Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 742: Victory in Aphrodisia

It had been a day since the Samnites entered Aphrodisia, so it was normal for Theonia's reinforcements to appear. Then Lesguk asked anxiously, “How many people are there?”

The scout said with shame and anger, “The Theonians are advancing fast with their cavalry in front. They are searching and pursuing us, and several of my comrades… have died under their spears, so… we… don't even know how many more enemies are behind us. However, these cavalrymen are wearing different civilian clothes.”

Lesguk knew that the Peuceti and Messapi regions had plenty of cavalries, and he had once envied them. But apparently, the enemy seemed to be a temporary unit enlisted in Peuceti since they were not wearing the standard black equipment of Theonia. It is also impossible to gather such a large number of troops in such a short time.

He then looked at Konteruk after making this judgement.

Konteruk tugged at his beard and said without hesitation, “The four thousand warriors who have been resting can finally go into battle, and these brave young men will easily kill them!”

Upon receiving the order, the guards immediately rushed to inform the troops not involved in the siege and were specially prepared to intercept enemy reinforcements.

Then Lesguk's shout rang again, “Urge the chieftains of every tribe to intensify their efforts in attacking the city! We must take Aphrodisia before more Theonian reinforcements arrive!”

More than ten minutes later, Lesguk was overjoyed to see the ancient Samnite flag at the top of the city wall.

But suddenly, a scout ran up to him in a panic, “Great Chieftain! Great Chieftain! Many Theonian soldiers in black armour have appeared to the south! The number of warriors sent to intercept them was too small to resist the enemy!”

“That's impossible! There shouldn't be regular Theonian troops stationed here!!” Lesguk shouted in disbelief.

But the answer to Lesguk's disbelief was the increasingly loud cries from the south, “The Theonian army is coming!! Run away!!…”

Behind the fleeing Samnites was a raging black tide, rushing towards Aphrodisia with rumbling stamps and loud cries.

“Quick!… Retreat quickly!!… Retreat…” Konteruk's voice had lost the toughness he shouted earlier and suddenly became hoarse, his face equally pale.

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

After throwing his long shield and spear, Adoris sprinted to the front of the army, holding only a short sword. Having fought in the last Dauni War, he was a veteran of sorts and no longer felt the discomfort of seeing corpses and blood, only the exhilaration of crushing the enemy. His only regret was that the Samnites blocking them were so weak that after just one round of javelin rain, they chose to retreat before they could clash.

In fact, this had something to do with how imposing the Theonian army's charge was since they were a massive force of more than sixteen thousand men, made up of the Second and Fourth Legions, plus about a thousand reserve calvaries from the Second and Fourth Cavalry Legions, which a mere four thousand Samnite warriors, whose only job was to block enemy reinforcements, couldn’t stop.

Cynthia had been right about Adoris having the chance to fight even if he remained in the Second Legion. And now Adoris began to hate himself for running too slow in pursuit of these enemies who were running ahead of him like rabbits. He even completely forgot that he was the squad leader and that his priority should be to gather his men and keep the squad in formation so they didn't scatter.

As he tried to catch up with the enemy in front of him, he couldn't see how worried the platoon leader behind him was, afraid that Adoris might have an accident in battle. So he urged the other squads to catch up with Adoris so he wouldn't face the enemy alone.

After a while, the reserve cavalry galloped to the flank and front of the fleeing enemy, immediately disrupting the Samnites' orderly retreat. Then with the cavalry charge and spear attack, they forced the fleeing enemy to scatter in all directions; some were like headless flies that turned and ran back into the pursuing Theonian troops.

With great joy, Adoris strode forward and thrust his short sword. Then, with a scream, an enemy fell first, followed by Adoris' left fist striking the face of another routed Samnite warrior, knocking him instantly to the ground.

Adoris continued to face the third enemy with his short sword, but the knocked-down Samnite warrior suddenly grabbed his left foot, which stopped him from moving.

Just as he was about to bend down to cut the enemy on the ground with his short sword, the enemy in front thrust his spear at him.

At that moment, his mind went blank as he felt the breath of the underworld.

But the enemy's roar stopped abruptly as a flying javelin plunged deep into his unprotected chest.

The platoon leader rushed to Adoris' side and angrily rebuked him, “Until the enemy is truly defeated, no soldier or officer is allowed to break away from the army's main body without permission… that is a rule in the military code! Adoris, you have disobeyed my orders, abandoned your men and left alone! In violation of the military code, you must return and accept the judgement and punishment of the military judge once this battle is over!”

