Chapter 328: Sedrum
After calming down, Davos asked, “Kapus, the first legion is the one in charge of taking care of the Bruttian captives at night, right?”
“Yes, milord.”
“Try to make them feel as comfortable as possible while making sure that they don’t escape.”
Kapus hesitated for a moment and said, “I’ll try.”
“Even though they are enemies now, but after this battle…well…it is certain that the Bruttians will soon become our own. So in order to make this transition more smoothly, we need to stop increasing the hatred, and we have to make an effort.” Davos patiently explained to them that was has always been a continuation of politics, and Davos’ position determines that he must see further and consider more.
On the sideline, Teriphias and Gorkes looked at each other. The continued growth of the Theonia Union should be good for Heraclea and Roscianum.
“After a while, I might send a man to help you pacify these Bruttian captives, but I am not sure if he is willing to help with that yet, though?” Davos rubbed his chin and mused.
Kapus was curious who Davos was talking about, but he didn’t ask.
“What’s the situation in the medical camp?” Davos thought of another question.
“There are too many wounded! Stakodas and the others are too busy that they could not even rest. Even Epiphanes had sent the light infantry and the freemen to help the medical camp to carry the wounded…” Antonios said anxiously.
“That’s to say that there is no one attending to the wounded Bruttians?!” Davos eyes widened at the seriousness of the problem, “Hmm…Antonios, go to Stakodas immediately and tell him to draw out two physicians no matter what…and at the same time, have the first legion spare a thousand men to assist on treating the wounded Bruttian that needed simple treatment such as debridement and bandaging.”
“Alright.” Antonios left quickly.
“And…Tolmides, I’ll write two letters right away while you ask the heralds to take the letters back to Thurii and give them to Herpus and Mersis. I want them to send as many physicians and nurses as possible and deliver more medicine, medical supplies and food…”
After they went to complete their assigned task, Davos had now time to face Teriphias and Gorkes alone, “Apologies! I did not expect that after winning this battle, there will be so many things that kept me occupied.”
“It’s fine.” Teriphias then gave serious praise, “As it has given me a chance to see the excellent management ability of the archon of Theonia! And I really did not expect that there would still be so many things to deal with after a battle, such as the medical treatment of the wounded, treating the captives, constructing the camp, and arranging the sentry posts…I truly learned a lot of military knowledge.”
Teriphias’ words came from the bottom of his heart, and Gorkes, beside him, felt the same way. It is a fact that most of the Greek city-states in this era fought near their territory, and so they did not pay much attention to the logistics. And only powerful city-states such as Athens, Sparta, Syracuse and so on, who needed to fight for a long time away from their city-state, would have higher requirements on military logistics. But even so, there are still some situations where the soldiers suffered from a shortage of pay and food. Davos knew that the logistics of the Theonian army was still rough and imperfect, but in the eyes of Teriphias, it was already complicated.
Thus Davos could only smile and said, “It is all thanks to the full support of Heraclea and Roscianum! With this victory, I believe that the war with Bruttii will soon end. And at that time, the clerk of our logistics camp will carefully count the spoils and distribute them to both of you equally.”
Roscianum has already worked with Theonia three times, making Gorkes comfortable with Theonia’s assurance.
Teriphias had little interest in the spoils of war as Heraclea is relatively wealthy. Naturally, he still accepted it so that his citizens didn’t come here in vain, and else they would complain once they go back. However, he was more concerned about another thing, “Lord Davos, I have a request.”
“Go ahead.”
“Can the Theonian officers help train our citizens in your way of fighting?” Teriphias explained with some embarrassment, “Because during the battle, I notice that the fighting style of Theonia was very different from that of Heraclea and Roscianum. And this difference has greatly affected the cooperation among various forces, that’s why…” In fact, at the beginning of the battle, it was the three thousand Theonian reserves who resisted the Bruttian’s charge and played the bulwark on the right flank in the subsequent battles. If the reserves are already like this, one can already imagine the strength of Theonia’s legion. That is the reason why Teriphias made up his mind and made a request.
Davos was surprised on the surfaced, but he was delighted in his heart, ‘Our allies finally made such a request!’
