Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 492: Theonias March and Syracuses Argument

When the second legion was about to reach the wooden bridge of the Crucoli River, several scouts came rushing back in a slight panic, “Reporting to the legatus. Enemy cavalry at the front, and they numbered-”

Before the scout could finish his words, enemy cavalries appeared on the opposite bank of the Crucoli River. They are dark-skinned with scattered black hair, wearing thin short-sleeved linen clothes, javelins in their hands, barefooted, and some horses didn't even have cushions on their backs. Instead, those horses looked vigorous and flexible in their actions. Although they only had about a hundred horses, they stood still by the river even when faced with the huge army marching towards them while staring at the other bank…Amintas, on the other hand, could feel the cunningness and malice in their gazes.

‘This is the Numidian cavalries?!’ Amintas recalled their descriptions in the battle report. After surveying them curiously, what rose in his heart was not fear but excitement, “Have the light infantry brigade send 200 archers to guard the river and expel the enemy cavalry on the other side. While the rest of the light infantry will follow the first brigade and wait for my order to cross the bridge quickly!”

The second legion quickly moved, with the archers rushing to the river. But before they could release their arrows, the Numidian cavalries on the other side immediately ran away, easily allowing the second legion to cross the wooden bridge.

But just as Amintas was considering whether to send the second legion by platoon, in a two-column fish-scale formation, cooperate with the seventh legion to advance and drive away the enemy cavalries galloping around like flies, the herald arrived with the order of Davos, ‘Ignore the enemy cavalries and continue to march. We must arrive at Krimisa before dusk!’

Thus Amintas had to abandon his plan and continue marching.

At the start, the Numidian cavalries would come rushing over on both sides of the road from time to time, where they would scream and throw a round of javelin, but after being shot down by the archer’s arrows, they became much more cautious.

After the enemy pestered them for a while, a cavalry suddenly appeared and shouted something, causing the enemy to retreat one after another.

Afterwards, these “ugly” Numidians no longer appeared in front of the soldiers of the second legion.

Although the soldiers didn't know what had happened, Amintas could vaguely guess why, ‘The Theonian fleet probably had won another naval victory, so the mercenary cavalries feared the Theonian fleet would take control of the sea around Crotone and break the pontoon bridge built over the Neto River with their ship and blockade the river, trapping them that had rampaged through the Theonian territory from returning to the Syracusan camp. After getting abandoned, they would surely get strangled by the soldiers' wrath.’

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

That was actually what happened. When the Numidian and Celtic cavalries on the northern plain of Crotone fled to the Neto River, the Theonian ships appeared at the river's estuary.

After returning to the Syracusan camp, they reported their findings to Dionysius.

“Reinforcements from Theonia are coming? So fast?!” Phacipessas was surprised as they had just breached through Crotone yesterday, yet the Theonians were already rushing today.

“How many are they?” Astagoras asked urgently.

Acilita stretched out three fingers and said, “About 30,000 men.”

“30,000…” Astagoras began estimating in earnest, “There are about 10,000 Theonians in Aprustum and almost 10,000 in Krimisa…adding them together, Theonia would gather more than 50,000 soldiers after they reach Crotone's territory, which isn't a small number!”

“Don't forget to include those heavy infantries on Theonia's ships.” Phacipessas reminded Astagoras, “Theonia would have at least 60,000 men!”

Astagoras retorted, “The soldiers on Theonia's ship fought against our soldiers for half a day, so they can't have that many left.”

Phacipessas still insisted on his opinion, “The Theonians definitely didn't lose much as they were able to capture so many of our ships.”

Phidias, on the other hand, just listened silently to the two arguing Syracusan strategoi as a trace of envy rose in his heart. Syracuse and Theonia, the two powerful forces in the western Mediterranean, could often send more than 50,000 soldiers in a war, which Sparta and its allies could not reach.

At this time, another Numidian beside Acilita spoke loudly in their language.

Phacipessas immediately stopped arguing and asked curiously, “What did he say?”

Acilita replied, “My men said that some of the enemies wore black armour, some wore armours like yours, and some didn’t even have any armour at all and are unarmed.”

