Volume 5: The Hegemon of Southern Italy, Chapter 117: Annihilating Picosis

As a renowned warrior alongside Matonis, Martius was relatively steady, lacking great ambition but able to fulfill his duties faithfully—so Davos had always trusted him. Though the Magistrate’s Guard was already at full strength, they also served as security for important places like the Council Chamber, the Temple of Hades, and the arena in peacetime. The vacant positions could easily be filled by young men recommended by the chiefs and tribal nobles in this hall. To quickly integrate the Besidian people into the Daonia Alliance, these young Besidian elites should be brought into the Alliance’s political system, let them understand Daonia’s institutions, learn its culture, and grow accustomed to its way of life—so that, as Bagiripi said, they would be assimilated into true Daonians and then return to influence the people of Besidia.

This matter required him to discuss it with the Senate back home, but for now he could agree on the spot, accepting them into the Guard as Besidian volunteers. Once Davos made up his mind, he immediately gave his consent.

Soon, the city of Besidia assembled a guard of over sixty men.

Davos appointed Rodom as captain of this guard and announced that they would be responsible for standing watch and guarding him tonight.

The order drew strong objections from Drakos, Capus, and others.

But Davos insisted, declaring, “Now that Besidia is Daonia’s Besidia, Besidian warriors are Daonia’s soldiers! What commander doesn’t trust his own men?!”

In the end, Davos reached an agreement with Drakos and Capus: Martius would lead the guard to secure the outer courtyard, while the Besidian warriors would hold the inner courtyard.

When Rodom and his men heard the news, they were deeply moved and swore that they would never let Lord Davos, who trusted them, suffer the slightest fright.

The anxious Besidian commoners also relaxed because of this gesture by Davos.

Apart from the senior legion commanders, the ones most afraid of an accident were actually Bagiripi and the other chiefs and tribal nobles. They knew that if anything happened to Davos, the two thousand Daonian soldiers inside the city and the ten thousand outside would burn Besidia to ashes in their fury. So they repeatedly urged their tribesmen assigned to guard duty tonight.

That night passed peacefully.

The next day, Davos, who had slept soundly, met with Capus and Drakos—who had barely slept at all—along with the three Besidian chiefs and the commanding generals of the allied forces from Heraclea and Castron to discuss the advance into the Cosenza Plateau.

…

Sicinag waited for the reinforcements he had sent out to swiftly defeat the Eleans and then return quickly. In truth, he did not wait long before he saw Grenatus, covered in wounds, fleeing back with a few hundred battered survivors.

“What did you say?! You were ambushed by Daonians?!” Sicinag’s face showed disbelief. “Outside the city of Pyxous, how could there be Daonian troops?! Grumentum City has been under my watch the whole time—they haven’t sent out a single unit!”

Grenatus shook his head, speaking weakly: “Elea… they probably came from Elea… I saw it clearly—though they all wore Greek armor, most of them had the stature and hair color… even the shouts were Lucanian…”

At his son’s reminder, Sicinag’s thoughts suddenly clicked: “You mean they came from Nerulum… Why didn’t our scouts notice?!”

On the way back, Grenatus had already mulled it over. Coughing, he said anxiously: “They… cough… they probably sailed up from Laüs… maybe they didn’t follow the coast… cough… but went out in a wide circle… our warships couldn’t contend with those from Laüs and Elea… we could only patrol near the harbor… cough… it was good we weren’t blockaded… they have about three or four thousand men… Father, what do we do now?!”

“Return! We must return to Pyxous immediately!” Sicinag already sensed trouble. “Can your body hold out?”

Grenatus nodded. “…Cough… what about those tribes?”

“Let them come with us. We need more warriors now. If any tribe refuses to come with us—” Sicinag’s face turned grim, and he said coldly, “We’ll do what we did at Grumentum all over again!”

Just as he finished speaking, a scout rushed in: “Report, Great Chief! A Daonian army has appeared to our north, about four thousand men!”

“Report! The tribes to the south have gathered about five thousand warriors and are advancing on our camp!”

“Report, Great Chief! The Grumentum army has left the city! Confirmed, their commanding general is Bacule!”

Bad news came one after another, covering Sicinag in layers of cold sweat until he was soaked through. When he heard the last report, he shuddered: “You say Bacule isn’t wounded?!”

