Chapter 254: Occupying Grumentum and Eleas Concern
Some of the mercenaries at the top of the eastern gate, armed with shields and spears, rushed down the wooden wall and attacked the Potentian warriors inside the city to support the people of Grumentum, while the rest of the mercenaries ran to the gate and turned the locked winch in order to open the eastern gate so that the subsequent soldiers to swarm in.
While the warriors of Potentia, who are defending the eastern gate, suffered from a pincer attack and are struggling.
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Lusau was truly scared when he received the orders from Polet. He did not expect that there was another rebellion among these tribes in the city of Grumentum. His first reaction was not to worry about the situation in the east gate but to fear that these warriors would also have problems, because most of the more than 1,000 warriors were tribal warriors that had surrendered to him after returning to the city and since the enemy in the southern gate was attacking fiercely, he did not dare to disperse his forces at all, hence why he refused to send reinforcements.
However, the warriors stationed on the mountain had immediately gone down the mountain to rescue the Potentians in the eastern gate as soon as they received the order, but by the time they arrived, their companions in the eastern gate were already in a difficult situation, so the leader of the group had to lead the way into the enemy line without even thinking.
The reinforcements of Potentia made the battle in the eastern gate more complicated: The mercenaries and warriors of Grumentum pincered the defenders in the eastern gate, while the Grumentum warriors were pincered by the Potentian reinforcements and the defenders in the eastern gate, and the four forces fought each other in this narrow area inside the city near the gate….
The first to react was Xanticles, who, thanks to the Theonian Military Law, had been drilled many times during this period of training about the military commanders should not fight on the frontline except under special circumstances.
Hence why he stayed at the rear during this time. In this chaotic situation, with his rich experience on the battlefield, he had quickly made a decision and ordered the mercenaries to retreat slowly to the city wall, and informed Kesima to lead his soldiers around the houses so that they could encircle the enemy.
The retreat of the mercenaries gave the Potentian warriors hope in this bitter battle and thought that the enemy wouldn’t be able to bear it anymore, so their morale increased greatly, while the people of Grumentum felt desperate and their morale had almost collapsed, but the progress of the Potentian warriors had gradually got them surrounded and so they had to fight for their survival.
However, Polet who was at the top of the mountain was frightened, because what he saw was that the enemy was retreating in an orderly and organized manner, while the enemies who had entered from the city gate were circling between the houses on both sides and are gradually forming a huge encirclement, encircling the Potentian defenders and the reinforcements, including the people of Grumentum, while some enemies were standing at the top of the city wall and are raising their javelins in their hands, and at such a distance, it is almost a certainty that every throw they make will hit someone….
Polet closed his eyes painfully, now he is sure that the enemy is from the terrifying Theonia Union because even though the warriors of Lucania are full of passion when fighting, their formations are always loose, and they have no such strong organized and tight formation.
Polet cursed at Lusau who did not obey his order and hesitated whether to send his last troops to the eastern gate where there was no hope….
Then came the deadly javelin rain and the fierce attack of the mercenaries which finally led to the defeat of the eastern defenders, and the narrowing of the encirclement was like a noose around the neck of the reinforcing Potentian warriors, who finally surrendered in despair.
In the end, Polet did not send his remaining 500 soldiers but had instead held on to the top of the mountain.
Next, Xanticles and Kesima led their army to attack the southern gate, and Lusau who was already unable to defend was overwhelmed and killed by the uncontrollable Grumentum warriors as they retreated to the west.
As darkness fell, the Theonian army defeated the defenders on the east, west and south gates and entered the city of Grumentum. Only the 500 warriors led by Polet at the top of the mountain were left and were frightened when the Theonian army approached them.
At this time, Hemon held up his torch and went up the mountain alone, ready to persuade Polet to surrender.
In order to save their lives, Polet finally agreed to surrender. The warriors then had to lay down their weapons, open the mountain gate and follow Hemon down the mountain empty-handed.
Polet then bitterly said to Hemon, “Are you not afraid of the anger of Asinu for helping the Greeks to kill our own people and take their land?!”
Hemon looked back and said, “You are wrong. I am not helping the Greeks, I am helping the Lucanians, and so Asinu will only be happy about it!”
Theonia captured Grumentum with only 600 casualties, while Lusau and his men were slaughtered.
A few days later, Potentia signed an armistice agreement with Theonia, and the more than 1,000 Potenian captives were then safely returned to the city of Potentia.
Different from the fall of Nerulum, the news of Grumentum’s change of ownership quickly spread all over the Lucanian region, causing great waves among many small tribes and even multiple forces.
