Volume 4: The League of Dionia, Chapter 20: Stepping onto Lucanian Soil

“Of course, otherwise we wouldn’t have found him so easily,” Antrapolis answered first.

Aristelas, however, was pondering the meaning behind Davos’s words.

Davos glanced at him and said seriously, “This Crotonian just didn’t do a good enough job. A good spy not only collects intelligence accurately and promptly and distinguishes truth from falsehood, but also, when war breaks out, can create chaos within the enemy’s ranks, sow discord, undermine unity, and destroy valuable facilities like walls, shipyards, and arsenals of the enemy city. That provides the greatest help for our own city’s victory on the battlefield. They will be the secret soldiers of our Thua Alliance!”

Davos saw them both lost in thought and said in a low voice, “Aristelas, are you willing to take charge of such an organization for me, to gather intelligence and cultivate such an outstanding secret team to aid the Alliance?”

The sudden invitation startled the two.

Antrapolis excitedly nudged his brother, while Aristelas felt a stirring within but managed to stay calm. He hesitated and said, “But Asiastes...”

Davos nodded inwardly: “Asiastes has other important tasks to complete and will no longer be the head of this organization.”

“I am willing to work for you, my lord!” Aristelas answered decisively.

...

Half a day later, Myron, the chief general of Croton, received intelligence from his spy: “At dawn, about four thousand men of the Thua Alliance marched out of Thurii, heading west.”

Myron fell into deep thought: Given Thurii’s location, the only power to the west is the Lucanians. Is Thurii about to go to war with the Lucanians again? Which one is it — Lahe Tushu Esi or Nerulum?

Myron suddenly felt a stir of excitement: Though he knew little about the Lucanian region since it was far from Croton, separated by several powers, and there had been little contact, he knew that the Lucanians were a powerful native force that even the wealthy and strong northern Greek city-state league — the Campanian League — dared not provoke! The Thua Alliance had only beaten the Lucanian coalition once before. Could they possibly hope to create another miracle of defeating a larger force with only four thousand men? Even if they succeeded, weren’t they afraid of triggering a full-scale war with all the Lucanians? Could the still-rebuilding Thua Alliance sustain such continuous attrition? Perhaps that young magistrate was dizzy from his previous victory!...

Several thoughts flashed through Myron’s mind, and he suddenly felt like settling back to watch the show: Maybe they wouldn’t have to wait until the peace treaty expired for Croton to declare war again. The Lucanians might set foot on Thurii’s soil first. Croton should make plans for this...

While Myron was receiving this intelligence, the Thua Alliance troops had already reached the entrance to the narrow pass leading to Lucania. Here, the Alliance had set up a simple outpost, with three sentries rotating duty each day. If they spotted anything, they would immediately light a beacon to alert Thurii to prepare for battle.

Izam’s forest reconnaissance squad had already been sent out ahead to check the pass for any anomalies.

The main force began entering the mountain path.

The narrow path, at its widest, could accommodate only four people walking abreast. On both sides were steep mountains and towering trees. The path was not only narrow but also rugged and uneven — all uphill, covered with gravel. One careless step could cause a slip, resulting in cuts and scrapes all over the body...

A soldier’s dark joke had spread through the army: “If the enemy rolls a large round boulder down from ahead, it will roll along the mountain path, crushing the entire Thua Alliance expedition to pieces...”

In October of Magna Graecia, the autumn weather was still hot, snakes and insects were still active in the mountains, and wolves could be seen roaming from time to time. The soldiers, carrying about fifty catties of rations, weapons, and equipment, trudged along the mountain path. They were drenched in sweat and extremely exhausted, but no one dared to fall behind, because once left behind, they might trip and get injured with no one to help, or be attacked by wild beasts.

At night, they couldn’t build a camp according to military regulations, so they had to sleep out on the mountain path. But sentry duty still had to be carried out. Listening to the howling of various beasts in the mountains and watching the fierce green gleams in the darkness, even though the sentries were lying next to countless comrades, they couldn’t help but feel terrified.

For the resting soldiers, the biggest difficulty of sleeping in the mountains was the weather. In late autumn, the temperature in the mountains suddenly dropped. Although the soldiers had prepared, bringing sheepskins to wrap themselves in, and lighting bonfires every ten meters among the soldiers, it was still a bit cold... When they woke up in the morning, some soldiers would scream because an unexpected creature had appeared beside them: a wildcat, a hedgehog, a badger, or worst of all — a venomous snake... Several soldiers were bitten as a result.

Most of the soldiers and officers had only one thought: Get out of this narrow pass quickly and take Nerulum!

After two nights, the troops began a downhill slope. Philistos, reminded by Bacule that they had already covered most of the mountain path, ordered the troops to slow down.