“It seems so, Great Chief.”

Sicinag stood frozen like a wooden statue. After a long pause, he muttered, “A conspiracy! This is a conspiracy the Daonians long planned!”

Suddenly remembering something, he said urgently, “Quickly, summon the chiefs of Lude and Brina! Even if they refuse to come, force them!”

No sooner had the guard left than a chief from Pyxous stumbled in: “Great Chief, bad news! Lude and Brina have started a rebellion!”

“Pfft!” Sicinag, burning with anxiety, spat a mouthful of blood onto the ground.

The Daonians attacked the Pyxous camp from the north, east, and south, while inside the camp there was chaos and no effective defense could be organized, so it was easily broken through.

Grenatus died in battle. Sicinag escaped with a few of his clansmen into the western mountains. The rest mostly surrendered.

“Legion Commander Hieronymus, what should we do with so many prisoners?” Bacule asked his superior.

“In accordance with Lord Davos’s order, all are to be reduced to state slaves and escorted back to Thurii to serve as laborers in the mines, on road construction, and in building temples…” Hieronymus spoke offhandedly, not even noticing the expression on Bacule’s face. “Also, take a thousand prisoners from Pyxous—when we attack Pyxous City, we’ll use them to pressure the tribes inside to surrender.”

Then he issued another order: “Bacule, continue to hold Grumentum City and keep watch on Potentia to the north. If anything unusual happens, send a messenger to inform me immediately.”

“Yes.”

“Agasia, urge the soldiers to speed up the cleanup of the battlefield. Otherwise, we won’t be able to rest by nightfall.”

“Don’t worry, Legion Commander. I’ll keep my eyes open like a shepherd watching his flock. Anyone who tries to slack off, I’ll smack their backside!” Agasia laughed heartily.

The Third Army Corps had cautiously executed the plan devised by Davos and perfected together, and now they finally had a fairly satisfactory result. After assigning the tasks, Hieronymus allowed himself a rare, relaxed smile.

“Brother!” Asiastes called out to Bacule, who was heading back with his head down. “Lord Davos once said, ‘When dealing with enemies who surrender, do not be too merciful, because excessive mercy makes them forget their mistakes and repeat them. So sometimes we must raise our club high, making them fear and remember the lesson.’ Lord Davos called it the ‘bread and stick’ method…”

Asiastes looked at the thoughtful Bacule and said seriously: “The laws we enacted to appease the northern tribes have been good enough. We gave them land, generously allocated cattle and sheep… But when we faced danger, they didn’t stand with us to overcome it. Instead, they sided with the enemy, hoping to destroy us and carve up more of our land! This severe punishment will, I believe, intimidate every Lucanian tribe in this land. When they make decisions related to us, they will have to think hard: whether to choose the bread or endure the stick!”

Bacule watched the soldiers busy on the battlefield—dismantling the enemy camp, gathering scattered supplies, picking up discarded weapons, stripping armor from the dead—loading everything onto laden pack animals, then carrying the enemy corpses and tossing them onto blazing pyres…

Mountain winds blew, and ash drifted everywhere through the air.

Bacule let out a long sigh and said, “I hope that after this battle, peace will truly return to Lucania!”

Heaving out the depression in his heart, Bacule slapped Asiastes on the shoulder and said loudly, “Anyway, we’ve finally dealt with that troublesome Sicinag—time for a good celebration! Tonight, I’m coming to your house. I haven’t tasted my sister’s roast lamb in a long time. Let’s drink until we’re wrecked!”

A month later, Sicinag’s clansmen, who had fled into the mountains, grew weary of constantly dodging Daonian pursuit while enduring hardship and Sicinag’s increasingly frantic curses and beatings. Finally, unable to bear it, they killed him while he slept and came down to surrender at Grumentum City—but that is a story for later.

When Piallen led his army back to Cosentia, the rebellious tribes had already fled.

In the following days, along with Petalus and Philotaurus, he busied himself calming the citizens and receiving the other tribal chiefs within the city…

While he was swamped with work, a messenger from Clampetia arrived in Cosentia.

Piallen was astonished by Pangaelus’s plea for help. He had never imagined that Clampetia, known as “easy to defend and hard to take,” could barely hold out after just over ten days. What shocked him even more were the two terrible siege weapons described in Pangaelus’s letter that the Daonians possessed.