Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Matonis was concerned about something else. After looking westward for a while, he said with a worried frown, “The Tarantine army has taken so much time just to assemble! And I can also see that many of the Tarantine soldiers have barely reached adulthood. How effective can such an army be?!”

“Just don't expect anything from them; when the time comes, we will still be on our own. The only thing these delicate Tarantines have to do on the battlefield is to clean it up and collect the spoils for us after we defeat the enemy.” Said Olivos scornfully.

“Olivos, don't underestimate the enemy! Lord Davos has said that the Messapians are not only fierce in battle but also have a tough personality and are not easy to deal with, so we must pay great attention and must unite the Tarantines and do our best to defeat them!” Reminded Giorgris.

Giorgris is the senior centurion of the third legion, but according to the new legion establishment rules: The officers and soldiers of the first and second legions should be citizens, preparatory citizens and freemen of Thurii and Amendolara; While the third legion is composed of the people of Grumentum and Nerulum; And the fourth legion, on the other hand, must consist of the people of Krimisa and Aprustum. That was done mainly to facilitate the management of the army, training, mobilisation, marching, and for the improvement of efficiency, but of course, this would easily lead to the formation of various factions and parties that only considers the interest of their legion, but Davos had already considered it, as the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, at least at the early stage of the union, by increasing the transferring of the officers in the future it would solve the drawbacks. So Giorgris, who was still living in Amendolara, and did not plan to move elsewhere, was transferred from the third legion to the first legion while still serving as a senior centurion.

Although Olivos had already gotten used on Giorgris' picking on him, he was still unconvinced and also wanted to refute, but Alexius said, “Giorgris is right. This war is different from past wars, as this involves cooperation with other city-states, especially Taranto, and we must not only take it very seriously, but we must be careful in our relations with the Tarantines army. Otherwise, if our allies do not fully support us, then at a critical moment, doom will befall us. You all know that Thurii is a gulf away from here, which has made it difficult for us to return…”

Alexius is a veteran senior centurion, so Olivos couldn't say anything while the other senior centurions agreed with Alexius.

Amintas slapped Olivos on the shoulder and exclaimed, “To tell you the truth, I also don't like these feminine Tarantines! But in order to win, we have to bear it for the time being, and once we defeat the Messapians, I would like to see if the Tarantines would thank us!”

With that, he laughed, and so did Olivos.

“Alright, everyone, return to your own brigade, the Tarantine army has now come out, and it’s finally the time for us to form up and depart!” The legatus of the first legion – Kapus, reminded everyone.

Soon after, the big send-off crowd left the city gates, but the women hesitated to continue walking as the ground ahead sat and lay a dense mass of Theonian soldiers who are talking loudly, laughing and saying rude words, many of whom have even shown their upper body, which made the conservative Tarantine women feel shy.

While the Tarantine soldiers were dissatisfied with this and pointed to the Theonians, who were currently resting, and said some strange remarks.

“As expected, they are all just a boorish country-bumpkin!” Diaomilas hadn’t seen what the army of Theonia looked like when they first arrived with his own eyes, so after seeing this situation, he also expressed his dissatisfaction, “Where is Davos? Have him gather his men quickly!” Diaomilas used the word “his men” to express his disdain.

“He should be there.” Umakas guessed and pointed to the biggest and most dazzling flag in front of them.

“His military flag is very fancy!” Diaomilas snorted and rode together with Umakas.

Like the people around him, Davos took off his armour and was only wearing a linen cloth while sitting on the mud and talking with the soldiers.

Martius was the first to notice the archons of Taranto that were coming and whispered a few words in Davos' ear, who then turned around to look.

“Lord Davos, when shall we leave?” Asked Umakas before Diaomilas could.

Davos glanced at the restless looking Diaomilas and said faintly, “It's time to depart. The soldiers had been waiting under the sun for more than an hour, and we were almost dried out.”

Diaomilas realised that this was a veiled criticism from Davos on the slow movement of the Tarantine army that led to the soldiers of Theonia being so lax, so he could only cough a few times.

“Sound the salpinx and gather up!” Davis no longer entangled with this problem and gave his order decisively.

As soon as the salpinx sounded, the soldiers who were resting in various positions moved quickly and helped each other in wearing their armour; And the officers at all ranks began calling their subordinates back, and the flagmen waved the military flags and shouting their team's name and indicating their positions.

For a while, dust and noise were everywhere, but it soon became calm again.

