Volume 5: The Hegemon of Southern Italy, Chapter 1: The Controversy of Croton

Just as the Daonia army reached Crimissa, the news that "the Croton army had lost the battle, suffered heavy casualties, and only five thousand men had escaped back to Crimissa" reached Croton city, throwing it into shock.

If the first defeat was blamed on Melanthius's carelessness and the Amendolarans' shameless ambush, this time Croton had raised an army far stronger than the previous one, with their trusted, experienced, and steady chief general Myron in command. They had fully expected to avenge their disgrace—only for the news that came back to be even more disheartening. The Croton army had been crushed anew, and over twenty thousand men had not escaped. Had they been killed? Captured? No word had come.

Now, every citizen household in Croton was weeping in worry for their loved ones. At the same time, under the guidance of Daonia spies, their pent-up anger erupted. The people gathered and marched to City Hall to protest, demanding that an Assembly be convened immediately.

Faced with an angry crowd storming the meeting, the Council was forced to comply. The Assembly was hastily convened.

In the Assembly, the people furiously denounced the incompetence of the Council's generals and councilors, whose failures had repeatedly led the overwhelmingly superior Croton army to defeat, placing the city-state in danger. They proposed: depose Chief General Myron and bring him back to the city for trial. At the same time, immediately begin peace negotiations with Daonia to ransom the captured citizen soldiers.

The proposal received widespread support and was passed smoothly.

Just then, a messenger sent by Myron rushed back to Croton, bearing the request: "The Daonia army has surrounded Crimissa. Myron asks for reinforcements."

This news instantly plunged the Assembly into panic. Unless they were fools, everyone understood that if Daonia took Crimissa, they would be able to march straight into the Croton Plain, destroy their farmland, burn their villages, and advance right up to the walls of Croton city. If the war really came to that, it would be the first time since the invasion by Sybaris a hundred years ago that the Croton Plain would be invaded from the north. A century of peaceful life for the Croton people on that plain would be shattered—something they could not accept.

"Reinforce Crimissa! Defend Crimissa!" became the consensus of the Croton citizens. But nearly all the city's able-bodied young men had already been drafted. To send more soldiers, they could only extend the age limit for military service to 18–50 and recruit freemen as well. Fortunately, they were only defending a city; as long as a man could shoot arrows or throw javelins, he would do—and these were skills that freemen and sailors excelled at. So scraping together a considerable number of reinforcements was not a problem. But finding a general was. The citizens who could fight and knew how to lead were all in Myron's army—including Myron himself.

After much debate, the citizens finally agreed on a few candidates, only for those selected to refuse the post. When the crowd reproached them, they argued plausibly: "Even seasoned warriors like Myron and Philadelphus have been defeated. How could men like us, who rarely take the battlefield, command an army lacking citizen soldiers and hold off the Daonian attack? It is not that we shirk responsibility or refuse our civic duty—we fear that we cannot handle this critical position and will only bring further disaster upon our city-state!"

With those words, the Assembly of thousands fell into a deathly silence. The warlike people of Croton had reached the dire point of having no generals available.

Then Lysias stood up and said in a low voice: "Citizens, you all know that Myron and I often clash over various matters and have never been on good terms. Yet I cannot help but respect what he has done for the city-state. He has led our armies time and again to drive back the Bruttians' incursions against our allied cities, and twice forced Locri to withdraw from Caulonia's territory. That is why you have so often elected him chief general! To be honest, I have always envied his military talent. But now he has failed. A man like Myron, who usually wins more than he loses and acts with steady caution, has suffered a crushing defeat in a battle that decided the city-state's fate. Do you believe he was careless and treated this important battle as a game?!"

Lysias's words made the agitated citizens sink into thought.

"Of course not. This can only mean that Davos, the magistrate of Daonia, is a better military commander! Yes, at this point, every Crotonian must admit this fact and face it bravely!" Lysias sighed and then spoke more loudly: "After that defeat half a year ago, I think you all have come to understand Davos. From the time he led his mercenaries to Thurii, every battle he personally commanded ended in victory—several times defeating a larger enemy with a smaller force. That is how the Daonia Alliance came to be! Now, is there any Croton citizen who is more capable than Myron and better able to counter Davos, the Daonia magistrate?!"

