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Although Drakos doesn’t like saying such things, that does not mean that he would not say it. Besides, he didn’t dare to make such promises without having been instructed by Davos in advance. However, his words are too straightforward making Baripiri both sad and happy: Sad that Besidiae and even Bruttii might no longer exist as an independent power in the future. And happy that he could hope to become one of the statesmen of the Theonian Senate. As far as he knows, there are several Lucanian statesmen in the Theonian Senate who had fought for many rights for the Lucanians in Theonia. If that is the case, then a new page in Besidiae’s history is still worth waiting for as well…

“I will also vote for you!” Adrianus also offered his good intention.

Feeling grateful, Baripiri decided to cooperate with the Theonians to seek a better future for his tribe and for Besidiae!

The people of Besidiae had once built a defensive camp on the western mountain trail to defend against Consentia and therefore built it in a narrow mountain pass for defence. In contrast, the second legion would build a fortress for both defence and offence. Thus, Adepiges led the soldiers to the exit of the mountain path, and in front of it is the gradually opened plateau. Although the mountain path here is wider and the amount of labour had undoubtedly increased, building camps and city defence had already become a habit for the soldiers due to being given an hour of training in this aspect in every military training session.

The engineers surveyed the terrain and made drawings for the fortress.

The soldiers were then quickly divided into several teams: Those responsible for logging, those responsible for levelling the ground, those responsible for assembling basic defensive contraptions such as sentry towers and walls, and those responsible for digging trenches and laying out various traps in front of the fortress to be built, such as sharp stakes, pitfall and so on…

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

After learning that Adrianus captured the city of Besidiae, Drakos immediately sent his escort back together with the news.

After an arduous trek, the escort arrived at Thurii’s sentry post, not far from the junction of Thurii-Amendolara road, where a herald was waiting.

After receiving the news of victory, the herald immediately galloped south through the built road, past Roscianum, Krimisa, Aprustum, Scylletium and finally to Terina…by utilising relays, changing the herald and horses, and galloping day and night, the news finally reached into the hands of Hielos, the legatus of the fourth legion, after a day and a half.

Hielos was overjoyed, but he did not forget to continue to send the herald to Laos. Through the port of Terina, he would immediately take a fast boat and quickly set out to sail north to Laos.

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

It was already the twelfth day since the start of the war, and Davos accepted the hospitality of Avinoges in his mansion.

At this time, Davos was talking about Avinoges’ son’s performance in Thurii, “Lord Ansitanos praised him several times in front of me for his talent in the study of history!”

After hearing what Davos said, Avinoges was both happy and worried, “I am naturally happy for him to be a historian, but Heni…is my only son, and I hope that he will succeed me in the future.” There is a sense of probing on Avinoges’ words.

Davos, seemingly oblivious, said without hesitation, “Don’t worry, being a historian and an archon won’t conflict. Moreover, after having a detailed understanding of the rise and fall of many city-states in the past, Henipolis will know more on how to lead the people of Laos and make the city-state more peaceful and prosperous!”

“Milord, what you said is wonderful!” Avinoges raised his cup with great pleasure, “I’d like to propose a toast to you and thank you for taking care of my son for the past year!”

Davos smiled and responded with a toast.

At this time, a guard came reporting that the legatus of the Theonian army, Kapus, had something important and request for an audience.

“Invite him quickly!” Avinoges said to Davos in a disgruntled way, “I have invited lord Kapus several times, but he kept refusing. Since he is here now, then we must let him have a few good drinks!”

As soon as he stepped into the hall, Kapus excitedly shouted, “Grand legatus, the second legion has captured the city of Besidiae!”

‘What?!’ Avinoges looked shocked.

“Great! Drakos had done an excellent job!” Davos, obviously prepared for this, excitedly finished his wine in one gulp, stood up and said, “The men of the first legion have suffered during this time! Tell them to cheer up, and we will go back to Thurii immediately and depart to Besidiae. The real war is about to begin!”

“Yes!” The equally excited Kapus answered aloud.

“Have you sent someone to inform Sesta?”

“Yes, he is already rushing.”

“Good. We can now implement the plan of Sesta, Hieronymus, Bagul and the others! The key to success will depend on whether the other side will be obedient.”

Kapus turned to leave, but Avinoges did not stop him as he was still immersed in this astonishing news.

