Chapter 903: The Final Battle of Latium

Davos seemed to remember something and looked at his son, who was standing, “Croto, I will give you a mission. Take a few staff officers to the camp of the reserve brigade and do your best to teach the soldiers to play rugby and football so they can play on the field. I will ask Tolmides to postpone the reserve team’s match as much as possible…”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I will teach them in the shortest possible time!” After Crotokatax earnestly answered, he couldn’t help but ask again, “Can I play with them?”

“You have to ask your uncle Matonis,” Davos smiled and looked at Matonis again.

Faced with Crotokatax’s eager gaze, Matonis chose to give in, “That…is certainly possible.”

After the celebration that day in Rome, Sextus became certainly aware of who Crotokatax was – the son of King Davos. Seeing how much Davos valued the Roman reserves, he naturally welcomed Crotokatax warmly into the fold.

“Your Majesty, although we won’t attack Satricum, what about Antium and Viletrae?” Olivos reminded.

“Just like before, just send the cavalry to watch them and wait until after the rugby and football matches.” Despite saying that, Davos already had a plan thought of. He was going to shift the target of his next attack to Antium since the city had fewer defenders and was a port city; taking it would make it easier for the naval transportation of military supplies and, at the same time, put pressure on the Satricum defenders.

“Your Majesty, the Carthaginian army has landed in Sicily. However, this time is different from the time, and our army in Sicily will face a huge threat. Shouldn’t we end the war in Latium as soon as possible and go to rescue our forces in Sicily?!” Amintas was upset, so he spoke with a somewhat severe tone.

Davos looked at him, and his expression became serious, “As I have just said, the soldiers, like us, are made of flesh. They need proper rest and entertainment to relieve their depression and weariness from the war. You can return to look at your First Legion and compare it to when you first arrived in Volsci. Then, you can see how many new faces have changed now! Don’t you feel a little guilty! You had mentioned that the Carthaginian army was a threat to Sicily and we could indeed storm Satricum and end the war in Latium by sacrificing countless soldiers’ lives, but do you think we can win the war if we lead such a half-disabled army to face the Carthaginian army?”

Despite Davos’ words wasn’t loud, everyone could feel the anger in his words. It was as if a cold wind had blown into the command tent, and almost everyone felt a chill in their hearts.

Amintas felt ashamed, but he dared not speak again.

Seeing this, Davos smiled slightly and eased his tone as he slowly said, “Just because we are not storming Satricum doesn’t mean we would leave them alone. We will continue pushing towards the city, remove the traps beneath its wall and tighten our encirclement. The ballistae will continue bombarding the walls daily, and we will launch flaming stone projectiles into the city. We would also increase our pace in building the siege tower so that the light infantry could attack the Roman soldiers atop the city wall from a distance… In short, we would keep the Roman defenders in a state of tension and exhaustion!”

As Davos spoke, he suddenly looked at Sextus in the far corner. He asked softly, “Sextus, before our siege of Satricum, we once had their loved ones from Rome who had come down from Mons Capitolinus to persuade their surrender. However, why didn’t it work well?”

The crowd gazed at the Roman general, but the young Sextus didn’t feel nervous because of his background. He said with a complex expression, “I think…this may have something to do with Camillus. These Roman citizens, who come from nobility, respected Camillus so much, and he was someone they could learn from. With him sending back his family, which you, Your Majesty, sent to him, the soldiers had followed suit. The Roman nobles, on the other hand, would do their best to uphold their clan’s interests and obtain honour for their families. So, in the past…surrendering to the enemy…would have been seen as an embarrassment to them, so probably quite a few learned from Camillus’ approach, while others have different ideas in their minds and will temporarily follow the trend…but our subsequent attack had come too quickly, forcing the defenders to resist with all their might. Naturally, there would be no more people covertly leaving the city to surrender…”

“Camillus is an astounding Roman! No matter what he does or doesn’t, it is impossible to criticise him. Moreover, he is still open to learning new knowledge at such an age. As you can see, the defences he set up in the city are just the things he had learned from us, and he even made improvements, which made us suffer a lot! Unfortunately, from the words of the people of Tusculum, he had become paralysed in all four limbs and even had some difficulty in speaking, so it looks like he won’t be able to live for long…” Davos said with a sigh.

The legates became somewhat dissatisfied from hearing those words, while Sextus naturally showed a bit of sadness.

Without staying on the subject, Davos looked at Sextus and said, “It is currently early in the eighth month. At this time, the food reserves in the homes of the Theonians are running out and waiting to harvest the new crops, and I think the people of Latium should be the same. With Camillus leading the army to retreat to Satricum rather hastily, and even if they have a certain amount of grain reserves, I believe it won’t be too much and won’t last long to supply tens of thousands of soldiers. We would then let their family members go near the city every day to persuade them to surrender. Do you think those exhausted, hungry and anxious Roman soldiers will still be able to hold on to the honours they hold in high regard?”

