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Chapter 674: Declaring war on Theonia? (I)
After arriving near the centre of the battlefield, wounded soldiers and corpses filled Litom’s sight and the closer he got to the centre, the more corpses they were, which showed how terrible the battle was. In the very centre stood more than twenty Theonian legionaries, all covered with wounds and blood, looking gruesome. They even had some difficulty standing and had to help each other.
But when Litom came near them, they still tried to give their salute, “Reporting to the legatus: The first Centuria of the Fourth Brigade of the Third Legion has completed our mission of blocking the enemy!”
After returning their salute, Litom solemnly said in a somewhat choked voice, “You have done well! Without your effort, this victory would not have been possible!”
When he said that, he stepped forward and supported the faltering Tagru, grabbed his right hand and raised it high, “You, Tagru, held off Laos’ attack with a small number of troops in the Lao Fortress more than a decade ago! Today, you had once again blocked the attack of several thousand Samnite warriors with just a centuria. You are really deserving to be called the iron wall!”
“Wonderful! Excellent!! Amazing!!!…” the soldiers around cheered in unison.
Amidst the cheering, Tagru and his soldiers still tried to straighten their chests. And since then, Tagru began to be known as the ‘Iron Wall’.
The Campanian league strategoi, such as Aeolus, who had come together with Litom, had never seen such a fierce battlefield, let alone such a terrifying army that wouldn’t retreat even in the face of an enemy far outnumbering them. And this battle was simply a replica of the rumoured Battle of the Great Riverbank!
These strategoi could only feel shocked in their hearts, ‘That explains why the Theonian could defeat Syracuse and become the hegemon of the western Mediterranean!’
Then the medical camp rushed over to search for surviving soldiers among the corpses.
After a while, the senior centurion of the Theonian cavalry came to report, “Legatus Litom, we managed to capture Segobani, the great chieftain of the Caudini!”
That didn’t surprise Litom. On the contrary, he felt that it was a miracle for him to be able to escape the Third Legion and its allies’ tight encirclement.
Rather, it was the Theonian envoy following Litom, Carias, that asked impatiently, “Where is he?!”
“Bring him here!” The cavalry’s senior centurion turned around and shouted at his men with some pride. With that, the soldiers pushed the dust-covered, limping Segobani.
While escaping, a Theonian cavalry knocked Segobani down, injuring his right foot. On the other hand, Segobani’s escort scattered in various directions. Seeing that he couldn’t escape, he surrendered and became a prisoner.
“Chieftain Segobani, I didn’t expect we would meet under such circumstances.”
Hearing a familiar voice, Segobani turned his head and saw Carias with ridicule on his expression.
“Theonians! You have breached our treaty and silently attacked your allies, us, the Caudini! Do you truly wish to wage war with our Samnite union?!” Segobani roared.
“Who the hell broke the treaty first?! It was you, Caudini, who first broke the treaty, and the bodies of hundreds of Campanian citizens in Atella are evidence of your crime! We, Theonians, are just following our sacred oath by sending troops to protect the lives and property of the Campanians in the Campanian league as a response to our loyal ally’s request! If you, Caudini, didn’t violate the treaty by invading the Campanian league’s territory, how could we fought?!!…” Carias shouted repeatedly.
That made Segobani tongue-tied, yet he continued to shout, “Release my warriors and me now, and I will persuade my fellow Samnites to settle this conflict peacefully! Otherwise, the entire Samnite union will gather all its warriors and form a large army to invade your territory!…”
After hearing that, Carias wanted to say more, but Litom shouted, “Let them come! Our Third Legion is more worried that we won’t have someone to fight!”
After he looked at the downcast Segobani, Carias soon lost his fury from the humiliation he received in Caudium. After thinking for a while, he said, “I wonder how his majesty will respond to this war?”
“It would be best if his majesty ordered us to capture Rola, Suessula and Capua!” Litom said with confidence.
Then they both looked at each other and laughed.
In this battle, Segobani led more than five thousand Caudini warriors plus other tribal warriors to invade the Campanian league’s territory, totalling more than twelve thousand men. While Theonia’s Third Legion, together with half of Theonia’s Second Cavalry Legion and the Campanian league army, totalled to about twenty thousand men, defeated most of the invading Caudini, especially since they almost surrounded and wiped out the main force led by Segobani.
