Volume 6: The Meeting of Two Heroes, Chapter 131: The Great Naval Battle of Taranto (Part 3)

Seclian's strict secrecy measures in the navy had paid off, such that the public knew little about it. Only a very few, in taverns, had vaguely heard drunken sailors talk: "That thing seems to be called the Crow. They say it was designed by King Davos and can be used to defeat the enemy..."

"So it's King Davos's invention!" The people who heard this explanation acted as if suddenly enlightened. With their absolute trust in Davos, they seemed to gain a bit more confidence in victory, without pressing further about how that device would defeat the Syracusans. Of course, even if they asked, the other party couldn't explain it.

"How is this strange thing used? Did Father really design it?" Adoris, sitting on a slave's shoulders, asked the nearby Henipolis.

Faced with this life-or-death battle, Davos's residence could not maintain its usual calm. Not only were Cynthia, Adoris, and little Klo clamoring to see Davos off, but the two ladies were also tempted. However, Cheiristoya had just given birth and was weak, and she also had to take care of Eunice, who needed feeding at any time. Agnes's belly was getting larger, making movement difficult, and it would be dangerous for her to be in such a noisy, crowded crowd. Thus, neither could come, and they entrusted Henipolis with four or five male and female slaves to take care of the three children.

Henipolis, carrying little Klo on his shoulder, looked slightly embarrassed when he heard this. Since Davos had never told him anything about the Daonia navy in this regard, he coughed dryly twice and said perfunctorily, "Yes, of course it is."

The clever Cynthia gave him a half-smiling glance but didn't expose him.

At that moment, an even louder cheer erupted from the crowd. A larger, longer, majestic warship sailed into view at the military harbor. Unlike the other ships, atop its middle mast was a statue of the Lord of the Underworld, exceptionally dazzling. At the same time, a person stood on the prow. Unlike the other soldiers, he wore a gleaming silver armor, and only on the crest of his helmet was a unique black plume that hung down to his back. Facing the rising sun in the east, he radiated brilliant light like a god.

The cheers of the people reached their peak. Yes, they recognized him, for they had just raised him to the kingdom. Now this king, beloved by the Lord of the Underworld, was personally heading to the battlefield to fulfill his promise. He was the pillar of their confidence and the source of their hope!

"What can be done with this strange thing? Is it really Father's invention?" the nearby Henipolis asked.

Facing this life-or-death war, Davos's residence couldn't maintain its usual calm. not only were Cynthia, Adoris, and little Klo clamoring to see Davos off, but both wives were deeply tempted. However, Cheiristoya had just given birth and was weak, and she also had to care for Eunice, who needed feeding at any moment, while Agnes's belly was growing large, making movement difficult and dangerous in such a crowded, noisy crowd. So neither could come; they entrusted Henipolis with four or five male and female slaves to look after the three children.

Henipolis, carrying little Klo on his shoulders, looked slightly embarrassed when he heard this, since Davos had never told him about the Daonian navy's matters in this regard. He coughed dryly and said perfunctorily, "Yes, of course it is."

The clever Cynthia gave him a half-smile but didn't expose him.

At that moment, an even louder cheer erupted from the crowd: a larger, longer, majestic warship sailed into view from the military harbor. Unlike the other ships, atop its middle mast was a statue of the Lord of the Underworld, exceptionally dazzling. At the same time, a man stood on the prow. Unlike the other soldiers, he wore gleaming silver armor, and only the crest of his helmet bore a unique black plume that hung down to his back. Facing the rising sun in the east, he radiated brilliant light like a god.

The cheers of the people reached their peak. Yes, they recognized him, for they had just raised him to the kingdom. Now this king, beloved by the Lord of the Underworld, was personally heading to the battlefield to fulfill his promise. He was the pillar of their confidence and the source of their hope!

The shouts of "Hail King Davos! Hail!" rose wave after wave, mingled with the shrill cries of a few children: "Go Father! Victory to Father!"

Amid the deafening din, with the crowds lining both banks, Davos could not possibly see his children. He simply kept smiling and waving unceasingly.

The warship sailed into the sea, and suddenly the sky widened and the sea broadened, immediately giving Davos a feeling of his own insignificance. But the sounds of oars and flutes from the warships, only a few dozen meters apart, enveloped him, making him aware that he was part of a huge fleet.

He turned his head to look at the nearby shore: the people, young and old, along the coast, kept chasing the ships as they advanced...

Davos deeply understood what they were relentlessly pursuing. He took a deep breath to calm himself and overcome the discomfort of shifting from land combat to the sea.

Following Davos's ship out to sea was the flagship of the navy commander, Seclian. Seclian moved about his ship much more freely than Davos. First, he walked from the stern to the bow, made another inspection of the whole ship, then came to the middle mast and looked up, shouting, "Any sightings?!"

The lookout at the mast answered immediately: "General, no news yet."

Seclian clenched his fist. Seeing that Davos's ship ahead might be a bit slow due to the number of people on board, his impatience seemed to ease. He steadied himself and issued an order: "Have the entire fleet advance at a speed lower than normal!"

