Chapter 327

Defeat came so swiftly that Pianlun still refused to believe it, for he felt victory had been so close.

“Attack! Continue the attack! The enemy is about to break!!…” He shouted hysterically, attempting to stop the fleeing warriors around him, but was nearly pushed down in the chaos.

“Great Chief, go quickly! If you don’t leave now, you won’t be able to escape!!” His personal guards forcibly dragged him backward.

***

“Lord Commander, we have won this battle!” Tolmides reported with a face full of joy. “The enemy has routed across the entire line!”

This result was within Davos’s expectations. With a calm expression, he said, “This battle is not over yet. Repelling the enemy is not enough; we must see what the final harvest is!”

Usually, in a frontal pitched battle, the losing side’s casualties rarely exceeded 10%. However, after a rout, if the pursuit was conducted properly, the casualty rate of the defeated side would often skyrocket because demoralized routing soldiers had no will to resist.

Therefore, Davos kept the attack bugle sounding continuously.

Theonian soldiers simply discarded their heavy bronze shields and helmets, holding their spears with both hands. Ignoring their exhausted bodies, they continued to pursue forward, cooperating with the reinforcements charging from the flank to encircle and annihilate the enemy.

The Besidiae warriors, the light infantry and freedmen led by Epitenes and Tspites, and Izam’s Mountain Reconnaissance Battalion formed a “large net” stretching from the Bruttian right wing to the rear of their center. Although this “net” wasn’t very sturdy and had large holes, it was enough to terrify the Bruttians who only wanted to flee for their lives.

Amidst the shouts of killing from Theonians everywhere, some routing soldiers simply threw down their weapons and sat on the ground.

Ledes’s Cavalry Battalion pursued the fleeing enemy in an extremely loose and wide two-column line. The cavalry, with their horses well-rested, acted like a giant rake sweeping back and forth through fallen leaves…

It wasn’t until nearly dusk that the Theonian cavalry stopped their pursuit. When they returned wearily from the Consentia Plateau, which was covered all over with routing soldiers, every man and horse was stained with blood, looking truly terrifying. Later, soldiers who loved to give nicknames called them the “Blood Cavalry,” which eventually became their official name.

By this time, the battle had completely ended. At the cost of 1,500 casualties, Theonia inflicted nearly 5,000 casualties on the Bruttian League and captured over 5,000 prisoners, achieving a great victory.

Ledes excitedly went to see Davos, only to be told: The Lord Commander has gone to the cremation site.

Walking on the battlefield strewn with corpses, the joy of victory had long vanished from Davos without a trace.

Soldiers arranged their fallen comrades neatly on the grass; a glance revealed no end to the lines of bodies. Carefully, they placed two obols on the eyes of the deceased while praying to Hades for them with tears in their eyes.

Looking at the pale faces that seemed familiar, Davos’s steps were heavy. Finally, he stopped. By the roadside ahead, a dozen soldiers were weeping around a corpse. He recognized the man in the lead: Ctippus, a captain of the Second Legion.

His heart stirred, and he stepped forward, asking in a low voice, “Who is the deceased?”

“Lord Commander!” The officers and soldiers saw him and hurriedly saluted.

Through the gap they made, he saw the face of the deceased—a face he knew all too well. Alcinous, a warm and cheerful young man from Amendolara, a hero of the Second Crotoniate War, and the standard-bearer at the triumph. In the final charge of this battle, Alcinous, as a squadron leader, had rushed at the very front, only to be pierced in the chest by a spear thrown by a bold enemy who hadn’t been in a hurry to flee…

Listening to Ctippus’s sorrowful words, Davos took two obols from a soldier’s hand and placed them on Alcinous’s closed eyelids… A year ago, this brave youth had boldly competed with him in swimming; now, his body was as cold as stone.

At this moment, Davos wished more than anything that Hades truly existed in this world. Then, given Theonia’s reverence for the King of the Underworld, these fallen Theonian soldiers would surely receive preferential treatment in the afterlife…

Leaving that group of soldiers, Davos walked a bit further and then stopped, looking gloomily at several cremation pyres burning with raging fire in the distance…

After a long time, he said to Tolmides, who had been following silently behind him, “Do you think… Theonia launching this war against Bruttium… was right or wrong?”

“Uh…” Tolmides didn’t know how to answer for a moment.

But Davos’s expression quickly became resolute, and he answered his own question firmly: “Of course it wasn’t wrong! In this era, either we destroy others, or others destroy us. There is no other way but to strengthen ourselves!”

