第六卷 双雄会 第一百四十一章 锡拉库扎的应对

At that moment, Dionysius swept his gaze over the people in the tent, his eyes falling on a man in the corner: "Androsthenes, what is the meaning of this?! The Daonian fleet used such a strange device, yet you didn't detect it, causing our fleet to suffer such heavy losses. Tell me, shouldn't you be punished?!"

Androsthenes’ face instantly turned pale. In fact, the overall intelligence chief of Syracuse was Hipparinus, and he was merely one of the heads, accompanying the army on the campaign. The Daonian fleet had already been training new tactics before the battle began. Androsthenes remembered that at the time, intelligence from Thurii had mentioned that the Daonian fleet was conducting closed training on the Crati River. But neither Dionysius, nor Hipparinus, nor he himself had taken it seriously. At most, they paid attention to the number of Daonian triremes and the identity of their commanders, since Syracuse’s naval advantage was so overwhelming that no one considered the insignificant Daonian fleet worth noticing.

Who would have thought that now Dionysius seemed to be placing the entire blame for the defeat on Androsthenes? But he dared not refute it—after all, he was neither the tyrant's own brother nor his father-in-law.

Androsthenes cursed inwardly, but his face showed fear and trepidation as he said, "My lord, I... I..."

Dionysius waved his hand: "Your punishment will be thoroughly investigated after the war! From now on, you must gather intelligence on Daonia more carefully, without any omissions, understand?!"

Although Dionysius hated his brother's incompetence, he had to protect him, because protecting him was protecting his own dignity. Therefore, he had skillfully distributed the blame for the naval defeat in this way.

Although Androsthenes was temporarily spared punishment, he was secretly lamenting: Now Thurii and Crimissa were both under strict military blockade, making it extremely difficult to transmit intelligence.

"Leptines, if we installed that wooden bridge from the Daonian warships onto our own ships, do you think it would be feasible?" Dionysius turned his gaze to the naval commander, who was still kneeling on the ground.

All the generals were somewhat surprised: This was equivalent to abandoning the proven naval experience and traditions of Syracuse—and even of Greek city-states for centuries—to learn from a newly formed city-state alliance that had only won a single naval battle. Was that feasible?!

But Dionysius was not a person who adhered to old ways; on the contrary, he was a reformer and a pragmatist, as demonstrated by his reorganization and reform of the army and his advancement of siege technologies.

"I... I don't know, because we've never trained in this aspect..." Leptines was clearly a conservative, and he reluctantly forced himself to speak: "Moreover, the wooden bridge on the Daonian ships rotates so smoothly, there must be some special mechanism. I think... it cannot be made in a short time, and... to equip it on our ships and fight the Daonians... it will all take time to train..."

"Then study it thoroughly with engineers and craftsmen!" Leptines' dullness made Dionysius's anger flare up again: "If there's truly no time, when the Daonian fleet attacks, equip our ships with enough soldiers! Don't the Daonians want to turn naval battles into land battles? Then let's have a good fight at sea!"

"But my lord..." Leptines carefully reminded: "We don't have enough triremes left..."

"Idiot!" Dionysius cursed loudly: "Recall the fleet at Messina, and also the one at Syracuse's harbor! Additionally, send word to Philistos to hasten the construction of new warships. Understood?!"

Leptines' head bobbed up and down like a chicken pecking at rice.

"Get out of here and go carry out my orders!" The moment Dionysius finished speaking, Leptines left the tent far faster than he had entered.

Dionysius had no mind to dwell on that; he knew very well: despite these measures, the Daonian fleet had gained the upper hand in the short term.

For Syracuse, fighting a cross-sea campaign, control of the sea was vital. Once lost, it meant the expeditionary army's connection to its mother city would be severed. The wavering morale of the Syracusan army was a minor matter; what truly frightened Dionysius was being cut off from homeland resources and unable to control Syracuse's political affairs. Moreover, Davos had already returned with his main army. Now, without the Syracusan fleet's harassment and containment, he could march south at any time. This made Dionysius waver on the question of whether to fully attack Croton.

