Volume 5: The Hegemon of Southern Italy, Chapter 114: The Bruttian Retreat and Elea's Harassment

Fortunately, behind the wooden wall, the watchtowers, which stood over a meter higher than the wall, along with the light infantry led by Tsipet and the arrows and javelins fired by the freemen outside the city, provided support that kept the southern section of the wooden wall relatively safe up to now.

Tsipet let fly an arrow, striking the chest of an enemy who had breached the wooden wall. The seemingly thick leather robe was completely pierced, and the enemy collapsed to the ground.

Tsipet instinctively reached for another arrow, only to find his quiver empty.

"Go fetch me a new quiver of arrows quickly!" Tsipet shook his aching right hand and said to the guard beside him.

After a short while, the guard hurried back and handed him a quiver filled with ten arrows, saying at the same time, "Battalion Commander, the quartermaster told you to use them sparingly. He doesn't have many arrows left."

"How did we use them up so quickly?!" Tsipet said, somewhat dissatisfied.

"I asked him the same thing, but he said that including the light infantry and the freemen, we have over two thousand archers. If each person uses one quiver, that's twenty thousand arrows, and now almost all the archers have used up one quiver. He also said… he said, 'Arrows cost money, and not cheap either. This time, because our Second Army Corps was planned in advance to have a defensive role, Lord Mesis allocated thirty thousand arrows to us. Otherwise, he would never let us waste them like this!'" The guard relayed the message with some grievance.

Although Tsipet was also a bit angry, the quartermaster of the baggage train was now under Mesis's command. Just thinking of that stingy fat man gave him a headache. He shouted loudly, "Brothers, if we've run out of arrows, there's nothing to worry about. We still have reverse-blade knives and spears, right?!"

"Right!!!"

...

The stalemate in the siege battle made Piallen extremely anxious. He turned back to look at the resting warriors behind him, hesitating whether to send the last five thousand men into the fray. But the battlefield was so narrow that it was already too crowded below the wooden wall, and adding more men seemed futile.

Just then, he heard a "boom, boom, boom..." rumble behind him, followed by cheers.

"The wooden wall has collapsed! The enemy's wall has fallen!!..." The warriors around him shouted in joy. Piallen turned around excitedly and saw a large breach in the center of the southern section of the fortress's wooden wall, with Bruttian warriors surging in, scrambling to enter...

"Don't panic! Don't panic!..." Brim shouted loudly to calm the panicked Besidia warriors. Bagiripi was too old; his tribe's warriors were led by his nephew. So among the three leading chiefs of Besidia, Brim was the oldest, most senior, and had the highest prestige. Although he did not particularly want to fight the Cosentians, being on the battlefield, he had to strive for the survival of his people.

"Hold your positions! The wall won't collapse again!..." Brim shouted. He knew very well that the breach was caused by the warriors' negligence, allowing the wooden wall to be burned with oil and then struck by a ramming log, leading to that section's destruction and the collapse of the earthen rampart.

"Hold the front! Don't worry about these enemies who have broken in; the Daonians behind will deal with them!..." He said this because he had already seen fully armed Daonian soldiers forming ranks in the rear of the breach. The rapid and orderly maneuvering of the Daonian army surprised him.

For the soldiers of the Third and Fourth Battalions of the Second Army Corps, the collapse of the wooden wall was a good thing. They could finally make up for the regret of not being able to ascend the wall to kill the enemy.

When the Bruttian warriors stepped onto the collapsed earthen slope, kicked aside the broken wooden palisade, and charged in behind the wall, they suddenly found themselves facing a wall of countless bronze shields and a forest of sharp spears. To the rhythmic beat of war drums, the Daonian soldiers steadily thrust and withdrew their spears, each strike potentially taking a life...

The Bruttian warriors who had broken through could neither form ranks with their comrades nor had any officers to organize them. Relying on individual bravery, they could not withstand the group attack of the Daonian army, and they also had to watch out for arrows from the watchtowers above and javelins from the Besidia warriors.

Within a short time after breaching the wooden wall, the casualties among the Bruttian warriors rose sharply. Fearful, they wanted to retreat, but the path back was blocked by the warriors behind them, who were still excitedly surging forward.

The Third and Fourth Battalions of the Second Army Corps steadily advanced, shrinking the encirclement until the Bruttian warriors were crowded together, unable to even swing their weapons with ease.

