Volume 6: The Meeting of Two Heroes, Chapter 90: Davos's Northern Strategy

“Speaking of which,” Davos quieted down, listened carefully, and seemed to notice that the noise outside had diminished considerably. His mind was greatly at ease, and he yawned: “It looks like the battle is over. Go to sleep, both of you.”

Tolmides and Rodom took their leave and departed.

“Amyntas’ intense desire for battle—I’ll have to make sure he keeps it all the way until we face Syracuse…” Davos murmured as he drifted into sleep.

…

Early the next morning, Puamot and Pollet came to visit Davos.

After a cordial conversation, the two left satisfied.

And Davos was equally pleased. He quickly summoned Alexis, commander of the Third Army Corps, and said to him: “The Great Chief of Potentia just came to me and voluntarily offered to hand over the city of Poseidonia to Daonia.”

“That’s really great!” Alexis said excitedly.

“Yes, I didn’t expect him to make such a decisive move. Although many Lucanians despise Puamot, saying that he lacks Acipirus’ courage and Sicinag’s cleverness—that he’s just a coward who stays home and sleeps with his wife—yet the factions of those two men have fallen, while Potentia will continue to exist! Whoever can understand the current trend and go along with it is a man of true wisdom. Puamot knows when to cut off and what to give up. Remarkable!” Davos was quite moved.

He turned back to Alexis and continued: “I called you today because I have an important task to entrust to you.”

Upon hearing this, Alexis immediately sat up straight.

“The Samnites have been routed, but there are still nearly twenty thousand defeated soldiers scattered in all directions. According to the Mountain Scout Unit’s reconnaissance, apart from three large bands retreating northward, the other stragglers are scattered in the mountains around Potentia, suffering from hunger and disease. But their presence is also hindering the Potentian tribes from returning to their settlements. I have decided to leave the Third Army Corps here, stationed in this area, to hunt down these Samnite stragglers. Pollet will lead the Potentian warriors to cooperate with you.”

As soon as Davos finished speaking, Alexis said urgently: “My Lord, the war with the Samnites is already over, and the Syracusan army is attacking our Magna Graecia. We should immediately withdraw to Thurii and concentrate our forces to deal with the Syracusans!”

“Don’t worry about Syracuse. I have my own plans. To tell you the truth, I’ve always felt that when we expand northward in the future, the Samnites will be a troublesome opponent. But unexpectedly, this time they gathered a large force, left their familiar mountains on their own initiative, and attacked Lucania in force. With the blessing of Hades, the Samnites have suffered a crushing defeat, while our losses were not great. Faced with a wounded beast, we must seize this opportunity, strike while it is weak, and kill it—not let it go, let it recover, and then come back to cause us trouble.

Therefore, the Third Army Corps should do its best to eliminate and capture the Samnites who are lingering here, and prevent them from escaping back north. While carrying out this task, you can launch probing attacks into the Samnite mountains to see if there are further gains. But be careful not to expand the war and invite new enemies! You must understand that Daonia’s current situation cannot support fighting on two fronts!” Davos warned with a serious expression.

“I understand. I will do my utmost to expand our gains!” Alexis was excited after grasping Davos’ intent—after all, leading an army independently to conquer a region was the greatest pursuit of any general.

“I’ve also found you a capable assistant.” Davos said, then called out toward the door: “Martius, let him in.”

Alexis looked curiously toward the entrance and saw a young man come in—small in build but lean and sharp.

“Supreme Commander.” The young man gave a standard military salute.

“Printors, company commander of the Reconnaissance Battalion, the planner of this rout of the Samnite camp!” Davos returned the salute and then appraised him, unable to hide his admiration: “Remarkable! Truly remarkable! The victory you engineered saved Daonia time and allowed us to focus our strength on dealing with Syracuse! On behalf of the Daonian people, I thank you. Your name will be forever remembered in the Hall of Heroes!”

Printors was both thrilled and a little embarrassed by such high praise from Davos, and promptly said modestly: “My Lord, this was all inspired by the plan you devised to take Asperustum!”

Victory without arrogance! Davos nodded, growing more satisfied with the young man: “I will detach two companies, four hundred men total, from the mountain reconnaissance battalion and put them under your command. You will assist the Third Army Corps and the Potentian army in pursuing the Samnite stragglers, while also harassing the neighboring Samnite territory. Can you accomplish this task?”

