Volume 5: The Hegemon of Southern Italy, Chapter 125: Postwar Sorrow

The defeat came so swiftly that Piallen still refused to believe it, because he felt victory had been so close. "Attack! Keep attacking! The enemy is about to break!!..." He shouted hysterically, trying to stop the warriors around him from fleeing, but was nearly knocked over.

"Great Chief, we must go! If we don't leave now, we won't make it!" His bodyguards forced him to retreat.

...

"Commander, we've won this battle!" Tolmides reported joyfully. "The enemy is in full retreat!"

This outcome was within Davos's expectations. He said calmly, "This battle isn't over yet. Driving off the enemy isn't enough—it depends on the final result."

Typically, in a pitched battle, the losing side's casualties rarely exceeded ten percent. But after a rout, if the pursuit was handled well, the loser's casualty rate would often surge, because fleeing soldiers had lost all will to resist.

So Davos kept the attack bugle sounding.

The Daonian soldiers simply abandoned their heavy bronze shields and helmets, held their spears with both hands, and continued the chase despite their exhaustion, joining forces with the reinforcements charging from the flank and front to encircle and destroy the enemy.

The Besidian warriors, the light infantry and freemen under Epithenis and Tsipet, and Izam's Mountain Reconnaissance Battalion had spread a "big net" from the Bruttian right flank to the rear of their center. Though the net was flimsy and the mesh too large, it was enough to terrify the Bruttians, who only wanted to escape.

With Daonian war cries everywhere, many routed soldiers simply threw down their weapons and sat on the ground.

Laedes's cavalry battalion pursued the fleeing enemy in an extremely dispersed, two-line broad formation. The well-rested horses were like coarse strainers, sweeping back and forth to clear the scattered debris...

By dusk, the Daonian cavalry stopped the pursuit. When they returned from the Cosenza Plateau, which was strewn with fleeing soldiers, men and horses were covered in blood and grime, a terrifying sight. Later, the soldiers gave them the nickname "Blood Cavalry," which eventually became their official title.

By then, the battle was completely over. The Daonians had suffered 1,500 casualties, inflicted nearly 5,000 casualties on the Bruttian League, and captured over 5,000 prisoners, achieving a great victory.

Laedes came excitedly to see Davos, only to be told that the commander had gone to the crematorium.

Walking across the corpse-strewn battlefield, Davos's joy at victory had vanished without a trace.

The soldiers laid out their fallen comrades neatly on the grass, stretching as far as the eye could see. They carefully placed two obols over the dead men's eyes while tearfully praying to Hades for the deceased.

Seeing those pale, seemingly familiar faces, Davos's steps grew heavy. Finally, he stopped. Ahead, a dozen soldiers were weeping around a corpse. He recognized the leader: Cteippus, a company commander of the Second Army Corps.

His heart stirred. He stepped forward and asked quietly, "Who is the fallen?"

"Commander!" The officers and soldiers noticed him and hastily saluted.

Through the gap they made, he saw the dead man's face—a very familiar face. Alcinus, a warm and cheerful young man from Amendolara, a hero of the Second Croton War, the standard-bearer during the triumph. In this battle, during the final assault, Alcinus, as a platoon leader, had charged at the front and was struck in the chest by a spear thrown by a bold enemy soldier who hadn't been eager to flee...

Listening to Cteippus's mournful words, Davos took two obols from a soldier and pressed them onto Alcinus's closed eyelids... A year ago, this brave young man had boldly challenged him to a swimming race; now his body was cold as stone. At that moment, Davos wished that Hades truly existed, so that, according to Daonia's reverence for the Lord of the Underworld, these fallen Daonian soldiers would surely receive preferential treatment in the underworld...

He left that group of soldiers, walked a bit further, then stopped. With a somber expression, he stared at the distant cremation furnaces blazing with fierce flames...

After a long silence, he spoke to Tolmides, who had been following quietly behind him. "Do you think... this war Daonia launched against the Bruttians... was right or wrong?"

"Uh..." Tolmides didn't know how to answer.

But Davos's expression quickly hardened, and he answered firmly himself: "Of course it was right! In this age, either we destroy others or they destroy us. There's no other way but to strengthen ourselves!"

