had not yet taken shape, he already has a general impression while looking down from the high slope. On the right side of the Theonians is the intersection of the Finita River and the Crati River. To the left was a flat grassy area without any obstacles, and in the rear was a messy mound of earth that they had dug.

After watching for a while, he finally made up his mind: Since it was difficult to rush on the side near the river as there was little room for attack and manoeuvring, so he placed five thousand tribal warriors, who he had forcibly recruited from the various tribes, on the left; In the middle were the more than five thousand warriors from the city of Anbania and Vergae; While on the right were the twelve thousand warriors of Consentia.

Obviously, he was trying to use the most numerous and battle-hardened Consentian warriors on the right flank to get the victory.

Pian’s idea was to take advantage of the enemy’s disorganisation and quickly set up a good battle formation to attack!

However, in order to form up a good formation with more than twenty thousand men from different tribes in a short time, not only does it need a complete command system, but also long-term military training and highly disciplined soldiers. But these Bruttians failed to meet those requirements. Thus the whole Bruttians’ army could only form up slowly, with horns being blown, drums ringing, people shouting and pushing each other. The entire scene was noisy and chaotic.

Pian was leisurely watching the enemy’s movement while waiting for his side’s formation to be completed, but after a while, his face becoming a bit unsightly.

Because the messy Theonians had soon formed “small phalanxes”, and then the countless small phalanxes were like building blocks, which then moved quickly and without interference into their fixed positions like building blocks. Soon, the Theonian formation took shape.

It was a formation that Pian had never seen before, with the “small phalanxes” not tightly pack together, leaving gaps between them. From above, it looked like a blanket of green and white wool (because the linen breastplate was white). Although Pian doesn’t know how powerful such a strange formation would be, the speed with which the Theonians formed up made him uneasy.

He then loudly said to Petaru, who was beside him, “Hurry and tell Bodiam to act faster!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The chaotic formation of the Theonians that Pian saw was the moment when the soldiers of the first legion scrambled out of the hot camp, help each other wear their armours and returned to their own teams. Now the true formation has appeared, and Davos’ slightly nervous mood has settled down.

“Milord, our right flank is still trying to form up and has not yet into position!” Tolmides reported anxiously.

“There’s no need to hurry. The right flank consists of mixed soldiers of our allies’ troops and the legion’s reserves.” Davos rode on his horse and looked to the left. At the end of autumn, with no rain for more than ten days, the land was dry, and the movement of tens of thousands of soldiers had already stirred up the dirt, so he could only catch a slight glimpse of the right flank.

Davos leisurely said, “Rather than rushing the formation, Teriphias’ had instead reorganised his soldiers first, which reassures me.”

He then pointed forward, “As you can see, the Bruttians are still not moving on the grass slope, as they are probably still forming up, which just gave us enough time to have the soldiers of the first legion to rest and recover a bit of their strength.”

Tolmides fixed his gaze at the front, five hundred metres away, which was also covered with dust.

“Tell Ledes.” Davos once again ordered, “To send seven or eight cavalry platoons to harass the left, centre and right side of the enemy, slow down their formation and observe their response. Afterwards, report back to me.”

“Understood.”

“Wait. Tell Ledes that I am talking about harassment and not fight recklessly. If the enemy’s cavalry comes after them, have them immediately return. Don’t let our cavalry get harm!” Repeated Davos.

“Understood, milord.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Children, keep up!”

“Uncle, we can run faster than you without riding a horse.”

“Stinky boy, does your skin itch? I’ll beat you up after we return.”

“Captain, you should have done that a long time ago!”

In a burst of laughter, the cavalry platoon led by Solikos crossed the battlefield and reached the Finita River.

“Halt!” Solikos extend his spear, and the whole platoon unit stopped.

“Everyone, dismount!”

“Why, captain?! We are still not in front of the enemy!” A cavalryman clamoured.

“Obey the orders!” Shouted Solikos.

Although the cavalrymen were reluctant, with the influence of the military, they still obeyed. But with unwillingness, he shouted in dissatisfaction, “Captain, the other unit has already thrown javelins at the enemy! Do you want us to be deserters?!”

“Zip it! Our platoon’s order was to harass the enemy’s left flank. However, with the distance being too long, the horses were already a bit tired. So have them rest for a while so as to better complete our mission! Don’t worry, since I brought you out, I will also make sure to bring you back safely!”

“Alright, captain, we will listen to you. But how long we have to wait?!”

“Until I give the order.”

The cavalrymen had no choice but to pat the restless horses while observing the grey battlefield ahead and watch their teammates in the distance, sometimes rushing into the dust, sometimes withdrawing…screams resounding in their ears, making their hearts itch.

Time passed so slowly that they became a bit impatient. “Get on the horse!” the shout of Solikos was like rain in a long drought, which greatly invigorated them.

The fifty horses began to gallop, gradually forming a wedge formation as they advanced.

Solikos, who was at the front, raised his spear and brandished it forward twice, “Speed up!”

A thirty-metre high grassy slope appeared at the front. Although it is not steep, it is important to prevent the horses from slowing down on their way up while being attacked by the enemy.

The horses looked like flying with all four of their hooves. The cavalrymen clung to the horse’ neck and leaned forward to speed up the horses’ ascent.

Solikos was the first to reach the grassy slope. Dozen of metres away, dense Bruttians stretch out from the bank of Finita River, not knowing how long it extend that it was difficult to count how thick their formation was.

Solikos felt that he was like an ant standing in front of an elephant. The invisible pressure pressed down on his chest, making him have trouble breathing. He took a deep breath, drew out a spear, clamp his legs on the horse’s belly, and speed up his horse again while the cavalry under him followed closely.

Fifty metres, forty, thirty…the raised horse’ hooves landed on the dry, cracked earth like a drumstick hitting a drum, sending out loud noises, coupled with the rapid advance of the cavalry platoon creating a considerable momentum and causing a commotion in the Bruttian formation that had just been set up.

Just as the soldiers of Bruttians pushed each other and exclaimed, Solikos threw his javelin. Then dozens of javelins plunged into the enemy’s formation, causing a lot of screams ringing out one after another.

The Bruttians were even more confused that some have withdrawn in panic, while some rushed up in anger…

With a wave of his spear, Solikos and his men turned left more than twenty metres away from the enemy’s formation and galloped forward along the front of the Bruttian’s phalanx. Wherever they went, it was like a stone crashing into a calm water surface, but the ripples could not be stopped for a while. At the same time, the enemy’s panic and confusion were reflected in the eyes of Solikos. He realised that they had completed their mission, so he decisively ordered, “Turn left!”

As soon as the cavalry turned around, the Bruttian cavalry arrived and chased them.

However, the Theonian light infantry came out to meet them in time and scared back the hundreds of Bruttian cavalry with their javelins.

Davos’ clever use of the cavalry’s “reconnaissance” to get a response from the Bruttians had given him a general idea of their formation, as reported by Ledes. The Bruttians’ left flank was the worst in terms of its response to the cavalry’s harassment, while the right flank was the strongest, costing the Theonian cavalry a dozen of casualties. Evidently, the Bruttian’s plan was the same as that of Davos, that is, to place the weakest troops on the side near the river and the strongest troops on the other side. After all, this is in line with the principles of the art of war.

Chapter 323 – Cavalry’s Offence at the Battle of Finita River

On the right flank, Davos place his allies’ troops and the legion’s reserve; On the middle is the first legion; And finally, the second legion on the left flank, as he also wants to use his strongest troops to make a breakthrough from the outside and eventually encircle the enemy.

After making up his mind, Davos said to Ledes, “The cavalry brigade had worked hard! That’s why have our brothers retreat to the rear and get some rest!”

Upon hearing this, Ledes hurriedly said, “Lord Davos, the enemy’s right flank still have five hundred cavalries. If we were to withdraw to the rear, then who will deal with them?”

“There will be someone to deal with them, while you and your cavalry will need to deliver a fatal blow to the enemy at a critical moment! Until then, have your men and the horses recover their strength!” Explained Davos.

Ledes could only back down.

Davos immediately asked Tolmides to call Epiphanes and Cid and solemnly said, “Once the enemy attacks, I want you to lead the light infantry and the freemen to strike the enemy’s right flank from a long-range, while also dealing with the enemy’s cavalry and light infantry. This task is difficult. Can you do it?”

“When we were in Persia, we fought with the Persian cavalry and archers and defeated them many times! And the Bruttians will not be stronger than the Persians!” Epiphanes said confidently.

“Hades, bless us!” Cid muttered devoutly.

Davos looked into their eyes and gave them a solemn and firm salute, “I await for your victory!”

After seeing the two, Davos’ battle plan has been fully implemented and was just waiting for the Bruttians’ attack.

At this moment, Martius and Rodom, the nephew of Baripiri, came to him and asked, “Milord, Burim and Kreru, the chieftains of Besidice, insisted on meeting you!”

Davos looked back at the two Besidisian chieftains that the guards stopped. Afterwards, they hurriedly dismounted and rushed over.

“Archon of Theonia, we Besidisians strongly demand to meet the enemy instead of hiding behind like a coward! This is a shame to our warriors!” Exclaimed Burim emotionally.

‘Shame?’ After listening to the translation of Adepiges, Davos glanced suspiciously at the herald, Tomides, who had been following him.

Tolmides hastily explained, “I have patiently told chieftain Burim a lot of times, but he seems unwilling to accept the idea of being a reserve…”

After hearing this, Davos immediately became serious. He then said in a cold voice, “Since the warriors of Besidice are now Theonians, then you should know that the soldiers of Theonia must obey the orders of their superior unconditionally. But if you are still unable to do so, then lead your troops away! As our true Theonian soldiers will enjoy the glory of victory alone! That’s all!” After saying that, he spoke another sentence to Adepiges, “Translate it as it is!” He then turned around and left.

Tolmides followed while turning back from to time, only to see Burim and Kreru leave unhappily.

“Milord, are you not afraid that the Besidisians will leave in anger?” Tolmides said with some worry.

Davos smiled, “For stubborn people, the more you explain, the more they will ask for more. Hence it is better to cut him off of this idea from the start! Moreover, even if the Besidisians leave, it still won’t affect our victory!”

With suspicion, Tolmides secretly sent some people to observe the movement of the Besidisians. However, he found out that after Burim returned, he obediently led his men to wait in the rear without making any fuss, making Tolmides ashamed. For more than ten years, Tolmides had been dealing with many mercenary leaders, yet his understanding of human nature is still not as good as that of a twenty-year-old youth. And the only thing that could explain it is that he is truly the ‘God’s Favored’.

Due to the harassment of the Theonian cavalry, the Bruttians only managed to complete their formation by afternoon. And Pian became somewhat anxious after seeing his warriors no longer as excited as they had been at the beginning. Knowing his people too well, the Bruttians – a race living between the Greeks and the Lucanians, were brave but timid, passionate but meek, these warriors who lived freely in the mountains and plateaus, the crucial point is to boost their morale.

Therefore, Pian led his guards to the front of the formation, while his guards attracted the attention of thousands of warriors with their shouts. Then Pian shouted, “Bruttians, my fellow citizens! For hundreds of years, we have lived freely on this beautiful plateau, this place where Amara has nurtured us with her sweet **, and Brutus giving us peace. But now, our peace has been harmed! Our land was invaded! Who is taking over our cities?! Slaughtering our people?!”

“Theonians!!!”

“Those wretched Greeks!!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The warriors began to respond angrily.

“Are we just going to allow these evil foreign race to occupy our land, destroy our temples, r*pe our women, turn our children into slaves, lose our freedom and live like livestock?” Pian asked in a loud voice while his guards repeated what he said.

“No!” The warriors in front of him responded angrily, which gradually spread throughout the whole formation.

“No!!!” Then twenty thousand Bruttian warriors shouted at the same time.

“Then defeat the Theonians and get our freedom back!” Pian raised his spear high.

“Kill them!”

“Kill them!!!”

Thousands of warriors roared in hysteria.

“ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!…” They then used their spears to beat the ground, and their morale rose sharply.

Pian likewise gotten affected by this and became excited. Facing the warriors who could no longer bear it, he pointed his spear forward and shouted, “Attack!”

The horn behind sounded, and it rang out everywhere.

“ROAR!!!…” Thus the Battle of Finita River, which determined the ownership of the Bruttii region, began.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hearing the thunderous roars from the other side, Tolmides ends up asking, “Lord Davos, the Bruttians are boosting their morale. Shouldn’t you….”

“In a match, it’s not who has the loudest voice wins. Rather, it is the calm player who wins. What the soldiers need now is to block the enemy’s attack first. Besides consuming the little strength they have left, unnecessary roaring will also make them lose their defensive position due to being too excited.” Said Davos while looking ahead.

Tolmides nodded his head with admiration.

“The Bruttians are attacking. Sound the salpinx!” When Davos heard the horn from the other side, he also began giving orders. At the same time, he took his guards to pass through the gap between the small phalanxes quickly and came to the rear of the formation.

Then a dozen bronze salpinx blew out a low sound, and the soldiers who were sitting down and resting had immediately picked up their spears and shields stood up and moved their somewhat sore and numb arms and legs. At the same time, their teammates moved closer to each other and arranged the somewhat loose formation closely to meet the upcoming battle.

The small phalanx formation in the front began to connect with each other quickly. The middle and left flank of the Theonian army soon integrated with the army of their allies in the right flank.

While Epiphanes and Cid led a total of four thousand light infantry and freemen from the outside of the left flank to the front, having their own division of labour. After leading the more than 2,500 men fifty metres forward, Cid stopped, and the slingers, archers and a few peltasts lined up in turn, while Epiphanes continued to move to the outside of the left flank with nearly a thousand light shield soldiers and peltasts. As they march, the column soon elongate and was almost out of the battlefield.

In the salpinx’ sound, the Bruttians’ long line of nearly four kilometres moved forward slowly without having reserve troops.

The Bruttian scattered their light infantry evenly. And due to the Bruttii mountains being densely forested and having a high plateau with many wild animals, it has caused the number of archers to be abundant. Thus the archers had made up the vast majority. Following the light infantry were the infantry, mostly spearmen holding shields and spears. And on the far right were six hundred cavalries. Although the Bruttians occupied the whole plateau, they mainly use this valuable land for grazing livestock to support their large population. Although they also raised some horses, they are mostly pack horses, and those few who owned war horses were mainly the high-standing men in the tribes. Thus the six hundred horses were almost the largest number the Bruttians could gather.

As soon as the Bruttians went down the grassy slope, the Theonians slingers immediately baptised the right flank of the Bruttians with a hail of stones. Causing their infantry to march slowly under the protection of their leather shield, and due to them still being too far away from Theonia’s formation, they could not charge too early. However, the Bruttian’s light infantry began to run, as their responsibility was to clear the way for the main force to fight.

The Bruttian cavalry on the far right flank was already speeding up. During battles, it was always a tradition for the cavalry on both flanks to engage the enemy fist, as they were the fastest. However, the previous attack of the Theonian cavalry could be said to be giving them a slap in the face, and now they want to get back at them.

The cavalry shook the reins and clamped the horse’s belly, increasing the speed of the horse. And the feeling of running at breakneck speed made their blood boil even more. They then saw the enemy cavalry just three hundred metres away from the rear of the light infantry.

The cavalry leader charging in the front was thinking in his mind that they have a high chance to win if they first disperse the scattered light infantry in front, then attack the idle cavalry of the enemy. However, he suddenly caught a glimpse of countless figures appearing a few dozen metres away on the right and quickly rushed towards them.

Uneasiness immediately crept to the cavalry leader. But before he could even respond, countless javelin flew thirty metres and struck the galloping cavalries.

In an instant, whether it is a man or a horse, once they got hit and fell on the ground, they will have difficulty in surviving and will also affect the nearby charging cavalry.

Epiphanes knew well about cavalries, so instead of confronting them from the front, he pretended to disengage from the battlefield, but in fact, he was prepared to strike the cavalry from the outside.

Chapter 324 – Midday Break at the Akademia of Theonia

The speed of the Bruttian cavalry slowed down, but once they stopped, they would be an easier target. In the dust, the cavalry was frightened as besides defending against the javelins thrown by the enemy, they also had to be careful not to be tripped by their fallen comrades.

Seeing their comrades behind them in disarray, those who had already charged ahead had to turn around and charge at these Theonian light infantry to extricate their comrades from their plight.

Epiphanes soon notice the enemy’s attack, but rather than evacuating with the soldiers, he took some of his peltasts to meet them, knowing that the most terrifying is the charge of the cavalry instead of the spears in the cavalrymen’s hand, which would either break or seriously injure the light infantry who had little protection. In fact, a dense spear formation was the best way to stop a cavalry charge, but the light infantry was not equipped with this and did not have the time to prepare.

In the face of the fierce Bruttian cavalry, Epiphanes and the experienced former Thracian peltasts unhurriedly untied the rope on the javelins.

“Throw!” Epiphanes threw out his javelin with a roar, which then flew straight in a flash, piercing deeply into the neck of the horse in front of him.

The horse neighed miserably and thrashed around, throwing the cavalryman off his horse.

With this round of throwing from the peltast, many cavalrymen were thrown off their horses. But rather than watching the effect of their attack, they instead quickly took out their rhompaia and raised the leather shield on their left hand, squatted on the ground in a bow and arrow stance. Watching the enemy cavalry who had rushed to the front, they quickly rolled to either the left or right. And if they do not have the time to dodge, they would fall to the ground, shrinking their body into a ball and protecting their heads and chests with their shields to block the trampling of the horses. And if they were to see an opportunity, they would cut the horse’ legs with their rhompaia, frightening the horses and throwing off their riders.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the Bruttii cavalry was in trouble, the troops led by Cid already clashed with the light infantry of the Bruttii.

The numerous arrows crisscrossed in the air as dense as a thick cloud and rained down on both sides, taking away lives.

After a few rounds, the Bruttian light infantry could no longer hold on. After all, Theonia concentrated all their archers on the left, not comparable to those of the Bruttian light infantry, which they distributed evenly.

But in the centre and the right flank of the Theonian army, the Bruttian light infantry can freely shoot their arrows at the Theonian soldiers and even throw javelins within fifty metres.

The Theonian legion soldiers erected long shield walls and used their thick bronze shields and iron helmets to block the enemy’s long-range attack.

And the officers shouted, “Hold on! Hold on! Take your time!…” Preventing the soldiers from throwing their javelins impulsively as it will not only arouse the enemy’s vigilance but will also disrupt the overall defence of the team, resulting in an unnecessary increase of casualties.

Fortunately, after the Bruttian infantry got closer, the light infantry had to retreat quickly through the gap between the infantry’s formation and to the rear. Otherwise, they would have been swept up by the infantry to the frontline and fight face to face with the heavily armed Greek heavy infantry.

And the Bruttian infantry finally started charging and roaring as they rushed towards the Theonian formation that is ready to meet them.

Compared to the aggressive Bruttian warriors, the Theonian soldiers were as calm as a mountain, holding the javelin in their hands and focusing their gaze on the enemy in the distance.

Then the officer shouted, “Javelin!”

On the left, the middle and the right flanks, dark clouds rose on the four-kilometre long army formation one after another.

The charging Bruttians were caught off guard, and the sharp javelin instantly taking the lives of hundreds of warriors. However, the rain of javelins did not slow down the Bruttian warriors, stepping over the corpses of their comrades and advancing much faster, so much so that many Theonian soldiers had not had the time to throw a second javelin before the Bruttians slammed into the shield wall of the Theonian army, instantly causing countless gaps to appear in the shield wall.

The Bruttian warriors bravely rushed in, trying to widen the gap, while the third and fourth lines of Theonian soldiers quickly raised their shields to meet the enemy and drove them back with their spears.

For a moment, the soldiers of both sides collided with each other, spears and spears collided, dust fog filling the sky and the sounds of fighting shook the sky…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As the midday sun casts its shadow on the tiny sundial, Onatas, who was in charge of teaching Greek, announced that the morning class was over.

While the children were cheering, he seriously said, “Children, I hope that you will read the poem of Hesiod once you go home, preferably to be able to recite it by heart. As for these new words I taught, you must memorise them as I will check them tomorrow. Have you remembered them all?!”

“Yes, teacher!” The students answered in unison.

“Especially you, Patroclus.” Onatas pointed to the child sitting in the distance and warned, “Go back this time and have your meal. However, I don’t want to see you being punished again tomorrow, understand?”

Patroclus lowered his head in embarrassment.

And the students around burst into laughter.

Patroclus’ poor performance in Greek class was in complete contrast to his fast and accurate problem-solving in math class.

Onatas then went out of the classroom, and the students cheered and ran out in succession.

Sthephilos grabbed Patroclus by the arm and urged, “Hurry uP! If we’re late, there will be nothing left!”

The two of them rushed out of the classroom, but just as soon as they reach the corner, they heard an “ouch”, and a little girl was knockdown on the ground.

“Hey, are the two of you blind?!” Cynthia scolded, bent down and asked with concern, “Giada, are you okay?”

“I…I’m alright.” Giada replied weakly.

Cynthia pulled her up and turned to look at the two boys with a fierce glare, “Get over here and apologise! Otherwise, you are not allowed to leave!” Although Cynthia is younger, the two boys who are extremely active in class seems to be afraid of her and bowed in a hurry, “We’re sorry, Giada, it’s because we were…”

“I’m fine. You guys can go and buy your buttercream bun, or else you will miss it if you are late.” Instead of getting angry, Giada reminded them softly.

The two boys were relieved and ran away quickly, while Patroclus did not forget to glance at Cynthia and quickly looked away.

Cynthia grunted, “Giada, you are too nice. If it were me, I would never let them off lightly!”

Giada smiled and patted the dust off her body.

“Oh right! Come to my house for lunch today and eat a real buttercream bun!” Cynthia suddenly remembered something and invited her, “My mother told me to bring you home at noon when I left home this morning!”

Giada stopped talking and nod shyly.

Usually, sports classed were scheduled at noon in Theonia’s Akademia: Simple military training, rugby and football matches for the boys, while running, jumping and playing some games for the girls, it is why their free time at noon is not long.

Besides the children in Thurii who have the time to go home for lunch, children whose home are far away could only deal with their stomach problems from nearby. Fortunately, with the expansion of the Akademia’s influence and the increasing number of students, teachers, guards and other personnel, merchants and street vendors saw business opportunities. They set up shops in the designated area outside the school to sell papyrus, stationery, clothes, food…and the most famous is the small restaurant built here by the archon’s wife, Cheiristoya, as they provided students with lunch at a low price. And the most popular food for the students recently is the newly launched buttercream bun. Every day, students and even the teachers line up to buy it, causing the demands to exceed the supply.

As classmates in the same classroom, Cynthia and Giada soon became good friends, and when Cynthia invited her to her home for the first time, she was treated with great hospitality by Cheiristoya. Especially after finding out that Giada is the adopted daughter of Alexius, an old comrade of Davos and a senior centurion of the first legion and a statesman of the Senate(Alexius has always lived in Amendolara and has not moved to Thurii). Cheiristoya warmly invited her to the house for lunch every day, and this hospitality brought her and Cynthia closer together as mother and daughter.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The delta between the Crati River and the Cosceli River was originally a settlement for the slaves of Thurii, a collection and storage area for stone and copper workshops and a washing area. The security was not only bad, but the environment is also poor, and a lot of waste was poured into the two rivers every day.

After Davos came to Thurii and saw this situation, he discussed it several times with Kunogelata and Marigi on how to govern this area.

In the end, they moved the union’s public slave settlement to the military camp in the north of the main city of Thurii, which not only kept it away from the residential area of Thurii but also had the nearby military camp to monitor them. So that if there was any abnormality, the army could immediately suppress it. At the same time, the stone workshop was moved to the market next to the port, while the copper workshop was moved to the new economic development zone near Amendolara at the beginning of the year and was next to the Saraceno River so that it could get enough personnel nearby and form a good interaction with other workshops. However, the most important thing is that the Crati and Cosceli Rivers, which are related to the life and health of tens of thousands of people in Thurii, are free from pollution.

Afterwards, Davos planned the vacated land as the cultural centre of the whole Theonia Union. Hence, the established Akademia of Theonia Akademia, and the Theonia School Park, which represents the union’s highest scientific and cultural level, is under construction. Herpus, the head of Thurii’s hospital, will also build a medical school within the Akademia, while Metoticles will also move the Institute of Mathematics, and Ansitanos plans to set up a historical research group.

In order to ensure that the students and teachers can study and research at ease, Davos also asked Heracleides the younger to build another wooden bridge in the middle of the Cosceli River so that the frequent traffic and ore carrying wagons can pass through the north of the delta. And Heracleides the Younger is already working on building an actual stone bridge directly between the north and south part of Thurii.

Chapter 325 – Pollux’ Criticism

Patroclus run to the Temple of Athena, not far from the Akademia, after eating lunch with Sthephilos.

To thank Athens for their significant help in rebuilding Thurii, they built the Temple of Athena as thanks. But after the Peloponnesian War, Thurii forcibly cut off their relationship with Athens and expelled the Athenians in Thurii. It’s why there are only a few people coming here to pray, even now.

The children who like rugby and football come here to the small square in front of the temple to play. Patroclus became the little star in these sports because at the age of 13, he is already far better than other children in strength, speed and agility, and everyone loves playing with him.

However, he and Sthephilos are currently not interested in playing, and both of them lay down on the wall of the temple and threw stones at the Cosceli River.

“Sthephilos, it’s almost two months since I saw my father. To tell you the truth, this is the first time I have been separated from my father for such a long time since childhood. I don’t even know how he is now…” Patroclus looked at the running water, worried and complaining, “When the first legion passed through Thurii, Lord Davos did not allow them to go look at their home! They went so fast that even when I desperately went after them after class, I was still unable to catch up to them…”

Sthephilos grinned and said, “I heard from my father that the requirements of the soldiers in the legion are very strict, much stricter than those rules of our school. If they were to break the rules, they would get spanked. It is why your father does not dare to come to see you as he is afraid of getting spanked!”

Patroclus glared at him, “I don’t see you worrying much about your father.”

Sthephilos stopped throwing stones into the river and loudly said, “I already told you that Amintas is not my father! But…he is very kind to my mother and me…”

Sthephilos turned his head and thought for a while and added, “He often told me stories of his time in Persia fighting together with the great archon, Davos. He is a hero, and I like him very much. That is why I believe that he will be okay! Because the great archon, Davos, has never lost a battle!”

His optimism infected Patroclus, “You are right, Theonia Union is invincible!”

At this time, a kid excitedly ran into the temple, “Good news! Good news!…”

“Prokles, what news made you so happy?!” The children stopped playing and looked at him.

“Classmates, cheers! The third legion, under my father’s leadership, wiped out the invading Pyxous!” Exclaimed Prokles excitedly.

“Is that true?” Patroclus asked hurriedly.

“Of course, it is true!” Prokles raised his head and said, “If you don’t believe me, go to the city of Thurii and see the whole city cheering!”

“No one doubted this victory, but this victory was mainly due to the command of archon Davos, right?” Seeing the excited Prokles, Sthephilos remembered that he had not received any news from his father, so he couldn’t help but blurt out.

Prokles was unable to say anything for a while. He glared hard at Sthephilos and yelled, “Anyway, it was my father who commanded the troops at Grumentum, and what’s your father doing now?!”

It’s now Sthephilos’ turn to be speechless.

Just as the two quarrelled, the other children cheered, “Amazing! Victory!”

“Theonia is winning!”

“The legion is victorious!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Afterwards, the cheering children began lining up according to the military movements taught by their teachers and played a game of “Triumphant Return”. Patroclus then pulled Prokles and Sthephilos into the line. However, they soon argued who would be the flag bearer…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At the same time, in the Senate Hall in Thurii, the statesmen were discussing the affairs of the Theonia Union.

Marigi, the rotating chairperson, took out a parchment and said, “The praetor of Krimisa, Lord Scambras, sent a letter saying that he had thought of a lot of measures, but even with that, there are still many people in Krimisa who are not willing to sign up for the grain shares. Up to now, the shares allocated to several other cities, even Aprustum, has been snagged. Only Krimisa-” Marigi increased his voice, “Even though the shares allocated to it was the least, not even half of the shares were bought! Do you think we should allocate the rest of the shares to Roscianum? Amikles kept on sending someone and say that ‘The citizens of Roscianum are eager to sign up for the shares we issued!’”

“Yes!”

“I have no opinion!”

“Borrowing fifty kilograms of wheat and paying back 58 kilograms in a year is a lucrative profit! Even though Theonia has not taken advantage of the citizens, why is it that there are so many people in Krimisa that are unwilling to sign up? We should think about the reasons!” Kunogelate reminded everyone.

Afterwards, most of the statesmen turn their attention to Androlis.

Looking somewhat embarrassed, he stood up and coughed a few times, then said, “My lords, I…I think there are several reasons for this…first, Krimisa was the latest to join the Theonia Union, and only half a year has passed since then! But the most important thing is that it’s different from Aprustum…” Speaking here, he calmed down, cleared his throat and said seriously, “Although the truth is uncomfortable for everyone, it is a fact that even though the Theonians did not initiate the outbreak of the Crotonian War, many Krimisians believe that Theonia should bear some responsibility. With many Krimisians dying in the war with Theonia, half a year is not enough to dissolve their resentment. And with resentment, they can not completely trust Theonia…”

Androlis’ words caused a brief silence.

After a while, Cornelius said, “In the first place, the war with Crotone is unavoidable. Although Krimisa is now part of Theonia, it seems that we still need to do more to dissolve the grievance of the Krimisians. I also hope that the three lords Androlis, Eurypus and Pleitinas, can assist a lot more!”

“This is what should we do, whether as a statesman or as Krimisians!” Eurypus said firmly, “And I believe that it won’t be long before the Krimisians would be grateful and proud to be a Theonian citizen!”

The statesmen unanimously agreed at Eurypus’ words.

Pollux then stood up and said, “Esteemed statesmen, the talked about the grain shares reminded me that Lord Mersis once said that ‘the amount of military rations exchanged from the people can at most last the Theonian troops for more than two months.’ Am I correct? Lord Mersis.”

Although he hated Pollux, Mersis had to nod his head and said, “Yes, I did. However-”

“Thank you!” Pollux interrupted Mersis and quickly said, “Even if we have already captured Besidice, two months is still not enough to conquer a huge area such as the Bruttii region who had more than a hundred thousand population! Moreover, as we concentrate on dealing with the Bruttians, the Lucanians on the north took advantage of this opportunity to make trouble. Currently, with Ba…erm…lord Bagul being wounded and that we don’t even know if he is still alive, the Senate is very concerned whether there is a good way to deal with the massive attack of Pyxous on Grumentum?!” Pollux said this while looking at Vespa and Hemon with sympathy. Although he inwardly hated these ‘Barbarians who had infiltrated the Senate’, he still needed these staunch supporters of Davos to doubt the young man.

“None! Because all the soldiers are at war with the Bruttians! If this goes on, I fear that before we conquer the Bruttii region, Pyxous would have already captured Grumentum and invaded Nerulum! By then, Theonia would fave an attack on two sides, and our army will face the predicament of food shortage, and a great disaster would befall on Theonia…my lords, think about it carefully, as this terrible situation is very likely to happen!” Pollux exclaimed with bitterness in his voice.

A few of the statesmen’s expression changed while the others were lost in their thoughts.

Seeing this, Marigi hated him more, ‘This damned Pollux is now making trouble again after being quiet for only a few days!’

In order to keep it confidential, only Avinoges, Sesta, Hieronymus and the high ranking officers of the third legion knew the plan of Davos to entice the Lucanians. Unknowingly, Marigi could only anxiously winked at Plesinas, who was at the rear, hoping that he could come forward to refute Pollux.

“We are too combative! As soon as we defeat Crotone, we soon attacked Grumentum. After helping Taranto, we started a war against the Bruttians just a few days later…our crazy expansion has caused uneasiness to the surrounding forces that they have joined hands to deal with us! And Pyxous’ attack is only the beginning. For the sake of Theonia’s long-term safety, we should think more carefully and make some laws restricting this practice of wantonly waging war!”

Even though Pollux did not mention Davos, anyone that heard it understood that it was clearly aimed at Davos, and suddenly, silence shrouded the Grand Senate Hall.

At this moment, they could hear a loud “bang” sound of the door being pushed open, and in the quiet, closed space, it became particularly clear.

Philesius, with a hint of excitement on his face, quickly walked into the meeting.

Marigi then broke the silence and said, “Lord Philesius, you are late!”

Chapter 326 – The army reserve in the Battle of Finita River

“Esteemed lords, I apologise!” Philesius bowed slightly to everyone. Unable to hide his joy, he excitedly said, “I was late because I had to meet the messenger of the third legion. Bringing with him a piece of good news-”

Philesius looked at the statesmen and said in a loud voice, “The third legion has defeated the insurgent force of Pyxous and Grumentum outside the city of Grumentum! Except for a few who escaped, they have captured most of them, while the third legion only suffered few dozens of casualties. Hieronymus, the legatus of the third legion, then led his army to Pyxous. And it is reported that the city is empty, and it is only a matter of time before Pyxous is captured!”

The Senate Hall was abuzz with excitement, “Great! This is a splendid victory!”

“Pyxous! We are finally going to have a coastal city on the west coast that’s truly our own!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The statesmen, who had cold sweat from imagining the scene described by Pollux, burst out with unprecedented cheers.

Looking at the cheering statesmen dumbfoundedly, Pollux was unable to recover from the sudden reversal for a while…after a long time, he unwillingly said in a faint voice, “…I didn’t expect that Hieronymus could also create great victory like lord Davos…”

“Wrong.” Philesius corrected him in a loud voice, “In fact, lord Davos had long planned this victory together with the third legion, and with the help of our allies, Laos and Elea. Otherwise, how could we win so easily!”

“Ah…” Kunogelata, Cornelius and the others had an expression as if they already expected it. Then they inquired about the detailed process of the battle with interest.

Pollux no longer said anything.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

An hour since the start of the battle of Finita River, the battle line between the two sides had changed from a curved, straight line at the beginning to an arcing, crescent moon.

On the right flank of the Theonian army, the troops led by Teriphias almost kept their position since the start. While the left flank of the Bruttian, which is composed of more than a dozen Bruttian tribes, could not effectively unite into a unified force to keep the pressure on the right flank of Theonia.

In Theonia’s centre, Vergae, Anbania and some Consentian warriors fought aggressively. After a period of stalemate, the phalanx of the first legion began to fall back, making the whole centre sink in gradually. Even though the proud soldiers of the first legion did their best, they had spent too much energy building the camp that after putting on the heavy armour again, they were already a bit tired.

On Theonia’s left flank, the second legion and the Consentian warriors were still fighting fiercely. Relying on their superhuman endurance from living on the highland since childhood, they fought to wash away the humiliation they suffered in the last battle. On the other hand, with the second legion solid and strong defence and the full cooperation between the brigades, they were able to maintain their high-intensity attack.

And only the far left is the place where Theonia has an absolute advantage. At the start, the peltast led by Epiphanes caused many casualties to the Bruttian cavalry, suffering most of the losses on a melee against the experienced Theonian peltast. If this were not a battle of life and death for the Bruttians, the cavalry leader would have already led the remaining cavalry to flee. However, in order to stop the Theonian light infantry from supporting the other battlefields, he led his men to distance themselves from the Theonian light infantry, and by using the speed of the cavalry, they roam around the periphery and making a surprise attack on the Theonian light infantry that had broken away from their team. However, the Theonian light infantry’s javelin and arrows were not just for show, and the number of Bruttian cavalries continued to decrease.

However, the light infantry led by Cid encountered some problems. With the Bruttian light infantry’s number and ability could not compare with that of Theonia, the angry Bruttians gave up their long-range attack after suffering from the enemy, rushing up to fight with Cid’s troops with their javelins and short blades.

Cid could have retreated and take a distance, which was the standard tactics of light infantry. However, Cid, who had been fighting alongside Davos in his campaigns, knew very well that if the light infantry and the freemen he led were to retreat suddenly, it would expose the flank of Epiphanes, causing significant losses to the peltasts who were currently fighting with the enemy cavalry. That is why Cid didn’t retreat and fought hard with the Bruttian light infantry. Although he only had a few light infantries in his hands, and the freemen could only cope by shooting arrows and throwing javelins, letting them fight in a melee with the fierce Bruttian would soon become unmanageable.

Fortunately, Davos still has a lot of cards in his hands. Thus after learning that the left flank was in trouble, he quickly sent the mountain reconnaissance brigade. Then these lightly armed soldiers with leader shields and short swords ran to the leftmost flank and immediately joined the battle, quickly turning the situation around.

A messenger quickly rushed towards Davos, who was at the rear of the army formation.

Tolmides then hastened to meet him.

“Grand legatus, Kapus urgently sent someone to tell you that the first legion is too tired even to lift their copper shields!” As soon as he learned about the situation, Tolmides immediately reported it to Davos.

“It seems that the first legion has reached their limit.” Davos concluded.

“It is not only the first legion. Even Drakos had also sent someone to report that some of his soldiers in the second legion began to feel dizzy and weak that he did not even dare to order the front and rear teams to change for fear of great chaos.”

“If our soldiers are exhausted like this, then the Bruttians won’t fair much better even if they are more fit.” Davos stared ahead. Although the dust was everywhere, and the sound of fighting was loud, he was still able to see victory, “Tell the two Besidisian chieftains, Burim and Kreru, who were noisy about fighting the enemy, that now is their chance! I want them to immediately lead the Besidisian warriors to the left flank, attack the enemy’s flank, crush the Consentians with the swiftest attack, and show us the strength of the Besidisian warriors!”

“Roger!” Tolmides replied excitedly.

“At the same time, Ledes’ cavalry brigade should have already rested enough, so have them assist Epiphanes and Cid. And after quickly defeating the enemy’s cavalry and light infantry, have them go north, crossed the battlefield and attacked the rear of the enemy in the centre. And together with the first legion, defeat them in one fell sweep!” Davos clenched his right fist and swung it down heavily.

“Understood, milord!” Tolmides led the two heralds on their horses and galloped to the left as he wanted to convey the order himself.

Davos then turned his head and looked at the two units that had not yet participated in the battle at the far left.

A bit later, Tolmides came back, “They have set out.”

“Sound the attack!” Davos ordered immediately.

Soon after, a high pitched salpinx overwhelmed the noise of fighting and rang throughout the battlefield.

“It’s the attack signal! Brothers, hold on, our reserves are out!” Xanticles became energetic from hearing the salpinx. Before the war, Davos told the two army legatus of his plan, and the two legatus explained Davos’ tactics to their respective senior centurions, centurions and platoon captains. That is why even in such a passive situation, the defensive line of the first and second legion could still hold on because the officers know what is coming, and now, the salpinx that they look forward to, sounded.

“Beat the drum!! Beat the drum!” Xanticles shouted the order in a voice that had become hoarse from shouting.

The drums sounded, and the flag pointed forward. Although the soldiers were physically tired, their spirits were invigorated.

And all the senior centurions of the first and second legions did almost the same thing as Xanticles.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Pian was at the Bruttian’s right flank formation, struggling to advance with the Bruttian warriors when he heard the salpinx sound. Although every step was very difficult, the Consentian warriors continued to move forward.

‘The Theonians are on the brink of collapse!’ Such a thought flashed through Pian’s mind. Although he was tired, his desire for victory drove him to work even harder. But Theonia’s salpinx jolted his heart, ‘Could it be that the enemy’s reinforcements came?’

A sense of urgency came over him, but as he was in the middle of the formation, he could not understand the whole situation. Therefore, he could only intensify his efforts to defeat the enemy in front of him, “Sons of Brutus, work harder! The enemy is collapsing!…” He shouted, and the guards near him called out as well, infecting the other warriors…then the Consentian warriors used all their remaining strength to attack desperately.

However, the defence of the second legion was also greatly enhanced. On the contrary, the advance of Bruttii’s centre and right flank became harder.

Under the leadership of Burim and Kreru, the more than two thousand Besidisian warriors, who had been holding back for more than an hour and had nowhere to vent their energy, ran and roared wildly, pouncing ferociously on the rear of the Bruttian’s right flank.

The roaring and the rumbling of footsteps made the Consentian warriors look back in a hurry. Then they saw countless Bruttian warriors dressed like them brandishing their spears and attacking them fiercely.

“It’s the Besidisians! We are surrounded!!…” The Consentian warriors turned around in a hurry to resist them.

At this time, the cavalry brigade of Ledes easily defeated the struggling Bruttian cavalry and light infantry. Just as the cavalry brigade, reconnaissance brigade and the light infantry stop pursuing the defeated warriors and advanced northward in great haste to cross the rear of the enemy’s right flank and attack the rear of Bruttii’s centre, the already exhausted Consentian warriors began dispersing after the ferocious attack of the Besidisians.

Chapter 327 – Sorrow after the war

The defeat came so quickly that Pian was still unable to believe it because he felt that victory was close to him, “Attack! Keep on attacking! The enemy will soon be defeated!!…” He tried to stop the warriors from escaping while almost getting knocked down.

“Chieftain, go! If you don’t retreat, we won’t be able to escape!!” The guards forced him to retreat.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Grand legatus, we have won!” Tolmides came to report with glee, “The enemy fled in disorder!”

Davos remained calm as he already expected this result. He then said, “The battle is not yet over, as repelling the enemy is not enough, and it will depend on the final result of the battle!”

Usually, in a frontal clash, the defeated side seldom lose more than 10% of their soldiers. And only after the enemy fled, if the pursuit is carried out well, will the casualty rate of the defeated side will increase considerably. That is because the fleeing soldiers have lost their morale and no longer have the intention to resist.

Thus Davos continued the attack.

The Theonian soldiers simply threw away their heavy copper shields and helmets, held their spears in both hands and continued pursuing the enemy despite their exhaustion, and cooperated with the reinforcements coming from the flank to surround the enemy.

The Besidisian warriors, the light infantry and the freemen led by Epiphanes and Cid, and the mountain reconnaissance brigade of Izam set up a “huge net” from the right flank of the Bruttian army to the rear of Bruttii’s centre. Although this “net” is not sturdy, and the mesh is too large, it is still enough to deter the Bruttians who just want to escape.

Amidst the roaring of the Theonians everywhere, some of the defeated Bruttians simply threw away their weapons and sat on the ground.

The cavalry brigade of Ledes pursued the fleeing enemy in a wide double horizontal formation. The cavalries with enough strength were like a strainer rounding up the debris…

And only when it was near dusk that the Theonian cavalry stopped their pursuit. After returning from the Consentia Plateau, the soldiers later gave the cavalry the name “Blood Cavalry”, which eventually became their official name.

By this time, the battle was over. At the cost of 1,500 casualties, the Theonia Union caused 5,000 casualties and more than 5,000 captives to the Bruttian Union, winning a great victory.

Ledes then rushed to meet Davos but was told that the grand legatus went to where they are cremating the deceased.

Walking on the battlefield filled with corpses, the joy of victory has long vanished.

The soldiers placed their dead comrades on the grass neatly. Afterwards, they carefully place two Obols on the deceased’s eyes while praying to Hades with tears coming out in their eyes.

Davos’ pace became slightly heavy after seeing the familiar pale face. Finally, he stopped. A dozen soldiers were weeping around a corpse by the roadside in front of him, headed by a man he happened to know, a centurion of the second legion, Xethippus.

With a jolt in his heart, he came forward and asked in a low voice, “Who is the deceased?”

“Grand legatus!” The officers and the soldiers saluted in a hurry.

From the gap, he saw the face of the deceased, which was a familiar face. Arsinis, an enthusiastic and cheerful young man from Amendolara, and was the hero of the second Crotonian War and the flag bearer at the Triumphant Return. During the last attack in this battle, Arsinis, as a platoon captain, rushed to the forefront, only to be stabbed in the chest by a thrown spear by an enemy who did not flee…

Listening to the grieving words of Xethippus, Davos took two Obols from the soldiers and placed them on Arsinis’ closed eyelids. A year ago, this brave young man had dared to compete with him in swimming, but now his body is as cold as stone. At this moment, Davos wished that Hades really existed in this world because, according to the Theonians reverence for the King of the Underworld, he would surely give preferential treatment to these Theonian soldiers who died in battle…

After leaving the group of soldiers, Davos walked a little further forward, then stopped and looked at the several burning funeral pyre in the distance with gloom…

After some time, Davos said to Tolmides, who had been following him silently, “Do you think…Theonia’s war against Bruttii…is correct?”

“…” Tolmides was unable to respond for a while.

However, Davos expression soon became firm, and he said with determination, “Of course! In this era, it is either us destroying the others or the others destroying us. There is no other way besides strengthening ourselves!”

Tolmides agreed with Davos’ words. In the eastern Mediterranean, he saw how the Persians oppress the weaker race and the tyranny of Sparta in Ionia and Asia Minor. After coming to the western Mediterranean, he also heard about the power of Carthage and the tyranny of Syracuse. However, what Tolmides doesn’t know was that what Davos was worried about was Rome, a Latin city-state in central Italia that he had never heard of.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Grand legatus, our brothers of the first legion, and the reserves…are catching up on their rest as they are too tired that almost as soon as they fell to the ground, they fell asleep, not even removing their armour.” Kapus said with some pain.

“This battle…whether it was the first and second legion or even the other teams have all done their best and fought hard!” Davos sighed, then he reminded Kapus, “But it’s currently autumn, and the night in the mountains is said to be much colder than in Thurii. If our brothers were to fall asleep after a fierce fight and sweating, they might catch a cold! Now that our medical camp is full, I don’t want any unnecessary increase of patients!”

Antonios, who was beside Davos, had once again served as the military officer in the army, as he was already familiar with this position. At this time, he put forward some suggestions, “I suggest that the auxiliary soldiers of the logistics camp take out the blankets and have the soldiers of the first legion use it to cover themselves.”

Davos nodded in agreement. He then looked at Drakos, the legatus of the second legion, who has his head slightly lowered and his hands on his back and his left leg trembling slightly.

Davos looked at him and asked, “Can we complete our camp tonight?”

“Our brothers of the second legion are currently taking the captives to speed up the construction, along with the mountain reconnaissance brigade and the warriors of Besidice. While lord Teriphias and lord Gorkes (strategos of Roscianum) led our allies also to build their camps under the guidance of the engineers…that’s why before the night descends, we will be able to complete the camp!”

Teriphias and Gorkes nodded after Drakos mentioned their names.

After thanking them, Davos asked, “How is the behaviour of the captives?”

“We have severely punished more than a dozen prisoners who dared to resist, and with the Besidisians as an example, they became quite obedient.”

Davos nodded. He paced back and forth and said, “Don’t abuse them! If you find some Bruttians who are unable to keep working, allow them to stop and take a rest…”

“Understood.”

“What’s wrong with the wound on your right hand?” Drakos was thinking about completing the task given by Davos that he didn’t notice Davos going behind him.

He hurriedly retracted his hand, stepped back two steps, shook his head and said, “Nothing…it’s nothing, I was just accidentally…stabbed by the enemy’s spear…”

As he shook his head, Davos caught sight of a bloody wound under his jaw. And Davos, who Herpus revered as a teacher, knew that near this wound is a vital carotid artery. So he could already imagine the thrilling sight and the luck of Drakos.

At this moment, Davos’ face sank, “You have rushed to the front again, haven’t you?! How many times have I told you that you are the head of the legion commanding more than seven thousand men and not an ordinary soldier! If you were to die, do you know how much impact it will have on the whole battle?! Theonia’s military law is just a joke to you, isn’t it?! If you don’t want to obey, then just don’t!…”

When Davos scolded him, Drakos hung his head and did not dare utter a word.

In the eyes of outsiders, a young man scolding a burly man in his 30s like a father scolding his son is a funny sight. But around these high ranking officers of Theonia and important figures of the alliance, they all look serious and tried to hold their breath, which just shows Davos’s might.

“Temporarily hand over the command of the second legion to Adrian and immediately go to Stesichodas. After getting your wound treated, go to the military inspector and accept your punishment!”

As soon as Davos was done speaking, Drakos nodded repeatedly, then turn around and run away like someone getting an amnesty.

“Grand legatus, in fact…at that time, the soldiers were already exhausted, that is why Drakos wanted to use this method to liven up the soldiers…” Antonios explained to Davos in a low voice.

“You all should know Arsinis. After winning the second war with Crotone, he became the flag bearer in the Triumphant Return. And now, he is a platoon captain of the second legion, a very promising young officer!” Davos sighed, “However, I just paid for his fare to cross the river…the lower ranking officer will copy what their commanding officer does. And I don’t want to see the officer positions of the second legion getting vacant. That is why this Drakos, who likes to fight in person, needs to be beaten hard!”

With Davos’ words, Kapus, Antonios and the others have nothing else to say.

Chapter 328 – Sedrum

After calming down, Davos asked, “Kapus, the first legion is the one in charge of taking care of the Bruttian captives at night, right?”

“Yes, milord.”

“Try to make them feel as comfortable as possible while making sure that they don’t escape.”

Kapus hesitated for a moment and said, “I’ll try.”

“Even though they are enemies now, but after this battle…well…it is certain that the Bruttians will soon become our own. So in order to make this transition more smoothly, we need to stop increasing the hatred, and we have to make an effort.” Davos patiently explained to them that was has always been a continuation of politics, and Davos’ position determines that he must see further and consider more.

On the sideline, Teriphias and Gorkes looked at each other. The continued growth of the Theonia Union should be good for Heraclea and Roscianum.

“After a while, I might send a man to help you pacify these Bruttian captives, but I am not sure if he is willing to help with that yet, though?” Davos rubbed his chin and mused.

Kapus was curious who Davos was talking about, but he didn’t ask.

“What’s the situation in the medical camp?” Davos thought of another question.

“There are too many wounded! Stakodas and the others are too busy that they could not even rest. Even Epiphanes had sent the light infantry and the freemen to help the medical camp to carry the wounded…” Antonios said anxiously.

“That’s to say that there is no one attending to the wounded Bruttians?!” Davos eyes widened at the seriousness of the problem, “Hmm…Antonios, go to Stakodas immediately and tell him to draw out two physicians no matter what…and at the same time, have the first legion spare a thousand men to assist on treating the wounded Bruttian that needed simple treatment such as debridement and bandaging.”

“Alright.” Antonios left quickly.

“And…Tolmides, I’ll write two letters right away while you ask the heralds to take the letters back to Thurii and give them to Herpus and Mersis. I want them to send as many physicians and nurses as possible and deliver more medicine, medical supplies and food…”

After they went to complete their assigned task, Davos had now time to face Teriphias and Gorkes alone, “Apologies! I did not expect that after winning this battle, there will be so many things that kept me occupied.”

“It’s fine.” Teriphias then gave serious praise, “As it has given me a chance to see the excellent management ability of the archon of Theonia! And I really did not expect that there would still be so many things to deal with after a battle, such as the medical treatment of the wounded, treating the captives, constructing the camp, and arranging the sentry posts…I truly learned a lot of military knowledge.”

Teriphias’ words came from the bottom of his heart, and Gorkes, beside him, felt the same way. It is a fact that most of the Greek city-states in this era fought near their territory, and so they did not pay much attention to the logistics. And only powerful city-states such as Athens, Sparta, Syracuse and so on, who needed to fight for a long time away from their city-state, would have higher requirements on military logistics. But even so, there are still some situations where the soldiers suffered from a shortage of pay and food. Davos knew that the logistics of the Theonian army was still rough and imperfect, but in the eyes of Teriphias, it was already complicated.

Thus Davos could only smile and said, “It is all thanks to the full support of Heraclea and Roscianum! With this victory, I believe that the war with Bruttii will soon end. And at that time, the clerk of our logistics camp will carefully count the spoils and distribute them to both of you equally.”

Roscianum has already worked with Theonia three times, making Gorkes comfortable with Theonia’s assurance.

Teriphias had little interest in the spoils of war as Heraclea is relatively wealthy. Naturally, he still accepted it so that his citizens didn’t come here in vain, and else they would complain once they go back. However, he was more concerned about another thing, “Lord Davos, I have a request.”

“Go ahead.”

“Can the Theonian officers help train our citizens in your way of fighting?” Teriphias explained with some embarrassment, “Because during the battle, I notice that the fighting style of Theonia was very different from that of Heraclea and Roscianum. And this difference has greatly affected the cooperation among various forces, that’s why…” In fact, at the beginning of the battle, it was the three thousand Theonian reserves who resisted the Bruttian’s charge and played the bulwark on the right flank in the subsequent battles. If the reserves are already like this, one can already imagine the strength of Theonia’s legion. That is the reason why Teriphias made up his mind and made a request.

Davos was surprised on the surfaced, but he was delighted in his heart, ‘Our allies finally made such a request!’

He asked, while pretending to be hesitant, “Does the Council of Heraclea approve of this?”

“I will have them agree!” Teriphias said resolutely.

“In that care, when the war with Bruttii is over, I will ask our Chief of military, Philesius, to discuss the training with you.” Davos then said half-jokingly, “Lord Teriphias, Theonia’s military training is rigorous, so you have to prepare the citizens of Heraclea in advance.”

With Heraclea as an example, Gorkes was unwilling to lag, so he forwarded the same request to Davos.

After seeing off Teriphias and Gorkes, Davos felt exhausted. However, he still could not rest because there was one person he had to meet, “Go and bring me the important person from Bruttii the Ledes caught.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sedrum regretted not praying to the goddess Amara seriously before setting out. Now he had the misfortune of tripping and falling off his horse while escaping, followed by his guards scattering due to the swarming fleeing Bruttians. When he finally managed to struggle up from under his wounded horse, he fell behind and became the target of the pursuing Theonian cavalry due to his clothes being different from ordinary Bruttian warriors.

After becoming a captive, he said his name without concealing it.

Now, his hands tied behind his back and were escorted forward by a Theonian soldier. From afar, he could see a golden military flag erected on the grassy slope, with hundreds of soldiers standing neatly in two columns, and a man sat under the flag, which should be the archon of Theonia, Davos.

Sedrum was lost in his thoughts when his footsteps unconsciously accelerated.

As they approached, the two men looked at each other. Sedrum was surprised by the youth of Davos, while Davos was astonished by the old age of Sedrum. As far as he knew, the great chieftain of Vergae was not over fifty years old.

Davos spoke first, “Untie him.”

Sedrum rubbed his red wrist and took another step forward.

Davos sat still.

Sedrum raised his eyebrows and said, “Are you not afraid that I will attack you?”

Davos smiled and said, “You can speak Greek, which saves me the trouble of looking for an interpreter. Go ahead and sit down, as I don’t want to keep looking up.”

Although his voice was not loud, it has an irresistible strength.

Sedrum hesitated, then he sat down with reluctance.

Martius, who was behind Davos, let out a sigh of relief.

“I’ll first answer your question.” Davos then slowly said, “First, I have my brave guard here that would make it difficult for you to succeed. Second, even if you succeed, the predicament that the Bruttians are facing now can not be solved, and making the Theonian soldiers angry will just bring unimaginable punishment to the people in this land!”

Sedrum snorted, “Isn’t Theonia now occupying our land, killing our people, looting our properties! If I could beat up the leader who started the war, then I can at least make the Bruttians happy for a while!”

“Are the Bruttians the victim?” Davos then seriously said, “No! For decades, the Bruttians have never stopped attacking and plundering the Greek city-states, destroying countless Greek families! Now, we Greeks have come to get our revenge, yet you feel aggrieved. What a joke!”

“You Greeks are foreigners who occupied our lands. We…we are just getting back what is ours!” Sedrum retorted.

“As far as I know, you Bruttians have originally lived in the central part of Italia and had only migrated here more than two hundred years ago, driving out the original inhabitants of this land and settling down, and now you actually claim to be the owner of the land in South Italia? Is this ignorance? Or just arrogance?” Davos sneered.

“Nonsense!” Sedrum shouted in exasperation.

“It seems you don’t know. Fortunately, the Greeks have written and recorded the things that happened here for hundreds of years. And the scholars of Thurii have collected the records of the other city-states. So if you ever go to Thurii one day, you can go and see the detailed history of the Bruttians.”

Regarding the Bruttians, Davos had asked Ansitanos for detailed advice, so Sedrum, seeing Davos’ seriousness, seemed a bit discouraged and said simply, “What will you do to us?”

“Do you mean the captured Bruttians or the thing you called Bruttii Union?”

“Naturally, us, who were unfortunate enough to be captured.” Sedrum added defiantly, “Although we have lost the battle, as long as Pian and his troops defended the city with all their strength, then no matter how many soldiers you have, you will have a hard time breaking through Consentia. In the end, you can only retreat once you don’t have enough food.”

“You can be at ease, as we will break through Consentia with ease!” Davos said confidently.

Chapter 329 – Persuasion

He reached out his hand and stopped Sedrum, who wanted to speak more, “In this battle, Bruttii suffered five thousand casualties, and with the help of the Besidisians, we have confirmed that most are from Consentia. And at the same time, we also captured more than five thousand men who are mostly also from Consentia.” During the war, Pian placed the main force of Consentia in the centre and the right flank, which was the focus of Theonia’s counterattack, leading to such a result.

“And the others are from Vergae and Anbania. In other words, the important power of the Bruttii Union in maintaining your rule and subduing the other smaller tribes has been greatly weakened. As far as I know, Consentia has forced many smaller tribes to settle in the outer part of Consentia. Therefore, as long as I let the Besidisians make a promise to these tribes and give them freedom and more benefits…tell me whether these tribes will take the opportunity to resist and help us capture Consentia?!”

After hearing Davos, Sedrum shuddered and bowed his head because two days ago, there had been a riot in Consentia, so the words of Theonia’s archon could become a reality!

“Besides, our troops will not immediately attack the city after arriving at Consentia! I heard that the city of Anbania’s defence is extremely simple. Perhaps if I were to send four thousand men, I could easily capture it. And Vergae-” When Davos mentioned Vergae, Sedrum shuddered again.

“How many warriors have you taken from there? Do you think that I can take Vergae by sending ten thousand soldiers with the help of Laos?”

Sedrum clenched his fist, gritted his teeth. Even though his expression was painful, he still did not say a word.

“After taking Anbania and Vergae, we would then attack Consentia. Oh, you must be wondering why I did not mention Clampetia?”

After a pause, Davos continued, “Because the fourth legion of Theonia will soon capture Clampetia, you don’t believe it? I think that Clampetia must have already asked Consentia for reinforcements because their stone walls could not resist our ballistae and siege towers.”

“Ballista?” Sedrum finally raised his head in doubt.

Davos then generously briefed him on the newly developed siege equipment of Theonia.

Sedrum’s face became very unsightly. From what he can remember, Pian did not say anything about Clampetia, but he knew that Consentia had sent two thousand reinforcements. He had raised an objection to Pian on this matter, but Pian did not budge, which was completely unlike his previous practice. According to various signs, he felt that what Davos said was probably the truth, and Pian had long known that Clampetia could not hold on and was afraid that it would just cause panic to the Bruttians, so he chose to hide it and decided to make a desperate struggle.

Sedrum’s heart became cold, and he squeezed out a sentence, “Could it be that Theonia is trying to kill all the Bruttians?”

“Kill all? No, we Theonians are not that cruel.” Davos then seriously said, “In my eyes, whether Bruttians, Lucanians, or Greeks, they are all the same.”

Sedrum then stared at him in disbelief.

“You might want to ask, ‘If that’s the case, then why did you attack Bruttii’?” With a sigh, Davos picked up grass in his right hand and wound it around his finger, “For hundreds of years, the Bruttians and the Greeks regarded each other as enemies, killing each other without stop. If the Bruttii Triban Union is established, the conflict with the Greeks will only intensify. Thus Theonia was forced to take the lead in attacking, not to destroy Bruttii, but to bring the Bruttians into the Theonia Union and become a part of the union. The Mediterranean is big enough to accommodate us Greeks and Bruttians to explore, plant and graze…so why do we have to fight for such a little barren land?!…”

Sedrum stayed silent for some time and finally said in a low voice, “Do you want the Bruttians tribes to be allies of Theonia?”

“Theonia has paid so many lives of so many citizens, just to make the Bruttians an ally?!” Davos’ expression changed. He then increased his voice, “The people of Theonia will not agree, nor will the Senate!”

“Do…do you want to make us like the Lucanians of Nerulum?…” Sedrum said bitterly, with Vergae close to Nerulum, he certainly knew something about the situation there.

“If Bruttii were to integrate into Theonia, the Bruttians will become Theonian citizens. While the tribal chieftains will still be in charge of their respective tribes, the ones who will be in charge of Vergae, Consentia, Clampetia, Anbania, and other cities will be appointed by Theonia’s Senate…Besidice has agreed to join Theonia Union, and Baripiri and Burim have also become members of Theonia’s Senate. If you want to learn more about it, you can go to Burim and asked him.”

Sedrum slightly wavered from Davos’ words, but he still asked with reluctance, “Can’t you just let us…manage our cities? I fear that there will be trouble because the Bruttians are not used to having other races lead us…”

Davos firmly said, “All the territories of Theonia will be governed by the Senate, which will never change! But if you join the Senate, then one day, you might get elected as the praetor of Consentia by the Senate, or even govern the whole Bruttii region…”

Dravos drew a big pie, which more or less lessens the resistance of Sedrum. He pondered for a moment and reluctantly said, “…I am just the chieftain of Vergae.”

“It doesn’t matter as the only thing you need to decide is the ownership of Vergae.” Davos, seeing that Sedrum still kept his head down, hesitating. He added, “You can go and think about it. There is no need for you to rush in making a decision.”

Sedrum replied hurriedly and was about to leave.

“Wait. I still have one more thing I need your help with.”

Davos’ words made Sedrum flustered. He staggered a few steps and nearly fell down.

“You need to go and appease the captured Bruttian warriors and tell them, ‘as long as they follow our orders, the Theonian soldiers will never harm them, and they will be able to return home safely after a while. However, if they were to gather to make a mess and try to escape, our soldiers will not hesitate! Moreover, once Bruttii belongs to Theonia, their families will also be punished!’” Davos said sternly.

“…I’ll go talk to them.” Sedrum looked melancholy, the wrinkles on his face deepened, and he seemed to age a few more years after his conversation with Davos.

Watching Sedrum walk unsteadily and being escorted away by the soldiers, Martius asked, “Milord, will that old man surrender?”

Davos smiled, “It’s a good start that he agreed to my request just now. However, if he doesn’t hurry, we won’t need him by then.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The battle of Clampetia has come to a critical moment, after days of attack by the ballista, the city wall started crumbling, the trenches had been filled in many places, and the warriors defending the city had suffered many casualties from the long-range attacks of the ballistae and the archers on top of the siege towers.

However, the third legion had also paid the price. Five ballistae were damaged because of long-term wear and tear. Two siege towers were burned because of the Bruttians’ fire attack. And they had suffered more than four hundred casualties, most of whom were archers. Still, Hielos kept the intense offensive to pressure Clampetia every day, always remembering what Davos had said to him in person, ‘Now in the Mediterranean, whether it is a Greek city-state or another country, attacking a city poses a huge problem. Therefore, I hope that after you go to Clampetia, you won’t fear the difficulties and the number of casualties. You must conquer that kind of stone city and sum up a set of experience on sieging a city for Theonia.’

In the early morning, the soldiers of the fourth legion and Terina lined up two hundred metres south of Clampetia. In front of the huge army were five ballistae and three siege towers. (The requirements for making a ballista is very high, and the key components are very intricate, especially the set of springs. It had taken the Institute of Mathematics a lot of time and money just to build ten of them, which the engineers can not repair in just three days. Although the siege tower is large, making it is not complicated as long as there are enough people.)

The exhausted Clampetian warriors had never seen so many enemies that they could not help but shudder.

The crows hovering in the air seemed to sense the danger and flew away with a “kaw”.

“Legatus, the preparations are ready!” When Hielos heard the report from his men, he immediately said, “Ballista!”

“Ready the ballista!” The officers gave the orders.

The axle rotates, the bowstring is pulled, the stone projectile is loaded into the slider, and the angle and range are set.

“Fire!”

Then five stone projectiles flew out and bombarded the most damaged section of the wall, opening the prelude to the siege.

Soon after, the second and third round of continuous bombardment enlarges the cracks on the city wall…

The city wall that had only gotten a night’s repair was overwhelmed, piece by piece the stone wall crumbling down…finally, with a loud roar, a section of the wall collapsed, giving rise to a cloud of dust.

The Theonian soldiers were jubilant, while the Clampetian warriors turned pale.

“Attack!” Hielos gave the order promptly as the soldiers’ morale soared high.

In an instant, the salpinx sounded, and the battle flag was waved. The drums rang, and the soldiers roared at the same time. Under the officers’ leadership, the soldiers carried the ladders and marched forward in a loose formation in small groups. The huge siege tower also rumbled along the flat road towards the city wall with the full force of dozens of labourers pushing it.

Chapter 330 – Hegesitus

Pangam’s expression became grim as he watches the enemy coming likes tides, and the fear on the faces of the soldiers around him worried him. He drew his sword violently and shouted, “Warriors of Clampetia, you have successfully stopped the powerful enemy for nearly a month, and now, our greatest test has come. Think about your parents, wives, and children, who are right behind us and need our protection. Take out your courage, and under the protection of Brutus, we will repel these timid enemies! We, the warriors of Bruttii, will never be slaves!”

“The chieftain is right! We absolutely can’t lose. We definitely cannot be slaves!”

“Fight the Greeks to the death!!”

The Clampetian warriors’ morale rose with Pangam’s words and began pulling the bowstring against the enemy approaching the trench…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Diaolidas, a member of Crotone’s Council of Hundreds, came to Terina with tons of grains and dozens of sheep to support the fourth legion of Theonia in the name of the South-Italia Alliance. However, he mainly came here to observe the progress of Theonia’s war against Bruttii, and he just happened to witness the siege with his own eyes.

Later, he described what happened on that day to the Council after returning to Crotone, “…the Theonians invented a terrifying siege weapon. They call it Ballista. It is like a bow that can shoot stone projectiles weighing more than ten kilograms, and it can fly hundreds of metres away and hit the city wall with accuracy. And after days of continuous bombardment by this new siege equipment, a large gap appeared in the stone wall of Clampetia.

The Theonians also made something called a siege tower. It is like a movable wooden tower, taller than the walls of Clampetia. When the Theonians pushed it towards Clampetia, the archers on the top of the towers shot at the enemies on the wall. And once they got closer to the city wall, a heavy drawbridge would immediately drop down on the siege tower and bridge the gap between the tower and the city wall. Afterwards, the Theonian soldiers would then rush to the top of the city wall through the drawbridge.

The Theonians had not only used ballistae and siege towers, but they also used a lot of ladders to climb the city walls as we do. I watch as every one of their soldiers rushed to attack, and even if their comrades fell off the wall, they would rarely back down. Their courage was no less than that of our citizens. While the Clampetian warriors were not as fierce as they used to be when facing us, it might be due to their number being too small, or that they are afraid of Theonia’s terrifying siege equipment…anyway, the battle only lasted until the afternoon, when Theonia’s fourth legion breached the city and killed the great chieftain of Clampetia, Pangam…”

The Council fell silent as Diaolidas finished reporting.

Not long ago, they have received a report of Theonia conquering Besidice, and now, they once again conquered Clampetia…‘When did the Bruttians, who were a headache for Crotone, became so weak?! Or is it just that Theonia’s army has become stronger than Crotone?!’ The Crotonians are at a loss. Initially, when they saw that a war break out, they hoped that Theonia would have a hard time facing the Bruttians so that Crotone could take advantage of it, but now, it seems that this is just Crotone’s beautiful dream and the strength that Theonia has shown made them feel scared.

“This is a good thing!” Then the strategos, Sistikos, stood up and said in a loud voice, “The nightmare that has plagued Crotone and other city-states for hundred of years has finally ended! The Crotonians will rejoice when they hear it!”

The words of Sistikos made those who have other thoughts realise that even if they want to pull down Theonia, the ecclesia might not pass their proposal.

At this time, the polemarchos, Lysias, stood up and said, “As a member of the alliance, we should be happy for Theonia’s victory! Although the Theonians did not invite Crotone to participate in the war, Crotone, as a member of the South-Italia Alliance, should join hands with the other allies to present enough supplies to Theonia to show them our support!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the day of the fourth legion’s massive siege, the army led by Davos still stayed in the camp on the bank of Finita River.

The soldiers were busy sending the sick and wounded back to Besidice, while the logistics camp brought the military supplies from Thurii to Besidice.

Davos was currently staring at the map of the Bruttii mountains in the main tent while thinking about what to do next.

At this time, Tolmides came in, “Milord, there are a lot of Bruttians outside the camp, and their leader, a man named Hegesitus, asked for an audience.”

Davos immediately said, “Let him in!”

Hegesitus was the one to instigate the previous riot in Consentia, but with the return of Pian’s army, knowing that they were no match, these rebellious tribes fled Consentia in haste. At that time, Pian did not have the energy to suppress them as he was busy dealing with the Theonian army, and these tribes and their families and little food could only flee into the mountains and suffered a lot. Two days later, their food almost ran out, causing these tribes to complain to Hegesitus, and began looking at him with increasingly cold gazes.

At that moment, the people who went out to check on the situation brought back surprising news. A war broke out between the Bruttii Union and Theonia on the banks of Finita River, resulting in Bruttii’s great defeat, and the huge army that Pian led when setting out from Consentia were greatly reduced when they fled.

These tribes attitude towards Hegesitus immediately changed after learning about what happened.

Hegesitus, on the other hand, led these tribes to seek refuge in the Theonian army.

For the sudden increase of more than two thousand mouths consuming the military ration, Davos did not care as he was more interested in Hegesitus, who had exceeded his expectations.

He looked at the man with a Greek appearance, but with a height and physique different from that of a Greek, and having long messy hair. He then asked with curiosity, “How did you convince them?”

“Lord archon.” Hegesitus knew that his opportunity has come, so he explained in detail, “Before the establishment of the Bruttii Tribal Union, the Consentian tribe headed by Pian was constantly annexing the surrounding weak tribes with force. Since the establishment of the Bruttii Union, in order for them to not arouse the resentment of the great chieftains such as Vergae and Besidice, Pian proposed to establish a ‘Chieftain Association’ in the union, in which all the tribal chieftains who voluntarily or have forcibly surrendered, saying that they should unite to manage and decide the affairs of the union. But in reality, these tribal chieftains have no power at all, as the union’s affairs were decided by the council of elders composed of several great chieftains and the high priest (the council of seven elders). And the people of these tribes were completely split up and forced to form a new tribe, which the union directly managed, and, of course, they had to pay taxes directly to the union every year.

And the tribal chieftains lost their rights, and the tribal warriors were also not used to their new tribe. Milord, you should know that each tribe has basically had the same blood flowing through them, and after hundreds of years of reproduction, they are all related by blood. Usually, if they have any difficulties, they will help each other, but now that they are separated from their tribes and needed to live independently, the lives of many warriors became much worse than before. What’s more, in the city of Consentia, the warriors of the big tribes easily oppressed them. Therefore, no matter whether it is the chieftains or warriors, they have dissatisfaction in their hearts…”

Davos listened attentively and nodded from time to time. He felt that this set of measures of the Bruttii Tribal Union is even a step further than the system of the Lucanian Tribal Alliance, which has the intent to dismantle the old tribal system completely and highly centralise the power to the upper level of the union. If they managed to establish this union completely, then they would become a great enemy to Theonia.

“Milord, in order to protect the Siro tribe, you did not hesitate to fight the Bruttii Tribal Union!” Hegesitus, after his flattery, continued, “In order to respond to the war, the Bruttii Union had suspended the dismantling of the tribes that have later surrendered. So after sneaking into Consentia, I said to them that ‘Theonia will defeat the Bruttii Union and restore the rights and freedom of your tribes!’” At this point, Hegesitus cautiously glanced at Davos, a little worried that he would be criticised for deciding it by himself.

“You did the right thing!” Praised Davos. From the bottom of his heart, he also hoped that he could, like the Bruttii Union, conquer the various tribes and bring them all under the rule of Theonia. However, he knew that such recklessness would only intensify the conflict between Greeks and the Bruttians and destroy the region’s stability, which was not worth the loss to Theonia. As an organisation of the same race, the Bruttii Union’s strength has far surpassed the other tribes, but they had still allowed these small tribes to fall into rebellion. If the Greeks, who always had a grudge against the Bruttiis, carried out such centralisation measures, then the results wouldn’t have been good. Therefore, Davos decided that after conquering the Bruttians, he would still carry out the same strategy they implemented in Lucania, that is, to boil frogs in warm water*. On the surface, they would promise privileges to the tribes while secretly exerting subtle influence on the Bruttian warriors through the army and culture, which would eventually make them leave the control of the tribe. (note: slow integration) (T/N: There is a fable about this. If you were to put a frog in boiling water, it would jump out, but if you were to heat the water slowly, it will not notice the danger and be boiled to death.)

“These tribes were a bit interested in my proposal at first, but they were hesitant. But after milord’s army conquered Besidice, shocking the whole of Consentia, only then did they made up their mind.” He then excitedly added, “Now that the army of milord defeated the Bruttians again, this victory will cause a huge impact on the situation within Consentia!”

Chapter 331 – Impact after the Battle

“You mean that there is a possibility of another riot in Consentia?” Davos asked immediately.

“This…it’s hard to say.” After thinking about it, Hegesitus cautiously said, “I heard that in order to prevent these tribal chieftains from staying in the city and causing trouble to the union, he has specially asked them to lead their former tribesmen to join the battle. And when I led the rebel tribes here today, I didn’t hear anything unusual happening in Consentia.”

Davos pondered for a moment and said, “Hegesitus, thank you for your contributions to Theonia! Next time I ask about the situation in the Bruttii region, I will once again trouble you. Anyway, don’t keep those tribal chieftains waiting outside the camp gates. You can bring them all in.”

Hegesitus then emotionally said, “Archon, without you and Theonia’s protection, my people and I couldn’t get our revenge and would have starved to death in the mountains. For Theonia, we are willing to do anything!”

Davos nodded, turned around and said, “Martius, go with him and bring those tribal chieftains in. In addition -” Davos whispered to him, “Make sure you take these people to pass through the place where the great chieftain of Vergae could see.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sedrum was shocked from seeing the tribal chieftains, who should have been in Consentia, in Theonia’s camp.

And Davos warmly received these uneasy Bruttian chieftains and made a solemn promise to them that as long as they join Theonia, Theonia will not interfere in their management of their tribe and would even give priority in choosing good settlements and pastures.

He even opened the map of Theonia and told them that they could choose not only the lands in the Bruttii region but also the other vacant lands in Theonia Union.

The chieftains took a piece of mind. Afterwards, they happily set up their tents next to Theonia’s camp, ready to help Theonia overthrow the oppressive Bruttii Tribal Union so that they could obtain the land promised by Theonia as soon as possible.

When Davos saw them off, a new idea came to his mind. He then called Kapus and asked him to divide more than five thousand captives into a centuria of 200 men according to their tribes. The captives will then elect a centurion, platoon captain…and so on. He also told Kapus to ensure that the captives would not escape and resist while also giving these newly elected centurions prestige among the captives under their jurisdiction, such as the right to distribute food, labour and the right to punish their subordinates…

In Davos’ plan, Thurii would be the centre of the Theonia City-State Union, and the Bruttii region, which is very close to Thurii, would become a core area of Theonia. However, Davos was very clear that the biggest difference between the Bruttians and the Lucanians is that there are no big tribes in the Lucanian area in Theonia’s territory. However, according to the current situation, there are likely to be several large Bruttians tribes after conquering Bruttii, which will be an unstable factor for Theonia’s rule of Bruttii in the future, and would also increase the difficulty in governing the Bruttii region.

That’s why Davos’ main strategy for it was to dismember it and turn the larger tribes into smaller tribes, And his approach on these more than five thousand captives was to prepare in advance…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Just as Davos started planning for conquering the Bruttii region, Consentia is not as what Hegesitus had said that there is no strange thing happening. On the contrary, it is rather erratic…

Kaduk, another chieftain of Consentia, whose tribe’s strength is comparable to Petaru’s tribe. However, after Petaru became the son-in-law of Pian, things have changed. In the process of merging and annexing the small tribes, Petaru’s tribe, which Pian supported, gained many benefits, strengthening their tribal strength rapidly. Besides, after his tribe became the second largest tribe in Consentia and even in the whole Bruttii region, he had also entered the newly established highest authority of the Bruttii Tribal Union, the Seven Council of Elder.

In this regard, Kaduk became angry and dissatisfied with Pian’s unfairness. However, the strength of Pian and Petaru’s tribe made him pretend to smile and be obedient. This time, when Pian led the largest army in Bruttii’s history to fight the Theonians, he had instead left him to guard Consentia, without having any choice but to accept.

Even though he became the temporary owner of Consentia, Kaduk has no absolute power, and he knew that Phitara, the high priest whom he secretly mocked as ‘Pian’s dog’ is staring at him. Knowing that once he did something, Phitara can make half of his two thousand warriors disobey his command, while the other half is, of course, his own people.

With the army is out, Consentia had become mostly empty, and the official affairs were greatly reduced. Thus Kaduk spent most of the day bored in the Alliance Hall until the guards came to report the defeat of the Bruttii Union and the defeated warriors entering the city one after another.

Although they have discussed the possibility of defeat before the battle, Kaduk was still shocked.

He rushed to the eastern gate, and he could not believe the sight before him. The city’s gate was filled with ragged and exhausted defeated warriors, without helmets, shields and spears, some of whom were even naked and covered in mud. They hastily scramble into the city while looking back. At the first sign of disturbance, they panicked, pushed and squeezed wildly that some of them were even pushed out of the moat and screamed. Once they enter the city, they would immediately lie down on the ground and soon fall asleep…

Kadus had been on the battlefield for a long time and had even suffered some defeat. But he has never seen such a tragic sight before. He couldn’t help but feel shocked, so he immediately mobilised his men to the gate to maintain order and rescue the wounded…

It wasn’t long before he saw Pian. The great chieftain of Consentia didn’t return as when he had left for war, his eyes and expression were dull, and his hands were clasping around the horse’s neck. The horse had obviously exhausted its strength to the extreme. It moved forward bit by bit, with every step becoming difficult. Suddenly, it fell on its knees and threw Pian to the ground…

The accompanying guards rushed up to help Pian, who had been tossed on the horse for more than an hour was also physically and mentally exhausted, and his hands and feet became weak that he could only barely stood up even with the help of the guards. When he saw Kaduk, he weakly said, “…be careful…be careful of the enemy…the enemy’s surprise attack…” Then he was carried into the city by the guards.

Seeing Pian in such a sorry state, a gloating cheerful mood surface in Kaduk’s nervous heart, and this mood reached its peak after seeing Petaru.

Petaru, who was twenty years younger than Pian, faired much better than his father-in-law physically, but in spirit, it is obvious that the fierce pursuit of the Theonian cavalry scared him so much that when he entered the city, his mind became lost, shouting uncontrollably in front of the numerous defeated warriors,  “The enemy is coming after us! The enemy is coming after us! Close the gates! Close the gates!…” Which almost caused great chaos.

It took Kaduk a great deal of effort to bring order to the place, mentally cursing Petaru for being a fool while also fearing the Theonians that he had not yet encountered.

That night, Kaduk remained on high alert.

The defeated warriors fled back to the city one after another, and the people of Consentia cried all night after learning the bad news, causing the whole city to be shrouded with restlessness throughout the night…

In the early morning of the following day, many warriors managed to flee back to the city.

In the Hall, Pian, who has regained his strength, manage to temporarily step out of the shadow of yesterday’s tragic defeat, now looking serious.

Until now, only more than two thousand warriors belonging to him and Petaru’s tribe have escaped, while only more than seven hundred warriors from Anbania and about a thousand warriors from Vergae. And the ones whose warriors have returned the largest are the ones from the smaller tribes, with a total of more than four thousand. What does that mean? It means that as the first and second-largest tribe of Bruttii, about eight thousand men were either killed or captured by the Theonians! Such a huge number not only made him and Petaru distressed but also made the other tribesmen find reasons to criticise them, threatening their rule in the tribe.

More importantly, the Bruttii Tribal Union is likely to face disintegration, because Pian who loses his power, has also lost his influence and appeal in the union. Just a moment ago, Anbania’s great chieftain, Bodiam, rejected Pian’s repeated appeal to remain and led his remaining tribesmen to leave Consentia.

Despite what Pian said is correct, “Anbania is too crude to resist the attack of the Theonians. It’s better for you to move the Anbanians to Consentia for the time being and fight side by side…”

However, Bodiam solemnly replied, “The Anbanians have lived in Anbania for generations. We will not abandon our land even if we die, and we rather sprinkle our blood there!”

The departure of the Anbanians affected the Vergaeans, who had lost their great chieftain and clamoured to go home as well. In the end, Pian managed to convince them to stay and promised to do his best in saving Sedrum.

The Vergaeans were only a minor problem. On the contrary, the biggest problem is that after Pian returned to Consentia last night, he quickly fell asleep due to the dual impact of mental and physical exhaustion, making him forget to make some arrangements for the other tribal chieftains.

As a result, after fleeing back to Consentia, these tribal chieftains did not return to their residence inside Consentia but hid in their previous settlement outside the city.

One night later, Pian noticed his great mistake, so he hurriedly sent his men with a team of warriors to urge those tribes to return.

But the thing he fears the most happened. The warriors were driven out and reported to him with a bruised and swollen face, “Great chieftain, chieftain Tagali refused to go back, and he even threatened to lead his tribes out of Consentia!”

Chapter 332 – Victory in Sight

“These guys are so brave. Do they want to rebel?!” After a night’s rest, Petaru recovered, then he asked for Pian’s order with anger, “Great chieftain, I will take a thousand warriors and drag them here!”

Pian shook his head, loosened his clenched fist and turned to look at the high priest, Phitara, and said in a deep voice, “High priest, I request for you to go…and ask them what exactly they want and try to appease them.”

“Great chieftain!” Petaru shouted hastily, “There is no need to be soft on those guys! Otherwise…otherwise, they will be out of our control and may even…threaten the security of Consentia!”

With only Pian, Petaru and Phitara left in the Tribal Hall, Pian no longer needs to hide his thoughts. He looked at the two with a strong sorrowful expression and sighed heavily, “Our defeat of this battle is all my responsibility! I…I shouldn’t have gambled and fight the Theonians. I thought that even if we couldn’t win, with our knowledge of the terrain, our warriors could have easily get out of the battlefield with our equipment being lighter than the Greeks and then retreat back to the city to defend against the enemy’s siege…alas…I didn’t expect that a battle would cost us too much! Theonia is really different from Crotone and other Greek city-states! I could only apologise to our people!…”

“Chieftain, it was not your fault. It was the collective decision of the Council of Elders to fight Theonia…” Petaru comforted his father-in-law. He hesitated and whispered, “Why…why don’t we make peace with Theonia?”

As soon as these words came out, Pian and Phitara were taken aback.

“Would the Theonians even agree to a truce with everything that had happened?” Phitara expressed his doubt.

“We could give it a try!” Pian’s eye brightened from getting inspiration from Petaru’s words. He thought more and said, “Petaru, send messengers to Theonia’s camp and say to their archon, ‘Consentia is willing to be an ally of Theonia, just like Laos.’ If the truce works, we could temporarily join Theonia, allowing the return of the captured warriors and give us time to regain our strength slowly. If not, we could still continue negotiating with them patiently. As far as I know, the archon of Theonia is not tyrannical as he had even forgiven Roscianum and Crotone. So why can’t he loosen the rope around our neck! At least it would allow us to buy some time to solve those tribes outside the city. Currently, Consentia could no longer endure another riot!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Consentia’s messenger arrived at Theonia’s camp, Davos listened to their goal. After hearing it, he pointed out that Consentia could only choose to completely integrate into Theonia Union, as there is no other way to go!

He then flatly refused the messenger’s request for further discussion. Now that they have the absolute advantage, how could he give Consentia a chance to breathe?!

On the third day after the battle, the whole Theonian army pulled out of the camp and marched west. The cavalry spread out to scout the surroundings. The first legion acted as the vanguard. The second legion is on both sides of the centre, escorting the logistics brigade, medical brigade and engineering brigade…and the Theonian soldiers supervised the nearly starved Bruttian captives as they carried the supplies, pushing loaded carts and tending to the livestock. While the legion reserve and the allied troops served as the rearguard…

Even on the vast plateau, the whole army was still out of sight.

Three hours later, Davos saw the huge city standing in front of him, Consentia.

At this time, Ledes, the cavalries’ strategos, rushed in, “Grand legatus, the fourth legion is coming here!”

“That’s great!” Davos was thrilled, he excitedly clamp-on his horse’s belly, and his horse then raised all four hooves and galloped forward. His escort followed closely behind, then followed by the cavalry encircling around him to prevent accidents.

The legatus of the fourth legion, Hielos, likewise received the report and had also speed up his horse from the south. When he saw Davos, he immediately stopped his horse and saluted, “Grand legatus, the fourth legion has captured Clampetia and are ordered to follow!”

“Good job!” Davos solemnly praised. The current Hielos was no longer the ordinary mercenary at the start. His long-term military and administrative handling made him more dignified and less humble, turning him into a now qualified Theonian legatus.

“Milord, I am late. The Clampetians were very tenacious that they have not only delayed our fourth legion for some time but also made us pay more than seven hundred lives of our brothers!” Hielos looked dejected. His gentleness still hadn’t changed much.

“It’s not your fault as my strategic plan was the main reason for why the fourth legion took longer in capturing Clampetia. And the soldier’s sacrifice was not wasted because you have captured a well-defended city by force from the front, which will be the most valuable treasure in Theonia’s military!” Davos encouraged him and then added, “And, the fourth legion has come at the right time!”

With that, he pointed forward with high spirits, “Go, take me to see the warriors of the fourth legion!”

Davos and Hielos then took the lead in galloping forward, followed by 200 escorts wearing red cloaks (including a hundred Besidisian warriors).

Rodom, with one hand on the rein, while the other holding the flag that Martius have given him, followed closely behind Davos, passing by the marching column of the fourth legion.

Seeing them, the soldiers of the fourth legion, who were in front, stopped talking and looked at their grand legatus with burning gazes. And Davos, with a solemn expression, raised his right arm and stretched it forward to salute.

All of a sudden, the soldiers thundered and cheered, “All hail Theonia!!!”

“All hail Theonia!!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The sight had not only made Rodom’s blood boil but also made him envious, ‘Living a life of obscurity in the valley is boring! A man should be on the battlefield like a commander!’

“Do you hear it? The ones that are cheering loudly are the recruits of the fourth legion. I heard that they have come from Terina, and it seems that they have captured Clampetia. It is no wonder that they are so energetic, but if we hadn’t defeated the main force of Bruttii, how could they have breached the city so easily! These little guys are still lacking! These following days, we have to let them know that we, the first legion, is the best in the Theonian army!…” The soldiers of the first legion watched the cheering of the fourth legion.

At the top of the city wall, the Bruttian warriors watched the sight outside the city with fear. The “long dragon” line coming from the northeast and the southwest merged and gave out a frightening cheer and an imposing momentum.

Pian’s expression became sullen from the news he received yesterday about the “fall of Clampetia”, which he especially blocked from spreading. However, he did not expect that the Theonians would actually perform such a play outside the city and looking at the expression of the warriors, he knew that the blow to them is enormous.

At that moment, Tagli’s voice sounded from behind, “The Theonians are already powerful, yet we are too few! And Consentia is too big to defend with our small number. It’s better for us to surrender!”

When Petaru heard this, he turned pale, wishing he could beat up the old man, but he still held himself back. Yesterday, under the mediation of Phitara, he and Tagli reached an agreement: The Bruttii Tribal Union would return Tagli’s original tribesmen and the tribal chieftains and shall not deprive and interfere with their rights again. In return, they finally agreed to join Pian in fighting the Theonians in Consentia.

However, there is still one issue that they are debating: Tagli and the others demanded the abolishment of the Council of Elders and to delegate the power to deal with the affairs of the union to the Chieftain Association.

For Pian, agreeing to this request of theirs would mean that the Bruttii Tribal Union that he had been striving for with a high degree of centralization would instead become a loose union of tribes, something he could not tolerate. That is why he postponed this important issue by giving an excuse about “Bodiam is not here, and Sedrum is missing”, which cause the discontent of the other tribal chieftains, and now the two sides are at odds with each other.

Facing the pressure of the Theonian army while Consentia is in such a situation. How could they resist the enemy’s attack? This had caused Pian’s distraught.

Fortunately, Davos did not order to attack the city and had instead begun building a camp. Relying on the absolute advantage of having thirty thousand troops, he directly ordered the construction to start a kilometre away from the city in order to prepare to besiege Consentia.

The guards began escorting the captives to dig trenches. With having the first, second, fourth legion, the legion reserve and the allied troops….Davos had enough labour to build a huge camp and enough men to stand by.

Just as Davos was preparing to start a detailed reconnaissance around Consentia, Kapus reported that Sedrum asked to meet him.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“You have decided? For Vergae to join Theonia?” Davos suppressed the join in his heart and looked at Sedrum calmly.

“Yes, archon of Theonia.” After seeing the arrival of the fourth legion of Theonia, Sedrum immediately realized that what Davos had said to him before was true and that Theonia really had the strength to siege a city. Thus he no longer hesitated and decisively made up his mind, relieving himself of many days of distress, causing the weight on his shoulder to become lighter.

Davos looked at the great chieftain of Bruttii, who he had not seen for several days and had become older, and asked slowly, “So what would you do now?”

Chapter 333 – Conquering Bruttii

“After our previous defeat, many of my people must have fled to Consentia. And they might now be standing on top of the city wall…” Sedrum said carefully and added, “Reasonably speaking…even if I were to go out now and persuade them to go out the city and surrender, and even try to persuade Pian to give up their resistance, but…a wolf king without wolves will not frighten anyone, and will instead get hunted. The Consentians will say that I…fearing for my life, have surrendered to Theonia. And my people will probably be determined to resist to the end to wash away this shame-” Sedrum paused for a moment, earnestly looked at Davos and continued, “I hope that I can go back to Vergae first, convince the chieftains and the people that were there, and then lead them to join the siege of Consentia, which, I believe, would be more helpful for Theonia in capturing Consentia!” With that, he waited for Davos’ answer nervously.

Davos gazed at him for a moment and smiled, “How long does it take to get to Vergae from here?”

“It would take a long time by walking, but only less than three hours on a horse.”

“Then you can depart on horseback now. I hope that by tomorrow, I could meet the chieftains of Vergae here!” Davos said in a decisive and firm tone.

With astonishment, Sedrum bowed his head and said, “As you wish, milord.”

“Martius.”

“Here!”

“Take some guards and send chieftain Sedrum safely to Vergae. I believe that once Avinoges sees you, he will not stop chieftain Sedrum from entering the city. And at the same time, tell the archon of Laos to come here tomorrow with his army together with Vergae.”

“Understood.” Martius hesitated then said, “Milord, but you-”

“Don’t worry. Nothing will happen to me with the other guards and the Besidisian warriors led by Rodom.”

“Understood.”

Once Sedrum left, Tolmides, who was beside him, asked, “Grand legatus, are you not worried that he is lying?”

Davos watched at the depart back of Sedrum with a slightly complicated expression, “Sedrum is a smart man, as he had deliberately not mentioned one thing just now.”

After the reminder of Davos, it dawned on Tolmides, “Those Vergaean captives in the camp!”

“This is the hostage that he left behind. If a great chieftain were to leave his own people and escape alone, once the Vergaeans found out about it… We could say that Sedrum had given it some thoughts.” Davos smiled, “In fact, I don’t care whether he lied or not because he can’t change the end of the war alone. Rather, he will just give me a reason to wipe out the Vergaeans completely!”

That night, the inside and outside of the city were peaceful and quiet.

On the next day, the sleepless Pian rushed to the city wall, waiting for the attack of the Theonians.

However, the Theonians had still not attacked and instead, they were still building their camp.

But what Pian didn’t know was that Davos had sent the first legion to attack Anbania, together with a dozen of the officers of the fourth legion, ballistae units and Hegesitus.

By noon, the warriors defending Consentia were horrified to see an army of about a thousand men coming from the north, carrying the flag of Vergae, circling Consentia, and finally entering the Theonian camp followed by two thousand armies from Laos.

Giving the warriors a great shock, ‘Vergae has surrendered!’

In particular, the Vergaean soldiers inside the city, after seeing their great chieftain Sedrum and the other chieftains were at the forefront of the team, clamoured to go out of the city to join them, resulting in a clash with the warriors that have come to stop them.

Pian was now in a bind. There are about eight hundred Vergaean warriors, while the total number of Consentian warriors in the city was five thousand at most. However, due to the large army of Theonians outside the city, he couldn’t transfer some troops to deal with the Vergaeans. While the other chieftains, led by Tagli, also refused to participate in the encirclement and suppression of the Vergaeans on the excuse that the Bruttians could not kill each other.

Then at this time, a new situation arises outside the city. The tribes that had rioted in Consentia gathered and began shouting at Tagli, persuading them to surrender.

Just as Tagli and the other chieftains hesitated, Bodiam, the great chieftain of Anbania, led more than a dozen cavalry in a hurry.

The fact that even Anbania had surrendered caused a huge blow to the Bruttian warriors in the city. But as a matter of fact, Anbania’s surrender is reasonable, with seven thousand men of Theonia’s first legion appearing outside Anbania, together with the several stone projectiles fired by the ballistae breaking their walls, and the persuasion of Hegesitus for them to surrender…these subsequent actions made the great chieftain, Bodiam, who only had less than a thousand warriors left, to quickly make the right choice.

With the surrender of Anbania, all the Bruttians in Consentia became more frightened. Because of this, Consentia has become a lone “island” surrounded by enemies!

Tagli and the other chieftains finally made up their minds to open the city gates and surrender.

The Theonian soldiers cheered as they rushed into Consentia. While Pian, Petaru and Kaduk had to retreat to the inner part o the city with their tribal warriors, leaving the city in chaos.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Petaru staggered into the tribal hall.

“Great chieftain!” Petaru shouted anxiously, “Great chieftain, that damn Kaduk!…he opened the gate and surrendered to the Theonians! We…what should we do…”

Sitting on the wooden chair, Pian did not panic. He looked at his son-in-law calmly and uttered a sentence with difficulties, “Surrender to the Theonians…”

Petaru, who was waiting for the answer he wanted, hesitated a bit and said “Yes”, then he hurriedly walked out.

“Petaru.” Pian stopped him and said with seriousness, “As a chieftain of the Bruttians, you’re temperament is still a bit hasty. In the future, you should think more before taking action, and…” Pian’s voice became lower. He then took a breath and said, “Take care of Una!”

Hearing this, Petaru became uneasy, “Father…”

Pian waved his hand and said, “Quickly go! Too many of our people have died…”

With some reluctance, he watched as the figure of Petaru disappears outside the hall. Then Pian turned around with weariness. On the wall behind him is the flag of the Bruttii Tribal Union – A snow-capped mountain towering over the green grasslands that represent the land that nurtured thousands of Bruttians and the goddess Amara that sheltered them.

Pian stepped forward. He then passionately gaze at the flag that he had poured his heart and soul into, as countless thoughts flashed through, seeing a unified Bruttii Tribal Union rising in this land, but…

“Theonia…Theonia…” Pian repeated the name with resentment, filled with regret. Naturally, he would not know that in the history of Davos’ previous life, Bruttii became a powerful kingdom several decades later. Not only did the Greek city-states tremble under its troops, but even the Lucanians were afraid of them. The great city-states such as Crotone and Thurii, who have become so weak after successive invasions by Syracuse, had to invite Alexander of Epirus to lead tens of thousands of troops, crossing the sea to Italy in order to attempt to destroy Bruttii in one fell swoop. But the result, near the Finita River, where the Theonians and the Bruttii Union’s troops met, the Bruttians had almost completely wiped out the Greek allied forces led by Alexander. And from then on, the Greek city-states in South Italia could only hide behind their tall walls and try to survive, leaving no record in history until the arrival of the Romans…

At this time, Pian took down the flag of the Bruttii Union, slowly wrapped it around his body, and then drew out a dagger at his waist…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the day before Pian committed suicide and Davos occupying the whole Bruttian territory, the third legion led by Hieronymus arrived at Pyxous, and the Pyxousians who had no troops could only surrender.

After receiving this news, the great chieftain of Potentia, Pamot, finally made up his mind to send envoys to Thurii and asked to join the Theonian alliance.

A month later, Metapontum and Galaguso had also joined the Theonian alliance.

At this time, the alliance of Theonia had occupied more than half of the land in South Italia and Lucania and had become the absolute hegemon.

Note: According to historical data, the Bruttians had been the vassals of the Lucanians for decades. In the end, they united and established a unified kingdom. At that time, due to the repeated invasion of Dionysius of Syracuse, the strength of the Greek city-states in South Italia was significantly weakened, providing convenience for the growth of Bruttii. If we were to look at the maps of this period, you could see that the Bruttian territory almost occupied the whole Calabria region, with the exception of the Greek city-states along the coast.

In this book, the existence of Theonia interrupted the rise of the Bruttians. Of course, they had also interrupted the rise of the Lucanians.

In the next volume, more Mediterranean forces will be involved and will make the situations more complicated. There are also more historical figures appearing, grander war scenes and more treacherous conspiracies and diplomacy…so stay tuned!

Volume VI: Two Heroes Meet

Chapter 334 – Syracuse’s Expansion

Dionysius, accompanied by Macias, was inspecting the construction of Syracuse’s fortress when the news of Theonia’s conquest of Bruttii reached Syracuse.

Seeing the fortress’ near completion, he was in a good mood, but when he heard the news, his face immediately became gloomy and blurted out, “Damn Carthage, they are hindering my plan!…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the early spring of 397 B.C., an army of a hundred thousand led by Carthage’s shofet Himilco set out from Carthage and landed in Sicily after a small-scale battle with the Syracusan Navy at sea. Soon after, they quickly captured Eryx in western Sicily, then stormed the city of Motya and succeeded.

They then forced the Syracusan troops to withdraw from the siege of Segesta. Rather than taking advantage of their victory, Himilco destroyed Motya and built a new city near the coast, and named it Lilybaeum.

When the Carthaginian army stopped their advance, the cautious Dionysius began stationing his troops in Syracuse.

Shortly after laying the foundation for Lilybaeum, Himilco led the army to continue their attack eastward just as February arrived. This time, rather than taking the attack route that Syracuse took last year, he instead took a boat around the northeast corner of Sicily and easily took down the defenceless Messina.

The fall of Messina became a reminder to Rhegium, who was on the other side of the strait. This great Greek city-state, which was wealthy due to its advantageous geographical position and prosperous port transit trade, had been quietly communicating with Carthage for many years to prevent Syracuse from coveting the strait of Messina. But all of a sudden, Rhegium’s friendly foreign city-state bared its fangs and captured its sister city-state, Messina. Why sister city-state? It is because Messina was established by the joint colonization of Cumae and Chalcis and was initially named Zancle and later renamed Messina because of the arrival of the immigrants from Messene. The Messinians have long realised that the other side of the Strait must be under their control in order to ensure their safety, so they encouraged their mother-state, Cumae. Cumae together with the Messinians then jointly established the friendly city-state of Rhegium.

Rhegium became panicked that they hurriedly decided to send envoys to the base of the South-Italia Alliance in Scylletium and ask them to join the alliance. So far, with the exception of Locri and its subordinate city-states, all the other Greek city-states have an alliance agreement with Theonia.

After the complete destruction of Messina, Carthage built a new city, Tauromenium, on the coast south of Messina, in order for Himilco to please the natives of eastern Sicily, the Sicels, and to prepare for their attack on Syracuse, which he then presented to the Sicels.

In March, Dionysius felt that he could no longer let the Carthaginians continue attacking its subordinate city-states. And if he still did not do anything, Syracuse’s allies might fall to Carthage. Thus he mobilised both his land and sea army to push northward to the Plain of Catania.

Hence a naval battle broke out between Syracuse and Carthage near Catania. The Greek warships were more than that of Carthage, and they also had an advantage in equipment. However, Dionysius had appointed his brother, Leptines, due to favouritism. But as the commander of the navy, his brother made a mistake in his command, leading to the defeat of Syracuse’s navy and causing heavy losses.

As the naval battle happens, the Greek army watches it on the shore. And due to this, they witnessed the tragedy of the navy and began wavering.

Fortunately, the army led by Himilco did not arrive at the battlefield in time due to Mount Etna, on the southwest of Tauromenium, suddenly erupting, spewing down hot lava and destroying the road to the south. The dark volcanic ash blocked the sky, making the Carthaginian army have no choice besides to take a detour.

And the Syracusan army sang the ode of Hephaestus, the god of fire, silently in awe and hurriedly returned to Syracuse. Then Catana and Leontini fell into Carthage’s hand.

With the aftereffect of his naval victory, Himilco finally led his army to Syracuse. At the same time, the Carthaginian navy sailed into the harbour of Syracuse, where they then set up camp on the banks of the Anapus river, trying to besiege Syracuse from both land and sea.

At this time, Dionysius anxiously sent messengers to Campania in Italia, Corinth in Greece, Sparta and other city-states to seek emergency assistance. Although Magna Graecia is the closest to Syracuse, Dionysius intentionally or unintentionally ignored this area and did not ask for any help from Theonia Union, the hegemon of South Italia.

Naturally, Theonia could not send any troops without any invitation, as it would make the Sicilians suspect them of some ulterior motives. Moreover, Theonia, after frequent wars and rapid expansion, also needed time to rest, consolidate and integrate. Therefore, when the Greek city-state in Sicily was facing a critical moment, the Theonians and the Greeks in South Italia just watched from across the sea with mixed feeling.

The Greek reinforcements from other places soon came one after another, especially Sparta, who had even sent the young strategos Phidias to lead thirty warships and five hundred Spartan warriors.

At this time, the Syracusans launched a riot against Dionysius, prompting Phidias to lead the Greek coalition forces to stop the riot. However, they all began complaining that it was precisely because of Dionysius’ poor command that Syracuse was now facing a predicament and the people losing their loved ones. And at the same time, they also included Dionysius’ tyrannical rule, begging Sparta and the allies to help them get rid of the shackles of this tyrant.

Phidias, remembering the advice of Agesilaus, told them straightforwardly that Sparta came to Syracuse to help Dionysius fight against Carthage, not to help Syracuse overthrow Dionysius. He hoped that the rioting people would calm their anger down and work together to drive out the Carthaginians who were already close to the city.

At the same time, he also asked Dionysius to make a promise that from now on, he will not retaliate against the people who participated in the riot and to be more tolerant of his rule in the future.

With the full support of Sparta, Dionysius got through a difficult crisis.

After the Carthaginians settled down outside the city, they began destroying all the facilities outside Syracuse. They had not only destroyed the farms, villages and towns but also desecrated the gods by destroying the Temple of Zeus on Polichne and also robbing the temples of Demeter and Persephone.

This kind of desecration angered the Syracusans, and the two sides had many small-scale lands and sea battle outside the city and in the great harbour.

With the coming of summer, the situation began benefiting Syracuse. As the temperature rose, the number of mosquitoes in the marshes near the Anapus River increased, causing the bitten Carthaginian soldiers to be tortured by a plague, resulting in an increasing number of deaths.

At this time, under the pressure of internal and external troubles, Dionysius was inspired and made a clever plan. After marching at night and using the tactic of making a sound in the east and striking in the west, the navy and land forces simultaneously attacked the weakened side of the enemy’s fortress.

Because of the plague, the Carthaginians were demoralised and unable to fight back against the attack of Syracuse.

At the cost of thousands of mercenaries’ lives, Dionysius successively captured the two fortresses, Polichne fortress and Dascon fortress, that the Carthaginians built on the banks of Anapus. At the same time, Dionysius defeated the Carthaginian navy. After suffering successive casualties, the Carthaginian camp of Himilco was in chaos and was in danger of the whole army being wiped out.

At this moment, Dionysius ordered to halt the attack.

That night, in Carthage’s military camp, there are confidential exchanges with the envoy of Dionysius.

And for the next three days, both sides remained peaceful, and no battles occurred.

On the fourth night, Himilco led the only remaining thirty triremes and fled the port, abandoning most of the Carthaginian soldiers, allies, and mercenaries, which were then annihilated by Syracuse and its allies.

After the great victory, Dionysius did not pursue the Carthaginians. Because the previous Syracusan ousting incident made him aware that he could only secure his tyranny if Carthage continued to exist in Sicily. He had not only allowed the remnants of Himilco’s army to run away but also did not continue sweeping the Phoenician towns in Sicily. Instead, he began focusing on attacking the indigenous power of Sicily, the Sicels, who had become the accomplices of Carthage and caused great trouble to Syracuse, making him realise that it was not enough just to unify the Greek city-states on the island and that he had to expand Syracuse’s sphere of influence in the Sicels’ settlements in order to completely consolidate the east of Sicily.

Therefore, the Syracusan army began conquering the towns of the Sicels, such as Morgantina, Centuripa, Henna, and etc., forcing more Sicels powers to sign a subsidiary agreement with him.

He also surrounded Tauromenium, the only coastal city built by Himilco for the Sicels, but failed to capture it momentarily.

By the second year (396 B.C.), Syracuse’s power had expanded northward to the northeast corner of Sicily.

On the ruins burned by Carthage, Dionysius rebuilt Messina. The inhabitants of the new city of Messina were composed of the settlers of Syracuse’s allies such as, Locri, Medma and so on., which were mainly his allies in Magna Graecia. In addition, there were also hundreds of Messenians(Messene) who had just been driven out from their original home by the Spartans and were living without a place to stay. Because of this, the new inhabitants no longer had any kinship with the Rhegians.

But soon after, the Spartans sent a messenger to express their dissatisfaction with Dionysius placing the enemies of Sparta in such an important city.

Chapter 335 – Davos’ Second Wife

In order to maintain the friendship with Sparta, Dionysius had no choice but to move the Messenians out and build a city not far from Messina in an inconspicuous place to settle them, naming it Tyndaris.

The reconstruction of Messena and the construction of the new Tyndaris made Rhegium on the other side of the Strait restless. The Rhegians felt the desire of Dionysius over their city. They even began feeling that if they were to join the South-Italia Alliance, it would still not be safe because, at this moment, Syracuse had not only unified the Greek city-states in the eastern part of Sicily but had also basically conquered the Sicels. With Syracuse’s strength becoming greater, it became a big question whether the city-states in South-Italia Alliance are willing to fight against the powerful Syracuse for the sake of Rhegium! However, Theonia, the hegemon of South Italia, might be the only one that still dares to challenge Syracuse.

Hence, the Rhegians held an ecclesia. However, even after discussing it for several days, it still bore no result.

At this time, the Syracusan fleet entered the port of Messena, and their job was to escort the Syracusan army on its westward expedition to the northern coast of Sicily. However, this has stimulated the sensitive Rhegians that they hurriedly passed a proposal in the ecclesia and sent an envoy to Thurii.

In the Theonian Senate, the envoy of Rhegium proposed, “Rhegium would like to join the Theonia Alliance”, shocking the statesmen, including Davos. All the members of Theonia Alliance, such as Laos, Roscianum, Metapontum, Elea, Heraclea and Galaguso, were all small and medium-sized city-states in South Italia. And even though Potentia was a big city-state in the alliance, they were forced to join due to circumstances and were not obedient to Theonia. In the past two years, Theonia was busy consolidating and governing the Bruttii and Pyxous and had no time to pay attention to Potentia, which was far away from the edge of the mountains north of Theonia.

And now, Rhegium had willingly joined the Theonia Alliance on their own accord! Rhegium is a strong city-state in Magna Graecia and even ranks first among the city-state in terms of city trade wealth. With Rhegium’s joining, Theonia’s merchant ships and fleets can smoothly pass through the Strait of Messina, making it more convenient when trading with Iberia, Gaul and other far western city-states in the Mediterranean. At the same time, it also benefitted the navy defending the Theonian city-states of Clampetia and Pyxous on the western coast of Italia, as well as the allied city-states of Laos and Elea, connecting Theonia’s territorial waters.

Of course, the statesmen of Theonia were very happy to accept Rhegium. However, Rhegium’s envoy had put forward a condition, that is, the archon of Theonia must marry a Rhegian, whom the Rhegians had chosen, Agnes.

Who was Agnes? She was known as the “Rose of Rhegium”. When she was sixteen years old, she was so beautiful that she even attracted Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, to propose marriage. However, the vigilant Rhegians firmly rejected it.

The enraged Syracusan envoy left while leaving a sentence, “Our almighty strategos will open his eyes and see who is more qualified than him to marry Agnes!”

Afterwards, Dionysius married a Locrian, adorning the transport ship with jewels and dazzling gold to meet his wife, which became a hot topic in Magna Graecia at that time.

And because of the words left by the Syracusan envoy, Agnes was not able to marry. And with Syracuse’s continuous expansion, they become more powerful, causing the Rhegium’s men and the whole city-state not to want to provoke Dionysius and focusing the anger of Syracuse’s tyrant on Rhegium.

That is why, in the past few years, Agnes, who had turned twenty-one, was still single(Greek women usually get married after the age of 14). With no one daring to marry her, she has decided to become a priestess of Artemis, the famous goddess among the Greek gods.

Now facing the threat of Syracuse, the realistic and sharp Rhegians believes that Davos is the absolute ruler of Theonia. Thus they want to tie Davos and Rhegium together through Agnes to deal with Dionysius.

Davos, seeing through the thoughts of the Rhegians, immediately refused.

However, a few days later, the envoy of Rhegium manages to persuade most of the statesmen, including Mersis, Marigi, Kunogelata, Cornelius and the others. They kept visiting Davos, hoping that he would agree to Rhegium’s request and refuting what Davos has said regarding “abiding the monogamous law of Theonia” because there were no such rigid provisions in the Theonian Law, and it is only customary. Even in Athens, where monogamy was once explicitly stipulated, needed to promote polygamy during the great plague that preceded the Peloponnesian War because of the drastic decrease of the population.

At the same time, they also stressed that Dionysius of Syracuse and other tyrants in Sicily had married many wives. That is why the archon for life of Theonia, the hegemon of South-Italia, could also do the same.

They also refuted the concerns of Davos about Theonia getting dragged into a war with Syracuse because of Rhegium. Philesius, Antonios, and the others even argued that even though Syracuse seems powerful, the Carthaginians will always be their greatest enemy, so how could Dionysius risk offending the equally powerful Theonia at the risk of fighting on both sides.

As a matter of fact, the news from Sicily seems to prove this as the Syracusan army kept moving westward along the northern coast of Sicily and began to approach the city of Soluntum, finally making the Carthaginian Council, which had already been angered because of Dionysius besiegement of Tauromenium, made up their mind to appoint Mago, the younger brother of Himilco, as the supreme commander, recruiting soldiers and preparing to lead the army to Sicily again to resist the attack of Syracuse.

For the statesmen in charge of governmental affairs in the Theonian Senate, there is only a slight risk but greater gains by accepting Rhegium. For the statesmen in charge of the military, Rhegium has a powerful naval fleet that can make up for the shortcomings of Theonia.

Under the persuasion of everyone, Davos become hesitant. At this moment, his wife, Cheiristoya, came forward and expressed her support for the senate’s wish for Davos to take the Rhegian woman as his other wife and advised him to accept Agnes.

Born in Miletus, Asia Minor, Cheiristoya was influenced by the Persian culture and was not opposed to polygamy. Back then, Cyrus the Younger even had more than a dozen concubines. And as a successful merchant, she knew more about the importance of Rhegium’s submission to Theonia’s business.

In the end, Davos was persuaded to marry the twenty-one-year-old Rhegian, Agnes, into the household of the Archon of Theonia, while Rhegium successfully joined the Theonia Alliance, causing great astonishment all over Magna Graecia.

Dionysius was leading his army and besieging Soluntum when he learned about this and ordered a retreat, only for him to soon reorder, ‘Sound the attack….’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

During these two years, in the land of Asia Minor, the Greek allied army led by Dercylidas caused great trouble to Persia.

In 396 B.C., Artaxerxes, the Persian King, at the suggestion of his mother, appointed Conon, an Athenian temporarily living in Persia, as the navarch of the Persian navy.

Conon, who had taken refuge in Persia, had never forgotten to take his revenge on Sparta. Thus he often went to please the Queen Dowager of Persia, Parysatis. Now that he finally had the military power in his hand, he immediately led 300 Persian warships and actively cooperated with the Persian land army, causing great casualties to the Spartan army and gave them trouble.

As a result, Persia proposed a truce, but Sparta refused.

At this time, Sparta, which was already the Greek hegemon, was not willing to accept the truce while being passive, as it will not only be very unfavourable to Sparta but will also damage Sparta’s prestige among the Greek city-states. Thus the Ephors decided to send King Agesilaus to replace Dercylidas and launched a greater war in Asia Minor.

When in front of the Spartans, Agesilaus always presented himself as an approachable and modest man, but under the mask of obeying the Spartan traditions and laws, he hid his ambition. He longed for great glory, worshipped the heroes of the ancient past, and hoped to make the world forget his physical disability and for only his achievements of unprecedented victory to be remembered. That is why when he accepted the order from the Ephors, he thought of himself as Agamemnon of this era and wanted to conquer the new Troy, which is Persia.

And therefore, leading a part of his army, he arrived at the city of Aulis (it is located in the Boetia region, and the most famous city-state in this region is Thebes) to offer a sacrifice, just as Agamemnon, the king of kings, had done before leading the entire Greek army across the sea to attack Troy.

However, during the solemn ceremony, the Thebans appeared and forcibly interrupted the ceremony, claiming that the Spartans had not informed Thebes of their actions.

This incident cast a shadow over the already tense relationship between Sparta and Thebes. And for the prideful Agesilaus, this is a great shame! Thus from then on, he engraves Thebes from his memory.

Finally, with an army of two thousand new Spartan citizens and a military council of thirty men headed by Lysander, Agesilaus quietly crossed the sea to Asia Minor and marched into Ephesus.

Lysander thought that Agesilaus, whom he had supported, would rely on him, the real “king” who conquered Asia Minor and will hand over the command of the Spartan army to him.

Chapter 336 – Corinthian War

As a Spartan hero that defeated Athens, Lysander once supported all the naval allies of Athens and established a puppet government loyal to Sparta. Now that he came to Asia Minor, the rulers of these city-states often came to visit him, followed him around and even made all kinds of requests on him, as if he were the real king and Agesilaus was just his follower.

But soon after, Lysander tasted the might of Agesilaus. Any request he made to Agesilaus, even if it was reasonable, was rejected, and Agesilaus had even secretly sent his men to spread out words that Lysander was only an ordinary member of the Spartan “Thirty Military Council”  and had no authority.

As a consequence, Lysander could not fulfil his promises to these people, leading the rulers to realise that the situation had changed and began pleasing Agesilaus.

And Agesilaus’ distancing from Lysander made him uneasy, and he realised that he had been naive, as the new king was by no means a mediocre man that he could manipulate.

At this moment, Lysander was no longer the brilliant Spartan hero a few years ago. The failure of his scheme to overthrow the Spartan System prompted the Ephors to deprive him of his authority. In the end, he could only take the initiative to propose to Agesilaus to go to the Straight of Hellespont and win over the city-states that were previously affiliated to Persia, which Agesilaus approved.

After dealing with the ambitious Lysander, Agesilaus began showing his military talent. He was more flexible than Dercylidas when commanding the troops as he moved back and forth between the two satrapies of the two Persian satraps, Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus, leaving the Persian army at a loss. Finally, in the spring of 395 B.C., he defeated Tissaphernes and inflicted severe losses to his army in the Battle of Sardis.

Due to this tragic defeat, Parysatis, the mother of Artaxerxes, the Persian King, finally seized the opportunity to ask his son to remove Tissaphernes from his position. Afterwards, Tissaphernes was assassinated, thus avenging her younger son, Cyrus.

When this report reached the army of Agesilaus, the mercenaries who had experienced the “Retreat of the Ten Thousand” were excited. Xenophon also wrote a letter to Davos, who was far away in Thurii, to express his joy and admiration for the Spartan king, Agesilaus.

The military action of Agesilaus in Asia Minor put tremendous pressure on the Persians that the Persian King had to mobilise the troops from other places to deal with Sparta. As a result, the defence on those places became empty. In Egypt, the farthest province of Persia, the Egyptians who had been fighting against the Persian rule finally seized this opportunity to rebel under the leadership of Achoris and successfully driving away the Persians, achieving independence and rebuilding the Kingdom of Egypt. With Achoris becoming the new Pharaoh (this is the 29th Dynasty in ancient Egyptian history).

In order to recapture Egypt, Persia sent envoys to propose a peace agreement with Agesilaus many times in 395 B.C., but Agesilaus refused the Persian’s request for peace. Artaxerxes then realise that Agesilaus’ goal was him, hence why the Spartans had no intention of withdrawing their troops from Asia Minor. Therefore in anger and with the advice of his ministers, he sent his men to Greece and began offering massive monetary bribes to the strategoi and statesmen of Thebes, Corinth, Argos and other city-states that were not friendly with Sparta, on the sole condition that they wage war on the Spartans.

And these city-states answer were all similar, ‘Even if we don’t receive the money, we are all eager to go to war because the Spartans are too overbearing. They not only disrespect us, but they also repeatedly harm the interests of our city-states!’

At the instigation of the Persian envoys, these city-states began to negotiate an alliance secretly. Among them, Thebes was the most active in declaring war on Sparta and began provoking their ally Locris to stir up a conflict with Sparta’s ally Phocis. When Phocis finally attack Locris, the Thebans declared that in order to defend their allies, they would declare war on Phocis.

Hence the Thebans began calling their army to invade the territory of Phocis, and the weakened Phocis had to ask for help from Sparta. Although Phocis is small, it is an important city-state near Delphi, which is beneficial for the Spartans in intervening in the religious affairs of Delphi. What’s more, the Spartans still remember that Thebes humiliated and destroyed their ceremony before their expedition to Persia. Thus they are thrilled to find a reason to attack Thebes and immediately decided to punish the Thebans for their contempt and disrespect to Sparta.

The Spartans started their invasion of Thebes by arranging for two armies, one under the other Spartan king, Pausanias, to advance northward, and the other under Lysander, who had returned to Sparta and was sent by the Ephors to go to Phocis and organise a local coalition to attack Thebes southward. Lysander manages to quickly complete his task splendidly and also instigated the people of Orchomenus in Boeotia to rebel.

Facing a powerful threat, the Thebans turned to Athens, the nearest strongest city-state, for help.

After experiencing a series of ordeals such as their defeat in the Peloponnesian War and the “Thirty Tyrants”’ dark rule, the Athenians finally restored the Democratic faction, who had shed their arrogance and reconciled with the nobles of the moderate faction while treating their former allies as equals. Under this pragmatic and stable policy, Athens rapidly recover its strength after nearly a decade. Thus after regaining its strength, Athens wants to eliminate Sparta’s control and gain absolute freedom in military and trade.

So after receiving a request for help from Thebes, Athens immediately held an ecclesia. At the ecclesia, the overwhelming majority of the citizens voted to ally with Thebes, their former enemy, and go to war with Sparta.

In the end, Thrasybulus, the leader of the democratic faction, who had rebelled and fought the “Thirty Tyrants” hard and overthrew them, and bringing Athens back to life, notified the Theban envoy of Athens’ determination and firmly said, “…although the port of Piraeus has no walls yet, we Athenians will face the danger bravely and face the cruel Spartans together with you, Thebes!”

The Thebans were moved at the fact that the two city-states that had been feuding for decades had quickly entered into an alliance declaring that Thebes and Athens formed a permanent alliance.

At this moment, the troops led by Lysander and Pausanias approached the region of Boeotia from both south and north, agreeing to meet near the city of Haliartus, to the south of Thebes.

However, after Lysander’s arrival, the army of Pausanias was still not there. Thus Lysander tried to persuade the Haliartians to betray Thebes.

And the Haliartians pretended to agree, but the truth was, they are secretly delaying the time. And when the Theban reinforcements arrived, they suddenly went out of the city attacking Lysander’s troops together with the army of Thebes.

Lysander, who had laid the foundation for the Spartan hegemony, died unexpectedly in this battle. However, in the ensuing battle, the Thebans failed to completely defeat the remnant army, which has lost its leader and had instead suffered heavy losses.

The next day, Pausanias arrived with his army.

When the Thebans saw that there were numerous, powerful and orderly Spartan troops, their morale fell.

However, Pausanias did not immediately lead his army to attack and instead camped nearby.

On the third day, the Athenian reinforcements arrived.

This made the Thebans become more confident as they joined up with the Athenians and prepared to fight the Spartans.

Pausanias, however, did not immediately lead his troops towards the coalition forces, nor did he accept the challenge of the enemy. Instead, he gathered the officers under his command and discussed whether they should go to war immediately or to sign a truce so that they could recover the bodies of Lysander and the other fallen soldiers.

In the end, the Spartans decided on a truce.

After the two sides negotiated, the Spartan troops left Boeotia with the bodies of their comrades.

After seeing the body of Lysander, the Spartan citizens became sad and recalled Lysander’s great contribution to Sparta. Then they turned their grief into anger and accused the Spartan King, Pausanias, of deliberately delaying the rendezvous time, which killed Lysander and withdrawing without even fighting.

The Ephors did not fully defend the Spartan king because the death of Lysander and the withdrawal of Sparta had caused significant impacts, which directly led to the establishment of an Anti-Spartan Alliance among the four powerful Greek city-states: Thebes, Athens, Corinth and Argos.

As a result, Pausanias – the Spartan King, was convicted and exiled.

The Spartans then became aware that the Anti-Spartan Alliance would do great harm to the hegemony of Sparta, and thus, they quickly called on the army to try to wipe them out.

And the Anti-Spartan Alliance also quickly gathered its troops in the Isthmus of Corinth, hoping to resist the Spartan’s attack and then attack the Spartan territory and completely burn the “wasp’s nest.”

Thus both sides began a protracted battle in the Isthmus of Corinth.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the same year, a war in Sicily has taken place.

Syracuse and Carthage’s troops fought on the northern coast of Sicily for more than half a year.

When 394 B.C. came, the important Mediterranean countries and city-states were in the mire of war, while Magna Graecia enjoyed more than three years of peace.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Lycasis came early in the morning and began cleaning and tidying up the clinic. As a physician apprentice, his job was to prepare everything before the physician arrived. But he firmly believes that hard work can win his teacher’s trust and learn real medical skills. Today, he is in a very good mood because he would accompany his teacher on a long journey.

When Nicostratos came to the clinic, Lycasis had already completed packing and Nicostratos, who had never been one to worry about trivial matters, simply asked, “Have you bought everything?”

After receiving affirmation from Lycasis, he nodded and said, “Let’s go.”

Chapter 337 – Crotone’s Physicians

Lycasis closed the door and hung a wooden sign saying, “Went out of town, clinic close”.

“Hey, Nicostratos, you are going out?!” The owner of the butcher shop across the street waved his cleaver and shouted.

Nicostratos grunted, ignoring the butcher. He always thought that it was because of this butcher, who shouted and hawked across the street every day, that made the rich people unwilling to visit his clinic. Thus he had the thought of moving the clinic several times, but the housing in the city is not cheap, and the location of the houses he could afford is not as good as here. That’s why he doesn’t look kindly to this rude neighbour of his.

“How long will you be out?!” The butcher shop’s owner was already used to the physician’s attitude. Seeing that he didn’t answer, he continued to ask loudly.

The clever Lycasis saw that his teacher was becoming gloomier. Thus he replied on his behalf, “We will be out for about twenty days, Uncle Kus.”

“Too long!” The butcher shop’s owner exclaimed, “What if we get sick and you are still not here?!”

Nicostratos twitched a few times. Finally, he could no longer hold himself back as he turned around and shouted, “Then you should not get sick until I return!”

“That’s not for me to decide whether I get sick or not. All of it is up to the mischief of the gods!” The butcher shop’s owner complained.

Nicostratos no longer want to talk to him anymore. Thus he strode forward.

“Physician Nicostratos, where are you going that you will be gone for so long?” Another person asked.

This time, Nicostratos stopped because the one who asked was the baker. He was his important customer that rarely comes but paid a lot of money every time he came to see him.

“To Thurii.” He answered seriously.

“Thurii? You were invited?” When the merchant saw Lycasis carrying a medical box, he said with pride, “We Crotonians are famous all over Magna Graecia for our medical skills! Although Theonia has a much larger territory and is good in fighting, they are still far inferior to Crotone, who has a long history, in other aspects!”

The butcher supported him and said, “You are right! Those people in the north are all refugees. They neither have culture nor tradition!”

Theonia’s influence in Magna Graecia grew year by year, making the ordinary people in the once-powerful Crotone frustrated. Out of bitterness, they always like to compare some of their city-state’s advantages with Theonia while ridiculing them to get some psychological satisfaction.

Nicostratos gave a few perfunctory replies and walked out of his street quickly.

“Imbecile.” It was at this moment that a word came out of his mouth.

The rise of Crotone’s medicine originated from Democedes a hundred years ago. When he was young, this young Crotonian was determined to become the best physician in the Mediterranean. Thus he travelled all over the places to learn the art of healing, and after completing his studies, he practised in Athens, earning a great deal of money with his skills. Later, he went to Samos to treat its tyrant. However, Samos was captured by the Persians when they attacked Asia Minor, resulting in him becoming a captive and escorted to Susa, where he cured Darius, the king of kings, who had sprained his ankle. He was then released to serve the royal family but was restricted from returning to Greece.

Living in Persia for more than five years, he started missing his hometown, thousands of kilometres away.

One day, Atossa, the queen of Darius and the daughter of Cyrus the Great, the founder of Persia, suffered from a lump on her breast that no one could cure. After hearing Democedes’ superb medical skills, she reluctantly asked the Greek to come to the inner court for medical treatment and promised that as long as he could cure her, the queen would grant any of his requests.

As a result, Democedes healed Queen Atossa back to health. Then, at his request, Atossa suggested to Darius that Democedes could travel around Greece together with Persian spies to gather information for their future conquest of Greece.

With Darius consent, Democedes vowed to return to Susa.

But the result was, after leaving Persia, he found a chance to get rid of his Persian guards and escape back to Crotone.

At that time, although Persia was powerful, they had still not yet started their conquest of Greece. Thus they could not affect the western Mediterranean, which was thousands of kilometres away.

Democedes then opened a clinic in his hometown. Then he began accepting many apprentices, where he selflessly imparted his many years of medical experience and the medical skills of Greece and Persia that he combined, which greatly improved the medical level of Crotone and made the physicians of Crotone the second to none in Magna Graecia for a hundred years.

But in recent years, Theonia’s medical skills improved rapidly, just like the strength of its union. It was even rumoured that even some complicated and diverse diseases that the Crotonian physicians could not solve can be miraculously cured by the Theonian physicians. Even some Greeks not from Theonia are all trying to go to Theonia’s hospital, with most of them going back to their homes happily. Due to this, the reputation of “Theonia’s physicians’ great medical skills that Hades’ taught” gradually spread.

As far as Nicostratos knows, many wealthy Crotonian citizens often go to Thurii, the centre of Theonia, to see a physician in recent years. The Theonian physicians had also set up a “Medical Symposium of South Italia”, held once a year in spring, inviting the physicians from Theonia Union and its allies to gather in Thurii and discuss new medical discoveries and exchange medical skills. Last year was the first time it was held, but the conservative Nicostratos didn’t go. However, after chatting with his colleagues who had come back from the medical symposium, the only thing they uttered were words about the novel medical theories and methods they learned from Theonia, which surprised Nicostratos and made him ponder deeply.

Thus, when Thurii’s hospital invited Theonia’s allies at the beginning of this year, he could no longer sit still to leave.

Going to Thurii only needed half a day by boat from the port and with the help of a tailwind, but the gloomy Nicostratos suffered from seasickness and had to travel by land.

Arriving at the north gate, another physician, Strasippus, was already waiting there for them. Soon after, they left Crotone and walked northward along the soft unpaved road.

The three then came to the pontoon bridge of the Neto River.

At the beginning of the Crotonian Second War, the Crotonians burned the pontoon bridge to prevent the Theonians from reaching Crotone. However, after rebuilding it, for some reason, the bridge had not only became narrower but also became less stable than before.

Strasippus could not stop himself from uttering while crossing the bridge, “On the Crati River in Thurii, there are actual wooden bridges that are not only wide and flat but also high enough to allow boats to pass under them. Compared to them, our pontoon bridges are more like those that the barbarians built!”

Nicostratos didn’t say anything. He remembers that last year when Crotone held an ecclesia to discuss whether to invite Theonia’s help to build a wooden bridge over the Neto River, most of the Crotonian citizens opposed it, which made this bill not be passed. Nicostratos himself was one of them, as, like most people, his idea is that facilities such as roads and bridges are fine as long as it works, and the money from the treasury should be used in repairing public facilities such as theatres, arenas, temples, and even provide extra benefits for citizens at special celebrations.

Thanks to the blessings of the gods, Magna Graecia has had good weather in recent years and have bumper harvests. And with the surrounding areas having frequent wars in these two years, the price of grain has risen. Thus after saving enough for their own use, the people would then sell the rest in the market. Therefore this year, when spring came early, the citizens, together with their slaves, begun plating in the farms early.

Walking on the Plains of Crotone, one could see endless green grain fields and slaves working hard.

In spring, due to the abundant rainfall, the roads become muddy. Due to this, Nicostratos and his party walked slowly to prevent slipping. However, they only manage to step out of Crotone’s territory by afternoon.

As they trudged the deep and shallow slippery mud, their feet began getting sore. But a while later, a flat, solid and spacious road appeared before them, relieving everyone.

“Teacher Strasippus.” Lycasis, who had never travelled far away since childhood, exclaimed excitedly, “Could this be the Krimisa-Aprustrum road that Theonia had built?!”

“Yes.” Strasippus glanced at Nicostratos, “Old friend, what do you think of this road?”

Nicostratos snorted and walked straight ahead without speaking. Then he stopped on the side of the road, looking for a vacant block of stone to sit down, as his waist problem already starting acting that it felt like crumbling from their travel.

Lycasis was young and energetic. Seeing the bustling of the coming and going on the road, he wanted to cross and walk down on the result. As a result, he was nearly hit by a fast-moving cart, ushering the driver’s scolding. Feeling embarrassed, he went back to the side.

After being spoken by Nicostratos, he quieted down. But after a while, he pulled Strasippus again and asked, “What’s that cart for?”

Looking in the direction of his finger, a covered cart drawn by two horses headed north at a relatively high speed, with Theonia’s symbol of “Bident and Three-headed dog” painted on both sides of the cart. And the vehicles on the road deliberately avoided it.

“That’s the postal cart.”

“Postal cart?”

“That’s what the Theonian call it. It’s responsible for delivering letters and parcels to the people between two places. I even heard that Theonia has a department specially responsible for this.” Strasippus said.

“That’s a good way to make it more convenient for the people of the city-state.” Nicostratos interjected.

“It would have been nice if we had a postal cart in Crotone as well! At least to deliver medicines to the patients, so that they don’t have to waste time by running back and forth.” Lycasis said with envy.

“Young man, that costs money.” Strasippus sighed.

Chapter 338 – Cariades the Believer

“Also, Crotone does not have any other cities, so using the money of the treasury to set up a postal cart to deliver letters would be too wasteful. If…Aprustum still belongs to us, then we could have considered it. But if that was the case, our roads and bridges must be built like this.” Strasippus stomped his foot. Indeed, Crotone’s uneven, unpaved road would make the carts prone to fall apart.

“Aprustum!” This was the pain in the Crotonians’ hearts. Nicostratos snorted and cursed, “All of it is due to the incompetence of the Council! You know, this place, which is a fertile land, was still a part of the Plains of Crotone a few years ago! But now, all of it belongs to the Theonians…”

“It’s time for us to go, else we won’t reach Krimisa tonight to rest!” Strasippus changed the subject by reminding them.

“How far till we reach Krimisa?” Asked Nicostratos, rubbing his thigh. As someone who doesn’t come out often, he was already a bit tired.

Strasippus stood up and looked forward carefully. Then he pointed ahead and said, “Lycasis, go and check that milestone and see how far till Krimisa.”

“Could it be that the distance is inscribed on the stone tablet?” Lycasis went over in doubt.

After a while, he pointed to the stone tablet and exclaimed, “‘Krimisa – 10 kilometres Ahead’. Is this it?”

“Yes.”

“And…there is also a small house carved next to it and a ‘3 kilometres ahead’. What does it mean?”

“It means that there is a post station 3 kilometres ahead, which can provide short rest, food and even accommodation.” A passerby next to Lycasis replied.

“Oh, thank you!” Lycasis politely express his gratitude.

“Are you a physician?” Seeing the medical box he was carrying, the man asked with a smile.

“Yes. my teacher and I will go to Thurii to attend an…erm…medical symposium.”

“The physicians of Theonia are highly skilled in medicine and are blessed by Hades to bring back to life those who are dying. So you have come to the right place to study!” The man had a look of understanding, then he added, “What a coincidence! I am also going to Thurii.”

The man’s words made Nicostratos uncomfortable. So he stood up and said, “Let’s go. We need to hurry.”

The group then started travelling on the sidewalk.

Out of the sidewalk were fields of grains being planted, no different from what they had seen before. The only difference was that the water channels were crisscrossed, broader and deeper. The slaves were more enthusiastic in their work that they even sang in the middle of their work, and their masters not only did not stop them, but some had even begun singing. The Theonian slaves were more like normal people than the lifeless slaves of Crotone, and this was not an individual case, as almost all the Theonian slaves that Lycasis could see were in this state.

Lycasis couldn’t quite understand it. He was born in a peasant family and knew a lot about a farmer’s life. Farmers in Crotone usually have one or two slaves, but they could not afford it anymore if there are more. Because of the need for labour to do farm work, they are very dependent on the slaves, so they do not oppress them as hard as the mill owners in the city. Rather, they even regard the slaves as part of their families.

When he was a child, Lycasis was taken care of by a slave in his family. Therefore, he always thought that the honest Thracian old man was more like his father than his birth father.

‘The Crotonian farmers already treat their slaves good enough, but could it be that the Theonians treat their slaves better?’ Lycasis thought that this was not the case and wanted to consult Strasippus. However, when he turned to look at them, he saw that Nicostratos was busy discussing medical problems with Strasippus. Thus he had to give up for the time being.

In the corner of his eyes, Lycasis caught a glimpse of the man, who he had talked to before, walking not far behind them. With a jolt, he slowed down his pace, “I am Lycasis from Crotone. Thank you for your explanation just now.”

“I am Cariades, a Scylletian.” The man said with a gentle smile, “I have been to Thurii many times, and I know more about Theonia. That’s why if there is something you don’t understand about this city-state union, feel free to ask me.”

The man seemed to perceive his thoughts, making Lycasis feel embarrassed. In the end, he nodded and asked, “I don’t understand why these slaves are so happy?”

Following the direction of Lycasis’ finger, Cariades saw the slaves singing in the field. He thought for a while and said, “That’s because they saw hope.”

“Hope?”

Cariades became solemnly, then said in a low and long tone, “The great Hades once said that ‘Everyone’s destiny is different. Some are born rich, some are born poor, some become slaves, and some are lucky to be nobles. But as long as we always have good intentions and don’t give up, once our life ends and comes to hell for our trial, in the face of the golden scale of equality and selflessness, the status and wealth we have before death are just illusory. What truly decide whether one soul goes to the beautiful Elysium or the terrifying hell is what you have done in your life.’ The good go to Elysium while the evil goes to hell. So those who have struggled all their lives can enjoy music and delicious food, while those who love leisure but hate hard work will suffer hard labour forever.”

Lycasis was taken aback, “You…you mean…that the reason why these slaves work so enthusiastically was to enter Elysium?”

“Not exactly.” Cariades then said, “Davos, the archon of Theonia, who had the blood of Hades running through his vein, was enlightened by his father god to pass a bill in the Senate that states, ‘Every year at the Celebration of Hades, the outstanding slaves of the city-states will get their freedom back.’ Thus during this day, Davos will give the slaves he owns their freedom. And because Davos was deeply loved by the Theonians, they were also influenced by the archon. Therefore, when they had the spare ability, they would also consider freeing their slaves that have made contributions to their families…

I remember that last year, there was a Nubian slave that was sent to the port market by his master to buy goods. But on his way home, he rescued two drowning children in the Crati River. Not only the father of the child was willing to pay for his freedom, but the whole city unanimously asked for his freedom…thus you can see, with Theonia having such an atmosphere”, how can these slaves not express themselves?!”

Lycasis nodded. Although Crotone also gave the slaves their freedom, they still never proposed such bills as what Theonia had done. Moreover, the number of slaves released was so frequent and so many.

There is actually another reason that Cariades did not know. Although the age composition of the Theonian citizens and the preparatory citizens is dominated by the young and middle-aged (because Theonia received a large number of immigrants), the citizens have to participate in military training more than ten times as many times as that of Crotone and have to undertake some garrison tasks. Thus they do not have the extra energy and time to take good care of their land, making them rely more on the slaves. Therefore, besides regarding the slaves as a member of their family, they even allow them to have more autonomy, which is more beneficial to the enthusiasms of the slaves.

“It is for this reason that the slaves of Scylletium fled to Clampetia from time to time in the past two years.” Cariades added.

“Ah…we also have a large-scale slave desertion in Crotone!” Lycasis remembered, “But not to Clampetia, but to Aprustum, which is not far from Crotone. At that time, we also held an ecclesia and sent our people to protest to Aprustum, asking them for the return of the escaped slaves. Then they were soon escorted back…”

“If Scylletium and Crotone do not make changes on the issue of slavery, then such things will repeat in the future.” Cariades said with a sigh. However, as a Scylletian, he seems to not be worried about the issue, rather, he was somewhat happy in seeing it.

Naturally, the young Lycasis didn’t think so much about it. He then asked another question with suspicion, “By the way, the thing you just said…how come I have never heard of those words of Hades?”

“There are so many things that you haven’t still heard of about the gods.” Cariades’ eyes glistened, “You should know that when Zeus and his brothers and sisters joined up to overthrow their father Kronos and divided their father’s power. Hades, as the eldest, could have chosen the sky or the sea as his divine realm, but he rather chooses the dark and damp hell and live underground, creating a fair and warm place for the weak human soul to reside, ensuring the stability of the earth. Isn’t he amazing?!”

“I…is that so?” Lycasis then said with suspicion, “But we all know that Hades was forced to choose hell.”

“Have you ever wondered who passed down this fact that you know?…without the permission of Zeus, the king of gods, how can mere mortals know such secrets? Zeus ruled the Olympian gods, so he naturally would let the contents of the rumours be beneficial for him. Hades, the king of hell, was introverted and somewhat gloomy looking, and the Greeks do not like him. Thus they all believed that rumour.” Cariades continued with a solemn expression, “But in fact, among the gods, Hades is the most devoted and faithful. Zeus is debaucherous and capricious, Poseidon is ruthless and violent, Aries is crazy and bloodthirsty, Hermes is mischievous and playful, Dionysus is drunk and mad, and Apollo is proud and insidious…only Hades, have you ever heard of anything bad regarding him?”

After listening to Cariades’ words, Lycasis felt a bit confused. He rubbed his forehead and said, “He…kidnapped Demeter’s daughter, Persephone, as his wife.”

Cariades, with an expression of “I know you would say this”, seriously explained, “With the bad environment in the underground, there is no goddess that is willing to go. Thus Hades has no choice but to kidnap a wife to marry for himself.”

Note: The description of the road signs in this chapter does not come from modern ideas. In the early Roman Empire, there were road signages that are very similar to present days. And the Roman merchants also sold Vicarello Cups for sale to travellers on long journeys, with detailed itineraries for each province engraved to help their travel.

T/N: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicarello_Cups

In the previous chapter, Darius and Atossa were not related by blood. However, Cyrus the Great’s son, Cambyses II, did marry his two sisters, Atossa and Roxane, in order to ensure that Cyrus’ noble lineage was not tainted. When Persia fell into chaos, Darius seized power in Persia with his cavalries while also taking over the pair of sisters (Atossa and Artystone) as his wives to make his throne appear more orthodox. And Atossa bore the next Persian king, Xerxes.

Chapter 339 – Protest in Krimisa

“However, Hades didn’t kidnap randomly. With Persephone inheriting her mother, Demeter’s earth attribute, it would help improve Hades’ control of the underground more. Moreover, the beauty and kindness of Persephone can calm the restless souls in hell…and in the end, Hades and his wife, Persephone, loved each other deeply, which is much more than Zeus and Hera, Poseidon and his queen. They ruled hell justly and seriously, rewarding good and punishing evil. And due to the fear of getting punished after death, the Theonians do not dare to indulge themselves, resulting in the city-state union becoming more peaceful! Therefore, Hades is the one who helps the humans the most among the gods!” Cariades said with reverence.

Cariades’ words completely subverted Lycasis’ understanding of the gods. He wanted to refute it but felt that Cariades’ words were reasonable. After a while, he murmured, “Are you a priest of Hades?”

“That’s what I wish, but unfortunately, I am not!” Said Cariades with regret.

“I am a merchant. A year ago, I was doing my business in Thurii, but suddenly, I became seriously ill and was about to lose consciousness, yet my despicable slave even stole my purse. I thought that I would silently go to the underworld in a foreign land like this…” Cariades was immersed in his past memories, “…but when I woke up, I found myself in a warm bed in the side hall of the Temple of Hades. The priestess in white robes served me food and medicine, while the kind priest often came to visit and comfort me from to time. And after some time passed, I soon recovered. However, the priest of Hades had not only not ask me for payment, but he even gave me travelling expenses for my return trip…the great Hades was the one who saved my life!” Cariades choked, and his eyes moisten, “Later, I learned that I am not the only one that the Temple of Hades treated, but also every Greek who are in distress! Now tell me, which other gods and goddesses had temples that treated the people, as well as the Temple of Hades, did?”

“…none.” After listening to Cariades, Lycasis could not help yearned for the Temple of Hades in Thurii.

“That is why this time, I decided to go to Thurii and serve Hades!” Cariades said with determination, “In the future, I will return to Scylletium and build a Temple of Hades!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At dusk, Nicostratos and his party arrived at the south bank of the river near Krimisa. Then they entered the city through the wooden bridge.

“I have inquired about all the inns on my side, but they are already full. What’s the situation on your side?” Nicostratos saw Strasippus coming with a dejected expression, but he still asked with hope.

Strasippus shook his head, “It’s the same with the inns in the northern part. There are no vacant rooms. I heard that it is because Theonia’s Day of Marriage is coming, and many engaged men and women in the city of Aprustum rushed to the Temple of Hera in Thurii to attend the wedding ceremony, which is why all the rooms of the inns are fully booked…”

They became anxious as it was almost dark, but they could not do anything.

‘Are we going to sleep on the street tonight?!’ When Nicostratos thought of this, he unconsciously hugged his thin body.

“I thought of a way.” At this moment, a voice came from behind them. Seeing that the one who had spoken was the Scylletian that he didn’t like very much, however, he no longer hesitated and asked, “What is it?”

“Follow me.” With a mysterious smile, Cariades took them to a place.

“Is this a temple?” Nicostratos looked at the building in front of them with suspicion. Its shape was somewhat similar but also somewhat different from the temples that Nicostratos had seen, as it does not have any walls.

“This is the Temple of Hades.” Strasippus had, after all, saw one in Thurii.

“What are we doing here?” Nicostratos became suddenly nervous because the grim and terrifying Hades was the master of the night.

“Accommodation.” Said Cariades, then he went straight in.

And Lycasis followed with excitement and curiosity.

After knowing the situation, the temple priest readily agreed to let them rest in the temple, but because the spare rooms in the side halls were already full.

Fearing that they would disturb Hades, Nicostratos was still a bit scared.

The priest then said with a smile, “Hades is kind and willing to help the people in need, so you do not have anything to worry about as long as you don’t defile the environment of the temple.”

In fact, there were already people resting on the ground in the main hall, making Nicostratos and the others relieved. The priest even asked the believers to provide them with blankets and hot water so that Greeks like Nicostratos, who had never had contact with the Temple of Hades before, even praised the kindness of “Hades”.

That night, they slept quite peacefully. Naturally, the hall they slept in was the one where Elysium was depicted as no one dared to sleep on the hall on the other side of the temple.

The following day, after thanking the priests, the group then left the Temple of Hades.

As Nicostratos was still suffering from back pain, Strasippus suggested for them to take a wagon. Thus their group came to the wagon stop.

But what they did not expect was that the business here was very successful as there were no empty wagons until one wagon from Aprustum drop four people that they were able to get in.

Inside the wagon was a couple. The woman intimately held the man’s arm, and even when she saw strangers getting in, she still didn’t let go.

The conservative Nicostratos was greatly alerted by this and secretly swore at the Theonians savages who do not even know the traditional Greek etiquette.

Cariades, who often travels in Theonian territory, was already used to seeing the Theonian women in public, so he had taken the initiative to talk to them. After greeting each other, they found that the man was named Appian, who had become an official citizen of Theonia only last year and was living in Aprustum, while the woman is a native of Aprustum. When Theonia signed the peace agreement with Crotone, her family was one of the few who chose to stay, and now it seems that her family was living a good life.

This has made the Crotonians in the wagon slightly uncomfortable.

Just after a short distance, the wagon stopped again and heard a lot of noise outside.

Strasippus lifted the cover in front of the wagon and asked the driver what happened.

“In front is the square, and those damned wealthy men and nobles gathered some people to make trouble, thus blocking the road!” said the coachman angrily, then continued, “We have to take a detour!”

After Strasippus sat down, he told them the situation, and Nicostratos became interested, “Why are the Krimisians causing a commotion?”

“I know a bit regarding it.” Cariades pondered then said, “Since last autumn, a small number of Krimisians begun protesting outside the city hall near the square demanding for the convening of the ecclesia and giving the citizens the right to participate in politics…however, I did not expect that there would be so many people protesting outside the square this year!”

“The citizens of Theonia should have done that a long time ago! Now which of the Greek city-states does not hold an ecclesia, except Theonia?!” Nicostratos said with relief.

Lycasis mischievously interjected, “Neither does Syracuse.”

“Shut up!” Nicostratos glared at him, then spoke loudly, “A city-state without an ecclesia and the people having no rights to participate in politics is just dictatorship! The rule of a dictator will not last long because the citizens would rise up and even overthrow it…”

Strasippus pulled him with his hand to stop him from continuing. After all, they only came to participate in the medical symposium, so they should not talk unnecessarily and get involved in the internal strife of Theonia.

Appian, who had already turned red from anger, retorted loudly, “Only the stupid Krimisians would do such a stupid thing! Such troubles had not happened in Aprustum, Amendolara, Thurii, and even in Grumentum! And it is precisely because of the rule of lord Davos that we could even become a citizen, own land and have peace! The priests of Hades is right about us knowing how to be grateful! It’s the same with your Crotone. I heard that the war in Greece had been going on for over a year already, and the people’s life there has become more difficult, while our Magna Graecia has enjoyed such a long peace, tell me the reason for why?! Is it not due to our great commander, the descendant of Hades, Davos?!”

Appian spoke ardently. Although Nicostratos spoke harshly, he is only a physician and not an orator. Thus he is not good at arguing with others and could only glare at the young man opposite of him. On the contrary, he could only snort, “…another Dionysius…”

At this point, the wagon became silent.

The wagon went around the square, exit through the south gate and back to the road.

The wagon they were riding in was a four-wheeled wagon drawn over by two horses and could take up to six passengers. The wagon had a canopy and have small windows on the left and right sides, providing plenty of light, and the wooden seats are padded with soft cloth and fur, which could slightly alleviate the continuous vibration. However, even though the roads built by the Theonians are far better than those of other Greek city-states, the bumping on the wagon is still unavoidable. But the most troubling thing for the passengers was the noises because, in order to prevent the wooden wheel from cracking due to wear and tear, an iron ring was clamped on the other side of the wheel because of this, when the wheel rotates, the iron ring would come in contact with the stones on the roads and makes a lot of noise.

However, in the eyes of the engineers who made the wagons, only Davos had too high of requirements for the wagons to the point that he was a bit picky. For the public, the emergence and popularity of public wagons have greatly facilitated their travel.

Chapter 340 – The Influence of Theonia

However, a civil organization that especially manages the public wagons in the Theonia Union, the Wagon Guild, was established. Thus these wagons can not be driven and carry people at will, and only those who have their driving skills and wagons passed the assessment can be qualified to operate. Otherwise, once they found a private wagon, the patrol will come knocking on their door.

Moreover, Theonia also issued a special law on driving a vehicle. It was said to have come from the proposal of Davos, ‘Any vehicle must keep to the right on the main road.’ In this way, the passing vehicles would not hinder each other. Therefore, it will reduce the probability of accidents and also improve the speed of the wagon.

Of course, Nicostratos and the others will not bother looking into these details and just enjoy the convenience of the wagon.

After an hour, the wagon entered the marshy area of the Crucoli River, which is now named Crucoli River Plain. After more than two years of hard work, the Theonians have successfully transformed this area by building dams on the Crucoli River, digging drainage and filling and drying the marshy area…the marsh, which used to be fishy, filthy and infested with snakes and insects, have been developed into fertile farmland with high yield that even the statesmen of the Senate became greedy.

However, Davos kept his promise, giving part of the land to the freemen who had participated in this long project. And they were almost successful in becoming citizens of Theonia just by virtue of this feat.

Some in the Senate even proposed to build a small town on this land.

However, the then praetor of Krimisa, Scambras, vehemently opposed this proposal. Reasoning that Krimisa had spent manpower and resources to support the transformation of this marsh, and with the construction of the Krimisa-Roscianum road, it has given Krimisa the ability to manage this small emerging plain…

Under his insistence, the Crucoli Plain came under the jurisdiction of Krimisa, turning Krimisa, which was originally a small city, leapt to the forefront of the city-states of Theonia Union. This has also caused some natives Krimisians, who have their status rise, to also want to get a share of the land of the Crucoli Plain. Naturally, the Senate will not allow them to mess around, which also became one of the reasons for the Krimisians to cause a commotion.

Although it is also farmland, it is different from the Plain of Crotone. As a newly developed land, it is still overgrown with weeds, and under the blessing of Persephone, the goddess of spring, the land is filled with colourful wildflowers, making the land more colourful. In the foggy distance, there is a village where you can faintly see some smoke rising. And from time to time, you could hear the sound of children’s playing, parents’ scolding and the noises of chickens and dogs, a scene filled with vitality.

Lycasis, who had been watching the outside through the wagon’s window, suddenly focused his gaze on several shepherds who were leading a large group of livestock to drink by the river. Their dress was different from those of the Greeks, but Lycasis felt that it is familiar.

“They are Bruttians!” With the stinging pain deep in his memory, Lycasis exclaimed. As a child, he had witnessed the Bruttians’ burning, killing and plundering on the Plains of Crotone, which was still fresh in his memory.

Nicostratos, who was also surprised, leaned to the window and watch.

“There is no need to be surprised. The Bruttians nowadays do not only live in the mountains in the west but also other parts of the Theonia Union. Even in Aprustum, some Bruttians would even come down from the upper reaches of the Neto River. Apart from the Bruttii mountains, here in Plains of Crucoli have the most number of Bruttians. I also heard that several tribes are living here.” Appian complacently said.

Lycasis stared at the Bruttian shepherds who were talking freely by the river in dazed, as he couldn’t tell how he felt. For the young men of Crotone, the Bruttians were the “nightmare” that their parents used to scare them in order to make them obedient when they were young. However, now, they are citizens conquered by Theonia.

“I heard that there are battles occurring in the Bruttii area in recent years.” Nicostratos said thoughtlessly.

“There are no battles as it is just some small conflicts between Bruttian tribes due to land. And the praetor of Consentia resolves them easily.” Explained Appian.

Nicostratos sneered, and the silence returned in the wagon.

In this narrow space, the Crotonians and Theonians seem to have a difficult time getting along.

Before noon, the wagon arrived in the city of Roscianum. The coachman needed to give the exhausted horses some rest to recover their strength, and while he gives the horses grass to eat and water to drink, the passengers have an hour’s rest.

Nicostratos, on the other hand, negotiated with Strasippus to hire another wagon to send them to Thurii because he could not endure the prideful Theonian citizen, Appian.

Cariades could only shake his head helplessly as he watched the three Crotonians rushing into the wagon. Then he turned around and went into Cheiristoya’s Restaurant not far away.

Fortunately, there were still vacant seats available. And as soon as Cariades sat down, he saw Appian, who was in the same wagon as him, and his fiancee also entering the restaurant. So, after giving his greetings, he began to order.

Two years ago, Thurii’s blacksmiths invented the pan (with the hint of Davos and after countless experiments). And soon after, Cheiristoya’s Restaurant soon launched a series of fried foods made from olive oil, which quickly swept the Theonia Union.

Cariades ordered a fried cod and two honey bread. Soon after, the waiter served the golden cod meat and fragrant bread on his table, and the hungry man could no longer wait to grab the hot bread and take a huge bite.

He then quickly picked up a knife, cut a piece of the fish, pick it up with the fork and put it in his mouth…

After quickly finishing his launch, Cariades stroked his bulging stomach with satisfaction. Afterwards, he cleaned and arranged the tableware, then gave his solemn thanks. There was a rumour that this set of utensils was invented by the archon of Theonia, Davos, after getting inspiration from Hades. Cariades became convinced of this because an iron fork with only two tines was Hades’ bident! (T/N: Glad that he did not invent chopsticks like most Chinese/Korean/Japanese do when reincarnating/transmigrating.)

As the waiter removed the plate, Cariades ordered a cup of wine, and as he enjoys sipping his wine, he listens to the chatting of the other diners. Cariades, who often visited Theonia Union, could recognize that most of the diners in this restaurant are locals of Roscianum. Although the Greek pronunciation of various Greek city-states is more or less different, the accent of the Theonians is undoubtedly unique, since they included the Lucanians, Bruttians, Thracians, etc., without discrimination…after they joined the union and became Theonian citizens, their respective cultures merged that even their accent has changed a lot. However, from time to time, a few strange Lucanian or Bruttian words would mix in, which was the basis for the noble Crotonians and Tarantines to regard them as “Barbarian” Theonians.

However, Cariades does not discriminate like that.

What these people of Roscianum were talking about was not about the city they are living in, but about their neighbour, Thurii. About how lively the upcoming marriage celebration will be…how beautiful Agnes, the second wife of Theonia’s archon – Davos, is…about how Davos could meet the needs of his two beautiful wives?!…about Theonia’s Medical Symposium that will be held in Thurii soon and how many physicians of Roscianum that will attend…and so on.

Some also spoke about rumours that Theonia is about to start building the first bridge made of stone…

Some excitedly mention that the third arena that was newly built in Thurii would be used especially for football matches…

Some boast that when they went to Plateau of Consentia last autumn, they saw how spectacular the horse racing celebration was…

Some retorted that Lucania’s ram fighting is more exciting…

But most will say in agreement that the best and more exciting is undoubtedly the South-Italia Rugby competition and Theonia Football match…

When the diners began talking about their city-state, they began to complain more. Some even claimed that it would have been better for Roscianum to be a part of Theonia Union than to be an independent city-state of Theonia Alliance. Although they have more freedom, they couldn’t get more benefits from Theonia Union, and the citizens of Roscianum also want to own more land…

His words went too far, but none of the diners denounced it. Instead, they even approved it.

‘Theonia’s influence in Magna Graecia is growing!’ Cariades thought with a sigh. After estimating the time, he left the restaurant and went to the wagon. Then he saw three crestfallen Crotonian next to the wagon.

It turned out that all the wagons were hired by the Roscianum’s unmarried couple and the people that wanted to go to Thurii to attend the Marriage’s Day of the Temple of Hera.

Thus the six people still travelled together, not uttering a word throughout the way.

After three hours of jolting, the wagon finally stopped.

“We have arrived.” The coachman shouted.

Lycasis looked out and saw a sea of people, a towering sentry tower and a long wooden bridge.

“Uhm…I don’t think we have yet reached Thurii?” Lycasis said with doubt.

“We are just outside the southern part of Thurii. Horse-drawn vehicles are not allowed to cross the bridge as it would cause congestion. The medical school you are going to is in the Akademia of Theonia, which is not far from the bridge…” Appian felt awkward getting along with these Crotonians, but as a citizen of Theonia, he still has the consciousness of being the host. After saying these words, he took his fiancee’s hand, got off the wagon, and followed the flow of people towards a checkpoint.

Chapter 341 – Military Training

Afterwards, the four others likewise disembarked from the carriage and moved forward.

Those who are coming from the south have to go through the Crati River. They have two choices to enter the city of Thurii: First is to enter the southern part of Thurii and take a boat from the port to the main port of the city of Thurii on the other side, which is mainly used by the Theonian citizens and visiting envoys from other city-states. The second, like Cariades, through the wooden bridge in the west of the southern part to reach the Delta where the two rivers meet, then through the wooden bridge to reach the north bank of the Crati River and finally into the main city.

Nicostratos, who passed the checkpoint, stepped on the wooden bridge. However, Lycasis, unlike his teacher, did not act reserved as he stamped his feet with curiosity, patted the bridge’s railings, and from time to time, craned his neck to watch the boats passing under the bridge…then he suddenly cried out, “Look, what are they doing?!”

In the direction that Lycasis pointed, Nicostratos could see a group of teenagers swimming in the river not far from the bridge. However, they were not playing around. On the contrary, they lined up to swim from the north bank to the south bank one after another and then returned. The Greeks were mainly seafaring race, with a lot of them being great swimmers, but it is rare to find any place where children swam around while wearing leather armour and still find it exciting.

“Is it a race?” Strasippus said with uncertainty.

“They are currently doing military training.” A middle-aged man with a maimed right arm who had been lying on his back on the bridge’s railing and watching for a long time interjected.

Strasippus looked at him and asked curiously, “Military training?”

“They are all students from the Akademia of Theonia. Per the requirements of 《Theonia’s Education Act》, besides learning knowledge, they also need to do military training…” Explained the middle-aged man.

“That’s cruel, letting such young children do such dangerous sports by force! What if they run out of strength and drown?! What if they get hit by a boat?” Said Nicostratos with discontent.

In fact, besides the instructors who were accompanying the children in the river, there are also several boats on the river ready for rescue. However, the middle-aged man didn’t explain it much and just said faintly, “Ruthless enemies won’t let go of anyone because he is young. And only through strict training could we kill the enemy and not be killed when going on the battlefield.”

Nicostratos became tongue-tied for a while and could only walk away quickly. ‘Whether they are young or middle-aged, the Theonian men all spoke with an aura of disgust, and their methods were cruel!’

The middle-aged man ignored the departing foreign men and continued to pay attention to the children’s training in the river until the instructor beckoned them all to the shore. Afterwards, he hurriedly crossed the bridge and descended to the river bank.

“Oh, Periandorus, my brother!” When the instructor saw him, he came forward and gave him a warm hug. Both of them were soldiers under Amintas’ brigade of the first legion, so naturally, their bond ran deep, “Your boy is still doing well as usual, and today he won first place in his group in armed swimming!” The instructor was not stingy in his praise.

“I witness it all on the bridge.”

“Periandorus, it seems that you are so concerned about your child’s performance in military training recently. Are you going to let him replace you as an adult and let him become a soldier of the Theonian army?” the instructor said jokingly.

To his surprise, Periandorus seriously nodded and said, “I want him to enter the first legion.”

The instructor was astounded and then said, “My brother, although Patroclus performed well, he does not have enough combat experience, and the number of reserves of the legion now exceeds ten thousand, so he will have a harder time entering the first legion. Moreover, he is still under eighteen, and even if he were of military age, the officers would not be so eager to send a new recruit like him into battle. So it is better to let him work himself into a competent soldier in the legion reserves first.”

Periandorus thought about it and admitted that the instructor was right. However, he was still worried, so he asked, “I am not familiar with the current situation of the legion. How long do you think it will take for Patroclus to enter the legion once he joins the reserve? Especially the first legion?”

The instructor laughed and said, “You should hang out with our brothers of the first legion more often, especially our strategos, Aminstas, who cherished past friendship the most. Did you know that he has just been appointed as the legatus of the second legion this year? So if your son wants to enter the second legion, only one word from Amintas is needed. And even if you insist on making Patroclus join the first legion, with Aminstas friendship with Antonios, the legatus of the first legion, he would still only needed few words.”

Periandorus just silently listened to his comrades. Indeed, since the time he was injured, his contact with his comrades and officers have been much less. But now, for the sake of his son, he needs to make some changes.

“By the way, haven’t you been studying in the Akademia recently? Are you preparing for Thurii’s assessment and become a village chief? How are your studies?” The instructor suddenly remembered and asked curiously.

Periandorus smiled bitterly, “I don’t even know how to read a word before, and now I am old, and my memory is not as good anymore. And just remembering those letters alone is enough to give me headache…”

“Then you have to work harder. I will wait for your entry into the Senate so that you can take good care of our brothers and me.” The instructor said jokingly.

Periandorus gave a rare smile.

“Father!” Patroclus, who had changed his clothes, came over.

“Class ended?”

Patroclus nodded. He was now almost seventeen and was already taller than Periandorus. Although he was not as strong as the instructor, his body was well-proportioned and sturdy. And for students like him, who would come of age, the school’s afternoon classes were no longer about sports but more about rigorous military training and actual combat so as to prepare for their military service.

“Periandorus, don’t forget what I had just said.” Seeing the father and son walk away, the instructor reminded him loudly.

And Periandorus waved with gratefulness.

“Father, what did you and the instructor talk about?” Periandorus asked curiously.

“About you joining the first legion…” Periandorus honestly told his son.

Patroclus gave a long whistle and said, “I heard from Sthephilos that it is impossible for a recruit like me to join the first legion in the first place. Still, I believe that no matter which legion I get assigned to, I will be the one who would hold the flag in the Triumphant Return!”

Periandorus patted the child’s shoulder with satisfaction. Although Patroclus had a jumpy personality, he is an extremely confident child.

When the father and son left, Patroclus suddenly stopped and called out, “Hey, Cynthia!”

Cynthia, who was going home with her classmate, turned and smiled at him.

Patroclus winked at her, “The band on your head is loose.”

Cynthia reached for her hair and found that she had been tricked. She spat at him and said, “I have you, Patro!”

Patroclus laughed and continued to watch Cynthia. Only when she went away did he withdraw his gaze.

As someone who had experienced this, how could Periandorus not understand his son’s thought? It’s just that most people in Thurii know the identity of the girl, she is the adopted daughter of the archon, but Patroclus is just an ordinary Theonian citizen who had just obtained citizenship. There is a huge gap between the two sides. It’s just that his son is stubborn and has his own ideas since he was a child, so it is hard for him to give him advice. He just hopes that it’s just a simple child’s adoration.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Cynthia said goodbye to her friends and went into her home.

The slave then came quickly and took her schoolbag, while Cynthia immediately gave her greetings and expressed her gratitude.

Now, the residence of Davos was enlarged and divided into three courtyards: the front, middle and the rear. The front yard was the residence for the ordinary slaves, and the stable was also located here. The middle courtyard was the place where Davos worked and discussed the union’s affairs, and it is also where the rooms of those managing the slaves and the office workers. And the rear courtyard was the residence of Davos and his family.

Cynthia walked straight ahead, and everywhere she passed, the slaves greeted her, and Cynthia returned their greetings. This is Davos’ household rule. Even though Cynthia doesn’t understand it, she had already formed a habit.

After entering the middle courtyard, she had also encountered Aristias, who she feared among his father’s attendant. She always felt that his eyes, which were less black and more white, seemed to have some kind of ability to see through the people’s heart. In comparison, she preferred Aristocrates, who was a former scribe, among the followers of Davos. Unfortunately, he has become a Theonian citizen, and has passed the examination of the union under the advice of Davos, and has now become a judge of Thurii’s court.

Cynthia pushed open the door to the rear courtyard and then heard a familiar voice, “Oh, Cynthia is back.”

Cheiristoya stood by the garden and looked at her with a smile while Azune was bending over and pulling the weeds.

“Mother!” Cynthia let out a cry and ran up to hug Cheiristoya. After years of living together, this sexy, elegant and kind woman has replaced her mother’s fading image.

“Be gentle! Don’t scare your sister, you little imp!” Cheiristoya subconsciously covered her protruding belly and flicked Cynthia’s forehead.

“Sister, I apologise for disturbing your sleep.” Cynthia leaned close to Cheiristoya’s stomach and said in a quirky tone.

Then she suddenly exclaimed in surprise, “She kicked me! Mother, sister, she kicked me!”

“Yes, I felt it as well.” Cheiristoya was also happy. Even though this is her second pregnancy, she still doesn’t know whether it is a boy or a girl. However, after having little Kro, she began wanting to have a daughter; thus, everyone started calling the baby as if it were a girl. And this is the first time that she felt the baby move.

Chapter 342 – Killing Intent

“She…she kicked again!” Cried Cheiristoya with a happy smile

Azune hurried out of the garden, wiped the dust from her hands on her dress, and joined Cynthia in helping Cheiristoya to sit down.

After the three had their fun, Cheiristoya felt a bit hungry, “Cynthia, your brother has returned and is playing with little Kro upstairs. Go and tell them to come down and get ready for dinner.”

The “brother” that Cheiristoya referred to is Cynthia’s biological brother, Adoris, who is now eight years old and is also studying at the Akademia in Thurii.

After giving an “Oh” sound, Cynthia got up to go upstairs, but she suddenly noticed a plate of black stuff on the wooden table beside her. She then curiously asked, “What is this?”

“This is from your aunt Andrea. According to her, this dried beef meat was salted and smoked. Your father was the one that suggested it and was sent from Grumentum to let us have a taste first.” Said Cheiristoya.

Cynthia then grabbed a small piece and took a bite, “It’s a bit hard.”

She chewed it hard for a while, swallowed it, then said, “After chewing it for long, the taste is not bad. It is just a bit salty and is suitable as a snack.”

“Your father planned to use this dried meat as a part of the soldiers’ rations.” Cynthia’s casual remark brightened Cheiristoya because she only cared about how it tastes. As for the use of too much salt, she didn’t care much about it because the production of sea salt has greatly increased since the time Davos had the people of the Akademia come up with a way to improve the salt drying method, causing the price of salt to become extremely cheap.

Cynthia then shoved a whole piece of dried meat into her mouth then detour past the garden.

On the other side of the garden is a small altar with a stone statue of Artemis holding a bow in her hand and smiling. The statue is just a person tall, but the carving is lifelike. After the pearl of Rhegium, Agnes, married to Davos, she could not forget the time she served as the priestess of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, even though Davos made her the chief priestess of the Temple of Hera. So, with her husband’s consent, she built a small altar for Artemis in the backyard. Unknowingly, Cynthia had become a devotee of the goddess. It might be because the Greeks regard Artemis as the goddess of the moon, and the night is her world, and the name “Cynthia” originally means the moon, which naturally has a sense of closeness. And so, Cynthia prayed devoutly to Artemis before entering the main dwelling.

Seeing Cynthia entering the house, Azune hesitated and said to Cheiristoya, “Madam, are we not going to wait for lady Agnes to come back for dinner?”

Cheiristoya smiled and said, “She is preparing for tomorrow’s Marriage’s Day. And she will probably be busy in the temple until late at night, so we don’t have to wait for her. And with her nature, she will not care much about this.”

“What about master?”

“There is no need to wait. The Senate has been holding a meeting these two days that I don’t even know when it will end. We could only blame those nobles and merchants who are causing trouble in the square…and that damned Pollux!” At the mention of this matter, Cheiristoya became a bit irritated.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Esteemed statesmen, not only in Thurii but also Krimisa, Pyxous, Amendolara and the other cities have many people coming to protest in the square. Please open the door and listen to them – listen to their shout, ‘resume the ecclesia!’”

Pollux’ passionate speech was immediately interrupted by Antonios, “As far as I know, there are only a few people protesting in Thurii and Krimisa, and not the ‘majority’ as what you said! Besides, there is no such thing happening in Amendolara and Pyxous!”

“Yes, as an Amendolaran, I can confirm the words of Antonios’ are facts!” Said Scambras.

Pollux already expected this, so he sneered and said, “Just because they did not speak does not mean that no one has objections. The citizens are just hiding their dissatisfaction in their hearts and dare not vent it. It’s funny to think that their request is so simple and not excessive, yet we have to be so nervous? You all should know that as long as a city-state is established by the Greeks, there will always be an ecclesia! Even if we go back in time to the era of monarchy hundreds of years ago where there were kings, the ecclesia still existed! Only those city-states that are under the rule of tyrants, who are afraid of the masses and thus suppress them, dare not have an ecclesia, such as Syracuse.”

Pollux then turned to look at the seated Davos, and with courage, he asked, “Milord archon, is our union ruled by a tyrant?!”

This sentence shocked all those present.

Davos remained calm as if he had no idea that Pollux was targeting him, “Of course not. Theone Union is under the joint management of the statesmen of the Senate.”

“Then is there a provision in the Theonian law that prohibits ecclesia?!” Pollux became bolder and continued to ask questions.

“There is naturally no such thing.” Davos still replied calmly.

“In that case, it’s reasonable for the people to ask for an ecclesia! Therefore, I hope the Senate will consider this matter carefully and don’t let the citizens down!” Pollux saw that Davos fell into the trap he laid. Thus he took the opportunity to speak out.

“Lord Pollux. it is not that easy to hold an ecclesia.” Kunogelata stood up and said, “The situation of Theonia Union is vastly different from that of other Greek city-states as our citizens are not concentrated in one city-state, but are all over the union, which would take us time and energy just to gather them alone! Besides, the citizens of Theonia are not only Greeks but also Lucanians and Bruttians, who doesn’t know what an ecclesia is, and have never participated in one. So rashly holding an ecclesia would not only make them at a loss but also make the ecclesia chaotic and become a joke to our neighbours…”

Kunogelata recounted the difficulties of convening an ecclesia in Theonia. In fact, he has his own selfish idea. As one of the powers of the Senate, he doesn’t want the resumption of the ecclesia as he was already tired of having to curry favour with the citizens and attack his political enemies in order to be elected in Thurii…and so on. Suppose he ends up making even the slightest mistake after being elected. In that case, there is a risk that his political enemies would incite the citizens to force them to step down, which is far less practical than now as they only needed to take care of the Union and…Davos.

And there are actually a lot who have the same ideas as him, such as Cornelius, Scambras, and some statesmen that are always responsible for the important affairs of the union.

“Lord Kunogelata is right! We Bruttians don’t care about any ecclesia. We are already satisfied as long as we have food, women to sleep, and wine to drink!” Sedrum said aloud, pretending to be indifferent, “We Bruttians would gladly obey those who are more capable and have bigger fist!”

“It’s the same with us, Lucanians. The ecclesia is too troublesome for us to even be interested in it!” Hemon immediately added.

The opposition of the Lucanians and the Bruttians, the two other major forces in the Senate, made Pollux’ expression unsightly. Still, he does not intend to give up and continues, “Just because it’s difficult to hold an ecclesia, we have to give up? Is this the way we Theonians do things?! For example, building the Thurii-Laos road over the tall mountains is very difficult, but in the end, we still manage to build it after several years of hard work!

Our citizens have been looking forward to the resumption of the ecclesia for a long time. If during the time when Theonia was first established and is facing the threat of survival, it is understandable that we needed to temporarily suspend the ecclesia that consumed a lot of time and energy in order to unify our people and focus on defeating the enemy. But now that Theonia is stable and prosperous, and the people becoming more wealthy and laid-back, as a Greek, who has always had a strong tradition of participating in the politics of the city-state, the Theonian citizens’ demand of convening the ecclesia will only become more and more intense as time goes by! As the most distinguished representatives of the citizens of Theonia, I hope that you can deeply realise this and make the right choice in time, and not wait until the citizens’ discontent has reached a dangerous level before making a hasty decision, which is not good for the Senate and Theonia!”

Pollux’ words, which are both emotional and threatening, made many turn pale.

While Davos just looked at Pollux as if thinking of something.

“Now, it’s up to everyone to vote on whether or not to pass this bill of the resumption of the ecclesia!” The rotating chairperson, Cornelius, announced loudly.

As usual, the statesmen serving in the legion expressed their opposition, and so did the statesmen, who are Lucanians and Bruttians. Even most of the powerful among the statesmen also disagreed, while most of the statesmen, who were mostly from Thurii, that supported Pollux were not reappointed. But among those in favour, Davos saw Burkes, Petaru, and even the navarch of the Theonian navy, Enanilus.

Davos narrowed his eyes, and a faint gleam of coldness flashed through his eyes.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When they came out of the Senate Hall, it was already late. On a spring night, it was still cold, but the chiton that Pollux was wearing was drenched with cold sweat from his questioning of Davos.

Although his proposal was rejected again, Pollux became more confident from seeing an increase of people supporting him.

‘Davos could not even do anything. So next time…’ Pollux excitedly thought, his footsteps becoming stronger, and he spoke more loudly with the statesmen who were travelling with him.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“I don’t know why this timid guy suddenly became more and more rampant!” Marigi stood on the steps outside the Senate Hall and looked indignantly at the laughing Pollux in the distance. He then said to Davos with some worry, “Milord, you can’t let him continue to be arrogant!”

Chapter 343 – Observing Theonia’s School Park

Davos said indifferently, “Marigi, I wonder if you ever heard this old saying in the orient?”

“What is it?”

“Those whom the gods wish to destroy, he first makes them mad.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Nicostratos, Strasippus, and Lycasis were standing in front of the gate of Theonia’s School Park.

This is an unusual gate, a large white arch, with a huge stone sphere on the top, and a thick sword-shaped stone tablet extending straight from the middle of the arch, supporting the arch and dividing it into two.

There is a sentence engraved on the stone tablet, ‘All things have their own rules, and the mystery can only be obtained by unremitting exploration.’

Nicostratos repeated these words and couldn’t help but nod his head. Then when he looks further down, he saw the signature of – Davos.

“Davos? Which Davos?” Asked Nicostratos in astonishment.

“Who else?! It’s naturally the archon of Theonia!” Strasippus replied.

“This is the place where scholars gather, a sacred place! What qualification does he have?!” Nicostratos’ complexion changed as he uttered these words.

Strasippus was shocked and hurriedly discouraged him, “Don’t speak rubbish. Davos is not just an archon. He is also the respected teacher of the physicians of Theonia. Even those scholars who are studying mathematics also respect him. It is even rumoured that they have gotten enlightenment from him, which is why the whole Akademia respect him very much. Besides, last year I heard the lecture given by Davos, and his medical knowledge is truly unique and thought-provoking. It is no wonder why many people called him the ‘messenger sent by the gods’. If these people hear you insulting him here, they will definitely beat you up!”

“I am not afraid of the Theonians.” Nicostratos muttered. He then stopped talking and walked into the gate of the Akademia with Strasippus.

Lycasis had been staring at the sphere all this time. Even after stepping over the gate and walking a few steps, he still could not stop himself from looking back and saying, “What’s the point of placing such a heavy stone ball on the top? Are they not afraid of it falling down?”

“Little guy, you don’t understand.” Inside the gate stood a young man in his twenties and explained loudly, “This sphere symbolises the world where we live-”

“Wait, you meant that the land under our feet is round?!” Lycasis interrupted in surprise.

“Of course, otherwise, why do you always see the ship’s sails first when looking at the ships sailing in the distance. You should know that as early as many years ago, Thales of Miletus had left it as…anyway, this problem is hard to explain within a short time. You just need to remember that the land we live on is a big ball!” The young man said impatiently. Then he pointed to the arch and said, “What do you think this arch looks like?”

Lycasis, after the reminder, looked attentively, “Oh, it’s a pair of arms!”

“Yes, the arms holding up the sphere signifies that humans can transform Gaia!” The young man said excitedly, “But what can we do to transform the earth and overcome the terrible disaster?”

“How would I know?” Lycasis angrily exclaimed while glaring at the young man who was forcing himself on him.

“Read the inscription on that stone tablet.” The young man pointed to the sword-shaped stone tablet and said in high spirit, “Only through diligently studying and exploration could we scholars obtain knowledge! Lord Davos had designed this gate with such profound meaning!”

Lycasis sneered at his boasting.

The young man had apparently not paid attention to the expression of Lycasis, as he continued to pull his hand and said, “Now I will tell you why the stone sphere will not break the arch and fall down. It is because the round arch spreads the weight to both ends.” Then he picked up a branch and drew the logic of gravity, “Of course, it could not completely disperse the gravity of the stone sphere, and the pressure on the arch still exist, that is why the support of the sword-shaped stone tablet is the key.”

The poor Lycasis was utterly at a loss by the young man’s professional explanation. It is as if he was listening to a sacred book.

Nicostratos, who had been listening due to curiosity, was now completely impatient and exclaimed, “Lycasis, it’s time for us to go! It’s already getting dark, and we must not miss the registration!”

“Yes!” Lycasis was so frightened that he pulled his hand hard, nearly causing the young man to fall.

“Sign up? What’s your name?” The young man looked at them with suspicion.

“We are here for the medical symposium.” Strasippus said.

“You are here for those who are dealing with corpses and skeletons!” It dawned on the young man.

“You…go away! go away!” He suddenly lost his interest in teaching him, slapping and pushing Lycasis’ hand, as if he was afraid of getting infected with some bad luck.

“Could this man be ill? Crazy.” Muttered Lycasis while following Strasippus.

In the park, the trees are flourishing and greenish, and a gravel paved path is covered among the trees with green shade and intertwining branches.

The three continued to walk when they suddenly heard a cry, “Be careful, don’t step on it!”

Strasippus quickly stopped, only to find a man crouching on the ground beside him, holding a piece of limestone and scribbling some words and symbols on the flat paved stone in front of him.

The man then protected the stone with his body as he glanced at them and urged, “Go! Go away!”

“These people are probably all scholars from the Institute of Mathematics in the Akademia of Theonia. I heard that most of them are from the Pythagorean School of Taranto.” Strasippus explained to the dissatisfied Nicostratos.

‘So it is those lunatics!’ Nicostratos suddenly dawned on him. The Pythagorean School worshipped “mathematics as gods”, and they also often held some strange rituals and are secretive. In the early years, they had close ties with the nobles of the city-states in Magna Graecia and opposed democracy, which is why many people regarded them as heretics and avoid them like the plague.

‘Theonia unexpected accepted them!’ Nicostratos felt a hint of disgust.

They then saw someone clinging on the trunk of a tree, looking up at the sky and muttering to themselves. Some were walking like puppets, not knowing what they are thinking, and some were lying on the mud, suddenly jumping up, ecstatic, and other strange behaviours, but the group of three no longer found them odd.

After passing several tall trees, a small gazebo appeared in front of them, where a crowd of people formed a circle, and something seemed to be placed in the centre.

They fiddled with the object while arguing fiercely.

Finally, the curious Lycasis approached the gazebo, only to hear them saying something like, “How long should the bridge span be?”

“Where should it be built to ensure the bridge to be levelled?”

“How many columns it would need to support the bridge?”

“How far apart they should be?”

“Are you here for the medical symposium?” A man came out of the crowd and asked as he looked at the medicine box that Lycasis was carrying.

Before Lycasis could answer, Strasippus bowed and said with respect, “Greetings, Stesichodas!”

“You are?” Stesichodas looked at him with suspicion, trying hard to recall his name from his memory.

“I am Strasippus, a physician from Crotone. And this is Nicostratos and Lycasis, both of them are also from Crotone.” Strasippus immediately introduce themselves.

“Oh, look at my memory. Apologies! I remember that last year, you gave a lecture on the application of aloe vera in the treatment of sports injuries!” Stesichodas patted his forehead and said apologetically.

“Yes, that’s the little experience that I shared last year. Some time has already passed, and yet you still remember it.” Strasippus said with delight.

“Naturally. Inspired by your lecture, some physicians in our medical school have conducted a more in-depth study of aloe vera this year and have made some new advances, which will be mentioned at this symposium.” Stesichodas said seriously.

“That’s great!” Strasippus couldn’t help but cheer, forgetting the somewhat awkward Nicostratos beside him.

Fortunately, Stesichodas did not forget him, so he took the initiative to greet him, “Welcome, physician Nicostratos!”

Nicostratos’ return his greetings reservedly.

“You as well, Lycasis! Welcome to the Akademia of Theonia!” Said Stesichodas enthusiastically while leading them to the direction of the medical school.

Then Stesichodas embarrassedly said as they walked, “Apologies. Today is my turn to meet the physicians coming for the symposium at the Akademia’s gate. But after standing there for most of the day, I felt a bit tired. Thus I took a rest in the gazebo while listening to the discussion of the Institute of Mathematics regarding the construction of a stone bridge that I did not expect that I have almost missed you.”

Strasippus was astounded, “You mean to build a bridge made of stone?”

“Yes, Theonia’s Department of Road and Bridge Management is going to build a bridge made of stone on the Saraceno River to replace the former wooden bridge. After the Senate gave their approval, they handed the design and measurement of the stone bridge to the Institute of Mathematics. Marticoris, the vice-president of the Institute of Mathematics, and a group of people have been arguing about this matter for more than ten days already, however, they have basically completed the plan. If they successfully build the stone bridge on the Saraceno River this time, then several more bridges will follow. Then after accumulating enough experience, Heracleides the Younger can then start the construction of the bridge on the Crati River!” Stesichodas smiled. Obviously, he is full of expectation because once there is a direct connection between the main city of Thurii and the southern part, the pedestrians from the south going to the north will instead pass through the stone bridge rather than the wooden bridge passing through the Delta, which would make the environment around Theonia’s School Park to be much quieter.

Chapter 344 – Conspiracy and Marriage’s Day

Strasippus and Nicostratos looked at each other with shock in their eyes. Nicostratos even looked back at the group of people still arguing in the gazebo, with his thought regarding them changing.

He looked back at Stesichodas, who was walking ahead, pulled Strasippus and asked in a low voice, “Who is this man that you have so much respect for him?”

“He is the…uhm…vice-president of the medical school in the Akademia of Theonia. He is not only highly skilled in medicine but is also very knowledgeable!” Strasippus murmured.

“Highly skilled? How much is he better than you?” Nicostratos didn’t care about the other’s position as he only cares about the actual level of the other party’s medical skills.

“I can’t compare with him at all. The gap in our skills is just like that between a child and an adult. You will find out once you see him treat the patients and listen to his speech.” Strasippus said sincerely.

Nicostratos was utterly speechless as he realised that he and Strasippus have almost the same skill level, ‘Could it be that this humble middle-aged man is really so amazing?!’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the dark of the night, in one of the houses in a village outside the city of Thurii. After eating their dinner, Teratus asked his wife to pour him some wine as he sat alone in the yard, looking at the starry sky thinking deeply. From time to time, he watched the slaves cleaning the farm tools in the yard while the sound of his son reading came from the room lit by an oil lamp…

‘How wonderful such life is!’ Looking back on himself a few years ago, Teratus could not help but be happy that he had made the correct choice of betraying Crotone, which he is still a bit guilty of. However, he had already done a lot for Crotone and Milo, which even include risking his life by sneaking around Clampetia to obtain important information and contributing to Crotone’s efforts to assist Terina in repelling the Bruttians… However, even with all of those, his life remained difficult until he surrendered to Aristias. After Davos defeated Crotone, he fulfilled his promise and brought back Teratus’ wife and children to him safely. So from then on, he began living in Thurii while officially joining the mountain reconnaissance brigade under Davos’ arrangement and accumulating war credits. At the same time, he is secretly working for Aristias and the archon.

It wasn’t until last year that he finally became a Theonian citizen and got the “allocated land” that every Greek dreamed of. At the same time, his children also began attending the Akademia of Theonia. His household even bought two slaves to take charge of the work in the fields…all this happiness came from the fact that he had made the right choice.

Thinking of this, he felt that he should pray to Hades. At the start, he was often troubled by guilt that he couldn’t even sleep at night. Finally, after going to the confession room in the Temple of Hades on the advice of Aristias, he gradually became relieved.

Just as he began to pray to Hades devoutly, a patterned knock sounded from the door.

“Who is it?” Said Teratus in a low voice as he hastened to the door.

“Teratus, it’s me!” A low voice came from the door. However, in the quiet night, the voice was very clear.

‘It’s Aristias!’ Teratus was shocked because Aristias, as his boss, would usually ask him to report at his residence and assign tasks, and he had never gone to Teratus’ house in person, let alone at night.

He opened the door in a hurry. And under the moonlight, the slender figure of Aristias appeared in front of him.

Aristias glanced seriously at the courtyard behind Teratus, then came in.

Teratus then lightly closed the door while making excuses to drive the slaves to rest.

While Aristias just stood quietly in the corner of the courtyard. And with the wall and tall willows blocking the moonlight in the sky, the darkness completely covered his figure.

After Teratus set things in order, he immediately rushed over to receive the order.

Aristias did not beat around the bush. He then said in a low voice, “Milord has ordered that you can start to act on the matter that was assigned to you.”

Teratus’ became tense again as the “lord” that Aristias spoke of could only be the first man of Theonia whom he both feared and grateful to.

Teratus then became excited once more, “Chief, where should we start?!”

And the two of them talk in whispers for a while.

After seeing Aristias leave, Teratus could no longer restrain his excitement that he clapped his hand hard, “CLAP!”, the clear applause in the darkness of the night ushered his wife’s voice, who was in the room, “Teratus?!”

“It’s nothing. You go to bed first.” Teratus quickly comforted her and told himself, ‘Be calm! be calm!’ Although this is an opportunity to make great achievements, it is of great importance and involves too many people who were either in high positions or very wealthy. So he must be careful and cautiously think if there is any mistake in implementing the plan.

Thus with both hands on his back, Teratus walked around and pondered, spending the whole night in the yard…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The following day, the sky is blue, and the temperature and weather were just right to travel.

The Thurians got up early, washed and ate, placed flowers in front of their homes and sprinkled the streets with clean water. The men dressed neatly while the women dressed in fancy clothes. Afterwards, they rushed to the east gate in pairs.

The Temple of Hera in Thurii was built two years ago due to Theonia’s Marriage’s Day becoming more and more grand and influential. But since there is no Temple of Hera in Thurii, they needed to go to Heraclea to invite a priest of Hera before every Marriage’s Day, and they could only hold the event in the Nike Square, which was somewhat unconventional and not in line with Theonia’s identity as the centre of the alliance. Therefore, in response to the people’s needs and the city’s development, the Senate approved the construction of the Temple of Hera.

However, the temple’s construction cost had not come from the Treasury, which was already stretched from all kinds of infrastructure; instead, it came from various donations. With the generous donation from archon Davos as an example, the many statesmen and merchants donated one after another, enabling the Temple of Hera to be completed after more than a year of construction.

At that time, due to the political situation of Theonia becoming stable after the Bruttian War, finding a location for the Temple of Hera became a problem. Because of several years of rapid development, the number of citizens in Thurii sharply increased that there was not enough space to accommodate a new temple, so they could only build it outside the city. This is why the Senate had also put the problem of expanding the city of Thurii on the agenda.

Contrary to the Greek tradition of building the temple on a high place, the Theonians built the Temple of Hera on the flat land between the city of Thurii and the port on the bank of the Crati River outside the city.

Early in the morning, the Theonians gathered from all directions to the Temple of Hera to participate in the annual celebration.

Even though the sun in the sky has not yet shone, the sea of people was already outside the Temple of Hera, putting significant pressure on the patrol units responsible for maintaining order.

At the same time, with the number of engaged couples being as high as five hundred, there are many that have come to participate in the blessing this year, causing the Temple of Horae, the goddess of seasons, and the Temple of Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, on the side of the Great Temple of Hera, to be crowded.

As the people outside the temple became so crowded and noisy, they started to faintly hear the sound of bells from the southwest, from within the city of Thurii, followed by a powerful sound. They all know that these bell sounds came from the four-ton bronze bell in the Temple of Hades, ringing nine times in a row.

“One! Two! Three!…” The people also began counting simultaneously at the ringing of the bell (In folklore, Hades’ birthday is September 9, so Theonia had not only changed the annual Hades’ Day to September 9 but also made the temple bell ring nine times for every major celebration).

‘The celebration is about to begin!’ The Theonians began to liven up. As for why the Temple of Hades, the king of the underworld, could announce the beginning of the celebration of Hera, the Theonians were already long accustomed to it and did not doubt it because in the past five years, and with the unremitting efforts of Plesinas and his subordinates, the Theonians have long regarded Hades as the protector of the union and the giver of stability and prosperity to Theonia.

The crowd began to stir up as they saw groups of musicians holding lyres, flutes, bronze horns, drums…and so on, get closer to the steps in front of the temple and stand in order. Then a dozen priestesses dressed in long white robes came out of the temple and stood in front of the platform.

When the melodious music sounded, the noise began to weaken, and the priestesses began singing in chorus. However, this was not the hymn to Hera, but her daughter, Hebe, the goddess of youth. Therefore, the new hymn was lively and cheerful.

Singing together with them were dozens of young girls in front of another temple, the Temple of Hebe, the goddess of youth. These young girls stepped lightly into the square along with beautiful singing and dancing, and from time to time, switching to various formations and shapes.

Since the opening ceremony of the Temple of Hades, the dramatic dancing with spectacular scenes and magnificent momentum had not only shocked the Theonians but also opened up a new form of art. And the priests of all the temples regarded it as one of the indispensable ceremonies for celebrations.

Watching the girls dancing happily in the square and listening to the music with a slightly strong rhythm, a lot of the girls outside couldn’t stop themselves from shaking their waists.

After the hymn of Hebe, the maidens stepped back while the children and the priestesses on the temple platform emitted a soft resonant sound as if it was a piece of divine music.

Everyone in the crowd tiptoed, gazing at the temple one after another, as they all know that it was time for their lord to appear.

A woman then came out of the temple, dressed in a plain white robe, wearing a pomegranate crown while holding a torch, lit by a long bright oil lamp in the temple. Her demeanour was dignified and calm, and her exquisite face shows no flaw as if the whole person is the statue of Hera carved by a famous master. She is so holy that the crowds couldn’t feel a slight hint of blasphemy.

Chapter 345 – Marriage’s Day Celebration and Blessings

Both the inside and outside of the whole square became silent as the priestess slowly walked towards the platform without looking around, seemingly unaware of what is happening. She then lit the brazier in front of her with the torch because the blazing flame represented the blessing of the gods.

Then, facing the square, she gently opened her lips, then a soft and clear voice that was hard to imagine coming out from such a seemingly delicate body, making the crowd intoxicated.

With her as the lead, the priestesses began singing the hymn of Hera. The melody is filled with love for the children, care for the women, guidance for marriage, and protection for the family…hence why the hymn was neither loud nor sad, but just like an elder, coming slowly and without haste…

The square was still covered with silence even when the hymn ended, and the people seemed to be still immersed in the teachings of the hymn.

At this time, the flames in the brazier suddenly became more vigorous, causing the crowd to clamour, “Hera is here! She’s watching over us!” thinking that it was a good omen.

Agnes, the chief priestess, gave a slight smile, which was like sunlight pouring into the hearts of the people, and said, “Goddess Hera blesses you!”

As soon as her voice fell, the crowd rose to their feet and cheered, and the melodious music also sounded.

The couples were then led by the patrols and entered the square one after another causing the whole square to be soon crowded.

They then began dancing awkwardly to the music because even though the Greeks are good at sports, they are not good at dancing, however, due to Davos making simple adaptations based on the social dancing of his previous life, he made the couples to be trained it specially and perform it at last year’s Marriage’s Day, immediately attracting the praise of the masses and competed to learn it.

At this time, everyone held their breath as they bravely show off their household’s elegance. In the narrow space, the couple kept pace with each other, moving in simple steps as they looked at each other. Then they twirled around and changed movements… Although the action is repetitive and straightforward, the couples became happier and happier while dancing and even those who were outside the square started singing and dancing.

During their dancing, the wife thinks that her husband is the most attractive man while the husband thinks that his wife is the most beautiful, and everyone fell into intoxication. This is precisely the intention of Davos when planning this because the family is the cornerstone of the city-state, so the more solid a family is, the more peaceful the city-state is.

Even the priestesses on the platform could not resist the slight shaking of their delicate bodies and hummed to the music in low voices.

At this time, a lively priestess courageously asked Agnes in a low voice, “Priestess, with this dance being created by the lord archon, does this mean that you also dance with the lord archon at your home every day?”

The priestess’ words made Agnes’ rosy lips curled up into a smile. Agnes was a traditional Greek woman, so when Rhegium rejected Dionysius’ proposal, it resulted in no one daring to marry her. However, she did not complain about it and just silently entered the Temple of Artemis as a priestess, but after several years, when she thought that she would live such a dull life and live alone, who knew that Artemis would pity this beautiful girl. As Syracuse’s strength began threatening the survival of Rhegium, Agnes, who was shouldering the hopes of the whole city, was sent to the unfamiliar Thurii. At first, she was bewildered and even expected that the rumoured famous strategos, the wise archon of Theonia, to be a domineering man. However, Davos surprised her with his gentleness and thoughtfulness that transcended this era.

But at this moment, she turned serious and chided the priestess, “It’s currently a celebration, and Hera is now watching us, so we must give it our all!”

The priestesses all knew that although Agnes is the chief priestess of the Temple of Hera, she is gentle and kind to her subordinates and knew that she is really not angry. However, they still obediently stop chattering and stand up again.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the Temple of Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, Appian was both excited and nervous at this moment. He looked around and found that most men and women were like this, except for one young man that attracted his attention, as he was the only one sitting upright on the ground with his eyes tightly closed as if he was asleep.

Appian stared at the man curiously but found that he doesn’t look familiar. And he couldn’t guess that this man’s identity was unusual as he was the former Spartan prince, Leotychides.

Having lived in Thurii for several years, Leotychides is now an official citizen of Theonia and a platoon captain of the first legion. Under the urging of his old servant, he also found a partner. However, the aesthetic of Spartans is different from that of ordinary Greeks, as they like women who have a fit body and distinct personality, just like his mother who gave him a new copper shield when he first went to the battlefield and even told him, ‘You either hold it in battle or be carried back with it.’ That is why Leotychides was engaged to a Bruttian girl with a strong personality in the city of Besidice.

“Everyone, arrange yourselves in order as soon as possible! The blessing ceremony will soon begin! Once the music started, all of you will follow me into the square. Do you all understand?!” The priest in charge of guiding reminded the newlyweds again.

Appian became energetic, ‘It’s finally starting!’

Soon after, a piece of soothing but solemn music rang out in the temple. Then a priestess holding a flower basket took the lead out of the temple, and Appian’s fiance took his arm and followed along…

The moment they walked into the square, they were taken aback at the sight of a sea of flowers and colourful petals being scattered from the hands of the people on the side and the hands of the children dressed in lovely clothing and shuttling in the square…the petals fell in droves turning into a carpet of flowers for them to step on…

Outside the venue, thousands of people waved colourful cloth and cheered for them, with even some of their acquaintances and friends shouting their names, giving their blessings.

On this joyous occasion, each couple became excited as if they have become the happiest couple in the world.

At the end of the music, all of the couples stood under the staircase in front of the Temple of Hera.

After the noise quietened, Agnes then said, “Young men and women, who have been shot by Cupid’s arrow of love, and under the guidance of Aphrodite, you all have fallen in love with each other and came here under the watchful eyes of Hera.

Hera had asked me to ask the men, who are here, are you willing to be the husband of the beautiful woman beside you? Are you willing to honour her until she grows old, without letting her suffer hardship and to not break the law for the sake of your new home to be built, and doing your best in protecting her and becoming an excellent citizen of the city?!”

“I do!” Every man did not hesitate to answer loudly, for the priestess’ question was exactly what they were striving for.

“Women, Hera had asked me to ask you, will you be the wife of the strong man beside you? Are you willing to love and respect him, to raise his children and to make him an excellent citizen of the city?!”

The delicate women at this moment answered firmly, “Yes!”

Agnes looked at those who were outside the square, “Is there anyone who objects to any couple who are here now? If so, say it now!”

No one gave their objection.

Agnes slightly breathed out, opened her arms and announced in a loud voice, “Thus under the watchful eyes of Hera, it is my greatest pleasure to pronounce the Bride, and the Groom are now husband and wife. I hope that you will love each other forever! If anyone ruins your marriage and family, no matter who they are, will bear Hera’s wrath and the law of Theonia Union! Now, every husband can now kiss your beautiful wife.”

As soon as Agnes’ voice died down, the fire in the brazier beside her suddenly became vigorous again, discharging a bit of spark.

“Hera! Hera!” The crowd and the newlywed all cried out.

At this time, the music rang out. Compared with the solemn and sacred melody before, the music is now beautiful, warm, sweet and full of happiness.

Appian’s wife blushed and closed her eyes. When the two lips met, there was only one thought in her heart, ‘Appian is right in insisting on attending Thurii’s Marriage’s Day. Now I no longer have regrets in this life!…’

When Leotychides’ wife opened her eyes, she saw a tear faintly shining on her husband’s eye as he kissed her, making her surprised that her tough husband could cry as well.

However, she didn’t know that in the blessing of thousands of people, the only thing Leotychides thought of was how his mother, who had been humiliated and had committed suicide, couldn’t give her blessings at this important moment…

By this time, it was already afternoon. The crowd who came to the temple early in the morning and the newlyweds in the square were all tired and hungry, but none of them returned to their homes. On the contrary, everyone was itching because the last part of Marriage’s Day was about to start.

As soon as Agnes uttered the word “Sprinkle the Water”, all the people immediately picked up the earthen jar on the ground filled with water and splashed it on the people nearby. The children who were in charge of scattering the flowers before had now gotten into the square and began sprinkling water on the couple, making the brides scream and the grooms stand up to protect them. Among the playful children were Cynthia, her younger brother Adoris, and their schoolmates…

For a while, the square was boiling in excitement as the water splashed all over the place.

Those who had finished pouring water rushed to the Crati River beside the temple, fetching out the water and continued fighting. This is also one of the reasons why the Temple of Hera was built near the river.

The men who have their chiton drenched would directly take them off and tied it around their waists, revealing their muscular bodies. The Greeks advocate physique beauty, and the Theonians are no exception. Moreover, the population of the newly established city-state union is mainly composed of immigrants. Most of them were still young and have received a lot of military training than the average Greek citizen in their spare time. Thus they are stronger, more agile and more willing to show off the results of their training.

While the women, who have their clothes drenched and have their curves showing, did not care as everyone are like this.

Chapter 346 – Hemis and Agnes

The Theonian women’s openness and boldness often amaze the foreigners who come to Theonia for the first time, while those conservatives would secretly ridicule them by calling them “Savages”.

It is indeed a fact that the formation of such openness is influenced by the “customs” of the Lucanians and the Bruttians that makes up part of the union’s population. However, it is also the result of the intentional indulgence of the union’s top officials, mainly by Davos. As one could see, even the chief priestess of the Temple of Hera allowed the newlywed couples to kiss in public and even regarded it as sacred. So what if the women show their faces and curves? The Theonians are already used to it, and this openness has aroused the yearning of the young men and women in the neighbouring allied city-states, not to mention Roscianum. As even the unmarried men and women from Heraclea and Metapontum came to the Marriage’s Day. Davos was pleased with this, as it signified that these “customs” of the emerging Theonia Union were now setting the trend and deepening their influence on Magna Graecia.

At this time, everyone revels in sprinkling water, in which the patrolling soldiers’ existence became unneeded. After a while, one of the patrolling soldiers, as he dodges the splashing water, suggested to Rodom, “Captain, since there won’t be any trouble, why don’t we also join in?!”

Rodom is no longer the young Bruttian who knew nothing about Theonia, as years of training had made him different compared to a few years ago. Of course, he knows that once a Theonian citizen is guilty of a crime, like tax evasion, it would be extremely difficult for them to enter the legion or even hold a public office. And the Theonians, unless they are crazy, would usually not allow themselves to make such mistakes.

Nevertheless, he still reprimanded, “Let’s not take chances. In case something really happens, and you and I are not in our post, we would not be able to escape the responsibility!”

When the patrolling soldier did not reply, Rodom comforted his tribesman, “Marriage’s Day happens every year, so if you really want to take part in it, then I will give you an off day if you marry a Greek woman next year.”

“How could it be that easy to marry a Greek?” Another squad member muttered.

Per the Theonian law, there are many favourable policies for other races to marry Greek women. However, after Bruttii and a part of Lucania (i.e. Pyxous) were merged into Theonia Union, a large number of foreign races became citizens or preparatory citizens of Theonia, leading to the popularity of Greek women. And in recent years, due to the development of Theonia, the land distribution has been close to saturation, and the number of freemen staying in Theonia’s territory has begun to decrease in just a short period. As a result, many citizens of foreign races have to resort to the women of neighbouring city-states. But most of the non-Theonian Greek women and their families could not accept the proposal of those foreign races who were originally regarded as “barbarians”, even if he had become a Theonian citizen.

“Don’t be discouraged. If you are unable to find one, then let lord Baripiri come forward.” Rodom suggested, causing the eyes of the patrolmen to brighten.

Their chieftain, Baripiri, is now a member of the Senate of Theonia. As the strength of Theonia becomes stronger, the more the city-states of Magna Graecia became awed at them. Naturally, the statesmen of the Senate of Theonia are well respected by these city-states, so with the endorsement of Baripiri, the chance for the marriage proposal to be successful would naturally increase.

While the Theonians were rejoicing with abandon, some foreigners had also participated in this ceremony. However, most did not participate and just watched, including Hemis of Syracuse.

It made him surprised at witnessing such an event. Although the absurdity of the Marriage’s Day was not as good as Dionysia – the festival of Dionysius, the god of wine, it was more joyous and exciting.

According to his observation during his stay in Thurii, the Theonians were strict, rigid and even slightly cautious to the point that they are a bit timid when meeting a patrolling soldier and are far less liberal than the Greek citizens of other city-states.

However, combining what he is now seeing and the fierce rugby matches he had watched, he had to admit that the Theonians also have their own craziness that even when they are also under the rule of a tyrant (he thought that Davos was a tyrant), but when comparing the current Syracusans to the Theonians, the Theonians are happier and feel less depressed.

Syracuse, on the other hand, due to the Syracusans almost ousting Dionysius out of his power, made Dionysius exercised his oppressive rule in Syracuse to wantonly search for the democrats, increasing the number of patrols to patrol the city all day, and checking suspicious people, which were all carried out by the mercenaries. He even set up several camps not far from the city and even stationed nearly five thousand mercenaries. And he even gave a large number of mercenaries citizenship (mainly those from Campania) and gave them land near Syracuse to establish villages and towns to consolidate his rule.

At the same time, for his own safety, Dionysius forcible evicted the people living on the island of Ortygia and only allowed himself and his family, as well as his loyal courtiers, to live there. He also continued to strengthen the walls around the island, built fortresses, and is guarded by his trusted two thousand mercenaries while completely using the people of Syracuse to guard against the enemies.

Hemis shook his head and discarded the dangerous thoughts in his head. In any case, Dionysius appreciate him now. He is not only well paid but had also been quickly promoted. Therefore, he does not want to arouse the suspicion of the tyrant one day due to inappropriate words.

Seeing that it was getting late, Hemis judged that it was time for Pollux to come back, so he left behind the peals of laughter without a moment’s hesitation.

According to the situation of Pollux in the Senate these days, the problem is gradually favouring him, and the seemingly solid strength of Davos begins wavering. Interestingly enough, Dionysius’ dictatorship and high-handed rule made his throne as stable as a mountain and made the people tremble to the point that no one dares to oppose him. On the contrary, the young archon of Theonia, who was friendly to the people and gentle in his means, made him timid about doing things, allowing Pollux and the others to take advantage of his shortcomings. Naturally, Hemis would not feel sorry for Davos. In fact, once his work was successful, Dionysius would even promote him to the point that it was not just a dream for him to sit side by side with an important minister like Philistus!

Thinking of his, he became excited as he walked towards Pollux’ residence.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Agnes was walking on the corridor of the mansion, and all the slaves she encountered bowed down to greet her.

The slaves had different attitudes towards the two beautiful mistresses: Cheiristoya is smart and capable, and she was the one in charge of the household, so everyone was more in admiration of her; while Agnes who had served Artemis then Hera as their priestess, although her character is cold, her temperament was gentle, so the people are respectful of her.

When she reached the wooden door in the rear courtyard and pushed it open, she heard a loud shout, “Happy Marriage’s Day!”

Then, a white blur came flying towards her, and she could not stop herself from screaming and the water splashing on her body, soaking her thoroughly.

“Nice, our sneak attack was successful!” Like a child, Davos gave the excited Adoris a high five while Cynthia snickered.

Seeing this, Agnes also laughed. As the chief priestess who was standing high on the platform, no one would dare pour water on her. So when she watched the crowd in the square having so much fun, she sometimes thought enviously, ‘If only I could join!’

Now, her wish has come true.

“Mother Agnes, hug! Mother Agnes, hug!” Little Kro came running while shouting. For some reason, ever since Agnes got married into the household, this child has been very fond of his new mother.

Agnes bent down and tried to pick him up. Then she remembered that her clothes were drenched, so she had to stop him, causing Little Kro to cry out with dissatisfaction.

“Son, stop causing trouble!” Cheiristoya’s words immediately calmed little Kro, then she continued, “Sister, you go take a bath and change your clothes first. Azune had already prepared the bath for you.”

“Sister, thank you!” Agnes responded with a smile.

After going upstairs, she found a big wooden barrel in the bedroom, surrounded by mist. She reached for it and found that the water’s temperature was just right, so she quickly took off her priestess’ white robe and stepped into the barrel.

After standing in front of the temple for a whole day, it is impossible for her not to feel tired. And with the temperature of the water being just right, it was not only nourishing her skin but also giving her a drowsy and pleasant feeling.

At this time, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her from behind.

She was startled at first, then she relaxed. Because who else would be there besides her husband!?

“Agnes, you’ve worked hard!” Said Davos gently, and the heat of his breath blew on her earlobes, making her feel itchy.

“Come here, let me have a look!” She could hear the eagerness in Davos’ gentle voice. Then with one hand on her arm, he easily pulled her to her feet.

Agnes subconsciously put her left hand across her chest and her right hand on her bottom, but Davos gently pried opened her hands as his eyes gradually burned with flames, burning every inch of her skin that she couldn’t help but shiver.

“Agnes, my wife, you are as beautiful as Hera!” Davos praised excitedly.

Agnes suddenly smiled with mischief as she poured a bucket of water on Davos and said, “Happy Marriage’s Day!”

She couldn’t help but laugh from seeing Davos’ embarrassing appearance, causing the shaking of her body to add to the temptation.

“Hmph, I will punish you well!” Davos said “meanly”. Then he picked her up and laid her gently on the bed.

In Agnes’ nervous and expectant gaze, Davos tore off her chiton and leaned over her.

“My Hera!” He whispered, kissing her tender lips.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

If before, Nicostratos had some doubts about the rumours of Theonia’s superior medical skills, then after a day of the Medical Symposium, he became convinced.

Chapter 347 – Theonia’s Medical Symposium

In fact, it was mainly the physicians of Theonia that were talking. On the first day, they were mainly discussing medical theory and all kinds of medical terms coming out from the mouth of those young physicians, which was not only unheard of but even all kinds of unique medical theories and discoveries that have overturned their previous knowledge and experience, leaving them pondering, as if a window had been opened for them to see a new and broader world of medicine, making them excited.

Nicostratus did not eat much dinner as he had spent the whole night thinking about what he heard during the day. At this time, the only thing he hated is that his memory is not good enough to memorise all he learned. Thus he had to lie down in bed trying to remember the things he heard during the day, making him unable to sleep well that night. However, he still went to the Medical School the following morning together with Strasippus, filled with energy.

When they arrived at the gate of the Akademia of Theonia, there were hundreds of physicians waiting there. Naturally, they were not waiting for the two Crotonians but were waiting for the arrival of Theonia’s archon, Davos, with great expectation.

Fortunately, Nicostratus was no longer as extreme as he was before he had come to Thurii. Through the exchange the day before, he had conversed with the other physicians, making him deeply understand Davos’s lofty status in Theonia that even the foreign physicians who have heard his speech before spoke of him with respect, which made Nicostratus curious about Davos. Thus he waited as quietly as any other physicians.

Not long after, Davos came, accompanied by the dean of the Medical School, Herpus, together with a dozen guards behind them.

Then a commotion broke out from the physicians trying to meet Davos.

And the guards immediately wanted to stop them but were called back by Davos. He then welcomed them with a smile, and Steichidas immediately asked the physicians to observe the order consciously.

Davos could mostly call those foreign physicians who attended the Medical Symposium last year by name, and he was happy to converse with them.

“Klaus, I remember you. You are that famous physician from Metapontum. What wonderful speech have you brought this time?” Davos said with a smile to the physician in front of him.

“Lord Davos, stop teasing me. In front of you, how could I dare be called a famous physician!?” Klaus said humbly.

“In this sacred place, there is no such thing as ‘Lords’. There are only physicians and scholars who are engaged in medicine.” Davos smiled as he corrected him, “So you can just call me Davos.”

“D-Davos.” Klaus bowed respectfully and then said, “Coriopas of Taranto was unable to attend this symposium for some reason. So he had asked me to bring his apologies and his regret of not being able to hear your wonderful speech!”

Davos’ expression became somewhat helpless and sighed, “Although Theonia and Taranto have had some minor misunderstandings and conflicts in the past two years, this should not be an obstacle to academic exchanges!”

After reaching a peace agreement with Messapi, Taranto had gradually recovered their strength. However, they began to feel angry at Heraclea and Metapontum for breaking away from the Tarantine Alliance, and of course, with it, they also hate Theonia that had once rescued them. However, the current might of Theonia can only make them swallow their hatred. Diaomilas, the representative of the radicals, was nearly expelled due to the accusation of the ecclesia about him almost losing all the troops by the ambushed of the Messapi-Peuceti coalition, causing his future political career to end. But in the past two years, by cunningly complying with the people’s wishes and publicly attacking Theonia many times and even denounced the Council as being too weak in dealing with Theonia, which had allowed him to win back the support of the discontent people. Thus, managing to be elected as the archon again at the end of last autumn.

As a result, small frictions became frequent between Taranto and Theonia, such as the Tarantines entering the territory of Metapontum many times without any reason; When the fishing boats of Taranto and Theonia meet at sea, they would often exchange insults and cause conflict; The goods piled up by Theonia’s merchant ships at the port of Taranto would often be lost and occasionally be seized, which has caused Theonia’s diplomatic envoy to go to Taranto many times to protest. He even joked that ‘The time I spent here in Taranto is more than the combined time travelling to foreign countries in my life!’

But in general, the two sides still maintained restraint. After all, they are still in an alliance, and Taranto still needed the support of Theonia as they are still facing pressure from Messapi and Peuceti. It’s just that the newly elected archon played some tricks to vent out the public’s discontent and respond to their expectations of him. And Theonia, out of guilt for their poaching of Heraclea and Metapontum, had turned a blind eye and tried to put things to rest.

After exchanging greetings with the physicians, the crowd gathered around him and entered the gate.

After a short walk, a man rushed out in front, shocking Martius, who was about to run forward to stop the man.

As he gets closer, they could hear the man shouting excitedly, “Davos, it’s completed! We made it! We have finished the model design of the stone bridge on the Saraceno River! And after our test, we found that there is no problem!”

Finding that it was Marticoris, Martius slowed down. However, this has reminded him to immediately order the guards to patrol around and stop any rash intruders.

With this news, Davos also became happy, “That’s great! Give the stone bridge model and data to Heracleides the Younger, and once I am done here, I would go check your wonderful results!”

“There is also another good news! We have designed a new pulley block, which can make the lifting arm rotate 360 degrees. So you must go check it and give us some suggestions to improve.” Marticoris continued.

Davos became happier and immediately gave his promise.

Now, Marticoris is no longer as negligent as when he first came to Amendolara. He is now also started undertaking some management tasks while doing research in the Institute of Mathematics. After saying a few words, he hurriedly ran away.

“Who is that man?” Nicostratus was curious about the person who spoke to Davos.

“Marticoris, he is the vice dean of the Institute of Mathematics, a crazy mathematical genius!” Said one of the Theonian physicians.

“It’s great that Theonia is finally about to build stone bridges!” A Heraclean physician said happily. In Heraclea, there are many rivers, and during rainy seasons, the river would sharply rise, almost turning the place into a marsh. Although they had already asked Theonia to help them build several wooden bridges before, most of them end up getting submerged in the water during the rainy season, so the Heracleans were worried about the durability of the wooden bridges after being repeatedly soaked by the river water and in a long time. But with the stone bridges, they would feel more at ease.

After seeing the vice dean of the Institute of Mathematics had also asked the young archon for advice, made Nicostratus, who had a good impression of Davos’ cordial greetings just now, looked forward to his speech even more.

Davos stood on the podium, with the seated physicians below him.

At their expectant gaze, Davos cleared his throat and said unhurriedly, “As we have already greeted each other at the gate of the Akademia just now, I will not do the same here.”

The physicians gave out a burst of chuckles as each physician who had come on the stage would introduce themselves and greeted their peers, which has gradually become the norm during the Medical Symposium.

Davos smiled, reaches out his right hand as if he was holding something, “What do you think I am holding in my hands?”

There is nothing! Some people immediately have such thoughts.

Without waiting for their answer, Davos said, “It is air. The omnipresent air, which was the name we have given it. Although it looks like there is nothing, every one of us, even animals, can not do without it. If you don’t believe me, you can cover your mouth and nose with sacks and isolate yourself from the air, and soon you will suffocate and die.

All of us knows this very well, but why is the seemingly empty air so important to us? What is the relationship between it and our body? Today, I will talk about this issue, hoping to arouse your thinking.”

As soon as Davos spoke, the physicians widened their eyes and pricked up their ears. Even Herpus and Steichicodas, who were in the front row, leaned forward with a hint of excitement on their faces.

“For air to connect to our body, it must first enter the body. The entrance, we all know it very well. It is our mouth and nose. But where is the exit?” Davos looked at everyone, “Some people will say it’s our buttocks because there is a fart.”

Another round of laughter burst out.

“Of course not. One could even say that the air that enters our mouth has little to do with the fart we let out.” Davos said, facing a wooden mannequin about the size of a human, “Thanks to our physicians of the Medical School for their unremitting research on human anatomy, as well as the exquisite craftsmanship of Thurii that they were able to make the most realistic and exquisite human body structure model in the world. And I will use this model to explain it to everyone.”

In this era, it is illegal to desecrate the bodies in the Greek city-states, and they may even face the death penalty. However, the search for truth prompted a few physicians to risk their lives to dissect corpses silently to solve the mysteries in their minds, and one of the famous physicians was Hippocrates. But in Theonia, because of the high status of physicians, and the fact that Herpus was a part of the Senate, and with Theonia also establishing the Ministry of Health last year, and more importantly, with the support of the archon, Davos, the Senate specially introduce a law for “dissection”. Allowing the Medial School to also use the unclaimed corpses of slaves or the corpses of unrecognised enemies on the battlefield for medical research, but each corpse must be registered in the Ministry of Health and must not be dissected in public places. After use, the remains must be buried in a specified location in time to avoid causing plagues, etc.

Chapter 348: Davos’ Academic Lecture

For this reason, Theonia has become the place that the Greek physicians yearn.

Davos then broke open the outer skin of the lower jaw and neck of the model, exposing the inner passage, “Look closely, the passage of the mouth and the nose merged here, and then divided into two passages-”

He then pointed to the hose made of leather, “We all know that the nose is where we breathe air, but the mouth is not only for breathing air, but also for eating food and drinking water, and would then go through their own channels. After the Medical School physicians observed it for a long time, they believe that this pipe is where the air goes through, and they call it the trachea. The other passage behind it is where the food and water pass through, which we call the oesophagus. Now, try touching the bottom of your neck. The rough and hard thing under your skin is the trachea.”

The foreign physicians had actually touched their necks with their hands and realised what Davos said about the windpipe.

“Some might ask, since the opening of the oesophagus and the trachea are connected, won’t the food and water enter the trachea?” Just as he said that, he saw a lot of people nodding. He then said with a smile, “In fact, it’s almost impossible as there is a very soft bone at the opening of the trachea. Therefore when we swallow, it will automatically cover the opening of the trachea and will not let the food and water in. If you are interested, you can come over and look at this mannequin that our Theonian craftsmen had made exquisite skill under the guidance of the physicians, which is quite accurate once the lecture is over. However, don’t break it as this model is the treasure of our Medical School, and you could not buy it for any amount of money! Right, Herpus?!”

“Yes, master Davos. Usually, we only use the mannequin when teaching, and we usually do not allow anyone to touch it.” Laughed Herpus.

After Davos and Herpus said this, the foreign physicians were itching to get up and look at the mannequin beside Davos, making the scene quite messy.

Davos then continued, “I heard that the young physician Kritios of the Medical School had discovered this cartilage. For this reason, he had also dissected live pigs and sheep, carefully observing the cartilage’s movement and mechanism, right?”

“Yes.” Nodded Herpus.

“Is he here today?” Davos asked with a smile.

“He is.”

“Then, physician Kritios, please stand up and explain it to everyone.” Davos smiled and said.

Kritios shyly stood up under the pushing of his colleagues.

“Let’s give Kritios a warm applause to thank him for this important discovery!” Davos was the first to clap, then came a big round of applause, and even his colleagues whistled excitedly.

Kritios was both nervous and excited.

Lycasis watched enviously at Kritios, who was standing in front of him. This physician, who seems to be the same age as him, is shyly accepting the applause of everyone, making him thought to himself, ‘When can I be as famous as he is in Greece, instead of being an apprentice like a slave every day?’

“Kritios, I look forward to more of your discoveries and achievements in the field of medicine!” Davos encouraged him warmly.

Seeing a young man encouraging another young man with the tone of an elderly seems ridiculous, but most of the physicians that are present doesn’t think so. Kritios chest beat hard from excitement, “Ye…yes, master Davos!”

After Kritios sat down, Davos continued, “Sometimes, when you aren’t paying attention while eating, you would suddenly cough. This is due to the cartilage not covering the trachea in time and allowing food to enter. So when a mother comes to see you with her baby in her arms and tells you that, ‘my child chokes and cough while drinking milk’, it might also be due to this reason as well…”

The foreign physicians noted what Davos said in their minds after confirming similar cases they had seen before.

“The air goes down the trachea to an organ, which the Theonian Medical School has dissected many times and called it the lung.” Said Davos as he breaks open the mannequin’s chest, then taking the left lung carved out of wood and showing it to everyone.

“As a result of the dissection of the Medical School, we found that there was a lung on each side of our body, which looks like a pig’s bladder filled up with air. When you inhale, the air enters and expand the lungs; When you exhale, the air is released, and the lungs shrink. You may find it strange that the air enters the lungs from the mouth and nose, but when you exhale, it would also go through the mouth and nose, just circling back to its origin, seemingly having no meaning. However, I will tell you this. Our body is the most precious treasure given to the world by the gods. It is very wonderful and never does anything meaningless!”

Davos looked at the physicians. After seeing they were all listening attentively, he seriously said, “After the Medical School dissected the body many times, they have found that after the trachea enters the lungs, it would then continuously divide into smaller windpipes, just like the branches of the tree. How big do you think the trachea is at the end?”

Davos then pulled a hair from his head and said, “Only this big! Then what is at the end of such a small trachea? Who here can tell me?!”

Then, a young Theonian physician stood up and said, “Its blood vessels! After dissecting it, we have found that there are many small blood vessels interwoven with these tracheas, and these small blood vessels are connected to the two large blood vessels from the heart…”

“So, what is the use of these two big blood vessels from the heart?” Davos proceed to ask.

“They are responsible for different parts of the heart, one is pumping blood into the lungs, and the other is collecting the blood.”

“What’s is the difference?”

“Well…one blood vessel that pumps blood out and the second blood vessels collect the blood back…” The young physician replied hesitantly.

“Anything else?”

“Uhm…”The young physician blushed and was at a loss on how to answer.

“Thank you for your answer. What’s your name?”

“Strebus from Theonia’s Medical School.”

“Thank you for your splendid answer!”

Strebus was disheartened at first, but he smiles again after hearing Davos’ praise.

“Everyone, the air travels in the lungs and out, the blood goes round and out in the lungs and back into the heart. If nothing is happening, could our bodies be so bored that they are doing such meaningless things? Is that possible?!” Davos question drew the crowd to ponder. He then continued, “Of course, this is impossible! As there must be some kind of amazing reaction between the air and the blood in the lungs, but we couldn’t see it with our naked eyes, just like how we can’t see what makes our wound infected. So what is this reaction? And how important is it to our bodies?”

When the physicians heard this, they all showed great interest, so while pondering, they also pricked up their ears to listen to Davos.

Davos then smiled, “Although I don’t know what happens between the blood and the air, we can see this kind of reaction through some phenomena. Have you ever looked at the blood in a human or an animal? Can you see any differences in the blood?”

“Blood?” Herpus fell into thinking. The truth is, Davos did not tell him the theme of today’s speech in advance. So like other people, he was used to the transparent air and didn’t think much about it in depth. In addition, in the past two years, he had become the director of the Ministry of Health, and he also served as the president of Thurii’s hospital and the dean of Theonia’s Medical School. Thus with the increase of administrative matters, he had no time to do medical research.

Stesichodas, beside him, was also lost in his thoughts.

“Oh!” Someone suddenly remembered something and shouted, “It’s the colour! The colour of the blood!”

