Chapter 277
"I'm worried that Tarantum won't save Manduria first, but wants us to help Brindisi first! Manduria is at least safe for now, but Brindisi, which only has two thousand soldiers stationed and is far from Tarantum, is much more dangerous! "Capus said worriedly.
"If that's the case, we can't agree!" Dracos looked at the Devers and said firmly.
"Sir, if we don't repel the enemy in Manduria and rush north, once Manduria is taken, the Mesapi can cut off our supply line, and we will be in danger of being attacked from both sides. So, it's best if we can get the command of the allied forces. If not, we have to guarantee the autonomy of our Dionysian Army! "Felicius also suggested solemnly.
The Devers nodded in agreement.
… …
After Capus and Dracos left, the Devers asked Felicius to stay behind alone.
"How's the preparation for the army's departure?"
"All the soldiers of the First and Second Legions have returned to the city to await orders, but there are still many soldiers who haven't changed their weapons and equipment," Felicius said. "It's not that they don't want to replace their weapons, but there are only three weapon shops in Tuliyi and Amendolar. They can't possibly complete the production of tens of thousands of new armors and shields in just a few months. Tanning the leather is a time-consuming process, and the quantity is so large. If it weren't for the Lucanian citizens of Leniutum and Grumentum, it would take us years to gather the leather …" Felicius explained, "It's not that they don't want to replace their weapons, but there are only three weapon shops in Tuliyi and Amendolar. It's impossible for them to complete the production of tens of thousands of new armors and shields in just a few months.
"If that's the case, let's use the old equipment for this battle. Let the soldiers go to the weapon shop to temporarily exchange their original bronze helmets and shields, "the Devers said with a slight regret. Suddenly, he remembered something. "I heard that there's a merchant from Corinth who built a large weapon workshop in the crafting area of Amendarra. We can consider giving him part of the order, but I don't know if he's willing to accept the condition of exchanging the old for the new."
"The merchant is called Dios. I've already talked to him, and he's very willing to accept."
"Oh, that's a clever man, but a foreigner." Divers remembered the simple hydraulic hammer that had been successfully developed by the Institute of Mathematics, and he was thinking about finding a suitable big business to cooperate with. As a machine that could greatly save manpower and improve the efficiency of forging copper and iron, Divers certainly had to put it in the hands of his own people to keep it a secret.
"In addition, I have contacted the Civilian Shipping Association at the port (this is a non-Alliance official shipping organization proposed by the Devers and planned by Marigi. All of Diónia's merchant ships and passenger ships will join it. Its purpose is to maintain order at the port, prevent vicious competition, improve industry efficiency, and facilitate cost management). Polydorus also said that the ships from Tarantum will also come to the port to help with the transportation. This way, we can transport all the soldiers of the two legions to the port of Tarantum at once. Our army will probably be ready the day after tomorrow, and we'll take the ship to Tarantum, "Felicius continued excitedly.
"Felicius, when a Greek city-state goes to war, how many days does it take to mobilize the citizens to go to war?"
The Devers' question stunned Felicius. He thought that the Devers wanted to make a comparison, so he said, "From war mobilization, to selecting citizens, arranging household affairs, preparing weapons, equipment, and food, organizing the army, determining the team officers … It takes about three to four days, but we only need two days at most."
"What if tens of thousands of people are mobilized?"
"Then it may take longer, probably six to seven days, but for us, Diónia —" Before Felicius could finish his words, the Devers waved his hand and said, "Then don't be too anxious. Let's go to war in five days."
Felicius thought that he had misheard. The Devers leaned forward and looked at Felicius. He said in a deep voice, "Although Tarantum and Mesapi often fought in the past, it has never been like this, completely disregarding the lives of the citizens and attacking Mesapi with all their might. Do you know why?"
Felicius was not a fool. Moreover, after serving as a military officer for more than a year, his administrative experience and vision had improved a lot. He immediately replied, "It's because of us."
"Yes, us!" The Devers repeated forcefully. "The rapid growth of our alliance has put pressure on Tarantum. The southern Italy is not too big. It can only accommodate one overlord, and this overlord can only be Diónia! Now that Hades has given us help, Tarantum is in trouble. We must seize this opportunity. "
The Devers showed a hint of a sneer. "We can abide by the covenant and help Tarantum repel the Mesapi coalition, but we must not help Tarantum eliminate its enemies and stabilize their newly occupied territory!"
The Devers appeared very calm, even cold. His friendship with Archita did not affect his decision-making on political affairs.