The pale-faced citizens whispered among themselves, but no one stood up to recommend themselves or anyone else.

"Since there is no one, why not let Myron continue to lead the army! Believe that Myron, having already suffered one defeat, will surely learn from it and fight tooth and nail to hold Crimissa for Croton—and for himself! Citizens, Croton faces its greatest crisis in a century! I hope you will set aside personal likes and dislikes and, with public-mindedness, elect the right man to defend our city-state!" Lysias cried out.

His words clearly had an effect. In the new round of voting, Myron was narrowly elected as commander, though his title of chief general was stripped and he would face trial after the war.

Though the result satisfied him, Lysias did not look relieved. He knew he would soon meet Davos again as an envoy. Only a few days had passed, and the entire situation had reversed. Lysias still remembered what Davos had said when he left Thurii—now it had come true.

Early the next morning, the Daonia army again launched no attack. Instead, they continued improving their camp, not only setting traps in front of it but also having some soldiers protect the engineering camp as they began to build a wooden bridge over the River Umbria.

Watching from the city wall, Myron was puzzled: Davos, who had shown such cunning in previous battles, was calmly continuing to build his camp. Was he really preparing to besiege him?

After some hesitation, he still dared not send out his limited forces to harass them.

By afternoon, Myron finally breathed a sigh of relief. Five thousand Croton reinforcements arrived by ship and were ferried into Crimissa, raising the city's garrison to over ten thousand men.

At the harbor, he also saw Lysias come ashore with the soldiers. His expression changed. "Has the Council really sent you to negotiate peace?"

"No, Myron." Lysias's denial made Myron relax, but then he added: "The Assembly sent me to negotiate peace."

At the mention of the Assembly, Myron's face grew even darker. He said gravely, "I don't think... the Daonians, who now have the upper hand, will agree to a ceasefire and peace talks at this time. Even if they do, their terms will be harsh!"

"You're right, but the people of Croton are desperate to know what happened to their loved ones. I couldn't refuse to come. Still, it's necessary to try and learn what the Daonians demand." Lysias shrugged helplessly.

Hearing this, Myron's face twitched. He coughed dryly and lowered his voice: "I heard that it was your speech in the Assembly... that prevented me from being sent back for trial now..."

"To be honest, I felt the same as every other citizen—I wished you could be tried and that the dead citizens could get justice! But Croton needs you now. For the city-state and for yourself, I hope you can win a few battles in the fighting ahead and lay good groundwork for future peace talks!" Lysias's earnest words left Myron deeply ashamed. He said nothing, only clenching his fists.

Then, accompanied by Myron, Lysias climbed the city wall. Leaning on the battlements, he looked out: not far below the city lay the Daonia camp—row upon row of tents stretching from east to west, neatly arranged, camp adjoining camp, complete with ditches, earthen walls, palisades, watchtowers... everything in order.

Even a man with little military knowledge like Lysias could feel the tight security of the Daonia camp.

Seeing Lysias's solemn expression, Myron said, "I think these Daonians are nothing like the Greeks. We Greeks love to fight, but we hate doing these dirty, exhausting tasks in between. But the Daonians, as soon as they got here, burrowed and built like rats. In just over a day, they put up this huge camp, and last night when I sent a few hundred soldiers to raid them, they came off worse! And now they're building a bridge across the river—they must be planning to set up a camp on the south bank too and completely encircle Crimissa."

He paused, then said loudly: "Now that we have these reinforcements, I'm going to teach these arrogant Daonians a lesson!"

...

The units ordered to wade across the river to the south bank and protect the engineering camp as they built the bridge were the Second and Third Battalions of the First Army Corps, under the command of Matonis. Matonis had actively requested this assignment from Davos. In the last battle, he had been in command of the reserves and barely saw any action, so he was full of pent-up energy. This time, he intended to perform well.

As soon as he led his troops to the bridge-building site on the south bank, he set one battalion to stand guard and the other to dig trenches, rotating the work. They dug the trenches and raised earthen ramparts without seeing a single enemy.