It was Kritios who spoke. Davos then looked at this thoughtful and creative young physician with admiration, then he quickly withdraws his gaze, “Yes, it’s the colour of the blood! As long as you have done an animal biopsy, you will notice that the originally dark blood becoming bright when it enters the lung and is brought back to the heart through another blood vessel. And since there is only air and blood flowing in the lung, there must be something in the air to cause the blood to change colour! And this something…what role does this unseen something play when entering the blood?”

Herpus, Stesichodas, Kritios…and all the physicians, including Lycasis, were staring at Davos and holding their breath for fear that they would miss a word.

Davos also become serious, “We notice that the blood that returns to the heart is once again pumped by the heart to all parts of the body, and the bright red blood is reflected in our bodies. Our lips are red, our fingertips are red, and even our faces turn red after exercising…so when we see a person with these characteristics, we can easily tell that the person is healthy and energetic with our years of experience in the study of medicine. But we also sometimes encounter patients with dark lips, black stuff at the ends of their hands and feet, their face turning blueish, and trembling as they walked, allowing us to easily judge that this person is sick and is very serious. Isn’t this the change that these two types of blood present in the body?! Can we not consider this thing as indispensable to the body as food, making us healthy and energetic?! Can’t we also infer those patients in this category with purple lips and blackened finger that something had gone wrong in one of the pathways of their airways, or lungs, or the blood vessels that enters the lungs, causing something in the air to not reach the whole body through the blood?!…”

Chapter 349 – Theonia’s Port Market

At the end of Davos’ lecture, all the physicians stood up and bowed to him. Then they began clapping continuously.

Words such as “Wonderful” and “innovative” couldn’t describe Davos’ lecture as he had pushed the medical theory of this era to a more profound and broader world. If the physicians were just groping forward in the dark, then every word of Davos produces a beam of light that they could follow.

The physicians’ shock and gratitude could not be described in words, as they could only express it through their emotions, including Nicostratos. Although he is not very clear about the human anatomy, he is finally sure that the real mystery of medicines lies here, in Theonia’s Medical School, in Davos!

Davos bowed and returned their greetings again and again.

And the applause continued…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The three-day Medical Exchange Symposium finally ended, and some foreign physicians left, while some, including Nicostratos and Strasippus, applied to stay and continue their visit and studies.

And for a few days, they worked as assistants at Thurii’s hospital, learning how the physicians of Theonia saw and treated the patients and occasionally watch during surgery.

As for the systematic study of medical theory, human anatomy and so on, Theonia’s Medical School has stringent requirements. Besides the need for the students to be Theonian citizens, preparatory citizens, or freemen who have applied for Theonian citizenship after leaving their home country, they must also pass the strict examination conducted by the Medical School before they could join.

Nicostratos has an extreme characteristic; once he considers something, he will be more enthusiastic than ordinary people. After being conquered by Theonia’s medicine, he wanted to stay here. However, for people like him, who had a family, to join Theonia was not easy, as they had to go back and discuss the matter.

His attitude even influenced Strasippus, making him also thought about staying and studying.

On this day, the two of them decided to go to Thurii’s pharmacy. After visiting the pharmacy, they heard that there was a bigger, broader and more complete medicinal market in the port, so the two decided to have a look.

The current port of Thurii is different from a few years ago. Although it is not as good as Crotone’s deep-water port, Taranto’s port’s natural resistance to storms and Rhegiums’ port’s superior geographical location, the port of Thurii has now become the largest port in Magna Graecia.

The reason is very simple, since Theonia City-State Union has become the hegemon of South Italia, and its strength is far beyond the other city-states. Thus, as the centre of the union, Thurii has a strong advantage in political status, which could be seen through how many freemen wanted to rush into Thurii and become citizens of Theonia; How many envoys and statesmen of the city-states in Magna Graecia coming to Thurii to visit and seek help and consult with the Senate; How many merchants and tourist coming to experience the unique city-state customs of Theonia, enjoy the unique ball games, celebrations, and even food and entertainment; Not to mention the flow of people within the Theonia Alliance to Thurii from 9 – 5…these massive flow of people naturally created a huge demand, which Thurii could not completely solve by herself, so the merchants who were good at catching business opportunities had come from all directions with merchants ships filled with goods.

Therefore, the port and market of Thurii have continuously been expanded to the point that it stretched from northward from the estuary of the Crati River to the nearby Temple of Hera.

After passing the Temple of Hera and entering the port market, Nicostratos and his party soon felt the difficulty of walking. Although Thurii had built several roads between the main city and the port market and even stipulated that vehicles and pedestrian have their own path, the huge flow of people still made the traffic packed, causing the people walking in it to rub their shoulders with each other. Although it’s still only warm in spring, the three of them were already sweating.

At this moment, a team of patrolling soldiers passed by.

The clever Lycasis quickly followed them, allowing their party to have a slightly easier time with the patrolling soldiers at the lead.

In fact, the port of Thurii has actually developed into a big town, which was divided into two parts: The part of the port and the part of the market are separated by stones with guards guarding it. After the cargo ships enter the port and are anchored at the dock, the cargo is then directly transported into the market, or place in the warehouse, or even drop in the shop for sale.

Marigi, Theonia’s Commercial Chief Officer, planned the market as a straight street lined with stores, warehouses, workshops…and goods or commodities of the same kind were then placed in one or several streets as much as possible for easy management and easy trading for the people. Therefore, in the port market of Thurii, there are several trade streets and small markets that were famous in Magna Graecia and even the whole of South Italia.

For example, the stone market is very prosperous for the Theonia Union, which is keen on building roads and temples. They even own several quarries in the union’s territories. It does not only have a variety of quality marble but also has a lot of labourers at a lower price.

And it is matched by the Sculpture Street, the sculptures of the gods in the temples, the monumental pillars in the squares, the milestones lining on the roads…had attracted and spawned a large number of sculptors engaged in this industry. Although there has not been a sculpture that could shock the whole of Greece, nor has there been a master sculptor, it has instead produced a lot of middle and low-end sculptures.

Another extremely famous one is the arms market. Since Theonia conquered Magna Graecia with force, naturally, the production and sale of weapons are very important. Moreover, in order to obtain meritorious service, the people spared no effort in investing money in this aspect, which naturally resulted in hundreds of weapon workshops and shops, large and small, to gather in the port market. Half of them had even come from other Greek city-states outside the union. And two of the most famous shops are the Legion Weapon Shop under the Ministry of Military Affairs and managed by the Disabled Soldiers Committee, while the other is Tios Weapon Workshop.

There is also a very famous market – the livestock market. Since Lucania and Bruttii, the two main mountain races with animal husbandry, have joined Theonia Union, and Theonia also owns two plateaus and a mountain from the Lucania and Bruttii region with reach grazing resources. In addition, Cheiristoya Restaurant, which was widely spread in the cities of Theonia Union, had most of its recipes made from cattle, sheep and other livestock, giving birth to the Theonians great demand for meat. As they gradually change their diet structure, it has also promoted the breeding of cattle, sheep and other livestock in Lucania and Bruttii.

The livestock produced in these two areas are not only large in quantities, but their meat is also delicious, which is deeply loved by the Greeks on South Italia who have tasted the food in Cheiristoya Restaurant. In fact, the Lucanian cattle were known for their docile temperament, strong strength and good endurance since long ago, making them the pack animals of choice in the Western Mediterranean. At the same time, the Bruttian horses, although they are not good at galloping, they are good at climbing mountains, hard-working, and an excellent packhorse, which also had a good market in Magna Graecia. Thus in recent years, under the guidance of the Senate’s policy, the Bruttian region began raising a large number of horses. Another important thing to know is that most of the horses used by the carriages in Theonia had come from the Bruttians’ livestock market at the port of Thurii…

There is also a street that is unique only to Theonia and is quite famous throughout South Italia – the Ball Market. The rugby and football games were first played in the Theonian military camp. Later, they became popular throughout Theonia Union and the alliance, that they even held city competitions every year. However, the people are not satisfied with the fact that the competition is only held once a year. Therefore, under the proposal of Davos, the Senate introduced a new bill last year, allowing citizens (citizens only, mind you) of each city to organise their own rugby or football teams, which would then be reported to the city or town hall and then organised by the praetor’s of each city to play a rugby or football match against each other, approximately every ten days, in a single round-robin tournament. And the team with the highest score will be the city’s champion and be sent to Thurii to participate in the South Italia Finals. The rugby finals will be held after Hades’ Day on September 9 every year, while the football finals are held on November 1 every year to celebrate the establishment of the union, to determine the champion of the rugby and football for the year. The participating team also included some city-state teams from the alliance, except for some city-states that have been invited but had never taken part, such as Taranto and Crotone.

As a result, most of the Theonian citizens were both participating and spectating, causing the arena to be often filled to capacity for each match. With the public’s enthusiasm for these games, these have become the main form of entertainment for them more than watching the theatre. And as the saying goes, the whole population’s passion has naturally led to a boom in the industry, everything from the whistles for the referee to the goal post for the game, as long as the equipment and supplies are related to rugby and football, they are all sold on this street. This street also includes a number of items for other competitive sports. But the most surprising thing is that there is a lot of store selling famous player merchandise on this street, and the boom in the market has naturally given rise to some highly skilled players, some of whom have shone in the various city competitions, some even in the Theonian Finals, so it is only natural that the public will follow them and see them as idols. Thus these shops were born. It has statues and dolls of famous players in all materials and sizes, as well as sportswear bearing their names and numbers, and so on…which shows the prosperity of the trade in this street.

Another unique and famous street in Thurii’s port market is the herbal medicine market that Nicostratos’ party of three will visit at this time.

Chapter 350 – Thurii’s Medical Market

It’s necessary to know that only Theonia Union, who have the full support and help of Davos, an archon who had come from later generations and had been influenced by more than two thousand years of medical knowledge, could zealously trained physicians, established hospitals and medical school, and conduct in-depth research on treatment and medication, making Theonia, especially Thurii’s medical trade flourish and far ahead of other city-states and countries in the Mediterranean in this era. Thus the medical street of Thurii’s port market became unique in the whole Mediterranean.

However, although this street is very famous in South Italia, it is not as crowded with customers as the other streets. After all, most of the people who come to buy medical materials were mainly physicians and pharmacy staff. While most of the patients would just buy the medicines from a pharmacy in the city, and only a few of them would come to the market to buy this kind of unprocessed medical materials, while physicians, who have a higher status as Theonian citizens, only account for a small percentage.

Because of that, Nicostratos, who had been squeezed in the crowd, felt a lot more relaxed after coming to this street. They then curiously visited, watched and consulted the shops one after another.

As they walked, they came to a large medical store and found that the owner was actually a Bruttian, who was haggling with a customer with his stiff Greek pronunciation, “Lord Olivos, I know that you are from the Ministry of Military Affairs since you buy a lot of ‘beets’ from me every year. However, this year, you have come to buy too early, and we don’t have that much. You should know that the snow on the Consentian Plateau has not yet completely melted, so the only place that will bear fruit is the lower terrain. Thus the quantity is not much, and the price is certainly higher. If you think that it’s too expensive, then why don’t you wait until summer to buy when the price of beets goes down…”

“Come back in the summer?…that’s impossible as lord Kapus would tell me to get out!” The customer sneered, “I’d better go to another store.”

With that, he was about to leave.

“Wait!” The shopkeeper called him in a hurry. After hesitating, he finally gritted his teeth and said, “For the sake of the fact that our Bruttian soldiers often participate in training and need to drink this kind of fruit to quench their thirst…I am willing to reduce the price for another Obol! Lord Olivos, I am really losing money this time!”

Olivos’ anger immediately turned into a smile, “Agum, isn’t an Obol just a pound less? This thing is all over the wild in the Consentian Plateau, and you don’t even need to spend even one Obol. You only need to pick it up, so why do you feel distressed about it?!”

Agum said with a bitter smile, “Lord Olivos, picking up beets is not as easy as you say. As soon as spring comes, the women of our tribe would have to step on the slippery mountain path and go up the mountain to pick them. Besides the risk of being hurt by wild animals coming out looking for food, they have to also compete with other tribes. Up to now, two women have broken their legs and are lying in the hospital! And after picking up the fruit, it would still need to be dried in the sun. However, during spring, it would often rain, so we can only bake it on the stove…it is not easy to earn enough money to support thousands of people of the whole tribe!”

Olivos ignored his complaint and said casually, “Do you really care about your tribe? Or you think that since you earned less money, your visit to the brother would be lesser?”

Agum’s complexion changed. He then said, “Don’t speak nonsense!”

Olivos patted him on the chest and said in a low voice, “Don’t worry, we are all men.”

Agum looked around and stopped talking.

“Brothers, choose 150-kilogram beets to take away!” With Olivos’ shout, dozens of muscular soldiers immediately came up and began squatting on the ground and picking up the fruits.

Agum immediately said, “There is no need to choose. All of them are authentic beets, and their quality is good! The port market’s management would not allow us to cheat, and I still want to do business here for a long time!”

Olivos looked at him and laughed, “That’s right. I should trust you just for the sake of Chief Salu. Then you can weigh 150-kilograms of fruit for us.”

Olivos then said to the soldiers, “I will go to other places, so after they weighed the fruits, you directly carry them back to the training camp.”

“Roger!”

Olivos went out of the door of the store, but thinking of something, he turned around and said, “Agum, yesterday, lord Davos talked to me about the picking of herbs. He said that ‘don’t over pick the herbs, else they would decrease or even disappear!’”

As soon as Olivos’ spoke of Davos, Agum immediately worship, “Lord Davos is farsighted, which no one else can compare! But, lord Olivos, you are looking down on us Bruttians! We have lived on the Plateau for generations. The streams, trees, flowers and even the plants on the mountains are all the generous gifts given to us by Amara, the goddess of the plateau, to us Bruttians. So if we were to ask too much from the plateau, we would surely welcome Amara’s wrath!”

Olivos smiled and said, “Good! That’s good!” With that, he took a look at Nicostratos and left.

As Agum told the slaves to weigh the beets for the soldiers, Nicostratos, Strasippus and Lycasis took the opportunity to observe the small and hard red fruit.

“Excuse me, what is the medicinal use of this fruit?” Asked Strasippus politely.

“Oh, this fruit is called beets. In the past, it was all over our plateau. However, no one cared about it and only the horses like eating it when they are tired. Later, Thurii’s physicians took it to study and said that boiling it in water and drinking it could quench thirst and eliminate fatigue. Thus it became valuable. In the past two years, Theonia’s Ministry of Military Affairs bought hundreds of kilos of fruit from me every time, due to its effective use when drinking it after military training! You are not Theonians, are you? Buy some and try it back.” Agum patiently explained it to them.

“We are Crotonians!” Nicostratos coldly interjected.

Agum then let out an “Oh”, without feeling anything particular, as if the hatred between Crotone and the Bruttians were long past gone.

“How much is a kilo?”

“Six Obols.”

“Give me a kilo.” Said Strasippus, drawing out his coin bag.

Agum then poured a handful of red fruits from his hands into a straw bag, “Give me seven obols together with this bag.”

“Alright.”

“What’s the use of this grass?” Asked Nicostratos curiously as he stood next to a pile of dried grass that looked like thorns.

“That is a thorn weed. Thurii’s physician found that pounding it and bathing it in hot water can relieve itching, which is quite good!”

“Can this cure itchy skin?” Nicostratos carefully touched the thorns on the grass with suspicion on his eyes.

“Those physicians in Thurii are all students taught by lord Davos, a descendant of your…well, the god of death, and he is highly skilled in the art of healing, just…just like your Greek god of healing…As….kele..pi…”

“Asclepius.”

“Yes, that Greek god. What those physicians of Thurii say could still be false, but this one, I had specifically tried it, and it does have such an effect. Currently, pharmacies often ordered this grass! Now, every tribe in Bruttii, if they have any ancient healing methods passed down, would come to tell these physicians in Thurii, hoping to be proven useful. I also heard that the Lucanians also does the same…and lord Davos is truly worthy of being a descendant of the gods, as he had turned the wildflowers and weeds in our mountains into treasures!…” Agum said with both gratitude and admiration.

Nicostratos and Strasippus looked at each other with amazement in their eyes. Through these few days of studying, they learned that the Theonia Medical School was far ahead of other city-states in the study of medical theory, experience in inquiry and treatment, and the development of surgery. Still, they did not expect that they have done so much work, even in the field of medicinal herbs!

At this time, Lycasis ran into the shop and said excitedly, “Teacher, there is a shop next here that are selling what you said last time…that surgical something tools!”

“Really?! Take me there!” Nicostratos dropped the thorn weed in his hand and ran out with Lycasis while Strasippus picked up the straw bag before following them.

After seeing that all three of them had left, Agum muttered, “Crotonians…huh…”

Located next to the Bruttians medical store is a shop selling surgical instruments, occupying a smaller area, but has a variety of exquisite iron and wooden tools, which are carefully placed in different categories.

As soon as Nicostratos and the others entered, they looked around with delight. The shopkeeper then asked, “Are you physicians, Theonians?”

“No, we are from Crotone.”

“Then you can only see, not buy!”

“Why!?” Lycasis looked at him angrily.

“These tools were designed by Thurii’s hospital and sent to the iron workshop to be specially made. And they had made such a request, and with the port market’s management in charge of supervision, there is nothing we can do!” The shopkeeper shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly.

“Can’t we buy them even if we pay more?” Strasippus asked anxiously.

“Do not harm me. I don’t want to have any stain on the archives of the Census Registry of the city.” Glared the shopkeeper.

“Strasippus, come and see!” Nicostratos took a sharp knife the size of a leaf and said loudly, “This is the knife that master Herpus used to cut through the skin during the operation. This is-”

Nicostratos picked up another tool and said, “I remember that it was called a clamp, which is used to pick up boiling water to…uhm, sterilised linen…and this…this curved needle, which is used to sew the wound. Look at how exquisite they are!” Nicostratos could not stop himself from touching each tool.

Chapter 351 – Thurii’s Hot Spring Bathhouse

Strasippus then asked the shopkeeper, “How much does it cost to buy a set of this surgical instrument?”

“A set?!” The shopkeeper curled his lips, “You are physicians from a foreign city-state, so it is no wonder that you don’t know that when the physicians in Theonia do their operations, they will use different tools on different types of operations. Moreover, the Theonian Medical School will also have new surgical tool designs from time to time. These surgical instruments that are here in the shop could perform at least five to six different types of operations.”

“And, even if you are allowed to buy it-” The shopkeeper looked at the three and rolled his eyes, “You won’t be able to afford it.”

“We can’t afford it?! Tell me, how much do these cost?” At this time, Nicostratos also came over, refusing to back down.

The shopkeeper glanced at him, pointed to the shop and said, “The things that you have just picked up are worth about 30 Minae.” (T/N: About 18,000 Obols)

“30 Minae?! Just for these few little things, it is already worth 30 Minae?! This is plain robbery!” Exclaimed Lycasis with a look of surprise.

“Stop spouting nonsense if you don’t understand a thing!” The shopkeeper spat and argued, “Do you know how difficult to make these things are? How high are its requirements? I tell you, just making one kind of this knife would take us enough time to make 30 copper shields, and it has to be made by the best foundry in order to make a surgical tool that meets the requirements of that group of physicians. People say it is excellent, ‘naturally, the tools used on the human body must be very exquisite. Otherwise, it is not to save lives, but to take lives!’ So tell me, should such a price not be high?! And these tools can’t be made by any iron workshop. And in Thurii, only we, Tios Weapon Workshop, have the ability to make this!”

The three became dumbfounded.

“Also, I was talking about its previous price. Their current price now is 40 Minae.”

“Why?”

“Because we won’t produce these surgical instruments for days to come.”

“Why is that again?”

“Because our workshop has received a big task from Theonia’s Department of Road Management. They want to build stone bridges and need huge iron grates to put into the river and empty it to make it easier to cast the pillars with that slurry rock and stone thingy* in it, so our workshop has to concentrate all the foundry and collect all the good iron ore to make these big guys…” (note: Which is actually ‘Davos’ cement)

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Just as Nicostratos and his group were touring the port market in high spirits, Appian and his wife drove north to the hot spring swamp of the Tiro River, a tributary of the Cosceli River.

Back then, Davos became famous in the war against the Lucanian coalition by wiping them out, laying the foundation for the establishment of the Theonia Union. The big riverbank, which was covered with corpses at that time, now has a 20-metre high and 2-diameters white memorial pillar with the event of that battle carved on it and a bronze statue of Davos holding a shield and spear at the top.

The great victory in the battle of the great riverbank was initially called “the Pillar of Miracles” by the people, a metaphor for the miraculous victory of the archon of Theonia, Davos, who overcame a larger number of enemies with less. Later, students from various city-states’ schools in the union were often brought here by their teachers so that they could feel the hardship of the early days of Theonia’s establishment and the greatness of Davos, which were also later nicknamed “ the Pillar of Youth” by the citizens, as a place for children to be educated, but it also had a deeper meaning. Since this battle, the Theonia Union is like a newborn child starting to grow up healthily…of course, this is something to think about later.

Not far from the memorial pillar, there is a large circular burial mound and a tombstone engraved with “the tomb of the warriors who died in the battle of the great riverbank”, and below it is an inscription of Davos, “The war was a thing of the past, and our blood has now become one.”

There were also two bronze statues of men standing in front of the burial mound. One is a Lucanian, and the other is a Greek, both smiling, and their strong arms shook with each other. The Greek man’s left hand is pointing to Thurii a few kilometres away to the east, making an inviting gesture, the meaning of which is self-evident.

In the burial mound, there are no bones. Back then, the Thurians cremated thousands of Lucanian warriors, and it is rumoured that it took them three days and three nights to burn. Then they poured the ashes into the river, feeding the fishes and the shrimps. For political purposes after the establishment of the Theonia Union and under the strong suggestion of Davos, this burial mound was built. Every year, people come here to pay homage to it, most of whom were Lucanians.

Of course, this was not the main reason why this once desolate place has become lively now. On the other side of the Tiro River, where the spear of the statue of Davos was pointed, there was once a hot spring swamp here filled with deserted ponds, snakes and insects, which has now been replaced by a huge building. Then using Davos’ cement, dozens of aqueducts were built to bring the hot spring water into the building, and finally, a large canal leading the hot spring water out into the river. This is the famous Thurii’s hot spring in Magna Graecia.

Although the Greeks don’t like taking baths, the Theonians have developed the habit of taking a bath under the long-term education of the physicians headed by Herpus in recent years. They even learn that it is more beneficial to their health by taking a bath with hot spring water. Thus on the day of the opening of the hot spring, almost all the men of Thurii came to the hot spring swamp to try it.

As a result, the hot spring became overcrowded. Later, the hot spring also revised its rules and set some limits on the duration and the number of people entering.

After returning to the city with reluctance after taking a hot spring bath and enjoying all kinds of novel services, the Thurian men began to promote it, “Taking a bath in the huge bathhouse is so amazing.” They even praise that this was the Elysium that the archon had built for the mortal world!

And soon after, the public learned that women were also allowed to enter the hot spring.

Since then, the Thurians have been flocking to the bathhouse every day and regarded it as an essential enjoyment in life, while the people of other Theonian city-states have also come to enjoy it from time to time.

At the same time, the Thurians even regarded the “hot spring bathhouse” as one of the three major entertainments for guests from afar, making the Thurii’s hot spring bathhouse famous. (the other two are tasting Thurii’s food and going to the arena to watch the ball games.)

The large hot spring baths will also become free for the public on certain special days in Theonia, making the baths, which are already cheap (just one obol), even more popular. For example, because of the Marriage’s Day, the hot spring became free for all couples who had come to take a bath. And this is the reason why Appian came here with his wife.

Today, many couples came and were all consciously formed a long line and moved towards the hot spring entrance slowly.

At this time, a commotion happens in the rear of the line. Appian turned his head to look at the situation.

“What happened?” His wife asked curiously.

“It’s nothing. It’s just that two statesmen of the Senate had come as well.” Appian said with indifference. Among the nearly 100 statesmen in the Senate, except for the Thurians, most of the Theonian citizens in other city-states only know the chief statesmen, Davos, the statesmen who had served as the city’s praetor, and the various statesmen who are holding important positions in the legion, which is not surprising. Whether it is training or battling, the citizens that have served in the army will have deeper memories of those officers.

Finally, after crossing the wooden bridge over the Tiro River and standing at the entrance. The hot spring keeper looked at Appian and his wife and asked, “Are you a couple?”

The two of them nodded.

“Theonian citizens?”

Appian nodded and said, “We are a couple that has taken part in the Marriage’s Day this year. Do you have a private room for a small bath?” With that, he stretched out his left hand and his wife’s right hand. On his ring finger was an iron ring engraved with Hera’s emblem, a “Peacock”. At the suggestion of Davos, the Temple of Hera, under the charge of Agnes, apart from presiding over the celebration, they also present the wedding rings blessed by Hera to the newlyweds to encourage and monitor their marriage’s stability. (Of course, there is a small processing fee.)

“Congratulations!” After the keeper confirmed, he turned and looked at the wooden wall nailed with many long nails, only one of which had a key. He took it and give it to Appian, “Hera has blessed you. This is the last one. The room number is written on the wooden board. So that no one can disturb you, you can lock the door after entering the room. And you can just return the key at noon.”

“Alright. Thank you.” Appian then led his wife into the middle passage, as the left and right passage lead to the men’s and women’s baths, respectively.

As time goes on, the queue at the entrance has almost reached the end.

When the keeper saw the two men in front of him, he was stunned and immediately began to smile, “Lord Pollux, lord Enanilus.”

“Do you have a private room left?” Asked Pollux straightforwardly.

The keeper pointed to the wooden walls with only nails left behind and said apologetically, “Because of the Marriage’s Day, the rooms are all full.”

Pollux pouted with dissatisfaction, then said with sarcasm, ignoring that the keeper is a servant of Davos, “Look at how our archon takes care of the people of Theonia!”

Enanilus did not answer and just let the slaves behind him take out four Obols and paid for himself, Pollux, and the two slaves accompanying them.

After they went in, the keeper went into the back of the room under the excuse of going to urinate. He then quickly find the hot spring manager and said, “Pollux and Enanilus came together!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After a short walk along the passage on the left, a vast area appeared in front of them. In the middle is a large bath, with several small baths beside it, and they were all releasing steamy hot fogs.

Many men were soaking in the pool and enjoying the moisture of the hot spring water. Some were lying on the wooden benches beside the bath to be washed by their slaves or getting massaged by specially trained slaves. There are also a few people leaning against the wooden wall, chatting with each other…and they all have one thing in common – they are all naked.

Chapter 352 – Pollux’ Persuasion

Although the hot spring is a bit crowded, it doesn’t make them feel suffocated. Besides the thick and tall stone walls around, the hot spring has no roof, which is beneficial for the circulation of the air. Some even like to take a bath when it rains.

Looking at the crowded baths in front of him, Pollux said enviously, “I estimate that there would be five~six thousand people that have come here to take a bath today. Davos has earned a lot of money!”

“Who told you not to join when the archon was raising money?” Enanilus snapped at him. He then took off his chiton and sandals and gave them to the slaves. He then strode towards the hot spring pool on the smooth marble floor.

Pollux caught up in a hurry.

Enanilus slowly sat down in the pool water, and the perfect water temperature made him let out a comfortable sigh. He then picked up hot spring water and thoroughly wet his face.

With the shadows of people moving back and forth, the crowd’s sight was obscured, making them not notice that two statesmen were sitting naked with them.

Enanilus closed his eyes, leaned against the bath’s wall, and seemed to have fallen asleep, which made Pollux swallow his words several times.

After soaking in the hot spring bath for more than ten minutes, Enanilus came to a smaller bath next to him, where the water was not deep, and its bottom was covered with sea sand. Another small bath is paved with pebbles, while another is paved with river sand.

Enanilus simply lay down and rubbed his back with the soft fine sand…soaking for more than ten minutes until his skin turned red. Then he got out of the pool and asked a slave to massage his whole body.

After another ten minutes, Enanilus got up. Then he asked his slave to pay for the massage, then dragged his relaxed body to a deserted corner. He sat down on the bench beside the window and closed his eyes.

Pollux went close to him, sat down, stretched himself and said, “Taking a hot spring bath is really comfortable! This hot spring that Davos built has truly brought great benefits to Thurii! Why had we not think of doing this before? He truly deserved to be the god’s favoured!”

Enanilus slowly opened his eyes, looked at him and said slowly, “Now that you know how powerful Davos is, why do you often take the lead to fight him in the Senate? Pollux, I remember that you were not so bold.”

Seeing that Enanilus finally spoke to him, Pollux became relieved. He then said with an aggrieved expression, “Of course, I know that the Theonia Union would not have been where it is today without Davos, and even I, also want to do something together with Davos, but he doesn’t give me a chance at all! He only valued his mercenaries, who could only speak through their fists and even place them in a high position! Now, there are also those barbarian chieftains who are more savage, with a foul breath, sitting in the Senate every day, shouting in Greek that no one could understand! And the Amendolarans, who were once driven by us, wore the so-called ‘founder badge’ every day, deliberately showing off in front of us…we are the true masters of Thurii, but now, we can only stand aside in the Senate! I, Ariphes, Marsyas…are just dressed in the cloak of statesmen, just to show it to the Thurians. But in fact, we are no different from ordinary citizens!…”

Enanilus glanced around. After seeing no one was paying attention to them in the noisy and crowded baths, he warned him in a deep voice, “You are too excited. Keep your voice down! Pollux, you just haven’t gotten your turn yet. Maybe next year, you will be a praetor of a certain city.”

Pollux sneered, “Enanilus, do not comfort me, as even you don’t believe what you are saying. Think about it. A Persian can sit on an important position as a Chief Commercial Officer for so many years without getting replaced for many years or elected. Am I any less capable than him?! Don’t forget, I also served as one of the ‘ten strategoi’ of Thurii many times back then. And even due to me having nothing to do in the Senate, Davos would sometimes send me to help this foreigner and be ordered by him! Is the Theonia Union still a place for us, real Thurian statesmen, to stay?”

Enanilus tried to open his mouth, but no words came out.

“You would naturally might say, ‘You, Burkes, Ansitanos, Plesinas are all highly valued by the Senate.’” Pollux’ sneered once more, “How can Plesinas compare with us?! He is nothing more than a commoner and has now become a dog of Davos, who uses him to bite. Ansitanos, on the other hand, was completely absorbed in the book he was going to write and had no power over anything else. While Burkes, even though he is still the head of the Ministry of Agriculture, was only working with peasants and slaves every day that he could only return to Thurii a few times a month! Sometimes, he can’t even attend an important Senate meeting. He is more like an ordinary union official than a statesman. As for you – Enanilus, you indeed hold power over the navy, just that-”

Pollux then intentionally paused.

Enanilus turned his head, then asked casually, “Just what?”

With a slight smile, Pollux said, “Over the past few years, Davos has allowed foreigners to build shipyards in Thurii, breaking the monopoly of your family on shipbuilding. What is your opinion about that?”

Enanilus’ brows slightly twitched, then said slowly, “That’s because Theonia’s territory is too wide that we need more warships to protect our coast. And my family…can’t produce so many warships in a short time…”

“Oh, you are really thinking for the sake of the union?!” Pollux then said sarcastically while looking at him, “It’s a pity that Davos doesn’t seem grateful to you. What do you think about the fact that he let his second wife’s family get more share of the warship than yours?”

Enanilus became silent. Fortunately, the embarrassment on his face was covered by his flushed skin due to the hot spring water. Due to the monopoly of their shipbuilding in recent years, the management became slack, making the completed warships have many quality problems. For this reason, Davos had talked to him alone several times. This is why the Senate passed the bill of “allowing merchants of allied city-states to build shipyards in Thurii” proposed by Davos.

“And…what do you think of Seklian, the hero who conquered the city of Besidice, the flag bearer of the Triumphant Return, whose statue is in the Hall of Valor, and had quickly become the commander of the sub-fleet under your command from being a common sailor, and even frequent Davos’ house?” Pollux’followingt question immediately made Enanilus turn pale.

“Davos has made you the navarch of the navy because he had no one under him that knew anything about naval warfare. But now, he seems to have found one who seems to be more trustworthy than you! Enanilus, do you think Davos will still need you, you who was originally a noble of Thurii, who is not compatible with his vulgar mercenaries?!”

The words of Pollux was like a venomous snake gnawing into the heart of Enanilus.

Pollux, who had been paying attention to the expression of Enanilus, sighed, “If we old people of Thurii doesn’t think of any other way, then we will truly become just a bystander in the Senate. But I am unwilling to do nothing until we die of old age!”

Enanilus shook his fist and head, “Pollux, you don’t understand the power of Davos! Even the sailors in my Theonian Navy were made up of preparatory citizens and freemen that regards that young man as the real commander, while I am just an executor of his order. Not to mention the soldiers and strategoi of the Theonian army-”

“Enanilus, do you think that I am plotting to overthrow Davos?!” Pollux interrupted him. He then chuckled and shook his head, “No! No! No! I am not that stupid! I admit that…Davos has made a great contribution to the Theonia Union that without him, Thurii would no longer exist. The only thing we want is to get some of the rights back to the citizens of Theonia, and at the same time, we want to limit the power of Davos and not make him neglect and deal with us old people of Thurii at his discretion!” Pollux then pointed to the men in the bath with a bit of excitement and said, “Do you think that they don’t want to participate in an ecclesia?! The blood of us, Greeks, are flowing with the passion of loving and the enthusiasm to participate in politics. It’s just that the glory of Davos has made them temporarily forget it. Therefore, as long as someone constantly reminds them, just as I have always done, the situation will change a lot! The people’s protests in Thurii, Krimisa and other cities already show that the situation has changed!…Enanilus, for our own sake and Theonia Union, would you like to join me in the Senate to continue our appeal on ‘holding an ecclesia’ to make the distribution of Theonia’s right more equal?!”

After listening to the provocative words of Pollux, Enanilus’ complexion changed. Finally, he hesitated and said, “But…there are too few people in the Senate who support this proposal!”

“In fact, I have already gotten the support of some people…” Pollux’ whispered a few words in his ear.

Enanilus became dumbfounded and said, “Really?”

“When did I ever deceived you? It’s just like the last time when I told you how to get more land by freeing the slaves!” Reminded Pollux.

Enanilus clenched his hands again and again…finally, he clenched them into a fist.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Esteemed statesmen of the Senate, I have a proposal.” Pollux stood up from his seat.

Seeing the situation, the others suddenly had a helpless expression of “here we go again”.

Chapter 353 – Asking the temple for help

“Go ahead, lord Pollux.” Cornelius, the rotating chairperson, could not express his position, so he can only nod his head to signal the other party to speak.

“When the tribes of Lucania and Bruttii joined our city-state union, we had a formal agreement with them of ‘not interfering in the internal affairs of their tribes, and ensuring their independence and integrity.’ However-”

Pollux waved his arm and said in a loud voice, “However, a few years passed, and the independence of those tribes has been seriously affected that even many smaller tribes became no longer exist. What’s the reason for it? It’s because the young and strong men of those tribes have asked for independence and live alone, resulting in a sharp decline in the population of those tribes. And without having enough labour to sustain themselves, they have no other choice besides to dissolve their tribes…the agreement we signed with the tribes of Lucania and Bruttii was done under the watchful eyes of Hades. But now, the survival of these tribes within the union has been seriously threatened, seriously affecting our reputation in Theonia and causing hesitation and suspicion among the other races in Magna Graecia who want to get closer to us. Thus, in order to be worthy of the support and trust of these tribes, I propose that the Senate should legislate the ‘prohibition of the tribal people from leaving their tribes in order to preserve the tribes’ integrity.’”

Some of the statesmen looked at each other and wondered, ‘What’s going on?’ Pollux, who does not care about the affairs of those not Greeks to the point of indifference, began to care about tribal matters.

Vespa, Hemon, Baripiri and the others felt strange, while Sedrum, Bodiam, Petaru, Burim and the others were lost in their thoughts.

At this moment, Plesinas stood up, “I don’t agree to this proposal! The adult men of Lucania and Bruttii are either Theonian citizens or preparatory citizens. As citizens of the union, they have the right to enjoy the freedom of choice, while the Senate has no right to make such provisions! Don’t you think so as well, lord Tritodemos?”

The current chief justice, Tritodemos, nodded, “The first rule of the Theonian Law is ‘to protect the citizens’ rights and freedom of choice.’ No new law can violate this! I think that both the tribe and the members of the tribe are hoping that everyone can lead a stable and prosperous life. And from the current situation, they already have a good development in Theonia Union. Thus it is not necessary to make any amendments.”

Davos just listened quietly to their arguments while tapping his fingers on the wooden chair…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Cariades came to the Temple of Hades and asked the Grand Priest, Plesinas, to explain his aspiration.

Plesinas readily agreed to his request. Thus the young man from Scylletium entered the Temple of Hades to learn as a follower.

Every day at dawn and dusk, Cariades had to study the teachings of the Temple of Hades, while during the day, he would follow the priests in the temple’s affairs. (Davos was the one who put forward the main teachings of Hades, and it mainly preaches that when people do good and punish evil, love their city-state, family, abide by the law and help others will ascend to Elysium after death, while those who behave the opposite way regularly will go and be punished in hell…he also elaborated on the formation of heaven and earth, the strife of the gods, Elysium and hell basing it on the original Greek gods’ myth. Naturally, it is favouring Hades and establishing him as a good god similar to the eastern Bodhisattva for the sake of mankind. Then it was further interpreted and compiled by Plesinas and several priests. And now, there are several thick books about Hades and his temple alone, not including the deeds of his wife, Persephone.)

Early in the morning, there is an endless stream of people coming to the Temple of Hades.

Farmers, fishermen and merchants who want to go to work, go to sea and do business…as long as it is convenient for them, they will come to the temple to pray before leaving with confidence. At the same time, those who came to wish and have their wishes fulfilled would throw some coins into the donation box, light a small oil lamp and place it in front of the statue to express their wishes. And those who came to beg for divination would also draw wooden sticks and ask the priests to answer their questions (the sticks are engraved with mysterious sentences, and whether the answer is good or bad will depend on the level of the priests.) Of course, some who had been helped by the priests of the Temple of Hades would bring some gifts to thanks the temple…

Today, Cariades’ duty was to meet people who come to give gifts. From morning to now, he has hardly stopped, and even though he was tired, he felt content.

Just now, when he had just sent a white-haired old man down the hill, he suddenly heard someone shouting, “Help! Help!…”

Hearing this sound, he saw a man covered with blood running towards him in panic, while another two men chased after him.

Although he only stayed in the Temple of Hades for a few days, he had the consciousness of a priest of Hades to help the poor. So he immediately went up and wanted to help the man and asked him what happened.

Seeing someone standing in front of him, the man became more anxious, as the only thing echoing in his heart was the words of that man, ‘Only by running to the Temple of Hades and asking for his help would he be able to get out of his current predicament and become an official citizen of Theonia!’

He reached his hands out and pushed Cariades away as he continues to run to the Temple of Hades.

Cariades, on the other hand, staggered a few steps and almost fell.

As he stood up, the two men chasing the man arrived right in front of him. So he immediately questioned them loudly, “Who are you?! What is happening?!”

The two muscular men looked at Cariades, who was in a white robe of the Temple of Hades, with hesitation.

Just as they began to hesitate, the man had rushed to the temple. Seeing the crowd and priests that are coming and going in the temple, they could only leave.

The man broke into the temple, and with a “plop”, he fell on his knees in front of the statue of Hades, kneeling and pleading, “Merciful Hades! Please help me! Help me!…”

The crowd inside and outside of the temple heard his miserable cry. Not knowing what happened, they came over to see the situation.

At this moment, the priest in the temple had also come over in a hurry…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

This proposal of Pollux was not passed as he had only won the support of several people such as Petaru, Burim and Bodiam.

However, after a while, he brought up and asked for the resumption of the ecclesia again.

The statesmen started voting again, however this time, the number of people supporting him was close to 15, which includes some statesmen who served in the army such as Enanilus, Eurypus and Pleitinas, as well as the former chieftains of Bruttii tribes, such as Bodiam, Petaru and Burim…the result was still less than half, but together with the statesmen who abstained, Pollux’ supporters surprisingly accounted for one-third of the total number of voters.

This is definitely a huge victory for Pollux, so after the voting, he declared with a bit of pride, “The result of this voting shows that more and more statesmen are aware of the importance of the ecclesia. If Theonia wants to achieve the same glory as Athens, then we should let more citizens participate in the decision-making of the union so as to truly realise the equality and freedom of the citizens for all the races in Theonia! As time goes on, I believe that the other statesmen who oppose this will also realise it because all of you are the leaders of Theonia and the wisest among the people! I look forward to the day when the ecclesia will once again be held!” The speech of Pollux resounded and powerful.

The faces of the statesmen changed a bit as they looked at Davos, who was sitting at the front.

Baripiri now realised the purpose of Pollux’ previous proposal. Pollux knew that his proposal would not be passed, but he wanted the statesmen to see that the plight of the tribe would not be changed as long as the authority of Davos was not restricted, while he could turn the problem for the better. At present, the Bruttian and Lucanian tribes, who are relatively independent, have been greatly impacted in the Theonia Union, so much so that after several years of subtle influence, the youth in each tribe began yearning for the life of a free citizen in the union and are unwilling to be bound by their tribe’s rules…

Baripiri knew about this as his tribe was in the city of Besidice, which is just next to Thurii. The year before last, Davos, on the grounds of making the management easier, directly transferred Besidice under the jurisdiction of Thurii, making it more closely linked to Thurii both politically and economically. Naturally, they got more affected to the point that his tribe almost existed in name only.

However, Baripiri was very open-minded, and he understood that this was the trend, not to mention that this is not a bad thing for the Bruttian, as his confidence came from the young man in front of him. But at this moment, the authority of the young archon was being challenged, and he could not help but worry about him.

However, Davos calmly said, “Esteemed statesmen, Pollux had just mentioned about the ecclesia just now and said, ‘only by holding an ecclesia can we realise equality and freedom of the people.’ Pollux, if you have a good memory, then you should remember how Thurii had rapidly declined a few years ago? How was it burned? What’s the role of Thurii’s ecclesia and your so-called ‘equality and freedom’? Can you tell me?”

Hearing this, Kunogelata, Ansitanos, Burkes and the others became gloomy.

Pollux had not expected Davos to mention this. He immediately became tongue-tied and could only argue as if he were lying, “The burning of Thurii was only a short oversight, and Nianses was too careless and allowed the Crotonians to succeed in their sneak attack. And the rapid decline of Thurii’s strength is due to the tragic defeat against the Lucanians, which is the result of the incompetence of Asikulodox and Friis and has nothing to do with the ecclesia!”

Chapter 354 – Not even letting one less

“Is that so?” With a sneer, Davos exclaimed, “I am afraid that none of your former colleagues in Thurii would agree with your reasons. The destruction of the city of Thurii was caused by the deaths of the citizen’s relatives and friends occupying their minds and fearing the enemy. And at the same time, some people with ulterior motives stirred the citizens to drive away the competent leaders! The strategoi that were elected in panic were helpless against the difficulties, while the common people, driven by their own interests, were unwilling to fulfil their promise to grant citizenship to the freemen, which led to the following series of tragedies! All this shows that the main culprit of the destruction of the old city of Thurii is the citizens of Thurii and the ecclesia they formed!!”

Kunogelata sighed. At this moment, the face of his daughter suddenly surfaced in his mind, making him disheartened.

Momentary, Pollux was unable to respond, then he said with reluctance, “That…that is just a special case-”

Davos interrupted his excuse in a loud voice, “The Theonians wants the right to participate in politics? There is no problem with that, as we had already been doing that! The Theonian Law stipulates that ‘No matter whether they are upper-class or lower-class, as long as they are citizens of Theonia, they can take up public offices in the Theonia Union without restriction.’ And we are going to make more laws to involve them in Theonia’s administrative decisions further. But-”

Davos increased his voice abruptly and sharply said, “The Senate of Theonia will never indulge the people and allow them to have unlimited freedom, so as to wantonly destroy the order and overall interests of Theonia for their personal interests, or even be used by some people with ulterior motives to destroy the Theonia Union that we have painstakingly established! And the Senate will severely punish anyone who attempts to destroy the peaceful life of Theonia Union today! Without any mercy!!”

Like a giant thunder, the decisive words of Davos exploded in the hearts of Pollux, which made him tremble to the point that he could only say in a low voice, “…according to you, most of the city-states in Greece would have been destroyed because-”

“Bang”…the door of the assembly hall was suddenly pushed open. Pollux subconsciously looked back and saw Thurii’s patrol captain, Matonis, hurried to the podium of the assembly hall.

‘What is going on?!’ This is not only the question of Pollux but also the question of some statesmen in the meeting.

Davos narrowed his eyes as he looked at the podium while tapping his finger on the armrest of the chair and thought, ‘Here we go…’

Cornelius listened to Matonis’ whispers, and his face became more shocked. And from time to time, he would glance at Pollux, making him somewhat restless.

After Matonis reported the situation, Cornelius, who has never encountered such things before, was momentarily at a loss about how to proceed. So he had to ask for help, “Lord Davos, please come here for a moment.”

Davos then walked towards him unhurriedly.

Seeing the whispering exchange between Davos and Cornelius on the podium, the statesmen became even more curious and puzzled. They all craned their necks and pricked their ears, trying to find out what they are talking about it, as they could vaguely hear Davos firmly saying, “No! We will carry out everything under the Theonian Law!…”

At this moment, they heard Cornelius called out, “Chief justice, lord Tritodemos, please come to the stage.”

The statesmen became noisy as they tried to guess what has happened.

The three began exchanging opinions on the podium, and occasionally, Tritodemos would ask Matonis, who was standing nearby, to learn about the situation.

Finally, when Davos returned to his seat, Tritodemos remained at the podium while Cornelius tried to think how to break it to them. After clearing his throat and carefully organising his words, “Uh…well…everyone, just now-”

“Cornelius, hurry up! Stop making us anxious!” Shouted Scambras. And the statesmen burst into laughers, which slightly dispels the tense atmosphere.

However, Cornelius remained serious, “You guys, just now…something has happened in Thurii. A liberated slave was being hunted down as he ran to the Temple of Hades to ask for help…”

The statesmen went into an uproar. Although Theonia Union has not long been established, it is not without murder cases. However, ‘a victim running to the gods to ask for help’ like this is the first time. After all, this would alarm Hades, making the need to handle this matter cautiously.

After Pollux heard the word “liberated slave”, he felt an intense uneasiness. He moved his butt back and forth as if his wooden chair had a nail piercing it.

“The city patrol, led by lord Matonis, rushed to the temple. And under the guidance of the liberated slave, they arrived at the scene of the attack and arrested several men who tried to resist. After a prompt interrogation, the suspect’s detailed account is basically the same as that of the liberated slave…” Tritodemos took over the conversation from Cornelius, and his gaze was like two cold beams of light shooting straight to the meeting, “And the one behind the suspects is lord Pollux!”

There was an uproar when this remark came out.

Just like a cat lit on fire, Pollux sprang up to his feet and shouted, “This is a false accusation! I am being framed up!…”

“Whether it’s a false accusation or not, we still have to go through a more detailed investigation to find out.” Tritodemos remained calmed, but his voice was like a sharp knife, “And the provided information has also involved a more serious crime. It’s said that ‘you, lord Pollux, frequently freed the slaves not out of goodwill, but to control them and deceive the Ministry of Agriculture by using your power to rent fertile land for them, while getting most of their land income…’ If that is the truth, this is a serious violation of the Theonian Law that says ‘no illegal possession of land! To not restrict the freedom of others!…and several other laws!’”

Pollux’ heart jolted wildly, and his mouth panicked, trying to defend himself, “No! This is not true! I…I did not coerce any slaves, no! They have all voluntarily given it to me! Yes! It’s all voluntary! They…voluntarily gave part of their income to me as thanks for giving them their freedom! If you don’t believe me, go and have a look. Some of the slaves that I released has even become official citizens!…”

“Do not worry, as we will also investigate what you have said, and we will never let a noble statesman of the Senate be wronged! But the laws of Theonia are the same for anyone, even if you are a statesman! Now that this case has involved you, we will temporarily restrict your freedom until this matter is finally resolved.” Tritodemos remained expressionless as he said this. Afterwards, several patrolmen entered the assembly hall under the leadership of Matonis, ready to go forward and take hold of Pollux.

As Pollux desperately try to break free, he saw Davos looking at him coldly. After a sudden realisation, he immediately made a desperate struggle against the statesmen around him, “Esteemed statesmen, this is a conspiracy! This is Davos’ conspiracy! He saw that my efforts had threatened his dictatorship, so he used this despicable means to frame me! Everyone, help me! Please help me! Otherwise, if I were to fall today, then tomorrow, the next would be you! You…”

The patrolling soldiers dragged him out as his words still echoed in the assembly hall.

The previously smug Pollux was now blown away in the dust. This sudden reversal was too stimulating that the statesmen looked at Davos with a complicated expression.

However, Davos did not care what Pollux said at all. He continued to lean back on his wooden chair in a leisurely manner.

Next, the words of Tritodemos made the statesmen such as Enanilus, Ariphes and Marsyas even more frightened, “Considering the wide range of personnel involves in this case, and after consulting with the archon, we decided to impose military enforcement on the whole city, forbidding anyone from going out until we resolved this matter!”

The senate meeting ended in shock, and while everyone was still in fear and talking, Davos had already strode out through the side door of the assembly hall.

“Lord Davos, please wait a moment! Please listen to me…” The usually calm Enanilus was now shouting in a tone similar to begging as he tried to catch up to Davos. And at the same time, Ariphes, Marsyas and the others followed him.

Kunogelata, seeing the situation, sneered. But when he turned around to walked out of the door, he saw Burkes still sitting behind him and muttering, “How could Pollux do such a thing?…”

In this senate, Burkes and Ansitanos are the only few statesmen who did not fall out with Kunogelata when he was in trouble, so Kunogelata said to him, “It’s difficult for the once rich to endure the present poverty.”

Burkes raised his head in amazement while watching as Kunogelata walked out of the senate hall.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On this day, the people of the city of Thurii were astonished to see the patrolling soldiers going around, searching the residence of Pollux, and then restricted the freedom of statesmen such as Enanilus, Ariphes and Marsyas.

In the afternoon, another urgent letter had come from Krimisa, saying that, “in the Temple of Hades, another liberated slave had asked for help.” Without waiting for the decision of the Senate, the praetor of Krimisa, Protesilaus, who had already receive the confidential order of Davos in advance, had ordered the patrol to arrest a few of the original Krimisian nobles. And the news that Eurypus and Pleitinas receive made them panic again.

In reality, the spies of Davos that Aristias lead had already grasped everything in hand. The only thing they needed is a good reason.

The news that “nearly ten statesmen were arrested” caused a huge political tremor in Thurii, making the people discuss and rumours to spread.

Hemis, who was in a guesthouse, could feel the violent shaking in Thurii, so he immediately realised that the situation was not good. Thus he quickly packed up his things and prepared to go back to Sicily by boat.

Chapter 355 – Father and Son

As soon as he went downstairs, Hemis saw three patrols standing in the lobby of the inn.

“He’s the Syracusan!” Then someone next to him identified him loudly.

The heavily armed patrol came forward and asked coldly, “Hemis of Syracuse?”

“What do you want?!” Hemis became a bit flustered. He then exclaimed, “I am an envoy of Syracuse. I want to meet your archon!”

“Then you have to come with us!” The patrol sneered as he forced him out of the inn.

This scene undoubtedly added to the discussion of the Thurians, who are still confused even today…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Father, I heard that Pollux was locked up for violating the laws of the union!” Sostratus hurried into the living room.

Kunogelata glanced at him and said calmly, “This incident has shaken the whole city, and only now you know? What have you been doing all this time?”

“What else?! Of course, it is to participate in military training. It was my turn today, and I am so exhausted!” Sostratus complained. He sprawled on the wooden chair and said lazily, “Too bad that the hot spring is closed, else I would have come back a bit later.”

Kunogelata frowned, feeling a bit annoyed with the laziness of his eldest son. Then he said in a deep voice, “All the young and middle-aged citizens of Theonia have to take part in military training, yet there is no one afraid of hardship and exhaustion like you. Learn from your brother. He had not only taken part in the afternoon training in the Akademia but also took the initiative to find someone to practice fighting after coming back home!”

“That is why the hope of our family will fall on my brother, while I just want to be a rich man, eating delicious food, sleeping with beautiful women and watching sports competitions.” Sostratus said with disapproval.

Kunogelata was just about to speak when his younger son, Dicaeogelata, said in a loud voice, “Elder brother, did you know that besides Pollux, they had also detained the other statesmen such as Enanilus, Marsyas, Ariphes and Eurypus.”

“Is that true?!” Sostratus stood up, leaned his head forward and asked in an urgent tone, “Old man, you estimated last time and said that ‘Enanilus, Marsyas and Ariphes are likely to join Pollux which would cause a huge impact on the authority of Davos’, how come they are all in a dead end now?!”

Kunogelata’ face twitched a few times, then gave a cold snort, “What’s so strange about that?! The archon remained in harmony with the other statesmen to the point that even if someone in the Senate pointed at him, he wouldn’t even have a grudge…but after spending so much time with him acting like this, I forgot how he had become an archon for life, he is a wolf…he was born to eat meat! I am afraid that not only I, but many people in the Senate, will once more felt that kind of feeling when the union was first established…hmph…”

He then said emotionally, then sneered again, “Not only had these people violate the law, but they actually tried to dream beautiful dreams…I fear that this time, Davos will not easily let them off!”

“Never let them go! It’s even said that Pollux had even colluded with a Syracusan! The crime of treason is only punishable by death!!” A gleam of hatred shone in Dicaeogelata’ eyes, as he could never forget that day…when the people of Thurii turned into bandits and rushed into their house…and behind those bandits, is the figure of Pollux…

“Syracuse?! You mean that Dionysius have something to do with Pollux?!!” Sostratus’ eyes widened.

It must be known that with the rise of Theonia, it and Syracuse, two powerful and large city-states, one south and one north, are very close yet have almost no diplomatic contact.

There is even a story circulating in Magna Graecia that illustrates the delicate relationship between the two city-states: One day, in a port of a city-state in Magna Graecia, a merchant of Syracuse and Theonia met, and they boasted about their country to each other, “Theonia’s establishment was not even a fraction of Syracuse’s several hundred-year of history, with Syracuse being the hegemon of Magna Graecia and Sicily a hundred years ago, and still are!”

While the Theonian merchant retorted, “Don’t be proud of yourself, as it has only taken Theonia Union five years to become so powerful. So in another five years, we will be twice as powerful as Syracuse!”

Naturally, these were just made up by some bored people. And the truth is, although Syracuse and Theonia were like two beasts in the forest, carefully guarding their own territory, both sides tried to not intrude on each other.

It is why Sostratus was astonished from hearing that “Dionysius had extended his hand to Theonia.”

Kunogelata reached out and patted his younger son on the head, as he knew what he was thinking, as this was the eternal pain in his family’s heart, “Is there any collusion between Pollux and Syracuse? It could only be determined after the union’s investigation, so don’t spread such rumours.”

Kunogelata pondered for a while, then said with a serious expression, “If there is…it would become a huge problem for Theonia!”

“Father, will there be a war?!” Asked Sostratus and Dicaeogelata at the same time.

Looking at the excitement in his two son’s eyes, Kunogelata knew that his younger son was excited because he is eager to fight, while his older son is probably thinking about how to seize this opportunity to make a fortune in the market. Shaking his head, he pondered for a bit and said, “…Syracuse and Theonia are huge and powerful city-states. Every move they make is related to the security and survival of Greek city-states in the western Mediterranean, making it hard for them to clash! So these will probably end up as diplomatic protests and negotiations…”

Dicaeogelata sat back depressed, while Sostratus just rolled his eyes, not knowing what was on his mind.

“Sostratus, I heard from your brother-in-law that you went to find him a few days ago and hoped that he could purchase some of your goods…” Kunogelata suddenly changed the topic.

Sostratus was surprised. He quickly said, “I just gave a small suggestion to him. Father, as you know, my brother-in-law is a serious man, so it is impossible for him to agree.”

During the riot in Thruii and the expulsion of Kunogelata’s family back then, his youngest daughter killed herself after getting r*ped. At the same time, his eldest daughter was forcefully divorce by her husband’s family and remained single since then. It wasn’t until ‘Davos was concerned about Hielos’ marriage’ that Kunogelata made up his mind and gave his proposal to Davos after learning about it.

At the urging of both sides, Kunogelata’s eldest daughter asked to meet Hielos before deciding whether to get married. Davos, as the matchmaker, had actually agreed to this “absurd” request, while Hielos, for the sake of Davos, did not mind it much.

As a result, after the two met, they hit it off. In particular, after the betrayal of her first marriage, Kunogelata’s daughter felt that Hielos was simple, honest, and dependable, a man worthy of a lifelong commitment. Thus she had even taken the initiative to ask Kunogelata to contact Hielos.

In the end, the two got married, which also made the relationship between Kunogelata and Davos go a step further.

After leaving his position as the praetor of Aprustum and the legatus of the fourth legion, Hielos was right in time in Davos reformation and decentralisation of the Ministry of Military Affairs. Back then, the authority to deal with the specific matters of the army was concentrated on the Chief of Military, but now, Davos divided it into three:

First: In the military and political aspects, Philesius, the Chief of Military, is responsible for the personnel appointment of the legion, the rotation of the troops, the naval patrols, the citizens’ military service, the statistics of the troops’ performance in the war, and so on. Naturally, important personnel appointments of the legion, such as the legatus and the senior centurion, must be named and confirmed by Davos;

Second: In terms of military training, Hieronymus, who has retired from the third legion, was responsible for supervising the military training of the citizens in various cities, checking the training’s effectiveness, arranging instructors, and so on;

Third: In terms of military logistics, the Greek city-states of this era did not have specialised personnel in managing military logistics. Since the time they secured their foothold in Amendolara, Davos has sent Mersis to manage the army’s logistics. However, with the expansion of the union and the increase of work, Mersis was too busy just managing the union’s finance. Moreover, local government affairs and the army should not be mixed up and must be separated, which is why there is a need for officers to manage the logistics affairs of the military in a specialised and professional way. So the first one that Davos thought of was Hielos. He not only had abundant military experience but also had a history in administration. He is dedicated and careful in his work, and was also the former squad leader of Davos and one of his most trusted people, and could take on a huge responsibility.

“Anyway, I forbid you harassing your brother-in-law anymore! Especially in this special period!” Kunogelata ordered with seriousness, as an old statesman, he could already feel that a political storm was about to set off.

Sostratus bowed his head and nodded.

How could Kunogelata not understand his disobedient son? So he immediately said, “You are no longer young anymore. Several families have sent matchmakers to propose marriage to me, so you should not go out on these two days. Hurry up and settle your marriage!”

“Eh?!” Sostratus’ eyes widened.

“Great! At last, I am going to have a sister-in-law!” Dicaeogelata jumped with joy.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos was discussing with Burkes, the Chief Agricultural Officer, in the study room at his house.

“Burkes, I disagree with your resignation from your position as the Chief Agricultural Officer! The statesmen have elected you as the Chief Agricultural Officer for four consecutive years due to their recognition of your achievements in Theonia’s agriculture. You should know, only when you are in the Ministry of Agricultural can our soldiers and I leave the city and go out to fight without worrying that our farms would be deserted…” Davos sincerely persuaded him.

Chapter 356 – Mixed Reactions

Burkes remained unswayed and said with a sullen look, “There are so many found guilty of occupying illegal land this time…to be honest, I am surprised!…and I felt pained at my negligence! So if I don’t resign, I won’t be able to explain it to the Senate and the citizen…I also hope that the Senate will investigate me to confirm my innocence!”

Davos listened to him, but a thought flashed through his mind: A few years ago, he already knew about the corruption of Pollux and the others, and he had been hiding it and allowing for the problem to expand to involve more people. On the one hand, Pollux and the others had to buy more slaves and release them if they wanted to achieve their goal, which was what Davos precisely wished to see. On the other hand, most of those who can do these things are the nobles and wealthy people, as they are the only ones who have the ability and connections to achieve this goal. So Davos took this opportunity to remove those who secretly resist the pro-civilian laws that he proposed. Therefore, it’s not that no one has found the problem; it’s just that several important public officials under Burkes have been bribed to cover it up. At the same time, Davos has also secretly suppressed it and did not open the lid until today. So from the bottom of his heart, he felt guilty for Burkes.

“Dad! Dad!…” At this time, the door was suddenly pushed open, and Crotokatax, who was more than four years old, ran in, “Come and play with me!”

While saying that, he ran towards Davos’ seat.

Davos hurriedly hugged him and said with a kind voice, “My little Cro, I am currently talking with your uncle, so I don’t have time now. Won’t you go and play with your brother Adoris?”

“Elder brother is memorising poems and has no time to play with me…he said that if he couldn’t recite it well, he will be punished by the teacher tomorrow…while sister is helping mother grow flowers. No one cares about me!…” Little Kro place his arms around Davos’ neck and gloomily said, “Dad, won’t you come and play with me?”

Seeing the usually revered archon having a hard time dealing with children made Burkes surprised. After sighing, he stood up and said, “Lord Davos, there is no need to persuade me anymore as I have already made up my mind. I will take my leave.”

“Alright.” Davos stood up with his son in his arms, “I agree with you stepping down as the Chief of Agriculture Officer, but I won’t allow you to be lazy! Now, there are so many things that need to be done in the union, and I alone won’t be enough, so you have to continue helping me!”

Burkes remained silent for a moment, then said, “I’ll think about it…”

“No need for you to think about it as it’s your duty as a statesman of Theonia! Once everything is over, you will serve on the Union’s Civil Servant Management Committee!” Said Davos with a forceful attitude that would not allow any refusal.

Burkes neither agreed nor refused. He went to the door and asked hesitantly, “What will the Senate do with Pollux?”

He mentioned the Senate, but in fact, he is asking the decision of Davos. So Davos vaguely replied, “It would be up to the court on how to punish Pollux and the others…”

Burkes understood that Davos would not let go of Pollux and the others, so he could only sigh secretly because he also heard the news of Pollux’ collusion with Syracuse.

“Little Cro! Little Cro!…” At this time, a beautiful figure of a woman appeared in front of Burkes.

“Madam!” Recognising the second wife of Davos, Agnes, Burkes hurriedly greeted her.

Unlike Cheiristoya, who knew all the statesmen of the Senate like the back of her hand, Agnes didn’t know most of them, so she just politely responded to his greetings.

“Mama Agnes! Mama Agnes! When did you come back?!…” Little Cro became happy, prying open his father’s arms, and ran over excitedly.

Davos, who finally got freed, accompanied Burkes to the gate of his house.

“Lord Burkes.” Davos looked at the dark street and said, “I could still remember the first time I saw you, you were running around to save Thurii, trying your best to do what you think is right to the point that you aren’t afraid of being criticised by the Council of Thurii. Now, although Theonia seems to be powerful, we are also facing many difficulties and even more powerful enemies coveting her. At this time, we can not shrink back, and we must unite and face the difficulties to get through this dangerous situation!”

Burkes just stood at the gate of the house…a moment later, he looked at Davos’ expectant gaze and said, “I understand.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next day, the statesmen were shocked by the results of the internal investigations: Pollux and the others had illegally occupied land and colluded with the officials and merchants. However, the more severe issue and the most important thing is that Pollux did have contact with the Syracusan, and he was not the only one who had received gifts.

Everyone in the Senate felt the complexity of the problem.

According to the opinion of Kunogelata and Cornelius, they should hold Pollux and the others’ trial in secrecy and send envoys to Syracuse to protest and make Dionysius restrain his ambition…

However, those militants such as Antonios and Amintas demanded that Pollux and others be tried in public, letting everyone know the crimes they have committed and making them aware of Syracuse’s ambition. Afterwards, they should send envoys to Syracuse, asking them to apologise for this and make compensation.

In the end, Davos proposed a public hearing of the case in the Nike Square, as the case of Pollux and others brought uproar in the city and alarming the whole union, with rumours and fears spreading in every city causing even their allies to be concerned. Hence the Senate must give the people the truth and remind the people of Theonia that Theonia Union is still in a bad situation so that they should not slack off!

The Senate approved.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dusk of that day, Androlis, the praetor of Pyxous, received an urgent letter from Davos.

In the letter, Davos explained the reasons for the arrest of Eurypus, Pleitinas, and some other Krimisians in detail. And at the same time, he also declared that he would give them a fair trial. In addition, in his letter, he praised him, “Androlis, the Senate expresses its gratitude to you for your merits in the Lucanian region. In the two years, you have sat as the praetor of Pyxous. You had not only stabilised the Lucanians in the city and smoothly turn them into Theonians but also developed the port of Pyxous, promoting the prosperity of trade and commerce!…”

Androlis stood on the rooftop of the mansion as he read through the letter. After reading it, he became emotional: He had a vague idea about Eurypus and Pleitinas. These two Krimisian colleagues of his were keen to enter and lead the Theonian army. Unfortunately, when they joined the army, Theonia’s war with foreign enemies had stopped, so they had no chance to accumulate merits. At the same time, they had to familiarise the new way of fighting, even though It’s already hard for them to train with the recruits. However, when the positions of the five legatus became full, they had little hope of becoming a legatus of a legion as there are still many people waiting in line behind them who have higher military achievements and fighting experience than them. For them to be able to achieve their current position as centurions was already the grace of Davos for the sake of them being a statesman. However, they felt shameful to hold such lowly positions when comparing with their fellow statesmen like Antonios, Philesius, Kapus and the others, so they went to Davos many times in the hope that they could raise their position in the army again. However, Davos refused and said, “All the military affairs shall be carried out in accordance with Theonia’s Military Law.” Since then, they began criticising Davos.

Then they began coming to Androlis several times, hoping that he, as the leader of the Krimisians, could come out and join hands with Pollux to propose the resumption of the ecclesia, which he naturally refused. Regarding the situation of Davos in control of the Senate, he is not without resistance, but Davos did not restrict him; rather, he gave him a broader world to play his talents…

‘This is where I have been sweating for years!’, he said as he watched the busy port in the distance while listening to the stiff Greek accent of the people on the nearby streets…

In the afterglow of the setting sun, a sense of achievement rose in his heart…

When he got home, he immediately wrote a reply to Davos, thanking him for his recognition of his work and giving his firm support to the Senate’s decision on the trial of Pollux and the others.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The following day, a large wooden platform was erected in Thurii’s Nike Square. In order to maintain order throughout the square, Thurii’s patrol, together with a brigade of the first legion, was temporarily stationed there.

One after another, Theonians from various places came to the square. Most of them are ordinary Theonian citizens. Some were freemen who had just become preparatory citizens and have not yet gotten their allocated land. Some were big foreign merchants who have immigrated to Theonia and became its citizens, and there were also the defendants’ families.

In the middle of the large wooden platform sat the justice, Tritodemos. Accordingly, as the archon of Theonia, Davos, who was also the chief justice, should take the lead in such an important trial. However, he did not attend due to reasons known to all* and neither were the other statesmen – out of avoidance. (*Pollux had always been at odds with him)

On the front left side of Tritodemos is the jurors. There are 50 members of the jury, including merchants, civil servants, farmers, herdsmen, sailors, artisans…citizens from all walks of life, as well as Lucanian and Bruttian. In accordance with the Theonian Law, the court shall randomly select the jury among the citizens registered in the Civil Registry, whether they are rich or poor, races, professions they were engaged in, and so on in order to be as fair as possible.

Chapter 357 – Public Trial

The complainant and the defendant separated in front of Tritodemos. In accordance with the law, the complainant and the defendant are allowed to hire lawyers to defend them in the court since they are not necessarily knowledgeable and eloquent about the Theonia Code with its numerous entries. However, Pollux, who was the first to be tried in this case, decided to defend himself because the crimes he committed had far exceeded what the complainant (the liberated slave) had accused him of, as the prosecutor appointed by the court had charged him. (The prosecutor was Aristocrates, the former clerk of Davos.)

After receiving his Theonian preparatory citizenship, Aristocrates, under the suggestion of Davos, tried to work in the court, managing to pass the examination smoothly. Starting from the initial court reporter position, he worked hard and studied Theonian Law diligently. When he became an official citizen of Theonia, he became a circuit judge of the circuit court. Over the past year, he became a new star among Theonia’s judges with his brilliant achievement of convicting more than 200 cases and disputes without error. In this trial, Davos had personally appointed him as the prosecutor, with high hopes for him.

The uniqueness of Theonia’s court system was due to Davos bringing the court system of later generations with some modifications.

It should be known that during this era, the most respected Athenian court has no dedicated judges. The archons could only maintain the court’s procedures, while the jurors had the power of the court. However, the number of jurors is not fixed, as the size of the case determined the number of jurors, and the highest number of jurors could even reach more than two thousand, and the outcome of the trial would then be decided by a majority vote system. That is why, in Athens, a jury must participate no matter how large the case is. Hence, about 3,000 to 4,000 citizens would rush back and forth to various courts in the city and the port every day, causing the other city-states to call the Athenians the Greeks who love litigation.

However, in Theonia, besides important cases such as Homicide, treason, and so on that needs a jury to decide, the other civil disputes are usually resolved by the judge directly. And even if the defendant demands a jury, it would be likely to be rejected…because the citizens of Theonia Union are busy with military training, fieldwork, market trading, constructing public facilities…and so on, they do not have so much free time to sit in the court and listen to the complainant and the defendant about things that have nothing to do with themselves.

On the other hand, with the abundant wealth of Athens, the jurors would be compensated with money that some citizens even make a living from it. That is why their citizens are happy in being a jury.

In short, Theonia could not afford this kind of time and money consuming court system of Athens with their existing strength and financial resources, and that he is not ready to implement it. However, severe crimes were rarely committed as the Theonians feared that breaking the law would jeopardise their entry into the legions, public office, and obtaining city-states rewards. Hence, such a large-scale trial with jurors is rarely seen by the public, while many people could even say that this is the first time they witnessed how the Theonians court works.

Soon, the Nike Square was filled with people, and many even kept pouring from the outside…

When the level of the clepsydra* fell to the eight o’clock mark, Tritodemos rang the court’s bell. (Water Clock)

Since both the complainant and the defendant were present, the prosecutor was the first to make a statement. Aristocrates briefly explained how the liberated slave went to the temple, the patrol conducting a search and finding evidence according to standard regulation…he then showed the evidence to the jurors, accusing Pollux of illegal possession of land, restricting the people’s freedom and other crimes.

Then a commotion happened among the audience, causing Tritodemos to ring the bell, reminding everyone to be quiet. Then he signalled that the defendant, Pollux, could now defend himself.

As a veteran statesman who has long been involved in politics, Pollux remained proud and determined because he knows that if he shows weakness, then the people would consider him guilty. Although he did not participate in the establishment of the legal trial system, he had observed the process of Davos’ persuading the statesmen. Thus he knew that the jurors were the key to him getting acquitted in Theonia’s large-scale trial. Therefore, he said in a passionate voice, “Members of the jurors, at this moment, I think of my father, grandfather…as one of the earliest founders of the city of Thurii, they have poured all their hearts and blood on this once wildland, leading to the current prosperity of the city. Following the example of my father, I had been making my own efforts for this city since I became an adult, took part in battles, served as a low-level official, and was then elected as one of the strategoi of Thurii by many. I had done all my best for this city-state-”

Just then, Aristocrates stood up and interrupted him, “Pollux, as one of the strategoi of Thurii, you are responsible for the burning of Thurii! At the last moment before the city’s destruction, instead of leading the people to fight the enemy, you as a strategos had disappeared! So how dare you say that you had done everything for the city! That is simply not true!!” Aristocrates had carefully investigated Pollux beforehand.

After saying this, someone in the audience cried out, “He’s right! I had fought in the battle against the Crotonians. In that battle, many had died, including Nianses, yet I did not even saw your shadow!”

“Coward!”

“Coward!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Some people in the audience threw their insults.

“Quiet! Quiet!!” Tritodemos rang the bell to remind the people and warned, “You two should refrain from topics unrelated to the alleged issue.”

Due to the Theonian court not having that many large-scale cases, young prosecutors like Aristocrates are inexperienced. Otherwise, he would have objected when Pollux first spoke.

However, seeing their initial confrontation had attracted the attention of the audience, making them think that a courtroom is like a battlefield, where they battle with words, and life and death are at stake, which is far intense than watching a play, so the people of Theonia began to widen their eyes in anticipation of the more exciting arguments that would follow.

Pollux became quite embarrassed as he had forgotten that he was a deserter. Even though he still wants to continue advertising his hard work in the Senate, it is now of no use. He glanced at his opponent and began to say, “As a member of the Senate of Theonia, I followed the example of archon Davos and responded to Hades’ revelation, which is why I have given many slaves in my household their freedom. So far, I have freed 57 slaves, and six of them have even become citizens. Thus besides lord Davos, there is no one else as kind to the slaves as I am!” Pollux looked around.

“So out of gratitude, those slaves I have freed repaid me by giving some of their money every year. And I could not refuse their kindness, so I reluctantly accepted it because, with more money, I could buy more slaves and give them freedom!… Alas, I never thought that I would get accused of corruption! This…this is a huge blow to my enthusiasm to learn from lord Davos! This is just a misunderstanding!…” Putting on an aggrieved expression, Pollux looked at the jurors.

Aristocrates coldly said, “Whether or not Pollux is corrupt, your honour, please allow me to ask the witnesses a question.”

Tritodemos nodded in agreement.

Aristocrates then called up ten witnesses, all of whom were the liberated slaves of Pollux. Some had just been released, some had become preparatory citizens, and some had even become official citizens. These witnesses initially did not want to appear in the court but were forced to appear because it’s one of the duties as citizens of the union.

After swearing oath of not lying to Hades, Aristocrates asked each of them a question. And as he questioned them, Pollux tried to interrupt several times, causing Tritodemos to reprimand him.

However, seeing that Pollux was now in a bad situation and that they were afraid of getting charged with perjury, they all confessed the truth.

With that, the audience around the wooden platform heard that:

First of all, the land owned by these witnesses is located in the fertile Sybaris Plain, which is already enviable. It must be noted that when the union was first established, there were more people and less land, so to keep the land from being unused, the freemen and liberated slaves were allowed to rent the lands. Later on, renting the land in the Sybaris Plain began to become harder to the point that even being a preparatory citizen was not enough to be allowed to rent it. So how could the slaves that Pollux had freed rent such good land? This has become a huge problem.

Secondly, after these witnesses had paid the union their taxes, they had to pay Pollux 40% of the land income as well;

Thirdly, even those witnesses who had become official citizens had to give 5% of their land income every year. So why do these now citizens still took the initiative to give him money? Because Pollux bribed some people from the Ministry of Agriculture to distribute more lands to these people who had become official citizens. Since their allocated land is often in a relatively remote place, it was not easily found. As a result, these people would take the initiative to pay Pollux’ household because they were afraid that the Ministry of Agriculture would take back their land every time they conduct their annual land inspection.

After Aristocrates finished his questioning, Pollux could feel the anger of the people. So he hurriedly said in a loud voice, “They are all lying! They are all lying! I haven’t done any of these at all. Someone is framing me up because he is afraid that I would shake the people’s faith in him!”

Chapter 358 – Public Trial and New Bill

Tritodemos immediately rang the bell, “Defendant, I warn you for the last time! If you keep making random guesses and accusations, this court will forbid you from speaking!”

Pollux hurriedly swallowed his words back and looked back at the jurors, wondering whether he managed to influence them by what he had deliberately said. By now, he could already feel that the possibility of him extricating himself from his crime was becoming slimmer and slimmer.

Aristocrates then took out a piece of papyrus and said to the jurors, “This papyrus records the amount of property that the patrols had found at Pollux’ residence. Fortunately, Pollux did not deposit the money in the bank, so we could use the patrols and servants that were there, and the few bystanders who broke into the household by mistake can serve as witnesses. The total amount is-” (At that time, the reputation of the Bank of Cheiristoya was already well established, so in order to prevent the loss of money, the people deposited their money in the bank where they only had to pay a very low safekeeping fee every year and could withdraw at any time. Moreover, they could withdraw their money from the various Banks of Cheiristoya in Theonia with the certificate issued by the bank, which was very convenient and popular. However, Pollux refused to deposit his money because Davos’ household owned the bank.)

Purposely pausing for a bit, Aristocrats then said loudly and clearly in front of thousands of gazes, “22 Talent and 45 Minae!” causing shouts of surprises to fill the square.

Aristocrates then added, “As far as I know, Pollux, besides the income you receive from your 2.5 acres of land, you do not have any other industries.”

Pollux fiercely argued, “Most of them were left by my…my grandfather and father…”

Smiling with disdain, Aristocrates continued, “But why are most of your family’s coins were Hades Coins*? I had asked your family, and they told me that you have never gone to the bank for an exchange.” (Note: Referring to the silver coins issued after the establishment of Theonia Union, which has the face of Hades on the front.)

Aristocrates’ words blocked pollux’ lie. In his rage, he shouted, “Davos’ household has more money than I, so why aren’t you checking him as well?!”

The crowd then started booing.

Aristocrates smiled again and said, “As you can see, I don’t even need to speak, as the people are clear about the businesses of Davos’ household. How many Theonian citizens have been helped by the Bank of Cheiristoya’s low-interest rate? How many shops that are about to go bankrupt were saved?!”

“Yes, that’s true!”

“Cheiristoya is kind!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The crowd scrambled in shouting, and the anger that was about to erupt seemed to disappear without a trace. Seeing this, Tritodemos was happy and did not interrupt Aristocrates.

“And Cheiristoya’s Restaurant and the hot spring does not only made the lives of the people better but also made Thurii be known as ‘the most stunning city in Magna Graecia’…”

“Young man, you are right!”

“Lord Davos brought pride to Thurii!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Moreover, the money that lord Davos earned is not stored at his home like you. And he even donated his money for the construction of the temples, libraries and the stone bridge…”

“Did lord Davos also donated money to the construction of the stone bridge? I really did not know about that.”

“I heard that after the construction of the library, lord Davos would donate a large number of valuable books.”

“You Thurians are so lucky! If I wanted to read, I have to travel from Krimisa…”

“Maybe one day, lord Davos would donate a library to Krimisa as well.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As the audience discussed, Tritodemos asked, “Defendant, do you have anything else to say in your defence?”

Like a drowning man who is on his last struggle, Pollux said, “Yes! Yes! My family used to have 57 acres of land! It is the truth as I still have the title deed at my home! But since Davos came, I…I voluntarily gave up all my land, and now, I only owned about 2.5 acres of land. I have made such a huge concession for Thurii and Theonia, so shouldn’t you…shouldn’t you also consider the loss of my family?!”

“Even if you still have these so-called title deeds-” Aristocrates looked at Pollux as he knew that Pollux had messed up, so he was now even more confident, “I hope the defendant understand one thing that is, after Crotone destroyed the city of Thurii, the old Thurii no longer exist. Likewise, its government no longer exist. Therefore, the contract signed by the old city hall of Thurii is naturally invalid. If lord Davos had not led his army to repel the Crotonians, would the Thurians dare to live in Thurii? Obviously not, as they can only be forced to wander to other city-states. Surviving is already difficult enough, let alone own land…”

At this point, Aristocrates’ tone became a bit heavy, and then he raised his voice again, “Therefore, today’s city of Thurii, even though it is still called Thurii, it is no longer the old city of Thurii. This Thurii is a part of Theonia Union and the centre of Theonia!”

“That’s right. The current Thurii has nothing to do with the old city. You wanting to own more than 57 acres of land is just you dreaming!”

“Hades will surely send you, who is a greedy man, to hell and let lord Rhadamanthus whip you hard!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the taunting of the crowd, Pollux’s strength seemed to have been drained as he sat down on his chair dejectedly.

Tritodemos looked at him and said, “Silence! It’s now up to the jurors to vote whether the defendant is guilty or not!”

With that, the court assistant immediately places an hourglass on the judge’s desk, and the jurors must decide before the hourglass gets emptied.

Each of the jurors has two bronze medals, one engraved with “guilty” and the other engraved with “not guilty”. The jurors quickly placed a bronze medal in their hands into the bronze pot with hardly any hesitation.

“Clang! Clang! Clang!…” The clear sound seemed to strike the heart of Pollux like a hammer.

After waiting for the end of the voting, the court assistant went over and began counting. He picked up a bronze medal from the jar and showed it to the members of the jury, “Guilt!…guilty!…guilty!…”

Every time he read one, the audience cheered while Pollux turned pale.

The result came out: 50 votes were guilty, and no one has abstained. (If the results happened to be a tie, then the court’s judge will have the final ruling power.)

The audiences erupted in cheers, while Pollux’ face became ashen.

Next is the trial of Ariphes, Marsyas, Enanilus, Eurypus and the other statesmen, as well as some nobles and officials, which is easier in the face of hard evidence, and all were found guilty.

However, the collective crimes committed by so many statesmen and officials had made the people feel fear and anger. In the end, the shouting in the square turned into asking a ‘collective investigation of the Senate and officials, and find out those who are guilty of corruption of public property’, which resounded throughout the city of Thurii.

The statesmen of the Senate became frightened after the shouting reached their ears. While Davos, who is proposing a bill to the Senate, smiled.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The public trial lasted until dusk. After that, many people spontaneously went to the front gate of the Grand Senate Hall, protesting against the statesmen, causing the statesmen to retreat quickly through the back door after the meeting ended. After they came out, all of them looked grave.

“After the new bill is enacted, the power of our Senate will be greatly restricted! Lord Davos has unexpectedly proposed such a bill. What good will it do him?!” Stromboli said with slight dissatisfaction.

“Lord Davos is correct to do this! Just listen to the shouting of the people in the square-” Cornelius pointed to his rear and exclaimed, “It is the right of the citizens to participate in politics. Wasn’t this always the case in Amendolara? It’s not like you haven’t experienced it, so why do you feel uncomfortable now?!”

Stromboli was stunned. He thought about it and said, “I think the current system is already good. At least we don’t have to worry about the citizens suddenly accusing us. Let alone the fact that you would get terminated before even finishing your work due to your one-year term ending and not getting re-elected. In Theonia Union, I could think in detail about what I want to do, then plan, and then concentrate on implementing it step by step…but due to a group of people who only cares about their own interests, people who know nothing could now dictate our affairs!”

Such similar discussions happen among the statesmen who were hurrying back to the city.

Marigi and Plesinas walked behind.

“Lord Marigi, even though the citizens’ anger were never directed at him, why did lord Davos proposed such a bill? I usually stayed in the temple, and I know very well that most of them have great respect for lord Davos.” Plesinas couldn’t help but speak his doubts.

Marigi laughed and said in a low voice, “You have already answered your own question.”

Plesinas became more confused.

Marigi raised his head and looked at the setting sun, which was almost hidden behind the mountain. His eyes were lost in a trance as if he is thinking about something. Finally, he murmured, “…you Greeks, it has been a long time since the age of monarchy. So you obviously don’t know what the most important thing for a king is!”

Plesinas was not surprised by the metaphor, “for a king”. He thought it over carefully, but he was still unable to understand it.

Marigi lightly spat out a word, “Balance!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

It was evening, and the night shrouded the city of Thurii, but Cheiristoya’s Restaurant was filled with candlelight and bustling noises.

Chapter 359 – The Merchant’s Restlessness

In the corner, Tios and Dicaeapolis quietly sat as they ate delicious food.

After eating the fried beef on his plate, Tios exclaimed, “Alcohol, please.”

After getting a response, he picked up the clean linen towel on his left-hand side and wiped the oil stain on the corner of his mouth.

“Anyone who has watched this public trial-” Dicaeapolis said while pointing his fork at the loudly arguing diners around him, “are angry, yet you are acting calm.”

“What’s there to be angry about? In my former city-state, Corinth, such thing is not uncommon.” Tios grab the alcohol from the waiter and said thanks. Then he continued, “The nobles control the important positions in the city-state, and the selection of strategoi are always chosen among the more than a dozen or so families. Aren’t Kydonia* the same?” (Kydonia* is a city-state on Crete, situated at the westernmost end of the island.)

“That’s right. That is why I am as calm as you are.”

Both of them laughed.

“However, you are wrong about something. Kydonia is just my former city-state, as I am a Theonian now.” Dicaeapolis acted as if giving a stern warning.

“You and I both are.” Tios smiled and raised his cup as the two men lightly clinked.

“Still, there is one thing that Pollux has said that…I agree with…” Dicaeapolis looked around, leaned over his head and whispered, “Holding an ecclesia.”

Tios calmly looked at him and said nothing.

Dicaeapolis continued to murmur, “The Senate is the one making all the decisions in Theonia Union while we ordinary citizens can neither participate nor oppose them nor decide anything. Although we could also become a statesman of the Senate, the road would be too long! For example, we merchants, who travel all day, couldn’t become a civil official at all-”

Hesitating for a bit, Dicaeapolis said, “If Theonia’s government system remain the same, I fear that…that some merchants would leave. After all, having a lot of money but not being able to interfere in any decision of the Senate would always make us merchants afraid, right?”

Tios drunk some alcohol as he suppressed his shock, “Are you among those who want to leave?”

“I certainly won’t leave!” Dicaeapolis said with affirmation, “Here has the best food in the Mediterranean! Have the best entertainment and competition! The best hot spring! And there is no war where we are getting invaded! This place is simply the Elysium on earth!! So why should I leave?!” Said Dicaeapolis loudly as he leaned back in his chair.

“You are right, friend!” Next to him came a reddish, slightly drunk man. He slapped Dicaeapolis on the shoulder and said in excitement, “It is all due to lord Davos that we have today’s beautiful city of Thurii! Brothers, let’s give our respect to our great lord, lord Davos!”

With that, the diner on the same table stood up and raised their cups, “To lord Davos!”

Influenced by them, the other diners also stood up one after another.

“All hail lord Davos!”

“To our great grand legatus!”

The noisy restaurant’s noise combined into one.

After they finish toasting, someone stood up and jokingly said, “To our damned Senate!”

All of a sudden, there was a lot of laughing and swearing again.

Dicaeapolis smiled as he watched their noisiness, while Tios reminded him, “But now, Theonia is not without the danger of war!”

Dicaeapolis was taken aback and then said, “Are you worried about Syracuse?”

Tios nodded slightly.

Dicaeapolis waved his hand unconcernedly, “As a former Corinthian, you should not worry about this issue. In Greece, Sparta, Athens, Corinth, Thebes, Argos and other city-states have dispatched their spies, bribed the statesmen of their enemy city-state, and even defended enemy city-states’ interests in the ecclesia…such things are not uncommon! So if a war were to happen because of such trifling matters, Greece would have long been in a mess!…but, to be honest, things are really bad in Greece right now, especially in Corinth. I heard that Sparta had stationed their army in the territory of Corinth, often fighting the allied forces of Corinth, Athens, Thebes and Argos, causing many to die every day…you are so lucky that you were able to move out!”

Tios became silent as Dicaeapolis talked about his mother city-state. He sighed then said, “Yes, the Corinthians are now having a hard time…I heard that Agesilaus, the Spartan king, and his troops have landed in northern Greece and are preparing to head south to join hands with the Spartans troops to make a pincer attack. The anti-Spartan coalition is surely in danger!… I should really thank you for your advice. Without your persuasion, I would not have decided to join Theonia so soon!”

Dicaeapolis laughed and said, “In that case, how should you thank me?”

Tios knew that he was joking, but he still whispered, “The other day, I went to lord Davos’ house to discuss with him about the donation of the stone bridge. As you know, I have followed lord Davos in his donations many times, which is in line with the newly passed bill of Theonia, ‘Incentive provision for foreign donors donating for the construction of public buildings.’ Due to that bill, I manage to become a Theonian citizen so quickly…”

“You are now a powerful merchant.” Said Dicaeapolis.

Ignoring the slight sourness in his words, Tios continued, “Lord Davos asked me cautiously about some merchants who are protesting in the square. In the end, he said, ‘It can’t go on like this anymore, Theonia has to change!’”

“Did he really say that?!” Asked Dicaeapolis in surprise.

“Of course. I remember it very well!” Tios added with great certainty, “Lord Davos has always been a man of his words!”

A gleam flashed through Dicaeapolis’s eyes…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Milord, are you looking for me?” Aristias came to Davos’ study room.

“Aristias, sit down.” Davos casually pointed to a wooden chair beside him.

“Understood, milord.” Although Davos was casual, Aristias still sat down with respect and caution.

Leaning back in his chair, Davos looked at his chief of intelligence and said, “You have been following me for almost five years now, haven’t you?”

“To be exact, it should be four years, seven months and twenty-two days.” Said Aristias with seriousness.

“You could even remember it so clearly.” Davos laughed and said, “It’s already been long since then, and I still haven’t seen you gain any weight.”

Aristias could only say helplessly, “I have this constitution that made me unable to gain weight no matter how much I eat.”

“If Cheiristoya were to have your constitution, she would be delighted.” Davos laughed.

Davos looked at the tall and thin man, then said emotionally, “You have been with me for a long time, and even though you have become a Theonian citizen, you are still willing to continue collecting information for me. With your ability, you could be a competent official no matter what position in the union…but you kept making great contributions to the union in silence. Just like this public trial case, I am really grateful to you and also feel guilty at the same time!… ”

A sudden uneasiness came to Aristias mind, ‘Could it be that Davos would kick me out of here?’

Tapping his right hand on the arm of the wooden chair, Davos slowly said, “From now on, I can finally do something to repay you for your contribution.”

Aristias was almost distracted by the sudden change of the subject. He then heard Davos continue, “Aristias, you should know Syracuse very well. Tell me, if we were to go war with the powerful city-state of Sicily across the sea, do we have a chance of victory?”

At last, Aristias’ heart sharply throbbed. He suppressed his excitement and thought about it for some time, and then said, “Milord, I think there is still a considerable gap in strength between Theonia and Syracuse.”

Davos was not surprised by what Aristias said. On the contrary, he was satisfied with his attitude as he could still analyse the issue from an objective standpoint even with his hatred for Syracuse, “Oh, what’s the difference? Elaborate it.”

“According to what milord had once told me, we can judge the strength of a city-state from four aspects: population, economic capacity, land area…ehm…and…move…”

“War mobilisation.” Reminded Davos.

“I almost forgot.” Aristias reorganised his thought and continued. “Now in Sicily, apart from Lilybaeum, Eryx, Ziz and several of the most western coastal city-states that the Carthaginians controlled, the other areas were under Syracuse’s rule, including the Sicels and the eastern city-states that Dionysius conquered through despicable means such as bribery and assassination. Although the Carthaginians were still fighting fiercely against the Sicilian Greek coalition led by Dionysius at Salus, the Carthaginians had lost a series of battles, according to the latest information we received. I estimate that it is only a matter of time before their defeat.

And according to the information we received from Syracuse, Gela, Agrigento, Leontinoi….” Aristias paused, “and combining the information collected by the people of Catania and Naxos with the information heard by the Theonian merchants who went to the city-states in Sicily to trade, we can have a general understanding of Syracuse’s strength.”

He paused again, And Davos tapped his armrests and said, “Continue.”

“The city-state of Syracuse and its surrounding towns has about 400,000 population, and the number of other city-states that are directly controlled and affiliated by Dionysius may be close to 1.3 million…” He then looked at Davos after saying this much.

Davos remained calm and motioned him to continue.

Chapter 360 – Davos Began To Move

“Although the area controlled by Dionysius is slightly smaller than that of Theonia, half of Theonia was mountainous and could not grow any grains and other crops, while Sicily is a famous grain-producing area in the Mediterranean. According to the volume of the grain trade in Syracuse last year, Sicily’s grain production may be twice that of ours.

Besides, compared with our port, Syracuse’s port is prosperous as they almost monopolise the sea trade between the Greeks and the Africans. Even though they are at war with Carthage, many Phoenician merchants can still be seen in the port of Syracuse. Although I am not sure what the monthly tax revenue of Syracuse is, it is definitely much better than those of Thurii with its port’s capacity and the number of merchant ships. Not to mention the city-states that are established 300 years ago, such as Agrigento, Katania, Naxos and Messena, whose port trade is very prosperous!…”

Listening to Aristias, Davos nodded involuntarily and said, “Needless to say, Dionysius greatest advantage as a tyrant is that he could concentrate all the resources under his control, including the people to the maximum extent, allowing him to launch a sudden war without the Council’s approval. I remember that you previously said that Dionysius sent about 100,000 men to fight against Carthage on the northern coast of Sicily?!”

“Yes, milord. To be exact, it should be nearly 80,000 infantry and 20,000 navies.”

“Last time…how many men did he send to attack western Sicily?” Again, Davos asked.

“It’s rumoured to be 100,000 as well.”

Davos sighed. “Yes, the reason Syracuse could launch a large-scale war of 100,00 men is due to him being able to support such a huge number of troops for more than six months of battle in a place hundreds of kilometres away from their city-state…the war potential of Syracuse is really amazing!”

“Milord, although Syracuse is strong, it is not without weakness.” Aristias saw that there was a slight depression in the tone of Davos’ voice, so he took the initiative to say, “Dionysius cruelly ruled the Syracusans in order to stop them from revolting against him. He also forced them to pay heavy taxes where they had to pay 20% of their income to the state treasury every year, which caused the people’s resentment. Moreover, the citizens of other city-states in Sicily also hated him because they not only had to pay high tribute to Syracuse but also had their families either killed by the Syracusans in their conquest, captured or sold to distant places as slaves…They hate Syracuse and Dionysius!…”

Davos quietly gaze at Aristias, whose face became slightly distorted due to pain. After a while, he said, “You are right. However, as long as Dionysius’ army continues to win and does not suffer great losses, then the hatred of the Sicilians can only stay as hatred, which cannot hurt Dionysius in the slightest. Also, he still has the support of Sparta-”

Aristias said immediately, “But Sparta is now at war. They do not have any spare troops to support Dionysius. Furthermore, in the south of Sicily, there is still Carthage, Syracuse’s mortal enemy.”

“This is really a good opportunity…” Said Davos as he rubbed his sparse stubble. Theonia Union’s population is about 800,000, and there is a great difference between commercial and agricultural areas and Syracuse. Moreover, Theonia’s military strength is relatively scattered due to its geographical location, making it harder for them to gather, and that their navy is even weaker. So once there is a war with Syracuse, there will be a lot of pressure…

Aristias looked at Davos silently. Although he felt anxious, he did not dare show it as he subconsciously clenched the armrest of the wooden chair.

“Aristias.” Finally, Davos spoke, “I allow you to start sending your men to Sicily. Among the Sicilian city-states, find out those forces that are against Syracuse and Dionysius in detail, and go and establish initial contact with them.”

“Understood, milord.” Aristias was so excited that he was unable to stop himself from asking further, “And then?”

Davos looked at him with a piercing gaze, “There is no ‘then’ before the war with Syracuse.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The following day, the public trial of Thurii continued, and it still attracted a large number of Theonian citizens to watch because the content of today’s trial is mainly about whether or not Pollux and the others conspired with Syracuse and plotted to cause disturbance in Theonia.

Although the Greek city-states also tried cases of citizens conspiring with foreign countries and betraying their country, such as Xenophon, who was tried in absentia by the government of Athens a year earlier for ‘treason against Athens’ and was sentenced with execution, causing Xenophon to be even more afraid to return to Athens. However, Theonia had written the crime of ‘treason’ into their code of law since its establishment and made different sentencing according to its degree. ‘Treason’ alone had occupied several pages of the code of law, which shows the importance that Theonia Union attaches to this crime. Today’s trial will be the first trial of treason by the Theonia Union, which was only a few years old. It should be known that the highest sentence for treason is the death penalty.

Pollux’s mental state is much worse compared with yesterday. Obviously, yesterday’s trial hit him hard, but he still has to pull himself together. Because even though he was found guilty yesterday, the most serious sentence would be depriving his citizenship and getting deported. However, if he is convicted today, he may not be able to save his life.

Aristocrates then appeared, causing the crowd to welcome him warmly. Although the young judge’s back was a little bent, he still won the favour of the public with his quick thinking, sharp words and polite demeanour. Especially when he made Pollux and the others speechless during their debate, some even began inquiring about his family and privately wondered whether they should marry their daughter to this promising young man.

Pollux still tried to save himself, but unfortunately, there is too much evidence against him.

In particular, there are many Syracusan silver coins found in his home. In recent years, Syracuse has been engaged in conquest, which naturally caused them to have high expenditure causing their treasury to be almost empty. That is why he constantly collected heavy taxes from the people. Furthermore, Dionysius ignored the reputation of his city-state as he issued a kind of inferior silver coin to make up for the deficit, forcing the Syracusans to use a kind of “tetradrachm silver coin*” which was mixed with a lot of lead, in the past two years. Even though this kind of silver coins rarely circulated in Theonia’s market, there were many such coins found in the properties of Pollux (It should be noted that Pollux’s household does not do sea trade.) And this kind of coin is also found in the properties of Ariphes and Marsyas. (note: It is a silver coin four times the weight of a drachma)

More importantly, Aristocrates showed the jurors a few letters found in Pollux’s house. Afterwards, Aristocrates picked out two letters and read them loudly. “‘…lord Pollux, I have received your letter and learned that there had been great progress in the discussion of resuming the ecclesia in the Senate of Theonia recently, which made his lordship (referring to Dionysius) to be pleased hearing it. So he immediately agreed to the amount of silver coins you requested, and they will soon be shipped to the port of Thurii together with the merchant ships. At the same time, he also asked me to remind you that it is not enough for the merchants and nobles to protests because the main power of Theonia Union is not them but the ordinary citizens who are soldiers of the legion. So if you can get close to them, win them over, and let them join the crowd’s protests, then…’”

Pollux continued to deny it and shouted, “This letter is forged!…”

“Forged?! Then take a look at this one-” Aristocrates picked up the other letter and showed it to the jurors, “It’s the only letter we have found that has your handwriting, and it’s stamped. Look at the date. It is the day of your arrest, that is why you haven’t managed to send this letter. And I believe that everyone here will be very interested in the letter’s content.”

Aristocrates, with a sneer on his face, looked at the frenzied Pollux rushing to snatch the letter. However, the guards, who maintain the order of the court, restrained him. Aristocrates then loudly read again, “‘…lord Philistus’ – I would like to make it clear here to those who may not know who Philistus is, Philistus is the most important statesmen of Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse… ‘I do not agree with your previous suggestion, as winning the ordinary citizens has little effect on the passing of the ‘resumption of the ecclesia’ bill. However, I did come up with a good idea by using some parts in Davos’ bill about the ‘governance of Lucania and Bruttii’. I believe that after agitating them, the simple-minded so-called non-Greek statesmen will stop supporting that proud young man…’”

“This is fake! Someone is trying to frame me!…” Pollux braved the tide of people’s swearing and shouted desperately.

Soon after, Aristocrates immediately called the witness.

After being detained, Hemis, A Syracusan, was interrogated using some cruel methods beyond this era, such as covering his mouth and nose with a linen cloth, and then pouring water on it little by little, and so on., which made his life worse than death. (T/N: Water-boarding an interrogation method by simulating drowning and near death)

Afterwards, Matonis coldly told him that he could either be sent back to Syracuse after telling the truth or refuse and continue the interrogation.

Between the two choices, he did not hesitate to choose the former.

Chapter 361 – Davos’ Speech

When Aristocrates asked his question, Hemis immediately told the truth of his communication with Pollux following the command of Dionysius.

Pollux, naturally, denied it in every way, but the restless people erupted like a volcano.

“Traitor!”

“Betrayer!”

“Hang him! Let hell give harsher punishment to his soul!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Pollux’s collusion with the enemy was not the only reason that enraged the people, but also his contempt for ordinary citizens and looking down on the citizens of different races in his letter. The whole square was like a storm suddenly rising on a calm sea, with huge waves hitting and trying to destroy the temporary court.

It was not only Pollux and the others that trembles under such powerful momentum, but even justice Tritodemos felt nervous because, according to Theonian Law, Pollux’ crime was not enough for the death penalty. After all, Syracuse and Theonia were not enemies and were not in a state of war. And as a statesman, Pollux had the legal right to propose the bill of resuming the ecclesia. However, after the jurors declared him guilty and with yesterday’s trial, Tritodemos hesitated to make a final judgment in the face of the public’s anger. So he could only go discussed with the assistant judge and the prosecutor, Aristocrates, on what to do in a low voice.

At this time, a loud salpinx rang out.

The crowd turned to look at where the sound came from: only to see the Senate Hall’s gate opened, with Davos leading the statesmen as they stepped out of the Senate’s Hall.

Under the protection of the guards, Davos walked down the stairs and onto the wooden platform. (The platform was built beside the stairs)

Tritodemos hurriedly went forward to give his greetings, but he was stopped by Davos, “This is the court, and you are the master here. I am just here to solve a little trouble for you.”

He then immediately understood what Davos meant, so Tritodemos said gratefully, “Thank you!”

When Davos looked back, he saw Aristocrates greet him respectfully. He then patted him on the shoulder and praised him, “Aristocrates, I didn’t expect for you to do so well.”

Then he greeted the jurors for their hard work.

Afterwards, his eyes swept over the defendants. Compared to the gazes of Ariphes, Marsyas, and others mixed with fear and pleading, Pollux’s was completely broken. Then a fierce gleam shown in his desperate eyes, as he pointed at Davos and curse, “Davos, you are afraid that I will fight for more rights for the citizen, so you have fabricated false evidence to frame me. One day, the people will find out who you really are, and you will not escape the fair trial of Hades!”

But Davos completely ignored him and went to the front of the wooden platform. He stretched out his hands and pressed them down, causing a miracle to happen: the square filled with howling winds and waves gradually restored its calmness…

Then he said, “Citizens of Theonia! Families of Theonia citizens! I am pleased to see so many here that had come to participate in this public trial! This shows that you love Theonia Union and care about Theonia’s legal system! Here, on behalf of the Senate, I would like to thank you who had stayed here for these two days!”

With that, he bowed to the crowd.

The crowd then gave their warm applause for his encouragement and sympathy.

“Remember, the law is sacred, especially in Theonia Union because Hades is watching us!” Davos pointed below, “We all know that the citizens of Theonia Union had come from all parts of the Mediterranean and are of different races. Because of different customs and cultures, it is inevitable to have conflicts. Thus the law gave Theonia order and united us. That is why we should not protest against the judgment made according to the union’s code of law because if the judgment is changed because of your anger, then one day, this injustice may fall on you or your family…”

Davos words made the crowd ponder. Some had initially thought that Davos appeared to exert pressure on Tritodemos in order to make the situation worse for his political opponent, Pollux. However, it seems that it is not the case.

Taking advantage of the calmness in the square, Tritodemos handed down his verdict: Pollux’s punishment for several crimes are deprivation of citizenship, confiscation of illegal property and sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment; Although Ariphes, Marsyas and the other statesmen accepted bribes from Syracuse, there was no clear evidence to show that they had further ties. In addition to yesterday’s judgment, they were deprived of their civil rights, confiscation of illegal property and sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment; while the statesmen such as Enanilus and Eurypus, who were found without any association with the Syracusans, were sentenced according to their judgment yesterday, deprivation of citizenship, confiscation of illegal property and a ten years imprisonment…

Davos’ previous words had indeed played a role. When the crowd heard the verdict, they all hissed with regret, but they didn’t make any further drastic moves.

However, Pollux suddenly broke away from the restraint of the soldiers and cried out to the audience, “I did all of these for you! For the freedom of the citizens! One day, you will regret today’s judgment on me!…”

His behaviour was like pouring a can of oil into a drying furnace, and soon, the crowd’s anger flared up once more. They began to curse again angrily, and some even spat on the platform.

The guards immediately rushed to escort the group of prisoners, such as Pollux, down the wooden platform. And when they passed by Davos, Enanilus did not dare to look at him until they got down and stood under the stairs of the Senate Hall, glancing at the statesmen who were standing on the stairs, feeling endless regret in their heart: Just because of a moment’s greed, they, as a noble statesman who is above tens of thousand people, had now become a prisoner that everyone curses…

At the end of the public trial, Tritodemos, Aristocrates, the jurors and the others left the wooden platform one after another. However, the people on the square did not disperse because Davos did not leave, making them know that the archon must have something to say. Therefore, compared with yesterday’s trial’s ending, the square gradually recovered its calm.

Facing thousands of expectant gazes, Davos knew clearly what these Theonians want to talk about at this moment and what they want to get.

But first, he wants to bring up another topic, “Just now, Pollux said that what he did was for the sake of the citizens of Theonia. If he had not committed the crimes of illegal possession of land and restricting the freedom of the citizens, I would be delighted to hear that because that is the duty of a qualified Theonian statesman.”

There was a burst of sneering under the platform, expressing their contempt for the ugly behaviour of Pollux of saying one thing and doing another, which had diluted the slight influence of Pollux’ last cry.

“I am also grateful to lord Dionysius of Syracuse for taking the time to care about the political affairs of the Theonians while fighting against the Carthaginians. I had heard that the Syracusans are not living a rich life, so he does not need to waste a lot of money here. If he had used it on the Syracusans, then maybe, their life would have been better! And the most important thing is-” With a sneer, Davos exclaimed, “He, Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, who could not even wipe the crap on his ass, has no right to dictate our Theonia Union and disturb Theonia’s order!”

Davos’ ironic remarks made the crowd laugh.

“The Senate will send an envoy to Syracuse to protest against Dionysius and asked him to explain and apologise! You might feel worried about Syracuse’s hostility, but I can clearly tell you that even though Syracuse is really strong, we Theonia are also powerful. Since the establishment of the union five years ago, we have not suffered any defeat! On the other hand, Dionysius of Syracuse had suffered some difficulties in dealing with Carthage, a powerful enemy in the south, so how would he dare provoke us and risk being attacked on both sides! Citizens, the Theonian legions, composed of you, are both the true steel walls of Theonia and its extremely sharp sword, armed with you, we can defeat the ambition of any city-state towards Theonia!”

Davos’ words resonated with the people, but more than that, it has stirred up their courage and sense of honour.

“Lord Davos is right. Our first legion is invincible. We are not afraid of any enemy’s attack!”

“Our second legion is not bad either. As long as Syracuse dare to step on the land of South Italia, we will drive them to the sea and feed them to the fish and shrimp!”

“In the mountains, no one can defeat our third legion, where we are the strongest!”

“You know, among the Theonian legions, our fourth legion is the only one powerful in besieging enemy cities. We are the strongest in terms of siege!”

“We have not only a strong army but also an invincible commander! Under the protection of Hades, if the Syracusans still dare to fight against us, then there is something wrong with their head!”

“All hail Theonia legion!”

“Long live the grand legatus!”

The initial bickering finally turned into a roar of shouting, and the initial shadow of hearing that “Syracuse is causing trouble” was swept away.

When the cheering subsided, Davos said in a deep voice. “This time, the statesmen such as Pollux and Enanilus had committed such a huge crime, occupying so much of Theonia’s property, and a large number of union’s officials were involved in this case as well. It had not only shocked the Senate and me, but also you who were here, and even the whole Theonia Union! This is my dereliction of duty! The Senate’s dereliction of duty! You should be angry and blame the Senate! But after the anger, we have to think about how to avoid such things from happening again!!”

Author’s Note: Recently, our brothers are discussing the population of Syracuse. According to the information that I have collected, in the peak of Syracuse, that is, in the middle of Dionysius’ reign, he not only gained more than half of Sicily but also controlled Magna Graecia. In addition, he established many colonial city-states and even indirectly controlled the Adriatic Sea. At that time, the population under his rule was about 2.2 million, so considering that Syracuse right now is still in the early days of Dionysius’ reign, I had cut it by half. After all, Sicily is his base and has the largest population. And according to historical records, the population of Syracuse alone is about 200,000.

Chapter 362 – Announcement of New Acts

Davos’ words made everyone in the square ponder, causing them to began whispering with each other. Some intelligent people realise that the wise archon would not raise such a sensitive topic at this sensitive moment without reason, so they believe that he would announce something exciting.

As expected, Davos raised his tone and continued, “The Senate, as the highest authority in Theonia and the leader of the citizens, after this event, had immediately reviewed and reflected on itself. So after a repeated discussion and amendments, we had passed the 《Theonian Local Council Act》 this morning.”

The whole square stirred up.

“Be quiet! Be quiet!” Davos gestured and exclaimed, “Listen carefully. You can discuss it after I finish. Otherwise, you will miss the key point, and I won’t repeat it the second time.”

After another burst of laughter from the crowd, they all stare at Davos and raise their ears for fear that they will miss every word, making the square quiet.

“This act allows each city in Theonia Union to establish its own local council, with the citizens of each demo (this is an administrative unit that Theonia established, which is lower than the city and is formed by merging several villages) electing its own council through an election. The basic requirement is to elect one local statesman for every 300 citizens. First of all, they must be Theonian citizens, who have served in the military, have no tax evasion and criminal record, and have performed well. Then these elected members would form the local council of that city to assist the praetor in formulating local laws and regulations and supervising the work of the officials. The term of office of the local statesmen is two years, and the election would be held during the winter break. Moreover, after the autumn harvest every year, at the end of October, the local statesmen of each city will elect a delegation to attend the Senate’s assembly in Thurii. They would listen to the statesmen’s summary of the development of Theonia for that year, and to put forward their own opinions and participate in revising Theonia’s code of law and the formulation of the new law…”

As soon as Davos said this, the whole square began to boil: The Senate of Theonia finally gave ordinary citizens the right to participate in and discuss politics!

Tios and Dicaepolis looked at each other as they thought of the same thing. Davos had solved the problem that they were worried about yesterday, and those merchants who heard the news would probably give up their decision to leave Theonia…

Just like the rest of the crowd, they were also excited.

However, they saw that Davos was still standing on the platform and shouting, “Be quiet! Be quiet! I am still not done yet!”

Through the shouting of dozens of soldiers repeating Davos’ words, the crowd who heard this immediately reminded each other, “The archon still has some else to say!…”

The crowd immediately suppressed their excitement and held their breath, hoping to hear more good news from Davos.

“Theonia Union is different from other city-states, with the Senate directly governing many cities and leading hundreds of thousands of people. But because of too many matters and having too large of a territory, the Senate can’t achieve comprehensive and strict supervision. That is why we couldn’t make sure that each official of the cities is fair and honest, allowing the likes of Pollux, Ariphes and the other criminals who embezzled the public property of the union to appear. But now, the situation would be much better with the help of the local councils’ governance and supervision, but-”

Davos changed his topic, “All Theonian citizens can be elected as local statesmen, including those who have served as officials of the union and those who have stepped down as statesmen and had then taken up public office in the city-state. But I am afraid that some problems would arise after some time had passed.”

After Davos stopped talking, some people in the crowd immediately asked with curiosity, “Milord, what would be the problems?!”

“Aren’t you worried that the statesmen and officials would collude again for money and power?” This statement was like pouring a basin of cold water on the crowd, which made them ponder deeply.

“Lord Davos should not speculate about the future local councillors in such an attitude.” Raphias, who has been holding the position as Chief Census Officer, whispered his own opinion.

“No, I think it’s the opposite.” Justice Tritodemos, who had just arrived, retorted, “With lord Davos thinking up the worst possible thing that may occur, it allowed him to enact corresponding laws to protect them and prevent some people from becoming the second coming of Pollux. As what the Theonian Law wants to achieve is, to deter the population and make them obey the law, rather than catching more criminals.”

At this time, Davos said in a loud voice, “For this reason, I propose that the Senate would discuss and pass the Theonian Tribunus Plebis Act.”

Tribunus Plebis Act? The crowd were puzzled by this unfamiliar term.

Compared with the slow reaction of the crowd, the expression of the statesmen on the staircase changed. Even Kunogelata, who has always been calm, sighed helplessly, “Today is truly the day of victory for the civilians!”

“This is a good thing!” Cornelius said happily, “I have misunderstood lord Davos. I did not expect that he would make such a big concession once he made up his mind to let the citizens participate in politics!”

Marigi, who was listening to the comments of the statesmen around him, sneered in his heart.

“This act allows the demos of various cities to elect for a tribune, no more than ten tribunal officers per city, for a term of two years, and the tribunus plebis – as you know from the name – is an official task to protect the civilians. In order to join the tribunus plebis, one must not hold any official post and vowed that he would not hold any official post in the future. Naturally, they must be exceptional citizens who have served in the military, paid their taxes on time, and has no criminal record. Their task is to supervise and expose the illegal activities of the officials and members of the council. And suppose they found that the local laws and regulations are detrimental to the interests of the public. In that case, they could amend it after consulting with the local statesmen and even reject it. The Senate will also give the tribunal officers the privilege of ‘Personal Inviolability’ during their tenure unless they themselves committed a felony in which they would be sentenced to a heavier penalty! During the annual winter break, the tribunus plebis of each city will elect representatives who will come to Thurii together with the local council’s delegates to report and make recommendations to the archon of Theonia and the highest Chief Inspector and justices… The detailed texts of the two important acts, the Theonian Local Council Act and the Theonian Tribunus Plebis Act, will be posted on the notice wall for you to read carefully later.” (The notice wall is a few walls built under the stairs of the Senate Hall under the proposal of Davos the year before last. So that when a new bill is passed, or a new order is issued in the Senate, the notice will then be posted on the wall, allowing the people to take time in understanding and learning it.)

When Davos finished speaking, an eerie quietness suddenly fell over the square. The crowd seemed to be unable to believe that what they heard is true. After all, just yesterday, they were still angry about the corruption of the statesmen, arguing whether to protest in the Grand Senate Hall to allow the convening of an ecclesia. However, they now suddenly have the right to participate and the power to supervise, especially the position of tribunal officers.

The people still think that they are dreaming. Some had even asked Davos, “Milord, is this true?”

Davos smiled and said, “Don’t you believe what I said?!”

Due to this, jubilation filled the square, and the ecstasy in the hearts of the people was far more than watching a rugby match, taking a dip in the large hot spring bath, or even attending Hades’ Day, as power and freedom is the natural desire of human beings.

Those with rich experience have a clearer idea that even in a democratic city-state such as Athens, most of their people could only vote for the strategoi as the people in power are always the wealthy citizens and nobles. After all, the ordinary citizens had to run around all day for their living, so where could they get money to get an education? How can they have the time to deal with the politics of the city-states? When the nobles and the rich rule the city-state, would they even consider the ordinary people? The answer is self-evident. But now, in Theonia Union, the archon and the Senate had taken the initiative to hand over some of their rights to the civilians, allowing them to intervene in the implementation of the laws and regulations directly and to investigate those who have broken the laws among the officials. Thus how could they not be overjoyed?!

“Long live Theonia!!!”

“Long live, lord Davos!!!”

These two heartfelt cheers rumble over the square like the alternating waves in the sea until they rang out throughout the city.

‘A new era has come!’ Thought Davos as he stood still in the centre of the turbulent waves: The Senate with its legislative power, the parliament with its political power, the tribunal with its supervisory power, checking each other and creating a balance, which achieves the initial political structure he envisions. So, where is his position?

Davos looked at the sun that began to set, warm but not hot, eye-catching but not dazzling…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In Syracuse, the Theonian envoy headed by Ansitanos had been staying here for several days already.

“Teacher, I have made some inquiries.” Henipolis hurriedly went into the room and said angrily to Ansitanos, “The news about Dionysius returning long ago that we received before we arrived was indeed correct. And yesterday, some people had witnessed Dionysius go to the port to meet the second wave of Carthaginian envoys, yet he did not come to see us for five days. What does he mean by this?! As the envoy of Theonia, this is simply an insult to our Theonia Union! Teacher, let’s not wait any longer. Let’s go back to Thurii and tell the Senate of how Dionysius humiliated us!”

Chapter 363 – Envoys to Syracuse

“Young man, don’t get so fired up.” Ansitanos continued to sit calmly as he comforts his student. He then pointed to a jar on the table beside him, “Come and have a taste of this water from Carthage to quench your thirst. It tastes good, sour and sweet. I just had my attendant buy it at the market in Syracuse.”

“No, I won’t drink it!” Said Henipolis as he sat angrily on the wooden chair, causing it to make a creaking sound.

“Heni.” knowing his student’s temper, Ansitanos said, “In the future, you will be the archon of Laos, so you must not act on impulse. If we were to return like this without seeing Dionysius, we will not only be blamed for not completing our mission, but also the Syracusans will just laugh at our lack of manners-”

“It’s clearly Dionysius who do not have any manners by not meeting us in time. How could they blame us?!” Cried Henipolis defiantly, interrupting Ansitanos.

“Because they could just say, ‘I am busy negotiating with the Carthaginians that is why I was unable to meet you immediately…’ After all, for the Syracusans, Carthage is more important than us Theonians.” Ansitanos said calmly.

Henipolis snorted and looked at Ansitanos, “Teacher, in fact, Dionysius just wanted to ignore us and make a fool of Theonia, right?!”

“If Dionysius were really such a small-minded person, he would not have been able to sit as the tyrant of Syracuse. I am afraid that he just treats different matters with different importance.” Ansitanos stroked his somewhat grey beard, with wisdom gleaming through his eyes, “Hence we should not worry at all, as we only need to wait slowly…and see the weight of Theonia Union in Dionysius’ mind.”

Young as he was, Henipolis was not a fool. On the contrary, his talent is the reason why Ansitanos has allowed this student of his to accompany him to Syracuse, “Well then, I will go and watch a play in the theatre in the afternoon. Let’s see who has more patience between Dionysius and us and see who couldn’t stand it any longer first! To be honest, although Syracuse is larger and has more population than Thurii, it does not have the liveliness of Thurii. There is no ball games to watch here, no delicious food to eat, and the only thing you can do is go to the theatre.” Henipolis picked up the jar on the table and took a mouthful of it before spatting it all out on the floor, “This stuff is sour and fishy. It’s awful, much worse than beer!”

“Young men truly do not know what taste is.” Ansitanos hurriedly took the jar, fearing that Henipolis would waste all the water in it, “You know, the Carthaginians learned to make this from the Numidians, and after some minor improvements, it made the taste more suitable for sailors at sea. In Numidia, this is not just for quenching their thirst, as it is also a part of their food…”

“What does this Numidia have to do with us? Listening from your tone, it seems that you just want to study the history of this race.” Henipolis said with disapproval, thinking he knew this teacher of his better.

“It’s not me. It’s the owner of the house you usually live in. He is the one who is very interested in this, asking me about Numidia many times.” Said Ansitanos as he takes a sip of the water.

“You mean lord Davos?!” Henipolis immediately became interested, “What is he asking Numidia for?! After all, Theonia Union and Numidia are separated by the sea, Sicily and Carthage, so we definitely won’t have any direct contact with them whatsoever.”

Ansitanos pointed to his head and said slowly, “There are always one or two people in this world who can think from a height that others can’t reach, as they have a vast space here.”

“Lord Davos is indeed an amazing man!” said Henipolis from the bottom of his heart. Suddenly, he thought of something and said, “Teacher, now that the Carthaginians have chosen a truce, I fear it is not good for us to meet Dionysius and even worse for Theonia!”

Ansitanos looked at his student with appreciation and asked, “Why?”

Knowing that his teacher was testing him again, he carefully straightened out his thoughts before saying, “In the western Mediterranean, Syracuse has always been the most powerful Greek city-state. However, due to the Carthaginians, they have been stuck in Sicily. Carthage’s powerful force in Sicily has not only kept Syracuse on guard but also threatened its survival many times. That is why dealing with Carthage alone is already very difficult for Syracuse, so where can they have the extra energy to care about things outside Sicily?!

However, the truth is, the Syracusans have always been interested in our Magna Graecia. I remember that decades ago, Hieron, the tyrant of Syracuse, has even sent his troops into Magna Graecia. But now, in recent years, the situation in Sicily has changed a lot. In Carthage’s two major military campaigns, Syracuse has badly beaten them to the point that they had to offer a truce as they had suffered more than 20,000 casualties. Thus I fear that Carthage could not threaten Syracuse anymore.”

Ansitanos nodded and praised his student’s opinions. However, he believed Syracuse would not take military action against Magna Graecia, so he said, “The Carthaginians’ defeat lied in the fact that even though it appeared that they are at war with Syracuse, but in fact, they are fighting against the power of the entire Greek city-state because the Peloponnesian League headed by Sparta and Napoli in Campania would not allow foreigners to completely occupy Sicily and let them cut off the trade routes between the eastern and the western Mediterranean, which could even threaten their rear. So I believed that after these two tragic defeats, the Carthaginians would become smarter and not easily start a war in Sicily, and with its strength in Africa, they will still be the biggest threat to Syracuse.”

“Teacher, you are right! However, at least for now, Syracuse is much more powerful than Carthage. So I fear that after their armistice with Carthage, the Carthaginians will certainly retreat to the west of Sicily, and Syracuse’s unification of Sicily is something that anyone could already see and might happen in the near future.” He said anxiously.

“Yes, that’s what our union should focus on next.” Muttered Ansitanos.

“Paying attention to it is not enough. I don’t think Dionysius would be satisfied being just the hegemon of Sicily. After all, Dionysius is a greedy man, as we could see from him triggering both with Carthage due to his expansion of his territory. So once Sicily is stable, he will probably aim at Magna Graecia.”

Although Ansitanos disagreed with Henipolis’ exaggeration of Syracuse’s threat of war, Ansitanos, as a scholar, enjoyed debating with his students, which helped get inspiration. So he frowned and asked, “Why must it be Magna Graecia?”

“Because to the south of Sicily is Carthage, and Dionysius, even though he is arrogant, would still not dare to go into the real territory of Carthage; To the east, is Sparta’s sphere of influence; To the west is the Iberian Peninsula, which was not only a long voyage, but was also reported to have several colonies of Carthage, and Dionysius would never make the same mistake as Athens unless he had lost his mind. Therefore, the only place left is Magna Graecia to the north, which was only separated from Sicily by the narrow Strait of Messina. And Dionysius could send a hundred thousand troops to Magna Graecia in just half a day.”

And I believe that Dionysius had long been coveting Magna Graecia. Otherwise, he would not have married a Locrian woman and allied with Locri. Now, even though he was fighting against Carthage, he still did not forget to send spies to make a disturbance in Theonia, which shows his ambition for Magna Graecia!”

“Heni, what you should need to understand is that being ambitious is one thing and being able to wage war is another. Dionysius might covet Magna Graecia, but Magna Graecia has our Theonia Union now.” Said Ansitanos. Then a strange thought suddenly rose in his heart, ‘If Thurii were still the former Thurii, then it would have been unthinkable for the city-states of Magna Graecia to face the behemoth that is Syracuse. Thankfully, Hades had sent Davos, who had established Theonia Union and had almost integrated the power of Magna Graecia, which cause Dionysius to be cautious!’

“Besides, I heard that Syracuse’s war every year has caused their treasury to be unable to make ends meet, causing the people to be greatly dissatisfied. I believe that you had already felt it when you were strolling around the city these past few days. So under such a bad situation, can Syracuse launch another large-scale war like their previous war against Carthage? I do not think that it is possible. Moreover, we have come to Syracuse this time to show Dionysius the determination of our Theonia Union and to eliminate his unrealistic ambitions once and for all!” Said Ansitanos with confidence.

Henipolis, influenced by him, nodded cautiously.

At this time, the attendant came into the guestroom and said, “Lord Ansitanos, someone is looking for you outside. They said that Philistus had sent them.”

Philistus, the great minister of Dionysius? Ansitanos and his student looked at each other…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Philistus has invited Ansitanos for a banquet tonight.

At dusk, the carriage sent by Philistus has already arrived at the guesthouse, and Ansitanos and Henipolis got on the carriage.

The place where Ansitanos has been staying is in the urban centre of Syracuse. Syracuse was initially just the Ortygia Island, but when Gelon became the tyrant of Syracuse a few decades ago, he led a large number of settlers and began expanding inland. Afterwards, the expanded urban area became the central area of Syracuse, with most temples, theatres and markets being concentrated here. However, this large area was only a small part of the subsequent expansion of the urban area by Syracuse.

In the decades after the rise of Gelon, Syracuse expanded the urban area to the northeast, which even includes a place close to the coast three times larger than the central area of Syracuse, and this coastal area also had a quarry with abundant reserves.

Chapter 364 – Banquet

When Dionysius came to power, he was deeply aware of the strategic position of the Epipolae Plateau, which is adjacent to the city for its defence against Carthage (this is where the Athenian army occupied and fought a long battle over the walls against the Syracusans). Therefore, he mobilised more than 6,000 freemen who, spurred on by the promise of citizenship, built a wall about 7,500 meters long in a short time, encircling the Epipolae Plateau, which was about six times the area of the central area of Syracuse.

At this time, Syracuse became the largest city in all of Greece: To its east, it faces the sea and cliffs; To its west and north, it leaned against the mountains, where the roads were dangerous and difficult to climb; Only to the south-west was where its great harbour was located. However, some swamps and rivers hinder the marching of the army, so when the Carthaginian commander, Himilco, led his army to the city of Syracuse, he had no way to capture this huge city, which ultimately led to their defeat due to the outbreak of plague.

Ansitanos’ carriage drove towards the southeast corner of Syracuse to the island of Ortygia. Even though it was called an island, it is, in fact, connected to the land. This place was where Syracuse was first established and later became the location of Syracuse’s acropolis. Even though most Greek city-states’ Acropolis was located mainly in the centre of the city, the acropolis of Syracuse was oddly situated across the sea.

Fancying the location of the island of Ortygia, Dionysius decided to build his palace on it. After learning his lessons from the citizen’s rioting in Syracuse twice, he surrounded the whole island with walls and stationed garrisons, only allowing his friends and supporters to live on the island. Naturally, the location of Philistus’ residence is also on the island.

The carriage kept on moving until it reaches the isthmus connecting the island of Ortygia with Sicily. In front of the carriage is a tall wall that completely cuts off the road to the island. There was also a small but fortified tower on the front side of the wall. It is imaginable that once an enemy attacked, the soldiers on the tower and wall would surround them.

Lost in his thoughts from seeing such an arrangement, Ansitanos returned to the carriage and said to Henipolis in a low voice, “With a leader being on guard against its citizens, how can the citizens respect and love him?!”

“It’s really not easy to be a tyrant as even the citizens of Syracuse had even nearly killed him!” Henipolis had been wandering around Syracuse for the past two days and had learned a few things, so he expressed his understanding, “In comparison, lord Davos is much more at ease in Thurii.”

“You should bear it in mind that lord Davos is not a tyrant!” Ansitanos notice Henipolis’ tendency to compare the status of Davos in Thurii with Dionysius, so he immediately and seriously reminded him, “Lord Davos does not even have the idea of being a tyrant. Otherwise, he would not have created that strange Tribunus Plebis to limit the authority of those in power!”

Ansitanos’ eyes were full of appreciation, and Henipolis could only nod thoughtfully. After a moment, he asked hesitantly, “Teacher, is my father a tyrant?”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After passing the city guard’s questioning, the carriage passed through the gates and entered the island of Ortygia.

Philistus’ residence is quite luxurious, especially the reception hall, which is large and spacious, with coloured marble paving the ground and was polished as smooth as a mirror; Both sides of the paved path are lined with intricately carved, gold-inlaid lamps with five candles as thick as an arm on each lamp post, illuminating the hall as bright as day; And in the hall were more than a dozen beautiful female slaves with different skin colours around each table.

The most important minister of Dionysius, who controlled the civil administration of Syracuse, Philistus, was a little slim, with an air of literacy under his rather handsome features. At this moment, he began introducing the other guests at the banquet to Ansitanos with a smile as kind as a spring breeze on his face.

“This is Leptines, the brother of the great Dionysius and the navarch of Syracuse!”

“I am pleased to meet you!”

Both sides gave their greetings. Ansitanos took this chance to curiously sized up the other man and thought of how the brother of the tyrant of Syracuse had a relatively simple appearance.

“This here is another minister of the great Dionysius, and also my best friend, Herolis!” The middle-aged man that Philistus mentioned had a sharped and firmed gaze. He then stepped forward and took the initiative to greet him and said, “Welcome, Ansitanos of Thurii, I have long heard of your name! A few years ago, I had gone to Amendolara and met your archon Davos. Oh, excuse me, he was not the archon of Theonia at that time, but he had given me a deep impression!”

Ansitanos then hurriedly greeted him back and expressed his thanks.

Philistus then introduced him to the next person, “He is a strategos of Syracuse, Macias.”

Macias was a crude-looking ex-Campanian mercenary leader, and he just simply gave his greetings to Ansitanos.

Philistus then led Ansitanos to the last guest, “This is also my best friend, the most famous poet-musician in Sicily – Philoxenus!”

The man named Philoxenus then said, “Lord Philistus, you praised me too much. I am but a common person who just loves music and poetry, and I can’t compare with them as I do not hold any post in Syracuse.” He pointed to the ones in front of him, “If I hadn’t heard that you were from Thurii and a scholar, I wouldn’t have come.”

Philoxenus’ blunt words made Philistus a bit embarrassed, but Henipolis, who was behind Ansitanos, asked in surprise, “Are you Philoxenus?! Amazing! The bards of Thurii often sang your poems, such as ‘the autumn wind rustles, my heart saddens, former lovers…’ Those are all wonderful!…”

Philoxenus was quite surprised as he was not expecting to meet an admirer of his from Thurii at this banquet, “You are?”

“Henipolis, a student of Ansitanos.” The young man quickly replied.

“He is also the only son of Avinoges, the archon of Laos!” Said Macias.

Ansitanos was shocked. Looking at the other’s expression, it was apparent that he had already known the identity of his student, ‘It seemed like Syracuse had already conducted a detailed investigation on us.’

“Student? What are you learning from him?” It was Philoxenus who asked in surprise, as he does not know anything about Ansitanos.

“I am studying the history of the Mediterranean, as well as training in writing literature and participating in the compilation of teacher’s books.” Replied Henipolis.

Philoxenus looked at Ansitanos in surprise and asked directly, “What book are you writing?”

Ansitanos then humbly said, “I wanted to write a book about the history of South Italia. I am just starting and currently collecting information…”

“Alright, everyone. Let’s sit back at the banquet and talk while we eat.” At the urging of Philistus, the crowd went to their seats.

Soon, the servants brought plates of dishes.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have a chef who can cook the cuisines of Thurii, which is very famous. Hopefully, this food will please you.” Philistus said to Ansitanos.

Ansitanos opened his arms, pointed to the food on his table and said in surprise, “These are all appetising!”

Philistus laughed, and as he was about to speak, Leptines then said, “I have heard that your archon, Davos, had invented most of Theonia’s famous food. Is that true?”

“You must know that those delicious foods had come from the restaurant of Davos’ wife, Cheiristoya. So almost all Theonian citizens believe that Davos had come up with them, which includes me.” Ansitanos answered politely.

“I had also heard that he invented rugby and football, which is now popular in Magna Graecia. And even your physicians in Theonia call him a teacher. With Theonia Union being a powerful force, there must be a lot of matters to attend to, so as its archon, how can he still spend so much energy on these small things?” Said Macias with a tone of doubt in his words.

“We could only admit that some people are simply favoured by gods, and naturally, they have more talent and energy than others. Although such examples are rare, they are not uncommon, such as Periander – the former tyrant of Corinth…furthermore, Hades deeply favoured our archon!” Ansitanos answered calmly.

“How can your archon be comparable to Periander, who had created the glory of Corinth centuries ago?” Philoxenus interjected.

Henipolis was angered, but Ansitanos hurriedly stopped him with his glance. With his impression of him, Ansitanos felt that this Syracusan poet was a straightforward man, so he said with seriousness, “But in the hearts of Theonian citizens, our archon Davos is far better and more important than Periander! Because he had led the army to defeat powerful enemies time and again; Rebuild the burnt down Thurii; Conquered the barbarians in the mountains; Build roads for the people and make trades prosperous; Built hospitals to help the people’s wounds and illnesses; Supported the establishment of the akademia and schools that improve the people’s quality of educations and encourage the scholars to explore knowledge; Inventing the ball games and delicious food to entertain the people; Also, he established fair laws to give citizens more rights…and it was the Theonia City-State Union that he established that made Magna Graecia, which had been in constant war in the past, to be peaceful for several years with no more wars happening. Therefore, some Theonian citizens had even called him ‘father’ at the assembly, as he deserves to be the father of Theonia Union!”

After listening, Philoxenus praised loudly, “If it’s as you say, then I would like to take back my words. With your archon doing so much for Theonia in just a few years, he is indeed remarkable. In some ways, he is…better than Dionysius!”

Chapter 365 – Heated Discussion

Several of those that are present had their expression change as soon as he spoke those words. Only Philoxenus would dare to compliment an archon of another city-state in public as being better than their own tyrant in Syracuse.

“Unfortunately, I have heard that Davos of Theonia had come from a lowly background and used to be a shepherd*.” Said Macias immediately. (referring to Davos herding sheep and horses in Thessaly before becoming a mercenary.)

Henipolis finally could not hold himself and said, “So does lord Dionysius born noble?! On the contrary, I heard that he was just an ordinary clerk in Syracuse before he had gotten his current position. Lord Davos had once said to me that ‘real heroes do not care about their origin, because they have relied on their own abilities and not what their family has given.’”

“Well said! That is what I admire about lord Dionysius the most!” Philistus praised loudly to cover up Macias, “And all of you here have achieved today’s noble status with your own effort.”

“I agree! I agree!…” Macias chimed in, trying to hide his embarrassment.

“Everyone-” Philistus hurriedly stood up with his wine, looked around and said loudly, “For the past few days, I have been accompanying lord Dionysius in negotiating with the Carthaginians, which led me to be too busy that I could not find the time to entertain our distinguished guests from Theonia! With my friends here accompanying me, I will punish myself with a drink to show my apologies!”

“Good!” Herolis raised his mug, and so did Leptines, Macias and Philoxenus.

Ansitanos did not try to dissuade him as he knew that Philistus said these words on behalf of Dionysius, and the wine certainly contained Dionysius’ apology.

After Philistus and the others’ mugs emptied their mugs, Ansitanos stood up with Henipolis. He then raised his mug and said, “I am very grateful to lord Philistus for his invitation. And I would like to also congratulate lord Dionysius on his repeated victory against the mighty Carthage, which is certainly a great victory for Syracuse and the most exciting news that the whole Magna Graecia have heard! With Carthage, the biggest enemy of the Greek city-states in the western Mediterranean, badly hurt, the people of Sicily and Magna Graecia will enjoy a long time peace!” Then he and Henipolis emptied their mug all at once.

“Well said!” Philistus raised his mug again and said loudly, “To lord Dionysius! For Syracuse’s victory!”

When the others raised their mugs to cheer, Ansitanos notice the expression of Herolis was not as enthusiastic as the two next to him. And Philoxenus, rather than following what they said, instead shouted, “For the peace of Sicily!”

With a gesture from Philistus, the musicians and dancers walked into the hall. The banquet officially began.

In the beautiful melodic sound and under the gentle swaying of the dancers, the people began to drink and eat…

When the music stopped, the dancers retired, and due to the charming voice of the beautiful female slave, Henipolis had unconsciously become stuffed. He then saw Macias, who was opposite of him, was already kissing the female slave on the floor. He then looked at Leptines, who was also flirting with another female slave. On the other hand, only Herolis continued to eat in a civilised manner, while Philoxenus dismissed the female slaves on both of his sides. Henipolis then turned his head and looked at his teacher sitting beside him and saw that Ansitanos only ate a bit as he watched the music and dancing with a smile…causing Henipolis to feel ashamed of his poor self-control.

At this time, Philistus, who was on the main seat, coughed twice, attracting the attention of everyone to him, and then said, “Lord Ansitanos, since the establishment of Theonia Union, we have basically no formal diplomatic exchanged. This time, could it be that Theonia had sent you to Syracuse for friendship?”

‘Finally!’ Ansitanos had already been prepared and was just waiting for this moment. So he immediately smiled and said, “Naturally, it’s for friendship. Syracuse is a great city-state of Sicily, while Theonia is also a powerful union of Magna Graecia. Previously, one of the two sides was busy dealing with Carthage, and the other was doing its best to repel the aborigines in the mountains. Due to various reasons, the two Greek powers that are so close to each other had not established friendly ties and communication, so much so that something regrettable happened-” Ansitanos deliberately halted his words.

None of the Syracusans spoke up, and it was Philoxenus who asked curiously, “What is this regrettable thing?”

Taking this opportunity, Ansitanos stepped in, “Due to several statesmen of Theonia Union were charged by the people for crimes such as embezzlement and bribery, we had sent people to collect evidence of their violation. So while investigating, we found many ‘tetradrachm’ from Syracuse in their residence, along with some letters. And these letters-” Ansitanos glanced at Philistus.

Philistus looked as if he is listening intently.

“The main content is a conversation with Pollux, a convicted statesman of Theonia, on ‘how to disrupt the order of Theonia Union, cause riots among the people and to oust archon Davos…’ And so on. And the signature signed on these letters were from – Philistus.” Ansitanos once more glanced at the host of the banquet, “The letter also mentioned that lord Dionysius was the one who ordered these, and Pollux himself admitted that the reason why he dared to carry out such bold actions against the union was due to the support of Syracuse.”

“Such thing happened?!” bewilderment appeared on Philistus’ face. He then said, “I have never written a letter to someone called Po…Pollux, this…lord Ansitanos, can you bring those said letters and show it to me?”

“I have brought it with me.” Ansitanos was already prepared. He then took out a letter from his baggage and gave it to the female slave beside him.

Philistus promptly received the letter, opened it, and then showed a relieved smile, “Lord Ansitanos, if the handwriting and signature of each letter in your hand are the same, then I can guarantee you that I have not written these letters!”

“Oh?!” Ansitanos looked surprised.

“Go and bring me some of the letters that have my signature on them.” Philistus immediately ordered his slave.

“Let me have a look.” Spoke Herolis. Philistus then handed him the letter.

The banquet became temporary quiet as the slave went to fetch the letter, while Herolis took the letter and said, “…lord Ansitanos, I am quite shocked from hearing the news you have just said. However, I want to say my judgment from a neutral standpoint. Philistus is a proud and noble scholar who disdains to do such despicable acts that despicable people do. That is why it is impossible for him to have contact with such a greedy and dirty Theonian statesman called Po…Po…”

“Pollux.” Leptines reminded.

“Regarding Pollux, it is impossible for Philistus to communicate with him by letter. And lord Dionysius, as the great strategos, was thrilled to see that Theonia had an archon with similar status as himself, which made him feel that he was not alone in the vast western Mediterranean. So how could he do something to undermine the rule of lord Davos!”

“Yes, my brother would never do such a thing!” Leptines stressed loudly.

“If it is as you said-” Philistus pondered for a moment. Then he gave his serious analysis, “With lord Dionysius making the current Syracuse powerful and uniting the Greek city-states in Sicily, there are a lot who are jealous of him. I think that everyone here still remembers that when the Carthaginian army reached Syracuse, some people in the city had incited the crowd to riot and oust lord Dionysius. Although the situation had eventually calmed down, in fact, there are still rumours circulating in Syracuse over the years, and even some minor rioting and assassinations occurring. Otherwise, the great Dionysius would not be living on this heavily fortified island.

These people are just like venomous snakes that hide in the caves ignoring the peace and stability of Sicily, seizing any possible opportunity to attack lord Dionysius and our supporters. Even though we defeated Carthage, there is still the Theonia Union in Magna Graecia with similar strength to Syracuse. So if Syracuse and Theonia were to start a war, then they would have the opportunity to come out of the dark again and create unrest in Syracuse to achieve their goal…”

“Are you implying that this matter was done by those who oppose lord Dionysius and then blamed it on you, lord Philistus?” Ansitanos asked back with a faint smile.

“It’s quite possible.” Philistus answered seriously.

“Then how do you explain the fact that a citizen of Syracuse, Hemis, whom we also captured in Thurii, had fully admitted that it was lord Dionysius who appointed him to bribe Pollux and the others in order to sabotage Theonia?” Ansitanos sneered.

“Hemis?” Philistus was perplexed and asked the others, “Do we have such a citizen in Syracuse?”

Henipolis was unable to hold himself once more from roaring, “Stop pretending. We have investigated him in detail. Hemis is a citizen of Syracuse who lives in the centre of the city, next to the Temple of Apollo and where the merchants gather. He has two sons, and he is also the clerk of lord Herolis, am I right?”

“Is this true?!” Philistus was shocked, and Herolis looked even more surprised. He then turned his head and looked at Philistus. After their gaze met, he hesitantly said, “…I do have a clerk named Hemis under me, but…a year ago, I was sent to Cyrenaica for a mission, and after coming back, I heard that he had been punished for corruption and lost his position…if he is really the same person you caught in Thurii, I truly did not expect him to run to Thurii. If you don’t believe me, then you can go check the court records, and his criminal record was six months ago…”

“This is troublesome!” Blurted Philistus with his expression becoming extremely serious.

“What’s troublesome?” Asked Leptines puzzledly.

“If the person that lord Ansitanos said was really the same person as the former clerk of Herolis, it means that those opposing lord Dionysius may have already begun lurking as officials of Syracuse!” Philistus said with seriousness.

Chapter 366 – Thucydides

“This…what should we do?” Leptines began to worry.

Philistus was about to reply when he saw the slave returning with the letter. He then quickly opened the two letters and asked the slave to take them along with the one that Ansitanos brought, “Lord Ansitanos, could you check if the handwriting is the same?”

Henipolis drew close to his teacher and compared the letters.

“It’s true that the handwriting is very different.” Ansitanos nodded and admitted, while Henipolis did not say anything.

Philistus then passed the letters.

“Lord Philistus had obviously not written this letter, as I know that his lordship likes to draw a hook at the end of the letter ‘I’ in his signature, while this person had written a straight line instead!” Exclaimed Macias.

Herolis glanced at Philistus deeply. Afterwards, he simply spat, “Yes.”

Then he handed the letter to Philoxenus, who was beside him.

Philoxenus scrutinised it, raised the letter and then said to Ansitanos, “This handwriting is definitely not of Philistus!”

“Well, we finally cleared that up.” Philistus showed a relieved expression as he rubbed his hands together. He then said with a serious face, “It seems that someone used my name and made contact with that Pollux and the others that lord Ansinatos mentioned. Even though it looks like they are trying to disrupt the order of Theonia Union, they are actually trying to provoke the relationship between the two powers, Syracuse and Theonia, in an attempt to induce war. Regarding Hemis, this relates to the security of Syracuse, so we need to make a detailed investigation! But anyway, since the source of Theonia’s trouble had come from Syracuse, I have unshirkable responsibility as a statesman of Syracuse! Here, I would want to offer my sincerest apology to lord Ansitanos and the Theonia Union!” He then stood up and bowed to Ansitanos.

Ansitanos sat upright and accepted his apologies.

“At the same time, Syracuse is also willing to make reparations as a sign of our desire to be close and friendly with Theonia!” Philistus continued to express his expectations.

“That is another important mission for why I have come here to Syracuse under the order of the Senate.” Ansitanos then said solemnly. “The Theonia Union is willing to sign an alliance agreement with Syracuse, not only in terms of diplomatic friendship and mutual prosperity in trade but also military defence. In the mountains to the north of Theonia, there are still powerful barbarians that have repeatedly threatened our borders. Although Syracuse’s powerful enemy, Carthage, has suffered defeat many times, it still has a vast territory and great wealth in its cities in Africa, allowing them to make a comeback. Thus Theonia is willing to ally with Syracuse militarily for the security of the Greek city-states of the western Mediterranean!…”

A sudden silence shrouded the banquet as soon as Ansitanos uttered those words.

Anyone with a political discernment could hear the hidden meanings in Ansitanos’ words: One, Ansitanos reminded all present that Carthage is still a powerful enemy of Syracuse and should not make enemies of Theonia. Two, Theonia wanted to stand on equal footing with Syracuse, which was currently the leading Greek city-state in the western Mediterranean.

“Our mighty Syracuse fears no enemy! Carthage is nothing! If it still dares to come, we will once more defeat them!” Macias loudly expressed his disdain for Carthage.

Philistus, however, applauded and said, “A wonderful proposal! Rest assured, lord Ansitanos. I will report this to lord Dionysius and let him make a decision.”

“Thank you very much!” Ansitanos expressed his gratitude.

“Alright! Alright! Now that we have clarified the misunderstanding, let’s continue drinking and talking!” Said Leptines as he raised his mug.

“Lord Leptines is right. We should all put aside all those pesky political matters behind. To begin with, I wanted to talk to lord Ansitanos about writing a book about history.” Philistus took over the conversation and said emotionally, “Lord Ansitanos, I too had the idea of writing a book on the history of Sicily, but I could not find the time for it for a while because of my busy political schedule. This had made me envious of you for having the time and energy to do what you want to do.”

“The truth is, I did not dare to write before. It is all due to lord Davos’ encouragement and support…” Once Ansitanos starts discussing writing works about history, he became much more enthusiastic, “However, although I managed to write a part of it now, I had decided to throw it away and start again.”

“Why so?” Asked Philistus curiously.

“Do you know Thucydides?” Asked Ansitanos.

They all shook their head.

“I also do not know him and only heard about him after lord Davos’ introduction. Although he is still unknown in the Mediterranean, I am sure that his name will spread all over Greece in a few years! I think that he is even greater than Herodotus!” Said Ansitanos with reverence.

“He had written a book about history?” After all, Ansitanos had a bit of fame as a scholar in Magna Graecia, so his praise naturally made Philistus interested.

“Yes. Thucydides was an Athenian and had served as one of the ten strategoi. He had even participated in the Peloponnesian War. But later, he was exiled by the ecclesia, leading him to live in seclusion in Thrace and spent more than 20 years writing about the history of the Peloponnesian War…and after the war, he returned to Athens. But when lord Davos sent someone to visit him, he was already too ill to hold his pen as he lay in bed. Afterwards, lord Davos spent a lot of money to copy the manuscript from his nephew and took it back to Thurii for storage in the library that was to be built.

I’ve read this book carefully, and although it’s not yet completed, it’s definitely a great historical masterpiece! Thucydides abandoned some of Herodotus’ practices and did not write any rumours, oracles and prophecies in the book, as he truthfully described every major event in the Peloponnesian War in chronological order. And he even wrote at the beginning, ‘What I have recorded is partly based on my own experience, and partly on the materials provided to me by other witnesses. And I have verified it in the most rigorous and careful way possible…’”

Besides, even though he is an Athenian, he does not favour Athens in his book. He described Athens, Sparta and other city-states involved in the war with a completely neutral attitude. He even stated that ‘I am afraid that my historical work without anecdotes is not very fascinating.’ However, every time I think of this book, I could picture the Peloponnesian War, and I believe that even if decades or centuries passed, people would still want to read it again and again to learn the truth about the war. And all of us scholars who are willing to write history should learn from him and use his historical works as a template, which is why I decided to rewrite my work!”

After Ansitanos finished speaking with utmost seriousness, Philistus couldn’t sit still and eagerly asked, “What is the name of this history book that Thucydides has written? Has it been published?”

“It’s called the 《History of the Peloponnesian War》, and I think that it has not yet been published. However, it should come out soon.” Ansitanos then added, “If lord Philistus is eager to see it, then I can copy it and send it to you after I get back.”

“That’s much appreciated!” Philistus thanked him repeatedly.

“It’s nothing. I am just glad to see another colleague on the road of exploring history!” Ansitanos said with sincerity.

“Well said. I would also hope to consult lord Ansitanos in the future and communicate with each other in writing history. Come and drink to our friendship!” With that, Philistus raised his mug to Ansitanos.

And the two drank it all at once.

The crowd cheered happily, and the atmosphere became lively.

Philistus then put down his mug, wiped the foam from the corners of his mouth and said, “It would have been nice if that scholar, Thucydides, that you speak of, is here at this banquet at this moment.”

“Unfortunately, that’s impossible.” Ansitanos said dejectedly, “Thucydides the Athenian…had died not long ago…”

Philistus’ smiled on his face solidified. He then said aloud, “What?! He is dead?!”

“Yes, that is the news I received from Athens. I initially intended to make time to visit him in Athens, but…” Ansitanos looked regretful and sad.

“What is there to be sad about?! From listening to you, this Athenian had left a great work, so much so that even if he went to the underworld, he would have no regrets.” Said Philoxenus, who was slightly intoxicated. Then he shouted, “Bring out the lyre, and I’ll dedicate a song for him!”

“It is such a rare occasion to hear Philoxenus sing!” Herolis also became excited.

At the signal of Philistus, the slave brought out the lyre.

The intoxicated Philoxenus carefully picked the lyre up. After playing a few notes, he gave his praise, “Such a good lyre.”

With that, he stood up then sat down on the table, ignoring the oil staining his clothes.

The female slave next to him hurriedly removed the food from the table as he began plucking the strings. Then sweet music flowed out of his sliding right hand, his whole being immersed in the music, “In the solitude of the sky,

We looked at the star that shines radiantly more than the light of the sun,

What greater joy is there in the world than to walk through the long river of history,

Converse with the heroes,

Sing along with the warriors,

And the Muses offering a crown of olives,

With Apollo driving the glistening chariot,

Together with you

…”

The crowd sang along softly, sending their own sincere silence and blessings for the Athenian whom they had never met.

On this evening, the host and the guest enjoyed themselves.

Chapter 367 – Dionysius’ Plan

Back at the guesthouse, Henipolis was still excited as he followed Ansitanos into his room and couldn’t help ask, “Teacher, that Syracusan spy, Hemis, was sent by Dionysius or those who opposed him?”

“Why are you confused?” Ansitanos laughed.

“I initially firmly believed that Dionysius was the one who gave the order, but after hearing Philistus’ explanation…” Henipolis scratched his head.

“I can only say that Philistus’ acting was too good that it had fooled you. I am afraid that a man of Philistus’ status has several clerks working under him, so he naturally had different handwriting. Besides, he has already made precautions by having his signature signed by someone else. So it’s normal for Pollux, who has never met with him before, to be kept in the dark.” Ansitanos smiled with contempt, “In fact, their acting is not perfect. If you carefully observed them, you will notice that the minister named Herolis looked a bit unnatural when Philistus argued. Obviously, they did not fully communicate…”

“Oh, so that’s the case!” Henipolis recalled what happened and came to a realisation. He then angrily said, “But teacher, why didn’t you expose him on the spot?”

“Why expose him?” Ansitanos smiled and continued, “The fact that Philistus and several others took such great pains to perform just shows that they dare not fall out with us, which is a good thing. The following step is to see if Dionysius is willing to sign the alliance that we propose…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next day, Ansitanos went to meet Dionysius himself.

In a wide, but not splendid, and even somewhat modest palace, the tall and handsome Dionysius met with Ansitanos.

The rumoured ruthless Sicilian host had warmly welcomed the arrival of the envoys of Theonia with amiability. He had also apologised for not being able to meet them in time and said, “I have learned from Philistus that Theonia wants to sign an alliance with us, Syracuse? This is really a wonderful thing! You should already know that the successive wars have caused great losses to Syracuse’s Treasury, food and population, and needs to recuperate urgently. So I am very grateful that Theonia can lend a helping hand at this moment! Hence as my representative, I will send Philistus to discuss the alliance with you in detail, and I hope that Syracuse and Theonia can have friendly exchanges from now on and set a good example for other Greek city-states in the western Mediterranean!”

The meeting was short, and soon, Ansitanos left the island of Ortygia with both some doubts and joy.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After sending off the Theonian envoy, Philistus returned and asked Dionysius with suspicion, “Milord, are you really gonna ally with Theonia?”

“Phili.” Dionysius then said in a deep voice as he affectionately called the nickname of his important minister, “At your banquet last night, what the Theonian envoy had said is a fact, ‘although Carthage has suffered heavy losses, they are still powerful in Africa, and now, they are exploring the Iberian Peninsula. I heard that they also sent a fleet to sail westward through the pillar of Heracles to explore unknown lands…I am afraid that the next time Carthage makes its comeback, its power would be much stronger than before. On the other hand, Syracuse is limited to this small Sicily, and our territory won’t increase much unless we expand outward!”

This issue was already discussed by Philistus and Dionysius many times, so he certainly knew where Dionysius was aiming his expansion at. However, Philistus reminded with concern, “Still, the strength of Theonia is not weak, and they have basically united the city-states and aborigines in South Italia.”

“You are right.” Dionysius nodded cautiously, “Back when you help me take the position of the supreme military commander, I already had the idea of conquering Magna Graecia, so I married Doris (the daughter of a Locrian noble). However, I never expected that in such a few short years, a Theonia Union would emerge in Magna Graecia!”

Dionysius became annoyed as he gritted his teeth and said, “Perhaps Hades had indeed favoured Davos, but so what! Although the western Mediterranean is large, it can only accommodate one Greek hegemon!”

“We have just finished fighting Carthage, and we still need to rest…even if it is temporary.” Philistus warned.

“We can’t delay any longer!” Dionysius then shook his head, “It is a fact that Theonia Union has rapidly developed and gotten a bit stronger every year. After carefully studying Theonia, I have to say that the young man called Davos has a way of dealing with the aborigines, and we could learn some of his methods to deal with the Sicels. However, at their current rising pace, the Samnites in the north of Theonia may not be able to block their expansion, allowing them to spread further to the north until they own the whole of Italia. So what should Syracuse do at that time? Just become their accessory?!” Dionysius, with cold eyes, clenched his fist, swung it down and firmly said, “No, we must concentrate on destroying them while they are unstable and not strong!”

“Then the talk about the alliance with Theonia?” Asked Philistus again.

“Discuss, why not?! We can sign a non-aggression pact of friendship which is good enough to let their vigilance down. But as for the alliance – hmph, Syracuse does not have the habit of signing an equal agreement with other Greek city-states!” Dionysius said coldly.

Philistus thought that he had forgotten about Sparta. However, he was certainly not stupid enough to correct Dionysius’ mistake. So he just nodded and said, “I understand.”

“Furthermore…we need to accelerate the negotiations with Carthage…hmm…” Dionysius paced back and forth, pondering something. Finally, he made up his mind, “We can return the land west of Selinus and Palermo, but they must pay a lot of compensation, open the grain market to us, provide affordable grain trade and sign a long-term peace treaty…this is the price they should pay for breaking the agreement and starting a war again (the truth is, it was Dionysius who have provoked this war). That’s roughly the plan, so you should take someone to discuss it and negotiate with them as soon as possible!”

Philistus nodded in understanding.

“That’s all.” Dionysius hinted Philistus to carry out his orders immediately.

Philistus hesitated and then said, “Uh…milord…about Hemis, the Theonian envoy said that they could return him to us, you see…”

“What do we need him for? What could he even do when he comes back?!” Dionysius’ expression fell and then said, “Look at his cowardly performance at the public trial in Thurii. That had made me sick! Tell them that Syracuse respects Theonia’s law, and since this man has committed a crime in Thurii, we support them to punish him according to the Theonian law!”

Philistus sighed and walked out of the main hall. He then remembered Ansitanos, with who he had a good conversation last night due to a common hobby. Then a sense of guilt surfaced in his heart as he looked at the distant sea. He then said apologetically in his heart, ‘Ansitanos, I’m sorry! The things I would do is for Syracuse’s sake…’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

While Ansitanos and Philistus negotiate, Davos met Seclian in his study at his home in Thurii.

“Lord archon!” Seclian did a military greeting as soon as they met.

“Our hero, Seclian! I have already told you countless times that this is not the training ground, so you do not need to be so formal.” Davos looked at the young sub-fleet commander. The years of training had made his face more firm. Davos then nodded secretly, then smiled and said, “Sit down! Sit down, and let’s talk!”

Seclian then sat upright and faced Davos.

“Could the sailors of the navy be impacted due to the sentencing of Enanilus?” Instead of greeting him back, Davos immediately inquired.

“There is nothing to worry about.” Seclian immediately replied, “The soldiers knew about the crimes of Enanilus through the public trial, but the good thing is that Enanilus seldom participated in training and rarely lead the navy. However, could the triremes to be built this year arrive on time?”

“Rest assure. The violation of Enanilus did not involve his family’s shipyard, and the Senate had already sent someone to appease them and had gotten their assurance. And following the Senate’s plan for the navy of launching five triremes a year will not only remain the same but will only increase in the future and not decrease!”

“That’s wonderful!” Seclian then excitedly suggested, “The Senate had made the right decision! Although we now have 30 triremes, it is still much safer to at least double the number of warships to protect our coasts.”

Davos nodded, stroked his chin and began thinking.

Seclian then became a bit nervous as he thought that his request had made the archon, who appreciated him, embarrassed.

Then Davos said, “What do you think of our naval strength, including the warships of our allies that are part of Theonia Alliance such as Metapontum, Heraclea, and Rhegium, as well as the warships of the South Italia Alliance such as Crotone and Scylletium?”

Chapter 368 – The new Navarch of Theonia’s Navy and the Theonia Play

Seclian’s heart tightened as he tried to ask, “Milord, are we going to war?”

“That might not happen, however, we should still be prepared. I believe you have heard the public trial in the Nike Square about Syracuse’s desire for our Theonia.” Davos was satisfied with Seclian’ vigilance as a navarch. He then gazed at Seclian and said seriously, “If a war is to happen, what is the chance of our whole Greek navy winning against the Syracusan navy?”

Seclian’s expression also became tense and serious. Still, he manages to keep his head clear and speak fluently, “Due to the previous war with Locri, Crotone could at most send out 20 triremes, 10 in Scylletium, 8 in Caulonia and about 5 for Terina. As for the city-states in Theonia Alliance, Rhegium has the most triremes at about 30. And for Heraclea and Metapontum, it would already be good enough if they could put together 5. On the other hand, Laos has not mastered the technology of building triremes, while Roscianum and Elea have no triremes and were only using small and medium-sized warships….oh, and Taranto, I almost forgot about them, has about 25 triremes…”

‘Taranto!’ This reminded Davos of how its relationship with Theonia became strange, but Davos decided that it was better to improve their relations in the face of a greater threat.

“If we concentrate all the naval forces of the city-states in Magna Graecia, we would have about 130 triremes, plus small and medium-sized warship…bringing it to nearly 250. And according to previous information, Syracuse has nearly 400 triremes, and the total number of warships they have will probably be more than 600. Although the gap is huge, fighting Syracuse is not impossible, but-” Seclian became melancholic, “The point is that these warships are too scattered that the enemy could attack them individually. And even if we were to gather them together, the lack of training and unified command could easily lead them to fight on their own.”

Davos thought for a moment and then said, “If all these warships of Magna Graecia were to received unified training and command, do you think this combined fleet will have a chance to defeat the Syracusan navy?”

‘A fleet that had just been formed and had no experience of naval warfare was trying to defeat the mighty navy of Syracuse?’ Seclian was not shocked from hearing Davos’ question. Rather, after seriously thinking about it, he decisively said, “I think it’s possible! First of all, the sailors of our navy are very high-spirited. As you know, milord, the quotas of soldiers of the various Theonian legions are now full, and many of the registered freemen and some of the preparatory citizens are unwilling to wait in the reserve legion, so they transferred into the navy. And these young men are eager to build up their merits and shorten their years of service to become a citizen as soon as possible and obtain their allocated land. Thus they trained hard and eagerly looked forward to the outbreak of war, and they are more eager than anyone else to fight and win.”

Seclian clenched his fist as if to cheer himself up and continued to say loudly. “Secondly, although Syracuse has a lot more warships, they are not gathered together but are anchored in Syracuse, Agrigento and Catania respectively…oh, there is also Messina, so it would be extremely time-consuming for Syracuse to gather all its ships together. So we could seize the moment and break one or two of its sub-fleet quickly, changing the naval strength of both sides…”

Davos gazed at the young man. He is intelligent, capable and energetic, and is courageous and has the zeal to fight stronger enemies. And from judging his systematic analysis, he had thought deeply about naval warfare and was not confined to the position of a sub-fleet commander, who only trains his men, patrolling, and so on. This is a true naval talent!

After finally making up his mind, Davos said in a deep voice, “You have spoken well! Our Theonia infantry has always fought against the strong, allowing us to have the Theonia Union we have today. So I hope the navy will also have this spirit of not being afraid of powerful enemies!”

“Rest assured, milord. The Theonia navy will never be worse than the infantry!” Seclian immediately pledge.

Davos looked at him and said in a deep voice, “Seclian, despite your youth, you have always performed greatly, both in training and in managing the fleet. You even have a high reputation among the navies. Given the imprisonment of Enanilus for breaking the law causing the entire Theonian navy to have no commander, this situation cannot continue…”

At Davos’ words, Seclian’s heart beat violently.

“So I have decided to propose to the Senate that you take over as the Navarch of the navy. I believe that this appointment may be made tomorrow.”

Great happiness came crashing down just as Seclian had hoped. He was so excited that he didn’t know what to say and simply expressed his gratitude by saying, “Many thanks, milord! Thank you, milord! Thank you-”

“Don’t thank me yet. You should first understand that this appointment is not an honour, but a heavy responsibility! If a war between Theonia and Syracuse ever comes. In that case, Theonia’s long coastline will be under attack by Syracuse’s powerful navy, so the fleet you lead must do everything possible to defend the union’s land from the enemy and the citizen from losing their properties. Therefore, your responsibility is great!” Said Davos with a serious expression.

Under the gaze of Davos, Seclian’s expression brimmed with determination, “I understand, milord!” he then gave another military salute with great strength.

The next day, the Senate voted in approval to the appointment of Seclian as the Navarch of the navy, along with two additional bills: First, the warships of the allied city-states of Theonia will be integrated into the Theonian navy, both in training and sailing together; Second, increasing the construction of triremes from five to ten a year.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In Athens, at the amphitheatre of Dionysus, the god of wine, a new play by the famous playwright, Aristophanes, is being staged. It is called 《The Theonians》, and it is about a non-Greek Theonian citizen taking part in the Olympic Games. In the play, Aristophanes uses exaggerated playfulness to portray the non-Greek Theonian citizen as someone who is extremely ignorant of Greek tradition and culture and was ridiculously stupid. Since its release, it has been highly praised by Athenian citizens causing the theatres in Athens to be often filled.

For example, the referee is currently announcing the athletes’ entrance in the centre of the theatre; then, a strangely dressed non-Greek person refused to be naked. So when the referee came to asked him why, his answer was, “There are many snakes and insects in our mountains, so we must wear good clothes else we will get bitten if we are not careful-”

“Hahaha…” The audience burst into laughter.

“I like this part so much. It’s so ridiculous!” An audience covered his stomach and laughed until tears came out.

“The following part is much more ridiculous. I have already watched this several times!” Another audience said excitedly.

Hearing a whistle on the field, the actor acting as the Theonian non-Greek citizen had tried his best to run. However, the referee stopped the game and asked him why he ran into the circle of the track, to which he replied innocently, “The people of our tribe always take shortcuts when tracking our prey because only in this way can we catch our prey.”

After the referee told him the rules of the games, he grumbled, “These rules are stupid! No wonder I didn’t see you dressed in animal skins and feathers, for you aren’t able to catch some preys.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The audience laughed almost from beginning to end.

In the end, the non-Greek person won the race championship, and the temple’s priest gave him a laurel. However, he threw the laurel on the ground and said angrily, “Our archon lied to me. He had said that there would be a reward for winning the championship, but these branches are not worth anything at all!”

So he then turned to the priest and asked for the golden cane in his hand.

The greed of the non-Greek and the anger of the priests became the finale of the play.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The audience got up and applauded.

Afterwards, an old man with a grey beard stood up and waved his thanks to the audience. He is Aristophanes, a respected playwright in Athens. Despite his age, he still sat among the audience, as he always does, at the opening of his new work in order to observe the audience’s reaction and ponder about what he could do to improve his work.

《The Theonians》 is a work he created after hearing about the farce that took place at the Isthmian Games a few years ago. Most Athenians just regarded it as a funny comedy, and only a few manage to understand the play’s meaning.

More and more city-states such as Theonia in Magna Graecia, Syracuse in Sicily, Napoli in Campania, Thessaly in northern Greece, Macedonia and others began accepting non-Greek into Greek society, which started to impact Greece’s own traditional culture. That is what Aristophanes, who has been committed to defending Greek traditions, is worried about. Thus he used this ridiculous play to warn the Athenians and even the whole Greek world to be vigilant, but he was unsure how much it could change things.

With the help of the slaves, he walked out of the theatre and down the mountain path while the crowd took the initiative to make way for this respected old man.

Just then, a burst of cheers rang out from the front.

“What happened?!” The audience tapped each other on the shoulder and asked curiously.

“Win! We won! Conon led his fleet and defeated the Spartan navy in Knidos!!” The people ran around shouting, and some even cried with joy.

Chapter 369 – Agesilaus’ Return

“Help me sit down.” Aristophanes then sat while leaning against the side of the mountain path, watching the cheering crowd and his heart equally throbbed with excitement. Although he knew in his heart that the Athenian Conon was now a navarch employed by Persia and leading the Persian fleet, his victory still made Athens face much less threat at sea.

Although the ecclesia approved the alliance with Thebes and declaring war on Sparta, the shadow of their defeat in the Peloponnesian War ten years ago and the fierceness of the Spartans pressed on the hearts of every Athenians like a nightmare. Particularly now that the anti-Spartan alliance are still losing more than winning even though the war situation in Isthmus is in a stalemate, and they recently heard that the Spartan king, Agesilaus, led another army from Asia Minor and landed in Northern Greece, so how could the Athenians remain calm?! Thus the victory of this naval battle was like a timely rain, which lightened the boulders pressing on them, causing them to cheer loudly in order to vent their long-suppressed fear.

Aristophanes became relieved after seeing the Athenians becoming slightly angrier. Afterwards, he showed a surprised expression when he saw a man in shabby clothes sitting on the dusty steps at the corner of the street, leaning against the rough stone wall and reading intently at something.

This quiet image was in stark contrast to the joy around him, and Aristophanes was familiar with the figure of this person.

He walked over and shouted with uncertainty, “Antisthenes?”

The man looked at him but had no intention to stand up, “Aristophanes, don’t bother my reading if you are only here to ask me about Plato’s whereabouts.”

How could Aristophanes not know that although Antisthenes and Plato were both students of Socrates, they had different ideas, so he said with a bit of teasing, “I just want to tell you that the fleet led by Conon had defeated the Spartan navy, and now the whole city is spreading the news of this victory.”

“So?” Antisthenes said disapprovingly, “Victory will only encourage the people to throw themselves more into the war blindly. Athens had only gotten its calm for only a bit, and yet another long war is going to happen…” Speaking till here, he shook his head and glanced at Aristophanes, “You have just returned from the theatre, haven’t you? The new play you wrote, The Theonians, seems to be very popular with the people.”

The negative attitude of Antisthenes towards the victory made Aristophanes dissatisfied, so he said sarcastically, “Oh! It’s my honour that Antisthenes, who has always refused to watch drama, knows about my new play!”

“That’s because the people are talking about it every day these days. I kept saying that you are too nosy. It’s their business to send what kind of Theonian citizens to the Sports Games, so what’s the point of having to write a play satirising them?”

Aristophanes had gotten so angry, but when he was about to refute, Antisthenes, said with his head tilting sideways and his fingers picking his ears, “Do you know that some time ago, after the news of Theonia’s public trial of the traitors and Syracuse’s ambition came to light, Thrasybulus and the statesmen of the council were discussing whether to send envoys to negotiate an alliance with Theonia and make them restrain Syracuse, the ally of Sparta. For that reason, you’d better not perform that play of yours to avoid provoking the Theonians and leading to the failure of the alliance.”

“What Thrasybulus wants to do is their own business, but they have no right to interfere with the legal freedom of an Athenian citizen!” Aristophanes shouted angrily.

“That’s what I was going to say.” Antisthenes pointed to the cheering people, “What does their victory have to do with me?”

This has made Aristophanes so angry that he just turned and left. Afterwards, he once more affirmed to himself of his understanding, ‘The reason why I can become a good friend with Plato, but remained estranged with Antisthenes is the sense of responsibility.’

On the other hand, Antisthenes did not care about the departure of Aristophanes. He just gently brushed away the dust of his book and started reading again.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Agesilaus led his army through Thrace, Macedonia and arriving in central Greece. Even though he heard the news of Sparta’s victory at Corinth in Amphipolis, it still did not cheer him up as the Spartans were still blocked at the Isthmus and could not advance an inch.

Worried about the war, he increased the pace of the march, but upon arriving in Coroneia, he encountered an eclipse, which caused the soldiers to panicked as it was an ill omen.

Followed by the news of Sparta’s navy lost at Knidos, and while shocked, he was secretly glad that he had chosen to make his way to Boeotia by land rather than by sea. Otherwise, he might still be blocked in Asia Minor.

In order to avoid causing the morale of the army to wave, he immediately blocked the news. And at the same time, he also felt that he must launch a war soon and wash away the bad news with victory.

Thus he led his troops again and finally entered Boeotia. He then encountered the anti-Spartan allies stationed in Coroneia guarding the passage to Thebes, leading to an inevitable great battle.

But before the battle, Agesilaus called Xenophon, the leader of the remnant of the famous ten thousand mercenaries who went to Persia.

After fighting for Sparta in Asia Minor for five years, the 35-year-old Athenian was now already a veteran strategos. He stood before Agesilaus like a tall, upright cedar, exuding a manly air.

Agesilaus looked at him admiringly and said, “Xenophon, my friend. The enemies of Sparta have formed up in front of us, and only after defeating them could we advance to the city of Thebes. But…among the enemies are the reinforcement from Athens, some of them might be your relatives, friends and classmates. Fighting them would undoubtedly be an extremely painful thing for you…alas, although I am reluctant, I…”

Exuding an unusual regretful looked, Agesilaus said emotionally, “I…will allow you to lead your troops away, or even join the other side. Nevertheless, I am thankful for your selfless help to Sparta in these recent years! And even if you and I will become enemies in the next battle, I still regard you as one of Agesilaus’ friends.”

Hearing this, Xenophon became furious, “King of Sparta, you are questioning my integrity! Before leading the mercenaries to follow you out of Asia Minor, I had already said that since the Athenian ecclesia executed my teacher, Socrates, and tried me in absentia, I regarded Athens as an enemy! Besides, I swear to Zeus that I agree with the political idea of Sparta, and I am willing to fight for it! Since you are insisting on me to leave here, then I…I will leave.” With that, he turned around without reluctance and was about to walk out of the main tent.

“Xenophon, pardon my rudeness!” Agesilaus hurried forward, grabbed him and apologised, “I just did not want you and your compatriots to fight each other. However, I now realise that you have great convictions that go far beyond your feelings to your mother state, and for that, I would like to apologise!” With that, he bowed sincerely to Xenophon.

Xenophon scrambled to stop him, and now much of the anger in his heart subsided.

“My friend, I have decided to appoint you as the commander of the army in the centre for tomorrow’s battle.” Agesilaus then made a decisive decision.

Although Xenophon was a bit surprised, he didn’t reject it and gladly took the order, for he knew that there were some rumours about him going around in the army recently. Thus, he secretly vowed that in this battle, he would take practical actions to shut those who questioned him!

After Xenophon exited the tent, Archidamus, the adjutant of Agesilaus and was also his son, entered. Afterwards, he became surprised to learn of his father’s decision, “Father, have you truly placed the Athenian to command our centre?”

“So what if he is an Athenian?!” Agesilaus then said loudly at a volume that the guards outside the tent could hear, “Xenophon is a true friend of I, Agesilaus! And I have always trusted my friends. Besides, Xenophon is a very talented person, and he deserves my trust!”

At this point, Agesilaus remembered something. He sighed and said to his son, “You must understand that Sparta had already missed out on Davos that Cheirisophus highly recommended. And now, the Theonia City-State Union that the young man had founded had become a huge problem for Dionysius in just a few short years…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The following day, both sides went into formation in Coroneia.

Agesilaus led the main Spartan force and formed the left-wing, and faced their long-time enemy, Argos. Xenophon led the remnant of the ten thousand mercenaries and other Asia Minor mercenaries in the centre, and the enemy he is facing is his fellow Athenians. On the right-wing is the Spartan allied Phocis, and their enemy is Thebes, the initiator of this war.

At the forefront of the Theban army, Pelopidas and Epaminondas, who are now 26, formed in line as hoplites.

“Why haven’t the salpinx sounded yet?! I am itching for a fight!” Pelopidas said eagerly.

However, Epaminondas did not reply and just looked at the front with melancholy.

“Epa, what are you worried about? Are you afraid that we can’t beat the Phocis?” Said Pelopidas, who noticed something different about his friend.

“I am not worried about them, as they could never match us. What I am worried about are the Argosians and whether they could fend off the Spartan’s attack.” Epaminondas said anxiously.

“Epa, you worry too much. This is what the commander needs to consider, and the only thing we need to do is to defeat the Phocis quickly!” Pelopidas pointed the spear forward and said in high spirits.

Chapter 370 – Corvus

The Battle of Coroneia ended with Agesilaus defeating the Argosians, the Theban defeating the Phocis, and the mercenaries led by Xenophon charged through the Athenian army. With the situation being not favourable to the anti-Spartan alliance, the alliance took the initiative to retreat.

But because of too many casualties, Agesilaus’ troops could not chase them, resulting in the alliance managing to retreat back to their camp without incident and continued defending Coroneia.

Although Agesilaus won, he was still unable to pass through Coroneia, and with the constant arrival of the other party’s reinforcements, the anti-Spartan alliance continued to grow.

Realising that he could not stay here any longer, Agesilaus had to give up his plan to attack the Theban territory. And he could only retreat westward with his army, finally reaching Delphi, crossed the Gulf of Corinth and joined the Spartan army fighting in Corinth.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Seclian once more came to Davos residence, and his respectful attitude towards Davos remained the same even after becoming the Navarch of the Theonian navy.

Davos asked him to come this time was not to congratulate him on his promotion, but also to discuss more important matters, “Seclian. These past two days, I have been thinking carefully about the strategy against the Syracusan navy that you told me about before. I think that even though we have a chance to win, the risk is too big. Thus I thought of an idea that would greatly increase the chances of our navy winning.”

“What have you thought up, milord?” Seclian hurriedly asked without acting. If someone else were to say so, he would think that he was only playing around. However, how could the words of Davos, who the soldiers praised as a ‘miracle maker’, not attract his attention?

“Look at this.” Davos then handed Seclian a sheepskin roll.

Seclian quickly unfolded and took a look, only to see a drawing of a trireme, however, there is something different about the warship. Besides the mast in the ship’s bow, there is also a wooden board with only a few differences from the length of the mast, with low railings on both sides and a downward pointed corner under the top of the wooden board. It is about 12 meters long and 1.2 meters wide, and the sharp thing at the top is a thick iron nail and a hole drilled at the top of the plank, which a rope tied to the mast passed through.

Seeing the confusion on Seclian’s face, Davos asked him, “Seclian, tell me honestly. How big is the difference between our sailor’s skills in handling warship and Syracuse?”

Seclian hesitated and said, “The Syracusan navy has more experience in actual battle than us, as they have fought the Carthaginians many times. Thus it is only natural for their ship-handling skills to be a bit better than ours…however, we are training hard and with the morale of our brothers being higher.”

“But – our navies are still newcomers who have not been on the battlefield, including yourself.” Pointed Davos, which caused Seclian to blushed and wanted to refute.

Davos waved his hand, indicating that he should not speak for now, “Remember, the navy is different from infantry. On land, even if we are defeated, as long as there are enough citizens in the city-state, then one can form an army at any time. On the other hand, during a naval battle, dozens of ships often sank to the bottom of the sea, and thousands of sailors were either sacrificed or captured. Once lost, it is difficult to recover in a short time because manufacturing a triremes needs more than half a year, not to mention the massive amount of resources and money required.

So during this period, the warships of Syracuse could ravage any coast and port of Theonia and leave our land desolate and our trade stagnant…and Syracuse would not allow the Theonia Union, which has a weaker navy, enough time to hone its experience. Still, we can’t afford to lose even once!”

Davos’ words placed tremendous pressure on Seclian.

Seclian could only clench his fists and pressed them tightly on his thighs as he screamed mentally, ‘How is this possible?! Even the city-states with powerful navies, such as Athens and Syracuse, have experienced disastrous defeat…’

But just now, his gaze suddenly landed on the drawing, and his heart jolted, ‘Could it be that the secret to our navy’s victory lies here?’

“Seclian, since our fleet is inferior to Syracuse in both experience and technology, why do we have to compete with them in traditional ship-collision tactics? Don’t forget that we have the best soldiers among the Greek city-states, whether it’s individual prowess or team cooperation, our hoplites are the most powerful in all of Greece. Thus why don’t we move our land battle to naval battle and give full play to our strengths and avoid our weaknesses, taking hold of the initiative in our own hands?!”

Davos’ words of fighting a naval battle like a land battle flashed through Seclian’ mind like a bolt of lightning. He picked up the drawing on the table and said, “This wooden bridge…this wooden bridge…”

Davos smiled and said, “I already discussed this wooden bridge with Marticoris, and he said that he could design a pulley for the warship that would easily pull up the wooden bridge. And at the same time, he can create a circular track around the base of the mast so that it could move the wooden bridge around the mast, allowing us to drop down the wooden bridge on the enemy ship whether they would approach from the front or both sides of the ship. And the iron nail at the top can use the momentum to plunge into the deck of the enemy ship so that they would not be able to leave. After that-”

“After that, the hoplites that are on the ship could step on the enemy’s ship through the wooden bridge.” While listening to Davos’ explanation, Seclian, who was currently imagining this novel naval warfare in his mind, couldn’t stop himself from shaking with excitement, “Milord, you are a genius! Turning naval warfare into land warfare and giving full play to our legion’s advantage to not only attack the enemy but also capture the enemy and their ships which would allow us to expand our naval strength rapidly!”

A traditional navarch would find it difficult to accept such an idea. However, Seclian was young after all, and he had just taken his post, so his mind was full of how to beat the enemy. Thus, he quickly accepted the new mode of warfare, which saved Davos some saliva.

Davos then smiled and asked, “Do you think we can implement this plan?”

“Absolutely!” Seclian stared at the drawing and said, “However, the wooden bridge will affect the ship’s speed while the fleet sails, and in case of a storm, the chance of the ship capsizing will increase. I think that if you can…uhm…dismantle it at normal times, lay it on the deck and install it before a battle…moreover, during a battle, the wooden bridge will also affect the manoeuvrability of the warship…oh, I forgot that it wouldn’t get in the way as our main mode of combat will no longer be through collision, but mainly boarding warfare. By the way, how many infantries should we place per ship?”

Seclian leaned over the table and stared intently at the drawing as he thinks hard and muttered to himself.

Davos looked at him, feeling both relieved and amused. He then patted him and said, “Go back and think slowly on how to use this new warship device. My suggestion is for you to first find an engineer to install a wooden bridge on a warship. If you were to encounter some problems, you can go to Marticoris of the Institute of Mathematics and ask him to help with the design and solve your problems. Once installed, lead the navies to practise the new tactics first, and if you need the cooperation of the hoplites, you can find Philesius, and he will arrange it for you. One thing you should pay special attention to is to keep this confidential! Remember! We can’t allow our enemy to know of our new tactics until the time we encounter them!”

“Understood!” Seclian nodded. He then carefully put the drawings into his arms, and he could no longer wait to leave and go home.

Suddenly, he stopped, “Milord, this wooden bridge device…have you named it?”

“Corvus! It’s called Corvus!” An unfathomable smile appeared on Davos’ face.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On this day, a seemingly ordinary transport ship arrived in the Gulf of Taranto, joining among the thousands of ships sailing to and fro the port of Thurii. A 50-year-old man on board then looked at the distant land and sighed, “Thurii, I am finally back…”

“Teacher Lysias, I still feel guilty in forcing you to come to Thurii to fulfil the important task given to me by the Council..” A middle-aged man came up to him and apologised to him in a hoarse voice.

Lysias said passionately, “Isocrates, you need not apologise. I have already told you countless times that I have taken the initiative to volunteer on going to Thurii for this mission. I love Athens and would like to do something for it. Besides, Thurii is the place where I grew up and where my revered teacher, Tisias, rest. On the contrary, I should have come to pay my respects to him since long ago!”

Lysias was not really the teacher of Isocrates, however, he had studied Lysias’ rhetorics with devotion. At this time, he also looked into the distance and sighed with regret, “Yes, Thurii was a pan Greek city-state that strategos Pericles advocated and had cost Athens too many resources and money! With numerous Athenians that had worked hard for its establishment! But now, it has become one of the cities of a union. Don’t forget, Thurii is also a colony of Athens. We should have condemned Theonia’s behaviour and protected the interest of Thurii… But now, we have come to ask the Theonia Union, who infringes on our interests, for their help. Alas, o Athens! The Peloponnesian War had cost us so much…”

“Isocrates, you must understand that the city of Thurii that we know of has been burned by Crotone! And the present Thurii is the Thurii that the Theonia Union rebuilt…” Lysias reminded with a sorrowful expression.

Chapter 371 – Guests from Athens

Lysias fixed his gaze on a fleet of a dozen ships that appeared in his vision and were sailing ahead of him. And behind the fleet, one could faintly see two massive white breakwaters, like a pair of arms extending from both sides of the coast, as if it is holding back the Crati river from flowing into the sea.

“The current Thurii is completely a different Thurii…” Lysias murmured.

And the Athenian passenger ship finally entered the port and docked.

From the speculation of Isocrates, combined with the information he received about the Theonia Union, and with its location being far from any of the famous trade routes in the eastern and western Mediterranean and having no excellent natural ports, made Lysias believed that the port of Thurii’s maritime trade is mediocre. However, the sight he saw has overturned his idea.

Even though it is not as prosperous as the port of Piraeus, it still had exceeded his imagination, especially the enormous wooden cranes on each dock attracted his attention: Under the handling of a few labourers, they could easily hoist large cargos on the transport ship that usually need more than a dozen powerful men to lift, and then transfer it to the dock.

Isocrates, who was from Athens with its prosperous maritime trade, immediately realised that if they could use this device in the port of Piraeus, they could significantly improve the unloading capacity of the dock to the merchant ships.

Thus he went over to see the detailed structure of the device but was rudely warned by the operator of the crane, “Don’t get too close, else the patrol will detain you.”

Thus Isocrates could only return with resentment.

Suddenly, several burly men arrived in front of Lysias. Then the man at the lead said with a flattering smile, “Hello. I am Sperian, a porter at the port, and this is my number. Do you have anything we need to carry?” He then showed Lysias a small round piece of iron pinned to his chest.

Lysias, who hasn’t returned to Thurii for decades, was really curious. So he took a closer look and saw that the dark iron thing has a pattern of a scale and a string of strange symbols below.

“What’s the use of this thing?” He pointed to the iron thing and asked curiously.

Sperian then said with a bit of pride, “This can prove that I am a porter officially registered in the port management office. So if there are accidents such as cargo loss during our handling, you can complain to the port management office and report this number. After the management office personnel verify the situation, they will then punish me and compensate for your losses so that you can rest assured.”

“This is a number?” Lysias pointed to the strange line of symbols in surprise.

“Of course, but it is not Greek numerals.” Sperian became happy to show his superiority in front of this old man who looks like a scholar, “This is the numerals that our archon, Davos, invented. It’s easy to remember, and it is useful that everyone here uses it everywhere. The number engraved on it is 2410, do you remember?”

Lysias nodded, but his mind shook. It wasn’t because of this strange numeral as he was not a mathematician and is not very sensitive to it. What made him surprised is Thurii’s management of the port, just from the porters alone, the most common and lowest labour force in the port, they are already so meticulous. You could already see the ability of Theonia in managing their city, as even in Athens, there are no such measures to regulate the labourers in the port of Piraeus. Moreover, from this number, the knowledgeable Lysias could feel the busyness of the port of Thurii, which may be more than what he could see with his eyes.

‘It seems like the rise of Theonia in such a short time is not due to luck!’ Lysias became alert in his heart and then reminded himself to remain calm, “Alright, I will hire you to carry the goods. However, there are many potteries in the goods, so please be careful!”

“Rest assured, as I myself can’t even remember how many times I have handled goods such as potteries.” Sperian gave his promise and negotiated for a good price with the attendant of the Athenian envoys.

By this time, Isocrates also came back.

Afterwards, Sperian led the Athenian envoys out of the crowded place and onto the port road with a few men carrying the goods on a cart.

Isocrates then became even surprised that the road was even wider and smoother than the one leading from the port of Piraeus to Athens. He then looked at the things on both sides of the road, such as the gutter and pavements, showing the strict care the Theonians built their roads.

Seeing those made Isocrates a bit depressed at the thought that the Athenians could not compare to them as they focused more on participating in city-state affairs such as politics and courts.

Unable to stop himself, Isocrates crouch down and reach out his hand to touch the greyish-white material that held the stones together so tightly. He then taps on it and felt that the texture was still very hard.

“Isocrates, are you gonna change your profession?” Lysias understood the reason why he did so and could not resist making a joke.

“Is this your first time to Theonia?” Sperian was not surprised by his action, and he then proudly said, “In the territory of Theonia, such roads are everywhere, and they are even wider. And due to the increasing number of merchant ships coming to Thurii each year, this road has been rebuilt many times, leading to most of the surrounding warehouses being demolished. Yet even now, it still seemed a bit narrow.”

‘This is still too narrow?’ Lysias became speechless.

As most of the traffic on this road was wagons and the pedestrians were mainly walking on the pavement, so Sperian had to remind them, “Step back to the pavement and wait for a bit as I will go and bring the wagon. But I should clarify beforehand that the price I negotiated with you before was for delivering the goods only. The city of Thurii is more than 5 kilometres away from the port, so if you choose to walk, we will deliver the goods to the gate and wait for you, but if you choose to come with us and ride my wagon, then you have to pay a bit more.”

Lysias was not bewildered at the cunningness of Sperian. Even though he is a scholar, he has been making his living in Athens by writing defence statements on behalf of others. And because he is relatively poor, he is familiar with things such as bread and butter, “Isn’t there a wagon here for people to ride?”

“Naturally, there are a lot.” Sperian said truthfully, “After leaving the port, there are wagons dedicated to transporting people. However, even though they are much more comfortable than my wagon, their price is much higher, while I will only charge you for a small amount for our hard work.”

For the wealthy Athenians, money is not a problem. However, Isocrates was a bit exhausted and is afraid of trouble, so he still reminded, “We are five people. Can we all fit in your wagon?”

“No problem.” Sperian didn’t lie. As soon after, he brought two wagons.

After Sperian and his men carefully loaded the goods into the wagons, Lysias asked, “Are these the wagons you rented?”

“No, these are my wagons.” Sperian emphasised the word “My” and said proudly, “As a preparatory citizen, I can apply for a loan from the bank of Cheiristoya. Currently, I have already paid the loan and interest on one of the wagons, while I am also almost done with the other one.”

Soon, the two wagons move.

On the first wagon, Sperian accompanied Isocrates and Lysias. Their wagon was the kind that has no canopy, allowing them to have a panoramic view of the port road and its surroundings, which is just what Isocrates wanted. He then noticed that although there are many wagons and carts, they follow some rules, making it not chaotic. And if there is a problem due to congestion, a patrol would quickly arrive to clear it…

On the other hand, Lysias paid more attention to the wagons and carts because they were all pulled by horses. In Lysias’ memory, Thurii was not a city-state abundant in horses, however now, such a large number of horses could be seen in the port, so he asked, “How much is the price of horses here?”

“A mare cost 30 drachmae while a stallion is 22 drachmae.”

“How could it be so cheap?” Lysias was startled.

“Previously, the price of horses in Thurii was more than twice that of now, but ever since Theonia integrated Bruttii, the Bruttians has provided a large number of horses to Thurii’s market. Thus the price of horses has naturally decreased.” Said Sperian while patting the ass of the horse, causing it to neigh. Then he proudly said, “The Bruttian horses are good horses with great strength, stamina and temper. And now, even the Rhegians began buying horses from us, and I estimate that the price will rise in the future…”

While Sperian spoke, the wagon reached the exit of the port. However, the guards at the city wall need to check them before they could pass.

Initially, if Isocrates had indicated to the patrol ship that they were envoys of Athens when their ship entered the estuary of the Crati river, they wouldn’t need to enter the port at all as they would have been led by the patrol ship to the dock in the city of Thurii and directly into the Senate of Theonia. However, Isocrates had his own consideration, so he did not do so.

At this moment, he looked up at the tall walls that towered in front of the wagon, encircling the vast port. He could not help but sigh as he remembers that during the time Athens was powerful, there is also a great wall that protects the port of Piraeus that brought infinite wealth to Athens and connects it all the way to Athens. Unfortunately, after their defeat in the Peloponnesian War, the Spartans forced the Athenians to dismantle the wall. And now that Athens and Thebes joined forces to fight against Sparta, the people became uneasy and are afraid at the thought that the Spartans would break through the isthmus, turning the completely defenceless port of Piraeus into a piece of meat in the mouths of hungry wolves. Thus the ecclesia had proposed several times for the reconstruction of the wall. However, this was a huge undertaking, and with Athens being fully engaged in the war, there are undoubtedly many difficulties. Thus it was eventually shelved due to disputes.

‘The day we rebuilt the wall of the port of Piraeus will be the day Athens rose again!’ Isocrates had his own thoughts regarding this.

Chapter 372 – Isocrates’ Discovery

After passing through the checkpoint, the wagon drove directly north and passed through the east side of the port market, lined with stored and is crowded. However, it did not attract the attention of Isocrates and Lysias too much. Since learning about the bustling port of Thurii, they already have a preliminary idea of the situation of the market. But even if it is prosperous, it can never be compared with the famous Agora market in Athens.

Rather, it was the direction of the wagon that attract Lysias’ attention. “Hey, the city of Thurii is in the west. Why are you heading north?”

“No need to worry.” Sperian then explained, “Because if we were to head west directly, not only will we have to pass through the busier and longer road but also the Temple of Hera and the Thurii Arena*. And since it is currently May, the rugby matches are heated because a new Thurii champion team will be chosen to compete in the final. Therefore, many people will attend there to watch every day, causing the road to not only be crowded but there might even be trouble. That is why we had instead taken a detour to reach the city of Thurii, which is much faster than going straight west.” (With the increasing popularity of Rugby and Football games, the arena in the city of Thurii is no longer enough. Thus the year before last, the citizens of Thurii collectively raised funds and built another arena outside the city. As the venue for the finals of each team in Theonia, the arena inside the city was called Theonia Arena. On the other hand, the arena outside the city is called the Thurii Arena.)

“So it is like that.” Lysias nodded. He had long heard about Theonia’s unique ball game, but due to him experiencing ups and down and was too busy making a living. In addition to him being too old, he wasn’t too interested in this supposedly violent sport.

On the other hand, Isocrates’ eyes lit up, and he asked, “Can you tell us something about this rugby game?”

Lysias gave Isocrates a surprised look, thinking that this was not quite in line with Isocrates’ hobby, so he must have been thinking of something more profound.

These words of Isocrates had tickled the itch of Sperian. Thus he immediately told the two men the origin and rules of the rugby all the way to the establishment of the Theonian Rugby Competition.

As he listens to Sperian explanation of the history of the development of Rugby in Theonia Union, Isocrates observed the wagon driving onto a new road (the Thua Road); he then turned his gaze towards the west. The road facilities did not differ much from the Port Road except it has a slightly narrower road surface.

In the short time from the time the passenger ship docked at Thurii to the time they stepped out of the port, he had discovered a characteristic of the Theonian population. That is, you can call it restrained and bland at worst; obedience to order at best. The port is the most chaotic place in a city-state, so it is surprising that there are very few noises, fighting, brawls and the sight of loud talking and noises even though the port of Thurii is also relatively prosperous. On the other hand, that is impossible for Athens, as the Athenians are always passionate, spirited, proud, and loved to debate and boast about their city-state’s history.

But after hearing the porter said that the whole population loves such a kind of savage and rough sports, it made him realise that the Theonians might hide some savagery in their seemingly introverted temperament.

“This is our first Thurii, so is there any interesting place here worth visiting?” Isocrates cut in suddenly.

Lysias once more glanced at him.

“Worth visiting?” Sperian was surprised and then laughed, “You two should not say that you are here to visit and sightsee when arriving in Thurii, but instead, it is to enjoy the entertainment as there are too many things for you to enjoy here.

First of all, Cheristoya’s Restaurant is a must-go place! As it has the best food in all of Greece and even the Mediterranean.

Secondly, you can take a wonderful bath in the hot spring by the Tiro river in the west of the city, so that you, Greeks, who don’t like bathing can feel its benefits.

What’s more, the thing I had just said, you can go to the Thurii Arena to watch the rugby and football games. However, it’s hard to know whether you can buy tickets this season.

Furthermore, you can go to Thurii’s hospital to see a physician and discover the diseases hidden in your body. You should know that the skills of the physicians of Thurii are excellent, as the gods had taught them.

Oh, I almost forgot. You should also go to the Temple of Hades in the city to pray! It is the only place of Hades on earth in Greece, and it is extraordinary! So much so that every time I go there to pray and talk to the priests, I felt so relaxed after coming back, just like when I soak in the hot spring…”

Isocrates and Lysias exchanged glances with each other from time to time while listening to Sperian’s endless recommendation.

By now, the wagon had arrived near the north of Thurii. In front of it stood a tall arch made of white marble.

Lysias then recalled some information he had heard about the new city of Thurii and said with uncertainty, “The Arc De Triomphe?”

“Yes, the Arc de Triomphe! This is the second Arc de Triomphe!” Sperian then said excitedly, “This is the Arc de Triomphe that was built the year before last. The victorious returning army will take this as the starting point, enter the city of Thurii and accept the cheering and evaluation of the Theonian citizens, which is the greatest honour in the life of every citizen participating in the war! After the conquest of Bruttii, I had once participated with my fellow conscripted light infantry (that is, the 2,000 freemen) while we followed the legion into the city…oh! At that time, all the people of Theonia were cheering for us, the beautiful girls kept on throwing flowers and our respected archon giving an exciting speech, which I will never forget in my life!…and after the Triumphant Return, I met my beautiful wife…”

Sperian’s expression was mesmerised, but after some time, he sighed, “Unfortunately, these past few years have been too calm that there has been no war. So naturally, there is also no Triumphant Return. Alas…”

“From listening to what you have said, you actually want a war?!” The sharp Isocrates immediately asked.

“Of course, without war, we wouldn’t be able to participate. And if I can’t participate in a war, I won’t be able to shorten my assessment period and won’t become an official citizen of Theonia as soon as possible. Thus I won’t be able to get a fertile allocated land.” Sperian blurted out without hesitation. Then he saw the two men’s expression changed. So he immediately explained, “However, we Theonians rarely takes the initiative to invade others, and only when others invade us would we fight back…”

Isocrates naturally did not believe the porter.

“But war will lead to death, in which there may be your friends…or relatives…”Lysias said in a berating tone.

“Of course I know that, and the priest of Hades even warned us that ‘all good things are not easy to get.’ But we are not afraid of death because this is the land blessed by the king of the underworld, Hades. And if I were to die fighting bravely, my wife and children will receive rich pension and care from the union, and my soul will return to Hades’ Hall of Valor and protect our union!…” Sperian’s face became slightly calm and firm, with a trace of looking forward to the future. However, there wasn’t even a hint of fear.

This gave Isocrates and Lysias a great shock.

“Arc de Triomphe, here I come!” Sperian drove right in front of the Arc de Triomphe and shouted with excitement as if he had returned victorious.

Isocrates frowned as he looked at the numerous reliefs on the arch and the statue of the legion flag on the top. He then heard Sperian’s voice, “The reliefs represent the important victorious moments of Theonia, such as lord Davos leading the legion to help Taranto in defeating the Messapi-Peuceti Alliance…next is the third legion defeating the Lucanian rebels and recapturing Pyxous (according to the Senate’s propaganda, the people believed that Pyxous was once a Greek city-state. Hence it is recaptured and not capture)…and lord Davos leading an army to conquer Brutii, which I have participated in. There is actually a funny story about this relief; according to others, the Bruttian statesmen had once protested against engraving the Bruttian War into the relief, believing that it was not good for unity. However, the Lucanian statesmen retorted, ‘Even though there are three reliefs of us Lucanians, we still did not say anything. So why are you Bruttians so concerned?’ Hehe, and just like that, the Bruttian’s protest ended…”

Listening to Sperian’s laughter and looking at the Arc de Triomphe, Isocrates couldn’t laugh at all.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Lysias, we haven’t seen each other since you received your brother’s letter and rushed to Athens 20 years ago, right?” Kunogelata looked at Lysias, who had become old and hard to recognised, and sighed emotionally.

“Yes. When my father died that year, I rushed back to Athens for his funeral. However, I got caught at my brother’s business and got into trouble, so I had to stay and help him. Then…Athens suffered a series of disastrous defeats in the war against Sparta. And when the thirty tyrants sat in power, my brother was persecuted, and they seized his properties…So much stuff had happened over the years than when our teacher died; I wasn’t able to come back and attend his funeral…” Lysias’ outwardly calm expression couldn’t hide the remorse and bewilderment contained in his low voice, as well as a bit of exhaustion.

“We are clear at what happened to you as well. But at that time, Thurii was also facing difficulties, so we could not offer you help. However, before he died, our teacher kept on saying your name and called you the disciple that he most proud of!” Said Kunogelata, but when he saw tears glistening in Lysias’ eyes, he changed the topic and joked, “Could it be that you have made a fortune in Athens recently that you can give away five such expensive Panathenaic amphorae?”

“I am not wealthy as I don’t have the talent to be a merchant. It is why my father handed over the weapon workshop to my brother.” Lysias laughed at himself.

Chapter 373 – The god of foreign races – Heracles

Afterwards, Lysias said thoughtfully, “This time, Athens sent Isocrates to Theonia, and due to him knowing that I had stayed here for many years, Athens invited me to accompany him to Thurii-”

“Athens sent you here to Theonia?” Kunogelata showed a surprised looked. Obviously, he didn’t hear anything in advance and thought that Lysias had come here to visit his old classmates.

“You should already know that my father is not an Athenian citizen, so even if I lived in Athens for so many years, I still can’t become an Athenian. Thus I am not the envoy, and I can only assist Isocrates.” Lysias could not understand why Kunogelata was surprised, so he explained.

“In that case, you’d better take these potteries back with you. I can’t accept them!” Kunogelata immediately refused.

“Why?” Lysias was surprised.

“Previously, Thurii’s trial of the traitors had caused a commotion, and I believe that you have also heard of it.” After seeing Lysias nod, Kunogelata continued and said firmly, “I don’t want to be the second Pollux!”

“But…Athens just wants to express its friendly will to your Theonia Union and conclude an alliance at the same time.” Lysias said hurriedly.

“So since Athens is at war with Sparta, who will be the target of this alliance?” As a veteran of politics, Kunogelata immediately guessed Athen’s motive, “Sparta? Impossible, Theonia is still not powerful enough to face the wrath of the Greek hegemon. Sparta’s staunch ally Syracuse? Unfortunately, we have just signed a friendly agreement with Syracuse.”

Kunogelata’s words made Lysias at a loss. Unlike Isocrates, even though Lysias lived in Athens, he was excluded from politics because he was not an Athenian citizen, so he had little political experience. Even in terms of court defence, he could not even go to court to defend someone as he was not an Athenian citizen. Thus he could only write a defence speech for others after careful preparation and planning. As a result, he lacked a bit of quick wit, so he didn’t know what to say for a while.

Kunogelata sighed, “Firstly, take back these Panathenaic potteries. And since the Athenian envoys had come from afar, the Theonia Union would naturally meet you. While I make a proposal to the Senate, you should have the Athenian envoys get prepared.”

“That’s great, that’s great…” Lysias breathed a sigh of relief.

“Lysias.” Kunogelata looked at him and suddenly asked, “You used to be a citizen of Thurii. Have you ever thought of returning to Thurii and becoming a Theonian citizen?”

Lysias was startled.

“In Athens, you are an outsider, so even if you have great talents, you will not have a great stage to use them. Come back to Thurii…” Said Kunogelata, then he changed the subject, “Do you know Ansitanos?”

The words of Kunogelata made Lysias uneasy, causing him to murmur, “…uhm, I know him…he is a student of Herodotus, and we often hang out with each other when we were young.”

“Our archon, lord Davos, had proposed the establishment of a Theonian Akademia in Thurii, where the best scholars from all over the union would gather, whether it is to study mathematics, medicine or rhetorics…and they will all enjoy the special salary given to them by the union, continue to do their own research at their own pace while teaching what they have learned and theories to excellent students, allowing them to spread their reputation in Magna Graecia and even in the Mediterranean!…” Kunogelata then smiled once he saw Lysias listening carefully.

“And in the Akademia, there is a branch specialised in teaching literature to students. Besides being a statesman of the Senate, Ansitanos was also the dean of the literature branch. While he taught rhetorics, he also wrote his book about history, for which he enrolled a dozen students and imparted his knowledge. The Senate had also allocated funds for him to hire some people to collect information throughout Magna Graecia for his book…however, even though I think that Ansitanos was unmatched in historical stuff, rhetorics is not his strong suit, which is what exactly you are good at. If you were to stay in Theonia, our talent-loving lord Davos would surely ask the Senate to grant you special permission to become a Theonian citizen and also become the dean of the Institute of Literature, teaching the students and writing your works. Which will make your reputation to be as famous as that of Ansitanos in Magna Graecia!…”

Kunogelata dared to say such a promise due to his understanding of Davos. But these words struck Lysias’ heart like a rock hitting the water and causing countless splashes and ripples…

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos glanced at the study material given to him by Ansitanos, and he showed a surprised expression, “There is also a large altar of Heracles in the city of Rome? Are you sure?”

“Yes, milord. This great altar is close to the livestock market in Rome. Initially, we heard it from the Capuani merchants who came to trade in Pyxous. Afterwards, we sent someone to confirm it. Milord, as you should know, Heracles once stole the cattle of Geryon and brought them to Eurytheus after a long journey, so many races in the western Mediterranean who live by raising livestock have made Heracles their guardian of livestock…” Ansitanos did not think that there was anything remarkable about Rome’s devotion to Heracles. Rather, he kept on talking about Heracles.

In fact, Davos had entrusted Ansitanos to research the activities of Heracles in the western Mediterranean. Because after conquering Bruttii, Davos found it strange that there are many altars and statues of Heracles in the Bruttian region, and the Bruttians even claimed that they are the descendant of Heracles, and their ancestor Brutus, was the son of the hero Heracles and their queen Valentia.”

This statement surprised Davos. But with an alien race claiming that they are the descendant of a famous Greek god, this allowed Theonia Union to find common ground for the assimilation of the Bruttian since they were all ‘of the same race.’

However, this has caused Davos to pay attention to Heracles, a powerful god of Greek mythology. And from what he learned from Ansitanos and the others, he realises that Heracles was very famous in the western Mediterranean, as half of his “12 Labours” had taken place here. The Greek god spent most of his time wandering in the west Mediterranean; he had been to Sicily, travelled north through Italia, crossed Gaul, and to the Iberian Peninsula. But before he could steal the golden apples in the garden of Hesperides (the 11th labour), he needed to cross the Atlas Mountains. Therefore, he used his divine power to divide the mountain range, linking the Atlantic Ocean with the western Mediterranean. And that is the origin of the “Pillar of Heracles”.

Heracles then reached the mysterious island of Erytheia in the Atlantic Ocean at the westernmost end of the world, killed Geryon, took the herd, retraced his steps through western Europe, and finally returned to Greece…and the story of his adventures was widely spread due to his heroic deeds of upholding justice and chivalry, getting the love and recognition of many people of different races. Thus in many parts of the western Mediterranean, there is a legend that he fathered many children from distinguished women of different races, and the Bruttians are just one of them…

Davos then picked the study material again and read it carefully.

On the other hand, Ansitanos was not in a hurry. He leaned leisurely against the back of his chair, closed his eyes and began conceiving his own book.

After some time passed, Davos closed the pages, placed the study material on the table, rubbed his tired eyes and asked, “Lord Ansitanos, as a historian, what do you think after wiping away the dust of those myths and legends through this information you have collected?”

Ansitanos opened his eyes as he found Davos’ question interesting. However, this wasn’t a historian is good at, so he thought about it for a while and said, “What I see is the strong attraction of the elegance of the Greek culture to these mountain races who were still in the stage of ignorance. So they all want to associate with Greece to show that their origins were not barbaric.”

“Yes, and this is what we want to see.” Davos stroke his chin and said in a deep voice, “It seems that there is a need to build a magnificent Temple of Heracles in Thurii and hold annual celebrations in his honour to strengthen the sense of connection of alien race to Theonia.”

“Milord, that is a wise decision!” Ansitanos complimented.

“But-” Davos picked up the study material on the table and changed the subject, “Lord Ansitanos, you have only scratched the surface while you have not yet uncovered the deeper meaning.”

‘There is a deeper meaning?’ Ansitanos looked at Davos with suspicion, as he had read the study material many times before giving it to Davos.

“Look here-” Davos turned the page and read it aloud, “On Heracles’ journey back to Greece with his herd of cattle, a lost bull swam across the Strait of Messina and reached a place called Eryx, where a local ruler captured it. After discovering it, Heracles killed the ruler, recaptured the bull and agreed to return the land to the oppressed natives, while making an agreement that ‘once his descendants appear in Sicily, the natives have to return the land to them.’”

“There is indeed such a legend about Heracles in Sicily.” Ansitanos nodded.

Chapter 374 – A secret hidden in the legends

“The next part is interesting.” Showing a mocking smile, Davos said, “Decades ago, Dorieus a Spartan royal*, brought his men to Sicily and demanded the Eryxians to return the land on the grounds that he is a direct descendant of Heracles. The Eryxians refused, so he led his troops to chase the natives and establish a colonial city near Eryx. But by then, Eryx had begun to become the religious centre of the Carthaginians in Sicily, and the Carthaginians would naturally not allow foreign people to occupy their core area. Thus they led a large army to fight back, killing Dorieus and most of his men in the battle.”(the older brother of the famous spartan king Cleomenes I, and was the one who expelled him on the grounds of sending him to colonise the western Mediterranean after a failed bid for the throne.)

“This should be a fact since it’s written in Herodotus’ history.” Ansitanos was quite familiar with these historical events in the western Mediterranean.

“Read this part. Before going to Sicily, Dorieus, the unlucky Spartan prince, had tried to build a colonial city on the Libyan coast west of Cyrenaica and within the sphere of influence of Carthage, for the reason that Heracles killed the giant Antaeus in Africa. However, Carthage soon expelled them. And such similar things are recorded in this document. Lord Ansitanos, as a historian, if you put aside your identity as a Greek and analyse this document from a neutral position, you might find the problem.” Said Davos in a low voice.

“Putting aside my identity as a Greek and stand in a neutral position…” Murmured Ansitanos as if realising something, retook the document and started reading it. Afterwards, his eyes lit up, “I see! Now I see! These activities of Heracles in the western Mediterranean provide reasonable proof for us Greeks to open up colonies in the western Mediterranean!…”

Davos smiled, “Thus, we could say that in the distant past, Heracles was the first Greek hero who has gone to explore the western Mediterranean. Based on all his stories and looking at his journey in the western Mediterranean, many routes are repetitive to the point that it is unreasonable and unnecessary. So, it is clear that some of them might have happened*, some might be fabricated by later Greeks to provide moral grounds for their encroachment on other people’s land and the establishment of colonial cities…..” Davos pointed to the document and said, “That is why the former Cumaeans have even acquired the skin of the huge wild boar that Heracles killed from Peloponnese to Italia and solemnly stored it in the Temple of Apollo in Cumae to prove to the natives the legitimacy of the Cumaeans occupation of the land… On the other hand, there are several theories about the location where Heracles and the giant battled. One of them took place in Magna Graecia, other places where several lands the Carthaginians controlled. We can only say that those Greeks were desperate to find a new home in the western Mediterranean that they even have great courage and dared to have ideas on the Carthaginians..” (Davos naturally cannot deny the existence of Heracles as it is equivalent to him denying his status as a god’s descendant.)

And at this moment, Ansitanos was immersed in joy, “Milord, thank you for waking me up! I finally realised the wonderful things regarding what Thucydides said about standing in a neutral position and writing the true history with an impartial attitude!”

“Once you get rid of the barriers between nations and races, you would be able to do better than him and see the history from a higher position. Thus I believe that you will write a great work!”

Davos’ encouragement made Ansitanos embarrassed, “Milord, I feel that there is still a gap between Thucydides and me.”

Instead of continuing to discuss this issue, Davos talked regarding another matter, “Before you came, Kunogelata had come and told me that the envoys of Athens came and visited him…”

“Athens had sent an envoy to come to Thurii?” Ansitanos was a little surprised. Thinking of something, he asked, “Are they looking for allies for their anti-Sparta Alliance?”

“That should be.” Davos then added, “Kunogelata also mentioned that there is someone among the envoys who you knew.”

“Who?” A sudden jolt struck Ansitanos.

“Lysias.” Davos looked at him and slowly said, “Kunogelata told me that he is a very talented man, but due to him not being an Athenian, he isn’t doing well in Athens. So he hopes that I can try my best to retain him. What do you think?”

“Of course, we have to keep him!” Ansitanos then said excitedly, “During my youth, I had frequent dealings with him. From that, I know that he has great talent in rhetorics and oratory! His articles are natural but not boring, and even though they are simple, it’s not uninteresting, and they are easy to arouse resonance with the people. My family even treasured three articles he had written when he was young, and I often take them out to figure out his writing skills and rhetoric techniques… If he could stay, I suggest making him the dean of the Institute of Literature, which is the most suitable place for him to give full play to his talents.”

Davos appreciated Ansitanos more in his mind upon hearing these, as he did not envy or slander Lysias’ talent. Rather, he praised him unreservedly and from the bottom of his heart and even took the initiative to give way to the talented. This kind of open-mindedness made Davos respect him but also felt ashamed at his vague probing just now. He coughed twice and gently said, “…erm…I will leave the task of trying to keep Lysias to you. However, I can make a promise here that as long as he is willing to stay, I will immediately propose to the Senate to give him citizenship, allocated land, and appointing him as the dean of the Institute of Literature of the Akademia of Theonia.”

“I will do my best to make him stay!” Ansitanos also gave his pledge without hesitation.

“If Theonia Union wants to become the centre of the western Mediterranean, military might alone would not do as we also need a glorious culture that can be admired by those races that had just come out of isolation and worshipped by other city-states!”

“You are absolutely right, milord! Only a city-state with a splendid civilisation can withstand the passage of time without being forgotten!” Ansitanos, who is familiar with history, sincerely praised.

“In addition, are you familiar with Isocrates, the envoy of Athens?” Asked Davos once more.

“Isocrates?! He was the student of one of the wise men of Athens, Protagoras.” Ansitanos then exclaimed, “Of course I know him. He is no less a rhetorical genius than Lysias. Moreover, he is not only proficient in rhetorics and oratory but also in teaching, which made many youths from various city-states to come to Athens to worship him as their teacher. By the way, what happened today?! Two scholars of Greek literature had come to Thurii at the same time!” Said Ansitanos looking excited.

“Can we retain-” Asked Davos hurriedly.

“That’s impossible!” Ansitanos shook his head, “Isocrates is an Athenian citizen. And I also heard that he often preaches that the Greeks, especially the Athenians, are superior to other races in his speeches to the youths. Therefore, it is impossible for him to stay in our union of various races…”

Davos sighed with regret. Although he did not have a detailed understanding of Greek history in his previous life, he was familiar with the names of the two ancient Athenian orators, Lysias and Isocrates, as he had studied at the University of Political Science and Law. And in the course of Western Legal History, it is impossible not to hear these two names when talking about ancient times.

‘Either one of them is fine.’ He thought expectantly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The following day, Isocrates, who had already learned the general attitude of the Theonian Senate from Lysias, still had great enthusiasm and prepared carefully. Then he arrived at the Theonian Senate, a magnificent place that can accommodate thousands of people.

However, it looks empty as only less than 100 statesmen are sitting there leisurely.

If he had seen this situation before fully knowing about Theonia Union, Isocrates would have laughed at Theonia’s wastefulness and blind vanity.

But after staying in the city of Thurii for more than a day, watching ball games, tasting Thurii’s food, going to the Temple of Hades, visiting the Akademia of Theonia with Lysias under the guidance of Ansitanos. Furthermore, he even dressed up as a commoner to mingle in the pubs and chatted with the Theonians… Thus he had some understanding about the Theonia Union and the Senate members. So when he saw the large venue with a small number of statesmen, he did not find it funny; rather, he felt a chill in his heart because he realised the ambition of the Theonians.

He quickly pushed this annoying thought to the back of his mind so that he could focus all his energy on his speech.

But at this moment, he felt that someone was looking at him intently. After following the gaze, he could only see a young man sitting in the front row directly in the centre, looking at him and giving a gentle smile.

Isocrates smiled back as he realised that this young man is the founder of the Theonia Union – the archon Davos. Rumours regarding him filled the streets of Thurii, such as he is Hades’ descendant, a famous strategos that has never lost, a physician who can bring someone back from the dead, a highly clever wise man, a great inventor… But after seeing him in person, Isocrates felt that he was no different from ordinary people, aside from the aura that far exceeded a citizen of his age. That is why it is hard to imagine that this young man was the one who proposed and planned this magnificent Grant Senate Hall.

Chapter 375 – A speech from a historical figure

Isocrates was unable to stop himself from looking at him again.

Scambras, the rotating chairperson, knocked on the table with a wooden mallet, officially starting today’s meeting.

Scambras then loudly announced, “We only have one topic today, and that is, the envoy of Athens has come to Thurii, so let us listen to their request.”

‘Upon hearing this, some statesmen who had not heard anything in advance became lively: Athens, a great and famous city-state in the Mediterranean, had actually sent an envoy to our Theonia Union!’

Amidst the curious gazes, Isocrates walked towards the front. He then stood calmly in front of the crowd and gave a graceful and firm salute to them. He then stood straight with chest up and began his speech, “Esteem statesmen of Theonia, I am Isocrates, an envoy of Athens. Even though this is the first time I have set foot on the land of Thurii, I could feel its warmness. Fifty years ago, Pericles, the great strategos of Athens, had extended a helping hand to the exiled Sybarites, promising them to rebuild a new city. And this city inherited Pericles’ ideal that he pursued all his life – that all Greeks can live regardless of region and races*, and live together in peace and friendship. (*‘Greeks’ is just a bigger and broader name and concept, as it can actually be divided into different races.)

Not only did he mobilise Athens, but he also called on the whole of Greece to take action in establishing a beautiful pan-Greek city-state. Naturally, we Athenians have contributed the most, as we had not only used our wealth in our treasury to buy stones, grain, and other materials for the new city and invited the great Greek architect – Hippodamus, to handle the construction planning of the new city. We also sent two of our strategoi to manage the new city, and they had even invited my teacher, Protagoras, to make laws for Thurii. Even the historian – Herodotus and the rhetorician – Tisias settled here to plant the seeds of Greek culture and wisdom on the immigrants…

With such all-out support, Thurii became the brightest peal of Magna Graecia as soon as it was built. While we Athenians had returned to the eastern Mediterranean without asking for anything in return and allowed the newly born city to grow independently and freely…” Isocrates dream was to become an orator, but his voice being hoarse, which is a fatal defect in Athens, where speeches are popular and demanding. Thus he rarely exercised his oratorical talents on large formal occasions and could only reluctantly turn to teach rhetorics and eloquence. Therefore today is the rare time that he could give speeches in public, making him excited.

The Theonians, however, doesn’t pay much attention to such details. Instead, they felt that Isocrates’ emotion merging with his hoarse voice has a unique attraction. Especially those Lucanian and Bruttian statesmen, who don’t know much about this history, listened with great interest.

However, the well-informed Kunogelata, Burkes, Davos and the others knew well that Athens was not as noble as Isocrates claimed. Thanks to Athens and the majority of Athenians among the immigrants, their descendants dominated the political situation of Thurii for the first few decades. However, it is also true that Athens did not force Thurii into joining the Delian League or becoming a sub-city-state of Athens, and they had never put forward unreasonable demands to Thurii.

“And when I set foot on this land, where we Athenians had devoted our efforts, today, I was surprised to find that the ideal of strategos Pericles has been realised. I could even say that the current Thurii has exceeded his expectations! Here…not only are the immigrants from the various Greek city-state living in peace but there are also other races getting along well with the Greeks.” Saying until here, Isocrates felt a bit uncomfortable. However, his voice was still filled with emotion, “Theonia, the wonderful city-state union, showed a bright prospect of peace for the Mediterranean world filled with ethnic conflicts and wars! To this end, I would like to pay my highest respect to you who led the people, made great efforts and achieved this grand goal!” With that, he bent down and bowed respectfully.

The statesmen such as Cornelius, Scambras, Burkes, Vespa, Hemon, Baripri and Sedrum and even Kunogelata and Marigi were moved by his sincere words.

Even though Davos already knew from Ansitanos that Isocrates was an “Athenian Supremacist” and that these words of his were to achieve his purpose of winning the favour of the statesmen. But out of politeness, he still led the statesmen to stand up and return warm applause.

Isocrates, on the other hand, did not show complacency. He calmly waited for the applause to weaken and then continued to say, “It is precisely because of this unique friendship between Athens and Thurii that both sides will lend a helping hand to each other in times of difficulties!… Shortly after establishing the city of Thurii, Athens helped Thurii solve the threat of Crotone and signed a peace agreement between Thurii and Crotone; It was also with Athens’ assistance that Thurii defeated Taranto in the Siris Plain and reached a settlement with Taranto.

After the war broke out between Athens and Sparta, we had sent an army to capture Syracuse. While we were passing through the city-states of Magna Graecia, only Thurii helped us by sending troops to war!

A few decades passed by, both Athens and Thurii suffered a misfortune. During the Peloponnesian War, the Athenian region of Attica was utterly reduced to ruins, from which it has not yet been able to recover fully. At the same time, Sparta had occupied the city of Athens and supported a group of tyrants who hated democracy and advocated dictatorship. These people ignored the law, wantonly hurt the citizens and robbing our properties. Thus we Athenians, who loved freedom, were forced to flee and suffer the pain of leaving our homes…

While Thurii has also suffered from cruelty, as the Crotinians used tricks that led to the sacking and burning of the city of Thurii that was founded by the sweat of us, Athenians and Thurians with countless people perishing in the fire…

When this alarming news reached Athens, the whole city fell into silence, with many of the people who had fond memories and feelings for Thurii fell into tears, including my adjutant, Lysias…” Isocrates was filled with grief, causing many of the statesmen to be touched.

“Fortunately, both us, Athenians and Theonians, manage to stand bravely from this huge blow, wiped out our tears, buried our loved ones, and rebuilt our homes with our hands…

Even though the past is now gone, we must not forget it. The current Greek world is still restless, with the powerful running rampant and bullying the weak. Sparta in the East and Syracuse in the west are coveting their surrounding fellow Greeks with greedy and ferocious eyes, just like hungry wolves coveting fat sheep. Thus the weak sheep should unite in order to deter the powerful wolves and avoid reencountering misfortune!

That is why I have come here. We in Athens stretched out our hands from the east, wanting to once again hold hands with our former brother in the west, Thurii, and connect Greece and Magna Graecia like a bridge. We will not only strengthen trade and cultural exchanges that will allow the lives of the people of both places to benefit more but also reach an alliance and cooperation with each other in military affairs in order to closely defend our precious freedom and rights that were once robbed!”

After Isocrates’ speech, the Grand Senate Hall was shrouded with silence.

Davos had to admire the Athenian orator for his euphemism and provocative statement about the alliance. He had even played the emotion card and even ignored the fact that Thurii had expelled the descendants of Athens, not to mention the fact that Athens used the Delian League they formed to suppress many allies that opposed them. He also places Athens and Thurii in the position of victims in an attempt to relate with the statesmen.

Unfortunately, Isocrates had forgotten one thing. This is Theonia and not the ecclesia. Any decisions and affairs of Theonia are not decided by the ecclesia but by the statesmen led by Davos. And these statesmen are either veterans who have been in politics for many years, those capable of dealing with complex affairs or the chieftains who have led the lives of thousands of tribe members. It could be said that they are the elites of Theonia Union, and they certainly won’t consider the issue like an ordinary citizen making a decision based on impulse. Perhaps they might be moved for a moment, but when deciding the union’s future, they must think more from the perspective of interests.

After Isocrates was asked to leave the conference hall, Petaru, Bodiam, and several other former Bruttian chieftains first rose to express their support in allying with Athens to fight against Sparta and Syracuse. However, the truth is, this is not what they wanted, but due to Pollux being sentenced and denounced as a “traitor” by all Theonians, Petaru and the others kept feeling uneasy even though they were not involved in these matters and were safe. So they took this opportunity to express their innocence and determination.

While the other statesmen basically opposed it. Although they learned Dionysius’ ambition in the trial of Pollux, the gap in strength between Theonia and Syracuse made them unwilling to take the initiative to provoke this Greek hegemon in the western Mediterranean. Moreover, Syracuse and Theonia had just signed a friendly agreement.

Even though Davos is wary of Syracuse, he did not think this was a good time to confront them.

Chapter 376 – Library

Isocrates anxiously awaits the final decision of the Senate of Theonia in the spacious waiting area in the Senate Hall.

Soon after, the guards came and asked him to return to the conference hall.

After entering, he saw that the archon of Theonia, Davos, stood in the centre of the conference hall.

Davos then smiled at him and asked him to sit. Then he said. “Esteemed envoy of Athens, I am glad you bought the friendship of Athens, the great city-state of the Mediterranean, to the Theonia Union. This has finally allowed us, who are in a remote corner of the Greek world, to stop mourning and complaining at the new play called 《The Theonians》 by the Athenian playwright – Aristophanes, treating as Theonians as barbarians for the amusement of the Athenian populace…”

As soon as he heard this, Isocrates murmured to himself, “It’s over.”

