Chapter 400: Syracuses Invasion
“Although Carthage can’t do anything now, it is best not to relax your vigilance! And once you found…Gela, Leontinoi, Kamarina, Agrigento…these city-states that are affiliated to us having signs of riots, immediately order Macias to send his troops to eliminate them!” Said Dionysius.
“Understood, milord.”
Dionysius stepped forward and gave him a firm hug after staring at him for a moment, “I am counting on you for everything here, my friend!”
Philistus was about to answer when he heard Dionysius whispered in his ear, “We are in a critical time, so once you find any movement in the city, arrest and behead them immediately to deter the traitors who want to disrupt this great expedition, understand?!”
Dionysius’ cold words shocked Philistus.
At that moment, Dionysius happened to see Herolis not far behind Philistus talking to someone. Thus he added in a low voice, “And – don’t trust Herolis too much, and do not allow him to participate in any city matters during my absence!”
“Er…I understand, milord.” Replid Philistus, taken aback.
Afterwards, Dionysius and Phidias boarded a trireme.
Dionysius then waved to the crowds on the dock, proudly, “Everyone, you will soon hear the news of my victory! Next year, I will bring Syracuse a Magna Graecia that has wealth and land area no less than Sicily!”
After saying this, he tied a purple cloak and received a golden helmet decorated with colourful and brilliant plumes from his attendant. After putting it on, he looked more heroic.
“Let’s go!” Dionysius gave the order amidst the cheerings of the ministers.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
On this day, almost all the merchants’ ships that are sailing in the Strait of Messina witnessed this unprecedented sight: Thousands of warships, merchant ships and transport ships sailed northward, with the fleet’s length stretching from the southeast corner of Sicily to the toe of the Apennine Peninsula, almost cutting off the route to the east of the Strait of Messina…
A striking “figure of three legs” was painted on each ship so that no other ship dared to cross the seemingly endless fleet, as not to be mistaken as an intruder and sunk.
Many experienced shipmasters immediately had a hunch that something big would happen, so they all turned around or took a detour and hurried to their city-state to deliver this shocking news.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Henipolis’ envoy quickly returned to Laos and conveyed his order to Alobamus that “Theonia’s army would go through the port of Laos to reach Pyxous.”
Hearing that Davos suddenly changed his marching route, Alobamus became really nervous, so he immediately accepted the order and tried his best to supervise it.
Therefore, by the time Theonia’s army arrived in Laos, the hundreds of merchant ships that they requisitioned temporarily and the army of Laos that was to accompany them in battle were almost ready.
“Lord Davos, welcome to Laos!” Alobamus led the important officials of Laos to meet Davos at the city’s gate.
When Davos, who was riding a horse, saw Alobamus led a group of people to greet him, he suddenly felt an illusion in his mind that Alobamus was the master of the city, while this little guy beside him…
After glancing at Henipolis, Davos suppressed his strange thought and jumped off his horse, took off his helmet and handed it to the guard next to him, “Lord Alobamus, I thank you for your assistance to Theonia!” Then he gave his respect to Alobamus.
“As an ally of Theonia, this is the responsibility of Laos!” The man in his forties bowed his head and replied respectfully.
Henipolis immediately said in a loud voice, “Uncle, this time I will follow Lord Davos to Potentia!”
Alobamus raised his head and looked at him. He felt complex for a bit and said, “I have no objection to this matter, but you have to consult your mother.”
“Yes, I will immediately tell her.” Henipolis then hurriedly drove his horse into the city.
Davos then said, “Henipolis is still a child and lacks the experience in political matters, causing many changes to Laos during this time. And it’s thanks to you that Laos can remain stable!”
“There is not much difference between you and Heni’s age, yet look at him.” Hearing what Davos said, Alobamus blurted out his thought on impulse. But when Davos looked at him with a slightly surprised look, he realized that his tone was a bit intense, so he hurriedly changed his tone to complaining, “Alas, Heni was a willful child since childhood! But you can’t just run a city-state with whatever you want to do! During this time, the officials became a bit angry at him!…”
“He is still young and needs time to sharpen before he became familiar with the affairs of the city-state. Thus your assistance as his uncle is vital! Of course, I will teach him more during this expedition.” On the surface, Davos was comforting Alobamus, but his words showed his support to Henipolis.
