Chapter 131 The Battle of Taranto (3)

The draconian secrecy enforced by Cykrian in the navy worked, so that the public knew little about it, and only a handful of people vaguely heard drunk sailors in the taverns say: "That thing seems to be called a raven. , is said to have been designed by King Davos, and can be used to defeat the enemy..."

"It turned out to be the invention of King Davos!" The people who heard the answer were suddenly enlightened. They seemed to have a little more confidence in victory because of their absolute trust in Davos, but did not ask more carefully how to use that device to defeat Thera. Kuza people. Of course, even if asked, the other party could not say why.

"How is this strange thing used? Was it really designed by the father?" Adoris, who was sitting on the shoulders of the slave, asked Henepolis next to him curiously.

In the face of this life-and-death battle, Davos' mansion could not maintain the calm before, not only Cynthia, Adoris, and Little Chloe shouted to come to see Davos off, but the two ladies were also very excited. . But Cristoia has just given birth, is weak, and has Eunice to take care of, who needs to be nursing at any time; Agnes's belly is getting bigger and her mobility is limited, and it is very dangerous to be in such a noisy and crowded crowd, so Neither of them could come, so they had to entrust Henepolis with four or five male and female slaves to take care of the three children.

Henepolis, who carried Little Chloe on his shoulders, heard this, his face was slightly embarrassed, because Davos had never told him about the Dionysian Navy, he coughed twice, He said perfunctorily, "Yes, of course."

Smart Cynthia glanced at him half-smile, but did not expose him.

At this time, the crowd erupted into louder cheers: I saw a larger and longer majestic warship coming from the military port. Unlike other warships, this warship was placed on the top of the middle mast. A statue of Hades is particularly dazzling. At the same time, there was a man standing on the bow of the ship. Unlike other soldiers, he was wearing bright silver armor. Only the top of the helmet was decorated with a unique black tassel, which hung down to the back. With the rising sun rising from the east, his whole body exudes a dazzling light, like a god.

The cheers of the crowd reached their peak. Yes, they recognized him because they had just pushed him into the kingdom, and now the king, beloved of Hades, is going to battle to fulfill his promise, and he is their confidence, hope where!

The cheers of "King Davos, Wansheng!!!" cheered one after another, mixed with the screams of several children: "Father, come on! Father Wansheng!"

In the deafening sound waves, facing the crowds of people on both sides of the strait, of course Davos could not see his child, he just smiled and waved his hands non-stop.

The warship sailed into the sea, and suddenly the sky was wide and the sea was wide, which immediately gave Davos a sense of his own insignificance, but the sound of oars and flutes from the warships only a few dozen meters away enveloped him, making Davos feel small. He realized that he was in a huge fleet.

He turned his head to look at the coast not far away: people along the coast, helping the old and the young, kept following the warships...

Davos deeply understood what they were pursuing with perseverance. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down to overcome the discomfort caused by being used to fighting on land and turning to sea all at once.

The flagship of Admiral Sekolian, who followed Davos' ship to sea, was much more comfortable on the ship than Davos. He first walked from the stern to the bow and inspected it again. After the whole ship, he came under the middle mast, raised his head and shouted, "Did you find anything?!"

The watchman on the mast replied immediately: "General, there is no news yet."

Sekelian clenched his fist and saw that the speed of Davos' boat ahead might be a little slow due to the large number of people, and he seemed to be less anxious. go ahead!"

The normal speed of a three-tier oar warship is about eight knots (that is, 15 kilometers per hour). Considering that the entire fleet is going to sea for the first time, the coordination is not skilled enough, and the three-tier oars from various city-states are merged. There are different ship shapes and specifications. For example, Crotone's warships are lighter, narrower and longer, which is conducive to assault; Lijim's warships are large and thick, which are convenient for defense... The size difference of the three-tier oars warships as the main force of naval warfare, There will inevitably be a difference in speed, so before making contact with the enemy, Sekelian took a more cautious attitude to avoid the fleet's disjointness during the march.

To this end, he immediately said: "Raise the flag of Apollo!" Apollo was the sun god, driving a cloud car to shine with golden light every day. The slender linen cloth is pulled up by the rope to the main mast, facing the sea breeze, and it is spread out. around 20 meters.

This is also a cautious combat attitude, keeping the entire fleet within the reach of Cykrian.

"Wow!..." The extremely long bugle sound echoed in the sea, and the watchers on every warship could see the golden flag, and then the entire array of ships began to lower their paddles from the outside to the inside. fast, close to each other.

