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But Davos and the Theonian Senate did not expect Dionysius had already long thought of using Taranto. With the rapid rise of Theonia in the past two years, the Tarantines became more and more frustrated, and their rejection of the Theonians increasingly got stronger. Therefore, Diaomilas, a Tarantine citizen who had made a huge mistake, was still able to be re-elected as an archon.

After receiving Dionysius’ guarantee, Diaomilas and the Tarantine council secretly contacted the pro-Tarantines in their former allies while observing the war situation in Magna Graecia. After all, they had seen with their own eyes the strength of the Theonian army, and they did not dare to take any risks without certainty. It was not until the end of the Battle of Scylletium, and the news of “Syracuse’s victory and the rapid capture of the cities of Scylletium and Terina” reached Taranto that the Tarantine council finally made up its mind.

The process of their attack on Metapontum was actually very simple: Early in the morning, the Tarantine army stormed Metapontum, and the pro-Tarantine faction, who had bought over the city guards, had them secretly open the gates. Then they led the Tarantines to raid the pro-Theonian factions led by Taudeles. (Since Metapontum joined Theonia Alliance, Taudeles and the others were in control of the mobilisation of the army with the support of Theonia.)

“Strategos, congratulations on taking Metapontum!” Isalokas and his party came to congratulate Diaomilas.

“You are wrong. Taranto did not capture the city. It is just the people of Metapontum getting rid of Theonia’s control and returned to the embrace of their mother-state!” Diaomilas, who had fallen in Taranto for several years, was obviously more composed than before.

“Strategos, you are right! Metapontum is the child of Taranto. We believe in Poseidon and Phalanthus and not Hades, so we should have been united!” Isalokas immediately interjected and expressed his thoughts.

“Lord Isalokas, the Tarantine council wants you to serve as the sole archon of Metapontum and lead your people together with Taranto to deal with the current complex situation in Magna Graecia jointly!” In fact, the Tarantine council and Isalokas had already made an agreement before. And Diaomilas just took this opportunity to publicly announce it as a demonstration of his support for Isalokas.

“I am grateful to the Tarantine council and strategos Diaomilas for your trust! I will turn Metapontum into the most trusted ally of Taranto and restore peace to it!” Isalokas gave his promise.

Diaomilas nodded. He then said in a commanding tone, “Immediately prepare the offerings as I am going to the Acropolis to pray to Poseidon. Thank him for his help and ask for his forgiveness!”

“Immediately arrange it.” Isalokas then gave orders to the man next to him, who then rushed away.

Isalokas turned around and said, “There is one more thing that I hope you, milord, pay attention to; we didn’t catch Taudeles!”

“The traitor ran away?!” Diaomilas frowned.

“He is very clever and has long been prepared. The first time you entered the city, he immediately led some people to run from the west gate. But because we only have a few people, we are unable to stop them at all. And my soldiers suffered a lot of casualties.” Isalokas said with sorrow.

The others have also said that they did their best and showed Diaomilas the injuries they sustained.

“Alright!” Diaomilas interrupted them as their long-windedness would just annoy him, “Taudeles couldn’t run away even if he ran west.”

Diaomilas sneered as the capture of Taudeles was just a trivial matter. He was more concerned about the progress of the troops led by Umakas.

So he then said to Isalokas, “I’ll leave some soldiers to help you stabilise the situation in Metapontum. Once I come out of the Acropolis, I will immediately lead my army to Heraclea, and I will leave the task of transporting supplies and rations to you.”

“Rest assured, I will arrange it.”

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

While they sneak attack into Metapontum, Taranto also launched an attack on Heraclea.

Since Heraclea is separated from Taranto by Metapontum on land, the Tarantines can only come from the sea to make a surprise attack. And once their insider inside Heraclea sees the Tarantine fleet’s landing, they would prepare to cooperate and open the gate for the attacking forces.

However, since Davos sent a reminder, archon Teriphias of Heraclea has always been cautious about the east and repeatedly admonished the city and port guards to always be vigilant. Therefore, when the Tarantine fleet quietly approached the coast of Heraclea under the early morning fog, the sentry on the port lighthouse of Heraclea found them in time.

As a result, the alarm of Heraclea sounded and the citizens immediately armed and strengthened the city’s defence.

