Volume 5: The Hegemon of Southern Italy, Chapter 19: Peace Talks

He looked around at the other three and said, “I’ve received a good piece of news and a bad one. Which do you want to hear first?”

“The bad news,” Drax said quickly.

“This morning, the grain convoy returning to Thurii had barely left the marsh when it was ambushed by three hundred Croton sailors. The freemen guarding the supplies were caught off guard, resulting in fifty casualties and a considerable loss of pack animals. Before our soldiers could reach them, the enemy had already fled back to their ships anchored off the coast…” Davos read aloud.

“Three hundred?! The number of Crotoniates involved in the attack keeps growing, and so does their audacity! I recall we have a garrison stationed near the marsh!” Capus exclaimed in surprise.

“Perhaps that very fact lulled the escort into complacency,” Davos said sternly. “We must learn from this mistake and ensure it doesn’t happen again!”

Capus and Drakos clenched their fists and nodded firmly.

“What’s infuriating is that we have no fleet,” Drax said indignantly. “Otherwise, how could the Crotoniates so easily raid our villages and kill our people on our own territory with impunity?”

Everyone was helpless. After all, the Daonia Alliance was still new, not even a year old. A navy wasn’t like an army—given enough men, weapons, and rigorous training, an army could be ready for battle in a few months. Building warships for a navy, especially the mainstay triremes, took at least three months even if speeded up. Then you needed nearly two hundred rowers, experienced helmsmen, and so on. After training, drilling, and mastering the handling of the ships, it would take several more months to achieve combat readiness. Thus, a navy was an expensive branch that consumed time, money, and manpower. Small city-states simply couldn’t afford it. For the Daonia Alliance in its current state, money and manpower weren’t the main problems—the greatest shortage was time. After this war with Croton, Davos had secretly made “establishing a navy” the top priority for the alliance’s next development.

“Lord Davos, what’s the good news?” Avinogis asked.

Davos smiled slightly. “Locri has launched an attack on Caulonia! Just as you predicted. Under these circumstances, Croton might consider negotiating peace with us again. If it still makes no move—” His voice suddenly turned as cold as a winter wind. “I’ll order Hieronymus to send troops across the Tachinadi River and destroy everything outside Croton’s walls—farmland, villages, irrigation channels—and force the Crotoniates to come to the negotiating table!”

…

The next morning, Lysias and Sisprontis entered the Daonian command tent.

Davos looked at them with a smile. “Lord Lysias, I said we would meet again, but I didn’t expect it to happen so soon.”

Lysias ignored Davos’s jibe and spoke gravely. “Lord Davos, regarding the terms you proposed last time, the Croton Council has discussed them. They agree to give up Crimissa to Daonia’s disposal and are willing to pay a certain sum of money to achieve peace. As for dissolving the Croton League—”

Lysias paused, weighing his words to better persuade Davos, but Sisprontis cut in. “The Council agrees in principle to dissolve the League. However, Locri is now attacking Caulonia. Given Caulonia’s deep friendship with Croton over a century, Croton must come to Caulonia’s aid. Keeping the status of League hegemon will help Croton muster citizens and form an army to reinforce Caulonia and repel Locri. Once they are driven back, we will then… dissolve…” Sisprontis suddenly choked up and couldn’t continue. Croton’s century-old hegemony over Magna Graecia—won by their ancestors through hardship and bloody battles—was about to be lost. How could he not be overcome with emotion?

Lysias, who had been silently criticizing Sisprontis for revealing all their cards so early, now felt a pang of sorrow himself.

“Croton doesn’t need to dissolve the League!” Davos’s opening words surprised them both.

Seeing their shocked expressions, Davos continued, “What’s more, Daonia can immediately release all the ten thousand captured Crotoniates!”

Lysias and Sisprontis exchanged glances, unable to believe their ears.

“But I have one condition,” Davos said slowly. “Daonia doesn’t have the habit of giving back what it has taken.”

Lysias reacted quickly. “You mean… Asperustum?”

Davos smiled. “Not just that.”