However, this battle dealt a heavy blow to the Caudini, shocking the Samnite region. After cleaning up the battlefield, the Caudini suffered more than three thousand casualties, with more than two thousand captured, while the number of Caudini warriors that managed to flee back to the mountains remained unknown. In contrast, the allied army of Theonia and Campania paid the price for this victory, with a total of more than 1,500 casualties, including almost all of the First Centuria of the Fourth Brigade of Theonia’s Third Legion. In addition, the Second Cavalry Legion also paid a considerable amount of casualties while they were stalling the enemies’ retreat.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
In the Carthaginian Senate, the elders began heatedly debating the news Rome had sent.
“Esteemed elders, we can no longer back down! A year ago, our concessions caused the Tanikian tribe, who are close to us, their end and allowed the Theonians to take complete control of the Sikeloi region. Moreover, the wealth we had given as support went to waste! And now, the greedy Theonians began targeting Rome, our ally in central Italia. But we can no longer just stand and watch the Theonians conquer Rome and then successfully occupy the whole of Italia! By then, which country would be able to stop Theonia with its vast territory?! And would such a powerful Theonian kingdom still be willing to live peacefully with us, Carthage?!…” Pretasdrubal, the head of the Magonid faction in the Senate, waved his arms in incitement and shouted.
His passionate words soon touch some elders.
Eshoumodon then stood up and said calmly, “Calm down, Pretasdrubal! You are too agitated. I remember the report only mentioning that the Theonian envoy hoped Rome would stop their attack on Volsci and had no intention of going to war with them. Since Rome had annexed too much land over the years, this would be the best time for them to take their time and properly straighten out their internal affairs, such as the fierce conflict between the nobles and the plebeians that made the people refuse to elect a consul for many years in a row. If this continues, Rome’s problem would only worsen.”
“Eshoumodon, it seems you are really confused!” Sikaradon, another Magonid elder, stood up and accused, “Is the reason for us spending so much money and supplies on Rome every year so Rome can become a prosperous city-state?! No! We did that to make Rome become a powerful force in central Italia so that they could stop the Theonians’ expansion to the north! With the Volscians suffering a crushing defeat, this would be an excellent time for Rome to conquer them and grow in strength. But if Rome stopped their attack and consolidated its power, it would give the Volscians time to breathe.
And now that Theonia had become aware of the danger of Rome, they would do their best to help Volsci and might even unite the other forces that opposed Rome to grow their influence in central Italia. And with Theonia’s support, these races would constantly work together against Rome, eventually leading to Theonia conquering Rome, just like what they did to the Tanikian tribe!
That’s not what any of the wise elders here would want to see! Nor is it at all in Carthage’s interest! Thus we must give the Romans our full support and make them reject Theonia’s proposal!”
“Sikaradon, if we kept on fully supporting Rome, it would mean they would continue attacking Volsci. And that would ultimately lead to an early war between Rome and Theonia!” the shophet Palteshmoun stood up and asked loudly, resulting in a commotion in the meeting hall.
“Yes, that would likely happen.” Sikaradon calmly answered.
Then another commotion arose in the meeting room.
“Rome alone won’t be able to compete with Theonia. At that time, as Rome’s ally, should Carthage join the war?!” Palteshmoun questioned.
Pretasdrubal said firmly, “Whether it is to keep our oath by fulfilling the military alliance agreement or protecting Carthage’s interests, we must declare war on Theonia!”
The elders were in an uproar as arguments rang out in the meeting hall.
“Didn’t we already consider Theonia as enemies in our hearts after agreeing to support the Tanikian tribe and Rome in hopes they could restrain Theonia’s expansion?! Do you still have the illusion that Theonia, which had wiped out one race and force after another and became immensely powerful, continues to live peacefully with us?!” Pretasdrubal’s loud question made the somewhat noisy meeting room turn much quieter.
“Declare war on Theonia?! Have you forgotten that we had just sent troops to Cirta a few months ago to calm the rebellion in Numidia and still haven’t settled it completely?!” Palteshmoun shouted.
“Theonia is also suffering from rebellions, such as the Messapians, Peucetians and the Daunians…which are a lot more than us, but that didn’t stop them from continuing to wage war and conquer other forces!” Then, with a look of anger, Pretasdrubal exclaimed, “What the Theonians can do; we Carthaginians, who had ruled this land for so long, should be able to do it even more!”
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