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Last year, the Vergaeans already had a taste of it, but apparently, Sedrum did not tell the other Bruttians about their painful experience.

“There is a trap in front of!…”

The momentum of the Bruttians’ charge came to a halt, and just as they stopped, Drakos, who was on top of the wooden wall, ordered, “Archers, prepare!”

Baripiri, who was next to him, hurriedly called out, “Legatus, please don’t do it yet! They are the warriors of Besidiae. Allow me to try persuading them to surrender!”

Thurii had reinforced the second legion, and its strength increased to nine thousand, but a third of the soldiers stayed in Besidiae to prevent unrest. At the same time, Drakos invited Baripiri to the fortress that was under construction. The reason he gave was to assist the soldiers of the second legion in familiarizing themselves with the terrain and learning more about the attacking enemy once the Bruttians arrived. But in reality, it was to transfer the most influential chieftain away from the city of Besidiae to ensure the safety of the newly occupied city. Unexpectedly, this chieftain could play a role contrary to his expectations.

Drakos looked at the anxious face of Baripiri and hesitated for a moment, and nodded.

Baripiri held the crenel of the wall with both hands and shouted with all his strength, “People of Besidiae, I am Baripiri! Although the city of Besidiae has changed its owner, your families remain safe! Your parents, wives and children are looking forward to your safe return! Come home! The Theonians will not hurt you. Instead, they will accept you as their citizens! Come home! Your families are waiting for you at your home!…”

Within 50 metres outside the city, the warriors, who were supporting their companions and advancing cautiously,  had clearly heard the affectionate cry in the Bruttian language coming from the fortress walls.

“It’s the voice of chieftain Baripiri!…” For the people of Besidiae, this voice is very familiar because Baripiri has always been respected among the Besidisians. Gradually, the groaning of the wounded warriors became less, and some had even forgotten to help their comrades. They listened carefully and began to whisper to each other.

Likumu, who learned about the situation in the rear, was furious and stormed out, “Baripiri, this damned old man! Why haven’t I notice that he was so vicious! It must be him! He must have betrayed us and allowed the Theonians to take my city! I will skin him alive! Eat his flesh!! And slaughter his whole family!!!…”

Likumu could only swear at him, as no matter how furious he becomes, he knew that at this moment that the warriors couldn’t continue fighting, so he had to order a temporary retreat.

However, when the horn sounded, a small number of warriors still lingered around.

Likumu became anxious and angry, causing him to hastily sent other tribal warriors with spears to drive them away. Only after great difficulty did they manage to withdraw from the battlefield, which had almost led to a conflict.

No longer daring to stay, Likumu hurriedly retreated several kilometres away.

The warriors helped each other and sighed throughout their retreat, and the morale of the warriors sank lower.

When Drakos, who was on the wooden wall, saw this, he didn’t seize this opportunity to attack because Baripiri had given him a better idea.

Likumu was now at his wits’ end as the Theonians filled the area 50 metres beyond the wooden wall with traps, and Baripiri’s words had even distracted his warriors. While ordering to set up camp, he sent some scouts to report the enemy’s situation to Consentia. After much pondering, Likumu decided to summon the chieftains of the Basidisian warriors and told them to emphasise to the warriors that they should not believe what the traitor had said. Their families had become slaves of the Greeks, and only by retaking Besidiae can their families be freed…

Just as he had vehemently told his men to go back and boost the warrior’s morale, a guard came in and reported that a group of Besidisian women had arrived at the camp.

It turned out that Baripiri had gathered some wives of the warriors under Likumu. These women were all belonged to the old age group and were told that their husbands are outside, and if they want to keep them from dying in battle, they have to go and call them back! However, it was possible that they would not be able to return once they went.

Under the guidance of Theonian soldiers, these women walked out of the trap, travelled for several kilometres, and came to Likumu’ camp. Once the warriors who were guarding the camp saw that they were their relatives, they opened the fence and welcomed them instead of blocking them.

As a result, there was soon a touching scene of couples meeting each other in tears. These women would then tell their husbands that the Theonian soldiers did not hurt a single Besidisian after capturing the whole city. On the contrary, they have sent physicians to help those who were wounded, put out the burning flames, and repaired the damaged houses…and now, even the order in the city has gradually restored.

While a small number of Besidisian warriors grieved when they learned from the women that their families had died in the battle.