Alobamus naturally heard the meaning of his words and felt a burst of loss in his heart. At the same time, the idea that he is suppressing from the bottom of his heart was slowly loosening.
“Lord Davos, I heard that there are tens of thousands of Samnites that had come to invade Potentia this time. Wouldn’t it be a little bit difficult to repel them?” Alobamus suddenly asked.
Davos looked at him and said, “As long as our allies are in trouble, Theonia will do her best to help them no matter how difficult it is! Besides, it’s only a matter of time for Theonia to repel the Samnites.”
“Indeed, indeed.” Said Alobamus with a smile, “After all, you, Lord Davos, are the famous strategos that could win every battle.”
Davos smiled, turned around, looked at his troops, and asked, “Can we enter the city?”
“Of course.” Alobamus then quickly said, “600 transport ships are waiting at the port. Erm…Lord Davos, you had gone through a hard march this time, so I prepared a banquet at my home to celebrate your arrival. As there is still plenty of time before your departure, I would like to invite you for dinner.”
“Lord Alobamus, I thank you for your invitation! But since the war situation is grave, it is better to wait until I return victorious to join your banquet. However, you will have to prepare a more sumptuous food to do so, as I will not attend it alone because even the several army officers will be attending.” Davos politely declined in jest.
“Then I’ll wait for your quick victory!” Alobamus said with a smile. But the truth is, he had no intention of inviting him, as he had just casually said it because he inexplicably became flustered standing in front of Davos.
The salpinx began to blow, the war drums sounded, and the Theonian army entered the city. A brightly armoured flag bearer, holding up a large flag with a bident in the centre surrounded by colourful gems, led the Theonian army. (It is the flag that represents Theonia City-State Union.)
Followed by the cavalry, whose numbers had considerably increased after integrating the Bruttian region into the Theonia Union. And the cavalry was increased to 2,000, officially promoting the cavalry brigade into a legion. Although the mountains of Potentia were not favourable to the cavalries, and although they had heard that the Samnites did not have many cavalries, Davos still brought 1,000 cavalries and were led by Ledes, the cavalry legatus.
The leading cavalryman carried the “Pegasus” battle flag, followed by three lines of cavalrymen, all in black leather helmets and armour, with a spear in their right hand and black “raindrop-shaped” leather shields in their left hand, entering the city in a neater formation.
Then followed by the first legion…
Although the Theonian troops had entered the city of Laos before(during the conquest of Bruttii), today, a few years later, it caused quite a shock to the people of Laos when they saw the legionaries with unified equipment and clothing. The whole army was almost black as even the shield on which the Greeks like to give full play to their free nature is uniformly painted with a “Bident”. The uniformity, the neatness, the orderliness, the sheer numbers and the high morale of the soldiers left the nobles, officials, civilians and slaves of Laos, including Alobamus, who was accompanying Davos, in a state of shock and fear as they watched the Theonian army march on the main road in the city of Laos in a parade-like fashion.
Alobamus could only quickly left on the excuse that he was going to “prepare for Henepolis’ expedition” and then hid on the roof of his residence and watched the Theonian army marching towards the port with a complex feeling. During this time, the only thing he kept thinking about was whether Syracuse could really defeat the Theonian army, which was so powerful.
It wasn’t until all the Theonian troops were out of the city that he became a little relieved.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
The report of Syracuse’s invasion first reached Rhegium, which caused panic among the people and chaos among the statesmen in the city hall.
“Lord Athelycus, what should we do? Syracuse would kill all of us!!”
“According to the shipmasters, Syracuse’s fleet covered the whole sea! This is terrifying! They estimate that the fleet carried no less than 100,000 soldiers!!”
“Lord Athelycus, you must immediately ask Theonia and the South Italia Alliance for reinforcements!! Otherwise, it would be the end of Rhegium once Syracuse land in Magna Graecia!!”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Just then, a guard hurriedly went in and reported, “Milord, the port lighthouse urgently sent a report saying that a fleet of about 80 ships has come out of Messina and are heading towards our port!”
This report was like adding fuel to the fire, blowing up the whole city hall, “Lord Athelycus, our fleet! Where is our fleet?! I told you before not to give our ships to Theonia, yet you didn’t listen! Look at what is happening now!!”