Volume 6: The Meeting of Two Heroes, Chapter 110: Quelling the Rebellion

“Lord Heilos, rest assured, I will make sure the tribesmen stay loyal to the alliance, and satisfy you and the Senate!” An excited Vito Tielu immediately declared to Heilos.

“Vito Tielu, you traitor!” Kaduruk's eyes blazed with fury. He wished he could devour this old man whom he had always trusted.

“You’re the traitor, a traitor to our Daonia! The tribesmen are happy to enjoy a stable life under the rule of the alliance, but you want to push us into war!” Vito Tielu pointed at him and rebuked sharply.

“Gag him!” At Heilos's reminder, the soldiers stuffed a rag into Kaduruk's mouth to stop him from shouting any more, turning his anger and fear into nothing but muffled whimpers.

……

Heilos returned to the inner city of Cosentia and happened to see the cavalry squadron that had rushed in from Thurii through the night. They hadn’t caught up with Petalus and his men, but they brought orders from the Senate. Heilos had already taken action; the Senate’s decree was essentially a belated confirmation.

As Heilos approached the City Hall, Adpigis came up to meet him and asked urgently, “Did you catch them?”

“We caught Kaduruk.” Heilos said gratefully, “Thanks to your risking your life to bring the news!”

It was known that traveling at night in the Bruttian region was taboo, especially riding a horse in the dark. Tripping was one thing, but the most terrifying were the wild beasts roaming the wilderness. Adpigis was well aware of this. To prevent accidents, he had borrowed another horse from Besidia, riding double mounts to race to Cosentia. Sure enough, halfway there, his first mount twisted a front hoof. He immediately switched horses and drove the injured one off the road (unbeknownst to him, the injured horse later returned to the roadside and was eaten by wolves, which also alerted Petalus and his men), and ultimately brought the news to Heilos.

Hearing Heilos's praise, Adpigis showed no trace of pride. He was no longer the lowly slave he once had been. As the intelligence officer Davos had placed in the Bruttian region, several town magistrates in Bruttian towns relied on his intelligence to stay informed about the movements of the region’s tribes and take preemptive measures to ensure order, so he was not to be underestimated, especially with Davos backing him.

“Has Hegesistus returned?” Heilos asked.

“No news from him yet,” Adpigis replied.

Hegesistus had once been the leader of the survivors of the Sylu tribe. After Daonia conquered Bruttii, Davos settled the Sylu tribe near the city of Cosentia and appointed Hegesistus as a mid-level ephor of Cosentia. In fact, because he knew the Bruttian region extremely well, he functioned more like an assistant to the magistrate of Cosentia. Many measures beneficial to stabilizing the Bruttian region came from his suggestions. Whenever conflicts broke out, he was usually the first to mediate, making him a strong right arm for the magistrate of Cosentia.

“It seems what Kaduruk’s men confessed might be true: Petalus didn’t come to Cosentia but went straight south,” Heilos said as he strode into the City Hall.

In the magistrate’s office, Hieronymus was waiting anxiously. He had only arrived in Cosentia that afternoon and hadn’t yet begun recruiting soldiers when he received Heilos’s notification that night: a rebellion might be brewing.

He was both surprised and excited, feeling that he could finally be of use.

Now, knowing Hieronymus’s temperament, Heilos entered the room without polite formalities and said directly, “Kaduruk has been caught. He confessed to planning a rebellion, but we didn’t catch Bogam or Petalus!” Heilos said regretfully, walking straight to his desk. On the wall hung a large map of the Bruttian region.

Heilos pointed to the lower-left corner of the map and continued, “Bogam definitely went to the Ambarnia region. He was the Great Chief there for over twenty years and commands great prestige. Although after Bruttii was annexed by our alliance, we dismantled the town of Ambarnia (Davos considered Ambarnia remote, with poor land, unable to support a large population, and building a town there would waste administrative resources and increase the risk of rebellion, so after discussion in the Senate, it was demolished), and relocated some tribes from there several times, there are still about… uh—”

“The Ambarnia region has about five thousand people. Even if Bogam convinces them all, he can only muster a thousand-odd warriors,” Adpigis, who had just entered the room, quickly added.

After all, Heilos had only been in Bruttii for a month and had only a preliminary understanding of the situation, far less than Adpigis, who had been rooted in Bruttii for years. He generously stepped aside, signaling Adpigis to give a detailed briefing.

