Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Asesias coughed a few times and continued, “…about 12 kilometres to the east of the Syracusan camp is the city of Scylletium. There are many mountains in this direction, but generally speaking, the terrain is relatively flat. Therefore, although the Syracusans stayed in their camp today, their mercenaries had gone to destroy our farms and pasture, burn our villages and houses, and killed dozens of our scouts…”

“How many soldiers are there in Syracuse's camp?”

“According to our observation these past two days, I fear that they have more than 50,000 men!” Asesias answered.

‘50,000 men!’ Ascamas thought for a moment and turned to ask, “Lord Philesius, how many enemies did you encounter in Caulonia?”

“No less than 40,000.” Replied Philesius.

“If we were to include the troops of Medma and Hipponion, the number of troops Syracusan had sent to attack our South Italia Alliance this time should exceed-” Ascamas then spat our a number with a grave expression, “100,000!”

Hearing this figure, everyone presently became startled. After all, this is the largest army in the history of the whole Greek world, not only in Magna Graecia but also in the Mediterranean!

“Even if we add the soldiers in Terina, our South Italian Alliance's troops is only about 60,000.” Phrytinas sighed, “Unfortunately, Rhegium is separated in the south and could not join us while the enemy is sieging Caulonia. But most importantly-”

Phrytinas glanced at Philesius and Ansitanos, then he said with regret, “Is that Lord Davos is leading the main force of Theonia in Lucania. If only everyone gathered in Scylletium, we wouldn't need to fear Syracuse, even if they have 100,000 men!”

“We thought things too simple when making our plan that we only thought about the good part. But after we implemented it, we found that there were so many problems.” Ansitanos said to relieve the blame for Theonia and the high-ranking officials of their allies who were involved in the discussion, “Unexpected things happened so suddenly that made us unprepared! I fear that Dionysius had long prepared for this invasion.”

Ansitanos' words were a bit more grave than those of the others, destroying the other's intention. Ascamas snorted and was about to speak when Athopias asked first, “When will Lord Davos lead the army back?”

“We haven't received any message yet. However, Lord Davos has never lost, so I believe that he will soon be able to repel the savage and uncivilised Samnites and quickly come to join us.” Said Ansitanos to comfort them.

Philesius took over the conversation, “Thus we should focus on reinforcing our camp outside the city of Scylletium and mutually help each other in keeping up the defence, dragging down the Syracusan army until Lord Davos return with the army back. Afterwards, we will have a decisive battle with Syracuse!”

Ascamas sneered, “Listening to you all saying ‘Lord Davos, Lord Davos’, couldn’t the other strategoi of our South Italian Alliance command a battle without Davos?!”

Philesius' expression changed. Ansitanos frowned while Asesias looked a bit uneasy.

Ascamas looked at Philesius with disdain and said, “I would ask you this. How many days it would take to get from Thurii to Potentia?”

“It's about five to six days if we are taking the most convenient road.” Philesius answered truthfully despite his anger at what Ascamas had just said.

“That's to say, in terms of days, perhaps Davos has just led his army to Potentia. So again, how many days will it take to get here from Potentia?”

“About nine to ten days.”

“So it's ten days, without counting the days needed to defeat the Samnites. Although we Crotonians have never dealt with the Samnites, since they are barbarians living in the mountains, their combat methods are likely to be similar to those of the Bruttians. Those mountain races rarely fight head-on. They are like wolves who like to hide and make sneak attacks, making it difficult to repel them through a decisive battle. Thus it is impossible for him to end the war fast! Commander Philesius, I know there are many Bruttians in your legion, so you should know this better than me!” The sarcasm in Ascamas' tone became stronger, “Even if Davos has an amazing, commanding ability and could come to Scylletium in twenty days…which is already the shortest time I can give! But in these twenty days, do you think the more than 40,000 enemies who you fought before may attack and occupy Caulonia?! I heard that the Syracusans have a kind of siege equipment called the ballista where they have used it to capture several Carthaginian cities during their war with Carthage…”

Philesius' expression changed again. After defeating Syracuse's invading troops, they managed to capture Syracusan ballista. From what the ballista captain said, their ballista was very similar to Theonia’s ballista. Although it was not as good in terms of angle and accuracy, it exceeded the Theonian ballista in terms of raw power. After all, the Syracusan ballista is bigger than Theonia's siege ballista, so the stones they use will naturally be bigger. Thinking of Phlarinus, who was full of confidence in guarding the city when they departed, Philesius became so upset that he remained quiet.

