Volume 5: The Hegemon of Southern Italy, Chapter 110: Bagulipi's Open Strategy

Last year, the Vergaeans had already tasted the bitter fruit, but it was clear that Sedorum had not shared their painful experience with the other Bruttians.

“There’s a trap ahead! …”

The Bruttian charge suddenly screeched to a halt. Just as they stopped dead, Drakos on the wooden wall was already giving orders: “Archers, prepare!”

Bagiripi, standing nearby, hastily shouted, “General, please don’t act yet! These are warriors of Besidia—let me try to persuade them to surrender!”

The Second Army Corps had been reinforced by Thurii, swelling its strength to nine thousand men, but a third of the soldiers were left to garrison Besidia to prevent unrest. At the same time, Drakos had invited Bagiripi to the fortress under construction—ostensibly to help the Second Army Corps soldiers familiarize themselves with the terrain, and so that when the Bruttians arrived, they could learn more about the attacking enemy. In truth, it was a way to remove this most influential leader from Besidia, ensuring the security of the newly captured city. No one expected that this leader would also play an unexpected role.

Drakos looked at Bagiripi’s anxious face, hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

Bagiripi gripped the battlements with both hands, put all his strength into his voice, and shouted at the top of his lungs: “Tribesmen of Besidia! I am Bagiripi! Though Besidia City has changed masters, your families are safe! Your parents, your wives, your children are all hoping for your safe return! Come home, people of Besidia! The Daonians will not harm you; instead, they will welcome you as Daonian citizens! Come home—your loved ones are waiting for you! …”

Within fifty meters of the city walls, the Bruttian warriors who were carefully moving forward while supporting their wounded comrades clearly heard the heartfelt call in the Bruttian language from atop the ramparts.

“That’s Chief Bagiripi’s voice! …” For the people of Besidia, that voice was all too familiar. Since Bagiripi had always been respected among them, the cries of the injured soldiers gradually quieted, and the warriors who had come to rescue them forgot their task. They listened intently, and soon whispers began to pass among them.

Nikurus, who was at the rear, learned of this and flew into a rage: “Bagiripi, that damned old man! Why didn’t I realize before how venomous he is? It’s him! He must have betrayed us—that’s how the Daonians took my city! I’ll skin him alive! Eat his flesh! Kill his whole family!!! …”

Nikurus could only curse. No matter how hot-tempered he was, he knew now that given the current state of his warriors, they could no longer fight. He had no choice but to order a temporary retreat.

But as the horns sounded, a small number of warriors lingered and refused to leave.

Nikurus, frantic and furious, quickly sent warriors from other tribes to drive them off with their spears. Only with great difficulty did they manage to clear the battlefield, and even then, a conflict nearly broke out.

Nikurus dared not linger any longer. He hastily pulled back several li.

The warriors helped each other along, sighing all the way. Their morale was understandably low.

Seeing this from the wooden wall, Drakos did not take the opportunity to strike. Bagiripi had given him a better idea.

The Daonians had turned the area fifty meters beyond the wooden wall into a trap-field, and Bagiripi’s words had left his own Besidia warriors restless and unsettled. Nikurus was now at a loss for what to do. He ordered a camp to be set up here, and sent scout cavalry to report the enemy situation to Cosentia. After much deliberation, he decided to gather the headmen of the Besidia warriors and have them emphasize to the troops: “Do not believe the rumors of the traitor. Your families have all become slaves of the Greeks. Only by fighting tooth and nail to retake Besidia City can you free your families again! …”

Just as he was hoarsely telling his men to go back and rally the warriors’ fighting spirit, a guard entered and reported: “A group of Besidia women has arrived at the camp.”

It turned out that Bagiripi had summoned some of the wives of Nikurus’s warriors—women who, with elders above and children below, were unlikely to simply leave and never return. He told them: “Your husbands are out there. If you don’t want them to die in battle, you must go and call them back!”

Guided by Daonian soldiers, these women walked out of the trap-field, trekked several li, and arrived together at Nikurus’s camp. The warriors guarding the camp saw their own kin and, instead of stopping them, opened the palisade to welcome them.

Soon, touching scenes unfolded as husbands and wives wept at their reunion. These women told their husbands: After occupying the whole city, the Daonian soldiers indeed did not harm a single person from Besidia. They sent doctors to treat the wounded, extinguished the fires that were still burning, and repaired the damaged houses… Order in the city was gradually being restored.