Tolmides deeply agreed with Davos’s words. In the Eastern Mediterranean, he had witnessed the Persians’ oppression of weak races and the Spartans’ tyranny in Ionia and Asia Minor. After coming to the Western Mediterranean, he had also heard of Carthage’s power and Syracuse’s cruelty. The only thing he hadn’t expected was that what worried Davos at this moment was a Latin city-state in central Italy he had never heard of—Rome.

***

“Lord Commander, the brothers of the First Legion and the soldiers of the Reserves… they are seizing the time to rest. They are too tired! They fall asleep almost as soon as they hit the ground; they don’t even have time to take off their cuirasses,” Capus said with some heartache.

“This battle… whether it was the First Legion, the Second Legion, or other units, everyone gave their utmost effort. It was a very hard-fought battle!” Davos sighed with emotion, but he still reminded Capus, “However, it is autumn now, and I hear the nights in the mountains are much colder than in Thurii. If the brothers fall asleep on the ground while sweating all over after intense combat, they must be careful not to catch a cold! Our medical camp is already overcrowded; I don’t want any needless increase in sickness!”

Antonios, standing beside Davos, was once again serving as the army’s Quartermaster for this expedition. He was clearly familiar with this duty by now and suggested, “I think we can have the auxiliary soldiers of the baggage train take out the blankets carried by the First Legion soldiers and cover them.”

Davos nodded in agreement. He then looked at Drakos. The Legion Commander of the Second Legion had his head lowered slightly, hands behind his back, his left leg shaking gently.

Davos looked at him carefully a few times and asked, “Can our camp be finished by tonight?”

“The brothers of the Second Legion are pressing those prisoners to build it urgently. At the same time, the Mountain Battalion, Besidiae warriors, and the allied forces led by Lord Triphias and Lord Georgis (General of Castellum) are also building the camp under the guidance of engineers… It will definitely be finished before dark!”

Triphias and Georgis nodded in acknowledgment when Drakos mentioned their names.

Davos expressed his thanks to them both, then asked, “How are those Bruttian prisoners behaving?”

“We severely punished a dozen prisoners who dared to resist, and with the Besidiae people setting an example nearby, their behavior is fairly obedient.”

Davos nodded. He paced back and forth a few steps and said in a deep voice, “Do not mistreat them! If you find any Bruttians who cannot persist in labor, allow them to stop and rest… Oh, you handle the specific situation yourselves.”

“Yes.”

“What happened to the wound on your right hand?” Drakos was focused on thinking about how to complete the task Davos gave him and didn’t notice Davos had walked behind him.

He hurriedly retracted his hand, stepped back two paces, shook his head, and said, “No… nothing, accidentally injured by a soldier’s… spear…”

As he shook his head, a bloody groove under his jaw caught Davos’s eye. Davos, whom Herpus honored as a teacher, knew that the vital carotid artery was near this wound. One could imagine the danger of the scene at that time and Drakos’s luck.

At this moment, Davos’s face darkened. “You rushed to the front again, didn’t you! How many times have I told you? You are a Legion Commander commanding over 7,000 men, not an ordinary soldier! Do you know what impact it would have on the entire battle if you died?! Is Theonian military law just a joke to you, is it?! You obey it when you want and ignore it when you don’t!…”

Davos scolded him thoroughly. Drakos hung his head, not daring to utter a sound.

To outsiders, the scene of a young man scolding a burly man in his thirties like a father scolding a child might seem somewhat comical. But the surrounding high-ranking Theonian generals and important figures from allied states all looked serious and tried to hold their breath, showing Davos’s authority.

“Hand over the command of the Second Legion to Adrianx temporarily. Go find Stesichordas (Head of the expeditionary medical camp, one of Herpus’s capable assistants) immediately. After bandaging the wound, go to the military judge yourself to accept punishment!”

As soon as Davos finished speaking, Drakos repeatedly said yes and turned to run away as if granted a great pardon.

“Lord Commander, actually… during the final attack, the soldiers were extremely exhausted. Drakos also wanted to use this method to inspire the soldiers…” Antonios whispered an explanation for Drakos.

“Alcinous—you should all know him. After the victory in the Second War with Croton, he was the standard-bearer at the triumph. He was a squadron leader in the Second Legion, a very promising young officer!” Davos sighed deeply. “I just paid Charon the river-crossing fee for him… Subordinate officers learn from what the Legion Commander does. I don’t want to see vacancies appearing constantly among the officers of the Second Legion. This Drakos, who risks his life as soon as battle starts, needs a good beating!”

After Davos said this, Capus, Antonios, and the others found it difficult to say anything more.