“I can!” Printors replied confidently.

Davos nodded subtly and turned to the Third Army Corps commander: “Alexis, are you satisfied with the assistant I’ve given you?”

“More than satisfied!” Alexis laughed. “But it also puts more pressure on me. With such a hero as my aide, if I don’t achieve a worthy feat, I’ll be too embarrassed to return to Thurii.”

“Glad you understand that.” Davos smiled and continued: “I hope you’ll take Copsa if possible.”

Copsa? Alexis heard the name for the first time.

“It’s a town in Samnium closest to Potentia, about forty *li* from here.” Printors explained to Alexis. As a reconnaissance man, he had been here for nearly a day and already had some familiarity with the surroundings.

“This is a hope of Potentia’s Great Chief! If we capture Copsa, Potentia will be completely under Daonia’s protection and will never again worry about Samnite invasions…” Davos elaborated. That morning, when Puamot made this request, Davos understood that Potentia was determined to fully rely on the Daonia Alliance.

“Of course, you must act within your means and not force things. The fighting in the south will be fierce, and supplies will certainly be tight. You must pay special attention to that—don’t provoke a major war in the north!” Davos stressed again.

Alexis and Printors exchanged glances and nodded in understanding.

“One more thing… Puamot wants to build a great road to strengthen connections with our Lucanian territory. This is a good thing, and I’ve already agreed. I plan to put Bacule in charge of this, with you, Alexis, assisting him.” Seeing Alexis about to speak, Davos waved his hand and said: “After all, you served as a Public Works Officer before and are very familiar with road construction. And you have a good relationship with Bacule, so you should work well together. There are now over ten thousand Samnite captives to serve as ready labor—but don’t work them to death. I have other important uses for these captives later.”

“I accept this task.” Alexis said reluctantly.

Seeing his hesitation, Davos had to remind him: “Building this road won’t only strengthen ties with Potentia, but also facilitate our future expansion into the central Apennines. So road construction and hunting down the Samnite stragglers are equally important—they don’t conflict.”

“My Lord, I understand. I will do my utmost to help Bacule and the others build this road well!”

That same morning, Sestas was hurrying toward the Senate.

The outbreak of this war had quite an impact on the city of Thurii. Most of the members of the First and Second Army Corps were Thurii citizens. Then two new corps were formed, mainly from Thurii citizens, training daily at the military harbor on the Crati River east of Thurii. As a result, one could scarcely see able-bodied young men in the city. And the elderly and women, worried about their loved ones, appeared less and less in the square, spending more time at home or praying in the temples.

Looking at the empty Victory Square, Sestas felt a pang of melancholy.

“Lord Sestas!” A shout came from behind. He turned and saw it was Bagiripi, the senator from Bruttium.

“With Lord Sestas as my companion, even if I’m late, I don’t feel so afraid.” Bagiripi said, half-jokingly and half-seriously. The small, thin man wore a white chiton robe with black trim—the badge of a senator—which hung on him like a broad cloth on a slender bamboo pole. He had to use both hands to pull at the sagging hem, a rather comical sight.

But Sestas did not laugh. As ephor, it was his duty to supervise the conduct of senators during Senate meetings. After the treason affair involving Polyxides and other senators, the senators—on Davos’ initiative—had granted the ephor even greater power to oversee illegal acts by senators and alliance public officials.

Precisely because of the weight of his office, Sestas had always led by example. He never expected to be late for once in his life, and couldn’t help explaining: “Last night, I was busy organizing the materials for supervising the elections in the cities and establishing Local Councils, so I could report to the meeting today. I worked until late and got up late this morning.”

“Under the current circumstances, with the Syracusan army pressing on our borders, are the Local Council elections still going to be held?! You know, yesterday I heard the news that the South Italian allied army was about to fight a decisive battle with the Syracusans at Scylletium—I couldn’t sleep all night!” Bagiripi said nervously. After all, the Fifth Army Corps was almost entirely composed of Bruttian citizens, and the Bruttium region lay right at the front line. If the battle was lost, the impact on the Bruttians would be greater than on citizens of any other alliance city.