Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 72: Break again

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The battle lasted for four hours. In the end, Tarantum lost 15 warships, including four three-layer paddle warships, and four troop carriers; the Maple combined fleet lost 23 warships, including Seven three-layer paddle warships. In the end, the Maple Navy took the initiative to retreat, and the Tarantum Navy, which was busy rescuing the drowned soldiers, had no intention of pursuing it. It just wanted to leave this unfamiliar sea as soon as possible and reach Brindisi to complete the reinforcement mission.

At the time of the fierce battle at sea, the Maple coalition had learned that Tarantum was about to reinforce Brindisi from the sea and launched the largest siege war despite fatigue. Twenty thousand Maple coalition soldiers carried a ladder and pushed a siege vehicle to storm Brindisi one after another...

The Tarantum garrison, who had been fighting for two days, had only a few hundred people left. It was only with the help of the freemen in the city that they went up to the city to support it to this day. Faced with the flood of enemies and freedmen who lack combat experience, they panicked...

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The Tarantum Navy arrived at the port of Brindisi and had just put the soldiers ashore, but had not yet assembled them for a whole team. Brindisi was breached, and the defeated soldiers, freedmen, and their families panicked and ran to the port, trying to find a windsurfing board and leave the occupied city as soon as possible. The soldiers who came for reinforcements also felt bad and asked to re-board and leave. Everyone rushed to the boat, and then the defeated soldiers and their families cried for help. The entire port and dock were full of black crowds, the order was chaotic, and many people fell into the sea under the push...

Faced with this situation, the navy commander had no idea for a while and left the ship under his command to save people. However, the pursuit of the Maple coalition forces caused people eager to flee to push each other and scramble to climb onto the ship, which caused the two warships to capsize due to overload.

The navy commander felt bad and had to urgently order the fleet to leave the dock. In the process, the soldiers and sailors engaged in a battle, which caused several warships to unsuccessfully leave the dock.

At this time, the Maple coalition soldiers have already killed them. They rushed like hungry wolves at the Tarantum trembling with fear. They used spears and swords to kill them who had raised their hands and surrendered. The blood soon stained the sea of ​​the port...

The soldiers, sailors, and survivors of the Tarantum Navy could not bear to witness this tragic scene and fled the port hastily. Unexpectedly, their disaster is far from over. They were quickly intercepted by the previously defeated Maple United Navy. Although there were many ships in Tarantum, the fleet full of people lost speed and flexibility, and became the Maple Alliance warship. The target.

During the fierce battle, the Tarantum battleship was knocked over, but the people who fell into the water had no ships to rescue them. The sailors were all terrified by the tragedy of the port. They wanted to go home. Rantum's remaining 45 warships and some troop carriers left the battlefield.

However, the winning Maple United Fleet is still in hot pursuit...

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On the fourth day after Polydorus asked Dionia for help, after a short rest, the Maple coalition forces who regained Brindisi moved westward and surrounded Manduria again in the afternoon. The whole city of Rantum was in panic, and the messengers sent to Dioria for help one after another...

In the early morning of the fifth day, Dionian reinforcements finally set off.

It is already early September, and the morning weather is starting to cool down.

The soldiers of the 1st and 2nd Corps said goodbye to their families, and lined up in Victory Square.

After counting the number of people, Commander Daves announced his departure.

The whole army first marched to the northwest of the city, came to the foot of the Temple of Hades, and knelt down and prayed devoutly.

The bronze bell in the temple rang, and the chief priest Plycinus led dozens of men and women of the Hades Temple priests to sing Hades chants for the soldiers and blessed them.

If you are in other city-states, you may have to fortune for good or bad before you set off, but Davers canceled this procedure. He believes that war is a major event related to the life and death of the alliance, and victory depends on strength and strictness. Training, and careful planning, instead of relying on vain gods, he didn't want the soldiers to develop this bad habit.

At the end of the prayer, the whole army turned around and headed east again, exiting the city gate, and reaching the port of Turri. The families and people of the soldiers who were seeing off lined up on both sides of the road to see off the troops on the expedition.

Polytorus sighed: Few family members were crying and unwilling to go on the expedition. While they wished the soldiers safety, they also encouraged them to obtain military exploits. Other people are more envious of the good luck of the soldiers on the expedition, and they are not convinced that they will perform better if they go.

