Volume 4: The League of Dionia, Chapter 55: Dionia's War Potential

“Hurry up and say it, man from Croton! Let's hear just how greedy Croton is, wanting to take advantage of our Daonia!” Amyntas, Scombrus, and some other senators began to shout, their earlier guilt turning into shared indignation.

Lysias glanced at Davos: this young man should not be underestimated. He cleared his throat and spoke loudly with a normal expression: “The Croton League and Crimissa demand that Daonia pay Crimissa five hundred talents to compensate Crimissa for the huge losses suffered in this battle—”

“What! Five hundred talents!! You must be crazy for money!!!” Mesis shouted.

Lysias ignored him, looked around, and continued: “Second, to prevent the aggressive Daonia from again invading neighboring city-states, we demand that Daonia dissolve the alliance, allow Amendolara and Nerulum to become independent, and abolish the League!”

“What?! Did I hear wrong?! What right does Croton have to order us around!”

“We absolutely refuse! This is an insult to Daonia!”

“Get out! You dare say such things in the Daonian Senate? Are you insane!”

“Only a fool would agree to such demands! And only a fool would propose them!”

…

The chamber erupted. Senators cursed loudly. The hot-tempered ones like Amyntas and Scombrus even moved to hit Lysias, but were held back by Kynogoratas, Cornelius, and others, causing chaos.

Lysias and Antaoris watched coldly like outsiders, as if the chaos wasn't caused by them, until Davos stepped forward and said: “Do you hear that? That is our answer!”

He spoke slowly and emphatically: “We—do—not—agree!”

“Then that means war, because you violated the agreement first.” Lysias said seriously.

“Then war it is. Isn't that your real purpose for coming here?” Davos had seen through their tactics and didn't bother to argue further. If you want to condemn someone, you can always find a pretext.

His indifferent attitude didn't get the reaction Lysias expected, like punching air. He instinctively said: “War! I mean war between Croton and Daonia!”

Davos smiled slightly, turned around, and said: “Are we afraid of going to war with Croton?”

“Great! Finally, we can fight again!”

“I can't wait to beat Croton!”

“We defeated Croton once, we can defeat them again! This time we will burn Croton city!”

Facing the high morale of the senators, unexpectedly, Lysias felt some unease.

“Kynogoratas, please note down Croton's demands just now. They will be useful in the next negotiation.” Davos suddenly said.

“Next negotiation?” Lysias was puzzled.

“Yes, after the war ends!”

Lysias felt a chill, seeing the fighting spirit burning in Davos's eyes…

After seeing off the envoys, the atmosphere in the chamber remained lively. Compared to the former mercenary senators eager for battle, the senators from Amendolara and Thurii expressed more worry about the impending war.

Kynogoratas's words were representative: “Magistrate, are we confident in fighting Croton? Croton has been a powerful state in Magna Graecia for decades, with a strong league. It can organize an army of thirty to forty thousand! And it has twenty-five triremes, while we don't have a single warship. Once war starts, Croton can easily blockade our ports. This time, they probably won't make the same mistake of underestimating us as last time…”

Davos listened carefully, looked at these people, and could feel their fear of Croton, especially the Thurians – the terror accumulated from Croton destroying their city three times. He thought for a moment, was about to answer, when a voice abruptly interrupted: “I said earlier we should drive away those damned mercenaries, but you didn't listen. Now Croton's revenge is upon us! We should first hold some people responsible for indulging them!” It was Polyxides speaking.

Agasia and others glared at him.

“Am I wrong!” Polyxides glared back defiantly.

“Now that war has broken out, arguing about this is pointless. We should all unite to get through the crisis, not create divisions and weaken our strength!” Bourkos advised his friend.

“Because this matter caused the war, we must get to the bottom of it to prevent similar incidents in the future!” Polyxides stubbornly retorted.