“Lord Avinoges.” Davos turned to him and said, “I will leave Laos with the first legion and the other troops and return to Thurii. I hope you can lead the warriors of Laos to keep up the attack on the city of Vergae to prevent them from drawing troops to rescue Besidiae. Also, I hope that you will provide your help to Sesta and their plans!”

“Don’t worry, the business of Theonia is the business of Laos, and I will do my best to carry it out.” Avinoges spoke like a soldier facing a general, making a solemn promise.

Watching Davos’ back as he left, Avinoges let out a long breath. Having previous seen Davos using the allies troops plus some reserves passing themselves as the second legion, it had made him wonder what the real second legion is doing. Still, he did not expect that in less than ten days, the second legion could capture the treacherous city of Besidiae! ‘Davos…was truly a fearsome man! Thank goodness that Laos was an ally of Theonia!’

Avinoges did not dare to enquire how the second legion had captured Besidiae; all he knew was that with the conquering of Besidiae, the defeat of the Bruttians is now sealed and that South Italia would belong to the sphere of influence of Theonia!

Which made him slightly disappointed…

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

When the Theonians captured Besidiae, a very small number of Bruttians fled to Consentia.

Because Pian had led his army to the city of Vergae, and only the high priest – Phitara, was in the inner city. When he heard the news, it made him so shocked that he dropped his wooden staff to the ground and nearly tripped himself. And the news that the Greeks now occupied Besidiae spread quickly throughout the city, causing panic among the people.

At the same time as messengers were sent to Clampetia and Vergae, Consentia had also sent some people to spy on the enemy’s movements in the city of Besidiae.

The distance from Consentia to Clampetia and from Consentia to Vergae was not much different, but the terrain to Clampetia is downward, so the messenger managed to arrive earlier.

At this time, Pangam, the great chieftain of Clampetia, was entertaining Likumu and Bodiam after having just foiled the scheme of the Theonians. The Theonians had attempted to take a more remote mountain route and go around to the rear, further away from Clampetia, only to be discovered by the Bruttians, who had already been on alert. Thus the Theonians could only hurriedly withdraw before a large number of troops could arrive.

“The Greeks are cowards. They only know how to sneak and don’t dare to have a real fight with me. This war is boring!” Likumu complained loudly as he drank, “What a fool this strategos of Theonia is! He had already tried to sneak through Clampetia once before and were found out, yet he still wants to try it again…does he think that we are all fools?”

Bodiam said with a smile, “I am afraid that he does not have a screw loose on his head, but that he can’t do anything else. The day after the fourth legion arrived, it launched an attack on us and ended up retreating before they could even reach the city. I even saw in the city that they took quite a few casualties.”

“These Greeks have excellent weapons, but they fear death too much! If we continue fighting like this, let alone defend for two months, defending for a year won’t even be a problem!” Pangam exclaimed, raising his glass, and now his confidence was also growing.

“Sedrum said that the Theonian army is powerful, and their archon has a strong, commanding ability…but in my opinion, all of that are bullsh*t! And he is also a coward!” Likumu hiccuped and pounded his right fist hard on the wooden table, “Why don’t we just take advantage of the low morale of the Theonians and attack their camp?!”

“That…that is too dangerous! In case…” Bodiam was slightly worried.

“What is there to be scared of?!” Likumu glared at him and interjected, “We have more than 7,000 warriors while the enemy is no more than 10,000, and they are all cowards. If we defeat them, there won’t even a need for us to defend here!”

Pangam became slightly tempted. Although both Bodiam and Likumu brought some of their own rations, Clampetia still needed to supply some of them. Moreover, their settlement also brought troubles to the residents of Clampetia, making Pangam devote most of his energy to resolving these disputes and conflicts.

When he was just about to say something, a guard suddenly broke in.

“Bang!” The cup fell on the floor, and the wine spilt all over the floor.

“What did you say?! Besidiae has been occupied by the Theonians?!” Likumu rushed over and grabbed the messenger. With a flushed face, he cursed angrily, “Don’t spew rubbish! Don’t spew rubbish! There is no way for Besidiae to be conquered by the Theonians! Impossible! Do you think I will not pull out your tongue and feed it to the dogs!…”

“Great chieftain, it is true! I have here a letter for you from the high priest! Help!…” The messenger struggled to cry for help while Pangam and Bodiam were equally shocked. Seeing this, they had to stop Likumu first, and they both stepped forward and pulled Likumu back, finally separating the two men.

“Yes, this is indeed the seal of the high priest!” Bodiam quickly glanced at the letter the messenger had handed him.

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