Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

“There is one, and it's a big one!” Bagul said excitedly and seriously.

“Say it.” Alexius strained his ears to listen.

Bagul took the lead and sat down with Alexius. He then asked his men to bring the newly pickled beef jerky* and beer, “I am usually the one bothering you in the base, but today, you have come to Grumentum, which is rare. In return, I have to treat you well, so let's drink while we discuss things.” (since Davos invented this pickled beer jerky for military ration, it has now gradually been loved by citizens and become a delicious snack for the Theonians, just like dried figs and dates.)

What Bagul said was the truth. The base of the third legion is built between Pyxous, Grumentum and Nerulum. Alexius, the current legatus, naturally can no longer stay in Thurii like the former legatus, Hieronymus(the system was not perfect at that time.) So during his term as the legatus of the third legion, he has to live in the base. Naturally, the construction of the base was not simple but more like a militarized town. Although Bagul was relieved of his duty in the military, he still visits the base every three or so days to participate in military training and competitions…after going back and forth, he became friends with Alexius.

Alexius knew his brazen character, so he didn't refuse at this moment. He grabbed a piece of beef, chewed it and said, “What's the situation?”

“The Samnites have gathered a large army on the border of Potentia. The report says that they have at least 20,000 men!” Bagul said with some excitement.

‘20,000 men!’ Alexius was surprised. He put down his beef jerky and asked hurriedly, “Are you sure that the Samnites are going to attack Potentia?!”

“Potentia sent an envoy asking for help, so how could it be fake?” Bagul sipped his beer and said half-jokingly, “Pamot, that stubborn old man who usually doesn’t pay attention to Theonia could no longer sit still at this time. Just after the envoy of Potentia asked help from me, he hurried to Thurii…”

“Bagul, you must take this matter seriously, especially at this critical moment when we have just declared war on Locri!” Alexius said in a grave tone. Obviously, he considered more things deeply than Bagul. After all, before he took his post, Davos solemnly reminded him that the current task of the third legion is to stabilise the situation in Lucania and purge all those against Theonia. Furthermore, their future goal is the Samnites in the north, a powerful and fierce race that they should not take lightly!

“I should immediately go back and gather the soldiers of the third legion and get ready for war. At the same time, I need to send the soldiers of the mountain reconnaissance brigade to find out the strength of the Samnites and inform Lord Davos as soon as possible.” Alexius stood up immediately.

As a young man living in the south of Lucania, Bagul did not think too much of the Samnites. Coupled with the successive victories of the Theonian legions in the past few years, it made him arrogant and underestimated the enemy. However, seeing the cautiousness of Alexius, he also began to attached importance to them, “Should we also have the citizens of the reserved legion get ready as well?”

“Of course! I have a bad feeling that there would be a huge war!” Alexius said seriously.

“A huge war!” Bagul repeated, with a hint of excitement on his face.

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

“Milord! Lord Davos! Martius woke up! Martius, he has woken up!…” Herpus shouted excitedly as soon as he entered the living room.

“Really?!” Davos, who was talking with Heracleides the Younger, stood up in surprise.

“Just as what you have said before, ‘If the venom(referring to the poison) is separated from the body and exposed in the air for a long time, it will reduce the toxicity…’ It seems that this is indeed the case, and the awakening of Martius is a good example!” It is no wonder that Herpus is so excited; after all, most of Theonia's territory is mountainous, causing numerous people to be bitten by snakes and insects every year. Thurii's hospital doesn't have that good treatment for such things; at most, they could only clean up and bandage the wound and using some medicine to nourish the body and rely on the patients themselves to recover. But this time, under the guidance of Davos, the hospital carried out meticulous care and medication on Martius. Finally, they achieved good results, which provided valuable experience and confidence for their future treatment of snakes and other poisonous bites.

Davos was in no mood to discuss medical issues with him at the moment. So he urgently asked, “How is Martius now?”

“Oh, he has woken up. Although he can open his eyes and move, his limbs are still a bit weak, and he has trouble speaking. Now, he can only lie in the hospital bed, and it will still take some time for him to recover.”

“Take me to see him.” Davos said as he pulled Herpus out.

“Milord, are you still going to see the construction of the stone bridge in Saraceno River today?” Asked Heracleides the Younger hurriedly.

“Haven't you just erected the pier? I will go see it once you start laying the bridge's deck.” Davos waved his hand and said apologetically.

“Okay.” Heracleides the Younger knew how much the awakening of Martius had affected Davos, so he could only helplessly follow Davos out of his residence, only to run into Rodom, the guard captain sent by the Senate.

