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Then the great chieftain of Caraceni, Konteruk, coldly said, “We better implement the plan smoothly this time, otherwise-”

Despite not finishing his words, Lesguk knew Konteruk was reminding him since he was the one who suggested attacking the Dauni region. Besides their initial success, they had failed in their succeeding attacks, resulting in the three tribes, namely, Hirpini, Pentri and Caraceni, suffering heavy losses. And after the other two great chieftains’ criticism, Lesguk realised that he had become proud after their initial success and forgot to carry out his original plan: Not to fight the Theonians on flat ground but to use their advantage in the mountains to deal with the enemy.

Unfortunately, the Theonian commander in the Dauni region had remained calm despite his successive victories, so he wasn’t lured by the Samnites to rush into the mountains.

Despite sensing they couldn’t gain any advantage in the Dauni region, Lesguk and the others were still unwilling to stop attacking Theonia since this would allow them to free up their hands and concentrate on eliminating their other enemies. Thus, they had to change target and attack the west, the weak ally of Theonia – the Campanian League, and the defenceless Lucanian region, which seemed to be better targets for their attack.

And since Caudini had suffered a disastrous defeat where many of their warriors got captured earlier, they didn’t send too many warriors when the Samnite coalition attacked Dauni. As a result, they suffered a little loss. And it just so happened that the Theonians had released the previously captured Caudini warriors and returned to their tribes, making Caudini the strongest of the four major Samnite tribes. So when Segobani returned to Caudium, he readily agreed to the plan of the three great chieftains after hearing it, not only because of gratitude(the three tribes used hostages from the Dauni region to force Theonia to release the captive Caudini) but also because he needed the support of the other great chieftains and high priest to regain his position as the great chieftain. Of course, he also hated Theonia, who had greatly humiliated him and wanted to trouble them.

Thus, they all hit it off at once, which is why the four of them, Lesguk, Konteruk, Badani and Rhogni, appear here.

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

Irna, a city on the northwestern border of the kingdom of Theonia, has remained peaceful despite the ongoing war between the Samnite and Theonia. In addition, Irna, bordering the Nuceria region of the Caudini tribe, still had people and merchants travelling to the town of Baparia to the northeast daily.

But that day, the lookout atop the city gate of Irna saw a long line of people rushing towards the city from a distance in the northeast direction. While supporting the elderly and children, carrying baggage, and driving carts, panic filled all their faces.

At the forefront were several priests of Hades, wearing white chiton. After rushing to the city guards, they pantingly shouted, “The great chieftain of Caudini, Segobani…led his army to capture Nuceria! We only managed to escape…because we received the urgent report of the Nucerian believers… and now Baparia is in danger! Despite already notifying the town’s demarchos, many still haven’t left. So hurry up and send troops to rescue them! Quickly! Quickly!…”

The praetor of Irna, Adrianus, had already served for three years and was nearing the end of his term. However, with the recent outbreak of several wars in Theonia where it is impossible to end it quickly, in such a situation, his term may be extended to ensure the stability of the kingdom. Hence, he continued to fulfil his responsibilities seriously and with ease of mind.

But while staying in the city hall, he was shocked when he received the emergency report from the city guard captain, prompting him to order, “Quickly go and ring the alarm, and put the whole city on alert! And…quickly send someone to the military camp outside the city to notify strategos Xanticles so he can lead his troops to defend Baparia!”

“Yes, milord!”

Adrianus turned serious as he watched the city guard captain hurriedly leave as he knew the war had arrived, shattering Irna’s peace!

While worrying about the survival of the people of Baparia, he remembered another vital matter, prompting him to immediately call his assistant, “Immediately send someone to Pompeii and tell them about the change in Caudini while reminding our Campanian allies to strengthen their guard and be alert of another Caudini invasion!”

Xanticles had come to the Lucanian region under the command of the Ministry of Military to form a reserve army to replace the Third Legion in defending the entire northwest territory of the kingdom of Theonia.

He initially set up his base at the military camp near Grumentum, but the Samnite invasion of the Dauni region prompted Xanticles to change his base to near Irna, which was the closest city to the Samnites. (Although Compsa was also close to Samnite, he considered Abellinum a much more reliable barrier than Nuceria.) Suddenly, the Ministry of Military had Epiphanes take four brigades away from him just after he finished raising the reserve legion. Worse, he wasn’t allowed to expand them further, leaving him rather helpless.

