Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

“You mean that there is a possibility of another riot in Consentia?” Davos asked immediately.

“This…it's hard to say.” After thinking about it, Hegesitus cautiously said, “I heard that in order to prevent these tribal chieftains from staying in the city and causing trouble to the union, he has specially asked them to lead their former tribesmen to join the battle. And when I led the rebel tribes here today, I didn't hear anything unusual happening in Consentia.”

Davos pondered for a moment and said, “Hegesitus, thank you for your contributions to Theonia! Next time I ask about the situation in the Bruttii region, I will once again trouble you. Anyway, don't keep those tribal chieftains waiting outside the camp gates. You can bring them all in.”

Hegesitus then emotionally said, “Archon, without you and Theonia's protection, my people and I couldn't get our revenge and would have starved to death in the mountains. For Theonia, we are willing to do anything!”

Davos nodded, turned around and said, “Martius, go with him and bring those tribal chieftains in. In addition -” Davos whispered to him, “Make sure you take these people to pass through the place where the great chieftain of Vergae could see.”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Sedrum was shocked from seeing the tribal chieftains, who should have been in Consentia, in Theonia's camp.

And Davos warmly received these uneasy Bruttian chieftains and made a solemn promise to them that as long as they join Theonia, Theonia will not interfere in their management of their tribe and would even give priority in choosing good settlements and pastures.

He even opened the map of Theonia and told them that they could choose not only the lands in the Bruttii region but also the other vacant lands in Theonia Union.

The chieftains took a piece of mind. Afterwards, they happily set up their tents next to Theonia's camp, ready to help Theonia overthrow the oppressive Bruttii Tribal Union so that they could obtain the land promised by Theonia as soon as possible.

When Davos saw them off, a new idea came to his mind. He then called Kapus and asked him to divide more than five thousand captives into a centuria of 200 men according to their tribes. The captives will then elect a centurion, platoon captain…and so on. He also told Kapus to ensure that the captives would not escape and resist while also giving these newly elected centurions prestige among the captives under their jurisdiction, such as the right to distribute food, labour and the right to punish their subordinates…

In Davos' plan, Thurii would be the centre of the Theonia City-State Union, and the Bruttii region, which is very close to Thurii, would become a core area of Theonia. However, Davos was very clear that the biggest difference between the Bruttians and the Lucanians is that there are no big tribes in the Lucanian area in Theonia's territory. However, according to the current situation, there are likely to be several large Bruttians tribes after conquering Bruttii, which will be an unstable factor for Theonia's rule of Bruttii in the future, and would also increase the difficulty in governing the Bruttii region.

That's why Davos' main strategy for it was to dismember it and turn the larger tribes into smaller tribes, And his approach on these more than five thousand captives was to prepare in advance…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Just as Davos started planning for conquering the Bruttii region, Consentia is not as what Hegesitus had said that there is no strange thing happening. On the contrary, it is rather erratic…

Kaduk, another chieftain of Consentia, whose tribe's strength is comparable to Petaru's tribe. However, after Petaru became the son-in-law of Pian, things have changed. In the process of merging and annexing the small tribes, Petaru's tribe, which Pian supported, gained many benefits, strengthening their tribal strength rapidly. Besides, after his tribe became the second largest tribe in Consentia and even in the whole Bruttii region, he had also entered the newly established highest authority of the Bruttii Tribal Union, the Seven Council of Elder.

In this regard, Kaduk became angry and dissatisfied with Pian's unfairness. However, the strength of Pian and Petaru's tribe made him pretend to smile and be obedient. This time, when Pian led the largest army in Bruttii's history to fight the Theonians, he had instead left him to guard Consentia, without having any choice but to accept.

Even though he became the temporary owner of Consentia, Kaduk has no absolute power, and he knew that Phitara, the high priest whom he secretly mocked as ‘Pian's dog’ is staring at him. Knowing that once he did something, Phitara can make half of his two thousand warriors disobey his command, while the other half is, of course, his own people.

With the army is out, Consentia had become mostly empty, and the official affairs were greatly reduced. Thus Kaduk spent most of the day bored in the Alliance Hall until the guards came to report the defeat of the Bruttii Union and the defeated warriors entering the city one after another.

Although they have discussed the possibility of defeat before the battle, Kaduk was still shocked.

