Chapter 672: Battle Against Caudini (III)

"There's no need for us to rush to Atella. Let the Caudini take Atella if they wanted it." A voice suddenly sounded in the main tent.

When the Campanian league strategoi heard that, they immediately became angry. But after turning to look at the one who said that and saw the strategos sitting beside Litom, wearing black armour and holding a helmet with a purple plume, they immediately realise that this man isn't lower than Litom in the Theonian army, making them swallow back their swearing.

"It seems that this man's name is Phryn...tor." Aeolus vaguely remembered the man Litom had introduced to them before. But since this man had been sitting quietly, remaining unnoticeable, Aeolus couldn't remember his name for a moment.

Although he had opposed Litom's plan, Litom didn't get angry. Instead, he earnestly asked the man, "Phryntor, what's your opinion?"

Phryntor, from the mountain reconnaissance brigade led by Izam, had contributed a lot to the Third Legion's capture of Aprustum more than a decade ago. He again played another scheme of his in Davos' war against the Samnites' invasion in Potentia, triggering a camp's uproar in the Samnites' camp that led to their disastrous defeat. After that, Davos asked him to help the Third Legion to attack the Samnites' territory to the north, allowing the Third Legion to capture many Hirpini territories, such as Compsa and Irna. And it was during that time that the senior centurion of the first brigade of the Third Legion, Litom, had met Phryntor.

After the war in Magna Graecia, Theonia established the Army Staff of the Ministry of Military under Davos' suggestion. Davos then assigned Phryntor as a staff officer of the Army Staff. Soon after, he became one of the big three in the Army Staff. There was also a running joke that described the big three of the Army Staff and their role, 'Philesius had a sore hip from always sitting down, Tolmides had injured legs from always running around, and Phryntor had an exhausted brain due to having to think too much.'

Phryntor then looked at everyone and said slowly, "Our greatest trouble against the Caudini's invasion is that they move quickly, making it difficult for us to catch them. But now that they are attacking Atella, it is equivalent to them voluntarily giving up their advantage and allowing us to surround and wipe them out. Moreover, since they have such a large army, it must mean their great chieftain is leading them. Thus, wiping and capturing this army would completely solve our problem regarding the Caudini's frequent invasion of Campania."

Almost everyone in the tent became excited hearing Phryntor's words. However, a strategos from Pozzuoli hesitantly said, "But if we let the Caudini, who are somewhat experienced in defending a city, occupy Atella...and if we fail to capture back Atella immediately, the other Caudini tribes, or even the Hirpini and Pentri might come to their rescue, which will be even worse!..."

The reason the Caudini dared to take this small town deep into the Campanian league territory twenty years ago was that they were confident of defending it. That became evident after the subsequent attacks of the Campanian league ended up in failure. Hence the strategos worried that they would end up failing again.

Aeolus clarified, even without Phryntor's explanation, "There's no need to worry about that. Our ally, Theonia, is so strong in siege battles that they could easily take Atella even if the Caudini defend it!"

'That's right! The Campanian league now has the support of Theonia!!' Everyone suddenly became even more confident as they thought back to what they had heard about the towns Theonia had forcibly captured in their conquest of Apulia.

However, Litom whispered to Phryntor in a slightly worried tone, "His majesty just wants us to repel the Caudini's invasion; wouldn't that result in a bigger war?! At that time, his majesty-"

Phryntor hesitated for a moment before saying with determination, "Don't worry. Once we wiped out Caudini's main force, they wouldn't have the strength to continue the war even if they wanted to. At that time, they could only listen to us!"

After hearing that, Litom's worries immediately disappeared. He then said to everyone in high spirits, "We must immediately make a plan to eliminate the enemy!"

After saying that, he leaned over the table, pointed to the map that the army staff had marked in detail and said, "Currently, the Third Legion's First, Second and Third brigades, as well as the light-armoured soldiers, light infantry and some of your troops are blocking the Caudini from Capua and Suessula in the northeast of Neapolis. While the Third Legion's Fifth, Sixth and Fourth brigades and another part of your army are on the southeast of Neapolis, stopping the Samnites from coming out of Rola. So now, we must immediately dispatch our mounted scouts to inform them that after suppressing the enemy, they should immediately head to the east, north and south of Atella to cut off the enemy's retreat! At the same time, we will gather all the remaining soldiers in the camp, head towards the southern side of Atella and finally close in on the enemy!"

