Chapter 878
Zantiparis' sincere words greatly touched the generals of the Campanian Alliance. People like Aialos immediately thought of the predicament of Naples: there were too many refugees in the city, there was a lack of food, and it was difficult to maintain order. What they were most afraid of was the outbreak of a plague.
The generals of cities like Herculanium and Reitrum were eager to lead their people back to their homes, but their cities were in ruins. If the Samonians attacked again, they would not be able to defend themselves. Would they have to continue hiding in Naples? Not only would the people find it hard to bear, but the militias under them would also oppose it.
Seeing that the generals of the Campanian Alliance were deep in thought, Zantiparis said, "Our soldiers are indeed a little tired after a tough battle, but at least they have time to rest. But aren't the Samonians tired after coming from afar? It took them one day to get here from Beneventum. I'm afraid they didn't rest much on the way. They must be even more tired than our soldiers. Can they still run like the wind in battle like before?!
Furthermore, our soldiers have just conquered Lola, and their confidence has been boosted. The Samonians are worried about Lola, so their morale is not as high as ours. Furthermore, even if the Samonians have 10,000 reinforcements, we still outnumber them. Don't forget that there are more than 2,000 warriors from Naconia in their army. The spies from Abenilum have already said that they have secretly contacted the commander of Naconia's army. So, these 2,000 Naconia warriors are not allies of the Samonians' reinforcements. They are here to help us at a critical moment! "
Zantiparis's mood became high. "Everyone, we have so many advantages. We should seize this opportunity to take the initiative to attack the enemies, defeat them, and completely drive them out of the Campanian Plains. Let the people of the Campanian Alliance enjoy peace and tranquility!"
Zantiparis's words made most of the generals feel excited, and their doubts were gone.
But there were also people who objected. "Can the words of the Abenilum be trusted?" The Samonians and the Campanians had been fighting for decades. Both sides regarded each other as mortal enemies. How could they be trusted so easily?
Before Zantiparis could answer, Aialos said, "The Abenilum helped General Alexis defeat Sammonet's army in the mountains, and now they are besieging Benventum. Why can't they be trusted? The Abenilum is an ally of Diónia, so of course they are our friends! The same goes for the Naconians. Don't forget, we were able to conquer Lola City thanks to them! "
In fact, it was not that the Naconians did not clash with the Campanians in Lola. It was just that the Enona officials tried their best to isolate the Campanians from each other and reduce their contact. For example, the Naconians were responsible for trimming the trunks and digging the soil. They were not allowed to participate in the construction of the hill. At night, the Campanians were allowed to rest in the southern part of Naconia. Of course, another reason for this was to prevent the Lola garrison from seeing the close relationship between the Naconians and Diónia.
The general stopped talking.
Aialos looked at Zantiparis and asked solemnly, "If we do as you said and lead the army to welcome the Samonians' reinforcements, can we win?"
Zantiparis replied solemnly, "As long as we fight with all our strength, we will win!"
Aialos's previous concern was that once the allied forces were defeated, it would be difficult for the slow-moving Campanian heavy infantry to escape the pursuit of the Sammonae. By then, the situation of the Campanian Alliance would become even worse than before.
However, he had personally participated in the two battles of the Dionysian Army on the Campanian Plains. He was also impressed by Diónia's powerful military capabilities. Therefore, Zantiparis's affirmation gave him confidence. He faced the generals of the Campanian Alliance and said loudly, "Everyone, with the full help of the Diónia Alliance, we will definitely defeat the Samonians! Don't hesitate anymore. Gather the soldiers immediately and fight the enemy. Drive them out of the Campanian Plains! "
This time, no one objected.
… …
When the Diónia allied forces lined up outside the city of Lola early in the morning, the defenders of Lola felt that something was wrong. They let a small team sneak out of the city. After paying the price of many casualties, they fled into the mountains from the southeast hilly area and escaped the encirclement. Then, they rushed to Beneventum to ask for help. At noon, they happened to meet Segovani's returning army at the entrance of the mountain road leading from Kautium to Beneventum.
When Segovani learned that Lola was in danger, he did not hesitate to give the order to "speed up". At the same time, he also sent spies to inform Cesara.
