Chapter 751: Expedition to Rome

"Your Majesty!" The three closest followers of King Davos: The Captain of the Palace Guards - Martius, the Court Clerk - Henipolis, and the Court Herald - Aristias, stood respectfully outside the gate and waited.

"I've kept you all waiting." Davos jumped off his horse. Then he looked at Martius and asked, "Have you arranged the guards that would stay to defend the palace and my residence in my absence?"

"According to my previous report, I would leave behind half of the guards (i.e. 250 men) under the command of Seraphinus. They would be the ones to ensure the safety of the palace and the royal hill, as well as the royal family," Martius replied.

Davos nodded and walked over to Seraphinus, standing behind the three of them, and said sincerely, "The safety of my family would depend on you!"

"Your Majesty, you can rest assured that I will successfully fulfil the task you have given me!" Seraphinus confidently said while making a military salute.

Davos involuntarily glanced at Seraphinus' left hand, which he used to make a military salute.

Seraphinus, a member of the mercenary expedition to Persia, was a senior officer in the First Legion and a close friend of the current Legatus of the Ninth Legion, Tagetinus. After having his right hand wounded severely during the battle against the Syracusan allies when the First Legion landed in Sicily over a decade ago, he tried to have it get treated. But the treatment was ineffective and left him disabled. That should have him discharged from the army, but he expressed a strong desire to remain, and after much difficulty, Davos chose to make him an officer of the palace guard. After all, the chances of the palace guard fighting an enemy in battle were slim, and he didn't need to fight the enemy at all. Still, he had to bring his extensive battle experience and strict military discipline to the palace guard. And so far, he has performed excellently, so Davos agrees to Martius giving him authority over the remaining guards.

Davos firmly patted him on the shoulder to express his confidence in him, then turned towards Aristias.

Although Davos just looked at him and said nothing, Aristias understood what the king expected of him. Davos wants him to keep a close eye on the whole kingdom while he is away, to work closely with the palace guard and the constables to ensure that the king's power remains secure and his family safe, and to report any irregularities to him immediately, even if he is as far away as Latium.

Aristias once again bowed to Davos without saying anything.

Finally, Davos looked at Henipolis and asked, "Heni, are you ready to write a phenomenon Battle of Latium?"

"Your Majesty, I have prepared enough papyrus and ink," Henipolis replied cleverly, making Davos laugh.

"Then let's go," said Davos.

Martius led two hundred and fifty palace guards to surround Davos. Then Davos, accompanied by Crotokatax and Henipolis, sped towards the northern gate while Aristias, Seraphinus and the rest of the palace guards watched them.

"Salute!" shouted the guards at the north gate in excitement.

The guards scrambled to turn the wheel to open the gate, then stood straight on either side.

"You've worked hard, Timias!" Davos called the garrison officer's name accurately and responded to their military salute while mounted, which thrilled both the garrison officer and the guards.

Davos had to leave so early because some of Thurii's residents were just waking up, so the streets in the outer district are sparsely populated and almost free of traffic.

The rumbling hooves of the horses shattered the tranquillity of the outer district, but the cavalry was gone by the time the curious residents came out to investigate.

"It's the palace guards!" The people looked at the soldiers' uniforms and accurately assessed, "His Majesty Davos must be among them!"

"Since His Majesty Davos has left for the military base so early, we shouldn't dawdle any longer and finish our breakfast quickly, so we can hurry to the military base and see the army off!"

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

Since there were so many soldiers on the expedition this time that they exceeded the capacity of Nike Square in Thurii, they decided that the military base in Thurii would be the army's final assembly and departure point.

Davos arrived at Thurii's military base by dawn. At the Grand Legatus' quarters, he summoned the various officials of the Ministry of Military, as well as Matonis - the Legatus of the Second Legion, Olivos - the Legatus of the Fourth Legion, Giorgris - the Legatus of the Fifth Legion, Thratyllus - the Legatus of the Sixth Legion, and Izam - the head of the Mountain Reconnaissance Brigade. He then ordered them to check the enlistment status of each legion, the morale of the soldiers, the weapons and equipment they were carrying, whether they had five days' rations, whether the auxiliary units of the legions were fully manned, the maintenance of the siege and defence equipment, and whether the logistics camp was adequately equipped...