And sure enough, he heard someone shouting angrily behind him, “You Athenians has no right to humiliate us Lucanians!”

“They did not only humiliate the Lucanians but all Theonian citizens!” Another shouted angrily.

“If the Athenians treat us with this attitude, then you Athenians are not welcome here!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Angry voices after another struck Isocrates, making him feel like a volcano was about to erupt behind him, causing his expression to change slightly.

Davos looked at the embarrassed Isocrates and continued, “Isocrates, you claimed that Athens and Theonia have a deep friendship, but just talking about it is not enough as you need to also look at the action. Now, according to our understanding of the actual situation in Athens, we can’t see the friendship of the Athenians towards Theonia. On the contrary, we see that the people of the whole city of Athens ruthlessly ridicule and mock some of the characteristics of the newly emerging city-state union that are different from other Greek city-states. For several months, we have become the topic of conversation during drinking in the pubs and restaurants in Athens. This is not what we expect in a city-state with a long history and tradition that once claimed to have the ‘best education in all of Greece’ should behave! Nor the behaviour of a city-state claiming to have a deep affection for Theonia and wants to ally with it!

That is why we, the citizens of Theonia, are not comfortable trusting over our backs to a city-state that discriminates against us while facing a powerful enemy. Therefore, we think it is still too early for us to talk about concluding a military alliance.”

‘Damn you, Aristophanes! Damn you!!’ Isocrates cursed countless times in his mind. However, it could not change the reality. Frustrated, he tried to stand up in a last-ditch effort.

However, Davos quickly stop him with a wave of his hand, motioning him not to interrupt. Then he continued, “Although the present Thurii is no longer the former Thurii, and the Theonia Union has no connection with Athens, we Theonians are by no means an ungrateful people, as we have a clear distinction between kindness and grievance. We return the grievance that others gave us tenfolds, and we repay the kindness that others shown us by tenfold!”

“The archon is right! When we were in our time of trouble, Taranto had allied with us, so we had sent a large army and saved their city-state! In the beginning, Thurii had once given his lord’s mercenary a foothold, so we had not yielded at the Crotonian army’s threat. Instead, we avenged the dead Thurians with a great victory! Theonia regards commitment as life and friendship as treasure, so we could not promise our friendship lightly!” Old man Scamras held his head high. He then glanced at Isocrates and put on a proud expression of “Theonia’s friendship is extremely precious.”

Davos smiled and continued, “Since the centre of the Theonia Union is Thurii, we naturally inherited some of the feelings of the former Thurians, that is why we are willing to have friendly exchanged with Athens and to strengthen our exchanges to eliminate misunderstanding between us…”

Hearing this, Isocrates understood the meaning of Davos and the other statesmen: Besides military alliance, Theonia is willing to be friendly with Athens. Even though strengthening trade and cultural exchange does not seem to be different from the core meaning of his speech, Isocrates understood the obvious difference. Isocrates had initially talked about cooperation as the elder brother. However, now the Theonians had trampled on his elegance and nobility and told him that Theonia’s friendship is extremely precious, so they could only give a little to Athens depending on their performance…

‘Sure enough, this young man is not simple as he was able to sit in the position of the archon and single-handedly create the present Theonia!’ Isocrates looked at Davos in front of him and felt the pressure…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

While Isocrates gave a speech at the Senate of Theonia, Ansitanos took Lysias to the north side of the Nike Square, where a newly built building that looks like a temple with bronze statues of nine Muses lining up at the bottom of the steps.

“Is this the Temple of Apollo?” Lysias looked at Ansitanos with uncertainty.

Ansitanos still wore a mischievous smile while not uttering a single word.

With growing curiosity, Lysias walked up the steps and finally saw several huge letters “Library” on the lintel of the temple’s entrance.

“Is this?” Lysias can now guess the function of this building, ‘Such a large building is only used for books? Do they have so many books?’

He once more looked at Ansitanos with doubt, hoping that he could give an explanation.

“This is the library that our archon, lord Davos, took the lead in donating money to build!” Ansitanos then proudly pointed to the words and said, “He once said. ‘Books are the gems of human wisdom, whether it’s Persia, Egypt, Carthage, or even the earlier Sumerians, Hittite, Assyrian…the history and civilisation they created have finally converged in words and books, which is humanity’s shared wealth and the ladder for us to break away from ignorance and move towards a more brilliant civilisation. Thus we should make every effort to collect them! Protect them! If wars and disasters destroyed these treasures, it would be the most painful loss to humanity! However, besides collecting books, we should also share and read them to more people so that the people of Theonia can use this knowledge to improve themselves and creating wealth and a more brilliant culture. This is the reason for the creation of the library!’”

After hearing this, Lysias became fascinated. He then murmured, “Someone who can speak such great words must be a great person!”

Ansitanos then smiled to himself.

“Show me inside!” Lysias couldn’t wait to get inside but was stopped by the guards at the entrance.

“This is my friend. He had come with me as he wants to go in and visit.” Ansitanos hurried forward to explain.

“Understood, lord Ansitanos.” The guards saluted respectfully.

“There is still a military in a place where knowledge is stored!” Lysias unhappily said as he walked in.

“After all, books are precious and fragile. A fire can destroy them all, so naturally, someone needs to protect them to prevent accidents.” Explained Ansitanos.

Lysias then expressed his understanding. And after calming his anger, he said, “It seems that not just anyone can enter here.”

“Only Theonian citizens and preparatory citizens can enter.”

“So this gives another motivation for the freemen of Theonia to become citizens.” Lysias had gotten to know just how wide the gap was between the rights enjoyed by Theonian citizens, preparatory citizens, and freemen after only staying here for nearly two days. And this gap cannot be bridged, unlike Athens, where you can cross the gap between Athenians and foreigners as long as you work hard.

“I’m afraid that there are about 40,000 – 50,000 Theonian citizens in Thurii. If they all crowd into this library, could the library still be able to accommodate all of them?” Lysias asked doubtfully.

“We have already taken those problems into account. First of all, the quality of Theonia citizens has not yet reached the level that everyone can read and write. Secondly, it is impossible for them to appear simultaneously, and even if there are too many citizens who want to enter the library, we have placed a limit on how many can enter. However, I am afraid that it will be years till such a situation occurs. By then, there might be a second, third or even fourth library in Theonia…” Ansitanos’ words were filled with confidence in the union.

Lysias could only remain silent, but soon after, he was captivated by the sight before him: Rows of tall wooden cabinets neatly placed in the hall, splitting the large space into a walkway for only three or four people to pass side by side. Each wooden cabinet is open, separated by a strip of wood into a small rectangular space, containing volumes of books or materials assembled from papyrus or parchment. In front of these bookcases is an area with many wooden tables, with only a few people sitting there quietly reading books.

The book-loving Lysias was unable to refrain from saying, “There are so many books!”

“In fact, there are not many, as most of the bookcases in the back are empty. After all, it has only been less than 20 days since the library was completed.” Ansitanos then continued emotionally, “Lord Davos had called on the citizens of Theonia to take out their own collection of books from their home, allowing the library to copy and store it here. Afterwards, we also engraved the names of the citizens who had donated their books on the stone tablet. At that time, many citizens responded to his call, causing the scribes of the library to be too busy…”

Looking at the direction of Ansitanos’ finger, Lysias saw several stone tablets erected on the left side of the library’s entrance. Previously, he had just looked ahead and overlooked them.

The stone tablet was densely engraved with people’s names.

Lysias then noticed that only the first name was written, followed by the title of the book, “This…this…this is-” He touched the title in disbelief.

Chapter 377 – Carthage’s Current Situation

“Yes, this is the manuscript of Herodotus’ 《The Histories》 and the diaries and materials recorded by him during his travels. When Thurii burnt down, his descendants did not bring anything out when they escaped from the fire except these precious materials. Afterwards, they donated everything to the library!” Said Ansitanos excitedly.

“I…can I have a look?” Even though Lysias’s family was having difficulties in Athens, he didn’t ask anyone for anything. But now, he looked at Ansitanos with eagerness.

However, Ansitanos shook his head, “Lysias, I apologised, but Herodotus’s original manuscript of The Histories and materials are the most valuable treasures of Theonia, and precious materials such as these are stored up there and protected by special personnel.” Ansitanos pointed upward, which is the second floor of the library. “Due to their duties and research, only statesmen of the Senate and scholars of the Akademia of Theonia are allowed to enter. Yet, they could not even bring those precious and confidential materials out and could only read it there.”

“However, if you were to join Theonia, you will become the dean of the Institute of Literature according to lord Davos’ promise, so it would be easy for you to check any books and materials in the library.”

Lysias stood in his place as his expression changed. Although he had only been in Theonia for nearly two days, he was shocked at how this vibrant and rapidly developing city-state union with a short history had also attached great importance to knowledge and culture. They had even formulated a lot of systems and built many facilities to highlight its importance and ensure its development and inheritance, such as the Akademia of Theonia, Hall of Sages, and the newly built library… With its splendid culture, even Athens does not have such systems and facilities. It respects knowledge and scholars in such an important position as Theonia, a paradise for scholars to give full play to their talent!

After pondering about it, Lysias finally made up his mind, “After I return to Athens, I will discuss it with my family and decide when to come to Thurii.”

“Splendid!” Ansitanos was overjoyed and came forward to pat on Lysias’ shoulder and said, “Lord Davos will be thrilled when he knows that Theonia will have another famous Greek scholar! Believe me. You will be better off in Theonia than in Athens!”

“Shh!” The librarian poked his head out from behind the reception desk and made a hushing gesture.

Ansitanos could only nod apologetically.

At this time, Lysias said with a troubled expression, “Ansitanos, as far as I know, you are the dean of the Institute of Literature.”

“I am more interested in history. Rather, I only reluctantly agreed to become the dean of the Institute of Literature at the request of the archon because no one was competent at that time. But this has wasted too much time that I should have spent in writing my book. Now there is you who is more capable and has deeper literary attainment than me to take over, and I can’t be happy enough…” Ansitanos said a lot of things without thinking.

“Thank you, my friend!” Lysias smiled and bowed to Ansitanos. His heart suddenly became relieved after finally making his decision. He looked at the countless rows of bookcases stretching deep into the vast space in front of him, filling the air with the strange scent of wood and paper scraps. He took a deep breath, and he felt somewhat intoxicated, ‘I will spend the rest of my life here!’

“Ansitanos, if it is convenient, can you take me to meet the one you called ‘God’s favoured’ and the undefeated Davos. I would like to see for myself what kind of a great man someone who founded the Akademia of Theonia and built the library should be?!” His eyes were filled with curiosity and longing.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After the Carthaginian’s envoy’s ship sailed into the circular military port of Carthage, which is famous throughout the Mediterranean, the Carthaginians swarmed at the emerging envoy to learn about the result of the negotiation.

When they learned that the peace agreement has been signed and that they only needed to pay a certain amount of food, gold and silver to continue owning several cities, including Lilybaeum, Eryx and other city-states in the west of Sicily, everyone cheered, and some even shed tears…

The Sicilian war that lasted for several years cost Carthage a lot of wealth, and many of their citizens were also killed in this long and cruel war.

Especially during Carthage’s first war with Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, when the shophet Himilco led his army winning a great victory at the start and reaching even the city of Syracuse, but due to the outbreak of plague, they suffered miserably that they only manage to have dozen-odd ships struggling to sail back to the port.

Hearing this tragic situation, the Carthaginians gathered at the port inquiring about their relatives. After learning that fifty-sixty thousand soldiers (excluding mercenaries) had either died in Sicily or captured, the wails and screams of the bereaved rang throughout the coastline. It was the darkest day in Carthage, and the whole city was in grief.

Everyone wore black vail, every household closed their doors to see no visitors, suspended their businesses, and even the temples were closed…

In contrast, the nobility among the nobles in Carthage’s politics, the Magonids, who had come from Carthage’s mother state, the royal family of the famous Phoenician city – Tyre, monopolising the Carthaginian politics for nearly 200 years, had now finally been threatened. Following the disastrous defeat of the Carthaginian army led by Hamilcar, the patriarch of the Magonids, against Gelon the tyrant of Syracuse, in the Battle of Himera more than 70 years ago, the name of the Magonids was linked to defeat on an overseas expedition. And this time, the situation was more serious as almost everyone in the Carthaginian army was lost, but Himilco did not die on the battlefield like his ancestor. Instead, he abandoned his comrades and soldiers and fled back alone. Such an act of desertion is enough to be punished by getting crucified according to Carthaginian law, but because of the Magonids status as kings in Carthage, the Magonids patriarch was temporarily exempted from the punishment. However, the storm did not end there as the Carthaginian elites, who are already discontent with the Magonids, used the grief and anger of the citizens to push for reform.

Himilco, the loser who had brought shame to his family, realised that the situation was highly unfavourable to the Magonids. So he confesses to the gods about his sin by wearing cheap and worn linen clothes every day and going to the main Temple of Melqart in Carthage in hopes to redeem himself in this way. But in the end, the citizens’ persecution, ridicule and humiliation made him break down, and six months later, he locked himself at home and killed himself. Unfortunately, this public act of atonement is still not enough to safeguard the authority of the Magonids.

Shortly afterwards, Carthage established a new political body – the Hundred and Four, a constitutional authority composed of members of the aristocracy. Its duty is to supervise the actions of Carthaginian officials and military commanders and the work of the high court. However, the Magonids was not elected to be a part of it.

In order to revive the declining power of the Magonids in Carthage and win back prestige among the populace, Mago, the new patriarch of the Magonids and was the younger brother of Himilco, took advantage of their family’s still significant influence in the Senate and the tyrant of Syracuse – Dionysius’ attack on Soluntum and once again provoked Carthage’s third Sicilian war against Syracuse.

However, the Carthaginian army, which was significantly weakened, was losing more than winning against an increasingly powerful Syracusan army. Mago insisted on continuing, however, Carthage was already tired of war, and with no chance of victory in sight, they feared another disastrous defeat, so “truce” became the unanimous voice of the citizens.

Eventually, an agreement was reached, however, Mago had to bear responsibility for their defeat. So when the Carthaginian envoy in charge of negotiating with Syracuse returned, the whole city was cheering at the arrival of peace. At the same time, only one family felt cold, and one might even say disheartened.

In a huge residence not far from the mountain in the Acropolis of Carthage, people of the Magonids are paying a memorial ceremony as today is the memorial day of Himilco. However, the loud, noisy music and the cheering of the people outside their residence have obviously destroyed the sorrowful atmosphere.

But Hasdrubal knew that the Carthaginians are currently worshipping and celebrating Demeter, the Greek goddess of harvest, and her daughter, Persephone.

The Carthaginians are worshipping Greek gods?! Yes. In Sicily, the Phoenician colonial city-states, which have deep ties between the Greek city-state and Carthage, have lived together for centuries, deepening their influence. Both goddesses, Demeter and Persephone, were not only popular with the Greeks in Sicily, but they were also gradually accepted by the Phoenicians, and even the Sicilians believed that Hades, the king of the underworld, had abducted Persephone in Sicily. This cultural influence also penetrated Carthage, where there were already temples of these two goddesses in Carthage. After the recklessness of Himilco’s army, both goddesses became even more prominent among the Carthaginian gods and goddesses because when Himilco led his army to attack Syracuse, his solder looted the temples of these two goddesses on the southern slope of Epipolae. But soon after, a plague broke out in the Carthage’s military camp, leading to their disastrous defeat. Therefore, the Carthaginians think that this is the punishment of the goddesses for their blasphemy. After all, Persephone is the queen of the underworld.

So the frightened Carthaginians even strongly urged the Senate to pass a decree for the mass praying of the two goddesses. To this end, they also specially visited the Greeks who settled in Carthage, assigned them to serve the two goddesses, especially Persephone. They even made it obligatory for the ceremony to be carried out in the Greek manner. And due to this religious ceremony, which continued year after year, the two Greek goddesses came to occupy an increasingly important place in the hearts of the Carthaginian citizens.

Chapter 378 – The Magonids

This was a humiliation for the Magonids.

‘Who would dare to shout outside the residence when our family was powerful?! Those conceited Carthaginians! They were the reason for our family’s current predicament!’ Hasdrubal could not hold back his anger anymore, turned to the slaves outside the hall and shouted, “All of you take a stick and go outside and get rid of all those pests!”

“Hasdrubal!” Mago shouted in a low voice, causing the irritable Hasdrubal to shut his mouth unwillingly.

Mago swept a glance at the few immediate relatives behind him and sighed. In the past, their family looked brilliant. However, for the benefit of Carthage, they fought Syracuse for many years, causing many of their relatives to die on the battlefield. His cousin, Hannibal Mago, became infected with a cold after getting his revenge on their grandfather’s humiliation at his defeat in the Battle of Himera and then died of illness on his return to the city. Another one of his brothers died in the plague in which Himilco had fled, and even his son was, unfortunately, shot in the just-ended war with Syracuse…

Even though the Magonids paid so much, the only thing they received in return was a relentless joint suppression by their political enemies. In the Senate election a few days ago, the influence of the Magonids among the newly appointed statesmen was significantly reduced. And for the first time, Mago, the new patriarch of the Magonids, did not serve as the shophet. This is the first time in a century that the Magonids’ patriarch has failed to become the shophet. In contrast, the Magonids’ main opponent, the Hannonian, another great aristocrat family whose strength is only second to them, has become the big winner of this election. The Hannonian had not only firmly controlled the Senate, but their patriarch – Hanno became the shophet, while the other shophet was his close friend. (T/N: This is actually not true, after Himilco’s death, Mago still became one of the shophet.)

‘We had to prepare early as the family would face even greater difficulties!’ Mago clenched his fists and once again affirmed the decision he made earlier.

“Hasdrubal.” Mago then said to his nephew with seriousness, “You are already 25-years old, and yet you are still reckless. So how would I dare entrust you the task of reviving the family and restoring our glory in the future?!”

“Uncle, I-” Hasdrubal wanted to argue but was interrupted by Mago. Mago then simply said, “Go to Iberia. At least there, no one will stare at you and take advantage of your political childishness and bring disaster to the family.”

“You are making me go to Iberia?!” Hasdrubal’s mouth dropped open, not expecting to be banished just like that.

“You are not the only one to leave Carthage, as I will also leave.” Mago was about to explain when his 10-year-old daughter Dido asked urgently, “Father, where are you going?”

Mago bowed his head and said to his only daughter, who had the same name as the founding Queen of Carthage – Dido, “I’m just going to Sicily. It’s not far from Carthage, and I can come back at any time.”

“Father, are you going to serve as the commander in Sicily to fend off the Greeks?” Dido asked again immediately.

Mago looked at his young but already quite beautiful daughter and sighed at her intelligence. However, it was a pity that she was a woman.

Glancing at the disgruntled Hasdrubal again, he sighed and went on to explain, “Although we have signed a contract with Syracuse, the Senate is still wary of Dionysius. Hence they sent me to Sicily, and even though it is what Hanno wanted, it is also what I hope. Sooner or later, there will be another war between Carthage and Syracuse as the peace between both city-states will not last long. That’s why we must be prepare and take back what our, the Magonids, lost in the war through war!” Mago continued firmly, “After I arrived in Sicily, I will start recruiting soldiers, train them strictly and gradually established an effective defensive fortress east of Lilibaeum and Eryx. Afterwards, I will slowly extend the buffer zone with the Greeks eastward as we wait for the time to…”

He then patted Hasdrubal’s broad shoulder and said, “Do you think that by sending you to Iberia, I am exiling you? No! It’s because I need your help!”

“You need my help?” Hasdrubal felt puzzled and excited at the same time.

“War consumes men and money. Once we go to war with Syracuse, I fear that Hanno will hold me back by not giving Carthage’s full support. Therefore, we must rely more on ourselves, just like how Hannibal used the family’s wealth to summon an army to help Himera decades ago. The south of Iberia is a fertile land much larger than Carthage and Sicily, rich in silver, iron ore and other metals. They also have a large population of indigenous people. Since the fall of the kingdom of Tartessos, there has never been a powerful force there, which should have been a great opportunity given to the Carthaginians by Melqart. However, our people and the elders became too comfortable as they would rather do trade and farming in Carthage and Numidia than venture on the unfamiliar land thousands of kilometres away.

Since no one in Carthage could do it, it’s up to our family to do it! Hasdrubal, the family has decided to provide you with sufficient manpower and money, so I hope that you can gain a firm foothold in Iberia and occupy a stable territory for the family as the strongest backer for my future war with Syracuse!”

“Rest assured, uncle, I won’t let you down!” Hasdrubal no longer has any dissatisfaction. On the contrary, he clenched his hands and looked excited.

Mago looked at him with some uneasiness. He knew his nephew well enough to know that he was good at leading men into battle, but conquering an unfamiliar land requires more than warfare; it needs administrative and diplomatic skills, which Hasdrubal lacked. However, he is the only one among the Magonids immediate family who was up to the task, so he could only think of sending him a competent assistant to make up for his shortcomings in this regard.

“Uncle, I’d like to go to Iberia with my brother!” A young voice then sounded in the hall.

“Haka, you can’t come!” Hasdrubal said flatly to a thinned face, pale youth.

“Developing Iberia has become the most important event that will determine the rise and fall of our Magonid family, so how can I, a member of the family, live comfortably alone in the city and just watched my uncle and you go through difficulties outside! And-” The young man looked solemnly at the bronze bust of Himilco and the food offering in front of it, “I also hope to avenge father!”

His words made Hasdrubal choked. Afterwards, Hasdrubal said, “But your health-”

“After exercising for some time, my body is now much better. And I will continue doing exercise in Iberia. Besides, you are the one that needs to lead the troops into battle, brother, while I will just stay in the camp…” Haka explained to both Hasdrubal and Mago.

“Haka, are you sure you want to go?” Mago finally asked.

“Yes, uncle. I already made up my mind!”

Although Haka said it lightly, Mago knew that once his little nephew decided something, it would be difficult for others to make him change his mind. However, he had been intelligent from a young age and had maturity and steadiness, unlike any other teenage kid. Himilco even once thought that he would bring greater glory to the Magonids in the future, but he had always been weak and ill. Still, Mago believes that if he went to Iberia and assisted Hasdrubal, he would undoubtedly get greater benefits.

“Now that you have made up your mind, I agree in letting you go. But you should understand that if you could not guarantee your health, it would be difficult for you to help Hasdrubal and our Magonids in the future!” Mago said seriously.

“I understand.” Haka nodded.

“Uncle, but-” Hasdrubal wanted to say more due to his uneasiness, but Mago loudly said, “Let’s go and pray to your father for the last time. I hope that he can protect the family’s business and for everything to go well…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Theonia’s rugby and football games are in full swing even though July is a scorching season.

Davos, who had just return from the Senate meeting, received an urgent letter from Laos.

“Go to the Akademia of Theonia and call Henipolis back!” After reading the letter, he immediately ordered his slave with a severe expression.

“Yes, master.”

“Milord, why have you hurriedly called me back? I almost got scolded by that old man again.” Davos could hear Henipolis voice before he even entered his study, “Since that old Athenian came to the Institute of Literature, we have become much busier than before. Besides reciting poetry and prose every day, we also have to write an article within two to three days. And if we can’t meet his requirements, we have to rewrite it. Milord, why don’t you tell teacher Ansitanos that I don’t want to be a rhetorician, as I just want to continue studying history with him…”

“Heni, you no longer have the time to study history.” Davos handed him a letter with a solemn expression.

Henipolis suddenly felt a bad premonition. He quickly received the letter and opened it. He then felt like five thunderbolts had struck him, making his whole body freeze, “…this…this is not real…at the start of the year, my father came to Thurii to see me…he was in good health!…really good!…” As he spoke, lines of tears dripped down from both of his eyes.

Davos sighed: Avinoges fainted at the party and remained unconscious. According to his previous life’s experience, he feared that it was “Cerebral Oedema”. ‘I have long advised him to stop overeating, but!…’

Henipolis suddenly remembered something. He then suddenly came forward, grabbed Davos’ hands tightly and begged anxiously, “Milord! Milord! You are the favoured of Hades! You are the teacher of all Theonia’s physicians! Please save my father! Save him!!…”

Chapter 379 – Davos’ Father-in-law

“Heni, calm down! I have already sent Herpus to rush to Laos, and after I finish the matter here, I will also rush tomorrow!” Davos said loudly.

“Thank you, milord, thank you!…” Said Henipolis as he sobbed.

Although Davos felt sorry for him, he could not let him stay sad like this because he knew that cerebral oedema was an extremely dangerous disease at the level of medical science in this era. Even Theonia can’t do anything about it, and everything is all up to luck for him to wake up. Thus he needs to start planning for the future of Laos.

“Heni! Heni! Look at me! Look at me!” Davos shook Henipolis’ body and shouted at him.

Henipolis blankly raised his head with tears flowing down his face.

“I need to tell you that the physicians of Theonia have experience the condition of your father many times. However, the situation after the treatment is not optimistic.” Hearing this, Henipolis showed a pained expression.

“Listen, child. You are already a 25-year-old young man, a distinguished man of Theonia! If your father’s situation is really bad…you should bravely take over the burden borne by him by taking care of your mother and the people of Laos, just as your father did! Do you understand?!…do you understand!!”

“I…understand…” Henipolis nodded with tears.

“Good. Go back and pack your things. You should hurry back to Laos, and I will meet you there!” Davos patted his thin shoulder encouragingly.

As he wiped his tears with his hands, Henipolis staggered out. Then, he suddenly stopped, “Milord, I…can I ask you for help when I am in trouble?”

“Child.” Davos said gently but firmly, “As I have already said, I regard you as my own child, so I will definitely help you with all my might in any difficulties you may face!”

“What happened? I saw Heni crying.” Cheiristoya came in with Crotokatax.

“Dad, I just saw brother Heni crying. He is so big and yet still cry.” Little Cro followed to say.

Davos picked up his child. Even though this guy was almost five years old, he is already quite strong, “Your brother Heni’s father has collapsed and still haven’t woken up yet.”

“Ah!” Cheiristoya exclaimed and asked, “Is it serious?”

Davos nodded heavily.

Cheiristoya became gloomy. She then thought of something and asked, “Is Heni going back to prepare to take over as the archon?”

“Besides him, who else in Laos could?” Davos said indifferently.

“Dad.” At this time, little Cro pinched his face and asked worriedly, “Are you going to collapse too?”

Davos looked at little Cro and Cheiristoya and answered seriously, “For you, I can’t collapse.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Agnes’ father, Athelycus, is a famous noble in Rhegium, and he had come from a family who is one of the earliest immigrants in the city of Rhegium. Decades ago, the famous tyrant of Rhegium – Anaxilas, had come from this family. He had also married his daughter to Hiero, the tyrant of Syracuse at that time, but later fell out with him due to the Locrians.

When Dionysius proposed to Agnes, it was not only due to her beauty but also because of her family’s influence in Rhegium and her connection with Syracuse. But in the end, Rhegium chose Theonia. With Athelycus marrying his daughter to Theonia’s archon, Davos, the Rhegians elected him as one of Rhegium’s strategoi for two consecutive years.

Athelycus developed his family’s sea trade by taking advantage of the unique geographical location of Rhegium, especially in the trade between the two city-states of Massalia(Marseille) and Zakantha(Sagunto), earning him huge profits. Furthermore, Athelycus has two shipyards, and its shipbuilding capacity is second to none in South Italia. That is why the Theonian Senate approved handing over the construction of six of the ten triremes to be built this year to Athelycus’ shipyard. Of course, this is also the way for Theonia to draw in Rhegium.

But when he and his son-in-law met, the scene was not as harmonious as one expects.

“What are you talking about? To make Rhegium deliver our six triremes in our fleet to Theonia?!”

“That’s right. And we will still pay you the price of a new ship while you upgrade your fleet with the new ship, wouldn’t that be good?”

“No, it’s not! We can’t give you our existing warships as it will weaken the strength of Rhegium’s fleet!”

“You only have to wait a few more months before you can use the new ship.”

“That’s still not good. With the support of the tyrant of Syracuse, the Messinians are now rampant. That’s why we must have enough warships to deter them! Why couldn’t you just wait a few more months! You can rest assured that our shipyard will deliver the warship to Theonia on time.”

“Our navy is stepping up the training of new tactics, so we urgently need new warships to join in order for us to become familiar with and adapt the tactics as soon as possible.”

“New tactics? What new tactics made you so anxious?!…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the slave outside the living room heard Athelycus’ voice became louder as if they were quarrelling, he hurriedly went to tell Agnes.

Hearing it, Agnes felt helpless. Even though she is now the wife of the most powerful archon in South Italia, trying to dissuade her father, who is discussing with her husband, made her uneasy as she grew up under her father’s shouting. Thus she went to get Cheiristoya.

Cheiristoya, who was walking in the garden, listened to Agnes’ request. She then looked at the sky and said with a confident smile, “Sister, don’t worry. I will go and persuade them.”

After giving a few instructions to Azune, she then stops at the outside of the living room. After listening for a moment, she walked right in and said with a smile, “Davos, lord Athelycus, I apologise for interrupting you. However, dinner is already ready, and the children are waiting. Would you like to continue your discussion after dinner or -”

“After dinner, of course.” As soon as Davos heard that the children were hungry, he could no longer sit still. Thus he said to his father-in-law, “Let’s finish our meal first before continuing.” Then he stood up.

Athelycus stared at Cheiristoya, but he could not say anything to a pregnant woman, so he just followed them out of the living room.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Davos, to tell the truth, this fish soup is much better than the one made in the restaurant that you opened in Rhegium. Is there anything going on?!” The fish-loving Athelycus ate the dinner that was specially prepared for him. He was so satisfied that he forgot his previous displeasure and began joking around.

“There are none. The restaurant is filled with customers making the time so tight that the chef doesn’t have enough time to cook it well. While here, just marinating this fish had taken over an hour.” Explained Davos.

“Excellent!” Athelycus praised. He then took another sip and then asked, “Have you tasted the fish sauce I sent last time?”

“Yes. Its taste is unique. It has both savoury and fresh, and a very pungent flavour…my chefs are using it as a sauce and trying it with other foods…” Said Davos.

“That fish sauce was made by the Phoenicians and was produced in Gadir(Cadiz). The city of Gadir, besides being famous for its abundance of silver, Gadir is also famous for this thing. In North Africa, Iberia, Carthage, western Sicily, the coast of Egypt, Asia Minor, and many places had regarded this as a delicious seasoning…” Athelycus took a sip of wine, rinsed his mouth and added, “There are only two kinds of workshops in the city of Gadir, one for refining silver and one for making this fish sauce, and they are roughly split 50/50.”

“Oh, Gadir.” Davos knew this place. It is located at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula and is famous for its abundance of silver. The Phoenicians of Tyre had built it as a settlement, but the Carthaginians now controlled it. However, Davos did not expect it to have this industry besides silver.

“I heard that this fish sauce is made of a…uhm, rotten entrails of mackerels mixed with vinegar. I -” As soon as Athelycus said this, he heard a vomiting sound. Then he saw Agnes leaning on the table as she began to vomit.

Athelycus initially showed anger at his daughter’s interruption, but he soon realised what was happening and immediately looked at Davos with eagerness.

“I haven’t had the time to tell you.” Davos then said with a smile, “Agnes is pregnant.”

“Wonderful! She is finally pregnant! I was worried about whether it’s Artemis’ punishment* that even though two years had passed since her marriage, her stomach showed no sign, while Cheiristoya is about to give birth to a second one. At last, I can finally rest assured!” Athelycus smiled happily. He then raised his mug and said, “This is a great event! Davos, let’s have a toast!” (referring to how Agnes had first served as the priestess of the famous Artemis, then transferred to become the priestess of Hera, then married.)

“Cheers!” Davos also raised his mug and drank its content all at once.

Athelycus hiccupped after putting down his mug.

Still seeing Agnes vomiting on the table, Davos anxiously motioned for Cheiristoya to ask someone to help Agnes take a rest.

At this time, Athelycus then said, “Davos, I am ecstatic today, so I have decided to agree to your previous proposal and deliver the six triremes of Rhe…uhm…Rhegium’s fleet to you first. As for your other suggestions, such as having the two fleets train together, I will have to go back and discuss it with the Council before I can give you an answer.”

When Cheiristoya noticed that they had begun discussing, she knew that Davos and Athelycus would start talking about business again, so she hurriedly asked the children to leave.

Chapter 380 – Rhegium’s Request

When Cheiristoya was about to take little Cro away, he held on to his father’s knees and started crying and making a fuss.

However, Davos couldn’t take care of him at the moment, so he turned to Athelycus and said, “The Theonian Senate will be pleased to hear this, and I hope that-”

Athelycus waved his hand and hurriedly said, “However, Rhegium also has a small request that we hope Theonia could agree!”

The Greeks of South Italia has a saying that the Rhegians are all merchants that haggles over every penny. And Athelycus is the best among them. Sure enough, Davos couldn’t get anything for free! Thus he could only brace himself as he said, “Go ahead.”

“You should already know that the tyrant of Syracuse has rebuilt Messina. And now, Messina has completely yielded to Syracuse and are now opposing Rhegium at every turn. Moreover, they have an accomplice – Tyndaris. It is the colonial city where the tyrant of Syracuse had settled the exiled Messenians, which is not far from Messina. The two city-states joint forces and often disrupt the trade routes of the Strait, and sometimes even detain the merchant ships that come to trade with Rhegium…if this were to continue, there would be no one that will dare to come to Rhegium by sea to trade!” Athelycus said with melancholy.

“We even protested to Messina many times, but it all failed. We even sent envoys to Syracuse, but the tyrant would not even meet our envoys! Therefore, after our Council discussed it, we decided to build a colonial city on Peloritani to accommodate the exiles of some Sicilian city-states such as Catania, Naxos and Leontinoi…”

“Wait.” Davos looked at the slaves who were waiting on him and said, “Go to the study and get me the map of Sicily.” Although Davos has the habit of reading maps every day, he only has a poor memory of Sicily’s terrain and city-state locations compared with his familiarity with South Italia.

“Dionysius destroyed the city-states such as Catania and Naxo, so those exiles must be full of hatred for Syracuse.” Davos knew that many city-states in Magna Graecia had taken in Sicilian exiles because they were wary of Syracuse, so they did not have a problem helping those exiles that Syracuse banished. And Davos naturally thought of Aristias at this moment.

“That’s for sure, which is why they won’t easily submit to the tyrant!” Athelycus said in hatred.

After the slave brought the map, Davos unfolded it on the table.

“This is Messina…this here is Tyndaris…” Davos looked at the map carefully.

Athelycus also leaned over as he looked at the map. He then noticed that the specially drawn map was large and meticulous in its details, which was no less than the one stored in Rhegium’s city hall. Obviously, his son-in-law paid no less attention to Sicily as even the newly built city-states, such as Lilibaeum, the new city of Messina and Tyndaris, were clearly marked, and even some of those city-states that were destroyed were also marked with an explanation. For example, the city of Himera, on the north coast, has an explanation that it was “Destroyed during the Sicilian war launched by Carthage’s commander – Hannibal, fifteen years ago.”

“This Peloritani…” Davos’ finger stopped in the northeast corner of Sicily. It’s located between Messina and Tyndaris, making its location excellent as it can cut off the connection between the two cities. After all, Messina and Tyndaris are both new cities (Carthage destroyed the old Messina), so they are not that strong. And even with the support of Syracuse, Syracuse had too many city-states under it that it is impossible for them to support Messina and Tyndaris fully. Although Rhegium is not as strong as Syracuse, they are still a powerful and wealthy city-state. Thus if they were to pour a lot of resources into this new city, it would soon surpass both Messina and Tyndaris, thus achieving the purpose of restraining and deterring the two cities.

But there is a serious problem.

“Have you taken into account Syracuse’s attitude?” Asked Davos.

“Following the ancient tradition, any Greek city-state has the right to establish a colony. Furthermore, the location of our new city is not within the territory of Messina and Tyndaris…” Said Athelycus.

“Dionysius wouldn’t care about Greek tradition with his personality.” Davos didn’t think much of it and said with a serious expression, “He had just managed to control the western Sicily, but if there is an outsider that wants to put his hands in his sphere of influence, do you think he will agree?”

“That’s why I have come to Thurii this time. Rhegium hopes to get your support!” Athelycus eagerly continued, “For this reason, Rhegium is willing to hand over the command of our fleet to Theonia.”

Initially, the city-states in Theonia Alliance did not have such freedom to bargain with Theonia. However, unlike the other small affiliated city-states, Rhegium was the only powerful Greek city-state in Magna Graecia to join the alliance. Thus the Theonian Senate showed enough tolerance and respect to them that Davos even invited Rhegium to join the South Italia Alliance in order to strengthen Theonia’s voice. On the other hand, the other city-states such as Crotone did not strongly oppose it due to Rhegium’s influence. Hence, Rhegium is the only Greek city-state in Magna Graecia that belongs to both the Theonia Alliance and South Italia Alliance.

However, Davos remained silent: Support? That is easy to say, as this would mean that it is a war. However, Theonia is trying to avoid war. Otherwise, why would they sign a friendship agreement with Syracuse? Rhegium just wants to drag Theonia into the water!

“I need to discuss such an important matter with the Senate and even with other city-states in the alliance.” Said Davos ambiguously, without giving an immediate answer.

It took Davos a good deal of time to send the unhappy-looking Athelycus away. And even after that, Davos still paced back and forth in the living room, thinking about the Strait of Messina.

In the end, he called Aristias.

“A war would break out!” Aristias affirmed, “The reason why Messina and Tyndaris dared to invade Rhegium so boldly was due to the support of Dionysius. Perhaps what Rhegium wanted to do is exactly what Dionysius hoped for, as he could launch a war against Rhegium, not only will they get their revenge on Rhegium-” Said Aristias as he looked at Davos.

Davos didn’t care what he was hinting at and just said, “Continue.”

“Syracuse would then occupy Rhegium and control the whole Strait of Messina, allowing Dionysius to collect taxes on passing merchant ships to support his huge army. Milord, according to the intelligence we have gathered, Syracuse claimed a lot of war reparation in their negotiation with Carthage. Afterwards, they used the money to buy food, build more warships and pay the mercenaries. This is definitely not just to threaten Rhegium!” Said Aristias worriedly.

Davos remained silent as he already knew all this information.

Aristias continued, “In addition…milord, from the intelligence that was recently gathered across Theonia, I have discovered a situation that I hope will attract your attention.”

“Oh, what is it?” Davos looked at him.

“There is currently a growing concern among the preparatory citizens and registered freemen. That is, they are worried that they will no longer be able to obtain land even if they become an official citizen of Theonia…”

Indeed, Theonia Union has basically divided the land under its territory. And the only places that they have spare lands are the Lucanian mountains and the Bruttii regions, but that is not enough for so many preparatory citizens.

“So, do they want to leave?” Davos’ mouth curled up slightly as he said half-jokingly.

“Theonia is a paradise for freemen, so how could they leave?!” Aristias paused then continued, “They hope for a war, use war to win more land, use battles to shorten the years they need to wait to become a citizen and use their achievements in war to get land!”

Davos’ mood became a bit heavy. The military merit system he designed for Theonia is basically their way of attracting Greek freemen to flock to Theonia. And it is also the motivation for the citizens’ desire for battle and bravery.

“Those who forget war will be in danger, but those who are militant will die…” Davos silently recited these words. He affirmed to himself that he must firmly control the commanding power of Theonia’s army in his hands. Otherwise, once it gets out of control, the consequences would be unimaginable. However, Theonia is still weak right now, and it still needs this system to grow.

“Land…” Davos stroked his chin. Now, Theonia has indeed reached a bottleneck in its expansion. To the south, there is a powerful Syracuse. To the north, there is the Samnites, and Davos knew that the Romans had spent decades conquering this warlike race and had even suffered several disastrous defeats. That’s why Theonia would not easily provoke them before they are ready.

Further east is the territory of Messapi and Peucetti, and in terms of distance, it is the closest place to Theonia, but these two races are not easy to deal with, and if they were to join hands, Theonia would need to fight them with all its might to conquer them. However, the current situation does not allow them, and there is also Taranto between them, and even though their relationship with Theonia is not harmonious, but without its full support, Davos does not dare to send an army to attack Messapi.

Chapter 381 – Visitor from the South

As for the west, there is the vast sea and several large islands such as Sardinia, Corsica, Balearic Islands and so on, which was mainly under Carthage. However, Davos does not dare to offend another powerful force in the western Mediterranean while facing the threat of Syracuse. As for occupying a region in Gaul, Davos did not even consider it as Theonia’s navy was not even capable. Besides wasting too much national power due to travelling long distances, they might not even be able to keep it.

With Theonia’s expansion at its limit, how would he be able to break the stalemate? Davos thought deeply…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Theonians favourite month is September. Apart from being the harvest season, it is also the month when Hades, the patron of Theonia, was born. And during that time, besides the lively festival, Theonia Union would even hold the rugby finals. This is the month of festivity for the Theonians, especially in Thurii.

In many Greek city-states headed by Athens, September is the month of Elaphebolia (It is the month where the Greeks held a festival offering cakes in the shape of stags to Artemis.) While in Theonia, September was officially designated as the month of Hades. Similarly, April was also designated as the month of marriage and Hera’s Day, while in many Greek city-states, the month of marriage is set in July…

Just from those, it could be seen that Theonia has gradually started deviating from the traditional Greek city-states in terms of life, customs and culture.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On this day, a young man called Megaris came to the port of Thurii. He is a medium-sized man with a well-proportioned and athletic body.

It was obvious that this was his first time coming to Thurii, as he was surprised at seeing so many ships in the port. Just reaching the dock alone had already taken him a long time, and he even needed to squeeze among the crowd in the port. After getting out of the port, all horse-drawn vehicles were already taken, so he had to walk for more than an hour to arrive outside the city of Thurii, where there was already a long queue.

However, Megaris was not in a hurry. He patiently waited in line while listening to the people happily talk about “What kind of large-scale performance will be held in the Nike Square for this year’s Hades’ Day, or guessing which city’s team will be the winner of this year’s rugby finale…” It was already noon when he reached the city guards.

Although he was hungry and thirsty, he still patiently answered the guard’s question.

“Are you a Theonian citizen? If not, go back. During this time, the city of Thurii is not allowing foreigners and freemen to enter!”

“I am a Theonian citizen, my name is Megaris and I live in Krimisa, my number is 1356…” Said Megaris fluently.

The guard stared at him and said, “Show me your identity plate.” Following the proposal of Davos, Theonia made a palm-sized bronze plate for each official citizen since the previous year. Engraved on the front was the citizen’s name, while on the back were the citizen’s city of residence and citizen number. Even though this is just a simple identity authentication, it is already a significant innovation in this era. It is especially convenient for managing the movement of citizens in the territory, particularly for the census officers. Previously, if a citizen living in Thurii broke the law in the city of Aprustum, the city would need to record his violation then send it to the Census Registry Department of Thurii. Afterwards, the census officers would need to find the citizen’s file before they could record his violations. However, Thurii has tens of thousands of citizens living there, with a lot of them having the same names, so finding them would be a very troublesome thing, but now it has become easier to find them with the citizen number. And although the bronze identity plate is simple to make, the number of each plate is unique, so checking whether it is a forgery is relatively easy. And making a forgery of this would one be charged with felony according to the Theonian law, so no one dared to forge it.

Megaris calmly took the bronze plate out of his pocket and handed it to the guard.

After looking at it carefully, the guard threw the bronze plate back to him. With many people going in and out of Thurii every day, it is only natural for the city guard not to register them. He then pointed to the bulging satchel carried by Megaris and said, “What’s in it?”

“They are all coins. With the rugby game lasting nearly a month, it would cost a lot just living here.” Said Megaris.

“Open it.” Said the guard as he looked at him seriously.

Having no choice, Megaris could only open it.

“clink clink clink…” The guard reached in and rummaged the coins twice. After checking that all are coins, the guard nodded and said, “Go in.”

Megaris then picked up the satchel, but when he was just about to take two steps.

“Oh right.” The guard shouted behind, causing Megaris’ heart to jerk suddenly.

“Just to be safe, you’d better deposit all your money in Cheiristoya’s Bank and only withdraw it once you need it.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Megaris thanked the guard.

After entering the city, he followed the map he had seen before, and after asking the people he met on the way, he finally found the inn not far from Theonia’s arena.

In the lobby of the inn were numerous people.

Just when Megaris squeezed to the counter, the attendant looked at him and said apologetically, “I apologise. The place is already full.”

“I have a reservation.” Megaris hurriedly responded.

Taken aback, the attendant asked, “What room is it? Who made the reservation?”

“Room 17, and the one who reserved it is Aureas.” Megaris answered smoothly.

The attendant immediately opened the register, “Yes, room 17 was booked for five days. Are you Megaris?”

Megaris then showed him the bronze plate.

After confirming it, the attendant nodded and said, “Please follow me.” Then he took Megaris upstairs.

“Lucky guy.” Muttered someone in the lobby. In fact, many people who had come to the festival lived directly in the homes of the people they knew in Thurii. Only some new citizens or preparatory citizens had to stay in the inns because they had no friends and acquaintances in Thurii.

Megaris entered the room, and after the attendant left, he quickly locked the door and looked carefully at the room’s layout.

Then he went to bed, moved it out and reached the bottom of the bed near the side of the wall. Soon, he took out something tightly wrapped in linen.

He opened it carefully and saw a blue dagger inside…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the next few days, Megaris travelled through the streets of Thurii, especially the Temple of Hades, where he observed the terrain many times. Except for when he is inquiring about the festival from the Thurians, he always went on his own way and tried not to contact others.

Soon a problem occurred; he fell in love with the food of Cheiristoya’s Restaurant. Despite the many trials of death on the battlefield, this mission had given him a considerable amount of stress. So, where is the best place in a city-state to relieve that stress? It is, of course, the restaurant.

As a mercenary, Megaris, who had been living a simple life, was soon enraptured by the delicious food of Cheiristoya’s Restaurant, such as hot pot, beef tripe, fresh fish soup, honey bread and fried cod. Soon, he learned some of the “bad habits” among the wealthy Theonians – spending three meals a day in the restaurant.

But there is one thing that he had forgotten, that is, in order to stay in the guest room in the city of Thurii in time, he came eight days earlier before the festival on September 9. And with the food in Cheiristoya’s Restaurant is not cheap, not to mention that during the festival, the city became crowded, causing the price of goods to rise, especially the food. Therefore, after a few days, Megaris found that he had used up his  “Hades’ Coin”, so he tried to pay with other city-state currencies, but the waiter refused his payment and said they do not accept coins from other city-states except the coins issued by Theonia.

Feeling helpless, and at the same time for convenience, Megaris brought all the money in his satchel to Cheiristoya’s Bank.

When it was finally his turn, the bank employee asked him through the iron window from the counter, “Are you going to deposit or withdraw money?”

“I would like to exchange for Theonian coins.” Megaris patted the satchel.

The employee looked at it then handed out a piece of papyrus, “Write down the name of the currency you are going to exchange and the quantity…”

Megaris then said with embarrassment, “I…I can’t read.”

The employee often encounters this situation, so he continued to say without a change of tone, “This…you can tell me how much money you want to exchange, then give me the money you want to exchange and watch me while I confirm it for you. Do you agree?”

After hesitating, Megaris nodded and told the employee the type and amount of currencies he wanted to exchange.

The employee listened as he began to take notes. But when he heard “Syracuse’s Tetradrachms”, the iron stylus on his hand trembled slightly. However, some Sicilian merchants would sometimes come to Thurii and would deposit and exchange coins from time to time.

After writing it down, he called another employee to count and recheck as Megaris stuffed his satchel into the window.

The employee opened the satchel and began counting the coins. Although it seems that the employee looked at it carelessly, he is, in fact, examining the coins with great care. His heart then jolted when he saw that the majority of the coins in the bags were “Syracuse’s Tetradrachms”, and some of them were even in mint condition…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Lord Ansitanos, you must persuade that child when you go Laos this time! It has only been a few days since he became the archon, but before he could even warm the chair with his ass, he already wants to change the laws of Laos by strictly governing the illegal activities in the city…” Davos continued angrily, “This is like declaring war on those nobles of Laos(they are actually the former chieftains of the smaller tribes) and threatened by giving more rights to the commoners. Hmph! Who does he think he is? Even his father wouldn’t dare to do that! What does he take Laos for? Theonia or Athens? No, he doesn’t even know that Laos is not a true Greek city-state. It’s just an old tribal union changing its name…”

Chapter 382 – The Eve of the Festival

“Henipolis is still young! And with him holding such power in his hand, he got carried away as he just wants to do what he thinks is right, even though he doesn’t understand the actual situation of Laos…” Ansitanos spoke in a gentle tone.

“But what Theonia needs now is a stable Laos, so no matter what ideas he has, he had first to stabilise the order of Laos and slowly build up his own prestige. Lord Ansitanos, once you arrived, you should tell him not to be too anxious in governing Laos. After all, with the support of Theonia, his wish will certainly be fulfilled in the future!” After venting out his anger, Davos mood improved, and he seriously added,  “In addition, you should also warn him to listen to the opinions of his father’s men and respect them, especially his uncle Alobamus, and discuss the matters with him more…”

“I understand, Lord Davos. I will try my best to persuade Heni.” Ansitanos answered seriously.

“By the way, how is the ode of Hades that Lysias is writing going on? The festival will begin in two days.” Davos asked with concern.

“It’s almost finished. Even though Lysias is still dissatisfied with some of your requirements and thinks that it is limiting his thinking, it is, after all, a great honour to perform it in front of thousands of Theonian citizens so that he couldn’t be happier.” Said Ansitanos jokingly.

Davos also smiled, “I, of course, hope that he can prove to the Senate and me through this new ode that the Theonian citizenship that I especially applied for him is worth it!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Lord Davos, it seems that this year will be another bumper harvest for grains. But if we were to get more, I fear that we won’t have a place to store them.” Said Baripiri. With Burkes resignation out of guilt and the fact that the storm that shocked Theonia has not yet subsided and with the sensitivity of this position, Davos finally proposed to elect Baripiri, a Bruttian statesman, to this position among the statesmen.

Initially, the people thought Baripiri would need to adapt first, but they didn’t expect him to act resolutely after taking his post. First, he flatly refused prosecutor Sesta’s request to continue investigating the Ministry of Agriculture on the Pollux case, to which Sesta naturally objected. Finally, they brought the issue to Davos, where he eventually put an end to the expansion of the case under the persuasion of Baripiri, which made him win the gratitude of the civil officials under him.

Afterwards, he started reviewing the situation of the Ministry of Agriculture in detail. After consulting the former Chief Agricultural Officer – Burkes, many times. He then began enacting a new system that strengthened the department’s supervision and improved administrative efficiency, reducing the burden on his people. For example, when Burkes was still in charge, he often travelled to the countryside to understand the situation of the fields, and he even asked his men to do the same. However, Baripiri thought this method was inefficient, so he handed over this responsibility to the village chiefs, while the officials under the Ministry of Agriculture only needed to make regular inspections and receive reports.

He then proposed to the Senate to increase the salary of the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture due to how high its labour intensity as they often have to run around the union and even go down to the fields and assist in planting that they often have no time to take care of their own lands. Of course, this proposal was not passed, as this only gave the staff under the Ministry of Agriculture a raise in salary, so what would the staff of other departments think?!

However, due to this, Baripiri won the support of all the staff under the Ministry of Agriculture.

“So your suggestion is to build another granary?” Davos thought for a moment and asked.

“Milord, the number of granaries in Thurii, Consentia and Grumentum is already enough.” Replied Baripiri seriously. After the Bruttian war, Davos suggested the strategy of building granaries and grain reserves after careful consideration. And the slogan “prepare for war and prepare for famine” impressed the other statesmen that they approved the construction of granaries around the central cities of Thurii, Consentia and Grumentum, with guards protecting it. And it has already been implemented for two years now.

“After carefully inspecting the situation in the three granaries, I discovered that the grains stored the year before last has been somewhat mouldy. If we were to keep them any longer, I fear that they will all go bad, which would be a waste. Therefore, it is better to sell them to make room for the purchase of new grains…” Baripiri seriously suggested.

Davos nodded and said, “If that is the case, then just do what you have just said, lord Baripiri.”

After seeing off Baripiri, Davos saw Aristias waiting outside the living room, “What’s the matter?”

“Milord, the information that-” Aristias whispered.

Davos’ face suddenly turned cold when he took the little paper roll and opened it, “Have you confirmed it?”

“Yes, milord. Teratus especially rushed to Krimisa to check, and he had just returned on horseback today and confirmed that his bronze plate is indeed fake. And while he was away, we sent someone to quietly search his room where we found a dagger laced in poison…” Aristias said slowly, word by word, without any emotion.

“It seems that their target is me! Syracusan tetradrachms…hmph, Dionysius!” Davos sneered, his eyes gleamed with coldness. He suppressed his violent impulse as he paced back and forth in the corridor.

Davos eventually halted, but his face became firmer as he said, “Since he hasn’t given up, let him come and make bigger noise!”

Aristias immediately arranged it knowingly.

Afterwards, Davos sent someone to invite back Baripiri, who was still on the road. He did not only wholly overturned his previous decision. He had even made a hard decision that they would not sell the old grain but also asked Baripiri to buy new grains on a large scale, which they should complete in a short time. And he would tell Mersis to cooperate and provide the treasury’s coins.

Baripiri felt the sudden change of Davos’ attitude was strange, But he did not inquire and instead chose to agree.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Megaris spent almost all his money in the restaurant in the past two days as he enjoyed the delicious food.

After returning to the guest room late at night, he locked the door and lit a candle. He then took out the dagger under the bed, stared at it in a daze as he thought back to the promise he made to his lord before he left.

The candlelight reflected the light of the knife on his face, which was a deep shade of blue…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the birthday of Hades on September 9, the Theonians’ festival was as usual, with thousands of Theonians surrounding the Nike Square.

As the music rang out, the temple’s priestesses began singing the ode of Hades.

And with several years of subtle influence, the people were already somewhat familiar with this novel way of singing. Therefore there are singing on and off the stage, resounding throughout the whole city, which was truly spectacular.

Next, it’s the time for a large-scale theatrical, which is also one of the favourites of the people to watch in the festival. But this time, it was neither about the story of the Greek mercenaries arriving in Magna Graecia under the guidance of Hades, nor the magnificent epic of Theonia Union’s foundation under the protection of Hades, nor other legends of Hades. Instead, a muscular man suddenly walked towards the square, dressed in a lion skin and holding a big club…

The crowd were so impressed with the image that someone immediately shouted, “Heracles! Heracles!…”

Along with the beatings of the drum, an unusually tall man walked into the square (he is actually on a stilt, with clothes covering his lower part). Although his appearance was a little bit odd, the crowd felt astonished, ‘It’s a giant!’

Many versions of the story told about the “battle between Heracles and the giant” taking place in Africa, but many southerners insisted that the battle had taken place in South Italia, so with this, it seems that Theonia Union has satisfied their expectations.

On the square, “Heracles” and the “giant” fought…in the end, the “giant” died, causing the crowd to cheer.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Suddenly, a group of people in Bruttian clothing ran onto the square, led by a woman in a gorgeous dress. Afterwards, they congratulated “Heracles”, and “Heracles” then held hands with the woman…

Many were puzzled, but the Bruttian Theonian citizens understood what was happening and soon shouted excitedly, “Queen Valentia!”

“Heracles!”

“Brutus!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

This attracted the other crowd causing them to inquire what was going on.

Soon after, the Bruttian music rang out in the square, and the Bruttians danced their traditional dance around “Heracles” and “Queen Valentia”.

Under the guidance of the Bruttians, the crowd outside the stage also began dancing.

Lysias watched at this lively grand scene. As the dean of the Insitute of Literature of the Akademia of Theonia, he naturally appreciated the show from a different perspective from ordinary people, “I bet that archon Davos was the one who suggested this. His consideration is profound!” His words revealed his admiration for Davos. After all, it is only after meeting Davos that he decided to move to Thurii.

“In the Theonia Union, the Lucanians and the Bruttians made up a considerable number, and the term ‘ethnic harmony and integration’ are what the archon has repeatedly been mentioning in the Senate, and he has constantly made efforts!” Ansitanos said emotionally.

“That’s right, and it will not be easy and would take a lot of time!” Unlike Isocrates, Lysias does not believe in “Athenian supremacy” or “Greek supremacy”. On the contrary, because of his extended stay in Athens, he could sense the Athenian xenophobia and conservatism, which made him feel that he found the main reason for Theonia’s rapid rise.

At this time, the large-scale performance in the square has ended. Ansitanos smiled and said, “Lysias, I can’t wait to hear your Ode to Hades!”

Lysias said confidently, “I am sure that I won’t let you down!”

Chapter 383 – Assassination

Davos had long stopped playing tricks during the ceremony in front of the Temple of Hades, like when the temple was first completed. Instead, he followed the traditional ceremony, slaughtered lambs, offered blood and food, and sang Hades’ ode. And this time, the ode of Hades is not the previous one, but the one written by Lysias. Davos had read it before and felt that it was well written, which means that the culture of Theonia started to develop.

Since mortals are equal before the gods, the people who participated in the ceremony are in order of those who arrive first stands in front.

Megaris stood on the periphery of the square, close to the temple, so when the flow of people surged to the temple, he would walk towards the soldiers, maintaining order. The soldiers formed a sizeable defensive circle surrounding the whole Temple of Hades, with several teams of guards patrolling to keep order and prevent accidents.

More than 20 metres in front of Megaris is Davos. Currently, he was singing the ode together with a group of priests behind him.

Megaris gulped unconsciously, put down his right hand and touched the hard object near the outside of his thigh.

After Davos finished singing the ode, the bronze bell rang, “Bang!…”

Then they hear Davos’ spirited shout, “Now let’s start praying to the great Hades!”

With that, he lowered his head and closed his eyes. The people followed as they prayed silently, with some even kneeling on the ground, and even the soldiers began praying in their hearts.

Megaris then saw a group of guards passed by him from the inner circle.

‘Now’s the moment!’ With his eyes open, his powerful right leg stomped on the ground as his whole body charged like a cheetah. He passed through the lower gap between the guards, flashed behind them, placed his right hand into his chiton, and pulled the dagger out.

Among the mercenaries in Campania, Megaris is known for his speed, and the distance of more than 20 metres is only a moment for him. At this time, excitement and tension surged all over his body as he stared at Davos, even though the wind was blowing in his eyes.

‘I’m close! Very close!!’

He then saw Davos raised his head, neither appearing nervous nor scared and just smiled slightly at him, causing Megaris to feel a “thump” in his heart.

Behind Davos, the two priests who were bowing their heads rushed out in an instant with a small leather shield in their hands. Soon, the leather shield smashed at Megaris with force.

Because of his inertia, he was unable to dodge. He then felt that his right hand seemed to be struck by a boulder with his bones cracking, and the dagger flew out of his hand.

Followed by another shield that closed in on his head, immediately fainting him.

“Is he dead?” Asked Davos.

“He just fainted, milord.” Answered Martius, who was disguised as a priest.

“Good.” As soon as Davos said these words, some of the people began shouting, “Assassins! There are assassins! They want to assassinate Lord Davos!”

“Murder! There are assassins trying to kill us!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Only then, the people who reacted finally saw the assassin that had fallen in front of Davos. Then they heard someone repeatedly shouting, “Murder! There are assassins!…” Immediately, the people began rioting.

‘Not good, someone is making trouble!’ Davos’ mind immediately sounded an alarm. There are tens of thousands of people in this ceremony, so the consequences would be unimaginable once there is a panic or stampede. ‘Isn’t this what happened to Mithridates’ troops!?’

Out of desperation, Davos walked forward and came to the rear of the soldiers and began shouting, “Citizens of Theonia, soldiers of the legion, I command you to remain calm! Maintain the order! Protect the people!”

Martius and the soldiers followed suit and began shouting.

Hearing the orders of the grand legatus, the citizens of Theonia began to obey and consciously stood up to calm down the people around them. Soon, the chaos gradually calms down.

At this time, a woman was pushed forward and fell into the defensive circle with a scream.

Davos showed concern and was about to come forward and help.

While the soldier next to her immediately helped her up. But as soon as he lifted her, what he saw was a twisted and murderous face. She then pushed the unsuspecting soldier, quickly pulled out the dagger hidden in her body and stabbed fiercely towards Davos.

Davos, who was very close to her, could not dodge in time, as he could only watch the bluish dagger thrust towards his chest. But in an instant, Martius, who was behind him, suddenly pushed Davos away with his left hand, and at the same time, his right hand quickly tried to grab the dagger. However, the dagger pierced his palm.

Martius then roared and hit the woman in the face with his left fist.

The woman screamed and was knocked back several steps and fell to the ground, convulsing and vomiting blood.

“Holy father, are you okay?!”

“Lord Davos! Milord!….”

Pleisinas and the other priests and the crowds all screamed as they all rushed to Davos with concern.

“All of you stay where you are!” Davos stood up quickly and shouted, “Maintain the order! I am fine!”

As he spoke, the guards rushed over and protected him in the centre.

“Go and check on your captain!” Davos pushed aside the soldiers and hurried towards Martius.

“Milord, I am fine.” Martius whispered after ripping his ceremonial robe from his body and using it to wrap his right hand.

Davos took a look at his right hand, which had dyed the white linen in red. Afterwards, he patted him on the shoulder but didn’t say anything. Instead, he noted this life-saving grace in his heart.

He then walked towards the woman.

At this moment, the woman’s face was extremely gruesome.

Davos stared at her blankly with his fingers slightly trembles as this was the first time he really felt that death was so close to him after coming into this world for so long.

‘Damn it! Damn…’ Just when he felt that he could no longer control the rapidly growing anger in his heart, he could hear the shouting of the soldiers behind him, “Captain, what’s wrong with you?!”

Davos then turned his head and saw Matius feebly fell to the ground.

‘The dagger is poisoned!’ A thought flashed through Davos’ mind.

More than ten years later, Ansitanos wrote in his 《Histories of Magna Graecia》: The Festival of Hades, which was supposed to be a lively event for the Theonians was interrupted by this assassination attempt, which left the captain of Davos’ guard unconscious from his injuries. Hundreds of Theonians were also injured, and more than dozens had died due to the panic during the assassination. But more importantly, the attempted assassination of the Theonian archon – Davos, shocked the whole Theonia Union and the whole city-state of South Italia. At the same time, it also had a far-reaching impact on the political situation of Theonia, South Italia and even the entire western Mediterranean, which the people behind this assassination did not expect…

The historian can easily laugh at the historical event afterwards. But on that day, immediately after the assassination, Thurii put the whole city on lockdown and even imposed a curfew. Many who were staying in their homes and inns were uneasy as rumours about “Davos has been assassinated” spread. This caused panic among the Theonians, who have always regarded Davos as their biggest dependence on the Union’s safety.

And the archon, whom everyone has been worrying about, has now returned home. In the face of the concerns of Cheiristoya, Agnes and the children, who came after hearing the news, Davos could barely assure them. Afterwards, Davos immediately called Aristias angrily, “You and your men are stupid! You unexpectedly allowed an assassin to lurk around me so boldly and didn’t even notice it! If Martius was not to wake up, many of your men must pay for it!”

Aristias gave no excuses. ‘I was indeed deceived by the enemy this time. Unexpectedly, Megaris was just a cover while the real assassin was a weak woman. Fortunately…lord Davos was not hurt!’ Cold sweat drenched Aristias’ back as he thought of that.

After Davos finished venting his anger, his mood calmed down slightly, and he said sternly, “Aristias, I don’t care what methods you use, you must dig out these ‘thorns’ hiding in Theonia and those that are hostile to Theonia in the shortest time! I will also allow the patrols under Matonis to cooperate with you.”

Aristias clenched his fist and said, “Rest assured, milord! I will never let you down again!”

“I don’t want to see Theonia’s statesmen or strategoi and the officials of the union assassinated or get into an accident, especially when Theonia is about to take action!”

Rather than making Aristias pressured, Davos’ warning made him excited, ‘The union wants to take action?! To whom?!’

As soon as Aristias left, Kunogelata and Matonis arrived together. Kunogelata had a quirk since his defeat in the Battle of Thurii against the Lucanian Tribal Alliance that year – he is unwilling to stay alone with those military people. However, this time, the situation is urgent.

When Matonis entered the living room, he was relieved to see that Davos was indeed safe, just like what the others said, so he shouted, “Milord, the assassin has confessed.”

“So fast?!” Davos was a bit surprised.

Matonis grinned but remembered that the atmosphere was wrong, so he had to hold himself back, “When the assassin woke up, he confessed without waiting for us to torture him. His only request was for a few meals at Cheiristoya’s Restaurant before he dies.”

This request was indeed a bit amusing. But Davos was not in the mood to laugh, so he asked with seriousness, “What did he say?”

Matonis said angrily, “He said he was a Campanian mercenary and had been fighting for Syracuse for several years and that this time, it was Syracuse’s strategos – Macias, who sent him to assassinate you…”

Chapter 384 – Anger

‘Macias?!’ Davos then remembered what Ansitanos told him, ‘Macias was the leader of the Campanian mercenaries and later became an important strategos under Dionysius.’

“You have gotten any evidence?” Davos asked.

“No, he didn’t bring anything when he came to Thurii, while the inn he stayed in and the dagger were all prepared by another person named Aureas. However, he only knew the name but didn’t know what Aureas looked like or what he does…” Matonis then continued seriously, “Currently, I have sent some men to the inn he stayed hoping to get some information about Aureas.”

After hearing this, Davos once more asked, “What about the woman?”

“No one had come to check on her and said to know her…” Matonis was a bit depressed.

“Matonis, it has only been a short time since the assassination, and you have already made great progress!” Davos comforted him, then his eyes gleamed coldly, “Whether she is from Thurii or other cities since she can participate in the festival means that there is a trace to follow. Besides, both daggers that she and the other man held were very similar and laced with poison. Thus she definitely has something to do with Syracuse!”

Davos sneered and ordered him, “Matonis, go find Aristias immediately and have him help you find out the truth as soon as possible.”

“Understood.” Matonis turned around and left.

Afterwards, Kunogelata said anxiously and hesitantly, “Lord Davos, are you planning to declare war on Syracuse? Although the assassin had claimed that Syracuse ordered him to do it, it has not yet been confirmed, and-”

Davos, who always respects Kunogelata, rudely interrupted the old man, “Lord Kunogelata, I would like to ask you this. What would happen to Theonia if they really succeeded in assassinating me this time?”

Kunogelata was taken aback. He thought about it and truthfully said, “There will be…unrest…” It is more than that as a civil war might occur. The three major races within the Union, the Greeks, Lucanians and the Bruttians, are bound to have a conflict; The several army leaders also have equal seniority and prestige that they could not deter the other legions while the officials dominate the Senate. If this goes on…Kunogelata became more and more frightened as he thought about it.

“Then what would happen to our South Italia Alliance?” Davos stared at Kunogelata’s expression while guiding his thoughts. The South Italia Alliance is an alliance of Greek city-states in Magna Graecia led by Theonia. With Theonia’s strength being far beyond the other city-states, it became the pillar maintaining the alliance. However, once there is an internal conflict and civil unrest in Theonia Union, weakening it, Crotone and Rhegium might jump out to fight for power. Since the strength of both sides is not much different, then none of them will be convinced of each other, causing the South Italia Alliance to be just an empty shell, not to mention that Crotone is likely to retaliate against Scylletium and Terina for their betrayal. It is also possible that Crotone will declare war on Theonia for revenge, which would lead to the complete collapse of the South Italia Alliance…

“We all know that Syracuse has just signed a peace agreement with Carthage, yet we couldn’t see Syracuse demobilising their mercenaries. On the contrary, they are buying grains and building more ships…so what are they for? Are they going to help Sparta defeat the Theban Alliance?”

Davos’ question struck Kunogelata’s mind: Indeed, Dionysius has long had ambitions for Magna Graecia, so if Theonia Union is in turmoil and the South Italia Alliance became a mess, then Syracuse’s strength would be far beyond those various city-states and alliance in Magna Graecia, allowing them to achieve their goal easily…

Davos stared at the old man in front of him as tiny beads of sweat trickled out quietly from his temples. As a Theonian statesman, Kunogelata was elected three times as the Praetor of Thurii due to his contribution to the present prosperity of Thurii. Unfortunately, his biggest drawback was his fear of war.

“Lord Kunogelata, you should already be familiar with me. I am not one who rashly go to war without adequate preparation. Still, we need to take action; otherwise, it would be a terrible thing just letting Syracuse, a vicious wolf, lurk around Theonia, coveting our land and disturbing our union’s order at any time!”

After hearing Davos’ sincere words, Kunogelata pondered for some time. Finally, he changed his mind and said, “Lord Davos, what do you want me to do?”

Davos’ smiled and said, “During the emergency meeting later, I hope that you can support my proposal to mobilise the Theonian citizens in preparation for war with Syracuse!”

‘Just to “prepare”?’ Kunogelata couldn’t believe what he heard. After all, with Davos’ fierce appearance just now, he thought he would immediately start a war with Syracuse.

“Naturally, there is more. We need to support Rhegium’s establishment of a colonial city on Sicily…” Davos glanced at Kunogelata and said word by word, “I also need you to tell the ‘truth’ of the investigation result about the assassin incident to the other statesmen – namely that Locri sent the assassins at the request of Syracuse!”

Kunogelata’s eyes widened, and his face showing surprise, “Lord Davos, are you perhaps-”

“Yes, we will target Locri!” Davos’ expression became slightly vicious, and his words became firm, “Dionysius’ alliance with Locri is to make Locri a springboard for Syracuse’s invasion of Magna Graecia, and the existence of Locri made it impossible for us to integrate into a whole. So this time, we need to take advantage of this great opportunity to declare war on Locri. If Syracuse were to rescue them, our chances of winning would be very high as long as they face the army of our South Italia Alliance in the land of Magna Graecia! And if they do not come, we will just conquer the city-state that betrayed Magna Graecia!”

Although he had already prepared for the inevitable war between Theonia and Syracuse, Kunogelata preferred dealing with Locri first than facing the powerful Syracuse. Back at the founding of Theonia City-State Union, Locri was a powerful state in Magna Graecia, but now, they are no longer worth mentioning in the eyes of the Theonians. Moreover, to be able to think of such a strategy means that Davos was not blinded by anger, so Kunogelata began to give advice actively, “It just so happens that for this festival, the strategoi and statesmen of all the city-states of the South Italia Alliance have been invited, such as Lord Athelycus of Rhegium, Lord Lysias of Crotone, Lord Siprus of Terina, Lord Phrytinas of Scylletium, Lord Phlarinus of Caulonia… And they must have already heard of today’s shocking event, so we could just place the South Italia Alliance conference that was to be held in Scylletium in Thurii instead. And I believe that we could easily reach an agreement!”

“I believe that they are already waiting for the Senate to send someone to contact them, so we should finish our Senate meeting as soon as possible.” Davos reminded.

“Understood.” Kunogelata nodded. He then left Davos’ residence with a somewhat heavy step, for he knew that after today, Theonia Union, which had been at peace for more than three years, might once again open the gates of war.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

During the Senate meeting of Theonia, the statesmen were more concerned about the well-being of Davos, especially the statesmen that were former mercenaries, the Lucanians, Amendolarans and some Bruttians.

That’s why when Kunogelata told them the “truth”, the statesmen were outrage, which allowed for Davos’ proposal of “declaring war on Locri” to pass easily.

Although militants like Amintas was slightly disappointed that Davos did not declare war on the culprit, Syracuse. On the other hand, Cornelius, Ansitanos and the others were surprised why Syracuse hid behind Locri. Still, they became relieved for a bit.

The Senate finally decided to send envoys and question Locri with harsh demands.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After getting home, Davos did not even have the time to rest as he immediately asked someone to invite his father-in-law, Athelycus.

“I am finally relieved to see that you are okay!” Athelycus said happily as soon as he saw him, which made Davos feel warm.

Then Athelycus shouted, “Syracuse! It must be someone from Syracuse who has done that! I’ve long said-”

Davos interrupted him and said decisively, “The Senate of Theonia decided to fully support Rhegium in the establishment of a colonial city in Sicily, but I hope that you can abide by your previous words and hand over Rhegium’s fleet to Theonia for unified command!”

“That’s excellent news. But could Theonia ensure the safety of Rhegium’s coast and trade routes if we were to hand over our fleet to you?” Athelycus became reluctant again.

“I don’t think Syracuse will have the time to bully Rhegium anymore because Theonia will send envoys to question Locri about sending ‘assassins to assassinate me.’” Davos’ words were shocking.

Athelycus said with astonishment, “How…how could it be Locri?”

“Because Theonia and the South Italia Alliance needed to wage war against Locri!” Davos said firmly.

Athelycus was still surprised, but he understood Davos’ intention. He shook his hands, then gripped the chair’s armrest and sat down slowly, “You…are you trying to…no! Are you trying to lure Syracuse to Magna Graecia…”

“Yes. By concentrating the troops of the various city-states in South Italia Alliance on the lands of Magna Graecia to fight against Syracuse, we have a higher chance of winning! Father, I need the full support of Rhegium in convincing the other city-states at the South Italia Conference.” Davos, who rarely say the word “father”, just shows how important this plan is.

Chapter 385 – Envoy to Locri

Athelycus raised his head and gazed at Davos after pondering for some time. He then said, “I promise that I will hand over the control of Rhegium’s fleet under the command of your Theonia Union and will fully support Theonia’s proposal at the South Italia Alliance conference. Of course, you have to understand that this is not because you are my son-in-law, but because Rhegium always wished to inflict harm to Syracuse!”

After seeing off Athelycus, Davos invited Theonia’s old friend, Siprus, who is now the elected polemarchos of Terina.

Siprus readily accepted when Davos asked him for his support. Besides Terina being close to Theonia Union and having close business contacts with the nearby city of Clampetia and the Bruttian region, Terina also needed them for its protection, “Lord Davos, in fact, there is no need for you to ask Terina’s support in advance as your proposal will be easily get supported by the city-states of South Italia Alliance due to Crotone, Scylletium, Caulonia and our Terina have been a mortal enemy with Locri and its allies for decades. Over the years, they have become the biggest problem that plagued our city-states, so this time, if we could get rid of them in one fell swoop, it would make us thrilled. So why would we object?”

Sure enough, it is just like what Siprus has said. They held the emergency conference of the South Italia Alliance in the guesthouse next to the Grand Senate Hall that was used to receive the envoys and important persons from other city-states. In the conference, the other city-states unanimously agreed that: In the event of a war between Theonia and Locri, the South Italia Alliance would join together to form a large army to crush them, and at the same time, they would all get ready for a war with Syracuse.

It was already late at night when the meeting ended. After seeing off Davos, the strategoi were about to head back to the guesthouse when Lysias shouted, “Look at the sky!”

They saw bright silver lines are drawn in the southwest night sky, which was unusually dazzling in the dark sky.

Strategos Phrytinas of Scylletium widened his eyes as he looked at it carefully and said disapprovingly, “Such sight happens many times a year. It’s nothing special.”

“But those happened in July and August while we rarely see such sight in September.” Said Lysias.

“It’s truly rare during this season.” Said strategos Phlarinus of Caulonia with a serious expression.

“This is a good omen!” Siprus shouted excitedly, “Perseus is the hero who killed the vicious and sinister Medusa. And now that we have finally made up our minds to declare war on the dictatorial and oppressive Dionysius, we shall eliminate this tyrant who has threatened the safety of the Greek city-states in Magna Graecia and the people for more than a decade. Isn’t this what the hero Perseus wants!?”

“Siprus is right. As long as our, the South Italia Alliance, unite, our actual strength will exceed Syracuse. And just like Perseus killing Medusa, we can beat Syracuse and restore the independence and freedom of the Greek city-state of Sicily!” Athelycus encouraged.

Some of the other city-state strategoi were pondering, and some couldn’t help but nod as if that would relieve them of the tension of a possible war with Locri and subsequently Syracuse…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Davos got home, he was already exhausted, but after hearing that Aristias had come, he roused himself up and met him in the study.

“Milord, we have found out that the man who reserved the room for Megaris was a merchant from Locri who often comes to Thurii to buy wine, which is why the owner and the waiter of the inn are familiar with him. Unfortunately, he already left Thurii nine days ago and returned to Locri.” Aristias reported.

“Locrian merchant eh…we really didn’t wrongly accuse someone.” Davos sneered. In fact, if one thought about it, it is understandable to suspect Locri. After all, since the Pollux case, the Thurians and even the entire Theonian population had become wary of the Syracuse who entered their territory. On the contrary, their attitude towards Locri, Syracuse’s ally, remained well.

“Any progress regarding the investigation of that woman?” Davos once more asked.

“Yes. After our investigation, we found out that she is a concubine of a Krimisian nobleman who had been sentenced during the Pollux case a while ago. She came to Thurii together with several family members of those sentenced in the previous case. Currently, lord Matonis sent his men to find and arrest them.”

‘Krimisians again!’ Davos felt that he should write a letter to Protesilaus, the Praetor of Krimisa, asking him to strengthen the management and reformation of the original residents of Krimisa.

Davos was also thinking about proposing to the Senate to add a patrol department to lead and coordinate the patrols in the cities, increasing the preservation of order in the cities and the capture of offenders… In other words, improve the status of the patrol and make it official, instead of always letting the soldiers move.

As he thought about it, again and again, Davos unknowingly came to Cheiristoya’s room. After noticing it, he hurriedly gestured to Azune, who was in the outer room and was about to withdraw.

Suddenly, Cheiristoya’s voice came from the inner room, “Davos?”

“Why are you still up so late? It’s bad for your health and the baby.” Davos said in a low voice.

“Such an event happened today, and you expect me to sleep while you still haven’t come back?!” Cheiristoya’s delicate tone showed deep concern, “I want you to sleep with me tonight.”

“Alright! Okay!…” Davos went inside and sat down by the bed, “See, I am fine.”

Azune quickly lit the candle while hurriedly boiled some water to wash Davos’ face and feet.

Cheiristoya’s carefully moved her round belly, leaned against Davos and put her hands around him, “Agnes and I…were terrified after hearing that assassins attacked you! Thank Hades!”

“Yes, and also thanks to Martius! He is still lying in the hospital and unconscious!” Davos sighed and said with hatred, “That’s why we have decided in the Senate to take revenge on Locri and Syracuse!”

“That means…war is about to break out again, and it is even with Syracuse…” Hearing this, Cheiristoya’s delicate body shuddered as she said with some worry, with her arms hugging Davos more tightly.

Davos gently stroked her back and comforted her, “You still don’t know me yet?! When have I ever lost when it comes to war?!… Still, I am afraid that I won’t be by your side when you give birth.”

The loss on Cheiristoya’s face flashed away. Instead, she softly comforted Davos, “You don’t have to worry, Azune and Agnes are here to take care of me, and even your students (referring to Herpus and the other physicians) are regularly coming to see me. So just like last time, I’ll have a smooth delivery. Rather, you must protect yourself, in case you…you leave me, Agnes, little Cro, Cynthia, Adoris, the child in our belly, and all those who love and rely on you.” At this point, her voice choked a bit.

Davos could only put his arms around her and whispered to reassure her by saying, “Don’t worry, with Hades’ blessing, I will not be in danger! And this time, the Senate dispatch a hundred more guards for my safety, and they will be even more strict. It’s just that this will make it impossible for our family to go to Thurii’s market in the future. Do you remember back…”

Cheiristoya’s snored softly. At some point, she fell asleep, so Davos could only lay her down flat and covered her gently with the blanket. He gazed at her slightly frowning pretty fact as a sudden idea surface at the bottom of his heart…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The following day was the day when the Theonian Rugby Finals began. Even with yesterday’s event, Thurii did not let it from stopping the event to take place and held it on time as usual with crowds filling the arena early.

When the noise began to fill the huge arena, the crowd saw the archon they were worried about appeared in the distinguished guest seat, waving around with a smile on his face.

The crowd then gave out deafening cheers shaking the whole arena.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

While the Theonians in Thurii cheered at the opening of the Rugby Final, the Senate’s envoy – Praxileos, reached Locri by ship.

At present, Praxileos is now an intermediate judge of Theonia. He had just stepped down from his post in Amendolara and was waiting for a new appointment in Thurii. And since he is as eloquent as Aristocrates but is much smoother and savvier than him, the Senate appointed him as an envoy to Locri. After all, he became an official of Thurii much longer than Aristocrates.

Praxileos was thrilled to obey, not that he was unaware of the dangers of the trip, but it was an excellent opportunity to showcase his talent and attract the attention of the statesmen, especially the archon – Davos. With the intermediate judge being the highest position that a Union citizen, who is not a statesman, like him can hold, as statesmen are the only ones that can become a senior judge while archon Davos concurrently hold the highest level. So next, he will either continue serving as an intermediate judge in other cities or transfer to different positions, where he needs to complete five years of service before he can enter the ranks of an elected statesman of the Senate. Thus he must increase his chances of becoming a statesman by performing excellently.

Locri is located near the “toe” in South Italia, next to Rhegium. However, even though it did not occupy fertile and flat plains like Sybaris and Crotone, nor have an excellent geographical position like Rhegium, it instead took advantage of its relatively favourable position near the main trade route of the Strait of Messina by establishing two colonial cities, Medma and Hipponion, on the western coast of South Italia, which happened to be on the trade route leading to the most prosperous trade route to the Tyrrhenian Sea region – Central Italia. By opening up an ancient path that linked the east and west coasts, Locri was able to establish itself as a famous coastal city in the western Mediterranean and thus became a power in Magna Graecia.

Chapter 386 – Declaring War on Locri

In fact, Theonia and Locri have some ties with each other. During the foundation of Thurii, the wise man of Athenia, Protagoras, created a law for it by adopting the laws of the famous lawmaker of Locri, Zaleucus, rather than the Athenian law by basing it on the fact that Thurii was a city-state made of numerous immigrants from various origins. And the Theonia Union that was established on the ruins of the old Thurii had taken the essence of the original laws of Thurii.

Zaleucus was famous for his strict laws, and he even once made a rule that “anyone who wants to change any of the existing laws must first put a rope around his neck, and once his proposal is not passed, he will be strangled to death.” Zaleucus was impartial in enforcing the law throughout his life that even when his son broke the law, he still ordered his eyes to be dug out according to the law without any hesitation. However, out of the relationship as father and son, he gouged out one of his eyes instead.

With such figures setting an example and such laws governing the Locrians, it made the Locrians different from the common Greek city-states, making them famous for their obedience to the law (Of course, with the addition of the Theonians later on.) At the same time, they also know how to obey orders which allowed them to resist Crotone, whose strength is stronger.

Perhaps it is due to their strict laws that Locri’s patron god is unlike most other city-states who chose powerful gods such as Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo and Athena. Instead, they chose two gentle goddesses: Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, and Persephone, the queen of the underworld and the goddess of fertility. They had even built magnificent temples for each of the two goddesses. That’s why when Theonia held the Hades’ Day on September 9 every year, a small number of Locrians would also rush to participate, not only because of the unique ceremony and the liveliness in Thurii but also because the Theonians will also celebrate Persephone while offering sacrifices to Hades.

And since they have two goddesses as patrons, the social status of Locrian women is higher than that of other city-states. They even allowed them to appear in public with veils and have rights to inherit some properties, which is somewhat similar to Theonia.

Unfortunately, the two Greek forces with similar cultures and customs had regrettably become enemies even with all of that.

Before Praxileos could arrive in Locri, the Locrian Council already found out about the assassination attempt on the archon of Theonia. Despite Thurii blocking the whole incident soon after, but as the overlord of South Italia, not only Locri, even other city-states in the South Italia Alliance, as well as Taranto had sent men to stay or hide in the city and port of Thurii, so as to know the development of Theonia at any time, which would allow them to make corresponding countermeasures in time. Therefore, as soon as such a huge riot occurred, those people naturally paid attention to it. And after they found out the situation, they returned to their respective city either by boat or horse.

So that even though Praxileos set out the next day, he still fell behind. After arriving at the port of Locri, the officials at the port had already quickly reported it to the Council, causing the Locrian statesmen to be surprised at why the envoy of Theonia appeared here at this time.

A few of the strategoi and statesmen of Locri knew more about what really happened in the assassination, such as strategos Demodokas, brother of Doris – the wife of Dionysius, who wishfully believed that Theonia was just going to complain to Syracuse again. However, he did not expect that the envoy of Theonia to show up here.

Although surprised, out of courtesy and respect for Theonia – the hegemon of South Italia, he had invited Praxileos into their Council Hall.

Like other democratic city-states, the ecclesia is the highest authority when discussing and deciding important events of the city-state. On the other hand, the council handles the usual minor political matters.

The Council of Locri is simply a scaled-down ecclesia, which divides all citizens participating in the ecclesia into many groups, usually ten, and takes turns participating in city-states matters through the Council. And now, there are eight strategoi and hundreds of council members in the Council hall, which is already a huge assembly several times more than the number of Theonian statesmen.

After preparing for a bit, Praxileos walked into the centre of the Council Hall at the invitation of the presiding statesman.

“Esteemed council of Locri, I, Praxileos, came here as an envoy of Theonia Union to ask Locri a question on behalf of all Theonians!” Praxileos explained his intention immediately.

As soon as he uttered this, a wave of commotion and surprised shrouded the surrounding statesmen. Instead of pausing, Praxileos raised his voice, “I think all of you know the terrible assassination attempt on Davos, the great archon of Theonia and the grand legatus loved by the citizens, and has aroused the anger of all Theonian citizens! Now, after catching the assassin on the spot and interrogating him, he confessed the truth and admitted that he was hired and helped by a Locrian merchant named Aureas, allowing him to successfully sneak into Thurii and took action against archon Davos-”

“This is a false accusation! A frame-up!!” Demodokas, the polemarchos of Locri, immediately interrupted Praxileos and retorted loudly, “We, Locrians, will never provoke you Theonians for no reason! And we are not that stupid!…”

“But the truth is the truth! After a detailed investigation and after a repeated confirmation, the Senate of Theonia determined that the one behind the assassination was you, Locri!” Praxileos pointed angrily at the crowd and shouted angrily.

The Council immediately exploded into a frenzy, “Are all the statesmen of Theonia, fools?! What does this have to do with us, Locri? Why don’t you instead question Syracuse!”

“This is clearly a common trick used by that lord, who has already assassinated his political opponents a lot of times in other city-states in Sicily!”

“What evidence is so conclusive? That is definitely fabricated! Theonia could only come and blame Locri because you don’t have the guts to mess with Syracuse! And even if that merchant named Au…Aureas is a Locrian; some other city-states must have paid him. Did you even manage to interrogate him? You just easily concluded that it was us, Locrians, who ordered it!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ignoring their arguments and insults, Praxileos continued, “For this reason, the Senate of Theonia and all citizens are extremely angry at the despicable behaviour of Locri and demand that you be punished. First, admit your mistakes to Hades, and you must send an envoy to Thurii to make a public apology to the Senate. Secondly, make reparations to the people of Theonia who were injured and killed in this incident. Finally-”

Praxileos fearlessly faced the enraged crowd, with his voice firm and loud, “Severe your alliance with Syracuse! If so, Theonia will forgive Locri for the things you have done before and accept you into-”

Before Praxileos could finish his words, roars of anger drowned his voice, “We Locrians didn’t do anything wrong, so why should we accept your unreasonable demands!”

“This is humiliation! A humiliation to Locri!!”

“This is Theonia’s scheme! They want to break up Locri’s alliance with Syracuse!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The members of the Council were swearing, with some even rushing towards Praxileos despite the dissuasion of others.

One of those running was one of the strategos, Theophantes. The short-tempered strategos rushed up and punched Praxileos, instantly knocking him to the ground.

Just as he was about to kick him, another strategos – Metelophes held him and shouted anxiously, “Don’t violate the sacred tradition of ‘inviolability of envoys’ and the laws of Locri!”

Hearing the word “law” made the Locrians who were rushing and surrounding Praxileos to freeze up.

Taking this opportunity, Metelophes shouted, “Lord Demodokas, if you still don’t stop them now, they will be severely punished for breaking the law!”

Demodokas, who had just watched, was called out by Metelophes. As the polemarchos, he had to stand up and retort, “Those who humiliate Locri is the enemy of Locri, so how can it be considered breaking the law when they are just defending the honour of the city-state?”

“Milord, you are right!” Someone immediately agreed.

“Alright, all of you should back down. The Council Hall is a sacred place, and we Locrians are a civilised city-state, unlike Thurii. So we must not do anything to harm the envoy…” Demodokas spoke as he walked forward while the members of the Council obediently returned to their seats.

Demodokas had served at the polemarchos of Locri for nine consecutive years, mainly because of his relationship with Dionysius. Locri initially allied with Syracuse because it wanted to use its power to defeat its long-time enemy – Crotone. However, although Crotone has weakened, a more powerful Theonia Union has emerged, especially after the establishment of the South Italia Alliance.

Theophantes could only snort and reluctantly retreated.

Praxileos staggered to his feet, still refusing to admit defeat, “The former city of Thurii had once harmed an envoy and ended up being burned down…”

“Theonian, if you want to flaunt your superiority, you need to consider the place. This place is not the city-states in South Italia Alliance that will do all they can to please you Theonians. This is Locri!” Demodokas sneered and proudly explained, “Locri neither has nor cares to assassinate your archon, so we refuse any of your unreasonable requests!”

‘Refuse!’ Although he already expected this answer, Praxileos is still happy. He calmly wiped the blood from the corners of his mouth with his finger, stretched his arms towards Demodokas, clenched and unclenched it, showing the blood on his palm. He looked at them and solemnly said word by word, “Then that means war!”

Chapter 387 – Dionysius’ Move

As soon as Praxileos uttered these shocking words, the Council exploded with commotion, and Demodokas’ expression changed as he subconsciously shouted, “Isn’t Theonia afraid of attracting Syracuse’s army?!”

Praxileos smiled. Through the shrill cry of Demodokas, He saw the hidden fear of the polemarchos of Locri, and this discovery made him feel a sense of pride, “From its establishment to the present, Theonia had faced numerous powerful enemies, and in the end, the weak prevailed over the strong, allowing us to create the powerful Theonia Union of today! We are not afraid of Syracuse, but what about you, Locri? Do you dare face the army of Theonia and the South Italia Alliance?”

Demodokas and the others turned pale…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Lord Praxileos, look at those ships. It seems that they might want to come and attack us. What exactly did you do to the Locrians that made them so angry?!” The captain of the transport ship carrying Praxileos to Locri complained jokingly.

“You’ll know in a few days.” Praxileos stood at the bow of the ship, watching the Locrian ships escorting them. He then laughed boldly, “Don’t worry. The Locrian strategoi won’t allow us to die here. And even if something goes wrong and we all die here, there will be a statue of you and me in the Hall of Valor in the Temple of Hades in Thurii!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Has that damned Theonian envoy left already?”

“Milord, Theonia’s ship has departed smoothly.”

Demodokas exhaled lightly, letting go of his thoughts for the moment.

While Theophantes, who was next to him, roared, “This is infuriating! The Theonians came here to show off and threaten us, yet we still have to keep them safe!”

“Theophantes, you have to understand.” Demodokas immediately put on a serious expression and said in a slightly reprimanding tone, “Whether we fight the Theonians in the future or negotiate to solve this conflict, as long as nothing happens to their envoy, there will be room for reconcilement. You should already know that the combined strength of Theonia and the South Italia Alliance is no worse than that of Syracuse!”

“We Locrians are not afraid of war!” Theophantes angrily retorted, but his voice seemed weak.

Demodokas couldn’t even bother to pay any attention to him anymore. He turned to look at Metolephes and said, “Quickly go to Syracuse and tell the great Dionysius that Theonia framed Locri for the assassination of their archon, and they had declared war on Locri. I hope that he would send reinforcements; otherwise, Locri won’t be able to fend off the armies of Theonia and the South Italia Alliance alone!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the city of Laos, Alobamus returned to his residence with an ugly expression. Noticing it, his wife asked with concern, “Has your nephew given you another problem?!”

After hearing what his wife said, Alobamus became furious and snorted,  “Nephew? He doesn’t even consider me as his uncle. Do you know what new tricks he had come up with today? He wants to build a school!”

“School?! What is that?” The Lucanian born lady rarely bothered to learn anything about Theonia.

“Oh, there is no need for you to understand as it’s not a good thing anyway! Just that he also wants to let those children of poor people study in the school. He is crazy!” Alobamus slammed his fist on the wooden table to vent his anger.

“Didn’t his teacher from Thurii came here not long ago and warned him not to mess around?! And have him listen to you…” His wife reminded him.

“Listen to me?!” Alobamus sneered, “It’s not like you don’t know my nephew. Since childhood, he has been stubborn. And now that his father is dead and he has become the archon, no one can control him!…”

Alobamus became angrier, “Go! Go! Pour me some water!”

After his wife left, Alobamus slumped on the couch and remembered his discussion with Henipolis this morning. After he opposed Henipolis’ proposal to build a school, his nephew, who had been drinking, blurted out in a fit of anger, “This won’t work! That won’t work! If everything does not work, what else do you officials have to do?! Look at our allies. The Theonians had managed Thurii so well that I think it’s better to let them manage Laos!…”

The more he thought about it, the more alarmed he became and because Henipolis is drunk, it means that he is telling the truth! ‘The boy had lived in Thurii for seven years and had even lived in the house of Davos, causing him to be heavily influenced by Theonia! He even dared to give away the family business that his father and himself had fought so hard to earn to outsiders for nothing! Could…could it be that this is the scheme of Theonia’s archon….’

Alobamus felt cold sweat as soon as the image of Davos appeared in his mind. Just as he was worried about this, his slave came in and said, “Master, there is a man outside hoping to meet you. He said that he is from Syracuse.”

“Dismiss him!” Alobamus subconsciously shouted, but he suddenly remembered something, “Wait, you said that he is from Syracuse?”

“That’s what he claimed.”

‘Syracuse…’ Alobamus pondered with uncertainty. Finally, he said with firm determination, “Take him to the guest room.”

When Alobamus saw the visitor, he became surprised at the visitor’s first sentence, “Lord Alobamus, I came to meet you under the order of Lord Dionysius, the supreme military commander of Syracuse…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Milord, do you think that official of Laos…Alobamus, would agree to our request?” Asked Philistus.

“Alobamus, who enjoyed such a high position for a long time, will definitely have his desire to grow. So how could he just allow his rights to be taken away by a young man who has never done anything for Laos? And according to the intelligence gathered, although the two of them are relatives, they disagree and often quarrel… Previously, Henipolis – the son of Avinoges, has the support of Theonia, so Alobamus didn’t dare say anything, but now that he has our support, do you think he wouldn’t have other ideas?” Dionysius said confidently.

“Only barbarians like Alobamus can be blinded by power, while a cultured man can keep their minds at peace wherever they live.” Philistus responded with a vague expression of his innocence.

Dionysius laughed and said, “Phili, you are talking about me, but compared to you, my knowledge is still far from enough.”

“Who said that? In Syracuse, besides Philoxenus, you are the only one who could write good poetry, milord!” Philistus praised him from the bottom of his heart, “Furthermore, you are already standing at the top, so you don’t have any more desire.”

“Phili, it is not easy to sit in this seat!” Dionysius patted his seat, pointed to his head and emotionally said, “It’s like having a sharp sword hanging on your neck that might fell at any time…”

“Therefore, this position is not something anyone can sit on!” Philistus complimented.

“Yes!” Dionysius then change the subject, “I wonder if Davos of Theonia feels the same way…” Dionysius sighed, and his eyes glinted again, “Phili, you are wrong. It’s not that I don’t have any desire; on the contrary, I have a greater desire!”

“You mean Magna Graecia?” Philistus asked understandingly.

“Too bad that the young man of Theonia did not die in the assassination…he even learned his lesson this time. Rather than sending someone to Syracuse, he instead declared war on Locri, thinking that I would obediently go and rescue Locri. Unfortunately, he underestimated me!” Dionysius’ cold words were full of killing intent.

“Milord, I received a report from the north of South Italia, and they promised to mobilise their troops soon!” Philistus said with a hint of excitement, “And in the northeast of Theonia did not object to our proposal.”

“Everything is going well. And since we have paid a great price, we naturally have to get the greatest return!” Dionysius stared directly at the void of the hall as if overlooking Theonia in the north, “After you go back, you should immediately start arranging the preparations for the expedition, so that once the war in the north started, we will also set out immediately!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

With the spread of “Theonia’s declaration of war on Locri” in Magna Graecia, the city-states in the South Italia Alliance had also declared war on Locri.

For most Theonian citizens, hearing this news made them more excited. After all, they haven’t fought in years!

Although they had already declared war against Locri, there was no tense atmosphere in the territory of Theonia. On the contrary, the rugby finals in Thurii are still in full swing, and the legionnaires of the participating teams in various cities have not been transferred back to their respective legions to prepare for war. And in order to show the importance of Hades to Theonia, the Senate of Theonia had even announced that “War shall not affect the Theonians celebration of Hades just as war must temporarily put on hold during the Olympic Games.”

However, the primary purpose of slowing down the military mobilisation is to lead the snake out of their cave. Otherwise, if Theonia were to crush Locri, they would not be able to achieve their real strategic objective of luring and annihilating the Syracusan reinforcements that will come to Magna Graecia.

Fortunately, the news from Sicily during this period shows that Dionysius has begun to gather his army and are preparing a large number of ships and supplies…

And Davos believes that even without war mobilisation, the citizens of Theonia will wash and polished their weapons and equipment at home and prepare to face their enemy…

However, Theonia, as the one advocating the war, must need to set an example for the South Italia Alliance. That is why Davos still asked the Senate to issue a war mobilisation order to the fifth and fourth legions stationed in the Brutii region and Crotone Plain.

Chapter 388 – Sparta’s Move

In the early morning, at the legatus’ residence in the city of Aprustum, the adjutant knocked on the room of legatus Epiphanes. A few whiles later, the door was opened by a naked young man.

The already accustomed adjutant shouted towards the rooms, “Legatus, I received an urgent letter from the Senate!”

“Okay.” Said a lazy voice in the room.

After a while, Epiphanes came out of the bedroom naked and took the letter from the adjutant.

The young man stretched out his head trying to look, but Epiphanes patted him on the face and said intimately, “Go back first. I will look for you later.”

The young man then went back inside the room and put on his clothes, and before he left, he didn’t forget to kiss Epiphanes.

“Such a nice young lad. He is a noble and an educated man from Taranto. Unfortunately, his family is ruined.” Epiphanes looked at the man’s back as he left and said to the adjutant with a bit of bragging.

The adjutant didn’t speak as he didn’t want to comment on his strategos’ hobby.

“You should first read the letter.” Under the urging gaze of the adjutant, Epiphanes opened the letter. After reading it, he whistled, “Lord Davos asked our fourth legion to reach Scylletium before October and meet up with the army of the South Italia Alliance and then prepare to attack Locri.”

“Wonderful!” The adjutant said excitedly, “I will go and inform the Praetor of Aprustum and Krimisa to issue an order as well as inform the legionnaires in the two cities to assemble and report at the square of Krimisa tomorrow.” (The square in Aprustum is too tiny to accommodate 8,000 legionnaires.)

“There’s no need to be in a hurry. The letter states that we only need to reach Scylletium by October, which means Lord Davos does not urgently want to go to war with Locri. So it would just be a waste to go early, and we would just end up eating all our rations. And a 10-day preparation would be just enough for me to have a good discussion with the two praetors about the delivery of military rations and some other preparations, and also to wait for the return of the soldiers that joined the Rugby Finals.”

The adjutant could only nod helplessly at the reasonable explanation of Epiphanes, “Okay, you are the legatus here, so you have the final say. But I fear that Drakos has already led the fifth legion too early and would pretty much curse at us if we are late.”

“That seriously stubborn donkey, but to be honest, I am afraid that he is really going to be mad.” Epiphanes shrugged helplessly, and both men laughed.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Drakos is currently supervising the training of the soldiers in the fifth legion’s camp outside Consentia.

Davos wanted to recall him back from the legion the year before last, but he refused to comply with several orders, arguing that he was only good at fighting and not at clerical work, even if he were to work harder. But according to the military law, a legatus can’t serve in the legion for too long(mainly because Davos is afraid that if Drakos were to stay too long, the soldiers would become dependent on him, which would weaken his prestige in their eyes.) so he had to send him to Consentia as the legatus of the newly formed fifth legion. Drakos, however, did not let down Davos’ expectations, and in just a few years, he managed to train the unruly Bruttians to become competent legionnaires.

“Legatus, the Senate sent a letter!” The guards came in a hurry.

After reading the letter, Drakos immediately became thrilled and shouted, “Herald! Herald!”

“Here, legatus.”

“Immediately send your men with this letter and go to Vergae, Clampetia and Anbania to inform the soldiers of the fifth legions to assemble at Consentia’s square tomorrow. And those who are late will receive 30 beatings!”

“Yes!”

“Legatus, will there be war?!” The adjutant asked excitedly.

“What’s there to be happy? Some time had already passed since our declaration of war on Locri, yet only now the mobilisation order has been issued!” Drakos said with some dissatisfaction. He then asked his adjutant, “Stay here and supervise their training. I need to immediately go to Consentia and discuss the dispatching of the troops with Praetor Philesius.”

Remembering something, the adjutant reminded Drakos, “Legatus, some of our soldiers are still playing rugby in Thurii, you see-”

“Oh, I almost forgot about that.” Drakos thought for a moment and said, “Find the soldiers of the reserves to take their place first, while sending someone to Thurii urging them to return quickly. Otherwise, don’t blame me if they were to miss the battle.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Agesilaus was currently laying on his tent with a dignified expression at the stalemate of the Spartan coalition and the anti-Spartan alliance in Corinth, as the enemy kept repelling the Spartan’s offence with the sturdy defence of the city of Corinth, leaving him at a loss.

Even though Agesilaus wanted to open another battlefield, he couldn’t do it due to the severe damage of the Spartan fleet. While the Athenian Conon led the huge fleet prepared by Persia directly into the port of Piraeus and handed over the whole fleet to Athens, causing Sparta to face the same dilemma decades ago – they lost the sea.

‘Damned Persians, they are definitely stirring up some trouble in the dark!’ Agesilaus cursed inwardly, but he obviously forgot that his actions in Asia Minor led to this problem.

At this time, someone opened the tent and said, “King Agesilaus, I have arrived.”

“Phidias.” Agesilaus was about to sit up, but Phidias stepped forward daringly, held him down, and said with concern, “Don’t stand up. I heard that you are in poor health these days that you even fainted yesterday.” Then Phidias sat down on his legs.

Agesilaus, without any pretence and, still half lying on his couch, said, “It’s just an old problem of mine. It will get better after a few days of rest (in fact, it is due to polio.) The reason why I called you this time is that the Gerousia has sent an urgent letter.”

Agesilaus became serious, “Syracuse is about to attack Magna Graecia, so Dionysius asked for our helped and asked us to send a strategos proficient in warfare to help them defeat Theonia.”

“What?! Is Dionysius about to launch a war in Magna Graecia at this time? What about the assistance he promised us?!” Phidias said in surprise.

“Of course there is…” Agesilaus sighed helplessly, “According to Syracuse, it was Theonia who first declared war on Locri, which forced them to fight and protect their allies…but you and I all know that someone tried to assassinate the archon of Theonia more than ten days ago. And even though Theonia claimed that it was Locri who did it, the truth is probably not that simple.”

“Damn Dionysius! That bastard couldn’t even keep his promise!” Phidias shouted angrily, “If we Spartans had not supported him at the beginning, how could he hold his position as the tyrant of Syracuse!…”

“Although the behaviour of Dionysius is troublesome, Theonia and Athens had strengthened their ties some time ago. As you should know, Athens was the one to establish Thurii, and they had always been allies of Athens…” Agesilaus gazed at Phidias and seriously said, “Therefore, since this war in Magna Graecia is inevitable, we should not allow Theonia to win! That is why I have recommended you to the Gerousia. Although I know full well of your ability, I still hope that you can put aside your resentment of Dionysius and do your best to help him in winning this war for the sake of Sparta!”

After hearing this, Phidias nodded heavily and said, “King Agesilaus, there is no need for you to worry. I will go and help Dionysius defeat Theonia as soon as possible and then have him send troops to help Sparta!”

Agesilaus reminded him with caution, “Don’t be careless, let alone underestimate the young archon of Theonia, Davos! As far as we know, he has never lost in battle. Otherwise, the Theonia Union would not have risen so quickly, much more than we Spartans had expected! And it is precisely because of this pressure that Dionysius turned to us for help, as even when he fought the Carthaginians before, he did not take the initiative to seek our help like this time! To the point that he even said that once there was a war with Theonia and the South Italia Alliance, he was willing to let a strategos of Sparta take command.”

“Dionysius is really not good at warfare, but Davos-” After carefully thinking, Phidias excitedly said, “Although I don’t like this man, I have to admit that he is indeed a great opponent. Still, I am confident in beating him!”

Agesilaus stared at him for a while before nodding and saying, “That’s right. We Spartans must be fearless. Now, return to your team and prepare the handover. Afterwards, immediately go to Syracuse.”

“Yes!”

As he watched Phidias leave, a trace of worry rose in Agesilaus’ mind. The young archon of Theonia, who he had never met but had always been victorious, has not only put pressure on Dionysius but even gave an invisible pressure to the Spartan King who had been paying attention to Theonia…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At the same time, in the residence of the Polemarchos of Athens, Thrasybulus was talking with Isocrates.

The simple and noble Isocrates was quite respectful when facing Thrasybulus, as he was a person worthy of his respect in his heart.

During the reign of the “Thirty Tyrants”, many Athenian citizens were persecuted and had to flee everywhere. Thrasybulus, who was a Democrat, did not escape and had instead led a group of Athenian citizens to establish a resistance base at the junction of Attica and Boetia (at that time, although Athens were enemy of Thebes for many years, they still funded this team against Athens that Sparta controlled), in an attempt to overthrow the tyrant’s brutal rule and restore Athens’ independence and democracy. Under the leadership of Thrasybulus, this small team manage to defeat the tyrants’ powerful army.

Chapter 389 – Athens’ Decision

After the liberation of Athens, Thrasybulus and the others who regained authority had restored the democracy in Athens. However, they did not retaliate against the supporters of the former tyrants. Instead, they announced political amnesty and strictly implemented it. They even did their best to bridge the contradiction and resentments between the civilians and the wealthy, democrats and aristocrats, in order to make the present Athens more united than at the time of the Peloponnesian War. On the other hand, Thrasybulus and the others also adopted a cautious and moderate policy by forgetting the betrayal of their allies in the Delian League while treating and dealing with the other city-states equally, which made these city-states gradually gather around Athens again through trade and diplomacy. Although Athens was not as domineering as it had been during the reign of Pericles, it still managed to regain its former strength gradually.

Isocrates’ admired Thrasybulus as, despite his outstanding contribution to the revival of Athens, the Athenians deliberately did not elect him as a strategos for several years because they were worried about him becoming a dictator. However, even with all of that, he still offered advice and suggestions for the city-state without complaint.

“Isocrates, I believe that you already know about Theonia’s declaration of war on Locri some time ago.” Thrasybulus then asked with concern, “From your judgment as someone who had gone to Thurii. Do you think that there is a possibility of a war between Theonia and Syracuse?”

“There will be war!” Isocrates said decisively without hesitation.

“Oh?” Thrasybulus was surprised at Isocrates’ affirmation.

“Even though I have not been to Syracuse, I still know about Dionysius’ vicious performance in Sicily. He has destroyed several Sicilian Greek city-states, such as Catania and Leontinoi. Because of this man’s extreme greed for land, he had even sent his men to disturb Theonia’s political order, and I am afraid that he is the one behind the assassination attempt of Theonia’s archon not long ago. Therefore, we could deduce that Magna Graecia is the next place he wants to annex. And with Theonia targeting his only ally in Magna Graecia, how can he ignore it? So he will certainly send reinforcements to fight Theonia! While Theonia-”

Isocrates weighed his words and slowly said, “I don’t think that they are afraid to go to war with Syracuse. Although its strength is weaker than Syracuse, the citizens of the city-state union are as eager for war, just like a cat pouncing on a mouse. They will, without a doubt, actively participate, and they also have the assistance of Crotone, Rhegium and other city-states in South Italia Alliance….maybe they are already preparing to give Syracuse a heavy blow in Magna Graecia.”

“Like a cat pouncing on a mouse…hehe, Isocrates, your words are too exaggerated. There is no such thing as someone loving war.” Thrasybulus smiled, and his expression relaxed a bit, “Hearing that, it made me quite relieved. If Theonia can go to war with Syracuse, then the pressure on our anti-Spartan alliance will be less. I just hope that Theonia can defeat Syracuse and completely cut off the reinforcement of Syracuse so that we can focus more on dealing with Sparta.”

“Thrasybulus, my thoughts are exactly opposite of yours. You’d better pray to Athena to have both city-states have mutual defeat.” Said Isocrates with a serious expression.

“Why?” Asked Thrasybulus in surprise.

“I don’t deny my good impression of Theonia.” Isocrates then said in his unique hoarse voice, “But this kind of good impression, when you think about it carefully, is shocking… The Theonian citizens love for war is not a joke because according to the 《Theonian Law》, ‘Only when citizens have military merit can they obtain a better land.’ I believe that you can understand what crazy things a Greek could do for land. In fact, what attracted thousands of freemen and foreigners to Theonia was this Law of Theonia and another immigration act that ‘willingly accepting freemen as Theonia citizens’. In turn, these former freemen who became Theonian citizens or what they call preparatory citizens pushed Theonia to expand rapidly in order to obtain more land. Although Theonia did not invade the lands of fellow Greeks as recklessly as Syracuse, its rapid expansion of territory is obvious to all. Besides absorbing Greek freemen to become Theonian citizens, they even let other races join as citizens of the union…”

Thrasybulus nodded, “I have seen Aristophanes’ 《The Theonians》.”

“The Theonia Union had not only made those foreign races become citizens, but they even invited their chieftains to become a statesman of the Senate of Theonia and even a strategos of the army! And with the integration of the Bruttian mountains and Lucania into Theonia, its territory then exceeded the land area of Athens and Sparta.

Furthermore, under the initiative of their archon, Theonia vigorously constructed roads and bridges, spread the belief of Hades, and even built temples for the non-Greeks, constructed schools and akademia, recruited scholars and physicians, and a kind of ball game that is prevalent in Theonia… If left undisturbed and with its development, a powerful union of city-states that exceed the city-states in Greece in terms of territory and population but is also no weaker than our Athens in terms of trade and culture may appear on the Italian Peninsula. And their culture already differs from the traditional Greek culture…”

Thrasybulus became startled from hearing Isocrates’ words. He thought for a while and said, “Isocrates, aren’t you overthinking it? You should understand that any rapidly expanding force won’t expand forever. It will either collapse due to internal problems or be obstructed by external forces. As was the case with Argos long ago, Persia before the Peloponnesian War and even included us before the war with Sparta. Humans tried to eat more than what they could, and the same happens in countries.”

“But Thrasybulus, Theonia might be an exception.” Isocrates hastily reminded him, “Because this union adopts a political system completely different from any country and city-state in the Mediterranean.”

“Oh? What kind?” Thrasybulus asked with interest.

“From my observation of Theonia, even though they said that they are a union of city-states, but in fact, those city-states belonging to it are not independent cities but are cities ruled directly by the Senate of Theonia. The Senate of Theonia holds the highest power while sending its member to serve as Praetors of various cities such as Thurii, Consentia and Grumentum. They are the ones responsible for the internal affairs and management of the city. The city would then hand the taxes and revenues to the Senate. The city’s army is under the subordinate of the Senate called the ‘Ministry of Military’ to manage. As you can tell, these cities have no independent administrative capacity and are completely at the command of the Senate of Theonia…”

“They…they are a bit like Persia.” Thrasybulus uttered but was immediately interrupted by Isocrates, “Theonia is different from Persia. As far as we know, the city lords and satraps of Persia have considerable autonomy. Besides paying taxes and providing troops, The Persian king does not have stronger control over them. It is why, Pharnabazus, the satrap of Asia Minor of Persia, could make his own decision and give us the fleet built with Persian money to use the other day. He even agreed and allowed us Athenians to rebuild the city walls to protect the port of Piraeus. If it were any of the cities under the administration of Theonia Union, it would be impossible for them to make such decisions because the Senate of Theonia firmly controls everything. In my opinion, this can effectively pool all the resources, population, wealth in the territory to do things that other city-states and countries cannot do.”

After hearing this, Thrasybulus was lost in his thoughts for a while. In the end, he could only stop for a bit and said with a smile, “Isocrates, I asked you whether Theonia would fight Syracuse, and I didn’t expect you to talk to me about the threat of Theonia Union. Since Theonia is so powerful, it seems that there is no need for us to worry about Syracuse anymore. Instead, we should strengthen our diplomatic ties with Theonia and hope they can help us deal with Sparta.”

When Isocrates noticed that Thrasybulus didn’t seem to take his words seriously, so he wanted to say more, but Thrasybulus said seriously, “Isocrates, you should understand that Athens is now focusing on taking advantage of the support of Persia. Moreover, with the whole situation being in our favour, we need to focus on defeating Sparta as soon as possible, weakening this long-standing enemy of ours so that Athens can have a better development! In the Mediterranean, countless city-states and races have their own unique governance, so there is no need for us to worry about this and that, as only the goddess of destiny can grasp the future and no one else. And as long as we in Athens can maintain our city’s unity and stability, handle our relations with other city-states, develop our trade and strengthen our arms, Athens will still be the glorious Athens that does not need to fear anyone!”

The words of Thrasybulus was exactly the right thing for the likes of Isocrates, who is a believer in the concept of “Athenian supremacy”. Isocrates then said wholeheartedly, “You are right. Athens will recast its glory!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At the beginning of August, Pamot, the great chieftain of Potentia, received Theonia’s invitation to attend the Hades’ day. But just like the previous years, he politely refused and still only sent his brother Polet to attend.

It was not because he had any other ideas about Theonia. It’s just that he had never left the territory of Potentia since childhood, as the only thing he likes is staying in his own territory, guarding his people and living a comfortable life.

Chapter 390 – Enemy’s situation in the north

Since its joining in Theonia Alliance, Potentia’s situation improved significantly, with the south side that they usually had to guard had now become its backbone. Apart from their improved trade with Grumentum and Pyxous, even their subordinate city-state, Poseidonia, has followed suit. And their maritime trade volume with the city-states of South Italia increased year by year. Changing the life of the Potentians for the better and its treasury to become abundant. Pamot felt relieved at the thought that his decision of joining the Theonia Alliance was one of the best decisions he ever made!

The frequent contacts between Potentia and Theonia had naturally influenced the Potetians with some of the cultures of Theonia. For example, the Potentians also began liking Rugby. Some began praying to Hades, the patron god of Theonia, while also worshipping their god Asinu. The priests of Potentia had repeatedly complained this problem to Pamot, but even he was feeling helpless.

He understood that the Theonians did not deliberately guide the sudden behaviour of the people. Still, the frequent contact of the Potentians with their fellow Lucanians in Grumentum made them feel that the mountain god, Asinu’s clay statue is crude and could not compare to the majestic bronze statue of Hades. And when they heard that the Temple of Hades in Thurii is even more magnificent, they became so amazed that they started to change their faith. Furthermore, Hades has so many fascinating stories (From the Book of Hades that Plesinas compiled, many of which are very different from the legends they heard)…

Pamot, on the other hand, thinks that the cultural influence of Theonia on Potentia is not a bad thing because he was also enjoying the elegant Theonian culture, like the lunch he had just eaten, which was a delicacy from Theonia. He thought that shabu-shabu was much better than the roasted and boiled lamb he usually ate. He had eaten so much now that he was too full. He then rubbed his stomach and was about to take his hounds for a walk in the courtyard to help digest the food through exercise.

At this time, his servant came in and reported that chieftain Shasid wanted to see him.

“Let him in.” Pamot frowned as he began to feel a bit uneasy. Shasid’s tribe is located to the north of Potentia, adjacent to the Samnites. It could be said that they are at the forefront of Potentia’s defence against Samnites, so Shasid rarely left his territory and came to the city of Potentia.

‘Could it be that there are some movements from the Samnites?’ As Pamot anxiously thought, Shasid strode into the courtyard, and as soon as he saw Pamot, he anxiously shouted, “Great chieftain, the situation is bad! The Samnites are going to attack Potentia!”

“What?!” Pamot immediately became nervous and asked, “What happened?!”

“A few days ago, my men noticed that many Samnites entered Compsa, making the city became lively, so they thought that they were doing some offerings or celebrations, but it also made us raise our guard. Afterwards, tens of thousands of fully armed Samnites suddenly came from the north of Compsa and built several camps near the city… Great chieftain, the situation is not good! Seeing this, I am afraid that the Samnites are going to attack Potentia again!” Said Shasid anxiously.

“Thousands? Exactly how many?” Even though Pamot was a bit flustered, he still tried to calm down and find out the situation first.

“A…about…at least 20,000 men! With the Samnites sealing off the area around Compsa, my men couldn’t get inside to investigate!” Shasid also felt that what he said was too vague, so he expanded, “But we found that among the Samnites’ banners, not only the banner of Hirpini but even the flags of Pentri and Caudini could be seen!”

Hearing this made Pamot surprised, and he anxiously said, “Could it be that the four tribes of Samnites have gathered in Compsa?!”

“We have not yet seen the banner of Caraceni.” Shasid then anxiously added, “Great chieftain, you must immediately send an army to assist me! The Samnites might launch an attack within a few days, and I fear that my hundreds of warriors won’t be able to fend them!”

“It was already difficult for us to deal with just Hirpini back then! Listening to what you said, there are now at least three Samnite tribes, so even if I send all warriors as reinforcements, it is still impossible to repel them. On the contrary, the Samnites will take this opportunity to destroy our main force in the field and weaken the strength to defend the city of Potentia! Alas…” Pamot frowned in sorrow.

The Lucanians were composed of numerous tribes that have merged, forming several large tribal unions, Potentia, Grumentum, Pyxous, Galaguso, Nerulum. These tribes united and fought with each other for their own interest, which continued until the emergence of Theonia; only then did peace was restored in Lucania.

The Samnites are different from the Lucanians. The Samnites were a race that occupied the mountains of central Italia. The Samnites are divided into four major tribes, Hirpini, Pentri, Caudini and Caraceni, but each tribe is relatively united within the tribe. And even their relationship with the other major tribes is also friendly rarely even have conflict. Each major tribe has a great chieftain, which was jointly elected by all tribes, so it is rare for them to get ousted in the middle of their term unless they provoke public outrage. After all, only those talented and upright characters can be recognised by all tribes, so he will mostly serve as the great chieftain until he dies. And unlike the great chieftain of Lucania, the authority of the Samnites’ great chieftains are much greater, as no matter how far away the tribes live, whether they live in the mountains or valleys, all tribes under the major tribe must obey the orders of the great chieftain whether it is military, diplomatic and other matters. In this regard, the four tribes of Samnite are more like four kingdoms compared to the tribal union of Lucania and Bruttii. These characteristics of the Samnites, a race living in barren mountainous areas, is the reason why they could frighten the surrounding Latin, Greek and Lucanians.

Potentia was only facing Hirpini, the largest of the four tribes of Samnites, which was located in the south of the mountain occupied by Samnites and bordered on Potentia. But now, there are two more tribes, so how could Pamot not feel nervous? He paced back and forth in the yard. Finally, he made a decision and said, “Shasid, go back immediately and get your tribes ready. First, quietly transport some materials back to the city, and once you find that the Samnites might launch an attack, don’t resist them; instead, lead your people to retreat to the city… While I will immediately inform the other tribes to make the same preparations.”

“This…this… Great chieftain, are we just going to discard all our lands outside the city to those damn ‘pheasants*’ to trample on?! Even if we could tolerate the trampling on the farms, pastures and even burned down our houses,” Shasid, whose tribe had suffered from the Samnites so often in the past, was not surprised by this as his whole tribe had become accustomed to hiding. Still, he continued with concern, “If the city of Potentia were to be besieged by the Samnites, our food wouldn’t be able to support us for long!” (The Samnite warriors like to place pheasant feathers on the top and both sides of their helmets as a distinction between warrior levels, hence this nickname.)

“The Theonian army will come and support us soon. Don’t forget that we Potentians are now part of the Theonia Alliance!” Pamot has never been so glad in his decision to join Theonia Alliance as he is today.

“Right! Right! Theonia! Theonia will come and save us!” Shasid kept on nodding like a chicken pecking on rice. Obviously, he has confidence in this powerful ally to the south of Potentia, knowing that in the three years or so since Potentia joined the Theonia Alliance, his tribal territory had never suffered another Samnite invasion.

Pamot’s expression became more gloomy as he watched Shahid leave in a hurry. He had heard that Theonia declared war on Locri, so if Potentia were to ask Theonia for help at this time, would Theonia come and help them in time?

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Alexius walked into the city hall of Grumentum, where the Praetor Bagul was waiting for him, “Legatus Alexius!” Bagul, who was wearing a chiton, gave a military salute.

“Lord Bagul!” Alexius, dressed in military uniform, however, gave a statesman’s greeting by raising his hand.

“What lord. Stop making fun of me. Now, I just want to take off my chiton, put on my armour and be an officer under your command!” Bagul smiled helplessly.

Back then, Bagul was also the first senior centurion of the third legion and the Praetor of Grumentum, which was a countermeasure to stabilise the Lucanians after just occupying Grumentum. Neither the Senate nor Davos would allow the highest administrative power and the highest military power of a region*. Therefore, after Theonia obtained Pyxous and had an advantage in their rule over Lucania, the Senate proposed to let Bagul relinquish one of his posts. (At that time, the legatus of the third army, Hieronymus, was in Thurii, so the senior centurion of the first brigade was the highest military position in Lucania.)

With Grumentum’s location is in the centre of Lucania, consolidating Theonia’s rule over it can completely stabilise the whole Lucania, so Davos temporarily removed him from his position in the legion. So, for this reason, he had to persuade him with great pains for several days.

Realising his meaning, Alexius immediately asked, “What is it? What happened?!”

Chapter 391 – Davos’ Entaglement

“There is one, and it’s a big one!” Bagul said excitedly and seriously.

“Say it.” Alexius strained his ears to listen.

Bagul took the lead and sat down with Alexius. He then asked his men to bring the newly pickled beef jerky* and beer, “I am usually the one bothering you in the base, but today, you have come to Grumentum, which is rare. In return, I have to treat you well, so let’s drink while we discuss things.” (since Davos invented this pickled beer jerky for military ration, it has now gradually been loved by citizens and become a delicious snack for the Theonians, just like dried figs and dates.)

What Bagul said was the truth. The base of the third legion is built between Pyxous, Grumentum and Nerulum. Alexius, the current legatus, naturally can no longer stay in Thurii like the former legatus, Hieronymus(the system was not perfect at that time.) So during his term as the legatus of the third legion, he has to live in the base. Naturally, the construction of the base was not simple but more like a militarized town. Although Bagul was relieved of his duty in the military, he still visits the base every three or so days to participate in military training and competitions…after going back and forth, he became friends with Alexius.

Alexius knew his brazen character, so he didn’t refuse at this moment. He grabbed a piece of beef, chewed it and said, “What’s the situation?”

“The Samnites have gathered a large army on the border of Potentia. The report says that they have at least 20,000 men!” Bagul said with some excitement.

‘20,000 men!’ Alexius was surprised. He put down his beef jerky and asked hurriedly, “Are you sure that the Samnites are going to attack Potentia?!”

“Potentia sent an envoy asking for help, so how could it be fake?” Bagul sipped his beer and said half-jokingly, “Pamot, that stubborn old man who usually doesn’t pay attention to Theonia could no longer sit still at this time. Just after the envoy of Potentia asked help from me, he hurried to Thurii…”

“Bagul, you must take this matter seriously, especially at this critical moment when we have just declared war on Locri!” Alexius said in a grave tone. Obviously, he considered more things deeply than Bagul. After all, before he took his post, Davos solemnly reminded him that the current task of the third legion is to stabilise the situation in Lucania and purge all those against Theonia. Furthermore, their future goal is the Samnites in the north, a powerful and fierce race that they should not take lightly!

“I should immediately go back and gather the soldiers of the third legion and get ready for war. At the same time, I need to send the soldiers of the mountain reconnaissance brigade to find out the strength of the Samnites and inform Lord Davos as soon as possible.” Alexius stood up immediately.

As a young man living in the south of Lucania, Bagul did not think too much of the Samnites. Coupled with the successive victories of the Theonian legions in the past few years, it made him arrogant and underestimated the enemy. However, seeing the cautiousness of Alexius, he also began to attached importance to them, “Should we also have the citizens of the reserved legion get ready as well?”

“Of course! I have a bad feeling that there would be a huge war!” Alexius said seriously.

“A huge war!” Bagul repeated, with a hint of excitement on his face.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Milord! Lord Davos! Martius woke up! Martius, he has woken up!…” Herpus shouted excitedly as soon as he entered the living room.

“Really?!” Davos, who was talking with Heracleides the Younger, stood up in surprise.

“Just as what you have said before, ‘If the venom(referring to the poison) is separated from the body and exposed in the air for a long time, it will reduce the toxicity…’ It seems that this is indeed the case, and the awakening of Martius is a good example!” It is no wonder that Herpus is so excited; after all, most of Theonia’s territory is mountainous, causing numerous people to be bitten by snakes and insects every year. Thurii’s hospital doesn’t have that good treatment for such things; at most, they could only clean up and bandage the wound and using some medicine to nourish the body and rely on the patients themselves to recover. But this time, under the guidance of Davos, the hospital carried out meticulous care and medication on Martius. Finally, they achieved good results, which provided valuable experience and confidence for their future treatment of snakes and other poisonous bites.

Davos was in no mood to discuss medical issues with him at the moment. So he urgently asked, “How is Martius now?”

“Oh, he has woken up. Although he can open his eyes and move, his limbs are still a bit weak, and he has trouble speaking. Now, he can only lie in the hospital bed, and it will still take some time for him to recover.”

“Take me to see him.” Davos said as he pulled Herpus out.

“Milord, are you still going to see the construction of the stone bridge in Saraceno River today?” Asked Heracleides the Younger hurriedly.

“Haven’t you just erected the pier? I will go see it once you start laying the bridge’s deck.” Davos waved his hand and said apologetically.

“Okay.” Heracleides the Younger knew how much the awakening of Martius had affected Davos, so he could only helplessly follow Davos out of his residence, only to run into Rodom, the guard captain sent by the Senate.

“Lord Davos! And two lords! The Senate has called you to an emergency meeting!”

“What happened?!” Davos hurriedly asked when he saw the nervousness of Rodom.

“Potentia asked us for reinforcements and said, ‘the Samnites are about to invade Potentia!’”

‘The Samnites are going to attack Potentia at this time?!’ Davos was surprised, and the news doused his joy like a bucket of cold water.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Senate was having a heated debate whether to send a large number of reinforcements to rescue Potentia.

The supporters believed that since Potentia is an ally of Theonia, then following the agreement and morality, Theonia must give assistance! Moreover, although they have governed the Lucanian region for nearly five years, the rule of Theonia Union is still not stable. So if the Samnites rushed into the territory ruled by Theonia, it would cause turbulence in that place again. Thus Theonia should defeat the Samnites as soon as possible before going to war with Locri and even Syracuse to avoid fighting on two fronts.

While those who opposed believed that the combined army of Potentia, the third legion, and their ally in Lucania – Elea is more than enough to deal with the Samnites without sending more reinforcements. However, once Theonia was about to carry out its war against Locri and Syracuse, they would not be able to draw troops to the north.

Davos could not make a final decision as his mind was entangled. The Samnites, whose strength he knew from the history in his previous life, were a mountainous race that had been at war with the thriving Rome for decades. So much so that they even defeated the Romans many times and made them endure such humiliation… Davos thinks that the third legion and the Potentian army alone could not defeat the Samnites. Instead, he should do everything possible to put out the sparks before it could become a blazing flame.

A massive Samnite invasion had come just before their war with Locri, so Davos doesn’t believe that it has nothing to do with Dionysius. He thought that he had designed a trap and just needed to wait for Dionysius to jump, but he did not expect that Dionysius would directly instigate the Samnites to attack from the north first, causing Theonia to be unable to take care of her tail. Before he could even fight Syracuse, he could already feel the difficulty of fighting Dionysius. ‘What a terrible opponent!’ Davos had to start re-analysing this tyrant of Syracuse who had taught him a lesson.

However, due to this, he is sure that Syracuse is determined to fight Theonia. The only thing Davos is worrying about is whether this tyrant of Syracuse still has some cards left in his hand, so he had to raise his guards against it, which is one of the main reasons why he did not make a rash decision.

Davos returned home with a heavy heart. However, before he had the time to take a drink of water, he learned that Ansitanos had come to visit him. Davos then hurriedly welcomed him, “Lord Ansitanos, you are finally back!”

“I have travelled more than what I have travelled combined.” Ansitanos replied with a smile in return.

“That’s because you have only walked a little. In the future, you still have to go out more for diplomatic activities like this.”

“Don’t. This has already taken a lot of my time in writing my book.”

“Go out and experience more things, investigate the situation of other city-states so that the book you are writing is more vivid and informative. Back then, Herodotus travelled all over the Mediterranean…”

They then entered the living room while talking and laughing.

“Milord, the Senate of Carthage rejected our request for an alliance.” After sitting down, Ansitanos said seriously, “They even refused to sign a treaty of friendship and trade with us.”

Davos could still understand Carthage’s refusal to form an alliance. After all, Carthage’s war with Syracuse had just ended, with them suffering a lot and deeded to recover. Now that the situation between Theonia and Syracuse is tense, Carthage, as a neighbour, could naturally feel the tension between the two and will not jump in easily. Still, it’s strange that they refuse to sign a trade treaty with Theonia. After all, Carthage is wealthy due to its maritime trade in the western Mediterranean!

“Could it be that the Carthaginians are so afraid of Syracuse that they do not dare to have anything to do with us?” Davos was a little surprised.

“When I was in Carthage, I learned something about it. The Magonids, who used to dominate the Senate of Carthage and always had a strong interest in Sicily, lost their standing because of the previous war’s defeat. And now, they are forced to accept the task of building a new colonial city on the Iberian Peninsula that the Senate of Carthage assigned. Now another influential family has the right to speak in the Senate, and its patriarch, Hanno, is conservative and prefers land over sea trade. He even put forward a slogan, ‘March inland to give citizens access to more land…’” Ansitanos said slowly.

‘Which means that Carthage will go to war with Libya?’ A thought struck Davos. Compared to Syracuse, which always caused Carthage’s defeat, Libya, with its vast territory and many tribes, was a much easier place to deal with as it is a plate of loose sand. And Carthage had a great idea of “recovering their lost in Sicily from Libya.” But due to this, it is even less likely for Carthage to mess with Syracuse.

Chapter 392 – Plans can’t keep up with the changes

Ansitanos said his judgment without hesitation, “Maybe in their eyes, Theonia’s chance of winning is not big. In fact, Carthage didn’t even pay any attention to us, Theonia, as even Hanno didn’t come to meet me…”

Davos honestly did not expect Carthage, which was able to fight with Rome in his previous life’s history, would be so weak. However, thinking of it again, Carthage and Rome’s battle for supremacy happened a hundred years later, so Carthage’s development a hundred years earlier is naturally not comparable. Thinking about how Carthage, who he is fond of (mainly due to Hannibal’s influence), actually looked down on Theonia had made him a bit depressed. He then noted it in his heart, “One day, you will regret your contempt of Theonia!”

“Lord Ansitanos, do you think Dionysius instigated the Samnites to invade Potentia?” Davos asked to confirm his judgment.

“I heard about that as soon as I came back.” Ansitanos drank a mouthful of water and continued to say, “Hmm…I think that it is plausible. You should know that Syracuse and Campania had close relations since the time of Gelon, with both sides having frequent trade exchanges and Syracuse even sending troops several times to help the Greek city-states in Campania to defend against the Samnites’ attack… And most of Dionysius’ mercenaries had come from Campania, so Dionysius should be more familiar with the Samnites in the mountains of Campania. Thus it is not impossible for him to persuade the Samnites as long as he is willing to pay the price. Moreover, I am afraid that the Samnites has long been worried about the powerful Theonia.”

Reminded by Ansitanos, Davos suddenly remembered that since Potentia’s joining of the Theonia Alliance, the Samnites’ invasion of Lucania has stopped happening. Obviously, it is due to their fear of Theonia…

Davos secretly regretted that he had focused on stabilising the union in the past few years and had devoted too little effort to the situation around Theonia and the Mediterranean as a whole.

‘This is a lesson for me!’ Davos warned himself and then asked Ansitanos, “Where else do you think Dionysius might use such plot like the Samnites against Theonia?”

Hearing him, Ansitanos stroked his grey beard and began to ponder. After some time passed, he suddenly opened his eyes and said, “Taranto! There is a possibility that it would be Taranto!”

Davos became surprised, ‘Indeed, Taranto is very likely!’ Syracuse and Taranto have few contacts with each other, but as an ally of Sparta, the mother-state of Taranto, both sides have good relations, which is likely to lead… Furthermore, due to Theonia taking Heraclea and Metapontum from Taranto(most Tarantines think so), the relationship between the two sides has become a bit stiff, so much so that despite the alliance agreement, there are still some small frictions between them from time to time. This time, since Theonia declared war on Locri, Taranto, as Theonia’s ally, has not expressed its support or opposition as before. There is not even a single movement, which is not normal!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The following day, the Senate of Theonia immediately sent an envoy to Taranto at the request of Davos.

The Tarantine Council became impatient at the Theonian envoy, who kept asking for their opinion on their “declaration of war on Locri” and stated that Taranto needed to rest and recuperate from the last war.

The envoy could only return to Thurii and report the attitude of Taranto to the Senate in detail. Most of the statesmen became relieved, but Davos didn’t relax his vigilance. He then sent someone to remind the archons of Metapontum and Heraclea to improve their defence against Taranto and asked Aristias to pay more attention to Taranto… That is all he can do; after all, Taranto has not yet done anything unusual so far.

At this time, Davos focused more on the Lucanian region in the north.

The next day, the third legion sent an urgent report to Thurii.

Compared with the scouts of Potentia, the reconnaissance soldiers of the third legion are much better, as they have all undergone rigorous training under the reconnaissance brigade of Izam. Izam, under the guidance of Davos, combined with his own experience in scouting operations in the past few years, has worked out a complete set of training methods for surveillance, mountain climbing and wading through water, ambush, camouflage, scouting…and much other training. The reconnaissance brigade even has several ways to judge the enemy’s strength, such as they can infer it from the size of the enemy camp, the number of tents and the number of supplies. Of course, the most direct way is to count the number of people, so most of the soldiers in the reconnaissance brigade are from citizens engaged in bookkeeping, banking, trade and other industries that require strong mathematic skills.

In the military reform of the year before last, Davos transferred personnel from the reconnaissance brigade of Izam and gave each legion a squad of 100 scouts, thus giving them eyes and ears. Since Italia is a mountainous region, scouting horses were often useless.

This military report from the third legion described the Samnites in more detail: …according to the intelligence we gathered, the Samnites’ army assembled in Copsa is composed of the whole Hirpini, Pentri and a part of Caudini warriors. Its current military strength has reached more than 40,000. Seeing that the Samnites’ camp is not expanding in the past few days and the Samnites entering the city of Copsa from the north has significantly reduced, it is highly likely that the Samnites would attack in the next two or three days! With the urgent situation, we, the third legion, requested to carry out “emergency command*” and asked the Senate to send more reinforcements!

-Signed: Alexius, Legatus of the third legion.

(In a state of emergency, when the war situation is complex and rapidly changing, repeatedly requesting the Senate of Theonia for every major military operation would only delay the battle and even put the legion in danger. Davos realising that he could not take care of the whole territory every time after the expansion of Theonia’s territory had formulated this important military regulation to give the legatus in the battlefield the autonomy of military action, to avoid sluggish and rigid command that would kill the desire and motivation of the legion commanders and soldiers!)

‘40,000?!’ The statesmen of the Senate were shocked by Samnites’ strength, but they still argued about whether to send more reinforcements. However, Davos has finally made up his mind. He stood up and said firmly, “Everyone, the military situation in Potentia is urgent, and we can’t delay any longer! The huge force of more than 40,000 Samnites is beyond the resistance of the third legion and Pamot’s army! Thus in order to prevent the Samnites from defeating and occupying Potentia and taking advantage of the situation to enter our Lucanian territory, I decided to lead the first and second legions to reinforce Potentia and try to repel the enemy in the shortest time!”

“I support the archon’s decision!” As soon as Davos’ voice fell, Vespa jumped with joy, and Hemon shouted his support. Still, others were quiet for the time being.

The status of Davos naturally did not allow the statesmen to remain silent for long. Soon after, Cornelius stood up and asked, “Are we still going to attack Locri?”

“Temporarily stop! The fourth and fifth legions are to return to their post and stand by. At the same time, send envoys to our allied city-states such as Crotone and Scylletium to explain the situation. I believed that they could understand our situation, but-” Before Davos finished, Kunogelata anxiously interrupted, “But Syracuse may attack Magna Graecia while our main force goes north!”

Kunogelata’s words aroused discussions among the statesmen.

Amintas shouted, “It would be best if Syracuse were to come, as we won’t have to go to Sicily anymore and just beat them directly in Magna Graecia!”

“But when they come, Lord Amintas, you and the bravest and strongest citizens of Theonia may still be playing hide and seek with the Samnites in the mountains of Lucania!” Scambras retorted.

“We will immediately defeat the Samnites and come back soon!” Amintas argued loudly.

“That’s hard to say. In the mountains, we Greeks won’t be able to catch up with those Samnites who are good at climbing. So if you can’t catch them, how will you beat them?” Scambras retorted uncompromisingly.

“Old man, you should understand that it is the Samnites who are attacking us. There is no need for us to chase them at all as they will take the initiative to fight us!”

“Everyone, please keep quiet!” Davos shouted, “The situation is clear. If we don’t act, I am afraid that Syracuse would only watch in Sicily and wait for the right moment. After all, we will still suffer because the threat of the Samnites is right in front of us, so if we just sit idly by, the situation in Lucania would be unimaginable…” Davos paused for a moment to give the statesmen time to think. He then continued, “Therefore, we can only seize every minute and seconds, concentrate our forces and give priority to the enemy that we can strike! Thus, no matter how far the enemy comes from, we must concentrate our forces on one attack to ensure the greatest victory!”

The statesmen began whispering again.

Kunogelata asked again, “Archon, what should we do if Syracuse were to really attack Magna Graecia after you leave?!”

Davos was prepared for this. After calming down, he slowly told the statesmen his speculation and plan. “If Syracuse wants to attack Magna Graecia, Dionysius should not dream of taking Magna Graecia without having more than 50,000 men! And with such a large number of men and materials, it would take a long time for them to land safely on the land of Magna Graecia…”

Chapter 393 – Davos’ Strategic Plan

Davos continued to say, “The landing of their soldiers, labours and supplies…will make the place to be quite chaotic and lack of organisation, so Dionysius would never dare take a risk and land elsewhere besides its ally, the port of Locri. Thus after the Ministry of Military received the report of Syracuse’s attack, they would send our fourth and fifth legions to Caulonia to quickly reinforce our other allies. They would then use the narrow terrain of Caulonia and the Savuto river to the south of Terina to build a solid camp to defend against the enemy’s attack and buy more time for us to defeat the Samnites and lead the main troops back on a decisive battle with Syracuse.

For the sake of a unified command of the fourth and fifth legion, I will make Lord Philesius be the commander of both fourth and fifth legions and be responsible for the war in the south.”

Davos chose Philesius not only due to his seniority but also because he was in charge of military work, not to mention that he could even make the stubborn Drakos and the jumpy Epiphanes listen to him. However, his character is not tough, making him be swayed by the opinions of his subordinates. Still, he could do nothing as the commanders among the strategoi who are more capable have the same qualifications as Drakos and Epiphanes, such as Kapus and Antonios. On the other hand, if you place those who have lower qualifications than them, such as Hielos and so on, at the top, the two legatus of the legion will not accept it, and it will instead affect the operation.

The statesmen seriously considered Davos’ plan of “defence first and counterattacked later”, with most of them thinking it was feasible. After all, they had great confidence in Davos ability and thought that as long as he was in command of the battle against Syracuse, their chance of winning was great. At the same time, they also accepted the candidate that Davos proposed as the commander temporarily in charge of the military In the south. After all, Philesius had always been kind to others in the Senate, giving everyone a good impression of him.

“Then who will take over the position of Praetor of Consentia? Or will Philesius still hold it?” Cornelius asked because Philesius is still Consentia’s praetor.

After all, there is a precedent of “concurrently serving as Praetor and Legatus”, such as Hielos, who served as the Praetor of Aprustum and the legatus of the fourth legion after the second Crotonian War, and so did Bagul in Grumentum.

But Davos said, “Our war with Syracuse will determine the survival of our union. It is the most important event, so we must go all out! Hence we can only find another person to take over as the Praetor of Consentia!”

Davos’ gaze swept through everyone in the Senate. He saw most of the non-military statesmen showed yearning in their eyes, especially the Bruttian statesmen. It is understandable; after all, even though there are currently several cities within Theonia Union, only three are important: Thurii, the centre of Theonia Union. Grumentum, the largest city in the Lucanian region and the hub of the northern part of the union. Consentia, the central city of the Bruttian region. Although each praetor has the same ranking, the praetor of these three cities is virtually superior to others, and it is also an honour to serve as one.

Of course, Davos knew what the statesmen were thinking about, so he patiently explained, “Considering that once the war with Syracuse begins, the Bruttian region and the Crotone Plain will soon become the frontline of Theonia closest to the battlefield. Thus, the Praetor of these regions needs to cooperate with the army’s military operations and meet their operational needs, such as housing the wounded, providing new soldiers, transferring food supplies…and so on. Therefore, we need a statesman who has both administrative experience and understanding of the operation of the military, for the time being-” Davos emphasise the word “for the time being” strongly as he does not want to disappoint some of the statesmen too much, “As for the Praetor of Consentia, I propose that Hielos temporarily take up this position.”

The statesmen did not oppose Davos’ proposal due to Hielos’ outstanding performance during his term in Aprustum, which was evident to all. Only Petaru, Kaduk and some others showed disappointment. Moreover, since the trial of Pollux and the others, there were lesser statesmen who opposed Davos’ proposal. Hence, this proposal was easily passed.

Then Hielos, who had just been appointed, asked, “Archon, since I am going to Consentia, who will take over my current post?”

“Lord Hieronymus, I hope that you can temporarily take the post of quartermaster.” Military matters need to be decided by Davos, and others can’t intervene. Davos has long thought of a good candidate; after all, the war is about to start, which means that military training will naturally have to stop.

“Yes.” Hieronymus answered lightly.

Although he didn’t express his enthusiasm, knowing Hieronymus, Davos still felt assured. Unlike Drakos, who was stubborn and only wanted to command the battle, the taciturn Hieronymus was serious and pragmatic, so as long as he was given the respect and space to use his talent, he would complete his task without a word.

Still, considering that this is a big war, the pressure of the logistics’ quartermaster will be tremendous. Thus Davos still wants to find him a helper, “Mersis, you have to help Hieronymus!”

Mersis immediately express his hardship, “I am already busy with the things I am responsible for, such as the finance and taxation of so many cities…” But facing Davos’ stare, his voice gradually lowered. In the end, he could only reluctantly shrugged and said, “I…I…I’ll try my best.”

Davos then asked, “Lord Hieronymus, how many soldiers in the reserve legion are there in total in Thurii?”

“There are about two thousand two hundred men.” Hieronymus, who was very dedicated to his job, blurted out without thinking.

Davos nodded. He then looked at the crowd and said loudly, “Everyone, I propose establishing two reserve legions in Thurii. So that once the war breaks out, we could use them to defend our city and deal with emergencies.”

“I have no objection.” Kunogelata said.

“I agree.” Cornelius agreed.

Even the two statesmen who usually opposed war had agreed, not to mention the other statesmen. The point is that after Davos leaves with the first and second legions, the empty Thurii would make them feel insecure. Thus with the two new legions, they would feel much more at ease.

“Lord archon, even though the number of the soldiers in the new legion would be sufficient, they do not have the unified new legion weapons and equipment. You should know that most of these reserve soldiers are just preparatory citizens and registered freemen, and they do not have enough money to buy weapons and equipment.” Warned Hieronymus.

Davos thought for a moment and said, “You and Mersis must gather the several arms merchants such as Tios and the Legion’s weapon shop, as well as the manager of Bank of Cheiristoya, to discuss a feasible way to solve the problem of weapons and equipment for the new legion soldiers and try to achieve unity.”

“Understood.” Hieronymus replied straightforward.

Mersis whined, “This would costs money again!”

At this point, Kunogelata said, “If the war with Syracuse breaks out, it will be a great war that would consume a lot of our wealth on all fronts. Therefore, I suggest that the Senate step forward and replace the soldiers in making an agreement with the arms merchants to temporarily allow the soldiers to buy weapons on credit and then pay them back with interest after the war ends… I believe the credit of the Senate of Theonia is still worth the money.”

“Your suggestion is wonderful, Lord Kunogelata!” Mersis immediately cheered up and said, “As citizens of Theonia, these arms merchants should make such contributions!”

“I don’t care how you go about solving the problem of weaponry for the new legion, but you must not force them, else you will have to talk with Tritodemus.” Warned Davos.

“The lord archon is right. The union’s law protects the citizen’s properties, and no one is allowed to infringe it!” Warned Tritodemus.

A smile showed on Mersis’ fat face as he said, “Rest assured, milord. How could I, a statesman, a noble among Theonian citizens, make such a mistake?”

Without paying any further attention to him, Davos walked to the centre of the senate hall, stood upright, and looked at everyone. Afterwards, he said in a passionate and inspiring voice, “Esteemed statesmen, it is thanks to your hard work and dedication that the Theonia Union has become as strong and prosperous as it is today in just a few years! But now, we have encountered the greatest test since the establishment of the union. Syracuse, a Greek city-state that has dominated the western Mediterranean for a hundred years, is like a mountain in front of Theonia, which had blocked not only our progress but also crushed us! The statesmen of Theonia, the elites among the citizens, the leaders of the people, are you willing to succumb to this mountain and be crushed by it? Or will you face it bravely and go through hardship?!”

“Overcome it, and there will be a flat and smooth road ahead of Theonia!”

“If we defeat Syracuse, Theonia will no longer have a powerful enemy in the Western Mediterranean!”

“That’s why…even if all the citizens of Theonia starve, they will defeat Syracuse!”

“Under the protection of Hades,  we will overcome no matter how great the difficulties and powerful the enemy is. We will eventually defeat them!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

With the guidance of Davos, the statesmen expressed their determination to fight Syracuse to death.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the Senate of Theonia received the urgent report from the third legion, the situation in Potentia had already changed. The Samnites, who were still gathering their warriors, suddenly launched an attack on Potentia’s territory. With the great chieftain of Potentia, Pamot, ordering all the tribes under them to retreat to the city, the Samnites became unobstructed and advanced rapidly, with some troops even bypassing the city of Potentia and continued to head south…

Chapter 394 – The First Battle Between Theonia and Samnite (I)

Pamot, who was checking the enemy’s situation in the city, was extremely anxious. Still, he did not dare to send the troops out of the city to block them because the enemy had already surrounded Potentia. And the strength of the Samnites far exceeded the information he had received in advance.

Some of the tribes in the southern part of the Potentian territory became careless and did not evacuate in time as they thought that the Samnites were still far away from them. As a result, they were wiped out or captured by the Samnites or got frightened and desperately retreated further south to the territory of Grumentum.

The panic brought by these fleeing Potentian tribes naturally spread to the tribes north of Grumentum, and they too began making clamour about evacuating to the south. Alexius, who had already received the report from the scouts, felt the urgency of the situation, so he resolutely decided that he could no longer wait for the Senate’s order and immediately led the more than 8,000 soldiers who had all returned to the base and march north.

In the military reform in recent years, Davos had not only equipped each legion with a reconnaissance team of 100 men but also took into consideration that fighting in Italy, with its tall mountain, would make the arms of the light infantry to be sore and numb after a series of long-ranged attacks. At the same time, they also needed to assist the hoplites in attacking the enemy’s flank and making a detour to pursuit them, which was no less physically demanding than the hoplites but less efficient in combat. Therefore, after thinking and discussing it with the strategoi, he added a brigade of light armoured soldiers to each legion, wearing leather helmets, breastplates, shields, shin armour and sandals, with their combat weapons being a 1.2-meter-long double-edged thick iron sword. Only young and middle-aged citizens and preparatory citizens who are good at running and climbing mountains are selected into this brigade to assist the hoplites in combat.

At the same time, Davos also reformed the light infantry brigade. Due to Theonia’s excellent slingers mainly coming from Rhodes*, the scarcity of troops made it difficult for the later established legions to recruit more slingers. Thus, except for the first and second legions, which still had slingers, the light infantry brigades of the other legions consisted of half archers and half peltasts. In addition, the number of excellent Thracian light shields could no longer meet the expansion speed of the Theonian legions, so from the fourth legion onwards, there were no longer light shield infantries. And they were now mainly replaced by peltasts and light-armoured soldiers, thus making the legion establishment more simplified and unified. (Balearic Island, which was another place abundant in slingers, is under the control of the Carthaginians.)

Besides the Engineering Brigade, Cavalry Brigade, Medical Brigade and other auxiliary brigades in the legion, there are now nearly 8,700 men in a Theonian legion today and can be described as a large and fully functional legion.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As Alexius goes north, he had also sent someone to inform Bagul to defend the northern territory of Grumentum.

The Lucanian region is mainly mountainous, and Potentia is the highest altitude in the region, with an average height of over 500 metres. Fortunately, most of the soldiers of the third legions are Lucanians and have lived here since childhood and have adapted to the environment.

The third legion trekked in three columns in the lowlands between the mountains and the river valleys, like a long dragon winding through the mountains, stretching three kilometres or so from the head of the line to the tail…

At this moment, on one of the mountains, the son of the great chieftain of Hirpini – Garni, is closely watching the movement at the foot of the mountain.

“Chief, look!” The warrior beside him suddenly shouted.

“Idiot, keep your voice down!” Garni kicked him and scolded, “Don’t scare the enemy away!”

They could see a flickering golden light on the mountain path hidden by trees. After a while, these golden specks of light turned into a flag held high. At the top of the flag is the bronze statue of Hades holding a bident that dazzles under the sun. The flag holder was a tall military man dressed in complete animal fur, making him looked extraordinarily sturdy. (the fur is from a large hound, symbolising loyalty and bravery. After all, Hade’s loyal dog is the three-headed dog, Cerberus. In addition, according to the modern thinking of Davos, he forbids his men from wantonly hunting animals just for the need of decoration.)

“Hmph, it’s just nice to look at.” A Samnite warrior muttered in a low voice mockingly, “I just don’t know if they could even fight.”

Garni didn’t speak as he continued to stare at the Theonian army that was slowly approaching him. He knew very well in his heart that the reason why his father contacted the two other Samnites clans of Caudini and Pentri to attack Potentia together was not only due to Syracuse’s strong financial support and encouragement but also because of the oppression of the suddenly rising powerful neighbour to the south.

At this moment, he wants to keep his eyes wide open and clearly see what the strange enemy he is about to face is like.

Behind Theonia’s flag bearer was the legion’s flag bearer holding the fluttering black flag embroidered with a golden ‘Theonia’s third legion’. The flag was initially red due to the influence of Rome from his previous life, but as he became more and more integrated into this era and Hades’ belief had penetrated the hearts of the Theonians, so he changed the colour of the military flag into black, representing Hades, the lord of darkness.

Behind the legion’s flag bearer is the flag bearer of the first brigade of the third legion, holding the statue of Thanatos, which is one size smaller than the status of Hades. Then came the legion’s drummer…

Garni rubbed his slightly tired eyes. Even though the Theonian army looked formidable, they had too many of these fancy things.

As he sighed in his mind, his eyes widened at the sight of the following Theonian legionnaires. Black bronze helmet unlike that of the Corinthian helmet that he had seen the Greek soldiers in Campania was wearing. The helmet is like an inverted bowl with the whole face exposed except the part protecting the side of the face. Its style is very similar to that of the Samnite warriors’ helmet, with no decorative feather or colourful horsetail at the top. Black linen breastplate, black shin armour, a spear in the right hand and a shield in the left…

‘Those shields…’ Garni was surprised to find that the shield held by the Theonian soldiers was very similar to their shield. It is half a man high, rectangular in shape with the central front convex and both its sides concave, and the whole shield surface is curved. The only difference is that the shields of the Theonian soldiers are painted black instead of red…

“Weren’t Theonia a Greek city-state? Why aren’t they using their traditional round bronze shield and Corinthian helmet? Instead, they are using something so similar to us Samnites?!”

Garni was surprised. Naturally, he didn’t know that the archon of Theonia had finally completed the upgrading of the legion’s weapon and equipment in recent years. He abandoned the heavy Corinthian helmet and round shield and changed it into a new helmet and large shield. Of course, such a large shield can’t be plated with bronze.

In the Theonian army, apart from the occasional helmet with red, white or purple plume, which must have been worn by the officers and strategoi, the rest were almost entirely black, making the whole legion look like a black snake drilled out of hell, filled with the smell of death and cold.

Garni unconsciously gulped, put on the helmet with rows of colorful plumes and whispered, “Inform Abrini on the other mountain to get ready. Once the enemy’s front army passed under the mountain, we will attack and give these pretentious enemies a good show.”

“Yes, chief!” The cavalryman shook the red flag painted with a wolf’s head on the top of the mountain, which could not be seen by the Theonian soldiers at the bottom, and the Samnites on the other mountain also shook their flag in response.

The Samnites warriors held their breath as they crouched on the ridge, holding their javelins and rocks, waiting for the Theonians to pass under the mountain.

But suddenly, the Theonians stopped advancing, and a strategos on horseback seemed to say something to the soldiers before he rushed back to the army.

After a while, the army began moving forward again. However, after advancing a few steps, they stopped again, and the strategos said something to the soldiers again.

They stop and go three times in a row. And when they were just about to enter the ambush circle, they stopped within a short distance and lingered for too long.

Feeling that his patience was about to run out, Garni rubbed his hands over his stiff, numb body and cursed the Theonians for their slowness.

Just then, a sudden commotion happened on the top of the mountain.

“The enemy is coming! The enemy is coming!…” The warriors shouted loudly.

“What happened?!” Garni asked hurriedly, not caring about the ambush at the moment.

“Chief, the Theonians…the Theonians are coming from the back of the mountain and want to surround us!” The warrior who ran to see the situation hurriedly ran back to report.

In fact, he doesn’t need to report it as Garni could see dark shadows moving between the mountains and forests behind them.

‘Fooled! Those cunning Theonians knew that we prepared an ambush here and had deliberately attracted my attention to the front while they wanted to surround and wipe us out!’ Such thought flashed through Garni’s mind. Still, he was not flustered and immediately ordered, “Blow the horn! Since the Theonians dared to go up the mountain, then let them have the taste the Samnites’ strength!”

A low and long sound of a horn reached the foot of the mountain. And the legatus of the third legion, Alexius, who was at the front of the legion, immediately looked up.

“It seems that the Samnites have discovered our troops.” Litom, the leader of the first brigade, spoke in fluent Greek. Since the time he was humiliated in the Isthmian Games, he spent a lot of time practising his Greek after coming back, which improved significantly.

“Kelisinus, are you sure that there are only 1,000 Samnites on both mountains?” The legion’s adjutant asked Kelisinus, the reconnaissance captain beside him again.

Chapter 395 – The First Battle Between Theonia and Samnite (II)

“I’m sure!” Kelisinus confidently pointed to the mountains ahead and said, “Those Samnites came here after the Potentian tribes. But after getting the information about us from somewhere, they actually tried to ambush us here. However, they do not know that my men had been watching their every move.”

“Kelisinus, I will take note of the contribution you and your men have made today.” Alexius said as he pats his restless horse, “Although our legion hasn’t trained in Potentia, I think you haven’t forgotten the terrain here, Litom.”

“How would I dare forget about it when you have brought us to the southern mountains of Potentia several times in civilian clothes! And the military law has a strict rule that all ranks of officers must engrave the topography of their districts in their mind!” Litom pointed to his own head.

“Lord Davos is a great man!” Exclaimed Alexius. It was this military law that Davos made for the officers and soldiers to strictly implement that made the army prepared in times of war. He also remembered Davos’ advice when he appointed him as the legatus of the legion, “Now is the time to test you, and also to see how powerful the Samnites are!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Garni saw a flag was waving across the mountain. Apparently, the enemy also attacked Abrini’s group, but he doesn’t have the time to even worry about his friend at this moment. Together with more than one thousand warriors, he rushed down towards the mountain. Except for the colourful plume on his helmet, his equipment was no different from the other warriors, a golden bronze helmet, a loose red short-sleeved robe that reaches to his knee, a leather belt was tied to his waist, his right hand clutching a spear while his left hand carried four javelins.

Considering that he was going to ambush the Theonian army, Garni had only brought out light infantries, who regarded the steep hillside as flat land, could shuttle between rocks and trees, and were as agile as monkeys, stepping on thorns and debris without the slightest pain. Soon, they approached the Theonian army climbing the mountain.

Compared with the rapid descending Samnites, the speed of the Theonian troops ascending the mountain is relatively slow, as they are a mixture of light infantry, light-armoured and hoplites. And they formed up in a loose arc formation in an attempt to encircle all this side of the mountain so that the Samnites could not escape, but they did not expect the Samnites to come so quickly.

As the temporary commander of this mixed force, Kesima, the senior centurion of the second brigade of the third legion, was not flustered. However, if he encountered this situation a few years ago, when they had not yet integrated into Theonia Union, Kesima would undoubtedly lead the warriors of his tribes to meet them in a melee. But now, he is a qualified officer in the Theonian legion.

“Archer, get ready! Hoplites, defend!” At the same time as Kesima gave the order, the hoplites of the legion erected their large shield against the trunk and rock, protecting themselves and the archers, while the light-armoured and peltasts retreated further, making it difficult for the Samnites to attack them unless they charged through the lines of hoplites.

Under the protection of the large shield, the archers calmly pull their bows, aimed their arrows at the Samnites, who are running rapidly. The Samnites’ loose formation, coupled with the mountains and lush trees, reduced their effectiveness, so they needed an accurate focus fire.

The Samnites were up so high that even though they were a hundred metres away from each other, the javelin they threw still flew straight to the hoplites. And the only thing they could hear was the continuous “Bang! Bang! Bang!…” sound, with more than half of the javelins hitting the large shields. Seeing the sharp javelin tip piercing through the shield made the hoplites alarmed, ‘It’s heavy javelins!’

The Theonian archers had also shot out their sharp arrows, while the unprotected and lightly dressed Samnite warriors quickly crawled under a rock or hid behind tree trunks to avoid the arrow.

For a time, javelins and spears came and went in the mountains and forests.

While the Theonian soldiers had stronger protection and the archers had a stable place to shoot arrows, the Samnites relied on their flexibility and the powerful penetration of the javelins to fight back. Although their casualties gradually increased due to their lack of protection, it still did not weaken their morale.

Relying on the cover of trees, Garni and his men managed to approach within 40 metres away from the Theonians. After seeing that the javelin he had thrown had made the large shield of the Theonian hoplites wobble and cause the soldier to almost fall, he weighed his last javelin in his hand and thought to himself, ‘Closer, closer, I am sure I can kill another one!’

After he thought confidently, he suddenly drilled out of the trees, swiftly circled the route and continued to rush down.

The whole Samnite warriors were only about 30 metres away from the enemy. Garni then leaned against a big tree to avoid the enemy’s arrows like the other warriors, and when the archers reloaded the arrows, he came out again and was ready to throw his javelin at the hoplite in front. But suddenly, he saw a shocking scene. The Theonian hoplites suddenly dropped their large shields and made a throwing action.

“Stop, javelin!” Garni’s eyes widened.

The hoplites on the opposite side threw their javelins. The thousands of javelins mixed with arrows flew out, catching the Samnites off guard. Those Samnite warriors who did not have the time to hide were immediately shot by javelins and screamed.

Garni didn’t have the time to judge as after the Theonian hoplites threw their javelins, the peltasts ten metres behind them also rushed up and threw the javelins in their hands again, followed by the light-armoured soldiers. As the Samnites dodged the javelin attacks, the hoplites crossed the defensive line and quickly approached the enemy.

“Retreat! Quickly retreat!…” Garni knew that he shouldn’t act strongly at this moment, as Theonia’s peculiar combination of tactics had disrupted their rhythm, and if they delayed any longer, they might not be able to leave.

Garni gestured while quickly retreating, and the person following him had immediately blown the horn.

However, the speed of Theonia’s light-armoured soldiers is not slow. As Lucanians, they are also good at climbing trees and mountains. Furthermore, they are also wearing light clothes. Therefore, they were about to catch up with the Samnites, not to mention those wounded warriors.

On the rocky mountainside with intertwining trees, javelins fought against leather shields and short swords. The Samnites tried to keep pulling away in order to give full play to their weapon, but once they let the Theonian’s light-armoured soldiers get close, the Samnites became in danger.

One flees and one chase on the mountains, and a fight between javelins and swords could be often seen.

After crossing the mountains, escaping from the pursuit of Theonia, and regrouping with his team, Garni found that there were only more than 500 people following him. He had lost almost half of his men.

By the time he regrouped with Abrini’s team, his good brother was already dying from a javelin wound, and he only had 300 out of the 1,000 warriors he led left.

Initially, he wanted to ambush the Theonian army, but the Theonians instead ambushed him. Garni, who was angry, became depressed, and he could only retreat rapidly to the north with the disabled warriors and defeated army without rest.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“These are the Samnites?!” Alexius stared carefully at the bodies on the ground and even touched the thick calluses of their bare feet regardless of their dirtiness, “It’s hard, like a pair of leather. Kesima, you had just fought a battle with the Samnites. Tell me how you felt fighting them.”

Kesima thought for a moment and said, “Legatus, the Samnites are very brave. As you have seen, even though they are all light infantry, they still dare to rush to a place less than 30 metres away from our frontline and throw their javelin… And their quite loose and erratic formation reduced our light infantry’s accuracy. This tactic is very similar to our light infantry tactics… And, you see-” Kesima grabbed a Samnite javelin and handed it to Alexius.

Alexius weighted it with his hand, then put the javelin’s tip close to his eyes as he carefully looked at it. He then became startled, “It’s a javelin with a heavier tip, and its weight is not much different from ours. So is this the cause for why 100 men under you were injured?”

Kesima nodded and said seriously, “I observed that their javelin skills are not as worse as that of lord Epiphanes and his peltasts; whenever they hit a large shield head-on, it often pierces the shield’s plate, which wounded our brothers…”

Alexius stared at the shield pierced by several javelins and said, “According to the soldiers, the Samnites ran fast in the mountains and forests, so you can’t catch them no matter how hard you chase them before they escaped.”

Kesima refuted unconvinced, “The Samnites run very fast, but us, Lucanians, are not worse at climbing mountains and forests as them. If we were not wearing heavier equipment than them, we would have already caught up!”

“From what the Potentians have said, although the Samnites also have heavy infantry wearing breastplates, most of them are light infantry holding javelins…” Alexius looked at the continuous mountains ahead, feeling worried in his mind, “Order the legion to speed up the march and arrive at the upper Basento valley to camp!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In a former Potentian village less than a kilometre north of the city of Potentia, Garni bowed his head in frustration as he stood in front of the great chieftain of the Hirpini, Berani.

Berani didn’t criticise him because of his son’s attacked at the Theonians without authorisation, which resulted in the loss of warriors and officers. He also knew that Garni had already blamed himself for the death of Abrini, so he asked in a gentle tone, “Garni, you are the first chief of the Samnites who fought with the Theonians. Although you have suffered a slight loss, you also found out the strength of our enemy in the south. Tell us, what is the difference between the Theonians and the Campanians in battle?”

Chapter 396 – Samnite’s Attack

His question made Garni look up, while the other chieftains that were present became interested.

‘Theonians!’ Hearing this name, Garni felt hatred in his heart. He tried his best to recall what happened, “…most of their soldiers are heavy infantry, but their heavy infantry is different from the other Greeks we have seen before…their helmets are very similar to ours, and what they held is not the round bronze shield, but a large shield similar to ours…”

“Ah?!” The Samnite chieftains were surprised.

“Their heavy infantry is outright the same as ours…they could even throw javelins!” Garni recalled the painful scene.

Causing commotion among the chieftains, “Since when did the Greeks start learning our tactics?”

“The Theonians have never been in contact with us, so how could they learn our tactics?”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As the chieftains discussed it, Berani asked with concern, “So do they have other equipment that is the same as our heavy infantry?”

“It’s not the same, but their chest armour offers much more protection, their arms, front chest, back, crotch and thighs are covered, and they also have shin armour on their legs…”

“That means we will suffer more when we fight them by throwing javelins.” Lusen, the chieftain of Compsa, said with concern.

“The reason why we only have a large shield is that no matter how thick an armour is, a thrown javelin is still enough to cause harm. On the contrary, the Theonian heavy infantry’s equipment is heavy that it is not beneficial in moving in the mountains.” Said the chieftain of Maloenton, Lesguk, without care.

“Chief Lesguk is right!” Kinduk, who was responsible for leading the Caudini warriors to battle, said confidently. “We have fought many times with the Greeks in Campania, and their heavy infantry’s heavy equipment made it difficult for them to traverse in the mountains, so they were not able to catch up to us at all. Moreover, they are not flexible enough to avoid the javelins we threw at their flanks and rear. And don’t forget, we will never easily fight the Greeks on the plain.”

“What chief Kinduk said is our experience in dealing with the Greek hoplites for decades. The mountains are the world of us, Samnites, so if the Theonians dares to come in, we will not allow them to leave again!” Lusen exclaimed with encouragement.

“You are right! Wipe out the Theonians! Show them the might of us, Samnites!” Many chieftains followed.

“However…the Theonians are not all heavy infantry.” Garni had to remind these overconfident chieftains, “They also have archers, javelin throwers without armour and shields, and a kind of light infantry with small shields and short swords that are fast even in the mountains. I reckon they might be Lucanians… And what we should pay more attention to is that the Theonian army, whether it is their hoplites, archers, peltasts, and that kind of light-armoured infantry, is that they cooperate well with each other, which is obviously due to their long periods of training. While those temporarily recruited soldiers of the Greek city-states in Campania could not compare at all…”

What Garni had said made the chieftains ponder.

Berani then said, “Those Theonians were able to arrive at Potentia so soon means that this army must not be their main force stationed in Thurii, and their number must not be too large. Since they dare come, we will have them taste the strength of our warriors!”

His words made the chieftains cheer.

“Kinduk, you stay in the camp together with the seven thousand Caudini warriors, while the other chieftains will lead all warriors to attack the arriving Theonians with me.”

“Chief, you mean all the Hirpini warriors?” Lesguk asked in surprise.

“Yes, all twenty-five thousand Hirpini warriors!” Berani said clearly.

“Wouldn’t that be too much?”

“It’s still not enough. If Torik had not taken his 18,000 Pentri warriors to attack Poseidonia, I would have asked him to come with us.” Berani continued with pride, “This time, I will eat this Theonian army that dares to enter Potentia alone in one bite!”

“What if the Lucanians in the city of Potentia suddenly comes out?” Lusen asked with a bit of worry.

“I am more worried that they wouldn’t dare come out.” Kinduk looked at Berani and laughed.

Berani nodded and said, “There are only ten thousand warriors in Potentia, so they dare come out…hmph, Kinduk, don’t be anxious to fight them, rather entangle with them while I lead the army back as soon as possible. We would then attack them at the back and front, wiping them all out!”

“Understood.” Kinduk’s eyes glimmered with cold light.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Philesius, I am glad to see you back.” Davos happily greeted him in the living room. He then grabbed Philesius’ hands and said with a smile, “I heard of your great work in Consentia. The chieftains of the Bruttian tribes and herders lined up in front of your official residence every day, wanting to see you… Haha, they are reluctant to see you leave even though you were only the Praetor for more than a year!”

“Milord, please don’t make fun of me. I don’t want to be the Praetor in the Bruttian region anymore, even if you try to persuade me.” Philesius smiled bitterly and shook his head, “The people there don’t trust the judge at all, so no matter how small the dispute is, they would come to me. If it weren’t for the full assistance of Hegesitus, I don’t think I would even be able to stay in Consentia for three months.”

“Yet you have been in Consentia for more than a year, and the several investigations that the Senate Administration Committee had made found that you have done an excellent job in Consentia. Hence I believe it will be very easy for you to serve as the Praetor of other cities.” Davos smiled and praised him, “Come on, let’s go inside.”

After both of them sat down, the slaves came offering drinks.

Philesius was not in the mood to drink, so he immediately said to Davos, “Milord, you have proposed for me to be the commander of the southern Theoni. I have no problem commanding the fourth and fifth legions, but it would be difficult for me to be the overall commander of the entire South Italia Allied army and command the whole war! Would the great city-states such as Crotone and Rhegium willingly follow my command?!”

After hearing this, Davos persuaded him with seriousness, “Philesius, this task is indeed troublesome. But even if it is troublesome, you should still try your best to accomplish it! You should know, although the agreement with our allies said that ‘all city-states, whether it is large or small, are treated equally.’ But all our allies understand that Theonia is the alliance leader, so if we are not the overall commander of the alliance, not the one responsible for organisation and command, which city-states dare to be the commander?! So you should boldly manage and command the allied army without worries! Moreover, I have written letters to the Council of Crotone and Rhegium, asking them to cooperate actively. At the same time, the Senate also arranged for Lord Ansitanos to be your diplomatic liaison officer, responsible for coordinating matters with the various city-states.”

“Wonderful!” Philesius felt much more relaxed after hearing it. However, he continued, “Milord, you asked us to set up defences in Caulonia and Terina, but Syracuse has still not declared war. So would Caulonia and Terina allow us to arrange our camps on their land in advance? And once Syracuse declared war, their army would quickly land in Locri, while we would need to wait for our allies to assemble as they had come from various city-states, not to mention needing to rush to Caulonia and Terina to build camps. Besides, what if the Syracusan army broke through Caulonia before we could even build the camps?”

“This is indeed a problem. Once the war starts, there will be many unexpected factors, and no one could make an accurate prediction.” Davos tapped on his armchair with his finger. After pondering for some time, he finally said, “Try your best in following the initial plan, but if things go awry, try to preserve our strength and don’t fight blindly. However, there is a bottom line that you must keep in mind!”

Davos pointed at the table and said firmly, “Defend Clampetia and Aprustum, and help the Crotonians keep their city! As long as this line of defence is not lost, we can keep the enemy out of the territory and gather our strength for a counterattack!”

“Milord, I will defend our territory in the south until you come back!” Philesius promised, but he continued to ask, “What if Syracuse were to use their fleet to bypass Crotone and land behind us?”

Davos was disappointed a bit at Philesius’ foresight. So he said impatiently, “It is not easy to have tens of thousands of soldiers disembark on our land, don’t forget that we still have the two newly established legions. And this is Seclian’s concern, not yours.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Seclian, once war breaks out between Theonia and Syracusan, what preparations do you have for your navy?” Davos asked with a serious expression.

Seclian said confidently, “Milord, we planned to gather the warships of our allies and direct them…with Rhegium taking the initiative to hand over their 35 triremes to our navy, Caulonia and Terina have also merged their fleet with us. Although Scylletium had expressed its consent, they had not yet put it into action, while Crotone is hesitant, but I think they will soon agree. At that time, Theonia will have a powerful fleet of nearly 200 large and small warships, while I will install the ‘corvus’ on all the triremes…”

Chapter 397 – Alexius’ Evasion

“But-” Seclian touched his nose, “Because Milord is about to take the first legion that had cooperated with us to train in the ‘new tactics’ for several months, we would need to train with this new tactic again with the newly created legions’ soldiers. However, it won’t take that much time. Soon after, I can lead this new fleet south to have a decisive battle with the Syracusan navy, and I believe they will have a huge shock!”

Seclian looked eager, as he was clearly confident in the new tactics.

Davos shook his head and reminded him seriously, “Seclian, even if you defeat Syracuse’s fleet somewhere in the Ionian Sea, our warships will inevitably be damaged. We would need to rescue the soldiers that fell overboard, the damaged warships need repairing, and we need to tow back the warships we capture…there are so many things to do after the battle. But, you need to remember that Syracuse has more than one fleet, in case-” Davos then emphasised, “That you are busy dealing with those, what if the enemy’s reinforcements come?!”

Seeing that Seclian was eager to explain, Davos stopped him and continued, “Even if the enemy’s reinforcements doesn’t appear, it would not be easy for you to deal with the aftermath. We only have one fleet, so I hope it grows stronger after every battle and not weaker. Thus, I suggest for you to arrange the first naval battle in…”

After listening to Davos’ detailed plan, Seclian confidently said, “I understand, milord! I will follow your plan!…but I currently need your help, else it will affect the navy’s war preparation.”

“What is it?”

“With the arrival of our allies’ warships, our dry dock won’t be enough.”

‘This is indeed a problem!’ Davos thought for a moment and said, “I will ask Lord Kunogelata to speed up the construction of more dry docks and naval bases on both sides of the Crati River from the city of Thurii to the sea to meet your needs!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The third legion of Theonia arrived at a tributary of Basento river, the largest river flowing through the city of Potentia. Although the tributary is only a small river, it is enough to meet the legion’s needs of water. Moreover, the land near the river is soft, with lush water plants and steep and unclimbable mountains on both sides; an excellent place to camp. Thus Alexius chose to build a camp at the opening of the valley.

As soon as the legionaries unloaded their luggage and began digging trenches, the reconnaissance captain Kelisinus hurriedly reported, “Legatus, my brothers have found the Samnites, 5 kilometres to the north and are coming here. They have about 20,000 men!”

‘More than 20,000 men!’ Alexius was shocked. It was beyond his expectation for so many Samnites to come and so quickly. He could feel the fierceness of the Samnites and their strong desire to get their revenge.

Alexius looked at the trench that they had just started digging with regret. If they were to have another two or so hours, the third legion would be able to build a simple camp to fight the incoming Samnites.

“Retreat!” He ordered decisively.

‘What?!’ The herald thought he had heard wrong.

“Retreat now!!” Alexius shouted once more.

After the salpinx sounded for a while, Litom came.

“Legatus, why are you ordering a retreat as soon as we arrive at the camp?! Could it be that the buglers heard the wrong order?!” Asked Litom.

“The order is correct. There are currently more than 20,000 Samnites rushing here, but we cannot fight the Samnites that have twice our men without a camp and being exhausted. So we can only retreat first, then look for an opportunity.” Facing the senior centurion of the first brigade, Alexius used a few more words to explain the situation to show respect.

“Retreating before a battle would lower our morale! The soldiers and the people of Theonia would think that we are timid and afraid of death! And we won’t be able to lift our heads in front of the other legions!” Litom retorted unconvincedly and added, “Moreover, I think that whether it is 9,000 or 20,000, our legion can resist the enemy’s attack and defeat them!”

“Lord Davos said that the Samnites are fierce, so even if we can defeat them, they would cripple the third legion. Or do you not want to participate in the future battle?! More importantly, this will affect Lord Davos’ next plan!” Alexius held his anger and explained with a few more words.

“I believe that Lord Davos wants to repel the enemy’s attack and build a camp here!” Litom retorted without showing weakness.

“Carry out the order!” Alexius decided to stop arguing with him. The Theonian military law emphasised military discipline during a war. Thus the subordinates should absolutely obey their superiors.

Litom stared at Alexius angrily. In the end, he chose to obey, which also shows that Litom has left the level of a tribal warrior and had become a qualified Theonian strategos.

He gave a military salute in reluctance, but when Alexius turned back, Litom shouted angrily, “If Lord Hieronymus is still the head of the legion, he would never retreat!”

Alexius acted as if he didn’t hear his angry words, as he now had to think about how to retreat safely.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The city of Potentia is located on the banks of the upper reaches of the Basento River, where the ground is relatively flat, but its terrain is high, which could be regarded as a small plateau, and the city is built on a vast and relatively gentle mountain. The Potentians spent decades building a big city with stones.

Presently, Pamot and the tribal chieftains became worried at the movements of the Samnites outside the city wall every day.

“Chief, look, the Samnites are heading south!” Shasid said loudly, pointing outside the city where it is dusty and noisy.

Pamot’s mind jolted, so he excitedly shouted, “Men, the reinforcements from Theonia should have arrived!”

This sentence immediately made the chieftains and warriors excited, ‘The powerful Theonians had come to rescue us!’

Everyone was immediately relieved from their worries these days after hearing the good news.

“Shall we send troops to meet them?” One of the chieftains said excitedly.

“No!” Pamot refused without hesitation. He then said with caution, “The only thing we could do now is to defend the city desperately and wait for Theonia’s reinforcements!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the Samnites arrived at the tributary of Basento, the only thing they saw was a circular earth trench that was kilometres long and unfinished.

“The Theonians were as timid as rabbits and ran away!” Lesguk gasped heavily and plunged his spear into the soil with regret.

“Father, most of the Theonians are heavy infantry, so they should not have gone far away. We should take this opportunity to catch up and defeat them!” The vengeful Garni said eagerly to the great chieftain of Hirpini.

Naturally, Berani was not willing to come here in vain. Hence he immediately ordered his troops to continue their pursuit.

However, the Samnites had advanced rashly and were soon ambushed by the light infantry brigade of the third legion. Even after paying hundreds of casualties, they were still unable to catch these Lucanian light infantries, who were more lightly equipped and better at climbing mountains. Thus even if he is angry, Berani still had to be cautious.

In the end, the third legion was able to get rid of the pursuing Samnites and entered a military base at the junction between Grumentum and Potentia in the evening.

Alexius and the soldiers of the third legion became a bit depressed. After all, they had just departed from Grumentum yesterday and had only shown themselves in the Potentian area, and yet they were forced to return to Grumentum today.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Poseidonia, a coastal city not far from the north of Elea*. It was a colonial city built by Sybaris and was once a Greek city-state in Italia famous for its roses and three goddess temples (two Temples of Hera and one Temple of Athena). But when the Lucanians migrated south a hundred years ago, it caused the Greek city-states to fall under years of sustained Lucanian attacks and eventually became a city of the Potentian tribes. (It is not the Poseidonia in the Aegean Sea)

For decades, Poseidonia has not suffered any aggression as Elea in the south couldn’t even protect themselves, so where can she have the strength to attack others? On the other hand, the Samnites in the north prefer the mountains and invading the more powerful and well-defended city of Potentia rather than strolling by the sea. So when the Lucanians of Poseidonia learned that the Samnites were attacking Potentia, they did not show much concern about the safety of their city and only took few precautions, as they focused more on discussing the issue of “how many warriors they should send to reinforce Potentia.”

Today, however, the guards on the lookout tower sounded the alarm.

When the chieftains and warriors climbed the city wall one after another, they were stunned to see so many Samnites outside the city that they couldn’t even see the end at a glance, not even knowing how many people there were.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tolek, the great chieftain of the Pentri tribe, stood in front of the formation and stared at the small city ahead. He could see and hear the panicking cry of the Lucanians on the city wall, but he didn’t care much. Instead, he turned to look at his subordinates and said, “What’s the name of the thing that the Syracusans had sent?”

“Great chief, it’s called a ballista.” A chieftain beside him answered.

“I see. There is no need for you to say more.” Tolek stared at him and continued, “Bring out the balli…ballista. Let’s see how powerful this thing is!”

Six ballistae were then placed in front of the line. However, it was the Syracusans that were operating them.

Afterwards, a double-fist sized ball struck the walls of Poseidonia, causing some parts of the walls to crumble, making the Lucanians panic more…

Chapter 398 – Davos’ Farewell

Amidst the cheering of the Samnite warriors, Tolek was filled with excitement as he knew that this terrible thing had now patched the defect of Samnites’ poor sieging capabilities. Now, he is fully confident in capturing Poseidonia. And by capturing the city, not only will they have a better port for the Syracusans to ship more food to them, but at the same time, his poor tribesmen could plunder wantonly and get more benefits…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Evening, the archon’s residence in Thurii held a family dinner. Besides Davos’ two wives, his adopted daughter Cynthia, his adopted son Adoris, and his son Crotokatax, Azune – the head maid responsible for the courtyard, Ribaso, the one managing the slaves in the front yard, and Aristias, the head of Davos’ intelligence group, also attended.

The main meal tonight is shabushabu. Therefore, in front of each person were wooden tables, bronze pots and iron kiln. Cheiristoya was not at ease at Crotokatax eating shabushabu alone, but because she herself is pregnant and had a hard time moving around, so how could she still have the energy to take care of him. On the other hand, little Cro’s other mother, Agnes, was more than two months pregnant and had the most severe pregnancy reaction. She couldn’t even look at the shabushabu and had to switch to fruits, mushrooms, sea vegetables and other vegetarian dishes. Thus little Cro had to sit with Azune.

At this time, Davos, who was sitting at the main seat, looked at the crowd and said seriously, “Tomorrow, I will lead the legion to leave Thurii for Potentia. Thus I won’t be able to take care of the household. With both Cheiristoya and Agnes being pregnant, the family will need your attentive care; Azune, Ribaso and Aristias, you three! So I would like to thank you in advance!” He said and lifted the wine.

As he spoke, Cheiristoya and Agnes looked at their husband with concern.

While Azune and Ribaso hurriedly stood up.

So Davos quickly waved his hand and said, “Sit down! Sit down! All of you are already citizens of Theonia, and we are all a family. Don’t consider yourselves as strangers! Look at Aristias!”

Aristias could only force out a smile on his cold face. The only reason he didn’t stand up was that he was once a citizen of Catania, so he wasn’t used to that kind of modesty like Azune and the others. He also raised his wine and responded seriously, “Milord, there is nothing for you to worry about, as I will ask my men to monitor the whole Thurii closely. Once we find any abnormality, I will immediately go to Kapus and Kunogelata to, according to what you said, eliminate the hidden danger!”

“Alright! The safety of this household depends on you!” Davos held up his cup, drank the wine and refilled it.

Azune then immediately said, “Master, I will manage the female slaves in the courtyard and take good care of the two madams! Moreover, I will regularly invite Lord Herpus for the check-up, and with the blessings of Hades and Hera…” Azune looked at Cheiristoya and Agnes and said with a smile, “When you return, the two madam and children will be very healthy!”

“Good! Azune, if everyone is safe, I will reward you well once I return! How about I look a satisfactory husband for you?!” Davos joked smilingly.

Azune immediately protested, “Milord, it’s not fair that you, the dignified archon of Theonia, tease me!”

“Milord, you are too busy with your daily business that you didn’t know that Azune has already found someone she is interested in.” Cheiristoya whispered.

“Oh, is it?!” Davos became interested and asked, “Who is it? Can you tell me?”

Azune blushed, then she glanced at Aristias next to her and bowed her head.

Noticing it, Davos no longer asked, “Come, Azune, let’s toast this cup to thank you for taking care of the two madam and the children!”

Azune drank the wine.

Davos looked at Aristias, who seemed to be clueless, and continued to say to her, “I will give you a piece of advice. You should often ask Agnes for advice; with Hera’s blessing, you won’t need to fear that your wish won’t come true!”

Hearing this, Azune became very excited.

However, Agnes bluntly reminded, “Aphrodite, the goddess of love, is the one responsible for the love between two people. Hera is only responsible for marriage and family.”

“Love without marriage is just deception.” Said Davos, half teasingly and half-serious, “In Theonia, Hera is also responsible for pre-marital love.”

“Milord, I would be the one responsible for Azune, so you don’t have to worry about her.” Cheiristoya smiled. After freeing Azune from her embarrassment, she then said seriously to Ribaso, “Ribaso, I’ll leave the affairs of the outer courtyard to you. Don’t let those trivial things bother me during this time.”

“Madam, don’t worry as I will take care of it! After all, this is my duty!” Ribaso said respectfully, then drank the wine.

At this time, Cynthia said, “Father, I will take good care of both my mothers and brothers.”

After hearing this, Davos became happy, “Alright! Alright! Our daughter has now grown up and can help the household! Come, I will give you a toast as well!”

“Dad, dad, I also want to drink this, and I want to take care of my mother as well!” Little Cro began to make a noise.

“Good! Good! Good!…” Davos shook his slightly drunk head in delight.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Late at night, in Cheiristoya’s bedroom, Cheiristoya’s lazy voice sounded, “I think you should accompany Agnes, as she now needs you more…”

“Don’t talk and get some rest.” Davos softly said as he patted her shoulder with his left hand that was wrapped around her snow-white neck.

Cheiristoya leaned slightly, drilled her head into Davos’ arms again and sniffed his scent and murmured, “If I give birth to a daughter, is it okay to name her Eunice?”

“Eunice…” Davos muttered the name (Eunice, which means good victory), with a gentle smile on his face, “Good name. But what if it’s a boy?”

“It would be Apox (meaning courage).” Cheiristoya said softly without hesitation. She obviously had already thought about it.

“Apox Davos, Crotokatax Davos…Okay, that would be his name!” Davos readily agreed.

But after a long time passed, Cheiristoya didn’t respond.

Davos looked down and saw that his wife had fallen asleep. During pregnancy, women were very lethargic.

Davos gently straightened her sleeping position, gave her an affectionate kiss on her face. He then put on his chiton, walked to the outer room where Azune was watching.

“Cheiristoya is asleep now. Where is Cro??”

“Little Cro is sleeping as well.”

“Take care of them. I will now go see Agnes.”

Davos heard Agnes soft and expectant voice as soon as he entered his second wife’s bedroom, “Davos, is that you?”

“Why aren’t you asleep yet?! That is not good for the child!” Davos gently rebuked her. He then lovingly picked her up, wanting to put her on the bed, but Agnes held his neck and whispered in a worried voice, “I’m worried…”

Davos hugged her delicate body and lay on the bed together, “What are you worrying about? There is nothing for you to worry as I have never lost on the battlefield with the blessing of Hades! And I promise you that I will be back soon!…”

Davos confident promise dissipated Agnes’ worry. She then held her husband tightly and asked softly, “Are…are my parents in danger?”

Davos froze. As a matter of fact, when the war between Theonia and Syracuse broke out, Rhegium became the most dangerous place as it was separated from its allies by Locri. With it being far away from the centre of South Italia, it became vulnerable to enemy attack.

But at this moment, Davos could not tell her the truth, so he said deeply, “Our South Italian coalition army will not easily let Syracuse threaten Rhegium! However, for safety’s sake, you’d better advise your family to take refuge in Thurii during this time.”

Athelycus has shipyards in Thurii, so it is easier to contact them.

“Mmm!” Agnes responded softly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next day, all the soldiers of the first and second legions who had been mobilised early for the war swore at the Nike Square in Thurii. Afterwards, nearly 20,000 soldiers and the logistics brigade marched westward.

The Thurians and Amendolarans came to see them off. This was the first time that the first and second legions fought in a remote and unfamiliar area, as the furthest the army had ever travelled to was Caulonia, but that was a Greek city-state. There were even trade exchanges between them and could be reached in a day by boat. But now, they were battling in a strange mountain area dominated by indigenous people, so they were more worried about their families.

So the people that came to see them off were still unwilling to leave the place even after a long time.

At the end of the line, Davos was saying his farewell to the statesmen, “Lord Kunogelata, Lord Cornelius…everyone, I will leave the politics of Theonia to your care!” Davos then solemnly gave a military salute to those statesmen that went to see them off.

“Milord, we will send someone to discuss it with you in time!” Kunogelata gave his promise.

“Win early! Come back early!” Cornelius said expectantly.

Davos nodded and turned to look at Vespa, “Rest assured as the Samnites would not even be able to enter into our territory in Lucania!”

“Lord archon, I beg for you to pay extra attention to the Lucanians of Potentia!” Hemon pleaded.

“I will try my best!” Davos replied. He then looked at Hieronymus and Kapus, who gave a military salute; there was nothing more for him to say as he had already made an arrangement for the army.

His gaze then finally landed on Marigi and Plesinas, who both nodded faintly.

Chapter 399 – Syracuse is about to make its move

Davos turned around and mounted his horse. He then held down the restless horse and said confidently, “Everyone, wait for the news of my victory!”

After he finished speaking, he turned his horse around and clamped his legs, causing the restless warhorse to galloped away. He galloped north along the long line of soldiers, accompanied by spontaneous cheers and expectations of the people, “Lord Davos, please bring them back safely!”

“May Hades bless you with easy victory!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

There are two routes from Thurii to Potentia: One is to cross the wooden bridge over the Crati River, then head west to Besidice, then to Consentia, then turn north to the city of Vergae, to Laos, then take a boat to Pyxous, and finally to Potentia, or take land from Laos, pass through Nerulum, Grumentum, and finally to Potentia. The second is to head west from Thruii, trek through the Thua Road, to Nerulum and then northward to Potentia.

Due to the completion of the Thua Road, it only needs three days for a large group of people and horses to arrive from Thurii to Nerulum. Davos, who is well-versed in the speed of war, has naturally chosen the latter route.

On the second day after entering the mountains in the west, Davos received a report from Grumentum that the Samnites had taken the city of Poseidonia.

Davos pondered it deeply. Soon after, he asked Antonios and Amintas to discuss it together. In the end, he changed his original plan and asked the envoy to rush back quickly and inform Grumentum and Pyxous to get ready immediately.

Three days later, Davos led his troops to the Lao fortress, where he accidentally met Henipolis.

“Heni, why are you here?!” Davos asked with slight surprise.

“It’s been a long time since we have seen each other, milord! I heard that you were going to lead the army to Potentia, so I came here to greet you.” Henipolis smiled happily and greeted him.

Davos was touched as he looked at Henipolis, who was not much different from his age. Still, he asked with caution, “How is the situation of Laos now?”

“Very stable!” Henipolis blurted out. Seeing Davos’ sceptical expression, he added, “It’s really much better! After teacher Ansitanos advice, I started discussing with my uncle and the others whenever I proposed something. And now, my uncle is even willing to implement some of the bills I proposed…”

“That’s good.” Davos nodded and didn’t say more. After all, Henipolis was already the lord of a city, and he didn’t want to dictate the internal affairs of Laos. He then stared at Henipolis and said seriously, “You came just in time, as I was about to go and find you. I have just learned that the Samnites have occupied Poseidonia.”

“I heard that as well.” Henipolis then asked puzzledly, “Does this have anything to do with Laos?”

Davos bluntly said, “I plan to take the army by ship from the port of Laos to Pyxous. After a calculation, we would need 400 transport ships that could load 50 men to carry this army, not counting the cavalry and logistics brigade…Heni, do you think Laos can provide that many ships?” Davos looked at Henipolis with concern.

“There is naturally no problem!” Henipolis readily said. Then he added, “Laos can requisition the merchant ships to transport your troops…but I have a small request.” Speaking till here, Henipolis showed a smug smile.

“What do you need?” Davos asked directly, having no time to tease him.

“As a member of the Theonia Alliance, Laos should send troops to fight together with Theonia according to the agreement. It’s just that I hope I could lead the troops of Laos to Potentia with you!” Henipolis looked at Davos expectantly. After the initial freshness of being the archon of a city-state, he became a bit bored of having to deal with so many city affairs and facing so many obstacles all day. That is why he wanted to go out and relax, and Davos’ arrival provided him with a good opportunity.

“Alright.” Davos agreed after pausing for a bit. As an ally of Theonia, Laos has to send troops, and with Henipolis leading the troops, it could also give him, who had just assumed archonship, a bit of prestige.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Just after Davos changed his marching route and turned towards Laos, the harbour of Syracuse was filled with thousands of ships, with thousands more outside the harbour. After all, almost all the transport ships and merchants ships of the Sicilian city-states controlled by Syracuse had concentrated on the sea of Syracuse, completely turning the great harbour(a naturally formed circular bay outside the port of Syracuse) into a land paved with ship planks. And in the harbour and the city, more than 100,000 men were running around preparing for the great army’s expedition across the sea…

Such a magnificent sight had stunned Phidias of Sparta.

Dionysius glanced at him, then pointed to the troops gathered in the harbour and were waiting to board the ship, and sighed, “A few decades ago, Athens sent more than 40,000 troops to Sicily in an attempt to conquer Syracuse. At that time, although we Syracusans did not give in, we have been panicking throughout the day and thought that the destruction of Syracuse would come… But now-” Dionysius vigorously waved his fist forward and accented his tone with pride and arrogance, “If Athens still dares to come, I would only need to send half of my army to stop them from returning!”

Phidias remained nonchalant and said, “Dionysius, isn’t the reason why you are sending such a huge army is due to the existence of your enemy, Theonia?!”

Dionysius’ corner of his mouth twitched a few times and then laughed, “I’m afraid that the Theonians are already having a headache on how to defeat the Samnites… Phidias, the reason why I will send such a powerful army of nearly 80,000 men is to deal with the South Italia Alliance. Although each of these city-states in Magna Graecia is not very strong, fighting them together is a bit troublesome. Besides, after defeating those city-states, I would need to station some of my troops in the city in order to make them obey, don’t you think so?”

Phidias felt irritated from listening to Dionysius’ proud laughter.

When he came to Syracuse before, Dionysius was not so arrogant and respected him somewhat as Sparta’s envoy. But now that Sparta is deep in the quagmire of war, and with Syracuse’s strength growing dramatically, Sparta’s need for Syracuse became greater than Syracuse’s need for Sparta. ‘The times have changed…’ Phidias thought of this, forcibly suppressing the dissatisfaction in his heart and stop talking.

Naturally, Dionysius also knew moderation and no longer stimulated the young and energetic Spartan strategos. After all, he still needs him in the battle with Theonia.

A cold silence fell between the two men, both turning their attention to the harbour below the sentry tower.

After a while, the navarch, Leptines, boarded the sentry tower built at the western end of the island of Ortygia. He then respectfully said to Dionysius, who was feeling helpless, “Brother, the soldiers are already on board and are waiting for you to go down and issue orders to lead them to Magna Graecia.”

“Understood.” Dionysius nodded and said to Phidias, “We should go down as well, lest we kept the army waiting.”

Then he turned around and descended the tower, with Phidias following behind.

A magnificent quadriga was waiting under the tower, and Dionysius stepped directly onto the chariot without inviting Phidias to ride with him.

A guard then brought out warhorses for Phidias and Leptines to mount.

“Let’s go.” Dionysius said. As he shook the reign, the horses neighed and started pulling the chariot.

Following behind the chariot were a hundred cavalrymen, tightly surrounding Dionysius, who was in the centre. The whole procession passed through the tall wall separating the island of Ortygia, then through the centre of the city, where many people were already waiting on both sides of the streets.

The crowd cheered when the cavalry passed, and Dionysius waved on the chariot in response, which confused Phidias, who was riding behind him. ‘Didn’t the Syracusans hate Dionysius’ dictatorship? Why does it seem that Dionysius is still very popular?’

As a matter of fact, the Syracusans felt mixed feelings for Dionysius. On the one hand, they hated Dionysius’ oppressive rule and excessive extortion; On the other hand, they also enjoyed the protection, strength, glory and pride brought by Dionysius to Syracuse. And if they manage to conquer Magna Graecia, it is inevitable for lots of wealth and land to flow back to Syracuse, which is what the crowd wanted.

Dionysius, who was standing on the carriage at the moment, is enjoying the feeling of waving his hands to the people. Because of the fear of assassination and riots, he had not held a public assembly for more than seven years. Now, he had even begun thinking about the “Triumphant Return” of Theonia that he heard, which bestowed great honour to the victorious strategoi. ‘This time, I must hold a Triumphant Return of my own in Syracuse when I return after conquering Magna Graecia!’

The army entered the port, and the ministers had long been waiting in front of the dock.

“Lord Dionysius!”

“Lord strategos!”

“Supreme commander”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The crowd gave their salute one after another.

Dionysius, dressed in golden armour, got out of the carriage and bid farewell to everyone.

In the end, he faced Philistus and firmly held his hands, “Phili, I will entrust Syracuse to you while I am gone!”

“Rest assured, milord! I will try to do my best to ensure the safety of Syracuse until you return!” Said Philistus solmnly.

“After Macias led his troops to destroy the city built by the Rhegians in Sicily, I will have him return immediately to garrison Syracuse!”

Chapter 400 – Syracuse’s Invasion

“Although Carthage can’t do anything now, it is best not to relax your vigilance! And once you found…Gela, Leontinoi, Kamarina, Agrigento…these city-states that are affiliated to us having signs of riots, immediately order Macias to send his troops to eliminate them!” Said Dionysius.

“Understood, milord.”

Dionysius stepped forward and gave him a firm hug after staring at him for a moment, “I am counting on you for everything here, my friend!”

Philistus was about to answer when he heard Dionysius whispered in his ear, “We are in a critical time, so once you find any movement in the city, arrest and behead them immediately to deter the traitors who want to disrupt this great expedition, understand?!”

Dionysius’ cold words shocked Philistus.

At that moment, Dionysius happened to see Herolis not far behind Philistus talking to someone. Thus he added in a low voice, “And – don’t trust Herolis too much, and do not allow him to participate in any city matters during my absence!”

“Er…I understand, milord.” Replid Philistus, taken aback.

Afterwards, Dionysius and Phidias boarded a trireme.

Dionysius then waved to the crowds on the dock, proudly, “Everyone, you will soon hear the news of my victory! Next year, I will bring Syracuse a Magna Graecia that has wealth and land area no less than Sicily!”

After saying this, he tied a purple cloak and received a golden helmet decorated with colourful and brilliant plumes from his attendant. After putting it on, he looked more heroic.

“Let’s go!” Dionysius gave the order amidst the cheerings of the ministers.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On this day, almost all the merchants’ ships that are sailing in the Strait of Messina witnessed this unprecedented sight: Thousands of warships, merchant ships and transport ships sailed northward, with the fleet’s length stretching from the southeast corner of Sicily to the toe of the Apennine Peninsula, almost cutting off the route to the east of the Strait of Messina…

A striking “figure of three legs” was painted on each ship so that no other ship dared to cross the seemingly endless fleet, as not to be mistaken as an intruder and sunk.

Many experienced shipmasters immediately had a hunch that something big would happen, so they all turned around or took a detour and hurried to their city-state to deliver this shocking news.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Henipolis’ envoy quickly returned to Laos and conveyed his order to Alobamus that “Theonia’s army would go through the port of Laos to reach Pyxous.”

Hearing that Davos suddenly changed his marching route, Alobamus became really nervous, so he immediately accepted the order and tried his best to supervise it.

Therefore, by the time Theonia’s army arrived in Laos, the hundreds of merchant ships that they requisitioned temporarily and the army of Laos that was to accompany them in battle were almost ready.

“Lord Davos, welcome to Laos!” Alobamus led the important officials of Laos to meet Davos at the city’s gate.

When Davos, who was riding a horse, saw Alobamus led a group of people to greet him, he suddenly felt an illusion in his mind that Alobamus was the master of the city, while this little guy beside him…

After glancing at Henipolis, Davos suppressed his strange thought and jumped off his horse, took off his helmet and handed it to the guard next to him, “Lord Alobamus, I thank you for your assistance to Theonia!” Then he gave his respect to Alobamus.

“As an ally of Theonia, this is the responsibility of Laos!” The man in his forties bowed his head and replied respectfully.

Henipolis immediately said in a loud voice, “Uncle, this time I will follow Lord Davos to Potentia!”

Alobamus raised his head and looked at him. He felt complex for a bit and said, “I have no objection to this matter, but you have to consult your mother.”

“Yes, I will immediately tell her.” Henipolis then hurriedly drove his horse into the city.

Davos then said, “Henipolis is still a child and lacks the experience in political matters, causing many changes to Laos during this time. And it’s thanks to you that Laos can remain stable!”

“There is not much difference between you and Heni’s age, yet look at him.” Hearing what Davos said, Alobamus blurted out his thought on impulse. But when Davos looked at him with a slightly surprised look, he realized that his tone was a bit intense, so he hurriedly changed his tone to complaining, “Alas, Heni was a willful child since childhood! But you can’t just run a city-state with whatever you want to do! During this time, the officials became a bit angry at him!…”

“He is still young and needs time to sharpen before he became familiar with the affairs of the city-state. Thus your assistance as his uncle is vital! Of course, I will teach him more during this expedition.” On the surface, Davos was comforting Alobamus, but his words showed his support to Henipolis.

Alobamus naturally heard the meaning of his words and felt a burst of loss in his heart. At the same time, the idea that he is suppressing from the bottom of his heart was slowly loosening.

“Lord Davos, I heard that there are tens of thousands of Samnites that had come to invade Potentia this time. Wouldn’t it be a little bit difficult to repel them?” Alobamus suddenly asked.

Davos looked at him and said, “As long as our allies are in trouble, Theonia will do her best to help them no matter how difficult it is! Besides, it’s only a matter of time for Theonia to repel the Samnites.”

“Indeed, indeed.” Said Alobamus with a smile, “After all, you, Lord Davos, are the famous strategos that could win every battle.”

Davos smiled, turned around, looked at his troops, and asked, “Can we enter the city?”

“Of course.” Alobamus then quickly said, “600 transport ships are waiting at the port. Erm…Lord Davos, you had gone through a hard march this time, so I prepared a banquet at my home to celebrate your arrival. As there is still plenty of time before your departure, I would like to invite you for dinner.”

“Lord Alobamus, I thank you for your invitation! But since the war situation is grave, it is better to wait until I return victorious to join your banquet. However, you will have to prepare a more sumptuous food to do so, as I will not attend it alone because even the several army officers will be attending.” Davos politely declined in jest.

“Then I’ll wait for your quick victory!” Alobamus said with a smile. But the truth is, he had no intention of inviting him, as he had just casually said it because he inexplicably became flustered standing in front of Davos.

The salpinx began to blow, the war drums sounded, and the Theonian army entered the city. A brightly armoured flag bearer, holding up a large flag with a bident in the centre surrounded by colourful gems, led the Theonian army. (It is the flag that represents Theonia City-State Union.)

Followed by the cavalry, whose numbers had considerably increased after integrating the Bruttian region into the Theonia Union. And the cavalry was increased to 2,000, officially promoting the cavalry brigade into a legion. Although the mountains of Potentia were not favourable to the cavalries, and although they had heard that the Samnites did not have many cavalries, Davos still brought 1,000 cavalries and were led by Ledes, the cavalry legatus.

The leading cavalryman carried the “Pegasus” battle flag, followed by three lines of cavalrymen, all in black leather helmets and armour, with a spear in their right hand and black “raindrop-shaped” leather shields in their left hand, entering the city in a neater formation.

Then followed by the first legion…

Although the Theonian troops had entered the city of Laos before(during the conquest of Bruttii), today, a few years later, it caused quite a shock to the people of Laos when they saw the legionaries with unified equipment and clothing. The whole army was almost black as even the shield on which the Greeks like to give full play to their free nature is uniformly painted with a “Bident”. The uniformity, the neatness, the orderliness, the sheer numbers and the high morale of the soldiers left the nobles, officials, civilians and slaves of Laos, including Alobamus, who was accompanying Davos, in a state of shock and fear as they watched the Theonian army march on the main road in the city of Laos in a parade-like fashion.

Alobamus could only quickly left on the excuse that he was going to “prepare for Henepolis’ expedition” and then hid on the roof of his residence and watched the Theonian army marching towards the port with a complex feeling. During this time, the only thing he kept thinking about was whether Syracuse could really defeat the Theonian army, which was so powerful.

It wasn’t until all the Theonian troops were out of the city that he became a little relieved.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The report of Syracuse’s invasion first reached Rhegium, which caused panic among the people and chaos among the statesmen in the city hall.

“Lord Athelycus, what should we do? Syracuse would kill all of us!!”

“According to the shipmasters, Syracuse’s fleet covered the whole sea! This is terrifying! They estimate that the fleet carried no less than 100,000 soldiers!!”

“Lord Athelycus, you must immediately ask Theonia and the South Italia Alliance for reinforcements!! Otherwise, it would be the end of Rhegium once Syracuse land in Magna Graecia!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Just then, a guard hurriedly went in and reported, “Milord, the port lighthouse urgently sent a report saying that a fleet of about 80 ships has come out of Messina and are heading towards our port!”

This report was like adding fuel to the fire, blowing up the whole city hall, “Lord Athelycus, our fleet! Where is our fleet?! I told you before not to give our ships to Theonia, yet you didn’t listen! Look at what is happening now!!”

Chapter 401 – Pheidon

“It is the end! It will be the end of Rhegium once they block our port!!”

“Athelycus, ask Theonia to send a fleet to expel the Messinians immediately!”

“Immediately send an envoy to make peace with Dionysius! Dionysius’ enemy is Theonia, not us! So as long we offer him our wealth, he will accept Rhegium!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“That’s enough! Everyone shut your mouth!” Athelycus roared, surprising everyone.

“You are already panicking like this even though the Syracusans are still at sea! Won’t you immediately surrender once they land?! Look at you. You are not even as good as your average soldier! Dionysius has long wanted to conquer Rhegium so that he could monopolise the Strait of Messina and gain great wealth. Thus he will not agree to our offer of peace! Therefore, I will have the guards fed those who speak such words of betrayal of the city-state’s interests again to the fishes!…” Athelycus’ angry scolding had frightened those who had just said to “negotiate peace” to lower their heads but also made the others ashamed.

Afterwards, he looked at the only man in the city hall, who didn’t shout nor panic, asking him seriously, “Pheidon, what do you suggest in the face of this terrible situation?”

Pheidon, who was known as the least liked among the Rhegians, has a serious and decisive personality. When he was first elected as one of the strategoi, he did not listen to anyone’s dissuasion and persuasion. He continued to strictly investigate the tax evasion in the port, which offended many Rhegian merchants. Since Rhegium was a city-state with developed trade and commerce, many of its statesmen were wealthy people. After that, Pheidon was no longer elected as a strategos and a statesman again. It wasn’t until last year, when the front of Syracuse reached the other side of the Strait, that the panicking Rhegians remembered this brave citizen again. Thus he was once again elected as a strategos.

At this moment, he solemnly said, “Syracuse’s army will land in Locri. Although Locri isn’t far from Rhegium, they would still have trouble climbing the Montalto mountain(the southernmost tip of the Apennine mountains, with a peak of nearly 2,000 metres). Therefore, if Syracuse wanted to attack us, they could only take the rugged mountain path along the coast to reach us. Therefore, as long as we send troops to defend the mountain pass, no amount of Syracusan soldiers will be able to make a difference…”

Athelycus then excitedly said, “You thought the same thing I did!”

Pheidon didn’t care that the polemarchos made it look like he had the same idea to look better and continued to say, “Naturally, we should still be careful that Syracuse would go west from Locri, pass through the famous ancient road connecting the east and west costs, reach Medma, and then go south to attack Taurania, opening a channel to attack Rhegium! ”

“This is really a worrying problem.” After Pheidon’s remark, Athelycus’ confused thought cleared up. His eyebrows tightly wrinkled together, and after thing for a while, he loudly said, “We must remind Taurania to strengthen their defence and guard against enemies who may attack from the north! Furthermore, we must send troops to reinforce Taurania, else, with its strength alone, even with a river as its barrier, it will be difficult for them to resist the attack of the Syracusan army!”

Those who had been flustered now nodded and agreed.

Athelycus ignored them and asked Pheidon in a hasty and modest tone, “Pheidon, anything else that we need to consider?”

“It is inevitable that our trade channel will be cut off once this war breaks out, so you all should stop worrying about your own trade.” Pheidon seriously added, “And even if our warships had stayed here, they are still not the opponents of Syracuse’s fleet, so it’s better to give them to Theonia. At least, they can form a relatively powerful fleet and cause some trouble to Syracuse…”

Pheidon’s words made some people ashamed.

“You are right! That’s why I have given our warships to the Theonians!” Athelycus immediately took credit.

Someone objected and retorted, “The Syracusans are not fools. They could use their fleet to bypass the coastal path and land near Rhegium.”

Pheidon shook his head and said. “We all know that the coastline near the Strait of Messina is mostly cliffs, with dense reefs, while there are only a few good beaches and bays, and we had occupied the two best(referring to Rhegium’s city and port, which are separated). Therefore, we only need to station some soldiers on the remaining beaches. I believe that no matter how strong the Syracusan army is, they would still not dare to risk a huge sacrifice to just land in front of our well-defended battlefront.”

Pheidon’s words scattered the panicking they felt. Athelycus took advantage of the situation and said, “I propose for Pheidon to be the commander of the Rhegian army.”

Almost no one objected.

Pheidon accepted the appointment. He then seriously said to the polemarchos, “Lord Athelycus, while we are strengthening our defence, we must immediately ask Theonia for help! Once Syracuse and Locri attack Taurania with full force, we would not be able to resist them even if all the soldiers of our two cities combined!”

“Don’t worry.” Athelycus had already straightened out his thoughts, as he barely squeezed out a smile and said, “The news of Syracuse landing in Locri, I believe that Theonia, Crotone, Scylletium….these city-states will soon know about it, and would then form a huge army consisting of the South Italia Alliance, so how could Syracuse dare face us with all their might when they are about to face a huge battle?!”

“Right! Right!…” Said the others repeatedly.

“But of course, we also need to get in touch with Theonia quickly, tell them our current situation, and discuss with them the next step…considering that there is already an enemy fleet cruising in the eastern waters of Magna Graecia, we must immediately send an envoy in a fast ship to reach the port of Clampetia by the west coast and go to Thurii…” Said Athelycus after making up his mind.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“The alarming news of the Syracusan army landing in Locri” quickly spread throughout Magna Graecia. However, the Theonians remained calm compared to those of other city-states, as they had not yet suffered any defeat, causing them to firmly believe in their legion, their Senate, and especially their amazing archon.

On their way to the Senate, Kunogelata and Cornelius ran into each other.

“In the end, the worst possible thing still happened. Syracuse had come, and I heard that Dionysius led no less than 100,000 soldiers!” Said Cornelius as he walked with melancholy on his face.

“That’s why we must immediately have Hieronymus form two new legions!” Kunogelata’s mood is not much better than that of Cornelius, “Philesius and Ansitanos should have gotten the report. We could only hope that they can urge Crotone and Scylletium…these allied city-state’s armies to merge with us!”

“Now that the storm had come, everyone is in the same boat, and no one can escape. I am sure that Crotone and Scylletium won’t hesitate any longer.” Cornelius was quite convinced about this.

“Yes, and now, we can only rely on them.” Kunogelata sighed, only at the moment of crisis did he realise that both the Theonians, the Senate, and himself were quite dependent on the young archon, “Where could Lord Davos be now? Does he know about the attack of the Syracusan army?”

“There was an urgent message from the north yesterday. Lord Davos had led his army to the Laos Fortress and are about to go to Laos to take a ship to reach Pyxous…and since the messenger had taken a day to reach Thurii from Laos Fortress, I believe that Lord Davos has now reached Pyxous and are together with Androlis, and will soon learn about Syracuse’s invasion of Magna Graecia.” Said Cornelius.

The statesmen of the Senate are paying close attention to Davos’ movements. However, due to Kunogelata being busy assisting Seclian to prepare for the construction of the military port in the past few days, he had forgotten to inquire about Davos.

“I hope he can beat back the Samnites as soon as possible so that he can come back quickly!” Kunogelata said eagerly.

At this time, they are about to pass through Nike Square, where groups of children are playing. Some youths were running around the square (mainly because the arena and other fields in Thurii were occupied by others for ball games, resulting in the rapidly expanding urban area of Thurii not having enough venues for people to use for fitness and sports training), some of the elderly were leaning on the steps or the memorial pillars, lying on the ground and sunbathing, while others were reading books that they had just copied from the library…

In the centre of the square, a temporary wooden platform was erected. It is where the teachers of the Institute of Mathematics teach simple arithmetic knowledge to the crowd, and many had come to watch, listen and learn. (This practice was a habit developed by the two Pythagorean disciples back in Amendolara and continued doing it. The head of the Institute of Mathematics, Metoticles, believed that this is the best way to expand the influence of their school and attract students.)

And after Lysias became the head of the Institute of Literature, he didn’t allow himself to be outdone, so he also sent teachers to Nike Square every day to stand in front of the notice board under the steps of the Grand Senate Hall. They read the contents of the newly announced laws, explained the application of standard grammars, pointed out some rhetorical errors in the notice board (which made the Senate’s scribes cautious for fear of making mistakes), as well as giving lectures about Theonian laws and debate skills, which naturally attracted many people to listen and learn.

In such a busy square, there are naturally vendors. Although Thurii’s city hall has stipulated that vendors are not allowed to set up shops in the square, it is still not enough to trouble the shrewd Greek merchants. They pushed wooden carts filled with snacks, fruits, and drinks, walking around the square and earning a lot of money at the end of the day… Even today, when the Syracusan army attack, the excitement of the square has not been reduced.

Chapter 402 – Choice

Kunogelata stood in front of the stairs of the Grand Senate Hall as he looked at the sight before him; the harmony and peace of the square made him remember the painful memories in his heart. His expression then gradually became firm, “It was not easy to get Theonia Union to where it is today, so we must not allow Syracuse to destroy it!”

Cornelius, who also had painful memories, was not his usual gentle self at the moment, “We must win this war, even if we donate all our money! Only then will the people of Theonia have a future!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

These days, Seclian was very busy. On the one hand, he wants to reorganise the mixed fleet from various allies that have just gathered in Thurii, establish the fleet’s squadron, arrange the accommodation and food for the sailors, the warship’s maintenance, and install the “Corvus” and so on. On the other hand, he also had to participate in and guide the construction of the dry docks, the naval ports and placing barricades to prevent anyone from approaching and watching the naval training so as not to leak the secret.

Presently, the river from the port to the Temple of Hera has become a giant construction site where thousands of Theonians are building and expanding the naval base in full swing. But with the assistance of the Ministry of Military and the city hall of Thurii, Seclian became more relaxed. Still, he is more worried that the two new military legions have not yet been established, and they couldn’t practice their new tactics at all.

Therefore, when the news came that the Syracusan army landed in Locri and a fleet of nearly 500 warships was positioned in the sea north of Locri to escort the Syracusan transport fleet, Seclian himself did not have the slightest hint of going to war.

At the base of the South Italia Alliance in Scylletium, the representatives of the city-states led by Ansitanos put aside their unnecessary quarrels and quickly reached an agreement that: Each city-state in the South Italia Alliance would do its best to send as many troops as possible to form an allied army, the commander of which would be Philesius for now. If Davos did not lead the army, he would naturally be the commander, but he was not there. And due to the representatives of the various city-states thinking that Philesius’ prestige was not enough to lead the strategoi of the other city-states, thus they made him the temporary commander. Furthermore, Philesius had to discuss with the strategoi of other city-states before deciding on any important decision. In addition, the allied troops could march, stay and camp freely in any city-state and territory of the South Italia Alliance, and each city-state would provide food in proportion to their strength. Of course, Theonia gave the most, followed by Crotone and Rhegium. Fortunately, it is only the end of October, and the autumn harvest has just ended, so the citizens of each city-state have sufficient surplus grain. The granary set up by the Theonia Union a few years ago were also filled, so there is no shortage of food for the time being.

After reaching an agreement, the representatives of each city-state immediately returned to their cities to urge the dispatching of the troops, except for two, who remained.

One of them is Ansitanos. After all, Davos had already made a plan for Theonia before he left, and the only thing he needed to do was sit in Scylletium and wait for the arrival of the fourth and fifth legions.

The other one was Eulipatos, the envoy of Caulonia. Since Caulonia is already at the forefront of the battlefield, the whole city of Caulonia had already begun war mobilisation to prepare for Syracuse’s attack. As an envoy, he has a great responsibility and must stay here and urge the reinforcements of other city-states to rush to Caulonia as soon as possible.

“Lord Ansitanos, are you certain that Theonia’s army had already departed?!” He eagerly asked again.

“Before I came here from the city of Aprustum, our fourth legion had already begun gathering its soldiers in the square. And from what I know about our army, they should already be on their way now.”

“That’s good! That’s good!” Said Eulipatos with his whole body fidgeting. He then asked, “So then, has that fifth legion of yours departed as well?!”

“The legatus of the first legion of Theonia has no other hobbies besides fighting, so as soon as he received the order, he immediately summoned the army. I even think that the fifth legion had departed earlier than the fourth legion.” Ansitanos said seriously.

Hearing this, Eulipatos calmed down a bit.

Seeing that he kept stamping his feet and tapping the table with his right hand, Ansitanos couldn’t help but remind him, “I suggest that you go to the city hall of Scylletium and urge them to mobilise the soldiers.”

‘Scylletium?’ Eulipatos had some doubts as they had just decided that Scylletium’s army would not go to Caulonia.

Ansitanos then explained to him seriously, “Although Scylletium, Terina and Crotone are responsible for defending the river’s north bank, if we allow the Syracusan to rush across the river and circle to the north of Caulonia, then the South Italia Alliance’s plan to block Syracuse and its allies in Locri would fail!”

After this reminder, Eulipatos immediately woke up. He then stood up and said, “You are right. I will now go to Lord Phrytinas.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On this day, Dionysius encountered difficulties in Locri.

His original plan was that the whole fleet would sail north from Syracuse early in the morning, reach Locri in one day and complete the landing. So he specially chose the most experienced sailors and a day where the main force of Theonia went on an expedition to Potentia.

The huge fleet did arrive at Locri smoothly. However, they encountered great trouble when entering the port.

Unlike Syracuse, Locri does not have a natural harbour nor a large port that can easily accommodate thousands of ships to dock temporarily. Its limit is to accommodate 500~600 ships at one time. At the same time, Locri has limited manpower and has never handled a series of landing procedures for nearly 10,000 ships at the port, such as arrival, unloading, transportation, boarding and rotation, which requires sufficient labour, orderly organisation, strong management and abundant experience, all of which Locri does not have.

Moreover, in order to keep it a secret to achieve the purpose of a surprise attack, Dionysius had only sent a fast ship to inform Locri only the day before, so Locri was not well prepared.

As a result, many supplies onboard were unloaded and could not be cleaned up in time, piling up at the port, blocking the soldiers’ access to the shore, so the Syracusan soldiers had to clean it up themselves. However, the soldiers were exhausted and were eager to rest after drifting at sea for almost a day. Still, they had to hold down their anger as a single word might cause a clash with the port labourers.

The Locrian official that was dispatch had to take care of so many ships, resulting in the collisions of ships due to their eagerness to leave the clusters of ships after unloading and the ships that were eager to get on the port to unload. There is even a tragedy where several ships were damaged and flooded after their hulls struck each other and finally capsized.

Outside the port, thousands of ships had to stay on the sea. Both the soldiers and sailors are eager to go ashore early to rest, while the ship owners anxiously expect to complete the task quickly and leave. They are worried that although the sea conditions are now good, the Mediterranean climate is constantly changing, so in case of a sudden storm, it would strike all these ships towards the coast. And without a place to hide, they would all crash together.

Dionysius was the first to go ashore. After seeing that the Locrian port was in chaos, he became very anxious and even got angry at his brother-in-law, Demodokas, who had come to welcome him.

Still, there is no use in getting angry, as the problem is still there and must be solved as soon as possible. Therefore, Dionysius had to strictly order his men who had landed to act as labours and obey the command of the Locrian port personnel, help carry goods, clear the port and mediate conflicts. At the same time, he reluctantly issued an order to let all transport ships outside the port to land on the beach near Locri and let the soldiers ashore.

After issuing these instructions, Dionysius knew that even though the bad situation in Locri would be greatly improved, a myriad of problems would still follow, and without two~three days to deal and resolve them, Syracuse’s army wouldn’t be able to set out.

In order to stop worrying, Dionysius left several strategoi and ministers to be responsible for coordinating and directing the landing. On the other hand, Dionysius, Phidias and his party left the port and entered the city of Locri.

For Phidias, this was the first time he went to Locri. As he carefully glanced at the buildings in the city, Dionysius softly asked, “Phidias, where do you think our first target of attack should be?”

Phidias glanced at him, then the others who fell far behind them and were separated by guards. He then wondered in his mind as he had already expressed his opinion to the tyrant when they were still in Syracuse, ‘Why has he not yet made up his mind by now?’

So he once again said, “I would still choose Caulonia first.”

When he heard this, Dionysius fell silent as he understood the intention of Phidias of taking advantage of the fact that the various city-states in the South Italia Alliance were still not yet ready for war and were unable to achieve unity. However, the reason why he hesitated was not due to Syracuse landing in Magna Graecia like wolves into a flock of sheep where there are too many fat sheep, not knowing which one to eat first, making him suffer from a choice disorder. But because he already had a target in mind, and that was – Rhegium.

Rhegium opposed him and even humiliated him. For example, they refused his marriage proposal and married the woman he proposed to, to the enemy of Syracuse – the archon of Theonia. However, these were only secondary reasons as the most crucial thing is Rhegium’s wealth and geographical location.

Chapter 403 – Theonia Union has arrived

To prepare for this huge war, Dionysius had not only increased taxes to the people of Syracuse and used up all his treasury’s wealth, but he had also borrowed money from the city-states of Cyrenaica in Africa. Furthermore, he had even thought of looting the Temple of Delphi because they do not only have thousands of silver coins but hundreds of thousands of coins that were donated to the Temple of Delphi by various Greek city-states over the centuries. (In history, Dionysius had truly sent mercenaries to pose as bandits to loot Delphi during their occupation of Magna Graecia, only to fail in the end).