Among the reinforcements led by Davos: The soldiers of the second legion were all official citizens, wearing the standard black helmets, black armours, spears, long shields, short swords and javelins. The soldiers of the seventh legion, on the other hand, were mostly preparatory citizens and registered freemen, so they didn't have enough money to buy Theonia's standard equipment. Thus they carried a hodgepodge of equipment and weapon until they defeated and captured the Tarantine soldiers and took their equipment, such as Corinthian helmets, linen armour, round shields, leather greaves, spears and kopis. The logistics team in the rear also carried thousands of heavy infantry equipment seized from Taranto, which would be used to replace the equipment of the sixth legion stationed in Krimisa. In contrast, the sarissa brigade marched empty-handed in order not to reveal the secret for the Syracusan to know in advance and take precautions. After all, the four metres sarissa is really too conspicuous, so they had the sarissa transported through ships and unloaded in Krimisa's port, which gave the Numidian such an illusion.

“See! How could Theonia have so many soldiers? But it turns out that they just recruited all the freemen and cannot equip them all with weapons. Thus, it is still useless no matter how many they are!” Astagoras glanced at Phacipessas and laughed.

Phacipessas no longer argued with him anymore as his expression became quite relaxed. As their opponent, he certainly hoped that the weaker the Theonian army was, the better.

“Praise Apollo! The Theonia's reinforcements came in time!” At this moment, Dionysius, who had been pondering, spoke. He was gloomy since witnessing the disastrous defeat of the navy, so his men thought he was angry about their loss. However, he was instead worried about the fate of his massive army because he thought of a critical problem.

Even if the Syracusan army continues to advance north to conquer Krimisa, Roscianum, and even the southern part of Thurii, with their strong offensive and pressure the Theonians to temporarily dare not divide their troops to their fleet and land to attack Syracuse's weak rear, but as long as the Theonians burn the wooden bridge on the wide Crati River, it will be impossible for the Syracusan army, which has lost its naval superiority, to cross the river and attack. And once their army stopped at the Crati River, the Theonian army, which had slowed down, could defend the river while sending a fleet to attack the rear of their army, which would exhaust them and lead to their defeat.

At the thought of this possibility, Dionysius burst into cold sweats, and the only thing that came to his mind was to take a step back, ‘Should…I let Phidias go to Thurii to negotiate a truce?’

Inside the tent, Dionysius stealthily glanced at the silent Spartan numerous times. He knew very well that Sparta wanted Syracuse to end the war quickly and then aid them vigorously to defeat the anti-Spartan alliance, which he would never do.

If he needed the support of Sparta when he first became a tyrant, his wing has now grown strong that he doesn't need a powerful ally to dictate his moves. On the contrary, the Spartans, caught in a war, would lower their arrogant heads and give Syracuse more benefits.

Thus at this moment, Dionysius would not mind making more use of Sparta's eagerness to achieve his purpose. But what kind of truce agreement should he propose? Will the young man from Theonia accept a truce on the condition that the territory they occupy would be the sphere of influence of both sides?

Dionysius was really unwilling as he had exhausted his treasury to lead such a massive army yet failed to capture a city in Theonia. He was a ruler who was excellent at weighing gains and losses. He was even able to endure not being able to expel the Carthaginians completely out of Sicily despite the disastrous defeat of Carthage and the absolute dominance of Syracuse in Sicily, so he naturally could swallow his resentment this time for the time being.

Moreover, he was able to occupy so many city-states of Magna Graecia in this time's expedition, almost controlling the southern part. Besides that, they had not only prevented the expansion of Theonia to the south but significantly increased Syracuse's strength as well. In fact, Dionysius had already half achieved this expedition's purpose. Afterwards, he would strengthen the navy as long as they could return. And once their treasury was abundant, they would again attack Magna Graecia, believing that they could definitely destroy Theonia.

But just as he was considering retreating and making a truce with Theonia through Sparta, he heard the news that the Theonian army was coming. And after listening to his men's discussion, his thought has changed again. Although Theonia defeated the Syracusan navy, Syracuse’s land army's morale was high due to winning a staggering number of victories, and they were all experienced soldiers and mercenaries. Unlike Theonia, who needed freemen to make up the numbers. So if they could completely defeat the Theonians in a battle, he would be able to reverse the war situation and make Theonia pay a greater price!