Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

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.)