Just like that, Kautium's army left the mountains and entered Kautium's territory. They did not enter the city to rest at all. Instead, they continued to march forward, passing through the relatively wide pass between the mountains and arriving at Abella. Here, they met up with the 1,300 warriors sent by Cesara, bringing the total force to more than 9,000 people. This was already the largest force that the Kautium tribe could send at present.
This army walked out of the pass and entered the Campanian Plains. They went around the mountains and turned south, heading straight for Lola.
Although the road from Kautium to Lola was flat, a day's march still made the Samonese mountain people, who were good at running and full of energy, feel tired. Many tribal leaders asked Segovani to let the warriors rest for a while.
However, Segovani refused. From the descriptions of several Lola messengers, he had already realized the determination of the Diónia Campanian Alliance to attack Lola. He had to go and reinforce as soon as possible to prevent this town, which was very important to the Kautium tribe, from being controlled by the Diónia. This meant that the southern part of the Kautium territory would be cut off, which he could not allow.
About ten miles away from Lola, Segovani received a report from a spy sent to Lola. "The enemy's army is coming out of Lola and coming towards us. There are many soldiers!"
"Are you sure the enemy came out of Lola?!" Segovani was in disbelief.
"Great Leader, when we approached Lola, the battle had already ended. We only saw many Campanians carrying corpses outside the city. The enemy did come out of Lola's north gate. They were dressed neatly, and it didn't seem like a battle had just ended …" The Kautium spy said with a sorrowful expression.
Segovani was shocked. Although he led the army to help, he did not think that the Diónia Alliance could take down Lola, which was defended by thousands of Kautium warriors, in just a few days. However, the situation had developed beyond his expectations.
He only pondered for a while before viciously saying to the bewildered leaders, "Haven't we always complained, 'If the Campanians didn't hide in the city like turtles, not daring to fight us, we would have occupied the entire Campanian Plains long ago!' Now, the chance has come. Those cowardly Campanians actually dare to attack us. Do they really think that with the help of the Diónia, they can turn from a bunch of rabbits into vicious wolves?! Their numbers are about the same as ours, and they have just finished attacking the city, so they came at the right time. We can completely eliminate them. Not only can we take back Lola, but the entire Campanian Plains will no longer be able to stop us. The entire situation of the battlefield will be changed by us, the Kautium people! "
Segovani's words ignited the leaders' fighting spirit, and they all clamored to fight the enemy to the death.
Thus, the leaders carried out the order of 'all troops stop advancing, rest on the spot, and start getting into formation'.
Before this, Vasonk had been anxious. He originally thought that the Kautium army would rest in Kautium after walking through the mountain road. He did not expect them to go straight to Lola, so he could only quietly send his subordinates to inform the other Naconian leaders that the Naconians had broken away from Segovani's control and formed an alliance with Diónia.
Now that he received the news that they were going to fight the Campanians, the entire army had to start getting into formation, Vasonk became even more anxious. This was because Segovani had also forcefully ordered the Naconian tribes to immediately disperse to their designated positions in the formation, without any refusal or delay!
The designated positions that Segovani was referring to were to place the troops of the Naconia tribes on the left, center, and right front or rear of the entire army formation. This way, they wouldn't be able to communicate with each other during battle and wouldn't be able to cooperate with each other.
In fact, the Naconian army was now a hot potato for Segovani. With what he had done in his territory and now that Diónia had occupied Naconia (he thought that Naconia was occupied by Diónia), if the Naconian army knew the truth, they would definitely rebel.
In Segovani's opinion, it was best to completely separate them and force them into the armies of other tribes. This would, of course, incite the Naconian army to resist. It was not that Segovani did not try this at first. When the Samonai Coalition met in Beneventum, he had made this suggestion to the leaders of several other tribes, wanting to use the advantage of the coalition to suppress the resistance of the Naconian warriors and take the opportunity to separate them.
However, this suggestion was opposed by Bardani and Kontruc, especially Kontruc, who harshly rebuked this idea. He believed that it was Quinduc's fault for colluding with foreign enemies, and he and his tribe had already been punished. The other Naconian warriors had performed so valiantly in battle (the Naconian army was always at the forefront under Segovani's command) that it was enough to make up for their past mistakes. Moreover, it was the Samonai military tradition for the tribal leaders to lead their people into battle. Breaking this tradition would only make other tribes feel fear.
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