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“Grand legatus, you can rest assured that you can hand over the rest of the battle to us! Our brothers of the third legion have long been eager to take part in the battle and contribute to the union!” Bagul said aloud, while pounding his chest.

“Do not worry, there are plenty of battles for you to take part in!” Davos said jokingly, “But you’d better report to your legatus first, because he is the only legatus who is short of soldiers, and he might call your names in his dreams!”

Everyone laughed, and the normally expressionless Hieronymus smiled.

“Lord Avinoges, thank you for fully supporting Theonia! You have even personally led your troops!” Davos came forward and greeted Avinoges to show his sincere thanks.

“It is our duty as the ally of Theonia to send troops!” Avinoges hurriedly replied, “While in Thurii, I had heard of lord Davos’ brilliant record of defeating the army of Crotone once more. It’s another miracle of you triumphing over an army with a superior number than yours! Lord Davos, I am awed by your military talent. The soldiers of Laos believe that by following Theonia, we will be able to win more victories!”

“As long as we in the Theonian alliance remain united, there will be no lack of victory!” Davos responded passionately.

“You are right lord Davos!” Avinoges immediately nodded in earnest.

At this moment, Asistes interjected, “Grand legatus, I had almost forgotten one thing. When we were leading the army through the marsh area, the engineering camp was able to repair the road through the marsh area, and they would soon be able to transport the supplies here tomorrow.”

“Great!” Davos excitedly said.

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

Following Davos into the main tent were, legatus of the first legion – Kapus, legatus of the second legion – Drakos, legatus of the third legion – Hieronymus, and the senior centurion of the first brigade of the third legion – Bagul, the adjutant of the third legion – Asistes, and the archon of Laos – Avinoges.

In the middle of the main tent is a very smooth wooden table, on which a large map of the southern Magna Graecia was drawn.

“Kapus, tell us about the latest war situation for our newly arrived comrades.” Said Davos.

“Yes, Milord.” Kapus came near to the wooden table, found the symbol of Krimisa on the map and pointed to it and said, “After the defeat of the army of Crotone, and according to the information obtained from interrogating the captured soldiers, we estimate that there are about 7,000 soldiers of Crotone who had manage to flee the battlefield and have probably all escaped here -” Kapus glanced at everyone who were listening to him carefully and then said, “Then our first and second legions, with a total of 14,000 troops, arrived outside the city of Krimisa and started building the camps to surround Krimisa from the east, west and north. And today, when we were building the bridge on the river, our troops on the south bank were attacked by nearly 7,000 light infantry, indicating that Krimisa was reinforced by Crotone within this day, and their strength might have reached 14,000 troops. But with your arrival, the total number of our soldiers was brought to 22,000.”

Avinoges and the others gathered around the wooden table, and were staring at the map while listening to Kapus.

“It will be difficult for 22,000 soldiers to capture a city defended by 14,000 soldiers!” Said Avinoges based on his past experience.

“We don’t have to capture Krimisa.” The words of Kapus stunned the newcomer.

“If we don’t capture Krimisa, how can we attack Crotone?” Bagul asked in surprise.

“Surround it.” Kapus pressed Krimisa on the map with his right hand and drew a circle around it, “If we attack Krimisa with 14,000 Crotonians defending it, it will not only make us suffer heavy casualties, but once Krimisa couldn’t hold on, the Crotonians might retreat back to Crotone by boat and hole up in their city, which will increase the difficulties for our next attack. But if we were to make them keep Krimisa, it will disperse the troops of Crotone and we can then divide our forces-” The finger of Kapus slides from the south of the city of Krimisa, to the northern plain of Crotone.

Avinoges, Bagul, Asistes and Litom were staring at the map with wide eyes and were deep in thought.

“What if the Crotonians were to find out that our number is decreasing and then decide to attack our camp?” Avinoges asked with some concern.

But the others laughed at the same time.

“We welcome their attack. We will make them taste the defense of our, the camp of Theonia!” Said Drakos confidently.

“But, if we don’t attack Krimisa, we might let those Crotonians find out about our intention. What if they take the initiative to withdraw to Crotone?” Asistes also raised his own questions.

“Who said that we will not attack Krimisa? We would still properly attack it and put pressure on them. When they realized that something was wrong, our troops would have already messed up the territory of Crotone, and once the Crotonians withdrew, we could then easily take Krimisa! In a word, according to the words of the grand legatus…that is…we should actively make the Crotonians run back and forth, so as to make the Crotonians not be able to concentrate their forces while confronting us….” Explained Kapus.

