Volume 6: The Meeting of Two Heroes, Chapter 77: The Rescue of Poseidonia

“Alas... Tina, the Syracusan army is approaching Trina. I doubt the South Italy Alliance’s forces can hold them back on the north bank of the Lamato River.” Asiastes said honestly.

“Then… isn’t Clampetia, where we are, in danger?!” Tina’s heart skipped a beat.

Asiastes didn’t answer. He sat on the edge of the bed and reached out to embrace his wife. “Has the child gone to sleep?”

“Mza has already taken him to sleep.” Tina pointed to the adjacent bedroom.

Asiastes hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice, “You should take the child to Cosentia tomorrow.”

Tina’s eyes went wide at once. She said loudly, “I won’t go! I am the daughter of Senator Vespa, my brother is the Chief Magistrate of Grumentum, and I am the wife of the Chief Magistrate of Clampetia! When all the people of Clampetia are beginning to defend against the Syracusan invasion of our homeland, if I take the child and leave, what will the people here think? Will they still follow your commands wholeheartedly?!”

Asiastes was stunned for a moment. He held his wife tightly and said through gritted teeth, “You’re right! I was only thinking about your and the child’s safety and forgot that! Our whole family… will stay here, right here.”

Tina comforted her husband in turn. “With Hades’ protection, Clampetia will definitely hold! And when Lord Davos returns, the Syracusans will surely be driven away!”

Asiastes looked at his Lucanian wife, surprised that her confidence in this war was even greater than his own. He just didn’t know how Lord Davos was doing in Lucania right now.

…

The messenger sent by the Samnite army garrisoning Poseidonia had traveled all afternoon and night and finally reached the Samnite camp not far from the city of Potentia just before dawn.

“What did you say?! The Daonians have surrounded Poseidonia!” Great Chief of the Pentri, Torek, could not sit still upon hearing this news, after all there were three thousand Pentri warriors he had left to garrison inside the city of Poseidonia.

“Have you verified it? Which Daonian unit is it?” Great Chief of the Hirpini, Veroni, asked the messenger carefully.

“It is the Daonian Third Army Corps, we are certain! And when they were building their camp, the soldiers were almost all shouting in Lucanian.” The messenger replied confidently.

Veroni knew that the Daonian Third Army Corps was mainly composed of Lucanians. After hearing the messenger’s words, he felt relieved. Thinking about it, it had been less than ten days since he had led his army to invade Potentia’s territory. Based on his many years of experience fighting the Greeks in Campania, it would take the Daonians at least half a month to mobilize citizens, gather troops, prepare supplies in Thurii, and then lead a large army across the rugged Lucanian mountains to reach here. Just as they themselves, after reaching an agreement with the Syracusans two months ago, had been mobilizing and preparing until now to achieve today’s grand scale.

“How many men do they have?” Torek asked urgently.

“Including the Elean army, the total number exceeds ten thousand.”

“Veroni!” Torek looked at the Great Chief of the Hirpini.

Facing Torek’s piercing gaze, Veroni naturally knew what the Great Chief of the Pentri wanted to say.

Just then, Gaelni interrupted loudly, “This Daonian Third Army Corps sure moves fast! Father, after finally waiting for Uncle Torek to return with his army, and with the Syracusan ballistae, if we attack with full force tomorrow, we might just take Grumentum!…” The more Gaelni spoke, the more impatient he became. “The cunning Daonians dare not face us in a direct fight, so they want to disrupt our plans by attacking the city of Poseidonia. We must not—”

Veroni cut him off loudly, “Poseidonia has stored a large amount of grain to supply our army. It is vital to us. We cannot let the Daonians capture it. We must rescue Poseidonia!”

Veroni’s words slightly eased Torek’s expression. “Veroni, I will now lead my tribe’s warriors to rescue Pitny and the others.” He finished speaking, stood up, and prepared to leave.

“Don’t be hasty, Torek.” Veroni turned to look at the Caudini commander. “The Daonian Third Army Corps is a slippery fish. I’m afraid it will slip away again this time and continue to cause us trouble. Chief Quintuk, can you lead the Caudini warriors together with the Pentri warriors to net this fish and completely destroy it along with the Elean reinforcements! You can even continue marching to Elea and try to take that Greek city. That way, Poseidonia’s safety will be more assured.”

“The Caudini warriors will agree to your request.” Quintuk immediately accepted. He was of course excited to be able to plunder the Greeks and promptly stood up and went out with Torek.

