Volume 6: The Meeting of Two Heroes, Chapter 112: Doubts About Laos

“Got it.” Henipolis cheerfully left the room.

Davos watched him go with a warm smile. Henipolis had been living in his house for several years now. Though he was high-spirited and a bit impulsive, he was honest and unpretentious, which endeared him to Davos’s family. Davos regarded him as a younger brother, so he didn’t want Henipolis to know about what came next.

The company commander responsible for defending Lao River Fortress was called in.

“If I recall, your name is Tagros, isn’t it?” Davos said in a kindly tone.

The originally nervous company commander hadn’t expected that Davos—the lifelong magistrate of Daonia, revered by the soldiers, and supreme commander of the army—would still remember the name he had given when reporting to him upon his first arrival at Lao River Fortress just over ten days ago.

“Yes, Lord Commander!” he replied excitedly.

“If I remember correctly, you’re from Grumentum. Are you still with your tribe, or have you broken away?” Davos continued, gesturing for him to sit.

“I’ve already broken away. I only need to work for my own household.” Tagros straightened his back and answered in fairly fluent Greek. Over the past year, a popular belief had spread across Lucania: only Lucanians who had gained independence were true citizens of Daonia, possessing real freedom! In the previous war, many tribes in Lucania (except for Potentia and Garagusus) had been destroyed or weakened, leaving the remnants isolated and heavily dependent on the Alliance. They could only passively watch their clansmen leave the tribes en masse, unable to react with anything like the fierce resistance shown by the Bruttian leaders.

“It seems you already have a family. Do you have children? How is your life going?” Davos began to chat casually about everyday matters.

Tagros was a bit surprised but also felt a sense of closeness: “May Acipirus bless me, I already have two children, both boys, and both very healthy! … At first, Lord Bacule allotted me five acres of land, but they were all in the hills, not suitable for growing wheat. The Agricultural Affairs Officer suggested I plant apple trees, and I followed his advice. This year the trees have grown tall, and they say they’ll bear fruit next year. Then I can sell the apples in the city. They also say the apples fetch a higher price in Thurii, but it takes several days to walk there…

The year before last, I took out a loan from the city’s bank, bought twenty lambs and two cows, and now the herd has doubled. This summer, I sold six sheep and one cow to a restaurant in the city. I not only repaid the loan but also had thirty drachmas left over. I’ve decided to buy more cattle and sheep next year, hoping I can one day drive hundreds of head up the mountain every day… Lord, you might laugh, but that’s my dream. In the old days, only a tribe would have that many cattle and sheep…”

“Haha, that’s quite an ambition!” Davos clapped his hands and laughed, then asked with concern: “You’re on duty here at Lao River Fortress. Who takes care of things at home?”

“My wife is a capable woman. She can look after the children and the fruit trees. I also took out a bank loan and bought a Thracian slave to help herd the cattle and sheep. When things get busy, the neighbors come to help. Lord, a village has already grown up where I live…”

Davos listened and then said seriously: “Garrisoning Lao River Fortress, far from the city and your home, means a monotonous daily life and long periods away from your family… Originally, this toughest assignment was given to registered, trained freemen and preparatory citizens, serving as an important task to shorten their probation period for citizenship. But before the war broke out, I proposed replacing them with true citizen soldiers to garrison this place. Do you have any complaints?”

“Lord… well, to be honest, a little,” Tagros hesitated and then answered truthfully.

“Because you’ve undergone stricter training. You are citizens of Daonia. When danger comes, you will defend this fortress at all costs to keep your homeland from being trampled! And Lao River Fortress is the only land route connecting Lucania and Thurii. It’s a narrow space where troops cannot deploy. If the enemy takes it, they will cut off communication between Thurii and Lucania. That’s a great danger!” Davos said gravely.

“Lord, do you mean… someone is going to attack here?!” Tagros’s eyes widened in shock.

After all, Lao River Fortress was now deep within the Daonia Alliance’s hinterland. Normally, aside from inspecting passing merchants and travelers and providing them with simple lodging, there was nothing else to do. A senator had once proposed in council to ‘abolish Lao River Fortress and turn it into a relay station,’ but Davos had overruled the suggestion.

“In wartime, danger can emerge at any moment, and it often comes from the shadows… From now on, you must stay alert. Do not allow any merchant caravans or travelers to stop or lodge inside the fortress or outside its walls. Do not allow any troops without a warrant from the Ministry of Military Affairs to enter or pass through Lao River Fortress. Do you understand?” Davos reiterated solemnly.

