The javelins flew and surrounded the entire phalanx, and then only the sound of banging could be heard. Some javelins slip through the shields, some even piercing into the shields turning the entire phalanx into a hedgehog…yet the soldiers in this phalanx neither fall nor scream.
While the Samnites were stunned, the Greeks suddenly withdrew their long shields and threw their javelins out of the phalanx, heading straight towards Taruk.
And this time, the distance between the two sides was only twenty metres.
That fatal move took Taruk completely by surprise. As a tribal chieftain, Taruk had his own armour and shield, but he left them in the village to pursue those fleeing Greeks better. Seeing the javelin coming straight at him, he tried to rely on his instinct to judge, but he then let out a scream as a javelin pierced his right leg, causing him to fall to the ground.
At the same time, around seven warriors nearby also fell one after another while screaming.
“Chieftain!!!” after hearing the shouts of the panicking warriors, the pain made Taruk suddenly remember what the previous chieftain had said a decade ago, ‘These black-helmeted and black-armoured enemies are Theonians!’
“They are Theonians!” Taruk warned loudly.
But it was too late as the Theonian soldiers were already rushing towards them.
But to protect their chieftain, the Samnite warriors didn't retreat. Instead, they rush forward to fight the Theonian soldiers.
Unfortunately, they made a wrong move. Even though the Samnite warriors are more, fighting against the tightly protected Theonian legionaries while unprotected is like throwing an egg into a rock.
After suffering a lot of casualties, the Samnite warriors could only retreat.
At this time, they heard the sound of horse hoofs from behind them.
“It's the Greek cavalry!!” A Samnite warrior exclaimed.
Then the dozens of galloping Theonian cavalry threw their javelins at the retreating Samnite warriors, slowing them. Then the Theonian soldiers began to approach them rapidly.
After getting pincered in the rear and front, the Samnite warriors were completely routed and could only flee in all directions. But they became the targets of the Theonian cavalry's pursuit.
At the same time, the platoon leader of the Theonian legion stood in front of the dazed Taruk. He then looked at the approaching Campanian army and asked the mounted scouts, “Where is the nearest enemy to us?”
The mounted scouts pointed to his right and said, “About four hundred metres further west from here; they have nearly three Caudini, but your comrades from the Third Platoon and a centuria of light-armoured soldiers are preparing to attack them.”
Hearing that, the platoon leader immediately shouted, “All men of the second platoon, gather up! Except for the few wounded that need to stay behind to receive treatment, the rest of you will immediately march west with me and cooperate with the third platoon to pincer the Samnites!”
“Captain, it's just a minor wound. It won't be a problem for us to continue fighting.” A wounded soldier said reluctantly.
“This is an order; Immediately follow it!” After the platoon leader said that, the wounded soldier no longer uttered a word.
“Captain, what about those Samnites hiding in the village?” A soldier asked.
“Leave them to the Neapolitans; they should be able to handle those mere remnant tribal warriors.” After saying that, the platoon leader led the soldiers towards the west.
Such situations took place in many parts of the Campanian plain.
Only in Atella is the situation different.
The Etruscans founded the small town of Atella, who later joined the Campanian league. Its location is fifteen kilometres northeast of Neapolis, in the middle of the Campanian plain.
After the Caudini captured it twenty years ago, Atella has become the forward base for their further invasion of the coast city-states of Campania and a transit place for the spoils they plundered.
After suffering a lot, the Campanian league, after allying with Theonia, took the opportunity to ask Davos for the Caudini to return Atella to the Campanian league while Theonia had just defeated the Samnites and was still negotiating.
And Davos agreed while the Samnites needed to make concessions because of their situation at that time.
With this humiliation weighing on the chieftain of the Caudini Segobani's mind, he wanted to take this opportunity to gather his troops and win back Atella in one fell swoop while the Campanian league were busy dealing with the invasions of the various tribes to establish his reputation firmly. As for when the Theonia would send their envoy to rebuke him, Segobani already thought of saying Atella belongs to the Caudini as an excuse. Anyway, the Theonians only knew to threaten him with words and wouldn't attack him at all. And by that time, what was done was done, and the Theonians could no longer take it back.
After spending two days gathering about five thousand warriors from the surrounding tribes in Caudium, Segobani covertly led them to enter the city of Suessula.