Although he said all those in one breath, the platoon leader was still slightly worried. Unexpectedly, Adoris, drenched in sweat, had calmed down after his lucky escape, so he replied straightforwardly, “Roger!”

Feeling relieved, the platoon leader patted Adoris on the shoulder, saying, “Lead your soldiers to continue fighting and pursue the enemy!”

“Roger!” Adoris and his comrades rushed at the panicked enemy like wolves at a flock of sheep. And that was just one corner of the battlefield.

Across the battlefield, some Theonian soldiers pursued the Samnite warriors who had retreated. Then another group of Theonian soldiers charged at the Samnites fleeing from Aphrodisia, and some soldiers followed the reserve cavalry to pursue the Samnites who had withdrawn earlier.

Among these Samnites, of course, were the two great chieftains who led their troops in retreat towards the mountain to the northwest. After all, they know they will be safe once they reach the mountains, just as they did at the Battle of Ausculum.

But soon, they stopped involuntarily as a formation of thousands of cavalry, light-armoured soldiers, and light infantry lay ahead.

“The Theonians tricked us! They had already set up an encirclement here!” At that moment, Lesguk's confidence was shattered as his entire body felt weak, and their defeat more than a decade ago flashed in his mind.

Faced with this predicament, the old yet still strong Konteruk unexpectedly burst out with a will to fight, “Descendants of Savoni, we will fight the Theonians!”

The Samnite warriors, who were in a tight spot, roared and rushed forward.

On the other hand, the Theonian soldiers ahead shouted the name of Hades as they rushed to kill the enemy with equal courage.

Then just as the two sides got entangled, the pursuing Theonian army arrived and joined the battle. As a result, the Samnites suffered a crushing defeat from getting attacked from the front and rear…

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

“…Your Majesty, a report has come from Aphrodisia-” The court herald Aristias rushed into the palace's military meeting room.

“How is the situation?” As Davos asked the question, the various officials from the Ministry of Military, such as Hielos, Philesius and Hieronymus, all focused their eyes on Aristias.

“A few days ago, the Samnites gathered nearly twenty thousand warriors and laid siege to Aphrodisia. But while they were attacking Aphrodisia yesterday, the Second and Fourth Legions arrived in time to launch a surprise attack from the south of Aphrodisia. At the same time, the Second Cavalry Legion and the Light-Armoured and Light Infantry Brigades of the Ninth and Tenth Legions crossed the Ofanto River. They then went around the mountains behind the Samnite side, completely cutting off the enemy escape routes and finally defeating the Samnite army. According to the battle report, we managed to kill about two thousand five hundred Samnites and capture more than six thousand, while we suffered only nearly a thousand casualties…” The normally calm Aristias had his voice tremble as he recounted the battle report.

Aristias then handed the battle report to Davos after giving his report.

“This is another brilliant victory!” Philesius said excitedly, “Your Majesty, it is because of your wisdom and determination to firmly support Alexius' bold assumption that such a victory has come about!”

“This victory is mainly due to Alexius' good judgement!” Davos said modestly.

After his victory at the Battle of Ausculum, Alexius, while writing the battle report to Davos, had mentioned that since they had defended the Dauni region, the Samnites would probably shift the target of their attack to Aphrodisia, northwest of Peuceti. So he reported that he would organise the reserve troops in the Peuceti region to enter Aphrodisia and defend the place. At the same time, he would prepare the reinforcements in case of an abnormal situation so that he could send them immediately and carry out a pincer attack to gain another victory like the one at Ausculum.

Davos carefully read Alexius' plan and suggested they should not send troops to Aphrodisia beforehand to avoid alerting the enemy. Instead, he would have the Second and Fourth Legions gather quickly and secretly in the central city of Silvium in Peuceti. But, the troops in the Dauni region would not move towards Aphrodisia so that they could confuse the enemy.

Then once the Ministry of Military ironed out the detail, Alexius finally implemented the plan.

In fact, the cunning Samnite had sent nearly ten thousand warriors to the northwestern border of the Dauni region the day before to draw the Theonian army north and away from the Peuceti region. Alexius followed their wish by leading a large army to the north, prompting the Samnites to finally send an army into Aphrodisia the day before, only to be met by the prepared Theonian army.