Chapter 320: Betting it all
In the messenger’s exaggerated retelling, the Theonians have a kind of siege equipment that can throw a round stone the size of a jar hundreds of metres away and hit the walls with such precision that the powerful impact could cause damage to the walls. Under repeated hitting, it could even make the wall collapse. While the other siege equipment is like a movable sentry tower, which is built taller than the city wall. The archers at the top of the tower can easily attack the defenders on the city wall, and once it gets close to the city wall, it will drop down a bridge that the enemy can use to easily rush to the top of the city wall…the combination of these two siege equipment is the nightmare of any city, and Theonia owns both!
Pian was now not only worried about Clampetia, as he became more worried about Consentia. In his original plan, he could’ve retreated to Consentia and use the solid wall to resist the attack of the Theonians until the enemy’s rations ran out. However, the messenger’s narration shook his decision, as he does not want to be trapped in the city and have stones being thrown at his head by the Theonians…therefore, they must protect the city of Clampetia. Otherwise, once it gets occupied by the Theonians, Consentia will then be attacked on both sides.
But at this moment, with Theonia’s strength occupying a great advantage, the Bruttian Union is now in a dilemma. Defending alone is too passive, and the possibility of losing would be greater. Thus Pian was more inclined to risk attacking because as long as they could beat the main force of Theonia, it will solve all their difficulties!
He then turned his attention to Besidice, who had surrendered, because it is the closest to Thurii – the centre of Theonia, from which the main force of Theonia will come to attack.
After a lot of thinking, he finally decided to send two thousand reinforcements to Clampetia, convincing Bodiam to return to Anbania while sending messengers to Vergae, hoping that Bodiam and Sedrum could bring many warriors as possible to support the battle between Bruttii Union and Theonia.
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In order to wait for the arrival of the supplies and meeting the needs of the war, Davos stayed for another two days in Besidice.
Although Besidice is very close to Thurii, the transport was more difficult due to the road conditions. After learning his lesson and making the subsequent transport easier, Davos ordered his soldiers to each carry five days’ rations again.
In the early morning of the third day, Davos led the first and second legion, the mountain reconnaissance brigade, cavalry brigade, the army of their allies – Heraclea and Roscianum, the Besidisian warriors, the legion reserve, and the two thousand freemen…except for a small part of the legion reserve that would be stationed in the city of Besidice, the total number of men who will go to battle Consentia was about 24,000.
When it was close to noon, the scouts came to report to Pian that the Theonian army are now entering the Consentia Plateau, and they could even see the prominent flag of the archon of Theonia.
The report made Pian unable to sit still and immediately held an emergency meeting. Besides Petaru and Phitara, and the exception of Pangam, who was still struggling in repelling the enemy’s attack in Clampetia, Bodiam and Sedrum, who had just arrived last night with their troops, joined, while Likumu died in battle. With only five of the “Seven Elders” being present, it inevitable made the mood of everyone in the hall sullen.
“I expect for the Theonians to camp in this area once they reached Consentia in the afternoon.” Pian drew a circle about 3 kilometres to the east of the map with his finger and excitedly said, “With the protection of Amara, we shall take advantage of their discomfort after entering Consentia and take the initiative to attack them while they are busy building their camp and force them to fight a decisive battle!”
Sedrum understood what Pian meant by “discomfort”. Because the high terrain in the area where Consentia is located was so high that even though an outsider would have no problem moving around normally, it would quickly tire them out and have difficulty breathing after a long period of strenuous movements. While the Bruttian warriors, especially the Consentians, have already adapted to this environment since childhood and no longer experience any abnormalities in their movements.
Moreover, knowing the battle situation on Clampetia, he no longer has any hope in defending the city.
He and Bodiam looked at each other with a dignified expression. In the end, they could only agree.
After going back to gather the troops, they waited nervously for the arrival of the Theonian army.
But half an hour later, Pian urgently called for them.
“Elders, from the report I have just received, the Theonians stopped moving near the Finita River and begun setting up their camp!” Pian said anxiously.
‘Finita River!’ Sedrum and Bodiam rushed to see the map in the middle of the hall.
The Finita River, even though it is called a river, is actually more like a small stream, which eventually joins the upper reaches of the Crati River and flows through an area of relatively flat terrain. The main point is that it is located between Besidice and Consentia.