Even though Theonia did not take any further military actions, they have instead gradually implemented their plan that they have drawn up in advance: With Bagul serving as the praetor of Grumentum, Hemon serving as the intermediate judge of the city, Asistes was transferred to take up the post of an intermediate prosecutor and inspector of the city, and Kesima taking the post of patrol captain.
The first thing Bagul did when he took his post was to take control of the mountain pass camp between Nerulum and Grumentum. Secondly, only 2,000 soldiers were left in Grumentum, and the remaining 3,000 soldiers and the mercenaries led by Xanticles returned to their own cities, such as Nerulum, Thurii and Aprustum, to relieve the pressure on the military supplies. And several tribes in Grumentum went south together with them.
What they needed to do next was to fulfil the previous promises of Vespa and Hemon to the small tribes around Grumentum, by accepting them to join Theonia Union and allocate them their lands and abolishing many of the previous exploitation of Grumentum and Potentia on them….
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After learning about Theonia Union occupation of Grumentum, Cincinnag cursed them for their insidiousness and cunning. But on the surface, Pyxous, who had suffered greatly, had to send envoys to Thurii to express their goodwill for peace.
Even Garaguso, who rarely participates in the tribal disputes in Lucania, sent envoys so that they could know the intentions of this powerful new neighbour.
Potentia was forced to sign an armistice agreement with Theonia because of the issue of the captives, however, as the dominant tribe in the northern Lucania, Theonia’s attack had hurt its dignity and angered the various chieftains of Potentia, but their great chieftain – Pamot, had suppressed their anger and had instead chosen to be patient.
The strong Greek atmosphere of the Theonia Union was so unique in the Lucania region, which had immediately attracted the attention of another Greek city-state in the area, which was Elea.
Elea was also one of the many Greek colonies established on the Italian Peninsula in the Magna Graecia colonial era, decades after the first city-state to be built – Cumae, with the three neighbouring seaside cities of Elea, Pyxous and Poseidonia being founded one after another. Compared with the other two cities, Elea who was in the middle seems to be a little unknown, but in the process of the great southward migration of the Lucanians a hundred years ago, Poseidonia and Pyxous fell one after another, while Elea, who was weaker, survives tenaciously. However, Elea, who was surrounded by the Lucanians, was in danger of being destroyed at any moment, if it wasn’t for the contradictions between the alliance of several tribes of Lucania such as Potentia, Pyxous and Grumentum…..and making Elea into a buffer zone, which caused the Lucanian attack to ceased.
But for decades, Elea’s situation was not easy. Part of the land outside their city has been occupied by foreign races and would harass them from time to time, which made it very dangerous for their people to go out of the city due to them being an easy target for the plundering of the Lucanians and turning them into slaves. Therefore, Elea had to rely on the production and processing of handicrafts, as well as the development of maritime trade, cargo shipment, port services….and so on., to barely maintain the operation of the city-state and the life of the people.
But with the emergence of Theonia, Elea could finally see the dawn.
Therefore, after a discussion, all citizens decided to send an envoy to Theonia, a new Greek city-state union, to express their will of an alliance.
Kanos who was a council member happily took over this glorious mission.
However, it is impossible to go to Theonia by land, because Potentia and Pyxous will not allow him to pass through their land, so he can only go by sea. However, the good thing is that the passenger ship did not need to go around the Strait of Messana, because the Eleans knew that Laos is an ally of Theonia.
The passenger ship carrying Kanos, with the help of the strong south wind, drove south like an arrow.
While Kanos who was standing in the bow of the ship thought about his mission, when his Etruscan slave, Aino, pointed to the east and suddenly shouted, “Pyxous!”
Kanos looked up and in his field of vision was land on distant east and was just like a small green belt with a little white dot on it which was Pyxous – once the sister city of Elea, but has now become a nest of foreign race and a nightmare of Elea.
While grieving for Pyxous, Kanos also made up his mind for Elea to never make the same mistake again!
Because it was downwind, the ship sailed for two hours and arrived at Laos.
Kanos had been to Laos before and knew more about the port. Although Laos was occupied by the Lucanians at that time, they did not prohibit trade with the Greeks. It was only because of the habits of the Lucania – like plundering and racial discrimination that had made their reputation to be not very good. Therefore, there was not much direct trade between the Greeks and Laos.
But what Kanos saw in the port today was an endless stream of merchant ships coming in and out, a dense mass of labourers at the port and each of them was busy loading and unloading goods without stopping, and there are a lot of food and rubbish remnants floating on the surface of the port and in the foaming waters, which attracts numerous sea birds to circle and peck.