The reduction in the speed of the warships can also allow the people on the shore to barely keep up with the advancing speed of the fleet, but the fleet is moving away from the coast. The Dionysian fleet of 200 warships spread out, also occupying an area of ​​five or six nautical miles, and it headed south in a mighty way...

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Leptines was a little tired of carrying out such harassment every day. He was against the brutality of killing civilians from the bottom of his heart. Originally, he just wanted to lure Dionia's fleet in this way. They came out for a decisive battle, but the Dionysian fleet hid in the port like a tortoise, which made Leputines feel full of energy but had nowhere to use it.

However, his brother Dionysius paid more and more attention to this method of harassment. It is said that Dionysius got a little inside information from Crimissa and Aspurustum, due to frequent The attack disrupted the transport of food from Dionia to the southern front, and the soldiers in the two cities began to struggle with rations. So Dionysius ordered Leputines to intensify and intensify the number and intensity of attacks on the long coast from Crimisa to Turii, especially Castellon.

For several days in Crotone it was rainy and muddy, and the Syracuse army had difficulty even camping, let alone attacking the city. Since he couldn't attack for the time being, Dionysius used other brains. Yesterday he sent messengers to Castellon in an attempt to make Castellon fall to Syracuse. He even considered letting Leptines' fleet carry tens of thousands of soldiers into the massive destruction of Dionia's heartland territory, destroying the morale of its people and reducing the confidence of its allies in Dionia. .

At the same time, Dionysius also sent envoys to Tarantum to discuss whether to send reinforcements, so as to join forces to seize Heraclea as soon as possible and truly invade the territory of Dionia from the northeast.

As the admiral of the navy, Leptines didn't have to think about it so much. He only needed to lead the fleet every day to keep an eye on the north when the soldiers and sailors went ashore to loot to prevent the sudden attack of the Dionysian fleet, so Leip Tines had his fleet cruising in the waters far from the landing site, so that it could be out of sight and out of mind.

Just as he hid in a tent made to sleep on the deck, the flagship captain shouted excitedly: "General! General! Good news! Good news!"

"What good news?" Leptines rubbed his sleepy eyes.

"Just now when the Clippers came to report that the soldiers who went ashore to loot captured a prisoner, he confessed, 'Their consul Davos has returned and was elected king by the people yesterday, and this new king has also made a promise, today Will personally lead the Dionysian navy into battle and repel us!'"

"Davos is going to lead the navy to battle?!" Leptineston was refreshed: he doesn't care what king Dionia chooses, he only cares that the Dionysian fleet, which has been hiding in the Krati River, finally wants to It came out, and it was led by the consul Davos, whom his brother had always feared.

He jumped up: "Where are the prisoners?!"

"The captives have been brought aboard, right at the bow!"

Leptines immediately strode to the bow of the ship, and saw the seemingly timid and honest Dionian.

The captive trembled in fear, not only revealing all the information he knew, but also begging Leputines to release him and not sell him as a slave.

Leptines said to him in a good mood: "If what you confess is the truth, not only will you not become a slave, but you will also receive my reward!"

The captive immediately swore loudly to the god: what he said was the truth!

Leputines ignored him, turned to the captain and said loudly: "Send the signal immediately, let the fleet go north! Send all the clippers out, and give me a comprehensive search! Whoever finds Dionia's first Fleet, whoever will get my rich reward!"

"Yes, General!" The captain was also excited. After he conveyed Leputines' order to the fast ship approaching the flagship, he turned and shouted to the cabin below the deck: "Slackers, move quickly! Move! Twice the speed, piper! Twice the speed!"

The sound of the horn and the sudden turn and speed of the flagship attracted the attention of the neighboring warships. They immediately made corresponding changes, and quickly transmitted this change from the inside to the outside.

Note: Some readers have questioned that the Greek three-layer slurry warship cannot be 60 meters long, it may be 60 feet. According to the archaeological excavation of the port of Piraeus, the city of Athens, the remains of the three-layer slurry warship moored there. The maximum size of the bottom of the ship alone is 121.5 feet (37 meters). According to the documents left by ancient Athens: At that time, Athens was the largest The wealthy banker Parson served as a "three-layer paddle warship sponsor". The warship he invested in built was 52 meters long and 8 meters wide. As the ship of His Majesty Davos, it should not be an exaggeration for me to slightly increase the captain to 60 meters.