He asked, while pretending to be hesitant, “Does the Council of Heraclea approve of this?”
“I will have them agree!” Teriphias said resolutely.
“In that care, when the war with Bruttii is over, I will ask our Chief of military, Philesius, to discuss the training with you.” Davos then said half-jokingly, “Lord Teriphias, Theonia’s military training is rigorous, so you have to prepare the citizens of Heraclea in advance.”
With Heraclea as an example, Gorkes was unwilling to lag, so he forwarded the same request to Davos.
After seeing off Teriphias and Gorkes, Davos felt exhausted. However, he still could not rest because there was one person he had to meet, “Go and bring me the important person from Bruttii the Ledes caught.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Sedrum regretted not praying to the goddess Amara seriously before setting out. Now he had the misfortune of tripping and falling off his horse while escaping, followed by his guards scattering due to the swarming fleeing Bruttians. When he finally managed to struggle up from under his wounded horse, he fell behind and became the target of the pursuing Theonian cavalry due to his clothes being different from ordinary Bruttian warriors.
After becoming a captive, he said his name without concealing it.
Now, his hands tied behind his back and were escorted forward by a Theonian soldier. From afar, he could see a golden military flag erected on the grassy slope, with hundreds of soldiers standing neatly in two columns, and a man sat under the flag, which should be the archon of Theonia, Davos.
Sedrum was lost in his thoughts when his footsteps unconsciously accelerated.
As they approached, the two men looked at each other. Sedrum was surprised by the youth of Davos, while Davos was astonished by the old age of Sedrum. As far as he knew, the great chieftain of Vergae was not over fifty years old.
Davos spoke first, “Untie him.”
Sedrum rubbed his red wrist and took another step forward.
Davos sat still.
Sedrum raised his eyebrows and said, “Are you not afraid that I will attack you?”
Davos smiled and said, “You can speak Greek, which saves me the trouble of looking for an interpreter. Go ahead and sit down, as I don’t want to keep looking up.”
Although his voice was not loud, it has an irresistible strength.
Sedrum hesitated, then he sat down with reluctance.
Martius, who was behind Davos, let out a sigh of relief.
“I’ll first answer your question.” Davos then slowly said, “First, I have my brave guard here that would make it difficult for you to succeed. Second, even if you succeed, the predicament that the Bruttians are facing now can not be solved, and making the Theonian soldiers angry will just bring unimaginable punishment to the people in this land!”
Sedrum snorted, “Isn’t Theonia now occupying our land, killing our people, looting our properties! If I could beat up the leader who started the war, then I can at least make the Bruttians happy for a while!”
“Are the Bruttians the victim?” Davos then seriously said, “No! For decades, the Bruttians have never stopped attacking and plundering the Greek city-states, destroying countless Greek families! Now, we Greeks have come to get our revenge, yet you feel aggrieved. What a joke!”
“You Greeks are foreigners who occupied our lands. We…we are just getting back what is ours!” Sedrum retorted.
“As far as I know, you Bruttians have originally lived in the central part of Italia and had only migrated here more than two hundred years ago, driving out the original inhabitants of this land and settling down, and now you actually claim to be the owner of the land in South Italia? Is this ignorance? Or just arrogance?” Davos sneered.
“Nonsense!” Sedrum shouted in exasperation.
“It seems you don’t know. Fortunately, the Greeks have written and recorded the things that happened here for hundreds of years. And the scholars of Thurii have collected the records of the other city-states. So if you ever go to Thurii one day, you can go and see the detailed history of the Bruttians.”
Regarding the Bruttians, Davos had asked Ansitanos for detailed advice, so Sedrum, seeing Davos’ seriousness, seemed a bit discouraged and said simply, “What will you do to us?”
“Do you mean the captured Bruttians or the thing you called Bruttii Union?”
“Naturally, us, who were unfortunate enough to be captured.” Sedrum added defiantly, “Although we have lost the battle, as long as Pian and his troops defended the city with all their strength, then no matter how many soldiers you have, you will have a hard time breaking through Consentia. In the end, you can only retreat once you don’t have enough food.”
“You can be at ease, as we will break through Consentia with ease!” Davos said confidently.