Volume 6: The Meeting of Two Heroes, Chapter 126: Preparations for the Great Battle (Part 1)

At the end of the day, Kynogoratas could only smile bitterly and say, "I've just been used to calling it that way. I'll really need to be careful from now on!" Cornelius nodded in deep agreement.

Just then, the commercial officer Mariji and Pleisinas, the Chief Priest of the Temple of Hades, came walking toward them from ahead. Compared to the earlier people, both were wearing smiles.

Kynogoratas had always suspected that the matter of "Davos assuming the kingship" had been promoted from the start by these two. "Are they starting to reward services now?" he thought disgustedly, unable to hold back a jab: "While the people of the entire alliance are worried about national security, you two seem to be in quite a good mood."

Mariji's smile unchanged, he looked at Kynogoratas curiously, lowered his voice, and said mysteriously, "Of course I'm in a good mood, because His Majesty Davos promised me…"

He deliberately drew out his words, causing Kynogoratas to ask subconsciously, "Promised what?"

Mariji immediately spoke loudly, "His Majesty promised me that the Syracusan fleet's blockade of the port of Thurii would soon be broken, and trade in the port of Thurii would be restored!… What else did you think it would be, Lord Kynogoratas?"

Kynogoratas coughed dryly and was about to change the subject to hide his embarrassment when Cornelius exclaimed, "Davos… His Majesty Davos is going to launch a naval battle against the Syracusans?!"

"Of course! Tomorrow morning, the Temple of Hades will perform divination and prayers for this battle!" Pleisinas replied complacently.

Kynogoratas and Cornelius exchanged a glance, their faces showing surprise.

"Go quickly; the king is waiting to announce this news to you!" Mariji said with a smile.

Without even saying goodbye, the two hurried off.

"See that? Some people clearly know that the political situation of the alliance has changed, but they still refuse to admit it. How pathetic!" Mariji sneered.

Pleisinas had always felt guilty towards Kynogoratas, so he didn't want to continue dwelling on this topic. Instead, he asked, "Just now His Majesty gave some advice on how to expand the influence of the Lord of the Underworld Hades and enhance the king's prestige. There are some things I haven't fully understood yet. Lord Mariji, you are familiar with Persia. Could you tell me how the Persian royal family promoted their supreme god Ahura Mazda in the lands of foreign peoples?"

Mariji stroked the beard on his chin, looking pleased with himself as he showed off, "You've come to the right person with this question. I know the Persian royal family very well. You see, when Cyrus established a great empire, he did not interfere at all with the beliefs of foreign peoples, because he himself did not vigorously promote the great god of Persia; he was always busy with conquests. It wasn't until Darius became the Great King that, although he claimed to possess the sacred bloodline of Cyrus and even married Cyrus's daughter, he still felt that his throne inherited from the great king Cyrus lacked persuasiveness towards those Persian clan chiefs. At that time, he thought of the god Ahura Mazda, whom the Persians had always believed in…"

Just as Mariji was telling Pleisinas about Persian religion, Kynogoratas and the others ran into Antonios, the legion commander of the First Army Corps, Amyntas, the legion commander of the Second Army Corps, the former legion commander and now Military Affairs Officer Capus (the original Military Affairs Officer's powers had been divided into three by Davos, each in charge of different aspects without interference; in fact, to the soldiers, there seemed to be no obvious difference in rank, but for ease of management, Davos designated the Military Affairs Officer in charge of personnel appointments as one rank higher to coordinate the various affairs of the Ministry of Military Affairs), and the naval commander Seclian, who had just come out of the military camp's main tent together.

These four now represented all the military forces of Daonia in Thurii, appearing here together. It seemed that Davos was indeed about to launch a major military operation soon! Kynogoratas and Cornelius exchanged a glance.

The four were in a hurry, simply greeted the two briefly, and rushed off to complete the tasks Davos had assigned them.

"Lord Capus, you must return the 3,000 sailors you transferred to me quickly, otherwise the joint training later won't go smoothly!" Seclian urged.

"Don't worry, they are all intact! I'm going to the South City now to bring the sailors stationed there back to the Crathis naval base," Capus reassured him.

Seclian was somewhat relieved.

"Capus, do you say… well, His Majesty asked you to gather another 7,000 men at the port, and they must be young adults who have undergone military training for over a year. Are there that many freemen in the port who meet this condition?" Antonios asked with concern.

"There shouldn't be that many, but we can go to Amendolara and Besidia to check. If it's still not enough, we can recruit from the transport units responsible for logistics and supplies…" Capus had apparently considered this issue.

