Chapter 882
When the word "surrender" came out of the mouth of the Benventum messenger, Alexis wasn't too surprised, because other than Benventum, the other Hilpini tribes had successively surrendered to Diónia. Then he learned that Caraceni's army had left Benventum, so Benventum was like a turtle in a jar.
Therefore, Alexis said confidently, "It's a good thing that Benventum can surrender! However, as one of the initiators of this war, and according to the other tribes, Benventum was the main commander of this war, causing a great disaster to Diónia and its allies. They must be severely punished! "
When the messenger heard this, he was so frightened that he hurriedly said, "Honorable General Alexis, Savone has already handed down the punishment for Benventum's mistake. Big Leader Lescock committed suicide last night to atone for his crime!"
"Lescoc is dead?!" Gherni asked in surprise in the big tent.
"Yes, Leader Gherni." The messenger looked at Gherni with a sad expression, and said with a choked voice, "Before his death, the great leader regretted what he did to the Abenilum. He hoped that he alone would bear all the blame, and that you would spare the tribes of Benventum!"
"Lescoc would never say such things." Gherni shook his head and sat down again, but he seemed to be in a good mood.
Alexis said solemnly, "Leescock's suicide does not absolve the Beneventum people of their responsibility! Our King of Devers once wrote a letter saying, 'Benventum has been full of malice towards Diónia for more than ten years. They have been maliciously suppressing and bullying the friendly Abenilum of Diónia, and they are also the main culprit of this war! … '
Because you wantonly tore up the alliance, in order to prevent Benventum from provoking another war in the future, the King of Devers instructed, 'Benventum must be completely integrated into the Kingdom of Diónia. The tribes and people of Benventum can join the Kingdom of Diónia, or they can move to other places in the Samonai Mountains.' When this war is over, the mountains will be sparsely populated, and there will be plenty of places for you to live. "
When the messenger heard this, he was angry, and roared with a red face, "Is Diónia trying to use the war as an excuse to forcefully annex Benventum?! If so, our warriors will never yield, and will fight to the death! Savone will protect us, even if all the people of Diónia here die in battle, don't even think about attacking Benventum! "
After roaring, the messenger turned to look at Gherni and reprimanded, "You see, this is the ambition of Diónia! Today it's Benventum, tomorrow it may be Abenilum. I'm afraid the people of Diónia want to destroy the entire Samonai Mountains. Do you still want to be their accomplice?! "
Gherni turned a deaf ear to the messenger's attempt to drive a wedge between them. Alexis had already told him the orders of the Devers. Of course, he was very happy that the Devers wanted him to become the great leader of the Hilpini tribe. Although it was a pity that the most powerful tribe, Benventum, would be separated and become a part of the Kingdom of Diónia, it also meant that the situation of Benventum suppressing Abenilum for decades would no longer exist. In the future, there would be a lot less restraint when he governed the entire tribe, so he could accept this.
He replied calmly, "Abenilum has already joined the Kingdom of Diónia."
The messenger was stunned.
Alexis said in a tough tone, "Our soldiers have long been ready to attack Benventum! Do you accept this condition or fight to the death? Berentum must give me an answer today, otherwise we will start attacking the city tomorrow! "
The messenger hurriedly returned to the city. He didn't expect the city to be in turmoil.
It turned out that the warriors of Lescok's tribe were instigated by his relatives. They thought that the leader's suicide had something to do with the fear of death of the other tribe leaders. Not only did they imprison the two tribal elders who were involved in this matter, but they also demanded that the other tribe leaders must take responsibility for this matter and accept judgment and punishment according to tradition.
Of course, the other tribe leaders couldn't accept this, and the angry warriors of Lescok's tribe insisted on making them pay the price, which led to the escalation of the conflict.
Lescok's tribe was the largest tribe in the territory of Benventum. The other tribes could only unite to fight against it. Both sides were at daggers drawn and didn't give an inch.
The emissary informed both sides of Dionia's harsh conditions. Although everyone's anger was temporarily appeased and they sat down to discuss the matter, they could not come up with a unified opinion after debating for half a day due to the lack of a leader. Should they fight or should they make peace?
Lescok's tribe elected his eldest son to participate in the discussion. Not only was his attitude firm in the meeting, he wanted to fight to the death with Diónia's coalition army, but he also constantly verbally attacked the other leaders who proposed further negotiations. When the meeting was over, he glared at the other leaders with eyes full of hatred, which made the leaders scared.