When only the Hirpini leaders remained in the tent, Gaelni complained loudly, “Father, we finally gathered a large army and were preparing to launch a full assault on the city of Potentia. Now, not only did you agree to let Torek leave, but you also let Quintuk go help. With so many warriors gone at once, when will we ever take the city of Potentia?!”

His words were echoed by some of the leaders.

“Gaelni, if the Great Chief didn’t let Torek leave, would he not have left?! Don’t forget there are still three thousand Pentri warriors at Poseidonia. Torek is the Great Chief of the Pentri, not the chief of the Hirpini. How could the Great Chief have stopped him! If he forcibly prevented it, it would only cause conflict between our two tribes and harm the whole war! So the Great Chief had to do this.” Lesguk, the chief of Beneventum, defended Veroni.

Gaelni snorted, still a bit unwilling.

Veroni smiled and nodded gratefully to Lesguk. This chief of Beneventum was highly regarded by many tribal leaders as the best candidate for the next Great Chief. Veroni explained, “If the Daonian Third Army Corps hadn’t come so fast, the Pentri warriors at Poseidonia would have had time to repair the city defenses. Otherwise, Torek wouldn’t be so panicked. That’s why I asked Quintuk to take the Caudini warriors along as well, so the entire relief force totals twenty-five thousand men, enough to crush that Daonian Third Army Corps and save us from further trouble from these Daonians.”

Veroni paused, then looked around at the leaders in the tent and continued, “While they fight at Poseidonia, we can’t stay idle. The Syracusans said that the city of Potentia is on high ground with sloping mountain paths, so the ballistae are hard to position and aim. We’ll use this time to build platforms for placing the ballistae according to the Syracusans’ instructions, while also continuing to expand the camp and tighten the siege on Potentia…”

“Understood.” Gaelni replied listlessly.

Veroni glanced at him and smiled, “Not attacking Potentia now is actually beneficial to us!”

This remark successfully sparked confusion among everyone, including his son.

“A few days ago, when the Syracusans brought grain, they told us, ‘Dionysius’ army will launch an attack on Magna Graecia in a few days.’ If that’s true, we slow down our offensive and let the city of Potentia be temporarily safe. What do you think? Will the Daonians choose to meet the Syracusan army on the flat coast, or risk their territory being left vulnerable to send reinforcements across mountains and rivers to Potentia to deal with us, who are temporarily not threatening Daonia?”

“Of course they’ll turn their main force to face the Syracusans, because they are a greater threat!” Lesguk said loudly.

At this point, Gaelni also understood and said excitedly, “So that means we don’t have to worry about Daonian reinforcements and can steadily gobble up Potentia, and even Lucania!”

Seeing the atmosphere in the tent heat up, Veroni seized the moment and said, “So we must tighten the bag and not let a single person slip out of the city of Potentia, because they are all our wealth!”

Ever since the clans of the Potentian tribes retreated into the city, the Samnites had not launched an attack on the city of Potentia during this time, but that did not make the people inside feel at ease. Anyone who saw the newly built Samnite camps sprawling down the hillside, standing atop the hill to gaze upon the boundless military tents stretching westward, and at night the campfires as countless as the stars in the sky, could not help but feel terror in their hearts. Not to mention the ever-deepening and extending trenches encircling the entire hill, and the abatis erected in front of the trenches… The Samnites wanted to catch them all in one net!

The enemy was so powerful, yet there had been no news of reinforcements for a long time. The city of Potentia was like an isolated island cut off from the outside world. Panic and unease were gradually devouring the people’s courage to fight the enemy together.

Puamot forced himself to stay calm during the day to bolster the people’s confidence, but every night he woke up from nightmares. In less than a month, he had lost over ten pounds.

Last night, he couldn’t sleep at all, because the Samnites had acquired a new siege weapon that could shoot stones the size of helmets like arrows from over a hundred meters away, clearing the city walls and destroying several wooden houses.

Puamot still remembered the clear terror in the eyes of every warrior around him, and even he himself doubted whether the city could be held.

At this moment, he had no appetite for the meat soup the servant brought. He just took a few bites of the coarse barley bread, then forced himself to muster energy to continue his daily routine—patrolling the city.

Just as he finished putting on his armor, a clansman from the gate guard rushed into the hall and shouted excitedly, “Great Chief, Lord Pollet has returned!”