Ascamas stared at him and continued, “If the combined army of Syracuse and Locri captured Caulonia with a ballista and rushed here to join up with Dionysius, they would only need to divide a small half of their force to besiege Terina while we wouldn't even have a way to stop them. So how many days do you think can Terina hold on?”

Athopias became ghastly pale.

“So if Lord Davos were to really lead his troops here, I fear that even the outside of Scylletium will already become ruins.” Ascamas' next words made Phrytinas and Asesias unable to sit still.

After looking at each other and reaching an agreement, Asesias slapped the wooden table, stood up and loudly said, “Everyone, we could no longer wait! We should take advantage of the fact that the two armies of Syracuse have not yet joined up and attacked the Syracusan army here first!”

Philesius frowned and asked, “Attack? How?! Do you want to attack the Syracusan camp?!!”

“The following afternoon! From what the soldiers who retreated from the Corta river said, ‘They have seen a large Syracusan flag standing behind the Syracusans who were crossing the river.’ which means that the tyrant of Syracuse, Dionysius, should be in this army. Therefore, we will give him a war letter in accordance with our ancient tradition and invite him to a battle between the two armies. And with that tyrannical dictator claiming to be the ‘Lord of Sicily’…he should not…should not allow himself to show fear in front of his men and not fight. Otherwise, those Greeks under his tyrannical rule will see through his cowardice and weakness!” Said Asesias, feeling uncertain.

“This is a great idea! We, the people of Terina, will do our best to send more soldiers to join up with you. In this way, the number of the South Italian army will greatly exceed the number of Syracusan soldiers here!” At this moment, Athopias also took the initiative and gave his pledge.

“Still, Dionysius would likely refuse when there is a difference in his strength.” Philesius reminded.

“If the Syracusan does not come out, then we will attack their camp!” Ascamas interjected. Then he continued, “I have observed their camps. The camps they built are far less sturdy than you, Theonians, and aren't your legion is also equipped with ballista?! Hence we would just bombard the Syracusan camp until these timid Syracusans come out to fight!” As Theonia's neighbour, Crotone paid more attention to Theonia's army.

“That's right. We will do what Lord Ascamas said!” Asesias replied excitedly.

“Lord Philesius, what do you think?” Phrytinas' question made everyone turn to Philesius.

In their expectant gaze, Philesius felt like sitting on pins and needles. However, he couldn't answer.

Seeing that everyone becoming impatient, Ansitanos stood up and said, “Everyone, kindly allow me to have a few words with Lord Philesius alone.”

Then they walked out of the meeting place.

Ansitanos brushed away the dust on the stairs, sat down and asked Philesius to also sit down.

Philesius became a bit flattered. Even though he was standing in a high position in the Theonia Union for several years, facing a great scholar like Ansitanos alone made Philesius, who was just a mercenary, feel his inferiority.

“Lord Philesius.” Ansitanos didn't notice his expression as he was staring straight at the square as he calmly asked, “Are you going to stick to the defence tactics that Lord Davos planned?”

Philesius hesitated and replied, “Yes. The battle plan that Ascamas and Asesias made is too risky. Once they fail, the consequences are unimaginable! Whether it is the number and ability of the soldiers or the commanding capability of the officers, the most secure tactic to beat the Syracusans is for us to stick to the camp and wait for Lord Davos to lead the army back to Magna Graecia, then fight Syracuse!”

“The safest tactic? I fear that no one in the room would think so.” Ansitanos sighed, “Humans – when danger comes, they will always want to remove it as soon as possible instead of calming down to think about a long-term plan…now that the war has reached the land of our allies, and their homes are facing great danger…our delaying tactics will only make them doubt and make them angry at us, as they will think that we Theonians are selfish that would allow their homes to be occupied and their people to be killed without taking any action!… If we were to delay, the image that Theonia has been trying to establish in the South Italia Alliance over the past few years would be in vain, and we will lose the trust of the people of these city-states, which is unfavourable to Theonia's future development!”

“Do we put our soldiers in danger in order to win their trust?!” Asked Philesius.

“Is there no possibility of victory by following their plan?” Ansitanos looked at him.