“If Petalus didn’t come to Cosentia, he will definitely go here—” Adpigis didn’t refuse and stepped up to the map, pointing to the left: “Here is a tribe under his jurisdiction, with a population of about six thousand. If you want to suppress the rebellion, I suggest attacking here first. Although this tribe is farther from Cosentia, it is still located on the Cosenza Plateau, surrounded by other tribes. Once it rebels, it will have a great impact on the neighboring tribes. Most importantly, it’s close to Clapetia, and they can easily escape Bruttii through mountain trails to seek refuge with the Syracusans. That would have very bad consequences.

As for the tribes in Ambarnia, most are clustered around Lake Chechita, with some living in the mountains. If Bogam wants to gather them, it will take quite some time. We only need to block the road from Ambarnia to the Cosenza Plateau, and Bogam will have to risk crossing the mountains into the Cosenza Plateau, or follow the rugged river valley east to reach the city of Asperustum.” Adpigis spoke confidently, facing two senators of the Senate.

“Well said!” Heilos praised loudly. “I think we can proceed with the plan Adpigis proposed.”

Hieronymus nodded, then asked, “How many men do you give me?”

It was a brief question, but Heilos understood its meaning: after all, he was the magistrate of Cosentia and had to hold down this central city of Bruttii. The task of suppression could only be carried out by Hieronymus.

“Tomorrow, I can conscript two thousand independent Bruttian citizen soldiers from within Cosentia, and gather another thousand from the tribes outside the city. I hope to complete assembly by noon. Beyond that, I cannot give you more troops, because I need some soldiers to garrison Cosentia and guard against other tribes being incited into unrest by this incident.” Heilos said in a low voice.

“Three thousand is enough,” Hieronymus replied decisively, then pointed at Adpigis: “I want you to come with me.”

“I would be delighted, Lord Hieronymus!” Adpigis answered happily.

“Tomorrow morning, I will send messengers to Clampetia and Vergae to inform Lords Asiastes and Saru, telling them to be vigilant and also to coordinate with your operations as much as possible. In addition, I will also send someone back to Thurii to inform the Senate, and notify Lord Agasia in Asperustum to be on guard against these traitors slipping away through the river valley!” Finally, Heilos laid out his plan.

The next day, Hieronymus led the assembled three thousand reserve soldiers on a rapid march south…

Petalus had already acted swiftly. He had convinced more than half of the people in his tribe to follow him in defecting from the Daonia Alliance. He also sent people to spread rumors among the surrounding tribes, such as “The Syracusan army has invaded Daonian territory, the Daonian army has been defeated, and they’re about to be destroyed!” and so on, causing widespread panic.

Some tribal chiefs even came to him anxiously for advice.

Seizing the opportunity, he told them about the discrimination he had suffered in Thurii over the years as a Bruttian tribal chief and a senator, and the frustrations he had bottled up. When he spoke of his grievances, tears even filled his eyes.

His words struck right at the chiefs’ fears: Daonia’s deliberate, continuous enactment of laws was accelerating the disintegration of the tribes. If even Petalus, a senator, was being pushed this far, what hope was there for them?

So some chiefs began to consider whether to join Petalus in resisting Daonia’s rule.

Just as Petalus was rejoicing in the success of his scheme and planning to establish an anti-Daonia Bruttian tribal alliance to spark a rebellion across the entire Cosenza Plateau, Hieronymus’s army appeared before him.

Unaware of what had happened the night before in Kaduruk’s tribe, Petalus was greatly alarmed. In their original plan, the Senate wouldn’t confirm their disappearance until at least today, and wouldn’t send anyone to search the tribes until tomorrow or the day after. By then, they would have been fully prepared, taking advantage of the Syracusan army pressing on the border and the depleted forces within Daonia to effectively maneuver against the Daonians in Bruttii. But the Daonian army had arrived so swiftly, completely catching him off guard. The faint worry from last night had become a reality.

Petalus hastily sent men out to argue with the commanding general, hoping to buy time.

But Hieronymus paid no attention. He directly led the army into the tribal settlement to capture Petalus.

A panicked Petalus ordered his tribesmen to block the advance while he himself quietly tried to ride away on horseback.

The hastily assembled force crumbled at Hieronymus’s first assault, and then he relentlessly pursued Petalus.

In the end, Petalus’s horse was struck by an arrow, throwing him off, and Hieronymus captured him.

Hieronymus bound Petalus and nearly a thousand of his resisting tribesmen with ropes, stringing them into several long lines, and drove them with spears past various tribal settlements. Every tribal chief who witnessed this scene was tense with fear, their legs trembling.