Chapter 604: Battle Strategy

Alexius gazed at them and seriously said, “We will slow down our formation in the early morning of tomorrow and wait for the Daunians to arrive on the other side of the river. Then we will fight the enemy across the river and defeat them in one fell swoop.”

“I agree with Ale…Lord commander’s plan, after wading through this river these past two days, I found that it has a wide surface, but it isn’t deep, at most only above the knee. Moreover, the current isn’t too fast, and the riverbed is rather firm, so even if the Daunians stop us in the river, our heavy infantry could still exert their strength.” Amintas expressed his approval, and the other legati also agreed one after another.

Alexius then said, “Everyone, come and see where we will cross the river tomorrow.”

After the several legati huddled and looked at the map on the table, Alexius pointed to somewhere less than a kilometre from the camp. When surveying the terrain, they learned that two or so kilometres east of the river, the two banks of the river, are primarily mudflats. And since it was currently summer, the silt on the river bank had dried and clumped, which was beneficial to the army’s marching.

“Legatus Amintas, you and the first legion will form up in this place.” Alexius’ finger moved a bit to the east and continued, “Since your first legion was the strongest and had the largest number of veterans, you will stay here in the centre. However, I hope the first legion won’t advance too fast and keep in contact with the army on the left and right flanks…”

Amintas’ troops were known for their fierce attacks, but as a Theonian veteran who had fought for more than ten years, he knew what was important, so he nodded his head immediately to display his understanding.

“Legatus Olivos, your fourth legion would be on the left flank of the first legion. Legatus Giorgris, your fifth legion would be on the right flank of the first legion. However, because your legions have too many recruits, I hope that during the river crossing, your officers would stabilise the emotions of the soldiers under them and not cause big confusion…” Alexius reminded them while pointing his finger at the map.

“You can rest assured, lord commander. Although the legions have many reserve soldiers, they have already trained in river crossing operations many times in the camp. Moreover, we would pair a veteran who has participated in more than four battles with the lowest level officer (the squad leader), so there shouldn’t be any problem.” Olivos immediately assured.

Giorgris also echoed. His fifth legion was mainly composed of Bruttians, but the civil strife in Bruttii during the war in South Italia and the post-war clean-up had wiped out all the rebellious Bruttians. Now that ten years had passed, the Bruttians have basically integrated into the kingdom. Moreover, the legion’s recruit had spent their childhood and grew up after Bruttii merged into Theonia. And since most of them studied in the schools built by the Theonians in the various towns of Bruttii, the Theonian culture deeply influenced them. Hence apart from their appearance, there are not much different from the Greeks, the dominant ethnic group of Theonia.

As for why many recruits transferred to the legion? Well, this question started after the South Italian War.

Theonia’s most remarkable achievement after its victory at that time was to occupy all the lands in Magna Graecia and the eastern coast of Sicily. Yet after settling the people of the city-states that integrated into the kingdom, there was still numerous vacant land left. At that time, the Senate even passed several temporary bills in successions that allowed preparatory citizens and registered freemen to first get an allocated land (only the tax paid is different) and then become official citizens after some years passed.

With the Corinthian war in Greece at that time and the joint forces led by Sparta still fighting the Persians in Asia Minor, the prolonged war led to an increased number of refugees throughout the Greek world. So under Theonia’s intentional guidance, most refugees flock to Magna Graecia, which gave them enough manpower. But since most Theonian laws were for official citizens, the sharp increase of registered freemen during that time had caused significant problems for the kingdom’s governance as they needed six to seven years to become official citizens.

For practical reasons and strategic planning, the kingdom launched a war against the Messapi and Peuceti in the autumn of the fourth year of Theonia. Then after the battle of Brindisi, he transferred many reserve citizens and recruits, mainly from the freemen, into the legions so that they could shorten their years of becoming official citizens through meritorious deeds. At the same time, it would prevent the older generation of citizens from getting much more land due to earning more military exploits that would only widen the gap between the rich and the poor in the newly established kingdom.

But the Daunian war this time was different. It was because many of the recruits had grown up in Theonia since the establishment of the Theonia Union and had received military training from Theonia’s schools since childhood. So even though they were recruits, their quality wasn’t low, which also gave confidence to the several legati.

