Volume 5: The Hegemon of Southern Italy, Chapter 104: Northern and Southern Diversions, Central Breakthrough

“What?!” Kanalu couldn’t believe his ears. The shock drove all sleep from him, and the sounds of battle outside now rang clearly: “Enemy?! Where did the enemy come from?! Is it Cosentia?!” The sudden turn of events left him floundering, and his instinct to blame Cosentia was not without reason. Because of the terrain, Greeks had never entered Besidia’s territory, but Cosentia had fought wars with them many times. To defend against Cosentia, Besidia had even built a small fortress on the western approach to the Cosenza Plateau. But last year, when the Bruttii began to unify, Nikurus, to show Besidia’s good faith, dismantled the fortress, leaving only a sentry post. Kanalu had quarreled with his father over this.

His subordinates knew nothing, which made Kanalu fly into a rage: “Get out! Find out and come back to report! Don’t—”

“Someone! Go notify Chief Bagiripi and Chief Brim—tell them to bring their clansmen to the council hall!”

“Sound the horn! Have all the clansmen gather here!”

“Everyone, take up arms and follow me out to drive off the enemy!”

Kanalu’s orders were decisive enough, but carrying them out was difficult. The Besidians had never faced such a calamity; they lacked the means to react. Inside the mansion, panic reigned, chaos everywhere.

Kanalu finally managed to rally a few dozen clansmen and rushed out the door, only to run headlong into the enemy surging toward them with ferocity.

With a great roar, Kanalu charged first, swinging his iron bar. One blow felled the enemy in front of him, splintering even the wooden shield—so great was his strength.

“Don’t fight him head-on! Go around him! Deal with the others first!” Adrianx saw the situation and decided on the spot.

Greeks! Only then did Kanalu get a good look at the enemy before him, his heart filled with shock. But he had no time to wonder how the Daonians had invaded Besidia.

Adrianx’s commands made Kanalu think he was the Greek general, so he immediately struck toward Adrianx.

The experienced Adrianx calmly ordered the soldiers around him to fall back quickly, refusing to engage Kanalu directly.

Kanalu, anxious, pressed forward step by step, unaware that the clansmen behind him had been blocked by Daonian soldiers and were falling behind.

Kanalu, frustrated by Adrianx’s constant avoidance, felt a fire in his heart—until the bloodcurdling screams of his clansmen jolted him. He looked back and saw that his men had been scattered by the Greeks. He had to turn back to rescue them.

Adrianx then ordered the soldiers to pursue and keep harassing him.

At that moment, two other groups also arrived from other streets.

Seeing the enemy’s numerical superiority, Kanalu dared not continue the fight. He led his surviving clansmen back to the mansion. In the process, he took a javelin in his side and his cheek was gashed, but he fought desperately to drive back the Daonian soldiers who tried to storm the mansion.

Once inside, with the doors barred, Kanalu collapsed to the ground, unable to rise.

His clansmen, witnessing this, were all terrified.

“Report, battalion commander! Brim, the Besidian chief, has been wounded and captured!” The First Company commander of the First Battalion reported to Adrianx.

Adrianx had divided the seven hundred soldiers entering Besidia into three groups with a purpose. From intelligence, he knew the town contained three tribes. After having Adpigis interrogate prisoners to locate the chiefs’ residences, he immediately executed the “decapitation operation.” Now, everything seemed to be going smoothly.

Brim’s mansion was closest to the gate and likely had no time to prepare for the surprise attack. But why had the other group arrived so quickly?

The Second Company commander gave the answer: “Before we could even attack, that Besidian chief led his clansmen out to surrender!”

Surrender voluntarily! Adrianx hadn’t expected that. He recalled that this chief was called Bagiripi, a man who had served the Great Chief of Besidia faithfully for decades and was well-respected among the people. Remembering Davos’s instructions, Adrianx quickly ordered his men to invite Bagiripi over.

Bagiripi, over fifty, was already white-haired and looked aged. Seeing that Adrianx spoke to him in a gentle tone, his initial unease subsided, and he immediately agreed: He would persuade the people in the Great Chief’s mansion to surrender for Daonia.