And if he could capture Rhegium, he would not only directly obtain a large amount of wealth and make up for the treasury’s deficit but also completely monopolize the Strait of Messina. And just from the taxes he gets from the passing merchant ships alone, he would be able to maintain his long-term occupation of Magna Graecia. As for the purely military view of pulling out the “nail” that is Rhegium before the army head north, he didn’t care too much.

Phidias is not in the same position as Dionysius, so it is naturally impossible for him to consider the war from an economic level to under Dionysius’ hesitation. As an orthodox Spartan, and even though he had already stated his reasons for choosing Caulonia before setting out, he still decided to say it again to strengthen Dionysius’ resolve, “Although Rhegium was isolated from the South Italia Alliance due to getting cut off by Locri, it is still not easy to attack! After seeing the map you gave me, the northern side of Rhegium has a mountain where it is hard to pass, while you can only reach the east coast by passing through a narrow mountain path. On the other hand, you need to pass through the Montalto river to reach the west coast and capture Taurania before opening a path to Rhegium. That is why the Rhegians will do their best to defend the south bank of the Montalto river with Taurania, and the narrow area is not favourable to Syracuse’s large force, forcing us to take some time to attack the territory of Rhegium. While you are busy attacking Rhegium, the South Italia Alliance will use this moment to form a strong army and defend Caulonia and Terina. They might even attack Locri, leaving us vulnerable…and if we were to delay, the archon of Theonia might return from the Lucania region with their main force, making it difficult for us to fight this war in Magna Graecia!”

Phidias’ last sentence shocked Dionysius. But he still said, seemingly indifferent, “It won’t be that easy for the Theonian army led by Davos to rush back from the Lucanian mountains. After all, his troubles are just beginning!”

“We will be able to completely defeat this alliance as long as we seize the time and continue attacking north while they are not ready for war. At that time, Rhegium is just a fish caught in a net and can’t escape. And even if Theonia’s main force could return from Lucania, they would no longer be able to change the whole battlefield.”

Even though Dionysius remained silent, Phidias’ persuasion had made him make up his mind.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At dusk, the gate of the South Italia Alliance’s base was suddenly pushed open, and the attendant of Eulipatos came in and shouted, “Milord, Milord! The Theonian army has arrived!”

Eulipatos, who was tired and sleepy, couldn’t believe what he heard, ‘So fast?!’

In the afternoon, he urged the Scylletium city hall to send cavalry to the city and outside to inform all citizens. After all, according to the common practice of Greek city-states, the citizens of Scylletium will not finish their family matters until they receive the notice of participating in the war, then pick up the weapons and equipment stored at their homes and rush to the square in Scylletium. It would already be relatively fast if they could complete the gathering and roll call of the soldiers the day after tomorrow, while the formation of troops, the preparation of supplies…and everything else would be ready by the time when they were about to march… Scylletium’s Polemarchos – Phrytinas, promised him that he would lead his troops in three days as fast as possible.

Compared with the previous preparation of his city-state, Eulipatos was already quite satisfied with the performance of Scylletium. Therefore, he has only taken Ansitanos’ words as a scholar’s desire to show Theonia’s positive attitude and inwardly did not think that Theonia could really accomplish it. The surprised Eulipatos then thought that Theonia had indeed dispatched their army on the day they learned of Syracuse’s invasion and arrived at Scylletium.

“Lord Ansitanos, this is wonderful! Thank you so much!…” He hurriedly thanked Ansitanos, who was also exhausted.

Ansitanos then waved his hand and said without arrogance, “This has nothing to do with me. The ones you should thank are the soldiers of Theonia who rushed all the way here. You should know that it’s more than 50 kilometres from Aprustum to Scylletium! So it is really not that easy to reach here in one day!”

“You are right!” Reminded by Ansitanos, Eulipatos hurried out of the city.

By the time they arrived, the soldiers of the fourth legion of Theonia had begun building a simple camp beside the southern road of the city of Scylletium. When Eulipatos saw that they were all half-naked and sweating, he couldn’t help but feel sorry.

Under the guidance of the soldiers, they found the commander – Philesius, who was sitting on the grass discussing matters with the legatus – Epiphanes.

“Lord Ansitanos, what are you doing here?” Epiphanes, who had a sharp eye, shouted first.

“I naturally have come to see you after you have rushed here so hard.” Said Ansitanos seriously. Since the fourth legion had quickly arrived, which shocked Scylletium and other city-states in the South Italia Alliance, it means that they have done a good example and allowed Ansitanos to have more weight in the alliance.

“You have come here, yet you didn’t even have the time to bring something!” Said Epiphanes half-teasingly and half-seriously.

“Epiphanes!” Philesius winked at him and motioned him not to talk too much.

Ansitanos didn’t care as much. After all, He often met Epiphanes in the senate and knew what kind of personality he had, so he also smiled and said, “What do you want me to bring?”

“It’s not me, but these soldiers who had worked hard. They are now thirsty and have no time to find water as they are too busy constructing the camps…” Epiphanes pointed to the busy soldiers, then pointed to his dry lips, “Look, we are dying of thirst!”

“Oh, indeed you are-” Eulipatos didn’t know what to say as he was too excited, so he turned to look at his attendant and said, “Immediately go back to the alliance’s base and have everyone go to various restaurants in the city to buy drinks, and have them bring it…”

“Hey, we have nearly 10,000 men here. And I estimate that at night, another 10,000 men from the fifth legion would arrive. Currently, we don’t only have a problem with water. Due to us rushing here, the logistics brigade is still lagging, and I think they could only arrive here tomorrow. And just eating these cold and hard bread alone is not enough to supplement the energy consumed by the soldiers during the long march.” Epiphanes took out his ration and shook it in front of Eulipatos, rudely reminding him.

“He is just joking with you!” Philesius stared at Epiphanes as he continued to say, “We have bread and meat, which is enough to fill our stomach, so there is no need for you to worry.”

“I am unable to resolve your food supply for so many soldiers in Scylletium, but as long as you arrive in Caulonia, I guarantee the Caulonians would let you eat well!” While Eulipatos expressed his apology, he implicitly urged the Theonians. At the same time, he gave orders to his aides, “If there are not enough drinks in the restaurants in the city, send a message to the citizens of Scylletium that as long as they send they homemade drinks here, we would pay twice the price…”

The aide accepted and left.

“Much appreciated!” Philesius expressed his gratitude.

“This is the envoy of Caulonia, Eulipatos.” Ansitanos then hurriedly introduce.

“Uh.” Epiphanes curled his lips as he thought, ‘So he is a Caulonian. It’s only natural for you to pay for the drinks.’

“I didn’t prepare anything as I didn’t expect you to come so quickly. Otherwise, I would have hosted a banquet to express my gratitude!”

“Banquet is unnecessary as our military law does not allow the officers and soldiers to eat and drink during a war. And even though we are already carrying our own rations that would last for few days, I fear that the logistics brigade would take a while to arrive. So at that time, we really need to consider asking you to provide food for us first.” After becoming a commander, Philesius had to consider more.

“It’s naturally won’t be a problem. Tomorrow, I will send someone back to inform the city hall to prepare military food. And just like what I had said, the Caulonians will certainly let the citizens of Theonia eat well!” Eulipatos gave his promise.

Eulipatos asked curiously after watching the countless soldiers in front of them digging trenches with pickaxes and sweating like rain, “Why are you digging trenches when you can just pitch your tents and rest as you are already tired from getting here?”

“It’s a rule of the 《Theonian Military Law》 to provide a safer and more comfortable camp for the soldiers.” Explained Ansitanos. Theonia has been established for a long time that “elders” like them knew some of the army’s rules.

“Your military so strict!” As a citizen, Eulipatos certainly have a lot of experience in the military. So he couldn’t help but sigh after comparing himself with the Theonian soldiers in front of him.

“This is already the simplest way to build a camp. Since it’s already too late and would be dark soon, we would just dig trenches and earthen walls. Again, this is only in the territory of our allies, as there should be no danger. But if it is on the battlefield, we would need several days just to build a camp!” Epiphanes was both showing off and complaining, “The thing is, besides building a camp for our fourth legion, we also needed to build a camp for the fifth legion as well.”

Chapter 404 – Pyxous’ Current Situation

“They still would take time to arrive here, as the distance is greater.” Philesius comforted and said, “The fifth legions owes the fourth legion a favour and would pay it back later.”

Epiphanes smiled bitterly, “Commander, do you think Drakos is a person who knows to be grateful?”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At the same time as Syracuse’s army landed in Locri, Davos’ army also reached Pyxous. Before his arrival, he had sent a messenger to inform the Praetor of Pyxous – Androlis that he must strictly block the news of their arrival. Therefore, Androlis had sent five small warships in the port to temporarily intercept the merchant ships heading north, forcing them to temporarily stop at Pyxous’ port, causing a lot of complaints. After Davos arrived and heard this, he praised Androlis for being decisive and careful and even dared to take responsibility.

At this time, Androlis accompanied archon Davos to inspect the city and port of Pyxous. Davos was quite satisfied with the order and construction of the whole city, so he asked, “How many are Theonian citizens now?”

“There are 4523 official citizens, 3351 preparatory citizens, 5117 registered freemen, a total of 12,991, while the population of Pyxous is about 53,000…” Androlis answered as much as he knew.

“Oh, Pyxous has a large population!” Davos was a little surprised.

“Milord, Pyxous was originally a big city in Lucania, no less than Grumentum and Potentia. Furthermore, it is also a coastal city, which is much more attractive to Greek freemen than other Lucanian cities, such as Grumentum and Nerulum.” Said Androlis proudly.

“There are so many Greeks that have settled here?” Davos asked immediately.

“Yes. There are about 4,230 Greek Theonian official citizens, preparatory citizens and freemen, and this number is increasing every day, mainly because there are many Greek residents from Campania.”

“In just three years, the Greeks of Pyxous are now almost half of the population*!” Davos was surprised again and asked anxiously, “Do they often have conflicts with the Lucanians?” (note: citizens)

“There are some, but it is not too violent.” Androlis said with a relaxed tone, “Due to Pyxous experiencing many defeats before being integrated into Theonia, the young and middle-aged Lucanians in Pyxous suffered heavy casualties. Not only did they leave a lot of lands, but most of those who remained lost their courage and ruthlessness. Moreover, their tribal settlements were mostly in the mountains in the east, and they were mainly grazing, while the Greeks here preferred the land near the sea. It is why both sides could live in peace. There is also..uhm, the living habits of the Greeks, mainly those from Campania, are somewhat similar to those of the Lucanian, so both sides get along well…”

“It seems that you are enjoying your life here! And you are doing a great job as a praetor, knowing about the citizens of this city!…” Davos praised him repeatedly, and at the same time, he was intrigued by what he had said before and asked, “Lord Androlis, can you tell me more about the characteristics of those Campanians?”

“Milord, the Greeks in Campany are the most unlike Greeks I have ever seen, apart from us Theonians.”

Androlis’ words caught Davos’ attention, “Oh, what do you mean?”

Androlis thought and said seriously, “I guess it’s because foreign races have surrounded the Greeks in Campania (there are Volscian in the north of Campania, Lucanians in the south, Samnites in the east, and Phoenicians in Sardinia, a big island close to the west.) Due to this, the Campanians are very united and like to work together compared to the Greeks in other places who like freedom. On the other hand, some of their living habits were influenced by their neighbours. For example, they like eating beef and mutton and worship some gods that are not Greeks, such as some Campanians building a shrine for the Samnite’s god of war, thinking that they would be safe from wild animals… In Pyxous, these characteristics of theirs are also evident.”

Davos smiled and said in earnest, “In our union, there are Greeks, Lucanians, Bruttians, and now there are even the Greeks of Campania. In the future, more races might join the union. So when dealing with conflicts between ethnic groups, we must first embrace a set of principles: Tolerance – tolerance of their religion and habits. Next is Justice – Everyone, no matter what races are equal under Theonian Law and that there can be no favouritism. Then there is Guidance – guide them to live like our way of life, entertainment, competition, military training… And finally, the most important is Religion – Hades is the protector of Theonia, so never forget about that! In time, I am sure that whatever they were before, they will eventually become Theonians!”

Androlis listened carefully, then nodded his head and said, “Lord Davos, you are right!”

“I am just speaking about it. In fact, you have already done that when managing this city!” Davos then made a self-deprecating smile, “The best way to get these races to integrate faster is to find common ground between them. During this time, I have been discussing it with Ansitanos and found a secret-”

Davos looked at Androlis, seeing that he was listening attentively; he began saying it with emphasis, “Heracles: Heracles is famous among the various Italian tribes, some had even claimed to be his descendants… Hence, I will propose to the Senate the ‘construction of a Temple of Heracles in Thurii and his celebrations be open so that the people of all the various tribes of Theonia would come to celebrate their god’… Unfortunately, the outbreak of war made us suspend it temporarily. However, I could see that Pyxous can try to do it first. What do you think?”

“Milord, that’s a great idea!” Androlis gave his heartfelt praise, “In fact, there are already several shrines of Heracles in Pyxous, on both the Lucanian and Campanian sides. Still, I will do my best to build a huge Temple of Heracles so that Pyxous will become the centre of Heracles’ worship in this region!”

“Are you going to steal Thurii’s limelight? Kunogelata will surely fight you to the death.” Davos said jokingly, and the two laughed.

As they went back to the city hall, they talked and laughed. In this harmonious atmosphere, no one mentioned Eurypus and Pleitinas because there was no need to talk about them as they had become the past.

Back at the city hall, Antonios, the legatus of the first legion, and Amintas, the legatus of the second legion, were already there waiting for them.

“Milord, the construction of the camp is completed, and the soldiers have begun resting.” Antonios immediately came forward and gave his report when he saw Davos coming in, “Furthermore, a messenger from the third legion had come reporting that the third legion is on the way to Pyxous, and it is estimated that they will arrive at dusk.”

“Alexius was frightened and withdrew out of Potentia before he could even have a head-on confrontation with the Samnites. This is a disgrace to our Theonian legion!” Aminstas snorted in dissatisfaction.

“If the third legion had confronted the Samnites army, I am afraid that I could only take your first and second legion with less than 20,000 men to face the huge force of more than 40,000 Samnites. So how would we then fight this war?! Alexius is undoubtedly right in sacrificing his honour to win this war! That is worth learning, especially you, Amintas!” Said Davos sternly. Davos learned about the encounter of the third legion in Potentia a few days ago and Davos from Androlis.

Amintas grumbled a few words unconvinced. But he didn’t dare to speak it out.

“Milord, the Samnites are fierce. After setting up ambushes, they took the initiative to send a large army to attack, which did not give the third legion a chance to breathe.” Antonios interjected, “If they knew that we would attack Poseidonia, would the Samnites send another army to attack us?!”

“I feared that they won’t come, so it’s good if the Samnites really dared to come.” Davos began carefully analysing the plan he had been considering these days to the three others in the living room, “From the information we gathered, the Samnites won more when fighting against the Lucanians in the past. And they even attacked the Campanians for many years, meaning that the Samnites have always been very proud of their combat ability. Furthermore, this is the first time that the Samnites have sent out so many warriors, which may further contribute to their arrogance, and with Syracuse’s aid-” He said as he glanced at Androlis.

Androlis nodded, “Over the past few days, the warships patrolling our port have repeatedly reported that ‘they have discovered a large number of Syracusan transport ships going north and entering the port of Poseidonia.’ I think they are most likely bringing food to the Samnites.”

“Damn Syracuse!” Amintas angrily swore and shouted, “Milord, we should quickly capture Poseidonia and cut off the food supply of the Samnites before the Samnites knew we had arrived!”

“This is indeed a way.” Instead of nodding, Davos continued, “But Androlis told me that the Samnites had their own port town, Irna, in the south of Campania. Otherwise, they would not dare send an army of more than 40,000 men before capturing Poseidonia. And even if we take Poseidonia, it would only add trouble to Syracuse’s transportation of food, but it would prolong the time for us to repel them. Besides, Dionysius of Syracuse is already prepared to invade Magna Graecia, so we can’t have a long war of attrition with the Samnites!”

Chapter 405 – Theonian Warriors

“Milord, do you already have a plan?” Antonios hurriedly asked.

Davos looked at the two legatus with glistening eyes, “Judging how the Samnites treated the third legion. We could see that their commander is a decisive and proactive person. Moreover, the Samnites are more arrogant, so…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The army of Syracuse was exhausted throughout the night as accidents frequently occurred. So the next day, almost all the soldiers were resting.

The Syracusan army camp stretches for more than 5 kilometres, covering all the open spaces in Locri from the mountain in the west to the coast, cutting off the north-south road. The soldiers hastily built the camp, which was just tents and didn’t even have simple fences nor earthen walls outside, totally without protection. Naturally, their neighbouring enemy city-state, Caulonia and Taurania, have long been deterred by the huge forces of Syracuse, so how would they even dare take the initiative if they couldn’t even protect themselves.

At noon, Dionysius woke up from his deep slumber. After eating breakfast and were about to discuss the troops’ dispatching with his brotherr-in-law, Demodokas, he received an urgent report from the guards that about 20,000 South Italian Alliance army appeared in Caulonia.

Dionysius became surprised that as soon as his army arrived in Locri, the reinforcements of the South Italia Alliance had also come, ‘How could they be so fast? Unless the enemy knew that I would depart on that day and made preparations in advance. Still, how is that possible?’ After all, Dionysius only decided to go to war after the Samnites attacked Potentia and Davos of Theonia led his army away from Thurii. It had only taken two days between the arrangement of the expedition and the departure of the fleet (although Syracuse had already started gathering their army outside the city, and the fleet had long been on standby and did not move.) Thus, these city-states on Magna Graecia could not have made such a quick response in such a short period, so he decided to go find it out for himself.

As the tyrant of Syracuse, Dionysius was not just someone who only knew how to scheme, as he was a hero who fought against the Carthaginian invasion. Otherwise, the panic-stricken Syracusans would not elect Dionysius as the supreme military commander during the time of Syracuse’s crisis. And even after he had secured the tyrant’s throne and no longer needed to go into battle himself, he still led the army from time to time, as an example. A few years ago, he led an attack on the Carthaginian town of Motya in Sicily, which they could not defeat. So when he heard from a surrendered soldier says that “there is a secret path that can directly reach the core area of Motya” he immediately led 2,000 men who were not afraid to die to climb the steep mountain path and raid the Motyans. Unfortunately, the enemy found him and got besieged. But thanks to his men and the favour of the goddess of fate, he was able to escape from the disaster.

At this moment, he and his military adviser – Phidias, a strategos of Sparta, Syracuse’s important strategoi – Phacipessas and Astagoras, and the leader of the Numidian mercenary – Acilita, as well as 500 Numidian cavalries head north.

There are more than 30 kilometres between Locri to Caulonia, and along the narrow and tortuous coast, the warhorses stepped on some bad and uneven muddy roads. After two hours, they finally entered the territory of Caulonia, where Dionysius saw enemy cavalry patrolling ahead.

Seeing that they were all dressed in black, Dionysius, who had long studied the army of the city-states on Magna Graecia, immediately made a judgment, “It’s the cavalry of Theonia!”

Hearing this, Phidias, who was also surprised at why the reinforcements of the South Italia Alliance had come so quickly, seemed to figure out the answer: After all, he had been paying attention to this city-state in Magna Graecia that had humiliated him. Thus he has some knowledge of the Theonian army. Since this union attaches importance to the military as Sparta, they are really different from other Greek city-states’ military that it is not impossible for them to arrive so quickly.

Acilita, the Numidian mercenary leader, whistled a few times. Afterwards, 30 Numidian cavalries rushed over, and the ten Theonian cavalry scouts turned around and ran.

The two sides began a chase, where the Numidian cavalry closed the distance, with their legs tightly clamping the horse’s belly. In such a fast galloped, they didn’t need to pull the reins with their hands. On the contrary, with their hands being free, they grabbed several javelins on both their hands, leaned back slightly and then threw them out.

More than a dozen javelins flew in the air, followed by several screams. Three Theonian cavalries were hit by the javelins and fell off their horses, while two warhorses were pierced by javelin and begun to jump wildly, dropping the cavalryman on their back.

Just after one encounter, the number of Theonia’s scouting cavalry was reduced by half, making the remaining Theonian cavalry run desperately back to the camp.

The Numidian then captured the two cavalrymen alive and brought them to Dionysius.

Dionysius remained on his horse as he looked down at them and said coldly, “Tell me, how many soldiers did Theonia sent? Who is leading the army? What are your battle plans in Caulonia? Whoever said it well and the most detail, I will let him go.”

The two captives looked at each other and did not speak.

Dionysius did not have the patience to wait for the two unknown men to speak and coldly snorted, “Since you won’t speak, I will have the Numidians take you across the river Styx! Acilita!”

“Lord Dionysius, I’m here!” Acilita smiled impishly, showing his uneven yellow teeth with his long hair covered most of his face. He jumped off his horse and took out his short sword around his waist, and approached one of the captives one step after another, making the captive nervous.

When Acilita grabbed the captive’s shoulder and pointed his sharp sword at his throat, the captive shouted in panic, “I will answer! I will answer!”

Acilita looked back at Dionysius, and Dionysius nodded.

He released the captive and waited for him to begin speaking.

Then the other captive shouted, “Lasybulus, are you crazy?! Do you want your family and son to be scorned and looked down on by Thurii?! Do you want to be unable to pass the judgment of hell after your death, and your soul to be pushed into the terrible blades and flame of hell?!…”

“What are you waiting!” Seeing the hesitation on the captive’s face dissipating after hearing his companion’s shout, Dionysius hurriedly shouted.

Acilita immediately rushed to the other captive with a sword.

The soldier looked at the fierce Numidian. He then shouted to his companion with tranquillity, “I’ll wait for you in Elysium!”

As the sword cut his neck, he didn’t utter a cry in pain as he gritted his teeth. Then blood gushed out like a spring, and he finally fell.

Lasybulus looked pained, but his eyes became firm. He closed his eyes, straightened his chest and shouted, “Come, strike me with your sword! As my name will be etched in the Hall of Valor!”

Acilita turned to look at Dionysius again.

Dionysius became inexplicably agitated. He then waved his hand hard and spurred his horse forward.

Phidias watched as the captive was executed before riding up to catch up to Dionysius. At the same time, he sighed and said, “Such brave warriors! If the other soldiers of Theonia are like them, then this war would be difficult!” In the war between Greek city-states, most of their soldiers are just ordinary citizens. So once the war becomes unfavourable, they are easy to flee, and it is common for them to surrender once caught, which is why it is a rare case for all to die in battle. There are a few exceptional cases, such as Leonidas, who led 300 Spartan warriors to Thermopylae and eventually was wiped out. So how could Phidias not be shocked now that apart from Sparta, there is now Theonia!?

“It’s just that these stupid Greeks believed Davos’ boasting that he is the ‘Favoured of Hades’!” Dionysius said unhappily. Afterwards, he emphasised, “Besides, the outcome of a war depends on the strength and not fabricating to be a descendant of a god, as it will not change the war situation!”

Phidias didn’t speak, but he still felt uneasy.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Commander, our legion has been marching since yesterday, building camp at night, and rushing towards Caulonia early this morning that we haven’t rested much until now. So can we improve the camp tomorrow and just set up the trenches and earthen wall so that our brothers can have a good sleep?” Epiphanes asked Philesius.

Philesius hesitated. He can, of course, see the soldier’s exhaustion, but they are now at the forefront of the battlefield that the Syracusan army may come over at any time. Still, it is necessary to construct a solid camp following the 《Theonian Military Law》. Thus he turned his head and asked the legatus of the fifth legion, Drakos, who was sitting on the other side, “What do you think?”

Drakos then replied without hesitation, “Even if you are tired, the soldiers should still build the camps according to the military law and rest at night.”

“You and your legion should continue working then. Our legion had dug a camp for your legion last night, so we naturally are much more tired than you!” Epiphanes glanced at Drakos and said discontentedly.

“Alright, alright!” Philesius hurriedly ease the situation, “Our brothers are indeed exhausted, but…”

Philesius was deliberating how to say his decision politely when he saw – Solikos, the senior centurion of the cavalry legion, hurrying up.

While Davos was reforming the heavy infantry legion, he also promoted the original cavalry brigade into a legion. Unlike infantry, the cavalry has smaller numbers but are more expensive, so only citizens with warhorses can join. Davos set the Cavalry Legion’s headquarters in Thurii while sending officers to each city in peacetime to organise cavalry training according to plan, then gather them during wartime and assign them to each battlefield commander according to the situation. Up to now, there are 2,000 cavalries in the cavalry legion, and the legatus – Ledes, has four senior centurions, with each senior centurion leading 500 cavalries (for the military strength of Magna Graecia, 500 cavalry is already a considerable assault force.) When Davos set our for Potentia, he took away 1,000 cavalries from two brigades, another 500 cavalries were sent to the southern battlefield under the command of Philesius, and only 500 cavalries remained in Thurii to patrol the coastline to prevent the enemy’s surprise landing.

Chapter 406 – Dionysius’ Wrath and Phidias’ Resentment

“Solikos, what’s the matter?” Asked Philesius hurriedly after seeing Solikos’ serious expression.

“Lord Commander.” Solikos, who was already in his 50s, was still vigorous and had a loud voice. After doing a simple military greeting, he said, “My scouts reported that about 500 cavalries came from the south and were approaching the camp.”

“Is it Syracuse?” Asked Philesius.

“I think so…those cavalries doesn’t have any protectives and are good a throwing javelin, which is very different from the Greek cavalry.” Solikos answered seriously.

“Then what are you waiting? Immediately send your cavalry and drive these Syracusans away! Don’t let them interfere with our soldiers’ construction of the camp.” Said Drakos immediately.

Solikos was embarrassed and replied in a low voice, “Our cavalry are not their match…from what the scouts had reported, their horse control technique is much better, and their javelin throwing is quite accurate. Our cavalries had a distance of 50 metres between them and the enemies, yet they still managed to chase our cavalries quite close, threw a round of javelins, resulting in us losing…five of our brothers…”

“How powerful are the Syracusan cavalries?!” Epiphanes became slightly surprised. After all, he knew the strength of the Theonian cavalry legion due to their regular training, whether it’s riding, fighting or tactical execution are better than the cavalry of those Greek city-states.

“They might be the cavalries hired by Syracusan. While Syracuse was fighting Carthage, they hired Celtics and Numidian cavalries, all of whom grew up on horseback. Thus it is normal for their riding skills to be better than ours…Lord Davos had especially reminded me before leaving.”  Said Philesius with a serious expression.

“Then have the light infantry of our fifth legion to go out with Solikos’s cavalries to drive them away!” Drakos quickly made a suggestion.

Philesius nodded in agreement.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dionysius led his men and approached the city of Caulonia where they saw a spectacular sight hundreds of metres away: On the vast flat land, thousands of men wield pickaxes and shovels digging trenches, carrying soil, building earthen walls and sentry towers…everyone is busy, yet they appear in order. Such a busy construction site was not the only one in front of them as it extends to the east and west and could even block the passage of the entire mountain range.

Dionysius, Phidias, Phacipessas and Astagoras all fell silent for a moment.

After a while, Dionysius pointed to the Theonian camp under construction ahead and said to Phacipessas and Astagoras in a reproachful tone, “Look at them, and look at the army you are leading!”

Faced with shame, Phacipessas and Astagoras understood what Dionysius meant: Both have arrived in a hurry, yet the Theonians were able to build a camp despite their fatigue while the Syracusan’s camp could not even be called a camp at all. It was disorganised, and the soldiers were peacefully sleeping in their haphazardly built tents…

“Milord, the reason the Theonians are trying their best to build a camp was to defend against our attack, while no one dares to attack our army, so-” As soon as Astagoras began defending himself, Dionysius immediately interrupted him, “So your troops can sleep soundly and wait for Magna Graecia to surrender?!”

Dionysius was angry after learning some of the strengths of the Theonian army from the information coming from Theonia. Furthermore, some of the problems that surfaced in the battle between Syracuse and Carthage had also prompted him to reform the Syracusan army. He explicitly gave separate formations for the heavy infantry, infantry, cavalry, siege troops and the navy and worked together under unified and more effective command. He also followed the example of Theonia by increasing the number of military training sessions for citizens and establishing stricter rules to ensure that the army could carry out the new tactics. It was only after these reforms that Syracuse was able to secure the upper hand in the second war with Carthage. But the sight before him made him feel the difference between his army and the Theonian soldiers in terms of will and command execution, which caused the flame of jealousy and anxiety, and Astagoras was just a tool for him to vent his anger.

This really wronged Astagoras, but when he wanted to defend himself, another strategos of Syracuse, Phacipessas, tugged at his clothes obscurely while saying with respect, “Rest assured, milord. Once we return, we will gather the army and have them rebuild the camp.”

It was only then that Dionysius’ expression cleared up a bit.

Then Acilita came forward and said, “Milord, it’s now a good opportunity to attack the enemy while they are building their camp. Allow me to take my men and charge at them.”

Before Dionysius could answer, Phidias, who had been watching the Theonian camp closely, said, “Don’t. The Theonian army is coming.”

Several cavalries and infantries poured out between the several passages reserved for the Theonians and quickly took up positions in front of the camp, with the cavalries on both flanks and the light infantry in the centre, and marched towards Dionysius without hesitation.

“It is useless no matter how many Theonians come. Milord, allow me to lead my men to attack. First, I will have my soldiers go around their flanks and attack their cavalry, disrupting their formation, and then take advantage of the chaos to storm the light infantry in their midst to give them a taste of what the Numidian cavalry can do!”

“We should instead go back!” Phidias suddenly said, with some panic in his voice.

Dionysius stared at him, surprised as this was the first time he had seen the cold and straightforward Spartan lose composure since they departed Syracuse. However, as the commander of the army, he had more important things to do than entangling with a small group of enemy troops at this time. So he complied with Phidias and ordered their return.

Although Acilita was wild and unyielding, he was still in awe of his employer. So he could only helplessly call back the eager Numidians and followed Dionysius’ lead.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Philesius learned of the enemy’s retreat, he sternly said to the two legatus, “As you can see, the army of Syracuse would soon attack, so we much build our camp as soon as possible!”

This time, Epiphanes no longer has an objection.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On their way back to Locri, Dionysius asked, “Phidias, now that the Theonians are building their camps in Caulonia to defend against our attack. What do you think we should do next?”

“We must not allow the Theonians to build a sturdy camp and use the narrow terrain to offset our number advantage, thus consuming our time! That is why we must invade Terina and Scylletium as soon as possible, where the terrain is wide and beneficial to our large army, just in time to force them to meet us in a head-on confrontation, defeating them and capturing their cities! In this way, Theonia will no longer have any helpers while their main force is still trapped in Potentia, giving us a good opportunity to destroy them!” When he said the last sentence, Phidias expression has a bit of fierceness.

Dionysius looked at him curiously. He didn’t understand why Phidias’s resentment towards Theonia suddenly increased, but this was what he exactly wanted.

So, after thinking for some time, he made up his mind, called the strategoi and issued an order, “Astagoras, Phacipessas, immediately reorganise the army after we return. Tomorrow! I want to attack Caulonia and Terina!”

“Yes, milord!”

Listening to their conversation, Phidias became happy at seeing Dionysius make the arrangements he had suggested. However, his mind kept replaying the sight he had just seen: Whether it is the cavalries or light infantries, the Theonians were uniformly dressed in black, and he could even vaguely see that the leather shields of their cavalry seemed to have the same design painted. Although he did not see the Theonian heavy infantry, since the light infantries and cavalries were already like this, the attire of the heavy infantries must also be quite uniformed.

On the other hand, Dionysius was not too surprised as he had already gotten detailed information about the Theonian army beforehand. But for the Spartan Phidias, he saw something deeper through Theonia’s black attire.

The Spartans warriors snickered in secret at the citizens of Athens, Corinth, Thebes and other city-states, who flaunted their colourful artistic aesthetics by painting all kinds of exquisite designs on their round shield that had not been used for half a year and had gathered dust to show their individuality and taste. After all, since the regent of Sparta carried out a reform a hundred years ago, the Spartans have trained since childhood under the whip and stick. After a hundred years of warring, they have already concluded the essence of War: That is to not care about any means, as long as you get the ultimate victory!

The Spartans claimed to be descendants of Heracles, but in fact, they worship the wolves more. Their warriors fight like wolves, emphasising discipline and psychological deterrence as a whole, and even if they are strong, they are not allowed to fight individually.

Therefore, when the other city-states armies fought Sparta, they could see rows of dazzling bronze walls (because the Spartan warriors polish their shield and spears) and scarlet cloaks dyed like blood, as well as the unified “λ” sign on their round shield.

Chapter 407 – Theonia’s March and Syracuse’s advance

When the bugler blew their high-pitched salpinx, the Spartan warriors sang warlike chants to pay tribute to the ancient heroes while charging at the enemy. Often resulted in the Greek city-states soldiers’ will to collapse, turn around and run before even fighting as they were unwilling to take risks fighting against Sparta. The Spartans deterred the other city-states in Greece for a century by relying on their terrifying momentum and killing intent created by the army as a whole on the battlefield.

Phidias was not disturbed by Syracuse’s large army, but the tenacity, obedience, and unified attire of the Theonian army aroused his fear as he seemed to see another Spartan army. And even though they wore black instead of red, their soldiers were much more numerous than Sparta…

‘The Mediterranean only needed a Sparta!’ Phidias thought strongly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As soon as the third legion led by Alexius arrived in Pyxous, Davos didn’t even have the time to greet him and immediately told him his battle plan. With his consent, he immediately ordered him to lead the third legion north and attack Poseidonia.

The coastal area from Pyxous to Poseidonia is not as flat as the east coast of South Italia, from Thurii to Crotone and then to Locri. It is mostly mountainous and hilly, with rugged and uneven ground.

The third legion pass through Elea on an arduous march.

As a city-state that is part of Theonia Alliance, Elea’s polemarchos Kanos did not hesitate after receiving the news and personally summoned 1,500 soldiers and joined the ranks of the third legion. After all, now that the Samnites occupied Poseidonia, Elea was directly facing the fierce Samnites warriors, so the Eleans hoped Theonia to repel this vicious wolf from the north and restore peace to Elea.

Half a day after the third legion left, Davos led the first and second legions to the north.

Androlis, the Praetor of Pyxous, was not idle either as he had to help prepare the food for 30,000 soldiers. After all, the food consumed by such a huge army must also be impressive, and Pyxous alone could not satisfy it. Fortunately, Theonia had built a reserve granary in Grumentum, which could temporarily meet the needs of so many people for a short time. But once the war extended, they would also need the granary of Consentia, which is why Davos had to speed up the pace. Androlis also had to prepare wagons and manpower to transport food supplies to the frontline camp of Davos under the command leadership of the legion’s logistics. A complex and tedious job that needed to be manned continuously, but with the operation of the experience logistics brigade and the assistance of the capable Androlis, and the active cooperation of the Praetor of Grumentum – Bagul, everything progressed smoothly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the afternoon, the third legion headed northeast after joining with the Elean army and prepared to bypass this wide mountain range on the seaside just north of Elea as Poseidonia was just on the other side of this mountain.

Halfway through, the third legion stopped moving and began building a camp.

As they caused a lot of commotion, the Samnites’ scouts easily discovered them.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“What did you say?! The Theonians appeared on the south of mount Cilento and camped on the banks of the Alento river?!” Pisini, a chieftain of Pentri, was gorging himself on food in the residence of the archon of Poseidonia when hearing the report and became surprised.

“Yes, chieftain. And they numbered more than 10,000! Furthermore, when we quietly approached their camp, we discovered that the flag erected in their camp reads ‘Third Legion’!” The scout said with anxiousness.

“The third legion of Theonia! Shouldn’t they be in Grumentum?! How did they get here?!” Pisini lost his appetite, threw the mutton he had just chewed on the table, lowered his head, and wiped all the oil stains on his mouth with his dirty leather robe.

“I think the Theonians must have heard that we captured Poseidonia, so they hurriedly want to take it back.” Another chieftain, Mobuk, guessed.

“Theonia has 10,000 men while we only have 3,000 warriors! Moreover, they came so fast that we had not yet repaired those destroyed by the ballistae. So how could we prevent their attack?!” Pisini paced back and forth impatiently.

“Then we have to send someone to Potentia immediately and ask the great chieftain for help!” Mobuk reminded.

“That’s natural! And…we should also immediately inform our men that no matter how late they work tonight, they should fill the gaps in those walls!” Pisini smashed his fist on the wooden table.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At dusk, Alexius sent the reconnaissance team to kill the Samnites scouts in the surrounding area.

That night, the 20,000 troops led by Davos quietly entered the city of Elea, and the Eleans had already made room for the Theonian army as Alexius had already notified them.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the same day, on Locri, the Syracusan army finally gathered. But the return of the scouts surprised Dionysius and the others, ‘In just a day and a half, the camp of Theonia had begun to take shape.’

This report had further strengthened his new plan: He would divide the army into two, of which more than 20,000 were under the command of Phacipessas together with more than 10,000 soldiers from Locri, for a total of 40,000 men, to try to attack the Theonian camp and hold them in check. On the other hand, He himself will lead an army of more than 50,000 men to cross the old path between the mountains, reach the west coast of Magna Graecia, and then turn north…

In order to prevent the delaying of the march, Dionysius’s troops did not carry a lot of luggage and just let the fleet in Locri loaded with supplies depart from the port, head south around the Strait of Messina, then along the western coast of Magna Graecia, and head north to accompany the army on land.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the Rhegians saw the continuous Syracusan ships passing by the sea in the distance, the fear in the hearts of the Rhegians could be imagined, and some even shouted in panic, “The Syracusans are coming! They are going to land!!!…”

But it turned out that it was just a false alarm. However, it still caused great panic to the Rhegians, and many members of the councils even asked to recall the troops that went to Taurania to defend against Syracuse.

Athelycus was at a loss for a moment, so he immediately sent a messenger to Taurania.

Pheidon in Taurania first got the report from the scouts: They found the Syracusan army crossing the old path between the mountains, heading towards Medma while the cavalry that was the vanguard had already passed the city of Medma and continued to head north.

Then came the urgent report from the port lighthouse: They discovered that the Syracusan fleet composed of thousands of transport ships had passed through Taurania and sailed north.

An hour later, a Rhegian merchant ship hurried into the port of Taurania from the north and reported that Syracuse’s fleet did not enter Medma but continued to go north.

“It seems that Syracuse is ready to attack Terina on the north. For the time being, we are safe.” Said Chrylotas, the strategos in charge of Taurania.

Pheidon, on the other hand, was not relaxed. He then said with a gloomy expression, “Once the South Italia Alliance in the north is defeated, it will only be a matter of time before they attack Rhegium and Taurania.”

“That depends on whether our allies can withstand Syracuse’s attack or even defeat them…” Chrylotas, whose thoughts were aroused by Pheidon’s words, said with some expectation. Then after feeling that this hope was a little slim, he sighed and said, “It’s a pity that the archon of Theonia, Davos, led his main force to resist the Samnites. If he could lead his men back in time, then the odds of the allies will significantly increase!”

“Hence we should not let the Syracusans attack so easily!” Pheidon said loudly with a serious and resolute expression, which surprised Chrylotas.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the afternoon, Rhegium’s messenger rushed to Taurania and severely demanded Pheidon to lead the army back.

While Pheidon deliberately delayed the time, he immediately sent his men back to Rhegium.

At dusk, Pheidon was still unable to gather the soldiers. And because “it was impossible to march in the dark”, it was postponed to the next day.

Early the following day, Athelycus, who found that the Syracusan fleet had already left Taurania and had not launched an attack on Rhegium, cancelled the order to recall the army at the request of Pheidon’s man.

It was only when his men returned to Taurania with Athelycus’ letter that they were able to stop the unnecessary marching back and forth of Rhegium’s army, which was to be discussed later.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On this day, Dionysius thought of many ways to speed up the marching of Syracuse’s massive mixed army. The most effective way was to send his men to each army and say that whoever arrives at Hipponion first will be the first to be allowed to enter the enemy city after conquering it, and the last one to arrive will not have the right to share the spoils.

Due to having too many mercenaries, Dionysius’ army was not as disciplined as Theonia’s. And in order to maintain high morale, his soldiers often burned, kill and pillaged the city after breaching, such as in Motya and even the Sicilian Greek city-states of Catania and Naxos. In fact, Syracuse did no less damage to the Sicilian Greek city-states than the Carthaginians, which is why the Sicilian Greeks feared and hated Dionysius.

Dionysius’ words really had an effect. All the various troops rushed forward, and the Numidian cavalry and Celtic cavalry were at the front.

Chapter 408 – Initial Battle Against Syracuse (I)

At dusk, Syracuse’s leading troops had arrived in Hipponion one after another. They travelled more than 50 kilometres from Locri through Medma to Hipponion. Dionysius forced the army to march and completed this section of the journey for only more than a day, which is already a miracle.

The movement caused by the successive arrival of the Syracusan army startled the scouts of Terina who had been watching Hipponion’s movement. They then quickly returned to the city of Terina on the north bank of the Allaro river, more than 30 kilometres away from Hipponion.

‘Syracuse’s army has come!!!’

This shocking news shook the whole city of Terina. Both ordinary people and the statesmen were frightened as they never thought that Syracuse would approach Terina on the third day after their landing.

According to the plan made by the South Italia Alliance, Crotone’s troops is the most crucial main force for defending the Allaro river, but they are still far away. On the other hand, Scylletium had only sent thousands of soldiers to defend the upper bank of the river. Thus the whole defensive line of the Allaro river has not been completed and could be said to be full of holes. So once Syracuse attacked tomorrow, they would easily break through the Allaro river and enter the Ophemia plain, and Terina would be the first to suffer from the flames of war.

With the situation being urgent, the Terinian Council had no time to argue. So under the guidance of Siprus, the polemarchos elected last year, they quickly made a decision: First, immediately send someone to Crotone and urge them to send their main force to the Allaro river as soon as possible. Second, ask Scylletium to go all out in defending the Allaro river. Third, send someone to Clampettia and ask Theonia for help. Fourth, ask Theonia’s fourth and fifth legion in Caulonia for support.

For Siprus, who always respected Theonia, he trusted the well-trained legions of Theonia rather than the procrastinating citizens of Scylletium and Crotone. Therefore, half of the emergency measures taken by Terina were related to Theonia.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On this day, the soldiers outside Theonia’s camp in Caulonia continued to work hard to improve their defence. However, with the rapid return of the scouts, the warning horn of the camp sounded. And the soldiers immediately carried their pickaxes, shovers, wooden baskets and other equipment and quickly returned to the camp and closed the camp’s gate.

“The Syracusans are finally attacking!” Drakos was so excited that he quickly put on his armour with the help of the guards while asking his adjutant, “What are the instructions of Philesius?”

“For us to defend ourselves.” The adjutant replied.

“That’s interesting!” Drakos muttered a few times. Afterwards, he put on his helmet with purple plumes symbolising his identity as a legatus, “Let’s go and see how powerful Syracuse is!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The fourth and fifth legions of Theonia had built two camps. The fourth legion is on the west side, while the fifth legion is on the east side, and a passage connects both in the middle.

Thus for the convenience of command, the Syracusan-Locri coalition army also divided their troops into two. The Syracusan army led by Phacipessas attacked the eastern camp while Locri’s strategos – Theophantes, led the army to attack the western camp.

Due to the lack of time, Syracuse did not build a siege tower and could not even prepare many siege ladders. However, Theophantes still had the confidence to turn the probing attack into a storm to repay the humiliation of being forced to retreat by the Theonian army without fighting in Crotone a few years ago.

Under the guidance of the bronze salpinx, the 20,000 troops of Locri slowly moved forward until about 500 metres away from the Theonian camp. Theophantes then raised his arms, and the salpinx stopped, then the army stopped moving forward one after another, and the formation became irregular.

“Push the ballista!” Theophantes shouted. That’s right, Theophantes would rely on the ballista, a powerful weapon brought by Syracuse to siege cities.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Theonian legion had a busy day yesterday as they had to dig trenches and build earthen walls. However, they couldn’t even have the time to dig traps outside the camp, not even an abatis, while the engineers and craftsmen of the engineering brigade were still scrambling to build sentry towers.

After building the first sentry tower, Philesius and Epiphanes immediately climbed it and looked out just in time to see the Locrians pushing a dozen ballistae out of their ranks.

Epiphanes was not surprised because even in the camp, there were ten ballistae just below the sentry tower but were smaller than Syracuse’s ballista. He frowned slightly, pointed to the front, turned around asked the young man together with them on the sentry tower, “Kurdorus, do you think our ballistae can destroy theirs?”

Kurdorus is from the Institute of Mathematics of the Akademia of Theonia. Following the newly revised Theonian Military Law in the previous two years: Each legion must be equipped with ten ballistae, and the spotter must be an excellent student of the Akademia of Theonia because they can quickly calculate the appropriate landing point according to the parabolic equation to improve the shooting accuracy.

Although Kurdorus had participated in a lot of military training, this was the first time he had come on a battlefield. Looking at the dense enemies in the distance, he became a bit nervous, “Too…too far, I fear that it…would be difficult.”

Philesius patted him on the shoulder and comforted him, “Take it easy, young man. It’s normal to feel nervous when this is your first time on the battlefield. No need to worry. No matter how many enemies come, our brave legionaries will drive them away.”

Kurdorus nodded. He gulps and stares at the front again. After summoning up his courage, he said, “I…I suggest to let the enemy get closer so that we can bring the power of our ballista into greater play.”

“Just as I thought!” While praising, Epiphanes looked at the beautiful young man carefully, with a strange glint in his eyes, “Young man, you are great.”

Philesius coughed a bit.

Then, the herald of the fifth legion rushed below the sentry tower, “Commander, legatus Drakos asked to fire the ballistae after the enemy entered a distance of 200 metres, so as not to scare them away.”

“200 metres?!” Epiphanes shrugged, “Drakos is really greedy!”

“He is thinking the same thing as we thought!” Philesius laughed.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As a squad leader, Appian and his squadmates stood behind the earthen wall, watching large stone projectiles roaring from the enemy line, smashing in front of their camp, making a booming sound and raising a layer of dust. However, they didn’t show any uneasiness due to their regular military training, as they didn’t even know how many times they had trained with the ballista brigade. Thus although the momentum caused by the enemy’s ballista outside the camp is impressive, the soldiers are still in the mood to laugh.

They even asked Appian for the details about attending Hera’s Day and became envious of the special treatment the newlyweds enjoyed at the celebration, saying they would definitely go to Thurii for Hera’s Day when they married.

As the enemy’s formation approached, the impact point of the ballista moved forward.

When the stone projectiles fell from the sky, hitting in front of the camp and falling into the trench, the legion’s platoon captain began sending out instructions one after another, “Take cover behind the wall!”

Just as Appian led his squadmates to rely on the earthen wall and lie down, Kurdorus’ voice could be heard from the sentry tower, “They are already within 250 metres!”

“No hurry, no hurry,” Epiphanes put his hands to his chest and patted him on the shoulder, doing his best to suppress his excitement.

“Bang!” A stone projectile hit the wooden battlement, and the broken wooden chips fell on the heavily armed soldiers causing heavy damage.

Then several stone projectiles roared, crossed the wooden battlement, fell into the camp and smashed several tents. Fortunately, there were only a few cries of sorrow while a roar of laughter rang out.

Kurdorus stared at the ground ahead from the sentry tower. Yesterday, while the soldiers stepped up the camp’s construction, the ballistae team was not idle. They went outside the camp and began leaving some marks on the grounds, which were either a transplanted weed, a strange rock, or an oblique wooden stick…

“200 metres!” Kurdorus shouted excitedly.

“Get ready to fire.” Epiphanes waved his hand.

“30 degrees elevation, medium stone projectiles, maximum pull!” Kurdorus quickly said the data.

The ballista captain, who had been listening, immediately repeated Kurdorus’ words aloud. At the same time, the soldiers quickly turned the pulley, pulled the bowstring, hooked it and then placed a 6kg stone projectile into the slider (after several years of further research and improvement on the ballista, Theonia’s ballista can now be divided into two types. One is the siege ballista, which is large and weighs more than 20kg. The other is the defensive ballista, which is smaller, lighter in weight and has better accuracy, and two-three people could carry it, and the weight it could launch ranges from 3kg to 10kg, and its target were armies and siege equipment.)

Since it was not a decisive battle, the enemy formation was loose. But even so, the 20,000 massive group is still dense. Therefore, they must seize this great opportunity for the first round of attack. For this reason, Kurdorus first set the ballistae’s impact point in the centre of the enemy formation.

“Fire!” The ballista captain waved his right arm.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Theophantes felt a burst of joy as he watched the stone projectiles roar into the Theonian camp.

At the beginning of the army’s movement towards the enemy camp, he was worried about being hit by Theonia’s slingers when they were within 500 metres, as he heard that most of Theonia’s slingers were from Rhodes and could shoot their stones far and accurately. But once the troops advanced to 300 metres from the enemy camp and the Theonians still did not react, he became completely relieved.

Chapter 409 – Initial Battle Against Syracuse (II)

Regarding the rumours that “Theonia also has a ballista”, Theophantes didn’t believe it. After all, Locri was established for hundreds of years, yet they couldn’t even make such a powerful siege weapon. So how can the Theonia Union, which had just risen for less than six years, have it?! (Even though the fourth legion of Theonia attacked Clampetia with ballista, its remote location made it so that only a few people knew it. The Terinians knew it, but at the request of the Theonians, they tried their best to keep it a secret.)

“Closer! Closer!…” Theophantes excitedly urged the Syracusans to move the ballista forward so that the whole army could advance as he wanted to make the bombardment of the ballista more accurate and smash the wall built by the Theonians so that they would not have any place to hide! He would then watch them hide in panic under the impact of the stone projectiles or be forced to leave the camp and come out to face them.

Dionysius had given Phacipessas the order to keep the Theonian army in Caulonia in check. But if there were a good opportunity, Theophantes would certainly not mind defeating them and break the record Theonia army of having no defeat in Magna Graecia and win greater honour for himself.

Theophantes then looked at the Theonian camp after seeing the Syracusan spotter at the front, putting heavy stone projectiles into the slider. Then, he became surprised to see ten small black dots flying out of the enemy camp and roaring into Locri’s formation…

“Ballista!” Theophantes’ soul shot out, and along with his cry of alarm, countless screams rang out in their ranks.

Due to the stone projectile falling in a large arc, its lethality is not that great. But the effect is terrifying. After all, just getting grazed by it would break the hands and legs, the head would get flattened, and if they use a round shield to block it, the shield would break, and they would die. How could such a tragic situation not make the surrounding Locrian soldiers, who had never experienced a ballista’s attack before, shudder and cause their morale to suddenly drop by half?!

As they were panicking, another wave of stone projectiles came again. The Locrian soldiers then fled everywhere in panic, and the whole formation became chaotic.

“Move back! Move back quickly!!” Stone projectiles kept falling, with one falling near Theophantes that he became so frightened that he ignored the Syracusan ballistae in front of him and hurriedly gave orders of retreat.

But just as the salpinx sounded the retreat, the east, west and south gate of the Theonian camp suddenly opened at the same time, and the soldiers who had already been prepared poured out quickly and orderly. The cavalries charge ahead, followed by the light infantry, then the light-armoured soldiers and finally the heavy infantry. Although they are destined to be unable to catch up with the fleeing enemy, they could push forward to prevent the enemy from counterattacking.

The already demoralised Locrian army had collapsed due to the constant bombardment of stones. Then they retreated in disarray after seeing the entire dark Theonian army (because of the colour of the weapons and equipment) coming at them. And even though Theophantes had the will to fight back, he had already lost control of his army, and the soldiers no longer had the courage to fight as they scrambled to retreat.

Solikos then led the cavalry to catch up with the enemy from the flank with the hope to avenge his comrades.

The Theonian cavalry did not even use their spears and just drove their horses straight, which scattered the troops even more and were unable to reorganise. After the 1,000 cavalries ran for a while, the horse itself instinctively slowed down. Still, seeing the defeated soldiers in front gradually getting sparser, Solikos resolutely raised his spear and drew circles in the air.

“Drive them east!” Solikos shouted. Under his command, the cavalry began to spread out to the left and right, drawing an arc and started driving the defeated soldiers eastward, with the light infantry and light-armoured soldiers matching their movements.

Most of the defeated Locrian soldiers were like headless flies, being intentionally herded by the Theonian soldiers. They could not even distinguish between southeast and northwest and only ran for their lives in the direction with the slightest pressure.

At this time, the Syracusan troops outside the eastern camp were also getting bombarded by the Theonian ballistae. However, the experienced Syracusans did not panic and soon stabilised their position. After retreating for a distance, they began fighting back with their ballistae. As the two sides were in a state of confrontation, the defeated Locrian troops poured in like a tidal wave and immediately disrupted Syracuse’s left flank.

How could Drakos let go of this great opportunity? So he immediately ordered the whole army to attack!

The soldiers of the fifth legion then quickly rushed out of the camp’s gate.

Seeing the situation turning bad, Phacipessas decisively gave the order to retreat.

Although the Syracusan troops retreated quickly, they tried to maintain a fairly intact formation while squeezing the scattered Locrian troops behind.

The Theonian cavalry and the fourth legion’s soldiers pursued the enemy for more than 3 kilometres. It was only when a large group of enemy cavalrymen came up to meet them that Epiphanes ordered the retreat, for he was deeply impressed by the fierce cavalry of Syracuse and worried that the tired and scattered soldiers would suffer. In fact, Syracuse’s cavalry and the cavalry of the mercenaries had already gone to Hiponion with Dionysius, and the only ones that appeared were the cavalry of Locri.

And the fifth legion, under the urging of Drakos, made the light-armoured soldiers who were best at running chase the enemies without the help of cavalry and then sounded the call to stop.

On his way back to the city, Theophantes, who had lost his armour, met Phacipessas, who was in a bad mood after losing the first battle and received a scolding from him…

As this was the first time the Theonian used their ballista in the field, it caught the Syracuse-Locri alliance by surprise. The ballistae itself only killed a few dozen men, while the panic caused by the Locrian army created an opportunity for the fourth legion of Theonia to raid. And the raid of the fourth legion and the subsequent planned dispersal of the defeated troops caused a major rout of the Syracuse-Locri alliance.

In this battle, there were more than a thousand casualties from the Syracuse-Locri alliance, including more than 500 captured men, mainly Locrian soldiers, which was a great victory for the Theonian’s southern front.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Asistes became surprised after receiving Terina’s urgent request for reinforcements late at night.

The reason why Asistes could become the acting Praetor of Clampetia was due to Davos asking the Senate for it on the grounds that Asistes had rich administrative experience in the mountains of Lucania and military experience, and was suitable to be the Praetor of Clampetia, a city with the Bruttians being the majority and the southern border city of Theonia. However, since he is not a statesman, he can only serve as the acting Praetor. Still, his experience as a Praetor laid the foundation for Asistes to be elected into the Senate the following year.

After taking office, Asistes made use of the experience he learned in Lucania to effectively ease the racial contradiction between the Bruttians and the new Greeks in Clampetia. He then made use of its geographical location to vigorously develop the trade with Terina and the other cities in the South Italia Alliance, thus improving the living conditions of the impoverished Clampetians. This has made the political situation of Clampetia to be stable in recent years and lived up to Davos’ expectations.

Hearing about how the Syracusans had approached Terina in such a short time had made him feel uneasy. After all, he knew that the plan of the South Italia Alliance was for Terina, Crotone and Scylletium to work together in defending the western coastal passage, prevent the Syracusan troops from invading the territories of the South Italia Alliance, and buy some time for the return of Theonia’s main force.

Asistes initially estimated that the combined soldiers of the three city-states of Crotone, Scylletium and Terina would have more than 30,000 soldiers. With the addition of the Allaro river, which is wide and deep, as a natural barrier, it shouldn’t be a problem for them to defend it for more than 10-20 days. Furthermore, once the use of troops becomes tense in the later stage, the reserves in the whole Bruttian region can also provide reinforcements in time.

However, he did not expect Syracuse to come so fast, which was faster than the mobilisation, assembly and marching of most Greek city-states armies. Naturally, Syracuse has already mobilised and assembled its troops. Still, to be able to make such a huge army complete its landing and march close to Terina in three days is enough to show that the Sicilian tyrant – Dionysius is fully prepared and determined for this war!

‘Should we send troops for assistance?’ The reason why Asistes was hesitating was that a few days ago, Davos personally wrote him a letter, in which he repeatedly reminded him to strengthen and enhance the city defence. Because once Syracuse breaks through the defensive line, he must do everything possible to defend Clampetia and not allow Syracuse to step into the Bruttian territory!

But Terina has a close relationship with Theonia! Besides their firm support for Theonia in the South Italia Alliance, the two cities of Clampetia and Terina also got along well due to their close proximity and frequent trade exchanges. So if they did not save them, the Terinians good impression of Theonia and the businesses that the Theonia Union had built up over the years in Magna Graecia through their efforts would be destroyed!

After thinking about it, Asistes finally made up his mind.

He then pledged to the messenger of Terina, ‘With Hades as a witness, I will lead the reinforcements from Clampetia to Terina early tomorrow morning!’

After sending off the grateful messenger, Asistes decided to write a letter to Hielos, who had just become the Praetor of Consentia. He told him the current situation of the Syracusan army and his worries and asked him for help as he believes that Davos’ former captain will make the right choice!

After writing, he told his men to take the letter and set out immediately to Consentia in the night. Then, he called the patrol leader, who had just fallen asleep, and told him to notify the reserve soldiers of the fifth legion to assemble at the square first thing in the morning.

After finishing all of these, Asistes returned to his bedroom, exhausted.

His wife Dina, who was still awake, saw that her husband was worried, so she asked him in Greek, “What happened?”

Chapter 410 – Liberating Poseidonia

“Dina…Syracuse’s army is approaching Terina. Unfortunately, I think it’s difficult for the South Italian Alliance army to stop them on the north bank of the Allaro river.” Asistes said truthfully.

“Then…wouldn’t Clampettia is also in danger?!” Dina became surprised.

Asistes did not answer. He just sat by the bed and placed his hand around his wife, “Is our child asleep?”

“Mizha had put him to sleep.” Dina reached out and pointed to the bedroom next to her.

Asistes hesitated for a moment and said seriously, “Tomorrow, take our child and go to Consentia.”

Dina’s eye immediately widened. She then shouted, “I am not going! I am the daughter of the Senate statesman Vespa, my brother is the Praetor of Grumentum, and I am the wife of the acting Praetor of Clampettia! While everyone in Clampettia is defending against Syracuse’s invasion of their homes, what would the people here think if I left together with our children?! Will they still wholeheartedly obey your command?!”

Asistes was unable to say something for a while. He then hugged his wife, gritted his teeth and said, “You are right! I was so focused on your and our child’s safety that I forgot about that! Our whole family…will stay here, all of us.”

Dina then comforted her husband, “With Hades’ protection, Clampettia will be able to hold on! And once Lord Davos comes back, Syracuse would be driven away!”

Asistes stared at his Lucanian wife. Unexpectedly, she had more confidence in the war result than himself. Asistes then began wondering what was happening to Davos in Lucania now.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After a long afternoon and evening journey, the messenger sent by the Samnites army stationed in Poseidonia finally arrived at the Samnites’ camp not far from the city of Potentia.

“What did you say?! The Theonians surrounded Poseidonia?!” Tolek, the great chieftain of the Pentri tribe, couldn’t sit still after hearing the report. After all, there were 3,000 Pentri warriors left in Poseidonia.

“Have you found out which legion of Theonia is it?” Berani, the great chieftain of Hirpini, asked the messenger.

“We are sure that it’s the third legion of Theonia! As almost all the soldiers were talking in Lucani while building their camp.” The messenger answered confidently.

Berani knew that the third legion of Theonia was mainly Lucanians. So after hearing the messenger, he became relieved: Thinking about it, it has only been less than ten days since he led his own army to invade the territory of Potentia, based on his years of experience in fighting the Greeks in the Campania region, the Theonians would need to first mobilise their citizens in Thurii, gather their troops, prepare their supplies, and then lead the large army through the rugged Lucanian mountains to get here, which would take more than half a month at the earliest. Just like how their huge momentum is due to them mobilising and preparing for two months after reaching an agreement with the Syracusans.

“How many are they?” Asked Tolek.

“Including Elea’s army, their total number exceeds 10,000.”

“Berani!” Tolek looked at the great chieftain of Hirpini.

Berani stared back at Tolek as he already knew what the great chieftain of the Pentri tribe wanted to say.

At this time, Garni interrupted, “The third legion of Theonia run away very fast! Father, it would be hard to wait until uncle Tolek’s return with his army as we may be able to capture Grumentum tomorrow with an all-out attack by using Syracuse’s ballistae!…”

The more Garni says, the more excited he became, “The cunning Theonians dare not fight us head-on and want to disrupt our plans by attacking the city of Poseidonia, so why can’t we-”

Berani interrupted him in a loud voice, “Poseidonia has a large amount of food for our army, which is very important to us, so we must not allow the Theonians to take it. Thus we need to rescue Poseidonia!”

Berani ‘s words made Tolek a bit pale, “Berani, I will lead my warriors to rescue them.” After saying that, he stood up and was about to head out.

“Tolek, relaxed.” Berani turned and looked at the great chieftain of the Caudini army, “The third legion of Theonia is a slippery fish. I fear that they will run away again this time and continue causing us trouble. Chief Kinduk, can you lead the warriors of Caudini and the warriors of Pentri to catch and completely wipe them out together with Elea’s reinforcements?!” Berani’s right fist waved hard in the air, “You can even continue to march towards Elea and try taking over this Greek city-state. In this way, the safety of Poseidonia will be more guaranteed.”

“The Caudini warriors will agree to your request.” Kinduk immediately agreed. After all, being able to go and plunder the Greeks made him excited, so he immediately got up and went out with Tolek.

When the only one left in the main tent were the chieftains of the Hirpini tribe, Garni complained loudly, “Father, it was not easy for us to gather an army and prepare to launch a fierce attack on the city of Potentia. But now, you did not only agree about Tolek leaving, but you also asked Kinduk to help him. With so many warriors going all at once, when can we capture the city of Potentia?!”

Some chieftains echoed his words.

“Garni, if the great chieftain didn’t allow Tolek to leave, so he won’t leave?! Don’t forget that there are still 3,000 Pentri warriors in Poseidonia. Tolek is the great chieftain of the Pentri and not a chieftain of Hirpini, so how can the great chieftain stop him! If we forcibly stop him, it will only lead to a quarrel between our two tribes, which is unfavourable to the whole war! That is why the great chieftain has to do this.” Said Lesguk, chieftain of Beneventum, to defend Berani.

Garni only snorted.

Berani smiled and nodded his thanks to Lesguk, who many tribal chieftains favoured as the best candidate for the next great chieftain. Berani then explained, “If Theonia’s third legion had not come too soon that the Pentri warriors did not even have the time to repair the city’s defence, Tolek would not have been so alarmed. That’s why I asked Kinduk to go with him together with the Caudini warriors so that the total number of the rescue force was 25,000, which is enough to crush the third legion of Theonia, stopping those Theonians from further troubling us.”

Berani then looked at the chieftains in the tent, then continued, “While they are fighting in Poseidonia, we can’t stay idle. Didn’t the Syracusan says that Potentia has high terrain and sloping mountains roads, so…it would be difficult to place and aim the ballista! Hence we will take advantage of this time and follow what Syracuse advise by building a platform to place the ballistae, continue the camp’s expansion and intensify the siege of Potentia…”

“Understood.” Garni answered weakly.

Berani stared at him and said with a smile, “It’s actually good for us not to attack Potentia now.”

This sentence successfully aroused everyone’s doubt, including his son.

“When the Syracusans brought grain a few days ago, they told us that ‘Dionysius’ army will attack Magna Graecia in a few days.’ So if that is the case, we should slow down our offensive and just let Potentia be safe for now. What do you think will the Theonians choose? Meet Syracuse’s army on the flat seashore? Or risk their territory being empty and send reinforcements to Potentia to deal with us, who won’t threaten Theonia for the time being?”

“Naturally, they would turn their main force to meet the Syracusans because they are more threatening!” Lesguk said loudly.

At this time, Garni also understood and said excitedly, “So we can safely eat Potentia and even the Lucanians without worrying about the Theonian reinforcements?!”

Seeing the fervent atmosphere in the main tent, Berani took advantage of the situation and said, “Hence we must tighten our hold and never let anyone in Potentia slip away. After all, they are our wealth!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Since the various tribes of Potentia retreated into the city, the Samnites did not attack the city during this period. However, the people in the city did not become assured. After all, they all could see the newly-built Samnite camp at the bottom of the mountain and the endless military tent extending to the west from the top of the mountain, and the bonfire lit at night were like countless stars in the sky, turning their heart cold. Moreover, the Samnites wanted to catch everyone…so they began deepening and extending the trenches, with an abatis standing in front of the trench…

Even though the enemy is so powerful, there is no news about reinforcements at this time moment. The city of Potentia is like an isolated island from the world as panic and anxiety gradually swallow the courage of the people who share a common hatred.

Pamot tried to calm everyone down by giving them inspiration and confidence, but he would wake up from nightmares every night. In less than a month, he had lost more than ten kilograms.

Last night, he could not sleep because the Samnites had gotten new siege equipment, which could shoot helmet-sized stones from a hundred metres away, cross the city wall and destroy several wooden houses.

Pamot remembered the panic in the eyes of every soldier around him being so clear that even he himself doubted whether he could defend the city.

At this time, he no longer had the appetite to drink the broth brought by the slave. He could only casually bit a few rough wheat cakes and braced himself and prepare to continue his daily work – patrolling the city.

Just as he put on his armour, the gatekeeper hurried into the hall and shouted excitedly, “Chieftain, lord Polet is back!”

Chapter 411 – Crisis: Allaro River’s Defensive Line

“My brother is back?!” Pamot accidentally knocked his helmet to the ground. However, he didn’t care and continued to ask excitedly, “Where is he?!”

“Brother, I am back!” With a vigorous cry, Polet’s strong figure appeared in the hall.

Pamot hurried forward and held him tightly with both hands, “Brother, you are back! Wonderful, you are back!” Pamot choked from his excitement as he had never missed his ill-tempered brother so strongly as today. Pamot excels at balancing the interest of the various tribes and managing the cities and towns. However, when it comes to marching, fighting, and boosting morale, it was the work of his brother, who has been a troublemaker since childhood. But more importantly…

“Did Thurii send reinforcements?” Pamot asked urgently.

“They have come! Lord Davos himself led the army, and they are the two strongest legions in Theonia, with a total of 20,000 men!” Polet said with excitement.

“Wonderful! They have finally come! Thank Asinu!” Pamot placed his hand over his chest with relief, and his pale face began to brighten, “So where are they?”

“Instead of coming directly to Potentia, they went to Pyxous and are about to attack Poseidonia…” Seeing his brother’s excitement, Polet unconsciously lowered his voice.

“Attack Poseidonia?” The smile that had just appeared on Pamot’s face froze, followed by anger, “The Samnites are about to attack our city of Potentia, but that Davos instead ran with the reinforcements to a small coastal town hundreds of kilometres away from here that we don’t even care about! What kind of evil intentions does he have? Will he just watch us get wiped out and then come back to get more benefit?!…”

Polet rarely sees his big brother, who is always calm and gentle, get so angry. But at this moment, he isn’t in the mood to tease him, “Brother, listen to me! Listen to me! Lord Davos attacked Poseidonia in order to end the Samnite’s siege of Potentia and even defeat them!”

Pamot, who was was about to throw the wooden chair in the hall, heard his brother’s shouting. He then dropped the chair with a “bang” and asked suspiciously, “Is that true?”

“Yes.” Polet did not avoid his gaze and solemnly said, “After I received your letter, I immediately wanted to return from Thurii. However, I was stopped by Lord Davos because he wanted to lead the troops himself and needed a guide who knew Potentia and the Samnites, providing him with useful suggestions. Thus I set out with the reinforcements from Theonia… It was only after they finalised the Theonian army’s plan of action to repel the Samnites that Lord Davos asked me to rush back to Potentia as soon as possible so that I could cooperate with him in the future military actions. He even wanted to send a team to escort me back, but I refused.

After all, this is where I grew up playing, so I am very familiar with every hillside, every path, every cave and every boulder, and the Samnites are just tightly blockading the road, so I can easily sneak in. But if I were to take them, then we would be in danger…”

After listening to Polet’s story, especially after learning about Davos’ plan, Pamot gradually calmed down, “So the Theonians have begun marching into Poseidonia, and the only thing we have to do now is to pay close attention to the Samnites’ movements at the foot of the mountain…”

“Yes.” Polet nodded again.

Pamot let out a long breath of relief and relaxed his entire body, “Brother, since you have returned, I will leave the heavy responsibility of leading the Potentian warriors to fight against the Samnites!”

Polet shook his head, “Big brother, it’s still not the time.”

“Why?” Pamot asked, puzzled.

“Because there would then be too much commotion, and in case the Samnites found out that I, who should have been in Thurii, have returned, they might guess that the Theonian reinforcements might have arrived. Then the plan of Lord Davos might fail! Therefore I suggest that you hide the news of my return for the time being!”

Pamot thought for a while and said, “Brother, you are right! However, I didn’t expect that after going to Thurii, you have become cautious now!”

Polet became a bit embarrassed, “It’s all Lord Davos’ reminder.”

“Lord Davos…” Pamot felt the strange way Polet spoke, “I remember that you didn’t address him as such before.” Pamot said slowly.

In his mind, Polet recalled the days when he moved together with the Theonian legion and conversed with Davos many times. So he answered seriously, “He is indeed a remarkable man!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Siprus also hoped that the Syracusans would rest the next day after a day’s rapid march to give Terina, Crotone and Scylletium some buffer time to do their job defending the north bank of the Allaro river.

But the city-states of Magna Graecia underestimated Dionysius’ determination because once he goes all out, his actions and wisdom become frightening. Back when the Carthaginian commander Himilco led his army to defeat the Syracusan army and forced his way into the city, Dionysius would have been ousted from his throne by the angry people if not for the support of the Spartans. But it was in this time of crisis that Dionysius developed his stratagems to the utmost: When the Carthaginian suffered from the plague, Dionysius led his troops out of the city in the dark of the night, advancing both by land and sea, hiding his main force from the west, causing the experienced Himilco to misjudge the situation, and finally suffered a disastrous defeat.

This time, in order to conquer Magna Graecia, Dionysius prepared a vast army and a massive amount of supplies. Syracuse had even paid a great price to win over some forces and cause trouble to Theonia. Therefore, if this expedition fails, it will shake Dionysius’ rule in Syracuse. So he had been mentally tense all these days since departing from Sicily. Furthermore, even though he seems to look down on Theonia, it was just to give the soldiers and officers confidence. But the truth is, he has always had a deep fear of Theonia in his heart.

For this reason, he certainly understood the importance of time for the Syracusan army. Before they marched yesterday, Dionysius had already made the Locrians give an urgent notice to the Hipponion in advance to construct a camp. Thus, after the army’s arrival, even though it was still chaotic, the order was still much better than when they landed in Locri. At least most of the soldiers manage to sleep. Early the following morning, Dionysius began assembling his troops and even though the soldiers kept complaining, they still had to advance north obediently under his authority. At the same time, he ordered the Syracusan fleet to sail north from the port of Hipponion into the Allaro river.

By noon, the huge army in irregular formation reached the middle part of the Allaro river and its tributary.

Terina had spies watching Hipponion day and night, while Hipponion likewise had someone watching the northern bank of the Allaro river. Thus, Dionysius naturally knew that a large section of the river could be crossed without many defensive forces. Therefore, the army turns south and goes straight to the middle reaches of the river.

The scouts on the other side of the river quickly reported back to the polemarchos of Terina, Siprus, who inwardly groaned when he learned of Syracuse’s actions. He, who had nearly 7,000 Terinian soldiers in control of the whole city, was anxious. Still, he did not dare to act rashly due to the report he received from the lighthouse that countless Syracusan warships appeared in the Gulf where Terina was located, and many soldiers could be seen onboard.

Siprus was worried that they would land on the northern coast of Terina, so he had to keep guard and did not dare to send troops to assist Scylletium.

Scylletium hastily increased their force on the river’s north bank to 12,000 men only this morning after receiving an urgent notice last night from the Terinians. But they didn’t expect that as soon as they stationed their troops, the army of Syracuse would arrive.

Asesias, the strategos of the Scylletium army, saw the increasing number of the Syracusan soldiers on the other side becoming massive, giving him chills. He could only keep cursing, ‘Why haven’t the Crotonians arrived yet?!!’ The troops in his hands were too thin if he were to spread them over this long stretch of riverbank, where the enemy could cross.

While Crotone, who he cursed, received the plea for help from a Terinian messenger last night, realising the gravity of the situation, they dispatch the soldiers late at night to notify all citizens of the right age both inside and outside the city.

Early this morning, the citizens came to the square to report one after another.

In the morning, 14,000 men gathered in the square, and more citizens arrived one after another.

But Lysias and the strategoi couldn’t wait, so they asked Ascamas to lead those that were here first, and the rest of the soldiers and the supplies would arrive later.

Just as Asesias began cursing the Crotonians, the Crotonian troops were anxiously rushing to Scylletium.

But Dionysius was clearly prepared not to give the South Italia Alliance a breathing space. At his urging, the Syracusan army quickly arrived on the river’s south bank and began lining up.

During this period, when the land forces were lining up, some of the Syracusans warships sailed into the Allaro river.

Unlike Thurii, which sits on both sides of the river, the Allaro river is split into two, with Terina is located on the river’s north bank while the south bank belongs to Hipponion. Therefore, the Allaro river is the boundary river between the two city-states. However, since the two cities were part of different alliances, with the Crotone Alliance and the Locri Alliance being mortal enemies, the two city-states have little to no communication, let alone building a pontoon bridge on the river. With Terina handing over most of their warship to Theonia*, they could only watch as the enemy warships sail one by one to the upper reaches of the Allaro river. Moreover, the gods were helping Syracuse as at this moment, a wind was blowing from the southwest, saving the Syracusan sailors a lot of effort from paddling against the current. (Of course, even if they are still there, they still wouldn’t be able to do anything as they are not a match against the powerful Syracusan navy.)

Chapter 412 – The choices for the legions in the south

Warships are landing in the bay and warships going upstream in the river…Siprus was in a dilemma. The only thing he hated was that Scylletium was a small city with too few soldiers. So if he wants to take care of the east, he wouldn’t be able to take care of the west. In the end, he decided to send 2,000 troops to quickly track the enemy ship on the north bank and prevent them from landing.

However, the troops he sent needed to detour north because the Allaro river runs from north to south, which is just right in front of the enemy and impossible to wade across the river.

The Syracusan warship took advantage of this opportunity as they drew near the east bank of the Corta river flowing into the Allaro river from the south. In fact, the sailors were exhausted from rowing hard as the soldiers on board had to hurry to get ashore.

At this time, Dionysius became displeased at his men as they had still not finished lining up even after almost an hour. It’s mainly because of the constant arrival of successive troops. So he immediately ordered, ‘There is no need to wait. All troops attack!’

The exhausted Syracusan soldiers stepped into the cold river and rushed to the defensive line arranged by the Scylletians on the other side.

Although the Scylletians are small in number and have a weak defensive line, they are all energetic and have an absolute advantage in stamina. For a while, they stopped the Syracusan army’s advancement and made them soak in the river.

On the winding river, the Scylletians fought desperately to protect their homes against the Syracusan army, which was nearly four times their number, for more than half an hour, causing the whole river to be dyed red with blood…

It wasn’t until the Syracusan soldiers that landed from the west and attacked the flanks of the Scylletian formation that the Scylletian began to waver and finally collapsed…

Dionysius finally became relieved after finally leading his troops to break through the defensive line of the South Italian army and enter the edge of the flat and vast Ophemia plain…

But at this time, the Syracusan soldiers were exhausted and unable to pursue the defeated soldiers.

After occupying the temporary camp abandoned by the Scylletians, Dionysius then ordered his army to rest on the spot.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After receiving the news that the Syracusan army had crossed the Corta river, the Clampettia army, who had almost arrived at Terina, was shocked. Asistes then immediately led the troops back and sent someone to explain the reason to Terina.

In the afternoon, Crotone’s reinforcements hurried to Scylletium.

Rather than welcoming the arrival of the armies of their former mother-state and ally, the polemarchos of Scylletium, Phrytinas, along with the statesmen of the Council, accused them of being late, leading to Syracuse occupying the north bank of the Corta river and putting the city of Scylletium in danger.

In the face of their accusation, Ascamas and the other Crotonian strategoi did not defend themselves as the situation had indeed reached a dangerous point.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the evening, the cavalry coming from the north broke the silence of the Theonian camp. Epiphanes and Drakos hurried to the main tent after receiving a notice from the heralds.

“Two legatus, I have just received a dire report from Scylletium. The Syracusans broke through the defensive line on the north bank of the Corta river and stepped into the territory of Scylletium.” Philesius said gravely.

“I have kept saying that the armies of the city-states of the South Italia Alliance are unreliable!” Epiphanes spat on the ground and said angrily, “The battle that we have won here is for nothing!”

“How many soldiers does the Syracusan army has?” Asked Drakos hurriedly.

“According to Scylletian messenger, they have more than 50,000 men.” Philesius picked up the letter on the table. Drakos then grabbed it and opened it. Back when he was a mercenary leader, Drakos was illiterate. It was only in recent years that he studied hard and made rapid progress in order to command the legion and understand the military law and orders that he specially attended the adult classes at the school of Thurii. Thus he no longer has a problem in reading.

“More than 50,000 men?!” When Epiphanes exclaimed, he immediately thought, “This shows that Syracuse’s aim is on the west coast, and the army here is just to contain us.”

“Most likely…” Philesius nodded calmly, but his heart was slightly depressed that he could not judge Dionysius’ intention in time.

“In the letter, the Scylletians asked us to immediately withdraw to Scylletium and join them against the Syracusan army.” Drakos then stared at them.

“In fact, Lord Ansitanos also suggested that we retreat back to Scylletium.” Philesius then took out another letter.

“Do we have other choices besides retreating to Scylletium?” Epiphanes shrugged and added, “If we continue defending here, and let Syracuse defeat the armies of our allies on the Ophemia plain and have them seize Scylletium, then our 20,000 troops here will really become fishes caught in a net.”

Philesius sighed, “It’s just that by doing so, Caulonia would be in trouble. I am afraid that…”

After all, in order to make the Theonians feel at ease in their defence, the Caulonians provided them with abundant food every day. And after they repelled the enemy’s attack during the day, the Caulonians, from the council to the civilians, went out to the city to express their gratitude. They even held a banquet for the strategoi and officers of the Theonian army and brought alcohol to the soldiers…and so on. Although Philesius declined their good intentions due to Theonia’s military law, every Theonian officers and soldier could feel the gratitude and kindness of the Caulonians to them.

The three men were silent for a while. In the end, Drakos could only helplessly say, “In this case, we couldn’t help it. We just hope that Hades will protect Caulonia and have them hold on to their homes. After all, if we were to concentrate our troops and repel the Syracusans, the siege of Caulonia would naturally be solved.”

“Repel?” Epiphanes accurately grasped Drakos’ words and asked, “Do you think we can repel Dionysius’ army in the Ophemia plain?”

“Why couldn’t we?!” Drakos pointed to the letter and asked, “According to the letter, Syracuse only has more than 50,000 men there, so if we combine our two legions plus Crotone, Scylletium and Terina, we will have more than 50,000 men. Don’t you have confidence in our legion?! You should know that the legionaries of Theonia are the best soldiers in the Mediterranean!” Drakos stared at Epiphanes angrily.

“Who said that I have no confidence in our army?! Don’t slander me here!” Epiphanes was angry. After all, once those words get out, how would he lead his legion.

“You two should stop!” Philesius shouted, “Both of you are still in the mood to argue even with our current situation?! If Lord Davos knew how you’re behaving, he would regret making the two of you the legion’s legatus!”

Epiphanes and Drakos quieted down at the mention of Davos.

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear what you just said, and both of you also forget about it! I don’t want to hear any more rumours about any of those words among the soldiers, got it?!” Philesius stared straight at the two men.

Epiphanes sneered at Drakos, and Drakos nodded reluctantly.

Philesius finally felt relieved, “Well, let’s now discuss how to retreat tomorrow morning…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On this morning, Pisini, the Samnite chieftain stationed in Poseidonia, who had been worrying all night, did not expect a miracle to happen.

The Theonian troops still appeared outside the city, but they were divided into two: One was building their camp while the other was lining up outside the city.

“Only more than 4,000 men, yet they want to take my Poseidonia?!” Pisini felt humiliated.

Just then, he saw the enemy soldiers pushing something in front of their formation. He then held on to the battlement with both hands and leaned forward to see the thing more clearly.

Then he saw more than seven black dots flying in front of the enemy’s formation and hitting the city’s wall, “Bang! Bang! Bang!…” The loud noise dispelled the hope in Pisini’s heart, ‘The Theonians also have ballistae!’

In the following moment, the Samnites stared at the stone projectiles that were constantly flying in the air, fearing that it would hit them. The city wall that was already broken and had only received a simple repair became more broken after the continuous enemy attacks…

Pisini could only hope that their reinforcements would quickly.

The day passed amidst the bustling Theonian soldiers and the uneasiness of the Smanite defenders.

In the early morning of the following day, a salpinx rang out in the Theonian camp. The soldiers who woke up in the tent turned over and sat up despite their sleepiness, urging each other to start wearing armour.

“Legatus, there are a large number of enemies in the north of the camp. We estimated that they are more than 20,000 and are moving towards the camp!” The scout captain, Kelisinus, reported to Alexius.

“More than 20,000 men!” Alexius was not surprised. Instead, he was a little bit happy. With the help of the guards, he dressed up and walked two steps in high spirits and said loudly, “It seems that the Samnites have great ambitions of wanting to eat us in one bite! Hahaha, but no one knows who will be the one getting eaten in the end!”

He was about to go out of the tent when someone opened the tent. The senior centurion of the first brigade, Litom, shouted excitedly as soon as he came in, “Legatus, the enemy has taken the bait. More than 20,000 men have come!”

“That should be enough for you!” Said Alexius teasingly.

Litom smiled. Some time ago, he was dissatisfied with Alexius and was sulking because they had taken the initiative to retreat in Potentia in the face of the Samnite armies’ attack. Now, his anger is gone, and the only thing remaining is his strong desire to fight.

“Relax and have our brothers eat their fill. After all, today’s battle may last longer! Lord Davos has given us, the third legion, the order to stick to the enemy and exhaust them as much as possible and let them put all their troops into attacking and trying to take our camp!” Alexius reminded.

“Understood.” Litom answered. He turned around and was about to go out when suddenly, he stopped and solemnly saluted Alexius, a salute that included his apologies as well.

Chapter 413 – Battle of Poseidonia (I)

At this moment, Tolek was staring at the Theonian camp in the distance.

In fact, the Samnites had arrived and planned to attack last night. However, they found that the Theonians built their camp to be well defended. As a veteran, Tolek knew that an attack of tens of thousands of men in the dark, especially without moonlight, could easily get out of control and cause unnecessary losses. Thus he restrained his impulse and postponed the attack until the next day. As a result, the Samnites spent the night in the mountains in early November, where the weather was cold, and even if the warriors slept in their leather clothes, they still felt a bit cold.

Tolek rubbed his frozen hands. He didn’t expect the Theonians to build a camp of such scale so quickly, but then he thought again that this was better as the Theonians wouldn’t be able to escape.

He then looked at Kinduk, the one leading the Caudini army and consulted him, “Leader Kinduk, my men would attack from the north and east, while your people attack from the west. What do you think?”

“I have no problem with that.” Kinduk nodded in agreement. Then he asked, “What about the south of the enemy’s camp? We should not let them run away.”

“South.” Tolek pointed to the city of Poseidonia in the distance and said confidently, “They wouldn’t be able to run!”

Kinduk understood what he meant and said excitedly, “It seems that the Theonians have become prey that fell into a pit, which is good as this will allow our warriors to vent their anger due to them being unable to sleep well last night.” Kinduk said, rubbing his hand over his cold body.

Tolek looked back at the warriors behind him and gave an order, “Blow the horn!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Through the early morning mist, a long and powerful sound of a horn reached Poseidonia two kilometres away, which was heard by Pisini and Mobuk standing a the top of the city wall, “Do you hear that! It’s our horn. Our reinforcements have arrived!”

The Samnite warriors on the wall became excited and began shouting.

“Warriors! Get ready to go out of the city to meet and destroy those detestable Theonians!” Pisini shouted with vigour and enthusiasm after sweeping away his despair.

“Roar! Roar!!…” The warriors roared at the same time.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Alexius observed the approaching enemy outside the camp on the sentry tower and calmly said, “The enemy is about to attack. Have everyone prepare!”

“On my way.” The adjutant turned around and went down

“The next part will be up to you.” Alexius said expectantly to the ballista spotter – Stheponian, who was also on the sentry tower. Since the spotter was from the Akademia of Theonia, Alexius spoke to him in a rather polite manner.

“Legatus, there is nothing for you to worry about!” Stheponian answered confidently, but his heart was beating like a drum. Because of the morning fog, he could not see the markings they left outside the camp yesterday, so he could only rely on his visual judgment.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tolek began commanding the troops to attack the north of the camp.

Due to their haste, the Samnites rushed without carrying Syracuse’s ballistae or other large siege equipment. Thus they had to make an improvise long ladders during their rest last night. However, Tolek thought that that was enough because the scouts reported that there were no other defences outside the Theonian camp beside the trenches. So with their huge numbers, all they had to do was break through the not-so-high earthen wall in one fell swoop, and the Theonians would only be sitting ducks.

When those attacking the camp approached within 250 metres away from the camp, Tolek waved his spear forward and shouted, “Attack!”

More than a dozen horns resounded throughout the battlefield.

Some Samnite warriors carried long ladders, some held long shields, and some were only holding javelins and spears as they began to speed up their pace…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Elevation 40, full draw, small stone projectile!” Stheponian shouted from the sentry tower.

“Ready the ballista!” The ballista captain ordered, “Elevation 40, full draw, small stone projectiles!”

Under the rapid operations of the soldiers, the ballista began making “creaking” noise.

“Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!…” Then the stone projectiles were ejected.

The ballista captain stared at the stone projectiles flying at the enemy. Even though he was excited, he also had some regrets due to several ballistae getting damaged at yesterday’s bombardment of Poseidonia. Otherwise, they would kill more enemies.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tolek saw a dark shadow pass through his head. Then he shouted, “No!”

However, he was far less surprised than the strategos of Locri – Theophantes. After all, in the minds of the Samnites, the Greeks all possessed excellent skills. So if the Syracusans could make ballista, the Theonians undoubtedly could as well.

But instead of frightening Tolek, the ballista aroused his fierceness, “Everyone quickly run! Kill all the Greeks!”

The warriors around roared. And soon, the roar spread throughout the Samnites, completely covering up the noise caused by the stone projectiles. The morale of the Samnites became high as they took big steps and began accelerating towards the Theonian camp.

“One hundred metres!” A shout came from the sentry tower.

“Archers, ready!” Shouted Ibil, the light infantry’s senior centurion.

The archers, who had long been waiting behind the earthen wall, spread out in a fan shape, and drew their bows and arrows.

Then hundreds of arrows rained on the Samnites’ formation, causing more screams than the one caused by the ballista.

The weak protection of the Samnites brought great results to the Theonian light infantry. Still, the repeated screams did not weaken the pace of the Samnites.

After two rounds of rain of arrows, the Samnites had rushed within 50 metres.

The soldiers of the third legion of Theonia could now clearly hear the rumbling footsteps of the enemy and felt the slight tremor of the ground they caused, and even their shouts had covered the whole camp. Although the soldiers were nervous, they did not panic. After all, they are the third legion of Theonia and had gotten many achievements: They participated in the second war with Crotone and captured the city of Aprustum alone; Raided the city of Grumentum; Use a legion to calm the rebellion in Lucania, wiping out Cincinnag’s troops, and take the city of Pyxous…the dazzling stars on the flag of the third legion symbolises their honour. And today’s battle will certainly add another honour for the third legion!

The centurion, Sitina, was a Greek slave of Nerulum and got freed after Theonia conquered Nerulum. He then chose to settle in Nerulum and finally joined the third legion of Theonia, and through his own effort, he became a middle-rank officer in command of 200 men. His past hatred of the Lucanians disappeared, and now he is fighting side by side with them, whom he once hated and is now his brother for his home, the Theonia Union.

“Javelin!” He shouted.

The soldiers who were standing on the wall threw their javelins, while the Samnites who rushed to the camp’s trench also threw their javelins.

For a time, countless javelins swish through the air. As the two sides have exchanged blows, they learned of each other’s tactics and have erected long shields for protection.

But compared with the Samnite warriors, who are more crowded and poorly equipped outside the camp, the Theonian soldiers are well protected by a wall and a long shield, suffering only a few casualties. But from time to time, a javelin would get stuck on their shield, making it inconvenient to use. However, they have no time to cut the javelin at the moment.

Although the casualties of the Samnites were large, the javelin rain continued. The Samnite warriors then rushed into the trench, jumped directly into it and set up some long ladders, while several men built a human wall and began climbing their way up.

The Theonian soldiers threw their javelins into the trenches, and at such a close distance, they became almost accurate, but even so, they could not stop the influx of Samnites.

“Pour the oil! Pour the oil quickly!” While shouting anxiously, Sitina bent down to lift the oil jar that had been prepared in advance and placed behind the wall. Then, he suddenly heard a soldier scream behind him as he got pierced through his left shoulder by a javelin and fell to the ground in pain.

Sitina then leaned down vigilantly and peeped out behind the wall when he happened to see a Samnite holding a javelin outside the trench, less than five metres away from him. When he was about to throw the javelin, someone in the camp struck the enemy.

Sitina quickly stood up and threw the oil jar down, hitting the head of a Samnite warrior in the trench, breaking it open and spilling the oil.

Many soldiers on the wall did the same thing as Sitina. Afterwards, they threw down torches on the trench, causing a fire wall to arise, where countless men howled until only silence remained…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Legatus, the enemy in the north has temporarily retreated. And from our initial statistics, we suffered 240 casualties.” Alexius’ adjutant rushed to report.

“We lost so many brothers before we even started engaging them.” Said Alexius with a frown. Although there were more Samnites that had fallen to the ground and were moaning outside the camp, as well as those who were burnt to a crisp inside the trenches, Alexius was still alarmed at the lethality of the Samnites’ javelins. He then pointed to the south of the camp and said, “Look, the enemy in Poseidonia has also come. This battle has just begun.”

“It’s unfortunate that we have too few oil jars! Otherwise, if we were to use it in several directions, the Samnites will lose a lot more!” Said the adjutant with regret.

“We can’t blame the logistics brigade. It’s not easy for them to load rations, camp building materials, weapons and equipment, and bring so many oil jars. It couldn’t help as our legion needed to act fast, and the enemy’s reinforcements came so quickly!” Alexius comforted him and continued, “Don’t worry, we will defeat them slowly. Anyway, they won’t be able to escape.”

Chapter 414 – Battle of Poseidonia (II)

Due to the number of Samnites attacking in the north being the largest, Alexius concentrated the ballistae and most light infantry on that side.

When Tolek temporarily led his team to retreat, 7,000 Caudini warriors in the west, led by Kinduk, began climbing the wall.

On this side, the first and second brigades are in charge of the defence, Seeing the surging enemy under the wall and in the trenches, even Litom, who loves fighting, froze.

“Don’t panic, just focus on a spot and stab when an enemy shows up! Even though there are more enemies, they wouldn’t all be able to climb up!…” Litom, carrying his shield and spear, walked back and forth behind the soldiers, encouraging them while observing the enemy’s situation.

“Strategos, be careful!” The guard behind him suddenly exclaimed.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Litom caught a glimpse of a dark figure. The dark figure ignored the stabbing of the soldiers and jumped down from the top of the long ladder and rushed straight to Litom.

Due to the unexpected situation, Litom had no time to wield his spear, so he could only quickly throw away his shield and spear and tried to pull out his short sword, but the enemy pinned him on the ground.

The enemy pressed on him, twisting both his limbs on both sides. In such a narrow distance, Litom arduously pushed his short sword forward, but he instead hit a hard object and couldn’t pierce the enemy’s chest.

At this time, the shadow’s powerful hands pressed hard on his eyes, with Litom experiencing a stinging pain. At this critical moment of life and death, Litom didn’t panic. Instead, he twisted his right wrist, tilted his short sword against the hard object and pushed upward.

With a muffled grunt, the short sword pierced the dark shadow’s jaw. Afterwards, the dark shadow fell.

Litom pushed him away and immediately stood up.

The soldiers then came and stabbed the struggling enemy with their spears.

Litom shook his dizzy head, gently rubbed his swollen and pained eyes. He then squinted and saw the man wearing silver armour and silver greaves.

From what Litom knew, there are about four types of Samnite warriors: Light infantry with spears and javelins, having no protection; Infantry with spears, shields, javelins and helmets but no armour; Medium infantry with long shields, spears, helmet and a golden-ish armour; There are also heavy infantry wearing colourful plumes on their helmets, with silver armour and greaves. However, this kind of heavy infantry is not a lot among the Samnites, and its position in the tribe is not low.

Litom carefully inspected the dead man on the ground. He bent down, pulled his short sword and waved it hard, removing the bloodstains on the sword. At this time, he became alarmed when he recalled the thing that happened just now. If he were still wearing their previous weapons and equipment and used their curved military sword (a curved sword that was more suitable for cutting), he would have difficulty fighting in close combat. Although he would still be able to wave his sword and cut the enemy’s neck, the enemy would have blinded him.

Litom, with a sword in his right hand and a shield in his left hand, stood up and looked forward.

Due to numerous enemies having climbed up the wall, most of the soldiers just stood behind the wall and no longer poked their heads down. Instead, they erected their long shields and pushed outward to deflect the thrusting spears while knocking the enemy down into the trench. Once the enemy became unstable, spears and short swords would then pierce through the gap between the shields.

Behind the soldiers who are fighting with all their strength at the forefront, the second-line soldiers were ready to reinforce them at any time, surrounding the incoming enemies at the same time…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Over the years, even though the Samnites have always looted Campania, they rarely attack sturdy cities. In fact, they lack experience in sieging, so Tolek, who had never commanded so many warriors, was complacent at wanting to destroy the camp in one fell swoop. However, he didn’t expect that this small camp has made his army stumble. The wall of fire alone killed hundreds of Pentri warriors, causing unwillingness and anger to pile up in his heart. Thus he could only retreat and reorganise his army. After the fire weakened, he once again sounded the horn that signals attack.

The Samnites charged in front with vengeful anger while their light infantry followed behind half-naked. All of them took off their short linen and used it to wrap large handfuls of dirt, carrying the javelins in one hand and earthen sacks in the other, ready to rescue their tribesmen who were still on the fire.

The defending Theonians no longer threw their oil jars even when the Samnites jumped into the trench. The Samnites then erected long ladders and continued climbing even under the constant rain of stones, arrows, and javelins.

Under the protection of the guards, Tolek, who was anxiously urging his men to attack, nearly tripped over the earthen sack placed by the light infantry in front of the trench, which gave him inspiration. He then shouted, “Drop the sack! Drop the sack quickly!…”

Under the leadership of their chieftain, the light infantry who were throwing their javelins into the enemy’s camp braved the arrow rain as they quickly threw down the earthen sacks at one spot into the trench. Seeing this, the Samnites became more excited and continued adding more sacks until it was the same height as the camp’s wall.

On the other hand, the Theonian soldiers kept stabbing at the earthen sacks with their spears, trying to destroy the enemy’s attempt.

After the Samnite warriors steadily piled up the earthen sacks and built a ramp in an attempt to occupy the top of the wall. The shields of both sides collided; spears and spears fought back as a fierce melee erupted.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Legatus, strategos Lacydes (the strategos of Elea’s army) is asking for help!” Alexius was paying close attention to the battle when his adjutant rushed to the north of the camp and reported to Alexius.

“He couldn’t hold it anymore?!” Alexius frowned. He ordered the Elean army and gave them half of a heavy infantry brigade to defend the south of the camp as there shouldn’t be too many Samnites coming out of Poseidonia.

“The Eleans didn’t understand the tactics of the Samnites and were hit by javelins. Now, they seemed…frightened by the Samnite’s momentum!” The adjutant explained.

“Our allies’ army is really…” Alexius muttered half of what he wanted to say but swallowed the word “unreliable”. After all, he couldn’t say anything that would undermine their unity.

“Take out 400 men from the light-armoured brigade to assist the south of the camp!” The Theonian military law emphasised that the commander must retain a reserve brigade as much as possible in case of emergency. So Alexius made the light-armoured brigade as a reserve, and it was finally time to use them.

As soon as his voice fell, he heard a loud crumbling noise and screams in front of him, “The wall has collapsed!!!…”

Alexius became shocked when he saw that a section of the wall where the north wall came into contact with the rampart made of earthen sack collapsed due to the intense fighting and trampling of the soldiers on both sides…

When the dust dissipates, a gap of about four men wide appears on the wall. The Samnites then rushed in from the hole while the soldiers desperately encircled them…

‘The war situation has finally reached the most critical moment!’

“Ede, draw out a centuria to reinforce the south while the rest of the centuria of the light-armoured brigade will push the enemy back immediately!” Alexius pointed to the place where the fierce battle was raging and gave orders to the senior centurion of the light-armoured brigade with a serious expression.

“Brothers, it is finally our turn!” Ede turned around and shouted excitedly to the light-armoured soldiers.

“Roar!!!” The energetic light-armoured soldiers roared in unison, dissipating some of Alexius’ nervousness.

He then solemnly said to his adjutant, “Take 200 light-armoured soldiers to reinforce the south quickly! I no longer have a reserve here, so you must defend the south wall! Lacydes will not be the one commanding, so you must take the command!”

“Understood, legatus!” The adjutant gave a solemn military salute and turned away.

At this moment, Alexius began to anxiously look forward to the early arrival of Davos’ reinforcements…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In fact, on the hill a kilometre east of the camp of the third legion of Theonia, Davos, Tolmides, and a group of guards were watching the battlefield: Nearly 30,000 Samnite warriors were besieging the camp from the east, west, south and north, making the small camp looks like a broken boat, which is in danger of being swallowed by huge waves…

Tolmides express his admiration, “The third legion are really tenacious that they could last so long!”

“Yes, it is not easy for them!” Davos nodded approvingly, “But they are not alone! Have all the troops reached their predetermined positions?”

“Yes, milord!” The herald – Tolmides, finished his military salute and excitedly reported, “The first legion has reached the northeast of the camp, about a kilometre and a half away; The second legion is now at the southeast of the camp, more than a kilometre away; Ledes’ cavalry is blocking the road to the mountain in the north while Izam’s reconnaissance brigade and the army of Laos are rushing to the city of Poseidonia, ready to stop the enemy’s attempt to flee back to the city!…”

In fact, they could roughly see the action of each unit by standing on this mountain. The Theonians didn’t sound the salpinx nor shouted. They just quietly and quickly stretched their formation to surround the enemies outside the camp and advance without stopping…

“Now that everything is arranged properly, we only need to wait for the news of victory.” Davos says with a relaxed expression. He then sat leisurely on the rock, ready to watch the battle.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

To avoid becoming a burden or getting trampled by the surging attack, the injured Samnites tried their best to retreat to the rear. However, these fortunate warriors soon found that they were not so lucky as countless soldiers with black helmets and armour suddenly appeared behind them, approaching quickly like an endless black tide surging towards them.

Chapter 415 – First Big Victory

The wounded Samnites said, “The Theonians are coming! Theonia’s reinforcements are coming!!…” which is the same as what the archers on the sentry tower in the camp said but in a happier tone, “Our reinforcements are coming! Our reinforcements are coming!!…”

‘Finally!’ Alexius breathed a sigh of relief when he heard those words.

When the soldiers heard the shout, their morale shook their tired body, filling it up with strength. And they also roared in unison to drive out the enemies who had rushed into the camp.

When Tolek heard the shout, he didn’t want to believe it. But when he turned around and saw the surging Theonian army, swallowing up any stranglers in an instant, his whole body became drained out with energy. He stumbled and fell to the ground with only one thought in his mind, “It’s over! I have fallen into the Theonians trap!”

The Samnites, who had been struggling and were also exhausted, saw the fierce Theonian legionaries coming from behind. Although they were frightened, most of them did not turn around to escape. Instead, they picked up their spears and turned around to face the enemy’s attack, with only having one thing in their mind, ‘Fight!’

However, the continuous arrival of new troops and the attack on their backs made the Samnite warriors’ resistance futile, which only affected their time to escape from getting surrounded.

As the Samnites continued to fall, the remaining warriors’ morale finally faded, and they began fleeing…some who were already exhausted had simply abandoned their weapons and surrendered…the battle lasted for some time before it was basically over. The only thing remaining was to chase the defeated Samnites.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The third legion’s soldiers in the Theonian camp are either gathering the bodies of their comrades, receiving treatment in the medical camp or lying on the ground or against the wall resting…

Alexius, the legatus of the third legion, listened seriously to his adjutant’s report on the casualties of the legion, “According to the preliminary statistics of the medical camp, our legion has suffered 412 deaths, 251 were seriously wounded and 537 having minor wounds, with a total of 1,2000 casualties…”

‘1,200!’ Alexius clenched his fist. That is already 15% of the legion’s main force, which is really big!

Seeing the pained expression of the legatus, the adjutant comforted him and said, “There is nothing we can do. We are facing the fierce Samnites, who are about three times our number…”

Alexius sighed and said nothing.

At this time, a commotion arises in the quiet camp.

Alexius then saw Davos entering the camp with his guards. He walks towards the centre of the camp while sincerely conversing and expressing his condolence with the soldiers he met.

Alexius hurriedly greeted him.

But before Alexius could approach, Davos rushed forward and gave him a powerful hug, “Alexius, legatus of the third legion. You have done well!”

This sentence immediately dissipated most of Alexius’ lament, grievance and dissatisfaction. He stood at attention and saluted and responded, “Reporting to the Grand Legatus. The third legion has completed its combat mission and is now taking a rest.”

“You have done more than what your combat task requires!” Davos looked around at the soldiers that were quickly gathering, with exhaustion filling their dusty and bloodstained faces. He clenched his right fist and slammed it into his left chest, “Brothers of the third legion! You have made a tremendous contribution to the entire battle by defending this isolated camp, fought an enemy three times your numbers and finally wiped out the incoming Samnites! You have saved Potentia! You have relieved us of the invasions on our Lucanian territories! Changed the entire northern battlefield of Theonia! Not only do I want to thank you, but every people in Theonia would want to thank you! You are the heroes of Theonia and will be remembered in the Temple of Hades in Thurii! For the third legion!”

Davos’ affectionate and passionate words reached every soldier, whether they were Lucanian or Greeks. They all became so excited that they burst into tears.

“For the third legion!!!”

“Hail Davos!!!”

“Long live Theonia!!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The continuous cheers rang out throughout the camp. And when the captured Samnites heard this noise, they all had unspeakable pain and frustration on their faces…

In this war, Davos used the third legion as bait to attract more than 26,000 Samnites warriors. He then took advantage of their exhaustion and secretly mobilised two more legions to besiege and wipe them out…the Samnites suffered more than 7,000 casualties while tens of thousands of Samnite warriors were captured, and only nearly 3,000 managed to flee into the mountains. At the same time, the Theonians easily recaptured the city of Poseidonia, obtaining a large number of supplies that were left in the city and had not yet been transported to the Samnite camp in Potentia. This battle could be said to be a complete victory for the Theonians.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the same day, the Syracusan army, which had broken through the north bank of the Allaro river, remained in place. They built a rough camp between the Allaro river and the Corta river, then built a pontoon bridge with dozens of ships to transport the baggage and supplies from Hipponion to the Syracusan camp, finally giving the soldiers a good meal.

In the west of the Syracusan camp and close to the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Terinians panicked. The only thing they could do now was just to send a lot of scouts to closely watch the Syracusan camp while sending messengers to Scylletium and maintain contact with Clampetia.

In Scylletium, even if the 17,000 Crotonian troops arrived and increased the number of soldiers in Scylletium by 30,0000, the people were still distressed. After all, the Syracusan camp was no more than 15 kilometres away from the city of Scylletium, where they could march and reach the city in just a few hours. Now, all the Scylletians have abandoned their homes outside the city and fled into the city with their families.

As for Crotone’s assistance and support, the higher ranking officials of Scylletium led by Phrytinas stopped blaming them. After all, the Crotone-Scylletium army could not do anything against the pressure of the Syracusan army besides sending scouts to the south at regular intervals to find out the movements of the Theonian army.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The fourth and fifth legions of Theonia began to leave the camp in the early morning. And in order to stop the Syracusans from using this abandoned camp, they not only withdrew their tents and pulled down the wooden defences but also pushed down the earthen walls and filled up the trenches. Why did they spend more energy? It is to repay the kindness of the Caulonians and make up for their guilt.

Last night, when Philesius informed the Caulonians that the Theonian troops were preparing to withdraw, although they knew that the matter was irreversible, Phlarinus and the others still tried their best to make these reinforcements that could protect the safety of Caulonia stay.

However, Philesius could only bear to refuse their request.

Today, almost everyone in Caulonia still came out to see the Theonian army off when they were departing. They had not only helped the soldiers pull out of the camp but also brought freshly heated bread, wheat porridge and soup, hoping that the soldiers would have a full meal before they set out.

Caulonia’s deep friendship and heart-wrenching words had moved many Theonian soldiers. Still, they had to go north due to military orders, and they could only roughly give similar words to comfort the Caulonians, “Don’t worry! As long as you defend the city of Caulonia, we will come to rescue you as soon as we defeat the Syracusan army after joining up with the troops of our other allies!”

Philesius said the same thing to Phlarinus but a bit more tactful.

Phlarinus didn’t seem to notice the uncertainty in Philesius’ words as he said with a determined expression, “Locri has besieged us for too many times that there are no city-states in Magna Graecia that are better in defending, than us. We will defend Caulonia until you return as I know that the Theonians keep their promise!”

Phlarinus’ words gave Philesius a bit more pressure.

Near dusk, the fourth and fifth legions finally arrived at Scylletium. At the same time, the Syracuse-Locri coalition led by Phacipessas heavily surrounded the city of Caulonia.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the evening, at the headquarters of the South Italia Alliance in Scylletium, Philesius – the commander of the southern battlefront of Theonia, Ansitanos – the special envoy of the Senate, Ascamas – the strategos of Crotone, Phrytinas – the polemarchos of Scylletium, Asesias – the strategos of the Scylletian army, and Athopias – the envoy of Terina, sat around a large wooden table where the map of the Ophemian plain is laid.

Asesias stood up, took a stick in his hand and explained the current situation to everyone present, “Milords, according to our scouts, the Syracusan army has camped at the junction of the two rivers.”

Asesias then pointed a mark on the map with the wooden stick, “This is the edge of the Ophemian plain. And 7 kilometres to the west is Terina-”

“To be precise, it should only be 6.95 kilometres!” Athopias stressed loudly.

“Cough…Lord Athopias naturally knows much more about the west than we do.” Asesias corrected himself with a slight embarrassment, “The Syracusan camp is only 6.95 kilometres away from Terina. Although the terrain is flat, they would need to cross the Allaro river, which is not a small problem for the Syracusans-”

“The Syracusan navy already occupies the Allaro river, so it is easy for them to send troops across the river!” Athopias stressed again.

Asesias became a little angry, “Lord Athopias if you like interrupting so much, why don’t you continue explaining it to everyone!”

Athopias shook his head and said, “I’m just adding information to the situation you are presenting. Didn’t you also say earlier that ‘We, Terinian, knew more about the situation in the west than you do?’ So with that, all the lords here can have a comprehensive and detailed understanding of the situation of the whole battlefield, which is beneficial to us to make a more reasonable counter plan. After all, this war is no longer just a matter of Scylletium or Terina, but a crisis that the whole South Italia Alliance needs to face together!”

“Lord Athopias is right! Asesias, relax and speak slowly and in more detail.” Phrytinas hurriedly said to appease the two.

“Indeed, everyone is a bit anxious now that the war has reached our territory. However, the more this is the case, the calmer we should be to be able to defeat the powerful enemy.” Ansitanos said to comfort them.

Chapter 416 – The Alliance’s Decision

Asesias coughed a few times and continued, “…about 12 kilometres to the east of the Syracusan camp is the city of Scylletium. There are many mountains in this direction, but generally speaking, the terrain is relatively flat. Therefore, although the Syracusans stayed in their camp today, their mercenaries had gone to destroy our farms and pasture, burn our villages and houses, and killed dozens of our scouts…”

“How many soldiers are there in Syracuse’s camp?”

“According to our observation these past two days, I fear that they have more than 50,000 men!” Asesias answered.

‘50,000 men!’ Ascamas thought for a moment and turned to ask, “Lord Philesius, how many enemies did you encounter in Caulonia?”

“No less than 40,000.” Replied Philesius.

“If we were to include the troops of Medma and Hipponion, the number of troops Syracusan had sent to attack our South Italia Alliance this time should exceed-” Ascamas then spat our a number with a grave expression, “100,000!”

Hearing this figure, everyone presently became startled. After all, this is the largest army in the history of the whole Greek world, not only in Magna Graecia but also in the Mediterranean!

“Even if we add the soldiers in Terina, our South Italian Alliance’s troops is only about 60,000.” Phrytinas sighed, “Unfortunately, Rhegium is separated in the south and could not join us while the enemy is sieging Caulonia. But most importantly-”

Phrytinas glanced at Philesius and Ansitanos, then he said with regret, “Is that Lord Davos is leading the main force of Theonia in Lucania. If only everyone gathered in Scylletium, we wouldn’t need to fear Syracuse, even if they have 100,000 men!”

“We thought things too simple when making our plan that we only thought about the good part. But after we implemented it, we found that there were so many problems.” Ansitanos said to relieve the blame for Theonia and the high-ranking officials of their allies who were involved in the discussion, “Unexpected things happened so suddenly that made us unprepared! I fear that Dionysius had long prepared for this invasion.”

Ansitanos’ words were a bit more grave than those of the others, destroying the other’s intention. Ascamas snorted and was about to speak when Athopias asked first, “When will Lord Davos lead the army back?”

“We haven’t received any message yet. However, Lord Davos has never lost, so I believe that he will soon be able to repel the savage and uncivilised Samnites and quickly come to join us.” Said Ansitanos to comfort them.

Philesius took over the conversation, “Thus we should focus on reinforcing our camp outside the city of Scylletium and mutually help each other in keeping up the defence, dragging down the Syracusan army until Lord Davos return with the army back. Afterwards, we will have a decisive battle with Syracuse!”

Ascamas sneered, “Listening to you all saying ‘Lord Davos, Lord Davos’, couldn’t the other strategoi of our South Italian Alliance command a battle without Davos?!”

Philesius’ expression changed. Ansitanos frowned while Asesias looked a bit uneasy.

Ascamas looked at Philesius with disdain and said, “I would ask you this. How many days it would take to get from Thurii to Potentia?”

“It’s about five to six days if we are taking the most convenient road.” Philesius answered truthfully despite his anger at what Ascamas had just said.

“That’s to say, in terms of days, perhaps Davos has just led his army to Potentia. So again, how many days will it take to get here from Potentia?”

“About nine to ten days.”

“So it’s ten days, without counting the days needed to defeat the Samnites. Although we Crotonians have never dealt with the Samnites, since they are barbarians living in the mountains, their combat methods are likely to be similar to those of the Bruttians. Those mountain races rarely fight head-on. They are like wolves who like to hide and make sneak attacks, making it difficult to repel them through a decisive battle. Thus it is impossible for him to end the war fast! Commander Philesius, I know there are many Bruttians in your legion, so you should know this better than me!” The sarcasm in Ascamas’ tone became stronger, “Even if Davos has an amazing, commanding ability and could come to Scylletium in twenty days…which is already the shortest time I can give! But in these twenty days, do you think the more than 40,000 enemies who you fought before may attack and occupy Caulonia?! I heard that the Syracusans have a kind of siege equipment called the ballista where they have used it to capture several Carthaginian cities during their war with Carthage…”

Philesius’ expression changed again. After defeating Syracuse’s invading troops, they managed to capture Syracusan ballista. From what the ballista captain said, their ballista was very similar to Theonia’s ballista. Although it was not as good in terms of angle and accuracy, it exceeded the Theonian ballista in terms of raw power. After all, the Syracusan ballista is bigger than Theonia’s siege ballista, so the stones they use will naturally be bigger. Thinking of Phlarinus, who was full of confidence in guarding the city when they departed, Philesius became so upset that he remained quiet.

Ascamas stared at him and continued, “If the combined army of Syracuse and Locri captured Caulonia with a ballista and rushed here to join up with Dionysius, they would only need to divide a small half of their force to besiege Terina while we wouldn’t even have a way to stop them. So how many days do you think can Terina hold on?”

Athopias became ghastly pale.

“So if Lord Davos were to really lead his troops here, I fear that even the outside of Scylletium will already become ruins.” Ascamas’ next words made Phrytinas and Asesias unable to sit still.

After looking at each other and reaching an agreement, Asesias slapped the wooden table, stood up and loudly said, “Everyone, we could no longer wait! We should take advantage of the fact that the two armies of Syracuse have not yet joined up and attacked the Syracusan army here first!”

Philesius frowned and asked, “Attack? How?! Do you want to attack the Syracusan camp?!!”

“The following afternoon! From what the soldiers who retreated from the Corta river said, ‘They have seen a large Syracusan flag standing behind the Syracusans who were crossing the river.’ which means that the tyrant of Syracuse, Dionysius, should be in this army. Therefore, we will give him a war letter in accordance with our ancient tradition and invite him to a battle between the two armies. And with that tyrannical dictator claiming to be the ‘Lord of Sicily’…he should not…should not allow himself to show fear in front of his men and not fight. Otherwise, those Greeks under his tyrannical rule will see through his cowardice and weakness!” Said Asesias, feeling uncertain.

“This is a great idea! We, the people of Terina, will do our best to send more soldiers to join up with you. In this way, the number of the South Italian army will greatly exceed the number of Syracusan soldiers here!” At this moment, Athopias also took the initiative and gave his pledge.

“Still, Dionysius would likely refuse when there is a difference in his strength.” Philesius reminded.

“If the Syracusan does not come out, then we will attack their camp!” Ascamas interjected. Then he continued, “I have observed their camps. The camps they built are far less sturdy than you, Theonians, and aren’t your legion is also equipped with ballista?! Hence we would just bombard the Syracusan camp until these timid Syracusans come out to fight!” As Theonia’s neighbour, Crotone paid more attention to Theonia’s army.

“That’s right. We will do what Lord Ascamas said!” Asesias replied excitedly.

“Lord Philesius, what do you think?” Phrytinas’ question made everyone turn to Philesius.

In their expectant gaze, Philesius felt like sitting on pins and needles. However, he couldn’t answer.

Seeing that everyone becoming impatient, Ansitanos stood up and said, “Everyone, kindly allow me to have a few words with Lord Philesius alone.”

Then they walked out of the meeting place.

Ansitanos brushed away the dust on the stairs, sat down and asked Philesius to also sit down.

Philesius became a bit flattered. Even though he was standing in a high position in the Theonia Union for several years, facing a great scholar like Ansitanos alone made Philesius, who was just a mercenary, feel his inferiority.

“Lord Philesius.” Ansitanos didn’t notice his expression as he was staring straight at the square as he calmly asked, “Are you going to stick to the defence tactics that Lord Davos planned?”

Philesius hesitated and replied, “Yes. The battle plan that Ascamas and Asesias made is too risky. Once they fail, the consequences are unimaginable! Whether it is the number and ability of the soldiers or the commanding capability of the officers, the most secure tactic to beat the Syracusans is for us to stick to the camp and wait for Lord Davos to lead the army back to Magna Graecia, then fight Syracuse!”

“The safest tactic? I fear that no one in the room would think so.” Ansitanos sighed, “Humans – when danger comes, they will always want to remove it as soon as possible instead of calming down to think about a long-term plan…now that the war has reached the land of our allies, and their homes are facing great danger…our delaying tactics will only make them doubt and make them angry at us, as they will think that we Theonians are selfish that would allow their homes to be occupied and their people to be killed without taking any action!… If we were to delay, the image that Theonia has been trying to establish in the South Italia Alliance over the past few years would be in vain, and we will lose the trust of the people of these city-states, which is unfavourable to Theonia’s future development!”

“Do we put our soldiers in danger in order to win their trust?!” Asked Philesius.

“Is there no possibility of victory by following their plan?” Ansitanos looked at him.

Chapter 417 – United Under A Common Goal

Philesius, stop speaking. After all, he also thought that it was possible to force the Syracusans, who have only have their military strength, to fight here. But due to following Davos for a long time, he did not agree.

Ansitanos thought for a moment and slowly said, “From my understanding of Lord Davos, even if he thinks the possibility of defeat here is great, he will still take the initiative to fight this battle.”

“Why?” Philesius hurriedly asked.

Ansitanos looked at the citizens of Scylletium gathering in the distance with weapons in their hands. He then said, “Because victory can awe Magna Graecia, while defeat could also win the hearts of Magna Graecia. But in our current situation, we will only turn our backs on our allies if we do nothing while the people expect us to do something. Remember, we can reclaim lost lands, but lost hearts and minds are much harder to get back…”

“But…if we were defeated in this battle, Caulonia, Terina and even Scylletium might face danger.” Philesius was still hesitating.

“Haven’t Lord Davos already long arranged this?! What are you still worried about?!” Ansitanos looked into the distance with a smile, “Perhaps Davos had expected that one day…since the people in the conference room dared to make such decisions, then they would have to bear the price of defeat…”

With that, Ansitanos stood up, patted the dust on his body. After he stopped watching the Scylletians, he sighed and said something that Philesius did not understand, “It’s like burning a wasteland. It is only by burning the weeds and trees that we can start sowing new seeds…Alas, this is politics.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the two returned to the meeting, Philesius agreed to their proposal to fight Syracuse. However, he requested that they appoint Theonia to command the whole battle.

In this regard, Phrytinas, Asesias and Athopias did not object, and only Ascamas disagreed. But since both the number of soldiers and the army’s performance of the fourth and fifth legions of Theonia are far better than the Crotonians that had just joined the battle. Therefore, the final selection was that Philesius deservedly became the commander of the entire South Italia Alliance’s coalition army in this battle.

When Philesius returned to the camp, Drakos and Epiphanes were already waiting in the commander’s tent.

“Philesius, what was the conclusion of the meeting?” Epiphanes asked impatiently.

“Our allies would force the Syracusan to a battle.” Philesius said truthfully.

“See, I guessed it right!” Epiphanes looked at Drakos excitedly.

“I didn’t agree with the bet, as I also chose that we would fight the Syracusans.” Drakos didn’t want to pay attention to him, so he turned his head and asked Philesius, “Who will command this battle?”

“There’s no need to ask! It can’t be anyone else but us!” Epiphanes blurted out.

“I will command the whole coalition.” When Philesius said this, his tone became a bit heavy due to feeling the pressure. At the same time, he saw the excitement of the two legatus, which also made him realise that both the officers and soldiers of the fourth and fifth legions were eager to fight the Syracusans head-on. Their morale is high due to their war achievements, their victory in the previous camp defence, and the kindness of the Caulonians, while the pride and honour of the soldiers of the Theonian legion will not allow them to retreat. Naturally, if Davos is here, no one would dare to disobey, but with him being the commander, he couldn’t guarantee it.

Thinking of this, he became relieved and beckoned to the two men, “Let’s work together and carefully plan how we can win this battle.”

As soon as Epiphanes heard this, he stopped joking and asked seriously, “Which city-states would participate in this battle? How many men are there? How many Syracusans we might fight?”

“Besides our 17,000 Legionaries; Crotone also has 17,000 soldiers with 6,000 of them being hoplites; Scylletium has 14,000 soldiers, and 3,000 were hoplites, with a plan to recruit some more citizens to join the war; Terina has 7,000 soldiers, but they needed to defend the city so they could only send around four to five thousand to participate in this battle, and only a thousand of them were hoplites…the total strength is about 54,000, with 22,000 being hoplites.”

After Philesius finished talking, Epiphanes whistled, “Wow, what a huge army!”

“It’s not much.” Drakos poured cold water on him, “If you add all the legions and reserve soldiers of Theonia, it can easily exceed this number, and our heavy infantry is a lot more than this combined army! One legion of Theonia has six heavy infantry brigades, which is 6,000 heavy infantry. If we were to add the reserve soldiers, Theonia has 30,000 heavy infantry!”

A complete set of heavy infantry equipment costs a lot, so many city-state citizens are unwilling or unable to afford it. On the other hand, many Theonians who have just become reserve citizens and official citizens are willing to spend all their money to buy the equipment because serving as heavy infantry in the Theonia Union can bring them more benefits, such as obtaining more land, holding public position, participate in local council elections, becoming a tribunal officer…and so on. Moreover, the low-interest loans provided by the Bank of Cheiristoya, which is unique to the Theonia Union and are spread all over the union’s cities, gave the new citizens the confidence to buy a complete set of heavy infantry equipment.

“However, all our legions can’t appear here. Hence only my fourth legion and your fifth legion are here.” Although Epiphanes refuted Drakos, he became more excited, “Thus we are the one to decide the outcome of this battle!”

Drakos did not speak, but his eyes were shining with the same lustre.

“Legatus, according to the information obtained by Scylletium, we have to face at least 50,000 Syracusans. Since they can defeat Carthage, they won’t be easy to deal with!” Philesius seriously reminded them, “This battle is of great importance! If we were defeated, the consequences would be unimaginable as Syracuse’s army may approach Theonia’s territory and conquer several city-states in the South Italia Alliance!”

“I am also a statesman of Theonia, so I naturally understand the importance of this battle!” Epiphanes complained as he expressed his dissatisfaction at Philesius belittling him. Then he asked, “Are you sure we only need to face more than 50,000 enemies? What about the more than 40,00 enemies that have attacked us in Caulonia?”

“They are besieging the city of Caulonia. The Scylletians sent their scouts to closely monitor their movement and report to the coalition troops immediately-” Philesius certainly knew what they were worried about, “to prevent them from suddenly dividing their troops and sent them north to strengthen the Syracusans here in Scylletium.”

“As long as the number of both sides are close, we have a good chance of winning!” Epiphanes looked at Philesius, and Drakos then said, “We have already fought the Syracusans. Even though their cavalry is strong, they won’t dare to rush into a dense phalanx formation no matter how strong their cavalry is. So as long as we are on guard, even if they defeat our cavalry, they won’t get many advantages. And if they dare approach our formation, our light infantry will give them a heavy blow.”

Both Philesius and Drakos nodded.

Drakos interjected and said loudly, “As for Syracuse’s infantry, they should not be weak as they could defeat the Carthaginians. But from the Battle of Caulonia, their morale and fighting did not seem to be strong. And if we were to compare the heavy infantry that plays a decisive role in a battle, Syracuse’s army can’t compare with our legion!”

The other two immediately agreed, not due to their pride but the guidance of Davos’ advanced combat philosophy: A complex combat group with a mixture of different types of troops that are rigorously trained, becoming an army that could adapt to various situations and implement more complex tactics. That is where the confidence of these legion commanders, such as Philesius, Drakos, Epiphanes, are coming from.

“But since our legion is vastly different from our allies in terms of tactical training and equipment, it is not suitable for us to fight together with them. Not only will they easily cause chaos, but they will not be beneficial to our legion’s performance.” Drakos reminded.

“Drakos is right! Hence I suggest that the fourth and fifth legions should be together rather than separate so as to form a formidable fighting force that could be placed on either flank and pose a great threat to the enemy. After we defeat the enemy we are facing, we will then encircle the centre and eventually win the battle!” Epiphanes pointed to the wooden table and expressed his opinion.

“That’s what I think as well.” Although the two legatus of the legion usually don’t get along, they would still come in agreement when it comes to battle.

Philesius walked a few steps with his hands behind his back, glanced back at them and said in embarrassment, “I agree with your suggestion. But after all, this battle is not a battle that we Theonians would face alone, as we also have our allies such as Terina, Scylletium and Crotone.”

“However, you are the commander of the whole coalition army!” Epiphanes immediately express, “You have the right to make the most reasonable arrangement!”

“It’s reasonable if they also think that it is reasonable. And we could only implement the whole battle plan smoothly if everyone agrees on it.” Philesius said helplessly, “It is not that easy to be the coalition commander!”

“Could it be that they won’t approve the plan we just made?!” Drakos raised his eyebrows.

Chapter 418 – Camp Disturbance

“All of them recognise the Theonian legion’s strength. However, they all hope that we could sit in the centre and connect the two flanks so that they could safely and boldly attack.” Philesius looked at both of them and said frankly, “Although I had the same idea as you before, but…I am also worried about whether the armies of the three city-states of Terina, Scylletium and Crotone, that are not united could keep the centre and the other flank from being crushed by the enemy…if they were to be defeated, the whole situation will become a brawl which would give the cavalries of Syracuse a chance to exert their strength…”

“This will turn into a contest of defence and consumption between the Syracusans and us, which I fear would make the battle last long!” Epiphanes, who is a Peltast, did not like this way of fighting.

“Isn’t fighting a long-drawn-out battle is what our army’s heavy infantry are best at?!” Drakos continued with confidence, “Even if our legion is arranged in the centre, I believe that we could still pierce the enemy’s centre!”

“Since you already made a battle plan in the meeting, why do you still come to ask for our opinion?! Just give us the order, and we will carry it out!” A hint of resentment could be heard in Epiphanes’ words.

“That was just a preliminary discussion.” Philesius then frankly said, “I need your experience and wisdom to make this battle plan better and improve our chance of victory. This is also for Theonia!”

Epiphanes and Drakos looked at each other and then got closer to Philesius…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After these two days, the Samnites – the Hirpini tribe expanded their camp into surrounding the city of Potentia, except to the south where there was the Basento River. Berani – the great chieftain of Hirpini, only sent his people to build a few simple sentry towers on the other side of the river to observe the city’s movement. After burning the pontoon bridge, he no longer has any worry that the Potentians will cross the river and run away. Rather, he much preferred if the Potentians chose to abandon their well-defended city and wade across the river to flee.

However, the river that Berani thought would stop the Potentians from fleeing has some people swimming in the dark…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Half an hour later, Wolle, the one in charge of defending the city, came to the great chieftain’s residence.

Pamot could not sleep peacefully with the current situation, so as soon as he heard Wolle coming to see him, he immediately thought something big had happened outside the city. Thus he immediately went to meet Wolle in the living room, where he listened to him as he reported excitedly, “The messenger of Theonia asked to meet you!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“I am Phryntor, a senior centurion of Theonia’s reconnaissance brigade’s centuria. I have come to pay chieftain Pamot a visit!” When a drenched Phryntor saluted to Pamot, the great chieftain asked anxiously, “What about Lord Davos…who is in…Poseidonia?!”

“This morning, Lord Davos led the first, second and third legion to wipe out the Samnite’s defenders and reinforcements!” Phryntor replied quite simply.

“Wonderful! That’s wonderful!!” Pamot became so excited that he impatiently asked, “Will Lord Davos lead his army to Potentia tomorrow?”

Phryntor did not immediately answer as he took out a small waterproof leather tube from his neck and pulled out a paper roll from it, “Lord Davos ordered me to give this letter to the great chieftain.”

Pamot quickly took and read it. Then his expression became serious, “Go and call Polet!”

After staying in the rear yard all day and feeling flustered, Polet learned that the Theonian army managed to defeat the Samnites in Poseidonia. And after reading the confidential letter from Davos, he reacted quite differently from Pamot, “Lord Davos asked us to cooperate with your reconnaissance brigade to disturb the enemies’ camp tonight and support the arrival of the army tomorrow!”

Phryntor, on the other hand, looked calm as he said, “Before coming here, I went and observed the Samnite’s camp. The constantly fleeing defeated Samnites made the camp quite chaotic, which allowed half of my brothers to pose as a Samnite and mixed in with them…giving me a better idea!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Hirpini’s readied everything they needed to siege the city and are only waiting for the return of the troops that had gone to rescue Poseidonia.

That night, Berani peacefully fell asleep early.

“Father! Father!!…” Garni suddenly broke into the tent and woke him up.

“What happened?” Berani opened his sleepy eyes and looked at his son standing in front of him, who then said in a panic, “Something big has happened! The reinforcements that we sent to Poseidonia were…wiped out by the Theonians!!”

“WHAT?!!!” Berani’s sleepiness was immediately blown away, “How is that possible?!! We sent more than 20,000 Pentri and Caudini warriors with Tolek and Kinduk, who are experience generals! Unless…unless…” He suddenly thought of a possibility, causing his breathing to speed up.

“Theonia’s reinforcements from Thurii had already arrived in Poseidonia, but they quietly lie in wait…” Garni told his father what he had heard from the warriors who had escaped.

After hearing his son’s words, Berani felt coldness in his hands and feet, causing him to sit back in the bed with his mind becoming a mess.

After a while, he suddenly raised his head and asked, “Did Tolek and Kinduk manage to escape?”

“I heard that chieftain Tolek died in the battle while there was no news regarding Kinduk…” Garni said dejectedly.

Berani suddenly felt a sense of sadness. However, this was not the time to feel sad, so he immediately asked, “How many Pentri and Caudini manage to escape?”

“How could we count in the dark? Anyway, they are constantly fleeing into the camp from several directions…” Garni finished saying. Then he anxiously asked, “Father, what should we do now?!”

The bad news came so suddenly that it made Berani confused, and he could not think for a while. Just as he bowed his head to think, a noise came from outside the tent, becoming louder and clearer, especially at night.

“The reinforcements we sent to Poseidonia was defeated!”

“Theonia’s reinforcements are now coming! They have more than fifty thousand men! They are going to surround us!”

“Hirpini brothers, run away!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Terrible!” Berani jumped up and hurried outside his tent. Only for him to see the original quiet camp is now boiling up, the warriors were at a loss as they got out of their tent half-naked one after another and began to follow the others as they shouted in panic…

Berani saw many people moving around in the camp…and because this was the first time the Samnites had organised such a massive army and carried out such an extended war(counting from the time of their assembly), he has not experienced such a chaotic situation. Naturally, he didn’t know what a camp disturbance was. Still, he instinctively felt the danger, so he immediately and severely criticised Garni, “You should have isolated those scattered warriors who fled back to avoid affecting the morale of our warriors! Immediately go back to your tribe and maintain their order, and make it so that the warriors stay in the camp and not come out!”

Garni hurriedly left.

Berani urgently called his personal guards and went to inform Lesguk, Lusen and the other chieftains, ordering them to do their best to restrain their main.

At this time, Berani found that due to having no plan when building the camp, the distance between each tribe was far and built the tents too densely and disorderly, resulting in narrow and curved passages between them. During the day, it posed no problem, but at night, it was easy to cause crowding in case of panic…

Thus he could only stay outside the tent, surrounded by hundreds of his personal guards, hoping that the tribal chieftains could play a role and wait for the commotion in the camp to subside a little. Afterwards, he sent his personal guards back into the camp to maintain order as he suspected that there were enemies who had taken advantage of an opportunity to mix in with the scattered troops and cause trouble.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At this time, outside the noisy Samnite camp, beneath the mountain where the city of Potentia stood, Polet led a thousand warriors as they quietly sneak around…

“Are we going to attack now?” Polet eagerly asked Phryntor in a low voice as he looked at the nearby Samnite camp.

Phryntor, who is the executor of the capturing of Aprustum, was unusually calm at the moment as he quietly said, “Wait a little longer.”

“Wait? What are we waiting for?!” If it weren’t for the fact that the one he is speaking is an officer of Theonia under the order of Davos, Polet would have long acted already.

However, Phryntor seemed to not hear the urging and irritability in Polet’s tone as he continued to stare at the camp ahead and whispered, “Waiting for the fire.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Berani stood in his tent and saw that the dark camp had torches lighting up like that of a starry sky, making him think that the tribal chieftains had begun taking action.

But after observing for a while, he found that the situation had not been suppressed.

At night, the strong mountain wind did not cover the noisy camp. Instead, it made his body cold that he wanted to go back to the tent and put on wolf skin clothes, when suddenly, a greater noise rang out in the camp again, “Fire! The camp is on fire!!…”

‘Fire!’ Berani’s heart suddenly trembled. He gazed forward, and even though it was still dark ahead, he still felt something wrong. Then he turned his head around, where he saw a fire in the distance directly behind his tent, which is where the Samnites stored their food and supplies.

Chapter 419 – Crushing Defeat

“Quickly! Have someone call Garni…and immediately bring your men to put out the fire!” Berani hurriedly called the guards to inform his son.

But just after the guards left, he realised that he was so anxious that he became confused. So he ordered the captain of his personal guards to lead his men to put out the fire.

“Chieftain, what about your safety?” The guard captain asked worriedly: with the camp being so chaotic, who would protect their great chieftain once they leave?

“What’s the use of my safety when our whole army is in danger once our food is gone!!” Berani stomped his feet in anxiety.

Thus the guards had no choice but to rush to the fire hurriedly.

However, with an army of more than 25,000 men in a camp that was only 3 kilometres long, it made the camp and roads to be crowded.

Unfortunately, not only did the guards advance slowly, but because of their impatience to move forward, it annoyed their already panicking warriors, which gradually expanded into a conflict…

Currently, it was early winter with dry winds, so when the camp was set on fire by the Theonian scouts who had infiltrated the camp, the wind made the fire spread rapidly, burning the whole supply camp and continuing to expand in all directions, setting fire to the surrounding wooden fences and tents…

Berani watches the flames on the rear, ultimately crushing his heart.

‘It’s over! It’s over!!…’ He sat on the cold ground lifelessly.

However, this night was destined to be his nightmare.

A powerful horn suddenly rang out around the camp, followed by the cries of countless men…

But since the Potentians have hundreds of warriors, they could not enter the enemy camp silently like the Theonian legion. In the end, Polet’s boldness and persuasion still made Pamot make up his mind as he painfully sent out 5,000 warriors. They divided into five groups and quietly went down the mountain, hiding everywhere outside the Samnite’s camp.

As soon as he saw the flame, Polet couldn’t wait for the horn to sound, so when the horn finally rang out, the Potentian warriors, with vengeful fury, went around the obstacles, climbed over the trenches and scaled the earthen walls. At this time, inside the Samnite camp, the Samnites were already terrified as they watched the flames that they did not pay attention to the camp’s surroundings, allowing the Potentians, who all became bloodthirsty wolves, to enter easily, slashing all the figures they see and stabbing whenever they heard voices. The sound of slaughter and screaming echoed all over the camp…

The frightened Samnites became even more frightened. In the darkness of the night, they all held their weapons tightly for their safety as they could not even see their fingers, so if anyone were to come near, they would slash and stab indiscriminately, causing the camp to be even more chaotic.

But in such a chaotic situation, the Theonian scouts who had long sneaked into the camp shouted everywhere using the Samnite language they learned, “The Theonian army is coming!! They are going to kill us! Run!!!…”

And the darkness of the night only magnified their fear, finally crushing the Samnites’ morale, and just like a flood, they all desperately run towards the outside of the camp. Due to this, they lose their sense as they push down their companions, cut down their comrades who hinder their escape, trampling on the groaning people on the ground, and the darkness had once again become their accomplice in killing…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Pamot, who was worrying about the battle, had been standing on the wall watching: He heard the clamour of the Samnite camp, saw fires lighting up the sky in the distance, heard the sound of fighting and screaming…this sight lasted until late at night, and gradually faded into silence…

The scouts who went to the foot of the mountain to inquire about the situation came back and excitedly shouted, “The enemy was defeated! The enemy was defeated!…” Suddenly, the whole city became an ocean of joy.

Pamot became relieved. However, he is still worried about the burning camp, but he still doesn’t dare to send someone to put out the fire.

But who knew that even the gods were looking after the Potentians that night as it suddenly rained, completely relieving Pamot. Finally, he slept until dawn under the constant onslaught of sleepiness.

The following day, he hurried towards the city. On the way, he saw the previously lifeless people have smiles on their faces now as they gathered in groups of twos and threes, talking excitedly about the battle last night, thanking Asinu for his blessing. And from time to time, someone would come to ask Pamot, “When can we move back to our homes?”

Pamot stood at the top of the city wall and looked down: The Samnite camp, which once stretched for kilometres and had countless tents, had basically turned into scorched land, and countless clusters of green smoke surrounded the area, making Pamot unable to see clearly.

“Did Polet and the others return?” Pamot asked Wolle, the tribal chieftain on duty today.

“They still haven’t come back, but he sent someone back and said that they wanted to clean the battlefield, so they won’t be able to return until later.”

‘Polet is fine!’ Pamot rejoiced.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The cleaning of the battlefield that Polet mentioned is not so simple. When taking a closer look in the Samnite camp, under the ashes of the burning flames and mud caused by the heavy rains were bodies of both the enemies and theirs lying everywhere. Some are dead and have even gotten scorched, some are seriously wounded and unconscious, and some are still struggling and groaning…

Last night, due to their lack of experience in attacking at night, the Potentian warriors led by Polet had suffered heavy losses in the chaotic battle, suffering nearly 2,000 casualties. But even after the fierce battle and despite their fatigue, they still recruited more people to carry the wounded and the corpses back to the city and began cleaning the battlefield.

They killed those struggling Samnites with their blades to make sure they were dead and find their own people mixed with the enemy’s corpses… During their searching, the Potentian warriors still face danger due to some less seriously wounded Samnite warriors pretending to be dead, waiting for the Potentians to approach. After several such surprise attacks, the Potentian warriors became more cautious and armed themselves with spears, stabbing the corpses a few times after making sure they were not their own.

And cleaning such a vast area would take up time. Behind these Potentians are members of the Theonian reconnaissance brigade who were carefully counting the casualties of the Samnites.

In the afternoon, the clean up came to an end. 5,439 Samnites died with 0 wounded because even if they managed to survive the chaotic battle, the angry Potentian warriors would make sure to kill them mercilessly when cleaning the battlefield, while those Samnites who managed to flee far away had scattered around Potentia. However, when the Samnites first invaded, they had wiped out the areas around the city of Potentia, so now the hungry Samnites will have to swallow the consequences of what they had done. At the same time, their biggest problem is how to escape the pursuit of the Potentians while enduring hunger and their wounds and return to their territory safely.

After making great sacrifices, the Potentians finally defeated the powerful Samnites with the full help of the Theonians. As they rejoice after the disaster, they unknowingly buried a bigger surprise in that huge Samnite corpse burial pit. Berani – the great chieftain of the Hirpini and the supreme commander of the Samnite invasion of Potentia, had sent all his personal guards to maintain the order and put out the fire. So when Polet led the attack on the camp and caused the Samnites to panic more, the somewhat old and the lone Berani died in the chaos…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the early morning of the same day, in the Temple of Hades in Thurii, Cariades, A Scylletian, got up early as usual and walked into the temple’s main hall.

He then went to the other hall, the “Prison of the Wicked”, where he had spent so much time here that the gruesome images of the prison of the wicked and the fearsome statue of Hades only had little impact on him. He then carried an oil lamp towards the throne of Hades with respect, whose stern and solemn face was enhanced by the fluctuating light on the oil basin in front of the statue, pulsing with a greenish-red flame.

Cariades, with a calm expression on his face, turned using his feet and lit the oil lamp in his hand. Then he knelt in front of Hades’ status, slightly closed his eyes and opened up his palms, spreading them on the ground as he prayed sincerely to the king of the underworld, hoping that he could protect the people of Scylletium.

After hearing that the Syracusans had landed in Locri, he anxiously wanted to return to Scylletium. In the end, Plesinas came and persuaded him.

Plesinas told him that even if he returned to Scylletium, he would only be an ordinary soldier of the city-state. But if he were to stay here, he would be able to pray and get the help of the powerful and mighty king of the underworld.

Cariades thought that the grand priest was right. Thus he chose to stay in Thurii. At this moment, he placed the oil lamp representing his wish on the altar, where a single lamp was placed as it was still early and the temple had not yet opened. But in the evening, the altar and the grounds would be filled with oil lamps that they had to stay late to clean.

“Cariades, with your sincerity, I am sure that Hades will respond to your wish!” A voice sounded behind him.

Cariades turned around quickly and greeted, “Good morning, Plesinas.”

The Temple of Hades is now all over the territories of Theonia, with many priests, priestesses and believers…who are responsible for managing the temples, having different statuses among themselves. However, in terms of addressing each other, the Hades scripture states that they can only use their real name to address each other to highlight the concept of “equality” in the Temple of Hades.

“According to the latest war report obtained by the Senate, the fourth and fifth legions of Theonia repelled Syracuse’s attack in Caulonia, capturing hundreds of enemies. And these captives are now on their way to Thurii. With Hades watching and protecting Theonia, there is nothing for you to worry about!” Plesinas, with a gentle expression, comforted him.

Chapter 420 – Dionysius’ Ambition

“But Scylletium is beyond Hades’ protection…” Cariades looked slightly depressed.

“Which would be your mission in the future!” Cariades, who came from a different city-state, was the key figure in developing Theonia’s unique Temple of Hades beyond its borders. That is why Plesinas looked at him differently. “But now, we should pray together so that Hades will bless Lord Davos in defeating the Samnites as soon as possible so that they could return to Thurii and then go to Caulonia to repel the Syracusans and ensure the peace of Magna Graecia!”

“You are right!” Cariades then looked at Hades’ statue with his faith becoming stronger, ‘I must let Hades’ divine power and mercy shine on the city of Scylletium!’

After Cariades left the temple, Plesinas’ solemnity disappeared as he quickly turned around and closed the temple’s door.

With him being the only one left in the temple, he then knelt in front of the statue and confessed piously, “Hades, forgive me for what I will do! This is for your descendants and also to give you greater glory!….”

After saying this quietly, Plesinas raised his head, where he suddenly felt that the statue’s face did not seem so terrifying. Then he began to do something…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Although the Theonians are not as afraid of war as the other city-states of Magna Graecia, they are still worried about the safety of their family. After all, the two battlefields, one south and one north, are not only a large-scale war but also far away from them. Therefore, the number of people going to the Temple of Hades to pray every day has more than tripled than usual.

However, from this day onward, some people claimed that when they place their oil lamp on the altar, they would see the words “take my blood as your king and the peace of the union will be ensured!” on the table, but it soon disappeared!

Some people also claimed that they saw this line of handwriting, not on the altar, but on the temple’s pillars!

Some said that when they prayed, they would hear the statue grunting as if it were saying ‘Davos’…

At first, these rumours were only occasional, and the Theonians only regarded it as a joke. However, as time passed, more and more people witnessed this astonishing sight, then things developed rapidly in one direction…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the same morning, Dionysius met the envoy sent by the South Italian Alliance in his tent.

When he saw the letter of challenge delivered by the envoy, he felt a burst of joy in his heart.

It turns out that Dionysius did not even intend to capture Caulonia first, as speculated by Phrytinas and Ascamas.

Unlike what the Greeks of Magna Graecia thought, Dionysius was far from being arrogant when commanding a battle. On the contrary, he was very shrewd. Although he had never fought on the land of Magna Graecia before, from what he learned from the Locrians and what he observed with his own eyes, he believed that Caulonia, a city whose walls was 10 metres high and had been besieged by Locri many times before, was not so easy to capture.

He who has rich experience in siege knows that it would definitely take a lot of time if he were to engage in a siege battle, and time is currently very precious to himself and the Syracusan army. This is why he must break the stalemate on the battlefield as soon as possible and seize the victory.

Thus after careful thinking and consultation with Phidias, he once more used the trick that he used to defeat Himilco near the city of Syracuse.

He then sent a messenger back to Locri to draw out 20,000 freemen who landed with the army and were responsible for transporting the provisions, equipment and rations. Afterwards, they would disguise themselves as soldiers and quietly rush to the Syracuse-Locri camp that was besieging Caulonia and replace the more than twenty thousand Syracusan soldiers.

Due to getting besieged, the Caulonians could only stay inside the city while the scouts of the South Italian Alliance could not do anything in the night. On the other hand, the fourth and fifth legions of Theonia, having just arrived at Scylletium, were eager to build their camp, while the strategoi were busy with their meeting. Hence they did not send a reconnaissance team to check on the surrounding situation.

On the next day, the number of Syracuse-Locri coalition troops remained unchanged. As they began cutting down trees, making siege towers, and so on, they continued to use their ballistae to attack Caulonia in order to conceal this from the South Italian Alliance, who did not notice the anomaly.

At this time, the Syracusan army that had just returned to Locri had crossed the old mountain path, quietly reached the west coast, and quickly marched north…

Only Rhegium’s strategos – Pheidon, who is stationed in Taurania noticed the enemy’s movement. However, the land and sea routes of Rhegium and Taurania were under the control of Syracuse, cutting them off from the South Italian Alliance.

Pheidon could only risk it as he picked out a dozen or so brave men in hopes that they would be able to cross the blockade at the mountain pass and reach Caulonia to report this vital information to their allies in order to prevent Syracuse from suddenly increasing their forces to break through the Allaro River defensive line, unaware that the fourth and fifth Theonian legion had already retreated. (Pheidon thought Syracuse was still blocked at the south of the Allaro; hence, they increased their troops.)

In fact, these 20,000 men that Dionysius swapped had rushed to the Ophemia Plains, increasing his strength to nearly 80,000 men, giving him an absolute numerical advantage. Furthermore, these were the troops that he usually led, making it more convenient for him to command them.

His original priority was Terina, a modest city located on the Ophemia Plains, but had unable to develop and expand due to the continuous invasion of the Bruttians in the north. But due to its distance from Locri and the great river to the south, most of the Locrian allies invaded from the Caulonian side. Unlike the Crotonians, the Terinians did not enforce their city wall and made it higher nor even widen their moat because the Bruttians rarely attacked the city of Terina. And whenever they do invade, they are mostly looting as they are terrible at sieging. Thus the city of Terina, with only a few people and low walls and are located in the plain, became a lump of fat meat in the eyes of Dionysius.

The plan he initially discussed with Phidias and the others was that once Phacipessas arrived at Hipponion with his army, he would draw out another 20,000 men from his camp to attack Terina. And if the South Italian Alliance noticed that he was splitting up his troops and led an army to rescue Terina, Dionysius would instead order Phacipessas’ army to reach Terina by sea covertly. Then they would take advantage of their strength to crush the enemy’s reinforcements, and the Syracusan army would then take complete control of the area and continue its pursuit northwards. But if the South Italian Alliance did not send reinforcements to Terina’s rescue(a less likely option as it would cause the alliance to fall apart), the Syracusan army would take this opportunity to capture the city of Terina, weaken the enemy and continue to advance towards the South Italian Alliance’s troops…

But after reading the letter of challenge handed by the Scylletium envoy, Dionysius laughed happily, ‘Now these arrogant Magna Graecians actually wanted to fight me and really thought that they could defeat me with their meagre troops, which is good as I could take them all down in one swoop!’

Dionysius was happy inward, but his face showed hesitation, and he didn’t reply for a long time.

The allied envoy impatiently said, “Tyrant of Syracuse, I heard that you are very decisive every time you execute the citizens of your city that you didn’t even shed a tear! So why are you now afraid of the army of Magna Graecia that you planned to enslave?! If your courage is so meagre, you’d better roll back to the island on the other side of the Strait as soon as possible, else face the anger of the Magna Graecians that would devour you and your army!”

Faced with the envoy’s ridicule, Dionysius stared at him angrily. He then picked up his pen and wrote in the letter of challenge, ‘Tomorrow morning!’

Then he threw it at the envoy and shouted angrily, “Since you Magna Graecians wants to die early, then you’d better start praying to Hades! So that you can suffer less pain when you go to the underworld tomorrow!”

“We still don’t know who wins and who losses. Besides, Hades is the patron of Theonia, the most important ally of the South Italian Alliance!” The envoy didn’t forget to retort as he picked up the letter of challenge.

“What’s your name?” Dionysius stared at him.

“Saliseus, son of Skoras, a Scylletian.” Replied the envoy with his head raised.

“Saliseus, I will remember it!” Dionysius spat out his name with a threat.

However, Saliseus was not afraid. On the contrary, he smiled with contempt as he said, “It is my honour to be remembered by the Tyrant of Sicily!”

After the envoy left, the anger on Dionysius’ face quickly disappeared as he walked excitedly back and forth in the tent. He then waved to the guard and said, “Go and call that Spartan!”

Seeing Phidias walking quickly towards his tent, Dionysius immediately said, “Scylletium had just sent an envoy to give me a letter of challenge.”

Seeing his happy expression, Phidias simply asked, “So you agreed?”

Dionysius was obviously quite satisfied with his performance just now, so he complacently said, “I didn’t immediately agree as I want the envoy to think that I am hesitating and afraid…”

“In fact, there is no need to fight the South Italian Alliance.” Phidias immediately poured cold water on him, “Once we attack Terina, the South Italian Alliance’s troops would be forced to move without knowing the situation, allowing us to defeat them with our superior force. But if it is a head-on confrontation, it will just increase your soldiers’ casualties!”

“Phidias, you are an excellent strategos. But sometimes, you should not just think about winning.” Since the Spartans like to be straightforward, Dionysius was too lazy to mince his words, “We spent a lot of money to prepare Syracuse’s army, not just to win a few victories here and show off our forces to Locri! What I need is a large-scale battle! A magnificent victory! To frighten the Magna Graecians and let them know who is the real owner of this land in the future!” Said Dionysius with pride as he confided his ambition without concealment.

Chapter 421 – Linking up with Potentia

As a warrior from the hegemon of the Greeks – Sparta, Phidias felt uncomfortable at the arrogance of Dionysius. Hence he stopped talking.

“Phidias, for the coming greatest battle in Greek history, I need your help, you the greatest warrior of Sparta, so that we can easily win this battle!”

Phidias couldn’t refuse Dionysius’ invitation as the phrase “the greatest battle in Greek history” alone was enough to attract him.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the same day, Davos ordered Litom, the senior centurion of the first brigade of the third legion, to lead three heavy infantry brigades, a total of 3,000 men and a thousand Eleans to garrison Poseidonia and guard the nearly 10,000 prisoners. For this reason, Davos also sent someone to Pyxous and informed Androlis to arrange personnel to escort the prisoners to Lucania.

He then led the rest of the first, second, and third legions, totalling about 24,000 men, and moved eastward along the Silarus river.

Their march was not smooth. Besides the road difficulty to traverse, they would also occasionally encounter some Samnites.

After receiving the report from the scouts, Davos initially thought that the Samnites wanted to use the complex mountain terrain to harass the army, so he sent out the light infantry and light-armoured soldiers of the three legions to protect their two flanks.

But after the soldiers rushed up, they found that the enemy’s resistance was weak and captured them easily.

After getting captured, the first thing the Samnites did was to open their mouth to ask for food. Unable to understand them, the soldiers called someone who could understand the Samnite’s language. After asking them, they soon found out the Samnite’s reason for being here, so they immediately reported it to Davos.

Only then did Davos learn that the Samnite army outside Potentia was defeated in a night attack, which gave him a great surprise.

After all, Davos only ordered Izam to send many of his men disguised as defeated Samnite warriors to sneak into the Samnite camp at night and spread rumours to shake the enemy’s morale. Of course, if possible, they would also burn the Samnite’s supplies allowing their next battle against the Samnites to be easier. Therefore, he wrote a letter to Potentia in the hopes to get some help…naturally, he doesn’t have much hope for this to succeed.

Hence he didn’t expect that the Samnites would lose just like that! This made Davos, who had a clear understanding of the history of the Samnites being the powerful enemies of early Rome in his previous life, unable to believe it.

But soon after, the army met the scouts who came back from the city of Potentia. After confirming the news of the Samnite’s defeat, Davos learned that Phryntor played an important role in last night’s action by planning the night attack and taking the initiative to contact Polet in the city of Potentia…

After hearing the night attack, Davos couldn’t help but admire him, making him repeatedly praise the senior centurion of the reconnaissance brigade, “Izam, you have an amazing subordinate!”

Izam replied with seriousness, “He is better than me!”

“Whenever a country faces a crisis, a lot of heroes would rise up!” Davos sighed as he remembered the name of Phryntors in his heart.

Looking at these hungry Samnites walking unsteadily, Davos thought that it was normal for them to not even have half of their combat strength after a night of chaos and shock, with their camp burned and washed by heavy rain as they fled while exhausted, hungry and scared. The war in Potentia has basically ended! After making a judgment, Davos felt a lot more relaxed. Then he immediately ordered the legion’s light-armoured and light infantry to meet the Samnites and attack them decisively and expand their victory!

At the same time, he immediately sent his men to Potentia to make Pamot prepare a camp for the army in advance. The Theonian legion would usually stop moving and start building camps in the afternoon while they march towards the battlefield. But today, Davos and the others would march boldly and strive to reach the city of Potentia in one day.

In the evening, the vanguards arrived outside the city of Potentia, where they were surprised to see that under the dark sky, two “flaming dragons” lined up from the city of Potentia to the mountain path in the west, a full 1 kilometre long. It was the people of Potenta raising their torches to greet the Theonian army and light their way…

After learning about the situation, Davos immediately rushed to the front and met Pamot with a group of tribal chieftains, “Esteemed lord Davos, every Potentian warmly welcome you and the army you lead!” At the prompt of Polet, Pamot greeted Davos respectfully, and the chieftains behind also gave their greetings in a hurry.

But instead of riding his horse and accepting the respect of his allies safely, Davos quickly jumped off his horse, greeted them quickly and said with a slightly apologetic and excited tone, “I apologise that I led my army so late, disturbing your rest! I didn’t expect everyone to greet us in such a warm way despite your own safety when the territory of Potentia is still not safe… Thank you! On behalf of all the officers and soldiers of the legion, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the people and chieftains of Potentia!”

“Lord Davos, you are wrong! It should be us, the Potentians, that would like to thank you and your Theonian soldiers.” Pamot felt that Davos could feel his pains and felt that his hard work was not in vain. Still, he didn’t show it, and instead, he said emotionally, “Compared with Theonia’s great kindness in saving Potentia, this little thing that we do is nothing!”

“We are allies.” Said Davos with a gentle smile, “And Allies should help each other like brothers!”

“You are right! You are right!” Pamot nodded repeatedly. He wanted to say more but was interrupted by Polet, who was beside him, “Lord Davos, will our discussion affect your soldier’s marching?”

After getting reminded, Davos looked back and saw that the army had stopped moving. So he hurriedly said, “Chieftain, I apologise! Please follow me to the side.”

“Oh, it is our oversight.” Pamot scrambled to lead the crowd to get out of the way of the army’s march.

“Tolmides!” Davos turned around and shouted.

“Milord!”

“Have the herald pass the order to let the drummers and buglers play the victory march and celebrate this moment of victory with our allies!” Davos shouted.

“Understood!” Tolmides immediately turned around.

The Theonian legion paid extreme attention to the smooth flow of military orders by strictly stipulating that the military would use salpinxes and drums to convey orders. Thus in a legion, there are a dozen buglers and drummers. And since this army consists of two and a half legions with about 24,000 men, there are naturally hundreds of drummers and buglers. So after getting Tolmides’ order, the buglers and drummers retreated to the roadside.

As members of the legion who do not participate in the battle, they not only convey military orders during battles, but they also play music to cheer up the soldiers and for them to forget their fatigue during the marching.

For this reason, the buglers and drummers would gather up to practice their instruments outside their usual phalanx training with the soldiers during peacetime. Naturally, they are also present at the union’s major celebrations, allowing them to earn respect even though they did not directly participate in battles.

At this time, some buglers changed their instruments to a flute at their waist, while some drummers changed into small bronze cymbals as they all performed their respective duties and began playing music.

The 《Victory March》 is a kind of music that Davos hums out of the familiar marching melody from his previous life. He then asks the musicians of the union to compose and adapt it. Although it does not have the varied melody and momentum brought by symphonic music like in his previous life, it was still a rare kind of music in this era.

When they played the lively and cheerful melody with vigorous rhythm in the silent night, the music soon rang out throughout Potentia…

When the Potentians heard it, they felt relieved as they seemed to put aside their grief over the loss of their loved ones and the worry over the destruction of their homes for a while as they enjoyed the satisfaction and happiness of defeating a mighty enemy and achieving victory.

And the exhausted Theonian soldiers also cheered up, straightened their chests as they welcomed their allies’ gaze.

“Legion, advance!”

At the forefront of the marching are the 300 guards of Davos, led by Rodom (Martius was still recovering in Thurii). Rodom raised the military flag that represents Davos the Grand Legatus with both hands. At the top of the flag is the golden statue of Hades wearing a crown and sitting firmly on a throne while holding a bident in one hand and a ball in the other, showing the dignity of a king compared to the gloomy and terrifying statue of Hades on the top of a legion’s flag. The black flag under the statue has the name of Davos embroidered with golden silk thread.

The flag bearer of the first legion followed the 300 guards; then, following behind them were the light infantry and the light-armoured soldiers rather than the heavy infantry. This was because, on the mountain path, the fast-moving light-armoured soldiers and light infantry brigade could quickly react once they encountered an enemy. In fact, most of the Samnites captured on the road were due to them.

The first legion was followed by the logistic camp, then the second legion, then the hundreds of Samnites captured along the way, then the third legion, and finally some light infantry, light-armoured and cavalry brigade. They arranged the cavalry last because they could not ride their horses on some sections of the mountain path and had to walk with their horses. And if the thousands of horses were to crap and urinate, it would seriously affect the marching speed of the troops behind. And the light infantry and light-armoured brigade behind is to prevent the Samnites to attack their rear.

The Theonian army, with its clear flag and neatly organised troops, was like a seemingly long dragon passing through this ‘Fiery Road’ of enthusiastic and cheering Potentians with a neater pace and high morale. Despite their black helmets and armour, which gave the people a lot of pressure, the smiles on their faces made the Potentians feel relieved.

Chapter 422 – Pamot’s Decision

Pamot gasped in admiration after seeing rows and rows of Theonian legionaries passing in front of him, “What a powerful army! With Theonia having so many brave soldiers, who would dare to invade?! Lord Davos, It’s no wonder that the Samnites aren’t your opponent!”

“Great chieftain Pamot, the Samnite army was repulsed by the brave warriors led by the brave chieftains of Potentia.” Davos said humbly.

“Lord Davos, we wouldn’t even be able to repel so many fierce Samnites on our own if you hadn’t had your troops wipe out the reinforcements sent by the Samnites to Poseidonia… And making a thorough plan by having your soldiers sneak into the enemy camp, disrupting the enemy, and sending your men to contact us and convince us to carry out a night attack!”

“We shouldn’t be humble to each other! After all, it is the result of our unity and mutual collaboration between Theonia and Potentia that we were able to achieve such a victory and bring peace back to this land!” Davos finally concluded.

“Yes, thank Asinu! Potentia is very fortunate to have joined the Theonia Alliance, as, without the full assistance of Theonia, Potentia would not be what it is today! The Potentians will always remember this kindness!” Pamot exclaimed from the bottom of his heart.

The other chieftains also expressed their gratitude to Davos.

“Lord Davos, we have prepared a camp for your army, just near the city of Potentia. It was previously a settlement of one of our tribes, but due to lack of time, we haven’t managed to completely clean it as the Samnites destroyed some of the houses.” Said Polet. After following the Theonian army these days, he knew what Davos needed most at this time.

“Thank you. This will solve our big problem!” Davos was overjoyed when he heard Polet and then continued, “It doesn’t matter if the camp is a bit shabby. However, we would like to borrow these torches.”

“Lord Davos, we also prepared a welcome banquet for you and your soldiers in celebration of the arrival of victory. So after you set up your camp, our people would carry hundreds of cattle, sheep and wine to your camp…” Pamot loudly said as he saw that the atmosphere became good. But just halfway through his speech, Davos politely interrupted him, “Chief Pamot, and other chieftains, I would like to thank you for your kind invitation and your hospitality to Theonia! But I heard that the Samnites’ invasion caused great losses to you, with your villages and farms being burned, many of your tribesmen being killed or captured, and losing a lot of livestock… Do you think that we could still eat the food you take out to reward us, knowing that your food supply is a little tight?”

Davos’ touching words hit the soft spot of the Potentian chieftains, making everyone silent as they look at their great chieftain.

Pamot anxiously said, “Lord Davos, although we have some difficulties, you-”

Davos once again interrupted him and seriously said, “Great chieftain, the Theonian Military Law stipulates that the army shall not drink, party or celebrate during a war. While I was in Elea, I got words that Syracuse’s army had just invaded Magna Graecia! Now that the war here is over and the war in the south has just begun, we have to go back to Thurii to repel the Sicilians… On the day when victory comes, Theonia would hold a victory parade. At that time, Theonia will grandly invite you, the great chieftain and all the other chieftains to go to Thurii together to celebrate this hard-won victory!”

At this point, the chieftains of Potentia knew that they could not persuade him, not to mention that this is also in line with their practice. And Pamot, who had never travelled before, even gave his promise, “I will be there when the time comes!”

“Moreover, after capturing Potentia, we seized a large amount of food given by Syracuse to the Samnites. Knowing the difficulties of the Potentians, I decided to transfer this batch of supplies to Potentia so that this land can recover its vitality as soon as possible.” Davos said solemnly, which made everyone present dumbfounded.

“This…this…how can that be!” Pamot, who had kept his calm, incoherently said as he didn’t know what to say.

“Lord Davos, that’s your spoil, and your huge army also needs food.” Polet quickly said.

“It’s settled!” Davos said confidently.

“Lord Davos the Benevolent!”

“Lord Davos the Kind!”

“I thank you on behalf of my tribesmen!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Many chieftains scrambled to express their thanks, and this time, they were completely sincere.

Davos only smiled and said nothing. In fact, as Polet said, his 30,000 troops also have a food shortage, with the soldiers’ ration even running out. And the food transported from Grumentum by land and sea has one-third of it consumed on their marching alone. It would already be good enough if they could sustain the army for ten days after reaching Potentia. Although the great battle here is over, there is still follow-up work to be completed. But even so, he still did not hesitate to donate a staggering amount of supplies to Potentia, not for the present but for the future.

At this time, the place became more harmonious, and Davos happily chatted with the chieftains…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the mountains not far from them, a pair of eyes filled with hatred are watching the liveliness at the foot of the mountain.

“Chief, have you really decided to attack the enemy camp tonight?! I am afraid there are tens of thousands of Theonians while we only have more than a thousand. And most of our men are still hungry! It’s still not too late to attack the enemy after meeting up with the great chieftain and leader Lesguk!” His warriors looked hesitant.

“It would be too late by then! Only when the Theonians have just marched and are too tired will we have a great chance of success in attacking the Camp! Potentia…the Potentian could…cough…we can do it!” Garni raised his voice to cheer up his men, but he couldn’t stop coughing. Last night’s experience was like a nightmare, so much so that if it weren’t for the night attack, he wouldn’t even bother mentioning “Potentia”.

“Besides, we had searched for a day already, and we still haven’t found…my father…and Lesguk….” At this point, he looked a little worried and depressed. Still, he quickly gave up these thoughts that were bothering him and cheered his men again, “We must act immediately! Otherwise, the Theonian army may attack Compsa in the north tomorrow! Thus we must do our best to defend our land!”

“Yes…” The Samnite warriors answered weakly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Although Pamot returned to his house late at night, he was still excited about their earlier conversation, “Polet, what do you think of Davos?”

“A great Greek leader! A great military commander!” Polet answered concisely.

“So, do you think he can lead the Theonians to repel Syracuse’s army?” Pamot continued to ask.

Polet hesiated for a moment. He then said with certainty, “I have never seen Syracuse’s army, but the Theonian legion is the most disciplined and mightiest Greek army I have ever seen. Hence I believe they can win!”

“I believe it as well.” After saying this, Pamot saw his brother’s surprised expression. He then laughed and said, “Even though I have never fought a battle, I know that Davos is a great Greek general as he could restrain his own desires and control those of his men! Such a man, whose character is like a pine tree growing in a rock, would never give in to setbacks, allowing him to win the final victory! So-”

Pamot took a few steps and arrived at the statue of Asinu. After praying, he made his decision, “I have decided to present Poseidonia to Theonia.”

“WHAT?!” Polet was astounded at hearing Pamot’s words.

“In fact, the Theonians already have Poseidonia on their hands after getting it from the Samnites. And just now, Davos never mentioned how to deal with the city, so we might as well take the initiative to give it to Theonia. Anyway, the people there were either killed or captured, and we couldn’t help them. So it is better just to pass them to the Theonians.” Pamot sighed, and his eyes became clearer, “I could see that Davos is a broad-minded man. The Bruttians have surrendered, the southern Lucanians has surrendered, many Greek city-states have also surrendered, and they have just defeated the Samnites…the Theonians will have the final say in this land. That is why we must make an early choice so that Davos will not treat us badly.”

“I understand. Brother, as you are the great chieftain of Potentia, you have the final say, and I would listen to you.” Polet said sincerely.

“No, I am already old. In the future, you will be the one in charge of Potentia, and I believe that you will handle the relationship with Theonia well.” Pamot calmly said. As he has no children, Polet, who was his younger brother, was more like his son.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Late at night, a noise rang out in Theonia camp, waking Davos from his deep sleep.

“What happened?” Davos looked calmly at Rodom, the acting guard captain, and Tolmides, the herald.

“Milord, the Samnites attacked the camp but were found by the sentry. As they are in the area of the second legion, legatus Amintas led his men to attack, and I believe they would beat them back soon.” Said Tolmides.

“The Samnites are really unfortunate running into Amintas. That guy has been holding back his irritation as he hasn’t fought in a big battle since coming to Lucania.” (The third legion was the main force in the Battle of Poseidonia, while the first and second legions just gave the final push, easily getting the victory. And the Samnite camp in Potentia’s odd collapse made Amintas dissatisfied as he thought there would be a big battle.)

Chapter 423 – Davos’ plan for the north

Hearing this, Davos calmed down and listened carefully. It seemed that the voice outside was much lower, calming him down. He then yawned,  “It seems that the battle is over. Both of you can go to sleep.”

Tolmides and Rodom then left.

“ It would be better to keep Amintas’ strong desire to fight until the battle against Syracuse…” Davos murmured as he went to sleep.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Early the following morning, Pamot and Polet came to visit Davos.

After a friendly conversation, the two left with satisfaction.

And Davos, who is also satisfied, quickly called Alexius, the legatus of the third legion, and said to him, “Just now, the great chieftain of Potentia came here and offered to hand over the city of Poseidonia to Theonia.”

“That’s wonderful!” Alexius said excitedly.

“Indeed, I didn’t expect him to make such a decisive decision. Many Lucanians look down on Pamot, saying that he was neither as brave as Akpir nor as clever as Cincinnag and a coward who only stays at home and sleep with his wife. But those two men have perished while Potentia continued to exist! Those who could understand the general situation and follow it are the one who really has great wisdom. Pamot is an amazing person to be able to make such a decision and give up when he can.” Davos was impressed.

He then looked at Alexius and continued, “I called you today because I have an important task for you to do.”

Hearing this, Alexius immediately sat straight.

“Although the Samnites were defeated, there are still nearly 20,000 defeated Samnites who managed to flee. From the investigation of the mountain reconnaissance unit, in addition to the three larger tribes retreating to the north, the other defeated warriors were scattered in the mountains around Potentia, suffering from hunger and disease. But their presence would hamper the plans of the Potentian tribes to return to their settlements. Thus I have decided for the third legion to station here and eliminate these Samnites. And Polet will lead the Potentians to cooperate with you.”

As soon as Davos finished speaking, Alexius impatiently said, “Milord, now that the war with the Samnites is over, and the Syracusan army is attacking our Magna Graecia, we should instead return to Thurii immediately and concentrate our forces against Syracuse.”

“There is no need for you to worry about Syracuse as I have already made arrangements. To tell you the truth, I always thought that the Samnites would be a headache opponent when we expand our union northward in the future. But unexpectedly, they have gathered a large number of troops this time and took the initiative to leave their familiar mountains and attack Lucania on a large scale. Under the blessing of Hades, the Samnites suffered a disastrous defeat, while we only suffered a minimal loss. Thus in the face of a wounded beast, what we should do next is to seize this opportunity and take advantage of its weakness and kill it, rather than letting it go and make trouble for us once it recovers.

That is why the third legion must eliminate and capture the Samnites that are stranded here as much as possible, rather than letting them escape back to the north. While completing this task, you can try attacking the Samnite’s mountains and see if we could get any further harvest. Still, you should be careful not to expand the scale of the war and usher in new enemies! You must understand that Theonia’s current situation cannot support two fronts!” Davos warned solemnly.

“Understood. I will try my best to expand our achievements!” Alexius was excited after understanding Davos’ intention. After all, conquering an area by independently leading an army is the greatest goal of any commander.

“I have also found a good helper for you.” Said Davos. Then he shouted, “Martius, let him in.”

Alexius looked curiously at the door and saw a thin young man.

“Grand legatus.” The young man then gave a standard military salute.

“Phryntor, the senior centurion of the reconnaissance unit, and the one who planned the defeat of the Samnite camp!” After returning the military salute, Davos looked at him and couldn’t help exclaim, “Remarkable! Truly remarkable! The victory you created saved Theonia time and allowed us to focus on Syracuse! On behalf of the people of Theonia, I thank you. And your name shall be remembered in the Hall of Valour!”

Phryntor was excited and also embarrassed by Davos’ praise. So he quickly and humbly said, “Milord, I was inspired by the previous plan you made to capture the city of Aprustum!”

‘Winning without getting conceited!’ Davos nodded and became more and more satisfied with the young man, “I will transfer two centuria from the mountain reconnaissance unit, with a total of 400 men, to your command to assist the third legion and Potentia’s army in tracking down the remnant Samnite warriors and invade the nearby Samnite territory. Can you accomplish this task?”

“I can!” Phryntor replied with confidence.

Davos nodded quietly. He then turned around and said to the legatus of the third legion, “Alexius, are you satisfied with the assistant I sent you?”

“I couldn’t be more satisfied!” Alexius laughed, “But this increased my pressure. After all, if I still don’t get a decent result even with the help of such a hero, I would be embarrassed to go back to Thurii.”

“It’s good if you understand this.” Davos smiled and continued, “If possible, I hope you can capture Compsa.”

‘Compsa?’ This is the first time Alexius heard this place.

“That’s a Samnite town closest to Potentia, about 20 kilometres away.” Phryntor answered Alexius. As a scout who had stayed here for nearly a day, he would naturally first learn about his surroundings.

“This is also what the great chieftain of Potentia hopes! If we captured Compsa, Potentia will be completely under our protection and will no longer worry about the Samnite’s invasion…” Davos further explained. When Pamot made this request to him in the morning, Davos understood that Potentia was determined to be completely dependent on Theonia Union.

“Naturally, there is no need to force yourselves, and you can just do what you can. The next battle in the south will be very fierce, and the supplies will be tight. That is why you should pay special attention to this problem and not induce another big war in the north!” Davos emphasised this sentence once more.

Alexius and Phryntor looked at each other and immediately expressed their understanding.

“One more thing…Pamot hopes to build a road to strengthen ties with our territories in Lucania. As this is a good thing, I have agreed and would let Bagul take over this matter while having you, Alexius, as his assistant.” Seeing Alexius wanted to speak, Davos waved his hand and said, “After all, you have served as aedile and are very familiar with road construction. At the same time, you have a good relationship with Bagul, so I believe that both of you can work well together. Even though we have tens of thousand Samnite prisoners as ready-made labour, you must not exhaust them to death as these prisoners will be of great use to me in the future.”

“I accept this task.” Alexius said helplessly.

Seeing his reluctant answer, Davos reminded him, “The construction of this road can strengthen not only our connection with Potentia but also smoothen the expansion of Theonia to the central part of the Apennine in the future. Thus, the construction of the road and the chasing of the remnant Samnite warrior are equally important and do not conflict.”

“I understand, milord. I will try my best to help Bagul and the others to construct this road!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the same morning, Sesta was rushing his way to the Senate.

The city of Thurii suffered a considerable impact from the outbreak of this war. After all, most of the soldiers of the first and second legions were Thurian citizens. Furthermore, the soldiers of the two newly formed legions were mainly Thurian citizens, who needed to train every day in the military port on the Crati River to the east of the city of Thurii. Hence there were almost no young men in the city. On the other hand, the elderly and the women were worried about their loved ones, so they spent less time in the square and more time at home or in the temple to pray.

Seeing the empty Nike Square, Ssta felt a little disappointed.

“Lord Sesta!” A cry sounded behind him. When he looked back, he saw that it was Baripiri, a statesman from Bruttii.

“With Lord Sesta as my companion, I no longer need to feel afraid even if I arrive late.” Baripiri said half-jokingly. Baripiri, who was wearing black-trimmed white chiton clothes representing his identity as a statesman, was like a wide cloth hanging on a thin bamboo pole, so he needed to use both his hands to pull the corners of his falling clothes, which is rather comical.

However, Sesta didn’t laugh. As the grand inspector, he was responsible for supervising the statesmen’s performance during the Senate meeting. Moreover, after the treason case of the statesmen such as Pollux and the other statesmen, Davos gave the grand inspector greater authority in supervising the violations of the statesmen and union officials.

Because of the heavy responsibility on his shoulder, Sesta had to set an example always. Yet, he unexpectedly arrived late today, so he could only explain, “I was busy sorting out the information about the city elections and the establishment of the local council last night so that I could report it at the meeting today. As a result of working late at night, I got up late today.”

“We will still hold the election of the local council even with the pressure of the Syracusan army? You know, I couldn’t even sleep last night after hearing that the South Italian Alliance’s army was going to fight Syracuse in Scylletium!” Said Baripiri with unease. After all, the fifth legion is almost composed of Bruttian citizens, and the Bruttian region is at the forefront of this war. So once they are defeated in this battle, it will have a greater impact on the Bruttians than the other city’s citizens in the union.

Chapter 424 – Kunogelata’s Vigilance

Hearing this, Sesta hurriedly advised him, “Lord Baripiri, there is no need for you to worry too much. Philesius is the commander of the southern front that Davos’ recognised and approved, and he is also a veteran on the battlefield. Furthermore, he is honest, so his battle report should not be exaggerated, and we have a good chance to win the battle! Besides, the report that the wise Lord Ansitanos sent along affirmed Philesius’ report, so we should not worry too much…and the election of the local council may be postponed for a while, and held it after we expelled the Syracusans.”

“Yes, yes, you are right.”

Both of them comforted each other as they climbed the stairs of the Grand Senate Hall.

Then, Sesta saw Petaru coming up from the other side, acting as if he didn’t see Sesta as he hurried inside.

Naturally, Sesta didn’t have the habit of warmly greeting unfamiliar people. Instead, it was Baripiri who sighed, “It seems that Petaru still has some opinions on your last questioning of him. Don’t worry, just give it some time, and everything will be fine.”

Sesta coldly said, “I am just performing my duty. Whether they are happy or not, it has nothing to do with me.”

Baripiri had stopped talking after hearing his words.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Esteemed statesmen, our maritime trade channels were cut off by the warships of Syracuse, whether it is to the eastern Mediterranean or other areas of the western Mediterranean. Furthermore, more than 20 merchant ships of our union have been captured and detained by the Syracusan navy, while the merchant ships of other city-states that come to trade with us have also been forcibly expelled. Now, almost no merchant ships entered the port of Thurii, and all the ports in our other cities have stopped their operation besides the port of Pyxous, which is in a remote area and can still normally operate.

Now, the soldiers at the frontline needed to consume a lot of supplies every day because of the war. So if this situation continues and we can’t get any material through maritime trade, the grain supply of the whole union will become stretched! Thus, I suggest that the Senate take measures now to remind the people to save food and forcibly control food consumption. For example, the restaurants are temporarily closed, and everyone should change from three meals a day to two…” After Marigi finished speaking, the statesmen caused an uproar.

“Is our situation really that bad?” Cornelius asked nervously.

“Yes, the grain consumption has already exceeded our previous expectations!” Baripiri, the Chief Agriculture Officer, added, “Although we still have our grain reserves, this is the first time we have supplied ration to five legions, totalling more than 40,000 men. Moreover, we have already transported two granaries of grain, and according to the statistics of the Ministry of Military, these rations can only last for ten days. As you know, we have only built six granaries in the union’s territory in recent years, so if the war continues for another two months, I am afraid that our grain reserve will be at the bottom!”

All the statesmen became tense.

Kunogelata hurriedly got up and said, “Although Syracuse has blocked the sea, we could still buy grains from Taranto by land.”

Mersis shook his head and said, “Mersis and I have long thought of this and had even sent some officials to Taranto to discuss it, but the Tarantine Council said that they are also equally strapped for food and have no surplus to sell.”

“Damn Tarantines! Ungrateful bastards, they have forgotten who helped them drive out the Messapians! We should take the alliance agreement and question them!!” Scambras, the current Praetor of Amendolara, shouted.

“Ehem…Now is not the time to settle our accounts with Taranto. After all, we are already having a difficult time dealing with the Syracusans and the Samnites. Besides, our relationship with Taranto has not been very harmonious in the past two years, so if we were to force the Tarantines…we would be in trouble as what Davos had been worrying about!” Cornelius said anxiously.

“What is our fleet doing now?! The union has spent so much money on warships every year, and now is the time we need our navy!” Shouted Tritodemos.

“Navarch Seclian is making every effort in reorganising the warships from the various alliances and training them with the new tactics created by Lord Davos together with the newly formed legions.” Answered Hieronymus.

“New tactics created by Lord Davos?!” Tritodemos became excited, “Can they defeat the Syracusan navy?!”

“I don’t know anything regarding their training as they have tightly closed Thurii’s military port, not allowing any outsiders to enter.” Hieronymus replied and kept silent.

“It seems we couldn’t count on the navy for the time being… I just hope that the army of the South Italian Alliance led by Lord Philesius could defend against Syracuse’s attack.” Although Scambras was nearly 60 years old, his character was more radical, but he also had a cautious side towards the upcoming war in the south. It can be seen that the others were also worried; after all, the army of the South Italian Alliance are not all Theonian soldiers, and in the minds of the statesmen, Philesius, who was the commander, couldn’t be compared with archon Davos.

“What’s the latest report? Has Lord Davos led his army to fight the Samnites?” Asked Sedrum.

“The only thing we received was yesterday’s report of ‘Lord Davos leading the army to Elea’, while we still haven’t received today’s report.”

The answer of the rotating chairperson – Kunogelata, disappointed the statesmen that were present. Then someone among them sighed and said, “The transmission of our battle report is still too slow.”

“It’s already fast! You should know that the Lucanian area is mountainous, so if it were still the previous speed, it would take more than four days for it to arrive. But now, it has shortened a lot.” Heracleides the Younger, who had been in the Senate for a long time and rarely spoke, retorted.

“Everyone!” Kunogelata shouted, “Although the battle report shows that our allied force has a good chance of defeating the Syracusans, we must still prepare for the worst. Therefore, we must once again strictly order Lord Agasias of Aprustum and Asistes of Clampetia to fully prepare for the city’s defence as soon as possible according to the decision we discussed yesterday. Just in case…we are defeated in the battle, we must do everything possible to stop the enemy from entering Theonia’s territory! At the same time, we should also be prepared to assist the Crotonians so that we can hold the defensive line of Clampetia – Aprustum – Crotone and stall the enemy until Lord Davos returns with our army!”

“Lord Kunogelata is right! We must be prepared for both.”

“The army that Lord Philesius is leading now has more troops than the enemy. Moreover, our legion is the main force, so they should be able to repel the enemy.”

“Have you sent out all the scouts? Ask them to send back the battle situation in Scylletium to Thurii every half an hour! ”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Everyone in the Senate expressed their opinions, but they still felt a sense of tension and worry…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After the meeting, the statesmen did not disperse as they sat idle in the Senate Hall and chatted together in groups of twos and threes, waiting for the news regarding the southern battlefield so that they could make a quick decision. They even asked their slaves to bring lunch to the Senate.

Kunogelata went straight to a corner, where Plesinas and Marigi were chatting something in a low voice.

Seeing Kunogelata coming, they immediately stopped talking.

“Lord Plesinas, I heard that something bizarre has happened in the Temple of Hades these days.” Kunogelata straightforwardly said in a low voice.

“Oh? What is this bizarre thing? Why didn’t I hear anything about it?” Plesinas looked puzzled.

“Handwriting suddenly appearing and disappearing in the temple, and the statue of the gods are making sounds from time to time…” Kunogelata said word by word, closely staring Plesinas.

Plesinas suddenly realised, “Oh, so that’s what Lord Kunogelata is talking about. That is not a bizarre thing; it’s a miracle of Hades! This has happened before already, but it is only recently that the frequency increased, which shows that Hades is protecting our union!” Plesinas said with a devout expression.

Seeing this look on his face, Kunogelata wanted to say something several times, but in the end, he only tactfully admonished him, “This is a time of crisis for the union. Thus we need to ensure the stability of our internal affairs and work together to deal with a powerful enemy! As the Praetor of Thurii, I don’t want to see any major disturbance happening in the city! And I believe Lord Davos is also the same!”

Seeing Kunogelata’s serious expression, Plesinas was taken aback.

Marigi, who was nearby, immediately interrupted, “Lord Kunogelata, I am curious about the ‘suddenly appearing and disappearing handwriting’ that you just said.”

Kunogelata glanced at him with vigilance and said, “You can ask Plesinas.” After that, he turned around and left. The rumours about the ‘take my blood as the king, and the peace of the union will be ensured’ has gradually spread that it even reached Amendolara, Besidice and Roscianum, making Kunogelata uneasy. He was anxious to know whether this is Plesinas’ own volition or the order of Davos, ‘What should I do if it is the latter?’

“He’s aware of it.” Said Plesinas as he watched Kunogelata leave.

“Anyone with a mind can figure it.” Marigi shrugged in disdain, “But even if they know, what could they do? Just now, Kunogelata didn’t even dare to say what was written, so when things really happened, I am sure he will be the first one to raise their hands in favour. Don’t worry, Kunogelata is a smart man!” Marigi’s words relieved Plesinas.

“In fact, I hope we will lose in today’s battle…” Marigi’s voice became even smaller, but it once again surprised Plesinas.

“Lord Davos led the citizens of the union to win wars and victories; only then did we get such a big territory today! But they have forgotten the taste of defeat, so they don’t know the value of victory…” Marigi faintly said…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Unlike the cold and cheerless city of Thurii, the clouds of war filled the territory of Scylletium…

Thousands of soldiers came out of the city of Scylletium, the city of Terina, the camps outside the city and the Syracusan camp as they surged like tides towards the north of the Syracusan camp.

Chapter 425 – Battle of Allaro River

The area north of the Syracusan camp has uneven ground and small mounds where many thorns can be seen everywhere. The west is the Allaro river, while the north is the middle reaches of the Corace river flowing from northwest to southeast.

Hence Philesius chose this place to form up as he had considered the strength of the Syracusan cavalry and wanted to use the terrain to limit their strength and flanking ability to the maximum. At the same time, such terrain is undoubtedly more favourable to the more adaptable and flexible infantry of the Theonian legion.

However, Dionysius still led his army even after knowing the disadvantage of this terrain.

More than a hundred thousand men from both sides gathered on this land with a radius of more than a dozen kilometres, densely packed, stirring up the dust and sand, and the noise shook the sky…

Dionysius squinted his eyes and strained to look forward. Although the dust and sand obstructed his vision, the Theonian legionaries, who were across from his, stood out with their black attire.

“The Theonians are in the centre!” After seeing them, Dionysius’ decision became firmer, for he had likewise invested his most elite 115,000 soldiers in the centre. They are all mercenaries from Campania and Greece that had fought together with him in Sicily for many years, even going so far as giving citizenship and land to most of the soldiers, becoming new citizens of Syracuse. They are his most loyal and reliable army.

“From the previous battle examples of the Theonians, their focus of attack is on their left flank!” Phidias cautioned, “So I suggest that at least 20,000 soldiers be deployed on our right flank to block the enemy’s attack!”

Dionysius, however, did not immediately answer. He tilted his head and looked towards the left of the Theonian.

What he saw was the army of the South Italian Alliance, which was still forming up in the dust…

A moment later, he gave an order, “Send all the Syracusan citizens to the right!”

After getting the order, the herald galloped eastward.

Dionysius turned to look at the Spartan and said, “Phidias, I appoint you as the right flank’s commander. I hope you can lead the army to block the enemies’ attack and win time for our victory. I hope you can accept it!”

“It’s my honour!” Phidias gladly accepted the order, without even a trace of his “I am a Spartan, you do not have the right to order me” arrogance. After all, leading more than 20,000 soldiers to participate in such a large-scale battle is too tempting for Phidias to refuse.

“Furthermore, if you are having difficulties, you have the right to order the Numidian and Celtic cavalries that are on the outside of the right flank.” Said Dionysius with emphasis.

Feeling his trust, Phidias gave Dionysius a rare military salute.

“Astagoras.” Dionysius continued.

“Yes!”

“You lead the army of the Sicilian city-states to guard the left flank together with the army of Hipponion! Remember, you just need to hold the enemy down and do not be too aggressive, understood?!” For this brave man, Dionysius ordered with a serious tone.

“Yes, milord!” Answered Astagoras, feeling awe.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Commander, the Terinian troops have reached the battlefield. Lord Siprus asked me to tell you that they have sent 8,500 soldiers!” The herald rode on his horse to report to Philesius.

‘8,500 soldiers!!’ Philesius was surprised at this figure as it would mean that there are only a few hundred soldiers left in Terina to defend the city. Yesterday, the representative of Terina said that they could only send up to 6,000 men to participate when they were discussing the battle plan, but unexpectedly, they added 2,500 more men today. Philesius immediately thought of Terina’s intention, ‘They are prepared to go all out in this battle!’

At this moment, Philesius was also encouraged. So he shouted, “Go and tell Lord Asesias to move all the Scylletian troops that are on the right to go to the left so as to make the hammer’s head thicker!”

“Roger!” A herald turned his horse around and rode eastward.

“Tell Lord Siprus to arrange the Terinian troops on the right, next to the Theonian legion. And their distance between the Allaro River should not be too large to prevent the enemy cavalries from harassing and flanking us!”

“Yes!” Another herald galloped to the west.

Seeing the heralds disappearing in the dust, Philesius looked at the Theonian soldiers in front of him. Only by watching these well-trained Theonian legionaries could Philesius feel at ease, dispelling the tension and irritability he is feeling.

After watching for a while, he suddenly felt something was wrong, so he hurriedly said, “Immediately inform the two legatus – Drakos and Epiphanes to slow down the soldiers and wait for the army of our allies on both flanks. Don’t expose our plans too early!”

“Roger!” The two other heralds galloped forward.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Philesius is too cautious. With the strength of our army, there is no need to play such a small trick! We can just blow the horn and attack them head-on!” Said Drakos, who was dissatisfied with Philesius’ order.

Still, he didn’t dare to disobey the orders of his superior, so he said to his adjutant, “Go and tell the officers to slow down our brother’s marching. Don’t get excited too early and slow down. Save their strength and morale till the moment of charge!!”

“Understood, legatus!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Oh, if it weren’t for Lord Philesius’ reminder, I would have forgotten about it! Adjutant, have our brothers slow down and wait for the Terinians. But to be honest, it would be easier if they were to hurry up instead because if we want to slow down, it would be harder as we haven’t practised it for many years… Hahaha…” Epiphanes teased as he gave the orders.

The adjutant held back his smile and said, “Understood, legatus!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hundreds of heralds galloped back and forth between the front and rear of the long formation on both sides to convey orders. In the noisy and chaotic formation, the officers at all ranks are also shouting as two huge phalanxes slowly take shape…

It took quite a long time for a hundred thousand soldiers to get into formation. Naturally, the Syracusans completed their formation faster than the army of the South Italian Alliance. After all, most of their troops came from the same city-state and often fought together, unlike the army of the South Italian Alliance, who had not only come from different city-states, but this is also the first time they cooperated.

The huge noise gradually quieted down at noon, and the scattered dust slowly dissipated due to the soldier’s inactivity…

The soldiers at the front of the phalanx formation of both sides could clearly see their enemies hundreds of metres away. In their eyes, the dense phalanx formation of the other side is like a thick steel wall extending endlessly to both ends…

In early winter, the midday sun was not hot, but the dazzling light shining on the soldier’s armour and weapons made the people unable to look at it directly. And when the Syracusan soldier’s sight falls in front of the Theonian phalanx, the unique and unified equipment and clothing of the Theonian legionaries had naturally attracted their gaze, making their hearts palpitate because the black always means uncertainty.

The sea breeze blowing from the gulf made the heavy-armoured soldiers, who had just moved around and were sweating, feel a bit cold…

In the long formation of both sides, the large and small military banners fluttered in the wind, with the most prominent banner was erected behind Dionysius. His banner was not only painted with the traditional “Three Leg” symbol of Syracuse, but the name of Dionysius was also embroidered. In comparison, Philesius’s banner – the South Italian Alliance’s army commander, was a little shabby. Due to his short time in his position as the commander of the two legions, the Ministry of Military Affairs had no time to make a special military banner and statue for him, so he could only use the legion’s banner and simply made it larger.

Philesius, however, didn’t care about it. At this time, Philesius was surprised to see the opposite army’s formation that represents Dionysius’ banner was slowly moving forward. After a while, something moved to the front of the formation, followed by a strategos wearing a golden helmet and armour.

‘Having such magnificent equipment means that he should be Dionysius?’ Philesius hesitated for a while and then rode forward.

The two then met in the middle of the battlefield. Dionysius then stared at Philesius, and Philesius responded without showing weakness.

“Are you the commander of the South Italian Alliance’s army?”

“Are you the tyrant of Syracuse, Dionysius?”

“Precisely, I am Dionysius!”

“I am Philesius – the commander of the Theonian army and the South Italian Alliance’s army!” Under Dionysius’ silent gaze, Philesius subconsciously made his voice louder.

“Philesius, it seems that your men don’t agree with you being their commander.” Dionysius turned to look at Philesius’ side, with a mocking smile on his face. Then he saw cavalries coming here quickly from both east and west.

“In the South Italian Alliance’s, whether they are big or small city-states, they are all equal unlike the Greek city-states in Sicily!” Philesius, with a reddish face, retorted in the same tone as his fellow Theonian statesmen during a debate in the Senate.

Dionysius then laughed, “In combat, shouldn’t an army obey the orders of one person in order to ensure the unity of the whole army? I think your archon Davos knew this very well, but did he not tell you?”

Noticing that he was no match for Dionysius in eloquence, Philesius simply remained silent as he looked at him coldly.

Dionysius restrained his smile and showed a gloomy expression, “However, there is one thing that you are right, I have the final say in the Greek city-states in Sicily! And after this battle, I will also have the final say in Magna Graecia!”

“We won’t know that until after we battle!” Philesius simply replied.

Chapter 426 – Battle of Allaro River (II)

After nodding slightly, Dionysius made his horse return to the formation.

“Dionysius, STOP!” Shouted Ascamas.

“I have already met your commander, and you are not qualified to talk to me!” Dionysius laughed loudly and urged his horse to return to the formation.

“What did Dionysius say?!” Ascamas loudly asked as he rushed over.

“What else besides declaring war!” The good-tempered Philesius couldn’t help but get a bit angry.

“The timid Dionysius, who doesn’t even dare to stay a little longer, declared war on us?!” Said Ascamas as he spat towards the direction of Dionysius.

By this time, Asesias and Siprus had also arrived.

And Philesius, who had calmed down, took this precious opportunity of everyone gathering. He looked at the three and seriously said, “Lord Siprus, you should control your army and don’t pay too much attention to attacking. You just need to keep your side stable as our Theonian army would also defend the right flank together with the Terinian soldiers.”

“I can set my mind at ease having the Theonian legion with us!!” Siprus laughed.

Philesius once again reminded the strategos of Scylletium, “Lord Asesias, make sure that the right end of your phalanx you lead should try to keep the same attacking speed as the Theonian army! And your left flank…please attack boldly together with the Crotonian army!”

Asesias nodded to show his understanding.

Finally, Philesius turned his gaze to the Crotonian strategos, who seemed to have a prejudice against Theonia. Then, he sincerely said, “Lord Ascamas, the victory of the South Italian Alliance and the peace of the whole Magna Graecia depends on you and Crotone!”

“Don’t worry! Our Crotonian warriors are already ready and are just waiting for the salpinx to sound. Then we would launch an assault to defeat the Syracusans in one fell swoop!” Said Ascamas, full of pride.

Philesius looked at each strategos, who had fervent and excited expressions. He then stretched out his right fist and shouted with hope, “The gods will protect Magna Graecia!”

“The gods will protect Magna Graecia!” The other three responded. Their four fists collided forcefully and then pulled their horses and returned to the formation.

Among the Greek city-states in the western Mediterranean, there were two gods that they high highly revered: One was Apollo, the sun god. Apollo was not a powerful main god, but he was in charge of the sun, literature, and archery, in addition to luck. During the colonial era, wooden ships full of colonists sailed to the unknown western Mediterranean, hoping to be lucky enough to escape the storms at sea, reach land, find fertile land for settlement, and not encounter the violent aborigines. So after surviving and successfully constructing a city, they considered it as the blessing of Apollo. And what is the most important thing after settling down? It was, of course, to prosper, grow the community, become more powerful, repel the surrounding aborigines, and expand their territory. Thus the other highly revered god is the queen Hera, who is in charge of marriage, family and childbirth.

Among the city-states participating in today’s battle, the patron of Syracuse, Crotone, Scylletium and Terina is Apollo. Although they had already performed a ritual to the sun god before rushing to the battlefield, the soldiers once more prayed to Apollo for his blessing before the battle. But with the prayers coming from both sides, how would Apollo choose which one to bless?

It is only the Theonian soldiers that sang an ode to Hades, who the Greeks feared.

Like his comrades, Appian silently sang the last part of the ode of Hades, “…oh, the great ruler of the underworld, the impartial arbiter!

May my name shine on the Hall of Valour after I die fighting bravely,

May you lead my soul to Elysium that everyone yearns!”

The soldiers then felt that their fear had disappeared, and strength filled their bodies.

“Brothers, arrange your equipment and wear your helmets!” Said the squad leader.

Appian immediately grabbed a spear and two javelins in his right hand and equipped the long shield on his left hand. He then wore the helmet hanging on his shoulder, pulled down the leather ear guard and tied it tightly at his jaw.

After he finished wearing his helmet, he saw that his comrades had also quickly put on their helmets and resumed their standing posture. Appian felt that this new helmet was much more convenient; his eyes could see the surrounding situation, and his ears could also hear his comrades’ words. Unlike the previous Corinthian helmet, where their eyes and ears immediately became blind and deaf once they put it on as if they could only see the enemy directly in front of them and can only hear the sharp, high-pitched salpinx. It is as if darkness surrounds them, and only the occasional swaying figure of his comrades and the force of their comrades behind them surging forward could make them feel not dreaming.

‘If a person with a fragile heart wears a Corinthian helmet for an extended time, he will definitely go crazy!’ That is what Appian often thought during his regular training, so after tasting the benefits of the new helmet, he never wanted to wear the Corinthian helmet again.

In the legion, there is a saying that if someone says that the new helmet can’t protect their face, they would just scoff at this. After all, people would respond the fastest to any attack that stabs the face, so if they can’t even avoid this, they won’t be a qualified Theonian legionary!

Appian felt pity for the Syracusan soldiers after seeing them wrapped in bronze armour hundreds of metres away.

At this time, the familiar sound of a salpinx that he heard on the training ground countless times had sounded. It was loud and majestic, but it gave him different excitement.

“Forward!” At the shout of the squad leader, Appian, who was holding a shield in his left hand and a spear in his right hand, advanced slowly with his comrades at the beating of the military drums.

Between the small phalanxes, countless soldiers in leather armour rushed out of the gap and ran towards the enemy.

This magnificent sight was just like their countless training sessions. Appian knew that the first to meet the enemy would be their comrades in the light infantry brigades.

Then he and his comrades in the heavy infantry brigades would skillfully switch their spear to a javelin and wait for the moment to throw it as they marched unhurriedly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After two days of hard thinking and careful preparation, at the sound of the salpinx, the nervous Philesius suddenly relaxed and murmured, “It finally started…”

Then he cheered himself up and told the herald and the scouts to report to him the progress of the whole battlefield at any time.

With the battle just starting, he must be 100% focused and ready to deal with all kinds of accidents at any time, just like what archon Davos had done on the past battlefields until the final battle is over and attains victory.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

But at this moment, Dionysius was not paying attention to the battlefield, “Have the reinforcements departed? Where are they now?”

“The fleet led by Lord Leptines set sail from the port of Hipponion half an hour ago with ten thousand soldiers. They might have reached the entrance of the Allaro River…while the other army led by Lord Phacipessas set out from Hipponion early. I estimate that they are now crossing the Corta River…”

The adjutant carefully made his own judgment according to the information he got from the scouts.

Just then, a herald galloped from the rear, “Report! Lord Phacipessas had arrived in the camp with his army and sent me to ask the supreme commander for your next order!”

Dionysius then smiled with satisfaction, “It seems that Phacipessas has done really well and has even exceeded your estimation, Damocles.”

Then Damocles said with a flattering smile, “It is because your plan has completely fooled the Magna Graecians that victory is at hand, milord! Thus Phacipessas came early to get the merits he wanted; otherwise, if he were to come late, the battle would already be over, and the victory will be yours alone, milord.”

Dionysius smiled again and ordered, “Let Phacipessas lead the soldiers to rest in the camp temporarily and recover their strength. After all, the battle has just begun.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The two light infantry brigades of the fourth and fifth legions of Theonia moved forward quickly. Still, their attempt to attack the Syracusan phalanx failed because Syracuse had also sent a large number of light infantry. Thus the skirmish began with the competition of light infantries.

For a while, arrows came and gone, javelins crisscrossed, and the people on both sides screamed and fell. Theonia’s light infantry is more well-trained, but the Syracusan light infantry has more experience on the battlefield. After all, the fourth and fifth legions were established the latest, especially the fifth legion who had not participated in any real battle. Thus both sides fought evenly.

When their distance was almost a hundred metres apart, the Syracusan light infantry retreated as they had to withdraw from the battlefield early before the heavy infantries on both sides collided, else they would be crushed under their impact.

On the other hand, the Theonian light infantry has not withdrawn yet because the more complex and smooth formation of the Theonian legion made them confident to withdraw from the battlefield quickly before the heavy infantry of both sides collides. Therefore, they were not afraid of the approaching Syracusan formation, which was as thick as a mountain. Rather, they even shot two rounds of arrows and javelins.

The arrows flashed with cold light and flew down. Some hit the thick Corinthian helmets and bounced high, making the Syracusan soldiers slightly dizzy. Some were blocked by the round shields, causing no damage except for a small chip in the smooth bronze shield. And only a shot on their exposed arms and thighs could make them lose their ability to fight, but such casualties are too few.

However, the javelins dealt most of the damage. Besides penetrating the chest armour, it could also penetrate the round shield, making it difficult for the soldiers to wave their shield for defence.

But the scream sounded in the Syracusan formation was like throwing a stone into a river. It was completely covered up by the rumbling footsteps and the sounds of weapons and armours rubbing each other.

Chapter 427 – Battle of Allaro River (III)

The experienced Syracusan soldiers stared coldly ahead through the narrow helmet’s eyehole. Although they had not fought directly with the Theonians, they knew that a great impact was coming, so they accelerated their pace.

On the other hand, the Theonian light infantry quickly retreated from the gaps between the small phalanxes, and the small phalanxes of infantries in the back quickly moved forward, which soon connected the whole Theonian formation.

At this time, the enemy has entered a distance of 50 metres, so there is no need for the officers to give orders as the heavy Infantry like Appian strode forward, raised their arms and threw…

Tens of thousands of javelins flew out of the kilometre-long front in the centre of the allied army, covering the sky and the sun as it rained down on the Syracusan phalanx. The well-prepared Syracusan soldiers put their round shields on their heads and overlapped them to form a long bronze wall. And the whirlwind of death caused by the rain of javelins made the screams of the Syracusan no longer be covered up, so the Syracusan soldiers began to speed up their pace as they ran fast.

Appian and his comrades, who are at the forefront, did not hesitate in dropping their javelins as they didn’t have enough time to throw their javelins. In exchange, they place the long shield in their left hand in front of them, clench the spear with their right hand, and rush forward together as they advance as fast as possible within a short distance of 30 metres.

One side is a huge bronze wall, and the other is a black tide.

“Apollo!!!…”

“Hades!!!…”

Amidst the deafening cry, the two sides crashed together, causing even the earth to shake at this moment.

In an instant, Appian felt a huge force hitting his shield, almost breaking his hand holding the shield, making his body tilt back involuntarily. At this time, the same powerful force from the rear pushed him back, causing him to stab his long spear towards the front, but the enemy’s round shield blocked it, while his long shield also blocked the other party’s spear. And due to the momentum of both sides being too great, both spears broke.

Appian held back the pain in his right hand and drew out the short sword at his waist.

As the soldiers of both sides crowded together, the space for each soldier to move became narrower. Thus most of the Theonian soldiers at the front threw away their spears and replaced them with a short sword, regardless of whether their spear was broken or not. On the other hand, many Syracusans equipped their curved swords.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the front on the centre path, the Theonia legion dominates the competition of light infantry. However, on the other front, it is the Syracusan light infantry that has the advantage.

Because Crotone, Scylletium and Terina were not used to having the light infantry attacking at the front while the heavy infantry unit was advancing. Hence they suffered many losses. Thus their only solution was to increase their pace and fight the Syracusan heavy infantry as soon as possible.

Except for Theonia, the alliance concentrates all their light infantry on the left end of the left flank of the whole army, just behind the cavalry. So while both sides were fighting together, only this place remained calm.

Philesius knew that the alliance’s cavalry was far inferior not only in quantity but also in quality. Thus he gathered the 500 cavalries led by Solikos and the cavalries of the other city-states into a team of 1,500 to defend and prevent the enemy from detouring around the left flank* and warned them not to go out easily. And once the enemy attacks, they should just let the nearly 4,000 light infantry behind them scatter the enemy with a long-range attack, supplemented by the cavalry impact, which should allow them to contend with the fierce Syracusan cavalry. (Because the outside of the right flank of the alliance is the Allaro river, so Philesius thought that Syracuse would not arrange their cavalry on this side.)

On the other hand, Philesius’ hidden card is on the left flank. The formation he arranged is similar to Davos’s strategy when defeating the Bruttians on the Consentian plateau; that is, the weaker troops are positioned on the right side, relying on the river to ensure the safety of the flank, and use the stronger left flank to win. However, the left flank of the alliance army has weak cavalry and strong infantry with 17,000 Crotonian infantry and tens of thousands of Scylletian infantry forming the left flank*, and the thickness of the formation alone has more than 40 columns. (a small part of the Scylletian infantry is near the centre.)

Phidias arrived at the right flank of Syracuse. Although he did not know the enemies’ detailed arrangement, after standing in front of the line and seeing the numerous javelins on the other side, he immediately realised that the enemies would deal significant damage once the salpinx sounded!

So he quickly decided to thicken his own formation as well.

But in this way, the right flank, which has fewer troops than the enemy, is bound to have a shorter formation length and would easily be surrounded by the enemy.

At the same time, Phidias made an astonishing decision. He ordered the right flank soldiers to immediately form an arc-shaped front that convexed outward. In this way, the Syracusan soldiers would be placed in the inner part during the fighting, which naturally makes up for the lack of the formation’s length.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When the salpinx sounded, nearly 30,000 infantry from the South Italian Alliance’s right flank took huge steps and marched towards the enemy.

Among the Crotonian soldiers, many citizens like Kelebus were captured by the Theonian twice, who are bearing the responsibility of their defeat. So when they saw the decline of Crotone and the rapid rise of their former enemy – Theonia, their hearts were mixed with loss and confusion.

Therefore today, like their strategos – Ascamas, they also want to prove themselves with a victory and prove the glory of Crotone! This is the pride of the Crotonians and the temperament of a citizen of a sporting nation, even though Crotone’s strength is far behind that of Theonia Union!

That is why they will not slow down their marching speed even if the arrows in the air are sprinkled like raindrops. On the contrary, they gradually increase their pace while trying to maintain their formation…

As they began to charge, the huge Crotonian army sent out a terrifying roar…

All of them set their gaze on the approaching enemy, with a mixture of tension and excitement on their faces, just waiting for that terrifying and maddening moment to arrive!

“Apollo!!!…” They wildly roared as they collided with the Syracusan.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Typically, once the heavy infantry of both sides clashed, the whole formation would begin to play a role from the back to the front. Thus, in order to prevent the other side from pushing their own side, the infantry on the rear of both sides would not only get close to their comrades but also reach forward with their spears as far as possible, which would help the front row soldiers to increase their threat to the enemy. At the same time, they would push forward with all their strength, making the space occupied by the soldiers at the forefront narrower and narrower.

Appian wasn’t worried as he was just doing what they usually trained. He would lunge forward by having his body crouched slightly, leaning forward with half of the long shield protecting almost his entire leg, torso and neck. From time to time, with the help of the power from the back of his body, he would suddenly push the long shield forward, concentrating the power on the semicircular bronze in the centre of the arc-shaped long shield. It is quite powerful because it would fracture the enemy’s chest if they don’t have sufficient protection and make dents appear on the hard bronze shield once it hits an enemy’s round shield.

On the contrary, when the round shield of the Syracusan soldiers hit the long shield: First, the rounded angle of the long shield tends to cause the round shield to slip off. Second, the powerful force transmitted by the round shield through the rounded angle would spread to the whole shield and then to Appian’s body. By then, the force would be much small, giving Appian ample time to recover.

While Appian tried to disrupt his opponent’s defence with his long shield, he saw an opportunity to quickly stab his half-metre long double-edged thick black short sword clenched in his right hand from the gap between himself and his opponent. Unfortunately, the two Syracusan soldiers next to him seemed to have rich experience and avoided it many times.

The thickness of the Theonian legion and the centre of Syracuse is the same, so when their strength is almost equal, the pressure becomes more and more intense.

Appian got closer and closer to the enemy that he could even feel the heat coming from the small gap of the enemy’s Corinthian helmet.

And when he saw that the enemy’s cold eyes suddenly brightened, he instinctively lowered his head and raised his long shield.

“Bang!” When his opponent swung out his sword on the shield, Appian suddenly saw something when he lowered his head, making him excited.

‘It’s the enemy’s feet!’ Although the Greek round shield is large, it is not as large as a long shield, after all. So the enemy’s feet in leather sandals are exposed under the round shield. However, if Appian did not lift his long shield, it would be impossible for him to find this flaw through the gap below.

He immediately crashed his long shield against the other party’s round shield, lowered his head and bent down again (if he were wearing a Corinthian helmet, he wouldn’t be able to bend down and lower his head greatly.) Then the short sword in his right hand stabbed forward, piercing the other party’s right foot without hindrance.

Afterwards, he heard a shrill scream from the enemy. Appian then quickly pulled out his short sword without looking at the outcome of the fighting. Then he pushed the long shield forward with his left foot taking a step forward. After the enemy screamed and fell to the ground, the enemy at the back tried to squeeze into the small gap to fill it up.

However, it was too late. Soon, Appian’s blood-stained short sword stabbed out to the right again like lightning, and the enemy next to him collided with the shield of Appian’s comrade as he did not expect his companion to fall. Then suddenly, he was stabbed through his right arm and shouted with pain that he even threw his sword to the ground.

Chapter 428 – Battle of Allaro River (IV)

Appian quickly drew back his short sword and his body under his long shield, evading the stabs and slashes of the enemies. On the other hand, his comrades on his right seize the moment when the enemy fell to the ground to squeeze forward to Appian’s side, fighting alongside him and causing the shield wall of the enemy to collapse even more.

At this chaotic moment, Appian still manages to wound two people.

In such close-ranged fighting, the danger created by the combination of long shields and short swords of the Theonian is obviously much more than that of the round shield and sword of the Syracusan heavy infantry. After all, the Greek kopis has a certain degree of curved, which is more suitable for slashing rather than stabbing, while the round shield does not provide as much protection for the whole body as the long shield. Thus the Syracusans had to pay more attention because the sharp sword tip would occasionally pierce through the gaps between the shields, wounding them if they were not careful.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the alliance’s left flank, the Crotonian soldiers, known for their wrestling and boxing in all of Greece, unleash their wildness.

Although Phidias thickened the Syracusan formation on the right flank, he still could not increase the number of soldiers he led. Therefore, under the pressure of the Crotonians, the right flank of Syracuse retreated slowly as a whole, making the formation’s arc more curved.

But it just happened that Phidias is a traditional Spartan who fought the enemy at the frontline. Therefore, even if he felt that something was amiss, he wouldn’t be able to make some arrangements to change the situation on the field. The only thing he could do was to hope that the mercenary cavalries could faithfully implement the plan they made before the battle. In fact, the mercenaries were already on the move.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The more aggressive Numidian and Celtic cavalry was already itching for a battle with such an intense battle.

With a shout from Acilita, about 2,000 Numidian cavalries rushed out with him.

The mercenaries gradually formed a slender column as they galloped, passing quickly from the outside of the allied cavalry and letting a strange roar as they threw javelins at the enemy.

The allied light infantry immediately fired arrows at the enemy cavalries.

With the Numidian cavalries moving forward in a single oblique line and loose formation at such a fast speed, few of them were struck and fell. On the other hand, they managed to hit many allied cavalries with their javelins.

The allied cavalries started to get agitated, causing Solikos to ask them to calm down repeatedly.

But when Acilita led the Numidian cavalry in a huge detour, appearing again from the dust and were about to throw another round of javelins, many allied cavalries could no longer bear it as they rushed towards them.

Due to them taking the lead, the other cavalries also rushed forward.

Solikos couldn’t stop them at all. Although he was the temporary commander of the allied cavalry, the Theonian cavalry did not occupy the majority of the allied cavalry as they only had 500 cavalries. Furthermore, in the minds of the Greeks, cavalry is a nobility’s privilege, a place to demonstrate their bravery. Thus it is an organisation that has always been loose, so how could they obey the orders of Solikos?

Soon, Solikos realised that only the Theonian cavalries and the nearly 4,000 allied light infantry remained in place.

Seeing the allied cavalries rushing towards them, Acilita smiled.

Acilita nimbly manoeuvred his horse’s reins, turning the forward charge into a quick diagonal gallop before turning east and speeding up their withdrawal. As he was at the lead, the Numidian cavalry behind him could see his movements, so they immediately followed him as all of them turned around and ran east.

The allied cavalry thought the enemy was fleeing, so they urged their horse to chase them faster.

But now, Solikos is in a dilemma, ‘To chase? or to stay?’

A hundred metres away, he could see enemies watching across the dusty field. However, if Solikos, as the commander of the allied cavalry, does not act together with the other city-state cavalries, he would feel ashamed just sitting in the back and watching as the allied cavalry gets defeated without coming to their rescue.

Solikos pondered repeatedly. Finally, he made a painful decision. After explaining to the commander of the light infantry to pay attention to the remaining enemy cavalries, he then led the 500 Theonian cavalries towards the allied cavalries.

But shortly after the Theonian cavalry left, the allied light infantry heard the rumbling sound of horse hoofs, accompanied by a loud roar, as if thousands of drumsticks were beating a huge drum, causing the whole ground to shake.

“Release the arrow! Release the arrow quickly!!…” Shouted the anxious commander of the allied light infantry.

The light infantry had never seen dense cavalries rushing out of the dust at such a high speed on such uneven ground. Their pursuit of extreme speed and disregard of life and death had frightened them, so much so that they hurriedly shot their arrows and turned to run away even when their hands had gotten sore and their feet had numbed.

The Celtic cavalry active in the northern Italia cut straight into the loose allied light infantry like a sharp knife through butter.

Many Celts fell off their horses that suddenly stopped. On the other hand, the allied light infantry was either stabbed by the spears or knocked down by the horses, while most fled in all directions.

But how can the bloodthirsty Celts easily let them go? So they urged their horses to chase them, stabbing the fleeing enemies one after another. Afterwards, they jumped off their horses and cut off the soldiers’ heads that they stabbed one by one, hanging them on the back of their horses according to the Celt’s customs…

Solikos could never have imagined that the 4,000 light infantry, on which he had placed so much hope, would be defeated so quickly by the Celtic cavalries with only 800 men. But at this moment, he didn’t have the time to think about the light infantry that he left behind.

Philesius originally chose this place to meet the enemy is to limit the Syracusan cavalries. But now, due to the recklessness of the allied cavalries, the terrain has become their shackles. However, their biggest problem is not about them slowing down or someone falling off their horses. The most dangerous thing is the Numidian cavalries, who are much more nimble in manoeuvring their horses on this terrain. They are like children playing around, picking rough areas to gallop and occasionally turning around to throw their javelins at the allied cavalries chasing them.

From time to time, someone from the allied cavalries would be struck and fell from their horses, thinning out the pursuing line and making them quiver.

But when the Numidian cavalries saw that the allied cavalry was not catching up, they instead took the initiative to remain close to them.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

With his calm head, Solikos, who was hurrying in the rear, noticed dust rising on either side of the chaotic formation of the allied cavalries, making him nervous, ‘The enemy is trying to outflank the allied cavalries!’

“Have them retreat! Go and have them retreat!!” Solikos immediately urged the herald beside him.

But before the herald could speed up, the allied cavalries began to retreat in panic.

They finally realised that their horsemanship was far worse than those of the mercenaries. So if they continued to pursue them, they would instead be the ones to be wiped out.

But how could the Numidian just let the prey that fell into their trap run away easily? Although they still haven’t fully closed the net, Acilita still blew the horn.

With dishevelled hair and wearing only simple clothes, the Numidian cavalries immediately surrounded the allied cavalries from three directions at a faster gallop than them.

The allied cavalries ran back in panic like birds in a net; some even fell off their horses because they were too scared and were trampled into mush by the running warhorses.

This time, the Theonian cavalries instead ran at the forefront of the entire retreating column.

Solikos then led them back to their original position, hoping that the 4,000 allied light infantry that remained there would be able to stop the pursuing enemies. However, the Theonian cavalries were shocked by what they saw, ‘The allied light infantry, which was in a wild geese formation, no longer exist. The only thing that remains are human and horse corpses, moaning wounded soldiers, and some naked aborigines (i.e. Celts) that are picking up something among the piles of corpses and even cutting off the heads of any living wounded allied soldiers…’

Seeing such tragic sights made the experienced Theonian cavalries feel their hearts tremble.

When the Celts saw the cavalries returning, they turned their horses around and prepared to intercept.

At such a critical moment, Solikos didn’t even have the time to think too much.

“Go north! Go north!…” Solikos waved his spear and pointed forward. The only thing on his head is to lead these cavalries of different races away so that they would not cause trouble to the whole battlefield.

Solikos took the lead as the Theonian cavalries led the frightened allied cavalries to retreat to the Corace river.

The upper reaches of the Corace river was neither wide nor deep, but when Solikos urged his horse to run down the inclined riverbank, the front hooves of his horse suddenly slipped. As Solikos was too tired, he could not hold on to his horse’s neck and was thrown to the ground by the frightened horse.

“Bam!” Solikos fell heavily to the ground and immediately felt a  sharp pain in his legs, making him almost faint. And he, who was already old, shouted, ‘Crap, my leg broke!’

He then put his hands on the ground as he tried to get himself up, but it was in vain as it just made the pain much worse.

“Strategos! Strategos!…” The Theonian cavalry rushed to Solikos anxiously after seeing him fall.

But their change of direction immediately hindered the advance of the cavalries at the rear, causing the Theonian cavalries and the allied cavalries to entangle as they crowded the riverbank and made the cavalries’ retreat to almost come to a halt. As the people shouted and the horses neighed, the enemy was rapidly approaching…

Solikos endured the severe pain and shouted, “Leave me! Go! Go! Don’t let the banner…fall into the enemy’s hand! This is an order!!” After shouting, he simply sat on the ground and solemnly placed his right fist on his left chest.

Most of the Theonian cavalries, with tears in their eyes, returned the salute. They then turned their horses around and rushed into the river.

But a small number of cavalries still insisted on rushing over. But at this moment, the javelins of the Numidian cavalries flew, and the leading cavalries immediately fell off their horses.

Chapter 429 – Battle of Allaro River (V)

“Hurry up! Go! If you don’t listen to orders, you will be punished according to the military….the military law!!” Solikos roared with beads of sweat and tears running down on his face.

The rest of the Theonian cavalries finally turned around.

Seemingly exhausted his strength, Solikos fell with his right fist still firmly pressed to his chest.

The blue sky, the white clouds and the dazzling sun shining on him were so warm…that a smile showed on Solikos’ face…

“Long live Theonia…” He murmured. At this moment, the thing that he thought was not Thurii, who had given birth to him and raised him for decades, but Theonia Union, which had been established for only a few years.

And when the enemy’s spear stabbed him in the chest, Solikos did not dodge and just closed his eyes. But when he closed his eyes, what he saw was the beautiful Elysium that revealed itself in its entirety…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In Terina, there are only about 500 soldiers left in the city and no other people, making the city almost empty.

Why does this happen?

It is due to Siprus proposal to send most of the soldiers to participate in the battle at the ecclesia, so when the citizens questioned him, “If the enemy suddenly attacked Terina during the war, how would we defend the city with so few soldiers?”

He answered, “Let the people temporarily move to Clampetia and be sheltered by the Theonia Union and return after we are victorious.”

In the end, the ecclesia passed this seemingly absurd proposal due to the Syracusan camp was not far from the riverbank, and Syracuse’s huge fleet is lingering in the bay, like tigers lurking in the grass, ready to pounce at any time. This has frightened the citizens day and night, and the only thing they hope is that the victory of this war will eliminate this huge threat.

With the consent of Asistes, the acting Praetor of Clampetia, the more than 4,000 Terinians went north for refuge with their food and wealth.

So after Siprus led 8,500 soldiers to leave, only less than 500 soldiers were left in the city. They then closed the city fate and monitored the movement outside the city at all times.

“Look, the Syracusan fleet!” A soldier shouted nervously, pointing to the sea outside the port.

These two days, ships from Syracuse came and went at the entrance of the Allaro River, causing the Terinians to get used to it. But this time, not only transport ships had come, but also warships at an astonishing number, which looks like no less than 200.

“There are soldiers on board!” When the Syracusan fleet sailed into the Allaro River and gotten close to the city of Terina, the soldiers at the top of the city wall could clearly see that the fleets entering the river were two ships abreast, one right behind the other and that each ship was filled with soldiers.

“I…I am afraid that they have no less than 10,000 soldiers!”

“It is impossible to defend the city with our meagre number!”

“We should just…retreat now. Anyway, Siprus said that we could retreat if we were unable to hold it anymore. Just like how Athens gave up their home when faced with the invasion of the Persian army, and returned later to rebuild their homes.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Terinian soldiers shouted in panic but soon discovered that the huge fleet did not anchor on the riverbank near Terina. Instead, they went straight upstream.

The soldiers breathed a sigh of relief, but Phromelas – a Terinian strategos, who was watching the two long lines in the Allaro River, looked dignified as a terrible thought came into his mind.

“Immediately send someone to tell the alliance commander that tens of thousands of Syracusan soldiers are on their way to the battlefield. Hopefully, they would-” Phromelas said until here, then he suddenly thought of something making him unable to continue.

According to the scout’s report, the alliance troops have already begun fighting Syracuse, so the alliance should have invested all their troops now. Then even if the commander learned about this, what could he do to stop the enemy’s reinforcement?

Looking at the equally nervous herald, Phromelas tried his best to calm down and said, “Go!”

“…yes!” Just as the herald was about to climb down the city wall, Phromelas said with caution, “After reporting this, you need to stay near the battlefield and immediately inform us once there is a result about the battle!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Faster! Faster!!” Leptines ordered the sailors oaring the ship.

Under the fast-paced drum beatings, the dozens of sailors rowed the wooden oars desperately.  At the forefront is a 50 oar-warship, moving rapidly on the water. Furthermore, with the addition of the southeast breeze, the speed of the whole fleet did not slow down even when going upstream.

Despite the fleet’s speed, Leptines still looked serious. As the navarch, he almost lost his brother – Dionysius’ trust because of the disastrous defeat in the naval battle with Carthage a few years ago. Therefore, at the start of the war, he secretly decided to prove his abilities to Dionysius and to the Syracusans, who ridiculed him for getting his position through blood rather than by ability. That is why he must arrive in time for this battle, as he could no longer disappoint his brother Dionysius and shame himself!

“At the front is where the rivers converge!” Shouted the sailor who was at the top of the mast.

Leptines hurried to the bow of the ship. In front of him was a calm river, dozens of metres wide that branch to the left and the right.

Leptines’ serious face finally showed a trace of excitement, “Prepare to turn the rudder to the left!”

In fact, even without his orders, the experienced helmsman was already adjusting the course of the warship.

Seeing the warships turning smoothly into the river on the left and continuing to pierce through the waves, Leptines finally revealed a smile. After all, he knew that according to the map Dionysius sent yesterday, they would land 2 kilometres ahead on the right side of the river, where there is a flat riverbank.

In order to ensure the smooth landing, Leptines did not even include a trireme in his fleet this time because a trireme was too large and too long, which was inconvenient in docking on the riverbank, and would easily hinder the navigation of the other ships.

“Enamenus!”

