Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 494: Henipolis Resolve

With anxiety over the loss of their homes, the adults talked among themselves about their resentment of Syracuse, the progress of the war, and their expectations and dissatisfaction with their own troops. On the other hand, the children regarded the refuge as a place to play…

But once the streets became too noisy, the people inside the houses would come out to express their displeasure. And the refugees would heed the admonishment in most cases, restoring the peace for a while.

At this time, someone sighed and said, “If we had a house in the city, we wouldn't have to be afraid of the enemy's invasion!”

His words naturally provoked another debate.

Although the streets were messy, it was still relatively. However, a breeze blew, and along with it came the smell of urine, causing Davos to suddenly cover his mouth and nose while he looked at Protesilaus.

Protesilaus could only helplessly say, “Your majesty, we have arranged for the people to clean the streets every day according to the physicians' advice and reminded them to go to the river to urinate and defecate to prevent an epidemic, but those children…” However, Davos didn’t say anything more as Protesilaus had already taken adequate measures.

The bored refugees soon notice the approaching and shout excitedly, “It's Lord Davos!”

“Here comes Lord Davos!”

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

Although the Senate had already officially announced the news of “Davos becoming King of Theonia” to the other cities, the people of Krimisa didn't pay attention to it as they were worried about their homes getting trampled by the enemy. Thus they still called him with their most familiar title.

They stopped complaining and arguing as they rushed to Davos while the guards immediately protected him.

“Lord Davos, you have finally come! Syracuse burnt our village, and our home is now gone!”

“Lord Davos, when will you lead the troops to drive away those vicious foreigners?! When can we return to our land?!”

“Lord Davos, my father died at the hands of those damn foreigners! You must kill them all and avenge us!”

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

They were like lost children who finally saw their parents as they confided their suffering and anger to Davos.

Seeing the crowds increasing, the guards and Olivos wanted to drive them away for fear of danger. However, Davos stopped them and listened to the people's suffering with a serious expression. After patiently comforting them, he made a solemn promise that he would defeat Syracuse and help them rebuild their homes…

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

Henipolis led more than a thousand Laosian soldiers loyal to him out of the mountain pass to the Lao Fortress. After rendezvousing with 3,000 Lucanian reserve soldiers led by Bagul, he went down the Lao River and soon arrived outside the city of Laos.

Here, Hielos, the supreme commander of the Bruttian region temporarily appointed by Davos, has replaced Saru, the Praetor of Vergae, and led more than 3,000 Bruttian reserve soldiers to arrive a day ahead of schedule and set up camp.

Once the three forces combined, their total strength reached nearly 8,000. It caused Alobamus, who received the news, to spend the whole day in sorrow as he somewhat regretted that he did not decisively lead his troops out of the city yesterday to crush the Bruttians first. At that time, his concerns were: Although he had gathered 5,000 warriors, his long years of dealing with Theonia made him understand the strength of the Theonian soldiers. So unless he leads most of his troops to attack, he has no confidence to defeat them, but if he did lead them out, he was worried that there would be chaos in the city.

In the past few days, rumours spread in the city of Laos that caused the commoners and slaves to be furious at the officials and tribal chieftains, which even resulted in some big clashes. In addition, the news of Syracuse suffering a disastrous naval defeat that they originally blocked was spread, which further fueled the people’s anger. So in such a situation, how could Alobamus dare to move his main force out of the city? Thus the only way for him to change the dire situation of Laos is to hold the city and hope that Syracuse can defeat Theonia on land.

To this day, Alobamus still can't figure out how Syracuse's powerful navy lost to the hodgepodge fleet of Theonia, ‘Could it be that Theonia's archon, Davos, was really favoured by the gods?!’

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

Due to Bagul's humility, they handed over the command of the three forces after they merged to Hielos, the former legatus of the fourth legion, a statesman of the Senate, the one with more military experience and the most trusted of Davos.

At this moment, Hielos, Bagul and Henipolis, as well as Ariandos – Henipolis' most trusted strategos, were discussing in the newly established military tent.

In addition, there is a special figure in the tent – Teratus, the head of the intelligence department of Davos, appointed by director Aristias and was the one in charge of spying on Laos' activities on the west coast.