While Davos was discussing the expedition with the senior army officials, Crotokatax, led by Tolmides, was meeting with the staff officers assigned to Davos by the army staff. They were basically officers from various legions who had excelled and then got assigned to the army staff for a year or two, so they were basically in their mid-twenties. And since Crotokatax had been on the army staff for over a year, he knew most of them well.

Everyone chatted excitedly about their expectations of the war. But in such a lively atmosphere, Crotokatax forgot that he had planned to visit his big brother Adoris at the Second Legion camp before they left.

Then again, he wouldn't have been able to speak to Adoris even if he had gone since the sound of the salpinx had already woken up the soldiers in the base. After a quick breakfast, the soldiers skilfully packed their armour and rations, tied it to a special wooden staff and carried it over their shoulders, wearing only a short-sleeved chiton and short swords at the waist. Meanwhile, they had left their long shields, spears and javelins at the legion's logistics camp to be transported, making it easier for them to cross the mountainous areas with less effort and faster during the march.

As dawn broke, most of the kingdom's statesmen arrived at the camp, some led by the five rotating speakers of the Senate, Cornelius, Sedrum, Vespa, Lysias and Androlis. They had come both to see King Davos and the army off and declare they would do their utmost to ensure the kingdom's government ran smoothly while he was away on his campaign.

While another small group of statesmen, such as Asistes, Antrapolis, Nicomachus and Teriphias, were prepared to lead many willing kingdom officials to follow the marching army into Latium. In fact, they could have taken the large convoy of the provision-carrying fleet that left the port yesterday and headed south, bypassing the Strait of Messina and eventually to Volsci. But since even the most distinguished king, Davos, had chosen to march with the army, they certainly couldn't show their timidity over hardship and difficulty, which would leave a bad impression on the kingdom's ruler. So they decided to follow the logistics camp north.

When dawn finally broke, Davos delivered the pre-march oath in front of nearly forty thousand soldiers on the great drill ground of Thurii's military base. Crotokatax listened to his father's speech for the first time on such a grand and solemn occasion and was overwhelmed with excitement as he joined the soldiers in raising their arms and shouting, "All hail King Davos!!! Victory to the Kingdom of Theonia!!!..."

As the army began to leave the base, the people of the kingdom, especially those of Thurii, waited on both sides of the road to send their loved ones off to battle, as they always do. They shouted affectionately and reverent wishes for a glorious victory for the kingdom, and for their glory and great rewards. The line to see the army off stretched all the way to the mountain pass town, cheering them and even scattering flower petals on the ground as if they had already returned triumphant.

"That's why the kingdom is strong!" In the middle of the procession, Davos whispered to his son, who followed him.

Crotokatax glanced at the cheering people on both sides of the road and nodded.

At the beginning of the third month of the fourteenth year of the Kingdom of Theonia (379 B.C.), King Davos personally led the Second, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Legions, part of the First Cavalry and the Mountain Reconnaissance Brigade, a total of forty thousand men, on a westward march through the mountains to Laos and then, in a group of ships, to the region of Latium. In fact, this procession also included some statesmen and about two hundred low-ranking officials of the kingdom, a team of about six hundred engineers, craftsmen, blacksmiths, etc. from Thurii, as well as the logistics camp and a unit composed mainly of countless reserve citizens as labourers. As a result, the entire army seemed large and bloated.

On the other hand, the merchants of Thurii and Rhegium, laden with military supplies, sailed through the Straits of Messina, detouring around the west coast of Italia to meet King Davos' army in Latium.

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

As Davos' army marched towards Latium, the Spartans in Greece gathered an army and planned to regain control of Thebes. At the same time, the Gerousians were shocked and worried to learn that the Athenians had been directly involved in the Theban uprising. If the two powerful city-states of central Greece were to reunite, they would severely hamper the Spartans' plan to regain control of Greece.

So the two Spartan Ephors immediately rushed to Athens and angrily confronted the Athenians, asking if they were prepared to tear up the King's Peace treaty and go to war with Sparta.

Although the Athenians were unhappy with Sparta and secretly supported the Theban rebels, they couldn't do anything against them since Sparta had not only regained its strength with Persia's help but had also ceased fighting in Asia Minor, allowing them to devote all its energies to the fight for hegemony over Greece. As a result, all the Greek city-states felt the pressure: Sparta completely took control of the Peloponnesian Peninsula, even Corinth and Argos became obedient and didn't dare make any unusual moves, the northern Greek city-states became its allies, while the Spartans had utterly messed up central Greece.