“How wonderful! I think this must be the plan that Lord Davos has conceived. It’s the first time I have seen such a clever strategy! We don’t even need to fight so hard and we could easily achieve our goal!” Complimented Avinoges.

His words were unanimously agreed by everyone.

Davos laughed and said seriously, “Now I am mostly worried about one thing-”

“Our food supply?!” The silent Hieronymus interjected, because he had stayed with the army’s logistics camp, so he knows something about it.

“That’s right.” Davos gave him a look of appreciation and said seriously, “The soldiers are about to eat up all the food that they had brought. Next, we have to rely on the food that will be transported from the rear, but to meet the needs of 22,000 men, the amount of food we need is absolutely huge! And Thurii is nearly a hundred kilometer away from Krimisa, and we can’t protect such a long transportation line! If Crotone were to notice this, their warships can just land on any coast, attack our supply convoy, and even destroy the villages and kill our people and cause us great trouble! So we have to complete our plan as soon as possible so that Crotone couldn’t do anything!”

“Hieronymus!”

“Here!”

“You are to immediately lead the third legion to build a camp on the south bank and besiege Krimisa!”

“Yes!”

“Drakos!”

“Here!”

“Draw three brigades from the second legion to assist the troops of lord Avinoges in building the camp on the south bank. The requirement is for you to finish the preliminary works by tonight and to completely besiege Krimisa!”

“Roger!!!”

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

In the afternoon of that day, more than 10,000 soldiers of Theonia crossed the wooden bridge and began to take turns building the camp on the south bank of the river.

Milo, however, did not rush to send his troops.

In the evening, the preliminary work on the camp on the south bank was completed. So far, the Theonian camp had formed a huge semicircle around the city of Krimisa, with the exception of the port facing the sea, which could not be surrounded.

In the early morning of the next day, the Theonian soldiers continued to improve their camp facilities, while Lysias, the envoy of Crotone arrived at the camp of Theonia at the north. He was blindfolded when he was brought to the tent of Davos.

“Apologies lord Lysias! You and I are currently at war and so we have to adopt this method.” Davos apologizes, however, there was no trace of being sorry on his face. On the contrary, he looks like a hunting dog seeing fresh meat, “I remember that we have just met four days ago. I didn’t expect that we would see each other again so soon. You wouldn’t have brought your harsh condition to threaten us, have you?”

Lysias had naturally heard the taunt in the words of Davos, but he responded as if he didn’t hear it, “Lord Davos, I have come for a peace negotiation. Crotone is willing to sign an armistice agreement with Theonia and compensate you for your losses in the war, and the only thing we hope is that the war between Crotone and Theonia can be quelled, so as to restore peace and tranquility in Magna Graecia!”

Davos then laughed, “If you Crotonians wanted a war, then you start a war. If you wanted to end the war, then you come ask for a truce. Do you think that war is a child’s game?”

Lysias continued to calmly ask, “Then what kind of conditions would make Theonia be willing to accept the armistice?”

“Conditions?” With a cold snort, Davos paced back and forth a few steps in order to calm himself down. When he looked at Lysias again, his excited gaze already returned to his previous shrewdness, “Remember what I had said the last time we met? It’s very simple, my conditions are the same as those you have previously mentioned in the senate hall of Thurii!”

Hearing this, the heart of Lysias “thumps”.

“First, Crotone should compensate Theonia 5,000 Tarants in one payment. Second, The alliance of Crotone should be dissolved, and Crotone should not form an alliance with any other city-state after that. Third, Krimisa will be merged into Theonia Union!….”

At the end of each of his sentences, the face of Lysias turned uglier. In the end, he just simply shook his head, “Your conditions are too harsh! The council of Crotone will not accept them!”

“It’s better if you don’t accept it! Our soldiers still want more victories in order to get more rewards!” Though Davos looked indifferent, there are threats in his words.

“I admit that the victory of Theonia had made us panicked, but this panic had also prompted us to act together to fight against the enemy who might invade the lands of Crotone! The battles that you Theonians will later encounter will only become more and more difficult! Lord Davos, I would like to remind you that grapes can only be sold at a good price when they are fresh, otherwise they will become worthless once they rot.

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