“Milord.” Replied the Campanian mercenary leader who was on board the ship.

“Get ready. The rest will be up to you!” Leptines encouraged him.

Unlike the soldiers of the city-states, these experience mercenaries could fight alone without relying on formations, which was why Dionysius chose them for the landing. For this war, Dionysius worked hard and considered some details into his plan.

However, Leptines disliked these mercenaries, especially the Celts and Numidians, as he believed that these aborigines were savages and bloodthirsty, slaughtering indiscriminately, plundering and disobedient. So much so that if he were not thinking of this war’s victory, he wouldn’t even want to get close to them.

“Hahaha! My brothers could no longer wait to kick the Magna Graecian’s asses! This is arguably the easiest battle we’ve fought for Lord Dionysius!” Enamenus laughed loudly. He wanted to get Dionysius’ appreciation by making a huge contribution. After all, Macias, who had come from Campania and was a mercenary and has become a courtier of Dionysius, is his role model.

“Leader, you are right. We only need to charge at the enemy one time to make them kneel and surrender!” The mercenaries on the ship said with confidence.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dionysius was indeed cautious. But he didn’t expect that even after repeatedly reminding the leaders of the Numidian cavalries and the Celtic cavalries to assist the right flank before the battle, these aggressive races returned to their old habits. After defeating the alliance’s cavalries, they were so busy chasing, killing and scavenging for loot that they had long forgotten Dionysius’ orders.

As a result, the right flank led by Phidias retreated in the absence of support, causing the whole right flank, which was still struggling, to almost squeeze out of their arc formation.

But what Dionysius didn’t expect was: In the centre, the 15,000 Syracusans elites heavy infantry, on which he had placed his greatest hopes, were slowly falling back against a similar number of Theonian legionaries, except at the beginning when they are a stalemate for a short time. And the retreat of the centre had also affected the left flank.

After receiving the urgent reports from the left, centre and right, Dionysius realised that the whole front was retreating. Yes, the whole battlefront! So he no longer had the leisure mood he had at the beginning of the battle. Then he ordered his adjutant – Damocles, and his retainers to stand tightly behind the rear of the centre formation, shouting to the soldiers, encouraging them to fight and push back the enemy’s attack.

However, the great noise they created by shouting was almost negligible amidst the screams and clashes of spears and shields. And the centre is still slowly retreating.

“What’s happening?! Why haven’t the reinforcement of Phacipessas arrived yet?!” Dionysius became so anxious that he questioned loudly, and his annoyed mood affected the warhorse he was riding, which kept swinging its head and neighing.

“Milord, the herald has just returned and said that the troops led by Phacipessas are only a kilometre away from the right flank.” Damocles answered immediately.

“Hurry and go!” Dionysius pointed at him and continued, “Have Phacipessas speed up their march and guided his troops towards the right and attack the enemy’s flank!”

“Yes!”

“Where is Leptines’ fleet?”

“Leptines had acted quickly this time, and they are about to land!” Hearing the news that the reinforcements were about to go into battle, Dionysius relaxed a bit, “Beat the drum and blow the salpinx, so that the soldiers not only hold on but also start preparing for the attack!”

Chapter 430 – Battle of Allaro River (VI)

Terina’s herald galloped fast, but because the Allaro River is too deep to wade, he had to make a huge detour north.

After crossing the Allaro River and rushing to the battlefield, blood stained the skin on the inner side of his legs and his horse’s belly, while his whole body was shaking as he rode his horse. Seeing the Theonian scouts coming to meet him, he screamed, “I am…am the herald of Terina! The Syracusan fleet, carrying tens of thousands of soldiers, had passed through the Allaro River to reinforce…hurry! Go and report it to your commanders!…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Although Philesius was worried about the disastrous defeat of the alliance’s cavalries for a while, his mood improved when the Syracusan mercenaries busily chased the defeated soldiers rather than helping their infantry pull back the tide on their right flank. Thus, while feeling lucky, he also scoffed in his heart that even though the Syracusan cavalry is powerful, they lack battlefield discipline and see the big picture.

Now Theonia’s left flank, centre and even the right flank is moving forward…

Philesius had just ordered the flag bearer to move the banner forward, but now it seems that they have to move it forward again.

‘Soon! Soon!…’Philesius wondered how long the Syracusans could resist. At this moment, he thought victory was like an apple that is about to ripen and is already within his reach.

But then, the scouts from the west came rushing, “Reporting to the commander! The reinforcements of Syracuse are disembarking on the back of the Allaro River, and there may be tens of thousands!” After receiving the notice from the Terinian herald, they especially rushed to the bank to confirm and was shocked by what they saw.

“What did you say?! The enemy has tens of thousands of reinforcements?!” Philesius, who was in high spirits, felt like getting poured with cold water.

“Yes, commander! There are tens of thousands of Syracusan reinforcements! They are now landing on the riverbank a kilometre behind our right flank!” The scout shouted anxiously, “We must stop them!”

This shocking news caught Philesius off guard. He glanced at the people around him with a bit of panic and saw that they also were nervously waiting for his instructions as he was the alliance commander.

Realising this, Philesius coughed twice to ease his panic, “Order! Immediately send two light-armoured brigades and two light infantry brigades to rush to the riverbank where the enemy are disembarking. Have them stop the enemy at all costs from attacking our rear!”

“Roger!”

“Sound the salpinx again and urge the fourth and fifth legion to step up their attack! And immediately tell the two legatus and the three allied strategoi, Siprus, Asesias and Ascamas, about our current dangerous situation so that they don’t have reservations at attacking the enemy with all their strength!”

They then immediately followed the order.

After Philesius finished giving the arrangement, he finally had the time to think, ‘Where did the enemy get tens of thousands of reinforcements? Is it the army of Medma? However, the Terinians said that Medma is only a small town, so how could they send out tens of thousands of soldiers?…’

Philesius did not consider the Syracusan troops besieging the city of Caulonia because the alliance’s reconnaissance was paying attention to the more than 40,000 Syracuse-Locri troops and saw that they were preparing to attack the city.

But what he doesn’t know is that at this time, in order to help the South Italian army, strategoi Pheidon of Rhegium had even risked his army to attack Medma, hoping to force the Syracusan to return to their aid, which would disrupt Syracuse’s plan.

But from this moment on, Philesius’ uneasiness began to increase…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

From the centre of the formation to the coast where the Syracusans landed was 3 kilometres. Therefore, even though the marching of the Theonian light-armoured and light infantry were fast, it still took some time. So by the time they reached the riverbank, most of the Campanian mercenaries had landed and formed up.

Although the enemy was so numerous that they occupied the entire riverbank, the Theonian soldiers still charged at them bravely according to their usual training.

The 2,000 light infantry rained arrows and javelins into the enemy. At the same time, the 2,000 light-armoured soldiers, armed with leather shields and short swords, ran as fast as they could directly into the loosely formed mercenaries.

Leptines did not expect the Theonian’s assault as he thought that according to the habits of the Greek city-states, both sides should have already invested all their forces in order to win during this time. Unexpectedly, the South Italian Alliance army could still draw out troops to block them.

Of course, Leptines didn’t know that Philesius was unaware of Dionysius’ plan. Instead, it was the Theonian army regulation stipulating that “as a commander, Philesius should keep a reserve unit in battle in order to change the battle situation by sending them during a critical moment in the course of the battle.” Philesius just acted according to this, and the 2,000 light-armoured soldiers were his reserve units. And after completing the initial attack, the 2,000 light infantry retreated to the rear of the formation and became a part of the reserve units.

The sudden impact of the 4,000 Theonian soldiers plunged the newly disembark Campanian mercenaries into a mess for a moment.

At this critical moment, Leptines quickly ordered the remaining ships to land. As the navarch of Syracuse, his original task was only to transport the reinforcements, while Dionysius gave the task of leading the reinforcements to attack the enemy to Enamenus, the mercenary leader. But now, Enamenus was caught in the chaos together with the soldiers, and it was unknown whether he was still alive or not, so Leptines had to take up the heavy responsibility of rescuing them.

He jumped off the ship and ordered the remaining mercenaries to land immediately.

Seeing the situation of their companions while they were still on the ship, the mercenaries became anxious that some jumped directly onto the riverbank before the ship could even stop.

After forming a team in a hurry, Leptines led them around the forefront of the collapsing mercenaries that were forced to retreat. They then braved rains of arrows of the Theonian light infantry to attack the flank of the Theonian light-armoured soldiers, which caused the fierce offensive of the light-armoured soldiers to stop. In reality, the rapid long-distance march and their rapid attack have consumed a lot of the Theonians stamina.

The chaotic front of the mercenaries finally eased as they began using their numerical strength and heavy armour to their advantage, causing the casualties of the Theonian light-armoured soldiers to rise sharply. But if it were the light-armoured soldiers of the first and second legion of Theonia, they would have lasted longer. Unfortunately, most light-armoured soldiers of the fourth and fifth legions had come from Bruttii and Lucania. They were born in the mountains and grew up learning how to avoid the enemy if they are in a weaker position rather than fight them head-on… Although they have received Theonia’s military training and discipline during their years in the union, the thought of saving their lives in times of crisis still prevailed…

The Theonian light-armoured soldiers retreated, so the light infantry without protection also retreated…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At this time, the battle had lasted nearly an hour. Both the fighting and shouting had weakened the soldiers, but suddenly, both sides blew their salpinx and drums almost at the same time, urging them to attack.

Thus the soldiers on both sides had to fight using their last bit of strength to speed up their offence and defence.

For Dionysius, the only thing in his mind was to resist the enemy’s attack before their reinforcements arrived.

For Philesius, he only had one belief: to break through the enemy’s formation and claim the victory before the enemy’s reinforcements arrived.

Both sides have reached a critical moment in deciding the winner.

Appian, who had several blade wounds on his arms and thighs, was too tired to even lift his long shield, while his hand that was holding the short sword trembles slightly from using his full strength at prolonged duration. He huffed and panted like a seriously ill and dying patient. On the other hand, the enemy he is facing is even worse than him because the armour he is wearing is too heavy that he had even thrown away the round shield and was holding the spear with both hands with his whole body shaking.

Appian didn’t look at them with contempt as the Theonian army couldn’t even use their unique formation*. Therefore, he thought it was because their opponent was giving them too much pressure and sticking to them tightly that the legatus was afraid to switch formation easily. (I.e. interchanging of the rear and front formations.)

In fact, another main reason why they did not implement it was that the fourth and fifth legions had just participated in a battle for the first time and were facing a powerful foe. And it also just happened that the left and right flank are their allies’ troops, and this is also the first time for them to fight together. Thus, Philesius was afraid of rashly changing the formation and causing the soldiers to make mistakes under intense pressure, and the allied troops wouldn’t understand it and cooperate. After all, changing the rear formation to the front formation requires the whole formation to retreat gradually, which may lead to the whole army becoming chaotic.

The loud salpinx was not only to urge the soldiers fighting but also to urge the other forces, such as the Syracusan mercenaries who are chasing the alliance’s cavalries and are returning leisurely. And also the two Syracusan reinforcements who are rushing to the battlefield.

If it were his past habits, the Crotonian strategos – Ascamas would have stood at the forefront and fought the enemy head-on. However, Philesius asked all the alliance’s strategoi to sit in the rear and not participate in the battle to preside over the communication before the battle started. At that time, Ascamas just laughed at the Theonian’s greed for life and fear of death, but now, he should be thanking Philesius for this request because he manages to hear a different salpinx’s sound coming from the opposite side.

The sound of the salpinx came from the outside of the Crotonian army, which is loud and hard and is getting closer and closer…then, in his field of vision, countless soldiers with bright helmets appeared.

‘Syracuse’s reinforcements?!’ Ascamas fell off his horse in a panic as he watched the enemy roar as they rushed towards the rear of the Crotonian soldiers like a tide.

At that dreadful moment, the only thing in Ascamas’ numb brain, ‘Didn’t Philesius say that the enemy’s reinforcements were coming from the riverbank on the right?!…’

Chapter 431 – Battle of Allaro River (VII)

“Report! Commander, the enemy repelled our troops that went to block them and are now attacking our right flank!”

Philesius still felt his heart pound after hearing the report even though he was already prepared for it. He looked anxiously at the dusty front and saw that the figures and noises were still the same as before. And the Theonian legion he had high hopes for still showed no sign of breaking through the enemy…

“Commander, what…what should we do?” The adjutant asked nervously.

Philesius became silent. At this moment, the alliance didn’t have any extra forces to block the enemy’s reinforcements and was just holding on to some hope. However, that too was soon shattered.

“Commander, enemy reinforcements appeared on the right! There are…there are tens of thousands of soldiers! They are fiercely attacking the rear formation of the Crotonians…and the Crotonians…the Crotonians couldn’t stop them…and are now retreating…”

“WHAT?!!” Philesius and the others were stunned as if they got struck by lightning.

Philesius, who had stayed on the battlefield for a long time, was the first to recover and immediately shouted, “Retreat! Signal the retreat!! Retreat immediately!!!”

Now that the alliance’s defeat was decided, then…he must bring back the fourth and fifth legions safely as far as possible! Under Philesius’ pained gaze, the salpinx signalling the retreat rang out on the rear of the alliance.

The sound not only surprised the Theonian soldiers, but it also made the officers unable to believe it.

“Is Philesius crazy?! We are about to break through the Syracusan defence, yet he still dares to tell us to retreat at this time!!” Drakos flared with anger. Although a herald explained why Philesius chose to retreat afterwards, he still had trouble accepting it.

“Give me a bit more time! Just a bit more time! Wait until my legion breaks through the enemy before retreating! The Theonian legion has never lost. We can’t lose this honour in our hands! This is a humiliation!…”

Listening to their legatus’ pained shout, those around him bowed their heads dejectedly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“We…lost…” After hearing the herald’s words, Epiphanes clenched his horse’s mane tightly that he did not notice his warhorse’s pain and neighing as it kept digging the ground with its front hooves.

“…move the banner.” He squeezed out this sentence from his mouth with difficulty, and tears stained his face.

When the salpinx sounded, the legionaries had to look at the banner’s instruction because the battlefield sound is too noisy that it is difficult to distinguish between the enemy and their salpinx. Thus only with the supplement of the military banner’s instruction could they confirm the order.

“Look! The banner is moving!!” The Theonian soldiers that looked back caused a commotion.

Not only the legion banner, the brigade banner, but also the centuria banner were pointing to the rear one after another…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Milord, congratulations! The Magna Graecians are defeated. You are victorious! This is a great victory, and from now on, you would have the final say on this land, milord!” Facing the praises of Damocles, Dionysius wasn’t too complacent. After all, he already expected this victory as he had more than 70,000 men against only more than 50,000 men. But he didn’t expect that the so-called “legions” of Theonia completely suppressed the elite heavy infantry of Syracuse on the battlefield. And the most important thing is that the fourth and fifth legions were composed of aborigines (Dionysius had carefully collected intelligence about Theonia). But if they were to meet the first and second legions that the Theonians boasted, what could the heavy infantry of Syracuse do?

Thus, even if he won, Dionysius remained vigilant, “Although we defeated the enemy, the war is still not over. Continue urging the reinforcements on both flanks to pursue, kill and capture the Magna Graecians, especially the Theonians!”

“Send all the heralds to find Acilita and Gaba. Tell them that I am furious at how they did not obey my orders and help our right flank attack the enemy. And that they would not get paid even one silver coin unless they immediately pursuit those black-armoured enemies, killing as many of them as they can or capture them!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Although Appian had practised how to retreat in their previous military training, he didn’t expect to use it when participating in a battle for the first time. After smashing his long shield into the enemy with pain, he turned around and ran with his short sword in his hand. However, he stumbled and nearly fell down after getting hit by his opponent’s thrown kopis.

Appian got up quickly and eagerly chased his unit that was already a dozen metres away from the enemy’s formation as he looked at the fluttering banner.

But the danger is the greatest the moment they turn around and run away. Some soldiers were overtaken by the enemy and were stabbed while their comrades just watched them fall to the ground, crying for help. The legionaries, who have always emphasised unity, could not care less about saving their comrades at this moment as they ran desperately and frantically, hoping to distance themselves from the enemy.

When Appian heard his squad leader shouting, “Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!…” his nervousness eased slightly. And even though the officers shouted, “Hurry! Hurry!” it doesn’t mean to let the soldiers run around randomly. Following the Theonian Military Law, they should gather under the nearest military banner as much as possible and follow them during the retreat to avoid disorganisation.

As Appian ran, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him gradually weaken. When he looked back, he saw that he had pulled away from the enemy by a lot of distance that some even stopped chasing, which calmed him down even more. Thinking about it, he immediately understood that they had exhausted their strength after an hour of continuous fighting while wearing heavy armour. Furthermore, in their usual military training of the Theonian soldiers, one of their most important training was to run around while fully armed. And the Spartans were also doing this training since childhood.

But after running for a while, the troops gradually slowed down.

The original position of the fourth legion was to the right, adjacent to the Terinians. In order to capture the fleeing Terinians, Enamenus led the Campanian mercenaries from the west to the east. At the same time, the fleet’s sailors moored on the riverbank felt that they hit the jackpot when they saw the fleeing enemies. Thus in order to reap the spoils of war, they also came ashore to participate in the interception, making the pursuit net bigger and denser, pressuring the Terinians, a large group of panicking “fish” to flee east, which naturally made the space of retreat of Theonia’s fourth legion smaller.

“Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!…” Standing on the bank of the Corace River, Epiphanes hurried his legionaries to cross the river, no matter whether the soldiers could hear him in such chaos.

On the other hand, Philesius, standing on the other side of the Corace River, felt more pained. He did not expect the river he had chosen as their rear barrier to limit the flanking of the enemy cavalry to become a shackle preventing their retreat. Although the river was neither wide nor deep, the riverbed turned into mud immediately after the rushing and trampling of thousands of soldiers. Thus once a flustered soldier fell, it would be not only a disaster for him but also a disaster for the soldiers behind him.

As countless soldiers tangled in the riverbed, the order disappeared as everyone pushed each other, making the sight more chaotic…

Philesius suddenly seemed to see the reappearance of the tragedy in the Persian canyon. He shouted and reminded the soldiers, but this river, stretching more than 5 kilometres, made his shouts so small that it was completely ignored.

Philesius could only regret and dare not witness such tragedy again. But when he turned his head around, he saw rows of buglers and drummers behind, and an idea flashed through his mind, “Hurry! Play the March to Battle! Play the March to Battle!…”

He shouted like crazy, frightening the buglers into placing the salpinx’ mouthpiece into their mouth. However, due to their nervousness, the first tone they blew out was out of tune, but they gradually played more fluently and louder.

The 《March to Battle》 is also adapted from Davos’ memory that he heard in his previous life. It shows the fearlessness of the soldiers going to the battlefield and killing the enemy with a majestic, strong and fast melody. When the melody echoed in the Corace River, the soldiers of the fourth legion who heard it had awakened their courage and honour, so they gradually recovered their reason, alleviating the chaos in the riverbed…

At the same time, Philesius ordered the light-armoured soldiers to go down the river bed and form a dense formation to separate the Terinians and reduce the interference of the fourth legion’s orderly retreat. And in case of emergency, they would even drive them towards the west by force. At this moment, Philesius was forced to be cruel to his allies.

“Commander, the fifth legion…many soldiers of the fifth legion had still not reached the riverbank!” An adjutant hurriedly reported.

“What?!” Philesius felt that his head was about to explode. With one thing happening after another, Philesius, even with his good temper, had gotten furious, “What is Drakos doing?!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Due to Drakos unwillingness, he hesitated in retreating. So when most soldiers heard the salpinx but saw that the banner did not move, they did not dare to retreat.

It wasn’t until Drakos noticed that the troops on the left and right flanks of the fifth legion were all retreating and that the fifth legion was about to be isolated that he hurriedly ordered the retreat.

Originally, the retreat of the fifth legion should be smoother than that of the fourth legion because Crotone’s fierce attack almost turned Syracuse’s right flank and the left flank where the Crotonian army is located into a half-circle. This resulted in the Crotonian soldiers at the far left end, who were originally facing south and with their backs to the north, almost facing west and with their backs to the east. So after getting attacked by Phacipessas’ reinforcements, they mainly fled in the southeast direction. On the other hand, the Scylletian soldiers led by Asesias were closer to the centre. Thus when they ran, they instinctively headed east because their city-state was not far from the east, and most Scylletian soldiers did not know that enemy reinforcements were coming in the east. Thus, they were crowded with the Crotonians.

Chapter 432 – Battle of Allaro River (VIII)

Hence this resulted in the space for the retreat of the fifth legions to the north spacious. However, not long after the fifth legion began their retreat, the mercenary cavalries of Syracuse spotted them.

After the reprimand of Dionysius, the Numidians and the Celtics woke up as they rushed to chase down the soldiers wearing black armour. And due to the fewer fleeing soldiers along the way, it made their galloping convenient, allowing them to spot the fifth legion of Theonia’s retreat.

The fifth legion soldiers were still compact and are retreating orderly, which was obviously not beneficial to the impact of the cavalries. And the Celtic cavalries, even though they are fierce, were not stupid enough to directly clash with a thick heavy infantry formation. However, the crafty mercenaries had their own way. They lined up in columns, drove their horses close to the Theonian soldiers and shouted loudly, and would throw javelins continuously as they quickly passed by the fifth legion’s formation…

The rapid sounds of horses’ hooves and the strange screams and the shouting of their comrades…made the fifth legion’s soldiers, who were already demoralised to be more confused. Wanting to escape the terrible enemy behind them earlier, the soldiers sped up their pace…which caused the retreat of the fifth legion to become chaotic.

When Drakos saw the mess, he immediately made a decisive decision. He turned his horse around and shouted at the first brigade behind him, “Burim, take your first brigade and follow me to stop those damn cavalries! Allowing the rest of our brothers to be able to retreat safely!”

Burim, who was once a chieftain of Besidice, was an unyielding man among the Bruttians. And he is now serving as the senior centurion of the first brigade of the fifth legion. He then replied without hesitation, “Understood, lord legatus!”

As they were afraid it would affect the retreat of the other soldiers, the first brigade didn’t sound their salpinx and only pointed their flag towards the opposite direction of the retreat, followed by the centuria and platoon’s flag. Under the shouts of the officers, the soldiers of the first brigade turned around one after another…

As the other soldiers fled in panic, the first brigade of the fifth legion rose to the challenge!

At the forefront was the legion’s legatus, Drakos, who was fully armed and riding his horse, followed by the senior centurion of the first brigade, Burim.

Drakos turned around and looked at the flustered first brigade soldiers, yet they still decisively followed him. And his satisfaction was reflected in his words, “All of you are worthy of being a man of Besidice! My best soldiers! My best brigade!!” (the soldiers of the first brigade are all from the city of Besidice.)

“It’s the first brigade’s honour to fight together with you, milord!” Burim said as he straightened his chest.

Drakos nodded and gave the order loudly, “Form two rows! Stay in formation and retreat slowly! Never let even one enemy pass!!”

At this moment, Drakos didn’t even think about their survival as the only thing in his sight were the mercenaries roaring in front of him.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dionysius, who had studied the previous battles of Theonia, learned from Theonia well this time. He made use of the high mobility of the mercenary cavalries and the two reinforcements that had just joined the battlefield to continuously pursue the scattered soldiers of the South Italian Alliance’s army. So much so that he only withdrew his troops back to the camp when it became dusk.

The Allaro river blocked the defeated Terinian soldiers’ escape path towards the city. Furthermore, warships are waiting in the river, which forced most of the soldiers to retreat northward with the Theonian army under the dual pursuit of the Campanian mercenaries and the sailors of the Syracusan fleet.

The scout sent by Terina fled back in panic and reported the battle’s outcome to the soldiers stationed in the city, causing everyone to panic.

Strategos Phromelas had to make a painful decision in view of the fact that their main army could not return and the isolated city of Terina was unable to stop the incoming Syracusan army. Thus the soldiers abandoned the city of Terina and withdrew to the city of Clampetia of the Theonia Union.

The lookout of the Syracusan warship cruising in the river noticed the abnormality of Terina. So after the Terinians were gone, they sent the sailors to land and investigated the place. As a result, they easily occupied the empty city.

Hence at the dusk of the end of the battle on the Allaro River, Syracuse occupied Terina and gained an excellent foothold for their army in the central part of Magna Graecia. The materials needed by the Syracusan army can now enter the port of Terina by sea, which is much more convenient and safer.

But Dionysius was still not satisfied. His greedy eyes were now fixed on Scylletium, which is not far from the battlefield.

The Scylletian soldiers that participated in the battle were quite miserable. Due to fleeing eastward, they crowded together with the defeated Crotonian soldiers, consuming valuable time. And their retreat path was cut off by Phacipessas’ reinforcements, and behind them, Phidias led some Syracusan soldiers to persist in their pursuit despite their fatigue. As a result, some of the defeated Scylletian soldiers died, some surrendered, some followed the defeated Crotonian soldiers to the north, and only more than 3,000 managed to flee back to the city of Scylletium.

Because the fourth and fifth legion of Theonia were far away from the enemies’ reinforcements on the two flanks, and with the help of friendly foes(involuntary), they managed to retreat relatively smoothly. Except for some setbacks when crossing the Corace River, they did not suffer great losses.

However, Syracuse’s mercenary cavalries caused them the greatest loss. Although the first brigade of the fifth legion led by Drakos stopped most of the cavalries, it also delayed their retreat, resulting in the heavy siege of the pursuing troops of Syracuse and were unable to escape…

Still, Theonia’s greatest luck was that although the cautious Philesius agreed to the battle, he still kept an eye on the situation after discussing it with Ansitanos. As he already considered the possibility of defeat, he had made Ansitanos lead the two legion’s logistics, engineering, medical brigades…and the other legion’s auxiliary personnel out of the camp after they started forming up. They then marched north to retreat to a place between Aprustum and the battlefield.

Philesius’ intention was that: If they won the battle, Syracuse would be driven out of the Ophemia plain, and it would not be too late for the logistics brigade and other auxiliary forces to return. However, if they are defeated, they can no longer retreat back to the camp. Instead, they would retreat to the city of Aprustum and make new defensive arrangements as instructed by Davos before he left.

Thus when the Syracusan army pursued the defeated soldiers, the slow-moving auxiliary forces of Theonia were already on their way back to the city of Aprustum to avoid being captured by Syracuse because there were no longer any soldiers in the camp.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Perhaps Apollo could no longer bear to see such a gruesome battle between the Greeks, so he let the sun fall into the mountains earlier, and darkness quickly occupied the whole world.

However, Artemis, Apollo’s sister and the goddess of hunting and the moon, was lazy and did not let the moon rise in the sky, so Hades took control of the night.

The alliance’s troops should be thankful for the protection of Hades that the Theonians worshipped. At least the arrogant mercenaries of Syracuse did not dare to come pursuing them in the dark night. Still, it also created many difficulties for the retreat of the alliance’s troops.

In the dark, the soldiers could not see the banner and the plume of the officers, so they could not reorganise. But besides the Theonian legion, the other troops were completely scattered. In fact, this area is the edge of the mountains; the ground is uneven and bumpy, so the exhausted, hungry, frightened, and demoralised soldiers are prone to falling. And if they couldn’t stand up in time, they would be trampled by the soldiers behind them, causing many soldiers to be injured.

The deaths of their comrades made the thousands of defeated soldiers. At the same time, they shouted the names of their officers while worrying about their own safety…

Trudging forward in the darkness, they felt for the first time that Aprustum and Crotone were surprisingly far away from Scylletium…

It was only late at night that the Praetor of Aprustum – Agassias learned of their defeat. Hence, he urgently sent cavalries and citizens holding torches to illuminate the way for the defeated soldiers. Then Crotone also made corresponding measures, which finally allowed the defeated soldiers to separate from the dark.

For the whole night, the two cities busily accommodated the defeated soldiers…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Scylletians were also sleepless that night.

As Scylletium’s distance to the battlefield was not far, they immediately received the news of the battle’s defeat, which spread all over the city and caused the people to panic.

At dusk, the more than 3,000 soldiers fled back to the city, after which only sporadic defeated soldiers managed to return. A huge troop of 14,000 men left the city in the morning, but not even a third of them returned in the evening, causing the whole city to mourn.

Phrytinas – the Scylletian polemarchos regretted that he should not have forced the Theonians to rush into battle.

But now, the crisis of Scylletium had just begun. In the South Italian Alliance, the city of Scylletium is also a huge city, which used to make the Scylletians proud. But it has become the cause of the Scylletians trouble as they now lack soldiers to defend the city. From what the defeated soldiers said, the sudden appearance of Syracuse’s reinforcements on the battlefield were the cause of their defeat, which means that the military strength of Syracuse on the battlefield may be more than 50,000. So with the momentum of their victory, who will be the next target of Dionysius?

Phrytinas and the statesmen of Scylletium believed that it would be Scylletium due to its close proximity. Now that Theonia and Crotone have just suffered disastrous defeats, they certainly would not be able to send troops to rescue them in such a short time. So if they wanted Scylletium to escape from Syracuse’s attack, they could only rely on themselves.

Thus an ecclesia was urgently held in the city of Scylletium. The citizens who had still not yet washed the dust and fear in their faces will make an important choice for the city’s survival…

Chapter 433 – Victor’s Vigilance

If there is a loser in a battle, there will be victorious. If there is pain, there is naturally joy. While the alliance soldiers tasted the bitter fruit of defeat, the Syracusans enjoyed the joy of victory.

In Dionysius’ quarter, candles burned brightly as all the strategoi gathered together to have a meal and talk about today’s battle…

“Stop arguing! The most important hero for our victory today should be Phidias!” Dionysius sat at the head seat, glanced at everyone, and then pointed to Phidias. Then he said loudly, “I truly didn’t expect that the commander of Theonia had arranged so many soldiers on their left flank. If Phidias didn’t take the right response, I fear that our right flank would have collapsed before our reinforcements arrived!”

“You are right, milord!” Phacipessas immediately agreed and continued, “When I led our troops to attack the enemy’s flank, we were surprised at their formation’s thickness where it even reached more than 50 columns, which I have never seen before…and the length is long enough…long enough-” Phacipessas couldn’t think of an apt description for a moment, so he instead gestured with his hand and said, “Its length is longer than this quarter! But such a powerful force couldn’t defeat our right flank. Instead, the enemy became exhausted! Thus I led the soldiers into a small charge, easily breaking the enemy apart!…”

Everyone gasped in admiration.

Although Phidias was somewhat proud, he didn’t boast about himself to everyone. After all, the Spartans don’t like such superficialities. Besides, he is just fighting for the Syracusan, so he doesn’t care whether he gets the glory or not that much. He is just enjoying the fun of this kind of battle. And since he was at the forefront of the battlefield, he is now too exhausted even to speak.

“Leptines, your performance this time is beyond my expectation!” Dionysius looked at his brother and said happily, “When the mercenary led by Enamenus was blocked, you did not escape and instead took responsibility to repel the enemy who came to intercept, ensuring the smooth attack on the rear of the enemy’s right flank. We won this battle, and your contribution is indispensable! Furthermore, your fleet also boldly attacked Terina and won our first city after our battle!”

Dionysius did not hesitate to praise Leptines due to his performance.

“Milord, it is all thanks to the help of navarch Leptines this time!” Enamenus took the opportunity to praise Leptines while he tried to justify his mistakes, “I didn’t expect that even though the battle was so fierce, the Greeks still retained an army and did not send them into battle. And they instead made a sudden attack on us…”

“It just shows that this battle was not easy for us to win and that the commanders of Theonia are not simple!” Dionysius sighed a little as he witnessed how the Theonian legion forced his elite troops to retreat step by step. Moreover, from the statistics after the battle, they suffered more than a thousand casualties among the soldiers in the centre, which really surprised him and still haunted him, “Unfortunately, we failed to capture more Theonian soldiers…”

As soon as he uttered these words, the two mercenary cavalry leaders became slightly ashamed. The straightforward Celtic leader, Gaba, explained using strange Greek pronunciation, “We tried our best, but the Theonian soldiers did not escape. Instead, they lined up in a formation and fought us. We lost…many men…”

“Those Theonians stretched out their formation, guarded the riverbank and forced us to fight them head-on. And it is challenging for cavalries to fight heavy infantries…” Acilita also added.

Dionysius glanced at the two of them. He just wanted to knock the two unruly foreign leaders and did not want to tear their faces yet, “In any case, you have held back more than a thousand Theonian soldiers and eventually destroyed and captured them, including a legatus. This would be the biggest military loss of the Theonia Union since its establishment!”

“Milord, it is just because Theonia was not even as old as my youngest son!” Astagoras, another strategos of Syracuse, sneered, “Next, we will give them more defeat until we completely destroy their union!”

Astagoras’ words caused everyone to laugh.

Amidst the laughter, a cold voice sounded on the seat to the left of Dionysius, “I have inspected the weapons the Theonians left on the battlefield. To tell you the truth, I don’t think you will have much of an advantage even if you engage the infantries of the Theonian legion once more.”

These words naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of everyone in the quarter.

“Spartan, you think too highly of the Theonians! Astagoras shouted with impoliteness.

“I am telling the truth.” Phidias said impolitely, ignoring everyone’s dissatisfaction.

At the same time, he strode out of his seat, put on a heavy infantry attacking posture regardless of everyone’s strange gaze. He then said with seriousness, “According to the traditional battle habit of the heavy infantry, the left-hand round shield can be used for both defence and impact while raising the spears in the right hand over the round shield to stab the opponent. And once the spear is broken, we could pull out our kopis to slash…however, the soldiers of the Theonian legion fight differently from ours. I brought the long shield and short sword used by the soldiers of the Theonian legion. Unfortunately, it was forcibly left outside the quarter by the guards.”

Speaking of this, Phidias also did not forget to satirise Dionysius covertly. After all, even though Dionysius is good at using assassination, he is also on guard against being assassinated by others. In the past, many tried to assassinate him. He became so cautious that he stipulated that if anyone wanted to meet and discuss with him, he had to be searched by the guards, and they were not allowed to carry any weapons.

Once another brother of his (whom he had sent to serve as a tyrant of a neighbouring city-state) came to the palace to see him, and while they were talking about an important matter, he asked the guard for a spear to draw a map on the ground. As a result, Dionysius became so furious that he immediately ordered the guard to be executed.

At this time, Dionysius didn’t care about Phidias’ irony as he was more interested in what he would say next. Thus he magnanimously gave the order, “Go and get Theonia’s short sword and shield.”

Once the short sword and long shield were placed in front of Phidias, he picked up the long shield in his left hand and placed it on his chest and explained, “Theonia’s long shield is big enough to protect the soldier’s bodies, so they don’t have to worry about defence and could instead focus on killing the enemy.”

As he spoke, Phidias used the short sword to stab. After a few stabs, he thrust the short sword into the wooden table, where they heard a sound as the whole tip of the sword completely pierced in.

“What a sharp sword!” Leptines, sitting next to Phidias, exclaimed. Curious, he pulled out the short sword and inspected it carefully: The blade of the short sword has some small gaps, and the tip of the sword was slightly bent. However, it still gave everyone a chill.

“This sword is too short! We would have already stabbed the Theonians with our spears before they could even stab my soldiers with it!” Astagoras retorted.

“It is indeed short. But the Theonian soldiers have this long shield to protect them from the thrusting of our spears. On the contrary, once both sides clashed, we could no longer use the spear to stab while this short sword can easily stab us…” Phidias wearing the long shield, felt unsettled as he stared at the short sword on Leptines’ hand. The Greek phalanx with a round shield and a spear was a set of heavy infantry tactics passed down through centuries. It’s so effective that it was hard to march among other nations in the Mediterranean. Yet, a newly established city-state union managed to develop another set of heavy infantry equipment and tactics in such a short time that could compare to the traditional tactics!

‘It’s due to their weapons and equipment!!’ Dionysius became a little excited after listening to the analysis of Phidias. After all, he had thought that his most elite army was inferior to the newly created legion of Theonia, which made him upset. Now he realised that he could make up for their disadvantage as long as it is not a problem of the soldier’s quality.

“Phidias, what do you think we should do if we meet the legion infantry of Theonia next time?” Dionysius asked the Spartan for his advice.

“Judging from the Theonians’ weapons and equipment, they would have no advantage when facing them in mid-range. But once the two sides are close to each other, the short sword and the long shield would play their greatest role. Hence we should not adopt the clashing tactics when fighting in a phalanx formation. Instead, we should leave a certain distance for the soldiers at the forefront to use their spear formation. It would make Theonia legion’s infantry dare not get close so that the Syracusan soldiers can use their spear thrust technique to gain the upper hand…” Phidias used this battle as a reference to carefully think about how to deal with Theonia’s new tactics. After all, he had not actually fought the Theonian legion head-on and was only making speculations based on his years of combat experience.

But it was enough to let Dionysius sigh a breath of relief. He then said to the strategoi opposite of him, “Did you all hear that?! The next time we fight the Theonian soldiers, we will follow Phidias’ method!!”

With the Syracusan strategoi such as Phacipessas and Astagoras taking the lead to say yes, the others also followed. Naturally, they agreed with reluctance.

Chapter 434 – Wolf And Sheep

Dionysius would naturally not demoralise his men for the sake of a Spartan. He only wanted to know how to deal with the Theonian infantry, so he smiled and said, “Of course, after this disastrous defeat, it is hard to say whether the Theonians would still have the chance to fight us again.”

It was now the turn of Phidias to be puzzled, so he asked directly, “Why do you say that? After all, the Theonians did not suffer heavy casualties, and with its strength, they could still organise an army that is not weaker than Syracuse.”

Dionysius smiled and said, “Phidias, you are talented in the art of battle, but defeating and destroying a city-state is not done by battles alone.”

He raised his head as if his sharp eyes could penetrate his quarter and saw the archon of Theonia that was trekking in Lucania…with a mocking sneer on his face, he proudly said, “The invasion of the Samnites is enough to give the Theonians a headache, and with today’s victory, it would have a great impact on Magna Graecia! Thus the trouble of Theonia had just begun. So now that Theonia can’t get out of its trouble and concentrate all its troops to stop us, we need to quickly conquer the other city-states of the South Italia Alliance, invade Theonia, make its people panic and shake its affiliated cities due to anxiety…” Dionysius then said decisively, “And finally, conquer it!”

“Milord is right! Conquer Magna Graecia early, and we could go home earlier!” Phacipessas echoed loudly.

“Let’s toast for the early conquest of Magna Graecia!” The usually low-key Leptines became a bit excited because of Dionysius’ encouragement.

“We should kill more Magna Graecians and take more spoils!” Acilita said with a big grin and a slightly frightening expression. After all, he was not even interested in conquering Magna Graecia as no amount of occupied land would be distributed to his tribe. Hence he needed more food, money, and even slaves to strengthen his tribe.

The Celtic leader Gaba shared the same thought.

When all the others picked up their mugs, Phidias reluctantly stood up as he was not sure whether it would be good or bad for Sparta for Syracuse to easily defeat Theonia.

The celebration in the commander’s quarter didn’t last long because a Scylletian envoy came.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

During the battle, the soldiers of Scylletium suffered heavy losses and have now sent an envoy late at night. Thus anyone can easily guess their purpose.

Dionysius deliberately did not immediately appear, seemingly neglecting the envoy and making him fidget. So as soon as Dionysius appeared, the envoy immediately requested the tyrant of Sicily to accept the Scylletian surrender.

Dionysius had already longed planned this, so he deliberately dismissed their surrender and angrily said to the envoy, “Scylletium had always been actively against Syracuse and its ally, Locri. But now that you suffered a crushing defeat and your city is about to be captured, you wanted to surrender? It just shows that you are not sincere at all! And if you want me to feel your sincerity, Scylletium had to pay the price for what you have done before!”

This envoy was obviously not as young and arrogant as the previous envoy who had delivered the letter of challenge and immediately pleaded in a low voice.

Dionysius then said with a slightly calmed expression, “If you want us to accept your surrender, you must send a thousand sheep, fifty cattle, and 30,000 kilograms of grain to Syracuse’s camp tomorrow morning. Only then will we accept Scylletium’s request for a truce.”

As soon as the Scylletian envoy heard this, he immediately cried out and said that Dionysius was asking was a huge amount. And Scylletium could not gather that much in just half a day, so he hoped for Dionysius to reduce the amount.

Dionysius then coldly said, “This is the time for you to show your sincerity, so if you can’t deliver my request tomorrow morning, Syracuse will attack Scylletium in the afternoon!”

The Scylletian envoy could only hurry back to the city and informed the council of Dionysius’ unyielding request.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

‘That is still much better than our people dying!’ After a heated debate, the Scylletian statesmen, facing the Syracusan army’s pressure, decided to agree to Dionysius’ condition, sending several strategoi led by Phrytinas to Syracuse’s camp for negotiation again and determine the Scylletian’s treatment after their surrender.

After Dionysius made some concessions, the two sides signed an agreement and swore to the gods.

Phrytinas and the others became temporarily relieved and hurried back to the city to prepare the supplies. It’s not that Scylletium could not take them out, just that after they hand over these things, the Scylletians will have a harder life in the second half of the year. However, no matter how difficult it would be, it is still much better than getting destroyed by Syracuse. Moreover, Dionysius also gave Scylletian some conditions to win them over, making the Scylletians surrender and join the Syracusan army to fight their former allies, which made Phrytinas interested. For example, he would give the eastern part of the Ophemia plain to which the Terinians owned to Scylletium…

In this battle, Syracuse won a massive victory with absolute advantage, making the Scylletian council feel that the South Italian Alliance’s future to be bleak. And as the first city-state of the South Italia Alliance to defect to Syracuse, Scylletium would gain a lot.

Thus the whole city of Scylletium was busy from afternoon to evening.

Early the next morning, the Scylletians drove out of the city in an endless stream with flocks of livestock and wagons loaded with grain. Of course, several strategoi, such as Phrytinas, and their attendants accompanied them in order to discuss with Dionysius where they would be dispatched in the war and other matters.

But when the long caravan was only half out of the city, a large number of cavalries appeared in the open field and began killing the unarmed men.

The sudden blow made the Scylletians panic as they ran for their lives, but the countless livestock and wagons caused the city gate to be blocked, resulting in their inability to close it and pull up the suspension bridge.

“Dionysius lied to us! He just wants to take our city!!” Phrytinas just now realised it. However, it was already too late.

Dust filled the front, and rumbling footsteps could be heard ahead as the large forces of Syracuse rapidly approached the city wall…

“Dionysius, you broke your oath and deceived the gods. I curse you for your eyes to be gouged out and your heart and your bloodline to be cut off!…” Phrytinas was then stabbed in the forehead by a javelin of a Numidian cavalry and fell off his horse, turning his hatred into a vicious curse before dying.

The Syracusan army easily broke through the defenceless city of Scylletium, and the army composed of Sicilian Greek city-states, mercenaries and foreign races did not stop…

The panicking Scylletians wanted to escape the fallen city, but they had nowhere to run as the port was filled with Syracuse’s fleet, and countless cavalries were galloping outside the city.

As a result, the atrocities once committed by Syracuse in the city-states of Sicily, such as Catania and Naxos, are now happening in Magna Graecia’s Scylletium – a massacre of the city.

Dionysius did not stop his soldiers. On the contrary, he even let them indulge. After all, they were all under his strict control for some time, and after continuous rapid march and battles, they needed a place to release their desire…naturally, this is only a minor reason.

The more important reason is that he is short of money! Seriously short of money! It is already difficult for him to pay three months of the mercenary salaries, and looting is the quickest way to get the money.

In addition, he needed to magnify the impact of the battle and shockingly tell the Magna Graecians that those who opposed him would have such a tragic end!

Syracuse’s army ransacked the whole city. Of course, more than half of the looted wealth belonged to Dionysius.

Besides the countless Scylletians killed during the looting, he also decided to turn all the nearly 70,000 captured Scylletians, including the freemen in the port, into slaves and transport them to the slave market in Syracuse for money.

Except for a few who were neither killed in the looting nor sent away as slaves because Dionysius had specially asked the guards to find and protect them. They were Saliseus, the Scylletian envoy who had threatened him before and his family.

Dionysius took them to the Scylletian square. In front of tens of thousands of Scylletian captives, he cruelly slashes Saliseus and his family, covering their bodies with countless wounds.

Amidst the dying curse of Saliseus, Dionysius proclaimed in a loud voice, “This is the fate of any Magna Graecians who insults me and Syracuse*!” (T/N: Just trying to convey Dionysius’ arrogance.)

He then cut off Saliseus head with the sword in his hand.

The tens of thousands of Scylletians were reduced to silence.

He did not destroy the city of Scylletium as he did to Catania because the position of Scylletium was more important than Terina. Not only because of its large area that could accommodate more than 70,000 troops(Syracuse suffered more than 3,000 casualties in the battle.), but also the east coast of Magna Graecia was the main direction of his attack. He will use Scylletium as an important forward base for Syracuse to attack Theonia and Crotone. It is where he would concentrate the Syracusan army, navy and especially the food supplies, which is the springboard for the next march northward.

Although Dionysius had no desire to attack the west coast with its high terrain and rugged road, which is unfavourable to the march of the army and are occupied by foreign races, for the time being, he also had his plan for it.

He found dozens of soldiers from different Bruttian and Lucanian tribes among the captives, met them with an amicable expression. He then told them through an interpreter that Syracuse had come to Magna Graecia not to enslave them but to liberate them from the harsh rule of Theonia, giving them the freedom they once enjoyed. Moreover, as long as they are willing to rise against Theonia and fight for themselves, Syracuse will give them more fertile land, such as Ophemia plain and Sybaris plain, once the war is over…

Chapter 435 – Crotone’s Choice

Dionysius not only released them but also gave them some gifts.

These Bruttian and Lucanian warriors thought that they would have a tragic fate after getting captured. However, they didn’t expect to be treated like this, so they began thanking their god for their blessing.

With gratitude to Dionysius, most of the warriors still embarked on the road back to the city of Aprustum, and only a few hesitated for long. In the end, they decided to head west, not through Clampetia, but over the mountain path between the Ophemia plain and the mountains of Bruttii, then back to their hometown…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On this day, the defeated fourth and fifth legions of Theonia retreated to Aprustum. They suffered a total of more than 4,000 casualties, most of which were during the retreat.

In particular, the first brigade of the fifth legion was completely wiped out, not even having any news about Drakos, the legatus of the fifth legion. It was a great blow to the soldiers of the whole army and the high ranking officers such as Philesius and Epiphanes.

Philesius, who was blaming himself, was a veteran used to seeing life and death, victory and defeat in the Persian expedition. Thus after their defeat, he immediately realised that the situation was extremely unfavourable to Theonia. That is why he must cheer himself up and establish an effective defence as soon as possible to prevent Syracuse’s army from invading Theonia’s territory and win time for Davos to lead the main force back. So, in the city of Aprustum, he trained the fourth and fifth legions after their defeat and personally served as the legatus of the fifth legion.

At this moment, Epiphanes also put down his pride and actively coopered with Philesius in training the soldiers and discussing with Praetor Agasias how to strengthen the city’s defence.

At the same time, Philesius also sent ballista troops and an engineering brigade to Crotone, strengthening the Crotonians’ defence. After all, if the Crotonians doesn’t have them, it will increase the difficulty of defending the city. According to the newly compiled Theonian Military Law, the principle of using ballista against ballista was explicitly mentioned in the chapter on city defence. As an important ally on the southern border of Theonia, Crotone must not be occupied; otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable. Therefore, Philesius no longer has scruples about the requirements of the Ministry of Military that they should not leak the secrets of the ballista.

In addition, Philesius also sent an envoy to bring back the team escorting the more than 500 Locrian captives to Bruttii, hoping to exchange these prisoners for the Theonian soldiers captured by the Syracusan army.

Their defeat also made Philesius cautious as he had sent an urgent letter to the Senate in Thurii.  He was worried that Syracuse would bypass Crotone and go straight to Krimisa, with fewer men and relatively weak defence, hoping that the Senate would send a new legion. In this way, the three cities of Aprustum, Krimisa and Crotone could support each other and make their defences more secure.

On the other hand, the defeated Terinians led by Siprus did not follow the Theonians into Aprustum but into Crotone because the city of Aprustum was small and could not accommodate so many people. Moreover, the addition of Terinian soldiers would also enhance Crotone’s defence, making the Crotonians too happy that they do not care about the little rations consumed by the Terinians.

After all, Crotone and Terina’s troops were brothers in this battle. As they were the two flanks of the alliance, they became the direct target of Syracuse’s reinforcement’s attack and interceptions. After the joint pursuit of the Campanian mercenaries and Syracusan sailors, only less than 4,000 Terinian men escaped. On the other hand, the Crotonians who were attacked by the Syracusan reinforcements and the continuous pursuit of the mercenary cavalries* had only over 8,000 men to finally reach the city. (the Numidian and Celtic cavalry wanted to vent their anger and redeem themselves after being intercepted by the first brigade of the fifth legion, so a part of them stalled the Theonians and waited for the infantry to close in, while the other part head northeast to chase the defeated Scylletians and Crotonians.)

Both sides lost nearly half of their citizens.

Besides grieving, Siprus inwardly praised himself that he had made the right decision in advance and let the Terinians move to the Bruttian area of Theonia early. Now, he didn’t even need to worry about their safety.

The Crotonians who had already experienced a disastrous defeat a few years ago were once again in great grief. In addition to their grief, they are more worried about whether Crotone could resist the attack of Syracuse’s huge army that is setting foot on Crotone’s land.

After adding together the Crotonian army, the defeated Terinian soldiers and the less than 2,000 Scylletians, totalling about 14,000 men, the Crotonian strategoi had some confidence in defending the city. Furthermore, the Council of Crotone urgently gave a mobilisation order for the freemen to join the war, increasing the number of men to 20,000.

At the urgently enlarged council of a thousand men, someone mentioned that with Crotone suffering heavy losses, they should consider a truce with the Syracusans, just like their previous truce with Theonia, in order to recover their strength.

However, most opposed it, and even Lysias, who always compromised according to the situation, refuted it. And shouted, “Everyone, Syracuse is different from Theonia. The tyrant – Dionysius, will never sign an equal term agreement with us as he wants to make our great Crotone his slave, paying high tribute, letting our citizens shed blood for him, and even destroy our democracy and change it to dictatorship like Syracuse, just as he did in the other Greek city-states in Sicily!…

Furthermore, even after Crotone became the so-called ally of Syracuse, we still had to face the bullying of our sworn enemy, Locri, because Dionysius’ wife is the sister of Locri’s polemarchos – Demodokas, who was an accomplice to Syracuse’s invasion of Magna Graecia. And in the eyes of Dionysius, their status is naturally much higher than that of Crotone. Using Dionysius’ power, Locri would humiliate us and even take the benefits that belonged to Crotone! Citizens, are you still willing to submit to Syracuse even faced with such a very likely future?!”

“Fight to the death with the Syracusans! Crotone, even if she perish, should not become a slave of Dionysius!…” The citizens shouted angrily and finally reached an agreement on the issue of war and peace.

At this time, the envoy sent by Philesius came to Crotone. He brought not only the ballista unit but also the promise made by Philesius on behalf of the Senate of Theonia: As Theonia and Crotone would fight side by side against Syracuse! Crotone could put forward any difficulties to Theonia, who will do her best to help solve them!

Theonia’s pledge and practical action (bringing the ballista unit) moved the citizens of Crotone and greatly removed their vigilance against Theonia. Thus, the Crotonians felt unprecedented security now that a powerful ally backs them for the first time.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Philesius’ envoy kept galloping along the road, changing his horse three times through the roadside post station. It only took him half a day to bring the important battle report of their defeat to the Senate in Thurii, which soon spread all over the city.

Although the Thurians were not as bleak as the Theonians of Aprustum and Krimisa(after all, most of the soldiers of the fourth and fifth legions participating in the war came from Bruttii, Aprustum and Krimisa), their shock was much greater than these three places. Since the construction of the new city of Thurii, the only thing they heard was the news of victory after every war. Hence they are used to victory, so hearing a defeat for the first time made the panic spread among the people…

On the same day, many went to the Temple of Hades to pray, hoping that Hades would protect the union. In the afternoon, even the people of Amendolara and Besidice came to the temple one after another…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

While the Senate was holding an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures, Cheiristoya discussed the possible impact of this defeat on her own industries with the several managements of her businesses in Davos’ residence.

“Madam, Syracuse should soon march towards Crotone, turning Aprustum into a battlefield…so in order to secure the bank…should we…should we temporarily transfer the money stored in Aprustum’ bank?” The bank manager cautiously suggested.

“We must not transfer the money of Aprustum’s bank!” Cheiristoya firmly said. Then she continued, “You should understand that in the eyes of the people, Cheiristoya’s Bank is not my personal property. It represents my husband, archon Davos! Thus, if even the archon’s property were moved during this critical situation, would the citizens in Aprustum still have the confidence to hold on?! That is why besides not withdrawing the money from the banks, we must also open them on time every day!

Furthermore, you must ask the bank employees in that city to face every guest with a confident smile. And if the city hall of Aprustum is financially tight and needs money, you must lend it to them even if there is no interest!”

The bank manager was stunned when he heard the last sentence, but he could only reluctantly say, “I understand, madam.”

“How’s the restaurant?” Cheiristoya turned to look at another manager.

“Because of this war, we have more guests in the various restaurants than before, especially the one in the port of Thurii. And after the Syracusan fleet blocked the maritime trade route, the favourite place for the idle sailors and workers to hang was either the arena or the restaurant. Therefore, there are often some small conflicts, but I have already discussed it with the port’s patrol captain, and he will send more men to strengthen the patrol in that area.”

Chapter 436 – Good and Bad News

“But the restaurant is now having a problem. There is a shortage of wheat flour and fish, so we cannot provide some of the food the customers want, leading to many complaining…” The restaurant manager reported the situation.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t do anything about it! The supply of grains and sea fishes in the whole alliance is very tight, so it is not only us who are affected…” Cheiristoya sighed and said seriously, “I suggest you put up a notice on the front door of every restaurant to explain why and apologise to the customers. At the same time, advise the customers to order more beef and mutton, such as shabu-shabu, fried beef and roasted lamb legs… Andrea sent me a letter saying that Lucania had raised too many cattle and sheep this year. If they are not consumed in large quantities, it is already a small matter for them to get skinny. But in the event of freezing weather, they are more likely to freeze to death, so the loss of the herders will be enormous. That’s why we need to buy as much livestock from Lucania…

And considering that this is a difficult time and the people of the whole union face a food shortage, we will suffer from public resentment if we profit this time! Thus I decided to lower the price of all food and earn only a small profit to pay the employees, so before the war is over, we must tide over the difficulties with our fellow Theonians!”

“Understood, madam! I’ll get to it immediately!” The restaurant manager responded.

Cheiristoya then yawned. When Azune saw that her mistress was a little sleepy, she immediately stopped the meeting and asked the managers to go back first.

“Madam, you are about to give birth, so why are you still working hard?! You have to think about your child!…” Azune complained while supporting her.

Cheiristoya gently held her big, round belly and said softly, “When such a big thing happens in the union, there will naturally be more things to do than what they can handle. In a few days, Andrea will come and take over these things for me for the time being so that I can give birth to my child in peace…”

“It’s great that madam Andrea is coming!” Azune happily said as she helped Cheiristoya take a slow walk in the rear yard to eliminate her leg’s swelling caused by sitting for long.

“Andrea also wants to bring her two kids back to Thurii (one of them is the son of her ex-husband) so that Bagul’s father can see his grandson after so long…” Cheiristoya sighed: Andrea was previously married and had a child, and now married to a family of a different race. And to be able to make the huge family of Bagul accept and get along with her, Andrea had paid a lot of effort…

“Adoris and little Cro will be very happy!” Smiled Azune.

Cheiristoya suddenly remembered and asked, “Is Agnes back?”

“Not yet. Madam, I wonder if it’s due to many more people going to pray at the Temple of Hades and the Temple of Hera due to the battle’s defeat that Lady Agnes hasn’t yet returned…” Azune guessed.

“Nonsense!” Cheiristoya frowned and said anxiously, “She is also pregnant, so how can she ignore her body! Quickly send someone to call her back and say it’s my order!”

“Yes!” Azune knew that her mistress wouldn’t change what she said, so she hurriedly called other female slaves.

At this time, the door in the rear yard was pushed open.

“Mother, I am back.” Cynthia, carrying a satchel of school items, came forward to support Cheiristoya.

“Where’s Adoris?”

“He is playing football in the school’s square together with his classmates.”

“I hope he doesn’t come home after dark like yesterday.”

“He won’t. I already warned him.” Cynthia comforted Cheiristoya and then asked with concern, “Mother, have you heard anything from father? This afternoon, everyone found out about our defeat in Scylletium, and they were thinking of not going to class anymore. They also came asking me one after another when will father lead the army back.”

Cheiristoya turned her head and looked at her adopted daughter, who almost reached her shoulder. Cheiristoya remembered that when Cynthia first met Davos, she was on guard against him, but now, she is proud of him. So Cheiristoya felt relieved, “Don’t worry, your father will soon come back!”

“Hmm!” Cynthia strongly nodded.

“Mom, I am back!” A clear child voice came from outside the door.

“This little rascal is finally back!” Cheiristoya showed a spoiled smile on her face. Since she was about to give birth, Cheiristoya could not accompany the energetic little Cro, so she had to let a female slave take him to the square every day.

“Mother, I’ll accompany my brother.” Cynthia said sensibly.

Then the female slave who came in shouted excitedly, “Madam, good news! It’s good news! A messenger from Lucania came back and said master had won a great victory in Poseidonia! It’s reported that…they defeated more than 20,000 enemies…”

“That’s great!” Cheiristoya couldn’t stop shouting. How could she not worry when Davos led the army for so long?! But as his wife, she needs to remain calm. So this time, she was really relieved…

As soon as she finished shouting this sentence and relaxed, she felt a heat flow through between her legs, and her stomach began swelling and aching.

Having experienced childbirth, she immediately stood firm, braced her hands on the stone table, and said in as smooth a tone as possible, “Azune, Azune, I am about to give birth. Hurry, hurry and inform Herpus…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Just as the residence of Davos was rushing due to Cheiristoya’s delivery, the news of “The archon led his army and be victorious against the Samnites in Lucania” was like a warm wind, calming the panicking people in Thurii. And among the ones praying in the Temple of Hades, someone shouted “Let Lord Davos be king” for the first time.

However, at dusk, a messenger galloping from the south once again broke the calm, “The Syracusan army conquered the city of Scylletium, not only they plundered the whole city, they also turned everyone in the city into slaves.” This shocking news once again alarmed the Thurians and the Senate, making the original hesitant statesmen make a quick decision in agreeing on Philesius’ proposal to send the new sixth legion to Krimisa and protect the safety of the territory of Theonia.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

That night, as the Thurians were tossing and turning and unable to sleep, a newborn child was born at Davos’ residence.

“Madam, she is a healthy and lovely girl!” Azune carefully approached the bedside and showed Cheiristoya the newborn child, who had been washed and wrapped in clean linen.

The already exhausted and powerless Cheiristoya turned her head with difficulty, looked at her daughter, who was crying, with a kind smile on her sweaty face.

“…Eunice…her name is Eunice…” Cheiristoya remembered her agreement with Davos.

Hearing the good news that the “mother and daughter were safe”, those who were anxiously waiting outside the bedroom became relieved.

In this era, having children is a significant and challenging thing. Labor Dystocia is a common occurrence during childbirth. Although Davos told the physicians such as Herpus about birth precautions he had heard from his previous life, he still took the initiative to gather together experienced midwives in Theonia. He then made them undergo specialised training to make them physicians specialising in the deliveries of babies in the hospitals…

“Little Cro, you now have a sister!” Agnes softly said as she stroked little Cro’s head.

“Sister?! Can I play with her often?!” Little Cro asked happily.

“Not now. Wait until she grew up.” Agnes covered her bulging stomach while explaining to him. She also sincerely hoped that she could give birth smoothly in a few months.

“Great, it’s a sister!” Adoris shouted happily. Due to little Cro nagging him every day, he didn’t want another brother that would annoy him.

Cynthia was also very happy as she could finally have a little follower like her other female classmates.

The moment she was born, Eunice became popular with the whole family.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next day, while the Senate in Thurii was gathering the newly established Sixth Legion soldiers in the Nike Square to send them to defeat Krimisa, Damocles, the envoy of Syracuse, walked into the city of Caulonia with his head held high.

Damocles brought Dionysius’ ultimatum to Caulonia for them to immediately surrender, else the city of Scylletium would be their example!

Due to being at the forefront of the Crotonian alliance against Locri for a long time, the Caulonians were full of confidence in their city’ defence, mainly because of the full support of Crotone and the other allies behind them. However, now that Syracuse defeated Theonia and Crotone and conquered Scylletium and Terina, the forces supporting Caulonia became scattered.

Now, Caulonia is under siege. Moreover, they have long heard that Syracuse had a powerful ability to siege cities that they were able to conquer Carthage’s city in Sicily – Motya. Furthermore, the news of the fall of Scylettium in just half a day surprised them (The Syracusan and Locrian troops tightly sealed off the city of Caulonia, so no one knew that the fall of Scylletium was due to Dionysius’ treachery), which made the Caulonians lose confidence in defending the city. Moreover, they were frightened at the tragic faith of the Scylletians.

And the Caulonians also believed that even if Theonia and Crotone could have the chance to counter-attack in the future, but by that time, Syracuse would have long occupied Caulonia, and the Caulonians turned into slaves and sold to other cities. Thus even if they recovered the city of Caulonia, it no longer has any meaning for them…

Finally, they unanimously decided in the ecclesia to surrender to Syracuse.

Chapter 437 – Another Bad News

Dionysius’ condition was much more bearable than what he gave to Scylletium: In exchange for Syracuse not stationing their troops in Caulonia, Caulonia must provide supplies and troops to fight together with the Syracusan army.

But what the Caulonians didn’t know was that Dionysius wrote to his brother-in-law, the polemarchos of Locri – Demodokas.

While Locri fully supported Dionysius’ invasion of Magna Graecia, they once put forward a request hoping that Dionysius would hand over the city of Caulonia to them after defeating the South Italian Alliance, to which Dionysius agreed.

Therefore, Dionysius had to reassure the Locrians that it was just a temporary measure to defeat Crotone and Theonia as soon as possible. So after conquering these city-states, they would hand Caulonia to Locri as promised.

The Locrian accepted Dionysius’ explanation.

Of course, the Caulonians didn’t know that their fate was already doomed. Thinking that they had already escaped a great disaster, they were now eager to show Dionysius their obedience by quickly sending 5,000 soldiers and a large number of supplies to Scylletium.

And the surrender of Caulonia had freed the Locrian troops that were besieging them, who then quickly headed south and crossed the mountain path.

Although Pheidon was wary of the east because the people he sent to report had not returned, he still sent a small force to guard the entrance to the mountain path for insurance purposes. But after the news from the north was completely blocked by the Syracusans, he was completely in the dark, never expecting that the situation in southern Magna Graecia had changed drastically in just a few days.

Then 15,000 Locrians suddenly came. They were so fast that the Rhegian troops with less than a thousand men guarding the mountain path were quickly defeated.

Pheidon led his men to besiege Medma when he received the emergency report, surprising him. When the roaring Locrian troops rushed into their camp, he didn’t even have enough time to organise the troops for the battle.

When Pheidon and countless defeated soldiers hurriedly fled across the river and into the city of Taurania, the original 10,000 troops only had less than 7,000 left.

Learning of the surrender of Caulonia and the defeat of Rhegium, Dionysius became overjoyed because at this time, except for Rhegium, he had completely conquered the southern part of Magna Graecia. Thus he could now safely attack north with all their strength, while Locri alone was enough to deal with Rhegium without him having to worry.

So he ordered Leptines for all the ships participating in the war to go to the port of Scylletium, besides leaving few ships to station at the port of Terina to continue cutting off the maritime links between Theonia and Rhegium on the west coast.

At the same time, he asked all the troops to complete their rest as soon as possible and prepare to advance north.

Even though the war between the South Italian Alliance and Syracuse was only between the city-states of Magna Graecia and Sicily, it also attracted the attention of many forces in the whole Mediterranean.

Not long after the end of the Battle of Allaro River, the news of Syracuse’s victory quickly spread all over the western Mediterranean, which made all the city-states and forces think about the impact of the war on themselves and even begin making some small movements.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On this day, the Theonian Senate held a regular meeting to discuss two topics: One is that the sixth legion, which had just arrived in Krimisa, has increased the logistical pressure on the Ministry of Military, resulting in a shortage of personnel to transport food and equipment; The other is the proposal submitted by the navarch, Seclian, to Hieronymus that with the departure of the sixth legion, it led to a shortage of soldiers on the warships, so he asked to form a new legion. At the same time, the sailors of the Theonian joint fleet were just enough, so once they incurred losses in the naval battle, it would be difficult to supplement them. Thus he hoped to call sailors from our allies as a backup.

“I think…it’s very simple to solve the problem of insufficient personnel for the Ministry of Military in transporting the supplies.” The Praetor of Thurii, Kunogelata, thought and continued, “Since the time Syracuse’s navy attacked our maritime route, the number of merchant ships coming has decreased significantly. It has caused a lot of the port’s labour forces such as the porters, warehouse keepers, ship repairers and coachmen to have no work and do nothing all day. On the contrary, they have added a lot of trouble to public security. So I suggest that the Ministry of Military go to the port to recruit some workers. Even if you don’t pay them, but as long as you can guarantee their food, they will do their work well, and this would also reduce the pressure of the port’s patrols…”

“This is indeed a great idea!” Marigi praised. Then he reminded, “However, even if we reward them with food, we should still pay attention to controlling the supply as the grain will only become more precious than drachmae as the war progresses.”

Hieronymus nodded to show his understanding.

At this time, Kunogelata asked, “What I don’t understand is why Seclian still needed to call for our allies’ sailors?! We have so many spare men in the port, so why not use them?!”

As he was not a statesman, Seclian was not in the meeting. And as the only one left in the Ministry of Military, Hieronymus, although he is not good at talking, answered, “Well…time is tight now…uh…that Syracuse’s fleet could attack at any time. Seclian needs skilled sailors so that he wouldn’t spend so much time training them…”

“The fleet that Seclian is in charge of is taking up a lot of manpower in Thurii, yet he just hides in the Crati River. What is he doing?! We should lead a fleet to expel those Syracusan ships that are rampant in the Gulf of Taranto, even if we could only resume our maritime route for a day or two!” Marigi complained.

“Although I don’t know much about the navy, I still know that it was Lord Davos who asked him to do so.”

As soon as Hieronymus finished speaking, Marigi laughed twice and said, “Since this is Lord Davos’ arrangements, it seems that we don’t have to worry too much about the Syracusan fleet.”

In the Senate, there are not a few statesmen like Marigi who blindly believes in Davos. However, after the disastrous defeat of the South Italian Alliance in Scylletium, Petaru, who has been in a daze for the past two days, felt sick seeing Marigi’s flattering appearance.

He grunted a few times and then turned his gaze to Kaduk, who was also somewhat in a daze.

“Anyway, we will send someone to discuss with Roscianum and Heraclea about the recruitment of some sailors…” Cornelius stood up, and just as he was saying his suggestion, the door of the Senate hall was suddenly pushed open.

The guard captain in charge of the Senate’s defence rushed in.

Kunogelata, the rotating chairperson, saw his flustered appearance, and he hurriedly asked, “What happened?”

“Milords, I just received an urgent report that Taranto captured Metapontum!”

“WHAT?!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Diaomilas, the archon of Taranto, stood at the top of the city wall of Metapontum and watched with satisfaction as the Tarantine soldiers poured into the already opened gate and hanged the people of Metapontum who were still trying to resist…

The Tarantine army’s attack was smooth as they quickly advanced to the square in the city’s centre.

The sound of fighting gradually became sparse in the ears of Diaomilas.

“Hurry, hurry to the acropolis! Diaomilas couldn’t wait to reap the fruits of victory.

Diaomilas went down the city wall, got on his horse and advanced forward with his entourage. The bodies of the people of Metapontum and the wounded struggling for help scattered everywhere in the street, but he disregarded them as if he didn’t see them, ‘Since these descendants with Tarantine blood running in their veins have chosen to betray them, it’s just their delusion to get Taranto’s forgiveness.’

As soon as the Diaomilas arrived at the square, his subordinates came to report the good news to him, “We have taken the acropolis of Metapontum!”

“So fast?!” Although Diaomilas was confident that the quality of Tarantine soldiers was much better than that of Metapontum, he still did not expect that the defence of Acropolis, the fortress at the core of a city-state, was so weak.

“Isalokas and the others persuaded the soldiers stationed in the city to surrender.” The man explained.

“So that’s what happened.” Diaomilas’ doubts were cleared.

After all, Metapontum was once the child of Taranto. Although the blood of both sides has weakened and their politics became independent after a hundred years of development, there are still many people of Metapontum that are close and admired the Tarantines as they were in an alliance and Taranto protecting them for many years. However, Taranto’s reckless policy in the previous year had led to Metapontum’s great losses and their insistence to still act recklessly made Metapontum join the Theonian Alliance, a much more powerful neighbour than Taranto, in order to avoid greater losses.

And the more lenient policy of Theonia towards its allies reassured Metapontum, but this did not mean that they would completely cut off their relations with Taranto. On the contrary, once the crisis had passed, the people of Metapontum began to miss their mother-state again. In addition to the intentional advocacy of the pro-Tarantine faction led by Isalokas, the relations between the two sides have recovered rapidly, and exchanges are increasing (there are still conflicts). After all, Metapontum is closer to Taranto, as evidenced by the similar number of pro-Theonian and pro-Tarantine factions elected to the archonship of Metapontum and the council each year.

At every council meeting, the two factions often fiercely argue, where they would even clash on whether they should favour Theonia or Taranto. In fact, the strength of the pro-Theonian faction led by Taudeles has gotten weaker than that of the pro-Tarantine faction. After all, their time of being allied with Theonia is still short. Still, the rapid expansion of the Theonia Union gave them confidence so that every critical time, Isalokas and the others could only give way because they were afraid of provoking Theonia.

The Theonian Senate was also well aware of the situation of Metapontum. But it is not easy for them to interfere in its internal affairs due to the alliance treaty they signed with Metapontum. Still, they firmly believe that as Theonia becomes stronger, Metapontum will naturally get closer to them.

Chapter 438 – Heraclea in Danger

But Davos and the Theonian Senate did not expect Dionysius had already long thought of using Taranto. With the rapid rise of Theonia in the past two years, the Tarantines became more and more frustrated, and their rejection of the Theonians increasingly got stronger. Therefore, Diaomilas, a Tarantine citizen who had made a huge mistake, was still able to be re-elected as an archon.

After receiving Dionysius’ guarantee, Diaomilas and the Tarantine council secretly contacted the pro-Tarantines in their former allies while observing the war situation in Magna Graecia. After all, they had seen with their own eyes the strength of the Theonian army, and they did not dare to take any risks without certainty. It was not until the end of the Battle of Scylletium, and the news of “Syracuse’s victory and the rapid capture of the cities of Scylletium and Terina” reached Taranto that the Tarantine council finally made up its mind.

The process of their attack on Metapontum was actually very simple: Early in the morning, the Tarantine army stormed Metapontum, and the pro-Tarantine faction, who had bought over the city guards, had them secretly open the gates. Then they led the Tarantines to raid the pro-Theonian factions led by Taudeles. (Since Metapontum joined Theonia Alliance, Taudeles and the others were in control of the mobilisation of the army with the support of Theonia.)

“Strategos, congratulations on taking Metapontum!” Isalokas and his party came to congratulate Diaomilas.

“You are wrong. Taranto did not capture the city. It is just the people of Metapontum getting rid of Theonia’s control and returned to the embrace of their mother-state!” Diaomilas, who had fallen in Taranto for several years, was obviously more composed than before.

“Strategos, you are right! Metapontum is the child of Taranto. We believe in Poseidon and Phalanthus and not Hades, so we should have been united!” Isalokas immediately interjected and expressed his thoughts.

“Lord Isalokas, the Tarantine council wants you to serve as the sole archon of Metapontum and lead your people together with Taranto to deal with the current complex situation in Magna Graecia jointly!” In fact, the Tarantine council and Isalokas had already made an agreement before. And Diaomilas just took this opportunity to publicly announce it as a demonstration of his support for Isalokas.

“I am grateful to the Tarantine council and strategos Diaomilas for your trust! I will turn Metapontum into the most trusted ally of Taranto and restore peace to it!” Isalokas gave his promise.

Diaomilas nodded. He then said in a commanding tone, “Immediately prepare the offerings as I am going to the Acropolis to pray to Poseidon. Thank him for his help and ask for his forgiveness!”

“Immediately arrange it.” Isalokas then gave orders to the man next to him, who then rushed away.

Isalokas turned around and said, “There is one more thing that I hope you, milord, pay attention to; we didn’t catch Taudeles!”

“The traitor ran away?!” Diaomilas frowned.

“He is very clever and has long been prepared. The first time you entered the city, he immediately led some people to run from the west gate. But because we only have a few people, we are unable to stop them at all. And my soldiers suffered a lot of casualties.” Isalokas said with sorrow.

The others have also said that they did their best and showed Diaomilas the injuries they sustained.

“Alright!” Diaomilas interrupted them as their long-windedness would just annoy him, “Taudeles couldn’t run away even if he ran west.”

Diaomilas sneered as the capture of Taudeles was just a trivial matter. He was more concerned about the progress of the troops led by Umakas.

So he then said to Isalokas, “I’ll leave some soldiers to help you stabilise the situation in Metapontum. Once I come out of the Acropolis, I will immediately lead my army to Heraclea, and I will leave the task of transporting supplies and rations to you.”

“Rest assured, I will arrange it.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

While they sneak attack into Metapontum, Taranto also launched an attack on Heraclea.

Since Heraclea is separated from Taranto by Metapontum on land, the Tarantines can only come from the sea to make a surprise attack. And once their insider inside Heraclea sees the Tarantine fleet’s landing, they would prepare to cooperate and open the gate for the attacking forces.

However, since Davos sent a reminder, archon Teriphias of Heraclea has always been cautious about the east and repeatedly admonished the city and port guards to always be vigilant. Therefore, when the Tarantine fleet quietly approached the coast of Heraclea under the early morning fog, the sentry on the port lighthouse of Heraclea found them in time.

As a result, the alarm of Heraclea sounded and the citizens immediately armed and strengthened the city’s defence.

Heraclea is different from Metapontum. Because it was built decades ago and was far from Taranto, they are not as deeply influenced by Taranto as Metapontum. On the contrary, with their closer contact with their neighbour Theonia in recent years, and has been increasingly influenced by its culture and trade, the citizens preferred Theonia more and more. Therefore, the number of Tarantine insiders in the city was tiny, so how would they dare compete with the soldiers? And when they saw that the city was heavily defended, they dared not move rashly. Rather, they immediately stopped and hid.

Fortunately, they built Heraclea a bit strangely. It was located in the narrowest place between the Agri River and the lower reaches of the Basento River. Therefore, the Tarantine army could not land on the bank near the city as the narrow area would only make their landing slow, and they could not fully deploy their troops. And if the Heracleans attacked decisively, the Tarantines who were still trying to land would be in big trouble. But if they were to land on the south coast of the Agri River, they would be likely attacked by not only Heraclea but even Theonia, so Umakas could only choose to land on the coast on the north side of the Basento River.

Then the Tarantone soldiers began going ashore quickly…

But as the Tarantine fleet entered the Basento River, the Heracleans did not dare send their troops across the river to attack the disembarking enemy.

So Teriphias quickly decided to send people to burn the wooden bridge on the Basento river not far north of Heraclea. At the same time, he also sent a messenger to Thurii to ask Theonia for help. However,  Heraclea could do nothing else beyond that but watch as Taranto’s troops assemble on the coast.

By the time the Tarantine army arrived at the Basento River, the wooden bridge had already turned into charcoal.

So Umakas could only order his troops to cooperate with the fleet and build a pontoon bridge.

During this time, Teriphias decisively led his troops out of the city, attacked the ships with flaming arrows, and interrupted the bridge construction of Taranto…

Because of the attack of Heraclea, they managed to burn several transport ships of Taranto. Thus Umakas had nothing to do for a time and could only urge Diaomilas’ troops to come as soon as possible…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

During this time, a minor incident occurred.

Taudeles fled westward with the remnant under the pursuit of the enemy, only to see the Tarantines disembarking from a distance.

With an obstacle in front and pursuers in the back, the one following him were alarmed and asked Taudeles what they should do.

Taudeles had no time to think more, so he firmly said, “Let’s run north!”

“There are the terrible Lucanians of Galaguso in the north!” Someone exclaimed.

“Are they more terrifying than the Tarantines who wants our lives now?! Moreover, like us, they are allies of Theonia!” With that, Taudeles took the lead to run to the mountains in the north.

At such a crisis, the others had no choice but to follow him across the mountains.

They went all the way into Galaguso’s territory, where the Lucanians surrounded them.

After Taudeles made their purpose in coming clear, the Lucanians of Galaguso not only defeated the pursuers behind but also took them to their great chieftain.

The great chieftain of Galaguso is different from the great chieftains of the other Lucanian tribes, and that is, they were chosen not due to the strength of their tribes nor their political ability. Rather, they were chosen based on the ancient Lucanian tradition by winning through the competition among the tribal chieftains. Thus the great chieftain, Kulom, is a young and strong man.

After learning the whole story from Taudeles, he and the high priest of Galaguso decided to settle these refugees of Metapontum in the valley for the time being and strictly ordered all the tribes not to hurt them.

In the past, the people of Galaguso were hostile to the people of Metapontum. However, recently, their relationship gradually eased due to Theonia. But this time, they have a bigger change of attitude, not only because Galaguso and Metapontum are allies of Theonia, but also because Galaguso has just received news from Potentia that the Theonian army led by archon Davos had defeated the invading Samnites.

For the Greeks, the Samnites were just another savage mountain race. But for the Lucanian tribes living in Galaguso, they knew well this powerful neighbour in the north. After all, the Samnites were the ones to expel their ancestors who were living in Maloenton a hundred years ago.

From generation to generation, the people of Galaguso deeply feared the Samnites. So when they heard that nearly 50,000 Samnites invaded Potentia on a large scale, the first thought of the people of Galaguso was to relocate again.

Thus they kept paying attention to the movements of the Samnites. As a result, the people of Galaguso were shocked after learning that the small Theonian army led by Davos had utterly defeated the Samnites.

Chapter 439 – Rescuing Heraclea

Before, Galaguso was only afraid of Theonia’s strength, but there is now a mix of respect and admiration. In their hearts, there is nothing frightening about Syracuse, and Theonia, who can defeat the powerful Samnites, is bound to win the final victory.

Thus even without the request of the Theonians, Galaguso took the initiative to attack Metapontum.

The people of Metapontum had noticed that after joining the Theonian Alliance, the northern became peaceful. However, after they returned to Taranto, the northern region was once again ravaged by the people of Galaguso. They then began regretting their choice, and their complaints about the council formed by Isalokas and the Tarantines started to increase. Of course, this is something for the future.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At this time, the Heracleans urgently sent people to seek help from Thurii while they strengthened the city’s defence.

After receiving Heraclea’s request for help, the Theonian Senate: Although they were shocked, they still made a quick decision and ordered the only legion left in the city of Thurii, which is the seventh legion, to rush to Heraclea for rescue.

But now, with even the seventh legion being taken away, the strength of Thurii has been stretched to the extreme. Except for the naval fleet and the freemen in the port, Thurii no longer has decent defensive strength on the Sybaris plain.

Seeing the empty defence and the lack of young adults and middle-aged in Thurii, it is not advisable to deploy the manpower left to form new troops as it would completely paralyse the entire daily affairs of Thurii. Thus the Senate decided to form the eighth legion in the Bruttian region immediately and rushed to Thurii to defend the centre of the union.

They soon passed the resolution.

Petaru, Kaduk and Bodiam, who usually didn’t speak much in the Senate, took the initiative to go to the Bruttian region to conscript and form the troops.

Kunogelata, the rotating chairperson, declined politely on the grounds that “Hieronymus was the best candidate as he was the one responsible for military training in various regions and knew well about the reserve soldiers in Bruttii.”

And in order to not make these Bruttian statesmen dissatisfied, he specifically explained, “Several lords, I think you should also know that compared with the armies of other city-states, Theonia’s way of mobilising citizens and forming legions is very different. Thus, only the Ministry of Military people can understand and implement it. Furthermore, there is also an explicit provision in the Theonian Law that only the Ministry of Military could form legions…”

In the end, the several Bruttian statesmen could only sit down bitterly and murmured with discontent.

With Hieronymus becoming the only candidate to go to the Bruttian region and form a new legion, he temporarily transferred his work as the quartermaster to Mersis.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Even though the rivers and marshes in Heraclea delayed the marching speed of the troops led by Diaomilas, he still managed to reach the northern bank of the Basento River and merge with Umakas’ troops bringing the total strength of Taranto to more than 15,000 men.

After discussing a bit, Taranto once again divided their troops.

Diaomilas led 8,000 men to rush upstream along the Basento River in an attempt to cross the river from the shallow reach.

Teriphias, standing at the top of the city wall, immediately understood the enemy’s plan once he saw their troops.

Even though their troops were far less than the other side, Teriphias still made a decisive decision and sent more than 3,000 mixed troops of light and heavy infantry to follow the Tarantines on the other stop and stop them from crossing the river.

This forced Diaomilas to proceed cautiously upstream where the water was shallower and the river narrower while also choosing to wade longer sections of the river to avoid getting intercepted by the Heracleans.

The Heraclean region is, after all, a small plain formed by several rivers with its flat terrain. However, since it is now the dry season, Diaomilas quickly found a suitable location.

Diaomilas began making his troops line up along the river in a formation about a half-kilometre long. At the sound of the salpinx, they wade across the river together.

Faced with such an attacking formation, the Heracleans did not dare to fight them head-on as their aim was only to delay the Tarantines. Thus they only threw their javelins and fired arrows at the Tarantines, which, together with the silt at the bottom of the river trapping the Tarantines feet, causing some confusion and casualties.

But by the time the Tarantines got to the other side, the Heracleans had long fled away.

Diaomilas then reorganised his troops and prepared to march eastward. He needed to rush to Heraclea as soon as possible and burn down the bridge on the Agri River not far from the south of the city, cutting off the quickest way for the Theonians to reinforce Heraclea. Afterwards, they would build a pontoon bridge on both sides of the Basento River to meet with Umakas’ troops crossing the river and besiege Heraclea.

But just then, several Tarantine cavalries rushed across the Basento River and told Diaomilas that Theonia’s reinforcements had arrived at the pontoon bridge on the south side of the Agri River.

Diaomilas was surprised, ‘How could Theonia’s reinforcements come so fast?!’

Of course, he did not know that the main road connecting Heraclea and Thurii made it only take Heraclea’s messenger to reach the city of Thurii in just more than an hour. And it only took the Theonian Senate an hour to make a quick decision, assemble the seventh legion at the naval base and then set out.

It had even included the delay due to Seclian’s obstruction, where he even went to the Senate to protest as he was already angry enough when they sent the new legion to Krimisa. Unexpectedly, just one day later, even the only legion left participating in the training was also transferred, wasting Seclian’s more than ten days of effort in training them. Furthermore, he also wanted to lead the fleet to defeat the Syracusan navy with the new tactics, giving the people of Theonia a great surprise and proving himself. But now, even the infantries on the warship are gone, turning his great idea into nothing.

Even though Seclian’s anger could be imagined, the decision of the Senate can not be changed by a young strategos who is not even a statesman.

But what Kunogelata and the others thought was that whether the navy would go to war or not wasn’t the main issue, as they were unlikely to be a match for the mighty Syracusan fleet anyway. At most, their maritime route would just be blocked. But once Taranto captured Heraclea, it would allow their armies to set foot in Amendolara’s territory, which would be a disaster for Theonia, which was now fully engaged in the war to the south!

Thus Kunogelata first criticised his shortsightedness and disregard for the overall situation. He then comforted him, “Lord Davos will soon lead back the army, so your naval fleet won’t lack the infantry’s support…”

Hence Seclian could only return with resentment. He was still not completely come out of the joy of being promoted to his position as a navarch a few months ago, but after this time, he realised that his words had no weight in the Senate…

After the assembly of the seventh legion, the legatus immediately ordered the troops to march forward.

The legatus of the army was none other than Matonis, the patrol captain of Thurii.

Before Davos led his army to Potentia, Philesius once asked him who the legatus of the newly formed legion would be.

After much consideration, Davos decided to let Matonis and Olivos serve as the legatus. First of all, they have served as senior centurions for many years. They not only have rich experience on the battlefield but also in commanding large forces. Second, both of them have important positions: One is the patrol captain of Thurii, and the other is the adjutant of the quartermaster of the Ministry of Military. And due to the newly built legion was just to defend Thurii, they could still do their jobs. And even though they might cancel the two newly-built legions after the war, it would be much easier to promote them as formal legatus of the army afterwards.

It can be said that Davos thoughtfully considered them both, but neither of them is willing to accept it, especially Matonis, who doesn’t want to have it easy in the rear while his comrades fight hard in the front line.

However, even though Davos treated his comrades closely, this time, he didn’t even try to persuade them and just forced them to accept the mandatory order. Fortunately, they could now fight. Olivos led the sixth legion to Krimisa while Matonis led the seventh legion to rescue Heraclea.

Matonis, who held his grievances for long as he didn’t have any place to vent. Therefore, as soon as he received the order, he not only urged the troops to speed up but also ran at the front of the group without riding his horse. With his example, the seventh legion naturally marched much faster, only taking them nearly three hours to reach the pontoon bridge on the Agri River.

But this new legion was not complete as they still lacked cavalries, reconnaissance and engineering brigades. Furthermore, since most of the soldiers are preparatory citizens and registered freemen, they don’t have the money to buy a complete set of new legionary equipment. For this reason, some heavy infantry brigades looked like light-armoured brigades with their incomplete weapons and equipment. And since they set out in a hurry, they didn’t even bring physicians and logistics.

The Tarantine ships in the river repeatedly tried to destroy the pontoon bridge on the Agri River but kept failing because of the Heraclean soldiers and the escort of ships’ defence. On the contrary, they manage to burn two Tarantine ships with their flaming arrows, forcing the two ships to moor at the estuary of the Agri River. But this just allowed them to witness the arrival of Theonian reinforcements. Hence, they immediately sent someone to the north bank of the Basento River to report to Umakas, which led to the cavalry rushing to Diaomilas to report.

Because the Tarantine did not act decisively and marched quickly enough, coupled with the poor land conditions between Metapontum and Heraclea(compared with the road of Theonia), in addition to the efforts of the Heracleans, this had allowed the Theonians to take the lead in this marching competition.

Diaomilas had witnessed the fierce fighting ability of the Theonian army, so he became more cautious and could not advance rashly now that the Theonians had come. Thus he ordered his army to stop at the south bank of the Basento River, informed Umakas to build a pontoon bridge on the north bank, and then led the army across the river to join forces again. He would then wait, and only after he understood the situation of Heraclea would he take further action.

Although Matonis likes to fight, he is not reckless. So when the seventh legion arrived at Heraclea, he had made the soldiers go to the city first to rest as they were already exhausted.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the other hand, Olivos led the sixth legion to Krimisa.

The current Praetor of Krimisa is Protesilaus, who took his post for only less than a year. Scambras, who was at the end of his term, was the one to recommend him and was supported by Davos. At this moment, he led the officials of Krimisa to meet Olivos outside the city.

Chapter 440 – Shocking Change

Due to Olivos’ playful personality and is good at making friends, even though he wasn’t a statesman, he still had contact with Protesilaus during their stay in Amendolara, so the two were quite familiar with each other.

“Welcome, legatus Olivos! You and your soldiers’ arrival has reassured the people of Krimisa!” Protesilaus sincerely said.

“Lord Protesilaus, the sixth legion was ordered to defend Krimisa this time, but we still have to rely on your full support to resist those hateful Syracusans!” Olivos sincerely said as well.

“For me and my subordinates, it is the most important task to support you in defending Krimisa fully. Tonight, I prepared a banquet for you at my residence so that we could eat while we talked and meet the officials of Krimisa at the same time…” Protesilaus eased a bit after seeing Olivos’ gentle attitude. After all, this was the first time he cooperated with the army.

“The banquet is unnecessary as I cannot violate the Theonian Military Law. However, I would be happy to discuss with you in detail how we should defend Krimisa…” Olivos said while scrutinising the city of Krimisa in front of him. Since the second war with Crotone, this was the first time he came to this city on the southern border of Theonia. It seems that Scambras and Protesilaus were not idle during their terms in recent years, as the city wall has not only thickened but also increased by at least two metres. (mainly to defend against the Crotonians at the beginning.)

“Your camp is ready at the square. And even though the Ministry of Military of Thurii were supplying the sixth legion with your rations, the Krimisian city hall would still try its best to provide you with some fresh meat, fish and vegetables…to improve your diet…” Protesilaus led Olivos into the city while introducing some of the preparations Krimsia made.

As he listened carefully, Olivos could see that Protesilaus had fully prepared for the entry of the sixth legion, which made him satisfied.

But just after entering the gate, he heard a loud noise ahead.

“These soldiers are not allowed to enter the city! They will only bring war and death!!”

“Thurians, get out! Krimisa does not welcome you. Get out!”

“You executioners, give back the lives of our loved ones!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hearing this, Olivos’ expression suddenly changed. He turned his head and asked, “Lord Protesilaus, what’s going on?!”

Protesilaus’ expression also changed, and when he was about to explain…

At this time, the leader of the first brigade who had entered the city hurriedly came over and said, “Legatus, many Krimisians are blocking the streets in front of us, stopping us from entering the city!”

“It’s those guys again!” Protesilaus became angry. He sighed and explained, “During the case of Pollux and the lord archon’s attempted assassination, which involved many Krimisian citizens, and the union had severely punished some of them. Now with the invasion of Syracuse on Magna Gracia and the defeat of the allied troops in Scylletium, some families of those citizens began protesting in front of the city hall in the past two days, asking for their loved ones to be released….but I didn’t expect…that they would even dare stop the army from entering the city!”

Compared with the worries of Protesilaus, Olivos, who had fought for many years, was much more decisive and vigilant. So he loudly reminded Protesilaus, “You should immediately send troops to capture these people!”

“That’s not possible! They are all citizens of Krimisa!” Protesilaus shook his head.

“Now that the union is in crisis, they still dare to obstruct the army from entering the city! This is treason, and we must severely punish them! And since this is happening now, I suspect that there must be an enemy directing this! Syracuse is about to attack Krimisa, and if the city is still chaotic, it will only bring us disaster! Therefore I suggest that we put the city of Krimisa under military control!”

“Military control?!” Protesilaus looked at Olivos in surprise.

Olivos looked at him with seriousness, “If we don’t strictly control Krimisa, these scattered and hostile Krimisians may quietly open the city gate once the Syracusan army arrives, welcoming them while we don’t pay attention and turning us all into slaves of Dionysius!”

These words reminded Protesilaus of his tragic days when the Lucanians imprisoned him in Amendolara. He shivered uncontrollably and said with hesitation, “Alright…alright, but I hope that the people of Krimisa will not be hurt…”

After obtaining Protesilaus’ consent, Olivos immediately issued an order. And no matter how they cried, the first brigade quickly surrounded these troublemakers and detained them.

Afterwards, the sixth legion was able to enter the city smoothly.

Soon after, the city hall issued a notice that the whole city would be under military control, and everyone was forbidden to enter and exit the port and gates at will. At the same time, they temporarily moved the residents outside the city inside in response to the upcoming war.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The situation on the northeastern border of Theonia has not only shocked the Amendolarans but has also alarmed the Thurians. With the war approaching the core of Theonia, it awakened the painful memories of the war that destroyed their homes a few years ago. However, they now face a more powerful enemy that Theonia could only defend but not fight back. Such a stifling situation made the Theonians start worrying as they looked forward to the early return of their archon, Davos. And the oracle of Hades began taking roots in the hearts of the people.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

That night, a sound of hasty knocking sounded at the house* of Aristias, the intelligence officer of Davos. (located near the port in the city and the Theonian arena, which is the famous entertainment district in Thurii.)

Before his slave could open the door, the alert Aristias had already dressed and got up.

The one who came in was Teratus, and as soon as he saw Aristias, he hurriedly said, “Sir, our people saw Petaru, Kadukm Bodiam and their followers sneaking out of the city one after another!”

Aristias was surprised and asked in a deep voice, “Didn’t the city guard stop them?”

“With patrol captain Matonis going to Heraclea and the other party being a statesman, who gone out from the east, west and north gates respectively, it didn’t arouse much doubt. Thus the city guard did not dare to stop them.” Teratus said helplessly.

After Davos left with his army, the current political structure of Theonia showed numerous holes as the war continued and intensified.

Although some statesmen proposed to impose martial law on the whole city of Thurii during a war to prevent accidents, it was not adopted because some believed that such an approach interferes too much with the citizens’ freedom. After all, Thurii is far from the battlefield, so there is no need to make the air so tense.

Although the case of Pollux made Davos give the inspector more power to strengthen the management of the statesmen and set up the tribunus plebis to supervise the top to bottom officials, it has just been implemented after all. So even if some statesmen have no real power, their status alone is very noble. Therefore, once Davos is away, ordinary people wouldn’t dare to supervise them.

Aristias didn’t think much about it as he became tense: After the assassination attempt, Davos asked him to strengthen the monitoring of the various cities of Theonia that he invested more money and manpower into the intelligence department he was in charge of. So after discovering the war, he even asked his men to cooperate with the patrol captain of the cities to ensure the stability of the various cities and prevent accidents.

Some time ago, these three Bruttian statesmen, Petaru, Kaduk and Bodiam, who were involved in the case of Pollux and had even supported his proposal, had been complaining about some of Theonian laws. Although nothing happened in the end, Aristias still paid close attention to them.

During the outbreak of the war, the three had several private gatherings, making Aristias even more vigilant. Unfortunately, he was caught unprepared due to the sudden defeat of the alliance and the invasion of Taranto, leading to the departure of Matonis at such a critical moment. After all, the intelligence department he led was only the private organisation of Davos, without any public power. Thus it is even more impossible for them to prevent the high-ranking Theonian statesmen from leaving…

Thinking of this, Aristias further asked, “Are you sure they are heading to Bruttii?”

But his only hope was soon broken by the words of Teratus, “My men saw with their own eyes that they had crossed the wooden bridge to Besidice one after another.”

Yet Teratus’ following words made him feel a bit relieved, “However, I immediately sent someone to go to the city of Besidice after they left. So once he confirmed Petaru’s route, he would immediately ride to Consentia and inform Lord Hielos.”

Aristias didn’t mind his subordinates having their own ideas as what he cared more about was whether they could relay this report. Although there are already roads from Thurii to Besidice and then to Consentia, it is still dangerous to ride a horse in the dark, galloping between the plateau and the mountains.

“Who did you send?” Aristias asked with concern.

“Adepiges.”

“Oh, that sharp fellow.” Aristias relaxed a bit.

Adepiges, who was once insulted as a “hybrid of Bruttian and Greeks”, had accompanied Androlis as envoy to Consentia and followed the Theonian legion to conquer Brutii as one of their guides. Hence, his identity and his ability in these two operations made Aristias look for him. In the following years, Davos promoted him to the position of intelligence officer of the Bruttian region after making great achievements in building the Bruttian intelligence network, stopping the first signs of rebellion and stabilising the Bruttian region.

Chapter 441 – Conspiracy and Decisiveness

This time, Adipiges came from Consentia to specially report to Aristias that the soldiers of the fifth legion freed by Dionysius after the defeat of the battle of Allaro River were causing some problems in the Bruttian region, hoping he could arouse the Senate’s vigilance. However, he didn’t even expect to run into this matter. As a slave, he was used to grazing animals, so he had excellent riding skills and was familiar with the terrain of the Consentian Plateau, allowing him to ride on a long-distance even in the dark.

After understanding the whole story, Aristias knew that the matter was crucial and did not dare to ignore it, so he immediately made a decision, “Come, you and I will go to see Lord Marigi immediately!”

Why would they go to Marigi, the Chief Commercial Officer, instead of Sesta, the grand inspector who had the power to punish the statesmen who left without permission, or Kunogelata, who was temporarily responsible for the management of the whole Theonia?

It’s because Marigi is the confidant of Lord Davos and is familiar with the intelligence department that Aristias was in charge of. On the other hand, Aristias could obviously feel Kunogelata’s dislike of him when he met him several times. As for Sesta, he wasn’t familiar with him and was afraid to delay the time.

After hearing the alarming news, Marigi went to see Sesta without any hesitation, and Sesta immediately sent someone to check these statesmen’s residence. As they had expected, their residence was completely empty.

They then immediately went to Kunogelata’s residence.

Although it was still not late at night, Kunogelata is after old, so he has long been asleep. After being woken up, he was still a bit sleepy, but when he heard Sesta say, “Petaru, Bodiam and Kaduk left Thurii without authorisation and went quietly to Brutti, and they might cause chaos!” His sleepiness has completely disappeared.

“Whether they left due to an emergency in the tribe or other reasons, but without the approval of the Senate, unauthorised departure is a violation of Theonia Union’s Law!” Even though Kunogelata spoke gently, it still could not hide his anxiety, “Immediately send cavalries to the Bruttian area to see if you can capture them! If you can’t catch up with them, immediately go to Consentia and inform Hielos to intensify their vigilance and search and to ‘look after’ them as soon as they are found.”

At this time, there were only 500 cavalries left in the city, but they were all citizens and were not armed, so they had to go to their houses one after another and wake them up at this late hour. Therefore, Kunogelata reminded, “Don’t make loud noises when you gather the cavalries, so as not to cause the people to panic!”

“What if the cavalries catch up with them, and they resist?” Sesta coldly asked.

“It’s better not to hurt them, but if there is no other way…but you must never-” As soon Kunogelata’s words left his mouth, Sesta had already strode outside.

“One thing I forgot to say… Aristias had already sent someone to rush to Consentia and inform Hielos.” Marigi interjected in time to show the merit of Davos’ intelligence officer.

“Oh, really?!” This is really an unexpected surprise for Kunogelata. He then quickly looked at Aristias, who was standing in the corner of the room.

“The situation was urgent at that time, so I decided without authorisation in order to alert Praetor Hielos of Consentia.  My subordinate is now on his way to Consentia, but now that it is dark and the roads are difficult to traverse, I just hope that he could get to Consentia before Petaru and the others.” Aristias explained.

Because of his previous prejudice, Kunogelata was unable to praise the leader of the intelligence department. So he just nodded and then said to Marigi, “Although it is late now, we must inform the other statesmen and tell them what happened tonight so that they could be mentally prepared. Thus Lord Marigi, I hope you can go and have them come to me.” Kunogelata tried to remedy the situation to avoid them saying that he was a dictator and to give Davos an explanation.

“Alright!” Marigi simply replied, turned around and left.

Aristias was about to follow him out when Kunogelata stopped him, “You stay.”

Aristias was surprised to see Kunogelata come close to him and asked, “What’s your name?”

“Aristias.”

“Aristias, you have done a great job!” Kunogelata said solemnly and continued, “I know that you are the eyes of Lord Davos. But now, the situation in Theonia is bad, and I hope that you can do me a favour.”

“As a Theonian citizen, contributing to the union is my duty.” Aristias immediately replied.

“Before lord Davos comes back, I want you to send someone to pay attention to the movements of the other Bruttian statesmen in the Senate and immediately let me know if there are any abnormalities. And I will explain it to Davos once he returns.” Said Kunogelata as he looked at him.

Aristias hesitated for a moment, nodded reluctantly and said, “Lord Kunogelata, I’ll keep you updated every day.”

Just after coming out of Kunogelata’s residence, Aristias waved his fist and smiled: In the past, he could only do things covertly, and some statesmen were disgusted at him. But this time, he was recognised by Kunogelata, an important figure among the statesmen, which can be said to be a big step for the Intelligence Department.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the road leading to Consentia, dozens of people, including Bodiam, Petaru and Kaduk, held up torches as they galloped.

Beyond their torches’ range was just dark wilderness where they could only hear the strong mountain wind sweeping across the unobstructed plateau, emitting a harsh whistling sound as if women were crying…

Petaru wrapped his leather robe tighter around him. On this terrible winter night, he felt cold not only in his body but also in his heart: Petaru had already made up his mind to break away from the Theonia Union, but when he really acted, the only thing he could think of was what would the fate of him and his tribe. However, he had no way to find out, just like the pitch dark road in front of him.

“Listen, what is that sound?!” Kaduk suddenly shouted.

“It’s a wolf’ bark!” Someone recognised it and loudly reminded, “Be careful. There are wolves ahead!”

The crowd gathered in a hurry and dared not disperse. It’s a headache to meet a wolf in the wilderness, especially at night.

Everyone continued to advance carefully.

Before long, they saw five wolves gnawing at something by the road, so they immediately used their torches, spears and short swords to disperse these green-eyed and sniggering wolves. However, they didn’t go far and lingered around.

“It’s a dead horse!” They immediately saw what the wolf was eating.

“It should not be long after it died.” After hearing his tribesmen’ words, Bodiam’s expression became grave, “t seems that someone rode through here not long ago.”

Petaru’s heart jolted, and his complexion became ugly, “It is likely that someone found out our action and rode through here to report to Consentia!”

“We moved so covertly that no one should know it in advance, and the fastest way to Consentia is through here. Thus even if they were to found out, they could not have bypassed us. This time, it is just a coincidence. Someone’s stable must have been left open, which caused the horse to sneak out but was killed by those wolves…” Kaduk retorted.

“But this is not a Bruttian horse.” Bodiam, who was inspecting the horse’s body, reminded everyone, “The skeleton of the horse on the ground is large compared to the short Bruttian horse.”

“You don’t know that there are now many tribes on the Consentian plateau which are also raising horses from other places?” Kaduk once again retorted.

“Stop arguing. No matter where the horse came from, we must be vigilant.” Petaru hurriedly mediated and continued, “I decided to go to my original tribe on the south of Cosentia first. (as one of the main initiators of the Bruttian war and an accomplice of Pian’s tribe – Petaru’s tribe was divided after the war, one was near Consentia while the others were moved to the edge of the territory near Clampetia.)”

“I have to go back to Consentia.” Said Kaduk as well. Back then, as the one who opened the city gate and led the Theonian into the inner part of Consentia, Theonia rewarded him and allowed his tribe to be intact and not relocated. Therefore, his tribe was now dominant among the many small tribes in Consentia.

“Take care of yourself.” That was all Petaru could say because if Kaduk did not sneak back into his tribe and take enough warriors, it would not help their rebellion. Hence he put aside his old grudge and was willing to join forces with him.

“After you convince your tribes, don’t forget to lead them to Anbania as soon as possible! After all, only when we are together can we become strong that the Theonians wouldn’t dare to invade us easily and allow us to have enough time to make more choices!” Bodiam reminded them.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After Bruttii’s integration into Theonia, significant changes have taken place in the city of Consentia.

The inner part of the city was the administrative area, mainly including the city hall, the council hall, the court, the temple, the square and the Military Department. On the other hand, the Praetor and the officials’ residence were also located next to the square.

The main role of the council hall was mainly for the Praetor of Consentia to consult the chieftains of the Bruttian tribes regarding some management matters in the Bruttian region. From this point of view, while the other Greek cities were still preparing for the local councils, Consentia had long been doing a similar mechanism. Of course, this has to do with the tribal-based existence of the Bruttii region, where Lucania’s Grumentum practised a similar system.

Speaking of the courts within the city of Consentia, the Theonian Law states that the tribe can punish their tribesmen for breaking the law according to their tribal rules, but if the tribesmen disagree with the result, they can appeal to the Consentian court, where the judge will conduct another trial according to the Theonian citizenship law and eventually negotiate a settlement with the tribal chieftains. Since the tribes often act in the interests of the tribe as a whole or the chieftain, most offenders disagree with the sentences they handed down and turn to the Consentian court. Although this makes the judges’ work increasingly busy and the number of courts increases from the initial one to five, its impartiality has been recognised by the Bruttians more and more.

Chapter 442 – Entrapment

That was also one of the reasons why Bodiam and Petaru are rebelling: The Theonian court is more popular in Bruttii, almost leading to the disappearance of the tribal chieftain’s authority and may lead to the disintegration of the tribe.

On the other hand, besides the Temple of Hades and Hera, there are other temples in Consentia, such as the temples of the goddess Maara, Brutus – the protector of the Bruttians, and Heracles. Thus whenever there is a celebration, the Praetor – whether he believes in that god and goddesses or not, must offer a ceremony in these temples to show respect, which was a strict rule made by the Senate for the praetors. For example, there is also a Temple of Asinu, the god of Lucania, in Grumentum.

There is also a training camp outside the city of Consentia, while the Military Department in the inner city was mainly to check and register the people of each tribe who can fight. Inspect their weapons and equipment, notify and urge the Bruttians on the roster to participate in the training, check and count their achievements, and cooperate with the city hall to give them rewards, such as land.

This department also has to perform some confidential tasks, such as understanding the strength and growth of the various tribes and secretly encouraging those tribesmen to stand on their own, which is another important reason for Petaru’s dissatisfaction.

The outside of the city was originally where the great chieftain of Consentia – Pian, forcibly relocated the small tribes of Bruttii. But after Theonia took over the city, the small tribes were divided into their own rule and settled outside the city. Besides acting as a barrier to protect the periphery of Consentia, they also fend off the harassment of wild animals, such as wolves, to the city at night, bringing peace to Consentia.

And now, the outside of the city has the largest livestock trading market in the whole of Magna Graecia, where not only merchants from within the Union comes, but even the Scylletians, Terinians, and Crotonians would go out of their way just to buy here as the prices of the Bruttian horses and other livestock were a bit cheaper than the big market in Thurii.

The arena is also located here, where rugby, football and horse races are often held, and the Bruttians are no less obsessed with these games than the Thurians as they could even vent their normally repressed wildness on and off the field.

A theatre was also built outside the city, but the Bruttians was less interested in it than the arena. You could even describe it as bleak for a while. However, those who dared to open these theatres in Consentia were very smart and soon found that the Bruttians were not interested in irony, humour, wisdom and human destiny of the Greek drama, but in the stories of the Greek gods, especially the adventures of Heracles, a mighty god, who used his courage and wisdom to constantly defeat powerful enemies and taking countless beautiful women, which were much more attractive to the Bruttians. After all, they are descendants of Heracles in the Bruttian legends. Hence, the theatre owners began to stage many stories regarding the Greek gods, developing numerous fans of the play with their simple language and dramatic storylines and giving the Bruttians an understanding of the Greek culture and traditions.

The school was also located outside the city. Initially, it was as unpopular as the theatre when it was established but has now become quite popular due to the increasing number of independent Bruttians. Consentia has allowed Bruttians who have left their tribes to live in the outer area, purchasing land at a low cost and even allowing them to rent with the repayment period of up to ten years. Due to this, more and more Bruttians broke away from their tribes, and most chose to live in Consentia because it was the centre of the Bruttian region. And the increase of population in Consentia’s urban area, in turn, contributed to the prosperity of the city. After the independent Bruttians opened their eyes, it was only natural for them to go to school in order to make a better development for themselves and their children.

Now the outer area of Consentia was almost filled with Bruttians, with the inns and restaurants are completely filled with customers every day. The Praetor of Consentia had even proposed to the Senate for the city of Consentia’s continuous expansion outward.

Different from the expansion of Thurii, the expansion of Consentia means that the more Bruttian population under the direct management of its city hall, the more stable the Bruttian region would be. After all, half of the soldiers of the fifth legion came from the various tribe, while the other half came exclusively from the Bruttians under Consentia.

This is also another main reason for the rebellion of Bodiam, Petaru and Kaduk. For the tribe, their tribe members are like water; with abundant water, the tribe can have a good harvest, but with Theonia secretly pumping away the water, the farm could only wither. So how could Petaru wait for their death?!

And it is precisely because the Theonian Senate moved the various tribes out of the city that Kaduk dared to sneak back to Consentia as he didn’t have to risk being investigated by the city guards.

Kaduk’s tribe’s location was on the Crati River near the city of Consentia.

It is a land abundant in water and grasses, a reward given by Davos to Kaduk. With the Bruttian region achieving peace and unity, there is no longer a need for wooden walls, fences around the tribal settlement and someone to watch at night. Only the hounds are left outside the huts to watch out for wild animals trying to take their livestock.

Kaduk, who returned here several times a year, was surprised and relieved to see that the usually scattered hounds were not around.

With his men in tow, he got around one of the thatched huts and walked towards the largest courtyard in the centre.

“Knock! Knock! Knock!…”

“Who is it?”

“Open the door. The great chieftain is back!”

“Who?”

“Open the door. It’s me! Kaduk!”

Perhaps after he heard a familiar voice, the one in the courtyard opened a crack in the door, held up an oil lamp to look outside, and hurriedly opened the door.

“Great chieftain, why have you returned at this time?!”

Kaduk went straight in without answering him.

After his men came inside, they hurriedly closed the door, stood around the yard, and looked around with vigilance.

“Where is Vito?” But no sooner had Kaduk uttered this sentence, a surprised voice sounded in front of him, “Great chieftain, you are back! Why did you not inform me in advance so that I could send someone to greet you?”

Vito stepped out of the living room with a surprised look on his face.

After saying that, he lit the fire pit in the centre, brightening the whole courtyard.

Kaduk frowned at the excited Vito,  “Keep your voice down! Go and call Daru, Girian and Kerak, as I have something important to say!” Kaduk said in a serious tone. He had appointed Vito, who was famous, gentle and lack of courage among his men, as the tribe’s chieftain so that he wouldn’t lose control of the tribe while he was far away from Consentia living in Thurii, serving as a statesman. At the same time, he appointed three loyal chieftains to assist Vito in managing the tribes, and if there are any important matters to be discussed, the four of them will make the decisions. But in fact, it is often difficult for the four to reach an agreement, so they have to send someone to Thurii to ask him to make the final decision. That is why even though he is far away in Thurii, he still controls the tribe.

“It’s already so late. What are you going to discuss with them anyway?” Vito was puzzled but also a bit reluctant.

“Go and call them! Why do you need to ask so many questions!” Kaduk became a bit impatient.

“Tarik, quickly call all three of them.” Vito could only helpless give the order to his subordinate.

“Yes!” Tarik immediately carried the oil lamp and was about to go out –

“You go with him.” Kaduk said, pointing to one of his followers, who was still on guard at the moment.

The two then opened the gate and went out while Kaduk led Vito into the meeting room.

“Great chieftain, what’s the important thing that happened?” Vito asked suspiciously.

Kaduk looked at him and said, “We must lead our people out of here before tomorrow morning!”

“Why?!” Vito was startled.

“Because the Syracusans are coming! Now the Theonia Union is almost finished! For the survival of our tribe, we must hurry to join Syracuse!” Kaduk tried to look grave, but his voice seemed too exaggerated.

“…we…are we going to betray Theonia?…” Vito’s expression drastically changed as he trembling said.

“WHAT BETRAYAL?!” Kaduk immediately became furious, “This is Bruttii, the place where our ancestors lived for generations! The Theonians forcibly occupied this place by force and took away our freedom! Now, we will just break away from Theonia’s control, but once Syracuse completely defeats Theonia, we will take this land back!” Kaduk swung his fist and said in a tone filled with hatred. Over the past few years, the repressed life in Thurii had made him angry. At this moment, the light from the brazier reflected on his angry and twisted face, which looked ferocious and terrifying.

“Defection is defection, and the severest punishment under the Theonian Law is death!” A voice rang out abruptly at the back of the meeting room. Then the light from the brazier cast a figure on the wall.

Kaduk became shocked when he heard these words and subconsciously stared at Vito. But this short and fat old man actually moved away from Kaduk with unprecedented swiftness.

In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen men poured out of the room. Then the man at the front had his face illuminated – it was Hielos.

“Run, there is an ambush!” Kaduk was shocked. He immediately turned and ran back while he loudly reminded his men.

However, the door was pushed open. Then heavily armed soldiers rushed in.

“Take them all!” Hielos coldly ordered.

Soon, Kaduk and his men were captured.

“Hielos…I…I rushed back to deal with the tribe’s urgent matters, but you broke into my tribe’s meeting room without any reason, wounded my men, and tied me up…quickly…release me! Otherwise, I will charge…charge you for your crime to the Senate! Which…would alarm my people, and once they see how you treat their chieftain, they will certainly cause a riot. And once there is a huge riot, I am afraid that the position of the Praetor of Consentia that you just got will be taken back by the Senate! Release me, and we will talk it over.” Although Kaduk had his hands tied behind his back and pinned to the ground, he still tried making threats stubbornly.

“If you have any grievance, wait until you are escorted back to the Senate to complain.” Said Hielos as he didn’t want to speak with him anymore. He then turned to Vito and said, “I will report your merits to the Senate, but your primary task now is to stabilise your entire tribe. There must not be any unrest, and I will also send someone to assist you to stabilise the situation. At the same time, the Senate will pay attention to your performance and decide whether to let you succeed in this traitor as a statesman of the Senate. Work hard.”

Chapter 443 – Pacifying the Chaos

“Rest assured Lord Hielos; I will make sure the people of the tribe will be loyal to the union, satisfying you and the Senate!” The excited Vito immediately expressed his stance to Hielos.

“Vito, you traitor!” Kaduk’s eye widened with anger, wishing he could eat this old man, who he had trusted, alive.

“You are the traitor, the traitor to our Theonia! Our tribesmen are happy and enjoying their stable life under the rule of the union, yet you want to push us into war!” Vito pointed at him and scolded him.

“Shut his mouth!” At Hielos’ warning, the soldiers gagged Kaduk, who was still trying to shout. His anger and fear could only turn into a muffled sound…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hielos returned to the inner part of the city just in time to meet the cavalries that had arrived from Thurii under the starry night. Even though they didn’t manage to catch up with Petaru, they still managed to bring the Senate’s order. With Hielos already taking action, the Senate’s order just became a confirmation for his action.

Adepiges then greeted Hielos, who came to the city hall. He then asked, “Have you caught them?”

“We captured Kaduk.” Hielos then continued with gratitude, “Thank you for risking your life to bring this report!”

It is, after all, a taboo to travel at night in the Bruttian region, let alone riding on a horse. Although falling is already terrifying, the wild animals roaming in the wilderness are much more frightening. Fully aware of this situation, Adepiges borrowed another horse from Besidice to prevent accidents and galloped towards Consentia with the two horses, which indeed happened while he was in the middle of his journey; one of the horses sprained its front hoof, so he immediately changed horses and drove the wounded horse away from the road (who later returned and was then eaten by the wolves, alerting Petaru and the others), and finally brought back the news to Hielos.

After hearing Hielos’ praise, Adepiges did not show a trace of pride as he was no longer the humble slave at the start but the intelligence officer arranged by Davos in the Bruttian region. Even the several Praetors in the cities of Bruttii have to rely on his intelligence in order to be informed of the tribal movements in the region and take precautions to ensure that there is no trouble in this area. Hence they didn’t dare to underestimate him, let alone him having Davos behind him.

“Did Hegasitus came back?” Asked Hielos.

“I haven’t heard anything from him yet.” Replied Adepiges.

Hegasitus was the chieftain of the Siro tribe’s survivors. After Theonia conquered Bruttii, Davos settled the Siro tribe near Consentia and appointed Hegasitus as its inspector. But in reality, he is more like an assistant to Consentia’s Praetor with his knowledge of the Bruttian region. And many measures for the stability of the Bruttian region had even come from his advice. He is even the first one to mediate once there is a conflict.

“It seems the statement of Kaduk’s men is true. Petaru didn’t come to Consentia but went directly to the south.” Hielos strode inside the city hall.

In the Praetor’s office room, Hieronymus was already waiting there anxiously. He had just arrived in Consentia this afternoon and had not yet started recruiting soldiers, only to be informed by Hielos that there might be a rebellion in the evening.

He became surprised but also excited as he felt that he could finally be of use.

At this time, Hielos, who knew Hieronymus’ character, entered the room without politeness and bluntly said, “We caught Kaduk, and he admitted that they were preparing to rebel. However, we didn’t manage to catch Bodiam and Petaru!” Hielos said regretfully and went straight into his desk with a large map of the Bruttian area on the wall.

He then continued after pointing to the bottom left of the map. “Bodiam must have gone to Anbania, where he ruled as the great chieftain for more than 20 years and had a high prestige. However, we have demolished the city of Anbania after we integrated Bruttii into our union(Davos thought that Anbania was too isolated with barren land and unable to accommodate many people, so reconstructing the city would be too wasteful of resources and would just increase the risk of rebellion. Thus after a discussion in the Senate, they decided to demolish it.) And even though we have moved out the tribes living there, Anbania still have a population of about…uh-”

“There are still about 5,000 Anbanians. So even if Bodiam managed to persuade them, they could only gather up more than a thousand soldiers.” Adepiges, who then entered the room, immediately added.

After all, it’s only a month since Hielos came to Bruttii, so he only has a preliminary understanding of the situation here. Thus he is not as familiar as Adepiges, who lived in Bruttii for many years. Hielos then stepped aside and motioned for Adepiges to make a detailed introduction.

“Petaru, on the other hand, if he didn’t come to Consentia, must have definitely gone here-” Without refusing it, Adepiges went straight to the map and pointed to the left of it, “Here is one of the tribes that he ruled, with a population of about 6,000. So if you want to crush the rebellion, I suggest attacking here first. Although this tribe is a bit further away from Consentia, it is still within the Consentian plateau, and there are also other tribes living around it. But the main problem is that it is also close to Clampetia, so they can escape from Bruttii at any time through the mountain paths to join the Syracusans, which will cause terrible results.

On the other hand, most of the Anbanian tribes surrounded a lake while the others lived in the mountains, so it would take Bodiam a lot of time to gather them while we only needed to block the road from Anbania to the Consentian plateau. Thus Bodiam could only cross the mountains and risk entering the Consentian plateau, or follow the rugged valley eastward to the city of Aprustum.” Facing the two statesmen, Adepiges confidently expressed his opinion.

“Well said!” Hielos praised loudly and continued, “I think we could follow as Adepiges said.”

Hieronymus nodded and said, “How many men will you give me?”

Even though he spoke briefly, Hielos still understood what he meant. After all, he was the praetor of Consentia and had to sit in the centre of this Bruttian city, so Hieronymus was the only that could direct this battle.

“I can recruit 2,000 independent Bruttian citizens from within Consentia tomorrow while gathering a thousand men from the tribes outside the city and try to complete the assembly at noon. Beyond that, I can’t give you any more troops because I still need some soldiers to station in Consentia in case other tribes are affected by this and riots occur.” Hielos said in a serious tone.

“3,000 is enough,” Hieronymus simply replied, then pointed to Adepiges, “However, I want you to come with me.”

“I would be more than happy to, Lord Hieronymus!” Adepiges gladly replied.

“Tomorrow morning, I will send messengers to Clampetia and Vergae to inform the two lords, Asistes and Saru, to cooperate with you as much as possible while raising their vigilance. Furthermore, I will also send someone to rush back to Thurii and get the Senate to inform lord Agasias in the city of Aprustum to be on the alert for these traitors who might slip away through the river valley!” Hielos finished stating his arrangement.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The following day, Hieronymus led the assembled 3,000 reserve soldiers to the south…

Petaru, on the other hand, managed to act quickly enough and convince more than half of his tribe to follow him and defect from Theonia Union. He also sent his men to the surrounding tribes to spread rumours that “Syracuse’s army had invaded Theonia’s territory, and the Theonian army was defeated and was about to be destroyed!…” And so on and such rumours caused the people to panic.

Even some tribal chieftains became so restless that they rushed to ask him for advice.

He then took this opportunity to talk about the many discrimination and grievances he suffered in Thurii during his years as a Bruttian chieftain and a Senate’s statesman to the point that he even shed tears and his eyes turned red.

And his words just happened to answer the chieftains concerns about Theonia’s deliberate and constant promulgation of laws that accelerated the disintegration of the tribe. Making them think that even Petaru, who had become a statesman, was forced into this situation, let alone them.

Hence some of the chieftains began considering following Petaru in rebelling against Theonia’s rule.

Just when Petaru rejoiced in his scheme’s success to create an anti-Theonia union of the Bruttian tribes and start a rebellion against Theonia throughout the Consentia plateau, the army of Hieronymus quickly approached.

After learning about it, Petaru, who was clueless about what happened in Kaduk’s tribe last night, was shocked. In their plan, they thought that the Senate wouldn’t be able to find out about their disappearance until at least today and would not send anyone to their tribe until tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. But by then, they would already be ready and could take advantage of the pressure of the Syracusan army and the empty troops of the Theonian territory to deal with the Theonians in Bruttii. However, the Theonian army attacked so quickly and unexpectedly that his fears had become a reality.

Petaru hurriedly sent someone out to argue with the army’s commander and buy time for himself.

Yet, no one expected Hieronymus to ignore him and directly lead the army into the tribal settlement to catch Petaru.

And the panicking Petaru could only send his men to stop Hieronymus while he rode quietly and tried to escape.

But Petaru’s hastily formed troops was defeated by Hieronymus, then they began chasing him.

In the end, Petaru’s mount was hit by an arrow, throwing him off his horse. Finally, Hieronymus captured him.

Hieronymus then tied him up and the nearly a thousand rebels with ropes and strung them into several long rows. They then threatened them to walk through the various tribal settlements with their spears, causing all the tribal chieftains who saw this sight to be nervous and trembling in their legs.

Chapter 444 – The People’s Voice and Heni’s Request

While Hieronymus raided Petaru’s tribe, the Senate held a meeting early in the morning. They had a heated discussion on how they should deal with those three statesmen who defected.

The first to object was Sedrum, as he believed that even if the three men ran back to Bruttii without reporting it to the Senate, it is still not certain whether they defected.

He was obviously defending them, which Scambras, Tritodemus, Stromboli, and the others immediately refuted. However, they did not have evidence to prove the three’s betrayal. In the end, the discussion turned into a quarrel.

Only when the messenger from Consentia arrived and reported the arrest of Kaduk and presented the confessions of his men and slaves that Sedrum no longer have anything to say.

But at this time, Scambras, Tritodemus and Stromboli became infuriated. They all proposed to impose the death penalty on these three people and said in a righteous manner, “The Theonian Law stipulates that the severest punishment for treason is the death penalty. Now that the Theonia Union was facing danger, as a statesman of Theonia, Petaru, Kaduk, and Bodiam did not think about leading the people to defeat the enemy. Instead, they took the lead in inciting the people to betray the union, plunging our Theonia into great difficulty and bringing great danger. Not killing such traitors is not enough to calm the people’s anger and deter those who have different intentions!”

Thus the Senate voted to impose the death penalty on Bodiam, Petaru and Kaduk by a large margin. The Bruttian statesmen such as Sedrum and Baripiri were saddened after learning the result, while Scambras and Tritodemus became wary of them.

In such a critical moment when the Syracusan army was pressuring them, the Theonian statesmen should have worked together to overcome the difficulties. Instead, they became estranged and suspicious of each other, which made Kunogelata and Cornelius look at each other with anxiousness in their hearts. But the two of them have no other choice but hope that Davos, who is the only one that could eliminate their differences and unify everyone, to return soon.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

An uproar happened when the news of “Bruttian statesmen rebelling” reached the Thurians.

The panicking Thurians still had not calmed down after hearing the “Tarantine army was approaching Amendolara” yesterday, yet they heard such bad news again today. Since the start of the war, one bad news after another came. At last, they could no longer maintain their calmness as they quickly gathered in front of the Grand Senate Hall to protest, asking the statesmen to take immediate and effective measures to repel the enemy as soon as possible and restore peace Theonia.

But how could they easily fulfil such demand? While the statesmen such as Kunogelata had a headache thinking of a way to appease and quell the people’s anger, a messenger from Lucania had arrived just in time.

After reading the battle report the messenger brought, Kunogelata felt relieved. He then stood on the steps of the Grand Senate Hall, held the battle report high and shouted excitedly to the noisy populace at the bottom of the steps, “This is the battle report from Potentia. Lord Davos and our army has completely defeated the Samnites and are on their way back to Thurii!”

In an instant, the clamouring voices at the bottom of the steps disappeared, and a deafening cheer erupted.

“All hail Lord Davos!!”

“Hurray, Theonia!!”

“See, it is just like what the oracle of Hades stated: Only Lord Davos can defeat the enemy and ensure the peace of Theonia!”

“You are right! Hades had blessed his descendant, Lord Davos!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Amidst the relieved cheers of the people, someone suddenly shouted, “Let Lord Davos be the king!”

When the statesmen heard this, they all became a bit confused.

Rather than the shouting stop, it merged into a thunderous roar, echoing in the ears of the statesmen, “Take my blood as the king, and the peace of the union will be ensured!!!…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

While the Thurians shouted, “Let Davos be king”, Davos led his army to the Lao Fortress.

When he arrived at Nerulum yesterday’s evening, Nerulum’s Praetor, Hemon, told him that the South Italian Alliance’s army failed to prevent the Syracusan army from advancing northward and was forced to fight the Syracusans in Scylletium. In the end, Syracuse defeated them miserably…

Hearing this news, Davos was very surprised. He did not expect that after leaving Thurii with his troops for less than a month, the Syracusan army, under Dionysius’ clever and flexible mobilisation, attacked with fierceness and viciousness and caused the situation in the south of Theonia’s territory to collapse like this!

‘I underestimated Dionysius. He is not that simple!’ After Davos realised this problem, while he blamed himself, he also declined Hemon’s invitation for an evening banquet, locking himself in his room as he thought hard about Theonia’s following response, so much so that he did not sleep well that night.

Early the following day, he led the army and departed. After all, the battle that Hemon told him was about two or three days ago. With Dionysius’ ability and Syracuse’s dominance, it was enough to steer the war even more against Theonia. Therefore, he had to lead the main force back to Thurii as soon as possible.

Along the way, he kept pondering the war situation in his heart, looking for a way to win.

Once he went inside the Lao Fortress, he stopped only to rest for a bit.

At this time, he called Henipolis and asked with concern, “Heni, are you really sure that you won’t return to Laos and instead follow me to Thurii?”

“I have made up my mind, milord! Theonia is now in distress, and as an ally, Laos should lend a helping hand to help Theonia defeat our powerful enemy!” Henipolis passionately said, “I will also send someone to inform my uncle to send more soldiers to fight alongside the Theonian legion!”

Upon hearing this, Davos narrowed his eyes. He knew that the reason why Henipolis was willing to go to Thurii was due to him being tired of his cage life in Laos, where he could not decide anything.

Davos pondered for a moment and said, “Hmm… Alright, you could come with me, but there is no need for you to send Laos’ troops. After all, now that Terina had fallen, Laos will also need enough soldiers to prevent Syracuse from raiding its port from the sea.”

Henipolis doesn’t care much whether he sent more troops or not as long as Davos agreed. He then happily said, “Lord Davos, I have another thing that I want your permission for.”

“What is it?”

“Can…can I serve as your clerk during the war, helping you write your orders and collect information?…” Henipolis asked in a low voice.

“Eh?” Davos looked at him in surprise, “How did you come up with such an idea?” An archon of a city-state actually wants to serve as the clerk of the supreme commander of another city-state? This is too much a bargain…those who don’t know the story would see it as Davos humiliating his allies.

“Milord, you should know…that last time in Poseidonia, you had asked me to lead the army to intercept the fleeing Samnites…but when I saw the fierce Samnites approaching towards us…my legs were shaking…if it wasn’t for Izam’s help, I’m afraid that I would have already fled…” Henipolis did not conceal his embarrassment at all, “Thus, I now understand that…I am different from you, milord. I do not have the talent to lead a battle. Instead, I like reading and writing, but it’s too boring to search for information from countless materials and spend time pondering like teacher Ansitanos.

But if I were to stay by your side, milord, I would not only help you, but I can learn in more detail how you defeated the Samnites and how you would defeat Syracuse…such a glorious process, not only I want to know, but even the people of Theonia…no! The entire population of Magna Graecia wants to know! And if I were to write it, it will become popular!…” Henipolis became more and more excited.

Davos looked at him in surprise and thought, ‘This little guy wants to be a biographer!’

However, Henipolis’ request made him somewhat tempted. From his previous life, he knew that: Alexander the Great had scholars following him and writing anecdotes about him during his expedition to the east. Hannibal also had scholars following him when he invaded Italy, writing and advocating for him as Italy’s liberator. Caesar also had scholars following him since he crossed the Rubicon, and even continued the 《Civil War》 for him…‘Why can’t I have one as well?’

Thinking of this, Davos smiled and said, “Heni, I agree with you being my clerk during this war-”

“Great, thank you, milord!” As soon as Davos agreed, Henipolis immediately shouted and leapt with joy.

“It is still too early for you to be happy. If you want to write a book about me in the future, I must check the content first and only after I agree can you publish it. Do you agree?!” Davos said with a serious expression.

“Uh, yes.” Henipolis nodded repeatedly.

“And also…if you were to serve as my clerk, who will be in charge of Laos’ troops?”

“Ariandos. He is usually the one in charge of the army.” After Henipolis said this, an image of a man immediately came to Davos’ mind. Ariandos was the right hand of Avinoges. They could see his ability was not weak while he orderly led the Laos army to march and camp, and they could even see his loyalty to Henipolis.

Davos then expressed his approval, “Alright. You go and tell him to report to me from tomorrow. And also, don’t sleep late!”

Chapter 445 – Suspicious About Laos

“Got it.” Henipolis left in high spirit.

Davos smiled as he watched him leave. Henipolis had lived in his home for a few years, and even though he is blunt and crude, he is still very popular with Davos’ family. Davos did not want to let Henipolis knows about the following matter as he treated him as his brother.

He then called in the officer in charge of defending the Lao fortress.

“If I remember correctly, your name should be Tagru, right?” Asked Davos gently.

The nervous centurion was surprised. He did not expect Davos, the lifelong archon and the grand legatus of the army that all soldiers respect, could still remember the name he said when Davos first arrived at the Lao fortress more than ten days ago.

“Yes, Grand Legatus!” He replied excitedly.

“I remember that you are from Grumentum. Are you a part of a tribe or independent?” Continued Davos while motioning him to sit down.

“I am already independent, and I only need to work hard for my family.” Tagru straightened his chest and answered in fluent Greek. In the past years, a popular perception spread in Lucania that independent Lucanians are the true Theonian citizens and have real freedom! Due to the last war, many tribes in Lucania(except Potentia and Galaguso) were destroyed and weakened, isolating the remaining tribes and could only heavily depend on the union. Thus they have no choice but to let go of those who want to leave the tribe one after another.

“Looks like you have a family. Do you have any kids? How is your life?” Davos began discussing family matters with him.

Even though this made Tagru feel surprised, it also made him feel his friendliness, “Thank Asinu, I already have two children, and both are boys and are very healthy!… At first, Lord Bagul gave me 3300 square metres of land, but it was all in the mountain and not suitable for growing wheat. Afterwards, the agricultural officer suggested that I plant apple trees, which I did. Finally, the trees have grown and might bear fruit the following year, which I can sell to the city. They also said that the price of apples in Thurii is higher, but it takes several days to get to Thurii…

And the year before, I took out a loan from the bank and bought 20 lambs and two cows, and now their numbers have doubled. In the summer, I sold six sheep and a cow to the restaurants in the city, allowing me to pay off the loan and get 30 extra drachmaes. And now, I have decided to buy some more livestock next year and try to herd hundreds of livestock up the mountain every day… Milord, I am not afraid of you laughing as this is my dream. In the past, only the tribe have that many livestock…”

“Haha, this is indeed a great dream!” Davos stroked his palm and laughed. He then asked with concern, “What about your family matters while you are on duty at Lao fortress?”

“My wife is a capable woman. She is the one taking care of the children and the fruit trees. In addition, I bought a Thracian slave from the money I borrowed from the bank to help herd my cattle and sheep. And now, there is a village where I live…so during the busiest time, my neighbours would also come over to help.”

After listening to him, Davos said with seriousness, “Being stationed here at Lao Fortress, far away from the city and your home, not only is your daily life monotonous, but you could no go home to take care of your family for a long time… Originally, this arduous task was assigned to registered and trained freemen and preparatory citizens as an important task to shorten their assessment period to become citizens. However, due to the outbreak of war, I propose to replace them with official citizen soldiers. Do you have any dissatisfaction?”

“Milord…ah…to tell you the truth…a little.” Tagru hesitated but still answered truthfully.

“It is because you have received a stricter training and an official citizen of Theonia that once faced with danger, you will defend this fortress with all you can to keep your homes from being trampled upon! After all, Lao Fortress is the only land channel connecting Lucania and Thurii. Furthermore, the space here is narrow, so it is hard to deploy troops. Once the enemy occupies this place, it will cut off the connection between Thurii and Lucania, bringing great danger!” Davos said gravely.

“Milord, do you mean…to say that someone will attack here?!” Tagru stared in surprise.

After all, the Lao Fortress is now in the heartland of the Theonia Union. Thus most of the time, they don’t have anything to do besides checking on the merchants and travellers passing by and providing them with simple accommodation and food. Hence, some statesmen once proposed abolishing it and turning it into a post station. In the end, Davos rejected it.

“Danger could appear at any time during the war, and it often comes from the shadows… So from now on, you must be vigilant and not allow any caravans or travellers to stay inside or outside the fortress. Nor should you allow any troops without any decree from the Ministry of Military to enter or pass through the Lao Fortress. Do you understand?”

“Understood, Grand Legatus!” Tagru got up and saluted.

“Tagru, you aren’t an official legionary?”

“Milord, I am just a reserve soldier. My tribe was late in joining the union. By that time, too many Lucanians had signed up for the third legion already.” Tagru said with slight dejection.

“I then hope that after this war, I can see your name in the third legion’s list of merit!” Davos encouraged him and continued, “Also, once the enemy attacks the Lao Fortress, you shouldn’t fight them by yourselves. You should inform Lord Hemon of Nerulum and get his assistance. Understand?”

“Yes, milord!” Tagru saluted excitedly once again. Although he didn’t know where the enemy would come from, he was no longer frustrated about being stationed in such a deserted place. He then loudly gave his promise, “Don’t worry, milord. I will defend the Lao fortress until the war is over!”

Davos nodded. After Tagru left, he got up and walked towards the window facing south.

As Davos couldn’t see the city of Laos at the estuary of the Lao fortress, he could only guess what Alobamus, who isn’t an archon but acts as an archon, is doing at this moment.

Davos began suspecting Alobamus as he did not take the initiative to meet the Theonian army at the Lao fortress twice, and the army he sent to Henipolis were all the loyal troops of Avinoges. In addition, Davos received a report from the intelligence department at Nerulum that they have found traces of Syracusans in the city of Laos.

So Davos took Henipolis away and made his preparation as he waited quietly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Just as Davos led his troops from the Lao fortress into the mountains and set foot on their way back to Thurii, Dionysius had led his 90,000 men* to the Neto River and set up camp on each side. (this army included Dionysius’ more than 70,000 troops, as well as Locri, Hipponion and Caulonia’s troops who had just joined Syracuse’s side.)

The camp stretched for 5 kilometres, with thousands of tents covering the southern part of the Crotonian Plain and the lower bank of the river. Syracuse’s engineers also directed more than 4,000 Caulonian soldiers and Scylletian slaves to build a simple dock at the river’s estuary, allowing for the transportation of food and provisions to the camp by the sea, providing greater convenience for logistical supplies.

While the army busily constructed the camp, Dionysius led the strategoi close to the city of Crotone to inspect its defences.

At this time, in the city of Crotone, on the advice of the officers of Theonia’s ballista troops, they began setting up fortification on both sides of the moat and laying traps, only for them to not finish it due to the quick arrival of Syracuse’s army. This is the second time within five years that the city of Crotone has been attacked. However, the fear in the hearts of the Crotonian is much greater than last time. After all, if they were to stand at the top of the city wall and look westward, the only thing they could see was endless white formed by countless military tents that blends with the skyline.

Upon hearing the report, Lysias, Siprus, Ascamas and all the members of the Crotonian council and the officers came to the top of the city wall and gazed at the vicious Sicilian tyrant who was surrounded by hundreds of cavalries, with eyes filled with hatred and a bit of fear.

On the other hand, Dionysius regarded the people at the top of the city wall as air. He walked around as if he was taking a stroll while exchanging views with the people around him from time to time.

“Crotone’s walls are ten metres high and are made of large stones. It has moats and abatis outside the city, and with the city’s size, they have enough men to defend it. Thus I think it would be challenging to conquer this city!” Phidias, without any scruples, uttered these words that discouraged his allies. After all, even though the Spartans were terrifying in field warfare, they had little success in sieging, so much so that in their previous wars, they had not captured any large cities, and even the small ones, they only captured a few of them. During the Peloponnesian War, even though the allied forces led by Sparta wrecked the Attica peninsula into ruins, they could only stay outside Athens for many years as they never managed to storm the walls of Athens. Thus after winning the war, the first thing they did was get the Athenians to tear down the walls.

“If we could not capture the city of Crotone while the city of Aprustum is narrow and not favourable for the deployment of troops, let alone capture it, Then why are we still leading troops here?! Is it just to surround them?!!” Said Astagoras sarcastically as he was unhappy with the arrogant Spartan.

Chapter 446 – Dionysius’ Subsequent Strategy

“That’s right. We will just encircle them! After that, we will just take the rest of the troops across the Neto River and go straight to Krimisa!” Phidias looked at Dionysius as he gave his advice, “With the main force of Theonia currently still in the Lucanian region, and Taranto had just recaptured Metapontum, the Theonians will definitely strengthen their defence on the north. In Aprustum, they still have the remnant soldiers of the two…erm…legions of Theonia, so I believe the Theonian territory is now devoid of soldiers! And I heard that Krimisa is just a small city, so capturing it would not be difficult for Syracuse.

After taking Krimisa, our army can head north and take another small city, Roscianum. Then we will approach the city of Thurii and encircle them together with Taranto! By then, Theonia could only surrender, which would then waste Crotone’s effort to defend their city, and Syracuse would then truly conquer Magna Graecia!” At this point, even Phidias was shocked by what he said. He could not help but sigh with deep concern at the thought that the entire western Mediterranean would be under the control of Syracuse.

Their eyes lightened at Phidias’ words, and Dionysius became tempted. However, he knew two things that the other did not: One – Davos’ army had won a great victory in Lucania, where it was reported that they wiped out more than 20,000 Samnites. Although he knew that the Samnites wouldn’t easily admit their defeat, the time for Theonia’s main troops to return to Thurii would be much earlier (he still hasn’t received the news of the defeat of the Samnite’s whole army); Second – Theonia stationed a new legion in the city of Krimisa. With Dionysius already witnessing their might on the battlefield, and although he did not know their ability to defend the city, he thought it wouldn’t be much worse. Thus, the number of defenders will not be less than 10,000, making it harder to capture Krimisa.

But more importantly, the city of Krimisa was the target of Syracuse’s spy, so this area was the most unstable place in Theonia besides the Bruttian region in the past. Before the war, Syracuse’s chief intelligence officer – Hipparinus, sent several of his men to the city to instigate the Krimisians to protest, demanding an ecclesia and subsequently trying to assassinate Davos. However, once the incident was exposed, some were arrested while the others went into hiding under the great pursuit of the Theonians. And now that the war had broken out, the spies in Krimisa became active again, especially after their victory at the Battle of Allaro.

This allowed Dionysius to keep getting the latest information from Krimisa. For example, Thurii established two new legions, and the Theonian fleet conducted secret training on the Crati River… They also sent a message that as long as Syracuse’s army arrived at Krimisa, they would open the gate for the army.

This gave Dionysius a huge surprise. However, now that the new legion of Theonia has entered Krimisa, the report from the north had stopped yesterday afternoon. Not only is Krimisa under martial law, but the port is also closed.

Dionysius knew that Krimisa’s approach would inevitably lead to his spies’ effort to fail, making him feel some scruples. After all, he is a man who likes to plan carefully and prepare with caution before taking action, whether it was his counterattack along the southern coastline until Motya or along the eastern coastline northward, then west until Soluntum. His successive strategy is gradual, almost without taking any bold and rash action.

And even the series of rapid manoeuvres after they landed in Magna Graecia was also due to his powerful maritime dominance and a larger army than his enemy. However, he became startled when he received a report about Rhegium suddenly sending troops to siege Medma while fighting the South Italian Alliance. Fortunately, he had won the battle, and the Locrian’s ten thousand soldiers were not far from Medma.

And now, besides a few thousand soldiers stationed in Medma, Terina and Scylletium, he gathered the vast majority of his troops here to attack Theonia. However, if they were to follow Phidias’ plan of trapping the two cities of Crotone and Aprustum, which have many troops, they would need to leave more than half of their forces. And even if they were to capture Krimisa and Roscianum, it would still not be that easy to attack Thurii. From what he knew: The city of Thurii was already solid, not comparable to when Crotone first attacked Thurii. Furthermore, the main force of Theonia could return at any time.

Hence if Syracuse were to attack and was obstructed, with its troops divided everywhere, it would just result in their troops scattered everywhere and a vacancy in their rear. Over time, if any problems were to arise from Medma, Terina, Aprustum, Crotone and Thurii, it would be a disaster for him, which is why he was somewhat resistant to Phidias’ seemingly wonderful plan.

At this time, Phacipessas saw Dionysius’ silence, so he said, “Milord, I disagree with strategos Phidias! We were able to take Motya – Carthage’s most important military city in Sicily, even though it is across the bay, not to mention the other cities in Sicily that we captured.  Although the city of Carthage is larger, it is far less difficult to attack than Motya, and its size makes it unfavourable for their defence. In addition, its location is in the plain, which makes it more convenient for a siege. Milord, look-”

Phacipessas made his horse approach a section of the wall. When he saw Dionysius following close, he then pointed to the city wall a hundred metres away and continued, “Its walls are still the old city wall, so the gaps between the stones should be large that the mortar filling is not tight enough. Furthermore, the stones look so old that they seldom maintain them, so some places may still be loose, which is not as good as those cities we captured in Sicily*. Thus as long as we continuously bombard them with our ballista, their wall will certainly collapse! And we now have enough manpower to build earthen fortifications and close in on the walls while building siege towers and siege rams to destroy their walls and occupy their city…so by using multiple siege methods together, we will definitely be able to break through the city of Crotone, and open the way into the Theonian territory!” (due to Carthage and Syracuse’s frequent wars in Sicily, in addition to their strong ability to siege, the other city-states are very careful in repairing their city walls in order to protect their lives. Unlike them, sieges rarely occur in Magna Graecia, so they still maintained their city walls in accordance with their practice decades ago.)

Dionysius pondered after hearing this. After carefully observing the wall in the front, he became more relaxed. He then turned around asked, “Phidias, what do you think of this plan?”

Phidias’ expression remained unchanged and said stubbornly, “I will still stick to my opinion as there is no need for us to waste time here in the city of Crotone. After all, once we conquer Theonia, Crotone will naturally surrender.”

“Milord, there is no need for you to discuss with the Spartan about sieging a city as they needed more than two years before they could even capture Plataea. And Plataea was only defended by a few hundred men! So how could he even suggest anything good?!” Astagoras taunted.

Phidias’ expression changed.

In the fifth year of the Peloponnesian War, Sparta and the alliance it led couldn’t break through the walls of Athens, so they had to turn to attack Plataea, Athens’ ally in the Boeotia region. When the Plataeans saw the situation turning bad, they decided to withdraw and left only a few hundred people to defend the city.

But it still resulted in the Spartan alliance, who outnumbered the defenders of Plataeans dozens of times, needing more than two years to capture the city. So after they captured Plataea, they killed all the defenders and handed over the city to their then ally, Thebes. At the same time, the Battle of Plataea resulted in a problem: During the Greco-Persian war decades ago, Plataea was the most important place where the Greek allies, with the full support of the entire population of Plataea, finally defeated the invading Persian army. Thus after winning, the Spartan king – Pausanias, led the Greek allies to make a vow that they would work together forever to preserve the independence and freedom of Plataea.

Hence the Spartans broke their oath when they destroyed Plataea, which immediately caused an uproar throughout the Greek world. This forced the Spartans to discuss the matter within themselves, and the Gerousia had to send an ephor to question the Spartan king, who was away on a campaign… And Phidias, who was a child at the time, had a deep impression of this, and Astagoras basically exposed Sparta’s scar.

“Stop talking nonsense!” Dionysius glared at Astagoras, then said to the somewhat irritated Phidias, “No city-state would dare fight Sparta. However, I…Syracuse does have more experience when it comes to sieges, so I decided to capture the city of Crotone first!”

Phidias grunted and stopped talking.

After Dionysius finished speaking, he no longer bothered how the Spartan felt. He then said to everyone, “Phacipessas and Astagoras, gather all the siege specialists, craftsmen, and soldiers to start making siege equipment, and earthen mound while trying your best to measure their wall’s thickness…and start your siege preparation!”

“Yes, milord!” The two strategoi responded excitedly.

Dionysius once again looked at the two foreign mercenary leaders with a serious gaze, “Acilita and Gaba, even though you will not be of help during the siege, you must not remain idle! Therefore, you should lead your men across the Neto and storm into the Theonian territory, burn their villages, capture their people and plunder their wealth! Make those Theonians restless day and night, so they are dissatisfied at the incompetence of their Senate and archon!” Dionysius said with viciousness.

Chapter 447 – Dionysius’ Scheme

After hearing this, Acilita and Gaba became excited as this is what they are best at and want to do the most.

On the other hand, Phidias just remained silent as he did not fully agree with Dionysius’ plan. However, he suddenly realised that Sparta should perhaps learn how to siege cities like Syracuse.

Then, Dionysius made another devious remark, “But before we siege Crotone, we’ll see Aprustum’s response to the following matter…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the city of Aprustum, Philesius was comforting the more than 500 legionaries captured by Dionysius in exchange for the more than 500 Locrian. Still, he felt great regret that he failed to exchange Drakos, the legatus of the fifth legion and a statesman of Theonia. After all, Dionysius didn’t even release Burim, the senior centurion of the first brigade of the fifth legion, an important chieftain of Besidice and another statesman of the Senate. Instead, Dionysius insisted on a one-to-one exchange of prisoners.

Philesius then noticed that all the soldiers exchanged were Bruttians of the fifth legion. Since the fifth legion was left last during the retreat, most of those captured were from the fifth legion, so he no longer thought about it further.

In fact, Dionysius deliberately released these Bruttians and even did it in front of the Greek and Lucanian soldiers of Theonia. And in a few days, he was also prepared to quietly release some Theonian legionaries whom his intelligence officers found to have resentment against them.

Philesius then regrouped these 500 soldiers into the fifth legion. Although he felt regret, he was also slightly relieved because half of the soldiers returned were Besidisians. The reason being Besidice relied on the union the most among the Bruttian tribes. Since their integration into the union, they never rioted and had no objection to some laws passed by the Senate against the Bruttian region that were not favourable to the tribe. Moreover, Philesius had a good relationship with Baripiri, so it was better to have more Besidisians returning.

Suddenly, a messenger hurriedly arrived, “Lord commander, legatus Epiphanes asked you to go to the top of the city wall immediately. He cannot decide what to do with what the Syracusans are doing outside the city.”

Hearing this, Philesius was astonished.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Drakos woke up from his nightmare.

When he was leading the first brigade to intercept the enemy cavalries, the enemy surrounded them, so he had no choice but to lead his men to fight to the death. Finally, an enemy managed to pierce through his lungs with a javelin, causing him to fall to the ground and be captured. Even though the physicians of Syracuse treated him, he had been suffering from a high fever where he was sometimes unconscious and sometimes awake.

At this moment, he tried to open his dry and heavy eyelids when he suddenly heard a shrill scream. Then he heard someone nearby shouting in grief and anger, “Don’t come any closer! Don’t come any closer! Asinu, please protect them…”

‘What was going on?’ Drakos struggled to open his eyes, and the shaky image in front of him gradually became clear: He found himself lying on the ground mixed with stone and dirt, and a hundred metres in front of him towered a city. And he is very familiar with the appearance of the city – Aprustum.

‘How am I here?’ He tried to think back, but his mind was too hazy. He then tried to stand up but found that his hands and feet were tied, and he couldn’t exert any force at all.

He struggled hard for a few moments but to no avail. Then the sharp pain from his wound nearly made him faint again.

Then the one next to him saw his movement and said in surprise, “Legatus Drakos! Legatus Drakos, are you awake?”

“Who…are you? What is…happening?…” Drakos asked weakly with his dry lips open.

“Reporting to the legatus, I am Eturu, the squad leader of the 1st squad of the fourth platoon of the third brigade of the fourth legion. The Syracusans took dozens of the captured fourth legion’s soldiers and you and made us march to the front of the city of Aprustum, with our hands and feet tied in our back. They then inserted wooden stakes beside each person and tied the ropes to them. Then they sent people close to the city to shout and tell them, ‘The captured soldiers of your fourth legion are here.’ Afterwards, the Syracusan army retreated a hundred metres. However, whenever our comrades in the city rushed out…rushed out to save us, these damn Syracusans will…will strike them with their javelins and arrows…” At this point, Eturu burst into tears.

When he cried, the other captive soldiers were also saddened.

‘What?!’ When Drakos heard this, he was suddenly anxious. He then forced himself to endure the severe pain then relied on his shoulders to push his body to sit up. The excessive force made his sight darken and his head dizzy, but he still tried his best to control his weakened body as he gasped for breath…after a while, he finally managed to kneel steadily on the ground.

When he reopened his eyes, he caught sight of dozens of bodies with arrows and javelins sticking out of them, and the nearest corpse was just a metre away from him. Looking at the dead man’s face, Drakos recognised him: He is Hagal, a soldier of the fifth legion. This Bruttian young man was from a small tribe of Consentia; he has a stubborn and adamant personality. When he first entered the fifth legion, he repeatedly violated the military rules, resulting in the strict Drakos punishing him. Still, he refused to obey. One time, he even confronted Drakos on the training ground, causing Drakos to wrestle with him in a bet and beat him cleanly. After getting convinced, Hagal began to train seriously, and with his excellent performance, Drakos finally promoted him to become a platoon caption. However, he did not expect for him to die here…and died for him!

A wave of anger suddenly surged through him, and the cries of the soldier next to him made him even more annoyed. He then shouted, “What are you crying for?! There is nothing for us to fear, even death, as we will meet again in the Hall of Valour!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Philesius looked at the rows of bound and kneeling men at the bottom of the city wall with a grave expression. He did not expect to see such a sight when he climbed the city wall, “Are you…sure that those men are Drakos and the captured soldiers?”

The usually energetic and showy Epiphanes also frowned at this moment. He then said with a heavy tone, “Before I came up here, the soldiers…have confirmed with their lives! I had now forbidden the soldiers to leave the city without permission, but they have not only the soldiers of Drakos but also the soldiers of the fourth legion. Look at my men, they all want to go and save their comrades, neighbours, and possible loved ones…they all hope to dispatch the fourth and fifth legion so that even if the enemy rush in, they could still hold off and succeed in rescuing Drakos and the others.”

Philesius looked at the shocking nearly hundred corpses that stretched all the way to the captives and the Syracusan army phalanx that seemed to be resting a hundred metres behind the captives.

He then looked back at the soldiers of the fourth legion stationed at the top of the city wall, with mixed anger and anxiousness showing in their faces.

Philesius’ gaze then finally landed on Epiphanes, “What’s your thought?”

“I think we can give it a try.” Epiphanes hesitated. He then thought about it and said, “The Syracusans are doing this because they want us to save them. So once we leave the city, the Syracusans will probably not immediately come forward to stop us, giving us enough time to form up and slowly approach Drakos and the others, block their attack and save them… Although there are more Syracusans than us, the terrain is narrow, with cliffs on the left and mountains on the right. So no matter how many troops they have, they wouldn’t be able to spread up and encircle us…so we should be able to return to the city safely.”

Philesius stayed silent for some time. Then he slowly said, “Since everyone already knows that the Syracusans just want us to rescue them, but you all still insist on bringing the troops out of the city! Do you all really think the Syracusans would allow us to return safely?!” Philesius showed a pained expression and said in a voice filled with anger, “A few days ago, everyone thought that there is a chance for us to defeat the Syracusans, so I did not insist on objecting…as a result! As a result, we were defeated! The alliance’s troops were defeated, and we lost more than 3,000 soldiers, causing the whole situation in Magna Graecia to turn bad! Hasn’t such a lesson taught us that Dionysius is not that easy to deal with?! Since he planned this sight, he certainly must have a countermeasure once we go out of the city to rescue them! So for the safety of Aprustum, and more importantly…for the safety of the union, we…we must no go out of the city!”

Philesius rarely shouted at someone as loudly as he did not, venting out his suppressed emotions. And this has caused Epiphanes to freeze a bit and his face to sink, “Are we just going to stand by and watch Drakos and the soldiers without rescuing them?! Don’t forget, Lord Davos, in Persia, had once said that everyone in the army he leads shall be as one family and never abandon anyone easily!”

Epiphanes’ words lashed out at Philesius’ conscience. He then pressed his hand against the battlement, and the rough gravel on the cracks stung his palms… Although he and Drakos had a normal relationship, the reason why he did not want to rescue Drakos, a statesman, legatus and a comrade, for many years and the soldiers even when the enemy humiliates them, is that he is the highest military commander of the southern battlefront of Theonia. He has a heavy responsibility, so in such a gave situation, his first consideration should be the union’s safety. As he had already failed once before, he could not allow himself to make another mistake. Otherwise, if they were to get defeated in Aprustum, the Syracusans would be able to go straight in, and he would really become a sinner of the union!

“Strictly guard the city. No one is allowed to leave the city! This is an order!!” Said Philesius with a decisive tone, “I will bear all the consequences!”

Chapter 448 – The Brave and the Vile

Although Epiphanes and the fourth and fifth legion soldiers were reluctant, they still had to obey the military order no matter how unwilling they were. They could only watch from the top of the city wall as their officers and comrades continued to be tied to the ground on their knees…

As minutes and seconds passed by…

Some of the captives lay on the ground due to the lack of energy…

Drakos even felt his body dry up badly, but he restrained himself with utmost perseverance and did not utter a word. As a legatus, he understood the Syracusans’ sinister intention and knew the reason for the lack of the movement in Aprustum. In such a treacherous situation, the only thing he could do was to keep quiet and not stimulate his brothers’ fragile nerves in the city so as not to put them in danger. He only hopes that the Syracusans, seeing their ploy not succeeding, could only meekly withdraw…

But Drakos thought a little too well of the Syracusans. Seeing that there had no movement at the top of the city wall, Astagoras grew a little impatient. He then glanced at the Campanian mercenary leader, Enamenus, who was next to him and said, “Send one of your men to cut off the head of a captive. Let see if these Theonians could still remain calm.”

Even though Enamenus hesitated a bit, he still agreed in the end.

In the historical tradition of Greek warfare, it was not allowed to abuse Greek prisoners in front of the battlefield. Astagoras was unwilling to be charged with this crime, so he let the mercenaries do it, and Enamenus could only accept it because of the desire for profit.

The chosen target of the mercenaries was Etaru, the one next to Drakos to stimulate the Theonians even more. The mercenary raised his shiny blade high and slashed down the neck of the defenceless Etaru with such force that blood spurted onto Drakos’ body, which caused anger to flare up again in his weakened body.

He then understood that Syracuse had never wanted to let them go.

He finally made up his mind after hearing the uncontrollable cry and noise on the city wall, and the cry of the captive soldiers beside him and the bursts of severe pain from his lungs.

He struggled to straighten his body and shouted in a hoarse voice with all his strength, “ALL HAIL, THEONIA! ALL HAIL, THE THEONIAN ARMY!…cough…DEFEND APRUSTUM AND AVENGE ME AND MY BROTHERS! AVENGE US!!” After saying that, he took his last breath and smashed his head hard into a sharp stone in front of his knees.

At that moment, he remembered the image of Davos in the square of Amendolara with a smile on his face, awarding the military banner to him, who was covered with bandages, “Lord Davos…” a smile appeared on his face…

“BANG!….”

Immediately afterwards, several Theonian captives followed Drakos’ example and smashed their head to the ground…

Astagoras and Enamenus were shocked when they saw this tragic sight that it took them a second to come back to their senses. They did not expect that the Theonians would be so decisive! Especially Drakos, as an important figure of Theonia, did not even spare his life and was unwilling to be humiliated that he died just like that…

“Hurry up! Hurry up and treat them!…” Astagoras, who had always fought bravely, shouted in panic while feeling an inexplicable fear.

“Lord Commander!” Epiphanes, a man who rarely shed tears, had tears running down his face. He stood in front of Philesius and said in grief, “Because of our weakness, Drakos…Drakos died heroically…”

Philesius clenched his fists and teeth, feeling the guilt that his gums burst and started bleeding without realising it. The voice that he squeezed out of his mouth was so pained and, at the same time, contained an endless resentment, “Drakos…Drakos feared that we would fall for the Syracusans trick, so he chooses…chooses to go to the Hall of Valour! Hades, I swear!! I, Philesius, swear that I will defeat Syracuse and bring the corpse of that tyrant and his men to pay homage to the spirit of Drakos!!!”

Epiphanes roared as he looked at the Syracusans below the city wall with endless resentment. Then he walked towards the soldiers.

Soon, the whole city resounded with a song to Hades, “Oh Hades, The king of the underworld, the lord of justice,
with black hair and eyes,

I, your brave warrior,

Has come to your sacred temple,

If you were to ask me what I have done throughout my life,

My answer is: I love to wield a shield and spear, drinking the blood of my enemies!

And if you were to ask me if I have ever trembled and afraid?

My answer is: Never!

And boast my battles to you!

…”

The solemn and majestic singing reverberated throughout the city of Aprustum, eventually turning into a deafening chant, “Long live legatus Drakos! Long live Theonian legion!! Kill all the Syracusans!!!…”

On the other hand, the Syracusan soldiers below the city wall had their expression changed when they heard this.

Astagoras became listless, waved his hand powerlessly and said, “Let’s go back and report to the lord…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Only silence remained in the tent when Astagoras briefly described what happened to Dionysius.

Even though Syracuse occupied the absolute advantage of the whole war situation, everyone had a dignified expression on their faces, as if Syracuse had lost the war.

Dionysius could only cough a few times and say, “We need to speed up our siege preparations! I hope that we can attack Crotone the day after tomorrow! On Aprustum…well, just watch them for the time being.”

“Yes, milord!” Phacipessas stood up and immediately left the tent to urge the engineers, craftsmen and soldiers to speed up their progress.

At this moment, everyone felt a sense of urgency, ‘We must destroy the Theonia Union while it is still weak. Otherwise, we would be the one eaten!’

Even the proud Phidias was moved. He then remembered the Spartan Aristodemus. This brave Spartan citizen was a member of King Leonidas’ Three Hundred, but he failed to participate in the Battle of Thermopylae because of eye disease. A year later, in the Battle of Plataea, he took the initiative to rush ahead in the front and died heroically, redeeming his reputation and was highly praised by the people…

‘It seemed the Theonians’ admiration of honour, courage and will to fight do not seem to be weaker than ours!’ Phidias thought with mixed feelings.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

For the people of Theonia, this day is destined to be an unforgettable day!

Although the Syracusans had not yet started their siege on Crotone, the mercenary calvaries had already crossed the Neto River, galloping across the Crotone plain belonging to Theonia’s side, where they set fire on houses after houses and destroying villages after villages…

In Theonia’s northeastern border, the Tarabtines, with nearly 20,000 soldiers and superior strength, were unwilling to confront the Theonia-Heraclean joint troops in front of the city of Heraclea. Instead, Diaomilas sent some of his soldiers south across the Agri River into the Theonian territory of Amendolara, starting a campaign of wanton destruction in an attempt to force the seventh legion of Theonia to leave the city of Heraclea.

And they even burned the first waterwheel in the whole Greek world, which the Amendolarans were proud of.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the Bruttian region of the Theonia Union: Although they have eliminated Petaru and the rebels he led, it taught Bodiam a lesson. Thus he led his more than 2,000 followers and avoided Hieronymus, who came to encircle and suppress them by using the complex terrain of Anbania and the lake’s protection. And in order to stabilise the situation in Bruttii, Hielos could only postpone the plan to recruit soldiers to form a new legion to support Thurii.

While on the sea, Leptines, the navarch of the Syracusan navy, finally converged the ships scattered along the east and west coasts of Magna Graecia in Scylletium. After gathering a powerful fleet of more than 400 ships, they began heading north along the east coast of Magna Graecia, ready to force the Theonian fleet to come out for a decisive battle.

And the Krimisians, Roscianums and Thurians who saw the huge fleet covering the whole sea began to tremble…

But what the Theonians didn’t know was that in the west, in Laos, Alobamus – the actual ruler of this city-state, became determined when he learned about “Syracuse defeating the South Italian Allied troops and quickly occupying Terina and Scylletium and conquering Caulonia.”

However, the report about “Davos completely defeating the Samnites” soon came and made him hesitate.

But when the news of the “treacherous invasion of Taranto, the betrayal of the Bruttian statesmen and the invasion of the Syracusan army into Crotone” came one after another, Alobamus thought that even if Davos is powerful, he would not be able to save Theonia from getting attacked on all sides.

But even with all of that, he still did not act immediately. He waited until the army led by Davos left Lucania and returned to Thurii as he did not want to be the first to bear the wrath of the Theonians.

And when his spy told him that ‘Henipolis led his troops to follow Theonia’s main force and went to Thurii together.’ He became much more relieved. In actual truth, he was reluctant to raise his sword and spear to his nephew and the soldiers of Laos, and their departure caused his psychological barrier to disappear.

On that day, he imprisoned his brother’s family, Avinoges, summoned the officials and chieftains of Laos and declared, ‘Laos left Theonia Alliance!’

He also sent an army of 1,500 men to the Lao fortress, claiming to respond to the archon of Theonia to reinforce Thurii.

Fortunately, Davos had already reminded Tagru, the officer in charge of Lao fortress, before, causing him to raise his vigilance. He insisted that the Laosians show the orders issued by the Theonian senate and the Ministry of Military, else they would not allow their entry!

Chapter 449 – Hades’ Sign

After many fruitless requests, the soldiers of Laos tore off their disguise and launched a brazen attack on the Lao fortress.

However, with the location of the Lao fortress is in a narrow section of the river bank and the mountain range, the Laos soldiers, could not take advantage of their large number. Tagru, on the other hand, led the more than 200 soldiers to defend stubbornly with the small but sturdy fortress.

The bloody battle lasted until the afternoon, yet the Laos army failed to break through the fortress. And after receiving a call for help from the Lao fortress, Nerulum’s praetor, Hemon, himself arrived in time with nearly two thousand soldiers that he urgently convened.

And when the Laos army saw the powerful enemy arriving, they could only retreat slowly…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At this moment, the flames of war burn everywhere in Theonia, and the dark clouds become thicker and thicker. This made the people of Thurii feel fear as they frequently began gathering in two places: One is the Temple of Hades, hoping to get the blessing of this mighty king of the underworld to comfort their uneasiness. The other is the Nike Square in front of the Grand Senate Hall.

And they once again appealed to the Senate to let archon Davos be king. Because only in this way could Theonia tide over this difficulty, as Hades had already foreseen all of this!

This time, the public’s protest became obviously much bigger than the previous two days, causing the already panicking statesmen, due to the worsening situation, to not know what to do with the people’s protest.

“Plesinas! Look at what you have done! Stop your trick and calm down the people of Thurii. Otherwise, the Senate will not function properly, and everything will become a mess!” Kunogelata was finally unable to hold his anger at Plesinas.

“Lord Kunogelata, watch what you say. This is the oracle of lord Hades and the spontaneous appeal of the people. It has nothing to do with me! Rather than quarrelling with me here, you might as well think about how to satisfy the people and calm their anger!” Plesinas, the priest in charge of the Temple of Hades, resolutely retorted.

“Esteemed statesmen: In truth, it is not that big of a deal to make Lord Davos be the king. In the past few years, the position and role of Davos are already that of a king! The only thing he lacks is the title. Aren’t all of you expect for Lord Davos to come back sooner to help us defeat our enemies and save the union? In fact, since the establishment of the union, the people outside the hall and we depend greatly on Davos! And now that the cruel Syracusans are approaching us to turn our union just like Scylletium and make us suffer just like the Scylletians, Lord Davos, who has the blessing and protection of Hades, is the only one we can rely upon. So what are you still hesitating for?!” Marigi’s tempting words sent a shock through everyone’s heart.

While some statesmen ponder and the others wanting to refute, the entrance of the senate hall was pushed open, and the guard captain ran inside with incredible excitement on his face, “Milords, Thurii…Thurii is alive! Thurii is alive!”

“What are you talking about…Thurii is alive? Speak clearly!” Scambras shouted in dissatisfaction.

Kunogelata, however, took a few steps forward and asked in disbelief, “You mean that the fountain of Thurii is starting to produce water again?!”

“Yes, milord! Just as the people chanted, ‘Let Lord Davos be king’, the fountain was revived. And now, the spring water is flowing into the square!” Said the excited guard captain. Then he added, “Milords, this is a divine sign!”

The statesmen looked at each other in shock, including Marigi, Plesinas and Kunogelata. It is important to know that the Greeks attached the greatest importance to divine signs during this era of gods. Thus if they were doing ceremonies or praying and sudden abnormalities were to happen, such as wind, rain, thunder…and so on, they would regard it as a divine omen. After the Crotonians burned the old city of Thurii, the famed fountain of Thurii dried up for many years, but now, it has started producing water again! While most Greeks believed that spring water was under the jurisdiction of Poseidon, the god of the sea, some believed that it should be under the control of Hades because it comes from underground.

“Let’s go and have a look!” Unable to hide his amazement and curiosity, Kunogelata took the lead out of the senate hall without hesitation, followed by the other statesmen.

Even the crowd in front of the Grand Senate Hall ran to the outer edge of the square on the left side of the Grand Senate Hall, which is the location of the fountain of Thurii.

The people of Thurii once attached great importance to the spring, which lent its name to the city that they built a large pool around it. And in the water, there were several beautiful statues of the goddess of the spring and the nymphs dressed in revealing clothes, splashing and playing, arousing the people’s imagination. It became a place for the children to play, for the elderly to rest and relax, for men to talk about politics and for the female slaves to draw water. However, the flame not only destroyed the pool but also dried up the spring water. There were even rumours among the freemen that this was the gods’ punishment for the Thurians’ treachery.

So when they rebuilt the city of Thurii, Heracleides made the craftsmen build a circle of stone walls to enclose the spring’s outlet, making it look like a well and a nostalgic reminder of the past. A few years have passed since then, it has now become the most inconspicuous presence near Nike Square.

Currently, there are hundreds of people surrounding the place, and those who were previously worried about the union’s safety were now dancing with joy. But once they saw the group of statesmen such as Kunogelata arriving, they immediately began clamouring, “Esteemed lords, come and see! The great Hades has heard our cries and responded!”

“Even Hades agreed to make his descendant, our Davos, the king. So what are you still hesitating about?”

“Only by making Lord Davos be the king can we get Hades’ protection and drive the enemy out of our homes and restore Theonia’s peace!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Let’s all calm down for a moment and have us look at it first!” Kunogelata said loudly and patiently.

The crowd then quickly gave way.

As soon as Kunogelata stepped on the water, they saw that the half metre high “stone well” was now filled to the brim, and the water continued to gush out of the well, flowing to the Nike Square.

Kunogelata stretched his hand in: The water was clear to the bone, and he could feel a strong upward force on his palm.

‘It’s not fake. Thurii’s fountain is truly alive!’ Kunogelata withdrew his hand and wiped it on his clothes.

“The spring water is really sweet!” Marigi drank directly and praised loudly, attracting the other statesmen to follow suit.

Kunogelata looked at the quiet and clear spring water, which could almost reflect his face. He was confused whether this was really what the gods’ wished!

However, the crowd will not give the statesmen much time to think. Seeing their eager gazes, the statesmen knew that they must give them a clear answer today.

After a short and intense discussion, Kunogelata, on behalf of the statesmen, announced to the crowd, “People of Theonia, the Senate, after our discussion, accepts your request to elect archon Davos as…the king of the Theonia Union. This, of course, requires the permission of Davos himself!…”

But before Kunogelata could even finish his speech, the people were already cheering, “All hail, King Davos!!!…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Back in the Grand Senate Hall, most of the statesmen felt lost. Although Davos was the archon for life of Theonia, he, after all, has similar status as the Senate’s statesmen. But now, he suddenly became the king, a higher status than them, and this difference made them have a strong sense of loss.

Kunogelata coughed dryly, wanting to admonish everyone to cheer up and a have serious discussion on the important issue of “Davos as the king” and how to limit his power reasonably. But before he could even say anything, the guard captain came rushing again.

Kunogelata suddenly had a bad premonition. And sure enough, the guard captain anxiously said, “Esteemed lords, some ships of Syracuse’s fleet landed on the coast north of Roscianum. It is reported that hundreds of soldiers landed and were ready to attack our coastal towns and villages!”

Everyone became shocked, and the scene of Crotone’s fleet plundering the Theonian villages and towns would once again happen.

Fortunately, Davos had already considered the absolute advantage of the Syracusan fleet before this war happened. Thus he had already thought of such a possibility happening, so before he left, he ordered the Ministry of Military to make some deployments following their previous experience. Such as establishing coastal observation posts on the east coast of Theonia, constructing simple defensive facilities in each coastal village and town, and establishing a small garrison camp of reserve centurias between several villages…

However, before Kunogelata could make a decision, Kapus stood up and said with decisiveness, “I request for the senate to allow me to lead the troops to immediately stop those Syracusans to avoid causing greater losses to our people!”

The statesmen had no objection regarding Kapus’ request. In fact, he was the only one in the Senate at the moment that was familiar with Theonia’s legion tactics and able to lead soldiers in battle. At this moment, there were only a few statesmen left in the Senate.

“It seems that we need to recruit the freemen again.” Said Kunogelata in a heavy mood. They nearly exhausted the Thurian citizens that could fight at this moment, so they had to go to the port area to recruit freemen. But even the number of freemen in there was not much left except for a large number of sailors of the Theonian fleet and the labourers of the military’s logistics.

Chapter 450 – Shocking Method

At the start of the war, Roscianum took the initiative to offer their troops to participate in the battle. However, the Theonian Senate politely refused them because Theonia had enough troops, and even though Roscianum had few soldiers, it would still affect the overall unity of the army. Thus they only accept Roscianum’s ships and military rations. However, Theonia had now stretched its military to the limit, so they had to ask Roscianum for help. After all, no matter how small a mosquito’s leg is, it is still meat.

“Our troops left in Thurii is enough as long as Syracuse does not make a full landing to attack us.” Said Kapus to relieve them and continued, “We still have about 500 cavalries in Thurii, and even though Seclian’s naval fleet currently couldn’t go out, we could transfer some sailors as light infantry. Of course, it’s better to have some heavy infantry from Roscianum to add to our army!…”

Kunogelata stepped forward and bowed to Kapus. He then said, “Lord Kapus, Thurii’s safety is in your hands.”

After Kunogelata said this, Cornelius and the other statesmen bowed to Kapus as well. It was the first time that the traditional statesmen bowed to Kapus, a former mercenary, so sincerely. However, this immediately made him feel the pressure, but he still reciprocated by giving a powerful military salute before striding out of the Grand Senate Hall.

Then the worried statesmen began looking at each other. In the end, their gaze landed at the empty seat in the centre of the meeting room. Previously, they were still at a loss by the fact that Davos had become the king, but now this emotion they felt had disappeared without a trace as only one thing left in their minds, ‘Davos, when will you come back to save Theonia?’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Leptines, the navarch of the Syracusan navy, has no plan to land on the coast of Thurii and attack the city as he knew too well that, unlike Terina, Thurii has enough men. He couldn’t capture this big city with its high walls and strong fortification with just his crudely equipped sailors. He also did not plan to send ships to burst into the Crati River because Syracuse did not occupy one side of the river bank. Furthermore, there is an iron chain blocking the river in the city of Thurii. Once his ships were blocked and trapped in the river, they would be easy targets for the enemies’ flaming arrows…

So naturally, Leptines did not want to put his ships and experienced sailors in such a dangerous situation. Thus he only sent a few sailors to attack the outskirts of Thurii in order to force the Theonian fleet hiding in the Crati River to come out for a decisive battle.

But unlike Leptines’ caution, the mercenary cavalries acted with great arrogance and without inhibitions. Because of the enemy’s army, Krimisa recalled their people to hide in the city. Still, there are some who were not able to move into the city in time and were slaughtered by these foreign cavalries, especially the Celts who carried the heads of those they had cut. It even included the heads of women and children strutting in front of Krimisa with great triumph, making the soldiers of the sixth legion stationed in the city furious but unable to do anything because of the military order…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Protesilaus, the Praetor of Krimisa, was fidgeting in the city hall. But when he saw Olivos, the legatus of the sixth legion, enter, he rushed to greet him and said, “Lord Olivos, you have returned!”

Olivos, who had just finished inspecting the port’s defence, saw Protesilaus’ anxious face and could not help but smile and pretend to be alarmed, “Could it be the enemy is attacking us?” Of course, it’s impossible for him to not know as he had just finished his inspection.

“Even with the current situation, you still in the mood to joke around?!” Protesilaus said with frustration.

“What happened?!” Olivos smiled and asked.

“The families of those you detained started making trouble in front of the city hall again. This time, they gathered hundreds of people and threatened that if we don’t release their relatives, they will set up tents in front of the city hall and live there!” Said Protesilaus with a worried face. After all, if these people continued making such a fuss, it would ruin his reputation as the Praetor, and he would become the biggest joke of the whole Senate in the future.

“They dare?!” Olivos sneered. Back when he led the sixth legion to Krimisa, a group of protesters actually blocked them outside the city gates. It was only after he detained them with the charge of attacking the army and plotting rebellion that the army could enter the city.

And while he was busily setting up the defence of the whole city these past few days, some rumours began to circulate in the city that “With so many soldiers of the sixth legion stationed in the city, it will only consume our small stocks of food and water! And once the Syracusans encircle the city, we, the people of Krimisa, would be the first to die of starvation…”

“And now, the Syracusans are burning our fields and slaughtering our kins outside the city. However, the soldiers of the sixth legions did not go out of the city to chase them away and protect our compatriots and property. Instead, they just cowardly hide inside the city like rats…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Olivos just ignored these rumours and followed the established methods to improve the city’s defences. Still, he remained calm even after learning that the families of those he detained gathered in front of the city hall today. It was because after he entered the city, Aristias’ men that he placed in Krimisa went to find him covertly and told him that the Syracusan spies frequenting Krimisa had conspired with some Krimisians during this period to make the situation in the city much chaotic.

At this moment, he said with seriousness, “Lord Protesilaus, the woman who tried to assassinate Lord Davos before, had come from Krimisa. However, with Lord Davos kindness, he did not further expand the investigation for the sake of the union’s stability. But today, it seems that the problem of Krimisa is severe that even if we place the city under military control, the situation in the city is still chaotic. I am afraid that some of Syracuse’s spies are inciting the people. So if we do not take strict measures, these people will cause trouble in the city while we are defending the city wall, and we would fall into danger once the enemy attacks on a large scale. ”

Protesilaus’ expression suddenly changed. He then asked, “What are you going to do then?”

“Of course, it is to dig them out. Then all collaborators and troublemakers will be tried and executed!” With a murderous expression, Olivos swung his hand downward with force.

Protesilaus was shocked. He hesitated again and said, “That’s too extreme. After all, they are all still citizens of the union!”

Olivos stared at him with contempt: This young statesman from Amendolara who always supports Davos and usually speaks and takes a positive stand. But once he became the one in charge and needed to deal with political matters alone, he became hesitant and indecisive. Back when Scambras was the Praetor of Krimisa, the political situation here was relatively stable, but now that it was his turn, not only was there an assassination attempt, but the situation here was almost out of control…

“Lord Protesilaus, as you had served as a judge before, you should be fully aware that Theonia’s Military Law states, among other things, ‘Those who desert from the battlefield and those who rebelled shall be beheaded.’ It also stipulates that ‘The highest penalty for treason is death.’ We are now in the times of war; don’t these people who collude with our enemies and try to undermine Krimisa’s defence or even betray the union deserve the death penalty?!!” Olivos shouted sternly.

After thinking for a moment, Protesilaus reluctantly said, “Alright, I agree with you. However, I hope that you can show the people conclusive evidence before you execute them.”

‘This wouldn’t be so simple.’ Olivos thought to himself. After he immediately agreed, he left the city hall and quickly found the people of the Intelligence Department. After their identification, he led the soldiers to search the homes of more than a dozen suspicious people (all former citizens of Krimisa) and recovered countless Syracusan tetradrachms and letters. They had even caught two Syracusan spies hiding in their homes.

With this, Protesilaus could no longer say anything.

Olivos then faced the people on the square and showed them the evidence of the collusion of the more than a dozen citizens. Then he beheaded those traitors on the spot and arrested and detained their family members that are causing trouble. At once, the chaotic situation in Krimisa greatly improved, and the people began devoting themselves to the city’s defence under Olivos’ command…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ribaso, the chief slave supervisor of Davos’ residence, usually walks unhurriedly in the front yard to show his difference in identity and demeanour from ordinary slaves. However, today, his legs were moving like wheels as he rushed through the front yard and into the rear yard’s entrance.

“Knock! Knock! Knock!…” He knocked on the door with uncontrollable excitement.

The door was then violently opened, and Azune, who was carrying an amphora filled with water in one hand as she was watering the flowers and pulling the door with the other, “Uncle Ribaso, you are a supervisor! Don’t you know that madame still needs to recuperate during this time as she had just given birth? Yet you still knocked so loudly that everyone could hear you! If you wake up little Eunice and make her cry, let’s see what you would do if Madame were to blame you!”

“Sorry, Azune. I am just too excited! Because…because Lord Davos…our master is now going to be king!” Ribaso said excitedly.

“Really?!” Azune was surprised that she covered her face with her hands without realising that the amphora fell to the ground and broke into several pieces.

“The statesmen already announced it to the more than a thousand people in the square, so how could it be false?!!” As soon as Ribaso finished speaking, Azune screamed and leapt with joy as she ran towards the back like a madman.

“Young people are really not composed!” Ribaso muttered a few words, bent down and picked up the fragments of amphora, showing a regretful expression, “Too bad, a good Athenian amphora was broken.”

As soon as Azune pushed open the bedroom door, she heard Agnes’ voice, “Azune, you are too loud! Eunice is still sleeping.” Agnes, who was usually gentle, spoke in a tone showing that she was angry.

Chapter 451 – Siege of Crotone (I)

“Ah…I am sorry!” Although Azune was apologetic, she still couldn’t conceal the joy on her face.

While Cheiristoya, who was lying on the bed, was unable to stop herself from smiling when she looked at Azune, “I could hear your laughter even from a distance. Come tell us what the good thing is.”

“Madame, lady Agnes…oh no, your two highnesses! Congratulations, the Senate has just announced Lord Davos to be the king of Theonia!” Azune spoke out with joy in one breath.

Now even Cheiristoya’s pretty face was overflowing with joy that completely concealed her weakness after giving birth. At this moment, she suddenly remembered that after making love with Davos, he once said, ‘Cyrus the younger is nothing. In the future, I will definitely make you a queen!’…‘Davos has really done it!’

On the other hand, Agnes was not as excited as Cheiristoya. After all, it has been hundreds of years since the era of kings in Magna Graecia, so she doesn’t feel much about it. Rather, she is just happy for her husband.

“Queens, how about we hold a banquet to celebrate this joyous occasion once Cynthia and Adoris return from school?” Suggested Azune. But after thinking for a moment, Cheiristoya shook her head and said, “Currently, the people of the union are worried about the war and their loved ones, so if we were to hold a banquet to celebrate at this time, we will offend the masses and damage Davos’ reputation!”

“Your highness is right.” Azune hurriedly agreed.

“Don’t say the word ‘highness’ either. This matter has not yet been settled, so let’s not get too carried away!” Cheiristoya reminded her again.

“Indeed. You should address as you used to, which also makes the people feel closer.” Agnes interjected. Then she continued, “Tonight, why don’t we make offerings to the gods and goddesses at home? We should thank them for their blessings and hope that they will bless Davos to return without any incident!”

“Sister, your proposal is wonderful! We should also offer a sacrifice to Hades and thank him for protecting our husband! At the same time-” Cheiristoya smiled at Agnes, “We should offer sacrifices to Hera as well, thanking her for blessing me with a healthy Eunice, and hope that she will also bless you with a smooth birth!”

“Yea!” Agnes gently caressed her slightly protruding stomach and smiled like a doting mother.

“Wa! Wa! Wa!…” Eunice, who was in the cradle, woke up.

“Oh, my little princess!” Azune hurried over and opened the linen diaper to check, “She pooped, and it’s quite a lot!” After she said this, she then skilfully changed the diaper…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the early morning, a continuous salpinx sounded outside the city, waking up the Crotonians.

“What’s happening?”

“I fear that Syracuse is about to attack the city!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The people at the top of the city wall looked in fear and anxiety at the countless soldiers standing in the distance.

Suddenly, a black dot flew over the city walls.

“Take cover!” After warning each other, the crowd looked in the direction where the stone came from and scattered to run away. After all, they were already familiar with Syracuse’s terrifying weapon, which had continuously attacked the city of Crotone in the past few days.

However, today’s situation is much different from the previous two days. The stones kept bombarding the city one after another, smashing the neighbourhoods near the walls, quickly causing the houses to crumble and turn to rubble, littering the ground. On the other hand, the people scattered and fled while supporting their injured loved ones…

With the continuous bombardment on the city wall, layers of stones fell down pieces by pieces…

Lysias, who watched all of this from the top of the city wall, became anxious and said, “Why haven’t the Theonian ballistae fought back? They are just letting the enemy fire their weapons with such recklessness!”

“Lord Lysias, the Theonians have no choice.” Ascamas, who had already discussed with the ballista team many times, explained, “The towers on our city wall is too narrow to place a ballista. Thus they could only set it up below the city wall. However, since our city wall is too high, they needed to raise the ballistae’s elevation, which shortens the range…”

“In other words, they can’t attack the enemy’s ballistae?!” Lysias immediately understood it after hearing Ascamas.

“Yes. Hence the Theonians suggested for us not to reveal that we have ballista so that we could deal a heavy blow to the enemy once they let their guards down.” Although Ascamas disliked the Theonians before, he also knew the importance of unity when faced with a great enemy. Thus he frankly said, “And I think this method is feasible.”

Lysias thought for a moment and could only reluctantly accept the suggestion of the Theonians, “But what shall we do now? The enemy obviously has more ballistae than two days ago. I fear that our city wall will collapse!”

“For the time being, it won’t happen. So you can rest assured.” Ascamas comforted him and continued, “We now have to wait for the enemy to attack and then beat them! I believe Syracuse will soon take action!”

As he spoke, Ascamas’ gaze kept looking at the large earthen ramp built by the Syracusans for days. He thought this ramp would be the real threat to the city’s defence compared to the ballista. Yesterday, he sent his soldiers out of the city to destroy it, but the well prepared Syracusans defeated them. He also thought of digging a tunnel, but a moat surrounds the city, causing water to seep when the soldiers dug below the moat and scared them. Otherwise, they might have drowned in the tunnel. In the end, the Theonians told him that there was a way to destroy that ramp, which relieved him for the time being.

However, Ascamas knew that: Currently, there is no one above the earthen ramp, but once the siege begins, Syracusans archers would fill the ramp, raining down arrows at the soldiers at the top of the city wall.

“I’ll leave this place to you, as I will go and see the Terinians!” Lysias said seriously. He wanted to quickly leave here as the continuous roaring of ballista made him very nervous, thinking that the city wall would collapse at any time.

As the Polemarchos of Crotone, he needed to offer condolences to Siprus, who was leading the Terinians. At the same time, there were also several thousand Scylletian soldiers defending the southern part of the city, which was also a force that they could rely on. After all, with Syracuse slaughtering the city of Scylletium, these soldiers’ relatives and friends were either killed or sold into slavery and transported to foreign lands. And only the blood of the Syracusan soldiers could quell the anger of the Scylletian soldiers, so they were the ones hoping Syracuse to attack the most.

Just as Lysias was about to leave, the guard hurriedly came with an urgent report, ‘Countless Syracusan ships had appeared outside the port and were preparing to break in.’

Crotone was somewhat similar to Taranto, where they integrated their port into their city. However, their port is built in the gulf, so it is impossible for them to blockade it. Therefore, when the enemy fleet breaks in, they could land on the side and rear of Crotone. And even if they have walls, they still have to stay alert while defending it as the enemy could break into the gulf and land at the port. Therefore, the commanding strategos must have high commanding ability and judgment, especially since Crotone doesn’t have many troops.

“We need an experienced strategos to command the few soldiers in the port area and stop the enemy from sneaking up on our rear!” Ascamas said with a grave expression.

Lysias understood what he meant, so he said without hesitation, “I will send Milo.”

Milo was the former polemarchos of Crotone that the Crotonians expelled after Theonia defeated his army. After he got expelled, he went to the Peloponnesian Peninsula not far from Crotone and lived in seclusion in a coastal town in Elis.

But when the Syracusan army invaded Magna Graecia, Crotone decided to recall their exiled countrymen in order to work together to fight Syracuse. So as soon as he received the news, Milo returned to Crotone. However, the Crotonian army had already departed to Scylletium by then, so he could only stay in the city as an ordinary citizen until today.

Hearing Lysias’ words, Ascamas showed a hint of a smile, which soon disappeared because the enemy began their attack…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hundreds of metres away, the huge, loose and massive battle formation of the Syracusans slowly approached the wall. At the forefront were some oddly shaped siege equipment pushed by the Syracusans, a wooden wheeled vehicle with wooden shields for the soldiers to hide, and about five metres long battering ram…

However, the ones that worried Ascamas the most were the three huge, taller than the city walls, movable wooden towers. Although this was the first time Ascamas saw it, a word immediately flashed through his mind – siege towers. Previously, he only heard that the Syracusans used siege towers to capture numerous cities in Carthage’s Sicily, but he now saw it personally that made him alarmed.

The soldiers were equally shocked and overwhelmed when they saw the huge siege tower slowly coming closer to them.

“Cheer up!” Shouted Ascamas to encourage the soldiers and himself, “Although that thing is massive, it will not be able to cross the moat!”

‘Right, that monster wouldn’t be able to get through the moat!’ The soldiers became relieved for a while. But suddenly, they saw that the enemy had stopped advancing. Afterwards, thousands of naked men, carrying linen bags, came out and staggered towards the wall. Behind them were heavily armed Syracusan light infantry, pushing their siege wagons closely…

‘Could it be the Syracusan slaves are going to fill our moat?!’ Kelebus and his comrades around him thought the same thing as they tightly gripped their javelins and bows.

Ascamas, on the other hand, began to feel uneasy.

Chapter 452 – Siege of Crotone (II)

But before the slaves could even reach the moat, the soldiers in the city began raining arrows on them, causing screams to resound below the city walls suddenly…

Just as Kelebus and his men tried to attack again, the slaves below the city wall shouted, “Stop shooting. I am Sephanus, son of Sthenippus!”

“I am Parrharius! Ascamas’ neighbour!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Crotonian soldiers became dazed after learning that the people below the city wall were not slaves but their captured comrades after their defeat in the previous battle.

“Damned Syracusans! Go to hell, Dionysius!!” Ascamas punched the battlements in anger, and blood immediately stained his fist. He did not expect Dionysius to ignore the Greek tradition and let the Greek captives act as cannon fodder.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At this moment, Dionysius followed the archers to the earthen ramp. He then looked down at the situation with a sneer on his face. In the previous battle, Syracuse managed to capture nearly 10,000 captives. After intimidating, beating, starving…and torturing them, the Syracusans managed to make the 2,000 captives willingly fill up the city’s moat for Syracuse in exchange for the promise to not be beaten and sold into slavery. Among these 2,000 captives were Crotonians and a small number of Scylletians and Terinians, but no Theonians. On the one hand, they only managed to capture a few Theonians and had exchanged more than half of them to Theonia. On the other hand, Dionysius had other uses for the remaining Bruttian captives, while the pure Greeks and Lucanians were stubborn…

Dionysius didn’t think much about this annoying little problem as he was now proud of his strategy and wanted to see how the Crotonians would respond. For this reason, he orders his archers not to shoot their arrows yet, reserving their strength and arrows until the whole army began their attack so that they could clear the obstacles at the top of the city wall for the army.

At the city wall, the adjutant could only ask with urgency, “Strategos, what should we do?!”

Ascamas did not reply immediately. While asking the guards to bandage his left hand, he painfully watches the Syracusans forcing the Crotonian captives to walk towards the moat, throw the linen bags they are carrying and then turn their back to destroy the abatis that the defenders carefully laid.

Ascamas cursed at these traitors. Still, he did not dare to order an attack on them because he remembered Kunogelata, the polemarchos of Thurii. Kunogelata had saved the city by ordering to close the city gate, but because it caused the death of some soldiers, the people did not spare him. They not only expelled Kunogelata but also attacked his family. So if he were to directly order to kill the Crotonian captives, even if they repel the enemy’s attack, the families of these captives would sure hate him in the future, and his fate will definitely be worse than Kunogelata!

Ascamas wasn’t a muscle head strategos who only knew how to fight. He was elected as a strategos numerous times in Crotone, a powerful Greek city-state with tens of thousands of citizens, which shows that he has a powerful political ability. After quickly weighing the pros and cons, he said to his adjutant, “Immediately go to the city hall and tell the council what is going on here and have them decide what to do.”

After the adjutant left, Ascamas saw that they had almost filled up a small section of the moat. He sighed and ordered his men, “Go and find some ropes, drop them down the wall so that they can grab it and climb up.”

He didn’t dare to open the city gates for fear that the Syracusans would take advantage of it to swarm in.

The soldiers then hurriedly found ropes and dropped them. They then shouted at their comrades, “Get over here! Grab the rope and climb up!!”

When they heard this, some of the captives crossed the moat staggeringly. However, the Syracusan light infantry shot arrows at them, easily striking these starved and weakened captives.

Seeing this, the soldiers at the top of the city wall fired back in anger. However, most of their attack failed to hit the Syracusans hiding behind their siege wagons. Instead, they wounded their own countrymen by accident.

This has caused the captives to no longer act rashly.

Seeing the result, Ascamas reluctantly gave up rescuing their comrades.

In the council of Crotone, they were apparently unprepared for Syracuse’s use of captives to attack the city and argued fiercely. Even with that, they were still unable to make a decision, which gave the Syracusans plenty of time to let the captives fill in several long sections of the moat and clear the abatis on both of its sides.

Ascamas could only watch with dejection. But he soon cheered himself up, ‘In that case, let’s just fight head-on!’

As if hearing Ascamas’ inner thoughts, the captives were driven back and never appeared again.

Seeing that everything was ready, Dionysius smugly gave the order on the earthen ramp, “Attack!”

But as soon as his voice fell, he suddenly felt something cold and wet hit his face. When he reached out and touched it, he immediately realised it was water.

‘It’s raining?’ Dionysius looked up at teh sky. Without realising it, the sunny sky had become a little gloomy. Although it was only a raindrop, Dionysius became a bit worried because the weight of the siege tower would cause the land to soften from the rain and cause the wheels to sink into the mud and get stuck.

“Hurry up the attack!” He once again issued an order.

Soon, the salpinx rang out on the battlefield.

As stones kept whizzing over the city of Crotone, the enemies under the city wall slowly poured in like tides…

The mixed sound of salpinx, war drums, shouting, footsteps…struck the eardrums of the defenders, causing them to breathe quickly.

“Here they come.” Ascamas whispered. He then picked up his javelin and walked towards the battlements.

At this time, a black dot suddenly flew over the back of his head, followed by another…

He suddenly widened his eyes, looked up and heard the soldiers nearby shouting excitedly, “Our ballista! Our ballista is finally attacking!!…”

‘That’s not even Crotone’s ballista…’ Ascamas thought. However, he didn’t mind it after seeing the soldiers’ morale rise. Instead, he felt fortunate that Theonia stood together with Crotone.

While the Crotonian soldiers were excited, the Syracusans became worried, especially Dionysius. He saw it with his own eyes how almost all the stone projectiles flying out of the city hit near the siege tower not far from the earthen ramp.

Even though he heard Phacipessas say, ‘Theonia also has ballista.’ since he hadn’t seen Crotone use it for the first two days, he thought that Theonia had not lent them this complex, expensive and powerful weapons and had instead used it for Aprustum’s defence. He did not expect that Crotone had hidden it until now and only started to make its presence known once Syracuse began fully attacking the city.

“Cunning Crotonians!” Dionysius cursed. Even though he knew that the target of the enemy’s ballista was the siege towers, he could not do anything besides ordering his men, “Notify our ballista team to attack the area where the enemy might place their ballista in the city!”

Although he was the one who gave the other, Dionysius also knew that their ballista’s accuracy was not that great. In addition, it is challenging to hit the target without seeing its position, and they could no longer keep their bombardment as they could accidentally injure their men that are already close to the wall.

Fortunately, with just a few dozen ballistae of the enemy, they could not make much of a splash in the face of their waves of attack. So Dionysius made a quick decision. In his direction, hundreds of archers on the earthen rampart began raining arrows at the top of the city wall to suppress the enemy from attacking their soldiers.

On the other hand, the Crotonian light infantry at the top of the walls began to rain arrows on the enemy approaching the moat.

The Syracusans crossed the filled moat and braved the arrows and javelins thrown by the Crotonians to erect the siege ladders that they were carrying to the walls. The Syracusans had made a special ladder from their siege experience, with curved iron hooks at the end to hook onto the battlements so that the ladders would not easily slip or be pushed down.

Due to the Crotonian soldiers being unable to push down the ladder quickly, they had to throw javelins and stones down to attack the enemy climbing the ladder. They then dump heated oil and set the ladder on fire…

The Syracusan light infantry then came out from the siege wagon, rushed to the bottom of the city wall and shot arrows at the top to reduce the pressure on their comrades…

The last to arrive was Syracuse’s siege engines. At the front were those wooden wheeled vehicles with a canopy, which finally made it to the moat. Under the protection of the canopy, the labourers pushing it took up their tools and concentrated on tamping the ground again, filled the gap with soil and paved it with planks to ensure that the heavy siege towers could pass through the moat.

The Theonians placed their ballista a short distance behind the western wall, with wide spacing and had houses surrounding it for safety. However, the widely spread ballistae made it impossible for them to adjust the trajectory using the same data. Furthermore, the ballista team didn’t have that much personnel from the Institute of Mathematics. Thus, Kurdorus suggested that the ten ballistae bombard an area or a target simultaneously to increase the number of hits. After the ballista, under his personal command, did the first firing test, the other artillerist would adjust their own firing data according to the height and speed of the stone projectile.

And this suggestion was then accepted by the ballista team. Now, their primary target is the approaching siege tower.

Kurdorus kept his eyes on the spotter holding the coloured flag on the wall. The position he stood was to indicate the direction of the siege tower, and the number he drew in the air with the coloured flag was the distance between the siege tower and the wall. The spotter then pointed the flag to the left and repeated this action twice, then the number he drew after was the direction and distance from which the stone projectile fired by Kurdorus had deviated.

Having missed his first two shots, Kurdorus began to feel the pressure. He wiped the raindrops from his face to clear his vision a little, as he knew that he had to hit the target soon. Otherwise, once the rain fell harder and wet the spring torsion of the ballista, its elastic force would change, making it more difficult to judge the accuracy of the trajectory.

Chapter 453 – Siege of Crotone (III)

Thinking of this, he calmed himself down by taking a deep breath. After quickly calculating it in his mind, he said in a determined tone, “The elevation angle remains unchanged, aim its body once to the left, reduce the range by a unit, and the stone projectile to use is the same weight as the previous one.”

The artillerist immediately acted.

“Fire!”

The stone projectile whistled away. Afterwards, one stone projectile after another flew out of the city immediately…

However, a lot more stone projectiles came flying from the outside the city, “Bang! Bang! Bang!….” the banging sound then mixed with the screams and shouts. One of the stone projectiles even landed near Kurdorus’ catapult, splashing stone debris with its momentum. But due to this period of experience, Kurdorus remained unmoved. He was no longer the Scholar(his nickname given by the legion soldiers) that had just left the Institute but a qualified soldier.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The siege towers that the Syracusans are now using were far from the ones the Theonians used during their conquest of Clampetita. These siege towers were 20 metres long, 10 metres wide and 12 metres high with a trapezoidal shape with seven floors. The topmost layer is a circular wooden dish with five archers inside to fire arrows at the enemies at the top of the city wall from a height. The bottom layer has a battering ram, which can directly strike the wall. The second highest floor was almost as high as the city wall, allowing for a drawbridge to be lowered to let the soldiers entering the tower rush up to the city. The third highest layer was slightly below the top of the city wall, and it houses another terrible weapon invented by the Syracusans – the ballista*… Hence this super siege tower requires hundreds of men to push it from behind and on both sides of the tower. (T/N: The character use 腹弓, which means belly bow aka gastraphetes, but its description is basically an oxybeles.)

However, the Theonian stone projectiles kept falling around it, causing mud and stones to splash everywhere and hit the people around. And those who got hit by the stone projectiles died horribly, scaring the surrounding soldiers to dodge. In the case of the soldiers advancing densely under the city wall, only a large area was left vacated – it was near the siege towers.

Feeling a sense of danger, the commanding officer of the siege towers urged the labourers behind the tower to push it harder. After all, once they reached the wall, there would be nothing that could threaten them.

At this moment, the outer wooden board of the third-highest layer on the siege tower opened, revealing two gastraphetes. Its construction was similar to that of a composite bow, except the device used for firing was a huge bow fixed flat on a stand. The operator turned the pulley hard, pulled the thick bowstring, locked it, and put in an equally huge iron arrow.

Thirty metres was a reasonable distance for the Gastraphetes* to aim, and the Gastraphetes on the right even aimed at the strategos at the top of the city wall whose helmet had a colourful plume. (T/N: Gastraphetes = its wielder, gastraphetes = the weapon.)

“Thwang!!…” along with the huge bowstring sound, the iron arrow whistled through the air and rushed to the top of the wall.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Ascamas saw the “opening of the door” of the siege tower, his years of battlefield experience made him feel uneasy, so he subconsciously sat down towards the battlement. Then, he heard two piercing screams. When he looked behind him, he saw a soldier holding a round shield to shield from the attack from the earthen ramp and siege tower’s archers. However, there was an iron arrow through his chest, and the arrow’s momentum also struck the soldier behind him. It has caused the soldiers around them, including Ascamas, to be horrified looking at them.

The giant siege tower of Syracuse, which played a crucial role in Sicily’s attack on the Carthage’s Motya, revealed its terrifying form as it slowly approached the walls like a giant beast baring its teeth and claw. As the siege tower gets closer, the soldiers defending the city become terrified, unable to do anything…

In this critical situation, a black dot flew over the wall and smashed into the topmost layer of the siege tower like a meteor. It easily broke a hole in the hard and thick wooden planks, and the wood splinter splashed like steel needles to the face and body of the Syracusan archers inside the tower, causing them to scream miserably. However, it has still not ended. The stone projectile that fell into the tower slammed down the wooden ladder and landed on the feet of a soldier who was pulling his gastraphetes.

“It hit! It hit! Our catapult hit!!!…” The soldiers defending the city cheered as if they had won the battle. With such a move, it dispelled the fear in their hearts.

Ascamas then let out a sigh of relief even though the stone projectile was just a drop in the bucket compared to the enormous siege tower, not enough to cause significant damage to it.

But just as Ascamas sighed, he saw one stone projectile after another flying and smashing into the siege tower.

The soldiers felt regret that they missed; some even began to pray to Apollo. Then, their prayers seemed to have worked.

A stone projectile flew from the side and hit the side of the siege tower’s centre, causing the enemy to cry out in alarm.

Then another stone projectile flew into the opened layer of the siege tower where the Gastraphetes were about to launch another attack. The gastraphetes broke with a crisp, and the various parts and wooden splinters flew around in the narrow space, causing the soldiers to scream and bleed.

Afterwards, another stone projectile hit the lower part of the siege tower.

Despite the cheerings of the defenders, the siege tower, riddled with large holes, continued to approach the wall slowly. But the tower’s movement began to shake, and the loose planks kept falling, causing the struggling labourers to scatter in panic. Then the siege tower began to collapse from top to bottom…

On the earthen ramp outside the city, Dionysius watched the situation with a grimace as he knew that Phacipessas had gathered nearly 10,000 people to intensify the construction of the siege towers under the command of the engineers. Even though they managed to make three siege towers in just a few days, their haste made it so they were not sturdy. Thus the violent impact of the stone projectile must have damaged the internal structure of the siege tower…

“Milord, look! A siege tower has crossed the moat!” Damocles shouted excitedly to divert Dionysius’ attention.

“And our battering rams have reached the city wall. It will surely make Crotone’s wall tremble under its impact!” Said another follower who was unwilling to lose.

Currently, countless Syracusan soldiers were like ants climbing Crotone’s wall, drawing most of the defenders’ attack, which allowed the siege towers, battering rams and siege wagons…these large siege engines to reach the city smoothly. Although they managed to knock one siege tower down, it did not affect the battle situation at all, so once the Syracusans used these siege engines together, it would cause great trouble to Crotone’s wall.

However, Dionysius anxiously looked at the sky: The dark clouds in the sky became denser and denser, causing the rain to get stronger, making him almost unable to open his eyes, ‘If the rain continues in this way, it would…’

As if in response to his worry, a “Crack!!!…Boom!!!…” sounded as a dazzling bright light flashed across the sky, followed by the rumbling of thunder shrouding all the noise on the battlefield. It startled the soldiers on both sides and made them look up at the sky.

As the wind blew stronger…

The rain got worse and soon turned into a downpour…

Now, lightning, thunder, wind and rain have become the protagonist of this world.

The soldiers stopped fighting and cower to hide under the city wall or in the towers because a bolt of lightning had pierced the sky and split a huge siege tower in half as it struck the ground.

Those who saw the tragedy were stricken dumb with fear.

‘This is the wrath of the king of the gods – Zeus!’ The soldiers on both sides trembled in their hearts as they began to pray to Zeus.

“Milord, we should go down as it is too dangerous to stay here!” All of the attendants of Dionysius came to persuade him.

Dionysius stared ahead with reluctance. However, the rain became denser, and only the white mist entered his field of vision…

Then, Dionysius ordered with reluctance, ‘Retreat, immediately!’

In such extreme weather, the salpinx could not be heard. Fortunately, the Syracusan soldiers did not need the order as they had already begun to retreat consciously. The Crotonians, on the other hand, did not dare to go out of the city to pursue the enemy in such terrible weather. A grand siege battle had just started but was stopped due to the interference of nature…

Just as Dionysius descended from the earthen ramp that had taken several thousand men two days to build, it had slowly collapsed under the fierce rush of rain. Dionysius could only curse helplessly, “Count themselves lucky!!”

“It seems that Zeus protected them this time.” one of his entourage said casually.

Dionysius immediately glared at him fiercely, “Shut your mouth! This is just a coincidence and has nothing to do with Zeus.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Ascamas, on the other hand, prayed piously to Zeus.

During winter, Crotone doesn’t have many rainy days, and such a heavy rain like today could be said to be a rare sight within the past few years. Thus the Crotonians consider this a blessing from the gods, so even though the wind and rain are battering them, it had still increased everyone’s morale.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Many forces paid attention to the war between Syracuse and the South Italian Alliance, as this was related to the hegemony of the Greek city-states in the western Mediterranean.

Not to mention Carthage, who hated Syracuse and fought with them for a hundred years. But the reality is, they are in a predicament that made the Carthaginian Senate refuse Theonia’s request for an alliance. Naturally, they hoped that the Syracusan army would suffer setbacks and even heavy losses in their war with Magna Graecia, but the news came that Syracuse was winning, and even Crotone and Theonia were in danger under the fierce attack led by Dionysius.

Mago, who was in charge of Sicily’s defence, wrote several times and asked the Senate for instructions to launch small attacks on Syracuse’s allies in order to divert Syracuse’s attention and slow down Dionysius’ attacks on the north and prevent him from conquering and integrating Magna Graecia into a more powerful Syracuse.

However, the Senate led by Hanno rejected his proposal. And in order to prevent some troubles from arising, the senate had sent someone to Lilybaeum to supervise the movement of their army in Sicily.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

While the Carthaginian Senate watched the war progress in Magna Graecia with fear and trepidation, the Battle of Corinth on the Peloponnesian continued.

However, Agesilaus, who was physically ill, had returned to Sparta and handed over the command of the Spartan allied army at Corinth to Praxitas, the uncle of Agesipolis, the new Spartan king. On the other hand, the army brought back by Agesilaus from Asia Minor stayed in Corinth.

Chapter 454 – Sparta’s Mediation

Agesilaus only invited a few close friends as his distinguished guest on his return to his motherland after a long absence, including Xenophon.

While healing his body, Agesilaus paid attention to the Battle of Corinth and the reports from Magna Graecia.

On this day, Xenophon came to visit Agesilaus at his house.

Agesilaus enthusiastically invited him to the living room.

As soon as he sat down, Xenophon expressed his heartfelt gratitude to him, “King Agesilaus, the Gerousia had informed me today that they would accept me as a guest of honour in Sparta and given a piece of land in Scillus. I thank you for your selfless support to me so that I, an exile, can finally have a home!”

“Scillus is a good place! The land is fertile, and as it is close to the forest, you can often see herds of wild deer. Furthermore, it’s near Olympia in Elis, so it will be much easier for you to watch the Olympic Games in the future.” Agesilaus smiled and congratulated him. Then, he said with seriousness, “Xenophon, this is Sparta’s compensation to you. If you didn’t help us, Sparta, how could Athens expel you?! Therefore, Sparta will not disappoint any friend who has sincerely helped us!”

Although Agesilaus was sincere, Xenophon didn’t want to discuss the charge of “treason” by Athens. Hence he changed the subject and said, “I wonder how is our war progress in Corinth is going now?”

“From the latest report, many Corinthians had gotten tired of the war due to the numerous casualties and the land becoming barren. Some had even quietly contacted Praxitas to discuss a truce…” Said Agesilaus.

“That’s wonderful! As long as we continue to intensify our attack, I believe those pro-peace factions in the city would definitely grow, which would cause Corinth to fall to Sparta eventually.” Xenophon said happily.

“But there is also an unpleasant news.” Agesilaus then said with a grim expression, “The Corinthians and Argosians have quietly formed an alliance!”

“An alliance? What kind?!” Xenophon asked curiously. After all, Corinth and Argos were already members of the anti-Spartan alliance, so it seemed unnecessary to establish a separate alliance.

“Just like what your good friend did in Magna Graecia, Corinth and Argos removed the boundary marker between the two cities and merged, giving the citizens of both city-states the same rights…” Agesilaus said in a heavy tone.

It must be known that Sparta and Argos have a centuries-old feud. When Sparta defeated Athens in the Peloponnesian War, Sparta destroyed their hegemony but still gave them a way to live. But if Argos was the one that lost the war, Sparta would skin it alive because Argos has always been against Sparta. Even as far back as the Greco-Persian war where all the Peloponnesian city-states joined the anti-Persian coalition and made Sparta the leader to fight against the Persians. But not Argos, as it preferred to be the insider of Persia due to Sparta. Hence Sparta doesn’t want to see Argos getting even slightly stronger.

Xenophon was well aware of their complex relationship. He thought about it and said with a smile, “In fact, there is nothing for you to worry about. It might even be a good thing for Sparta if these two city-states united instead.”

“Oh? Let me hear it.” Agesilaus’ mind stirred as he leaned forward in a posture to listen attentively.

“Currently, the anti-Spartan Alliance are working together against Sparta. Thebes, Corinth, Athens, Megara and Argos had all sent troops to fight, but the merger of Corinth and Argos only made Argos more enthusiastic in aiding Corinth. However, since Argos was already a mortal enemy of Sparta, its pressure on Sparta wouldn’t increase much. On the contrary-” Xenophon organised his words and said, “As two city-states with a long history, Corinth and Argos have deep-rooted political traditions, customs and interests, which are very different. For example, Corinth is by nobility while Argos is more like Sparta-”

Agesilaus nodded, understanding that Xenophon was referring to the oligarchy.

“Corinth believed in Poseidon while Argos revered Zeus and Agamemnon(the ancient city of Mycenae was within the territory of Argos, and the Argosians often boasted that they had ancient Greek royal blood and were nobler than the Spartans); Corinth dominates through commerce while Argos lived by agriculture; The Corinthians are shrewd and sleek while the Argosians are conservative and straightforward…which just show that these are two completely different city-states. The two city-states rulers must have hastily decided to merge under the pressure of our attack. However, these might instead lead to conflicts and contradictions between the two city-states, which would make those resentful Corinthians lean more towards Sparta…”

Agesilaus’ eyes brighten up, “Xenophon, what you say makes sense! At tomorrow’s meeting, I will tell your opinion to the other elders.”

He then stood up excitedly, paced back and forth, and added, “Also, I will write a letter to Praxitas, telling him not to attack Corinth too quickly. Instead, to send more people to make contact and sow discord to those dissenters.”

Xenophon nodded discreetly. There was no shortage of power struggles between the two kings of Sparta, none more famous than the struggle between Cleomens and Demaratos before the Greco-Persian War. And the reason why Pausanias laid his hands on Lysander, besides the fear that he threatened Sparta’s kingship, the other reason was that Lysander fully supported the other Spartan king, Agesilaus. And even this time, the Gerousia used the excuse to “recuperate” to call back Agesilaus, who was leading the war on the front line and replaced him by the confidant of the new king, Agesipolis. Perhaps the reason is worthy of further investigation, but Agesilaus disregarded his grievance and still gave Praxitas advice, which shows his broadmindedness. And that is the reason why Xenophon was willing to follow Agesilaus.

Thus Xenophon said with sincerity, “King Agesilaus, your advice would be of great help to Sparta’s capture of Corinth!”

Agesilaus smiled, “Xenophon, you are right. How could the integration of city-states be that easy? It even took several decades for Sparta and Messene to become one, but-” with a puzzled look, he continued, “How did that old friend of yours manage to not only merge the different Greek city-states of Thurii, Amendolara and Krimisa together, but also merge the Lucanians and Bruttians, and still remain stable over the years?”

After the rise of Theonia, Xenophon, due to Davos, had naturally thought briefly about the reasons for the rapid growth of the city-state union through the information he learned. However, there were some things he could not say because the Helots were the foundation of Sparta. Thus he did not answer positively but sighed, “The Theonia City-State Union’s establishment was just too short. And now, this rash war with Syracuse had given them trouble!”

“I’m afraid that it’s not just a ‘trouble’ as it is already a disaster for Theonia!” Agesilaus said seriously. He then briefly told Xenophon about the series of battles that took place after Syracuse invaded Magna Graecia.

After Xenophon returned to mainland Greece, he was first busy leading the mercenaries to fight the anti-Spartan Alliance. Afterwards, he followed Agesilaus to Sparta and was busy settling down, so he neither had the energy nor channels to understand the war situation in Magna Graecia. After learning about it, he did not expect that in just a month, the situation in Magna Graecia would have undergone ups and downs with Theonia having enemies on all sides and is already in danger.

Agesilaus continued, “In fact, we did not expect the war in Magna Graecia to progress so quickly. We originally planned of mediating this war when both sides were caught in a stalemate so that Syracuse could dispatch reinforcements as soon as possible to join our war against Corinth, especially its fleet that could ease the blockade of Athens at sea. But judging from the current situation, Dionysius, who holds an absolute advantage, would never stop the war. Hence I am wondering whether we could get Theonia to surrender voluntarily…”

Xenophon really thought that Agesilaus wanted Magna Graecia to end the war early so that Syracuse could aid Sparta. But what he did not know was that Agesilaus had another important reason: A stronger Syracuse was not what Sparta wanted because it was very likely that it would no longer want to cooperate with them. So preserving a Theonia that could pose a threat to Syracuse would be good for balancing the power in the western Mediterranean and preventing the situation from falling out of Sparta’s control.

Xenophon thought about the days when he fought and fled with the young mercenary leader a few years ago in Persia. The more difficult the time was, the more Davos was encouraged and often thought of good ways to help the mercenaries get out of trouble. Xenophon, therefore, reminded Agesilaus, “From what I know about Davos, he would rather fight to the death than accept the proposal of Theonia surrendering to Syracuse.”

Agesilaus sighed and said, “Anyway, we must still give it a try. What do you think of sending Cheirisophus to Thurii?”

‘Cheirisophus!’ Xenophon no longer had a clear image of this Spartan inspector who once fought with them together in Persia. Since Cheirisophus returned to Sparta with Thimbron, three or four years have already passed, and Xenophon had not seen him again. He then said, “While in Persia, Cheirisophus was on good terms with Davos.”

“Yes, he had even proposed to the Gerousia that Davos be absorbed as an important guest of Sparta!” Agesilaus lamented as well, “Cheirisophus would indeed be a good envoy for that young commander of Theonia.”

Chapter 455 – Iphicrates

In the southwest corner of the city of Athens, on a small hillside, was the place where the people of Athens built a magnificent council hall that could seat 500 people simultaneously to celebrate their dethronement of the tyrant – Peisistratos. The Acropolis was to its east, and next to it was once the famous Areopagus (Hill of Ares), a symbol of the transformation of the Athenians into becoming masters. After the Persians burned the city and the Athenian celebration of their victory in the Greco-Persian war, the people rebuilt it again, and it had become the famous Boule(council of 500)!

Compared to this magnificent building, the Athenian city hall next to it was so inconspicuous, but it is where the “10 Strategoi” elected yearly work.

Today, the Athenian council held a meeting and invited Isocrates to discuss the Battle of Corinth and the war in Magna Graecia.

The Polemarchos Thrasybulus began by speaking, “Everyone, Corinth has sent an envoy today asking us for reinforcements. Currently, the situation in Corinth is not wonderful. With the Spartans fierce attack, the Corinthians were somewhat unable to resist and made the pro-Spartan nobles in the city unbridled. They even proposed to make peace with Sparta at their council meeting and won the support of some people. The morale of the Corinthians to fight is weakening…”

“We must support Corinth! Otherwise, once Corinth fell to Sparta, the Spartans could break through the defensive line on Isthmus and force their way to reach the city of Athens. Currently, we still haven’t completed the repair on our great wall. Therefore, we must do our best not to let the dirty feet of the Spartans trample our port of Piraeus, which has just resumed trade, and the territory of Attica that has not yet recovered its vitality! And if we’re to lose the war again, Sparta would do more damage to Athens than the last time, and we could no longer afford such torture any longer!” Said Andocides, an orator, with a furious expression.

His words reminded everyone of the dark reign of the “Thirty Tyrants” a decade ago. Thus they said one after another, “Help Corinth now! Send more soldiers to support Corinth and block Sparta’s offensive!…”

“Blocking Sparta is still not enough. Since the war started, our allied army hasn’t even defeated the Spartans in the field even once. If this continues, it will only demoralise our army, and those city-states that hate Sparta and are still watching will also lose the courage to fight back. Therefore, we must defeat the Spartans in order to get the final victory!” A younger strategos said loudly.

“It is not that easy to defeat the Spartans on land, Iphicrates!” Conon, the loser of the Battle of Aegospotami, the victor of the Battle of Knidos and the navarch who returned to Athens, bringing back a large fleet, exclaimed, “If it was possible to defeat Sparta on land, together with our invincible navy, how could Sparta be so rampant to this day?!”

“Hence I would like to ask the council to allow me to lead the troops I trained to support Corinth, and I will do my best to defeat the Spartans!” Iphicrates said with decisiveness.

Thrasybulus stared at the hillbilly from the Attica region (the people born in Athens liked to call those who lived in the Attica region “hillbilly or bumpkins”). Thrasybulus knew that Iphicrates hated the Spartans because they had ravaged the Attica region during the Peloponnesian War and had been studying how to defeat the Spartan hoplites, “The troops you trained? Do you mean the nearly a thousand troops consisting of Thracian peltasts and the Cretan archers? Can these light infantry alone defeat the Spartans?!”

“We must admit that our soldiers cannot compete with the Spartans, who had trained since their childhood. Still, heavy infantries also have flaws; they move slowly and have trouble turning. So if we’re to let the agile moving light infantry throw javelins and shoot arrows at them from a distance, the heavy infantry would not be able to catch up with the light infantry and could only be beaten passively.” Iphicrates said confidently, “I am sure you have all heard of Davos, the archon of Theonia, and the one, the Magna Graecians, called ‘undefeated strategos’. He was a man who was good at using light infantry and had even formed the light infantry into separate brigades. In their second war with Crotone, he especially made full use of the light infantry to defeat the heavy infantry of Crotone, which ultimately led to the defeat of the Crotonians in the battle. Hence I am confident to use this light infantry team to defeat the Spartans!”

After listening, Thrasybulus looked at Conon.

Conon nodded and said loudly, “I think Iphicrates could defeat the Spartans!”

“I agree to send Iphicrates to Corinth.” Andocides also agreed.

“I have no objection.” The other strategoi also agreed. After all, when everyone was afraid of fighting the Spartans on land, there was a man who suddenly stood up and said with confidence, ‘I can defeat Sparta!’. And this confidence alone was enough to encourage everyone.

“I also agree.” Thrasybulus likewise voted in favour. He then added a reminder, “However, while you are leading your trained light infantry troops to Corinth, you should take our soldiers with you and have them engage in a frontal defence against Sparta so that the Corinthians won’t think that we are sly and not doing our best.”

“I understand. Thrasybulus, you are still the one to consider everything.” Iphicrates expressed his gratitude from the bottom of his heart while requesting, “Then I need an adjutant to lead our soldiers.”

Thrasybulus thought for a moment, looked back at Conon and said, “How about we send Timotheus?”

Timotheus was the eldest son of Conon. Although he was only in his twenties, he was already a very experienced strategos, especially in naval warfare due to his long years drifting with his father in Persia, helping him with military affairs and participating in battles. Conon knew that Thrasybulus’ proposal was helpful to enhance his son’s influence in Athens. After all, as he has stayed in Persia before, the citizens of Athens were unfamiliar with him. But at the same time, there was a significant risk in his life while he fought with Sparta.

But Conon replied without hesitation, “I agree.”

Most of them also agreed.

“In that case, I will propose to send reinforcements to Corinth to the council this afternoon, and it should be approved.” Thrasybulus made a decision, but his expression remained serious. He looked at everyone and said, “Iphicrates had just mentioned Theonia. Everyone should be aware of the war in Magna Graecia. Currently, Theonia, which is friendly with us, is in a dire situation, not only had they lost the battle, enemies surrounded them, and their sea route was blocked, but also there seems to be a rebellion in their country…Isocrates, as you had been to Theonia, you certainly knew about Theonia better than us. Do you think that in the current situation of Theonia, can they still withstand Syracuse’s attack?”

Isocrates still felt a bit embarrassed at this point as he had sworn to Thrasybulus earlier that ‘Theonia is a greater danger to the Greek world than Syracuse.’ Little did he know that Theonia was now on the verge of destruction in just a blink of an eye. As a scholar and an orator, Isocrates was not just a scholar who only knew how to use their brain and mouth and did not know anything about military matters. In fact, every Athenian citizen has participated in at least one or two battles in their life.

After clearing his throat, he slowly said in a hoarse voice. “Syracuse has defeated the South Italian Alliance in battle, conquered many of Magna Graecia’s city-states of Magna Graecia, while Theonia is now beset by enemies on all sides and is even suffering political instability. However, we should note that the Theonian army has not yet suffered a complete defeat, and their commander, Davos, is still in Lucania and hasn’t yet returned. So how could we presume and conclude that Theonia will be completely defeated? It is rumoured that Davos was blessed by Hades and has created many military miracles, so what if he creates another miracle and turns the war situation around?!…”

“Naturally, we would all be glad if a miracle could happen as it would be to Athens’ advantage. We also hope for Theonia can make miracles happen, or at least drag down Syracuse and let the war in Magna Graecia continue!” Thrasybulus then continued with a grave expression, “But we must still be prepared for Syracuse to conquer Theonia. Once the war in Magna Graecia is over, Dionysius would accept Sparta’s request and send the Syracusan navy and their land troops to aid Sparta!”

“I heard that Syracuse alone has more than 400 triremes, so even if he only sent one-third of them, it will change the situation of Sparta’s navy, which is now completely at a disadvantage!” Although Conon had defeated the Spartan navy, the prudent veteran did not let his guard down.

“Furthermore, Syracuse has a huge army of 80,000 men, which is twice the number of soldiers we had in Athens when we attacked Sicily! Oh Athena, is Syracuse still just a Greek city-state?!” Andocides exclaimed.

The other strategoi have also expressed their uneasiness.

Thrasybulus once again looked at Iphicrates and said with expectation, “Thus, in this crucial situation, I hope you can give those arrogant Spartans a taste of defeat and boost the morale of the anti-Spartan alliance!”

Iphicrates felt a great responsibility at once, but he remained confident and said, “Athena will bless me, and just wait for the news of my victory!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the past two days, the Syracusan fleet has frequently landed on the shores of Roscianum’s territory, raiding the Roscianum population and destroying the villages and farms outside the city.

Those who had lost their homes and loved ones gathered daily in front of the council, angrily demanding that the Council act immediately to stop Syracuse’s invasion!

