Onosius, the chief general of Naples, raised a letter in his left hand and said excitedly: "Ladies and gentlemen, I have just received a letter from Adrianx, the governor of Anona, in which he mentions, 'Yesterday Alexis, the commander of the Dionian army, led his army into the mountains of Samonai from the east, joined the armies of Pothenia and Abenirum and together surrounded and annihilated a main force of nearly 7,000 men left in the mountains by the Samonians, and forced Aquilonia to surrender'...... Today, the 20,000-strong Ionian coalition has reached Abenirum and is preparing to attack Beneventum tomorrow! ”

"Great, our disaster is finally over! Belevin is the central town of Hilpine, and the Samonai coalition forces outside the city will definitely withdraw to defend against the attacks of our allies! ”

"I'm right, the Dioonians have always kept their promise to come to the rescue of us in Campania, and you didn't believe it then, but now?"

"Haha, General Aealos, please forgive our ignorance, because we don't know them like you have fought side by side with the Ionian army, and we know them well, how could we have imagined that Dionya would not respond to our previous request for help, just to suddenly stab the Samonai people in the soft abdomen!"

"General Onosius, after the Samonai retreat, I hope that Naples can immediately send an army to help us retake Pompeii!"

"Nope! Should have helped us first Herculaneum, we are the closest to Naples! ”

"And our Liternum!"

……

After receiving this good news, the gloom in the council of Naples was swept away these days, and while everyone was happy that the disaster had passed, they began to quarrel again over the rush to rebuild their homeland.

In the days after the Samonai raided the Campania League, they not only besieged Naples, but also divided their armies to attack other Campania League city-states, except for the relatively special geographical city-states such as Sorrentom, Aenaria and Capeae, many small coastal cities fell one after another, and most of the refugees fled to the city of Naples.

"Don't worry." Onosius comforted them and said, "Adriankos mentions in his letter that tomorrow General Zantiparis, the commander of the Dionian legions stationed in Enona, will come to Naples by boat with his army, join our army, and together regain the lost town!" ”

The crowd cheered again and praised Dionya as a good ally who kept his promises, and had thought too well! The presence of the Ionian army gives them confidence in recovering their city-state!

Onosius then added: "The letter also mentions that when the army of Samoni retreats, it is hoped that we will send an army to harass and hinder it......"

Hearing this, the hall suddenly returned to silence.

After a few moments, the Neapolitan parliamentarians shook their heads and said, "Let's go out of the city and attack the Samoneh?!" No! No! It's too dangerous! Since the Samonai are going to retreat, let them retreat, there is no need for us to risk the lives of our citizens! ”

If a few months ago the Ionian Third Army helped the Campanian League defeat the Cautini to help them regain a little fighting spirit, this massive assault by the Samonai not only shattered that fighting spirit, but also deepened their fear of this terrible mountain race.

Onosius was aware of the situation, of course, for he was one of them, but it was Aearos who argued loudly with them.

Onosius had to cough a few times to draw everyone's attention back to himself: "I want to draw your attention to the retreat of the Samonai, in order to vent their anger, it is very likely that they will burn the towns they occupy and burn our farmland, should we stop it?!" ”

In fact, this reminder came from Adrianx, who had been the governor of Enona for more than two years and had many dealings with the Campanians, and he was well aware of the virtues of the Campanians, who were far from being comparable to the brave and tenacious Wolsey and Helnikians, so in the letter he did not say that the purpose of attacking the retreating army of Samonay was to allow Alexis to gain time to attack Beneventum, but only emphasized this point.

Everyone was stunned. Of course, the refugees from other city-states did not allow their homes to be burned, while the Neapolitans were more worried about the destruction of farmland, and had been supplying the Ionian Third Army with military rations some time ago, and had to take care of the fleeing allies during this time.

Although the Kautini invaded in the past and rarely destroyed the farmland, because they were confident that "the food produced by the farmland would eventually become their next plunder", in the current situation of war, there is no guarantee that they will not jump over the wall and cause more trouble for the Campanian League.

So, after urgent deliberations, the Napoli parliamentarians finally agreed to Adriankos' proposal.

