Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 617: The Opening Ceremony of Theonias Rugby Champions League (III)

Ever since they entered the city of Thurii, these Samnite players, who boast themselves to be brave and fierce, have begun restraining themselves because they were astounded by this massive and prosperous city. And after they entered the arena, the cheerings of tens of thousands of audiences caused them to feel an invisible pressure that overwhelmed them, and even their walking posture became restrained.

“Hey, that's chieftain Garni!” Moni noticed the chieftain of Abellinum standing in the audience, waving his arms and shouting, which surprised him.

Then the players immediately responded enthusiastically, making them relax a lot.

And while they passed by the platform, another surprise greeted them.

“Father, look! That's the Samnite team that I received!” Crotokatax pointed to the team marching on the track and shouted excitedly.

Before Davos could speak, Cheiristoya, next to him, widened her eyes and interjected, “Your father always said that the Samnites weren't to be messed with, but I don't see anything special about them.”

Indeed, the Samnite players who entered the arena for the first time became timid in the face of thousands of audiences.

“Abellinum!…” Davos knew about the origin of this time, so he slowly said, “Isn't that a good thing?!”

As Cheiristoya wasn't an ordinary woman, she soon understood what her husband meant and said, “Too bad that there is only one Abellinum.”

“That's already a good start!” Davos smiled slightly.

On the other hand, Agnes didn't care what her husband and Cheiristoya were saying because she was the only one in the family who wasn't too interested in the rugby match. And the only reason she attended the opening ceremony was the need of the people of Theonia and the children's request. After all, the people hoped to see the king's family at the most important celebration of the kingdom, which almost became a custom. Furthermore, the harmony of the king's family became an example to the citizens. At the same time, the children loved the lively atmosphere of watching the game together as a family, including her introverted and shy daughter – Aviya.

“Mom was right. The Samnites were like the kingdom's clumsy slaves; there was nothing scary about them. Instead, it will still be our Zerias who would shine the brightest by scoring many touchdowns!” Brilliantes said loudly. Zerias was Thurii's main wide receiver, known for his excellent catching skills and wind-like speed in the champions league.

“I still believe Sardokasius, the quarterback, is better. It is because of his cool-headedness, clever layout and accurate passing that allowed Zerias to get that many touchdowns.”

Apox's words caused his brother to be dissatisfied, and the two began arguing.

Cynthia tapped her two brothers on the head and reminded them, “Stop causing trouble; you're affecting the others watching the opening ceremony!”

Their elder sister's words really worked as the two could only stare at each other and quietly sat down in their seats.

“If brother Adoris is still here, he would definitely be there as a substitute for the team.” Eunice pointed at Thurii's team, already standing on the field.

Little Aviya repeatedly nodded while Cynthia froze. Then a trace of worry appeared on her pretty face.

Davos just laughed and said, “You still don't know your brother Adoris that well. He would rather appear in the Triumphant Return than here in Hades Arena.”

“I also hope to become a hero in the Triumphant Return when I grow up!” Shouted Brilliantes.

“Father.” Crotokatax glanced at Cynthia and asked, “How is the war between us and Dauni?”

“After defeating Dauni's main force in the Battle of Ofanto, our troops have never encountered strong resistance from the enemy. So you can relax, and you will soon see your brother again in two months!” Davos said relaxedly, and his words finally made Cynthia smile again.

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

Behind Davos' family, the several Lucanian statesmen, including Vespa, who was old already in his old age, couldn't help but exclaim, “It's hard to believe that our kingdom could even tame the Samnites who were fierce likes wolves!”

Polet, the great chieftain of Potentia next to him, laughed and said smilingly, “It isn't easy to tame such fierce wolves! It's just that Abellinum was about to be abandoned by the Samnites!”

“The Samnites would abandon Abellinum? Why?!” Hemon asked curiously.

Polet subconsciously touched his cheek filled with curly beards, where there was a long scar that brought his thoughts back to the past, “When the Samnites invaded Potentia on a large scale ten years ago, Potentia might have ceased to exist if his majesty hadn't led the army to rescue us in time…”

In the course of fighting alongside the Theonian legionaries against the Samnites, Polet grew fond of the Theonians. So after the South Italian War, he made several visits to Thurii and persuaded Pamot to merge Potentia into Theonia as a free city of the kingdom. Then three years ago, Pamot gave up his position as the great chieftain to Polet, who had a close relationship with Theonia, using his poor health. After taking over the territory, Polet became more familiar with the situation of this fierce neighbour to the north.