Alexius continued to plan his attack, “Ledes, your cavalry legion should split into two forces and would be responsible for driving away and defeating the Daunian cavalry on both sides of the formation.”

“Understood.” Ledes nodded in response.

In the kingdom of Theonia, there are now four cavalry legions. The First Cavalry Legion with its base in Thurii. The Second Cavalry Legion in Grumentum. The Third Cavalry Legion in Catania. And the Fourth Cavalry Legion in Brindisi. Although the fourth cavalry legion should be the strongest in terms of quality, as most of them consisted of Peucetians and Messapians, these two regions were only incorporated into the kingdom of Theonia for about six years. With these two races’ wild and free-spirited nature, they would either get beheaded or caned if they were to disobey orders during battle, which might cause a lot of trouble to the whole war situation and even to the two regions that had just stabilised. Thus after considering it again and again, Davos still decided to transfer the first cavalry legion to participate in the war. And since the first cavalry legion had the least recruit among the legions participating in the war, Alexius didn’t bother giving further instructions.

“Once we begin crossing the river, I want you to gather all the ballistae and gastraphetes behind you to bombard the Daunian army on the opposite bank to disrupt their formation with your attack…” Alexius’ words completely relieved the legati.

Giorgris asked, “What if the Daunians don’t come to attack and stop us from crossing the river?”

“Then we will easily cross the river and capture their cities one after another!” Amintas answered instead of Alexius.

Back then, Davos forcibly detained Dionysius’ nearly 2,000 engineers and craftsmen. Afterwards, he forcibly made Syracuse send their families to Theonia and eventually left them in Thurii, thus significantly improving Theonia’s metal forging, engineering constructions, woodworking…and other processes. During the conquest war against Messapi and Peuceti, it was thanks to their help that the legions successfully captured the towns, which made the legions of Theonia fully confident in terms of siege battles.

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

The newly built Theonian military stronghold near Canosa comprises camps from several legions, with the main road running through the whole stronghold from west to east.

So after returning to their respective camps, the legatus of the various legions immediately gathered their respective strategoi for discussion.

While the senior centurion of the first legion rush through the main road towards the quarter of the legatus of the first legion, they bump into a group of soldiers returning to the camp. Then the soldiers immediately stopped to salute when they saw the senior officers. Besides, one soldier, though also saluting, was trying to avoid the officers’ gazes and didn’t make any sound and tried to walk away after giving a hasty salute.

The senior centurion of the first legion also acted as if they didn’t notice it. It was only after the group of soldiers had gone far away that the senior centurion Xethippus turned around and smiled mischievously, “Patroclus, you are so mighty that even our prince is afraid of you! Just look at his face; he didn’t even dare look at you!”

“Hey Xethippus, our prince is the descendant of Hades, so how could he fear Patroclus? He is just being respectful to his future brother-in-law!” Another senior centurion teased.

“You are wrong. Prince Adoris is only an adopted son of his majesty, and so is his sister. It’s just that his majesty treats them so well as if they were his own children.” Xethippus hurriedly corrected.

“Really?!”

“The older Theonian citizens know this. Why don’t you ask this guy if you still don’t believe it? After all, he is the one that knows it best.” Xethippus pointed at Patroclus.

“Brothers, legatus Amintas urgently called us to discuss important matters. If we just stay here chatting, we would be late and get scolded!” Patroclus immediately tried to change the subject.

“It’s okay; we are not afraid of Lord Amintas’ scolding.” Xethippus looked indifferent.

“Xethippus, you are not afraid, but we are!” A senior centurion next to him complained.

Xethippus smiled and said to the youngest of the eight, “Patroclus, you will become a different person once you marry his majesty’s daughter. Still, don’t forget to help your old brothers.”

His remark then attracted the approval of others.

“Brothers, his majesty even allowed Adoris to fight in this war as a common citizen. Furthermore, instead of having him join the first legion, his majesty was afraid that there would be too many acquaintances who knew him and helped him, so he specifically asked the Ministry of Military to have him join the fourth legion! So if his majesty is already so strict with his children, I am afraid his requirements for me as his son-in-law wouldn’t be lower. Thus it is impossible to get his special care!” Patroclus said with seriousness.

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