Because Benventum didn't reply on the same day, Alexis kept her promise and sent out the army early the next morning, ready to attack the city.
The morale of Diónia's coalition army was very high, and they had a strong desire to fight. After learning that the main army of Lucania's reserve army had defeated the main army of Cautini, the soldiers of the 10th and 11th Legions certainly couldn't allow themselves to be defeated by the reserve army. They had asked for battle many times. For the Abenilum warriors, they could finally take revenge by taking Benventum, and they could vent the oppression and humiliation they had suffered for more than ten years, so they were very excited. For the Potentia warriors, taking Benventum meant that they didn't have to listen to the older generation talk about how terrible the Samonai were. They could proudly tell their descendants that they had conquered the largest Samonai town.
Alexis issued the siege deployment: the army of Potentia to attack the east wall, the Dionysian Army to attack the west, and the army of Abenilum to attack the south.
Alexis also put the surrendered warriors of the Hilpini tribe under Gherni's command. He couldn't allow some Hilpini warriors who weren't sure of their loyalty to watch from the side while the whole army was attacking the city.
Faced with the objections of these tribes, Gherni threatened fiercely, "You once swore to Leeskuk. Now that Leeskuk has committed suicide, you naturally don't have to abide by this oath anymore. Don't find any excuses to avoid this battle. Let me tell you, the tribes that participate in this battle are allies of Diónia, and those that don't are enemies. Make your own choice!"
Many people secretly scolded Gherni in their hearts, but no tribe dared to leave without permission.
Gherni didn't hold back and directly arranged for them to be at the forefront of the siege.
The siege of the Diónia Allied Army was imminent, but the leaders in the city of Beneventum didn't come up with a defense plan because of the fruitless debate yesterday. They didn't expect that the Diónia Allied Army would launch an attack at dawn. They immediately panicked and brought their warriors to defend the city in a hurry. The arrangement was hasty and chaotic.
Moreover, Beneventum was a large city, and 2000 warriors couldn't cover the entire city. Seeing the enemies swarming in like a tide and the tall siege weapons that they had never seen before, some of the leaders' hearts beat fast and they had other ideas.
The siege had just begun, but the tribes in charge of defending the south city opened the city gates and surrendered to the Diónia Allied Army.
The army of Abenilum took the opportunity to rush into the city, and Beneventum's line of defense collapsed. The tribe of Leeskuk, who had resisted until the end, had suffered more than half of their casualties and the death of their temporary leader, and they had no choice but to surrender.
The Diónia Allied Army captured Beneventum.
… …
The fall of Beneventum meant that the Allied Army led by Alexis could directly reach Kaoutim through the mountain path in the east.
The spies of Kaoutim, who had been closely monitoring the situation in Beneventum, immediately sent the bad news back to Kaoutim.
The people of Kaoutim were extremely panicked because most of their young and strong tribesmen were under the leadership of Segovani, resisting the other Diónia Allied Army in Abela.
A few days ago, Segovani was angry at the betrayal of the Naconians, so he ordered his men to escort the Naconian leaders imprisoned in Kaoutim to Abela and behead them all. He hung their heads on the city walls to vent his anger and take revenge on the Naconians.
The Naconians, led by Vassonk, were indeed angered, and they all requested Zantiparis to attack Abela.
Zantiparis saw that the Naconians' fighting spirit was high, and after scouting, he found that Abela was not only small, but its defensive facilities were also simple. (Abela was located in the hinterland of Kaoutim and had never been threatened by external enemies. In addition, it was surrounded by mountains that were difficult to climb, and the land was barren. Faced with the threat of survival, the Abela people were busy looting and did not have the time to repair the city.) So he agreed to the Naconians' request, and after carrying over the siege equipment used in the attack on Lola, he gave the order to attack the city.
The attack was made with the Naconians as the main force, the Diónia soldiers as support, and the Campanian Alliance soldiers as backup, waving flags and shouting to boost the morale.
It turned out that the generals of the Campanian Alliance saw that the remnants of Kaoutim's army had been driven out of the Campanian Plains and were no longer a threat to them, so they had the idea of "returning to their homeland and quickly rebuilding their homeland". They all asked Zantiparis to resign and leave. In the end, even the Neapolitan general Aialos could not sit still, but at least he left 1000 Neapolitan soldiers behind.
Comments