Chapter 464: Battle of the Gulf of Taranto (III)

The severe secrecy enforced by Seclian on the navy made it so that the people knew little about it, with only a very few who vaguely heard the drunken sailors talking about it in the taverns, "I think that thing is called a Corvus, and I heard that King Davos designed it to defeat his enemies..."

"So it turned out to be King Davos' invention!" Those people who heard it suddenly realised that they had a little more chance of victory, and with their absolute trust in Davos, they did not even ask how that device would defeat Syracuse. Naturally, the other party wouldn't even be able to answer if they get suddenly asked.

"How does this strange thing work? Did father really design it?" Adoris, sitting on a slave's shoulder, asked Henipolis with curiosity.

Faced with this decisive battle, the people on Davos' residence could not remain as calm as before, so it was not only Cynthia, Adoris and little Cro who clamoured to come and see Davos off, but even the two madames were also eager. However, Cheiristoya had just given birth and was frail, and she also had to look after Eunice, who needed to be nursed at any moment. On the other hand, Agnes had difficulty moving with her growing belly, and it would be dangerous for her to go into such a noisy and crowded place. Thus neither of them could come and could only entrust Henipolis and five slaves to look after the three children.

Hearing this, Henipolis, who was carrying little Cro on his shoulders, had a slightly embarrassed expression as Davos had never told him anything about this thing. Thus he could only cough dryly and said perfunctorily, "Yes, of course."

The clever Cynthia only looked at him with a smile and didn't expose him.

Suddenly, a louder cheer erupted from the crowd as a larger and longer majestic warship came out of the port. Unlike the other ships, a statue of Hades could be seen on top of its mast, which was particularly dazzling. Also at the ship's bow, stood a man who, unlike the other soldiers, was dressed in bright silver armour and had a distinctive black plume on the top of his helmet, which hung down to his back, and who, against the rising sun in the east, glowed like a divine god.

Once the crowd recognised him, the cheering peaked as he was the one they elected to kingship. Now the king that Hades favoured and the hope of the people is going to the battlefield to fulfil his promise!

"Victory for King Davos!!!" The cheers became louder and louder, which was also mixed with the cries of several children, "Come on, Father! Father be victorious!"

Davos naturally could not have seen or heard his children amidst the deafening noise and the sea of people on both sides of the river, so he just smiled and waved without stopping.

When the ship sailed into the sea, the sky and the sea suddenly widened, which immediately made Davos feel small. However, the sound of rowing and salpinx sounded by the other ships only tens of metres away from him had made him realise that he was part of a huge fleet.

He then turned his head and looked at the people, who kept following the warships along the coast, supporting the elderly and the children...

Davos was deeply aware of why they were persistently pursuing. He took a deep breath and calmed himself to overcome the discomfort of suddenly fighting on the sea after getting used to fighting on land.

The ship following Davos was the flagship of the navarch - Seclian, who felt more comfortable onboard than Davos. He first walked from the stern to the bow, and after he inspected the whole ship, he came under the mainmast, looked up and shouted, "Did you find anything?"

The lookout immediately replied, "Navarch, there is no news yet."

Seclian clenched his fist, but he became less anxious when he saw Davos' ship ahead. After he calmed down, he ordered, "Have the whole fleet move below the normal speed!"

The trireme's normal speed is about eight knots (15 kilometres per hour). However, Seclian considered that the whole fleet was not yet proficient enough to cooperate with each other as this would be the first time they would fight at sea and that the triremes they gathered from various city-states had different shapes and sizes, such as Crotone's warship that was lighter and narrower, which were good for assault while the Rhegian ships were broader and heavier, making it easier for them to defend...the size difference of the triremes, which is the main force of the naval warfare, would inevitably lead to the difference in speed. Thus, Seclian took a more cautious attitude to prevent the fleet from separating before engaging the enemy.

For this reason, he followed up his order with, "Raise the flag of Apollo!"

Apollo was the sun god that drives his chariot in the sky every day. And the flag of Apollo that Seclian said was, in fact, a thin linen material dyed golden yellow, which was raised up on the mainmast by ropes and flutters against the sea breeze. It meant that the fleet would shrink inward with this ship as the centre, and the distance between the ships around it would be about 20 metres.

