Published at 9th of January 2024 10:35 am

Chapter 865: Attacking Nola

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By dusk, the Theonian army managed to dig trenches, clear the weeds and trees in the camp area, and build a part of the earthen wall… The Theonians built the camp in an arc-shaped ellipse, with the Potentian and Abellinum camps at both ends farther north, while the Theonian camp was closer to the southwest. Since the eastern column of hills wasn't completely continuous and had some smaller hills, Alexius considered providing more support to the weaker Abellinum, thus extending the camp towards the breaks in the eastern hill(located behind the Abellinum camp), avoiding the possibility of the hill separating the Abellinum camp from the main force that it would end up as a weak spot for the enemy to attack.

Meanwhile, the main force of the Samnite Tribal Alliance had just reached Caudium at this time due to their ranks bloating from carrying a lot of captured slaves and spoils and the constant raids of the Campanian army.

After careful planning, Lesguk launched a night raid on Theonia's camp, mainly targeting the Potentians.

Despite Alexius warning Polet to be alert, the night raid of the Beneventum still managed to stir up confusion among the inexperienced Potentian warriors.

Soon after receiving the report, Alexius immediately dispatched reinforcements.

Lesguk, on the other hand, failed to increase the advantages they gained further due to his insufficient troops before the enemy reinforcement arrived, so he could only order his warriors to burn down some tents while retreating quickly.

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

Also on this day, Xanticles, with half a reserve legion, departed Irna's port in a flotilla of ships, skirted the Sorrento Peninsula, landed unimpeded on the coast near Pompeii, and then successfully recaptured Pompeii, which the enemy had already sacked.

Then, he dispatched his troops to easily recapture the deserted city of Oplontis, which wasn't far from Pompeii.

After lunch, Xanticles left two hundred soldiers in each of the two towns, then led the remaining three thousand six hundred soldiers eastward into Nuceria. Accompanied by some residents and priests of the town of Bararia*, they began shouting in the Samnite language, “We will take revenge for Kinduk, chase out the people of Caudium and give back the freedom of Nuceria…” and other such slogans that began to resonate with the Nucerian tribesmen. Especially when they saw the familiar priests of Hades and residents of Baparia in the team, they immediately became friendly with them. As a result, many Nucerians supported and welcomed the army of Xanticles, with people continuously joining the team along the way. (The town's inhabitants, which Segobani burnt down, had been in close contact with the people of Nuceria for many years, so many of them spoke the Samntie language.)

Segobani became occupied with collaborating with the other major tribes and launching attacks on the Campanian League after he killed Kinduk and took control of Nuceria. Thus, he could only kill those devoted Nucerians who believed in Hades, while the rest he compelled to surrender. He then sent most able-bodied Nucerians to join the attack on the Campanian League while leaving behind five hundred Caudium warriors to garrison Nuceria.

Due to time constraints, Segobani couldn’t fully carry out the forced relocation of several major tribes within Nuceria to other regions, including the transfer of several tribes from Caudium to Nuceria to inhabit the available land, and many other measures aimed at gaining complete control over Nuceria. Nonetheless, the various tribes residing in Nuceria can sense the impending crisis, particularly due to the barbaric behaviour the Caudium warriors conducted within the city daily, which further fueled the anger in the hearts of the Nucerians.

While the Caudium warriors atop the wall stood shocked by the large army of enemies(half of whom were people from various tribes in Nuceria, but they had gotten placed at the back of the formation by Xanticles so that it made it difficult for the Caudium warriors to see them clearly), the people inside were delighted with the arrival of reinforcements and began taking action. While the Caudium warriors were all atop the wall defending it, the Nucerians took the opportunity to burn the makeshift camp of the Caudium warriors inside Nuceria.

Seeing their camp ablaze, the Caudium warriors became even more alarmed, especially since they knew the inside of Nuceria had become as dangerous as the outside. Moreover, their home was in Caudium, so they had no determination to defend this town that had nothing to do with them to the death. Thus, as soon as they saw the situation turned terrible, they immediately tried to leave Nuceria, hoping to escape from the eastern gate where there were no enemies outside. But beyond their expectations, javelins were occasionally fired from the houses on both sides of the street, killing the fleeing Caudium warriors. Moreover, on the street ahead, the Nucerians blocked the road with wood, mud bricks, and stones…which further caused chaos for the fleeing troops.

After the Caudium warriors departed, the people inside quickly opened the unguarded western gate. This allowed Xanticles to lead his soldiers in, and with the guidance of the people inside, they pursued the enemy.