Chapter 456 – The Return of the King

The Council had already taken action with strategos Gorkes stationing a thousand soldiers along the coast to keep a watchful eye on enemy ships on the sea. However, Roscianum was, after all, only a small city with too few men. Thus they couldn’t fully monitor the coast, and the sly sailors often slipped over from either the Theonian territories or Roscianum territories, leaving them defenceless.

Today, several strategoi such as Amikles and the statesmen of the council continued their emergency meeting, discussing how to settle the Syracusan naval attack once and for all.

“Ask the Theonians for help!” One statesman exclaimed.

“Ask them for help?! Theonia is already having trouble on its own! Have you forgotten that they wanted to recruit our sailors earlier?!!” Another statesman said discontentedly.

As they all argued and were at a loss, a guard opened the door in a panic, “Milords, a passenger ship, has arrived from the port, saying they are Syracuse’s messenger. They have brought a letter from Dionysius, Syracuse’s supreme commander, asking for a…friendly…friendly discussion with us.”

As an ally of Theonia, Roscianum was not allowed to conduct diplomatic natters with other city-states, especially during a war, where they could not even meet and negotiate with the enemy on their own.

But after the guard finished his words, only eerie silence shrouded the room. There was not even a single angry voice that shouted, “Drive out those Syracusans!”

Everyone began looking at each other with a complex mood.

After a moment of silence, a statesman said with caution, “I think..it’s alright to meet…”

Even though there was a sound of coughing and gulping, no one spoke loudly.

Even the expression of the polemarchos – Amikles, who everyone was watching, was also clouded with uncertainty.

But just then, someone once again opened the door of the meeting place.

A guard rushed in and shouted excitedly, “The archon of Theonia – Davos, has returned!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the first morning of December, the Syracusans struggled with their accommodation as it continued to rain in Crotone. Thurii, on the other hand, was sunny, and the people of Thurii had their anxiety swept away as they gathered outside the north gate of the city with the line extending towards the west. It is a huge crowd that also included Kunogelata, Cornelius and other statesmen.

However, it wasn’t because of the good weather that everyone was in a good mood and went outside the city for a get-together. But it was because the archon of Theonia Union, the grand legatus who led them to victory, and the descendant of Hades, who Hades’ deeply cared for, was coming back soon. Thus everyone looks forward with excitement!

At this moment, a reconnaissance cavalry rushed from the west and shouted, “Lord Davos with the first and second legions are only more than a kilometres away. And they would be here soon!”

Hearing these words, the Theonian crowd became excited that many ran westward, hoping to see their returning archon and loved ones earlier.

As the sun in the east broke away from the sea and began to show its light, the union’s bright red flag was the first thing to appear to the crowd. And the only red flag in the union was a flag with a striking design of black hair twisted around a bident. The next thing to appear was a military flag, but at the top of it was a large golden statue of Hades, with the name of “DAVOS” in bold golden letters engraved on the black flag.

These two flags, one red and one black, are particularly dazzling in the sun.

And as the majestic and fervent《March of Victory》 rang out from the oncoming team, the crowd became excited…

Along with the flag came the 300 guards of the archon, followed by Archon Davos. Usually, Davos should be in the centre of the group to be easily informed of the situation of the whole team in time. However, after discovering the Theonians movements, he chose to walk at the front to ensure that they did not hinder the army’s advance.

As the crowd poured in like a tide, the soldiers of the patrol team couldn’t stop them at all. Hence the guard immediately formed a defensive line to protect Davos, who was surrounded by the crowd trying to hold their hands high as if touching Davos would be the only way to comfort their anxious hearts.

“Lord Davos, you are finally back! We have been waiting for you for so long!!”

“Lord Davos, the union has been in a terrible situation since your absence!”

“Milord, did you know that we have lost to Syracuse and suffered thousands of casualties!”

“Lord Davos, those damned Tarantines have gone back on our agreement and betrayed us! They have invaded and captured our allies and plundered our lands! They even destroyed our farms in Amendolara!”

“Milord, we have taken care of the Bruttians so much, yet they have betrayed us at our most difficult time! Please do something about it and punish those rebellious Bruttians!”

“Lord Davos, I am from Krimisa, and those foreign cavalries hired by Syracuse burned down our villages and slaughtered our citizens who failed to hide in the city. They are a group of man-eating beasts! When will you drive them away and bring peace to Krimisa?!”

“Lord Davos, I live on the south bank of the Crati River. And these days, the Syracusan fleet often land on the coast and raid the villages!  And due to its close proximity to the coast, the Syracusans had sacked our village, killing many of my neighbours…please, avenge us!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

These shouts containing their situation were like a crying child rejoicing at their mother’s return, while their plea filled with expectation was like a child in trouble seeking help from their strict father…

As Davos listened, his expression became gloomier with his eyes grew teary as he emotionally said aloud, “People of Theonia, my brothers and sisters, follow me to the square! I will give you my answer there!”

After hearing this, the people actually reminded each other to quiet down while shouting in unison, “Go to the square!! Follow Lord Davos to the square!!!…”

The thousands of people quieted down and no longer blocked the road as they followed the army into the city…

‘This is our archon!’ Kunogelata felt emotional at this sight: Even though the statesmen work hard for the union every day, the first thing the people would think of and look for when faced with difficulties is the young archon in front of them! And Davos was the only one who could appease and calm the uneasiness and anger in the populace’s hearts, completely overshadowing the statesmen! Thus, he thought it was only fitting that Davos should be made king…

Kunogelata felt a mixed emotion as he watched Davos approach them.

“Lord Kunogelata, Lord Cornelius…you’ve all worked hard these days!” Davos, mounted on the horse, sincerely greeted and thanked the statesmen.

“Milord Archon, thank you for repelling the Samnites. We were all looking forward to your return!” Kunogelata and the other statesmen returned his greeting with respect.

As it was not convenient for either side to continue their discussion in such circumstances, thus they all entered the city.

Even though Davos led two legions to great victories, the Senate did not hold a triumphant ceremony for them, nor did Davos apply for one as it was still a time of war and the union was still in a troubling situation. But as they passed through the first Arc de Triomphe, the soldiers raised their heads and straightened their chests to the sound of rousing music.

And the people began to notice something unusual in this triumphant return of the army. In the centre of the marching line, dozens of carts laden with spears, javelins, shields and armour…of a style somewhat different from that of the Theonian army. Behind the carts were soldiers escorting thousands of naked men who looked different from the several races within the Theonian Union…

This reminded the uneasy and anxious people about the current situation. They all hoped that this army that their Lord Davos led that had defeated the countless Samnites in the north, which the Lucanians feared, could protect them!

Thus the anxiety of the people was temporarily relieved, and they began to cheer for the soldiers…

As Davos rode his horse, his mind ran fast… In fact, when the troops came out of the mountain pass last night, he had already learned everything that had happened in Theonia from the men sent by Aristias. Before leading the troops away, he had already planned to be elected as the king because the assassination had made him realise that his own life and his family were in grave danger. Thus, to protect his family, he had to break away from the populace by sanctifying himself as a royal and becoming above the others.

Only that Davos did not expect things to go so well and so quickly, and it was all thanks to their mortal enemy – Syracuse. Although Davos had paid enough attention to Dionysius, he had still underestimated the tyrant of Sicily, who had concocted a massive plan to keep the borders of Theonia at war to disperse the powerful troops of Theonia Union while leading his own army throughout the war, placing Theonia on the verge of destruction.

Whether it is to let himself sit on the throne smoothly or to save the people, Davos must quickly come up with ways to break the crisis created by Syracuse and give confidence to the people!

At the front is Nike Square.

Davos then look at a pillar in the middle of the square, pointing straight up to the sky. At its top was the statue of the goddess of victory holding her sword, with her wings spread and a solemn expression.

As Davos looked at it, his frown gradually smoothed out…

Chapter 457 – The Return of the King (II)

Davos even had the leisure to take a few glances towards the fountain of Thurii on the southwest side of the square. The fountain, which Davos had never seen before but had played a key role in his rise to kingship. ‘Could there really be a god in this world?!’

His eye couldn’t help but look at the white Temple of Hades on the hill behind the northwest side of the square…

As he stood on the platform of the Grand Senate Hall, he looked over the orderly first and second legions in the square and the people standing in order on both sides of the legion soldiers. Although these Theonians were all eager to know his answer, they still remained calm under the supervision of the patrol soldiers. The habit of observing social order developed in the Theonia Union over the years was quite effective.

After sighing in his heart, Davos shouted, “The brave men of the first and second legion! You have travelled thousands of kilometres to fight the invading Samnites in the rocky and difficult mountainous terrain. You have fought the Samnites who outnumber us and are far fiercer than our former enemies bravely and without fear, ensuring that the Samnites would no longer threaten the north-western border of the union by completely crushing them! The Senate and the people of Theonia, thank you!

And after all this fighting, you should have gone home to recuperate. However, it is not yet the time! You all should know that just as we were far away in Potentia, the massive army of Syracuse had invaded Magna Graecia. They had defeated the troops of the South Italian Alliance, capturing many of the soldiers of the fifth and fourth legion, bringing down Scylletium, conquering Terina, making Caulonia surrender and reaching near the cities of Aprustum and Crotone.

The cavalries they hired has invaded Croton plain, burned, killed and plundered our land, and brutally cut off the heads of the women, children and the elderly…

Syracuse’s huge fleet traversed the Ionian and the Tyrrhenian seas, cutting off our maritime trade routes, sinking our ships, blocking our ports and landing on our coasts to kill our people and burn our villages…

Our former ally Taranto had also betrayed us when we were in trouble. They had not only captured our ally Metapontum but also attacked Heraclea and sent soldiers to burn, kill and plunder on our lands on Amendolara…

In addition, Petaru, Kaduk and  Bodiam, these statesmen of the Senate, were secretly bribed by Syracuse* at our most difficult time. They had even persuaded some Bruttians to rebel…” (in fact, there was no such thing. But due to these three having long been opposing him, he just blamed it on Syracuse.)

As Davos continued his speech, a commotion finally arose among the soldiers in the square who were listening intently. Many of them had also learned something about the situation while entering the city. Still, they had not expected the whole situation of the union to be so bad that even a statesman of the Senate had betrayed them!!

Davos became serious and said loudly once more, “Brothers, after a hard battle, you should have returned home to rest and reunite with your families. However, can you still stay at your home in peace in the face of the countless Theonians who have lost their homes and loved ones?!”

“NO!!”

“We don’t want to rest! We want to keep fighting!!!”

“We will only recuperate once we’ve all beaten back the enemy!!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The soldiers shouted in excitement.

Davos nodded. Then with teary eyes, he choked up a bit as he continued, “There is a saying that ‘it is in the midst of danger that you would know who the heroes of the city-state are!’ You may not be aware that after our defeat in the south, Drakos, the legatus of the fourth legion, had personally gone off to the rear himself to protect his comrades so that they could retreat safely. However, he was eventually captured after suffering serious wounds…and those evil Syracusans tried to humiliate him near the city of Aprustum to demoralise the fourth and fifth legions…but for the safety of the union, Drakos…Drakos…died by angrily smashing his head to the ground…”

When the soldiers and the people in the square here that, they couldn’t believe what they heard, especially the soldiers of the second legion, where Drakos served as its legatus. And they all shouted, “Lord Davos, is that true?! Legatus Drakos died?!!!”

“Legatus Drakos, how could such a strong man…die?!”

The soldiers shouted with tears running down their cheeks, and their cries resounded in the square.

After wiping the tears from his eyes, Davos continued, “Before he died, legatus Drakos had shouted, ‘Long live the Theonian legion! Avenge me!’ This is what Drakos expected of us! Thus I, as the Grand Legatus of Theonia, ordered you, as warriors, not to retreat until you have killed and repelled the enemies!”

“Avenge legatus Drakos!!!”

“Fight the Syracusans to the death!!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The soldiers in the square steeled themselves as they took out their short swords and slapped them to their long shield, letting out a “Bang! Bang!” sound. Then their roars became one as they shouted, “REVENGE! REVENGE!! REVENGE!!!…”

Their cry that came from the bottom of their hearts were like the rumbling of thunder. The soldiers’ anger and sorrow aggregate as it resounds on every inch of the land ravaged by the enemy…

Even Kunogelata, Cornelius and the other statesmen who stood silently in front of the Grand Senate Hall could not resist shouting “revenge”. Even Davos joined the soldiers as he shouted with his right fist raised high.

After some time, Davos finally withdrew his fist, and the soldiers gradually regained their silence.

After shouting so much, Davos gulped to moisten his somewhat hoarse voice as he prepared to continue his speech. But at this time, he aimed it at the people on either side of the first and second legion, “People of Theonia! Theonia has grown from the small Amendolara to the vast territory of Theonia that it is today. Although it has only been a short five years, we have endured many dangers and faced many threats from powerful enemies. And by uniting as one, we have overcome all difficulties and broken through to make Theonia what it is today.

And today, an even more powerful enemy stands in our way. Syracuse is jealous of our rapid rise and wanted to strangle us completely to prevent our Theonia from growing into a nation capable of threatening its hegemony. You must understand that it is no longer a question of whether we stop fighting or surrender, but it is ‘either they die, or we die’! That is why the Syracusans have moved all the troops they could and spent a tremendous amount of money and resources to wage this massive war. They are going to wipe out our Theonia once and for all, occupy our land, turn our children and us into slaves! Just as what they had done to Scylletium!!”

As Davos paused for a moment, only dead silence shrouded the square. Both the soldiers and the people became pale as they shuddered at the thought of the tragic scenes that Davos had described.

“Citizens!” Davos’ voice softened a bit, “I know that in this war that has just begun, some of you has lost your loved ones, some lost friends, some lost homes, some lost land…and we may even lose more. However, we have no other choice but to fight the vicious Syracusans to the end in order to save ourselves, our children and grandchildren from that tragic fate! If all of us unite, if those who have food to eat help those who are hungry, if those who have shelter help those who don’t, if we all help each other as a family, we will get through this difficult time together! I, Davos, the archon of Theonia, assure you that you will soon hear news of victory after victory! Light comes after darkness, so after this difficult time, a brighter future awaits the Theonia Union!!”

Davos’ promise made the depressed crowd excited.

“Lord Davos, we shall never be slaves! We will fight together with you to the end!!”

“Lord Davos, I believe that we will win as long as you are here!”

“That’s right, with Lord Davos being the god’s favoured and with the blessing of Hades, we will never lose!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Everyone, don’t forget the oracle that Hades gave to us!” just as the people shouted in excitement, a voice suddenly reminded the crowd, “Hades said that we could only become the final victor if Lord Davos becomes the king!”

“Yes! He even used his divine power to bring the spring back to life to urge us to fulfil his divine command!” Another voice shouted.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As the legionaries listened with bewilderment, the people on either side of them spoke excitedly of “the oracle…of Lord Davos becoming king” and so on.

Antonios managed to guess something vaguely as he looked at Davos.

On the other hand, Davos remained calm as he looked at the square, which had become somewhat boisterous.

Behind him, the statesmen such as Kunogelata and Cornelius became tense.

At that moment, the sentence that shook them had come out from the mouth of countless people, “Let Lord Davos…become king!”

“Let Lord Davos be king!”

“King Davos!”

“King Davos!!”

“King Davos!!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

With the joining of the soldiers, the shouts became louder and louder. Although they did not yet understand the reason for this, it seemed only natural that their beloved archon and victorious grand legatus, Davos, should be made king and continue to lead them to victory.

Chapter 458 – Provisional Constitution

Listening to the crowd shouting as one under the stage, Davos turned around and looked at Kunogelata, Cornelius and the other statesmen, who were also looking at Davos, with none of them speaking.

However, the shouting in the square became louder and louder, making Kunogelata and Cornelius feel the whole platform shake.

At this moment, Davos spoke up, “This is the voice of the people of Theonia!”

This statement made the statesmen understand that Davos had no plan to ignore the people’s request at all, just like how he had not delayed the people’s request to be the lifelong archon in Amendolara. With some disappointment and after discussing it a bit, Kunogelata, Cornelius and the other statesmen walked forward together. Kunogelata, who was at the lead of the group, gazed at Davos with complex expression and said with a slight bitterness, “Congratulations, Lord Davos!”

Davos, on the other hand, didn’t avert his gaze and smiled slightly.

Kunogelata grabbed Davos’ right hand and held it up.

The shouting in the square came to a halt as both the civilians and the soldiers stared at the platform with rapt attention. They all anticipate the arrival of that sacred moment.

“After the strong demand and nomination of the people of Theonia… And after careful consideration, the Senate has decided to respond to your voice and passed a new law. And I now proclaim-” Kunogelata looked at the dense crowd in the square, suppressing the negative emotions in his heart and said loudly, “Archon Davos to be the King of the Theonia City-State Union!”

The cheering of the crowd was like the rumbling of thunder…

Xanticles, the senior centurion of the first legion, looked at Davos on the platform with his right hand raised in the air. He couldn’t help but recall the young mercenary leader, who had made a splash at the military assembly six years ago. In only six years, that young mercenary leader had now changed from an unknown and humble mercenary leader to the king of a powerful city-state union in the western Mediterranean. ‘Hades had truly cared of this Greek!’

And the two military legatus, Antonios and Amintas, and the soldiers of the first and second legion who had followed Davos from Persia to the present day were wildly cheering. They had all witnessed him grow from an ordinary mercenary to a king of a powerful city-state union, a complete miracle that they were all proud of!

At this moment, the majority of the people cheered with excitement that Theonia had a king now, making them no longer worried and confused, while a very few were feeling lost…

Davos also felt overwhelmed that he even felt as if he were in a dream, ‘A king, just like that?!’

An uncontrollable smile filled his face that he didn’t even care about Kunogelata pinching his hands a bit. After all, he successfully achieved his long-awaited goal, and he won’t allow anyone to ruin it!

However, Davos didn’t allow himself to get carried away. He took a few steps forward and came to the edge of the platform, a little closer to the people of the square. When the cheering had weakened a little, he said in a sincere but loud voice, “Citizens of Theonia! The people of Theonia! Thank you for the trust you have placed in me!

Everyone knows that the Greeks hated kingship because they held supreme power and were above the law, who oppressed and abused the city’s people. However, as you were the one to elect me and bestow me with this power, I would not be a king who is above the law of Theonia, but a king of the people, a king who is subject to the laws of Theonia just as you are! And I am here to give you my pledge…”

Davos slowly raised his right hand with his pam outward as he said, “As the king of Theonia, I promise to do the following. Firstly, I would guarantee the safety of Theonia’s territories and population against the oppression and aggression of outside forces. Secondly, I would guarantee the improvement of the lives of the citizens and prevent them from living an impoverished life. Thirdly, I ensure the proper functioning of the laws of Theonia and not interfere with them, and if I were to violate them, the law would punish me in the same way as the common people.

Oh, Hades. If one day I were to cease to uphold my pledges, then please, you need not favour me any longer! And you, the people of Theonia, wouldn’t need to support me as king anymore. That is the promise I, Davos, make as your king!”

At this moment, the soldiers and the people in the square were so moved by Davos’ sincere pledge that they no longer merely chose Davos as king to console their hearts and a way to gain Hades’ blessing, but truly accepted the fact that Davos was their king.

“Long live King Davos!!!…” The tsunami-like cheers that expressed their emotions continued for a long time.

With Davos making such a pledge despite gaining the greatest authority in Theonia, it surprised the statesmen such as Kunogelata, Cornelius, and the others and even relieved their worries. Furthermore, it made them think that perhaps they had made the right decision and that this new king of Theonia would be the most unusual in the whole of the Mediterranean!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the afternoon, Kunogelata and Cornelius arrived at the military camp in the north outside the city of Thurii.

The once empty camp has now become overcrowded.

After becoming the King of Theonia, Davos neither celebrated nor stayed to discuss further matters with the Senate. Instead, he led the first and second legions to leave the bustling and comfortable city and come to the crude and cold camp because they should focus on military matters with the current tense situation. Not only the soldiers did not go home, but also Davos did not visit his house, even though his residence was just a short distance away from the Grand Senate Hall and his beloved wife had just given to their child. The young Davos’ strong self-control and patience had even amazed Kunogelata, a man of many years of experience in politics. ‘No wonder he was able to achieve such a great position!’

After obtaining permission from the camp guards, the two went straight to the centre of the camp.

As the soldiers of the first and second legions are citizens of Thurii and Amendolara, they are naturally familiar with and respect the two statesmen who have made great contributions to the two cities.

“I can see that they are all relaxed!” Cornelius said as he nodded back to the soldiers.

“They are, after all, the strongest troops in Theonia and have the greatest commander in all of Magna Graecia, so if they all get nervous, Theonia could be in real danger.” Said Kunogelata calmly.

“You are right.” Cornelius exclaimed, “It’s all thanks to Davos! But I also want to complain to him too…”

Kunogelata became stunned.

Cornelius laughed and said, “Six years ago, I prayed to the gods while I was locked up in the Temple of Zeus. However, I never imagined the day would come when Amendolara and this union would become the enemy that Syracuse, the hegemon of the western Mediterranean, would be bent on destroying.”

The ever so serious Cornelius actually joked around, which shows how much Davos’s return boosted everyone’s morale. And it made even Kunogelata wonder what will happen to the future of Theonia if they really defeat Syracuse this time?!

As they walk towards the centre, they encounter a dejected Mersis, who only merely nodded after seeing them, without any interest to converse.

Kunogelata could guess the reason why Mersis was rude: In order to keep his promise, repel the powerful enemy and restore Theonia’s peace, they must gather more troops, which means that the investment of the state treasury and the consumption of food must increase. So how can Mersis, who values money as his life, feel better?

Even Kunogelata and Cornelius were deeply concerned: It is understandable to recruit more troops to repel the enemy, but if the war were to last longer, what will Theonia that lacks domestic labour and exhausted resources, do?

Then they both saw several arms merchants, led by Tios, coming up to them, also looking grave. However, they still greeted the two statesmen with respect when they saw them.

“Tios, what weapons have Lord Davos asked you to make again?” Kunogelata recognised him as he had been largely responsible for the overall equipment change of the Theonian army. Although a great deal of the old equipment had been traded in for new equipment, he had still made a lot of money and will continue to make more because the new citizens will probably buy the new legionary weapons and equipment in his weapon shop. Furthermore, he was clever enough to donate some of the money he made to Theonia, which quickly made him a citizen of Theonia and won the favour of many statesmen and most of the people.

Hence Kunogelata could ask him casually, but Tios looked embarrassed, “Milord, Lord Davos…King Davos has told us to keep it a secret, or else-” He made a slitting gesture, making the two stunned.

After hesitating, Cornelius asked, “Does it cost a lot of money?”

Tios and the two other merchants became even more bitter, “King Davos asked only to pay the advance first.”

The two statesmen were relieved to hear this, ‘Fortunately, Davos could still think clearly.’

Seeing the merchants leaving, Cornelius hesitated and reminded, “Lord Davos is now the King of Theonia. Shouldn’t…we change how we call him?”

Kunogelata was stunned, ‘Yes, even those merchants change the way they address him.’ As statesmen of the Senate, if they still call him ‘Lord Davos’, would it not be a clear indication to others that they did not want to recognise the newly enacted law?

Chapter 459 – War Preparation (I)

Thus Kunogelata could only say with a bitter smile, “It’s just that I am used to addressing him with that. We really need to pay attention in the future!”

Cornelius nodded, feeling the same.

At this time, the chief commercial officer Marigi, and Plesinas, the one in charge of the Temple of Hades, came out. But compared to those before them, the two of them were smiling.

Kunogelata always suspected that the two of them were the ones responsible for the whole “Davos to be the king” thing.

‘Was it the time for them to get their reward for their achievements?’ Kunogelata thought in disgust and couldn’t help poke at them, “The two of you seems to be in quite a good mood while the entire people of Theonia are worried about Theonia’s safety.”

Marigi remained smiling as he looked at Kunogelata. He then lowered his voice in a mocking mysterious tone and said, “I’m certainly in a good mood because his majesty Davos has promised me…”

As he deliberately trailed off his words, it prompted Kunogelata to ask, “Promise what?” subconsciously.

Marigi immediately exclaimed, “His majesty has promised me that the blockade of the port of Thurii by the Syracusan fleet would soon be broken and restore the trade in the port of Thurii!… Do you think there will be anything else, Lord Kunogelata?”

Kunogelata coughed dryly twice and was about to change the subject to hide his embarrassment when Cornelius exclaimed, “Lord Davos… His majesty Davos is going to start the naval war against the Syracusans?!”

“Of course! The Temple of Hades would divine and pray for this battle early tomorrow morning!” Plesinas responded feeling self-satisfied.

Kunogelata and Cornelius looked at each other with amazement.

“Go, his majesty is waiting to announce this news to you!” Marigi said with a smile on his face.

As they hurried forward, they didn’t even have the time to say goodbye.

“See! How sad that some people already knew that the political situation in Theonia is different from what it used to be, yet they still don’t want to accept it!” Marigi sneered.

As he had always felt guilty about Kunogelata, Plesinas didn’t want to dwell on this topic, so he asked, “Just now, his majesty spoke of some suggestions on how to expand the influence of Hades and increase the kingship’s prestige. However, there are some things that I haven’t fully figured out. Lord Marigi, since you are more familiar with Persia, can you tell me how the Persian royal family preached their supreme god Ahura Mazda in the lands of the foreign people?”

Marigi touched his beard, and with a look of complacency, he smugly said, “I am indeed the right person to ask, as I know the Persian royal family very well. You should know that when Cyrus the Great founded his great empire, he did not interfere in any way with the faith of the foreign people, for he himself did not preach vigorously about the great Persian gods as he was always busy with his conquests. It wasn’t until Darius became the great king that, although he claimed to have sacred blood and had married Cyrus’ daughter, he still felt that the throne he had inherited from the great king Cyrus still lacked the persuasive authority over those great Persian nobles. That was when he thought of Ahura Mazda, whom the Persians worship…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Just as Marigi chatted with Plesinas about the Persian religion, Kunogelata and Cornelius bump into Antonios – the legatus of the first legion, Amintas – the legatus of the second legion, and Kapus, a former legatus – and now a military official of the Ministry of Military*, and Seclian, the Navarch of the Theonian navy. And they all had just come out of Davos’ quarter. (Davos divided the authority of the Chief of Military into three, and they are in charge of different aspects and do not interfere with each other. In fact, the soldiers think that they have the same rank. However, for administrative purposes, Davos positioned the official in charge of personnel appointments one rank higher so that he could coordinate the matters with the Ministry of Military.

Kunogelata and Cornelius looked at each other. After all, these four now represents the whole of Theonia’s military troops in Thurii, and with them appearing here together, it seems that Davos would start to make his big move soon!

The four men travelled in a hurry, only greeting them briefly before hurrying to complete the task Davos assigned.

“Lord Kapus, you have to return those 3,000 sailors that you transferred to me. Otherwise, we would not be able to carry out the joint training smoothly!” Seclian urged.

“Don’t worry. In fact, I am now going there to bring them back to the naval base in the Crati River.” Kapus reassured him.

Seclian could finally relax a bit.

“Kapus, you… anyway, his majesty ordered to gather another 7,000 men in the port, and they have to be young adults who have undergone our military training for at least a year. Does the port even have that many freemen who meet this condition?” Antonios asked with concern.

“There shouldn’t be that many…but we can go to Amendolara and Besidice. If they’re still not enough, you can also recruit in the transport brigade responsible for the logistics…” Kapus had already considered this.

“With the enemy being everywhere in Theonia’s territory and our troops are stretched to the extreme and spread everywhere, our territory is now quite barren! Thus we must break the stalemate as soon as possible, so the most important issue is to gather our troops again!” Antonios said anxiously.

“The main problem is that Davos…his majesty wants to have a decisive battle with Syracuse in the sea first! Is that not too risky?!” Amintas interjected, still somewhat resistant to the orders of Davos, “The Syracusan navy had fought against Carthage for so many years that they are experienced in naval warfare. Moreover, they are far more numerous than we are! Besides, we had just formed our fleet and have never fought even once, so how could we beat the Syracusans with just an extra wooden thing onboard, and sending all our soldiers to the enemy ships…and, in case…they lost, they won’t even be able to escape! And they are Theonia’s most elite force!!”

“Lord Amintas, what do you mean by just an extra wooden thing on the ship?! You clearly have no idea how much the addition of this ‘one more thing’ has changed the navy’s tactics!” Seclian said with displeasure as soon as he heard Amintas, “And even if you are experienced in warfare, it’s only on land, so please stop talking nonsense if you don’t know anything about naval warfare!”

Amintas became furious when he heard him, “How dare you shout at me! You don’t even have any battle achievements, so what qualifications do you have to stand here and lecture me about naval warfare?!”

“Tomorrow! I will show it to you with a victory!” Seclian retorted without showing any weakness.

“Knock it off!” Antonios shouted and glared at Seclian. Although he didn’t like the young man’s arrogant tone either, he was now the navarch of the navy that Davos relied on, “We are such in a situation, and you still have the mood to bicker and make a fool of yourselves in front of the soldiers! If his majesty arrives later and sees that we haven’t yet started training, I fear that he would give all of us a lecture!”

Amintas looked around and saw the soldiers were looking at them with curiosity. Thus he could only suppress his anger, “Young man, stop squabbling and get some results!”

“You’ll see it tomorrow!” With that, Seclian stopped talking. Then he turned around and walked away as he suddenly realised that it would be disadvantageous for him to argue with Amintas in the military camp. Thus he felt it would be better to hurry back to the naval base, where he had the final say.

“Antonios, Amintas, there is no need for you to worry. After fighting together with his majesty…King Davos for so many years, do you still not know him?! Would he even dare fight a decisive naval battle with the Syracusans if he doesn’t have any certainty?!” Kapus reminded them both.

“But that’s all on land! Although we have been training with the navy, no one has ever experienced fighting at sea. Furthermore, the new tactics that Seclian is talking about have not been tested in actual battles after all. Besides, who knows if it will work in the vast ocean when we meet the enemy’s huge fleet of ships?! And with the soldiers of the first and second legions…most importantly, even his majesty himself would have to board the ships, so in case-” Antonios said until here as he dare not even think about the consequences if they lost.

His worries also affected the others.

“Anyway, there is no need to worry as his majesty would be fine with Hades’ blessing! Instead, we’d better hurry up in carrying out his orders.” Kapus said with reluctance.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

While they quarrel, Davos spoke to Baripiri and Sedrum, the statesmen from Bruttii.

“You two lords are just in time as I was about to send someone to invite you.” Davos smiled and asked them to sit down.

“Your majesty, Sedrum and I came here to ask forgiveness!” Said Baripiri, and with a troubled expression, he stood up again, “Petaru and the others were acting strangely before their rebellion, but we didn’t pay attention to it, and as a result…they ended up escaping back to Bruttii and made the people to rebel…”

“However, your majesty, Baripiri and I can assure you that it is only a small minority of Bruttii who rebelled, while the vast majority are still loyal to Theonia! And that there will never be any major unrest or chaos in the Bruttian region!” Sedrum continued Baripiri’s words and promised Davos with a serious expression.

“Yes, and we can swear to Amara!” Baripiri firmly added.

Davos gazed at the two slightly haggard statesmen, who were obviously under tremendous pressure from the rebellion of Petaru and the other statesmen from Bruttii. After a few moments, Davos withdrew his gaze and said sincerely, “You can rest assured that even if Petaru’s rebellion has caused some suspicion among the people of the other cities towards the Bruttians, the statesmen, including me, are very clear about it!

Lord Baripiri, the first brigade of the fifth legion, composed of citizens of Besidice, had taken the initiative to stay behind to stop the enemy to cover the retreat of our troops at the Battle of Allaro River. Although they ended up either killed or captured, they had ensured the smooth withdrawal of most of the soldiers of the fourth and fifth legions. Even until now, the leader of the first brigade and a statesman of the Senate, Burim, and some Besidisian soldiers are still alive in Syracuse’s camp, so if such heroes are not the most loyal citizens of Theonia, who else can be?”

After hearing Davos’ words, Baripiri burst into tears, not only because of the great sacrifices made by the Besidisians in the war and Davos understanding their grievances but also because he was worried about the safety of those who became prisoners.

Chapter 460 – War Preparation (II)

Although Theonia was now at a disadvantage in the war, it was surprising that the statesmen felt relieved hearing Davos’ words. It’s as if victory was in the young man’s hands, a confidence that was beyond words that made any wavering they might have had due to the results of the previous battle disappear.

“Lord Sedrum.” Davos turned to another Bruttian statesmen and exclaimed in praise, “As far as I know, the north-western part of Bruttii, centred on the city of Vergae, has remained mostly stable and free from any unrest like Besidice during this insurgency. With you and Lord Saru playing a major role in that! It is because of you that I don’t have to worry about Petaru and his men’s rebellion at all!”

“Your majesty, you flatter me! As citizens of Theonia Union, it is our duty to maintain its unity and the region’s peace! Furthermore, as Bruttians, we don’t want another war in Bruttii!” Sedrum sincerely said.

Davos looked at him, and before he went back to his seat, a decision was brewing in his mind, “Petaru’s rebellion is just a small blemish on Theonia. However, as I have more important enemies to fight, I cannot personally deal with them for the time being, but we must resolve this matter as soon as possible. After all, further delay will affect the normal life of the Bruttians and take away a lot of our strength and energy from fighting a decisive battle with Syracuse. Thus, I have decided-”

Just as Davos was about to say what he was thinking, Rodom – the acting guard captain, went inside and said, “Your majesty, Lord Kunogelata and Lord Cornelius asked for an audience.”

“They’re just time. Have them come inside.” After thinking about it, Davos knew what they had come for.

“Understood!” Rodom immediately turned around and went out without looking at his uncle.

Davos then praised him, “Rodom is now an excellent guard captain, so I think he is fully capable of performing more important tasks!”

When Baripiri heard this, he became excited but humbly said, “There is no more important task than serving as your guard, your majesty!”

Davos laughed and said, “Young people need more experience, so if they always stay by my side, they will have no future.”

“Majesty, surely you jest…”

While the three chatted, Kunogelata and Cornelius entered the quarter. But when they saw Baripiri and Sedrum were also inside, they became slightly stunned. However, they smiled and greeted them.

“The two lords are just in time as I have a few suggestions that I have to discuss with you.” Davos then asked them to sit down and immediately got to the point.

“Lo…your majesty, please say it.” Kunogelata and Cornelius straightened themselves.

“We must soon resolve the rebellion caused by Petaru, Kaduk, Bodiam and the others in the Bruttian region, while also stabilising the situation in Bruttii in order for this region to become one of the key forces in our next battle with Syracuse.” Davos continued in a decisive tone, “Hence I propose to send Sedrum as the Praetor of Consentia and also as the wartime governor of the Bruttian region, responsible for policing and maintaining the stability of the entire region. Besides Besidice, Sedrum will have administrative authority over the entire region, to which Clampetia and Vergae must also follow his orders.”

As soon as he said this, the other four people became dumbfounded.

“Your majesty, do you mean to…appoint Sedrum as governor, just like Persia’s…satrap?!”

“It is not the same as Persia’s satrap! Nor is it like the Spartans!!” Davos somewhat chided Cornelius for making a fuss, “All of you, listen carefully! The wartime governor of Bruttii that I just said has only policing and administrative authority but do not have the authority to collect tax and military powers. And it’s only a temporary appointment that will be revoked once the war ends. And-”

Davos then said with a straight face, “I think it’s crucial to have it in place during wartime! After all, with the Bruttian region being somewhat unstable right now, no one would be able to know what else would happen in the future. So in the event of a major change, the several praetors wouldn’t dare take the initiative to act without any authorisation and would need to consult the Senate back and forth, resulting in them failing to make targeted plans to deal with the situation. Furthermore, they wouldn’t be able to gather the resources and the strength of the entire region to deal with a bigger crisis, which would only lead to the danger becoming bigger, and finally spiralling out of our control…but with a wartime governor in charge of Bruttian’s matter, we would be able to respond in time!”

“Your majesty, there is some truth in what you say. But Sedrum is-” Cornelius was about to say more when Kunogelata sneakily tugged at him and asked aloud, “Your majesty, with Sedrum as the praetor of Consentia, would we recall Hielos?”

“No need. We would assign Hielos as the commander of the Bruttian region to command the troops and assist the wartime governor in stabilising Bruttii.” Davos had already thought of this through.

‘So that was it!’ Kunogelata, after all, was no ordinary person as he immediately understood Davos’ intention. For Davos’ sudden proposal of “establishing a new post with such great power”, Kunogelata believed that it is indeed an appropriate measure to deal with the volatile areas during wartime. As for appointing Sedrum, putting aside his wariness of non-Greeks, he also thought it was a good proposal as it would show the absolute trust of the Theonian Senate to the Bruttians. Also, having a Bruttian governs Bruttii would be more acceptable to the Bruttians at this sensitive time…

And the fact that Davos gave Hielos the control of the Bruttian army had made him completely comfortable with Davos’ seemingly risky proposal. Even though Hielos would listen to the wartime governor, who would Hielos that was loyal to Davos, listen to once the governor had a change of heart? So what more could Kunogelata ask?!

Kunogelata gazed deeply at Davos, a young man who often had such bold proposals that seemed out of the blue but were effective and sensible with the implementation. And it was this kind of political manoeuvre that made Kunogelata respect and fear Davos, so once Davos makes a major political decision, Kunogelata does not rashly oppose it, including the ‘becoming the king’ thing.

“Your majesty, I agree with your proposal to make Sedrum the Praetor of Consentia and also the wartime governor of the Bruttii region, while Hielos to be the commander of the Bruttian region.” Kunogelata instantly agreed.

Cornelius immediately figured out that even if he disagreed, so what? Now that the Theonian Senate had few statesmen participating in the meeting, and with Davos, two Bruttian statesmen, one Lucanian statesman, Marigi, Mersis, Plesinas, and now even Kunogelata… Davos has already obtained more than half of the votes. Furthermore, the mild-mannered Cornelius does not want to upset Davos, who had just become king. Thus he could only agree with reluctance.

Sedrum, on the other hand, did not expect Davos to place him in such an important position. He was so shocked and excited that Cornelius’ wariness had shown towards him and Davos making Hielos in charge of the army were not on his mind at all. Since the years of Bruttii’s integration into Theonia Union, the number of Bruttian statesmen of the Senate was much higher than that of Lucania, but their authority is much worse. So much so that in the earlier days, none of the Bruttian statesmen even left Thurii and became praetors of any city of Theonia until last year when Saru was elected as the praetor of Vergae, the least important city in the Bruttian region. The Bruttian statesmen certainly have complaints, which is also one of the reasons for Petaru’s rebellion. Hence how could he not be thrilled when Davos resolutely entrusted him with such an important task in such a sensitive period of unrest and racial suspicion in the Bruttian region! This is a recognition of his ability and the trust of Davos!!

“Your majesty, I will quell the rebellion and restore peace to Bruttii as soon as possible so that we could use the soldiers and resources to fight the Syracusans!” Sedrum immediately gave his pledge.

“Do you have a good way to resolve Bodiam, who has been wandering in the mountains?” Asked Davos.

Sedrum knew that this was Davos’ test and a chance for him to show his abilities to Kunogelata and Cornelius, so after thinking it seriously for a moment, he said, “The mountain’s terrain is complicated which is not suitable for a large army to move and fight. Thus I suggest that Lord Hielos stationed an army near the lake to force Bodiam’s rebel army not to dare go out of the mountains… And at the same time, we issue a decree that any tribes that help Bodiam or even just conceal his whereabouts will be considered an accomplice that, once found, their whole tribe would be reduced to slavery! On the other hand, we would reward those who reported the rebels’ location while giving the lands of Bodiam’s tribe as their settlement to those who took the initiative to fight the rebels and capture Bodiam! And if the people of Bodiam repented and captured Bodiam for their surrender, Theonia would forgive them of their treachery! Also, we should gather squads of Bruttian hunters to go into the mountain and search for any signs of the rebels. Once they found them, they would constantly harass them. Furthermore, with the mountain being sparsely populated and lacking food and the help of other tribes, those rebels would soon fall into chaos because of hunger and fear…”

“What do you think of Sedrum’s counter-insurgency proposal?” Davos smiled and looked at Kunogelata.

Chapter 461 – War Preparation (III)

“The most suitable candidate is indeed Lord Sedrum!” Kunogelata and Cornelius answered more sincerely this time than before.

After Sedrum arrives in Thurii, the Greek statesmen barely know about him as he seldom took the initiative to speak at the Senate meeting. However, through the information collected by the intelligence department, Davos knew him well enough as he even knows that Sedrum had joined forces with the Lucanians to invade Thurii, but when Davos defeated them, he turned his back on the Lucanians and burned their camps. Furthermore, he was the one person that Pian – the great chieftain of Consentia, feared the most, and he was also the first to advocate the Bruttian Tribal Alliance… That is the reason why Davos didn’t give him any position at the beginning, as he wanted to wait until they completely stabilised the Bruttian region before reappointing the capable but unpredictable Bruttian chieftain. Unexpectedly, a war broke out.

Baripiri turned to look at Sedrum in surprise as he wanted to ask, ‘Aren’t some of the measures you want to enact too cruel to your kin?!’

Although Sedrum noticed his expression, he did not give a damn. A few years ago, these Bruttian tribes fought with each other, but they were forced to unite because of the bad environment. In fact, apart from his own tribe, he doesn’t care much about the other tribes. That is why the only thing on his mind is how to deal with the Bruttian rebellion as soon as possible in order to show his ability to King Davos and the Senate.

At this moment, Rodom entered again with a slight panicking on his face, “Your majesty, a messenger has arrived from…the west, saying that-” Rodom looked at the others inside and subconsciously walked forward, trying to get closer to Davos to whisper.

“The west? Could it be?!” With a slight shock in his heart, Davos immediately said, “Since the several lords happen to be here, just say it as there is no need for you to hide it to them. It seems to be some more bad news?”

“Yes!” Facing the probing eyes of Kunogelata and the others, Rodom gulp and said, “The messenger reported that two days ago, the army of Laos attempted to sneak up on the Lao fortress. Fortunately, the defenders manage to repulse them. Lord Hemon managed to confirm it later that Alobamus of Laos had declared his withdrawal from the Theonia Alliance and declared war on Theonia!”

“What?! Laos has revolted as well?!” Cornelius exclaimed, and the other three became alarmed. After all, only bad news after another had come these past few days.

“Note that it was Alobamus who betrayed us and not Henipolis!” Davos’ eyes gleamed as he said with certainty, “One after another, these disloyal Theonians jumped on the bandwagon when Theonia is in trouble, wasting all the care we have given them over the years! Just enough! We could take advantage of this war to remove them all!” The murderous intent and confidence in Davos’ words encouraged the four men.

After calming down, Kunogelata suggested, “Your majesty, although archon Henipolis did not betray us, the thousands of Laosian warriors he led would inevitably be affected. So should we temporarily block the news and only make it public after the situation become stable, which is also good for the people who are distressed these days?”

Davos nodded as he grasped what Kunogelata meant: The people had just responded to the oracle of him becoming king, yet the Laosians was now rebelling. So what would the anxious people think?

“Indeed, you are right! Rodom, you take care of the messenger and ensure that he won’t contact anyone. After I write the orders, have him return to Lao Fortress immediately. Also, send out 20 guards to take over the mountain pass post and take anyone coming from the west into custody first.”

“Roger!” Rodom turned around and left.

“Everyone, with Laos’ current strength, the rebellion of Alobamus wouldn’t be a big problem as they wouldn’t be able to break through the Lao fortress. And it would be even more not worth their time to attack the city of Vergae, which is on perilous grounds. Alobamus is now like a turtle, cowering within the city, trying to wait for Syracuse to defeat us and then reap the benefits, which is nothing more than a dream!” Davos looked at the four men, then solemnly continued, “Sedrum, your appointment as the wartime governor is just in time. After taking the appointment letter of the Senate with my signature, you immediately rush to Bruttii and remind Saru to be vigilant against Laos and not easily send his troops. And once you pacify those rebels, have Hielos lead his army to attack Laos…by then, I think Bagul and Hemon should have already completed their recruitment. So once the time comes, you advance to the north while they advance to the south and take Laos!”

“Yes, your majesty.” Sedrum became a bit concerned after hearing Laos’ rebellion. Although Vergae and Laos began to trade with each other in recent years due to Theonia, their long-term rivalry made Vergae continue to be alert. Fortunately, Saru had become more composed and shouldn’t move rashly.

After seeing off the two Bruttian statesmen, Davos asked, “Is there anything you wish to discuss?”

Kunogelata and Cornelius began looking at each other.

Kunogelata then said, “Your majesty, you are now the king of Theonia. Therefore, do you have any demands for Theonia’s current political system?”

As Kunogelata finished, Cornelius gazed at Davos with slight nervousness.

Davos lightly smiled and said, “I am already thrilled that the people could embrace me as their king, so how could I have any additional demands. I only wish that it could function normally as before.”

Hearing Davos’ words, the two statesmen became relieved.

Davos looked at them both and understood what they, and the whole Senate, had in mind. In fact, his previous authority was not much different from that of a king, that is, he has the supreme military, administrative, judicial and ceremonial authority. Now that it was legalised, he didn’t need to make any major changes.

“But-” Just as he began to speak, it made the heart of both men tighten, “Now that I became the king and as the symbol of Theonia, I would inevitably also become a prime target for the enemies of Theonia. Thus I wish to improve the safety of my family!”

“Your majesty, the Senate was already discussing the security and the rights you would get from Theonia after you become the king.” Kunogelata immediately replied. After all, as a powerful union, his treatment and identity shouldn’t be too shabby; else, they would become a laughing stock to the other powers. Hence the Senate had already considered this.

“As long as my family remain safe, there is no need to make it too complicated and spend too much energy on it.” Reminded Davos. Then he added, “Right now, our focus should still be on this damn war!”

“Your majesty, I heard that you are preparing for a naval battle against the Syracusans?” Cornelius asked.

“I was just about to tell you about it.” Davos looked at them and said with seriousness, “Among the enemies we are facing, the navy of Syracuse poses the greatest threat to us! Not only had they attacked our coast, destroyed our farms, killed our people and created panic, but they also forced us to station our troops along the way, scattering our forces and making us very passive. At the same time, they also threatened our food shipments to the southern defensive line, so we needed to increase our escorts due to the worry about their sneak attacks. I heard that they had attacked our logistics yesterday, and although we repulsed the enemy, most of the animals were wounded.

Furthermore, we should be more aware of Roscianum! Although Roscianum was the closest to us among our allies, and its officials such as Amikles and Gorkes are friendly with us, Roscianum is now suffering significant loss under the raiding done by the Syracusan navy. Hence if this goes on, I fear that the people of Roscianum would have a change of thought…”

Hearing this, Kunogelata and Cornelius’ expressions changed as they had neglected Roscianum, whose position was so important that if it rebelled, it would cut off Theonia’s territory, causing Theonia into real danger!

“So we must repel the Syracusan navy at once as we couldn’t delay any longer!” Davos said in a determined tone.

“But…but the Syracusan navy is much more powerful than our ships…” Cornelius said with a worried and stammering tone.

Davos laughed. Then he stood suddenly and exclaimed, “That’s why I had Seclian prepare for this battle in secret! Tomorrow will be a day when the Syracusan navy will cry out in pain!!”

Davos’s confidence affected the two men, and Kunogelata, who was encouraged by it, replied immediately, “Your majesty, is there anything for us to do? The Senate will do its utmost for this naval battle!”

“Good!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Madam, master has already returned to Thurii, yet he couldn’t even come back for a visit?! And he only sent Henipolis to report…” Azune said with a slight grumble as she helped Cheiristoya walk around the garden.

Cheiristoya, on the other hand, remained calm and said softly, “He is the commander of the army and Theonia’s protector, so now that the enemy is close and he had just become the king, he has an even greater responsibility to set a good example for the soldiers and the people! He is probably thinking hard about ways to defeat the enemy right now, so it’s already good that we know he is safe. Don’t you think so, Sister Agnes?”

Agnes, who was also walking around, stroked her bulging belly. Although she was a bit disappointed, she still said with consideration, “You are right, sister. We shouldn’t be an obstacle to Davos!”

Chapter 462 – Battle of the Gulf of Taranto (I)

“Master should’ve at least come and look at our little Eunice, right?” Azune bent down and whispered to the baby in the small wooden wagon.

But when Eunice, who had remained quiet, saw someone she knew approach her, she immediately gave a cry as she waved her arms and legs around, kicking away the thick woollen blanket covering her body.

“Madame, even little Eunice is protesting!” Azune jokingly said as she tucked her in. She only dared to speak in this way because it is in Davos’ residence, where it treats its servants with kindness, and because Azune was Cheiristoya’s trusted follower.

Cheiristoya looked at her daughter with her gentle eyes, seemingly remembering something. Then she said with a soft sigh, “Little Cro also didn’t see his father when he was born either. Who told Theonia to be always on war…”

As the three laments, a cry came from the front courtyard.

‘It’s little Cro!’ Agnes and Azune had their expression changed, with Azune hurriedly saying, “I’ll go and take a look.”

“There is no need. Heni and Cynthia are here, so there is nothing to be worried about.” As the mother, Cheiristoya is much calmer than Agnes and Azune.

As the war expanded, Theonia had to continuously send young and strong men to the frontline, causing a lot of institutions in the whole Thurii to stop running because of the lack of manpower. It even included the schools, where the guards and instructors joined the new army’s legion, became sailors or joined the transport team. Although a specific Theonian law does not require the teachers to participate in a war in order to protect highly qualified personnel, they still went to the city hall where they were needed to contribute to the war, like doing statistics in the Ministry of Military or a clerk of the logistics…

As a result, the school’s lesson came to a halt. Moreover, without the protection of the guards and instructors, they could not guarantee the student’s safety, resulting in Ansitanos declaring that the school was temporarily closed.

And for safety reasons, Cynthia, Adoris and little Cro were ordered not to go out, so when these little guys at home saw that their big brother Henipolis, who they did not see for a long time, had returned, they excitedly pestered him to play with them.

Thus the teenage Henipolis had to take them on the sports ground in the front courtyard and play catch. (because the children were already older and energetic, Davos simply removed the pool in the front yard and turned it into a small sports ground so that the children could play happily and exercise simultaneously.)

Naturally, little Cro, who was just over four, was excited to run around after his brother and sister, causing him to trip and fall to the ground and start to cry.

Adoris, who was in the middle of the game, impatiently said, “It didn’t even bleed, so why are you crying?!”

This caused Cynthia to glare at him, which immediately stopped Adoris from talking as he was always afraid of his own sister, who was only two years older than him.

Cynthia rushed over, picked up the crying little Cro, gently patted the dust off him and said softly, “Little Cro, aren’t you a brave soldier? Soldiers do not cry.”

Little Cro, who often learned from Adoris to become a brave soldier, heard this; he immediately wiped his face with his small hands and said, “I didn’t cry!”

“Alright, let’s take a break,” Henipolis gasped as he took a seat. Unlike the citizens of Theonia, who often undertook military training, Henipolis spent most of his time in the Academia reading books and practising writing. Thus he, who already lack exercise, quickly run out of energy after running back and forth after these energetic kids, “Instead, I’ll tell you a story.”

“What story?” Adoris asked with immediate interest. Henipolis was a good storyteller, and he often told it to the children.

“The story of Hades’ wife, the goddess Persephone and the sea monster, which I collected on my last trip to Sicily, so you certainly have not heard of it.”

“I want to hear it!” Adoris immediately shouted.

“Me too!” Little Cro shouted much louder.

Cynthia didn’t even say a word as she sat down next to Henipolis.

When Aristias entered Davos’ residence, he was just in time to see three children sitting around Henipolis, listening attentively to his vivid storytelling.

Seeing this heartwarming sight, Aristias sighed as he remembered the news of “Alobamus’ Rebellion”…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The early morning of the 6th of December was bright and clear, with cloudless skies and a light breeze.

After Davos assembled all the soldiers of the first and second legions at the camp, he led them to the bottom of the hill of the Temple of Hades, where a considerable number of the crowd had already gathered, and the statesmen of the Senate.

As Davos took the lead up the hill, the Senate and the two legatus followed him.

Plesinas, the grand priest, and a group of men had long waited in front of the temple. They then solemnly entered the ‘underworld’ hall of the Temple of Hades at Davos’ lead.

Davos felt a sense of affinity as he looked at the statue of Hades, who was holding a bident with his black hair and furious gaze. From his rebirth to now, he had formed an inseparable bond with Hades that they shared sorrow and joy. After all, as long as Theonia existed, the Davos royal family would be bound to him as his descendant, making offerings to get his blessings…

With this in mind, Davos knelt with reverence and bowed as he loudly said, “O the just and selfless Hades, your kingdom on earth – Theonia, is surrounded by war and danger. And this descendant of yours would lead your army into a decisive battle against the Syracusans, hoping to repay your blessing with a great victory!”

With that, Davos stood up, lit the oil lamp and placed it on the altar directly under the statue.

Then Plesinas took a small black calf that was specially selected from the many Lucanian cattle. It seemed to know its fate as it did not even cry or jump when Davos held it down with his left hand.

Davos drew out his dagger, and after stroking the calf’s back and neck, he ruthlessly stabbed it with the dagger, causing the calf to wail and fall to the ground.

The priests quickly lifted it onto the altar, cut open its abdomen and removed its entrail to inspect it. As it is a young and healthy calf, how could its entrail have any diseases? Therefore, after looking at it over carefully, the priest doing the divining exclaimed, “An auspicious omen! It is an auspicious omen!!!”

Everyone looked relieved and joyful as they sang the ode of Hades and watched Plesinas solemnly offer the fresh blood in front of the statue…

Besides the Prison of the Wicked, Davos and the two legatus paid homage to the Hall of Valor…

“Clang!…Clang!…” as nine long and grand bell sounds rang throughout the hill, the people and the soldiers under the mountain became excited.

“It’s an auspicious omen! It’s an auspicious omen!!…” By the time Davos and his party came down the hill, it had become a sea of joy as if they were victorious.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

While Davos led the first and second legions towards the military port, Seclian was doing pre-war mobilisation to the nearly 30,000 sailors, “Brothers, you have trained so hard for so long, and today you will finally go to war with the enemy. Yesterday, Lord Da…His Majesty invited me to discuss the naval battle with the military officers. However, they went so far as to dissuade His Majesty from engaging the Syracusans at sea, saying that ‘our navy has only just been formed and is inexperienced, so it is not a match for the Syracusans.’ I argued, but they reprimanded me instead by saying that ‘Our navy has no merit and has no qualification to speak to them…’”

When everyone became infuriated, Seclian took the opportunity to shout, “Fortunately, the wise king Davos said, ‘I trust the sailors of Theonia to fight as valiantly as the soldiers and bring victory to Theonia!’ That’s why we should not fail his majesty. Brothers, let’s show those proud soldiers that we are equally heroes in the hearts of the people with a glorious victory! And with this victory, we will be able to obtain our citizenship faster, just like the legionaries(a large part of the sailors are freemen)! And get our allotted land sooner! Brothers, for the sake of our future, let’s do our best and defeat the Syracusan Navy!!!”

“Defeat the Syracusan Navy!!!”

“Victory to the Theonian Navy!!!”

“Victory for His Majesty, KING DAVOS!!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The sailors, whose blood was boiling at Seclian’s speech, raised their arms and roared, causing the doors of the people who had been informed and were making their way to the shore to look at them. And even Davos, who was on his way, heard their shouts, causing him to smile, “The morale of the navy is sky-high!”

Although he and Seclian quarrelled yesterday, Amintas had put down those minor disputes before the battle started, so he happily said, “That’s good as this would increase our chance of winning.”

“Now I command you all to-” Seclian looked around at all the sailors, took a deep breath and shouted, “Push the ships into the water!!!”

The sailors immediately ran back to the dock where they stored the warships.

They would store the warships that were not used regularly in the dry docks in order to regularly expose them to the sun, making it impossible for the maggots, which were damaging to the ships, to survive. Furthermore, they would replace the decaying planks to ensure their longevity. And unlike the merchants’ ports, Thurii’s military port did not have any piers, but instead, the sailors would tow the ships along the slope of the causeway into the dry docks for storage after the ships entered the port.

Since they hastily built the military port in Thurii without careful planning in advance, not only each dock was built simply but also occupied a small area. It stretched from the Temple of Hera to some river banks outside the market, where docks of varying sizes densely lined a section of the Crati River.

Chapter 463 – Battle of the Gulf of Taranto (II)

The sailors poured into their respective docks: With those at the front pulling the ropes while those at the back pushing hard and with a ‘heave-ho’ shouting,  they managed to slide the 50 metres-long triremes into the Crati River like dragons, splashing a lot of water.

In the blink of an eye, warships covered the wide Crati River, almost blocking off the river’s entrance. Even though the river’s flow was already slow, it became even slower.

Then the sailors secured the warships by tying the ropes to the stakes on the shore. Afterwards, they began climbing the wooden ladders one after another as they got onto the ship and started to load the Corvus. After confirming that it was properly working, the sailors went down the cabin through the deck, went to their seats and pulled out the wooden oar…

The triremes’ cabin has three rows of rowers: Thalamitai – the 54 rowers in the lowest row; Zygitai – the 54 rowers in the middle row; Thranitai – the 62 rowers in the top row and had the most important position as they could see the sliding of the oars in the seawater through the oar-hole, so they are the one leading the Zygitai and the Thalamitai to row simultaneously.

After the 170 rowers went to their place, the boatswain walked back and forth in the cabin’s aisle as he was responsible for supervising the rowers, maintaining the rowing order and encouraging their morale.

Then the helmsman, as the seaman with the most experienced, was the core of the whole ship that controls the rudder and the ship’s direction and was located in the ship’s stern.

While the piper sat down in the middle of the aisle near the deck’s entrance, he was responsible for receiving the captain’s instructions and controlling the rowers’ rhythm.

The captain is the commander of the whole ship and is responsible for directing the battle.

In addition, there are three lookouts. They were divided between the bow, stern and mast, keeping the captain informed of the enemy and the instructions conveyed by the fleet at any time.

In view that they would be in an offshore battle with Syracuse, the Theonians did not hoist their sails and had even left them in the dock to reduce the load of the warship. Thus the ten sailors on deck responsible for raising and lowering the sails and controlling the ship’s movement have one less important task to perform. However, apart from taking up their bows and arrows and dealing with the approaching ships, they had a more crucial task of manning the ‘Davos’ Corvus’ to nail the approaching enemy ships.

At this moment, Davos led the army into the military port, so Seclian, Mithridates and the other naval officers hurriedly up to meet him.

“Your majesty, the fleet is ready to start at any time!” Seclian excitedly said after saluting.

“Have you found the Syracusan fleet?” Davos asked calmly.

“Yes!” Seclian replied immediately, “Our scouting ships reported earlier that dozens of Syracusan warships have appeared cruising off the coast of Roscianum and appear to be preparing to land there. Therefore, we believe that their great fleet must be not far away!”

As Davos looked at the naval officers led by Seclian, who had eyes burning hot, he smiled and said, “It seems that you all can’t wait. So what are you still waiting for? Have the legionaries get on board!”

“Yes!” Antonios and Amintas responded in unison. He then immediately ordered the officers behind them, “Get on board!”

Soon, all the first legion’s and a small number of the second legion ran to the riverbank in an orderly manner under the leadership of their platoon captain. Then according to the training area yesterday, they found the triremes their unit is in charge of and climbed the deck, bringing the total number of men in a trireme to nearly 240 men.

As Davos stood on the back, he looked over the dense legionaries on the riverbank, where they were like a thin stream of metal pouring into the warship, dyeing the yellow-brown surface of the river (the colour of the warship) black…

Davos, who had never yet experienced a naval battle, could not help but feel a sense of pride rising in his heart and the tension he felt dissipates. He then turned around to Amintas and said, “Once we have departed, you will lead the rest of the legionaries of the second legion to the port. Marigi has already prepared the transport ships for you, so immediately set off once you get the news of our victory!”

“Understood, your majesty!” Amintas said with a nod. Then he looked to Seclian and saluted.

Just as Seclian wondered why Amintas, with whom he had just had a verbal conflict yesterday, had acted in this way, he heard Amintas say in a deep voice, “Seclian, the safety of his majesty is in your hands!”

Seclian immediately understood what he meant, so he instantly returned the salute, “I will protect his majesty’s safety with my life!”

“May the naval battle be a great victory!”

“May the land battle be won!”

As the two soldiers stared at each other eyes, some of their previous contradictions disappeared, and only the fighting spirit against a common hatred was left.

“Let’s get on board as well. Don’t keep the soldiers waiting.” Davos waved.

“Yes!” Martius, the guard captain, waved the flag. Martius, who had basically recovered, had found Davos yesterday afternoon and insisted on going to the battle to kill the enemy, and Davos had let him return.

“Your Majesty!” Kunogelata led the statesmen, with serious expressions, bent in unison to salute Davos with respect. Even though they didn’t say anything, the weight of this salute was a sign of their entrustment of Theonia’s safety to Davos, for this battle would determine the rise and fall of Theonia.

Davos smiled again and said loudly, “Wait for the news of our victory!”

Davos then took the escort down to the riverbank, which by this time, was less crowded as the legionaries boarded the warships. And the sailors and soldiers would wave at Davos from time to time, and Davos would respond to it with a smile.

At last, he came to his ship. It was the largest ship of the fleet, a trireme that is sixty metres-long and five-metres wide and manned by 188 rowers. The bow tilts into the water, and a strong, sharp metal battering ram at the head and a scorpion-like tail at the stern, with numerous wooden oars sticking out from front to back on both sides of the ships, just like the feet of a millipede.

Once Davos and his 60 guards boarded, a man in a leather helmet and short coat rushed up to Davos. After giving his salute, he said in a slightly nervous voice, “Your…majesty, I am Miltias, the captain of this ship!”

Davos smiled and returned the salute, “Miltias, it is my pleasure to fight with you!”

“Your majesty, the rowers…also wanted to come and greet you, but they could not because of their duties…” Miltias requested in a somewhat embarrassed.

Without hesitation, Davos said, “I was just about to go and greet them.” with that, he took the lead to the deck’s entrance.

The trireme’s deck was not a single piece, but two decks running from bow to stern, with a gap of more than a metre wide between them, so the cabin is not airtight, and the rowers in the cabin can see the clear blue sky above through the gap as soon as they turn to their sides. So even though there are nearly 200 rowers, the open structure does not make them feel suffocated.

When Davos appeared in the cabin, the whole ship became lively.

Davos did not disappoint the rowers’ enthusiasm as he took the trouble to climb up and down, bent down to ask the names of each rower and shook hands with them regardless of the narrow aisle.

Even though he was already a little bit out of breath from going around the cabin, he still stood in the middle of the first layer and shouted with excitement, “Brothers, it is a pleasure to fight with you! Let us fight together and win this naval battle!!”

“All hail king Davos!!”

“All hail king Davos!!”

The rowers cheered in unison, which attracted the sailors of the adjacent warships to look at them with envy, ‘Those lucky guys! To have the honour to be able to fight with King Davos on the same ship!!’

At this time, the unique naval salpinx sounded from near Theonia’s flagship, causing the rowers to stop cheering and began to sing the ode of the gods, not to Hades of course but Poseidon, the god of the sea, a prayer for a safe and successful voyage,

Davos, who had previously spent half the day learning this ancient ritual to fit in with the navy, had also sung loudly with the rowers.

Captain Miltias then handed him a wooden cup filled with wine, which was certainly not for drinking. Davos held it solemnly, walked towards the bow, shouted Poseidon’s name, and poured the wine into the river.

As the ode of Poseidon resounded across the banks of the Crati River, the statesmen began to cheer up. Then those standing on the bank saw that the foremost ships left the river bank and sailed out of the military port one after another…

“Come and let’s go to the seaside.” Kunogelata said to the other statesmen.

None of them objected as they could not be present in the battle, but they still had to cheer for the soldiers in the upcoming decisive battle.

It wasn’t only the statesmen who thought this way, but all the people of Theonia who could make it, the elderly, women, children, citizens, preparatory citizens, freemen…and so on. As the thousands of people gathered at the mouth of the Crati River, the people cheered like a tsunami every time they saw a warship go out to cheer on their kin in the war.

“That ship! My child is on that ship!!”

“Did you see that! That man who is waving is my brother, and he is the captain of that ship!”

“My husband is on that ship with a ‘3’ symbol, but I couldn’t see him because he is the rower.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

While the people cheered and shouted the names of their loved ones, many others raised a similar question, “What is that strange long plank by the front mast of the warship? How come I have never seen it on the ships of other city-states?!”

Chapter 464 – Battle of the Gulf of Taranto (III)

The severe secrecy enforced by Seclian on the navy made it so that the people knew little about it, with only a very few who vaguely heard the drunken sailors talking about it in the taverns, “I think that thing is called a Corvus, and I heard that King Davos designed it to defeat his enemies…”

“So it turned out to be King Davos’ invention!” Those people who heard it suddenly realised that they had a little more chance of victory, and with their absolute trust in Davos, they did not even ask how that device would defeat Syracuse. Naturally, the other party wouldn’t even be able to answer if they get suddenly asked.

“How does this strange thing work? Did father really design it?” Adoris, sitting on a slave’s shoulder, asked Henipolis with curiosity.

Faced with this decisive battle, the people on Davos’ residence could not remain as calm as before, so it was not only Cynthia, Adoris and little Cro who clamoured to come and see Davos off, but even the two madames were also eager. However, Cheiristoya had just given birth and was frail, and she also had to look after Eunice, who needed to be nursed at any moment. On the other hand, Agnes had difficulty moving with her growing belly, and it would be dangerous for her to go into such a noisy and crowded place. Thus neither of them could come and could only entrust Henipolis and five slaves to look after the three children.

Hearing this, Henipolis, who was carrying little Cro on his shoulders, had a slightly embarrassed expression as Davos had never told him anything about this thing. Thus he could only cough dryly and said perfunctorily, “Yes, of course.”

The clever Cynthia only looked at him with a smile and didn’t expose him.

Suddenly, a louder cheer erupted from the crowd as a larger and longer majestic warship came out of the port. Unlike the other ships, a statue of Hades could be seen on top of its mast, which was particularly dazzling. Also at the ship’s bow, stood a man who, unlike the other soldiers, was dressed in bright silver armour and had a distinctive black plume on the top of his helmet, which hung down to his back, and who, against the rising sun in the east, glowed like a divine god.

Once the crowd recognised him, the cheering peaked as he was the one they elected to kingship. Now the king that Hades favoured and the hope of the people is going to the battlefield to fulfil his promise!

“Victory for King Davos!!!” The cheers became louder and louder, which was also mixed with the cries of several children, “Come on, Father! Father be victorious!”

Davos naturally could not have seen or heard his children amidst the deafening noise and the sea of people on both sides of the river, so he just smiled and waved without stopping.

When the ship sailed into the sea, the sky and the sea suddenly widened, which immediately made Davos feel small. However, the sound of rowing and salpinx sounded by the other ships only tens of metres away from him had made him realise that he was part of a huge fleet.

He then turned his head and looked at the people, who kept following the warships along the coast, supporting the elderly and the children…

Davos was deeply aware of why they were persistently pursuing. He took a deep breath and calmed himself to overcome the discomfort of suddenly fighting on the sea after getting used to fighting on land.

The ship following Davos was the flagship of the navarch – Seclian, who felt more comfortable onboard than Davos. He first walked from the stern to the bow, and after he inspected the whole ship, he came under the mainmast, looked up and shouted, “Did you find anything?”

The lookout immediately replied, “Navarch, there is no news yet.”

Seclian clenched his fist, but he became less anxious when he saw Davos’ ship ahead. After he calmed down, he ordered, “Have the whole fleet move below the normal speed!”

The trireme’s normal speed is about eight knots (15 kilometres per hour). However, Seclian considered that the whole fleet was not yet proficient enough to cooperate with each other as this would be the first time they would fight at sea and that the triremes they gathered from various city-states had different shapes and sizes, such as Crotone’s warship that was lighter and narrower, which were good for assault while the Rhegian ships were broader and heavier, making it easier for them to defend…the size difference of the triremes, which is the main force of the naval warfare, would inevitably lead to the difference in speed. Thus, Seclian took a more cautious attitude to prevent the fleet from separating before engaging the enemy.

For this reason, he followed up his order with, “Raise the flag of Apollo!”

Apollo was the sun god that drives his chariot in the sky every day. And the flag of Apollo that Seclian said was, in fact, a thin linen material dyed golden yellow, which was raised up on the mainmast by ropes and flutters against the sea breeze. It meant that the fleet would shrink inward with this ship as the centre, and the distance between the ships around it would be about 20 metres.

Seclian’s cautious approach was also to keep the entire fleet within his reach.

“Rhaaa….” As the extremely long salpinx sound echoed across the sea, every ship’s lookout could see the golden flag, and then the whole fleet began to lower their speed and approach each other.

And as the ships reduced their speed, it allowed the people on the shore to keep up with the fleet. However, the fleet still continued to move away from the coast. And even though the fleet contracted, the Theonian fleet of 150 triremes, plus other ships totalling 200 ships, spread out over an area of five-six nautical miles, sailing south in a great hurry…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The constant raids made Leptines fed up that he became resistant to the brutal act of killing civilians from the bottom of his heart. He originally just wanted to lure the Theonian fleet out to have a decisive battle, but the Theonians just hid behind their port like a turtle, making Leptines have no place to vent.

On the other hand, his brother, Dionysius, became fonder of this method of harassment. It is even reported that when Dionysius received a bit of inside information of Krimisa and Aprustum were beginning to have food shortages due to the frequent raids that caused the transportation from Theonia to the southern battlefront to suffer, so he ordered Leptines to intensify and increase the number of raids on the long stretch of coast from Krimisa to Thurii, especially on Roscianum.

Crotone became muddy due to the heavy rain, making it difficult for the Syracusan army to camp, let alone sieging the city. Since they could not attack, Dionysius thought of other ways. Yesterday, he sent messengers to Roscianum in an attempt to make them surrender to Syracuse. He even considered having Leptines’ fleet load thousands and thousands of soldiers to deal massive destruction into the hinterland of Theonia, demoralising its population and reducing the confidence of Theonia’s allies.

At the same time, Dionysius sent an envoy to Taranto to discuss whether they should send reinforcements and join forces to take Heraclea as soon as possible and invade Theonia’s territory from the northeast.

But as the navarch, Leptines didn’t have to think so much as he only had to lead his fleet every day to keep a close eye to the north to prevent a surprise attack by the Theonian fleet while the soldiers and sailors went ashore to plunder. Thus Leptines had his fleet cruise in the waters far away from the landing site so that they would be out of sight.

Just as he was about to doze off on a makeshift quarter on the deck, he could hear the excited shouting of the flagship’s captain, “Navarch! Navarch! There is good news! Good news!!”

“What is it?” Asked Leptines as he rubbed his sleepy eyes.

“Our scouting ship had just reported that the soldiers who had gone ashore to pillage had captured a prisoner. And he confessed that their archon Davos had returned, and the people elected him as their king yesterday. After becoming the new king, he made a promise that he would personally lead the Theonian navy into battle today in order to repel us!”

“Davos would lead the navy into battle?” Leptines immediately became excited. Whatever king that Theonia chose was of no concern to him as the only thing he cared about was that the Theonian fleet hiding in the Crati River was finally coming out. Furthermore, Archon Davos, whom his brother had somewhat feared, would be the one to lead it.

Leptines then jumped up and asked, “Where is the captive?!”

“We have brought him aboard and are now at the bow!”

This caused Leptines to immediately run with great strides to the ship’s bow and met the timidTheonian.

The captive was trembling with fear, as he not only spilt all the information he knew but also begged Leptines to release him and not sell him into slavery.

Leptines then said to him in a happy mood, “If you tell the truth, not only will you not become a slave but also be rewarded by me!”

The prisoner immediately swore loudly to the god that he was telling the truth.

Leptines no longer paid attention to him as he turned to the captain and said, “Signal the fleet to head north at once! Then send all our scouting ships and give me a full search! Whoever finds the Theonian fleet first will be handsomely rewarded!”

“Aye, Navarch!” The captain also became excited. After conveying Leptines’ order to the scouting ships that approached the flagship, he turned to the cabin below the deck and shouted, “Slackers, start moving! Move! Move! Piper, speed up the rhythm!”

The sound of the salpinx, the sudden turn of the flagship, and the increase in speed drew the attention of the nearby ships, who immediately changed accordingly and transmitted the change.

Chapter 465 – Battle of the Gulf of Taranto (IV)

Even though it would take a lot of time for a massive fleet of nearly 300 triremes and 350 warships to complete their tactical action, the experienced Syracusan fleet managed to shorten the time.

Under the guidance of more than a dozen scouting ships, the whole fleet sailed towards the sea near Thurii…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mithridates’ ship is at the forefront with the task of navigation. And this position requires a captain who is not only experienced in navigation and naval warfare but must also be familiar with the fleet’s tactics, signals, understanding of the expedition’s purpose, and the strategies to be used. As the spearhead, he must also be brave in naval battles to set an example to the ships behind him.

Apart from his lack of experience as this was his first naval battle(which most of the captains of the Theonian fleet lacked), Mithridates excelled in all other aspects. After all, Davos considered Mithridates to replace Enanilus, who was sentenced to imprisonment, as the navarch.

At this moment, Mithridates had his eyes closed while sitting under the mast, when suddenly, the lookout on the top of the mast shouted, “There’s a sailboat ahead!”

Mithridates immediately opened his eyes and looked at the sea ahead. However, there were only the blue water and the sky, without anything else.

However, he knew that there was almost no merchant ship in this sea area due to the Syracusan navy’s blockade, so it is highly plausible that the ship belonged to Syracuse.

“The sailboat turned around!” The lookout shouted again.

‘It is definitely the enemy. He is likely going back to report after spotting us!’ After a brief pause, Mithridates hurriedly shouted, “Blow the salpinx and hoist the warning flag!”

As soon as they hung the long orange linen flag on the mast, the lookout of the flagship immediately reported, “Navarch, enemy ahead!”

“Great!” Seclian excited did a fist pump without thinking. Then he gave the long-awaited order, “Traverse at normal speed first! Hoist the flag and prepare for battle!”

As the long sound of salpinx sounded, a black flag was raised on the mast, which is extremely conspicuous against the clear sky.

Soon after, the other ships also hoisted a black flag.

‘Under the darkness of the night were countless stars.’

The starry night was a tactical formation the Theonian navy invented to take advantage of the “Corvus”, which requires the ships to scatter like the stars in the sky. This would allow them to attack the enemy like waves, requiring each ship to fight independently while protecting the other ships by requiring them to attack continuously.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Your majesty, we have spotted the enemy ahead.” Miltias reported to Davos.

Davos nodded and said while trying to look calm, “Just follow the orders. There is no need for you to report to me so as not to delay the battle.”

“Understood!” After Miltias saluted, he shouted towards the deck, “Normal speed!”

As the rhythm of the piper immediately picked up, the 180 rowers on each side of the trireme speed up. Then they gradually moved away from the surrounding ships as the helmsman turned the rudder.

“Hm? Something happened!” An elderly among those watching the fleet’s movement from the shore exclaimed, “Our fleet’s formation is changing!”

To the casual observer, there is no change from the dense sea of ships, but to these veteran seamen and fishermen, they were acutely aware of the changes in the distance and the speed between the ships.

“Did they spot the enemy?!”

“Is the war going to start?!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Everyone began asking with voices full of concerns about the safety of Theonia and their relatives.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

More than ten minutes later-

“The Syracusan fleet ahead! They have cou…countless ships!!” The lookout pointed to the front and shouted.

Mithridates was not surprised as he knew in advance that this was a naval battle with the Theonian navy at a disadvantage in the number of ships.

“Raise the battle flag!”

Then a blood-red flag fluttered from the mast.

“Navarch, there are enemies at the front, and we are about to engage them!”

“Prepare for combat!” Seclian said briefly and concisely.

Then the rapid sound of the salpinx sounded from the flagships to the adjacent warships and then to rest.

At the reminder of their captain, the sailors of each ship began moving and eating the bread and a bit of alcohol and olive oil that they carried while taking turns to get up and move their bodies. And since it has only been an hour since they got on the ship, they are still very energetic. Thus, they only need to prepare themselves for the long and fierce battle that might follow.

Suddenly, an outline of a ship appeared on the sea in the far distance, followed by another…in the blink of an eye, warships began to cover the horizon densely.

“Here they come…” Mithridates whispered.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Meanwhile, on the Syracusan fleet’s flagship, Leptines got the answer he had long waiting for, “Navarch, there is a ship with a golden colour shining on its mast in the middle of the enemy fleet. It should be the ship with the statue of Hades that you are searching for!” The lookout shouted.

Once Leptines heard this, he shouted with excitement, “The captive was right about Davos! Davos, the archon of Theonia, is on that ship!”

Leptines was very clear due to Dionysius having said that to conquer Theonia, eliminating Davos first would be the best. Thus his brother sent assassins, but without success. And now, a great opportunity lay before him: Whether to capture or kill Davos in this naval battle, it would not only impress his brother but would give an early end to this huge war that had almost consumed Syracuse!

“Order all the ships to do the double column formation!” Leptines decisively ordered.

“Navarch, aren’t we going to surround them?” The flagship captain reminded him.

Leptines shook his head, “That would take too much time and would also scatter the fleet’s attack. At that time, It would be a problem if Davos were to be frightened and run away once the ships ahead of him were to sink one after another. Although we have more ships than them and our handling skills are better than them, Davos might be thinking that he could easily win this naval just like a land battle. Hence he dares to come at us rashly. However, I will crush the Theonian fleet head-on and capture that arrogant Davos!” Leptines said with pride while he outstretched his right hand and clenched it hard as if he was grasping the new king of Theonia.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mithridates stared ahead at the visible Syracusan fleet approaching them like a huge wave.

On the contrary, Mithridates even smiled a bit as he was not intimidated by the force of the Syracusan fleet. After all, the Syracusans had not taken advantage of their large number of ships to send smaller fleets to surround them and attack their flanks, which would make it more difficult for the Theonian fleet to win the battle and increase its losses. ‘However, his majesty’s plan to use himself as bait worked! It even made the enemy adopt a head-on attack!’

At a glance, the enemy extended to more than ten ships long and even had the tailwind advantage, but so what?! The Theonian fleet has its Corvus and more heavy infantries than their regular triremes onboard(the normal infantry configuration for a ship varied from zero to ten men, whereas the Theonian fleet had one platoon of heavy infantry per ship). That is also why they lack agility and speed, which they do not rely on to win!

Mithridates became more confident. He also knew that even though he was 5 kilometres away from the nearest enemy ship, it would only be in an instant once they raised their speed. So after giving his orders, he turned to Xanticles, who was resting on the deck and said with a straight face, “Strategos, please be ready as the battle is about to begin!”

As the senior centurion of the second brigade of the first legion, Xenticles, although his status as a senior officer was completely useless in this fight as it is fought with platoon units, he did not want to miss this crucial naval battle, so he had chosen to follow them.

“Aeneas, you should start giving orders.” Xanticles said to the platoon captain, as he did not want to interfere with his men’s command.

“Brothers, gather around and sort your equipment. Afterwards, go down the cabin as the ship would soon speed up!” At the words of Aeneas, the heavy infantries sitting on the deck stood up in a hurry, put on their helmets, picked up their spears and hung their short swords as they quickly formed two columns and headed downward.

On the other hand, the rowers didn’t even bother to pay attention to the soldiers pouring in as they only listened to the sound of the salpinx and the sliding of the wooden oars to the water.

While the piper didn’t increase the rower’s rhythm all at once but gradually sped it up.

Chapter 466 – Battle of the Gulf of Taranto (V)

The pace of the Thranitai(rowers at the upper layer of a trireme) changed according to the sound of the pipe: They pulled their arms back, leaned their body backwards, extended their legs and raise the oars; when they thrust their arms forward, they lean their body forward, bent their legs and pushed the oar diagonally into the sea; with a roar from the rowers, the oar made a backward arc…

At the lead of the Thranitai, the whole ship rowed hard with the rowers’ bodies kept leaning forward and backwards that even the leather cushions they were sitting on slid back and forth due to the grease applied underneath.

The low salpinx sound echoed the same rhythm of the pipe.

Seven knots! Eight knots! Nine knots! Ten knots!…the speed of the warship dramatically increased.

As the oncoming waves became denser and denser, they hit the ship’s bow and turned into a spray of water that kept pouring on the deck, causing Xanticles to feel that the whole ship was floating.

“Brothers, hold onto the mast and the corvus, and be careful when standing firm!” Mithridates loudly reminded the ten sailors on deck.

Just as he had just shouted, the sea poured over him and soaked him like a drowned chicken.

At this time, the salpinx was no longer needed as the lead ship’s sudden increase of speed became the signal, and the other ships all began to accelerate one after another.

As the rows of wooden oars batter the angry waves, the ships split the ferocious waves, and the neat salpinx sound coming from the ships was like a powerful condemnation to the invaders. In the face of the fierce Syracusan navy, everyone in the Theonian fleet stared at the enemy with wide-open eyes that were full of rage!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the other hand, even though the people of Theonia on the shore couldn’t properly see the battlefield, they were extremely nervous at this moment as they watched the ships of both sides on the sea approach each other quickly.

At this moment, those familiar and unfamiliar with each other held each other hands tightly, shouting and cheering loudly for their loved ones…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As the Theonian ship got closer, the corvus that was swaying above the bow of each ship became visible, puzzling the sailors on the Syracusan ship as they had never seen such a strange thing before.

However, most of them looked down on Theonia’s “rookie” navy, so they thought this resulted from Theonia’s inability to build ships and random alteration. They charged even faster with such a mentality that they had difficulty maintaining their formation but didn’t care because they thought they already had the Theonians in the bag.

In Mithridates’ field of vision, he could see a Syracusan trireme rushing aggressively towards him obliquely, trying to pierce the side of his ship with its bronze ram.

However, his ship couldn’t do any wide evasive manoeuvre as it would be extremely dangerous. After all, a few dozens of metres behind the enemy ship was another ship that would take the opportunity to collide with the hull of Mithridates’ ship, which would be completely exposed if he were to evade. This is the famous Sailing line formation of the Greek navy.

Yet Mithridates just sneered. He didn’t even make any instructions because their helmsman could already make the correct response after this training period.

And sure enough, their ship turned slightly to the right in a quick burst and rushed towards the enemy ship.

Seeing the enemy ship enlarging in his eyes, Mithridates shouted towards the bottom of the deck, “Retract the oars!”

“Retract the oars!” The boatswain echoed.

The rowers immediately pulled back their wooden oars from the oar-holes with panic because of the tension.

At the same time, the ten sailors on the deck had gathered near the foremast. Some of them untied the ropes tying the corvus to the foremast and then pulled it together, while the others turned the pulley and made the base of the corvus turn.

Seeing the Theonian ships coming towards them head-on with a small part of the oars on the right-side were still left outside the oar-holes made the captain of the Syracusan ship happy. Although he failed to hit the hull, breaking the enemy’s oars would also affect the rowing speed of the enemy ship.

With the ship’s close distance from each other, it is now the time for the archers of both sides to play their strength. So when both ships were about to pass each other, the captain tried to go down to the cabin for shelter first. But at this time, he heard a “bang” as the strange device on the Theonian ship fell straight and hit his ship’s deck. It caused the whole warship to shake, and the tremendous force made their ship’s momentum suddenly slow down.

Then the captain heard a shout from the other ship, “Brothers, it’s finally our turn to fight!”

Under the captain’s astonished gaze, dozens of Theonian heavy infantry wearing black armour emerged from the other ship’s cabin and rushed towards their ships through that strange thing.

‘That thing was a small wooden bridge!’ The captain finally understood it, but it was already too late. The few Syracusan sailors on the deck who rushed forward to meet the enemies were no match for these wolf-like Theonian soldiers. Their fate was either stabbed down by the sharp short swords or knocked overboard by the long shields…

Face with the heavy infantry rushing in front of them, the remaining Syracusan sailors and lookouts could only raise their hands in panic. However, the Theonians clearly had no intention of taking them prisoner as they stabbed them to death one after another.

And the captain became so scared that his legs went limp and sat down on the deck.

Then he heard someone say, “He is the captain. We still need him to steer this ship.”

“The helmsman is already enough!” A cold short sword slid across his neck as soon as this was utter, and his blood flowed like water.

Then two soldiers ran to the stern to capture the helmsman while the other soldiers rushed directly into the cabin.

The rowers in the cabin were already panicking as they stood up from the leather mat one after another, trying to escape.

But the soldiers of the first platoon of the first brigade of the first legion of Theonia shouted, “Get back to your seats!” at the same time, they wielded their long shields and short swords and began their killing.

Although there were more than 170 strong men in the cabin, they didn’t have any protection, and they were like a sheet of loose sand as the only thing they wanted was to escape.

Soon, corpses and the groaning and struggling of the wounded littered the cabin, with the whole space stained red with blood.

The remaining rowers were frightened out of their wits that they squatted in the narrow cabin and raised their hands.

“Hurry up and get back to your seat!” At this time, the fierce roaring of the Theonian soldiers came into play.

And the remaining rowers of the Syracusan ship shivered all over and could only sit back on the leather mat.

Xanticles and the platoon captain, Aeneas, looked at each other with a mixture of joy and disbelief in their eyes as this was the first time they had encountered such an easy battle and even captured a trireme so easily!

Although Seclian declared many times that the corvus would change the tactics of naval warfare and bring a glorious victory to Theonia during their training, it was only after experiencing this battle first-hand that Xanticles appreciated the usefulness of this ugly-looking thing called corvus!

‘It’s all thanks to the cleverness of King Davos!’ Xanticles exclaimed in his heart. However, this was not time to sing praises, so he collected his thoughts and whispered to Aeneas, “You should take 30 of our brothers and go back to the ship, while I’ll stay here to watch.”

“Strategos, will 20 soldiers be enough for you?” Aeneas asked with concern.

Xanticles then glanced at the Syracusan rowers, who were still shivering, with contempt and said, “Actually, ten would be enough.”

Aeneas no longer tried to be modest as they all knew the battle had just begun.

Aeneas then led the 30 soldiers to the deck, quickly crossed the corvus and returned to their own ship. On the other hand, the remaining soldiers struggled to pull out the corvus, and the sailors tightened the rope tied to the corvus. They pulled back the small wooden bridge* gripping the foremast to free the Syracusan ship. (the bridge is 1.2 metres wide and 12 metres long with low railings on both sides)

“Turn the rudder and sail towards the coast, else you will die!” Threatened by the shining short sword of the Theonian soldiers, the Syracusan helmsman could only obey.

In the cabin, Xanticles and 15 terrifying soldiers stood in the aisle filled with corpses and blood and roared viciously, “All of you, listen to me! Take up your oars and row obediently! Or else-” As Xanticles said this, he stabbed his short-sword to the side and immediately pierce the chest of a wounded rower who was lying down.

The shrill scream of the rower before he died echoed in the cabin, causing the scared rowers to dare not disobey.

“At…normal…speed…” the piper spoke while gritting his teeth.

As the ship steered crookedly towards the coast, a few soldiers, wearing their striking black armour, stood in the bow, belly and stern to alert the other Theonian ships should they be mistaken for enemies.

While Mithridates’ ship was connected with the enemy ship through the corvus, another Syracusan ship rapidly approached. Although the enemy captain and sailors did not understand why the two ships in front did not separate and kept close to each other after their collision, their rich combat experience and cooperation made them not hesitate to turn their ship around a small corner and prepare to rush towards the most vulnerable flank of Mithridates’ ship.

But not far behind Mithridates’ ship’s left side, another Theonian ship rushed forward.

“Charge!” The captain shouted, causing the piper to play his pipe almost non-stop.

At this moment, the rowers were excited and nervous. And as they frequently leaned forward and backwards, the water splashing on both sides of the ship had not even disappeared before another layer of splashes appeared, forming two while parallel lines…

Chapter 467 – Battle of the Gulf of Taranto (VI)

Under the helmsman’s control, and with all the rowers paddling hard, the ship rushed straight ahead towards the enemy ship at a terrifying speed of 13 knots (24 kilometres per hour).

This forced the Syracusan ship to give up their intention of attacking Mithridates’ ship and turn to face the oncoming Theonian ship.

“Crash that one first! Then we’ll finish that other one after!” The Syracusan captain thought with confidence as he looked at Mithridates’ ship.

“Retract the oars!” He shouted as the powerful inertial speed of the ship was enough to collide with the oncoming Theonian ship. He then became satisfied when the rowers quickly pulled back the oars.

But at this moment, the strange 12-metre long thing on the bow of the Theonian ship fell with a bang, and the spike at the top pierced their deck, sending wooden fragments everywhere.

Amidst the shouting of the Syracusan sailors, dozens of black helmeted and armoured Theonian soldiers crossed the corvus and rushed onto the enemy’s deck and started their killing…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Syracusan navy, who disregarded the Theonian fleet, swiftly charged forward while the Theonian fleet bravely faced them without showing weakness. On a several nautical miles battlefront, the two sides fought fiercely.

However, the vast majority of the situation was the corvus crashing down and hooking into the Syracusan ships and turning the naval battle into a land battle, making the excellent ship-handling skills of the Syracusans to be completely useless. On the other hand, Theonia’s platoon units were like tigers jumping into a flock of sheep, easily capturing the enemy’s ship.

Just half an hour after the naval battle started, nearly 40 triremes of the Syracusan navy was captured.

Even though the sea’s wideness made it impossible for every Syracusan captain in the middle of the battlefield to see their losses, they still sense something amiss. Once that strange thing hooked the friendly ships in front of them, numerous enemy soldiers suddenly emerged from the cabin of the Theonian navy and rushed to the deck of their ships through that thing. Soon after, they would see their friendly ship withdrawing from the battlefield, and the Theonian ships would once again rush forward…

Then the captains in the rear of the formation realised that they shouldn’t go head-to-head with the Theonian ships. Instead, they should avoid that thing on the enemies’ bow with their excelling ship-handling skills and better manoeuvrability and attack the enemy ship’s side and rear…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

This large-scale naval battle was fought fiercely off the coast between Thurii and Roscianum, which not only worried the Theonians but also attracted the attention of the Roscianums.

Amikles, the polemarchos of Roscianum, led the council members along the coast with the people to watch the naval battle unfold. After all, this was not only about the rise and fall of the Theonia Union but also an important decision of Roscianum.

Although an envoy of Syracuse had come to Roscianum yesterday and the council led by Amikles did not receive him, they also did not drive him away. Instead, they allowed him to disembark and “rest” at the guesthouse, which already indicates a change in Roscianum’s hierarchy’s attitude.

During these years, Roscianum and Theonia were close to each other and regarded each other as their closest allies. The people of Roscianum were even proud to participate in the various celebrations of Thurii and treated them as if they were family. But an alliance was only an alliance, not a union. After the defeat of the South Italian Alliance on the southern battlefront and the war and political instability in Theonia, the Roscianums, who was in the hinterland of Theonia, directly felt the initial pride of the Thurians turned to panic. Moreover, the massive number of Syracuse’s land and naval forces and the terror of the Scylletian massacre shook the trust of the Roscianums in Theonia.

Syracuse is not Crotone, after all. When the second Crotonian war broke out, the defeated Crotone did not make the Roscianums lose confidence in Theonia. However, a more powerful Syracusan army led by Dionysius, the cruel tyrant who had defeated the mighty Carthage, had come, and their vanguard alone caused the people of Roscianum to tremble. Looking at the ruined farms, burned villages, and slaughtered people outside the city had angered the people of Roscianum and made them feel their helplessness.

But after learning the return of Davos with his army and leading the Theonian fleet into battle with the mighty navy of Syracuse, all the people of Roscianum came to the sea in excitement, praying for Theonia’s victory out of reverence for Davos and anger at Syracuse.

While the top brass of this city-state, like Amikles, also place their hopes on the invincible archon of Theonia, the Syracusan navy is just too powerful…

“Supposing that…no! As long as Theonia couldn’t win this naval battle, the Syracusans would completely own this gulf, while…we would need to find a way back for ourselves…” Amikles thought with a pained heart as he watched the numerous ships moving fast on the sea,…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the Syracusan flagship behind the fleet, Leptines thought he misheard the lookout on the mainmast. The lookout reported that the ships on their sides frequently withdrew from the battlefield while the Theonian ships were not only rarely sunk but continued their advance.

“Navarch, the scouting ships reported that the Theonians have installed a wooden bridge at the front of their ships and placed a lot of heavy infantries in their cabin. Once the wooden bridge lodged on our ship, the heavy infantries would rush over while the sailors on our ship wouldn’t be able to resist. Currently, Cleandas and his men no longer confronted the Theonian ships head-on. Instead, they used our excellent ship-handling skills and rich experience in naval warfare to manoeuvre around the Theonians. And due to the installation of the wooden bridges and the numerous soldiers, the Theonian warship is much slower and less flexible than ours, so I believe the war situation would soon change!” The flagship captain comforted him.

After his mood improved slightly, Leptines cursed indignantly, “Damned Theonians! They only know how to play some clever tricks! What do they take the sacred naval battle for!!! Poseidon will surely punish them!…”

Just as he vented his anger, the lookout suddenly shouted, “Navarch, the ship with a statue on top of its mast has come out! It’s rushing out to the frontline! I can even see the strategos wearing a dazzling armour at the ship’s bow!”

Leptines became stunned, but he soon excitedly shouted, “That’s Davos, the archon of Theonia! He is really on that ship! Hurry up! Command our ships to keep on advancing! Sink his ship! Make sure to sink his ship! As long as we could kill or capture that Davos, we, Syracuse, would still win even if we lose more ships!!!”

Since Syracuse has adopted a sailing line formation, one column has ten ships. As the salpinx blew, the flagship took the lead and charged. Then more than 20 ships followed and advanced forward and soon overtook the flagship.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Theonia’s starry formation was like waves blown by the breeze: Once a wave goes out, another wave would rise again.

Davos’ ship just kept on rushing past their own ships that were entangled with enemy ships one after another. Finally, it came to the forefront of the battlefield.

“Charge!” Miltias, even though he saw enemy ships rushing towards them, ordered without hesitation.

Then their ship suddenly picked up speed and sped forward like a sharp arrow.

The two ships were now only 100 metres apart! 90 metres! 80 metres!…

Davos subconsciously gulped as he pulled out the short sword at his waist.

But the enemy ship suddenly veered to the right.

“Left! To the left!” Miltias hurriedly ordered.

However, due to their previous speed, their turning became too large that before they could complete their turning, the enemy ship had already skillfully drawn a circular arc and hit the ship’s centre.

Miltias, however, remained calm as he ordered, “Continue to turn left!”

The captain of the enemy ship watched as the bronze ram got closer and closer to the large trireme with a smug on his face…

But soon, his smile froze.

Even though the heavy hull of the Theonian ship only deviated slightly to the left, the long wooden bridge-like thing at the bow actually rotated more than a hundred degrees and fell directly backwards. And the ten-metre long drawbridge smashed right into the bow of his ship and linked the two ships together. Although the force of his ships forward momentum pushed the other ship to sway back and the suspension bridge to creak, it did not damage the enemy’s ship in the slightest. On the contrary, the enemy soldiers rushed across the drawbridge.

‘It’s over!’ Seeing the situation worsen, the captain no longer cared about the ship and the sailors as he jumped directly into the sea.

“Your majesty, please stay and let me take my brothers over to fight!” Martius pulled Davos, who was about to cross the bridge and resolutely asked.

Davos didn’t insist either as he knew that only by staying here could everyone be at ease.

“I’ll leave it to you!” Davos nodded.

“Brothers, rush with me!” Martius drew his short sword and led the guards to charge across the bridge. He wanted to repay the Syracusans for nearly losing his life before.

“Enemy ships rushing towards us from the right!” The lookout shouted from the mast.

Miltias and Davos immediately became nervous as they couldn’t escape because they were connected with the enemy ship.

However, behind Davos’ ship was the Theonian flagship, which quickly met the enemy and locked it in place with the corvus.

“Enemy ship on the right!” The lookout on the stern shouted in alarm. However, his shouting ceased after a moment as another ship rushed up and locked it in place.

Chapter 468 – Battle of the Gulf of Taranto (VII)

Davos finally became relieved. When they were making the crazy plan of using himself as bait, Seclian and he made detailed arrangements by arranging more ships around Davos’ ship to protect his safety while fighting the decisive battle.

“Ships are rushing to the left!”

“Ships on the starboard!”

“Enemy ship on the right side of the stern!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The alarmed shouts of the three lookouts continued as the Syracusans made a frenzied attack on Davos’ ship, straining the nerves of everyone in the ship.

“We pulled out the drawbridge! We pulled out the drawbridge!” At that moment, the sailors at the bow shouted.

After breathing a sigh of relief, Miltias shouted, “Back away!”

At this time, ships connected with each other littered the sea around their ship, and only in the rear where there is a large space left.

Just as the rowers hurriedly rowed backwards and as soon as the ship sped up, they heard the lookout at the stern shouting, “Enemy ships on the rear! Enemy ship on the rear!”

This one Syracusan ship was quite cunning as they relied on their superb ship-handling skills, and by using the surrounding ships to block the line of sight, it nimbly shuttled through between the gaps in the ships as it quickly approached Davos’ ship. Therefore when the lookout finally found them, their distance was only around 40 metres.

And because Davos’ ship was rowing backwards, the distance rapidly closed. So Miltias could only shout, “Steer to the right of the stern! Steer to the right of the stern!” He wanted the ship to turn around so that they could use the corvus. However, it seemed that it was too late.

“Row forward! Row forward!…” Miltias shouted again.

Although the rowers did not know what was happening outside, their captain’s frequent change of orders and nervous voice gave them a hunch that their situation was not good. For a while, they became a bit flustered that some even fell into the sea.

At this moment, Davos’ heart leapt through his throat after seeing the enemy ship’s bronze ram rushing in that he could even clearly see the appearance of the enemy in the enemy ship’s bow. Fortunately, Martius rushed up with his soldiers and urgently took off Davos’ armour so that they could take him and jump into the sea in case the ship was sunk and wait until they got rescued.

In a flash, a ship came out diagonally in the narrow gap between the ships (a trireme can not pass) and blocked the enemy ships – It is Theonia’s Penteconter (A ship with 50 oars). During naval battles, the role of a penteconter was mostly for scouting, sending messages, rescuing, assisting in ship boarding operations and so on., and mostly as scouting ships. However, when the Theonian fleet implemented a new naval tactic and because of the trireme’s weaknesses(it became inflexible and slow after equipping a corvus), Seclian gave a new role to the penteconter, which was to use its small and nimble* characteristics to block the attacking route of enemy ships, so that the main ships could escape. (the fastest speed it can reach is 15-16 knots.)

Naturally, several such ships roam around Davos’ ship to protect his safety. At this moment, the enemy ship was simply too late to turn as the bronze ram directly struck the penteconter, only to hear a loud “bang”, followed by the sound of wood breaking and the screaming of the sailors, as a large hole appeared on the ship’s body. Then the seawater immediately gushed in and washed away the blood of the wounded…

Under the impact of a trireme, the penteconter sank rapidly…

However, it significantly weakened the forward momentum of the enemy ship and eventually stopped.

“Row backwards quickly!” At the panicking shout of the captain, Davos’ ship turned around and quickly approached the enemy ship. And the corvus came crashing down.

Davos then shouted angrily, “Avenge our brothers!”

He then led the guards on the enemy ship’s deck and began their massacre…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Syracusans hope to use their skill and experience in naval warfare to fight the strange Theonian ships. However, they found that even though the Theonian ships were less flexible, their strange thing was so flexible that they could fall in all directions and turn in various ways. So if any ships came close to them, they would eventually get hooked and captured.

The Syracusans were now completely frightened.

Due to Leptines’ willful action to assault Davos’ ship, Theonia captured more than 30 Syracusan ships around Davos’ ships, causing the Syracusan fleet to be unable to keep going…

And for Leptines to cry out, “Rush up! Rush up! Allow me to die here! Let go of me and let me drown! AHHHH…..”

The ship’s captain naturally didn’t dare to let anything happen to Leptines. So during the previous assault, he secretly told the rowers to slow down their speed and let the flagship stray outside the encirclement. Due to this disastrous defeat, he must ensure that the navarch returns to Scylletium safely. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to bear the wrath of the supreme military commander.

Although the few remaining Syracusan ships fled south, the Theonian fleet did not chase after them, for their ships could not catch up with the enemy ships who were bent on escaping. Most importantly, they had to rescue the soldiers who fell overboard and take care of the aftermath.

“Your majesty, the Syracusan navy is re…retreating! We…we are victorious!!” Amidst the cheers of the rowers and the guards, Miltias rushed to him and reported with an excited expression.

As Davos gazed at the fading enemy, he suppressed the excitement he felt. He then slightly said in a trembling voice, “This victory…is just the beginning!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The large-scale Battle of Taranto Gulf, which influenced the direction of the war and had lasted for more than two hours, had finally come to an end.

The Syracusan navy lost 223 ships, the vast majority of which were triremes, while the Theonian fleet lost more than 40 ships, half of which were penteconter. The Theonian fleet, which was at an absolute disadvantage, defeated the Syracusan navy and surpassed many outsiders’ expectations.

In this war, a very different result had come out from other naval battles. Even though the Syracusan navy has lost so many ships, only a few ships were rammed and sunk, and large numbers of sailors floated on the surface and called out with their anguished cries. The Theonians, however, captured a total of 157 triremes intact, with them only needing a little repair, and together with their own sailors, they could once again go to sea and fight. Hence the Theonian fleet suddenly has its strength doubled.

This has indeed become a strange thing and unheard of for a battle resulting in acquiring more ships, in the history of Greek naval warfare where the ships became lesser every fight.

While the sailors and soldiers of the Theonia fleet cheered at their victory, the shore also became lively.

The people of Roscianum also cheered as they knew that after witnessing such a thrilling naval battle, the powerful Syracusans would never ravage their homeland again.

‘This is a miracle!’ After seeing the Syracusan ships retreat, Amikles was so surprised that he didn’t come back to his senses. Although he had been hoping beforehand, it was, after all, just a wish. However, the Theonians had really turned it into reality! Due to this, it took Amikles a long time to draw a conclusion, “Hades’ oracle was fulfilled! After they elected Davos as their king, Theonia had gotten the blessing of Hades!”

His words were approved by the officials of Roscianum surrounding him. Then one council member hurriedly asked, “Then everyone…do we still need to meet the messenger of Syracuse?”

“No!” Amikles then decisively said, “Immediately kill him!”

“Isn’t that…too drastic?” Someone asked with concern, “In case it angered the tyrant of Syracuse…”

“But you aren’t afraid of angering our neighbours, the Theonians?!” Amikles reminded them. Then he said, “We are too close to Thurii that sooner or later, the Theonians would know about the entry of Syracuse’s envoy into our city. So what would Davos and the Theonian Senate would think by then?! Theonia, with the blessing of Hades’ oracle, had already won a naval battle with a numerical disadvantage, so they are bound to be the final winner. Just as Athens defeated the Persians decades before with the famous wooden wall that the Oracle of Delphi blessed. Therefore, we can only take such drastic measures to make up for our mistake and show our determination to stay with Theonia!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Theonians cheers for victory had come a little earlier.

So when each of the captured triremes was forced to sail north along the coast and into the estuary of the Crati River, every Theonians watching the naval battle from the shore cheered and waved desperately to the legionaries on the deck. And this cheering continues as the captured Syracusan ships kept sailing to the coast.

While the other Syracusan ships did not take advantage of the captured ship’s slow speed to crash them: on the one hand, the fierce attack of the Theonian fleet gave them no spare time. On the other hand, they knew that those sailing these captured ships were their fellow Syracusan sailors. Hence no one was willing to make such a crazy decision to send their comrades, who they had spent a lot of time together and trained together, to their deaths. Once they did, they would face the interrogation of the city-state people. Moreover, Leptines, their benevolent navarch, wouldn’t give such a cruel order.

So, as the captured Syracusan ships sailed past in front of the Theonians one after another, everyone understood that victory was not far away. It might be due to the fear of scaring away this hard-earned victory, as everyone did not dare to let loose to celebrate. But once the Syracusan fleet retreated, the joy in the hearts of the Theonians broke free.

Chapter 469 – Continuous Combat (I)

“All hail Theonia!!!…”

“All hail Theonia’s navy!!!…”

“All hail King Davos!!!…”

“All hail Hades!!!…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The people cheered as loudly as they could to vent the humiliation and fear that had piled up in their hearts all this time. At the same time, it made them feel that they were not only spectators but participants in this victory as it was their effort and perseverance that made Davos their king, which in turn made Hades bless Theonia, leading to this immediate victory!!!

‘As long as Davos remain as the king, our Theonia would always be safe!’ This belief began to sprout in the hearts of the people.

At this moment, the boulder weighing down the hearts of the people had suddenly disappeared, and many of them acted crazily: Some cried loudly; Some knelt on the ground and devoutly sang the ode of Hades; Some rushed into the sea and shouted loudly; Others embrace those around them excitedly, regardless whether they are men or women, to share the joy they felt. Even that little fellow, Patroclus, had taken the opportunity to hug Cynthia, whom he had been secretly in love with.

To add to the madness, some women in the crowd claimed that they were free at night in celebration of Theonia’s hard-earned victory.

Even Cheiristoya’s Restaurant in Thurii had excitedly announced to the crowd that in the evening, all Cheiristoya’s Restaurants in Thurii would provide free drinks for the guests in celebration of this victory.

All of these has caused the cheering of the Theonians throughout the coast to reach its peak.

Just as the people were cheering, the Theonian fleet, while rescuing the drowning sailors, divided half of their ships and immediately headed north under Davos’ leadership.

While they were passing the estuary of the Crati River, 300 cargo ships loaded with most of the soldiers of the second legion joined them as they sailed in great numbers towards the coast of Heraclea.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Outside the city of Heraclea, Diaomilas and Umakas were confused since yesterday as the Theonians had suddenly strengthened their blockade, setting up checkpoints on the bank of the Saraceno River and sending a platoon to guard it, allowing no one to enter or leave.

In fact, Thurii had taken the same measures at the wooden bridge over the Crati River and the south of Thurii. They even blocked the port so that no ships were allowed out of the Crati River into the sea.

These severe measures made Taranto suddenly unable to receive reports from Thurii, which made the two leading archons of Taranto feel uneasy, ‘What is happening in Thurii?’

After repeated analysis, they finally guessed that the biggest possibility is that Davos has returned. After all, he is the only one who has the right to do such a tight blockade.

However, as it is just their speculation, they couldn’t make any decision without conclusive evidence, which caused the dispute between the two archons.

Umakas demanded that they immediately withdraw from Heraclea and retreat to Metapontum to avoid getting attacked by the returning army of Theonia.

Diaomilas, on the other hand, opposed it and argued that Taranto had already spent a great deal of wealth to arrive at Heraclea and be able to invade Theonia’s territory. If they were to take the initiative to withdraw just because of speculation, they would not only be laughed at by the people of Taranto but also impeached by the council!

After some argument, they finally reached an agreement to send a large number of scouts every day to cross the Siris River and look out for the presence of a large Theonian army to the south while wreaking havoc on Amendolara’s land. At the same time, they would build more pontoon bridges over the Agri River to make their retreat smoother.

They also sent men back to Taranto in the hopes that the council would send spies to Roscianum, whom they looked down on before, in an effort to learn about the current situation in the city of Thurii.

Then the day passed smoothly as they waited restlessly.

The following day, the Tarantine fleet came and brought the news about how the Theonian fleet had suddenly sailed out of the Crati River and encountered the Syracusan navy at sea. Afterwards, a battle broke out between the two sides.

Then the Tarantine fleet’s navarch also asked if they could also participate in the battle.

After hearing this news, the two archons became greatly relieved as they no longer needed to think about it as they knew that this risky move of Theonia was obviously a death wish. Still, they were glad to see this “heroic action” of Theonia as it would ease the psychological burden of the Tarantine army. After all, with more than a hundred triremes hiding in the Crati River, who knew when they would suddenly come out. And even though Syracuse could easily win this battle, it does not mean that Taranto could do the same. For the two archons, the pressure of the sea is still too much. However, now that the Syracusan navy rules the Gulf of Taranto, they shared the pressure the Tarantines felt between them. Furthermore, if this naval battle could severely damage the Theonian fleet, it would ultimately free the Tarantines of this pressure on the sea route.

However, the two archons refused the navarch’s request. Since the Tarantine fleet had lost badly to the Messapi-Peuceti Alliance a few years ago, the fleet only managed to get 35 triremes and 20 other ships after years of accumulation. And as they knew the Syracusan would win, there was no need for them to invest in this naval battle. Besides, even if the Tarantine navy joins, the Syracusans might not even appreciate it as they would think that Taranto is trying to steal the credit. Moreover, although Taranto and Syracuse had joined hands against Theonia, Taranto, as one of the powers in Magna Graecia, has its own dignity.

After the two archons rejected the navarch’s request, they told him to report the situation after the naval battle.

Then they stopped caring about the matter and began thinking about how to conquer the city of Heraclea.

During these days, the allies troops of Theonia and Heraclea were quite calm and even allowed the Tarantine soldiers to wreak havoc on the lands of Amendolara. It was to the point that even if the soldiers led the livestock that they plundered and yelled below the city wall, they still kept the gates closed.

Due to that, it gave the two archons a headache as even if they used their nearly 20,000 troops, they didn’t have the ability to attack a city defended by more than 10,000 soldiers forcefully. So after hearing the Syracusans had a powerful siege weapon, their council immediately sent someone to Scylletium to borrow it. However, they didn’t know if the arrogant tyrant of Sicily would agree. If Dionysius did not agree, the Tarantine army could only besiege the city until Heraclea ran out of food. Besides this method taking a lot of time, Theonia’s main force might return at any time, and Heraclea was bound to be the first they rescue as it is the closest to Thurii.

‘Do we really need to wait until the Syracusans conquered Crotone and their army approach Thurii for Taranto to have a chance?’ Diaomilas thought with reluctance…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the city of Heraclea, Teriphias was busy the past few days calming the people, worrying about the city’s defence and settling the reinforcements. And just as he had gotten a rare sleep and was about to get up to have breakfast, he heard his servant report that the legatus of Theonia wanted to see him.

In reality, Teriphias was a bit ashamed to meet this legatus of Theonia – Matonis. After all, while Syracuse ravages the lands of Theonia, the Theonians had still come to defend Heraclea. So every time Teriphias saw Matonis, he clenched his fist and was forced to suppress his pained expression as the guilt he felt increased.

Teriphias was still gulping his wheat porridge when Matonis strode into the living room, “Legatus Matonis, have you had your breakfast? Would you like some?”

Through this period of contact, Teriphias knew that the mercenary-raised Theonian legatus did not like those courtesies. On the contrary, the more casual Teriphias is, the more relaxed Matonis would be.

“I have already eaten.” Matonis said as he reached over a wooden chair and sat straight down next to Teriphias, “I have come to tell you something extremely important!”

“Oh, tell me!” Teriphias hurriedly placed down his wheat porridge and wiped his mouth with a linen towel.

“The messenger who sneaked into the city from Thurii last night had told me some very important news!”

Teriphias immediately pricked up his ears. Of course, he knew about the person who sneaked in last night. However, as the man had come to find Matonis, he couldn’t forcibly ask him. But for Thurii, who was unconcerned of Heraclea a few days ago, to suddenly send a messenger and risked to infiltrate, the situation wouldn’t be that simple.

“His majesty Davos has returned to Thurii with the army!”

“Davos is back? That’s wonderful!” Teriphias exclaimed with excitement. Then he suddenly froze, “Wait…what did you just say? His majesty Davos?!!”

“The people of Theonia received an oracle from Hades, who then elected Lord Davos as the king of Theonia!” Matonis said proudly.

‘A king?!’ Teriphias rubbed his chin. However, as this was an internal political matter in Theonia, he had no right to question them. Besides, this was not the time to consider this issue, “So Lord…King Davos would soon lead his army north and repel Taranto?!”

“The messenger told me that his majesty would lead the Theonian fleet to sea this morning, looking for an opportunity to fight a decisive battle with the Syracusan navy. He also told us to prepare ourselves as once they won the naval battle, we would immediately attack the enemy camp and stall the Tarantines until his majesty’s army could arrive from the sea and surround the Tarantine army here and wipe them out!” Matonis said with an excited expression.

“This plan is…indeed magnificent.” Teriphias said with an astonished expression. However, he hesitantly said, “But can the Theonian fleet defeat the Syracusan navy?! After all, the Syracusan navy is much stronger!”

“I trust his majesty Davos as he always does what he says!” Matonis stood up with determination and said loudly, “If you, Lord Teriphias, are unwilling to send troops, I would take my army out to attack the enemy when the time comes!”

Chapter 470 – Continuous Combat (II)

“Who told you that I am unwilling to send my troops?!” Teriphias hastily changed his tone. He then grabbed him, “The messenger said to wait for the news of the naval battle’s victory. But see…”

Teriphias patiently told Matonis what he thought and said, “Once Davos won the naval battle, sending letters by land would be out of the question as the Tarantine cavalries roam just to the south during the day. Thus your messenger will definitely not be able to come over…that’s why we should only send our troops once we see the Theonian fleet coming from the sea.” The overall situation would have been decided by then, so why would Teriphias not be happy about it.

Unfortunately, Matonis shook his head and said, “Your suggestion would take too long, so we can’t follow it! The Tarantine fleet currently blocks the port of Heraclea, so they will definitely get the news first. And if we wait until our fleet arrives, the Tarantines outside the city would have already run away! Therefore-”

Matonis stared at Teriphias and said, “We will closely monitor the enemy camp outside the city, so once the Tarantines tried to retreat, we would immediately attack them!”

“Ah?!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After convincing Teriphias, Matonis returned to the square and immediately instructed his adjutant to summon the senior centurions of the seventh legion for a meeting. (They set up the seventh legion’s camp on Heraclea’s square.)

After a while, all the seven senior centurions had come.

But just before they could sit down, Matonis immediately said, “Time is very tight, so I’ll make the long story short. His majesty Davos had led the first and second legions back to Thurii-”

“Ah?! Lord Davos is back!”

“Great, Amendolara is now safe!”

“Not only will Amendolara be safe, but the Tarantines are going to die! Lord Davos will lead us to defeat them!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The several senior centurions shouted and moved about with excitement.

“Silence!” Matonis roared, causing them to shudder with fright, “A few of you are veterans, so you should know Theonia’s military law! What is the punishment given to subordinates who kept talking while their superiors were speaking?!”

At Matonis’ vicious glare, the senior centurions subconsciously touched their asses, “I’ll write down the caning for now, and it would be up to your performance to make up for it. His majesty Davos ordered that he would lead the army today by sea and land on the coast between Heraclea and Metapontum. So he asked us to do our best to stall the enemy outside the city so that the main force could arrive in time to join forces and surround the Tarantines! Do you all understand?!!”

“Understood!” They no longer dared to talk randomly, but the excitement in their expression was beyond words.

Matonis paced back and forth in front of them. Afterwards, he stomped his foot hard, “I know that due to my strict orders that forbid the soldiers to go out of the city to expel the enemy that came to Amendolara these past two days, many soldiers in the legion had privately cursed me by saying that I am timid like a rabbit and weak like a lamb, not worthy of being a legatus! And some of them even cursed my parents!…”

The roaring of Matonis had silenced them, “I know there are some soldiers in the legion that had come from Amendolara, but that should still not be a reason for them to insult their officers! ‘The soldiers’ duty is to obey orders’; this is the basic rule in Theonia’s Military Law. And I have already taken note of those soldiers who had cursed me in private, so you all should go back and tell them that in this attack, if they have not performed as bravely and charged as fast as I did, then what qualification do they have to curse me?!”

Matonis widened his eyes and gasped like an angry bull, “After the war ends, I will have them stand in the square and let the whole legion go up and scold their family in turn! Do you understand?!”

“U…understood.”

“You can now go back and prepare!”

“Yes!”

After the senior centurions left, his adjutant cautiously said, “Legatus, will you really-”

“Will what?!” Matonis glared at him and grunted, “This legion is just newly established. They have no good equipment and no strict discipline. If I don’t provoke them like this, how would they perform well?!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the afternoon, a fast boat sped up to the Agri River.

“What did you say?! The Syracusan navy lost?! How is that possible?!!” The two Tarantine archons exclaimed in disbelief.

“Did a fleet from another city-state join the battle and help the Theonians?!” Umakas hurriedly asked again.

“No, it was just the Theonian fleet fighting independently from beginning to end. They had placed a kind of wooden bridge on their ship that would hook the Syracusan ships. Afterwards, they would then send a large number of soldiers to rush onto Syracuse’s deck…” The boat captain recalled what he saw, and even now, he still felt like it was a dream. After all, the Theonian fleet’s way of fighting had completely overturned the traditional naval warfare taught to him since childhood.

Diaomilas was in a daze for a while when he suddenly thought of an important question, “Did the Theonian fleet suffer heavy losses?”

The captain shook his head and said, “It seems that their fleet suffered little to no loss.”

“Could Hades have truly blessed these savage and crude Theonians?!” With an astonished and dejected look on his face, Diaomilas looked at Umakas in a daze, and Umakas looked back at him.

Both men had fear in their eyes, for they both knew that once Syracuse’s naval superiority was broken and the Theonian fleet took control of the Gulf of Taranto, the Tarantine fleet’s strength alone would not be able to match them. And the Tarantine coastline would be threatened by the Theonian fleet, while their army, which was far away from the city of Taranto, would be in danger.

Then both of them shouted at almost the same time, “We must immediately retreat!”

. . . . . . . . . . . .

The two of them quietly summoned the army officers in order not to attract the attention of the Heracleans. Then they gave them the order to retreat.

Afterwards, the Tarantine soldiers began packing their belongings and their bags.

However, the two archons had a headache about the mountains of grain piled up in the camp. At first, in order to ensure the convenience of food supply, the Tarantines transported the food through ships and piled it up in the camp for their huge army of 20,000 people to use for ten days, but it now became a problem as they had to retreat suddenly.

Furthermore, Taranto didn’t have a special group responsible for logistics and transportation. They didn’t even consider hiring labourers to transport from land as this battle was near the sea, so they all transported the supplies by ship. But now, it would consume too much time if they were to send the fast boat to rush back to inform Taranto’s port to send transport ship. But with this many rations and supplies, they didn’t dare to burn or discard them because arbitrary wasting of city-state belongings would undoubtedly get them impeached by the council.

Diaomilas then came up with an idea to have some of the soldiers carry the supplies on their backs and transport them to Metapontum by land. At the same time, they would call back the Tarantine fleet that was still sailing in the sea near Heraclea, load the supplies in the ship’s cabin and transport it back to Taranto.

“What if those in the city come out and attack us?” Umakas was a bit worried.

“Those timid Heraclean and Theonian soldiers have been cowering inside the city these days. They definitely wouldn’t have the guts to take the initiative to come out of the city and attack us, and by the time they learn of the victory of the Theonian fleet, we would already be back in Metapontum.” In fact, based on the traditional combat experience of the Greeks, Diaomilas didn’t even consider the Theonian army rescuing Heraclea immediately after the end of a fierce naval battle.

But Diaomilas was impressed by the performance of the Theonian army in the battle with the Messapi-Peuceti Alliance that he had to be careful. After all, he could not afford to make any mistakes as they had almost gathered all the young and strong citizens of Taranto for this army. Hence Diaomilas still arranged for 4,000 soldiers to act as a rearguard even though he didn’t think the Tarantine army would be in danger while retreating.

And in order to not stand out, the Tarantine army did not even dismantle their tents.

But even so, the Tarnatine army’s withdrawal was not only delayed but also slow. After all, the Tarantines with little training couldn’t be like the Theonian who made “army retreat” a special training program. They even trained every seven days, allowing them to be fast, quick, with a clear division of order and orderly when retreating.

The Tarantines thought they could hide from Heraclea, but they didn’t expect the seventh legion of Theonia to have long expected they would retreat and that they were monitoring them from the city. Soon, the Theonians discovered some signs, such as the cavalry that roamed and patrolled in front of the camp no longer appeared, the camp becoming noisier, ships frequently entered the Agri River…and so on.

“Legatus Matonis!” Teriphias excitedly asked at this moment, “It seems the enemy is really retreating, could it…could it be that your fleet has defeated Syracuse?!”

“I had said that his majesty Davos always do whatever he said!” Matonis glanced at him and replied coldly.

“You’re right!” Teriphias ignored Matonis’ attitude as he continued to ask with excitement, “Isn’t it the time for us to attack them now?”

With his hands on the battlement, Matonis calmly said, “Don’t worry and just wait a little longer.”

“Wait?”

“Yes, when the Tarantine soldiers are about to leave and begin crossing the river…” Matonis’ eyes gleamed coldly like a wolf about to pounce.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

While Diaomilas watched the soldiers pass through the pontoon bridge, a voice in his heart kept urging, ‘Faster! Faster!…’

But after he saw a group of soldiers reach the other side through these pontoon bridges and other soldiers following up quickly, Diaomilas became relieved a bit.

Yet at that moment, his heart suddenly sank as an earth-shattering cry erupted outside the camp, ‘Crap, it must be the enemy troops that have left the city of Heraclea!’

Chapter 471 – Continuous Combat (III)

“Herald! Herald!”

“Strategos, what’s the matter?”

“Quickly inform Umakas to lead those soldiers who are still carrying grain into the ship to return to the camp immediately and cooperate with the defenders in the camp to repel the enemy first!” After Diaomilas finished speaking, he still felt uneasy, so he ordered again, “And tell the troops to stop crossing the river, unload their packs and return to the camp to fight!”

But as soon as the order was changed, the Tarantine soldiers who were crossing the pontoon bridge were a bit reluctant, ‘Why should they stay leisurely on the other side while we have to go back to fight to the death again?!’

Because of this mentality, the soldiers moved lazy and gathered very slowly.

Diaomilas became more anxious. Although he left 4,000 men in the camp for defence, the sound of screaming and fighting became more intense that he was worried for the troops they left behind; he also became angry after seeing the troops in front of him trying to delay. In the end, he made up his mind to issue strict orders for them to return to defend, even at the expense of offending these citizens.

But just as he led his guards before the pontoon, a fast boat weaved through the Agri River filled with triremes, docked on the riverbank, and the captain jumped out of the boat and stumbled towards Diaomilas as he shouted while running, “Strategos, it’s bad! The Theonian fleet is coming! They also have many transport ships behind them loaded with soldiers!…”

Diaomilas’ mind buzzed with confusion that he didn’t have the time to think, ‘Why didn’t the Theonian fleet rest after a great battle?’ As at this moment, there was only one thing in Diaomilas’ mind, ‘The Theonians are trying to surround us!’

But there was suddenly an uproar when all the soldiers currently crossing the river heard the captain, “Cross the river! Quickly cross the river!…” the soldiers began pushing each other as they shouted in panic…

After seeing this chaotic sight, Diaomilas made up his mind to immediately cancel his decision to return to the camp for defence. Still, he hesitated, ‘Should we abandon the 4,000 soldiers and retreat immediately?!’

But soon after, he didn’t even have the time to think about it.

“The Theonians are coming!!”

“Quickly run!!”

“The camp has fallen!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The sound became louder as panicked and disorganised shouting came from the east of the camp that even Diaomilas had turned around. He was surprised when he saw the fleeing soldiers, ‘They easily breached the camp?!!’

In fact, the reason for the quick defeat of the Tarantine defenders was simple: The seventh legion of Theonia had prepared in advance, and when they attacked, Matonis, as the legatus of the legion, was at the front, and the soldiers who he had stimulated were not willing to fall behind. Their swift and fierce attack made the remaining Tarantine soldiers have a hard time defending, and their morale was taken away by the retreating troop, and the first thought that came out of their hearts when they encountered such a setback was, ‘Why do we have to fight here while they retreat?!’

So the Tarantine soldiers almost collapsed as the Heraclean army that followed the defenders encircled them.

“Retreat! Quickly retreat!!…” At this moment, this was the only option left for Diaomilas.

In fact, he didn’t even need to give the order as the soldiers were already retreating after seeing the situation…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Mithridates led the 70 triremes and arrived at the sea near Heraclea, they received a report from the scouting ships that the Tarantine ships gathered at the estuary of the Agri River.

Hearing this, Mithridates became delighted as he immediately ordered the fleet to fan out and prepare to wipe out the Tarantine ships.

The Tarantine ships, on the other hand, tried to sail away from the riverbank in a panic that they ended up crashing and colliding with each other; even the small ships capsized in the river. Furthermore, they didn’t even think about saving their companions who fell into the water as the only thing they had in mind was to ‘Escape from the Theonian fleet and return back to Taranto’s port!’

Unfortunately, most Tarantine ships had too much grain piled up in their cabin, affecting their flexibility and speed. Now, they only have a slight advantage over the Theonian fleet, which had installed a corvus and loaded with heavy infantry. As the Theonian fleet rapidly approaches, the Tarantine sailors couldn’t even spare the manpower to throw away those burdensome grain and are just waiting for their fate to be captured.

Davos’ ship did not participate in the battle. Instead, it landed on the coast not far north of the Agri River’s estuary while leading the transport ship.

Amintas immediately jumped off the ship as soon as they arrived and ordered the bugler to blow the salpinx. Afterwards, instead of waiting for all the soldiers to come and reorganise, he directly led a platoon of 50 soldiers from his ship towards the retreating Tarantine army not far away.

After all, the Theonian fleet under Seclian’s command had already won a massive victory with the help of the first legion. In contrast, the second legion hadn’t even done anything until now, which made the ever-competitive Amintas unable to bear it.

The ferocity of the platoon that Amintas led had frightened the already panicking  Tarantine soldiers on the north bank of the Agri, making them forget that they outnumbered the oncoming enemy. But just as they began to organise their resistance, the other soldiers of Theonia’s second legion had also arrived one after another, stabbing at the weak body of the Tarantine soldiers crossing over the river and causing them to collapse and flee in all directions. Some had even tried crossing the river and fled south.

Amintas then took advantage of the situation and commanded the troops to chase the enemy southward, causing a constant stream of Tarantine soldiers to be constantly squeezed into the river…

Panic only leads to more panic, so when a part of the pontoon bridge broke due to overburden, the whole bridge fell apart, resulting in hundreds of people falling into the river…then the Tarantine soldiers who saw this tragic image felt cold.

On the south bank, a combined 12,000 troops composed of the seventh legion and the Heraclean army continued to pursue the fleeing Tarantine northward.

And the completely demoralised Tarantine soldiers scrambled for their lives, which made the entire troops a mess, so even if the two archons shouted in the crowd, it became difficult to organise them again to stop the attack of the Theonians. Thus they could only keep on retreating that they were eventually all driven to the bank of the Agri River.

And when several pontoon bridges were completely blocked while getting chased by the Theonians, some Tarantine soldiers even took off their armour and jumped into the river. Only floating heads filled the river for a time, just like a huge ant’s next thrown into a small puddle.

So when the Tarantines who had not gone down the river saw their panic-stricken comrades on the other side of the river, and a black army gradually lining up behind them and surrounding them, they could only throw down their weapons in despair and turned to surrender to the equally terrifying joint Theonia-Heraclea troops that were attacking them…

By dusk, the Tarantine army that was pursued by the Theonian legion led by two of the bravest legatus of the Theonian army had finally been surrounded on both sides of the pontoon bridge over the Agri River. Apart from the nearly a thousand men who had managed to escape from the initial group that had crossed the river, more than 12,000 were captured, more than 2,000 were wounded by shields or gotten trampled, and more than 2,000 drowned in the river.

Furthermore, the Theonian fleet captured more than 50 Tarantine ships, including 35 triremes. However, since the Tarantine fleet was unmotivated to fight and their resistance was weak, its sailors did not suffer any significant casualties, and the captured sailors numbered close to 7,500.

At the same time, the Theonian army seized many supplies, including dozens of tons of grain.

In this battle, the Theonian army lost little, which could be said to be another fantastic victory.

So after learning about the battle, Davos became happy that when he met the polemarchos of Heraclea, Teriphias, who had arrived, he put a sincere smile on his face and said, “Lord Teriphias, on behalf of the entire Theonian population, I thank you! If it wasn’t for Heraclea’s bravery in blocking the Tarantine’s attack, I fear that the Tarantine army would have already stormed into Thurii’s territory!”

Teriphias hastily said with modesty, “Lord Davos, we in Heraclea are only defending ourselves. Rather, we should be the one to sincerely thank Theonia as you have sent reinforcements in time to defend us in such a difficult situation, yet it led to the lands of Amendolara getting ravaged, so I really don’t know how…we could…”

Davos had to comfort him again by saying, “We are allies, so it’s natural for us to help each other. Fortunately, with Hades’ blessings, we manage to wipe out the Tarantines while suffering no major losses. This is already the most gratifying thing!”

“Yes, I never thought that victory would come so quickly!” with a look of admiration, Teriphias exclaimed at Davos with marvel, “Lord Davos, I did not expect for Theonia to defeat the Syracusan navy!”

Davos smiled faintly and said in a relaxed tone, “If the Syracusan fleet dares to come again, we will defeat them again! From now on, it’s time for the Gulf of Taranto to have a change of owner!”

Davos’ domineering words reassured Teriphias about the safety of the sea, “Lord Davos, when are you…going to attack Taranto?” Teriphias asked with tact. In fact, he wanted to know Davos’ battle plan for the future. After all, in just two days after Davos returned to Thurii, a massive change in the war situation had happened throughout Magna Graecia, restoring the confidence of Theonia’s allies.

Chapter 472 – After the Victory

“Taranto…” Davos smiled lightly as this powerhouse of eastern Magna Graecia, whose army and navy were both wiped out, is no longer in his eyes. Although he covets Taranto’s land, now was not the time, “I think…we should stop the attack on Taranto for the time being. Currently, Syracuse is Theonia’s main enemy, so as long as we beat them, we would solve all the problems.”

“You’re right.” Teriphias nodded and asked, “So about Metapontum-”

“I’ll have the seventh legion stay here for now and have them move north tomorrow to recapture Metapontum. If the Tarantines were smart, they should flee back to their territory tonight…”

Davos’ confidence in recapturing Metapontum was evident, and Teriphias agreed with him, so he immediately said, “We, Heracleans, will also send troops to follow the seventh legion, hoping to liberate Metapontum, which the Tarantines occupied, as soon as possible!”

Davos frowned slightly from hearing the hidden meaning behind Teriphias’ words. It seemed Teriphias was worried that Theonia would occupy Metapontum after they recovered it. Davos then looked at him and asked with indifference, “I heard Taudeles did not die in battle?”

“That seems to be the case. However, he did not escape to Heraclea as we were also besieged at that time. So I think he might have escaped to the north?”

‘North? Galaguso!’ Davos was absorbed in his thoughts for a moment. Then he said with seriousness, “In any case, we will quickly find him and have him come back to preside over the overall situation of Metapontum, allowing the war-torn city to recover its prosperity as soon as possible! And I pledge that Theonia would do its best to help Heraclea and Metapontum because during this time of crisis, you have chosen to trust the Theonian Union, and Theonia would pay back this precious trust!”

Teriphias became convinced of Davos’ intention and was ashamed of his own petty thoughts, so he sincerely thanked him again.

At this time, the two legatus came together, and Davos hurriedly greeted them with a smile and said, “Here come the heroes who created this brilliant victory!”

“Your majesty!”

“Your majesty Davos!”

They immediately stood straight and saluted, and Davos returned their salute and loudly said, “Amintas! Matonis! The two of you have worked together to wipe out the Tarantine army, relieving Theonia’s northern army of its problems and allowing us to focus on the powerful enemy to the south! On behalf of the Theonian Senate, I thank you both!”

Amintas smiled and said, “It was mainly due to your majesty’s planning that we could easily fight. To tell you the truth, these Tarantines were so weak that they surrendered before we could even exert any force…”

“Yeah, these Tarantines are not as experienced at fighting as the Tarantine reinforcements led by A…Archytas back then. Had I known it would be like this, I wouldn’t have waited for you guys to come and should’ve attacked them alone two days ago.” Matonis said with a bit of remorse.

“You have become arrogant after becoming a legatus. With your ill-equipped recruits, you still have the audacity to talk about forcibly attacking the Tarantine camp?!” Amintas picked at Matonis on the spot.

“So what if my legion is new?! They were the ones who held back the Tarantine army, which was twice our number and defeated them!” Matonis retorted.

Seeing the two men argue, Davos was lost in his thoughts: As far as he knows, Taranto has suffered a great loss of strength after the war with Messapi and the withdrawal of Heraclea and Metapontum. Afterwards, they studied and copied Theonia by giving many freemen civil rights so as to supplement their soldiers(Crotone also adopted a similar policy). However, the increase of citizens did not strengthen the military quality of the soldiers but lowered it.

Davos then stopped the two men from their argument. He then said with relief, “Matonis, you didn’t let me down after I recommended you to be the legatus of the seventh legion! You were able to control the army even when the Tarantine army split up to attack Amendolara, a demeanour a strategos should have and created an opportunity for us to encircle and wipe out the Tarantine army!…”

Matonis scratched his head as he became a bit embarrassed at Davos’ compliment. To relieve him of this predicament, he hurriedly said, “Your majesty, I had caught two big fish in this battle!”

“What big fish?” Even though he could vaguely guess what it was, Davos still cooperated by showing a look of interest.

“Brothers, bring them both here!” Matonis waved his hand forward in an imposing manner.

A moment later, the soldiers pushed up two prisoners with their hands tied behind their backs.

“The two archons of Taranto, it’s been a long time since we have seen each other.” Davos exclaimed with sarcasm.

Diaomilas bowed his head and remained silent.

While Umakas looked at Davos, he said earnestly, “Lord Davos, I beg you to be kind to these Tarantines that you have captured!”

“I will.” Davos said indifferently, “As long as the Tarantine council pays the appropriate price.”

Diaomilas raised his head abruptly and shouted, “Davos, you ungrateful wretch. Don’t forget how Taranto selflessly helped the weak and vulnerable you in the beginning!”

Davos gazed at them sharply as he coldly said, “Of course, I haven’t forgotten about it, and neither the Theonians! Hence when the Messapi-Peucetti Alliance attacked Taranto and was in danger, Theonia did not hesitate to accept your request for help and immediately sent troops to repel the enemies and save Taranto even though Theonia had other military plans! However, not only did you not appreciate the blood and sacrifice of the Theonian citizens, but you had also repeatedly provoked the Theonian population on the sea, rammed and sunk our fishing boats, captured our fishermen, and even spread rumours against Theonia Union in the city of Taranto. I also heard that you sold my statue specifically for people to put in their homes to pee with…these dirty tricks, the Theonians could tolerate it for the sake of the fact that you had helped us before, but-”

Davos’ eyes flashed coldly as he shouted angrily, “You should have never torn up our alliance and collaborated with the enemies of Theonia. When foreign enemies invaded Theonia, and we were facing difficulties, Taranto, as our ally, had instead led your army and wielded your shields and spears to kill your allies who once fought alongside you!-”

“It’s because you have broken our agreement first by poaching Metapontum and Heraclea, the two city-states that were once allied with Taranto!” Diaomilas roared defiantly.

“Whether you would believe it or not, we in Heraclea never had any secret contact with Theonia beforehand. Our joining of the Theonian Alliance was the will of all citizens of Heraclea as Taranto had been using Heraclea as your dog, and we no longer want to be your dog anymore. It was as simple as that. I think that is also why Metapontum chose to leave Taranto Alliance…” Teriphias, who was watching quietly from the sidelines, came out and explained.

Diaomilas glared at Teriphias and said, “Do you think I would believe a traitor?!”

Davos sneered, “Yes, there is no point in discussing it with you. The Theonians have always had a principle of ‘treat your friends sincerely and your enemies viciously.’ Especially traitors, as we would never easily spare them! However, with the current condition of Taranto, there is no need for me to send troops anymore. After all, who knows what would the Messapians do once they find out the great defeat of the Tarantine army? Thurii was once burned to ruin, so how would a century-old enemy destroy Taranto?! I am very interested…”

Hearing him, Diaomilas and Umakas became pale.

Diaomilas still threatened him by saying, “Taranto is…the child-state of Sparta! And Sparta will not allow Taranto to get bullied by other city-states!”

“Sparta?!” Davos didn’t even blink as he snorted, “Do you think Sparta still has the strength to help Taranto now? I heard that the war in the Peloponnese was already enough to give the Spartans a headache that they even had to ask Syracuse for assistance…”

“Davos, don’t get cocky! The Syracusans army would come! And I am also looking forward…to the day when Thurii would be destroyed again!” Diaomilas was ready to risk everything as he shouted fiercely.

“You will never see that day. As long as I am here, it will be impossible for the Syracusan army to enter Theonia’s territory again. Furthermore, Dionysius will not only have to spit out what he won before but will lose even more!” Davos said with confidence. Then he waved his hand, and several soldiers came forward to get them.

Umakas pleaded with reluctance, “Lord Davos, Taranto has truly made a mistake this time! But please think of Archytas! Think of Archytas!-”

“Shut your mouth Umakas! You are disgracing Taranto!”

“You are the one who should shut up, you damned oil-covered* warmonger! If it weren’t for you, how would Taranto fall into this situation today?!…” (Diaomilas produces olive oil.)

The argument between the two men grew silent as the soldiers took them away…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Meanwhile, in the Syracusan camp, Dionysius discussed the siege with the strategoi.

In the following morning, a fast ship sent back by the Syracusan navy told Dionysius a piece of astonishing news that the archon of Theonia, Davos, had returned to Thurii and was elected king by the Theonians.

‘Davos had already repelled the over 40,000 fierce Samnite warriors so quickly?’ Dionysius was shocked and once again felt the urgency of time, ‘Syracuse must capture Crotone as soon as possible and take the initiative of the whole war before Davos’ main force comes to their rescue.’ Hence Dionysius held this emergency meeting.

edited already

Chapter 473 – The shock of the Syracusans

After they arranged everything, Phacipessas was still worried, “Milord, in case it still rains in the next few days…”

“You can be at ease as I had specially asked several veteran fishermen who have lived here for decades, and they all agreed that it would be sunny from tomorrow. As you can see, the rain today is much less!” Dionysius looked at the crowd and motivated them, “Everyone, you must seize these two days to build enough siege weapons! Phacipessas, your task is a bit important as you have to build at least five solid walkways to prevent the siege towers from getting stuck due to the muddy ground on the north gate of Crotone. Can you do it?!”

“Commander, it wouldn’t be a problem at all as long as you assigned me enough manpower!” Phacipessas promised.

“Very well!” Dionysius looked at them confidently and said, “Everyone, we will attack Crotone again in two days! After this battle, we will celebrate it at the Temple of Apollo in Crotone, so don’t let me down!”

The strategoi all swore at the same time, “Apollo as our witness, we will definitely break through the city of Crotone!”

With the warm atmosphere in the tent, Dionysius became affected by it and smiled as he said to Phidias, who had remained silent, “Does Sparta have no punishment for Davos who dared to make himself king?”

It is known that before the Peloponnesian War, Sparta was once called “liberators” for overthrowing one tyrannical government after another in Greece and even in the islands of the Aegean sea, such as the descendants of the tyrant Peisistratus in Athens, the Aleuadae family in Thessaly, and so on. Hence the Greeks used to think that Sparta was extremely hostile to dictatorship.

Phidias glanced at Dionysius and thought, ‘You only see Davos, why don’t you look at yourself first?!’

Phidias naturally couldn’t answer him with this, but he still replied coldly, “Isn’t Syracuse enough to punish them?” which made Dionysius laugh.

Just then, an attendant hurriedly entered the tent and whispered something to Dionysius.

The smile on Dionysius froze as his face immediately turned unsightly. With a roar, he kicked over the table beside him, grabbed the attendant with one hand and shouted angrily, “Where is Leptines?! Where is that damned bastard?!! Tell him to come here and see me!!!”

Dionysius’ anger shook the attendant as he tremblingly said, “Milord…Lord Leptines…is wounded and is…receiving treatment in his tent…”

“Tell that coward to come over here right now! And even if he died, bring his body to me!!” Dionysius roared angrily.

“Ye…yes…” The attendant ran out of the tent in haste.

The tent turned silent as only Dionysius’ rapid breathing and the sound of him pacing back and forth remained.

“Could it be that the fleet suffered a setback?” Finally, someone asked the question they all wanted to ask.

Dionysius glared at the one who spoke and saw that it was Phidias. After all, only this Spartan dared to speak when Dionysius was angry.

Dionysius looked at him, sat back in his chair and breathed heavily, “It’s not only just a setback but a massive defeat!”

‘Massive defeat?!’ Everyone in the tent was surprised.

“Milord, could it be that the…Carthaginians have joined the war?” Phacipessas asked with caution.

Everyone’s heart tightened. After all, only the Carthaginians in the western Mediterranean could rival the strength of the Syracusan navy. So if Carthage joins the war, Syracuse in Sicily may be in some danger!

Facing the gazes of more than a dozen pairs of slightly panicking eyes, Dionysius felt more difficult in breathing, “Don’t overthink about it as Carthage did not join the war. It was the Theonian fleet…who defeated our navy alone, causing us to lose more than two-thirds of our more than 300 ships…including nearly 200 triremes…”

‘WHAT?!!!’ An explosion seemed to happen on the tent as everyone couldn’t believe the fact that the Syracusan navy would lose so severely against the far weaker Theonian fleet.

After several years since the last naval battle against Carthage, Syracuse constructed and accumulated nearly 500 warships, including more than 300 triremes. This time, except for a few dozen ships left to guard the port of Syracuse and stationing several dozens of ships in Messina to block Rhegium and control the Strait of Messina, all of them went with the expedition and were led by Leptines himself to participate in this naval battle. In the end, they were defeated by Theonia, who did not even have a single warship a few years ago! This is simply…

“Stop making noises!” Dionysius, who was already agitated, became more upsets by the noises among the officers, “We would know what happened in this naval battle once Leptines comes!”

As soon as he uttered this, silence returned to the tent once again. Only this time, everyone became restless and annoyed.

At Dionysius’ order, Leptines quickly came. He stumbled into the tent, fell on his knees with a plod and said in a trembling voice, “Mi…milord, I…I have sinned!”

Dionysius saw Leptines looking miserable with his head and arms wrapped in linen dyed red with his blood. A trace of dissatisfaction arose in his heart, and he was immediately overwhelmed by anger, “You came just in time. Everyone really wants to know how you lost even with more than 300 ships!”

Dionysius’ grim voice contained endless hatred, causing Leptines to shiver several times.

Seeing his frightened appearance, Dionysius became even angrier. He grabbed the iron thing that the guard just picked up and threw it at Leptines’ forehead. Although his head immediately bled, Leptines did not dare to scream.

“Speak!” Dionysius pointed at him and roared.

“Yes! Yes!…” Leptines quickly responded repeatedly.

The officers who were originally angry at him now felt pity while Phidias remained composed. The Spartans grew up by getting beaten up with a stick by their instructors if they were disobedient, failed to pass the training test, and got beaten up even more if they lost in a battle…the Spartans were hard on their own citizens and even harder on the helots and allied soldiers. This caning violence had often made other city-states reluctant to come near Sparta, and the Spartans have long been accustomed to it. Hence Phidias even felt that such a strategos who caused significant damage to the city-state should be hung and beaten to death.

As he trembled, Leptines briefly described the entire naval battle.

After hearing this, Dionysius became sullen as he was lost in his thought, “Are you saying that…the Theonians have installed wooden bridges on their ships, which could hook any approaching ships, and then won by relying on their soldiers to board and fight?”

“Ye…yes. This wooden bridge of theirs is flexible enough to turn in all directions, making it impossible for our ships to attack their rear.” Leptines hurriedly explained.

“Since you already know that our tactics aren’t working, why haven’t you retreated in time?!!” Dionysius angrily cursed.

This made Leptines unable to reply.

“He was trying to capture that new king of Theonia and end this war.” Phidias let out a sigh, “Davos had guessed your idea in advance, so he used himself as bait to lure your ships to attack recklessly, allowing them to capture a large number of your ships and led to your crushing defeat…Davos is really a remarkable commander!”

Dionysius stared at Phidias, who didn’t give a care.

Phacipessas then noticed an issue in Leptines’ report and asked urgently, “Navarch Leptines, after listening to what you have said, then those warships the Theonians had captured shouldn’t have that much damage. Then, wouldn’t they be able to use them against us?!”

Everyone’s expression changed.

“Uh…this…” Leptines didn’t know how to respond.

“Hmph! Theonia will need more sailors if they want to expand their fleet!” Dionysius’ words reminded everyone: ‘That’s right, the hundreds of Syracusan triremes they captured would need at least 30,000 to 40,000 sailors to restore their combat strength.’ From what they know, Theonia has already invested their young and strong adults into expanding the army and navy to cope with the many war fronts. Hence they shouldn’t be able to get that huge amount of manpower. And not everyone can immediately become a qualified sailor as it requires a long training time, especially getting together experienced helmsman!

Everyone then breathed a sigh of relief.

“Leptines, your defeat has caused great trouble for our army!” Dionysius then asked him in a cold voice, “I ask you now if the Theonian fleet were to come attacking, do you have the confidence to lead the remaining ship to turn defeat into victory?”

Everyone immediately turned their attention to Leptines, making him more nervous and afraid. He subconsciously touched the bandage wrapped around his head, where he cut himself with a short sword to gain a bit of sympathy from his brother.

“Speak quickly!” Dionysius shouted in anger, which frightened Leptines to reply quickly, “If…if I could lead the Theonian fleet to the deep sea, I have the confidence…to defeat them as they move around slowly. As they have erected such a large wooden bridge on their foremast, it would easily cause their ship to be heavy on the bow and light on the stern, not only…not only are they slow and inflexible, but they are more likely to capsize when encountering powerful winds and waves. But…if we fight them near the coast-” Leptines cautiously looked at Dionysius, then he immediately lowered his head as he lowered his tone and said, “If we resist their attack head-on, I fear that our fleet…would lose…” At the end of his sentence, his voice completely weakened.

Dionysius was no longer as furious as he had at the start. After thinking about it, he had to admit that these novel naval tactics of Theonia that had caused great trouble to Syracuse would give anyone else who was in command of a fleet and was unfamiliar with it a massive loss.

Chapter 474 – Syracuse’s Response

At this moment, Dionysius gaze at everyone in the tent, with his eyes finally landed on a man in the corner, “Androstini, explain yourself! The Theonian fleet used such a strange device, and you didn’t even know about it, causing our fleet to suffer such a great loss! How do you think your punishment should be?!”

Androstini suddenly became pale. Hipparinus is the chief intelligence officer of Syracuse, while he was just one of the officers that followed the army. In fact, the Theonian fleet was already training their new tactics before the start of the war, and Androstini even remembered the intelligence that had come from Thurii back then, which said that the Theonian fleet was training confidentially in the Crati River. However, neither Dionysius, Hipparinus, nor he paid attention to it. At most, they only cared about the number of triremes Theonia has, who the navarch is, and so on. After all, Syracuse’s advantage in naval matters was too great for anyone to put Theonia’s insignificant fleet in their sights.

But who would think that Dionysius would lay all the blame for this defeat on him, but Androstini dared not refute as he was neither the tyrant’s brother nor his father-in-law.

Androstini could only swear mentally while replying with fear on his face, “Milord, I…I…”

Dionysius waved his hand and said, “Your crime would be investigated carefully after the war ends! Thus from now on, you must collect Theonia’s intelligence much more carefully without missing anything! Understood?”

Dionysius hated his brother’s incompetence, but he still had to defend him as defending him is equal to defending his dignity. Thus he had to share the blame for the naval defeat subtly.

Although he wasn’t punished now, Androstini still complained to himself that it would be challenging to get information now that Thurii and Krimisa are under strict military blockade.

“Leptines, what do you think about the feasibility of installing this wooden bridge of the Theonian ships on our ships?” Dionysius turned his gaze to the navarch, still on his knees.

Everyone present was surprised. After all, that was tantamount to abandoning the naval experience and traditions that Syracuse and even the Greek city-states have proven effective for centuries, just to learn from a new city-state union that had only won one naval battle.

But Dionysius was not a traditionalist. On the contrary, he is a reformer and a realist, evident by his integration and reformation of his army and the advancement of siege technology.

“I…am not sure as we had never trained in this era…” Leptines, on the other hand, was clearly a conservative. He reluctantly said, “And I am afraid that there are some special devices on the Theonian ship as the wooden bridge could turn so flexible. I think…it is impossible to do it in such a short time to use it against the Theonians, and…we would still need time to train with it…”

“Then work on it with the engineers and craftsmen!” Leptines’ dim-wittedness made Dionysius angry again, “When the Theonian fleet comes to attack, it still isn’t too late to equip our ships with enough soldiers! Didn’t the Theonians want to turn a naval battle into a land battle? Then let’s have a good battle at sea!”

“But milord…” Leptines warned with caution, “We don’t have enough triremes…”

“Stupid!” Dionysius cursed, “Call back the fleet in Messina, and the ones in Syracuse’s port as well! Also, send someone to inform Philistus to speed up the construction of new ships. Do you understand?!”

Leptines kept nodding his head like a chicken pecking at grains.

“Leave now and execute my order immediately!” As soon as Dionysius’ voice fell, Leptines exited the tent far more quickly than when he entered.

Dionysius didn’t even pay attention to this as he knew well in his heart that the Theonian fleet had the upper hand despite these measures.

Sea dominance was crucial for the Syracusans fighting overseas. Once they lost it, it meant that their army’s connection with their mother-state would be cut off. The Syracusan army’s morale fluctuating is just a small matter. But the lack of access to local resources and the inability to control Syracuse’s political issue is what scared Dionysius the most. Besides, Davos had already returned with his main force, and now without the encroachment and restraint of the Syracusan fleet, he could lead his army southward at any time, which made Dionysius waver about whether to go-all-out in attacking Crotone.

At this moment, Dionysius forced himself to calm down and said, “Now that our fleet has suffered a defeat, tell me what we should do next?”

“Milord, it is to take Crotone with all our might as discussed before!” Astagoras said without hesitation, “Although we no longer have an advantage at sea, the Theonians could still not withstand our powerful army on land! And as long as we capture Crotone, there will be no more major obstacles to the north and allow us to reach the city of Thurii. So even if the Theonians had more ships, it would still be useless. By then, it would still be up to you to decide whether to fight or make peace!”

“Milord, I also agree with strategos Astagoras’ opinion.” Phacipessas seemed to read Dionysius’ thought, so he also spoke up, “While Taranto still threatened Thurii in the north, we should seize the time to take Crotone! But if we retreat at this point and allow the Theonians to join up with Crotone, I fear that the number of soldiers that would cause us trouble would be even more!”

“Lord Dionysius.” The Campanian mercenary leader, Enamenus, also stood up and said, “Our soldiers’ morale is high more because they all know that Crotone is a wealthy city-state, so if we give up attacking it…”

Everyone in the tent favoured attacking Crotone, which made the scale on Dionysius’ mind tip to the side of attack. However, instead of immediately making a decision, he turned his attention to the only person who did not speak and asked, “Phidias, what’s your thought?”

The always outspoken Phidias had a rare moment of hesitation. From the perspective of Sparta, a peace talk would be a better choice as it is more favourable for Sparta to maintain the balance between Syracuse and Theonia. However, Phidias was fascinated by Davos’ excellent performance that he couldn’t stop himself from wanting to defeat this young archon who the Magna Graecians praised. Thus he said, “They all made a good point about attacking Crotone as it would give us the initiative. But more importantly, it will force the Theonians to come to Crotone’s rescue before settling the other battlefronts and getting fully prepared, which would ensure our advantage in a decisive battle against Theonia. If you are still worried that the Theonian army would suddenly come while we are attacking the city, then why don’t you send a lot of cavalries further north to scout?!”

Dionysius glanced at Phidias, then to the others and laughed, “What is there to worry about?! The Theonians have only won a single naval battle. Do they think they can make us, Syracuse, back down?! No! This will only make us focus more on the land battles!”

Dionysius stood up suddenly, drew his sword, and cut the table. Then he said in a stern tone, “From now on, have all the troops make good use of the time to prepare for the attack. Two days later, we would take the city of Crotone with all our strength!”

“Take Crotone!!!” Everyone shouted simultaneously.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Mother, we are back!”

“We are back!”

With a bang, Cynthia pushed open the door in the inner courtyard.

“Mother, we won the battle! We defeated those horrible enemies! Even though they have many more ships, we still captured them all!” Adoris ran to Cheiristoya excitedly.

Before Cheiristoya could reply, the woman next to her said with a smile, “I am correct, right? You didn’t need to worry as Davos…his majesty has the blessing of Hades, so he would definitely win!”

Before her voice fell, Agnes stood up with joy, “I am going to thank Artemis!”

With that, she walked towards Artermis’ statue on the other side of the garden while supporting her stomach.

“Walk slowly and take care of the baby!” Cheiristoya said with concern while Agnes’ personal maid rushed up to assist her.

“I thought Agnes is the priestess of Hera?” The woman was slightly surprised.

“Before she came to Thurii, Agnes was the chief priestess of the Temple of Artemis in Rhegium. But during this time, when she had to stay at home because of her pregnancy, she had to pray to the goddess of hunting every day in order to wish Davos’ safety. She really had a hard time!” Cheiristoya said emotionally.

“Hello, aunt Andrea.” At this time, Cynthia greeted the woman.

“Cynthia, it’s been so long since I saw you. You have now become a big girl.” Andrea happily looked at Cynthia and held her hands.

“Mother, I tell you a secret. When we were celebrating our victory, there was a boy who hugged-”

“Shut up, Adoris! Stop talking nonsense, or else I would beat you up!” Cynthia blushed and threatened loudly.

“Oh, what happened?” Cheiristoya asked with a smile.

But under Cynthia’s glare, Adoris did not dare to speak.

Chapter 475 – Discussing About Family Matters

“Mother, I saw father. He’s so awesome!” After little Cro hugged his mother Agnes, he ran to Cheiristoya excitedly.

“Really?” Cheiristoya looked at her son and smiled tenderly as she softly said, “Then do you want to be like your father?”

“Yes!” Little Cro nodded enthusiastically.

“I will be a brave strategos like my father in the future!” Adoris shouted as well.

Cheiristoya smiled, brought the two of them in her arms, and said, “If you want to grow up to be a strategos, you have to study and train seriously in the school from now on. Only then can you become a strategos in the future!”

“I will.” Said Adoris immediately.

“I will too!” Little Cro imitated his brother.

“Did your father return to the camp after his victory?” Cheiristoya asked again with concern.

“No, father followed the fleet north. Brother Heni said that father led the army because he wanted to take this opportunity to repel the invading Tarantine…” Cynthia replied.

Cheiristoya became a bit worried again after hearing that.

“Rest assured, Cheiristoya. His majesty will definitely come back victorious!” Andrea hurriedly comforted her.

“That’s right, madam.” Azune also interjected, “Now that Hades bless his majesty, his majesty will never lose a battle!”

Cheiristoya put her arms around the two children and smiled, “If they could repel the Tarantine, Thurii will then be completely safe.”

“Yes. For the safety of the people of Theonia, his majesty did not even have the time to return home as he engaged in continuous bitter battles. If the gods do not bless him, who else would?!” Andrea kept praising Davos, then she remembered something and turned back to shout, “Umateseus, stop sitting there and come here to meet your aunt Cheiristoya’s children. Didn’t you always complain that you have no one to play with?”

After a few shouts, Andrea heard an “Oh” sound in the garden. Then a child stood up from the flowers and plants, with a bit of shyness on his face.

When little Cro saw him, he immediately broke away from his mother’s army and sprinted towards him, “Brother, what are you looking at?”

“…ants.” Umateseus blurted out a word awkwardly.

“What is so interesting about watching ants? Come and let’s find Heni to play ball!” Adoris also rushed over and said.

As Umateseus hesitated, little Cro came forward and took his hand and urged, “Big brother, let’s go and play together.”

Umateseus could only helplessly nod.

Then the several children leap to the front yard.

“I’ll go and watch them.” Cynthia said as she followed them.

“Cynthia is really like a big sister now!” Andrea glanced at Cynthia’s back as she went out.

“They are all grown up while we grew old!” Cheiristoya became a bit emotional. Then she asked with concern, “Andrea, Umateseus is already old, so how come he still acts like a child?!”

“Hah.” Andrea sighed as sorrow crept onto her face, “You know that man(referring to her ex-husband) was not good to my child and me, so he would often beat and scold us, traumatising Umateseus when he was a child and became rather timid… Although Bagul is good to Umateseus…the Lucanians like brave children, but with Umateseus nature…they do not get along and in Grumentum…Umateseus, that boy does not like going out, so…he has no friends there…”

“Your younger son must be almost three years old now, so why haven’t you brought him along today?” Cheiristoya asked instead.

“His grandfather(referring to Vespa) hasn’t seen him for two years, so he has been with him since we came back yesterday and is reluctant to let him out.” Andrea said helplessly.

“It seems the care that your two children receive at home is very different…” Cheiristoya purposely said.

“Hah!…” Andrea once again let out a long sigh, with sadness filling her face. One is a stepson with an unpleasant character, while the other is a biological son, so it is obvious who Bagul’s family prefers. But in Andrea’s heart, she loves her eldest son more. After all, this child has been with her in her most difficult time and is her spiritual support. Andrea understood Umateseus’s heart and the estrangement of his new family only made him more introverted, but as a mother, she couldn’t even find a good way to solve the problem.

“Don’t worry.” Cheiristoya gently reassured her best friend as she looked at the open entrance of the inner courtyard and said, “I see that little Cro likes Umateseus quite a lot while Umateseus is willing to play with him.”

“Yeah, I am also surprised as this kid usually doesn’t agree to people’s requests so easily. It seems that little Cro has a charm that makes people want to get close to him despite his young age!” Andrea said, complimenting.

“I have a suggestion.” Cheiristoya then said with seriousness, “Why don’t you allow Umateseus to stay right here at my house. There are many children here, and their age doesn’t differ much, so they could go to school and play together. And Umateseus might even become more active as he will not feel lonely…what do you think?”

Hearing Cheiristoya’s words, Andrea somewhat became interested, ‘This is the residence of Theonia’s new king; who else in Theonia could have such a privilege?!’

But as a mother, she instinctively refused, “Madam, thank you for your concern of Umateseus, but that would be too-”

As soon as he began speaking, a loud “Waa! Waa! Waa!…” cry sounded in the baby carriage next to Cheiristoya.

“See, even little Eunice is in favour of letting Umateseus stay.” Cheiristoya laughed.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The several children ran around the front courtyard but couldn’t find Henipolis. In the end, it was Aristias who told them, “His majesty Davos called him to the camp saying that he has something important to tell him.” As the children were about to be disappointed, Cynthia asked, “Is father back?”

“Yes, his majesty led the army to wipe out the invading Tarantine army and has returned to the camp!” Cynthia noticed that Aristias, who usually has a serious expression, also looked a bit excited at this moment.

Then the several children shouted excitedly, “Victory! Father won again!…”

Then they scramble back, eagerly wanting to tell Cheiristoya the news of victory.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

It was already dusk when Davos returned to the camp.

The two successive victories made the whole city of Thurii rejoice, especially when the people saw the naked and tied up thousands of Tarantine soldiers and Syracusan sailors escorted towards Thurii’s quarry. Afterwards, the people standing on both sides of the road began spitting and throwing stones at them, venting the haze that shrouded their hearts due to the war.

Many even lit a bonfire in the Nike Square as they sang and danced around the Fountain of Thurii that showed a miracle, while they thank Hades for his blessing and cheered, “All hail, King Davos!”

Then the patrols asked Kunogelata, the Praetor of Thurii, if they should disperse them so as not to disturb the city’s order and the people’s rest.

However, Kunogelata, who was always rigid, also smiled tolerantly at this moment and said, “Let them dance and make noises. It has been long since Thurii was this lively. Still, you have to maintain the order.”

“Roger!” The patrol captain left excitedly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Compared to the people who were partying all night, most of the soldiers who had just returned to the camp were already exhausted because of the successive battles and fell asleep as soon as they entered their tent.

Davos was also exhausted, but there was still something important for him to deal with, so he had to rouse himself up.

But when Martius entered his tent, Davos had already fallen asleep on the table.

Seeing that he was sound asleep, Martius remembered today’s hard battle, so he couldn’t bear to wake up. Still, after hesitating for a while, he walked forward again because even though it was already so late, Davos still called Henipolis, so it is definitely something important! And as the captain of Davos’ guards, it’s his duty not to delay important matters!

“Your majesty…your majesty…”

Davos opened his eyes dazedly.

“Your majesty, Henipolis has arrived.” Martius whispered.

“Heni?…oh, yea.” Davos came back to his senses as he hurriedly asked, “How long has he been here?”

“He just arrived.”

“That’s good.” Davos rubbed his cheek, which became a bit numb, and said, “Let him in.”

“Yes.” Just as Martius was about to turn around, Davos called out again, “Why are you on guard duty?!”

“I allowed the others to sleep first.”

“Nonsense! You have still not fully recovered, so why are you not taking care of your body?! Get some rest now and ask another soldier to be on duty. Otherwise, I will not allow you to follow me tomorrow! Go home and rest!!”

When Davos became so angry, Martius did not dare to argue back and obediently went out of the tent.

As soon as Henipolis entered the tent, he excitedly expressed his thoughts, “Lord…your majesty Davos, congratulations on winning the naval battle and wiping out the Tarantine army at the same time. It is truly amazing that just within a day, you have won such a glorious victory. I really should have stayed by your side and refused your request of returning in advance to report your current situation and the reasons for your inability to return home to Lady Cheiristoya so that I could’ve witnessed the whole battle…”

“I can just recount the whole battle in detail for you.” Davos interjected.

Chapter 476 – Pacifying the North

“It’s not the same.” Said Henipolis, shaking his head stubbornly, “Your narration would have some of your own views, which will only interfere with my judgment of the whole historical events and the battle process. Teacher Ansitanos once told me that ‘the eye is history’s best pen as it would record everything truthfully.’ Thus I decided that I would never leave your side again!”

Henipolis looked at Davos stubbornly and cunningly in his eyes.

Davos sighed in his heart as he slowly said, “You couldn’t get some of the things you want as they are often out of our control. Heni, I called you at this time because a report about Laos had come…”

“About what?!” Henipolis subconsciously asked as he was disturbed by Davos’ serious expression.

Davos then said, “Your uncle, Alobamus, has rebelled. He forcibly declared himself as the archon of Laos and announced that Laos had left the Theonia Alliance. Furthermore, he sent troops to attack the Lao Fortress.”

“What?!” Henipolis couldn’t believe what he was hearing, “Uncle Alobamus rebelled?! Impossible! That’s impossible!…”

Seeing Henipolis kept shaking his head and roaring loudly, Davos quietly took out the information he received yesterday and handed it to him.

Henipolis grabbed it and read it several times. Afterwards, he suddenly became quiet…

After a while, he sobbed and said, “Why? Why would he do this?! He is my uncle, and I trusted him so much! I have trusted him since I was a child!…”

Davos looked at the sobbing Henipolis and said softly, “People change, especially your uncle, who held a lot of power and is in charge of Laos. It is inevitable for ideas to sprout if other forces are tempting him, such as Syracuse…”

Henipolis listened to Davos with red eyes. Then he suddenly remembered something and sprang to his feet and exclaimed, “Mother! My mother is in danger!…”

“Your mother is safe. According to reliable information, Alobamus didn’t hurt your mother and had just placed her under house arrest. After all, your mother used to take good care of your father’s brother.” Seeing Henipolis look at him with suspicion, Davos said, “It was Aristias who told me.”

After living in Davos’ residence for so many years, Henipolis certainly knew that Aristias was gathering information for Davos. Thus he felt slightly relieved, and then said in a hateful tone, “I must go back immediately and take back Laos, and severely punish that ungrateful traitor!” the betrayal of Alobamus obviously broke his heart, making him so disgusted that he did not even want to mention his name.

“Alright.” Davos expressed his approval. He then reminded him, “Hemon – the Praetor of Nerulum, and Saru – the Praetor of Vergae, had both gathered their troops. So you should lead your troops and join up with them and fight Alobamus together, making it so that Alobamus couldn’t stop you. But-”

Davos turned his head and said, “The city of Laos was the result of your father’s great efforts to gain independence from the Lucanian Tribal Coalition and his years of hard work. So you definitely couldn’t bear the thought of a war that would cause heavy casualties to Laos and for the city to be badly damaged, right?”

Henipolis repeatedly nodded.

“Heni.” Davos stared at him and said in a deep tone, “Some of the laws you wanted to implement in Laos were not implemented because Alobamus and the others had obstructed it. But what the commoners, who made up the majority of Laos’ population, sincerely wanted was to have more rights so that they could enjoy the land like the citizens of Theonia! Previously, the people of Laos didn’t know about it because Alobamus and the others blocked the news. Now, we just need to publicise these facts, and the Laosians would know who is really good to them! And who should they support! So you can…”

After listening to Davos’ plan, Henipolis’ eyes gradually brightened as he immediately nodded and said, “Your majesty, I will do as you say! I will show that person that I was correct in the first place!”

Just as Henipolis was about to leave, Davos gave him a firm hug and shouted in encouragement, “Heni, I wish you success in retaking Laos soon, and the position of my clerk awaits for you to take!”

Henipolis nodded confidently, “Your majesty, wait for my success!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Early the following day, Theonia’s seventh legion and the Heraclean army marched north and reached Metapontum, whose gate was wide open, and the remnants of Taranto and the people of Metapontum who were pro-Tarantine such as Isalokas had fled to Taranto as early as last night.

After the allied troops easily captured the city of Metapontum, Matonis – the legatus of the seventh legion, was so eager to return to Thurii that he did not covet the authority as the temporary praetor of the occupied territory. After directly handing over the defence of Metapontum to Heraclea’s archon, Teriphias, he quickly led back the legion.

Soon, the scouts sent by Taudeles noticed the changes in Metapontum. After he gained contact with Teriphias, Taudeles bid farewell to Galaguso, who had taken them in, promising that Metapontum would intensify the trade with Galaguso, especially in food.

After Taudeles returned to Metapontum and regained his power with the support of Theonia and Heraclea, the first thing he did was to lead the few remaining pro-Theonian factions to avenge the murder of their loved ones and friends by purging the city of its pro-Tarantine citizens. These tumultuous events significantly decreased Metapontum’s population and strength.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Just as the seventh legion started their return journey, the Tarantine envoy had already set foot on Thurii’s land.

Yesterday, the news of “the Theonian fleet winning a huge victory over the Syracusan navy and almost wiping out Taranto’s army and navy” had reached the city of Taranto, which not only shocked the Council but also frightened the Tarantines while worrying about the safety of their loved ones. Then when the rumours spread about “Theonia’s army marching towards Taranto,” many people rushed to their homes, packed their bags, and prepared to rush to the port and take a boat to flee the already defenceless city.

With their grave situation, the Tarantine council had only one way left – and that was to ask Theonia for peace.

For this reason, the council did not even convene an ecclesia as at the same night; they urgently elected two temporary archons, Disitimas and Archytas’ father, Histiaeus. And the following day, they sent Histiaeus to Thurii in an attempt to make Davos forgive Taranto using his friendship with Archytas.

Fully aware of Taranto’s goal, Davos did not come to see Histiaeus at all and had instead sent Kunogelata and Ansitanos to negotiate with him.

Although Ansitanos had a gentle nature, he still felt pleasure in seeing the anxious Histiaeus as Taranto treated him rudely when he went there.

Hearing Histiaeus’ suggestion of “Taranto is willing to make a truce with Theonia and make certain war compensation in hopes for the release of the Tarantine prisoners of war”, Kunogelata and Ansitanos just sneered.

Kunogelata had even scoffed by saying, “Theonia and Taranto had an alliance, but you ignored the sacred oath and betrayed us instead when we needed your help the most! And now, you want us to sign an agreement with you so that you can sneak up on us again when we are busy fighting Syracuse?! Do you think we are that stupid! To tell you the truth, we don’t know if Poseidon would be angry at you for tarnishing his name, but we dare not trust you, the Tarantines, anymore!”

After hearing this, Histiaeus was so ashamed that he cried out in grief and anger, “Then what do you, Theonia, want us, Tarantines, to do?!”

“Until this war is over, Theonia would not sign any agreement, but these more than 12,000 Tarantine citizens and nearly 2,000 sailors…well…Theonia is currently at war, so we don’t have enough food to feed them. Thus it would be up to you, Tarantines, to provide enough food for them so that they can survive until the end of the war.” Kunogelata replied coldly.

“I understand. Theonia wants our food, and only food could ensure the safety of the Tarantine prisoners, right?” There was a hint of sarcasm in Histiaeus’ grieving voice.

“That’s right. Mining, after all, requires plenty of physical strength. Otherwise, it would be difficult to keep them healthy.” Kunogelata said threateningly.

“So when would they be released?” Histiaeus asked again.

“Theonia will not release them before the war ends. Otherwise, who knows if they would take arms again and invade our territories!” Kunogelata then said, “Until then, Theonia will not sign any agreement with Taranto, but as long as Taranto remained calm, Theonia will not invade Taranto’s territory. It is what his majesty, Davos, himself promised!”

After he heard this, Histiaeus no longer had to worry about the safety of Taranto temporarily. After all, Davos is well-known for keeping his promises.

Chapter 477 – The hidden troubles of the Theonian Army

The fact that Theonia did not sign an agreement with Taranto made Histiaeus uneasy, so he reluctantly reminded, “So you are confident of defeating Syracuse?! I have heard that Dionysius’ army still has the absolute advantage on land!”

“Isn’t that what you are hoping? For Syracuse to defeat us!” Kunogelata said sarcastically, “After all, you will no longer have to worry about the safety of your city-state and the survival of your citizens.”

Histiaeus was unable to respond for a moment. In the end, he couldn’t help but ask, “If this war continues, wouldn’t we Tarantines keep sending food to Thurii even though you know that our food reserves aren’t enough?”

“Since you already know it, then why did you still dare tear up our alliance and go to war with us?!” Kunogelata sneered.

Ansitanos then interjected, “There are many wars of such magnitude that have occurred throughout Greek history, and it definitely won’t last long.”

Histiaeus hesitated and said in the end, “Alright, I will convey Theonia’s offer to our council. However, I hope that you understand that Taranto is the child of Sparta.”

Kunogelata and Ansitanos glanced at each other. Kunogelata then lightly said, “So what? Is Sparta about to join the war?”

Histiaeus no longer spoke as he noticed that the Theonians did not fear any threat. Perhaps it is what the other side said that Taranto could only hope Syracuse to win…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Just as Kunogelata, Ansitanos and the Tarantine envoy negotiated post-war matters, Davos discussed the food issue with Baripiri, Kapus, Marigi and Mersis.

“Your majesty, Thurii’s granary is almost empty now as we have transported the grains to the troops in the south for some time. Although I estimate that there is still half left in the granary in Consentia, transporting it would be difficult. In addition, we are about to attack Laos, so the granary in Consentia would need to provide the food supply. As for the current situation of the granary in Grumentum, I don’t know anything about it…” Baripiri, the chief agricultural officer, detailedly told Davos the current food situation in Theonia.

“I am quite clear about the situation of Grumentum’s granary. The war with the Samnites ended quite quickly, so we didn’t consume too much, and we also managed to take the enemy’s supply. However, Grumentum’s grain production is low, and they do not have good storage capacity in the first place. Instead, they have a lot of livestock, and the price is low, so they could barely support the third legion’s counterattack on the Samnite region. Hence it is unlikely for the Lucanian region to squeeze out grain to supply Thurii. Besides, transportation would also be a big problem. Thus it is better to not think of Grumentum’s granary.” Davos briefed them on what he had learned after leading his army through Grumentum.

“Your majesty, it seems we urgently need to solve the food problem if we want to organise a campaign against Syracuse of more than 50,000 troops!”

Kapus, who took over the position of quartermaster in place of Hielos during this period and had a detailed understanding of the situation, said worriedly,

“Three days ago, Aprustum and Krimisa sent back a message saying they are tight in food. But due to the fear of the harassment of the Syracusan fleet in the past few days, the logistic teams kept increasing their escort to avoid getting attacked by enemy sailors, so there was no large-scale transportation of grain to these two cities where the legions were station. Currently, I don’t know about their situation.

Furthermore, Thurii now has the first, second, and seventh, a total of three legions, as well as the logistics team and the 6,000 men that your majesty has newly assembled. Your majesty, there are now nearly 32,000 men, and the daily consumption of grain is enormous, so if we could not solve the food problem, we would need to disband these armies in a few days because we are running out of grain.”

“Everyone, don’t forget that there are also the prisoners from Syracuse and Taranto; I am afraid they totalled to about 25,000 men!” Mersis loudly reminded everyone, “So even if we give them just a bit of food every day to sustain their survival, it would still not be a small consumption. Hence I think it is better to treat them all as slaves and sell them for money.”

Davos did not feel disgusted looking at Mersis’ impatient greed. With the war consumption and the suspension of the port market, the treasury’s money only goes out and not in. So he can fully understand Mersis’ impatientness as the treasury was already bottomed out.

However, he only shook his head and said, “We can not sell the Tarantine captives as they are the most important tool for us to control Taranto. With them, Taranto will obediently and continuously deliver us food. And if we were to combine the supplies we seized in Heraclea yesterday; I think we could at least alleviate the food shortage in Thurii. As for the Syracusan sailors…Marigi, now that we cleared up the blockade of our port by the Syracusans, I believe that we could slowly resume our trade, so can we sell these Syracusan sailors?” Davos, a man from modern times in his former life, had always abhorred the trading of slaves, but for the survival of Theonia, he wouldn’t hesitate.

After Davos said that, Mersis had also changed his previous attitude of hating Marigi as he looked at him eagerly.

Marigi nodded and greeted Davos. Then he slowly said, “Your majesty, although we defeated the Syracusans at sea, we still have not yet completely wiped out their maritime strength, and they still controlled the Strait of Messina, our most important trading route.

But the situation on the eastern Mediterranean is a little better, as we have completely wiped out the Tarantine fleet, and the combined fleet of Sparta, the ally of Syracuse, is now held down by the Athenian fleet, which is friendly with us. So if we could not clear away the blockade of the Strait of Messina, we could only recover our sea trade to the eastern Mediterranean in the future. Unfortunately, the eastern Mediterranean trade does not occupy a major position in our market.”

Instead of talking about the slave issue, Marigi – the chief commercial officer, briefly estimated the situation of the port market.

Davos immediately said, “I understand what you mean. That’s why I would urge Seclian to lead the fleet to seize control of the Strait of Messina as soon as possible! But can you guarantee our port’s normal operation with the arrival of merchant ships?”

Davos asked about this point as the arrival of merchant ships during wartime requires a lot of management staff, numerous porters and sailors, patrols to maintain law and order…and so on, and the more prosperous the port is, the more manpower is needed. But in order to cope with the war, Theonia recruited and transferred a large number of young and strong labourers, which included official citizens, preparatory citizens, registered freemen, and even unregistered freemen. The once-bustling port and market are now desolate, with more women, elderly and even children busily attending the market stalls, which shows the lack of labour.

Marigi was undoubtedly aware that adequate labour is also an equally important issue. But in this regard, he had no better solution than to reluctantly say, “Your majesty, I would find a way to solve this problem…as for the Syracusan captives, it is indeed hard to find a city-state that can afford to pay for such a large number of slaves in a short time and is not afraid of Syracuse and dare to take…well, I do have a place in mind.” Marigi emphasised said, “We can try Carthage, and we could even exchange these slaves for Carthage’s grain.”

As soon as Marigi uttered these words, Mersis began to mutter, “Carthage is already scared of the Syracusans as they refused to ally with us before. Thus I don’t think they will agree to buy these prisoners.”

Marigi, however, ignored him as he waited for Davos’ reply/

‘Carthage!’ After Marigi’s reminder, Davos eyes brighten up: Before the war, Carthage was opposed to an alliance with Theonia, But with the war continuing to this day, it is not certain whether the Carthaginians would maintain their previous attitude. After all, Syracuse and Carthage were enemies. Although they have maintained peace during this time, it does not mean that the Carthaginians would just watch Syracuse continue to expand their power in Magna Graecia and even turn Magna Graecia into their backyard. Because by then, the more powerful Syracuse would only pose a greater threat to Carthage’s sphere of influence in Sicily.

Thinking of this, Davos made up his mind and said, “It seems that we need to send another envoy to Carthage immediately and probe the Carthaginian’ attitude towards this war. If they are willing to buy these slaves, we can further put forward some of our requirements to Carthage, such as grain trade. After all, this war is not only related to the survival of Theonia but also related to the rise and fall of Syracuse. I don’t know how long this war would last, but the grains of Taranto alone is not enough to ensure the sufficient food supply of the Theonian army being formed! Carthage is also known for its abundance of grain and is not far from Theonia, which can meet our needs. Otherwise, where else would we buy our needs? The black sea? Or Egypt? These places are too far away from us to guarantee its timely arrival, and accidents are prone to occur…”

“Your majesty, we could also consider Cyrenaica.” Marigi added.

‘Cyrenaica?’ Davos was taken aback for a moment as he really hadn’t thought of this Greek city-state situated in Africa and adjacent to Carthage and Egypt as Theonia had never had any contact with them before. Although Cyrenaica has a good relationship with Sparta(because it is the child of Sparta), they have always maintained neutrality among the Greek city-states, and it is a city-state dominated by agriculture and animal husbandry. Silphium is only one of its special commodities, but besides that, they are also rich in horses, cattle, sheep, wheat and linseed.

Chapter 478 – Theonia’s Complete Mobilisation

“Marigi, thank you for reminding me. It seems that while we send envoys to Carthage, we should also send people to contact Cyrenaica. After all, having one more channel to buy food will give us more insurance!”

“Your majesty, regarding this purchasing of grains that you are talking about, I would like to ask you where would this money come?! As we couldn’t even take out a single drachma from the treasury!” Mersis asked loudly without any regard for Davos’ new identity.

Davos naturally doesn’t care about such petty things. He had thought about this problem on the way back to Thurii, so after understanding Theonia’s current financial situation, his idea became firmer, “Mersis, do you remember when our treasury was depleted during the second war with Crotone? What measures did we take to tide over our difficulties?”

Mersis slapped his head and exclaimed, “Ah! How could I forget about this?! War bonds! We can issue war bonds again!”

“No! We are not going to issue war bonds! The consumption of this war is huge, so if we were to issue bonds, then even if we win this war, Theonia would be saddled with huge debts and seriously affects its future development!” Davos stood up with his eyes and tone becoming firmer, “This war is not only related to my interests, nor is it just about the interests of you statesmen of the Senate, but about the survival of tens of thousands of people in Theonia, whether we are wiped out, killed or enslaved by Syracuse, or beat Syracuse thoroughly and pull them down from the throne of the Greek hegemon in the Western Mediterranean, and win a broader and more glorious future for the people of Theonia!!!

This war is in the interest of our nation! It requires us to give our all and gather together for the final battle with Syracuse! Whoever can hold out to the end will win this battle for supremacy!

Thus I propose that the Senate encourage the people of Theonia Union to raise money, and I will be the first to do so! Apart from maintaining the normal supply of three meals a day for my family and slaves, I will donate all the remaining grain reserves! And besides the expenses needed to maintain them, the profits from my wife’s banks, restaurants and shops in the past few years will be donated to Theonia’s war effort!”

Davos’ words shocked the four people that were present.

Kapus shouted excitedly, “Your majesty, I would like to be the second to donate!”

“And me as well, your majesty!” Marigi followed and then said, “Theonia is my home, so I am willing to dedicate my loyalty to Theonia, as once it disappeared, all my wealth left will be useless!”

“Don’t forget us Besidisians, your majesty!” Baripiri then continued with sincerity, “We, Besidisians, have become inseparable from Theonia, so not only will I donate myself, but I will also go back to Besidice and call on others to do the same!”

Seeing the other three take their stand one after another, Mersis only hesitated for a while before gritting his teeth and said, “Fine, I will donate as well.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the afternoon, the Senate passed a resolution that called upon the people of Theonia to unite and donate money and food to Theonia, which was already short of funds and supplies, to help Theonia overcome this difficult time and win this great war against Syracuse!

This news soon spread all over Thurii, Amendolara, Besidice…

As the people debated fiercely, another shocking news soon came: The new king of Theonia, Davos, was the first to step forward with a generous donation to Theonia. Ribaso – the head servant of Davos’ residence, led a transport team consisting of several loaded carts and brought it to the Nike Square. The carts contain 51 talents, 3,500 drachmae, and more than three tons of wheat and dozens of livestock…which were then received by the public officers of the State Treasury led by the chief financial officer – Mersis.

Seeing the transport team pass by, the crowd was greatly moved.

However, such stimulation continued because immediately afterwards, Kunogelata, Cornelius, Scambras, and Raphias…all the statesmen of the Senate announced to donate money and grains to Theonia.

So when they saw loaded carts filled with goods entering through the city gate of Thurii and heading towards the square one after another, the people finally couldn’t stop themselves and spread the slogan that had come out at some point: “Theonia is our Theonia. If Theonia prospers, our families will prosper; If Theonia perishes, our homes will disappear!” “We don’t want to be the slaves of those vicious Syracusans! If we unite and dedicate ourselves to the end of the war, the final victory would definitely belong to Theonia!”

The day before yesterday, the people were somewhat confused and pessimistic about the war, but after these two big victories, they have regained their confidence. And with their new king – Davos and the statesmen leading the donation, and the slogans that quickly spread had made the people aware of the difficulties Theonia was facing, waking them up of their sense of responsibility as Theonians. Thus they began to act.

Not only them but even the soldiers in the camp were willing to return to their homes to prepare their money and food to donate to Theonia.

Davos agreed and announced that the first, second and seventh legions were temporarily dissolved and to report back to the camp before noon tomorrow. And anyone to be late would be punished by the Military Law.

The gloomy and desolate Thurii region had finally come alive again on this day. The people together with their slaves carried boxes and bags of money, while leading pack animals carrying the grains they stored in their homes from Amendolara, Besidice, the outskirts of Thurii, the port of Thurii, the city of Thurii…and from all directions, had all flocked to the square…

“Periandorus, you had come so quickly!” Shouted Aguilas after seeing Periandorus and his son, Patroclus, who was in front of him in the line.

“Uncle Aguilas!” Patroclus waved his hand in excitement.

“Young Clus, I heard that you helped the village that your father is managing in repelling the surprise attack of the Syracusan sailors. You did a good job! You have now become a soldier of Theonia!” Aguilas was pleased to see the previous mischievous youngster performing so well.

“But the legion still won’t let me join!” Patroclus complained.

“You do not meet the rules of the Military Law as you are not yet 18 years old. Just wait two more years.” Aguilas reassured Patroclus after remembering his age.

“Wait?! Wait until this war ends?!” Patroclus said aggrievedly.

“Don’t worry too much. After this war ends, you will still have another war to participate in the future!” Aguilas said emotionally.

At this moment, Periandorus had handed over the things he was carrying to the slave, turned around and made a military salute.

Aguilas returned the military salute.

Aguilas is a veteran legionary, Periandorus is also a legionary. Although they withdrew from active service due to injury, a lame foot and a disabled hand, the imprint of the Theonia Legion has been branded in their bones.

In such a crowded and noisy environment where two disabled people saluted each other, the people around them did not find it funny or feel amuses. On the contrary, they looked at them with respect.

“Lord Aguilas, it is inconvenient for you to move. You should’ve just ordered the slaves to send your donations to the square.” Periandorus said with concern.

Why did he call him Lord Aguilas? That’s because Aguilas was promoted to a demarchos.

With the continuous influx of immigrants and the rapid development of Theonia Union in the past few years, the outskirts of the cities, especially Thurii, are no longer the initial sparse few villages on the vast plains. Not only had they become densely populated, but the number of villages is also increasing. Due to the emerging village’s location being far from the urban area or the market, the villagers who are busy with their work would usually just buy what they need nearby or go to some nearby places to have fun and play sports during the slack season.

More importantly, in order to facilitate the management of these scattered farms, the Praetors of various cities in the union successively suggested to the Senate that some of the administrative tasks can be completed by these villages, such as tax collection and military training, etc.

Coincidentally, after the Senate passed Davos’ proposal of “establishing local councils in each city”, Sesta inspected the situation in the outskirts of each city. Then he referred to the governments of other city-states, especially Athens, and finally put forward a proposal to the Senate to add – Demos (i.e. Towns).

It’s just that the demos to be implemented in Theonia is not like the composition of the demos in Athens, where a demos must include a coastal village, a mountainous village, and an urban area, which are not adjacent to each other and thus too complicated to manage. The demos in Theonia has the surrounding villages under its jurisdiction, which is more convenient to manage and thus improves administrative efficiency.

At the same time, the Praetor of the city would nominate someone among the village chiefs of the villages under the demos with good performance and be appointed by the Civil Servant Management Committee of Theonia Union to be the demarchos*. But compared to the village chiefs elected by the villages, the demarchos has already entered the roster of a civil servant of the Senate, and its administrative power in the region is only lower than that of the city’s Praetor. Furthermore, a demarchos can already be considered a middle-ranking official in Theonia, so it is not too much to call him “lord”, and the village of Periandorus just happens to be under his jurisdiction.

“What lord?” the Demos System was just starting when it was soon stopped temporarily due to Syracuse’s invasion. Thus Aguilas has not yet adapted to this change of identity, “Both you and I were soldiers of the legion and had participated in battles, so we know the importance of military rations to the army. Without food, it would cause even the most powerful army to lose, so I have to come! I have to lead a good example to the people! Except leaving enough food for my family and me to last until next year’s autumn harvest, I have donated it all in hopes that lord…his majesty Davos can use these donated supplies to organise a powerful army to completely defeat the Syracusans and free our lands from those cursed enemies!”

“You are right, lord Aguilas! Who would support the legion if we don’t support it first?!” As soon as Periandorus said it excitedly, shouting sounded around him.

Chapter 479 – Officers

“Although I did not become a soldier of the legion, I am still a citizen of Theonia. And it is our duty to donate to Theonia to defend our homeland!”

“Although my husband died in Brutii and several of my children are still young and can’t join the army, the soldiers’ committee had taken care of my family and me. So today is the time for me to repay them!”

“Even though I am just a freeman, I like Theonia Union because it’s the only place that gives us poor people opportunities and hope. Thus even though I don’t have much savings, I am willing to donate some of it to Theonia in the hope that it can overcome its enemies and keep on existing!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On this day, people of different statues, whether they are men, women, elderly, children, citizens, freemen, or slaves, had gathered together for a common purpose and moved in several long lines from the east, west, south and north towards the centre of Theonia – the Nike Square and the Grand Senate Hall…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Big brother, you are back!” Kunogelata’s youngest son, Dicaeogelata, couldn’t help but be overjoyed when he saw Sostratus enter the residence. Sostratus was drafted into the seventh legion some time ago and served as a centurion. It made him so happy that he rushed up excitedly and said, “Brother, the battle where your seventh legion wipes out the Tarantines was so amazing! Tell me the details of the entire battle!”

“I don’t have time now, so I’ll tell you about it at another time, okay?” As he strode in, Sostratus asked, “Where’s father?”

“He went to the square to donate.”

“I knew this would happen, and that old man didn’t even wait for me. At least we could have gone together so that we would donate less.” Although Sostratus’ words were full of complaints, the smile on his face was more like he was joking.

His brother’s previous words disappointed Dicaeogelata a bit. However, when he heard about what his brother just said, he became curious as his brother only had money in his eyes, “Brother, are you going to donate as well?!”

“Of course!” Sostratus replied affirmatively, “It would be too noticeable if I did not donate while everyone has! Moreover, since I have to donate, then I have to donate more to attract the attention of his majesty Davos and the statesmen. Brother, you should know that if we win this war, there is a large area of land to the south just waiting for us to occupy. Furthermore, we would take over Syracuse’s thriving trade market…”

Looking at the excited and dreaming Sostratus, Dicaeogelata knew that the man in front of him was still the big brother he knew and had not changed as the donation was just to get more benefits.

After Sostratus muttered his visions of the future, he asked, “Where’s your sister-in-law?”

“Sister-in-law should be in the house…” As soon as he mentioned his sister-in-law, Dicaeogelata’ speech became respectful, not because Sostratus’ wife was virtuous, but because-

“Sostratus, why are you back?! You didn’t desert, did you?! I heard from my father that desertion in Theonia is punishable by death! You should go back to the camp while I’ll have your father and my father go together to plead to his majesty Davos!” The Lucanian woman that came out of the main residence shouted in surprise as soon as she saw Sostratus.

“I am not a deserter, I-” Sostratus hurriedly said.

But his wife didn’t even listen to him as she strode forward and grabbed his ear in one hand, “You are going to lie to me again, aren’t you?!” (T/N: RIP Sostratus)

Sostratus immediately screamed like a pig about to get slaughtered, “Ouch! It hurts! It hurts! Be gentle…”

Dicaeogelata was unable to stop himself from laughing at seeing a familiar scene.

After Kunogelata returned to Thurii, he thought about finding a wife for his eldest son, Sostratus, as he was almost 30 years old and still single.

But while looking for a daughter-in-law, Sostratus took the initiative to tell him that he wanted to marry Hemon’s second daughter, Kelina, after finding out his father’s plan.

Although Kunogelata was surprised, he still followed his son’s advice. After all, archon Davos advocates the intermarriage with Lucania and even enjoys a lot of benefits. Besides, Hemon is a statesman from Lucania, so the marriage between both sides is a match.

Kunogelata wasn’t a traditionalist person, so he soon went to propose the marriage while Hemon was able to climb Theonia’s top powers through Kunogelata, an influential Greek statesman. Thus Sostratus smoothly married Kelina as his wife.

Sostratus marrying Kelina wasn’t due to her beautiful appearance but because he values Hemon’s influence in the Lucanian region, which would smoothen his future business in Lucania.

After their marriage, the newlyweds should have lived independently according to Greek tradition. However, after suffering a disaster, Kunogelata now cherishes his family and does not allow Sostratus and his daughter-in-law to move out.

Afterwards, Sostratus was surprised to find that his wife was far more assertive than other Lucanian women, having a fierce and decisive personality that made him develop “wife-phobia”. (T/N: RIP again)

Surprisingly, Kunogelata is actually happy because his daughter-in-law not only handled the affairs of the family in an orderly manner but more importantly, she was able to fix his eldest son’s somewhat deviant personality and make him obedient.

“I swear to god Asinu that I did not desert! It’s really his majesty Davos who had told us to go home…you can go and ask the other people!” Sostratus hurriedly explained but ended up blurting out the wrong words again.

“Since when did you start believing god Asinua?! You tried to deceive me again! Do you no longer want to live?!” Kelina’s finger pinched hard again.

“OUCH! IT HURTS! IT HURTS!…”

Seeing the couple quarrel, Dicaeogelata found it amusing and went forward to persuade her, “Sister-in-law, it is true that his majesty Davos asked them to return because the soldiers also wanted to donate their money to Theonia.”

Kelina’s attitude was much better when faced with her brother-in-law. She then let go of her hand and asked with doubt, “Is it true that his majesty Davos allowed you to return because you want to donate?”

“That’s right!” Sostratus rubbed his ears that turned red and complained loudly, “How dare you doubt your husband’s words!”

Kelina ignored him and continued to ask, “How much are you going to donate?”

Although Sostratus wanted to donate more, he knew that his wife was much more generous in her actions. Thus the moment he hesitated, Kelina had already made the decision for him, “Then donate all the money you have in Cheiristoya’s bank.”

When Sostratus heard this, he forgot his wife-phobia and immediately cursed, “You prodigal woman! That money of mine is nearly six talents! Do you think is it that easy to earn money, so you can just give it all away so easily?!!”

“What did you say?!” Kelina’s eyebrows rose. When she reached out her hands, miserable screams immediately rang out again…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Melisander, the platoon captain of the second legion, was on his way to his home. He no longer lived in Thurii with his mother and Philesius and had gone out on his own after he got married. But this marriage has its own twist and turn.

When Arsinis died in the Battle of Bruttii, they removed the will he kept in the Temple of Hades. (Since the establishment of the Temple of Hades, Plesinas, at the suggestion of Davos, allowed the temple to open up this function to the people’s trust in the prestige and divine power of Hades so that they could be completely relieved that the contents of the will would not be revealed. Furthermore, because Theonia is mainly a union formed by immigrants, they have far fewer elderly. Thus most of the wills stored in the Temple of Hades are from the soldiers before they go to war as they do not know when they will die in battle. Hence they will write their will before each expedition and store it in the temple, which was done by the legion’s logistics before the temple assumed function.)

And since Arsinis had no relatives, he gave half of his properties to his newly married Lucanian wife. He also allowed her to remarry in his will while giving the other half of his properties to his close friend, Melisander, with the hope that he would take care of his wife until she remarried.

So when Melisander received this will, he broke down in tears.

But what Arsinis didn’t know before he died was that his wife became pregnant before he left for war. Out of his friends’ memories and to fulfil his last wife, the 18-year-old Melisander decided to care for Arsinis’ wife, Hepnea, and let her give birth to Arsinis’ child smoothly. But due to their frequent contacts, Melisander and Hepnea, who was not too far apart from him in age, developed a mutual love for each other and eventually joined together. After their marriage, Melisander decided to live in the house given to him by Arsinis in Amendolara.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Melisander and his comrades from the second legion, who also lived in Amendolara, laughed and joked around as they walked north. But after they crossed the river, they were shocked by the sight that appeared before them: Burned villages, felled trees, destroyed farms and blocked canals…the devastation caused by the Tarantine soldiers could be seen everywhere, causing the soldiers to curse at Taranto and regretting their leniency in yesterday’s battle, hoping that they should have killed them to relieve their hatred.

Fortunately, the city of Amendolara was not damaged by the war. So after entering the city, Melisander bid farewell to his comrades and pushed open the door of his house.

“Master, you are back!” The female slave shouted excitedly.

“Where is your mistress?” Melisander looked eagerly through the atrium to the main building.

“The lady is praying for you at the altar of Hades, milord! After you left for war, the lady has been praying there every day!”

Hepnea was especially worried because her ex-husband, Arsinis, died in battle. So when Melisander set out on the expedition, she built a special room in the courtyard to place the altar of Hades and prayed for her husband’s safety every day.

“Oh, the old lady is also here. She has been living here all this time.” The female slave added.

Chapter 480 – Sarissa

Melisander was not surprised as he knew that his mother actually preferred living in the small city of Amendolara and only chose to live in the noisy city of Thurii to take care of Philesius. So after Philesius left for war, she felt lonely and naturally decided to come to Amendolara to live with her daughter-in-law and grandson.

As Melisander walked along the passage, a little girl ran towards him, “Brother! Brother!…”

“Little Doris!” Melisander came forward and picked up Doris, his three-year-old sister born to his mother and Philesius.

“Brother! Brother!…” Then another child staggered towards him.

“Be careful, my baby.” Melisander scrambled to hug him with his other arm. He then corrected him, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, “I’m not your brother, but your father. I want you to call me dad! Dad!”

The boy was the son of Arsinis and Hepnea, Arsinis the Second. During Hepnea’s pregnancy, Melisander took good care of her, so he treated little Arsinis as if he were his own.

Interestingly enough, Melisander and his sister’s age gap was huge, but she is the same age as his two-year-old stepson, little Arsinis, so they are more like sister and brother. And little Arsinis loves to play with his little aunt.

“No, just call him brother! Brother!” Incited by the naughty Doris.

Little Arsinis looked at Doris and Melisander confusedly. Afterwards, he loudly said, “Brother! Brother!”

Melisander was both amused and angry. He then patted Doris’ butt twice and said while pretending to be angry, “If you continue teaching little Ar again, this brother of yours will spank you!”

Doris immediately burst into tears.

“Melisander, how old are you that you don’t even know how to yield to your sister?!” A female voice that was less like a rebuke and more like a sound of relief sounded from the front.

“Mother!” Melisander stood up and called out affectionately. He then turned to the young, slender figure beside Delia and said in a soft voice, “I am back, Hepnea.”

Hepnea stared at her husband, who had lost his childishness and was more robust. It was only after she looked over his body and making sure there were no scars that her worries were dispelled, and smiled at Melisander.

“Didn’t his majesty Davos give an order allowing you to go home only after we defeat the enemy?! Why are you back now?!” Delia asked in surprise. And the reason why she called Davos with his new title so smoothly was that they were the loyal believers of Hades who pushed Davos to the throne.

“It’s because his majesty allowed us to go home to participate in the donation and return to the camp tomorrow.” Melisander replied.

“Ah, you would go back tomorrow?!” Hepnea blurted out as she didn’t expect their time to get together to be so short.

“Once the war is over, and peace is restored, you can have Melisander stay at home as long as you want. But now, they must expel our enemies that want to destroy our land!” Delia had seen how the Tarantines ravaged her homeland with her own eyes, so she educated her daughter-in-law as she did not want that to happen again.

“You are right, mother.” Hepnea answered with respect.

Melisander gently pushed away his son’s small hands that were scratching at his face and said, “His majesty will soon lead us south to repel the Syracusans. However, the biggest problem now is that we don’t have enough food-”

“I heard that your father’s place(referring to Aprustum) is not in good condition…” Delia was very worried, not only because she heard that the soldiers on the frontline had food shortages but also because of their great defeat. Even here in the centre of Theonia, she could still hear some people blaming her husband, such as his poor commanding ability and so on. So she could only imagine how much pressure Philesius is bearing at the frontline, “You had just come back in time as Hepnea and I have already prepared the money and food to donate. Later, we can go together and bring it to the Nike Square.”

“That’s great!” Melisander said happily as this saved him a lot of effort.

“Melisander, my son. Now that you are going south this time, you must help your father more!” Delia reminded.

‘What can I do for him? My father is the commander in the south, while I am just a platoon leader.’ Melisander thought, but the words escaping from his mouth was full of promises.

Hepnea took little Arsinis from his arms while Delia held Doris as they entered the main residence.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“What did you say?! Lord…his majesty can’t go home yet?!” Azune asked anxiously, “But I heard that the soldiers in the camp have already been disbanded and gone home!”

Aristias calmly said, “His majesty has important matters to attend to and will be back later. That’s why he told me to come first and tell it to you, madam.”

“I see. Then we’ll wait for him to come back.” Cheiristoya responded with a smile.

Aristias then said his goodbye and left.

“Sister, will Davos not come back today?!” Disappointment and worry mixed on Agnes’ pretty face, looking a bit pitiful. Although she was already 24 years old, her father always adored her before she got married. And Davos treasured her after they got married, and she moved to Thurii that she was either at home or in the temple, not suffering any big storm or setbacks. As this was her first time being pregnant, she inevitably felt anxious and desperate for someone to accompany and comfort her. However, Davos went on an expedition for more than a month and was not around, so when she finally heard that he was coming back but got postponed in the blink of an eye, her mood naturally suffered from uncertainty.

Although Cheiristoya was also saddened, as the matriarch managing Davos’ residence, she cheered herself up and tried her best to comfort her by saying, “Sister, relax. It’s not like you don’t know our husband. If he said he would come back today, he would come back today! So you shouldn’t be anxious. Instead, go to bed first and take a rest so that you won’t feel sleepy when he comes home.”

“Okay…sister, but don’t forget to wake me up later.” Agnes said softly while the female slave supported her into her room.

Cheiristoya sighed softly and felt bitter for a while, ‘Agnes has me to comfort her, but who would comfort me!’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos was looking carefully at a weapon placed on the table: A spear. Its shape and style are similar to those used by the heavy infantry. The only difference was that the length is four metres, which is two metres longer than the spear used by the heavy infantry, and the diameter of the shaft is thicker.

As soon as Davos picked it up, Tios – the arms merchant, shouted, “Your majesty, watch out!”

Davos’ height and the spear’s length almost pierced the ceiling, so he had to lift it obliquely. After flicking the spear and making a few more thrusts, he then asked with satisfaction, “This is a well-made spear. Are the other spears like this?”

Tios frankly replied, “Your majesty, you asked me to make 6000 of such spears in such a short time, but I couldn’t make each spear like the one in your hand. However, I can assure you that they have no problem killing the enemy! Furthermore, in terms of quality, these spears are stronger and more durable because, with your majesty’s approval, we cut down the cedar in the Amendolaran mountains and used the wood used to build ships to create these spears. Hence even if we attach the spearheads to such a long shaft, it wouldn’t tremble much and not be easily broken when thrusting…”

Davos nodded, “Are all of them finished?”

“Only 1400 shafts were completed and sent here first because Lord Kapus was in a hurry to use them.”

Davos frowned and said, “You have to hurry up as we would only stay in Thurii for a few days before we have to go to battle again. Hence we need to make all these spears and distribute them to every soldier as soon as possible because we also need to leave them time for training. Time is very tight!”

“Your majesty, we are doing our best! But just the matter of chopping down trees, transportation, cutting and planing the wood…” Tios began to complain.

Davos interrupted him and said, “I’ll have Kapus sent some men from the logistics to assist you with some of the less important processes, such as cutting down trees, transporting them and so on, while your men finish the production of the spearheads and spear shaft. Will that work?!”

“If that’s the case…” Tios calculated it carefully and said loudly, “I should…be able to guarantee that I can deliver all the spears to you in three…no, the day after tomorrow!”

“Work hard! As for the cost of these weapons, the State Treasury is currently short of money, so we could only pay it to you after the war is over. But don’t worry as I will ask Mersis to add 10% interest.”

As soon as Davos said this, Tios hurriedly replied, “Your majesty, I am willing to donate all of these spears to Theonia, and I have also already donated three talents, which I asked my family to bring to the Nike Square. Your majesty, you have taken the lead in setting an example for us. Hence as a citizen of Theonia, I am willing to dedicate myself for Theonia to gain victory in this war, even though I cannot participate in the battle!”

“Well said!” Davos then praised loudly, “Your contributions will naturally be recorded, so once we won this war, the Senate will reward you for it!”

At Davos’ vague hint, Tios was encouraged, and he immediately pulled out a few sheets of papyrus and handed them to Davos.

After he took and looked at it, Davos stared at Tios with some doubt.

“Your majesty, these are the foreign merchants in Amendolara’s Economic Development Zone. When they heard that Theonia called on the citizens to donate, they all said, ‘I hope to participate in the donation and help Theonia overcome this crisis.’ and these are the list of things they gathered and donated.” Tios explained.

Chapter 481 – A new military unit

Although these foreign merchants, who bought land in Amendolara through auction, had produced and sold their wares and even benefited a lot from some preferential bills enacted by Theonia, except for a few such as Tios and Dicaeapolis, who joined Theonia, the rest were still hesitant and waiting. Especially after the war with Syracuse broke out, the defeat of the South Italian Alliance troops in the battle and the destruction of Amendolara’s Economic Development Zone by the Tarantine cavalry had made them look down on the prospect of Theonia. If it were not for the Syracusan and Tarantine fleet blocking the Gulf of Taranto, they would have already fled by ship.

However, the return of Davos, the total annihilation of the Tarantine navy and army in one day, and the defeat of the powerful Syracusan navy, which created a miracle in the midst of the impossible, had made these foreign merchants astounded. Then they were also affected by the fanatical of the Theonians that they began to believe that Hades indeed blessed Theonia. These foreign merchants, who made trades in the Mediterranean and dared to invest in Theonia, do not lack the spirit of adventure and vision. So when they began to have hope for Theonia’s prospects in this war, they were surprised to find that if Theonia really won this war, Theonia would rapidly expand as it did after their previous war. They would expand to the southern part of Magna Graecia and the eastern part of Sicily, so what does this mean to anyone doing trade in this area? The Theonia Union would have the most important trade route in the western Mediterranean under their control!

So at the instigation of Dicaeapolis and Tios, the merchants made a bold investment and entrusted Tios to deliver the list of supplies to Davos, the new king of Theonia, whom they believed to be Hades’ descendant.

Davos once again carefully read the huge amount of supplies listed in the papyrus. These foreign merchants’ sincerity was evident, and Davos certainly knew what they were longing for, so he said, “Tios, go back and tell them that although Theonia would never forget the traitors who stabbed us in the back when we are down! We, even more so, will never forget the friends who helped us in our most difficult times! There is an old saying in the east that says, ‘Repay a drop of water with a fountain of water!’!”

After seeing Tios go, Davos came to the training ground where the freemen recruited by Kapus were training.

Seeing the arrival of Davos, Kapus hurried towards him.

“Have all the soldiers been called?” Davos looked at the field. The training ground that could accommodate more than 30,000 men still looked empty even though a group of freemen occupied it.

“Only 2,570 men have arrived.” Kapus then explained, “The others won’t be here until tomorrow morning as they had to go to the Nike Square to donate.”

Davos expressed his understanding, then he looked at the fairly neat queue on the field and asked, “Are they all freemen with more than one year of military training?”

“Your majesty, there are not many freemen in the port who we had trained. Thus I recruited the people from the logistics unit to gather 6,000 men.” Kapus said truthfully.

“Will the next supply transportations have problems?” Davos asked again.

“I left the logistics camps’ management and officers and recruited the freemen from the port to replenish their numbers. Now that we have broken Syracuse’s maritime advantage, there should be no more enemies that would land behind us and attack our supply convoys, so they shouldn’t have any problem in completing the transportation tasks.” Kapus explained.

“Alas, we need to tear down the east wall to mend the west wall!” Davos sighed as this war has shown him that Theonia’s population resources are still short, and he has no better solution in the short time, “Send out the sarissa and have them practice the formation first.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Tapirus was a slave of Cheiristoya’s Restaurant, but after more than four years, he was freed of slavery and became a freeman, then the head of a restaurant in the city of Thurii. When Kapus arrived at the logistics camp to draw personnel, he was the one who volunteered to participate as it would take too long to become a citizen of Theonia through the normal method, and the only way to shorten the number of years was to participate in the battle. So despite the risk to his life and his limbs, Tapirus believe that this is a rare opportunity. Furthermore, the risk is worth taking because King Davos has returned, and this unit is what he ordered to form!

And many freemen had the same idea, and so they all joined.

Tapirus, having participated in a year and half of military training and having the ability to count and read(skills he acquired in the restaurant), was appointed as a squad leader because the veterans who should have been drawn from the legions to serve as officers at all ranks of this new unit had been disbanded and gone home, and would not return until tomorrow. Hence they were temporarily replaced by the recruits.

At this time, the city-state’s slaves distributed bundles of long spears to every freeman.

‘This is the weapon we are going to use?!’ Tapirus looked at the spear in his hand in surprise because this spear was much longer than the one used for training.

After getting their own weapons, the freemen became so excited that some even waved them and struck the sarissa of those around them or the butt of the sarissa hitting their comrades next to them. For a time, the formation was chaotic and noisy.

Then a sharp salpinx immediately sounded throughout the training ground, causing the freemen to immediately stand straight. Although there were still sarissa colliding with each other, only a few made loud noises as the people, who had experienced military training, knew that if they didn’t obey the order, the officers would pull out the offenders and cane them in public with their pants down, which is too degrading to their dignity.

“All of you pay attention!” Several instructors shouted in front of the queue, “Hold it like this when standing…”

Tapirus followed the instructor’s posture and placed the sarissa against his left side with the sarissa’s butt touching the ground, his left hand gripping the bottom shaft and his right hand across his left hand, holding the upper shaft.

After the freemen followed, the sarissa no longer collided with each other. Soon, they stood straight up like a neat and dense forest.

Davos was satisfied that the freemen could quickly master the essentials of holding the sarissa. He then happily said, “It seems that their more than a year of military training isn’t wasted!”

Then the salpinx sounded again, and the flag bearer of each platoon immediately pointed the black flag in front of them.

“Forward!” Tapirus shouted. And as the drummer beat their drums rhythmically, the soldiers began moving forward with their sarissa.

But as they marched, the original neat formation became more and more uneven, resulting in the formation becoming somewhat scattered. And due to their body’s movement, the spearhead swung left and right, hitting each other and making a clattering sound.

Seeing the frowning Davos, Kapus explained, “Your majesty, there is a lot of difference in the control of the whole team because the veterans who serve as officers have all gone home. That’s why the maintenance of the formation and the execution of the orders were much worse.”

“I understand.” Davos said as he kept staring at the freemen’s performance.

The salpinx sound changed again.

“Defence!” Tapirus shouted.

The advancing platoon soldiers stopped and began to gather in the centre: After the first row of soldiers thrust their sarissa straight, the next few rows of soldiers close to the front held their sarissa obliquely forward in turn until the sarissa of the sixth row could still pass through the shoulders of the first row of soldiers and form a part of the spear wall. At this time, the originally scattered formation became a dense and thick spear formation.

Davos kept frowning as he turned to Kapus and said, “Do you know why I made the freemen use this kind of long spear?”

“Because of the need to deal with Syracuse’s cavalries.” Kapus said without hesitation. It is apparent that he had carefully thought about it,

“That’s right! Our cavalry isn’t a match against those Numidians and Celts who grew up riding horses, so I have made this sarissa to deal with the mercenary cavalries hired by Syracuse. However, what I want is not to ward off the cavalry with this rigid and stiff defensive formation but to crush the enemy cavalry with an attack!” Davos eyes gleamed as he gazed at Kapus.

Kapus was somewhat surprised as he said, “Have them attack Syracuse’s cavalries with a four-metre-long spear?!”

“Yes.” Davos nodded and said, “And they are required to maintain a dense formation as much as possible while charging at the enemy. Thus they won’t be equipped with armour, allowing them to be lighter and more flexible when marching and running with their sarissa in both hands.”

The long spear formation conceived by Davos wasn’t the Macedonian Phalanx in his previous life as he doesn’t like such clunky formation. Furthermore, Theonia already has its own heavy infantry phalanx, and its combat effectiveness is no worse than that of the Macedonian Phalanx. So what he wants to copy is the famous Reisläufer (Swiss mercenaries) in western Europe in the middle ages; These fierce mountain people could even hold a 4-meter-long spear and halberd while launching a group charge against the heavy armoured medieval heavy cavalry and even defeat the French heavy cavalry many times. Thus became famous in western Europe, becoming an important means for the medieval Swiss to make a living that even the French Royal Family and the Holy See hired them as palace guards.

“Your majesty, if you don’t equip them with armour-” As the one responsible to lead them, Kapus had to remind, “I’m afraid their casualties will be great under the rain of arrows and javelins!”

“They are to protect the flanks of the whole formation and will not be arranged in the front. Besides, it’s too late to make protective armour specifically for them.” Davos replied.

Chapter 482 – Training and Returning Home

Davos considered their weak protection, but they were only a temporary unit and was not in his plans for the future of the Theonian army after all as Theonia would train a more powerful cavalry to deal with enemy cavalries later.

“Blow the salpinx, have them run and then charge for me to inspect.” Davos looked at the sky and urged.

Although Davos ordered it, it was still dangerous to have freemen who had never used such long spears before making a group charge with their sarissa.

As the salpinx rang three times in a row, the freemen raised their sarissa vertically and began to jog under the guidance of their instructors.

But the formation that had finally restored its order became crooked again as they sped up, and the gap between the front and rear rows also widened.

At this moment, as the salpinx sounded more sharply, the soldiers roared: Then the soldiers on the first row thrust their spear horizontally while the soldiers behind them raised their sarissa obliquely, in turn, to avoid accidentally wounding the soldiers at their front. When viewed from the side, the sarissa goes from low to high, but it didn’t last long before the formation of thousands of men scattered in the charge; Some advance too far, some lagged behind, and a few fell while running and accidentally wounding several of their comrades.

Kapus looked at Davos with uneasiness.

Davos, on the other hand, remained calm. Although he had to change the four-metre halberd of the Swiss in his former life into a spear and reduced the weight, it is apparent that the freemen, who used it for the first time and had never yet participated in a battle, wouldn’t easily master it. Thus he thought about it and said, “I suggest that you don’t make them charge in a large phalanx as it is too rigid. Instead, it is better to divide them into small phalanxes, just like how the heavy infantry phalanx march before confronting the enemy. Attacking the enemy cavalry in this way would make it easier for the officers to control the soldiers, and it not only ensures the small phalanx denseness but also makes the formation flexible and able to occupy a larger area. Furthermore, our spearmen must be more flexible to be able to catch up with those Syracuse’s cavalries from Numidia and the Po River…”

After listening carefully to Davos’ advice, Kapus was greatly inspired as he immediately said, “Your majesty, I’ll immediately have them train following your suggestion.”

Davos once again reminded, “Lord Kapus, they don’t have much time left for them to train, so you have to find a way to make these freemen familiar with the use of sarissa and the transition to offensive formation within two to three days!”

Kapus nodded heavily as he strode towards the training ground.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos, who had been busy the whole day, had finally stepped out into the moonlit night and returned to his house.

After he pushed open the gate of his residence, cheerful voices could be heard, “Master…no, your majesty!”

“Your majesty, you are back! Congratulations on becoming King of Theonia!”

“Your majesty, congratulations on defeating the Syracusan navy and routing the Tarantines!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

With Davos becoming the king of Theonia, the slaves in his residence feel honoured, and their status elevated.

Davos nodded to each of them and finally came to Ribaso, “You’ve worked hard these days!”

“It is my duty, your majesty!” Ribaso then said with respect, “Madam and the little masters are waiting for you in the inner courtyard.”

“It’s already so late, yet they still haven’t slept?!” Davos was a little surprised and touched. He then turned serious as he said to Ribaso, “Have them all go to rest, blow out all the candles in the hallway and put them away. This is not the time to celebrate! How could you be so wasteful? Are you not afraid of the public’s opinion?!”

Although Davos spoke gently, Ribaso heard the rebuke in his words, and he quickly bowed his head to ask for forgiveness.

“The higher one status is, the more discreet and low-profile one should be! This is a statement that you should always keep in mind and restrain them. Otherwise, you will be the first one I will find if anyone causes a problem!” Davos’ warning caused Ribaso to be alert.

Davos pushed open the door of the inner courtyard, and Azune, who had been waiting there, happily said, “Your majesty, welcome home!”

“Azune, it is thanks to you that Cheiristoya was able to give birth to Eunice smoothly and safely. Thank you!” Davos sincerely expressed his gratitude.

Although Azune was excited, she did not dare respond to his gratitude. Instead, she said, “The two ladies and the children are waiting for you in lady Cheiristoya’s room.”

“Oh, it seems that it would be lively tonight!” Davos laughed.

“Your majesty, have you had dinner?”

“No, I was too busy and didn’t have the time. Just prepare two loaves of bread, a bowl of wheat porridge and a cup of wine.”

“Yes, your majesty. I’ll have it ready for you soon.”

Just as Davos pushed open the bedroom door, a figure quickly burst into his arms and shouted eagerly, “Dad, you’re finally back! I missed you so much!!”

Davos smilingly picked up little Cro, “Daddy misses you too! Let daddy see if you have gained weight during this time?”

Little Cro immediately puffed up his cheeks.

Feeling amused, Davos gently tugged on his chubby little face.

“Father!” A clear voice came from behind.

Davos smiled and said to his adopted daughter, “Cynthia, I was away for only a month, and you seem to grow taller again.” he then walked over with little Cro in his arm, placed his hand on Cynthia’s head in a gesture to measure her height.

“Fa…father.” Adoris, who was beside Cynthia, said nervously. It is amusing to see that the usually stubborn Adoris would become nervous and well-behaved like a girl whenever he sees Davos.

“Adoris, did you ask your teacher to complain to your mother?” Davos teasingly said.

“N…no.” Adoris shook his head.

“Father, the akademia is temporarily closed.” Cynthia interjected.

“Closed?” Davos was slightly surprised, but he thought it was normal after a second thought. Then he said, “So did you all stay at home during this time? Cynthia, you are the eldest, so you have to take good care of your brother and relieve the burden for your two mothers.”

“Yes.” Cynthia nodded seriously.

“Cynthia is very sensible as she helped Agnes and me on many things. Unlike someone who, not to mention helping, have been away from home for so long that even when he returned, he didn’t come home to take a look at us!” Davos looked up and saw Cheiristoya sitting on the wooden bed while looking at him angrily. Agnes, on the other hand, was lying on her side with her face full of resentment.

“I-” Just as he was about to speak, Davos found that it was not suitable to explain himself this time. So he immediately said, “Am I not back?”

Cheiristoya snorted, “It’s fine even if you don’t come back, but as soon as you did, you gave away more than half of the money we have worked so hard to earn in the past few years!”

Agnes discreetly patted Cheiristoya. She was a traditional person and was looking forward to her husband’s return, so she didn’t want to destroy this warm atmosphere or even have a quarrel.

Davos didn’t even need to argue back as little Cro loudly said, “Mom, don’t blame Dad!”

“Oh, it’s still my baby who thinks of me!” Davos happily kissed and kissed little Cro’s pinkish face, “Come with Daddy and let’s go see your little sister.”

Eunice was lying beside Cheiristoya, and even though she was awake, she didn’t cry.

As Davos approached his daughter, Cheiristoya quickly reminded, “Careful! Don’t scare her.”

“Don’t worry. I am Herpus’ teacher.”

“Physicians also know how to raise children?”

“I am the gods favoured, so I know everything, including your… body.” Davos leaned close to her and whispered the last word.

Cheiristoya immediately blushed and reached out to gently hit him, and her resentment disappeared.

Davos gently picked up Eunice, and the little girl looked at him curiously with her big, bright blue eyes.

“My child, I’m your dad.” Davos said softly to her.

Eunice giggled and touched Davos’ face with her tiny hands.

After letting Eunice grasp his hands, Davos turned to Cheiristoya and said with a smile, “Eunice is quite strong!”

At this moment, Cheiristoya looked at the father and daughter and nodded gently at his words.

“Dad, I’m stronger than my sister!” Little Cro said defiantly.

“You are the older brother, so of course, you are stronger.” Davos laughed, “Little Cro, isn’t your sister beautiful?”

At this age, little Cro didn’t even know what beauty was, so he just nodded after what his father said, “Un, beautiful.”

Now, the redness on her skin has faded, and the ample milked enriched her wrinkly skin has. Eunice has beautiful bright eyes, a small nose, rosy lips and soft skin…a truly beautiful baby.

Davos turned around and said to the children, “Do you think little Eunice looks like dad?”

Cynthia shook her head and said, “No.”

Hearing her sister say so, Adoris mumbled, “…no.”

“My sister looks like mother.” Little Cro was the most direct.

Davos laughed and said, “Fortunately, she didn’t look after me and instead took on Cheiristoya. In the future, little Eunice will be a great beauty!”

Cheiristoya rolled her eyes and reached out, “Give me Eunice. She would cry later if you held her for too long just after seeing her for the first time.”

With some reluctance, Davos handed Eunice to Cheiristoya and turned to look at the children and said, “Children, our family is now more lively with the addition of your sister. And here-” he gently placed his right hand on Agnes’ stomach, “Your mother Agnes will add another brother to you next year. So as the elder brother and sister, you must become an example and take good care of them!”

Chapter 483 – Blissful Moment

Cynthia and Adoris nodded their heads in quick succession while little Cro asked excitedly, “So can I play with them?”

“Of course.” Davos laughed.

Little Cro immediately leapt with joy.

“I haven’t gone to the temple for divination, so I don’t even know if it would be a boy or girl…” Agnes said delicately. The Temple of Hera, where she was in charge, has priests specialising in divination whether the pregnant woman was carrying a boy or a girl. However, because she was still in early pregnancy, her stomach wasn’t yet discernible, so she hadn’t gone there. Still, Agnes continued to pray silently to Hera, who she served, to give her a healthy boy.

“I am favoured by gods, so if I say it’s a boy, then it is definitely a boy!” Knowing what

Davos naturally knew what was in her mind, so he said that solemnly.

“Really?!” Agnes blinked suspiciously.

“Hmm…we now have five children in our family!” Davos smiled. He then loudly said to Cheiristoya and Agnes, “So you have to keep working harder to make it ten and form a team!”

Cheiristoya immediately scolded, “Do you think that giving birth is as easy as marching to war?!”

Davos laughed, and the sound of laughter filled the bedroom.

As it was already late at night, the children had gone to bed, and Azune carried Eunice while the three left in the bedroom were all sleepy.

Agnes looked at Davos and quietly said, “I…I am going back to bed…”

“Go back to where?!” Davos pulled her in and blurted out without hesitation, “We will all sleep here tonight so that I could accompany you well!”

“How can that be possible?” Although Agnes was moved, she looked at Cheiristoya in embarrassment.

“Sister, you just stay.” Cheiristoya said seriously, “Davos is going back to the camp tomorrow, and we don’t know when he will return. That’s why we should chat with him tonight as sisters!”

It’s really only a chat. Cheiristoya had just given birth and could not have s*x while Agnes was still in her early pregnancy and likewise could not make love to Davos.

After he blew out the candles, Davos lay between Cheiristoya and Agnes. With the intoxicating body fragrance lingering at the tip of his nose and holding their slender fingers in his hands, Davos felt joyous and wished to stay here for a long time rather than leave early in the morning…

“When will the war end?” Agnes asked softly as she snuggled into her husband.

“I fear that it would last a few more months…fwoosh…” Davos replied while trying to blow Agnes’ hair sticking to the side of his face, making him a little itchy because he couldn’t pull out his hands as he held the hands of his two wives.

“It would take so long?!” Disappointment filled Agnes’ murmur.

“You don’t have to worry. I will end the war and return to Thurii to accompany you before you give birth!” Davos comforted her.