Bagiripi knew how to read the situation. Years ago, when Nikurus’s tribe was powerful, Bagiripi, though a candidate for Great Chief, had withdrawn from the election and wholeheartedly supported Nikurus. Because of that, he had long enjoyed Nikurus’s trust, and his tribe had gained much. When the Bruttians first went to war with Daonia, with Besidia separated from Thurii by only a river, he had made an effort to understand their powerful neighbor. He believed the Bruttians could never defeat the Daonia Alliance, but that by relying on the terrain, they might force a stalemate. But when chaos erupted in the town and his clansmen, panicked by the enemy’s appearance, told him “the attackers might be Greeks,” he thought calmly and sensed that the Bruttians had already lost—because they had lost the advantage of terrain. So he immediately ordered his people to disarm and surrender. For a tribal chief who had held power for thirty years, most obeyed; a few opposed, and he had them seized on the spot.

His surrender quickly weakened resistance within the town.

Now, standing before the Great Chief’s mansion, he called out to those inside. The Bruttians peeking over the walls, seeing even Bagiripi surrendering to the Greeks, were shaken—one can imagine their shock.

Only Kanalu, lying on his sickbed after learning of Bagiripi’s betrayal, cursed loudly and swore: Once the Greeks were destroyed, he would tear Bagiripi limb from limb!

Kanalu endured his pain and ordered his men to gather everyone in the courtyard for a desperate defense—but was met with cold stares.

Shortly after Bagiripi’s speech, the gate opened. Kanalu’s clansmen came out carrying Kanalu’s corpse to surrender. According to them, Kanalu had died from his wounds.

…

The three hundred men of the First Battalion tasked with assaulting the camp started off smoothly enough. The camp had been set up mainly to face the riverside path to the east; all defensive fortifications faced east. They never expected an attack from the west, so with no warning, the Daonian soldiers easily broke into the camp.

However, since this was wartime and the camp was on Besidia’s front line, the warriors were alert. They quickly organized resistance. In particular, the four tall watchtowers in the camp, originally built for crossfire along the riverside path to strike the enemy’s rear and disrupt their continuous assault, now used their height advantage to rain arrows, slowing the Daonian soldiers’ fierce advance. Since the Second Army Corps soldiers wore no armor, they suffered casualties.

The Besidians fought desperately. Although the Daonians had numerical superiority, they could not fully take the camp for a time.

The battle dragged on until the Bruttian warriors saw flames rising in the town; only then did their fighting spirit gradually collapse.

When the main force of the Second Army Corps finally finished their arduous march along the riverside path and reached the Besidian defensive fortress, the fighting had already ended. The troops entered Besidian territory without resistance.

When Legion Commander Drakos heard that Adrianx was leading an attack on Besidia town, he ignored his exhaustion and hurried his men to reinforce him.

Arriving at Besidia’s gate, he saw Adrianx standing there with a beaming smile. Drakos understood immediately that the town had changed hands.

“You sly dog, Adrianx! Bold as brass! You left no fight for us at all!” Drakos pointed at his friend, half angry, half amused, at a loss for words.

“Legion commander, please enter the town!” Having captured both the defensive camp and Besidia town with a single battalion—such a brilliant achievement—Adrianx’s earlier gloom lifted. He made a welcoming gesture with a grin.

Drakos waved his hand and said gravely, “Once the Bruttians learn we’ve taken Besidia, they’ll surely send a large army to retake it! And if they can’t do that, they’ll probably build another defensive camp to the west to block us from entering the Cosenza Plateau! We have no time to rest. We must build a defensive fortification west of here before the Bruttians attack us, to keep them out of Besidia and wait for Lord Davos to arrive with the main force!”

Adrianx’s heart tightened: This was part of the plan, but he had been too elated by victory. Fortunately, Drakos remained clear-headed.

“Go get Adpigis!” Adrianx ordered his men to summon the Daonian freeman of Bruttian origin to serve as the unit’s guide.

Meanwhile, Drakos announced to the entire army that they were not to enter the town but to continue north and build a camp.

The already weary soldiers grumbled, but though they complained, they still obeyed orders and trudged west.

Bagiripi, as the surrendered party’s representative, stood at the front of those welcoming the troops outside the town. Seeing this, he sighed inwardly.

Just then, Drakos walked over.

Bagiripi had already learned from Adrianx the identity of this man—Legion Commander Drakos of the Second Army Corps. Having some knowledge of Daonia, he knew that the entire Daonia Alliance had only four army corps, each seven to eight thousand strong—more than double the total number of Bruttian warriors. Drakos commanded overwhelming force, and crucially, the lives of Bagiripi and his clansmen were in his hands. So Bagiripi respectfully performed a grand bow.

Drakos hurried forward to support him: “Chief of Besidia, thank you! Because of your help, our soldiers and the Besidian people suffered fewer casualties. When this war ends and Bruttii becomes part of Daonia, and the Senate elects new Bruttian senators, I will be very happy to vote for you!”