Volume 5: The Hegemon of Southern Italy, Chapter 71: Dionia's Interests Come First

“I’m worried Tarentum won’t prioritize saving Manduria, but will make us relieve Brundisium first!” Capus said anxiously. “Because Manduria is still safe for now, while Brundisium, with only two thousand soldiers stationed there and far from Tarentum, is far more dangerous!”

“If that’s the case, we absolutely cannot agree!” Drakos said firmly, looking at Davos.

“Sir, if we rashly head north without repelling the enemy at Manduria, once Manduria falls, the Messapians can cut our supply lines, and we’ll be caught in the danger of being attacked from two sides. So it’s best if we can gain command of the allied forces. If not, we must at least secure autonomy for our Daonian army!” Philistos also advised solemnly.

Davos nodded in agreement.

…

After Capus and Drakos left, Davos kept Philistos behind.

“How’s the preparation for the army’s departure going?”

“All soldiers of the First and Second Army Corps have returned to the city and are awaiting orders, but many still haven’t exchanged their old weapons and equipment for new ones,” Philistos said, then, seeing Davos’s expression darken slightly, quickly explained, “It’s not that they’re reluctant to exchange—Thurii and Amendolara have only three weapon workshops between them. They can’t possibly complete tens of thousands of new armor and shields in just a few months. Even tanning the cowhide alone is a time-consuming process, and the quantity is enormous. If it weren’t for the large herds of cattle and sheep raised by our Lucanian citizens from Nerulum and Grumentum, gathering enough cowhide alone would take several years…”

“In that case, let’s use the old equipment for this campaign. Have the soldiers temporarily retrieve their original bronze helmets and bronze shields from the workshops,” Davos said with slight regret. Then he suddenly remembered something: “I heard a Corinthian merchant has built a large weapon workshop in the industrial district of Amendolara. We might consider giving him some orders, though I wonder if he’d accept trade-ins for new items.”

“That merchant is named Theos. I’ve already spoken with him, and he was very willing to accept.”

“Oh, he’s a clever man, pity he’s a foreigner,” Davos remarked, recalling that the Mathematical Academy had successfully developed a simple hydraulic forging hammer. He was considering finding a suitable major business partner for it. As a machine that could greatly save labor and improve the efficiency of forging bronze and iron, Davos naturally wanted it kept in friendly hands to ensure secrecy.

“Also, I’ve already contacted the Civilian Ship Association at the port—a non-alliance official shipping organization proposed by you and established by Mariji, with all Daonian merchant and passenger ships joining. Its purpose is to maintain port order, prevent vicious competition, improve industry efficiency, and facilitate cost management. Polydorus also said that Tarentine ships will come to the port to help with transport. That way, we can move all soldiers of both army corps to Tarentum’s port in one trip. Probably by the day after tomorrow, our army will be ready to sail for Tarentum,” Philistos continued, a little excited.

“Philistos, when a typical Greek city-state goes to war, how many days does it take from mobilizing citizens to setting out?”

Philistos was momentarily stunned by Davos’s question, thinking Davos was making a comparison, so he replied, “From the war mobilization, selecting citizens, arranging household affairs, preparing weapons and food, organizing the army, appointing officers… it usually takes three or four days. For us, at most two days.”

“What if we mobilize over ten thousand men?”

“Then it might take longer—about six or seven days, I’d estimate. But for our Daonia—” Before Philistos could finish, Davos waved his hand and said, “Then don’t rush. Set out five days from now.”

Philistos thought he had misheard. Davos leaned forward, looked at Philistos intently, and said gravely, “In the past, Tarentum often fought with the Messapians, but never like this—risking its citizens so recklessly to launch a full offensive against the Messapians. Do you know why?”

Philistos was no fool. After more than a year as Military Affairs Officer, his administrative experience and perspective had greatly improved. He quickly answered, “Because of us.”

“Yes, us!” Davos repeated forcefully. “Our alliance’s rapid rise has pressured Tarentum. Southern Italy isn’t that big; there’s room for only one hegemon, and that hegemon must be Daonia! Now Hades has given us aid, trapping Tarentum in difficulty. We must seize this opportunity.”

Davos gave a cold smirk. “We can honor the treaty and help Tarentum repel the Messapian-Peucetii allied forces, but we are not going to help Tarentum destroy its enemies and stabilize its newly conquered territories!”