He then set out with his army half an hour after the other tribes began their invasion. And because he expressly ordered that all tribes are to refrain from plundering on the route from Suessula to Atella, the journey was smooth and didn't encounter any enemies.
With Atella only ten kilometres from Suessula, the army Segobani led only took an hour to approach Atella.
The Atellans obviously didn't expect the Caudini, who only plunder, to suddenly lead a great army to attack the city, causing their few sentries on the city wall to panic.
Segobani, on the other hand, had made full preparation. Besides having his warriors carry enough ladders, he also gathered all of Caudinis' heavy infantry(equivalent to the armoured infantry of the Greeks), totalling about three thousand men.
“Attack!” Segobani immediately gave his orders without hesitation, as he didn't want to leave any time for the enemy to react.
The warriors roared towards Atella.
Suddenly, a scout came hurriedly, “Chieftain, we found the enemy’s mounted scouts!”
Segobani first became worried and then relieved, ‘What if the Greeks found out? Now I have the chance to win.’
So he just waved and said, “Continue observing the enemy's movements to the south and report it to me.”
“Yes, chieftain.” The scout ran away.
‘Cavalry!’ That was a pain in Segobani's heart: Since the Samnites were a mountainous race, they never had cavalry. However, after the Caudini occupied the plains of eastern Campania, he began planning a cavalry to enhance his troops' scouting ability and aid in combat. But none of the Caudini warriors was willing to try their hand at horse riding as they were much happier fighting the enemy on foot than riding and hiding around like cowards. Naturally, sitting on a horse made these Caudini warriors have too much anxiety as they prefer having their feet on solid ground. In the end, his dream of building a cavalry had to go down the drain…
After sighing, Segobani threw his annoying thoughts as he refocused on the battlefield. Then he was pleased to see that the warriors had used the ladders, crossed the trenches and forced their way below the walls, and only then did several panicking Greek defenders appear at the top of the city…
‘I should be able to conquer this town by the time the reinforcements from Neapolis arrive!’ Segobani clenched his right fist confidently.
. . . . . . . . . . . .
“What did you say?! More than five thousand Samnites are attacking Atella?!!” Aeolus, a Neapolitan strategos, was shocked hearing the news from the scouts.
Aeolus immediately responded and shouted with darkened expression, “Those Samnites deceived us! They didn't come just to plunder this time but are instead trying to seize our land!”
At the same time, Litom also looked uncomfortable as he sat in the tent. Litom had to remain in the camp after sending out the various platoons of the Third Legion to fight back the Samnites, who had come to plunder the Campanian league from multiple places. Because of that, he had to scatter the brigades, centurias, and platoons of the Third Legion in this vast area. Hence he can only roughly manage a rough idea by relying on the numerous scouts, heralds and staff officers. And the only soldiers he kept in reserve were the five hundred light infantry remaining in the camp.
Litom carefully looked at Campania's map on his desk and asked loudly, “How many soldiers does Atella have?”
Aeolus thought it for a while, then said, “Atella is a small town with only a few thousand people, so they can only gather up nearly four hundred soldiers.”
At this moment, Aeolus felt regret in his heart. After the Campanian league got back Atella, they planned to expand, fortify and station the city with younger and vigorous citizens, given its strategic location. However, the city-states in the Campanian league began arguing over how much to divide the cost of construction and how much land to allocate to it. Thus they never managed to implement this critical measure. And as time passed, the Caudinis became peaceful under the powerful restraint of Theonia, so they no longer bothered making any further changes to Atella. But the Samnites began attacking the Campanian league again two years ago. However, since they only plundered goods and occasionally some people and didn't attack towns, it didn't arouse vigilance.
Litom frowned and asked, “How many soldiers you have left that didn't go out to fight?”
Aeolus hurriedly discussed with the several strategoi and then said helplessly, “According to your suggestion, we have kept a reserve team that has a total of about two thousand soldiers.”
“Two thousand men is enough!” Litom's expression eased a bit, “With my remaining troops, we will have about 2,500 men. We can immediately lead them to Atella and nail down the Samnites, so they won't be able to attack the city with all their strength. At the same time, we will send scouts to inform other troops to get to Atella as soon as possible, allowing us to fight back the enemy's army!”
