ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 863 March to Beneventum
Onosius, the chief general of Naples, held up a letter in his left hand and said excitedly: "Everyone, I just received a letter from Adriancus, the administrator of Enona. He mentioned in the letter, 'Yesterday Dio Alexis, the commander of the Nian army, led his army into the Samnite Mountains from the east, joined the armies of Potentia and Abenirum, and together they surrounded and annihilated a group of Samnite people left in the mountains. A main force of nearly 7000 people also forced Aquilonia to surrender'... Today, this 2-strong Dionysian coalition has arrived at Abernirum and is preparing to attack Benne tomorrow. Ventum attacks!”

"Great, our disaster is finally over! Belevin and the others are the central town of Shirpini, and the Samnite coalition forces outside the city will definitely withdraw to defend our allies' attack with all their strength!"

"Am I right? The Dionians have always kept their promises and will definitely come to rescue our Campania. You didn't believe it at that time, but now?"

"Haha, General Aialos, please forgive our ignorance, because we are not like you who have fought side by side with the Dionia army and have a deeper understanding of them. How could we possibly want to get Dionia's request for help before us? The delay in responding is just to suddenly stab the Samnite's soft belly with a knife!"

"General Onosius, after the Samnites retreat, I hope Naples can send troops immediately to help us recapture Pompeii!"

"No! You should help us in Herculaneum first, we are closest to Naples!"

"And we liternum!"

……

After receiving this good news, the gloom in the Naples Council these days was swept away. While everyone was happy that the disaster was over, they began to argue because they were eager to rebuild their homes.

In the days after the Samnite raided the Campania League, they not only besieged Naples, but also divided their armies to attack other Campania League city-states, except for Sorrentome and Anari. Outside of city-states with relatively special geographical locations such as Aenaria and Capeae, many small coastal towns fell one after another, and most of the refugees fled into Naples.

"Don't worry, everyone." Onosius comforted them and said: "Adriankes mentioned in the letter that General Zantiparis, commander of the Dionian Army stationed in Enona, will lead the army by boat tomorrow. Naples, join our army and recover the lost town together!"

Everyone cheered again and praised: Dionia is indeed a good ally who keeps his promise, and he is so thoughtful!The presence of the Dionian army makes them more confident in regaining their city-state!
Then, Onosius said: "The letter also mentioned that when the Samnite army retreats, I hope we can send troops to harass and hinder it..."

Hearing this, the hall suddenly returned to silence.

After a while, the Naples MPs shook their heads and said: "Let us go out of the city to attack the Samnites?! No! No! This is too dangerous! Since the Samnites want to retreat, let them retreat, we don't It is necessary to risk the lives of citizens!"

If the Dionian Third Army helped the Campania Alliance defeat the Kautini a few months ago to help the Campanians regain a little fighting spirit, then this time the Samnite's large-scale assault not only brought this Their fighting spirit was shattered, and their fear of this terrifying mountain race was deepened.

Of course Onosius was aware of this situation, because he was also one of them, but Aialos argued loudly with them.

Onosius had to cough a few times and draw everyone's attention back to himself: "I want to draw your attention to the fact that the Samnites are retreating. In order to vent their anger, it is very likely that they will burn down the towns they occupied and burn us. farmland, do we want to stop it?!”

In fact, this reminder came from Adriancus. He had been the administrator of Enona for more than two years and had many dealings with the Campanians. He knew the virtues of the Campanians very well. They were far from being compared with the brave and tenacious Volscians and Herniki, so in the letter he did not say at all that the purpose of harassing the retreating army of Samnite was to allow Alexis to attack Beneventum and win the victory. time, but only emphasizes the point.

Everyone was stunned.Of course, the refugees from other city-states did not allow their homes to be burned down, but the Naples people were more worried about the destruction of their farmland. They had been supplying food to the Dionian Third Army some time ago, and during this period they had to take care of the refugees. The people of the allies, who are short of food in the city of Naples and cannot place their hope in Dionia, which has just experienced a drought, are all looking at this year's autumn harvest.

Although the Kautini invaded in the past and rarely destroyed farmland because they confidently believed that "the food produced in these farmlands will eventually become their next looting property," but under the current war situation, it is difficult to guarantee that They will not jump over the wall and cause more trouble for the Campania League.

Therefore, after urgent deliberations, the Naples parliamentarians finally agreed to Adriankos's suggestion.

