Chapter 319

As a warrior whose fame rivaled Matonis, Martius was relatively disciplined and lacked excessive ambition. He was loyal to his duties, which was why Davos had always trusted him. Although the Archon’s personal guard was at full strength, they were also responsible for guarding important locations like the Senate House, the Temple of Hades, and the arena. The vacancies created by these duties could perfectly well be filled by the young men recommended by the chiefs and tribal nobles present in the hall.

If the people of Besidiae were to integrate into the Theonian League as quickly as possible, these young elites of Besidiae should be brought into the Theonian political system. This would allow them to understand Theonia’s institutions, learn its culture, and become accustomed to its way of life as soon as possible. Then, as Bagilipi had said, they would be assimilated into true Theonians and return to influence the Besidiae populace.

This matter required discussion with the Senate upon his return, but for now, he could agree to let them join the guard as Besidiae volunteers. Having made up his mind, Davos immediately expressed his consent.

Soon, Besidiae city scraped together a guard unit of over sixty men.

Davos appointed Rhodom as the captain of this guard unit and announced: Tonight, they will be responsible for standing guard and keeping watch for me.

As soon as the order was issued, it met with strong opposition from Drakos, Capus, and others.

But Davos insisted, declaring, “Besidiae is now Theonia’s Besidiae, and Besidiae warriors are also Theonian soldiers! What kind of commander doesn’t trust his own soldiers!”

In the end, Davos reached an agreement with Drakos and Capus: Martius would lead the original guard to secure the outside of the courtyard, while the Besidiae warriors would guard the inside.

When Rhodom and his men received the news, they were deeply moved, swearing never to let Lord Davos, who trusted them so much, suffer even the slightest fright.

The originally apprehensive populace of Besidiae also felt relieved because of this gesture from Davos.

Aside from the high-ranking military generals, those most afraid of an accident were actually Bagilipi and the other chiefs and tribal nobles. They knew well that if anything happened to Davos, the fury of the two thousand Theonian soldiers inside the city and the ten thousand-plus outside would burn Besidiae to ashes. Therefore, they repeatedly admonished their kinsmen serving as guards tonight.

The night passed peacefully.

The next day, Davos, who had slept soundly, met with Capus, Drakos, the three Besidiae chiefs, and the generals commanding the allied forces from Heraclea and Castellum—who had barely slept all night—to discuss the march onto the Consentia Plateau.

***

Cincinnag waited for the dispatched reinforcements to swiftly defeat the Eleans and return quickly. In fact, he didn’t wait too long before he saw Gnaenat fleeing back, covered in wounds, leading a few hundred remnants of his troops.

“What did you say?! You were ambushed by Theonians?!” Cincinnag’s face was full of disbelief. “How could there be a Theonian army outside Pyxus city?! Grumentum has been under my surveillance the entire time; they haven’t sent out a single unit!”

Gnaenat shook his head and said weakly, “Elea… I fear they came from Elea… I saw clearly. Although they all wore Greek armor, most of them had the stature and hair color… even their shouting voices were Lucanian…”

Reminded by his son, Cincinnag’s mind suddenly opened up. “You mean they came from Niutum… Why didn’t our scouts discover them?!”

Gnaenat had thought this through clearly on his escape route. Coughing, he said anxiously, “They… cough… must have boarded ships at Laos… perhaps they didn’t follow the coast… cough, cough… but circled wide out to sea… Our warships can’t compete with those of Laos and Elea… we can only patrol near the harbor… cough… it’s good enough that we weren’t blockaded… There were about three or four thousand of them… Father, what should we do now?!”

“Go back! We must return to Pyxus immediately!” Cincinnag already sensed something was wrong. “Can your body hold up?”

Gnaenat nodded. “…cough… What about those tribes?”

“Make them come with us. We need more warriors now. If any tribe refuses—” A dark and ruthless expression appeared on Cincinnag’s face as he said coldly, “We will do what we did at Grumentum all over again!”

Just as his voice fell, a scout rushed in. “Report to the Great Chief! A Theonian army has appeared to our north, about 4,000 strong!”

“Report! The southern tribes have gathered about 5,000 warriors and are closing in on our camp!”

“Report, Great Chief! The army of Grumentum has sortied from the city! It is confirmed that the general leading them is Bagulos!”

Bad news arrived one after another, causing Cincinnag to break out in layer after layer of cold sweat until he was soaked through. When he heard the last piece of news, his whole body shook. “You said Bagulos isn’t injured?!”

“It seems so, Great Chief.”