Seclian's cautious approach was also to keep the entire fleet within his reach.

"Rhaaa...." As the extremely long salpinx sound echoed across the sea, every ship's lookout could see the golden flag, and then the whole fleet began to lower their speed and approach each other.

And as the ships reduced their speed, it allowed the people on the shore to keep up with the fleet. However, the fleet still continued to move away from the coast. And even though the fleet contracted, the Theonian fleet of 150 triremes, plus other ships totalling 200 ships, spread out over an area of five-six nautical miles, sailing south in a great hurry...

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The constant raids made Leptines fed up that he became resistant to the brutal act of killing civilians from the bottom of his heart. He originally just wanted to lure the Theonian fleet out to have a decisive battle, but the Theonians just hid behind their port like a turtle, making Leptines have no place to vent.

On the other hand, his brother, Dionysius, became fonder of this method of harassment. It is even reported that when Dionysius received a bit of inside information of Krimisa and Aprustum were beginning to have food shortages due to the frequent raids that caused the transportation from Theonia to the southern battlefront to suffer, so he ordered Leptines to intensify and increase the number of raids on the long stretch of coast from Krimisa to Thurii, especially on Roscianum.

Crotone became muddy due to the heavy rain, making it difficult for the Syracusan army to camp, let alone sieging the city. Since they could not attack, Dionysius thought of other ways. Yesterday, he sent messengers to Roscianum in an attempt to make them surrender to Syracuse. He even considered having Leptines' fleet load thousands and thousands of soldiers to deal massive destruction into the hinterland of Theonia, demoralising its population and reducing the confidence of Theonia's allies.

At the same time, Dionysius sent an envoy to Taranto to discuss whether they should send reinforcements and join forces to take Heraclea as soon as possible and invade Theonia's territory from the northeast.

But as the navarch, Leptines didn't have to think so much as he only had to lead his fleet every day to keep a close eye to the north to prevent a surprise attack by the Theonian fleet while the soldiers and sailors went ashore to plunder. Thus Leptines had his fleet cruise in the waters far away from the landing site so that they would be out of sight.

Just as he was about to doze off on a makeshift quarter on the deck, he could hear the excited shouting of the flagship's captain, "Navarch! Navarch! There is good news! Good news!!"

"What is it?" Asked Leptines as he rubbed his sleepy eyes.

"Our scouting ship had just reported that the soldiers who had gone ashore to pillage had captured a prisoner. And he confessed that their archon Davos had returned, and the people elected him as their king yesterday. After becoming the new king, he made a promise that he would personally lead the Theonian navy into battle today in order to repel us!"

"Davos would lead the navy into battle?" Leptines immediately became excited. Whatever king that Theonia chose was of no concern to him as the only thing he cared about was that the Theonian fleet hiding in the Crati River was finally coming out. Furthermore, Archon Davos, whom his brother had somewhat feared, would be the one to lead it.

Leptines then jumped up and asked, "Where is the captive?!"

"We have brought him aboard and are now at the bow!"

This caused Leptines to immediately run with great strides to the ship's bow and met the timidTheonian.

The captive was trembling with fear, as he not only spilt all the information he knew but also begged Leptines to release him and not sell him into slavery.

Leptines then said to him in a happy mood, "If you tell the truth, not only will you not become a slave but also be rewarded by me!"

The prisoner immediately swore loudly to the god that he was telling the truth.

Leptines no longer paid attention to him as he turned to the captain and said, "Signal the fleet to head north at once! Then send all our scouting ships and give me a full search! Whoever finds the Theonian fleet first will be handsomely rewarded!"

"Aye, Navarch!" The captain also became excited. After conveying Leptines' order to the scouting ships that approached the flagship, he turned to the cabin below the deck and shouted, "Slackers, start moving! Move! Move! Piper, speed up the rhythm!"

The sound of the salpinx, the sudden turn of the flagship, and the increase in speed drew the attention of the nearby ships, who immediately changed accordingly and transmitted the change.