As the army's deputy, Felicius had assisted the Devers for more than two years. He knew his leader better than the other generals. For example, deliberately delaying the attack to cause heavy losses to the citizens of Amendolar, deceiving Cornelus to make him a lifetime Consul, and so on. This young Consul was not as honest as he appeared to be, but perhaps it was because of this that he led the mercenaries to the height they were today. This was something that he, Capus, Amyntas, and other boorish men who only knew how to fight could not do.
Felicius exhaled lightly, expelling the enthusiasm and cold expression that the Devers had when facing Polydorus from his mind …
"I understand, my Lord," he said.
… …
In the following days, the Devers entrusted the Laos Consul, Avinogis, who was still watching the game and tasting the delicacies in Turín, to think of ways to understand the situation of the Bruti to verify whether the words of the Triene Cyprolos were true.
For the rest of the time, he carefully read some of the information that Aristiras had collected about Tarantum and Mesapi in the mansion. When he had time, he would accompany his wife, Cristoya, and his one-year-old son, Crotocatax.
Polydorus's mood was getting more anxious day by day. He visited the Devers or Felicius several times, but was dissuaded by them with legitimate reasons. Indeed, the number of soldiers gathered in the city of Turín increased day by day, and it would take a long time to mobilize tens of thousands of soldiers into battle. However, the situation in Tarantum was getting worse day by day, and Diónia's army was in urgent need of rescue.
On the second day of Archita's defeat, the clippers from Brindisi returned to Tarantum and informed the Senate that Archita had died in battle. The Mayprussian Alliance had thrown his head into the city and used thousands of Tarantum soldiers' corpses to build a "corpse mountain" outside the city to intimidate the defenders of Brindisi to open the city and surrender. The people in the city were panicking. The Mayprussian Alliance waited for a long time, but they did not receive a reply and had already begun to attack the city.
Brindisi urgently asked for help from Tarantum, claiming that the enemy was strong and the defenders were few. Moreover, after the city of Brindisi was captured last time, the broken city walls did not have enough time to be completely repaired. If they did not receive reinforcements, they were afraid that it would fall within two or three days.
When the Senate of Tarantum was urgently discussing "how to rescue Brindisi", another piece of news came: the Mesapi army that besieged Manduria had disappeared!
When the Senate elders, led by Umarcas and Diomiras, heard the news, they did not feel relaxed. Although they could not detect the whereabouts of the main Mesapi force because of the blockade by the Mesapi cavalry, they did not have to think to roughly guess that the Mesapi people were most likely heading east to meet with the Puchetti army. Brindisi was in danger!
Although they had received a report from Turín that Diónia would send tens of thousands of soldiers as reinforcements, it was impossible to arrive in a short period of time. However, it was impossible for them to arrive in a short period of time. If Tarantum were to send its own army to reinforce Brindisi by land, the Senate would feel that it would be suicidal in the face of tens of thousands of Mecca and Prussia's allied forces. Thus, they finally decided to send troops to reinforce Brindisi by sea so that it could hold on until the allied forces of Tarantum and Dionysia arrived.
Tarantum sent 80 large and small warships, including 40 three-decker oar warships, which was almost the entire naval force of Tarantum, to escort the transport fleet full of 4,000 soldiers to Brindisi.
After the fleet bypassed the "heel" of the Italian Peninsula, it was intercepted by the Mayprussian Alliance fleet near the coast of Hodrum, a city of Mesapi.
Puchetti's navy was not strong. They only had one port city, Barium (now Bari), and it was already very good to be able to gather six or seven warships. However, the Mesapi were different. Most of their city-states were port cities. Igratya, Brindisi, Ujentum, Messagne, and Hodrum were all port cities. On the contrary, the largest city-state, Udié, was an inland city located in the center of the Mesapi region and was once the capital of the Mesapi Kingdom. Therefore, the Mesapi's sailing ability was not weak, and the sea trade was also relatively developed. Later, with the help of the people of Athens, not only could they build their own three-decker oar warships, but they could also skillfully use the advanced naval combat skills of the Greeks. Previously, they had also caused a lot of trouble to the people of Tarantum at sea. This time, it was the largest naval battle that broke out between Tarantum and Mesapi. The Mesapi gathered all the warships of all the city-states, a total of 58 ships, including 25 three-decker oar warships. Together with Puchetti's six warships, there was a total of 64 warships.
One was anxious to reinforce, and the other was desperately trying to intercept. The two sides engaged in a fierce battle at sea …
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