He stepped to the map and pointed at a spot. “Our Daonian army has already begun building a camp here!”

Lysias leaned in to look and gasped. “You also want the land north of the Neto River?!”

“It’s not about what I want—it’s the condition necessary for Daonia to agree to peace talks!” Davos said seriously. “Croton has an aggressive nature. Twice it has launched wars against Thurii and the Daonia Alliance, burning Thurii, looting wealth, and slaughtering Daonian citizens indiscriminately. Driven by the Furies, we have fought back bravely. With Hades’ favor, we have won one victory after another. The Daonian populace is now brimming with confidence—they would love to see Croton suffer the same burning destruction! Without substantial war spoils, our people will never agree to peace with you. Many have already suggested sending these ten thousand prisoners to the mines, just as Syracuse did with the Athenian prisoners!”

Davos’s chilling tone made Sisprontis’s hair stand on end. He knew all too well the fate of the captured Athenian expedition soldiers. His voice trembled. “Asperustum plus the land north of the Neto River—that’s nearly a third of Croton’s territory! If all of it goes to Daonia, what about the Crotoniate citizens living on those lands? The Council will never agree!”

“These two wars have cost Croton and Asperustum no less than twenty thousand citizens’ lives, and much farmland has been abandoned. Relocating the population to Croton city, strengthening its manpower, and redistributing the land that lacks laborers—this could actually be a good way to rebuild Croton. At the same time, you achieve peace with Daonia, and the returning Crotoniate citizens can form a large army again to help Caulonia and drive out Locri. That would be a win-win situation,” Davos said in a deep voice.

His words seemed tempting, and Sisprontis almost unconsciously nodded. He glanced at Lysias, who gave a slight shake of his head. Sisprontis opened his mouth but said nothing, then fell silent.

“Of course, you can go back and discuss it at length. I’m in no hurry. Perhaps in a few days, the people standing before me won’t be you, but the Locrians. As long as they cooperate with Daonia, I doubt Locri would mind how much Croton territory we take,” Davos said leisurely, with an indifferent expression.

Lysias and Sisprontis felt a chill run through them. Sisprontis quickly said, “Respected Lord Davos, ceding all the land north of the Neto River to Daonia—that truly… that would be very difficult for the Council to accept. But part of that land… I think could be ceded to you… as for the exact amount, we can negotiate further. As for Asperustum…”

Davos cut him off bluntly. “Asperustum must be under Daonia’s control. That is non-negotiable, to prevent Croton from breaking its word again and starting another war!”

Sisprontis stood awkwardly, not knowing what to say.

Lysias sighed deeply inwardly. Sisprontis’s easy concession and weak performance left him speechless, but that was the Council’s choice. In truth, Lysias understood: by now, Croton was completely passive. Even if he believed the Daonian army could never breach Croton’s sturdy walls and might even be forced to withdraw eventually, what of it? The farmland, villages, and town facilities were destroyed, and there was a shortage of able-bodied citizens. Restoring Croton to its former prosperity would be a long, slow process. Yet the grim situation didn’t afford Croton the luxury of time, and the fearful populace lacked the resolve to fight to the death. Therefore, compromise and concession to buy peace and minimize losses, in anticipation of future revival, had become the Council’s best option.

Having reasoned this through, Lysias no longer hesitated. “Asperustum is Croton’s northern shield. If it falls into enemy hands, it will only make Croton’s citizens more uneasy. I think even if the Council agrees, the Assembly would oppose it.”

“So you reject Daonia’s peace terms,” Davos said, looking at Lysias with a hard edge.

Sisprontis tugged anxiously at Lysias’s clothes, but Lysias remained calm. “Croton’s citizens oppose the enemy possessing Asperustum, but they might not necessarily oppose it being held by an ally.”

“Ally?!” Davos, who had been controlling the pace of the negotiations with ease, looked somewhat surprised.

“That’s right!” Lysias lifted his head and declared loudly, “If Daonia and Croton form an alliance, then turning Asperustum and part of the land north of the Neto River over to Daonia would not be such a big problem.”