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

Beneventum, the largest town in the Samnite tribal alliance.Although the Samnites are a mountain race, there are still a few people who build towns on top of mountaintops like Aquilonia. More than half of the tribes and tribal alliances live in valleys and mountain depressions.Beneventum is located on a rare large, relatively flat hill surrounded by mountains, and it is the place where two rivers converge, so it has abundant water and fertile land. Among the towns of Samone Both grazing and planting are the most developed.

Therefore, Beneventum has always been at the forefront of the Samnite tribe alliance in terms of population and strength. Most of the time, the leaders of the large tribes in its territory are the leaders of the Shilpini tribe. Only a few At that time, other Shirpini tribes were jealous of Beneventum's wealth and dissatisfied with the arrogance of the Beneventum people, so they made a concerted effort to elect leaders from other regions as tribal chiefs to compete with Beneventum. Benirum is the first choice.

This town of Shirpini is located about 40 miles south of Beneventum. It is also a hilly area, but its area is much smaller. It also has a river passing through it, but this is not a large Sahara. The Beto River eventually flows into the territory of Beneventum and joins the Volturno River.

Therefore, the Abenirum people always felt that they were shorter than the Beneventum people, even during the reign of the former Shirpini chief and the outstanding Abenirum chief Velani. The Abenirum people still felt a little lacking in confidence, and for more than ten years they continued to endure the oppression and humiliation of the Beneventum people.

It wasn't until early this morning that the Dionia coalition forces left Abenirum and began to march towards the territory of Beneventum. Only Abenirum rejoiced to see them off, thinking that the day of their revenge had finally arrived.

3500 Abenirum warriors walked at the front with their heads high, with 6000 legionnaires from Dionia in the middle, and 12000 soldiers from Potentia behind them, not counting the engineering battalion from Dionia. , medical battalion, mountain reconnaissance team, and the delayed baggage team... Its combat troops reached 21500 people. They lined up in a line of more than ten miles long, marching north along the Sabato River.

After leaving the Abenirum territory, enemies began to appear in the mountains and forests on both sides of the river. Although they were small in number, they were condescending and threw javelins and arrows at the Dionian coalition marching in the valley. , and even pushed rocks from the mountains into the river to hinder the march of the entire team.

Seeing this situation, Alexis discussed with Garni and Pollet, and each of them sent 1000 soldiers to leave the river bank and march in the mountains and forests on both sides. At the same time, they drove away the invading enemies to protect the middle. peloton.While the main force marched in the valley, they also cleared rocks and broken logs blocking the road from time to time.

When the sun reached the middle of the sky, the winding river suddenly straightened, and the mountains standing between the river not only became shorter, but also consciously retreated a mile away. The soldiers' sight was no longer blocked by the leafy trees. Blocked by towering trees, what comes into view is the flat land on both sides of the river, green grass, whistling small trees... The Dionysian coalition has entered the territory of Beneventum.

The terrain here is somewhat special. Two rows of rolling hills running from north to south are like two parallel lines, guarding the Sabato River and extending forward. Between the hills is a flat grassland about two miles wide, and in the center of the grass flows a wide The Sabato River is only 20 meters deep and the water is only knee-deep.

The leading troops of the coalition stopped marching here, and the Abenirum soldiers who had been trekking for half a day began to eat to replenish their physical strength while waiting for the troops behind to arrive and join them.

"Five or six miles further ahead is the city of Beneventum." Garni pointed ahead and said to Alexis and Pollet, who came one after another: "In the past, this land in front was covered with Beneventum. The settlements of the various tribes in Neventum have now been evacuated..."

Garni introduced the situation of the Beneventum territory, but he couldn't help but sigh in his heart: In fact, most of his impressions of Beneventum still stayed more than ten years ago. Since the South-Italian War, he The relationship with Lesguk was stalemate, and he eventually became a mortal enemy. The only time he came to Beneventum was when the tribal alliance held a large sacrifice here. If it weren't for the support of the Dionia envoy, he was almost killed. The Samnite priests were punished by God. They came and left in fear. How could they still be in the mood to pay attention to the changes in the Beneventum territory? What he is introducing now is all from the intelligence collected by his subordinates over the years, and Now he is leading his troops to completely wash away the humiliation of the past and remove the shadows buried in his heart.

　Thanks to Thirteen Cats, Wuji 104, and Sniper No. 11 for the rewards!Your support is my motivation to write! !
　　
　
(End of this chapter)