Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

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 cause 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 balls 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!