Tolmides deeply agreed with Davos's words. In the eastern Mediterranean, he had seen Persians oppress weaker peoples and Spartans run rampant in Ionia and Asia Minor. After coming to the western Mediterranean, he had heard of Carthage's power and Syracuse's brutality. But he didn't realize that what Davos was worried about at that moment was a Latin city-state in central Italy that he had never heard of: Rome.

"Commander, the brothers of the First Army Corps and the reserve soldiers... they're resting as fast as they can. They're so exhausted! They fall asleep the moment they lie down, without even taking off their breastplates," Capus said with some pain.

"In this battle... whether it's the First Army Corps, the Second, or any other unit, everyone gave their utmost. The fighting was extremely tough!" Davos said with emotion, but he reminded Capus, "However, it's autumn now. I hear the mountain nights are much colder than in Thurii. The brothers are all sweaty after intense combat; if they just collapse and sleep, they might catch cold. Our medical camp is already overcrowded, and I don't want any unnecessary increase in sick or wounded!"

Antonios, who was at Davos's side and had again taken on the role of Military Affairs Officer for this expedition, seemed already familiar with the position. He suggested, "I think we can have the auxiliary soldiers of the baggage camp take out the blankets that the First Army Corps soldiers carry and cover them with those."

Davos nodded in agreement. He then looked at Drakos, the legion commander of the Second Army Corps, who stood slightly bowed, hands behind his back, left leg trembling lightly.

Davos studied him for a moment and asked, "Will our camp be built by nightfall?"

"The brothers of the Second Army Corps are pressing the prisoners to build it faster. At the same time, the Mountain Battalion, the Besidian warriors, and the allied forces under Lord Triphyas and Lord Gorgias (the general of Castron) are all working under the engineers' guidance to construct the camp... It will definitely be finished before nightfall!"

Triphyas and Gorgias nodded in acknowledgment when Drakos mentioned their names.

Davos thanked them, then asked, "How are the Bruttian prisoners behaving?"

"We have severely punished a dozen who dared to resist. With the Besidians setting an example, they are obedient enough."

Davos nodded. He paced back and forth a few steps and said solemnly, "Don't mistreat them! If any Bruttian cannot continue working, allow them to stop and rest... Well, you can judge the specifics yourselves."

"Yes."

"What happened to the wound on your right hand?" Drakos was so focused on figuring out how to complete the tasks Davos had given him that he didn't notice Davos had walked behind him.

He hastily withdrew his hand, stepped back two paces, and shook his head. "N-nothing... I was accidentally scratched by a soldier's spear..."

As he shook his head, a blood groove under his chin caught Davos's eyes. Davos, who was respected as a teacher by Helpus, knew that this wound was dangerously close to the vital carotid artery. It was easy to imagine how perilous the situation had been and how lucky Drakos was.

Now Davos's face darkened. "You charged to the front again, didn't you! How many times have I told you? You are the commander of over seven thousand men, not an ordinary soldier. If you die in battle, do you have any idea how much that would affect the whole campaign? Is the Daonian Military Code just a game to you? You think you can ignore it whenever you want!..."

At Davos's harsh rebuke, Drakos hung his head and dared not utter a word.

To outsiders, seeing a young man berate a burly man in his thirties like a father scolding a child seemed ridiculous. But the high-ranking Daonian generals and important allies around them all wore serious expressions, trying to hold their breath—a clear sign of Davos's authority.

"Hand over command of the Second Army Corps to Adrianx for now. Report immediately to Stesicondas (the head of the expedition's medical camp, one of Helpus's capable assistants). Get that wound bandaged, then go to the military judge and accept your punishment!"

As soon as Davos finished, Drakos quickly acknowledged and, as if pardoned, turned and ran off.

"Commander... actually, at the final assault, the soldiers were already very exhausted. Drakos was just trying to use that method to inspire them..." Antonio quietly added a word of explanation for Drakos.

"Alcinus—you all should know him. After the victory in the Second Croton War, he was the standard-bearer in the triumph. Now he was a platoon leader in the Second Army Corps, a very promising young officer!" Davos sighed deeply. "I just paid Charon the ferryman's fee for him... The legion commander sets the example that junior officers follow. I don't want to keep seeing vacancies in the officer positions of the Second Army Corps. That reckless Drakos, who throws himself into danger during battle, needs a good knock!"

After Davos said this, Capus and Antonios had nothing more to say.