At this moment, Dionysius forced himself to remain calm and said: "Now that our fleet has suffered a defeat, let me hear your opinions—what should we do next?"

"My lord, of course we should follow the plan and capture Croton with full force!" Astagoras said without hesitation: "Though we no longer have the advantage at sea, on land the Daonians cannot withstand our powerful army! Once we take Croton, there will be no major obstacles to the north. We can march straight to the walls of Thurii. No matter how many ships Daonia has, they'll be useless. Then, whether to fight or negotiate will be Your Lordship's decision!"

"My lord, I also agree with General Astagoras," Phasipesas said, seemingly sensing Dionysius's thoughts: "While the Tarentines are still threatening Thurii from the north, we should seize the opportunity to take Croton! If we retreat now and allow the Daonians to join forces with the Crotonians, the number of soldiers they gather will likely cause us even greater trouble!"

"Lord Dionysius," Enamenas, the Campanian mercenary leader, also stood up and said: "The soldiers' morale is high now because they all know that Croton is a very wealthy city. If we give up attacking it..."

The generals in the tent all advocated for capturing Croton, tipping the scale in Dionysius's mind toward attack. However, he didn't make a decision immediately; instead, he turned his gaze to the only person who hadn't spoken and asked: "Phoebidas, what is your opinion?"

Phoebidas, who was always outspoken, was uncharacteristically hesitant for a moment. From Sparta's perspective, maintaining a balance of power between Syracuse and Daonia would be more advantageous for Sparta, so negotiation was actually a better option. But Phoebidas, being involved, had been stirred by Davos's exceptional performance. He longed to personally defeat this young magistrate, hailed by Magna Graecia as a 'famous general'. So he said: "What they said makes a lot of sense. Attacking Croton allows us to seize the initiative. More importantly, it forces the Daonians to come to the rescue of Croton before they have fully pacified other fronts and without adequate preparation, thus ensuring our advantage in the decisive battle against Daonia. If you're worried that the Daonian army might suddenly attack while we're besieging the city, don't you have so many cavalry? Why not send them further north to scout?!"

Dionysius glanced at Phoebidas, then looked around at the generals and laughed: "What do I have to worry about?! The Daonians won only one naval battle and think they can make us Syracusans retreat?! No! This will only make us focus more on the land attack!"

Dionysius suddenly stood up, drew his short sword, and with a "bang" forcefully drove it into the table. He said sternly: "From now on, all units are to hurry and prepare for the siege. In two days, we will capture Croton city with full force!"

"Capture Croton!!" Everyone shouted in unison.

...

"Mother, I'm back!"

"We're back!"

With a "bang", Cynthia forcefully pushed open the wooden door of the backyard.

"Mother, we won! We defeated those terrifying enemies! No matter how many ships they had, we captured them all!" Adoris ran excitedly to Cheiristoya.

Before Cheiristoya could respond, a woman beside her smiled and said: "Wasn't I right? Davos... His Majesty has Hades's protection, he will surely win. None of you need to worry!"

Before she finished speaking, Agnes stood up with a joyful face: "I must go thank Artemis!"

With that, she strode quickly toward the statue of Artemis on the garden side, her belly protruding.

"Walk slowly, be careful of the baby!" Cheiristoya said with concern, while Agnes's personal maid had already rushed over to support her.

"Isn't Agnes a priestess of Hera?" The woman asked, slightly surprised.

"You should know that before Agnes came to Thurii, she was the high priestess of the Temple of Artemis in Rhegium. During this time, because she is pregnant and staying at home, she can only pray daily to the goddess of the hunt to protect Davos. It has truly been hard on her!" Cheiristoya said emotionally.

"Aunt Andria, hello!" At this moment, Cynthia greeted the woman with a bow.

"Cynthia, it's been years! You've grown into a young lady!" Andria looked at Cynthia happily, then embraced her.

"Mother, let me tell you a secret. During the victory celebration, a boy hugged—"

"Shut up, Adoris! If you dare say anything nonsense, I'll beat you!" Cynthia's face turned slightly red, and she threatened loudly.

"What exactly happened?" Cheiristoya asked with a smile.

Under Cynthia's glare, Adoris dared not speak.