Published at 18th of February 2024 8:46 pm

Chapter 880: The End of the Samnite Tribal Alliance (II)

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Alexius wasn't too surprised when the envoy of Beneventum uttered the word surrender. After all, all the other Hirpini tribes, apart from Beneventum, had already surrendered to Theonia. He had also learned of the Caraceni army's departure from the city of Beneventum, leaving Beneventum like a turtle trapped in a jar.

Thus, Alexius confidently said, “It's good that you want to surrender! However, Beneventum, as one of the initiators and, according to the other tribes, the main commander of this war, has caused great disaster to Theonia and its allies and must receive severe punishment!”

The envoy of Beneventum became frightened hearing that, causing him to hurriedly say, “Honourable strategos Alexius, for the faults of Beneventum, Savoni has already sent down his punishment, and the Great Chieftain Lesguk had committed suicide last night to atone for his crime!”

“Is Lesguk dead?!” Garni asked in surprise.

“Yes, Chieftain Garni.” The envoy looked at Garni dejectedly and sobbed, “Before the great chieftain died, he very much regretted what he had done to Abellinum. Thus, he wanted to bear all the faults and hope you would spare the tribes in Beneventum!”

“Lesguk isn't such a person to say such things,” Garni shook his head and sat down again, but his mood improved.

Alexius, on the other hand, turned serious and said, “Lesguk committing suicide doesn't remove the responsibility of Beneventum! Our King Davos wrote a letter pointing out that the people of Beneventum had carried malice towards Theonia for over a decade, maliciously suppressing and bullying Abellinum, who had friendly relations with us and were also the main perpetrators of this war!…

Because of how you wantonly tore up our agreement, King Davos instructed us to fully integrate Beneventum into the Kingdom of Theonia to avoid you provoking another war again, while the tribes and people of Beneventum can either join the Kingdom of Theonia or migrate to other parts of the Samnite mountains. But you do not need to worry, as the mountains will be sparsely populated after this war, so you will have plenty of places to turn into your settlements.”

Upon hearing this, the envoy became enraged and roared, “Is Theonia trying to use the war as an excuse to forcefully annex our Beneventum?! If so, we, the warriors of Beneventum, will never give in and fight to the death! With Savoni's protection, you Theonians won't be able to enter Beneventum even if all of you sacrifice yourself in battle!”

After his shout, the envoy turned his head back to Garni and rebuked him, “As you can see, this is the ambition of the Theonians! Today, it's Beneventum, and tomorrow it could be your Abellinum. I am afraid that the Theonians want to wipe out all Samnites, and yet you still want to be their accomplice?!”

Garni ignored the envoy's words of trying to cause alienation as Alexius had long told him of Davos' instruction. Naturally, he was pleased about Davos' wish for him to become the great chieftain of the Hirpini tribe. Despite feeling regret about the separation of the most powerful Beneventum and becoming a part of the Kingdon of Theonia, it also means that the situation where Beneventum would suppress Abellinum for decades will no longer exist. In addition, he will have much fewer constraints on governing the entire tribe in the future; thus, he can accept this.

Hence, he calmly responded, which shocked the envoy, “Abellinum has already joined the Kingdom of Theonia.”

Alexius then spoke in a firm tone, “Our soldiers have long been ready to storm Beneventum forcefully! You must give your answer today, whether to accept this or fight to the death. Otherwise, we will start our siege tomorrow!”

The envoy hurriedly returned to the city, only to find a commotion inside.

Apparently, Lesguk's relative instigated the tribal warriors of Lesguk's tribe, believing that their chieftain's suicide was related to the other tribal chieftains' fear of death and had gathered to pressure him. Thus, they not only imprisoned the two tribal elders involved in the incident but also demanded that the other tribal chieftains be held responsible and tried and punished following their traditions.

Other tribal chieftains certainly cannot accept it, while the furious warriors of Lesguk's tribe insist on making them pay the price, escalating the conflict.

With Lesguk's tribe as the largest tribe in Beneventum, the other tribes can only unite to fight them, resulting in both sides being at odds and not giving in.

The envoy quickly informed them of Theonia's harsh conditions on both sides. However, despite calming their anger and sitting together to discuss the matter, no progress happened due to the lack of leadership. They continued to argue and couldn't come up with a unified opinion on whether to fight or make peace.

Lesguk's tribe elected his eldest son to participate in the meeting, in which he was firmly determined to fight Theonia and their allies to the death. He also constantly attacked those other chieftains who proposed further negotiations verbally. At the end of the meeting, he kept gazing at the other chieftains with hatred, which shocked them.