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

While the Theonian army engaged in a fierce battle against the Roman army in the city of Ostia, Segobani had led the Samnite army and took the Nucerian chieftains who had already surrendered as hostages and entered the Nuceria region without any difficulty and forcibly occupied the settlements of the tribes that had still not yielded to him(including that of Kinduk). He then used their families to threaten them to follow his tribe in attacking the town of Baparia in Irna.

The town, built seven years ago under the personal supervision of the then Praetor of Irna, Asistes, had become relatively prosperous thanks to the frequent trades between Theonia and Nuceria. And for Theonia to show their sincerity towards the Nucerians and to remove their wariness, they didn’t put too many defences in the town, which, coupled with the fact that the enemy had come so suddenly, had led to its quick capture.

After capturing the Theonians still in the town, Segobani ordered the Nucerian warriors to burn Baparia to force them to break with Theonia once and for all, and then, while returning to Nuceria, he sent his troops to block off the mountain routes that connected to Irna.

After their painful lesson in the Dauni region, the several great chieftains decided for Segobani not to attack Irna directly. Instead, they would aim their attack at the weaker Campanian League.

Once Segobani was on his way back to Nuceria with his army, the nearly ten thousand Samnite joint troops who had been waiting in the small town of Abella at the mountain pass quickly headed westward, pass through Suessula and directly attacked Atella, which caused heavy losses for the Caudini people.

And with the Caudini chieftains’ massive assembly in Nola, the Campanian League, led by Neapolis, had shifted all their defence to the southeast, and thus failed to guard against the surprise attack of the Samnites in the northeast. As a result, Atella – a small city on the border of the Campanian League – quickly fell under the attack of the Samnite warriors.

Meanwhile, after burning the town of Baparia and returning to Nuceria, Segobani led seven thousand Caudini warriors(including more than three thousand Nucerians) without stopping towards the southwest direction to attack Pompeii, which was only ten kilometres away from Nuceria.

Since Pompeii had lived in peace with Nuceria for more than a decade because of Theonia, they had never expected an enemy to attack from the southeast and for them to attack so quickly. Due to their quick and sudden attack, most people outside had no time to retreat to the city and became prisoners of the Caudini.

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

After receiving Adrianus’ order, Xanticles didn’t feel excited about his upcoming participation in the battle since he currently only had one brigade left in the military camp.

This is actually normal because, under normal circumstances, the legion’s soldiers needed three to four days to arrive from their houses to the camp with their rations and standard weapons and equipment to participate in military training conducted by the training instructor. So unless notified by the department in charge of military training of the Ministry of Military, each brigade would usually take turns. (The training of each legion’s military camp is handled by the training instructors dispatched by the Military Training Department of the Kingdom’s Ministry of Military. Despite not having the authority to intervene, the legates can observe the training situation. Then, with their understanding of their soldiers’ condition, they can provide their own suggestions. Moreover, the legatus can only have the authority to command his legion after obtaining authorisation from the king and the Ministry of Military.)

Originally, in this dire situation, Xanticles should have concentrated all the legion soldiers in the camp. However, once the rations the soldiers had brought ran out, the camp would have to provide them with food, which was usually mostly taken from the granaries in the neighbouring areas. Unfortunately, Xanticles could only have the brigades take turns garrisoning the camp with the current food shortage.

Still, Xanticles didn’t hesitate to gather them and quickly marched towards Baparia, even with only a thousand soldiers that were left in the camp.

At the same time, Xanticles sent his heralds to rush to the four coastal towns of Irna, Poseidonia, Elea, and Pixous to notify the other brigades to gather at the camp. When Epiphanes had come to take the soldiers, Xanticles specifically asked Epiphanes to take only the brigades that were mainly composed of citizens from the inland towns of Lucania, such as Grumentum and Nerulum, while leaving behind the brigades consisting of citizens from the coastal towns so that he could notify the soldiers to gather quickly and for them to arrive faster.

After the troops bypassed Irna, they encountered the fleeing people who had exclaimed in panic, “The Caudini tribe have come! They have captured Baparia!…”

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