At first, Piallen was delighted to see many Bruttian warriors rush into the breach together, but soon the scene seemed to stagnate. Warriors lingered at the breach but could not get in, and a sense of unease grew in him. Then, to his astonishment, he saw the Bruttian warriors there suddenly scatter and flee in all directions. From the breach in the wall emerged squad after squad of Daonian soldiers in gleaming helmets and armor. They took advantage of the situation to attack the other Bruttian warriors who were still assaulting the wall from the flank. Soon, the rout was no longer confined to that point of the breach but spread across the entire Bruttian attack line...

Seeing this, Piallen's heart sank. He extinguished any hope of victory and realized: the Daonian army occupying Besidia was certainly not the mere few thousand non-core soldiers the leaders had judged it to be. It was most likely the so-called "Army Corps" that the Daonians had proclaimed!

"Retreat quickly..." he uttered the words painfully.

However, just as he finally managed to rally the defeated troops and returned dejectedly to the camp, he received even worse news.

"What?! A revolt has broken out in Cosentia?!"

"Yes, Great Chief. The day after you left with the army, more than a dozen tribes—Sedum, Sas, Buwa, and others—suddenly led their people to attack the inner city. If Chief Kaduruk hadn't arrived in time with his force, they would have broken into the inner city! Now they have occupied the western part of the outer city. The High Priest sent me to inform you urgently, hoping that you, Great Chief, can quickly suppress these rebels and restore peace to Cosentia!" the messenger said anxiously.

"I understand. Go back and tell the High Priest that I will return with the army immediately. Tell him not to panic and to hold the inner city together with Kaduruk!" Piallen made the decision swiftly. Originally, to monitor and rule these disobedient tribes up close, the "Council of Seven Elders" had decided after deliberation to force them to move to the outer city of Cosentia, which had led to this situation. This rebellion was a wake-up call for Piallen. The invasion of the Daonians had already affected the various tribes of the Bruttii region, especially those who had been dissatisfied with the alliance and had been forced to submit. He had to act quickly to prevent the situation from deteriorating.

He ordered Petalus to carry out the command to strike camp.

Soon, Bogam burst into the tent and shouted excitedly, "Did I hear that wrong, Piallen? You want to return to Cosentia?! Just let these Daonians continue building their fortress here, and we walk away like this?!"

"Elder Bogam, in such a dire situation, what else can we do? Continue attacking the fortress?!" Piallen was no longer as agitated as when he first heard the news; he asked calmly, "Behind that wall, there are probably six or seven thousand well-trained Daonian soldiers, plus over two thousand Besidian traitors who have defected to them, and a heavily fortified fortress. Do you think we can take this fortress with just this many men?! Remember, in today's battle alone, we have suffered nearly two thousand casualties! Two thousand men!! That's nearly half of the Ambarnian warriors you brought!"

After hearing this, Bogam slumped down in defeat... After a long moment, he looked up and murmured dryly, "So we just let the Daonian army pass through Besidia and break into our homeland..."

"Then let them come!" Piallen roared, his eyes bright and fixed on Bogam. He stepped forward and gave him a firm embrace, then said in a resolute tone, cutting through the air, "We must return and gather all the Bruttian warriors! We will fight a decisive battle against the Daonians on the Cosenza Plateau! This battle will decide the rise or fall of the Bruttii people. The highland goddess Amara will bless us!"

"The plateau..." Reminded by Piallen, Bogam's fighting spirit was rekindled. "Yes, we have Amara's blessing! We still have the Cosenza Plateau!..."

---

Sicinag, flushed with success upon gaining the allegiance of many tribes in northern Grumentum, marched south unopposed. Upon reaching the south, he finally encountered resistance.

Those tribes that had migrated earlier from Nerulum were the first to submit to Daonia. Compared to faraway Pyxous in the west of Grumentum, they identified more with Daonia and trusted it more. They drove out the envoys sent by Sicinag and united to resist Pyxous.

Greatly angered, Sicinag prepared to attack these disobedient tribes. But then came news: unusual activity was detected in Grumentum City to the north, with about two thousand Daonian soldiers emerging from the city.

This made Sicinag worry that while attacking the southern Lucanian tribes, he would be suddenly flanked by the Daonians, so he had to withdraw his forces.

As soon as the Pyxous troops pulled back, the Daonians immediately retreated into the city.

This pattern repeated for two days. Sicinag judged that the Daonians in the city were just putting on a show. They had neither the courage nor the intention to attack him.

So he ordered Gennat to keep an eye on Grumentum City with two thousand warriors, while he personally led the army to subdue the southern tribes.

Just then, a messenger arrived from Pyxous City, bringing bad news: a thousand Eleans had invaded Pyxous territory, destroying farmland and burning settlements. With limited troops left in Pyxous, they dared not sally out rashly and demanded that Sicinag return to support them immediately!

After hearing this, Sicinag flew into a rage.