Published at 1st of January 2024 4:44 pm

Chapter 866: Banquet in Rome

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Upon Xanticles’ persuasion, the strategoi of the Campanian League chose not to rush attacking. Instead, they decided to copy the Theonian army and make a camp half a kilometre away from the southwest of Nola. Xanticles chose this place based on the camp’s proximity to the mountains, making it easier to cut down trees to procure construction material and siege equipment for the camp.

On the same day, under the direction of the Ministry of Military, the legatus of the Tenth Legion, Melisander, led the remaining four heavy infantry brigades to leave Ausculum and march northward to reach Aecae, where they met up with the Eleventh Legion, which had only six heavy infantry brigades left.

The appointed acting legatus of the Eleventh Legion by the Ministry of Military, Kapus, actively prepared carefully for the following military operation.

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“Why is it so noisy outside?” Stolo’s wife, Konya, inquired about the situation from the female slave who had just entered.

“Mistress, they are all saying that Tusculum had surrendered to Theonia…” This Sabine female slave lowered her head as she dared not let her mistress see the uncontrollable joy on her face. As Stolo and his wife were confined to their homes, the female slave had an important role of receiving their portion of food and gathering information for her master, so she had already heard from others that slave conditions in the Kingdom of Theonia were significantly more favourable than in Rome, with a better chance of attaining freedom. Consequently, she ardently wished for Theonia’s victory in this war and put Rome under their complete rule.

“Tusculum had surrendered?! How is that possible?!” Konya found it hard to believe. To her, the city of Tusculum, with its long history and had long sought to control the sacred mountain of the Latin near Lake Alba Longa after Rome destroyed Alba Longa, even claiming to be the centre of the Latins, so she had expected Tusculum to resist fiercely given this proud history and fight to the end for the glory of the Latins. Hence, she was surprised that they would surrender without a fight.

Stolo sighed, “Following Theonia’s capture of Gabii, where they killed all those who stubbornly resisted and enslaved the survivors, this brutal approach seemed to have frightened the surrounding city-states like Labicum, Pedum, and Artena…into surrendering in quick succession and even the formidable Tibur in the northern region eventually bowed to Theonia’s rule.

With tens of thousands of Theonian soldiers marching towards the city of Tusculum and the hostages that Tusculum had sent to Rome are now in the hands of the Theonians(These hostages once fled with the Roman nobles to Mons Capitolinus but were later mixed with the families of thousands of nobles and sent down the mountain), how could they not surrender?…”

Konya trembled upon hearing that and said in a small voice, “With so many Latin city-states having surrendered, is it not time for the…Theonians to attack Velitrae, Satricum, and Antium next?! Can…the Roman army led by Camillus, Titus, and the rest…repel them?”

Stolo remained silent as he knew through this period that the attacks of the Theonians were always carefully and cunningly planned while also as sharp and swift as a storm! The capturing of the city of Rome was like this! So was their attack on Veii and Caisra! So was their attack of Fidenae and Crustuerium! So was the defeat of the Roman coalition! It had only taken the Theonians less than ten days from the capture of the city of Gabii to the surrender of Tusculum, and within a little over two months since their coastal landing, the Theonian army had already seized control of most of Latium. Such terrifying conquest capabilities left the Roman army, which had suffered consecutive defeats, with no respite. Even under the leadership of Camillus, their morale declined, and their troops were insufficient. Can they really turn defeat into victory?!

After watching the war progress for so long and many sleepless nights, Stolo despaired as he realised that the key to the Theonian army’s rapid conquest of Latium was that, unlike the Celts, the Theonians possessed a powerful ability to assimilate. Hearing the cheers outside his mansion, he knew the plebeians had completely forgotten their origins and regarded themselves as members of the Theonian Kingdom… Alas!…

Konya began to understand from Stolo’s silence. In fact, she already has a vague feeling from her observations these days. So, upon confirming her fears, she no longer clamoured, merely clenching the corners of her clothes, furrowing her brows and changing her expression.

As a result, she suddenly grabbed her husband’s hand and said hurriedly and in fear, “Stolo…why don’t you join Theonia?”