After careful consideration, Sextus answered frankly, “I think there are quite a few people who can’t do that.”

“Yes, they won’t be able to do it. After all, starvation is something more painful than death,” Davos raised his voice slightly and said, “As long as there is a small portion who chose to leave Satricum and surrender, it will then affect the other Roman defenders. Their morale will quickly decline until it finally collapses…sometimes dealing with people imperceptibly is better than fighting them head-on.”

“His Majesty is right! Instead of attacking forcefully, doing it that way will make it easier for us to capture Satricum and can also greatly reduce our casualties!” Tolmides immediately praised.

Several delegates also expressed their agreement one after another, except for Amintas, who remained silent and somewhat disapproving.

Davos didn’t pay much attention to him as he suddenly saw Martius entering the command tent, causing him to ask, “What happened?”

“Your Majesty, navarch Mithridates sent a messenger.”

“Let him in.”

After bowing respectfully to King Davos, the messenger of the Third Fleet exclaimed excitedly, “Your Majesty, our Third Fleet captured Aleria in Corsica yesterday!”

The news shook the people in the tent. After all, they knew Aleria was the largest city-state in Corsica, no smaller than Ardea and Antium. With the Third Fleet having only six thousand marines and no heavy infantry, how could they have captured Aleria in such a short time?!

“How did you capture Aleria?” Davos asked curiously, and the others also perked up their ears.

The messenger immediately recounted the entire process of capturing Aleria.

“Mithridates’ ability to listen to his men’s advice and carefully implement the plan once it’s been devised showed he had done a pretty good job!” Davos exclaimed in praise, “It is necessary to develop the most effective strategy based on the situation of the enemy and ourselves to achieve such victory with minimal casualties rather than acting recklessly. In that regard, Mithridates is already an excellent commander! There is also the marine commander of the Third Fleet named…named…”

“His name is Mneantiades,” Tolmides immediately reminded him in a low voice.

“Mneantiades, well, I’ll make a note of that. He is also an excellent commander!” Davos complimented earnestly.

Several legates also congratulated the navy on this victory. However, their expressions were somewhat complicated. After all, the navy successfully captured a city-state without the help of a legion’s infantry.

Amintas, on the other hand, felt that Davos was giving him a warning.

“Your Majesty, navarch Mithridates wishes to have your permission to head south and attack the Phoenician towns in Sardinia,” seeing that Davos was happy, the messenger immediately struck while the iron was hot.

“Tell Mithridates that I had already discussed it with him before so that he can decide on his own target to invade according to his situation…” Davos was in a good mood and smiled, “With him capturing Aleria and establishing himself on the Tyrrhenian sea, he can naturally choose his target based on his situation. However, tell him that just like when he captured Aleria, he must continue using his brains more and reduce the casualties of his men.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

After the messenger left, Davos looked around the crowd and said spiritedly, “Gentlemen, with Alexius capturing Caudium and Beneventum, crippling the Caudinians, the Hirpini tribes have surrendered to us one after another, the Caraceni and Pentry have retreated to the mountains and are powerless to counterattack, the war in Samnite is coming to an end.

Here in Latium, almost all the Latin city-states have submitted, and the neighbouring powers have expressed their friendship to us. Asistes governed Rome well and maintained its stability. By the time of the autumn grain harvest, the Roman populace would once again benefit, and in turn, their support for Theonia would deepen. What’s more, the military supply for the entire army would also significantly improve.

Just a few moments ago, the Third Fleet brought further good news of clearing the Carthaginian forces in Corsica and that they were also going to land in Sardinia…now, the war north of Theonia has stabilised, and the various battlefields either hold great advantages or are about to come to an end.

So, for the Carthaginian army to land in Sicily again, in my opinion, it isn’t a bad thing but rather a good thing since the whole war situation was in our favour. Our fleet in Sicily had the advantage of the sea, and both Prosous and Siprus were so capable that they could hold off the Carthaginians for some time, dragging the Carthaginian army to a standstill and wearing them down. Once we’ve finished the war in Rome, we will gather a massive army to rush to Sicily and wipe out the Carthaginian army! By then, I don’t believe Carthage will still be able to send out another huge army!”

Davos’ words greatly excite the crowd.

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

On the third day after Leotychides led his army to Gela, he was ready to leave the city to face the enemy. Why was he in such a hurry that he couldn’t even wait for the arrival of their reinforcements?

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