The Caudium warriors suffered a massive defeat, with only a few managing to escape, while most of them either perished in battle or were captured.

Since the chieftains of the various tribes in Nuceria were still under Segobani's control, the freed Nucerians quickly elected several respected elders from each tribe to discuss with the Theonian army.

Xanticles, on the other hand, took the initiative to withdraw his army from Nuceria as a sign of good faith.

Soon, they reached a simple agreement: The Theonian army would make every effort to secure Nuceria's territory, with the condition that they wouldn't enter Nuceria itself. In return, the Nucerian tribes would permit the Theonian logistics team, responsible for transporting provisions, to pass through their lands en route to Abellinum and offer assistance as needed. Additionally, the Theonians would promptly dispatch priests of Hades to Nuceria to oversee sacred matters and expedite the restoration of the Temple of Hades. Lastly, Theonia would do its utmost to help Nucerian warriors whom Segobani had coerced to return to their homes. However, Nuceria would need to assign men to accompany the Theonian army and persuade Nucerian warriors to flee…

Xanticles let out a long sigh of relief upon reaching this agreement, as there were two critical clauses that would greatly benefit the current Theonian army in the midst of battle. First and foremost was the supply transportation, as it would be both time-consuming and labour-intensive to transport through the sea to reach Poseidonia, then through the rugged mountains to Compa, then through the mountain pass to reach Abellinum, and finally to the Theonian allied camps that were now in Beneventum. Whereas they only need to head to Pompeii by sea, then through Nuceria's territory, and reach Abellinum by a mountain pass(Given that Nuceria and Abellinum were separated by many kilometres of high mountains with just a few narrow mountain passes connecting them, this shorter route eliminated the risk of the Samnite army intercepting the supply transportation.) Through this way, they have reduced the entire journey by almost half. Hence, when they were parting ways in Compsa, Alexius and Xanticles had already discussed the plan, and the recovery of Nuceria was of utmost importance.

Another is to sign a friendly agreement with the Nucerians, as with their help, they could easily encourage the Nucerian warriors in the Samnite army to flee, weakening the Samnites.

But Xanticles didn't expect the Nucerians to propose the return of the Hades priests proactively. Perhaps it was because of how Segobani persecuted the Hades believers in the Nucerian territory that it instead stimulated the rebellious mentality of the Nucerians. And in this chaotic time, the arrival of the priests of Hades can help the Nucerians through the difficulties in several ways, such as curing the sick, providing relief, comfort…and so on, which the priests of the native gods such as Savoni can't do.

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On that night, the defeated warriors fled back to Caudium, shocking Segobani upon learning of it. While he had anticipated their retreat and the possibility of encountering attacks in Nuceria, he was surprised by the rapid loss of the southernmost territory of the Caudini tribe and the role and hostility the Nucerians showed.

Thus, he first blocked the news from spreading so that the Nucerian warriors wouldn't know about it. At the same time, he also dispatched an additional five hundred warriors(including those who retreated) to the west of Nola and Sesala, hoping these two places could become a barrier for Caudini in the south.

For him, he wasn't worried about the Campanian army. Instead, he was a bit afraid of the Theonians despite their lesser numbers.

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

The following day, the Theonian joint army continued building the camp. The soldiers worked even harder with the lesson from last night, cutting down trees, building wooden fences and lookout towers and setting up abatis…

Meanwhile, Lesguk began to adapt to the enemy army's suppression and ballistae bombardment by sending warriors out of the city to attack and disturb them, to which the Theonian allied forces, who were also gradually becoming experienced, took appropriate defensive measures and forced them back after suffering a few casualties.

In the afternoon, more than ten thousand Samnite warriors finally entered the city of Beneventum.

On the same day, Xanticles led three thousand six hundred soldiers to leave Nuceria and march north. After two hours of marching, they approached Nola. Here, they met up with the Campania League's eight thousand soldiers from the west, bringing the total force to eleven thousand six hundred.

In Nola, there were only a thousand five hundred Caudini warriors, so they naturally felt anxious that they tightly closed the four gates and mobilised everyone inside. All the warriors went up atop the wall, ready for defence.

Things have now turned around. Two days ago, the Samnite Tribal Alliance swept through the Campanian League, with the only remaining city on the Campanian plains was Neapolis, which they also surrounded, and the shouting of the Samnite warriors were able to make those countless people who fled to Neapolis tremble. Now, the situation reversed, and the Campanian army, in conjunction with the Theonians, had surrounded the famous Caudini town of Nola, making the soldiers feel both excitement and nervousness.

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