Her words took aback Stolo. Before he could respond, Konya, as though struck by a sudden realisation, grasped his hand and anxiously said, “Yes, we should join the Kingdom of Theonia! This is our only way to get your father out of the danger of being defeated and captured! It’s also the only way we could convince my father to descend the hill and surrender! Only then will it be possible to convince my sister and brother-in-law to surrender!… Although we won’t be able to all live in the city of Rome in the future, at least they…they won’t be killed or turned into slaves…”

Listening to his wife’s anxious pleas and heartfelt words, Stolo couldn’t resist any longer and held her trembling body tightly. This time, he was truly tempted…

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Today, the people of Rome were brimming with excitement. This wasn’t solely due to the Theonian army’s string of victories, which had bolstered their confidence in Theonia’s dominion over Latium, making the return of Roman nobility to power seem nearly impossible. It was also the assurance that the newfound lands and rights they had acquired would remain firmly in their grasp.

Moreover, they also knew that this army, which had been out fighting for more than ten days, was about to return to the city of Rome, which included six thousand Roman soldiers. Despite their assault on Gabii was a tough battle, it was followed by constant marching and enemy surrendering, so the casualties among the soldiers weren’t significant. Still, the Romans hoped to see their relatives appear alive in front of them in this chaotic situation.

Towards noon, Phryntor arrived in Rome with the nearly thirty thousand Theonian soldiers. King Davos personally led the officials of Rome to greet them and announced, “In honour of the soldiers’ service to the kingdom, a grand banquet will be held for them at noon! And the banquet will be followed by a rugby match between the legions!”

Upon hearing this, the soldiers’ exhaustion from marching for several days immediately disappeared and was replaced by their deafening cheers.

This would be the first time since the founding of Theonia that they would hold a banquet to celebrate a war. Davos did this mainly out of concern because this would be the first time that such a large number of Theonian legionaries have been away from their homes and in continuous large-scale combat for such a long period on foreign lands. Thus, they felt both physically and mentally exhausted and needed to be allowed to relax.

Davos dared to make such a decision because the situation in the entire Latium region was gradually becoming clearer, and the order within the city of Rome was becoming more stable.

Over the past month, as the Theonian army captured city after city and compelled city-states to surrender, they managed to seize a large amount of food, livestock, and wealth. So, hosting a banquet was now a trivial matter.

Furthermore, they did not need to consume large quantities of grains. With Davos’ chef acting as the head chef for the entire banquet, he meticulously crafted rich dishes for each soldier: a steaming pot of lamb broth, a succulent piece of pan-fried beef, a river fish grilled and smoked with herbs, a pile of freshly cleaned cabbage ready for dipping in sauce, a small cup of boiled chickpeas, a handful of olives and nuts, a slice of honeyed bread, and, of course, a jar of watered-down liquor…

In preparation for this grand banquet, they had slaughtered over five hundred fat sheep and nearly a hundred cows in the city of Rome. In addition, the soldiers stationed in the city used fishing nets to haul thousands of kilos of fish in the Tiber River…

While the soldiers from various legions enjoyed delicious food in their respective camps, the six thousand Roman Reserve soldiers, who didn’t have their own camp, sought the consent of Davos before Sextus led them to eat in Campus Martius, located in the northeast of Rome.

The Roman city hall borrowed the kitchens of nearly a hundred plebeian families from Collis Palatinus and employed their cooks to prepare dishes under the direction of Davos’ chef. Afterwards, the logistics camp of the legions successively sent their men to Collis Palatinus to queue up to receive their food in order.

A spectacular sight appeared: A long line extended from Collis Palatinus to the city in all directions.

King Davos led Crotokatax, accompanied by his guard, to attend the celebration banquet in the camps of the various legions. At each camp, he would hold a cup of alcohol and walk among the soldiers, chatting with them while letting Crotokatax take his place to toast to the officers and soldiers who had performed well as a gesture of encouragement.

It was only now that all the legionaries truly knew that the silent young man who often stood behind the king and the young man who led the army to attack in the final part of the siege of Fidenae and Gabii wasn’t an officer of the palace guard, but the prince of the Kingdom of Theonia!

In addition to being surprised, the soldiers were also quite fond towards this gentle young man, so they toasted him one after another. As Crotokatax accepted everyone’s toast, he was already walking staggeringly and talking drunkenly by the time he had gone through the various camps, prompting Davos to ask the guard to help him return to his room to rest.

Finally, Davos and his team arrived at Campus Martius, and Sextus, along with his officers, welcomed the arrival of King Davos.

Davos then proposed to stay and eat with these Roman plebeian soldiers who had just joined the Kingdom of Theonia.

It didn’t only surprise the officers but also Sextus, who was familiar with Davos. Before he could find a reason to refuse, Davos had already walked straight to the soldiers and sat down on the grass without hesitation.

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