“Really?!” Agnes was a bit surprised.

“Yes!” Davos said seriously.

“Sister, see how well he treats you! He never said anything like that to me when I was pregnant with little Cro and Eunice!” Along with Cheiristoya’s dissatisfied voice, Davos felt a sharp pain coming from his left hand, but he forced himself not to scream.

“Then I will wait for you to come back, so you should pay attention to your safety on the battlefield!” Agnes smiled and kissed him affectionately. After a while, Davos could hear a slight snoring sound.

Agnes fell asleep.

“That’s the good thing about being pregnant. You could just fall asleep whenever you want, unlike me who has Eunice…ha…” Just as Cheiristoya sighed, Davos turned his head to kiss her rosy lips.

The long kiss almost suffocated her.

“Agnes is still-” Cheiristoya quickly took a breath and said something coyly, causing Davos to kiss her again.

Davos had to restrain himself during this period when his two wives were pregnant and the intense war that followed. Thus he could no longer hold himself back, and the repeated passionate kisses melted Cheiristoya’s reservedness. Still, she retained the last trace of hesitation, “Darling, I still have a little…down there.”

“I understand.” Davos softly whispered in her ear. “Honey, you can use your mouth and hand…”

Cheiristoya then nibbled his sturdy shoulder.

Davos began untying her clothes, bowed down and gently sucked the forbidden area where their daughter would usually breastfeed…

Soon, a repressed and seductive moaning rang out from the bedroom…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

With the support of the Persian satrap Pharnabazus, the Athenian navarch Conon took another move that shook the Spartans to their core after his victory at the Battle of Knidos. He captured the island across the Laconian Gulf – Cythera. Then Athens used it as their advanced naval base, which would control not only the passage of the Spartan fleet in and out of the eastern Mediterranean but also monitor the movements in the Laconian Gulf.

The Spartans now worried and feared that the Athenians would incite the helots in Sparta to flee to Cythera and cause instability in their rear, just like what they did during the Peloponnesian War.

And even the Spartan ships entering and leaving the Laconian Gulf became extremely cautious for fear of running into the Athenian fleet.

Just as Cheirisophus’ transport ship departed from Gythium, the only good harbour in Sparta, he saw the nervous expressions of the captain and the sailors. It made him involuntarily look at the greyish outline of land faintly visible in the sea far to the northeast – the island of Cythera, currently occupied by the Athenians.

Worries for Sparta immediately filled the heart of Cheirisophus: At sea, the Athenians had gained the upper hand that the Spartan fleet did not even dare to leave defenders in the Laconian Gulf and had instead retreated to the west of the Peloponnese. On land, the Spartan army couldn’t advance an inch due to the stubborn defence of the anti-Spartan alliance on Isthmus, Corinth, forcing the Gerousia to finally change the supreme commander again and send Agesilaus, who was recovering from illness, back into battle.

For this personnel change, although Cheirisophus was optimistic, he was still cautious: He did not deny that he is more confident about the commanding ability of the weak and sickly Spartan king, as Agesilaus’ achievements in Asia Minor the past year have won him great reputations.

However, the anti-Spartan Alliance had the support of Persia, and Cheirisophus, who had been to Persia, knew that this meant that Sparta’s enemies had endless support. Thus, even if they fail, again and again, they can still recruit another massive army at any time, while the number of Sparta’s citizens is limited. Thus his mission to Thurii, to get Theonia and Syracuse to stop the war as soon as possible, and free up Syracuse, the hegemon of western Mediterranean, to assist Sparta, is important. With the support of Syracuse’s powerful navy and a huge army, Sparta will have more confidence to end this war victoriously.

‘But would Theonia agree?’ the youthful image of a 19-year-old young man came to Cheirisophus’ mind; that was the first time he saw Davos. Since they separated in Asia Minor, more than five years had already passed, and he had not seen the young man again and had only heard about him from rumours. And every time the news of him came, Cheirisophus became more surprised: ‘The young man in the past is now a powerful ruler in the western Mediterranean and dared to compete with Syracuse, the hegemon of the western Mediterranean! The present is not what it used to be, so how could I convince him?’ Cheirisophus didn’t have any confidence and could only go all out.

And the other object for his mission gave him more headache: Dionysius, whom all Spartans that had met the Tyrant of Syracuse said that he was greedy, overbearing and vindictive. Now that they want him to end the war where he is dominant, he definitely wouldn’t agree if he doesn’t get a benefit that would satisfy him!

Cheirisophus sighed heavily. After suppressing these questions that gave him headaches, he asked loudly, “How long till we arrive in Thurii?”

“About two days.” The captain replied.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Because of Alobamus’ long-term management of the city, the chieftains and the city officials had chosen to support him and not the young Henipolis that had undermined their status and interests, allowing him to usurp Laos smoothly. Furthermore, since Henipolis took away the troops loyal to him, Alobamus could easily control the whole city. But in exchange, the price he paid was a scolding from his sister-in-law.

After the failure to seize the Lao Fortress, he did not panic. Instead, he decisively concentrated his troops and fortified the city to defend against the possible attack of the Theonia army. He thinks that: As long as Laos could hold on for ten days and a half, the Syracusan army could make more progress in their attack on Theonia, which would greatly change Theonia’s situation. At that time, maybe Laos still has a chance to expand.

Thus Alobamus devoted himself to his defensive plan. But then, some rumours in the port began to spread and expand under the control of people with intentions.

“Henipolis is a good archon! He enacted many bills that benefited us commoners and gave us more civilian rights, but the nobles led by Alobamus refused to implement them!!”

“Did you know that our archon made a bill to allocate land to poor people, but Alobamus threatened his nephew and forced him to withdraw it?!”

“Brothers, even though we have helped Avinoges in expelling the Lucanians, our lives have not changed much! We still have no money, no land, and still doing the same hard and heavy labours as when we were slaves, and those people of Alobamus still treat us like slaves!! We can’t go on like this!!!”

Chapter 484 – Cheirisophus’ Arrival

Only after these rumours spread all over the city did Alobamus realise something was wrong with the city’s situation. The rumours say that the original archon, Henipolis, was kind, while Alobamus was the tyrant who wanted to turn the commoners of Laos back into slaves!

After learning about it, Alobamus became furious that he severely made his men immediately arrest those spreading the rumours and calm the situation down as soon as possible.

But suddenly, news of Saru, the Praetor of Vergae, leading an army to Laos had come. At the same time, Bagul, the Praetor of Grumentum, had arrived in Nerulum with the 3,000 reserve soldiers newly conscripted in the Lucanian area, causing Alobamus to be nervous.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

On the third day after the battle against the Tarantines, the Spartan envoy – Cheirisophus, sailed into the Gulf of Taranto.

Before his departure, Cheirisophus carefully learned about the war situation in Magna Graecia. Thus he knew that the Syracusan navy blockaded the whole Gulf of Taranto, preventing the Theonians from sailing the sea, so he was prepared to encounter Syracusan patrols. However, he didn’t expect the ones he would meet were the Theonian patrols, which gave him a deep impression due to the striking black hair wrapping around a bident design on their sails.

And at this time, the Theonian patrol ship was no longer the old transport ship or the penteconter, but a genuine top of the line warship in the Greek city-state – a trireme.

The patrol ship stopped Cheirisophus’ ship asked for their purpose and where they were going. Then they went on board, ignoring Cheirisophus’ attendant’s protest, and searched the ship to confirm if they hid armed men or weapons.

At this moment, Cheirisophus asked loudly, “When I passed by here a few days ago, I saw many Syracusan ships cruising in the gulf. Where did they all go?”

The Theonian patrol captain who boarded the ship looked at Cheirisophus coldly. If not for his status as the Spartan envoy, he would have cursed and sneered at him, “Where have they gone? Where else they could go besides falling into the sea and feed the fish or got imprisoned in Thurii!”

After hearing this, Cheirisophus, who always remained calm, widened his eyes in surprise, “You defeated the Syracusan navy?!”

“It seems you don’t believe it.” The captain spat a mouthful of thick spit into the sea and proudly said, “Two days ago, King Davos led us to completely defeat the Syracusan navy who outnumbered us. Although the defeated Syracusans manage to flee back to Scylletium, it won’t be long before we wipe them out completely! By then, we – the Theonians, will own this sea!”

Cheirisophus was shocked as he didn’t expect that a naval battle enough to change the whole situation of the war in Magna Graecia would happen while he was on his way here. At the same time, he also noticed another astonishing thing, “Did you just say that Davos became a king?!”

The captain instantly snapped at him, “Spartan, watch your mouth! The name you mention is the king of Theonia Union, the divine descendant of Hades, the great Greek strategoi of hundred victories, the protector of the Theonians! Show enough respect and reverence, or we will seize your ship, and you will not enjoy the envoy’s treatment but will enter Thurii as a criminal!”

Hearing the threat of the Theonians, Phidias would have been furious, but Cheirisophus was calm enough that he stopped talking. However, a storm was brewing inside of him…

On their way to Thurii, Cheirisophus and the Perioeci* crew had difficulty accepting the news about the Theonian fleet defeating the Syracusan navy. But as they approached Thurii, they were shocked to see countless triremes spread thickly across the sea, seemingly practising formations with shouts and salpinx ringing out in the entire sea… (The Spartan citizens only have one profession – Warriors, and they will not allow helots to serve as sailors because of their unpredictable dangers.)

Cheirisophus and everyone on the ship were taken aback by the spectacular sight before them, and similar questions filled their hearts: ‘Are all these triremes belonged to Theonia? Haven’t their battle against the Syracusan navy just ended? How come they have so many ships left? Did the Persians give their assistance?…’

The Theonian fleet originally had about 150 triremes, and with the subsequent capture of over 150 ships from Syracuse, plus Tarantines’ 35 triremes, the Theonian navy has now over 330 triremes.

These two days, Seclian was badly worried as he had to arrange for shipwrights to repair the ships damaged in the battle. At the same time, even though the number of ships increased, Thurii did not have so many sailors to operate them. Thus he had to rack his brains to finally think of a way to recruit sailors. After all, a ship without people will not be useful, however many are them.

By this time, they had lifted the crisis in Heraclea, recovered Metapontum, and strengthed Roscianum’s confidence in following Theonia. Thus, with Davos’s permission, Seclian sent men to recruit sailors in these three allied cities and soon put more than 60 ships into service.

However, these newly recruited sailors had no experience navigating a trireme, so Seclian was busy training the expanded fleet for the past two days. Furthermore, he didn’t need to hide the corvus anymore as the naval battle exposed the Theonian fleet’s secret weapon, so he just let the whole fleet appear in the gulf.

So Cheirisophus and the others were curious when they saw the long “plank” erected on the foremasts of Theonia’s many ships.

‘It seems Theonia has really defeated the Syracusan navy!’ Cheirisophus looked at the Theonian ships on the sea and pondered the impact of this important news on his mission to Thurii.

After much deliberation, he found that this victory increased the possibility of the truce between Theonia and Syracuse, which cheered him up.

Once the Spartan ship entered the estuary of the Crati River, they were ordered to disembark at the port. That is because, since the construction of Thurii’s military port on the banks of the Crati River, the docks in the city of Thurii were closed for secrecy, allowing no ships to cross the military port and go straight to the city of Thurii.

If Cheirisophus had come to the port of Thurii a few days ago. He would have been surprised as the port had been desolate due to the Syracusan navy’s blockade, with no merchant ships arriving or leaving. And the numerous freemen who depended on the port for their survival had nothing to do, most of whom were later recruited to serve as sailors in the fleet, to work as labourers in the logistic camp and the transportation department of the Ministry of Military, and assigned to the Ministry of Agriculture to help the citizens’ families who lacked labourers in the fields because their masters had gone to battle. Hence the port not only had no merchant ships but also almost all the labourers were transferred, making the whole port looks deserted. And even after their naval victory, Davos, because of the upcoming military operations against Syracuse and for secrecy’s sake, insisted on continuing the blockade of the port until they battle the Syracusans again despite the opposition of Marigi.

But today, transport ships began entering the port again. Hence the Ministry of Military urgently dispatched numerous labourers to the port to unload the bags of grains, which were all free aid from their three allies, Roscianum, Heraclea and Metapontum, after they learned that Theonia is short of food and is calling for donations.

Cheirisophus, who had experienced the Peloponnesian War, the Asia Minor War, and now the Corinthian War, knew how much damage a war could do to trade, not to mention the fact that the port of Thurii was blockaded previously. So he did not expect such liveliness today and was so surprised that he asked the Thurian officials who had come to greet them.

After learning the truth, Cheirisophus was a bit surprised and thought, ‘Could it be that just because of their naval victory, the allies of Theonia spared no effort to support the disadvantaged Theonia?’

After leaving the port and passing through the somewhat empty market, the wagon Cheirisophus and several attendants were riding was about to depart.

Here, Cheirisophus and his attendants saw a spectacular sight: The roads and the roadsides were occupied by countless Theonians, whether they were old and young, men and women, each holding a wooden box, or carrying packages, or leading pack animals as they march towards the city of Thurii…

Cheirisophus became curious, so he asked the coachman.

“They are the people of Amendolara who had come to Nike Square to donate so that our, Theonia, could continue this war to the end and defeat those vile Syracusans! While we, Thurians, have already donated yesterday. And I heard that the Bruttians are also donating, but not in Thurii’s Nike Square, but at Consentia…”

Looking at the proud expression of the coachman and then looking at the people on the road who were talking and laughing, it seems as if they were not going to give up their properties but attend an important gathering…which made Cheirisophus involuntarily think of the event when the Spartan populace sent off their loved ones to war, and their farewell words began echoing in his heart: ‘Either return victoriously or be carried back!’

‘That sight was so similar to this! The Theonians not only did not fear war, but they also had the determination to carry it out to the end! But unlike Sparta’s centuries of history, this city-state union was only established for less than six years!’ Cheirisophus felt a chill as he didn’t know whether to be worried about his mission or worried for the Syracusans, who obviously have the superior army for no reason…

Chapter 485 – Enemy, Not Friend

Since Davos was not in the Senate now, there was no longer a need for Cheirisophus and the others to go to the city. Instead, they directly headed north to the camp.

While passing through the second Arc de Triomphe outside the north of the city, Cheirisophus stood under it and looked up for a while before leaving.

Thurii’s military camp is on the north bank on the junction between the Coscile and Tiro rivers. At present, Thurii’s military camp was no longer the simple camp with tents and fences back when they first rebuilt the city but a fully functional fortress.

The abatis, moats, earthen fortification, wooden walls, and sentry towers erected every 20 metres on the wooden walls formed the outer defence of the camp. While inside the camp were rows of barracks built of bricks and tiles, each capable of accommodating a squad of soldiers, with beds made into bunk beds, making the room more spacious.

There were also stables for the cavalries, an armoury, a weapon repair workshop, a kitchen, a clinic, and even a waterwheel, which brought water from the Tiro River into the camp’s bathing rooms (only cold water baths for the soldiers).

And of course the most important and indispensable part of the camp: The command headquarters, consisting of the accommodation for the grand legatus, the senior army officials, and the conference room; The training ground, one for the light infantry, one for the heavy infantry, one for the cavalry, one for weapon testing(mainly for the assembly and testing of large siege equipment), and the grand training ground (where the joint training, formations, and assessment of the troops took place). In addition, there were several special training grounds: City Defence Training Ground (To train the troops in building camps, defences and sieges; the land on this training ground would often be dug and patched. It is filled with devastation.) Training grounds on both sides of the Tiro River (training for wading across the river and ship landing. Thus, they are equipped with dozen small transport ships). And mountain training ground (for training in mountain operations, but not located in the camp. Instead, it is in the mountain range west of the camp, over the hot spring baths).

For Theonia, a city-state founded through military, the camps built near the cities in Theonia are the most functional and advanced training camps among the countries, city-states and ethnic groups in the Mediterranean in this era, especially the ones in Thurii. As the centre of Theonia, Thurii has the largest number of soldiers; hence the camp could train 5000 people at a time and could fully accommodate 50,000 people. It also has 500 soldiers stationed in rotation all year round, not including some civil servants of Theonia.

It is because of the existence of these camps that the official citizens, preparatory citizens and freemen of Theonia, who were farmers, herdsmen, fishermen, merchants and so on, and have no battlefield experience, are quickly forged into qualified legionaries after one-two years of strict training. That is the reason why the fifth legion, which has never been on a real battlefield, did not lose in the confrontation against Syracuse’s elite soldiers who had fought all year round.

At this moment, Cheirisophus saw that the ten-metre high wooden wall in front of him extended infinitely to both sides that he could not see the end. So he could only imagine the scale of the military camp.

‘This is obviously a city!’ Cheirisophus could not stop himself from asking in surprise, “Is this your military camp?!”

“Yes, this is Thurii’s military camp. It is where the citizens of Thurii, Amendolara and Besidice trained.” The official replied.

Cheirisophus looked up again at the defenders patrolling back and forth on the wooden wall and the archers staring into the distance from the tower. This heavily guarded camp made him feel a little uneasy, so he said, “Let’s go in.”

But the official stopped, turned and said solemnly to Cheirisophus and his attendant, “Because we are now in a period of war, we cannot reveal the military secrets in this camp. Thus, his majesty Davos requires you to wear a mask and be blindfolded before you can enter.” After saying that, he pulled out a black mask.

At the same time as the suspension bridge of the camp was lowered and the camp’s gate opened, a team of fully armed soldiers lined up.

Then the attendants of Cheirisophus exploded in anger, “Theonians, do you know what you just said?!”

“How dare you blindfold us! When we Spartans go anywhere, we are always greeted respectfully by the archons and strategoi of those city-states. This is a humiliation to us Spartans!”

“Theonians, are you not afraid of provoking the wrath of Sparta?!”

The Theonian officials were completely unafraid of the Spartan’s accusations. Instead, he sneered, “A few years ago, a Spartan envoy threatened us with the same words and got expelled out of Thurii. If you are unwilling to carry out our request, then we regretfully ask you to leave Thurii.”

The attendant suddenly quieted down as the man the official was talking about was Phidias, who had become a joke among the Spartans for a long time after he returned to Sparta from Thurii. Thus, they all looked at Cheirisophus as they didn’t want Phidias’ fate to fall on them.

‘This is Theonia’s display of determination!’ Cheirisophus sighed inwardly.

Unlike Phidias, Cheirisophus is one of the few Spartans with genuine diplomatic qualities. That is why the Gerousia entrusted him with the important task of being the envoy to Magna Graecia. At this moment, he took a deep breath after seeing the situation turn bad; his gaze landed on the Theonian official and said, “I accept your request. However, I hope to see your king soon!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The young man, who was only 24 years old and now the king of Theonia, sat in the centre of the room. His appearance almost remained the same except for an additional circle of stubble on his jaw. However, the impression he gave to Cheirisophus was completely different from when they parted.

After Cheirisophus entered, Davos sat quietly and looked at him seriously: Cheirisophus could feel an imposing momentum emanated from the young king as it slowly pressed towards him like a steep mountain.

He then realised that this meeting seemed formal due to other people sitting on either side of Davos. Thus Davos definitely wouldn’t talk about their personal friendship.

This forced Cheirisophus, who had just taken off his mask, to speak first, to break the silence that had overwhelmed him, “By the Gerousia’s order, I, Cheirisophus, the envoy of Sparta, is on a mission to Theonia and wishes to be treated with due respect and hospitality.”

Kunogelata, who was sitting on the left side of Davos, said with a serious expression, “Sparta, as the ally of Greeks, should have maintained the peace among the Greek city-states, yet you, by virtue of your strength, bullied the weak and provoke wars everywhere. Such a city-state is not worthy of Theonia’s respect!”

Cheirisophus was already uneasy, but he still did not expect Theonia’s attitude towards Sparta would be so bad. Although he was unhappy, it was fortunate that he had been to other city-states many times and had rich experience, so he quickly replied, “Who can say who is right and who is wrong in the dispute of interests between city-states. Besides, it happened in the eastern Mediterranean and has nothing to do with Magna Graecia.”

Then an elderly white-haired man to the right of Davos, Scambras, stood up and accusingly said, “We don’t care what you did in Greece. But Sparta meddling in our war with Syracuse, assisting the abominable Syracusans to trample on our land and slaughtering our people, that is our enemy! We have no respect for our enemies, only anger!”

‘Do they know?!’ Cheirisophus looked at Davos.

Davos looked grim as he stared at him sharply.

Cheirisophus argued calmly, “Although we have an alliance between Syracuse, Sparta has never meddled in the affairs of the western Mediterranean, nor has it ever sent troops. Furthermore, Sparta has no animosity towards Theonia!…”

“Phidias.” Davos opened his mouth and said the name that made Cheirisophus dread to hear. Then Davos continued in a cold and unhurried tone, “A strategos of Sparta and the brother of Eudamidas. He had also once come to Theonia on a mission and is now present in the Syracusan army, commanding the right flank of the Syracusan army’s formation in the battle against the South Italian Alliance. Don’t tell me that he acted independently without authorisation or that Sparta has long exiled him. As far as I know, he led the Spartan army to battle in Corinth a few months ago. ”

Davos’ words blocked all the possibilities for Cheirisophus to argue. At the same time, it made him surprised at Theonia’s detailed information about Phidias. Since he had nothing to hesitate and worry about, he simply changed the subject and bluntly said, “Sparta hopes that Theonia and Syracuse will cease this war and sign a peace agreement so that the people of Magna Graecia can rebuild their homes!”

“Did I hear it wrong?! Sparta began to care about our Magna Graecia?!” The taunting of Scambras fell on deaf ears as Cheirisophus fixed his gaze straight on Davos.

“Did Dionysius agree?” Instead of being surprised, Davos asked rhetorically.

“I had come to Thurii first to ask your opinion before I go to Scylletium.” Answered Cheirisophus.

“What is the armistice condition?” Kunogelata interjected.

Cheirisophus carefully stated the plan he had considered while on his journey, “Although Theonia won a naval battle, you must still admit that Syracuse occupies a great advantage in Magna Graecia. They had not only conquered the other city-states of Magna Graecia, but they now also about to enter your territory, while your Theonia is still unstable…so my suggestion is-”

Cheirisophus looked at Davos and seriously said, “Both sides will have a truce and maintain their current condition.”

After Cheirisophus said this, a cold silence shrouded the place, so he immediately added, “Naturally, you can also say your conditions and let us, Sparta, be responsible for coordinating.”

Chapter 486 – Second Siege of Crotone

“What about Scylletium and Terina?” The scowling Kunogelata asked loudly.

“I believe Syracuse will restore the independence of these two city-states. After all, Syracuse is in Sicily and not in Magna Graecia.” Cheirisophus said without thinking.

“Independence?!” Scambras sneered, “You mean for Syracuse to support a ‘Ten Tyrants’ government as you Spartans did in the Greek city-states of Asia Minor!”

Cheirisophus’ expression changed slightly.

Then Davos said, “Do you want to hear our terms?”

“Say it.” A slight nervousness arose in Cheirisophus’ heart.

“As long as Syracuse withdraws from Magna Graecia-” The words of Davos made Cheirisophus rejoice. However, when he was just about to answer, he heard Davos say in an increasingly louder tone, “And give independence to Messina, Catania, Tauromenium, dissolve the Sicilian League, and above all must banish Dionysius! That is my condition, and it won’t be changed! If Syracuse agrees, we will agree to a truce!”

Cheirisophus thought Davos was joking, but he saw his determined expression and the others becoming excited after hearing this.

Only silence remained in the conference hall for a few moments. Then disappointment showed in Cheirisophus’ expression, “Syracuse can’t possibly accept the terms you have proposed. It seems that you Theonians are planning to carry on this war with huge consumption and numerous casualties!”

“Syracuse is the one that started this war with Dionysius leading an army to invade Magna Graecia, occupying the lands of Theonia’s allies and killing the Magna Graecians like a vicious wolf breaking into our homes, and wants to leave safely after eating and drinking!” Davos stood up and said decisively, “I once promised to the people to kill all the Syracusans who invaded Magna Graecia! For this reason, all of Theonia’s citizens have made up their minds to fight the Syracusans to the death!”

What Davos said shocked not only Cheirisophus but also the statesmen that are present, who were also hearing Davos speak about the succeeding plan for the war for the first time.

“Davos.” Cheirisophus hurriedly reminded him by calling his name, “I can understand your eagerness for revenge, but Syracuse is not a wolf, but a lion! If you miss this chance for peace, I am afraid that if you can’t beat this lion, it will instead pounce into the house and bite everyone to death!”

A clear threat could be heard in Cheirisophus’ words, but Davos only replied, “Only after the battle will we know who really is the fierce lion!”

Cheirisophus heard Davos’ determination to fight Syracuse to the death, but he still wants to persuade him.

However, Davos loudly said, “In Persia, you and I fought on the same side. Now that you have come, I should have treated you well, but unfortunately…now is a time of war, and you and I are enemies, not friends! I am sorry, I can only let you leave. But once this war is over, we’ll get together again once you come back!”

Knowing that his mission had failed, Cheirisophus said indifferently, “I fear that we won’t see each other again…”

Davos smiled faintly and said, “On the contrary, I am certain that you will come back again!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Cheirisophus remained serious and silent after they left the camp.

Once he got into the port, he boarded his ship and left the dock. But without his instructions, the captain didn’t know where to go, so he had to ask loudly, “Cheirisophus, shall we go to Scylletium?”

Cheirisophus recovered from his thoughts and decisively said, “No. Let’s go straight back to Sparta.”

“Go back?!” The captain was puzzled as he vaguely remembered that their mission was to stop the war between Theonia and Syracuse, and they had just gone to Theonia.

“The Theonians are arrogant who refused to make a truce and presumed that they could defeat the Syracusans. It seems that this newly established city-state union will soon disappear!” The attendant mocked loudly.

“Perhaps. And it seems that we, Spartans, can only rely on ourselves in this period.” Said Cheirisophus, but Davos’s determined and confident expression kept coming to his mind, as this similar expression had appeared before the valley annihilation in Persia, Battle of the Centrites River…and many times in the meetings whenever the mercenary army encountered difficulties and conducted military discussions. Davos used this expression to convince the military leaders to adopt his advice to help the mercenaries out of trouble. This time, although Syracuse has a clear advantage on land, an uneasiness remained in his heart…

Cheirisophus stood at the stern as he watched the port of Thruii gradually fade out of his sight…

He knew in his heart that from now on, the young man who humbly asked him for advice and made him admire him was gone forever. Davos was now the king of Theonia and had become the sworn enemy of Syracuse, the enemy of Sparta, and naturally his enemy…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos led the senate statesmen to prepare the military rations, the army’s training, replenishing the legions (the first and second legions have some losses after these battles). And Theonia’s fleet was also busy recruiting sailors, training the newly joined ships, and formation training. The whole of Thurii is busily moving.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

To the south of Theonia, Syracuse launched the second massive siege on Crotone.

Before they attacked the city, Dionysius left 10,000 troops in the northwest of the camp to defend against a possible raid by the Theonian army of Aprustum. At the same time, he sent all the cavalries and mercenary cavalries of Syracuse to roam in the north of the Crotonian plain and even the swampy area of Krimisa. Both to observe the movement of Thurii in the north and harass the Krimisians, preventing its defenders from sending troops to assist Crotone.

Although they had burned the pontoon bridge over the Neto River and the entire river was under the control of the Syracusan navy, making it impossible for the Theonian army to cross the river, the prudent Dionysius still had to prepare for any sudden situation. On the sea outside Crotone’s port, Leptines was on standby with more than 200 ships (including the squadron that had arrived from Messina). Dionysius gave him strict orders to hold back the Theonian fleet from reinforcing the city of Crotone.

Once everything was ready, they sounded the salpinx and beat the drums. Amidst the continuous roaring of stone projectiles hitting the city wall, the more than 70,000 Syracusan soldiers pushed dozen large siege towers, siege wagons and all kinds of large siege weapons, as well as countless long ladders, as they approached the city wall from the north, west and south.

Furthermore, Dionysius also ordered the army to escort and forced more than four thousand non-Crotonian prisoners to build an inclined ramp from outside the moat* while the Crotonians were busy preparing for the siege and had no time to take care of them. (They no longer need to build a platform for the lookout and the archers to shoot their arrows.)

Realising the urgent situation, the Crotonians made all the soldiers go to the city wall and have Theonia’s ballista team on standby, with Lysias organising all the people who could wield shields and spears to be ready for reinforcements.

Then a massive, fierce and unusual siege battle began…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At the Praetor of Aprustum’s residence, Epiphanes, the legatus of the fourth legion, asked anxiously, “Philesius, are we really not going to help Crotone?! Our brothers are holding their anger and want to avenge Dracos and our dead brothers! From the scouts’ report, the Syracusans prepared fully this time and mobilised almost their whole army. If we don’t give them our help, I fear that the Crotonians will have great difficulties in dealing with them!”

Philesius calmly pointed to the south and said, “Although the Syracusans went to attack Crotone, Dionysius did not forget us. They built a heavily guarded camp to block the road leading to Crotone. Do you want our two legions to suffer losses there? Moreover, we receive an order!”

Epiphanes, who could not respond, paced back and forth in the room. Then he irritably said, “I don’t understand, why Lord Davos-”

Agasias interrupted him and reminded, “It’s his majesty Davos now!”

“Okay, his majesty Davos.” Epiphanes shrugged his shoulders with a look of disbelief as he thought that there was no difference between an archon for life and a king, “Why his majesty Davos send the mountain reconnaissance team to order us to ‘Hold on to the city of Aprustum and not attack rashly’! We already won the naval battle, so we could have immediately sent the fleet south to repel the Syracusan fleet again and allow our army to build a pontoon bridge over the Neto River and deter the Syracusans from marching north. Furthermore, they won’t dare to attack Crotone with all their strength!”

“After a great battle, the army would usually have to rest for at least four days before taking further action, which should also be true for the fleet.” Philesius defended Davos based on his own experience, “Hence our task now is to guard Aprustum, comfort the soldiers and wait for his majesty to lead the army. And since even the Syracusan navy, which we thought is impossible to defeat, has been defeated by the fleet led by his majesty, it is even more impossible for Syracuse’s army to defeat the legion commanded by his majesty!”

Chapter 487 – Fall of Crotone

“Well, you are the commander, so you have the final say.” Epiphanes shrugged at Philesius. He then turned to Agasias and complained, “Lord Praetor, can you get some wheat flour for our brothers? It’s okay to have no oats, but we should at least cook porridge. Our brothers were only eating dried beef for two days in a row that they are now having a little difficulty to poop.”

“As the legatus of the fourth legion, you should know that half of the soldiers of the fourth legion had come from here, so how could the people here mistreat their loved ones? However, Aprustum is, after all, a small city with a small population and does not produce wheat. Besides, you have already eaten up all the people’s extra food that they have stock, so there is no food left!” Agasias said helplessly.

“Bear with it a little longer. I already asked the reconnaissance team to tell his majesty that we have food shortages because the Syracusan calvaries have cut off our grain transport route. So I believe that it won’t be long before his majesty arrives with a large army and solve the food problem.” Philesius reassured him.

“Wait! Wait! All we do is just wait!!…” Epiphanes became increasingly anxious after Drakos’ death. He then shouted as he no longer wanted to stay in the Praetor’s residence, “I’ll go to the city and see the situation.”

With that, he strode out.

Agasias could only look at Philesius, who was sitting in a dazed. He deeply felt that Drakos’ death greatly impacted both of them, and he himself was no different. Agasias invited Timasion, Cleander, and their former comrades to Theonia years ago, but they attacked Krimisa without approval and triggered the second war with Crotone. Although Davos never blamed him, and they eventually defeated Crotone, resulting in Theonia’s power expanding, he still blamed himself very much. So from then on, Agasias devoted a lot of his energy to political matters to forget his guilt. Thus after several years of hard work, Agasias became the second person in this group of statesmen who were former mercenaries to be appointed as a Praetor because of his good administrative ability (the first one was Hielos).

So with the political experience that he accumulated and his dealing with the Crotonians, he knew how unwilling the people of Crotone were about losing their hegemony in South Italia. Especially after they recovered their strength in the past few years and began singing a different tune than Theonia in the South Italian Alliance, hence he started to have another guess in his mind about Davos’ order of not attacking rashly, ‘His majesty seemed to have the intention of letting Syracuse weaken Crotone. But could Theonia defeat Syracuse on its own?!’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Siege of Crotone was going on fiercely.

The Syracusans used the archers at the top of the siege tower and the gastraphetes to sweep away the defenders at the top of the city wall as they slowly approached the walls.

The Crotonians, in the past two-three days, also discussed some ways to defend against the siege towers, such as concentrated long-range attacks with ballistae, throwing oil jars and burning them with fire once the siege towers came close, and making a long iron-clad log to push the siege towers and keep it from getting close to the city walls…

However, even with all these efforts, several siege towers came close to the walls and lowered the drawbridge, through which the Syracusan soldiers poured up to the city wall and fiercely fought the defenders.

Lysias hurriedly sent reinforcements and drove the enemy down the city wall one after another after a fierce battle.

But while the Crotonians did their all defending against the siege towers, the Syracusan soldiers climbed up the city wall through the siege ladders and fought fiercely with the defenders.

Crotone defended stubbornly together with Terina and Scylletium’s troops.

By afternoon, Syracuse’s siege shattered Crotone’s gate in the north. Fortunately, the Crotonians had already blocked the entrance with stones and wood.

Yet the combined use of several siege equipment eventually led to the collapse of a section of the city wall, resulting in heavy casualties to the defenders.

The Syracusan soldiers took this opportunity to quickly climb the collapsed wall and rush into the city.

Fortunately, the reserved organised by Lysias arrived in time. This group of freemen, elderly and teenagers, barely resisted the fierce attack of the experienced Syracusan soldiers by relying on their large number and morale to defend their homes.

And when dusk arrived, and the sky started to get darker, the commanders of the allied troops such as Lysias and Siprus looked elated, thinking that the battle that had lasted the whole day was over.

Unfortunately, Dionysius did not intend to return to their camp at all. He ordered the slaves to push the carts filled with wood, bitumen, resin and piles of oiled hemp into the moat and lit them with fire, which suddenly ignited piles of flames, illuminating the entire city wall.

Dionysius immediately ordered, ‘Blow the salpinx! Beat the drums! Continue to attack the city!!’

The defenders, who were struggling and thought that the battle had ended, saw the Syracusans retreat in one wave and attack in another without end, causing the defenders’ morale to plummet.

Finally, the Syracusan’s relentless effort to siege the city has paid off. Under the urging of the soldiers and after sacrificing countless lives, the prisoners had finally made a ramp high enough to reach the top of the city wall.

Then the Syracusan soldiers on standby rushed up to the top of the city wall and fought the defenders who came to intercept. Dionysius had become anxious that he even asked his personal guards to join the battle at the top of the city wall.

The defenders could finally no longer fend off the enemy and began retreating, thus allowing the Syracusans to gain a foothold at the city wall and expand rapidly in other directions.

“Quick! Quickly find Lysias! Tell him to send reinforcements quickly. Otherwise, we won’t be able to defend the north gate!” Ascamas shouted angrily at the herald.

But at this moment, the north, west and south of Crotone are under fierce attack. Yet there were no extra reinforcements to send because the port in the east had to defend itself against the landing of numerous enemy ships cruising in the sea, while Crotone’s only reserve unit was struggling to fend off the enemy troops attacking through the gap in the walls.

Just as the Crotonian strategoi were stretched out to the limit and could only watch the enemy rush to the city wall and wreak havoc, “Boom!…Crush!…” several loud noises sounded as another section of the city wall was destroyed by the siege engines. Amidst the dust and the roaring of the Syracusans, the Crotonians fighting for their homeland finally showed fear and, under cover of the night, began to shout in panic, “Run! The enemy is coming in! They broke through the city!…”

Once the reserve unit with low morale retreated, the defenders in the city began to retreat as well…

After breaking through the city wall, the Syracusans rushed into the city and completely destroyed the defence in the north of the city.

Lysias, Siprus and the other top officials were anguished to witness: the panicked-stricken soldiers ignoring their persuasion and run past them like a tide as they fled into depths of the city; the people on both sides of the street helped the elder and the young as they also fled together; With cries, screams and shrieks resounding throughout the city…

Seeing the enemy clear up the defenders on the city wall and advance towards the city’s centre, Lysias, although anxious, was completely confused and didn’t know what to do.

Suddenly, a long line of torches appeared from the depths of the city, “Go to the Temple of Apollo!!! Go to the Temple of Apollo!!!…”

This neat shouting reminded the panicking Crotonians to stumble towards the Temple of Apollo* with the illumination of the torches. (The Acropolis is located near the centre of the city.)

Then Lysias and his people also rushed over.

“Who told you to do this?!” Lysias asked the soldier holding the torch.

“It was strategos Milo!” Answered the soldier.

Although Milo was not a strategos anymore, and his task of defending the port was due to Ascamas’ request, it still did not prevent the soldiers from respecting him.

Lysias did not care about these at this time. On the contrary, he was inwardly grateful to Milo because the consequences would be unthinkable without his timely measures to guide the people to the Acropolis.

He then turned to look at the burning city wall when he saw some soldiers still trying their best to stop the enemy’s advance.

So Lysias reminded the soldiers beside him, “The enemy will come soon, so you must also rush back to the Acropolis as soon as possible!” After saying that, he and the others merged into the chaotic flow of people as they needed to rush to the Acropolis to appease the panicking people and maintain the order of the Acropolis. At the same time, they must organise the people to defend the Acropolis, the last defence of Crotone.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Milord, we won! We broke through Crotone!!” Damocles became excited.

Dionysius was also unable to contain his joy. After receiving his attendants’ congratulations, he immediately piously praised Apollo to express his gratitude.

Amidst the cheerings, Phidias expression was slightly different as he was in deep thought. Today’s siege gave him a great shock, not only those ingenious and powerful siege engines but also the order coordination of the whole huge siege units. However, what alarmed him the most was Dionysius’ ruthlessness.

The act of Dionysius killing the soldiers and troops who failed to storm the city and fled the battlefield was inconceivable! In the traditions of Greek warfare, there was no practice of disposing deserters, not even in Sparta. After all, the whole Spartan society revered the honour in battles, making deserters have nowhere to stay. Yet Dionysius not only did it, but he also did it more than once, forcing the Syracusan soldiers to attack desperately regardless of their survival, which surprisingly created a miracle in a day to break through the city of Crotone, a powerhouse in Magna Graecia.

This made Phidias admire Dionysius, who he previously thought was terrible at field combat. However, such a victory was based on the fact that Dionysius didn’t care about the number of casualties.

Chapter 488 – Army’s Departure

As a Spartan soldier who had long experience on the battlefield, Phidias observed the entire progress of the siege, allowing him to roughly calculate that the casualties of Syracuse were nearly 10,000! Such massive losses are far beyond what Sparta could bear. And even if Sparta gathers its allies to form a considerable force, they still won’t attack a city by such bloody means because it will inevitably make their allies’ resistance expand. This is what made Phidias helpless and frightened: Dionysius, the ruthless and cruel Sicilian tyrant, has too much control over his army!

“We no longer have any more obstacles in front of us. It’s time to attack Theonia!” Dionysius, who took down Crotone, had the boulder weighing in his heart fall off the ground. He then turned his head to look north in the night and said that with expectations.

‘Oh right, Davos!’ Dionysius’ words had reminded Phidias, who was also filled with expectations, ‘Could Theonia, who were outnumbered and without the help of Crotone, survive the war?!’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Currently, it was four in the morning. Besides the patrolling soldiers, the officers and soldiers of Thurii’s military camp had fallen into a deep sleep. Suddenly, a hurried knocking on the door broke the silence of the military camp.

“Your majesty, there is an urgent military situation! Syracuse has broken through the city of Crotone!” Martius, the guard captain, said anxiously.

“Crotone was breached?!” The shocking news completely expelled Davos’ drowsiness. He still felt some disbelief, so he asked, “Who sent back the report? Is it true?!”

“The mountain reconnaissance team delivered it. Aristias had also brought the same report.”

For Syracuse to conquer Crotone in one day, which had a ten-metre-high wall and enough soldiers, just shows their strong ability to conquer a city. It made Davos so shocked that it swept away his joy at receiving the news of Bodiam’s people killing him and his tribe surrendering. He then immediately made a decision, “Martius, immediately call Antonios, Amintas, Matonis and Kapus to discuss the matter! Also, send someone to call the statesmen!!”

“Yes!” Martius took the order and hurried away.

Davos did indeed have the thought of having “Crotone and Syracuse consume each other and buy more time for Theonia”, giving him more time to train the newly formed troops and prepare the logistics better. And for the situation in the Bruttian region to stabilise and the conclusion of Laos’ betrayal, allowing Theonia’s territory to be more stable and giving more soldiers to join the expedition, which would increase his confidence to defeat Syracuse.

Unfortunately, plans couldn’t keep up with the changes. ‘Dionysius…’ Davos stood outside his residence and looked south into the endless darkness while clenching his fist…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The always empty large training field in Thurii’s military camp was filled with the first, second, seventh and the sarissa brigade and the logistics camp early the following morning. Both the soldiers and the logistics personnel stood upright and silently looked at the stage in front of them.

Davos, dressed in his military attire, stood on the stage and looked at the tens of thousands of soldiers under the stage. Then he shouted, “Warriors of Theonia, you had followed me arrowed since the outbreak of this war. You are not afraid of hard work and sacrifice. You fought bravely to defeat the fierce Samnites and eliminate the cunning Tarantines, ensuring the safety of Theonia’s northern border. You are Theonia’s heroes!

You should’ve gotten a Triumphant Return, but the war is not over yet. The culprit of this war – Syracuse, had conquered the city of Crotone yesterday. They are about to set foot on our land and have the flames of war to burn our homes and turn us into their slaves! As Theonians, what should we do?!”

As soon as Davos uttered his words, an earth-shaking roar came from the field, “DEFEAT SYRACUSE!!!”

“DEFEAT THEM!!! KILL THEM ALL!!!…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos waited for the excited soldiers to quiet a bit. He then took a deep breath and shouted, “Warriors, we are about to head south to face the evil Syracusans. In appreciation of your great contribution and sacrifice to Theonia, the Senate and I have discussed and decided-”

Davos paused for a moment. Then he took another deep breath and shouted loudly, “After we win this arduous war, the freemen who participated in this war will become preparatory citizens, all preparatory citizens will become official citizens, and the citizens of Theonia will receive double rewards according to your merits!!”

The field ground became lively again, and this time with an overwhelming cheer, “All hail Theonia!!! All hail King Davos!!!…”

After all, both freemen and preparatory citizens reason to fight for the Theonia Union in the face of powerful enemies because they feel Theonia can protect their rights and bring benefits to their future. And with Davos giving them what they want in advance would definitely make them fight even more bravely to attain it as soon as possible, especially the sarissa brigade, which is mainly composed of freemen.

In front of the powerful invasion of Syracuse, Davos did not hesitate to use any means to bolster the soldier’s morale in order to increase Theonia’s chance of victory. As for where to get the “allocated land” needed for the numerous new and old citizens, Davos didn’t have to worry about it: After they defeat Syracuse, do they still fear having no land?!

After Davos’ lecture, he immediately announced their departure.

After the military camp’s gate was opened, the soldiers of the first, second, seventh legions and the sarissa brigade lined up in a neat column as they walked out of the camp in turn and marched eastward.

The freemen of the logistics team, on the other hand, rushed to Thurii’s granary, where there were mountains of military rations donated by the Theonian populace and their allies in the past two days, which they would carry to the port and then transport it to Krimisa’s port through numerous transport ship.

Before the long marching column reached the city of Thurii, countless people were standing on both sides of the road and asked curiously, “Where are you all going? Could it…could it be to attack the Syracusans?!…”

The crowd became excited once they received the soldier’s confirmation. After the successive victories, they no longer fear the Syracusan army in the south. On the contrary, they hoped that the Theonian army could banish them away and restore Theonia’s peace as soon as possible.

Thus once the people heard the news, they kept arriving and increasing the crowd. However, they consciously did not obstruct the road and interfere with the march. Rather, they formed a long parallel flow of people on both sides of the road, extending to the wooden bridge on the Crati River.

While they cheered for the soldiers, the people searched for their loved ones, praying to Hades for their safety and offering their best wishes.

Amidst the people’s attention and wishes, the soldiers became more enliven, especially the freemen of the sarissa brigade, as this was the first time they enjoyed this honour. Thus they straightened their backs and held their heads high.

“Oh, is this the newly formed legion?! Why haven’t I seen them before?!”

“Why aren’t they armed?!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos was afraid that their long-distance marching would reveal the secret of the sarissa brigade, making their surprise attack ineffective. Thus the curious people didn’t know that Davos wrapped the sarissas and transported them to Krimisa by the sea with the military rations of the logistics team and then ordered Olivos to receive them.

But the bewildered crowd’s inquiries were mixed with the greetings from their loved ones.

“Tapirus! Tapirus!….” Tapirus, the sarissa brigade’s platoon captain*, could hear a clear, excited voice over the noisy surroundings. When he turned his head, he saw the person he was looking for – his wife, Maicia. (He was promoted after the training for his outstanding performance.)

She waved her arms excitedly and shouted affectionately, “Tapirus, I will go to the Temple of Hades day and night to pray for you, so come back safely as soon as possible!”

Although Tapirus did not speak and just waved his arms in response, his heart was filled with affection. He and Maicia were both slaves that had met at Cheiristoya Restaurant, and their similar experiences brought them close quickly and supported each other. After Tapirus got his freedom, Maicia was also freed the following year from slavery for her outstanding performance, which Cheiristoya appreciated. Soon after, they got married in the presence of goddess Hera.

At this moment, Tapirus looked fondly at the figure of his wife, who was still chasing the army along the road, when a voice echoed in his heart, ‘Wait for me, Maicia! Once I return, we will be citizens of this great union! We will have our own land! We will build a nice house! And have four-five children!…’

As the army moved quickly to the city of Thurii, the first legion broke away from the main force and went straight east. They are going to the naval base on the Crati River, board the “corvus” ship and follow the fleet south to find the Syracusan navy and fight them again at sea, while the main force continued to head to the wooden bridge over the Crati River.

In front of the wooden bridge, the statesmen also came to see the army off. They were not as optimistic as the people, who do not know about the fall of Crotone, which made them unable to sleep last night as the news was like a huge stone causing ripples on the hearts of each statesman. Thus they were filled with worries about this war.

“Your majesty!” Kunogelata, Cornelius and the other statesmen once again bowed deeply to Davos as they did before the naval battle, “We’ll leave the fight against Syracuse to you!!”

Chapter 489 – Battle of the sea near Crotone (I)

Hearing the heavy expectations in their words, Davos smiled lightly and said, “You don’t need to worry about Syracuse. Instead, you should worry about whether we have enough men to govern those lands in the south of Magna Graecia after we defeat our enemy!”

As the statesmen became stunned, Davos turned his head and took a deep look at the hills facing the river in the east of the city of Thurii. He knew that his wife and children must also be gazing this way, looking forward to his early victorious return…

“Let’s go.” With a slight cough, he turned his horse’s head and set foot onto the wooden bridge with his personal guards.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Syracusan soldiers burned, killed and looted the city of Crotone overnight; their main victims were mostly the freemen and foreigners in the port area and nearly half of Crotone’s populace who failed to escape into the Acropolis in time.

Noon the following day, most of the Syracusan soldiers were still sleeping in the military camp or the houses of the civilians in the city of Crotone in order to recover their exhausted strength.

Dionysius, on the other hand, got up early in the morning and led his men to deal with military matters.

The first thing they need to solve urgently is the wounded. Yesterday’s battle results were brilliant, but their losses were equally huge. From the preliminary statistics last night, the number of casualties in the battle alone exceeded 5,000, and there were more than 4,000 soldiers with varying degrees of light wounds. It resulted in Syracuse losing about 1/8 of its strength after this battle. So they need to complete a series of tedious matters such as saving the wounded, replenishing the soldiers and reorganising the troops as soon as possible.

Yet the most time-consuming and laborious matter – cleaning up the battlefield and burying the dead, had instead become the easiest to accomplish as the Syracusans only needed to send the tens of thousands of Crotonians who had become prisoners to serve as labourers. Thus the countless prisoners wailed as they carefully sorted the remains of Crotonian soldiers who had died both inside and outside the city walls! While numerous prisoners quietly kicked and cursed and vented their anger as they dragged the bodies of Syracusan soldiers!

But for Dionysius, he didn’t care too much about those, as what he cares more about is Crotone’s Acropolis. The Acropolis is located just south of Crotone’s centre and is built on a hill, and have the largest Temple of Apollo in Magna Graecia. Thus, the Acropolis of Apollo is naturally the largest among the city-state in Magna Graecia.

Dionysius should have taken precautions when the city fell because retreating to the Acropolis was the final defensive strategy often adopted by Greek city-states. However, because of the fierce fighting in the daytime, the Syracusan soldiers attacked violently carried out crazy killing and looting in the city after they breached the wall last night. Furthermore, Dionysius was unable to effectively command his troops because of the darkness, which delayed their attack and resulted in more than half of the Crotonians(including many soldiers) fleeing into the Acropolis under the management of Milo and Lysias, which gave the Acropolis sufficient manpower to defend.

Furthermore, the Acropolis is situated in high terrain and surrounded by houses, making it impossible for the large siege engines to come near the walls. So unless they razed the surrounding houses and buildings, and built a sturdy and wide causeway to allow the siege towers and siege wagons to reach the walls, an attack from below by soldiers alone would not only cause heavy casualties but would also be difficult to accomplish.

However, it would take a long time to prepare if they did such a siege, and what Dionysius lacks the most now is time. He also needs to lead his army to attack Theonia as he will never allow his biggest enemy to have more breathing opportunities to stabilise his territory and form more troops.

Thus Dionysius sent messengers to have the Crotonians in the Acropolis surrender by threatening them with the lives of the captured Crotonians and soldiers.

Unfortunately for Dionysius, the Crotonians hiding in the Acropolis had witnessed the atrocities committed by the Syracusans in the city last night while suffering through the night amidst the heartrending wails of their compatriots. With their fear and hatred of the Syracusans and Syracuse’s tyranny in Scylletium, the Crotonians regarded Syracuse as a “man-eating beast”. Thus they did not believe the messenger’s proposal that “as long as they become an ally of Syracuse and send troops to Syracuse’s army, Dionysius would release all Crotonian prisoners and return the city of Crotone”.

Ascamas, who had done his best to reorganise the defeated troops to stop the Syracusans from attacking and looting the city and protect the people who were fleeing to the Acropolis, fought the enemy in the city’s streets, eventually dying in battle. In their grief, the Crotonians, who had lost their supreme military commander, had urgently elected their saviour, Milo, as their supreme commander, while Lysias and the others did not object. At this moment, the Crotonian hierarchy, led by Lysias and Milo, uncompromisingly rejected the messenger’s request and showed their courage and determination to fight the Syracusans to death by cutting off the messenger’s ears and nose and expelling him out of the Acropolis.

Although the messenger clutched his bloody wound and cried to Dionysius, Dionysius did not show much anger and only laughed grimly, “Foolish Crotonians thinks that I can’t do anything to them just because they are hiding on that hill! They could indeed improve their defence by hiding in tens of thousands of people in that little Acropolis, but can they defend against hunger and thirst?!!”

The food consumption of tens of thousands of people is indeed massive, and the people rushing to the Acropolis couldn’t carry many rations. Hence even if Milo had prepared in advance, he couldn’t guarantee it would last longer. Furthermore, what worried the Crotonians the most was that they didn’t have a water source, as the priests would usually get their water from the temple’s cistern. So even though the cistern was full due to the heavy rain the last few days, it is only a drop in the bucket for the needs of tens of thousands of people.

That’s why Dionysius ordered to send a small number of troops to surround Crotone’s Acropolis, believing that the Crotonians would go down the hill and surrender within a few days due to lack of water and food.

He originally wanted to order the ballistae to fire at the Acropolis to frighten the Crotonians more and force them to surrender earlier. But after a second thought, he remembered there was a Temple of Apollo inside the Acropolis, so if he were to destroy it intentionally, it might affect the soldier’s morale. After all, the sudden rainstorm last time had made him, who was always arrogant, worried and he didn’t want any more accidents.

Dionysius knew that the Crotonians hid in the Acropolis to survive and hoped the Theonians would come to their rescue. Therefore, even though the Theonians were Syracuse’s army target for their upcoming attack, his soldiers needed to rest as they had just experienced a fierce siege battle. Thus he could only continue to send the mercenary cavalries to the north to scout the enemy.

Although the greedy Numidians and Celts, who did not participate in last night’s looting, vented their dissatisfaction, Dionysius did not get angry. On the contrary, he gave these foreigners a lot of spoils because Phidias had said, ‘These foreign cavalries are their sharp weapon against the Theonians in the field.’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the port of Crotone, a scouting ship sailed into it.

“Navarch, Theonia’s fleet is coming!” The captain hurriedly disembarked to report to Leptines, who was inspecting the military port and commanding the moored ships.

This morning, the Syracusan navy had just moved into Crotone’s military port because Crotone’s military port is much larger and could accommodate more ships than Scylletium’s. Furthermore, it is closer to Theonia’s territory, making it more convenient for the Syracusan navy to learn about the movements of the Theonian fleet and have better coordination with their land forces.

But he didn’t expect that just as their fleet entered the port and their sailors had not yet completely disembarked, the Theonian fleet had come. Leptines’ heart is now beating like a drum, but he still maintains a calm expression, “How many ships?”

At sea, it is much more difficult to judge the number of ships than investigating the number of troops on land because a fleet of hundreds of ships often occupies an area of five-six nautical miles when sailing. Furthermore, with the people’s limited sight and no place to hide in the endless sea, they have to get closer to observe it, which requires a lot of risks.

“Err…I think their number is similar to our previous battle.” Thus the captain could only give a general idea.

Then he further emphasised, “Those Theonian ships have drawbridges on their foremast!”

When Leptines heard this, he became a bit flustered as their tragic defeat a few days ago reappeared in front of him.

‘Fight or not?’ Because he couldn’t make a decision, he had to run to the city to ask Dionysius for instructions.

When Dionysius learned that the Theonian fleet was coming, he only pondered for a bit before he resolutely issued an order, ‘Attack!’

In this regard, he has several considerations.

First of all, since they learned that the number of Theonian fleet is not that different from last time, and they were all equipped with that so-called drawbridge, it means that their analysis of the Theonians still using their own ships due to the number of sailors and the difficulty of refitting the captured ships was correct. Furthermore, the Syracusan navy still has a slight advantage in terms of the number of triremes.

Secondly, as the supreme commander, Dionysius knows how significant morale is on the soldiers’ combat effectiveness. Not long ago, the Syracusan navy suffered a disastrous defeat, so if they did not make up for it this time and chose to give way, it would undoubtedly “destroy their own prestige and raise the morale of the enemy”. So if they were to reencounter the Theonian fleet in the future, the Syracusan fleet would undoubtedly have lesser will to fight.

Moreover, they have gathered the Syracusan army in Crotone and are currently recuperating after yesterday’s arduous battle. Thus if the Theonian fleet were allowed to cross the sea and land on the empty rear such as Scylletium or Caulonia, which hasn’t truly surrendered, it would cause the Syracusan army to be greatly passive. Hence Dionysius would never allow that to happen.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Although this is the second time Seclian led the fleet, in his heart, this would be his actual first time to lead the fleet independently without King Davos by his side, relieving him of the sense of constraint.

Chapter 490 – Battle of the sea near Crotone (II)

Furthermore, This would be the first time the Theonian fleet would step out of the sea near Thurii and truly headed for the Mediterranean since its establishment. Thus, Seclian and even the sailors of the whole fleet were very excited, resulting in the trireme’s normal speed being faster than usual.

The whole fleet consisted of 150 corvus ships and 30 penteconter refitted from ordinary transport ships sailed southward in the six-way column. But due to the westward breeze at their departure, the Theonian fleet didn’t put their sails.

Today, Seclian only has one mission, ‘Completely defeat the Syracusan navy!’

Hence when they were in the sea near Krimisa, Seclian ordered the whole fleet to slow down and set up the corvus.

He also ordered them not to rush when they spot enemy scouting ships approaching and allowed them to come and observe.

Once the winter sun rose to the centre of the sky, the Theonian fleet had sailed close to the sea near Crotone. At this moment, the foremost trireme hoisted a yellow flag on its mast, causing Seclian, in the centre of the fleet, to become excited after learning that the Syracusan navy, which has suffered a disastrous defeat, was lured out so easily!

Regardless of the enemy ship’s number, whether they adopt “Periplous” or “Diekplous” tactics, Theonia’s corvus fleet has only one tactic – Starry Night.

“Raise the black and red flags! Sound the salpinx!!” Seclian gave the order without hesitation.

The sailors began wolfing down their prepared rations allowing them to be on their best in the next battle. However, they are now more excited than their anxiety and tension in their first battle. Not only because the last victory gave them confidence but also because the new bill issued by King Davos before their departure added more strength to the sailors who are mostly freemen, “Win the war, and we’ll become Theonia’s preparatory citizens!” became their common goal.

The heavy infantry, on the other hand, was much calmer when they heard the salpinx. They picked up the long shield covering their heads to block the sun, stood up from the deck, and began slowly moving their hands and feet.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In Crotone’s port’s lighthouse, Dionysius stares at the blue sea in the distance with some of his men and Phidias, watching the countless ships rapidly approaching. The naval battle that would affect Dionysius’ next plan, whether they won or lost, was about to begin. Therefore, Dionysius held his hands nervously at this moment.

The Theonian ships at the forefront did not increase their speed to the fastest because after the last naval battle, they had learned from experience that releasing the corvus wouldn’t hit if the ship’s speed were too fast.

However, the Theonian captains felt that the enemy ship rushing towards them was equally not as fast as the last time, ‘Why?’

Unfortunately, they no longer had spare time to think about it as the ships of both sides were already close to each other.

“Bang!…Bang!…” Suddenly, a corvus fell down and firmly nailed itself to the deck of the Syracusan ship.

“HADES!!” The soldiers of the first legion of Theonia shouted the name of Hades as they rushed across the corvus.

At the same time, the enemy ship also sounded “Apollo!!” Then more than 40 Syracusan heavy infantry rushed from the bottom of the ship and immediately filled the deck.

The Theonian captains were taken aback, ‘No wonder the Syracusan ships became slower. It turns out that there was much heavy infantry hiding in the bottom of their ships!’

For Leptines to compete with the enemy fleet, he accepted Dionysius’ advice.

Seclian soon received the news from the penteconter. But despite his surprise, he still believed that with the strength of Theonia’s legionaries, they would win this “land battle on the sea”!

And for the legionaries, apart from their initial surprise, what followed was excitement because cutting down the sailors in the last battle was too easy, so they didn’t feel any accomplishment, whereas this was a real battle!

“Send a squad over there, and the rest follow me!” The platoon captain, Melisander, quickly gave instructions while rushing to the front.

The deck surface of the trireme was not completely paved with wood, with the middle having a huge gap connecting to the bottom cabin. And since the ship’s wideness was only six-seven metres and one side of the deck could only accommodate at most two or three people in parallel. Thus the soldiers fighting on the deck are divided into two.

As the ship swayed up and down with the waves, the soldiers couldn’t ram at each other closely. Therefore, the battle between the heavy infantry on the ship was more of a 1-on-1 and cooperation between two-three men.

Holding a long shield in his left hand, Melisander meets the enemy’s spear. Melisander pressed his whole body to the shield as he slammed it violently at the Syracusan soldier and broke his spear. Although Melisander’s whole body staggered backwards, the comrades behind him quickly supported him up.

Then like a maggot in a tarsal bone, Melisander took advantage of his opponent’s unsteadiness to quickly close up and slammed his long shield again on the other party’s round shield, which revealed an opening.

Afterwards, the short sword of Melisander quickly stabbed out like lightning, only for him to hear a scream as the other party covered his right rib and fell to the deck.

“Throw away your spear and use your kopis! Use your kopis!…” Hearing the enemy shouting anxiously at each other, Melisander thought, ‘It’s too late for you to realise it!’

He then took advantage of the fact that the enemy in front of him had not yet protected himself as Melisander turned to slash the enemy diagonally. But the other party could not dodge on such a narrow deck unless he jumped into the cabin below, so the enemy subconsciously dodged to the left while swinging his kopis and slashing Melisander’s wrist.

But unexpectedly, Melisander’s comrade took the opportunity to slam his long shield violently, causing the enemy to stagger and move backwards.

Melisander then seized the opportunity, turned his wrist and slashed upward. The sharp blade crossed the enemy’s arm, holding the kopis, leaving a deep wound showing the bone and a long stream of blood. His opponent’s grip became powerless as the kopis fell on the deck…

On every two ships connected by a corvus, the heavy infantry on both sides fought fiercely.

Overall, the Theonians have a clear advantage. Although Syracuse sent their elite soldiers, the one they faced was the first legion of Theonia.

The so-called “invincible” first legion not only has the most significant number of veterans but also has the most stringent requirements in the selection of recruits. And even though their training is the most difficult, many young men are still eager to join. At the same time, the soldiers of the first legion of Theonia also have a far richer experience in fighting at sea than their opponent as they had not only trained for more than a month but also carried out actual combat three days ago.

On the other hand, the Syracusan heavy infantry was sent into battle in haste and had not yet adapted to such a way of fighting. Furthermore, it was surprising that they still carried their spears, knowing that long weapons could not make accurate hits without long training on the rough sea.

But the most important is the difference in weapons and equipment. The Corinthian helmets, copper round shields and metal greaves are too heavy for the Syracusan soldiers to keep their balance on a shaking ship. Thus they could not fully utilise their strength and couldn’t compare with the Theonian soldiers, who were more flexible and better at close combat.

Another important thing that made the ship battle different from a land battle was that even if they lost the battle, they could not escape. So they were either captured or jumped into the sea, which forced the Syracusan soldiers to do their best to fend off the Theonian legionaries. In the end, they fought for their lives.

Some Syracusan soldiers used their round shields to fend off their opponent’s attack while risking injury and saw the opportunity to pull their opponent down to the sea together. And Melisander, who killed several Syracusan soldiers one after another, was accidentally pulled into the sea by the enemy.

However, Melisander did not panic after falling into the sea because they had trained in this area. He quickly took off his helmet and flipped his long shield, which surprisingly floated on the sea surface. Besides the bronze ram point on the centre, the long shield was mainly made of wood, and a thin layer of cowhide wrapped the outer part.

Melisander grabbed the long shield with one hand while waving to the legionaries watching him on the ship with ease through buoyancy, “I’m fine, you guys can just keep fighting! Keep fighting!”

On the other hand, the Syracusan soldier who fell into the water with him had cold seawater pouring into his tightly sealed Corinthian helmet, which immediately caused him to suffocate. He panicked and tried to take off his helmet, but he couldn’t unfasten it quickly due to his panic, and the round shield wrapped in a thin sheet of bronze caused his right arm to sink straight down. In addition, the heavy helmet and his greaves made him unable to float to the water surface no matter how hard he kicked with his feet. In the end, he drowned in the sea.

The corvus operator quickly handed out an oar to the floating Melisander and finally climbed onto the ship.

Just as he caught his breath, Melisander heard the lookout on the mainmast shouting, “Oncoming enemy ship! Oncoming enemy ship!” which caused everyone to be shocked.

But even when they saw a ship rushing towards them not far away, they couldn’t move at all since their ship and the enemy ship was still connected.

“Pull up the corvus now!” The captain shouted anxiously to the legionaries on the opposite ship, and Melisander echoed.

Although they managed to pull up the corvus, the enemy ship was only less than 20-metres away from them, and the bronze ram on its bow shone under the reflection of the sunlight on the seawater.

“Front right!” With the captain’s urgent shouting, the helmsman quickly turned the rudder.

The piper was already playing hard and fast when the captain uttered, “Speed up!”

The thranitai, zygitai and thalamitai quickly rowed the wooden oars. However, it takes time for the ship to get moving quickly and what the ship needs now the most is time.

The enemy ship that was rushing through the waves was already close, so when the thranitai saw through the oar-hole that the enemy ship’s ram was dramatically enlarging in their view, causing all of them to flee their seat in panic while shouting, “Run! Run! We are about to get hit!…”

Chapter 491 – Battle of the sea near Crotone (III)

Nearly 200 sailors panicky rushed to the deck one after another. But when they heard a loud bang, the whole ship shook and caused the sailors to scream as they fell one after another.

A gap was opened at the bottom cabin of the Theonian ship’s middle-right side, showing the ferocious appearance of the enemy ship’s bow and followed by the surging seawater.

However, the enemy ship’s momentum still did not stop as it continued to push forward and expand the gap again. Furthermore, the powerful forward force had caused the Theonian ship to pan several metres.

Knowing the inevitable, the Theonian rowers jumped into the sea.

Unfortunately for Melisander, he had just climbed into the ship and had to jump into the sea again with his long shield.

He then heard the floating sailors complaining, “Why didn’t the penteconter come to block and cover us?!!”

But in fact, they already lost more than half of Theonia’s penteconter.

Leptines already knew that Syracuse wouldn’t have the upper hand in the boarding battle even when he allowed the untrained heavy infantry in the ship. But with the Syracusan navy having nearly 50 more triremes, he resolutely adopted the strategy that used their numerical advantage by having the extra ship on the outside. So once both the enemy and their sides were “linked”, they could take the opportunity to pierce through the battlefield and ram the enemy ship that couldn’t move.

In the previous naval battle, the legionaries quickly settled the enemy ships, allowing their own ships to retrieve the corvus and rejoin the battle immediately. But the increased heavy infantry on the Syracusan ships caused the combat longer, thus providing an opportunity for the Syracusan ships to break in.

After nearly ten Theonian ships sunk, the other ships began to realise that their situation was not good. Thus before the legionaries could defeat the enemy ships, the Theonian ships would retrieve the corvus and starts a real naval battle with the enemy, and they no longer dared to hook the enemy ship with the corvus because there were no more legionaries on their ships(they are still fighting on the enemy ships), so they began disassembling the corvus.

However, even with the Syracusans’ experience in naval battles and better sailor cooperation, they were less fast and agile because they carried more soldiers. The Theonian ships, on the other hand, although they were somewhat less experience in ship-to-ship battles, had an advantage in speed as they didn’t have soldiers on board, causing the situation of both sides to be a reverse of the previous naval battle.

Thus the ship from both sides seek opportunities on the sea, chasing, circling, rushing and ramming…

From time to time, the oars broke, the ship grazed each other, and sometimes even sank…

But as time passed, the Syracusans began to be at a disadvantage in the clash between ships. After all, once the Theonian fleet disconnects, they would have more ships capable of engaging in combat than the Syracusan ships, which would often leave the Syracusan ships in a one-vs-two situation. (Theonian and Syracusan soldiers are fighting on board, resulting in those ships’ inability to move.)

Leptines, who was at the rear and not involved in the battle, was extremely anxious and flustered after learning the situation of their fleet through the lookout on his ship, ‘Should I kneel and beg again?!’

Suddenly, the lookout shouted, “A squadron approaches from the rear!”

‘A squadron coming from the south? Is it ours?!’ Although Leptines knew that Dionysius had not sent an order to Syracuse’s port to call on more ships, he still eagerly awaited with expectation.

But after a while, the lookout’s cry broke his expectation, “It’s a black flag! A black flag!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

‘They finally arrived!’ Mithridates breathed a sigh of relief as he stared at the fierce naval battle ahead.

Before they set out, Seclian and the other captains had already made plans for this naval battle as they feared the Syracusans would avoid them once they saw their massive and powerful fleet. Hence they decided after a discussion that they would divide the fleet into two, with the more than 60 captured Syracusan triremes forming a squadron under the leadership of Mithridates. So after departing from Thurii’s port, the squadron headed southeast to avoid Syracuse’s scouting ships and make a great semi-circle to meet up with the main fleet led by Seclian, heading south along the coast, at Scylletium.

But what they didn’t expect was the originally stationed Syracusan fleet at Scylletium’s port had moved to Crotone this morning. So Mithridates’ fleet that had not received timely information arrived at the empty Scylletium.

Mithridates quickly decided to turn the squadron around and found the two parties battling on the sea near Crotone.

At the command of Mithridates, the squadron quickly entered the battle, giving the last nail in the coffin for the Syracusan fleet!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dionysius, who watched the entire naval battle from the port’s lighthouse, has turned ashen. Afterwards, he turned around without saying a word.

Phidias, who was the last to leave, continued to watch the naval battlefield while thinking, ‘Theonia’s novel way of naval warfare is quite suitable for Sparta. Should I suggest it to the Gerousia after returning?’

Theonia’s successive naval victory significantly impacted the war situation of the whole Magna Graecia and changed the strength comparison between Theonia and Syracuse. Phidias was happy to see it because the western Mediterranean still needs a city-state union that can check Syracuse. Furthermore, he had a feeling that Syracuse’s land attack on Theonia would be more violent…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The naval battle has ended. However, unlike the previous naval battle that ended with a relatively clean naval battlefield, the sea near Crotone has scattered oars, broken boards, sunken ships, floating dead bodies and countless sailors and soldiers struggling for help in the water.

The Theonains sailed their broken ships back and forth across the sea to rescue the Theonian sailors and soldiers who had fallen overboard and placed them as close as possible to the ships that the legionaries had captured.

The Theonian navy also lent the Syracusans a helping hand because, before their departure, Davos reminded Seclian that ‘after winning the naval battle, try to rescue the Syracusans who fell overboard if conditions permit.’ However, they would be tied up and guarded after boarding the ship.

But some of the Syracusans were close to the shore when they fell, so they refused Theonia’s assistance as they swam desperately to the shore. In this regard, the Theonians’ attitude would change and drive their ship to crush them directly.

The entire battlefield cleanup and rescue work continued until dusk. Only after the sunset’s light dyed the ships on the sea orange did Seclian order to return.

In the massive Theonian fleet, the captured Syracusan ships were placed in the centre while the Theonian ships surrounded them. Although the sailors were tired, the joy of victory made them row their oars powerfully as the fleet slowly headed north accompanied by their salpinx that resounded across the sea and the sound of their lively pipes…

Seclian turned to look back at the battlefield where they had fought fiercely. The thrilling sight of his ship almost getting hit by an enemy ship came to his mind, making him excited at the moment. His eyes then moved to the far end of the horizon, where the sky connects with the sea…

In his heart, he felt a great passion and shouted to the captain, “From now on, we have the final say on this sea!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In this naval battle, except for the more than 40 triremes led by Leptines to flee into the port of Crotone in time, the rest were either sank or captured.

On Theonia’s side, 23 corvus sunk, and more than ten were damaged, But they had captured 68 Syracusan triremes and nearly 10,000 sailors.

But what angered Dionysius the most was that the more than 9,000 Syracusan heavy infantry he sent, only more than 2,000 returned, with most of the soldiers either killed in battle or drowned at sea, and Theonia’s fleet had only captured less than a thousand. Thus it could be said that they had lost not only the naval battle but also the land battle.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Theonian army continued to march until they arrived at Roscianum, where the city’s polemarchos, Amikles, and officials stood by the wooden bridge built by Heracleides the Younger for Roscianum. They came to see off the Theonian army, who were on their way to the battlefield and sent the more than a thousand Roscianum soldiers and a hundred cavalrymen to join the army as part of their duty as allies.

Although the Theonian army was rushing, Davos still took time to go the wooden bridge, thanked the officials of Roscianum and exchanged greetings, which dissipates some potential unpleasantness in laughter.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

With the first legion following the Theonian fleet, the second legion was now at the forefront of the whole army. Although Amintas fought bravely on the battlefield, he is responsible for the safety of the soldiers of the whole legion as a legatus. Thus after they crossed the Trionto River, he increased the marching column to ten and placed the light infantry in the middle column. And due to Davos’ warning, Amintas did not take Syracuse’s mercenary cavalries lightly even though the second legion hadn’t fought them yet.

In recent years, the Crucoli River’s marsh area had largely disappeared, transforming into a high-quality plain due to the tremendous development of the Theonian people, resulting in the population increasing dramatically. But today, the legionaries could see only the ruins of several villages along the road.

‘Those Syracusan sailors manage to invade Theonia’s territory this far!’ The legionaries were surprised and, at the same time, outraged by the atrocities committed by the enemy. Fortunately, they had defeated the Syracusan navy in the previous naval battle, stopping them from returning to endanger Theonia’s territory. However, those damned mercenary cavalries still remained!

Chapter 492 – Theonia’s March and Syracuse’s Argument

When the second legion was about to reach the wooden bridge of the Crucoli River, several scouts came rushing back in a slight panic, “Reporting to the legatus. Enemy cavalry at the front, and they numbered-”

Before the scout could finish his words, enemy cavalries appeared on the opposite bank of the Crucoli River. They are dark-skinned with scattered black hair, wearing thin short-sleeved linen clothes, javelins in their hands, barefooted, and some horses didn’t even have cushions on their backs. Instead, those horses looked vigorous and flexible in their actions. Although they only had about a hundred horses, they stood still by the river even when faced with the huge army marching towards them while staring at the other bank…Amintas, on the other hand, could feel the cunningness and malice in their gazes.

‘This is the Numidian cavalries?!’ Amintas recalled their descriptions in the battle report. After surveying them curiously, what rose in his heart was not fear but excitement, “Have the light infantry brigade send 200 archers to guard the river and expel the enemy cavalry on the other side. While the rest of the light infantry will follow the first brigade and wait for my order to cross the bridge quickly!”

The second legion quickly moved, with the archers rushing to the river. But before they could release their arrows, the Numidian cavalries on the other side immediately ran away, easily allowing the second legion to cross the wooden bridge.

But just as Amintas was considering whether to send the second legion by platoon, in a two-column fish-scale formation, cooperate with the seventh legion to advance and drive away the enemy cavalries galloping around like flies, the herald arrived with the order of Davos, ‘Ignore the enemy cavalries and continue to march. We must arrive at Krimisa before dusk!’

Thus Amintas had to abandon his plan and continue marching.

At the start, the Numidian cavalries would come rushing over on both sides of the road from time to time, where they would scream and throw a round of javelin, but after being shot down by the archer’s arrows, they became much more cautious.

After the enemy pestered them for a while, a cavalry suddenly appeared and shouted something, causing the enemy to retreat one after another.

Afterwards, these “ugly” Numidians no longer appeared in front of the soldiers of the second legion.

Although the soldiers didn’t know what had happened,  Amintas could vaguely guess why, ‘The Theonian fleet probably had won another naval victory, so the mercenary cavalries feared the Theonian fleet would take control of the sea around Crotone and break the pontoon bridge built over the Neto River with their ship and blockade the river, trapping them that had rampaged through the Theonian territory from returning to the Syracusan camp. After getting abandoned, they would surely get strangled by the soldiers’ wrath.’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

That was actually what happened. When the Numidian and Celtic cavalries on the northern plain of Crotone fled to the Neto River, the Theonian ships appeared at the river’s estuary.

After returning to the Syracusan camp, they reported their findings to Dionysius.

“Reinforcements from Theonia are coming? So fast?!” Phacipessas was surprised as they had just breached through Crotone yesterday, yet the Theonians were already rushing today.

“How many are they?” Astagoras asked urgently.

Acilita stretched out three fingers and said, “About 30,000 men.”

“30,000…” Astagoras began estimating in earnest, “There are about 10,000 Theonians in Aprustum and almost 10,000 in Krimisa…adding them together, Theonia would gather more than 50,000 soldiers after they reach Crotone’s territory, which isn’t a small number!”

“Don’t forget to include those heavy infantries on Theonia’s ships.” Phacipessas reminded Astagoras, “Theonia would have at least 60,000 men!”

Astagoras retorted, “The soldiers on Theonia’s ship fought against our soldiers for half a day, so they can’t have that many left.”

Phacipessas still insisted on his opinion, “The Theonians definitely didn’t lose much as they were able to capture so many of our ships.”

Phidias, on the other hand, just listened silently to the two arguing Syracusan strategoi as a trace of envy rose in his heart. Syracuse and Theonia, the two powerful forces in the western Mediterranean, could often send more than 50,000 soldiers in a war, which Sparta and its allies could not reach.

At this time, another Numidian beside Acilita spoke loudly in their language.

Phacipessas immediately stopped arguing and asked curiously, “What did he say?”

Acilita replied, “My men said that some of the enemies wore black armour, some wore armours like yours, and some didn’t even have any armour at all and are unarmed.”

Among the reinforcements led by Davos: The soldiers of the second legion were all official citizens, wearing the standard black helmets, black armours, spears, long shields, short swords and javelins. The soldiers of the seventh legion, on the other hand, were mostly preparatory citizens and registered freemen, so they didn’t have enough money to buy Theonia’s standard equipment. Thus they carried a hodgepodge of equipment and weapon until they defeated and captured the Tarantine soldiers and took their equipment, such as Corinthian helmets, linen armour, round shields, leather greaves, spears and kopis. The logistics team in the rear also carried thousands of heavy infantry equipment seized from Taranto, which would be used to replace the equipment of the sixth legion stationed in Krimisa. In contrast, the sarissa brigade marched empty-handed in order not to reveal the secret for the Syracusan to know in advance and take precautions. After all, the four metres sarissa is really too conspicuous, so they had the sarissa transported through ships and unloaded in Krimisa’s port, which gave the Numidian such an illusion.

“See! How could Theonia have so many soldiers? But it turns out that they just recruited all the freemen and cannot equip them all with weapons. Thus, it is still useless no matter how many they are!” Astagoras glanced at Phacipessas and laughed.

Phacipessas no longer argued with him anymore as his expression became quite relaxed. As their opponent, he certainly hoped that the weaker the Theonian army was, the better.

“Praise Apollo! The Theonia’s reinforcements came in time!” At this moment, Dionysius, who had been pondering, spoke. He was gloomy since witnessing the disastrous defeat of the navy, so his men thought he was angry about their loss. However, he was instead worried about the fate of his massive army because he thought of a critical problem.

Even if the Syracusan army continues to advance north to conquer Krimisa, Roscianum, and even the southern part of Thurii, with their strong offensive and pressure the Theonians to temporarily dare not divide their troops to their fleet and land to attack Syracuse’s weak rear, but as long as the Theonians burn the wooden bridge on the wide Crati River, it will be impossible for the Syracusan army, which has lost its naval superiority, to cross the river and attack. And once their army stopped at the Crati River, the Theonian army, which had slowed down, could defend the river while sending a fleet to attack the rear of their army, which would exhaust them and lead to their defeat.

At the thought of this possibility, Dionysius burst into cold sweats, and the only thing that came to his mind was to take a step back, ‘Should…I let Phidias go to Thurii to negotiate a truce?’

Inside the tent, Dionysius stealthily glanced at the silent Spartan numerous times. He knew very well that Sparta wanted Syracuse to end the war quickly and then aid them vigorously to defeat the anti-Spartan alliance, which he would never do.

If he needed the support of Sparta when he first became a tyrant, his wing has now grown strong that he doesn’t need a powerful ally to dictate his moves. On the contrary, the Spartans, caught in a war, would lower their arrogant heads and give Syracuse more benefits.

Thus at this moment, Dionysius would not mind making more use of Sparta’s eagerness to achieve his purpose. But what kind of truce agreement should he propose? Will the young man from Theonia accept a truce on the condition that the territory they occupy would be the sphere of influence of both sides?

Dionysius was really unwilling as he had exhausted his treasury to lead such a massive army yet failed to capture a city in Theonia. He was a ruler who was excellent at weighing gains and losses. He was even able to endure not being able to expel the Carthaginians completely out of Sicily despite the disastrous defeat of Carthage and the absolute dominance of Syracuse in Sicily, so he naturally could swallow his resentment this time for the time being.

Moreover, he was able to occupy so many city-states of Magna Graecia in this time’s expedition, almost controlling the southern part. Besides that, they had not only prevented the expansion of Theonia to the south but significantly increased Syracuse’s strength as well. In fact, Dionysius had already half achieved this expedition’s purpose. Afterwards, he would strengthen the navy as long as they could return. And once their treasury was abundant, they would again attack Magna Graecia, believing that they could definitely destroy Theonia.

But just as he was considering retreating and making a truce with Theonia through Sparta, he heard the news that the Theonian army was coming. And after listening to his men’s discussion, his thought has changed again. Although Theonia defeated the Syracusan navy, Syracuse’s land army’s morale was high due to winning a staggering number of victories, and they were all experienced soldiers and mercenaries. Unlike Theonia, who needed freemen to make up the numbers. So if they could completely defeat the Theonians in a battle, he would be able to reverse the war situation and make Theonia pay a greater price!

Chapter 493 – Inside Krimisa

Dionysius’ dejection was swept away as he loudly said, “We need a victory to restore the soldiers’ morale!”

“Milord.” Phacipessas reminded with caution, “The Theonians have the sea advantage, so they will not necessarily be willing to clash with us!”

“That’s not up to them!” Dionysius sneered.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At dusk, Theonia’s reinforcements arrived at the city of Krimisa.

Protesilaus, the Praetor of Krimisa, and Olivos, the legatus of the sixth legion, led a group out of the city to meet them.

“Your…your majesty, you have finally arrived!” The Senate already informed Protesilaus a few days ago about “Davos becoming the king of Theonia.” Although he was surprised, he did not object. On the contrary, he was relieved to see Davos now.

“Lord Protesilaus, although you were under the greatest pressure among all the Theonian cities during this war, you have done well! Even with Syracuse’s heavy pressure, you still stabilise the city of Krimisa. On behalf of the Senate, I thank you for your effort during this period!” Said Davos with sincereness. Aristias’ intelligence reported that Protesilaus’ lax governance of Krimisa led to the city’s political turmoil. If not for the timely arrival of Olivos, the situation in Krimisa would have been worse. But after realising his mistake, he followed the advice of Olivos and assisted the sixth legion in supervising the whole city. Afterwards, he was kept busy arranging the accommodation and food of the large number of people who fled into the city and promptly handling all kinds of affairs, which significantly alleviated the conflict between the people outside the city and the city residents, ensuring the city’s stability. Therefore, Davos’ remark was not perfunctory but heartfelt praise.

“It is all thanks to legatus Olivos’s full assistance!” Protesilaus discreetly glanced at Olivos, who was beside him.

“Yes, your majesty, our sixth legion became a patrol for Krimisa’s safety!” Olivos’ said half-jokingly.

“It seems that you being a patrol captain was not in vain.” Davos teasingly said, “How about becoming a patrol captain of a city once the war is over?”

“Your majesty, it seems that you weren’t concerned about me these past years. You didn’t even know that I was no longer a patrol captain!” Olivos pretended to be aggrieved and said, “I am now a deputy Quartermaster in the Ministry of Military. And according to the regulations, I should take up a higher position after the war, such as an intermediate ranking inspector.”

“What intermediate position? You would need the assessment and recommendation of Theonia’s Civil Servant Management Committee for it.” The seemingly casual words of Davos made Protesilaus excited, ‘It seems that Davos would still let the Senate exercise its power as before even after becoming a king.’

“Personally, I don’t think that position is suitable for you. Instead, you should consider the post of intermediate judge.” Davos’ following remark was obviously a joke, so Olivos shook his head immediately, “I would die trying to remember all the countless laws of Theonia. On the contrary, the position of patrol captain is much more suitable for me.”

With that, Davos laughed, and the crowd soon followed.

Amidst their laughter, Davos turned his head and asked Protesilaus, “What difficulties does Krimisa is facing now?”

“It’s mainly food and accommodation.” Protesilaus blurted, “The city doesn’t have much food stored left, and the people that came from outside the city only brought little food when they fled into the city, while some had even brought only rations because they were in too much of a hurry. In addition, there are so many soldiers from the sixth legion. Your majesty, if you had not arrived today with your army…I would have discussed with lord Olivos and asked him to send the soldiers to the Senate and ask for emergency food aid to Krimisa!”

“The city is indeed tight in food now!” Olivos interjected, “Lord Protesilaus even tried to persuade the residents to share their grain reserves with the people who fled to the city, but…a few of them expressed strong dissatisfaction with this.”

Davos gazed at the two of them, then looked around at the other officials of Krimsia and said with a serious expression, “Our war with Syracuse determines the survival of Theonia, so all the people of Theonia should do everything to defeat Syracuse and win a better future for the union at such a critical time! Therefore, anyone who does anything to destabilise Theonia and hinder our war preparation at this time is not a Theonian but Theonia’s enemy! The Senate and its subordinate city government departments have the right to impose heavier penalties, including death, in accordance with the Wartime Act! So you shouldn’t worry; rather, you should boldly manage the city!”

After listening to Davos, Olivos winked at Protesilaus, ‘See, I war right.’

Davos’ words revealed his murderous intent, which made Protesilaus shudder. So he and his men said one after another, “We understand.”

“There’s no need for you to worry about the food.” Davos said to relieve them, “In the next few days, there will be a large amount of grain coming from the port of Thurii. And with the army leaving for the Crotone Plain tomorrow and the enemy cavalry no longer roaming here, you can arrange for the people who have taken refuge in the city to return, rebuild their homes, take care of the destroyed farms and prepare for the next year’s spring sowing…Lord Protesilaus, you must arrange all these things.”

“You can rest assured, your majesty.” When Protesilaus’ heard Davos’ words, he was greatly relieved and immediately promised.

“Your majesty, will our sixth legion go to Crotone Plain as well?” Olivos hurriedly asked.

Davos laughed and said, “Aren’t you going to continue to be Krimisa’s patrol captain?”

“Our sixth legion wishes to settle accounts with those mercenaries and avenge the dead Krimisians and our brothers who died in battle!” Olivos said in a serious tone. After the sixth legion entered Krimisa, he did not send his troops to try expelling the cavalries rampaging in the Crotone Plain. However, the inexperienced soldiers of the sixth legion were unable to stop themselves from getting provoked, resulting in a platoon getting lured away from the main force and was killed by the Celtic and Numidian cavalries. So Olivos was forced to withdraw his troops to the city, not daring to leave easily.

Feeling the fire in his eyes, Davos nodded and said, “You’ll get what you want!”

Accompanied by military music, the long marching column has almost reached the city gates. So Davos stopped talking and entered the city with a group of people such as Protesilaus, followed by his personal guard.

“Although we will transport a lot of food, we will need to distribute it to many places and a large number of people. Thus, the amount of food allocated to the city of Krimisa will not be too much, so you should still control the food quota allocated to each household and try to make it last longer while being fair until the next transportation.” Davos whispered to Protesilaus as they walked.

Protesilaus tensed up as it seemed that the food situation in Theonia wasn’t as optimistic as Davos had just said in front of everyone.

So he cautiously nodded, “I understand.”

“Can the city of Krimisa accommodate more than 30,000 people?” Davos asked again.

“After getting informed in advance, we had made some preparations by reserving the open space in front of the Temple of Hades and Temple of Apollo. Furthermore, we also can squeeze some on the square occupied by the sixth legion. In addition, we had also negotiated with some people who have large residential areas to accommodate some of the officers and soldiers. After all, the army will only stay for a night, so the city of Krimisa could still do its best to accommodate all the soldiers.”

After Protesilaus detailed the arrangements they made, he hesitated and said with seriousness, “Your majesty, there is one thing I would like to report to you.”

“Go on.”

“Recently, the marsh area near the Crucoli River had gradually transformed into a plain, so Krimisa’s population has increased rapidly. At the same time, the number of preparatory citizens reaches nearly 15,000 while there are more than 20,000 registered freemen, most of whom now live outside the city to farm, graze livestock…and since we had not yet allocated the land in this plain, more people might pour into Krimisa in the future. With such a large population and the fertile land of the Marsh Plain and Crotone Plain, Krimisa’s agriculture will certainly prosper, so will the port and trade. By then, the people living outside the city will want to live in the city, but the current city of Krimisa’s area is too small, so we must expand it outward…”

“You are thinking long term, which I agree. So you can write a proposal and submit it to the Senate for assessment, approval, and cost allocation. However, it would only be considered after we repulse Syracuse and the end of this war.” Davos said with satisfaction. With Thurii and Krimisa’s expansion…he was surprised by the rapid development of the Theonia Union.

“Your majesty, we will leave it to you to repel those damn invaders and restore the peace and tranquillity of Theonia!” Protesilaus said sincerely.

Davos smiled slightly. But after passing through the gate and into the streets, his expression changed.

In his vision: crude tents filled the streets; roads scattered with dishevelled and dirty refugees, who were either sitting or lying, including young men, elderly, women and children, squeezing the spacious streets and turning them into small paths for only one-two people to walk.

Chapter 494 – Henipolis’ Resolve

With anxiety over the loss of their homes, the adults talked among themselves about their resentment of Syracuse, the progress of the war, and their expectations and dissatisfaction with their own troops. On the other hand, the children regarded the refuge as a place to play…

But once the streets became too noisy, the people inside the houses would come out to express their displeasure. And the refugees would heed the admonishment in most cases, restoring the peace for a while.

At this time, someone sighed and said, “If we had a house in the city, we wouldn’t have to be afraid of the enemy’s invasion!”

His words naturally provoked another debate.

Although the streets were messy, it was still relatively. However, a breeze blew, and along with it came the smell of urine, causing Davos to suddenly cover his mouth and nose while he looked at Protesilaus.

Protesilaus could only helplessly say, “Your majesty, we have arranged for the people to clean the streets every day according to the physicians’ advice and reminded them to go to the river to urinate and defecate to prevent an epidemic, but those children…” However, Davos didn’t say anything more as Protesilaus had already taken adequate measures.

The bored refugees soon notice the approaching and shout excitedly, “It’s Lord Davos!”

“Here comes Lord Davos!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Although the Senate had already officially announced the news of “Davos becoming King of Theonia” to the other cities, the people of Krimisa didn’t pay attention to it as they were worried about their homes getting trampled by the enemy. Thus they still called him with their most familiar title.

They stopped complaining and arguing as they rushed to Davos while the guards immediately protected him.

“Lord Davos, you have finally come! Syracuse burnt our village, and our home is now gone!”

“Lord Davos, when will you lead the troops to drive away those vicious foreigners?! When can we return to our land?!”

“Lord Davos, my father died at the hands of those damn foreigners! You must kill them all and avenge us!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

They were like lost children who finally saw their parents as they confided their suffering and anger to Davos.

Seeing the crowds increasing, the guards and Olivos wanted to drive them away for fear of danger. However, Davos stopped them and listened to the people’s suffering with a serious expression. After patiently comforting them, he made a solemn promise that he would defeat Syracuse and help them rebuild their homes…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Henipolis led more than a thousand Laosian soldiers loyal to him out of the mountain pass to the Lao Fortress. After rendezvousing with 3,000 Lucanian reserve soldiers led by Bagul, he went down the Lao River and soon arrived outside the city of Laos.

Here, Hielos, the supreme commander of the Bruttian region temporarily appointed by Davos, has replaced Saru, the Praetor of Vergae, and led more than 3,000 Bruttian reserve soldiers to arrive a day ahead of schedule and set up camp.

Once the three forces combined, their total strength reached nearly 8,000. It caused Alobamus, who received the news, to spend the whole day in sorrow as he somewhat regretted that he did not decisively lead his troops out of the city yesterday to crush the Bruttians first. At that time, his concerns were: Although he had gathered 5,000 warriors, his long years of dealing with Theonia made him understand the strength of the Theonian soldiers. So unless he leads most of his troops to attack, he has no confidence to defeat them, but if he did lead them out, he was worried that there would be chaos in the city.

In the past few days, rumours spread in the city of Laos that caused the commoners and slaves to be furious at the officials and tribal chieftains, which even resulted in some big clashes. In addition, the news of Syracuse suffering a disastrous naval defeat that they originally blocked was spread, which further fueled the people’s anger. So in such a situation, how could Alobamus dare to move his main force out of the city? Thus the only way for him to change the dire situation of Laos is to hold the city and hope that Syracuse can defeat Theonia on land.

To this day, Alobamus still can’t figure out how Syracuse’s powerful navy lost to the hodgepodge fleet of Theonia, ‘Could it be that Theonia’s archon, Davos, was really favoured by the gods?!’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Due to Bagul’s humility, they handed over the command of the three forces after they merged to Hielos, the former legatus of the fourth legion, a statesman of the Senate, the one with more military experience and the most trusted of Davos.

At this moment, Hielos, Bagul and Henipolis, as well as Ariandos – Henipolis’ most trusted strategos, were discussing in the newly established military tent.

In addition, there is a special figure in the tent – Teratus, the head of the intelligence department of Davos, appointed by director Aristias and was the one in charge of spying on Laos’ activities on the west coast.

After Teratus reported Laos’ current situation, it significantly increased Hielos and Bagul’s confidence in capturing Laos. After all, it would simply be impossible for 8,000 men to take a city of stone with 5,000 defenders if Alobamus defended with all his strength. Moreover, they are a hastily assembled assortment of troops that didn’t even have an engineering camp, let alone ballistae.

Just then, Henipolis said something that surprised everyone in the tent.

“Lord Henipolis.” Hielos paused and asked, “Are you sure about this?”

“Of course!” Henipolis raised his head, revealing the hatred in his eyes, “I had wanted to do this after becoming the archon of Laos, but those pack of greedy wolves would not give me a chance! But now-” Henipolis sneered and said, “Since they have betrayed me, I will let them taste what it is like to be betrayed by the populace!”

For the rest of the day, the Theonian troops began building siege equipment while Teratus contacted his men in the city through special ways.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the following day, when Davos led the army from Krimisa to the Neto River, Hielos also led his army to line up outside Laos.

Looking at the tides of enemies and the military flags below the city wall, the Laosians on the city, whether they are soldiers or strategoi, were inevitably a little nervous. After years of under Theonia’s wing, they are used to seeing and listening to the bravery and successive victory of the Theonian soldiers.

Seeing this, Alobamus laughed and said, “The Theonians do not dare to attack the city and are merely scaring us! After all, the lives of the families of those thousand warriors under Henipolis are in our hands! Thus they do not have any fighting spirit at all. So if we exclude them, the Theonians’ numbers aren’t more than ours, while we still have tall walls, moats, abatis, and traps. Therefore, unless the Theonians are crazy, they wouldn’t dare come to just die with their little force!”

“Lord archon is right! We, warriors of Laos, are not afraid of any threat! On the contrary, I wish the Theonians attacked the city now so that we can defeat them!”

“Oh, Asinu! It’s time for the Theonians to see the strength of Laos’ warriors!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Just as Alobamus’ men displayed their courage, more than 20 cavalries rode out of the military formation of Theonia. Afterwards, they stood less than 100 metres away from the city and shouted, “Warriors of Laos, I am Henipolis, the son of Avinoges and your archon!”

As soon as he uttered this, the more than 20 followers of his echoed his words simultaneously, allowing the people in the city to hear him clearly.

“Milord, it’s the boy! Let’s shoot him!” One of Alobamus’ subordinate’s expressions changed, so he quickly suggested to Alobamus.

Alobamus waved his hand. For his nephew, he had a mixed feeling of guilt for taking away his power, pain for breaking his promise to his brother, and for his hatred and fear of his recklessness.

But Alobamus knew that he had to be brave enough to face this young man and cut through all these negative emotions in his heart to truly become a competent ruler of Laos! Thus he wanted to hear what this nephew of his had to say first and then refute him.

“Warriors of Laos, we are the descendants of the noble Sybarites. However, we became slaves of foreigners for decades. But under my father’s leadership, you who did not want to be slaves rose up and bravely resisted, expelling the foreigners and becoming Laos’ master!”

Henipolis waited for his men to finish shouting before he continued, “But! Have you really become the masters of this city?! Most of you do not have land, cannot hold official positions in the city-state, cannot participate in creating various city-state plans, and have no political power! Furthermore, in order to survive, you have to be part of the various clans and tribes because of poverty and work hard grazing and farming for those officials and chieftains in exchange for a meagre amount of food to satisfy your hunger!

While those officials and chieftains, who do not have to do any work, could enjoy the delicious food, occupy various positions and lands of Laos, and create all kinds of laws that favour their rule over you. Look around you, look at those fat strategoi and chieftains! Do you really think that you are the masters of this city?!…”

“Shoot the arrows! Shoot!!” Alobamus ordered in anger as he did not expect this audacious nephew of his to reveal the secret of their rule over Laos in front of everyone, ‘Damn it! Damn Henipolis! Does he no longer want our family to rule this city anymore?!’

Although they conveyed Alobamus’ order, only a few responded to his order. On the contrary, a lot more did what Henipolis said and captured the chieftains, who had rushed to chastise them, while murmuring, “He is right! These people are indeed much fatter than us…”

Chapter 495 – Invitation to a decisive battle

After Henipolis dodged the incoming arrows with the protection of his men, he took a deep breath and shouted with all his strength, “I, Henipolis, the true archon of Laos, solemnly swear on Hades and Asinu’s name that if you help me kill those wicked rebel, I would allocate you your lands, give you the right to participate in politics, take up public office, and have real freedom!!”

The warriors at the top of the city wall heard clearly about the land, power, freedom…which were all the things they dreamed of. Furthermore, because of the rumours that were spread in the city a few days ago, they felt Henipolis credible. The rumours let them know that this young man, just because he wanted to improve their situation, had his position usurped by the officials and chieftains who wanted to continue oppressing and exploiting them.

Then a great commotion suddenly arose among the warriors on the city wall, significantly reducing the number of people shooting at Henipolis.

Just as they were debating and their hearts were in turmoil, the spies that Teratus had placed in their ranks shouted, “We want land! We want freedom!…”

Their shouting resonated with everyone, which further added to the confusion at the top of the city wall.

Seeing this, Hielos became overjoyed and immediately ordered the attack.

With the continuous sound of the salpinx, the soldiers marched towards the city wall with siege ladders.

Furthermore, the chaos at the top of the city wall did not subside but expanded. So the chieftains and the officers rush to scold the rioting soldiers and tell them to concentrate on defence; otherwise, they would get punished. However, some people with intent instigated these warriors to beat up those powerful officials and chieftains who usually treated them like dogs and pigs.

After all, among these 5,000 or so warriors on top of the city wall, except for one-third who were the personal guards kept by the chieftains and officials of the various tribes, the rest had come from the poor people in the tribes and the port, who were the bulk that was impressed by Henipolis’ words. Thus the chaos spiralled out of control.

Although Alobamus was anxious at watching the Theonian soldiers quickly clearing up the traps under the moat, he couldn’t think of a good way to change their grave situation.

Suddenly, a herald hurriedly ran up to the city wall and said, “Lord Alobamus, it’s not good! It’s not good! Those beggars in the port are rioting! There are so many of them that we had to transfer most troops to defend the city. While the rest of the soldiers were either defeated or had voluntarily surrendered!”

“What?! What did you say?!” It was as if lightning struck Alobamus. His vision turned dark, resulting in his body swaying a few times and collapsing.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos stepped on the solid Krimisa-Aprustum road with the army he led and soon arrived about a kilometre away from the north bank of the Neto River and began building a camp.

At this time, Davos had more than 40,000 men from the combined second legion, sixth legion, seventh legion, sarissa legion, and the newly rejoined first legion*. (after the victory of the naval battle, the Theonian fleet entered the port of Krimisa, dropping off all the soldiers of the first legion on the ship and the captured Syracusan sailors. The prisoners will then serve as slaves to provide labour for the Krimisians in helping them rebuild their homes, while the damaged and captured ships will continue sailing north and return to Thurii’s military port for maintenance.)

Furthermore, after Philesius received the news, he and Epiphanes led the fourth legion and part of the fifth legion, totalling more than 12,000 soldiers, to travel through the main road and joined Davos’ army. At the same time, Philesius left behind 3,000 soldiers to defend the city of Aprustum together with the more than 1,000 reserve soldiers organised by Agasias.

In addition, after quelling the rebellion in the Bruttian region, Hieronymus led the 5,000 or so Bruttian reserve soldiers that he gathered earlier towards the Crotone Plain(which is why Hielos only brought 2,000 or so Bruttian soldiers to attack Laos.)

The navy’s navarch, Seclian, also sailed again to the sea near Crotone with one hundred corvus and forty regular triremes.

On this day, Theonia’s several armies rushed to the north bank of the Neto River one after another, rapidly increasing the troops that Davos led.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the Theonian camp, a spectacular and lively sight happened as thousands of bare-chested soldiers wielded shovels and pickaxes to dig trenches and build walls and tents…

Davos – the new king of Theonia, and several military commanders such as Antonios, Amintas, Epiphanes, Philesius, Olivos, Matonis and Kapus were preparing to discuss their next strategy in the temporarily built command post when Damocles – the messenger sent by Dionysius arrived.

After meeting Davos, Damocles presented him with a letter from Dionysius.

“To the young archon of Theonia. Ever since I landed in Magna Graecia at the head of my army, I have won many battles and conquered Terina, Scylletium and even Crotone one after another. At the same time, Caulonia expressed its submission while Rhegium, who was hiding behind the mountains and trembling with fear, could be overthrown with just the wave of my hand. Now, Theonia is the only enemy left before me. Do you, who the ignorant Magna Graecians praise as the strategos who won a hundred victories, have the courage to fight a genuine decisive battle with me? After all, whoever wins or loses, this long war with countless casualties would come to an end. Thus I look forward to your reply! Signed: Dionysius, the supreme military commander of Syracuse, the Master of Sicily and Conqueror of Magna Graecia.”

After reading the letter written by Dionysius, Davos inwardly laughed coldly, ‘This is a decisive battle invitation from Dionysius? This tyrant really treats me as a young child, trying to use such a clumsy provocation to make me accept this battle, hmm…’

After seeing Davos remain calm after reading the letter, Damocles – the envoy of Syracuse, immediately said, “Esteemed lord Davos, our supreme military commander also sent you a gift, but the guards took it.”

Davos became a bit interested, so he glanced at Martius, standing by his side.

Martius understood and immediately came out of the command post and soon brought in a Syracusan attendant holding a beautifully decorated wooden box in his hands.

“Is this Dionysius’ gift?” Davos asked while glancing at the wooden box.

“Yes.”

Davos nodded to Martius.

Martius then took the wooden box, placed it on the table in front of Davos and opened it, revealing a human head inside.

“Take it out.” Davos calmly said as he had already guessed it.

Afterwards, Martius carefully took it out and placed the head on the table.

Although lime powder covered the head and was slightly rotten, Davos could still tell who he was.

Amintas, on the other hand, curiously looked at it and exclaimed, “It’s Drakos!”

This immediately surprised the other legatus, causing them to rush towards the table confused.

Damocles still manage to say, “With it is the message that Lord Dionysius asked me to bring: This is only the first!” which caused Amintas to come forward angrily, grab Damocles and punch him hard. It resulted in Damocles falling on his back as his nose began bleeding.

“Go back and tell that shameless, savage tyrant of yours that he’ll be the second! We will cut off his head and kick it like a football, so you’d better tell him to wash his head clean so we can easily chop it!” Amintas pointed his finger at Damocles as he cursed.

The Syracusan envoy had already expected the anger of the Theonian strategoi, so it did not frighten Damocles even with a broken nose. Instead, he snickered a few times, covered his nose with his hand, stood up slowly and looked at Davos, who was looking at him coldly, and said in a jarring voice, “Lord Davos, when do you plan to fight the decisive battle so that I can go back and tell commander Dionysius to prepare?!”

Davos calmly said, “Let him wait.”

This vague response had taken Damocles aback.

But he had no chance to ask again as Martius removed him and his attendants out of the command post, blindfolded them and escorted them back to the south bank of the Neto River.

At this moment, Davos and the military commanders bowed respectfully and deeply to Drakos’ head to express their grief and respect.

On Drakos’ head was a smashed bloody hole in his forehead, which silently narrates the courage and unyielding of the deceased, reminding everyone present at that time that the tragic sight.

“Your majesty, when will we fight Syracuse?!” Philesius, who usually remained calm, couldn’t help but ask Davos.

“Your majesty, the fourth legion requests to be the main force of the battle!” Epiphanes asked Davos to fight with a serious expression.

“Epiphanes, don’t you dare take our moment! Drakos formed our second legion with his own hands, so it is the strong desire of our brothers to avenge Drakos’ death. Thus I hope your majesty will fulfil our request and place the second legion in the position where the Syracusan may attack the fiercest!” Amintas shouted, with an expression of giving up his life.

“If it is the legion formed by Drakos, then the same is true to the fifth legion. Moreover, Drakos was wounded, captured and killed in the hands of the enemy in order to cover the retreat of the fifth legion!” Philesius even took the initiative to fight for the chance as well.

Seeing the atmosphere in the tent getting more heated, Davos loudly interrupted Philesius, “Who said we would fight a decisive battle with Syracuse now?!”

Just as Davos uttered his words, Antonios, who remained quiet, had a “just as expected” expression, and the silent Kapus’ eyes flickered with cold light.

Although Matonis and Olivos, the two “younger” legatus, didn’t compete earlier, they were now also eager to try but were immediately discouraged at this moment.

Not to mention the three legatus who were still arguing.

Chapter 496 – Seclian’s Voyage (I)

“Your majesty, we won’t fight a decisive battle against Syracuse?!” Amintas asked in surprise.

Davos looked at Amintas, then at everyone before calmly saying the situation he analysed, “Amintas, you should understand that our fleet defeated the Syracusan navy twice, allowing us to control the coastline of Magna Graecia and giving us the initiative of war! And by making full use of our fleet to land at any point on the coast behind Syracuse’s camp, we could attack their weakly defended cities, cut off their food transportation lines, and return the tricks the Syracusans previously used on us to them. It would make Dionysius, even with his larger army, be exhausted by our mobilisation and have nowhere to use his strength. That is what worried Dionysius and why the Syracusans are desperate to fight a decisive battle with us to turn the tide and even deliberately send an envoy to provoke us! Hence you should not easily fall for the enemy’s trick!”

Although Davos was saying this to Amintas, it also told the other legatus the strategy they would take.

Once they restored the peace in the command post, everyone began thinking about Davos’ words.

Amintas scratched his head. Still, he reluctantly said, “Will we not fight the Syracusans then?”

This question caused Davos to ponder for a moment before saying, “It depends on the following development, so we first need to be patient and do our own thing. Hieronymus’ troops are still on their way while Hielos’ troops are besieging Laos, and the sarissa legion still needs more training… Thus, as long as all our plans are in place, we will weave a great net that would catch the Syracusans and control their fate at any time. At that time, I will use Dionysius’ head as a sacrifice for the dead Drakos and the warriors!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dionysius was equally puzzled by Davos’ words while listening to the envoy’s report, ‘Does that mean that Davos wanted to consult with his men first and then send an envoy to inform me of the date of the battle?’

So Dionysius subconsciously tried to think in a good direction and decided to wait and see first.

But suddenly, a lookout from the port came to report and said, “We spotted dozens of Theonian ships passing Crotone and are heading south.”

After hearing that, Dionysius’ expression suddenly changed.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Under Davos’ instructions, Seclian formed a fleet of 60 triremes that he personally led to go around the southern coast of Magna Graecia. Mithridates, on the other hand, led the main fleet composed mainly of corvus and began blockading the sea between Crotone and Scylletium to monitor the military movements of Crotone.

For the first time since the establishment of the Theonia Union, its fleet has finally going to complete the voyage around the coast of Magna Graecia. Thus both Seclian and the sailors are highly excited.

Before their departure, the sailors brought all the sails with them. And they all raised the sails to the mainmast even if it was only a weak south wind, which caused Theonia’s emblem to flutter in the wind.

Seclian’s fleet sailed fast that after they bypassed the Cape of Crotone, it only took them more than an hour to reach the sea near Scylletium.

“Get closer!” Seclian commanded the fleet to approach the port of Scylletium.

By this time, Scylletium, which had served as the main base of the South Italian Alliance, had long lost its liveliness. In the large city, the Scylletians had disappeared, and only the Syracusan soldiers, freemen and slaves were left. So when the Theonian fleet arrived, they all became nervous that they immediately armed all their men and sent cavalry to inform the camp in Crotone.

Although there were only more than 3,000 defenders currently left in the city, they concentrated the supplies for the entire Syracusan army here. Furthermore, there are still hundreds of transport ships moored in the port after transporting the supplies from Sicily. In addition, there is also a fleet of transport ships tasked to transport the supplies from Scylletium to the Syracusan camp in Crotone. But now, they could no longer transport it by sea and could only transport it by land. Although there are numerous ships in the port, there are no warships. So in case the Theonians force their way into the port, it is highly likely for them to cause damage.

However, Seclian’s fleet had no plan to take action in Scylletium for the time being. So after making the defenders have a cold sweat, they continued to sail south and reached Caulonia.

This time, Seclian no longer bluff and had sent out a boat to demand access to the port.

The Caulonians had heard the news of the Theonian fleet defeating the Syracusan navy, giving them varying degrees of surprise and expectations. But when the Theonian fleet had really arrived, they were at a loss. Finally, the polemarchos – Phlarinus, decided, “Meet them! We must meet them!”

However, there was no Theonian envoy on the boat. Instead, they handed over an open letter from Davos to the Council of Caulonia.

In his letter, Davos did not criticise the “surrender of Caulonia to Syracuse”. Instead, he apologised for the Theonian army’s forced retreat and expressed his deep sorrow for Scylletium’s tragedy and his anger at Syracuse’s cruelty. Moreover, he also expressed his understanding and gratitude for Caulonia’s choice in that grave situation.

Davos also confidently said that Theonia has come out of its predicament and is gathering its army for a decisive battle with the Syracusans, believing that the Magna Graecians will take the final victory! Furthermore, he reassured them that they would safely rescue the Caulonian that the Syracusans forcedly took as hostages!

Phlarinus read the letter several times and then handed it to others. His heart became so agitated that he couldn’t help but ask the Theonian sailors who delivered the letter, “I heard that Lord Davos became the king of Theonia Union?”

“Yes, all of us Theonian citizens agreed that only Lord Davos, with the blessing of Hades, could fully defend our homeland. Thus, we unanimously elected him to be our king. And on the day after he became king, we miraculously defeated the Syracusan navy, which had far more warships than ours! It just shows that Hades agreed with our choice!” The sailor excitedly said.

The surrounding people were affected by his words that they couldn’t help but exclaim in amazement.

“Indeed, a man as great as Lord Davos should be king!” Phlarinus said this with heartfelt excitement. He then earnestly continued, “Please tell Lord Davos that we Caulonians have not forgotten that we are Magna Graecians! Thus we would try our best to fulfil Lord Davos’ requests, as long as it is reasonable, and we will not give in to the Syracusans!”

“Lord Phlarinus is right; we will not submit to Syracuse! Once the Theonian army steps into the Ophemia plain again, we will immediately rise and expel those bastard Sicilians out of Magna Graecia!” The others also gave their pledge.

After the council discussed with each other, Phlarinus immediately wrote a reply to Davos.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the large commander post temporarily built by the Theonian soldiers on the north bank of the Neto river, the rest of the military leaders have dispersed, with Philesius the only one remaining.

“Your majesty, I-” Philesius felt guilty and wanted to apologise to Davos.

As Davos could already guess what he wanted to say, he preempted him by saying, “Philesius, I wish to express my sincerest gratitude to you! When thinking of the plan I made beforehand, it was indeed impossible to fulfil it… After all, Crotone, Terina and Scylletium are not city-states that have joined our Theonia Alliance, so how could they easily follow our command?! Besides that, the quality of their soldiers and the level of their military training are far inferior to ours, so there is no way for them to accomplish the task of blockading the Syracusans on the wide area on the south of the Caulonia-Allaro River!

What’s more, we all underestimated the Syracusan army, which was also an army with solid command, strict training, and could act boldly and rapidly! And their tyrant, Dionysius, was also not simple! He made a brilliant tactical deception before the battle and was able to get more than 20,000 troops to move quietly from Caulonia to Hipponion without you noticing it. And…he decisively appointed a Spartan as the commanding strategos of the mixed army before the battle, thus successfully resisting your left-wing’s fierce attack. Finally, he seized the opportunity to call on the reinforcements…your defeat in this battle is not without a cause!”

Some time had passed since the battle of Allaro River, so Aristias had already learned the entire process.

Although Philesius could understand it, he continued to say with guilt, “Your majesty, if I…I could have insisted on my opinion; we could have avoided that battle! But I-”

“No, we couldn’t avoid it at all!” Davos said with certainty, “Although you think we could avoid it, that is because you are thinking about this from our point of view. But for the Scylletian and Terinians…will they allow the Syracusans to burn and plunder their homes without attacking if they have the strength to fight them? Of course not!

Not only them, but the Crotonians will stand firmly on their side. And as the de facto ally of the entire South Italian Alliance, can we refuse?! We can’t!… The Magna Graecians are watching how we behave, and that is the responsibility Theonia must assume if we want to dominate Magna Graecia! In fact, it was you who helped me take on that responsibility!”

Chapter 497 – Seclian’s Voyage (II)

Davos sighed, placed his hands on Philesius’ shoulder and sincerely said, “When faced with Syracuse’s superior strength and the sea becoming their navy’s backyard, Even I would have lost. There is also their supreme commander, Dionysius, a terrifying opponent! Yet you managed to keep most of the soldiers of the two legions intact while cooperating with Crotone to hold on until the reinforcements arrived, allowing us to have the hope to turn defeat into victory. Not only should I thank you, but all the people of Theonia should thank you!”

These words caused Philesius to tear up, which were tears of relief.

“And Drakos’ death is not your fault! I know him well; he is a man that never gave in to defeat, so whether it was him volunteering to remain in the back, getting captured or smashing his head to the ground and dying, he made what he thought was the right choice! Thus the only thing we all can do is capture Dionysius and use his head to pay tribute to Drakos’ soul!”

“Yes!…Yes!!” Philesius nodded again and again.

“How are the soldiers of the fifth legion feeling?” Davos asked with concern again. The fifth legion, a legion composed of Bruttians, had witnessed the death of the legatus that established the fifth legion. And during this period of turmoil in the Brutian region, Davos certainly worried about their state.

“They all can’t wait to fight the Syracusans and avenge Drakos!” Replied Philesius at once.

“That’s good.” Davos then encouraged him by saying, “I ran into your wife, Delia, while leading the army out of Thurii. She asked me to tell you that she and the children are doing well now, and she hopes that you will lead the soldiers to expel the enemy out of Magna Graecia quickly!”

Philesius arrived here depressed with his head bowed and shrunken figure but left feeling relieved and taking big strides.

Davos looked at Philesius’ departing back while thinking in his heart, ‘Philesius is too gentle and not strong-willed enough, a quality that a supreme commander shouldn’t possess. Rather, it is better for him to do paperwork in the Ministry of Military in the future.’

Davos actually had one more reason to thank Philesius that he did not say, ‘The defeat at the Battle of Allaro River resulted in the great weakening of the Greek forces in southern Magna Graecia that they could no longer resist Syracuse. However, isn’t this also true for Theonia?’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Theonian fleet continued to sail southward and approach the sea near Locri.

Of all the port cities on the east coast, only Locri’s port remained busy with merchant ships, even more so than before the war. Furthermore, the blockade and suppression of the ports of the South Italian Alliance by the Syracusan navy meant that the merchant ships travelling on the eastern and western Mediterranean routes had to transit or trade in the port of Locri.

“Lower the sails!” Seclian looked at the distant patch of sail with a cold gleam in his eyes, “Attack!”

As the salpinxes’ blew, the fleet’s ship gradually spread out, and the sailors excitedly sped up their rowings. And because the merchant ships did not pose any threat to them, it gave them the thrill of abusing the weak and the opportunity to hone their practical experience.

Driven by the high-speed rowing, the ship’s speed reached 13 knots, resulting in the other merchant ships not escaping without the strong wind’s help. And compared with the size of the trireme, the merchant ships were like children facing adults and soon capsized under their impact.

Soon, broken ships, people shouting for help, and lots of large and small supplies filled the sea… And once the ships in the distance saw this tragic sight, they became scared that they fled everywhere. Shortly after, there were no other ships except the Theonian fleet on the sea outside Locri’s port.

Before leaving, Seclian led the fleet back and forth several times outside Locri’s port.

Although the Locrians were furious about this, they could do nothing about it because the Syracusans had taken away their 30 triremes two days ago on the pretext of fighting the Theonian fleet. And now that they see enemy ships strutting outside their port, a bad feeling arose in their hearts.

“It seems they have defeated the Syracusan navy again!” Demodokas said with gloom.

“Yes!” Phantepes said worriedly, “From now on, the Theonian ships will control the east coast, which would cause a great blow to our maritime trade! But, I am more worried about Syracuse losing to Theonia on land as well. After all, the young archon of Theonia has returned to Thurii.”

“It is impossible for Syracuse to lose on land!” Demodokas retorted without hesitation, “You and I have seen with our own eyes the 80,000 armies of Syracuse, which any Greek city-state including Sparta couldn’t resist!”

That said, Demodokas was still a bit upset as he knew that it was all thanks to Dionysius’ support that he held the supreme power in Locri and became the de facto “tyrant”. For this reason, he fiercely suppressed his political opponents and those who opposed him, which naturally caused dissatisfaction among the people. And this discontent was further exacerbated by the fact that to secure supplies for their combat strength and some Syracusan troops, Demodokas levied high “special war taxes” among the city-states’ citizens to increase the city treasury’s revenue to buy war supplies. So if the Syracusan army were to be defeated, he could hardly imagine what the seemingly docile and calm population would do if provoked by his political enemies.

“With our empty city, it would be dangerous if the Theonian army lands here!” Demodokas suddenly said, “So we must immediately call back our troops stationed in Medma.”

Phantepes was taken aback and asked, “Then what about Medma?”

“Rhegium’s army suffered heavy losses, so even if they want to attack Medma, they wouldn’t capture it fast and would allow us to send reinforcements at any time.” Replied Demodokas.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Theonian fleet continued to sail south and soon reached the southernmost tip of Magna Graecia.

Seclian’s ship was at the forefront as they carefully led the fleet around the peninsula’s tip, turned north, and entered the Strait of Messina.

And after sailing for a while, they approached Rhegium.

Although it was currently dusk, Seclian was a little more curious about the city of Messina. After all, the port of Messina is at the narrowest part of the strait, just a dozen kilometres away.

Back when the Syracusans rebuilt the city of Messina after getting destroyed by the Carthaginians, they moved the place and abandoned the port. However, it was soon occupied and vigorously developed by immigrants dominated by Syracusans, Locrians and their allies. Before the outbreak of the war with Magna Graecia, Syracuse also sent a fleet to maintain the port’s security, controlling the ships going in and out of the strait and blocking Rhegium’s port. And although all the triremes of the Messinian fleet were moved to Scylletium and Theonia won the naval battle a few days ago, leaving only about 30 small and medium-sized ships in the port, the Rhegians were still no match against them.

Thanks to the Syracusan scouting ships spotting the Theonian fleet from a distance, they quickly withdrew the ships left to the port, resulting in Seclian’s fleet not seeing the cruising Syracusan ships when they arrived at Rhegium’s port. Otherwise, a battle would have ensued.

But after considering the lateness of the day and the orders of King Davos, Seclian had to temporarily restrain his impulse and ordered the fleet to continue head north and sail into Rhegium’s port.

The Rhegians had not seen any ships enter their port for two months, so when they heard Theonia’s fleet was coming, they all rushed out of the city and ran to the port.

Under the guidance of the Rhegian patrol ship, Seclian’s fleet entered the military port. But while the Theonian sailors were disembarking, the Rhegians crowded around them and asked loudly about the war situation.

It’s not a wonder they were so anxious. After all, they knew nothing of the outside world as the Syracusan fleet tightly blockaded Rhegium’s port for over a month. Normally speaking, it would be difficult to completely block a coastal city because ships couldn’t stay on the sea for a long time; they needed to be regularly maintained, towed to the shore to bask in the sun, remove the maggots, and the sailors need to come ashore to rest, eat and drink water. But with the close proximity of the city of Messina to Rhegium that they were only a dozen of kilometres apart across the strait, the Syracusans were so determined to completely blind the Rhegians and cause them to panic that they divided their fleet stationed in Messina into several groups and blockaded Rhegium in turn without interruption. Besides that, Rhegium’s land access to the outside was blocked on the east by the city of Locri and the Large Locrian army stationed in the city of Medma on the west. Since their defeat in the last battle, the Rhegium-Taurania joint army has fully withdrawn to the south of the Marro River.

Thus the arrival of the Theonian fleet was a great surprise for the Rhegians, especially when they learned that the Theonian fleet had utterly defeated the Syracusan navy and had become the new ruler of the coast around Magna Graecia, which resulted in great cheers erupting in the military port. Thus, the Rhegians welcomed the Theonians into Rhegium with a celebratory parade surrounding the Theonian sailors while they sang and danced.

That night, the polemarchos of Rhegium – Athelycus entertained Seclian.

At the banquet, Seclian told them the story of the great naval battle on the Gulf of Taranto, which attracted bursts of cheering and admiration…

At this moment, Athelycus coughed a few times and asked loudly, “Navarch Seclian, Rhegium has generously lent all of our triremes out of friendship to Theonia that we were even subjected to a long blockade by the Syracusans for not having a fleet. Now that Theonia has managed to defeat the Syracusan navy with our help, isn’t it time for you to return our ships?”

Chapter 498 – Athelycus’ Ambition

‘What do you mean with your help?! It’s as if you Rhegians had taken part in the naval battle!’ Seclian sneered inwardly but did not show it on his face.  After all, Athelycus was not only an important figure in Rhegium but also the father-in-law of King Davos.

Fortunately, Davos already knew his father-in-law’s personality was. Thus before the fleet set out, he specifically told Seclian, “Theonia is grateful for Rhegium’s great assistance as our ally, and we will soon return Rhegium’s ship!” Seclian answered without hesitation. After all, Theonia currently has hundreds of captured intact or slightly damaged triremes that were left idle because there were not enough sailors. Furthermore, they even had to transfer some of them to the commercial port due to their numbers.

“Can the returned ship be equipped with that kind of ‘wooden drawbridge’ you just said?” Said Athelycus, which immediately caused Seclian to be taken aback as he did not expect that the polemarchos of Rhegium would make such a request.

Although the corvus seems simple to install, he once heard his majesty Davos say that it involves the application of advanced pulley knowledge and complex mechanical production, allowing the several corvus operators to easily rotate the corvus’ base, to pull up and down the drawbridge. Seclian even remembers the scholar Marticoris proudly claiming that ‘Except for Theonia, no second Greek city-state could make a corvus unless they had a deeper knowledge of pulleys!’

“What? You can’t do it?!” Athelycus asked again without fear when he saw that Seclian had not spoken.

Seclian just said, “Only his majesty Davos can make this decision. Besides, the corvus is only one of the reasons why we can defeat the Syracusan navy. The most important reason is our legion’s powerful heavy infantry, especially when we fought with the Syracusan navy for the second time. Although Syracuse sent heavy infantry almost equal to our number on each ship, they still lost miserably…”

With that, Seclian bluntly said, “Theonia and Rhegium are allies. With us protecting the sea, the enemies will not harass Rhegium on the sea, so you don’t have to spend money to equip the navy.”

After hearing that, Athelycus’ expression sank. He then looked directly at Seclian and angrily said, “In his letter, Davos hopes that we Rhegians could send troops together with your fleet to attack in Hipponion and somewhere else in the south of Magna Graecia to attract and hold back the Syracusan army, creating openings for your offence. However-”

Athelycus’ expression further sank as he continued, “Earlier, we the people of Rhegium took the initiative to attack the city of Medma to help you. As a result, we suffered heavy losses and no longer had the strength to do such risky actions. Therefore, please tell Davos that we are really sorry! Anyway, Theonia is already so powerful, so you should be fully capable of defeating Syracuse on your own!”

Afterwards, Athelycus stood up and said, “I still have some things to do, so enjoy your time.” with that, Athelycus unexpectedly left.

The guests looked at each other, and Seclian became even more embarrassed. Although it should have been a lively banquet, it ended in displeasure.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the evening, in the inner yard of Athelycus’s residence, Alkibidas criticised Athelycus, “Father, you were too aggressive at the banquet and left the worst impression on the visiting Theonians! What if they were to return and spread the story? It would affect not only Agnes but also our family’s business in Thurii!”

“Do you think I was furious due to that lowly Theonian?” Athelycus’ angrily stared in the direction of the banquet that had long ended. He then said to his son, “I did that for my son-in-law.”

“For Davos? What do you mean?” Alkibidas looked puzzled.

Athelycus felt somewhat helpless: As one of the ancient families of Rhegium, he ruled the city-state for decades, and his family has always played an important role in Rhegium’s politics. However, he doesn’t know why his two children did not inherit the political talent of the family. Fortunately, his daughter Agnes had married the archon of Theonia…should be the king of Theonia now and became the queen consort and the chief priestess of the influential Temple of Hera in Thurii. However, even though she has a high status, her mind was simple since childhood, resulting in her not being a match for the other queen consort, who is shrewd and influential. And his son, Alkibidas, was smart, but he used it in business and was not interested in politics. Even his current position as strategos was forcedly given by Athelycus.

Although Alkibidas remained indifferent to political matters, as his successor, Athelycus often gave him an earful of lectures in hopes that he would wake up one day. This time is no exception, “Now that Syracuse has lost the sea, it would be difficult for them to retake it in just a short time. Furthermore, as long as Theonia carefully deals with the war, they will not lose. So once the Syracusans retreated to Sicily, the Theonia Union, which did not suffer heavy loss in this war, will certainly become an unshakable overlord in Magna Graecia. Hence if we don’t want to become its vassal, we must make our stance known!”

“There is nothing wrong with becoming Theonia’s vassal.” Alkibidas said unconcernedly, “And only by becoming a vassal can we get trade concessions. According to what you said, Theonia’s territory is already so big and will certainly become even bigger in the future, which will be more helpful to our family’s trade! With my brother-in-law being the ruler of this powerful country, my sister will definitely not let me suffer!”

Athelycus did not expect his lazy son to hold such an idea. He became angry for a moment but soon felt helpless as he vaguely felt that Alkibidas was not the only one who held such thoughts in Rhegium. Since Rhegium allied with Theonia, the Rhegians felt safer and benefited greatly in trade and commerce. Furthermore, Rhegium had more merchants and fewer farmers due to their environment, so they were very likely to give up the city-state’s independence for their own interests, just like when they aligned with Carthage before joining the Theonian Alliance. Apart from fighting Syracuse, the Rhegians were attracted to Carthage’s huge trade market that they could even ignore the ethnic conflict between the Carthaginians and the Greeks.

“Even if we become a vassal, we still have to become a powerful vassal so that Theonia value us.” After getting discouraged, Athelycus sighed and reminded his son, “Do you know why I insist on getting those unique ships of Theonia?”

“Why?”

“Messina!” Athelycus looked at his son and said in an aggrieved tone, “Once Davos defeats Dionysius, there will be great chaos in Syracuse. By then, he won’t have the spare energy to protect that new city-state across the strait, allowing us to take it and make it a colony under Rhegium’s control! With the port of Messina under our hands, it would allow us to control the strait, which is great for the city-state and your business!”

Alkibidas was greatly impressed that his eyes flickered at imagining the significant gains from capturing Messina. However, he soon calmed down, “Father, you think my shrewd brother-in-law couldn’t see Messina’s importance? There is a popular saying among us Greek merchants ‘Great profits comes with great risk.’ The reason my business is going so well is that I never do anything beyond what I can. Could it be that Rhegium is ready to take risks to seize Messina?”

Athelycus froze. After learning about the continuous victory of the Theonian fleet, he was ecstatic at the thought of Messina that his desire blinded his reasoning for a moment. He almost forgot that the city of Messina was the target of everyone, with Syracuse, Carthage, and now Theonia staring at the strait.

After contemplating for a while, vitality returned to Athelycus’ face as he said with relief, “Alkibidas, I now realise that you are an excellent strategos!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the following day, Seclian led the sailors to the port and boarded the ship.

Seclian thought that the event at the banquet last night would lead to the Rhegians’ attitude changing towards them. But to his surprise, not only did the people’s enthusiasm remain the same, but Athelycus also came to see them off with an even more enthusiastic attitude than when they met yesterday.

Athelycus did not even mention a word about the discord yesterday as he positively expressed to Seclian that Rhegium is willing to perform the duties as their allies and fully cooperate with Theonia to defeat Syracuse. For the specific actions, he could discuss it with strategos Pheidon, who was in Taurania.

At the same time, Athelycus also asked Seclian to bring a letter to Davos.

Although Seclian couldn’t understand Athelycus’ sudden change, it’s undoubtedly wonderful. Seclian was in a great mood that his voice was particularly loud when he gave the order, “Go to Messina!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In 715 B.C., the Cumae colonists from Greece’s island of Euboea and the Chalcis of north-central Greece allied to build a city on the lowlands of the strait between Sicily and the Apennines, naming it ‘Zankle’ because of the shape of its harbour, which resembles a farmer’s sickle for harvesting grain.

Chapter 499 – Henipolis’ Guilt

But a hundred years later, many fleeing Messenians immigrated here, which changed the whole city that even its original name was changed to “Messina”, and the only thing that remained was the symbol of the coins issued – “a sickle and a dolphin”.

Then a few years ago, Dionysius rebuilt the city after Carthage destroyed Messina. However, the city’s residents became the migrants of Syracuse, Locri and their allies.

Since Messina was only about 6 kilometres away from Rhegium, the Theonian fleet soon reached it in a few moments. Seclian was currently standing on the ship’s bow as he looked at the city of Messina with interest. Compared to Rhegium, the city of Messina itself was not large as it was located in the lowlands between the mountains and the sea. Its area is narrow, and there is no large river around it. But what attracted’s Seclian was the extremely long breakwater arc built by mixing rock and limestones, and the refugees surrounding the port.

On the breakwater, a line of Messinians was hurriedly getting summoned; some rushed to the ships on the port, others with bows and arrows climbing the sentry towers on the breakwater… However, Seclian didn’t care as he had no intention of leading the fleet to burst into the port. Instead, he just did what he did outside Locri’s port – ram and sink the merchant ships coming in and out of the port. And after showing off their might, they continued to sail north.

Now that Syracuse dominates the western Mediterranean, the immigrants of Messina had never imagined that they would be attacked in such a way; one can just imagine the anger and frustration they feel.

After more than an hour, the fleet crossed the strait and reached the city of Taurania.

When the Tauranians and the Rhegians stationed in Taurania learned Theonia had defeated the Syracusan navy, they were equally jubilant.

Seclian thought persuading Pheidon would take a lot of time. After all, Pheidon had already failed in their attack and was ordered to return to Rhegium to be tried. Fortunately, there were no Rhegium citizens that could replace him against the terrifying Syracuse-Locri Alliance, so he was allowed to return to Taurania with the support of Athelycus. Thus Seclian feared that Pheidon would be afraid of attacking the Syracuse-Locri alliance again.

But after Seclian explained to this Rhegian strategos, Pheidon did not escape, and he immediately expressed his willingness to cooperate with Theonia to hold back the Syracuse-Locri joint troops. Just that, they were unable to make an effective plan until Seclian got in touch with Hielos in the Bruttian area.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Meanwhile in Laos, Henipolis had just woken up.

Yesterday, the Theonian army cooperated with the rioting civilians in the city. Furthermore, nearly half of the defending warriors were almost unwilling to fight, so the city of Laos was easily breached.

In desperation of not wanting to be tormented by his nephew, Alobamus decided to kill himself after getting captured.

Afterwards, Henipolis did not rest as he ordered the punishment of anyone who participated and worked for Alobamus!

After all, almost all the entire officials of the city-state had defected to Alobamus when he usurped the throne, so Henipolis originally wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to overthrow all those who opposed and hindered him. Yet he did not expect the rioting civilians, who had been oppressed and exploited for a long time, to unleash the hatred and violence that were hiding in their bones, which became a disaster for the city. Soon, the whole city fell into a frenzy of killing and looting.

Seeing the situation turned for the worse, Henipolis ordered, ‘Stop the looting and killing; else you will be heavily punished!’

But the civilians, who were already frenzied, no longer listened and even attacked the warriors ordering them to stop.

Thus Henipolis could only ask Hielos for help.

Hielos then sent all the troops to stop the riots caused by the civilians of Laos and ordered them to kill anyone who resisted.

Once the more than 5,000 trained Theonian soldiers entered the city, they began suppressing the mobs who broke into the various houses.

They finally put down the riot at dusk, but groans and howls covered the whole city soon after. And the city of Laos, which had grown increasingly prosperous after years of efforts of Avinoges and Alobamus, had become desolate and filled with the wounded and the dead scattered everywhere.

Henipolis, who entered the city, could not bear to witness such sights.

What made him even more upset was those people crying with the bodies of their loved ones on the roadside looked at him with hatred…

Thus Henipolis, who was deeply remorseful and frightened, did not get much comfort even after seeing his mother was safe and sound. At night, the tragic images he saw in the day appeared when he lay on his bed and closed his eyes, with the cries of people ringing in his ears. He tossed and turned for the night and was only able to sleep when it was almost dawn, only because of excessive fatigue.

At noon, he woke up to eat breakfast and lunch simultaneously.

At his meal, his mother joined him. Although Alobamus had conspired against him, he had only put his brother’s widow under house arrest. Besides that, he treated her as usual and suffered no harm, and she was only worried about her son’s safety. Now that Henipolis had returned safely and defeated the rebels, she was in a good mood, “My son, Ariandos, came looking for you several times in the morning, but I kept sending him back.”

“What does he need from me?” Henipolis listlessly asked while chewing his bread and thinking of other things.

“He asked what to do with the imprisoned civilians, so I told him to release them.” Henipolis’ mother was a cousin of Tula, a Lucanian noble and former great chieftain of Laos. Tula then betrothed her to Avinoges to better control and enlist Avinoges, the chieftain of the Sybarite’s descendants; that is why Avinoges and his wife did not have a good relationship.

Later, Avinoges united with Theonia and overthrew the Lucanian rule in the city of Laos. But even after almost wiping out Tula and his force, Avinoges did not divorce his Lucanian wife because she was the biological mother of Henipolis. More than that, the Lucanians had gradually integrated with the Greek descendants of Sybaris. In fact, even many small Lucanian tribes expressed support and submission when Avinoges rebelled, so having a Lucanian wife was to reassure the restless Lucanians.

But this woman kept the hatred of her family’s destruction to heart, and now she could finally smile, “Those ‘black pigs*’, who only know to roll in the mud, should have died long ago. My son, you have done well. They were the ones who killed your uncle Tula and his family! You know, your uncle’s second daughter, your cousin, was so beautiful that I had agreed with Tula that she would be your wife, but those damned-” (A derogatory term used by the Lucanians to call the Sybarites slaves.)

“Enough!” Henipolis suddenly slammed the wooden cup filled with wine on the ground, causing the wine to splash everywhere and startling the woman.

“I’m full.” Henipolis stood up and left without looking at his mother.

“Honey!” The woman could only give a pitiful cry.

Henipolis did not turn back as he was holding his anger, ‘I punished those officials and tribal chieftains who helped Alobamus usurp the throne, not to take revenge, but to establish a better political system. A system in which everyone can own land and has the power to participate in politics like Theonia. I am different from my mother, who hates the people of Laos! But-’

Thinking of the corpses that littered everywhere and the pairs of eyes filled with hatred… his enthusiasm immediately dissipates as he begins doubting himself again, ‘Did I really do wrong? Did I, just as Alobamus said, go too far?…’

Alobamus…Henipolis remembered that he didn’t feel any pleasure of revenge when he saw the body of his only uncle last night. Instead, what kept coming to his mind was when he played with his uncle when he was a child, making his heart feel empty and unsettled.

He aimlessly wandered until he finally reached the city hall next to his house.

In the centre of the city hall’s assembly room, there was a beautiful chair. He walked up and sat down slowly as he faced the layers of stone benches in front of him.

Henipolis’ father built this place three years ago, imitating the Greek city-states. But unlike Theonia and the other city-states in Magna Graecia, this one had an extra chair in the centre, a chair dedicated to the archon for life. He began wondering if his father and his uncle had felt superior and aloof when sitting on this chair as he did not have this wonderful experience at all. Rather, it made him sick like a lamb being gazed at by dozens of hungry wolves. After he became the archon, he was reluctant whenever he came here.

At this moment, he just dazedly sat in his chair and faced the empty meeting place until Ariandos hurriedly came in, “Milord, I finally found you.”

Henipolis looked back at the anxious face of the loyal man his father had left him, so he asked with interest, “What’s the matter again?”

“Those freemen did not want to leave and were asking when you will honour the promise you made, milord.” Ariandos’ words made Henipolis inexplicably angry, “Honour it?! Do they still want me to honour my promise?! Look at what they have done! I am already merciful for not executing them all!…”

Henipolis shouted to vent his discontent. He did not think that those vagrants who used to be pitiful in his eyes would turn into vicious and greedy mobs. Still, he was only saying that to vent his hatred as he certainly would fulfil the oath he made to the gods. Furthermore, Laos’ current situation does not allow him to renege on it.

Chapter 500 – Dionysius’ Cruelty

“And-” Ariandos hesitated and stopped.

“What else?!” Henipolis asked angrily.

“Some people outside the city hall claim that their loved ones didn’t betray you. Yet they were still killed by the mob, so they hoped you could bring justice to them…” Said Ariandos.

“Wrongly accused?” Henipolis scratched his hair in annoyance. That is what he fears hearing the most, so he pushed the responsibility and said, “I will leave this matter to you to deal with. Besides that, you should start working on allocating lands to those vagrants.”

After hearing Henipolis, Ariandos froze and shouted, “Milord, I don’t know how to do this!”

“If you don’t know, you can find someone else to do it.” Just as Henipolis uttered this, he suddenly froze. Find someone? Where? The mobs killed almost all the officials in the city of Laos. And to begin with, there are already very few people who have administrative experience in the city.

Henipolis sat down in dismay, ‘Should I do it myself?’ Then again, he doesn’t know where to start as he only gives orders after becoming the archon, and they are mostly not carried out. Moreover, he always hated those tedious and complicated political matters. After all, he already gets a headache just thinking about those…

Then he began thinking of the time he lived in Davos’ residence and saw mountains of bills, city-state matters, letters and so on piled up in Davos’ study. Moreover, Davos still spent most of the time dealing with official business whenever he came home… Henipolis suddenly felt, ‘Maybe I am not really fit to serve as the archon!’

Just as the two of them stared at each other, not knowing how to proceed, Hielos entered inside and said, “Lord Henipolis, now that the situation in the city has calmed down, I would like to ask when you can prepare the ships? By now, Lord Davos must be anxiously awaiting the news of our actions!”

‘Oh, this matter as well!’ Henipolis was in a trance the whole day that he forgot about this important matter. He then looked at Ariandos and said, “Go to the port immediate and prepare the ships to transport the Theonian soldiers to Clampetia.”

Ariandos then said with an embarrassed expression, “Milord, the port is now in chaos. All the sailors came to the city while the port’s managements were either killed or hiding. So where can I find people to prepare so many ships?”

Henipolis froze again and could only look at Hielos helplessly.

Hielos, on the other hand, didn’t expect this to happen, and he became a bit anxious.

Henipolis was familiar with Hielos because he went in and out of Davos’ residence several times,  so he could only look at him apologetically. Suddenly, a light flashed through his mind, and he said, “Lord Hielos, I remember that you served as a city’s praetor two times.”

Hielos didn’t know what he meant, so he nodded truthfully.

“And there is also Lord Bagul, who is currently serving as Grumentum’s praetor.” The more he spoke, the more excited he became, “As you can see, there is great chaos in the city of Laos as most of the administrative officials were killed by the mob, so the whole city could no longer function normally. Thus, I would like to ask you to help me in managing the city so that Laos can return to normal as soon as possible, which would allow you to travel to Clampetia without any problems.”

When Henipolis said this, the two people present thought they had misheard him.

“Lord Henipolis, are you kidding?” Hielos blurted out.

“Am I in the mood to joke with you in such a bad situation now?!” Henipolis impatiently said, “Do you want to leave by ship or not? Otherwise, you will have to lead the army by land!”

If they were to go to Clampetia by land, they would have to cross the entire Consentia plateau. Although there are now roads, it would still take two days. On the other hand, they still won’t set off by ship tomorrow even if they work efficiently to return Laos to normal operation. So both options would take about the same time, but Hielos was no longer a mercenary who only led people to battle. After several years of administrative management, he is sensitive to the significance of taking over Laos’ administrative authority, “I will first go back to the camp and discuss with Lord Bagul.” after saying that, Hielos left in a hurry.

“Milord, that doesn’t seem right.” Ariandos vaguely felt that something was not right.

“What’s not right?” Henipolis immediately retorted, “If you think that isn’t right, then I will leave all these things to you.”

Ariandos became embarrassed and unable to say anything.

Then, Henipolis smiled with his eyes brightening as he had come up with a brilliant idea that would allow him to get out of the city that had turned into a quagmire filled with hatred.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

It was almost noon when Dionysius stood at the top of the broken city wall of Crotone. He then withdrew his gaze that was looking to the north and coldly said, “It seems that the young man of Theonia has no intention of accepting the war letter and having a decisive battle with us.”

“What should we do then, milord? Shall we attack them instead?!” Astagoras eagerly asked, “Cross the Neto River and attack the Theonian camp?”

Dionysius glared at the reckless strategos and said coldly, “Idiot, that’s exactly what the Theonians want! In the first place, it was because the Crotonians had rashly crossed the river that they lost to the weaker Theonia. Do you think I would be so stupid to do the same?!”

Astagoras no longer dared to speak as he could feel Dionysius was now in a bad mood.

“Phacipessas, how long can our current grain reserves last?” Dionysius asked again.

“It can last for more than a month if we also include the food we took from the Crotonians.”

‘More than a month!’ With the Theonian fleet controlling the east coast, there would be no more aid from Sicily. Thus they could only get food from Locri and the conquered city-states, but…how much could they have? Dionysius anxiously calculated as he swept his gaze over the slightly worrying strategoi and ministers around him. Finally, his gaze landed on the big city behind him, which had several hundred years long history, and suddenly said, “Burn this place! Burn down the city of Crotone!”

“What?!”

“Destroy Crotone’s wall and burn the city!” Dionysius coldly gave the other, “Afterwards, everyone will retreat to our camp!”

Although both Syracusan strategoi and the soldiers preferred living in the comfortable houses compared to the crude tent, Dionysius had already made his decision, and no one dared to express opposition.

“Milord, what about those Crotonians? With the Acropolis’ height, we couldn’t burn them!” Phacipessas reminded.

“Leave them alone and let them ask for help. Isn’t Theonia their ally?! Didn’t that young man claim he would keep his word?! I’d like to see if the Theonians would really save them!” Dionysius’ gaze turned cold, “However, drive them back as long as the Crotonians dared to escape from the Acropolis in large numbers.”

“Understood!” Phacipessas and the other strategoi understood that this was to force the Theonians to cross the river to rescue Crotone.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The city of Crotone burst into flames…

After four years, another Greek city-state in Magna Graecia was burning, but for the Syracusans, this was something they had done more than once. Dionysius, the so-called “protector of Sicily”, had, in fact, destroyed many historical city-states, including Greek cities, and was no less capable of such destruction than his rival – Carthage. Hence the Syracusan soldiers skillfully placed firewoods everywhere in Crotone, soon setting the whole city on fire.

As the raging fire turned the sky of Crotone red, the people in the Acropolis bitterly cried when they saw their homes burn in the fire. Before long, the grieving people panicked due to the spreading of the fire that threatened to surround the Acropolis.

Fortunately, Lysias and Milo had prepared and sent their men out of the city to cut down the trees and weeds around the hillside. However, even though the fire did not burn the Acropolis, the scorching air and smoke caused great trouble for the tens of thousands of people inside, who felt the unbearable heat and had difficulty breathing.

With the Acropolis’ limited water source, Milo originally wanted the people to endure again. However, many frail elderly and women fainted one after another, so he finally agreed to let everyone wet their clothes by the pool and apply them to their faces to get through the difficulties.

After doing the protective measures, they mostly used up all the water in the cistern. Then some of the people began gathering in the temple and prayed devoutly to the statue of Apollo, hoping for his protection through this disaster; some even began repenting to the huge statue because they thought this was their retribution back when Melanseus burned the city of Thurii that was under Apollo’s protection!

Lysias watched the burning city in a trance as fear for the safety of the people inside the Acropolis filled his heart. He knew that without water, everyone would not last a few days.

“Lysias.” Milo appeared from a distance. Strangely, there was a light on his face at this moment, “Don’t worry. Something must have happened that caused the Syracusans to retreat and set the city on fire. I reckon that…the Theonian reinforcements had arrived, and the Syracusans did this to fight Theonia with all their strength!”

“Are you telling the truth?!” Lysias immediately cheered up as he asked loudly.

“It’s highly likely for the Theonian reinforcements to arrive!” Milo was convinced of his judgment, “Didn’t we receive the news of the Theonian fleet defeating the Syracusan navy a few days ago?! Now that Syracuse didn’t have the assistance of the navy, they had lost the opportunity to threaten Theonia’s rear. Furthermore, Theonia had defeated the invading Tarantine army, so they no longer have anything worrying them in sending reinforcements.”

Chapter 501 – To fight or not to fight

As someone who had fought Theonia, Milo was familiar with the tactics of sending ships to harass Theonia’s coast. So he was shocked that the Theonians defeated several strong enemies in succession, got out of the predicament of getting surrounded, and had the opportunity to fight against Syracuse with their full strength, especially after the great naval victory, which was completely unexpected!

‘How did that young man do it?!’ After his banishment, Milo did not stay idle. While he was in seclusion in Greece, he collected a lot of information about Theonia and studied its military and politics, so he already knew a lot about this rapidly rising union. Yet unexpectedly, Theonia’s performance had again overturned his cognition in their war with Syracuse.

“So the Theonians are really here!” Lysias became excited. But suddenly, he remembered something, and the delight on his face turned to anger, “They should have come long ago! If only Aprustum’s troop had come out to our aid when the Syracusans were attacking our city, they would not have breached Crotone so quickly!”

Milo did not speak as the inaction of Aprustum’s soldiers was a thorn buried in the hearts of Lysias and these high-ranking officials.

“Milo, even if Theonia’s reinforcements arrived, can they repel Dionysius with the Syracusan army being so strong now? In case…then all of us are finished!” Lysias became worried again.

No wonder he was worried. After all, they witnessed the terrifyingness of the Syracusan army where they breached the fortified city of Crotone in such a short time. So can the Theonians be able to withstand Syracuse’s large and fierce army? If the Theonians were also defeated, then Crotone’s only hope would be gone! Many Crotonians have such contradictory psychology.

“From what I know about Davos, he must have the confidence to win as he dared to lead his army here.” Although their city was breached and was trapped in the Acropolis and could not get the news from the outside for a while, Milo still had more confidence in Davos than any Crotonians. After all, there is a saying that goes, ‘The one who knows you best is your enemy’, so he loudly suggested, “All we have to do now is to wait for the fire to die down and send out scouts to the city to find out the situation. And if we could find the Theonian troops, we would immediately call for their help!”

“You are right.” After listening to Milo, Lysias calmed down a bit. After thinking about it, he continued, “We need to inform Siprus and ask him to send someone out to scout the city.”

On the day the city was breached, the army of Terina suffered heavy losses as well. Eventually, Siprus led the remnants of his army to retreat into the Acropolis along with the Crotonians. At Lysias’ reminder, Milo realised that Lysias’ careful approach was exactly what he lacked. After all, Terina’s relationship with Theonia was far closer than Crotone’s, so if they were the ones to request help, the Theonians would definitely be more serious.

Lysias and Milo, the two famous political figures in Crotone, fought for more than a decade. But after they were forced to cooperate due to the war, they realised that their strengths complemented each other, which is really unfortunate…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos was watching the training of the sarissa legion on the camp’s field ground when he suddenly received a report at noon, ‘There was a change in Crotone’s port.’

Mithridates, who received the news, immediately led more than a hundred corvus to the estuary of the Nero River, quickly picked up the soldiers of the first legion and rushed to Crotone’s port, just in time to meet the Syracusan fleet scurrying out of the port and attempting to escape.

However, the Syracusans were cunning enough to force the captured Crotonian sailors to sail out of the port in the remaining merchant and sailing ships. On the other hand, their 40 or so ships were mixed in with these ships and fled southward immediately after leaving the port.

These ships then block Mithridates’ fleet, stopping them from blockading the port. On the other hand, once the Syracusan ships that were not interested in fighting sped up, the corvus ship full of soldiers could not catch up with them. Thus, the Theonian fleet only catches a few ships as they watch most of them successfully flee to the south.

Due to the horrible result, the soldiers of the first legion were somewhat listless while they disembarked.

“Melisander!” Melisander was leading the soldiers ashore when he suddenly heard someone shouting, so when he turned around, he saw Philesius standing not far away and waving at him.

Melisander hurriedly gave orders to his men and ran over, “Father, do you need something?”

“No, I just came to see you,” Philesius said indifferently without showing his concern. After knowing that his adopted son fell into the sea twice in the previous naval battle, he became worried the whole day, “How’s the result of today’s battle?”

“They escaped.” Melisander said reluctantly.

Philesius was about to comfort him when the herald Tolmides came rushing, “Commander Philesius, his majesty wants to hold a military meeting. Please rush to the command post immediately.”

“Understood.” Philesius then casually asked, “Tolmides, why is his majesty holding a meeting at this time?”

Tolmides glanced at Melisander, then laughed, “I guess…it is to discuss why Syracuse’s fleet suddenly fled Crotone’s port?”

Melisander became interested.

At this time, the soldiers on the shore suddenly became restless, and someone shouted, “Look! There’s a fire over there!!”

To the south of the Neto River, wisps of black smoke rose to the sky just out of their sight…

After a while, the black smoke formed a thick pillar, and the sky turned red…

Philesius and Tolmides then looked in that direction.

“Is it Crotone?” Tolmides asked with uncertainty.

“It’s the city of Crotone!” Melisander loudly said that because he had fought twice in the sea near Crotone, so he knew the city’s location.

Philesius and Tolmides looked at each other with serious expressions.

Then the soldiers on the camp and the sailors on the estuary rushed to the north bank of the Neto River and stared at the red sky in surprise…

When the news of the “burning of Crotone” spread through the crowd, many of the old Thurian soldiers cheered loudly; some even shed tears of excitement and knelt on the beach to pray to the goddess of vengeance, thanking her for finally answering their pleas for many years.

With the camp making so much noise, it naturally alarmed Davos and the legatus in the tent. But by the time they arrived at the north bank of the Neto River, the scouting ships at sea had already sent someone back to the camp to report what they saw in Crotone’s port.

While the soldiers were just watching the excitement, Davos and the legatus pondered Syracuse’s reason for doing so.

“Your majesty, the fact that Syracuse’s fleet escaped and that they have burned the city of Crotone, which they had so easily captured, indicated that they are unable to cross the river to fight a battle with us after losing their naval superiority. So it seems that they have decided to retreat to prevent our fleet from going to their rear and cutting off their food transportation.” Amintas was the first to express his thoughts.

“Your majesty, we can’t let them easily withdraw to Scylletium! Such a huge force is simply not something we can defeat if they defend Scylletium. Moreover, once they retreat to Scylletium, Terina and Caulonia will be completely controlled by Syracuse, and together with the Locrian Alliance, it would be unfavourable to us to fight there!” Matonis reminded loudly and urgently.

“Then do you think we should fight Syracuse here?!” Antonias, as the former leader of Matonis, reminded with a tone of rebuke, “Dionysius wanted us to cross the river and fight them when they are prepared! Didn’t the report say they had burnt everything in Crotone except the Acropolis? It just shows that Dionysius wanted to take advantage of our hurriedness to rescue Crotone to achieve their goal of having a decisive battle with us here!”

“So did we lead our army here not to fight with the Syracusans but to compete who would consume their food faster?!” Amintas had no qualms about expressing his displeasure.

“There is nothing wrong with that.” Kapus said seriously, “Our fleet has cut off this Syracusan army from Sicily. With Syracuse unable to assist their army in Magna Graecia, Dionysius can only rely on the Locrian alliance to give him military rations. However, Locri is not a city-state rich in grain, so how can they possibly meet the food needed of such a huge army?! Furthermore, we have the support of the people and our allies, and Ansitanos has already left for Carthage to discuss the buying of grains. So after two months, I believe Syracuse will collapse on their own due to food shortage, and we would easily destroy them by then!”

“Lord Kapus, don’t forget that it is not only our soldiers who need the food supplies but also the people of Aprustum and Krimisa, so we consume more food than the Syracusans. And even if we still had our allies’ aid and could buy food, all of those are what the people donated! Can we just stand by doing nothing while consuming them all?!” Epiphanes retorted nonchalantly. As the legatus who fought at the forefront, he naturally knew the situation better than others.

“Let’s not forget the people in Crotone’s Acropolis, who are still waiting for our help! Although Dionysius used these to take the initiative in the battle, this was an unprecedented massive war that concerned not only Magna Graecia and Sicily but also Greece itself, Carthage and the other Mediterranean nations. And we Theonians always kept our promises, so when faced with our allies’ people who are in dire need of rescuing, are we just going to watch them die and do nothing?!” Philesius was someone cautious, but his wish to avenge Drakos stirred him up.

Davos knew that Philesius’ words were mainly directed at him.

“Your majesty, milords, is it possible…” Olivos became a bit nervous when he saw everyone’s gaze at him. “For…the Lucanian soldiers led by commander Hielos to attack Terina and forced the Syracusans to retreat?”

Chapter 502 – Veiled Battle

Davos’ thoughts changed again.

“Olivos, the situation you hope is impossible to happen if we calculate the time. Unless Hielos can breach Laos in a day and immediately arrive by ship to Clampetia, and then quickly launch an attack on Terina…but as veterans, do you think this is possible?!” Antonios expressed his doubts about Olivos’ speculation.

“Even if it is impossible, we should still fight the Syracusans here as soon as possible to create an opportunity for Hielos’ attack on the enemy’s rear!” Amintas took the opportunity to interject.

“What’s the point of Hielos taking back Terina if we lose…due to fighting them rashly?!” Kapus reminded.

“How could our legion be defeated?!!” Amintas roared.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The army legati argued fiercely in the command post.

Besides Alexius – the legatus of the third legion who was away in the Lucanian region, and Hielos – a former legatus and was still in Laos, all the legati of Theonia gathered in the command post: The legatus of the first legion – Antonios, the legatus of the second legion – Amintas, the legatus of the fourth legion – Epiphanes, the acting legatus of the fifth legion – Philesius, the legatus of the sixth legion – Olivos, the legatus of the seventh legion – Maotnis, the legatus of the sarissa legion – Kapus(former legatus of the first legion), and the former legatus of the third legion – Hieronymus, who arrived in a hurry at dusk yesterday with Lucania’s 5,000 reserve soldiers. Thus it could be said that the command post was filled with all of the legati.

If it were in the past, these battle-hardened senior veterans, with the backing of their legion and strict Theonian military system, would often argue about how to attack the enemy. But today, besides the silent Hieronymus, everyone held their own opinion, with some even going to the point of swearing despite their past friendship, which just shows their scruples about the massive Syracusan army across the river. After all, they outnumbered the Theonian army by nearly 10,000 soldiers, with countless battle experience and a formidable commander. Thus they knew well in their hearts that this was not an army that they could easily defeat.

At the same time, Davos did not express his opinion and just let the legati argue, not because he pretended to be reserved, but because he couldn’t make up his mind, so he hoped that this clash of ideas could help him clear up some of his thoughts. Although the Theonian fleet absolutely dominated the two naval battles, he would not be arrogant enough to think it would be the same in the land battle. Thus for such a war concerning the rise and fall of their respective countries and the life and death of their people, Davos still needed to remain calm and cautious even though he had already prepared a lot.

Suddenly, Martius came in and reported, “Your majesty, messengers from the Crotonians and Terinians had come.”

The legati then stopped their argument and looked at Davos simultaneously.

Davos pondered for a while and asked a key question, “Although the city of Crotone was now burning, the Syracusan cavalries are still galloping on the other side. So how did they get here?”

“The officer that guided them said that the Syracusans did not intercept them.” Said Martius.

“Your majesty, the Syracusans are obviously scheming something!” Antonios warned loudly.

“So just because this is the enemies’ scheme, we won’t save our allies?!” Amintas asked loudly.

Davos glanced at them and asked Martius, “Have you asked them why they have come?”

“Yes, they came to ask for help.” Martius showed a hint of disdain. Then he felt that this was disrespectful to their allies, so he hurriedly became serious, “Ah, they also said that they do not have much water left and wouldn’t last a few more days.”

Davos nodded and began pondering.

Everyone’s gaze then moved to Davos and remained quiet so as not to disturb him.

After a while, Davos looked at Martius and said, “Go and tell those messengers that I won’t see them, so they can go and return.” which caused everyone to be surprised.

Just as Philesius shouted, “Your majesty-”

Davos waved his hand and said firmly, “I already made a decision. So there is no need for you to say more!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Did the Crotonians we caught confess everything?” Dionysius asked aftering seeing Astagoras enter.

“Milord, they all said that Davos didn’t meet them and was instead driven away.”

“Didn’t see them?! Are you sure they are telling the truth?” Dionysius doubted.

“Of course. I can be sure of that because several of them were so scared by my torture tool that they didn’t dare to lie.”

Dionysius thought about it and sneered, “Release them all, and let the Crotonians in the Acropolis know how much the Theonians they expected fear us that they do not dare to cross the river to rescue them!”

“Yes, milord.” Astagoras turned around and left.

“It seems the Theonians will not engage in battle with us, so what should we do next, milord?” Phacipessas asked with concern.

Dionysius did not immediately answer. Instead, he turned to look at the quiet man in the corner of the tent, “Phidias, what do you think the new king of Theonia is up to?”

“How can I guess what is in the mind of cunning men like you?” Phidias bluntly and sarcastically said, “We Spartans only either attack or retreat, without hesitation.”

Dionysius didn’t show any displeasure at Phidias’ taunt. Instead, he turned to look at the intelligence officer – Androstini, “What’s the situation in Bruttii?”

“Milord, after the statesmen of Theonia – Sedrum became the praetor of Consentia, he used bloody means to suppress the tribes that wanted to rebel. Furthermore, he also summoned the chieftains of each tribe and tortured Petaru and Bodiam in front of them. Hence now, there are no Bruttian tribes who dare to come out to express their discontent with Theonia. For this reason, my men still couldn’t find some…”

In the end, Androstini’s voice became weaker as the performance of the intelligence department he led in Magna Graecia was not satisfactory. First, after the sixth legion arrived in Krimisa, their sudden military control resulted in Androstini losing capable personnel and Krimisa’s information getting cut off. Next was the total martial law in Thurii, which ultimately made him unable to know anything about the central region of Theonia. Thus when they lost the naval battle, he was rebuked by Dionysius. Now, even his men who can know the situation of Bruttii could no longer do anything…

“I am asking you about Theonia’s troops’ movement in the Bruttian region!” Dionysius glared at him as he asked impatiently.

Androstini continued to sweat coldly as he hurriedly said, “After the Theonian statesman named Hieronymus drafted 5,000 Lucanian warriors and went to Thurii; another statesman, Hielos, led more than 2,000 men to Laos. After that, there has been no more movement of the troops in the Bruttian region, and it seems their supply has somewhat used up.”

“What about Laos?” That was the thing Dionysius was concerned about the most.

“Due to the tight blockade of the whole mountain path by the Vergaens, our people couldn’t find out Laos’ situation, and I haven’t heard anything from our spies in Laos…”

As soon as Androstini finished speaking, Phacipessas said, “Milord, Laos is a big city on the west coast of Magna Graecia. And with Alobamus ruling Laos for many years, it wouldn’t be easy for the Theonians to take it.”

Although Dionysius did not reply, he agreed with what he said in his heart. ‘At least we didn’t have to worry about our rear for the time being.’ Thus he did not consider withdrawing his army back to Scylletium.

Dionysius knew in his heart that if they gave up Crotone, which they captured with great sacrifice and retreated to Scylletium, it would not only significantly dampen the soldiers’ morale but would cause dissatisfaction among the strategoi. However, it also means that they gave up their offensive and took a defensive position, which would give Theonia the initiative. And as time passes, the situation of Syracuse’s army in Magna Graecia will only become even worse, so they must quickly force the Theonians to a decisive battle as soon as possible!

“Phacipessas, you immediately lead 2,000 men to fire ballistae and flaming arrows at the Acropolis!” Dionysius then gave the order, which stunned the strategoi and ministers in the tent.

“Milord, there is a Temple of Apollo in the Acropolis!” Damocles loudly reminded.

“Apollo will never allow Hades to dominate Thurii for a long time, which is why he blessed us in quickly capturing Crotone, so he would definitely allow us to burn the city. Therefore, he certainly wouldn’t care too much about our little offence to his temple…” Although Dionysius sneered inwardly, he still patiently educated them, “Besides, we are not going to burn down the Acropolis, but just to scare the Crotonians into consuming their water and forcing them to ask Theonia for help again.”

Dionysius’ orders were then swiftly carried out as dozens of ballistae and gastraphetes were carried by thousands of Syracusan soldiers to the bottom of the hill and began firing flaming projectiles into the Acropolis.

The frightened Crotonians began putting out the fire with soil to save water, resulting in many people getting burned.

The Crotonian once again sent messengers to the Theonians for help. Under the deliberate indulgence of the Syracusans, they crossed the Neto without incidents. However, Davos’ answer was still, “No!”

Chapter 503 – River Crossing

Although the legati could not endure the tragic experience of Crotone, Davos knew that they must not let the Syracusans have the initiative and rashly cross the Neto River just to fall for Dionysius’ schemes. More importantly, it would take time for Hielos to capture Laos and lead his army into the rear of Syracuse, just like what Antonios said. Thus, they need to delay until Hielos’ army successfully attacks Terina, which would give Theonia the war initiative!

Unfortunately, they could not easily achieve Davos’ beautiful plan. The Syracusans kept firing at Crotone’s Acropolis, and the Crotonian populace tirelessly put out the fire while sending messengers to the Theonian camp again and again.

After being repeatedly and mercilessly rejected by Davos, some messengers burst into tears in front of the commander’s post, “Please, save the people of Crotone! We are running out of water, and everyone began drinking urine…but what about the children? My child is only two years old! I’d rather give my life for him to stay alive; please save us!…”

On the other hand, some messengers cursed, “Davos, everyone says that you are a famous strategos of Magna Gracia who had won a hundred battles, but the only thing I see is a coward! O Theonians, are your hearts made of iron?! Even though you see your allies struggling in the fire, you are still unwilling to lend a helping hand!”

“Bah! The Theonians always preach that they always keep their promise, but all of that is just a lie! You liars, we will curse you in hell even if we, the tens of thousands of people of Crotone, are burnt to death!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hearing the messengers’ bitter cries and angry curses, all the Theonian legati bowed their heads in shame. Even Philesius, Antonios and the other legati ask Davos several times, which shows the great pressure that Davos bears. Davos sat alone in the tent with hands clutching the armrests of his chair, and even though he hadn’t said a word, his thoughts gradually loosened. After all, how could Davos remain indifferent while watching tens of thousands of living beings being burned to death because of their relationship with him?!!

Fortunately, it was evening. Thus the Syracusans stopped their attack on the Acropolis because the Theonian army could not cross the river at night.

That night, Davos did not sleep well as he knew that they were lucky today. But tomorrow, the vicious and cunning Dionysius will continue to force him to fight in the way he wants. So what should he do?… What’s Hilos’ situation? It has been a long without any report, and even though they built the road, it still takes time to transmit the report across the mountains!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Lysias and Milo had it hard; not only were they rescuing the wounded people and calming the restless, but they were also thinking of the increasing shortage of water.

Had it not for Milo’s advice, who was versed in military matters, Lysias would have cussed at the Theonians and Davos for their “ruthlessness”, and he had even thought to, ‘If…we really can’t hold on, we simply just…surrender…’

At the Syracusan camp, Dionysius was distraught and shaken by Davos’ patience, ‘Could it be that Theonia would rather watch their allies die than lend them a helping hand?!… Perhaps Davos is really afraid to fight a head-on battle with us… If this continues, it will not be good for us… is our choice only to retreat?…’

That night, Dionysius was also not able to sleep well. Suddenly, he heard a noise outside his tent.

Just as Dionysius turned over from his bed and sat up, the intelligence officer Androstini broke inside. Then Dionysius yelled at the guard captain who had just followed inside, “What’s going on?! What kind of a guard captain just let anyone enter at will?!!”

However, the terrified Androstini, beside the guard captain, hurriedly knelt down to apologise and said with a trembling voice, “Mi…lord…urgent report came from Terina… The Theonians had captured Laos!”

“What?! The Theonians captured Laos so quickly! Is this real?!” Dionysius’ expression changed considerably as he loudly asked for confirmation.

“It came from one of our spies in Laos, who risked being chased by the Theonians as he covertly rowed a small boat to Terina. So the authenticity of it is without a doubt! He reported the Theonians had incited the vagrants of Laos to riot, so they could attack from both inside and outside, breaching the city of Laos.” Androstini had already calmed down at this moment and explained seriously.

“So the Theonians of Laos will soon head south?!” Dionysius muttered anxiously to himself.

“Milord, perhaps…perhaps we should retreat…” Androstini plucks up his courage to say it in a low voice.

“Retreat?!” Dionysius snapped at him, and the cold light in his eyes made Androstini fall to his knees again in terror.

Dionysius stared at him. Suddenly, a strange smile appeared on his face, “You’re right, we should retreat!”

With that, he turned and gave an order to the guard captain, “Immediately inform Phacipessas, Astagoras, Acilita, Phidias…and the others to come for a meeting!”

Androstini breathed a sigh of relief as he slumped on the ground; only then did he realise that cold sweat soaked his back.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Light fog shrouded the Crotone plain early the following morning, which added a chill to the originally warm coastal area.

And as usual, Davos got up early for breakfast; bread, wheat porridge and beef jerky, no different from the common soldiers, except for an additional fish gotten from the sailors of the Theonian fleet stationed at the estuary of the Neto River. In their spare time yesterday, they started fishing and brought a lot to Davos, who mostly gave it to the guards to share.

But Davos didn’t have that much appetite even though the breakfast was good.

Suddenly, Martius accompanied Izam into his tent.

“Your majesty, my men brought good news! The enemy dismantled their camp and started retreating!”

Davos was a bit surprised when he heard the report brought by Izam.

“Afterwards, my men infiltrated near the enemy camp and heard those Syracusans whispering in a panic that our Theonian army attack Terina…” Izam excitedly elaborated further.

“Has lord Hielos captured Laos? Why haven’t we received a report yet?” Martius was puzzled from hearing the report, so he interjected.

Izam explained to him, “It takes a different amount of time to cross the mountains to the west and get here as it does to take a boat to Clampetia and then to Terina.” then he excitedly said, “Your majesty, we-”

But before Izam could finish speaking, Martius shouted excitedly, “Your majesty!”

Looking at their eagerness, Davos knew what they wanted to express. After all, even the usually silent and cautious Martius is already like that, not to mention the other soldiers. So Davos sighed softly and shouted, “Martius, tell Tolmides to notify all the legati, Uhm…and Mithridates to gather here for a meeting quickly!”

“Roger!”

“Izam, order your men to continue monitoring the enemy’s movements and report back to me as soon as you confirm that the enemy has all retreated!”

“Roger!”

After the two saluted, they quickly left.

Davos, on the other hand, felt relieved after giving the orders and became much more relaxed. Now, he felt a bit hungry, so he sat down, grabbed the bread and took a bite.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Mithridates.”

“Yes, your majesty.”

“Gather all the engineering camps of all legions and temporarily put them under your command. They would then immediately set up four pontoon bridges on the Neto River, so you must provide all the ships needed and meet the requirements of the engineering camp as soon as possible without any excuses!”

“Understood!”

“Furthermore, you should lead all the ships to ferry the legionaries in the lower reaches of the Neto River. After the whole army crosses the river, lead the fleet around the coast between Crotone and Scylletium to monitor the Syracusan army’s movements. If there are any specific measures, I will leave it to your judgement.”

“Roger!”

“Ledes!”

“Here!”

“Your cavalry will be the first to cross the river. Afterwards, have them scout the south to observe the enemy’s retreat and report back at any time. However, they shall not fight the enemy, especially if they encounter enemy cavalry!”

“Yes, your majesty.” Ledes was a bit frustrated as he knew that Davos was a little uneasy about the cavalry’s fighting capability. But he could only covertly clench his fist as he had to reluctantly admit that those foreign cavalries were indeed better than his men.

“All the legati and officials, come over here and take a look at the place where your legions and troops will cross the river for final confirmation! I ask you to organise your soldiers and cross the Neto River as soon as possible, then quickly reorganise the formation. Can you do it?!”

“Yes!” The legati answered simultaneously, then huddled in front of the map to examine the marks Davos had made on the Neto River.

“Your majesty, why have you made these arrangements as if we were going to fight and not to pursue the retreating enemy?!” Amintas looked at them and couldn’t help but ask.

It is not only him but also the other legati who had similar doubts. Davos’ plan for all the legions was to line up along the river and cross the river simultaneously. After crossing, they would quickly form up again with special considerations for the position of each legion. Moreover, he sent out the cavalry to only scout and not to pursue…

Davos gazed at them and said seriously, “There is no need for us to rush in pursuing the enemy. As long as the Syracusans retreat, we will follow them. After all, chaos would appear in such a large army, and I am worried about the enemy retreating and then returning. You should all know how cunning the supreme commander of Syracuse – Dionysius. Thus I would rather be cautious than reckless, especially now that we have the initiative!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

It was almost noon when the fog dissipated under the continuous sunlight.

After the engineering camp collaborated with the legionaries, they erected four pontoon bridges in the middle section of the Neto River. And in the downstream, hundreds of large and small ships were docked at intervals on the north bank.

Chapter 504 – East and West side

The Theonian legati, senior centurions, centurions and platoon leaders made elaborate arrangements on the Neto River, turning the place into a bustling activity. Under the leadership of their respective officers, the 60,000 Theonians soldiers, who were in formation and awaiting, began running to their target.

The first legion’s position when crossing the river was near the sea. As the centurion of the first centuria of the fourth brigade of the first legion, Leotychides led the 200 soldiers in a neat column according to the arrangement of the whole army and waited on the shore. In front of them stood a 30-metre-long, six-metre-high trireme.

“Hey, Prosius(the name Leotychides used in Theonia). Let’s see who’s centuria gets to the opposite bank first and line up!” Shouted Hybaterus, the centurion of another centuria nearby.

Before Leotychides could answer, his soldiers shouted, “The second centuria dares to compete with us even with your level of training?!”

“Let’s compete! Who is afraid of who?! But if you lose, you will need to frog jump as punishment!”

“Hey, what’s happening?! They all started leaving before we could even get on the ship!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“All of you, be quiet and stay focused!” With a shout from Leotychides, the whole centuria immediately became quiet.

Leotychides’ centuria’s training was extremely harsh as he was strict, punishing soldiers who were not serious in their training, either corporal punishment or scolding. As a result, many who joined his centuria found it unbearable and asked to be transferred to other centuria. However, in every legion competition, Leotychides ranked first in the competition and tactical examination of the officers, and his centuria also often ranked first in the formation, attack, defence, camp building, siege, and so on, competition. Thus, many soldiers admired him and were willing to join his centuria, so the soldiers both respected and feared him.

“You can now get on board!” The ship captain shouted to the centuria on the shore.

“The first and second platoon go first!” Leotychides shouted immediately.

The two platoons in the forefront quickly place the ten-metre-long ladder on the side of the ship. After they hooked the ladder, the soldiers swiftly climbed onto the deck one after another. Soon, all the 100 soldiers of the two platoons got on the ship, causing the whole ship’s waterline to sink into one space. Fortunately, they were near the sea, resulting in the river being deeper, and the wharf made by each centuria was short and simple.

After the ship lifted the anchor, turned the rudder, and extended the oars, the huge hull began gliding southward with increasing speed. The lower reaches of the Neto River were only 80 metres wide at its widest, so the ship soon reached the opposite bank. After the soldiers disembarked, the ship returned at an even faster speed.

In less than ten minutes, a whole centuria had finished forming up on the south bank of the Neto River.

At this time, Leotychides smiled and was obviously satisfied with his soldiers’ performance.

“Pesias~” Leotychides shouted.

“Yes!” the leader of the first platoon responded loudly.

“Go and ask the second centuria if they finished lining up.”

“Understood.” When Pesias ran, the centuria’s soldiers began laughing.

Soon, a cry could be heard from nearby, “Didn’t your centuria not agree?! That’s why we slowed down!”

“You guys are cheating!” Then the soldiers of the first centuria laughed even louder.

Leotychides actually enjoyed the lively atmosphere of cooperation and competition in the Theonian legion as it allowed him to relive the time when he competed with the other Spartan warriors and forget the painful things that suffocated him in the past.

He looked ahead and thought to himself, ‘It’s time for strategos Xethippus to sound the centuria’s salpinx.’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the north bank of the Neto River, Davos rode on horseback as he watched the thousands of soldiers on the bank.

Under the guidance of the military flag, the soldiers set foot on the pontoon bridge in order and advanced to the south bank.

Some officers suddenly came up with an idea to make the centuria they led sing the ode to Hades to overcome the soldiers’ fear of crossing the swaying pontoon bridge. But soon, the song echoed throughout the river as each legion’s brigade’s centuria sang their own as if they were competing who sang well and louder…

On the four pontoon bridges, four “long dragons” quickly advanced towards the unfamiliar south bank with fluttering flags and resounding songs…

This sight made the heart of Davos pound with excitement: After years of hard work, the Theonia Union finally has such a massive army as well!

“Your majesty, shall we go?” Kapus reminded.

“You can’t wait either?!” Davos laughed.

Davos arranged for the sarissa legion that Kapus led to be the last to cross the river. Although Kapus knew that Davos must have a deeper meaning, the soldiers became impatient when they saw the other legions were already crossing the river. As they are a newly formed legion, it is normal for them to behave in this way.

Davos’ didn’t make it hard for Kapus, so he turned around and said, “Let’s also cross the river.”

When the guard heard that, they all cheered and surrounded Davos. Then several hundred horses galloped and stirred dust to fly in the air as they rushed down the river bank…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Milord, Theonia’s cavalry is coming!” The scout galloped to transmit the urgent report.

Dionysius, who was at the tail of the army and was marching slowly towards Scylletium, heard the news and became excited, “How many cavalries are there?”

“Around 1,000.”

“The Theonian cavalry had come in great numbers just to die. Milord, I will lead my men to finish them all off now!” Acilita loudly asked for the order.

“No need to rush.” Dionysius, however, became relieved and smiled as he said, “With so many Theonian cavalries crossing the river at once, then their infantry must also be crossing the river. If you lead the cavalry now, you will scare the enemy that we lured with great difficulty.”

“Then what should we, Numidians, do?” Acilita still didn’t understand what Dionysius meant.

“Your cavalry should continue to retreat!” Dionysius gazed at Acilita and Gaba, who remained silent on the side, and gave clear instructions until they nodded with reluctance. He then said to his attendant, “Have the herald rush to the front of the army and inform Phacipessas to start leading the army back!”

“Yes!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At the port of Laos, more than 6,000 Theonian soldiers boarded the ship one after another.

“Lord Bagul, you have to stay here in Laos for a few more days.” Hielos said to Bagul, who came to see him off.

“Leave it to me.” Bagul responded with seriousness, “Although I desire to join you on the battlefield and participate in the battle, as a member of the Senate, I understand Laos’ importance to Theonia. Thus I will handle the matters here until the Senate sends someone to take over!”

Hielos likewise seriously said, “Lord Bagul, you can rest assured that I would treat them all equally, whether they are a Bruttian soldier or a Lucanian soldier. And would do my best so that all of them can go home safely once the war ends!”

Bagul replied with a bright smile, “I am most relieved to leave my brothers under your command, Lord Hielos! I already warned them that they must strictly abide by your orders, so you can punish them per the military law if they violate your command!”

“Thank you!” Hielos expressed his sincere gratitude to Bagul.

Then a herald arrived and said, “Milord, all the soldiers have boarded the ship. Please give your command!”

Hearing the herald, Hielos immediately looked at the city with a slight impatience on his face. He once more said to Bagul, “His majesty is anxiously waiting for our move. Yet we have already been delayed for a day, so the time is very tight! Hence please convey my apology to Lord Henipolis for me as I can’t wait for him to come.”

“Erm…er…you should wait a little longer; he should be here soon…” But Bagul persuaded him with a strange expression and continued, “Henipolis said…there is something important he needs to tell you.”

“Something important?” Hielos looked at the coldly sweating Bagul with suspicion and asked, “What is it?”

“Well, just wait for him-” Bagul was thinking about how to dodge the question when a clear voice sounded from behind, “Lord Hielos, I’ve kept you waiting!”

Bagul breathed a sigh of relief at hearing this.

Hielos’ eyes widened at the approaching Henipolis, who was wearing a full military attire.

‘Why do you need to wear armour just to see us off?’ Hielos then remembers that the young archon only wore civilian clothes when they recaptured Laos and the army entered the city.

Just as he was in doubt, Henipolis, who had brought 50 equally heavily armed warriors, came to him and said, “Lord Hielos, let’s depart!”

“Depart? And you?” Hielos thought he misheard him.

“Before leaving Thurii, his majesty Davos promised me to participate and witness the war as his clerk. And Laos, as Theonia’s ally, has the responsibility to join in the ensuing battles, so I will now perform my duty!” Henipolis said with a serious expression with a slight hint of joy in his sentence.

“You…but what about Laos?” The fact that its archon actually left while Laos was in a state of ruin left Hielos in disbelief.

“With you and Lord Bagul taking care of the city matters extremely well yesterday, and after speaking with Lord Bagul and with the full cooperation of Ariandos, there wouldn’t be a problem at all. Right, Lord Bagul?” Henipolis winked at Bagul.

Faced with Hielos’ questioning gaze, Bagul shrugged with helplessness, “I have no choice. If I didn’t agree with Lord Henipolis’ request, I wouldn’t be able to call so many ships at all.”

Chapter 505 – Hielos’ Decision

“Let’s go, Lord Hielos, else we will get delayed again!” Henipolis proudly urged him as he hurriedly walked with the guards.

Hielos could only accept Henipolis coming with the army, so he saluted Bagul once more, “I will leave Laos to you.”

Bagul, somewhat feeling guilty, returned the salute and said, “Leave it to me. May Hades bless you on breaching the city in the south!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As soon as Davos crossed the Neto River, Tolmides hurriedly came to report, “Your majesty, there is a team of Syracusan scouting cavalries ahead; our cavalries are now chasing them.”

“Ledes’ cavalry legion should have long scouted ahead, right? So how come we didn’t find them and allowed them to get close to us?” Davos’ calm tone carried dignity.

Tolmides hurriedly explained, “It was reported that these enemy cavalries had hidden behind the broken wall of the ruined city of Crotone. Now, Ledes has reorganised his troops and is ready to examine the ruins thoroughly.”

“Dionysius is extremely attentive in checking our army’s movement!” Davos mockingly said while sitting on his horse. While watching the Theonian soldiers in small phalanxes, his expression began to turn grave, “I fear that my worst assumptions are coming true…Tolmides!”

“Yes!”

“Inform the soldiers of all the legions to wear their weapons and equipment and march south at normal speed! In addition, tell Ledes not to disperse his cavalry to examine the city of Crotone. Instead, I want his cavalry to keep up with the Syracusan army and report back the enemy’s movement often while trying their best to cover our army’s movements! Also, have the mountain reconnaissance brigade do the investigation of Crotone.”

“Yes, your majesty!” Tolmides further inquired, “Do we need to inform the Crotonians in the Acropolis that we have crossed the river?”

Davos pondered for a moment, nodded and said, “Send someone to tell Lysias…erm, say that we are leading an army to come to their aid, but there is a possibility of a fierce battle with the Syracusan army, so ask them to try sending an army to join us!”

“Understood, your majesty!” Tolmides immediately turned around and gave orders to the heralds.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Milord, my men have returned.” Acilita rushed to Dionysius, “We sent out ten men, but only two returned, and they are all wounded. Yet even with their equestrian skill…but to pass through so many enemy cavalries-”

“I know… The rewards you will receive afterwards won’t be less!” Dionysius impatiently interrupted his complaint and asked, “Tell me the situation quickly!”

“The Theonian army has crossed the river in many…many numbers…” The Numidians were far less civilised than Carthage and Greece, so most of them could no longer count after the numbers reached more than ten thousand.

Listening to Acilita’s exaggerated words, Dionysius’ initial worries dissipated, and a smile appeared on his face. He had only one goal in mind – To defeat the Theonian army. Only by achieving this goal could he completely eliminate the Syracusan army’s plight, which Dionysius knew very well since the beginning.

His gaze swept to the nearby Phidias, who nodded at him.

Dionysius then decisively ordered, “Command the whole army to stop retreating, immediately turn around and cross the Targines river and quickly march north!”

At this moment, his troops had just passed the south bank of the Targines river and were just 5 kilometres away from the Neto River, around two hours of normal march. Therefore, he must act quickly to prevent the enemy from fleeing back to the north bank of the Neto River once they find out that they were deceived. Fortunately, he has enough time because it would take more than a few hours for tens of thousands of people to cross the Neto.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Near noon, the fleet entered the port of Clampetia.

However, even after the two praetors expanded the port after their integration with Theonia, it is still not big enough as its inherent conditions are not good. Thus, its capacity to accommodate ships has not significantly improved, so the transport ships can only slowly queue one by one to enter the port…

“Lord Hielos, welcome! It’s been more than two years since I last saw you, so when I heard you were coming this time, I especially went to the port early to wait for you!”

Asistes gave Hielos, who had just disembarked, a warm hug, and then he said, “His majesty is really cruel. He just either let me stay in Lucania or sent me to this remote Bruttian area and didn’t even give me any leisure time to get together with you old brothers. When you were appointed as Consentia’s praetor, I wanted to go to Consentia to congratulate you, but I didn’t expect a war to break out so soon…”

Asistes kept talking excitedly, so Hielos could only reply, “His majesty did that for your own good.”

“Of course, his majesty treats me like a brother, so he won’t blame me even if I complain a few times.” Asistes cheekily joked around.

“Lord Asistes, hello!” Henipolis came forward to greet him.

When Henipolis went to study in Thurii, Asistes had already gone to Nerulum. Although Asistes had seen Henipolis only several times when he returned to Thurii to report to Davos, he had a deep memory of the only teenager who lived in Davos’ residence.

“Lord Henipolis, it’s nice to meet you!” Asistes immediately returned his greeting with enthusiasm. Then he remembered something and looked puzzled, “The fact that you are here means that you have retaken Laos, but shouldn’t you be in Laos straightening out the city matters after Laos had just gone through a war?!”

Asistes’ words had a bit of lecture on it, but Henipolis didn’t care as he frankly said, “Lord Bagul is now in-charge of Laos and is doing a good job. So I came with Hielos here to fulfil my promise to his majesty and serve as his clerk. I heard that Lord Asistes was his majesty’s first clerk? I have come to ask you for advice and impart more experience on how to serve as his majesty’s clerk.”

Asistes’ smiled while his eyes darted towards Hielos, but after seeing Hielos nod at him, he could only say, “No problem, we can discuss it together. On the contrary, I think you will do a better job than me because I don’t have a good writing ability like you, so I was criticised a lot by his majesty…”

While Asistes modestly encouraged Henipolis, a man behind Asistes came forward, “Lord Hielos, we’ve been waiting for you!”

“You are?” Hielos looked at the stranger.

“Let me introduce him.” Asistes hurriedly said, “This is Terina’s strategos – Phromelas. After the defeat of the South Italian Alliance, he led the Terinians to retreat to Clampetia, allowing them to escape Scylletium’s tragic fate.”

Phromelas then seriously said, “Lord Hielos, the citizens of Terina will join you in your fight in taking back our home!”

“Your wish will come true soon!” Hielos promised him with confidence.

“And this one is-” Asistes pointed to another man beside him and introduced him to Hielos, “Fulalios, the captain of one of Theonian fleet’s trireme, has come to Clampetia under the order of the navarch – Seclian, and had been waiting for your arrival for a day now.”

Fulalios stepped forward and saluted, “Lord Hielos, our fleet is now anchored in Taurania’s port. Navarch Seclian ordered me to discuss with you your attack on Terina. Afterwards, I will immediately return and report to navarch Seclian, where he will lead the fleet, comprised of 4,000 soldiers from Rhegium, to land on the coast of Hipponion, cutting off Locri’s reinforcements…”

After hearing this, Hielos couldn’t help but sigh, “Now, our navy is stronger that it became much more helpful for our army’s attack!”

He turned his head and looked at the port. Although there were only a few hundred soldiers ashore, the transport ships carrying the troops lined up one after another until they reached outside the port.

Hielos then looked at Phromelas, who was looking at him with expectation.

“Strategos Phromelas, how many soldiers do you have?” Hielos asked suddenly.

“500 men.” When Phromelas saw Hielos frowning, he added, “Counting the older citizens, I can lead 900 men to join you.”

“How many soldiers can Clampetia draw?” Hielos asked Asistes this time.

“Clampetia has 1,500 reserve soldiers, and I can send 1,000 to support you.” Asistes said without hesitation.

“How many enemies are there in Terina?” Hielos once again asked.

“Ah…according to our scouts, they might be 4,000 of them. However, more than half are soldiers of Hipponion and Medma.” Phromelas replied.

Hielos lowered his head as he pondered. After a while, he made up his mind and said, “I will return to the ship now and lead the fleet to land on the coast of the Ophemia plain and march into Terina.”

“What?!” Asistes was surprised, so he hurriedly advised, “The soldiers had been on the rough sea for several hours, so they must be allowed to go ashore and rest. It still won’t be late to set out tomorrow. What’s more-” Back then, Asistes fought alongside Hielos in Persia, so he knew that once Hielos made up his mind, it would be hard to change it. Thus he pointed at Fulalios and said, “You still haven’t discussed this with our fleet yet. Furthermore, Seclian hopes that the Rhegian army would attack Hipponion first to lure the enemy in Terina back, allowing you to capture Terina easily once you attack it.”

Chapter 506 – Reinforcements

“Navarch Seclian really hopes to do that!” Fulalios immediately echoed.

“The soldiers already had a full day of rest yesterday, and they had just been staying on the ship today, so they are still physically and mentally energetic. But if you look at that-” Hielos pointed to the dense transport ship waiting at the port. Then he said with some anxiety, “It is unknown when will it take for more than 6,000 soldiers to disembark! After being the Praetor of Consentia, I know how big the area of Clampetia is. Furthermore, Clampetia would be too crowded after you had resettled Terina’s refugees.”

“I will try to arrange for the accommodation, so there is no need for you to worry about that! If it still isn’t enough, you can camp out in the city.” Asistes said confidently.

“The land outside Clampetia is mountainous, so we might as well camp on the plains, where the soldiers can sleep better than camp here.” Hielos remained unmoved and continued, “And since you kept watching Terina’s movements, I fear that our enemies in Terina are also watching this place. With our fleet staying outside the port for so long, the enemy would certainly find out about it! So even if we attack Hipponion, they will instead strengthen Terina’s defence since they know of our arrival! Rather than that, it would be better for me to lead the army to attack Terina first and attract the defenders of Hipponion to their rescue. Afterwards, Seclian would lead the Rhegians on the defenceless Hipponion, which has a greater chance of success!”

After saying this, the others’ thoughts changed. In fact, Asistes and Fulalios understood Seclian’s selfishness as he planned to make the Theonian army obtain more achievements. However, Hielos’ didn’t care about that at the moment, as he cared more about the benefit of the whole war situation.

“Actually, attacking either Terina or Hipponion is not the most important! The most important thing is-” Hielos looked at Asistes and said seriously, “The army led by his majesty is now confronting the Syracusan army in Crotone. Hence, the sooner we attack the enemy’s rear, the sooner we can trap the enemy into a passive position and let his majesty gain the war initiative, increasing the chance of defeating Syracuse’s main force and becoming the victor of this war! I had already delayed quite a bit in Laos, so now we must act as soon as possible!”

Asistes was deeply moved by Hielos’ words, so he immediately said, “Understood, lord Hielos! I will no longer stop you from landing in Ophemia plain. I would instead organise my men to transport supplies for the troops and immediately gather a thousand soldiers to meet you in Ophemia by land!”

“Lord Hielos, I will go and assemble the Terinian soldiers now. They long been looking forward to this day!” Phromelas said excitedly.

“Lord Hielos, my ship will set out with you and let navarch Seclian know about the plan as soon as possible!” Fulalios immediately said.

“Alright, let’s all meet at Terina!” Hielos saluted.

“Alas, I had prepared a banquet tonight to invite you to my home and meet my wife and children. Unfortunately, I won’t get the chance this time!” Asistes sighed and gave a few orders to the port official beside him, who ran to the port to direct the ships, allowing the transport ships to leave the port smoothly.

“Lord Hielos, may Hades bless you for everything to go well!” After giving his sincere blessing, Asistes asked, “Lord Henipolis, would you like to be a guest at my house? We could discuss how to become a good clerk to his majesty; how about it?”

Henipolis was somewhat interested, so he looked at Hielos.

So Hielos suggested, “You should stay in Clampetia. It still wouldn’t be too late if you wait for his majesty to lead his army into the Ophemia plains.”

Henipolis slightly hesitated and finally said, “Lord Asistes, many thanks for your invitation! However, I came together with Lord Hielos, so it is better if I go with him.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Yesterday, the Syracusans attacked the Acropolis with flaming projectiles for most of the day, so Lysias and the others led the citizens to work until the evening. They were so exhausted and thirsty that they directly collapsed in the square outside the temple and slept until dawn.

But suddenly, on the next day, the flaming projectiles they were most worried about did not come again. So when they looked down from the Acropolis, they could not even see the enemy’s shadow. After a discussion, Lysias, Milo and the others decided to send their men out to investigate.

They learned about Syracuse’s plan yesterday after they kept sending messengers to Theonia’s camp for help many times, yet they were able to return safely, again and again. However, it only slightly weakened the resentment of the officials of Crotone, such as Lysias, against Theonia’s refusal to lend a helping hand.

Soon after, the scouts returned to the Acropolis and reported that the enemy hiding inside the city and the Syracusan camp outside had disappeared.

Lysias looked at Milo with surprise and disbelief and said, “Could it be that the Syracusans have retreated?”

“Most likely.” Milo thought about it and said, “Since the Syracusan wouldn’t have dismantled their own camp if they would attack the Theonians on the north bank of the Neto river.”

“That means we can leave the Acropolis!” Siprus excitedly said while licking his dry lips.

His words received a warm response from the others as they hadn’t drunk water for most of the day, resulting in everyone’s throat burning.

Lysias, however, couldn’t make up his mind at the moment, so he asked hesitantly, “Milo, what do you think?”

“From my understanding of Dionysius, he is an extremely cunning man, so he might deliberately try to lure us out of the Acropolis and let his thousands of cavalries quickly kill us. Furthermore, half of us are mostly women, children and elderly, so once we go down the acropolis, it would be difficult to escape their pursuit!” Milo said worryingly.

“So are we just to remain in the Acropolis and die of thirst because we fear it is a scheme of Syracuse?!” Siprus questioned loudly.

“Of course not.” Milo then positively said, “We can send people to continue scouting Syracuse’s movement in the south while sending messengers to ask the Theonians on the north bank of the Neto river for protection. Besides that, we can also ask them to send a fleet to transport water to the port, and then transport the water to the Acropolis while there is no enemy in the city…”

“Great, let’s go with that!” Lysias immediately decided while the others agreed.

Just then, a messenger sent by Davos rushed to the Acropolis.

The news of “the Theonian army has crossed the river” excited the officials of Crotone but became nervous about Davos’ speculation that a battle with Syracuse might occur.

“Although I am dissatisfied with Theonia’s ‘indifference’, now that they had really crossed the river, I don’t want them to come over…” Lysias said with gloom.

“Right.” Milo felt the same way and said in a conflicted mood, “From the messenger’s description, Theonia has about 55,000 troops. But from what I learned during Syracuse’s attack, I fear that they have no less than 70,000 soldiers, a difference of more than 10,000! If Theonia and Syracuse really clash here today, we must give full assistance to Theonia! Otherwise…”

“That’s a must! If they also defeated Theonia, we will all become the slaves of that Sicilian tyrant!” Unknowingly, Siprus arrived at the meeting place of Crotone’s official and resolutely shouted, “We, Terinians, have decided to immediately go and join Theonia’s army!”

The Crotonian officials began looking at each other and argued.

In the end, Lysias loudly said, “We, Crotonians, will also send strategos Milo to lead most of Crotone’s soldiers to join Theonia’s army!”

Squeezing out a smile, Milo said, “I will just go take the soldiers to ask for a cup of water!”

Milo wanted to make the atmosphere of the meeting place more relaxed, but everyone was so nervous that no one laughed.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Just as Crotone gathered the more than 4,000 soldiers and Siprus led Terina’s nearly 900 men to prepare to go down, the Theonian troops had reached the front of Syracuse’s former camp.

Although Dionysius relied on his numerous troops to build a tight military defence on the side facing Aprustum, they only placed earthen walls and wooden fences on the side of the camp located in the core area of Crotone. They did not even dig trenches as they hoped that the Crotonians would come out of the city to attack their camp. Hence it did not hinder the Theonian army’s march as they only needed to push the earthen wall with their hands.

Suddenly, Davos received a report from the scouts that the retreating Syracusans stopped and quickly turned around to approach them with the enemy cavalry began their attack on the Theonian cavalries.

‘Dionysius had really come!’ Davos was not too surprised due to his prior speculation and preparation, so he began issuing his order, “The whole army is to retreat slowly and beware of the enemy cavalries’ attack! Also, tell Ledes not to fight with the enemy cavalry and withdraw first!”

Despite his doubts, Tolmides still rushed to issue the military order.

The Theonian army did not adopt their usual marching method in columns after crossing the river. Instead, they lined up and marched southward together with a large front, with the 50,000 troops stretched over 4 kilometres from west to east. So Davos and Tolmides had to discuss with each other, finally deciding to station two heralds every kilometre in the rear of the whole army to ensure the quick and easy communication of orders between Davos and the legions.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The seventh legion was at the far right end of the army, adjacent to the Targines River.

After hearing the herald, legatus Matonis expressed his confusion, “Why should we retreat?! With the enemy coming after us, retreating at this time will only lead to a drop in morale and confusion in the formation! Instead, we should confront the enemy!…”

Chapter 507 – Battle of Wits

The herald did not answer but only emphasised that this was an order from King Davos!

Matonis was left speechless, so he angrily ordered, “Tell the senior centurions to lead our brothers to retreat. Retreat very, very slowly!…”

The experienced legati don’t need more detailed instructions from Davos as they all know how to deal with incoming cavalry by sending the seventh brigade of each legion to the front of the army.

The pursuing Numidian and Celtic cavalry came near the Theonian frontline and saw the long formation of infantry retreating: The light infantry formed a scattered line behind the heavy infantry, firing arrows at enemy cavalries, which resulted in the Numidian cavalries being unable to get close enough to the formation to throw their javelins.

Although these foreigners were fierce, they were not foolish enough to storm such a huge army formation. Thus they stopped their pursuit and kept a safe distance away from the Theonian army…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“What did you say?! The Theonians are retreating?!” Dionysius had just crossed the eastern bank of the Targines and became anxious after hearing Acilita’s report. After all, what he feared the most was the Theonians retreating quickly after finding out that Dionysius deceived them and returning to the north bank of the Neto before he could even lead his army, wasting all the efforts he made these past two days.

“Order the troops to increase their pace! Don’t let the enemy escape!!”

“Yes!”

“Wait!” Phidias suddenly shouted.

Although Dionysius was unhappy at Phidias’ interruption, he also knew that there must be some reason for the silent Spartan to voice his thought at this critical moment.

“You just said that the Theonians was on a ‘formation’. Why did you use the word ‘formation’?” Phidias hurriedly asked Acilita.

Although Acilita hated Phidias’ impolite tone, he knew that he could not mess up the Spartan, so he impatiently said, “That’s right, I said ‘formation’ because they retreated orderly and at the same time.”

Dionysius’ heart leapt when he heard this.

“What kind of formation?” Asked Phidias.

Acilita thought about it and simply drew a ‘horizontal’ on the ground, “It’s very long like this…”

Phidias bent over and looked at the ground. He then once again asked, “Which direction are we in?”

“Here.” Acilita pointed in front of the ‘horizontal line’.

After hearing this, Phidias confirmed his suspicion, so he raised his head, looked at Dionysius, and said, “I fear that the new king of Theonia had already made preparations for our plan and set up a big net. By then, your soldiers would already be exhausted and without a complete formation, which would result in them being no match for the Theonians, and the only thing that awaits you can only be defeat.”

Dionysius looked at the ground and was lost in thought. Although he didn’t want to believe that the painstaking and thorough plan he made to lure the enemy was seen through by the young Theonian and was instead lured by the other party, Phidias’ words were like a slap in his face. Fortunately, this war was a matter of survival, so he didn’t have the time to care about these minor things. After coughing a few times, he said, “So what should we do now?”

“Immediately stop our advance, form up, and march towards them at normal speed!” Phidias drew another ‘horizontal line’ in front of the ‘horizontal line’.

“But if we take too much time, the Theonians might escape.” Dionysius said anxiously.

As a bystander, Phidias could remain calm, “It’s better to let them escape than be defeated by them!”

Dionysius became silent when he heard this, and his thought became a mess as he weighed the gains and losses.

He then turned his head to look at the dust flying in the air that was stirred up by the massive, quick marching of the army…

When he looked closer at the densely packed soldiers passing in front of him: Although they wore armour and the shields and spears were still on their shoulders, he could see sweat soaking through the lining, and the combined sound of rapid breathing almost deafened him…

He then looks at the vast Crotone plain; everything is unusually quiet, except for the occasional mercenary cavalry galloping across the plain. He then thought that the Theonian army might be waiting somewhere he couldn’t see…which made Dionysius hesitate for a while. Finally, he made up his mind, “Phidias, just do what you had said. I have decided to let you arrange the formation.”

Phidias became excited as this was what he wanted, so he didn’t delay the matter.

“Should I withdraw all my men?” Asked Acilita.

“No,  you and Gaba’s cavalry continue expelling the enemy’s cavalry to prevent them from spying on our formation while watching their movements.” Phidias began giving orders, “And…you must come to report the details of the formation laid out by the Theonians to me…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

It was already past noon, yet there was still no sign of the Syracusan army, which confused Davos. Fortunately, even after the Theonian cavalry was suppressed and unable to observe the enemy, the Theonian fleet circled the coast of the southern Crotone plain. But after seeing no sign of the retreating Syracusan army, the puzzled Mithridates decisively sent a penteconter to land quietly on a concealed beach for the sailors to disembark and investigate. Not long after, they find out Syracuse’s secret.

‘Turns out that the Syracusans got into formation!’ After receiving the news from the scouting ship. Davos felt both regret and expectation.

Davos then mumbled, “It seems like Dionysius is quite cautious. Since he won’t come, I’ll come over and have a fair and decisive battle!”

“Order the whole army to turn around and march south!” Davos’ pride burst out as he loudly gave the order.

“Why are we heading south again?!” Many soldiers were puzzled and dissatisfied with the repeated change of orders.

But the legati and the officers had already sensed the impending battle, such as Amintas and Matonis, who became excited.

“Reporting to his majesty, the 5,000 reinforcements from Crotone and Terina have arrived!”

Davos became excited after hearing this, “Great! But who’s the leading strategoi?”

“Siprus is leading Terina while Milo is leading Crotone.”

Hearing that, Davos became flabbergasted, “Milo? The Milo that Crotone expelled?”

“Yes, your majesty. It is indeed him after confirming it! After the outbreak of war, Crotone recalled him, and the people immediately elected him as the strategos after the city of Crotone fell.” Tolmides knew Davos would have some doubts, so he had already done his research.

‘Those two strategoi are all old acquaintances!’ Besides his frequent contact with Siprus, Davos learned of Milo’s commanding ability after the second war with Crotone. Hence Davos even believes that Milo was a political figure with an open mind and flexible thinking that could see the big picture of the city-states in the South Italian Alliance.

Since both of them were not incompetent, Davos felt relieved. Then he asked, “Are all the reinforcements they led heavy infantry?”

“They have 300 light infantry while the rest are all heavy infantry.” Answered Tolmides.

“In that case….” Davos thought and said, “Let them go to the left end of the first legion and march with the enemy.”

“At the far left end of the formation?” Upon hearing this, Tolmides, who understood Davos’ plan, asked with some unease, “Your majesty, that is where the enemy would focus their attack, so would they be able to fend them off?”

“The Syracusans captured their city and slaughtered their loved ones, which made their hatred towards Syracuse stronger than ours and made their morale higher than our soldiers! I believe that even if they fight to the last person, they will never shrink back!” Said Davos slowly and decisively.

“I understand.” Without further hesitation, Tolmides turned and prepared to rush the heralds but was stopped by Davos, “You must personally go tell Milo and Siprus that I cannot come to meet them because of the situation’s urgency. With the impending battle, I hope they will make full preparations and work together to get their revenge on the Syracusans who invaded our homes and harmed our people!”

“Yes.” Tomides excitedly gave a military salute.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Crotone and Terina’s army descended the hill and went around the northern gate to leave the city. And the only things they could see were broken walls and ruins, which further increased the anger in the soldiers’ hearts. Afterwards, Milo and Siprus managed to disperse the small number of Numidian cavalries harassing and pursuing them and finally catching up with the Theonian army marching south and receiving the order sent by Tolmides, relieving Milo and Siprus.

Because their troops came from the east, they just happened to be located at the far left end of the Theonian army’s formation. Thus they only need to connect with the first legion of Theonia without the need to expend any more energy, as they know that the soldiers were already a bit out of breath from their journey here.

Seeing that the two strategoi were somewhat relaxed, Tolmides could not help but remind them, “Two lords, from his majesty’s analysis; the left flank will be the enemy’s focus of attack, so you must stay vigilant!”

“Why?” Milo and Siprus asked in unison.

Before each battle, Davos would explain his battle intentions in detail to the legati and senior officers to ensure that they could execute them smoothly. And with the great battle about to start, there was no need for Tolmides to conceal it. Thus he said without mincing his words, “Since Syracuse had more soldiers than ours, his majesty led the army across the Neto river with the seventh legion marching along the east bank of the Targines River. So if Syracuse wants to take advantage of their number fully, it is their best choice to focus on attacking our left-wing.”

Chapter 508 – Battle of Crotone (I)

Siprus pondered deeply.

On the other hand, Milo, a native of Crotone, warned, “Beware of the Syracusans! With the traversability of the Targines River, they wouldn’t just focus their attack on the left-wing.”

Tolmides smiled and said, “We have already surveyed the area thoroughly in advance. As far as we know, it is still difficult to traverse the upper-middle reaches of the Targines River, so his majesty Davos ordered that the seventh legion on the far right end of the formation shouldn’t cross the middle-end of the middle reaches of the Targines.”

Tolmides’s explanation caused Milo and Siprus’ expressions to become even more grave.

“Syracuse’s heavy infantry is not weak. Besides their numbers, they will definitely place those foreign cavalries on this side to attack us. Although we Crotonians do not fear death… However-” Milo became embarrassed. Although he did not participate in the Battle of Allaro River, he had witnessed the destruction of their city by Syracuse’s infantry in just one day. And from what the soldiers had said, he also learned the strength of those mercenary cavalries, “Once we cannot resist Syracuse’s full force from the left, it would inevitably affect the success and defeat of the whole battlefield!”

At this time, Siprus interjected, “Since King Davos deliberately set up such a formation in advance to guide the Syracusans to focus their attack on the left-wing, then there must be corresponding countermeasures.”

“That’s right.” Tolmides seriously said, “Theonia’s most powerful first and second legion will support the whole left-wing together with you, so I believe that no matter how many enemies you face, they will not easily defeat you! And to your left, there are more than 1,500 Theonian cavalries to stop the enemy cavalries from attacking our flanks. And the most important thing is-” An odd expression appeared on Tolmides’ face, “We will arrange a sarissa brigade behind you, who will be responsible for defeating the enemy cavalries and counterattacking!”

‘A brigade of only a thousand men would decide the victory or defeat of the left-wing?!’ Both Milo and Siprus were puzzled because they knew that Theonia’s army arrangements were all relatively fixed, assembling the same number of troops in each operation since their establishment, unlike the common Greek city-states. Hence they were sure that they had not heard of the establishment of the sarissa brigade in all of Theonia Union’s legions before, ‘Could it be a new force they created after the outbreak of the war? If so, will they have powerful combat strength?!’

The two looked at each other with doubts in their eyes.

Tolmides smiled, “You will know before the battle begins.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

With the steady advance of the Theonian army, the Syracusan mercenaries could only rapidly retreat.

The distance between the Theonian and Syracusan armies was only 5 kilometres. But after an hour or so of marching, they got closer to each other.

As the sun in the middle of the sky began to drift to the west, Dionysius, who was at the forefront of the formation, heard a “Stomp! Stomp!…” sound coming from the front, which got louder and louder that even the ground shook slightly.

It even made Dionysius’ warhorse restless as it neighed incessantly, causing Dionysius to slap its neck in annoyance to quiet it down.

Seeing what happened, the attendant nearby hurriedly came to soothe the warhorse.

“The Theonians are coming…” Dionysius whispered to his attendant with a grim expression.

After a while, they saw rising grey dust at the far end of their sight that slowly drifted towards them. With the advancement of the dust, it became bigger and bigger, extending infinitely to the east and west that they couldn’t see the end. It is like a dark cloud that gets thicker and thicker as it descends in the sky before a storm. It’s so overwhelming and suffocating that the people couldn’t stop thinking about how terrifying the accumulated power was once it burst out…

Although Syracuse had more troops, the soldiers were hurriedly formed up and hadn’t had the time to get experience and integrate into this colossal formation. Thus they felt nervous when faced with the Theonian army that pressed them like a mountain range or a tide.

Dionysius frowned and hurriedly said, “Go to the right-wing and urge Phidias to complete the plan. I fear that the enemy is about to attack!”

“Yes, milord!” The herald sped away.

Dionysius looked ahead with a serious expression.

At a distance of six-seven hundred metres, the vast band of dust stopped its advance. Suddenly, you could hear the sound of salpinx, drum beats, shouting, and the collision of armour and shield coming from the opposite side…

Dionysius knew that the Theonians were reorganising, so he became very anxious. Although the herald had only left for a while, Dionysius felt that a long time had passed.

As time passed, the sound coming from the opposite side from the ear-shattering volume at the start became small until it disappeared. It finally became quiet that the sound from the beginning felt like an illusion and didn’t exist. Then the dust whirling in the air also gradually dispersed…

“Milord, strategos Phidias finished forming up, but he wants you to delay for a while so the soldiers can take a breather.” The herald hurriedly returned while gasping for air.

Dionysius understood. He then stared ahead as the dust had cleared by now, revealing the massive Theonian army to him. Under the sunlight, the armour and shields of the closely packed soldiers reflected a dazzling cold light, like an endless wall of steel.

Unlike the previous Battle of Allaro River, Dionysius saw not only black but also yellow, cyan and several colours intertwined in a huge phalanx formation. It just shows that even though Theonia had put together a great army, they could not guarantee that every soldier would get their so-called ‘standard equipment’, giving Dionysius more confidence. Thus he said to his attendant, “Go tell the Theonians that I want to talk to their new king!”

The attendant nodded his head in understanding and galloped towards the enemy formation and stopped at 50 metres away from the Theonian as he shouted, “King Davos of Theonia, Lord Dionysius – the supreme military commander of Syracuse, wishes to speak with you! King Davos of Theonia…”

A herald reported the shouting of the Syracusan to Davos, who was at the rear of the army.

But Davos only pondered and said to Tolmides, who was next to him, “What do you think Dionysius wish to discuss with me for?”

“Your majesty.” Tolmides thought and said, “…Dionysius might be curious about the opponent who had given him a headache looks like.”

Davos laughed loudly at Tolmides’ implicit flattery and said, “I don’t have the time to play such childish game with him.”

Davos paused and asked, “Are the sarissa brigade in position?”

“Yes, your majesty. And just as you commanded, they did not raise their sarissa.” Tolmides replied.

“That’s for fear that those roaming Syracuse’s mercenary cavalries will notice something amiss. Still, don’t underestimate the tyrant of Sicily; he is very alert!” Although Davos didn’t dare underestimate his enemy, he was equally fully confident due to the enemy concentrating their forces on their right-wing, so he hoped that the sarissa brigade would give them a surprise.

After gazing at the enemy formation in front of him, Davos said in an impassioned tone, “Tolmides, tell the legati to order their brothers that the time has come to avenge the deceased Drakos and the warriors and Theonian people that were tortured and killed! Let them chant the ode of Hades and prepare to attack!”

“Understood!” Tolmides responded loudly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Milo finally met the sarissa brigade that he was curious about.

A brigade varies from about a thousand men in the average Greek city-state’s army. So even though the sarissa brigade at the rear of their formation had 6,000 men, it was still not enough to form Theonia’s unique legion.

So when Davos said the word “sarissa brigade”, Milo was only surprised by the name. After all, except for the light infantry, almost all Greek infantry are armed with spears (sarissa is a kind of spear), so is it really necessary to emphasise it?! But once he saw the weapons, he finally understood why it was called “sarissa”. Although the soldiers did not lift it up and just held it flatly, he could clearly see its design that even though it is similar to a spear, its length is significantly longer! Moreover, they were not wearing armours.

‘Extremely long spears, unarmoured soldiers, column formation…’ Milo’s thought was filled with curiosity and doubt that he could not help but wonder, ‘What could Davos plan with such a strange army?’

Just as he was speculating, the Theonian formation resounded with the ode of Hades, “I devoutly praise you, O dark-haired and dark-eyes Hades!

The king of the underworld, the ruler of the night!

The impartial judge, the strict overseer!

…”

Each soldier sang attentively and devoutly, hoping to get the great Hades’ blessing. As countless voices merged in the sky over the Theonian army, it gradually became neat and consistent as it echoed over the battlefield for thousands of metres, which is extremely solemn and majestic!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Dionysius, who could hear it very clearly at the frontline, became pale, “Damn it! The Theonians are going to attack! Quick! Go and tell all the soldiers to pray to Apollo and immediately prepare for the clash!”

After giving his order, he drew back his horse, crossed the gap reserved between the phalanxes, and reached the rear.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

But just as the Syracusan started praying, the chanting on Theonia’s side ended.

Chapter 509 – Battle of Crotone (II)

Obviously, Davos didn’t wait for their enemy to finish praying, so he immediately gave the order, “Attack!”

Then dozens of buglers evenly arranged at the rear of the massive formation sounded their salpinx one after another.

“Rhaaaa!!!…” The powerful salpinx sound shot up into the sky.

“Avenge legatus Drakos and our brothers who died in battle!” The fourth and fifth legion soldiers, located in the centre of the vast phalanx formation, were the first to shout. Then the rest of the soldiers soon followed, and the cries of revenge replaced the ode to Hades. Hence when the voice bound by a common hatred combined, the morale of the Theonian soldiers reached its peak.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Cunning Davos! Damned Davos!” Dionysius cursed angrily as the Theonians kept taking the initiative against the dominant Syracusan army, again and again, making him feel stifled after his smooth sailing on their land battle since landing on Magna Graecia. The Syracusan soldiers hadn’t yet finished their prayers when the enemy suddenly began attacking, so he could no longer wait for them to complete their prayer before advancing, which inevitably affected their morale. Hence he could only comfort himself by saying, ‘That young man only knows how to play tricks. However, one still needs to depend on strength to win a war!’

“Attack!” Dionysius shouted angrily with a terrifying expression on his face.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the afternoon of the last day of 394 B.C., a massive battle to determine the hegemon of the Greek city-states in the Mediterranean began on the Crotone plain.

On the Theonia Union side: 5,000 men of the first legion, 7,000 men of the second legion, 12,000 in the fourth and fifth legion, 14,000 in the sixth and seventh legion, 6,000 in the sarissa brigade, 5,000 Bruttian warriors conscripted by Hieronymus, 5,000 reinforcements from Crotone and Terina, plus about 1,500 cavalries, 1,000 men from the mountain reconnaissance brigade, and 300 personal guards, giving Theonia a total strength of more than 58,000 men.

Davos placed the seventh legion led by Matonis on the far right, close to the Targines River. Then from right to left: Olivos’ sixth legion, Hieronymus’ Bruttian warriors, Epiphanes’ fourth legion, Philesius’ fifth legion, Amintas’ second legion, Antonios’ first legion, the reinforcements from Crotone and Terina, with Ledes’ cavalries on the far left, and Kapus’ sarissa brigade behind the Crotone-Terina reinforcements. The left flank consisting of Crotone-Terina reinforcements and the first and second legions formed a horizontal line with a thickness of 15 columns per Davos’ special instructions, while the formation of the other troops was only 8-10 columns thick.

On the other hand, the cavalry legion was spread to the left and rear in a loose formation, trying to occupy a large area to obscure the enemy’s scouting of their own sarissa brigade while achieving another purpose before the clash.

On the Syracusan side: At their landing in Magna Gracia, they had 80,000 infantry, 2,000 Numidian cavalries, 800 Celtic cavalries, and a thousand cavalries from allied Sicilian city-states. Although they lost about 4,000 men in the Battle of Allaro River, the subsequent surrender of Caulonia had provided them with 4,000 soldiers more, plus some troops from the city-state of Locrian Alliance joining one after another, resulting in Syracuse’s land force to instead exceed 90,000 men.

However, they needed to leave defenders for the two newly conquered city-states of Scylletium and Terina, especially Scylletium, where they placed their logistic supplies to prevent the Theonians attack from the direction of Bruttii and their navy’s raid from the sea. They also need to leave manpower on the camp facing Aprustum to prevent the enemy from attacking their rear during the battle. Thus in this way, a total of nearly 13,000 men were separated.

When the Syracusan army captured the city of Crotone, they suffered about 7,000 deceased and seriously wounded soldiers. In the battle against the Theonian navy on the sea near Crotone, Leptines sent 9,000 elite soldiers to fight on the warship per Dionysius’ advice, which resulted in their miserable defeat and losing about 7,000 soldiers. Thus the total number of Syracusan infantry participating in the battle was now 62,000, plus 3500 cavalries (they lost some in the Battle of Allaro River and trying to plunder on Theonia’s land), a total of 65,500 men, which is only 7,500 more soldiers than Theonia, with their cavalry more than twice as many as the Theonian cavalry.

Thus after having a preliminary understanding of Theonia’s military arrangement, Phidias went to discuss with Dionysius: They would place the weaker allied troops of the Sicilian city-states and the army of the Locrian alliance, totalling about 18,000 men under the command of Phacipessas, on the left-wing; Dionysius, himself, would lead 10,000 Campanian mercenaries and 9,000 Syracusan soldiers in the centre; On the right-wing, Phidias would lead the 15,000 elite soldiers who had followed Dionysius in his campaigns throughout the years (mainly mercenaries who were later given citizenships and land in Syracuse by Dionysius and were most loyal to him) and 10,000 Syracusan soldiers; On the far right-wing would be the 3,500 cavalries, but since the mercenary cavalries did not follow the prior plan in the previous battle, not only did Dionysius warn the two leaders again and again before this battle but also made the irritable and violent Astagoras act as the temporary commander of the cavalry from three different forces to oversee the implementation of the plan.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As the salpinx sounded, the left, centre and the right-wing of Theonia simultaneously advanced steadily. At the same time, each legion’s seventh brigade hurriedly went to the forefront of the formation through the spaces between the small phalanxes and rushed towards the enemy formation. Another reason they needed to advance so fast was to force the enemy cavalries galloping at the front to retreat, so they could not observe the subsequent movements of the Theonian army. And just like they wished, the mercenary cavalries retreated to the far right of the Syracusan army and took a break to prepare for the next attack.

On the other hand, the Syracusan light infantry had long been arranged in front of the formation and met the Theonian light infantries without showing any weaknesses.

While the heavy infantry on both sides was still 500 metres away, the more than 10,000 light infantries on both sides began their battle. For a time, from west to east, rain of arrows and javelins of hails showered on the horizontal line about 4 kilometres long, colliding with each other intermittently in mid-air and then piercing the soldiers’ bodies and taking their lives.

The left, centre and right wings of the Theonian military formation advanced at almost the same speed. In contrast, Syracuse’s situation is different with their centre and left-wing advances slowly while their right-wing advances with great strides.

Phidias was the front-line leader on the right-wing. This powerful right-wing, with a thickness of 25 rows, was composed of 25,000 Syracuse’s elite soldiers but gradually broke away from the centre by advancing twice the pace of the centre’s soldiers to meet the enemy ahead, while the cavalry on the far right-wing was even faster. So when the salpinx sounded, the more than 3,500 cavalries advanced in a wide front about half kilometres long with their horses’ hooves soon increasing their speed.

The 800 Celtic cavalries were in the forefront: This fierce race from the foot of the Alps and living on the plains of the Po River had different cavalry tactics from the swift and flashy Numidian cavalries; They looked down on killing the enemy through luring, harassment and throwing javelins to kill the enemy as they are more adept at a frontal charge, especially when using chariots to attack the enemy’s tight military formation. But because Syracuse was far away, they didn’t carry the chariots as it was inconvenient to transport them. Still, the charge of the Celtic cavalry is terrifying even without a chariot, and most of them held long swords instead of spears, making it easier to cut enemy cavalrymen’s necks in a mounted battle. Thus, Astagoras placed them at the forefront, using their powerful and lethal charge to disrupt the enemy cavalries’ formation.

The following 1,800 Numidian cavalries would be under the leadership of Astagoras: Their duty was not to pursue the enemy but to clean up the mess left and restrain these mercenary cavalries. Together, they would attack the rear of the enemy’s left-wing. As thousands of horses gallop, it once again set off the dust to rise in the air, and the repeated hundreds of war drums were like thunder roaring in the sky, and the earth shook constantly.

On the other hand, the 1,500 or so Theonian cavalries were also advancing but not as fast as the enemy, especially since their horses were dragging branches, making it easier for them to stir up the dust on the ground.

When they were only more than two hundred metres away from the enemy cavalries, Ledes looked back at the dust that had risen behind them and shouted with slight nervousness to the few cavalrymen who were close behind him, “Retreat!”

Due to the several salpinxes sounding out simultaneously and the thunderous hooves on the battlefield, there was no guarantee that the Theonian cavalry, with a loose formation and nearly 500 metres long front, could hear their comrades at all. Fortunately, after numerous training, the cavalry always paid attention to the movements of their nearby comrades.

But just as the Theonian cavalry turned around, the Syracusan cavalry had managed to close within a hundred metres, and the roaring of hooves behind them struck Ledes’ restless heart, which resulted in him spurring his horse forward while keeping his eyes on the front. So when he suddenly saw the wall of men, his heart almost leapt as he shouted, “Turn!” and pivoted his horse to the left.

There was no need for him to shout as all the Theonian cavalry who saw the situation quickly separated to both sides according to their previous training.

The cavalry on the rear kept their eyes on the situation in the front, so they immediately followed as soon as they saw their comrades changing direction.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Theonia’s offensive salpinx sounded, the sarissa brigade did not immediately advance with the other soldiers but quickly stretched out the column. Once they reached the previous position of the cavalry, they began forming a phalanx formation about 500 metres long and ten rows thick, which was left alone in the rear of the whole army.

Even as a battle-hardened veteran, Kapus was currently nervous:

Although the current tactics against enemy cavalries were similar to the Battle of Trionto River, the scale of the battle was several times larger with stronger enemy cavalry. At the same time, the quality of the soldiers he led was not as good as the soldiers from the Persian mercenary army, ‘Could we resist the frontal charge of several thousand enemy cavalries?!’

Chapter 510 – Battle of Crotone (III)

Kapus’ heart violently beat when he looked at the swirling dust and the thundering sound of approaching hooves because he knew that the key to their victory or defeat was in the hands of the sarissa brigade he led. If they win, they would remove Syracuse’s greatest advantage and open the door to victory for the whole army’s offence; But if they were defeated, it may allow the enemy’s already powerful right-wing to become even more powerful with the help of cavalry, resulting the whole army to fall into a predicament.

Kapus felt deeply responsible, but he didn’t have the time to be nervous and uneasy as their own cavalry had already entered his field of vision…

“Raise the sarissa!!” Kapus roared to vent the nervousness he felt.

“Raise the sarissa!” The officers also trembled while shouting.

“Those who advance lives, those who retreat die!!! Those who advance lives, those who retreat die!!!” Hearing a neat shouting from the rear, Tapirus and the soldiers beside him knew that it was the 2,000 light-armoured soldiers that were transferred from each legion. Their duty was not only to prevent the enemy from rushing into the sarissa brigade and play the role of the last line of defence but also had the responsibility to kill those who tried to flee. After all, King Davos had reminded all the soldiers of the sarissa brigade of the consequences during the military training the past few days.

But even with the threats and reminders from the light-armoured soldiers behind them, Tapirus and his comrades’ hands still shook while holding the sarissa. Although the Theonian cavalry acted as the enemy cavalry many times in advance so that these recruits could adapt, it was still, after all, just a drill. But now, it is a real battlefield where people could die, and the huge momentum created by thousands of enemy cavalry is much more terrifying than the one in their training.

Each soldier of the sarissa brigade shook with the tremor of the earth, causing their tilted spears to shake and collide with each other, making a “clattering” sound.