Heraclea is different from Metapontum. Because it was built decades ago and was far from Taranto, they are not as deeply influenced by Taranto as Metapontum. On the contrary, with their closer contact with their neighbour Theonia in recent years, and has been increasingly influenced by its culture and trade, the citizens preferred Theonia more and more. Therefore, the number of Tarantine insiders in the city was tiny, so how would they dare compete with the soldiers? And when they saw that the city was heavily defended, they dared not move rashly. Rather, they immediately stopped and hid.

Fortunately, they built Heraclea a bit strangely. It was located in the narrowest place between the Agri River and the lower reaches of the Basento River. Therefore, the Tarantine army could not land on the bank near the city as the narrow area would only make their landing slow, and they could not fully deploy their troops. And if the Heracleans attacked decisively, the Tarantines who were still trying to land would be in big trouble. But if they were to land on the south coast of the Agri River, they would be likely attacked by not only Heraclea but even Theonia, so Umakas could only choose to land on the coast on the north side of the Basento River.

Then the Tarantone soldiers began going ashore quickly…

But as the Tarantine fleet entered the Basento River, the Heracleans did not dare send their troops across the river to attack the disembarking enemy.

So Teriphias quickly decided to send people to burn the wooden bridge on the Basento river not far north of Heraclea. At the same time, he also sent a messenger to Thurii to ask Theonia for help. However,  Heraclea could do nothing else beyond that but watch as Taranto’s troops assemble on the coast.

By the time the Tarantine army arrived at the Basento River, the wooden bridge had already turned into charcoal.

So Umakas could only order his troops to cooperate with the fleet and build a pontoon bridge.

During this time, Teriphias decisively led his troops out of the city, attacked the ships with flaming arrows, and interrupted the bridge construction of Taranto…

Because of the attack of Heraclea, they managed to burn several transport ships of Taranto. Thus Umakas had nothing to do for a time and could only urge Diaomilas’ troops to come as soon as possible…

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

During this time, a minor incident occurred.

Taudeles fled westward with the remnant under the pursuit of the enemy, only to see the Tarantines disembarking from a distance.

With an obstacle in front and pursuers in the back, the one following him were alarmed and asked Taudeles what they should do.

Taudeles had no time to think more, so he firmly said, “Let’s run north!”

“There are the terrible Lucanians of Galaguso in the north!” Someone exclaimed.

“Are they more terrifying than the Tarantines who wants our lives now?! Moreover, like us, they are allies of Theonia!” With that, Taudeles took the lead to run to the mountains in the north.

At such a crisis, the others had no choice but to follow him across the mountains.

They went all the way into Galaguso’s territory, where the Lucanians surrounded them.

After Taudeles made their purpose in coming clear, the Lucanians of Galaguso not only defeated the pursuers behind but also took them to their great chieftain.

The great chieftain of Galaguso is different from the great chieftains of the other Lucanian tribes, and that is, they were chosen not due to the strength of their tribes nor their political ability. Rather, they were chosen based on the ancient Lucanian tradition by winning through the competition among the tribal chieftains. Thus the great chieftain, Kulom, is a young and strong man.

After learning the whole story from Taudeles, he and the high priest of Galaguso decided to settle these refugees of Metapontum in the valley for the time being and strictly ordered all the tribes not to hurt them.

In the past, the people of Galaguso were hostile to the people of Metapontum. However, recently, their relationship gradually eased due to Theonia. But this time, they have a bigger change of attitude, not only because Galaguso and Metapontum are allies of Theonia, but also because Galaguso has just received news from Potentia that the Theonian army led by archon Davos had defeated the invading Samnites.

For the Greeks, the Samnites were just another savage mountain race. But for the Lucanian tribes living in Galaguso, they knew well this powerful neighbour in the north. After all, the Samnites were the ones to expel their ancestors who were living in Maloenton a hundred years ago.

From generation to generation, the people of Galaguso deeply feared the Samnites. So when they heard that nearly 50,000 Samnites invaded Potentia on a large scale, the first thought of the people of Galaguso was to relocate again.

Thus they kept paying attention to the movements of the Samnites. As a result, the people of Galaguso were shocked after learning that the small Theonian army led by Davos had utterly defeated the Samnites.

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