Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 131: The Great Battle of Taranto (3)

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Sekrian’s strict secrecy measures in the navy played a role, and the public didn’t know much about it. Only a handful of people in the tavern vaguely heard a drunk sailor talk about it: "That thing seems Call it the crow. It is said that it was designed by King Davos. It can be used to defeat the enemy..."

"It turned out to be the invention of King Davers!" The people who heard the answer suddenly realized that they seemed to have a little more confidence in victory for Daves who absolutely trusted, instead of asking more carefully about how to use the device. Defeat the Syracuse. Of course, even if you ask, the other party can't tell why.

"How to use this strange thing? Is it really designed by my father?" Adoris sitting on the shoulder of the slave asked Hernipolis curiously.

Faced with this life-and-death battle, Davers’ mansion was unable to maintain the calm of the past. Not only Cynthia, Adoris, and Little Klo yelled to see Daves off, but the two ladies also I'm very excited. But Christia has just given birth, is weak, and there is Eunice who needs to breastfeed at any time to take care of; Aegness’s belly is getting bigger and her mobility is inconvenient. It is very dangerous to be in such a noisy and crowded crowd. Neither of them could come, so they had to entrust Hernipolis to take four or five male and female slaves to take care of the three children.

Henipolis, who carried the little Cloe on his shoulders, was slightly embarrassed when he heard this, because Daves had never told him about the Dionian Navy. He coughed. Two times, he said perfunctorily: "Yes, of course it is."

The clever Cynthia glanced at him with a faint smile, but didn't go to expose him.

At this time, even greater cheers broke out from the crowd: I saw a larger and longer majestic warship coming from the military port. Unlike other warships, the top of the middle mast of this warship A statue of Hades is placed on it, which is particularly dazzling. At the same time, there was a man standing on the bow of the ship. Unlike other soldiers, he was wearing a bright silver armor, only the top of the helmet was decorated with a unique black cap, which dangled to the back. Facing the rising sun to the east, his whole body exudes a dazzling light, like a god.

The cheers of the people reached its peak. Yes, they recognized him because they just pushed him to the kingdom, and now the king who is beloved by Pluto is going to the battlefield to fulfill his promise. He is the key to their confidence, hope Where!

"King Daves, Wansheng!!!" The cheers were waved higher than the waves, and several children screamed: "Father, come on! Father Wansheng!"

In the deafening sound, facing the crowds of people on both sides of the strait, Daves certainly couldn't see his child. He just smiled and waved incessantly.

The battleship sailed into the sea, and suddenly the sky was wide and the sea was wide, which immediately gave Daves a feeling of insignificance, but the sound of paddles and flutes from the battleships that were only a few tens of meters away enveloped him. He made him realize that he was in a huge fleet.

He turned his head and looked at the coast not far away: the people along the coast, supporting the old and the young, kept following the warship...

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 suddenly turning to the sea.

The ship that followed Davers’s ship to sea was the flagship of Admiral Secorian. Sekelian moved more freely on board than Daves. He first walked from the stern to the bow, again After patrolling the whole ship, he came under the middle mast and raised his head and shouted: "Have you found it?!"

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

Sekrian shook his fist and saw that Daves’s boat might be slow because of the large number of people. He didn’t seem to be so anxious. He settled down and issued the order: "Let the whole army be low. Go ahead at normal speed!"

The normal speed of a three-tiered paddle warship is about eight knots (that is, 15 kilometers per hour). Sekrian considered that the entire fleet went to sea for the first time, and the cooperation was not skilled enough. The shapes and specifications of the tiered paddle warships are different. For example, Crotone’s warships are lighter, narrower and more conducive to assaults; Lijim’s warships are large and heavy, which is easy to defend...the three-tiered paddle warships that are the main force in naval warfare. The difference in size will inevitably result in a difference in speed. Therefore, before receiving the enemy, Sekelian took a more cautious attitude to avoid the fleet being out of line in the course of the journey.

For this, he went on to say: "Raise the flag of Apollo!" Apollo is the sun god, driving a cloud car with golden light every day. The flag of Apollo that Sekrian said was actually dyed on one side. It is a golden yellow slender linen cloth. It is pulled up by a rope to rise to the main mast, facing the sea breeze, and it spreads out. Its meaning is: with the ship as the center, the fleet shrinks inward, and the ships and ships of the front, rear, left, and right. The distance between them is about 20 meters.