Suddenly, a neat cry came from behind, “For our citizenship!!! For the land!!! Let’s become the hero that saves Theonia!!!…”

The shout resounded through the noisy battlefield, penetrating the hearts of each soldier of the sarissa brigade and arousing their greatest desire. The power generated by this longing gradually made them no longer tremble as they shouted together with the light-armoured soldiers, and each shouting increased their volume by a few point and their hands holding the sarissa became stronger and firmer. By the time their shouts turned into a roar, it almost overwhelmed the sound of horses’ hooves, with their sarissa firmly pointed in the direction of the approaching enemy.

At this time, Kapus composed himself while secretly praising his majesty Davos’ method while paying close attention to the situation.

For the nearly two thousand Theonian cavalries to withdraw on the 500 metres battlefield, it would take time for the sarissa brigade to make way. But Kapus knew that the enemy would likely retreat or bypass the front when they found something unusual ahead.

“Attack!” Kapus resolutely swung his arm downward.

However, Kapus’ greatest concern remained. He is concerned that the sarissa brigade had to clash with the galloping enemy cavalry while advancing, unlike when they only needed to stand still like in the Battle of Trionto River.

That was also what worried Ledes: He was afraid that his cavalry would directly crash into the sarissa due to nervousness or didn’t move quickly enough, causing unnecessary losses.

“Forward!” Tapirus’ voice slightly trembled when reminding his soldiers like the other officers.

While marching forward with small and firm steps, the soldiers kept shouting the slogans that excited them. In their formation, the soldiers behind the other soldiers would get closer to the other soldiers’ backs, with their sarissas sticking out from the right shoulders of the soldiers in front of them. Thus when viewed from the side, the sarissa phalanx formed a continuous “wall of spears” with a bit of inclination from front to back.

Even when they accelerated forward, the cold, shiny, quivering “wall of spears” remained taut. And this closeness calmed the soldiers in the formation because they felt the power coming from their collective strength. Yet, at the same time, this closeness made them unable to escape the battlefield even when they were afraid and cowering as they couldn’t even turn around, so the only thing they could do was to move forward! Keep moving forward until they stab the enemy!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When one gallops fast on a horse, it easily excites the rider, especially these rugged Celtic cavalries, who were long ready to clash with the enemy. Yet their enemy unexpectedly turned around and fled, causing them to angrily scream and vow to catch these enemies who are afraid of death, cut them down, strip them of their good-looking armour, take away their horses, cut off their heads and hang them. But as the mercenary cavalries galloped, they crossed paths with the Crotone-Terina reinforcements on the far left path, resulting in a few over-excited mercenary cavalries attacking them, but were repulsed by the just-arrived Theonian light infantry.

With the foremost Celtic cavalry getting closer to the enemy, many Celts had already drawn their long swords. Suddenly, they were startled by the faint and neat cry from the dusty front, ‘There is an enemy ambush ahead?!’

Just as they became suspicious, the enemy cavalry in front suddenly moved aside, causing some of the Celtic cavalries to choose to continue their pursuit while the others began to slow their galloping horses down. However, the excited shouting of their companions and the “thundering” sound of the horses’ hooves caused the cavalries in the rear to not notice the situation ahead.

Tapirus, who was in the centre of the spear wall, could already see the enemy cavalries in front of them: Some of them had messy hair, some wore pointed leather helmets and dark striped cloth, some wielded long swords, and some were screaming, and some were driving their horses straight at them…

“O Hades!” Tapirus couldn’t help but pray to Hades, causing the soldiers around him to copy him. On the other hand, some even closed their eyes in fear, only to instinctively grasp the sarissa tighter. After all, this weapon is the only thing that can protect them, giving them psychological comfort on this terrifying and inescapable battlefield.

They are afraid, and so is the enemy.

Once the Celts noticed the enemy cavalry moving to the side, some Celts managed to follow in time, but some were still trying to slow down their horses. Suddenly, a shadowy “human wall” appeared on the dusty and empty battlefield ahead, but once their charging horses got closer, they could now clearly see that it was not a “human wall” but a “wall of spears”!

Those long sharp spears were stretched outwards towards them, which not only made them feel horrified but even their horses were terrified. Still, the inertia made the Celts and their horses crash towards it…

Then the people screamed, the horses neighed, the blood splashed, and the sarissa broke…

Fortunately for the spearmen, the dense wall of spears formed by the four-metre-long sarissa stabbed the enemy cavalries before they could get closer. Furthermore, due to the Celtic cavalries hearing the shouts of the sarissa brigade before, they had already started slowing down, so the force transmitted to the soldiers after the cavalry crashed into them weakened. In addition, most of the soldiers at the forefront relied on the support of the soldiers behind them to offset the momentum, while only a few staggered back together with the soldiers behind them. Thus the Celtic cavalry crashed into the sarissa formation one after another, causing some confusion, but it still did not break the formation.

Naturally, if the succeeding cavalries continued their attack, Theonia’s sarissa phalanx would collapse, and the soldiers would be routed. But in this era, there was no specially trained heavy cavalry to charge into the dense infantry phalanx. Hence even the fierce Celtic cavalry would only dare to attack the rear of the infantry phalanx or rely on their horse’s power and speed to attack the loose light infantry and would not be foolish enough to use their own lives to charge in front of a phalanx of heavy infantry, let alone the fearful sarissa phalanx in front of them. Besides, unless they blindfolded their horses, no matter how daring the rider was, their horses would instead jump back and neighed to throw off their rider and run away.

After the Celts noticed the situation ahead, they panicked and frantically pulled their horses’ reigns, causing extreme discomfort on the horse and resulting in some of them going into a frenzy, while some fell forward due to the sudden pressure on their necks and lack of oxygen, resulting in the inertia to throw their riders into the approaching wall of spears and pierced their bodies…

Gaba, who was in the rear, and several Celts had managed to stop their horses. However, Gaba couldn’t care about the tragic death of his men and anger at this moment as the approaching dense wall of spears caused him to panic, “Retreat! Retreat!!…”

There isn’t even a need for him to shout as every surviving Celt wishes they could grow wings on their backs and immediately fly away from the rapidly approaching dreadful spear formation. But just as they pulled their horses back, the second wave of attackers came; Although the Numidian cavalry spotted the Celtic cavalries turning around in the dust, they couldn’t quickly stop the nearly 2,000 galloping horses and make an evasive move.

For a while, the two cavalry groups collided as the riders screamed and the horses neighed…

Some of the riders fell off their horses and died before they could even get up; Some riders, together with their horse, were pushed back to the front and directly crashed into the advancing wall of spears…

As the more than 2,000 Numidian and Celtic cavalries tangled up, their horses stopped as if they were stuck in a quagmire. The riders who are aware of the danger want to escape this completely chaotic battlefield immediately, but they are so entangled and squeezed with each other that there is no spare space for the horses to move. Obviously, it is impossible to rectify the order to allow a smooth retreat in such a short time.

Chapter 511 – Battle of Crotone (IV)

At the approaching spear phalanx of Theonia, the Celts became irritated at the Numidians’ charge because they now faced the threat of the terrifying wall of spears. Thus some of their ill-tempered warriors wielded their great swords and slaughtered the Numidians who were on their way to escape, which naturally aroused anger and resistance from the Numidians, delaying the retreat of the entire cavalry unit.

The leader of the two ethnic groups, Acilita and Gaba, and their officers shouted loudly and kept sounding the retreat. However, their efforts were in vain on this dusty, noisy and chaotic battlefield…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When a huge Celtic cavalry crashed into Tapirus’ group, Tapirus tensed his body up and tightly closed his eyes as he subconsciously clenched his sarissa, ready to withstand the massive impact.

After hearing the horse’s miserable neighing, a strong impact immediately transmitted to the sarissa’s shaft, making it almost impossible for him to hold the sarissa. At the same time, the soldiers in the first few rows were pushed back and bumped into him violently.

“Brothers, steady yourselves! Hold on tightly!…” The soldiers behind him tried to support him and give him strength while they loudly cheered for them.

The thickness of the 15-row sarissa brigade plus the light-armoured soldiers at their rear, increasing it to 20 rows, had given Tapirus and his men enough strength to hold their ground.

When Tapirus opened his eyes, he saw the horse’s hind hooves down and its front hooves up, with eight-nine sarissa piercing its neck and chest at the same time and holding it in mid-air. However, it still wasn’t dead yet, as it whined constantly. On the other hand, its rider, however, had two sarissas piercing its left and right chests and was lying dead on the ground, with the horse and human blood flowing down the sarissa’s shafts…

Then the soldiers pulled out their sarissas with great difficulty.

Tapirus then became surprised to find that even when the enemy cavalry crashed with great impact, the soldiers did not suffer any big casualties. Furthermore, their formation remained relatively intact, and only a few soldiers’ sarissas broke. After this collision, the enemy cavalry no longer continues fighting. Instead, they hurriedly stopped their horses as they wanted to flee in panic, resulting in their front being chaotic…

The cowardice of their enemy encouraged Tapirus and the other soldiers, relieving their nervousness.

“Brothers, keep moving!” Tapirus shouted, and the soldiers roared in response.

Then they stepped over the bodies of their enemies, bypassed the dying horses, and continued advancing.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At the rear of the formation, Kapus was surprised to see that they had managed to stop the advance of the massive enemy cavalries. In addition, the chaotic situation of the enemy made him realise that it was too good to miss this opportunity, so he decisively ordered, “CHARGE!”

Besides the sarissa brigade just advancing steadily, they could also charge like heavy infantry even without wearing any armour, which is the tactics they focused on training these days.

And the rapid and continuous sound of the salpinx bolstered the soldiers’ morale.

“Everyone! We are going to charge!!…” Tapirus roared.

The soldiers of each centurias no longer stuck with each other so tightly but opened up some space. And even though they are still only taking small steps, their pace gradually increases…

With the increasing pace of the phalanx formation, the enemy cavalries began to get pierced one after another and scream to rang out.

At the same time, the whole phalanx formation was no longer continuous due to numerous gaps appearing, but the light-armoured soldiers quickly poured in. Then they pounced on the enemy, who just sat on their horses and didn’t move.

Unfortunately for the Theonian cavalry, a few had accidentally collided with the sarissa phalanx due to their nervousness while luring the enemy, with some cavalries getting wounded or killed by the chasing Celts… It was only after they suffered some casualties did the Theonian cavalries smoothly withdraw from both sides of the phalanx. But once the sarissa brigade charged, the Theonian cavalry immediately returned after a quick reorganisation and bravely blocked the passages on both sides.

“Revenge for Solikos!!” Ledes shouted and gave the order to attack.

While the infantry has the unyielding Drakos as their hero, the cavalry also has the deceased Solikos as their hero. At this time, the Theonian cavalry fought desperately with the enemy regardless of their casualties to wash away the humiliation of their defeat at the hands of Syracuse’s mercenary cavalries.

On a battlefield where the horses couldn’t gallop, the difference in horsemanship could not be fully displayed and used, making the Theonian cavalries equal to the Celts and Numidians. Furthermore, the compressing of the battlefield resulted in the enemy being unable to flee for a time and creating a condition for the sarissa brigade and the light-armoured soldiers to wipe out the enemy.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Your majesty, the sarissa brigade has blocked the enemy cavalry’s charge and is now counterattacking!” hearing the report of the excited Tolmides, Davos was relieved. However, his expression remained serious, “It’s now up to the first and second legion and Milo!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Phidias, who was in the middle of the formation, was so focused on leading Syracuse’s right-wing’s advance and only keeping an eye on the entire phalanx that he was unaware of his cavalries’ situation. And just like what he planned, the entire formation gradually tilted to the left.

The Spartan infantries were best at using “left rotation tactics”: It is to take advantage of the fact that heavy infantry held shields in their left hands, so they would lean to the right and gradually deviate to the left-wing of the enemy while moving. Furthermore, they would make the soldiers on the far right speed up and reach the enemy line, allowing their right-wing to attack the enemy’s left-wing’s flank. They would then attack the untrained enemy and crush them, which would result in the battle ending most of the time before the left and centre made direct contact.

Hence Phidias naturally chose the tactics he was most familiar with at such an important moment of this massive war. Unfortunately, the Syracusan army couldn’t achieve a neat and consistent left rotation attack in the battle like the Spartan warriors, who had been trained together since childhood, could. However, the Syracusan army’s advantage that the Spartan army doesn’t have is having a larger number of infantry and cavalries, which is much more than the Theonians. So after getting a rough idea of the Theonian formation, Phidias was delighted to find out that he could fully concentrate his troops on the right-wing and take the lead in crushing the enemy’s left-wing, laying the foundation for their victory!

Since the left end of the right-wing had connected with the centre at the start of the march (the cavalry at the right end had already rushed ahead), they instinctively slowed down their marching speed than the soldiers on the far right without friendly troops due to their previous habits. Furthermore, the right-wing of Syracuse, whose line was more than a kilometre long, had tilted significantly after advancing for a while.

In this regard, Phidias rejoiced as he was glad to see it and reckoned that once they made contact with Theonia’s left flank, the tilted formation should be able to cut into the enemy’s flank. By then, the cavalry should have already taken care of the Theonian cavalry and started attacking the rear of Theonia’s left flank. So with them attacking the three sides of Theonia’s left-wing, their heavy infantry wouldn’t be able to resist them even if they were stronger!

If Phidias could detect the unusualness of the formation, the veteran officers of the first and second legions of Theonia could also notice it. After receiving continuous reports, the two legati immediately realised that the situation wasn’t right, but the two armies were only less than 400 metres away from each other now.

So Antonios immediately sent a herald to Amintas, Milo and Siprus to convey his suggestions of stopping their advance immediately and reorganising their formation.

Soon after, Amintas, the legatus of the second legion, agreed.

However, Milo and Siprus remained hesitant, but Antonios could no longer wait for their response. Hence he decisively ordered his troops to stop, and then the second legion issued the same order.

As the first legions to be created, the first and second legions have the most veterans and the strongest among the legions, and it also means that they are the most capable of carrying out orders.

So despite their doubts, the officers and soldiers stop advancing at the sound of the salpinx and the waving of the flags.

With the two Theonian legions stopping their advance, it left the leftmost Crotone-Terina reinforcements at a loss and resulted in Milo and Siprus, who were still hesitating, to immediately order, ‘Halt!’

As a city-state that doesn’t have systematic military training and complicated military orders and formations like Theonia, they do not have a salpinx for halting at all. Hence they could only send a lot of heralds to loudly convey the orders before and after each phalanx, resulting in a slightly disordered formation. Fortunately, they were near the first legion. So with the first legion halting, the adjacent Crotone-Terina reinforcements were naturally affected and resulted in their soldiers quickly halting.

But as the first and second legions calmly changed direction, the Crotone-Terina troops could only follow suit with some difficulty: The Theonian army was in a checkerboard formation, with each centuria forming a small phalanx formation, resulting in better flexibility. Moreover, they have competent officers and well-trained soldiers, allowing the smooth change of direction and letting the forefront of the formation face the enemy again. On the other hand, the Crotone-Terina troops were in a dense formation, about 300 metres long and 15 rows thick, with each soldier wearing heavy helmets and armour. The thick and closed Corinthian helmets already made it much more difficult to hear the commands and turn around during training; What’s more, if it is on a battlefield and facing the rapidly approaching enemies. Thus the Crotone-Terina had a more difficult time completing such a complex tactical manoeuvre.

Chapter 512 – Battle of Crotone (V)

As a result, the phalanx formation of the clumsy Crotone-Terina reinforcements slammed into each other and made a clamour.

But at this moment, Milo and Siprus, who was on horseback, saw the approaching enemy’s direction of attack. So if the Crotone-Terina reinforcements continued their movements, they would protrude in front of the formation and be completely exposed to the enemy’s front attack and perished. Thus they were now determined to completely change their direction.

So with a large group of escorts, the two men quickly rode around the front of the formation to shout and force the soldiers to fall back and change direction…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

While advancing, Phidias noticed that the Theonian army had stopped moving. Then he began wondering why Theonia’s left-wing phalanx that had been diagonal to him gradually began to face him…

Phidias was surprised, ‘The enemy is changing direction while in a formation?! How dare they make a turn in the middle of a battle!!’

There is a reason why Phidias was surprised: In this era, it would be difficult to make major tactical changes once the Greek heavy infantry battle began. Thus they would face each other according to the previous plan, and that is because: First of all – the heavy infantry with heavy helmets and armour have trouble making flexible manoeuvres. Secondly, the lack of training of city-state soldiers made them afraid of making complex tactical manoeuvres when marching in a dense phalanx formation to avoid confusion and be vulnerable to attack.

That is also one of the reasons why the Spartan soldiers had an advantage in battles, as they could achieve tactical manoeuvres in battles that the other city-state armies could not. Thus they could be counted as professional soldiers. However, even the Spartans would only use the characteristics of heavy infantry in a huge battle to perform the left rotation tactics and would rarely make temporary tactical changes after the battle began, just like what the Theonians are doing now. That is because Sparta, like most Greek city-states, had their officers and strategoi that commanded the various armies to be with the soldiers, following the Spartan tradition (The Spartan king is excluded from that as he could just sit in the command post and let the strategoi be in the middle of the formation. However, this would significantly weaken his commanding ability). Even the democratic city-states require their strategoi to be in the forefront of the army and play a leading role so as not to be criticised in the ecclesia. Hence once they blew the salpinx and the army marched, the strategoi would lose almost all command of the entire force, and they could only follow the tactics they decided before the battle.

That was why Phidias was shocked by the improvised change made by Theonia’s left-wing, which was obviously to deal with Syracuse’s right-wing. Naturally, he also saw the chaos in Theonia’s army (mainly the Crotone-Terina reinforcements), which somewhat compensated for his loss of not being able to attack the enemy’s flank.

“Quickly! Quickly!!…” Unfortunately, his shouting could only coerce a small group of soldiers around him. But for the huge phalanx of 25,000 men, it was like throwing a stone into a raging river, which would not make much difference.

Following their initial plan, Syracuse’s right-wing continued to march, rapidly closing the distance between them and Theonia’s left-wing as the soldiers advanced in stride…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Syracuse’s light infantry fighting in the middle of the battlefield had already started withdrawing. In contrast, the 7th brigade of the first legion led by Cid and the seventh brigade of the second legion led by Arpenst remained in front of the phalanx. Besides having enough space to retreat in Theonia’s checkerboard formation, they also wanted to stop the advance of Syracuse’s right-wing to buy time for the Crotone-Terina reinforcements to complete their formation change.

With the Syracusan army nearing, it had not only made the Crotone-Terina reinforcements nervous but also forced them to speed up the change of direction.

However, the light infantry’s effort could still not stop the Syracusans. In the end, they could only throw one more round of javelin and arrows before they had to gradually retreat to the rear under the pressure of the Syracusan formation.

At this moment, the distance between the two armies was only about 60 metres. Fortunately, the Crotone-Terina reinforcements barely completed their formation change. When Milo and Siprus rushed back to the rear of the phalanx, although they were sweating hard, they became relieved.

Milo sighed and said, “Now I know the gap between Crotone’s army and Theonia’s army!”

Siprus then said with lingering fear, “Fortunately, Lord Davos repeatedly asked us to leave the phalanx and stand behind the formation to command. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to make changes even if we see the cunning action of the Syracusans and would have suffered a great loss!”

“Yes! Without Theonia’s obstinance, we would not dare make changes on the formation for fear of trouble!” Milo sighed again.

At this time, Theonia’s left-wing and Syracuse’s right-wing almost became two parallel lines. But in contrast to the Theonian troops in the centre that was still advancing southward, they became almost vertical.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As Syracuse’s right-wing got closer to the Theonians’ left-wing, the Syracusan soldiers began to clench their round shields as they remembered Theonia’s unique tactics after previously fighting them.

So when the Theonian soldiers began raising their javelins, the Syracusans slightly squatted and protected their heads with the round shield. But even when javelins rained down on the Syracusan line, showering them with death and screams to rang out, it still didn’t affect their determination to advance. Rather they speed up their advance to force the Theonian soldiers to hastily throw the second round of javelins, making it less lethal.

Now that the two armies were only less than twenty metres apart, Phidias became a bit out of breath, and he could even hear the rapid breathing of the soldiers around. They became exhausted due to the physical exertion caused by the change from retreat to attack, hastily forming up, rushing several hundred metres and from the extreme excitement caused by the impending battle.

Phidias, through the narrow eyehole, saw the opposite army’s glittering long shields, spears and armour. The deep black unique to Theonia’s army made them feel like they were facing a cold night even during the day. Although he knew he was facing the main of the Theonian army, he was instead excited than afraid. Moreover, he believed that the Syracusan soldiers wouldn’t be afraid as they were not only the elite of the Syracusan army but had gotten told by Dionysius that “They can only return home if they win. Otherwise, only burial in a foreign land awaits them!”

So even without the urging of the salpinx, the Syracusan soldiers shouted “Apollo!!!”, strode forward and began to charge. Syracuse’s entire right-wing’s phalanx was like a golden mountain crushing the enemy.

At the same time, the Theonian soldiers roared “Hades!!!” simultaneously and began charging as well. They were like a black tide in a stormy sea, wave after wave, eventually converging into a gigantic wave that would swallow the Syracusans.

On the other hand, the Crotone-Terina soldiers, with the hatred of their nation, roared with rage and turned it into boundless strength as they vowed to kill all their enemies.

As tens of thousands of people stepped firmly on the ground, the earth shook and rumbled like thunder.

And with a loud noise, the battle between heavy infantry began…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Your majesty, the left-wing is now fully engaged with the enemy!” Tolmides loudly told the report of the reconnaissance cavalry.

Davos nodded, but his gaze remained on the front. Then he pointed to the enemy’s military formation in the distance, sneered and said, “The Syracusans are marching slowly, so it seems that Dionysius is trying to wait for his right-wing to gain victory first!”

Tolmides smiled wildly, “But he would never imagine that the wonderful tactics you devised trapped the cavalry he placed his hope, your majesty!”

Davos didn’t have the heart to taunt his enemy at this point, so he said seriously, “We can’t let Dionysius have it easy! Order all troops to speed up and clash with the enemy as soon as possible!”

Tolmides, however, didn’t immediately accept the order and reminded, “Your majesty, I fear that we would reach the traversable part of Targines River if we advance too fast. If that is the case, the enemy may send troops to cross the Targines River and attack our right-wing’s flank and rear!”

Davos already considered the question, so he immediately replied, “Judging from the current situation, Dionysius has invested most of their strength on their right-wing, which shows that he mainly focuses on the left-wing. Besides, I don’t think Dionysius had spare troops to attack our right-wing’s rear, not to mention that we have more than enough reserves to deal with them.” Indeed, behind Davos were the 2,000 light-armoured drawn from the various legions and a thousand men from the mountain reconnaissance brigade led by Izam – A total of 3,000 men in reserve, which they haven’t used yet.

“Understood, your majesty.” Tolmides then left.

“Wait a minute!” Davos stopped him again, “Go and tell the legati that the sarisa brigade, led by Kapus, has gained an advantage over the Syracusan cavalry. So the next part will be up to them!”

Tomides smiled as he understood Davos’ intentions: With the newly established sarissa brigade achieving impressive results, how could the other legions fall behind them?

Sure enough, the phalanx sped up after Davos’ order was transmitted to all the troops. So whether it is the right-wing composed of the sixth and seventh legions or the centre composed of the fourth and fifth legions and Bruttian soldiers, they were all urged on by the legion’s legati and officers.

Chapter 513 – Battle of Crotone (VI)

After the light infantry retreated, the Theonian phalanx soldiers on the right centre quickly threw two rounds of javelins. Afterwards, they charged at the Syracusans with their long shields and spears and shouted the name of Hades while their enemy was in confusion…

At this moment, the two armies of Theonia and Syracuse were now fully engaged.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Crotonian scouts came back to the Acropolis to report the clash of the two armies, arousing the concern of everyone in the Acropolis. After all, the battle’s result not only relates to the survival of thousands of Crotonian citizens who went to fight but also their survival. Thus many of them, including the council members, wanted to go to the battlefield to watch with anxiety.

After a discussion, they decided to leave a few hundred soldiers in the Acropolis to protect the women, children and the elderly who had trouble walking in the city. On the other hand, Lysias and the council members led tens of thousands of Crotonians down the hill and came to the city of Crotone, which had already become a ruin.

But before they could reach the city wall, the deafening sounds caused many of them to turn pale and their legs tremble that they needed the help of the others to move forward.

As a result of the fire and the wanton destruction by the Syracusans, a section of the wall resembles an old man’s teeth, chipped everywhere, with only the section connecting the city gate still standing relatively intact…

Lysias and the others then stepped on the stone staircase with a heavy heart, went up to the top of the city wall, held the battlements and watched anxiously: In the far distance, a dense mass of soldiers fought together, filling the vast wilderness of the Crotone plain, and their tremendous and terrifying noise sounding as if the earth was roaring, stirring the dust and sand that it even changed the colour of the sky and earth…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the southern sea of Crotone, more than 80 corvus ships led by Mithridates faced off with nearly 40 remnant Syracusan ships led by Leptines.

However, what gave Mithridates a headache was that once his fleet approached the Syracusan ships, the Syracusan fleet would retreat so quickly. Yet they were unable to catch up to them because of the corvus ship’s unique structure, but as soon as Mithridates fleet went towards the coast, the Syracusan fleet would come near again…

While Mithridates hesitated, the Syracusan forces left in the camp sent a few hundred soldiers to the beach with thousands of Sicilian freemen, who were the ones responsible for transporting supplies, now armed with weapons to prevent Mithridates from sending the sailors to land and disturb the rear of the Syracusan army.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After Syracuse captured Terina, they stationed more than 3,000 Syracusan soldiers, more than a thousand Hipponion soldiers and a thousand Caulonian soldiers in the city. But as they were far from the frontline, Terina’s defenders had it leisurely until Dionysius’ order came twice from Crotone camp these two days, ‘For them to strengthen the city’s defence and pay close attention to the movement of the city of Clampetia in the north!’

So the strategos cheered up as they strengthened their scouting to the north.

Soon, the scouts sent alarming news that afternoon, ‘A convoy of ships has docked on the beach of the Ophemia plain with about 5,000 – 6,000 Theonian soldiers disembarking. Afterwards, the Theonian troops march towards the city of Terina!’

Another report came soon after, ‘More than a thousand Theonian soldiers came out of the city of Clampetia and have entered the Ophemia plain!’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The reports made the Syracusan strategos in Terina fidget. Although he eagerly wished to attain merit, it was obvious that he could not defeat the incoming enemy with the troops in his hands. Thus he immediately ordered, ‘Close the city gate and pull up the drawbridge! All the soldiers of all forces go to the city wall for defence as we had previously trained. At the same time, prepare a full supply of arrows, javelins, stones and tar…’

Furthermore, he sent two messengers to Scylletium and the camp in Crotone to urgently report the situation.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After arriving near Terina, Hielos didn’t immediately attack the city as he began to observe the city’s defence. Moreover, he did not have enough time.

He then ordered the army to start building a camp in the northwest, 500 metres away from the city, while waiting for the reinforcements from Clampetia to arrive.

In addition, Hielos sent a few cavalry squads and mountain reconnaissance squads in his army to check the movements of the Syracusan camp in Scylletium and Crotone to guard against the main force of Syracuse in the east in case they sent an army to attack.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Attack! Attack!!…” Matonis, who was at the phalanx’s rear, wished he could join the battle and fight to his content. Unfortunately, he is already a legatus and was forbidden by Theonia’s military law. Thus he could only order the drummer to beat continuously and urge the soldiers to intensify their attack.

Although most of the newly established seventh legion’s soldiers were recruits, the victory in Heraclea gave them achievements and honour, so they confidently launched a fierce attack on the enemy without fear.

Kreganis was a freeman who had just arrived in Thurii four years ago. However, he was lucky to become one of the 5,000 freemen light infantry in the Battle of Trionto River, which contributed to the defeat of Crotone’s division and allowed him to participate in the Triumphant Return.

Earlier this year, he became an official citizen. The Theonian army had been expanding over the years. However, when the Ministry of Military’s instructors selected recruits for the legion, he was always eliminated because he was too thin and weak to be a heavy infantry, so the instructors advised him to become a light infantry. Despite remaining a reserve soldier, he was not discouraged as his dream was to become a heavy infantry, so he continued exercising and honing his combat skill until the war broke out and Theonia established a new legion.

Matonis had originally planned to make him serve as a Centurion base on his identity and qualification (official citizen and three legion reserves). However, he refused because he felt that he didn’t have the experience as he had not been a squad officer before, so to be suddenly promoted to a middle – senior ranking position… Moreover, he felt that he would not be able to fight on the front line and show the results of his hard work. In the end, he became the squad leader in the seventh legion.

He is currently at the forefront of the battlefield, firmly holding the long shield to protect his body, with the spear in his right hand hanging over his head, almost remaining motionless. But once the enemy reveals an opening, his spear would stab out like lightning, and each stab is fierce and accurate, bringing a great threat to the enemy that he managed to stab several opponents in just a short time.

Unlike some squad officers, he seldom shouted and issued orders, but his leadership inspired and boosted his men’s morale…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Olivos, who had rivalries with Matonis, wouldn’t allow the seventh legion to take the lead. Thus he strictly ordered the sixth legion to attack fiercely…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

More than half of the Sicilian soldiers fighting the two new Theonian legions were from Catania, Leontinoi, and Kamarina…although these city-states were called allies of Syracuse, they were actually vassals whose rulers were tyrants appointed and supported by Dionysius. However, even though it wasn’t these soldiers’ will to attack Magna Graecia, their morale was second only to the Syracusan soldiers after winning successively and capturing a lot of spoils and the incentive of going home once they won.

But Syracuse’s left-wing also included soldiers from allies in Magna Graecia, such as Locri, Medma, Hipponion, and Caulonia. The Caulonians, in particular, were reluctant as Syracuse forced them to surrender. Dionysius was naturally clear about it, so he left a thousand Caulonians in Terina and a thousand in Scylletium to replace his troops. At the same time, the two thousand Caulonian soldiers he took were scattered at the forefront of the left-wing, forcing them to fight so they could survive. Thus their morale could be imaginable.

Dionysius only dared to make this arrangement after seeing Theonia’s right-wing filled with soldiers wearing Corinthian helmets and carrying round shields and spears, thinking they were not Theonia’s main force.

However, the two new legions, totalling 14,000 men, were newborn calves that were not afraid of tigers. So even though Syracuse’s left-wing had 20,000 men, they had a hodgepodge composition with weak morale, resulting in them retreating slowly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Currently, both Syracuse’s centre and left-wing are retreating.

The soldiers of the fourth and fifth legion of Theonia, who had experienced the tragic defeat in Scylletium and the death of their legatus and comrades, had come to fight the enemy today to wash away their shame and take revenge. Thus they are not only brave but become a bit crazy, with their faces turning ferocious as they desperately want to get closer to the enemy.

The Bruttians fighting alongside them were also affected as they revealed the fierceness of the mountain people. After all, the unrest in Bruttii some time ago had significantly affected the perception of the other Theonians towards Bruttii. Hence today, they need to show their loyalty to Theonia with their performance.

At the forefront of Syracuse’s centre were the Campanian mercenaries. After the last battle, these mercenaries with rich combat experience learned the strength of Theonia’s heavy infantry, so they tried keeping some distance between themselves and the Theonian soldiers by using their spears to stall the enemy’s approach. At the same time, they knew that the reckless charge of the heavy infantry was physically exhausting, so they waited patiently for the moment when the Theonians were exhausted before counter-attacking. As a result, the Campanian mercenaries and the ten thousand Syracusan soldiers deliberately retreated.

Chapter 514 – Battle of Crotone (VII)

Previously, Dionysius wouldn’t be too much concerned about such a retreat because the right-wing was the key to Syracuse’s victory in this battle. Thus as long as the centre and the left-wing can hold down the enemy they are facing and maintain the balance of power during their enemy’s attack, the only thing they would do is wait for the news of victory on the right-wing.

However, after Dionysius learned from the scouts that “Syracuse’s greatest advantage – the cavalry was currently being held down by Theonia’s ambushed”, his initially relaxed mood soon became anxious and worried about the centre and left-wing’s continuous retreat. So he subsequently not only asked the bugler to blow the salpinx for an attack but also had the herald warn the officers and soldiers not to fall back any further and instead attack!

After receiving the order, the Syracusan soldiers behind the centre no longer retreated and even forced the Campanian mercenaries at the forefront to fight fiercely with the enemy; As for the soldiers on the left-wing, they could only slow down their retreat as they were really at a disadvantage in the confrontation.

Dionysius became annoyed as he had arranged the formation after the scout reported about Theonia’s right-wing, ‘Obviously Theonia’s right-wing isn’t the main force, and their number should be lesser than my left-wing, but why is the result different? Could it be that those Magna Graecians didn’t fight seriously at all? Or had they colluded with the enemy?…’

As Dionysius’ paranoia surfaces again, he begins suspecting his ally – Locri. However, he also knew that this wasn’t time to worry about this as Davos’ cunningness placed his cavalry in trouble. Now, he can only hope Phidias leads his right-wing to quickly defeat his opponent and lay a foundation for the entire battlefront’s victory!

So even when the other battlefront performed poorly, Dionysius remained confident because his right-wing’s performance was in line with his expectation before the battle.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The elite Syracusan soldiers were vigilant against Theonia’s heavy infantry even when they had a bigger and denser phalanx formed by 25,000 men that pressed Theonia’s left-wing. Thus, they lined up closely to form a spear phalanx to make the Theonian soldiers vigilant in evading the forefront Syracusan soldiers and the thrusting of the soldiers at the rear. The Theonian soldiers struggled to resist Syracuse’s tremendous pushing force had significantly weakened Theonia’s heavy infantry’s offence.

However, the first and second legion soldiers are all battle-hardened veterans. Moreover, the officers had a general understanding of King Davos’ tactical arrangement, so they understood that in such a situation where they felt some pressure, the first thing they had to do was to ensure that the formation would not collapse. Afterwards, they would stall the enemy and wait for the arrival of reinforcements.

The Theonian soldiers would then take advantage of their formation’s flexibility to retreat orderly, alleviating the huge pressure caused by the enemy’s attack. At the same time, they would cover themselves with their long shiels and wait for an opportunity to show up, then stab the enemy with their short swords.

As a result, Phidias was almost seriously wounded twice: The first time was just after the charge when he collided with the enemy, shields against shields. He could only see his opponent’s long shield completely covering up his body, so he pushed his round shield with all his might, trying to break through the enemy’s defence to allow his spear to exert its strength. Unexpectedly, the enemy’s right hand, hidden behind the long shield, poked out from above and stabbed the short sword downward like lightning. However, it only struck his Corinthian helmet, causing him to feel dizzy.

The second time was after he stabbed the enemy in front of him. Due to his prior combat habits, he instinctively squeezed into the gap of the opponent’s formation. But then, two cold and shining short swords from the left and right stabbed towards his ribs simultaneously before he could take the next step. Although he reacted quickly, the sharp short sword cut through his linen armour and right waist.

This wound made him finally realise his opponent’s strength. So instead of easily taking risks, he went back in line with the Syracusan soldiers around him.

But compared to the stable defensive counterattack of the first and second legions of Theonia, the soldiers of the Crotone-Terina reinforcements at the far left end were much fiercer. Although their phalanx was not as dense as the Syracusans, they withstood Syracuse’s pressure and did not easily retreat. After all, their hatred made them glimmer with courage and strength, so even when they were seriously wounded, their spears did not stop thrusting. And even if they fall, they will hold their enemies’ feet as long as they have even a bit of strength, trying to pull them down or bite them with their teeth. Such a tragic sight happened many times on the battlefront of the Crotone-Terina reinforcements, which frightened the Syracusan soldiers that they would only move forward after making sure that their opponents were dead, resulting in their advance slowing down.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Behind this battlefield is another battlefield. After the Theonian light infantry withdrew from the main battlefield, Cid and Arpenst led them to participate in the encirclement and suppression of the enemy cavalry. However, they encountered the Syracusan light infantry, who had the same purpose as them, leading to the battle between light infantry that had previously taken place in front of the massive phalanx formation to continue in the rear.

The soldiers of each side were mainly archers and peltast, with Theonia having slingers. They began their long-range battle after taking up a loose formation with the peltast at the front and the archers in the rear. Although their fight wasn’t as loud as the clash between heavy infantries, their fierceness wasn’t less because they had far less protection than the heavy infantry. As arrows and javelins rained down on the sky above the battlefield, the wounded and dead littered the ground.

Even though Theonia’s light infantry was more well-trained and had more tacit cooperation, Syracuse had a larger number of light infantry who had received Dionysius’ strict order. Hence it was difficult to distinguish the winner or loser of this battle.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Naturally, the ones who suffered the most on the easternmost battlefield were the:

The Celts, who were caught in the middle and could not break away, could only listen to the wailing of their horses and the screams of their comrades while watching them fall. In the face of the sarissa phalanx, most of them did not dare to sit passively on their horses, so they forcefully jumped down, held their long swords and fought back.

But this is undoubtedly like a mantis in front of a carriage. First of all, they couldn’t even get close to the enemy’s sarissa phalanx with their long swords, and in their haste to fight back, they often fought separately and soon died under the piercing of the sarissa, just like the strong Celtic warrior in front of Tapirus, who could only roar while swinging his long sword continuously. Although he could cut the spearhead of two sarissas one after another, the dense phalanx still forced him to retreat. Then as soon as he slipped and revealed an opening, the sarissa would poke into the gap and stab his thigh. And the moment he instinctively bent over, three more spears pierced his head and chest at the same time.

The constant killing and wounding of the enemy also made the soldiers of the sarissa brigade more confident, which naturally increased the pace of their advance.

With Tapirus’ centuria no longer encountering any major obstacles, they advanced faster that they opened a considerable distance from the adjacent centuria.

Suddenly on the chaotic battlefield, a Celtic warrior rushed into the flank of the phalanx, which caught Tapirus’ centuria off guard as he slashed several soldiers in a row.

Fortunately, the light-armoured soldiers behind came forward in time to stop him. However, the Celtic warrior still did his best to slash a light-armoured soldier’s leather shield in half. And despite being surrounded, it took five light-armoured soldiers to finish him off. Yet he still manages to seriously wound two light-armoured soldiers as well.

An alarm sounded inside Tapirus, who had to shout to his soldiers not to advance fast and wait for the adjacent centuria.

Although the Celtic cavalries were fierce, they had no chance of winning against the dense sarissa phalanx on this crowded battlefield. Moreover, many of them directly crashed into the wall of spears even though they were already small in number, so it didn’t take long for Tapirus and his men to find that they were no longer facing the tall and strong Celts wearing thick-striped clothes, spiked helmets and wielding large swords. Instead, they now faced the dark-skinned, long and thinned Numidians who wore simple clothes and held javelins, whose courage was much worse than the Celts. Besides a few who tried throwing javelins at the Theonians, most of them quickly jumped off their horses’ backs, turned around and fled into the chaotic battlefield…

Although Kapus didn’t send scouts, he knew that his sarissa brigade was doing well because he was in the rear of the formation and followed the phalanx.

At this time, a cavalry came quickly, “Strategos Kapus, the enemy cavalry flank the cavalry led by strategos Ledes! So he hopes to get reinforcements…”

It seems that Astagoras led most of the thousand Sicilian cavalries, who were at the rear of the formation, out of the cramped and chaotic battlefield after noticing they weren’t advancing quickly.

Logically thinking, the cavalries are no longer suited to fight on the battlefield at this moment. However, Astagoras knew the importance of these foreign mercenaries to the whole battle, so he couldn’t leave them alone. Otherwise, Dionysius won’t spare him. Thus he tried his best to reorganise the Sicilian Greek cavalries that had fled from all directions and led the more than 800 cavalries that he hurriedly gathered to the left of the battlefield.

On the left, Ledes led half of the legion’s cavalry to block the outflanking of enemy cavalry while desperately pushing them towards the middle.

At first, the mercenary cavalries attacked fiercely, especially the Celts, who caused casualties to the Theonian cavalries. However, with the advance of the sarissa phalanx, the Celts suffered heavily. Although the Numidians were skilled in horsemanship and javelin throwing, they could only ride their horses and fight their opponents at close range without any protection after losing those two advantages.  They were definitely not the opponents of the Theonian cavalries at all.

With the Numidians unable to resist, some cavalries began fleeing as they tried to squeeze into the middle of the chaos and retreat from the rear.

Suddenly, Astagoras and his cavalries attack with their focus of attack was Ledes’ direction*. After all, Ledes’ towering, purple and red plume on top of his helmet was so eye-catching that if the guards hadn’t fought to the death, Ledes would have been seriously wounded.

Chapter 515 – Battle of Crotone (VIII)

But Ledes quickly reacted. However, instead of ignoring the danger, Ledes drove his horse and spear to fight the enemy charging from the south. At the same time, he shouted, “Brothers, hold your ground! Never let the enemy escape!!”

Ledes took the lead so that even if the enemy attacked the Theonian cavalry on both sides, they would not get demoralised and instead rise to resist them.

Before the battle, Kapus had already expected the Sicilian cavalries, Numidian cavalries and Theonians cavalries to be entangled in a fierce battle, so he had made arrangements for it. Thus he did not hesitate to send out the 500 light-armoured reserves beside him.

The light-armoured soldiers, wearing leather shields and armour, quickly rushed to the left side of the sarissa phalanx and immediately launched a fierce attack on Syracuse’s cavalries. Now, it’s their turn to be attacked on both sides.

On the other hand, Astogaras wasn’t willing to be outdone, so he ordered the cavalry to fight boldly.

As the four units entangled in a bloody dogfight battle, it became the most tragic area of this battlefield.

Finally, the Numidians could no longer endure and began to flee after seeing the area behind them becoming less crowded because of the withdrawal of their companions and the sarissa soldiers stabbing the people in front of them.

And the situation of the Sicilian cavalry became harder after they were left alone, so Astagoras tried to retreat after seeing the situation. However, the Theonian cavalry and light-armoured soldiers didn’t let them go. In the end, only 300 Sicilian cavalries managed to escape.

On the other hand, the Celts were almost completely wiped out, with their leader – Gaba dying, and their resistance buying more time for the Numidians.

With only about a thousand Numidian cavalries being able to escape the collision with the sarissa phalanx, it resulted in the usually arrogant race from the African Desert being frightened. Thus even if there were only 600 or so Theonian cavalry on the right side of the sarissa phalanx pursuing them, they did not dare to return to fight back or even throw javelins. Instead, they fled south with their leader – Acilita taking the lead.

After the battle on the left was over, Ledes fell from his horse, startling his men to come to his aid immediately. They then saw that blood and wounds covered Ledes’ body, especially his left leg, which was stabbed by a spear and had a wound the size of a date, with his blood kept on flowing.

Although his guards busily dressed his wounds, he still shouted pantingly, “Quickly…quickly call Kurcius…call Kurcius.”

Kurcius, formerly the cavalry’s squad leader, has become a senior centurion with rich combat experience. When he rushed to Ledes, he heard his legatus say, “I order…order you to lead the remaining cavalry to continue the pursuit…chase the enemy…do not give…them a chance to breathe.”

“Yes!” Kurcius saluted firmly and turned around to leave. But he suddenly stopped and said with concern, “Legatus, get well and wait for my good news!”

Ledes waved impatiently, “Go…go…”

Kurcius got on his horse and shouted, “Brothers! Let’s go kill the enemy!”

Although the remaining more than 400 cavalries were tired, the victory gave them new strength. After shouting, they followed Kurcius to pursue the fleeing Syracusan cavalries.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Captain, we won! We beat back the enemy cavalry!” The soldiers’ cheering rang out beside Tapirus’s ears while he watched the enemy’s blurry figure as they fled in a mess. After he felt relieved, he noticed his arms holding the sarissa were sore and swollen, his sweat had soaked his clothes, and the dust sticking to him made him uncomfortable. However, he knew that it was still not the time to relax as there was still a battle to be fought according to the pre-battle deployment.

“Regroup! Regroup!…” Just as he shouted to his soldiers, the salpinx loudly sounded again, making the excited sarissa soldiers who wanted to continue pursuing stop moving forward.

The heralds galloped around the phalanx, called out the officers and made them reorganise the formation.

At this moment, Kapus took a look at Ledes’ wounds after rushing over.

“Don’t worry…I still can’t die.” Ledes tried to squeeze out a smile, but the shock he felt when the guards lifted him onto the stretcher made him grimace and showed a pained expression.

“Be gentle! Be gentle!” Kapus shouted in discontent.

“Kapus.” The pale Ledes didn’t call his old comrade’s position as he whispered, “Our cavalry…has completed our task…you can rest assured that the Syracusan cavalries will no longer come again…I will leave the following task to you…”

Kapus nodded solemnly, got on his horse and saluted, “Recover well. Victory belongs to Theonia!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After the sarissa brigade regrouped, they no longer faced the south but directly on Syracuse’s right-wing’s rear, a hundred metres away.

Kapus then made the soldiers with broken sarissa withdraw from the battle, leaving only about 4,000 soldiers in the phalanx. At this moment, Tapirus’s centuria had only 170 men left from his 200 men, with only 112 sarissa’s remaining intact.

“Traaaa!!!” When the salpinx sounded the attack, they waved the flag and pointed it forward.

Tapirus and the other officers then shouted, “Advance!”

The soldiers advanced steadily after getting enough confidence from the victory. This time, their opponent will be heavy infantries.

On the left side of the sarissa phalanx were two thousand light-armoured soldiers, whose duty was to do their best to protect the phalanx’s flank, which is their biggest weakness.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As the battle continued and the number of wounded increased, the Crotone-Terina reinforcements could no longer hold the enemy as they had at the start. Moreover, the dense phalanx of Syracuse began showing its strength, straining the Crotone-Terina reinforcement more and more that they were forced to retreat to relieve the pressure. However, they could not control the pace of advance and retreat of the whole army as skillfully as the first and second legions of Theonia, resulting in the pressure increase.

Under the loud shouting of Milo and Siprus, the soldiers fought with all their might with their burning emotions…

Suddenly, a loud salpinx sounded behind the right end of Syracuse’s right-wing.

Milo and Siprus, unsure of what happened, asked each other, “Is it Theonia’s salpinx?”

Antonios, who accurately judged that it was indeed Theonia’s salpinx even though it was hundreds of metres away, was shocked because he knew that Davos’ plan, the sarissa brigade, must have defeated Syracuse’s cavalry and was now preparing to flank the rear of Syracuse’s right-wing. Then the first legion also blew their salpinx to signal the attack.

Immediately afterwards, Amintas, the legatus of the second legion, even led his horse close to the rear of his legion and shouted, “Brothers, attack! Attack! It’s time for Syracuse to know our strength!…”

Due to the sarissa brigade’s attack could not cover the entire rear of Syracuse’s right-wing, they could only help the Crotone-Terina reinforcements. Thus the first and second legion’s attack had to hold the enemy they were facing so that they would not dare to draw out too many soldiers from the rear to stop the sarissa brigade.

“Enemy! The enemy is attacking from the rear!…” The soldiers behind the rightmost end of Syracuse’s right-wing heard the sound of salpinx and the roaring behind them, leading them to turn to look back one after and panic. The officers then hurriedly organised the soldiers to turn around and fight.

Just as the Syracusan hurriedly organised the right-end of their right-wing, Theonia’s sarissa brigade soldiers began to increase their pace and speed up. Then the sarissas they held began to lower in turn: The first row, the second row, the third row, the fourth row, the fifth row…formed a dense wall of spears in front of the Syracusan phalanx.

“O Apollo, their spear is too big!” The Syracusan soldiers watched in horror as the approaching enemy stopped advancing three metres away from them, and the countless shaking sarissas began stabbing at them. Yet they couldn’t even reach the enemy with their spear, which resulted in the Syracusans panicking as this was the first time they encountered this situation.

“Shield wall! Erect a shield wall!…” Some Syracusan officers panicky shouted. But the Syracusans lacked a unified and effective command and emergency measures in such a chaotic situation.

How could Milo and Siprus let go of this opportunity now that Crotone-Terina reinforcements’ pressure was easing? So they immediately ordered to charge. With their anger for vengeance, the soldiers rushed again to the enemies who burned their homes.

When the Syracusan soldiers at the forefront of the phalanx couldn’t feel the support of their comrades at the rear after hearing the noisy shouting and fighting, they couldn’t stop but think in their hearts, ‘What’s happening?’ ‘Are they surrounded?’ ‘Did they flee?…’ resulting in their morale dropping, and they couldn’t fight wholeheartedly.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Your majesty, the sarissa brigade led by Kapus has repelled the Syracusan cavalry and is now attacking the enemy’s right-wing!” Tolmides excitedly reported to Davos.

Davos breathed a sigh of relief, dispelling his nervousness. After calming down a bit, he immediately ordered, “Tolmides, immediately inform Izam to lead the reconnaissance brigade to detour and attack the rear of Syracuse’s left-wing!”

Tolmides was surprised when he heard this order as he knew that: In Davos’ plan, these 3,000 soldiers were either intended to be sent to the left-wing and strengthen their defence if they couldn’t withstand the enemy’s attack. Or once the sarissa brigade attacks the enemy’s flank, they would immediately send them to the left-wing to hasten the defeat of the enemy’s right-wing. ‘But now, they would send the reserve to attack Syracuse’s left-wing?!’

Chapter 516 – Battle of Crotone (IX)

Davos explained after seeing his confusion, “With Kapus completing our preliminary plan of securing our left-wing, victory would only be a matter of time. However, I didn’t expect Matonis and Olivos’ legion to do so well that they advanced so much. So now that the enemy’s left-wing is quite weak, do you think it will collapse if I add more pressure?!”

“I’ll immediately inform Izam now, as I fear he couldn’t wait any longer.” After understanding what Davos plans to do, Tolmides hurriedly rode towards the reserves at the rear.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At this moment, Dionysius became impatient when he learned Theonia repulsed his cavalry and attacked his right-wing. However, he didn’t expect that the news of the right-wing’s victory he eagerly expected would result in this.

“Immediately find Astagoras and ask him to reorganise the cavalry and attack the Theonians! Otherwise, he and his family would unite in the underworld!!” Dionysius roared viciously.

Then the herald quickly rode to the rear to find Astagoras.

“Milord, a messenger from Scylletium, had hurriedly come!” Dionysius’ attendant rushed over and said nervously.

“I don’t have the time now; let’s talk after the battle ends!” Dionysius angrily glared at him with irritation, frightening the attendant to shut his mouth.

But then another scout came, “Milord, thousands of Theonian soldiers have crossed the Targines River and are circling to our left-wing’s rear!”

‘What?!’ Dionysius became utterly flustered at the report.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Did you just say that you saw an empty camp?!” Hielos reconfirmed as he still felt unsure after hearing the scouting cavalry report.

“Yes, strategos. We had even approached near the Syracusan camp, yet we didn’t see any movement inside.” Hielos began pondering when he heard the scout’s squad leader’s words. ‘It was previously reported that Syracuse has an army of 70,000 men, so where will they be if they are not in the camp? His majesty Davos must have led the reinforcements to Crotone!’ So the answer is obvious: The Syracusans couldn’t have abandoned their camp and retreated back to Scylletium. Otherwise, his scout would have seen his majesty Davos’ army at this moment. Thus the greatest possibility is that the Syracusans are now facing Theonia in a battle!

With this startling revelation, Hielos’ heart beat wildly. He then took a deep breath to calm himself down, thought for a moment and firmly ordered, “Tell everyone to stop building the camp immediately. Instead, put on their armour, take up their shields and spears, form up in columns and march towards Crotone!”

After hearing the order, Adjutant Hegasitus uttered an “Ah” sound and immediately said, “You mean…for us to go to Crotone now?!” It was no wonder he was nervous. After all, if Hielos dared to lead his troops deeply, his force would be wiped out once the Syracusan army stationed in Crotone came and the defenders in Scylletium blocked their path.

“I am certain that his majesty is currently fighting the Syracusans, so we must immediately help him win this battle that determines the survival of Theonia!” Hielos said with determination.

Although only a few months had passed since Hegasitus worked with Hielos in Consentia, they had cooperated well with the political matters. So he certainly knows that Hielos was a cautious and not a reckless person.

After Hielos stepped down as the praetor of Consentia, Sedrum took over his position while also serving as the wartime governor of the Bruttii region. In addition, with Sedrum’s knowledge of the Bruttii region, he didn’t need Hegasitus’ assistance. On the contrary, he might even consider him a hindrance, given that the reason for Theonia’s conquest of the Bruttii region was the rioting Siro tribe. Hence who would know if hatred would suddenly sprout in Sedrum’s heart? So Hegasitus asked Hielos to be the adjutant of this temporary force as he would recruit soldiers for him and manage the Bruttian warriors.

With Hielos making a rational judgment, all Hegasitus could do now was obey and appease the Bruttian soldiers.

Not long after issuing the order, strategos Phromelas of Terina, who had joined them, rushed to Hielos but was persuaded afterwards, “If we win this battle, we could easily take back Terina in our hands without needing to attack it fiercely. But if we lost this battle, even if we take Terina back today, the Syracusan army will take it back again tomorrow and would even endanger the whole of Magna Graecia!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Two hours after the battle, except for the centre that could still maintain the stalemate, the two flanks of Syracuse were in trouble: The right end of Syracuse’s right-wing suffered heavy losses under the attack of the sarissa brigade and the Crotone-Terina reinforcements. If not for the lack of cooperation between the sarissa brigade and the Crotone-Terina soldiers, and the thickness of Syracuse’s right-wing with some experience soldiers taking the initiative to separate from the rear and left-end to block the advance of the sarissa brigade, they would have already defeated Syracuse’s right-wing;

On the other hand, the soldiers on Syracuse’s left-wing were not as strong as the elite soldiers on the right-wing. Yet they could still barely maintain their morale even after getting their flank attacked. But even though the light-armoured soldiers’ offence was far less powerful than the sarissa phalanx, Dionysius’ military reform had just begun and hadn’t considered the drawback of a large phalanx formation. So after the battle started, the middle and lower-ranking officers and even the senior officers had lost control of their troops. Furthermore, with the hodgepodge composition of the left-wing, they were unable to command them effectively in time after their enemy attacked their flank and rear. Hence their formation became chaotic when their soldiers at the rear turned around to intercept the enemy.

Dionysius could have avoided this situation as he had more troops. Unfortunately, he was still bounded by the tradition of the Greek military of not leaving any reserves and had wanted to defeat Theonia in one fell swoop and win the battle, so he sent all his troops at the start of the battle. Yet it was already too late now that he wanted to dispatch his troops to resist Theonia’s attack on the left-wing.

Soon after, the confusion at the rear of the left-wing affected the soldiers at the forefront, especially the Magna Graecian soldiers who already had low morale. At first, their almost closed helmets covered their ears, so they could only vaguely hear the sound of clashing in the rear. But later, they began to panic as the sound became louder and clearer, and the support from the rear weakened and then disappeared. In addition to the enemy’s fierce attack at the front, fear instantly took over their whole body and prompted them to turn around and flee regardless of everything, even at the expense of pushing down their comrades at the rear. At first, only one soldier fled, then two, then three soldiers fled after another, rapidly spreading the panic in all directions like a plague… Soon, the whole left-wing could no longer hold it and began to collapse.

Dionysius turned ashen when he heard the emergency report, but he couldn’t do anything for this battle as he had even sent his guards to aid the left-wing earlier… He had lost this big gamble to the new king of Theonia, whom he both valued and despised…

Although Dionysius was reluctant, he knew that he had to accept this fact and decide quickly.

“…retreat…” After spitting the word out of his mouth, Dionysius immediately pulled his horse’s rein and turned around.

Fortunately, his attendant was beside him; otherwise, he wouldn’t have heard what he said.

“Milord, th…” The attendant was unwilling and still had some expectations, so he instinctively wanted to persuade him.

Dionysius would have reprimanded or secretly kept it in mind and would settle the account later if someone dared to question his decision. But he didn’t have this thought as the only thing in his mind now was how to minimise the Syracusan army’s loss after their defeat. After all, the collapse of the left-wing may lead to the Theonians blocking the Targines river and cutting off the path of retreat for the Syracusan army. Therefore, he must withdraw back to the camp on the west bank of the Targines as soon as possible. (Dionysius had previously ordered the camp’s demolition on the east bank of the Targines river to lure the Theonian army to cross the river.)

As dozens of buglers sounded the retreat, Dionysius once again said to his attendant, “Send someone to rush back to the camp and inform Artem (the one responsible for the defenders of the camp) to separate a troop to guard us back to the east camp safely. ”

“Understood, milord!” The attendant suddenly remembered something and reminded him, “Earlier, our people in Scylletium sent a messenger to report that five-six thousand Theonian soldiers had landed on the Ophemia plain and were about to attack Terina.”

Dionysius became furious at hearing the report, “Why didn’t you report something so important earlier?!!”

His attendant felt wronged in his heart, but he didn’t dare to argue.

Dionysius originally planned to return to the camp and defend. But now, it seems that retreating to Scylletium would be the safest…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Phidias, who was at the middle forefront of Syracuse’s right-wing, was exhausted after two hours of continuous fighting even though he had undergone strict military training since childhood. But no matter how many times he stabbed the enemies in front of him, new enemies would still rush up to bravely fight him, forcing him to do all he could and deal with them carefully.

He then realised that his plan had a problem: After looking around, not only did Theonia’s left-wing phalanx facing not collapse, but their attack became fiercer. In contrast, the thrusting of the soldiers behind him became weaker and weaker. Although he was extremely anxious at hearing the faint sound of shouting and fighting in the rear, he did not dare to be distracted even the slightest.

Chapter 517 – Battle of Crotone (X)

Finally, the salpinx that sounded the retreat came.

The Syracusan soldiers at the right end of the right-wing, struggling to resist the sarissa brigade and Crotone-Terina reinforcements, immediately turned around and fled. Instantly resulting in the collapse of Syracuse’s thick phalanx formation, and the fleeing soldiers were like a flood that spilt out from a broken dam…

Phidias did not panic even when he saw the soldiers beside him flee. After throwing his spear at the enemy and smashing his round shield at the one facing him, he forced open a small space where he immediately turned around and ran away while throwing away his helmet. Although he had suffered many defeats before, Phidias still felt frustrated by this defeat…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Your majesty, the enemy has retreated! We won! We won this battle! Theonia won!!!” Tolmides was very excited as he watched the Syracusan soldiers retreat like a tide.

A smile finally appeared on Davos’ face as he listened to the guards’ cheers beside him. He then said, “Tell all the troops to pursue the enemy with all their strength!”

“Roger!” Tolmides responded loudly.

“Your majesty-” A shout came from behind Davos. When he turned around, he could see the excited Rodom and immediately understood what he was thinking, so he said with a smile, “The guards can also participate in the pursuit.”

Immediately after, cheers rang out around him, with only Martius and a few other guards remaining indifferent and standing at Davos’ side.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Chief Acilita, Lord Dionysius’ orders were for you to lead your men back together with me to fight the enemy!” Astagoras finally found Acilita, who had fled to the east bank of the Targines.

Acilita, whose dishevelled hair covered his face, evasively said, “With my men now scattered everywhere, it would be difficult for me to gather them in a short time.”

“Acilita.” Astagoras sneered and said, “You are a wise man. Do you think that once we, Syracusans, are defeated, the Theonians would spare you, foreigners, after what you have done on Theonia’s land?! Moreover, with the Mediterranean Sea between Magna Graecia and Numidia, do you plan to return to Numidia on horseback?!”

After hearing that, Acilita’s expression considerably changed as he had only cared about escaping and didn’t think about that issue for a while.

Suddenly, Acilita’s men exclaimed, “Leader, the enemy is coming again!”

After finally deciding in his heart, Acilita said, “Strategos Astagoras, let’s repel those cavalries first.”

Astagoras became pleased when he saw Acilita’s change of attitude, so he immediately led the more than 300 cavalries to unite with Acilita’s remaining more than 200 cavalries to return and meet the enemy.

At this moment, Astagoras and Acilita could hear the sound of “rumbling” footsteps from the front left, making them subconsciously look to the north as the growing noise made them feel uneasy.

Soon after, everyone’s face turned pale when countless Syracusan soldiers appeared and rushed towards them like a tide.

“Retreat!” Acilita quickly turned his horse around and fled in a panic together with the Numidian cavalry, followed by numerous Sicilian cavalries.

‘We lost?!…’ Astagoras couldn’t believe this fact and was then stabbed by the pursuing Theonian cavalry as he was in a trance…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Theonia won! We won! Crotone won!!…” The scouts sent by Lysias and his men ran wildly all the way to the ruins of Crotone as they shouted excitedly and incoherently.

The people of Crotone, who were watching the battle from the city wall, were already crying. As they were far away from the battlefield, they couldn’t really see the situation but could the Syracusans still be victorious if all the soldiers were running south?! At this moment, countless people shed tears of excitement, ‘Finally, Crotone was saved!!!’

Lysias was focused on watching the battle as he nervously stood near the battlements. After being relieved, he noticed that his legs were sore and could no longer keep him up. Thus he just sat down on the walkway, facing the rubble and ruined city, as the ecstasy of the near-death experience turned into deep sorrow: Although the people of Crotone are now safe, the city no longer exists…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Dionysius decided to retreat, he had planned to make the defenders of the camp rendezvous with them and stop the chasing army behind and allow the fleeing Syracusan soldiers to enter the camp smoothly. However, that has now proven impossible.

The Theonian troops of Aprustum, who watched the camp’s movements closely, discovered the defender moving around. At the same time, the news of ‘Theonia’s victory’ brought by the mountain reconnaissance soldiers excited Agasias, who, although he was a Praetor, was also a mercenary and had a rich combat experience. So he decisively acted and led 3,000 defenders to attack the Syracusan camp blocking Aprustum’s road in the south.

The Syracusan defenders, on the other hand, were disturbed by the news of their defeat, and with half of their troops sent outside the camp, they no longer had the desire to resist the all-out attack of the Aprustum army. After barely resisting for a while, they easily let the excited Theonian soldiers into the camp.

Dionysius also tried to reorganise his army while they were fleeing, but the pursuit of the Theonian army made his efforts futile. Furthermore, the attendants he sent were either swept away or knocked down by the tide of fleeing soldiers, who then snatched their horses.

With around 60,000 men poured into the Targines, they almost cut off the river’s flow. However, the slippery riverbed and the subsequent pursuit of the Theonian soldiers made the terrified Syracusan soldiers cross the river and leave a trail of floating bodies.

And the camp defenders, who came to meet them, were frightened by the tide of fleeing soldiers that they immediately turned around and ran.

Then the surging tide of fleeing soldiers crushed the narrow camp gate, with some simply pushing down the wooden wall and pouring into the gap. Unfortunately, the pursuers also entered the camp.

At the same time, they could hear the cries of Theonian soldiers in the north of the camp: It was Aprustum’s army who rushed into the camp in pursuit of the retreating defenders.

So the fleeing Syracusans no longer dared to stay in the camp and continued fleeing south as they were afraid that the Theonians would cut off their way back…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Strategos Hielos, we defeated the Syracusans! Numerous Syracusans are now fleeing to Scylletium!…” Said the excited and nervous scout who came to report.

By this time, Hielos had already crossed the Targines with his army, entered Scylletium’s territory, and marched northeast towards the Syracusan camp in Crotone.

Hielos became delighted upon hearing the report from the scouts. At the same time, he immediately realised that this was an excellent opportunity to wipe out the enemy, so he hurriedly asked, “How far are we from the fleeing Syracusans?”

“They had just entered the ‘coastal passage’ when I returned to report.”

Hielos was previously the Praetor of Aprustum, so he had surveyed the nearby terrain several times and was familiar with it. Naturally, he knew that the ‘coastal passage’ referred to by the scouts was, in fact, a narrow strip of coastline between the southern plain of Crotone on the west bank of the Targines and Scylletium’s territory, with mountains surrounding it to the north and the sea to the south. This coastal passage was about 18 kilometres long, with its narrowest width of 5 kilometres. With his army only 7 kilometres away, it would seem that it would not be difficult to get there and intercept the fleeing Syracusans before they could leave the coastal passage. However, he then considered that his army would march on the mountains while the Syracusans were running on the flat seashore, not to mention that they were fleeing for their lives.

Hielos thought a bit and immediately ordered, “All troops are to march faster!”

Considering that at least half of the joint Theonia-Terina troops were heavy infantry, this fast marching made the soldiers complain. Fortunately, these Bruttian soldiers were disciplined and to strictly execute orders after several years of training, while the flame of vengeance supported the Terinians. But more importantly, the news of Theonia’s victory gave them great encouragement.

Once they arrived at the coastal passage, the length of their column stretched to more than 2 kilometres, with most of the soldiers sitting directly on the ground, panting heavily, drenched in sweat and screaming for water. In the next half hour, Hielos, who was also exhausted, struggled to reorganise his troops while also trying to let the soldiers, who had just arrived, rest and recover some strength as soon as possible.

Although most of the soldiers have arrived, there are still some who have fallen behind and came in groups of twos and threes.

But at this moment, a scout came to report that the fleeing Syracusan soldiers were only a kilometre away from them.

Fortunately, Hielos was rational in not letting the exhausted soldiers block the fleeing Syracusans head-on as he knew that he wouldn’t be able to block tens of thousands of soldiers who wanted to escape back to Scylettium with only a thousand soldiers. If they did, these exhausted and inexperienced soldiers would instead be caught in the tide of fleeing soldiers.

So he immediately had his troops line up with their backs facing the mountains and diagonally to the coast, leaving enough gap of several metres long for the fleeing soldiers to pass through. Thus even if they attacked fiercely, the Syracusans, who were bent on fleeing, wouldn’t put up much resistance.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Theonia’s pursuit lasted until dusk before the bugler sounded the retreat.

From the statistics after the battle: Syracuse suffered nearly 20,000 casualties in the battle that decided the fate of Magna Graecia, with most of the casualties happening while they were escaping. Then more than 10,000 soldiers were captured, mostly due to Hielos. First, he had his soldiers only attack those fleeing soldiers at the edge of the ‘coastal passage’. Afterwards, he decisively ordered an all-out attack, which instantly blocked the tail end of the fleeing soldiers. In the end, only more than 30,000 Syracusans manage to reach Scylletium.

Theonia suffered nearly 7,000 casualties, especially the Crotone-Terina reinforcements, which lost almost half. Followed by the sarissa brigade and the cavalry legion, which had paid the price of more than 2,000 men as they were the key to turning the situation around.

In the end, the result of the battle: Theonia, with 58,000 soldiers, defeated Syracuse, which had 65,500 soldiers.

Chapter 518 – After the Battle

After giving the order to withdraw, Davos turned around and headed to Syracuse’s camp.

On his way towards the camp, bodies of dead and wounded soldiers littered the road; their blood gathered into a thin stream as it flowed into the sea and stained the coastline. Smelling the smell of death, flocks of crows came pecking at the fresh flesh and blood and even when they saw people coming, the crows didn’t hide but just “cawed”. Under the setting sun, it reflected the bloody, revolting, and tragic battlefield filled with corpses, making the excited Davos sombre at their victory.

When Davos arrived at the Syracusan camp, he could see numerous wounded Theonians lying there, all of whom received it during their pursuit. On the other hand, those wounded during the battle had been rushed to the medical brigade of the Theonian camp on the north bank of the Neto River to receive treatment. In contrast, the physicians of Aprustum were the ones treating the wounded soldiers in the Syracusan camp. However, as they were understaffed, many soldiers had to lie in wait in resentment.

After Davos saw the situation, he immediately dismounted his horse and strode over after.

“Your Majesty?!”

“It’s his majesty Davos!”

“His majesty!!”

“Lord Davos!!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As soon as Davos approached, the wounded soldiers all cheered with excitement.

“Warriors, I came to treat your wound.” Davos said with a gentle expression, “We will treat all of you and soon be well, so please be patient!”

A wounded soldier then loudly said, “It’s a blessing for us to receive your treatment, your majesty! Don’t worry; we won’t make a sound and interfere with your treatment!”

“That’s right! We will all stay quiet!” The other wounded soldiers echoed.

After finding the soldier, who had just spoken, familiar. Davos asked, “What’s your name?”

“Tapirus, your majesty. I was the supervisor of Cheiristoya’s Restaurant in the city of Thurii. This time, I was drafted into the sarissa brigade as a centurion.” The wounded soldier replied. After Davos issued the order to pursue the enemy, the soldiers of the sarissa brigade found it inconvenient to run with their sarissa, so they also threw away their weapons like the enemy. Furthermore, since they weren’t wearing any armour, they naturally ran faster and allowed them to catch many fleeing Syracusans. Just that Tapirus was unlucky, the wounded soldier he caught up with was fierce and refused to surrender. He drew the sword hanging from his waist and slashed at Tapirus’ thigh, and if not for Tapirus’ soldiers swarming and beating the enemy down, he would have gone to the underworld by now.

“Oh, I know you.” Davos remembered seeing this man in his own residence before, so he began checking Tapirus’ wounds.

Besides theoretical knowledge, Davos was also experienced in treating diseases and wounds as he often went to help the medical staff when they were short on hands during the six-month campaign in Persia. Even his guards were familiar with the medical items and procedures, so whenever Davos began his treatment, Martius would instruct his men to find clay pots to boil water, clean clothes, cut down trees, make wooden boards, etc.

Blood gashes when Davos cuts a bone-deep opening in Tapirus’ left thigh with a sharp Greek kopis.

After telling Tapirus to bear the pain, Davos lifted and bent Taprius’ left leg, then stretched his hand to press around the wound. Afterwards, he smiled and said, “Tapirus, it seems that Hades cares for you. Although your wound is big, it didn’t damage the main artery or slash the tendons and bones, so you will soon recover.”

Although Tapirus didn’t understand those medical terms, he was still happy with the news and repeatedly thanked Davos.

Afterwards, Davos stood up and told Martius, “Once the water boils, clean up his wounds and then bandage them…”

Martius nodded in understanding.

Davos then went to a wounded soldier, who had been screaming the loudest because of the pain, and knelt. The soldier was a young Bruttian warrior whose face was pale and panting while looking at Davos. But after the wounded soldiers promised to keep quiet, the young Bruttian warrior clenched his teeth without uttering a sound. Still, beads of sweat covered his boyish face as his right shoulder drooped down abnormally while his right leg bent outward, which looked painful. Davos then touched the boy’s right shoulder with one hand and the foot with the other,

Davos was told that the young Bruttian warrior was too excited when chasing the enemy that he didn’t slow down when crossing the Targines River. As a result, he slipped on the river bank and landed on his right shoulder first, resulting in dislocation. But due to suddenly falling, his comrades behind him had no time to avoid him and ended up stepping on his right calf, which resulted in a fracture.

When Davos placed his hand on the young Bruttian’s shoulder, it made him tremble.

“What’s your name? Where are you from? And which legion?” Davos asked softly.

“Mu…Muklo…I live in Consentia, and came with…with strategos Hieronymus…” The wounded soldier endured the pain and stammered. Although he had a stronger accent, he was fluent in Greek among the Bruttians. He then stressed, “My father is a….centurion of the fifth…fifth legion!” as he seemed ashamed that he was not a legionary.

“You and your father are wonderful citizens of Theonia!” Davos praised from the bottom of his heart, knowing that living in Consentia meant that the soldier’s family had left the tribe and became true citizens of Theonia.

“But…but when I came here, I found out that…that my father had died in the battle…battle in Scylletium…” Perhaps the gentle gaze of Davos affected him; Muklo said the words he had been holding in his heart for the past few days as tears finally fell in his eyes.

Davos also became gloomy because of it, so he comforted him by saying, “Muklo, you haven’t lost your father. He had just become a spirit and gone to the peaceful Elysium. Every year during Hades’ Day, you can go to the Temple of Hades in Consentia to pray for him; maybe he will come to meet you in your dreams…”

“Is that true?!” When Muklo heard this, his eyes lit up as he seemed to forget the pain and looked at Davos with hope.

“Of course, it’s true!” Davos reassured him while taking advantage of Muklo’s happy and relaxed state to suddenly apply force in his hands, resulting in Muko screaming, frightening everyone around.

“Hoo, you can now move your right arm. However, you shouldn’t exert strength on it for these two days!” Davos instructed.

Muklo turned his right shoulder in surprise and nodded again and again.

“Lift your right foot a bit so that I can see it.”

“Your majesty, can my foot still be healed?!” Muklo immediately did as Davos’ told, while asking with expectation and anxiety.

Davos didn’t immediately answer him as he closely inspected Muklo’s right calf. Although it was badly bent, the damage to the innermost tissue wasn’t severe, and there was no obvious hematoma, so the blood vessels shouldn’t be affected. After reaching out to Muklo’s calf again, he carefully pressed and squeezed it.

Out of his extreme trust in Davos, Muklo held back the pain and didn’t utter a word.

After examining it, Davos confirmed that there were no large fragments or broken tendons in Muklo’s right calf, so he breathed a sigh of relief and then said with certainty, “Be at ease. After treatment, you would only need to rest for three months, and your calf will be as good as before!”

Muklo finally smiled and thanked Davos sincerely, “Thank you very much, your majesty!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

By the time Agasias received the report and called more physicians from Aprustum, Davos had already treated more than a dozen wounded soldiers. And with these physicians taking over, he no longer continues the treatment. Instead, he talked to Agasias about important matters, “This camp can’t accommodate all the soldiers here, so we need to send the more than 20,000 people to rest in Aprustum tonight, especially the wounded!”

“Don’t worry, your majesty. I have already asked the city hall people to arrange this matter!” Agasias’ answer caused Davos to look at him with surprise. After all, seeing the problems and taking the initiative to solve them is the quality of an excellent administrative staff. Hence he really didn’t expect the outgoing Agasias to grasp it.

When Davos looked at Agasias’ somewhat aged face(He had just, in fact, turned 40), it made him wonder if he had moved on from the things troubling him, so he couldn’t help but feel a bit emotional.

As the sky was about to get dark, the pursuing soldiers, who returned to the Syracusan camp, began setting up the tents abandoned by the fleeing soldiers. After lighting all the bonfires, the whole camp became noisy…

After all, the soldiers returned to the camp with the Syracusan prisoners, who were stripped of their armour and clothing, following their previous practice, leaving them naked and exposed in the late winter evening, causing them to shiver from the cold. Furthermore, the Theonian soldiers escorting them showed no mercy and would even poke at them with their spears once they slowed down or were disobedient, causing them to scream.

And the others just watch them from the side, laughing and even swearing at the prisoners.

Davos also did not stop the soldiers as he knew that the soldiers needed a place to vent their anger. After all, from the time the Syracusan army landed in Magna Graecia until today, no less than 10,000 Theonian soldiers and civilians have died at their hands, especially on the outskirts of Aprustum and Krimisa, which almost became ruins. Besides, these prisoners were lucky compared to the seriously wounded Syracusan soldiers who fell on their way to Scylletium and were ignored even when they continuously screamed and finally had to close their eyes and wait for their death.

Davos thought for a moment and said, “Agasias, temporarily put aside Aprustum’s matter tomorrow and take these prisoners back to Thurii.”

Chapter 519 – Laos’ Ownership

Agasias was surprised for a moment and said in embarrassment, “Your majesty, if you add the prisoners together, they numbered no less than 10,000! In contrast, there are only more than 2,000 soldiers in Aprustum. Besides that, I have to leave some soldiers to defend the city, so I fear I can’t escort that many prisoners…”

“Don’t worry. I will leave a thousand soldiers from the sarissa brigade under your command and would return to Thurii with you.” Davos already made a plan. After all, the Syracusan army now had far fewer troops than the army he led after suffering a disastrous defeat. In addition, with the next battle being a siege battle, the sarissa brigade has no place to play.

“Understood.” Agasias could only nod his head in acceptance while looking at the line of captives and said with concern, “But I fear that the addition of 10,000 prisoners would make Theonia’s food situation even more intense.”

“Ansitanos already went to Carthage by boat a few days, and I believe we can sign some agreements with them this time.” Davos said confidently.

“Carthage?” Agasias frowned, “Didn’t they already reject our request for an alliance before?!”

“The current situation is different from before the war started-” Davos was about to explain to him in detail when a loud cry came from a distance, “Lord Davos!”

After taking a closer look, Davos saw Siprus and another man surrounded by a team as they approached them.

Davos went to meet them while his guard followed him closely.

“Thanks to you, Theonians, we finally won this important battle! We have defeated the vicious Syracusans! Magna Graecia is now saved!” Siprus then excitedly gave Davos a firm hug.

Davos patted him on the shoulder and said seriously, “If you hadn’t resisted Syracuse’s full attack on the left-wing, it would be difficult to say the result of this battle. Thus it is safe to say that we, the South Italian Alliance, worked together to win this battle that would decide our survival!”

“That’s fair enough. Our citizens didn’t die in vain!” A cold voice came from beside Siprus.

Davos turned his head to look at the one who had just spoken: He was a burly middle-aged man with a bearded face. He looked at Davos with a somewhat complicated expression.

“Strategos Milo?” Davos had already guessed his identity.

“I am Milo, who you defeated a few years ago. Finally, Crotone forced me to leave.” Milo said with a somewhat unpleasant expression.

Davos did not mind as he deeply said, “There is a saying in the east, ‘You won’t know each other if you don’t fight’! We, Theonians, were really frightened when you marched towards Thurii with great speed. Since then, I have always wanted to meet you, but I didn’t expect that I would only meet you after a few years passed. Still, it’s fortunate that Theonia and Crotone are now allies who have fought for our life and death together, and I am honoured to fight side by side with you in such a battle related to the survival of Magna Graecia and to defeat a powerful enemy! I think recalling you back is the wisest choice that the council of Crotone made in this war, which allowed Crotone to persist until today and gained time for our South Italian Alliance to gather our strength and fight back against the Syracusans, leading to today’s victory! On behalf of Theonia, I thank you and the citizens of Crotone who fought to the death!”

After finishing his speech, Davos solemnly saluted Milo. But the truth is, Davos didn’t know what Milo had done after he returned to Crotone, so his praise of Milo was more to compensate for Theonia’s delay in rescuing Crotone.

So as soon as he finished speaking, The Crotonian soldiers behind Milo straightened their chests as pride filled their hearts, ‘This is the praise of the famous and invincible strategos of Magna Graecia – Davos!’

Even Milo became slightly excited as he hurriedly saluted back, “It’s my honour to fight with you, Lord Davos!”

“It’s all the arrangement of fate! As now that we in the South Italian Alliance are like one family, we must not allow the Syracusans to just enter and leave!” Siprus took the chance to agree.

“Lord Davos.” Milo hesitated and said, “I am afraid that we would not be able to send another army to fight against the Syracusans. Furthermore, now that the Syracusans have burned even our Acropolis, the citizens urgently need to rebuild their homes!…”

“I understand.” Davos said sincerely, “Crotone has sacrificed a lot in this war! So if you have any difficulties, feel free to tell us, and we, Theonians, will do our best to assist! In addition, feel free to leave your wounded to us for treatment as we will do our best to save them!”

These promises made by the new king of Theonia – Davos, were what the Crotonians needed to hear the most at this moment! For this reason, Milo sincerely thanked Davos once again and then returned to Crotone’s Acropolis with his men.

“Lord Davos, we would like to join you in fighting the Syracusans!” Watching the Crotonian leave, Siprus then loudly said.

“You are very welcome!” As he knew what Siprus wanted, Davos happily said, “I think it would be easier to recapture Terina after attacking Scylletium tomorrow.”

“May Apollo bless you!” Siprus had the same idea as he didn’t think that after the defeat of the Syracusan army, the thousands of enemies in Terina would dare to stay there and wait for the tens of thousands of Theonian troops’ attack.

“Your majesty! Your majesty Davos!…” Just as they began discussing, Davos could hear a familiar voice from a distance.

Davos opened his eyes in surprise at seeing the young figure appear in front of him, “Why are you here?!”

Henipolis shrugged his should and said, “I’m here to keep my promise – to be your clerk, your majesty.”

“Heni, there is no need to be in a rush just to be my clerk at this time! You are the archon of Laos, and you had just taken back Laos from your rebellious uncle! Instead, you should have stayed with the people of Laos to restore the order as soon as possible!” Davos looked at his relaxed appearance and couldn’t help but remind him.

“Your majesty, there is no need for you to worry. Ariandos is there to maintain the city’s order, and Bagul also helps manage the city matters. Besides, Praetor Hemon of Nerulum could give his assistance at any time, so my presence or absence there won’t affect Laos’ governance.”

Henipolis’ words astonished Davos, “You asked Bagul to handle Laos’ matters for you?!”

“Can’t I? Those things I am going to implement are originally from Thurii, and Bagul, the Praetor of Grumentum, should be very familiar with it and fully capable of dealing with the various difficulties brought about by reforming Laos. On the contrary, my presence there would hinder him from using his authority…” Henipolis glibly.

Davos didn’t know how to respond for a moment, but his expression was still one of rebuke, ‘The highest authority of a city-state hadn’t shared the difficulties with the people of the city but slipped away? What would the people of Laos think once they found out about this?!’

But Davos couldn’t say those words out loud in such a public place. Just when he was thinking of lecturing Henipolis in private, Henipolis saw through his thoughts and stepped forward and whispered, “Your majesty, I have something important to discuss with you; that’s why I came here with Hielos’ army!”

When Davos saw he spoke so seriously, he asked subconsciously, “What’s the matter?”

Henipolis glanced at Siprus beside Davos, but instead of whispering what he wanted to say, he intentionally made his voice a little louder, “After this incident, I realised that I am not interested in managing a city-state, and Laos couldn’t continue developing safely and prosperously without Theonia. Thus I decided to merge Laos into Theonia!”

Davos was shocked at hearing those words because Henipolis was really serious; it was evident that he had long thought much about it.

At this moment, countless thoughts flashed rapidly in Davos’ mind, but he forcibly suppressed them and said only a sentence, “We will discuss this later in my tent.”

Then he turned around and said, “This is Lord Siprus, the polemarchos of Terina!”

Henipolis hurriedly greeted him, “Lord Siprus, I had met you several times before at his majesty’s residence.”

“Oh, right.” Siprus smiled reluctantly. After all, even though he goes to Davos’ residence every time he goes to Thurii, how could he bother to remember a teenager he met by chance in the courtyard? Still, he was shocked about the news he had just heard and then looked at the spirited young man in front of him. He didn’t know what kind of impact Laos taking the initiative to merge into Theonia would have on the Theonia Union and the other city-states of the South Italian Alliance? And what would Terina, which had also suffered the flames of war, do?

Siprus sighed in his heart and said, “Lord Henipolis, congratulations on taking back Laos!”

Henipolis smiled inwardly after noticing the anxiety on Siprus’ expression. Still, he thanked him and said, “I had just separated from strategos Phromelas, and he should now be with Lord Hielos in escorting the prisoners. In this battle, Terina’s soldiers played a huge role in blocking the fleeing Syracusans!”

Siprus hurriedly asked Phromelas’ location and then led the soldiers away.

“It was thanks to Hielos leading the army in time. Otherwise, the result of the battle wouldn’t be so great!” Said Davos with a sigh as he watched the departing back of Siprus.

Chapter 520 – Carthage

“Your majesty, you might not know it, but Hielos has been pushing us to hurry up for the past two days to save more time that we didn’t even have much time to rest. Still, we didn’t expect that we would catch up.” Henipolis interjected.

“Opportunity comes to the prepared.” Davos said quietly while looking at Henipolis, “Come with me to my tent and have a good discussion about what you said…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Early the following morning, when Davos led the troops gathered from the former Syracusan camp and the city of Aprustum to march towards Scylletium, the transport ship of Ansitanos had already passed through the southwest corner of Sicily. Luckily, the powerful southern wind blew the sail and quickly made the transport ship sail towards the African continent.

A few days after setting out with Seclian’s fleet, Ansitanos separated from them before crossing the Strait of Messina.

With Syracusan ships not patrolling the southern coast of Sicily, the transport ships sailed all the way smoothly. However, due to countless merchant ships on this route, the helmsman of the transport ship has to be highly focused on controlling the rudder to avoid collisions.

Once it was almost noon, the outline of land appeared in front with thousands of ships converging towards it – it was Carthage, the powerful city-state established by the Phoenicians on the African continent.

The city of Carthage was built on a peninsula made up of a series of sandstone hills. On the northeast and southeast borders of the city were two narrow, wing-like pieces of land that extended outwards. The latter land almost bisected the sea and thus enclosing a vast lake (today’s Lake Tunis). Then continuous and steep sandstone cliffs flank the northern part of the peninsula, while a series of fortified walls, trenches and ramparts protect the enormous coastal plain to the south.

On the seaward side of the lake were two magnificent ports. Long and tall walls surround the outer sides of the port, which also acts as a breakwater, and the two ports are connected to each other with a common entrance that is 21-metres wide and can be closed with iron chains.

The first port was for the merchant ships to dock, so the dock area was built with massive sandstone as the material, making it strong and durable. Behind the dock were rows of tall and wide warehouses, with countless labourers transporting all kinds of goods to and from the port and warehouses…

The merchant ship would then stop at the dock one after another after entering the merchant port. But they were not allowed to occupy the middle passage for long because it was reserved for the Carthaginian warships to enter and exit as the military port was inside the merchant port. The military port was only separated by a very tall double wall, with only one water gate connected to it, and its width was only for two triremes to enter side by side…

Ansitanos, who was on the bow, stared at the military port while they docked. Unfortunately, the tall and thick double walls blocked his sight from seeing inside the military port.

However, Ansitanos already learned some information about the military port from the locals when he came last time. They said that a genius Carthaginian architect designed the circular military port by making the most flexible use of the available space according to the topography of the port. Moreover, small islands surrounded the military port with docks between the port and the island. On the banks were numerous docks that could easily accommodate more than 300 triremes.

After Ansitanos went ashore, he led his entourage and walked with the bustling crowd towards the city.

In the noisy flow of people in the port area, you could see all races in the Mediterranean, which also includes some races outside: Such as the extremely tall, fair-skinned Germanic people, the Briton with bodypaints on their bodies, and tribes that have skin as dark as the night that was said to come from the African desert south of Carthage, near the steep mountain the Chartaginian adventurers called the “Chariots of the gods”(which is present-day Mount Cameroon)…these are the “outside world” that the historian Ansitanos could never have imagined but was full of yearning.

‘In the Mediterranean, only the Carthaginians are capable of doing this!’ As he sighed, Ansitanos also ignored the strange glances from the pedestrians…

Many Greeks had come to trade in Carthage, with some even settling here. However, the several wars between Carthage and Syracuse that caused heavy casualties to the Carthaginians resulted in their attitude towards the Greeks changing to the point that those Greeks who settled in Carthage were expelled, their property confiscated, and some even killed on the spot. And only recently did their situation improves.

The centre of the city of Carthage is situated on a hill – Byrsa, and at the top is Carthage’s Acropolis.

The Acropolis has the Temple of Eshmun, famous throughout Africa. However, what is enshrined in the temple is not Melqart – the chief god of Phoenician city-states in the eastern Mediterranean, but Baal Hammon – another chief deity. In the minds of the Carthaginians, Baal Hammon was the king of the furnace, the lord of the new moon, and Carthage’s guardian. His colossal bronze statue, dressed in a long robe, wearing a cone-shaped headdress, with a long beard, holding a spear in one hand, and his other palm is open like giving blessings to others. The statue stood in the centre of the Acropolis, overlooking the city of Carthage. Another deity enshrined in the Temple of Eshmun was the wife of Baal Hammon and the female protector and guardian of the city – Tinit, and she wasn’t below her husband in the hearts of the Carthaginians.

With the Temple of Eshmun as the centre, the urban area of Carthage is arranged in a radial pattern down the hill.

When Ansitanos walked toward the city’s centre, he felt like he was climbing a mountain. The steep slopes and the narrow and crowded streets forced him to be careful not to fall.

But compared to the bad roads, the Carthaginians’ housing was almost all six-story tall buildings, standing in rows on both sides of the streets. Most of the housings are built using huge sandstone strips with walls painted with white gypsum, which can protect them from erosion of the environment and shine like a marble in the sunlight. While a few houses were made using marble, with gorgeous colours and peculiar patterns, which clearly shows the Carthaginians’ wealth.

After crossing the narrow street, Carthage’s square showed in front of Ansitanos. Located in the square were the Carthaginian Senate and Temple of Melqart. (The square is actually behind the military port and not far from the place Ansitanos landed. However, it took longer to reach here because they had to take detours around the military port.

But Ansitanos did not go straight to the Senate. Instead, he went through the square and reached another street, which was different from the others. Although it has wide roads, it has no tall houses. Instead, each of the houses has large courtyards.

Ansitanos then came to a gate of a luxurious mansion, according to his memory, where one of the two shophtim of Carthage lived, and now Carthage’s true ruler – “The Great” Hanno.

When Ansitanos came to Carthage the last time, he also came to visit Hanno first. Unfortunately, he couldn’t meet Hanno as he was at his manor outside the city. Therefore, Ansitanos really hopes he is lucky today.

But the truth is, Hanno had been staying in the city for some time already as the news of the Syracusan army’s victory in Magna Graecia made the members of Carthage’s Senate uneasy, so they had to keep watch on the progress of the war in Magna Graecia. When the servant came in to report, Hanno was on the balcony, lying naked on a comfortable Kline(sofa), basking in the warm sunshine while a young maid massaged him.

‘An envoy from Theonia ask for an audience!’ Hanno fell into deep thinking after he heard the servant. Currently, Theonia is the only force in Magna Graecia that is still fighting against Syracuse. Moreover, the news of Theonia’s fleet defeating Syracuse’s navy in the sea near Thurii had confirmed their strength, which resulted in the Carthaginians abandoning their contempt for this emerging Greek city-state that they did not know much about yet.

“Take him to the living and have him wait for me.” Hanno said.

After putting on his gorgeous robe and entering the living room, he saw Ansitanos standing in front of Baal Hammon’s statue and staring at it.

“Do the Greeks also worship our, Carthage’s, gods?” Hanno spoke while walking towards his seat.

“Esteemed Lord Hanno!” Ansitanos hurriedly greeted him, then he retreated to his seat and said, “I am just a bit curious about your god, Baal Hammon, because Sophocles mentioned that ‘Baal Hammon is very similar to Kronos’.” (Sophocles was a famous playwright in Athens.)

Hanno grunted as his face was covered with a layer of anger, “Stupid Greek, when we, the Phoenicians, created prosperity through trade in the Mediterranean hundreds of years ago, you Greeks were still cowering on your poor and barren land. And when we, Carthaginians, had sent our fleet across the Pillars of Heracles and sailed the oceans, you Greeks are just establishing your city-states in the western Mediterranean. If you had even a bit of brain, you would be able to tell that it is your gods and goddesses who are similar to our gods…”

“What you said might be right, and it would be even better if there were more evidence to prove it! So can you show me some information regarding it?” Ansitanos did not refute but earnestly requested.

Hanno was slightly surprised as he thought the Theonian envoy would become angry and argue with him. Hence when the other side showed such a serious attitude toward seeking the truth, it made him a little fond and curious about him.

Chapter 521 – First off, Terina

“Envoy of Theonia, I don’t think you are here to learn and research Carthage’s gods and goddesses.” Hanno said smilingly, “Unfortunately, our answer remained the same as last time. I fear you’ll just be disappointed, as we, Carthaginians, will always abide by our agreement with Syracuse.”

“Lord Hanno, we Theonians do not want to embarrass Carthage and no longer have the intention of allying with you.” Ansitanos then said seriously, “Rather, I am here on behalf of Theonia’s Senate in hopes to trade with Carthage.”

“What kind of trade?” Hanno asked with a jolt in his heart.

“Grain!” Ansitanos then bluntly said, “We are resisting Syracuse’s invasion, but due to their massive destruction of our territory, the food supply of Theonia is now very tight. If we can’t buy a large amount of grain from the outside, our army wouldn’t last long and be able to fight! At that time, Syracuse could easily defeat our soldiers and occupy Theonia, achieving their goal of completely controlling Magna Graecia.”

Hanno jolted. He then pondered and said, “We can consider it if it is only the purchasing of grains. This year, plenty of rainfall and abundant grain blessed Africa, so we have a lot of surplus grain. However, I heard that the population of Theonia is quite large, and I fear that the amount of grain you need is not small. Moreover, your war with Syracuse had lasted so long that can you still have the money to purchase grain?”

“I have heard that Carthage is also desperate for money these days, and you can’t give us favourable grain prices. Moreover, it is indeed true that our treasury is almost depleted, but our people have enthusiastically donated their treasured silver coins just to defeat Syracuse and restore peace to Magna Graecia, allowing us to afford to pay for the grain!” Ansitanos said passionately.

His words shook Hanno, not only because the Theonians showed their determination to fight Syracuse but also because the sentence, “Carthage is also in urgent need of money”, which has affected his sensitive nerves.

‘Why would a wealthy city-state such as Carthage be short of money too?!’ It was because of their several wars with Syracuse that had depleted their treasury. Furthermore, even though the war had ended, Carthage’s consumption continued. For Carthage to defend against the powerful Syracuse, the Carthaginian Senate decided to rebuild their defence circle in western Sicily, ensuring their city’s safety. Hence they even appointed Mago as the military commander of Sicily and gave him some autonomy.

After Mago took his position, he began recruiting labourers and purchasing numerous materials to build the fortress. Thereafter, he recruited tens of thousands of mercenaries from Celtic, Numidia and the Iberian regions to make up for their shortage of troops due to the Carthaginian soldiers suffering heavy casualties in the war. For this reason, Carthage had to mint a large number of gold coins and silver coins with high purchasing power every month to pay the mercenaries, so they spent most of Carthage’s monthly trade income and minerals from Iberia and Sardinia on this.

But this wasn’t what concerned Hanno the most. Instead, it was the Magonids’ allies who had started supporting Mago after the Carthaginians became nervous at the rampaging of the Syracusan army in Magna Graecia. A few days ago, Mago even sent a letter asking the Senate to grant him the authority to mint coins in Sicily, saving them trouble and potential danger from transporting large amounts of coins back and forth by ships, such as a storm sinking the ship…resulting in the Senate to debate this issue for several days.

Hanno became uneasy due to Mago’s expanding power in Sicily, which threatened his political dominance in Carthage’s Senate. After all, Hanno would never allow Mago to take back the dominant rule of Carthage that he had taken from the Magonids!

Ansitanos then added after he saw Hanno’s brow furrowed and was deeply pondering, “Of course, with your permission, we would like to buy grains by paying part of it with Syracusan prisoners.”

“Syracusan prisoners?” Hanno was slightly puzzled as he wasn’t entirely clear about the exact battle situation even though he got the news of the Theonian navy’s victory.

“After our fleet defeated the Syracusans on the sea near Thurii, we managed to capture tens of thousands of Syracusan sailors. And these two times I came to Carthage, I could deeply feel the hatred of the Carthaginians toward the Syracusans, and the only way I could think to help them vent their hatred in their hearts is by turning these Syracusan captives into their slaves…” Ansitanos said calmly.

Hanno’s eye’s lit up at the thought of winning the goodwill of the Carthaginians just by exchanging grain for Syracusan slaves.

Of course, this was not what Hanno was most interested in. So he slightly leaned forward, looked at Ansitanos and asked seriously, “It’s indeed amazing that your fleet defeated the Syracusans! However, can your army defeat their powerful army?!”

The Carthaginians always considered their navy the strongest in the western Mediterranean. Even though they lost badly, they were unwilling to accept their defeat only because their loss wasn’t due to a real battle at sea. Instead, it was because their sailors couldn’t board at all due to the sudden attack or the ballistae attacking them while they were stuck in the bay. Thus even though Theonia’s victory in the naval is surprising, it did not bring a considerable shock to Hanno as the massive land army of Syracuse was the one that frightened the Carthaginians.

“Lord Hanno, if you know Theonia, you should know that our King Davos has never lost a battle since the founding of Theonia Union. Moreover, he had even won against larger enemy troops with only less on many occasions. And the only reason why Theonia even suffered some setbacks earlier in the war was that his majesty King Davos led his army to fight against the Samnites in the north. But after he led back his troops to Thurii, we won the naval battle due to his planning.

Before I left Thurii, King Davos led his army to Crotone to defend against the Syracusan army. Although the Syracusans are more than our soldiers, all our soldiers and officers have full confidence in his majesty Davos and are willing to obey his orders to fight the Syracusans to death! So as long as we have enough food, I believe we will be the one to get the final victory!” Ansitanos excitedly spoke, which is rare.

Hanno stroked his beard with glistening eyes. Although he had never commanded an army, he discussed the war situation in Magna Graecia with his subordinates familiar with the military and the statesmen who were close with him. Suppose Theonia could really defeat the Syracusan army, plus the disastrous defeat of their navy. In that case, the Syracusan soldiers who invaded Magna Graecia may not be able to return to Sicily again. So does Carthage still need to worry about Syracuse, who had suffered a significant loss in strength?! Furthermore, Carthage’s security to the north is guaranteed, so they wouldn’t need to be guarded against Syracuse in Sicily, let alone spend money to maintain numerous mercenaries. Besides, he would be able to revoke Mago’s position as commander of Sicily!…

After numerous thoughts flashed through Hanno’s mind, he smiled and said, “You should go to the Senate first thing tomorrow morning. After I invite you inside, I want you to say to the statesmen what Theonia wants.”

Ansitanos was overjoyed when he heard Hanno as the purchase of grain would definitely be approved by Carthage’s Senate.

“Thank you, Lord Hanno!” Ansitanos exclaimed gratefully.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

That same night, the news of Syracuse’s tragic defeat reached Terina, causing panic among the city defenders. Fortunately, it was too late at night, and they were afraid of encountering accidents while withdrawing to Scylletium in the dark.

Early the following morning, more than 3,000 Terina defenders began to prepare to retreat.

But soon after they left the city, a disaster struck: More than a thousand Hipponians were reluctant to go to Scylletium. Instead, they only wanted to return to their city-state in the south.

After some bargaining and argument, the Syracusan strategos reluctantly agreed, and by the time they resumed their retreat to the east, more than an hour had passed. But since they were carrying a lot of looted supplies, their movement slowed down. So, just after they crossed the Allaro River, the Theonian scout spotted them.

Ledes, who received the report, immediately sent someone to report to Davos in the rear while urgently leading more than a thousand cavalries to attack and harass them to delay their retreat to Scylletium.

After receiving the report, the first and second legions at the forefront of the marching column also sent the light-armoured soldiers and light infantry brigades for interception.

So when the two thousand or so defenders spotted the Theonian scouts, they felt dread. Thus, under their officers’ strict orders, they donned their armour, grabbed their shields and spears, and even abandoned their extra spoils to increase their marching pace.

However, the rugged mountainous road wasn’t easy to traverse. After half an hour later, the defenders were only 5 kilometres away from Scylletium, but the Theonian cavalries had already arrived.

But before the cavalries could even throw their javelins, the thousand Caulonian soldiers suddenly knelt and surrendered, leaving the already panicky Syracusan defenders panic even more.

Seeing the situation, Ledes decisively ordered the cavalry to immediately attack the enemy, resulting in the Syracusan defenders collapsing immediately. Under the pursuit of the cavalries, the Syracusan defenders were either killed or captured, with only a few hundred of the thousand men eventually fleeing back to Scylletium.

But the most unlucky ones were the Hipponians, who retreated to the south as they ran into the Rhegian army landing on the northern coast of Hipponion.

So how could Pheidon let go of this great opportunity of having the number advantage? Thus he immediately led the army to attack.

Chapter 522 – Siege of Scylletium

The Hipponian defenders watched in horror as the Rhegian army easily defeated their comrades outside the city, scattering them in all directions. However, they did not dare go outside the city to rescue them. On the contrary, they close the city gates tightly.

An hour later, more than 5,000 Rhegian soldiers surrounded the city of Hipponion.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

During that same time, Davos led his large army into Scylletium’s territory. While marching, Davos stayed quiet as he thought about what action to take next in order to completely defeat Syracuse and end the war.

Beside Davos was the cheerful Henipolis. In Davos’ tent last night, Davos finally accepted his idea and seriously conceived several proposals for him to safeguard Henipolis’ interest. Hence Henipolis felt relaxed when he woke up early this morning as he no longer had to think about Laos.

For a while, Henipolis excitedly talked with Tolmides, then chatted with Martius, wanting to know more about yesterday’s battle.

Finally, the Theonian army arrived outside Scylletium without any hindrance.

Davos then took the guard with him to scout the city: Scylletium’s wall is about seven metres high and has a perimeter of more than 500 metres. Although it has no moat, it instead has trenches in front of the city. It also has three gates, one to the west, one to the south and one to the north. Moreover, its port was enclosed within the walls as it was integrated with the city. Scylletium wasn’t a big city compared to Thurii and Crotone, but it was bigger than Terina and Hipponion.

After interrogating the prisoners last night, Davos learned of Syracuse’s forces in Scylletium: Besides the 4,000 troops stationed in Scylletium, they had more than 20,000 civilians and slaves from Syracuse and its allies, who were mainly responsibly for transporting rations and supplies.

Moreover, there is also a special group of people that Dionysius took from Sicily: Mathematical scholars, highly skilled construction engineers, equipment manufacturers, carpenters, shipwrights…and so on. They numbered nearly a thousand people and were responsible for allowing Dionysius to breach the city of Crotone as they were the ones who produced the ballistae, siege towers, gastraphetes…and other various siege equipment and facilities… They are also the group that Davos coveted to get the most.

Besides them were the captured Crotonian and Scylletian soldiers in the Battle of Allaro River. Although Dionysius sold some of the captives to the slave merchants, they still had three or four thousand people.

However, with the defeated Syracusan soldiers retreating to Scylletium now, the number of people in the city was probably as high as 60,000. If Dionysius hadn’t killed and sold the Scylletians, Scylletium would not have been able to accommodate so many people.

Davos watched the Syracusan soldiers on top of the city wall and imagined whether the Syracusan soldiers, who had just suffered a defeat, would maintain their composure once he gave the order to attack the city.

Naturally, Davos would not rush to attack a city that has more than 30,000 soldiers and possible 20,000 reserve soldiers. Besides, he has other plans.

At the top of the city wall, Dionysius stared at the group of men and horses running around with a complicated expression. Then his gloomy voice squeezed out from his teeth, “I heard that Davos of Theonia likes to observe the enemy before every big battle, so I guess he must be somewhere there!”

“Do you want to fire a ballista at them and hope Apollo would bless you and have a stone projectile hit him right on the head?” Phidias, whose hands, arms and waist were wrapped in bandages, said mockingly. He was badly wounded in yesterday’s battle but was lucky to escape. After getting treated and sleeping until noon today, he heard the arrival of the Theonian army, so he braced himself to climb the city wall.

Dionysius did not respond as Phidias guessed his thought was.

“I truly didn’t expect that this young man was the reason for our powerful army’s defeat!” Phidias exclaimed with doubt as he had still not had the time to think about the details of yesterday’s battle after fleeing back to the city. Thus even until now, he still couldn’t figure out how the Syracusan army had lost.

“We failed precisely because the Theonians had completely seen through your battle arrangements and made targeted changes…” Dionysius closed his eyes painfully: The quick change of direction of Theonia’s left-wing, the hidden sarissa phalanx behind the cavalry, and the rear attack of Theonia’s reserve on their right-wing…

He didn’t want to recall yesterday’s nightmarish battle. He even placed the main responsibility for their defeat on the Spartan with resentment as he didn’t want to admit the fact that the Theonians were far better than his Syracusan soldiers. Even though their left, centre and right-wing had more troops than the Theonians, they still failed to pressure the other side that they could even dare to deploy their troops and carry out their plans daringly.

Now it’s Phidias’ turn to be speechless. Although he still hasn’t found the reason for their defeat, it’s a fact that his tactics didn’t work.

“Still, it’s just a defeat in a battle. A few years ago, the situation was even more critical than today when the Carthaginians had defeated us in a battle. At that time, not only there was a large army surrounding us, but even our populace rioted. However, under my command and with the help of our allies, you Spartans, we finally defeated Carthage that I even heard the Carthaginian general Himilco committed suicide!” Dionysius then looked at his demoralised men and realised they could no longer afford to lose, so he needed to cheer them up. Otherwise, the next battle will become even more challenging. At the same time, he could not be hard on Phidias because of Syracuse’s extremely unfavourable situation, as they still needed to rely on the Spartan even more, “Although they are proud of their victory today, we Syracusans, with the protection of Apollo, will let those Theonians, who were just freemen a few years ago, know that the final victor of this war will only belong to Syracuse!”

“Lord Dionysius is right. In the past few years, we first lost the battle when facing Carthage but won the war and finally became the master of Sicily! Is Theonia more powerful than Carthage?!” Damocles immediately followed up.

“There is no need to fear the Theonians! We just need to rally our soldiers’ morale and wait for the opportunity to fight back!” Phacipessas spoke loudly as well.

After getting encouraged, the strategoi and officials’ faces became brighter, and even Phidias’ frustration disappeared. However, only the intelligence officer – Androstini, wondered, ‘If Dionysius was not afraid of Theonia, why would he secretly send an envoy?…’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After going around the city, Davos returned to the army and ordered them to build a camp 500 metres away from the city.

Davos planned to take advantage of the enemy’s defeat and low morale to set up a camp near the city. Afterwards, they would quickly have their two wings advance for a complete siege.

As soon as the heralds issued Davos’ order, half of the 50,000 troops began digging trenches and building earthen walls, while the other half were fully armed and alert of Syracuse’s sneak attack. On the other hand, Siprus led the more than 1,000 Terinian soldiers to the west as they eagerly wanted to take back their homeland – Terina.

Just as Davos urged the whole army to speed up the camp’s construction, Tolmides came to report that a Syracusan envoy asked to see him.

“Oh, it’s you again!” Davos smiled as he saw the envoy of Syracuse, “Did Dionysius send you this time to surrender?”

“Lord Davos, Syracuse is the hegemon of Sicily. Besides our 70,000 soldiers and 500,000 population, we also have more than a dozen city-states as allies that would accept our calling.” Damocles then proudly said, “So even if we lost in the naval and land battle, and lost a lot of ships and soldiers, this defeat means nothing. After all, we, Syracusans, could still organise another army no less than the current army that had come to Magna Graecia at any time! But can Theonia do the same?!”

“Since Syracuse is so powerful, why have you come here instead of welcoming your new army at Scylletium’s port?!” The clerk, Henipolis, spoke out with a sneer.

Damocles ignored him and looked at Davos as he solemnly said, “If the war between Syracuse and Theonia continues, the strength of our Greeks in the western Mediterranean would weaken no matter who wins or losses and would only benefit those people like the Carthaginians, Messapians, Samnites…those indigenous races who hate us Greeks. I think that neither Lord Dionysius nor Lord Davos wants to see such a situation happen. Hence Lord Dionysius sent me to ask Lord Davos a question on his behalf and proposed, ‘Does Lord Davos agree to a truce?’”

“What a ridiculous joke! Who was it that led their great army to invade Magna Graecia to burn, slaughter and plunder, doing nothing but all kinds of evil?! How come that tyrant of yours at that time did not consider that such fierce invasion and slaughter would greatly weaken the Greeks on the Italian peninsula, benefiting the nearby natives?! But now that you have suffered defeats, you remembered to make peace to defend the interests of the Greeks?!!” Henipolis sneered, “I just want to know if Dionysius knows the word ‘shameless’?!”

Damocles evaded the question and instead said with a straight face, “It wasn’t Syracuse who started the war first, but the South Italian Alliance! If you did not plan to attack Locri, we wouldn’t accept our allies’ invitation to come to Magna Graecia-”

Henipolis laughed and angrily said, “Now I know what-”

At this time, Davos raised his hand to stop Henipolis from continuing, so Henipolis could only glare at the Syracusan envoy with hatred.

Chapter 523 – Davos’ Strategic Plan

“Since Dionysius wishes to have a truce, what conditions did he give?” Davos calmly asked as if Damocles didn’t say anything, which pressured him instead.

Damocles leaned over and said, “Lord Dionysius proposed that after the Syracusan army returns to Sicily, we would return all the occupied lands and cities of Magna Graecia, as well as our captives. But the South Italian Alliance must pledge that they would not declare war on the Locrian Alliance…”

“What?!” Henipolis couldn’t hold himself back after hearing this, so he shouted again, “Do you take us for a fool?! You slaughtered many Theonians, turned our territories outside Krimisa and Aprustum into ruins, provoked civil unrest in the Bruttii Region… Yet you want to escape back to Sicily with just a peace negotiation now that you suffered a defeat, trapped in Scylletium, and we are about to settle this blood debt with you?!”

This time, Damocles did not turn a deaf ear as he looked at Davos and said thoughtfully, “You can also put forward your conditions.”

Davos pondered for a moment and said, “Come back tomorrow. I still need to consider this matter and have to discuss it with our allies.”

After hearing this, Damocles looked at Davos’ complicated expression and immediately rejoiced inwardly, ‘It seems we have hope for a truce!’

After Damocles left, Henipolis could no longer hold himself back and asked, “Your majesty, you…do you really want to make peace with the Syracusans?!”

“Do you think that’s possible?!” The calm Davos suddenly became serious.

“But you just…just-” Henipolis seemed to realise something.

“The Syracusan envoy just reminded me that even if we wipe out the enemy here, Syracuse could still put together another large army to continue fighting us, so-” Davos gazed at the bustling camp before him and said in a determined tone, “We can’t just focus our sight on Magna Graecia! There is a saying, ‘If you don’t kill the wolf, the wolf would instead wound you.’ Thus we must think of every possible way to completely kill this vicious wolf named Syracuse!”

Henipolis became excited and said, “Your majesty, will we attack Sicily?!”

Davos nodded and, considering that this young man would be his confidant in the future, he revealed to him, “Aristias’ men have long operated in Sicily, and with the victory of this battle, we just need to add another-”

At this moment, Tolmides came and happily reported, “Your majesty, Seclian sent a messenger and said that his fleet with 5,000 Rhegian soldiers landed on the coast of Hipponion and had now surrounded the city!”

Davos wasn’t surprised as he had already heard Seclian’s plan from Hielos. After stroking his chin and thinking, Davos ordered, “Tolmides, go and call Hielos, Antonios and Hieronymus.”

“Roger.” Tolmides turned around and left.

“Heni, I’ll dictate, and you write a letter for me.”

“Alright!” Henipolis answered excitedly as this was the first time he had accepted the task as a clerk. As Davos’ tent had not yet been built, Henipolis looked around and quickly found a board, cut a piece of papyrus, lay on the grass and asked,  “To whom should I address the letter.”

“Lord Athelycus, Rhegium’s polemarchos.”

“Oh.” Henipolis’ eyes twinkled as he knew that it was Davos’ father-in-law.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Before long, several strategoi arrived.

Davos didn’t exchange pleasantries with them as he bluntly said, “Time is urgent! Rhegium’s army has now landed and surrounded the city of Hipponion, so Medma’s defenders would probably head north to rescue them. Thus I ask you to lead the troops under your command to Hipponion immediately, repel Locri’s reinforcements and capture the city of Hipponion. In addition, I will send you a siege brigade.”

After saying that, Davos swept his gaze across the faces of the strategoi that he trusted one after another. In the end, it landed on Hielos: The capture of Laos, the rapid march to Terina, the decisiveness to head north and cut off the fleeing Syracusan army…these series of military actions taken by Hielos during this period of independent leadership has amazed Davos.

So Davos said, “Hielos will be the commander of this joint army, so you must obey his orders!”

When Ledes heard this, he had no objection. After all, the cavalry has always been a subsidiary of the infantry and rarely took independent military operations. Moreover, the cavalry would be useless during the siege on Scylletium, so he was already happy enough to be sent out to fight.

Hieronymus only frowned and didn’t say anything. Back in Persia, he was a mercenary leader, while Hielos was just a small squad leader. Yet even though he has more qualifications, Hieronymus now needs to listen to Hielos’ commands. Although Hieronymus had misgivings, he didn’t have a desire to fight for power and profit as long as the grand legatus still valued him. More importantly, Hielos’ performance in Magna Graecia for the past few years, both in military and political matters, is obvious to all.

While Antonios felt uncomfortable, after all, Hielos used to be his subordinate, and he has now to listen to Hielos’ command. What’s more, he thought his ability was not inferior to Hielos, and he was leading the most powerful legion of Theonia – the first legion. Once those proud soldiers heard it, they would certainly protest.

Thinking of this, Antonios was about to speak when Hielos immediately said, “Your majesty, I think Lord Antonios is much more suited to be the commander of this military operation; not only is he experienced, but his first legion is also the main force of this operation! So if he is the commander, all our brothers would willingly follow his command!”

Antonios glanced at him, then turned to Davos.

Davos smiled lightly due to Hielos’ speech becoming more rhetorical just after several years of practice.

After shaking his head lightly, Davos said, “Antonios cannot be the commander on this attack as the first legion has a more important mission!”

Antonios could only listen with doubt in his mind, ‘Is there anything more important than attacking Scylletium or Locri?!’

“Legatus Hieronymus, Ledes, you two shall fully assist Hielos in repelling the Locrian and takedown Hipponion as soon as possible!” Davos clenched his fists and swung them downward, “If you have a chance, push your way to Medma so that the Locrians have no place on the west coast of Magna Graecia!”

Hieronymus and Ledes immediately said they were willing to obey Hielos’ command.

“Those are just my suggestions. For the specific actions, there is no need to ask me, so you must flexibly think about it yourselves according to the battlefield’s situation. I believe you would exceed my expectation.” After Davos motivated the three, he then said to Hielos, “This trip to Hipponion involves the cooperation of the Rhegian army, so you must handle your relationship with them.”

“I will, your majesty.” Hielos nodded cautiously.

Davos then reassured him, “There is no need for you to worry so much. I heard that Rhegium’s commanding strategos – Pheidon, who is brave and experienced, is easy to get along with and knows how to see the whole picture.”

Then he looked at Antonios and said, “After the first legion arrives at Hipponion, you shall assist Hielos in repelling the Locrian reinforcements. If it is easy to take the city of Hipponion, then the first legion will participate in the siege. Otherwise, the first legion should not stay in Hipponion for long. Instead, go to Hipponion’s coast, board Seclian’s fleet, and go to Rhegium.”

“The first legion would go to Rhegium?!” Antonios was surprised.

“Yes, to Rhegium.” Davos took a letter from Henipolis, handed it to Antonios, and earnestly instructed him, “Hand this letter to Lord Athelycus of Rhegium. If he provides you with rations and other assistance as stated in the letter, then Sicily would be the first legion’s final destination. But if he refuses, then the first legion must return to Hipponion.”

“Sicily?!” the strategoi were all shocked at what Davos uttered.

“What? Scared?!” Davos teased Antonios.

Antonios was dissatisfied with Davos selecting Hielos as the commander of the expedition. Yet now that he learned he and his army would leave Magna Graecia for an independent expectation to Sicily, he started feeling the pressure. But Davos’ tease made him brace himself and say, “The first legion…is willing to go to Sicily.”

“The first legion is the strongest among the Theonian legion. Many of its soldiers are old brothers who participated in the Persian expedition, so they have rich experience fighting in enemy territory. Hence if the first legion could not accomplish this plan, the other legions would certainly not be able to gain a foothold in Sicily!” Davos said to Antonios, full of expectation.

Antonios responded with a smile.

“There is no need for you to be nervous. Although Syracuse controlled most of Sicily, it relied on its strong military power and tyranny to deter the otherwise independent Sicily city-states, forcing them into submission. Then Dionysius placed tyrants in those city-states to assist him in ruling and collecting high tributes to maintain his huge military expenses. Thus the Greeks in Sicily and even those in Syracuse have long been very dissatisfied with Dionysius!”

Chapter 524 – Caulonia’s Choice

“But now that we are holding Syracuse’s huge army in Magna Graecia, and once the news of their navy’s and army’s disastrous defeat reaches Sicily, it will certainly make those people have different thoughts! Theonia couldn’t compare to Syracuse, so even if we completely wiped out their army in Scylletium, they would just need to rest for a few years to restore its strength and pose massive trouble for Theonia again. Therefore, for Theonia’s future, we should take advantage of this opportunity now that Syracuse is heavily damaged and destroy its hegemony in Sicily!”

Davos’ words significantly moved the strategoi, and while they were pondering, Davos continued to say to Antonios, “I have already sent my men to the eastern part of Sicily to contact those forces in the various city-states who oppose Syracuse, and I believe that the news of Syracuse’s army’s defeat in Magna Graecia will definitely make them act!

So when you arrive in Sicily, the most important thing you do is not to wipe out how many enemies but to contact those dissatisfied with Syracuse, overthrow the tyrants of those city-states, and have them break away from the Sicilian Alliance under the leadership of Syracuse, and finally isolate Syracuse!…”

Davos’ words elated Antonios, who finally understood that Davos sent him as the expedition commander to Sicily because he was the most friendly among the several legatus.

When Henipolis unfolded the map of Sicily on the grass, everyone gathered around him.

Davos then asked, “Legatus Antonios, where do you think is the best place for the first legion to land in Sicily?”

Although this was a test for Antonios, the others are also staring at the map and thinking. But unlike Davos, who considered things more comprehensive and long-term, they were only familiar with Magna Graecia and were unaware of Sicily.

Antonios squatted on the ground as he stared at the map, which was still unfamiliar to him, trying to remember every city, every river, and every mountain range marked on it. Then his gaze moved northward from Syracuse, Tauromenium, Leontinoi, Catania, Naxos, and finally stopping at the corner only one strait away from Rhegium…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At dusk, the city of Caulonia suddenly became lively with the return of the more than 2,000 soldiers who the Syracusans forced to follow them.

The people then embraced their loved ones, looking for warmth and thanking the Theonians for their kindness; Those who had lost their loved ones wept and cursed the Syracusans for bringing them disaster; Those whose loved ones were trapped in Scylletium were worried and prayed to Apollo to keep them safe in the ensuing battle.

At this time, in the council of Caulonia, its members argued over a letter brought back by the soldiers.

Polemarchos Phlarinus finally could no longer endure and stood up as he loudly said, “Citizens of Caulonia, we are now facing the survival or death of Caulonia. If you are still thinking of delaying and not giving a clear answer to the South Italian Alliance, Caulonia will be in danger!”

His statement reduced the quarrelling in the city hall. Then someone stood up and retorted with dissatisfaction, “Lord Phlarinus, you are saying the opposite! With Theonia defeating Syracuse and besieging them in Scylletium, we are now completely safe and out of danger of being killed and plundered by the Syracusans!”

“Completely safe?!” Phlarinus sneered, looked at the others, and shouted, “Is that what you all think?!”

“Of course not!” A man stood up, and Phlarinus recognised him as Eulipatos.

“I agree with you about Caulonia being in danger! Everyone, while listening to the letter from archon Davos of Theonia, did you notice what it said? ‘…After repeated discussions with the strategoi of Crotone and Terina, we unanimously agreed that we would send back the more than two thousand Caulonian soldiers we captured in the battle with the Syracusans and in the battle to take Terina home….’

You might have only seen Theonia’s kindness for safely returning our soldiers, but you didn’t understand the sentence ‘repeated discussion’ in the letter? What does this mean?” Eulipatos increased his tone and said, “It shows that the Crotonians, Terinians, and even some Theonians are unhappy with us sending our troops to join the Syracusans! Participating in defending Terina, capturing Crotone, fighting the Theonians, all of these actions we took have made them upset!”

“But we were forced!” Someone in the crowd shouted, “If we didn’t participate, Caulonia would suffer the same fate as Scylletium!”

“That’s right! As Caulonia’s ally for many years, they should have understood that we had no choice but to make this decision!” Then the people in the city hall shouted in agreement.

“They understand it; that’s why they released our citizens. It is also why we now have to respond to Theonia’s goodwill!” Eulipatos then solemnly said, “Don’t forget what Davos said at the end of the letter, ‘Having won the battle against Syracuse, the South Italian Alliance is now making every effort to fight back and completely wipe out the Syracusans and their allies, the Locrian Alliance! Therefore, I hope that Caulonia will seriously consider returning to the South Italian Alliance, take up your shield and spears, and join us in resisting the invaders. Everyone in the South Italian Alliance is eagerly awaiting your answer!…’

Everyone, is this archon Davos of Theonia’s request? No! That is his warning to Caulonia! It is the ultimatum given to us by the South Italian Alliance! If we don’t make a clear statement on this, the South Italian Alliance will regard Caulonia as an ally of Syracuse and Locri. Maybe in a few days, the South Italian Alliance will no longer send their messengers but their army!”

The place suddenly became quieter. However, some still objected, “Eulipatos, it’s not that we don’t want to fight Syracuse. But don’t forget that we still have a thousand soldiers in Scylletium! Once Dionysius learned about Caulonia’s betrayal, his cruel personality will make sure our comrades die miserably in his hands! Then who would dare bear this responsibility and face the wrath of the families of the deceased?!”

“That’s right! It’s not that we don’t want to go to war with the Syracusans who oppress us, but we need to be careful as it’s the lives of our citizens at stake! At least compared to the vicious Syracusans, we have been allies with Crotone and Terina for decades while Theonia is known for their generosity and magnanimity, so they should forgive our hesitation!” The others in the city hall echoed.

Phlarinus could no longer endure as he shouted again, “Everyone, you think too well of our former allies! The people of Scylletium were slaughtered! Terina was captured, and its people were displaced! The city of Crotone was burnt down, and half of its people were killed and wounded! Even Theonia Union has lost no less than 10,000 people, and the places outside Krimisa and Aprustum became ruins! Compared to them, even if we add the loss of these 1,000 soldiers, Caulonia’s loss is still relatively minor!”

“Lord Phlarinus, what do you mean by those words?! Don’t the lives of our 1,000 soldiers matter?!” Someone immediately asked.

“The South Italian Alliance will not think they matter! The only thing they think is that we have paid too little sacrifice. Although our soldiers were forced, don’t forget that we have invaded their territories and attacked their cities. If we regard their last kindness as their tolerance for us and don’t make a quick decision, the anger and jealousy they feel will grow like weeds and urge them to list Caulonia as an object they must destroy like Syracuse and Locri! By then, who else can Caulonia rely on?! Syracuse? We all know very well that if they won this war, Syracuse would only support Locri in annexing us! In this war that involved all the city-states of Magna Graecia, we could only either fight and survive or fight and perish! No city-state will be able to survive without fighting!! Everyone, I am willing to take on the responsibility of facing the people’s wrath and be the first to vote for Caulonia to rejoin the South Italian Alliance and declare war on Syracuse and Locri, so decide Caulonia’s fate!!!”

Silence shrouded the room as Phlarinus’ heavy speech moved everyone present and prompted them to weigh the gains and losses more deeply.

“I am willing to be the second to support Caulonia’s declaration of war against Syracuse!” Eulipatos stood up.

Then a third…

In the end, the council passed the “declaration of war against Syracuse” by a narrow margin. Then in the emergency ecclesia, many citizens expressed strong opposition. Some had even rushed to the stage to beat Phlarinus, but the more than 2,000 citizens that Theonia returned had played a significant role, allowing Caulonia to rejoin the South Italian Alliance.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After the Locrian army repelled the Rhegian’s attack on Medma, Locri’s 15,000 soldiers stayed and guarded Medma.

When Theophantes, the leading strategos, received the news of “Syracuse’s victory in the north”, he eagerly wanted to lead his army into Theonia’s territory with the Syracusans and defeat the Theonian army to wash away his shame of being forced to retreat by the Theonians without fighting them in Crotone.

Chapter 525 – Great Victory in Hipponion

Due to Dionysius’ concern about their rear, he strictly ordered the Locrians to guard against the Rhegians and made them stop another sneak attack on Medma. At the same time, the Locrian army had to help defend Terina from the Theonian army appearing on the Ophemia plain through Clampetia. Thus Locri’s main force was forcibly held in the city of Medma by Dionysius.

Theophantes felt frustrated because of that, but when the news about Syracuse’s navy losing twice to Theonia, he had to be more vigilant: Since Theonia, who had the advantage of the sea, could send their troops to the rear of the battlefield – Scylletium, Hipponion, Terina, Caulonia, and even Locri. He knew that the city was almost devoid of soldiers as most of their soldiers were in Medma, with a small number following the Syracusan army.

So Theophantes no longer wished to go to the frontline to fight and even began hoping that Syracuse’s strong army would defeat the Theonians and suppress them. He then also started paying attention to the nearby enemy.

After learning that Seclian’s fleet had entered Taurania, Theophantes became even more nervous. But since the Theonian ships blocked the port of Medma, he could only send scouts to see the enemy movements on the other side of the river.

This morning, Theophantes received a report from his scouts about a change of movements in the port of Taurania, resulting in him feeling something foreboding.

Sure enough, a messenger from Hipponion came from the north and anxiously told him that the Rhegian army was about to attack Hipponion, so they hoped Locri’s army could rush to their rescue!

Theophantes was already prepared, so as soon as they found out the whereabouts of the Rhegian army and the Theonian fleet, he became relieved and immediately led 10,000 soldiers to the north while leaving 5,000 soldiers to defend Medma.

By noon, Theophantes and his army entered Hipponion’s territory.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Pheidon did not panic even after learning about the Locrian army’s arrival. After landing on the coast of Hipponion, he sent cavalry to inform the Theonian army that had landed on the Ophemia plain yesterday afternoon due to their prior agreement. However, he didn’t expect to meet the Terinians, who were entering the empty city of Terina. He then learned from them that the Theonian army had defeated the Syracusan army in the battle and reached the city of Scylletium.

The Rhegian scout immediately rushed to Scylletium to contact the Theonian army, which was when Davos sent Hielos, Antonios, Hieronymus, and Ledes to lead the army to support them.

After Pheidon got the wonderful news brought back by the scout, he was overjoyed in addition to being surprised. That’s why he was not alarmed by the imminent arrival of the enemy reinforcement. On the contrary, he was secretly delighted.

While sending a scout to inform the Theonian reinforcements on the way, he took up a position just outside the city of Hipponion.

An hour later, the Locrian army rushed outside the city of Hipponion.

After seeing the Rhagian army’s readiness to fight, Theophantes was not afraid as he had more soldiers. After arranging the formation, Theophantes immediately attacked.

Pheidon considered baiting the enemy, but the Rhegian army would have difficulty executing such tactics with only a few military training a year. So he simply chose to fight desperately with their sword and spear.

The Rhegians, whose number was only half of the enemy, were naturally not their opponents. After fighting for a while, they were finally defeated because the enemy attacked their two flanks, which resulted in the soldiers throwing their helmets and armours and fleeing north.

Naturally, Theophantes had no intention of letting go of these fleeing Rhegians. In fact, he was annoyed by the Rhegian army led by Pheidon during this period because the weak Rhegian soldiers were actually quite obstinate under Pheidon’s leadership. Even after suffering tragic defeat by the Locrians while they were sieging Medma and were forced the return to Taurania, the Rhegian still crossed the river from time to time to harass him.

Now that the Rhegians were trapped in the land between Hipponion and Allaro River and had no place to escape, it was a rare opportunity for Theophantes to wipe out this annoying pest and obtain brilliant achievements and win a reputation for himself.

Thus Theophantes led the soldiers to pursue them to stop the Rhegians from running to the ships and escaping Hipponion.

Theophantes’ idea was beautiful. However, the information he and Pheidon knew was not equal.

The Syracusan strategos stationed in Terina didn’t send someone to inform Hipponion about Syracuse’s disastrous defeat that night, as he intended to send one the next day. But after their troops split up, the strategos simply did not send a messenger because he thought that the soldiers returning to Hipponion would report the situation to their city-state.

Unexpectedly, the returning Hipponian army encountered the disembarking Rhegian army in the north of Hipponion just after crossing the Allaro River and was soon defeated. Afterwards, Pheidon sent a small number of soldiers to chase the fleeing Hipponians, while the majority quickly moved south and surrounded the city of Hipponion. Unfortunately for the Locrians, the Hipponians had already sent a messenger to Medma asking for help after learning of the Rhegian’s landing, so Theophantes, by mistake, didn’t know about the important news of Theonia defeating the Syracusan army. Otherwise, he would have intensified his attack in order to remove the Rhegians before the Theonians could head south, or he would have never believed that the Theonians, who had only finished their battle last night, would be able to reach Hipponion in such a short time due to his battlefield experience.

But that’s how a “miracle” happened. After receiving Davos’ order, Theonia’s reinforcements soon set out, but halfway through their journey, they encountered the messenger sent by Pheidon. After a short discussion, Hielos, Antonios, Hieronymus, and Ledes made a plan: They would first send scouts to Terina and inform Siprus while they urged their troops to speed up their march.

After marching since morning, the Theonian soldiers were now somewhat tired. However, with the veterans of the first legion setting an example by taking the lead in seriously implementing the military orders and hearing that a victory awaited them once they reached Hipponion, the nearly 10,000 Bruttian recruits immediately took big strides forward.

By the time the Theonian reinforcements crossed the tributary of Allaro River and entered Hipponion’s territory from the east, the Locrians were already in hot pursuit of the Rhegians, forcing them into the narrow area between the coast and Allaro.

Although the Theonian fleet was anchored here, the panic-stricken Rhegians had no time to get on board. However, when Siprus saw that the Rhegians were about to be driven down to the sea by the enemy, the thousand Terinian soldiers he led hurriedly launched an attack after crossing the Allaro River.

The arrival of the Terinians caught the Locrians off guard as they thought it was the Syracusan defenders inside the city of Terina on the other side of the river.

Although the Terinians numbered fewer, the Locrians had long since scattered due to their pursuit: The soldiers could not find their officers while their officers could not control them. Since they were not in formation and disorganised, the Terinians’ attacked easily pierced them, but just as Theophantes hurriedly gathered the scattered soldiers to deal with this new threat, a deafening “Hades” shout rang out from their rear.

The Bruttian army led by Hielos, the Lucanian army led by Hieronymus, the first legion led by Antonios, and the cavalry legion led by Ledes, with a total of more than 15,000 people, marched towards the flank and rear of the Locrians with rumbling footsteps.

After seeing such terrifying sight, the scattered Locrian’s morale dropped to extremely low that they fled before even engaging the enemy in battle, leaving Hielos with the task of chasing them. After all, the Theonian army was the most experienced in chasing fleeing soldiers.

With the Allaro River to the north, the sea to the west, Terina to the northeast, the Theonian army to the southeast, and the sailors of Seclian’s fleet also disembarking and participating in the pursuit from the southwest, and the additional 1,000 cavalries, had resulted in the Locrians to be almost surrounded… In the end, they captured more than 9,000 people, with only less than a thousand managing to escape Theonia’s pursuit, which excluded Theophantes. Although he had already thrown away his helmet, the dazzling armour that he specially made to show his uniqueness to ordinary citizens made him the target of the Theonian cavalries’ pursuit.

After the battle, Hielos and Antonios went to meet Pheidon, who was busy cleaning up the wounds of the wounded Rhegian soldiers.

Hielos and Antonios looked at each other, then Antonios stepped forward and called out to him with respect, “Strategos Pheidon!”

Only then did Pheidon raise his head from his busy work and see soldiers wearing a helmet with purple and red plumes. He quickly wiped out the bloodstain on his hand with his armour, told the soldiers next to him to continue with the work, and promptly stood up and praised loudly, “Strategoi of Theonia, your arrival is timely! You had even completely defeated the main force of the Locrians in this battle!”

“You are wrong, strategos Pheidon.” Antonios’ words surprised Pheidon, and immediately afterwards, he heard him say, “This is a victory obtained by the joint efforts of Theonia, Rhegium, and Terina! It is a glorious victory that belongs to our South Italian Alliance!”

Pheidon smiled and said, “You are absolutely right!” His mood became pleasant as this victory suddenly lightened Taurania’s pressure.

Chapter 526 – Hidden Warfare

Antonios looked at the wounded soldiers behind him and added with concern, “Our medical brigade will arrive soon, so please permit them to treat your wounded soldiers.”

“That’s wonderful! I have long heard of Theonia’s medical skills being the best in the whole of Magna Graecia!” Pheidon became even happier.

As the two sides greeted and introduced themselves, the atmosphere became harmonious.

At this moment, the navarch – Seclian, also arrived. If it were before the war when the Theonian navy was first established and did not achieve any decent results, these strategoi would not really care about him even though Davos greatly valued him. But after winning the two naval battles and making the attack on Hipponion possible, now Seclian received the respect of every strategoi and talked to him as an equal.

While describing yesterday’s thrilling battle, Pheidon and Seclian yearned and wished they were there.

“Navarch Seclian.” At this moment, Antonios pulled out a papyrus and said with seriousness, “This is his majesty’s order to you.”

Seclian immediately opened it and was surprised after reading it, “His majesty wants me to follow your command and transport the first legion to Sicily?!”

Antonios nodded solemnly.

When Pheidon heard this, he immediately asked, “Are you going to attack Sicily?!”

Antonios nodded again and said, “We know nothing about Sicily, so we need your help, strategos Pheidon.” This is the reason why he took out the papyrus on this occasion.

But instead of refusing, Pheidon enthusiastically said, “Lord Davos made the right decision! We Rhegians, because of our proximity to Sicily, know very well how powerful Dionysius is in Sicily. And it is indeed true that destroying his army that invaded Magna Graecia is not enough; only by weakening his power in Sicily can we eradicate his threat to Magna Graecia! I am more than willing to share my relatively deep knowledge of the Greek city-states in eastern Sicily with you.”

After thanking him, Antonios eagerly discussed the matter with Pheidon and Seclian.

Hielos and Hieronymus, on the other hand, were not idle. As it was already getting late, they regrouped their men and escorted the prisoners to Terina to rest at Siprus’ invitation of Siprus. Then the following morning, they would attack the city of Hipponion.

Now that the Theonians knew that they struck Locri hard, the empty Hipponion could no longer resist their attack.

Therefore, Hielos sent messengers to report the battle situation to Davos and asked him what to do to Hipponion.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

After Damocles returned, Dionysius became slightly relieved because when studying Davos, he learned that Davos wasn’t someone who spared no one and often left his opponent a chance to live. So Dionysius despised this kind of female kindness. Yet now, he hopes that Davos will continue to do so.

“Davos is still young!” With this satisfactory result, Dionysius could not help but sneer as this kind of verbal pleasure could temporarily relieve him of his fear of the young man that had begun growing in his heart, ‘To be able to reverse the whole situation of being surrounded by enemies, this new king of Theonia has a terrifying commanding ability! Still, as long as he is willing to make a truce…’

Dionysius has even begun imagining the Theonian’s harsh condition in the peace negotiation tomorrow. Still, Dionysius decided to accept Theonia’s conditions as long as it is not too severe. After all, Syracuse would not suffer much loss of power if he could return to Sicily with his tens of thousands of soldiers, and Theonia were to release all the captured soldiers just like what they did to Crotone. It would also secure his tyrant status from significant threat and maintain his hegemony of Sicily! As for the peace agreement that he would sign with Theonia?…once he restored Syracuse’s strength, it would just be a scrap of paper! Dionysius had no intention of abiding by it as he would not be like Davos, who would foolishly keep any promises to have a good reputation!

Still…he needs to think of ways to deal with Davos from other aspects…as Dionysius pondered, his long, narrow eyes gleamed with frightening, murderous light.

Suddenly, an attendant came in and reported, “Milord, the ships and sailors are all ready and are just waiting for your order.”

“Let them wait until night and only depart after making sure there are no enemy ships outside the port.” Dionysius then seriously said, “Tell them that we entrust the lives of the citizens of Syracuse to them, and I hope that they will return home successfully under Apollo’s blessing, despite all difficulties and dangers!”

The Theonian fleet blocked Scylletium’s port after the Syracusans’ retreat, but they could not completely block the port for 24 hours a day. Especially at night as the sailors needed to go ashore to eat and rest while the ships needed to dock on Crotone’s port for maintenance, drying and removing maggots. Otherwise, they could not guarantee the hull’s toughness. And even if they sent platoon ships to blockade in turn, they dare not scatter too much for fear of losses. After all, Syracuse still has more than 30 ships in Scylletium’s port.

Thus they think that the defence outside Scylletium’s port is relatively lax late at night, allowing the ships sent by Dionysius to depart smoothly. However, sailing in the dark is much greater; just encountering storms, reefs, deviation from the course, and even the fleet heading south might cause these ships to be swept into a watery grave.

But Dionysius could only trust that one of these penteconters that he sent, manned by the most experienced helmsmen and sailors in his navy, would eventually return to the great port of Syracuse, allowing Philistus to know the Syracusan army’s difficulties in Magna Graecia.

Although Syracuse’s treasury was now exhausted, most of the young and middle-aged citizens were in Magna Graecia, and it was impossible to build a new ship in such a short time; Dionysius still believed in Philistus’ ability. He believes that Philistus could build an army of no less than 20,000 men, gather ships no less than one hundred triremes and prepare rations for 50,000 men that would last for two months… Of course, this is Dionysius’ preparation in case the peace negotiation fails. As for how to implement all of these, Dionysius could only pray to Apollo…

Watching his attendant leave, Dionysius also couldn’t sit still and decided to go to the blacksmith shop in the city.

Another reason for the peace negotiation was to buy time: The Syracusan army’s most pressing problem wasn’t the food(due to the massive reduction of troops in the battle, Scylletium’s food reserve was enough to last them for more than a month), but weapons and equipment…

Because after their defeat, the soldiers threw away their helmets, round shields, armours, spears and swords along the way to flee faster. Naturally, the enemy also threw their equipment to catch up with them, but the Theonians could just pick those up while cleaning the battlefield as the winner. On the other hand, the Syracusan soldiers could only flee into Scylletium with empty hands. Fortunately, they had collected thousands of weapons and equipment when they looted the city of Scylletium. However, that was still not enough, so he had to let the blacksmiths, who came with them and were responsible for repairing their weapons and equipment, step up their pace by using the blacksmith shop in the city to start making weapons and armours again. In addition, Dionysius even ordered his men to search for iron ore and scrap iron throughout the city.

Currently, he was about to inspect how this important work is progressing.

But halfway through, he suddenly remembered something, so he stopped and turned to the other direction – Phidias’ residence. Phidias was no longer useful as a military advisor as the war progressed, but he could still play his unique role in the peace negotiation as a Spartan.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Early the following morning, Phidias and the Syracusan envoy – Damocles, came to the camp that the Theonians were building.

But this time, Davos did not come out to receive him personally. Instead, he sent his clerk, Henipolis, to be in charge of the negotiation.

And as soon as Henipolis dismounted, he told Damocles the following, “Yesterday, his majesty Davos discussed with the strategoi and concluded that because of your supreme military commander – Dionysius’ bad reputation, you need to do something to show your sincerity before we could begin our peace negotiation.”

Damocles then immediately protested, “Theonian, this is a humiliation to our leader, Dionysius!”

“So what?!” Henipolis raised his head and said in an unusually arrogant manner, “Can Dionysius send more troops to threaten us, Theonians?! Oh, I forgot. He already tried, but he unfortunately failed! Now it is you who are asking for a truce!”

Damocles couldn’t retort for a while. After a moment of silence, he said in a suppressed tone, “What do you want us to do?”

Henipolis sneered inwardly and said with hatred, “The Numidians and Celts you hired had plundered and wantonly slaughtered our people outside the cities of Aprustum and Krimisa, not even sparing the elderly and the children. So we, Theonians, hope to drink their blood and eat their flesh! And since you want a truce, please cut off the heads of these ‘beasts’ who owe countless blood debts to the Magna Graecians and send them to us before we talk! I think they shouldn’t have many people left after the battle the day before yesterday.”

Chapter 527 – Researching Colossal Siege Tower

Damocles paled when he heard that and protested loudly, saying, “Ares is the witness of the ongoing war between Syracuse and Theonia, and any tragedy in the war is normal. Even after the Athenian navy ravaged the coasts of Sparta’s territory, the Spartans did not slaughter the Athenians after they won. Even we, Syracusans, did not wipe out all the Carthaginians in Sicily after defeating Carthage, even after their repeated slaughtering of the Sicilian city-states. Thus Theonia shouldn’t make such harsh demands, which is not according to the Greeks’ tradition!! ”

“So is it an ancient Greek tradition to allow the Syracusans to hire foreigners to slaughter defenceless Greek women, elderly, and children?!” Henipolis bared his fang and glared at him. Then he shouted, “Since you say this is a war, we Theonians are willing to continue fighting until we conquer Scylletium and cut off the heads of these foreigners whose hands are soaked with Theonian blood! Otherwise, we can only watch these murderers strut away once the peace treaty is signed, and his majesty Davos would not accept that! The brave soldiers of the legions would not accept that!! The entire Theonian population would not accept that!!!”

‘…once the peace treaty is signed, we can only watch them leave…’ These words struck Damocles, but he could only pretend to be helpless, “Your condition is too harsh! Can’t you change them slightly, like just the heads of some of them or just the lives of their leaders?”

“No! This is our most basic condition!!” Henipolis replied unyieldingly.

Damocles had no choice but to say, “Uh, I can’t decide this matter. I must go back to lord Dionysius and let him decide.”

With that, he looked at Phidias next to him. Then with the permission of Henipolis, he was blindfolded and sent out of the camp.

Phidias, however, did not leave and asked to meet Davos as Sparta’s envoy.

Hence Henipolis could not refuse, so he could only ask him to wait here and inform King Davos himself.

Phidias had to wait for some time, but it wasn’t because Davos was deliberately making it hard for him. Davos was really not near his tent as he went to the engineering camp.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Theonian army harvested a lot of supplies when they captured the Syracusan camp, which also included some siege equipment.

It was needless to say that Theonia copied the ballista from Syracuse. However, they later made further improvements and made Theonia’s ballista more refined and accurate by applying the parabolic theory.

The gastraphete was another Syracusan invention, and its principle was similar to that of a ballista, so the engineers could roughly replicate it after looking at its structure. After all, the most challenging part of a gastraphete was the pulley, which happened to be what the Theonian engineering brigade was best at.

Others like the battering ram, siege wagons…and so on could easily be copied. However, Davos still looked at them carefully as he needed to understand the siege methods and ideas of the Syracusans from these various siege engines. After all, it really shocked Davos when Syracuse captured the enormous city of Crotone. Compared with Syracuse, who attacked numerous cities in Sicily, the Theonian army, even though they were great in the field, was still inexperienced in siege battles, including Davos himself. So the quickest way to improve was to learn from the enemy.

Of course, the most eye-catching and complex to make among these siege engines is the siege tower. Theonia can also make siege towers, but their siege tower is simply small when compared to the one Syracuse made. Although the siege tower in front of them had only its base and the first floor constructed, its scale alone is already quite impressive: It is 20 metres long, six-seven metres wide, and it’s more like a wall than a tower.

Davos went around it several times and looked at one of the best engineers in the engineering camp, Oropos, and asked, “Can you replicate it?”

The Theonian legion’s engineering brigade’s structure is unique. Its officers don’t need to understand engineering construction as long as they can manage to lead soldiers and have some battlefield experience because their duty is to serve the engineers, ensure their safety, and provide them with the various materials they need. Moreover, when the legion issued construction orders, they were responsible for coordinating with the other troops and recruiting soldiers to serve as labourers. Thus the officers of the engineering brigade would mostly be veterans who were somewhat disabled after being wounded on the battlefield.

The engineers are the most valuable thing in the engineering camp. If the system was relatively rough when Davos just established the engineering camp, it now has formed a fixed engineer assessment system: Besides requiring the engineers to be able to read, draw and have a solid hands-on production ability, they also need to have deep knowledge of mathematical theory to be able to pass the exam to become a legion engineer. In addition to farming their own land, these engineers have also become a sought-after commodity for the citizens of Theonia to hire to build houses, workshops, making furniture, equipment, and so on…though the pay is not cheap. Moreover, they would also be invited to participate in the construction of large-scale public works in various cities, but their salary is small. However, their names would be engraved on the completed stone tablets, which is a great honour.

Besides the engineers, there were also the skilled artisans, carpenters and blacksmiths in the engineering camp, who were the engineers’ assistants in making various equipment needed for warfare. In addition, there were also some slaves, mainly to serve the engineers.

With the legion’s requirements for the engineers getting stringent, and after the standardisation of the engineering examination and because of its higher requirements for knowledge and practical skill, more than half of the engineers of each legion came from the Theonia’s Akademia. Except for Oropos, who was a former mercenary in the Persian expedition and was recruited by Davos after establishing the engineering brigade due to his knowledge of carpentry. However, even though he eventually became a skilled carpenter after studying hard, he still took the initiative to participate in the adult class of the Theonian Akademia and soon removed the hat of illiteracy. Afterwards, because of Davos’ agreement with Metoticles, the legion’s artisans entered the Institute of Mathematics and became resident scholars, while Oropos took the opportunity to learn advanced mathematical knowledge and eventually got Marticoris’ appreciation and became his disciple, and passed the examination to become an engineer. Thus Oropos became a talent through studying hard and was deeply respected by the Theonian craftsmen and encouraged them to learn from him.

“Your majesty, it is possible to replicate it, but it will take some time.” Oropos said cautiously. He then squatted and laboriously picked up a large wooden wheel, “The greatest difficulty in making this siege tower is in these wooden wheels and axles. These wooden wheels and axles had to support such a massive and heavy siege tower, so the requirements to make them would be high. Like how big is the axle’s diameter? How thick and wide should the wooden wheels be? How many groups of axles and wheels were needed to ensure that we could push the siege tower smoothly?… These are all the things we needed to test repeatedly.

And as you can see, your majesty, the size and width of so many wheels are basically the same, but it is difficult to make without numerous highly skilled carpenters. Otherwise, the siege tower may tilt and collapse due to imbalance if these wheels are even slightly different in size! Yet with the engineering camp’s current ability, it is still difficult to do it.”

Oropos said with slight regret. He then stood up, looked at the siege tower in front of him with fascination, opened his arms, gestured with his hands and continued, “Your majesty, the tower walls on both sides of the siege tower are not upright but inclined inward. Although we can’t see the overall picture, I am sure it must be a trapezoid to enhance the base’s stability. However, what’s the most appropriate inclination of the tower wall’s angle? How high is the horizontal plate built to ensure that the force on the tower wall is evenly spread and stable?…”

Davos was not too concerned with these technical details that Oropos said as he understood Oropos’ meaning, “In short, you need to repeatedly calculate and experiment in order to make a functioning siege tower.”

“Yes, we need time, your majesty.” Oropos answered truthfully. He then looked at the others behind him and added, “We have a bit fewer people, and it is the first time for us to make such a massive siege tower…”

Although the legion’s engineering brigade has no less than 500 people, Davos understood the implied meaning of Oropos: There were not enough excellent engineers and artisans.

Remembering that the Syracusans had built three massive siege towers in just a few days, Davos became jealous of the thousands of engineering teams in Scylletium, which was the wealth Davos yearned for.

“I’ll give you time to research it, so try to make this siege tower. However, you don’t need to worry too much. Study its technology thoroughly and finally master it completely!” Davos encouraged them.

“Thank you, your majesty!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sitting inside the tent was Phidias, with four guards watching over him. Although he could not walk around and could only use his eyes to survey the tent, he still managed to find something: Davos’ tent’s layout was very similar to Dionysius’, except it wasn’t as spacious, and it was rather simple. Besides several armours, weapons, and a bed covered with straw mattress and fur, the most noticeable thing is undoubtedly the scrolls of papyrus, cloth, and silk piled up on the top of the table, which made him understand that this archon is still dealing with the many matters of the union even while marching to war…

‘These two tyrants of the western Mediterranean!’ An inexplicably feeling rose in Phidias’ heart.

Chapter 528 – Might

Just when Phidias became impatient, Davos returned with Henipolis. Before Phidias could speak, Davos spoke as soon as he saw him in the tent, “I remember you, Phidias of Sparta! You had come to Thurii’s Senate as Sparta’s envoy ten years ago to falsely accused me of hiding the mercenary soldiers of the Persian expedition and threatened that ‘Sparta would teach Theonia a hard lesson’. I still remember what you said to this day.”

Phidias was surprised as he didn’t except Davos would mention the events of that year to him as soon as he entered. If he still had his previous temperament, Phidias would angrily say, ‘Yes, I did say those! The fact that there was a war with Crotone afterwards proves that Theonia was hiding those mercenaries!!’

But times had changed, and Sparta’s current predicament had forced him to choose his words with caution. Phidias wasn’t someone ignorant of politics, but the might of Sparta before made him not required to overthink. Now Theonia’s position in the western Mediterranean and Davos’ might he showed in the war made Phidias feel a slight fear. So the always unyielding Spartan actually said, “…that…that was just a misunderstanding…”

“Misunderstanding?! No! I don’t think so!!” Davos stared him that it seemed to pierce his heart, “It’s because of your grudge against Theonia that you accepted Sparta’s order to serve as a military advisor in Syracuse, followed Dionysius in his invasion of Magna Graecia, commanded Syracuse’s right-wing in the Battle of Allaro River, defeat the Crotonians, and commanded the right-wing again in the Battle of Crotone in order to try to defeat my Theonian army… Phidias of Sparta, the blood of Magna Graecians soaked your hands!”

Phidias was inwardly shocked when he heard that, as he didn’t expect that Davos would know his actions in Magna Graecia during this time. However, he responded to Davos’ accusation without reluctance, “I think you must have misunderstood. Dionysius was afraid of your Theonian army, so he hoped Sparta could send him an officer to help him while Sparta couldn’t refuse as their ally. Thus the Gerousia sent me to help Dionysius as I had been to Sicily several times, and I am familiar with Dionysius… I am just doing my duty!”

“Your duty?! Is it to help Syracuse slaughter the people of Magna Graecia?! Is this the attitude of Sparta towards our Magna Graecia?!!” Davos sneered with a bit of anger, “In that case, don’t blame our warriors’ shield and spear for not having eyes!”

“To die on the battlefield is the greatest honour of every Spartan!” Phidias wasn’t afraid of Davos’ threat. However, with Theonia having turned the tide of battle, he had to consider Theonia’s perception of Sparta. Thus he defended Sparta by saying, “Lord Davos, you should know that when Sparta allied with Syracuse, it did not think that Syracuse would one day declare war on Magna Graecia. And because of our alliance, Sparta had to provide help even though Sparta truly wanted peace between Sicily and Magna Graecia! Thus I had come here on behalf of Sparta this time in hopes that you can seriously consider Dionysius’ proposal and end this war that had caused countless casualties!”

“I am touched that the Spartans, who live by fighting and killing, cared so much about the life and death of the Magna Graecians.” Davos sneered.

Davos noticed the threat hidden in the Spartan’s words, so he firmly said, “You Spartans had already sent an envoy a few days ago, Cheirisophus, to Thurii to get Theonia to surrender to Syracuse. But I made it clear to him that ‘Theonia will never negotiate under the enemy’s pressure and that we Theonians will fight to the death as long as there is an enemy on our land!’ At that time, the Battle of Crotone had not yet happened. Now that we, Theonians, are dominant in this war, I can assure you that a truce is possible. However, the Syracusans must pay for the crime of invading Magna Graecia! We won’t allow Dionysius to escape back to Sicily easily without paying any price!”

Davos’ glaring gaze made Phidias feel his uncompromising will, but he felt no frustration as this was just to verify his thoughts. His primary purpose in coming to Theonia’s camp wasn’t to promote a truce between the two sides, but to…

“I think Dionysius is prepared for this,” Phidias replied faintly. He then changed the topic, “Lord Davos…what do you think of the war taking place in Corinth now?”

Davos was dumfounded but immediately understood the Spartan’s intent, “You mean the war between Sparta and Corinth, Thebes, Argos and Athens…?” Davos sneered and said, “It’s just a meaningless war that has nothing to do with Theonia, so there is no need to know about it.”

“Theonia has signed a friendly agreement with Athens, and you often trade with Corinth.” Phidias stared at Davos as he bluntly pointed it out.

“A friendly agreement is not a military alliance agreement. As long as any city-state is willing to have friendly trade with Theonia, we are willing to sign such an agreement, even Sparta.” Davos then continued, “Greece doesn’t have fertile land nor rich minerals, so there is nothing worth it for the Theonians to go far from their warm homeland to participate in a war that has nothing to do with us. Besides, the Theonians roots are in Magna Graecia! And we still have a lot of problems within our alliance that need time and energy to solve and deal with. Thus as long as they don’t provoke us, we Theonians have no intention of participating in your messy war!”

Phidias looked at Davos’ face without blinking as he felt that Davos had said those words from the bottom of his heart, so he said, “Would you like to sign a friendly agreement with Sparta?”

“Sparta is now Theonia’s enemy and Syracuse’s ally!” Davos said coldly.

Phidias no longer spoke.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Watching the guards ‘escorting’ Phidias out of the tent, Henipolis couldn’t help but say, “Your majesty, does this Spartan want Sparta to ally with us?!”

Davos touched his chin and said, “…Theonia’s strength had exceeded the Spartan’s expectations, so he is afraid that Theonia would join in the war in Corinth, which would be bad for Sparta.”

“So will we do that?!” Henipolis excitedly asked as he was happy to give the Spartan a headache.

“What do you think?” Davos said with vagueness.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

As the early morning mist filled the Sybarite plain, the earl spring drizzle fell.

The victory at the Battle of the Gulf of Taranto gave the people of Theonia hope that they would win this war. Furthermore, Davos leading the army himself to battle boosted their confidence and made this fertile land finally come alive.

After several months of blockage, the port finally reopened, and with the arrival of foreign merchant ships, the port workers had finally something to do. Most of the first transport ships to enter the docks were filled with grains and other foodstuffs. Naturally, the clever merchants knew what the Theonians needed most at this time.

The elderly fishermen of Thurii (the young men had gone to work as sailors in the fleet) set sail early to catch fish to meet the people’s immediate needs and earn a good profit for their families.

At the urging of the village chiefs and agricultural officials, the people in various villages began replanting fast-maturing crops to avoid missing this year’s harvest.

Although most of the young and strong citizens and freemen were conscripted due to the war, resulting in a lack of labour, the numerous prisoners filled this gap. From time to time, whether it was in the marsh plain of Krimisa, the Sybarite plain of Thurii or the mountains of Amendolara, half-starving naked prisoners could be seen. Under the intimidation of the guards’ leather whips and spears, the naked prisoners could only laboriously plough the land. The Theonians showed no compassion and no desire to make the prisoners rest even when they shivered due to the cold rain, which could have made them ill. ‘Since they invaded Theonia, they have to pay a heavy price’ was the common view of many Theonians.

It wasn’t only the Thurians and Amendolarans that had filled the roads leading to the port of Thurii, but also Besidisians and Roscianums who hurried to the port market with their wagons and carts in order to buy food.

At this moment, a cavalry came galloping. But before the rider in an eye-catching bright red armour could shout, “Make way!” the pedestrians already consciously retreated to the roadside because they knew that those dressed like that would only be messengers from the battlefield, carrying important military information. Thus no one was allowed to stop them, or they would be breaking the law.

The horse blew white air as its hooves dashed, causing the water on the road to splash and wet the clothes of the pedestrians. Still, the pedestrians did not complain. Rather, they couldn’t help but ask, “Have we defeated the Syracusans?!”

The worried pedestrians asked casually without expecting the messenger would tell them anything. Yet, the messenger raised his right hand and shouted excitedly, “Victory! We are victorious! His majesty Davos led the army to defeat the Syracusans in Crotone!…”

Chapter 529 – News of Victory

Soon enough, cheers erupted from the roadside, spreading across the Sybarite plain.

The people’s final worry had finally disappeared as they began singing and dancing to celebrate this hard-won victory. Some devout believers had even cancelled their plan to go to the port and headed to the Temple of Hades in Thurii to thank Hades for his blessing…

Once the Senate received the news, they also became jubilant.

“It seems that we made the correct decision! After Lord Davos became king, Hades answered our prayers and blessed Theonia with a quick and continuous victory!” Exclaimed Plesinas aloud while pretending to be excited.

“Yes. It is all thanks to our daringness to make such an amazing decision that we have today’s victory!” Marigi responded accordingly.

At this moment, most of the statesmen no longer felt angry after getting forced to elect Davos as their king. Rather, they were now more thankful, so they agreed with Plesinas and Marigi’s words.

Kunogelata no longer felt revolted by the two’s usual acting. After taking back his gaze from them, he then shouted, “According to the messenger’s war report, his majesty Davos has led the army to trap the Syracusans in Scylletium, and the final victory is no longer far away from us! However, our biggest problem is food!”

“Lord Kunogelata is right. Although our current reserves are enough to supply our troops for two months, the food reserves for the people of Theonia, especially the families of the freemen and preparatory citizens, had bottomed out. Now that the port is open, the merchants who come to trade with us raise the food prices, making the people who have already selflessly donated their money and food to Theonia pay even more! I fear that before the war could end, the people of Theonia would have already exhausted all their savings, which is not beneficial to our post-war recovery!” Cornelius said worryingly.

“Those merchants are sickening!” Stromboli said angrily, “They already tripled the food’s price, but it is still rising…Marigi, as the commercial officer, you should think of a way to deal with those damnable merchants!”

Marigi smiled bitterly, “We have already taken some measures and even specifically negotiated with those merchants selling food in Thurii, so just keeping the price within three times is already the best we could do. But with Theonia’s food shortage and the increasing number of people buying food daily, it is inevitable for the price to increase, and we can’t force the merchants to sell them at a fixed price.”

“Why not?!” Stromboli exclaimed, “We have to ensure our people’s interest first, so we should immediately adopt a plan that makes those merchants sell grains at a low price, or they wouldn’t be allowed to sell their goods in Theonia!”

“That can’t happen!” Before Marigi could even speak, Mersis shouted first, “This is a foolish act that would destroy the Greeks’ free trade tradition! In the future, no one will dare come to Thurii to do business, and we will no longer receive commercial tax once the port declines!”

“With Theonia’s large territory and population, I doubt that those greedy foreign merchants will no longer come to do business!” Stromboli sneered. As an Amendolaran, he dislikes the merchants.

“Even if we coerced them, those merchants would just sail to Heraclea or Crotone instead of selling their grain in Thurii.” Marigi then reminded the statesmen, “If so, our people would flock there to buy grain just the same, and they would complain even more as we just increase their troubles! Instead of that, it would be better to keep the merchants in Thurii, which would even allow us to take some measures to control the prices a bit. After all, the war is still not yet over, and Theonia’s food shortage will continue. Those merchants had risked transporting their grains to come here, so if they can’t make a good profit here, I fear that no one will be willing to transport food here anymore!”

After hearing these words, the statesmen, including Stromboli, looked dejected: Indeed, who told Theonia to have a food shortage that they need to rely on those merchants?!

“I wonder what happened to Ansitanos’ mission to Africa?” Kunogelata thought of Ansitanos, who was carrying out an important mission.

Suddenly, the conference hall’s door was pushed open, and the guards hurried inside and whispered in the rotating chairperson – Kunogelata’s ear.

Immediately, Kunogelata beamed with joy and loudly said to the crowd, “Everyone, you can now feel at ease. Lord Ansitanos has returned with ten large Carthaginian transport ships loaded with food!”

Cheers broke out again in the sparse conference hall, “We have food!” “The people are saved!” “Ansitanos succeeded!…”

“Unexpectedly, it was the ‘enemy of Greeks’ – Carthage, who the Sicilians attacked, that helped us!”

“I told you, Hades will not let disaster befall those who believe in him. Once again, he has fulfilled his promise!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

While the statesmen of the Senate rushed to the port of Thurii and welcomed the arrival of the Carthaginian envoys, 15,000 soldiers of the joint Theonian-Rhegian army led by Hielos, Hieronymus, Pheidon and Ledes marched from Terina to Hipponion.

However, they found the city gates wide open when they arrived at the city, and the Hipponians had taken the initiative to surrender. Last night, the news of the Locrian army’s defeat had already scared the Hipponians and panic when the defeated Locrian soldiers refused to enter the city to participate in the defence and their straightforward flight back to Medma. So the Hipponians, who had only a thousand soldiers in the city, held an emergency ecclesia and finally made a painful decision…so when they found out that tens of thousands of Theonian were heading towards the city of Hipponion the following day, the Hipponians surrendered without hesitation.

Before Davos divided the troops, he had already discussed with Hielos how to deal with the allies of Locri, so Hielos’ accepted Hipponion’s surrender. However, he asked that every family in the city must hand over a hostage to ensure their loyalty.

Faced with Theonia’s massive army, the Hipponians could only agree.

Under the city wall, a heartbreaking and touching scene happened as the Hipponians cried and wept as they reluctantly bid farewell to their children.

Hielos, however, remained unmoved as he sent a thousand troops to escort the hundreds of children to Terina. At the same time, he put forward new requirements to the Hipponians: ‘Collect the food in the city as much as possible and provide it to the Theonian soldiers as military reserves. Otherwise, their children will have nothing to eat first if the Theonian soldiers starve.’

The Hipponians had to submit once again as they were now fishes on a chopping board.

While the Theonian-Rhegian joint troops camped outside the city of Hipponion, they assisted the Hipponians in collecting food and fodder. In addition, they sent their scouts to check on the enemy’s situation in the south. At the same time, they let the engineering brigade lead the soldiers to construct siege equipment to prepare for their attack on the city of Medma.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At the same time, Davos, who had learned of Caulonia’s return to the South Italian Alliance, wrote another letter and delivered it by fast horse to the city of Caulonia. The letter reads, “…I am glad that Caulonia had made the right choice, and I, together with Lysias and Siprus, are thrilled to hear this news! Now that the Syracusan army is weakened by the brave attacks of the soldiers of Theonia, Crotone and Terina, I believe that the day of their defeat is not far away.

Therefore, we hope that you, as a member of the South Italian Alliance, will join us in mobilising all the citizens of the city who are able to fight, take up their shields and spears, and launch an attack on Locri’s territory, so that the culprit who caused this cruel war can also feel the pain of being ravaged by the flames of war, and make them afraid of sending reinforcements to help the Syracusans that we are besieging, which would ensure that we can successfully recapture Scylletium and wipe out these vicious invaders! Theonia, Crotone, Terina and Rhegium all look forward to your action!…”

This letter caused Caulonia’s council to convene an emergency meeting. Evidently, the primary purpose of Davos’ letter was not to praise Caulonia’s correct choice but to urge them to take immediate action and not stand idly by, and the last sentence was more like an implied threat.

Of course, Caulonia, who was on the string, knew the serious consequences of refusing Davos’ request, so the ecclesia quickly passed the resolution of “attacking Locri”.

Although a thousand of their soldiers were trapped in Scylletium, Caulonia still suffered the least loss among the city-states in South Italia in this war. In the afternoon, Caulonia soon mobilised 4,000 soldiers.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Due to Locri dispatching their main force outside, resulting in the city being empty, the Locrian had long been uneasy about their decades-long enemy – Caulonia, so they closely watched Caulonia’s movements. So as soon as Caulonia dispatched their troops towards the south, the scouts quickly rode back to report it.

At this time, Locri was shocked and overwhelmed by the bad news that came one after another. The Syracusan army’s defeat, Locri’s main force’s defeat, the city of Hipponion was in danger…and now, the Caulonian army suddenly went south. Thus any rational Locrian could judge that it is definitely not to help Locri.

The sharp turn of the war situation made Locri’s polemarchos – Demodokas, panic that he actually abandoned his half-year dictatorship and held a meeting.

Demodokas repeatedly said, “Those damned Caulonians broke their promise and invaded our territory! Now that the situation is urgent, what should we do?!” However, a strange sight shrouded the meeting place…

Chapter 530 – Rhegium’s Cooperation

For a while, no one responded and remained silent.

Demodokas was alarmed as he knew that those people harboured grudges against him and were ready to obstruct him once they found an opportunity. After all, due to Dionysius’ encouragement and relying on the support of the powerful Syracusan army, he excluded the dissenters, attacked his political enemies in Locri and passed and implemented many laws without the Council’s vote and the ecclesia, almost being considered as the sole authority of Locri.

Just as he inwardly regretted holding such a meeting, his confidant Phantepes finally stood up and said, “We could easily resolve this matter as long as we can bring back the troops stationed in Medma and repel the Caulonians!”

“That’s easy to say. What about Medma?!” Metelophes retorted.

“Medma has more than 2,000 soldiers that could defend against the enemy’s attack, so there is no need to worry about them for now.” Phantepes responded while pretending to be at ease.

“No need to worry?!” Metelophes sneered,

“The Medmaean messenger reported that the Theonians who defeated our army had more than 10,000 soldiers. If you include the Tauranians and the Rhegians, I fear that the enemy’s soldiers would number more than 20,000! Tell me, could two thousand Medmaean soldiers withstand the attack of 20,000?! Moreover, the Theonian is not your common Greek army as they also have the powerful ballista!…”

Metelophes then anxiously and loudly reminded everyone, “Once Medma fall, we will be in danger as Theonia and Rhegium’s massive army can come from the west and join force with Caulonia’s army!”

After hearing Metelophes’ words, everyone became nervous that someone shouted, “I think…we’d better make peace with Theonia!”

Many members followed this remark.

“Idiots!” Demodokas finally couldn’t stop himself from cursing, “Crotone, Terina, and Caulonia of the South Italian Alliance have been our sworn enemies. Moreover, they all suffered heavy losses in this war…use your pig of a brain to think about the price we have to pay to quell their anger!!”

“Then our clever polemarchos must have a way to repel the joint attacks of Caulonia, Theonia and Rhegium?!” Someone sarcastically said, which led many people to sneer and caused Demodokas to be livid. In the past, who would dare to talk to him like this?! But Syracuse’s defeat had changed the thoughts of the Locrian council members!

Demodokas felt a chill in his heart, so he reminded loudly, “Syracuse had also suffered a much worse defeat than this in their war with Carthage. Yet they still became the victor! Currently, Syracuse still owns more than half of Sicily, abundant resources, wealth and sufficient population even if they lost this battle, which is far beyond the reach of city-states such as Theonia, Crotone and Terina. Thus the final victor will definitely be Syracuse! Yet now we are trying to make peace with the enemy independently? Think about it, will Dionysius forgive the traitor after they won?!”

Demodokas glared at the crowd. It was precisely because of Locri’s close contact with Syracuse that they knew more about the horror of Dionysius, so even though what Demodokas said, “Syracuse winning”, was just a hypothesis, they avoided Demodokas’ gaze as they didn’t dare to take risks.

Seeing the crowd’s performance, Demodokas became temporarily relieved. He then looked at Metelophes and firmly said, “The only thing we need to do now is to hold on! Hold on to the city of Locri! Until the final victory comes! At that time, we will own all of Caulonia’s land and even Scylletium!”

In the end, Locri’s Council decided to recall their army in Medma to defend their territory, achieving Demodokas’ purpose of convening the Council to share responsibilities and avoiding the blame of “abandoning their allies” due to making the decision alone. However, the uncertain future made Demodokas uneasy, so he had to prepare more as Dionysius’ relative.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Hielos led his army to Hipponion, the first legion boarded Seclian’s fleet and headed south.

In the afternoon, the ship entered Rhegium’s port and was warmly welcomed by the Rhegians again.

The legatus of the first legion, Antonios, then met with Athelycus, the ruler of Rhegium and Davos’ father-in-law. The wonderful news Antonios’ brought about ‘Locri’s main force suffered badly in Hipponion because of the joint attack by Rhegium and Theonia’s army’ excites Athelycus and the council members that were present.

Many of them even repeatedly praised, “Well done, Pheidon!” forgetting that they were alarmed after learning that Pheidon had taken most of the troops in Taurania and sailed north and angrily complained, “Pheidon had placed Rhegium in danger by moving the troops without permission! We must bring him back to Rhegium and face a harsh trial!!”

Then, Antonios presented a letter from Davos to Athelycus. After reading it, Athelycus was so happy that he read it publicly at the meeting hall: The letter began with Davos’ respectful greetings to his father-in-law and about Agnes’ pregnancy.

Upon hearing this, the council members congratulated and complimented Athelycus, “You found a good son-in-law!” After all, as the war continued, the strength of the two powerful city-states of Magna Graecia, Crotone and Locri, had significantly weakened. Even Syracuse’s invading army and navy had suffered greatly. Thus the Rhegians suddenly realised that Theonia’s power would greatly expand after the war if no big accidents occurred. In addition, now that Davos has become the king of Theonia, Athelycus’ ‘father-in-law’ status would become even more valuable!

Thus the Rhegians wouldn’t miss this opportunity to flatter him.

Athelycus could not stop smiling as he was glad he made the right decision of marrying his daughter to the “upstart” Davos, who came from a lowly background.

In the letter, Davos went on to mention that, ‘…Although we had defeated Syracuse, the war was still far from over. Syracuse still had Sicily’s rich resources and could send new troops for reinforcements. Therefore, to end this war early, we must bring the war to Sicily, disrupt the order there, destroy Syracuse’s territory, capture their allies to weaken Syracuse’s power, and force them to surrender voluntarily! For this reason, Theonia hopes to get Rhegium’s full support as our ally…’

The council members who had just rushed to congratulate the polemarchos became silent when they heard this. They admitted that Davos was right that attacking Sicily was the best way to defeat Syracuse. Unfortunately, their mercantile habits of calculating the pros and cons had made them cautiously think because Rhegium had to give their full support. Full support meant providing fleets, troops, transportation, military rations… For Rhegium, who had to support their soldiers in fighting Locri, this would surely be another huge expenditure! Moreover, no one knew when the upcoming war in Sicily would even end!…

Athelycus smiled at the crowd’s contrasting performance. He then continued, “…once the war with Syracuse ends, Theonia will seize Messina and jointly manage it with Rhegium! Due to Theonia’s inexperience in managing an important city that monitors the strait, we need to rely on Rhegium’s full assistance…”

“Did I hear it correctly?! Theonia wants to share Messina with us!!”

“Don’t you understand?! It’s mainly us who would manage Messina, allowing us to finally monopolise the strait completely!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The council members discussed excitedly.

“Everyone, on the matter of our ally, Theonia’s, needing our assistance…” The crowd no longer hesitated to voice their support when Athelycus mentioned the matter again.

“As long as Lord Davos fulfils his promise after the war ends, Rhegium should fully support Theonia’s attack on Sicily!”

“To get Messina, defeating Syracuse is a must! Therefore, we will support Theonia!”

“The port and the maritime route is now opened, so as long as Theonia doesn’t send too many troops to Sicily, I think we should be able to supply rations to last for two-three months…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Athelycus sighed at seeing the situation. When his son advised him to give up his desire to have Messina to himself and to persuade Davos to take Messina from Syracuse instead, he had not expected Davos to have a greater appetite by exchanging Messina for Rhegium’s support to allow Theonia set a foothold in Sicily!

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

At Scylletium the next day, Dionysius was angry at Davos’ unreasonable demands. Still, he secretly sent his men to quietly dig up the bodies of the Numidians who died from their severe wounds and set aside their heads while urging the blacksmiths to speed up their forging. To continue the peace negotiation with Davos, Dionysius planned to have the envoy bring the heads to the Theonian camp.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In Hipponion, the Theonia-Rhegium joint army set out in full force towards Medma.

The Medmaeans, on the other hand, became angry and upset by the Locrian army’s withdrawal. However, Locri’s warning and reminder gave them false hopes about the Syracusans, so they decided to hold on until reinforcements came.

After failing to persuade them to surrender, Hielos decided to attack the city of Medma after consulting with Pheidon.

The troops began building their camp while the engineering brigade continued to construct siege engines.

Chapter 531 – Target: Sicily

Pheidon rushed to Taurania to bring the remaining Rhegian soldiers to Medma and participate in the siege. At the same time, Hielos sent a brigade to build a simple wooden outpost to block the mountain path leading to Locri and sent a scouting team to monitor the Locrians’ movements to prevent them from sneak attacking their rear once the joint army attacked Medma.

While Hielos led his army to implement his siege plan unhurriedly and methodical, the Locrian soldiers who came back did not immediately head to the northern border to repel the invading Caulonians.

With Theophantes getting caught, the Locrian army needed a new supreme commander. Thus, Demodokas appointed one of his men. However, the council members opposed him because Locri was now facing a crisis, so they urgently needed someone with military skills to lead the soldiers to defend Locri. But Demodokas’ candidate didn’t have war experience or prestige in the army, making it hard for him to order the soldiers effectively. So they must be careful because once defeated, they will lose their only remaining army!

Demodokas felt cold as the Council refuted his proposal for the second time in just two days. Still, he held back his anger and watched them unanimously elect the elderly Megaris. He led the army to fight Crotone many times more than ten years ago and won numerous victories, but had to stand down because of Demodokas’ pressure.

But with the strong demands of everyone, Demodokas could only agree to Megaris’ appointment and let his political enemy serve as the commander.

Megaris immediately reorganised his team and led more than 6,000 men to attack the enemy.

However, after the Caulonian army burned a village, they did not face the enemy head-on. Instead, they quickly retreated to the borders near their territory and built a camp to deter Locri.

The cautious Megaris became worried that this was the Caulonian’s trap, so he did not attack as he was afraid of an ambush. And like the Caulonians, they just stood still at the border and formed a confrontation between the two sides.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Early in the morning, the people of Rhegium rushed to the port to see off not only the Theonian fleet and the first legion but also the nearly 1,000 soldiers and family members who had joined the expedition to Sicily.

Most of them were fugitives from the Sicilian city-states conquered by Syracuse, such as Catania and Naxos. Back then, Rhegium built a city for them to oppose the two new city-states(Messina and Tyndaris) that the Syracusans had built across the strait. But they didn’t expect the Syracusan army to act quickly and soon destroy the new city: Some were killed, some fled into the mountains, and some were saved by the Rhegians and went to Rhegium by boat.

The people of Rhegium now prayed that this army could smoothly go to Sicily and not repeat their mistakes.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Theonian fleet and dozens of Rhegian ships sailed out of the port together: At the forefront of the fleet was Seclian’s ship with its young navarch standing at the ship’s starboard, gazing at the other side with a trace of regret in his eyes. He then pointed forward and said to Antonios, the legatus of the first legion, who was also in his ship, “Messina is not far ahead. Why don’t we capture it first?! Its closeness to Rhegium would allow us to receive the Rhegian’s support easily, and after we take it, we can block the strait and eliminate the enemy ship in their port!”

Antonios squinted at Seclian, realising that this young man was radical and arrogant in his actions. If Amintas were here instead, he would have shouted at him and said, “What right do you, navy, have to tell the legion what to do?!”

Fortunately, Antonios would not do that. In fact, his initial thought when Davos asked for his opinion was to land between Tyndaris and Messina* because the two newly built city-states were not too strong and far from Syracuse, allowing them to take it as their forward base in Sicily easily. (The Carthaginian commander Himilco had captured and destroyed the city of Messina when they attacked Syracuse and was later rebuilt by Dionysius when he led his army to expel the Carthaginians from the north coast).

“That’s what I previously thought as well. However, his majesty opposed it.” Antonios tactfully said.

“Oh, why?” As soon as Seclian heard the word “His majesty”, most of his dissatisfaction disappeared.

“Time.” Antonios spout out a word. Then continued, “‘It would take us a few days to take down Messina, which would allow Syracuse to find out about our attack on Sicily in those few days. So once we attack the south, they would certainly be ready to defend, increasing the difficulties we encounter. Moreover, due to Messina’s distance from Syracuse, its fall will not affect Syracuse’s sphere of influence too much. So instead, it would be much better to take advantage of Syracuse’s lack of defence to raid the city-states near it, causing panic and chaos in the areas they control, which would give us more opportunities…’ Those are his majesty’s exact words.”

Seclian listened carefully and sighed, “It’s still his majesty who thought things thoroughly. But with that, our risk would become greater!”

Antonios smiled and said, “Are you afraid of hardship?”

Seclian arrogantly said, “I just hope we could lure the Syracusan fleet out of their port so that my fleet can defeat them and let the Theonian Navy completely become the master of the sea here!”

Then the two laughed with confidence.

As the fleet headed southward along the east coast of Sicily, they met many merchant ships along the way. The merchants were shocked when they saw this massive-scale mixed fleet, especially when they noticed the symbol painted on the sails, giving them a hunch that something big would happen: Although some hurried to retreat, there were others who turned around and increased their speed southward(it was obvious that they were going back to report).

With the fleet sailing at its top speed and their destination at hand, Seclian just sat on the flagship without moving. While Antonios just kept watching the coast from the ship’s starboard: Due to never coming to Sicily before, what he saw on the map was completely different from what he could see.

Davos had once told him that from Messina heading south to Tauromenium, the only land route was a narrow road near the coast, and this road was 15-20 kilometres long.

That seems true because they had been sailing for nearly three hours since departing Rhegium’s port, but the layers after layers of mountains on the other sides remained continuous. Its soothing contour was pleasant to the eye, just like a painting. But Antonios knew that this was because they were 2-3 kilometres away, and from his experience, these peaks are no less than a thousand metres high, making them really difficult to climb.

“Lord Antonios, that’s Tauromenium.” A middle-aged man nearby pointed and said.

This man, named Ladician, was a former noble of Naxos who fled inland to Sicily, near Aeolian Island. It is where the other city-state’s exiles gathered and gradually formed a larger village. However, the constant invasion of Syracuse’s allies and the hatred of the Sicels made their life quite difficult. But when he later heard that Rhegium was going to build a new city for them, the exiles gladly went there. Yet who knew that the Syracusans would swiftly respond and destroy their newly built city, killing some of his relatives and forcing him to flee to Rhegium.

Despite the twists and turns, his determination to rebuild his home hasn’t changed but rather strengthened. So when he heard that Theonia was going to attack Sicily, he took the initiative to find Antonios with the rest of his relatives, asking him to join.

After hearing him, Antonios looked at it intently and saw a towering city on the high ground near the coast, but the oddest thing was that it was a twin stone fortress. And the two stone fortresses clamped down this narrow and long coastal passage, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.

“I heard the Carthaginians built this city for the Sicels?” Antonios asked with uncertainty as he recalled some of the sketchy information he had learned about the city.

“Yes, Carthage’s strategos Himilco built Tauromenium to gather the Sicels and make these natives join his side when Carthage attacked Syracuse…” Then Ladician gloatingly said, “So when the tyrant of Syracuse attacked Tauromenium, he failed to capture it because of the steep terrain that made siege engines unusable. But in the end, the Sicels surrendered voluntarily. Now, the owner of this city is those abominable Campanian mercenaries!”

Antonios looked at Tauromenium in a daze as he listened to his explanation: If he had chosen to attack Messina first and succeeded, he would not have been able to break through Tauromenium by land. Only through the sea could he enter the core area controlled by Syracuse… Moreover, King Davos suggested that the Sicels were the force he could reach out to…

“…when attacking Sicily, you have to remember that ‘three parts depend on the military, seven parts depend on diplomacy.’…” Antonios recalled Davos’ serious reminder before his departure.

As the fleet continued to move forward, Antonios’ field of vision opened up: Rolling hills had replaced the mountains that made them sleepy and the further south they went, the lower the terrain became…

Antonios’ gaze was drawn to something further: It was a majestic mountain. Even though it was nearly 10 kilometres away, he could still clearly see its towering size with its trapezoid shape as it shot straight into the sky as if it was a pillar standing upright. But the strangest thing was that the other peaks are emerald green, while it is grey and appear ancient and mysterious. That is the legendary furnace of Hephaestus he used to forge divine weapons – Sicily’s Mount Etna.

Chapter 532 – Attack on Megalos

“A few years ago, smoke rose from the top of Mount Etna…” Once Ladician noticed Antonios’ fascination, he planned to tell the exciting story of Mount Etna’s eruption that he saw with his own eyes, but Seclian shouted, “Naxosian, tell me where I should land?!”

“Alright! Alright!” Ladician hurried to the bow.

This was the first time Antonios would independently lead the army and the first time they would land across the sea. So even after knowing the heavy burden on his shoulders, he feels nervous and excited, “Men, don your armour, take up your shields and spears, we are about to land! Once we get ashore, don’t stop and charge immediately towards the city of Naxos! Conquer it as our loved ones await the news of our victory! The time has come to give honours to the first legion and yourselves!…”

Antonios loudly cheered up the soldiers lying on the deck resting.

“Don’t worry, legatus. Our brothers are already tired of staying on the ship these two days and were long eager to fight, so how can a city with only a wooden wall stop our attack?!” Melisander responded loudly.

It was no coincidence that Melisander was there. As Philesius’ close comrade, Antonios doesn’t mind giving some care to Philesius’ adopted son, so he deliberately arranged for Melisander’s platoon unit to be assigned to the flagship.

“Kid, you should be careful not to fall into the sea when landing.” Antonios smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

The soldiers immediately whistled and booed at their young platoon leader as Melisander falling into the sea twice during the Battle of Crotone became the soldier’s discussion before and after meals. Still, that did not deter his men from respecting their platoon leader. After all, Melisander always fought bravely and led his men in battle, sharing weal and woe with the soldiers.

At this moment, Melisander glared at them and said, “Whoever yells and screams again won’t be able to play rugby the next time we play!”

Yet Melisander’s threat made the soldiers boo even more.

Antonios could only shake his head helplessly at the soldiers’ jokes. He then turned his attention to the land.

At this time, the salpinx echoed in the fleet as Seclian’s flagship led the way, turning to the left and approaching the bay.

In front is an arc-shaped bay with a white sand beach. And on the azure blue water were more than a dozen fishing boats, fishing with their nets on the calm sea.

But the tranquil picture was broken by the aggressive storming of the fleet.

At the sight of the fast-approaching behemoth – a trireme, the fishermen panicked and tried to steer their boats out of the way. However, they were simply too late as the bronze ram on the ship’s bow easily split the fishing boat in two like a hot knife through butter…

It wasn’t until they were almost close to the beach did the sailors stopped paddling, leaving the ship to rush to the beach through its inertia.

The soldiers immediately put down the ladder and quickly went down to the beach, while some of the impatient soldiers simply threw their shields, spears and helmets on the beach and jumped directly from the deck to the beach.

Soon, heavily armed Theonian soldiers filled the open beach.

“The enemy is coming! The enemy is coming!…” The fishermen drying their fishing nets and handling their goods on the beach fled to the city in panic.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Before they boarded the ship on Rhegium, Antonios gathered the first legion’s officers of all ranks for a meeting. Hence the first legion’s soldiers did not form a unified group once they disembarked and directly marched towards Naxos under the leadership of their platoon leader and the guidance of the guides onboard the ships.

The current Naxos is no longer a city but a large town. Six or seven years ago, after Dionysius became the tyrant of Syracuse, he began his military campaign to conquer the south-eastern corner and the east-central part of Sicily to build up his strength and fight back the Carthaginians, of which the only plain in Sicily – Catania Plain, became the focus of his attack. Hence, after capturing the two city-states that resisted Syracuse the most – Catania and Naxos, he was determined to give them the harshest punishment.

While Sikuri, another small city-state just 12 kilometres south of Naxos, was rewarded for its early surrender to Syracuse, with Dionysius giving them the land of Naxos for governance. Thus the Sikurians were overjoyed when they received the land of Naxos, which was larger and more fertile than their own. However, the tragic fate of the people of Naxos frightened them, so they tried to guess Dionysius’ intention in destroying the city and razing its wall. As they did not dare to ask the tyrant directly, instead of restoring the old city of Naxos, they rebuilt it south to the northern bank of the Alcantara, a kilometre away from the ruins. However, rather than building a town with a stone wall, they made it a simple wooden wall for fear of displeasing Dionysius and named the new town Megalos (which means great).

The place where the first legion landed was the port of the former Naxos, which has now disappeared. So once the soldiers were on the shore, they didn’t have to run more than a few steps south before they could see a large area overgrown with weeds and piles of rocks.

Ladician stared at it blankly and shed tears: This was his former home – the city of Naxos!

“Ladician, don’t stop! Run! We still need you to guide us!” Melisander urged him.

Ladician followed quickly. Although he is over middle-aged, he still continued exercising and training, hoping he could be of use when he returns to his homeland one day. Thus he thought he was in good shape, but he began to be unable to keep up with the Theonians after running for a while.

‘It’s no wonder the Syracusans couldn’t beat them! These soldiers could still run even when fully armed!!’ The amazed Ladician didn’t know that one of the military training of the Theonian soldiers every five days was rapid marching while fully armed, which was different from the Olympic Games’ “Armed long-distance race”. The armed long-distance running was a competition in which the naked players only wore helmets and round shields, while Theonia’s armed march was truly fully armed. Thus if the Theonians could participate in the Olympic Games, they could certainly compete with the Spartans, who always won the championships in the event of armed long-distance running.

“…that’s…that’s Megalos…” Said the panting Ladician as he pointed to the distant, faint outline of the town.

“Hmmm, follow us later.” Melisander had no time to wait for him and ordered the soldiers to move quickly in that direction

Although Antonios didn’t say it clearly, each unit naturally competed according to the legion’s tradition, ‘Let’s see who gets to the enemy’s town first?!’ ‘To see who attacked the enemy town first?!’

That’s why the first legion split into platoons, not as if they are in a rush but as if they are in a competitive race, spreading out in a wide front and running rapidly towards the south, from first to last, irregularly.

Leading the way was a group of hundreds of men who maintained a complete formation while running.

“Damn, which team is that?” Melisander cursed as he reluctantly watched the leading group in front of him.

“Captain, it seems to be the first centuria of the fourth brigade.” A soldier replied.

“So it’s that ‘madman’s’ centuria.” Melisander sulked.

“Madman” was the nickname given to Leotychides, who was famous for his intense training and high requirements for his soldiers. Of course, his centuria often won the military competitions.

“Brothers! Speed up! We can’t fall behind!!” Cried Melisander, who was unwilling to be outdone.

Wherever the first legion passed, the people of Megalos fled in panic. However, instead of thrusting their spears at them, the soldiers drove them towards Megalos.

Although the town of Megalos only has wooden walls, they dug a moat outside the town due to its proximity to the Alcantara River, with its eastern and northern gates connected to the outside by drawbridges. The Sikurians in Megalos then received an urgent report from the merchant ships about ‘a fleet of hundreds of ships coming from the north, and the sail pattern seemed to belong to the Theonia Union.’

After just receiving the news of Syracuse’s defeat in their battle against the Theonians, the next thing the Sikurians knew, a Theonian fleet was spotted on the east coast of Sicily. Yet before they had even time to discuss a countermeasure, someone came fleeing back from the beach and shouted in panic, “The enemy is coming! The enemy is coming!…”

The speed of the Theonians’ attack frightened the Sikurians, so they hurriedly summoned their citizens to fend off the enemy.

But as more and more people fled to the town, it resulted in the drawbridge and the north gate being congested.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Seraphinus, a self-proclaimed freeman, was employed by a Sikurian citizen a few months ago to help develop the fields. As it is currently noon, he should have been in the fields outside the town, yet he is now inside and stopped someone who fled into the town, “Uncle, what happened?”

“There are…enemies…there are enemies…coming from the sea to kill us, get your weapons and go…go…” The man explained in a frightened voice.

Seraphinus interrupted him, “Enemies?! What enemies?!”

A look of fear appeared showed in the man’s eye, “Black! They are all black! Like demons from hell!” (Theonia’s armour is all black)

Seraphinus blinked and looked back at the group of Sikurian citizens who didn’t even have the time to wear helmets and armour as they hurriedly picked up their shields and spears and rushed towards the congested north gate.

Chapter 533 – A successful first battle

“Black armoured soldiers?! So the Theonian legion is here! I wonder which legion it is?!” Seraphinus thought inwardly while his eyes flashed with excitement. He then turned and ran to the south of the town, which was the gathering place of the freemen and slaves.

As the people from Megalos rushed into the town in panic, it resulted in the blockage of the town’s narrow passage, the drawbridge unable to be pulled up, and the town gate being closed.

While the Sikurians anxiously made the people get inside the town, the centuria led by Leotychides had arrived outside. Seeing the situation, he ordered to attack immediately without waiting for the rest of the troops.

The soldiers rushed to the north gate and thrust their spears at the crowd outside the town.

As screams rang, the people about to enter the town became even more frightened. While some simply jumped into the moat, the others desperately tried to squeeze into the town that the soldiers at the town gate could not stop them.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

When Melisander’s platoon arrived, they saw Leotychides’ centuria on the drawbridge at the northern gate of the town of Megalos, which had turned the outside of the town bloody and chaotic. After thinking that if his team were to go there, Melisander could only follow the madman’s centuria into the town without even clashing with the enemy.

Melisander was naturally reluctant, but suddenly, he saw some people of Megalos running around the moat to the other side, so he immediately shouted, “Follow me to attack the other gate!”

The soldiers then chased the fleeing people to the east gate of Megalos. Unfortunately, they found that the enemy had pulled up the drawbridge, which caused Melisander to feel cold.

“Captain, what should we do?!” The soldiers anxiously asked.

Melisander was also very worried. He turned around to see the other platoon running to their place, but he didn’t find the engineering brigade, who had the ladders and boards. Obviously, they must have fallen behind.

‘Should we wait?!’ Melisander turned around again and saw that only twenty or thirty enemies scattered around the wooden wall: Although a few were firing arrows at them, they posed no threat to the men in armour. However, he could not anticipate if they would hurl javelins once they got closer to the wall.

“Go into testudo formation!” Melisander immediately decided, “Approach the moat and swim across!”

Seeing that there were only a few enemies on the wooden wall and estimated that the wall was only more than three metres high, he thought it was perfectly possible to climb up by using each other like a ladder.

Upon receiving the orders, the fifty soldiers immediately surrounded Melisander to form a tight small phalanx, covering their heads with the long shields, just like a giant box wrapped in iron and walked slowly towards the moat.

The other platoon followed the same, with some platoon doing it farther from the town gate that they did not even use the testudo formation and quickly ran to the moat.

The Sikurians who could not enter the town fled in panic. However, the soldiers did not care.

But suddenly, a sound of fighting and screams rang behind the city gate, mixed with the frightened cry of “the freemen and slaves are rebelling!!…”

Soon, the Sikurians on the wooden wall no longer stared at the Theonian soldiers in front of the moat but turned to resist the mob who rushed upon the wooden ladder.

With the continuous rain of arrows on the wooden wall, the unprotected Sikurians could only fall with the arrows.

Melisander doesn’t know the situation inside the town, but how could he not take advantage of such a good opportunity? So he immediately asked the soldiers to disperse the testudo formation, rushed to the moat, dropped the long shield and spear, only hung a short sword and then jumped into the moat one after another.

Although the armour made their body heavy, the occasional special training in this field during their military training and the moat’s wideness was only three or four metres had easily allowed them to reach the other side.

As Melisander and the soldiers scrambled towards the shore to lean against the wooden wall, the drawbridge suddenly dropped down, and the wooden gate opened with someone shouting at the top of the wall, “I am Seraphinus, a preparatory Theonian citizen! We have repelled the Sikurians, and the legionaries could now enter the city!”

Melisander was astonished when he heard this. Then he suddenly heard the laughter of the other soldiers, “Captain Melisander dived again!”

The men beside him also complained to their captain, “Did the goddess of bad luck curse you? Even us became unlucky when we were with you!”

Watching the other platoon walk across the drawbridge and into the town of Megalo, Melisander could only order with annoyance, “Swim back with me!”

“Ah, we are going to dive again?!”

“Our long shields and spears are on the other side! Are you not going to take them?!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

In the afternoon, the first legion of Theonia completely occupied Megalos with only minor casualties.

Although Megalos was only a town, its area has exceeded the size of the city of Sikuri, which is worthy of its name. However, besides its sole archon’s residence, where they decide the usual administration matter and decree making, it has no governing power such as Council, Senate or town hall.

The city of Sikuri was originally a democratic city-state. But after their surrender to Syracuse, Dionysius supported a Sikurian noble – Hibagres, who first surrendered to him as the supreme ruler of Sikuri and forced the Sikurians to submit to Dionysius’ authority, turning the city-state of Sikuri under a tyrant’s rule. Then Hibagres appointed his own man to be the archon of Megalos to govern Megalos directly in his stead, thus stealing the jurisdiction of the former territory of Naxos for the tyrant of Sikuri.

But now, the one sitting on the highest seat of the administrative room in the archon’s residence of Megalos is no longer Hibagres’ people but Antonios, the legatus of Theonia’s first legion.

“Legatus, we captured 3,653 Sikurians, of which more than half are the elderly, women and children. What should we do with them?” The senior centurion of the first brigade – Giorgris, asked with some reluctance. The achievement of the first to break through the town should have belonged to the fourth brigade. After all, Leotychides’ centuria, who had rushed ahead of the others, was part of the fourth brigade. But unexpectedly, a riot happened inside the town when the north gate was about to be breached. So instead, it was the several platoons of the first brigade with Melisander at the forefront who had rushed into the town from the east gate and won the credit of being the first to enter the town, giving Giorgris the right to deal with the prisoners.

“Lord Antonios, there’s no need to pity those Sikurians! They were once allies of Naxos, but instead of fighting alongside us, they betrayed our treaty, took refuge in Syracuse and helped the wicked Dionysius in the sacking of our cities and occupying our lands. Furthermore, they would send their troops to the mountains west of Etna to search for our fleeing tribesmen every year, capturing both men and women as slaves… Now that the goddess of vengeance finally responded to our pious prayer by sending you Theonian warriors to bring down her wrath on the Sikurians, we must make sure to turn them into slaves and torture them till their death!…” Shouted Torilaus, the Naxosian standing beside Ladician and was one of the planners of the riot in the town in response to Theonia’s attack.

Giorgris frowned as he looked at Antonios, wanting to say something. But Antonios stared at him and then sympathised, “Naxos is our, Theonia’s, ally, and your suffering is just like that of our people…Thratyllus!”

“Yes!” Thratyllus – the senior centurion of the third brigade, responded loudly.

“Escort the Sikurians to the square and have the people of Naxos identify all the crimes they have committed and punish them according to their demand!” Antonios clearly copied Davos’ method when he dealt with the Crotonian captives.

“Understood!” Thratyllus turned around and left.

“Lord Antonios, I’ll go gather the people to the square!” Torilaus said happily.

Antonios nodded. Although Giorgris wanted to say more, the senior centurion of the second brigade – Xanticles, patted and signalled him to calm down.

Antonios gazed at them and said seriously, “Whether we have enough food is an important foundation for our legion and the people of Naxos to gain a firm foothold here! So, Giorgris, I’ll send you to check the food reserves in this town while collecting the food at the Sikurians’ houses for us to distribute it in a centralised way! Am I clear?!”

“Yes, legatus.” Giorgris understood that Antonios was somewhat displeased with his earlier performance, which was why Antonios transferred him from his task of guarding the prisoners and assigned him a new task to do, which he, who always obeyed the military law, complied.

Antonios slightly became relieved after seeing Giorgris leave. If Amintas were in charge, he would have gotten scolded after repeatedly resisting the orders. However, Antonios wasn’t like that. Giorgris, as a member of the original ‘Hielos’ Squad’, wasn’t as close to Davos as Matonis, Olivos, Martius and Hielos, but it also wasn’t bad either, so there was no need for him to scold Giorgris for such a trivial matter, which would affect Davos’ opinion of him. Although Giorgris wasn’t a talkative person, there was someone dangerous here…

Antonios then quickly glanced at Seraphinus, who was standing quietly in an inconspicuous corner. After quickly regaining his thoughts, Antonios continued to ask, “Has strategos Sarathus* taken over the port with his troops?” (Sarathus was the leader of the Rhegian army sent by Rhegium to cooperate with the first legion.)

“Yes, milord.” Ladician, the native of Naxos, replied, “Strategos Sarathus has also brought over 300 fit slaves to facilitate the smooth unloading of both the food and supplies once the Rhegian ships docked at the port.”

“I am now much more relieved that the port can still operate normally.” Said Antonios. Then he sighed, “Unfortunately, there are no military facilities in the port for our warships to dock, and their only choice is to go back to Rhegium to rest.”

Chapter 534 – Antonios’ Arrangement

“Legatus, Rhegium is not far, and if we could get a favourable wind, the fleet would only need two hours to reach here.” Xanticles reassured him, “Moreover, Lord Seclian left a few penteconters behind that would rush back to Rhegium to inform him if anything unusual happens.”

However, Antonios remained worried even after hearing this. After all, the first legion would delve deep into enemy territory alone, with only the sea route as their insurance, “Let’s hope so…” Although he did not want to comment too much on Seclian’s decision, he thought that Seclian would never choose that if it was Davos who led the army. Instead, he would have made sure to make it possible for the fleet to anchor here…

“Milord, I wish to head to the west of Mount Etna and tell my fellow Naxosian that we have taken back our land! I believe they would be joyful once they found out and would come to defend this town immediately!” Ladician pleaded Antonios.

Antonios shook his head and said, “Ladician, you can let someone else do it, but you cannot go.”

Ladician looked surprised as he did not understand why Antonios would refuse his reasonable request and wanted to argue further. But he heard Antonios say, “I need you and the Naxosian who left just now called…called…”

“Torilaus, lord legatus.” Seraphinus reminded.

Antonios nodded his head to thank him and continued, “I need you and Torilaus to take charge of all the administrative matters of this town, manage all the Naxosian here, assign housing to them, maintain the order, make bread, transport the supplies from the port…making sure the field outside the town was not deserted, and organise the young and strong people of Naxos for the officers of the first legion to train them. After all, we only have a few people here and need more to defend Naxos!”

Although Antonios had served as a public official of Theonia, such as the inspector, he still didn’t become a praetor, the highest administrative position specialising in managing a whole city-state. Thus he lacks specific administrative experience, so whatever he had just said is what he thinks is important.

But Ladician was a nobleman of Naxos. Besides holding all the major and minor positions of the city-state in 20 years of his political career, he had also served as a strategos and polemarchos several times, so he knew well what he should and could do under such circumstances. Therefore, he is thrilled to get this appointment.

Moreover, after his extended stay in Rhegium, Ladician could feel Theonia’s importance in Magna Graecia. Hence he was acutely aware that if Theonia truly defeats Syracuse, Theonia’s authority would not only cover Magna Graecia but even the east of Sicily… ‘So where should Naxos lean?’

While pondering about it, Ladician looked at the leader of this so-called strongest force of Theonia: Although he was in his 40s, he looked intelligent and capable. Moreover, to be sent to Sicily to fight independently means that he won the trust of the new king of Theonia. So during the voyage, Ladician observed him, and he also heard that although he was already old, he still hadn’t married…

Ladician’s thought drifted: He had a lovely daughter he was planning to marry to the son of the polemarchos of Rhegium, Athelycus. Unfortunately, Athelycus did not agree. But now, although Antonios is older, he seems to be a better marriage partner!

Thinking of this, he immediately said, “Thank you for your trust, lord Antonios. Torilaus and I will do our best to manage this town well and provide your army with the greatest assistance! Also, if we encounter important or difficult issues, we would first ask for your thoughts, milord!”

Satisfied with Ladician’s humble attitude, Antonios then said, “There is one thing that needs to be solved as soon as possible. Tell Sarathus to inform Rhegium to send some weapons and armour as soon as possible to form more armies once the Naxosians arrive in order to defeat the Syracusans who will soon attack.

You have to also build a smithy in the town to repair our weapons. To have such a big town but no smithy! The Sikurians are really absurd! Do they think that if they don’t buy and sell weapons in the town, the freemen and slaves won’t rebel?!”

“They fully know that we, Naxosians, hated them extremely! After all, The Sikurians, who wanted to annex Naxos’ land, had fewer people, so they captured our people, demoted them as slaves, and recruited many freemen to develop this land that did not belong to them…” Ladician said angrily.

Antonios nodded.

At that moment, a man beside Seraphinus exclaimed, “The west of Mount Etna doesn’t only have the exiles of Naxos, but also the Catanians and are more numerous. Lord Antonios, please allow me to lead them here!”

“Who are you?” Antonios looked at him and asked suspiciously.

“He was one of the helpers who assisted the first legion to take Megalos and caused riots in the town – Lasiperatus of Catania.” Seraphinus introduced.

‘Catania!’ Antonios’ heart jolted, and he instantly said, “We, of course, welcome Catania! Our king sent his army to Sicily not only to defeat Syracuse but also to regain the independence of the Sicilian city-states that the Syracusans oppressed and restore the homes of the people who lost them!…”

“Thank you, the great Theonia Union! I will do my best to gather the Catanians to contribute to this great goal of Theonia!” Lasiperatus exclaimed gratefully.

Ladician immediately followed.

“There is Tauromenium in the north, so you should pay attention to safety when you go to the west of Mount Etna!” Antonios reminded the other party. Then he looked at the senior centurion of the fourth brigade, “Tagetinos, draw out two hundred soldiers and build a guard post on the north side 2 kilometres away from Megalos. Keep a close eye on Tauromenium to prevent them from sneaking down the mountain to attack those Sicilians rushing to join us!”

“Roger, legatus!” Tagetinos answered loudly as if his voice was thunder.

“From now on, the other brigades will lead the soldiers to strengthen the walls of Megalos and build defensive measures!”

“Understood, legatus!”

After arranging the tasks, the officers and the representatives of the exiles left one after another, leaving only Seraphinus.

Antonios looked at this man with a slightly complicated mood. After Antonios received his order, Davos saw his worries about leaving Magna Graecia, crossing the sea to a strange place and fear of not being able to complete his task. Hence he told him, “…after landing, Aristias’ men will come to find you and greatly assist you!…”

Aristias’ was Davos’ intelligence officer, who Antonios had met several times when he visited Davos’ residence. He was a serious and quiet man that Antonios was reluctant to have much contact with him, but from what he learned today: He had planned the riots that happened in Megalos a few months ago. That is to say, Davos had sent Aristias to Sicily earlier! ‘Could it be that even before the war began, his majesty had already prepared for today’s attack on Sicily?!’

Although Antonios was surprised, he quickly regained his composure. These years that he followed Davos made him see many magical things from him that he had long accepted the fact that ‘Davos is Hades’ descendant’. Besides, Aristias’ arrangements in Sicily helped complete his task!

With enthusiasm in his expression, Antonios said, “His majesty mentioned about you when he gave me his order in Scylletium. But I didn’t expect to get your assistance as soon as I set foot on the land of Sicily and helped the first legion successfully capture Megalos. Thank you very much!”

Seraphinus humbly said, “Legatus Antonios, you praise me too much! Even without my help, the first legion could still take Megalos smoothly with your swift attack.”

“Indeed.” Antonios was not modest. Then he changed his words and said, “But the soldiers’ casualties will increase! The first legion has fewer people, and every soldier is very important. But more importantly, the extensive work you have done had made both the freemen and slaves accept Theonia Union. It is your credit that we can stabilise the town of Megalos so quickly and make the next plan quickly!”

Seraphinus did not respond, but his face shone with excitement.

Antonios then said, “Can you tell me how many people we have in Sicily and in which city-states?”

Seraphinus shook his head and said, “I don’t know how many men lord Aristias had sent to Sicily. The only thing I know is that our leader in Sicily is Antrapolis, who from time to time sends me orders to find out Megalos’ situation.”

‘Antrapolis?!’ Antonios felt the name familiar as if he had heard of him before.

Seraphinus saw Antonios’ doubts, so he added, “He is lord Aristias’ younger brother.”

Table of Contents

Chapter 01 – The death of Cyrus the Younger (1)

Chapter 02 – The death of Cyrus the Younger (2)

Chapter 03 – Rebirth
Chapter 04 – Davos
Chapter 05 – God’s Favored
Chapter 06 – Chess Player
Chapter 07 – Javelin and Food
Chapter 08 – Mersis
Chapter 09 – Night March
Chapter 10 – Meno
Chapter 11 – Meeting
Chapter 12 – Help?
Chapter 13 – Xenophon (1)
Chapter 14 – Xenophon (2)
Chapter 15 – Miracle Physician
Chapter 16 – Conflict
Chapter 17 – Dances with wolves
Chapter 18 – The eastern kingdom of dream
Chapter 19 – Suspicion
Chapter 20 – Bandit
Chapter 21 – Marigi
Chapter 22 – Stop
Chapter 23 – Shock
Chapter 24 – Showing up prominently
Chapter 25 – Negotiation Breakdown
Chapter 26 – Cheirisophus
Chapter 27 – New Leader
Chapter 28 – Initial Authority
Chapter 29 – War Council
Chapter 30 – General Assembly
Chapter 31 – 1 Astonishing Cheer (I)
Chapter 32 – 1 Astonishing Cheer (II)
Chapter 33 – Cheiristoya
Chapter 34 – Guards
Chapter 36 – Decapitation Strike
Chapter 35 – Mithridates’ Scheme
Chapter 37 – Raid of Artaozus
Chapter 38 – Slingers of Rhodes
Chapter 39 – Respective Plans

Chapter 40 – Hellish Encirclement and Annihilation (I)

Chapter 41 – Hellish Encirclement and Annihilation (II)

Chapter 42 – Reminiscing the Ancient Capital
Chapter 43 – Archery Battle
Chapter 44 – Medical Benevolence
Chapter 45 – Spring Breeze
Chapter 46 – Mountain Warfare
Chapter 47 – Cheiristoya’s Appointment
Chapter 48 – Race Against Time (I)
Chapter 49 – Race Against Time (II)
Chapter 50 – Negotiation
Chapter 51 – Carduchians
Chapter 52 – Crossing the River (I)
Chapter 53 – Crossing the River (II)
Chapter 54 – Crossing the River (III)
Chapter 55 – Byzantium
Chapter 56 – Thurii
Chapter 57 – Davos Camp
Chapter 58 – Oracle
Chapter 59 – To Magna Graecia
Chapter 60 – Agreement Signing
Chapter 61 – Farewell
Chapter 62 – Arrival
Chapter 63 – Ruins
Chapter 64 – Scuffle!
Chapter 65 – Camp Building!
Chapter 66 – Inquiry and Explanation (I)
Chapter 67 – Inquiry and Explanation (II)
Chapter 68 – Reconnaissance (I)
Chapter 69 – Reconnaissance (II)
Chapter 70 – Reconnaissance (III)
Chapter 71 – Reconnaissance (IV)
Chapter 72 – Goals!
Chapter 73 – Request of Mersis
Chapter 74 – Mercenary Market Information (I)

Chapter 75 – Mercenary Market Information (II)

Chapter 76 – Davos’ Camp
Chapter 77- War Plan
Chapter 78 – Before the Battle
Chapter 79 – The Battle of Thurii (I)
Chapter 80 – The Battle of Thurii (II)
Chapter 81 – The Battle of Thurii (III)
Chapter 82 – The Battle of Thurii (IV)
Chapter 83 – Retreat
Chapter 84 – Camp’s Defense
Chapter 85 – Contradiction
Chapter 86 – Undercurrent
Chapter 87 – Choice
Chapter 88 – Allies

Chapter 89 – Luring the enemies into an ambush

Chapter 90 – The Battle of the Great River (I)

Chapter 91 – The Battle of the Great River (II)

Chapter 92 – The Battle of the Great River (III)

Chapter 93 – Postwar
Chapter 94 – Night Raid
Chapter 95 – Recapture
Chapter 96 – Davos’ Thoughts
Chapter 97 – Cornelius
Chapter 98 – Ecclesia
Chapter 99 – Thurii’s Loss
Chapter 100 – A king or an Archon?
Chapter 101 – Archon for life
Chapter 102 – The first council meeting (I)
Chapter 103 – The first council meeting (II)
Chapter 104 – The first council meeting (III)
Chapter 105 – The first council meeting (IV)
Chapter 106 – The first council meeting (V)
Chapter 107 – The first council meeting (VI)
Chapter 108 – Proposal
Chapter 109 – Andrea
Chapter 110 – The Happiness of Giorgris
Chapter 111 – Bagul
Chapter 112 – Proposal concerning the slaves
Chapter 113 – The aid of Taranto

Chapter 114 – Hera’s Ceremony and Wedding Celebration

Chapter 115 – The invitation of Syracuse
Chapter 116 – Dionysius, the Tyrant
Chapter 117 – Legion and Flag (I)
Chapter 118 – Legion and Flag (II)
Chapter 119 – Mariji’s Business Plan (I)
Chapter 120 – Mariji’s Business Plan (II)
Chapter 121 – Alliance with Thurii (I)
Chapter 122 – Alliance with Thurii (II)
Chapter 123 – Izam of Corduene
Chapter 124 – Heracleides the Architect
Chapter 125 – New Roads
Chapter 126 – Recruits and Training (I)
Chapter 127 – Recruits and Training (II)
Chapter 128 – Rugby
Chapter 129 – The Sorrow of Kunogelata
Chapter 130 – Welcome to Amendolara
Chapter 131 – Mathematics and Waterwheel
Chapter 136 – Outbreak of War
Chapter 137 – Repaying Evil with Kindness
Chapter 138 – The Fall of Thurii
Chapter 139 – Intimidation
Chapter 140 – Burning the City
Chapter 141 – Rescue
Chapter 142 – Surprise Attack (I)
Chapter 143 – Surprise Attack (II)
Chapter 144 – Surprise Attack (III)
Chapter 145 – Post Victory
Chapter 146 – Establishing the Thua Union
Chapter 147 – Renewing the Alliance
Chapter 148 – The envoy of Crotone-Lysias
Chapter 149 – Reconstruction of Thurii

Chapter 150 – Armistice Agreement and the Alliance of Thua Union

Chapter 151 – Pregnancy

Chapter 152 – The War Preparation of Syracuse and the Trade Revival of Thua Union

Chapter 153 – The construction of bridges and the discussion in the Senate

Chapter 154 – Shocking disputes over the reconstruction of the temple

Chapter 155 – The influence of the Temple of Hades in the future

Chapter 156 – The Thua Union in the eyes of the foreigners (I)

Chapter 157 – The Thua Union in the eyes of foreigners (II)

Chapter 158 – Turns out that beer was invented by the Egyptians

Chapter 159 – Becoming rich and noble, nothing is forgotten

Chapter 160 – An unexpected visitor
Chapter 161 – Join hands
Chapter 162 – Persuade
Chapter 163 – Heated debate in the Senate
Chapter 164 – Spy

Chapter 165 – Arriving on the lands of the Lucanians

Chapter 166 – Deceiving a City
Chapter 167 – Killing and Appeasement (I)
Chapter 168 – Killing and Appeasement (Ii)

Chapter 169 – The return of Laos and the Glory of Sybaris

Chapter 170 – Theonia City-State Union
Chapter 171 – Meeting Timasion
Chapter 172 – The worries of Cheirisophus
Chapter 173 – The Visit of Davos (I)
Chapter 174 – The Visit of Davos (II)
Chapter 175 – The Visit of Davos (III)
Chapter 176 – The Visit of Davos (IV)
Chapter 177 – The Arrival of Avinoges

Chapter 178 – Having an audience with Cincinnag

Chapter 179 – Sparta

Chapter 180 – Sparta’s punishment

Chapter 181 – Triumphant Return and Former Comrades (I)

Chapter 182 – Triumphant Return and Former Comrades (II)

Chapter 183 – Triumphant Return: The Highest Honor of a Union’s Warrior

Chapter 184 – Cloud and Rain (Love Making)
Chapter 185 – The arrival of Sparta
Chapter 186 – Arrogance: The Symbol of Sparta
Chapter 187 – The incitement of Phidias

Chapter 188 – The action of Taranto and the remorse of Agasias

Chapter 189 – The vigilance of Dionysius and the funeral of the Spartan king

Chapter 190 – The Court in the Market of Thurii

Chapter 191 – Amendolara’s Economic Development Zone

Chapter 192 – Theonia’s Rugby Competition (I)

Chapter 193 – Theonia’s Rugby Competition (II)

Chapter 194 – The Ambition of Timasion
Chapter 195 – Surprise attack on Krimisa
Chapter 196 – Storming Krimisa
Chapter 197 – Capturing the City
Chapter 198 – Fall

Chapter 199 – The trouble caused by the mercenaries

Chapter 200 – The War Potential of Theonia

Chapter 201 – The Outbreak of the Second Crotone War

Chapter 202 – War Preparation
Chapter 203 – Before the War
Chapter 204 – Ambush
Chapter 205 – Battle of Trionto River (I)
Chapter 206 – Battle of Trionto River (II)
Chapter 207 – Battle of Trionto River (III)
Chapter 208 – Battle of Trionto River (IV)
Chapter 209 – Battle of Trionto River (V)
Chapter 210 – Battle of Trionto River (VI)

Chapter 211 – After the Battle of Trionto River

Chapter 212 – The enemy passed through the earthen wall

Chapter 213 – Disagreement in Crotone
Chapter 214 – The Counterattack of Milo
Chapter 215 – The Cooperation of Three Legion
Chapter 216 – The Suggestion of Kunogelata
Chapter 217 – Crotone’s naval harassment

Chapter 218 – Invasion of the Northern Plain of Crotone

Chapter 219 – Storming Aprustum
Chapter 220 – Fall of Aprustum
Chapter 221 – Peace Negotiation
Chapter 222 – Unusual Alliance Agreement
Chapter 223 – Entering Krimisa
Chapter 224 – We are one family
Chapter 225 – Son
Chapter 226 – Crotokatax Davos
Chapter 227 – Triumphant Return
Chapter 228 – King’s Election
Chapter 229 – Affairs in Sparta

Chapter 230 – Senate meeting after the war (I)

Chapter 231 – Senate meeting after the war (II)

Chapter 232 – Senate meeting after the war (III)

Chapter 233 – Senate meeting after the war (IV)

Chapter 234 – The plan for Grumentum and the battle on the sea near Scylletium

Chapter 235 – Crotone’s Call for Reinforcement

Chapter 236 – Hielos’ Decision
Chapter 237 – Sparta’s Syssitia
Chapter 238 – Agesilaus’ Intention
Chapter 239 – The indignation of Leotychides
Chapter 240 – Davos’ Proposal

Chapter 241 – The Family Situation of Kunogelata

Chapter 242 – The establishment of the South Italia Alliance

Chapter 243 – Theonia’s Deployment

Chapter 244 – Peace in South Italia under the leadership of Theonia

Chapter 245 – The four strifes in western Mediterranean

Chapter 246 – Silver Coin of Theonia and the Institute of Mathematics

Chapter 247 – Ballista
Chapter 248 – Akademia of Theonia (I)
Chapter 249 – Akademia of Theonia (II)
Chapter 250 – Akademia of Theonia (III)
Chapter 251 – Prelude to War
Chapter 252 – Attack Plan
Chapter 253 – Attack on Grumentum

Chapter 254 – Occupying Grumentum and Elea’s Concern

Chapter 255 – The Banquet of Avinoges

Chapter 256 – The Proposal to make Hades as the Theonians’ belief

Chapter 257 – The Celebration Ceremony for the Completion of the Temple of Hades (I)

Chapter 258 – The Celebration Ceremony for the Completion of the Temple of Hades (II)

Chapter 259 – The Celebration Ceremony for the Completion of the Temple of Hades (III)

Chapter 260 – The Uniqueness of the Temple of Hades

Chapter 261 – The Secret of Theonia’s Strength? (I)

Chapter 262 – The Secret of Theonia’s Strength? (II)

Chapter 263 – Slave Liberation Ceremony and Theonia’s Rugby Tournament

Chapter 264 – Elea’s Affiliation
Chapter 265 – Alarming news from Terina
Chapter 266 – Assault on Bruttii?

Chapter 267 – The Kinadon incident and the counterattack of Messapi

Chapter 268 – Returning to rescue
Chapter 269 – Messapi-Peuceti Alliance
Chapter 270 – The Death of Archytas

Chapter 271 – The Theonians abide by their promise

Chapter 272 – History of the Three race
Chapter 273 – Theonia’s Interest Comes First
Chapter 274 – Another Huge Blow
Chapter 275 – Leotychides
Chapter 276 – The Meeting’s Undercurrent
Chapter 277 – Military Discussion
Chapter 278 – A surprising turn of event

Chapter 279 – The response of the Messapi-Peuceti Alliance

Chapter 280 – Conflict

Chapter 281 – Retreat?

Chapter 282 – The scheme of the Messapi-Peuceti Alliance

Chapter 283 – Ambush and Counter-Ambush
Chapter 284 – Battle of Anlen Hills (I)
Chapter 285 – Battle of Anlen Hills (II)
Chapter 286 – Battle of Anlen Hills (III)
Chapter 287 – Battle of Anlen Hills (IV)
Chapter 288 – Battle of Anlen Hills (V)

Chapter 289 – A request for help from the Siro tribe

Chapter 290 – The Messapi-Peuceti alliance’s plea for armistice

Chapter 291 – The Arrival of Marigi
Chapter 292 – Lead by Example
Chapter 293 – Envoy to Brutti (I)
Chapter 294 – Envoy to Bruttii(II)
Chapter 295 – Envoy to Bruttii(III)
Chapter 296 – Return
Chapter 297 – Classified Report
Chapter 298 – Henipolis
Chapter 299 – Pride and Prejudice

Chapter 300 – The beginning of the war with Bruttii

Chapter 301 – Prelude to War (I)
Chapter 302 – Prelude to War (II)
Chapter 303 – Probe
Chapter 304 – Hero

Chapter 305 – Shouldering an important responsibility alone

Chapter 306 – North and South Pinned Down, Breaking Through the Middle

Chapter 307 – After Capturing The City
Chapter 308 – Bruttii Trembles
Chapter 309 – Cheers from Thurii
Chapter 310 – Fall of Motya
Chapter 311 – Changes in Lucania
Chapter 312 – Baripiri’s Scheme
Chapter 313 – Ballista

Chapter 314 – Fortress offense and defense (I)

Chapter 315 – Fortress offense and defense (II)

Chapter 316 – Bruttii’s retreat and Elea’s invasion

Chapter 317 – Meeting up in Besidice
Chapter 318 – Winning over Besidice
Chapter 319 – Wiping out Pyxous
Chapter 320 – Betting it all
Chapter 321 – War is Coming

Chapter 322 – Reconnaissance before the Battle of Finita River

Chapter 323 – Cavalry’s Offence at the Battle of Finita River

Chapter 324 – Midday Break at the Akademia of Theonia

Chapter 325 – Pollux’ Criticism

Chapter 326 – The army reserve in the Battle of Finita River

Chapter 327 – Sorrow after the war
Chapter 328 – Sedrum
Chapter 329 – Persuasion
Chapter 330 – Hegesitus
Chapter 331 – Impact after the Battle
Chapter 332 – Victory in Sight
Chapter 333 – Conquering Bruttii
Chapter 334
Chapter 335
Chapter 336
Chapter 337
Chapter 338
Chapter 339
Chapter 340
Chapter 341
Chapter 342
Chapter 343
Chapter 344
Chapter 345
Chapter 346
Chapter 347
Chapter 348
Chapter 349
Chapter 350
Chapter 351
Chapter 352
Chapter 353
Chapter 354
Chapter 355
Chapter 356
Chapter 357
Chapter 358
Chapter 359
Chapter 360
Chapter 361
Chapter 362
Chapter 363
Chapter 364
Chapter 365
Chapter 366
Chapter 367
Chapter 368
Chapter 369
Chapter 370
Chapter 371
Chapter 372
Chapter 373
Chapter 374
Chapter 375
Chapter 376
Chapter 377
Chapter 378
Chapter 379
Chapter 380
Chapter 381
Chapter 382
Chapter 383
Chapter 384
Chapter 385
Chapter 386
Chapter 387
Chapter 388
Chapter 389
Chapter 390
Chapter 391
Chapter 392
Chapter 393
Chapter 394
Chapter 395
Chapter 396
Chapter 397
Chapter 398
Chapter 399
Chapter 400
Chapter 401
Chapter 402
Chapter 403
Chapter 404
Chapter 405
Chapter 406
Chapter 407
Chapter 408
Chapter 409
Chapter 410
Chapter 411
Chapter 412
Chapter 413
Chapter 414
Chapter 415
Chapter 416
Chapter 417
Chapter 418
Chapter 419
Chapter 420
Chapter 421
Chapter 422
Chapter 423
Chapter 424
Chapter 425
Chapter 426
Chapter 427
Chapter 428
Chapter 429
Chapter 430
Chapter 431
Chapter 432
Chapter 433
Chapter 434
Chapter 435
Chapter 436
Chapter 437
Chapter 438
Chapter 439
Chapter 440
Chapter 441
Chapter 442
Chapter 443
Chapter 444
Chapter 445
Chapter 446
Chapter 447
Chapter 448
Chapter 449
Chapter 450
Chapter 451
Chapter 452
Chapter 453
Chapter 454
Chapter 455
Chapter 456
Chapter 457
Chapter 458
Chapter 459
Chapter 460
Chapter 461
Chapter 462
Chapter 463
Chapter 464
Chapter 465
Chapter 466
Chapter 467
Chapter 468
Chapter 469
Chapter 470
Chapter 471
Chapter 472
Chapter 473
Chapter 474
Chapter 475
Chapter 476
Chapter 477
Chapter 478
Chapter 479
Chapter 480
Chapter 481
Chapter 482
Chapter 483
Chapter 484
Chapter 485
Chapter 486
Chapter 487
Chapter 488
Chapter 489
Chapter 490
Chapter 491
Chapter 492
Chapter 493
Chapter 494
Chapter 495
Chapter 496
Chapter 497
Chapter 498
Chapter 499
Chapter 500
Chapter 501
Chapter 502
Chapter 503
Chapter 504
Chapter 505
Chapter 506
Chapter 507
Chapter 508
Chapter 509
Chapter 510
Chapter 511
Chapter 512
Chapter 513
Chapter 514
Chapter 515
Chapter 516
Chapter 517
Chapter 518
Chapter 519
Chapter 520
Chapter 521
Chapter 522
Chapter 523
Chapter 524
Chapter 525
Chapter 526
Chapter 527
Chapter 528
Chapter 529
Chapter 530
Chapter 531
Chapter 532
Chapter 533
Chapter 534