A portion of the mercenaries at the east gate, armed with spears and shields, rushed down the wooden wall to attack the Potentia warriors in the city to support the Grumentum, who were on the verge of collapse. The rest of the mercenaries ran to the top of the gate and turned the locked winch. The east gate was opened, and the soldiers at the back swarmed in.
The Potentia soldiers defending the east gate were attacked from both the front and back, and were struggling to hold on.
When Lusau received Pollett's order, he was shocked. He did not expect the tribes in Grumentum to rebel again. His first reaction was not to worry about the situation at the east gate, but to fear that something would happen to the soldiers under his command. More than half of the more than a thousand soldiers were tribal warriors who had pledged allegiance to him after entering the city. In addition, the enemy at the south gate was attacking fiercely. He did not dare to disperse his forces, so he refused to send reinforcements.
However, the Potentia warriors stationed on the mountainside immediately went down the mountain to provide reinforcements when they received the order. When they arrived, their companions at the east gate were in a difficult situation. The leader of the team did not hesitate and took the lead to kill the enemy.
The reinforcements from Potentia complicated the situation in the east. The mercenaries and the warriors of the Grumentum tribes attacked the soldiers at the east gate from the front and back, while the warriors of the Grumentum were attacked from the front and back by the people of Potentia. The four forces fought each other in the city and in the narrow area in front of the entrance to the mountain road …
The first to react was Zantiparis. Thanks to the "Diónia Military Law", Zantiparis had been instructed many times during this period of training to not fight on the front lines unless it was a special situation.
Therefore, in this siege, he followed from the rear. Faced with such a chaotic situation, he, who had rich battlefield experience, quickly made a decision. He ordered the mercenaries to slowly retreat to the city wall, and at the same time, informed Kelsima to lead his soldiers to go around the houses on both sides and surround the enemy.
The retreat of the mercenaries gave the Potentia warriors a glimmer of hope. They believed that the enemy could not hold on any longer, so their morale was greatly boosted. On the other hand, the Grumentum people felt despair. They were originally a motley crew, and their fighting spirit had almost collapsed. However, as the Potentia warriors advanced, they gradually surrounded them from all sides. Unable to escape, they had no choice but to fight desperately for their survival.
However, Polot, who was at the top of the hill, was terrified. He saw that the enemies were retreating in an orderly formation, while the enemies who were rushing into the city gate circled around the houses on both sides, gradually forming a large encirclement around the Portentia garrison and reinforcements, as well as the Grumentums. Some of the enemies were standing on top of the city walls, holding javelins in their hands. From such a high vantage point and such a close distance, it was almost certain that every javelin would hit its target …
Polot closed his eyes in pain. Now, he was certain that the enemy was from the terrifying Diónia Alliance. The Lucanian warriors were full of fighting spirit, but their formation had always been loose. They were not as organized and tight as this one.
Polot scolded Lusau for disobeying orders while hesitating on whether to send the last of his troops to this hopeless eastern battlefield …
The deadly rain of javelins and the ferocious attacks of the mercenaries finally led to the defeat of the garrison at the east gate. The encirclement shrank like a noose around the neck of the Potentia reinforcements. Feeling hopeless, they finally chose to surrender.
In the end, Polot, who was worried about his gains and losses, did not send out his remaining 500 warriors. Instead, he defended the top of the mountain.
Following that, Zantiparis and Csima led their troops to attack the south. Lusau, who was already struggling to hold on, was no match for them. As they retreated to the west, they were killed by the Grumentum warriors who had lost control.
When it was dark, the Dionysian Army defeated the defenders in the east, west, and south. The entire army entered the Grumentum city, leaving only the 500 warriors led by Polot at the top of the mountain. They were terrified when the army approached.
At this moment, Hemont raised his torch and went up the mountain alone, ready to persuade Polot to surrender.
In order to save the lives of his people, Polot finally agreed to surrender. The warriors had no choice but to put down their weapons, open the mountain gate, and follow Hemont down the mountain empty-handed.
Polot said to Hemont resentfully, "You helped the Greeks kill their own people and seize their land. Aren't you afraid of the wrath of the god Asenu?!"
Hemont turned around and said meaningfully, "You're wrong. I'm not helping the Greeks, but the Lucanians. The god Asenu will only be happy about this!"
With 600 casualties, Diónia seized the Grumentum. Lusau and its henchmen were all slaughtered.
A few days later, Potentia and Diónia signed a truce agreement. More than a thousand captured Potentia warriors were safely sent back to the city of Potentia.