"Now the whole alliance is surrounded by enemies, and the army is scattered everywhere, with forces at their limit. The territory is very hollow! We must break the deadlock as soon as possible and gather the troops again. That is the most important issue!" Antonios said worriedly.

"The crux of the issue is that Davos… His Majesty first wants to fight a decisive naval battle with Syracuse. Isn't this decisive battle too risky?!" Amyntas interjected, still somewhat resistant to Davos's previous orders. "The Syracusan navy has confronted Carthage for so many years; they are rich in naval combat experience and outnumber us by a lot! Our fleet was only recently established and has never been in a real fight. Just because we added a wooden bridge to the ships, we dare to fight the Syracusans head-on, and we want to put our soldiers on the warships… If we fail, they won't even have a chance to flee. This is Daonia's most elite force!"

"Lord Amyntas, what do you mean 'just added a wooden bridge'! You have no idea how much this one addition changes naval tactics!" Seclian immediately retorted in dissatisfaction. "Even if you are rich in combat experience, that's just on land. You know nothing about naval warfare, so please don't talk nonsense!"

Amyntas flared up, "How dare you rage at me! Look at what achievements you have made. What qualification do you have to stand here and talk to me about naval warfare?!"

"Tomorrow! I will show you a victory!" Seclian shot back without flinching.

"Stop arguing!" Antonios shouted. He glared at Seclian — he also didn't like this young man's arrogant tone, but Seclian was now the naval commander Davos relied on. "What time is it, and you're still in the mood to quarrel, making a spectacle for the soldiers! You two, quickly assemble your troops and head to the naval base. If His Majesty arrives and sees that we haven't started training, everyone will be reprimanded!"

Amyntas looked around at the soldiers who were curiously watching them, suppressed his anger, and said, "Young man, don't just argue. Let's talk with our achievements!"

"You'll see tomorrow!" Seclian said angrily, then turned and strode away. He suddenly realized that arguing with Amyntas in the army camp could lead to conflict unfavorable to him, so it was better to return to the naval base, where he had the final say.

"Antonios, Amyntas, don't worry. You've fought alongside His Majesty Davos for so many years — don't you know his command style? If he didn't have confidence, why would he decide on a decisive naval battle with the Syracusans!" Capus reminded them.

"But that was all on land. No one has experience in naval warfare, even though we've been training with the navy. The new tactics that Seclian talks about haven't been tested in real combat. Who knows if they'll work on the vast sea against a huge enemy fleet?! The soldiers of our First and Second Army Corps… most importantly, even His Majesty himself will board the warship. If—" Antonios stopped there, not daring to think about the consequences of defeat.

His worry infected the other commanders.

"Alright, don't worry. His Majesty has the protection of Hades. Nothing will happen. Let's hurry and carry out his orders," Capus said reluctantly.

While the commanders were arguing, Davos was speaking in his tent with the Bruttian senators Bagiripi and Sedorum.

"You two have arrived just in time. I was about to send for you," Davos said with a smile, inviting them to sit.

"Your Majesty, Sedorum and I have come to beg your pardon!" Bagiripi said nervously, standing up again. "Petalus and the others exhibited some strange behavior before the rebellion, but we didn't pay attention, and as a result… they successfully escaped back to Bruttium and incited their tribesmen to revolt…"

"But Your Majesty, I and Bagiripi can assure you that only a very small number of Bruttians have rebelled. The vast majority of Bruttians are loyal to the alliance! There will be no major upheavals or chaos in the Bruttian region!" Sedorum took over from Bagiripi and solemnly promised Davos.

"Yes, we can swear by Amara!" Bagiripi emphasized again.

Davos gazed deeply at these two senators, who appeared slightly haggard. Clearly, the rebellion of Petalus and other Bruttian senators had put tremendous pressure on them. After a moment, Davos withdrew his gaze and said earnestly, "Rest assured, although the rebellion of Petalus and the others has caused some suspicion among the citizens of other cities towards the Bruttian people, I believe the senators of the Senate, including myself, are very clear about it!"

"Lord Bagiripi, the First Battalion of the Fifth Army Corps, composed of Besidian citizens, voluntarily stayed behind to block the enemy during the Battle of the Lamato River, covering the withdrawal of the main force. In the end, they either died in battle or were captured, ensuring that most of the soldiers of the Fourth and Fifth Army Corps could retreat safely. To this day, the battalion commander of the First Battalion and Senate senator Brim, along with some Besidian soldiers, are still imprisoned in the Syracusan camp. If heroes like these are not Daonia's most loyal citizens, then who is?"

After hearing Davos's words, Bagiripi burst into tears, not only because of the great sacrifices the Besidians had made in this war and the grievance of finally being understood by Davos, but also because he worried about the safety of those tribesmen who had become prisoners.