ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 463 Taranto Sea Battle ([-])

At this moment, the sailors poured into their respective docks, pulling the cables in the front and pushing hard in the back. In the sound of neat slogans, the three-layer propeller warships about 50 meters long slid smoothly into the carat like dragons entering the water. The Ti River splashes with large splashes of water...

In the blink of an eye, the surface of the wide Krati River near the mouth of the sea was full of warships, almost cutting off the river.Originally here, the flow of the river was very slow, and now it is even slower.

The sailors tied the cables to the wooden piles on the shore to secure the warship, then put up wooden ladders. They quickly boarded the ship one by one and began to skillfully install the Crow Suspension Bridge. After confirming that it was operating normally, the sailors passed. Go down to the cabin from the entrance of the deck, find your seat, pull out a wooden oar from the wooden slot, stick it out of the oar port, and install it on the oar seat.

The cabin of a tri-layer oar warship has three levels: the lowest level is equipped with 54 oarsmen on both sides, the middle level is also equipped with 54 oarsmen, and the top level has the most, with 62 oarsmen. Since the top oarsmen are close to the oar port, they can see the paddles. Sliding conditions in sea water, so their position is the most important. They must be the paddlers, leading the middle and lower rowers to paddle together.

After the 170 rowers were in place, the boatswain walked back and forth in the aisle in the cabin. He was responsible for supervising the rowers, maintaining rowing order, and boosting the morale of the rowers.

The helmsman goes to the stern. He is the core of the whole ship. He controls the rudder and controls the direction of the warship. He must be the most experienced sailor in order to destroy enemy ships and save himself in fierce battles.

The piper sits in the middle of the aisle near the deck entrance. He is responsible for receiving the captain's instructions and controlling the rhythm of the oars.

The captain is the commander of the entire ship and is responsible for directing the battle.

In addition, there are three watchmen, who are arranged on the bow, stern and mast, to inform the captain of the enemy's situation and the instructions of the fleet at any time.

Today, because we were considering an offshore battle with Syracuse soon, we did not hang up the sails or even carry them. We left them in the dock to reduce the load on the warships. Therefore, I was responsible for raising and lowering the sails and controlling the navigation of the ships. The ten deck sailors lacked an important task. In addition to picking up bows and arrows and dealing with enemies approaching the ship, their more important task was to operate the "Crow Suspension Bridge" to pin approaching enemy ships.

At this moment, the army led by Davos also entered the military port, and Sekerian, Midorades and other naval officers rushed up to greet them.

"Your Majesty, the fleet is ready and can set off at any time!" Sekerian said excitedly after saluting Davos.

"Have you discovered the Syracuse fleet?" Davos asked calmly.

"Discovered!" Sekerian replied immediately: "Our clipper ship reported before that, 'There are dozens of Syracuse warships cruising near the coast of Castellon, and it seems that they are preparing to land there, then Their large fleet must be not far away!"

Davos looked at the naval officers headed by Sekerian. Each of them had burning eyes. He smiled: "It seems that you can't wait. So what are you waiting for? Let the legion soldiers Everyone get on board!”

"Yes!" Antonios and Amyntas responded in unison, and then immediately ordered the officers behind them: "Get aboard!"

Soon, all the soldiers of the First Legion and a small number of soldiers of the Second Legion ran to the river bank in an orderly manner under the leadership of the squad leader. According to the training area yesterday, they found the trireme that their squad was in charge of. Arriving on the deck of the warship, the total number of people on a trireme in Dionia was close to 240.

Davos stood on the embankment, overlooking the densely packed legionnaires on the river bank, which split into thin streams of metal and rushed towards the warships, dyeing the tawny river surface (the color of the warships) into black... …

Davos, who had never experienced a naval battle, could not help but feel a surge of pride in his heart, which temporarily dispelled the tension in his heart. He turned around and said to Amyntas: "After we set off, you will lead the remaining soldiers of the Second Legion. Rush to the port, Mariji has prepared a cargo ship for you. Get the news of our victory as soon as possible and set off!"

"Understood, Your Majesty!" Amyntas nodded and said, then looked at Sekerian and gave him a solemn military salute.

Just when Sekerian didn't understand why Amyntas, who had just had a verbal conflict with him yesterday, acted like this, he heard Amyntas say in a deep voice: "Cykerian, His Majesty's safety is in your hands!"

Sekerian understood, and he immediately responded with the same solemn military salute: "I will use my life to protect your majesty's safety!"

"Wish you a great victory in the naval battle!"

"Wish you victory in the land war!"

The two soldiers stared at each other. The previous conflicts disappeared at this moment, and what remained was the fighting spirit of the same enemy.

"Let's get on the boat too, don't keep the soldiers waiting." Davos waved his hand.