Unlike the fall of Neutum, the news of the change in ownership of the Grumentum quickly spread throughout the Lucaria region. It caused great waves among many small tribes and even many factions.
But Diónia did not take further military action. Instead, they followed the plan that had been drawn up in advance and carried it out step by step. Bagoule was appointed as the city's governor of the Grumentum, Hemont was appointed as the city's intermediate judge, Asistes was transferred to the Grumentum as an intermediate inspector, and Csima was appointed as the captain of the patrol team.
The first thing that Bagoule did when he took office was to take over the camp along the passageway between Neutum and the Grumentum. Next, only 2,000 warriors were left in the Grumentum. The remaining 3,000 warriors and the mercenaries led by Zantiparis returned to their own cities, Neutum, Turií, and Aspurutum, to reduce the pressure on the army's food supply. Several tribes in the city of Grumentum also went south with them.
The next thing to do was to fulfill the promise that Vespa and Hemont had made to the small tribes around the Grumentum. They were to accept them into the Diónia Alliance, divide their settlements and pastures, and abolish the many exploits that the Grumentum and Potentia had done to them …
When Sinsinag learned that the Diónia Alliance had taken over the Grumentum, he cursed them for being sinister and cunning. However, on the surface, the heavily injured Picossis had to send an emissary to Turií to express their goodwill and peace.
Even Galaguso, who rarely participated in the disputes of the Lucanian tribes, sent an emissary to find out the intentions of their powerful new neighbor.
Because of the captives, Potentia was forced to sign a truce agreement with Diónia. However, as the dominant Lucanian tribal alliance in the north of Lucania, Diónia's surprise attack hurt their dignity and angered the tribal leaders of Potentia. However, they were suppressed by the steady leader, Puamoth, who chose to endure.
The strong Greek aura of the Diónia Alliance was so unique in Lucania that it immediately attracted the attention of another Greek city-state in the area, Elea.
Elea was also one of the many Greek colonial cities that were built on the Italian peninsula during the Greek Great Colonization Era. It was a few decades later than Cumae, which was the first city to be built. Three neighboring coastal cities, Elea, Picossis, and Poseidonia, were built one after another. Compared to the other two cities, Elea, which was sandwiched in the middle, was a little unknown. During the process of the Lucanians' migration to the south a hundred years ago, Poseidonia and Picossis fell one after another. Elea, which was slightly weaker, managed to survive. However, Elea, which was surrounded by the Lucanians, was in danger of being destroyed at any time. If it wasn't for the conflicts between the tribes of Lucania, such as Potentia and Picossis, and Potentia and Grumentum, which made Elea a buffer zone, the Lucanians would not attack it with all their might.
But for the past few decades, Elea's life had not been easy. Parts of the land outside the city were occupied by foreign tribes, and they were attacked from time to time. It was extremely dangerous for the people to leave the city, and they could easily be captured by the Lucanians and turned into slaves. Therefore, the people of Elea relied on the production and processing of handicrafts, as well as the development of maritime trade, cargo transshipment, port services … to barely maintain the operation of the city and the lives of the people.
Now that Diónia appeared, the people of Elea saw the light of hope.
Therefore, after a discussion, all the citizens decided to send an envoy to Diónia, the new Greek city-state alliance, to express their willingness to form an alliance.
Kanios, a member of the council, gladly accepted this glorious mission.
However, it was obviously impossible to go to Diónia by land. Potentia and Picossis would not allow him to pass through their land, so he could only go by sea. The passenger ship did not need to go around the Strait of Messina, because the people of Elea knew that Laos was an ally of Diónia.
The passenger ship carrying Kanios, with the strong south wind, sped south like an arrow.
Kanios stood at the bow of the ship, thinking about the mission. His Etruscan slave, Ino, pointed to the east and suddenly shouted, "Picossis!"
Kanios looked up. In his vision, the distant land in the east was nothing but a small green strip, dotted with a small white dot. That was Picossis. It was once the sister city of Elea, but now it had become the nest of the foreign tribes, the nightmare of Elea.
While Kanios mourned for the people of Picossis, he also secretly made up his mind: I will not let Elea repeat the same mistake!
Because the wind was right, the ship sailed for two hours and arrived at Laos.
Kanios had been to Laos before, so he knew the situation of the port better. Although Laos was occupied by the Lucanians at that time, it did not prohibit trade with the Greeks. It was just that the Lucanians' habit of looting and discrimination between races made their reputation not too good, so there was not much direct trade between the Greeks and Laos.
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