"The Dionians love war!" Polydorus had forgotten who had said this to him, but now it looks different indeed. He involuntarily looked at the army commander Daves beside him. This 20-year-old young man now showed a calm and seriousness higher than his age: In addition, the Dionians had a good commander in battle. , They will have the rise today!

However, in the case of the enemy's pressure, the strength of the Dionian army made Polytorus feel a little relieved, because the Dionian army can be relied on!

There are hundreds of cargo ships docked densely in the port, including Dionian, Tarantum, Metapontum, Heraclea, and even Castellon...

Under the guidance of the port management personnel, the troops entered the various docks in an orderly manner, and boarded the ships one by one under the command of the team leader and the team leader, and everything was in order.

The passenger ship that Polydurus took was the first to leave the dock, because he had to return to Tarantum to inform the Senate and prepare for the reinforcements of Dionia.

Antonius also went with him. He needed to coordinate with Tarantum on the entry, placement, rations and many other matters of the Dionian army. Originally, this task should be taken by Felicius, but Daves left. After Dionia, Turri still needs someone to guard against accidents. As the second man in the army, Felicius is naturally the most suitable candidate. Felicius could not go. The two army captains Capus and Dracos were people who only knew how to fight and were not sociable. Daves could only let the first captain of the first army, Antonios, be responsible for the contact. In fact, the first The second captain Alexis is also a suitable candidate, but Daves thinks: Compared to Alexis, who is a little upright, Antonios is more sleek.

There are also some special personnel of the Dionian Army on this passenger ship, such as the engineers of the Legion. Because the station of the Dionian Army in Tarantum has been determined in advance, the engineers will go to the scene first. Investigate the terrain, plan in advance how to build the camp, the size of the camp, the layout of the tent, the width of the trench, etc., so that the army can start building the camp as soon as it arrives in Tarantum.

The soldiers stepped onto the swaying deck and placed the helmets, linen breastplates, bucklers, greaves, and lances and javelins they carried on their backs against the ship’s side, and then put them on the shore. Relatives and friends on the side waved goodbye.

One after another, the ships leave the port.

In the morning, the Gulf of Taranto was blowing a strong northeast wind. All the ships lowered their sails and drove straight to the east by the wind. From time to time, waves hit the hull from the side and behind, splashing water and wetting the soldiers. Their clothes did not affect their mood in the slightest.

"I heard that the Tarantum people are very rich. This time we helped them defeat the indigenous people. Will they give us enough silver coins to thank us for our rescue?!" A recruit said excitedly .

"Fool, do you know how many soldiers we have in Tarantum this time? It is 14,000! This is not even the cavalry brigade, engineering battalion, medical battalion... even if Tarantum gave us dozens of towers Lent, how much can be allocated to everyone except for the corps fund!" Another soldier warned him disapprovingly: "You might as well kill a few more indigenous people and accumulate more war achievements. So that the alliance can allocate more acres of land for you!"

"Speaking of this war, I feel angry when I think about it! The three armies are lucky, and they have captured Asprostum and Grumentum. Why are there always wars? Isn’t it because most of them are Lucanians! We finally set off to rescue the city-states to the south, but before we started the fight, the Lokri people begged for peace. Tell me, this makes people not angry ! This time we went to Tarantum, and hope that those indigenous people will never learn from Lokri, let us go for nothing!” The words of another soldier resonated with the surrounding soldiers and aroused theirs. Worry.

"Don’t worry, the Mesapis are no better than the weak Rockies. I heard that they are very fierce. The Tarantums have never taken advantage of them. Otherwise, for such a long time, the Tarantums are early. Several sub-states were established nearby, and this time Mesapi united with the Puchetti and defeated Tarantum one after another. Morale is rising, and maybe he is still holding on to destroy Tarantum. Attempt, how could it be possible to negotiate with us." said a soldier who knows Tarantum's situation.

"That's great! Defeating the Meishapi people can show us how powerful Dionian is. We will become heroes and save Tarantum!" A soldier declared loudly, arousing the excitement of others. .

"I heard that the women in Tarantum are all good looking. By then, we will become heroes. Can we marry one back?" Someone asked humorously, and was immediately pushed by others: "Don't dream, please Sials. Those Tarantum citizens are proud and have never looked down upon people from other cities in Great Greece. Do you think they will marry their daughters to us "farmers" in their eyes!"

"Is that really the case, Sitarsis?" Persials asked curiously.