Cincinnag stood dumbfounded. After a long while, he muttered, “A conspiracy! This is a conspiracy planned by the Theonians long ago!”

Suddenly remembering something, he said urgently, “Quickly, go call the chiefs of the Rude and Brina tribes here. If they refuse to come, force them!”

Just as the guard left, a Pyxus chieftain stumbled in. “Great Chief, bad news! Rude and Brina are leading a rebellion!”

“Pfft!” Cincinnag was overcome with rage and anxiety, spraying a mouthful of fresh blood onto the ground.

***

Theonia attacked the Pyxus camp from the north, east, and south. Inside the camp was chaos; effective defense could not be organized, and it was easily breached.

Gnaenat died in battle. Cincinnag fled into the western mountains with a few kinsmen, while most of the rest surrendered.

“Legion Commander Hieronymus, how should we deal with so many prisoners?” Bagulos asked his superior for instructions.

“According to Lord Davos’s orders, all of them will be demoted to state slaves and escorted back to Thurii to labor in mines, road construction, and temple building…” Hieronymus spoke to himself, not paying attention to the expression on Bagulos’s face. “Additionally, select a thousand Pyxus prisoners. When we attack Pyxus city, we will use them to force the tribes inside to surrender.”

Then he issued further orders: “Bagulos, continue to guard Grumentum city. At the same time, do not relax surveillance on Potentia to the north. If there is any unusual activity, send a messenger to notify me immediately.”

“Yes.”

“Agasias, go urge the soldiers to speed up the battlefield cleanup. Otherwise, we won’t be able to rest even by nightfall.”

“Don’t worry, Legion Commander. I’ll keep my eyes peeled like a shepherd watching his flock. Anyone who dares to slack off gets a kick in the ass!” Agasias laughed heartily.

The Third Legion had carefully executed the plan to lure the enemy, proposed by Davos and perfected together by them all. Finally, they had achieved a relatively perfect result. After assigning tasks, Hieronymus revealed a rare, relaxed smile.

“Brother!” Axistes stopped Bagulos, who was walking back with his head down. “Lord Davos once said, ‘Do not be too merciful to surrendered enemies, for excessive mercy makes the enemy forget the mistakes they made and commit them again. Therefore, sometimes we must hold the stick high, making the enemy fear and remember the lesson.’ The Lord calls this the method of ‘Bread and Stick’…”

Axistes looked at the thoughtful Bagulos and said seriously, “The decree we used to appease those northern tribes was good enough. Not only did we grant land, but we also selflessly allocated cattle and sheep… But when we encountered danger, they did not stand with us to weather the storm. Instead, they defected to the enemy, delusionally hoping to destroy us and carve up more of our land! This severe punishment will surely deter all Lucanian tribes in this land. It will make them think carefully when making decisions concerning us: Do they choose to accept the bread or suffer the stick?!”

Bagulos gazed at the soldiers busy on the battlefield. They were dismantling the enemy camp, picking up supplies from the ground, gathering abandoned weapons, stripping armor from corpses… placing them onto fully loaded pack wagons. Then they lifted the enemy corpses and threw them onto burning pyres…

Mountain winds blew past, and ash floated everywhere in the mid-air.

Bagulos sighed deeply and said, “I hope that after this battle, the Lucanian region can truly be restored to peace!”

Having vented the depression in his heart, Bagulos slapped Axistes on the shoulder and said loudly, “Anyway, we finally got rid of that headache Cincinnag. We must celebrate properly! Tonight, I’m coming to your house as a guest. I haven’t tasted the roast lamb my sister makes in a long time. We won’t go home until we’re drunk!”

A month later, Cincinnag’s kinsmen who had fled into the mountains grew tired of dodging Theonian pursuit day in and day out. Forced to endure the hardships of mountain life and Cincinnag’s increasingly insane verbal abuse and beatings, they finally couldn’t take it anymore. Taking advantage of Cincinnag’s deep sleep, they assassinated him, went down the mountain to Grumentum, and surrendered. But that is a story for later.

***

When Pianlun led his army back to Consentia, the rebellious tribes had long since fled.

In the time that followed, he, along with Petaru and Philotaru, was busy appeasing the populace within the city and meeting with the chiefs of other tribes residing there…

Just as he was swamped with work, a messenger from Clampetia arrived in Consentia.

Pianlun was shocked to receive Pangeru’s request for help. He had never imagined that Clampetia, known as “easy to defend and hard to attack,” would be on the verge of collapse after holding out for only ten days. Moreover, what shocked him even more were the two terrifying siege weapons possessed by Theonia, as described in Pangeru’s letter.