Davos appeared calm, even ruthless. His friendship with Archytas did not influence his political decisions.

Philistos, as Davos’s military deputy for over two years, understood his leader better than other officers. He had seen the deliberate delay in the attack that caused heavy losses to Amendolara’s citizens, the deception of Cornelius that secured Davos the lifelong magistracy—this young magistrate was not as upright and honest as he appeared. But perhaps that was exactly why he had led the mercenary army to such heights, something that blunt soldiers like him, Capus, and Amyntas could never have achieved.

Philistos let out a light breath, forcing out the memory of Davos’s warm reception of Polydorus just moments ago and the cold expression he now wore.

“I understand, sir,” he said.

In the following days, Davos entrusted the Laüs magistrate Avinogis—still in Thurii watching games and tasting delicacies—to do everything possible to gather intelligence on the Bruttians, to verify whether Sipros of Trina’s words were true.

The rest of the time, he stayed in his residence carefully reading through the intelligence Aristelas had collected on Tarentum and the Messapians. When he had free time, he spent it with his wife Christhoya and their half-year-old son Crotonkatax.

But Polydorus grew more anxious each day. He visited Davos or Philistos several times, but each time they politely turned him away with reasonable excuses. Indeed, the number of soldiers gathering at Thurii increased daily, and mobilizing over ten thousand men for an expedition did take considerable time. Yet Tarentum’s situation worsened by the day, urgently requiring Daonian military aid.

The day after Archytas’ defeat, a fast ship from Brundisium returned to Tarentum and reported to the Senate: Archytas had fallen in battle. The Messapian-Peucetii allied forces had thrown his head into the city and erected a “mountain of corpses” outside the walls from over a thousand Tarentine soldiers’ bodies, threatening the Brundisium garrison to surrender. The citizens inside were in panic. After a long wait with no response, the allied forces had begun besieging the city.

Brundisium urgently appealed to Tarentum for help, stating: The enemy had overwhelming numbers, the garrison was small, and after the previous capture of Brundisium, the damaged walls had not been fully repaired due to lack of time. Without reinforcements, the city would likely fall in two or three days.

As the Tarentine Senate was urgently deliberating how to rescue Brundisium, news arrived: The Messapian army besieging Manduria had vanished!

Upon hearing this, senators led by Eumachus and Diomilas did not feel relieved. Although the Messapian cavalry’s blockade prevented reconnaissance of the main Messapian force’s whereabouts, everyone could roughly guess: Most likely, the Messapians had marched east to join forces with the Peucetii army. Brundisium was in danger!

Although they had received a reply from Thurii that Daonia would send over ten thousand soldiers to reinforce them, it could not arrive in time. Sending Tarentum’s own army overland to reinforce against an enemy force of tens of thousands seemed suicidal to the Senate. So they ultimately decided to transport troops by sea to reinforce Brundisium, enabling it to hold out until the combined Tarentine and Daonian allied force arrived.

Tarentum dispatched eighty warships of various sizes, including forty triremes—nearly the entirety of its navy—to escort a troop convoy carrying four thousand soldiers to Brundisium.

After the fleet rounded the “heel” of the Italian peninsula, it encountered interception by the Messapian-Peucetii combined fleet near the coast of the Messapian city-state of Hydruntum.

The Peucetii navy was weak, with only one port city, Barium (modern Bari), which could barely muster six or seven warships. But the Messapians were different. Most of their city-states were port cities—Igrathia, Brundisium, Ugentum, Mesagne, and Hydruntum were all coastal, except for their largest city, Udie, which was inland in the heart of Messapia and formerly the capital of the Messapian Kingdom. Hence, the Messapians had considerable maritime capability and developed sea trade. Later, with Athenian help, they not only built their own triremes but also skillfully adopted advanced Greek naval tactics, having caused trouble for the Tarentines at sea before. This time, it was the largest naval battle ever between Tarentum and the Messapians. The Messapians gathered all ships from all their city-states—fifty-eight in total, including twenty-five triremes—plus six Peucetii warships, making a combined fleet of sixty-four.

One side was desperate to reinforce, the other determined to intercept. The two sides clashed fiercely at sea…

Though the Messapian fleet was smaller, they fought boldly; despite having more ships, the Tarentines were hampered by the need to protect the troop transports behind them, which made them hesitant to attack.