……………………………………

Beneventum, the largest town in the Samonai tribal union. Although the Samonai were a hill race, they were still a minority of Aquilonia who built their towns on top of mountains, and more than half of the tribes and tribal unions lived in valleys and cols. Beneventum is located on a rare part of the hills in a larger, flatter part of the hills, and it is the confluence of two rivers, so there is plenty of water, fertile land, and the most developed grazing and cultivation among the towns of Samoneh.

Therefore, Beneventum has always been at the forefront of the Samonai tribal alliance in terms of population and strength, and most of the time the leaders of the big tribes in his territory are the big leaders of the Hilpinei tribes, and only a few times the other Hilpinee tribes are jealous of Beneventum's wealth and dissatisfied with the arrogance of the Beneventum people, so they will work together to elect the leaders of other regions as the chief of the tribe to counter Beneventum, and Abenirum is the first choice.

The town of Hirpini is located about 40 miles south of Beneventum, also a hilly area, but much smaller, and is crossed by a river, but the small Saberto River eventually flows into the territory of Beneventum and into the Voltunno River.

Therefore, the Abenirum people have always felt that they are shorter than the Beneventums, and even during the reign of the former chief of Hirpini and the capable leader of the Abenirome, the Abenirum people still felt a little less confident, and they have endured the oppression and humiliation of the Beneventum for more than a decade.

It was not until the early hours of this morning, when the Dionian coalition left Abenirum and began to march towards Beneventum territory, that Abenirum rejoiced and bid farewell to them, believing that the day had finally come to avenge their shame.

The 3,500 Abenirum warriors walked in the front with their heads held high, with 6,000 Ionian legionnaires in the middle and 12,000 soldiers in Pothenia behind, not counting the Dionian engineering battalion, medical battalion, mountain reconnaissance team, and baggage caravan that dragged behind...... Its combat force reached 21,500 men, and they marched north along the Sabato River in a line of more than ten miles.

After leaving the territory of Abenirum, the enemy began to appear in the mountains and forests above the banks of the river on both sides, and although they were small in number, they condescendedly threw javelins and arrows at the Ionian coalition troops marching in the river valley, and even pushed the rocks from the mountains into the river to stop the march of the whole army.

Seeing this, Alexis consulted with Gherney and Pollet, and they each sent 1,000 soldiers to leave the river bank and march up into the mountains and forests on both sides, while driving away the incoming enemy to protect the large army in the middle. And the main force also cleared the rocks and broken trees blocking the road from time to time during the march in the river valley.

When the sun has reached the middle of the sky, the winding river suddenly straightens, and the mountains that stand between the river not only become shorter, but also consciously retreat a mile away, and the soldiers' vision is no longer blocked by the towering trees with lush foliage, and what catches the eye is the flat land on both sides of the riverbank, the green grass, and the small trees...... The Ionian coalition has entered Beneventum's territory.

The topography is peculiar, with two rows of north-south hills running like two parallel lines, guarding the Sabato River, which is about two miles wide and about two miles wide between the hills, and in the center of the meadow flows the Sabato River, which is no more than 20 meters wide and knee-deep.

The vanguard of the coalition forces stopped their march here, and the Abenirum warriors, who had been trekking for half a day, began to eat to replenish their strength while waiting for the troops behind to arrive and rendezvous.

"Five or six miles further is the city of Beneventum." Geirny pointed ahead and said to Alexis and Polett, who had arrived one after another: "The land in front of us used to be inhabited by the tribes of Beneventum, but now it has been withdrawn......"

Gherney introduced the situation of Beneventum's territory, but he couldn't help but sigh in his heart: in fact, most of his impressions of Benevunum were still more than ten years ago, since the Southern Italian War, he had a stiff relationship with Lesguk, and finally became a mortal enemy, the only time he came to Beneventum, but the tribal alliance held a big sacrifice here, if it wasn't for the support of the Dionian envoy, he was almost punished by the Samonai priesthood, and he came and left in fear, Where is he still in the mood to pay attention to the changes in Beneventum's territory, what he is introducing now is from the information collected by his subordinates over the years, and now he is leading his troops to completely wash away the humiliation of the past and remove the shadow buried in his heart.