“Lord Davos! And two lords! The Senate has called you to an emergency meeting!”

“What happened?!” Davos hurriedly asked when he saw the nervousness of Rodom.

“Potentia asked us for reinforcements and said, ‘the Samnites are about to invade Potentia!’”

‘The Samnites are going to attack Potentia at this time?!’ Davos was surprised, and the news doused his joy like a bucket of cold water.

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

The Senate was having a heated debate whether to send a large number of reinforcements to rescue Potentia.

The supporters believed that since Potentia is an ally of Theonia, then following the agreement and morality, Theonia must give assistance! Moreover, although they have governed the Lucanian region for nearly five years, the rule of Theonia Union is still not stable. So if the Samnites rushed into the territory ruled by Theonia, it would cause turbulence in that place again. Thus Theonia should defeat the Samnites as soon as possible before going to war with Locri and even Syracuse to avoid fighting on two fronts.

While those who opposed believed that the combined army of Potentia, the third legion, and their ally in Lucania – Elea is more than enough to deal with the Samnites without sending more reinforcements. However, once Theonia was about to carry out its war against Locri and Syracuse, they would not be able to draw troops to the north.

Davos could not make a final decision as his mind was entangled. The Samnites, whose strength he knew from the history in his previous life, were a mountainous race that had been at war with the thriving Rome for decades. So much so that they even defeated the Romans many times and made them endure such humiliation… Davos thinks that the third legion and the Potentian army alone could not defeat the Samnites. Instead, he should do everything possible to put out the sparks before it could become a blazing flame.

A massive Samnite invasion had come just before their war with Locri, so Davos doesn't believe that it has nothing to do with Dionysius. He thought that he had designed a trap and just needed to wait for Dionysius to jump, but he did not expect that Dionysius would directly instigate the Samnites to attack from the north first, causing Theonia to be unable to take care of her tail. Before he could even fight Syracuse, he could already feel the difficulty of fighting Dionysius. ‘What a terrible opponent!’ Davos had to start re-analysing this tyrant of Syracuse who had taught him a lesson.

However, due to this, he is sure that Syracuse is determined to fight Theonia. The only thing Davos is worrying about is whether this tyrant of Syracuse still has some cards left in his hand, so he had to raise his guards against it, which is one of the main reasons why he did not make a rash decision.

Davos returned home with a heavy heart. However, before he had the time to take a drink of water, he learned that Ansitanos had come to visit him. Davos then hurriedly welcomed him, “Lord Ansitanos, you are finally back!”

“I have travelled more than what I have travelled combined.” Ansitanos replied with a smile in return.

“That's because you have only walked a little. In the future, you still have to go out more for diplomatic activities like this.”

“Don't. This has already taken a lot of my time in writing my book.”

“Go out and experience more things, investigate the situation of other city-states so that the book you are writing is more vivid and informative. Back then, Herodotus travelled all over the Mediterranean…”

They then entered the living room while talking and laughing.

“Milord, the Senate of Carthage rejected our request for an alliance.” After sitting down, Ansitanos said seriously, “They even refused to sign a treaty of friendship and trade with us.”

Davos could still understand Carthage's refusal to form an alliance. After all, Carthage's war with Syracuse had just ended, with them suffering a lot and deeded to recover. Now that the situation between Theonia and Syracuse is tense, Carthage, as a neighbour, could naturally feel the tension between the two and will not jump in easily. Still, it's strange that they refuse to sign a trade treaty with Theonia. After all, Carthage is wealthy due to its maritime trade in the western Mediterranean!

“Could it be that the Carthaginians are so afraid of Syracuse that they do not dare to have anything to do with us?” Davos was a little surprised.

“When I was in Carthage, I learned something about it. The Magonids, who used to dominate the Senate of Carthage and always had a strong interest in Sicily, lost their standing because of the previous war's defeat. And now, they are forced to accept the task of building a new colonial city on the Iberian Peninsula that the Senate of Carthage assigned. Now another influential family has the right to speak in the Senate, and its patriarch, Hanno, is conservative and prefers land over sea trade. He even put forward a slogan, ‘March inland to give citizens access to more land…’” Ansitanos said slowly.

‘Which means that Carthage will go to war with Libya?’ A thought struck Davos. Compared to Syracuse, which always caused Carthage's defeat, Libya, with its vast territory and many tribes, was a much easier place to deal with as it is a plate of loose sand. And Carthage had a great idea of “recovering their lost in Sicily from Libya.” But due to this, it is even less likely for Carthage to mess with Syracuse.