“That’s so far from Consentia, and it is still so early, yet they already start resting?!” Bodiam muttered in confusion.
“Those Besidisian traitors! The great goddess Amara will punish them!” Phitara said with anger.
Sedrum understood the high priest’s anger. In his memory, the terrain of Finita River was not as high as here, so the influence of the terrain on the people would not be as evident.
He quickly glanced at Pian and asked, “What should we do now then?”
Pian also cursed. He also thought that the Theonian’s action must be due to the Besidisians ruining his plan.
After thinking about it, he looked at everyone. He said with seriousness, “Currently, Clampetia is being attacked by the enemy every day that they could breach it at any moment! Therefore, the only thing we can do is either let the enemy advance slowly and allow them to get used to the weather and environment gradually, or make up our minds and concentrate on attacking them with all our might! It is up to you to choose!”
Sedrum and Bodiam looked at each other again, and their eyes gradually glisten with determination, “Do we even have a choice?!”
“Goddess Amara, bless the children of Brutus!” Phitara chanted loudly…
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Out of caution, Davos chose to camp near the Finita River.
After hearing the reminder of Baripiri about ‘outsiders having discomfort when entering the Consentia area’, a word immediately came up in his mind – Altitude Sickness: The higher the terrain, the thinner the air, the less oxygen content, and the faster the people get tired due to lack of oxygen. Of course, Compared with Tibet in the far east, the height of the Consentia Plateau is nothing at all, but it is likely to become a decisive factor in a fierce battle.
With the advantage now in his hands, Davos does not need to take any risks, as he just needs to advance steadily towards Consentia and allow the soldiers to gradually adapt to the altitude and become familiar with the area’s geography. At the same time, it would gradually put pressure on Consentia and deter them from splitting their troops to reinforce Clampetia.
Although he was unable to grasp the developments in Clampetia, he believed, out of trust in Hielos and the fourth legion, which had both types of siege equipment, that the fourth legion has an absolute advantage over Clampetia. Once Clampetia is breached, the Theonian troops could advance, increasing their advantage significantly and deterring the whole Bruttian region, which would directly lead to the disintegration of the Bruttii Union and make the Bruttians yield even without fighting!
Although the idea was good, Davos did not let his guard down. Per the 《Theonia’s Military Law》 in the construction of the military camp, he did not let all the soldiers devote themselves to the camp’s building. Instead, he just let the soldiers of the first legion and the reserve brigade work first, with the assistance of the freemen, while the second legion and their allies, as well as the Besidisian warriors, protects them.
“Why were we the ones to do the camp building first? We are the first legion of Theonia!” Hybaterus complained about with indignation. He fixed his gaze on the soldiers of the second legion, who were sitting and resting in front of him, as he dug.
“Perhaps it is because the second legion has just finished fighting the Bruttians the day before yesterday, so the grand legatus gave them a reward!” Pesias guessed.
While listening to his teammates, Leotychides mind wandered: Although the Spartans also attached importance to marching and camping, they didn’t attach much importance to it as Theonia did to the point of paranoia. When the Theonians arrived at a place to camp, the first thing they would consider is how to build an extremely solid camp that they even have engineers to measure and inspect the site, and even having penalties in case of defects…even though Leotychides had practised it many times in the training camp and in Taranto, he was still unable to adapt to it.
“If our first legion were the one to attack Besidice instead of the second legion, we would have completed it better! The grand legatus is not unfair, but giving the crucial task to the second legion, while he commanded our first legion to either climb the mountains or march that I don’t even know how many roads we have walked these days, and now the soles of my feet are filled with blisters!”
Hybaterus was chattering away his depression when someone suddenly patted him on the head, “Hybaterus, stop talking and work harder! If you slow down the progress of our camp construction and cause our team to lose to Olivos’ team, strategos Matonis will never let you off lightly!” Yelled Sitares, the squad leader.
At the mention of Matonis, Hybaterus did not dare to say anymore.
Leotychides was somewhat impressed at the fierce-looking Matonis, who was very protective of his soldiers that could even go to the extreme. Leotychides had even witnessed him several times with those “terrifying” military judges because his soldiers were being punished according to the military law for violating discipline and even argued with Davos once. In addition to his incredible strength and superb skills, the soldiers loved and respected Matonis.