39. Counter
March 17th Salerno and Naples Gisulf II and Sergius VI respectively mobilised their forces after hearing the news of the Western Roman Republic’s victory. Gisulf heard the news and didn’t believe it at first, a man who had been humbled by them, he thought that perhaps he was being played tricks with; a Norman scheme to coax him into rebellion, but when he found other Normans, even ordinary people repeating the same words he got interested, and when Zethos some commander who apparently had his own ambitions began capturing minor towns around Bari, the threat level increased.
Despite not being Norman Lords, I Gisulf, invite you Sergius to unite our forces to hold this Pagan regime at bay. Papal forces and the Holy Roman Emperor are already gathering, even Northern Italian lords are considering the southern threat. I will not move them in light of the Norman lords who border me and almost certainly want to kill me.
Zethos negotiated the surrender of Matera, perhaps the lack of reinforcements and the large army made them reconsider, he was light as always with his terms, the same terms of the Republic. The capitulation meant it only netted some 20,000 solidi for Zethos; despite being a modest haul for the town, it actually came to doubling his personal wealth, meaning he had 40,000 solidi in his army treasury, the detour from a geographical perspective meant that he could focus his campaign on Lucania and taking Potenza. Sending a few riders to Taranto, he hoped he could at least secure the roads there, they galloped away, while Zethos hired some more scouts to replenish the lost ones, nothing but small change. Perhaps 100 solidi nothing that worried the commander. Zethos talked to the locals and to his cartographers.
“There is a town called Miglionico that is worth taking,” a local said, with a sly look to him.
“I thought so too,” Zethos said, “it is a town that serves well for our campaign to Potenza.”
“Potenza?” Some of the locals said, in shock.
While Zethos was busy resting his troops, horsemen galloped off into the distance to the north and south west, they were not his horses, and it was only later by the night he was even informed this event.
Meanwhile in Bari the 17th was a busy affair, Taranto, or Tarentum had 30 catapults and 30 ballistae, as well as 500 bolt shooters, in fact it became the site of its own artillery production, assisting in the fortification of the heel. Bari’s reserves four days ago were 170,000 solidi, 100,000 solidi had been splurged to build 50 more salt flats, the economic opportunity expanding throughout the heel, in the meanwhile approximately 128,000 solidi had flowed into the treasury from Indigo alone, selling 6280 litrai of it; Adaneus likewise sold 7850 litrai of black pepper, coming to 20,000 solidi and 6280 litrai of cloves which came to 56,000 solidi; 4710 litrai of cinnamon and cardamon; 24,000 and 36,000 solidi respectively; all in all it came to 251,000 solidi, so despite the economic generosity the treasury greatly expanded, with 351,000 solidi. Merchants from Amalfi, Venice and even the Normans came and haggled, and Greek and Slavic mercenary contractors began haggling for deals. Adaneus considered getting a third army, staring at the map, and hearing news of the victory of Gocelin over Trani.
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“We could hire another army, send it north or south, and just let it rip,” Adaneus mused looking at the map, “send 1000 slavic mercenaries to Gocelin, I forgot the sailors did report that didn’t they.”
“And to Zethos?” Demetra asked.
“It’s questionable how much we should send if anything,” Adaneus said, “the least we can do is garrison and fortify his conquests so that he doesn’t get attacked from the rear.”
“Is he undertaking conquests?” Kwame asked.
“I think so,” Adaneus said, “well we shall see, perhaps he’ll just settle in Taranto but I doubt it.”
The debate continued a little, but nonetheless Adaneus spent 30,000 solidi to hire and then equip glaive-men to Gocelin. All in all it actually was 1500 men, the slavic mercenary leader producing the men on hand remarkably quickly, and Adaneus adding another 1000 solidi for the punctuality. 320,000 solidi were left with the state, and what a state it was. While the Normans reeled from defeats, Adaneus planned affairs of state, immigrants flocked to other cities, various merchant immigrants populated the various cities impressed with the rights given to merchants, the impressive tax policy and the vigour to which the state intervened in the economy; 108 salt flats and 560 fishing boats so far, as well as some agricultural land totalling 38,000 iugera with 25% of the proceeds of said land going to the state. Butros made sure to keep economic records so as to maximise efficiency and lessen grievances, which again impressed the merchants who were often subjected to arbitrary taxes and fees. Paganism was a bit peculiar, but the economic benefits trumped the peculiarities of religion; and the Helios priests presented that the Christian god was nonsensical convinced some. Garrisons and artillery were being organised for some of the new acquisitions, but the news trickled in slowly. Trani, Bisceglie and Molfetta getting priority shipments of artillery to prevent a coalition army besieging Bari without being attacked in the rear.
March 18th. Zethos marched south and took the town of Miglionico without much of a fight. Perhaps 3000 solidi from the local churches but not much else, with roughly 43,000 solidi, Zethos looked at the maps and had a dilemma.
“Do we go south or do we go west? Or east,” Aspar asked.
“You want to ignore Potenza?” Lucanus said, sensing a vibe shift.
“If we spend too much time pacifying the various towns, we might be caught in a trap,” Zethos said, “that’s the problem, but we can recruit more men along the way.”
He was practically thinking as he spoke, the troops rested in Miglionico, but he charted his next steps, plotting his next moves, and thinking of how to be cautious.