A small number of Besidia warriors, upon learning from the women that their families had died in the fighting, broke down and wailed.

In one part of the camp, warriors gathered together in a mix of joy and sorrow—a scene both lively and somewhat absurd. But for Nikurus, who only now learned of this, it was terrifying.

“This is a Daonian plot!” In his panic, Nikurus actually sent his personal guard to try to separate the women from the warriors.

He had hoped to prevent the situation from escalating, but this move only inflamed the conflict. As the women were forcibly dragged away, sobbing, and some fell to the ground while resisting only to be hauled off anyway, the Besidia warriors grew furious. They surrounded the guard unit—men from Nikurus’s own tribe, his most trusted clansmen.

These guards, who had long bullied others under Nikurus’s authority, now saw the tide turn and knelt down begging for mercy. But the enraged warriors ignored their pleas, surged forward, and beat them severely. Gradually, under countless fists and kicks, some guards stopped breathing. The warriors, realizing this, halted in fright. The guards’ dying groans made some warriors suddenly afraid, and the shadow of Nikurus’s years of tyranny and violence began to loom over them once more.

“We’ve killed Nikurus’s tribesmen—he won’t forgive us! Instead, while we outnumber him, let’s seize him and then go home!” At that moment, a young Besidia warrior shouted loudly, giving the confused warriors a direction to act.

Resolved to see the matter through, they gathered and charged toward Nikurus’s tent.

Nikurus had already received this wretched news. There was no time for regret now. He hastily mounted his horse and fled to the area where warriors of other tribes were camped, demanding that they immediately send troops to suppress the rebellion. They refused.

How could a thousand warriors be expected to fight over two thousand enraged Besidia warriors, especially when the order came not from their own chief? Already isolated, the council elder Nikurus could command no obedience.

Thus, when the Besidia warriors approached the camp, Nikurus, sensing danger, mounted his horse again and fled.

Facing the other tribes’ warriors, who were on full alert, the Besidia men gradually calmed down. Fearing that Nikurus would return with an army to retaliate, they took the initiative to withdraw.

“Let’s go back to Besidia, as Chief Bagiripi said!” When the uncertain Besidia warriors wondered what to do next, the same young warrior shouted again. In truth, this was their only remaining option.

Outside the newly built Daonian fortress, Bagiripi, along with several respected elders of Besidia, welcomed these anxious warriors.

Drakos had not expected Bagiripi’s suggestion to succeed so spectacularly. He felt both excited and somewhat troubled. Handling these two thousand-plus returning Besidia warriors was a major problem. If he simply released them all back into the city, Drakos himself would not feel at ease. Fortunately, this bloodless dismantling of the enemy’s attack bought him more time. Now he desperately hoped that Davos would arrive soon with the main army…

…

Sicinag decided to lead six thousand Pyxous warriors together with his son Grenatus to Grumentum. Just as he had anticipated, as soon as the main force arrived, the tribes in the northern region of Grumentum came flocking to join him—including the two tribes, Lude and Brina, that had ambushed Bacule.

Learning from past lessons, Sicinag warmly received all the tribes that came to submit. He quickly won over these uneasy minor chieftains, swelling his army to over ten thousand men in no time, and continued south in a grand procession.

Word reached the City Hall of Grumentum City. There, Bacule—who was rumored to have been “seriously wounded”—sat unharmed on a wooden chair, his expression slightly worried: “Although we spread the rumors that ‘Daonia is having trouble in the war with the Bruttii’ and that ‘I am severely wounded,’ to mislead the enemy, I never expected the northern tribes to surrender to Pyxous so quickly. Alas! All the efforts we made before have been in vain!”

Asiastes sneered, “Just as Lord Davos said, it is only in times of danger that we can see which tribes are truly loyal to Daonia, and which are traitors! Over the past six months, most of our energy has been spent mediating disputes over land and property among these tribes—they are insatiable wolves! Now, apart from those few tribes we arranged, we can sweep away all the others who have betrayed us and bring the entire territory of Grumentum City firmly under our control!”

“But they are all Lucanians!” Bacule knew that Asiastes was right, but he could not help sighing again.

Asiastes paused for a moment, then urged him: “Brother, how many civil wars have the Lucanians fought in the past? And each time, rivers of blood flowed—otherwise, your tribe would not have been forced to take the risk of moving to Amendolara. Now, once we have unified Lucania, the Lucanians, as Daonian citizens, will never again slaughter one another, and their lives will only get better and better. Isn’t that right?!”