"There's another thing we need to pay attention to!" Phryntor warned, "The enemy will probably abandon Atella and flee back to the mountains once they find out that our Third Legion is involved in this battle."

Litom thought about it and immediately said, "Then we shall inform the Second Cavalry Legion and the cavalry of your Campanian league to rush to the east of Atella as fast as possible. Once they find the enemy escaping, they must do their best to slow their retreat until our other troops arrive and destroy them!"

Although they all began giving suggestions to improve the plan, none paid too much attention to the lives of the thousands of people in Atella. After all, the strategoi of the Campanian league just wanted to deal with the Caudinis thoroughly through this war.

Soon, many mounted scouts rode out of the camp and galloped in all directions.

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

After half an hour of fighting, Segobani's troops attacked the top of the wall and then rushed into the town to wipe out the enemies.

Just as Segobani started getting pleased with his plan's success, a scout hurriedly returned to him and reported that the Greeks defeated the several Caudini tribes plundering near Atella. Moreover, among the soldiers pursuing them were several heavy infantry in black helmets and black armour capable of throwing javelins, so they all began suspecting the enemies to be the Theonian army.

The scout also brought back a tribal chieftain who had managed to flee. The chieftain then cried to Segobani, "The Greeks attacked so fiercely that they defeated my 150 warriors so quickly! Furthermore, the enemy still has a lot of cavalries that my warriors couldn't escape; they were either killed, wounded or captured...great chieftain, you must send your troops to save them!"

When Segobani heard that, he became so frightened that he asked loudly, "Are you sure it was the Theonians who attacked you?!"

"It's definitely them! The Campanians don't have those kinds of soldiers dressed in odd equipment, much less completely suppress us!..." The chieftain was trying to justify his defeat when he noticed Segobani gritting his teeth and cursing, "Damned Theonians! How dare they break the treaty?! Are they prepared for a war with the whole of Samnite?!!"

Confusion filled Segobani's mind with confusion. Although he repeatedly ignored Theonia's warnings, he deeply knew that Caudini's strength wasn't enough to compete with the mighty kingdom of Theonia. And since Theonia had truly sent their army, it means that his situation became worse.

'Retreat!' Even though that word immediately popped up in Segobani's mind, he hesitated because he had just captured Atella by paying some casualties. If he gave up the fat meat called Atella and left with empty hands, not only would he feel reluctant, but also the warriors of the tribes following him wouldn't agree. And since the enemy troops are scattered everywhere and can't gather up quickly, they should instead seize the time to search for some spoils to bring back. Then after he returned to Caudium, he would wait for the great chieftains of Hirpini, Pentri and Caraceni to discuss how to cope with Theonia's breach of the treaty.

After Segobani made up his mind, he immediately ordered his warriors to seize the time to loot the spoils and prepare to leave. At the same time, he sent out numerous scouts, ordering them to carefully observe the situation around Atella and report back as soon as they found any movement.

But not long after that, he began receiving reports about enemy sightings in the south, north and west of Atella. At this moment, he still didn't understand how the enemy found him and tried to surround him.

Segobani no longer hesitated and immediately led his men to retreat eastward.

But just as they escaped Atella, they heard horses' hooves coming from the north.

"Greek cavalry!" After reminding each other, the Samnite warriors stopped and drew out their javelins as they eagerly faced the hundreds of cavalries rushing towards them.

The ones who managed to arrive quickly were the cavalry belonging to the second cavalry legion. In this war, the Ministry of Military drew out a thousand cavalries from the Second Cavalry Legion under Litom's command to cooperate with the Third Legion in Campania. Although the Second Cavalry Legion's base was in Nerulum, a large part of their soldiers was from the Consentia plateau and was more adept at riding horses on gentler slopes.

As they neared the range of the enemy's javelin, the Theonian cavalry would suddenly turn around and once again gallop towards the enemy. Thus whenever they approached the enemy, the Samnite warriors would unconsciously slow down.

Then a warrior on the right flank of the Samnites also shouted, "Cavalry! There's another cavalry!!"

Soon, dozens more Theonian cavalry appeared from the south, adopting the same tactics to force the entire Caudini to retreat at a slower pace.

The worried Segobani then shouted, "Retreat! Retreat!! Don't bother with them!!!"