Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

After hearing Antonios' words, Phregulus stepped forward, gave a military salute, and responded loudly, “By the time we reached the city of Ausculum, the Samnites had launched a full-scale attack on the city, making it relatively easy for us to defeat them. But all of this is thanks to Commander Alexius, who gave us the decisive order to march on Ausculum and made this victory possible!”

“Look, your subordinate is good to you.” Antonios smiled at Alexius.

Kapus also saluted Phregulus. As an important official in the Ministry of Military, he surely knew Phregulus.

Phregulus hastened to return the salute respectfully.

“There is no need for me to introduce this one,” Alexius said as he pointed to Melisander.

“Melisander, I didn't want to see you here,” Antonios said unexpectedly, with a pained expression. He then changed his tone and said, “Because seeing you has made me realise that the Kingdom is now the world of the young, and we are all old!”

“Uncle Antonios, you're not old. Antidorus still needs you to raise him!”

Antonios glared at him, “I'm just old, not dead!”

The crowd laughed, and the shadow of war cast by the Samnites seemed to dissipate in their laughter.

While the soldiers of the Tenth and Fourth Cavalry Legions went directly to Dauni's base, Alexius, Antonios, Kapus, Phregulus and Melisander went directly to the town hall of Lucera to hold a military meeting.

“How is the situation of the Eleventh Legion?” just after everyone sat down, Alexius immediately asked.

Kapus did not pay any attention to that and answered directly, “Due to the sudden invasion of the Samnites, there were only about two thousand soldiers in the base, as they were on rotation… But the Legion's soldiers have arrived steadily in the past few days. Currently, there are over six thousand soldiers in the base, but with the enemies besieging Ausculum and Vibinum and occupying Gerunum, some soldiers have been unable to make it in time, and I have had to replace them with the reserves from Lucera.

The Eleventh Legion currently has six heavy infantry brigades, one light infantry brigade and one light armoured brigade, totalling eight thousand men, with the main combat units filled. Whether we should gather the reserves at Dauni again is a decision for you to make.”

Alexius nodded in understanding. Then he asked, “How many warriors do the Samnites have?”

“According to our mounted scouts, the three Samnite armies besieging Ausculum, Vibinum and Gerunum each numbered over ten thousand men, plus some scattered tribal warriors, so I fear they numbered over thirty thousand. So far, though, we still haven't found any Caudini warriors…” said Antonios.

“It seems that the victory of the Third Legion in Campania has caused massive losses to the Caudini tribe…” Alexius showed a pleased expression and then asked worriedly, “How is the situation in Gerunum?”

“From our scouts' reports, the Samnites retreated into the mountains yesterday, but… they took the Daunians prisoners!” Antonios said with some anger and some pain. After all, his duty was to protect the Daunians’ lives since he now governs these towns and cities.

“Retreat?” Alexius was slightly surprised as he fell into thought…

Then Antonios said solemnly, “Yesterday, the Samnites sent an envoy when they were evacuating. The envoy asked to exchange the thousands of Daunians they had captured for all the Caudini we had captured!”

“The Samnites are just thinking in pipe dreams! We must not accede to their arrogant demands and let these Caudini return, for they would only strengthen the Samnite army and continue to plunder and kill our people!” Melisander interrupted furiously.

Antonios frowned.

“Melisander, it's not up to you to decide whether or not to accept the request of the Samnite envoy.” Alexius looked at him and seriously said, “Only His Majesty can make the final decision, for the lives and freedom of thousands of Daunians are at stake!”

“Understood! I am sorry!” Melisander bowed his head, admitting his mistake. He had spoken too quickly, but after Alexius reminded him, he realised he had only thought about how it would affect the war situation and not the lives of the captured people, especially with the governor of the Dauni region standing in front of him.

Antonios nodded at him, forgiving him for his momentary indiscretion. Then he said, “I have sent a messenger to Thurii to report this matter to His Majesty, and I believe we will receive the answer within two days.”