Izam’s squad had already crossed the mountains and reached the exit of the mountain path. He had most of his men continue monitoring the surroundings and guarding the expeditionary force, while he himself, taking advantage of the night to evade the sentry’s surveillance at the pass, hurried to Laüs to inform Avinogis.

Tura, the Great Chief of Laüs, had been in a good mood these past few days because Avinogis had finally agreed to move his entire tribe to Nerulum and had been preparing for the relocation for several days.

On the morning of the second day, he received a report from his men that Avinogis was preparing to move his people to Nerulum in batches. The first caravan had already left the city heading for Nerulum.

Tura laughed heartily: “Avinogis, Avinogis! Aren’t you usually a shrewd man?! How could you be so foolish at a time like this! If your whole tribe moves together, with so many people, Lam and the others wouldn’t dare to forcibly split and swallow up your people too easily. But moving in batches just gives them the chance to devour you cleanly! That’s perfect though — then we won’t have to worry about the bastard from Laüs anymore!”

Thinking back to the days a few days ago when he had to swallow his pride and endure because he feared Avinogis might cause a revolt, Tura let out a long breath: The days of living in fear were finally over!

Feeling much more relaxed, he immediately ordered his servant to bring the beautiful Greek slave woman that his men had presented to him a few days ago, so he could enjoy himself.

Achradamas led the caravan to the exit of the mountain pass. There was originally no sentry post here, but last year when the Thurii army invaded Laüs, even though the Lucanians ultimately won a great victory, it made them realize the necessity of setting up a checkpoint.

This exit was located halfway between Laüs and Nerulum. Since Laüs was subordinate to Nerulum, this sentry post was controlled by Nerulum. As a result, it became a place where Nerulum warriors extorted money from Laüs merchants traveling to Nerulum for trade.

That morning, when the sentries saw the large caravan coming from the south, their first thought was: They could extort more money, even though the caravan belonged to the famous Laüs leader Avinogis.

Achradamas, leading the group, agreed to the sentries’ unreasonable demand for money. After leading the caravan into the checkpoint, he suddenly launched an attack, easily dealing with the ten greedy Nerulum warriors.

Then, Izam, who was hiding among the caravan, immediately ran into the mountain pass. An hour later, the Thua Alliance army rushed out and joined up with Achradamas. Among them, the Fourth Battalion (the Lucanian Battalion) took off their armor and weapons, stuffed them into the carts, then put on the tattered leather robes prepared earlier, and dispersed to mix in with the caravan. The other three battalions followed far behind.

When Achradamas saw Bacule approaching, he still looked a bit dazed: “I heard from Izam that the Thua Alliance had an army made up of Lucanians, but I didn’t expect there to be so many!”

He spoke in Lucanian. Bacule grinned and said in Greek, “May Acipirus bless our cooperation!”

“Oh... cooperation...” Achradamas was still not fully recovered when Bacule warmly embraced him.

Tura’s man, who had been sent to follow this caravan to see if Achradamas entered Nerulum smoothly, became suspicious when he saw the caravan staying too long at the checkpoint. When he saw countless armored Greeks appearing, he was stunned: “Avinogis has betrayed! He has colluded with the Greeks!”

Like a frightened rabbit, he immediately turned back to Laüs.

But Avinogis, who knew Tura extremely well, had already prepared. Before Tura’s man could return to Laüs, Avinogis’s personal guards, who were hidden along the roadsides monitoring for anomalies, swarmed in and captured him.

Monai heard from his men that there was a cloud of dust in the south, likely a large force approaching!

“That must be Avinogis bringing his people!” he immediately judged.

For the past few days, Avinogis had sent word that they were preparing to move, and had repeatedly sent his brother Achradamas to Nerulum to confirm the area where his people would live, the land for grazing and farming, and made many requests. This not only made the whole city aware but also gave Lam and the other leaders a big headache. However, since Avinogis was being so meticulous, it was clear he could no longer resist the pressure from the two cities and was finally moving.

After discussion, the leaders of Nerulum decided: First, agree to Avinogis’s demands. Once they entered Nerulum city, he would no longer have a say. Everyone was desperately short of warriors and laborers, and they all had their eyes on the fat piece of meat that was Avinogis’s tribe.

Monai climbed up the wooden wall and soon saw a caravan appear in the distance: about several dozen carts, not many warriors, but many slaves, who were either carrying heavy loads or helping push the carts under the threat of warriors’ whips and spears... Behind the carts were many elderly and women, some even carrying children. On both sides of the caravan were flocks of sheep and cattle. The whole procession was large and bloated, with people shouting and sheep bleating amidst the rising dust, extremely noisy.