Chapter 405: Theonian Warriors
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…”
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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.
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“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.