Diaomilas could no longer see the sight of soldiers sitting around, chatting, sleeping and disorganised that was in front of him, but a queue of fully equipped and neatly arranged infantries…

Diaomilas took a deep breath of cold air. As a Tarantine strategos who had experienced many battles, he understood in his heart that to be able to do this meant that the army had rigorous training and a very strong discipline.

Looking back at Taranto again, he could still see that the soldiers and the people are still hugging each other and saying their goodbyes, and some are even weeping in tears, having no sign about going out to meet the enemy in battle.

Diaomilas, whose face was hanging by a thread, without saying a word, turned his horse around and hurried back…

At this moment, Teriphias and Taudeles had also arrived.

Davos, already in military uniform, said seriously, “Before we depart, we need to discuss the order of the march.”

He glanced at everyone then said, “My advice is that the Theonian army would be at the front, Heraclea in the middle followed by Metapontum, and Taranto would be at the end.”

As soon as Umakas heard this, he understood the intention of Davos. Once the enemy attacked, the Theonian army who stood in the front would block them, giving the troops at the back enough time to react and prepare.

This suggestion is truly without selfish motives, and so Umakas nodded in agreement. Teriphias and Taudeles were, even more, had no objections, as their army was the weakest, and the only thing they desire is to be in the safe middle.

“According to what you said last time. The terrain from here to Manduria is flat, so I will divide the army into five groups, widen the gap between and march side by side. It will not only make it easier to deal with the sudden attacks of the enemy, but it will also shorten the time for us to reach Manduria, and it will also help to protect the logistics by having them protected in the middle.” Continued Davos.

Umakas hesitated for a moment. Although Davos said it with ease, if one hadn't been trained in this aspect, the columns might get tangled with each other during the march.

“I'll have to discuss this with Diaomilas first.” Said Umakas cautiously.

The other two had no objections as they had fewer soldiers and were easy to manage.

“Also, when sending out scouts, I suggest for it to be a mix of Theonian and Tarantine cavalry.” If one doesn't know the enemy’s situation at any time, it is equivalent to a commander having no eyes and ears, so despite hearing that the Messapi cavalry are formidable, Davos had still ordered Ledes to bring 200 cavalrymen over by ship. As someone who had come from the future and had knowledge of ancient military history, cavalry was one of the arms that Davos wanted to focus on training. Therefore, even if there is some loss, making the Theonian cavalry understand the things they are missing and work hard to make up for is still worth making. At the same time, he brought with him Izam's reconnaissance brigade to understand and familiarise the terrains and mountains of this land for the future.

Since the start of the war, with the loss of the cavalry being great, some nobles had even refused to join the army, so Umakas greatly welcomed this proposal.

When Umakas went back to convey to Diaomilas the suggestion of Davos, Diaomilas replied after a moment of thinking, “What Theonia can do, Taranto can certainly do it as well!”

After a reorganisation, the TheTa allied troops set off.

As a matter of fact, the Messapi-Peuceti troops quickly withdrew and retreated to a camp 2 kilometres south of Manduria after knowing that the Greek army was departing. Thus the allied army of TheTa entered the city of Manduria at dusk without experiencing any fighting or even losing any scouts.

The rendezvous with the defenders had boosted the morale of the soldiers, especially the Tarantines. At the same time, with their increase of strength, the commander decided to take a rest for the night and advanced straight into the Messapi-Peuceti camp the next day. The only problem for them was that the small city of Manduria was overcrowded with nearly 30,000 men, and it was a challenge to arrange accommodation for the soldiers.

The next day, at daybreak, Solikos led a mixed cavalry team to the Messapi-Peuceti camp to find out the situation, but only to find it empty.

At the same time, under the guidance of the Tarantine cavalry, the cavalry team was then divided into two groups. One will go all the way south, in the direction of Uzentum, while the other will go all the way east, in the direction of Brindisi, to continue searching the trace of the enemy.

When Davos and the others were informed, they realised that the enemy was planning to run away, so they immediately assembled their troops. In the process, the cavalry came again to report that they found the trace of a large enemy army in the east.

When hearing this, their first reaction was that the Messapi-Peuceti would retreat to Brindisi.

“We can't let them retreat to Brindisi; otherwise, we would be forced to siege the city, which would cause the casualties of our soldiers to be very severe! We need to catch up with them and fight them on the spot!” Diaomilas shouted impatiently, as the memory of the tragic situation of sieging Brindisi was still fresh in his mind.