“It's because the Samnites suffered a crushing defeat, with nearly 10,000 warriors captured and only a few thousand of their 40,000-strong force manage to escape eventually. Thus as the initiator of the war, Berani, the great chieftain of Hirpini and the ruler of Abellinum, was, of course, responsible for their defeat. However, the Samnites who had fled back didn't know that Berani had died in the war, so the Hirpinians, who had lost their loved ones and hated Berani, soon held a tribal assembly to dismiss Berani as the great chieftain and elect Lesguk of Maloenton(Beneventum) as the new great chieftain of the Hirpini…”

After saying those, Polet sighed with regret, “At that time, there was a report that the four Samnites' main tribes could only gather less than 10,000 warriors, which were simply unable to put up a fight. Moreover, the Samnites learned that Theonia had captured many Samnite warriors, so they asked for a truce and peace. Alas…we could’ve acted tougher at that time and continued attacking the mountains to the north, and we would have surely exterminated the Hirpini, and the Pentri and Caudini wouldn't have it better!…”

“There was nothing we could do about it as we were resisting Syracuse's invasion at that time. And after we defeated Dionysius, our treasury was almost depleted of gold, silver and grains, so it was impossible to organise another large army to launch an attack on the Samnite mountains.” Vespa explained, but there was another reason he didn't say: After gaining victory in the South Italian War, they had gotten enough land and wealth in Magna Graecia and Sicily for the Theonian citizens to divide. And they even thought they had too small of a population to occupy more vacant land, so how could they covet the barren mountainous region of the Samnites? Not to mention that once they attacked the Samnite's nest, even though they had significantly weakened, the resistance and casualties Theonia would encounter would definitely rise, which isn't what the Senate and the people wished.

Polet probably also realised that, so he just complained and continued to say, “After signing the alliance agreement with Hirpini, Pentri and Caudini, Theonia began releasing the Samnites one after another, and you should know that Garni, the son of Berani, the great chieftain of Hirpini, was also captured by us. In addition, his tribe was one of the largest Hirpini tribes, and the captured tribal warriors were quite numerous. So when his majesty released them last, could you guess what happened?”

“I remember that there seemed to be a violent conflict in Abellinum that Garni had to ask us our Theonia's help, and his majesty gave his support…” Hemon recalled.

“Fierce conflict?!” Polet smiled and said, “As the initiator of that war, Berani sent almost all the men who could fight in Abellinum to the battlefield to set an example. Thus it is only natural for his warriors to suffer the most casualties. And after Lesguk became the great chieftain of Hirpini, he noticed that most of Abellinum's populations were elderly, children and women, thus lacking labour. Moreover, Abellinum was close to Potentia, so he chose one of the tribes of Beneventum to move to Abellinum, and the chieftain of that tribe became the chieftain of Abellinum. And for their survival, the people of Abellinum at that time didn't oppose it.

But after two years, when Garni returned to his hometown with the captured Abellinum warriors, he saw that another tribe occupied his land, his wife remarried, and his children recognised another person as fathers, which naturally caused a conflict to break out. And to safeguard his authority and his tribe's interests, the new chieftain of Abellinum made a wrong decision to expel Garni and his families from Abellinum on the grounds that Berani and his son launched a war indiscriminately and brought disaster to the tribe. However, that aroused the anger of the released Abellinum warriors because they had completely regarded Garni as their leader during their two years of serving in the kingdom.

Seeing that Abellinum was in danger of infighting, the new chieftain had to ask for support from Lesguk, the great chieftain of Hirpini. And Lesguk immediately led thousands of warriors, while Garni, who had stayed in Theonia for two years and had a good relationship with us, immediately felt that the situation wasn't good and turned to us for help. Then his majesty resolutely sent an envoy to intervene in the dispute in Abellinum, which caused Leguk's attempt to hold an assembly to decide whether to expel Garni to be ruined. Instead, our envoy proposed to re-elect the chieftain of Abellinum was to be implemented, and thus Garni became the chieftain of Abellinum…”