After Teratus reported Laos' current situation, it significantly increased Hielos and Bagul's confidence in capturing Laos. After all, it would simply be impossible for 8,000 men to take a city of stone with 5,000 defenders if Alobamus defended with all his strength. Moreover, they are a hastily assembled assortment of troops that didn't even have an engineering camp, let alone ballistae.

Just then, Henipolis said something that surprised everyone in the tent.

“Lord Henipolis.” Hielos paused and asked, “Are you sure about this?”

“Of course!” Henipolis raised his head, revealing the hatred in his eyes, “I had wanted to do this after becoming the archon of Laos, but those pack of greedy wolves would not give me a chance! But now-” Henipolis sneered and said, “Since they have betrayed me, I will let them taste what it is like to be betrayed by the populace!”

For the rest of the day, the Theonian troops began building siege equipment while Teratus contacted his men in the city through special ways.

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

On the following day, when Davos led the army from Krimisa to the Neto River, Hielos also led his army to line up outside Laos.

Looking at the tides of enemies and the military flags below the city wall, the Laosians on the city, whether they are soldiers or strategoi, were inevitably a little nervous. After years of under Theonia’s wing, they are used to seeing and listening to the bravery and successive victory of the Theonian soldiers.

Seeing this, Alobamus laughed and said, “The Theonians do not dare to attack the city and are merely scaring us! After all, the lives of the families of those thousand warriors under Henipolis are in our hands! Thus they do not have any fighting spirit at all. So if we exclude them, the Theonians’ numbers aren’t more than ours, while we still have tall walls, moats, abatis, and traps. Therefore, unless the Theonians are crazy, they wouldn't dare come to just die with their little force!”

“Lord archon is right! We, warriors of Laos, are not afraid of any threat! On the contrary, I wish the Theonians attacked the city now so that we can defeat them!”

“Oh, Asinu! It's time for the Theonians to see the strength of Laos' warriors!”

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

Just as Alobamus' men displayed their courage, more than 20 cavalries rode out of the military formation of Theonia. Afterwards, they stood less than 100 metres away from the city and shouted, “Warriors of Laos, I am Henipolis, the son of Avinoges and your archon!”

As soon as he uttered this, the more than 20 followers of his echoed his words simultaneously, allowing the people in the city to hear him clearly.

“Milord, it's the boy! Let's shoot him!” One of Alobamus' subordinate's expressions changed, so he quickly suggested to Alobamus.

Alobamus waved his hand. For his nephew, he had a mixed feeling of guilt for taking away his power, pain for breaking his promise to his brother, and for his hatred and fear of his recklessness.

But Alobamus knew that he had to be brave enough to face this young man and cut through all these negative emotions in his heart to truly become a competent ruler of Laos! Thus he wanted to hear what this nephew of his had to say first and then refute him.

“Warriors of Laos, we are the descendants of the noble Sybarites. However, we became slaves of foreigners for decades. But under my father's leadership, you who did not want to be slaves rose up and bravely resisted, expelling the foreigners and becoming Laos' master!”

Henipolis waited for his men to finish shouting before he continued, “But! Have you really become the masters of this city?! Most of you do not have land, cannot hold official positions in the city-state, cannot participate in creating various city-state plans, and have no political power! Furthermore, in order to survive, you have to be part of the various clans and tribes because of poverty and work hard grazing and farming for those officials and chieftains in exchange for a meagre amount of food to satisfy your hunger!

While those officials and chieftains, who do not have to do any work, could enjoy the delicious food, occupy various positions and lands of Laos, and create all kinds of laws that favour their rule over you. Look around you, look at those fat strategoi and chieftains! Do you really think that you are the masters of this city?!…”

“Shoot the arrows! Shoot!!” Alobamus ordered in anger as he did not expect this audacious nephew of his to reveal the secret of their rule over Laos in front of everyone, ‘Damn it! Damn Henipolis! Does he no longer want our family to rule this city anymore?!’

Although they conveyed Alobamus' order, only a few responded to his order. On the contrary, a lot more did what Henipolis said and captured the chieftains, who had rushed to chastise them, while murmuring, “He is right! These people are indeed much fatter than us…”