This is also a cautious combat attitude, keeping the entire fleet within Sekrian's control.

"Woo!..." The extremely long bugle sound reverberated in the sea, and the lookers on every warship could see the golden flag, and then the entire fleet went from the outside to the inside, every warship Start to reduce the pulp speed and move closer to each other.

The reduction in the speed of 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, even if the fleet is shrinking, 150 three-layer paddle warships, plus other warfare The ship, a total of 200 warships, the Dionian fleet spread out, and it also occupies an area of ​​five or six nautical miles, and it sails southward with great strength...

………………………………………

Leptinius is a little tired of carrying out such harassment every day. From the bottom of his heart, he resists this brutal act of killing civilians. Originally, he just wanted to lure Dioni in this way. The Ya's fleet came out for a decisive battle, but the Dionia fleet was hiding in the harbor like a tortoise, which made Leptinius feel full of strength but had nowhere to do it.

His brother Dionysius paid more attention to this method of harassment. It is said that Dionysius got some internal information from Crimea and Asprostum. Due to frequent attacks, Dionia’s transportation of food to the southern front was affected, and the supply of rations for the soldiers in the two cities began to be tight. Therefore, Dionysius ordered Leptinius to strengthen and increase the number and intensity of attacks on the long stretch of coast from Crimea to Turíy, especially on Castellon.

For several days in Crotone, it was rainy and rainy, and the land was muddy. The Syracuse army encountered difficulties even camping, not to mention the siege. Since it was temporarily unable to attack, Dionysius used other brains. Yesterday he sent an envoy to Castellon in an attempt to make Castellon fall to Syracuse. He even considered letting Leptinius’ fleet load tens of thousands of soldiers into the devastating destruction of Dionian’s heartland, damaging the morale of his people and reducing the confidence of his allies in Dionian. .

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

As the naval commander-in-chief, Leptinius doesn’t have to think so much. He only needs to lead the fleet every day when soldiers and sailors go ashore to rob and keep a close eye on the north to prevent sudden attacks by the Dionian fleet. Therefore, Leptinius let his fleet cruise in the waters far away from the landing site, which can play the role of invisible and innocent.

As he took a nap in the simple temporary tent set up on the deck, the captain of the flagship yelled excitedly: "General! General! Good news! Good news!"

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

"Just now the Clippers came to report that the soldiers who went ashore and robbed captured a prisoner. He confessed,'Their consul Daves came back and was elected king by the people yesterday. The new king also made I promise that I will personally lead the Dionian Navy to fight and repel us today!'"

"Daves is going to lead the navy in battle?!" Leptiniston was refreshed: He didn't care about which king Dionia chose, he only cared about Dionia, who had been hiding in the Craty River. The fleet was finally coming out, and it was led by Archon Daves, whom his brother had been a little afraid of.

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

"The captive has been taken on board, right at the bow!"

Leptinius immediately strode to the bow of the ship and saw the dionian who seemed timid and honest.

The captive trembled in fear, not only confided all the news he knew, but also begged Leptinius to release him and not to sell him as a slave.

Leptinius said to him comfortably: "If all you confess is the truth, not only will you not become a slave, you will also receive my reward!"

The captive immediately swears loudly to the god: What he said is the truth!

Leptinius ignored him and turned to the captain and said loudly: "Immediately send a signal to let the fleet go north! Send out all the Clippers and give me a full search! Who will find Dior first? Whoever is the Armenian fleet will get my rich reward!"

"Yes, General!" The captain was also excited. After delivering Leptinius' command to the Clippers approaching the flagship, he turned and shouted to the cabin under the deck: "Slackers, move quickly. Move! Piper, use twice the pulp speed! Twice the pulp speed!"

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

Note: Some readers have raised questions that the Greek three-layer paddle warship cannot be 60 meters long, it may be 60 feet. According to archaeological excavations in the port of Piraeus in the current city of Athens, the maximum size of the bottom of the three-layered warship moored there is 121.5 feet (37 meters). According to documents left over from ancient Athens: The wealthy banker Parson served as a "three-layer slurry warship sponsor". The warship he invested and built was 52 meters long and 8 meters wide. As the ship of His Majesty Daves, I slightly increased the captain to 60 meters, which shouldn't be too exaggerated.