“Understood, Lord Commander!” Tagros rose and saluted.

“Tagros, you’re not yet a regular legionary, are you?”

“No, Lord, I’m only a reserve soldier. My tribe joined the Alliance too late, and there are too many Lucanians signing up for the Third Army Corps.” Tagros said with slight dejection.

“I hope that after this war, I will see your name on the merit roll of the Third Army Corps!” Davos encouraged him earnestly. “Also, if the enemy attacks Lao River Fortress, don’t fight alone. Be sure to notify Lord Hemon in Nerulum in time, so you can receive his aid. Understand?”

“Yes, Lord!” Tagros saluted again, excitement rising. Though he didn’t know where the enemy might come from, he no longer felt dejected about being sent to this remote place. He made a loud promise: “Lord, rest assured! I will hold Lao River Fortress until the war is over!”

Davos nodded. After Tagros left, he rose and walked to the south-facing window, looking outward.

From here, he could not see Laüs at the mouth of the Lao River, so Davos could only speculate what Achradamas—that man who wielded the power of an archon without the title—might be doing at this moment.

Ever since Achradamas had twice broken his usual pattern and failed to come to Lao River Fortress to welcome the Daonian army, and since the troops he had dispatched to Henipolis were all units loyal to Avinogis, combined with the intelligence report Davos had received at Nerulum—‘Syracusans may have been spotted inside Laüs’—a nagging premonition had taken hold of him. Now that Daonia was at a disadvantage and facing danger, what choice would this man make—the same man who, years ago, had gone alone east to Thurii and helped Avinogis seize back Laüs?

Davos could only wait quietly, but he had taken Henipolis away with him, preparing for both eventualities.

…

Just as Davos led his army from Lao River Fortress into the mountains and began his march back to Thurii, Dionysius had already led 90,000 troops to the banks of the Tacchinardi River. (This great army included Dionysius’s own 70,000 Sicilian soldiers, plus troops from Locri, Hipponion, and Caulonia, which had just joined Syracuse’s side.) They pitched camp on both banks of the Tacchinardi River.

The camps stretched for over ten li, with thousands of tents covering the southern part of the Croton Plain and the lower reaches of the Tacchinardi. Syracuse’s engineers also directed more than 4,000 Caulonian soldiers and Scylletian slaves to build a simple dock at the mouth of the Tacchinardi River, allowing grain and supplies to be transported by sea to the main camp, greatly facilitating logistics.

While the army was busy setting up camp, Dionysius led his generals to the city of Croton to inspect its defenses.

At the suggestion of Daonia’s ballista officers, Croton had already set up abatis on both sides of its moat and had begun laying traps, but the arrival of Syracuse’s great army had been too swift for them to finish. This was the second time in five years that an enemy army had appeared before Croton’s walls. The panic among the Crotoniate citizens was even greater than the last time. From atop the city wall, looking west, one could see the endless expanse of white tents merging with the skyline in the far distance.

Lysias, Sisprontis, Ascamas, and all the Crotoniate Council members and soldiers on the wall stared intently at the violent Sicilian tyrant surrounded by several hundred cavalry in the center below the city. Their angry gazes were tinged with fear.

But Dionysius treated the people on the wall as if they were invisible. He strolled along as casually as if taking a walk, occasionally exchanging observations with those beside him.

“Look, Croton’s wall must be at least ten meters high, all built of large stone blocks. Add the moat and abatis outside, and the city is huge. They have enough men to defend it. I think taking this city will be extremely difficult!” Phoebidas said bluntly, discouraging the allies. To tell the truth, the Spartans were terrifying in open battle, but they had little success in siege warfare. In all their past wars, they had never captured a large city, or even many small ones. In the recent Peloponnesian War, which had dragged on for decades, the Spartan-led alliance had camped outside Athens for years, ravaging the Attic peninsula into a wasteland, yet they never managed to scale the Athenian walls. So one of the first things they did after the war was to force the Athenians to tear down those walls.

“If we can’t even take Croton, then Asperustum is even narrower and harder to deploy troops, so we definitely can’t take that either. Why did we even bring an army here?! Just to besiege them?!” Astagoras sneered, clearly disgusted by this arrogant Spartan.