The normal speed of a trireme was about eight knots (fifteen kilometers per hour). Seclian considered that the entire fleet was going into battle for the first time, with insufficient coordination, and the triremes brought together from various city-states had different designs and specifications. For example, Croton's ships were lighter, narrower, and better for assault; Rhegium's ships were wider, heavier, and better for defense. The size differences among the triremes, the main combat vessels, would inevitably cause speed variations. Therefore, before encountering the enemy, Seclian adopted a cautious attitude to avoid the fleet breaking apart during the march.

To that end, he immediately added, "Hoist the flag of Apollo!" Apollo is the sun god, who drives the golden chariot across the sky each day. The flag of Apollo that Seclian referred to was a long, slender piece of linen dyed golden yellow. It was hoisted to the main mast, unfurling in the sea breeze. Its meaning was: take this ship as the center; the fleet contracts inward, with the distance between ships fore, aft, port, and starboard all around twenty meters.

This too was a cautious combat posture, keeping the entire fleet within Seclian's control.

"Uwah!..." The very long bugle call echoed across the sea. The lookout on each warship could see the golden flag, and immediately the entire formation, from the outer to the inner ships, began to reduce oar speed and close in.

The reduction in ship speed also allowed the people on the shore to barely keep up with the fleet's advance. But the fleet was moving away from the coast. Even as it contracted its formation, the Daonia fleet, consisting of 150 triremes plus other ships totaling 200 warships, spread out over an area of about five or six nautical miles, sailing grandly southward...

...

Leptines was growing weary of these harassing attacks day after day. Deep inside, he detested such brutal slaughter of civilians. Originally, he had only intended to lure the Daonia fleet out for a decisive battle through these raids. But the Daonia fleet had been like a turtle hiding in its shell, refusing to come out of the harbor, which made Leptines feel strong but had nowhere to apply his strength.

His brother Dionysius, however, had increasingly valued this method of harassment. It was said that Dionysius had obtained some internal information from Crimissa and Asperustum: because of the frequent attacks, the transport of grain to the southern front in Daonia had been affected, and the soldiers' military provisions in those two cities were becoming tight. Therefore, Dionysius ordered Leptines to increase the frequency and intensity of attacks along the long stretch of coast from Crimissa to Thurii, especially against Castron.

In Croton, there had been several consecutive days of rain, turning the ground muddy. The Syracusan army even had trouble pitching camp, let alone assaulting the city. Since a direct assault was temporarily impossible, Dionysius began to think of other schemes. Yesterday, he sent an envoy to Castron, attempting to win it over to Syracuse. He even considered having Leptines' fleet carry several thousand soldiers into the heart of Daonia's territory to wreak havoc, demoralizing its population and undermining the confidence of its allies.

At the same time, Dionysius also sent envoys to Tarentum to discuss whether to dispatch reinforcements, so as to quickly join forces to capture Heraclea and truly invade Daonia's territory from the northeast.

As the naval commander, Leptines didn't need to worry about so many things. Every day, while his soldiers and sailors went ashore to loot, he only had to keep a tight watch to the north to prevent a surprise attack from the Daonia fleet. Therefore, he had his fleet patrol in waters far from the landing points, so that he could avoid seeing what he didn't want to see.

While he was dozing in a makeshift tent hastily set up on deck, the flagship captain's excited shout came: "General! General! Good news! Good news!"

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

"Just now a fast ship reported that the soldiers who went ashore to loot captured a prisoner. He confessed that their magistrate Davos had returned and was elected king by the people yesterday. This new king also promised that today he would personally lead the Daonia navy into battle to drive us back!"

"Davos is going to lead the navy into battle?!" Leptines immediately felt a surge of energy. He didn't care what kind of king Daonia elected; he only cared that the Daonia fleet, which had been hiding in the Crati River, was finally coming out, and led by Magistrate Davos, whom his brother had always feared.

He leaped up: "Where is the prisoner?!"

"The prisoner has been brought aboard, at the prow!"

Leptines strode quickly to the prow and saw a seemingly timid, honest Daonian man.

The prisoner trembled in fear, not only revealing all the information he knew, but also begging Leptines to release him and not sell him into slavery.

Leptines said to him cheerfully, "If what you confess is all true, you will not only not become a slave, but you will also receive a reward from me!"

The prisoner immediately swore loudly to the gods that everything he said was true.

Leptines paid him no further attention. He turned to the captain and said loudly, "Send a signal immediately! Have the fleet head north! Deploy all the fast ships to conduct a thorough search! Whoever spots the Daonia fleet first will receive a generous reward from me!"

"Yes, General!" The captain was also excited. After conveying Leptines' orders to the fast ships near the flagship, he turned to shout down to the cabin below deck: "Lazy bastards, move it! Move it! Flute player, double oar speed! Double oar speed!"

The sounding of the war horn and the flagship's sudden turn and rapid acceleration caught the attention of the nearby warships. They immediately made the corresponding changes, and this change spread rapidly from the inner to the outer ships.

Note: A reader questioned that a Greek trireme could not be 60 meters long; it might be 60 feet. Current archaeological excavations of trireme remains in Piraeus harbor near Athens show that the maximum dimension of just the bottom hull is 121.5 feet (37 meters). According to ancient Athenian records, the richest banker of the time, Pasion, served as a "trireme sponsor" and built a warship 52 meters long and 8 meters wide. As the flagship of His Majesty King Davos, I have slightly increased the length to 60 meters, which should not be considered too exaggerated.