At this, Antonios stood up and said: “As ephor, many citizens have recently complained to me that during the rebuilding of Thurii, senators like Bourkos and Pleisinas often visited people's homes to express their apologies, but some people who were Neonxis's main assistants and bore considerable responsibility for Thurii's burning swagger in and out of the Senate every day without a trace of remorse toward the Thurian people. They demand we investigate thoroughly to prevent similar incidents…”

Polyxides's face changed drastically.

Just then Davos asked: “Polyxides, do you think this matter should be investigated?”

“I… I…” Polyxides trembled slightly under Davos's sharp gaze.

“Antonios, as Bourkos said, now we should unite to deal with this life-or-death war. Let's set aside other matters for now.” Davos's calm voice reached Polyxides's ears, who felt relieved, suddenly relaxed, and slumped onto the stone bench.

Antonios glanced disdainfully at Polyxides, turned around, and said: “Yes, Magistrate.”

Davos spoke with a relaxed expression: “Apologies for the interruption. What I wanted to say is, honorable senators, you have all been busy with your own affairs recently and may not know much about the current military strength of our alliance. Scombrus, do you think our alliance's citizen soldiers still number the original five thousand-plus?”

Scombrus, that stubborn old man, stroked his big beard and chuckled: “Definitely more! Now just Amendolara city alone has over six thousand citizens, counting preparatory citizens. I'm not sure about the others, but definitely a lot.”

“Let the Military Affairs Officer Philistos tell us the exact number of citizen soldiers.” After Davos said this, Philistos stood up: “Honorable senators, the numbers I am about to announce are the citizens of Thurii, Amendolara, and Nerulum who have undergone military training and been incorporated into the army. This number is lower than the total registered by Registrar Raphias, because citizens over forty-five and those in special professions protected by the city, such as doctors, engineers, scholars, etc., are not included in the citizen soldier training system.”

The senators nodded, focusing on Philistos.

“Citizens of Amendolara who have participated in military training for over three months number about five thousand five hundred. Nerulum about four thousand three hundred. Thurii has the most, as high as fourteen thousand eight hundred.” Seeing the senators' surprise, Philistos continued in detail: “Among these, formal citizens are seven thousand, the rest are preparatory citizens. At the end of last December, the Magistrate ordered me to carry out a preliminary reorganization, forming three legions.

The First Legion is mainly composed of Amendolara veterans and preparatory citizens, the most combat-effective unit, with legion commander Capus.

The Second Legion is mainly composed of Thurii citizens and preparatory citizens, legion commander Drax.

The Third Legion is mainly composed of Nerulum citizens and preparatory citizens, legion commander Hieronymus, first battalion commander Bacule.

Each legion currently has seven thousand regular combat soldiers, totaling twenty-one thousand for the three legions. Additionally, there is a reserve of three thousand six hundred, making about twenty-four thousand six hundred. There is also a cavalry squadron of three hundred, led by Laedes…”

“Philistos did not mention registered freemen. In fact, we can also organize ten to twenty thousand trained freemen to fight as light infantry. Additionally, Laüs can provide two to three thousand reinforcements. Castron can provide few troops, but at least fifty cavalry…” Davos looked at the crowd and said in an inspiring tone: “If we commit all forces, we can field at least nearly fifty thousand troops! Considering the need to guard Nerulum and Thurii ports, the actual number deployed will be much lower, but it is already not far from Croton's strength! Honorable senators, rest assured, since the alliance was founded, outnumbered battles will not happen again. We have the ability to compete with Croton on land!” Davos's words lifted the senators' spirits. Amyntas and others confidently shouted: “When we had fewer men, we weren't afraid of Croton. Now Croton is even less a match for us!”

“As for the sea.” Davos looked at Kynogoratas and said: “Indeed we can do nothing about Croton's fleet, but besides blockading our ports, what else can it do? If it dares to enter the Corati River mouth, we will annihilate it completely! And our cavalry will constantly monitor the beaches from Amendolara to Castron to prevent Croton from landing secretly. I believe as long as Croton's people are sane, they won't take such risks. Daonia and Croton are so close; the outcome can only be decided by land battle!”