In the camp, the warriors all gathered in one place, and this mixed spectacle of sadness and joy is both lively and somewhat amusing. However, Likumu felt terrified after learning about it.

‘This is the Theonian’s conspiracy!’ Likumu hurriedly sent guards to try to separate the women from the warriors.

He wanted to prevent the situation from expanding, but he did not want this action to intensify the conflict. Watching at the women being forcibly pulled away and crying, some of whom had even fallen to the ground because of resistance, but the guards still dragged them away without any consideration. From seeing this, the Besidisian warriors became furious that they surrounded the guards from Likumu’s tribe, which was composed of his most trusted men.

At this moment, these guards, who usually relied on the power of Likumu to act tyrannically, saw that the situation was not good, so they all knelt down begging for mercy. However, the angry warriors ignored their pleas. They rushed at them and beat them up. Gradually, the guards were at death’s door under the beating and kicking of countless people. The warriors then stopped in fear after finding out that the guards were dying.

“Since Likumu won’t spare us from killing his people! Why don’t we capture him while we have so many people and then go back home!” At that moment, a young Besidisian shouted, which immediately became the beacon for the confused warriors.

Without thinking more, they gathered and rushed toward Likumu’s tent.

Likumu, who had received this bad news, had no time to regret it. He hurriedly mounted his horse and fled to the place where the other tribal warriors were camping. He then asked them to send troops to quell the rebellion immediately but was refused.

With only having a thousand warriors against more than two thousand angry Besidisian warriors, without the orders of their chieftains, how can they obey the orders of Likumu, who was just a union elder and was already all of his own?

So when the Besidisian warriors approached the camp, Likumu, feeling the danger, fled again on horseback.

Facing the other tribal warriors, who were standing by, the gradually calming Besidisian warriors took the initiative to retreat for fear that Likumu would bring troops to retaliate.

“Let’s return to Besidiae, as what chieftain Baripiri said!” When the confused Besidisians did not know what to do next, the young warrior shouted again. In fact, this was the only way they could choose.

Outside the newly built fortress of the Theonians, Baripiri, together with several reputable old men from Besidiae, came to meet the restless warriors.

Drakos had not expected that Baripiri’s proposal would be so successful, making him both excited and somewhat distressed on how to deal with the more than two thousand Besidisian warriors. If he were to simply just leave them all in the city, Drakos would feel uneasy. Fortunately, this time, he managed to repel incoming the enemy’s attack without even moving his men, gaining him more time. He was now desperately hoping that Davos would arrive early with his army.

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

Cincinnag had decided to lead six thousand Pyxousian warriors to Grumentum together with his son, Gennat. And just as he had expected, as soon as his army arrived, the tribes in the northern region of Grumentum came to submit to him, including the two tribes, who had ambushed Bagul.

Cincinnag, learning from his past mistake, had now treated all the tribes who came to take refuge with enthusiasm, which had quickly captured the hearts of these anxious minor tribal chieftains. Soon, his troops had been expanded to tens of thousands of men and continued marching south.

When the report reached the city hall of Grumentum, Bagul, who was “seriously injured”, was sitting on a chair unharmed, with a slightly worried expression, “Although we have spread the rumours that ‘Theonia was at a disadvantaged in the war against Bruttii’ and that ‘I am seriously injured’ in order to confuse the enemy, but I didn’t expect that all the tribes in the north to defect to Pyxous so quickly. Sigh! All our previous efforts were in vain!”

Asistes sneered, “As what lord Davos had said, ‘Only in the face of crisis can we see which tribes are truly loyal to Theonia! And which ones are the traitors!’ In the past six months, we have spent most of our energy mediating the territorial and property disputes of these tribes. However, they are all wolves that couldn’t be tamed! Now it’s the time to take care of all those tribes that have betrayed us except those few that we have arranged and completely bring the territory of Grumentum under our control!”

“They are all Lucanians!” Bagul knew that Asistes was right. Still, he was unable to stop himself from sighing again.

After being surprised, Asistes tried to convince him, “Brother, aren’t there a few civil wars in the past among the Lucanians? All of which caused rivers of blood, otherwise your tribe would not be forced to risk moving to Amendolara. However, after we unify Lucania, the Lucanians, as citizens of Theonia, will no longer kill each other again, and their lives will be better and better! Don’t you think so as well?!”

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