"Yes!" Martius waved the military flag. The guard captain, who had basically recovered, found Davos yesterday afternoon and insisted on going into battle to kill the enemy. Davos had no choice but to let him return to the team.

"Your Majesty!" Kunogolata led the senators, all of them stepped forward with solemn expressions, and all bowed down to salute Davos respectfully. They didn't say much, but the weight of this salute was The safety of the entire alliance is entrusted to Davos, because this battle will determine the rise and fall of Dionia.

Davos smiled again and said loudly: "Waiting for the news of our victory!"

Then he led the escort down to the river bank. At this time, the legionnaires had basically boarded the warships, so the river bank did not feel crowded. From time to time, there were sailors and soldiers from the fleet waving hello and saluting Daves. Davos responded with a smile.

Finally, he came to his ship. This was the largest trireme in the entire fleet. It was 60 meters long and five meters wide. It was equipped with 188 oarsmen. The bow of the ship tilted into the water. The end is a strong and sharp metal horn, the tail is upturned, similar to a scorpion's tail, and countless wooden oars protrude from both sides of the hull from front to back, more like the feet of a millipede.This is a luxurious warship from Lijim, originally positioned as the flagship of Cyklian.

After Davos and 60 escorts boarded the deck, a man wearing a leather helmet and short clothes rushed to the doctor's office. After saluting, he said slightly nervously: "Your Majesty... Your Majesty, I am Mir. Tias, captain of this ship!”

Davos smiled and returned the greeting: "Miltias, it's a pleasure to fight with you!"

"Your Majesty, the sailors... want to come to greet you, but due to their duties, they cannot..." Miltias made a request in a low voice with some embarrassment.

Davos said without hesitation: "I was just going to greet them." After saying that, he took the lead to the entrance of the warship cabin.

The deck of a tri-layer warship is not one piece, but two decks from bow to stern, with a gap of more than one meter wide in the middle. Therefore, the cabin is not airtight. The oarsmen in the cabin can move around. Through the gap, see the clear blue sky above.So even if there are nearly 200 paddlers in the cabin, this open structure will prevent them from feeling stuffy.

When Davos appeared in the cabin, the entire warship boiled.

Davers lived up to the enthusiasm of the rowers. Regardless of the narrowness of the rowers' aisles on the middle and upper floors, he climbed up and down tirelessly, bent down to ask each rower's name, and shook hands with them.

After this trip, although he was not wearing a helmet and was already out of breath, he stood in the aisle in the center of the first floor and still shouted excitedly: "Brothers, I am happy to fight with you, let us fight together, Win this naval battle!"

"King Davos is victorious!!"

"King Davos is victorious!!"

The oarsmen cheered in unison, causing the sailors on the nearby warships to look sideways, and all of them showed envy: What an honor it is to be able to fight on the same ship as King Davos, these lucky guys!
At this time, a unique naval bugle sounded from the approaching Dionia flagship. The rowers stopped cheering and began to sing loudly, singing hymns in praise of the gods at the same time. Of course, they were not dedicated to Hades. But to Poseidon, Lord of the Sea, this is a prayer for a safe and successful voyage.

In order to integrate into the navy, Davos had spent half a day learning this ancient etiquette. At this moment, he was singing loudly with the rowers.

Captain Miltias handed him a wooden cup filled with Portuguese wine. This wine was of course not meant for drinking.Davos held it solemnly, walked to the bow of the ship, shouted the name of Poseidon, and poured the wine into the river.

Poseidon's hymn resounded on both sides of the Craty River, cheering up the anxious senators.Then, standing on the embankment, they saw the warships at the front leaving the river bank one after another, and one after another sailed out of the military port...

"Let's go to the seaside." Kunogorata said to the other senators.

No one expressed objections. In the upcoming battle of life and death, although they could not attend the battle in person, they still wanted to cheer for the soldiers.

It is not only the elders who hold this idea, but all the people of the Dionia Alliance who can come are here, the elderly, women, children, citizens, reserve citizens, free people...etc., thousands of them Thousands of people gathered at the mouth of the Krati River. Every time they saw a warship sailing out, they cheered like a tsunami to encourage their relatives who participated in the war.

"This ship! My child is on this ship!"

"Have you seen it! The person waving is my brother, he is the captain!"

"My husband is in this boat with 'three' written on the string, and I can't see him because he's the oarsman."

……

The people cheered and shouted the names of their relatives, and many people asked similar questions: "There is a strange long wooden board next to the mast at the front of the warship. What is that?! Why have I never been in other city-states?" I’ve seen it on a warship!”

　Thanks to handsome fans of Xida Pang, Vanishing Maple, Qiankun Feiyu, and Wind and Rain for the reward!Your support is my biggest motivation for writing! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)