Alexius just nodded, as he didn’t need to worry about this matter. Instead, he looked at the map of the Dauni region that lay on the wooden table in the middle of the conference room and said slowly, “The Samnites began to retreat as soon as our reinforcements arrived, so they must be afraid of us. However, I doubt they would stop attacking Theonia…”

“I agree with you, especially since the Samnites should know, after many years of interaction, that His Majesty will never spare them even if they want to make a truce at this moment after they had broken the treaty and started a war against us without authorisation! Yet the current situation made it seems the Samnites do not want to engage in a frontal clash with us.” Kapus expressed his opinion.

“Currently, the Tenth, Eleventh and Fourth Cavalry Legions are here in the Dauni territory, and the Ninth Legion will arrive in a day or two. By then, we will have over thirty thousand men, while the Samnites, including the Caudini tribe, would only have over forty thousand. But even with that, we can completely defeat them if they fight us in a frontal battle, so there is no need to recruit the reserves for now. But since most of the Samnites are light infantry who can move quickly, they would probably avoid a confrontation with us and instead attack the eastern part of the Dauni region. So Antonios-” Alexius pondered for a moment and said, “I will gather the reserves of each city and town in the Dauni region and place them under the temporary command of their praetor to strengthen their defences. With that, they might be able to hold out the Samnite's attack until our help arrives, but that would affect the spring planting in the Dauni region!”

“Don't worry about the spring sowing since I'll make the necessary arrangements.” Antonios waved his hand and promised confidently.

“Phregulus, send out your cavalry and have them watch the Dauni border closely. If they detect any enemy movement, they must report it immediately.”

“Roger, commander.”

“Now all we could do was wait for the Ninth Legion to arrive while we watched the Samnites' movements and judged what they would do next…”

Melisander interjected just after Alexius and said, “Lord Commander, we should gather the reserves in the Peuceti region to strengthen the defences of the various towns and cities… Because there is a chance the Samnites would attack Peuceti for fear of being encircled by our massive army in the Dauni region…” Melisander had his reasons for suggesting this. After all, his Tenth Legion's base was in Peuceti, and most of his soldiers came from there, so he certainly didn't want the enemy to attack Peuceti and affect the morale of his soldiers.

Melisander's words alarmed Alexius, but just as he was about to reply… the young legatus, who had been stationed in the Peuceti for many years and knew the terrain there extremely well, continued, “…we must defend Aphrodisia(Venusia/Venosa) in particular since it borders the Samnite mountains and has a history of being taken by the Samnites…”

Alexius quickly approached the map and fixed his gaze on the northwest corner of Peuceti, then the mountainous area.

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

Two days later, the Ninth Legion led by Tagetinos arrived at Lucera and joined the others.

At the same time, Ansitanos, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, brought the will of King Davos and held talks with the Samnite envoy who had stayed in Lucera.

Ansitanos told the Samnite envoy with a solemn expression, “His Majesty Davos is concerned about the captured Daunians, and he told me that the life of every Theonians was extremely precious, not comparable to that of the people of other Mediterranean cities and kingdoms. Thus without hesitation, His Majesty Davos agreed to exchange all the Caudini prisoners for all the Daunians you Samnites had taken by force. So if you Samnites believe the promise of His Majesty Davos, please release all the Daunians you have taken, and we will release all the Caudini prisoners in Campania afterwards!”

Davos of Theonia’s reputation for keeping his word was well known throughout southern Italia, so how could the Samnite envoy disagree?

Then after receiving a clear answer from the envoy, Ansitanos looked at him again and said with a serious expression, “Since we have reached an agreement, Theonia will guarantee that all released Caudini prisoners will be in good health. Hence we hoped that the Samnties would make the same commitment to ensuring that none of the captured Daunians suffered any great harm!”

The Samnite envoy hesitated, knowing in his heart that their warriors were like wolves and would be unable to restrain themselves from beating their captives, let alone from touching the women…

Therefore, he reluctantly said, “We will do our best to ensure the captives' safety…”

Ansitanos looked at him with a blazing gaze as he said fiercely, “Before I came, His Majesty Davos said that Theonian lives were far more valuable than the Samnites’ lives! So if one Daunian is wounded, a Samnite’s life will be exchanged for it when we capture your people in the future! If one Daunian dies, three lives will be exchanged!”