He rushed to the eastern gate, and he could not believe the sight before him. The city's gate was filled with ragged and exhausted defeated warriors, without helmets, shields and spears, some of whom were even naked and covered in mud. They hastily scramble into the city while looking back. At the first sign of disturbance, they panicked, pushed and squeezed wildly that some of them were even pushed out of the moat and screamed. Once they enter the city, they would immediately lie down on the ground and soon fall asleep…

Kadus had been on the battlefield for a long time and had even suffered some defeat. But he has never seen such a tragic sight before. He couldn't help but feel shocked, so he immediately mobilised his men to the gate to maintain order and rescue the wounded…

It wasn't long before he saw Pian. The great chieftain of Consentia didn't return as when he had left for war, his eyes and expression were dull, and his hands were clasping around the horse's neck. The horse had obviously exhausted its strength to the extreme. It moved forward bit by bit, with every step becoming difficult. Suddenly, it fell on its knees and threw Pian to the ground…

The accompanying guards rushed up to help Pian, who had been tossed on the horse for more than an hour was also physically and mentally exhausted, and his hands and feet became weak that he could only barely stood up even with the help of the guards. When he saw Kaduk, he weakly said, “…be careful…be careful of the enemy…the enemy's surprise attack…” Then he was carried into the city by the guards.

Seeing Pian in such a sorry state, a gloating cheerful mood surface in Kaduk's nervous heart, and this mood reached its peak after seeing Petaru.

Petaru, who was twenty years younger than Pian, faired much better than his father-in-law physically, but in spirit, it is obvious that the fierce pursuit of the Theonian cavalry scared him so much that when he entered the city, his mind became lost, shouting uncontrollably in front of the numerous defeated warriors, “The enemy is coming after us! The enemy is coming after us! Close the gates! Close the gates!…” Which almost caused great chaos.

It took Kaduk a great deal of effort to bring order to the place, mentally cursing Petaru for being a fool while also fearing the Theonians that he had not yet encountered.

That night, Kaduk remained on high alert.

The defeated warriors fled back to the city one after another, and the people of Consentia cried all night after learning the bad news, causing the whole city to be shrouded with restlessness throughout the night…

In the early morning of the following day, many warriors managed to flee back to the city.

In the Hall, Pian, who has regained his strength, manage to temporarily step out of the shadow of yesterday's tragic defeat, now looking serious.

Until now, only more than two thousand warriors belonging to him and Petaru's tribe have escaped, while only more than seven hundred warriors from Anbania and about a thousand warriors from Vergae. And the ones whose warriors have returned the largest are the ones from the smaller tribes, with a total of more than four thousand. What does that mean? It means that as the first and second-largest tribe of Bruttii, about eight thousand men were either killed or captured by the Theonians! Such a huge number not only made him and Petaru distressed but also made the other tribesmen find reasons to criticise them, threatening their rule in the tribe.

More importantly, the Bruttii Tribal Union is likely to face disintegration, because Pian who loses his power, has also lost his influence and appeal in the union. Just a moment ago, Anbania's great chieftain, Bodiam, rejected Pian's repeated appeal to remain and led his remaining tribesmen to leave Consentia.

Despite what Pian said is correct, “Anbania is too crude to resist the attack of the Theonians. It's better for you to move the Anbanians to Consentia for the time being and fight side by side…”

However, Bodiam solemnly replied, “The Anbanians have lived in Anbania for generations. We will not abandon our land even if we die, and we rather sprinkle our blood there!”

The departure of the Anbanians affected the Vergaeans, who had lost their great chieftain and clamoured to go home as well. In the end, Pian managed to convince them to stay and promised to do his best in saving Sedrum.

The Vergaeans were only a minor problem. On the contrary, the biggest problem is that after Pian returned to Consentia last night, he quickly fell asleep due to the dual impact of mental and physical exhaustion, making him forget to make some arrangements for the other tribal chieftains.

As a result, after fleeing back to Consentia, these tribal chieftains did not return to their residence inside Consentia but hid in their previous settlement outside the city.

One night later, Pian noticed his great mistake, so he hurriedly sent his men with a team of warriors to urge those tribes to return.

But the thing he fears the most happened. The warriors were driven out and reported to him with a bruised and swollen face, “Great chieftain, chieftain Tagali refused to go back, and he even threatened to lead his tribes out of Consentia!”