Due to Beneventum's failure to give their response on that day, Alexius kept his promise and dispatched a large army early the following morning, preparing to siege the city.

The morale of Theonia and their allies is high, with a strong desire to fight. So, upon learning how the army led by the Lucanian reserve legion had defeated the main force of Caudini, the Tenth and Eleventh Legion, soldiers certainly could not allow themselves to lose to the soldiers of the reserve legion. Thus, they kept asking for the start of the battle. For the warriors of Abellinum, the capture of Beneventum would finally allow them to fulfil their revenge and give vent to the oppression and humiliation they suffered for over a decade, making them all excited. For the Potentian warriors, the capture of Beneventum would relieve them of the chatters of the older generation about how terrible the Samnties were, which would also allow them to proudly tell their descendants that they had captured the largest Samnite settlement.

Alexius finally issued the siege deployment: The Potentian army would attack the eastern wall, the Theonian on the western wall, and the Abellinum on the southern wall.

Alexius also placed the surrendered warriors of the Hirpini tribe under Garni's command. After all, he couldn't allow the entire army to besiege the city while some Hirpini warriors, still uncertain of their loyalty, were left watching in the camp.

Facing the dissent of these tribes, Garni threatened viciously, “You had indeed given your oath to Lesguk. However, with Lesguk committing suicide, you no longer need to abide by this oath, so don't make any excuse to escape this battle. I tell you this so you can choose for yourself: the tribes participating in this battle are allies of Theonia, and those who don't participate are enemies!”

Many secretly curse Garni for being a fox pretending to be a lion. Still, none of them dares to lead their men and leave without permission.

Garni was also not modest as he directly arranged them at the forefront of the formation.

Soon after, Theonia and their allies launched an attack on the city. The chieftains in the city of Beneventum, unable to formulate a defensive plan due to an inconclusive meeting the day before, were caught off guard. Beyond their expectations, the enemies struck at dawn, inducing panic as they hastily and chaotically rushed to defend the city.

Furthermore, as Beneventum was a large city, their two thousand warriors were insufficient to cover its entirety. Seeing the advancing tide of enemies and the towering siege equipment they had never seen before, some chieftains began to feel uneasy and entertain different thoughts.

But just at the start of the siege, several tribes responsible for defending the southern part opened the gates and surrendered to the enemies.

The Abellinum army took the opportunity to charge into the city, causing Beneventum's defensive line to collapse. The tribe of Lesguk, who had stubbornly resisted until the end, were forced to surrender with half of their casualties and their temporary chieftain dying in battle.

Thus, Theonia and their allies had captured Beneventum.

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

The fall of Beneventum meant that the coalition led by Alexius could pass through the mountain path to the east and reach Caudium directly.

The Caudini scouts, who had been closely monitoring Beneventum's situation, immediately spread the bad news back to Caudium.

The people of Caudini became extremely panicked because Segobani had led the vast majority of their young and abled men to resist another Theonian army in Abella.

A few days ago, Segobani, enraged at the betrayal of the Nucerians, ordered his men to escort the Nucerian chieftains imprisoned at Caudium to Abella. Here, he had all of them decapitated, and their heads hung over the city wall as a means of venting his fury and revenge on the Nucerians.

The Nucerian warriors, led by Basani, were indeed angered by this. So they requested Xanticles to allow them to be the ones responsible for attacking Abella.

Seeing the Nucerian's morale, and after sending scouts, Xanticles found that Abella was only a small city and poorly fortified(Abella had never faced threats from foreign enemies as it was situated in Caudini's hinterland. Additionally, with the surrounding mountains difficult to climb and the land barren, the people of Abella consistently grappled with the constant threat to their survival, leaving them too preoccupied with plundering to consider repairing the city wall.), so he agreed to the Nucerians' request. After having them carry the siege equipment used to attack Nola, he issued the order to attack the city.

The Nucerians were the main attackers, with the Theonian soldiers as auxiliaries and the Campanian League's soldiers acting as reserve. They waved their flags and shouted to boost the morale.

Having driven the remnants of the Caudini army out of the Campanian plains and recognising that they were no longer a threat, the strategoi of the Campanian League wanted to return to their hometown and quickly rebuild it. Thus, they all requested Xanticles to be allowed to withdraw and departed. Eventually, even the Neapolitan strategos Aeoles didn’t stay any longer, though he left behind at least a thousand Neapolitan soldiers.

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